Tom boy or girly girl?

Jan 22: We went over to Amy and Tyler's for a delicious dinner of ribs, scones and potatoes after church. While we were there I got a picture of Bailey hanging out on the floor watching everything going on around her. She is already comfortable in cheer jump positions....she sits in these positions a lot! Not sure if she will be into cheer/dance or sports. With a brother like Nate I am thinking she will be a tom boy because she will have to learn how to hold her own and be tuff! She loves playing with all his boy toys, but thats the only thing we have around! I am excited to see her grow and see what she takes interest in! Tom boy or girly girl? Doesn't matter to me! Whatever she does she will be great at! She is an Ence/Nelson after all :)

Yummy breakfast

Jan 21st: It was saturday and we woke up and surprisingly didn't have anything going on that morning so I decide to make breakfast instead of just eating the usual cereal. I made cinnamon rolls and they were oh so yummy!

New Swing Set

Jan 20th: Our friends Shawna and Jason gave us their playground set their son had outgrown! They are so awesome! It is perfect for Nate! He loves it!! It is nice to have something else for him to go outside and do in the backyard! He has played on it just about everyday since we have gotten it! The weather has been great the past few days. I love that we live in St. George and he can go outside in the middle of January and play in a short sleeve shirt with no shoes on! It was a warm afternoon and Bailey and I went out and enjoyed playing outside too.

Bailey loves her doggie

Later that afternoon I had a nerf gun war with my little superhero

That evening we went and watched Blake's basketball game. They are always so close and come down to the buzzer! PV won! Grandma was watching Josie and Dallin and was taking them to Mc Donalds after the game. They invited us to come along and of course Nate was so excited! When we got there I got a high chair for Bailey and then they all wanted to sit in one. So all 4 kids sat in the high chairs. It was kinda nice having them contained so they couldn't get up and leave until they were done eating :)

Going to the car wash

Jan 19th: I took my disgustingly dirty car to get washed after dropping Nate off at preschool. I love to have a clean car and it has been a long time since I have gotten it washed inside and out! Skyler saw on twitter that they were having a 50% off all their car washes that day if you went in before 11. That is such a good deal! We got their best carwash that cleaned the car inside and out for $12! So great! It felt so nice getting into a squeaky clean car! Now hopefully it cab stay that way for awhile :)

My little Star

Jan 17th: Nate was the star of the week at preschool this week! Every week they rotate who it is and it was finally Nate's turn and he was beyond excited! I loved seeing his little face light up when I told him it was his turn! They made an All About Me poster at the beginning of the school year and when they are the star it gets hung up for all the class to see. They get to be the leader for all activities and on Thursday they get to bring treats for everyone in their class. When I asked Nate what treat we should bring, without any hesitation he said chocolate chip cookies! He loves them!

Nate wearing his preschool shirt

Jan 18th: We made a store run and got all ingredients to make the chocolate chip cookies for his class. I think one of the things he likes most about the cookies and helping make them! He loves to help me in the kitchen! I really do need to get an apron for him, but I am not sure how his dad would respond to that :) He is a great helper and loves to pour all the ingredients in, stir the batter and plop it on the pan! He pretty much made them himself with a little assistance from me. Love baking with my little chef!

Everyday stuff

Jan 15th: Being silly



Jan 16th: My morning routine. Wake up to snuggling with my kiddos, Dad gets home from basketball, morning kisses and breakfast

Park, Black Bear Diner, and Shakes oh my!

Jan 14th: We never made it to the park the day before and Nate was begging to go! It wasn't as nice now, but I promised him we would go! We didn't go until the evening time so it was cold and starting to get dark. There were no other kids at the park, but that didn't stop Nate from having fun (at least before he started freezing to death!) He wanted Bailey to go down the slide with him. I told him she was still to little to go all the way down, but I would hold her and have her do the bottom half. She got to experience her first time on the slide :)

We went to Black Bear Diner for dinner. I have been wanting to try it for awhile now and we were finally able to go. It was pretty good, but I must say I wasn't satisfied until we got home and the boys made us yummy chocolate shakes! Nate loves making chocolate shakes with his Dad! It was the perfect ending to a great day!

For the love of reading

Jan 13th: Nate loves going and checking out books from the library! He feels like he is getting a new toy or something every time we go! We haven't been in so long! We went on friday when we had nothing else going on and he checked out several books! He was so excited to get home and read them! It was a nice day and I asked him if he wanted to go to the park for a little bit before we went home to read his books and he said no lets go read the books and then go to the park. I couldn't believe it!

