Ryan, Sarah, Cora and Elijah

Guess who's walking?

2012-02-09T03:53:00.008-07:00

Well that's a pretty obvious question, but we are so excited! He still doesn't walk to get around but the other night (Feb 7th) he took consecutive steps for the first time! It was cute, he was so determined to do it that night! Just kept getting up and trying again!

Telling us to give him some encouragement - clapping.

Taking a break to make silly sounds

Trying to walk is so tiring!

Some steps! These aren't the first steps but the other videos were too long. Excuse the half dressed kids - we were just finished with dinner clean-up and about to take showers.

Fire Station and new clothes

2012-02-09T03:38:00.002-07:00

Cora's preschool took a field trip to the fire station in Hau'ula right next door to the park where we meet. Here are Cora and Ma'ila on the truck. Cora was afraid to go in the truck at first, then she didn't want to come out!

Also, as you can see from her face - totally scared to touch the hose, but she really wanted to do it.Ryan got to come too, since he strained his back and so couldn't go to work that morning - but you can tell from his face he's not very comfortable. Poor guy.

Cora got a package from Auntie Elise of clothes from Madelyn - it was so perfect because Cora really needed some new clothes, she's had a growth spurt lately! They are all so cute and Cora was so excited, she just had to lay them all out and try them on and dance around! Thanks so much Elise and Madelyn!

Elijah's First Birthday Party!

2012-02-04T03:46:00.006-07:00

We had Elijah's birthday party on Friday February 3rd. It was a blast! Mom, Dad, John, Heidi and all her family came, as well as Uncle Raymond, Auntie Sunday, Carson, and Lynne. We didn't do the big traditional first birthday luau, but we did make Kalua pig in the slow cooker and had rice, mac salad, green salad and a cucumber salad.

We decorated with balloons and bunting.

Elijah chowing down on pork and rice - one of his favorite foods!We had a full kitchen!

Cora got to the cake while I wasn't watching - silly girl.It wasn't super fancy - just two funfetti cake mix boxes to make a 4 layer cake. I even used frosting in a can to make it easier. Sprinkles on top - Cora's favorite thing.Singing to Elijah - he could tell he had all the attention, he was pretty excited.He was excited to get a slice but unsure of what to do with it.Trying to stick his whole cake-covered hand into his mouth - he had figured it out by then.Opening presents - Cora helped him out with this. His biggest present is still in the works.We sure love this little boy! He is the silliest, sweetest, and most snuggly baby ever! (Yes he may be 1 now but he's still our baby!) He can say Mama, Dada and he babbles a lot. His hair is a definite strawberry blond - it looks pretty reddish in the sunlight but more blond under artificial light. I never thought I would have a red haired child! His eyes have deepened to a beautiful hazel-green. He has the softest skin and deep dimples in both cheeks. He absolutely loves his sister, he loves books, he loves chasing and being chased, he loves getting into everything he's not supposed to have, and he LOVES hugs. He makes us laugh and smile everyday and we love him so!

End of January

2012-02-04T03:39:00.004-07:00

Cora always makes us laugh with her funny and particular arrangements of toys - she'll tuck her dolls in under a blanket on our couch, lay all the doll house people face down (sleeping) in a row, put all the animals on the windowsill to look outside, etc. This one was pretty good.

Sometimes you gotta take a break from dancing to suck your thumb and feel your blankie.Elijah's first doodles - he is much less afraid of putting marks on paper than Cora. He colored for a surprising long time before he decided to taste the crayons.One night I told Cora "bedtime" and she said "wait, I need to scoot there." Playing with our birthday boy! We had a family get together for a missionary farewell on Elijah's birthday so we decided to do the party later - pics coming in the next post. But this is us playing with Elijah on his birthday.

January

2012-01-25T18:21:00.012-07:00

This picture was actually from December - Ryan went on a ride on the 26th with some of his mountain biking buddies.

More pics in their matching pjs - just playing on the chair one evening. Elijah loves climbing up in this chair - he thinks he's such a big boy!

Both of the kids responding to the question "How big is Elijah?"

One Sunday the surf was supposed to be really high so we drove out to see the big waves. Here is Ryan and I at Waimea.And here we are at Pipeline, where there was a surf competition wrapping up.

Just swinging at the playground before walking up to the shopping center for a coupon book dinner (A weekly routine.)

Cuddling on the couch after a nap one afternoon.Now that we've caught up to the present, here are a few things the kids have been up to lately. Feel free to skip this long section if you're only here for the cute kid pics.

Cora's been going to preschool - at least that's what we call it. It's basically a really organized play group, but it's super fun and has been really good for her. We go on Monday Wednesdays and Fridays in Hauula. They have storytime and an activity that the moms sign up for, and then play on the playground and snack. She loves it.

She is growing up so fast. She insists on doing things by herself, like climbing into her car seat and, closing doors, brushing her teeth. She still has not decided that she cares about going on the potty, despite great efforts on our part. She doesn't like being called anything but Cora - when I call her CoraDora she says "no! My name is Cora Fey Nielson." In fact she likes to give everyone their proper name - she has a habit of calling me "sawah" and Ryan "wyan" that we have been trying to break. We're not quite hip enough for that - we much prefer "Mommy" and "Daddy".

She hates the dark and would sleep with every light in her room on if we let her - which we don't, because then she plays all night and wakes up every two hours and comes into our room. She has to sleep with a blanket barrier on the side of her bed "so the monsters dinnit get me." She has been a stinker lately at bedtime - she comes out asking for drinks, kisses for Elijah, more books, claiming she needs to go potty or needs a diaper change, or just wants a different book or toy to take to bed. It makes our bedtime routine pretty long as we have to anticipate every excuse and make sure to give her a drink, something to take to bed, tell her only one book, etc.

We gave her a bunch of Dr. Seuss books for Christmas and she loves them - I never knew how funny Fox in Socks was! She can "read" (recite) Hop on Pop all by herself, and parts of other books. She says funny things all the time. One night at dinner she asked Ryan for a story - I don't remember what his story was about but afterwards she said "Thank you, that was a good story." She asked me to play a game on the computer with her and noticing that I had the internet browser up, said "Oh, you have to check your email first?" I didn't even know that she knew what email was! One night for family night we were giving her options of what we could do, and she said "I don't wanna eat ice cream, I wanna walk and see the temple." Sometimes when the washing machine in the garage is agitating, we can hear it in our kitchen. Cora always says "I kink (think)... the washing machine is hungry for laundry clothes!" She is so funny how she talks about Elijah. She has many names for him - little boy, little baby, little brother, and lately it's been "your baby." As in, "Your baby is so sitty (silly) mommy," or "your baby is so cute!" I also love how she calls him "E-why-jah"

She is getting better at brushing her teeth - but she wants to do it all by herself and when we ask to take a turn, she says, "no, the germs and plaque are all off." She loves playing on the iPad, when we let her. She has also (finally!) figured out how to jump with two feet at once - which she now has to do every time she encounters a crack/line in the sidewalk. She is getting better at independent imaginative play - I love listening in on her when she's not aware of me while she plays with her little doll house or other dolls and toys. Some of her favorite things to eat and drink are rice sandwiches (rice wrapped in nori), spice juice (soda), fruit snacks, apples and carrots.

Elijah is also getting so big. He's a good eater and has been growing fast lately. He loves drinking from a cup, sippy, anything. He especially like my morning green smoothies. He is always sucking on his lower lip - it's his pacifier, like Cora's thumb is for her. He's had 6 teeth in front for several months now, and just recently got a couple of molars. He still loves snuggles, and I love the feeling of his little arms squeezing my neck or his little hand patting my back when I first pick him up. He loves his sister but is always hitting her and pulling her hair. He's learning how to tattle - if she takes something away from him he'll yell and look at me with a beseeching/frustrated little look. He gets into everything - especially what he shouldn't. He loves wires, plugs, the broom, the trash, the cupboard under the sink, the pantry, the bathroom, his baby monitor, eating sand, our dirty shoes, pulling books off the shelf and generally making a mess. We moved his crib into our closet - it's a walk in and while it's cramped now, it's been working much better than having him in the room with us. All three of us are getting better sleep. While he is learning to express his own opinions, he's still overall a great baby, very mellow and sweet.

Stay tuned for a big birthday post coming up soon!

Christmas!

2012-01-25T02:59:00.008-07:00

Christmas Day was so fun!

Ryan and I were so excited this year to be in our own home with our own tree, starting our own traditions. Cora was finally old enough to get it and learn what Christmas was all about. She knows the story of the Nativity backwards and forwards and played with her little people nativity toy set all month. She knows why we give presents and what the stars represent. She helped pick out a present for her daddy and brother and was excited to see them open them. She even told Ryan about his present at dinner, the day we got it: "Daddy, I buy you a watch!" :) Guess I forgot to explain about keeping the presents a surprise. In the days leading up to Christmas Cora kept saying "It's going to be Christmas when my family comes and I'm going to be so happy!" She wanted all of her family to come to her house - mainland family too, but she was so excited the day we decorated cookies that some of her family came to her house - she said "My family come! Mommy, it's Christmas!" Cora also knew about Santa and was so excited for him to visit. We tried to emphasize the Christ part of Christmas more than the Santa part, but it was fun to watch her anticipate the Santa stuff too.

