Sarah, Tom & Brighton

Family Photos

2011-10-13T08:28:00.001-07:00

I'm so awesome at blogging

2011-06-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

I know. Oh well, here are some shots of what we've been up to lately.

Landon turned one! My friend, April, made him an awesome banana cake with monkeys on top!

Tom & I went to Venice for Carnivale

The kids started playing REALLY well together

We went to the local Carnivale parade in Aviano and threw confetti, sprayed silly string and ran around until the floats went by.

Jess, Me, Carrie & Shannon

Landon finally started cuddling

He also started stealing my Diet Dr Peppers out of the fridge

And feeding himself

Cheesing it up for the camera

Makayla told her mom (shannon) that she looked like the cow on the milk carton the day before shannon had her baby.

B started and fell in love with ballet

Tom & I even got a few nights out (quite the feat considering the crazy actions of one crazy man in a country a little south of us)

We colored eggs at Easter

Had parties

Discovered how difficult it is to get 2 kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time

Brighton said goodbye to her friend Carlie who moved to Korea

Well, that takes us up through April!

Trying to be sneaky

2011-02-18T06:09:00.001-08:00

"What am I doing? Oh...nothing. I definitely NOT opening one of my presents before Christmas!"

"Hmmm, I'll pretend to be distracted by sister's ornament while Mommy takes a picture. I'll go back to opening my present as soon as she leaves."

Carlie's 4th Birthday Party

2011-02-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

Brighton's friend, Carlie, had her 4th birthday party in December. Carlie's (and her mom's) latest thing is birds, so she had a cute bird themed party.

This is Carlie with her finished bird house

Brighton working on her birdhouse

Another friend, Makayla

Playing pin the fairy on the flower

"I need to take this off cause I can't see where I'm putting my sticker."

Happy birthday, Carlie!

Random Christmas moments

2011-02-18T05:51:00.000-08:00

Making chocolate covered snacks with our friends

Shaking the presents trying to guess what they are

"Don't worry Mommy, I'm not opening it..."

Some more Christmas

2011-01-09T06:01:00.000-08:00

Showing off his 3 teeth!

What's Christmas without your friends? Once all the paper was out of the way, Brighton couldn't wait to play with her friends and show them all her new toys!

My Awesome Presents

2010-12-31T07:00:00.000-08:00

This is what I got from Tom this year. Poppies are everywhere here in the springtime and these are by a local artist Pino Giuseppe.

Christmas Morning

2010-12-31T06:50:00.000-08:00

Brighton absolutely LOVED Christmas this year. She spent all month getting ready for it - she shopped, she visited Santa and told him what she wanted, she bought gifts for Daddy, Mommy, Landon, Grandma and Grandpa, she made cookies for Santa and she even put out reindeer food. She was so excited Christmas morning to open up all her gifts! Santa brought her a computer which was her hands-down favorite gift. She can get emails (pre-programmed), play music and play ABC games. She especially loved sitting at the table using her laptop with the adults who were all using their laptops.

Landon had no idea what was going on, but definitely enjoyed all the new things to play with! His favorite gift was a basketball hoop - he and Grandpa played with that for a long time Christmas day! He wasn't too into opening presents, but sister took care of that for him.

Brighton's second favorite gift would probably be these Princess dominoes that Grandma Susie got her. She played dominoes with EVERYONE on Christmas - and even won a few times!

First Snowman!

2010-12-31T06:16:00.000-08:00

We haven't really lived anywhere or been anywhere where there's been snow. This year, the week before Christmas it snowed at our house! So we quickly ran outside and built a snowman! Brighton said he HAD to have a carrot for a nose, but since we didn't have any coal, he could have skittles for his eyes, mouth and buttons.

July Pictures of the kids

2010-12-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

My amazingly talented friend, Mary Clark of DMC Studios, took some awesome pictures of my kids this summer while we were in Utah. Thanks, Mary!

A Toy Story Halloween

2010-12-03T13:46:00.001-08:00

He's Home!!

2010-12-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

It's Been Awhile...

2010-10-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

To say the least. Tom was deployed all summer long to beautiful Afghanistan and I had my hands completely full with Brighton and Landon and life and so many wonderful things. Coming soon: pictures, stories and lots of adventures!

Family Pictures

2010-04-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

Landon's Blessing

2010-04-15T04:20:00.000-07:00

This last Sunday we were able to bless Landon at church. It was sad that none of our immediate family could be there, but it was great to have our military family there to step in and fill the void. In case you can't tell, Brighton was being kind of a stinker!

Big Smiles

2010-04-15T03:59:00.001-07:00

Aren't I just too cute?!?!

Easter Morning

2010-04-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Last year at Easter we were still in the TLF, so we didn't hide Brighton's basket or anything. This year, I hid all the baskets the night before and laid out little arrows for Brighton to follow in the morning. My mom used to do this for us when we were little, but I was lucky - I have my cricut to cut out all my arrows! She must have really loved us, cause she cut them out herself!

Here's B following the arrows

She didn't really understand the idea, so instead we had her start picking up the arrows. She understood that and eventually started following the trail.

"Brighton, what's behind the curtains?" *gasp* "My new stroller!" "Well, yes, Brighton, that's behind the curtain, but what's behind the other curtain?" "Oh, wow, my basket!"

