tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47575770755787215812024-02-07T17:35:02.988-08:00Nielsen LifeKacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.comBlogger363125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-40583265120848965702017-10-17T17:00:00.000-07:002018-08-22T08:16:12.534-07:00New York, New York with Scarlet!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Talk about blog worthy moments. I got to go back to New York, I got to spend time with my mom and Kylie, and, awesome of all the awesomes, Scarlet got to come with me.</div>
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I was concerned about taking Scarlet, New York is a walking trip and you have to be up for a lot of going and doing. But Scarlet had such a great year. She was doing so well in school, she was keeping up with a load of after school activities, and she was really stepping it up at home. She is so helpful with her sister and there were multiple occasions when she would clean big rooms of the house just because she felt like helping. When she is in the right mood, she is so good with her brothers too. But that's a work in progress :)</div>
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My mom's annual trip aligned with Scarlet's school Fall Break so we bought plane tickets and headed across the country. Scarlet and I headed out early Saturday morning and spent two days with Marie H. and her family before the rest of our group came into town. We had a fantastic time with their family. Their oldest child is 6 years old but Scarlet took time to play with her and they had a great time. Marie and her husband are some of my favorite people to chat with. It was a great time all around. </div>
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Scarlet and L. enjoying some subway dancing</div>
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They took us to Emack and Bolios. Fantastic ice cream in fun dipped waffle cones.<br />
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See? Look how good of friends we are, we even took a picture together! </div>
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Actually, they took us to church with them. Poor Marie looks more like I do every Sunday while I'm chillin in the quiet that is kidless church. Glorious.</div>
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Here's the real picture. </div>
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Now I will separate this into the Three Main Categories of NYC, food, sights and shows. We did a plethora of all three.</div>
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We'll start with Shows:</div>
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Our first show of the trip was the fabulous Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We won online lottery tickets for $40. We entered lotteries every day and this is the only online win of the whole trip.</div>
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The music was fun and the sets were awesome. The oompa loompas were hilarious. The scene with Mike Teevee was pure magic. We loved it. </div>
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The second show on the agenda was School of Rock. No pictures but a fantastic show. The kids in the cast are so amazingly talented! The first half was a little slow but the performances by the kids in the second half were phenomenal. Scarlet and I got Rush tickets at the box office that morning, also for $40. Total steal. Some of the language is a little much for a 10 year old but so was a lot of the language on the subway every day!</div>
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When everyone else got in town, we took a chance and went to see our first Broadway non musical play. It was called "The Play That Goes Wrong"</div>
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We got Rush tickets for this one too and they were in the front row. Sometimes the front row can be a bummer, but for this show it was perfect. Scarlet got a seat booster and she was looking pretty darn tall.</div>
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This show was HILARIOUS! It is about a college production where everything goes wrong. The timing was so perfect and the actors were so funny. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I laugh a little just thinking about it. And it was ridiculously clean. So clean and so funny that if this ever comes to Las Vegas I am taking all of my boys because they will die. Please go see this show.</div>
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And then we made an appearance at the in-person Wicked lottery hoping to score some $30 tickets. You put your name in a drawing with whoever shows up and if you get picked, two tickets are yours. We had 6 people, my mom, Kylie, Lori Baker, Danielle Baker Andre, Scarlet and myself. We were hoping at least someone would get picked so Scarlet and I could see it, we were the only ones who had not seen it before. And lo and behold, the second name to be drawn was Scarlet! I was called two people later and Danielle was called a few people down. So we all got to see the show for $30 each! </div>
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Everyone knows Wicked is an amazing production. I have known the music for years but I have never known how the story ends. It was a fantastic night and our favorite show of the trip.</div>
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Sadly our show story ended on a low note. We didn't get any more lotteries, and though we really wanted to see Anastasia, the tickets were just a little too pricey. So we went to the half price ticket booth and got some decently priced tickets to a fun sounding Off-Broadway show called the Marvelous Wonderettes.<br />
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It was based on songs from the 50's and 60's. It could have been adorable. But sadly the script was painful, the singers, though talented, had major sound problems and nothing ever sounded together, and it was overall very disappointing. We had a good time rehashing its worst moments afterwards so that was fun... but skip this one. And somebody please get a hold of that script and get them a decent sound guy.<br />
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The Sights:<br />
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I wanted to see a lot of the city this trip and be a little more touristy so Scarlet could get the full experience. We ended up buying the explorers pass, which made some of the entry fees a little cheaper. Honestly I have not done the math to see how much money we saved, but it was extremely convenient and it seemed like we saved at least $10 on every site. The customer service people were awesome and super helpful. Overall, I would recommend the Explorers Pass.<br />
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Our first Pass stop was the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Tour. Scarlet loved the ferry ride over and she had a fantastic kids audio tour around Liberty Island.<br />
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My tour was a little less interesting, but it had fun tidbits of info I didn't know. I feel pretty well informed now on our Lady Liberty. We then hopped the ferry to Ellis Island. This audio tour was not nearly as fun and Scarlet got bored almost immediately. We did not leave very well informed about Ellis Island, but I didn't push the issue because we had show tickets to get back for that night :)</div>
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Our second stop was the Museum of Natural History</div>
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If you are a museum person, then go to town in this place of wonder. If you like the "short and sweet" tour, I feel like I have this one down to an art. You start in their astronomy/space second and do the walk around the Hayden Sphere. It puts everything in the universe in perspective and is totally fascinating.</div>
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From there, do a quick walk through the people and animal exhibits and head to the minerals and gems collection. Who doesn't like sparkles?</div>
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And then, make your way up to the 4th floor for some crazy dinosaurs and call it a day. Trust me. Speed Museuming is my speciality.</div>
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We also did a little tandem bike ride around Cental Park! At first I was frustrated with this because you can only circle the outside of the park on bike, you can't ride bikes in the middle. But in the past I have only ever done the park on foot. And even though we only stopped a few times, I still saw so many things I had never seen before because it was too far to walk. The bike ride was a little challenging, especially because the gears on our bike didn't work and "someone" sometimes forgot to pedal in the back. But a few hard hills and plenty of downhill. We saw some beautiful sites and really enjoyed ourselves.</div>
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We went to Central Park later with the whole crew and my mom had signed up for a City Scavenger Hunt. It was silly and kind of pointless but Scarlet LOVED it. And as you can see, we killed it. We were the cookie monsters. Obviously.</div>
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Shakespeare Gardens</div>
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Lotta water in that park.</div>
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It's a lot more impressive to mimic a statue in a photo when you can see the statue in the photo... nailed it ladies.</div>
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The main walkway, about a million movies were filmed here.</div>
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Famous bridge, also a lot of movies involved.</div>
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When our whole crew was here, we took the tour of Radio City Music Hall. I thought this would be interesting, but it was even better than I was expecting. I loved the history, seeing all of the art and decor, learning about the Rockettes and just seeing inside the main hall itself was fantastic. </div>
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We went to the 9/11 tribute museum and got on a tour with a guide. All of the guides are people who were a part of the tragedy in one way or another. They take you on a walk through some of the different smaller memorials in the city and then take you to the main memorial. Then they share their story. Our tour guide was a firefighter and he was a little long winded and rambly, but that really didn't take away from the experience. In fact, not having a trained hired guide added a very real factor to it. As we looked at the memorial and he pointed out friends of his whose names were written on the wall, it was a really touching experience. The memorials are just beautiful, such a work of art. I'm sure Scarlet was a little less than entertained with the experience, but she was quiet and respectful the whole time and I think she got a glimpse of what a horrible experience that really was for New York. I am really glad we did this. But reward yourself with a cookie after. </div>
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We did two views from the top, the Top of the Rock and One World Observatory. </div>
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Top of the Rock is in Rockefeller Center. The gardens are beautiful and they had a lot of fun little events going on while we were there. </div>
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I know. I'm so talented.</div>
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The One World Observatory has a really cool entrance and elevator movie. It was my favorite of the two for great view and great experience. But we were able to see Top of the Rock at night so both felt a little different. It is just always so amazing to see Manhattan from the top. It is crazy how much they have built on one small spit of land.</div>
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We only did one other museum and it was a new one for me, the Cloisters museum. This one is wwaayy up on the top of the island, a section most tourists don't get to. But this is where I lived when I was an intern and close to where Marie lives. This part of the island is straight beautiful. They have so much greenery and parks. The buildings aren't all skyscrapers and it has a much more quiet feel. I am really glad we made it up there.</div>
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The Cloisters is a beautiful building filled with Medieval art. Yes there are a lot of gruesome biblical images, but there are a lot of really amazing pieces. Tiny hand lettered gilded Bibles, beautiful tapestries, hand carved scenes from Bible stories, it is really cool. And you can be in and out in an hour. My kind of museum.</div>
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We also did the Highline Park walk. Highline Park is some old over ground train tracks they have turned into a park. It is pretty, easy, and takes you to different parts of the city than you may go otherwise. But my favorite part of the tour is the bird's eye peek into some of NY's hottest real estate. I wonder if I could keep my house clean if I knew hundreds of tourists were going to see through my windows daily?</div>
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I have seen a few show tapings during my NY time, obviously the Late show with Letterman but I also saw Colbair last time I was in town and I've seen the Meredith Vieira show and a few others. They are usually pretty fun. You wait around a lot and there are a lot of long break between segments. I've never won anything for being an audience member :( But still, fun. So I was excited when I saw on the Live with Kelly and Ryan show that they still had tickets available for their Thursday afternoon show. Most of the shows tape two shows on Thursday so they don't have to work on Friday. I know, hard life. </div>
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So we had tickets and didn't have to wait in standby! Oh but don't worry, there was still a whole lot of waiting in line. We waited and stood and waited and stood and then finally sat in the studio and waited and waited. Kelly and Ryan finally came out and did their starting spiel. Then we got to see the largest pumpkin grown this year. Pretty impressive gourd. And then, it was over. I guess they had filmed their guest star interviews earlier in the day so we got to see about 10 minutes of air time. It was pretty lame. So, go see a show filming... but don't catch the second show on Thursday.</div>
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And just when you thought, Kacey what else could there possibly be to do in New York? I haven't even gotten to Scarlet's favorite activity yet.</div>
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Public Transportation.</div>
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On the last night, Grammy took Scarlet on The Ride. The Ride is a bus tour around Time Square and similar popular locations but they have this big computer screen that lights up and sings songs. They have hosts that do trivia and karaoke and other fun things while you are driving around. And when you reach certain locations around town, street performers are there to watch. It is cheesy but cute. Unfortunately, riding sideways does not agree with me so I opted out of this but these two had a fabulous time.</div>
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The Food:</div>
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Oh, the food. I actually reached a point where sweet things did not sound good to me. It may have been a first in my life. We ate and we ate well. Some of the highlights:</div>
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As previously mentioned, Emack & Bolios had awesome flavors and really fun dipped waffle cones. I think my favorite flavors were the Toasted Smores, the Coconut Almond, and Scarlet's Cookie Monster flavor. We went twice. Yum</div>
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Ample Hills Dairy: Delicious ice cream. The Oatmeal Cookie was by far my favorite. It was a beast to get to this place, lots of road construction. But fantastic ice cream</div>
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Momofuku Milk Bar: We made a quick stop here after already being too full for another bite so we grabbed some birthday cake truffles and crack pie to go. The crack pie was a little soggy by the time I ate it but it was still delicious. I kept wanting to make it back to try their full dessert sampler but didn't get there. Luckily they just built one in Vegas!</div>
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Totto Ramen: I love ramen. And Scarlet, my eater extraordinaire, also loves ramen. Totto Ramen is a small strip of a place that accepts cash only and only has room to seat about 20 people at a time. But oh my goodness it was good. </div>
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Scarlet and I at the bar (the rest of our crew went to get burgers :( )</div>
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They were cooking everything in these enormous vats right in front of us. I watched them hand torch the pork belly that went in our soup. Amazing.<br />
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When your daughter insists you get a side of Kimchi, you know you've picked the right eating traveling companion.<br />
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We ate and ate and ate and ate and when we could not handle one more bite, our bowl still looked full. I will dream of this ramen.<br />
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The last time I was in town, we did a fancy pre fixe lunch at Bouley. It was such an experience! They go all out to make it feel like an occasion. This time, we did the pre fixe at Nougatine. It was a little less of a production than Bouley but it was a little more affordable and the food was divine! There was something for every palate. My tuna appetizer was perfect and Scarlet's tomato soup was divine.<br />
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There are a million places in the city to go get pizza, but if you happen to find yourself headed to the Cloisters museum or anywhere in the Inwood area, head over to Frescos and treat yourself to a Vodka Sauce Pizza. You will not regret one second of that decision. </div>
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Our Scavenger hunt name was Cookie Monsters because we took our cookie eating seriously. It didn't help that we were staying at the Doubletree hotel in Time Square so every time we walked into the lobby someone handed us a warm cookie.<br />
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But that wasn't enough cookies so we also tried a box full of the Jacque Torres cookie collection. They are all divine. I loved them all.<br />
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But did I love them more than Levain Bakery? That is a good question. The chocolate chip walnut and the all chocolate cookie were some of the best cookies ever. The texture is just so wonderful. And when you add on a house made baguette with bread and jam? Levain was an experience I could have every day. If I wanted to be a much larger person.<br />
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Scarlet and I grabbed some big macarons at Bouchon bakery. The cookies and cream and the vanilla were delectable. The chocolate and caramel I could have done without.<br />
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We caught a selection of food trucks one day. Scarlet enjoyed a very simple plate of fries (that were delicious) and I had some Vietnamese lemongrass pork with veggies and rice that made my day.</div>
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Scarlet and I needed a quick bite after an adventure and hopped into a little Italian restaurant I will never remember the name of. But our food was pretty tasty.<br />
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We did make a stop at Stardust Diner. I really shouldn't put this under food because they don't make one single good thing there. But sitting at a booth with a waffle enjoying some truly awesome karaoke... well this 10 year old loved it. And I loved it with her. But seriously, don't order much. Blech.</div>
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Funny food story: We took a stop at the donut plant and ordered 4 donuts for the two of us. They called out that the bag of 4 donuts was ready so we took it to go. We hopped on the subway to our next location and opened the bag... only to find 4 donuts we did not order. And not only were they not our donut, but they really were not ones we would have ever ordered. So we got off at the next station, walked back to the store, and the store people were nice enough to refill our order. </div>
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Our rose strawberry donut pictured below was delicious along with our pecan praline and coconut. The red velvet was not delicious. Seriously, red velvet needs to stop looking so pretty and just go away. It's just not good. </div>
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This is more blogging than I've done in probably the last 2 years combined but I have to end with one more note. Scarlet was the best 10 year old travel companion on the planet. She was fun, happy, adventurous, and a marathon walker. She didn't complain or whine and she was up for anything. Everyone on our trip was blown away by how much fun she was to be around. I am so proud of this girl and I could not be more grateful that we got to have this adventure together. I can't wait to have many more adventures with this girl.</div>
<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-18753958762274858212017-08-21T14:34:00.000-07:002017-10-03T14:35:10.859-07:00First Day of School 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Rhode man is in 3rd grade this year. His teacher is Ms. Gardener. She is young and cute and a ball of fun. Rhode is loving school. He is still my most likely child to walk out the door empty handed but he is doing awesome in every subject. </div>
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For extracurriculars this Fall, Rhode is playing the piano, playing soccer with the Henderson league and taking climbing lessons. His climbing coach is amazed with how well he is doing and wants to put him on the competitive team. We did not know competitive kids climbing was a thing up until this point!</div>
