The Nelson Family

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year...yep, Christmas card time. :) I sent the actual card out to immediate family, and then emailed it to as many people as I had email addresses for. I KNOW that I don't have everyone's contact info, and I don't want anyone to be left out. So, here is my attempt to reach a few more people. All the best holiday wishes this season!

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Holidays! We hope this letter finds you happy and healthy. Every year around this time, we take time to remember and reflect on our experiences from the last twelve months. It has been a wonderful and fast-paced year for our family.

On December 30^th 2008, Abigail Kate was born. Quick to smile, giggle, and cuddle, she is our little angel! Now, at 11 months, the girl loves music, and is destined for athletic excellence. She loves to play pass with her little blue ball, and her accuracy is pretty amazing. If only we could limit her to throwing to the ball and exclude her food, her sippy cup, and various breakable items that she sometimes manages to get her hands on.

Natalie (2 yrs) is Momma’s little helper in the kitchen. If Mom is cooking or baking (especially goodies), Natalie is right beside her, standing on a chair against the counter “helping.” She loves Cinderella, and might possibly have a little crush on Peter Pan. Being the family bookworm, many trips to the library are made in her behalf, and at least a dozen times a day requests for story reading are made. A few of her current interests include dancing, playing hide and seek, and watching Sesame Street and football. She is such a good big sister to Abi-Kate, and Abi adores her for it.

Andrea has enjoyed being a mother of two, and watching the girls learn and grow. She has had fun learning more about crafting, and is slowly doing more and more in that arena. She has also (unfortunately) found enjoyment in baking fun treats and experimenting with new recipes. Thankfully, the rest of the family seems to be okay with this. Andrea loves to run, and is so thankful for the addition of a treadmill to their home.

Cory is halfway through his last year of medical school and will be starting residency in July. Over the last couple months, he has been interviewing for an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat/Head and Neck surgery) residency position at various residency programs, and will find out the results in February. Last June, he joined a team from Harvard Medical School, including his brother, Brett, in providing training and medical assistance in Southern Sudan and Western Kenya. He has enjoyed introducing Natalie to the ways of college football, and is still upset the Redwings lost the Stanley Cup this summer.

As we look back on this year, we find much to be grateful for. Most especially, we remember how much our family and friends mean to us. We are so thankful for the relationships that we have with each of you, and for the joy we feel in our lives because of you. May God bless you this holiday season!

Much Love,

Cory, Andrea, Natalie, and Abi-Kate

Sneaky Snowman

2009-12-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

I'm in love!

With cake pops.

This time around, I used chocolate fudge cake, fudge frosting, and white chocolate coating... too rich you ask? Perhaps...

or if you are a chocoholic like me, they're PERFECT! I ate one last night, and then promptly decided on homes for the rest. Hopefully the families I gave them to today enjoy them. :)

This is the sneaky snowman

He's very, very sneaky... he thinks since he's the only cute snowman around, he can horde all the cake pops...

Think again, Mr. Sneaky!

Sneaking by Natalie

And Abi-Kate

And Cory...

... and sneaking a kiss...not knowing the next day would be his last... Bwahahaha!!!!!

And on an unrelated matter, here's a cute picture of Cory and Natalie dancing to Christmas music in a totally destroyed tote bag given to Cory by one of the pharmaceutical companies. Thanks for the good times, Avelox!

Spinning

2009-12-04T11:58:00.001-08:00

Nope, not the hardcore workout kind...the twirly little girl kind. Yesterday, Natalie was dancing to Christmas music, and apparently decided spinning was going to be her "dance move" of choice.

She leads out with her arms. :)

Yes! That IS in fact a REAL ponytail! I've never given her one before. She looked super cute.

And more spinning....

and some more spinning...

"Momma, I's so very dizzy!"

And had to stick in a "chunky monkey" picture to be fair to those wonderful cheeks.

Thanksgiving, and other fun stuff

2009-11-30T05:34:00.000-08:00

This year, we spent Thanksgiving day with the Franson family. We have been friends since the beginning of our medical school journey. :) I will simply say that Melissa is a FANTASTIC cook, and her blueberry pie is to die for. Thank you Franson family!

Abi riding Yukon, one of the Franson's dogs.

(From left: Kira's head, Adalyn's head, and Natalie's head)
We didn't see Natalie, or Melissa's girls, Adalyn and Kira for most of the festivities. They were downstairs cuddling under a blanket watching Dora. So cute!

What good buddies!

Yummy Food = Happy People

Lovin' on Abi

Thanksgiving was great, and I truly count my blessings for all that the Lord has given me. My life is full of the good, the sweet, the happy, the joyous, the funny, the crazy, and the inspiring moments that make everything worthwhile. Natalie and Abi are so fun! Motherhood truly is a wonderful thing...mostly. :)

Abi "talking" to a plastic baby...she's such a good little Momma

Working on our crawling skills...we've got a ways to go.

Natalie's favorite pastime: reading. This girl must ask me at least a dozen times every day to read her a story.

