Our Little Family

And She Crashes....

2011-05-31T15:52:00.000-07:00

Riley has been having these crazy naps lately, going strong and then dropping like a narcoleptic... I thought I would share a few photos of the cuteness.

One second she is reading Curious George on a pile of folded laundry, then, going going gone. I only left her alone for a minute or two. She even slept through the diaper change! Totally unheard of for our little light sleeper! Here's hoping that she's going to start sleeping harder!!

Here is just yesterday when she fell asleep before I she even ate lunch. Not even the roadrunner, her favorite, could keep her awake!!

Riley's Park Time

2011-05-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

The Deal is that if the girls will let us run then they get to spend a hour at the park together. Riley and Eva have bonded very nicely!

She loves to climb....

EVERYTHING!!!

These are really cool swings at the Maidu park, it is totally accessible for children who have diabilities and so these swings are fun and comfy!

Easter

2011-05-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

Easter was really fun with Riley actually being able to find them this year. Again the video is grainy sorry!!

Our Idaho Trip Finally....

2011-05-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

Bye Bye Dalton! Okay I know This was April but that was school time so this is catchup time.

We went to Star to visit the fam when Dalton was leaving on his mission to Paraguay. It was

super fun and I am really excited to show off some pictures!Riley and Daddy having some fun in the sun! You'd never guess it was so very very cold!!!

This was Riley and Carson's game... she does and he follows. Open and Close!

Riley found Grandma Lori 's handbag, she's being pretty in pink!

We had an all green party, super fun! Westley really liked it!!

Here are some video of our trip, sorry they came out a little grainy for some reason....

It was a great trip and Dalton is doing great, what a missionary!!

What IS Piggy Party?

2011-04-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

It's a question that I have many, well at least a few, people asking these days. Well I can't answer that without talking about Turkey Party. Turkey Party started about 5 years ago. I decided I wanted to be social in our ward at church since we didn't really know anyone when we moved in. I decided to throw a party. It seemed strange for Eric and I to have Thanksgiving all by ourselves so we invited over another family and the missionaries, cause they will always come for food! I loved it and the next year around the end of October Eric said, "so when is Turkey Party this year?"

It became a tradition. Our third Turkey Party I invited Whitney and Louie Mariner to join the other family, and missionaries. After the Party Withney and I decided we really should have an Easter version. That's where Piggy Party comes in. Turkey party in the fall with well turkey to eat, and Piggy Party in the spring with well Ham. It's a lot of fun and this was our second Piggy Party. We have finally started taking pictures and thank goodness for that. This year's party was Mad Hatter Garden party. It was great, I went thrift shopping and picked all mismatched everything and just made the table crazy fun. I will definitely do this again!

Riley making her, "this is boring" face... Can you tell she now licks the jam off her rolls?

Halloween

2010-11-01T13:48:00.001-07:00

We had a great Halloween, though it came a week early this year. Those of you who know us well know that I (Nellie) love Halloween and Eric does not so much enjoy it. With my second favorite holiday on Sunday this year it's kinda a downer, but I had a ZUmba dance class party the week before as well as the Church harvest festival. IT was two hours and yes I worked out in my costume but not those boots. It was a load of fun and as far as I'm concerned the only way to work out!

Riley and I were dressed an angel and a devil for the church party. We go t afew wierd looks until I explained it was a family affair, we were the angel and devil that sits on Daddy's shoulder and helps him make decisions. Everyone liked it more after that. Riley had fun with the carnival games at the harvest festival. Her favorite was the bowling, but she wanted to keep the ball instead of the candy. She also loved the rings on soda bottles game. They were glow rings and Riley wouldn't give hers back. She liked how it glowed so well. The sweet girls running the booth traded her for a broken glowstick they couldn't use, Riley held it all night and would let go for anything. It was really cute!! Lat night there weren't many trick or treaters coing to the house and we didn't dress up since it was Sunday and we wanted to keep it holy. Or as holy as it can be on Halloween I suppose. Eric said it was the only Halloween he has ever seen me rushing to get over. I kept saying, "could Halloween get done so that Christmas can get here?" He wanted to tape it and play it back to me every year.... Next year will be more fun, traditional party, traditional trick or treating, but one question, what will we be next year!?!!

Been a busy year!

