The train ride to Olvera Street

Chris took some time off from work during the holidays this year. When he worked at Pepsi it was always the busiest time of year so he never got to take time off. Now that he works for Odwalla it is not any busier than the rest of the year so he can take vacation time during the holidays. Since Daddy was home from work, we decided to take the train into LA and visit Olvera street. The kids think the train ride is pretty fun and we like the churros at Olvera street!

We made sure to eat Lunch at Philippes, the creator of the french dip sandwich, yum! Here are some pictures of our day!

Olvera Street- the oldest street in Los Angeles

Sawyer enjoyed the train ride. He got a little antsy on the way home.

Chris enjoying a Churro filled with Dulce de Leche (caramel)

One of the kids favorite things at Olvera Street is the cheap toys and souvenirs sold by the vendors. Carter got this Spider man cape, he loved it so much he slept with it that night. Here he is asleep with it on!

Fun at the Zoo...

With our new Zoo pass in hand we headed out to the Zoo on December 27 with Heather and Cisco and their kids. We had Wes and Kristy's son Brady with us too. (We are all watching him while they are in Portugal) It was a cool overcast day so it was very nice. For some reason's all of my memories of the Zoo are on hot 100 degree weather days. The kids really enjoyed seeing all the animals. Sadly the Lions and Tigers were put away since the recent tragedy in San Fransisco they were taking precautions. Our favorite areas were the gorillas and the giraffes. They got up close and personal which was pretty cool.

There was a really gross Spider City exhibit with some really freaky spiders

All the kids lined up on the bench

Mommy and Sawyer with the giraffes

Maddie with the Giraffe

Picture Day!

Okay, so I'll admit it. I am really bad at taking my kids to get professional pictures. When Maddie was born I was pretty good. I took her in about 4-5 times during her first year. Carter got one or two pictures and Sawyer (now 16 months) hadn't had a professional picture ever! Since digital cameras became the norm, and Maddie and Carter get professional pictures at school, I have pretty much stayed away from photo studios for a while now.

So, Kelli wanted to get all of the Nielsen cousins picture taken together since Kirsten was in town with her two kids. So the day after Christmas we headed over to the Arcadia mall and had the whole crew together for an adorable picture.

I thought it turned out so cute. So obviously you know who my kids are. Kelli's kids are three on top row on the right side (Halli, Hannah, and Jake). Kirsten's kids are the boy next to Maddie (Quintin) and the girl below him (Zoe).

After we had the group shot, I figured what the heck, since my kids are all matching take one of them together. Sawyer was very uncooperative so I didn't think we got a good shot but it turns out we got a cute one. Sawyer was about to take off!



To top it all of the photographer snapped a shot of Sawyer during all the madness when I didn't even realize it and showed it to me at the end. She didn't even know I really wanted a shot of him! I was pleasantly surprised!

Reunion with old friends

One tradition I have with my old friends from high school and church is to get together during the holidays. We used to get together at a restaurant but since having kids we have found that it is just easier to get together at one of our homes.

Tiffany planned a get together at the Reed's home the day after Christmas. Mike Fowler and his wife Andrea were in town and we hadn't seen them in years. Chris Brinagh was also in town with his wife, Lauren and their new baby. So it was fun to see everyone. Since we moved out to the IE 3 1/2 years ago we don't see our old friends as often so it is nice to have a formal get together once a year. It is so wonderful seeing old friends and reconnecting them. It has become a fun tradition to get together with whoever is in town and of course the "locals" every holiday season.

Left to right: Lauren and Chris, Tiffany, Christine, Me, Andrea and Mike, and Eric.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!!

After the long wait Christmas day had finally arrived! Carter is finally starting to understand the difference between "Christmas time" "Christmas Eve" and "Christmas Day". Every time we would go to Target and he wanted a new toy, I would say, "wait until Christmas and you just might get it." So he would cry and say, "Christmas takes forever!!" When it was finally Christmas eve and he went to bed, he was so excited to find out that Santa would come that night!

Because the kids went to bed so late, I actually woke them up at 7:30 am. I was making breakfast for my family (15 people) so I wanted to get the show on the road so I could cook. The kids popped right up and were so excited. We always put up a sheet at the entry to our living room so the kids don't see their Santa gifts until we are ready with the video camera and all! It is always so much fun to see their reactions, it is priceless. Carter got the new Geotrax train he's been asking for. Maddie got a baby alive (doll that pees) and a Karaoke machine so she can sing her heart out. Sawyer got a tonka ride on truck. I enjoyed watching the kids look at their presents for a little bit and then it was off to the kitchen to cook.