This is not an assault. This is Natalie's version of a hug.

Natalie saw me taking pictures of Abi, so she whipped out her trusty toy Cinderella cell phone, and snapped some "pictures" of her own. :)

We put up all our Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. This is Natalie's "Ooooo, pretty tree!" face.

I have a picture exactly like this of Natalie last year. Abi joined us a few weeks later.

Natalie has a bad habit of crawling into bed with us at night. It's kinda cute. Kinda not so much... she doesn't want to be touched, and she takes up the middle of the bed. When we carry her back to bed, she usually comes back in. No bueno. But she makes a cute sleeping beauty.

Ode to Bakerella

2009-11-17T05:04:00.000-08:00

Baker-ellie, Baker-ellie,
Night and day it's Baker-ellie...

I LOVE Bakerella! She makes the coolest treats ever. If you are as yet unaware of who she is, you HAVE to check out her site.

Every week, I click on her site on my sidebar to see her newest creation, and every time, I "ooh, and ahh" over it. So, while making her infamous cake balls last night, I decided to document the process in tribute to her genius. These are not nearly as tricked out as hers, but they will give you the general idea.

And here are the players:

I used a white cake mix, and vanilla frosting for the cake ball part, and chocolate candy melts with fall sprinkles for the coating. All on lollipop sticks! (I found all of these things at Walmart)

First task was to bake the cake as directed on the box. Then, after letting it cool a few minutes, I broke it up into crumbs with a fork, and spooned the entire contents of the vanilla frosting on to it and mixed it all in.

The next step was to roll the cake mixture into balls, put them on a cookie sheet, skewer them with lollipop sticks, and pop them into the freezer to harden up a bit.

Yummy, huh? After a couple of hours, I took them out to start coating them in chocolate and sprinkles.

My lovely assistant, Natalie, proved to have VERY impressive self-control. She eyed those cake balls like nobody's business, but didn't bite a single one.

The cake balls were then dipped in the melted chocolate candy melts...

Then rolled in some seasonal sprinkles...

Then placed in my colander to harden, due to fact that I don't have and floral arrangement foam...or whatever you call that green foamy stuff that you stick silk flowers in...

A little raffetta to add to the festive factor...and I mean a very little raffetta. Those two measly strands were all I had! :)

The very excited lovely assistant who quickly morphed into the very satisfied lovely consumer

The goodness...
...so sad my camera can't do it justice.

And, as the smartest bunny on the planet would put it: "That's all folks!"

Natalie's terrible horrible no good very bad week part 1

2009-11-10T05:25:00.001-08:00

Natalie, Natalie, Natalie....you know how sometimes a child will just have "one of those days?" Well, the last week has provided her with a couple of doosies. Let me tell you about the first of these: We were making pancakes for breakfast. Yes, we. Natalie loves to be with me when I cook/bake, and always insists on pulling a chair into the kitchen so that she can "help." I have never had an issue with this, and am actually really enjoy having her with me. Anyway, so we finished the pancakes, I turned off the heat, and pulled the pan off the burner. Just as I was putting the pan in the sink, Natalie cried out. My heart dropped. She had put her hand on the still burning hot surface. Now, Natalie knows not to touch burners. I don't believe she intentionally put her hand on it. She was just putting her hand down to lean on, like she would the counter/table. She just hadn't thought it through, and now her poor hand was burning.

About an hour later with milk and fruit snacks to help calm her down

I scooped her up, sat her near the sink, and put her hand under cool running water, feeling like the world's worst momma, as she sobbed and shook with pain. Eventually I got her to sit at the kitchen table with a bowl of cold water for her hand. She had her hand in that bowl of cold water from probably 8:30 am till lunch time. Every time she'd take it out, 30 seconds later, the tears came again, because apparently, she felt the burning coming back. Poor girl!

3 hours into the "burning" and having another snack

Half an hour or so after it happened, Abi realized her sister was hurting, and she became very sympathetic. Every time Natalie cried, Abi cried. In Natalie whimpered, Abi whimpered. It was a sad time in the Nelson home. I took a video mainly to show the sympathy effect going on, but it didn't turn out like I thought it would.

Eating lunch, and still keeping her hand in the bowl. I didn't really have to tell her to keep it in. She did that on her own, because after taking it out a couple times and feeling the burning pain come back, she was only too happy to keep her fingers in the cold water.

At nap time, she had to sleep with a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a thin towel for her fingers to hold onto. After her nap, she said her hand felt much better. I was so relieved! I'm thankful, really. It could've been worse.

Natalie's terrible horrible no good very bad week part 2

2009-11-10T05:56:00.000-08:00

This next one was a whole different kind of horrible than the first one. In this one, Natalie was being just plain naughty.

I was cleaning the kitchen, before starting dinner. Cory was having a couple of the students rotating at the hospital come over to eat as well. Natalie and Abi were playing in the bedroom, and I was thinking how nice and quiet it was...hmm...maybe TOO quiet for TOO long...

