Utah for the weekend

Eric and I decided to take our 2nd roadtrip in a row this past weekend so we could meet our newest niece, Claire Olivia Nelson. It was a quick trip but well worth it.

Claire's parents, Patrick & Natalie recently moved to California so it was nice of Nat to have the baby in Utah just so we could more easily visit. :)

Eric's sister Andrea and her family are also in Utah so we got to stay with them the first night...

Shortly after we arrived, our bro-in-law, Curt, made us a yummy dinner (Andrea was at a Sister's Retreat) and then we got to watch Savannah strut her stuff on the stage with her baton twirling team.

Saturday morning we watched Marielle's last soccer game

Then on Saturday afternoon we met little Claire. Isn't she precious? She is a tiny little peanut (born 5 lbs 2 oz). 

Look how small she is next to Eric's big foot.

Can you believe she just had a baby?

Later that evening we had a fun little BBQ with the Harwards & McDonalds, and I finally got to see my adorable niece Autumn! She's such a happy baby.

Autumn with her Uncle Eric

And of course, sweet Ava. Here she is with her cute cousin Jackson.

This was the first time we'd seen Ava in a year. She had just gotten up from a nap so she was a little shy at first but warmed up really quickly.



This girl has the best laugh!



She loves her Uncle Eric...



Even when he squishes her.

I bought her love with gummy bears



Snuggling with Eric while watching Aladdin on Sunday morning.

Kisses!



Au Naturel Hot Springs

Eric and I had an interesting little roadtrip yesterday. We decided to drive 2 hours north to check out the cabin we have reserved for the Nelson reunion in August. Midway, we decided to stop at some natural hot springs. Turns out, those hot springs were a little more "natural" than we bargained for. After hiking our way up to the hot springs (maybe 15-20 mins), Eric and I were both a little winded when suddenly we spotted them - yes, the hot springs, but also 2 old, round, bare bums. Luckily, we were still a good distance away. There was a group of 8 or so people, most of which, graciously had swimsuits on, but for some reason, it's always the older, chubbier men who have no reservations about these things. They quickly gave us a friendly greeting, and we tried to play it cool and respond with a nice hello and wave while keeping our eyes on the trail. Unfortunately, these hot springs were on the "to do" list for a late night family reunion adventure. Good thing we checked them out beforehand because, as it turns out, they're not so family-friendly. I would rather our year for planning the reunion not be memorable in that way.

By the way, don't worry, I didn't snap any creepy pictures of the senior skinny dippers. I did take a few of the beautiful scenery nearby, however...

Mile Marker 4

Eric likes to dress for his surroundings

Hiking our way up to the hot springs

Here we are at the top of the 3rd level hot pool.

A fox we spotted in Tamarack.

Some nudity, some wildlife, and some beautiful scenery. 2 outta 3 aint bad.

Lately...

This is what has been goin' on lately...

My sister, Amanda (single mom of 3), graduated from Boise State University.

  



Sadly, this canal is the final resting place for Eric's eye glasses. E. was a good uncle and offered to babysit Amanda's kids during a girl's night/grad party for Amanda. Apparently, Eric and the boys were racing leaves or something in the canal when Daniel got overly excited and accidentally knocked Eric's glasses off...first onto the grate, but, unfortunately, they fell through to the rapids before Eric had a chance to rescue them. He even threw on his swim trunks and jumped in the canal in an effort to find them, which of course, was fruitless but very exciting for the boys. Unfortunately, the water was so deep, he couldn't even touch...and it was freezing. So we may not see those glasses again until the fall when everything dries up. While I was at the party, I got a text from Eric saying, "Not good. Daniel just knocked my glasses into the canal", and I had to laugh. What on earth are the odds of that happening?? He lost his previous pair of glasses when some homeless guy in Omaha tried to mug him, and somehow he swiped them off of Eric's face during the shuffle. I wasn't present for either incident, but I'm starting to wonder if he just makes these stories up to get new glasses.

P.S. I don't have my fancy birthday camera anymore. We decided to sell it so we can have the cash for more important things. Little did I know, those "more important things" would be new glasses for Eric. :)

Exterior Design

In the past few wks, it has become very clear to me that I'm a lot more comfortable with interior design than "exterior".