2010-07-24T08:58:00.000-07:00

Well it's been about a year since I last posted anything about our little family, but it's been a wild year. I don't even know where to start really! Riley is a year old now and quite the diva. She likes things done her way, right now! She has made all the doctors happy in the last year too. Where she lack motor skills she makes up for in cognitive skills. The doctors say she's just been too lazy to crawl too, and recently she showed us she can crawl she just chooses not to. See what I mean? DIVA!

She is loving learning to walk and I wish I were more excited. It's been so nice to not baby proof. I know those das are over I'm just in denial! She looks so cute toddling around in her little tennis shoes (thank you Annie!)

We have discovered she loves water, ANY WATER! She hears a faucet turn on , or a hose, or anthing, even if you are only washing your hands or getting a drink, she wants in it! Last night she watched Eric empty her baby pool so he could clean it. She was so distressed!! She couldn't handle it for the next half hour. She kept looking at the window and whining about her pool! :-) What a girl!

We're adjusting to being parents. We are figuring out a schedule that allows us time with Riley but time with eachother as well. I swear there are weeks that I look at Eric and say, "Have I seen you at all this week?" Between his work and my demanding diva boss (Riley) I feel like our paths don't cross. We now have Friday night date night. We don't actually go out, we stay in and watch tv or a movie, but it reminds us that we came first. Very stress relieving!

We also went to monterey for Riley's birthday. She loved the ocean. It was a pretty cold day so we left early but still Riley loved it.

Well the diva is rising from her sleep so I better call it. See you all in a year??? :-)

Update Time!

2009-09-24T14:30:00.001-07:00

Times flies eh? Well we're hanging in there. We're getting more sleep and having a bit of an easier time as we head out of the newborn stage for the second time. Yes, the second time. This is one of the joys of having a preemie. Riley was doing pretty well at sleeping alone, not crying so much and dealing with life in general and then she hit her actual due date and the reset button was hit. We started all over again. WOW! The last six weeks have been really ... loud! The girl has quite a set of pipes on her! :-) I found I was developing a fear of 5 o'clock.. because she would scream from 5 - 9 pm unless she was eating the whole time... Now it's not every day, just some days...

Doctors are really pleased with Riley, they say she is thriving and growing really well. Eric and I couldn't be more proud of her. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the power of the priesthood. Our family has been cradle in His love and support. Riley is truly such a miracle!

Now she is waking up, so unfortunately this post is done.

Love to all!!

Eric Nellie and Riley Jane

Miss Riley is Here!

2009-07-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

Riley Jane Neves

July 3rd 2009

3:32 AM

6 pounds 6 ounces

Okay so finally I have a few minutes to do baby pictures. I swear with a baby in the hospital people think you have time to do things but I have never been so busy in my life! (and that's saying a lot!!!!)

Here's the story slightly shortened. I took my anti contraction meds on wednesday night the 1st at nine but my nine thirty I was having contractions and the frequency just increased until at 11:00 they were close and hard and I called L and D and they had me come in. At 12:10 we walked into triage. They were happy I was 34 weeks but didn't know if they wanted me to stop or keep going so they decided to try to stop the contractions. Well it didn't really work, so they gave me more and more to stop them and it just made my body fight even harder. Finally after about 5 hours and tons of anti contraction meds they gave up and said never mind you're having the baby. Unfortunatly right about then the contractions stopped. Even more unfortunately I was about 6 cm and needed to keep going. We had to wait for the drugs to wear off. Contractions stopped for an hour and then we went back to a warring body and lots of pain. After about 14 hours I conceeded and got an epidural. It wasn't until about 20 hours though that they started giving me pitosin (?) and then at 25 hours they broke mt water because we weren't getting anywhere. Finally at 30 hours of labor or rather around 3:30 on the 3rd Riley's heart started dipping and the dr. decided it was now or never. Riley wasn't where she was supposed to be so they had to go on a fishing trip to find her. Two hands and a vacuum and me pushing were what it took to get her out. She cried a big cry and we were all blown away by her 6 pounds six ounces. I didn't get to see her because I had to lay flat, but she was taken to NICU and given a C-pap for breathing so it wouldn't be so hard since we had both worked hard. I finally saw her the first time about 8 hours later and I think she's gorgeous!!! But I may be biased.

Right now she is doing really good all things considered. She is breathing on her own, she is taking bottles and starting to nurse some, and totally off the IV. She is really working hard, but we're facing some bad jaundice from her body trying to heal the hematoma at the back of her head. Its coming down but it's still going to be a long process. None the less we are so proud of her and how hard she is working!