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Scarlet is a 5th grader at American Preparatory Academy this year. Her teacher is Mrs. Tooker. Mrs. Tooker isn't very young and isn't always fun but she and Scarlet get along just fine. Scarlet has already been challenged in her classes and I have seen a major jump in her work ethic and capability to learn. I am so proud of this girl. p.s. She gets a locker this year, thus she is the coolest.</div>
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Scarlet's extracurriculars include violin lessons, playing on the Henderson league volleyball team, competitive cheer through her school and musical theater club.</div>
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Her favorite baby accessory is getting pretty big this year...</div>
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And then Asher went and got big enough to go to Kindergarten. He is in afternoon Kindergarten which means we still get to hang out every morning. Since he's mostly just gone during nap time, it's really not that different from last year for me. But this kid is loving school. I thought there would be more behavior issues but he comes home with good reports almost every day. He is in a small group of 3 kids for his reading group because they are such good readers and his cursive writing is already almost legible! And my goodness does he look cute in a uniform.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPYasHEGAXHA_YxrFLCQK_80rmv8_Xqxovrjcc5j3zkpOdcxPLcYb-Zq2zdTTjHENaIU40zkAbCFbfbQ3u4qdYfaWLSwR2urbKWDko9LgQy5d6kerV6sbIR3079eUe5MqDqYzGj4GgUgo/s1600/IMG_0244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPYasHEGAXHA_YxrFLCQK_80rmv8_Xqxovrjcc5j3zkpOdcxPLcYb-Zq2zdTTjHENaIU40zkAbCFbfbQ3u4qdYfaWLSwR2urbKWDko9LgQy5d6kerV6sbIR3079eUe5MqDqYzGj4GgUgo/s320/IMG_0244.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Asher is also doing climbing class with Rhode and doing an amazing job. He also started piano this year and is way more committed than I ever thought possible. </div>
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Yup, it's a good group.</div>
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-52307785591649006312017-08-06T18:24:00.000-07:002017-12-10T18:24:51.247-08:00Bozeman - Best. Summer. Ever. Part 1I have wanted to move out of Las Vegas for a very long time. But, it just doesn't make sense for our family right now. So we did the next best thing. We moved when Las Vegas is at its worst, in the summer. Jon and I came up with a plan to let our kids have a different kind of summer experience and go see a different part of the country.<br />
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We chose Bozeman, Montana for our adventure. It may seem like an odd choice but it fit our three requirements. 1) It had to have beautiful summers, 2) it had to include a ton of outdoor time, and 3) it had to be a destination of Allegiant Air. The last one was crucial. Jon would fly out of Las Vegas every Thursday evening and fly black every Sunday evening so he could still run a company but still have some summer fun with us. We were also able to use miles for all of his flights. It may seem like a lot of time away, but with Jon's normal work schedule, it was great to have him completely for the three days each week.<br />
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We rented two houses for our summer stay. One was just a few minutes from downtown Bozeman for the first half and one was more out in the country in Belgrade, the city right next door. To make it a little more affordable, we rented out our house during the weekends while Jon was gone. I haven't actually sat down to do all the math, but I know we were pretty close to breaking even between the renting of our property and renting the ones in Bozeman.<br />
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The youngest three kids and I started our adventure with our suburban full of a summer's worth of living and drove up to Moses Lake to film a dance recital. Jon flew up with Scarlet and Rhode to meet us that weekend and we took off for our new summer home.<br />
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This may be one of the pretties road trips I have been on. It was green and beautiful the entire drive. We stopped in St. Regis, Montana which is the turnoff to Glacier National Park and enjoyed a cool aquarium and our first huckleberry milkshake.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YVKPq6WwRCRMr-3NqUI7PSDzUHelFs3eYNrFVnbj7pqLXH5gdcgzFCvLTLuCCLW3gnfaa08XqKbN_M_vPH9H94p67RJBHo7EtLFbhI_e35dxTJSNyd7AlvLLOr9W8l3heBIMOPdkR2g/s1600/20170611_141151.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YVKPq6WwRCRMr-3NqUI7PSDzUHelFs3eYNrFVnbj7pqLXH5gdcgzFCvLTLuCCLW3gnfaa08XqKbN_M_vPH9H94p67RJBHo7EtLFbhI_e35dxTJSNyd7AlvLLOr9W8l3heBIMOPdkR2g/s400/20170611_141151.jpg" width="225" /></a><br />
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Ridley was a fan.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaG1hBcU_mA6m5xIv6P1TTB02Bcau0zAPngJ3uzS1I95r0XzWDqQPSEvZ0_RM5emXxOFcifyX4K-hMo5kHHrmiROVAOubMfqlU9WvHDqLw1hFboRtKAfz2ro-zMQKr9YG6yxrfRgQbwKg/s1600/20170611_141218.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaG1hBcU_mA6m5xIv6P1TTB02Bcau0zAPngJ3uzS1I95r0XzWDqQPSEvZ0_RM5emXxOFcifyX4K-hMo5kHHrmiROVAOubMfqlU9WvHDqLw1hFboRtKAfz2ro-zMQKr9YG6yxrfRgQbwKg/s320/20170611_141218.jpg" width="180" /></a><br />
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Our first house in Bozeman. This house was located on Sourdough Drive.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSjg-BQGpH0gjf_ypX4zgrZ4gE2vL5bSnYzOY1jBJt61PyzygdRVeX7VOoorIuVF-2hFocmVhuQWqWHRI0ZeZ-0bDIqak5-vM87Qy2XtVCGuZCTd3TWJmWJhQ0fdorCnruKBwkUtFZdkM/s1600/20170612_150942.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSjg-BQGpH0gjf_ypX4zgrZ4gE2vL5bSnYzOY1jBJt61PyzygdRVeX7VOoorIuVF-2hFocmVhuQWqWHRI0ZeZ-0bDIqak5-vM87Qy2XtVCGuZCTd3TWJmWJhQ0fdorCnruKBwkUtFZdkM/s320/20170612_150942.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Every time we ate sourdough bread (which was pretty frequently since they had an awesome breadmaker at the farmer's market) my kids just laughed and laughed that they were eating sourdough on Sourdough. Ridley is always stealing my sourdough.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96wFfq02sDA2x5xKSw8099brWkYoverH1wOVRiDVP2SfjGphDHvmT37dvx6OK1-_VegDRvgZ3OZexBP4eLx6tgSubco8uXWLAvFrVflRpd5-nHMiG8Exu2W5MN20p6RwXwrrdT1Yu9U0/s1600/20170614_124450.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96wFfq02sDA2x5xKSw8099brWkYoverH1wOVRiDVP2SfjGphDHvmT37dvx6OK1-_VegDRvgZ3OZexBP4eLx6tgSubco8uXWLAvFrVflRpd5-nHMiG8Exu2W5MN20p6RwXwrrdT1Yu9U0/s320/20170614_124450.jpg" width="180" /></a><br />
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We were just down the street from Main Street but it had such a beautiful outdoor feel. It was surrounded by homes that were more and more beautiful than the last. This is the view from the balcony.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9Z3NaHbZj7bv01bGpLoy3HGE-wN2bfrvTozx1s8h5ubgAF_MxOBKTY1hmcbsfKfIFgdk08y_FPz7wfVREygK8jA6sidcU6WokYLqI-Mc-n4xF9A8cy-y7_nax5SquIhhTrPpRY7KKzc/s1600/20170613_073022.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9Z3NaHbZj7bv01bGpLoy3HGE-wN2bfrvTozx1s8h5ubgAF_MxOBKTY1hmcbsfKfIFgdk08y_FPz7wfVREygK8jA6sidcU6WokYLqI-Mc-n4xF9A8cy-y7_nax5SquIhhTrPpRY7KKzc/s320/20170613_073022.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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This is part of the backyard.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC7MczpWOpD9WNJ2v3zjN6JsN0ClimLxVq7D7b3iJ_RGIBoBgTcLRuxqxpBWhI7IoaS7og7L3jkTa2KjB11Zm2Nb4Ae5TDUB6dMAY7Z9IJ-FAy8TISVP6N19TpDaSAYNGyf5PIDYN8B2g/s1600/20170615_190210.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC7MczpWOpD9WNJ2v3zjN6JsN0ClimLxVq7D7b3iJ_RGIBoBgTcLRuxqxpBWhI7IoaS7og7L3jkTa2KjB11Zm2Nb4Ae5TDUB6dMAY7Z9IJ-FAy8TISVP6N19TpDaSAYNGyf5PIDYN8B2g/s320/20170615_190210.jpg" width="180" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-eBlX_L5lscEgv071Mh-Vhweh3Bc1dxbojerIRvuNU-TDxkurecUp-6OtdJ0_YBgiisxvagd27p8rh_X7KoareHnEv1XjMmtJNWQuCK5DO4YqNVfeaeVeyppmdhDgFRFIunkvcfD72o/s1600/20170615_190059.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-eBlX_L5lscEgv071Mh-Vhweh3Bc1dxbojerIRvuNU-TDxkurecUp-6OtdJ0_YBgiisxvagd27p8rh_X7KoareHnEv1XjMmtJNWQuCK5DO4YqNVfeaeVeyppmdhDgFRFIunkvcfD72o/s320/20170615_190059.jpg" width="180" /></a><br />
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One of the first things we did is scout out the local thrift stores for some board games, outdoor toys, a few baby toys, and some warm clothes (it was about 60 degrees at the high when we got into town). My kids love a good board game.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyt09ytG9pz5oBHQVGUFj40CDLCxcM1kw7dg1USPQgG58dJTPiuShNVgeWBzxBUY1349Zxd-LCNrG9cobM0-lOqtuXBE0jnbdEgh7lsH7xOop2j1K0T4WFCmzXqqKZ1d5yuQmQa1Irp0k/s1600/20170613_185844.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyt09ytG9pz5oBHQVGUFj40CDLCxcM1kw7dg1USPQgG58dJTPiuShNVgeWBzxBUY1349Zxd-LCNrG9cobM0-lOqtuXBE0jnbdEgh7lsH7xOop2j1K0T4WFCmzXqqKZ1d5yuQmQa1Irp0k/s320/20170613_185844.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Ridley finds it very rude when we play out of her reach.<br />
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Babies adjusting to new places + no husband for a few nights = mom gets kicked in the head all night.</div>
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Happy baby in a jean jacket!<br />
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We saw and did as much of Bozeman as we could. We tasted all of the treats like at the French chocolate company.<br />
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We found yummy treats at the local Co-op grocery store that my kids called the "coop".<br />
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We even found a local oils and vinegar store. Oddly enough, my kids were obsessed with that place and I had to limit the amount of oil samples they were allowed to try. We came back to try new things regularly.<br />
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Most of the treats were tasted at the weekly farmer's market. We tried everything worth trying and then a little more every Tuesday. Then we played in the park on the property. It was one of our favorite summer traditions.<br />
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They also had a wonderful library with a great kids section. It came in really handy when our second house didn't have Wifi. Library to the rescue!<br />
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Right outside the library was one of the many park. This one was a beautiful walking path that kept going and going and going. But the main road was called Sculpture park. We spent several afternoons enjoying the creations.<br />
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Another park had dinosaur fossils and climbing walls.<br />
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and when those walls weren't high enough, we found some higher ones.<br />
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I learned how to belay all of my climbers up the wall and they would spend hours going up and repelling down.</div>
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Jon and I got out once or twice on our own. We found a Shakespeare in the Park performance of Macbeth on the college campus. How cultured do we look?<br />
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We got out to dinner once or twice and had a grand time.<br />
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Next Up, the hiking.<br />
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-41881469693217393892017-04-01T14:23:00.000-07:002017-10-03T14:24:05.945-07:00Easter Babies 2017Matching Easter! Is there anything more fun? Nope! And when dad turns your photo shoot into a trampoline free for all? Only fun can follow.<br />
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Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-54379363046158202932017-02-22T16:11:00.000-08:002017-03-19T16:11:38.069-07:00Can you Belize-zat?Once upon a time I was pregnant with my fifth child. My husband looked at me one day in my extreme discomfort of my 9th month and said, "You need a vacation. We need a vacation." And we did. We needed some kid free time. Some just us time. I told him I could take a week off of mothering in February, enough time to wean the baby and take a little break.<br />
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Jon surprised me Christmas morning with plans to head to Belize for our getaway. He arranged for Kylie to come into town to watch our kids and I handled the plans from there. We hopped on a plane at 1:00 AM on an early Wednesday morning, did a quick stop in Houston and then headed to Belize. We arrived at about 11 AM and our adventure began.</div>
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We started our trip with a stay at a private island. We grabbed our rental car, which, as it always does, took longer than usual. Actually the delay is our car rental place said we couldn't take our car over the border to Guatemala to go see Tikal, which was on our list of things to do. So we went with a different company that let us. We found out later it is a really bad idea to drive into Guatemala with foreign plates so we didn't end up doing that anyway... oh well.</div>
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But we hopped in the car and navigated our way south to Dangriga to catch our boat to our island, Thatch Caye. The drive was wonderful. I love having a rental car in new places. We drove through coastal places and jungly places. Belize has only a few main roads so directions were very doable with our little airport map and no cell phone help.</div>
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I wrongly assumed that there would be airport signs when we reached Dangriga, or it would be big enough that we would run into it. Neither were true. We wandered aimlessly, got some very vague directions, and stumbled on a small building with a small plane next to it without a sign. But hey, it was exactly where we needed to be. Our boat driver was there within 10 minutes, just enough time to change into summer clothes. It was already about 80 degrees with all kinds of humidity.</div>
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The first boat they attempted to take us on had a flooded engine. So they stashed us at a nearby resort and restaurant while they got another boat. The restaurant had A/C so we ordered a few appetizers and enjoyed the ocean.</div>
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The ocean in Belize is as flat as can be. Not a wave in sight. There are a ton of little islands off the coast and we wondered which one would be our home for the next few days. The ceviche and nachos we ordered were okay, but not great good. This turned out to be the theme for almost every meal we ate. If it wasn't the traditional chicken and rice and beans meal that we were served several times, the food ranged from average to terrible. Even fun jaunts to local grocery stores weren't fun. They all sold U.S. products for high prices. No fun local treats, no homemade baked goods. Food was not a highlight of Belize. But they do make a mean chicken with rice and beans.</div>
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Warning, Jon and I have many skills but taking pictures on vacation is not one of them. My cell phone, which takes better photos, permanently bit the dust on the way there so all we had was Jon's "barely smart enough to be be considered" smart phone. Apologies in advance.</div>
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This is us waiting on the dock for boat number two to the island.</div>
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Our boat arrived and we took a quick 25 minute trip out to our island. There's only room for about 20 people on the island at a time so it's pretty small. There were only 8-10 while we were there. And here was our private bungalow over the water!</div>
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Our neighbors.</div>
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This hammock with a night sky filled with stars and not a single light to block their view was a fantastic time.</div>
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I really thought Jon would get a little stir crazy on a small island with little to do but for the first time that I can remember, Jon reveled in relaxation. We woke up late, ate breakfast, toured the flat water on paddle board or kayak, took naps, read books, enjoyed large fruity virgin drinks and stared at the stars at night. It was glorious. </div>
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Food was included for the week and our meals were pretty good. The virgin pina coladas were fantastic and as one bartender kindly pointed out, "It takes a secure man to drink a virgin pina colada". Love that man of mine.</div>
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The island was fun and very relaxing but woo hoo hoo expensive. And we stayed on the cheapest one we could find. So we did two days there and then took off for inland Belize.</div>
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After our island stay we didn't have any set plans. We had a few idea destinations but nothing booked. We had a rental car and a map from the airport and we took off. We got off the island Friday at about 2 p.m. and took off for the cockscomb national jaguar preserve. We got there at about 3:30 PM and we took off on a hike called the Tiger Fern trail.</div>
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Our capturing of this moment was dismal to nonexistant, so we will let google document this part of the trip. The hike started out like this, a beautiful jaunt through the forest. And then we went up. And up and up and up. It was an impressive amount of up. </div>
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Hey I just figured out how to capture images from GoPro! Not great, but better than nothing. See, I was there! Sweaty face and all.</div>
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Jon was there too. Thanks go pro</div>
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We passed this, a plane that had crashed and then parked right in the middle of the path.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeetehlZLZJvBlmgUPNr_58Oy_e3GG27xggXYKRpCXmdXKSg2W8cZXuE9FhUA8SyrEgflrkyFrksnVndpw6G_t1pOd3oPaadvmyG_XQsXpD0jK6Bk6X0SWVcn0vuVkiwA7BlBa_dxgSlk/s1600/cockscomb+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeetehlZLZJvBlmgUPNr_58Oy_e3GG27xggXYKRpCXmdXKSg2W8cZXuE9FhUA8SyrEgflrkyFrksnVndpw6G_t1pOd3oPaadvmyG_XQsXpD0jK6Bk6X0SWVcn0vuVkiwA7BlBa_dxgSlk/s320/cockscomb+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And then all of a sudden we turned a corner and we saw this. We were at the top of the world! What a killer view. And then we went down. Straight down, it felt like at times. The kind of down where you think...hmm remember how I will have to make this an up on the way back?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzqEkbjN2QqzslHSz3rT6lL0JOvMsX9tAYhZujNrGudllyf_VE7sSL0Mj3Y2DBBAH_RvRN00zRWwTri3HB76ovzvqi442uqwkEvm1W34WFc6FJmmH3UF30NoAw38GvMScNpOb02MipX6o/s1600/cockscomb+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzqEkbjN2QqzslHSz3rT6lL0JOvMsX9tAYhZujNrGudllyf_VE7sSL0Mj3Y2DBBAH_RvRN00zRWwTri3HB76ovzvqi442uqwkEvm1W34WFc6FJmmH3UF30NoAw38GvMScNpOb02MipX6o/s320/cockscomb+5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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But then we came to this.</div>
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We happily stripped off our shoes and jumped right in the cold mountain water and stuck our heads under the falls.</div>
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Jon diving in</div>
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Me getting a nature shower</div>
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We hiked a little down the river to catch this beautiful view</div>
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And then we saw this.</div>
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Okay not really. This was a jaguar preserve but we knew the likeliness of seeing a jaguar was slim. That didn't help us from scanning treetops and assuming they were filled with jaguars who could see us just fine...</div>
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We left Cockscomb and took off to find a place to stay for the night and some dinner as it was getting dark. We found a little outdoor food stand a little down the road and had some traditional chicken and rice and bean with a cool bottle of Fanta. It hit the spot. We were kind of in middle of nowhere Belize so when we saw a sign for a resort, we decided to take the 4 mile road in to check it out. The front desk people were nice enough to give us a discount room rate since we would only be there for one evening and they even talked us into zip lining in the morning. Our room was simple but comfortable and we had a good night.</div>
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I have never been zip lining before and I was very excited to go. I'm not sure this was the coolest zip line of all time but it was a lot of fun. Jon and I zig zagged across the forest tree tops with our two guides and had a great adventure. The last run was the longest into an open field and it was really really exciting. </div>
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Jon taking off</div>
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Me taking off!</div>
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Coming in for a landing!</div>
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After that we left Bocawina and headed more inland. We didn't have a set plan for the day but after some exploring we ended up at the blue hole natural swimming spot and did a cave tubing adventure.</div>
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Blue hole. Quick stop with a quick dip in the water. Beautiful little place.</div>
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We found a tour guide right outside the cave, they handed us a tube and a head lamp and we headed down the tunnel.</div>
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This is a good view of the entrance from deeper in the tunnel</div>
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We hiked for a bit out of the water then hiked for a bit in the water then we hopped in our tubes and floated down. There were a lot of cool cave features and at one point we all turned of our head lamps and sat in the pitch black darkness and it was amazing and disturbing. At the end of the float, we had to get out and water walk back to the entrance, that part was a little lame but overall a great adventure.</div>