On Christmas morning Cora woke up as usual, around 8:30, and came into our room like she always does. Ryan and I let the kids play in our bed while we got all ready and showered, and then told them it was Christmas! (She knew the night before, but forgot overnight. I'm sure that's the last year that will happen!) We went out to the living room and sat on the couch and read the Christmas story in Luke before opening Santa's presents. The kids were really excited for the new toys - a puzzle, tractor and truck for Elijah, and a new pink scooter for Cora. Then we got ready for Church and went to church for one hour.
After church we went to Heidi's house to open some presents with the family. Here's me, Madelyn and Cora in front of Heidi's tree. Here's our tree with all our presents wrapped and waiting for us to open them. See our stockings hanging in the window?
After that we went home to get some food ready, and then we went to Auntie Sunday's for a brunch with all the family. Cora loves playing with her cousin Troy and Wailea and Hirirau! (By the way, they were pretending to be hurt, not actually hurt.)
After lunch we came home and finally started opening our presents at around 5. We did our stockings last of all, right before bed at 9. And since we were all in our matching homemade PJs, we tried to take family pictures using the timer on our camera.
It was definitely a busy Christmas, and we missed a lot of our family who weren't with us, but still overall it was a wonderful day. We are so blessed to have our little family and to be able to share with them the joy of celebrating Christ's birth. We all got spoiled with too many toys and things, (thank you, mom and dad!) but we have so much love and we know that is what makes the season magical.

BIrthday, cookies and Christmas Eve

2012-01-25T02:34:00.004-07:00

This year was a great birthday - I was a little sick but there was no traveling, finals, or moving. We went to the PCC to eat at the Gateway Buffet for dinner, then went on the Holiday Lagoon canoe ride to see the Christmas lights. On Sunday everyone came over and Ryan made me a delicious chocolate cake with homemade frosting. Ryan gave me an ice cream maker for my birthday-it's a really nice one and I'm so excited! I've been collecting recipes online. It's perfect for living in Hawaii - it's never cool enough here to want hot chocolate, but always the right temperature for ice cream!

I think this picture is awesome because in the background on our computer slideshow is a pic of Ryan's birthday!On the 23rd we had a sugar cookie extravaganza. Heidi and I each made dough and then we got together to roll, cut, bake, frost and decorate! Ryan, Heidi, Jordan and I each took a turn at the rolling - combined we had 6 batches of sugar cookies so it took all afternoon/evening! The kids had fun - but burnt out quickly. After that it became more of a factory job. It was a fun and delicious time though - one of my favorite holiday traditions for sure. After, Heidi let us go on a date for our anniversary which was the day before (7 years!) and watched Cora for us. She would've watched Elijah too but we decided to take him with us since it was going to be a while. On Christmas Eve we all got together for Spam fried rice and I tried out my new ice cream maker! Uncle Johnny quickly became Elijah's favorite person as he let Elijah sample his ice cream.
We started a new (to me) tradition this year of opening one gift on Christmas Eve- homemade pajamas! More pics in the PJs in the next post.

Early December

2012-01-24T19:14:00.010-07:00

In the beginning of this month we took family pictures at the beach for our Christmas cards, I did a craft fair with Madelyn, and we decorated our tree.

Johnny took our pictures for us at Temple Beach- it was a windy day but we had fun and he did great.

Here are a few pictures from my craft show - I made a couple of baby quilts, (which I intentionally priced high because I secretly wanted to keep them), as well as a bunch of zipper pouches, baby toys, (the bear and flower faces) keychain wristlets, and a custom hand embroidery. I did ok, sold about half the stuff, but I felt pretty good about it. I made sure not to buy any new fabric, just some notions, and I only made what was fun for me to make. I learned how to make zipper pouches really well and practiced some other skills. I got to go home with the boy baby quilt (the green brown blue one in the picture below) but had to part with the baby girl one.

Cora and Uncle Johnny at the Visitor's Center.

Here we are decorating the tree for FHE. It was so fun to finally be in our own home for Christmas and decorate a full sized tree! We haven't had that since we've been married, since we've always been away from home for Christmas.

Dimple alert!
Elijah loves practicing walking with his cart toy!

Late November

2012-01-24T14:59:00.003-07:00

We took a little hike/picnic up the Laie Falls Trail on November 19th. It was a good day for it - not raining but not too hot.

Auntie Sunday and Uncle Raymond were gracious enough to host Thanksgiving - we brought sweet potatoes and rolls and had a fun time with all the cousins and family.The kids both love to pull out all of the books on the bookshelf and read them all.

Early November

2012-01-24T14:28:00.006-07:00

Ryan on a bike ride up behind Sunset Hills in early November.

There was a surf competition going on that day - see the tiny surfer catching a wave?Celebrating Mom's birthday. She requested a red velvet cake - I tried the making frosting roses again and it looked much better this time, but I only did it on the top of the cake.

It was a party! Dancing and all. Elijah fell asleep by the end.

I finally got Cora to wear the tutus I made her for her birthday. Here she is wearing both at once. She had a little friend over for a playdate and while she was here they each wore one. (that's how I convinced Cora to try it on)

Cora loves her bike that she got for her birthday, but getting her to pedal has been harder than we thought it would be. Here we are practicing.
With her "boy friend" Kalani. (Those are Cora's words, not mine. But all she means by it is that he is her friend who is a boy)

Ryan biking up behind Sunset again.

Halloween

2012-01-24T14:20:00.004-07:00

Here are our pics from Halloween night. Ryan went trick or treating with the kids in the stroller and I stayed home to pass out candy.

With Alvin, Marcus, Jordan, Jason and TroyJordan

Cora and Troy

At home with her spoils. Cora had a few candies that night - the one she was most excited about was the fruit snacks. After that night we confiscated the rest of her candies for potty treats.

End of October

2012-01-24T13:57:00.002-07:00

Well it's almost the end of January so I figured it's time to update the blog. These pics were taken before Halloween - just playing in the tent, on makeshift drums in the kitchen, and in the crib after a shower.

Trunk or Treat

2011-11-04T03:53:00.006-06:00

Here are some pics of the Trunk-or-Treat activity we had at the church. Cora was a princess, Elijah wore a Superman costume Heidi made for Marcus and that all of her boys have worn, and Ryan at the last minute discovered a crayon costume in Cora's closet (size:3T-4T) that he decided to wear.

With cute Nikki, Betsy's girl.

Cora's good friend Kalani was Santa - so cute!

Heidi and Troy

Ko'olina and Mom leaving

2011-11-04T03:52:00.003-06:00

One afternoon when Ryan got off early we decided to take our moms to Ko'olina, to play in the lagoons at the resort. The water was beautiful - blue, clear and calm. Ryan and my mom got to snorkel a little bit too.

Cora was insisting she wasn't cold when she got out of the water, silly girl.

Playing in the sand

Just hanging out at home with Debbie Gramma.

This is just before we took Mom to the airport, overlooking the temple. The sun was a little bright for me and Mom but Elijah was smiling so cute!

We were so sad to see Mom go home! Cora just cried and cried at the airport when she realized she was leaving, saying " I want to stay with Grandma!" The two weeks she was here just flew by. It was fun to have our first visitor in our new house though. Cora loved sharing a room with Grandma. We love you Mom, thanks for coming all the way to Hawaii to visit us! We're looking forward to another visit soon, hopefully with Dad and Grandma Wei too!

This is just a random pic of Cora the next day, playing with all her dolls and animals.

Mom's visit and Cora's birthday

2011-11-04T03:43:00.007-06:00

This picture was actually taken the day before Mom arrived - just the kids hanging out in the bike trailer getting ready to go for a ride with Daddy and Grandma Madelyn on the bike path.

We were so excited to have my mom come visit for two weeks! We decided to go the the PCC on Cora's birthday.Cora put on her own show during the canoe pageant.

Mom bought her a little lei that's supposed to be worn on her head but she preferred it around her neck. We were all surprised she chose the blue one, since she usually has no eyes for any other color but pink.We ate at the newly renovated Gateway Buffet and the waitresses brought Cora some cupcakes with a candle and sang "Happy Birthday"We opened presents when we got home. Cora was so excited and wound up from our long day and being with all her cousins and grandmas. She loved her new bike!On Sunday we had a dinner with the family to celebrate. We had kalua pig in the crock pot, with pink dyed rice, watermelon, and salad. I made a 4 layer cake, from a mix, with homemade butter cream frosting. I was attempting to re-create the Rose Cake from I am Baker. It didn't quite turn out the same (I ran out of frosting, even though I made a ton) but it was fun anyways and Cora was excited. I made some garlands to decorate the house - see them on the ceiling? I just punched out pink, purple, white and gray circles from paint chips and sewed them together.The cake was... pink! Cora is such a joy to us. These past three years have passed so quickly. Cora went from being a sweet and mellow little baby to a spunky, loving little girl. She has such a strong personality. She is very stubborn and particular, but also is very polite (always says please and thank you) and loving. She loves all her family and friends. She is a great big sister - a little bossy but she just adores Elijah and we love the cute way she talks to him. She is so smart - she is learning new things all the time. She pays attention to everything that goes on around her - sometimes more than we would like. ;) She loves books, her dolls, playing ring around the rosie and "hide and sick", going to auntie's and grandma's houses, and still loves her blankie and sucking her thumb. We are so blessed to have her.

Home Sweet Home

2011-09-27T17:58:00.009-06:00

Here are some photos of our new place. We are still changing things around and decorating, but this is what it looks like now. (Although there are usually more toys on the floor and laundry and stuff on the couch and fabric scattered around my sewing corner.)

