Christmas 2010

After the wedding, we met my parents in Mesa and spent some time with my Grandma Baker. Jacob had to come back to work, so Chelsea and I stayed there until Thursday, then came to Thatcher on Thursday with my parents. Monday the 20th, we celebrated our 5th anniversary! I can't believe it has been that long. It doesn't seem like we've been married for 5 years! My parents watched Chelsea so we could go to a bookstore and look around. We actually went out and celebrated alone while we were at Disneyland, but more on that in the next post!

Christmas was good this year! Like I said, my parents were in town, so that was nice! Jacob's parents were out of town (Jacob's whole family was in Texas this year), so it was just us and my parents. Chelsea must have been a very good girl this year because Santa was very good to her! Other than presents there wasn't much going on that day, so here's some pictures!

Chelsea running out to see what Santa brought!

So excited!

Grandma Melinda wanted to find some stick horses for the kids because they had so much fun playing with them at Fort Bridger. Grandma added the ribbon to the girls' horses. Chelsea loves it!

My mom's cousin came over to see her, so we didn't jump right into presents. Chelsea was perfectly content though. She was so excited about the horse, desk, and the little things in her stocking she wasn't worried about all of the unopened presents under the tree!

Grandpa Monte reading Chelsea the Elmo Christmas Book from her stocking.


I had her open the big stuff first. I figured she would eventually get tired of opening presents and there were some that I was excited for her to open.
She opened her big present, then just waited while daddy and Grandpa opened it. She was so excited about the baby doll! I have never seen a kid so excited about a present before! It couldn't get opened soon enough!

She's holding the baby doll. She didn't want to put it down. Eventually she figured out that it would be easier to open the presents with two hands.
Check out that action shot!

Chelsea did get tired of opening presents, so we just set the other ones in her room for when she wanted to open them. She didn't want to open them that day, but I think she opened them all but one in the next day or so. I guess she just wanted to prolong Christmas! Grandma and Grandpa left that afternoon to head to New Mexico to see the rest of the family. We weren't able to go because we had made plans to go to Disneyland before Derrick decided to get married :). We had fun with my parents and wished they could have stayed longer!

We taped the Disney Channel parade earlier that day, and watched it later while Chelsea played with some of her new toys. She absolutely loves baby dolls. She knows exactly how to take care of them! Now if only she could change her own diaper...

While we watched the parade I was trying to finish up an autograph book for her to take to Disneyland. She wanted to help.

Our excitement didn't end with Christmas, though! The next day I drove to Phoenix to pick up my amazing friend Jessica from the airport! We drove back to Thatcher, then we left for Disneyland Monday morning! More pictures to come! :)

Derrick and Anika's Wedding

December was a very busy month for us! I was really looking forward to getting to go somewhere and be gone for so long (since I don't really do much and jump at the chance to get out of town). We drove up to Utah for Derrick's wedding! We borrowed a car from my Uncle Tom (there is no way our car would have made it through all the snow and mountains), so the trip was pretty smooth! Well, except for the two times Jacob got pulled over. The first time was about an hour before Provo, and it was because the tint on the windows was too dark. (He said it was even too dark for Arizona). The second time was on the way back, about an hour from Mesa. Apparently the light above the license plate was burned out. The second cop was much friendlier than the first. I think he was surprised when he pulled us over and saw us and Chelsea sitting in the car (the car was kinda sporty looking). Other than that, there wasn't much excitement in the driving itself. Oh, except for the fact that Chelsea refused to sleep on the way there (we drove all night), and didn't really sleep much on the way back either. All in all it was a good trip, and great to see family! Here's some pictures of the great day!

This is my dad, Grandpa Carl, and Uncle Kevin. Can you see the family resemblance? It had been a while since we had seen them, so it was great they were able to come!
Derrick and Anika Turner :)

Stephanie made these adorable dresses for the 3 little girls. We got tons of compliments on them and they looked great! Thanks Steph!

We tried to get a picture with the siblings and our families. Chelsea was past ready for a nap, so she wasn't very happy. I'm holding Eliza because she wanted her mom to hold her, but she's holding Caleb. It was freezing outside! I'm finally used to this Arizona weather, so it seemed freezing in Utah to me!

