18 months

On December 2nd Kelsey turned 18months. She actually has been going to nursery since we moved to Provo so there was no real celebration in her honor. I really wanted to get her 18month pictures but was a little worried because Kelsey, well she just doesn't like to smile. Its just not her thing for pictures. When we got to the place, the lady kept asking me "What does she like to do?" Well, she likes to climb and explore.  Lets capture that picture lady! Its almost like she didn't believe me because finally after all these pictures, I suggested we just call it good and move on. The photographer was happy to oblige. I still think these pictures are adorable because I think Kelsey is adorable, but I can also say that I only bought one in hard copy! Kelsey is just hard to capture at these stage.

Don't get me wrong, I love the pictures because I think she looks so cute but all she wanted to do was climb the props and play. That combination just doesn't leave many options for good pictures.




Kelsey at 18 months is just a lot of fun. I know I may eat my words some moments, but I can also say that she is really easy. We have such a routine down and she can communicate so well that we just do our thing. Kelsey is also really go with the flow so its just sorta easy right now. Don't be fooled though! There are still days that I just want to quit my job and move to Hawaii, but mostly its not so bad.

I am shamelessly copying Julie's format but her it goes

Kelsey loves reading

Climbing,

Punzel (Rapunzel aka Tangled)

Elmo

Being outside/ walks

Nursery

Dancing

Fruit snacks!!!!!

Rice, noodles, bananas, and oranges

Chips and popcorn and candy

And babies (awe, baby!)

House? Hello!

She is at a weird stage for eating. She wouldn't eat a hot dog, carrots, or a roll, but had 3 helping of KALE!!! KALE!!!

Kelsey does not like

Sleeping without her binky! (a new years resolution that I am still too scared to face.)

Smiling for pictures

Showers

Sitting in a grocery cart (if she can stand I have more time)

Pretty much any food with nutrition value

Being left inside while someone goes outside

Sand and water (the beach)

And Changing her diapers

The cutest thing about this age is that she actually gets friends. Sadie is in the same nursery class AND lives across the parking lot. The only way we can get Kelsey moving on Sunday mornings is if I say, Want to go to Nursery and see sadie? She gets so excited. Every time we go out side, she always runs towards Sadies house yelling her name. They play so cute together. I love watching them. 

I love being with Kelsey these days. She is so cute and I love watching her turn into a little person. The way she learns, the way she copies us, and the way she tries to do everything her self. She is super independent but I am trying to teach her that it is okay to ask for help. If she gets frustrated she will go, Helf (help) Pleeease.! She also does not understand that just because she says please that doesn't mean that she always gets what she wants. Example. She sees chips, Chips Please. Its cute but its not magic. We love you Smooch. You smile so easily, love to laugh, give the best hugs and kisses and make my day so much better. You are a wonderful person and I am so glad you were sent to our family.

The Windy City

 

Ethan's crazy travels in and out of Chicago paid off, because while he was there, he got an offer from Gallup for a summer internship position. We have agreed to this offer and so folks, we are moving to Chicago for the summer of 2014. CHICAGO!!! I always knew that our internship would take us somewhere outside of Utah, but CHICAGO!!! I am totally excited and totally nervous. We don't have details yet, but are researching like crazy. The plan/goal right now is to do anything "Chicago." We want to make the most out of this crazy adventure. AHHH!! I am so nervous and can't wait! 

So I was trying to explain to Ethan why I am so nervous, and basically it came down to this:

 This is where I grew up,

 

and this is where I am moving to!! WHAT!!

 

  

I mean, I've never even been on a bus!!! I am such a smallish city, west coast girl! It is going to be such an exciting summer. I can't wait for our adventure and for my opportunity to grow. I've been telling Ethan that I really want a chance to grow as a family, as a person, and as a couple and I guess we are getting that chance sooner than I thought. Windy City. Here we come!

Almost home

Sadly our vacation had to come to an end. I shed many tears cried myself to sleep the last night.  As I was saying bye to Shara and my mom I had to literally look away to avoid a total melt down. Nonetheless it was time to come home. Luckily for us, we had many things awaiting our arrival.
We left on a Wednesday (and ran into the Kidds at a rest stop at the half way point) and went to Bountiful to say hi to Ethan's parents.
On Thursday we finally go to take our car into the shop to get repaired, and got the delighted news that it wouldn't be done until TUESDAY!! AHHHHH!! I just wanted to get home.  Well we had to put that out of our minds and turn our focus on getting Ethan to Chicago. Again.

On Thursday the 2nd, we drove Ethan to the airport at 2:30 and I awaited his call for when he would be leaving. At 4:30, he called and said that his flight had been delayed two hours. At 6:30, he called and said he wasn't on the plane yet. At 7 he called and said that he was on the plane and ready to go. The flight was only 3 hours and so at 10 I was waiting his call. Well he called, but said that there was such a back up in the Chicago airport that they would have to wait on the runway. I told him to keep me posted. After 2 hours of hearing nothing, I called. He said they were still waiting. By this point it was 12:30 Utah time and I just couldn't stay up in the morning anymore. I woke up and had to wait for the interview was over and at 10 am my time I finally got the rest of the details.
Ethan sat on the Chicago runway for 4 hours and 5 min finally getting to his hotel at 3:45 am Chicago time! He took a shower, ironed his suit and got to bed at 4:30. He got to his interview at 9, had a great interview, hopped in a cab and headed back to the airport to fly home!! On the way home, his flight got delayed, then cancelled, then switched to a different airport, then got delayed, and FINALLY at 7:30 Utah time he got to come home. He got home around 11 PM Friday night and was nothing but tired and cold.
I guess I just didn't understand the magnitude of the storm that hit Chicago right when Ethan was trying to fly there, but as more days passed, I realized how bad the storm was. It was termed the Polar Vortex, and hit Chicago hard. Airports were cancelled, flights were delayed, people were cold, and Ethan was right in the heart of it. Luckily he got home, put him under 6 blankets and let him sleep as long as he needed (11 hours!)