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We then raced into San Ignacio and went and saw two of the Mayan ruins in the area before we wente hotel searching for the evening. They were really cool ruins, but Jon is always a little more into ruins than I am. I probably just need to get a book or a guide and I would enjoy it more. Of course guides tend to walk and talk sooo slowly... </div>
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I made the mistake of letting Jon be in charge of our meals on this trip. And to his defense there really wasn't a lot of ways to just grab a meal on the go. But we pretty much skipped lunch this day and it was hot and humid and I was all kinds of done with the hunger part once we finished the last set of ruins. Jon, sensing the danger he was in, rushed me to the nearest restaurant and we enjoyed an average curry dinner.</div>
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Then we went on a hotel hunt. There were small hotels on every block in San Ignacio but the first 10 we approached were full for the night! Jon almost talked me into staying in a hostel, but we finally found a place with a private room. The owners were an elderly couple that were napping on the two couches of the lobby when we arrived. We had walked there and needed to move our car and there was only one spot out in front of the hotel. So the elderly lady yelled at the shop guy below her to move his gear into the spot until we got there. And that's exactly what he did and we scored a great parking spot. The room was very simple but clean and the lady gave me every piece of information three times because she forgot she had already told me. It was an experience for sure. We went out and got some ice cream at a place we spotted down the street. The ice cream and homemade waffle cone were the most delicious moment in the whole trip. Mmmmm. </div>
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Then we headed back to our rooms and it was a long, loud night. San Ignacio is a busy city and the hotel was right downtown. The noise never stopped. Car horns blaring, people shouting, loud music. It was a party all night long. Not a lot of sleep to be had but an adventure nonetheless!</div>
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The next day was Sunday so we got in our church clothes and headed to the chapel we had spotted the day before. It was a small branch made smaller by the fact that the city had shut down all electricity that morning. No fans for us. It was their Spanish branch so I didn't understand much but it is always great to feel the familiar spirit there. We spoke to a man before the meeting and asked if there were any members that led tours to Tikal. He said there weren't be his recently returned missionary son was trying to start his own tour company and include some LDS research in his tours. We were excited for him, but sad we didn't get a guide.</div>
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So instead we left church and headed for the Guatemalan border in the hopes of making it to Tikal. We had been told multiple times that driving ourselves there was a bad idea. I kind of slept through the drive to Tikal but Jon said he would definitely had been uncomfortable if we had driven ourselves. We hired a guy at the border and he drove us there and back. </div>
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Guys, Tikal is huge. And you just know looking around you that there is probably a ton more just under the dirt.</div>
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This was my favorite part. There was a set of 200 stairs that took you to the top of the highest ruin and from there you could see everything. It felt like you could see the layout of the city that used to be. </div>
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You should not sit on Monuments, you should Build Monuments.com :)</div>
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We made it safely out of Guatemala and back to our rental car then headed out to find somewhere to stay that night. We saw a sign for a place and took a turn to check it out. Then we drove. And drove and drove and drove. It was getting dark and everytime we almost turned around, there was another sign for the resort. We drove for 20-30 minutes before we came upon two guys in their very early 20's walking down the road. Turns out we were still 30 minutes away from the place! And it was definitely not what we were looking for. The guys had been at the resort for the day and were walking back to San Ignacio. We offered them a ride and headed back the way we came.</div>
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The Belizeians were very grateful for the trip back and pointed us in the direction of some more likely places. We stayed at the Rumors resort just down the street. We had another average dinner and got a good night's sleep.</div>
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The next day was our last in Belize. We had hoped to spend it at one of their beautiful beaches but real life called and Jon had to do a conference call before we got on our flight. So we headed back towards Belize City. We took a quick detour to the Belize Zoo though. I was not necessarily looking forward to this stop. You've seen one zoo, you've seen them all. And most non US zoos I've been to have been small enclosures with very sad looking animals. Belize zoo I apologize for my doubts.</div>
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Have you ever seen a tapir? Oh my goodness. Now that is a weird looking animal. They are huge! And they just wander wild around Belize.</div>
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Pretty birds.</div>
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This owl knew what I did last summer...</div>
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Oh yeah, and then the jaguar. So so cool.</div>
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And that didn't include all of the amazing cool cats, the spider monkeys, the enormous eagle. Seriously, cool cool zoo.</div>
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And then we made our way to Belize City. We found a telecommunications store in the middle of downtown that sold Jon an international calling card. Then we did a little shopping for our kids while we waited for the assigned time. There is nothing like a treat and a small trinket from your parent's vacation to make a kid feel like parents should leave more often. </div>
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At the right time, Jon called on the payphone outside the telecommunications building. After a hectic 10 minutes trying to get the card to work, he got connected and then sat in the blistering sun for over a hour on the phone. I rested inside the air conditioned room with my book. </div>
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I finally had to drag him away so we could catch our flight. Rental car, customs, plane trip, delicious meal in the Houston airport, and back to Las Vegas.</div>
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Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-21772486782249776912016-08-17T16:33:00.000-07:002017-03-19T16:33:23.107-07:00Baby Ridley 3 weeks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I have never done newborn photos with my children. It wasn't really a thing when Scarlet was little and we always had a pretty good camera so we just took our own shots. But my friend Marcela asked if she could take Ridley's photos to build her portfolio. Want my beautiful baby to model for you? I'm totally in on that game.</div>
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Ridley didn't feel the need to sleep for very much of her newborn shot, but I think she looked awesome anyway.</div>
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Ridley is the best baby. I didn't know babies could come this easy. She sleeps well, she is so happy to be sitting next to me just chilling. She love her pacifier.<br />
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She is patient with even her most annoying sibling. She falls asleep during every car ride. And there are many many car rides.</div>
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She is a good nurser but takes a bottle whenever I need her to.</div>
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After I put the other kids to bed, Jon and I will sit on the couch to watch a show. I lay her on the boppy pillow next to me and she stares and coos and then eventually closes her eyes and falls asleep. Just like that.</div>
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And I think she's just straight gorgeous.</div>
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I could not be more in love with this perfect little baby girl.</div>
<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-54331284431636354442016-07-31T18:07:00.000-07:002016-09-06T18:07:50.232-07:00My Newest Baby GirlI had a baby. She is swinging peacefully asleep at the moment, enjoying the freedom of her first big blowout. This is my first moment to sit and write about this beautiful little girl and I am so excited to be doing it. I am so glad she is here.<br />
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This pregnancy was harder than the others. I don't have much to complain about. A lot of people have it way harder than me. But, in comparison of 1-4, this was pretty rough. My body hurt the majority of the time. I gained plenty of weight, but the kicker was the water balloons that replaced my ankles for a good two months. They would get so bad that by the end of the day I wouldn't be able to point and flex my feet even a little. I am so happy to have my ankles back.<br />
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This pregnancy didn't stop me from planning a very busy summer. I flew up to film my mom's dance recital at about 33 weeks. The belly and I went to girls camp at about 35 weeks. We took a trip to Phoenix with my side of the family at about 37 weeks. I even got to have my karaoke ladies night at Anya's house the night before Scarlet got back in town. We had way too much fun.<br />
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And then about a week and a half before my due date, my sister Courtney flew into town, picked up my kids and flew them all to Washington. <br />
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**Side Story** I took my kids to the ticket counter with Courtney to get them all checked in. I am not sure what we did to the ticket lady, but she was not happy with us. She kept trying to charge us fees for things I am never charged for and she wasn't interested in talking to me at all, the mother of all of the children about to fly away. I knew before I asked that my hopes of getting an escort ticket to help the get to the gate were going to be very unsuccessful and I was correct. So I walked my kids up to security, watched and made sure they all made it through, and then I had to turn around and go home empty handed. I cried like the very hormonal pregnant woman that I was. I can't even imagine what people were thinking as this large, sobbing woman walked through the airport. I was pretty bummed until I got home. Then I got over it and enjoyed myself **<br />
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I spent the next week alone in my home. It was so very strange and so very wonderful. I cleaned my house from top to bottom. I went to bed aching almost every night because I had been bending down to clean baseboards or reaching up to scrub ceilings. My kitchen drawers look ah-mazing. I cleaned my windows and there are still no fingerprints on them. And, even spending several hours everyday cleaning, I still found plenty of time to eat, watch a lot of TV, and read my book. I love being a mom, but wow it was a very enjoyable week. <br />
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Jon took a lot of time off that week and we lived like we were young and childless again. We went out to dinner many many times and enjoyed some wonderful catch up time after a very busy work year. <br />
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Scarlet flew back in town on Thursday the 28th. I made the long walk to the end of the terminal to watch her get off the plane that she had just flown all by herself. Her uncle Bryan had driven her to the airport and waited with her at the gate. He bought her a slice of pizza and a Sprite and made her feel like a very special niece.<br />
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And then it was just Scarlet and I for a few days. She had her play dress rehearsal that evening and the rest of the time was ours. We went to the mall and walked and walked. She helped me finish some house projects. We bought delicious food. It was a glorious few days. <br />
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Saturday, July 30th dawned and we got to hang out with Jon. He went on a long run that morning and then took us to lunch. We then swung by a birthday party for one of his employees. It was right around here (about 3 p.m.) that I started feeling contractions. They were more than 10 minutes apart and pretty mild so I just hung out and quietly kept track of them on my phone app. We left the party at about 4 p.m. and I finally told Scarlet and Jon that baby time had begun. Jude came so fast that Jon went into instant panic mode. He drove us home so we could get Scarlet to her friend Sofia's house and he kept throwing things in a bag for us. He once again criticized my lack of finished packing. I reminded him that 1) you can't pack the things you use every day in your hospital bag in advance. and 2) we were not going to the hospital yet. <br />
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Scarlet made it to Sofia's and Jon and I headed back to the house. He busied himself around some more while I tried to keep the contractions coming. When I was moving and walking I could get them to about 6 minutes apart but if I sat down at all they went back to 10 minutes apart. So I bounced on a yoga ball for awhile and then talked Jon into taking a walk around the neighborhood with me. It was ridiculously hot outside but contractions definitely picked up.<br />
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I had not prepaid for an epidural (something you are required to do with cash pay babies) and I wasn't planning on getting one so I didn't want to get to the hospital too early. Plus I find most of the check in stuff cumbersome. I don't want to fill out paperwork, get stuck with needles and get 'monitored and checked' over and over again. I just want to get in there and have a baby. <br />
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At about 8:10 p.m., I could feel a lot more pressure in my contractions and I could tell they were the real ones. They were still kind of far apart, but I decided to err towards caution and head in anyway. We got to the hospital at about 8:45 p.m. I delivered at Southern Hills Hospital again.<br />
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By then I was in full concentration mode. I had my meditation track on and I was doing some major deep breathing through some very strong contractions. It is much easier when you are focusing so annoying questions and paperwork are not something I enjoy. I left as much of it as I could to Jon. He's so funny in those situations. He starts second guessing himself and before I know it, he is asking me what diseases or conditions I have that he needs to mark on the form. Ten years of marriage, sneaking up on 11. I am pretty sure he should at least have my major medial knowledge down. I only lightly snapped at him once though, which I am pretty sure is good for a woman in the middle of childbirth.<br />
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Jon and I both warned the nurse that nurses had delivered my last two babies because they tend to come fast. I love nurses, they are wonderful people, but they just never believe me. I must have an untrustworthy face. She checked me and I was only at a 6. At first, I was bugged by this because I didn't want to get to the hospital too early. But the contractions were big ones and I knew that this was the real deal. She called the doctor on call, who decided not to head in until I was at a 7. I knew from this moment that a nurse was delivering my baby again. <br />
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They then proceeded to fit a port into my arm, which always takes several tries and is just about as miserable as a contraction. They drew some blood to find out my blood type. (I'm O+, I told them about 10 times, don't worry they checked anyway). And all this time I am having some real old contractions that take all of my concentration to not scream through. With Jude, my water had already broken when I arrived at the hospital. My water still had not broken at this point and the pressure of that was extremely painful. I was really tempted to grab a big object and just break it myself. Don't worry, I did not do this. <br />
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When I really can get yourself to breathe through contractions instead of clenching, I can just feel them pushing things down. I can feel the change and the stretching. It still hurts like crazy but I can feel each one progressing into something. About 45 minutes later at around 9:40 p.m., I had to start pushing. There was just nothing I could do about it. Nurses started moving faster, doctors were called with more urgency, baby equipment was rushed into the room. And then 10 minutes later my water broke like a water gun. The nurse literally dodged the gush of water Matrix style. Oh there was a lot of pain. I started losing my concentration and struggled to keep going. I just wanted to keep pushing so it would stop. <br />
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And then, there was a head. And then, there was a whole baby girl at the bottom of my bed at 10:10 p.m.. Three babies, no labor beds. Well, I warned them.<br />
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And then, the biggest shock of them all. My husband checked, and then checked again to confirm, and told me I had just delivered a baby girl. I don't know why I was so sure I was having a boy. I probably just wanted to prepare myself, but I had had the feeling more than once that I needed to be ready to have a boy again. And I was ready. I had to remind myself multiple times that I had just delivered a girl. It really was a girl. I had a second daughter.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX0SeZEsft8sSrkOJ7qv3_Awdh0C5miaJEC1ACtfXpoEEoJJx6-1ItK84lX6slqONMbt-q-QEEWByRVwtRreih5NFW1_9ElPSFO_zdBGrM_bAp08HctNyXDDDIzEIJ10qLFfcSRh1l_cc/s1600/0196a759efb3b8d3393b017f7f9f57f536c8894bd9.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDG8GAerIeDp6RmavN5ykFJrNwlaqZA9FDHUs9VsXjNZ0jDavTXAUum3tavVD-egMu3dEhMW7yZuD6brxNGn9QDYKiRMOgaOGYMH1952vRpTuXzhovW4XOyAYG0XKqKr6wLK-fF-G5qw4/s1600/01429db0afb328b79fc1283aa4d48dc81a3dfbc844.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr4jkBQdYNvuK1gzsyKj6vfq_QSmi41Xz1M-xI3IhvtXbi6oqfA80X9db8G5t6gjmc6JW5RS9KU5vN5mVqlDKsRvOVPZzM5kopnItxUi3F5F-y42j32r4ZAiPuM3gtzY2CkkflfcTsHBY/s1600/013510b4ecdf66b5abf231039855036acaf27d701c.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr4jkBQdYNvuK1gzsyKj6vfq_QSmi41Xz1M-xI3IhvtXbi6oqfA80X9db8G5t6gjmc6JW5RS9KU5vN5mVqlDKsRvOVPZzM5kopnItxUi3F5F-y42j32r4ZAiPuM3gtzY2CkkflfcTsHBY/s320/013510b4ecdf66b5abf231039855036acaf27d701c.jpg" width="320" /></a><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDG8GAerIeDp6RmavN5ykFJrNwlaqZA9FDHUs9VsXjNZ0jDavTXAUum3tavVD-egMu3dEhMW7yZuD6brxNGn9QDYKiRMOgaOGYMH1952vRpTuXzhovW4XOyAYG0XKqKr6wLK-fF-G5qw4/s320/01429db0afb328b79fc1283aa4d48dc81a3dfbc844.jpg" width="320" /><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX0SeZEsft8sSrkOJ7qv3_Awdh0C5miaJEC1ACtfXpoEEoJJx6-1ItK84lX6slqONMbt-q-QEEWByRVwtRreih5NFW1_9ElPSFO_zdBGrM_bAp08HctNyXDDDIzEIJ10qLFfcSRh1l_cc/s320/0196a759efb3b8d3393b017f7f9f57f536c8894bd9.jpg" width="320" /><br />
They placed her in my arms and she was gooey and brand new and perfect. <br />
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Then the lousy part started. The doctor came after a long chunk of time to finally deliver my placenta. That happened quickly but then the stitching started. The problem with no epidural is you don't get to be numb for any of the post stuff. I still prefer the delivery part drug free but wow if I could have gotten a post baby epidural, I would have. My bleeding wasn't stopping as quickly as they would like and she kept finding new places to stitch so I had to endure a good 30 minutes of lydocane shots, stitches that I could almost not but still kind of feel and a nurse pushing down extremely hard on my abdomen to get out clots. It was horrible. <br />
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The only redeeming part was I could look over and see my husband holding my very awake baby girl in the corner. She just stared up at him with wide open grey eyes, peaceful as can be the whole time. In the end they gave me two different kind of drugs to slow down the bleeding, but that went fine and didn't cause any extra stress. It was so nice when everyone finally backed away from my nether regions and left me alone. <br />
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I got to nurse my sweet baby for the first time and bundle her up and watch her sleep. She was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 21 inches long. She has a head full of light brown hair and grey eyes and a pointy chin that perfectly matches her siblings.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKnVnF6u_flw_ZPecYemgkaPT7O6e91kXbO_iki5AWJYrSv3J8nM_1cDlEwxmFJ9aOStCDHV_VfOZsbgy2dSCo4zZNxFrl9Ieef2MDRvf1wpnkLbxVr5bUU62i5tSa0PehPF0W7RUY2H8/s1600/01ea0e2a4b4838460adf3386dbb2a3ad44ad0cd0da.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBk8t4lcNCZCb2busdCd27bWk_NfDSTtO3CwKOlUBXY2UccF0yfPLYrdLi_9P90pb3sfAgSls_XxXrbkzkCki4xgi-e2rzg5hb3DtTQXk22bb83BenMC6Q9SzZdHON4M6jFKwHTFEWcQ/s1600/014aa360b0a719cc54bf5af41604996756288371c8.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0C2JKt59WVVx8u0NOr_RGI0MD-H0VGFsgQ8k0EE1WfytMx4Q5_0HmCgxw5Z_o2I66qiuM68bjubrWL0Qq8H_gr0dseM2r5FxNjOUWRmnYtl4hSBUDfG1-KVTPqHny7aHGqw0lb_mO25U/s1600/017ffcfaeac0a483867d8be0b6183fc0a413dabf43.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0C2JKt59WVVx8u0NOr_RGI0MD-H0VGFsgQ8k0EE1WfytMx4Q5_0HmCgxw5Z_o2I66qiuM68bjubrWL0Qq8H_gr0dseM2r5FxNjOUWRmnYtl4hSBUDfG1-KVTPqHny7aHGqw0lb_mO25U/s320/017ffcfaeac0a483867d8be0b6183fc0a413dabf43.jpg" width="320" /></a><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOBk8t4lcNCZCb2busdCd27bWk_NfDSTtO3CwKOlUBXY2UccF0yfPLYrdLi_9P90pb3sfAgSls_XxXrbkzkCki4xgi-e2rzg5hb3DtTQXk22bb83BenMC6Q9SzZdHON4M6jFKwHTFEWcQ/s320/014aa360b0a719cc54bf5af41604996756288371c8.jpg" width="320" /><br />
