Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

This year has been one of change and excitement! We began this year in Provo, Utah. Then, moved to Texas for the summer and finally, Hawaii for good. We are hoping to stay here until Jared graduates in April of 2012, but as you know, our plans tend to change all the time.

We have been enjoying living in Hawaii. We are trying to get out and make sure that we make the most of our time here. Why live in Hawaii if you don’t get to experience it all?

The biggest change of this year is that we are expecting another baby! Charlotte is due on June 22 and we are so excited! Kylia doesn’t quite understand, but she sure talks about the baby a lot. She is going to be a fabulous older sister!

Jared received his Associate degree in April from BYU-Idaho. He is glad that he is at least halfway to receiving his Bachelor’s. This summer he was once again doing summer sales in Texas. Just like each year, he has said that he is done and will never go back. He loves being back in Hawaii and closer to some of his brothers. He has taken up spear fishing, boogie boarding, and the occasional surf.

Charlotte also finished up some schooling this year. She received her Bachelor’s from BYU-Idaho in April. She enjoyed spending the summer close to her family and some time away from school. She has made lots of new friends in Hawaii. They enjoy taking trips to the beach and exploring the island.

Kylia never stops moving. She is a giant ball of energy. She is always making friends everywhere that she goes. She is in a local Hawaiian “Mommy and Me” program. They are always teaching fun new things like how to make a lei, shuck a coconut, make little drums out of some of the plants, and playing in the taro patches. She is getting so big and already loves talking on the phone. She is currently crazy about princesses and all things girly. She is always surprising us with new things that she can do!

We sure love you guys and wish the best for you and your family this upcoming year!

Best Wishes,

Jared, Charlotte, and Kylia Nelson

Merry Christmas!!!!

I love Christmas, and I LOVE this picture! Kylia has always hated Santa Clause. We told her if she wanted a bike for Christmas, she had to tell Santa. She said she didn't want a bike anymore......

No Home For Christmas

So our land lord is REALLY lame. We have to be out our apartment on the 17th of December. She rented it to some vacationers on the 19th. We had originally talked about extending our lease through Christmas, but we didn't get it in writting! Woops! Our new apartment opens up on the 28th. What are we going to do? Don't know! It is really starting to depress me. I guess we could set up a Christmas tree in our truck and hang stockings from the windows. BOO. We were thinking we might fly home and in the last week, plane tickets have skyrocketed. $1900 if we want to fly home for Christmas. Too late for that! Luckily, we have great friends who offered us places to stay. We are thinking we will go from house to house. So grateful that so many people have volunteered to take us in. It just is kind of a sucky situation.

The Dole Plantation had the best pineapple ice cream! MMMM!


















The next few are hiking up Makapuu Point. So beautiful!!












































We found a seal right out by where my parent's were staying. He didn't like it when we got very close. He kept moving around, trying to keep an eye on us.






This is everyone right after the Laie Temple Dedication. My mom, dad, and Jason all got to see President Monson!

Quick Update

I do try and update my blog, but I ALWAYS have a problem uploading pictures. ALWAYS. After about 30 minutes of trying, I usually give up because I get no where. Posts just aren't the same without pictures, but I will give you a quick update on what is going on. We are enjoying our time here in Hawaii. My family just left yesterday after a fun week out here with us. It was fun to go and do some of the stuff we haven't yet. We got to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center, Dole Plantation, Pearl Harbor, the swap meet, Makapuu Point, Hanauma Bay, and many other things. It was fun to be "on vacation" for a little while. Kylia LOVED having them here. She played all day, every day! When it was time for them to go she asked if I would buy her a plane ticket so she could go too! So cute! She is such a joy! She is getting so big! Anyways, there is somewhat of an update! I will keep working on the pictures!

Creepppy!

