Blissfully Sweet

Congratulations to Blake and Ciera!! 

My Brother-in-law Blake was just married this weekend to the beautiful Ciera in the Twin Falls Temple! It was a beautiful wedding and the couple are just so cute together! They were even blessed to have a beautiful blanket of snow covering the ground. It was a splendid day with tons of pictures! So you can enjoy tons of collages! 

We had to snap a few family pictures all dressed up and beautiful scenery

 

Snapshots of the wedding luncheon

My mom, brother Connnor and Brandon's dad playing with the kids on the Temple grounds. 

 And my baby bump that is starting to grow uncontrollably! 17 weeks along here!


I have just loved being home with family and enjoying a true winter season with scarves and hot cocoa! I love California, but the holidays just don't see right with out a crisp chilly air. Addison tells me daily that she LOVES Idaho and wants to live here forever. I am sure she would say the same thing if we lived in the middle of the safari desert but all her family was there! Just a few more years of school Addison and we will be closer, for now we cherish our quick trips home and growing family.

Welcome to the Family Ciera! We are so excited to have you! 

Redfish Lake..Resplendent!

This last week we enjoyed a week of no cell phone service, clear air, crystal clear (and freezing) water, wildlife, and relaxation! Yes that is right, we were camping.. kind of. Camping in a cabin. With a shower and kitchen. If that counts as camping. We still are slathered with misquote spray and sunscreen, and have no cell phones, so I count it as camping. :) 

{our Cabin}

Brandon's family takes an annual trip up to Redfish Lake, Idaho. It is North of Sun Valley passed Galena Summit in the heart of the Sawtooth Mountains. It is just so beautiful. I have always loved going there, but this year I appreciated the clear open sky so much more after living in congested California for the last year. There is such a stark contrast. Not that we don't love the unique beauties of the tropical flowers and ocean, it is just sad to me that it is so congested. That takes away from the natural beauties. (not to mention the smog line at the horizon, doesn't really make you want to take a deep breathe and say ahhhh)

{The view from our cabin, right next to the lake}

The other purpose of the annual trip besides enjoying mother earth, is to spend some quality time with family. ..Now I just have to say, I love my in-laws but I was much more happy once the Gas-X was passed around. They have sensitive bowels :) 

{The morning glory beauties cookin breakfast and playing memory}

{Brandon pulling Bryce and Grandma Pam around}

{Brandon and Bryce floating next to the docks. See how clear the water is and the beautiful country?! Truly Resplendent! }

We did have a great time together swimming, boating, playing games, and reading books (by the way.. Bella is Pregnant!!! I know I am at least a year behind the trend, but it is all so exciting to me!! don't give a way the ending)

Brandon's sister is a little wonder woman and has 6 kids all under 9. {5 chica's 1 chico.} Here are 4 of the chicas with Addison. The last chica is only 4 months old. Addi adores her cousins, and she always learns something new as she tags along with the older girls who mother her and teach her new coloring tricks. 

Bryce was surprisingly very introverted the whole trip. He enjoyed his quiet alone time with me and throwing rocks in the water.  And of course as you see above always had a car in his hand.

And here are a few family pictures on the day we were heading out.. 

The men.

The kids.

The Great Grandpa Danny and Addison.

The Us.

 The Us smoochin.

...and a beautiful mountain. That was my scenery when doing my triathlon bike training. Doesn't get much better then that. Except that I kept wanting to look around and watch the river rather then the road.. not a good idea.  

But the annual Redfish Trip.. a very good idea. Thanks Nielsen's for a great time and thank you Mother Earth for your beauty.

Surfs Up!!!

YES yes Yes! I went surfing! I have wanted to try surfing FoReVEr!  And now I feel complete. I have snowboarded, wakeboarded, longboarded, skateboarded and now... well surf-boarded. That didn't finish the way I hoped it would. I am not so hot at the last three but at least have done them. Soo.. let me explain how this little happening came about. 

Well Brandon had some family visit the area from Sacremento. We went to Disneyland for a bit with them then hit up the beach the next day. It was Brandon's mom's Sister with her Hubby and four daughter. They were all a blast and so fun to hang out with. The oldest daughter Allison lives near by hear in Huntington beach and her boyfriend knows how to surf so he offered to help teach everyone how. They rented a few old long boards and we headed to Doheny Beach at Dana Point where the waves are nice and long and gentle. It was perfect for beginners. 

I had a lot of crashes and found a few random bruises the next day along with having incredibly sore ribs. (Something that you would never think.) I have to admit standing up was not that easy but once up it is so much less scary and hurts less to fall then wakeboarding or snowboarding. I can't wait to go again!! 

 Beautiful Addison 

Bryce started out pretty clean...

he went for the favorite eat dirt maneuver 

and ended up covered.

This is our adopted child Jada.. not really but we'd take her any day!

Walking on the beach enjoying freedom.

Brandon's Aunt Joann buried the kids like mermaids! She was such a doll.. reminded me a lot of Pam Brandon's mom. They are both so carefree.

Here is the proof... just done being thrashed about my the waves! I hate standing next to skinny 19 year olds! Isn't she cute? Brando's cousin Emily.

I just thought this was a funny picture.. that is Brandon's uncle Frank in the back taking pics.

And here is the whole delightful family! 