Jon and I spent a major part of the day deciding on her name. We had a short list for either gender but Ridley was our favorite. We had not even really discussed a middle name yet so we went through a list of every name we could think of. We chose D in honor of my mom. It makes her name sound a little big like a nursery rhyme but it's worth it. And thus she became<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ridley D Nielsen</span></div>
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The rest of the time at the hospital included tests, measurements, bad food and a little bit of sleep here and there. The highlight of the day, other than hanging out with the sweetest of babies, was when Scarlet joined us at the hospital. She got there at about 4 p.m. and still didn't know that she now had a little sister. I had Jon film her reaction, hoping it would be a major one. But she held her excitement in a little more than I thought she would and was very peaceful about the whole thing. But oh my goodness does she love this little baby. I don't have to ask her to do anything. If anything, I spend most of my time convincing her that occasionally I need to take care of the baby. But if it isn't nursing or diaper changing, Scarlet is pretty sure she can handle it. She is convinced that she is the big sister to the most beautiful baby girl in the world.<br />
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We were stuck in the hospital until 11 PM that night so Ridley could get one more test before they signed her out. It was late, we were beat and really wanted to get home, but they eventually did let us leave with our two daughters in tow. <br />
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-6892014910103792952015-12-31T17:37:00.000-08:002017-01-26T17:37:23.954-08:00Nielsen Christmas Card 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisnaC2zWIrL9iCpleCSnTRl0Sre1kkmVSgVs7Y8csuGrOnMTEaYDsxUNOFpazA_KiN74T4zAPCz5DkAOUzy_TkrXEgJLbqJd-qGbEYjgXo-Qd67wo0SXpu04w99KqEdEyMMhWyERpgEZU/s1600/921179_1095803720452160_2754047483105469184_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisnaC2zWIrL9iCpleCSnTRl0Sre1kkmVSgVs7Y8csuGrOnMTEaYDsxUNOFpazA_KiN74T4zAPCz5DkAOUzy_TkrXEgJLbqJd-qGbEYjgXo-Qd67wo0SXpu04w99KqEdEyMMhWyERpgEZU/s320/921179_1095803720452160_2754047483105469184_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-32394804322227088162015-12-23T17:29:00.000-08:002017-01-26T17:29:40.887-08:00Back to Big White Christmas 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We were really lucky to get to go to Big White this year. We spent Christmas in Moses Lake and then headed up to our favorite ski resort for the New Year.</div>
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Scarlet really came into her own. She loved her ski lessons and went up the faster chairs with Jon and I by the end of the trip.</div>
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Rhode was a little less confident than Scarlet but his skills were definitely improving. He made it down a few runs at the top with some encouragement.<br />
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We did an adult trade off every morning and afternoon so some were in the condo chasing babies while the rest hit the slopes.</div>
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Jon discovered the paths behind the mountain this trip. The cliff didn't have great snow but he still deemed it his favorite part of the mountain.<br />
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Here were the main condo buddies. Jude was the oldest followed by Owen and Dean.<br />
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We went on a few adventures around the mountain.</div>
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Judes LOVES the cold and he's really excited whenever he is made to walk place and/or ride with his brother.</div>
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Even in snow gear, we are a pretty cute crew.</div>
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Inside the condo there were a million great treats and a game of some kind going on at all times, especially if Scarlet or Rhode were involved. Skip-Bo was the main game of the trip.</div>
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A strange family photo for a Las Vegas group</div>
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Big White has a new tubing hill that is pretty awesome. We gave our kids a trip on the tubes for Christmas. It was very cold but very very fun. </div>
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Poor Jude. When you can't ski yet, you kind of get whatever warm clothes we can pull together.</div>
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Asher has no fear.</div>
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The condo crew!</div>
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The mountain was crowded for the holidays. The snow was pretty icy. The kids didn't sleep well in the condo and the babies were frequently sick of being cooped up. Still one of the best trips ever. Big White you will always be a happy place for me.</div>
<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-66253350515659663312015-10-31T10:40:00.000-07:002016-09-16T10:41:08.486-07:00Halloween Arizona StyleOur school took the week before Halloween off for their term break. Jon couldn't get away from work so the kids and I hit the road to Phoenix! We crashed at Brad and Jules house and livened up their house a bit :) "Livened up their house" is a nice way of saying we were loud and messy and only occasionally destructive. Thank goodness they love us. <br />
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Jules did a ton of research of fun Halloween activities going on this week and we had an awesome place to visit every day. Pumpkin patches, corn mazes, hay rides, we did it all and it was all a ton of fun. We even had a fun morning at the park.<br />
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How great is Kylie's Halloween teacher vest?<br />
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Owen is the cutest ever.<br />
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Scarlet and Rhode both loved being in charge of their baby cousin Owen... he occasionally loved it back :)<br />
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Fun story. We carted down a couch for Kylie and Stephen for their brand new apartment but we didn't see Kylie right away so the couch sat happily in the bed of the truck for a day or two. Finally, we were headed to Kylie right after a quick trip to pumpkin patch/corn maze. This corn maze was legit. It was huge and very easy to get lost. Jules and Owen took the short path but my kids wanted to do the big one. We were almost through when the wind started picking up and the corn stalks started swaying. I looked up and for sure a monsoon was just minutes from hitting us. The corn maze was our last part of the adventure so we booked it out of the maze just as the clouds let loose. We were soaked on the way to the car. I just kept thinking the couch is getting wet!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYAkO5QH4qJfDImAgGIsMuUEH1GEjgbBzO3gEKsngY58RxKA2xqfISBp0leuTzGTqlysy-q94RFUDwgbPSERT8pkba9vGBSP8Ul2EBFgF9Uv-iLbbe6y4ICXwcvZLN7zddkxKUXnzU6s/s1600/IMG_0534.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYAkO5QH4qJfDImAgGIsMuUEH1GEjgbBzO3gEKsngY58RxKA2xqfISBp0leuTzGTqlysy-q94RFUDwgbPSERT8pkba9vGBSP8Ul2EBFgF9Uv-iLbbe6y4ICXwcvZLN7zddkxKUXnzU6s/s320/IMG_0534.jpg" width="240" /></a>We said goodbye to Jules with a quick text message and drove as fast as we could to get out of the rain as soon as possible. We only had to drive for about 10 minutes to get out of the storm, monsoons are nice like that, but the couch was pretty wet. <br />
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We made it to Kylie's apartment and loaded the kids inside with a show. Then the two of us stared at the large, wet couch trying to decide if we could truly lug it up the stairs to her apartment. I think we could have done it, but right then the missionaries stopped by. And not just one set, three sets of missionaries. They offered to carry our couch up for them. Who could deny them an opportunity to serve?! So the couch was safely brought upstairs, the cushions were laid on the patio to dry and the adventure was overall very successful.<br />
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Brad and Jules hosted a very fun and very well attended Halloween party. They have a great group of people in their area. So we got everyone dressed up, enjoyed some great food and then went trick or treating around their neighborhood. Here's our costumes for the year. The kids weren't up for a theme this year so everyone chose their own getup.<br />
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Scarlet as Sofia the First<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQEJIPlPO1swIneR0f0RbDOoFHpbzj3k9ex0wbHBR0dInQ7Bn0t1LDf2ZiVhReJwuEUVZqyBew7HYmdkL25oG-JU9NPVCdQtHbx1T1RUidOF9YYCO1ysIQm-dt8Jp1N7m9Mm9r_KCF1Gc/s1600/20151031_160225.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkCjDVMTDO34Cb3WiVRLyrUcenF-okYmRHwicxbOiUBOQduya2cMsePl6QzUhQPVXInTsY4t-H9XqUa-B9gFP_fyNdZLoUq7f-2fqSJDhLFBFE45vaqkRURxaeiucsYtNtrmiVJS3PzMU/s1600/20151031_160052.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkCjDVMTDO34Cb3WiVRLyrUcenF-okYmRHwicxbOiUBOQduya2cMsePl6QzUhQPVXInTsY4t-H9XqUa-B9gFP_fyNdZLoUq7f-2fqSJDhLFBFE45vaqkRURxaeiucsYtNtrmiVJS3PzMU/s320/20151031_160052.jpg" width="192" /></a><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQEJIPlPO1swIneR0f0RbDOoFHpbzj3k9ex0wbHBR0dInQ7Bn0t1LDf2ZiVhReJwuEUVZqyBew7HYmdkL25oG-JU9NPVCdQtHbx1T1RUidOF9YYCO1ysIQm-dt8Jp1N7m9Mm9r_KCF1Gc/s320/20151031_160225.jpg" width="192" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX7w3Hd913aLmkWkErZAGzJXJtCUUHnOpmoD5_kVhkK9YpsdTn0tAE6SjJWIA_2oVkSBC2JxD0osiI8iGOK_yxcgXj2JDmUKbuo1me-fcP_WM8_Tqf2_XLJbWkWo3Mnx-5qtv7uODVrJU/s1600/20151031_160218.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX7w3Hd913aLmkWkErZAGzJXJtCUUHnOpmoD5_kVhkK9YpsdTn0tAE6SjJWIA_2oVkSBC2JxD0osiI8iGOK_yxcgXj2JDmUKbuo1me-fcP_WM8_Tqf2_XLJbWkWo3Mnx-5qtv7uODVrJU/s320/20151031_160218.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxeqAlBGZ4W3u32gvR4lJWcSz3EXA4g7q3NDPh8gOoc0tp95saa49_MeAcj3X2N_s2SiVxMMPHu7cQqhCwpEFQ_6uKonbXlA2drfWr72sQpnX6XWZKdvB0f84qDI447nXLZ2MqkYAGs4/s1600/20151031_160212.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxeqAlBGZ4W3u32gvR4lJWcSz3EXA4g7q3NDPh8gOoc0tp95saa49_MeAcj3X2N_s2SiVxMMPHu7cQqhCwpEFQ_6uKonbXlA2drfWr72sQpnX6XWZKdvB0f84qDI447nXLZ2MqkYAGs4/s320/20151031_160212.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3BYq3B0RKAIY0ujjV6k8tj1WEmF8QflmY1KFRAMOouTYmGErN8lNWWSCwXEdmqF_3URSKmrgDVL3uivNlp2pt6logFr9T0zSAng58lrzWg5OgAEQYuTBaxfcAx_EfbIokNxhy9iimZZw/s1600/20151031_160148.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3BYq3B0RKAIY0ujjV6k8tj1WEmF8QflmY1KFRAMOouTYmGErN8lNWWSCwXEdmqF_3URSKmrgDVL3uivNlp2pt6logFr9T0zSAng58lrzWg5OgAEQYuTBaxfcAx_EfbIokNxhy9iimZZw/s320/20151031_160148.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiJ6LDtYGdd63MK9zjcrGfW3l_RoN7LA3K7J03gWDnriULRU-l1yGyE7QSJEhXEAZ8B0fMet6XlSI8P8ZbSMkKWtWIAY4Lb9hyaq_8ArR0IgH1q4yXkGGmdH2aowQztaq1d5J7D3N2rsg/s1600/20151031_160100.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiJ6LDtYGdd63MK9zjcrGfW3l_RoN7LA3K7J03gWDnriULRU-l1yGyE7QSJEhXEAZ8B0fMet6XlSI8P8ZbSMkKWtWIAY4Lb9hyaq_8ArR0IgH1q4yXkGGmdH2aowQztaq1d5J7D3N2rsg/s320/20151031_160100.jpg" width="192" /></a><br />
<br />
Rhode as Abraham Lincoln<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYUpe2TZ-Yr2OZglkYkGhFwqxdRjTxOVb8LLf1m7Vr6ARC7bYc-uY6w5mEsSiBVnuUDslY7dLkNsn1QJDqALa5yW9F8cLKtwVCEYn0K5cgAJiM0y4sH3xlm3rejgcxVcVmLf5eFsMIIXY/s1600/20151031_161236.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYUpe2TZ-Yr2OZglkYkGhFwqxdRjTxOVb8LLf1m7Vr6ARC7bYc-uY6w5mEsSiBVnuUDslY7dLkNsn1QJDqALa5yW9F8cLKtwVCEYn0K5cgAJiM0y4sH3xlm3rejgcxVcVmLf5eFsMIIXY/s320/20151031_161236.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv_9BoFrmTHmH6oEFlpt3roISDnNjJJMNk1WMeNYj79u6n8mqXGIzqcxV1vOw0q11e8mNA0g7gXieTfCTj4j_3hyphenhyphenyVx5QWj7twF-tpvOv-3R1mi_q6iudxGa16wXb7VK5Wu3uLq1lDo4M/s1600/20151031_161228.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv_9BoFrmTHmH6oEFlpt3roISDnNjJJMNk1WMeNYj79u6n8mqXGIzqcxV1vOw0q11e8mNA0g7gXieTfCTj4j_3hyphenhyphenyVx5QWj7twF-tpvOv-3R1mi_q6iudxGa16wXb7VK5Wu3uLq1lDo4M/s320/20151031_161228.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1BDyNxA9sPkwJ4tlTu0FbguqEEJtqH7rhhXyN5wHmNen9eO9ggRa5qhrtal85RilCe8yXnc9DW8Ld6V_qts1JvfO67ZseGSE2Rqb0r2mfY55Y_exQOpCI5S8yGRhj_mfhBs7a9BHYXU/s1600/20151031_161220.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1BDyNxA9sPkwJ4tlTu0FbguqEEJtqH7rhhXyN5wHmNen9eO9ggRa5qhrtal85RilCe8yXnc9DW8Ld6V_qts1JvfO67ZseGSE2Rqb0r2mfY55Y_exQOpCI5S8yGRhj_mfhBs7a9BHYXU/s320/20151031_161220.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvZjzz5maL_46vyzW5MUWdfTeiQjPi1C0-4VbWMrNTwvKNuvR76LvDm6HgBEpK8f6SYJ02lWcJFvstgB4eIXG9uMgpOf7ypPIXfHbQPmCVVKLIqq_SntjBhzwg_jRB7ZmpeBL05ezIFM/s1600/20151031_161044.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvZjzz5maL_46vyzW5MUWdfTeiQjPi1C0-4VbWMrNTwvKNuvR76LvDm6HgBEpK8f6SYJ02lWcJFvstgB4eIXG9uMgpOf7ypPIXfHbQPmCVVKLIqq_SntjBhzwg_jRB7ZmpeBL05ezIFM/s320/20151031_161044.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmXnAOMhIRhimxHTxTaDyyhgQONBGsF4Xs1vpoabrG0hkXuxfGJ5qkv-lraraRYrLqddBM_9nD6aZ-hwBukKy2D5RNKRjr2pexxQUjy3t_qbbxEGMXK2vw6_Z7GgqEJT6h0z1jDKLSRzY/s1600/20151031_161039.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmXnAOMhIRhimxHTxTaDyyhgQONBGsF4Xs1vpoabrG0hkXuxfGJ5qkv-lraraRYrLqddBM_9nD6aZ-hwBukKy2D5RNKRjr2pexxQUjy3t_qbbxEGMXK2vw6_Z7GgqEJT6h0z1jDKLSRzY/s320/20151031_161039.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPf-GOVjX4aWkOvYXe2xxR1tObDBYpqIHDU4bJ5aUr3d-JfhCV9FoKj6uAB-20Dv6IhxeSZh6dnVZsXttQ99xK_Y5P7qk4D8XLaZwk_2WQ8ZJ_35FPcttuR2U8JlLEbPuyXYb7PUdOoV0/s1600/20151031_161031.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPf-GOVjX4aWkOvYXe2xxR1tObDBYpqIHDU4bJ5aUr3d-JfhCV9FoKj6uAB-20Dv6IhxeSZh6dnVZsXttQ99xK_Y5P7qk4D8XLaZwk_2WQ8ZJ_35FPcttuR2U8JlLEbPuyXYb7PUdOoV0/s320/20151031_161031.jpg" width="192" /></a><br />
<br />
Asher as the Red Power Ranger<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1XF_-lZQFucNjfDmK0UUgGBdRAVwwgGlDmDg41TF5yIYqTMSlzzM_L3F4aBWDnoaHkSxOhBwcweWWZz0_2CEpA0cwVJxcogf8SvKkPYMWFBD7mk_gAMET_S8TqFu22QiyA_hWvUrtFIM/s1600/20151031_161734.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1XF_-lZQFucNjfDmK0UUgGBdRAVwwgGlDmDg41TF5yIYqTMSlzzM_L3F4aBWDnoaHkSxOhBwcweWWZz0_2CEpA0cwVJxcogf8SvKkPYMWFBD7mk_gAMET_S8TqFu22QiyA_hWvUrtFIM/s320/20151031_161734.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7TyUKhhN-HbL0z7bdZ8mVo4g0Wk2qI8yxiDX57rhSUsIO_NHXXh3bZ4g_8LwzP7w9zabKXt7c7BvAozMXYxDX6y0iVbS8zrVfkiPcNAWskUHcHu8v9aT0J6RfngbpAZ8PaSEZqeF9os/s1600/20151031_161725.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO7TyUKhhN-HbL0z7bdZ8mVo4g0Wk2qI8yxiDX57rhSUsIO_NHXXh3bZ4g_8LwzP7w9zabKXt7c7BvAozMXYxDX6y0iVbS8zrVfkiPcNAWskUHcHu8v9aT0J6RfngbpAZ8PaSEZqeF9os/s320/20151031_161725.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi77C9IBDvXMiRNVTBwrHDDaNkB6dQQWMo42PMe3pJG84ZXS3JcI5fycQuRTiHKOOliBi-OXb4kNE4XJk1Cfqdy9LCM5RGi0rcA8dhY-o9n3yslGqHu6acNktcBO61bAtz99HfoWOQXFb8/s1600/20151031_161809.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi77C9IBDvXMiRNVTBwrHDDaNkB6dQQWMo42PMe3pJG84ZXS3JcI5fycQuRTiHKOOliBi-OXb4kNE4XJk1Cfqdy9LCM5RGi0rcA8dhY-o9n3yslGqHu6acNktcBO61bAtz99HfoWOQXFb8/s320/20151031_161809.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ-QALmmPvEkR4evKKpKmWd8hE9Mu57uMFzo5NlMydATBHl2xr8d2Yool-OnZ61VuKheKWyyLPUkXsJHiwUwWIxh-nmgUzaNwLbVFBXm58hC7MqhnnKzytPUg3o_62hAZOcKbSBD1-gAE/s1600/20151031_161805.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ-QALmmPvEkR4evKKpKmWd8hE9Mu57uMFzo5NlMydATBHl2xr8d2Yool-OnZ61VuKheKWyyLPUkXsJHiwUwWIxh-nmgUzaNwLbVFBXm58hC7MqhnnKzytPUg3o_62hAZOcKbSBD1-gAE/s320/20151031_161805.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJluUluTH8RsBUZzCIo7d0I1BSzDTH0nGDYKZvONKhexnzZPVVVYDRPNG4a6rgqxsWR4riKO9RpC17fAPiDp3l5uORdaJdaaTlDqIbCOWKN_RZo3c-qa2_WW4F37LTnprWjVEqYz6U0dk/s1600/20151031_161754.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJluUluTH8RsBUZzCIo7d0I1BSzDTH0nGDYKZvONKhexnzZPVVVYDRPNG4a6rgqxsWR4riKO9RpC17fAPiDp3l5uORdaJdaaTlDqIbCOWKN_RZo3c-qa2_WW4F37LTnprWjVEqYz6U0dk/s320/20151031_161754.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRlnGaDEaeysxzxmlU2IOMNIu9NbHQQN6QXFH35ulxNcMlDnXsnlkHvTI20-P_0ps1BM2hcfSDINlesKEZn7MAlc_vvTfYIKLU6RQ4fInQiBIGOw4Ltc3PsAEwtbuvPyZU59EuLgmScc/s1600/20151031_161737.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuRlnGaDEaeysxzxmlU2IOMNIu9NbHQQN6QXFH35ulxNcMlDnXsnlkHvTI20-P_0ps1BM2hcfSDINlesKEZn7MAlc_vvTfYIKLU6RQ4fInQiBIGOw4Ltc3PsAEwtbuvPyZU59EuLgmScc/s320/20151031_161737.jpg" width="192" /></a><br />
<br />
I went as Liv from iZombie<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5gNmTQ6Yg1E8340N517lv-cA0JULsroXjU5GsVtN4kfQzvSZIPohsjikQRxnNEyMSI1F9D-W4FTR5s2B5mHlY5SRRwF5KG3rmASLjiqZdgBhaPvIDki3govClm9MbY9rn-oeB4ojI32c/s1600/20151031_164938.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5gNmTQ6Yg1E8340N517lv-cA0JULsroXjU5GsVtN4kfQzvSZIPohsjikQRxnNEyMSI1F9D-W4FTR5s2B5mHlY5SRRwF5KG3rmASLjiqZdgBhaPvIDki3govClm9MbY9rn-oeB4ojI32c/s320/20151031_164938.jpg" width="192" /></a><br />
<br />
And then there was the cutest chipmunk of all time, our Jude<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOrFZxD7oa1gauq3qYzBOE3WqOMOLO0Aap_ifvbh7qkBTFFUwbloPiTYcgw2VYZVMTyuSrGQCLvg9ah2rFXR5sXf56Aqn5g19vKGJ2cFqLFTG3RHuIWFy4HCO8R8mTAK1FQ9sPHMzbkDM/s1600/20151031_162432.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOrFZxD7oa1gauq3qYzBOE3WqOMOLO0Aap_ifvbh7qkBTFFUwbloPiTYcgw2VYZVMTyuSrGQCLvg9ah2rFXR5sXf56Aqn5g19vKGJ2cFqLFTG3RHuIWFy4HCO8R8mTAK1FQ9sPHMzbkDM/s320/20151031_162432.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDJgh2R4Oq4JneQSdPpBaSdVlDzp2NMz4rm6Bm0JC52RJ_4hiqNE8jqsh-dGFcncqWNp0viSvrNznJxn-iVVyJwcewZk9AuTubYeU8Ajvib15gPoUdeEc9pK-0YkRsFWnGpXvtEektso/s1600/20151031_162425.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDJgh2R4Oq4JneQSdPpBaSdVlDzp2NMz4rm6Bm0JC52RJ_4hiqNE8jqsh-dGFcncqWNp0viSvrNznJxn-iVVyJwcewZk9AuTubYeU8Ajvib15gPoUdeEc9pK-0YkRsFWnGpXvtEektso/s320/20151031_162425.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwayLfDN0jMu0HjZWNKlGsREFxAULAN3XpBR6Yhxiv3NXvKMllD_F3_EfeWBI_RJn4v_401wHxi0wN7FvzNkWO8WE-TbLndRvJC85k1lqaosykSt9kon1jC1HAVMcWuXHEMpwX0uh4tEw/s1600/20151031_162414.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwayLfDN0jMu0HjZWNKlGsREFxAULAN3XpBR6Yhxiv3NXvKMllD_F3_EfeWBI_RJn4v_401wHxi0wN7FvzNkWO8WE-TbLndRvJC85k1lqaosykSt9kon1jC1HAVMcWuXHEMpwX0uh4tEw/s320/20151031_162414.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbUrYz-CZNSRqVrNCSPbFckiDrQ6CIm8_k9RWEciLEQPpJ5H1ek_D2pikeJDjHpENFpLWlQYMhmHelTkrrolJI16obIq9ythFCVpPOpHfRar357v4qOQkAy4no9f9LtaWFWzbHkyMEhVE/s1600/20151031_162411.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbUrYz-CZNSRqVrNCSPbFckiDrQ6CIm8_k9RWEciLEQPpJ5H1ek_D2pikeJDjHpENFpLWlQYMhmHelTkrrolJI16obIq9ythFCVpPOpHfRar357v4qOQkAy4no9f9LtaWFWzbHkyMEhVE/s320/20151031_162411.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgazsiHcwGntYO0WT8GojJEJnnGZzwtu_nE1LzVRuZATDJyAX5gZLzDqF_MkOFbvX3wVBGrVG0jC9IukQc32ODj4m7i48KhEmjF7_eYFCyo-JERcLQ7nozZhsSNyB4GA8OJOfgKjRMYzuU/s1600/20151031_162437.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgazsiHcwGntYO0WT8GojJEJnnGZzwtu_nE1LzVRuZATDJyAX5gZLzDqF_MkOFbvX3wVBGrVG0jC9IukQc32ODj4m7i48KhEmjF7_eYFCyo-JERcLQ7nozZhsSNyB4GA8OJOfgKjRMYzuU/s320/20151031_162437.jpg" width="192" /></a><br />
<br />
Kylie and Stephen went back a few decades and came as Zach and Kelly from Saved by the Bell<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmvUBTp3tUrOYwdKc_QR25jyXQfDEIss9JGELq4XBAFxmqXl1974k28dj5HPb1dS5VEV4TWW0iVqBuRxVm5wS-sbxYT4lrWS36DVbdyFWy1c6LkRAGeSeExCem5mUlNT9ahnBUWU38MHY/s1600/IMG_3169.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmvUBTp3tUrOYwdKc_QR25jyXQfDEIss9JGELq4XBAFxmqXl1974k28dj5HPb1dS5VEV4TWW0iVqBuRxVm5wS-sbxYT4lrWS36DVbdyFWy1c6LkRAGeSeExCem5mUlNT9ahnBUWU38MHY/s320/IMG_3169.jpg" width="212" /></a><br />
<br />
But the true winners were the Brad Earl family, the Three Amigos<br />
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The trip was so perfect we are hoping to reenact it next year!<br />
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-38387861420524412752015-10-05T14:26:00.000-07:002016-09-05T21:06:52.602-07:00My GirlcationThis was a great vacation year for me. Just a month after getting back from Peru, I got to jet set again but this time I was all by myself. I love vacationing with my husband but when traveling to places where you want to spend the majority of your time wandering and eating, it's best to leave the adventurer at home!<br />
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My trip started with a flight to Seattle to celebrate my Aunt Julie's wedding. It was a fantastic party, Julie looked knockout beautiful, and I got to see my sister's new house as well. Such a great side trip.<br />
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I cut my hair again right before my trip. This was the cut I was going for the first time. It was a lot of fun having really short hair. Oh, and Julie had a photo booth.<br />
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From Seattle, I hopped on a flight straight for NYC! My mom goes every year to a dance costume show and I haven't been back since my internship days so it was a ton of fun to go back. <br />
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I got in a day before my mom and the rest of the crew so I crashed at a friend's apartment for two nights. Marie Davies Howick is one of my favorite people. We met at BYU and went from journalism acquaintances to two crazy chicks hopping a plane to Ghana and spending six weeks straight in each other's company. We haven't had a good chat in years and it was fantastic to get some catch up time. <br />
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The next day Marie headed to work like the responsible adult she is and I literally spent the day wandering New York by myself. I felt 19 again. I even got off on my old subway stop from my Letterman day and walked all the way down to the Donut Plant on 23rd. <br />
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I got a chance to check out the Letterman studios on my way by. Other than the obvious host name change, everything looked just about the same. I made a note on when they were doing standby tickets and kept on walking. <br />
