Alex's first time snowboarding!

Since Alex has never been snowboarding and we bought our entire snowboarding packages right before Christmas, it was time to hit the slopes! My parents live in Burley and the Pomerelle Ski Resort is about a 30-45 minute drive from their house so it was perfect since were already home for Christmas. I hadn't been snowboarding in 3 years and Alex had NEVER been so I thought it would be fun to teach my hubby how to do it! (and refresh my OWN memory!) It was the most beautiful day! It never got to freezing (32 degrees) and there was absolutely no wind except for at the top of the big lift. The parking lot was only 1/2 full which really surprised us so we NEVER had to wait in line for the lift. We only went for 5 hours and got a good 10-12 runs in. Alex did amazingly well too! The first run was a little bit scary, his second run was ALOT better but alot of falling down, and by the 3rd run he could make it all the way down without falling! I WAS SO PROUD OF HIM! We decided that snowboarding is now one of our most favorite "dates" because not only is it plain fun, but it's also a good way to spend time together and still be really active. Here are a few pics from our trip!

Sledding on Christmas Eve

As soon as dad came home from work on Christmas Eve, he hooked the sled to the back of his pickup and took us "sledding" on the country roads to the church and back home. It was Garrett, Katelyn, Alex, and I. It was so much fun!

BOOMER IS FINALLY HERE!

My Christmas present has finally arrived to his new "home" as of yeseterday at about 2:00 PM! Boomer was born on November 18, 2008 and was given to me, his new mommy, today! He is such a wonderful new addition to our family! He hardly ever wimpers, just cuddles right up to your chest and falls asleep. He technically is too young to leave his mama but they were making sure their new owners had them in time for Christmas. I could not be happier! I finally feel semi-complete! He will do just fine until the REAL baby comes! ha ha He was one of 5 puppies in the litter: 1 girl and 4 boys. Three of them were buff colored like him and the other 2 were parti-colored. These pictures were taken almost immediately after walking into the apt and taking a bath, so he was still a little scared and unsure of his environment, but isn't he just adorable!? He is AKC registered so when he turns 2 we can stud him out and make some money OR get a pick from the litter....Alex? :)

Need a tile setter?

Alex has spent the last couple days and will continue for about another 5 days doing his Aunt Claudia's house in tile! He's doing the entire kitchen floor, down the hallway, into the bathroom, the bathroom shower, down the strairs, through the basement hallway, and into the downstairs bathroom. Boy does he have his work cut out for him! He loves it though. He spends about 12 hours a day working straight through lunch and doesn't stop until the area he is working on is completely finished, even if that means working until 1:00 AM. He is doing this for a couple reasons: 1. He misses setting tile because he's done it for over 4 years! 2. Since both us us haven't worked in 2 1/2 months it's a GREAT way to bring in some cash especially during the Holidays (he has to spend some $$$ for my puppy!) 3. Did I mention $$$? We officially hate being unemployed but with the economy the way it is there's just not much out there. Which brings up my next point: IF ANYONE NEEDS TILE OR HARDWOOD DONE IN YOUR HOUSE, ALEX IS YOUR MAN! He can do showers (awesome by the way), kitchen backsplashes, travertine, porcelain tile, ceramic tile, marble, granite, granite countertops, hardwood floors, ect. Because he's doing it as a "side job" he can get you a better deal than you can from a tile business. You buy all the materials and he just charges for the labor. He is willing to travel pretty much anywhere within reason if it's a big enough job, but big or small he WANTS and is WILLING to do it for you! He's been setting tile and hardwood for 4 years and he is a PERFECTIONIST! He does great work and I'm not just saying so! I can't wait to buy a house and have him do all our own CUSTOM flooring and showers. It will be gorgeous! If YOU don't personally need him but hear of a friend, neighbor, or co-worker who wants to redo their house but doesn't want to pay the price, keep Alex in mind! Thanks a bunch for those of you who have! We really appreciate it! LOVE YOU LOTS!

A Puppy!!!

So...since our little angels in Heaven are being stubborn and don't want to come anytime soon, I think I've finally convinced Alex to get me a PUPPY! I could not be MORE excited than I am now. I've ALWAYS wanted a puppy, but Alex has kept telling me "When we buy a house you can have a puppy!" I don't wanna wait any longer. This is how I think of it...my fertility medicine! Something to keep my thoughts away from "Why can't I have kids right now?". Something that loves me and gets excited to see me when I come home from a long day at work. Something to snuggle with when Alex isn't home. That's why I want a puppy and always have wanted a puppy! This is a picture of the one I'm getting. It's a male pure breed, registered and papered cocker spaniel. They are rated #1 family dog because of their calmness, friendliness, demeaner, and size. I grew up with a springer spaniel which comes from the same family, but is double the size. The second I saw him online I KNEW I had to have him so drove out to the owner's home and again, the second I saw him I KNEW I had to have him! He is one of 5 puppies in the litter. Pure buff colored and has the sweetest little personality. He's only 4 1/2 weeks right now so I can't have him quite yet but they are willing to give them to their owners on Christmas Eve even though they will only be 5 1/2 weeks. I AM STOKED! I will post more pictures when he actually becomes a "Nelson"! ha ha Merry Christmas! (Thanks Alex...I LOVE YOU! I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present!)

