The Lamb Fam

'It's snowing!!"

2012-01-30T18:09:00.000-06:00

Yellow Stripe

2012-01-30T18:07:00.000-06:00

Tolman earned his yellow stripe in Tae Kwon Do!
He has done so well and learned so much in the few short months he's been in karate.
We are so proud of him!

Tolman's Tooth

2012-01-30T18:03:00.000-06:00

Look at this disgusting dangling tooth! It was like this for at least a week- NASTY!! I finally coaxed him into yanking it {with a $5 bribe}. Tol couldn't remember where he put the tooth (um, gross) so he wrote this note to the tooth fairy.

Yes, those are pictures of teeth. Love it!

2012-01-30T17:52:00.000-06:00

Cute Addi at her super duper hokey
DANCE RECITAL!!
We LOVED LOVED LOVED the class but the recital had a little much to be desired.
O-well.
Silly Addi had to pose with Tols planner (above) before the recital and she wouldn't wear her skirt during the recital. This girl always seems to have her own ideas and it's much easier to just roll with it.

Addi was in the same class as one of her good friends, Kerrie.

Her class danced to Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy and Happy Working Song (from Enchanted)

She fell asleep within seconds of hitting the pillow that night.

Dancing is hard work!

Birthday LOVE

2012-01-29T11:45:00.000-06:00

Introducing the most AMAZING present Dave got me for my birthday!
It even has flower tire tread!! Does he know me well, or what?!
Can't wait for this weather to change so I can ride it! Everywhere.

Duluth, MN

2012-01-27T09:35:00.000-06:00

Like I mentioned a while ago, my mom came out to visit for a little over a week and it was THE BEST! We LOVE LOVE LOVE having her here. She is so much fun to have around and she is a TON of help. Why can't she live next door?
We've wanted to go to Duluth ever since we moved here so my mom and I decided to take the kids (Dave was working, of course). Duluth was amazing! It is a little college town located on Lake Superior.

While we were there, we went to a resort called Spirit Mountain and rode the Alpine Coaster and Zip Line. It was so fun and beautiful! After all the money and effort that was spent doing other things, the kids' favorite part of the weekend was swimming at the hotel every night.

There is nothing better than having my mom come visit! My kids have such an amazing relationship with her that I am forever grateful for. She is the VERY BEST and we can't wait for her to come back!

Addi- Boom- Baddi

2012-01-24T18:07:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T01:13:00.000-06:00

HUMMER LIMO... finally!

2011-12-23T01:08:00.000-06:00

Tolman's had another fundraiser this year where the GRAND PRIZE for selling 25 items or more was a pizza party in a HUMMER LIMO!

For those who follow my blog, you know that last years' was a total BUST, so we couldn't let this years' get away from us!

You can read about last years here.

I, uh...I mean Tol was successful in selling 25 items. So this time I was totally prepared. I called the school THE VERY DAY the fundraiser finished up to hear if there was a date set for the limo ride. There was a tentative date set for November 4th. I immediately put it on my calendar. Then, I asked again a few weeks later when the goods arrived. Again, they told me the 4th.

I didn't mention this earlier (and totally should have) but my mom came to town for a little longer than a week over Halloween... more on that to come. Anyway, so on the 1st we send Tol off to school (that I was going to let him miss because: 1) everyone deserves the day after Halloween off, right? and 2) Grammy was in town). About an hour later I get a phone call from the school {(that I usually would have ignored because: 1) the number wasn't in my contacts and therefore came up 'nameless' on caller id and 2) I was in the shower. Who gets out of the shower to answer the phone?!? Especially from a no-namer. Me, that's who. It was meant to be}. It was actually Tol's teacher on the other end explaining that since she was brand-new and still didn't have everything together, she forgot to send the Hummer-ride permission slip home. Then she continued to tell me the ride was to take place in 45 minutes. "WHAT?!? Today is the 1st! What happened to the 4th?!!! I can't let this happen again! What do I need to do? I'm not too late, am I?" I basically freaked out to myself while poor Ms. Messmer listened. My heart would have been doubly broken for Tol if he missed it again (even though he did get off pretty good last time).

I got dressed and ready -faster than ever before. My mom, Addi and I jumped in the car and RACED to Tolman's school to sign the dang waiver before the limo got there. We arrived just in time. We took some pics AND they let us go on the ride with them! Which I felt good about because it was from the fruits of MY labors that Tol even sold anything in the first place ;)

Tol was thrilled and so was I.

When the ride was over and it was all said and done, Tol said that next year he wanted the Penske instead of the Hummer Limo ride.

a police officer and strawberry shortcake

2011-12-17T20:41:00.001-06:00

r
...and an army dude.

Oh, and here's one more.

Apple picking

2011-12-17T20:29:00.000-06:00

I took Tol, Addi, Grace and Garrett apple picking. We had a great time picking & eating apples (especially the B-52s) feeding the animals and running through the corn maze.

These 4 are so adorable together; the pic on the bottom left is their "Band Picture," for when they're in a band. Hilarious! Man, I love these kids!

Chi Town

2011-12-05T00:17:00.000-06:00

Candice, Chelsea and I met in Chicago for a little GIRLS GETAWAY.

It was a fantastic time filled with warm weather, great food, good shopping and most importantly the BEST company! What can I say- Chel, Candice and I make a great trio!

I'll mostly let the pictures speak for themselves.

The Bean. We LOVED the bean.

The Chicago Marathon.
The original reason we planned our Chicago trip. Becca ran it in under 3.5 hours! She is a wild woman!

SeaDog is a Chicago MUST!

Apple store.

We just happened to be there the weekend after Steve Jobs died. It was a sobering scene.

Of course I know I'd have fun, but this trip exceeded any and all expectations. It was a BLAST! It was especially great because I don't get to see these gals too often with Chel living in Seattle and Candice in California. I mean, a trip with my dear sis and my dear friend; life doesn't get much better than that!

Kristen came to visit!

2011-12-01T10:20:00.002-06:00

Rocky Mountain Ranger Cookie Dough
Puzzling
Hair
Wilson Phillips
Shopping
Women's Conference
Making the Bed (we slept in together)
Eating out
LAUGHING!
Late Nights

...are just a few ways to describe the BEST extended weekend I had with Kristen. She left her clan behind and came to visit me in Minnesota FOR 5 DAYS. It was the BEST!!

While she was here a few of us went to Lake City to celebrate Andrea's birthday.
{on the Mississippi River}

And here is the 1000 piece puzzle that got finished (except for one missing piece) AFTER Kristen left. Kristen and I were obviously feeling rather ambitious buying this puzzle- we worked on this thing day and night and it still wasn't completed by the time she left. But, I drafted a few clients to help while their colors were processing and there you have it.

TA-DA!

Kristen and I had the BEST time together! I am so grateful for the BESTEST best friend ever!!

dirty 30

2011-11-18T03:27:00.001-06:00

Since my last post I have received so many emails, Facebook messages and phone calls out of love and concern for me. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! It wasn't my intent to worry anyone or cause a stir (who really reads blogs anymore, anyway?), but all the love sent my way was so much appreciated. It made me realize that I am loved and genuinely cared for. It is a good feeling, so again THANK YOU.

Speaking of, my dear friend SHAWNI turned the DIRTY 30! Mauri and I joined forces {it was really me joining Mauri's force} and put together a SURPRISE PARTY!

A few gals first went to dinner then it was back to Maur's where the 'real' party was waiting. We hit a few glitches and wondered how we'd ever get Shawni back to Mauri's without being too obvious, but we did and Shawni was definitely SURPRISED!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAWNI!!

Casual Disciple

2011-11-11T22:35:00.000-06:00

The last couple weeks have been, well... rough. I'm not going to go into detail and I don't want anyone worrying about me. I am fine. Life just really sucks sometimes, as we all know.

I've been afraid for this.
For a while, I've been one of those casual disciples who is stuck going through the motions. I'd attend church meetings, teach my most adorable Beehives, pay my tithing, say family prayers etc. and I'd also allowed my testimony and conviction of the Gospel to slide. Meanwhile, because of where I was at spiritually, I was afraid of my own upcoming, yet unknown, 'come to Jesus' moment. I really felt like I needed (but definitely didn't want) something to zap me into gear. {why couldn't i get my own butt into gear myself? That would have been much easier, right?} Anyway, I knew I couldn't stay, as Elder Maxwell put it, a casual disciple forever and I was afraid for what my Heavenly Father had in store for me.

Am I really one of those Laman & Lemuel types who has to constantly be reminded of the truth and be shocked (luckily just figuratively) into shape? Gosh, It makes me wonder what blessings and inspiration I've passed up because my laziness in the gospel had taken center stage.

So here I am, shocked and humbled because of the unfortunate situation I find myself in. Like I said, it SUCKS, like really really bad. But it feels good to say that I am no longer in the church rut. It feels so fabulous, even amidst the darkness of my situation, to have the gospel in my life and to have all it's miraculous tools at my fingertips. I can't tell you how many times in just the last week that the scriptures have answered my own personal questions. MY questions. I mean, isn't that amazing? What else is amazing are the angels that God has put on this earth for our benefit. I can't tell you how amazing my friends and family are. Really, how did I get this lucky?

I know I sound cheesy, really cheesy. Especially to those who are always in-tune and on-board or to those that are on the opposite end. But I felt somewhat inspired to record this on my blog (maybe just for when I print my blog book for my kids to read).

Heavenly Father is real. He KNOWS us and LOVES us. He can bless us beyond our wildest imaginations. He can give us the strength we never thought we had. He is the giver of all things grand and the only provider of true peace. Today I am grateful for the gift I have just rediscovered, the gospel and all it's perks.

And I will be fine; this too shall pass, right?

well, yeah...

2011-11-05T21:08:00.000-05:00

There is a new ice cream shoppe in town and this is on the wall.
Couldn't have said it better myself!

2011-11-02T07:39:00.000-05:00

It's only natural that we move from 'Last Day of Summer' to 'First Day of School,' right?

And there you have it...

