Updates

Well Hawaii was wonderful, of course! I will have to post some pics later. We drove to Hana and camped for 2 nights, it was beautiful. The 2 hour drive was really pretty, but not very relaxing!! The little 2 lane road sometimes narrowed into one lane and became pretty scary! But we survived. We hung out for a little bit at a black sand beach which was cool, but it wasn't a swimming or laying out beach, mostly just come look and go beach. We did find a local beach that was pretty nice and a red sand beach which you had to do a little hiking to get to, but once you were there it was amazing! The rocks created a little bay like area that you could snorkel around in and see some pretty cool fish. It was apparently a well known nudist beach! Could have done without that!! We didn't camp on the beach. The campsite was more like a big open field with a few trees and you could see and hear the waves crashing into the cliffs that separated you from the ocean, it was beautiful! We tried some of the local fare. Chicken plates with rice and macaroni salad. Basic but good. The last 2 nights we went back over to the main part of the island and stayed in a hotel. Besides the fact that there was a shower it was about as nice as camping! But it worked, even though little lizards could get in through the crack where the air conditioning was and that kind of freaked me out! It was a great trip! I love Hawaii. I think I could live there. It is the prefect temperature and you have a beach and you never have to deal with SNOW!!
I can't believe Thanksgiving has already come and gone. I have been looking forward to it and now it is already gone. It makes me not want to look forward to Christmas because I don't want it to be over! (maybe just the cold snowy part!) I started working at St. Marks Hospital as a CNA on in med/surg. Right now I am working Thurs, Fri. and Saturday nights from 7pm-7am. I can handle the hours ok, it is just hard to go! Hopefully once school gets out I can work more during the week. The nice thing is once I am done with school I will have 4 days off! Love it!
We saw Harry Potter, twice, on Imax! LOVED it!
My sister Leslie came home from Ecuador. She was volunteering at an orphanage for 3 months! The boys were pretty upset when she extended her stay a few weeks! It is so sweet that they missed her. We all missed her and it is great to have her home. It was fun to pick her up from the airport and see how excited she was to see us!







We spent Thanksgiving with Ryan's family in Park City. Well everyone else spent the week in Park City, Ryan and I commuted back and forth for school and work! But is was still fun. Even though Saturday before Thanksgiving I had to drive down in a snow storm and it took me 2 hours to get to work when it would have normally taken only 1/2 hour! It was not fun. The Blizzard of the century came and went without much blizzard! and hardly any snow! But Utah went into panic mode and scared everyone to death, over nothing! We have had bigger storms before and after that nobody has said anything about! Hello we live in Utah it snows! (even though I don't like it) It was great to have everyone together for Thanksgiving though! We even managed to get some pretty good family pictures!



And of course Thanksgiving dinner was delicious!


What a great start to the holiday season! Spending a whole week with family who are now scattered all over! And meeting some of them for the very first time! It's now back to the grind. School is almost over, on the final stretch!! I am so excited to be done! Ryan will graduate with his bachelors in communications! My nursing application is due in January. Ryan is still working for UPS but out at the airport and from about 2-8 on mondays and 4am-8am tues-fri. Still crazy hours but somehow they seem better! :) I love him so much he is the BEST! Once we make it through finals we just have to pray I get into the nursing program! So if I don't post very much it is probably because I am either studying or exhausted! But life is good, we are truly blessed!

Happy Holidays!

In case you were wondering...

This is where we are going for fall break!! AHHH can't wait!!

Summer 2010

This is Mama's house in Mount Pleasant Utah we went down and helped clean it out because we sold it. The first time I went down with my dad I was ahead of him by about 20 minutes and I hadn't been down in probably 15 years so I drove around and tried to find it, I knew I couldn't miss it because it is ORANGE!! I was right when I saw it I knew. Sara, so you remember mama "teaching us to drive" the riviera? "be careful" she said to you "it jack knifes off the road!" that is all I remember her saying. I didn't want to try to drive after that!

This is my tart flag I made for the 4th of July. Ok so it doesn't look exactly like it did in the magazine but it was delicious!



Here is a picture update of our summer. I was in school and Ryan worked almost non-stop, but we managed to fit in some fun!
Fireworks at sugarhouse park.
One day we were driving up 4th South, past the cemetery and I saw a bunch a deer, little baby ones, they were so cute! We went home grabbed the camera and drove through the cemetery looking for them. Apparently they live there but it was still exciting to see the cute little babies.
If you look close you can see the little baby laying down.

