Happy Birthday My Love!!!

Happy 25th Birthday!

You are the best husband, brother, father and friend.

Have an amazazing day!

Love you sa much!

Lauren, Bud, Allie and Mark

Potty Princess!

It's official!!! She did it!

Allie is

POTTY TRAINED!

After suffering with accident after accident I finally gave up. Then the very day I gave up on her, Allie decided that she was ready. It's been about a week and she's done very well.

She's had a few accidents, but only because we didn't get her pants undone fast enough!

A tip to parents of little girls who are potty training:

DRESSES are awesome!

Congrats Allie! You are a BIG GIRL now!

Highlights

Highlights from the past week


*Dustin and I went to our parenting/marriage class Sunday. So far its been really informative. We talked about how to engage in good communication with your spouse - by listening attentively, asking questions, etc. Then we talked more about the five love languages. Dustin and I think we've finally nailed down what all of our love languages are.
Dustin, Allie and Estefan are all "Quality Time" and I am a "Words" and "Service" person.
The other love languages are "Gifts" and "Touch."
We've only been to the class twice and there is 12 more weeks to go. I think its just going to get better and better. I'm glad Dustin and I are taking it together. I already feel like we are becoming the best versions of ourselves by being more aware of each other and how we can change ourselves to be more Christ-like parents and spouses!

*I went to St. George with Jessica Leavitt Monday. We loaded up Allie, Grace and Mark and all three car seats into her car. A little squishy but we made it work. We ate at the Pizza Factory, which I love but made me sick for the rest of the day! Then we had to stop at Costco, Wal-Mart, The Iron Store and Krumpets! The kids did really good. There of course was the usual amount of whining. But we made it through the first few stops without too much trouble. THEN Jessica went and bought a quilt rack that wouldn't fit anywhere in the car! We were quite a spectacle, standing in the Krumpets parking lot rearranging kids, Costco sized toilet paper, other purchases and then changing kids' poopy diapers. I'm sure the ladies in Krumpets were totally laughing at us from inside the store. But finally we found the perfect place to stow the quilt rack- MY LAP! So I was trapped under this huge, rod iron quilt rack as we traveled to Wal-Mart and home. It really was funny.. I was only a little bitter at the time. Allie said, "Mom, you in jail?" I only dropped it on Mark's head once on the way home. So overall I believe the day trip to have been a huge success!

*Can you say Bunko, crazy, fun, crying baby and food all in the same sentence? I can - I took my crying baby to a crazy fun Bunko night and had yummy food!!! Tuesday night was our groups first Bunko night!!! We had so much fun. We only had three subs and one no show. Most of us had never played before and it was more of a learning experience than anything. For about 15 minutes we had to agree on how to play. Then when we started playing we had to remember to count! There was lots of screaming, lots of chocolate, lots of confusion but mainly lots of FUN! Thanks Jess for being the first hostess! You did a great job. And thanks to our subs- Jill, Kacee and Wendy! And thanks to all the girls for being patient and showing up. See ya next month! You know Jessica Taylor will throw one wild party!!!

*Wednesday I got to work in Estefan's kindergarten class. He introduced me to his class and held my hand for most of the morning. Then we played little games and went to recess. At recess I discovered that he is quite a little flirt. He immediately found Kinley Bledsoe and poked her. Leading to a ten minute chase around the playground with a couple other girls. When the girls got too tired to run anymore he played with the boys. Then he would poke Kinley again and it would start over! After school he asked if Kinley could come over and play. (I can see this in ten years!) I thought for a minute and told him not today and we went to play at a Hans' house. Anyway, I was really impressed with his behavior during group time. He stayed on task while doing packet work and got a star. Then at my group he made his "rectangle horse" without any problem or glue fights! I was really proud of him.

*Yesterday wasn't too eventful but today will make up for it! I've got a lot of cleaning to do, got to go to the library and this afternoon we're going to the temple! Dustin' cousin's wife is going through for the first time and we're really excited to be able to attend the temple with family. I haven't been since Mark was born and its about time to go back!!!

Sorry if that was super boring! My blog is my journal, sometimes my life isn't a page turner!

East Pass

Saturday Dustin took me out for a great day in the hills. We went with our cousin, Don to East Pass. I am the worst at remembering directions and places and he isn't here right now to remind me so here it is from my remembrance....

Starting out, the long road ahead.

We took the Carp Elgin exit toward Sam's camp...

A beautiful view.. but not East Pass yet.
Dustin and Don
After a long climb up many scary slopes and over many bumpy washboard roads we made it! Here are me and Dustin at East Pass. Don came here along time ago with his dad. He said he remembered there being lot and lots of trees. There aren't so many now.. probably due to fires.
It was an amazing view. Nevada is the best state ever! What beautiful country, right in our own backyard.
After we reached the top of East Pass we decided to loop threw to Pine Valley Reservior. When we got to the reservior we discovered it was more of a waterless basin. But there was a nice little camping spot there.
Then we drove to Barclay. There is an old brick farm house and wind mill, along with some other little houses and trailers. Mostly cattle grazers but there where some hay fields.
Barclay
Then we drove along the railroad tracks to get to Caliente for lunch. We got about half way and ran into a dead end. There was this huge gate blocking our way! Don was ready to jump the tracks and go around it... but we decided to be good and turn around. It was after 1pm and we were all pretty hungry. We finally made it to Caliente on the Beaver Dam road and got to eat! Overall it was a great day. We had great conversations and yummy rice crispies (thanks Raegan!!!) to keep us going. I'm glad I got to tag along on the trip. I had a great time! I missed you Raegan! Next time you are coming no matter what!!!

