Spring Break and Easter

This week was a wonderful week at the Nelson home. It was Spring Break. In our home, that means NINE whole mornings without alarm clocks. It was blissful. In all honesty, we did nothing. It was perfect.

Here are some highlights from our week:

Saturday, Cody and I took Carley to the movie to see Horton Hears a Who. It was her first time in a real theater since she was a tiny baby. She loved the sprite and popcorn and thought she was something special. She made it through about half of the movie, but talks big about it. It was a cute memory.

Sunday was a normal church day. That afternoon I got a pedicure and then that night we had Growth Group. We love our Growth Group so much. The couples in there are so sweet and have shown a genuine love and compassion for our family. We are blessed by these couples who are in different stages of life from us that are always caring and ready to show us the ropes.

Monday Carley and I spent the entire doing nothing. Other than a trip to Walmart we stayed at home and played and played. It was wonderful and so relaxing.

Tuesday we drove to the big town of Lamesa to meet our friends Mark and Tara for dinner at KBobs. They were in from Fort Worth in Midland working so it was the perfect meeting spot. I am always thankful for the opportunity to see them. The 45 minute treck to Lamesa was the farthest we went all holiday. Oh, I also got a hair cut that afternoon.

chilling with Dad

Wednesday was a family day at home. Carley and I made omelettes for Cody and we all spent the morning in our pjs. That afternoon we had Carley's pictures made. It was a crazy process, but the picts are great. I'll post when I get them in. That night we went to church. When we were walking in, Carley fell and hit her head on the brick floor in the basement. She got a HUGE purple goose egg. Both Cody and I were scared more than she was. It is amazing how quickly kids can fall and hurt themselves. After we realized she was just fine, I was secretly thankful that the bump happened AFTER Easter pictures. :)

Thursday, the extent of our activity was walk to the park, watering the grass, blowing bubbles, and coloring. You can see the bruise in the picture below.



Friday we met my parents for breakfast at IHOP. They have the cutest Dr. Suess breakfast there in honor of Horton. It is green eggs and ham and then Whoville pancakes with a sucker in them. Carley and I thought they were great. Then we went to see Cody at the station. On Thursday night Cody saved a dog with mouth to snout CPR. The owners were so thankful. We went to the station to tell him congrats and to listen to the other guys tease him and praise him. It was so funny.

This weekend was more family time. We are so thankful for Carley. Cody and I have had lots of conversations in the past month about how blessed we are and how thankful we are for her. Life and plans have no guarantees, so we are thankful for TODAY and for her.

Easter was a cold day here. Church was really good and then lesson was really powerful. We are thankful for this LORD's Day especially and to take the time to really focus on the Resurrection that gave us all life.

My parents came over for lunch. This was my first big holiday meal to cook. It was so fun. I made this sunflower peep cake that I saw in Taste of Home magazine. Mine fell far in comparison with theirs, but it was still cute. The Easter Bunny left the eggs inside because it was so cold. He also left Carley a swing that matches the Bed and Stroller that Santa gave her and the diaper bag and kick gym that Cupid gave her. Those magical creatures sure work together well!

Hope your week was wonderful too. Happy Easter!

4 Years!

Today is our 4 year anniversary! I am so blessed by our marriage and to have Cody as the number one in my life. Several of you bloggers do not Cody and really haven't known me too well since college. All I can tell you is Cody is the perfect match for me. We compliment each other in so many ways and are similar where it matters. You would all love him. In honor of our anniversary, I thought I would post some pictures from the big day. King's photography did them. They all have a blogger or two in them.

On a side note, Cody passed his National Paramedic Test today. This is a VERY hard test and a huge accomplishment for Cody. He has literally been working on this for over TWO years! Good job, Cody!

And Cody sent me flowers at work today. I was the envy of all the girls at work today. Little do they know I should be the envy of them every day, not because of the flowers, but because of the sweet husband who shares his life with me.
My beautiful Bridesmaids

Our Sweet Houseparty

Look how little Lauren was!

Marcy and Chris sang at our wedding. Now he is a real live star on Broadway!

I just like this picture of us and the Kings

Fun with the Beatty Family

On Sunday one of my very best friends and her husband and daughter came to visit. Tiffany was part of a very fun, eventful, changing, random, and sweet time of my life. We were in the singles program together right out of college and became life long friends. We have been on several vacations (including an infamous trip to Vegas), been on the longest double date in the history of America together, laughed, cried, shared, shopped, and have been through a lot together. The last time I saw Tiffany was at her wedding TWO years ago. Carley was three months old. Now Tiffany and Sean are the parents of a BEAUTIFUL baby girl named Caroline and our lives are very different that the two single fancy free girls from the earlier part of the decade! :) The Beatty Family met us for church on Sunday and then we spent the entire day together and they spent the night at our house. At 12:30 last night we all finally went to bed. I was laying in bed, so happy from the day I had just had, and I joyfully said, "Tiffany and I have been talking for 14 hours straight". Cody looked at me and said, "I know. Sean and I both know." Thank goodness for our sweet husbands who tolerated our giggling all day! :)

The 17 month old that can read

Several of you Lubbockites saw this on our news. Here is a link to a story about a Lubbock baby who can read at 17 months. It is crazy.

http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?s=7937573

Carley could read at 16 months. These parents are such slackers. (Just Kidding)

Also, note the shout out to Singing Time in the story. :)

The Big 3-0!