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My day included fantastic donuts, delicious ramen, and a few other snacks in between. I also scored those standby tickets and got to sit in the audience for the filming of the Stephen Colbair show. During his pre-show Q & A, Colbair chose me to ask a question. I told him I used to be an intern for Letterman and asked what it was like to be an intern for him. He said it was great to be an intern for him but then told me a story about hanging out while his girlfriend interviewed to be an intern for Letterman. He ended up getting an interview and they offered the position to him instead of his girlfriend. Senator McCain and Misty Copeland were the guests. Such a great day.<br />
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I got to spend more time with the Howicks that night. I could have spent the whole week just chatting with them and it would have been worth the trip. I really hope we can get our families together sometime soon, plans are in the works!<br />
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And then the rest of our crew arrived. My mom, Lori Baker and Valaree Roylance. I was the youngest in the group by about two decades but with a combo of short hair and being surrounded by ridiculously young looking women, I am pretty sure we all looked about the same generation. <br />
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We hit up Broadway with Matilda, An American in Paris, & Finding Neverland. We caught a filming of the Meredith Vieira Show. We had an amazing 5 course prefixe lunch at Bouley. We caught chocolate tour and an Italian tour, both were delicious. We ate a lot and ate well. So many good moments.<br />
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Grandpa Bert and Grandma Charla spent the week with my kids during my absence so I could have this amazing adventure. I am one lucky lady!Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-25144189945341123602015-09-01T15:47:00.000-07:002016-09-05T21:07:07.197-07:00September 2015While we were off jet setting like the fancy free couple we were pretending to be, something had to be done about our brood at home. So, if you skip back a few posts and remind yourself how much Kylie and her brand new husband were indebted to us, here is where we break even.<br />
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Kylie and Stephen lived in our apartment for the summer and we had not enough fabulous weeks of fun, food, and more fun. While we were attending John and Ashleigh Marsh's wedding reception in St. George, I made my move. I asked Kylie and Stephen whether they would be willing to watch our children for a week while we traipsed off to South America. At this point I don't think I mentioned that it would also be the first few days of school for my children at a brand new school... must have slipped my mind. I distinctly remember Stephen looking at me with those honest eyes of his and saying, "Kacey, after everything you have done for us, we would be honored to do that for you." What a guy.</div>
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Kylie told me later that after I walked off, he turned to her and said, "Wait, what did we just agree to do?!" </div>
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They did a great job with our kids and even got them to school on time in their full new uniforms.</div>
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My kids transferred to American Preparatory Academy this year. It is a charter school located about 35 minutes away from my house (that part was hard). But I was really happy with their structure and curriculum. They have another campus closer to our house so I decided to put in a year at their far campus in hopes of being able to switch to the closer one the following year. It was a lot of driving.</div>
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Scarlet started 3rd grade with Ms. Lewis. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCuqeGcwBoIBhQOh-5NV_llA4gL2LKigG9bfXNQ1bj3hqgOnEsboFzdstpVKCJYhJg_udFrb8_CkiWPYSyD_5aZsO-q3HUvwhWjXd7HmbX1diypcUC8Xs-ueP38XgttqBk2Rf9ob-tOH8/s1600/20150908_072720.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCuqeGcwBoIBhQOh-5NV_llA4gL2LKigG9bfXNQ1bj3hqgOnEsboFzdstpVKCJYhJg_udFrb8_CkiWPYSyD_5aZsO-q3HUvwhWjXd7HmbX1diypcUC8Xs-ueP38XgttqBk2Rf9ob-tOH8/s320/20150908_072720.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsWEhfV5y-Fi77_sUNL2FBpYMt3g6lYXVfR_mrMf35gAfSXU5DYOxOq6TKvqLRoTV8C2Yjj_ANyWGrnN6gjxlGheleEYJG4_sG1w2PUpwOgPpFGYn_AwOSckitzwOCjO6QJS65-L3yFa4/s1600/20150908_072824.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsWEhfV5y-Fi77_sUNL2FBpYMt3g6lYXVfR_mrMf35gAfSXU5DYOxOq6TKvqLRoTV8C2Yjj_ANyWGrnN6gjxlGheleEYJG4_sG1w2PUpwOgPpFGYn_AwOSckitzwOCjO6QJS65-L3yFa4/s320/20150908_072824.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRoWh7FF7c-zMnGXZre6Z-NFZ0JDn-SLyA1jEZVcFWpA7RSk6poOKD-AQsI-m8FpTk-hnggXayF6MaxKh8KsG44dUhpWke896dLcLApj-RQvhQW_tLLPh9AjHS12Gd9qFj09JFJs5m4jg/s1600/20150908_072739.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRoWh7FF7c-zMnGXZre6Z-NFZ0JDn-SLyA1jEZVcFWpA7RSk6poOKD-AQsI-m8FpTk-hnggXayF6MaxKh8KsG44dUhpWke896dLcLApj-RQvhQW_tLLPh9AjHS12Gd9qFj09JFJs5m4jg/s320/20150908_072739.jpg" width="192" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH_XsrUFtJkICA2JQmaAkjDvXa8Q_AP5pO8bW7EhG-FbLxpTfpGe44FA-3RounSfx2G0CnToNkBqK2-FZkdqBlvslQIP1O-lEJqEDzB2pRAUAQ7Xn_cocMMeNg7R8OmOqlG64CFcSdbTE/s1600/20150908_072920.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH_XsrUFtJkICA2JQmaAkjDvXa8Q_AP5pO8bW7EhG-FbLxpTfpGe44FA-3RounSfx2G0CnToNkBqK2-FZkdqBlvslQIP1O-lEJqEDzB2pRAUAQ7Xn_cocMMeNg7R8OmOqlG64CFcSdbTE/s320/20150908_072920.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtTlembvRoqjOx841gZSPZQVCxKEsiukKrxQ7vhN-XNtYrZ13xeuY3SWNluxoKF1A51l8118bCkNpECWd9WtX0PCz3F0tCKFcZJ3PwZG5pP3kejwY9cKfMif1YF6bZl-bYXWKJI-gMdMk/s1600/20150908_072915.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtTlembvRoqjOx841gZSPZQVCxKEsiukKrxQ7vhN-XNtYrZ13xeuY3SWNluxoKF1A51l8118bCkNpECWd9WtX0PCz3F0tCKFcZJ3PwZG5pP3kejwY9cKfMif1YF6bZl-bYXWKJI-gMdMk/s320/20150908_072915.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Rhode started 1st grade with Ms. Fernando and ended the year with Ms. Beatty after Ms. Fernando had a baby.</div>
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Asher started preschool at Paradise Park Community Center.</div>
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September is also our month of birthday boys! Rhode turned 7 and Jude turned 2! Both boys had fun parties at home full of fun gifts. The highlight and most prized gift was Rhode's fishing pole. Asher has us promised many many time that he will also get a fishing pole when he turns 7, or sooner if possible. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDx2VndU3CdWom02YpSdbVQ-7xBgLuqZqgMBO3fULxaVqmlyFtX4PfPBGI40Sh9KBWHTZYOGh4d6pHQLoe6cS-FJ2orZTcUjRS6_RMFT6xGQ8xwpFLAdmkVjUWnSH2X7m-MfBCulF7iuM/s1600/20150912_091949.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDx2VndU3CdWom02YpSdbVQ-7xBgLuqZqgMBO3fULxaVqmlyFtX4PfPBGI40Sh9KBWHTZYOGh4d6pHQLoe6cS-FJ2orZTcUjRS6_RMFT6xGQ8xwpFLAdmkVjUWnSH2X7m-MfBCulF7iuM/s320/20150912_091949.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7VThvOfeeJgbI7Xcw0JPnj2hDNzPgOD1t0KSqodW4yV-LySfbHHVqLRmW3twXFtZKWtAzJPODDnLCJPKLRbw6X1G9rRJEw8pHXvvMiCEcIOhZvDo5oaR2Ak985ScglafmqZqjXqQG9Fk/s1600/20150912_091941.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7VThvOfeeJgbI7Xcw0JPnj2hDNzPgOD1t0KSqodW4yV-LySfbHHVqLRmW3twXFtZKWtAzJPODDnLCJPKLRbw6X1G9rRJEw8pHXvvMiCEcIOhZvDo5oaR2Ak985ScglafmqZqjXqQG9Fk/s320/20150912_091941.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwOQNsFE05axmsmOhCmUoQI-hswXaXX5YhqIjWxlGL7oBngrspZbCZ1StiTsF05qtg4dLAnzqlH_5MTBaa2aZMSlxjG7X4YQXrnypV6wr6GWV5AMO-cpEPZ4FpgsDz1h6OE4Ma1D16_cg/s1600/20150912_091921.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwOQNsFE05axmsmOhCmUoQI-hswXaXX5YhqIjWxlGL7oBngrspZbCZ1StiTsF05qtg4dLAnzqlH_5MTBaa2aZMSlxjG7X4YQXrnypV6wr6GWV5AMO-cpEPZ4FpgsDz1h6OE4Ma1D16_cg/s320/20150912_091921.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg699R6B8w6z0lfIJdUqBAdPo38oXQ8KDWLk4CcXYq3eBNxVo_-kz6Fo8iqC7auxRDYKcSZqFAZoM9B1oO9OrQxKNIClZOso0aHRXfwlyiWv1eNWFSphTQ5vhYjEG4-wzOWmB2Vi1HQTiY/s1600/20150912_091833.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg699R6B8w6z0lfIJdUqBAdPo38oXQ8KDWLk4CcXYq3eBNxVo_-kz6Fo8iqC7auxRDYKcSZqFAZoM9B1oO9OrQxKNIClZOso0aHRXfwlyiWv1eNWFSphTQ5vhYjEG4-wzOWmB2Vi1HQTiY/s320/20150912_091833.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggv6JlzJHY2ik_jW745r6Tl4oTXr4zj1QsJmwo1zii7YmibJ5eUwsDEsuuwUdcYsAaZOEwi5Wnk1wUvsVOVPn4cQhiT2-CmlSAXztNtDO9Y_k8y3RTA8XejQSiSs_F40Q6imlEnWNcWrc/s1600/20150912_091824.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggv6JlzJHY2ik_jW745r6Tl4oTXr4zj1QsJmwo1zii7YmibJ5eUwsDEsuuwUdcYsAaZOEwi5Wnk1wUvsVOVPn4cQhiT2-CmlSAXztNtDO9Y_k8y3RTA8XejQSiSs_F40Q6imlEnWNcWrc/s320/20150912_091824.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKU_IDkQFI3YPjsH3BwcgSE92BY8x-PAGDYHccufFm815Omr3qY9hbMVMYoSdLpPBf-QtM8ENKet81IcnyE4K6G2fRfW3GAtmNxjd-Yjfl0oqcdYkvKdMM4L82AZFU8wQP1U1xAJK3BM/s1600/20150912_091813.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKU_IDkQFI3YPjsH3BwcgSE92BY8x-PAGDYHccufFm815Omr3qY9hbMVMYoSdLpPBf-QtM8ENKet81IcnyE4K6G2fRfW3GAtmNxjd-Yjfl0oqcdYkvKdMM4L82AZFU8wQP1U1xAJK3BM/s320/20150912_091813.jpg" width="192" /></a><br />
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As is tradition, we dressed up as pirates and got a boatload of free donuts from Krispy Kremes. The best quote of the day came from Rhode, "Mom, I had to wear Scarlet's leggings... but she said these were her most boyish pair!"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLvFS-1y99z4CYriQZkqh_yldSi9OLTgIWWCNHnurNFIipzhNR4wNiu2RNgnJspRsZH-2dQcWxpYBzDcg0bxAtRJ65LBYMXeNr46BX0p7-2o1-jDW-nqpEKkBjm249rdksGAFt8ahU8r4/s1600/20150919_085639.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLvFS-1y99z4CYriQZkqh_yldSi9OLTgIWWCNHnurNFIipzhNR4wNiu2RNgnJspRsZH-2dQcWxpYBzDcg0bxAtRJ65LBYMXeNr46BX0p7-2o1-jDW-nqpEKkBjm249rdksGAFt8ahU8r4/s320/20150919_085639.jpg" width="192" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrdq_zwRDc2-7QQbpWtNyZLuyyliJyDYBef9bbCEzwvUUunuw6xxarD7Yk58QcvxDYV8HGiB__kBD8NyFyLc1wteyd0QA0XJRO2Aw-hvOpkd6MZyKkkXpg4WH_50-f_jXKtkQPzD9Z-PY/s1600/20150919_085536.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrdq_zwRDc2-7QQbpWtNyZLuyyliJyDYBef9bbCEzwvUUunuw6xxarD7Yk58QcvxDYV8HGiB__kBD8NyFyLc1wteyd0QA0XJRO2Aw-hvOpkd6MZyKkkXpg4WH_50-f_jXKtkQPzD9Z-PY/s320/20150919_085536.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpnCzaMhu3gc3d3SqBd1vH3Be0DTkzSlMnyuq_dG5J0pjqWCGkmCGVCSgFVkDNLczgtq20_klPvE1fqt6-9zhdM7-N0mnSDKfLoLw1ifvvrBNnytDubC-X5GYo0hyphenhyphen8wg2oHFRQTf67Kg/s1600/20150919_085528.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpnCzaMhu3gc3d3SqBd1vH3Be0DTkzSlMnyuq_dG5J0pjqWCGkmCGVCSgFVkDNLczgtq20_klPvE1fqt6-9zhdM7-N0mnSDKfLoLw1ifvvrBNnytDubC-X5GYo0hyphenhyphen8wg2oHFRQTf67Kg/s320/20150919_085528.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiJdnr-hsy4ycF8OLL-0-DQ2ZeDUFwAfmpQyTYZ4JkQkNLZTBevQv49QZJNHfMovas8uLpNBElF9XN1LYfRdGYXmylCHEgHdUsFk19oWhrUSLtO-LbM55wkOnG0AshqXlBGEjRQHyN51M/s1600/20150919_085512.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiJdnr-hsy4ycF8OLL-0-DQ2ZeDUFwAfmpQyTYZ4JkQkNLZTBevQv49QZJNHfMovas8uLpNBElF9XN1LYfRdGYXmylCHEgHdUsFk19oWhrUSLtO-LbM55wkOnG0AshqXlBGEjRQHyN51M/s320/20150919_085512.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxuQMn3_nJcBT3KMSv2_orE0WcibEOfS2AhBTsPXpxG2FYSd1ncBFMXZ3Gu_kbCBHgL8lHnxcH2YsIlZ-8TM7xgDmtPoDHRGnHTLl5bdz91E3tO6YABzsYQKu6s8PmLIz-AuCgK3GNMY/s1600/20150919_085459.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxuQMn3_nJcBT3KMSv2_orE0WcibEOfS2AhBTsPXpxG2FYSd1ncBFMXZ3Gu_kbCBHgL8lHnxcH2YsIlZ-8TM7xgDmtPoDHRGnHTLl5bdz91E3tO6YABzsYQKu6s8PmLIz-AuCgK3GNMY/s320/20150919_085459.jpg" width="192" /></a></div>
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Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-41533703150302730472015-08-24T07:54:00.000-07:002016-09-05T21:06:24.787-07:00Peru!Is there anything more intimidating than facing the task of blogging about an epic, life changing adventure that you want to remember long after you forget your children's names? Turns out, the answer is yes, and it's when you try to write this epic blog almost an entire year later.<br />
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I am not going to do it justice. It's impossible to do so. But it must be done. Let those who journeyed with me, please forgive my failing memory. For the rest of you, no matter how great I make it sound, I promise it was greater.<br />
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And now, we go back. Jon and I celebrated 10 years of marriage last September and decided it was time for a big vacation to celebrate. Whenever Jon is involved, an epic vacation is always going to involve a big adventure. Always. And after many discussions, we decided to head to Macchu Picchu. We were going to fly to Cuzco, Peru and hike the Incan Trail. Or that was the original plan until we realized the Incan Trail was booked out about a year in advance... so the Nielsens were going to hike the 4 day Salkantay trail to Macchu Picchu. We were very excited.<br />
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In true Nielsen fashion, we then decided to see who would want to come with us! We scanned our brains for all of our friends who would 1) be in for a good adventure and 2) be available by schedule and financially to join us on this trip. Our first ask was John and Ashleigh Marsh. The very newly married couple. They were so newly married, we asked them at their wedding reception. Who agrees to go on an international vacation three months after their marriage when asked at their wedding reception? That would be John and Ashleigh and that would be why they were definitely invited. They just have adventure in their blood. <br />
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John Marsh and Jon Nielsen were mission companions back in their glorious Korean days. Ashleigh was forced to be my friend because of our husband's connection but I'm pretty sure she digs me, even if she didn't have to.<br />
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We got a lot of nos. Some 'wish we could but not this years' and some 'you guys are crazy' nos, which is to be expected. And that is when Jon knew it was time to call the Stouts. Don't get me wrong. We love the Stouts. They are some of our favorite people in the world. But we also know them very well. We knew exactly how this conversation was going to go. Adam was going to say 'heck ya, we're going with you!' And his beautiful wife Ashley, who prefers her vacations to be, you know, relaxing vacations, was going to to have to give up that peaceful dream for our crazy idea. Our prediction could not have been more accurate. My phone conversation with her the next day started with her saying, "I'm not very happy with you right now..."<br />
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So we had our crew. Two Ashley/eighs and two Jon/hns. We did not consider name confusion before extending invitations.<br />
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Our last step was figuring out what to do with our four children for a week.<span style="color: red;"> </span>Here steps in Kylie and Stephen Marsh, who had also just gotten married. They agreed to not only handle our children for a week but handle their first few days of school at a new school. <br />
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With everything planned it was easy to leave. We took a plane to Miami, then to Lima, and then to Cuzco. As is always fabulous news, Jon and my bags did not make our last plane connection in Miami so they weren't there for us to pick up in Lima. They didn't arrive until the next day where we had to trust that they would actually get them on a plane to Cuzco and then somehow let us know that they were there. This included all of our hiking supplies as well so it was a little nerve wracking. I learned to select my travel clothes well after wearing them for 48 hours. <br />
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I pretty much hated this outfit by the time I finally got to change. <br />
One more sad note before getting to the details of the trip. Jon and I are lazy bums and didn't even bother to bring a camera on the trip. I know, ridiculous. But hey, that's why you bring friends, right? And they definitely made up for our memory making lackings. Except, here is the sad part, after a week of scary epic picture taking, the Marsh's left their main camera at the top of Macchu Picchu, and we were never able to get it back. Sad story. So some parts of the trip are very well documented... others I will just have to relive through words!<br />
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We stayed in Cuzco when we weren't hiking and did a lot of exploring around the area. We stayed at the Golden Inca Hotel. It was not in downtown Cuzco but we could walk down there easily. The hotel was very nice, much nicer than I was expecting! That was actually my experience with most of Peru. I was expecting a lot more third world but it really wasn't. We had a good sized room and a nice bed with a TV. A delicious breakfast with a lot of fresh fruit and juices were served every morning on the top floor with this extra especially good rolls and avocado. Mmmmm. <br />
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Our first day, we met up with the Puku Puku travels our hiking guides. They were really on top of things and quite a bit cheaper than the other guys. We were really happy with the whole experience. He gave us the whole rundown on what we needed for the hike and our timing for leaving. He also introduced us to Rolando, our tour guide. There has never been a man more fitting as a Peruvian mountain tour guide than Rolando. He was half man, half mountain goat. But more about him later.<br />
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The company guy took us to a local restaurant so we could get a taste of some true Peruvian food.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhelExqpUzLElja1ZSXAaDygHe1sIf2j6hDuFhCBlFg2OTHiFgF6xP0i2Er5MpQe47i4Kl-8evPl4Bk29CH-q1SRHNYgqe5vWW7trf54IozqEYcDPsQRSORlIgnwD1fnt2MhC0ARsoKMA/s1600/DSCF0018.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhelExqpUzLElja1ZSXAaDygHe1sIf2j6hDuFhCBlFg2OTHiFgF6xP0i2Er5MpQe47i4Kl-8evPl4Bk29CH-q1SRHNYgqe5vWW7trf54IozqEYcDPsQRSORlIgnwD1fnt2MhC0ARsoKMA/s320/DSCF0018.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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I don't remember what I ordered, some kind of pork? I remember it was good. But nobody was taking pictures of my food after we saw what Jon and Adam had ordered.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBaCmLUUF9JddTvJB4W103IqzvtW7pJMLaxztxBHbRZVNMl4j37Uh4PaTd1bbZs-kgmpYeFP5WY6wvq8zV8CTuCNmqEr-F-n0GOHrNp20vkqumEepSgoEqEV5cW4K44WGroDvpnmza5iU/s1600/DSCF0019.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBaCmLUUF9JddTvJB4W103IqzvtW7pJMLaxztxBHbRZVNMl4j37Uh4PaTd1bbZs-kgmpYeFP5WY6wvq8zV8CTuCNmqEr-F-n0GOHrNp20vkqumEepSgoEqEV5cW4K44WGroDvpnmza5iU/s640/DSCF0019.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Wait, is that a fried rodent, you ask? Yes, yes it is. The guinea pig is a Peruvian classic food. Not even kidding, you would see a cage of fluffy little guinea pigs and think you were at a pet store... and then you would see them in their smashed and fried form. Not to be culturally insensitive but - eew.<br />
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I did taste it. The meat was fine, but there was only a little bit of meat mixed in with about a million little bitty bones. I think I'll stick with my full sized pigs.<br />
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Other than the breaded house pets, most of the food we ate varied between very edible to very good. We had a lot of potatoes, corn and avocado. Overall, eating was mostly a pleasant experience.<br />
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That afternoon and the next day were spent in and around Cuzco exploring some of the ruins and other historical wonders. <br />
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Downtown Cuzco/Plaza de Armas (There is a crazy story of how the Invaders took down one of the most productive cultures of the world by trapping their army in this square and crashing through the crowd on 200 horses. In Jon's words, "it takes a lot of balls to scare 3000 men into trampling themselves.")<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigz9Ve2-wNWNX85O2_jFvMyjxhKQGOSCAjSEn4a-C9UuYSWTca2A9Gr5mRsxJ_wtrF0kJM67DaBYKoVMEENzKZaf-pSr_CC73Jdzlf1xjz86p4H5SltSlEXM8gr3LqnMa6LUBEqf_HFWU/s1600/DSCF0012.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigz9Ve2-wNWNX85O2_jFvMyjxhKQGOSCAjSEn4a-C9UuYSWTca2A9Gr5mRsxJ_wtrF0kJM67DaBYKoVMEENzKZaf-pSr_CC73Jdzlf1xjz86p4H5SltSlEXM8gr3LqnMa6LUBEqf_HFWU/s320/DSCF0012.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWzcKxbaVpIZJpX4LIDgEw1K3_xRcpJWjrfEcbC-kJ0EBbelqZBMmdQjf8hKgil2J-0GaCwV2xZISCa2A9Ks4kIXoArK_wKNFg8eRQNpvm24fWroVQqxg9fOFwn8LTeHnvBLHuRe79ef0/s1600/DSCF0013.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWzcKxbaVpIZJpX4LIDgEw1K3_xRcpJWjrfEcbC-kJ0EBbelqZBMmdQjf8hKgil2J-0GaCwV2xZISCa2A9Ks4kIXoArK_wKNFg8eRQNpvm24fWroVQqxg9fOFwn8LTeHnvBLHuRe79ef0/s320/DSCF0013.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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Many of the recent buildings had been rebuilt on top of some existing Incan masonry so we saw a lot of cool examples of stone foundations that had been cut and laid by hand.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_AahiKSlxJ7FvHRV2T5v1EdaM29jrWbM_NPh9QxuIMBknYCqRNQsD66A1UB5fg44tnZD1mU7LeDzqQJ7BaygSar9r8rBsbLKgh-2OyIyP9ISGcCnw7dDIKKpwuifDvKmEpBj0QqUCVw/s1600/DSCF0016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_AahiKSlxJ7FvHRV2T5v1EdaM29jrWbM_NPh9QxuIMBknYCqRNQsD66A1UB5fg44tnZD1mU7LeDzqQJ7BaygSar9r8rBsbLKgh-2OyIyP9ISGcCnw7dDIKKpwuifDvKmEpBj0QqUCVw/s320/DSCF0016.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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These smooth stones or those with little lifting notches were hidden all over this city. Even before "invaders" built giant churches Cusco must have been an incredible site.<br />