Checking out the goods

Landon's First Easter

The kiddos

2010-03-29T05:56:00.001-07:00

St Patrick's Day Party

2010-03-22T01:22:00.000-07:00

2010-03-17T00:05:00.001-07:00

More from Grandma's visit

2010-03-07T23:25:00.000-08:00

There was one day that Landon decided he didn't really want to sleep during the day. The only time he slept for more than 30 minutes was while Grandma held him.

We had to go bowling one more time, of course!

In my defense, Brighton "helped" me attain my awesome score!

All tuckered out from bowling

We introduced Grandma to real Italian pizza - this is Brighton's favorite: Margherita (cheese pizza)

We went to the store one morning and got some seeds. Grandma showed Brighton how to fill the pot and put the seeds in. Hopefully these stay alive long enough for Brighton to see her flowers grow!

Grandma Susie visit

2010-03-07T22:58:00.000-08:00

We were lucky enough to have Grandma Susie come out to see the kids and help me while Tom went back to Las Vegas. Brighton had SO MUCH FUN and couldn't get enough of her Grandma.

Landon's Announcement

2010-03-04T03:03:00.000-08:00

Playgroup Valentines Party

2010-02-23T01:23:00.000-08:00

Brighton had fun decorating a bag and passing out her Valentines, but she REALLY loved running around the big room with 8 of her little friends! It was really noisy, but it was raining that day and all of us moms knew it was better to endure a little noise rather than not let them burn all that energy!

Lovin on brother

2010-02-23T01:12:00.000-08:00

Yummy Buttermilk Pancakes

2010-02-23T01:07:00.000-08:00

I made these for breakfast today and LOVED them! I normally just use the add water stuff (since it's normally just B and I) but with Tom home we've been trying different pancake recipes to see which ones we like. Thank you, Sarah and Katie @ Our Best Bites!

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/01/buttermilk-pancakes.html

The batch makes a lot, so for just Tom, Brighton and I, I used these measurements:

1 cup flour

1 Tbs sugar

a lil less than 1/2 Tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

a lil less than 1/4 cup milk

1 egg

2 Tbs butter

2010-02-19T03:51:00.003-08:00

Family

2010-02-15T00:34:00.000-08:00

Landon Thomas Nelson

2010-02-15T00:32:00.000-08:00

Landon Thomas Nelson was born on Wednesday, February 10, at 9:13 am. I was trying my best to hold off labor for Tom to get home from the States, but that didn't happen. I started having labor contractions Tuesday night, but decided to go to sleep in the hopes of making them go away and put off labor a couple more days. I woke up at 3:15ish with contractions again and realized that Landon was ready to come out, whether Daddy was here or not. So, I called the boss in the States and asked him to track down Tom for me. I got ahold of Tom and told him that my contractions had started, but my water hadn't broke, so there's still a chance that this is false labor. I had to go to the hospital though, cause my strept B test had come back positive and so I needed to get a dose of penicilin as early as possible if I was in labor. So, I called my friend Grizellie to come and stay with Brighton and called my friend Taryn to take me to the hospital. By about 5 am, I'm in my bed, hooked up to the monitors to watch the baby's heartbeat and my contractions. They come to check me and inform me that I'm between a 4 and a 5. "So, I guess this means I can't go home, huh?" Nope, I was being admitted and having a baby. An hour later I was at a 7 and ready for my epidural. I got hooked up for the block, but was only given the shot of narcotics cause the lady didn't think I'd need the full epidural since she felt I was going to deliver within the hour. My water still hadn't broke, and they weren't going to break it since they wanted to get as much penicilin in my system as possible. When you test positive for Strept B, they give you two doses of penicilin, 4 hours apart. So, ideally, I'd be in labor for at least 4 hours so that the penicilin is in system and can protect the baby. Yeah, that didn't happen. I got the penicilin at about 7ish and delivered at 9:13. Anyways, so it's about 8 and the midwife was going to come check me again, but I was on the phone with Tom, so she was going to come back. In the meantime, another lady's water broke and so she went to deliver that baby. So, Col Robinson (the midwife) comes back after about another hour and wants to check me. She walks over, and says, "Oh, there's the head. We're ready." My water still hadn't broke, even though I was at a +3! She broke my water, had me lay on my side (a little weird, but it worked) and I pushed once, got the ehad out, pushed again, got one shoulder out, stopped so they could unwrap the cord from his neck (it was around there twice), pushed once more for the other shoulder and one last time and he was out! It was crazy how easy this delivery was! Somebody was definitely making up for the fact that Tom wasn't able to make it home in time.

So, they took Landon (who was nameless at this point cause Tom wasn't there) to the little machine to check him out. They were going to put him on my chest immediately, but since the cord had been wrapped around his neck twice, they needed to check him out first. I called Tom to tell him everything and was then finally able to hold my baby boy! He weighed 7lbs, 1.2 oz and was 20.9 inches long. He was a litte bigger than Brighton, but not much - she was 6lbs 7.1 oz and 18.75 inches long.

We stayed in the hospital for 2 days cause Landon had to be monitored for the Strept B. Luckily, his cultures all came back negative and he was cleared to go home. Tom left Las Vegas at 9:40am on Wednesday and finally made it home to Italy at 7pm on Thursday. Neither of us had slept much for those 2 days, but my ordeal was definitely LESS stressful than his. I'm so thankful he was able to make it home and to be here.

Happy girl after my narcotics shot!

