Nelson Family Christmas :)

We were spoiled and had two christmas celebrations this year. We went to Morgan the week before to spend time with Rob's parents. We had our first white christmas and the kids loved the snow! I'm not sure where all of the pictures went but it was a good time! 

Sunday before Christmas we drove down to surprise my family at church and stayed until Christmas night. If you read my post about us all being sick on our camping trip then you can just assume where this one is headed!! My little family brought the NASTY flu down with us and as a gift to my other family members we shared it with them! Pretty sure my family is never going to invite me to another family event! 

We still had so much fun and the kids were so cute and excited about it all! They loved playing with cousins and dogs! I loved being with my ENTIRE family and spend time with them! I love them all so much and miss them all the time! I would give anything to live by them! (anything but move to Vegas!!!!) 

We had a yummy white chili christmas eve dinner and ate way to much junk! We started some new things this year we are all hoping to make tradition! Here are some pictures from our stay!

Feeding Gunner ALL DAY LONG! 

My WONDERFUL parents!! Love them both so much!

He loves me I promise!! :) Such a handsome fella!!! 

Love their jammies!! 

All you Duck Dynasty Lovers... Did Willie show up to your white elephant exchange?!! We're BFF! 

Gift I got for my mother!! We all love this picture!

Madden and Charlie waiting at the top of the stairs for the rest of the gang!!

Lil' Miss confused about all the talk about Santa! 

SO FUNNY!! Love these cute cousins! 

Her favorite present!!! No surprise here!

Loves her grocery cart from auntie Kitty and Uncle Scooter!

Play days!

Life all kids, mine LOVE to be outside! And for the days its to cold out I try to improvise! Thats where the indoor slide comes in handy! We are always at the park and they are USUALLY so good to just play and not fight and help each other!  

These two are growing so fast and so much is changing! I am so thankful that I have captured so many moments with them and can show them all these photos one day! 

Madden is Mr. Lovable! This kids loves to play and talk sports!! He loves watching and playing basketball whenever he can and ask this one to flex and you are in for real gun show! He is my little lover thats for sure. Momma's boy to the core! And I love it! He is big time flirt and LOVES dancing and Toy Story!  

Then there is miss sass pants! Bostyn is turning 2, and for those who have a 2 year old know what I mean!! "MADDDDDEEEEEEENNNNNN stop it." "AGGHHHHHHHHHH.. NOOO" "BRUDDER, get it." "MOMMYYYYYYYYYY" "Doggie, shut up!" Just a few things we hear everyday! However, she is also the easiest kid ever! Attitude? YES, but she is a little mommy and loves to clean and put dishes away, Vacuum and turn on the dryer. She gives some NASTY looks but has the cutest dimples! Offer her food and she is your new best friend (gets it from her momma) She is VERY sensitive and likes to be in charge! so pretty much she is all GIRL!!! 

I would love to say AWW look how sweet my babies are! Giving high five and playing so well!! Thats what this picture says at least! Little do you know they were mid-fight, straight up gangsta baby style right here! (she always wins) The pictures that followed were of her walking away with a smirk on her face and him bawling his eyes on in the background! Thats true sibling love right there!!

Playing peek-a-boo right here and oh how I LOVE this picture!!

And I loveLOVE this one! I love dirty face, black and white photos. I am going to get one of bostyn and blow them up to hang in the bathroom!! Can't wait!

Young Women's calling

As a girl, turning 12 was a big deal in our church! It meant you got to enter young womens and be one of the cool kids! I LOVE young womens, I loved the activities and lessons, the leaders and the girls. I posted about getting to go to girls camp this year as the assistant camp director, well shortly after I was called as the Young Womens President of our ward. Never before have I felt so excited, overwhelmed, emotional, scared, terrified, nervous, and anxious. I have always wanted to serve with the youth of the church (even though I still consider myself one of them ;)) I think as a leader you are given a chance to make a lasted change. An impression and an impact. You are given the chance to teach these young girls about the gospel about the challenges they are going to face and about the faith to overcome them. 

