Camping at Santa Cruz

So, it's a huge thing in our stake to go camping in Santa Cruz over Memorial weekend. We got invited this year to camp with the Astle's and we had so much fun! Mikayla hasn't been camping in almost 2 years so it was almost as if everything was new to her. She loved the beach, walking in the woods, riding bikes with her friends, roasting marshmallows and just plain playing with her friends where there were hardly any rules. Megan loved being able to walk everywhere and would toddle from campsite to campsite to see where sister was or find friends from our ward. We took her to the beach and she ate her fair share of sand and literally loved running into the waves. We had to hold her back from running straight into the ocean! The little fearless child would scream when we brought her up by the chairs and towels to dry off and just wanted to keep running into the cold water with her sister and friends! Crazy baby! We had a lot of fun camping and it was even more fun to see so many people from our ward and stake out there. Thank you Astles! We hope to go again next year!

Time For Summer...

"I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair!" haha, isn't she tiny?!

Almost! I took the girls to Seely Park for the first time this summer, Megan's first time to actually get to play. (She didn't do a whole lot as a 2 month old when we went last year! lol) Here's my beauties soaking up the sun and lovin' the sprinklers. Aren't they cute?! Okay, I'm biased but they sure were fun to watch! And thank you Debbie for Megan's too cute swimsuit courtesy of Miss Ellen!

I thought Meg might be a little timid with all the water... not at all! She ran right in and got soaked, I love the fearlessness! Here's to the first of many hot days spent at Seely!

That's My Boy!

Yep. David Cook wins it all. I know the finale is still going on here and the winner has not been announced yet on the West Coast, but I'm pretty bad at surprises. So when my brother Dusty called and asked if I wanted to know who won I couldn't say no. I'm actually surprised! I really thought Archuleta would win it all. I actually 'kinda' wanted Archuleta to win it so Cook could start rockin' his own album rather than having to do an "Idol" album first. Oh well, my prediction is in a year they will both be rockin' the charts. Yeah, yeah I know, I'm almost 26, probably time to stop watching EVERY episode of EVERY season of American freakin' Idol. :)

Okay, I watched the finale. How classy and humble was David Cook? He won and didn't jump in the air pumping his fists or anything, but he clapped. Not for himself. For Archuleta. Classy. I don't think he could quite believe that he'd won and he clapped for David A. and made him feel appreciated and then got emotional as he took it all in. Okay, yes, I am a sap, I actually shed a tear watching that. One word for David Cook: Classy.

Some things you never knew about me...

This is our family as drawn by Mikayla. She drew herself on the other side, but aren't we a good looking family? :)

All About My Mom (this is Mikayla's Mother's Day gift to me, done at preschool)

My mom's name is Amber.
She is hmmmm...I don't know years old.
Her hair is a little white and brown and her eyes are green.
She cooks the best pasta and she loves to eat macaroni and cheese.
I think her favorite color is pink.
She doesn't like bees very much.
She likes to watch commercials on t.v.
My mom spends a lot of time baking cookies.
She likes it when I go to sleep.
I'll bet my mom would love to have a beautiful cake for Mother's Day!

~ Any questions? hahaha. No, as cute as it is, I actually detest macaroni and cheese, it is Trent that loves to eat it with her. My hair is dirty blond not white and brown(gosh maybe it is and I'm just fooling myself, I don't know). I do LOVE the color pink, I do like to bake cookies and like it when she goes to sleep! lol I don't like to watch commercials, dear sweet child that is WHY we got a DVR! Heavens, I haven't watched a commercial in months with that thing!

A little more about me... I want to travel. I want to go to Europe, Hawaii, South America, Costa Rica, South Africa, anywhere! I had LASIK eye surgery 6 years ago and now see without lenses of any kind. I like to work out at the gym and that's why I'm able to bake and eat all those cookies! :) I love to scrapbook and love crafts of all kinds, but scrapbooking is definitely numero uno on the list of crafts and hobbies. I like to play piano and am resolving as I write this to play the one we have sitting right in our very living room more often. I like to take pictures and hope to get better at it this year. I love to swim and take my kids swimming and yes, I do love chocolate chip cookies with a tall glass of milk.

My Prediction: DAVID's gonna win it all!!!

Just which one? Well there's the kicker. The 17yr old smooth voiced ballad crooner or the 25yr old rocker who brilliantly arranges songs into new covers of old favorites.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE David Cook and think he is in a word: brilliant. I hope he wins, but even if he doesn't he will have a career. I am in love with his version of Lionel Richie's "Hello" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." Who do I think will win though? Archuleta. He's the cute 17 yr old that girls around the country are going gaga over. He's American Idol material and will make a great record that teens and tweens and moms alike will love.
So, there you have it! My prediction: Archuleta will win, but both will do QUITE well for themselves in the music industry!

David Cook rockin' "Hello" dreamy or what?!?!

