Packing!

We found a great place to live just a block from our place. It is still in our ward and even closer to campus! Thanks everyone, for all of your help. I am excited to move our stuff in and get settled for Christmas. It really is funny how we can worry about something for so long and then all of the sudden everything falls into place. The Lord really blesses us, we just need to be patient and trust Him.

We are getting ready for the big move. After quite a few trips to D.I., a few good sales on craigslist and a lot of good old packing, we are just about ready to move. Don't get me wrong, our house still looks like a disaster, but it is manageable. Parker has been enjoying this phase. There are things he has never seen before coming out of no where. He particularly likes playing in the suitcases. So I thought I would take this opportunity to show off his cute new PJ's. I love 'em!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so grateful for family. I love having a big family and getting together for the holidays. Everywhere you turn there is someone to talk with, laugh with, eat with, cry with and the list goes on... Here we are, all together after our newest niece, Kaylee's, baby blessing (Minus Michael, Cory, Trena, Jordan and Jamal). Continue on down for more pictures from our wonderful Thanksgiving vacation!

We started out the trip with Parker getting a big lip! My sister, (I won't name any names), gave Parker a bite of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He spit it out, but soon this big lip appeared. Paul and I had already suspected a peanut allergy, from the hives he got when he had a bite of PB and J when we were in Ohio. This somewhat confirms our suspicion. We will have that checked out and get back to you.

Parker made quick friends with his California cousins. He loved that Jordan could push him around on this little truck!



You can also see them having fun together at bath time!








As the adults are now out numbered by the kids, many of the activities centered around them; trip to the park, trip to Chuck E Cheese, trip to the giant bouncy place and then a trip to downtown Riverside to see the Christmas lights on the Historic Mission Inn, which we all enjoyed! (See pictures below).


Of course there were a few Celtic's, Cowboys, BYU and North Huskies' games amongst the Thanksgiving festivities. I think that is one of the things that makes it feel like home; watching football and basketball with my brothers, and everyone all gathered around putting in their 2 cents.

Finally, I choreographed a little "High School Musical" dance for the kids to do on Thanksgiving day. Pretty much, they danced to a song from High School Musical and sometimes even did the same moves at the same time. They actually did pretty good. I was proud.


P.S. I saw the movie, "The Ultimate Gift," (It's on DVD now), for the first time over Thanksgiving break. It was a good movie, with a great message. I just thought that I would promote it. Thanks Andrew and Trena.

Grandma and Grandpa!

Grandma and Grandpa Nelson were in town this past weekend for a memorial for my Uncle Russ. I was able to see many of my cousins that I haven't seen in a while. It was a sad occasion, but I am so grateful to know that our life continues after we leave this Earth. I was really glad to be able to spend time with my parents. Parker had fun too, once he warmed up to them.

Happy Birthday Paul!

Paul's turned 26 years old yesterday. We had a celebration with family; David and Melissa, Trevor, Kim, Jill and Ron and family, Michael, and my parents. It was nice to spend time with everyone. I am sure that Paul enjoyed the break from his studies.

There was just one accident. Paul was throwing the ball in the house and as you can see from the play-by-play photos, he broke one of our picture frames. I think the pictures are funny because they were taken just as it happened.

Books for Babies

This is Books for Babies at the library. Parker just loves it! They sing songs, read stories, and have a puppet show. Parker is enthralled the whole time and loves to see all of the other kids too!

Homeless!

Al's house just sold this weekend. It is really sad because it will, officially, not be 'Al's house' anymore. We sure have loved living here and it will be kind of sad to go. I guess we technically have 30 days to find a new place to live (if everything goes through with the sale of the home, which it appears will be the case). If anyone knows of any places for rent, please let us know. We would like to stay in walking distance of campus, but will look at all possibilities at this point.

Silly Faces

Another one of Parker's favorite games is to get into Paul's closet. He pulls out all of the perfectly organized shoes and anything else he can grab. When that gets old, he closes the closet door and starts making faces at himself in the mirror.

Trick or Treat !

We started our Halloween festivities with 'Trick or Treating' at our ward party. Then, we went on to a Halloween gathering at our friends James and Katie's house. That is Parker above, with his little princess, Gracie (James and Katie's daughter). We finished off by stopping to 'Trick or Treat' at Ron and Jill, David and Melissa, and Kim's houses. Thanks for letting us stop in everyone! Happy Halloween!

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home...

Parker sure loves his Dad! Here he is trying to lick his Dad's face!

Paul has been really busy lately. The first year of Law School would keep anyone busy all by itself, but Paul makes time for church and his little family also. Yesterday was just such a busy day. Paul started with classes all day, mixed in some study time and his part-time job and finished it off with family Halloween fun. On his walk home from school, he found time to stop and help our elderly neighbors turn off their sprinklers and water for the winter. And after we made it through all of our Halloween festivities and were getting ready for bed, I found him upstairs cleaning Parker's bottles. I really couldn't ask for a better husband and father to our little boy.

So Many Cousins!

Last Friday, Parker got to play with his cousin, Trevor. Parker and Trevor are becoming better friends every day. They still like to take each other's toys and Parker is really good at face scratching, but they still like to play together.


1) Trevor's sagging pants

2)Trevor tickling Parker's feet while he was eating

3) Watching Playhouse Disney





Saturday, Parker's cousin, Jordan, was in town. They had fun crawling all around their Aunt Jill's house. Parker was happy until Jill took away the Neosporin he was playing with...












Sunday, Parker got to hang out with his cousin, Evan, before he moved to Houston. (I didn't get any pictures...) We sure will miss you guys!