The women that I serve are so beautiful! Truly beautiful.  The are strong and funny. Sensitive and smart. In the past few months my life has been so blessed because of them and their love for me! The leaders I am able to work with are each so different and so strong. I love them all SO much and I have never been more grateful for the timing of our Saviors plan. With this calling he has filling a gap in me that I was so desperately searching for. 

I am so proud of these girls and I look forward to working with and loving them! 

Some "Firsts"

I don't know how I will ever get caught up so I am just going to do as few as posts as needed to up catch up on the past 6 months! Let's start with some of the twins "firsts" 

First time going to the movies! We went to the dollar theater to see The Lorax! Cute show, and the kids did pretty good! 

I just stuffed them full of red vines and soda ...WATER.. 

First time going CAMPING!!!!! I have always loved camping and being out in nature. Listening to the birds and the flowing water. Enjoying the peace and quite, not having any cell service. Cooking dutch oven and drinking mountain dew... 

And then I had kids.......... WORSE.EXPERIENCE.OF.MY.LIFE

And that is by no means a lie! We were about 10 minutes from our destination and we see DEtOUR. ok no big deal... ya 2 miles per hour and 3 HOURS later! Someone please just kick me in the shins now! Bostyn started throwing up while we were heading up the mountain and I assumed it was motion sickness because I get very sick every time we drive.

 Well when the throwing up never ending and was passed from her to me, from me to Rob, from Rob to Ryan, Ryan to Tyler, Tyler to Katie, Katie to Dad, Dad to Mom (ya you get the picture!) It was terrible. Everyone was in terrible moods and just wanted to go home. HOWEVER, the fishing was AMAZING! I even held the fish (HUGE deal for me) Im DEATHLY afraid of fish, literally, deathly! There is a good chance a fish is going to eat me one day! Besides that it was miserable and none of us EVER want to go on a family trip together again! The very thought of us all being together makes me want to vomit :) 

Moving onto FIRST job! Bostyn is an extreme stylist!! She famous for getting you soaking wet while she is giving you a style and for combing her hair so hard you fear there will be nothing left when she is done! But I love this about her. She watches me to every haircut and just tells me what to do and after every client she climbs right up and asks her a cut! 

Lastly, first time looking alike in a photo! (ok maybe not the FIRST but I love this and had to share) 

Rub-a-dub-dub FIVE babies in the tub!

Look at these little cute babes!! I just love them all!! Having all 5 of these babies together isn't uncommon at our house but I don't know that we've put them all in the tub together yet!! Us mommies were rushin to get them all cleaning up and ready for bed so we could head out for a girls night (a much needed girls night :)) I can't wait to show them this photo when they are older!! 

Girls Camp!

What a wonderful experience it was to go back to girls camp as a leader and not a young girl! I had a blast and I am certain we have the greatest group of young women ever! I love them all so much and so glad they allowed me to join in on the fun with them! 

Not only was girls camp a blast but it was also a WONDERFUL vacation from the twins!! ;) The girls kept asking if I missed the babies (and of coarse I did) BUT I loved having a few days with no crying and not changing one nasty diaper! 

I loved being able to teach the girls some of the games that I grew up with at camp, big booty and signs! They loved them and I loved reliving my camp experiences! I am so grateful that I was called to be Assistant Camp Director and I absolutely loved the leaders that came with! We stayed up longer than the girls did every night just chatting away! 

Here are a few pictures! 

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy mothers day to my wonderful mom! To my beautiful and loving grandmothers, to my sweet and caring sister in law, to my kind and dear friends! Happy mothers day to ME!

My whole life I wanted nothing more than to be a mother! At times I wanted to skip over the whole husband part! As a young girl I loved to tend the neighbors, love on the new babies, and dream of the day that my life would be so blessed. I wanted a house full of kids, I wanted the chaos and love that only a child can bring. I wanted to be called Mom. I wanted to be that person that was needed by someone. I wanted to be that person that someone would come to when they were scared, sad, happy, confused. I wanted to have that trust that I felt with my own mother. I wanted to feel that love, that endless unconditional love at first sight feeling.

