Washington D.C. Zoo!

In the center of a metropolitan city lies a majestic destination. Combining the graceful fragility of Asian foliage with the paunchiness of a Panda sitting along an Asian trail and the incongruous stripes of an African Zebra, with the colossal strength of a Gorilla. What possible place could I be speaking of? I'll tell you. The Washington D.C. Zoo! Okay, okay... so you were probably thinking that I was going to say something a little more cooler then the ZOO, right? Well, let me explain to you what an amazing adventure it is to go with a two year old! (Brace yourselves - this may only be exciting to me.)
In preperation for our adventure Marshall, Mitch and I visited the Zoo's website to look at all the pictures of the animals, a couple of times actually, really we did...I've conveniently posted the Washington D.C. Zoo's website right here: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/default.cfm

When we approached the animals pins it was exciting to see Marshall's reaction. Marshall, and even I, were in aboslute awe at animals. Seeing their actual size, life and personality was incredible. The WashingtonD.C. Zoo has some of the most beautiful lions, elephants, hippos, aligators, cheetahs, wolves, orangutans, and a anaconda that completely unhinges my fear of dark water! The panadas were amusing to watch. Two of them were plopped down on their rears, reclined back against a large rock with their huge tubby bellies sticking out completely enjoying the shade of a tree. (They reminded me a lot of a couple of fat hairy guys that I've seen. None of which I know personally.)
Marshall's favorite animal was the aligator in the reptile house. This aligator, like most reptiles freaked me out.
My favorite animal was Mama gorilla with her baby. The picture that I took of them isn't the greatest; first of all I don't have a great camra and secondly, mama gorilla was kind of hidding with her baby behind some brush. It was absolutely adorable to watch her with this little cute baby clinging to her. I loved them!
No! This is not the gorilla picture that I was talking about. Andy - I know what you were thinking! That's rude! This was supose to be a picture of Marshall and I with the cheetah, but would you believe it - he kept moving out of the shot. It really is true that they are fast creatures
Mitch could not pick a favorite animal. He enjoyed watching this elephant drink from a little spiket. The elephants are really huge and entertaining to watch. It was a great adventure and exceeded our expectations!

Hello, is English there?

Funny story. So I have FINALLY moved into our new place in Virginia. Yes, I love it, thank you for asking as I am sure you would if we were talking instead of blogging. Earlier this week I was going through the mundane, time consuming, wishing I had internet access earlier, "I hate automated phone responses," task of calling all of my "change address list" list to, you know, change our address. Well, my sweet little two year was patiently coloring all over my "change address list" list while I was making my important phone calls. Unbeknowst to me, he was listening in on all of my conversations! Dun dun dun...(I think this adds suspense.)

The seventh company that was on my list was Tmoblie. The first automated question this company asks you is, "If you would like to continue in English say,"English." If you would like to continue in Spanish say, "Spanish." I loudly and clearly enounicated, "English." THEN I was put on hold. I waited a few minutes on hold (it's not my favorite thing to do when I have other phone calls to make) and then let out a low annoyed sigh. Marshall set his pen down on his glorious scribbled piece of artwork and looked at me. He said,"What, is English not home?"

I love being a mom, I must laugh at least a hundred times a day!

A whole new world

I have been introduced to a whole new world. I knew that it existed but never thought I would find myself completely engrossed and committed to it as I am. It's a cheapskate's heavenly world of, "Couponing."  

I haven't always loved being cheap. It's something that has kind of grown on me since I got married as a poor college student. It comes so natural to me now that sometimes I don't even know when I'm being cheap. ;) With that being said - shopping the clearance racks in all my favorite stores, or splurging at Ross and TJmax or finding an unexpected sale is the only way I roll. Now that I have learned the wonderful art of "couponing" there is a total elation that comes when I find a great sale and can use a coupon. 

I have heard stories about frugal moms that literally cut their grocery bill by 50 -70%. There are true stories of  women that can leave a store with a full grocery cart of over $100 dollars worth of groceries and their out of pocket expense was only $12.00. As I heard these fascinating stories my pocket book became more and more envious. SO, I did a little investigating and found that it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I watched an short informative video found here: www.savvyshopperdeals.com 

Grocery shopping will never be the same!

 

As I mentioned in my previous blog, we took pictures of the grandchildren for my mother's 57th birthday. Dave snapped a few pics of Marshall and I. Thought I would share...

Can you tell that Mitch is his daddy? Just a little?

I know that I am his mother and all...so I know I have a little bias going on here but, really, isn't he a stud!?! Even with the greenish tinted bruise in the center of his forehead; he melts my heart. I love his guts!

The Grandchildren Photo Shoot!

This is a true tale about an adventure one should not often take.

Taking a family picture of the Nielson Grandchildren has never been an easy task. Especially with cold, hungry, tired children. BUT what's a child to do when their 57 year old mother pleads in her crippling aged voice for a picture of her beloved grandchildren...

for her birthday...of all things. Sibling united; we did the only thing that there was to do! We dolled our little young'ens up the best we could, dressed them in a matching color scheme of white and dark blue jean, assigned the sibling with the nicest camera to be the photographer, aesthetically posed the children, patiently waited for them to ALL look at the camera and smile just right....we waited...

...then we lost our patience. We hopped up and down, clapped and screamed for their attention and smiles. I believe there were a few curse words and tears...the picture looks pretty good when you crop off their heads.

Happy 57th Birthday Grandma Nielson!!!

Hope you know how much you're loved.

Valentine's Day Adventure!

I am not that great at giving Mitch gifts. It's not that I don't love him, or think the world of him. I am just really practical. Practical gifts make sense to me. Everyone needs socks - why not give them as a birthday surprise? What man wouldn't enjoy a nice new tie for Christmas? I personally think shaving cream is a great stocking stuffer! When you're showering the one you love with gifts galore for Christmas, Valentines, birthday, anniversaries, etc. etc. etc. why not give them the "gifts" you know they need? I understand my views are not shared by all. SOOOOO for Valentine's this year I concocked a special treat! I decided to get something for Mitch that I knew he DIDN'T need. Thanks to Good Things Utah I got this wonderful idea to give Mitch his very own personal flight lesson from Leading Edge Aviation in SLC. It was fantastic! Mitch took a brief course on flying, then he flew himself, a flight instructur and I over the Wasatch Valley. He assisted with take off and landing, and basically took the wheel (or whatever aviation lingo is for the thingy that steers the plane) while we were up in the air. It was awesome! A memory that I think we both needed!

Where do you begin when it's been 9 months since your last post!?!

So...it's been a while. I have nothing against the blogging world. In fact, I think it's great. I love reading my friends and families AdoRAblE blogs. People post the cutest family pictures - professional in their own right, with cleverly descriptive stories, personality matching music, decorated with cute background prints and fonts...they are great. Then there is mine....not cute, not creative, so basic, lame stories, I don't even have music - I tried to get some once and it didn't work out so well. That's why it's been nine months since my last post. I am so lame.

However, we are packing up and moving clear across the country to none other then our nations capital Washington D.C. in April. I feel impressed to re-enter the world of blogging in order to keep in some contact with the ones I love. Maybe my parents won't be so mad at me for taking their grandbaby away from them....maybe?