Brittney and Ryan Nelson: 2008

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Gold Star

I figured out how to put video on my blog!! (finally! and I did it all by myself) just had to share how excited i am!

This Christmas was a little bit different than most have been for us. We had Christmas on Christmas Eve. My mom had to work Christmas day and the hospital and Ryan had to work Christmas night at SkyWest. So we did it a day early so we could all be together. Ryan surprised me Tuesday night. He always calls me when he is done at SkyWest and driving to UPS, we talked like usual. I was baking in the kitchen and I could here the people upstairs I heard them come downstairs and then my door started opening. I was really surprised. They are very nice but we don't really do a lot together so I though how wierd that they would just walk in my house!! I turned around and found Ryan poking his head in the door! That was a very good Christmas surprise! (I hate being alone at night) so we drove down to my parents house for our "Christmas eve." Christmas morning started at about 8, we don't have any little kids anymore. We opened presents with everyone, it was great. Our big present was a Wii, which has been very fun! Ryan's sister got him Rockband for Christmas which we also love, thanks so much Holly!!

Ryan is not one for surprises. When I got the present from Holly I had no idea what it was (i like surprises) so I was really excited! Ryan came home a knew exactly what it was! He ships them all the time at UPS, but he did open the corner just to be sure! We got games for the Wii and clothes from Ryan's parents. It was a good Christmas, Ryan even did get a few surprises like his present from my parents.

Here is Ryan opening his present. It was exciting for me because he didn't know what it was!! And if you know Ryan you know he LOVES to ski, and he especially loves to go to Grand Targhee so these were the perfect gift. Thanks mom and dad!

After we open presents my grandparents come over for a Waffle breakfast and so they come over for our traditional breakfast one day early. It was great!

Here are some pics of us playing mariokart, I didn't get dressed all day, it was great!! and I love to wear Ryan's sweatshirt so I know I am looking lovely!

And here are my parents playing Rockband, they did really well, my dad really liked playing the guitar. And here is our not so musically talented family actually playing rockband.

For dinner Ryan made Chinese, and it was great! We had szechwanbeef, sweet and sour chicken and pork dumplings. It took 2 hours to make everything but it was worth it.

Christmas day we just hung out, Ryan had to work that night and I went up to see my dad's parents with my family which was very nice. Until we had to drive home. It was raining a little earlier and then it suddenly turned to snow and was coming down. we probably got at least 6 in. that night. Ryan usually works until 9:30, he didn't get off until 2:30 in the morning because they shut down the airport and were canceling flights and then trying to get them out, it was ridiculous!

I stayed up until 12 playing Mario Galaxy on the Wii because I kept thinking he would be coming home. Then I watched Sleeping Beauty where I finally fell into a frustrated sleep because my husband was not home. And Friday night Ryan had to work again so I went down and stayed at my parents house because he and his brother Greg were going to try to go to Chili on saturday but because of the snow and flight cancellations it didn't work out, but they will go another time. At my house my mom and I made a cake I found in the Sunset magazine, it took forever but it was really good. It was called "Cranberry obsession snow cake." I was proud of us because we don't really bake fancy things, this was fun!

So that was our Christmas it was a little different but we made it work. The best part really is being with your family!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Christmas Cards

I am not trying to be a brat by saying I am not sending out Christmas cards. I really had the thought, but one of my biggest fears is creativity!! And I kept putting it off and putting it off. Then we finally got family pics...anyway by the time I am done with work, especially these last few weeks with my new coworker (it has been a nightmare) the last thing I was up to was trying to send out cards. Sorry to be a scrouge! I will try to be better next year. It will be a new years resolution! But I do appreciate all of your Christmas Cards, they make me so happy! And you all are much more creative than I and I admire that. So those are my excuses I hope they work for you. I love you all and hope you are able to get everything done before Christmas--1 more week!!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Family Pictures

Last Sunday when we went down to my parents house. we got our family pictures taken. Michelle's sister came over and we took pictures by some of the building behind our house and in the field across the street. I think we even had some cute ones!

