New Creation

1. Graham Cracker

2. Very thin layer of Peanut Butter

3. Nutella, sweet sweet nutella

4. Thinly sliced Banana

5. Mini Marshmallows, don't scrimp on me here

6. Under the broiler until the desired level of golden brown toasted plumpicity is achieved

7. Just a touch of Caramel drizzled over the top 

8. Napkin

9. Milk

Oh me oh my.....

Glorious Sabbath

Having my child in nursery for the first time...Pros and Cons.

Pros:

We're all so excited to go in the morning.

She made new friends.

She had fun and loved church.

We remembered why we loved church.

We learned something in church.

She spent all her energy and passed out for her nap afterwards.

We were both able to teach our lesson.

My purse isn't bulging with three hours worth of distractions.

We have pictures she "draws" to put on the frig.

She's learning to play with others.

We were able to sit next to each other.

She didn't disrupt anyone's class with the infamous squealing.

She has time without us.

We have time without her.

Cons:

...?...hmmm...?...

Nope, can't think of one.

Cornbelly's Flop

It's fall, Halloween time, the slight chill in the air...does it ever make you nostalgic for bad food, over priced admissions, crap attractions, and horrible attempts at entertaining performances?

Hmmm, yeah...me neither.

I'm sorry, but you've gotta be kidding me. We walk into a complete mess of "attractions" not labeled well and not enticing. Perhaps Elizabeth was just a little young to appreciate it or perhaps it was completely trashy. I'm thinking it's both. I suppose I just expected a little more from thanksgiving point (and a little more for our $22 dollars, yeah...seriously). The info about it touts fun rides, entertainment, good food, and animals.

Rides: slides, stuff to jump on, swings, open fields to run around in...does this sound like a park to anyone else? Oh yeah you're right it is different, a park is free.

Entertainment: people attempting to recreate Thriller with animal costumes and an inaudible boom box, grown men making fools of themselves for the so called "pig race" featuring rat sized pigs for 2 minutes of the hour long show...yikes.

Food: Admittedly delicious corn chowder served in an unfortunately frozen bread bowl, oh yeah, greasy limp fries, sub sub par burgers, and fried PB&J...people don't really eat those do they?

Animals: For a mere $7 more dollars on top of our $22 that you thought included seeing farm animals you can walk over to farm country, a completely separate attraction!

Well, despite all this we thought we'd try to make the most of it so we walked around, played on the swings, took the kiddies through the mini corn maze, ate, checked out their actually impressive display of carved pumpkins, and watched a pig race!

Classic comments from Rob through out the night like:

"Next time we're getting food and going to the park."
"This is the first time we've ever done anything really stereotypical of the Utah hick."

So cute! Etta would have a blast anywhere she could watch kids run around.

Kennedy lovin the swings.

Me ruining the picture...not sure what I'm doing.

The Shaners with their cute smiling baby.

All in all it definitely flopped in my books. Maybe the haunted maze is fun and the jury is out on Farm Country which we will be trying soon...but my suggestion, especially for little ones, would be to go to Hee Haw's. Just as ghetto but more for little babies to do and $3.

Hope you all had as much fun this Halloween as we did...pictures coming soon!

Cold Weather Frolicking

So all summer we had so much fun playing outside with our neighbors. It's pretty much what we did every day. Now that it's getting cold we're going to have to find some other things to do. I'm starting a list of Cold weather activity ideas. If you've got any great ones let me know. So far we're still trying to enjoy the outdoors till it's really unbearable. So we just get bundled up and cruise the neighborhood as usual!

Etta has a slight obsession with "unkins."

The famous tight lipped Etta smile.

What a cutie, how could you just not melt at the site of that?!

What a girl wants, what a girl needs.

Rob: "Hey this weekend the guys are gonna do a team hike and we thought it be fun to do tin foil dinners afterwards."

Me: "So are you telling me I'm making 40 tin foil dinners?"

Rob: "Yeah, pretty much."

And we did and it was a success. Although my kitchen and chopping hand will never be the same we had a good time with some bomb tin foil dinners which to my husbands credit he did help me a lot with. I did however decide I'm never making them again without one of these:

Which I actually have but I'm missing the blades!? Who knows how these things happen. Definite note to self that this is a necessity!

