Scott's Graduation!

On April 8th, Scott GRADUATED from the Police Academy. This is not an easy process. He was gone Monday-Friday for most of the 19 weeks he was there, leaving me a single mom on week days. The academy is a 39 credit hour process, can you imagine cramming 39 credit hours into 4 months? He had multiple tests every week, written, physical, etc. He also had papers to write, work outs to do, boxing tests, driving tests, and being pepper sprayed to go through. It was a long 19 weeks, but I'm SO proud of him. His class was so exceptional that they received a special award for excelling academically. He worked so hard, and it's paying off! He's very excited, and is now officially Officer Nelson (with a badge, radio, gun, and all!) He now has to complete 15 weeks of on the job training where he'll ride along with another officer, and then he'll be all on his own. In (supposedly) the most dangerous Indian Reservation in the nation. Yeah, he failed to mention that to me before he took the job. Here is my sexy cop husband...

No you can't have him, and no, he can't get you out of a ticket.
31 weeks pregnant! So glad he graduated before the baby came, they don't let them out for anything!
Right before graduation, Tyson told me he wanted to be a police officer too.
Scott's parents were able to make it down for the graduation. It was great to have them here! Tyson really loved playing with them all weekend.
These are all the recruits from Scott's Police Department that went through the academy with him. What a good looking group of cops!

The Last 10 months (continued)...

In March, Tyson and I went to Disneyland with my parents and sisters. Scott wasn't able to go because he had to work (still in the academy), which was a bummer. But, we still managed to have a fantastic time. Tyson's favorite rides were the Toy Story ride at California Adventure (it's a 3-D shooting game that is like carnival games, but all 3-D), and the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland, which also happened to be a game where you sh0ot things. We rode it 3 times! Are you sensing a pattern or two here? Grandpa Cameron also bought him a cool gun which he took on every ride. On Pirate's, he made sure to shoot all the pirates we passed.

Day 1 waiting to get into California Adventure. He was so excited, but he had no idea what he was excited for!
On Flicks Flying Adventure with Kirsten.
Sitting on Grandpa Cameron's lap on the Jungle Cruise.
Waiting in line with Heather.
In Goofy's house. We had a lot of down time since both Tyson nor I could ride a lot of the rides everyone else rode, so we played in Toon Town for quite a while. He LOVED Goofy's house, and actually said it was his.
On the Catepillar Train ride in a Bug's World with Grandma Jenni.

2011 has been full of, well, crazy Tyson stories. Tyson was quite the sassy and busy 2 year old! One day he shaved his face with my razor, luckily no permanent damage was done. Another day, he and Scott were home sleeping while I was grocery shopping, and I came home to learn he'd woken up without his dad's knowledge and poured himself a bowl of cereal complete with milk. We found him like this:
Yes, that's pink highlighter all over his arms and face. Note to fellow parents: Pink highlighter does not come off with soap and water. It just fades over time. Hey, I was happy it was only on his skin, not his clothes or the walls!

He also spent the night at Grandma Jenni's and Grandpa Cameron's one night and woke up the next morning to help himself to banana bread and Grandpa Cameron's iPod Touch. Who knows how long he was awake before anyone heard him!
At home one morning he flooded the bathroom because he was "taking a bath" fully clothed in the sink with hand soap. Twice.
But the scariest one of all was when he woke me up one morning and I went straight to the bathroom. While in said bathroom, I heard the front door open. I threw some clothes on, ran downstairs and found the front door slightly open, and Tyson gone. After gathering neighbors to search, calling the police, praying a bazillion times, and searching the neighborhood for what seemed like hours (it was probably only 20 minutes, worst 20 minutes of my life), a neighbor (whom I'd never met before) brought him home. Apparently he was looking for the "pink ds" (Which his cousin Whitney owns, she lives in Denver), and the nice neighbor found him wandering around, asked him where he lived and brought him straight home. SO glad he knew how to tell the neighbor where he lived, and even more glad this neighbor was not a creeper! Scott promptly installed one of those hotel lock things on the door so he can't sneak out as easily. Although I wouldn't put it past him to double stack chairs just to get that unlocked.
It also took 3 tries, but Tyson is finally potty trained! What finally did the trick, you ask? The promise of Spiderman underwear. Who knew?! So, I don't have to buy or change diapers for exactly 2 months, then it's back to it with Cooper!

