worst spring break ever!

david had spring break a few weeks ago and he got to spend it by going back to california with me for my grandma's funeral. it was sad, but it was nice seeing all of my cousins on my dad's side and spending time with my family. my mom is like the family picture queen and made everyone take pictures that no one wanted to take, but it ended up turning out pretty cool.

this picture is all of my cousins on my dad's side in order from youngest to oldest. the youngest is 12 and the oldest is 30something. i tried to pin down the exact age, but brett was elusive.

this is all of the cousins plus some spouses and some of the 2nd cousins.

please notice andie, front and center here. who else strikes a pose like that at a funeral. hahaha. i'm not surprised that we had so many laughs throughout the day with this family.

(i still have not unpacked... i am the worst at that. maybe today is the day!)

1ooth post!

so tyler and my mom came to visit for president's day weekend and was so fun!

tyler thought it would be a good idea to play in the snow in shorts and a t-shirt.

go thome?

he always forgets how cold it is. hahaha.
and then we mostly shopped and ate.

heart shaped valentine's day breakfast pancakes!
6th jimmy johns of the weekend.
valentine themed crispy cremes.
then tyler thought he was a unicorn.
at mr. b's. so delicious!
group shot!
tyler and his crab legs. he prefers outback butter.
we also went to the outlets and the mall and tyler when iceskating and we went to an awesome chinese new year party at the yans! i'm going to need to run for the next week straight to burn the calories... but knowing me, i'll probably just eat some more. thanks for coming you guys!

i didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings

i guess these girls felt left out of my blog, so here's a special post for some of my favorite girls.

amazing, magical, beautiful, yesful, relaxed

awesome, delightful, daring, interesting, silly, outstanding, naughty

i miss you ladies. come visit soon! or meet me in california some time.

things i've learned this week...

1. we are not inside dog people and our house was way too small for a large inside dog

(blair walruff is now living with a new family with a puppy sister... i think she's happier, i'm still depressed about it though)

2. i love steam cleaning things... i just got the haan and it is just another reason why i love korean engineering. romi haan is a genius!

3. winter is definitely not over! we were tricked with a week of upper thirties and forties and we are back into the single digits (negative degree windchill)

4. the best homemade brownie recipe ever! as soon as it's light enough to take a picture i will share the recipe

5. how to make some super cute new bows. my nieces are going to be getting some pretty cute valentines this year

6. i still hate the week before test week! yikes!

in other news, i'm doing pretty good on my new years resolutions. i'm proud of myself.

newest member of the nielsen family

this little girl is a total diva already! this afternoon david and i got bored and started looking at puppies online and found this 7 week old great dane puppy and we just had to have her. we drove up to northern wisconsin and brought her home. she doesn't have a name yet... we're taking suggestions.

andie wants us to name her snookie or the situation, my mom things fiona, let us know if you think of something perfect. right now we're just calling her puppy.

this is to show you some scale... she's tiny little thing!

and she loves watching tv. she's going to fit right in.

come over and play with her sometime!

our favorite thing this weekend

cinnamon toast! did you eat this as a little kid too? i forgot completely about it until i saw a post about it on a recipe blog...

so good! it's the perfect invention for breakfast, snack, a treat, etc.

if you've never had it... you toast some bread (doesn't matter if it's wheat or white), put some softened butter on it while it is still hot and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (that's like 1tbs sugar to 1/2 tsp cinnamon) and use as much as you want. have some today!

favorite thing right now...

i think i'm going to start posting my favorite things more often. i think it will remind me of all of the blessings that i have and how good i have it sometimes. too bad this first post is going to be material... hahaha. oh well. right now i am loving my pixie pants from jcrew.

they are really cute on. and i got them on a great sale. so go to your nearest jcrew and buy some! i've worn them twice this week already. maybe i should get another pair?