Cora recently has been obsessed with who is a girl and who is a boy. She tells me at least 10 times a day that she's a girl like me and Elijah's a boy like Daddy. Somehow along the way she got it into her head that she could only wear "girl diapers" which meant the diapers that had Minnie Mouse on them, instead of the diapers with Mickey. (boy diapers). Half of the package of diapers were Mickey diapers, however, so Ryan and I would try to sneak a Mickey diaper on her when she wasn't paying attention but she soon got savvy to that and then the couple times that we couldn't find a girl diaper she threw a huge tantrum, crying and shaking and yelling for her girl diaper and trying to take off her Mickey diaper. Yesterday we finally got down to only a couple of Minnie diapers left and I was trying to think of a way to use all the Mickey diapers we had. A black Sharpie came to the rescue, and cross-dressing Mickey was born, complete with false eyelashes. I nervously stacked the diapers in the basket and waited for her next change. She found the diapers, and they passed the test. She did ask about the shoes, but she brought the diaper to us and asked us to put on her girl diaper. Hooray! We can use the rest of the box of diapers!This is Elijah's face I caught when Cora was playing peek-a-boo with him one day.

Pics from Ryan's mountain biking.

One Friday when Ryan got off early we decided to head to Dole Plantation and brave the Pineapple Maze. We didn't find all of the markers but we had fun. The maze was huge and just barely wide enough to fit our double wide - at the end the kids were all covered in leaves and debris from squeezing in between bushes.

I've finally gotten back to sewing a bit - here is a crib sheet I made for Elijah. (We've lowered his crib mattress since this picture.)

And here is the sheet I made for Cora.This was our party for John's 20th birthday on September 11th. We also did a cake for Jason whose birthday was the week before - he turned 8 and got baptized!

Great views from another mountain biking trip Ryan took.

The Kahuku windmills.

Shrimp farms

Goat Island

The kids playing on the kitchen floor - Cora was helping me make cookies, wearing my old little apron.

And by helping I mean eating chocolate chips.

Here is Ryan being SuperDaddy: preparing a talk for Sacrament meeting and entertaining both kids at the same time.

We go beach

2011-08-27T02:20:00.004-06:00

Last weekend we drove out to Haleiwa to get some Craigslist stuff and stopped at Sunset beach during sunset on the way home.

Love this little girl!

We like to play in bed when we first wake up. Here are the beautiful faces I spend all day with. Sometimes we play in Cora's bed, which is cozy, but in mommy and daddy's bed there are fun sheets to play under.All of a sudden our baby is looking so big, sitting on his own! He can go for a long time without falling over now.
He hates baby food but does a little better if it's something he puts in his own mouth. This was at the end of lunch, sleepy guy.But he woke up at the beach and showed off his new sitting skills.He's learning how to make the stinky face!Cora loves building sand castles with Daddy.

Ryan carved a sand seat for Cora and a sand Bumbo for Elijah.Elijah decided he liked the sand - both to play and to eat! I remember when we first moved to Hawaii, Cindy Wright, my former YW president told me that my babies would eat sand and not to stress over it. And this is the baby that spits all baby food out, even sweet stuff like bananas, sweet potatoes and blueberries.

Ryan also carved a mermaid tail for Cora - just barely got this pic snapped in time. See her little toes and knee emerging?This was the first time at the beach that Cora actually asked to go back in the water - she loved being in the ocean with Daddy! She didn't want to leave.

Ryan went for a ride before dinner - his first time mountain biking since we've been back! He went up to Pine Forest.

This Sunday we are giving talks in church - our theme is "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear." Should be good. Sending you all our love from paradise!

In paradise

2011-08-18T05:38:00.000-06:00

Well here we are in Hawaii! Some of the things we've been up to since arriving:

Us with the kids at the Blaisdell for Keiki Hula.Ryan up by Crouching Lion after an intense hike with Megan and Jeff. The kids after church last Sunday.We celebrated Alvin's birthday with the family at our house. We also had a fun little party for Marcus' 15th birthday earlier in the week at Heidi's that we need to get pictures from.We couldn't get Cora to stop eating the chocolate shavings off the side of the cake.Yesterday we made play dough. Cora told me "This is for eating." I said, "No Cora, it's for playing." She insisted so I told her to try it but it would taste bad. This was her face after tasting it. (It's super salty and gross tasting, but safe to eat.) After she tried it she told me "It's not for eating Mommy, it's for playing."We are almost all settled in our house and loving it here. We all love our new place - we'll take pictures soon to show. My favorite parts are the kitchen, the reading corner, and my new (used) piano that we found for $100 on Craigslist!

Ryan's been working hard at the hospital as well as at home. Can't believe he's been working over a month now! I am so very proud of my Physical Therapist husband and we are all so lucky to have him. Elijah is growing so big and is really a pretty happy boy - although just in the past couple of days he's been working on pushing out his two front teeth, which is a little trying. (He got his two bottom teeth already, both at the same time as well, when we were moving out of our Twin Falls apartment.) Cora loves being close to her cousins, auntie and uncles, and grandma and grandpa.

We miss our family on the mainland but we know we are so blessed to have had this opportunity open up for us to be able to come work and live in Hawaii. Keep checking for more fun pics of what we are up to in paradise!

Leaving the mainland

2011-08-18T04:13:00.007-06:00

Here's Ryan on his last mountain bike ride in Twin before shipping his bike to Hawaii.We left Twin on Saturday July 2nd after selling most of our stuff and boxing and shipping the rest. We went to Eric's house for a couple of nights before setting out for Seattle, where we shipped our cars from.

Here are the kids dancing at Eric's - so funny. I don't know where Cora learned those dance moves. Cora's definitely going to miss all of her cousins that she got to see so much in Idaho.

The drive was a bit of an adventure - we each had a car since we were shipping both cars, and we were trying to stay together the whole time. Of course, along the way, in a small town in Oregon, we ran into car trouble with the Cirrus. And we were driving on the 4th of July, so most of the mechanics in town were closed. Miraculously, the last number from the phone book answered, and we were able to get our car fixed at very little cost. We were definitely being looked after. A little ways before we got to Seattle we stopped at the Snoqualmie Falls.Even though we were all exhausted, we decided to head into Seattle to watch the fireworks - we just couldn't pass up the chance to see the big city firework show. Plus, Ryan and I were all hopped up on caffeine from our multiple Dr. Peppers while driving. ;)Our plan was to drive to Seattle, spend one night in a crappy motel with an airport shuttle, then check out but leave our stuff in the storage area at the motel and go sightseeing the next morning. In the afternoon we would drive and drop off our cars at the port and then catch a cab back to the motel, take the airport shuttle, and catch our evening flight.

Even though I got sick/nauseated overnight in the motel, we stuck to our plan and did our sightseeing in the morning. Here we are at Pike Place Fish Market - cool place, we wished we had more time and money.Then we dropped by the Space Needle.*Warning - long travel adventure story ahead*
After that we headed to the port - only to find out that Matson, the shipping company, was closed that day for a union holiday. So after many hours on the phone with Matson, Delta and other companies, we wound up staying another night, and dropping off the cars and flying out the next day - which was Ryan's birthday. So Ryan spent his birthday traveling instead of relaxing in Hawaii. It was quite a headache, but Matson did redeem themselves somewhat by paying for all of our extra expenses - our flight change fees, meals, and hotel. And since I was sick and we were all still recovering from our trip, it wound up being okay that we had another night in a hotel (a nicer one this time) to rest.

So the next day we dropped off our cars and went back to the hotel to take the shuttle to the airport. Of course, the shuttle wound up being very late, but we figured we had plenty of time still. I should mention that we had the two kids, two carseats, 5 check on bags, three rolling carry-ons, two backbacks, a laptop bag, a diaper bag, a stroller, and a baby hiking backpack. We figured that checking a 50 lbs bag was cheaper than shipping a box, and we were planning on using SkyCap. Unfortunately, the hotel shuttle was not allowed to drop us off where there was a SkyCap - we had to go on a couple of elevators and across a bridge to get to ticketing. I still don't know how we managed it and we definitely got looks. Once we were at ticketing, an inept Delta employee cost us 30 minutes more than it should've taken us to check in, and then we had to run through security and to the gate, still with our kids, stroller, backpacks, baby carrier and 3 rollerboards. A train ride and several out of the way elevators later and we arrived at the gate, running, out of breath and sweaty, just in time to claim our seats and avoid having them taken by a crowd of people in standby. I've never been at an airport still trying to get to the gate when the final boarding call is announced. We were the last ones on the plane. Luckily the kids were pretty good on the plane and the rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Ryan had the worst end of the deal - after arriving late at night he had to get up the next morning for his first day at work - since we spent an extra day in Seattle he didn't have his jet-lag recovery time we had planned.

If you made it though this narrative, congratulations. The moral of the story is - we're so glad to be here and we will never be so crazy traveling again. And if we're ever tempted to, we can look back at this story and remind ourselves.

Family Portraits

2011-08-17T20:26:00.016-06:00

One night we went out to the lawn behind the Herndon Fortnightly library for family pictures. The photographer was really nice and despite many uncooperative kids, got some great photos. After the pictures we all went out for ice cream at Dairy Queen and played on the caboose.

Mom insisted on this one.Cora found a rock and wouldn't let go of it. Little hoarder.That wraps up our Virginia vacation summary. We had a great time and we love all of our family so much. Even though we're far away we think about them all the time and hope to still see everyone as often as possible. Thanks so much Mom and Dad for hosting and bringing us out!

Fountainhead Park picnic and other fun stuffs

2011-08-17T19:39:00.006-06:00

One day we all went to Fountainhead Regional Park for a picnic. There was some mountain bike trails and a fun little mini golf course that was great for the kids.

Kate made us all crepes a couple of times - thanks to her skills from her Farmer's Market job. They were so delicious!

Elijah in his old man tourist outfit.Auntie Aline!The girls on Grandma's porch in the matching shirts I made them.A silly way to sleep.This is the result of Auntie Katie's handiwork. We need to live closer to her so she can help me fix Cora's hair more. Cora just doesn't stand still for me - she doesn't trust me to not hurt her, and I just don't have the skills or patience to try very often.
Our handsome little man after church.Bubbles!