Anyway, so it was an awesome day for a hike and a great night for a bonfire.

What 35 tin foil dinners look like in our frig...

Thanks for the good time BYU MVB.

Happy Birthday to me!

Generation Y. Virgo. Year of the Rat. Boomerangs. Yes, that's me and I turned 25 on August 29th and it was a wonderful weekend. I am a firm believer in celebrating your birthday as long as possible. Go ahead and stretch it on out. Rob and I have our Anniversary on Sept 1st so it works out perfectly and we usually get a non stop celebration for at least three days sometimes even a week! So we went up and had a sushi dinner with my family topped by some delicious fried coconut ice cream and an adorable play put on by my nieces and nephew...Thanks Dad! Another day my dad came down to watch Etta and Rob and I went for a meat, cheese, fruit, and martinelli's (my fav!) picnic up the canyon. Then we had some friends over for a cake and ice cream celebration. And lastly Rob's mom usually has us over for a delicious "favorite meal" dinner but this year decided we would go out. So they took us to my favorite restaurant around, Foundry Grill. It was so fun to have a peaceful adult night somewhere beautiful and relaxing. I had to get steak of coarse with a delectable wine reduction and their yummy tortilla soup and caeser salad and Rob got a new menu item, an amazing brined and roasted pork loin that he's still talking about. Thanks Bob and Margaret!

The always unsuccessful "picture taken ourselves" up at Sundance.

One the hostess took...so fun to be on a date!

And here's the whole crew. It's funny, without fail we always see someone we know when we go up to Sundance and frequently someone famous. This trip was no different. Along with running into some old friends we ran into Donny Osmond and family. They're so sweet and offered to take a picture for us I had neglected just before we were leaving...and I think Dan was pretty excited because he couldn't quite take his eyes off Donny as evident by this shot his wife took. :)

Anyway, it was a fun night and an awesome weekend. Thanks everybody!

Camping Trip Numero Dos

So remember how I said we took another camping trip? We did, a few weeks later the night before my birthday. We went up with some of our neighbors for tin foil dinners and dessert and then just two of us stayed the night.

So we get to the camping sight and all is well. And things generally continued to be fine...we read books in the surrounding of nature...

We prepared meals to share with our friends...

We sat around the campfire...

And made closer bonds with existing friends...they look like they're having a blast don't they!?

There's a smile! We ran around and got all sorts of dirty...

Enjoyed some peach cobbler and an attempt at Taboo...everyone quit when Rob and I started ladominating. Not really, but it's true that we can never be on the same team, it's so sad. We love to play together but we know each other to well and think too much alike it becomes unfair.

And then...the night came...

All was well, we put Elizabeth to sleep around 830 and she went down pretty easily. We enjoyed the rest of the night around the campfire and retired probably around midnight. I don't remember anymore if it was right then or an hour into it but our little neighbor friend was not having as easy a time slumbering as the rest of us. He started crying and crying and crying and just when we thought he'd stop...it woke Elizabeth up and she started crying which eventually got him crying again. Let's just say this went on the majority of the night! My poor neighbor tried everything, even getting in the car for a little drive but he was just so sad. So we were up the WHOLE NIGHT! We were in exhausted hysterics by about 4 AM with nothing to do but laugh as Elizabeth jumped up and down on our mattress wide awake and lovin it.

Unfortunately Rob was supposed to leave straight from there to go golfing the next morning in Park City. I had promised to drive him to his car probably about a mile away maybe longer because I'm always up early when we camp. Well, in the brain fog I was experiencing of like one hours sleep I said, "bye I love you" about the time he was going to ask if I was still driving him. So he just walked to the once in a life time golf opportunity he just had to take on my birthday that he's had three or four times since! :)

So this is us first thing about 6 or 7 in the morning on officially the worst night sleep of my life. :)

I love this little girl.

We don't look to horrible right? How can you be in a bad mood on your birthday!? We seriously did have a great time anyway and laughed off what can only be expected from even the best of little ones every once in a while. So will this derail us from many a camping trip next year? Not one bit!