Last day of Summer

2011-10-23T10:58:00.000-05:00

The day before school started we had an "End of Summer" family night @ Chester Woods. It sounds all great and cheery and for the most part it was, but let's be honest, 4 of us on a paddle boat in the middle of a lake is a little much.
Between bumping into trees and playing musical chairs I was a nervous wreck; I thought for sure we were gonna end up swimming. But we didn't and it was a great little family adventure.
After, we went to our 'Back to School dinner' at Pannekoeken (we let the kids' choose the place). The kids love it there because when you order a 'pannekoeken' the waitress brings it to your table in a full sprint while singing "pannekoeken, pannekoeken." It's weird.
Then we went home and Dave gave both kids Priesthood Blessings. Can I just say I love to hear Dave give blessings? If you've heard him give a blessing, or even say a prayer, you know what I mean. He's so eloquent with his words and it invites an awesome spirit.
SO all in all it was a great night and the perfect way, in the not-so-perfect kind of way, to spend our last day of Summer.

Carroll's Cup

2011-10-23T10:30:00.001-05:00

It feels like Christmas!
We finally have a frozen yogurt joint here in Rochester!!
It is SO DANG DELICIOUS!
Embarrassing as it may be, Addi and I frequent the place at least twice a week.
Yes, it is that good!

Meet the Teacher

2011-10-15T03:16:00.000-05:00

Tol was pretty dang excited to meet his new FIRST GRADE TEACHER, and he was pretty stoked when he finally found out who it was. BUT, it was short- lived; she has already retired. I know, only one month into the year. It's okay, I wasn't the hugest fan anyway.
But isn't this the cutest little first grader you've ever seen? LOVE this boy!

Minnesota State Fair

2011-10-14T16:01:00.000-05:00

State Fair + The Barneys =
One SERIOUS good time!

Summertime

2011-10-03T22:31:00.001-05:00

We finally took advantage of some of Minnesota's Summer Offerings during the summer we were left with after our Utah trip. Minnesota summers are amazing! When the super rainy and indecisive Spring finally turned to Summer, I understood why people choose to live here. There's nothing like it.

We experienced our first Rochester Water Ski Team show. It was a little ghetto mixed with some cheese, but was pretty incredible at the same time. These are some talented people!

We also took advantage of a community swimming pool that was super fun. It reminded me of the 'no frills' pools that I went to growing up. And I should mention adorable Grace (pictured with my kids) because she and her brother were a HUGE part of our summer. They live down the street from us and our kids have become inseparable I love it. And I love them :)

I refinished these chairs that we inherited from my Aunt Mindy years ago. Wish I had a 'before' picture so you could really appreciate the finished product. Now we have something on our deck besides Dave's grills!

PARK TIME! The kids at their very favorite 'vehicle park.'

Thursdays on First. Tol and Ad with one of the many Loosey Gooseys around Rochester. This goose is part of the local 'The Goose is Loose" statue project that goes to support the arts. I have the cutest little geese ;)

That's it for now.

"pillow fight"

2011-09-27T21:55:00.000-05:00

I can't say enough about these pictures! I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!

An extremely talented photographer and dear friend, Jolene, included me and Angela (another super talented dear friend) in one of her many visions. This time it involved our 3 darlings, lots of feathers, antique story books, O.J., texture and color. Oh- and my back yard (these pics were taken over a month ago and I STILL have feathers out there).

It was a crazy little adventure complete with lots of laughs, giggles and bug bites. Can't wait to do it again!

To see more of the pics (and more of her work) go to:

jolenereedphotography.com

I'm so grateful my kids have such good friends!...and me, too!

The last

2011-09-16T09:42:00.000-05:00

This is my {hodge-podge} attempt to wrap up our Utah trip.

First of all, Steve, Heather & their kids' UT trip overlapped with ours. My kids were SO HAPPY to spend time with their 'Boston Cousins!' They went SWIMMING, MINIATURE GOLFING and HIKED Timpanogos Cave together. I unfortunately got the dang stomach flu and was flat in bed for 2 days, so I couldn't do any of it with them. BUMMER SUMMER! We did have a Pioneer Day BBQ that I was there for. I'm bummed I didn't get any pictures of this, but we made homemade ice cream (the kind you throw around in a bag). The bags kept breaking and it turned into something pretty comical- but the salvageable ice cream was SUPER YUMMY and the kids LOVED making it!

Here we are watching "UP" before Grandpa Ron took everyone to the UP house. I couldn't get anyone to look away from the TV. Except for Tol, I guess.

Another big part of the trip for me was WORKING. I wasn't going to work this trip for a couple reasons. First, I didn't renew my business license and second, I didn't really want to work. BUT- I figured I'd have to do my families' hair and perhaps some friends so in the end I did work, kind of. I only did a few friends and family and only a few of my old clients- who were so great to see! Kristen was VERY kind and gracious and let me work in her basement salon. I don't think she realized what she was getting herself into when she offered, or agreed or whatever. My kids were there more than half the time and over-all it was kind of a mad house. But I LOVED it! I was able to hang out with Kristen all day for, like, 4 days. She would come down and hang out while I was doing hair and I'd go upstairs and chill between clients or when clients were processing. Man, I love that girl! I am so lucky to have found a friend like her. There is no one in the world like her and I am one extremely fortunate girl to have her as my BFF!!

My kids also went on a hike up to Donut Falls with the fam. It was a day where I was still sick so I didn't go. Sad for me. This hike/walk has turned into a Nelson tradition so it was a bummer that I had to miss out.

My CUTEST brothers! This is on their way to the lake to take Tol Kayaking. Again, wish I would have gotten some pics of them out there. Instead, Addi and I had some "GIRL TIME" and went school shopping at OOPSIE DAISY (man I miss that store) and got gelato next door. Perfect day for all!

Another MAJOR highlight was the one and only SWEET TOOTH FAIRY.
I love that bakery a little too much.

JOB UPDATE: Dave decided to turn this trip into a bit of a business trip, as well. He met with a few anesthesia groups to check things out and to get his foot in the door. I have to be honest and say I was disappointed/deflated about the whole 'getting a job in Utah' situation. As a UT anesthesiologist put it so perfectly. "Utah is a crappy place to get a job, but a great place to have a job." It's actually nothing we didn't already know, it's just that this experience made it real for me. With all that said, Utah might not be on our cards for a while, and that's okay. I'm accepting it.
Anyway...

Chel & Becca flew out the same day as us. Here is Chel with the kids as we were all getting ready to leave. Such a bittersweet day. I was feeling anxious to get home since we had been gone for 4 weeks, but it was so sad to leave!

What a fun trip! Can't wait to go back!

Park City with the NELSONS

2011-09-13T22:58:00.000-05:00

This was one of the VERY BEST DAYS EVER!!

Being together with all my siblings is like Christmas when I was little. It was a DELIGHT to have us all in the same place at the same time.

My Aunt Janet, Uncle Jeff & their fam (from NYC) were also in town so it was the perfect reason to escape the heat and head to PC for the day. Nils, Jeff and my Uncle Eric went mountain biking. The rest of the sibs, along with my cousin Sam, went to the Park City Resort to ride the Alpine Slide, Alpine Coaster and Zip Line. Nils met us just in time for the coaster.

Man- I LOVE these guys! Am I a lucky gal, or what?

Later that night we met more of the Nelson clan for dinner at Windy Ridge Cafe for dinner. Along with the food and atmosphere being fantastic- the company was superb!

I have to give props to my Grammy Jean who made THIS family her top priority and created a lifetime worth of memories for us to build on. She left quite the legacy! Getting together is such a TREAT- and this night was no exception. One of the best times this trip FOR SURE!

Being a Nelson is an absolute honor- and pleasure!

...did someone say 'DESSERT?'

I gave the waitress my camera to take our pic RIGHT as our DESSERT, compliments of the chef, came out. You'd have thought we'd never tasted pie before (but I assure you, we hadn't tasted pie like this before. It was SO SO SO yummy!).

This was the pic she got:

If only we all lived a little closer to one another.

Random Addi

2011-09-07T06:27:00.000-05:00

After coming inside from coloring on the driveway with sidewalk chalk

ADDI: Mom, I drew a very special word for you outside.
ME: How nice, Addi. What does it say?
ADDI: I don't know, I can't read.

Water Parks

2011-08-19T23:59:00.000-05:00

We discovered Cowabunga Bay WAY too late last Summer. I think we finally went there only a week before we moved to Minnesota- and it was awesome! Needless to say, Cowabunga was on the top of our UT Summer To-Do List. The Bollingers have season passes so they came along.
Since Tolman isn't in any of these pics, they were probably taken while he was M.I.A. for about 2 hours- and that is no joke. Because Dave and I were both there, plus friends, we all figured someone else was with Tol. When we finally put it together we realized that no one had seen him for about 2 hours. The search party began and I'm telling you- Cowabunga is NOT the best place to lose someone (is there ever a good place?). We combed that place over and over for a good 45 minutes- and yes, I was FREAKING OUT- until Dave and Mike finally found him. He was stationed at one of the buckets, dumping water on passers-by. I guess he'd been going down slides and doing his own thing having a great time all by himself. That deserves me Mother Of The Year, right?

The Monday after Dave went back home, my mom took Jess, Nils, the kids and I to Kearns Pool. That place is also pretty dang great! It is the PERFECT place for kids and adults alike. Or people like Nils who can't decide which category he falls under ;) It looks like he was having a little too much fun in the kiddie pools- but he redeemed himself by jumping off the platforms. Jess jumped off the platforms, too. I didn't- too afraid of heights. I know, I know- I did go sky diving but it's different and you won't understand unless you've also gone sky diving (I actually don't understand myself. It was a total out-of-body/mind, "what the HELL?" experience.)

Tol on the other hand doesn't seem to be afraid of anything. He was excited to go on the Low Diving Board, but when I showed him the High-Dive he was ALL OVER IT! No hesitation whatsoever. He jumped off that thing at least 15 times and would have done it all day if we would have let him (he was too little to go on the platforms). Addison decided she wanted to jump off the low dive, but once she got up there she realized it was higher than she thought so she turned around and climbed down. About 10 minutes after that, she got it in her head that she wanted to try again. When Addi gets something in her head, she is DETERMINED and NOTHING will stand in her way. Sure enough, she did it! She didn't really enjoy it, but she at least tried it. That's my Addi- strong willed and determined.

What a FUN day!

More Ut (with the Lambs)... and still more to come...

2011-08-19T06:20:00.000-05:00

While Dave was in town, Jan & Lee took us all to Lagoon. Our family hadn't been to Lagoon in 4 years (Addi was just a baby) so we were super excited to go.