Its so fun being snuggled up on the couch reading him a story and discussing all his cute little questions and comments about the book! I love reading to him!

Oh so strong

Jan 12th: We went to Costco a few weeks ago and one of their samples was kids vitamins. I have been meaning to get some for Nate so I was so glad they had some he could try before buying a huge bottle of them and him not even liking it! He loved them! They were the Gummy Vites and they pretty much taste like regular gummy bear candy! I told him he can only have 2 a day and that they will make him stronger. He got so excited! Everyday he reminds me to have him take them! After he eats them he always flexes his muscles so I can see that he just got stronger by eating them! Its so funny! I love that he loves them!

Nate asked Skyler why he had his finger taped and Skyler said it was so he could do the Master Shefoo (not sure how to spell it, but the guy from Kong Fu Panda) grip. He asked Nate if he wanted him to tape his finger and of course Nate wanted too! He thought it was the coolest thing ever! The bottom picture is of them doing their Master Shefoo fingers together for power :)

Going to the temple

Jan 11th: Nate has been making Bailey laugh a lot lately. She pretty much laughs at everything he does! She already idolizes him and Nate loves that she thinks he is so funny!

While we were waiting for Skyler one night we were out down by the temple and Nate saw and it and said "Look Mom! The temple!" He always points it out every time he sees it and then he says thats were you get married! We had some time to spare so I asked him if he wanted to go see it and he excitedly said yes! We have walked around them temple grounds a few times with him before, but we have never taken him through the visitors center. I decided to take him through. I told him inside the building was a big statue of Jesus and he said can we go see it?? I said yes and he said thanks mom you are so nice! Ha ha! He promised me he would be good so we headed through the doors. In the first building they have pictures and a small replica of the temple. Nate loved it and thought the little temple was so cool! Then we went on to the main part of the visitors center to see the statue of Jesus. When we walked into the room he got the biggest smile on his face and said look mom there he is! Its the statue of Jesus. He was grinning ear to ear the whole time we were in there! Bailey was smiling too..I bet she knew exactly who he was already! The sister missionaries asked him if he want to hear it talked and of course he said yes! They played it and he thought it was so neat! We went out and walked around by the temple. It was such a wonderful evening with my babies! I wish Skyler would have been with us! He was a little disappointed we went without him!

Photo a day Challenge

My mom took me out for lunch on Jan 2nd and told me she wanted to take pictures because she was doing the 365 day photo challenge. The challenge is you take at least one photo a day for a year! I thought that sound like a great idea especially since on of my new years resolutions is to be better about taking pictures and documenting them! So I am going to give it a try! So here is me catching up on the last twelve days and I will be up to date!! Yay! Lets home I can keep it that way! I am not sure I will have the time to upload a photo a day but I will at least do it every week and update the whole weeks worth of pictures!

Jan 1st: So mad I didn't take a picture of Nate in his church clothes for his first day a primary! Not off to a great start ha ha! Here is Dad and Bailey taking a sunday afternoon nap!

Jan 2nd: Since Skyler had the day off my mom and I could finally get together for her take me out for my birthday lunch without bringing the kids!

That night Skyler and I took the kids to Mc Donalds and Nate of course had a blast. Mc Donalds is definitely one of his favorite places! I think Bailey is starting to like it a lot too :)

Jan 3rd: Lucky Nate got to go to Mc Donalds again with his cousins Josie and Dallin! They came by for a visit in the morning and my house was a wreck, I hadn't showered, and Bailey desperately needed a nap! They hung out for a little while and then my awesome sister in law Amy took him to Mc Donalds with them so I could get in a shower and start on cleaning up the tornado that hit my house! Thank you again for helping me out! She took this picture of them at Mc Donalds eating ice cream!

Later that night I caught Nate on video acting like a Bull. He loves getting Bailey with his "horns." She laughs and laughs! I think it looks like it hurts, but she loves it!



