Thursday, January 28, 2010

Uh-Oh!

I walk out of the bathroom for a few minutes and walk back in to find this

Her rubber shower toys in the toilet...eeeks!

Anyway, we have gotten her a few new toys lately to keep up with her need to have something new to explore...and mostly chew on.

A mini shopping cart for her to practice walking with and later in life to help Mommy at the grocery store--Big Fun Toys, Hoboken

Tunnel tent to have fun crawling through and playing peek-a-boo--side walk give away

Wooden activity block she can stand up to--same side walk give away

Wooden rocking horse she is not quite ready for--craigslist

Wooden kitchen--also craigslist

I thought these were fun Hoboken finds. We only spent $112 for all that stuff.


I am going to be getting my top two teeth soon, ouchies!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Some Good Times


Matt and I went on a date! Our first one since Carlee was born...9 months ago. We had some Friends watch Carlee Saturday night and went to a free concert with some classmates of Matt's in Manhattan at the Lincoln Center. It was the Julliard ChamberFest put on by some talented students. That is about all we had time for, with a quick stop for some ice cream on our way to pick up sleeping Carlee. It was fun. To begin the day I went for a run and then we cleaned the church and on our way home Matt spotted some toys put out on the sidewalk not too far from our pad that were accompanied by a a sign that read "free stuff, please take" so we did. We got this cool wooden box with activities on every side and on top. Don't worry, we sanitized it! Carlee can stand up to it to play so she loves it. It is as tall as her. We also got a tunnel tent that Carlee has fun crawling through. Score! (Sorry, no pics of the toys, Matt has our only camara at school.)



Monday, since it was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, We loaded up and drove a couple of hours to New York's Minnewaska State Park Preserve to explore the Shawangunk Mountains and the Peter's Kill rock climbing area. It was crisp, blue sky day when the weather forecast called for rain; how sweet it was that we got sunshine instead! We weren't exactly in the mountains and far from being in the wilderness. It was still good for the soul however, to take a few steps away from civilization and get some fresh air. We could still hear cars and airplanes, but at least we couldn't see em' and for a while, the peaceful song of the icy stream meandering its way through snow and ice and spilling over rocks drowned out every other sound. We trudged through the snow and got out on some pretty nice cliffs as well. It will be amazing to see the view this fall with Autumn colors blanketing the valley. Hopefully we can go back in the warmer season too and use our rock climbing gear again! There is still a lot to do and see and we have to go and get more apple cider at the little Jenkins-Lueken Orchards shop just off the road because it is absolutely delish! To top off this perfect day, we went and had pizza, cake and ice cream at a friend's home in celebration of their little guy turning one. Some good times indeed.



Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Celebrating


The highlight of our Christmas trip for me was definitely the talent show my family held on Christmas Eve. My talent was rather lame, I pulled some honey and vinegar taffy before we left. I just gave everyone some of the taffy and read a stupid poem I threw together that day about taffy. It is not clever enough to post...however, Matt wrote a song to the tune of "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and then was brave enough to sing it (amazingly well) to my whole family. It is most definitely clever enough to post (as hand scribbled by Matt):

This song is about Christmas
and my little wife Julee
and how we never go to Oregon for Christmas.
Back in 2006, I married Julee,
for the first two years you see Julee had to work-er-erk
We stayed at our house, by-ya our-r-selves.
We were ha-happy, but we missed our families
Then last year we finally went to see our family
it was Jordi's last year, so we went to the cabin,
all was good and we were happy, e-e-even me
because next year we would be heading to Oregon.
Then Julee-eee came to me and told me
Matthew this is the year my whole family will be
together for Christmas, so we have to go
and be with them for Christmas so i can be happy.
So you see I never, will be,
with my family, while I am with Julee.
so next year we will be, in Oregon
because if we don't go Julee will need a new husband
so now this song is over, and I hope you liked it,
I am joking so merrery Chrisistmas.

It had everyone laughing good, especially me! My sister-in-law Kara read every one's Chinese horoscopes for her talent. It was crazy how accurate all of them were (except for my mom's). Check this out and see what you think.