We learned that Tol is a total dare-devil when it comes to rides! He rode all the big roller coasters and LOVED them! Sadly enough, I didn't love them! I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE roller coasters, but this time they made me queasy. It's not right. In fact, while Tol and I were in line for The Spider, I totally tried to talk him out of going on it by saying that it wouldn't be fun for him, that it looked scary and what not (all that spinning DID NOT look enticing to me). But Tol insisted on going and the only thing that got me through, besides closing my eyes and totally bracing myself, was Tol's constant giggle the ENTIRE ride- it was ADORABLE!

Addi was typical Addi and was very cautious about what she went on. She surprisingly really enjoyed the LOG RIDE and the umbrellas, but I think her favorite was BULGY the WHALE.

Although I don't "love it with all my heart," like Kriste, I think Lagoon is way fun and I'm so glad we went!

Lee also took us boating at Echo. I'm still dreaming about that day. We pretty much had the lake to ourselves and the water was perfect! We couldn't have asked for anything better.

Tol's favorite was driving the boat (no surprise there). He is STILL talking about how his most favorite part of the entire UT trip was "driving Grandpa Lee's boat by himself." Funny boy!

Ah- what I would give to go back to that perfect day.

Lee, Jan, Grandma Jeanne and Dave after our Chinese Food Dinner night- a Lamborn tradition.

And Curt left for The Worldwide Scout Jamboree in Sweden that week.
I ADORE this kid!

Serious Q.F.T. (aquired form SEVENTEEN MAGAZINE circa 1995)

2011-08-18T23:41:00.000-05:00

After 2 full weeks of non-stop PLAYING, Dave joined us just in time for another SHIN-DIG!

The Burts were kind enough to have us ALL over for a swimming and dinner get-together, AGAIN! At least this time we weren't rained out and therefore forced to destroy the inside of their house.

It is always a pleasure to be with these lovely ladies and their families. These girls have been by my side since High School (and some since Middle and Elementary Schools) and I owe, in large part, who I am today (good AND bad :)) to them.

I am SO blessed that we are still the BEST of friends and even though more time passes between visits these days, it's as if no time has passed at all.

G.D.I.

...and I can't mention Q.F.T. without mentioning these dudes (who couldn't make it to the Burts'):

The Springers!

Dave & Ben have been BFFs since the 3rd Grade!! and Val & I might as well have been friends since the 3rd Grade, too (even though our love affair started when we were Sophomores) - we have QUITE the history! Ben & Val are basically the reason why Dave & I got married.

The Springers & Lamborns reunited over a fantastic meal at Snake Creek then went to the Springer Abode in Heber.

Words can't express how we LOVE & ADORE these guys!

Pool Parties!

2011-08-17T23:04:00.000-05:00

Before Dave got to Utah, we had some serious POOL TIME with my friend and my "friends' sister" (inside joke for my sbf ;)).
Thanks to Wendy and Amy for letting us come swim in your pools!!

First UP, the UP house!

2011-08-16T20:17:00.000-05:00

The kids and I were lucky enough to go home to Utah for an entire month this Summer; Dave was able to come out and meet us for a week of that. It was fantastic! We lived it up and squeezed as much Utah Summer into that month as possible.

So the company my dad works for has been in the middle of a HUGE project for the last little while. I had heard all about it along the way from the simple idea to the finishing touches. My dad has been so passionate and pumped about this so it was super exciting for me to see the UP HOUSE in person!

Isn't the interior BEAUTIFUL?! and this is just a small glimpse.

We felt pretty special getting to have a few of our own personal tours. Tol & Addi wanted to go everyday- sometimes more than once a day. In fact, Tol was so stoked on it that he wore his Grape Soda "Ellie Badge" everyday, wherever he went. It was darling.

The detail that was put into this house was AMAZING- it matched the movie PERFECTLY! But the best part was that it is completely livable. I want this house; it is the perfect combination of functionality and charm. I'd seriously buy it if I could afford it.

The Salt Lake Parade of Homes was going on while we were there so we also got to meet Carl (from the movie)! He was the greeter. Russell wasn't there that day, but his 'Wilderness Explorer Backpack' was. It was hilarious how my kids thought they were the real people. And how Addi was scared that the house would take off at any moment.
The UP HOUSE was a definite Utah HIGHLIGHT!

Tol's PENSKE

2011-07-13T23:15:00.000-05:00

Dave and I are total suckers and rented Tolman his VERY OWN PENSKE moving truck for a day.

The story is: Tolman's school had a fundraiser where the grand prize (for selling 25 items or more) was a pizza party in a HUMMER limo. You can imagine Tol's excitement about this whole thing. With a lot of support, from mostly grandparents, Tol earned the GRAND PRIZE! Well, the day of the party came and I sent an ecstatic Tol to his usual afternoon kindergarten only to find out the party happened in the morning that day. Tol was devastated! and so was I. I felt horrible!!

When I asked him what I could do to make it up to him (even though it wasn't entirely my fault- the school should have made the TIME clear), he said he wanted a U Haul. Somehow that turned into a PENSKE. PLUS, he insisted on the 26 footer over the 19 footer, which would have been cheaper, because he wanted an International and not a GMC. Like I said, we're total suckers.

Since Dave was working, I had to pick it up AND drop it off the next day. And I gave a few rides around the neighborhood (with a cab-full of little bodies) in between clients (I was doing hair most of the day). That thing was a BEAST to drive. All I kept thinking was "how in the world did Dave drive one of these things with an attached trailer from Utah to Minnesota?!!" I would rather have walked.

Anyway, that night while Addi was at a pajama party, the boys and I took the truck to Nupa's for dinner! I guess I have some pride issues because it was pretty embarrassing. There was nowhere to park the beast AND we ran into our stake's Sister missionaries. But O-well, Tolman LOVED it and it made for a good story.

I got a lot of phone calls and knocks on the door that day from people who thought we were moving. No one could believe that it was ALL Tol's- that he would actually want that over anything else in the world. I know, I can't believe it either.

Picnic in the Penske!

Tol's Penske was a HIT with the neighborhood kids!

It was a sad moment when we had to say goodbye. Tol has decided that he is going to earn this once a year (after asking if we could do it every month).

Man this kid LOVES cars! and trucks.

beach time

2011-07-09T01:46:00.000-05:00

We are loving our Minnesota beach time!

Even though Minnesota is the Land of 10,000 lakes, Rochester is seriously lacking in that area. But we do have a few within 10 or 20 minutes so we've been taking advantage.

Here we are at Foster-Arend with Shawni and her kids.

And here we are at Chester Woods with the Hansons, Reeds and Worthingtons.

I know that come Winter time *YUCK* I will look back at these pictures as a reminder of better (and warmer) things to come.

4th of July

2011-07-06T01:16:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Independence Day in style with a whole weekend of festivities. The kids and I started it off with a festive breakfast of Patriotic Waffles. Dave started it off with work. Unfortunately, he was on-call until the next morning.

The waffles are looking pretty ghetto, but my kids thought they were awesome. And they were yummy.

The 'Frei-for-All' was actually that afternoon, so after that we got cleaned up and met up with other Moms & Kids (whose men were also on-call) for dinner at the Chappels.

Then it was off to see the Rochester fireworks. Thanks to the Esplins, we were equipped with the CUTEST, yummiest and most FESTIVE treats.

The firework show was awesome, plus we had great seats!

Because the fellas were working on the actual holiday, we had a post-party @ our house the next night. We BBQ-ed and had our own Neighborhood of Fire. After a while, the kids were more interested in catching frogs than the fireworks.

Our first 4th of July in MN was a success!

FREI for ALL

2011-07-05T14:53:00.000-05:00

Our friends, the Freis, had their annual "FREI FOR ALL".

WOW- it was quite the gathering full of lots of yummy food and fun games and activities!

We adore the Freis and are so glad we're friends!

and we're so grateful for the Frei girls who are the BEST babysitters!

Strawberry Picking

2011-07-03T14:23:00.000-05:00

Dave and Jeff were both on-call so Carolyn and I took the kids STRAWBERRY PICKING.

Can you believe this scenery?

And the strawberries were DELISH!

bye.

2011-07-02T14:12:00.000-05:00

The Sullivans are off to their new adventure! We couldn't be more thrilled for them, but are so sad to not have them next door anymore.

We were fortunate enough to have their girls over on their last day here.

new toys

2011-07-01T13:59:00.000-05:00

Tolman got new rollerblades and Addi got a new bike.
Trying to get the hang of their new toys...

Slip n' Slide

2011-06-30T10:40:00.000-05:00

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.

2011-06-26T22:29:00.000-05:00

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."

Rochester Fest

2011-06-25T16:19:00.000-05:00

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!

CURTY!!

2011-06-23T00:25:00.000-05:00

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!

Tol's BirthDAY!

2011-06-18T17:22:00.000-05:00

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.

Birthday Boy!!

2011-06-17T17:19:00.002-05:00

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!!

For Mom

2011-06-12T00:20:00.000-05:00

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.

Memorial weekend

2011-05-31T22:46:00.000-05:00

For Memorial Day we planned on having a few families over for a BBQ, so the weekend before we took a trip to the cities so we could go to COSTCO for the meat (Costco always has the best meat).

We decided that since we were in the area we'd go to Como Zoo, as well.
Como Zoo has FREE admission (they just ask for a small donation), so our expectations weren't very high. Needless to say, it exceeded our expectations by a long shot! It was awesome!
We were having a great time UNTIL Addi lost her flip-flop in the lions den. It was actually pretty hilarious!- but poor Addi didn't think so. By the way she was FREAKING OUT you would have thought the lion bit her leg off. That girl is drama sometimes!

Not sure what Addi is doing here- but it's not what it looks like!

Here they are by some statue thingy that they thought was cool. They tried to imitate the creepy faces on the statue.

Looking at the flamingos while Tol is figuring out our next destination on the map. He is taking after his father with his obsession for maps. uh-oh.

Addi and the polar bear. That thing was HUGE! This pic doesn't do the size justice, but look at those paws!

Addi with a lion (look closely) in the background. Notice how she has both flip-flops on. And notice how you look down into the lions den. She was doing a trick and kicked her shoe off and down it went just minutes after this pic was taken.