 And our little delightful family

So fun... I thanked my Father that night for the ocean and for families. A good day.

Wrap up of summer

Well Summer is not quit over, especially here in Cali but there are a few things that I wanted to blog about and never did...
First of all Addison turned 3 clear back in June! She is just a delightful little girl, very sweet, talkative, tone deaf, active, and goofy. It has been so fun to raise her. I remember when I first found out that I was pregnant I was so scared, I had know idea how to be a mother. But after I had her, I remember thinking just how much I loved her and that I knew she was going to be one fo the most important people in my life for forever and how could I have lived the previous 20 years not knowing my little best friend? And she has been such a good little friend to me. It cracks me up when she copies me such as if I and wearing flip flops she Has to wear hers too. Or if I am wearing a dress she Has to wear a dress too. I love it when she gets mad and says "Brandon you be nice to mommy!" (she occasionally calls me Aubrey as well.) She is a funny little chic-let.
I wanted to do a fun birthday party so Addi especially because she had so many cute little friends and lived right in Twin with all her family. I had this BBQ and Bounce house, Slip-in-slide, and tot pool for the hot evening. AND then it stormed! I was bummed! The party had to be moved inside after only about 1/2 hour. We still had fun and the Costco cake was much better than I could have made.

The Glorious bounce house! Annie, Addison, and Josh just before the storm...you can see the clouds in the background.

Yumm... Costco cake. I love their fillings.

Fun friends!

Giselle, my triathlon buddy and Addi's friend Josh

She received a bunch of fun toys and loved playing with the babies. Grandma Harding was a sport to let us use their crib and Grandma Nielsen gave Addi this hallarious kids mp3 that she still loves to dance to.

When I blogged a little bit about Blakes homecoming with the bbq that we had but I left out some fun family pictures. Before his homecoming we went to Grandma Nielsens grave. Unfortunately Blake was still on his mission while Grandma passed away, and I think this was one of his first times at the grave. It is a beautiful site, and has a picture of the Salt Lake Temple were Willadean and Danny were married and also showcases some dancers, Willadean life.








Family pictures at the temple.

RedFish Lake '09

The last month has been a whirlwind, so I am still catching up on blogging/journaling....

At the end of July we took the annual trip to Red Fish Lake, just up past Stanley in the gorgeous Sawtooth Mountains. We always have a blast boating, swimming, biking, hiking, site seeing, and more. The pictures will tell all.








This is our little spot on the beach. Every morning we get down to the beach and enjoy the peaceful water and the bright sun. This is probably the best time of the day.






Addison loves her little cousins.. here is Kayla, same age as Addi and a little wild woman! Fun Friends.


Addi's in the red and Bryce of course is in the middle destroying the girls creation!






Now Bryce is Crazy about the Beach. Really he is crazy about the SAND. He literally leans over and sticks his face in the sand to lick it up. His diapers were sandy for about a week.



He was a little worker with his shovel, putting rocks in buckets and destroying the girls castles.









....sry i love these pictures of his chubby feet!







Everyone chillin at the beach.


Good ol' grandpa Nielsen. Bryce's favorite. Bryce will seriously sit on his lap for hours. Funny.




The cabin is also great. Next to the lake and bike path and the forest so we regularly see deer out our window!



Bryce and Nathan. Bryce is 1.5 months older. Still he is a tank.

Now for the wakeboarding!


Brandon hasn't been wake boarding very long but is getting better every time we go (Which isn't as much as we wished!)





Addi and Lulu






Not a great jump, but the mountains are awesome in the pic.



such a pretty place!

There are always a few things that we do, like hike to the falls or lily pond. This year we went to a ghost town and the dredge.


Let me explain a bit of what I learn if you are interested. The Sawtooth mountains apparent are rich in gold.. or atleast one area was discovered to have an abundance of it back in the days of the 49ers gold rush. This town was settled in the crease of two mountains, I think it was called Custer? Anyhow it was settle to mine the gold. Keep in mind this in the heights of the Sawtooth Mountains. Even with modern roads these places are frequently inaccessible due to snow, or other weather. So very dangerous during their time. Avalanches buried homes. There was also fun stories about cowboys riding into town and the western love stories.






The girls panning for gold. It was crazy, the forest worker would just go grab a handful of dirt and then pan it and pull out a few specks of gold!! And they gave it to us! The land is now protected so no one and harvest it anymore.. so don't get any crazy ideas :)





The other thing that we saw was the DREDGE. This is an enormous machine that was brought in to harvest the gold. It is the monster of a contraption that mechanically pans the gold. I guess that there were only like 3 of these ever made, one is here, the other maybe in Cali and another in some other country. Anyhow that shows how much gold there is in the area to go to the effort of bring this baby in. The men from the town ran the machine and sent away millions of dollars worth of gold. Interestingly enough, J.R. Simplot bought this machine decades ago when it was still functioning. And this is wear his millions exploded into billions! I knew that he made a fortune off of our Idaho Potatoes and his freezing them.... and his real estate.... but apparently he sold alot of his gold to South America and turned what was worth millions to billions there. When asked he never stated what much exactly he made. And was LDS and loved ACI, go Yotes!, and native to Idaho! Kind of interesting!








The Nielsen Family!

Most importantly we had a great time with the family! We were glad that Blake could be there with us and miss Grandma Nielsen. Love you.