Mt. Charleston

Ruthie, Brayden and I drove to Mt. Charleston today. It actually snowed in the valley here! But since I'm originally from Utah, Its hard to impress me with little 'flakes' and call it a snow storm. However, even though the flakes were minimal and had a short stay on the ground, they still made me miss home.

So we decided to take her new truck for an adventure to Nevada's mountain to see PILES of snow for ourselves (a little bit more like home). It was lots of fun. I really love the snow (and Ruthie's new truck) and I'm counting down the days until Brayden and I go home from Christmas!

Holiday Tag

I was tagged by Sara!!

Top 3 Vacations
-The Caribbean cruise we went on early this year-It was awesome!
-Vancouver- Troy and I went to Canada when we still lived in Washington. I loved it!
-Its a tie for Hawaii and San Diego. My two favorite places because people I love are there.

Top 3 Favorite Flowers
-Fire and ice roses.
-Lilies.
-And I think daisies are a very friendly flower.

Top 3 favorite comfort foods
-Stroganoff. My dad used to make it, and I make it just like he did...
-Baked cream cheese chicken and potatoes casserole.
-Brownies and root beer floats. (I know floats don't count because they're a drink, but I always have them together).

Top 3 Places to Shop
-Since I'm a mom, Children's Place. Best place for kiddos.
-Express.
-Old Navy.

Top 3 Opinions About Halloween
-I like dressing 'other' people up (aka Brayden). Not really myself.
-I like giving out the full size treats.. BUT I hate giving them to kids who are greedy and want more than one. Ew. Other kids need treats too!
-Glad Brayden was too young to eat his candy this year, more for me!

Top 3 Opinions About Thanksgiving
-I love it.
-I love food and family.
-I love mashed potatoes! Nuff said!

Top 3 Opinions About Christmas
-My favorite holiday, I love decorating for xmas.... even though I haven't done it this year. (And I'm with Sara on this one, un-decorating isn't near as fun. Its annoying.)
-I love our brunch every Christmas morning at my grandma's, promptly at 11. Its every year without fail.
-Makes me thankful that there is such a thing as family. Even if some very important members are on the other side of the world and missing this great holiday with their families.

Top 3 things I look forward to during the week
-Troy's morning call, usually 9 a.m. every morning.
-My nightly walks with beez.
-Web cam with Troy. Its cool to watch his face when he looks at Brayden.

Top 3 Events Happening This Week
-I'm driving home to Utah.
-I'm attending my parent's open house party on Saturday.
-I'm going out to dinner with Shannon.


Now I am going to tag......Scarlett, Wendy, Christie, Shannon, Jessica, and Holly.

Lucky #7 Tag

I was tagged by Scarlett!

7 Things I Can Do:
-Take pictures. I love to do it, but I'm far from being a professional.
-I can still do a back bend, and yes I'm very proud of that.
-I can Rollerblade! I just push the stroller around now when I go cruising in the neighborhood.
-I can play the piano.
-I have a good memory of home layouts. This is beyond worthless, but if I'm in someones house, I can go home and draw it if I wanted to.
-I can make 'towel' looks. Another worthless quality, but when I go to the pool I'll wrap the kids in their towels and make them look like princesses, or like Japanese people in kimono's, and the occasional mermaid.
-I can tell the Cloud Story and make kids tired and fall asleep.

7 Things I Cannot Do:

-I can't go cross eyed.
-I can't change wiper blades on my car. (Just found that out today, they can be very complicated).
-I can't touch hay. I'm very allergic.
-I can't dance, if you want a good laugh I'll show you.
-I can't lift up my car, its way too heavy.
-I can't plug my nose with my lip.
-I can't flare my nostrils.


7 Things That Attracted Me To Troy:

-He has dimples, this was the first thing I noticed apart from his big blue eyes.
-He works harder than any person I know.
-He can make me laugh... even when the things he says "shouldn't" be funny, it always comes out that way.
-He's waited in line for 60 minutes, just to talk to me for 15.
-He has the patients of a saint!
-He's an awesome dad and a great hunny!
-He is a clean freak.... and I love it, my house is always spotless when he's home.