Thank you everyone for all the support, I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Love Eric Nellie and Riley

Mom and Dad waiting...

Grandpa Don and Grandma Linda sleeping and waiting for Riley

Her first hours

She doesn't like to wake up

Feeding with Mommy

Daddy's Girl!

Our funny little family is finally complete!

Thank you everyone for the prayers and support. Couldn't have done it without you!!!!!

Bummer News

2009-06-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

I have some sad news. Winston our horse has had a few really hard days, he's had a fever, a hard time eating and keeping food in his mouth and has a lump on the joint of his jaw. Dr. Weilepp and my friend Jodi have been with him this week trying to figure out the problem, finally we found out today that it is an aggressive tumor. We decided with the amount of pain he is in that we would put him down. He was put to rest this morning. I'm glad he's no longer in pain.

I am very sad that I am loosing him at a time when I can't be the one to be there with him, but I can't risk the baby's health.I think it is important to remember all the lives that Winnie has touched over the years and what an amazing life he has led. He's been a professsional english jumping horse as well as a professional western pleasure horse and has won over 40,000 in his career, before I met him. He worked for three years as a therapeutic riding horse at Saddle Pals and touched so many lives while he was there. He has always been such charming and eccentric horse. From the fits he would throw where instead of bucking he would angrily do flying lead changes and dressage he's learned when he was young, to his ability to hunt birds in the arena and the pasture, killing 2 and injuring at least 5. Quite a talent. I'm glad he's been a part of our family. His life has been spared more than once so that he could enjoy the retirement he's deserved over the last two years. Now it is time for him to get the rest he deserves.
He is a fantastic horse and will always be remembered that way.

32 weeks and counting

2009-06-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

We went to the Dr today and got great news.......I graduated from hi risk!! Yeah. While I am still considered a hi risk prego, I get to go to a normal prego dr. that's kinda cool! We also recieved a finalized timeline. Here's how it falls.

Now until july 2nd (34 weeks pregnant) - still on bedrest laying flat except I can sit up to eat which is really nice.

2nd- 16th (36 weeks pregnant)- released from bedrest, can walk around some and have a litt more activity, not much, sorry still can't work ;-)

16th and on- off medication, can have baby at any time.

As we know plans are great and all but there is a really good chance I won't make it until the 16th. The medication has started to wear off on it effectiveness. I am doing about two hours of contractions at least every other night and afternoon. The good news is today the dr said that Riley is safe. Yea! She weighed in at 5 pounds 1 ounce very impresive for her age I guess. He said that even if she went to the nicu the chances of her being on a ventilatator or anthing serious are very small. Eric says I look like myself again because I am a bit relieved. I have to admit it was really nice hearing that she is SAFE! Thank you for all the prayers! We'll keep you updated as our little bitty gets closer and closer.

Latest News

2009-06-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

We went to the Dr. on tuesday and everything is still looking good. The new *fun* pressure I am feeling is due to Riley's head down position. I wish they would have given us an ultrasound picture of that... There was the part of my cervix that was still closed, then the part that was funneled open, then a sack of water protruding into the funnel and immediatley thereafter, a baby head. Sorry if this is TMI, I was just fascinated to see it! They said I am uncomfortable because normally that part of the cervix doesn't have pressure for very long, just long enough to have a baby. In other words, Miss Riley is ready to come whenever we give the go ahead. Hopefully she listens when I say just stay put a little longer!! She is growing really well though and she is up to 3 pounds and 12 ounces. I know that doesn't sound very big to anyone else, but it is huge in our little family! She now outweighs her sister's birthweights by 2 pounds. In the land of premies that is quite a bit!

How to beat the boredom of bedrest!

2009-05-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well we hit 29 weeks yesterday which is five weeks of stolen time. The combination of paryer and Turbeutaline works wonders. It is so fun seeing everyone's healthy new babies that are born, congrats to Ash and Jaz they are both beautiful!
People keep asking, how do you manage to stay down for so long without going crazy. Well the staying down is easy, it's the drive to keep Riley healthy that part isn't that hard especially with mom here helping Eric and I. The not going crazy is trickier. Eric and Mom really help with that.