Winter Wonderland!

Since it snowed 2 days ago, Logan canyon looks so gorgeous. We decided after a LONG 2 days of non-stop trying to find jobs, interviews, applications, and disappointment, that we would take the scenic drive into the canyon and take some pics. I think they turned out pretty good and VERY cute! I love winter time for taking pictures!

Peyton Turns 5! Happy Birthday!

Peyton is Alex's brother's son, our nephew! His birthday isn't technically until December 5th but since he's going to be with his mom at the time, we had a birthday party for him at our house before Will took him back to his mom's house in Salt Lake. Everything about it was awesome except it was just the 4 of us. Grandma and Grandpa Nelson were in Juniper, all the cousins Peyton likes to play with were out of town, and the aunts and uncles were working. This was our only chance though to make Peyton's birthday special so we MADE it work and it was wonderful! Peyton got spoiled rotten as you can see from the pictures. And it wasn't by us! Will loves Peyton so much and he wanted him to have the best birthday ever and he did! Peyton picked out his cake at the Walmart bakery which was a marble Elmo cake and it was delicious! The plates, napkins, and party favors were his favorite, Transformers! The picture at the very end shows everything set up before we dug into the cake! I had to take the picture of Peyton pointing to the "Happy Birthday" sign because he wanted a sign like that soooo bad! The gift we got him was the HUGE bag of giant Legos that he wanted so incredibly bad! When he goes to his cousins house to play they all have them and he is entertained for hours with them and is always sad that he has to leave and go home where he doesn't have giant Legos. Not anymore bud! We love you Peyton and can't wait for ANOTHER 5 years with you!

Ready To Hit The Slopes!

We can't live in Utah and NOT go snowboarding! Ha ha well we've lived in Utah pretty much our whole marriage except for 6 months in Hawaii and we have never been together! Alex has NEVER been in his life and I used to go ALL THE TIME when I was in Jr. High and High School but haven't at all since then. It's cheaper to just buy your own stuff then to rent it everytime you go especially if you plan on going quite often, which we do, so we went out on Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) and both bought ourselves brand new snowboard packages at Sports Authority. They were $400 packages for like half the price so we handed over the cash and we're ready to hit the slopes! Last winter we bought all our gloves, goggles, boots, coats, and snow pants so now all we need are beanies!

American Family Insurance

As alot of you know, I am working for American Family Insurance again just like I was for a year before Hawaii. I am obviously working for a different agent here in Logan since I used to work for Stephanie Tanner in Pleasant Grove before, but it's still the same amazing company and state, BUT this new agent, Josh Barnett, is licensed in Utah AND Idaho! What this means is my window of opportunity to sell LOTS of insurance policies has opened up COMPLETELY! Here's my sales pitch: There is absolutely NO OBLIGATION to sign up from a quote! All it takes is a few pieces of information from you and a couple minutes of my time to run a quote. I am personally licensed to sell auto, home, business, and contractor's insurance. I am working strictly off of commissions so PLEASE call me! I have found that some people I cannot save money because of whatever reason, yet others $10-$65 month! I'm not talking state miniumums here either folks! I'm talking about selling you an insurance policy that will actually take care of you not IF you need it but WHEN you need it! I believe in this company or else I wouldn't be working for them! They have been around for about 82 years and are a Fortune 500 Company! I would LOVE to save people in my group of family and friends money. Not only that but make sure everyone has GREAT coverage. If you hear of anyone who is shopping around for any kind of insurance that I mentioned earlier, give them my number: 435-225-4330. If YOU yourself aren't shopping around, at least let me give you a quote. You may just be surprised to hear you're paying too much! Thanks for all your support. I'll be waiting for your MANY calls! ;)

Our New "Home" in Logan, UT

We are officially Utah residents! We signed the lease on our new apartment on November 17th and we can HONESTLY say we love it here so far! We are only a block away from Walmart, kiddie corner from the Cache Valley Mall, way close to every restaurant you can imagine, down the street from Ross and Kmart, etc. Most importantly, we are CLOSER to our families which is the real and ONLY reason we moved to Logan. A huge majority of his aunts & uncles and cousins all live here and our immediate families are only 1-2 hrs away instead of 3 hrs when we lived in Orem and not an OCEAN away when we lived in Hawaii. It's just so good to be back. Here are some pictures of our brand new apt and our brand new furniture since we sold almost everything we had when we moved across the ocean! We bought brand new matching sofas which are so beautiful. They are half leather half microfiber...just what we wanted! Besides that they look great, we got a steal of a deal from the outlet furniture store we bought them from. YAH! Alex bought a 42" Vizio 1080 LCD TV which is his baby...men...???