I went to go check on my girls, and found that their room had been hit by a snowstorm!!! Well...it seemed that way. Just as I stood there gaping at the effects of the unseasonable indoor weather system that had apparently just passed through, Natalie slowly opened the closet door where she had been hiding. Not from the storm (which was obviously of her making) but from the severe reprimand she was sure would be coming from her mother.

I went through a range of emotions. Incredulity. Anger. Dismay. Then finally the hilarity of it all hit me, and I ran for the camera to document the moment. It was a bit hard to keep a stern face up for Natalie too be sure she knew that this was NOT ok, while at the same time trying not to bust out laughing every time I glanced at Abi's white head.

Baths were in order, and the cleanup was a beast the next morning. (Didn't have time that night because I had to start dinner for us and Cory's friends who were coming over. The friends stayed past the girls bed time, so I just put them to bed and got to cleaning the next morning.)

On the bright side, Natalie has sworn off baby powder, and their room now smells like a brand new baby. :)

Happy Hallowen Week!!!

2009-10-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

This has been such a FUN week! For Family Home Evening, we carved our pumpkins. We are quite talented at this, I might add...okay, so we used store-bought patterns. Jeez. :) But they were fairly quick, easy, and turned out great. Abi's was the only one sans-pattern, because her pumpkin was too small for any of them. And here are some pictures:

Natalie's first experience with the orange goo... let's just say it was short-lived.

What do I do with this goop?!?!

Outside, putting candles in our pumpkins. Cory and Natalie are making "Ooooooo..." faces.

From left: Abi's pumpkin, Andrea's pumpkin, Cory's pumpkin, and Natalie's pumpkin...yes...Natalie picked her own pattern.

And what would Halloween be without as many sugar cookies as possible? Huge get-together at the Franson home with lots of friends, food, and of course, sugar cookies for kiddos to decorate.

Halloween = sugar overdose

On Friday, Heather Smith, and her two girls, Emmy and Carlyn, (Natalie and Abi-Kate's ages respectively) came to visit us while, Ryan interviewed in Lansing. Natalie LOVED this! She is still talking about Emmy, and we wish they lived closer. Thanks for taking the time to come visit!

FENTON WARD HALLOWEEN PARTY - 1 Day before Halloween

It was a good time! Cory and I made his Dad's baked beans, there was a great dinner and lots of dessert. After dinner, there were many activities to choose from: spook alley, cookie decorating, (we actually opted out of this, since I have done the Halloween sugar cookie thing 3 times already this season) games for the kids, best costume awards and trick-or-treating throughout the perimeter of the building since it was way too cold outside to do the trunk-or-treat thing. More pictures....BUT FIRST: We actually won the "best family costumes" award! Yay!

Do you want to know what we won?

I bet you do...

I bet you're super excited to know....

I bet you're so excited you're about to explode in anticipation...

Well, prepare yourself...

We won....

A genuine, 100% recycled paper certificate complete with black border and happy ghost embellishments. I mean, can you believe our luck??!? Nothing can ever top this! Nothing.

;-) We were flattered.

And here we are! From left: the Baby Bumble Bee, the Bee Keeper, the Queen Bee, and the Worker Bee. I found some awesome yellow duck tape at Walmart to write our names on and stick to our costumes so people would know exactly what bee (or keeper) we were.

Love these busy bees! (Just about to go into the horrifiying spook alley)

Another group shot. It was kinda funny, because a lot of people loved our theme. One lady took several pictures of us so that she could copy our idea for next year. A word about MY ensemble: used dryer sheets, and rubber gloves make for sweaty palms, and neck...just if you were wondering.

"I'm scooping up my baby bumble bee. Won't my mommy be so proud of me?"

I'm not real sure why I couldn't get her antennae to stand up right. Oh well. Cute as can be either way. Too bad it's a bit blurry. (I'm sorely lacking in the photography skills area.)

Natalie had lots of fun twirling around in her cute costume

Okay, last costume one. Just had to show off Abi's stellar profile. I mean just LOOK at those cheeks! Can you get any cuter? I think not.

HALLOWEEN DAY

I need to preface this by saying that I am a bad Momma. Being as the weather was nasty, windy, and just all out frigid, we decided to forgo the whole trick-or-treating affair tonight. Natalie's too young to recognize this severe injustice. Instead, we stayed home and enjoyed her treats from the night before. We lit our pumpkins again, had exactly 1 set of trick-or-treaters, and enjoyed a spooky cheesecake to celebrate Halloween.

Natalie's, "Ooooo scary spider!" face

The spooky cheesecake. I got the idea from My Kitchen Cafe. I made it last year as well, but didn't post a picture. It's pretty easy, and looks perfect for Halloween.

Well, that's it. Finally made it through everything. I hope everyone had as much fun this week as we did. Happy Halloween!

Love, the Nelsons

Pumpkin Time!!!

2009-10-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we took a our second annual trip to Fenton to pick our Halloween pumpkins. (We missed the Roman family this year!!!) Even though it was raining, and frigid outside, we had a good time.