Jan 4th: We put in our new entertainment center that Skyler's mom built for me for christmas. We originally were having it built for a sofa table to put behind our couch, but then we got to thinking that it would be a lot more convenient if it was in front of the couch where the kids play. If it was behind the couch there would be toys behind our living room and all over by the kitchen table. The only place to put it would be to use it as our entertainment center. So we made the switch. I am still trying to get used to it as the entertainment center! I miss the other one! This one opens up the space a lot more and it lets the extra chair we have fit in the room better, but now I feel that the wall and our house fill so bare! I need to think of a way to decorate around the TV. HELP! Any suggestions would be great!! This piece is fun and I like the color, but I feel like the other entertainment center went a lot better with our house and made it fill a lot nicer! So I am still deciding if I want to keep it as the entertainment center! There are a lot of pros and cons! I want to make new pillow covers and curtains and do something on the wall behind the TV and then I think I would like having it there a lot more! Here is a picture of the space...let me know if you have any ideas of how to decorate that wall!

Bailey enjoying it

Jan 5th: Skyler's basketball season at the Washington Rec Center started back up and we went to go watch him play. Nate usually likes to go play in the daycare for the first half of the game and then come out and watch him the second half. Skyler's team is TEAM D and the won the championship last season and hoping to do the same again!


After the game we came home and I fed Bailey dinner and then let her try some puffs. I have given he a few here and there, but she has never really been interested them until this night. She now enjoys them and it makes it nice that she can eat them when we are out and about!

Jan 6th: We didn't do a lot this day so I just took pictures of the kids at the store and later playing with Max and then wrestling with Dad! Please note the change in Nate's shirt. Right now he is in a phase where he always wants to change his shirt 2 to 3 times a day! It can be really annoying and it makes for a lot more laundry then necessary! Some days I fight it and other days when I am not in the mode I just let him.

Jan 7th: The boys started off the morning by going out and having a boys morning. They went to Black Bear (I may or may not have been upset with Skyler for taking Nate out to breakfast there when he knows I have been wanting to try it forever and haven't been yet) Nate told me he loved all the bears they had there. They then went to feed the horses and the place we are keeping them at just got some new pigs that Nate thought they were so cool! Bailey and I went out and had a little girls morning ourselves. We went and did some shopping. When everyone got home it was kinda a lazy afternoon. Bailey has been so funny lately and has been obsessed with her tongue! Every time you look at her and call her name she will stick out her tongue and start panting like a dog! Its so funny. I guess since she is at eye level with Buddy she is learning a lot from him on how to be a dog :) Every picture I took of her today she was sticking out her tongue. I got a short video clip of her acting like a dog too.

I was getting lots of loves from my babies and I loved it!! Love being a mom to these two munchkins!!

Jan 8th: My daily routine as a mom is bathing these two monkeys! Making sure teeth are brushed and they are ready for the day! Since Bailey has been able to sit up on her own for awhile now I started bathing her and Nate together. It makes things go a little faster and they have fun in the tub together.

Cute video of them when he didn't know I was recording

Jan 9th: There was such the prettiest sunset today. I made Nate run out into our backyard and take a picture with me. I am sad they turned out blurry!

Jan 10th: We took our dogs on a walk down to the park by our house. It is the first time we have been there together as a family. It was a nice night and a fun little family outing!

Sunbeam

Nate had his first day in primary! He is no longer in nursery...he is a sunbeam! I can't believe it! I have a child who is old enough to be in primary! So crazy! I was really nervous about him not wanting to go and not wanting anything to do with primary because he is OBSESSED with nursery!! I have never met a child more excited to go to church/nursery! Anytime we had stake conference and he couldn't go to nursery he always had a big meltdown on the way home! After sacrament was over we started walking down to the primary room and we passed his nursery classroom and he started to pull on me wanting to go in. I reminded him that he is going to primary from now on because he is a big boy. I saw his friend Porter a few steps ahead of us and hurried and said look there is Porter! He is going to primary too! Nate agreed to go catch up to Porter! Thank goodness! We went into the primary room and walked up to the front and we had the boys sit down on the chairs. I stayed in there for a few minutes, but he was acting really good so I leaned down and kissed him and told him to have fun and to be a good boy and listen to his teacher! He said Ok mom, love you bye! And waved and I walked out. A few minutes later I walked by in the hallway and he was still sitting there being good so I went to class. About 20 minutes later Bailey was acting up so I took her out to feed her and I peeked in on Nate and they were doing head, shoulders, knees and toes and he was doing it like a good boy! I was so thrilled! I saw my Porters mom in the hall (she is in the primary presidency) and I asked her how Nate was doing. She said when she walked in they were both laying on the ground, but she said their teacher assured her that they had been really good the whole time, just right when she walked in they had started getting wiggly. When church was over and I went to get him from his class I asked his teacher (Sister Shaw) how he did and she said he did good. She said he was squirmy and wiggly, but that we have to remember it is there first time out of nursery so she expected that! She said he is going to do fine and reassured me not to worry!

