Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Happy Late Birthday Trevor!

Here is my brother and his cute wife. I just love them. We went to Leatherbys for ice cream and fries to celebrate. A family favorite!
Hayden and my mom. He loves his Grandma! Hayden was pretending to eat that giant banana split in the background.

Nice day at the park

Saturday was a pretty nice day. It was still a little cool, but the sun was shining. That was a good enough excuse to head to the park just down the street from us. I can't wait until the park behind us is finished!
Hayden loved going down the slide with his daddy.
Kobe enjoyed the park too. He is growing so fast and that, I don't mind.
Just playing around.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Might as well be brothers

Here the boys are "shoe shopping" in our entryway. Cooper is learning what it's like to walk in Brian's shoes.
Here we are at the doctors office waiting while Mary had a checkup. Cooper can't resist saying "cheeeeesssseeee" when he gets his picture taken.
Team Rivals. When the Scott's came over last weekend, Cooper showed up wearing his Red Socks hat and so we couldn't help but put Hayden in his Yankees hat and snap a couple photos. The shirts were just coincidental.
Here are the happy little guys again.
Cooper has never liked a binky unless it is Hayden's and he is with Hayden. Here the boys are chillin' in one of their favorite places, the window seat. Of course my blinds were being destroyed so I pulled them up so they could see outside.
Doing what boy's do best, watching T.V. and drinking away :)

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day wasn't anything too fancy. I decided this year that it is just an overrated Holiday and that I wouldn't set myself up for disappointment. We spent the night exchanging gifts, eating dinner at Pei Wei with my little brother Trenton and his friend Tanner, and delivering valentines. I decided that if we had one kid with us, what's another couple more. It was a good day.Hayden with his new ball. Last Valentine's Day he got a big one but it got popped by the neighbor boys who replaced it with another one. Kobe has since popped that one and Hayden was very upset. So, here is the new one. We'll see how long this one lasts!
Me with my gifts from Brian. He did a good job. Notice the willow tree figurine. It is a little blond toddler kissing his mom on the lips. Perfect!
Hayden with his Shrek action figures. He found these himself so no gifts were a surprise. Here we were just walking down the clearance isle (my favorite place anywhere I go) at Walmart and he starts yelling, "Ogre, Ogre" and pointing. After I looked for a second, I spotted what he did, a Prince Charming action figure. We don't like him so we got Shrek, Donkey, and Puss (which Hayden can say... ugh!) This Shrek obsession is a bit out of hand. If you know Hayden, you know what I mean. We must watch all three of them numerous times a week, maybe even day! I have to physically remove him from the house if I want him to do other things such as explore, learn, play, interact with humans, etc.
Here is Brian with his load. I tell ya, I find these great clearances. I spent the day looking for more stuff to add up to the $25 limit we had set. I thought, a shirt and something else will be good. Well, when the shirt rang up at $4.99, half of what the clearance tag had on it before, I had a longer shopping trip ahead of me than I planned for. No problemo, I love shopping and spoiling my husband.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Mr. Potato Head

So it has been an awful long time since I posted something new. I have probably become the blog you hurry and click on, see nothing is there, and move on very put out that it's been a week. Well, no more worries. Here we are. Hayden has had a nasty cold which has turned into a sinus infection, and both ears being infected! I AM TIRED OF WINTER! I hope that everyone else is staying healthy.Most mom's would agree that on some days you feel much like this creation of Hayden's... Your parts aren't where they belong, you feel frazzled, and your being pulled in different directions.
He's got eyes in the back of his head. Apparently Mr. Potato Head's parts don't only belong on him, Hayden thinks they fit well on him too.
What a silly boy!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Sleeping Handsoms

This is Sunday afternoon. Brian and Hayden fell asleep right next to each other and almost in the exact same position. This has happened on numerous occasions. You can definitely tell that Hayden is Brian's son!
Hayden fell asleep today right after his bath. He didn't want to get dressed (not like this is unusual), and just wanted his blanket and binkie. At least he had a diaper on. Some battles are just not worth fighting these days!

Friday, February 8, 2008

I figured it out!