Calling Tom to tell him his son is born

Meeting baby brother for the first time

"Brighton, do you want to hold him?" "Umm, no."

DADDY'S HOME!!!

FINALLY gets to hold his baby!

Slowly warming up to him

Buzzards Baby Shower

2010-01-30T12:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots from my baby shower today - thank you Grizellie, Eva, Chelsey, Carrie, Megan and April (and anyone else I forgot) for throwing us a great shower! There are 5 of us who are pregnant with our second or third baby, so we just had one huge shower together.

Fearless

2010-01-30T12:47:00.000-08:00

Each time we go to the playground, Brighton starts out small - playing on the equipment clearly meant for the little kids, and then works her way up to the Big Kid equipment. Can you tell her Daddy's a climber and has taught her some things? Like how to just climb up something and NOT think about how you're only 2 and shouldn't be climbing up certain ladders for fear you might fall and, oh, I dont' know, break a bone or something?!?

Ah swings, much safer and closer to the ground!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-23T01:02:00.000-08:00

Carrie's Birthday

2010-01-23T00:58:00.000-08:00

Now THAT'S a calzone!!

Christmas Morning

2010-01-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

Presents!!

Oooh, what is this?

Oh my gooodness! A camera!

Merry Christmas!

Kids say the darndest things

2009-12-22T05:49:00.000-08:00

Brighton: Mommy, what's that?
Mommy: That's Mr. Brad's office
B: Our office at home.
M: Yep, we have an office at home.
B: Mommy's office in the kitchen.

Awesome, thanks Brighton.

Winnie the Pooh

2009-12-22T05:48:00.000-08:00

Brighton found some Winnie the Pooh wall decorations at the BX and so I bought them to let her hang them up. She wanted my help with the big ones, but put all the snowflakes and presents up by herself.

Decorating the Tree

2009-12-22T05:41:00.000-08:00

This year we let Brighton help us decorate the tree. We gave her one of her First Christmas ornaments and she immediately started to swing it around by the ribbon. So, after quickly taking it back, we proceeded to give her the more un-breakable ornaments. She had a tough time figuring out how to open the ribbon and put it over the tree, but she got a little better towards the end with Daddy's help.

Christmas Tree Lighting on Base

2009-12-04T04:50:00.000-08:00

The glorious tree

Santa came in on his red sleigh - also known as a fire truck

Brighton and her friend Macey

Oooh, pretty ball!!

It was freezing (ok, about 40 degrees), so of course we had to have some hot chocolate!

Pisa

2009-12-04T04:33:00.000-08:00

Yep - it's really leaning.

Florence

2009-12-04T04:03:00.000-08:00

After Thanksgiving we went to Florence and Pisa for the rest of the weekend. We loved it if only because the sun was shining! We haven't seen the sun up here in Aviano for about 3 weeks, so seeing the sun was a welcome treat. We had our tickets to see the David and to go inside the Uffizi Gallery - we walked by the Duomo, but didn't go inside this time. Florence was neat, but it takes about a day to see everything you want to see - which made it the perfect weekend trip!

No this is not a picture of THE David in The Accademia because pictures are forbidden and we would never do something that's not allowed!

This is the extremely impressive entrance to The Accademia

Her treat for being such a good girl in the museums!

The rather colorful Duomo in Florence

View of the ARno River from inside the Uffizi Gallery

Brighton's 2 year portraits

2009-12-04T03:42:00.000-08:00

I was actually a little nervous when I went to go pick up the pictures because Brighton was NOT in the mood to smile for the camera that day. The more the lady tried to get her to smile, the closer she got to tears and walking away. She kept reaching for me and not wanting to sit and put on a show - shocking, right? It was pretty stressful, especially since Brighton is normally more than willing to smile and put on a show for anyone! But, the lady was really good and managed to get some good shots of Brighton.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

I have so much that I'm thankful for, I wouldn't even know where to begin or where to end. I'm most grateful for my family - my husband and daughter and baby boy, and also my vast extended family! I'm also grateful for the gospel and the stability and peace it brings to my life. I'm thankful for the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father and his Son, our Savior. And today, I'm especially grateful for friends, new and old, who make being away from loved ones easier. Thank you Father for blessing me with so many wonderful people in my life.

Happy Birthday Brighton!

2009-11-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

I'll write more about Brighton turning two later, but I wanted to get some birthday pictures up for the grandparents.

Opening presents with Grandma & Grandpa Nelson

Eating her favorite meal - chicken taco!

Decorating her birthday cake - the orange sprinkles came out A LOT faster than the pink and green ones.

She pretended to be shy for a second, but was really happy to be sung to!

We didn't think she'd get the candles blown out - but she got one on the first try!! We then of course had to re-light the candles 5 times and even then she wasn't happy when we took them out of the cake and put them away!

HALLOWEEN

2009-11-09T01:06:00.000-08:00

Brighton & her pal Macey

Who needs to Trick or Treat when there's candy all over the ground?

Our new favorite hobby - jumping!

True love: Mickey & Minnie

I know it's a week overdue, but we've been a lil busy! Brighton was Minnie Mouse for Halloween this year and absolutely LOVED Trick or Treating!!

Carving Pumpkins

2009-11-09T00:48:00.000-08:00

Again, not exactly something that a 2 year old is into, but we had to carve pumpkins this year. Brighton helped for a little bit, but soon lost interest. It was okay though, Daddy took over and carved the pumpkin for us.