Summer was full of visits from family. It started off with Ryan's brother Greg his wife Michelle and there 2 boys Deagan and Kayden who we met for the first time. Greg got back from 3 weeks in Israel! And we got to see them before they headed back to NY.


Then was the Nelson family reunion. Practically in our backyard at This is the Place State Park. Bryce, Liliya and there kids came down along with Carol, Dale and Melissa. Friday we hit Raging Waters, it was a blast!




They could have stayed all night!! Saturday I went to the Family Reunion with Ryan's family while Ryan slept. Then we went shopping at the outlets in Park City and what do you know swimming again!

We did have a break in between semesters and Ryan also had a week off from UPS so we went up to Jackson and went camping.





We had a friendly deer that kept coming through our campsite hoping we would feed it. I could have reached out and touched him he was so close. The first morning fellow campers came by to let us know there was a bear sighted in the campground, we were the only ones in a tent...we did some hiking, Ryan did some biking and we had pitiful fire. The wood was wet so all it would do was smoke, but I did make some mighty nice marshmallows! Ryan did take me to see Eclipse at the Spud drive-in. How romantic! :)
Holly and Brad also spent a few days with us on there way back from Missouri. Then over labor day weekend Bryce and Liliya ditched the kids to come hang out. We had love having people come stay, so thanks to everyone who took a little time to stop by!
School is going. Ryan's last semester and the first time we have ever gone to a football game, although we did watch them other years. This year we decided to go to a few games. We took my brother Tanner and cousin Chad to the UNLV game. It was a blast and the perfect day for a football game.



We even went and got us some red shirts so we could show our school spirit!! We had so much fun we are going to get tickets to the next game. I hope Caroline is proud of me. I always think of here when I watch football! GO UTES!

Lame

Not that many of you care. But our hard drive is full so we haven't been able to get pictures off the camera onto the computer so I haven't felt the need to blog. Not that things are super exciting.
School started again, Ryan's last semester! I am so excited! And a few more for me! It has been a pretty busy summer with school and work and family, but it has been great! I think we had almost all of Ryan's family here at one point or another this last month, it has been so much fun to have visitors!
Tomorrow we are going to the U game with Tanner and Chad and we are so excited! It should be a perfect day too. I wanted to go to a game before it starts getting too cold.
Anyway were still around I will post some pictures soon.

Who's driving this CRAZY thing!

This crazy thing just happens to be my life right now!! I am past the super stressed out point of just coming home and crying because it has been a long day and Ryan is making dinner! I am sleeping better and I am now done with my first 2 tests.
In case you didn't know I am back in school. I decided to go back and get into nursing, and the U has an accelerated program where I can get my bachelors in nursing in a year because I already have a bachelors degree. I just need to finish a few prereqs. This semester I am taking Physiology (yes I did take that the first time around but it has been over 7 years so I now have to retake my anat and phys!) That makes me feel old! and I am also taking into to bio-organic chem. and yes it is just as fun as it sounds! I am still working at Wasatch...and on the weekends because I have nothing better to do I am taking a CNA course it is 5 days ( Sat/Sun...Sat/Sun...Sun) and they are 10 hour days! It is killer! But hopefully it will help get me into school and get a job! Oh I almost forgot on Fridays I volunteer at St. Marks hospital in the NICU for 4 hours.
My family is going to CA for a week and we don't get to go because of school and Ryan can't get work off. I am definitely going to need a break at the end of this semester. And that doesn't' count church callings! I am in the Stake Primary presidency and we are both on the Activities committee...Ryan is still working UPS nights, just got an early morning shift mowing lawns at the golf course and teaches Elders quorm. Ryan has been WONDERFUL though. He did the laundry the other day, cleaned the apt. he makes dinner and lunch. He even helps me study since he has taken organic chemistry he is my tutor. The other night he went through my notes and marked out what chapters to read in my book. I wouldn't survive without him!! Sorry no pictures, studying isn't all that interesting and my house is now a disaster! I guess that is a working students life!

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who either did not get the census or did not fill it out, you helped give Ryan (another) job! I think Ryan loves part time jobs. He is now working for the 2010 Census. He gets to go around to people in the area who have not returned the census. Conveniently he gets to go to the student housing since no one got the census. I love all of Ryan and his crazyness!
I have the week off so now I feel like I need to stay up late just because I can...so here are some random pics from the last little while.