The lion eating the flip-flop. Okay, not really- but it looks like it.
We've had to tell Addi that the lions didn't eat her flip-flop but have played with it because it looked like a toy. That story was our saving grace for the remainder of the day.

Carrying a 4 year old around a zoo got old so we weren't there too much longer.

Plus, it started raining.
But we had to see a few more things before heading out...

Tol and the ostrich.

No pics of this, but we went to Chili's for lunch and I have to document that because we were all dying at how yummy the food was! I don't care what anyone says (Heidi :)), the restaurants in Rochester aren't that great. I mean, is it too much to ask for a Chili's?!

Kickin' it at Costco!

Addi the sleeping bird, on our way home. You cover her face and she falls asleep. It's so funny!

Then she woke up.
...
And here are a few pics from the aforementioned BBQ. It deserves a post of it's own, but I hardly got any pics. All I'll say is that it was a GREAT time and Dave's famous ribs were a HIT!

transportation fair

2011-05-21T00:57:00.000-05:00

This is a post for another time (I have a lot of those 'other time' posts lined up, don't I?), but lately we've been discovering all the great activities and events that Rochester has to offer. One of which is the

TRANSPORTATION FAIR.

The weather forecast looked a little iffy, but nothing comes between Tol and his passion for things like this so we braved the storm and headed out alongside the Hansons.

There were all sorts of different cars, trucks, tractors and other various forms of transportation to climb on and sit in. We got to see the insides of an ambulance and other emergency vehicles, taxi cab, city and school buses, garbage truck, UPS truck- which provided great protection from the sheets of rain, tractors, mini vans (which Tol kept ripping on) and many other things.

The is the 2nd year, out of 17, that it has rained (which is a total understatement). But it turned out to be a blessing because there were no lines; we just walked onto anything we (or Tol) wanted. I guess the lines are usually super long.

After spending plenty of time at the fair and seeing all there was to be seen, we dined at Panera for lunch.

It was a Fun & Fabulous Day!

The next day was spent buying rain-gear.

Jeff

2011-05-17T21:57:00.001-05:00

13 years ago today I lost a dear friend. There haven't been many days since that I haven't thought of him.

But blessings and trials seem to come in the same package, and I'm grateful for the blessings that I've received.

Until we meet again...

for my sis'

2011-05-14T23:40:00.000-05:00

I'm back to attack! My camera (that I LOVE) is a goner so I had to resort to an old one that I don't love so much. One of the reasons I don't love it (besides the weak picture quality) is that the memory card isn't compatible with my computer and it didn't ever come with a USB cord and I can't find a USB compatible with this old school camera. Wait- was that 'one' reason, or three reasons? {and was that also a run-on sentence?} Whatever. So I hope you appreciate these pictures because it wasn't easy (or free) getting them here. And I also hope you appreciate your compatible cameras and memory cards. I'm saving for a new camera, but until then my posts may or may not be few and far between.

*I'm being practical and thinking solely of the BLOG BOOK by posting so many collages lately. Love them.

With all that said... here is a little something to tide ya'll (or just Jess & Chel) over for a bit.
TOLMAN'S SCHOOL CARNIVAL!! The highlight was definitely the few bounce houses and the low-light (?) was Dave not letting the kids play the fish game because everyone won an actual goldfish. Poor, neglected children! In the pic above, Tol is playing "MINUTE TO WIN IT." He had to sort Skittles in 1 minute. They change up the number of skittles you have to sort depending on your age. Tol and Ad both did it and were so pleased with themselves, as they should have been. After eating dinner, playing all the games, bouncing, and spending too much money, we high-tailed it out of there. But it was fun, and it is nice to be able to support the public schools- especially my own kids'.

2011-05-10T22:55:00.000-05:00

Addison recently finished her first year of DANCE in Rochester.

She took lessons at the Community Center and we were more than pleased! The class' focus was technique and the 5 positions of ballet. Addi learned a lot and her LOVE for dance grew.

Miss Tonya was the teacher and I can't say enough how impressed I am with her. She taught the girls SO MUCH about dance while making it so much FUN for them to 'learn' (or make PB sandwiches, talking on their cell phones, doing the chocolate or strawberry shakes and jumping over the individually named feather boas).

Miss Tonya and Addi on the last day of class

After 2 trimesters of a Ballet/Tumbling (a little random, I know) class, we decided to add TAP to the mix. Addison LOVED it! After we bought her tap shoes, she wore them for 2 weeks straight (in the house). Not annoying at all ;)

And here she is on her last day of Ballet and Tumbling. Like I said, Addi has learned so much this year and we are looking forward to another year with Miss Tonya when the Summer is over.

...but we're NOT looking forward to the Summer being over.

Royal Wedding Breakfast

2011-04-29T14:15:00.000-05:00

I had been thinking about having a little get-together to celebrate such a GIRLY occasion with a bunch of girlys- but I procrastinated. The day before the BIG DAY, I was doing a friends' hair who insisted it wasn't too late to throw something together. So that's what we did- we threw it together.

Everyone contributed by bringing something delicious and breakfast-y. Well, everyone except me; I burned the steel-cut oats, unfortunately. Especially if you've smelled burned steel-cut oats- it smells like gross popcorn, oddly enough.

Despite the smell, we had a great time. It was so adorable watching the cutest little girls watching a "real life PRINCESS" get married. They were all LOVING IT! But I think their mom's liked it a little more. And yes, a few tears were shed. What can I say, we were touched. I loved watching Prince William- he looked so smitten with his new Bride.

The whole thing was absolutely beautiful and I'm glad I could experience it with my friends who share my passion ;)

*Sorry about the poor picture quality. My camera is officially dead, so I took pictures with Carolyn's camera and I had it on the wrong setting. Lame.

Easter

2011-04-25T00:19:00.000-05:00

These cute kiddos must have been good kiddos (or 'worthy' kiddos as our Gospel Doctrine teacher jokingly suggested). The Easter Bunny came and spoiled Tol & Ad with new swimsuits, undies, books, toys and TREATS galore!

The kiddos woke up SO early- earlier than they did on Christmas!- and waited until their lazy parents got out of bed to go egg & basket hunting.

After everything was found and opened we got ready for and headed to church... on a TOTAL sugar-high.

Here they are all ready for church in their Easter garb.

After church, the kids put their new bubble-blowers to work and ate their lunch out on the deck. From the looks of this picture, Tol might have had a bowl of bubbles for lunch.

Then it was off to the Barney's house for a DELICIOUS Easter dinner and another egg hunt for the kiddos.

It is a exactly a week after Easter and we are still living off candy.

SO. MUCH. SUGAR!

Now that my kids are getting a little older, I really tried to incorporate the 'reason for the season' into our Easter. I hope it really sunk in and that my kids gained some sort of deeper appreciation for our Savior. I'll admit, that is something that I, as a mother, struggle with. I feel a constant urge to teach my children the scriptures and about the Gospel, but for some reason I can't find the right way, or the way that fits or feels right for MY family, but I still try. Tol & Addi are smart and I think they get more than I give them credit for, but I still feel we are too focused on the wrong things. Yadda yadda. Being a mom can be a tricky job...

Anyway, I do have a testimony that our Savior was Resurrected and that He lives. I am beyond grateful for this miraculous event that paved the way for me to live with Him alongside my family FOREVER and EVER.

I love the peace that comes from having this knowledge.

Hope you all had a HAPPY EASTER!

Friends with benefits

2011-04-23T21:52:00.000-05:00

One of the coveted things to have here in Rochester is a membership to the

Rochester Athletic Center.

Our neighbors are one of those fortunate families

and we were fortunate enough to be invited as their guests.

We prepped our swimsuit bodies by going to Perkins for breakfast,

which was fun and yummy.

Then we went to the RAC and swam and swam and swam.

My kids LOVED being in a pool again.

After swimming, Dave and Pat played some serious racquetball.

For some reason I only got pictures of swimming.

I've introduced them before,

but the Sullivans are our next-door neighbors.

They are here for Patrick's Colo-rectal Surgery Fellowship-

which is only one short year.

BUMMER for us!

They are leaving the first of July to Atlanta

where Pat will make the most fantastic real-life (with a real paycheck!) doctor.

We have loved getting to know Pat, Kristin and the girls
and will miss them all SO much, probably more than I can fathom.

But I certainly am grateful we've been able to get to know the Sullivans

and look forward to future vacations to visit each other!

2011-04-18T15:35:00.000-05:00

The Lamborns do CHICAGO...

with the Barneys.

{Hewitt. Brandon. Kerstin.}

Such a fantastic little get-a-way. Chicago is only about 350 miles from Rochester so the Barney's and us decided to spend a long weekend there.

I first have to add, Dave and Brandon went to Jr. High and High School together so they've known each other for a long time. Brandon also went to the U for Medical School and is here @ Mayo for his Radiation Oncology Residency. Match made in Heaven, right? We love the Barneys!

Dave & Tol @ the La Cross train station.

We decided to take the AMTRAK train to Chicago instead of driving. It was a great little way to travel (if you're not in a hurry to get there). The seats were SUPER roomy and comfortable, compared to an airplane anyway. It was also cool to see parts of the country we'd never seen.

Here we are having lunch on the train and us at Chicago's Union Station upon our arrival.

Brandon had an unexpected something at work (BUMMER) the day after we were scheduled to leave so the Barneys ended up coming out the next day. The night we got there we went to Weber Grill. For those of you who know Dave, even remotely well, knows he is the GRILLING MASTER. Weber is a household name (in our household anyway) as that is the name Dave spends all his birthday and Christmas money on; we've got lot's of Weber grills, smokers and gadgets. So you can understand why Weber Grill was our first stop.

First FABULOUS meal of a weekend of FABULOUS food.

The next morning we decided that we didn't pack nearly warm enough. Dave bought this beanie and I laughed at him the whole trip. It looked funnier in person.

While Dave was in Walgreen's buying the hat, I stood outside this hotel with the crowd waiting for President Obama to emerge. He was in town for a campaign fund-raising something. He didn't end up coming out the front doors, of course, but this is where he stayed.

I'm a total "star junkie." I don't care who it is or if I'm a fan, or not- I turn a little stalker-ish. Maybe I'll tell those stories at a later date.

After we ate our 2nd FABULOUS meal @ EATT, we headed to THE NAVY PIER and took the kids to

THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM.

