Actually, I like snow.

Today it snowed ALOT, all day long. I loved it. Chase loved it more. We played outside. I attempted to get Chase's help in building a snowman, but all she wanted to do was eat the snow. Snow is yummy.

Living in Utah it seems that I should utilize the amount of snow we get more (does that make sense.) I was remembering many years ago when Staci and I took a snowboarding class for college credit and how much fun it was. We had a big crush on Kendrick, our instructor. We would also go snowboarding at least 3 times a week. You want to know the last time I went? Um, about 3 yrs ago. 3 YEARS. I will blame the last pregnancy and the current one. But it is my goal to next year get back into it.

I will also not be partaking in ice skating this Friday. Not safe for preggers here. But Jamison is going to show me his mad skills.

What a weekend.

This weekend was the Nelson family Christmas party. My grandma had Santa come and suprise the grandkids/great grandkids. It was fun, yet a little over whelming since there are about a million kids in the family. It was fun for Chase to sit on Santa's lap (it was the first time she ever has since last year I was a bad Mom and never felt like taking her to the mall to stand in line so she could sit on Santa's lap).

Anyways, watching while every small grandchild and great grand child took there turn sitting on his lap got a little boring...and boy was I glad when it was over so we could finally eat.....but wait...did he just call my name? Yes, after every child sat on his lap he called my name, and I'm thinking "what is going on?" Jamison and my Mom have these big grins on there faces so of course I am thinking Jamison has some big Christmas suprise for me......but no. My Mom thought it would be funny if santa "outed" my pregnancy to my whole family by asking me if I would want some baby clothes for Christmas. Lame. See below picture.

The best part of the night was when we put Chase to bed, then went to check on her a few hours later, she had fallen asleep with her book over her face. Apparently she got so tired while "reading" she decided to simply put the book down directly on her face.

That next morning we woke up bright and early to the loudest crashing noise I have ever heard and what looked like lightening directly infront of our window. Turns out the wind blew over the ginormous tree in our backyard and on its way down it took out our power lines. The tree was so huge it took up the whole back yard. It couldn't have landed more perfectly. If it would have fallen any other direction it would have either taken out our neighbors roof, or our roof, so we got lucky. We didn't have power all day, and there was a small chain saw incident that shall remain unmentioned, but we did finally get it worked out and cleaned up.
I am glad this weekend is almost over.

Tilly and the Wall on Sesame Street

Chase and I have watched this about 20 times already. She absolutly loves it. If you have a little one I bet they will love it to!
It makes me miss my tapping days. Yes, there was a time when I was a very good tapper...and after watching Chase dance to this for the last hour I have a feeling she will be quit the tapper also.

Tilly & the Wall on SESAME STREET from Team Love on Vimeo.

July 16

On this day Chase will be exactly 2 1/2 years old. Why else is this date significant? Because it is the due date of Darby baby #2. Yes, folks I am pregnant (which will come as news to the few I haven't "accidentally" told).
This pregnancy has been an adventure. A grand puking adventure. I didn't realize how truly good I had it while pregnant with Chase (never getting sick and all). This time around pretty much anything and everything makes me sick. Including all foods, a few colors, almost all smells (isn't it insane how a pregnant women's sense of smell is heightened?), and being on the computer for an extended amount of time tends to make me ill...which is why for the next little while I may slack just a little on the blogging.
So, lets hope it passes!!! We are so very excited!! 7 months seems so far away, but I know it will be here before we know it!

This Thanksgiving

We celebrated with my family, we went bowling, and I was really sick (and still am). That about sums it up.

I will never have those 2 hours back.....

Last night we went and saw Twilight.The best part of the movie was the Harry Potter preview. I will spare you all my explanations of why it was a horrible movie. I will say this though...I felt like I was watching a really bad soap opera. If you value your time do not see this movie (unless your a 12 yr old girl, then you might like it).

And yes, I read all the books, and yes I liked them, but this movie was one of the worst I have seen in a long time. Also some of the worst acting ever.

Australia

My perfect Thanksgiving day this year includes seeing this movie. I think it looks so very good ( I absolutly love Baz Luhrmann films). Anyone want to join me?

I can relate

I found this via this sight, and I loved it. Is it wrong that I feel like this all the time?

The summer pictures

So, I have been wanting to post these pictures of Chase for a while now. We got them taken back in August. When ever I have had professional pics of her taken in the past it has been in the fall, so this year I wanted to do some summer ones, and I must say and I was so very pleased with how they turned out (except I had to scan them to put them on my computer, and the scanned versions don't do the real ones justice). Chase chose the day we were getting them taken as the day she was going to be as difficult as she could be.....so what was supposed to be a 1 day shoot, turned into a 2 day shoot. But Kelly (who owns Gallery Photography) is a miracle worker and managed to capture every single rare moment when she was actually being cooperative and happy. He took about 1000 more great pics, but I will spare you, since I am probably the only one who gets great joy out of studying every single one.

Why watch the Jazz game?

When you can do this!

Marin will probably marry kyle kover, so I took a picture of him.

If you want to buy a condo

Ours is for sale.

2 bedroom, 1bath.

Awesome area (Sugarhouse).

Great price (124,900)

Great neighbors.

Spread the word! And let me know if you or anyone you know would be interested:)

Wow

What an amazing time to be alive.