So here are the pictures that I couldn't get to rotate. After spending much time that I will never get back, I present them to you...Here is a picture of Brian and Hayden in the Menlo mall.
Here Hayden and I are standing in Time Square
Brian and Hayden in Time Square.
Okay, so normally I wouldn't post such a hideous picture of myself for all to see, but this goes to show you how "bugged" I was by the end of our outing to New York. I was irritated by a few factors. Anyhow, I was told to smile by my husband, and I truly tried. This was the outcome!
Hayden is amazed by airplanes now. He got so excited when he saw one. This is where his favorite place was while we waited a couple hours for our flight. He would sit right on the ledge and fold his arms while watching planes. He even went up to a complete "unexcited" stranger, waved in his face, said "plane" as he pointed to some planes, and was showing him how they fly while making the noise. Uncle Jon would be proud of this!

We're back and proud of it!

So we are finally home and let me tell you something. Salt Lake City was looking pretty good by the time we got here. The east side was an adventure for us. I was glad we went and have always wanted to get a feel for what it was like, just not with a toddler. We finally figured out the best way around. It was to hire the hotel's shuttle driver from across the street. We paid him the same price we would a taxi but got much better and safer service. He did everything for us. He was awesome! We were also finally able to go into New York on Tuesday. It was awesome, but just as frustrating to get around and figure everything out. We took a bus tour so we could see all we wanted to see in a short period of time. We saw basically everything except for the Statue of Liberty, the weather was crappy of course. So another eventful vacation accomplished. As my Brother Jeremy just emailed to say, it's not a "Neilson" vacation unless something goes terribly wrong!

Here's your sign!

Hayden playing at theWoodbridge mall. We went to this mall and the Menlo mall. Their malls are amazing and humongous. Our malls have nothing on them. Hayden got a taste of diversity while playing here.
Here we go around the Merry-Go-Round! See how much fun we're having. Hayden begged to go on this and then screamed when I tried to put him on a horse.
Here is Brian's "single" pancake. Ridiculous! it came out on a pizza stone.
Here we are eating at Harolds. This restaurant was in our hotel. His portions are not even funny. They are insane. A one egg breakfast included a mound of bacon, a bag of hash browns, and what I am pretty sure was an ostrich egg! The sandwich I had ordered a couple days before was basically a whole turkey sitting on a couple measly pieces of bread.

Here we are waiting for the train to New York. Yes, we all got off on the same stop!
Hayden taking a snooze on the train.
This was on our plane ride to New Jersey. Hayden did pretty good considering his age, length, and so on.
Here we are again.
Eating at the "Cheese"cake Factory!

Hayden wearing Mr. Potato Head's glasses.

I will try and get our other cool pictures on here. They won't rotate and it's making me angry.

Monday, February 4, 2008

First Experiences in New Jersey!

Well here we are on another adventurous vacation. Yep, that's right, the Lunds set off for an expedition to New Jersey. So, how would you guess the vacation is going so far? We decided to bring Hayden if that gives you any hints. I thought that a vacation with the two of us would be nice, but since Brian only got to see him one day before we took off again, we brought him along. I would have missed him terribly, but this place is not family friendly.

We started off the trip with a 4 hour flight to Newark, New Jersey. Hayden did really well until the last little stretch. He was tired, hungry, restless, and his ears were bothering him. We struggled with him for about an hour or so before we finally landed. The flight attendants and other passengers were so nice and helpful. The people here are very friendly, for the most part. It's surprising to see the difference in attitudes between here and Salt Lake City. Hayden has been a hit with most people we've met.

After the flight, it was time to catch a train to Edison, where our Hotel was. Catching the train went well, but what happened next was a huge nightmare. They announce that the next stop is Edison. I quickly gather Hayden, the stroller, and a bag and wait as Brian retrieves the other luggage. The train stops and I hop on off. I turn around to wait for Brian only to see the train door shut in his face and start speeding off. There I was, alone in New Jersey, at midnight, with a freezing and screaming 20 month old! We had forgotten to pack his coat so all he had was a hooded sweatshirt. It was sitting at my mom's house, ready to be packed, but never made it! I was shaking. I had no idea in the world what to do next. I became very trusting and desperate. I asked a couple to take me to the other side where a train would come along, hopefully bringing my husband. They told me where to go and sent me on my way. I went up to wait and the stupid waiting room was locked. I sat there with one other guy. Yeah, SCARY! I call my mom in hysterics. I just had to talk to someone. I have to hang up shortly because Hayden was non-stop screaming. I mean, doing the "I can't breathe" screaming. I try all that I could to stop him but he wouldn't. I tried to keep him wrapped in his blanket, but he wouldn't. I sat there for about a half an hour before Brian showed up in a Taxi. I was lucky my phone haden't died on me. It had one bar left. We hop on a Taxi and head to the motel. The guy was nice, but these taxi rides are WILD! Yeah, not to mention that we they have no carseats!