<img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ7gY7nJop9ooMsOGJPWY0lhTzOpebxaKs-Pq3V731Ca_mGMaLzfKdJ6nAQET9Wn8xD9TR_-jN1N8H1a-pgE3KtF_093aAgQYLXQNCnfI_arT01-1ik6HxVpZ8IWOpgx1yavL41xgh-_I/s640/DSCF0008.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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Cuzco is set in a valley in between a few of the many many mountains in Peru, and so we hiked up to this hill to find more than several small wonders.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6zvzl8opN5sYN3sCK7P7dV0OYbiiFNSB9SyW7iJR9AF5qzZR710NnFjsgTn8EcDXEShG_E6kqmAPLuB7U-XFDMVZoFFUA5LZ_LIF-rTBg_VwaJBUSo_NP8G0u6yrqQISd4TImRpBKOqU/s1600/IMG_2722.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLFaaG2bvphgRaQK_kGu7KVfrN6vNpa04Y9d1dhjbO20_TfQyEkWbXEyWcilcfZTfKLIAUiQDOy7QvK_qZehFIEBzLqfC8G3a0HjSWlSSipjQDj3k2Se2yMcDH0i9nEDNoTcNgA40OUc/s1600/IMG_2724.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLFaaG2bvphgRaQK_kGu7KVfrN6vNpa04Y9d1dhjbO20_TfQyEkWbXEyWcilcfZTfKLIAUiQDOy7QvK_qZehFIEBzLqfC8G3a0HjSWlSSipjQDj3k2Se2yMcDH0i9nEDNoTcNgA40OUc/s320/IMG_2724.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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Does it get more Peruvian than this lady?<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26T5EgJlbd0YqIXiUeUaoeSXQGVDM4fKS5vYW8GjsBynf9RgEFIDAAIQPEy_mrhcmLCRXOIwNsPmRHwPPYMK9-ldXSRZhyE2KGWr4DeJPfJX8sM-dVb1RZ2tGUHVQi1Zg27cqi29wI9s/s1600/DSCF0017.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj26T5EgJlbd0YqIXiUeUaoeSXQGVDM4fKS5vYW8GjsBynf9RgEFIDAAIQPEy_mrhcmLCRXOIwNsPmRHwPPYMK9-ldXSRZhyE2KGWr4DeJPfJX8sM-dVb1RZ2tGUHVQi1Zg27cqi29wI9s/s320/DSCF0017.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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LLAMA!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRjdf51fxWXKqt3wOUio_yFDMlfPJtL_kymnb6XiNWUdIM2uGCU25ua8zFpPE3csQiMSdTSkQ9Il4YeZS1kuvXFJl8nLAwf3vIPVvBjAKyvgvfga5YTovkqzw9HdqUpnlRyA78hBYorNo/s1600/IMG_2735.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRjdf51fxWXKqt3wOUio_yFDMlfPJtL_kymnb6XiNWUdIM2uGCU25ua8zFpPE3csQiMSdTSkQ9Il4YeZS1kuvXFJl8nLAwf3vIPVvBjAKyvgvfga5YTovkqzw9HdqUpnlRyA78hBYorNo/s320/IMG_2735.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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<img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6zvzl8opN5sYN3sCK7P7dV0OYbiiFNSB9SyW7iJR9AF5qzZR710NnFjsgTn8EcDXEShG_E6kqmAPLuB7U-XFDMVZoFFUA5LZ_LIF-rTBg_VwaJBUSo_NP8G0u6yrqQISd4TImRpBKOqU/s320/IMG_2722.JPG" width="320" /><br />
This windy overlook was from the point of the Jaguar's head shaped sun palace of Sacsayhuaman. Hard to spell, but locals make it easy to remember in its English form, "SexyWoman."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoSu88SDxVX1rDCViv-4M4kHfMofhWMAF6ZVStOmYv-YtgcE4hwp6plOFHJtu4lS3uGanNqNPP9bUq_BPzXSxLE8_6f57OjlkFl6iy0hJh3UD4zzHv7dpJtNsiy2-nJz5SN95DkbJTYhE/s1600/DSCF0026.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoSu88SDxVX1rDCViv-4M4kHfMofhWMAF6ZVStOmYv-YtgcE4hwp6plOFHJtu4lS3uGanNqNPP9bUq_BPzXSxLE8_6f57OjlkFl6iy0hJh3UD4zzHv7dpJtNsiy2-nJz5SN95DkbJTYhE/s640/DSCF0026.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
The structures were laid out in jagged teeth shape with a grass field in the middle. <br />
<img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOlUBywNphm1cisHoZ3tvfl4XP6CUYla-N9q2PKsSS6u27TeKBx-0mA4VtKYnCs4GkVFU218_rw-_xgN7Y_edT_DMZf0dGMbYt6vn7kBPEv-cUzYr3gjIwes-7o8yOD2KOld7CCvFvuhc/s640/DSCF0020.jpg" width="640" /><br />
A top the same hill were both Moon and Sun temples, which apparently were filled with gold models of suns and cities at one time before "Invaders" ransomed the kingdom for gold. All that remained were a bunch of HUUUGEE stones that formed the citadel. We don't have many photos of the scale, but they were not the kind of stones a thousand Egyptian slaves could have relocated easily. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnd_BSf5drvna3DsnrcgO5-nzLfDsGZVmDOGdpt9G79u424WiQ4_QMAjfRuOCnf9nO9WHqDZoIIROzE4rPdc3sQ_rBphK1QweRgjK7zuyUaQWkVMUPLvwaItjcPfItDhCg1G-PhZtSSQ/s1600/DSCF0076.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnd_BSf5drvna3DsnrcgO5-nzLfDsGZVmDOGdpt9G79u424WiQ4_QMAjfRuOCnf9nO9WHqDZoIIROzE4rPdc3sQ_rBphK1QweRgjK7zuyUaQWkVMUPLvwaItjcPfItDhCg1G-PhZtSSQ/s320/DSCF0076.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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At some point, the airlines not only got our bags but got them to our hotel like the said they would. Talk about a miracle. It felt oh so very good to finally change clothes.<br />
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The next day we toured all of the ruins around Cuzco. Our driver drove us to each site and we would hike around for awhile and then he would drive us to the next place. These other sites rivaled Machu Pichu. We forced a lot in during those 12 hours. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vvctk9t6mdxS-RwATElAGICtfXHlghhiZNSHwpOJJS1BShpKS-YA7gGgoQyhAAXkxFqvM6rSsB4KkJN380iAmxwirP_ICm5ixYo_qhEcqDLXKSRzjwzBaDJVTri2zPUK9DXZfqPq2GQ/s1600/DSCF0074.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vvctk9t6mdxS-RwATElAGICtfXHlghhiZNSHwpOJJS1BShpKS-YA7gGgoQyhAAXkxFqvM6rSsB4KkJN380iAmxwirP_ICm5ixYo_qhEcqDLXKSRzjwzBaDJVTri2zPUK9DXZfqPq2GQ/s320/DSCF0074.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ7gY7nJop9ooMsOGJPWY0lhTzOpebxaKs-Pq3V731Ca_mGMaLzfKdJ6nAQET9Wn8xD9TR_-jN1N8H1a-pgE3KtF_093aAgQYLXQNCnfI_arT01-1ik6HxVpZ8IWOpgx1yavL41xgh-_I/s1600/DSCF0008.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGs5FpYfHUUtIqpIb1rVo2xVBSw9cBuwzUtZKpwGoXsM0CV146j3DxwY9SQsOwpTAm55NBjfHk_7m4X0ENip3yxDLJxVDDetKF8PeF10bRDg623eOBu6-BiwtfF1pQ5fUzjqmCQr_5VbY/s320/DSCF0009.jpg" width="320" /><br />
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Some Incan level farming,<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb9YrFjbf-sUfuO3w4Z9ec4hiM7NoO-VZCMNtfAZC3mcPFUrlBATM8G_tGR1xYmZwi420-hm-XBbGwuB7ovUVZo7rv0ljdaTG7gXkzNNCPEHf84cC4nmdtJgoZKtSb7FCHG2uUB0MbEZ8/s1600/DSCF0059.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb9YrFjbf-sUfuO3w4Z9ec4hiM7NoO-VZCMNtfAZC3mcPFUrlBATM8G_tGR1xYmZwi420-hm-XBbGwuB7ovUVZo7rv0ljdaTG7gXkzNNCPEHf84cC4nmdtJgoZKtSb7FCHG2uUB0MbEZ8/s640/DSCF0059.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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and a toilet fit for an Incan princess.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8VSwpPCb9z7yrsiyjiyWy7u-LK-FyguCqBSKQbD-RHH1vgfr4K76r9f0hyYttu35o7tzC7xqy0u77Jx2eGi7iFfAAD2IcL3J8pTdIZX8tzHNZ-z10A2L0e5n0GsCu7v0RtbwbDNouOU/s1600/DSCF0079.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8VSwpPCb9z7yrsiyjiyWy7u-LK-FyguCqBSKQbD-RHH1vgfr4K76r9f0hyYttu35o7tzC7xqy0u77Jx2eGi7iFfAAD2IcL3J8pTdIZX8tzHNZ-z10A2L0e5n0GsCu7v0RtbwbDNouOU/s320/DSCF0079.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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Guy can't take a normal picture...<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchi-SQKkhkHprWDenEdErryy53UiMUXh84DZc7jrfeZzqRpKZdg0YTK_6zpyA8JdljuqNHbLghIB82Wo41wA94HNd9a4eW_j3-j0s_agWeNQhQNSUQFugll73-TAh1scLhBDCOQWdN9A/s1600/DSCF0051.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYtQp7xNqs5VUDvk0ZRptDILJZDN_HtfyRKXG1nwtM9YN4bYNFZ4s32ZYMGur_Wb4Gc6o9Kt97Yu7OR82Gqjk3UkBEvdrbySoQ3tNGtWFipY4h-cvP1p3Gg8no6gB0viwEIlbkdIWnsgc/s1600/DSCF0057.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYtQp7xNqs5VUDvk0ZRptDILJZDN_HtfyRKXG1nwtM9YN4bYNFZ4s32ZYMGur_Wb4Gc6o9Kt97Yu7OR82Gqjk3UkBEvdrbySoQ3tNGtWFipY4h-cvP1p3Gg8no6gB0viwEIlbkdIWnsgc/s320/DSCF0057.jpg" width="240" /></a><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchi-SQKkhkHprWDenEdErryy53UiMUXh84DZc7jrfeZzqRpKZdg0YTK_6zpyA8JdljuqNHbLghIB82Wo41wA94HNd9a4eW_j3-j0s_agWeNQhQNSUQFugll73-TAh1scLhBDCOQWdN9A/s320/DSCF0051.jpg" width="240" /><br />
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Well... neither can the rest of us<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizpTMYZvj35ttkzJSpRE2xImQk6psb3cOOEto_qKTkGK7CiwhquGHqp03kJlCpV4VWtwU0yqTLP7XgwjIwvRBKDCsNksvKEz31jHqo2rP04_349fwySkDccclwY7AKQ8vZ9CBBcrU6FAc/s1600/DSCF0035.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizpTMYZvj35ttkzJSpRE2xImQk6psb3cOOEto_qKTkGK7CiwhquGHqp03kJlCpV4VWtwU0yqTLP7XgwjIwvRBKDCsNksvKEz31jHqo2rP04_349fwySkDccclwY7AKQ8vZ9CBBcrU6FAc/s320/DSCF0035.jpg" width="240" /><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcrvZ7JygDuX29AJC0qQfZr3mGSQ_kLUysg3GahPlmo2lUnsG1txe9yKMdlIE5eqHRrO1LrNZCOI3Ubyciw2r2vo14Q3uG31Idwwa-IDs9bTwkrVKZGyx0oAKtFN_vwKisMDT2NM2Fvk/s1600/DSCF0038.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCcrvZ7JygDuX29AJC0qQfZr3mGSQ_kLUysg3GahPlmo2lUnsG1txe9yKMdlIE5eqHRrO1LrNZCOI3Ubyciw2r2vo14Q3uG31Idwwa-IDs9bTwkrVKZGyx0oAKtFN_vwKisMDT2NM2Fvk/s320/DSCF0038.jpg" width="320" /></a><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRdDbYOvFaoYrrctXFNku9lgYQXeT6YrBc_Sh5vpCtyTvU754MDbIfWZ2oLPIdGcPU1y0hmpRs3FoBSqEoCYNlimzSiZ7CrsqUTxmRfhYoBv1vGjex2HnImoFpGCH0jDpPS02AYB9SIdU/s320/DSCF0036.jpg" width="320" /><br />
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At one of the sites, we took the 'road less traveled' back to the car and ended up hiking through a long field/valley. It was beautiful and kind of made me want to sing some Sound of Music tunes on the way.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqksGpYhb7rKFVqCgUv6yE_Mv4aDdtt0VFhy7OejzvOhyphenhyphenSY0WTXctFvHKWlLS1rNmN2ZUrDxfv4ZpMKF4QV_k0UGm-6lGgvpamu0h8fGP4ZauPC7gvJ0-SjKpmRKBYO3gQ4RKrZxhV82o/s1600/DSCF0063.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqksGpYhb7rKFVqCgUv6yE_Mv4aDdtt0VFhy7OejzvOhyphenhyphenSY0WTXctFvHKWlLS1rNmN2ZUrDxfv4ZpMKF4QV_k0UGm-6lGgvpamu0h8fGP4ZauPC7gvJ0-SjKpmRKBYO3gQ4RKrZxhV82o/s640/DSCF0063.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Shove coca leave tea, elevation sickness, a failed attempt to show up to church on time, street markets, chocolate tasting factory, a large Police Parade, fried chicken, museums, Peruvian cookies, incredibly vague traffic rules, Inca Cola, and a touch of Ping Pong into that first day and a half and we were pretty entertained.<br />
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And then suddenly we were packing our bags and getting ready to hike for four days. The hotel stored our extra stuff for us and the van picked us up bright and early that morning. <br />
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The pictures are a little lacking in sections so I hope I remember enough to share through words. We drove out to the beginning of the hike. Luckily we climbed some major elevation changes in the van, because these canyons were deep. We drove up two Zions to get to a decent starting elevation. After a catered breakfast in a mountain villa they dumped us at a third world looking horse stable. We loaded up with gear, ready to go. (They would have totally carried everything, but Jon and Adam wanted to practice with a bag)<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr1IVXl7dpfuMYssSWq31_no0jtGrcxHtXGGt9N1IIJr29Yd6s0xWQcgXgodAZVuYY5TLndqATjI3w1JuTlBtDTd21pO1nJGIu7vIttMSTFMAMk_45IJeT4lHrwA3MwGXs8rcYh-Xc1eA/s1600/DSCF0085.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr1IVXl7dpfuMYssSWq31_no0jtGrcxHtXGGt9N1IIJr29Yd6s0xWQcgXgodAZVuYY5TLndqATjI3w1JuTlBtDTd21pO1nJGIu7vIttMSTFMAMk_45IJeT4lHrwA3MwGXs8rcYh-Xc1eA/s640/DSCF0085.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Rolando was our guide for the trip. Rolando was a great guide, easy to understand and an amazing hiker. He was one with nature, and could have been a traditional Peruvian culture spokesperson. It got old listening to he and Adam talk about what kids today need. He also really enjoyed going off the beaten path on occasion which is perfect when hiking with a guy like Jon. He took the guys on a few side adventures which made the trip for him. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfEfteG4niNmXyjRGYN2nz3lYRl8sJzKenITmObzOEUkF1s93fwppeYQsxDdqEUE-PB1E6dN3cW3EeZjnxNc26ahWoTCOF5A4jNux_JpDWih7pnETnKK5mS6IuA55y_-uCJf1z_RZsY8g/s1600/IMG_2785.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfEfteG4niNmXyjRGYN2nz3lYRl8sJzKenITmObzOEUkF1s93fwppeYQsxDdqEUE-PB1E6dN3cW3EeZjnxNc26ahWoTCOF5A4jNux_JpDWih7pnETnKK5mS6IuA55y_-uCJf1z_RZsY8g/s320/IMG_2785.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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Our first day was a very easy hike through a valley between some mountains. There was no trail at first; rather, Rolando hiked straight at things preferring to walk on "ground without footprints." He led us to a small irrigation aqueduct, which we hiked along for the rest of the time. The water trickled softly, the weather was beautiful, and our pace was easy. We were all feeling pretty confident about our hiking ability at this point. We were the only people in our party but there were several other companies doing the same itinerary at the same time. FYI for anyone planning a similar trip, each company had basically the same gear, we all got the same food and we all stayed at the same camp sites so it doesn't do you much good to pay more money. Just go with whoever will give you the best deal.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-P25dNzx8rEY5k34gzHhWwaPdsHCYgDwoWAty_1fEcucL5iJMZnWNBKqyG1OjN36cNz1O70vfCvC-ZysXanY58DpgzyQkpKxuyFr3T1wij7Yfd9QwtyGPP5HsbA66w-vrUKa9ELJHkcc/s1600/IMG_2778.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7IEecp1_ENXs24aVAQw_7dGp3dhGJLzjz3Yq4gbu2X-fPH9U3pNXlZqCHrPQlTyIuuAnpehnNJcOWRSBxCIHCKyl7Is44T_4RKiPlEnIGeGlsyZBGs8kxbirNSCxTQij-OfIO7X-0Qzs/s1600/IMG_2781.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifULHF6yJHPSDT2IRew5sFFSzQWsGPu4r5SDtVDczJcyj5xnPzC4cnUpIe4d-RyEmrw6IC6x2g9-mXQFb7lzL7OVtEm7JGspKBoFbM-IsktEPP28NI7VrLdAN-wzg7edMc1NKK42aW9bw/s1600/IMG_2782.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifULHF6yJHPSDT2IRew5sFFSzQWsGPu4r5SDtVDczJcyj5xnPzC4cnUpIe4d-RyEmrw6IC6x2g9-mXQFb7lzL7OVtEm7JGspKBoFbM-IsktEPP28NI7VrLdAN-wzg7edMc1NKK42aW9bw/s320/IMG_2782.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
Those aren't clouds in the upper left corner, but a giant snow covered cliff that always felt like it was about to cave in on us. This perspective doesn't do the eeriness of being close to huge snow covered cliffs justice.<br />
<img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7IEecp1_ENXs24aVAQw_7dGp3dhGJLzjz3Yq4gbu2X-fPH9U3pNXlZqCHrPQlTyIuuAnpehnNJcOWRSBxCIHCKyl7Is44T_4RKiPlEnIGeGlsyZBGs8kxbirNSCxTQij-OfIO7X-0Qzs/s320/IMG_2781.JPG" width="320" /><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-P25dNzx8rEY5k34gzHhWwaPdsHCYgDwoWAty_1fEcucL5iJMZnWNBKqyG1OjN36cNz1O70vfCvC-ZysXanY58DpgzyQkpKxuyFr3T1wij7Yfd9QwtyGPP5HsbA66w-vrUKa9ELJHkcc/s320/IMG_2778.JPG" width="320" /><br />
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For each day, we would hike a section until we reached a stopping camp. There would be a snack and refreshments waiting for us, usually a selection of herbal teas. Then they would feed us and we would either keep moving on the next leg or set up camp for the night. The food was very good. Some was more unusual than others but there was a lot of fresh produce and always plenty to eat. I was very impressed overall with our hiking food and even more grateful that someone was making it for me. <br />
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We only had one leg our first day so we were at our camp site by early afternoon. We had lunch and some acclimatized with a little rest in our tents. Do not underestimate elevation headaches in this place. There was a big hillside at the camp and the guides were leading hikers up the side to a lake that was 'just over the top'. Head straight up towards the scariest looking part of the mountain and you will find it. Jon, Ashleigh M, and I headed up first. It. Was. Steep! And with the extra elevation, it was not an easy hike. Jon kept stopping, and I am certain it was not just for us. Though slow going, we made it to the top. There was nothing too spectacular about the hillside but the lake was breathtakingly beautiful. We lost most of the photos showing the glacial lake facing the cliffs, but Ashley S later took this photo showing the island in the lake from the adjacent ridge. To put this in scale, from water to the edge of white on the upper right corner is approximately only 10% of the elevation of the cliffs it faced.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRxGRzGVHlZbFYIGO2I1J2sMEuKa1CafL6qw5Z82v32-1kPjlIcpbizZk06J9d3-hZbAakjI-uKRUMrKjrGm8ZYQaEQ2rJM7ui7K4nHpjIb9k6hghV3bMPFgLJVyQyrUvy9tpQpUdGugk/s1600/IMG_4830.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRxGRzGVHlZbFYIGO2I1J2sMEuKa1CafL6qw5Z82v32-1kPjlIcpbizZk06J9d3-hZbAakjI-uKRUMrKjrGm8ZYQaEQ2rJM7ui7K4nHpjIb9k6hghV3bMPFgLJVyQyrUvy9tpQpUdGugk/s320/IMG_4830.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
The lake was freezing cold, which was obvious from the snow capped mountains on either side of it. Literally, glacial cold, it was hardly refreshing to put your feet in it after that hike. But Jon is Jon. The sun hadn't set and the snowman shaped lake curved around as it got close to the mountain. And on the far side, it got pretty close to a small boulder/island in the middle of the lake. So yes, he hiked around, stripped out of three layers, dove in, and swam to the island. I got to be the one on the shoreline listening to Australians and German hikers around me say, "Wow is that guy crazy?" Yes, but in a very lovable way.<br />
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The Stouts and John M. were on their way up as we came down. They were with Rolando who took them even higher to the ridge, which sounds crazy, but Ashley S. brought home the only surviving photo of a the crystal pure lake, so it was worth her effort. John and Adam raved about the Peruvian Skunk they saw during the ridge hike. Although I tuned most of it out, I think the main difference was lack of a stripe and lives in Peru. Not mad I missed it. <br />
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We slept in our tents that night under a large tarp structure. Jon snuck out to star gaze in the sub freezing wind. The sky cleared and the stars alone were bright enough to walk around in the dark. later the full moon came up and lit up the giant snow cliffs all around us. Beautiful, but misleadingly cozy. Hardly even felt like camping it was so easy. It was just a tad too easy. There was no foreshadowing to prepare us in any way for our hike up Salkantay the next day!<br />
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Note that we woke up warm enough that Ashley S. had on a T-shirt at the outset.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXrpsOHi-bZvWm3XpBeswOc3147HOohmIVs_R7XAYreK8nvd1WrwbBBrqs3JDYahSEwtoEaAaAi2PNyUAVBZVn1H7hReUOZllYw04bHlfzFyk3BWe_KfyOPOFy-3zNtaq99kO_68MFhm4/s1600/DSCF0091.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXrpsOHi-bZvWm3XpBeswOc3147HOohmIVs_R7XAYreK8nvd1WrwbBBrqs3JDYahSEwtoEaAaAi2PNyUAVBZVn1H7hReUOZllYw04bHlfzFyk3BWe_KfyOPOFy-3zNtaq99kO_68MFhm4/s320/DSCF0091.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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Our first leg that morning was straight up the mountain. It was steep. It was long. And it was COLD! I imagined a lot of scenarios about this hike but I didn't really picture being that cold. I thought some of the hikers in their big puffy Columbia jackets were crazy. I was wrong, and way under-dressed. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL2TsYSS4MuI5MHF1kTWIyh31YB67KNldwsHsWEDQnp6OYR_aBpq7Cj25BmBfQmHe9kkBPquzQMLzZ_4MXQt0TwjyreMoOVUQMjlPywNOvY16dClquI5gchhSjGc9OnQoFJ0ACXBbOnkI/s1600/IMG_2767.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL2TsYSS4MuI5MHF1kTWIyh31YB67KNldwsHsWEDQnp6OYR_aBpq7Cj25BmBfQmHe9kkBPquzQMLzZ_4MXQt0TwjyreMoOVUQMjlPywNOvY16dClquI5gchhSjGc9OnQoFJ0ACXBbOnkI/s320/IMG_2767.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
When we got near the top, Rolando took one of his detours. This one was pretty significant though and I was pretty sure I wasn't up for the challenge. Both Jon and John headed up the side of the hill with Rolando to go see a glacier.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1jb6XFI8969adjBx7SITUOlBKkrPs85QXyQyIDfvy1nOyS1R8gVrwbgqwLLIryUGao02TfracMO8l6TqNvtbnH0TwEoFXz_W5b-WjxVLr8PRrBRROEZQBc1cZh3LpZuH15xwaKBdYnnI/s1600/DSCF0092.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1jb6XFI8969adjBx7SITUOlBKkrPs85QXyQyIDfvy1nOyS1R8gVrwbgqwLLIryUGao02TfracMO8l6TqNvtbnH0TwEoFXz_W5b-WjxVLr8PRrBRROEZQBc1cZh3LpZuH15xwaKBdYnnI/s320/DSCF0092.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
This stupid photo from a boulder barely hanging on to the edge 400 feet over the "Scariest looking Melting Glacial swamp" faces away from the mountain and was the only thing to scare Rolando and Jon. It doesn't look like much, but Jon later said he had never taken a scarier photo. What a dumb. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU_BOef6a1ocUcFo5-KOe2Stjy_YWD0tuS0VgLFCQSz6LVQalx0OwTsKb6OKG4JRyjwOA_R6LvfRXqd4-i4TxkSQlGETqzavn0MJAxpNYqdavE6FF4jgPkFsEd4xIeqWixhK2kMF0rnsU/s1600/IMG_2787.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU_BOef6a1ocUcFo5-KOe2Stjy_YWD0tuS0VgLFCQSz6LVQalx0OwTsKb6OKG4JRyjwOA_R6LvfRXqd4-i4TxkSQlGETqzavn0MJAxpNYqdavE6FF4jgPkFsEd4xIeqWixhK2kMF0rnsU/s320/IMG_2787.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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These photos were "safely" on the edge and show the Salkantay in most of its majesty. Yes, the summit exceeded the frame into the clouds.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh-K0o9C7dGezu7cfRy8n9iM2lfYFogzuQkbrTixnIu6M7B5YLMJK1ULL7L5Qyq_xp7aj1B1yF-WEQQBlXOHIvhrs4AGMUPPqJ5ta9pj5fGWeedcoIvIo9_vmI1Egqu2f3TnTTMfjqAuU/s1600/IMG_2790.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtMGuuL4z-djdExMqUPgTffwcmocjCLu0WctEiDJrATxeJDzNcbxsM5eru0aQI5FqNofj4ilvZgwsu7Dhnt1h_5vnsR6kTv8fc6ojHtvVSgdSbsfPdZt9UE81pl0uioSXpz4AFqZJd55w/s1600/IMG_2795.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtMGuuL4z-djdExMqUPgTffwcmocjCLu0WctEiDJrATxeJDzNcbxsM5eru0aQI5FqNofj4ilvZgwsu7Dhnt1h_5vnsR6kTv8fc6ojHtvVSgdSbsfPdZt9UE81pl0uioSXpz4AFqZJd55w/s320/IMG_2795.JPG" width="240" /></a><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh-K0o9C7dGezu7cfRy8n9iM2lfYFogzuQkbrTixnIu6M7B5YLMJK1ULL7L5Qyq_xp7aj1B1yF-WEQQBlXOHIvhrs4AGMUPPqJ5ta9pj5fGWeedcoIvIo9_vmI1Egqu2f3TnTTMfjqAuU/s320/IMG_2790.JPG" width="320" /><br />
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We met up at the summit of the mountain. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6xQxqw1tVP7SNF3oATKZaW1eZ6O-BGqepj6I-aMSQOzQwvCWMAT8uvcs4XMcatvfatTewby15Augs9HjtHRliQqVoU9JYuIIt-cHFkXhPSMNZKOZOfdj6861jsH_ZdV_kcheaLuXsuE/s1600/DSCF0095.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6xQxqw1tVP7SNF3oATKZaW1eZ6O-BGqepj6I-aMSQOzQwvCWMAT8uvcs4XMcatvfatTewby15Augs9HjtHRliQqVoU9JYuIIt-cHFkXhPSMNZKOZOfdj6861jsH_ZdV_kcheaLuXsuE/s320/DSCF0095.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi62Mz8CIrb0gMZpJKg2vKpEPSfci_Ey8s5c52ophaBB2DG_3QnIQxFKIudku9txnibq-yjaSb-1eGkHalqapgPYtXStosal62jV4YZD4m6l0mNM4meVoCDEK9iY_3GQZN-5QN5wTf3Uh0/s1600/DSCF0096.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi62Mz8CIrb0gMZpJKg2vKpEPSfci_Ey8s5c52ophaBB2DG_3QnIQxFKIudku9txnibq-yjaSb-1eGkHalqapgPYtXStosal62jV4YZD4m6l0mNM4meVoCDEK9iY_3GQZN-5QN5wTf3Uh0/s320/DSCF0096.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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Yes, that's me in the back wrapped in a thermal blanket trying to not freeze to death. The Salkantay mountain was such a gorgeous, snowy, ominous backdrop to this hike. It was worth every freezing cold second.<br />
