Elder Colton Nielsen

Colton the oldest grandson in the Scott Nielsen Family, Chad and Kay's oldest, is leaving on a mission. He will be serving in Phoenix, Arizona. Sunday was his farewell, and after hearing him speak in church I know that he will be the BEST missionary. I had to smile when I sat down next to Shelby in sacrament she said, "This is the first cousin missionary to leave, and it is so weird." She read my mind and expressed my thoughts it was weird to think that my nephew the one I use to babysit was leaving to serve a mission for our church. I couldn't be a prouder aunt! We had one last get together after church. I wanted some pictures with Lexie and Colton. Lexie made sure to Smile Pretty :).

All Girl!

Lexie LOVES to play in my purse. Whenever its within reach she empties it out item by item including my wallet. The process is entertaining for her and it allows me a little bit of time to get something accomplished. I tolerate it and every night I go through the ritual of putting the purse back together so its ready for the next day. Saturday night I was busy making Christmas cards and her dad was in charge. He found her in the kitchen having the time of her life. For once I had a little bit of cash in my wallet and she was loving it. My how the learn so quickly!! In fact for most of the night she crawled around clutching a twenty dollar bill.

Ryan Turns Another Year Older

Ryan turned 32 on December 3. He was working on his birthday so we celebrated it two days later. (I 've noticed that whenever I post an event Ryan is always working, it may seem like he works alot. In reality he doesn't, it just happens to be a coincidence. He only works an average of 10 days a month. Lets not forget this. He does provide for his family, but he has a nice job.) His favorite cake is a spice cake with carmel icing. I attempt to make it every year but it never turns out. The cake is always dry and the frosting is hard, but you know what they say, its the thought that counts. I made him blow out his candles in an effort to teach our slow child. I tried to teach Lexie how to blow out a candle before her birthday and she never caught on. Lexie and I gave him a bag that straps on the back of the 4-wheeler. It also has a seat so there is a place for Lexie and I to sit when we go on rides.

Birthday Party Pictures

Birthday Party

Lexie had a great 1 st birthday party. She had a lot of friends and family come celebrate her first year. Jodie had helped me make invitations with a cute giraffe. The giraffe theme was carried on to the cake. Ryan thought I was being ridiculous and thought the cake would never turn out. He bet me that I would be at Wal-mart buying a cake before it was all said and done. Three cake boxes later and 2 jars of frosting we had a cake! Lexie didn't know what to think of all the people at her house and she cried when we sang Happy Birthday. I think her favorite part was when she got to eat her cupcake.

First Year Flashback

Lexie Turns the BIG O-N-E!

Can you believe it, Lexie had a birthday! That's right my little girl turned the big #1. The last year has gone by so quickly. It has been a year filled full of new experiences, ones that Ryan and I wouldn't trade for anything. Looking back on our first eight years of marriage Ryan and I had some great times before Lexie. We were able to spend some quality time getting to know each other and just having a good time. We made a lot of great memories. Now life is just different. Its hard to explain, but this little life that came into ours on November 26, 2007 has changed EVERYTHING! There isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't flash that irresistible smile and melt our hearts. There has been more laughter and happiness in our lives since her birth. Her birthday this year fell on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. A party was planned on the following Sunday so we spent her birthday together as a family. She was able to open a present and we had a small Thanksgiving dinner together since her daddy had to work the next day.

Getting Ready For Thanksgiving Dinner!!

This year our little family of three had plans to go to Moab Utah to play on our ATVs with Chad's Family and Shawn and Lacie. Due to some bad luck and the fact that we were feeling really poor, we canceled last minute and stayed home. Ryan went to work and Lexie and I went to Uncle Dennis' House. I decided that since we had time we would try to curl Lexie's hair.Unfortunately her hair was cuter with the curlers in. The end result was disastrous and we ended up washing her hair again! Even with really bad hair Lexie and I had a nice time visiting with family. I am so very grateful for everything I have been blessed with. This thanksgiving I was especially grateful that I wasn't 36 weeks pregnant and miserable. As Grandma Whitten put it, and I quote, "Last year she was as big as a BARN!!"

Lexie, Lexie Pumpkin EATER....

I finally carved out my very large pumpkin and took pictures of Lexie inside. I did it weeks ago but as you can see I have been horrible about updating my blog. Ryan once again was at work and I was on call. So, Hannah was staying with Lexie and I so I would have a sitter on hand if I needed to go into the hospital. What would I do without her? Anyhow, I decided that it would be a perfect weekend to carve out the pumpkin since I had an ambitious 10 year old to take on the task. We didn't tackle the largest pumpkin although it probably would have worked better. As you can tell Lexie wasn't terribly excited about the whole situation.