Move Me!

Well, we made it!  It is offical, the Blake Nelson family has made it to Morgan.  It has been a crazy and stressful, tear dropping last few weeks with the caos of packing, organizing, cleaning, and throwing away.  It could not have been done without my lovely mother! She herself has made 16 big moves, across Canada & continents.  How she did it I have no idea!   Anyways, thanks mom for all your late, late nights, crying grandchildren, crying daughter and sarcastic son-in-law :).  You're a gem!  But, its all worth it, right? when you get a sloppy good morning kiss from T and your little sunshine C running around the house asking for "Gamma? Gamma? Gamma?!"  Even a little "good night Grandma!"  from B.  Thank you again and again!  I love you! 
You probably experienced all those crazy moves so you could help your children do the same. I want to know which was your favorite packing experience, this latest one, Bonnie's or the time I almost lost my leg long boarding and was laid up in bed and had to be out of my apartment in 5 days. :)

One year olds' are always so busy, right?  Looking back on when T & B where little(r) I remember feeling like a chicken with her head cut off most days, especially when at the store or some public place.  I had forgotten how busy those cute little monsters where, until Lotti learned to walk and climb the stairs, and I am reminded of it ever morning, especially on the days when big bro. and big sis.  are away at school and not entertaining. 
Miss L. LOVES my bathroom and goes right for the cupboards. Her favorite is my product, where she basically climbs in and takes everything out.  As I try to pull her away she quickly panics and with arms flying in all directions, manages to knock over all bottles, pull out all my samples and supplies and yes the Q-Tips and femine products are always on her list too. 
The other morning as I was feeding Bode, I could hear some pitter, patter upstairs, followed by silence (never a good combination).   I went to investigate and while calling out her name, I startled her, obviously catching her in the act of some silly crime. Knowing she wasn't supposed to be into what it was she was into, she quickly ran past me, into the kids' bathroom and shut the door!  How cheeky!

I know its gross, but this just shows how she gets into EVERYTHING!
(no worries everything is all new)

She had two mini wheat's in her mouth as I took this picture!  Don't worry she managed to stomp on all but a few of these breakfast treats!

This is a horrible picture, but I just figured out how to take pics on my phone and then download them onto my computer.  When  T & B leave for school she runs to their room and shuts the door!

Orange Lips!

I love spring and all the color that comes with it! The pastels, turquoise and bright pinks are so fun! The color coral is one of my favorites and so when I picked up this color I knew there was no going back. I put it on today and my 4 yr old Bella says, "Ooh I love your orange lips mom!" She is always my biggest supporter, my husband on the other hand just shakes his head and smiles. I can tell its a bit too much for him:). Did he forget he married a beauty school graduate?! He probably wants to, especially when the hair feathers come knocking on our front door!:)

The color looks pink, but believe me its bright orange, I mean coral.

Liner: L’OREAL infallible in pink

Lipstick: Mirabella in pixie

Gloss: L’OREAL colour riche gloss in peach fuzz.

**Coming soon!** My beauty blog!

It is a project I have been working on for quite some time now, however, with two wonderful baby surprises and a new move I've needed to put it on hold. I have most of my work compiled together just waiting for a few loose ends to clear up and for my life to slow down a bit. But really, do our lives ever slow down?

Scripture Study

Lately, as a family, we have been making an effort this past year and a half to read our scriptures. With a family of four young children it seems as though not much registers with our children and thoughts might run through our heads that they aren't getting anything out of family home evening and scripture study at all. However, between the giggles and the whining they seem to be grasping the basic principles of the gospel. I remember when we starting reading and studying The Book of Mormon, (with young children we read from the Book of Mormon story book, then read certain versus from The Book of Mormon) the story of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the first vision was told, and without asking, Tristan just started telling the story in his baby English (this was about 2yrs ago). I realized at that moment all our efforts were not going to waste and how really important these commandments are.
It brings a smile to my face when Blake or I mention it is time to start reading the scriptures, Charlotte, my one year old, who can barely walk, runs to get the scriptures and hands them out one by one to each of us, then gets her "mini" Book of Mormon, sits down and begins to open it.
Lately, Tristan and Bella have been saying some fun things about scripture study. Today, for instance, we were eating dinner between their soccer games and had 30mins to spare, Tristan said a loud, "Hey guys, we have time to read our scriptures before my game!" How could we say no to that?
While finishing The Book of Mormon a few weeks ago and as we closed the book Bella shouts out, "We're done? Yes! Now we'll never have to read it ever again!" Little does she know:).

Easter

Easter was a blast this year! As always! This year we headed to Morgan for the annual Easter Egg Hunt with Casey and Emily, Livie, Jet and baby Becca. There are hundreds of children lined up and all racing for the same egg. If you get an egg with a number on it you win a basket full of candy. All the kids got an Easter egg basket, even Becca and Bode. It is such a fun little tradition and our kids love it!
Getting ready for the egg hunt!

Easter is one of my favorite holidays! Maybe because I had a Mother and Grandmother who made it so special. The Easter Bunny would hide eggs all around our house in the morning when we woke up and leave a basket full for Easter goodies on the kitchen table. And we all got a new spring dress. (One year I had one with a hat and I thought I was so stylin').

We would then head to Grandma Tanner's for another Easter egg hunt and whoever collected the most eggs won the giant chocolate Easter bunny. After we would roll our eggs down Grandma and Grandpa's hill. So much fun!