I am a pig:
The Pig is a fun and enlightening personality blessed with patience and understanding. People born under the sign of the Pig enjoy life and all it has to offer, including family and friends. They are honest and thoughtful and expect the same of other people. Pigs can be perceived as oblivious or gullible because they do care about others so much that they will do just about anything for a friend in need. "Its better to give than to receive" would probably be the Pig’s motto. Pigs are more comfortable giving of their own time or attention than they are to ask others for it. They do not find asking for help an easy task and would rather carry the burden themselves. Pigs will do anything they can to maintain a sense of peace amongst family or friends. This can lead to a tendency to be taken advantage of, but Pigs basically forgive and forget everything. They are compassionate souls who simply want to keep the peace.
Matt is the rooster:
Roosters are not extremely easy to live with. However, if you can get past their bossy, obstinate, my way or no way exterior, you find a wonderfully romantic, caring individual hidden beneath. Their hearts are made of solid gold and they genuinely care abut their family and friends as mush as they care about themselves (believe it or not!). They are not suited for a sensitive partner, again, their candor and wit can be humiliating at times. Roosters can be highly critical of their partners, often expecting too much of them. The Rooster is a flamboyant personality, feisty and obstinate. He is quite the extrovert who loves to strut his stuff and is proud of who he is. Outwardly confident, the Rooster is also a trustworthy, hardworking individual. He’ll tell it like it is with no qualms or reservations. Roosters are very loyal individuals. They do not like dishonesty or mockery of any sort. They are blunt, up front and honest people and expect those around them to be the same.
Carlee is the Ox:
Children born under the sign of the Ox are quiet and amenable. They develop into solid, independent, resourceful children, and are happiest when left to entertain themselves. If interrupted, provoked or forced to do something against their will, they are likely to pout or show themselves, despite their audience. Generally, Ox-born children are shy, and for many, childhood is quite lonely partly due to them liking to be alone and partly because their siblings are usually much older or younger than they. At school, subjects with a constructive appeal will be of the most interest to them. They like art and music as well. They are creative children who enjoy sports too. They are respectful, polite, hard-working, children…something their parents take very seriously.

The highlight for Matt was shooting guns in Rexburg with his Brother-in-Law Jared. While we were in the West, we saw a total of 25 family members and 4 friends. It was busy and nice to see so many of our loved ones. We miss everyone and love you all.
Carlee's first Christmas was also Carlee's first bad cold/cough/ear infection. She has 5 boy cousins and they all wore matching p.j.s on Christmas Eve. She had those p.j.s on when we went to the airport to fly home. A bunch of strangers kept saying, "Oh, he is so cute, he this, he that." It was driving us crazy so we put on a pink pair!

For the New Year I have two simple goals. The first being to start running again which I started today and the second being to memorize "The Living Christ" (my mom and dad both memorized this and my dad recited it for his Christmas Eve talent and then challenged us all to do the same.) I have the first paragraph memorized so far. If you are curious what this is and want to read it, just copy and paste the following into your internet address bar and it will come up: http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,163-1-10-1,FF.html







Matt's parents came to stay with us for a few days before we headed to Utah for Christmas. Here are some highlights:

Pizza in Hoboken (Carlee and Grandpa Nielsen sharing a pizza crust)

Visiting the Statue of Liberty on a freezing snowy day

Seeing the tree at Rockefeller Center

Checking out the window displays at Macy's and 5th Ave
We loved having them here and built some good memories. Thank you for coming! We love you both.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Christmas post coming soon but first this little tid bit:

Carlee has been having some pooping issues lately. Not that she can't poop, no, in fact quite the contrary. We woke up one morning last week to poop all over in her Pack n' Play, her dolls, her p.j.s and herself. "Good morning Mom and Dad!" Several days later at church she looked so pretty in her pink velvet dress...
I am in the Primary room just finishing things up and here come Matt and Carlee. Matt is dangling Carlee in the air in front of him by holding onto her wrists. He is acting a little frantic as he tells me to lift up her dress. Not so pretty in pink anymore. "This is a two man clean up job" he says. We rush to the adjoining room with a burrowed changing pad and use up every single wet wipe we have plus several others from the same sympathetic and well prepared friend who so graciously let us use her changing pad as well. Did we finish the job unscathed you ask? No. We both got poop on our hands in the process. It was gross. How can someone so adorable do that? I still can't believe how much dodo there was up her back and in her dress. Sometimes those diapers do their jobs and other times I don't know what good they do at all! Good thing we love her. Did our parents do this for us???
(We thought you would appriciate no photos on this post!)