There is a cute little specialty store in Fenton, about 10 minutes from where we live called Four Seasons Fresh Market. I have to put in a little plug. This little gem sells fresh produce grown locally, specialty cheeses, meats, and homemade food items. And, of course, they currently sell fall mums, pumpkins, and gourds. It's fantastic! *sigh* I love Fall!!!

"Ooooo...punkins!!!"

Love this girlie!

Family photo op

Abi-Kate, you are sooo great!

Natalie loved the little pumpkins! She brought me like 5, before we finally got her to pick a BIG pumpkin.

Cory lovin' on his baby. He is such a good father to our girls! I'm so blessed....on a side note, notice the icy-rain droplets on his coat? Yeah...it was COLD!

Fall outside our dining area window

Fall outside the kitchen sink window. So pretty! I love Michigan in the Fall!

Stay tuned for more Halloween pictures, including cute costumes, carved pumpkins, and more. Happy pre-Halloween! MwahahahaHAAA!!!!! (That was my evil laugh... if you were wondering)

My own personal towel girl and Cinderella

2009-10-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

Abi was having great fun playing with one of my kitchen towels the other day... and I thought it was time to put her cuteness to the test. Surely no one could make an old kitchen towel look good. I was sorely mistaken. Abi's cuteness level far surpasses the realm of normal adorable-ness. I've come to the (somewhat obvious) conclusion that the girl will look cute no matter what she wears. Here's my "towel girl":

Love, love, love her big, round, beautiful, brown eyes! They match her big, round, beautiful cheeks perfectly! :)

Annual Family Home Evening Halloween cookie decorating... note: don't buy blackberry cobbler candy corns! Granted they are new and different-looking, but I have NEVER had a blackberry that tasted that horrible in my life. Blech!

The best part of decorating cookies is...

A Cinderella Story

This morning, Natalie, of her own free will, went to the broom closet, got out the broom, began "sweeping" the kitchen, and started singing her own little made up songs. I about died! It was so funny and so cute!

BUT it didn't end with sweeping the kitchen. The following pictures will illustrate her Cinderella cleaning spree:

It starts in the kitchen

and progresses to the hall bathroom

Through Mommy and Daddy's room

To THEIR bathroom

She even moved the garbage can out of the way unprompted, just so she could be sure not to miss the corner

Then she "swept" all the dirt into the dust pan and took it to the garbage (Okay, so the dustpan was empty, but still...)

My sweet Cinderella

And that was the end of that...BUT WAIT!!! "Momma, I like this mop!!!" And it starts again...

To the kitchen!

...and the hall bathroom

...and she finished up in Mommy and Daddy's bathroom... then put the mop away, and gave me a big hug! (AWW!! the girl surely can melt my heart)

And that was the end of that. BUT WAIT! "Momma, I like this washcloth!"... And it starts again...
She wanted to clean the tub, but I made her stop for a while so I could feed her lunch. All I can say is, I really hope this whole cleaning frenzy continues when she's older. I can dream, right?

And here's a couple cute pictures of Abi-Kate that I just couldn't leave out. My chunky monkey is such a happy easy-going thing. She surely is spoiling me for whenever number three shows up.

Again with the eyes...*sigh*. Our sweet angel!

Just for fun...

2009-10-16T20:10:00.000-07:00

Abi-Kate's "mad face." Too bad it's not very effective. We think it's too funny.

Abi loves music. She loves to play the toy piano/xylophone, listen to, sing to, and dance to music.

Love my Abi girl.

OVERLOAD...a post only a Grandma or Poppa could love...

2009-10-13T11:18:00.001-07:00

I say that simply because there are SO many pictures to get through. Having not posted any pictures or much by way of updates for the last month and a half, this was bound to happen. So, for those of you who check in on this neglected blog, this is your last warning: There are 27 photos, and one video ahead. Truly, this post is not for the faint of heart...or, I guess, those who don't have much extra time...

When Cory was gone a lot, we spent much of our afternoons at the parks here.

Abi Kate...yep...cheeks are still growing...

Natalie loves, loves, LOVES to slide

I love getting my two girls to interact with each other. They are so stinkin' cute! I'm one lucky Momma.

Sisters and friends

She learned that trick from her Daddy...surprised? Me neither.

We got to see Cory most Saturdays and Sundays of his out rotations, because he would drive home to be with us, sometimes from very far away, just because he loves us. Yes. Basically, he is amazing. And we love him! This is the one Monday we got to have him. The hospital he was rotating at let him have Labor Day off.

Labor Day/FHE picnic at the park

Can I just say, Abi was digging the whole 'picnic' concept

She loves her Daddy

...and her Daddy's hat

Peek-a-boo, you crazy girl!

Natalie attempting to "hold" Abi...this always proves to be a bit difficult since they're about the same size. :)

Just had to include this one, because 1.) They're playing nicely in their room 2.) Their room is CLEAN... of course it only stayed that way about 5 minutes.

We love friends! Thanks for hanging out with us, Benjamin!