They played 'FIREFIGHTER,'

climbed through the nets,

and were builders in the 'Skyline.'

Tol loved the 'Kid's Town.' He pretended to drive the bus FOREVER!

And Dave and I may or may not have had a drawing contest called "depicting Chicago." And we also may or may not have had an intense game of checkers. The Children's Museum isn't just for children :)

We were SO lucky to be at the same place at the same time as the EASTER BUNNY! Addi had to get in on that action.

The Barneys got in that evening and the first thing we did was grab a Chicago-style deep dish pizza at Giordano's. DELISH!

After the kiddos were all snuggled and sleeping in their beds, it was time for the REAL party to begin! Brandon, Kerstin, Dave & I got our Canasta on. Love that game!

View of Lake Michigan from our room.

OMG!! is all I have to say about this little piece of heaven you are looking at. We went to the Bongo Room the next morning for breakfast and it was the most AMAZING breakfast food I think I've EVER experienced. Seriously. What you are looking at is the breakfast Dave and I ordered. It's called something like Triple Chocolate Tower of French Toast. Basically, it's 3 fat slices of chocolate chip infused chocolate bread stuffed with maple mascarpone that is sitting in a banana creme brulee sauce and topped with chocolate shavings and fresh banana. There are no words to describe this type of eating euphoria.
Let's just say it's a good thing we walked a mile to the restaurant; it was nice to have already worked off 1/8 of a bite of this thing. But I have to admit the calories were totally worth it! Can't wait to get back to Chicago for this reason alone.

After breakfast we walked to Chicago's famous Shedd Aquarium where it was opening day of their "Jellies" exhibit. The line to get in the door was at least 2 hours long. Thankfully we had 2 strollers with us so we were able to enter through the 'accessible entrance' which had about a 20 minute line. There are perks to pushing your 4 year old in a stroller.

The next day (until we had to head home) was spent at Navy Pier aboard the one and only SEADOG!
I bought these tickets on Chicago's GROUPON having no idea what it really was. It ended up being AWESOME & hilarious! You can click the link to go to the website if you want to read about what it is. I definitely recommend doing this if you're in the area. Pure butt-rock adrenaline funniness :)

Dave and Brandon's green-screen picture. Actually, this is them waiting to board the vessel.

Tol & Ad waiting to board.

This was definitely a highlight of the trip.

Chicago was a beautiful city with LOTS & LOTS of character. We thought the BEST thing about Chicago (from our short exposure) was the food. Every meal- down to the train station's Chinese food & popcorn- was SO SO YUMMY! We can't wait to go back and explore more of it :)
And it was a BLAST being with The Barneys. We are certainly blessed to have them as good friends.

TOFW

2011-04-10T23:34:00.000-05:00

Some girls got together for a FUN & FANTASTIC night away in the cities for something called Time Out For Women. I had heard mixed reviews about the whole thing, but I decided a night with the girls sounded FAB. Plus, the conference ended up being really good and inspiring so it was a win-win!

After Friday night's meeting a bunch of us met for dinner at The
Newsroom. The food was great, and so was the decor and double-sided mirrors in the bathrooms (refer to the pics). It was such a funny night... and it carried over to our hotel room til the wee hours of the morning.
We were much too tired for the Saturday morning speakers so when we finally woke up and got ready, we went to HELL'S KITCHEN for breakfast. HOLY COW the food was amazing!
The rest of the day was spent absorbing all the words of wisdom and beautiful music at the conference before we headed back to Rochester as rejuvenated, refreshed and VERY SLEEPY women!

Reader's Digest version of UTAH

2011-04-09T23:17:00.000-05:00

The kids and I took advantage of our their SPRING BREAK & went to UTAH! We left a NASTY snowstorm behind and were welcomed by BEAUTIFUL blue skies. Perfect timing!

We had a wonderful visit and are already counting down to when we get to see our family and UT friends again.

Because of the aforementioned snowstorm, our flight was delayed a couple hours so we had LOTS of time to kill at the airport. We ate nasty and over-priced airport food and the kids played in the playplace (GENIUS idea) while I read.

Tol was SO excited to go to Utah that he woke up at 3 am that morning. He woke up, made his bed, showered, got dressed and came upstairs to watch recorded Spongebob episodes until I woke up. Needless to say, he was out cold before the plane was in the air.

Lunch @ Hagermann's with Lee, Grandma Alice, Aunt Lorainne (Lee's sister) and her husband, Whitney. We rarely see these guys so it was great to see them and catch up.

The kids LOVE their Utah dentist so we made time to visit Dr. Johnson.

He really is the BEST pediatric dentist. And they had ZERO cavities!

My girlfriends rented a cabin in Midway for a little girlie get-a-way while I was in town. First, we indulged in a little PC Outlet shopping then went to the YUMMIEST dinner at Maxwell's. I usually can't pass up Loco Lizard when I'm up that way, but now it's going to be a toss-up. Maxwell's was AMAZEBALLS!, right girls? Then we headed to the cabin where we stayed up WAAAAY too late talking. The next morning we had an amazing breakfast, thanks to Jen. And there may or may not have been a few of us who got a little obsessed with a puzzle. I forgot how fun (and nerdy) putting together a puzzle is.

Oh, and that pic if Kristen with the tissue up her nose; she was a sniffer (which is a MAJOR pet-peeve of mine) so she stuffed a cork in it. Thanks Kris.

It goes without saying that it is always a pleasure to spend time with these gals, but we definitely missed both Kriste(i)'s, and Keri.

The pics below are the views from both sides of the cabin. I took them from the deck. So pretty!

Lucky for us, our trip overlapped with Candice's Utah trip! Lucky for me because I was able to get my hair done. Oh the luxuries I took advantage of! We both worked in the salon and that was super FUN working with each other again. We also met for a DELICIOUS Mimi's breakfast and shopping at the "Horsey Mall" one morning before she headed back to Cali.

We had a lovely day with Jan at Gardner Village. Before we fed the ducks, we had lunch at Archibald's and shopped at a few of the adorable shops there. The kids LOVE their Grammy Jan and were able to spend a whole other day with her at Wheeler Farm. Jan really pulls out all the stops for these kids and rolls out the red carpet when they're with her. Thanks for the great day, Jan!

Chel and Becca went to Mexico for almost 2 weeks. LUCKY DUCKS!! And it just so happened that they had a layover in SLC on their way back to Seattle. Me, Jess and the kids (my parents and Curt were at a mandatory basketball banquet) met them for a Cafe Rio picnic at the airport. It wasn't the longest of visits, but we'll take what we can get. I mean, how perfect was that timing? It was SO FUN to see Chel and Becca and their BRONZE BUNS!

Chuck-A-Rama with the Bollingers.

Old traditions die hard.

Auntie Jess took the kids on a special date. They went to Chuck e Cheese for a while but got bored (shockingly) so they ended up going bowling and to Chick-Fil-A instead. The kids are STILL talking about their "Auntie Jess" date- they had so much fun! Jess is the BEST! My kids just ADORE her.

Lee took us out to dinner at Mimi's (no such thing as TOO much Mimi's) and to dessert at The Sweet Tooth Fairy. I think the highlight for Tol was filling up Lee's Natural Gas Honda. Can you believe we filled his car half-way for $2.12?!! I want that car for that reason alone!.. and a few other reasons, as well.

A trip highlight for me was the Nelson/Pugh reunion. We were neighbors growing up, but just saying we were neighbors doesn't quite cut it. We were much more than just neighbors, we were more like family. I have SO many memories involving these guys. Lori was my second mom and Kaiti was the older sister I never had. Chad lived in the circle playing basketball (I was SURE he'd make it to the NBA).

For some really dumb reason, I haven't seen these guys in ages! It was SO great catching up and reminiscing of the old days. It was a bummer that Brian and Tricia couldn't make it, but we LOVED seeing Nanc, Lor, Chad and Kate.

The day before we left were were able to meet my darling grandparents at Corner Bakery for lunch, then we went back to their house to hang out for a while. I had to get a pic of my Gramp taking out the garbage; he had one hand on the garbage and one keeping his pants up. I don't think his cane was helping him much. My cute gramp- I offered to take his garbage can to the curb for him but he is one stubborn dude and insisted on doing it himself (like everything else). I should mention that he was in the hospital just a few days prior to this, too. I just adore my grandparents and feel so blessed to have had so much time with them and that my kids have been able to have a relationship with them, too.

The worst part about visiting Utah is having to say good-bye when it's time to go home.

But it is good to be home. And weird that Minnesota has, in fact, become "home."

It's the most wonderful time of the year... for Tolman.

2011-03-21T22:29:00.000-05:00

You all know what I'm talking about... the AUTO EXPO! This year we got to go to the 7th Biggest Auto Expo in the US in Minneapolis. Tol loved it because he got to get in most of the luxury cars, which is a luxury because you can't get in them in Utah's Auto show.

Lot's of pics of Tol in his prime:

Addi tried to enjoy herself, too.

We got a hotel in the cities and made a weekend out of it. I drove the kids up on Friday morning and went to the expo that day. Dave drove up and met us after work that evening for dinner and swimming. The next day Dave took Tol to the Expo while Addi and I spent our day shopping at Costco and Mall of America.

The EXPOS are over. The countdown to next year's show begins...

Those Sneaky Little Leprechauns!

2011-03-20T21:45:00.000-05:00

We had the SNEAKIEST little Leprechauns visit out house on ST. PATTY'S DAY this year!

At least they left us treats!

We're setting out traps next year FOR SURE!

COZYlicious

2011-03-19T21:49:00.000-05:00

Addi made herself a snuggly bed for herself on the ironing board.

Doesn't she look super COZYlicious?

Shhhhh...

2011-03-18T08:41:00.001-05:00

Japan holds a special place in our hearts.

Dave served an LDS mission in Japan.

He served in the southern-most island, Fukuoka;

it was not directly hit, but the people there are effected by the after math of this disaster.

Please help in any way you can.

I'd like to propose a toast...

2011-03-11T21:20:00.001-06:00

"Mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again."

I found this on a friends' blog tonight. It is my new mantra. LOVE IT!

Helper Mom minus the RED SWEATS

2011-03-10T22:02:00.000-06:00

I volunteered in Addi's preschool class on PAJAMA DAY where I made pancakes for everyone and was able to stay and PLAY!
Addi was ALL about the pics.

