Happy Birthday Joel!

On February 19, Joel turned 34! He's getting so old! I think he had a nice birthday...he received a lot of books which he loves! He is the best guy in the world. He is such a great father and wonderful husband. I am so lucky to have him. On a side note...he posed for this picture, he said he looked "studious".


This is the birthday card the kids and I gave him. It is huge! It's about 13x13 and when you open it, it plays the chicken song with the accordion. I love the accordion! Joel got a good chuckle out of it.


That evening we went to the Spaghetti factory for his birthday dinner. It was fantastic! One glitch in the experience was that when the waiter was delivering drinks, he was holding the tray right over Hudson (he was in his car seat) and the waiter got a little tipsy and my drink started falling on Hudson and in mid air, Joel batted the cup away in which it sprayed all over another waiter. All I could do is laugh, and Joel luckily had great reflex to spray the drink over someone else than Hudson. It was awesome, we even got a free meal for the experience.


Jordan and Madi enjoying their Italian Sodas...yummy!

Valentines Day!

For Valentines Day, we made sugar cookies! I know, pretty traditional, but for my kids...it's a treat since I haven't enjoyed cooking until recently. It pretty much took the whole day (well at least half) to complete them. It was fun to watch the kids play with the dough and I think they ate about half the batch of dough.


They were not just making hearts, they were cutting out airplanes, animals, and their favorite was a ice cream cone. I had to remind them that we needed to make a few hearts.


The cutest and sweetest thing was the kids (except Hudson) each made something for Joel and I for Valentines day. Jordan made some heart toast covered with red strawberry jam with conversation hearts all around. Jordan even served mine with a diet coke!

Madi made us a sack full of goodies, and attached to the outside is a bag full of nacho chips with a label on the top that says "I love you" she had this gift ready about a week before Valentines day. What a little sweetheart!

Oh! Sweet Baby

Hudson looks so sweet in this picture, I couldn't help myself but to take a snap! I added the darling baby blankets to my Glistenings line. I'm really excited to get the new products coming in, and yes, I'll still have my jewelry and purses. Check out the Glistenings blog (still in the works) you can click on it at the link the right under "my favorite blogs" or go to www.glisteningsblog.blogspot.com

Winter Hibernation!

January seemed like the longest month ever! We are all looking forward for spring weather.

We love a good Jazz game. Maddie loves to watch the Jazz bear and Okur (I think she might have a little crush on Okur). Maddie just came in the room and saw what I just wrote and wants to make a disclaimer about Okur. Here it goes... she does not have a crush on him, she likes him because he makes all the shots (he wasn't making them that night though). Anyway, The Jazz bear threw us over a bucket of popcorn, so the popcorn flew over everyone and ended up in our hands with about half the bucket left, and we all had popcorn confetti all over us :) Jordan is fun to watch at the games because he just sits and absorbs everything.

Maddie and Joel. Maddie loves to snuggle with her dad!
Yes, I am starting to put pictures of myself for the blog (I refused to while I was pregnant). Isn't Jordan a cutie?
One of the biggest events during January is Maddie lost 3 teeth in January. The tooth fairy is going broke! She looks so cute when she talks...she has a little lisp where she is missing all those teeth! The best is when she gives you a big ol' grin!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MOM!! On January 11, we celebrated moms birthday over at Jer and Lindsays home. Lindsay made that gorgeous cake. She is so talented!
Hudson turned 4 months old and got to start rice cereal. He really likes it now. At first, he would just let it sit on his tongue and coo really loud as the cereal was flying all over. He is a funny little guy.
OPEN YOUR MOUTH!!

Hudson's Baby Blessing

On January 4, 2009 Hudson was blessed in our ward. We had a lot of family there from both sides. He truly is our little angel. He had such a special glow about him that day it was almost as if he knew something very special was happening that day. Joel blessed him and then bore a beautiful testimony about how we knew we were meant to have another child, but out of stubbornness, and some of my health issues we kept putting it off (for 7 years). Joel also gave such a great tribute to me, that made me cry and he also expressed his love for our dear Savior and Redeemer. He also talked about how thankful he was that Joseph Smith was able to restore the church...the true church. The spirit was very thick and strong during that meeting between the beautiful blessing and wonderful testimonies, I could never deny the church. I know now why Hudson was meant to be in our family. He has made our family complete.
BIG OOPS! So, I decided to give all the guys on my list ties for Christmas, well I figured since none of them are in the same ward and live within distances apart, I could pick out my favorite ties and buy some of the same. Well, it just so happens that my dad and Lance wore the same tie (Crap!), same color of shirt, and same color of pants. They all stood in the circle together too. They both look so handsome though...who could complain?
My sweet, dear husband Joely Bear!!! (how cheesy does that sound?) I love my Joel though. I am so glad he could bless our baby and I am so thankful for the priesthood that he holds to carry our family through the rough times, and inspire us all to do what is right.
Our "after the blessing dinner" was so yummy thanks to everyone pitching in and bringing food. We had about 25 people for dinner. It was so fun to have everyone together.
My kids and my niece and nephew... they are such cute cousins.
Another pic of Hudson before I changed him out of his blessing outfit.

Hudson smiling at the birdy!

Hudson is so funny the way he is just so intrigued by this bird on his swing. He will sit and laugh and talk to it, in fact I have to look at the bird to see if it actually is smiling or talking :) Unfortunately, the birdy only talks to Hudson.

