We've moved....

Not physically....NO, we're still in LA....for now. But I have news on changes to THAT coming soon. Just not HERE....because....THIS BLOG HAS MOVED. We've got new digs. So if you like keeping up with the Neilsons, go here: ryanandmelissaneilson.blogspot.com

And change your bookmark/google reader settings too because I won't be posting here anymore :)

Neilson OUT!

Stringam Family Reunion - 2011

Last week we headed up to Midway, UT (just outside of Park City) for the Stringam family reunion (my mother-in-law's family). We rented a big house and had a few families stay with us, while some of the others rented condos nearby. 

One day we drove over to Cascading Falls to hike around. It was more of a walk than a hike, but it was very pretty and the kids got a kick out of looking at the fish in the water. The top right picture shows most of our group.

We had 3 babies on this trip. Brady (5 months), Alyssa, and Annelise (both 7 weeks I think). The girls both sleep A LOT and slept right through our walk.  The little boys had fun throwing rocks in the water with Aunt Arlene :)

The next day (and the next 2 days after) we all went swimming at Cheryl's condo. The water wasn't cold, but Brady seemed to like the hot tub more (it wasn't a HOT hot tub, just bath water temp.), so we spent most of our time in there. Brady is SO relaxed in the water. He usually gets bored with whatever he's doing after a few minutes and lets you know it, but in the water we hardly heard a peep from him for over 30 minutes. The only reason I took him out was because his toes were getting really wrinkly.

The older kids LOVED having Ryan and Jared to horse around with in the pool. The next two days the guys were golfing and the pool scene was much quieter.

We celebrated a few birthdays this week. First, Cheryl's #5 turned 2. For his birthday we had tacos, he opened some gifts which he was very excited about (see above), and we went to Grannies in Heber to get milkshakes (side note: we went to grannies to get milkshakes THREE times this week!!!).  

We also celebrated Grandma Stringam's 89th birthday. We ate pizza and her famous angel food cakes. Next year we will all be heading up to Canada to celebrate her 90th birthday!!

Although I considered the entire week a family reunion, the "official" reunion was on Saturday night at a park in Park City. A few more family members were able to meet up with us there and it was fun to eat, chat, and watch the kids play.

The picture in the middle is of Cheryl's #4 and I think it's my favorite picture of the entire week. I just think it's so perfect! He is the cutest!! Also above, Courtney got to spend a lot of time with her favorite nephew!

We took family pictures with Grandma Stringam before saying our goodbyes. The next morning we (just me, Brady, Ryan, his parents, and Courtney) packed up and headed out to spend the day in Park City

In the summer you can ride the lift up the slopes and zip line down, so we decided to do that. I've never zip lined before so I was very excited and a little scared. Here we are in the lift.

Courtney took my camera and snapped a few pictures on the way down and then waited for us to come down so she could get some pics of us. I have a huge goofy grin on my face because it was SO fun. At the initial drop I kind of freaked out a bit, but it was awesome and I was so happy I went. After the zip line we did the Alpine coaster, not to be confused with the alpine slide which we didn't have time for. The Coaster twists up and down the mountain and you're in this little cart that lets you control your speed. We were able to ZOOM down super fast and it was SO MUCH FUN. No good pictures of that though. I was busy accelerating!

Rick stayed back with Brady while we went off an had all the fun. We really appreciated that!!

After Park City we headed to Reed and Clarese's for a yummy dinner and then made our way to the airport to come HOME. It was such a fun week and we're so glad we were able to go and spend time with the family. Can't wait to do it again next year in Canada!

Brady Boy at the fair

Last week we met up with Justin and Allison at the OC fair. It was fun to catch up with them and also fun to get back to the fair. We missed it last year because we lived up North. It's always interesting to see what kind of crazy foods they've come up with. We've heard of most of the items, but there were 3 new ones that I've never seen before: deep fried butter, deep fried kool-aid, and chocolate covered bacon. We didn't try any of them, but Ryan WAS intrigued by the bacon and might try it before the fair is over. I think it sounds SICK.

Anyway, I didn't get any cool "fair" looking pictures, but I did snap some cute pics of Brady as we were sat down for a bit. He makes some FUNNY faces.