Funny faces, ok I am pretty good at this one!

some more of the family

my siblings

And here are some of Ryan and I

Hope you enjoy the pictures because I am not sending out Christmas cards!!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Twilight

I did make it to see Twilight this weekend! Saturday night Ryan picked up a shift at Skywest from 5-9:30 so we went to the 10:30 show. It was packed with tons of high school girls! I did like it and Ryan even did too! That was the best movie we saw all weekend and believe me I saw some interesting ones! For Ryan's english class he got extra credit if he went to "World Wide Wayne" yes a weekend of John Wayne movies and other countries interpretations of them. Friday we saw "The searchers" I thought it might never end! But fortunately it did. Saturday we only made it to one matinee, we saw a Japanese version of the Three Godfathers, called the Tokyo Godfathers. It was a Japanese cartoon, at least it was more entertaining than the real John Wayne movie!! I even saw Twilight twice this weekend, we went again monday for my little sisters 18th Birthday!!

Tomorrow is my last day of work until next Tuesday! That is glorious! And early Thursday morning we are once again driving up to Rexburg for Thanksgiving with Ryan's family. It will be so nice to get away, and out of my little basement! Thursday night we are even staying in a themed suite! I am very excited!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Much ado about Nothing!

I really don't have anything exciting to show you. But I really have nothing to do tonight. I have no motivation to do any work and I already went to the gym (abs class, which I needed!) and got a pedicure (I deserve it!) And I did all of that after I worked 8 hours! What an amazing day! Usually I post about our exciting trips, since we haven't gone anywhere lately I have noting to post about so I decided to let you see what we do all the time. I know wow! I am currently wearing sweats drinking hot chocolate with plenty of marshmallows and listening to Taylor Swift radio. Ryan is at Skywest right now. He did pick me up from work on the scooter today! It was a little chilly, but we still enjoy a ride now and again. And he looked pretty hot with is hair windblown in his aviator sunglasses! Last wednesday I had dinner with my cousin Sara and her friends before she moved to California

Friday night we had a visitor! Ryan's sister Holly stayed with us in between fights from Idaho and Washington, we know what it is like to not make flights, but it was fun to have her here. We watched run fat boy run and when Ryan went to work Holly and I stayed up until 12:00, ok so not that late for her, but I am boring and go to bed at like 10:30! It was really fun to talk and get to know her better! Unfortunately our living conditions are not very conductive to visitors we only have one bedroom and one bathroom which is through our bedroom and the door does not close very tightly...and so our guests have to sleep on the living room floor on our camping pads, we do have a love seat, but it is a little short to sleep on. And Ryan comes home at 3 am!! But I like having visitors and anyone is welcome anytime! :)

Saturday we got up early for us, or at least Ryan, at about 8:30 got ready and took Holly to the airport. Then we tried to find some winter coats at DI to take to Alta to get a free pass, but we were a little late they had already given all the passes away by 11:30 am! at 12:30 we met Russ and Erica in Salt Lake and took Alice for a few hours so they could get some things done. She was a little shy at first and we dragged her up to Alta to get our ski passes and then to the Sandy expo center where Ryan's friend Sterling had a pottery booth, his stuff is really good! We walked around for a little while and ate free treats. Alice really liked the chocolate truffles. I gave her one and she held it in her hand for a second then saw I had another one and wanted it. I told her she could have another one when she ate the first one so she shoved it in her mouth and held her hand out for the next one. It was pretty cute! In the car on the way back to meet Russ and Erica she really livened up, probably all the sugar!! I would turn around in the seat and she would make faces at me and laugh. I did record a little we thought she said "butcrack" but I don't really know what she said, it was pretty funny. But since I don't know how to put movies on you don't get to see it.

Saturday night we went down to my house for my Brother Christian's 23rd birthday! We were supposed to have cake and ice cream at 7:00 they didn't arrive until after 9:00-late dinner! So we watched Tremors.

