1000 I'm sorries

We apologize for our last post, it was boring. We really did have a great time in St. Louis. The best part was getting to meet our nephew for the first time. He is a fun little guy. The last post was made right after vacation when we were still wondering where our vacation had gone.

Here are some more pictures from our Christmas vacation. Sorry they are a little late.

Santa and his elves (can you pick out Jessica?)

This is my sister messing around while geocaching. (she is still single)

Of course we did some woodwork while we were there.

Here is the finished product. Jessica and I made the boxes out of a piece of wood we found in the backyard.

This is our MAN DINNER. The men made pheasant, dove, and quail. Everyone was required to wear camo or blaze orange.

Jessica testing out the babies new camo doll.

Jessica thought it would be funny to give E-Man a mustache and eyebrows, I think he looks like MARIO. see the real story here: http://ericandheathernelson.blogspot.com/2008/01/look-what-tio-did.html

Christmas in St. Louis Part I

This year we spent Christmas in St. Louis with Lance's family. Each day was filled with an adventure. The day before Christmas we headed down to Union Station to look at the holiday decorations and enjoy a little shopping. One of the highlights of the trip was watching the fudge show. There is a fudge shop inside Union Station that puts on an entertaining show about the process of making fudge. They also give out free samples at the end of the show, thats probably why it was my favorite part of the trip.

My Growing Belly

This was taken over Thanksgiving, so my belly has grown since then. I'll have some better pictures to show you after Christmas!

Belly Shots

So I've had a lot of requests for some belly shots. I pretty much look like this but with a prettier face.

Lunchbox Mystery

So I had the most disturbing thing happen to me at work today. For those of you that don't know I work in a research lab. Food is strictly prohibited in our lab. There is a file cabinet outside the door of our lab. The four of us that work in the lab put our snacks and sometimes lunches there. This morning Lance made me a wonderful lunch with goldfish, string cheese, and many more exciting snacks. I put the lunchbox in my usual spot on the file cabinet. Around 11am I went to the bathroom and when I came back (less than 5 minutes later) my lunchbox had disappeared! Also stolen was a coffee mug with old coffee in it and our white board. Can you imagine what kind of person would steal a pregnant lady's lunch? So my boss and I walked around our floor asking if anyone knew what had happened. No one saw anything, which is also weird considering our floor rarely gets visitors. There is a total of 13 of us on the floor. Our lab of 4, 3 clinical lab scientists, 4 adminstrators, and 2 pathologists. Medical students will occasionally come to our floor for a class or seminar, but its finals week. Investigation is still taking place. I will let you know what I find. My number one suspect the old cranky pathologist.

Jess is funny

I have come to learn that marriage is all about compromises. Here is the conversation that led to this picture.

Jess: Lance lets learn sign language for the baby. Sister Johnson is teaching a class at church.
Lance: Thats not going to happen.
Jess: Ah come on it will be fun!
Lance: Fun for who?
Jess: Dang it.....PLEASE!!!!

This is where the negociating begins.

Jess: I will make you cookies?
Lance: You just finished making cookies.
Jess: Yeah but I will give them ALL to you.
Lance: I already had like 4, I think I am good
Lance: I will however learn some sign language if you let me draw a mustache on you.
Jess: What? No way
Lance: Final offer
Jess: Fine

End of negociations-A win win situation. That is what marriage is all about.

A Trip to Vegas

When my mom was visiting we took her up to Vegas for a Lax Tournament. It was fun to see Trevor and Taylor. Our cousin Anthony and Lance's sister Brooke were able to come down too, also fun. We had great weather for a fun day of lacrosse. The boys played great and walked away as Best of the West Champs. After the tournament we went and explored Vegas. It was a fast weekend. The next morning we packed up and headed to the Hoover Dam looking for the all spark before going home. I guess the Autobots beat us to it.

The Ultrasound

One of the highlights of my mom's stay with us was the trip to the Radiology Dept. We had our first ultrasound done. It really is remarkable what we are capable of doing with technology. It was so fun to see our little baby moving around. We also were able to find out the sex of the baby. We are having a little girl! We were worried we wouldn't be able to tell because she was not being very cooperative at first. I already know she is going to be like her Dad.......stubborn. They already have developed a father-daughter relationship. Lance was sure she was giving us the ASL sign for father either that or she was just scratching her forehead. We are so excited for our little baby girl. She is strong and healthy and extremely active. Sorry the pictures aren't the best quality but thats what we got for now.

