5 months of fun

Wow - 5 months since I last blogged! I'm not sure I have a really good excuse. I certainly have more pictures than ever that I'd love to be sharing with everyone since Stephen and I got a new camera for Christmas! Since I do want to share so many of our great photos - this will surely be a long post! As Oprah says in her magazine: "Here we go!"

Wayyyyyy back in December - Annika turned 3! Three years old . . . how did that happen!? We celebrated as usual with a party in Cheyenne where lots of her little buddies were able to join in the celebration and then with a second party in Kemmerer (bottom picture). For the Kemmerer party we decided to have our little budding account begin working on her addition skills by using a 1+2 = 3 approach with the candles. . . . or maybe her mom just forgot to bring candles!

We were able to take an entire week off over Christmas and spend a lot of time in Kemmerer and Salt Lake City. It was a wonderful vacation and super nice to catch up with a lot of family members on both sides of the family. Here is a little slideshow of our Christmas Festivities.

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When we got back to Cheyenne we settled in for 7 straight weekends at home. That has to be some sort of a record for us! We were able to decorate a super girly girl room for Annika where we hope she is enjoying sweet dreams in "pink" each and every night. I am really excited with how it turned out.

We were able to take a couple of quick day/evening trips down to Fort Collins where Annika enjoyed playing at "Jump In" - an indoor jumping park with lots of inflatable toys for kids to play on.

Grandma & Grandpa Kiren visited over Valentines Day and Stephen and I went on a date to Denver, which was a great time. Annika loved decorating cookies, and talked about the pink frosting for weeks!

Annika has also been going to Dance Class once a week and really enjoying it for the most part (sometimes she just runs laps around the studio . . . we might have to try soccer or Tee Ball this spring). This is her "getting ready to take a bow" position. She has a big performance coming up on Friday April 16th. It's sure to be a treat.

After 7 weeks of being at home in Cheyenne, we were getting cabin fever. So Annika and I loaded up the car and headed to Casper where we went picked Diane and her twin 18-month old boys, Carter and Cooper. We then drove 6 hours (7 since we got lost) to our friend Natalie's house to see her, her husband (Ryan) and her 3 kiddos - Brennan, Shawn, and Alexis (the newest addition - 2 months old). This slide show shows the adventures that were had over the weekend of geting together with my college girl friends. We were pretty nervous about 6 kids under the age of 4 getting together, but all things considered the trip went remarkably smoothly!

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Since I have been such a slacker with pictures lately you are probably wondering about this ever-changing three-year old, Annik,a that we love and adore so much. Here are some pictures to let you know what she is like these days.

She is a lefty.

She has beautiful curls that are at times uncontrollable and at other times are really pretty ringlets.

She is a Rockstar in Training.

She is a snow fashion-ista!

Annika loves many people in her life SO MUCH.

We certainly love her too! And I am especially fond of this picture. . . good night!

Fall 2009

I don't have a lot to say about this fall so far that can't be told through the brief photo album included below. We have been enjoying many weekends at home which is unusual for Team Nelson, but we're kind of getting used to it. (I think a few hundred people said this might happen after children, but it is 3 years into it and we are just now starting to believe it. . . . and embrace it!).

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Turning 30!

Well - it is official - I'm not "young" anymore. It is funny. As you turn 30, you get a lot of big messages from people about what it meant to them to turn 30. One that rang true for me was that there is suddenly increased pressure to act mature and make good decisions because you can no longer rely on the "young and dumb" excuse for your actions. That made me smile - I have never used that excuse. . . people just no I am a spaz, so I think I am in the clear. I am actually approaching my 30's with a great deal of peace and hope for a wonderful decade. I hope to enjoy my family during my 30's while still keeping my friends close.

To help me turn the page to this new chapter in my life, my wonderful family came to celebrate. My brother actually flew in from NYC and was waiting at my house when I got home from work on Friday. Boy was I shocked and thrilled to see him. What a guy! Here are some photos taken after the fiesta was over and we were back at the house:

The Kiren family in some BIG sombrero's.

Stephen and I - Self Portrait - He loves the hat!

The best brother anyone could ever ask for!


Stephanie and My Mom - Wonderful Women (read below!)

Stephanie is my college roommate and still good buddy all of these years later . . . can it truly be possible that it has been 8 years since we were roommates. . . all the facts are stacking up against us being much much older! She was also a big piece of the party planning and throwing committee. - these wild women cooked and cooked and cooked and baked and cooked and cooked and did TONS of dishes. The photo above shows the 100 or so tortillas that were left over after the big shin dig. It was wonderful and we've enjoyed every last bit of leftovers too! Stephanie - the cupcakes were great.

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard and traveled so far to make my birthday so very special! Love to you all!