Frying Pan Farm Park

2011-08-17T05:46:00.009-06:00

Fun at the farm!(Just for fun, here is a picture of Cora in June 2010 on the same tractor.)Back to 2011 Aspen is always climbing on whoever is holding her.

Virginia Vacation

2011-08-17T05:08:00.005-06:00

We had a great two weeks in Virginia in the end of June. We were able to visit with my all of my siblings at my parents' house as well as Grandma Wei for most of the time and Aline and her boys for a weekend. It was a lot of fun packed into a couple of weeks, and there are a lot of pictures to show for it. I'll try to fit them into the next few posts.

Cora loves her uncle.

They had a fun jam session on the piano. It's kind of hard to hear, but Cora was making up a song. The words went something like this: Uncle play piano.... Cora play piano.... Papa take picture... Daddy take picture... Ahhhhhhhh (vocalizing)

We got some good girl shopping time in too. Here's Elijah in his car seat accompanying us with a very classic Elijah face.And crashed at the mall.One of my favorite things to do back East is visit the Baltimore Aquarium. Here are all the cousins besides the babies, and me making a ridiculous face.The four year olds.Cute little buddies.Playing with Great-Grandma back home.

Still in Twin

2011-08-17T04:27:00.007-06:00

Yes - we are still alive and planning on continuing to blog. Studying for and taking the boards, family vacations, and of course, moving across the ocean have thrown us off track a little bit for the past few months, but now that we're relatively settled, I'm ready for a massive catch-up of blogging.

Here are a few fun, ordinary things we did in the end of May and beginning of June, in Twin Falls.

I tried to make a cute breakfast for Cora one day - the bear turned out to be sad - next time I will make his face with blueberries. Cora often wakes up from her nap slightly grumpy - but a visit from her brother always puts a smile on her face.
Checking out the beautiful view from the lookout by the bridge in Twin Falls on a windy day.
Found a very scary looking surprise in my dryer - turned out to be the remnants of a couple of peanut butter cracker sandwiches that had gotten washed and dried from someone's pocket.
We see this cute chocolate face often - Cora loves nutella on toast (cacalit bread) for breakfast. It kind of reminds me of the Three Musketeers for some reason - with her shoulder length hair, bangs, and french looking mustache.Here are some funny things Cora said around this time that I had written down:

Ryan was using an electric shaver, which he doesn't do very often, and Cora said "Daddy's mowing the gwass on his face!"

When Cora doesn't want to put a shirt on in the morning she yells "No Mom, I want my tummy on!"

The other day she was asking to watch Dora or Diego and I said no, so she thought for a minute, then asked to "watch show about cooking?" When I said no to that too she asked "watch show about houses?" I don't really watch TV very often when she's up but when I do, she knows that I prefer either the Food network or HGTV.

weekends

2011-05-23T17:38:00.013-06:00

Here are some pics from when Grandma and Grandma came to our house to pick up Johnny. Grandpa playing with Elijah.

Here are my two little sous-chefs - Cora enjoys "helping" me with the dishes. Here is Ryan at a church camp-out this Friday. We have only been in this ward a short while but the people here are wonderful and Ryan has really enjoyed his calling working with the Young Men.On Saturday morning he was able to find some trails around Kimberly that offered good biking, so he was able to enjoy a fun ride - although the trail was covered in some parts by water, since it's been such a crazy wet spring here.Our brown-eyed girl.She found Ryan's beanie and was enjoying being chased by Daddy with the camera.On Sunday evening we took a walk to smell the lilacs that are blooming now. (My favorite flower)Cora was wearing her new circle skirt I had just finished making her, and Elijah was being kept warm with his new quilt I just finished for him. I've made him a couple already but I really wanted a small light one that would be easy for the car and travel, and this is my favorite so far.I thought this image of Cora relaxing with Ryan was so cute - she looks like such a big girl, plopped down that way.Cora wanted to come watch "bideos" on my lap when she saw me looking though our pictures on the computer.

Update on Johnny

2011-05-22T20:02:00.004-06:00

We've received a lot of requests for more information about Johnny.

John was on his mission in Dallas TX. He had back problems before his mission but it gave him minimal pain until the daily grind of the mission aggravated it and he started having a lot of pain. He had spondylolisthesis and after a lot of talking back and forth and doctor appointments they decided to put him on medical release and have him see some specialists in Salt Lake. At first they were going to try and avoid surgery but he ended up getting a spinal fusion (L5-S1) on May 5th.

Now he's in Meridian with Elise , still recovering and getting better every day. They decided it would be best if he didn't return to the mission field and he'll be released when he gets back to Hawaii sometime this summer. He was blessed with the opportunity to talk with Elder Christofferson when he was in Salt Lake and he told John that his mission was completed and the Lord accepted his service.

It's been hard to see our little brother going through all that but we've got a lot of respect for him - he's endured a lot of pain and through it all has remained so strong and optimistic.

Weekend in Salt Lake

2011-05-16T10:18:00.007-06:00

Here is John and Grandma in the hospital. Johnny was released that day.

Mean scar.

Playing with Elijah.

On Monday we took Cora and her bff Dora to the aquarium. Dad went with us and CW drove up from Provo to join us.

Dora liked seeing all the fishies.

Come on, vamanos! Everybody lets go... Cora and Dora took a ride in a canoe.

It was a fun but tiring morning for both of them.

Elijah playing with Uncle Christopher at Aunt Marilyn's house.

Lo hicimos! (Graduation)

2011-05-16T00:01:00.011-06:00

Last weekend we were back in Pocatello for Ryan's graduation! He is now officially Ryan Nielson, DPT. (Doctor of Physical Therapy)

I got into town Friday afternoon and the first thing we did was go to a park to meet our friends who we had missed very much and let the kids play together.Cora and Savannah.That night there was a dinner reception for the PT and OT students and families. My dad was able to make it for the dinner. He drove down from Montana where he was on a business trip. Eric and Elise also drove out to be with us.

At the dinner, Ryan received the Outstanding Academic Achievement award - which means he got the highest GPA of his class! We were (are) so proud of him!

The next morning we went to graduation. Ryan's dad was able to drive up from Salt Lake for graduation and we were so glad to have both of our dads there and Eric and Elise and their families.

Dad and Elijah in the stands. Dad looks like such a grandpa! Which is very surprising to Elijah, apparently. Thanks for coming Dad.

Here is Ryan being hooded. Notice Eric's echoing cheer?

The graduates.

The guys left room for Phil - he wasn't able to make it and he and Kelsey and their girls were sorely missed.My girls - I had to hold back tears - I'm going to miss them so much.All of our friends (except the McCombs.) We were so blessed to have such a great group of friends, all going through the experience at the same time and living so close to each other. When we started school, only four of those kids had been born. Now there are so many more of us!

Our family. We were so grateful they all came out to celebrate with us. They gave us so much support during school and have always been there for us (including the ones who weren't able to be there). We love you all so much! Our little family doubled in size while we were in school.Our dads. Cora was done with pictures at this point.Eric and Elise. Thanks for coming! We're going to miss visiting you whenever we want.After the ceremony we went to Golden Corral for lunch. Here is Cora with Noelani - such a cutie.

We said goodbye to my Dad and Eric and Elise after lunch and headed down to Salt Lake to see Johnny and Ryan's mom. John had surgery on Thursday so he was still recovering in the hospital. Grandma and Grandpa Nielson were also in town so we were able to see them as well, and Aunt Marilyn, at her house.

Here are some pics of Ryan and his mom on his graduation day. Poor John! He's doing much better now than he was then, thank goodness.Whew, there are a lot of exclamation marks in this post. I'm guess I'm still pretty excited and very proud of my husband. He has been so dedicated and put so much hard work into these years of school. It hasn't always been easy but he is an inspiration to me and through it all has been such a wonderful husband and father.

So what's next for us?

Ryan has accepted a job at Kahuku Medical Center and we will be moving to Hawaii in the beginning of July. We are so excited for this next chapter in our lives.

Mountain biking

2011-05-15T14:47:00.007-06:00

Ryan went to Pocatello a couple days before graduation and was able to go mountain biking. On Thursday evening he and his friend Hector went up to Chinese Peak.

The view from Chinese Peak.

The next day he went to City Creek. This one is looking back at Chinese peak.

These are on the 911 trail - a crazy, but fun part of the City Creek trails.

Johnny!

2011-05-14T18:24:00.009-06:00

We were blessed to have Johnny in our home for a few weeks while he was doing therapy for his back and preparing for surgery in Salt Lake. We were grateful for his presence and the spirit he brought to our home even while he was experiencing a lot of pain.

We took him to see Shoshone Falls - it was really impressive with a lot of run-off.
We also took a day trip up through Sun Valley and to Stanley the day before Easter. Along the way we stopped at the bridge over the canyon and saw some base jumpers.

It was still a winter wonderland in Stanley!

Neal and Jodene invited us to their home for Easter dinner. It was so nice to have a family dinner on Easter and see all of them.

Play dough and a new quilt

2011-04-14T16:20:00.005-06:00

Today we played with play dough - Cora's favorite new toy. I'd been meaning to make it forever, and I finally did. I followed the instructions found here. It was super easy and is really fun to play with, and it's cheaper and much less stinky than the store bought stuff. And it's edible - but gross tasting. (I'm assuming - I didn't actually try it.) Cora even helped me mix up all the ingredients. I made one batch and then divided it into four balls to add different colors.During naptime I finally finished Elijah's new quilt that I've been wanting to finish forever. It's bright and fun, more modern than his other one. It's also smaller, so easier to carry around. Although, I think I would still like to have an even smaller one for easy stroller/car seat use.Here it is this morning before I bound it. You can see the backing fabric I used. (Thanks Mom!)