My sister-in-law showed me a wonderful trick the other day. Did you know that you can look up who reads your blog, where they are from, what words they used to search you from google, how often they search you, and so on? Creepy huh?! Haha I think it is pretty neat. So far, most of my readers are from the United States, Indonesia and the Netherlands. My top readers are: Lauren, Abbi, Jenni, and Erin (In that order).

If you want to check this out:
Go to your dashboard and click on stats.

Hello! Yes we are still alive! I'd say we have been busy, but we haven't. I guess we have just been enjoying this new place we call home. I'd say we are adjusting well. We enjoy spending most our time at the beach and playing in the waves.

Jared is in school and enjoying being so close to his brothers. He is taking a few fun classes. He is in a photography class and likes photographing the island. He is getting really into spear fishing. He has had two great catches so far. One was a squid, which he gave someone for bait and the other was some sort of fish. He is still practicing his cooking skills. He is trying to figure out how to cook fish PERFECTLY! He is dreaming of opening a smoked fish shop. MMMM!

Kylia loves having so many friends around. She is always keeping busy. She enjoys running around half-naked and is learning to build sand castles. When at the beach, she likes to chase the crabs and trap them. So far, she has almost crushed a few baby ones by chasing them to the water line. Her and her dad like to put them in the sand bucket and play with them before letting them go.

Me? For the most part I am just hanging out and making new friends. I have recently finished the Hunger Game series and was a little disappointed with the final book. I guess I just like endings that are a little more happy. I have been baby swapping and have enjoyed having some time with Jared. We have found our all-time favorite Restaurant. Kahuku Grill. It is a family owned restaurant and it is DELICIOUS! Jared and I eat there about every Wednesday night. Kylia and I usually spend our days at the beach enjoying the sun.

Anyways, life is good and the church is true! Have a great day!

SO, we're moving to Hawaii in about three weeks! Everyone is officially invited RIGHT now to come visit. Please, we probably won't make it back often so come to us!

BUT HAWAII, Crazy huh? I am just trying to wrap up everything down here. We finally sold our car on Friday! Woohoo! I must say that I did an awesome job. We bought it one year ago for $15,000, put about 20,000 miles on it and then sold it for $16,950. That NEVER happens. We almost made $2000 on it. Good bye Highlander AKA Mater!



Jared is getting antsy so we might make it out soonner than later. We are thinking about moving our flight up a week and leaving between the 3rd and 5th. We will keep you updated!

So far, we have had SUCH a fun summer! There has been lots of boating and spending time with family. These are just a few pictures. I am having a hard time up loading pictures, still. Anyways, We are moving to Hawaii in 3 weeks!

Kylia LOVES photo booth. If I need to get something done around the house. I just pull it up and let her play. Her favoirte thing to do is just sing into the camera. I would have uploaded a video, but our internet is really hit and miss.

The Joys of Motherhood

That is pee, but it is not mine.

We attempted to take some family pictures this week. Unfortunately, it was INCREDIBLY windy and Kylia was NOT excited about the situation. We had such a hard time getting her to sit still and look at the camera. We did get a few good ones, so here they are!

TEXAS!

We are finally together in Texas and LOVING IT! Jared surprised me on our anniversary and showed up in Utah to help packup and drive. It really was SUCH a relief.

I am officially done with all my classes. I ended up getting A's in both my classes and am SO grateful for all the wonderful people in Utah who helped me get through. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Our trip down from Utah was quite eventful! We caravanned with Jenna Rasmussen and she helped us out SOO much. We literally stuffed her car with our junk! She was such a life saver. On our trip down, we discovered that sweet little Kylia gets VERY, VERY car sick. Every time she fell asleep, she would wake up puking on EVERYTHING. This was probably one of the worst car trips ever. By the time we actually got to Texas, everything in our car smelt like puke. To top it off, we hit a deer. Luckily, there was only a small dent in the car. We looked for the deer afterwards but never found it.