The Boat Launch

My parent's view of the San Diego fires as they flew in for a visit.

A few good pictures of the growing belly.

So it's been awhile since I've last updated. We've managed to keep ourselves pretty busy. After Lance returned from his hunting trip we went down to San Diego to meet up with my parents. They were in town for a boat launch. We were afraid they wouldn't be able to come because of all the fires, but luckily they were able to come with just a few adjustments in the weekend's schedule. We met up with them and an intimate group involved with the construction and launch of the boat for dinner. The next day we headed to the ship yard for the ceremony. The formal ceremony had been canceled but the ship had to go out that day due to the tide schedule. Most of the people that had come for the ceremony were glad it wasn't as formal. They still had the champagne sprayed and bottle cracked on the ship. I wish I could give you a good description of the process involved in order to successfully launch the boat, but really you just have to see it for yourself or have someone more technically aware explain it for you. It really is an incredible site to see this massive piece of steel slide gracefully into the water. After the launch my mom, Lance, and I were given a tour of the ship yard. Very fascinating! Unfortunately my dad had to head back to VA so that was the end of our visit with him, but it was only the beginning of our visit with my mom. I promise more updates to come!

Safety first! The ship yard workers get around using these company vehicles. Pretty nice huh!

Pheasant Hunting

My dad thru his work gets to go hunting every once in a while, and sometimes I get to tag along. Last weekend we went pheasant hunting in South Dakota. It was great!! The company that pays for the trip calls them "Business Trips". I am always more than happy to go on these "Business Trips" as we get pampered beyond belief. The whole weekend consists of hunting, eating, and football. I don't think life gets ANY better than that.As always it was another great hunt, as we got our limit both days. Thanks Pops.

Happy Belated Birthday!

The same weekend we went to the Strong Man Comp we celebrated Stasy's birthday! It was so fun to have Whitney in town too. We all meet at the Strong Man Comp and then went out to celebrate at BJ's and a roller rink. I have known Stasy for 7 years now and every year she always chooses to go roller skating on her birthday. This year really made me miss all the fun times I had in Provo with my girl friends. It also made me realize how old we are. Besides the parents that came along with their 8 year old children, we were the oldest crowd there. It was still a lot of fun. Then I went with Stasy and Whitney for a girls slumber party! I haven't done that in a while. Good times. Thanks Stasy for getting us out roller skating and thanks Whitney for having a sleep over! I feel like a freshman in college again! I wish I could have been with the girls the following weekend for Whitney's 26th B-day celebration, I heard it was a lot of fun too. So happy birthday again to Stasy and Whitney!

Pacific Crest Trail

A few weekends ago Jessica and I were able to escape city life and go camping for the weekend. It was fun to get away, and it was really the first chance we have had to see the California mountains. I think Jessica and I are still partial to what Utah and Colorado have to offer. We did car camping, because the 4runner makes an almost perfect bed. In the morning we got up early and did a short stretch of the pacific coast trail. In one of the pictures you will notice we just happened to pick a weekend when a HUGE fire was burning thousands of acres. We had a great time.

Worlds Strongest Man Competition

About a month ago I found out they would be holding the Worlds Strongest Man Competition in Anaheim. For those of you who don't know it is the crazy competition you see on ESPN where they lift cars and stuff. So on Saturday Jessica and I headed down to see the fire engine pull, and I have to say it was AWESOME. The competitors are HUGE most of them are 6'2-6'7, and weight any where from 290-340. It was awesome to see them try to pull a 20 ton fire truck 25 meters. Anyways it was definately one of the highlights of my year, I have grown up watching the competitions, so it was neat to finally attend one. Everyone will have to look for us in December when they air the competition, we got there early, so we had front row seats.










This is the truck they pulled, they had 75 seconds to pull it 25 meters. The fastest time was around 41 seconds.

















This is my favorite strong man, his name is Mariusz Pudzianowski, he is from Poland is a 3 time winner. He will probably win the 2007 title as well. He is trying to be the winningest competitor ever. He is a BEAST!!! All of the guys are big, but he is ripped, you can't tell, but he has a 6 pack.










This is Quincy's favorite strong man, His name is Chuck McHarryback, his nickname is "Cutoffs" for obvious reasons.








After the event all of the guys were just walking around, this might be the GREATEST picture I EVER take, it is going above our bed. I mean how awesome is that. Jess is flexing with Magnus Samuelsson 1998 strongman. He has been in the worlds strongest man a record 10 straight years, so pretty much he is a legend.