Funny things Tyson has been saying or talking about lately:

-He's convinced he has a girl baby in his tummy. Her name is Jason. (He love's his uncle Jason, but he doesn't really have the concept of gender down yet).
-He's been saying prayers by himself for a few months now. He always blesses his video games or movies. We know what's important to him.
-He's very excited for his brother Cooper to come. I think he's going to be VERY disappointed when he see's that Cooper can't play with him quite yet.
-During dinner prayer the other night (which he was saying, like always), the timer for the rolls went off and he stopped the prayer, made some sniffing noises and said "I smell something!"
-That same night he stuck his face on my bottom and said 'It's stinky!' to the whole room. Yes, he's been very obsessed with smells lately. And in my defense, I did shower that day.
-Speaking of prayers, another night Kirsten was frying up the dinner but we (Tyson) were saying dinner prayer. She stopped folding her arms to flip what she was frying, and Tyson stopped the prayer, looked over at her and whispered, "Ki-Ki, we're having prayer! Ki-Ki!"
-His favorite shows are Word World, Blue's Clues, and Spiderman
-He's very attached to his daddy. And if we're with Grandpa Cameron, he's very attached to him. That night I said he stayed the night at my parents' house, when Scott and I went to pick him up, he ran right passed me SO excited to see his daddy. He did not even glance at me. Broke my heart. But, he still loves me, I'm sure of it!
-He still LOVES to dance. His favorites right now are Justin Bieber's "Baby", and of course Imagination Mover's music.
There are a hundred other adorable things he does and says. He cracks me up every day, which makes up for all the mischief he's causing. He's a busy kid!

That's mostly what we've been up to the last little while. I'm keeping Scott's graduation for a separate post, the guy deserves it!

The Last 10 Months (or so...)

Yeah, it's been almost a year since my last post. You would think stay at home mommy-hood would have me posting daily, but it doesn't. It seems I was almost better at posting when I worked! Just wanted to update on what we've been up to since my last post. A lot has changed!

We went to Lake Powell in July...

Tyson thought he needed to be on his camp chair on the sofa. Funny kid.
It was a great week, we had a blast in the new house boat and with the family!

Tyson started sleeping in a big boy bed in September!

We took an awesome family vacation to Carlsbad in October. We visited the San Diego zoo, Wild Animal Park, Seaworld, and lots of family. Tyson's favorite part was Shamu, he LOVED that whale! We had so much fun, we may have to make it a yearly tradition. It was SO relaxing and great to spend some time together without worrying about work.



And of course, Halloween. Tyson was a cowboy!


Christmas in December...

(Me looking fat, but I'm actually pregnant!)

I surprised Scott with a PS3.

Tyson loves to shoot guns.
Tyson's favorite and most asked for gift...Mariokart!

And the Nelson's came for a visit the end of December. Everyone made it but Ben, Sarah and baby Ryan who was only a few weeks old at the time. Ryan was my very first niece/nephew, and we were SO excited! We had a great time with everyone else. Maybe we can make that a tradition as well!

Aaron and Tyson hanging out.

Tyson and I headed out to Denver to babysit Matt and Mindy's kids in January while they were in Hong Kong. We were there from January 10-28. We both missed Scott like crazy, but we had such a great time.

Playing in the snow. He LOVED it!

The few times Tyson and Tessa weren't driving each other crazy! Tyson even left with a little scar on his belly from a bite Tessa gave him. Tyson got her back by biting her nose a few days later. Despite all the fighting, they sure did love each other. Tyson really misses the girls!

Tyson and Whitney watching a movie together one night. SO cute!

Okay, I'm going to make this 2 posts because I still have a lot more pictures to post! So, that's the update through January. We sure did have a great 2010! I didn't mention that we got pregnant w/baby Cooper (although we didn't know it was a Cooper until February) due June 11, 2011, I became a stay at home mom in October, and Scott got a job as a police officer in October and started the Academy for that in November (but more on that later).

