Last weekend, we took a day trip to St. Augustine. We had a blast! It is so neat to visit where a lot of Florida's history began. We visited the light house and then went to the Fort for a tour. It was so cold and it kept sprinkling, but we had a lot of fun despite the weather. Here are some photo's from our great day.
Look how cute our little "Gator Girl" is!! We went to the "Manatee Festival" today and had a great time. There was a vendor there that makes pillow case dresses and they are adorable! I found this Gator dress and it came with bloomers and the hairbows to match. Love it!! GOOOOO GATORSSSSSSS!!!!!!
Okay, it has been SOOO cold here in sunny Florida! It was 22 degrees for the past 2 nights here at our house! Can you believe it? In fact, our well froze and we didn't have water in the mornings for 2 days! Tim had to scrape my windshield and windows before I could drive to work! You can't tell ME it doesn't get cold in Florida, cuz we are freezing our butt's off! Here's the proof!
For New Year's...well, the Saturday after New Year's, we had the grand opportunity to go to Disney's Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom for FREE!! One of our good friends works for Disney, so she got us in with "park hopper passes" which means, we got to go to any of the 4 parks all day long! So, we chose Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom.
We had such a blast!! It was Baylee's first time, Brayden's 2nd time, Tim's 3rd time and my One Millionth time going to Disney. We had the kids close their eyes when we got close to Disney property so that they wouldn't know where we were going. All they knew was we were going somewhere "special". They were SOOO excited to open their eyes and see that we were at Animal Kingdom. Now, this was ALL of our first time going to Animal Kingdom and it was the coolest park! We went on an African Safari and saw some really neat animals. We had an Ostrich that chased our Safari vehicle and he tried to reach out and peck a passenger! It was quite hilarious! We saw West Nile Crocs that were 16 - 20 feet long! It was so scary and they were about 10 feet from us!
At lunch time, we left Animal Kingdom and headed over to the Magic Kingdom. Baylee was so excited to see Cinderella's castle and to see all of the Disney characters that she recognized from movies. Brayden & Baylee were able to have some of the characters sign their autograph books, which was one of the highlights of their day! They had different parades throughout the day which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. We stayed late to watch the fireworks and they were amazing! They lite the castle up with so many different colors and had icicle lights over it and it was gorgeous! We had so much fun and I'm so thankful that our friend Tonya allowed us to have such a wonderful day together as a family with her perks at Disney! Thanks Tonya!!
We've had a wonderful December! We started by going to see Santa. The kids told him what they'd like to have and he certainly didn't disappoint!
We went to Brayden's first Cub Scouts pack meeting and he received his first award. Tim and our friend Luis picked Brayden up and flipped him up-side-down so that I could pin his badge on him. Brayden was so proud to get his first badge and we were very proud of him for his accomplishments.
We had a wedding in our family. My cousin, Landon, married his sweetheart, Jessica, in the Orlando Temple. They had a beautiful reception at Uncle Glen's home. It was so much fun to see friends and family that I hadn't seen in quite a while. 
On Christmas Eve, we all went to Uncle Glen's and had our annual Christmas Eve party! There were lots of people, both family and friends, lots of food and lots of gifts. We sang, played the piano, read about Christ's birth in the scriptures and told everyone what we were grateful for. It was wonderful to see my cousins that I hadn't seen in a while and to spend time together as a family.
Christmas morning was fun and filled with surprises! We all received wonderful gifts and spent the day at Noni & Papa's house. It was a fun day and we were grateful for all the blessings we received.
I hope each and everyone of you had a wonderful Christmas and received all the blessings that you deserve. I hope that we will all have a awesome New Year's and accomplish all of our goals for 2009!
Love,
Jessica
Okay, so I'm a total slacker when it comes to blogging! We've been so busy lately, with Thanksgiving, work, school and of course the pain in my neck (literally)!!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch with my Mom & Dad. They brought back lots of presents from their trip to Tennessee...where they froze their tails off in 27 degree weather..while we were hot hot hot here in sunny Florida! By Thanksgiving night, after Mom & Dad went home, we were bored...so, we went out to dinner to Chevy's (our favorite Mexican restaurant) and then took the kid's put-put golfing on I-drive. We had so much fun...it was a little chilly out that night which made it even more enjoyable!
Yep, we went to Sea World again this weekend! We LOVE having our annual passes. We always have so much fun! This time, we went through the "Polar Express Experience" and it was so cool! It was like you were a part of the movie and riding in the train! And, we got to play ball with the dolphins...yep, I mean play real ball! Did you know they could do that? I didn't and I've been to Sea World a million times. Here are some photo's from our day.
As we approach the holiday's, Tim and I have been thinking of how grateful we are to have such wonderful friends, and we are especially grateful for the loved ones that we share our lives with.
I'm going to try harder each and everyday to recognize the good things that I am blessed with in my life and not worry about things that aren't in my control. I love ALL of my family so much (and there's a bunch of us!) and it is my sincere hope that one day, Tim will find peace with his family. I know that no one is perfect (especially me) and we are all struggling to live our lives as best we can.
Sometimes we are so concerned about our loved ones and our own feelings, that we make mistakes in the process of trying to help. I know that I have very strong feelings about Tim's family (both good & bad) and I want things to be better for all of us. I'm tired of fighting for the last 8 years. If that makes me weak, then so be it. I just don't want to feel heartbroken any longer and so I have to let it all go and see what happens. I know that somewhere in Tim's heart, he desperately loves his family and wants to be closer to them. But, it's a 2 way street and he is not the type of person to give his heart and not receive the love he deserves in return. Where much is given, much is required. If nothing else, I am thankful that Tim was born on this earth and he wouldn't be here without his parent's. So, for that I am thankful.
Our family has been so blessed and I know that we will receive more blessings if we will recognize the Lord's hand in all of the goodness in our lives. I pray that each of you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that we can all try a little harder to just be better and stop and think about what we're doing, before we do it...no matter what.
Yesterday was Brayden's Baptism. Everything turned out so well and we had a blast! We had most of our family there and a few friends, which made Brayden's day so special! Tim baptized and confirmed Brayden a Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We are so very proud of him and his choice to choose the right and be an awesome example to everyone he knows. We love Brayden so much and know how blessed we are to have him as our son. We hope you enjoy the pictures that captured a few moments on Brayden's special day!
I can't believe our little boy is now 8! November 3, 2000 was the 2nd happiest day of our lives...the day Brayden William Nelson was born. He was such a beautiful and tiny baby...only weighing in at 4lbs 14oz and 18 inches long. Brayden was born 5 weeks early and was the smallest baby I had ever held. He was so tiny until he stayed in premie clothes until he was 4 months old. He had blue eyes and the little bit of hair he had was dark brown. He loved to grunt when he was sleeping..something that really freaked me and Noni out on several occassions, until we learned that it was just Brayden's way of talking in his sleep. He was the most beautiful baby I had ever laid eyes on and I loved him so very much. We had numerous nick-names for him when he was a baby....Bubba, Bubbalicious, Peanut, Doodle-buggy and the list just keeps going. Brayden is one of the smartest kid's I know and he has a genuine love for the gospel and for our Heavenly Father. He is such a special part of our family and we love him so much!
Brayden LOVES his Sony PSP and so for his birthday, we bought him a couple games and an accessorie for his PSP. He was SO excited to see what he got!
Brayden is so excited to be Baptized! His baptism will be this Sunday and we are so happy for him! We are going to have a wonderful baptism and party for him and I can't wait!! Check back next week to see the photos from his baptism.
We Love You Brayden!!
