excuses

WELL, here is my list of excuses for not blogging in.....oh, like 2 months.....

1. holidays = crazy-ness

2. work = crazy busy stress-ness (in fact, too much stress that I decided to quit last week)

3. Church callings (one calling and one assignment - both time consuming)

4. EMMA (need I say more)

and.........

excuse #5 which is the best excuse of all,

(drum roll please)

Baby #2 is on the way!!!!! We are just ecstatic to be pregnant and feel so blessed to bring another baby into our family! I am 14 weeks along and my due date is July 18th, 2012. (not too thrilled to be 8-9 months pregnant in the dead of summer here in AZ but I'll survive........ I hope.....)

So since I've been so busy with trying to work and be a mom and be a pregnant mom, blogging had to be put on hold. BUT NO MORE. I am done working and my morning sickness/lack of energy is finally fading so I'm back. :)

Well let's just get to the punch - here are our holiday pictures (starting with Thanksgiving)

11-23-11: We headed up to St. George, Utah to spend Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family - such a fun bunch to be around. Thanksgiving morning we had our annual GAT 5K run and despite one major spill by my dad (he sustained only minor injuries) the race was a success!

matchie matchie

having fun at the park

11-26-11: Saturday was my birthday and we celebrated it bowling style.

I bowled my personal high score of 146! Just one small thing to point out: as you can see in the picture below, the player named GRAN is my dad (grandpa). It looks like he got bowled a 118...so let's see. 146 - me, 118 - dad........yup I won :)

It was a good birthday, thanks for letting me beat you dad (*wink*)

Only a few short days after getting home from Utah we purchased a new car! We sold our little Lancer (*sniff*) and bought a 2003 Toyota Highlander. We are officially a 'yota' family now with the Highlander joining our 4Runner in the garage.

love. it.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree.....

Over the christmas break we spent a weekend up in Pine at our friends' family cabin.

They had a little loft/playroom area that Emma had a blast playing in.

Acting out the Nativity - Emma was one of the angels

Visiting Santa with all the Nelson cousins

12-22-11: Christmas party at Kathleen's house (only, Kathleen wasn't there because early that morning Thomas' sister, who lives in Utah, went into labor and had her baby girl that day!) Congrats Emily!

Making a gingerbread house (well, gingerbread train but that sounds weird)

12-24-11: We spent Christmas Eve with our sister-in-law's family (since Kathleen was out of town with Emily and the new baby, the Weeds were nice enough to invite us to eat dinner with them!) The food was DE-LISH and I hope they invite us over again (*wink wink*)

12-25-11: Santa definitely did good this year. Emma LOVES her toy car that he got her.

12-27-11: We celebrated our 3rd anniversary at the Cheesecake Factory. Our waiter brought out our slice of cheesecake with 'Happy Anniversary' written in chocolate on the plate. So sweet and special. Three years goes by soooo fast! I am so grateful to be married to my best friend and sweetheart.

Bathtime with Porter :)

12-31-11: For New Years Eve we had a BBQ at Thomas' parents house with friends and grandpa blew up the bouncy house for the kids to enjoy

We ate good food and played games and lit sparklers with the kids before they went to bed.

Thomas had two weeks off of school so OF COURSE he had to go camping. It wouldn't be a proper break without at least one camp out. He went with some of his buddies in his program to Devil's Chasm (don't ask me where that is, I have no idea) to these old indian ruins - pretty sweet.

Now that the holidays are over, Thomas is back in school and things are finally settling down, Emma and I are back to spending quality time together.

Oktobur

WARNING: PHOTO OVERLOAD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

WARNING #2: PICTURES OF EMMA OVERLOAD. (we do not recommend that you view this post if you get sick of seeing the same person/child/face more than 100 times in one sitting. If you find yourself getting bored or can no longer look at the computer please stop immediately and contact a physician or poison control.)

what?

ok here we go.

Emma loves her toothbrush!

And getting into my wallet and taking everything out

Bubble bath! - love those buns :)

Emma requested Jell-O for breakfast one morning and I couldn't say no....

haha! cute, Emma

I can't sweep the floor without this little helper, although of course if I actually really want the floor swept I have to do it when she's asleep or otherwise occupied... :)

OCT 7-8th: CAMPOUT with the Perkinsons!

Happiest little camper in the world :) Thomas is like a kid in a candy store with that chain saw

We love camping, its one of our favorite family activities and it was even more fun with our friends Spencer and Taylor!

Photoshoot with Emma, trying to do fish faces
She fell asleep right after, I guess taking a million pictures while lying on the bed can wear you out

Emma is IN LOVE with Finding Nemo the disney movie. We got her a stuffed Nemo animal and she loves it.

She always gives him kisses. She affectionately calls him "meemo" (can't quite say the 'n')

I found this little disaster after I turned my back on Emma for two minutes...

gotta love being a mom :) so many fun messes to clean up

Pumpkin Patch time with Porter!

Emma had fun wandering through all the pumpkins, the hayride, and being in the petting zoo, even though she wouldn't even attempt to touch any of the animals

We finally got grass in the backyard! Thomas worked hard prepping, laying down the sod, and planting some plants around the yard. It looks amazing compared to the ugly patch of dirt it was before. Now Emma has a yard to play in!

Halloween was so much fun. I made Emma's costume and I think it turned out super cute! She was Pebbles from the Flinstones (not to be confused with Bam Bam. he's a boy. not a girl.)

Emma's latest obsession: necklaces.

Necklaces, necklaces, and more necklaces.

She seriously can't get enough of these necklaces.

She plays with them for HOURS. yes, HOURS.

She puts them on her neck, takes them off, puts them in her purse or stroller, moves them to a different part of the house, and puts them back on...one by one. And then does it all again. It is TOO CUTE! (hence the millions of pictures).

Nelson Family Update:

1. Thomas has his finals this week (pray for him to do well!)

2. I started working from home part-time and Thomas has been such a good sport putting up with the messy house and last minute dinners.

3. Emma turned 18 months and that means...........nursery! She hasn't been doing so hot but we expected that...hopefully the screaming and crying won't last too long.....

4. I got called to serve in Young Women's as a Beehive advisor and I'm really excited. The girls are so cute and I feel like I'm buddies with them already. (Plus, now we have babysitters!)

5. Thanksgiving is just around the corner!! Thomas gets the whole week off and we are headed up to St. George for the festivities.

6. The weather has finally cooled off and we are loving it :)

7. Not sure if this is worth mentioning... aw what the heck. Breaking Dawn Part 1 comes out on Friday! (hehe) I'll admit, I'm a tiny bit excited....and Thomas even agreed to see it with me! WOOHOO! date night, yes.