Hawaii

The week after Thanksgiving I joined Daniel and his team in Hawaii for a tournament. The difference this year from last is we went to a new tournament on a different island. Last year they hosted a tournament at BYU-Hawaii, on Oahu. We stayed right by the campus at a Marriott that was fine. Pretty much everything in Hawaii is beautiful and by the ocean, so you can't go wrong. However, this year the tournament was hosted by Oregon State on Maui and we stayed at the Grand Wailea, which is a beautiful resort. 

Looking forward to this Hawaii trip got me mentally through those first 8 weeks of pregnancy nausea. We left right as I hit the 12 week mark and I was really hoping the nausea would be completely gone. While it was still sticking around, it was definitely rapidly improving. The flights to Maui were the worst sickness-wise, but I felt mostly ok once we we arrived. Also, nausea is a lot more manageable when you don't have any life responsibilities. No kids, no cleaning up, no cooking. Just relaxing and watching a couple basketball games. 

When we arrived at the hotel on day 1 it was dark, so we were treated to some amazing views first thing in the morning. 

 While Daniel went to practice I walked around the resort and took pictures of the grounds and the beach just beyond the pools. There are all these different pools, hot tubs and water slides at the resort.  I kept thinking about how much my girls would love it there. But then I realize it isn't worth it to fly to Hawaii for the pools at a resort. 

After practice on day 2 we went snorkeling with the whole group. I almost didn't go because I was worried about potential double nausea from pregnancy and seasickness. I am so glad I did, because I felt fine. The boat brought us out to a cove that is supposed to have extra great snorkeling. We saw lots of beautiful fish. I was the first to spot a huge sea turtle, which made me feel like the coolest person around, for 5 minutes. 

 The boat ride was incredibly windy and our attempts at pictures were sad. This is the best one, by a long shot.

I managed to go running one morning. That was my first run in several weeks. I mostly felt....jiggly. I have never run while pregnant so with each later week that I run it feels weirder. I opted to go walking every other morning, which was much more enjoyable and allowed for easy photo ops. 

The Grand Wailea is right on the beach, which has a path that winds along the coast behind many other resorts and condos. Most mornings I walked with Denise Stewart, Ray's wife, who is one of my favorite people in the world. The views were unbelievable.

 BYU played UNLV first, who was a pretty good team. When Daniel set up the schedule to play them last year he didn't realize how good they would be. BYU pulled out the win, which was awesome. 

I spent the rest of my free time by the pool or beach- reading, sleeping, or talking to other BYU staff wives.

One day Daniel came down to the beach for about 15 minutes as the sun set. The setting just begged for pictures. 

 The next game was against Oregon State. They are very, very good. Daniel felt optimistic because they line up well against the Beavers. BYU didn't play very well offensively, but kept it close. They were down by 2 with a few minutes left, but ended up losing by around 10 because of fouling to stop the clock. I took no pictures because I was too stressed out.

Our red-eye flight took off a few hours after the game ended, which was kind of a mess. There are no restaurants in the Maui airport so we needed to stop somewhere. The McDonald's we chose took forever so we had to leave before most people got their food. At the airport the security line was crazy long. We waited anxiously as our flight got closer and closer to taking off and we were still in line. All the BYU coaches have priority boarding so they were already through. About 5 minutes before takeoff we all just cut the whole line and the Hawaiian TSA agents let us. Apparently they thought someone in authority had instructed us to do it, so we all got through. We were running through the airport, a la Home Alone, but we all made it.

And just like that, it was back to reality.

Seriously, So Blessed

I really miss that hilarious blog. Now I am pretty much living the life the writer made fun of, right? Not really, but kind of.

We are indeed feeling very blessed. Introducing.... Nielson baby #4. 

The only thing I can think much about lately is sickness. I have been nauseous 15/7. About 15 hours out of the day I feel car sick. I am usually at my best the first few hours of the day. Then it goes downhill from there. I have gotten progressively sicker with each pregnancy, but this one took a big leap. I started feeling sick at 4 weeks. I also got heartburn for the first couple weeks. The first time I felt the heartburn was after my first long Saturday training run and I thought somehow that was the cause? I few days later I found out I was pregnant. Since I have never gotten too sick in pregnancy I was sure I would be fine still running the half marathon.  

There are so many things I want to use pregnancy as an excuse for, but here are the main things:

#1- feeling terrible during my half marathon. I was 7 1/2 weeks pregnant. I don't think it really physically affected me, but mentally I let it take over towards the end of the race. I almost yelled at several people who passed me by mile 12 that I was pregnant, so not to feel so great about themselves for passing a pregnant lady. I was also really worried about getting nauseous during the race so I made myself eat small things as I went. Those things tasted disgusting to me and I probably should have just skipped them. It felt like it actually took some energy out of me to choke down things I didn't want to eat.

#2- doing a terrible job documenting all the recent visitors we had. I was at the height of feeling awful during my parents' and Alicia's visits. 