My Good Outweighs My Bad

It's been a LONG day, a day full of yelling at the dog who's barking at the cat and biting at the baby (yes, he's 2, but he's still 'the baby'), and yelling at the cat for whining because the dog won't stop barking at him or biting at him or bugging him all together, and yelling at the baby because he's mad that I took away the DS, or won't let him watch Flushed Away (for the 4th time today), or hitting the dog (for the seven hundredth time today)-with a hanger, a paint stick, a (wet) paint brush, a movie, a toy, a bat, a wii remote, a you get the point. It's also been a day of about 15 work calls in between everything, touching up the paint, more work, cleaning (not that you can tell by the pictures I'm going to post), unpacking, changing diapers, feeding the 3 kids (S hates when I include the dog and cat as one of the kids, but what do you expect, I do all the same things for them as I do for the human child; feeding, cleaning, chasing, crying over, etc.) doing laundry, folding laundry, hanging laundry, putting laundry away and so on. Don't get me wrong, I've found 'me time' somewhere in this 14 hour day where I've checked my facebook, paid my mortgage (first time!), played with my bank account trying to figure out how we can afford a new bed (S says he's sick of sleeping so close to me, which, surprisingly, doesn't hurt my feelings, probably because I feel the same way), read way too many blogs (design blogs, craft blogs, crazy mom blogs, etc.), made cookies (which ruined my diet, but I feel justified because I halved the recipe, although it was because I didn't have enough oatmeal for the full recipe) and took an hour nap. Anyway, by the afternoon, after I'd read about 25 pages of FML through out the day, I was feeling pretty crappy (not solely because of FML, but the dog and the baby and the cat and the house were making me crazy!), so I deleted the FML app from my phone, read my scriptures for the day, and decided to think positively. I've been trying to think of all the things I have to be grateful for, which is an incredible amount of things, and I feel better. Still slightly crazy; in between 'counting my blessings', I still had to yell at the dog, shut off the DS, listen to the baby scream because the DS was shut off, finish touching up the paint, etc. And to make matters worse, I just about finished the blog and deleted a TON of stuff on accident, so here goes a second round. Anyway, It's been so long since I last blogged, so I thought I'd share my grateful list, mainly because it shows a lot of what's been going on over at the N house. So here it goes (in no particular order):

The Baby

Yes, he's climbed up onto the counter (notice the chair pushed against the sink used as a stool), and when he realized he got caught, he starting doing a little dance for me up there. This is mid dance move. He's hilarious! Yes, he did step on the dogs head almost crushing her skull multiple times today (despite being told 'no' multiples times as well), but when I put him in time-out for it, he looked at me with the cheesiest grin (which S says is the same one I make when I'm 'in trouble'). How can you resist that cuteness? Hard to stay mad! At least the cat is happy that he's getting a break from Tyson torture time!

Well, we finally bought a house! I know, we've been talking about it for ever, but we finally did it and we moved in about 2 weeks ago. We're totally loving it, and SO grateful. It's the perfect house for us. It was in great shape when we moved in except for the walls. They needed paint REALLY badly. So here's the before and after photo's of the front door entry area:
Okay, so it's not the same angle, but hey, it's close. I guess I could have moved that large bag of trash in the middle of the photo, huh. That bench is going upstairs because there isn't quite enough space for it (where it would have gone perfectly had there been enough space). That green viney looking thing behind the glass banister (yes, the builder put glass in the stairway. Most stupid thing EVER! Really, what were they thinking? Now I get to windex it daily from finger prints and dog slobber, not to mention how ugly it is). Anyway, the green viney thing is just a sheet covering up the mini crib that we are storing upstairs. Why it's parked right there in the middle of the walkway going up the stairs, I'm not sure. S only made it halfway up the stairs, and for an unknown reason, he did not take it to it's proper resting place. And I'm not strong enough to carry it the rest of the way. Anyway, It's wrapped in the sheet because we are not planning on using it anytime soon (No, I'm NOT pregnant, and I know you're thinking 'what kind of mormon mom has a 2 year old, but doesn't have another, or another one on the way, and is (gasp) still using birth control? Well, that kind of mormon mom is me!) Okay, so back to the house. It took us 3 weeks, yes 21 days, (today being the 21st) to finish painting the downstairs (well, the great room and kitchen). Why, you ask, did it take so long? Well, apparently cleaning all the walls, painting the whole ceiling, and painting all the walls and all the trim takes a very long time. And, it's a pain in the...We painted the walls a light blue, which we thought would be much more gray, but we're still very happy with the way it turned out. We also painted the ceiling a brighter white (which really brightens up the room), and the baseboards a brighter white as well. I'm sure nobody will ever be able to see the difference (aside from the blue, I mean), but it's us that we're worried about here, not everyone else. We're moving on to painting the upstairs next. We have all the supplies, just need to find the time.

The Kitchen
Oh, how I love my new kitchen! It's large and I love the layout. Here's some before and after photos:
I bet the only difference you can see is all the crap on the counters in the after photo. The walls are now blue though. I know, our appliances aren't matching. The house had black appliances already in place except for the fridge (apparently I'm the only person in the world that likes white better than black), and we were given the white fridge by a dear friend. So, no matching appliances for us. Anyway, love love love it. I've been doing a lot of cooking in it, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

The Husband
So, when we moved into the house, the garbage disposal was broken. He fixed it, which saved us at least $100. The AC broke (okay, it didn't break, let me explain), and he figured out what was wrong. It had something to do with the breaker, I really don't know for sure what. But, with out him, I would have had to hire someone to flip a switch. He's also put a ton of work into making our house beautiful. He works so hard for our family, and he's an incredible dad and husband. Also, he's the hottest guy I know (I know what you're thinking, he's the hottest guy you know too ;) Plus, he gave me this (which is next on my list):