A Kind of Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-09T00:41:00.000-08:00

There aren't Pumpkin Patches here like there are in the States - which makes sense since they don't really celebrate Halloween here. But, there is a lady who sells pumpkins in the month of October. Now, if you go at the beginning of October, there are hundreds of pumpkins. But, if you wait until the end of the month, like Amber, Jill and I did, then you're stuck with about 10. Oh well, we went, we got a picture and we'll remember next year to go earlier!

Halloween Crafts

2009-11-09T00:32:00.000-08:00

Seeing as Brighton is still only 2, she wasn't too into doing any Halloween crafts this year. But, I did get her to color a pumpkin with her two friends.

My Big Little Girl

2009-10-27T02:16:00.000-07:00

Brighton's gotten really good at eating at the table in her booster seat. She loves drinking out of a big girl cup, eating dinner with a big girl spoon and getting to eat at the table with Mommy & Daddy. I have to say that dinner time is a lot better now that she eats with us and we don't have to coax her to swallo every single bite! We still have fun dinners where she's not too into eating, but it's gotten a lot better.

Gavin's Birthday

2009-10-27T01:46:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago we went to Gavin Naylor's 3rd birthday party. Brighton loved having all the big kids around to play with. She wasn't sure about the pinata at first, but once she saw what the other kids were doing - swinging a light saber and hitting something - she was all over it! Giving Baby Brynn kisses

The birthday boy Gavin

The GREAT cake Corby made!

Camping

2009-10-12T00:35:00.000-07:00

We took Brighton camping this weekend for the second time ever. She selpt in her own sleeping bag and pretty much slept through the night. She woke up around 4 and I moved her into our sleeping bag cause I didn't want her crying to wake up our friends. She had a ton of fun walking around the fire, playing with sticks, drinking hot chocolate and roasting marshmallows. Tom & I were even able to have some fun!

Trying to pawn carrots off of Gavin. He wasn't thrown off by her cute looks.
Sitting with Miss "Apwil"

Buzzette Brunch

2009-10-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

I hosted an impromptu brunch on Friday. Girls from the squadron came with their kiddos and we chatted and ate for a few hours. It was a nice release after the stressful week most of our husbands had.

The spread This is Brighton "playing" with Baby Brynn and Baby Libby. She normally does a great job playing with them, they both love to watch her run around and do stuff, but as soon as they started to play with her Care Bears, she became a lil possesive. She still let them have some, just not all of them. And yes, those are actually my Care Bears from when I was a little girl.

New favorite past-time

2009-10-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

Brighton has discovered coloring and wants everyone to share in the joy with her. She'll start to color, then say, "Mommy, color with you?" Which of course means come color with me. The best part though is you can't pick out your own crayon, she tells you which one you'll be using. And, most of the time, she'll take it away and give you a new one before you even get the chance to color.

Ready to go

2009-10-12T00:05:00.001-07:00

Brighton are you ready to go run errands? "I ready!"

Some more randomness

2009-09-29T15:18:00.000-07:00

We drove up to Erto to check out some potential climbing and camping spots. Brighton loved having so much room to run around and kept checking to make sure Daddy was running too!

Random

2009-09-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching a class tomorrow and one of the ladies needed help learning how to upload pictures to blogger, so here's a random picture from American Fork Canyon from 2 years ago that I used as a demo for you to enjoy. I know - you're really lucky!

Just chillin

2009-08-26T07:22:00.001-07:00

B piled up all the pillows while I was changing the sheets."Don't mind me Mommy, I'm just chillin...."

Mommy's Makeup

2009-08-26T07:14:00.001-07:00

You know it's never good when they're quiet for too long...apparently she needed to get ready for her day!

Daddy's Gasses

2009-08-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

No, not those kind of gasses. Brighton's had a thing for glasses lately, although she calls them "gasses". Here she is on our way home from climbing and wearing Daddy's gasses.

Pigtails

2009-08-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

While Brighton was over at Macey's, Macey was getting her hair done and decided she wanted Brighton to match. Thanks Rachael for doing her hair!

510 Change of Command

2009-08-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

At the end of June, we had our squadron change of command. Col. Lance Landrum gave over command of the Buzzards to Col Greg Sarakatsannis.

2009-08-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

This is actually from a few months ago, but I just took it off my camera. Macey and Brighton love dancing, even if Brighton doesn't look like she's enjoying it. I swear, she's normally laughing and singing along with Macey, just not when I try to video tape her.

Digital Scrapbooking

2009-08-14T00:22:00.001-07:00

I'm teaching a class on Digital Scrapbooking and want to know what software everyone uses. I use Creative Memories and love it, but I'd like to be able to provide a list of other softwares that are available. Does anyone use a software that was a free download?

The score is tied

2009-08-04T01:41:00.000-07:00

With baby #2 on the way, the teams will now be even - parents:2, kids:2. Feb. 17th - let the countdown begin!

Rome

2009-07-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

Inside the Vatican Museum, The Spanish Steps, the Sinking Ship at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, and the obelisk outside St Peter's Basilica.

Inside St Peter's Basilica - by far my FAVORITE church EVER!! I've seen St Paul's, the Catedral in Seville, Notre Dame, Westminster Abbey - this one is definitely my all-time favorite. Also home of Michelangelo's Pieta.