X-country skiing and other stuff

2011-04-11T13:43:00.007-06:00

We went down to Sandy on General Conference weekend to spend some time with family - got to see John who was up in SLC to see a doctor about his back problems. We also got to see Ryan's cousins Travis, Lorraine, Julie and cute little Sawyer on Friday night right when we got there!
Dad was able to get four tickets to the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference and Ryan insisted I go with Mom, Dad and Johnny. I had never been before and it was amazing - some awesome talks, and I loved singing the congregational hymn with thousands of other voices. Ryan got to hang out with our old friend Paul while I was gone, and had a good time catching up.

Us being goofy at home.Ryan took advantage of the relatively cold weather we've been having lately to go cross-country skiing one last time at Magic Mountain on Saturday. As you can see, the snow was still pretty deep up there!Cora and I have been a little sick and were coughing too much to go to church - here are some pics of us hanging out at home instead.Cora noticed an owie on Elijah's knee.He is so chubby!A few coos for the camera.

Blankie love and a church stud

2011-04-10T12:44:00.006-06:00

When you love a blankie and it needs a wash...

you throw a tantrum the entire time it's in the laundry...but give it big hugs when it's all clean!

Our little stud and beauty after church a couple of weeks ago.Hanging out one morning on Mommy's bed, watching Dora (Cora's favorite show ever - tied with Diego)WatercolorsScenery from a hike Ryan took into the canyon with the priests.Adorably sad.

Grandma and Grandpa meet Elijah

2011-03-25T14:50:00.003-06:00

We went back to Boise this past weekend to see Mom and Dad who were on the mainland kind of unexpectedly for BYU-H basketball. (Side note: BYU-H has done really well this year and they are playing in the NCAA National Championship game tomorrow, Saturday March 26th, at 11 am MST on CBS.) We were excited to see them again, and they got a chance to meet Elijah for the first time. Of course, like bums, we didn't take any pictures again for the whole weekend until we were about to leave. We went to a burger place just before we left town and took some pictures there.

Love this pic of my boy - smiling for Grandma, and you can see his fluffy light hair!What a beautiful auntie and Grandma he has!

Island Park YM trip

2011-03-25T12:35:00.005-06:00

On March 11th and 12th Ryan, who is the priest's quorum advisor in our ward, went to Island Park with the priests and a couple of other leaders. They went snowmobiling and had a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures from his trip of the beautiful scenery.

And here are a couple of pictures of the results of that trip.

;) It was an exciting weekend for sure. We're just glad he came home safe and relatively sound.

Snapshots of our life

2011-03-25T11:35:00.008-06:00

Tummy time - he can lift his head up higher but it's hard to catch in a picture.

MohawkWhat do you think they are saying to each other?
We spend a lot of time coloring.Cora loves her "pitty dess" and always asks to watch "see-ah-yay-yah" (Cinderella) when she's wearing it.There have been a fair amount of days that look like this - PJs, messy toys, and 3 people to a chair. But lately we've been doing better at getting dressed and out of the house (which has also been cleaner, usually.) The weather's getting warmer, so we can sometimes go to a park.Cora has been getting more insistent on dressing herself - or at least choosing her own clothes - notice the snow boots and "pitty rina" (ballerina) skirt.Cora copies absolutely everything we do and say. We noticed that she was copying Ryan when he was reading scriptures to us after dinner on his Droid, using her hand and a finger to scroll just like he was, so we tried to get it on video. But when she notices, her phone/hand goes into "hiding" in her shirt. (Just in case you can't understand what she's saying. And of course, like most of our videos, it ends with her asking to see the picture on the camera.

Thousand Springs

2011-03-25T11:27:00.003-06:00

We visited Boise during Ryan's break between clinical affiliations (around the beginning of March). It was fun, as always. Cora's favorite place in the world is auntie's house, and she loves all of her cousins and aunties and uncles. She can name everybody - Alex, Jo-Noh, Bathew, Wiggs, Manlyn, auntie, uncle, big uncle (Eric), auntie, E-tai-ta, E-tai-ta-mana, and Lani. Of course, we forgot to take any pictures while we were there. But on the way home we decided to take the "scenic byway" that went through Bliss, and passed by Thousand Springs, and we took a few pics there.

Counting

2011-03-24T10:54:00.003-06:00

Here is video evidence of Cora's counting ability. She's really good at counting to 7, sometimes 8 or 9, but she never ever says 2. If you ask her how many feet she has, or eyes, or hands, she'll tell you "tree" (3). She's been doing that since around when Elijah was born - we're still working on it. We went to the library and rented a bunch of counting books, but so far, it hasn't made a difference. Tips are welcome. In the meantime, we're still trying to teach her, but it gives us a good laugh.

little photo shoot

2011-02-21T15:37:00.008-07:00

Just some pics from this morning - an impromptu amateur photo shoot.

Quilts and kisses

2011-02-19T10:55:00.011-07:00

One last tickle with Papa before he left.

Here's little Elijah on his big baby quilt! Mom helped me with this one before he came and she suggested I may as well make it big enough to cover a toddler bed for when he gets to that stage. She also suggested I make it symmetrical but I didn't take that advice. I am really happy with how it turned out - thanks Mom for doing all the cutting and ironing and support! See the dimples! This looks like a smile but really it's the beginnings of a cry.Cora woke up unusually early one day and so by 10 she was zonked out on the couch - not on the nice comfy pillow but on her hard doll's head. This is the other quilt Mom helped me finish - a Charlie Brown lap quilt. I meant to finish it for Kate's Christmas present but only got the top done in time before I had to stop sewing and get ready to move. So Mom helped me iron, baste and bind it - I don't think it would've gotten done for a long time without her help and encouragement. This is Cora being silly pretending to go "night-night" in Mommy's bed. We pulled out the camera to take pictures of Elijah after his bath and Cora asked us to take pictures of her. Below is her "cheese" face for pictures.Elijah gets so many kisses a day. When I was expecting him I felt bad because he would never have the time alone with his parents that Cora got, but so far, he's getting even more love than Cora got - because he has an adoring mommy, daddy and big sister too!Look at the lovely, clean, light, fluffy hair!

More weekend pics Feb 5-6

2011-02-17T11:01:00.005-07:00

CW and his girlfriend Melissa came up from Provo on Saturday Feb 5th and stayed til after the blessing on Sunday. Dad had gotten here on Friday and was staying til Tuesday. We had a fun weekend hanging out with everyone. We took them to Shoshone Falls and then stopped by the temple here in Twin Falls to take some pictures. Cora loves the temple, and can always point out a picture of a temple (even if it's actually a castle, not a temple - those ones are called princess temples). The falls were flowing pretty well, and beautiful but very windy. Mom doesn't appear in any of the pictures because she stayed in the car with the baby.

Elijah's blessing

2011-02-16T17:09:00.004-07:00

We blessed Elijah on February 6th, when he was just over one week old. Usually people wait a little longer to bless their babies, but we wanted to do it while Mom was still here and Dad flew out to join us for the weekend. CW and his girlfriend Melissa also drove up from Provo, and Elise and Eric and their families came down from Meridian and Nampa. We are so lucky to have so much family come. We love them all so much. Cora especially was so excited to wake up from her nap and find her house full of cousins, aunties and uncles.

Since the baby was so young we didn't want to do the blessing in church, but we also just didn't have room in our little apartment for everyone to gather there. We asked our bishop when he visited us in the hospital after the baby was born if he knew of a place where we could hold the blessing, (we were thinking like another church building where they didn't have a late ward meeting) and he invited us all to his home and also offered to cook a meal for the whole family! It was so generous of him and his family and we were so grateful to them. They cooked a delicious pasta meal for us.

We sang "I am a child of God" to start and then Eric gave a quick spiritual thought. He talked about the meaning of Elijah's name and read from the scriptures about Elijah coming to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the fathers to the children. Then Ryan blessed Elijah and it was beautiful. In the circle was Ryan, my dad, Christopher, Eric, Jedd, Bishop Schroeder, and another bishopric member, Brandon Seals. Elijah was good and quiet (asleep) the whole time. We got permission from Bishop and the stake presidency to Skype with Mom and Dad and Heidi's family in Hawaii during the blessing so they were able to hear as well.

Thanks to Jedd for the great pictures. Here is the whole gang.
And here is our new little family of four!Unfortunately I left right after we took pictures after the blessing because I suddenly started feeling very sick. Mom took me home and we took Elijah with us so I could feed him, so we missed his party and hanging out with all the family. To use one of Ryan's expressions, I felt like a truck had run over me all the rest of that day, with crazy fever, chills and aches. The next day I went to the doctor and got a diagnosis of mastitis. Mom was scheduled to leave with Dad on Tuesday but she said she would stay to help me out since I was sick, so she stayed til Friday. Luckily after that first terrible day I started feeling better quickly, helped by the antibiotic.

Altogether Mom was with us almost a month and helped us out so much. She helped me get ready for the baby, cleaned my house, did dishes and cooking, helped me make two quilts, and she started one herself, she bought us a dresser for Cora and Elijah and re-painted it for us, took care of me when I was sick, took care of Cora so I could rest, before and after the birth, and much more. We are so grateful for everything she did for us and just for her company during that time. Cora got so used to having her around, she is still asking for her sometimes. We love you so much Mom!

