Favorite Aunt and Uncle

Not sure what came over me but I decided to drive the kids to AZ by myself for Thanksgiving week. My brother Eric lives 10 hours from us in Heber AZ so that always sounds doable but coming home from Safford, where my sister is was a beast-16hrs. Anyway, Eric and Kelly really are two of the nicest people I know. I love my brother more now than I ever did growing up. He has no kids of his own but he is so great with mine.
R was afraid of Eric at first. He is a little intimidating. He's a big bald guy with a stache so she cried when he wanted to sit with her at the dinner table.
As you can she, he quickly became "the favorite". R still talks about visiting them and how much she loves her favorite uncle Eric!

Christmas Sunday Clothes

Here is the best picture I could get on Christmas morning in their Christmas best. Yep Regan is hamming it up for the camera but I love this picture and think they all look great. Timeless!

Christmas 2011

Christmas came as usual this year. Lots of food and too many presents. Lots of time with each other and I think everyone is happy. Here are a couple pics from Christmas day.

Yoga-Have you tried it?

So Yoga's been around a long time-I know. Recently I have developed a great appreciation for it. T and I have a Saturday date for a Hot Yoga at our gym. We both love it. I have recently added in one more class on Wednesday night. You know I've into fitness for a long time-walking, running, spinning, lifting weights, etc. Yoga does not take away from any of those exercises but adds to them. It is hard core resistance training, not just breathing and humming. I love the heat because it makes you sweat and warms your muscles so you can stretch further. I am so much more lose now that I've been doing Yoga. The first class is a little scary but go back and try again. Focus on your breathing and center yourself in the moment-it's good for you I promise.
By the way, I have recently removed names in my blog for privacy. Thanks Tonya-good advice!
Signing out from your Yogi friend, J

America's Best Brownies

Seriously, I love new recipes. Brownies and Chocolate Chip cookies are my favorites. America's test kitchen is probably one of my favorite websites right now. They test and figure out what is best. Today I made their chewy brownie recipe and they are GOOD. They tried to figure out how to make a great homemade brownie with a texture like box brownies. So, take my word and try this recipe. It is so good and really not much more work than box. Oh, and I used Bakers unsweetened chocolate and Ghiradelli bittersweet chips. A yummy Sunday afternoon treat!

Chewy Brownies

Makes twenty-four 2-inch brownies

For the chewiest texture, it is important to let the brownies cool thoroughly before cutting. If your baking dish is glass, cool the brownies 10 minutes, then remove them promptly from the pan (otherwise, the superior heat retention of glass can lead to overbaking). While any high-quality chocolate can be used in this recipe, our preferred brands of bittersweet chocolate are Callebaut Intense Dark Chocolate L-60-40NV and Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bar. Our preferred brand of unsweetened chocolate is Scharffen Berger. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso (optional)
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate , finely chopped (see note)
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter , melted
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups (17 1/2 ounces) sugar
• 1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate , cut into 1/2-inch pieces (see note)

Instructions

• 1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Referring to directions in Making a Foil Sling (related), make sling using the following steps: Cut 18-inch length foil and fold lengthwise to 8-inch width. Fit foil into length of 13 by 9-inch baking pan, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges. Cut 14-inch length foil and fit into width of pan in the same manner, perpendicular to the first sheet (if using extra-wide foil, fold second sheet lengthwise to 12-inch width). Spray with nonstick cooking spray.

• 2. Whisk cocoa, espresso powder (if using), and boiling water together in large bowl until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in melted butter and oil. (Mixture may look curdled.) Add eggs, yolks, and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and homogeneous. Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated. Add flour and salt and mix with rubber spatula until combined. Fold in bittersweet chocolate pieces.

• 3. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and cool 1½ hours.

• 4. Using foil overhang, lift brownies from pan. Return brownies to wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

First day of School

This year all four Nelson kids are in school all day. Hooray!
Regan is 5 and starting Kindergarten. I signed her up for all day because there are no younger siblings at home and she is super smart. Being at home would not be beneficial for either of us!
Brenna starts 5th grade, her last year in elementary school. All of her best friends are in her class so it's going to be a great year!
Luke is 3rd grade and his best friend is in his class. He feels pretty grown up and excited to get letter grades this year.
Notice no picture of Garret. He goes to school so early that I completely forgot to take his picture. He looked really handsome though! He is in 8th grade so his last year of middle school.
Me, I cried a little when dropping Regan off, then I went to the gym and did a class, put on my swimsuit and spent a couple hours reading a book at the pool AHHH, I could get use to this!

Summer in a Nutshell

Our Summer, as usual, has flown by. I will try to recap with a couple pictures and dialogue. I did not use my good camera all summer so most of these pics are off my phone and are not good. I have decided to take out my good camera and use it more often.

We did all the basic summer stuff. Boys did scout camp. Brenna went to a camp in the mountains for a week by herself. Swim lessons, swimming, jumping on trampoline, playdates, and almost daily baking were included. Some of the special things that happened, my sister Laura and her family came for a couple days-fun cousin play, Todd's sister Amy and her family came for a week, I cooked and baked a lot for them and we had so much fun together. Following this visit, Garret got to drive home with them and visit Arizona for the first time by himself. He even flew home alone. It was a good week for everyone!! My best friend Donna dropped in overnight and she and I had a wonderful time the next day shopping in a little town nearby. My birthmom, Joyce came by for 3 days on her way to the midwest to see family. We had a delightful time together. Todd had two seperate weeks off this summer so we took a trip to Canon City and another to Steamboat Springs. A few pictures follow.

This picture is in Steamboat. We lovesd it there, it's really a cowtown so Regan wanted a cowgirl hat. We went to a rodeo, hiked, and played in the river.
This is the kids on a rock, they love to climb rocks. We had so much fine hiking to waterfalls and down big mountains.
Steamboat has an Alpine Slide which we did even though I think it's too expensive. The kids had a fun time and got faster on the second time.
In June we decided to take a short trip to Canon City, it's about an our southeast of the springs and has the Royal Gorge Bridge there. We road the train through the royal and it was beautiful!
In Canon City we found a cute movie theatre that was quite old and had the best popcorn. Our second day we went rafting on the Arkansas River. The kids thought they were in heaven. We had to wear wetsuits and rainjackets because the water was still 47 degrees. Pretty cold but the kids had so much fun!
All in all we had a great summer! We are always amazed at how much fun we had over the summer. Garret thinks he's going to make his trip to Arizona next summer as well. That's good because I will NEVER go to AZ in the summer.