Mini Me

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...

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

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...

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

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:

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

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

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

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

 
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.