You may think, that I would have locked myself in the room after this. However, I decided to venture out of the room the next day. Brian was working at the Market, so I decided to finally go get us some food. We had eaten Pop Tarts for dinner and breakfast. We only had leftover apple juice from the plane for Hayden. I go downstairs to find the restaraunt. I go in and the place is flooded with typical New Jersey people. I decide on a simple turkey sandwich, juice and milk. The total, $20.00. The sandwich was outrageously huge. Between Hayden and I, we ate maybe an eighth of it. Later, I venture out again down the hallway, to get a bottled water. The guy vacuuming eyed me down the entire time. Not even secretively. He stared as I walked down the hall, as I got my drink, and even watched to see what room I went in. Sure enough, a few seconds later I hear a vacuum right outside my door. Oh brother!

That night we called a taxi to go to the Cheesecake Factory. We walked right in and sat right down. That's right you Salt Lake Succors! No three hour wait like the one in Murray. It was delicious food, but yet another nightmare. As we are eating the delicious bread appetizer, Hayden starts pulling "the face". I let him do his business and then I decide to change him before the meal comes. I realized I had three wipes left. Hayden's job didn't seem complete, so I only used two wipes. During dinner, "the face" comes again. When we finish, I decide to change him again so we can go to the store. As I set him down on the changing table, I notice my arm is a little "moist". GREAT! I pull down his pants and notice it is all over his onesie, pants, leg, etc. Yeah, most of it did not even land in the diaper. What the Heck! I clean up as best as I can with 1, yes, 1 wipe. Not cutting it, I have to use toilet paper. I clean him up as best as I can, but it was not at all efficient enough. I had to use paper towels, soap, and water to clean off the changing station. I put the toilet paper and paper towels in the toilet, but it won't flush. It was an automatic sensor toilet. Usually those things suck everything down in sight when you least expect it, but it wouldn't budge. I leave the restroom a little frazzled and tell Brian we need to go. The stench of poop was a little overwhelming. We had to stop at a grocery store before we went back to the hotel because it costs about $20 to go 3 miles. We walk across the street to Target and quickly do our shopping. By this time, Hayden must have done it again. It was down his leg again, on his pants, and even his socks! We hurry and call a cab. They say he will be about 10 minutes. No, No, we waited about an hour with a screaming toddler again! Finally, the creepiest man I have ever encountered, shows up. He is smoking in the car. My nerves were just building up inside. I climb on in and roll down the window. That was so inconsiderate of him. If it was just Brian and I, I would have been irritated, but okay. But when a baby is in the car, come on! Brian decides to give the address, not the hotel name, to try and convince him that we are not tourists. The driver had serious issues. He was so rude. Here is a small conversation Brian and him had:

Driver: "Where are you going?"
Brian: gives the address
Driver: "What's the best way to get there?"
Brian: "take the turnpike"
Driver: "TURNPIKE?"
Brian: "That's what google map said"
Driver: sighs.

The driver did insist on Hayden being buckled in. Oh yeah, like that is going to do any good. Instead, he just screamed and screamed and screamed. I thought the driver was going to kill us. He let out the loudest, most obvious sigh of disgust ever. Dude, if you can smoke with my son in the backseat, then deal with the screaming! No lie, this guy drove maybe 15 miles per hour the whole way home. He was either high or drunk. Non the less, the safest drive we had yet in a taxi. When we get closer he asks, "Do you know where it is?" It was not worth saving a couple dollars. "Yes", I said. "It is the Holiday Inn".

I keep reminding Brian that I would have been okay leaving Hayden with my parents, but oh well. He says, "why reopen old wounds?" I say, "because they are still in the making!"

I guess I have accomplished what I came here to do. I can at least say I have been to New Jersey. I will keep you updated on the rest of our adventure.