Trevi Fountain - Tom being the most amazing husband that he is, went back out after dark and after B was asleep and took pictures of the fountain at night for me. Bottom right is the Borghese Gallery. Bottom left is the entrance to the Vatican Museum. Little known fact - to see the Sistine Chapel, you must first walk through the Vatican Museum which is about 4 miles of art!!!! And, maybe I just don't know enough about art, but 98% of the art is by artists I have never heard of!!! So, not a fan of seeing art that I don't know and walking that far, but the alternative - NOT seeing the Sistine Chapel - is unthinkable, so, you do what you gotta do!

Brighton looking rather innocent outside the Pantheon. We went at noon thinking the 10am mass would be over - it wasn't. So, we had to wait outside with LOTS of other people to walk inside the Pantheon. It was really cool inside and worth the wait. The other pics are us outside the Colosseum. B, in pink, was walking around and found a plastic bottle cap to play with - she would not part with the thing! We finally convinced her to throw it in the garbage, but it took awhile.

Miramare, Dardago, Rome & The 4th

2009-07-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

Miramare Castle in Trieste and the view of the Adriatic from our climb. Trieste is about an hour away and this climb had THE BEST view!!

Climbing with the Shackelford's in Dardago. Dardago is only 15 minutes from our front door, but doesn't have the amazing view of the Adriatic like Trieste. But, it's great to have such good climbing so close to our house!

The pics ended up being out of order, these are all shots from the Colosseum. We went to Rome for my birthday this year and had a great time! Brighton enjoyed all the stairs and "climbing" there was in the Colosseum. For the most part, it worked out well - she played around while we walked and looked at stuff.

Tom and I got to spend our 5th anniversary in Venice all by ourselves!! We left Brighton with our friends the Wynns and went shopping on Murano and walked around St Mark's. We had planned on going inside, but then saw the ginormous line going around the whole church and decided we would wait until September when all the tour groups are gone.

Our ward had a 4th of July party at the base pool. It was planned perfectly - dinner at 7, swimming from 8-10 and then watch the fireworks at 10:15. Such a great idea! And then it decided to thunder, then came the lightning, and finally the rain. Poor Brighton, she had barely been in the water maybe 3 minutes when the thunder rolled in and the lifeguards made us get out of the water. She couldn't understand why she had to get out. We thought about hanging out and waiting for the fireworks, but since B is still too young to really care or know about fireworks, we decided to leave when it started to pour. Once again we missed the fireworks (three years running) but it's okay, we still had fun!

Sleeping Beauty

2009-06-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

So Brighton's best friend Macey loves, Loves, LOVES Sleeping Beauty. She especially loves the song "Once Upon a Dream". She only knows 3 lines or so, so you can constantly hear her singing "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream. I know you, that gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam." She sings said lines so much in fact that now, Miss Brighton, who has never watched Sleeping Beauty, walks around singing "I know you, Iiiiiiii knnnnoooowwww you"! Sometimes Macey can even get Brighton to dance with her, as she did while we were climbing in Trieste on Friday.

It's a good thing these three get along - it makes our lives so much easier! Here Macey's trying to figure out what's so great about the paved road that has Brighton laying on it.

What one does, all 3 do. Carden came over and had to see what all the fuss was about.

Lil Helpers

2009-06-11T04:41:00.000-07:00

Brighton always comes running when she hears us emptying the dishwasher. It's her chore to hand us all the silverware and even some of the plates. I try to get her to only hand me the plastic plates, but since she's such a big girl (duh, Mommy) she hands me all the plates. No accidents or broken plates yet, fingers crossed it stays that way. This day our friend Carden was over and he wanted to help, too. Notice Brighton's little pig tails. This was the first day I ever tried to do her hair and she looks pretty cute. But, after about 3 hours she usually pulls the rubber bands out, hands them to me, and says "I done." So, it's a work in progress.

Favorite New Toy

2009-06-05T05:15:00.000-07:00

She loves helping mommy water her plants!

This is quite possibly the best money I've ever spent! Brighton would spend ALL day playing in the water if I let her!

Bubbles!!!

2009-06-05T04:59:00.000-07:00

What's the summer without some bubbles?

No girls allowed!

Okay fine, you can come in!

Fully clothed, bathing suit or in a diaper, B loves to play in water!

Running through the sprinkler

I'm a pro-walker!

Shoot - maybe not

This is what happens when...

2009-06-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

This is what happens every Thursday when the kind Italian produce guy at the market thinks you and your friends Macie & Carden are so cute that he gives you all the free cherries and strawberries you can shove in your mouth.

And this is what happens when your grandma sends you a pretty pink dress for Easter, but your mommy puts it in the front pocket of the suitcase when you move from your hotel room to your new house and doesn't find it again until she's unpacking from the beach trip you just took Memorial Day weekend. Oops. Sorry Grandma Nelson!

Testers Needed

2009-06-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I made this bread about a year ago thinking it would be awesome! I'm not a grapefruit lover, but Tom likes it, so I figured he'd like it too. Well, I made it and was disappointed. BUT, maybe some of you more creative chefs can come up with a way to make this a yummy treat for everyone! Maybe I didn't like it because I don't love grapefruit, or maybe the peel was extremely blah cause the fruit wasn't in season and totally ripe - I dunno. Either way, if you try it and love, or hate it, let me know! I'd love to hear your results!