Ryan taught elders quorum on sunday, I obviously wasn't there but I am sure he did a great job!! I recently had 3 cavities filled. He told me they were small and when they asked me if I wanted silver or white fillings I told them silver on the ones you couldn't see (I didn't want to pay more for white fillings if they were on the backside of my back teeth!) Turns out I have 2 silver teeth in the back of my mouth. And it was my first experience having cavities filled without the gas. It was traumatic. I went home and was exhausted and just slept and watched a movie the rest of the day! It wasn't aware it could have such an effect!! I vowed the next time I go to the dentist I have to find someone who uses the gas it is absolutely necessary!! Lets see tomorrow I have water aerobics, Friday Twilight movie comes out I would LOVE to go see and Saturday we are going to a John Wayne film festival for extra credit in Ryan's writing class, see how much I love him! Anyway that is what is going on here. I know it doesn't get much more exciting than this! But it's life.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Just 'Cruisin' around

This last month has been pretty busy for us. Besides the fact that Ryan works all the time!! and I hardly see him and sleep alone every night!! Whenever we get the chance we take off! I guess it started the end of September, Ryan had one of 2 camping classes, then it was up to Rexburg for some mountain biking, we did stay home and lounge over conference weekend, so nice!! After that we went to MN to see my bestest buddy Kelltie and her cute little growing family and had a great time and last, then we went on a cruise to the bahamas, and last weekend Ryan had his last camping class!! We did work in there too! Whew, I am tired just thinking about all the traveling we have done especially after our cruise! That was a little stressful and a huge reminder why we don't plan things in advance, especially things we have to pay for!
So Ryan found a good deal on a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas who would say no to that. we figured since it wasn't really high season for flying we should be able to get there with minimal problems, WRONG!!! Thursday we were supposed to take the midnight flight to Atlanta, then it got moved to 4:50, and then when I got home from work we weren't going at all! Ryan had switched shifts at work to be able to leave early and so hadn't slept for like 2 days! And then instead of being able to come home and nap before we left he spent hours trying to find us a flight to Miami, and nothing. When I got home he was pretty much passed out in bed, poor guy! I proceeded to look up flights and found a flight to Denver that wasn't great but was better than most places and it left at 9 than at 1 am catch a flight to Atlanta and later Friday morning a flight to Miami and a taxi to the port. Nothing looked good, but by a miracle we made it!
The cruise was fun, we went of Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas. We stopped at 2 ports, the first was their own island Cococay and we really like that, it was just a nice beach and nice water and lounging around with a big buffet lunch! The weather was great in the 80's and not too humid.

Getting on the boat, after a long night of traveling!

Our room, was on the inside, small and dark, but good enough.

Here is the beach on CocoCay.

We only had one formal dinner, which was nice because I don't really have a lot of cocktail dresses! Dinner was good the first night I had lamb, the second night duck, and Ryan had es'cargo for his appetizer! And of course I always liked dessert!!

Here are Ryan's snails and him eating them! I even tried one, they really weren't bad, but just the thought of eating snails, I probably wouldn't pay for them at a restaurant!

The guy that cleaned our room left towel creations on our bed, the first time we weren't quite sure what it was?

we called it the creature. But the second day he made a little puppy! It was kind of fun!

The second stop was at Nassau in the Bahamas. It was interesting, the only beaches were hotel owned and there wasn't really a lot of shopping, not that we are huge souvenier shoppers, and there was a lot of poverty. the Hotel Atlantis was huge and looked fun to stay at, they had one aquarium you could walk around and see, but the see the other one and use there beach you had to buy a day pass, which we opted out of and just drove around the island on a ghetto scooter!! There happened to be a parade in the town that day and we almost didn't make it back to the boat! It was a little crazy, but a nice police officer let us be in the parade for a few blocks until we could reach the scooter rental place!

There were lots of fish in the aquarium a big sting ray and a really big manta ray! Neither of us got sea sick even though you could at times feel the boat rocking, the only time it was really bad was the last night heading back to Miami. We stayed up late and ordered room service just because we could so we thought we better take advantage of it! But neither of us could sleep due to the rocking of the boat, it was crazy being really tired I thought I might roll off the bed so I had to hang on to Ryan ;) !! All in all we had fun on the cruise and would do it again sometime.

