Chlöe Skye Nelson

Finally I am able to introduce you to the newest member of our family. I wanted to do this much earlier but I have spent the last week recovering from a nasty Battle with Mastitis! I had a really bad infection, and I am glad to finally be on the mend and to feel somewhat back to normal.

Chlöe Skye Nelson was born on September 13, 2010. She weighed 6 LBS and 2 oz, 17 in long.

Her labor was awesome. Five hours from first contraction to when she was born at 10:30 in the morning. She has been a great baby. She actually does what newborns are suppose to do, sleep and eat. It has been nice to have some time to recover from, well everything. Brynlee was not sure what to think of her sister at first. We had a rough first week as she was not sure what to think, but after spending a great one on one weekend with my parents in Rigby she was alright with coming home and was ready to be a big sister. She has gotten more comfortable with her little sister every day and has gotten back to being her good ol' self again. We are glad to have our happy Brynlee back.

A little information on Chlöe's name.

My great grandma's name was Chloe Nelson (No relationship to Luke's side- just so you know)

Luke's Grandpa Nelson is from Sweden, so we thought we could pair my great grandmother's name with a Swedish spelling. As for Skye- it means clouds and Brynlee's middle name is Sierra- meaning mountains, we thought it would go together well- and would represent our love for the outdoors.

There will be more photos to come. These were all I had on my computer. Getting sick put a damper on the amount of cute photos, so don't worry more to follow. We did a newborn photos session in Blackfoot at Paisley Studios and had some amazing photos taken of Chlöe by herself, with Brynlee, and then a few with me. I am excited to get them back and post them. Just a plug for the studio that took the photos, they were amazing to work with and worked magic with a little three year old sister that did not want her photo taken with her sister.

LIfe is Crazy

I have been meaning to catch our blog up for a while now but have been unsuccessful. This past month has been crazy busy and I will try to catch up on the details.

We took a little family road trip late in August and drove to Sun Valley, stayed at Red Fish lake and then headed to a friends wedding along the East Fork of the Salmon River. It was a beautiful drive and we were able to see amazing mountain ranges every where we drove. It was nice to get out and enjoy some of the last good weeks of summer.

Over Labor Day weekend Brynlee and I signed up for the Pocatello Marathon's events. I walked the 5K and Brynlee ran, well attempted to run in a .2 mile kid race. We figured with all of the races Brynlee has followed Luke and I to, she would have fun running in her own.

Being pregnant, walking the 5K was not as easy as I thought it would be, but I slowly made it.

Luke ran the Wasatch 100 mile trail race over this past weekend. He did very well and finished the 100 miles in less than 24 hours. What makes it more amazing is that his knee was in horrible pain and he was still one of only 16 people who finished in under 24 hours. (a total of 250 people signed up for the race). I was very proud of him. I was not able to be there to support him on this race, due to my pregnancy moving along faster than we planned on it was better that I stay home and not travel to Utah. We did not want to have our little girl come into the world while he was running the race.

I ended up going into labor on monday morning.... and I will post about that adventure later.

Luke Graduated!!!

I am happy to report that Luke officially graduated from PA school on Friday!

Yeah, we are so excited. He will take his boards on August 17th in SLC and then we will wait some more to make sure he passes and then he will get his licence and begin his job in September with Idaho Sports and Orthopedics.

Congratulations Luke. Thank you for all of your dedication and hard work the last...well, thanks for hanging in there for the past eight years of school and marriage!

We were able to give Luke a few good surprises for graduation. His parents drove 14 hours from New Mexico to surprise him and come to graduation. It was fun to have them here with us and it was great seeing Luke's reaction when he realised that his family had come to support him.

Later after graduation we held a little surprise lunch for Luke in the back yard and had a few friends over to hang out and celebrate Luke's accomplishment with school.

I just want to thank all of our amazing family members and friends who have been there along the way. We couldn't have done it with out all of the support of family and friends- so THANK YOU!

New Mexico

This month while Luke was in Seattle, Brynlee and I went down to see Grandma and Grandpa Nelson at the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch. We were able to stay with them for a week. It was nice to get down to the Ranch and spend time them. Brynlee enjoyed hanging out with her Grandparents and when it was time to leave didn't want to go home. I didn't blame her, we had a lot of fun and home was a long trip away.

Here are a few of the things we were able to do while visiting.

Here is Brynlee's action shot. She has been jumping off everything lately.

Brynlee with Grandma and Grandpa

Brynlee playing on the toys at the Ranch. She could have spent hours on the swing and slide.

Brynlee was able to paint stamps and made this T-shirt at the craft center. Way to go Brynlee.