The Heartbeat

Thanks everyone for all the sweet comments on our last post. I'm glad no one made fun of my new awareness for food, o.k. who are we kidding that's not a new characterisitc of mine. I just love food! Well Thursday was a fun day for us. Lance came to the doctor's appointment with me to hear the baby's heart beat. It just made this experience a little more real. I still can't believe we have a little person joining our family in March. The baby is due on Taylor's birthday, March 22nd. We will keep you all posted throughout the pregnancy.

Lay off me I am starving!!!

Some of Jessica's pregnant traits have become apparent lately. She has suddenly got a new found appreciation for fine food, ok scratch that, make that ANY food. Trips around town now include Jessica noticing every restaurant special, and every billboard with food on it and saying "that looks sooooo good". Here are a few examples.

BYU Football Game :

Highlights:

For Lance: Being in the Rose Bowl

For Jessica: The Nachos at half time

Low Points:

Lance: BYU losing the game

Jessica: The Nachos not filling her up, and wishing she would have gotten the Kielbasa.

Our Hiking Trip:

Highlight:

Lance: Being in the outdoors

Jessica: Subway sandwiches

Low Points:

Lance: Being out of shape, and it being about 1,000 degrees

Jessica: Lance taking a small bite of her footlong subway sandwich

Disclaimer- Jessica was aware of this post, and in thinks her new condition is funny. Just so you know she looks great, and you can't even tell she is pregnant. She also wanted me to mention she had a great time hiking, and going to the BYU game.

The Rose Bowl!!!!

Last weekend Jessica and I had a chance to check out the Cougs as they took on UCLA in the Rose Bowl. I have to admit it was awesome to be able to attend the game in such a historic arena. We had a great time, BYU fans turned out in full force. Of the 73,000 fans I would guess that about 20,000-30,000 of them were BYU fans. It was great. We had great seats 16th row behind the endzone. Although we ended up losing 27-17 at least we made it a game. Overall we had a great time, we even enjoyed the drunk idiot UCLA fans that we were surrounded by. I love visiting stadiums.

Lance on Kitchen Duty

At our house Lance is in charge of washing dishes. The other night I came into the kitchen to find this mess. No wonder it takes him so long to clean up the kitchen.

Old Man Skills

The masses have spoken, and they would like to see more of my old man skills. Ok just kidding no one asked for it, but you are getting it, and you will LIKE IT. I will admit that I have been teased for sharing a pastime with 70 and 80 year old men. Since this teasing I have been utterly ashamed to post. But last night I realized that I have nothing to be ashamed of, many family members have strange talents/hobbies/collections such as:

Quincy Beal: Rythmic Gymnastics

Chris Ericson: Doll making, and shoe decorating

Brandon Tolman: Slacklining/Circus Tricks

Aaron Tolman: Magic Cards

Bruce : Needlepoint

Marlon Mangus: Vacuuming

Taylor Redd: Fantasy Ice Dancing

Phil Sander: Neil Diamond Impersonator (Costumes and all)

Nick Santilli: The Goat Whisperer

I could go on but I will not. I did not make this list to tease or taunt anyone. It is more to applaud your talents. I wish you all the best in your endeavors.

These are some pens I made on the lathe for the Dads, and Grandpas for fathers day. The first pen was actually made out of a corn cob. The Sign is for my grandmas house. It seems like she always has company.

More Fun in VA

I stayed a few days after my Dad's birthday weekend adventure and just hung around with the family. It was fun to see Natalie and Porter while I was there too. I love Porter's expression in this second picture. I think he is trying to say, "Come on already are we gonna take this picture or what?" I don't know what do you think he is trying to say?

Well we went to the pool a couple times, played tennis, did some shopping, watched movies at home, and played games. It was a very fun trip. The craziest thing is seeing how grown up Dillon and Becca are. I know I just saw them a few months ago, but I swear they are growing up soooo fast. Well I loved my time with them and can't wait until the next time we all get to hang out together.

A State Champion

My mom and her tennis team came out first in their District tournament, which brought them to sectionals last week. Teams from West Virginia, Maryland, DC, and Virginia made it to sectionals this year. I just wanted to dedicate this post to my mom. I'm so proud of her playing her best even with a bum ankle and finger. They played great at District and at Sectionals. The came out second in he Mid Atlantic region! Who knows next year Nationals in Vegas, right mom? I don't really do the team justice, but I found this great article about their team in the Loudoun Connection for anyone who wants more info on their success. If you can't tell, my mom is the one second from the right end holding the banner.