Getting back was not so fun though! We got up to the main floor of the boat to check out at 7 am, checked out by 7:30 caught a cab and made it to the airport by 7:45. The customer service lady put us on the 10:30 am flight but there was no one in security and our gate was the first one past security so we ran over and they let us get on the 8:10 am flight! Lucky! To Altanta...not my favorite airport we ended up flying to Cincinnati, hanging out for a few hours then flew to Las Vegas. The flights from Vegas to SLC had 80 standby's on the list, we were at the bottom. So we got on a shuttle to St. George stayed with Ryan's friends parents, slept for 3 hours and caught a 6am flight to SLC then I went to work at 10!!! I am pretty sure everything we do has some kind of crazy adventure!! But I guess it keeps life interesting! This weekend we are keeping it simple all I requested was a date on Saturday night!

Just "Cruisin

Monday, October 13, 2008

Some Random Stuff

I guess we haven't been too exciting since my last post. Mostly been around here. September 26 was my mom's birthday Ryan had to work but I went down for a nice dinner. It was a really nice night so my dad wanted to eat outside. Spencer built a table for us to eat at while my dad made dinner. They ever strung lights around the backyard, I thought it was very nice and thoughtful! I have a wonderful family and the best mom ever! She is always working hard and taking care of her family, going to games and dance recitals...and calling to check up on me! Mom I love you so much!

The weekend before conference we flew up to Jackson where Ryan's brother Bryce picked us up and they biked the pass while I shuttled them up and down. I did get some reading in and they actually only went twice. But Jackson was really pretty and the weather was beautiful!

Here is my awesome biker!

After the ride we hung out at Bryce and Liliya's and had fun seeing them and the kids. Shad loved wearing the helmet and wanted Ryan to wear his too. I thought it was a cute pic!

Shad was wearing the helmet and riding his bike, the first time we wasn't quite used to the weight and totally crashed, it was kind of funny! But he is tough.

Ryan got some new Line skis for his birthday and this last week we took them in to get his bindings mounted. It was such a happy day! Now he just can't wait for the snow to come, I can.

He is also smiling because he knows he has the best wife in the world!! :) But I have to admit I have a pretty darn good husband too! And attractive!

This last weekend we got to go out to Minnesota to see Kelltie, Paul, and Camryn. Kelltie is so cute and pregnant. It is fun to see her as my best friend and now a wonderful mom! I love you Kelt! we had a great time. Sunday we went to the sculpture gardens and got our pic taken by the giant spoon and cherry! It didn't even rain on us until we were leaving--that worked out well.

unfortunately I didn't get a pic with Kelltie but I am grateful to have such a wonderful friend! Thanks!! So that is what we have been up to lately.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Family

So nothing new is really happening here. I keep checking peoples blogs who haven't updated forever so I decided I better post something!! This week starts a few months of really crappy. Ryan started his new Sky West shift today. Basically I work all day and Ryan goes to school then he works wed-fri. from 5:30- 9:30 at SkyWest and then he will go straight to UPS for his 10-3 shift. So basically I will get to see him for lunch if he can get up and at 3 in the morning. I am really not too excited for that. And this week is even worse because he has his camping class Fri-Sun. Blah. But on the bright side he now has weekends off! we haven't had that in a long time! Our third new employee at work quite on tues. Just the same as the last flaky girl! I got a long phone message when I went in that morning explaining that in the 2 weeks she was here she started looking for a new job without alerting us to the situation, then didn't give any notice just quit. I think I have fun out of faith that there is actually a person out there who might work hard, at a good job with friendly people and the ability to be very flexible! I just laughed when I heard the message I didn't even stress out, which is amazing for me. So that is our boring lives right now.

But on Aug. 30 my cute sister in-law Ashley got married! And we took our first road trip in who knows how long and sadly it was only a 3.5 hour drive from here to Rexburg, but it was rough! ;) Here are some pictures from the very hot saturday at the beautiful wedding. Ashley and John we are so excited for you guys!!

Here is Ryan and his older brother Bryce, next us.