Step one: Deal with the nesting instinct. I was feeling like the walls were caving in on me and some of this stuff just had to go! Mind you our house is not overly crowded, and certainly isn't now, but I insisted on going through everything in the house. This means that from the couch either mom or Eric would bring me things to say keep or throw away. They are so patient with me. After three days we accumulated quite the pile for a yard sale. Mom took care of it one day, and Eric did it the other day. Out of both days we earned enough to pay for a glider and ottoman set!! Yeah! Great job guys!

Step two: Sewing! No, I am not sewing, mom is sewing and again I am the dictator from the couch! lol We are sewing the pajamas I was supposed to make for Eric's family for Christmas, but I was too sick to move. We are sewing curtains for Riley's room, and we are sewing clothes for our little princess too. Mom and I have both decided that we use the term, "we" VERY loosely! Today "we", meaning mom, are working on the laundry and a new pair of PJ pants for me since I have grown out of most of my pj pants, tummy is too big!

Step three: Watch a lot of TV!
Step four: Work on the book that has been done for over two years but work-a-holics like my self have no time to revise.
Step five: Lots of scripture study, we need all the blessings we can get!
Step six: Count down the days until the next Dr. Appt which by the way is four days away on Tuesday.
Step seven: Play fetch with the cat from bed. He thinks he's died and gone to heaven with his mom being in bed all day!
Step eight: Register! I don't know if anyone has done this completely online before, but it isn't easy. Babies R Us is done... I think. Target is almost done... not as user friendly in case you were wondering.

Mostly just hanging tight and dreaming of the baby to be!

Where we're at these days

2009-05-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

By the looks of our page everything looks pretty hunky dorey... hmm I wish! Okay it's not too bad... I can use our new thing we say alot around here every time we pick up the phone, "Still Pregnant". A month ago I went in for my regular weekly appointment and during the ultrasound, surprise I was in labor. I had no clue! I was at 2 cm and 60 percent effaced. My dr. calmly said "we're moving you to the hospital and you'll be there awhile." I was wheeled off and checked in and hooked to an IV getting fluids and drugs to stop the contractions I wasn't feeling. For the first three days they weren't sure if I would deliver or not so they started me on antibiotics and gave me steroid shots to mature bitty's lungs. She was only 24 weeks though so they really worked hard at not letting her come. They let me move upstairs to Anti-partum ward after 3 days. You've heard of post partum, after you have the baby, well apparently I am a member of the club of anti partum where they don't want you to stop being pregnant. There were between 4 and 5 of us the whole time I was in. We all had our own private rooms but we'd hear about eachother from time to time. One girl got to go home, another girl finally made it far enough they let her have her baby (she'd been there 6 weeks!), and I was the 24 weeker who had the husband who showed up every night. Apparently uncommon for anti partum, they all just didn't marry Prince Charming. :-). It wasn't all smooth sailing. I went into labor 3 more times after moving upstairs, but everytime those nurses would come in there and squash those contractions with drugs. Every time I would think okay, this is it. Brace yourself your baby might not make it, you need to be strong, .... then the nurse would say okay, that should do it and sure enough it did. I felt so close to my Heavenly Father in the hospital, I have to say Eric and I did a lot of praying and pleading as did many other people. I learned a lot about faith and trust and actually believing Heavenly Father when He makes a promise. I know Primary stuff but it is really hard for me.
About two weeks ago after I'd been in the hospital two weeks they were going to put in a pic line which is a more permanent IV, meaning I'd be there forever.... They said, "actually we're going to send you home." I was shocked, no one had said anything about even a chance of going home. By the end of the day I was discharged and we were home!

It's been different being at home. It's hard because I feel like a burden most of the time. I can't be on my feet for more than five minutes and it is only so that I can go to the bathroom. For the first week Eric had to do everything, with the exception of RS bringing me lunch midday. That was how he wanted it though. He just wanted to do everything to make sure that I was okay. He's never complained about anything. What a man I married!

This last week my mom has arrived and she's been a really great help too. She does a great job of making me lay down and hush myself. It's been a lifesaver having her here and who doesn't love having your mom around when you just need her right?

Anyway, mostly I really appreciate all the prayers on our behalf. Let me tell you that we feel them. It keeps me strong every day and I couldn't do this without them. We've been down for a month now and we just passed 28 weeks, or 7 months. My Dr. Wants us to make it to 34 or 35 weeks, he says that is a high risk full term baby, so please don't stop praying!