Pizza a la Sarah

So the more we eat out the more we decide we should eat home. We pay four times the price and usually leave unimpressed. It started with Indian food. We love, love Indian food. After quite a few trip to the Bombay house (which we were actually happy with but were spending too much on) I thought ummmm, aren't I a chef or something and couldn't I make most of this at home? And so the perfect Indian food, anything comfort food, the perfect steak, and the perfect burger were born. Most recently it's been the quest for fall of the bone BBQ Ribs for Mr. Neilson and

The Perfect Pizza.

So at first I had to perfect the crust, that was the biggest thing. It took me about 4 tries till I was really happy with it. I feel like so much thin pizza I eat the crust ends up a bit soggy bottomed. So that was an issue to solve that took a little science and a pizza stone. I also like a crust that's slightly sweet. Then you have to get the sauce just right. My first attempt was way too watery, sometimes not enough, sometimes too much. I think I'm finally happy with it.

So these are pics of our two best pizzas so far. A Veggie Pizza topped with olives (a must), yellow and green peppers, tomatoes, sauteed mushroom and yellow onion, red onion, and zucchini with Parmesan and a garlic Alfredo sauce. It's pretty good but will probably still take some tweaking.

Then there's the all time favorite, can't go wrong, Margarita pizza which we love.

So we're having fun experimenting and invite you all to come try whatever we're making whenever you want. Next will probably be the perfect peach cobbler because my attempt the other night was pitiful! Anyway, I'll keep you posted.

Going back to Cali...

So in August Brandon, one of Rob's really good friends was getting married in Las Vegas. We figured if we're going all the way to Vegas we may as well go all the way to California. So we called to ask Rob's sister Sara if we could head out after the wedding and she told us Rob's sister from New York, Katie, was going to be out there the week before. Perfect! So we headed out the week before and had a blast.

We didn't get any pictures of Sara and Shawn's new place which is a bummer because it's absolutely beautiful. She has this old 1920's house overlooking all of LA. We hung there with Rob's whole family over the weekend then headed down to San Diego with a short stop in Corona to see the Grandparents. Keith and Sally are awesome. They are 90 something and thriving and we love them a lot. So we love to opportunity for Elizabeth to know them better.

Keith and Sally with Etta

After a few great days in San Diego we headed out to Las Vegas. On the way we got to stop and see Russell, Julie, and Sadie Holmes...some of our favorite people and unfortunately took no pictures. Next we were off to see Rob's cousin, Wes and Kristy, who were also going to the wedding. So the next day we were off to Vegas. We were happy to stay with our good friends Delana and Brian Rowley who we also love. We are so lucky to have so many people who will let us invade their homes.


The wedding was great and we are so happy for Brandon. His new wifey seems awesome and perfect for him. Again I'm lacking in the picture department but I got some.


A very exhausted dad and his daughter stickin it out at the reception that night.

All the old college buddies reunited.

All the wifeys and kids who came later.

Little family.

And Paige, another favorite person of ours.

On our way home Mike and Kara were so kind to have us at Mikes parents in St. George. We had so much fun and are so grateful for all our amazing friends and family. However, we did decide that vacations are no longer...until we can go alone there is nothing vacationing about it. As long as they include kids from here on out they will be great, fun trips...but not vacations. We were soooo tired. But we'll do it again anytime!

I'm Back!!

So I finally freed up some space on the old comp so I could download these pictures from ages ago. The first set is from our very first time camping with Elizabeth (this was back in July). We totally love camping. We love the fresh mountain air, tin foil dinners, and just being away from it all if only for a little while. We weren't really sure how much we'd love it with a baby though...? And let me tell you, she did awesome! We were pleasantly surprised. She just played around in the dirt, was a amazed and a little scared of the fire, and was loving being in her camping chair.

This was the view as we were driving back through squaw peak. That's Provo and the lake if you can't tell...I'd never been way far back in that canyon before.

Me and the hubs.

Baby in the mushroom chair.

No, she's not helping clean up. She has a slight obsession with brushing her hair...she makes camping look good.

Slight claustrophobia?

Robbie, Etta, and our neighbor friend Addison who's family came with us.