So Bryce and his wife Liliya have the most adorable kids. They have 4 and we love going up to Rexburg to play! They were really excited to ride in our car to the reception afterward.

So I tried unsuccessfully to load a video but still have not been able to figure it out! I had a cute video of Shad upset because we didn't have enough pictures of him on our camera and he wanted to see "Shadrack" as he was calling himself! It was so cute

I have to say I am always impressed with my sister-in-law Liliya she has so much patience and faith especially when it comes to handling her 4 adorable and very very energetic kids! She is a great example to me!
So I married into a great family!

Friday, August 29, 2008

East Canyon

Last weekend we went up to East canyon for my work party. I'll just tell you now I am not very good at directions, and sadly enough there were like 2 turns! But I will explain why, Dr. Bateman printed off directions on google maps and it seemed simple enough but the exit we were supposed to take was closed so we had to take the next exit and get back on. Well the directions said to get off exit 134 toward UT-165 and then on the next line it said turn left onto UT-165 and then it had .4 miles. So we got off and went left since it was really the only way you could go, and .4 miles passed and there was no turn off when we came to a left turn we took it and there were no signs saying what road you were on. So we ended up going down emigration canyon a few miles before we decided it was the wrong road. Once we were headed in the I read the directions to Ryan and we both realized that the left hand turn referred to the turn off the exit ( I still don't know why they had to make that one step into 2 confusing steps!!) Ryan was a little frustrated with me! But the rest of the day was a blast! I love being out in the sun doing anything and boating is especially fun, my favorite thing to do it tubing which we did first and I forgot to bring the camera on the boat or we would have had some GREAT pictures and videos. I went 2 times once with Cathy and next with Ryan and I am the kind of person who will hang on for dear life because I don't want to go flying off so I was the tube champ! Sunday and monday however I couldn't move! I could hardly put my shirt on, I hurt so bad! We also tried wakeboarding which neither Ryan or I have ever done, I have water skied before. Ryan went first and did great!

and he is also very good looking!!
But he got up his first try. I knew he would because he is good at things like that.

Here he is wakeboarding. He got out of the wake and even did a few jumps, a few more times and he will be doing flips! I however did not get up...it was really hard and I was probably more sore than I knew at the time, but I did try. I have some videos but I can't get them on. So maybe next time. But that was fun

Sunday we spoke in church about the Power of prayer I think it went well and I am so happy it is over. That was the first time I have had to speak since we have been married. Ryan's talk was great and very powerful.

Monday was very eventful. I went to work like every other day and Ryan started another semester at the U. That afternoon I got a call from him. He said "I might have bought something" I said you might have or you did? He did and it was a surprise so he stopped by. The surprise was for me, it was an I phone!! Sweet! I was excited we have been looking at getting one and they had a good deal at the school so it finally convinced Ryan. I think he was just buttering me up for his next phone call. He called me again later and wanted permission ( he asked this time because it is much bigger) to buy skis! I am so nice and said yes so he got his birthday present early! It was kind of a crazy day! But fun! So now I am all caught up for at least a day. Tomorrow we are driving up to Rexburg for Ryan's sister Ashley's wedding! We are way excited!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Italy--Roma

Don't worry, we did go to Italy. I just get overwhelmed thinking about getting all my pictures ready to put on the blog. I have to export them all from I Photo to the desktop...anyway its very time consuming. But here we are. Italy was great, if you can imagine! We left SL on saturday morning, flew to Cincinnati and them to Rome. We got into Rome about 11 am sunday morning, lots of traveling! Fortunately we flew business class and got to sleep. Russ and Erica picked us up and we went straight to sightseeing in Rome! It was fantastic!!! Hot and humid, and we walked all over. Most of the touristy sights were within walking distance of each other so that was nice. we went to the Roman Forum which I believe used to be temples for different Roman Gods all in ruins now, but fascinating if you like that kind of stuff. I loved it! Sorry this blog is going to have lots of pictures it is hard to choose which ones to put in hopefully you enjoy I figured at least Caroline will like it! Here are some pic's of the Forum:

The inside of an arch, and some standing columns

Ryan drinking out of a city fountain, more Forum

Russ, Erica, Ryan and I at Forum, some government buildings

Here is a frieze on the arch at the Forum, me at a small fountain people were wading in, and a huge fountain with lots of sculptures it was beautiful!