Much Love!
Eric, Nellie, angel Lily, and baby Riley

Monterey Trip

2009-03-31T19:45:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we went on the last vacation we'll take before little bitty is born. We went to Monterey with our friend Whitney and Louie Mariner. It was really fun and we actually managed to get some pictures taken! Thank you to Whitney! I figure everyone would rather see pictures than hear me drone on.

Whitney and I wanted seafood the first night, so since they boys love us they consented and we went to Bubba Gump's for dinner. Don't worry I was careful about what I ate and how much of it I ate.

We knew the restaurant had gotten its name from the movie forest gump but we had no idea how much people would focus on the movie! Wow trivia at every corner! I got some of them right so I won a prize.... all the toothpicks I wanted... I didn't think it was that funny... but the food was good!

The next day we went to the aquarium since Whitney and Louie had never been. It was fun. Here we are on the back walkway behind the aquarium. Here is the prego picture I've been promising!

Even with all the cool displays and tanks, this is the only fish picture I shot while I was there. All the non tropical fish are so gray and drab... this was the pretty tank. (I know sorry Alex)

We went to Carmel as well, but I have to adamit that I was so tired I took absolutly no pictures. The rest of the trip was spent at the ocean. If you look really closely at the picture on the left there is a person on the top of the hill in the middle that is either Eric or Louie. They went so far out on the rocks looking for adventure. I stayed on the beach and prayed that they would come back from adventure! :-)

It was a great trip but definitely the last one for a long time. Within an hour of getting home I started having contractions and had to go down to labor and delivery. They got me stabalized and the contraction have pretty much stopped and have gotten a great deal lighter (thank goodness), but it was still really scary. I need to be within driving ditance of my hospital and doctors, so here I stay until baby come, (full term).

Love you all,

Eric Nellie and Little Bitty

Five Months

2009-03-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

And still hanging in there! Went to the Doctor today and everything still looks great. Keep praying! For those of you who don't know, we are having a girl! Very exciting, though anyone who knows Eric and I knows that this will not be a girly girl. The funny thing is only 10% thought we were having a girl according to the blog. Maybe it's because our girl will be a tomboy princess kind of a girl. I keep reminding people that pink is not my favorite color. In fact we're thinking that we'll do the nursery in red and white. I know, not the usual, but hey who wants usual. I am thinking a garden theme with red roses and other bright flowers. Little bitty has been starting to kick and wiggle a little more strongly. The morning sickness is still there but not as strong. I can usually get out of the house by 10:00 now with only a little queasiness.

Poor Eric still doesn't get fed. I have developed this distaste, okay, abhorrence for chicken. It makes cooking really difficult and I feel so bad! He is really aptient though. Thankfully our friends Whitney and Louie are taking good care of us and making sure that Eric gets fed. In the other times I am grateful that I am working and we are supporting the economy of the restaurant industry. :-)

We're headed into the scariest part over the next three weeks. It is a countdown to when we lost Lily so it's really scary. My Doctor is going to start seeing me twice a week most likely. He's watcing really closely to make sure that we notice anything as it comes. He says that the baby look really great and everything is perfect right now.

Thanks for all the prayers! Love Eric and Nellie and Little Bitty TomgirlThis is Caesar's new favorite way to sleep.. and look he brought me a toy to play with when I wake up.

Month 4

2009-02-25T13:53:00.000-08:00

And still sick... at least it's not as bad, mostly naseuous now. Everyone keeps telling me that I will get energy soon, I'm not sure when... lol I can't believe that I used to go to school work full time, help Mags with Westley twice a week and still clean and make dinner. Now poor Eric is lucky to be fed! Thankfully he really is prince charming and never complains.

I finally got in to see a doctor. It's be four months of midwives and NP's, and so yesterday I got to see a real doctor. Yea! Because of my history I have been transferred to a high risk doctor at least until 24 weeks. In the meantime it is a lot of Doctor's appointments. Don't get me wrong I am not complaining! I am thrilled to get to see the doctor more often. He's really smart and really supportive and as an added bonus I get an ultrasound every two weeks, my favorite part! It was really great to see Little Bitty yesterday just happily sleeping away. It is reassuring to see such a strong heartbeat and know that at least for now everything is doing great.

Thank you everyone for the prayers, it really helps!