On one of Cory's weekend's home, we went to Apple Fest in Fenton. We went to this last year, and had fun, but this year was better, because Natalie was big enough to enjoy some rides. We had fun walking through the entertainment areas, smelling the yummy carnival smells, and we even brought home a beautiful apple pie to top it all off.

Just about to stroll through the Fenton Apple Fest 2010 (Note Natalie's cute apple sweater...thanks Breezy!)

Ridin' the rides

Can you just see the joy radiating out of Natalie's face at having to get this picture taken?

Cory loves this baby girl, and she sure loves him back

And more rides at Apple Fest

The Big Slide

Of course, it was her favorite activity by far

...his too

Good times together

The cutest chunker ever

Got bed-head?

This picture is not so great...I made cupcakes one day, and held off on three of them, to make a small, thin cake for Natalie to practice decorating on. She loved this, and is now a huge fan of "white cake" (frosting) as a result.

The weekend before Cory went to Oklahoma, we decided to go to Spicer's Orchard for some fun. We had a great time going on the hay-ride through the orchards, walking through the little 'petting zoo, sans petting,' and letting Natalie play in the little park area. We topped it off by trying some free fresh-pressed cider, and treating ourselves to a home-made sugar-cinnamon cake donut, hot out of the oven.

On a hay-ride at Spicer's Orchard.

Now you know why I'm never in pictures... but I couldn't resist putting up another picture of those awesome bulldog cheeks of Abi's.

Spicer's also has a little barn with a variety of animals. Natalie's favorite was this cute bunny who would eat grass out of her hand. (Yes, that very grass shown in the picture... was this okay with the owners? We don't know... the bunny seemed to think it was just fine.)

Oh, how I LOVE it when Abi laughs at Natalie.

*PHEW* ....and we're caught up.

Bliss...

2009-10-12T05:44:00.000-07:00

I... Love... My... Life... Cory has been gone every single day (with the exception of most Saturdays/Sundays) for the last 2 1/2 months. He was in Oklahoma for the last two weeks, and we didn't see him at all during that time. BUT... as of Saturday night, he is HOME!!!! And we get to be with him before he leaves for his rotation in the mornings, and when he gets home in the evenings. I'm SO STINKIN' HAPPY about this! We have truly missed the man, and it is an absolute joy to have him back. I'm compiling a shortened list of reasons it's wonderful to have Cory:

*I have my husband again! ( I am deeply in love with this guy)
*I get to watch him be sweet to our girls
*The girls adore being with him (so nice to not be the ONLY playmate)
*He tells Natalie and Abi the story of the three little pigs better than anyone could
*I actually get to cook real food again (Hard to do when it's me, a toddler, and a baby)
*This mean I also get to EAT real food
*I'm not alone at night
*I have someone to confide in, discuss things with, laugh with, and converse with
*I can actually leave the house after 6:00p.m., whereas before it was "feed the girls, clean up, bed by 7pm, and me totally home-bound."
*Tag-teaming the girls at bedtime is nice
*I feel so much more safe and secure with my big strong man around at night
*Life is ALWAYS sweeter with your sweetheart at your side

This morning, Cory left by 7:00, and (miracle of miracles) the girls didn't wake up till 7:15. Usually Natalie is up by 6:45, and Abi 7:00. Natalie was so concerned that Daddy wasn't home. It took some convincing, but I think she believes me now when I say he'll be here for dinner and Family Home Evening. She's pretty darn happy about this. So am I... So am I. :)

Bwahahahaha!

2009-10-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

So, I posted this on my facebook as well, but since a lot of my family/friends aren't on facebook, this is for them. There is a pretty well-known website called yearbookyourself.com which allows you to upload a photo of yourself, crop it to fit their images, then puts your face in a typical yearbook photo starting in 1950 and running to 2000. Unfortunately, my picture wasn't dead centered so all the pictures that had glasses were way off on my face. They were so funny! I might have to dig for another picture, if I can find one of my face that is centered. In the mean time, enjoy!:

This one makes me think of Bill Cosby's wife on the Cosby show. :)

I laughed so hard when I saw this! Totally reminded me of Uncle Ricco getting his picture taken by Deb on Napoleon Dynamite.

1984...the year I was born...all I can say is, whoa. Good thing I didn't have hair yet.

1974, I think...Groovy.

Why, oh why, couldn't I have grown up in the "Bouffant" era? Wo to me...

WE ARE STILL ALIVE!!...just pictureless

2009-10-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

So, I realized that I don't like updating my blog if I don't have pictures to go with the updates. I suppose that is why blogging hasn't worked out so well for me lately...Cory has been gone on out rotations for a while now, and he has the computer that has picture downloading-capabilities: his fancy-schmancy Macbook Pro.

I'm constantly hearing the praises of the Mac phenomenon being sung. However, I think I need to give a little credit to my computer. While old and not very functional, it does provide me with the most important thing: Internet...connection to family, friends, media, information, and shopping in the outside world.