This year the Easter Bunny hid eggs all around the house and front yard and left the baskets by the fireplace. The girls got matching pink dresses and boys matching vests and ties. While the majority of us were upstairs getting ready for church a little girl snuck downstairs and got into all, yes ALL, the chocolate eggs. Needless to say we were a little late for church that morning. :)

We also got to have Grandma and Grandpa Tollestrup come visit for the week. It is always so fun when they come! My kids were so sad to see them go and by the end of their trip Charlotte would hold out her arms to my mom and with a big smile say "Gamma!"

Baby Bode

We are all so in love with this little guy! I could hold and rock him forever, even in the early, early hours of the morning (just don't mention that to my husband :)).

Isn't he a little doll? Charlotte thinks so! Whenever he whimpers, she immediately drops whatever she is doing and runs to his 'rescue' with kisses after kisses, 'soft' pats after pats and one big under duck in the swing! And, he bares her steam rollers with minimal or no cries! I think they will be great friends just like big bro and big sis. "BFF's" as Bella Reese calls them!
We love you so much Baby Bode!

Rise n' Shine

In the morning I usually wake up to this handsome face!

But today was different, I got this little sleeper!

This "little" guy is growning up way too fast, he is already 12 1/2lbs at 5 weeks!

Lunch Time

Today Charlotte tried her first gogurt, a Nelson staple in our household. Tristan and Bella had fun watching her eat it and try to get it into her mouth. :)

Baby Bode slept through it all!

Just like Charlotte

I haven't ventured out for five weeks with all the children by myself yet. But, today I felt lucky and thought I would chance a visit to my children's pediatrician's for baby Bode. Everyone did very well and I could not have been able to do so without my two oldest, they are troopers. When I finally pulled into the driveway, however, this is how I felt.

Just like Charlotte...exhausted!

My Baby is 1

Charlotte turned 1 in January and I thought I better get some more pictures done of her since she has changed so much! My friend Crystal took the pictures and she does a great job! She is so creative and did I mention Patient! We had fun, however Charlotte didn't know if she should smile or cry so she thought she would compromise and do something in the middle:)

Bode Blake Nelson

It has been ten days since this little guy came into our lives and it has been Heaven ever since! There is something special about babies when they are first born, but even more so with this one. Bode Blake was born February 1st at 12:22pm in the afternoon, weighing in at 9lbs 2oz and 22 inches long. This little (or should I say BIG)baby was a surprise from the beginning until the very end! I went to the doctors the end of August thinking I was 6 weeks along only to be surprised by really being 17 plus weeks along. Also, we thought we would leave finding out if this little baby was a girl or a boy until the end, (well I guess only I, out of the "we", was on board). Blake called my doctors office and asked to know the sex of the baby and someone told him it was a girl. So to his very big surprise it was a boy instead of a girl. It was the best surprise ever! and I loved not knowing.

The most fun about our trip to the hospital is that my sister-in-law Emily delivered her baby the day before. A beautiful baby girl named Rebecca Nola Nelson. Here they are a day apart.

Does any mother get that intuition with what they are having while expecting? I have with all my children and this one especially. While packing my bag to go to the hospital, it was hard to put any pink in.

Anyway, I am so grateful for this little guy, he brings the spirit into our crazy, loud house and I can barely put him down! And grandma too!

No Longer Zero!

I can't believe how fast a year goes by! It feels like yesterday we were holding this bundle of joy in our arms and now I'm doing all I can just to keep her there. She is the most active little girl I know for her age. Miss B was always so content with either her blanket or baby with her, Charlotte on the other hand is into and onto everything! She loves to help with the dishes in the dish washer and feels it is better to stand on top rather then by the side. She climbs stairs, says momma, dadda, will only eat table food (she skipped right over the baby cereal/food and went right for the good stuff), loves loves loves her dad and only wants him, claps, waves, blows kisses (half kisses), will dance when you ask her and has a special hiding spot in the "no touch room". She knows the sound of my moose when I get it ready for her hair and its all i can do to quickly pull away before it gets into her mouth, but now she has learned to put it in her own hair. She loves my product cabinet and has a blast taking everything out and trying it in her own hair, and have I mentioned she loves to talk on the phone? I am one of those annoying moms who talk, talk, talk about their children but really I could go on forever! She brings smiles to our faces every day, I couldn't imagine life without her.
The other day I reminded the two oldest that Charlotte would be turning 1 soon and Bella replied, "Ya T, don't you know she is only zero and not 1 yet?" Tristan, "Oh ya I forgot she's only zero!"
From Zero to one, this little doll has grown up too fast, I guess she had no choice as baby brother came soon after.
Daddy was out of town on a "business trip" (aka a golf trip:)), so I thought instead of boring dinner we would go out to eat. And so to the Brick Oven we went and we had so much fun! However, we did get a lot of stares with a very expectant mom and three small kids alone at a sit down restaurant, but, we had a blast and at the end they sang Happy Birthday to Charlotte and the kids got chocolate cake! We finished off the night with a movie and popcorn and all had a "sleepover" in mom & dad's bed.


Root Beer and Cheese bread, always a hit!

Big Sister, always willing to help feed Charlotte, even with a mouth full!

Build-A-Bear

Tristan, Bella and Charlotte have the best Aunts and Uncles who do lots for them! One in particular who lives across the Atlantic ocean still does so much for these little ones. This year for the older two's birthdays Aunt Bonnie sent us to Build-A-Bear-Workshop for a bear each. It was so fun to watch as they got to stuff their own bear, add a heart, pick an outfit etc. Even dad got really into it!:) This is a fun activity with little children, they get so excited!

Tristan with his polar bear, of course we had to have a Utah State Jersey!
Bella & her Hello Kitty.
Baby Charlotte would not let Tristan's bear go! She loves his bear and is always "growling" at it.