#3- being an all around lazy person. 

Ok, so having gotten all that negativity out let's talk about the fact that we are bringing another person into the world. That's awesome and scary. 

Here are some facts about this fetus:

-ETA June 15th. Most likely coming a week or so before that, if my pregnancy pattern holds. That makes me 13 weeks pregnant tomorrow.

-this was not a surprise

-it has made me more sick than any other pregnancy. By far.

-I am feeling more nervous about this kid than my other kids. 4 kids is a big family. In Utah it isn't unusual, but elsewhere we are weird. 

-this fetus will have a cousin on the John side in February and a cousin on the Nielson side in June. Cousins all around! The only one of our children who will have a Nielson cousin older than him/her, even if it is only by a matter of weeks. 

-Our kids do not know because I am not ready to tell every person I interact with. Probably in the next couple weeks. I have no cute way of telling them. 

-In some ways I feel like the time has passed more quickly because I have been so concentrated on getting through the nausea each day.

-Daniel and I both assume it will be another girl, which we are happy with. We are not having another kid to get "our boy". We are having another kid because we feel like it is the right decision for us right now. If I could choose I would probably choose a girl. A boy sounds overwhelming at this point in my parenting. 

Thanksgiving

These are the only 2 Thanksgiving-related pictures I took in November. 

First, I helped at Elise's Thanksgiving celebration at school. I was happy to meet many of her friends as they rotated through the food station that I was in charge of. One of the best friends she has made this year is the boy to her right, Bryant. He lives on our street but he is in the older primary class so she had never really known him before.

The pic below is the only picture I took on Thanksgiving Day. Daniel was gone at a tournament, of course, and Ron and Lani were kind of enough to have us over. My assignment was to bring a Costco pumpkin pie. Easy peasy. Camille was not great with her second cousins. She either talked to them like a baby or fought with them. Sadie and Elise spent the whole time playing in the basement with the Seawright boys, as usual. 

Carolyn flew in the day after Thanksgiving to take care of our girls while we went to Hawaii the next week so I think I spent much of the evening after the girls were in bed doing last-minute cleaning.

November Variety

My favorite monthly post- the miscellaneous catch all.

Whining. Life is hard for 2-year-olds

 We are all thrilled to find out the girls will get their first Nielson cousin! Courtney and James are having a baby late May/early June. Sadie immediately set to work on a note for them. I did the proactive thing and took pictures instead of mailing them to Courtney.

I got a brand new phone. My first iPhone and here is the first picture I took on it.

Sadie in her natural habitat

Millie wore her sunglasses for a sunset car ride. 

More pictures from the first day I had my new phone. I was playing around with the camera at Daniel's game. 

 Not a lot of fans to capture in a panoramic shot for BYU women's basketball exhibition games

 Selfies with Millie to try to keep her from running up the stairs and around the concourse. She is so so tiring to bring to games. She wants to run around like her sisters but she is completely untrustworthy so someone has to follow her. She does like Cosmo.

Waiting on the front porch for Elise to get home from school one day when it was still warm in November. 

 A trip to the Museum of Natural Curiosity with other toddler friends.

Elise's gymnastics teacher texted me this picture of her doing a bridge in class. This is a big deal! Elise makes very slow progress, but she raised herself to the bridge all alone and held it. Elise is the second girl on the left in the back row, which dark shorts and a tank.

I drive the carpool to school every morning. Millie ends up in very strange outfits for the 5 minute ride.

Camille accompanied me to IKEA in an Elsa costume. 

Sparklers at Daniel's cousin Melanie's wedding. It was freezing outside that night. 

Just posing to send a picture to Daniel, with lots of toys spread on the kitchen table. That is the girls' favorite place to play with their Shopkins, small Disney princesses, Polly Pockets, and Legos. The table is frequently covered by that stuff.

Camille is a wild one- standing up while riding the rocking horse. Fearless.

Just hanging out with underwear over her pants. As you do.

Gessell Visitors

Next up on our November revolving door of visitors (visitors every weekend in November) was Alicia and her kids. They flew out before Bryce so they could spend some time with us and other friends in Utah County. Then when Bryce flew in right before Thanksgiving they all drove out to Vernal to be with his family. 

It was especially exciting because we had never met Brigham. He was already almost 9 months old! Of course Addy was much more grown up since it had been 15 months since we last saw her. Last time we saw her she was barely talking and now she is a full-blown kid. In fact, she is so tall Elise had a hard time understanding that she is closer to Millie's age than her own. 

 Adelaide and Camille will be in the same grade (along with their twin cousins). At this point Addy seems much older than Millie. Millie has a hard time playing very well, but they did play a bit. 

We mostly stuck around our house for the few days Alicia was here. One day the girls spent hours in swimsuits pretending the family room was a pool. It even included goggles. 

