March 2012--Kari and Kids visit for Spring Break!

    I missed my family so much while I was gone in Arizona with my aunts, it was so good to see them.  And I even got roses from Chris so I think he missed me too! 

 We love it when cousins come visit, even when we are all crammed into a 3 bedroom apartment!  Kari and the kids love the beach and the pool just like us so we spent a lot of time at those two places!  Then we wanted to celebrate the kids birthdays so we took Brayden to RideMakerz with Carter (his new favorite place in Downtown Disney). And we tried to have Kari take Bailie to American Girl for her birthday (since she has never been there) but they got into a little fender bender on the way!:(

   So we got to have them stay in town even longer while the car got fixed.  They all went to Kennidy's violin recital and Madison's Dr. Seuss play! And we made up for it by taking Bailie to make her first Build A Bear with McKinley!  Kari also gets along great with my old neighbor Heather and they had fun hitting the singles scene at the Ranch Country Dance club!

   These are my roller-blading friends (Heather, Bethany and Valerie) and we try to go every Friday pushing our littles in the stroller.  This day we had extras as I was watching Braxton for Kari (because she was supposed to go to American Girl that day) and our friend Korey came too with her little girl.  Sometimes we really push ourselves and run back down the trail instead of blading. I'm sure running the whole way would be the best work out but then we wouldn't get to talk as much! ;)

February 2012-Nelson Girls Trip to Arizona

Not long after our family trip to Mammoth, I left for a quick weekend trip to join Aunt Diane, Lisa, Linda and their daughters Brandalyn & Kara!  I also got to pop over and see Kari and her kids for a dinner so that was fun too!!  Chris helped set us up at a beautiful Marriott hotel and we had a fabulous weekend relaxing at the spa, laying by the pool, getting nice tans and shopping!

February 2012-Mammoth Ski trip!

  Over President's Day weekend we went to Mammoth with our friends Scott and Heather and their family! We absolutely LOVED seeing our big kids up on skiis together while staying in their gorgeous mountain cabin! 

We missed church on Sunday after realizing it was Stake Conference so we had a fun family outing riding the tram at the lodge.

We also loved to hot tub in their snowy backyard at the cabin and ice skating in town.  The adults favorite part was our fancy date night at a steak house nearby.  What a fabulous winter vacation for our little Californian kiddos!

February 2012-Chris's Birthday and Valentine's

     Living in the apartment wasn't too bad though because we were hardly ever home! From preschool field trips at Pretend City to visits at the beach with Uncle Matt to Activity Days parties we kept pretty busy.  

   And then it was February and we celebrated Chris's 39th Birthday in style with balloon love notes and 39 playing cards with fun memories on them.  We also started a tradition of going to dinner with his old BYU buddy Tony and his wife Michelle who now live in Laguna Beach.  

    McKinley got sick with her first breathing treatment which was scary for me since I hadn't had to do those much since Rhode Island with Kennidy maybe...  She got better quickly though and loved helping me make Sugar cookies for Valentine's Day to take to her preschool and our friends.  I was also in the classroom for Carter's Valentine party so that was fun too!

   Madison is growing up so fast and loves it when her sister Kennidy likes to give her new hairstyles and make overs. Madison also insisted on doing her 4th grade Mission project for school ALL by Herself! And I think it turned out pretty good!

January 2012-Mission Lake Ward and House Hunting

Since our apartment is just a temporary lease, we got to stay in the Mission Lake ward where Chris is in the Bishopric and I am still loving Activity Days (my calling since I was released from Stake YW Secretary when Chris was put in the Bishopric).  Somedays we even walk to church or home from church since our apartment is across the street! In this picture McKinley is taking her turn wearing the orange dress my mom made for me and even cross-stitched! We are learning to be more creative with activities in the apartment--yoga workouts in front of the TV and playing Barbies in the closet! We miss our backyard so much!

  Chris and Carter got to go with our good friends Scott and Scotty to a BYU game down in San Diego for some 'guy time'.  And we spent most of our free time looking at houses in Tijeras Canyon ward and Ladera Ranch. It was pretty tough business for little Reagan and McKinley as they were always with us!

January 2012--Back to Apartment Life!

I can't believe it's already 2012!!  We came home from Utah and right back to our ward and apartment life... Detached garage & no backyard--so we go on hikes or play games. It reminds me of my childhood in the blue house on the farm when we would build forts in the kitchen. 

The girls also had their piano recital with teacher Cathy Hanson whom they share with Madison and Kelsey. They all did so well and were so darling! I also got to celebrate my friend Valerie's birthday with a Girls Night Out Ice Skating at the Spectrum and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory! Sometimes it's fun to pretend we are young again;)

Christmas Break 2011-Winter Cabin at The Canyons!

We decided to go in with my brothers on a nice big mountain cabin at the Canyons after Christmas hoping to ski and play in the snow but unfortunately the weather didn't comply--it RAINED the entire time we were there!! The kids were so sad not to ski but we planned some other fun activities instead! I took the kids on snow hikes, we played lots of games, watched movies in the theater room, played pool and the girls even all got their nails done one day! It was a beautiful place regardless of the weather and so fun to spend time there with every sibling except Brycen and Lori--whom Carter missed the most of without any boy cousins left his age!