After the wedding, we drove to Provo to go to the Creamery! (The Creamery on Ninth was basically my 2nd home during college...I worked there, and probably spent more hours there every week than I did at home...especially during the summer!) We were excited to take Chelsea there for some grill food and ice cream! I also got to see Hilary, Cindy, and Jacki--3 people that I used to work with!

This is the only decent picture I could find of the reception. We drove a couple hours up to Lyman, WY (Anika's hometown) for the reception that night. (I think Thatcher is tiny, there is noway I could survive in Lyman!) We got a cute picture of the grandkids! (Jay, Caleb, Carly, Chelsea, and Eliza)

The next day, in Wyoming, we were able to go to the Fort Bridger Museum. (It's normally closed, but Anika's family knew someone who worked there and was able to get us in, or something like that). It was really nice because they had a Kid Korral play area, and we didn't have to worry about anyone walking off with the kids because we were the only ones there. Despite her face in this picture, Chelsea LOVED playing with the hat and stick horse. She played with it the entire time we were there! Jacob is sure having fun though, huh?

Chelsea on the horse in the play area. Over the month we discovered that Chelsea has a love of horses. It's been fun to see her start to pick the things that she likes (like horses, babies, and Minnie!)

So that is our trip for Derrick's wedding in a nutshell. Like I said, it was a good trip and great to see everyone, and most of all to welcome Anika into the family! Stay tuned for a post on Christmas!

Year in Review

I saw this on someone else's blog and thought it was a good idea. It's just a recap of the year with a couple pictures from each month. It helps to show how much Chelsea has changed and grown up over the year! Enjoy!

January

Chelsea in January. She wasn't quite 1, and wasn't walking on her own yet either. Notice the cyst on the top of her forehead. This was removed in February.

February
Chelsea had surgery to remove a cyst. This was taken when we were able to see her after the surgery.

Her stitches. I think there were between 16-20. This was a couple days after the surgery when we removed the bandage.

Chelsea turned 1! This isn't the best picture from her birthday, but I wasn't able to find many (our stuff is still in storage so I was limited to what I could find on the computer). She also started walking a couple weeks before her birthday!

March
Beginning of March we finally took her out to play in the snow for the first time. She seemed to enjoy it, but couldn't walk very well on the snow! It really wasn't that cold that day, but it was fun to bundle her up to go outside!

Chelsea and I made a crazy trip with my mom, sister, and her 2 two kids to Arizona during spring break. We got to see my Grandma and Grandpa Baker. Grandpa passed away a month after we saw him, so the trip was completely worth it. We also spent time in New Mexico visiting Darbie and Chad, and went to Explora! (a huge hands on science center)!
April
Easter! Chelsea loved exploring the candy from the baskets!

Jacob turned 26! (He's quickly turning into an old man...). He has this obsession with pirates, so I did a small pirate themed party for him. I just love this picture of him and Chelsea!

May
Graduation! Jacob graduated with an MA in Literature from The University of Akron on Mother's Day! Chelsea and I are so proud of our graduate!

As a graduation present from his parents, Jacob and I took an amazing vacation Chelsea free! We went on a cruise to the Bahamas, then spent a couple days at Universal Studios in Orlando. Grandma Lauritzen watched Chelsea for us in Ohio, and Grandma Melinda helped her out and watched her the last day!

June
So remember how I said I was limited to what pictures I could find on the computer? Well, for some reason I wasn't able to find ANY pictures from June! In June our amazing friends, Ashley and Kolbein Kolste, came to visit with their new daughter, Emma! We went to the zoo and Ashley and I got to take a night to scrapbook at Archiver's! It was a great couple of days, and we can't wait until we get to see them June 2011!

July
Jacob and I drove down to North Carolina for Rochelle and Scott's wedding! Jacob had already accepted a job offer from Gila Preparatory Academy here in Safford, AZ, and we had to move the next week!

Jacob and I after the wedding, right before the rain started!

Time to pack up everything we owned and move across the country!
Chelsea was clearly pulling her weight in the packing department...That is staying out of the way so we could pack everything up!

August
Chelsea on a walk to get a snow cone. Hot. Hot. Hot. No other way to describe the weather. Welcome to Arizona!