Baby's First...

PASSPORT!!!

I've heard of all kinds of baby firsts...

baby's first steps

laugh

kiss

smile

wave hello, good-bye

etc, etc, etc...

but I thought Baby's First Passport was too cute!

This is Mark's first passport photo! I'm so glad they sent the extra picture back to me. He looks so cute. He even has his trade mark drool dripping off his bottom lip.

The Five Tag

Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

Ok... this is called the FIVE tag. So I'm changing what I did ten years ago to what I did five years ago! Mainly because I can't remember yesterday clearly, let alone ten years ago!!! So here goes.. my FIVE tag.

5 years ago I was:

1. 17 years old
2. a junior in high school
3. able to wear size 5! wranglers!!!
4. had long long long hair! (why did I cut it off?!!)
5. My only worry was not to fall or mess up while dancing during half time shows!

5 things on today's "to do" list:

1. Feed the hungry (Mark)
2. Cloth the naked (Allie)
3. Administer to the sick and afflicted (Myself)
4. Solve world hunger (Keep Estefan's stomach full for two hours straight!)
5. Create world peace (Love my family unconditionally!)


5 snacks I enjoy:

1. anything chocolate
2. Nibs
3. Lollipops
4. chips and salsa
5. ICECREAM!!!

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Buy my house and fix it up
2. Buy a truck for Dus
3. Buy a gas saving, kid hauling, fast driving, hot mama automobile
4. Give to charity
5. Spoil my kids and my honey

5 places I have lived:

1. Logandale, NV
2. Reno, NV
3. Logandale again
4. Sometimes I feel like we live in Cannonville!
5. Umm... that's all...

5 jobs I have had:

1. Teacher
2. Wife
3. Mother
4. Cook
5. Taxi Driver

Thanks for the tag Andrea! I tag anyone who hasn't done this and Jessica Leavitt, Liz Maile and Nicole Andrus!! Have fun girls!!

Where to start...?

We have done so much the past few days I don't know where to begin. So I'll start with yesterday and work my way backwards.

Yesterday was a sick day! Allie, Mark and I were all sick. Poor little Mark got his first runny nose. It should be against the law for children to get sick. It is so sad to watch a child be sick knowing how little you can do for them. He couldn't breathe when he ate, he couldn't suck his binky, I had to hold him all night so he could sleep. So I didn't get too much sleep. But Allie did! She fell asleep at 6pm and slept til 5am! I would've liked her to sleep longer this morning but Dustin put on cartoons before he left for work and bought me a little more sleepy time!

Also, yesterday was back to school night at the Elementary school. I got to go to Estefan's class and see what he does all afternoon. I love his teacher. Its funny because you can tell when a teacher has been teaching little kids for a long time! She made us sing!! The whole room full of parents had to sing. I think I laughed more than I actually sang.. it was so funny to see the dad's singing the silly little kindergarten song. After the humiliation we all walked out into the hallway to see our kids work. Mrs. Hardy had a "kinder garden." All the kids drew pictures of themselves and then gave a brief discription of themselves. Estefan's picture was so funny! He used one color, orange, and drew all his fingers and toes. He gave himself four eyes and no hair. Then his discription said, "I like to play with toys. My favorite toys are Transformers!"

It was fun to go even with my sniffly nose and Mark sneezing boogers all over me!

Monday was my 22nd birthday!!! Dustin made me waffles and cleaned up and did the dishes! Then all of us went on a four wheeler ride to Jumpback. The four wheeler is getting pretty squishy with all five of us now but we made it. We had so much fun playing in the sand and jumping of the ledges into the sand below. You can always count on getting a load of sand in your pants when you take kids to the sand dunes. When we had enough sand in our pants we drove around looking at all the animal footprints in the sand. I forgot my camera, so no pictures but it was an amazing start to a great day.

Around 3pm Mother Nature gave me a wonderful present: RAIN!!! We sat outside for most of the afternoon enjoying it! (maybe that's why we all have colds now!)

That night I had a little birthday party. My family gave me all of the Twilight series and The Host. So I'll have plenty to read! I had a wonderful birthday!

Mark has been working so hard trying to sit up all by himself and Sunday he did it for real! I don't have to worry about him tipping over anymore and bonking his head!

Allie took his toy away... so he wasn't happy!

Jack bought the Nelson Family band a drum set! And Sunday night was spent jamming in the driveway.
Estefan loved to play with them. Maybe he will have a love for music like his dad!

Chase and Melissa Fredrick came by to see us that night and Chase jumped right in and played along with Jack and Dustin. It was fun to hear them play.. loud but fun!

Saturday the Nelson girls plus Mark and Caleb, went on a hike to Mouse's Tank at the Valley of Fire.

Jill called me at 9:30 and said we are leaving lets go! But by the time we all got together it was 10:30. Then when we got out there it was 11ish and we were hiking in the heat of the day! The kids did as good as could be hoped for. Luckily I brought crackers and gummies and we all had plenty of water! It was fun to get out and enjoy the beautiful area we live in.

This is some Indian writing. These are all over in the Valley of Fire. Its really fun to try and guess what the Indian people were saying. We saw one that looked like an elephant.. I don't think they had elephants out here but who knows!!!

Mark and Mom

Allie and Elise in the cave

Then more jamming Saturday afternoon....

Jack, Gaye and Dustin playing tunes

Well I think that about catchs us up.

A new drumset, sick kids, a fun hike and Mark's milestones... never a dull moment in the Nelson house!