I forgot to show these.....

Here are some pics of Kels before and after our New Orleans trip. It will show you what we picked up there for her.

Trying to hitch a ride.

Showing off her presents.

Mr. Alligator!:)

Christmas 2011

As mentioned before I'm somewhat behind in posting. There are still things from the summer that I never posted about so whatever. Here's some Christmas pics. Can't get the videos to load. Don't be jealous of my red robe. I know it can inspire such feelings.

Kelsie got some Zhu Zhu Pets from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson. Santa sent her blocks, coloring books, crayons, Minnie Mouse underwear (I guess he is hoping too. No such luck yet, Santa), play dough, and puzzles. Grandma Brown got her a subscription to kids National Geographic.

Later Christmas morning, we left to Grandma Brown's house to eat the traditional Christmas Casserole. Yummy. Did not disappoint per usual. We missed going to AZ to see the Nelson's this year. I think we may have to make the drive next Christmas. 

Kelsie's B-Day Party November 2011

Oops. So I guess I'm a horrible blogger. I noticed recently, after looking at my pics, that I hadn't blogged about Kelsie's birthday. What a disgraceful thing to forget:) 

She had a combined party with her cousin Mary who is 12 days older. The Allen's, The Brown's minus Seth, my Mom and the Carlson's were able to come. The Carlson's brought an awesome gift for Kels. It's a little orange slide from their backyard that Kelsie loves every time we go over there. It has saved me in the last few months of cold weather and nausea.

We ate dinner and Jami made some gluten free dairy free cupcakes. Not too bad. Very rich. Kelsie kept taking more and more off the plate and tried to eat all the frosting. 

As a 2 year old, Kelsie is crazy! She is so stubborn but then so flippin' sweet. Such a rollercoaster. We've had many a tantrums in public places lately. So much fun and not embarrassing at all. 

-Loves books, coloring, play dough, singing "Twinkle Twinkle", "Teach Me To Walk", and the ABC's song

-Plays pretend all the time and always makes us "dinner". 

-Runs so fast now that we have to run to catch her. 

-Prays and thanks Heavenly Father for the snow. Haha. It is pretty funny.

-Talks non stop.

-Loves to cuddle and sit super close. Even if there are many places to sit in the room, she will sit right next to me.

I don't have her stats from the last doc appointment but I remember her weight is 75% and her head and height is 95%.

That is One Good Looking Son of a Gun

.....is what my dad would say to himself in the mirror every morning after getting ready for the day. I learned this from my mom after his death and it does not surprise me!
          This time of year always makes me reflect. I have so many fond memories of the holidays with my family. The wood fire going in the fireplace, a fold up table close to it with a 1000 piece puzzle on top, my mom's breakfast casserole, using my dad's huge socks for a stocking, writing to Santa on post-it notes and getting answers back even into my teenage years, opening presents and laughing on those floral couches in the living room.  Such a simple time that I sometimes wish I could go back and visit.
          I feel much more emotion this month. This random day means a lot more to me now than it ever has. I try not to think about this day, 5 years ago, very much because it's just too hard a memory. I'm sure my dad would rather me be happy and think of better times. I've been profoundly changed by the trials in my life but this one especially. I have a deeper belief in my family being together forever and that there is life beyond this mortal existence. I have often felt my dad's presence in my life watching over me.
         There is a song and video on lds.org that has the song Families Can Be Together Forever and Elder Henry B. Eyring talking as well. He speaks of our families and how you can find the greatest joys and the greatest sorrows in family relationships.  That statement really speaks to my heart. It makes me realize that my pain is not mine alone but that others have experienced it. The Savior has experienced it. And His spirit can comfort me.
         Even if you don't believe in what I believe, I think anyone could gleam an important message from this video, be inspired from it or just listen to the sweet music.

Our Trip to NOLA

At the beginning of December, Chad and I visited New Orleans. Chad was invited to a big pharmacy ASHP meeting so I got to tag along with him. He came in the day before I did and hung out with his friend Ben from work.  I read all over that you have to go down Bourbon Street. When I talked to him the next day, he told me that he doesn't think I want to go down Bourbon Street.  I was curious so asked why. Apparently, he and Ben had gone down there and it was pretty scandalous. Nice. But really, what do expect of a city that you get a plastic bead necklaces thrown at you if you flash someone? A lot like the Vegas strip condensed into a very small street.  Needless to say, the night I came in, the group we were with wanted to go to a restaurant on said street but luckily it was at the start where there was no scandal to be found.  So I guess I walked 20 yards onto Bourbon Street, restaurant was packed, turned around and found somewhere else to eat.  As seen below.

Holy everything fried fried food! I could only handle that for one night! Wasn't horrible but wasn't amazing. Mulates was fun because it had a live band and there was this old couple two stepping on their dance floor.

We stayed at the Hilton Riverside. You could walk out and see the Muddy Mississippi River and sometimes hear the ship's horns. It was pretty huge. I sat out there one day when Chad was busy and read a book. Without Kels around it was nice just to relax for a while.

This was the VA's poster at the conference center. This day, they were trying to recruit pharmacy residents to their program. So they would talk and answer questions. They had tons of applications this year.  While Chad was doing his recruiting,  I walked around the city a little bit. I didn't feel as safe here as I did in D.C. It's funny because I went all over D.C. on the subway and everything. New Orleans is just not my kind of town.

Eventually, we did get out of the city and took a tour to a plantation called Oak Alley with Ben and Art. This is Ben below with me. We were freezing! The first days we were there was overcast but in the 70's. Then a cold front came through and it was windy and 50's. Bbuurrrr. The bus driver that took us over to Oak Alley told us every bit of info about New Orleans that we could handle! But it was entertaining. The gentlemen who did the tour inside the plantation house had this great accent and was fun to listen to. When we left, I told him thank you and shook his hand and he said "Thank you, Baby." Probably the only time someone has called me 'baby' and I haven't been offended. He was lucky he had a cool accent and was older:)

 

You can't take any pics inside but look how beautiful the front yard is. The oak trees are just magnificent and they intertwined at the top. It was gorgeous!

A gas burning lamp. There were a few all over. We both thought these were really neat. I think they had some gas burning lamps in London but I'm not sure.

 

One night, we went out with all the pharmacy people from the VA and we ordered charbroiled oysters. They were awesome! I saw what a raw oysters looked like and definitely passed on those suckers. I'm usually up to try anything but not those boogers. Yuck! The last night we went out for a lobster dinner at The Star where I had bought a Groupon.  It was pretty good but I think the oysters where the best things we tried! I don't think I'll go back to New Orleans but it was fun to check out. 

Temple Square

We visited Temple Square at the end of November to see all the lights. The perfect time to go is right when they turn the lights on around 5pm because there is hardly anyone there. We parked by the conference center and walked to the Joseph Smith Memorial building to eat dinner at the Nauvoo Cafe. Chad got the pot pie and it was seriously awesome! My sandwich was only so so.

Would not smile for the camera but wanted me to keep taking pics. Grumpy gus.

The Nativity.

We also went inside the visitors center and watched an old school church video about the birth of Christ. I'm kind of excited to see what new church videos come out in the future with that big set they made in Southern Utah. 

Halloween Visits

Kels and I visited Grandma Brown and Daddy at work on Halloween. We're behind a bit:) Sorry no pics of Dad's visit.