Okay, one last thing...... what was UP with Fantasia last night??????? Creepy crazy weird. Who is her manager and why'd they let her do that? I mean, seriously, bad hair, bad dance moves, bad outfit, bad hair, bad backup dancers, did I mention bad hair??? Ugghh. I had to LOL when they cut to Simon's face and he was dumbfounded at her performance! I've never liked him so much! I'm sorry, but girl, that was just some weird, eccentric, crazy stuff. The hair? You're killin me! hahaha...

Benjamin Cy Nelson is here!

I don't just love this baby because he's my best friend's baby or because he's a boy and we have 4 girls between us already, or because I just plain and simple love babies. No, I love love this baby because I got to be there to see him come into this world!

Ben was on a 2 week business trip to Minneapolis so I took the girls to Stockton to play and have a sleepover with Kim and the girls. We played, had dinner, had baths, and put the 4 girls to bed. Kim and I watched a movie and some t.v. and the little contractions Kim was having became stronger, longer, and more intense. So we thought, hey, let's just time them for the fun of it and see how close they are. 8 minutes apart, then 7, then 5 minutes apart.... uh oh. After 2 1/2 hrs. of this we made a frantic call to Ben saying we're going to the hospital, fly home NOW! We called his mom to come stay with the girls and off we went to the hospital. We got there and got checked in and she started getting monitored at 4am. They wanted her to walk around to speed up labor and move her from early to active labor. We pleaded with the nurses to let her just lay still in bed and try to hold out for Ben!

Finally, Ben got there at 1pm and they broke her water and started the Pitocin. She started feeling the contractions getting stronger and stronger and since they don't do epidurals at that hopital the next best thing was a morphine intrathecal. So, when Kim started going into transition you could see it on her face and her body. I ran to tell a nurse it was time for the drugs. But right after they administered it to her she laid down and I saw her face and said, "Has anyone checked her recently?" So the nurse checked her and looked up with a surprised look on her face and said, "she's complete!" One contraction later she was asking to push, so they quickly broke down the bed and got everything ready to deliver! There wasn't even time for the drug to take effect and relieve any pain!

It was the most amazing experience! It was SOO nice to be on that side of the bed let me tell you! He was 3 weeks early, but Benjamin Cy Nelson was born at 3:45pm on Wednesday, May 7, weighing 9 lbs. 1oz and 20 inches long. I started crying when Ben went to cut the cord and the Dr. noticed the knot in the cord. She said we were lucky we came in when we did because even a day later and it could have been very bad (if you know what I mean). So scary. I was incredibly grateful that we decided to time contractions and make phone calls and head into the hospital when we did. Mom and baby are healthy and happy and home. What more can you ask for? He is the cutest little thing and now I've totally got the baby bug! It's not the right time, I know, I know... but, here's some pics of the lil guy for all to see! :)

I think he looks JUST like Ben, what do you think?

Megan is one!

I can't believe it. A year ago I was coming home with my sweet baby girl who had still yet to cry(it actually was a few weeks before she actually full-on cried hard for seemingly no reason). She is such a joy and blessing to our family and we love little Meggy so much!

We had a little birthday party for her this weekend and I made a sheep cake and we went swimming and ate fruit and veggies. Now, I know I'm no Martha Stewart, but I'm sure as heck gonna try. So, no store-bought cake from me. I make 'em all. :)

So Happy Birthday My Little Girl! I love you so much and am thankful for your smile, your sloppy open-mouthed kisses, your cuddles and loves when I rock you before bedtime, your quiet humming and babbling that is the cutest sound around, and the way I am so completely in love with every part of you. Happy Birthday.

Can we say two peas in a pod?

Mikayla and her cousin Noah are seriously one in the same. They are active, smart, fun-loving, daredevils and mischevious as heck. So, I wasn't really surprised tonight to hear what they'd done together... Uncle Joe was shoveling dog poop in the backyard and Noah and Mikayla thought it would be funny if they went and pooped in the yard and blamed it on the dog. So they ran over to Noah's Little Tykes play castle and both pooped in there! Gross I know. Then Noah says, "Dad, there's more poop over here, come clean it up!" Joe says, "Really, over there?" Noah: "Yeah, in the castle, Chaucer pooped in the castle." So Joe goes over there and says, "Um, you guys, this is human poop..." They both started saying they didn't do it, that it was the dog and placed the blame on poor Chaucer not knowing that Joe could actually tell the difference between dog poo and human poo! I couldn't believe it! They are smart little devils... (and kinda gross!)

Big Sister, Little Sister

Mikayla LOVES being a sister. Not just a sister though, the BIG sister! She makes sure people know that SHE is Megan's sister and that she takes care of her and loves her. Here they are sporting their sister shirts. Mikayla is 3 1/2 now and Megan is almost 1. I just love my big and little girls! I didn't have a sister growing up so I hope these two will be close and enjoy their bond throughout their lives... here's to hoping, right?

I said I'd never do it...

but I did! I created a blog for our little family to share pics and post about things we do and the way we're growing. I didn't want to get caught up in this whole new world of blogging, but man, I enjoy looking at others' blogs and hopefully I'll enjoy keeping up one of my own! Peer pressure is a powerful thing... lol