My Christmas Toy

This is really me. I promise.

Here I am, the day after Christmas up at Benson snow park.

It turned out to be a bummer of a day. I didn't even go a whole lap before the snowmobile died. John finally coaxed it back to life. It barely made it to the trailor. Mike spent the all day Monday trying to get it fixed. I think it's good now. We will go this weekend and try it out. Good news is, I didn't get cold at all. My new snow gear all worked great. Thanks Mike.

We hope this will be a fun activity for both of us to do together.

Here's Mike's Snowbike, which worked fine by the way.

Christmas Day

Sarah got a cabbage patch doll for Christmas.

Isn't our sweet Andy darling? In this picture he looks like a cabbage patch doll but better cause he is real. He smiled and giggled at grandma over Christmas. I loved it.

Here is Andy opening his presents. This is his cute pose before he ripped his Mic-key button(feeding tube) out and had to make a trip to emergency because Sarah didn't have the tools to put it back in because he had only had it for 2 days. He got a new one yesterday.

Ali got an "Easy Bake Oven" for Christmas. She made us dessert. It was a double layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting. It was delicious. Good Job Ali!!

could they be twins born 22 months apart???

I think Porter and Adelaide were supposed to be twins
but were just born 22 months apart.

HOLY *!?# SNOW STORM !*#?

BEFORE

This was our first snow storm. It was so exciting to have snow but then it just kept

snowing

and

snowing

and

snowing

and

snowing

and then we had

freezing rain

and then

more snow

and

AFTER

Our poor birch tree is bent totally over.

My bird bath looks like a cake stand.

All in all we have

*about 12 inches of snow right now

*some cool icicles

*some trees and shrubs that probably won't recover

*and a happy dog that loves running in the snow.

SNOW DAY PARTY

We have had some great weather lately. Sunday a storm came in a dropped about 3 inches of snow. Up in Portland and in some of the higher elevations church was cancelled. (They had more snow up there) Our church was not because most of our snow came Sunday evening. So schools have been closed most of this week. Tuesday John needed to get some work done and Sarah was up at the hospital with Andy so I went up and picked up Ali and we decided to have a snow day party.

First we had a meet and greet and found out our favorite things to do and favorite people to spend our time with. Then we made snow angels. Ali giggled and giggled.

We tried to make snow people. Ali wanted to make a snow grandma and a snowgirl and a snowdog. But we couldn't get the snow to stick into balls. So, we made snowglobs. Pictured above is snowglob Ali with her snowglob puppy woofy. It's good I brought out two carrot noses because Ali ate the first one.

Then we came in the house (Because grandma was too cold) and had our Snow Day tea party. We turned on the fireplace and the Christmas lights and had candy canes, mnm's, snack mix, carrots, apples and hot chocolate. Then we talked to Tiny. Tiny is the name of our Christmas tree. Tiny is very smart. She knows words like expand, contract, consequence, and coincidence. Our tree is very entertaining. Although she is very shy. She will only talk when Ali is around. Maybe because Ali hugs her all the time.

Ali spent the night and grandpa took her home on Wednesday morning. We wanted to keep her longer but Andy came home from the hospital on Tuesday night and Sarah hadn't spent much time with her. If we didn't bring her back she was threatening to come and get her.

It was a fun day. Ali and grandma are already planning our next Snow Day Party.

FUN FACTS

I forgot to add in a few fun facts from my New York Trip.
Before Melissa went into labor we went to Duff's for dinner.
Duff's is the home of the original buffalo wings. This was Melissa's second trip to this establishment to see if the spicy wings would induce labor. They were really good.
The other tidbit I remembered is we had to try "Beef on Weck". (Very popular with the Buffalonians.) It is actually Beef on Kenniweck bread I believe(I probably spelled it wrong). Kind of like an Arby's sandwich but with better bread and more beef.
Also another fun fact, Niagara Falls is better on the Canadian side. So we brought our passports and went into Canada to see it. The falls actually fall from the US into Canada. I always pictured it the other way around. But it was pretty magnificent.

Welcome Baby Adelaide

NEWBORN ADIE

Adelaide Mae Nielsen came to our family on November 15, 2008

She weighed 8 lbs 10 oz.

FIRST HAIRBOW

Adie is grandchild number 9

Melissa is having so much fun with pink and bows.

ADELAIDE TRYING ON HER BLESSING DRESS

PORTER GIVING HER KISSES

Her brother Porter loves her so much. He loves to give kisses and hugs. When he wants a turn to hold her, he says "knees" and pats his knees. He is very soft and gentle.

THE HAPPY FAMILY ON BLESSING DAY

Porter got a new shirt and tie and Adie is wearing her blessing dress made from leftover fabric from Melissa's baptism dress. Her blessing blankie was made by Great Grandma Stevenson.

December is Here

I can't believe that November went by in a blink

I spent most of November in Buffalo New York.

It was very cold and it snowed several days but never stuck for very long.

I played with Porter and snuggled Adie, and shopped with Melissa and did some cooking and cleaning. But it mainly felt like playing.

Melissa and Eric's house is really nice. They have done some nice upgrades to it.

We got to go see Eric's dental School and all his tools and teeth and toys.

When Mike came, we went out and saw Niagra Falls. It was pretty awe inspiring, and very cold.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Melissa and Eric and the Nielsen family.

Friday we got up early and did some black friday shopping. Mike was our driver. He went in to Target but then dropped Melissa and I off at the Mall and picked us up later.

We went and saw "Twilight" in New York. Sarah said not to take Dad because he would ruin it for me. But he was very good. He didn't ruin it at all. Actually Mike really wants to be a vampire now.

Later that day we went out to Palmyra, NY. I'm so glad we went. We saw Hill Camorah. We hiked to the top. As we walked around it was interesting to think that Joseph Smith walked on this Hill and maybe even Moroni.

Then we stopped and saw the Palmyra Temple. The stained glass windows are so pretty. We walked around the whole temple and took pictures. Next time we go I'd like to do a temple session

Then we went to the Smith Farm. Here Mike is standing in Joseph Smith's room in the log cabin. He's standing probably about the place were Angel Moroni was when he talked to Joseph. It's amazing to imagine all those boys in that room and none of them woke up that night while Moroni was there.

We saw the frame home and the other buildings and then walked out to the sacred grove. Although the leaves were gone and there was snow on the ground and it was darn cold, it was still amazing to think that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith right there in that grove of trees.

After that we went to the Grandin Building to see where the Book of Mormon was published. That was a pretty amazing tour.