Catching Up!

On Feb 20 our 5th missionary received his call to the Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission!  Mikey reports on July 9th to the Sao Paulo MTC if his visa comes through in time.  We couldn't be more thrilled for him!

Of his Vienna buddies Mikey will be the last to leave following (from L-R) Garret Bourne who is going to Belgium, Nick Moffitt who is going to Texas and Matt Goodson who is going to London.

On Feb 23 MK had fun participating in the Oakton Stake Road Show: "Oh The Places You Will Go" 

On March 9th MK and her friends graced the tidal basin to enjoy the gorgeous blooms:

We went at 7:00 AM to beat the crowds.  The cherry blossoms were at their peak and the girls loved it.  Until they found out that 2 dead bodies were pulled from the water a  few days later.  From L-R:  Courtney Moffitt, Meagan Moffitt, MK and Janessa James:

At the end of March the thermometer plummeted just in time for us to leave for Florida.  While it was snowing back home in Vienna, MK was doing this on Cocoa Beach:

The cold temps caught up with us so we explored some wildlife sanctuaries and went to a Nat's spring training game.

On April 25th we flew to Utah for this pretty girl's graduation:

Wait, why would I be putting MK's seminary class in the middle of our Utah trip?  BECAUSE after 16 years of Nielson family perfect attendance someone's alarm clock didn't go off and her mom wasn't there to back her up :(  Sad day.  Cute class, though.

About fell over when we caught up with Mikey--he's lost so much weight!  It was great visiting with G-ma and G-pa too.

Tom and Leslie have the cutest little house and are busy making it a home.  So fun to see them:)

We also went to the amazing wedding of this cute couple,

Lisa and Ryan Bench: 

After four days in Utah we headed to Idaho to see Nathan graduate from Law School.  Woo Hoo!

Nathan is the handsomest, Roxie is the cutest Steph is the best for putting up with them:)  We ate out tons and even went to look at model homes when we were there.  I hope they live in one soon.  Although for now, their apartment is really cute.

Only 2 days in Idaho and we were off to Texas for law school graduation #2.  

 

Baylor's graduation was very entertaining.  They sure love RG3 in Waco. 

Cutest. Family. Ever.

I don't adore this child, or anything.

2 days wasn't nearly long enough, but alas, after 10 days on the road it was time to go home.

 On May 11th MK went to the Mormon Prom held in Fredricksburg, VA.  

What a nice looking group!  L-R: Johnny Stevens, MK, Graham Bourne, Karly Castellaw, Cole Bishop, Meagan Moffitt, Carson Carraway and Hadley Powers. 

MK and Johnny

On May 31st she went to Madison Prom with Michael Nielsen:

He surprised her by showing up in his uncle's 1967 convertible Cadillac.  She LOVED it.  The awesome group of Mormon kids.  From L-R: Katy Harrison, Graham Bourne, Lauren Michaely, Jesse Tuttle, MK, Michael, Olivia Hartt, Matt Livingston, Jessica Howard and Brandon Corry:

Not to upstage MK's prom or anything, but Baby Dean got a hair cut!

Mikey's T-Shirt Blanket

About three years ago I cut up about 40 of Laura's old T-shirts and made this:

Last month I cut up about 30 of Mikey's old T-shirts and made this:

There were a couple of shirts I would have liked to have included but he still wears them.  Since a few of you have asked me how I made them, here goes:

Materials:
about 2 yards of 60 inch wide solid colored polar fleece (4 yards of you want to make it double thickness)
6-8 yards of Pellon Wonder Under--I got mine on overstock.com
Iron
Rotary cutter, mat and ruler
Thread
T-shirts

Directions:
Prewash and then cut 60" wide fleece (the solid color of your choice) to the desired size.

Using a rotary cutter, roughly cut out the logos.  I most often use the ones on the front and the back of the shirt.  If you have the patience you can cut out the remains of the t-shirts into "yarn".  I didn't have the patience.

Cut out enough wonder under to cover each logo and how much of a border you want around it.

Iron the wonder under paper side up to the wrong side of the logo.

Using a rotary cutter and ruler cut out the wonder under backed logo.

Lay out your logos on a single layer of fleece.  Play with them until you like the arrangement.  (On Mikey's I found a couple of shirts late in the game and kind of forced them to fit on the bottom right hand side making it a little off.)

Once the logos are placed to your liking, remove the paper backing and iron them logo face up on to the fleece directly where it lays.  I did mine on a hard wood floor and it was fine underneath the fleece.

Once they are all ironed on, for extra stability, sew about a 1/4 inch around the edges of each of them.  I used black in the bobbin to match the fleece and a neutral color to match the t-shirt.