Now that we are in Texas, we are having a blast! Kylia has turned 2 and we had a lot of fun celebrating it! It is so crazy that she is getting old SOO stinking fast! She is always talking and going on about one thing or another. Her favorite thing to do is grab our hands and say, "come with me." She has recently started potty training. I have a new respect for my mother. I have no idea how she potty trained all NINE of us!! Seriously, it is HARD work. By 3 o'clock yesterday, we were out of panties and I was out of patience. My mom swooped in gave me a good pep talk and brought us more clean panties. By that afternoon, we had a WONDERFUL breakthrough. Kylia came running to me and asked me to go to the bathroom! HALLELUJAH! She is getting better and better. I am still afraid to have her sleep through the night in panties, but it will come!

Happy Aniversary Jared!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Three years done and a million more to come! I sure love this boy more than anything! He makes me smile, he makes me laugh, but most of all, he makes me happy! I love looking through pictures and enjoying all the fun memories! Happy Anniversary Jared! Me and Kylia are sure missing you!

Thought for the day

Today's thought for the day comes from my brother's missionary letter that we received today, check it out.

So I had an interesting experience a couple of weeks ago that really impressed me. It was at stake conference, where I sat with my brother and sister-in-law. Afterward, I introduced them to my mission president, President Briggs. He asked my nephew, Nathan, a couple of questions. He first asked him, "Who is that?" Nathan replied, "My uncle." He asked, "Who do you want to be like when you get older," Nathan responded by pointing at me. Then President Briggs asked him a final question, "Do you want to be a missionary just like Elder Hinckley here?? Nathan responded by shyly smiling and nodding, "Yes." This experience impressed me because it taught me that even though I do not think anyone is watching, I have many little ones who are watching my every move and I therefore must set an example which will help them to choose the right. I thought this was very interesting because if you did not notice that there were several apostles that spoke of the need to help the rising generation to choose the right. I do not have my own family but this counsel can be heeded in many ways. SO, the point is, we must all strive to live in accordance with the gospel because we never know who is watching our every step and I believe there would be no sadder day than the one when you realize that your actions have helped push someone away from their saviour Jesus Christ.
Anyway, I love you all and miss you tons.
Much Love,
Elder Hinckley

Life is crazy

So life has been crazy. I can pin point the day it began getting crazy, Lauren's wedding. That was a crazy day! hahah If you saw me at the reception, I probably looked exhausted! I spent almost the whole time chasing my absolutely crazy daughter. The next morning we drove to Texas and spent a fun filled week with my family. We ended up leaving Jared there and flying back to Provo. Kylia and I have spent the past two weeks here in Utah alone. It has been quite the adventure FOR SURE!

It has been the first time in my life that I have been "on my own." It took a LOT of adjusting and a LOT of prayers. I really thought that I would go insane here by myself, but I have learned a ton since we got back. I have learned to rely more on my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I think that the Lord has been preparing me for this the past little while. I was really opposed to Jared leaving at first, but now I know that this is where I am supposed to be and Jared is where he is supposed to be (at least for now).

I have learned: that I don't have to do everything, I can't clean till my studying is done, the house doesn't have to be perfect, you are never really alone, it is better to play with Kylia first then study, and I love my husband more than anything!!!

Today is Easter and it has been a good day. Although I didn't get as much out of conference as I should have(way tired and a crazy daughter that demands attention), it was still very good. I felt like a lot of it was focused on parenting and being there for your children. It definitely taught me a few things. I am grateful for my Savior and this wonderful day that we have to remember him and feel the peace that he brings.

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Officially baby hungry.

Isn't she just adorable! She is getting SO big and she just loves to talk! She has an opinion on everything! It is quite funny to hear what she has to say. Currently, we are working with nap time. I think she has decided that she is too old for nap time. haha. Not happening. I think this started because she has RSV and for a while would wake up during naps and many times during the night with coughing fits. She is getting better though. She slept through the night last night and through her nap today. She wouldn't go down till four when I made her lay next to me for an hour until she fell asleep. I should have just given up, but I was too tired.