So she had her surly moments, but they were certainly few and far between! She slept better that night than she had been at home! It wasn't too too cold and we loved being in the mountains as usual. So baby or not we'll keep camping! (and we did...Will the Neilson's still enjoy camping on their second trip with the babies? Tune in soon for more camping where things might not have gone quite so smoothly! :)

Little Boy Neilson

So for all of you that don't already know...IT'S A BOY! We're so excited. everyone had been saying, "I think you're having another girl...definitely a girl..." So even though I didn't have any strong feeling either way, that kind of got in my head and I sort of expected to have a girl. So it was such a fun surprise when we saw...and she told us! I don't think we realized how much we wanted a boy until that moment. So I'm getting excited for a new adventure and new clothes! My mother in law is helping me sew some cute new crib bedding to save money and meet my extremely specific taste. Anyway, thanks for all your love...now we wait with baited breath for little William (Liam) Keith (for Rob's grandpa) Neilson to arrive!

Summertime Rodeo

So since my computers all sorts of messed up I can't upload any pictures! So I thought I'd steal this one from my sister that I never had the chance to post about. We went to the rodeo with my family and Elizabeth loved it...especially the bulls! We had to get all cowboyed up of coarse (you unfortunately can't see my boots:) Anyway, it was a fun time!

It's labor day and here's what's happening.

So here's what's happening. I have a months worth of fun pictures and trips to tell you all about but technology hates me and I am once again having computer issues. Rob's PC is pretty much out of memory so I can't add more photos without wanting to shoot myself. I could add them to my mac but then I wouldn't be able to post them because my mac will not let me sign into Gmail no matter what I try. So that's my story and it stinks.

On a happier note, it's labor day and not only are we spending tonight doing what will surely be a fabulous BBQ with family but there are all sorts of good sales going on. So after Elizabeth takes a nap I'm off to find some good deals that hopefully weren't ravaged and gone by five this morning via the coupon crazy utah mormon moms brigade. What I'm really hoping for is a deal on some furniture for our basement and on some supplies for my latest project.

A girl in our ward told me about this and I'm so excited. It's a plan to make your own toddler bed. It can be found here: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/07/diy-project-upholstered-toddler-beds.html. I love me an upholstered bed so of course I went bananas over this fun and affordable project. However, I'm going to do them for twin beds and make a headboard as well. I'm just waiting to see what the sex of our baby is going to be because I'm making two. I never totally decorated Elizabeth's room and now I want too and I see no reason to have to change it in another year when a new baby joins her in there. Oooo, I love a project!

Oquirrh Lake

A few weeks ago all my family was in town and it was all so fun. I don't know if you guys know where this is but it's pretty cool. My brother moved to South Jordan last year and they found this little lake out in Daybreak. It's man made which I of coarse love, no fish or other objectable aquatic life...making it a great thing for the squeamish and kids alike. It's a nice depth and has sand leading out to the water and docks you can jump off. There's grass up above the sand where you can set up all your gear and a play ground up above that. Pretty cool right? Anyway, so we all decided we'd head up there for day and we had tons of fun.

Kurt (brother in law), Jacqueline (sister), Me, Julia (sister), Christy (sister in law), and James (brother).

Elizabeth loved it. We stayed for four hours!

Sisters!

Then of coarse we had to finish off the day with a little Baskins which Elizabeth was loving!

All in all we missed daddy a lot (for 10 days!) but still made a fun weekend of it.

I feel great thank you!

You all are so sweet and I've been so grateful for everyone's love and concern. I do feel good. I tend to be exaushted the first month or so but otherwise I have no ailments to complain of so I feel very blessed. We are super excited and no, I don't have any feeling if it's a boy or a girl sooo we'll just have to wait for the trusty ole ultra sound. Anyway, I'll definitely be keeping you posted on every little thing. I just have to get my computer to stop freaking out. Oh! And we finally got our desk put in. I'll post pics soon.

Surprise!

So Rob's been wanting to tell everyone from the get go but I like to wait till I've seen the doctor. So now that I've seen the doc and all seems well I thought I'd tell you all...

We're pretty excited. We decided in June to start trying and no sooner than the words had escaped my lips I was pregnant! (we are apparently a very fertile family.) Anyway we thought we'd share the news with you all, our family and friends, and we can all wait together for the little one to join us March 5, 2010.