Trim the threads.

For a light blanket, you're done.  But if you want extra thickness you can baste a second second layer of fleece to the top layer along the edges and then sew around the edges.

MK has about 50 t-shirts stock piled already....and she still has a year before she graduates.  By the way, Bruce thinks I should take a picture of each quilt and put them on t-shirts;)

Christmas 2012 and New Years 2013

Yet another reason why living in Vienna is so awesome:

This year we made a ton of fudge, strung lights, stapled together paper chains, decked the halls with boughs of holly, sent out our annual card, booked lots of flights, threw back to back parties, watched lots of bowl games and ate WAY too much.  But the best part was getting reacquainted with our adorable grandson.  Here he is with his Great G-Ma D:

 Seriously!  Those eyes!

 Who needs toys when there is a boingy door stop to play with?

 I have the most beautiful daughters and daughter-in-laws!  Here's Nathan and Steph who came all the way from Boise:

 Christmas eve tradition:

 Yay!  Mikey is home for three weeks!  Thanks, BYU, for giving us an extra one this year!

 The haul:

 Nathan and Steph:)

 Mikey, checking out his stocking:

 MK in her onsies and her BFF, Baby Dean:

 Jeff spoiling Krista:

 I love my calendars from my DILs of happy 2012 memories:

Dean's first trip to smash burger:  Dispense with the french fries already! 

 Four Generations of boys:

 And girls:

 At G-ma and G-pa Ds:

 Too cute:

 Jessica spent lots of time over here doting over the boy.  He was too much fun:)

 It's really kind of ridiculous how much this child is loved!

  MK helping with the decorations for the New Year's dance.  481 teenagers came.  It was a par-tay.

I look forward to making many more happy memories in 2013.

Thanksgiving

Look who's here!

They arrived at midnight on Friday night the 16th and left the next morning with Dad and MK to hike Old Rag at 5:30 AM.  After some crazy shenanigans involving a mouse, a recliner and a pellet gun on Saturday evening, Laura and I spent the following Monday morning shopping in Georgetown snagging this ridiculously good parking spot across the street from the entrance to G-town Cupcakes:  

The cupcakes are definitely over rated--they're only good because they're cool.  

If you want a European grocery store experience and ham that goes for $99 a pound take a stroll through Dean & Deluca:

After our fab time in G-Town scoring on some deals at Anthro, we met up with Jordan in Arlington to eat at East West Grill.  Goofy Laura waiting for our food and her man to show up:

 Lamb Kabobs:

I don't exactly get what the big whoop is all about but Jordan and Tom seem to that East West Grill is the end all of dining experiences.

I personally thought dinner that night was better.  Laura and Jordan made grilled balsamic prosciutto wrapped asparagus and I made butternut/acorn squash bisque.  Dang good.

L&J biked into the city to meet Dad for lunch on Tuesday while I helped decorate the Oakton Stake Christmas tree at the Washington DC Visitor's Center. They had Plaka Chicago gyros for dinner and Dunkin Donuts (Jordan's first ones!) for dessert and then did hot yoga with Jessica.  They loved it.

MK took a mental health day on Wednesday (they got out early anyway) and hit up IHop with her buds after seminary. Then we spent all of our money getting ready for Thanksgiving by going to Costco:

And going bowling:

 

And eating lunch at Smash Burger (if you haven't tried it yet, DO IT!):

   Laura took a long Thanksgiving nap after going to round two of hot yoga at 6:00 AM with Jessica.

MK and Dad ready to eat:

Sweet potato casserole from a recipe on my kindle:

Mmmmmmm:

What Bruce does with the turkey leftovers:  In addition to the swiss cheese, bacon and turkey there are olives, peanuts, and grapes in there.  Oh yeah, and cranberry sauce. All on his homemade sweet potato bacon biscuits. Your taste buds seriously go into over drive.

The Thanksgiving top ten:

We collectively gained at least 10 pounds.

L, J, MK and Dad hiked 9 miles up and down Old Rag.

Watched 8 movies (at least Jordan did) including Sky Fall (fun) and Life of Pi (mind bending). 

Enjoyed 7 side dishes (counting the relish tray) -- the Brussels sprouts stole the show.

Baked 6 loaves of Cranberry Orange Bread.

Had only 5 people join us for dinner this year.  So weird without Mikey :(

We each bagged at least 4 (or more) bags of leaves raking with the YM/YW for a service project.

Played 3 rounds of Scrabble Apple.

Watched 2 BYU football games-- they lost one and won one.

AND.....Put up 1 Christmas tree:

Time to crank up the Christmas music :)