Brizzard

A few days ago we were graced with the presence of the Cottle family. Nick and Lexie both had spring break so they dragged Briz to Utah to see her BFF Sadie. We all headed up to a condo in Midway for a few days.

Briz and Sadie quickly picked up where they left off last time

The only difference this time is that Brizzy is mobile and Sadie isn't. Sadie was forced to try to defend herself while Briz crawled circles around her. Most of the time they were nice to each other, but Brizzy did love to pull herself up via Sadie's head.

The girls bonded over Baby Signing Times.


Sadie was excited to show off the beach body she's been so hard at work on at the indoor pool.

The first time she went swimming (7 months ago) she did this so we had no idea how she would react this time.

Fortunately, this time she loved it!

Sadie kicked like a pro. She didn't enjoy being dunked under the water but she also didn't cry about it (unlike some other babies there- Briz. Geez).


Sadie absolutely loved Brizzy's hair. She touched it every chance she got.


Besides swimming, we went on walks around the Zermatt resort, made some good meals, shopped for matching outfits in Park City, napped, and stayed up way too late playing cards and Rummikub.

On our last night we went to a delicious dinner at Fanny's Cafe.

Sadie fell asleep while Briz ate every ounce of food within arms reach.

These two are definitely going to be forced BFF 4 eva-n-eva

You Would Cry Too if it Happened to You

Daniel got his first ever surprise party last week. I invited everyone to meet us at Nickel City for a night of pizza and 5 cent games. I told Daniel I was taking him to get a birthday present but when we stopped at Nickel City he thought I had just planned a surprise date. He didn't figure anything out until we walked in and just happened to run into our closest friends and family.

Daniel, embarrassed to have people singing to him

We had a contest to see who could win the most tickets with their $2 bag of nickels.



Sorry Lauren, but you made the face. I am just doing my blog duties


Sadie barfed all over her grandmother all night


Ashley made a delicious Texas sheet cake since Daniel doesn't like regular cake.


Nickel City has amazing prizes you can buy with your ticket winnings. Daniel and Ryan each selected the molester mustache package.

Sadie just had to try one on (either that or her father just had to try one on her)


Overall it was a really fun time, even if Nickel City birthday parties are usually for people under the age of 12. The pizza was decent and the games are cheap.
Daniel was actually surprised and he had fun so surprise birthday parties may be the way to go for him since he refuses to acknowledge his birthday in any way.

Visitors from the South

Last week we had a little Nielson family reunion when Sadie's Grandpa, Grandma, and aunt Whitney paid us a visit from Texas. (Everyone was there except for that loser Courtney who had to work or something.)
Sadie got to hang out with everyone every day while her mom and dad worked. She got lots of attention and showed off lots of tricks.

Showing Whitney & Tyler her cool toys


Standing up (check out the square face in this one)


Being attacked by the original dino


Growling at Bear Pa


Eating paper- one of her favorite foods

Eating cords- another favorite

Eating electronics- her most favorite


Sitting with her fellow square face


Clapping with grandma (Did I mention she claps on command now?)

One of my favorite pictures...

For some reason my flash didn't go off so I had to play with the settings a lot to make it so you could see Sadie's face (in my fancy editing program Microsoft Office Picture Manager). Sadie was a little fussy so her grandfather started whispering in ear and she got really quiet and relaxed for a while.

27 Years Young

For Daniel's birthday I got him the Great West Conference Championship (see previous post). How great of a wife am I?

<---- awesome wife

After the big win we celebrated Daniel's 27 years of life by going to Ruby River with the whole Nielson family (minus Courtney-- she stayed in Texas like a loser).

Sadie played with the logo on her grandmother's sweatshirt

And a good time in general was had by all.
Daniel, thanks for being born so I could get a scrumptious jacketed baked potato!

The Wild Wild Great West

Last week brought the conference basketball tournament for the mighty Great West Conference. UVU came in seeded 6th out of 7 teams, having lost by double figures at least once to every team in the conference except one (the 7th seeded Houston Baptist).

Game #1 was against Chicago State, the team where all the white players have orange skin and bad dye jobs. The game started at Sadie's bedtime but I dragged her there in her pjs to see what was sure to be Daniel's last home game of the season. We arrived to a score of 29-14 (NOT in UVU's favor) with 5 minutes left in the first half. It seemed to be more of the usual.

Sadie took a myspace self-portrait.
As we settled into our seats Sadie and I noticed something. Even though UVU was losing, there was a new attitude among the players...dare I say....a winning attitude?
Daniel coached his little heart out (as usual)
He yelled...

...he pointed and yelled...

...and what do you know? UVU stunned the crowd with a come-from-behind victory (76-61).

Sadie showed her Wolverine support after the game.

Game #2 brought the #2 seeded Texas-Pan American (yes this is a real school). Sadie and I showed our support with green shirts.
UVU got down early again, but that winning attitude was still there.

Sadie was entertained by looking at (and chewing on) pictures of herself on Uncle Tyler's fancy iphone.
My favorite quote of the night came from a member of the Texas-Pan Am team when they were up by 10 in the second half (directed at a UVU player) "Your season's about to be ovah!" She had to choke on those words when UVU won (72-56).

Then it was on to the championship game against #1 seeded North Dakota. UVU was just happy to be there and quickly got down by 18 points.
Sadie enjoyed sitting with her aunt, and fellow square face, Whitney (who surprised us by arriving earlier that day with Daniel's parents).

Daniel coached just as hard as he could.

...and UVU came back to win it again!
Even though they had a horrible season it was such a fun way to end it. You better believe this was the first time all season I saw smiles like this at the end of a game.

Sadie celebrated with the team on the court, because you know, she is cool like that.

She also accompanied her dad in receiving his championship medal.

Sadie even snuck into the official team victory photo (featured on the websites of UVU, the Great West Conference, and the Deseret News). Her first picture in the paper. We are so proud.

Park Trip

As with every spring, we got a little overexcited when it hit 50 degrees. The difference this year is that we have a baby to drag out to the "nice" weather. We took her to the park to swing.

Initially she was not sure what to make of it. And she tried to eat the metal on the sides of the swing.


With enough coaxing Sadie eventually decided/was convinced she liked it.

But then we got really cold and we realized Sadie's face was freezing.

We hurried home, but I'm sure we'll be right back out there the next time it goes above 55.