Elijah at home

2011-02-13T14:05:00.005-07:00

Cora just loves her baby brother and is always checking on him. If I put him in my room to sleep she will go knock on the door and ask for him. She's constantly touching him and kissing him - usually on the top of the head but if we don't catch her first, she'll go for his lips too. She's very concerned with making sure he has his blankets and burp cloths wherever he is.

Cora thought my doughnut from the hospital was pretty cool and kept stealing it.Cora loves her Papa and Grandma.Elijah is a very strong little boy - he has been lifting up his head and looking around since he was one day old. He has very prominent dimples on both cheeks that we can see when he cries. He is very hard to wake up when he wants to sleep - for example, during his favorite naptime - from dinnertime until I decide to go to bed, at which point he will be wide awake. When he does have his awake periods, however, he is really good at making eye contact with you and turning to the sound of your voice. His night time sleeping habits are still pretty variable - there's been a few good nights here and there when he'll wake up, eat, burp well, and go back to sleep at 3 hour intervals, but most nights aren't so good.

Cora had been becoming such a big girl. Generally she is a very happy cheerful little girl, but she is very stubborn and definitely knows what she wants. She's also very sensitive and her mood can change quickly. She loves all of her family and is always making us laugh. She's been watching more TV recently, since we moved, and then I was tired and very pregnant, and now with the new baby, but we are trying to cut it down. It's been fun to share some old favorites with her however, like the dinosaur movie (Land Before Time), and "see-ah-yay-yah" (Cinderella) and the fish princess (Little Mermaid.) She also loves Toy Story 3, Ponyo (a really cute movie we discovered recently) and shop-a-sheep (Shaun the Sheep, on Netflix). She is still a little book worm too and loves pulling out a book to read with me while I nurse.A couple of times now we've gotten her to repeat after us during prayers, and it just melts our hearts to hear her sweet little voice praying. She has learned her numbers - mostly. She loves to count everything, but she has developed some sort of prejudice against the number 2 - she never says it. She can count up to 10 but she skips right over two. For instance, she'll go up to Elijah and say, "one, tree eyes!" (and probably poke him in the eyes while doing it) The best is when she counts her toes - she'll say "one, tree, four, five, and the baby one! and the daddy one!" She knows the adjectives big and little but generally prefers to describe big things as daddy ones and little things as baby ones. She watches and listens to everything we do, and copies everything - which is pretty dangerous sometimes. She burps her babies, and helps me burp Elijah. When Elijah makes any noise she'll say "oh goodness, baby!" If he cries she'll tell me he's hungry and wants to drink mommy's milk.

I generally try to nap when she does, if I can get Elijah to cooperate, and it's usually really hard to get up when I hear her wake up - but she'll start calling "Mommy, where are you?" and I just can't ignore that little voice. She has a great memory and can tell you about things that happened months ago. When she asks for a treat she says "trick or treat mommy? please?" She has started calling me "mom" a lot of the time instead of mommy, which makes me sad - I think it is because she heard me say it to my mom when she was here.

Brother and sister

2011-02-13T13:52:00.003-07:00

Does Elijah look like Cora? It's always hard to tell when they're brand new, but here are pictures of them at a couple of days old.

Baby Elijah

2011-02-12T22:33:00.007-07:00

Ryan, Sarah and Cora are proud to announce that Elijah Paul Nielson was born on January 29th, 2011 at 3:11 am. He weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20" long.
Labor and delivery went well; Elijah had passed some meconium before delivery which made us a little nervous, but he was fine. He took a while to get cleaned up and returned to us after birth, so it was a relief to finally get to hold him (see picture above.)My contractions started right as Ryan was getting home form work, about 5:45. We packed bags for ourselves and Cora, and Mom took Cora to our friend's house while Ryan and I went to the hospital just before 8 pm. (I hadn't packed bags yet as I didn't want to jinx myself, but I had a list ready that made packing fast.)

Mom had come out early to make sure she didn't miss the birth, since we were all sure that the baby would be early like his sister. As it turned out, I was slightly off on my due date; instead of January 31st the doctors were saying it was the 27th, so Elijah was actually overdue. We had plenty of time to get everything ready for him before he came, including making a baby quilt.

After the baby came we spent two days in the hospital, since I had tested positive for Group B strep and they wanted to observe the baby. We came home on Monday the 31st.

Cora met the baby on Saturday and loved him instantly. She was a little mad at me and wouldn't hug me, clinging to Mom and Ryan instead, but she wanted to hold the baby the whole time. She had learned his name by the time she visited again on Sunday - she calls him "Zhi-zhah." Elijah has fuzzy light brown hair and blue-grey eyes that we predict will stay light-colored.

Flowers from Ryan, Mom and Dad in Hawaii, and my Mom and Dad.Elijah getting ready to leave the hospital on Monday.We can't believe that we are now a family of four, but we are so happy to finally have our little Elijah safe and sound with us. He is a teeny little bundle of joy and very loved.

Belly shot

2011-01-14T18:45:00.004-07:00

Well this one is a little blurry but looks the best of any we took. This was my belly last week.

Home again

2011-01-07T00:20:00.005-07:00

At the top of our list after getting home and unpacking our suitcases was assembling Cora's new cute little kitchen from Grandma and Grandma for Christmas. We tackled it after Cora was in bed while watching Galaxy Quest.

This was about 10:00 pm.11:00-ishAnd finally, a little after midnight!It was hard to get a good picture of Cora enjoying it because she was so excited and moving around so fast! She didn't discover it until after church because Ryan built it Saturday night and then we had early church.On Sunday evening Grandma and Grandpa came to our house, much to Cora's excitement. We were also able to host Ryan's uncle Neal and aunt Jodene and his cousin Deja for dinner, which was really fun. They live about 40 minutes away from Twin Falls so we should be able to see them more often while we are here.

Here are Cora and Grandpa, both relaxing in their easy chairs. Whenever Cora sits in that little white chair, she insists on having her pink footrest, even though her feet hardly even touch it.Cora was pretty sad when Grandma and Grandpa left. We're both adjusting to being each other's only company for most of the day again, since Ryan started up his affiliation on Monday and is gone all day working hard. We don't even have any babysitting kids around this time. Cora still asks about auntie's house when we get in the car.

Cora's been spoiled quite a bit with the move and traveling so we're working on getting her schedule and eating and TV habits back to normal before the baby comes. But she has also grown so much in these past couple of whirlwind months. She talks a lot now, makes good sentences, and it's been really fun to watch her pretend play skills develop. We'll have to get a picture of it soon, but in addition to her new kitchen, Cora has another big new favorite toy. Madelyn (Cora's cousin, not her grandma) let Cora take her old dollhouse home, since she doesn't play with it anymore. So sweet, and Cora just loves playing with the little family. She also got a couple of new baby dolls for Christmas and now she has a regular little family of 4 babies that she takes care of. When the baby comes I think she may have some jealousy issues but overall I think she will love her new baby brother. We are doing our best to prepare her for the big change that is coming in her life.

Baby brother seems to be doing well, he is due to come out in about 3 weeks now and the doctor says I'm measuring right on schedule. He does seem to be stronger and more active than I remember Cora being in utero. Sometimes I think he's trying to kick his way out through my belly button (which is now an outie and has been for several months. That also didn't happen with Cora.) So far everyone is healthy and I am just trying to enjoy this time that we have left with just Cora as our little baby. I have had several requests for a good profile belly shot so I will try to remember to take and post one soon, on the next day that I wear makeup and my own clothes, instead of my husband's. ;)

New Year's

2011-01-07T00:07:00.005-07:00

On New Year's Eve we went out to eat at a Chinese buffet and then hung out at Elise's house, playing games most of the night. The kids tried out their new Kinect and we all had fun dancing along to one of their games - especially Cora.

Later Ryan and I played Mario Kart with the younger kids - Cora wanted to play too.

Then she took time out for a shopping trip with Iron Man.

And then helped Mana and Noelani in the kitchen, baking up treats and doing dishes.It was a really fun, low-key New Year's Eve with family. We left Elise's the next day and headed back home.

Cascade

2011-01-06T23:40:00.007-07:00

In between Christmas and New Year's the family all decided to go to Cascade, a town couple of hours north of Boise in the mountains. We stayed at a lovely hotel called Ashley's Inn, for two nights. Originally it was going to be just one night but we decided to stay longer because we were having a good time, and also because a huge storm hit, dumping a couple feet of snow, making the roads dangerous. We went to a couple of local cafes, hung out in the breakfast room and played games at night, ate big continental breakfasts and enjoyed warm cookies at night, swam in the pool and relaxed in the hot tub, and went sledding on the golf course. It was a great trip and we are very grateful to Mom and Dad for taking us along.

Here is Cora, topless in the pool. We didn't think to pack swim gear for Cora when we went to Boise, even though we have a ton of swim diapers left over from the summer. Luckily Eric and Rachelle lent us a swim diaper. I was going to put her in the diaper and a onesie, but then I decided to keep the onesie dry for when she got out and just put her in the diaper. She didn't last long in the pool anyway.

Waiting for everyone to get ready to go out sledding.This was where everyone went sledding. Cora and I went out for a bit, and Cora went down the hill twice with Daddy, but as you can probably see from our faces, we were happy to get back in the car and watch. It was beautiful there but ridiculously cold! Ryan was able to snow-shoe as well as sled, (the hotel had snow shoes we could borrow) and he had fun exploring down to the lake. Here are a couple of pics taken from the car on the drive back to Boise. It was a beautiful winter wonderland.

Christmas

2011-01-06T15:06:00.011-07:00

We went back to Elise's house for Christmas. Cora was so excited the morning we finally told her we were going to Auntie's house - ever since Thanksgiving she had been asking to go to "Cowa's aunties house" and naming all of her cousins every time we got in the car. She cried when we told her we were going to Cora's new house instead of Auntie's house when we moved. She has an especially soft spot for Alex and Matthew, although she loves all of her cousins.