This is her new dress from her Grandma Nelson. Isn't it so cute! I am so excited for Spring. Clothes are so much cuter in the spring. I figured I could dress her in spring clothes since we aren't really going any where till she gets a little better. She also has an ear infection right now so we are kind of home bound. Anyways, have a great day!

PS.the pictures worked because I did it in photo booth. Still working on how to upload pictures! I will figure it out...eventually.

Okay, so the workout thing has failed. For my second and third day it SNOWED like CRAZY! i wasn't about to go out and run in that! haha Sad, I know. I think I will start again tomorrow morning since I don't have school till the evening. I will let you know if it happens.

1 day down. I've decided my first goal is 6 days a week for at least 30 minutes for 1 week. Very doable. I will reassess my goals next Thursday. haha

The first day went pretty well I think. I ran/jogged a lot farther than I thought I could. I know it was less than a mile. I went all the way down to the park without stopping. Walked around the park and started my jog back. So far, so good. On the way home, I started and stopped like six times, not so great. I got distracted on the way home. Here are a few things I noticed. A lady spray painting a little kids wooden high-chair. Bird sitting zone with TONS of poo right where I ran. Dr. Barney Clark memorial. He pioneered artificial hearts and became the first recipient. Our apartment telephone number which I called to report a broken disposal and stopped up sink. First run, very successful. Music of choice, Opera. Primarily Pavarotti.

Okay, so I saw that a friend of mine was beginning a work out log on her blog. I am going to start doing that to kind of hold myself accountable. I have never been a big exerciser. EXCEPT when I lived in Hawaii. I ran a couple of miles a couple of times a week. I have always wanted to be in good shape. SO THIS IS WHAT I AM GOING TO DO. Everyday I am going to record how far I ran. At first it will probably be only around the block, but I feel if I write it down, then I will be pushing myself to keep with it. We will see how it goes. Please make sure I do this everyday. I do want to get in shape and now is a great time to do it! Thanks!

So I spent an hour today trying to post pictures of our trip to Vegas and our cute little girl, but no success. If you don't believe me, look below. This is only part of the picture. Not sure what happened to the rest. Until tomorrow!

Going Private

So I am going Private with our blog. If you want to see our posts, give me your email address! Thanks!

pictures!

So for Christmas, I got a new camera. Jared and I have been playing and experimenting with it. I can't upload many because I am still having issues with Blogspot. My most recent subjects are Lauren and her fiance and of course my daughter. Here are a few samples!

This next one is a fav. I learned how to focus certain parts and blur everything else. Notice her ring is in focus and that is about it! So fun. Thanks for being patient with me guys!
This is my little monster. Taking pictures of her is almost painful She WILL NOT hold still. I took about 40 pictures and got about 4 decent ones. Isn't she sooo cute! Love her!

More pictures to come as soon as I can make amends with blogspot. It took me forever to get these few to upload and they are WAY downsized. I don't know what to do. Whatever! Enjoy!

Jared made me breakfast this morning and it was SOOO good.  This is my favorite.  Eggs, cheese and and english muffin!  MMMM!  

News:Jared got into BYU-Hawaii.  We have a deposit for housing.  Nothing for sure, but wait for more news.

Holy cow!  It has been forever!  Still no luck with pictures.  Life is flying by!  Kylia is getting so big and is always talking.  Today I wasn't paying enough attention to her I guess and she grabbed my face and sang me itsy bitsy spider.  She never stops moving.  She is constantly on the go.  Her favorite thing is to run back and forth across the living room.  There is no obstacle that she can't over come.  She drags chairs across the entire apartment.  If I am doing dishes so is she.  She loves being the monster and coming after me and Jared.  She will get on her hands and knees and growl at us till we run and hide from her.  She is absolutely adorable and I just can't get enough of her!  Sorry for all the rambling.  Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Love you!