Today is my 30th Birthday! The BIG 3-0! How did it come so quickly?

I had a WONDERFUL weekend. I am so blessed to have such great family and friends. On Friday, the girls from church took Amy B. and I to Abuelos for our 30th birthdays. It was so fun to have some girl time! :) I am so mad I did not get a picture of everyone there though! Then a few of us went and saw Definitely, Maybe at the movies. It was cute and something I had really wanted to see! When I got home about midnight that night, I came in to the sounds of my sweet husband with the stomach bug. I had the bug on Thursday and I guess I gave it to him for Friday. The sweet boy didn't even call me to tell me he was sick because he didn't want to mess up my girls bday night! What a sweetie! Luckily he felt better the next morning.

On Saturday my parents kept Carley so Cody and I could go to lunch at Cheddars and then to go see Vantage Point. (I liked it alot. It was unique and entertaining.) We had fun just being together and then my parents kept Carley for an extra hour so I could go take a NAP! YAY!!!!! After my wonderful nap, we met Cody's special family, the Spann's for birhtday dinner at Carinos. They were so sweet. Cody surprised me with a big cookie cake for dessert! It was so fun. I had such a good time with these sweet people.

Then Sunday morning Carley sang me the sweetest rendition of Happy Birthday. Cody had prepped her so well! We went to church and got to see so many of my sweet friends and family friends and was wished Happy Birthday by so many people I love. Also, today was Baby Blessing Day. It warmed my heart to see so many special babies there that I had prayed for and loved that God blessed us with this year! Right after class I was in the auditorium, just chatting with my friends when someone told me I needed to go in hallway. They looked concerned so I went. I looked up and saw my sister and my nieces! They had flew in and surprised me for my birthday! Tears started coming down my face. It was SO great to have them here and especially fun with a surprise! We went to Rosas and ate with my parents and then went over to mom and dad's for birthday cake! My mom made the MOST delicious strawberry cake ever! Then I got to open presents! Cody gave me an IPOD and my parents gave me a beautiful pearl drop necklace. My sister gave me all sorts of fun scrapbooking stuff, a new purse, lip gloss, and took me to see The Other Boleyn Girl. (It was a hard movie to watch, but VERY interesting). Then we went to Texas Roadhouse for a yummy dinner. After dinner we went back to my parents where my mom had ordered a cupcake tree full of cupcakes! My niece, Lauren, was especially excited about all the birthday surprises she had pulled off.

It was such a wonderful weekend. Did you notice 3 good movies at the theater, 5 delicious meals out, and 3 different desserts! , So many of you sweet bloggers sent cards, gift cards, jewelry (the year of the accessory), emails, ecards, text messages, and voice mails! Thanks for reading this long email and making my 30th bday so special!

Kids say the darnest things

Today, after work I picked up Carley and told her we need to run an errand on the way home. I told her we needed to get some groceries at the store. When she saw Walmart, my chatty little two year old said, "Wow, Walmart! How wonderful! It is beautiful!" I started laughing because I have never heard her say wonderful or beautiful before. Then we got out of the car and she started repeating those three little exclamations over and over again. I guess I am raising a true Walmart fan and I guess Walmart is wonderful and beautiful. Who knew?

Signing Time

"There's singing time, and dancing time, and laughing time, and playing time, and now it is our favorite time, Signing Time."

If you have kids, and you do not currently watch Signing Time, you need to do so. I am so serious! Signing Time is a TV show that airs once a week on PBS. (In Lubbock it is on Sunday mornings at 8:30) This show is so good. It is hosted by Rachel, her daughter Leah (who is deaf), and her nephew, Alex. Rachel and her family write all the songs and come up with the most creative ways to teach letters, numbers, and words. Carley LOVES this show. It is her favorite. It it totally educational. Cody and I are hooked on it too. Not only have we both learned lots of signs and songs, but Carley has also learned lots of concepts (seasons, colors, rooms in the house) too. Alyssa and I learned sign language when we were in the 5th grade at our elementary school. Then Alyssa went on to take some college courses for her Speech Path major. It is a neat and fun language to know about and to share with others. Cody loves it now too. Even my dad came over and watched it one afternoon and was enthralled and started practicing. It is a very family friendly 25 minutes on TV.

