Mom Comes (Came) to Visit

So when Kelsey was about 2 weeks old, Steve took his business trip to Vietnam and India. Since I still wasn't up and about all that well, my mommy came to take care of me while he was gone. I was SO grateful to have her here and this pictures are grossly overdue. Because Steve took his camera with him to India, all the pictures that we took during that time were on the Nufer camera. So here are a few of our favorites.

Mom made Joshua a cloth ball while she was here. It was her first time making one out of just swimsuit material, but we think it turned out just great! Here Josh is with half of it on his head.

Josh was a good little helper. The day after we stuffed the ball, he found the stuffing in my mom's room, pulled a bunch of it out and took it and the ball to my mom, hoping that he could help some more.

Reading scriptures

Helping Grandma take care of Kelsey

Two-week-old Kelsey wrapped in the blanket that my mommy made for her!
Visiting the greenhouse

Joshua enjoys smelling everything--including grass.

After throwing a bit of a fit, Josh chose not to sit on the bench with us, but on a nearby bench.

Kelsey and me

Mom was here during her 30th wedding anniversary. All I can say is that my parents must love me to be apart during such a big anniversary! I got these flowers for her at dad's request.

Grandma and Josh built lots of lego creations during those wonderful extra hours that I got to sleep!

Grandma with her youngest grand-baby!

Since Steve doesn't know that this picture exists, I didn't have to promise him that I wouldn't post it. Josh REALLY wanted to wear this headband! Isn't he pretty? :D

Reading stories

I sure loved having her here while Steve was gone! It was such a blessing! Thanks mom!

New Hobbies

About a month ago, I attended Enrichment night at the church where I learned how to make earrings. I enjoyed it so much that Steve allowed me to go get some basic materials to play around with. I have since designed several pairs of earrings and had three different people tell me that I should start a business. Here are three of my favorites. What do you think?

Feeding the Ducks

We have quite a few new pictures. We must be crazy about our kids or something...
Josh is really a wonderful big brother!

Several members of our ward gave us some presents when Kelsey was born. We enjoy the "Hungry Caterpillar" that was the size of Kelsey.
Kelsey loves her baths!

I believe this was the first smile caught on film! (June 2) I love how her eyes twinkle!

Josh got some new shirts and we think he looks SO handsome. We've noticed recently that he had a lot of smiling pictures prior to Kelsey's birth and very few after. Correlation?

I think she kind of looks like a little kitten when I hold her like this!

For his second birthday (today) we bought Josh a basketball hoop. We gave it to him early because we were so excited and he hasn't stopped playing with it since.

Several days ago, we started hearing really strange rattling noises when we tried to run on the treadmill. Upon inspection, we found 12 of Josh's cars that had been poked through a small hole in the bottom of the treadmill!

More smiles!
We were "teaching" Kelsey to pray.

This week was Free Week at the Shedd Aquarium. I was able to take the kids and meet up with Mallory Morse on Monday. We waited in a very long line, but enjoyed seeing the turtles (snapping and sea), lizards and lots of teeny fish. It was pretty crowded, but it was fun to get to be with Mal.

On Thursday, Emily and I planned to go, but we got there a little late and the lines were ridiculously long! We didn't figure on waiting 45 minutes in the stroller line or 2 hours in the regular line. Instead, we walked down to the edge of Lake Michigan, fed the ducks, and took pictures. Joshua thought it was the greatest thing to feed those ducks!

Brim was a good little sport, even though he is in a "hate car seat and stroller" stage.

Poor Josh was so exhausted and Emily was laughing her head off trying to keep him awake. It was pretty cute, so we took a picture.

As a part of her birthday, I took Emily out to Qdoba for lunch. We love that Brim and Josh are friends.

Kelsey's Baby Blessing/Memorial Day Weekend

Over the Memorial Day weekend, my family came to visit Chicago! They came in late (very late) on Friday night but they were up very early upon being greeted by an excited 2-year-old.

We all decided to drive downtown and see the sites. It turns out that it was a good thing that we didn't try to go up the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) since it was so cloudy (the building in the middle is the tower.)

All the men--dad, Scott, Eric and Steve
The women: mom, Janece, Ann, Mindy and me
Three of the Monsons--Kelsey slept through a good chunk of this trip

Joshua LOVES his uncles!

Josh was a good little sport--granted, he was carried the majority of the time!

After getting back to our apartment, EVERYONE crashed out. Isn't amazing how many air mattresses can fit in our living room!

Grandpa and Kelsey

Uncle Eric

My dad has always read book to us for as long as I can remember. Its fun for me to listen to all of us quoting little bits and pieces of "Hop on Pop".

On Sunday, Steve was able to bless Kelsey during church. Here is everyone who participated: two of our friends, Shawn Tate and Nick Corotan, Steve, Dad and my brother Scott. We were so grateful for their worthiness and willingness to particpate.

The Steve Monson family
The Monsons and Nufers

My friend, Emily Tate, gave us this darling baby girl outfit that we chose to use as the blessing dress. I'm not sure I've ever seen a baby blessed in anything but white, but we loved our choice.

This is Brimley Tate. We keep joking that he will be our future son-in-law (truth to tell--we'd LOVE to be connected to the Tates!) My dad thought he was being rather forward by having hand on Kelsey's knee! :)

Dad got lots of snuggle time with Kelsey.
Mindy and mom were so very helpful! They took care of Josh and Kelsey so much and we appreciated the use of our hands for the weekend!

Monday morning, we went frisbee golfing. Let me tell you: one of the dirtiest experiences of my life! It had been raining most of the day on Sunday and the woods were so muddy!

Before

After

You see that most people had taken off shoes to wade through the puddles. I chose to keep my shoes on as I wated through knee-deep water to find my badly-thrown frisbee.

We loved having the Nufers up here! We welcome other visitors...hint....