I have felt that and so much more! Being a mother has been my greatest blessing and challenge. I don't want to write this post to offend anyone. I know so many struggle with becoming a mother and they have longed for that just as badly as I did. To those that struggle, you truly are in my prayers I think about you. I have hope for you. But today I want to write about being a Mother.

For me, being a mother is hard. It is frustrating. It is emotional. It is my calling in life. So many questions I had about this life were answered the moment I held my babies. A peace I have never felt before. It was that day that I was so sorry for the way I acted at times to my own mother. It was that day that I knew my life would never be the same. It was the day that life exceeded any possibly dream I ever could have had for myself.

I am a mother to two beautiful babies who think that I am funny, they think I superwoman. They need me, they cry for me when they are sad or hurt. They smile at me whenever I look at them. They bring so much joy to my life. I am so thankful that I am their mother. I am so thankful our Lord and Savior has trusted me with these two amazing children. I am so thankful that I have a husband who is the best father that I ever could have dreamed of. The way he interacts with our babies exceeds every expectation I ever had. I have an amazing father. A kind, loving, sensitive, fun and giving father.. I wanted that for my children and I am so grateful that I found it.

Being a mother to me is sleepless nights.

Being a mother to me is emotional.

Being a mother to me is scary.

Being a mother to me is beautiful.

Being a mother to me is acting like a dog or a cat or a cow!

Being a mother to me is making airplane noises.

Being a mother to me is learning to overcome.

Being a mother to me is patience.

Being a mother to me is unconditional love.

.....and so much more.

To me, being a mother has made me feel like I have a purpose. I have never felt that I was good at much.. but I do feel like I am a good mother. So for me being a mother has given me confidence and made me feel like I am needed. One day they may hate me.. but today? Today they love me and need me! SO for that I am grateful! For that I say Happy mothers day to me!

Rob's graduation!

Rob graduated in December but had to wait until May to walk! I am so proud of him and all his hard work!! Not one time did he ever complain (well to me at least!) He was so involved with work and school and being a new Dad and he DID IT!! He started his masters last month so the journey isn't over yet but he has made a huge accomplishment thus far!! I am so grateful for his decision to further his education! It would be so easy to just choose not to but he is committed and will be SO happy when its all over with!!!! Love you babe!! 

   (he hates taking pictures so when everyone pointed their camera at him these were the best I could get!!)












He graduated with his good friend Kyle!





We love Kyle and Kylee so much!! Rob and Kyle are good friends and I just adore Kylee! Sweetest girl I've ever known!!!! So proud of these guys!

Family pictures!

My friend Tayona Miller (Loved up Light Photography) was so sweet and took our family pictures for us last week and was nice enough to let me edit the pictures myself so I could add my style to them. It was MISERABLE trying to get the kids to cooperate! But I am so happy with the turn out... dirty faces and all! Rocks were the only thing the twins would play with! I have big dreams for these photos in my house.. just like I did with last years photos but I never got around to getting them hung! So I WILL do it this week and post about it!!! 

 

Favorite of Bostyn!! 





LOVE these two (above and below) These will hang in our room asap!



The best of the 4 of us! I (of coarse) don't like myself in it but everyone else looks cute so it will do! The kids are looking at the camera almost smiling, Rob looks handsome and I am there so it WILL do!! 













My favorite one!! I never EVER like pictures of myself but this one I like! So double chin, no post baby belly hanging out, no chubby arms showing (the feature I hate most about myself!) and no fake smile! LOVE IT! **ps. this rant is not to beg for compliments or sound vain, no one is proud of every picture they take and I am not afraid to admit when I actually think I look decent!! 
Thanks so much Tay for doing these! I love them and you were so great with us and my crazy babes!