7 Things I Say Most Often:

-Oh hey, how are you?
-Where is your sippie?
-NO-NO!
-Where's Brayden? (gasp) There he is. Where's Brayden? (gasp) There he is.
-LEAVE YOUR DIAPER ON!!!!!!!
-If you touch the computer one more time, mommy is going to scream!!
-WHOOT WHOOT!

7 Celebrity Admirations:

-Pierce Brosnan. W-O-W! He is like a old 'Edward' with an accent. He's very down to Earth, which makes him even more appealing.
-Adam Sandler. I'm not gonna lie, I have a thing for him.
-Dennis Quaid. Definitely the best smile of them all. Ahhhhhhh.
-Rachel McAdams. I think she's my favorite actress. Plus she doesn't even own a car. She rides her bike, and takes public transportation... her step towards going green..I admire that.
-Jennifer Aniston. She got publicly dumped, and still held her head up. Couldn't have been easy.
-Ty Pennington/home extreme make over people. I cry every Sunday because of the great things they do for people.
-Oprah. She's in the position to do great things, and she does. Some people have billions of dollars and don't care what happens to less fortunate. Not her.

7 Favorite Foods(in no particular order):

-Chocolate. And all that it implies.
-Stroganoff, dad's style.
-Skittles.
-Tasty turkey bagel sandwich.
-Spaghetti.
-Steak.
-Mashed potatoes.

7 People To Tag

-Angie
-Christie
-Sara
-Holly
-Megan
-Shannon
-Jessica

Love

Ok, lets get mushy and talk about love for a minute. Lets say you love someone, lust for someone, or simply adore that one person who is special in your life. How do you treat them? Since when did we forget that its what we do to the people we love, that matters? This Holiday season, I challenge all of you to do something for someone you love. Don't just say it, actions speak louder than words. Show them how Grateful you are for having them in your life.

Santa!

On Monday we went to get Brayden's picture taken with Santa. He didn't like him that much, but I made him do it (Because I'm mean).

This is back when he absolutely loved Santa! Last year... Time sure flies by fast.

Lovely Leisly.

Sunday night we had to say goodbye to our dearest friends Leisly and JP. JP got orders, so they had to move to Pensacola Florida. And yes, they took their baby Melanie with them... despite my pleads for them to let me adopt her. As many of you know, Leisly and JP are the first couple we met here. I will always hold a special place in my heart for them.

Leisly and I have been through so much together, and I consider her one of my bestEST friends. It would be hard to find someone who I'd have more respect for than her. She is an unbelievable person with wonderful qualities. I can't even begin to tell you how much I admire her. She is a great person and I'm lucky to have her in my life. I'll miss them so much, but I'm looking forward to a trip to Florida to visit. Here are a few pics of us in our past....

Me, Wayne Newton, Leisly, and Christie -- and yes Wayne did kiss my cheek that night.

Christmas Party for the squadron.

Christie, me, Leisly, and Eddie- isn't my scrub top just so hot!

Leisly and Brayden.

Our last dinner together... We look like we're polygamist from Big Love without Troy or Damon there.

JP and Melanie.

'Til We Meet Again'

Trouble Sleeping....

Since Troy left Brayden and I have had some trouble sleeping. Brayden has only slept through the night a few times since he's been gone.... this coming from the child who has actually been pretty good about sleep. He usually wakes up once around 2 and wants to be held. I've had trouble too. Not only do I need to sleep with 19 pillows to make it seem like someone is there with me, but I read to make myself tired and it doesn't seem to work well. I read and read and read... and still my eyes don't get very heavy. Any advice would help. Brayden is starting to get clingy and wants me to constantly lay with him before bed.... something that he never used to do... and now he does! Ugh, I keep telling myself its because so much of his household has changed... but I can't help but wonder if it might be age too. And it freaks me out because you always hear bad things about those kids who can't stop sleeping in their parents bed. Plus its so weird that we've never had this problem until Troy left. He has learned to climb out of his crib too, which is a complete pain in my butt! The other night I had this feeling to wake up, and when my eyes opened... his eyes were looking straight back at me. He had climbed out of his crib, in the dark, walked to my room, and stood by my bed. I feel bad that I didn't hear any of this on the monitor- but with lack of sleep lately, when I actually do sleep.. I'm out. When I lifted my head to get a better look at him- with a creepy feeling inside because he was there- he simply said 'mom-mom, up' and reached to get into bed with me. I was soooo unbelievably tired, that I just grabbed him and put him on Troy's side of the bed. He was out before his head hit the pillow, I feel back asleep pretty quick too. But it worries me that I didn't hear him. I have plenty of gates, and always close important doors before bed- because I am crazy/ocd about that... but still it makes me feel uneasy that he was up, chillin, in the middle of the night, climbed out of his crib, and walked into my room and stood by me like he was some kid from The Shinning -or whatever that creepy show is. If any of you have had similar problems, please give me some advice. It feels overwhelming that I can't fall asleep until 12 or 1 and he wakes up soon after and just wants to be held... ugh... I love my time with him... but its hard enough to try and fall asleep on my own....only to be woken up soon after. Advise.....