Brynlee was able to cook Smores several times.

She really enjoyed catching them on fire and then liked to shake them. Thank goodness grandpa helped stop the flame so nothing started on fire.

Here is my Cow-Girl. Brynlee was lucky enough to have a new outfit and cowgirl boots to ride her favorite pony, Butterscotch.

Grandpa and Brynlee setting off for her pony ride

Brynlee riding all by herself. (Kind of) At least she is Happy and is touching an animal.

We had a lot of fun and can't wait to go back again to the Ranch.

Hippie

With a three year old there comes a time when they insist on dressing themselves. I have been documenting Brynlee's concoctions of outfits and I've decided she is a hippie. Here are a few of our favorites.

Fouth of July

Yellowstone National Park

This fourth of July Brynlee and I headed up to Yellowstone National Park to meet up with my family. We were without Luke this year so it made it feel a little different. Luke is in an ER rotation in Seattle Washington so we missed having him around for the holiday.

The first day we were in the park we went out on Yellowstone Lake with my Dad and Jake. They were able to do a lot of fishing that morning. Brynlee and I had fun hanging out in the boat with them. Brynlee fished for a while but it didn't last long. She just had fun driving the boat, playing around, and eating snacks. It was fun speding time with Jake. He was leaving for Basic Training a few days later so it was nice to have some time with him before he left to SouthCarolina. Brynlee will miss her Uncle Jake a lot.

Driving the boat with Papa.

Brynlee attempting to catch a fish. No luck.

Papa, Uncle Jake, and Brynlee on the boat.

Cousin Aliza and Brynlee with their matching Ranger hats that Papa got them.

Later we took a drive to see the Canyons of Yellowstone. It was fun to watch Brynlee see Yellowstone for the first time. She liked walking around the paths and looking at the huge water falls. She impressed all of us when we walked down to see a section of water falls. We walked down an exposed metal stair case that was over 300 steps long. Brynlee got down just fine with the help of me and my dad, but we were worried about the way up and how she would do. Considering she has most of her dad's blood running through her I should have known not to worry. She climbed all the steps and did it faster than we could. Then to rub it in she ran most of the way up the trail back to the car.
Brynlee and I at the lookout point for the falls.

The big stair case, heading back up.

We also checked out the stinky sulfur pots. It was funny watching Brynlee as she tried to figure out where the smell was coming from. This is at a "mud pot" geyser, the next one to it sounded like a dragon and she liked that one a little better.

Brynlee and my parents on a beach along side Yellowstone Lake.

Brynlee and I at the "Black Pool." I loved the bright colors of it.

Brynlee and Grandma eating Tin Foil Dinners.

Brynlee cooking her first marshmallows by herself.

Eating Smores, our favorite camping dessert. Yummm!

This was the mighty 4th of July Parade in Grant Village. It consisted of a few cars and the employees of the area...most of which were not from the U.S. It was pretty funny. Brynlee was the only child watching the parade and ended up with a handful of 4th of July mints for candy.

Old Faithful. I wanted a photo with Brynlee by it, but she was more concerned with going to the car and watching a movie than seeing the Geyser. Guess we'll have to go back when she is older.

On the way home we stopped by Big Springs and Brynlee fed the fish. They were not very interested so we found a group of baby ducks that were much more fun to feed.

Thanks Dad and Mom for a fun 4th!

Bye Uncle Jake, we will miss you and look forward to seeing you at Christmas.

Weekends

The last few weekends we have been trying to enjoy some time as a family before Luke leaves to Seattle for a month. We went to Rigby to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Allred. While there we were able to play at the Riot Zone. Brylee had so much fun. We took a few rides on the go carts, played a round of miniature golf, and then Brynlee spent 2 hours playing on the huge blow up toys. She ran non-stop for nearly 2 hours, climbing and sliding and jumping. It was so funny to watch her just run and run. She always likes to tell me that she is a "running girl." Thanks mom and dad for a fun weekend!

We spent last weekend up at my parents cabin. It was rainy and cold, but we were able to relax and enjoy the beautiful green mountains. This past weekend we went to Utah and supported Luke in the Wasatch Steeple Chase race. This is his third year running the 17 mile trail race and he did awesome. He won the race and nearly beat the record. He ran 17 miles half of which was running up a huge steep mountain and then back down again. His time was 2 hours and 16 min! He only missed beating the record by 36 seconds. It has been fun watching him at his races. This year he has done really well. He placed first at the Menan Butte race, setting a new course record, then third at the Pocatello 50 which was cut short due to the snow over memorial day weekend, and then first again this weekend. Way to go LUKE!