Milano

*Warning: Picture Overload*

Well we did indeed get to go to Milan yesterday. It was so much fun! We went with our friends Mike and Emily and their daughter Baylie[almost 11mo.].

We ended up driving. Saved LOTS of money by doing that instead of taking the train! Its about a 3 to 3 1/2 hour drive. We left a little after 6a and got home a bit before 10p. Long day thats for sure!

There is tons of shopping there! I'm not a shopper but I like looking. They had all the upscale stores, Prada, LV, Chanel, Armani...the list can go on. And just watching people there, there were some very different looking clothes! It was cool to see.

Here are some pictures.

The Duomo.

Sorry the pics are a tiny bit out of order.

Us 4 in the Galleria

Nick and I outside of Castello Sforzesco

Again.

This is inside the big duomo. SO PRETTY

They won't let you in if you have shorts on or tank tops or flipflops, so I brought a sweater.

I love the Duomo

Haha. Yes we ate there. We don't go to McDonalds ever, unless we are out far. Its easy and probably cheaper and I know I will like it. Haha.

Inside the Galleria. Where lots of shops were.

Walking into it.

In front of Leonardo di Vinci's Statue.

This is just neat. It was the Train Station.

Heck yes. Had to snap a shot.

I just liked it.

Right at the begining. When we were trying to figure out where were and where we were going. { They look like they are in a movie}

I might add more later! You know I have TONS more!

Ciao!

The Noose.

Here is a lovely video of our babies. Yes, thats a noose. I am hoping that is how you spell it. When we first got here, Nick's squad was moving from the old building to the new one, and this noose was there so he took it since they were throwing it out. No clue what it was for, lol. We've just had it in the closet doing absolutely nothing! Well tonight, for who knows what reason, Nicholas decides to get it out. He started playing with Kodi with it and he is loving it, well he decied to tie it to the stair banister, and voila a lazy person dog toy! Haha. It was just funny to watch Kodi trying to pull this and its obviously not budging. Then of course, Kaci had to get in a little action too. She isn't much of a tug-o-war'er but hey, she wanted something!

Hope you enjoy!

The Big 22.

Today was Nick's 22nd birthday. So we get to share our age for roughly a month, as I will be turning 23 on the 10th of June. He doesn't let me live it down that I am almost a year older than him! Its gonna be a rough one when I'm 30 and he's still in his 20s! Haha.


Here is a pic of his cookie cake I made him. I had to shave the sides a bit because they were hanging and fallin off the edges! I put too much cookie on there!


Thank goodness we had a couple people come over and help eat it, we only have a few pieces left!

It was yummy! We had Vanilla Bean ice cream with it!

Just a little update....

I tend to post more pictures then actually updates, so here is one for the books.


Nick and I are great. Finally the weather is getting nice outside minus the rain we get almost every week. As long as the weekends are bright and sunny I'm good! We are suppose to go to Milan this Saturday. We were looking into taking the train but now we're looking into driving. Plans might change, but I really hope they don't! If they do, we are doing something, just aren't sure what just yet.


Then we are also suppose to go camping Memorial Day weekend. We made those plans about a month ago, I should probably bring them back up to see if everyone is still up to it. I would love to go. I haven't been camping in quite sometime. I mean we don't have to go Memorial Day just sometime! I was looking up camping and there is awesome camping near a lake called Lake Bled in Slovenia about 2 1/2 hours away. Sounds fun and neat!


The base has ITT trips and we are going to try and go on one on the 30th of May. Croatia by Boat. Not too expensive. I need to go to the office and see if any seats are left and so on. I think it would be real cool and different to do that.


Nicks 22nd birthday is Thursday {the 7th}. We aren't doing anything out of the ordinary. But our anniversary is coming up too on the 19th. 2 years! I can't believe it. I mean I know 2 years isn't a long time but hey, its a work in progress! Lol. We really haven't thought much about what we want to do for our anniversary. Probably something simple.


The "kids" are doing good also. Same ole same ole. They go lots of places with us, the back of the car can attest to that. { I have to vacuum the car frequently so its not horrid!} We are planning a trip back stateside late summer time frame and Nick is reluctant to leave them. Of course we would love to take them with us, but it would be pointless really. Stressful on us and them. If we were stateside thats totally different. Oh and not to mention expensive. They aren't light weight dogs!


Nick, as of tomorrow, is off the line. He is going to Phase.{those of you who don't know what phase is: he is switching squadrons, going to be pretty much working on one jet each week sorta speak and taking it all the way apart, fixing it, and putting it all back to together, where as if he was on the line he'd be fixing little easy things and launching them out and catching them and such} Where he'll be probably the rest of our tour here. He wasn't happy at first, but his attitude has made me proud. He just says he will learn so much more about the jet and be an outstanding Ssgt. So again, I am proud of him and his attitude!