When I first heard about it, it was from Cody's sister-in-law. She said it was the only show that all of her kids liked. (She had 4 kids at the time). I was doubtful until I watched it. We are all believers now.

If you or your kids watch Singing Time, please back me up here. You know you watch it and you know you love it. Give Singing Time a try and let me know what you think!

Happy Late Valentines

I know it has been awhile since Valentine's, but we have just been having lots of family time lately and I haven't blogged about it. Cody and I have had the same tradition for years and I love it. We both take an afternoon off work (usually it is actually Valentine's Day, but this year it was the 13th) . We always go to lunch at Harrigan's, which is where we got engaged, and then go to a movie. We went and saw the Bucket List. It is very good. I really enjoyed it. Cody did too. We love our lunch date because the crowds are small, the movies are cheap, and Carley is at child care anyway. I highly recommend getting away during the day together. The conversation seems so much better too.

Carley had a cute Valentine's party at Granny's with her little friends. She really got into it, which was funny. The best part of all was the present she gave us. For a long time she has been saying "I love you" kind of smooshed together like "Ilauuu". It has been precious. When I picked her up on Valentine's she came running up and said, "I LOVE YOU, MOMMY!" It was so clear and the words had a huge space in between them. Granny had worked with her all day on it. It was so sweet.

I forgot to post some of my favorite pictures of my sister's visit last week.


I love to put the girl's hair in pig tails when they are here. It always cracks me up. Here they are in their Strawberry Shortcake outfits. Thanks, Nana


Here is my little buddy, Camryn. How cute is she?


This is Carley's best friend at Granny's. Her name is Abbi and she is just the sweetest girl. Carley is 6 months older than Abbi and she keeps Abbi hopping all day long. They dressed alike for Valentine's Day.



Carley got a diaper bag and a kick gym for her baby dolls that matches the stroller and bed she got from Santa for Christmas.


Finally, here is my drama daughter posing and telling the paparazzi to keep their distance.

Who Pimped My Blog?

The answer is Melody M. Her link is on the right side of my page. Thanks, Melo! I love it! Contact her if you would like her to jazz up your blog as well!

catching up

First of all, thanks for the 31 comments last time and votes of encouragement on the hair. So far it has been a success. You blogger girls are always there for me.

My sister and her girls were in town this weekend. We had so much fun being together. We shopped, went and saw Fool's Gold, and ate some good food. It is always so fun to be around my sister and her girls. Poor little Camryn ended up with a high fever and an ear infection. She was still a trooper though. Carley is missing her cousins so much.

The writer's strike seems to be over so I am very excited about the prospects of some new TV shows. Thank goodness I have had Lost and Friday Night Lights to keep me going.

Finally, I will close with a sweet Carley moment. She loves to play with her sweet little baby dolls. I came into the kitchen the other day and she had made a make shift high chair for her baby Ariel and was feeding her "applesauce". Sometimes she is so creative and inventive. I just love watching her grow and change.

I'm not a girl.....not yet a woman

The famous poet Brittany Spears sang this lovely ballad years ago when I felt more like a girl. Lately I have been wanting to look and feel different. I am not 22 anymore, but I don't want to feel like I am 42 either. In December, I deemed 2008 the "year of the accessory" and my family helped by buying me lots of fun and cute jewelry for Christmas. This started my journey into trying to look and feel more trendy, when really, I am not trendy at all.

Yesterday I woke up and decided it was time for a new hairstyle so I called a girl that had cut a friend's hair and got my hair all cut off. I have not had layers this short since birth. We will see how it goes. I was able to somewhat style it this morning. Here I am about to go to work. I am very nervous to debut my new look. Wish me luck.

Happy 30th Jessica!

We celebrated Jessica's 30th birthday tonight. Jessica is one of my dearest friends. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding and she is part of Cody's (honorary) family. She always says we are more than family and more than friends. I love this girl and her sweet and caring heart!

Here are pictures of Cody's family as well. I have talked about the Spanns so much, that I thought I would post some pictures!

The first one is me and Jessica
Then you have Faith (Jessica and Aaron's daughter) and Carley
Below is Cody with Oleta who he calls mom
Then Aaron (Cody's oldest brother), Jessica, and their son Alex.
And Cody with his arm around Tim (the best friend that let us be their family)









Below them is Jason (the youngest Spann brother) and their son Kooper.
The next one is Brindy (Jason's wife) and their sweet new baby Peytonn Claire. Can you believe this is their 5th child??
Then Tim and his girlfriend Mandie with 3 of Jason's kids, Kooper, Peytonn, and Jaycie.
The picture with the 4 adults are Cody's uncle and aunt and then Frank and Oleta.
Cody and Carley had so much fun playing. Here is Carley cheating at Skiball and Air Hockey!