I had to take a first day of school picture of Jacob! He was so excited for his first day as a high school English teacher!

September
We braved the Arizona heat and went to the Phoenix Zoo. It was hotter than heck that day, so we only got through half of the zoo. (We decided to get a membership so we could go lots more!)

Pigtails! Need I say more?

Development of September: HAIR! Where did all that hair come from? It seemed that when we moved to Arizona she sprouted hair and teeth...during the move she had 4-5 teeth coming in. Where did my little baby girl go?

October
Graham County Fair. I was really excited for this. It was fun, but it will be more fun when Chelsea is a little bit older and we can do more.

My mom came to visit! We spent a couple days in Mesa with my Grandma Baker. We also got to meet Derrick's fiancee, Anika. Here's a 4 generation picture we snapped before rushing back for Jacob to work!

This is Joseph. Hiding in the ferns on the mountain. This is the first time we went hiking in the mountains. We had lots of fun! Maybe after the snow is gone we'll do it again!

Halloween! Chelsea was Alice (costume made by Grandma Melinda). This is her running at trunk or treat at the church. She had lots of fun!

November
We went to the Zoo again, focusing on the part we hadn't done before. The weather was much nicer so we had a much more enjoyable day!

Chelsea LOVES shoes. The first thing she asks for in the morning is shoes and socks. She gets so excited about them. She loves to walk around in Jacob's shoes!

December

I would have to say that December was our busiest month, by far! Derrick and Anika got married in the Mount Timpanogas Temple!

Of course we HAD to go to the Creamery for some burgers and ice cream! Chelsea LOVED it!

Christmas! Chelsea absolutely loved opening her presents! Santa was good to her this year!

We went to Disneyland with Joseph and Jessica! It was great to see Jessica and get to spend so much time with her! We had a great trip and it was a great way to end 2010!

So there is a recap of our year in pictures. We had a good year. We're very blessed for Jacob to have found a job right out of school, and we're getting used to living in Arizona. We'll see what 2011 holds for us! Who knows...maybe it will hold more regular blog updates!

Happy New Year!

So, I was ambitious this year and decided I was going to make Christmas cards this year. I figured with not working, I had plenty of time to finish them. Well, things got busy with the holidays...my brother got married, we visited family, then went to Disneyland the week after Christmas. So the cards didn't happen this year. Maybe next year! Here's the poem Jacob wrote to send out. Check back in the next few days for LOTS and LOTS of pictures of our adventures this last month!

“The Lauritzen’s 2010: A Year in Review”

2010 was a year of transition

With graduation and moving and paying tuition.

Here is a poem with some of our story

Sit back and relax (I hope it’s not boring).

Upon graduation, we left on a cruise.

We flew to Miami for food and to snooze.

We ate Key Lime in Key West and saw Hemmingway

And in the Bahamas we played all day.

We left Ohio towards the end of the summer.

With vacation over it was back to a number

Of “unfun” stuff; moving and packing and driving cross-country

From East to West to make some more money

Jacob got a new job, or two, or three

At a high school, a college, and university.

Now he is teaching, and teaching, and tutoring students

Wiping their noses and grading their truant … papers.

Chelsea had surgery to remove a cyst

She turned one, can run and climb onto … well, let me list:

Her crib rail, the table, chairs and benches

Computers, and scooters and did I mention … everything?

She is starting to talk, saying, “peeze” and “more.”

It’s so cute and precious we cannot ignore

When she tugs at our fingers and drags us in place

To play Legos or balls or to clean off her face.

She loves Minnie and Mickey and going to the Zoo,

Dora and Diego and Ming Ming too.

She is our bundle of joy;

Our love and our world!

We love her so much—

Our Baby Girl.

Whitney has been scrappin’

and a little head scratchin’

To find what to do

in our town of like two

Or three thousand,

a Walmart, and mountains.

She has been reading a lot of murder mysteries

Where the killer kills with new recipes.

Then, she tries them on Jacob to see how they taste,

And when he survives she puts some on her plate.

But still we have fun

Out here in the sun

Through good and bad days,

Through the sweat and the tears

Merry Christmas from us

And have a Happy New Year!