The Dane
Okay, so I have many reasons to post about her. First off, S absolutely did not want a large dog. But, because he loves me so much, and he knew how happy it would make me, he let me have Scout. Okay, some may not see her as a blessing, but let me tell you a story. A week after we got her, she got terribly ill. She had Parvovirus (aka Parvo). Dogs will die from Parvo without treatment, and a lot of times they'll die with treatment. We had to give her medicine hourly, give her fluids (yes, through a needle), and try to get her to eat. Although the treatment cost us a small fortune, we were SO thankful when only 3 days later she had improved enough to start eating again (She went 4 full days without eating a thing, except for the two syringes I force fed her full of disgusting egg, cottage cheese, watery mush). Her recovery time was very quick, and we were so thankful that she did recover (a large percentage of dogs die even with the best treatment). She is also the best puppy I've ever met. She potty trained very easily, she listens fairly well, and she LOVES Tyson, and S and I. And we love her too!

Those are the big blessings, now here are a few other things:
My iPhone. Seriously. I. Love. It!
Brushing my teeth right after I put Tyson to bed because it actually stops me from snacking while I wait for Scott to get home. I also love the quiet alone time I get for that little bit, but I do miss S!
My family. Okay, they are a 'big one' too. They're seriously great, and I couldn't have a better family! (This includes in-laws and extended family)
Hot Dogs. And the fact that they're Tyson's favorite food. They are the easiest thing I can make for him, and he actually eats them!
Costco. Addicted lately!
The fact that S actually likes me to get my nails done. Well, he's fine if I don't, but he likes the way they look, so he doesn't mind me spending the money on it. Awesome, right?! It's a great break from life, too!
Lake Powell. I can't wait to get away for a full week with family and no phones! I know I said I love my iPhone, and I do, but I will enjoy the break!
My Cat. I didn't want him to feel left out. He gets jealous very easily.

Anyway, tomorrow brings a new day. It will be a great day, and I'll still have lots of things to be grateful for. I truly feel blessed, and I'm incredibly happy with my life. I feel like one of the lucky ones.

And The Worst Blogger Award goes to...

I know, I know, it's been forever. I just wanted to write some quick things on what Tyson has been up to lately. I'll just make some lists to make it easy for all to see.

Things He's Doing:

-On Tyson's 1st Birthday (May 20th), he blew out his own birthday candle.

-Tyson learned how to walk backwards a few weeks ago, and he thinks he's pretty hot stuff!

-Tyson is very good at teasing. Ask him to come, and he walks backwards away from you, with a sly smile. I can't help but laugh.

-He learned how to climb the dinner table chairs and he does this for about 2 hours a day. He also climbs up on the table and walks around, much to my dismay!

-Tyson has fallen and made his mouth bleed 3 times in the last week. I should start saving for veneers.

-Tyson LOVED riding the sea-doo at Lake Powell. He even fell asleep on it!

-He loves swimming. He jumps off the kiddy step in the pool for us to catch him, and he even counts '1, 2, 3' because that's what we do. You can't really understand it, but we know that's what he's doing.

-He also does not mind putting his head in the water. He thinks it's funny.

He finds sneezing hilarious.

-He also finds burping and 'passing gas' hilarious too (thanks to his dad!). He makes pretend noises and laughs and laughs. Thanks Scott.

-Tyson has been mimicking all of our sounds lately, very cute. He's pretty good at it too!

-Tyson LOVES the cats. Indie is the only one that lets him snuggle, so he lays all over Indie and kisses him and even pulls his tail, and Indie allows it. Tyson also loves to throw balls at the cats. The cats don't really appreciate it.

-Starting about 3 days ago, Tyson has been sleeping in until 7am. HOORAY! He also goes to bed earlier (anywhere between 9 and 10). He used to go to bed between 10 and 11 and wake up between 5 and 6. So, I'm stoked. He's also down to 2 naps. He was doing 3 until Lake Powell messed up his schedule. I'm good with 2 though, because apparently it means he sleeps longer at night. Needless to say, I feel great in the mornings now!

-Tyson still loves music. As soon as we get him in the car, he starts dancing because he knows we play music in the car.

-Tyson also loves to sing. It is the cutest thing ever!

-His favorite show is still Imagination Movers, and whenever we say those words, he runs to the TV in preparation.

-Tyson says 'hot' all the time and blows on his hot food. He even says 'hot' about the cement outside.