Here are a couple of random pics of Cora playing at Elise's. I love her hair in pigtails and ponytails but since I have to wrestle her to do it, and also since it seems to damage her hair a lot, I don't do it very often. It's getting so long now, as you can see by the length of her pigtails.Trying on Grandma's shoes.Ryan and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary while we were in Boise - Elise gave us an early Christmas present of a gift card to Macaroni Grill so we went there while she watched Cora for us - it was delicious and a really nice evening out. I can't believe 6 years has gone by already. It was a great 6 years and we can't wait to see where the next 6 will take us.

On Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story, sang some Christmas hymns, and then opened a present. Ryan's family has a tradition to open one gift - usually PJs. Ryan's parents got Cora a cute Rapunzel nightgown/dress-up outfit complete with dress-up shoes the light up. After that, we had to have a dance party.

Cora got spoiled as usual at Christmas, as did Ryan and I. She had a little bit of a slow start, since we woke her up much earlier than she would've woken up on her own, so she could start at the same time as her cousins. But once she woke up she was pretty excited to open her presents and she is pretty good at it now - she even helped Ryan and I open ours.

We tried to teach Cora about what Christmas means and I think she learned a little - she got really good at identifying baby Jesus in nativities and she talked about Jesus' birthday party several times. We followed my mom's tradition and made a birthday cake and sang "Happy birthday" to Jesus.

Here is Cora and Grandma the day after Christmas, after church.

We missed my family at Christmas but were glad to escape the epidemic that we heard occurred in Ohio with everyone else. We are grateful that we were with family and we look forward to seeing my mom soon when the baby comes in the next few weeks.

Moving away

2011-01-06T14:10:00.006-07:00

After Thanksgiving Ryan had a couple of weeks working pretty hard at school. This was his last semester of traditional course work with finals and he also had to give his final presentation and oral defense. He finished up really well and I am so proud of him! (In case you're wondering, he is still in school and working hard - he's doing two more clinical affiliations and then will graduate in May.)

Here's a shot of Cora being goofy at home.
After Ryan finished his finals we had a little goodbye party with our friends. We didn't take very many pictures, and the ones we took didn't come out very well, but here is Cora playing with some of the kids. When we all started PT school there were only a couple of these kids - Breanna was a baby, Dave and Laura had Davey and a newborn Savannah, and Cody had Jackson. Since starting, Cora was born, as well as Daphne, Dawson, Tanille, and Elise, and before graduation three more will be born. *correction* Phil and Kelsey have now had their baby - Congratulations guys! So before graduation two more will be born.Some of the adults playing catch phrase.Grandma and Grandpa came out to help us move, and we are so appreciative of their help. They did a ton of work for us, helping us pack, clean, take care of Cora, drive to Twin, and unpack. We love you guys so much! Thank you for everything.Cora loved sitting in Grandpa's lap - she would ask to sit with "Gampa, watch ball game."Driving to Twin was an adventure - every adult had to drive, since we had our Rondo and the Cirrus, and Ryan's parent's rental car and the U-Haul. We meant to get our earlier than we did, but of course, we got delayed by the cleaning, packing, check-out, and then, just as we were setting out, the check engine light came on in the Rondo and we had to go get it read. So even though we wanted to go early and avoid inclement weather and darkness, we wound up driving through heavy rain, some snow, and in the dark. Even though it was dark and cold when we arrived at our new place, we were blessed with lots of help from our new ward and our U-Haul was unpacked before we knew it.

A couple of days after we arrived in Twin was my 26th birthday. As you can see from the pictures, we were still unpacking, but we had made a lot of progress. It was a good birthday - even though we were moving, it was the first time in a few years that Ryan wasn't taking finals. Ryan got me a sweet oreo cake and we celebrated with some Martinelli's sparkling cider as well. Cora was a big fan of "mommy's juice" (sparkling cider) as well as the cool glasses we were drinking from.My two cuties - as you can see Cora decided to swipe Daddy's bigger slice and gave him her bowl.

Thanksgiving weekend in Boise

2011-01-06T13:13:00.009-07:00

We spent Thanksgiving weekend at Elise's house. Our big family dinner was on Friday after Thanksgiving since Mom and Dad and Johnny flew in that morning. We had a few days with Uncle John before he headed down to Provo to report to the MTC on December 1st.

Ryan went to an arcade with Eric's cute kids on the 24th.
Everyone played in the snow in Elise's backyard on the 28th. Johnny really wanted to build a snowman. He was kind of a miniature snowman because we didn't have that much snow.

Outside of Golden Corral.

After church on Sunday we took family pictures. Cora was not in a very good mood as you can see.

We love you Uncle John/Elder Nielson and pray for you every day on your mission! (He's going to Dallas, TX, Spanish speaking.)

This was what we found when we came home to Ridge Crest after Thanksgiving - a snow and ice filled town and parking spot. (Our spot is the one under all the snow, not the one where you can see some pavement.) We couldn't park in our spot for a few days til it melted enough for the maintenance guy to clear it away with his four-wheeler plow. Check out that view in the back of our apartment though - that is one of the things I miss the most about our old apartment. We had an amazing view, which I enjoyed every time I did my dishes and looked out of my kitchen windows.

It seems to be popular for people in other towns in Idaho to dislike or make fun of Pocatello but Ryan and I really loved it there. Sure, the wind was pretty bad and it was very cold, but it was beautiful, had a lot of easily accessible outdoor activities, was easy to drive around, has every store you need, and most of all, we made some great friends while we were there. Now that we are in Twin Falls, I'm still finding myself referring to Poky as "home," even though we have no intention of returning there to live. Out of everywhere we lived in our married life, Ryan and I lived in Ridge Crest for the longest - two and a half years.

November catch-up

2011-01-06T12:51:00.004-07:00

Well since I last posted we have been very busy - Thanksgiving, exams, presentations, moving, Christmas and New Years. Here are a few of the things we did in November before Thanksgiving.

Ryan rode up to Chinese Peak on November 18th after class. He had a goal of reaching the three main summits around Pocatello before we left and he made it! This was actually his second time to Chinese Peak. The other two he did were Scout Mountain and Kinport. This was his last ride of the season - as you can see it was very cold and snowy and also got dark pretty fast.

Christopher and his girlfriend Melissa came to visit us the weekend of the 20th. We had a lot of fun with them and got an unexpected surprise - a snow storm. So we dug out all of our gear and went sledding on Bartz field. Cora was not a big fan of the cold or the sledding. We only stayed out a little while and then Cora and I went back to the car.
It was a really fun weekend and we were glad they could come before the holidays and before we moved away from Poky.

Some cute videos

2010-11-14T18:13:00.002-07:00

We're training Cora to be a big sister already. She's a pretty thorough diaper changer, she uses wipes and diaper cream too. I think she changed Raggedy Ann, Minnie Mouse and her elephant's diapers for like an hour (this was last week, Sunday night.) The other videos are from this past week, just being silly. She still does the "Mana" dance (that's what Ryan and I call it, not Cora) with the signature Kaimana elbow.

This one is for you, Grandma Nielson! Cora's started walking around on her tippy toes lately - I think she got some of the Nielson dancing genes for sure.

Halloween

2010-11-01T00:19:00.009-06:00

Since I posted last we spent a weekend in Boise. Unfortunately we didn't take very many pictures while we were there - too busy having fun I guess! It's always fun to get all the cousins together, especially now that Cora just goes off and plays with them like a big girl and I don't have to worry about her. (Not that there's much to worry about, she has the best, sweetest cousins you could ask for.) She learned to call Eric and Jedd "uncle" like she calls CW, and Elise and Rachelle "auntie," and after we came home she started calling all men "uncle". However, most women are "mommy"s. We celebrated all of the fall birthdays that we had missed- Riggs, Jonah, Madelyn, Cora and Noelani.After we came back from Boise our lives have been fairly uneventful - I've been sewing and babysitting and suddenly getting super round and feeling very pregnant. I'm trying to do something I should probably have been doing since we've been married (or even before) - make a weekly meal plan, an organized shopping list, and just go grocery shopping once a week. So far, it's made my nights so much easier, being able to know what to make, and I've actually made some pretty decent meals again, because I've planned. Ryan has been working hard, as always, and I'm very proud of him. I can't believe we're almost done with this phase of our life, going to classes and studying and taking tests.

The picture below was taken before dinner one night - often Cora likes to pull up her chair and stand up to counter to see what I'm up to. Sometimes she likes to do more than see. I was nervous about letting her take a bite of the raw zucchini, since I'm pretty sure she hasn't really been a fan of broccoli since I let her taste it raw, and I didn't want her to be prejudiced against another veggie, but she really seemed to like the zucchini!Cora has been growing smarter before our eyes. We've been told that language really comes suddenly in an explosion and that is what we have been witnessing lately. It's so fun to watch her learning so much. She still takes a while to warm up to new people but around us, she's become quite a chatter box. It's always, "mommy, what's that?" and meal-times are filled with her labeling everyone's drink, food, and utensils. "mommy poon, daddy poon, Cowa poon!" (Mommy has a spoon, Daddy has a spoon, and Cora has a spoon.) or "mommy notche, cowa notche, daddy water!" (Mommy has milk, Cora has milk, Daddy has water.) My favorite thing is her labeling of herself, it's always "Cowa" this and "Cowa" that. She regularly uses 2 word sentences and sometimes even more. She's also getting so good at letting us know what she wants, whether it's water, more of some food, a certain toy or activity, or one of her favorite words "tweats!" (Treats). This is her being silly outside one night - if we don't lock the bolt she loves to open the door and play on the patio area, even if it's dark out and freezing cold! This is the face we see a lot when she knows she's being silly.Cora is now able to label most of the animals by their names, instead of just the sounds they make. One exception to that is a bunny - while she can say the word, she usually calls them "hop"s. She does like bunnies though, and loves the sleeping bunny song they sing in Nursery at church. Because of this, we decided, kind of last minute, to make her a bunny for Halloween. The fact that I had some perfect fuzzy white material already on hand from a previous project also helped us decide. So Cora was a "hop" for Halloween. I decided to sew her a warm jacket/coat for the costume, with a hood with bunny ears and a tail on the back. I worked on it during her naps on Friday and Saturday and managed to get it ready for the trunk-or-treat ward party on Saturday night. It's still missing a zipper or buttons to close it completely, but it was good enough for her to wear. We completed her outfit with a onesie, tights, pink tutu, her high tops, some make-up, and her bunny purse from Grandma Nielson last year.