I confess

I envy people with big familys. Let me explain. Growing up I was an only child. My parents divorced when I was uber small (yes, I just used the word uber). I was young enough to not remember them being married. Now, let me make it clear that I never had a problem with this. My mom raised me, and I saw my Dad a few weekends a month, and it was pretty much all I ever knew, so it was never a big issue in my life. Plus even at a young age I knew how incredibly polar opposites my parents were and could understand the advantage of them not living under the same roof. No big deal. My parents eventually remarried (other people obviously). My Mom 6 yrs ago, and my dad around 15 years ago. My Dad had 2 more daughters. Ady, age 8, and Alyx, age 6. I love the girls to death, but I think they feel more like nieces than sisters being that I never lived with them and they are 20 yrs younger than yours truly. My Mom never had any other children, but married my super cool step-dad who had 3 grown and gone children around my age. The point of this being, it was just my Mom and I for the majority of my life, and I never had a problem with it. In fact, a lot of my friends came from big familys, and when I was younger and would hang out at those friends houses I would quickly get overwhelmed with the amount of people and lack of privacy, and would leave grateful that I could go back to my quit home, with my privacy, and my freedom to do my own thing because I had complete reign of my own house. Didn't have to share a thing with anyone.

Cut to a few years later. I get married, get pregnant, give birth to the amazing Ms. Chase,and then it hits me. I'm kindof lonely. I kinda wish I had some siblings. And I look at my daughter and realize she is going to miss out in the cousin department, and I have kindof missed out to. All of the sudden I was incredibly jealous of friends who had sisters and brothers. Am I crazy? Maybe.
In church this last Sunday, I over heard someone talking about how grateful she is that all of her kids are raising their kids togethor, and there it was again. That pang of jealousy. And then I read the latest post on cjane, and once again I am envious.
Looking back it would have been so nice to have a sister to talk to, because lets be honest, some things you just can't talk to the parentals about. For those of you who do have that, consider yourselves lucky. And although I was raised as the only one and I was happy, I hope that Chase's childhood will be different. It took having her to make me realize this.
So, I am all about the big family. When Chase gets older and needs something other than parental advice she will have her siblings to go to. And although she may never have the privacy, and the quit, and the endless amounts of alone when ever she needs it while living at home like I had, I hope that Jamison and I can give her what I now realize would have been so awesome to have.

P.S. I would like to keep a small portion of my sanity, so when I say big family I don't mean 8 kids big. I am talking like 3 to 5 kids big.

Todays special is......

Recently Jamison and I were reminiscing about shows we loved when we were kids. My favorite was Todays Special(along with Rainbow Bright, and Strawberry Shortcake). I found this clip of the intro, and I just had to post it. Watching it made me feel like I was 5 yrs old again.

Priceless

Every holiday (and I mean EVERY holiday), Chase gets a cute vintage style card with a 2 dollar bill, and a little note in it from her Great Grandma (my Grandma) Nelson.She has been getting these cards since the day she was born. I put all the cards with all the 2 dollar bills in Chase's baby book hoping that one day when she is looking back at all of her baby memories she will know how special these cards and bills are.
My Grandma is awesome. Did you know that in the past 5 or so years my Grandma has become a world traveler? She has been EVERYWHERE! Yes, it is hard to imagine her trecking around the world, but she does it! She just slaps on those birkenstocks and shes good to go! One day I want to go somewhere with her (and take lots of pictures because she never takes pictures!).

So, this post is dedicated to my marvelous Grandmother! For taking me to get 711 nachoes, renting movies with me, spyteching with me, sharing books with me (I get my love of reading from her),hanging out with me, having the most infectious laugh I have ever heard, and for all the other priceless things she has done for me and my little family. She has been through a lot, and taught me a lot, and is pretty much the coolest Grandma I know.

My little witch

Last night was the ward Halloween party. It was fun for about an hour, and then Chase was over it. She definatly made a cute witch though. We are hoping she lasts a little bit longer on the actual night of Halloween.

Chase and Nana

This was her attempt at doing the Hokey Pokey. As you can see, her style of dance is mainly just jumping around.

The knew routine

Chase's bedtime routine used to be as follows: bath, brush teeth, read story, go to bed.
We recently got her a toddler bed to replace the crib. The routine is no more. We now fight tooth and nail to actually get her to go to bed. When she does actually go to bed we give it about 15 minutes until we hear her door creak open, and she comes running in ready for action.
Tonight was the best. I am in our bedroom on the internet, Jamison is in the kitchen studying, and I hear Chase's door open. The next thing I know I can hear Hillary Duff music on t.v., and Jamison and Chase are dancing in the living room. It was classic. I really wish I would have had the video camra. Jamison has got some sweet moves (along with Chase of course). Apparently she decided "why go to bed, when I can dance?" So, as a family we danced to Hilary Duff, and apparently that was all she needed, because now she is fast asleep.

New find

A few weeks ago I was on my way home from the condo (may it burn to the ground), when I drove past this quant little boutique called Tiara. After futher inspection I realized they sold childrens clothing so I decided to check it out. I am so very glad I did. If you are like me, and love vintage style childrens clothing (for boys and girls), you must check it out. The clothing is so unique, but in a totally adorable, funky way. I found these hair clips for Chase there, and the great thing about them is that she can wear them in her hair, and then when it gets colder they can clip to her little winter hats to make them more stylish. Love it! I love finding places like this! I had to share it with everyone!
If you have any special finds, or great "not well known" places when it comes to childrens clothing and accesories, do share!

Loving fall / LOTS of pictures

The view from our front window. I love it when the leaves start to change.

Walking to the Halloween house.

Last Sunday morning we went and walked around spirit lake. The leaves were gorgeous! And as you can tell from the pictures she is a daddys girl. She is all smiles with him, but no such luck with me

Look! a squirrel.

Where did it go?

Just hangin in mom's shades

If you have never been to Cucina deli in the avenues, you must try it out. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is so nice. Perfect place to go eat on a warm fall day.

Possible mullet in the works? Lets hope not.

Carving Pumpkins! Mine is the awesome witch on the left (which I will admit I used a stencil to carve)