I think that is really all I have to say. I will try to do this more often. But if you are like me, pictures and pictures and more are just fine too!


Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

My New Favorite Picture!

Like the title. This is my new fave picture!


We went walking, as usual. And I was like 'hey try to get a pic of our backs....'...then Nick called them both and it was perfect!

Toby Keith

So I heard on the radio on Wednesday that Toby Keith was going to be performing at Camp Darby. I wanted to go but its like a 3-4 hour drive that way. So I was like oh well. Then I went online and looked up his tour and found out he was going to be at Vicenza Army Base Thursday night. Thats only and hour to and hour and a half away. So I was like ROADTRIP!


It was just me, Holly and Mandee. I am so glad we ventured out and made it. It was a pretty good concert. Very nice day too. Considering it was outside. Nick was a little upset he couldn't make it but he was fine. And our good friend Emily wanted to go very bad too but her daughter Baylie is cutting 4 teeth at once and didn't want to get there and have a crabby baby!


Here are a couple pics from the evening!


P.S. I wish my rounded corner pictures didn't have the white on here like it does! Oh well imagine its not there!

Just editing.

Sunny Saturday

We went hiking on Saturday morning, {4/25}...Just Nick and I and the fur babies. We had a blast. It was such a gorgeous day! We hiked so high, that it started to get really cold....when we got down and noticed how high we were, we were like, "No wonder it was gettin cold, the snow was right there"....Needless to say, if we would have kept going up a little bit more, we definatly would have needed snow boots! Hehe.

I love us!
Taking a breather.

Where's Kodi?!

Pretty Girl cooling off.

Rock Diving! Lol

Frecce Tricolori

The Italian Air Force aerobatic team practiced over the skies of Aviano today. It was pretty neat. I was going to go to base this morning to see it closer and such, but I didn't. Luckily I could see them very well from our front patio. Granted, when I saw them landing {couldn't really, trees and buildings in the way from our house} I really wished I would have gone to base because they had all the colored smoke and stuff. Still I got some good pictures.


They are officially known as, the 313 Gruppo Addestramento Acrobatico. They are from Rivolto Air Base Italy, about an 1-2hrs away from Aviano AB. The team includes 9 MB-339 PAN two-seater fighter training aircraft. They have been wowing crowds since 1961 with a performance of 18 high-speed, acrobatic manuvers which includes the Italian green, white and red smoke filled finale.


They were practicing for their airshow at their home base in Udine on May 1 2009. I am going to try and talk Nick into driving up there, I would love to see them in full play! My mom and dad have said that the European air shows are so much better then the ones stateside. I guess they say that the Europeans are more daring. So hopefully we'll get to go to this one coming up!


Enjoy the pics!


P.S. I got a new lens to my camera, a 75mm-300mm. So I got to test it out today with the jets!

**I just noticed that there was only 8 flying today! Weird! I can count, but the article says there are actually 9, so thats why I said that! Hehe.

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!


After church we had a potluck with lots of yummy food and great people! The sun was shining and we couldn't ask for a better day to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior!


Then after that we came home and hung out with our good friends Mike and Emily and Baylie. The boys played softball while Em and I just hung out and talked and I did gymnastics. Hehe.


The dogs of course got to be in on this. Ours and theirs! They had a blast too! We actually were able to let Kodi and Kaci run without a leash and they were so good! Only once did we get a little nervous that they were heading for the road, thank goodness it wasn't a busy busy one or I would have really freaked! That was the first time we let Kaci off the leash so she proved she is somewhat trustworthy now. Lol.


Anyways, again, hope this finds you all well and have had a great Easter! Don't forget its not all about cute bunnies and yummy chocolate eggs!


Love,


The Nelson's

Yay for spring days!

I am still in a little awe that it has been so nice outside. I am definatly anticipating the rain to come soon though....but thats ok....thats why its so green here right!?


Here are some snap shots while we went on a 2 hr walk in the country yesterday. It was so nice and pretty.

Deena with Elvis and Nick with Kaci and Kodi.
Nick with his rigged double leash thing.

So very pretty. There is still snow!

I actually think these are weeds, but hey, it made for a good picture still!

Here is Mike and Kodi, we all thought Kodi would pull him down, but he did great!

Time Change

For all those who keep tabs on us by calling and such-hehe, we are now one more hour ahead. So for all you Arizonians, we are now 9 hours ahead of you! Just thought I'd let ya know. We changed yesterday, not sure why we don't have the same daylight savings dates as the states, but we don't. Oh well.

Not so inocent....