Buy Low

So I happened into Buy Low today down in Provo. I had to go by Wilson Diamonds and I thought hmmm, I should pick up some baby food and milk. So I walk in and find myself in the middle of the tornado that was Wednesday produce sales. Now I had no previous knowledge of said sale so I was a bit taken back by the grandmas with their game faces on ready to pounce. I thought I may as well get some fruit while I was there and as I started checking prices I realized what all the frenzy was about. I got 2lbs of strawberries, 4.5 lbs of Fuji apples, 2lbs of Bananas, 2.5lbs of cherries, 3 lbs of peaches, 2 lbs of zucchini, and a pineapple for $12. I repeat $12. That's like an average of like $0.63 a pound! Maybe this isn't a steal for all you coupon clipping fools out there but for me who has tried but will have none of it, it was a great deal. So next Wednesday if you're free head down to buy low. Well I suppose I ought to try the produce and tell you if it's any good first...check back with me later for that one.

Life as of Lately

We are tired over here at the Neilson house. So very very tired. I've been exhausted lately! Little Etta is being so cute but so crazy! Something happened when she turned one. She has turned into a crazy zombie banshee baby. She'll be the most adorable thing then at the flip of coin she's a crying mess.

I've just been having a really hard time figuring out the new schedule she's on. We were such clockwork before and now it's changed, which is totally OK but I just need to figure out what it changed to. We're on totally different frequencies. So basically days are just really long with my new hyper active non napping super adorable child. Any suggestions? Did any of you notice a big change in you babies at one?

So that's our problem, but then rob is tired too. Normally when I'm feeling extra tired I use a lot of help from Rob. And although he has still been really helpful, he's so tired! I almost feel bad asking because he seems just as tired as me. With all his volleyball camps ALL day and traveling here and there and everywhere he's just wiped. So basically what I'm asking is does anyone want to take Elizabeth so we can sleep for like three days straight?

Fun in the Sun!

We're lovin the weather and our pool!

What a little poser.

Elizabeth loves, LOVES, her baby float. She runs around that pool like she owns the place mowing over several kids on each trip. She just loves going from person to person, checking them out, occasionally taking their toys, and exploring everything!

Elizabeth was getting heavy to carry and I was wishing I had a baby backpak but this sounded like a better idea than it actually turned out to be.

Fourth of July

So my "white cake" dessert has become my go-to easy crowd pleasin' treat. It's simply box white cake, with a special whipped topping, and raspberry glazed fruit on top. This time I thought why not make it like a flag for the fourth? So this is my attempt, it proved difficult when the glaze started encroaching on the white stripes and there wasn't enough frosting for the stars (which were a total after thought) so yes I know, it doesn't have any stars. Rob says I don't support the union...

Aaaand I made a fruit tart...mmmmm. (PS-Let me know if you guys are interested in recipes).

Aaaand have the cutest baby in the world. I understand this is an excess of pictures that are quite similar but I couldn't help myself, they were all so adorable.

This is how books are dealt with in the Neilson house. You must first test the significance by tasting the book.

If it passes that test you should fiddle with it for a while and try to tear it apart.

Then, and only then...

do you commence to read.

We had such a fun day at Margaret's eating barbecue and watching fireworks. It was one of Elizabeth's latest nights out...and she was wiped.  All she needed was some quality snuggle time with Hugo and her day was complete. Thanks again Margaret and happy fourth!

Colorado Catch Up

On our way home from New York we stopped in Colorado and my sister Julia just got some of these cute pics to me! First of our little farmer tan baby experiencing her crazy princess walker for the first time.

Then our sweet baby experiencing this kinda freaky coyote for the first time.

My parents, thanks deedee and papa for watching our little one.

At this restaurant, Traildust, where they cut off your tie if you're wearing one, they have a huge slide right by the tables and the dance floor! I think we had more fun than Elizabeth. This is the restaurant my family took Rob to when he secretly flew out to Colorado for one day to ask for my hand in person.

Sweetheart sippin at Rob's now favorite sushi restaurant by my parents.

Breakfast at where else but The Original Pancake House on our way out of town...mmmm, dutch baby.

Elizabeth loved hanging out with you guys!

More Birthday More Ranch

A pic of some of the decorations.

Cousins and a super tired Elizabeth.

The infamous birthday cupcake. Will never do again! Haha, it was such a pain so I think I'll stick to carving my own. Good thing she doesn't know the difference!