GRAPEFRUIT BEAKFAST BREAD

Ingredients:

1 stick butter or margarine

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ cup milk

2 Tbs grated grapefruit peel

1/3 cup grapefruit juice, divided

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 325˚. Grease loaf pan. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until well combined. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add flour mixture to bowl alternately with milk. Stir in grated grapefruit peel and 4 tablespoons juice. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, combine remaining grapefruit juice with confectioners’ sugar. Remove bread from pan. Poke holes in bread with a fork. Pour glaze over bread.

Caorle Beach

2009-05-28T04:48:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend we went to Caorle Beach - about an hour from our house. We had an awesome time! Brighton wasn't a fan of the beach last year when we went to San Diego, but she loved it this time around. If she wasn't eating or sleeping, she was playing in the sea or the pool.

Of the millions of shells, she picks up the one rock and wants to keep it.

This was our elevator in the hotel - love the lime green carpet walls and bright blue floor and ceiling!

Tom had to hide Eva's drink cause B kept looking at the cup instead of the camera.

Babs, Rich & Jeremy
How many pilots does it take to fly a kite?

Apparently 4! (You can't see #4)

B's first swimming lesson

The pool had some turf around the outside which made it a lot less slippery - someone was thinking!

Our wonderful commander's wife, Karin, arranged for sitters for Saturday night so that all the parents could enjoy a carefree beach party dinner.

Corby, Corby's mom Karin, Shelly & Me

Mother's Day

2009-05-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

Tom got Brighton out of bed and Brighton brought me my Mother's Day present. I lost my watch a few months ago (personally, I think a little girl put it in the trash in Phoenix). So, this year I got a new watch - love it!

Easter

2009-05-24T15:19:00.001-07:00

Although this was technically B's second easter, it was the first one where she could do all the fun stuff. We were still in the TLF, so we didn't do any of the egg dyeing, but she had a great time hunting for eggs and opening them to find what was inside.

April

2009-05-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

April was really busy with finding a house, moving into the house, getting adjusted and so forth. B loves our big yard and goes out there, just wandering around. She likes wearing Tom's security badge and key around her neck which has made for some fun early mornings trying to find said key & badge.

Here she is trying to turn the tv off - even though she loves watching Baby Einstein. Grandma Kennedy sent Brighton some Easter magnets for Easter which Brighton liked putting on and immediately pulling off the fridge. I loved it too - it kept her busy in the TLF!

One of my first socials with the Buzzards was the Wife Naming. It was tons of fun and a HUGE eye-opener into just how crazy these chicks are! I think I'm going to love the next few years... Brighton was SO HAPPY to finally have all her toys back. We were only able to pack a few books, a baby and a couple balls, so when her kitchen toys were unpacked - she was overjoyed!

Slow Cooker Meals

2009-05-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

PLEASE send me your favorite crock-pot/slow cooker meals. As much as I love ribs & beans and chicken tetrazzini, they're really getting old. Thanks in advance!

March 09

2009-05-18T06:01:00.000-07:00

March was an extremely busy month for us. Before we left for Italy we drove up to Utah and went to a Jazz game, BYU game, and bowling. Tom hates bowling yet somehow managed to win - sometimes it drives me crazy that he's good at everything!

I also got to see some of my closest friends - Shaina & Becca! Shauna and I also took a trip to see Rinda down in Lehi.

We flew from Salt Lake to Baltimore on Sunday and stayed the night in a hotel. My parents and grandparents were able to meet us there and so we got to spend a little more time with them. Brighton showed her Grandpa just how much she loves taking pens out of pockets.

February 09

2009-05-18T05:05:00.000-07:00

Before we left Arizona we went up to Ft Tuthill with the squadron. It actually SNOWED!! We didn't have any snowclothes for Brighton, so we just bundled her up in her pjs and coat. She was a little weirded out by it at first, but she had fun.

B with Aunt Lisa

my cousin Dillon at his swim meet

With Great Grandpa Kennedy watching the Steelers game

Peas

2009-05-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

Josh - take note: this is how you get rid of peas!

I just like this one

2009-05-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

Sliding

2009-05-11T05:52:00.000-07:00

I'm so good, I can slide with a cup in my hand.

Thank you Grandpa

2009-05-11T05:39:00.000-07:00

We love popcorn

2009-05-11T05:12:00.000-07:00

What we've learned so far

2009-03-21T01:05:00.000-07:00

1. Italian's a lot more like Spanish than French

2. Sadly, Margherita pizza does not involve any sort of margaritas (kidding about the sadly part)

3. Never buy the $10 watch from the B/X (Air Force dept store), 3 days later and 3 hands have fallen off and it's 30 minutes off

4. Even in a small 2 bdrm apartment there are a million places for a 1 yr old to hide the remotes, your shoes and the keys

5. Italian washing machines take 2 hours to wash and 2 hours to dry

6. When you're 1 and cooped up in a hotel, you'll go outside and play, even in the rain, just so you won't have to stay in the hotel any more

7. Brighton is very charming and the way in to every Italian's good graces

8. Four cheese pizza is WAY too much cheese for one person, especially when those 4 cheeses are really strong

9. Bathtubs, garages, closets and even kitchens are not guaranteed in any home

10. People think you must not understand them when they ask if you want wine or coffee and you say no to both

Arrived

2009-03-14T05:06:00.000-07:00

Here - safe - recovered from jet lag - B says "Ciao" - busy house hunting - stay tuned for more.