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And from there we got to go down. I love going down after a big up. It is such a great reward. We left the summit in clouds and decended across incan steps, and minor ruins stopping only to munch Oranges, don our rain gear, and eat lunch out of the rain. Jon got so wet, he couldn't control his shivering once he wasn't moving.<br />
The 3rd leg of this hike meandered into the beautiful cloud forest. We crossed bridges over beautiful falls and we picked tiny wild strawberries as we walked. And it warmed up really quickly. We were dropping layers like flies. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRaJcktLHDh-v5Pi3N1LweacSNf9BaQBEpFXQcYqzqT3yqv-6IiHHqR3E3tF4ZGxmDA7-m4nKenJO4dZzf_Vpr9OBJhxlPtBmV1T-Uc-T1otzl81e1XUIED1Te7sZfw4hbmA7s2d1ZT3s/s1600/DSCF0105.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRaJcktLHDh-v5Pi3N1LweacSNf9BaQBEpFXQcYqzqT3yqv-6IiHHqR3E3tF4ZGxmDA7-m4nKenJO4dZzf_Vpr9OBJhxlPtBmV1T-Uc-T1otzl81e1XUIED1Te7sZfw4hbmA7s2d1ZT3s/s320/DSCF0105.jpg" width="320" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU2A9hEByomIzKNH7mW0ogiTJT_BcpNeFkPqOZzn2UK_3wGXWBD1ceiueX9slythzTv-uf4_bi_mwkrYy2glQ82z0_YWe6jFWJT0rejisD0RP2CY4S17U_lv8fflk4COynlJoE47Gwyk4/s1600/DSCF0104.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU2A9hEByomIzKNH7mW0ogiTJT_BcpNeFkPqOZzn2UK_3wGXWBD1ceiueX9slythzTv-uf4_bi_mwkrYy2glQ82z0_YWe6jFWJT0rejisD0RP2CY4S17U_lv8fflk4COynlJoE47Gwyk4/s320/DSCF0104.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Speaking of flies, some layers stayed on because of the sand fleas. Those little beasts seemed impervious to anything other than pants. We all got a few bites a piece, but less modest European hikers looked like they were covered in chicken pox. The bites didn't feel like anything at first, but days later you would be itching like a crazy person. They lasted much longer than mosquito bites. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9WHThCrxOJDzaAWRIUNBvxYfmDOHb5YvE3dBxawtDEamusUm3YK54-V7lMRLLMaKTvU0AEiQ_AILJ8QhAnaXJ-OB-DMKFtXltRFtKCimpGYd1wQcU-No3B4FrtV-Ol5Zs1-YSVXxYYm4/s1600/IMG_2816.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9WHThCrxOJDzaAWRIUNBvxYfmDOHb5YvE3dBxawtDEamusUm3YK54-V7lMRLLMaKTvU0AEiQ_AILJ8QhAnaXJ-OB-DMKFtXltRFtKCimpGYd1wQcU-No3B4FrtV-Ol5Zs1-YSVXxYYm4/s320/IMG_2816.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX9cAanAOiSU7EeV8RVUjg7eP6IFjX-mKYjPprhXT5nd6cbtEndWhUlQEY4jWqz6iY_oc-inccLDigz2m0nzFMgkz9De_78w-cHG96bx1QImuHhjwTeuYBTtJpQRNOc__1w4iy84dnemg/s1600/IMG_2818.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX9cAanAOiSU7EeV8RVUjg7eP6IFjX-mKYjPprhXT5nd6cbtEndWhUlQEY4jWqz6iY_oc-inccLDigz2m0nzFMgkz9De_78w-cHG96bx1QImuHhjwTeuYBTtJpQRNOc__1w4iy84dnemg/s320/IMG_2818.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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That second day of hiking was strenuous and pretty exhausting but our group did such a great job. Ashley S., who originally unfriended me for inviting her husband on this crazy adventure, out hiked me frequently. <br />
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That night, our tents were set up outside in tropical camping area with a rain patio facing the setting sun and deep green canyons. After meals and snacks there was usually some downtime. So we started playing cards. We taught Rolando a few games which was always entertaining. Our games became a small United Nations as more hikers came around asking to join in. Lamp oil ran out and we were sent to bed. It rained hard that night and the unlucky enjoyed "waterfalls through the walls of the tent." But we kept enough stuff dry to start the next day comfortable.<br />
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Our hike the next morning was a beautiful meandering walk through the hillside, with a few ups and down. We picked Passion Fruit from the vines along the trail, got water from local farm/trail stops, and crossed the path of a Jaguar. Well at least the path of its very clearly shaped footprints in the mood for several hunderd yards. It was a warm day and we were looking for a cool down when we got to our lunch spot.<br />
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So we stripped off our shoes and let our feet take a soak in the cold river nearby. Which would have been a fine enough adventure for a normal crowd. So Jon kept going further.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWHG7nO2RWDMmwDZOAx2vted-RPtp9eT-sScxydJtEMC4OGdxXF223UMpeuY2roa3wd3qz3ww2YIyrRoRE321o7T8Ptli2FrS6dmf7Z2J9UaMCrOw9kuHp3b2SFsQg701mDc-H7AqaAYg/s1600/IMG_2839.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWHG7nO2RWDMmwDZOAx2vted-RPtp9eT-sScxydJtEMC4OGdxXF223UMpeuY2roa3wd3qz3ww2YIyrRoRE321o7T8Ptli2FrS6dmf7Z2J9UaMCrOw9kuHp3b2SFsQg701mDc-H7AqaAYg/s320/IMG_2839.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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The water was moving really fast and the rocks were slippery, not to mention the water temperature was icicle status. But that didn't stop this from happening.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijcoEsCDtIVhTBxcIT75lomVO45_UcNQq4xGOAnZhCjgL0OkX0SKiqKWfe4oaCiBU2A6JaPWx-a3H1JtKJKwUeuCeDwRj_687wt2lgwT2lS0XspaPEaDWSmG53v-u-Iv3_XC0CFXWCFAo/s1600/IMG_2844.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijcoEsCDtIVhTBxcIT75lomVO45_UcNQq4xGOAnZhCjgL0OkX0SKiqKWfe4oaCiBU2A6JaPWx-a3H1JtKJKwUeuCeDwRj_687wt2lgwT2lS0XspaPEaDWSmG53v-u-Iv3_XC0CFXWCFAo/s320/IMG_2844.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQxjsD07wQpFB3UBxUZg3znECv2Yl7HgPY8-X_Nd_MLd3lbZWxJt3IVb0yT4YBdx2ucuhmLnwTq6yTT8994NbbemhdeM1WiSO8jD2x27ZABY6CkGwGlvWHzHN0EwoT3HRuxUHdUbBg6mM/s1600/DSCF0126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQxjsD07wQpFB3UBxUZg3znECv2Yl7HgPY8-X_Nd_MLd3lbZWxJt3IVb0yT4YBdx2ucuhmLnwTq6yTT8994NbbemhdeM1WiSO8jD2x27ZABY6CkGwGlvWHzHN0EwoT3HRuxUHdUbBg6mM/s320/DSCF0126.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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And then once Jon decided it was awesome, he talked us all into joining him.<br />
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He was right. It was gloriously refreshing and way too much fun. Almost worth being wet for a good chunk of the afternoon.<br />
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After that, there was an option of taking a train after the first leg of the hike into Aguas Calientes or finishing the hike all the way in. Adam and Ashley had been planning on taking the train the whole time (Ashley's early stipulation on joining us). They waffled about the decision, but decided to go for it. So after the first leg, we dropped them off at the station and then headed off without them. <br />
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Sadly, I wish I would have talked them out of it because that last leg was my favorite part of the whole hike. The scenery became a lot more jungle. We were walking between tall skinny trees that were filled with birds and jungly animal noises. We followed the train tracks for most of the way there. The scenery was so beautiful and so different from everything else we had hiked so far. As we approached, the guide pointed out the first signs of Machu Pichu that its English rediscoverer would have seen. <br />
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The hike led us through a few train tunnels on the side of the hill. At one point, we waited for a train to go through and then started through a tunnel. We were only about 1/3 of the way through when we heard the whistle of another train behind us. This was not a wide tunnel by any means. Rolando's eyes got very wide as he yelled, "Let's go!" So the five of us took off running through this tunnel to outrun a train. We made it out with time to spare... but if we had kept walking we would have been in some trouble. It was an amazing Indiana Jones moment.<br />
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We walked all the way into Aguas Calientes. We got to check into our hotel for the night, shower, use the internet to check in on our families, and eat at a restaurant. It all felt very luxurious. Aguas Calientas is a town that basically caters to the Machu Pichu hikers. Most people take a train into the city and then take a bus to Machu Pichu and then take the train out. But we had a good time walking around the city. <br />
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At one point, Jon bought a full pineapple. He really wanted to eat it, but didn't really have a way to cut it open. So he attempted to do so with his mouth. It was a very bad idea. A shopkeeper took pity on him and cut it open for him but not before he tore up his mouth pretty good.<br />
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The next morning, we caught the bus up the hill to see the ruins. We got there first thing in the morning and the clouds were still clearing as we got up there. Rolando wanted to do a little more explaining than I wanted to listen to that morning, but we made it through and got to climb around and explore.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuHU4el0gvS3b31MzFaxKIi3WYvY9Pyxmkf_utZBB25kMd7nG1AiJ44ruGoeKsLx3EATAA1jOPeXeCIAIqF1y63BNdHMZ6QQY1dzvukFDVkvTiCU1Db2rCARpzLEj4XSBGy0Dq4oVL7Ug/s1600/IMG_2908.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuHU4el0gvS3b31MzFaxKIi3WYvY9Pyxmkf_utZBB25kMd7nG1AiJ44ruGoeKsLx3EATAA1jOPeXeCIAIqF1y63BNdHMZ6QQY1dzvukFDVkvTiCU1Db2rCARpzLEj4XSBGy0Dq4oVL7Ug/s320/IMG_2908.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuEzPcNQyTOL6dWgKMldHmUSKI0mI9ereyVCX82i_SGzZhlK_62JrtTIAvbMOHmFEyHkbML3yiji48OsA_a7xYcGeqZkEsfyqvmQRSY0isOddI23vpcewbRNGlf_507uSYp-NFQZcR9_g/s1600/IMG_4855.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuEzPcNQyTOL6dWgKMldHmUSKI0mI9ereyVCX82i_SGzZhlK_62JrtTIAvbMOHmFEyHkbML3yiji48OsA_a7xYcGeqZkEsfyqvmQRSY0isOddI23vpcewbRNGlf_507uSYp-NFQZcR9_g/s320/IMG_4855.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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This day was the actual day of Jon and my 10th anniversary. Pretty cool way to celebrate.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEift2gSbQFk_RM8_YI25m-JEAOK4CVAlKokEmHAz7-oKs3-XRhOWFlYTuOY6RvCR4J7Ns0w1eDG2LJCCps3tRdBmxJPU6CVEM-UrDfonpExtljm9DxdwpxbHeh9qOQ-xyZixes0jWgabZ0/s1600/IMG_4861.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEift2gSbQFk_RM8_YI25m-JEAOK4CVAlKokEmHAz7-oKs3-XRhOWFlYTuOY6RvCR4J7Ns0w1eDG2LJCCps3tRdBmxJPU6CVEM-UrDfonpExtljm9DxdwpxbHeh9qOQ-xyZixes0jWgabZ0/s320/IMG_4861.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Look at me, I'm in an Incan doorway!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4yBZoMRs8xHHPBLHLfjNmGak23XHugNc0mQrUcmUiJw6HJ_4Q0RMx_mZEzSYjjnjeWGb5pycVW3Iz20j_wgdV00DsTrLMDKpyXImHftkbOar0sJqCBlaBREJUxjKHaXmQK5zw-yo9ukM/s1600/IMG_2925.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5HbLLqk1pTSByIPA0gJ68v6pfWQDjjY9Xo4uw34Tvy7ExA5J95fpEzobHBLmhoEZ6wxZ6hKsfckHLaidZiJL0LNOxC1fFiu2ffpLXy_7WBDlqHLwLtdBRNbi7FiqvRrxeBSNSl7UdNVQ/s1600/IMG_2926.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5HbLLqk1pTSByIPA0gJ68v6pfWQDjjY9Xo4uw34Tvy7ExA5J95fpEzobHBLmhoEZ6wxZ6hKsfckHLaidZiJL0LNOxC1fFiu2ffpLXy_7WBDlqHLwLtdBRNbi7FiqvRrxeBSNSl7UdNVQ/s320/IMG_2926.JPG" width="240" /></a><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4yBZoMRs8xHHPBLHLfjNmGak23XHugNc0mQrUcmUiJw6HJ_4Q0RMx_mZEzSYjjnjeWGb5pycVW3Iz20j_wgdV00DsTrLMDKpyXImHftkbOar0sJqCBlaBREJUxjKHaXmQK5zw-yo9ukM/s320/IMG_2925.JPG" width="240" /><br />
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But seriously guys, this stone that they cut out is taller than me and wider than me laying sideways. And they cut it and moved it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9VZNyTBB6kTfCa3Px614bngZDV7fBJ2TdNnPAo5n0ya1fH1C_pMjlBuHaDXhL8gomGWf01PihHt0tSlXz-Rx1O0b5_W5NTHY7RAI498AjRY4KREgsVIeACqmGbu-owG7L0GQkATGKyQ/s1600/IMG_4870.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9VZNyTBB6kTfCa3Px614bngZDV7fBJ2TdNnPAo5n0ya1fH1C_pMjlBuHaDXhL8gomGWf01PihHt0tSlXz-Rx1O0b5_W5NTHY7RAI498AjRY4KREgsVIeACqmGbu-owG7L0GQkATGKyQ/s320/IMG_4870.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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LLAMAS!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBD8fYJCQsDoagP3hrq_OnCLznho8BCBOYcGKAGhDON3DC4Q0XcX5XZ09iYuetPvI-gSmrBroSVnxN3q4AlfsWTt4B1ZxtWEnupZ-J2GbxmULfAQIoNvdy9QBGGNBi-ugVZMU5EYziCIg/s1600/IMG_4876.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBD8fYJCQsDoagP3hrq_OnCLznho8BCBOYcGKAGhDON3DC4Q0XcX5XZ09iYuetPvI-gSmrBroSVnxN3q4AlfsWTt4B1ZxtWEnupZ-J2GbxmULfAQIoNvdy9QBGGNBi-ugVZMU5EYziCIg/s320/IMG_4876.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Here is a part of the Incan trail which we did not go on. I really shouldn't have an opinion on it because I haven't been on it. But the Salkantay trail was so amazing and the Incan trail sounds really...crowded... hard to believe we didn't end up with the better choice.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40nVARxKz6ElJXze3kI3xUc58JuwuX8X0Qxnj2_xBGdpj2QQBtlXTmQhqnlnHF9v3gBpUdcEIecSPSIE0cHhkZMA02zeelmGueK7hxSIOE_W6OsiVM5nrm6icYwfQu0FHVpPy80ZBkas/s1600/IMG_4884.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40nVARxKz6ElJXze3kI3xUc58JuwuX8X0Qxnj2_xBGdpj2QQBtlXTmQhqnlnHF9v3gBpUdcEIecSPSIE0cHhkZMA02zeelmGueK7hxSIOE_W6OsiVM5nrm6icYwfQu0FHVpPy80ZBkas/s320/IMG_4884.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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So here's the deal. Machu Picchu is cool. Ridiculously cool. But if I had taken a train into the city, taken a bus up to the ruins and climbed around for the day and then gone home, I am not sure I would have been all that impressed by this trip. The ruins are amazing, but the added sense of the 'middle of nowhereness' that the hike gave me made it so much cooler. This amazingly advanced resort city was built in the middle of some jungly mountains near no other civilization! The perspective and the adventure of the added hike made this trip for me. I can't imagine it otherwise.<br />
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We skipped the bus and hiked down a million sets of stairs back to Aguas Calientas. Jon skipped the stairs and took a jog down the bus road. And with the added pack and not wanting to kill myself falling down a huge flight of stairs, I just couldn't go as fast as the Stouts. The Marshs spent a little more time on top of the mountain so it was just me for a good chunk of the hike down. I had a wonderful time reflecting on the week, enjoying the silence, marveling over how fast Ashley's skinny legs could fly down those steps, and making my way down a mountain.<br />
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We caught the train all the way back to Cuzco that evening and the adventure was just about over.<br />
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We had one more day left in Cuzco before we hit the road so we decided to hit up every museum/ruin/tourist site we had missed before we headed out on the hike. We also did some shopping and plenty of eating through the city. One shopping highlight was getting a demonstration on how they weave llama fur. We paid a small fortune for our handmade treasures, but they are definitely treasures.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5sLZ9N8gwXU5gTXLukmPKqIID2JPKd2dMxBwdBqJ1jViKtT5aF5nKG_X_u2jyQ7avAeI1vxlMamwefBi_XpnHJjVcBUAjyKadFnPDp2XjnTFbONAH5VL7qRMGJgtA2dHG3-1k8VlI7zM/s1600/IMG_2950.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5sLZ9N8gwXU5gTXLukmPKqIID2JPKd2dMxBwdBqJ1jViKtT5aF5nKG_X_u2jyQ7avAeI1vxlMamwefBi_XpnHJjVcBUAjyKadFnPDp2XjnTFbONAH5VL7qRMGJgtA2dHG3-1k8VlI7zM/s320/IMG_2950.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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We also went to a cultural show where they performed a lot of traditional Peruvian dances. While waiting in line, we joked that thanks to Adams many shades of camo, he could disappear behind any shrubbery.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoZguh-iPebYadwXNdqMm9aZtADi6S8P6jhYiiA0p5FkCIFq6BD9lL6eGaY-maSRB2sgCeLCmb1tEXzhEQYFB7tS6yedlBjrR2ZFFz0ArAueoEQcqd2Rt07D0K8bGKuz2RiLRBnMMUh0w/s1600/IMG_4893.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoZguh-iPebYadwXNdqMm9aZtADi6S8P6jhYiiA0p5FkCIFq6BD9lL6eGaY-maSRB2sgCeLCmb1tEXzhEQYFB7tS6yedlBjrR2ZFFz0ArAueoEQcqd2Rt07D0K8bGKuz2RiLRBnMMUh0w/s320/IMG_4893.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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Near the end of the show, they invited the audience members up to dance on stage. A very long song with a very empty stage followed. So, never afraid to be a party starter, Jon and I and the Stouts hit the stage and foolishly danced our own version of a Peruvian partner dance to the crowd's delight. Who doesn't like to see Americans making fools of themselves? On the way offstage, a young girl came on stage but didn't seem to know what to do. So Jon offered his hand and danced with the girl. He twirled her and even brought her in for a dip. The crowd went wild. It was adorable. Somewhere there is a video of this, but I don't think I will ever forget the sound of a sold out theatre for a foreign cultural event cheering on my mostly monolithic husband of 10 years. <br />
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Overall this was one of the most memorable trips I have ever taken. It was such a fun adventure. I can't wait to take my kids someday! Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-59386331735889240312015-08-22T20:13:00.000-07:002016-07-27T07:47:45.192-07:00Pilgrimage 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We made it to Southern California again this year for another weekend of awesomeness. The Mercuros let us crash at their house. They have a great house and a really fun pool in their complex. The kids swam their hearts out.</div>
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We had some great beach time, as usual. </div>
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Jude was torn between loving the sand and the surf and being annoyed that his hands were constantly dirty.</div>
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Can you believe the tan on this girl?</div>
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Our sand mermaids</div>
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Right before we left town we got to stop by and visit the Campbells for Indie's 2nd birthday party. It was at the most beautiful park. They had great food and it was so fun to see the Campbells again. And can you believe this group shot from the party? Sierra is so darn talented.</div>
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-26762332251767002832015-08-03T20:03:00.000-07:002015-11-22T20:03:20.915-08:00Happy Summer Moments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We had a fantastic summer at Cowabunga Bay. Even when Jude refused to smile for pictures.</div>
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One night I found these three reading books together. It was insanely cute. These boys, when they are good they are very very good. But when they are bad...<br />
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-13854609874948817132015-07-31T20:00:00.000-07:002015-11-22T20:00:35.639-08:00Boating Summer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We got to go out with our friends, the Rosenlofs, on their boat several times this summer. All of the kids loved diving straight into the lake. Jon wasn't able to join us most of the times so we kept the water activities to a minimum. But every now and then we pulled out the tube. I seriously rode like this with them. It was crazy.</div>
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Asher is the best tuber known to man. We have always called him monkey boy because he can hold onto anything. As a baby, you could just let go of him and he would cling to you. While tubing, there were at least four times when he got bounced so high his entire body left the tube but those little monkey paws of his never lost their grip. We were rolling with laughter so hard.</div>
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We had one crazy adventure. We usually hit the lake in the middle of the week but we went out one Saturday afternoon. The dock was being reconstructed so there was only one lane open. The line to get a boat in was soooo long. It took us almost two hours just to get our boat in the lake. We started at 3 pm and didn't get in until 5 pm. We cruised around a bit, did a few wakeboarding runs, let the kids swim a little, then headed back for the dock as the sun was going down. We got to the dock a little before 8 pm. We did get out of the water until about 10:15 pm. At that point, it was completely dark, the kids were losing it, and it seemed like the night that would never end. </div>
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We finally were in our car and headed back to town. I stopped at the Taco Bell drive through in Boulder City so the kids could get a quick dinner at the only place that was still open. Plus I figured a caramel apple empanada would end the evening on a good note. There were only two cars in front of me but I waited 15 minutes to get to the window. Then the lady left me at the window for 10 minutes. Ten minutes! I was so done. So so done. She finally came to the window to say they were still waiting for the empanadas. I took the food she had ready and sped off. That place still owes me 4 empanadas.</div>
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Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-2422648447092358962015-07-25T17:28:00.000-07:002015-11-22T17:28:37.217-08:00Asher is 4 years old!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
During a church auction, I won a pizza party for ten at Cici's Pizza. Cici's is a pizza buffet that is located almost across the street from us. But we have never been there. Not once. But somehow, I managed to convince Asher that it would be the coolest place ever to have a birthday party. He was totally on board. </div>
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We did have a great time. Aunt Kylie and Uncle Stephen were in town, along with Aunt Kristy and cousin Declan. We had our friends the Shrouts, the Mackays and the Egberts show up. Pizza was consumed in mass quantities, soda was gulped, glow sticks were sported, and presents were given. </div>
