This is Halloween...

As we've said Halloween is one of our favorite holidays. We love decorating the house, picking out and carving pumpkins as a family, and getting our costumes ready. This year was no exception. Breaks between conference sessions was spent hanging ghosts and bats around the house. The weeks that followed were spent planning our costumes. Before we go any further, here's a quick look back at previous years:

2004 Murder Mystery Party: An Affair to Dismember (John: Hannibel Shecter, Kara: the Gypsy Aretha Garlik)

2005 Murder Mystery Party: The Chicago Caper (John: Billy "The Kid" Thrower, Kara: Molly M. Awbsterr) 

 

Special 2005 Bonus Costume: Honest John the Used Car Salesman

2006: Dracula, Witch, Yoda

2007 Wizard of Oz: Dorthy, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion

2008: Frankenstein & Bride and Woody & Buzz Lightyear

This year we thought it would be fun to hearken back to our pre-marriage days. Christmas break 2003 John and his family were at Disneyland celebrating the holidays. We had arranged for Kara to come up and spend a day with John in the park. After riding Star Tours you can do this thing where they take your picture and put your face in a Star Wars scene. Both being Star Wars fans (3 of our dates were seeing the trilogy at the Varsity Theater at BYU!), we loved the idea and the following photo has become legend in both Nelsen and Mangum households. We therefore thought it was time to recreate the historic moment. 

 

2009 Han, Leia, Yoda and a visitor from a distant galaxy...SpongeBob

We had a great time this year! It was our first time taking the boys trick or treating and we really pounded the pavement. We'll have candy for months! It was so much fun because Andrew really understood the concept and Grant was happy to be out and about (and trying to gnaw through snickers wrappers). Click the play button on the bottom of the video to play.

One of the great things we both love about Halloween is the chance it gives you to be scared without being in any real danger. Andrew found this out first-hand!

Under Construction

As you can probably tell, we're undergoing some major revisions here at Nelsens with an 'E.' We hope you'll enjoy the new format! Kara would like everyone to know that while John was updating the site he neglected to save the old info, resulting in the loss of all the old widgets, gadgets, etc. We've tried to frantically remember everything we had, but our memories aren't that good. If you used to be featured on our page and aren't, don't be offended, the deletion was not done on purpose. Please just comment and let us know and you'll be right back where you belong.

Howdy Y'All

After 3 years of living in Texas we finally made it down to the Texas State Fair! It was everything we were expecting and hoping it would be, and more.

Big Tex welcomes us to the fair

We made it down shortly after opening, so it wasn't too hot or too crowded, which was very nice. We started things off by taking the boys to the animal pavilion. Just as we were expecting, the boys were terrified of anything bigger than the little chicks. Grant was so terrified of the llamas that he literally wet his pants (which ran out onto Dad's shirt)!

Grant's few months of life flash before his eyes

Of course, a big part of going to the fair is the fried food. Here's a small sample of some of the things we found:

Believe it or not, the fried butter was the biggest attraction! We didn't try that one, but I can tell you that you haven't lived till you've sampled the divine goodness that is the fried snickers!!! Our favorite though was what was called "Pork Chips." It was fried thin shaved pig. Sooooo tastey!



We capped the day off by letting Andrew ride some of the cheap little carnival rides, which he loved. 

Giddyup little dawggy

I don't know if we'll go back (it was insanely pricey) but all in all we had a great time at the Texas State Fair!

It's here....

Fall is finally here. It was a long, hot, busy, and brutal summer but it's over and we're coming down the 2009 home stretch! As is tradition, Kara and the playgroup went down to the pumpkin patch last week. It has been a cold and rainy Fall so far (uncharacteristic for TX in our experience, but very welcomed!) so it was very muddy and wet, but the boys thoroughly enjoyed it. Here's a few pics from the trip:

October has got to be one of my favorite months. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! We're planning a great party at work (HR is the best place for work parties!) and Kara and I are working on some classic costumes for this year (stay tuned for pics). Just yesterday we visited the local costume shop looking for some of the last missing pieces. :)

I love this costume! The best part is the kid's face!

Not only is it the kick-off to the entire Holiday Season, but we also get colder weather (I'm very much cold-blooded so Yey!), and the baseball playoffs. Being a Cubs you wouldn't think I'd get very excited to see everyone else but the Cubbies play in Oct. but I love baseball and it's all good (except the Yanks). I'm hoping for a Dodgers/Yankees match-up and to see Joe Torre wipe the floore with the Yankees.

And if that wasn't enough, it's my brother's b-day (go Chad) Really, is there anything bad about October? If there is, I can't think of it!

5 Years

Five years ago today John and I were married in the San Diego LDS temple. It was a beautiful day. Has it really already been five years? Has it only been five years? Crazy. I love John and I love our little family. He's patient with me and works so hard for us, and is an absolutely wonderful father. Happy anniversary!

Here are some pictures of us through the years:

Awww, wedding picture.

Honeymoon in the Bahamas (why won't Blogger let me un-bold this?).

Taken in Cape Cod the month before our first anniversary (I've learned that the only time there are pictures of us together is when we're traveling and we have someone to take pictures).

Thanksgiving time in Salt Lake, a few months after our second anniversary.

Mont-Saint-Michel in France, the month before our third anniversary.

Halloween a few months after our fourth anniversary. My parents were visiting, so that's the only reason there's a picture of us together. :)

At a Red Sox-Rangers game last month. It was a fun date, and we had awesome seats...but the Sox lost.

Through the Eyes of Andrew

Andrew got his very own camera last Christmas. It ran out of batteries a few months back and was buried among all his other toys till this past week. We went over to target to get some batteries and transferred the pics onto the computer. Among the literally 100s of pics we've put together our favorites. Enjoy life from Andrew's perspective!

Andrew's Life 1.0

Andrew's Life 2.0

One Fish Two Fish...

The boys starting swimming lessons this month! Andrew loves the water, and has never been afraid to jump in. We're accordingly anxious to have him learn to swim on his own as soon as he can! Grant has never really liked the water, so we were interested to see how he'd do. Take a look at both our little fish.

The Orca shall be mine

Kick, kick, kick!

Bubbles!

Dumb Bell

Going Solo

Air Grant