Halloween Weekend

This year for Halloween we celebrated by first stopping by my Mom's work for their Halloween party on Friday. We enjoyed some fun music and treats. Later that afternoon we went to Kyle's work to trick or treat and then to our ward trunk or treat on Saturday. I'm not sure if Rylan noticed he was dressed up in a costume. I tried to show him in the mirror that he was a monkey. He just smiled and walked off though. So he may not have known why he was getting all of the attention and smiles, but he sure loved it! Here are a few photos of our Halloween weekend.

Rylan was a monkey!




Grabbing some candy!




Not the best picture to see her full costume, but Addilyn was a pumpkin!


Kyle dressed up as a Pimpdaddy (bling, bling)! :)


Rylan looking in his candy bag after trunk or treating.


Family Picture of Halloween 2010


Addilyn is starting to sit up (with support of course). She's holding her head up all on her own though. What a sweet smile!


I told Rylan to smile and this is what he gave me. Such a goober!

October Fun!

We thought in celebration of fall and the month of October, we would head down to Thanksgiving Point to Cornbelly's. This place would be so awesome if Rylan was just a little older, but I think he definitely had some fun. They had bouncers, multiple playgrounds, kid haunted houses (inflated ones), a big corn maze and a little kiddie one, hay rides, pumpkin toss, pig races, and so much more!

Rylan inside this miniature tunnel made out of hay barrels (a little unsure).


Sitting inside a corn pit- like a huge sand box but instead of sand, filled with corn! Way cool!


Addilyn of course slept through the entire thing. Maybe next year! :)


We do have a ton of pictures of all that we did, but this will be a long post already so I kept it short. It was a lot of fun and I think a lot for Rylan to take in. He was asleep before we even got to the interstate (a 3 minute drive).


The following week we went to a pumpkin patch and picked out our pumpkins to take home and carve.






Rylan loved the baby pumpkins!


We couldn't leave without one...


And once again Addilyn slept through the entire thing! :)


Rylan did pretty well as we carved the pumpkins. He loved cleaning it out, but he also enjoyed putting all the seeds and goo back into the pumpkin as well.


By the time we had finished carving he was covered in pumpkin goo and seeds, but he was happy :) He was seriously entertained with this stuff for about 40 minutes (which is awesome for this kid).


Other new things this month: Kyle started school! He's got a pretty busy schedule, but he's enjoying it so far.

Addilyn, she's still eating.... and sleeping... and full of smiles when she's awake. Here's a picture of Kyle (Daddy) feeding her.


Rylan is so much fun. It's amazing to me how much energy he has. This boy just doesn't stop! His new favorite these past few days have been bubbles. I've shown them to him before, but he just sat and watched them fall. Now he actually tries to touch them. He laughs and laughs. It's pretty cute. He also loves to be chased. This was a picture of me taking pictures of him as I was chasing him around the table trying to catch him. He's such a sweetheart!


He loves to "wrestle" with Daddy on the floor too. He giggles the entire time and is so happy!


My grandparents from Virginia came to visit for the past two weeks. It was wonderful and special to be able to spend so much time with them! They got to meet Rylan and Addilyn for the first time!

Addilyn and Great Grandma!


Four Generation Picture


My brother Eric got married this past weekend in the Salt Lake Temple. It was great to see him again and meet his Ashley.

The happy newlyweds!


Most recent (today)... This is Rylan checking out snow for the first time. He had a huge smile on his face and touched it a few times. That was about it though. :) I think I was more excited then he was!


We also went to Gardner Village this past month and took a bunch of fun family photos around there. Our friend who took them still has them, so I'll probably be posting those in November. This month has been super busy with family in town and all the fun festivities. It's not even over yet. Halloween is this weekend! So definitely more cute pictures to come! :)

Picture Updates

WARNING: Lot's of Pictures!! :) I decided to let the pictures explain what we've been up to these past few weeks!

Addilyn's baby blessing was on September 19th....


It meant so much to have all of our family and friends there!


That same weekend we went to a Luau at my Mom's work.