Hide and Seek!

Brayden's favorite game is 'Hide and Seek' and he absolutely loves it!! So tonight we were playing it, and I couldn't help but get some pictures of our adventures in seeking and hiding!

I found you!! (I'm sooo good at this game!)

Getting ready to hide...

Behind the door....

Still behind the door.... He thinks if he doesn't look at me, I can't see him! Hehe, silly Brayden!

He randomly laid down in the middle of the floor and closed his eyes... I had to say the following: "No, lying on the floor with your eyes closed DOESN'T count Brayden!" Then he started laughing.....

Peeking around the corner... wondering why I haven't found him yet.

Brayden wins!

Afterwords he got bored and tried to be bulimic, ugh, he's soooo naughty!

Halloween

For Halloween, we attempted "Trick or Treating" key word: attempted- for Brayden anyway. My friends Corina and Christie came over for some 'Halloween' Taco Soup and Trick or Treating. We took the kids out for about an hour, and Brayden did better in his stroller rather than walking. He was content at just looking at the kids in their costumes. This year he was a race car driver. I thought it was appropriate considering every time you see him- he has a hot wheels car in his hand. I, on the other hand, was a crazy Cowboys Fan! I think I got the psycho-crazy eyebrow enhanced look down.

Christie and I. According to Krystal, Christie is my "wife" this deployment.

Brayden kept trying to kiss Kylin! Despite our "no-no's"

Christie, Dillon, and Kylin.

Brayden playing with my wig.

zoom zoom.

Corina and I.

Dillon getting some candy- the people got really into it this year.

Red Ranger Dillon!

Reece and Corina.

Brayden and I, psycho brow enhanced.

Christie, Dillon, and Kylin-sleeping.

This smashed car has a story also. Before Corina came to my house, she called and said that her car wouldn't start. Curious as to why her car wouldn't start (since its barely 2 years old), she decided to blow it off and took Marty's Ram instead.... While she was on the freeway on the way to my house, this car started swerving right in front of her! Soon it hit the middle barrier and flew through the air and landed right in front of them! Luckily she was in their Ram because her car would have never stopped in time!! God works in mysterious ways. For those of you concerned about the driver, she climbed out of the passenger side a few seconds later. Thankfully she was fine and all was well on this Halloween night.

A Normal Day....

Then we got a package from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson.

Yes the cookies we've very yummy Grandpa!

Yeeha!

Melanie & Brayden

So our friends Leisly and JP have a little girl named Melanie. She is ten months old and they are considered cousins. About two weeks ago I had Melanie for a few hours. Lets just say, the pictures speak for themselves. (And yes, this was before the haircut). She is so infatuated with the fact that he can do 'all this cool stuff' like walking and climbing. And he likes how she just sits and watches. He tries to make her laugh- its cute. When it came to sharing, Brayden couldn't be happier to take EVERYTHING away from her. I had to keep telling him, "no-no, this is for Melanie" but the bad thing with that was- he would take the toys away from her in such a way that, it didn't make her cry, it made her laugh... so he kept doing it -just to hear her giggles i guess.

Little Chillins'

She had a fascination with his forehead.

He kept trying to play 'peek-a-boo' with her, but every time he covered his eyes she attacked him.

She was saying something in the language only babies understand.

This is her favorite toy at our house, I think its because it spoke to her in Spanish. Brayden didn't like sharing this one.

Everything he touched she had to touch too!

This is when he decided that her toys were cooler.

He loved how she kept following him. I think she just wanted her toy back.

Toy thief. -This is what i meant about the face.

Relaxin'

She loved his hair! He loved her cuddles.