This old ViewSonic used to live at Rick's college, and still has the "Property of Rick's College" stickers on it. That makes this machine at LEAST 9 years old. A friend bought it, and he later gave it to us. (He had about 5 other computers...right Frank?)

While, unfortunately, the sound doesn't work, it doesn't play video, the Microsoft Office doesn't work well, and it is VERY slow, I kind of think of this thing as an old friend. It's the first computer Cory and I had together, and we used it all through our last year of school at BYU-Idaho. Then, we moved on to Medical School, and Cory bought the ever-superior Mac, and I became the primary user of our college computer. I'll admit there have been times when I've been tempted to seek a replacement. But I just can't bring myself to do it. Yes, money is a part of that. There are really cheap options on Craigslist if I wanted to get a new computer. I just feel like this one gives me what I need without providing a lot of unneccesary distractions. It's familiar. It gets the job done. Plus, it's been with Cory and I from the beginning. It gets major sentimental value bonus points for that... I think it's going to be with us for a while yet. :)

Abi-the-growling-tiger, and Natalie-the-nap-enforcer

2009-08-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

I love my kids!

Good times

2009-08-23T10:55:00.001-07:00

This week has been so fun! (Except for today...today I am sick as can be. Yuck!) My Dad and brother, Robbie, stayed the night with us Wednesday night before continuing their drive home to Idaho Thursday morning. Even though the visit was short, it was awesome. It meant so much to me that they'd take the time to drive out of the way to come see me and the girls for just a few hours. (And I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures.) Thanks Dad and Rob! You are the best!

So, the daily routine in the Nelson household usually starts out something like this: Natalie and Abi wake up around 6 or 7 am, I change Abi's diaper, put Natalie's undies/clothes on, and then feed them breakfast. After breakfast, they both play in their room while I do dishes/start laundry/make my bed, etc. or whatever needs to be done.

On Wednesday, after I got my initial "chores" done, they were just so cute playing together on the bed that I had to take a couple pictures. I'll be excited for the day when Abi is old enough to interact more with Natalie. Love these 2 munchkins!

Natalie diapering a doll, and Abi taste-testing all of her shoes that Natalie got out of the closet for her.

Look at that round head! Abi still taste-testing shoes and....WHAT THE?!?!!....Where did that pen come from?!?

Natalie pretending she's me..."Nye-Night. Go to sleep. You can have more milk and more stories after your nap. Don't be sad...be HAPPY!"...Hmm. Maybe I need to re-evaluate my parenting skills...

YAY! Outings with Daddy are the best. Feeding the fish at the Genesys trails.

The rest of my face hasn't caught up with my cheeks yet... ;)

Is that a gray hair?!? Wow, Momma, you are starting to look OLD!

Beautiful Natalie Grace

Daddy + Daughter = Best Buddies

"I'm so glad when Daddy comes home..."

2009-08-16T10:47:00.001-07:00

I think this has become our theme song . With Cory gone all week long for many weeks to come, with an occasional weekend or either Saturday or Sunday off, we surely do miss the man.

SO...this week, the girls and I went to the Saginaw Children's zoo with Kristy Brown and her kids, and Tara Strong and her kids. It was a fun outing, and Natalie especially liked the tiny monkeys. (Seriously...they were tiny...like as big as my hand.) We went to the trails at Genesys most mornings so I could run, because honestly, I've been more in the mood to run outside than inside, with all this nice weather happening. We did lots of fun things this week, but without a doubt, the favorite activities of the week were on the weekend...simply because Daddy was home.

Playing soccer in the backyard

Natalie running in the backyard...

...more running...

...and now resting with Abi after all the running...

...and now being coerced into pulling weeds with Daddy...
(actually she loved this, and there was zero coercion involved)

"Happy" Abi

"Nut-filled-squirrel-cheeks" Abi

Earlier in the week, sans make-up, Daddy-less, and practicing our alphabet on the fridge

Abi loves to blow raspberries...at the exact moment I put a spoonful of food in her mouth. I end up scraping most of whatever she's eating off of her face, and trying to feed it to her again, only to have her spit it all over herself, the chair, the table, the wall, the floor, and of course, me. After she launches her various trajectories of baby food, she giggles in obvious delight...and do I detect a hint of diabolism? It takes a long time to actually get all the food where it's supposed to be. She thinks this is hilarious. Natalie thinks this is hilarious. I think this is frustrating...and hilarious.
(And no...I did not strategically place that food on her face...she did that on her own.)

So, I basically fell off the face of the blogging world... Part 3

2009-07-28T05:17:00.000-07:00

Back for more? Well, here goes our trip from Idaho to Michigan...in REVERSE because I wasn't smart enough to upload the pictures in the right order, and because I'm not willing to take the time to change that :)

Under the Mackinaw Bridge that connects the upper peninsula of Michigan with the main part...it isalso the dividing line of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron

Driving along the coast of the upper peninsula....Beautiful!!

While in Wisconsin, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit a cheese factory. YUM!!

Mount Rushmore!