Love you!
Nellie, Eric and Little Bitty

Picture soon I promise!

Apparently it's a Summer Thing...

2009-01-18T19:14:00.001-08:00

Recently Eric and I found out that we are expecting. Okay, not recently, it's been awhile but what can we say we're a bit shy. Once I caught up with all of my old buddies blogs I realized that many if not all of my Laurel's class from Loomis 3 is pregnant! Well I couldn't hang on to the news any longer. I am 11 weeks along, to be 12 very shortly. My due date has moved a couple times so this is my second time at 11 weeks in this pregancy, so it feels like the first trimester will never end!!! After loosing breakfast over the pasture fence and really startling a couple of horses at work this morning, I am really ready to be done with the first trimester! All I keep telling myself is that the sicker I am the healthier the baby is.
When I was pregnant with Lily people used to ask, "Do you want a boy or a girl?" We would both say, "We just want healthy, ten fingers, ten toes." I would like to ammend that this time around. Healthy, ten fingers, ten toes, and FULL term.
We are both really excited, but still very scared because of what we've been through. We could really use any prayers anyone wants to pass our way, key word Full Term.

There will be pictures to come, but in the meantime Love to all and sorry for the neglect while we've been coping with the craziness of first trimester.

Eric and Nellie

Halloween

2008-11-20T11:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's nearly Thanksgiving, but I'm a little busy. Anyway, we hosted the fourth (I think) Halloween at our house this year. Those of you who know me know that I LOVE halloween and Eric HATES halloween, at least the dressing up aspect. He's a good guy though and humors his wife. We had over my sister Becky and her family and my cousin Annie and her family. We ate Pizza, went Trick or treating and got rained on a lot! I was impressed with Linday and Alycia because they were diehards. We had dropouts as the adventure went on, but Alycia especially was fine being went and cold as long as she got candy and was told she was cute. A girl after my own heart! Anyway, here are the two of us as Princesses on Halloween. You can see Bryce dressed as Hary Potter in the background with the evil wand that kept poking every one! Annie finally confiscated it until it learned it's manners. :-)

Happy Belated Halloween!

Nellie and Eric

Winston, our 23 year old

2008-10-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

I can't post about the furry kids without posting about our oldest and biggest kid, Winston. Winston is our quarter horse and he is my "therapy". when I have bad days I go out to Winston and feel so much better afterward. He is a very sweet, very large, retired quarter horse.

He has this thing he does that I think is so adorable. When he gets excited he does this little dance with his front feet. I wanted to capture it because I am a dork and I think it is cute. Humor me :-).

So here is Winston and his impatient treat dance, sorry it is sideways, I can't get it to flip back up. Grr...

Our Kooky Cats

2008-10-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I realize that we are the crazy cat people for posting this, but I have some pretty cute pictures of our crazy cats and what they do.

For starters, Let me introduce you. First came Jinx, she's a Norweigian Forest Cat that we got shortly after we lost Lily. She had followed one of the primary presidency's kids home and she was a really cute kitten so I brought her home and Eric said I could keep her, actualy he just never told me to give her back so..... here she is! She is a large breed cat and so she is perfectly healthy at 15 - 20 pounds.

Maybe not her most flattering picture, but you get the idea...

Well after awhile we realized that Jinx was not a cuddle cat, she sits across the room and stares at you, that's her form of cuddling. I somehow convinced Eric last year that he wanted his own cat and it should be a cuddle cat. We found a rescue group and went to see who they had. Eric fell in love with this little white fluffball that was sleeping in his litterbox. Eric decided any cat that liked his litter box that much would be a good cat. Here's Caesar....

As you may have figured out, they are really active.

They typically play well together, though in the beginning it was a little rough. Jinx used to sit on baby Caesar and she's so big that he would disapear except for one twitching leg or a little bit of tail. We rescued him a lot.

Lately with halloween coming I have been sewing costumes for me and for family. My cats love to sew. It is cute for the first five minutes, but they after lining up the pattern for the fifteenth time to cut it out, Caesar comes flying out of nowhere skidding across the material and eats the pattern. It's cute, but very annoying!

Jinx is typically content to sit and watch. Unfortunately that is usually on top of whatever you are trying to cut out. She thinks she is helping. Nice eh?

Well the cosutmes come out fine so I don't mind the extra paws to "help" out. Practice for kids maybe.