Clearly they don't look inocent do they!? Well they aren't. They are indeed diggers. That piece of dirt Kodi is laying on, is quite frankly, the hole they are digging. They have been out back for hours on end today, I'm guessing because its nice, breezy and maybe they just feel like getting on 'mama's' nerves today! Who knows.


When I open the back door, they act as if they aren't doing anything. Kodi will stand in front of or lay in the hole they are working on. Crazy smart dogs I tell ya. Then I shut the door and spy on them, they lay or wait for a bit...then when I do walk away and then walk back, they are back to digging their lovely hole. Oh joy!


I have been inside cleaning so I love them wanting to stay outside, usually Kodi goes out to do his buisness then wants back in {he has to be leashed when outback, he jumps the fence}. Kaci could be outside all day and wouldn't care to come inside, unless you have food of course.
I do love them. Now they need baths! Nick isn't going to be happy. Because we have to double team it! Kaci is horrible at baths and Kodi, well he has his moments. Nick holds them, I scrub!


Anyways. Thats my excitement so far!

Baylie Loves Huskies.

Whenever Baylie and Emily come over, Baylie just loves being on the ground with Kodi and Kaci and they love it too! Well Kaci more than Kodi most times. I am so glad that they are great around kids. Baylie just hangs on Kaci and pulls and grabs and climbs and Kaci just lays there and sometimes rolls over for Baylie to pet her or something. Hehe.

I guess Kodi didn't want left out of the photo.
I love how Baylie squints when she see's a camera now!

Move over...

So, I was sitting at the computer and looked over and saw this...Kodi squeezed himself in the bed with Kaci.

I remember when they fit so perfectly in that bed together....She needs to stop growing! Haha.

I just thought it was funny and cute. Wanted to share!

Sugarland Concert.

So last Friday the 6th of March the Armed Forces Entertainment brought us Sugarland! They put on a great show. I am so glad we went, we had lots of fun. Here are a few pics.

They had so much energy and were all over the stage!

Gorgeous.

I am learning a lot with my camera. As most of you know, I have an EXPENSIVE one. I was just using the automatic settings but now that I've been reading this book and learning the manul settings.

This picture below is one of my first attempts at manual mode really. I was trying to get the flowing water effect....did it work!? I think it did. For the most part. Let me know what you think!

*Hiking in Dardago

My Sister!

So my sister was at school one day...Glendale Community College...and there were reps from Disney there trying to get students to apply for their programs. She calls me and tells me and I was like "do it!" and then she was like, "but its a summer program and that means I won't be here when you guys are visiting..." and I was just telling her that it would benefit her so much though. Let me back up here a bit.....

My sister wants to own her own resorts and such. Thats what she has wanted to do for a while now. She already has idea's of themes and all this stuff. So if she got hired at Disney's resorts, that would just be perfect for her to see it up close and personal ya know?!

Ok back to the main story...

Well she went ahead and signed up and they set up a phone interview. She wasn't too thrilled on it, cause it was short and sweet, and didn't think they could choose from that. That was about 2-3 weeks ago.

Well, she called me at who knows when last night, mind you I was sleeping but since I knew it was her, I answered it. She was so excited and was like " I know you are sleeping but I had to call and tell you that I got the job and I am going to Flordia!" Its the fall semester program, so she will be in Az for the summer. And she is gonna be working in the resort, doing all different jobs. They get school credit for doing this too. Probably not as much as if they were taking a full class schedule but still.

They put the students up in a local apartment that they don't really pay for, I think Kylie said something like $75 a month. Which I think is perfect for those who have never lived on their own. Kind of giving them the opportunity to live on their own and know the 'real world' and still have to pay bills but it not be outrageously priced stuff! I know for a fact that this will help Kylie a lot. I love her to death but this will show her its not all fun and games out there. Haha. She is getting better but this will open her eyes to it all.

It will be great for her to work in the resort. Great opportunity. She will probably not want to come back home. Especially since there is a beach in Flordia! Haha.

Hey, it gives me reason to possibly go visit Flordia, especially if she does the program longer or something! I have never been to Disney World but want to go so bad!

Anyways,

Congrats Kylie!

Kaci loves TV.

We were watching "The Horse Whisperer" last night, and she liked it too! She watches TV once and awhile but was really into the horses! I just found it funny and wanted to share!

Do YOU want a husky?!

Kodi is now 'blowing his coat'.

Fun times I'll tell ya!

I am not sure if the bath we gave him yesterday make it come but its here now!

That is from last night, using the Furminator{takes the under coat out}. He lets us brush him. Unfortunatly Kaci won't, but she isn't shedding right now. Thank goodness.

I hope its always at different times! Otherwise it will be a mess!

Oh and by the way, thats not all of it, thats just from last night, we'll do more tonight!

Big As Mamma.