I had a $50 coupon for Franz Witte nursery, and I was so clueless as to what I wanted. You would think that my love for graphic and interior design would come in handy for landscaping as well, but not so much. Unfortunately, you have to take all of these different factors into account - climate zones, sun exposure, seasonal changes, etc. It was a little overwhelming for me. I just wanted to say hostas and hydrangeas and be done with it, but, unfortunately, I'm working with evening sun so it's not that easy. The one thing I knew going in was that I didn't want roses. And what did I end up getting?? Roses. The darn lady talked me into it. Don't get me wrong, roses are lovely, but the plants themselves are thorny and unnattractive to me. Plus, they're too common. I wanted to do something different and charming. In the end, the lady convinced me to try carpet rose b/c she said they're almost impossible to kill and they can withstand the harsh sun. Plus, I brought a photo of our yard, and she thought they would fit perfectly between our boxwoods. I do like the year-long purply, red leaves in contrast to the green. Eventually, I would love to make our front yard into a sweet little secret garden, but for now, we'll start with predictable roses.

Our yard before.



And after. I'm excited to see what the roses look like in full bloom this summer.



My succulents and a new little patio set. I thought I was being clever by buying this table off of Craigslist for only $30. The problem is that it's a wooden/indoor table. I tried spraying it w/polyurathane to protect it, but it's only been about a month, and it's already looking more shabby than chic.



Camel's Back Park

I'm loving the spring. Everything is green, and the weather is absolutely perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. We've spent the last few weeks outside as much as possible! Family picnics, volleyball, baseball, basketball, tennis, walks, frisbee golf, etc. Love it.

A few weeks back we got to take advantage of the nice weather for mutual and hike up Camel's Back...



Boise "skyline" in the background. Eric's bldg is the shorter white one coming out of Steph's head. :)



This shot makes me laugh. Melinda looks like she's in anguish.  Her sister is standing on her hair.



The YW human pyramid is a must.



I love Kendi's energy.



She asked me to help her with her grad announcement, and I immediately knew I wanted to keep it simple and showcase this beautiful picture of her. Love those eyes.



Spoiled

I definitely was spoiled this year for my 30th. Eric was sweet and left me 30(!) very thoughtful notes leading up to my birthday.

Day 27

Then, he surprised me with a Nikon DSLR camera which I've been lusting after for a while now. I knew we couldn't afford the D90 ($1000+), but he looked long and hard to find me this reasonable used D70 on EBay (for only a little more than we spent on our point-and-shoot)

Nikon D70

Here are a few photos that I've taken so far. (Keep in mind, I'm pretty clueless about DSLRs at this point so, hopefully, I'll get better)

Nephew Cooper & sis-in-law Sheri @ Braden's football game

Love that sky.

Jason posing at Tucano's Brazilian Grill. He and Eric kidnapped me for a birthday lunch and suprised me with the camera. (This is the very first shot taken.)

And thanks to all of the friends and family who sent cards and notes! Thanks to all of you, turning 30 was much less painful than anticipated.

Easter Surprise

Family traditions are a funny thing, but we don't always realize how funny they are until someone new comes along and challenges them. The Honn tradition for Easter dinner is "Eggs Ala Goldenrod" (which some refer to as "poop on a shingle" or a new one I heard yesterday from our lovely pseudo relative Becky, "wet fart"). Regardless of it's mean names, the Honns have grown rather fond of this strange little dish. Unfortunately, we can't say the same for some of the in-laws (Ahem, Eric).

Eggs Ala Goldenrod

Instead of my typical bunny cake, I decide to make these little Easter/Spring Cupcakes.

Now comes the "surprise" part. After dinner, Sheri (sis-in-law) decided she wanted to try on my niece's fancy prom dress (see photo of Cami wearing the dress below)...

...so the 3 of us went upstairs so she could model it for us. And for some reason, they kept insisting that I try it on as well. Thank goodness I said no! When we all came out of the room, with Sheri all dressed up & nowhere to go, the rest of the family was waiting for us downstairs...with a huge mound of birthday gifts in the middle of the room (numbered 1-30). Evidently, the whole prom dress thing was a decoy so they could set up the surprise. Plus they wanted to see if they could really embarrass me by making ME try on the dress and then open all of my presents as a birthday prom princess. Even without the dress, I was still a little embarrassed, but I definitely felt the love.