A few days later I went on the QUARRY HILL field trip with Tolman's Kindergarten class.
Tol was NOT about the pics until it was almost time to head home.

I shouldn't admit to this, but when I was in grade school and my mom was the "helper mom" in my class, I had strict instructions she had to follow. Number 1 on the list was that she could NOT- under ANY circumstances- wear her red sweats to my school. Can you say embarrassing?! The 'red sweats' were SO traumatizing to me! I was a vain little girl who had an image to maintain.

Maybe my kids are nicer & more humble than I was at their age, but I still try to look my best when I go to their schools to help out in the classroom. Let's just say THAT is a huge sacrifice of love on my part because I seriously live in my sweats out here!

Sorry I was a jerk, Mom. You were a babe no matter what!... and still are.

wine & dine

2011-02-15T22:48:00.001-06:00

"BE MINE"

friend dinner

For as long as I can remember my parents had a Valentine's dinner for our family.

My mom would set a festive table, make a yummy, heart-themed dinner and have our valentines waiting for us on our dinner plates (which during middle school and into high school were Raging Waters season passes- the best gift EVER!!).

I decided to carry the tradition to Rochester -sans 'RAGE' passes. We invited 5 or 6 families over for a LOVEly heart-themed night of dinner and gifts.

The pics don't do the night justice, but you get the idea...

Here I am putting the finishing touches on the table.

One of my contributions: worlds best SUGAR COOKIES.

Look here for the recipe.

I also made bacon-wrapped chicken and a delicious PRETZEL JELLO SALAD.

Everyone else also contributed to make for one YUMMY dinner (& dessert).

WHITE ELEPHANT
GIFT
EXCHANGE

Everyone came prepared with some hilarious and adorable romance-themed gifts.

You see Jeff looking excited about that little number in his hand? Let's just say the Hansons got our gift :)

I had a great time and am so glad everyone could come to make my first VALENTINE DINNER a success!

XOXO.

2011-02-14T10:56:00.000-06:00

skipping ahead to wish you all a...

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

Christmas cards in Februaury

2011-02-10T09:13:00.000-06:00

CHRISTMAS CARDS!

Easily

one

VERY

favorite

parts

Christmas.

They

were

until

February.

Thanks

for

the

cards

everyone!

Mini Me

2011-01-31T23:23:00.000-06:00

Addison is finally fitting into this amazing pea-coat that belonged to me when I was her age.

I remember that I didn't love wearing it because it was "too heavy."

Luckily Addi loves to wear it to church over her dresses because it is her "Princess Coat."

Especially because her missionary boyfriend, Elder Sexer (great name, eh?), goes to our church.

Speaking of, I'm pretty sure this is the same week as this happened:

(on our way to church)

Addi: Will Elder Sexer bring me the bread today?

Me: Yeah, maybe

Addi: (completely disappointed) oh no

Me: Why, what's wrong?

Addi: I should have worn my sparkly headband!

I'm in trouble.

Back to the coat. Isn't it gorgeous?

And so are Addi's silly faces in the pics below.

This is one silly girl who constantly keeps us laughing!

What we wait for ALL year long...

2011-01-24T09:04:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again; EXPOS!! The first of the season was the BOAT SHOW!

Addi and I dropped the fellas off at the expo while we got our Costco fix. After LOTS of shopping we finished the BOAT SHOW off together.

Tol was in seventh heaven. Dave was loving it, too.

Addi had a good time posing for and taking pictures.

Next up was the RV show but we have no pictures to document it. The boys had a 'boys only' outing to that one while Addi and I stayed home and had a girlie day of painting our nails and shopping :)

stay tuned for the AUTO EXPO weekend...

Identity Crisis

2011-01-02T10:16:00.000-06:00

Addi dressed up as an obscene Belle.

Tommy dressed up as "WORD GIRL" in a Wonder Woman costume.

Love these two crazy kiddos.

It's off to home we go...

2010-12-31T23:51:00.000-06:00

See ya later, UT.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. It was so sad to leave our friends and family.

We were scheduled to fly out on the 30th so we could join Dave for New Years, but we failed to notice that he was on call New Years Eve. If Dave was going to be at the hospital I would have rather been home in UT with my family rather than home alone with my sleeping babies. Long story short, our only chance to stay longer was for our flight to be canceled or over-booked (the rescheduling fees were WAY more than we wanted to pay). We thought our chances were pretty good because of the snow storms. Well, no such luck. Let's just say it was one hectic morning getting ALL our stuff packed and out the door. We arrived at the airport @ exactly 11:52 and our flight left at 12:30. I'm shocked we made it.

This is what I pushed around the airport. Can you believe it? With ALL our Christmas presents and such, we took full advantage of our carry-ons (and we even shipped 3 boxes home). And yes- that is a garbage bag hanging from the stroller. The stuff inside was originally in a shopping bag (not much better), but it ripped going through security so they gave me a garbage bag.

Needless to say, we turned lots of heads. I felt like it anyway.

We had a LOOONG layover in Denver- our flight was delayed for over an hour. Addi's static-y hair was our layover entertainment when the moving walkways got boring.

The kids were major troopers- they were awesome for the whole trek home. Besides leaving my phone on the plane, everything went smoothly and we made it home safe and sound.

COUSINS

2010-12-31T13:21:00.000-06:00

It's such a BUMMER living so far away from the kids' only cousins! Luckily, our trip to Utah over-lapped with theirs for one single day. We took full advantage by heading to Discovery Gateway. When we both lived in UT, we would go there together as often as we could. We love the Children's Museum with our cousins!
It was so great to see the Kats' family! I couldn't believe how BIG Kye, Gentry and especially Brevin are getting.
Too bad Dave had to get back to work and missed seeing his only sister and her family. Next time we'll have to plan better...
LOVE YOU GUYS!

The perfect combo:

2010-12-30T22:53:00.000-06:00

ARCTIC CIRCLE & the BUCHANANS

We sure have missed these guys!

k

And you better believe I ordered myself one of those RANCH BURGER COMBOS (displayed on the table in the picture above). It's funny what you miss when it's not at your disposal anymore.

Temple Square Lights

2010-12-29T22:41:00.000-06:00

The whole fam, minus Dad who was sick and Dave who was already back in MN, went to see the lights. We took the train so Nils and Curt could do a little "bus boarding."

Besides the chilly temps, we had a great time.

We ended the night with some hot chocolate & a photo op on the streets of SLC.

CHRISTMAS Day

2010-12-27T22:28:00.001-06:00

CHRISTMAS MORNING!

We all got spoiled on Christmas...

but the favorite gifts BY FAR were the blankets my mom crocheted for EVER SINGLE ONE of US! She even made Addi a matching one for her 'babies.' It was such a thoughtful gift. And I'm tellin' ya- these blankets are the coziest and most wonderful things ever. I'm actually wrapped up in mine right now as my kids are both sleeping under theirs. We love our "grammy blankies!"

After all the gifts were opened & cranberry muffins devoured, we headed to the
ANNUAL NELSON vs. NELSON CHRISTMAS BBALL GAME.
Church ball has NOTHIN' on this. It is one intense game.

Some of the CUTEST (top row) athletic supporters.

Later that day we went to Jan's for Christmas dinner with the Lamborn's. Dinner was great and we got SUPER SPOILED with gifts, as always. We were happy that Grandma Jeanne was able to join us.

Have I mentioned that the kids were sick, like the ENTIRE time we were in Utah? It was rough. Well that night @ Jan's, their sick and tired-ness really kicked-in to high gear. Addi slept all night and Tol was in the bathroom all night. POOR KIDDOS! Addi wouldn't even get up to open presents.

When we got back to my parents, the kids caught their second win. Dana & Lance came over and we all ate some more and sang Christmas carols around the piano.

Perfect Christmas.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-26T18:51:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve was spent in Park City @ Eric & Mindy's house this year.
It was awesome because EVERYBODY from both families were there. That rarely happens.
We ate dinner, sang Christmas carols, watched Christmas Vacation, and opened presents.
Here are some pics from the evening:

Side story:
My camera broke a while back. It still takes pictures but the LCD screen doesn't work and neither does the zoom. It's been a major bummer to say the least. Since it hasn't been working properly I haven't let the kids touch it. On Christmas Eve, while everyone was eating, Addison got her hands on the camera and was playing with it for quite a while until I noticed. When I took it back from her, guess what? It was working- LCD screen, zoom and everything! Not sure what she did, but I'm glad she did it.

Pulling more of this face.
They're trying to look like the WHOS' from WHOVILLE.
Addi wanted in on the action with her famous "monster face." I love it!

My FAVORITE pic of the night.
Isn't she ADORE?
Addi has an infatuation with anything little.

She LOVED this little snow globe.

The kids opened their Christmas jammies.
They also got snowball makers from Aunt Mindy.

It's a good thing they were already in their jams.
They were OUT COLD within 10 minutes of leaving Eric & Mindy's.
We thought they looked so cute all cuddled up together.

I was mighty jealous of my snoozing kiddos because I was SO SO tired, too.

The whole way home from PC I wondered how I was going to make it- I still had a couple hours worth of Christmas preparations to do once I got home.
Luckily I caught my second wind.

I wrapped and prepared LOTS of presents with Dave as my assistant ;)

Once all the presents were wrapped and under the tree we finished Curt's stocking. We all have the cutest stockings (think that stocking to the right) that my parents made us LONG LONG ago. We LOVE our stockings! Except Curtis, he doesn't have one. He's NEVER had a 'real' Nelson stocking. My mom had good intentions but never got around to it. She bought a kit months ago and about a week before Christmas she pulled it out and Nils offered to make it. Let's just say Nils did put in some serious time on that thing but if left to his own devices, that stocking STILL wouldn't be done. We all worked on the stocking around the clock. It was constantly laid out on the kitchen table so whenever anyone was hanging out in the kitchen, they pulled out a needle and thread and got to work. We figured 40+ hours went into that thing. We were determined to get it done by Christmas.
It still wasn't done Christmas Eve so we all stayed up til the wee hours of the morning to finish it. Well all but Curt. He said that since we didn't have to make any of our own stockings then he wasn't going to make his. We all slaved away as he slept on the floor by the fire.
That was a funny night. We were tired so some hilarious dialogue was happening. For example, around midnight when both the kids were sound asleep in their beds Nils said, "WAIT! Don't we need to set out milk and cookies for Santa?" He was dead serious, too. Don't worry, we let him down easy. Another funny thing was when a jingle bell from the stocking sounded and my mom said, "I think I hear Santa!" Jess responded, COMPLETELY serious and a little annoyed, "Nu- uh Mom, that was a jingle bell on the stocking." I think my mom's response was something along the lines of, "no sh** Sherlock." We all got a good laugh. It was late.
I wish I had a pic of the finished stocking. It turned out DARLING and Curt had a finished stocking filled with all the stuffers Christmas morning.