We'll start with Rylan's update first. He is at such a fun age! I love that I get to spend 24/7 with this little guy!



He found his way into a box full of packaging peanuts. When I asked him what he was doing...this was his reaction!


I had just taken dinner out of the oven and I put the oven mit back into the drawer. A few minutes later, this is what I find...

I don't even know how he got the mit out of the drawer in the first place, but he put it on his arm and walked over to the oven touching it with the mit. Smart little boy copying Mommy!

I know he looks sad in this picture, but it's right before nap time so I think its more of a tired look. Here's Rylan chillin' on the bed showing off his double chin! :)


He loves to walk around the house with Daddy's work badge around his neck...


Rylan loves Lemons! He puckers at the first bite a little, but then he just goes to town on them!




This is a picture after church one Sunday. Weird to think he'll be big enough someday to fill a suit coat that big.

Handsome just like his Daddy!

Addilyn is almost 2 months old now. She has been so fun these past two weeks! She still loves to sleep, but now she's awake for longer periods of time. I have a feeling she's going to be a chatter box as she grows up. She coos and aahs, and makes all sorts of sounds! She's such a sweetheart and smiles all the time too!

Chillin' in her bouncer...


She sure loves to sleep. Even after unwrapping her she still tries to curl up and stay asleep.


Here's a shot of Addilyn's cute little smile!





This isn't the best of Addilyn (not sure what kind of face that is), but I had to get a picture of the two together. Rylan was so excited to be so close to her. Here is Rylan at 14 months and Addilyn at 2 months...exactly a year and a week apart. Crazy at times, but so much fun! :0


Life is good...we stay pretty busy throughout the day! I'm trying to soak it all up...it feels like they're already growing up so fast!

Addilyn - One Month Old!

Addilyn is now one month old. She still sleeps a lot, but is starting to stay awake more often and long enough to interact with. She's beginning to make those adorable coo and aah sounds while she's looking around the room.

We're slowly getting back to a somewhat normal routine after having a newborn and adding another little one to the family. Sunday will be Addilyn's baby blessing...so more to come soon!

A majority of the pictures I have of her, she's sleeping in... but here's an updated photo of her at one month old!

Addilyn Caroline Nielsen

Addilyn was born August 13th. It's been a little over a week in a half now. The days are just flying by. I thought it was a little ironic that in my last post about Rylan's birthday, I ended it with saying I was still pregnant and that I was so ready for her to come.... I posted that at 8:51pm and then started having contractions early the next morning. She was born at 1:26pm that day. She was 7lbs 6 oz and 19 inches long. Rylan was the exact same length, but 7lbs 3oz...Weird how close they were!

After checking into the hospital, she was born about 2 hours later. It was a very fast delivery and a completely different experience then with Rylan's birth. I'm feeling great and it's only been a little over a week. Addilyn is doing very well too. She is such a good baby. She sleeps all the time which makes it easier to still tend to Rylan. Knock on wood- hopefully she'll continue to be a little angel! Here are a few pictures from the hospital and the first week being home.






First family picture with both kiddos!


This is what she looks like 90% of the day. Eyes closed... sound asleep!


Look at those eyes!


I will admit, I was nervous on how Rylan would interact with her. He has been doing surprisingly well though. He gets so excited when he firsts sees her and starts babbling in this high pitched tone. It's pretty cute... we are still working on how to be "soft" with her. He gets a little too excited sometimes and slaps or grabs at her. He loves to take off her socks (you can kind of see it in this picture).....


He also likes to help push Addilyn in the swing... if he only knew the purpose of what this kind of swing does (pushes on it's own), but Rylan gets a kick out of pushing her.


My mom helping Rylan give her baby sister a hug... I love her face, it's so squished. What a big, sweet hug Rylan!


We've been hanging out at home for the most part. I haven't attempted to go anywhere by myself with the two of them yet. Maybe next week sometime. :) For now I stay busy enough between the two of them! I'm having a lot of fun though. It's surprisingly not what I expected it to be like. Life is good!