I love spending time with my siblings. Especially as I get to watch them (and their kids) interact with my kids. Family is everything. We wish their stay could have been longer than 3 days, but we will see them again in the summer of 2017. Hard to believe Addy will be almost 4 and Brigham 18 months by then. 

Nana & Papa Come to Town

My parents came for a quick visit over Veteran's Day weekend. This is a holiday Utah generally doesn't acknowledge, but Massachusetts does. The morning after they arrived Millie and I crashed their brunch with my Aunt Kathryn. Then we went to the car wash next door and my parents helped me clean out my car. 

Later that day my dad picked up Matt from Provo and then his mom from Bountiful and brought them back to our house. Grandma John had never been to my house and it was fun to have her. The girls enjoyed putting on a dance show for Grandma and then wrestling with Uncle Matt. 

I couldn't manage to get a picture of everyone looking at the camera at the same time. 

That night we all attended Daniel's game against UVU. It was a rough one. They were losing in the first half, but then came out and blew them out. Sadie and Elise played on the courts up above the main court that UVU has. Millie was all over the place and one of us had to watch her at all times. It was exhausting. She finally cried herself to sleep in my arms. That's when I realized I would not be attending any night games this season.

I don't even remember what we did the rest of the trip. It probably involved a trip to Chick fil a. My parents went up to Salt Lake to spend some more time with my mom's dad. We won't see my parents again until summer 2017!

John Visit #2

The first week of November we got another visit from the Johns. We seem to only know how to do visits in extremes with them. We hadn't all seen each other in years, then had 4 visits in 2016.

On Thursday night I took the 4 oldest cousins to Chick fil A and then one of Daniel's exhibition games. Carrie and Anthony went to the temple with Carrie's family as her sister went for the first time. They paid for a sitter who watched Millie, Elliott and some of their Crane cousins.

 The kids had a blast at the game, getting to hang out with Cosmo a whole lot. I finally had to tell them to leave Cosmo alone to let other kids get a chance. They were climbing all over in front of other fans to talk to Cosmo.

 At one point Cosmo picked Lauren up and ran around the arena with her, including down on the floor. I think she was slightly unnerved, but mostly enjoyed it.

A 7:00 start time makes for a late night once it is over, but the kids all had a great time. It was so nice to not have Millie with me. She is not fun at the games. 

Sadie brought Will and Lauren in for show and tell at school.

It was very cute and fun. The students got to have a Q & A with the foreigners. Everyone wanted to ask a question.

Camille loved to "help" feed Elliott. She is not stealing his food in this picture. She is picking it up and trying to stuff it in his mouth. I love the picture below on the right. It is Elliott's shy smile. You can get him to give you a big smile and then he kind of turns to the side, like he is shy about it.

On the wedding day I actually followed through with my commitment to do Lauren's hair! I love doing her hair because it is thicker than my girls' and thicker hair looks that much prettier in braids. We did a crown braid and she looked beautiful. I put tons of hair spray in it, hoping it would stay all day. 

 More bashful smiles from Elliott. Not sure why he had 2 bottles here.

My girls really enjoy wrestling with uncle Tony. Daniel is happy to wrestle with them, but we just don't think of it much. The John kids wrestle with their dad a lot and my kids now expect it from Tony. 

The older cousins spent a ton of time creating books. 

They wrote several about different types of habitats: the ocean, jungle, etc. Each page gave some info and frequently contained a fun fact, like below. Lots of pearls of wisdom in here. 

They really enjoyed reading them to everyone as pre-bedtime books

 The kids played outside as much as weather would permit.

 

Carrie caught a few adorable pictures after church on Sunday. Elliott is such a smiley guy.

A couple of unpictured important items:
1. A car accident. On Saturday morning Carrie and I were supposed to be taking a nice leisurely trip to browse for some journals and a few other things. Two blocks from our house a teenage kid drove into the side of the John's rental car. It was incredibly annoying, but luckily no one got hurt. The Johns didn't get rental car insurance, since, no one ever does. The kid who hit us had expired insurance, which the police officer didn't notice at the time. They just found out later when the John's personal insurance couldn't collect money from the kids' car insurance since he was no longer covered. I ended up doing a bunch of online sleuthing because their insurance company couldn't even find the kid/his parents and were trying to make the Johns pay for the accident. All we knew were the kid's name and phone number, but not his parents' names. Want to know how I found them? Instagram. Teenagers and their public profiles. Then I found his mom through her public instagram and facebook. Boo ya.
2. A stomach bug. It got passed around the household, with the only people escaping being me, Carrie and Sadie. I can't remember if Elliott got it when they arrived back home in KC. It was a strange bug because it took a couple days between people to hit. So we'd think we were all good and then the next person would get sick. Poor Elise and Camille got it the worst. Both because their sicknesses began in the middle of the night (AKA barf-covered bed) and because theirs seemed to last longer. Camille had never had a stomach flu before and it was very confusing for her. She would start to barf and then she would swallow it, which is painful. She still talks about burping in her bed.