Friends

2009-03-03T20:48:00.001-08:00

Today we got to meet up with some of our Air Force friends the Hipples and the Krums. So, by the way, the couple in the middle are the Krums who were just married in January. Somebody didn't invite us! In fact, he didn't invite any of us. He called Tom one day and said, "hey, so I got married" and Tom said, "Wait, say that again cause it sounded like you said you got married". Josh repeated it and we told him congratulations, but yes Josh, I'm still mad at you for not telling anyone. Nichole (his wife) is really nice and is definitely capable of keeping up and putting up with Josh. Good luck in Korea you guys!

On our way out of town we stopped at Hash House A Go Go for lunch with Annie & Josh. Annie & I met our senior year of college and I was glad that we were able to meet up again. Brighton ignored Aloria while we ate, but as we were leaving she finally realized that there was another baby and she just had to touch her! By the way, totally recommend Hash House, especially what Annie got - the mango coconut pancake - just don't go on a Saturday!

Great Grandpa's House

2009-03-03T20:42:00.003-08:00

We stopped at Great Grandpa Nelsons on our drive up to Salt Lake. B took to her Great Grandad immediately! It helped that he made monkey noises and made her laugh!

Brighton found one of Grandpa's birthday cards and discovered that it made music if you opened it. So, of course she walked around for the rest of the morning opening and closing and opening and closing the card.

Playing the harmonica for B

Apparently she needed a snack while we were driving.

Fond Farewells

2009-03-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, so not all these are farewells, but Odds & Ends seemed a rude title. B just had to get the last of those sweet potatoes. And yes, she still gets pureed veggies, she eats more this way. If I try to cook sweet potatoes and mash them, she doesn't like them. I think it's the texture but at least I know she gets her veggies.

Me & Jayme-Lee (how will I ever keep myself motivated to go to the gym without you?)

I knew Natalie at Vance a few years ago - her family got assigned to Luke about the same time we got here. It's always fun to meet up with people you knew before!

Me & my girl

One More Day at the Park

2009-03-03T20:30:00.000-08:00

While Cherrill and I and our kiddos were stuck in the TLF (hotel) we decided to take the girlies to the park one more time before we hit the road. The girls had fun and wore themselves out enough to take some awesome naps! I love it when that happens!

Loves from Grandpa

2009-03-03T20:14:00.000-08:00

Brighton discovered a drawer of beads at Grandma Kenendy's house and has loved them ever since. To help with the move, Grandpa Kennedy sent her some new beads - she loved them!

Splashing Daddy

2009-02-17T17:40:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted a video in awhile, here's one of Brighton splashing Daddy.

A Question and An Announcement

2009-02-10T11:47:00.001-08:00

Question - Does anyone know of a good tailor in town? I have 4 dress pants and an evening gown that need to be taken up and I have a sweater that needs mending. Any suggestions?

Announcement - We have orders and have our movers scheduled. We have movers coming next Friday (20th) and Monday-Wednesday (23-25) and will be leaving Arizona on Saturday, February 28th.

Holy Cow this is really happening!! We are so excited!

Chicago

2009-02-08T22:07:00.000-08:00

Waffle Sundays

2009-01-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

Now that we go to church at 1 we've turned Sunday mornings in to waffle Sundays. Brighton gets up at 7:30 and eats a bowl of oatmeal. Then at about 9:30 we start making waffles and she eats at least one on her own. By one I mean just one square, so I guess technically half a waffle. We told Mom & Dad Nelson about this and they were excited to see how much Brighton loved waffles. And, as it usually goes with kids, Brighton ate 2 bites of her waffle and didn't want any more. Proving once again who's really the boss. Grandma Nelson got B her own kitchen set for Christmas and B usually walks around stirring things in her cup with one of the spoons. Now she likes to "help" me cook and always wants to be on the counter watching the action.

F-16 Graduation

2009-01-24T09:25:00.000-08:00

So I can now officially say that my husband is an F-16 fighter pilot. We had Tom's graduation last night and everything went great...once we got there! We had all sorts of green carpet events that day (red carpet but since they're the Emerald Knights, it's green carpet) and were done at 2:30. I'd made a hair appointment at 3 (I can pull my hair back in a ponytail, that's about it) and was having my makeup done at 4:30, so I had plenty of time. Well, when I walked in to the salon, the girl said they didn't have any appointments writen down for that day so I had to wait 45 minutes. So, now I didn't even get to sit down until 3:45 and had to someone get an up-do done by 4:15 to make it back home by 4:30. Yeah right. The girl did a great job at doing my hair as quickly as she good (I think it still turned out great) and I got out of there at 4:45. Then it took 12 minutes to get home due to construction on Camelback. So I walk in and get "The Look" from Tom - he's not mad but concerned about us being late. Cocktails started at 5 and dinner was at 6. Frantically rushing trying to get ready would be an understatement. Add on top of that a one year old who wants to be right where all the action is - awesome. Tina did an AWESOME job with my makeup and managed to do it in only 15 minutes!! We made it out of there at 5:38 and got to the hangar at 5:49 - so we weren't late!! It was a crazy rush, but we weren't late and so it was fine. Our speaker was really good, dinner was typical club food (not so good) and we had a fun time. We brought Tom's parents home after dinner so Tina could go home and then we went back to the O Club for drinks with everyone. Like I said, it was a great night once we got there! Congratulations Tom on graduating and becoming an official Fighter Pilot!! So hot!!

