Can we go back in time for a minute? April 2011

Okay...I really need to stop saying that I am going to be better at this blogging thing. It is just not working. But here I am, and I am going to do a recap of our lives starting from where we left off...April! (I will try and do a little each day.)

P.S. Sometimes Blogger is frustrating! I have all of these pictures rotated and ready to upload, but it keeps turning some of them...no idea why...kinda makes me mad, and madness makes me not want to blog...but I will persevere.

One of Nina's more awesome Saturday morning cleaning outfits!

Nina and Bill at the Dino Museum

More museum...

and more museum...

And Nina loved the erosion table!

Easter Egg Hunt at De Groots

Bill and Nina, yes this is April...in Utah

More Egg Hunting

Easter at the Wheadon's

My sweet little easter Bunny...ha!

Nina following the Magic Easter Bunny poops to find her basket

Golfing with Dad, and riding in the back basket of dad's cart.

Nina must like to sleep in things...here she is in the doggy bed...eew?

Sunday Dinner with the Wheadon Cousins

Mom had another foot surgery...and we are all checking on her. Looks relaxing right?!

We got cousin pictures taken in April too!

April was a great month...but it feels like years ago. We are now getting settled in our new place in NY and we are loving it! It was a crazy spring and summer, but it was so fun to be with so much family. We miss you already! More updates to come!

What we've been up to...

Zuster Amber De Groot had a Birthday that we celebrated last night...she is in Belgium...but why not celebrate and enjoy her ice cream cake for her?!
My Mother-in-law's adopted sister passed away and we had a memorial for her Sunday. All of the Aunts and Uncles were in town from that side of the family. So great to see them all!

Golfing...if you know my husband, you know that he made his way to the golf course as soon as the snow was mostly gone...here is Nina golfing with grandpa after work Friday.

Playing at the park...I know that this picture will be great blackmail later...so funny that she would not sit back in the swing.

Happy Saint Patty's Day! In Nina's words "the Leprechaun gave me kisses!" Hence the green dot on her nose.

At the aquarium with cousins...I love this picture...all standing by their own sized penguins! Ha!
Hanging with the Frog...and grandma!

Happy Birthday to me!
Again!

We took Nina to see the play Beauty and the Beast and she loved it! It was just a Junior High production but it was perfect. As you can see she wears her Belle dancing dress all the time. She also calls herself "Speechless" because belle says that in the movie to Gaston. We are all disney princesses all of the time here!

Nina's First Day of Preschool
Nina was the star of the week at preschool. My favorite responses on her poster were:

When I grow up I want to be a... SISTER! (whoa...watch the subtle hints Nina.)

Who are your best friends...She named her cousins...and Sis. Hall. The sweetest woman who Nina just loved in our old ward.

In preparation for the big move to NY, we got renters in our house, and are now living with Mom and Dad De Groot (plus Ryan...and that really is a plus!). Aren't they kind to put up with us?! So far it has been a total blast. We love them so much and love having this time so close to both families!

Oh, yeah and....Go Cougars!!

Nina doesn't want to sleep...

The past few nights have been hilarious as we’ve tried to put Nina down to bed. Usually she loves bed time and goes right down after she brushes her teeth, reads a book, says a prayer, and sings a song. The past few nights however, have been a little different… No screaming, no temper tantrums, no wrestling her to keep her in bed. Instead, she talks and talks and talks about anything that pops into her head. The second we try to stop her, the talking just gets louder and faster. Seriously, this girl didn’t breath for nearly 10 minutes while she tried to keep us occupied with her stories so we wouldn’t actually shut the door. Her strategy seems to be working, as you can tell from the video below…

(video quality is kind of bad, but this is still pretty funny)

A Year in Review

Wow! Not even one post in 2010. I did not mean for it to be this way. Whenever I would think about blogging it was too overwhelming to go back and talk about all that had happened in the year...so instead I did not post at all. Sorry for the long time away. 2010 was a really great year for our family though.

The first bit of BIG news is that Bill got into the Johnson Business School at Cornell University. Woo Hoo! All of that work on applications really did pay off! We are so excited. We will be moving to New York in Late July. Crazy Right?! But we are so excited for the opportunity.

In an attempt to sort of catch you up on our year...I think I will give you one highlight picture from each month last year:

December:

Hope you all appreciate the fact that this $16.00 photo was supposed to be of just Nina and Santa...but since she was petrified after standing in line for an hour...we decided just to sit in. She was a little less than thrilled about actually meeting Mr. Claus...but she does insist that she is going to marry him in the temple.

November:
Bill at Cornell University interviewing for their MBA program. He got to stay with his grandparents in Syracuse...and then after this went straight to London and partied there. (Okay really he went for work...but a pretty awesome month of traveling nonetheless.)

October:

Halloween...oh the joys of dressing up in embarassing costumes...Peter, Wendy and of course our little Tinkerbell.

September:

Uncle Tanner left to the Toronto Canada East Mission!

August:
Lots of Hiking and Fishing this month. Our Favorite was driving up to the Uintas and Hiking to Cuberant Lake. So beautiful!

July:
Happy 2nd Birthday Nina!!

June:

Love this Picture of Nina with her cousin Agnes. Nina is obsessed with Agnes and every baby doll she owns is "Baby Agnes."

May:
Just a cute springtime shot. (Aunt Amber also left on her mission this month...to the Belgium Brussels Netherlands Mission.)

April:

March:

The Beginning of our Hiking Year

February:

An early 4 year Anniversary for us Skiing at Sundance

January:
Happy Half Birthday to Nina!

Like I said...a really great year for our family! I am very sorry that I have not been great at keeping this blog up to date. It is a resolution of mine to do better...and hey...even this one post is better than last year. Thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas....

...and a Happy New Year!! We love you all!

Yes...this is our sad excuse for a Christmas Card this year. I kept meaning to send one...but here we are two days from Christmas...and no card. We love you all the same, and we hope that your holidays are wonderful!

Love,
Bill, Whit and Nina

Happy Halloween...and Holidays!

Well I know that once again it has been a while...and hey, at this rate you will hear about our Christmas about next June. I am looking forward to it...aren't you?! We really did have a great Halloween and thanksgiving. Here are a few late pictures!Whit and the Fam at the New Moon midnight showing. Don't you love our awesome shirts?

Bill has taken up a new hobby...fly fishing! Did you even know people fished in the snow...I mean besides ice fishermen? Me neither.

Knocking doors for candy.
Showing off a portion of her loot and the sign for candy. (Still one of her favorites!)

Cruisin' the streets!

Our safe little unicorn. We thought it was hilarious driving to grandma's house like this...I don't think Nina found it as humorous as we did.

Nina and our neighbor Eden. Sorry the pictures is sideways...blogger will not let me change it today. But isn't this priceless?

Carving pumpkins
We thought a knife was a little too dangerous...so we let Nina color hers. Very modern. Love it!
Nina and Dad working.

A few days before Halloween Grandma De Groot invited us to go with her preschool kids to the pumpkin patch. Nina loved it! Here she is looking at a chicken and laughing her head off.

I promise that I did not place her here. She saw other kids doing it and could not get enough. Ha!

Giving the Casper totem pole a hug...and I thought he was the friendly one.

Walking with Grandma

Happy Halloween!

The other exciting news for the week is that Nina started Nursery. They let her start a little early...which is so great cause bill and I both have to be teaching. She loved every second of it...and they said the only problem she had was that when they changed classes she ran down the hall into another classroom. How did we create such an independent child you ask? Beats me!