We each took a photo by our birth state at the entrance of Mount Rushmore

Don't you love Natalie's flower clip attached to my shirt?

At the Crazy Horse memorial. (The mountain is in the background) Pretty amazing! The mountain carving will be huge when completed...Mount Rushmore would fit in Crazy Horse's hair. It's that big!

Martin's Cove

While driving through Wyoming, we stopped to see Cory's parents who are serving a mission at the Sweetwater. They are fantastic missionaries, and we had such a great time...wish we could have stayed longer.

Yes, my eyes are closed.

The handcart

I think I'll wear a bonnet every day for the rest of my life... :)

Original Sweetwater school house

Teton mountains near Jackson Hole, WY

Jackson Hole, WY...elk antler arches at all four corners of a park in the middle of town.

Cory in the car

Me in the car

Abi-Kate in the car

Natalie in the car...AND her own little world

The first photo-op of the trip back East. Here we are at the site of our first date (Valentine's Day 2004): We went tubing down the top of a mountain pass that leads into Jackson Hole... then on to Wendy's, a Moose hockey game, and hot chocolate after.

'Momma, I wanna play outside!'

2009-08-09T10:39:00.001-07:00

I hear those 5 words from Natalie every day. (By the way, I have no clue why this is all underlined, and I don't see an option in the toolbar to fix it...and I'm computer-handicapped.)

So, we were outside ALOT this week. One of those times, we went to the park with the Tobey Roos and her cute kids, Addie, and Noah. Another time, we went to the Genesys Hospital trails to see the geese and the fish, and just enjoy the beauty. Since this underlined text thing is so annoying, I'll just leave it at that, and get to the pictures.

Addie and Natalie at the park (Hey! How come this isn't underlined?!?!?)

Addie is much better at smiling for pictures. It's tough to get Natalie to hold still and smile for more than .5 seconds... Way to go Addie!

Out for a walk at Genesys

Love my girls!

So, since the underline issue went away, I'll write a bit more. Cory was gone all week on a rotation. We missed him a lot! It was a good thing I lined out projects and outings for the girls and I, or it could've been worse. I suppose I need to buckle down and get used to it though, as this type of schedule will be the norm through November-ish. I'm so glad I have such an amazing husband, my sweet girls, good friends, supportive family to talk to on the phone, and the gospel to help me keep things in perspective!

Happy Birthday, Cory!

2009-07-31T09:07:00.001-07:00

On Sunday, Cory turned the big 28. We celebrated with icecream cake, presents, and letting him sleep to his heart's content. :) We sure do love you, Cory! Thanks for being such a hard-working, wonderful father and husband. Thanks for ALWAYS making time for us despite your crazy-busy schedule. Thanks for loving us as much as you do, and making it obvious by how you act. You are the best!!!

The Birthday Cake

The excited/cake-hungry partiers

The big wish...

The birthday boy and the littlest monkey

Happy Birthday, Honey!

So, I basically fell off the face of the blogging world... Part 2

2009-07-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm not even going to TRY to go into huge details, because there are just way to many of them...and I'm only posting a fraction of the pictures we took while in Utah. So, here's the short version:

When Cory got back from Africa, we stayed in Utah for a few weeks in July. He studied for, and took the boards. We celebrated the fourth of July, played with family, visited friends, went to Cory's 10 year class reunion, (Go Darts!) and welcomed an adorable new nephew. And here are the pictures:

Happy Independence Day (At the Kaysville Parade)

A grand marshal of the parade walked across the road, and handed Abi-Kate this little flag, then turned around, got back into the parade. There were TONS of people/kids lining the roads, and she got the only flag. I was pretty flattered on Abi's behalf...the cheeks must have done it...

I love candy!!!

Yes, I am stinkin' cute!

Free Love

Natalie with Logan Hilton, Scott and Laura Hilton's adorable little boy. You guys make cute kids! Congrats on another boy you guys!

Announcing: Gabriel Trent Nelson ... and his extraordinary fauxhawk

Howdy Partner (Playing with Grandpa Utah's hats)

More hat fun... with Grandma Utah's basket and lid.

I love my Daddy

After feeding ducks at the Layton Park, we took advantage of their awesome playground for Family Home Evening.

Wheeeeee!!!....kind of.

Natalie discovers the joys of slip 'n slides at Chadd and Jodi's house. She sure loved playing with cousins!

Run! (She never did get the "slide" aspect of the slip 'n slide.)

Natalie's first ever Krispy Kreme doughnut.

Playing with the amazing blue turtle sprinkler in Grandma and Grandpa Utah's back yard. Natalie sure loved that thing!

...And that's all for now folks...stay tuned....

So, I basically fell off the face of the blogging world... Part 1

2009-07-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

Wow.

All I can say is, wow.

I haven't blogged in over 2 months! In my defense, I've been out in Idaho and Utah since mid-May, and have some semi-decent excuses. Such as: 1. Cory was in Africa until the end of June, and he had the camera. 2. I was with my family in Carey, ID while he was gone, and my family doesn't have the internet at the house...to get internet access, I had to drive to my Mom's office in town, and the connection there is a bit on the slow side...there are other excuses, but I'll stop at that.