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Cici's makes a macaroni and cheese pizza... which is basically a cheese pizza with noodles on it. Jude was a big fan.</div>
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Scarlet and Calvin Shrout.</div>
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Rhode and Ian Shrout</div>
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The whole crew!</div>
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Thankfully Will Shrout brought his camera and took a lot of photos...because I kind of forgot to.</div>
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Brooklyn Mackay, Asher, and Frankie Shrout</div>
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Overall a big success.</div>
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One of his favorite gifts was some awesome soccer gear from Grammy. This guy instantly looked like a pro.</div>
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Which was great timing because Asher had won a free season of Lil' Kickers soccer at the school raffle.</div>
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So every Tuesday night, we would head down to the indoor soccer area. There is nothing better than indoor soccer during the summer. The kids and I would stick around while he had his lesson. Scarlet commandeered my phone one practice and caught was these normally looked like.</div>
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Jude would wander.</div>
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I would read and ignore everyone.</div>
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And Jude would wander some more. He usually insisted we bring "Jude's soccer ball" so he could play as well. <br />
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-7977072114659599492015-07-23T17:47:00.000-07:002015-11-22T17:47:45.121-08:00Earlchella 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Every other year, the Earl girl cousins get together to reconnect. It am so glad to be a part of this group. It has got to be one of the best group of girls out there. I love the originals, I love the married ins. It was such a fantastic weekend.</div>
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This year we headed up to Spanish Fork and stayed at Kim Wise's house. She has a beautiful house and we were all comfortable. For the first time ever, I did not have a small baby at the reunion! But oddly enough this was the year that every one else did, including Kristy. I volunteered to camp with Kristy and we got Kim's nice big room so Declan could get some good rest.</div>
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We ate delicious food, including a night at the Provo food trucks that was fantastic. </div>
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We sang karaoke. We sang karaoke hard.</div>
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We had some other amazing activities. We all brought a favorite gift to share and did an exchange game. We all took home some fantastic new treasures.</div>
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The highlight of the trip was the Hollywood Game Night. I hadn't actually watched the show before, but seriously was I missing out. Angie gathered some clues and games from the show and we had the ultimate game off. There was charades, movie guessing, catch phrase, puzzles, so so many games. We competed and shouted and laughed and ran into each other and won and lost. It was so so so much fun.</div>
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After the reunion of awesomeness, I stole this little guy and took him home with me.</div>
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Okay, I took his mom too. Kristy, Declan and I had a great week together. I got to get some awesome baby snuggles with one of the most content babies on the planet and got to hang out with my sister. </div>
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Jude was very interested in Declan, as long as I wasn't holding him. </div>
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-22522357343313508302015-07-21T17:07:00.000-07:002015-11-22T17:08:09.627-08:00Rain Hiking<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
On a random Saturday in July, we decided to go on an adventure. The weather was looking a little iffy, but hey its Las Vegas! Rain never sticks around that long. Jon found a fun new path for us that led us right past a herd of wild burro and lead to a little stream.</div>
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But when we got to the start of the hike, it was still coming down pretty hard. So we scrounged up any rain gear we could in the car (a few hats, a thermal blanket, a plastic bag or two...) and took off anyway.</div>
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My biggest mistake was wearing jean shorts. They were already a little loose on me. Add some water and it was all I could do to keep my shorts on. Jon gave me his rain jacket. I held onto Jude and Jon wedged the jacket around the two of us. We stayed nice and toasty in there, especially when Jude feel asleep and became a sleeping baby space heater.</div>
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Jude slept most of the way in and was pretty cranky on the way out. That meant no walking. It also meant that he was annoyed with all of my attempts to switch him into my hip or any other comfortable carrying position. So I had to just carry him in front of me the entire way in and out. When we finally got back, my arms would hardly straighten they were so sore. Don't worry Jude, you were worth it.</div>
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The kids were super tough. It was cold and wet. But the burros were awesome and the water was cool. And there is just something about feeling cold in July in the desert. It's miserable and magical at the same time. </div>
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In the end, we were cold, wet to the bone and tired, but had an awesome afternoon to remember. I love my adventure babies.<br />
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Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-79317748740437041392015-07-15T16:53:00.000-07:002015-11-22T17:20:02.153-08:00The Randoms of July<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Scarlet and I got our hair cut at the beginning of the summer. We both got shorter do's but mine was especially short. Scarlet got a kick out of the big ponytail of hair I cut off. I went from this:</div>
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To this. It made the summer so much more enjoyable. I have loved short hair.</div>
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Scarlet's cut turned out very adorable.</div>
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Asher was extremely pleased to try on his wedding clothes for Kylie's wedding. Thrilled actually.<br />
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He prefers his basketball shirt.. and selfies.</div>
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Sometimes mom has a crazy hair day and takes pics with her boys.</div>
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One of the many outdoor meals they planned for themselves this summer. Kids eating outdoors is the best thing that could happen to summertime.</div>
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I had a fun night out with some ladies and we went painting. Yeah, painting is not a skill of mine. But a night chatting with fun people, totally my scene.</div>
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Here's my poor painting. My hummingbird looks overdue with triplets... Scarlet was impressed.<br />
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Scarlet made herself breakfast one morning. I was impressed with the healthful balance. She was impressed with the happy nature of her creation.</div>
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Jude loves donuts. Every now and again, in the middle of an unrelated conversation, he will perk up and say, "donut?" He is always annoyed when we don't have one sitting around for him at these random moments.</div>
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The three older kids played tennis this summer. Poor kids were out in triple digit heat almost every practice. Jude is also pretty sure he is a tennis player. He insisted on taking a racket every week and hitting the balls I threw at him. We are hoping to take tennis in the spring this year so it isn't so miserably hot.</div>
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And one hot afternoon, we hit up the digiridoo show at the library. The kids were fascinated by the strange instruments and the very strange presenters. Scarlet and Rhode even got to take a turn onstage. <br />
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And finally, a mom and her boys. That is one lucky lady for sure.</div>
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-15651343663219818672015-07-04T16:40:00.000-07:002015-11-22T16:56:05.202-08:004th of July with the Stouts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We spent 4th of July in Prescott, AZ. Prescott does 4th of July like a small town, with tons of festivities and activities, only they really aren't that small. We did everything from the kiddie parade to the Big Parade to fireworks. </div>
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There was some serious candy throwing at the parade. Our kids walked away with a candy fortune.</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">We also got to do some adventuring. The Stouts took us out on a canoe one night and the kids took turns paddling around a little lake. And as usual, all of our children played like crazy just enjoying each other's company. And Blaze's new pet. It was a great weekend.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-62845516293812136452015-06-27T16:35:00.000-07:002015-11-22T16:35:24.627-08:00Kylie Owes Me Her FirstbornMy beautiful sister Kylie is now happily wedded, all thanks to me. And a little bit Jon. And some because she is a really good person who was ready to meet the right person. And a little bit Stephen who was also such a great dude. But mostly, me.<br />
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We were hanging out with our buddies John and Ashleigh (who were then engaged themselves) when their brother Stephen came for a visit. We had met Stephen once before many years earlier. At that experience, we all went to see the BYU game with little baby Scarlet. While I went to go to the restroom, Jon thought it would be a great idea to hand the baby over to the college freshman. Stephen, very unfamiliar with babies tried to figure out what to do and gave her an odd little shake. Jon snatched his baby back and made Stephen feel like a bad person. It worked out to our advantage since it probably took him many years to decide he could actually handle being an adult with the potential to have children.<br />
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So, fast forward 6 years, we are again with Stephen and friends hanging out for an evening. Jon mentioned that Stephen might be a good match for Kylie. I whole heartedly agreed. I showed off my good looking sister to Stephen from facebook photos and talked up all of her best features. This was in August. In December, he finally asked for her number.<br />
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He called, they decided to go out, I waited in anticipation to see how it went. But did Kylie call me after her date? No. Did she call me the next day? No. Shoot me a text? No. Not a word. I was a little miffed.<br />
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But I found out later it was because Kylie and Stephen were basically madly in love with each other at first sight and I had made the greatest love match of all time. Or something similar to that.</div>
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And shortly after that, this happened.</div>
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Yup they are just about the cutest ever.</div>
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Our strange sibling pictures. Kristy was busy with her brand new baby and Kendall and Bryan were doing the whole mission thing. So the siblings were lacking. But, we are the best ones anyway.</div>
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Brad: "Uhh, I really don't know how to do a group side hug. Kinda seems like a girl thing..."</div>
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The Nielsens in their finest.</div>
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Don't worry Jude, we didn't really want a picture with all of the nephews in their matching outfits. </div>
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That would have been too easy. Running pictures are just a great photographer challenge.</div>
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Aren't the girls about a million times easier?</div>
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So happy together!</div>
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Kylie and Stephen got married on an extra hot weekend in St George. Us Las Vegans were feeling good but the rest of the crew was kind of dying. We were all grateful to finally make it to the reception.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQqpGbkkk79c9o160BWWKWTG9WDHseYz5-N0gF7hyphenhyphenyy7U9sK1wtDlTwIlqpfW9wWPZrPRV19nAbzra7TW5I0Kw9rqEd0-3fPE36IR_GSDXncOGIP6o04EMW3iZTCo1v5Q4499XFrBfoyc/s1600/1511387_10203171742372956_1645657860185091175_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQqpGbkkk79c9o160BWWKWTG9WDHseYz5-N0gF7hyphenhyphenyy7U9sK1wtDlTwIlqpfW9wWPZrPRV19nAbzra7TW5I0Kw9rqEd0-3fPE36IR_GSDXncOGIP6o04EMW3iZTCo1v5Q4499XFrBfoyc/s320/1511387_10203171742372956_1645657860185091175_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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There may have been dancing. I didn't really pay attention.</div>
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There also might have been some interpretive karaoke song/dance numbers. I wasn't really involved.</div>
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Adorable Reception Story: I looked over at one point during the dancing to see Rhode dancing with Stephens niece, Sydney. It was adorable to watch them slow dance. Much later, I heard the story behind it. I guess Rhode walked up to Nate, Stephen's brother, and said, "If you like a girl, how do you ask her to dance?" Nate said, "Well, I guess you say hi and then ask if they want to dance." Rhode then said, "Okay!" and beelined straight to Nate's daughter Sydney. So darn cute.</div>
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It was a great party and a great weekend. After their honeymoon, Stephen and Kylie lived in our apartment for a few months. It was so much fun. They ate dinner with us, they played with our kids, they took them on special outings, we watched shows together at night. It was a magical summer.</div>
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-6208715002107317542015-06-23T20:26:00.000-07:002015-11-08T20:26:37.182-08:00Hey Jude<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Truly the saddest part about my lack of blogging this year is this awesome little guy has not been accurately documented.</div>
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Jude is just the best kid. He is my sweet, giggly mush ball of awesomeness. He makes our lives so happy. I really wish I would have done a better job of documenting all of his awesome moments. But hopefully instead of documenting, I was just enjoying all of your glorious moment Jude. Here's a few tidbits about my baby stud.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPy07O3VHTh_1xm-OC45xuT66lgf0JTlWshFlxIUbJ5yt8ZsoCnVjSh6VtI0X1BGwXUhBA9esoOBdOHW_-wgDDrrRWTxm1Q896bhxuLrg43P5-Gp2NHhgR4NSnxI7PSVQ5fBRPdQ7et0/s1600/20150420_171855.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPy07O3VHTh_1xm-OC45xuT66lgf0JTlWshFlxIUbJ5yt8ZsoCnVjSh6VtI0X1BGwXUhBA9esoOBdOHW_-wgDDrrRWTxm1Q896bhxuLrg43P5-Gp2NHhgR4NSnxI7PSVQ5fBRPdQ7et0/s320/20150420_171855.jpg" width="192" /></a></div>
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Jude is the king of cuddles. Sometimes this guy just needs some time cuddling with mom. He loves stories right before nap and bed. He prefers mom reads them but Dad, Scarlet and Rhode have taken turns and he just happily sits and listens to every tale. When you ask him how many books he wants to read, his standard answer is "5".<br />
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He is such a smiley guy. He says hello and goodbye to everyone and everything. "Hi doggy" "Bye bye store" As you can imagine, everywhere we go there are people sighing telling me how cute that just was. It doesn't get old either.</div>
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This boy would spend every minute of his time at the park on the swing if I could talk myself into pushing him that long. Thank goodness for Scarlet who should earn sister of the year entirely for her time spent pushing this guy.</div>
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He loves hats. Loves them so much. I really should own more for him... but when he gets his hands on one, he will wear it all day long. Helmets, head bands, hard hats, baseball caps, doesn't matter. He digs them.<br />
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Jude is a little guppy. He loves the water. He loves putting on his life jacket and the run diving into the nearest water source. Luckily for this mom, he is at least aware that he needs his life jacket. All summer he just cruised up and down the pools, following his siblings with his kicking feet and scooping arms. He occasionally hops out and then cannon balls back in just as quickly. Such a water guy.<br />
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Doesn't he look so big with a haircut? This kid also potty trained at 21 months after only about a day of me half trying to teach him. And not only did he start peeing in the potty basically of his own accord, but from day one was potty trained during naps and night too. I have saved a fortune on Pull ups with this one. </div>
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I also picked up one of those amber teething necklaces on Amazon really cheap one day. It is supposed to help with teething because amber is a pain reliever... or something witch doctory like that. I'm not a big believer that it worked any great miracles, but he loved that necklace so much. And I thought it just looked adorable on him. He wore it 24/7 for months and months before he decided to move on. </div>
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Jude is everyone's favorite at the moment because he is just sweetness personified. Even his tantrums are adorably sweet. He probably won't turn out very well as we dote on him entirely too much. But we just can't help ourselves. Who could?<br />
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-87381707732762322632015-06-12T20:32:00.000-07:002015-11-08T20:33:00.463-08:00When the boys are away...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Jon, Rhode, and Asher took of for a Father Sons campout, leaving the girls, and the honorary girl Jude, to play. The boys went to Lake Lindsay and had a fantastic time. They came back with stories of kayaks and camels... or something like that. I wasn't there, no pictures were taken. Hope you boys have good long term memories, but I can tell you you had a really good time.</div>
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As for the girls (and Jude), we took off to try the brand new Shake Shack at New York New York.</div>
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Car selfie!</div>
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We ate huge burgers and got a concrete. <br />
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Jude might have eaten more than his fair share of the chocolately goodness. But the fact that he scored any with Scarlet vacumming it up next to him was a win. Pretty much I was the one that got ripped off.<br />
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And then we swung upstairs to see the Hersheys Chocolate Store. Who doesn't want to get a pic with a giant Hershey kiss?<br />
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Jude went to bed while Scarlet and I stayed up to watch a movie. Having only one girl sure works out sometimes. Can't wait until next year when we get to send all three boys!</div>
<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4757577075578721581.post-58411287067359102502015-06-10T20:13:00.000-07:002015-11-08T20:13:18.627-08:00Some good old ML Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Sometime during TD season, the kids and I road tripped up to Moses Lake. We got to hang out with Courtney and Dean as well so double awesome bonus. I even got to babysit Dean for a day. I am the best babysitting aunt ever. I bathed him, taught him how to hold his own bottle, </div>
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and even sent his mom fun selfies so she would know how good I was doing. <br />
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On the way up, it snowed in Utah while we stayed in our hotel. My kids were severely underdressed... and severely dramatic about it.<br />
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We got to stop at a beautiful park and there was a lake full of goslings. They were the cutest.<br />
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Well... almost the cutest thing in the park.<br />
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Jude and Dean were great buddies. Well as much as any kids their age are buddies. A few great moments, a few toy stealing moments, a few face grabbing moments. Ya know, the usual.<br />
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My kids and I took a little trip downtown to see all that Moses Lake had to offer. It didn't take long. But we found this fun stage and my kids performed for me a routine of their own creation titled "Ice Cream."<br />
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This was a later trip to ML when I taped the recital but a great weekend with Courtney and my mom. Love hanging out with these guys, even when we spend the whole time running and doing.<br />
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<br />Kacey Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03332958281193504713noreply@blogger.com0