Our Family

We had this picture taken over at one of our friends' homes. It seems like we never get all of us in a picture, so it was nice to have our whole family in the picture. I am so thankful for my family, and all the happiness and joy they bring. We all have our unique ideas and quirks, but somehow we all get along and love each other. I really hated to see the Christmas break end because it seems like for that two weeks, all that we had to worry about was things like...what game to play next, what party or event we have that evening, etc. It was so fun to see family and friends, and people that we often don't get to be with all but once a year.

Enjoying Christmas time

This is soooo Maddie! She totally dug the eye mask gift. She actually wears it at night...which I'm sure wouldn't be too surprising. She's snuggling up with her American doll (Bitty Baby) that she named "Holly". The doll has so many similarities to Maddie when she was a baby...the cute cheeks, nose and lips.
Hudson was enjoying the holiday the way it should be for a kid his age! He is such a cute and fun kid.
This is one of Jordans favorite things...model airplanes (or real ones too!)
One of Hudson's first smiles caught on camera. He loves to smile, coo, snort, and make some weird frog noise. Most of all, he loves being right in the mix of things. He loves to lay in the center of the room and just fall to sleep. He has a harder time falling to sleep in a quiet crib. Oh! I made the quilt he's lying on for his gift from us. I'm just a beginner... but it was so fun!
This is some of Hudson's gift's from Santa...he has absolutely no idea what is going on, he was just laying there waiting for someone to talk to him!
Jordan and grandpa watching Batman on Jordan's DVD player. Hey Lindsay, if you read this, CAUTION!! THIS IS NOT A MOVIE FOR BRIDGER! IT WILL CREATE A LIFETIME OF NIGHTMARES!
Jordan picked out this cute Hannah Montana watch to give Maddie. She loves it!

Dance, Dance, Dance!

Every couple of months, the parents get to go and watch a portion of what the kids are learning in their dance class. On Monday, we got to see a portion of Maddie's class dance. My camera couldn't record the whole thing, but here is part of it.

PJ's!

Joel and I hanging out in our jammies!
One of Grandma Nielson's traditions is to get all the grand kids new Christmas jammies. They all look so cute and just ready to wake up to see that Santa has come! The kids just love it!
Even little Hudson got some cute monkey jammies, Maddie got sock monkey ginger bread men PJ's.
Maddie rocked Hudson asleep. How sweet!
Do you believe Hudson cries? Well he does, he can't be perfect in every aspect:)
Hudson was hanging out in this picture just watching us make Gingerbread houses and listen to Joel pounding peppermints.

Gingerbread Houses!

On our snowy Saturday, we made Gingerbread houses. We had so much fun...it's fun to see everyone's creativity come out.

This is Jordan's Gingerbread house...it reminds me of Rainbow Bright!
This one is Maddie's house...I love the pond all around the side with the fish.
This is mom and dad's house...it has light posts and everything all around it...it is a masterpiece!
This one is me and Joel's house...he made a taco car in front of the house with a cool gingerbread dude driving it. (below)
The coolest gingerbread man ever! Check out those eyes!
Us.
Mom and dad.

How to smash peppermints?

Last Saturday, was really snowy and icky, so we decided to make Ginger Bread Houses, and Joel wanted to make peppermint bark...slight problem though, we seriously could not get that many peppermints smashed, So we began trying a lot of methods and experiments. Take a look...



The beautiful finished product, and it was sooo good. In case you were wondering, the car did not smash all the peppermints, Joel just ended up pounding each individual one with the back of a heavy ice cream scoop. Good job Joel!

Growing kids!

These pictures were taken just recently. Jordan is 11 (12 in March) Maddie is 7 and Hudson was 2 mo. in this photo. They grow too fast!

Hudson slept during the whole sitting!

My personal favorite...he is just a little sweetheart! He is truly as sweet as he looks. He is such a good baby (thank heavens!) We are so lucky to have him in our family.

Madison is 7 Years Old!

Happy Birthday Maddie! You are a cute and sweet girl! You add so much personality to our family. As a lot of people know, we call you "mother Maddie" because you are always so cute to look out for all of us. Your smile can brighten anyone's day. We love you!!
Maddie had a great birthday. She had 4 parties, the lucky girl. Everyone was so cute to give her such cute and thoughtful gifts. She is a well loved little girl. She loves all her gifts. She received this gorgeous Christmas dress from Grandma and loves to twirl in it.
Maddie got to go ice skating for the first time and loved it! She rode on a hay ride with Santa Claus, she got to have her cousin stay over for almost the whole weekend, eat at her favorite restaurant (Texas Roadhouse) and enjoyed a Tinkerbell cake, a cake that looks like a cell phone, a homemade cake and a bunch of cupcakes. When Maddie found out she was having so many parties, she said "Oh yeah! I'll get a lot of cake!" (she takes after Joel on that one). She got just a little spoiled this birthday:)

Maddie received this cute outfit for her birthday, and tried to wear it 2 days in a row to school. She thought it was so cute! She also had a friends party, which wow! 6-7 year old girls are wild! We had dinner, then had my friend that does "All About Beads" come over and they got to pick out their beads and make a bracelet, then we made cupcakes. It was so fun...and crazy. She has some cute friends. We love our cute Maddie and we are so glad that she is starting to feel better!