6.30.2011

Slip n' Slide

Tol bought a Slip n' Slide with part of his birthday money, and the kids have LIVED on it this Summer. We have the perfect hill on the side of our house for it. Now we're going to have the perfect water bill to go with it.
As far as entertaining the kids go, this could be ther best $7 ever spent.


6.26.2011

Our friends had a hot tubbing, Glee Karaoke, and Just Dance PARTY.
I hardly got any pics, of course.
But there's not many things better than spending the evening with good friends singing "Don't Stop Believing" and dancing to "Wanna Be."

6.25.2011

Rochester Fest

Rochester Fest is a week full of festivities in Rochester (hence the name). The only things we imbibed in was the PARADE and the CHUCK-WAGON BREAKFAST.
We had a lot of fun and will for sure do more next year.
Here we are at the parade with some good friends. The kids were so into all the candy that was thrown. SO. MUCH. CANDY! And who am I kidding- I dove for a few tootsies myself.



Here's part of the group waiting in the breakfast line with
VIKTOR THE VIKING!

And here's the fam about to get our breakfast. I should have snapped a pic of the pancake conveyor maker thingy. It was awesome! And some serious skill is involved in getting your pancakes. They chuck them at you as you try to catch as many as you want on your plate. Needless to say, there were LOTS and LOTS of pancakes on the ground- and I'm sure that is where a lot of the kids got theirs from. YUM!
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6.23.2011

CURTY!!

Curt came to visit!

Curt came to visit for about a week and it was THE BEST!! We were all so excited to have Curt all to ourselves for a little while and to show him our new diggs.

First things first. Hair.

We went downtown to "Thursdays on First," which is a summer market and music festival that Rochester puts on EVERY Thursday.



 We also gave Curt a mini-tour of the clinic.



We couldn't NOT get one of these famous 'Curt poses.'
Funny thing was, the pole was totally loose and wobbly. We were sure we were taking it down- but it was still standing when it was all said and done, thankfully.

Tol was lucky enough to have Uncle Curty in town for his birthday! Tol had his birthday party at HOUSE OF BOUNCE. All his friends LOVED Uncle Curt; he was the hit of the party! Seriously.

Mall of America was a MUST!! Curt got some awesome things and KILLER DEALS, to boot!

 Here they are in front of Nickelodeon Universe.

 On the escalator.

 Posing with an old logger truck. This was for Tol, of course.

Inside the infamous MIRROR MAZE.
We did this when Chel was in town and the kids HATED IT! They were so freaked out! Well, when we decided to go to MOA, Addi unexpectedly (for some unknown reason) was determined that she was going to do the mirror maze again. I mean, this is after months of being traumatized from it. Whatever. Tol couldn't let his younger sister show him up so he went along with it. They both went through without a single tear or melt-down.

A gift to me from Curt. He is so kind and thoughtful!
If you can't tell already, I ADORE my bro!


Getting packed & ready to leave. Or so we thought...
Poor Curt flew standby which provided quite the adventure! First of all, he spent 10 hours in the Salt Lake airport trying to get here- and that was nothing. It took him 4 days to get home!! He was supposed to fly out Monday but flights weren't looking good so we switched to Tuesday. On our way to the airport Tuesday afternoon we were right in the middle of CRAZY WEATHER which turned into a tornado warning. We were right smack-dab in the middle of the warning area, too. After pulling off the road and parking near a "big stricture" for a minute, we decided to carry on. I was FREAKED- but we survived.
When we got to the airport, Curt got booked on a flight and things were looking good... but that was short-lived. Long story short, the weather grounded a few flights which bumped Curt and he was stuck. He ended up spending the night in Minneapolis. Then he got on a flight to Houston the next afternoon and ended up spending the night there. THEN, he flew to Cincinatti and ended up spending the night there. The next day- Friday- he flew to Denver then FINALLY caught a flight to Salt Lake City. Quite the adventure, especially for a 16 year old!
But here's the kicker: Curt was supposed to leave on TREK with his ward on Wednesday. When my parents picked him up from the airport on Friday, they drove him straight to Evanston, WY to meet up with the TREKERS. What a crazy whirlwind of a week!! Of course there are a bunch of hilarious details and side stories- but I'll let Curt tell you those :)

My kids LOVED having Curt around! They wanted to be playing with him EVERY second! Curt was a champ and such a good sport- especially because I was pretty much out of commission his entire stay. I threw my back out a few days before and it wasn't letting up. Therefore, we weren't able to do some of the things I had planned. But Curt was more than a good sport and helped me out SO MUCH! Thanks again, Curt!

Curtis was also a good sport and humored me by singing in my ward that Sunday. He sang one of my VERY FAVORITE church arrangements with 2 of my very darling Young Women. They did such an incredible job! And I was so happy and proud to show off my talented and handsome brother! And yes, he was a HIT amoungst the Young Women, right girls?

I am so blessed to have Curtis as my brother. From the day he was born, he has brought so much LOVE and HAPPINESS into the Nelson family. He is kind and sensitive to others. He is extremely talented in many areas. He has a strong spirit and gets a lot of things that I still struggle with. He is one in a million and I LOVE him so much!

Thanks so much for visiting Curt! We LOVE and MISS you!

6.18.2011

Tol's BirthDAY!

HOLY COW! I can't believe my little guy is 7! That seems SO old- or I guess I seem TOO young to have a 7 year old. HA!
His actual birthday was fantastic! It would have been ideal if he woke up to homemade waffles, but because my back was out of commission ( I could barely walk and I wouldn't have even gotten out of bed if it wasn't Tol's BIG day) I waited for the kids or Curt to wake up to help me make Bisquick waffles. Those are yummy anyway and the kids love to help ;)

After breakfast we all got ready for Tol's big friend party at the HOUSE OF BOUNCE!
Tol invited 9 friends (and Addi had a couple friends there, too) and they all had a BLAST jumping and playing with "Uncle Curty." Curt was definitely the hit of the party- and I am SO grateful since I basically sat there with an ice pack attached to my back the entire time. SO lame.
After almost 2 hours of playing, we had cake and ice cream and opened presents. Tol got spoiled from his friends, of course!

When Dave got home later that evening, Tol opened his presents...
I didn't get pictures of the opened presents for some reason, but in those wrapped presents are roller blades and a GIANT supersoaker gun thingy from us, a car from Curt and a Nerf gun from Auntie Jess.

We let Tol choose what he wanted to do for dinner, we could either go wherever he wanted or we'd make his his favorite dinner. He chose going to Panekoeken so that's what we did.

All in all it was the BEST day to celebrate the little man.

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6.17.2011

Birthday Boy!!

Happy Birthday 
 to the little man who makes my world go round!
I seriously love this kid more than life and am so grateful to be his momma. 
Love you, Birthday Boy!!

6.12.2011

For Mom

I planted flowers in honor of you.
They're not nearly as pretty and put-together as the ones
you would plant for me when we were basically neighbors,
but they work, and most importantly
they remind me of you.




I took these pictures the day I planted them,
which was about a month ago.
You should see then now-
and NO, they aren't dead!!
They are even prettier (if I may say so myself)
sitting on my porch today than they are in these pics.

I guess I knew you wouldn't be
rushing over to save them 
if/when I neglected them.

Kindof like my kids...

I'm a better mom with a greener thumb
now that I'm a thousand miles away from you. Ha!

AND-

My flowers aren't the only things that have a new home on my porch.


Cute, right?
 ...except for the bird poop. That's not so cute.