So yes I do realize that it has been about 2 months since I have posted anything so get off my back! I guess I'll start with the latest and then maybe randomly put in some old news. So the 4th of July we had a full house. Ryan's brothers Aaron, Faron and wife Jenny, Mikey, and Amy's boys (Nathan, Jackson, and Thomas) were visiting and we had a blast!!

Aaron made a giant slip and slide for the boys and they spent several hours playing

Some in action photos

Payton and Nathan enjoying the pool - goggles a must!

Thomas and Jack crashing into eachother

Now of course the real fun came the night of the 4th when we blew things up. Since it is legal here in New Mexico to do so the men purchased enough to keep us entertained for a good 2 hours. However I think the highlight of the night was blowing up Homer Simpson. Ryan had a brilliant idea to give a Homer pinata to Faron and Jennny on their wedding day. Well that was about a year and a half ago so Homer made a visit to our house (courtesy of Mikey who I'm sure was glad to have it out of her garage). I'm not sure how it was decided but the idea was brought up to shove a bunch of fireworks in Homer and blow him up. This could have turned out to be a disaster but it certainly was entertaining.

Here is what Homer looked like to start out with

This was after a large amount of blackcats were set off inside Homers belly which clearly was not exciting enogh so.......

Someone had a brilliant idea to put mortars in Homer - in case you don't know what that is - those are the big ones that shoot way up in the air ..... you know the ooh and aah ones.

OK kids definately don't try this at home

All in all ---- Good times!!

Soccer camp

Welcome to the second annual Soccer Camp!!!

It's so wonderful that we can get a bunch of kids together and let them run around kicking a soccer ball and call it camp. They were all so excited and it was a blast watching them.

The Tragaskes family joined us again as well as William (Katherine's son) and Grandma Mikey

Warm up time

I love these two pictures of Thomas. Mainly because he is so cute but also because in the world of a 4 year old the time between total bliss and total misery is just a few seconds.

Katherine and William

Just a few fun pics

Everyone had a great time and at the end of the camp everyone got a cool UTEP t-shirt

Gone Fishing

You may be wondering why this picture is significant. I just wanted to share with you all the damage a 4 year old can do to his pants. When I took Jack to school that morning he did not have gigantic holes in his pants. When Ryan and the boys picked me up from work on the way to our weekend in Alpine Jack looked like this. A couple weekends ago we were in Alpine visiting Ryan's parents and Grandma Sue. Ryan and Grandpa Bobby took the boys fishing - and they had a blast --until it got too cold.

All in all they caught about a dozen trout which we brough home. Ryan and the boys did a wonderful job at cooking them up on the grill. Yummy Yummy!! I'm so glad I have a husband who has incredible man skills and loves teaching his boys.

Nathan's baptism - fun with cousins

Guess who turned 8? Nathan!!! I realize this was about a month ago but since we all know it takes some time for me to actually post on my blog ....... Congrats Nathan!!
So we went to ShoLow and joined in the festivities. The boys were disappointed we couldn't stay longer - they love to play with their cousins.

Justen and Nathan

I couldn't resist this picture! Grandpa Bobby was helping Payton figure out how to put on a "real tie" before the baptism. Love It!
This was a separate visit but I thought I would show the whole gang: Kylie, Payton, Jackson, Jack, Thomas, and Nathan. We love the Tregaskes family!

Speed Racer

Pinewood Derby Time!!! So Payton's first Pinewood Derby was this past Friday. Apparently Ryan is not a huge fan of this particular event because there always seems to be at least one child left out or crying because their car never won. Valid point. Anywho Payton was still way excited so Ryan put those feelings aside and helped him make the BEST Pinewood Derby Car EVER! Of course with a little help from Grandpa Bobby. We were up in Alpine last weekend to attend Nathan's baptism (pictures coming soon on a different post) and Bobby happened to have all the necessary sawing material as well as the "winning" secrets.

The final product - sort of - at least the design. By the way - have to give props to Faron for the sweet design that we copied from his winning car - how many years ago?
More work with a little help from Dad and Jack
I think this is Payton's favorite pose - look familiar?
I really tried to get a good picture of the track - it's a bit fuzzy but truthfully I think this might be one the best picture I got of it.So the first did a trial run and Payton's car kicked some booty I mean some serious bootay. So after he scorched everyone I turned to Ryan and said - "We need to leave now" You know just in the event that that didn't happen again and we had a dissapointed child. However the Pinewood Derby Gods were smiling on Payton that day because he won EVERY race.

So Payton won 1st place and there was much rejoicing in the land of the Nelson's. And yes most of the father's were huddled around Ryan asking him how they made the car and checking it out.

The dynamic duo kissing the winning trophy

Random Easter pics

Don't you love Easter? Don't you love seeing Easter pictures a month after the fact? Well stop complaining about my lack of bloggin saavy and just enjoy the pictures.
Since I do not have little girls and I can't buy fancy frilly Easter dresses my boys will always have a new Easter tie. Aren't they so handsome?
Seeing what's in the baskets
Coloring eggs the day before
So there you have it - random Easter pics. Someday I will start making regular postings. Some day.

BLUE and GOLD

So here's the first edition - I'm making progress - one event successfully blogged (even if it is a month old)


The tradition in our ward for Blue and Gold is for the fathers and sons to make a cake together to celebrate the Birthday of Cub Scouts. Payton really wanted to make a graham cracker cake in the shape of a castle. Tricky but not impossible.Having a little fun with the graham crackers
Surprisingly when we left for the night we took the cake out of the fridge and it looked like this. So Payton the ever creative child that he is, improvised and strategically placed action figures and a canyon to make it look like the castle had been bombed. It still tasted great but I think the appearance made people shy away from trying it.

And what do you know - Payton placed 2nd. It might have had something to do with the fact that it looked like he actually made the cake and not his mother (like the other cakes). Chalk that one up for experience!