We are now in Utah, and Cory will take his second set of boards on Wednesday. Then, we will go back up to Idaho for a week, where he will shadow a couple of ENT (ear nose and throat) doctors. After that, we will begin the very long drive home.

SO...without any more ado, here are the pictures and explanations that go with them. (I will be doing this in several posts, because there are so many pictures.)

Happy 4th anniversary! May 7th 2009, Olive Garden...we splurged and got appetizers and desserts with our dinner. :) We've never ever done that before...it's a LOT of food..

There were three in the bed, and the little one said..."Gooooogigaaa!"

The girls and I made it to Idaho, and got to see my youngest brother, Scott, before he left for his mission. This is Scott and my dad at the MTC....love the "glowing" dork dot.

Natalie napping... on her huge bed. She got a huge queen bed all to herself. :)

While in Idaho, my youngest sister (Angela) had a cat who had kittens. Natalie LOVED those kittens.

Girl time on the trampoline at my parent's house.

My oldest brother, Aaron, and his wife, Lacey added Logan Lloyd to their family on June 1. No...I am not sick...I am naturally this white. Sad but true.

Here's Abi Kate next to her new cousin, Logan. She is 5 months in this picture. Funny...she looks like she could eat Logan... :)

Abi Kate, Natalie, and I left Cory mid-May to come out to Idaho before my brother left on his mission. Cory stayed to finish up his last rotation for third year, and take some tests before preparing to leave for Africa for the month of June.

Idaho was awesome! We got to watch my sister, Amy, run in the state track meet. She was amazing! She placed second in the 800 meter run, third in the mile, and her 4X400 meter relay team, I think got third... She is quick, I tell ya. My brother, Robbie, who is selling security systems out East, came to watch her, and see Scott before his mission as well. It was so great to see him, even though it was only for a couple days. Scott reported to the MTC the following week, and Aaron and Lacey had their little boy a couple weeks after that. Amy and Angela are both doing 4H this year. Angela has a lamb, and Amy has a steer. (Crazy girls) I don't know if they've named their animals yet, but I vote for the names, "Mutton," and "Rib-Eye"...Appealing right? One of my very favorite things, was being able to talk with my mom and dad. I know lots of people feel this way, but I have the best parents ever. They are just such good people, and I am so thankful they are my parents....anyway... if it isn't obvious already, the girls and I loved being with family and getting to see some old friends. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if Cory was there with us. We surely did miss that guy, and are thankful to have him back now. Cheers to Idaho!

Four

2009-05-07T05:16:00.000-07:00

Four years ago today, Cory and I were married. Cliche` as it may sound, it was the happiest day of my life. I can still recall how I felt during the temple ceremony, and the undeniable confirmation in my heart that I was exactly where I needed to be, pursuing a course that God approved of, with the person who would help me find the greatest joy and love possible. I love you, Cory. I'm so thankful it was you!

May 7, 2005 - May 7 2009
2 Bachelor degrees
6 jobs
1 medical school journey
14 church callings
4 wards
4 homes
4 states
2 baby girls
1 cruise
12 flights
1 dead pet fish
4 amazing years!

Africa!

2009-05-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

After much time, effort, thought, prayer, phone calls, emails, applications, letters, meetings, safety checks, and double-checking, it looks like Cory is going to Africa! HOORAY!!!!
(Sorry the pictures in this post are going to be so small...I borrowed them from my brother-in-law's facebook page....hope that was ok, Brett!)

Nurses at the Malakal Teaching Hospital, Southern Sudan

Cory's older brother, Brett, is a Pediatric Global Health fellow, and has been working with Harvard and the World Bank to set up and facilitate pediatric units in the countries of Liberia, and now Sudan, which is where Cory will be going. As I understand it, Southern Sudan ranks among the highest infant and mother mortality rates at this time. Help to this area is desperately needed.

If you can't find it, Sudan is the big brown country. Cory will be in the southern area of the country.

Cory's brother Brett (who is going to save the world, by the way) in Liberia

Cory has been very interested in helping his brother with this, and we have discussed the idea for the past year or so. The only drawback would be that he would be away from the girls and I for a long time. After we decided the experience would be worth it, Cory did a lot of work to make it happen, and while the "official" stamps of approval are pending, we've been told that all systems are go.

Pediatric ward, Malakal Teaching Hospital, Southern Sudan

I am soooo excited for Cory, and more than a little jealous. Traveling and serving in under-served areas has always been a dream of mine. The fact that Cory has this amazing opportunity just makes me so happy. He will be great, I know it, and the experience will be once in a lifetime.

Women with their children waiting outside the hospital

We will miss him so much! I will be flying to Idaho on May 12 to stay with my family, and we will see Cory when he gets back to the US the end of June. It's going to be rotten not being able to see Cory and to get to worry about him for that length of time, but I would never want him to give up this chance.

Mother and child sitting outside the hospital