The guys - Ryan, Kruntje, Tommy, Tim, Tom, Frank, Bailey and Eric

My hot husband the fighter pilot

Tom's parents came down for graduation

Me and Cherrill

Jayme Lee - this is my gym partner, one of the main reasons I've lost weight. She watches Brighton while I work out then I watch her daughter Anna Lisa while she works out. It's harder to not go to the gym when someone's counting on you to watch their kid!

By the way, Tom received an award yesterday. He received the Top Flier Award - all around best pilot. I know, he's awesome.

Christmas in Atlanta

2009-01-20T13:18:00.000-08:00

Brighton loved hanging out with her cousins. My brother and I thought that Callin (he's 2 and a lover) and B would get along the best and that Corbyn (the oldest at 3) would basically ignore her or try to play too tough with her. Well, Aunt Shauna bought Callin a coloring book and markers and B tried to take it away from him a few times, so they didn't really hit it off that well. He actually carried his coloring book under his arm for the rest of the day so she wouldn't take it. In fact, it took him another day to want to play with her. Corbyn, on the other hand, took to her immediately and was always giving her hugs or sharing with her or whatever. I loved seeing the three of them together - it was so cute! One morning I was letting the kids jump on the bed (I don't think that's allowed, cause as soon as my brother got back, Corbyn ratted me out to him and told him that I was the one that said it was okay) but anyways...B would just sit and watch the two boys jump and she really wanted to figure out how to jump cause she saw how much fun it was! Grandma was there too and B would go over to her and grab her fingers and try to jump.
One day we went to Stone Mountain, this cool lil town/discovery place/amusement place (words don't really describe it well). My grandparents were there and Grandpa didn't want Grandma walking that much so he decided to get her a scooter. Well, when the boys saw how fun that was, Grandpa got another so they could each ride on one (nevermind that this meant he wouldn't have to walk either) and then told my dad to get one so Brighton could ride too cause heaven forbid she be left out!! Dad reluctantly (yeah, right) agreed. We had a funny lil caravan goin on, it was funny. And also a little scary, Trisha had to walk in front of Grandma to make sure she didn't run over anyone. Alright, so my oldest brother, Steve (the 2 boys are his kids) has a "slight" obsession with Fantasy Football and Tom Brady. Shauna found the perfect gift for his adoration - Tom Brady cologne. It was hilarious! Also funny is that my 3 year old nephew kicked my butt in wii bowling. He's showing my mom how to play in the pic.

I absolutely love my family! I love how big it is, I love how much fun we have together, and I love that I can a bazillion pictures and have to make collages to show off everything I want to show off!

Christmas Part 3

2009-01-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

Ok! I have tried uploading this three times now and it won't load the right way so you'll all just have to get a sore neck from looking sideways. Thsi is the second thing that hasn't worked right for me this morning, that means it's definitely time to get off the computer!! :) Before we left for Atlanta, we went to the Nelson Atkins Art Museum. I used to always go there on field trips as a kid and haven't been back in years! There used to be this mannequin that was dressed as a museum guard that they placed in a corner - he looked so real!! I was excited to see the guard again, but they remodeled the museum and I couldn't find him!

The Fam at Christmas

2009-01-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

Every year at Christmas we take a picture at my parents' table. I'm not too sure why, it's not the prettiest place at my parents house, so who knows. Maybe it's because on Christmas day the only time my parents could get us all together in one place was right before we ate.

Montezuma's Castle

2009-01-20T07:42:00.000-08:00

We decided to drive up by Camp Verde yesterday to see Montezuma's Castle - which isn't really Montezuma's castle. Some Spaniards came across it a few hundred years ago and decided it was a castle of the Aztec ruler who lived over 2000 miles south. Oh well, the name stuck. Really it belonged to a community of 45 who were apart of a village. The people disappeared for some reason around 1400, and since there's no surviving record, there's really no answers to the who what where when and whys. The castle

Montezuma's Well - the holes in the wall are cutouts of doors and windows that the people used. They built their homes in the walls.

Brighton was on a quest to find the perfect rock. Maybe it's over here.

Hold on, maybe it's on this side.

This one looks good, hold this one for me Daddy.

THE One.

Brighton had a great day running around and screaming (for joy). We had the backpack with us to carry her, but she didn't want to be held for more than a couple seconds (just long enough to catch her breath).

I Love You, Hoss

2009-01-11T21:46:00.000-08:00

I had written this longer post about my cousin Eric "Hoss" Kennedy who passed away yesterday, but then erased it all. I rambled on and on about how much he was loved and memories of him and the struggles I'm having with his passing, but none of that seems appropriate now. The point is he passed from an aneurysm of the aorta, it was very sudden and very unexpected and has shaken my whole family. I know how hard this is for me to deal with and I'm heartbroken thinking about how much this has hurt my sweet aunt and uncle and my grandparents. I hurt for their loss and for the pain that they are enduring now. I know that there is a plan, I know that they will all be reunited again. BUT, that doesn't change the fact that today it hurts. And it will hurt tomorrow and it will continue to hurt for a long time. I love my family dearly and wish I lived closer so that I could be there for them in some way instead of way out here sending empty words over the phone.

This may sound rude, but I'd appreciate it if no one commented.

I love you, Hoss.