Here is the pantheon the building with the hole in the middle, we didn't get to go in because it was closed by the time we got there, but here is the view from the outside, and Ryan and Russ inside the Peter and Paul's prison.

Here are some more columns still standing in the forum and now for the Colosseum pictures!

And here is the Vatican City. St. Peters we didn't get to go inside once again it was closed when we got there but the outside was cool. There is a spot you can stand and look at the 4 rows of columns and it looks like there is only one. we didn't get to see the Sistine Chapel either which is in the Vatican, closed, nor the Pope!

On to Elba island, that is right the island where Napoleon was exiled! Here is a view of the island, Napoleon's fortress, and Ryan and I on the boat. Elba is a very popular european vacation spot, I think we were the only American's on the island. We did walk around the fortress but we didn't go inside, expensive!

Our first day on the island we stayed on the beach below our campsite. Oh yes we camped the whole trip. It wasn't too bad actually they had pretty nice showers and the camp sites were flat and no rocks. To get to the beach you had to walk down a little cliff trial to a rocky beach. It literally was a rock beach, no sand but the water was nice.

Here I am at the top of the trial to the beach, some of the water we snorkeled in and a pic of the beautiful sunset.

Our second day on Elba we rented a boat and drove around the island and snorkeled in different places. Ryan even got stung by a little purple jelly fish, I was a little wary to get in the water after that. But he is fine.

It is kind of hard to see in this pic. but Ryan got stung on top of his foot, and it was swollen and red for awhile.

After our long car ride across and up Italy in a small European car which I unfortunately did not get a picture of, we went to Pordenone close to where Erica is from. Actually we got to her house ate at a delicious pizzeria and went to bed. The next morning we went to the airport, but Lufthansa airlines went on strike shortly after we arrived in Italy canceling their Trans-Altantic flight aka flights home for us and putting all their passengers on Delta flights, which means standby passengers such as our selves got the boot! Needless to say we did not make our flight Russ and Erica volunteered to stay and be put on a different flight but they wouldn't let them so we stayed and went back to Erica's house with her family. They were so very kind and hospitable. Erica's family was in town from all over and so her brother and his wife took us shopping in Pordenone. So here we are in the little shopping streets. And some of the buildings even had original paint(?) but most came off when the plague came through and they covered all the buildings with some kind of mortar ruining the old frescoes.

That night we went to a little beach town north of Venice with Erica's family

For dinner we had seafood of course. Erica's dad asked us if we liked fish we said yes and off we went. At the restaurant there was no fish on the menu. Her dad ordered for us a seafood sampler, and a seafood spaghetti plate. The sampler included: octapus, squid, shrimp, some kind of little lobster and some other things I have forgotten now. We tried them all and most of it was pretty good I have to admit although I don't think I would order them again for fear they aren't fresh and cooked well and are too rubbery! Our main course of spaghetti included clams which was my first time (well a first for all of this!) and they were really good, there was some lobster and squid and then there was a sea creature her dad called a scampi--I just couldn't do it. You had to break it open to get the meat, the whole creature was just laying in you spaghetti!!! Ryan was brave and tried it! So if you are in Italy and someone asks if you like fish just be aware that you are most likely not getting "Fish."

The next morning we went to the airport at 5:00 am because they had to take their son to the airport for a 6am flight ours wasn't until 11:00 so we spent a few hours in the Venice Marco Polo airport, sleeping on benches. We actually made that flight. By some miracle they let all the stand-by passengers on, probably to get rid of them some people had been trying to get home for 3 days!! We even got business class on the way back. I have never been so happy to get on a plane! Next to being able to get our of JFK! So we had a great trip!

Sorry this post is sooo long you might have to take a nap in the middle, but it is finally up and i am so happy!

Brittney and Ryan Nelson