The Christmas Letter

Greetings from the Nielsens!
Though we try to fool ourselves into thinking our Christmas might look something like the front of this card, we have resigned to the fact that we still call the Las Vegas desert home.

Jon has taken advantage of the desert sun and become a “runner”. People who go out for a nice, leisurely jog every now and again don’t get the true runner label. It takes a certain level of commitment (and insanity if you ask me) to deserve the full title. If you are willing to run even when the sun is a scorching 115 degrees, if your Garmin Satellite watch has surpassed all other inventions as the greatest thing ever made, and if you are willing to run your own marathon of personal design while your wife provides the occasional snack and water stop with the baby in the back of a car then you, like Jon, can officially be called a runner.

Kacey, on the other hand, uses the hot, hot sun as a great excuse to stay indoors. Why melt when the A/C works just fine in here?! Unfortunately the amount of indoor time doesn’t really seem to translate into more housework completion. But she is always sure that all books get read, all TV shows get watched, all shopping gets done, and Scarlet is still alive and healthy when the day is done. Success? I like to think so.

Scarlet enjoys waking up to the early sun, no matter what time it likes to grace us with its presence. Scarlet is an ever-growing bundle of chunkiness and joy. At 9 months she is already tipping the scales at 25 lbs, but that hasn’t slowed her down. Though she has now mastered crawling and assisted walking, her most impressive feat has got to be her palate. There is nothing this child won’t eat. From a big bite of spicy curry to a fresh squeeze of lemon juice, she chows down and asks for more. Every mother’s dream…

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season and here is wishing you the best for 2008!

Love,
The Nielsens

So you didn't miss much, but here was the letter I sent out this year. Hope everyone had a merry Christmas, I can't wait to read all about them!

The Stockings were hung by... New Years

I am a stay-at-home mom with one baby who is becoming so darn self-sufficient that I hardly have to do anything for her anymore but wipe her cute tush every now and then and yet, for the past few days I haven't had a second of free time. Christmas rush has hit me full force. I FINALLY got Christmas decorations up. There are lights around the window, the nativity in the corner, and a half-lit Christmas topping it all off. I totally ran out of lights a few hours ago and did not have the energy to go shopping for more.

I also got most of my Christmas cards in the mail. Unfortunately almost everyone who reads my blog under the age of 40 will not be receiving one. I thought I had plenty of cards and pictures this year. Turns out, Jon knows a lot of people and thinks they all care about our life this year. Whoda thunk? So I completely ran out. But most of your parents will be receiving them to check them out. I'm also gonna post the letter and pic in a week so you can all have something special and magical to look forward to.

So I took Scarlet to the Dr. today for a little well check/vaccination time. No shockers, my child is still enormous. Tipping the scales at 25lb.8oz. and towering a whole 32" above the crowd. Dr. Laura (yeah, that is my doctor's name) says she is the size of an average 18 month old. So my theory held true. Fertilizer works on babies as well.

I am proud of my little butterball giant though. She got a shot today and they had to stick her for an anemia test. I was just waiting for the usual red faced screaming-so-loud-she-doesn't-make-any-noise-for-a-few-seconds cry. But nope, she just watched the lady calmly, not a single sign of protest. How awesome is that?! I was so darn proud of her! Momma ain't raisin' no wimp. Y'all. I'm going to stop typing. My phrasing is getting weirder and weirder.

YYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

MY DAD GOT HIS LICENSE BACK! It is only for the extent of the trial and there are some restrictions but he gets to work again! It is the best news ever. The exciting part is the medical board gave it back to him. We were basically waiting this whole time for the board to refuse to give it to him and then appeal. If they think he should be practicing still then that is a really good sign for the trial to come!

Here's the bizarre part. My parents were supposed to be on the Book of Mormon trip with everyone else. But, because my parents were unsure of their financial situation they didn't go. During the time they should have been in South America my mom got sick and had to have surgery. Can you imagine if that would have happened while they were on the tour?! It would have been AWFUL! And now, a week after she gets out of the hospital he gets his license back. I have said it before and I'll say it again, God knows what He is doing.

Ward Christmas Party

My ward is either seriously on top of things or were desperate to get it over with. We had our ward Christmas party on December 1st. Everyone kept asking all night why we were having our ward party in November... almost.

We have a lot of fun couples our age in the ward so we chatted all night. Our friends Dale and Mindy who just moved into town came with us. Dale has been trying to get to our activities for months now after finding out that former BYU Basketball player Mike Rose is in our ward. When he found out, his next comment was, "wow do you have any other celebrities in your ward?" I got a kick outta that. So he got to meet Mike last night, that was pretty exciting for him. And I could tell Mike liked having a fan.

The primary kids put on a nativity, nothing compared to the Earl production every year but decent in its own right. Then, we ate dinner and basically called it an evening. Of course right before we headed out the door, we had a 'special guest' stop by. Since Angie has frightened me away from mall Santas for the rest of my life I just couldn't resist the opportunity.

At first she was very curious about Santa, she gave him the ol' stranger stare she has perfected. But with a candy cane in hand she wasn't about to complain. Oddly enough, I found myself a little disappointed. I realized all I wanted was big crocodile tears pouring down her face as she reaches out for me like every other child has on Santa's lap. How mean am I?

But then we decided we wanted a picture with Jane (Dale and Mindy's baby) and Scarlet together on Santa's lap.


And, I finally got my picture. Poor kid. But check out those chunky legs coming out of those boots! They don't fit her feet very well but I had to buy them a size up so they would fit around those calves.

Update

For those of you that have already heard, or for those of you who haven't, I thought I'd write a little update on my mom so you know what's going on. She has been sick for about a week and basically all her intestines decided not to work anymore. Yesterday she went in for surgery and they found a "kink" in her small intestine. They fixed it, but it still takes several days for her intestines to decide to work again. So she is in the hospital still but on the mend.

I just talked to her a while ago and I'm excited I'm going to get the chance to head down to Moses Lake and help her out for awhile. I can think of very few times in my life I've actually ben able to help my mom, it's usually the other way around so I'm grateful for the opportunity. Plus who can complain about a trip home :) I know she will be just fine, but it's just sad she has to go through this. She made the comment to me, "I would rather have 7 babies again than go through this." Thanks for all the concern and well wishes! I will keep you posted.