Happy 4th Birthday!!

Happy 4th Birthday Addi!

Wow, we have a 4 year old, where has the time gone. Addi is such a sweet little girl! We just love her and she is loved by so many. She is such a social butterfly! Some of her favorite times include going swimming and to church. At the pool, she knows everyone and says hi to everyone and while we are down there she will jump from one social circle to the next, it is really quite funny to watch!

This year, we let Addi choose what type of cake she wanted. She chose Darth Vader! The girl is doomed to be a nerd, but at least she is well liked!! Mom was hoping for a pony, barbie or Minnie party - something totally girlie, but we couldn't complain with Darth Vader either. To make it a little less scary, mom accented the cake with purple. We did black and purple balloons and made the party super fun!!! Addi is such a funny little girl and we are so blessed to have her as our little girl.

This is her choosing her cake pan!

Darth Vader w/ purple highlights!

Happy Birthday little Cheeser!!!

4 years old!! That's Amy! She is Addi's babysitter and "big sister" those two are so sweet together! We couldn't ask for a better sitter!

I died the cake purple as well! I think it turned out really well!

Obviously black and dark purple frosting leave the mouth looking rather funny!!!

One happy Birthday girl!!!

We love you Addi, happy 4th Birthday!

Disneyland Vacation Jan. 2013

Since we were already at Disneyland for my run, we decided to have a little family vacation. What a wonderful time that was. With our alternating work schedules we have very limited time together as a family, so this time together was exactly what we needed. With our package we booked we also received a free Character Dining experience. We chose to have Breakfast in the park with Minnie & Friends. Addi was so cute with all of the characters. We had an absolute blast. I love family vacations!

 

 

Addi and Mommy on the jumpin jelly fish!



Carousel ride - we did this about 10 times I think!

Meeting Donald! Our favorite!

Daddy and Addi




Meeting Tigger!

He was so funny!

Goofy Dancing and making the water dance!



Pooh Bear with the Family



Meeting Eeyore! She loves Eeyore.





Mickey Beignets



Riding a carousel - again! We loved it.



Meeting Donald and Goofy!

Belle was so sweet to Addi!

Eeyore and Addi at Breakfast. Eeyore even wrote Addi a letter on a napkin that I saved and put in her baby book. It is so cute!

Disney Half Marathon

I ran in my first half marathon on January 20, 2013. It was a really good experience for me to do. I was impressed by the effect of mind over matter. In my training I had not ran the whole 13.1 miles, so doing that the day of the run was a lot of fun! I had to be at the race by 4:00 am. Tyler and Addi even got up to watch me run. They were up at 5:00 am. It was so nice to run and see them in the crowd. They are my biggest supporters and I love them. The course was set up through Disneyland Park, California Adventure, Downtown Disney area and Downtown Anaheim. I was put in a slower corral as I hadn't ever ran before, that did slow me down from time to time, but overall an accomplishment.

 

 

 

Addi wanted me to hold her after I finished running 13.1 miles.

My time... Not as good as I had wanted, but as you can see running with almost 12,000 people as not easy.

Happy New Year

2013 is in full force and I realized that I haven't posted anything since July... I have so much to catch up on. Another post - possibly. Anyway, we are excited for this year. Lots going on. I am participating in my first 1/2 marathon in January in Disneyland. I chose Disneyland because I love the feeling I get everytime I go to Disney as well as the fact that we can turn it into a fun long weekend and turn it into a tiny vacation! We haven't had one in a while, so this is a perfect opportunity. We are also excited for Tyler's business venture to get started. He has teamed up with another guy and purchased a gourmet food truck. We are working through some legal stuff now, but are confident to be up and running soon. There are a lot of steps and codes and we want to make sure we do everything right in the beginning!

We were able to have some family pictures taken the first part of December by my dear friend Stephanie Tobler! She is so sweet for doing this for us. I appreciate her kindness. She helped us out for a bit last year with taking care of Addi for a few hours every couple of days while Tyler worked out a better schedule at work. She is a dear and a life saver.

 

Happy New Year!

Dad's Visit - Christmas Extravaganza

My Dad was able to come and spend 2 weeks with us in November/December. What a fun visit. He was also here for his Birthday I haven't had a Birthday with my Dad in years. While he was here we celebrated Thanksgiving and his Birthday. Tyler made a delicious meal and I made some pretty awesome pies and a pumpkin cheesecake! DELISH... We hosted this year and had a blast. I love planning for parties. Another fun thing we did while dad was here was go to this fun Christmas Extravaganza at one of the parks where we live. They had reindeer/pony rides, santa, train rides, face painting, elves, cookies & it snowed. Addi loves horses, so we stood in line so she could ride Blossom!

 

 

While in line they had these big candy canes and Addi was loving them. She sure did love hanging out with Grandpa!!

 

 

My friend Stephanie was an elf at the event and did face painting. Addi is not for face painting, but didn't mind her hand getting painted. Steph did a wonderful job! Her snowflake was awesome!

 

 

 

While Dad was here we also went up Red Rock Canyon and hiked around. Dad loved it and so did Addi. I loved this picture of the two of them. I framed it and sent it home with Dad. Such good memories and fun times. We love you Dad.

Boo! Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween!

 

This year Addi wanted to be a princess. After looking at the options in the stores, she told me she wanted a purple and pink dress. As we watching Cinderella, Addi pointed out the purple/pink dress that Anastasia wears and asked for one. Well, they don't sell those in stores, so, I put my home economics classes and other talents to work and made Addi her very own princess dress! The pattern I used was a bit different than I have every used, BUT I learned alot. Next year's costumes: TBD, but I'm thinking super heros... Could be fun! 

 

 

 

Someone is 3

Our sweet Addi turned 3! Wow, how 3 years has gone by so fast..

This was her at her baby blessing August 2009

1st Birthday Party!!! 2010

2nd Birthday!!! 2011

Decorating Mickey Cookies our Theme for her 2nd Birthday 2011.

Family Photo!!! Addi is getting so big!! Just Love her 2012.

A Rose Cake!!! Orange, Purple and Pink!!!

Getting so big!!! New swim suit and Barbie to go to the pool!!!

Addi has a lot of wonderful qualities. She is so kind an sweet to everyone she meets and always says hi!!! She is tall for her age, totally a Nielson!!! She loves to learn new things. She loves Mars and Saturn (thank you Little Einstein's) She loves her stuffed disney pals. She loves puzzles and coloring. We love swimming together as a family too!!! Heavenly Father blessed us with this sweet little girl. So grateful she calls us her parents!!!

Happy Birthday Addi, we LOVE you!!!

4th of July 2012

What a fun day, we started the day at the Summerlin 4th of July Parade. It was a nice and cool morning compared to the weather we had been having!!! We stayed for about an hour and a half and left to go and get ready for a fun party at Haley and Jordan's house... Addi enjoyed swimming and Tyler and the rest of guys sat in the hot tub!!! I had fun the night before helping Haley sew decorations...Then we went home and Addi took a nap and rested for the grand show of fireworks

We folded the back seat of Tyler's Jeep down and sat in the back with blankets. Addi and I were chilly... ha that seems funny as we live in the desert in the beginning of July... Nice the heat wave decided to cool for the evening... What a great day to celebrate our independence and enjoy time with each other as a family!!!

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