Chris' family is Danish so they grew up eating Aebleskivers (fried pancake balls) for Christmas breakfast. So we have started the tradition in our own home. My family loves them so much they want me to make them for them too, so we had Mom and Dad, Heather and Cisco, Wes and Kristy and all of their kids over. Fifteen people in all! We had 80 aebleskivers with raspberry sauce, 8 lbs of roasted potatoes, 7 lbs of bacon, and 18 Eggs! We had tons of bacon left over, I think I over estimated on that end! It was fun, and everyone stayed to clean up. Kristy even cleaned the floor!

After breakfast everyone left and we opened our gifts with the kids. As soon as that was over we hurried and got dressed and went to Chris' Mom, Faye's house. We opened gifts there with his siblings and all the cousins. After that we went to My parents house and had a wonderful dinner and opened gifts. By the time we got home it was 9 pm and we were pooped! We put the kids right to bed. They were a little sad that they didn't get to play with their toys all day because we weren't at home. The house looked like a cyclone had hit it with boxes, opened toys, and packages everywhere! What a nightmare. It took me two days to clean it up, and get their new stuff put away and organized.

It was a wonderful day! Chris and I both said to each other, lets make Christmas a little less hectic next year and relax some more with the kids!

Here are a few pictures, I wasn't too camera happy so there aren't any pictures of the kids with their Santa gifts or breakfast. I was a little too busy...

Carter was very excited to get his own bank that actually counts the coins!

Just look at that anticipation...

Please mom can I open this one!!

Daddy and his little Santa

'Twas the Night before Christmas....

Christmas Eve was lots of fun this year. Every other year we spend Christmas Eve with Chris' Dad, Ed and his wife Tanya. We usually get together with them and Chris' siblings and go out to dinner and then open gifts at their house after. This year we went to Olive Garden and it was so much fun to be with all of the cousins and all of Chris' siblings. Between Chris, Kirsten, and Kelli we spent much of the night laughing! I was the brunt of one of their jokes: When I went to take Carter to the bathroom I came back to the table and all the waiters came out with a cake and sang happy birthday to me! I was so embarrassed, as many of you know Christmas eve is not my birthday. I was a good sport and went along with it. The waiter even asked me what it was like to have my birthday on Christmas eve! It was fun but I'll get 'em back next time!

After dinner the kids got to open their gifts and were very excited about that! Chris and I got an annual family pass to the LA Zoo from Ed and Tanya. It was the perfect gift, I have always wanted one! The kids will love that and Chris works only 15 minutes from the Zoo.

When we got home from their house it was already 10 pm and we wanted to get in bed at a decent time so we hurried and had the kids open their Christmas eve P.J.s and put them right to bed. Luckily they fell asleep fast! We did the usual Christmas eve stuff and got to bed around 2 am which wasn't too bad. I was hoping to go to bed by 12 but that didn't happen! One year I stayed up until 6 am, I learned my lesson that year!!

Here is a picture of the kids in their Jammies

Enjoying the Christmas Season!

The Holidays always seem to come and go so fast! I thought I would finally sit down and post all of the fun things we did this year for Christmas time. We did the usual putting up the tree as soon as we got back from Thanksgiving in Utah. I am the one who always initiates putting the tree up and probably a little prematurely for Chris' liking since he is the one who has to get all the stuff down in the Garage. He always ends up enjoying it after all. This year we put Carter's Geo trax train under the tree which was fun for him. We even wrapped little presents and put them in the freight cars.



We decorated the usual Gingerbread house which is always lots of fun. Daddy really got into the act. I didn't break out the camera so no pictures! We went to the Christmas lights on Thoroughbred, which were amazing as ever, and we made Caramels and Sugar cookies.

Maddie finished her dance class in the beginning of the month and has decided that Ballet is "Boring". She wants to be in a class called "Broadway Babies" next time. Here is a picture of her with her friends in the class.



We went to Disneyland one last time before the Christmas rush and waited for the parade and watched it snow on Main Street, which was very fun. I went all by myself with the kids which was an adventure. I can't believe I survived! Here is a picture of Maddie watching the parade. It was truly magical, even Sawyer was glued to it.



So as you can see it was a busy Christmas season. Here is our Christmas picture of the kids. When you have 3 it is so hard to get all of them to look good at the same time but it turned out cute.