I got a call from his teacher the next saturday morning and she asked me if I could teach her class on Sunday. She had a baby blessing to go to and she thought it was at 1, but it was at 11. I said yes and I was actually really excited so I could see first hand how Nate really acted! Sometimes I think people sugar coat it because they don't really want to tell someone there child was acting horrible! When we got to primary Nate sat down and was doing really good. Then him and his friends kept wanting to get up and switch seats or go see their moms so it was a battle trying to keep everyone in their seats, but Nate was really good about listening to me! If I told him to sit down he would and when it was singing time he paid attention and did all the actions. He wasn't perfect, but he did pretty good for being a really active 3 year old boy! They have the sunbeams split into 2 classes and both his friends Porter are in the other class, but his friend Jocylen is in his class so that is nice! When we split off into classes I just had him and 2 other cute little girls in my class. It was a lot of fun to teach them. They are all so cute and just like little sponges soaking everything in! The lesson was on Heavenly Father has a Body. I had them draw a picture of themselves and point out all there body parts on the picture. I explained to them that Heavenly Father has a body just like we do. They each had a sticker and I told them to put the sticker on the body part I said. Then we did Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. They colored in a picture of a girl or boy. Then I had them take turns telling/showing me things they can do with their body. We went over the first article of faith and I had them memorize the first line. It was a lot of fun! They all did so good!!

Slow down

My kids just grow up way to fast and always want to act older than what they are! Bailey started pulling herself up on furniture and in her crib a few weeks ago and she is only 6 months! The first time I walked into her room and saw her standing up in her crib I about died! She is so tiny and I am not ready for her to be so grown up yet! Every time I go and get her out of her crib now she is standing up against it. Whenever Nate hears her cry he runs into her room and jumps up onto the rocking chair and will start talking or singing to her until I get in there. Its so cute and she loves it! The first couple weeks she started pulling herself up on things he would point to her and so excitedly say "Mom, look! She is standing up!" Then he would go over to her and say good job Bailey girl! Now that she can interact and play with him a little more he loves it and he has been obsessed with her! He is always wanting to go pick her up and play with her. He loves trying to "help her walk" I love that he is such a big helper with her and it's so cute to watch them play and laugh together!

Nate helping Bailey walk



I wrote Nate's name on his new art easel and he said he wanted to try writing it. After a couple times of him tracing the letters I wrote he could completely do it on his own! We need to work on making the letters all the same height and the correct way to write them because he likes to start from the bottom and go up on the N and A and on the E he sometimes draws the top line first instead of drawing the side line. I was pretty proud of him for picking it up on his own! He is one smart kid and he loves to learn and gets so excited when he can do new things! This is him writing his name for Dad the next morning. Today he told me the he wants to learn how to write all the letters! I told him we could practice on writing a different letter everyday so its not to overwhelming and we can learn how to write them all the right way!

6 month shoot

Here are some pictures from Bailey's 6 month photo shoot. I don't have the cd of them yet so I don't have all of them...I just copied these ones off of the ones she posted on Facebook. Bailey was sick the week we took them so I wasn't sure how she would do getting her picture taken, but she did great! Way better experience then her newborn photo shoot ha ha! I had some christmas ones of Nate done on his first christmas so I wanted some of her too. So we took some christmas ones and then some regular ones. I love the way they turned out! Thanks so much Alyssa for taking them!

Christmas

We spent the night over at Skyler's moms on Christmas Eve and we were woken up by santa himself! He came bright and early at 6am and walked into the room Nate and Bailey were sleeping in first! I was surprised, Nate actually let Santa hold him and carry him over to where his presents were! It was so fun! Bailey didn't cry either she just had a look of confusion on her face :) Once Santa left and we were all in the living room the kids took turns opening their presents starting with Dallin, then Nate, then Josie and then Bailey. There were a few times when they were really excited and kinda jumped the gun on their turn, but they all did awesome! It was such a great christmas morning and everyone got everything they wanted and more!! After we opened presents we went over to Skyler's grandma Ences for a christmas breakfast! It was delicious as always! Nate and Bailey got to pick out a teddy bear and she gave us all a little stocking with some Christmas money! After breakfast we went back to his moms house and took a nap and woke up in time for Justin's call home at 1! It was fun to talk to him over Skype! It made me miss talking to my brother a lot though! My family spent christmas up in Logan so they called him from my sisters house. We then went over and visited my grandparents for awhile and then headed back to his moms for dinner! We came home and went straight to bed after a really fun and long day!