One nice sunny Sunday we were at my parents house for dinner and the boys here first hitting golf balls at one of the sheds, then throwing them...boys? And my brothers love anything that has to do with throwing balls!




Then we decided to go to the golf course to find more golf balls. Christian and Tanner, who are so very much alike! wanted to scour the hillside, the rest of us didn't so we drove down and met them at the base of the canyon, where there was a little pond on one of the holes. Leslie and Michelle were being so helpful and finding golf balls they even waded into the pond to grab them! Silly girls!




Spencer who is now 16, gets to drive around the awesome Riviera and since we were being nostalgic I decided to wear one of grandma's hats! Pretty sweet!




Tanner turned 14 this year and I have to say we are pretty darn good gift givers not only did we get him the video game he wanted he got glow in the dark silly putty!! (Last year he wanted $8 worth of silly putty, which we did!)


and how often do you see this??



Here are some more cute pictures from our last trip up to Rexburg. I just can't resist, they are too cute!




Again not really too much going on here. Ryan has one more project to finish then his semester is done!! I am sooo happy!

My Sweet Husband

I just have to say how grateful I am for Ryan. He takes such good care of me. The beginning of April I had a few lipomas out usually they just numb the area with lidocane, make a small incision and pop the little bugger out. But because of the locations of these 3 they put me out. We had to be at hospital at 7:30 in the am. Not Ryan's favorite time of day, but he drove me and hung out for a couple hours at the hospital. Apparently I didn't want to wake up! He picked up my rx and helped me hobble into the apartment. We laid on the couch and Ryan took a nap by me on the floor while I slept on the couch. He is so sweet.
That night was my brother Spencers 16th birthday and I really wanted to be there, so we drove down and Ryan went to dinner with my family while I laid drugged on the couch! He was so sweet to take me down so I could "celebrate" Spencers birthday! I can't believe he is 16. He gets to drive my Grandma's awesome Riviera around and he loves it!
I love Ryan so much he cook and cleaned and didn't even complain when I couldn't shower for 3 days!! That night when he came home from work and got into bed he asked if he could still hold me. It was so sweet if I wasn't so delirious I probably would have cried. I love it when he holds me while I fall asleep. He takes such good care of me I don't know what I would do without him!

One more thing

We did go up to Rexburg to visit. And had fun playing the Beatles Rockband with Bryce Liliya, Holly, Brad and the kids. I did get some video of Ada dancing. She is so freaking cute!

and sorry most of this one is out of focus. We have so much fun when we come up and love visiting!

Februaryness

February is over, yea! Spring is finally coming! Really not much is going on here. It is finally warming up and I LOVE it! I get to work from home on Wednesdays which I am obviously loving as well.
February 23 we celebrated our 3rd anniversary. It wasn't great. That day at least. I worked Ryan had class until 8:30. We had lunch and dinner together and then Ryan had to work that night. Since we didn't get to celebrate that day we celebrated on Saturday with a trip to the spa. Glorious! The Kura door is a holistic Japanese spa. We started our "lovers retreat" with a 40 minute Japanese bath then an hour massage. After the massage which was wonderful we got to sit in the sauna and steam room for as long as we wanted. Ryan said we needed to do this twice a year! I agree. So it did turn out to be a good anniversary! I love Ryan so much! He works so hard to make sure we are all taken care of I don't know what I would do without him. He is the love of my life!
In February I was also called to be the first counselor in the stake Primary Presidency! Very intimidating but it will be great. The President is awesome and I have to admit I am pretty lucky to be the 1st counselor instead of the 2nd! She has to do all the scout stuff!! I am over Nursery and Baptisms. So far it has been a great experience. I think that is about all the exciting stuff I have for now. Maybe I will post again this month? We will see what happens.

Merry Christmas!

You know Christmas must have been GOOD if it has taken me a month to get this post out! Actually it was really fun! Ryan worked until about 2:30am Christmas Eve morning, came home picked me up and we drove to Rexburg to carpool with Bryce Liliya and the kids. About 1/2 way to Rexburg at 4 in the morning the car overheats! We are practically in the middle of nowhere and it is 2 degrees outside!! But we managed to fix it quick and never had anymore problems.
Mari, Shad, Bellen, and Ada are really the best nieces and nephew we could ever ask for but I was a little nervous to drive that long in a car with kids, memories. Driving to California with my family growing up, not fun. It was ALL I could think about, fighting over space who is touching who...................... The drive up was awesome! I drove with Liliya and we talked the whole time it was so much fun! And the girls were perfect! We got to Ephrata about 6:00 pm and everyone was there! That is what Christmas is all about. Christmas Eve we did the Nativity program. The kids "acted" it out. Actually they mostly wandered around in their costumes while we read scriptures and sang songs.
John played the guitar while we sang hyms.