Thanksgiving in Utah

This year we decided to spend Thanksgiving in Utah with Chris and Amanda. We also thought it would be fun to go to the BYU vs. Utah game. The kids were hoping they would see some snow but there wasn't any even on the mountains at that time!

We had a busy Thanksgiving week! Maddie's Birthday was on Tuesday and we spent the day at Disneyland. The next day I went to work and Chris took care of the kids. When I got home it was a mad dash to get ready. Chris wanted to leave at 11 at night so the kids would sleep the whole way there. I thought he was crazy but I went a long with it. So when I got home from work, he went to sleep for about 5 hours so he could drive while I slept. While he slept I got everything packed and kept the kids pretty occupied. I think they woke him up a couple of times. The kids were all ready for bed when we left, Jammies and all! They fell asleep within one hour of driving! I slept pretty well too. I only woke up 3 or 4 times the whole way! Chris' idea really worked and the kids were amazing. We pulled into Provo at 8 in the morning and luckily the hotel let us check in early so we could get ready and stuff! It was perfect! We'll definitely do this again when we travel. Chris was a little groggy the next day but he was a great sport.

We arrived on Thanksgiving day and visited with Chris and Amanda that morning in their cute apartment. They already had their tree up so the kids were excited about that. Sawyer kept on taking the ornaments off. We spent the morning looking at the paper at the ads for Black Friday.

We had a very untraditional Thanksgiving feast but it was pretty good considering. Amanda and I didn't want to cook all day and have all of us eat in their small apartment. It would have been crazy! So we went to Mimi's for Turkey and all! The food tasted good, but wasn't very hot and we felt sort of like we were eating in a cafeteria the way the banquet tables were back to back and we felt like cattle as we were "herded" to our table, ordering, etc. but that is to be expected with the number of people there. So all in all it was good! After dinner we headed off to see Enchanted at the Provo Towne Center. Aparently the rest of Provo had the same idea! The theatre accidentally oversold the movie by 50 seats! Luckily we got there early enough to sit in the front row! It wasn't too bad though and we enjoyed the movie. My brother Chris was pretty mad at some guy who was saving 20 seats and the people didn't arrive until the show had started. That is Provo for you! The kids enjoyed the movie and Sawyer fell asleep so I could watch too!

The next day I got up pretty early, not as early as all the other die hard shoppers apparently! I got to Target at 6:00 am and the parking lot was already full and people were scrambling to find shopping carts! It was a mad house in there! I got a couple of the items I was hoping for but there was one item in particular that was already gone. Luckily Chris got up the next morning and they had it! It was fun starting my Christmas shopping and getting in the spirit!

We went up to Salt Lake that evening and saw the Christmas lights at temple square which was beautiful! It was sooooo cold and the kids just aren't used to that. I don't think I bundled them up enough! We survived though.

The next day, Saturday was the big game! I hadn't been to a BYU game at home since I was a student! So I was pretty excited to go! Best of all- our friends, the Guest's, had offered to watch our kids while we were at the game! The most entertaining part of the game was watching my bro Chris! He was ready to cry at one point and then within a split second he was jumping up and down like a crazy guy razzing the Utah fans! It was a good game and I had a great time. I am so glad BYU won!!!

That night Chris and Amanda fed us dinner at their house and we had a great time.

The next morning we really weren't in too big of a hurry to get home although we should have been. We didn't realize what the traffic would be like. We left around 9 or 10 am and we traveled along pretty well but as soon as we got to Vegas it was pure gridlock all the way to Barstow! The drive from Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga is usually about 3 hours, it took us 8 hours! Chris drove, I couldn't handle the stress of the traffic! The kids were surprisingly very good and kept busy watching movies and playing leapster. They had to go to the bathroom several times and we learned the hard way that you don't get off the freeway. We got off at Primm to use the restroom and get snacks. The whole area was packed like a parking lot. It took an entire hour just to get back on the freeway. Later when Carter had to go to the bathroom we had him pee in an Icee cup! (which actually worked very well for a boy!) We stopped at a rest stop for Maddie and I to use the restroom and the line had 20 women in it!
By the time we got home we felt like we had been through a war or a marathon or something!!!
Chris was a great sport, he didn't get antsy at all! We'll never travel on the Sunday after Thanksgiving again!

All in all we had a great time in Utah. Thanks Chris and Amanda for showing us a great time!

Here are some pictures of our trip:

Temple Square in front of the beautiful tree of lights!

Mommy and Sawyer

Carter with Chris and Amanda

The fans rush the field after BYU beats Utah. We didn't rush the field, been there done that, we're old fogies now!