The next morning we got up and packed and headed up to Bountiful to have christmas with Skyler's moms side of the family. The kids slept the majority of the way which was so nice!

Road trip!

We had a yummy dinner and played a game that was Adults vs Kids. I was a lot of fun! The next day we drove down to Provo were we had a little christmas with my family. We met them at Chilis for lunch and then headed to Amandas apartment for the afternoon to open presents and hang out! For dinner we went to Amandas mexican family and she made us tamales and they were so good! We left there about 9 and headed home. We stopped in Spanish Fork to see Bryce and Blaire and then made the long drive home! We didn't get home until 2:30am and we were so ready for bed! The kids did awesome all weekend!! We had so much going on and driving back forth and they really did so amazing especially on such little sleep! Now we are starting to get back to a schedule now that the holiday crazies are over! It was one great holiday season and even though I know its going to be crazy next year I am so looking forward to it!

Christmas Eve

Finally getting around to posting about Christmas! We had such a fun and busy christmas this year! Christmas eve we went over to Skyler's moms house and made gingerbread houses, had hot chocolate and just had fun hanging out! The kids got to open a present from grandma and she gave them books of the Night Before Christmas and it was one where she recorder herself reading the story to them! It was so cool and will be such a treasure for them to have! They also opened their christmas PJs! I decide to be crafty and make Nate and Bailey pajama pants this year. I found a tutorial on interest that looked pretty easy so I gave it a try! They turned out really cute and I was so excited about them! After they opened them Nate put them on and was running around playing with his cousins and the next thing I know he has a gaping hole right down the seem along his butt! He had been running and stepped on it or something and it tore a hole in them! I was so sad! All my hard work went to waste :( I didn't even get a picture of him wearing them because I figured we would have a lot of them wearing them christmas morning. I ran home and got him a some pjs and when I got back I put Bailey in hers and immediately took a picture just in case ha ha! Hers did last and they looked cute on her! They were a little long, but really cute! I was glad that at least one of them worked out!

Ence family Christmas Party

The monday before Christmas Skyler's grandma had her annual Ence christmas party! We had delicious pasta and pizza factory with some yummy desserts. We played christmas bingo and all the kids got prizes as they got bingo. Nate got a car/robot and Bailey got a little baby phone! They both loved their prizes!! Then they had the talent show. Skyler, Jesse and Blake played the songs on their phones again and everyone as always was very impressed! There were a lot of little kids singing and so Nate wanted to too! He sang Jingle bells, well he tried :) We apparently need to work on the lyrics because he didn't really know them, but we were so proud of him for doing it!! It was a fun a night!


Nate singing Jingle Bells

Fun at grandmas

Since my sister Amanda couldn't come home for Christmas she came home two weeks before. We went over and hung out at my mom's house. Nate helped grandma make christmas treats and was spoiled by his aunts playing and chasing him around! We took pictures with our letter we were assigned for a group picture we were sending Ty for Christmas. We had a lot of fun spending the day at grandmas house!


Here is our Happy Holiday picture all put together

Buster the elf

We got a special package under our tree a few weeks before christmas this year! We were out at a friends house and when we got home there was a present from Santa sitting under the tree! Nate was so excited! He opened it up and it was our elf! We had been talking about how Santa was gonna send us one to sit in our house and watch Nate and Bailey so santa knew if they were being naughty or nice. The present included a book that we read that told us all about our new elf! It told us we had to choose a name for him. Nate couldn't decide on one so Skyler picked the name Buster! The book also said he used christmas magic to fly back and forth to see santa each night and if you touch him he will lose his magic! Everyday when he returns from seeing santa he would be hiding in a new spot and it was a race to see who could find him first! Nate was so excited when he read that part! He couldn't wait to see where his elf would be in the morning! By the time christmas came he had been all over the house doing all sort of silly, mischievous and fun things! We found him hanging from the fan, chilling Nate's stocking, on the christmas tree, digging in presents, having a snowball fight with Nate's toys, climbing the chandelier, playing in Nate's room, hiding in our room and many other fun places! I wasn't great about taking pictures every morning of where he was, but I did get a few. This was such a fun new tradition and one of Nate's favorite things to do each day! We can't wait for Buster to be back next year!

The special delivery

A few places Buster was found