Our trip to Antioch

Since Ryan is not working we decided to take advantage of his free time and drive up to Northern CA to visit my family last week. We drove up on a Thursday and Brady did SO well. He usually takes pretty short naps, and has never gone over 3 hours, but on this drive, he slept for 4 hours! It was great.

We got to my parent's home in time for dinner and then headed to bed. On Friday, we planned on going to San Francisco, but as we were getting ready, a pigeon flew into the house!!

Luckily Ryan was brave and captured it for us :)

After that whole ordeal, we headed into SF with my brother and sister. We went to Union Square and walked around before grabbing some pizza at Blondies.

After lunch, we drove across the Golden Gate and into Sausalito. We walked through some fun shops along the water and took in the gorgeous view.

As we walked back to the car, we walked along the rocks on the water and there were TONS of crabs. Almost EVERY crevice had 1 or 2 of the little guys scurrying back in as we walked by.

On Sunday, we headed to my brother's home in Lodi to celebrate my dad's 56th birthday. Though Brady has been in pools before, he's never gone in deeper than his legs because they are always too cold. This pool was WARM, so I would classify this as Brady's first real swimming experience. He really seemed to like the water. I sat on that step with him on my lap for about an hour and he never made a peep. He does not usually sit still for that long. Sierra just recently learned to swim and is SO happy to have a new pool in the back yard. She loves swimming and had a blast chasing Ryan and being chased by him :)

After swimming, my brother grilled up some jalapenos that were stuffed with a cream cheese mixture and wrapped in bacon. I've had them before and they were pretty good, even though I don't like peppers or jalapenos or anything spicy. This time, I got a hot one though and couldn't finish mine.

My dad requested a german chocolate cake for dessert. I was little disappointed because, though it's a Brisco favorite (grandpa and uncles love it too) that's not "real" chocolate to me. I've tried it a few times and have never been super impressed. But I gave it another shot and it was pretty good. ...Good enough to have another piece later that night :)

After swimming and dinner and cake, we all just relaxed while Sierra and Alice played with the baby.

Sierra loves cousin Brady! Alice does too, she was pretty infatuated with him, pointing at him and touching him any chance she got, but she was camera shy.

Anyway, that was our trip up North. It was fun to see everyone, especially my 2 favorite nieces!

lots of pictures

I have received a request for more pictures, and it just so happens that I have several that I haven't blogged yet, SO, here's a little catch up:

As mentioned in a previous post, the pediatrician instructed us to start solids at 4 months to help put some weight on our boy. We tried sweet potatoes first and he loved those, but we had a much different reaction to peas.

 NOT AMUSED!

Brady ended up being REALLY fussy for a few days after the peas....and it happened again after we tried them again later, so we're done with those for a while. To date he has tried and enjoyed: Sweet potatoes, squash, and apples. I noticed this week that he tends to wake much more frequently throughout the night with a gurgly tummy when he has eaten food, so I'm backing off on it for a bit. 

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On the 4th of July, we just stayed at home and relaxed. It had already been a busy weekend with Tiersha and Josh visiting so we were happy to stay home for the day. I laid out by the pool for a bit and then Brady, Ryan, and Walle came out to enjoy the warm weather too. 

 What are YOU looking at?

Ryan took Brady in the pool. It's not heated, so he just dipped his feet in, but Brady seemed to enjoy it. Later that day, we had BBQ hot dogs with Rick and Arlene. Brady went to bed around 8, so Ryan and I stayed home with him and missed out on fireworks. We really didn't mind though.

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Ryan and I went to Les Mis on 7/8. It was my first time seeing it and his third. I absolutely loved it! The music, the story, the sets, it was all wonderful. It was also just fun to dress up and go out with my husband. We go out once a week (grandma babysits on friday nights :), but it makes it even more special when you have to dress up a bit.

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The next day we went to a Dodger game with Ryan's parents. It was Brady's first baseball game.

 Ryan was proud to have his son at his first game :)

Brady did really well through the game. He got fussy twice, but I walked him for just a minute or two and he fell right asleep, both times. He even slept through the cheering crowds when the Dodgers scored a winning run. This kid amazes me. And isn't he just the CUTEST?!?!