What a GREAT Christmas Eve!

Dad's birthday (and another) dinner

2010-12-22T22:54:00.000-06:00

One of the ONLY good things about having a Christmas Birthday (the 21st) is that THE ENTIRE FAMILY is in town to celebrate YOU! And when I say 'you,' I mean DAD!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

We celebrated in style, Dad style, by going to a low-key dinner at one of his favorites, MacCool's.
It was late and we were tired so that turned into some loud and obnoxious behavior (look below) paired with some hilarious conversation that included Nils telling his hypothetical wife, "Sure Honey, go buy a ham!"  We were laughing so hard (it was late, remember?) but it was no big deal because we THOUGHT we were all alone.  That's when our waiter piped in from the corner and said, "In all my years of being a waiter, this is by far the weirdest conversation I've EVER over-heard."

Ladies, he's single!

Ugly face contest. It's funny because if you didn't know us, these might pass as our real smiles. Except for my dad's. I'm laughing right now just looking at my mom's pic. I think she's the winner. And Nils, too.

Aren't my parents adore?

Happy Birthday to the best dad a girl could ask for. Really.

Love you.

...

The next night, Lee took us out to The Spaghetti Factory.

AH mazithra!

It's a HUGE blessing that both mine and Dave's families get along so well. Lee fits right in. Or shall I say we fit right in with him?

You get the picture.

GDI Christmas Party

2010-12-20T22:28:00.000-06:00

18th Annual.

Kristen was our lovely hostess this year. She definitely outdid herself. Look at the beautiful table (below). I bet you want to know what's wrapped in those festive packages... Mrs. Fields chocolate covered cookie dough! Seriously?! The PERFECT "Kristen and Jami treat!" I don't think there is anyone who loves cookie dough more than the two of us.

And to think that it all started with the Rocky Mountain Ranger cookies...

I didn't get any pics of the decadent spread, so you'll have to take my word that the food was WONDERFUL, as always!

Here are some pics of the night. After dinner, we had a white elephant exchange with some HILARIOUS white elephants. *why didn't I take more pics? We're getting pretty funny in our old age.

You've all heard it before so I won't go on and on about how I have one of the BEST group of girl friends EVER. All I'll say is that it was such a fun night and it was WONDERFUL to see everyone again!

I'll be home for Christmas

2010-12-20T21:50:00.000-06:00

part I...

We were able to go home to Utah for Christmas and it was FABULOUS! The kids and I were there for about 2 weeks and Dave met us there for 1.
The day we flew out we left our house around 7:30 am to catch the Rochester to Minneapolis shuttle. Carolyn (along with her kids) was our shuttle to the shuttle. How nice was that? I think Tol was more excited to ride on a 'real' shuttle bus than the airplane. After we'd been on the shuttle for about 3 minutes, and it's a 70 minute ride, Addison asked if we were at Grandma's yet. OH BOY! This was going to be a looong day of travel. I'd never flown alone with my 2 kids before and hoped it would be a good experience. Thankfully it was. The kids were great! They watched movies, read books, colored pictures and cuddled with their new pillow pets.

My dad picked us up from the airport while my mom was teaching piano. My parents TOTALLY outdid themselves getting everything ready for us. It was so great to see them! My kids were especially excited to see their GRAMMY! They didn't care, nor did my mom, that she had a piano student, they ran straight to her and wouldn't leave her side pretty much the entire night.

My mom put my FAVORITE treats on my night stand; pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies and Mint m&ms, the kind they only have at Christmas. Man those things are good! It was nice rolling over the next morning to have breakfast right there in arm's reach. Nothing better than cookies and m&ms for breakfast. The kids were STOKED to see their very own Christmas tree in their room!
That night we ordered pizza, chilled, talked and got caught up. Lee came over for a bit to have some pizza & drop off his truck for us to borrow while we were in town. Tol was so excited to be able to drive "the Ford" while we were there. We have such awesome families!
The next day was mostly spent running a bunch of errands. I worked A LOT in the salon while I was in town and had to pick up a few odds and ends for work the next day. In the midst of the errands we met Kristen and her kids for an Olive Garden lunch and some shopping. SO FUN to see them!
And can I just say that I DO NOT miss Utah traffic. That sounds funny, but it's TRUE! All our errands took much longer than I had anticipated because of the nasty traffic. I love not EVER having to deal with that out here in Rochester.
It was a BLAST to be able to work in the salon again. It was as if I never left. I worked my little tail off!! I worked a little too much, actually. Going from not working (except for here-and-there out of my house) to putting in 12 or 13 hour days- it was A LOT. My body was not a fan. But it was super fun to see so many of my clients and friends and the money was also nice. It definitely made me miss working in the salon and dealing with adults on a regular basis, and at the same time made me grateful that I'm able to stay home with my kids. Bittersweet for sure! I love my salon family and am grateful they are so good to me and let me come and work when I'm in town. I wish I took some pictures at the salon. That was dumb of me.

Well there you have it, part I. Stay tuned for the next installment I like to call "all about parties!" ...

I'm kidding.
But do stay tuned...

TOLMANS FRENS

2010-12-20T17:19:00.000-06:00

When we were in Utah for Christmas, I found this in my parent's office. Tol made a list of all his friends. I freaking love this kind of stuff!!

*and I'm just now posting it because I finally got around to scanning it.

"TOLMANS FRENS"

CHRASE = Tracy

CORDR = Carter

ALISA =Eliza

LOOC = Luke

DAVEID = David

MAX = Max (way to go, Tol)

JAC = Jake

DOSIN = Dawson

COOLIN = Collin

TI = Ty

TOMIS = Thomas

MATHYO = Matthew

...and while I'm posting this, I'll throw in this:

Tolman drew this in November when Uncle Curty, Grammy Jan and Grammy Shar celebrated their Birthdays. It's a picture of them with their new ages below. And don't you love the car under Curt?!

*drawing isn't Tol's strong point. He pretty much hates to color and draw...

Addi has a BIRTHDAY!

2010-12-14T22:07:00.000-06:00

Addison turned the BIG "4" on December 12th- Boy, how time flies!

She woke up to LOTS of presents so the first thing she did that day was open them...

As you can see she got some new dress ups (this girl is constantly in a "Princess dress")
and the My Little Pony Butterfly Island.
She was in heaven, especially because we had the ENTIRE day to stay home and play.
Church was canceled due to the storm so we played dress ups, ponies and even ventured outside to play in the snow for a while.

Speaking of playing in the snow: I was inside while Dave was out shoveling and the kids were out playing in the snow. I heard a faint knock on the door so I answered it to find Addi pretty much upside down in the snow on the door step. I guess she wanted to come inside but fell and got stuck in the snow right outside our door. She supposedly knocked on the door with her boot that was up in the air. Luckily she thought it was funny even though she was an icicle!

Gosh, I LOVE this girl!

Addison brings so much joy and happiness into our home and family.

She keeps us constantly laughing with her randomness, quirkiness and her hilariousness!

She loves to pretend and create. She still loves princesses, ponies and anything girly.

She is smart & Witty. She loves school and is very independent. She loves telling stories. She is a good listener and a great helper. She is a nurturer and talks daily about having a new baby. She also talks a lot about her imaginary sisters, Samantha, Sadie and Sarah. She has the most angelic little face and the biggest blue eyes that melt my heart every single day. She is happy. She loves to cuddle. She is THE BEST and I'm the luckiest Mom in the world to have Addi as my daughter.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Princess Addi Belle!

Minnesotans? or just CRAZY?

2010-12-14T13:32:00.000-06:00

This picture was taken outside our front door the night of the December 11th, the BIGGEST MN snow storm since 1955.
It was WILD!
We got about 16 inches of snow combined with 35-45 mph winds. That made for some SERIOUS snow drifts.
The snow plows were out all day until they realized they couldn't keep up and Mn/DOT pulled them all at about 6 pm. I've never heard of plows being pulled.
Needless to say, the city shut down, like, completely! All that snow froze and the city continued to hibernate for 2 whole days after. Roads were closed, stores were closed, church and school was canceled.

We were advised to stay in unless it was an emergency. But on the 11th, Dave was off and I was in serious need of some girl-time. That was an emergency! So Carolyn and I braved the storm and went shopping. Like, ALL day. In a way it was nice cause it felt like we had the city to ourselves, until the city closed down on us. When the mall closed we were happy to see that Panera was open for a kid-less dinner of soup and sandwiches. DELISH!
It was all going just fine until it turned dark. Then it got scary out there! Luckily we made it home safe and sound.
When we got home I realized I'd forgotten to buy ingredients for Addi's birthday cake (her real birthday was the next day). Dave LOVES driving in bad weather conditions (he's crazy) so he ran to Target just to realize he forgot his wallet. He came home and said there was NO WAY he was going out there again. His exact words were, "It was foolish of me to go in the first place." That coming from Dave says A LOT!
Poor Ad didn't get a cake on her Bday. But she made up for it a few days later by picking out a MONSTER carrot cake at Sam's Club. And of course she only ate the frosting-carrots on top.

And as Carolyn so perfectly put it:
"...we're either crazy or becoming true-Minnesotans (maybe there's no difference?)"

Here are some pics of the next day (snowed-in). Dave shoveled and shoveled and shoveled. Luckily our neighbor was kind enough to let Dave borrow his snow-blower for some of it.

Welcome to Minnesota!

Princess Party

2010-12-10T19:59:00.000-06:00

For Addison's 4th Birthday, we had her friends over for a

PRINCESS PARTY

and a few handsome Princes made an appearance, too!

Here we have Bella, Addi, Keri, Emily, Lilli, Finley, Caroline

with the party-crashers, Tol & Sterling, in the background.

First up was Princess Musical Chairs. Thanks iTunes for all the Princess music!

