Kayla Mary

On Wednesday February 19th, I got a text from my dad informing me that Christine had picked up the boys and Scott was on his way to the hospital. AKA it was baby time for the Nelson family!!
The Nelson's don't like to find out the sex of their babies and so we all waited in anticipation but secretly all knowing that it was a boy. Well, we were wrong!! ITS A GIRL!! Kayla Mary was born Thursday February 20th and I think the whole family is still trying to get used to the Nelson's having a girl.

While Scott and Karolyn were in the hospital I got to hang out with the boys for a few days. I hae no cool stories like last time, but it was still a good time. Everyone was very well behaved and super helpful. Kelsey and Trey entertained each other the whole time, Skyler was at school of the day, and Carson is so easy going that he would just play by himself. I'm not saying it was quiet, but it wasn't too bad.

It was kinda fun even to get a taste of big family life.
There was a lot of tv, a lot of quesadillas, a lot of music, and a lot of tv. Sorry Scott and Karolyn. Babysitters got a do what a babysitters got a do.

We did do some fun activities though including, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, vacuuming the car... JK
We went to Target where Kesley screamed the whole time and Carson helped me pick out a present for Kayla, We went to the hospital to visit their new sister, (which was a new thing for me: getting 4 littler kids through a parking lot and into a building)

and we went to Arctic Circle for lunch and to play for an hour.

Despite the loud van and getting the keys stuck in the ignition, things went pretty well. I'm just happy that I live close enough to help. I always feel so useless when family and friends live too far to help.

The only funny thing that I can remember was Skyler saying that now that he finally had a sister he didn't want her any more. He didn't know if he "was ready to always protect her and be her knight and shining armor." I don't know about you, but I think this little girl is going to be VERY protected by three older brothers.

I DID IT AND IM GOING TO BRAG!!!!

I don't how it happened, but the other day I had a crazy impulsive feeling to go through my craft drawer and either throw away old unfinished crafts, or actually finish them. Now before I continue, its important to know that I had quit on crafting and especially sewing. I was sick of the tears, sick of the frustration, sick of wasting money, sick of things turning out only to look crazy homemade, and mostly sick of the disappointment in myself. Sounds extreme, but so true.
Back to the present. I had every intention to throw away most of the crafts, but I had another spark in me to actually pull out my machine and try to finish one. Well one lead to another, which lead to another, which lead to finishing ALL my unfinished crafts.
And so this post is totally to brag about something that I am terribly proud of!! I did it!!! I finally finished projects, and sewed, and tried to decorate cookies like I said I always would, and my goodness do something during nap time that wasn't watching TV!!! Yes I am boasting, yes, I am bragging, yes I could still never sell anything but WHO CARES!!!, and yes I feel SOOOOOOO good and am going to shamelessly tell you all about it!!!!

Valentine cookies that I decorated. I have had the cut outs forever and never used them because "I don't have time." Well I finally made time, bought cute frosting, bought sprinkles, and did it! 

A baby blanket that I finally made. I bought these scraps like 3 years ago and always just say I'll do it someday. Well I did it! Now I just need a baby boy to give it too, but I did it!!

Ethan bought me this wood W like 3 Christmass ago and it just sat in my drawer for like 2 years. When we moved to Provo I even pulled it out of the drawer and put it in the front room as decoration  to "motivate" me to work on it. I'm proud to say I finally sanded it, painted it, and decorated it. Now its not wasting space but making our home look cute!

I bought this tulle like 3 summers ago planning to make a tutu for Kelsey even before she was born.  Now that she's almost two, I finished it. It doesn't really fit and separates in the back when she wears it but who cares! She can put it on and it looks like  a tutu! That's a huge step for my sewing skills.

Last but not least, I finally finished the quiet book. These pages have been staring at me for 4 months, which doesn't seem like a long time, but I tackled them, sewed, them, and thanks to my friend Katie, I even bound them. They are pages no longer but a book that can be used!!! (I did a quiet book swap so I had help with the pages)

I will never make one again (especially by myself) but I DID IT!!!!

 I even finished a book, made dinner more than once, worked on my scrapbook, worked on my picture book, threw away old junky craft supplies, and wore my sub par yet functional maxi skirt that I made a year ago but was so embarrassed of if that I never took it out of the drawer this week!! I DID IT!!!!

Okay off the me box. Thanks for letting me spout. It just feels so good to know I did something to work my brain.  I'm not even sorry for bragging. I am sorry if you read this and now are like, "Oh my gosh! Stop bragging," Because if that is the case then CLEARLY I TITLED THIS POST WRONG!

In other news:
I just NEVER get tired of her reading. It is so cute! And now she does it at her mini table and it just made it even cuter.

And here is our latest way to keep our self entertained.

Videos killed the radio star

For the past couple of post I have tired to add videos with the post, but Blogger won't let me. It finally is letting me again and so I just needed to throw some of these up here for safe keeping. Enjoy!

