Weekend with the Cheney's

Meghann, Shea and their two girls Marlee and Brooke moved to Gig Harbor at the end of May and we can't get enough of them! We became good friends in St. Louis while Taylor was trying out the P.H.d program and Shea was getting his masters at SLU. We could hardly believe that they would end up here for Shea's internship.  We get them for a good year--yay!!

We had them over for a weekend adventure at our house.  Shea made this amazing strawberry ice-cream! And we even got a surprise sales lady at our house vacuuming our couch--oh man!!  Let's just say we'll never let Taylor live it down that he invited this lady into our house. He had unknowingly let her in to come show us her vacuum... little did he know what he was getting us into.  The sales lady was not so nice and Taylor pretty much had to kick her out the door, then she smoked on our driveway, leaving her cigarette buds.  The rest of the evening was super fun though!  We played some Kinect games on the XBOX and ate delicious home made ice cream.

On Saturday morning we went for a hike on Tiger Mountain. Nelli asked where the tiger was.  After explaining that there was no tiger, she took off running down the trail. Nelli ran most of the hike and Marlee stopped to look at every rock, bug and stick.  :) those girls are too funny!

Nelli holding baby Brookie.

Our magical ice cream and home made waffle cone -- yum!

Dinner with The Leslies

My sister, Miriam, and her family came out to Seattle for the weekend and met up with us for dinner at Serious Pie.  Miriam (Aunt Mimi) came to catch up with a good friend, Danielle, and do a little interior decorating with her on her new apartment.  

We really enjoy spending time with them (wish Mackey, their oldest son, was there)! 

Their little Ali is adorable!

Lake Wilderness Arboretum

These faces kill me!

Aunt Siri came out to our side of the city to hang out with us at the Arboretum and check out our new house. Ali, Thayne and Lydia came over to play too.  Siri brought her new camera lens and had took some pretty awesome pictures of the flowers and the kids.

Nelli and Thayne had a blast exploring all the paths, bridges and rocks of course.

Nelli and Thayne are going through a rock fascination phase...

Beautiful!

This bridge made me super nervous! There were big gaps in-between the concrete steps. At one point Nelli missed the step and her foot went right in the pond and her sandal even got stuck under the step---ahhh! She was fine and the kids loved crossing it back and forth. I had Nelli hold my hand when she went. I think I'm more sensitive to dangers when I'm pregnant.

They went up and down these stone steps at least 10 times.

Standing on a big tree stump. "I'm bigger than you, mommy."

Mother's Day

Taylor made us a yummy pasta dinner and Nelli made me a Mother's Day card in nursery.  I just love these two!!

I love being Nelli's mom more than I can say and I can't wait to meet this little girl I'm carrying.  It's amazing to me how much I love little sister already. She's so active lately and getting big enough that I feel her kicking around and doing summersaults in there almost every time I sit down.  Motherhood takes so many sacrifices and lately it's been quite the challenge to feel like my brain is mush and I have days where I feel so tired.  I find that when I get on my knees, I always get up feeling stronger and more determined to give it the best I have.  I know the Lord is aware of my sacrifice and wants to help me how He can.  I see his help to keep things together and I find the strength I need to do the everyday important things, like love and take care of my family.  Taylor has been a great support!  He is there to listen and give ideas when I need it and also a good kick in the pants when I need it ( you know what I mean, he's good at getting me to see how good I am doing and stop feeling like a failure).

I remember when Nelli was just a few months old and thinking that eventually we might be ready for another child.  I kept thinking, " I know I want more that one child, but why would I go through all of that again?"   Honestly, the second time around with pregnancy isn't so bad.  I know now basically what to expect and that it doesn't last forever.  Well, I prayed about my question of what I could learn from pregnancy and childbirth and I felt a sweet answer that it was an opportunity to come to understand the Savior's sacrifice and love for us. So, throughout this pregnancy I have drawn on the Savior's help several times and feel that I understand Him better now than I did six months ago. What a beautiful opportunity He has given me.

Curious Nelli

Our conversation went like this on the way home from taking Taylor to the bus:

Nelli: "I see trees. Were do they come from?"

Me: "Jesus made them."

Nelli: "Oh, where is Jesus?"

Me: "I don't know, somewhere helping people. We decided to come to earth where we usually don't see Him."

Nelli:  "Oh... I find Him. I call Him and Daddy, Ok."

Me: "Ok, sounds good =)."


Nelli's favorite things to ask:

• "Where we goning (going)?"
• "Where's my Dad?"
• "How you dooning  (doing), Mom?"
• "What you dooning (doing), Mom?"
• "What we dooning (doing) next?"

Her favorite game: 

• Hide-and-seek -- hands-down :)
• Throughout the day she'll come up to me and say, " I want you to hide!"

Her favorite things to tell me:

• "I'm Nelli Jane and I'm 2. You're Mommy and you're twirty-six (26)."

She still loves to sing and sings a lot throughout the day.

She's my awesome sleeper and goes down at night so easy.  We also take naps during the day..ahhh! best thing ever. Mine is usually a 20 min power nap and then I get up and get things done while she's sleeping, but sometimes I take the full 2 hour nap with her. I just love this girl!  I'm super excited to have 2 little girls in my life!

Cinco de Mayo 8K

Go Taylor! The twins decided to do another race in Snoqualamie. They ended up running together until the end, when Tyler sprinted ahead the last 60 ft.

Tay said that his lungs and heart felt great and ready to pick it up the whole time, but he had to hold himself back because his legs and feet couldn't keep up.  It makes sense -- he's been doing a lot of biking lately, including a 28 mile ride to work two days a week. I think running takes different muscles and he didn't train much.

This is what the kids were up to during the race:

Playing in the dirt.

And running... They ran at least a quarter of a mile.  Nelli really wanted to be a racer and loved booking it through the finish line, Thayne followed. We may have another runner in the family =)