We have a kitty jungle gym that we inheirited from Maggie, and the cats love to climb up to the top, but the other day while I was working in the kitchen I heard some growling so I went to investigate and this is what I had found.

We had our very own kitty totem pole. Jinx had somehow wedged herself into the little hole and was growling because Casesar had jumped on top and was smacking her on the head while she was stuck. How rude right? I love how she is spilling out the front of the hole, so cute.

Finally just a picture of Caesar and I doing homework. He loves to "help" me with my homework all the time. He prefers math to pychology because there are more papers and books to lay on.

After all how can you say no to a face like this?

From Garden Patrol to homework our cats are kooky, but they are family.

Our visit to Idaho

2008-10-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am a little behind in posts, but I didn't want to write about a visit to the Curtis side without a blog about a visit to the Neves side. Over the summer we went to Idaho to visit Eric's family as well and did an early first birthday for Westley since we knew we wouldn't be able to get away for his ture birthday. We got to run into Paul and Suzy and thier twins while we were there, Lizzy and Lucy (isn't that cute?). After a really long trip getting there, the car decided to have issues in Reno and we had to turn around, we were happy to be with family finally. We played a lot of hand an foot, a really fun game Eric likes to call goofy other names like Ankle and Elbow, or Fingers and Toes. We also played Rummicube which is Lori's new favorite and was pretty fun. It was great to see everyone and be around family, especially nice to Eric to be with family. Westley is getting so big and Eric spent most of his time with his nephew. We both think that Carson actually grew, and Dalton is dating girls now! When do these boys have time to grow up? We can't wait for thanksgiving when we'll go up again!

Happy Birthday Lily!

2008-10-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

It was our daughter's three year birthday today. What do you get an angel for her birthday? We went to the temple and spent our evening were we could get closest to her. We also found out an interesting fact. October 15th is our Lily's birthday and we also found out that it is also the official day of "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day" and has been since 1988, who knew? Had to laugh that our little angel had me in labor for 11 hours before she came which put her right over the line of midnight. She just had to be born on her very own national remembrance day. She's as bad as her grandma Neves who says that because she was born on July 4th, people shoot fireworks for in her honor. Well anyway, I'll list a link for those of you who may be interested, or just plain think I'm making it up. :-). http://www.october15th.com/. Anyway, another year passed and we're still here. We miss her, love her and mostly are very proud of her.

Love to all!
Neves Family

Trip to Bonner's Ferry

2008-09-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went to visit my mom and dad in Bonner's Ferry Idaho. Bonner's is about 30 miles from the Canadian border in the panhandle of Idaho. I was there for about 4 days and it was fabulous. For those who have been waiting for me to visit I am afraid that my summer time off, went to my mom. Thankfully you all love her too much to be too mad at me!

This is the big flag that is in the center of Bonner's. This picture doesn't do it justice. It is really quite fabulous!
These are some fawns that were snacking on mom and dad's front lawn. Apparently that is a pretty common occurance. They were very cute. No wonder dad loves it so much up there. There's wildlife in the front yard all the time.
Dad was showing me around the town and Rita and I were in back trying to entertain ourselves.

Dad with a map.... yikes.
This is a view of the valley at Bonner's. It is really pretty.

Mom and I went looking at antique and second hand stores for fun. I found these fabulous dresses. They were very Nancy Reagan and Jackie Kennedy. The one above has a really cute jacket that is hard to see, but it is so cute.
This was my favorite. I loved the band around the center and the detailed eyelet lace at the bottom. So very cute!
I didn't get all of this dress in the shot and the picture is blurred, but take my word for it, it was very nice.

Mom and I had a fabulous time cooking while I was there. Everything from blueberry scones (with fresh blueberries) to enchiladas, to the most incredible chinese feast I have ever made. The dishes from that are shown below. We made orange chicken, fried rice, chow mein, fried wontons and egg rolls. It was so very good!

Mom, Dad, Rita and I went sightseeing and then to a restaurant that was way back in the middle of nowhere. Really pretty though. There was this waterfall behind the restaurant.

On the way home there was such a fabulous sunset that went on and on. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

I loved this shot of the flag at night, gorgeous!

Here are some pictures of mom and dad's house. It is really cute and fun.

All in all it was a really fun trip. We had so much fun and I can't wait to go back again!!