This is a picture of the Chicago airport when Ethan's flight got cancelled

 

 This is a pizza that Ethan ate while he was waiting. He said it was delicious

So Ethan tried to explain how freezing he was the whole time and I just didn't really believe him. I then looked at the temp and noticed that Ethan was there while it was in the single digits and even the negatives!! I then saw these pictures and felt so bad for Ethan! Crazy Polar Vortex!

After days of crazy travel, we finally were able to drive home. Diana and Robert graciously let us use their van while our car was in the shop and I am so grateful. It was nice to go home, unpack, unload, and sleep in my own bed. I was also really excited to check the mail box. It had been almost 3 weeks and I just knew that there would be fun cards waiting for us!

2013 was a fantastic year with a fantastic end. I am excited for what awaits in 2014 and am also ready for Spring.

New Years Eve

 

I don't know how but bowling out at the base has become a New Years Eve tradition in the Nelson home. I think a while back my parents just thought it sounded fun and it kept being fun so we kept going. Bowling of 2013 was just as fun as any other year. At some point we all got a strike, Shara got a turkey, and Ethan and I got two in a row. We also all did terrible our first game but all broke 100 our second. It was just a really fun way to bring in the New Year.

If you look closely, you will notice that Kelsey is not really in any of the pictures. Where did she go you might ask? Well about 200 feet away to the right there was an arcade room and about 300 feet away to the left there was a play area. Kelsey was never to be found! We took turns making sure that she was safe, but for 90% of the activity, she was either playing on the horses, or at the arcade with Norah. At some point we remembered that we had crackers and so we were able to give them both a bag a crackers and that kept them occupied for about 7 minutes with the group. Once the crackers were gone, Kelsey realized what was going on with the bowling and made a dart down the lane. I caught her in time, but I was not popular.

When we got home it was time to party. Like most American families, we partied by setting up Hailey's science fair project. As far as science fair projects go, this one was pretty awesome. She died soda different colors and we had to taste the soda not knowing the flavor and then tell Hailey if the color influenced the taste. It was pretty cool.

Okay, so we didn't just do the science fair project. We ate delicious snacks, played lots of games, Ethan and Rich played more Nintendo, we tried to help my mom set up her Ipad, and my new favorite, Telestrations. 

My favorite part about these photos is that you can totally tell that Ethan is laughing and that Rich is ticked! This is very common when they play together.

We played Telestrations with Whitley and I have never laughed so hard in my life. She is in the second grade and did pretty well considering, but it was still hilarious when you were sitting next to her and go words like this:

Light

Or words like this:

Happy Man

Or pictures like this:

The best part of playing with Whitley was this comment "I didn't know what the words were, so I just drew mac and cheese!" It had nothing to do with anything, but she just decided to draw mac and cheese. We laughed so so so hard.

A unique part of our New Year's Eve growing up is that it was always Scott's birthday. This year he couldn't be with us, so we took a picture to send our love via digital post.

 Right before we put the girls to bed, we put them in matching jammies and let them read books together. I just never get sick of watching these two girls be together.

 It is getting harder and harder to stay awake to midnight, but we did it. We watched the ball drop, we watched our neighbor shoot off fireworks, then brushed our teeth and went to bed. It was a great New Years Eve.

4 years and counting

While we were in Spokane we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. Our anniversary always gets remembered in our heads, but because of its terrible timing, we never really celebrate too hard. This year is was even on a Sunday (wanwan) and I totally forgot until Brother Durfee said, "Didn't you get married in December?" This year was fun though. Rich and Shara celebrated their 5th anniversary on the 27th, we celebrated our 4th on the 29th, so on the 28th we decided to go on a double date!!

 It was a perfect evening. The Kidd girls helped my mom and dad with the girls (they took them to Subway, Albertsons, two wedding receptions, gave them both a bath, AND had them in bed before we got home. Yikes!) and we all went Downtown to Red Robin. Ethan and I never really go anywhere fancy for our anniversary. In fact for a while we thought it would be fun to go to a hole in the wall every year just to be fun. Red Robin was perfect this year though.
I guess in a way we celebrated different because Rich was coming from a game and since he is a level 12 mixologist, he had enough tip money to order an onion stack and drinks! Party in the hizouse!

This really is a terrible picture of everyone but it is the only one we got so what do you do! 

While walking back to the car we were yelled at, something I can't put on the blog with good conscious, but I had to remember just even getting yelled at! "That's Spokane!!!" I have never laughed so hard in my whole life and better yet, I have never heard Ethan laugh that hard EVER!!! Thanks for the good times Spokane! 

After Red Robin we went home and all went hot tubbing and then played games with the whole family. It was really special to be able to spend so much time with JUST Rich and Shara. Ever since our BYU days, we have always felt a special connection with them. I mean we literally are living parallel lives right now. We graduated undergrad at the same time, we got married really close to each other, we all were in the same ward for a semester, we had a rockin summer of 2010, we had babies at the same time, we are all about the same age, and now are getting MBA's at the same time. Its just really neat when you can share so many of life's experiences with people you care so much about. We miss living so close to the Nelly's, but I guess that distance makes it that much more special and important when we get to see each other.