February

 Nothing too exciting lately, but life has been good to us and we got some cute pictures to show for it. We have done everything we can to take advantage of the warm weather the past few days. We have gone to the park a few times but mainly have just gone on a lot of walks. It has been fantastic. 

 

When Ethan has a lunch break, sometimes he has time to meet us at the gym and play. It is a great break for everyone. Nice for us to see Ethan and get out of the house and nice for Ethan to see us and get out of class. Our most recent trip was rather exciting. I met Ethan at the RB directly from a run so I didn't have any diapers with me. Kelsey was running around playing and then all of a sudden had the biggest blowout I have seen in years (not to be totally disgusting) We had nothing. I ran home as fast as I could, literally ran home, grabbed a diaper and we were able to help her pretty quickly. I have never been more grateful that we live close than that day.

 

 Even though its warming up, it still is not spring/summer AND we do not have access to live animals, so what do we do? We go to Petsmart and it rocks! Kelsey loves the fishies the best but gets excited for everything.

 This is Kelseys "AWE" face. She does it when she sees a baby or anything that she thinks is cute. I must make this face a lot because she does it without fail every time she thinks something is cute.

 

and this is Kelsey pretending to nap, complete with a fake snore. I have yet to catch it on film, but I am trying. I will get it. I have to!

 

 We were watching our wedding video and could not believe how much Kelsey looks like Ethan. Like seriously. Is there ANY Cami in there!! I mean, Ethan is really cute and so it doesn't bug me but come on. Even the teeth match (hello braces!)

 Ethan was sweet and said that we have the same eyes in this picture. I kinda see it, but she is definitely her daddy's girl.

Hats, Crocs,and Friends

Besides Michael Scott, I have never met anyone that loves crocs as much as Kelsey. To be fair, I don't really know a lot of people who love crocs so the field is pretty slim, but regardless, Kelsey loves her crocs. She has moved on from her church shoes and now always grabs her crocs. Cutest part is that she can put them on all  by herself and sometimes even gets them on the right feet. If you randomly stop by our hats, odds are, she will be wearing crocs.
She also loves "hats." I say "hats" because anything that can hit on her head is a hat, aka headbands, mickey ears, ear muffs, etc. Its super cute. Lately she has been doing her own hair and I can honestly say I have never seen her more proud. Top that with putting on her own shoes... we have one proud little girl!

 Almost being two has its challenges for sure, but it is also like super fun. I think my favorite part about almost two is that want of friends. She has five little friends that she asks for all the time: Sadie, Ralphie, Norah, Harper, and Holden.
Lucky for Kelsey, this week, Norah was in town and so we got to have so play time with Norah. Of course we obviously showed her how awesome jumping in the bed is, and of course Norah loved it!

 Sadie lives across the street (the only other baby in the complex actually) and so we get to see Sadie a couple times a week and we LOVE it! I wish Sadie could come over more often because I have a very happy Kelsey when she is here.

 

 Today I was sitting in on the couch looking out the window thinking, "Man I am so glad it is finally a sunny, nice day. I can't wait until we can play outside again." Then I felt like an idiot because I was just complaining this morning that I wanted nice sunny weather so I can play outside and here it was. Staring me in the face. We grabbed our jackets, changed our crocs, and went on a walk to go get daddy at school. I let Kels bring her stroller and she was so happy. I know this because she told me like 15 times. Not gonna lie, it was pretty adorable. She pushed that baby all the way to the tennis courts at school. I am so grateful for the nicer weather and need to do a better job at taking advantage of it. We are sick of our four walls and need to get when we can.

In sad news we all got the flu, again! We are fine now, but it was no fun for a couple of days around here. Kelsey kinda sums it all up for the whole family.

 In not sad news, Kelsey loves to do homework with Ethan...

 and Andy and Annie are headed off to Chicago for a new job. We are so proud of them and so excited for their new adventure.  We are sad that we will no over lap Chicago times, but are very excited to get all their advice and input before our adventure. Andy may be the younger brother, but I think this picture proves who is more mature now a days! Nothing like brotherly love.

MBA Winter Ball

The MBA program had a winter ball January 25th. It was Great Gatsby themed, but I didn't really think I had clothes to wear theme related. When I showed up I was like the only person not dressed up and looking at everyone, I realized that there was so much I could have done. Regardless, we had a great time and enjoyed some really fun games, great company, and my favorite dancing!

The other day I was in a really sick mood and just frustrated because I was not getting better. I was functional but had no energy. It had been like two weeks of no other symptoms but a sore throat and no energy. I was so done and tired! As I was feeling sorry for myself again, I heard a knock on the door and opened it to find this...

Ethan and Kelsey had to run "errands" to get me flowers and ice cream. I married the most thoughtful person in the whole world. Such a wonderful husband and a fantastic father. A ray of sunshine every day.

We got Kelsey some Elmo jammies and she loves them. She walks around and tells us Elmo is on her shirt like every 5 seconds. Its pretty cute. What would we do without Elmo and Punzle?!