Ada as Mary



Belen as and Angel




Some of the Family and the rest of the Nativity





Cute Shad

Sorry this is out of order, but I almost forgot our Christmas tree! We went to Wyoming to cut it down. Bought a tree stand that turned out to be too big for our little tree which ended up falling over one night and instead of putting it back up we just leaned it against the wall! Ghetto!



And a cool picture of our ornament Ryan took.

Back to our Christmas trip. Sorry this post is going to be long, I will try not to take anymore detours!

There were 18 people in one house for Christmas and it was great! Christmas morning the kids were so patient to wait for Ryan and I to get up since we were sleeping on the hid-a-bed in the family room! We didn't sleep in too long! It was so much fun to have the little kids at Christmas, seeing how excited they were about everything! Here is Christmas morning...
Of course we had to have breakfast before we opened presents. I'm not sure if Ada is trying to figure out what Deagan in eating or if she wants some? And the presents before the it all began.


Liliya was the creative genius behind the calendar, it turned out great! As well as the winning emotional gift for Carol.




Bryce Liliya and the kids opening presents, of course there was a little drama.





Shad got Bakugan for Christmas, I think he was excited every time he opened a Bakugan present, even though the one before was bakugan! It was great! He even got a bakugan wii game and was super excited to watch Bryce and Ryan play it for him! Awesome!


Brad got an I Phone. Nice.

They also got a wii!

Ashley got a jumper (Holly seemed to love it!) and Deagan was worn our from all the excitement and presents!






I know I look amazing, but it was early. We got Ea Active for the Wii and Ryan got a sweater...hum... Carol did put the receipt in the sweater.

We played with all our new toys, had a delicious turkey dinner. The boys played football and we enjoyed being together.
Saturday was Melissa's Birthday and Mari asked if we could go iceskating for her birthday, it was Mari's lucky day because we did! Mari and Shad LOVED it! They kept saying it was the best day ever.






We also had fun playing Melissa's dancing game on the Wii. And just so you know Bryce killed everyone!


The kids dancing are adorable, and notice pregnant Michelle going for it as well! Michelle and Ashely are both pregnant and due at the end of March it was fun to see them. Sunday was Bryce's birthday and since we were leaving sunday morning we celebrated Saturday night. Carol made 2 cakes from scratch. A german chocolate and an angel food cake. I am craving the german chocolate cake right now! yummy!! We ate so much good food I am sure I gained at least 5 pounds the short weekend we were there! I am still trying to find the motivation to work it all off, that is what EA active is for right?





Ryan took some family pictures since we were all together. It was a very sunny day though! But we got some pretty good ones!



Sorry so many of us, we don't have very many we haven't taken ourselves.
Here is the whole family!

Even though it was a short trip it was so worth it. The drive was long, but the kids were amazingly good.
I had a little cold before we went up and thought it was getting better, but Saturday after Christmas I started having a hard time breather and it kept getting worse. Finally Ryan told me I needed to go to the doctor. I think I was scaring him. So Monday when we got back I went to the doctor and it turned out I had bronchitis. I felt so bad being around everyone the whole weekend and being sick, but fortunately I don't think anyone else got sick!
These holidays have been some of the best since we have been married. Ryan quit SkyWest before Thanksgiving so we had thanksgiving together with my family. He didn't have a ton of time off for Christmas but he did have Christmas Eve, and Christmas off so we had a nice weekend, then he had New Years off! That was the greatest present of all! New Years day my grandparents take the whole family bowling it is always something we look forward to.

Oh yes and one of our presents was a remote start for our Four Runner and we got it installed yesterday. It is AMAZING. We were kind of nervous it might not work, if we couldn't park close enough, but when we pressed the button and it went green I have to admit I jumped up and down and screamed! I know kind of lame. But it is so exciting!
Sorry about the super long post. That is why I don't do it too often! 3 hours later at 1:30 in the morning I am definitely done.