What I do with my time

2008-09-03T22:28:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't seen, or had much connection with therapeutic riding it is my life these days. Channel Six, KVIE, decided to do a spot on the center I work at. I wanted to share it with all of you because it is really special to me. I think they did a really great job. I managed to not be in a single shot, yea me!! Though some may recognize my sister Sariah who is teaching in the lessons. For all those who feel like I don't keep in touch, or I never visit, this is why, I live and breathe Saddle Pals, and I love it for what these kids and the volunteers I work with teach me.

Check it out.

http://www.californiaheartland.org/video/909_3_saddle_pals.htm

Love to all!

Nellie

Blank Page, Big Pressure

2008-08-13T23:03:00.000-07:00

Well, we're finally breaking down. We've joined Myspace, Facebook, and now finally we are creating a blog for our family. Deep breath, it'll be okay! Background on Eric and I... We're both born and bred Californians, Pretty much grew up in the Sacramento Valley. We met six years ago through our good friend Jared Willis. I thought Eric was drop dead gorgeous, but really had a chip on my shoulder when it came to men and dating (I really wanted to graduate college before I got involved with someone), and Eric apparently though I was pretty confident and sassy which I guess was a good thing. However, he was anti dating as well. We stayed good friends for awhile, though as we both looked back on things we both realized early on there were some pretty strong feelings that we both ignored. Finally, while I came home from BYU-Idaho on Winter break we went on our first date, his Christmas dinner and then to play Lego's back at his house afterwards. I thought it was awesome! We hung out for the whole break until that fateful day of January 1 2003 when we went sledding. We went with Jared, his brother Clint, and their cousin Candace. Eric sledded down the hill first, and then Candace, then I went. Unfortunately, I swerved just enough to jam my foot between two boulders that were coming out of the snow. My foot stayed wedged as I flew from the sled, twisted and fell on the opposite side of the boulders. Eric was determined that I had sprained my ankle and was being a baby. I was determined not to cry in front of my guy friends so I screamed a lot instead. The boys pulled me from the mountain and when I finally was home again I knew it was totally busted. I ended up cracking my ankle on the diagonal for six inches, which was mended with a plate, and then crushed the other side which was repaired with screws. From there it was pretty much history. I never made it back to BYU-I at least not until I was picking up my stuff because I was getting married. We were married in the LDS Temple in Oakland on June 21 2003. Since then we've done a lot and gone through a lot. We lived in a dinky apartment, lived in a huge house, and bought a first house. On October 15 2005 we were blessed with a little girl named Lily Lynn. She was only with us for 45minutes since she was born prematurely at 24 weeks. She is our little angel and we both miss her and look forward to seeing her in heaven one day. December of 2005 we adopted our first kitten, Jinx, a Norwegian forest cat, which basically translates to one BIG cat. She is 18 pounds and the vet says she is perfect weight, though Eric lovingly calls her "Princess O'Plenty". I'm not sure she loves it... Last June we adopted our second kitten, Caesar, a Blue point Siamese Rag doll cross. Because of his Rag doll genes he is also a pretty big cat, though he is much more slender than Jinx. Finally last August we adopted an American Quarter horse named Winston to round out our funny little family.

Right now we work a lot. Both Eric and I are total workaholics! Eric is working for EMCI a commercial air conditioning company as a lead installation technician. Basically, the way I understand it, he is responsible for making sure that his team gets everything wired, balanced and calibrated on these amazingly large machines. He tries to explain it to me but I am not as smart as he is! I am working as a volunteer coordinator at a therapeutic center in Orangevale. I love it! I am responsible for coordinating about 150 people every week. It is a challenge but I love my job. I do work in a barn and that can be physically draining, but I also get to ride whenever I want so that is fun. I am also in school again, finally, after taking four years off. I am finishing my associates degree in psychology by Jan 2010. It is VERY slow going because I can only take so many classes while working full time. It is about 1 semester a year. When I get my associates I will transfer to a 4 year university for my bachelor's. Eric in the meantime is very supportive and sweet. He walked me very slowly through my math class this last semester, I couldn't have done it without him.

We've been trying to have fun lately too. I have been working towards showing my retired horse Winston in Western Pleasure at some local shows, and Eric is getting back into golf and loving it. We spend free weekends at the ocean whenever we can, and visit Eric's family in Idaho whenever possible.

Well, I never was accused of being short on words. I hope this is the first of many post! Love to all!