-He loves 'playing' the wii. He sees us swinging the wii remote around, so now he'll find anything (a tv remote, a random toy, a flashlight) and swing it around while facing the tv and he grunts and groans as he swings, like it's really tough to play wii. (Don't know where he gets that...;)

He blows kisses when it's night time and whenever we say blow kisses. Love it!

Words he's saying:

Mama

Dadda

Amma (gramma)

Umu (up)

Hah (hot)

Ball

Oww (out)

Nanana (no)

Dahg (dog)

Heather insists he says her name, I've yet to hear it

Kiten (Kirsten)

Kiiy (kitty)-he used to say that, he regressed

more - on occasion

uh, oh, eeh (1, 2, 3)

Words he's signing:

More

Please (his personal favorite)

Milk

Cookie (Grandma taught him that!)

Help

Want

Eat

No

All done

Hi (waves)

Bye (waves-differently than 'hi' though)

Swinging!

I took Tyson to Scott's work (he works at an elementary school) for lunch on Friday. We thought we'd try swinging. It was his first time, and he LOVED it! He laughed (his scrunchy nose laugh) and put his arms up like a 'big boy'. It was a lot of fun.





He also went down the slide with daddy. He liked it, but not as much as swinging.


Yesterday, Scott and I went out for a date and left Tyson with our friend's Rhiannon and Jeremy. When we got back, Rhiannon nonchalantly said "Tyson took a few steps tonight." Scott and I were like, "What??" We had some frozen yogurt (Tyson loves cold treats), so we bribed Tyson with that. He took 8 steps towards the frozen yogurt! What a big kid! I can not believe it, nor am I ready for it! He's only 9 1/2 months! Crazy kid! Sorry, no pictures yet. He's not feeling well today, so he hasn't tried at all today. Next time he does it, we'll get it on camera to show everyone!

The Pie Fest!

I know it's been a while since my last blog. We've been super busy with family over Thanksgiving, which was SO fun. The Carlson's, Kristen and the girls, Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Sandy, Uncle Eric and Aunt Stephanie all made it to Arizona. We had a blast. Wish it could have lasted longer! As for Thanksgiving dinner, it was delicious, thanks to my amazing mom (and all the other helpers). We had a total of 11 pies (we had 14 people total for Thanksgiving dinner). Crazy! And some of us don't even like pie (unless it's chocolate...mmm). Kristen and the girls came on Friday and brought 3 or 4 more pies on top of that. Needless to say, everyone had exactly what they wanted. Scott decided he was not going to eat as much sugar after this weekend. When I asked why, he said "Bri, I ate 4 slices of pumpkin pie in 1 day!" (not to mention the other kinds he had) He had "duh" written all over his face! Tyson LOVED having all the kids around. Anytime any of the girls would pay attention to him, he would laugh and laugh. HE especially loved little Tessa (she's 2 months older than him). They played toys on the floor together which was adorable. I think he was much more fascinated with her than she was with him. He's feeling a bit lonely now that it's all over. I'm sure he's thinking his mom and dad are boring!
We were really sad we didn't get to make it up to Utah for Thanksgiving. We missed all our family up there. We are needing to plan a trip as soon as possible!
I'm so thankful for Scott and Tyson, my parents and siblings, and the rest of my wonderful family. I'm thankful for our friends, our cats and dog, our home, and chocolate. I'm especially thankful for the Gospel and the peace and happiness it can bring into our lives.

Our Anniversary

We had a great Anniversary this year. We dropped Tyson off with my mom, and had a nice candlelit dinner of pasta and crab (we made it at home), and then watched 1 disc of How I Met Your Mother Season 3 (one of our favorite shows). It was so nice to relax with each other. Scott got me a new printer (it prints great photos) and beautiful red roses. He is such a great guy, and I'm so glad I married him. We have a great life together, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love you Scott!

A Great Day

Today has been a great day. First, Tyson and I went to Jennifer Hughes home so she could take pictures of Tyson. She got some beautiful pictures of him, and I'm so excited to get them in a couple of days and post them. Then Scott, Tyson and I went to Pita Jungle (my favorite food in the world) and we got some Hummus with chicken and I got a broiled chicken Pita. It was as delicious as ever. When we got home, Scott went to get the mail, and we received a letter from DES (Department of Economic Security). We were FINALLY approved for AHCCCS (health insurance). After 4 months of fighting, crying, and waiting, we were approved. I feel totally blessed. And to top it all off, tomorrow is our Anniversary! Crazy, right?! It's been a great day!

I finally caved in.

After many requests for a blog, I finally caved in. Hopefully (depending on how faithful I am) this will keep anyone interested updated on how things are going at the Nelson home. So far, so good. =)