Here's all of the loot (mixed in with some of Eric's Easter treats). There were 30 gifts in honor of my 30th year...and some of them actually came in 30s (30 sticks of gum, 30 pens, 30 easter eggs, 30 squares of toilet paper, etc.)

I loved this. On the back, it reads: By the way, this took me THIRTY minutes to make. From my clever 11 y/o niece Faith.

And, finally, my lovely succulents from my mama.

Spring is a Beautiful Thing

These pink blossom trees are everywhere, and they're gorgeous right now.



On Saturdays, if I have time, I love to go watch my neices and nephews play their sports (basketball, football, soccer, volleyball, etc.) This last Saturday was particularly entertaining. Have you ever seen 5 y/os play soccer?? It is the cutest thing in the world.

This is what my sis-in-law Sheri has to say about Cooper's first soccer game: "Cooper was super excited the night before and morning of, & couldn't wait to get into his uniform.  The quarter he sat out, he sat on my lap and he was a little ball of energy bouncing around.  He kept cheering on his team and about went to pieces everytime either team was close to making a goal.  He'd put his hands up to his mouth and started shaking and squealing (either yes, yes, yes or no, no, no!)  IN the game he was AMAZING!  We had no idea he knew how to play so well!  He scored 9 of the 10 goals that his team scored and the only time the other team scored was when he was sitting out that quarter.  He was SO into it.  It was so cute.  His intensity and how seriously he took everything was so cute.  On the field he was totally focused and aggresive.  He was awesome!  We were just giggling the whole time."

The video below if my nephew Cooper shooting a goal and then running into the goal post. Earlier in the game, he actually slid right into the inside back pocket of the goal net after his kick. I love it.



You let me down Arizona

Ok, before you read too much into the title of this post, we did have fun in Arizona, but I have to say that the weather was disappointing. 50s - low 60s. Really, Arizona? I expected more from you. With my capris and sandals, I really wasn't prepared for that cruel trick. Luckily, Eric convinced me to bring my jacket at the last minute.

Hanging out outside of Evogi, waiting for Steven to finish up a meeting before our delicious lunch at Sweet Tomatoes.

Steven & Mary's new party pad! Check out the pool! There's also a little BBQ/Bar area that you can see in the background and, you can't see it in this photo, but a funky little Tiki Hut. And tons of space for Mary to work with. She has big landscaping plans, and even bigger plans for enticing the grandkids to come visit.

Arizona Dessert Botanical Garden. I'm still not a big fan of the dessert landscape, but it was definitely interesting to see all of the different, unique plant species that survive in the dessert. I thought this one (above) was pretty cool. Mary and I decided that dessert plants look like Dr. Suess characters or maybe something from Little Shop of Horrors. I kept waiting for one of them to come alive and strangle me, poke me to death, or swallow me up whole. 

Glass Sculptures at the entrance of the Dessert Botanical Gardens



Steven, Eric and I - with a very cool backdrop

We tried to go for a nice little hike on Saturday, but we got dumped on, and had to slosh back to the car in the heavy rain, but it was a fun adventure.

Despite the weather, we still managed to stay busy and enjoy ourselves. We went to a couple of good movies (Investment Bureau & True Grit) and ate at some fun restaurants. Eric and Steven felt compelled to introduce me to the famous Waffle House which I'm glad they did b/c it gave me a glimpse into some funny Nelson memories. Although, I will say that one time was probably enough for me. :)

Thanks again Steven & Mary for having us! And Arizona, I'll be back soon to give you a chance at redemption.

Staying out of the shade

I almost posted a sad little blog post last week about our fertility frustrations, and the fact that I'm turning THIRTY this month. I tried to throw in some humor to lighten it up a bit, but in the end, it was more depressing than funny so I decided it was better to not post that one.

But, I must admit, I'm really going to miss my twenties. That decade gave me some of my best years, but people turn thirty gracefully everyday so I know I shouldn't complain.

I'm doing my best not to slow down too much (unfortunately, my metabolism refuses to join me in that effort). Lately I've been playing a lot of volleyball, twice a week for fun and once a week in a league. Last week, on a lovely sunny Friday, Eric and I, along with some friends, gave tennis a try.

I may not be looking forward to my birthday, but I am looking forward to the spring. This weekend we're headed to Arizona to visit Eric's parents. I can't wait to soak up that dessert sun...even if it just adds to my ever-growing collection of wrinkles. :)