I had to turn on the TV to get her to let me put the make-up on.Up-close shot of her make-up.Our decorated pumpkins - Ryan did the cat ("neow" as Cora calls it), and I did the owl and bat. (She can say those words.)At the trunk-or-treat. It was a little chilly, but not bad. The rain held off til after the activity. Cora was too shy to say trick or treat, or thank you, and she was clearly a little baffled by the whole process, but she accepted all the candy. With her good friend Breanna ("benana"). Originally they were going to both be black cats, which would've been super cute, but after looking the fabric I had, I changed Cora to a bunny.Tails shot.With Breanna and Daphne.With Savannah ("nana").We have been so lucky with our friends here - all of the little girls Cora took pictures with are the daughters of Ryan's PT classmates who live right by us and are in our ward. We are going to miss them all so much when we move away!

quilt, Mom leaving, BYU game

2010-10-11T14:52:00.005-06:00

The other thing I was pretty busy with the week Mom was here was finishing up this baby quilt for Nicole's little girl (her first girl) coming next month. I realized after the party on Friday that I hadn't taken any pictures of it yet, and Mom had to pack it up to go the next morning. So these pictures are a little dark and the colors look a little different than they do in real life. I'm pretty proud of this quilt, it's the best one I've made yet, and makes me a little ashamed of my past couple of attempts. I took care to do everything I was supposed to - like ironing at every step, (with spray starch, no less!) pinning, etc.
We were sad to see Mom go Saturday morning. It was a great visit but it just flew by. Cora was crying as Mom and CW drove away. We'll have to make sure we Skype a lot to keep that relationship going. Cora can identify "gamma" and "papa" now in photos, so hopefully she still will the next time she sees them. For mom that will be in January when the baby comes.

Christopher and his new girlfriend, Melissa, gave Cora that cute elephant for her birthday. Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet Melissa because she was sick.

We decided to also drive down to Utah on Saturday morning right when Mom and CW left, to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Nielson (Ryan's grandparents, not parents) who were coming up from St. George for the BYU game. We went to lunch and then the game with them. It was great to see Grandma and Grandpa and hang out with them a little with Cora.

Cora had fun at the game - she kept wanting us to stand up, even when everyone else was sitting, so I guess she's already a good Cougar fan. She got a little nervous the first time everyone in the crowd was yelling and stomping and making the stadium shake, but then she enjoyed it and learned to join in the yelling - although she was usually yelling in my face, instead of looking at the field. :) She also spent a lot of time at Ryan's feet, playing with a little coupon book we got and some things from her bag. Luckily one of Ryan's cousins from the Hollingshead side happened to be in front of us, so she didn't get mad when Cora kept elbowing her in the back. We didn't realize when we decided to drive down that it was actually Homecoming this week. It was a really great game, and even though we didn't have high hopes, since the Cougars haven't done very well so far this season, they won!

Good family resemblance there.

Birthday Party!

2010-10-11T12:41:00.007-06:00

On Friday night we had Cora's birthday party. Christopher was able to come up from Provo again for the party and helped us get ready. Mom helped a ton throughout the week and especially on Friday - I'm afraid we wore her out just before she went home. Mom helped us get a lot of the decorations for Cora's party and also got the pizzas for us. She was my primary helper in making the Elmo cake pops that were the main event, even though we wound up needing Ryan and CW's help too, to finish.

It's funny, I really do believe that simple parties are best for kids, but somehow I managed to keep getting ideas for this party that made it more work than I meant for it to be. The party theme was Elmo - he's one of Cora's favorite characters and the first one she was able to name.

Here's Cora reading books at her new table before the party, looking like a big 2 year old with that ponytail.
Here's Cora sitting on the pizza table. Behind her you can see the banner that Ryan and I spent an hour making the night before. I googled the pictures, printed them off, and took them to Kinko's to make transparencies (3 sheets @ $0.75/sheet). Then after institute on Thursday night Ryan and I stayed after to use the overhead projector, taped the paper to the white board, and traced the images.

Here are the Elmo cake pops - I was really happy with how they turned out, and they tasted really yummy too! I got the idea from the Bakerella blog, but instead of painstakingly drizzling candy coating to look like fur, Mom came up with the brilliant idea to use chopped dyed coconut flakes. That cut down on the time they took to make, but they were still very labor-intensive little treats. I would never have attempted them on my own but since Mom was such a good sport to help me, we went for it. I made up two cake mixes for them - one strawberry and one cherry chip. Here are some up-close shots - although it's kind of hard to see what they really look like with the wrapping already on.I gave in and let CW make a couple with frowny faces - he said it was a more appropriate emotion for Elmo to have when he's about to be eaten.Elmo fruit platter

Dessert table

Cora enjoying her cupcake. We put her #2 candle in it and had everyone sing to her. You can also see the remains of her pizza - we got it because it's usually her favorite food, but she was too distracted to eat well - she just picked off the pepperonis and ate them. (Also - pretty good shot of my belly in the background there.)

After eating we pulled down the banner and had all the kids color it. It was a fun, low-mess activity for the kids to do. (left to right, David, Tanner, Davey, Dallin, Kyleah, Breanna)

Cora's cute friend Emma enjoying her Elmo pop.

More coloring. Those bubbles on the tables were the favors for the families to take home. (kids left to right, Tanner, Dallin, Kyleah, Breanna, Savannah, David)

Cora got an Elmo pop too - lots of sugar that night.

After the party we realized we didn't have any pictures of the three of us for her birthday, so we had CW snap this in our kitchen. In all I think the party was a success! Thanks so much Mom for all your hard work helping Ryan and I pull it off. We were so happy to have Mom and CW come visit us and spend that time with Cora.

Cora's birthday!

2010-10-11T11:58:00.007-06:00

Cora turned two on Wednesday, October 6th. We had a pretty normal morning, running errands and babysitting. She asked for cookies for breakfast, so I gave her some peanut butter crackers, since she still sometimes gets confused and calls crackers cookies, and she was happy. Here she is after her nap, discovering some of her new presents. The little table and chairs are from her Grandma and Grandpa Nielson and Cora loves them. (Cora put her baby next to her - she's her favorite and gets carried around everywhere - sometimes even on errands, even though we leave her in the car when we go into the store.)I made Cora the little floor cushion the presents are sitting on.After Ryan got home from school and I was done babysitting, we decided to take Cora out for an ice cream cone and to a park. We thought the ice cream would be fun for her birthday but even though she liked it, we wound up just chasing her around the playground getting her to take licks since she was so busy exploring the new playground. So Ryan and I wound up eating most of it. Of course, when we were done and got back in the car to go home, Cora was very sad, asking "Mommy iceam go? Uh-oh, iceam?" I made a simple dinner at home of things Cora usually likes: chicken fingers, edamame and quinoa. Then we let her open her presents. She got some great books from Grandma and Grandpa Wei, as well as some new shoes which she really needed. She loves books and reading is probably one of my favorite things to do with her, especially now that her vocabulary is growing so much. The tent was also from Grandma and Grandpa Nielson and she loves it - the picture below is pretty blurry and also not such a good angle of Cora, but that is what she wanted to do as soon as we set up the tent - lay down and play night-night, as well as move all her toys and books into the tent.

For her birthday cake we got a pumpkin pie at Costco and our friends the Blanchards came over to sing happy birthday to Cora. Cora loved the pie and was excited to have her friend "nana" (Breanna) over to share it with.

Bear World and pumpkin patch

2010-10-07T09:22:00.009-06:00

We had a pretty fun and busy last week. Ryan got to go down to Salt Lake for the priesthood session of General Conference and took Christopher with him. While he was there he was also able to visit with some friends and family. Then Christopher picked up Mom at the airport after the session and came up with her to spend conference Sunday with us. Mom spent a week with us and was here for Cora's birthday. When Christopher left on Sunday night Cora got all set to go with him, packing up her little purse with her turtle finger puppet and putting on her shoes. She was pretty sad when "uncle" drove away.
On Monday Ryan didn't have any classes so we decided to drive up to Rexburg and go to Yellowstone Bear World. It was pretty fun; they had a little petting zoo, several baby bears in pens up front, and then a whole section you drive through with elk, deer, mountain goats, bison, wolves and of course, bears - grizzly and black. One of the black bears decided that the bugs on our car looked pretty tasty and gave us a bonus car wash, which made us a little nervous but was pretty cool.

While we drove through the park Cora enjoyed her first fluffer-nutter sandwich. Now that she's two we're giving her peanut butter, which is such a convenient option for lunches.
After Bear World we stopped at the BYU-I bookstore, then went to a cute little pumpkin patch in Idaho Falls. Mom bought Cora two little "puntins" that she picked out by herself and carried all around.