Elizabeth needing some help blowing out the candles and loving her birthday hat.

She had a little trouble with the concept of opening one, putting it away, and getting another present. This baby she's been wanting for months wasn't going any where.

Lovin the cake, or all the attention. It's hard to tell but either way I think she had a great day!

We try to teach her to be gentle with hair to no avail. The key is to hold her hands while she's on your shoulders, Rob.

There you go.

Cute girlies loving the horses.

So fun! If my blog will ever let me post video I'll get some up soon!

Night at the Museum

A couple weeks ago my family was in town and it was fun! My parents were here and even my brothers family from San Jose. So with all the kiddies we thought we'd go to the dinosaur museum up at Thanksgiving point. I had never been there before and it was actually really cool!

Elizabeth wasn't sure about the sand at first but warmed up eventually and was just have a gay old time splashin around!

There's alot of scary things around these parts, but the babies weren't phased.

You have watch out for lurking around the next corner!

Come on how cute is that?

Elizabeth is a very aggressive child with the best intentions possible. She's just so friendly and assumes everyone wants to play with her.

Always the curious cat, elizabeth was loving all there was to look at and touch.

Like this dinosaur just her size!

The whole gang.

Can't get enough of these kids!

They even had a place you could sit and the sand and dig for bones!

All in all it was very successful trip and Elizabeth loved it, as evident by her cheeser face!

The Weber Ranch and Turning One!

The ranch has been in my family since my great Grandpa Sharp and is loved and cherished by all. We've gone up at least once a year since I can remember, it truly is one of my favorite places on earth. It is so breath taking and still feels so untouched.

This year we went up with my family over Elizabeth's first birthday! I wanted to wait to post for her birthday because other people got much better pictures than me but I'll post this now and re-post later.

Elizabeth was loving her cake although we were surprised how dainty she was with it. She took the tip of one finger and elegantly licked off the icing. I had to try and force her to get a big handful!

Of coarse she needed a bath after!

My camera started to get foggy in the little bathroom!

Etta's Monkey face above that she does when excited.

Cheeser face! Showing off a new outfit!

Stats for first birthday!

Weight: 19 lbs 8 oz - 30th percentile

Height: 30 in - 50th percentile

Head: 18 in - 50th percentile

She has started to walk but is still pretty hesitant. - Wipes your face with a napkin after feeding you. - Says a plethora of words some favorites being car and ball. - Still puts everything in her mouth. - Is fascinated with all things in the bathroom, ie running the bath water, playing in the toilet water, and ripping toilet paper into tiny pieces. - Opens all cupboards and doors. - Makes dog and duck noises. - Loves to be "gotten." - Gives super cheeser grins with her adorable buck teeth. - Is overly friendly and outgoing as always. - Favorite songs: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old Macdonald, Row Row Row Your Boat, and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes!

We love our little monkey!

We had such a blast and we're so thankful all the family could make it up to celebrate. More to come!

Mmmmm...Best French Onion Soup

~French Onion Soup~

2 ½ lbs Onions
¼ lb Butter
1 Bay Leaf
½ cup Sherry
½ cup Brandy
1 ½ cups White Wine
4 cups Beef Stock
4 cups Chicken Stock
2 cloves Garlic
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt (use less salt if you use salted broth!)
½ tsp White Pepper (regular is okay)
1-2 cups Gruyere
1 loaf French Bread

1. Slice onions ¼ in thick and throw in a sauté pan with butter and bay leaf. Saute about 30 min on medium low until onions are sufficiently golden brown. (Be patient, keep it low and long so they don't burn) Stir frequently!
2. Deglaze with sherry and brandy, let simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Add white wine, let simmer for 5 minutes (I know this all seems like a lot of liquor but trust me, don't substitute and don't scrimp, you wont be sorry).
4. Add stock (this is going to be better if you can actually use stock but broth is okay), garlic, and salt and pepper. Allow to simmer for 20-30 more minutes. The longer the simmer the more flavor the soup and the thicker the soup!
5. Slice French bread and butter lightly. Put in oven under the broiler till it’s golden brown.
6. Ladle up some soup into each dish and top with toast. Add one large handful gruyere over the top and return to the broiler to melt and brown cheese.
7. Eat it eat it eat it!

Serves 4-6 peoples.