Look at that! Kaci is just as big as her mamma, Skye. Skye is of course fatter, but she is carrying another set of gorgeous husky's as of now. She only has a little over 2 weeks left. Anyone want to guess how many there will be this time? There were 6 last time. Lol.

Anyways. The sun is shining out today its so nice! Still chilly but definatly not cold ! I love it. I think I will sit on the balcony and read my photography book....

I hope everyone has a great day!

Maniago Carnavale

Here are some pics from the Carnavale Parade we went to yesterday. Carnavale is the Italian Mardi Gras and Halloween. Thats why the kids dress up. Thats about all I know about it. And they LOVE confetti! As you can tell!

TONS of confetti! It was everywhere!

Before the parade.

He got some dumped down his shirt. Haha.

^Hailey the Princess, Nick, Hunter as Spiderman, and Emily and Baylie.




Scary looking drummers. Lol.

Espana

Here is some pics that Nick took while he was in Spain. I really like the last one, its probably my favorite and the framable one. And no, I don't know what any of these are called, and he isn't home at the moment. Haha. So I'll see if he remembers!

Almost time.

I know that the time Nick was gone is nothing compared to a deployment, but that doesn't necessarily make it easier. To a point, yes, cause you know they will be home at this specific time not too far off, but they are still not with you, and thats never easy.

But its almost over! Of course I am not at liberty to say when he is coming home, but its indeed sooner than later. I am pretty excited. 3 weeks. Not long. Not short. Glad its coming to an end.

This was our first TDY since we've been here. Which by the way, we've been here over a year now, crazy how time flies! Crazy. So being the first separation since moving here. I was nervous. Cause no family to keep me company, I mean last time he was gone, I lived with my dad. So that wasn't the same as now.

I am VERY thankful for my fur babies! This house would feel so very empty if they weren't in here with me. They are always there to love on and cuddle with when the time is going slow and the house feels lonely. As much as they are annoying at times, I wouldn't give them up for anything! Thats a fact!

I've been going to aerobics. I love it. Its nice when someone tells you what to do and you have to do it! I quit ER watching. Not cause I didn't like it. But just needed a change. I'll go back to it sometime. I can't wait to start cooking again. I have only used the stove twice since Nick has been gone. Sanwiches and cereal. Haha. But I love both so it works. I love cooking. But no point for just me.

Today, I came home, and the remote was gone and pieces of it were spread about, including one battery. I did indeed think Kaci {Kodi doesn't chew and she is a pup} ate the battery. I started freaking out. Tears and all. Only because I was of course thinking the worse...'what will the battery acid do to her stomach?....did she chew it or swallow it hole?...did she throw it up already?.... All the bad things of course. So I called our vet. He gives out his cell phone for this reason. I love it. He was a but nervous, but of course didn't say why..but I could tell. He wasn't in the area so he said to watch her and bring her in at 6p when he was gonna be back. Well I had already checked under the couch but decided to do so again, what did I find. The rest of the remote including the other battery!! BREATHE was what I had to do now. I was so relieved. Whew.

See. These are my babies. No joke about that. That was my action for today. Haha.

That is her favorite spot. Under the recliner. Wondering how many times I've smashed her?! Lots. Haha. Especially when she was tiny!

Kodi & Kaci

Here's my babies. Doing what they do best. They are so mean but are just playing with each other. See how big Kaci is now!

Just me.

Well, Nick has been gone a little over a week now. It sure seems to be longer. I've been trying to keep my mind off of it. I've been sick the last week. So that took away from me actually doing anything. I am finally feeling better. I am very thankful for that. I've rented ER season 1, 2 & 3 from the libary, no not all at once! But thats what I've been doing, especially since I've been sick. Tomorrow is Bible study and then a Tupperware/Partylite Party. Then Tuesday Kodi is getting neutered and then there is a Ladies Fellowship that evening. I am gonna start back to the gym this week too. I love going, but again, being sick has dampered that a bit. I am gonna go to an Aerobics class a couple of my friends go to. Its actually a Mommy and Me class but people without kids go to. Then on Friday I am doing the 5k Combat Fun Run/Walk. So this week should go pretty fast. I think.

Nick is doing well. I haven't talked to him since last Sunday, but we email. So I'm good with that. All in all, I'm glad to hear he is ok. He doesn't get to go out much in the week. He's on swings and they have a 1am curfew. So he sleeps, eats, and works M-F and explores Spain on the weekends. Lucky him! I am excited to hear all about the trip and see the pictures.

So all in all. I'm great. The first few days were the hardest, its the first TDY he's been on since we've been here, which by the way...it is 1 year in Italy tomorrow. Time flies! But as much as I miss him, the relaxing time is cool too. But I can't wait till he comes home! Lol.

Hope all is well in your part of the woods!