Then it was time for Princess Pizza and decorating Princess cupcakes. They also made their own Princess candy necklaces that I didn't get on film.

Big THANKS to Andrea for all your help with those necklaces... and the photo taking.

Look at all these delectable cupcakes. We have quite the decorators!

Addison got SPOILED with all her presents.

Thanks all you darling little Princesses for a fun and fabulous party!
Addison sure is lucky to have such great friends!

*and it's a good thing we had the party when we did. A HUGE storm came in that very night that would have prevented ANY party from happening for a few days. That'll be the next post.
stay tuned...

HOLIDAZZLE

2010-12-04T00:18:00.000-06:00

A city that has an outdoor Christmas light parade can't be that cold, right?

WRONG!!

But who cares? We heard the HOLIDAZZLE Parade in Minneapolis is a holiday MUST-DO.

We, along with the Hanson's, packed our cars with all our warmest gear and drove to the cities.

After a yummy dinner at Chevy's we headed to the parade. We parked the cars, threw on our gear (wish I had a better pic of Carter, his get-up was the best) and booked it a few blocks to the festivities.

It was awesome and definitely worth it. The parade featured a bunch of story-tale characters, like Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (Addi was SO SCARED of the wicked witch), Pinocchio, Humpty-Dumpty and The 3 Little Pigs. It also had other cool things like a city bus completely covered in Christmas lights and life-sized Christmas light bulbs (that were so dang adorable)!

Click here for pics if you like.

When the parade was all said and done, we warmed up with some Barnes & Noble hot chocolate before heading home.

Turning our backs against the lights and toward the camera was rough. But it IS all about the photo-ops, right?

The Hanson Fam
Jeff. Carolyn. Carter. Tommy. Kate
Aren't they cute? We love these guys!

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Dave and Jeff are in the same residency program and that is how we met. It's actually a funny story that I'll save for another time, but let's just say Dave & Jeff have spent a suspiciously LARGE amount of time together.

And us, The Lamborn Fam
This pic might look familiar if you received a Christmas card from us this year.

HOLIDAZZLE is definitely a new Lamborn (and Hanson?) holiday tradition. For the next few years anyway. Well except next year when we're in AZ for all of December.

SNOW!!

2010-12-02T22:00:00.000-06:00

Bundled up nice and WARM to go out and play!

Tol had fun sledding down the hill on the side of our house while...

Addi was busy making snow angels.

Playing in the FREEZING snow never looked so adorable!!

"Nunu"

2010-12-01T18:44:00.000-06:00

NUNU our CHRISTMAS ELF,

straight from the North Pole,

came to make sure the kids weren't

NAUGHTY but NICE

this HOLIDAY SEASON.

The kids were HAPPY (and surprised) to see him again.

He was first spotted in the wreath.

And along with Nunu came the book.

We love this tradition!

W.T.

2010-11-28T14:50:00.000-06:00

We rarely use our front door so I didn't notice we were sporting some classy fall decor.
OOZING, soggy PUMPKINS

Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T17:10:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving this year was spent with the Hanson family and it was a SUCCESS!!

I was sad to not be in Utah with the fam,

but we had such a FUN & YUMMY Thanksgiving, so it made it all okay.
That morning, I carried out the tradition of running a 5K
I was by myself and on a treadmill, but it made me feel a little connected to everyone back home (even though they didn't do the race this year due to MN-like temps).
But it was fun and it takes away a little of the guilt for eating SO much later in the day.
Who am I kidding?
It's Thanksgiving!
There isn't an ounce of guilt for over eating on Thanksgiving-
for me anyway.

As you can see from the pics below

(and they don't do the meal justice),

we had quite the spread.

We seriously had enough food to feed an army!

I somehow missed getting a picture, but Dave smoked a turkey.

I don't love turkey, but it smelled divine!

We also had all the traditional fixins; mashed potatoes,

sweet potatoes, stuffing, jello salad, rolls etc.

We started with some tasty appetizers and ended with a few delectable desserts

including these cute turkeys that Carolyn made for the kiddos.

Below is the table equipped with Vienna Sausages for Jeff.

He loves them and that has become kind of a joke around here.

Mmmm... looking at that plate of food is making my tummy rumble.

I could go for some of those sweet potatoes right about now.

After dinner we all let our dinner settle and allowed the tryptophan to set in by watching movies.

We got in our cozy clothes and turned on

Chipmunks "The Squeakwel" for the kiddos downstairs

and the adults watched "Blades of Glory" upstairs.

It was definitely a Thanksgiving to go down in the books.

We really have so much to be Thankful for.

This year I was especially grateful to be in a

new place surrounded by new, and amazing, friends.

I can't tell you how nice it was, even though we were away from family,

to be with our new Minnesota family.

The people here really make you feel like family.

It is a great and comforting feeling.

The Hanson's are no exception!

We LOVE them and are grateful to have them as great friends.

Later that night, after the festivities had wrapped up

and all the kiddos and hubbys were nestled in their own beds,

Carolyn and I ventured out to do a little BLACK FRIDAY shopping.

We only hit Walmart, but found some good deals on a bunch of stuff we really didn't need.

Well, some stuff we did :)

I also spoke in church that following Sunday.

My talk was on Gratitude.

I have spoken in church only 3 times my entire adult life.

All 3 times my subject has been GRATITUDE.

I guess I still have something to learn on it.

I ended my talk with words from one of my all time favorite Josh Groban songs.

My poor family gets so sick of this song this time of year

because it's on his Christmas album and I play it over and over and over.

I love it!

Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves
There's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say
I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It's so long overdue

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And every day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more

There's so much to be thankful for

"aode intiyr"

2010-11-24T23:08:00.000-06:00

One of Tol's favorite past times is looking online at different cars, car keys and car interiors. When I got on the computer after him, this is what I saw:

= Audi Interior.
Isn't this adorable? I love this phase, the phonetical spelling of everything.
It's awesome seeing how Tol's brain ticks.

And thank you to Capture Wiz Pro for allowing me to capture this :)

Random Addi

2010-11-23T23:39:00.000-06:00

When asked what she learned about in Primary, Addi replied,

"Octopuses, Killer Whales and Stop Signs."

Last week it was, "Octopuses, Killer Whales and snickerdoodles. They are sooooo good!"

Grandpa Lee

2010-11-23T14:32:00.000-06:00

Can I just say that I have the BEST father-in-law EVER? He came to visit a few weekends ago and it was the BEST vacation for Dave and I. Lee was with the kids EVERY waking moment; entertaining them and fulfilling their every want and wish. He is an incredible Grandpa- my kids just adore him!

The first thing we did after picking him up from the airport was head to Mall of America so he could buy a toy for each of the kids (and do a little shopping for the grown-ups too). Addi picked a princess tea set and Tol picked a Volvo Semi truck. Both toys got more use that weekend than any of our other toys have gotten EVER. Lee did a great job switching between a Prince at a tea party and a truck-driver.

This pic pretty much sums up the weekend.
Thanks for everything, Lee! We had the most fabulous time with you!

And that wraps up our 4 visitors is 4 weeks...

The note said...

2010-11-16T21:31:00.000-06:00

This kept Tol busy for a long time while Dave and I got things ready for Sterling and his family to come over for dinner.

Visitor #3: CANDICE!

2010-11-15T23:04:00.000-06:00

Candice was so great to pay us a visit in early November. We absolutely LOVED having her here! It was a pretty chill weekend, but sometimes those are the BEST kind.

Candice and I have been friends for almost 12 years. Boy how time flies and boy how I love this girl! I am blessed to call her one of my Best Friends. I mean, really, there aren't many out there like Candice.

Our weekend consisted of lots of yummy homemade food, yummy restaurant food, hair (I finally got my hair done), touring the clinic, football, "being cold" (according to C- she was freezing 90% of her time here), movies, late night talks, ZUMBA, sleep &

RELAXATION!

It was perfect!
Addison made a new BF. She's always loved Candice, but this trip took her love to a new level. Addi cried when we dropped Candice off at the airport. We LOVE having so many visitors, but HATE to see them go.

We sweetened the blow by exploring downtown Minneapolis after dropping Candice off. Here are a few pics from our walking tour. The bus in the bottom right pic is the front of the Metro Transit office. Tol thought this was awesome! And it's cool at night because the headlights are turned on. As we were walking around the city, I couldn't help but think how weird it was that I live here now. Well, an hour from here anyway.
It is really starting to sink in, but that's a post for another day.

The Lamb Fam

'It's snowing!!"

Yellow Stripe

Tolman's Tooth

Birthday LOVE

Duluth, MN

Addi- Boom- Baddi

Merry Christmas

HUMMER LIMO... finally!

a police officer and strawberry shortcake

Apple picking

Chi Town

Kristen came to visit!

dirty 30

Casual Disciple

well, yeah...

Last day of Summer

Carroll's Cup

Meet the Teacher

Minnesota State Fair

Summertime

"pillow fight"

The last

Park City with the NELSONS

Random Addi

Water Parks

More Ut (with the Lambs)... and still more to come...

Serious Q.F.T. (aquired form SEVENTEEN MAGAZINE circa 1995)

Pool Parties!

First UP, the UP house!

Tol's PENSKE

beach time

*4th of July*

FREI for ALL

Strawberry Picking

bye.

new toys

Slip n' Slide

Rochester Fest

CURTY!!

Tol's BirthDAY!

Birthday Boy!!

For Mom

Memorial weekend

transportation fair

Jeff

for my sis'

Royal Wedding Breakfast

Easter

Friends with benefits

TOFW

Reader's Digest version of UTAH

It's the most wonderful time of the year... for Tolman.

Those Sneaky Little Leprechauns!

COZYlicious

Shhhhh...

I'd like to propose a toast...

Helper Mom minus the RED SWEATS

wine & dine

XOXO.

Christmas cards in Februaury

Mini Me

What we wait for ALL year long...

Identity Crisis

It's off to home we go...

COUSINS

The perfect combo:

Temple Square Lights

CHRISTMAS Day

Christmas Eve

Dad's birthday (and another) dinner

GDI Christmas Party

I'll be home for Christmas

TOLMANS FRENS

Addi has a BIRTHDAY!

Minnesotans? or just CRAZY?

Princess Party

HOLIDAZZLE

SNOW!!

"Nunu"

4th of July