MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I said I wasn't going to do a Christmas card this year. Then when it got down to it I felt kinda bad not sending one out. So I did a few, mostly to family. I'm sorry if you feel like you should have received one and didn't. I really only did a few. But here it is, including the letter attached. We hope all of you have a fantastic holiday season!


It’s hard to believe that the Holidays are here again!! This year has gone by so quickly!! As we look back, we can see that we have been very blessed here in Indianapolis. Student family life is busy, but has been very peaceful and wonderful. Our family continues to grow and create many lasting memories together.
Dave is in his third year of dental school and is now able to work with real patients in the clinic. He enjoys interacting with his patients and continues to learn new things every day. Most of all, he loves being a husband and dad and is grateful that he can now be home more often in the evenings.
Nicole enjoys being a mom with all that title entails. She loves helping in the classrooms of all three of her boys. She continues to serve in the primary presidency which takes up a good amount of her time also. She feels very blessed to be able to stay at home with her kids.
Austin and Taylor finished a great 1st grade year and are now half way through their 2nd grade year. They are learning a lot and love both reading and math. The biggest event for them this year was turning eight. They were baptized and confirmed by their dad on September 5th. We were blessed to have many family members make the trip to Indianapolis to share in this special day. When asked how it felt to be baptized Austin answered “wet.” Hopefully that isn’t all they felt. Their current interests are eels, tornados, motorcycles, and race cars.
Caden started all day kindergarten this year and has the same teacher that his big brothers had. He loves it. He is very smart and is doing very well in school. He enjoys playing with his friends and on the computer. He was recently placed into an advanced reading group and loves that he is able to read books. He is very sweet and loves to help any time he can.
Haley is the newest addition to our family. She was born on August 5th, sharing a birthday with her Grandma Felt. She is such a precious little girl who we have all fallen in love with. She loves to be cuddled, play peek-a-boo, and chew on anything she can. She especially has a soft spot for her dad who feels the same about her.
We are very grateful to have had a healthy and peaceful year this year. It is nice this time of year to spend a little extra time together and remember all of our family and friends. We are grateful for all of you and hope you have a very happy holiday season.
Love,
Dave, Nicole, Austin, Taylor, Caden, and Haley Felt

O Tannenbaum, O tannenbaum

This last weekend we went to our favorite tree farm in Indiana to get our Christmas tree. It is always a fun outing!

Looking for the perfect tree...

Trying to keep warm...

Cutting down our tree...

Haley's first time visiting Santa...

The end...

This is how I feel today...

Last but not least...Haley

(Sorry all of these post were supposed to be in reverse order, you can start at the bottom if you want!)














We love this little girl at our house. She is getting bigger and more fun every day!!

My Aunt Maria passed away on the 14th. I was lucky enough to be able to go out to Utah to be there for the funeral with my sister. Maria was the one who when my mom passed away when I was 11 stepped in and took care of me and my dad. She was a fantastic person who I will greatly miss.


Here is her obituary if you want to read it:
Maria Ernst passed away peacefully November 14, 2009 at the age of 93. She was born in 1916 in Germany during World War I. She was one of 9 children who loved each other and were very close. After their mother died, Maria became caretaker for the younger children, which began her life of service and caring for others. The family struggled during World War II and after. She took care of her own siblings and her sister's children as they all fought to rebuild after the war. The strength that came from those years was remarkable and was evident to all that knew Maria.In the 1950's, she immigrated to America, not speaking a word of English. She worked as a housekeeper in Cody, Wyoming for a family that she loved dearly. It was there that she joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Her faith in Jesus Christ and testimony of the restored gospel was firm. She moved to New York City to be near her younger sister Anna and learned to sew so she could get a job in the same design house in the garment district. Maria loved the people in the Manhattan ward and the Spanish branch where she served tirelessly taking care of baptismal clothing.After she retired, she followed Anna and her family to Utah where she lived the rest of her life. She served as a missionary in the Frankfurt Temple in 1988 which she loved. She spent countless hours in the temple, doing genealogy, and sewing clothing for humanitarian projects. Everything she did was meticulous--her best effort. That is how she lived her life until the end. She was positive and strong in spirit, even when her body became weak. She never married and had children of her own, but she truly had a mother's heart. After Anna died, Maria took care of her ailing brother-in-law and their young daughter for seven years until their oldest daughter finished schooling. How can we ever express the love and appreciation that we (Anna's daughters) feel for our special aunt Maria. She has strengthened us and sacrificed for us. She taught us to work hard, serve others and have faith. We will miss her so much. We are sure the reunion on the other side was great and joyous.She is survived by one sister in Canada and nieces and nephews in Germany, Canada and Utah/Indiana. The family would like to thank the staff at the Beehive Home and CNS hospice for their kindness and help in caring for Maria the last year and a half of her life.Funeral services will be held on Monday, November 23 at 2pm at the Suncrest 10th ward, 90 North 600 West, Orem, with a viewing before the services at 1 pm. Interment will be in the Provo City Cemetery.

Halloween

I don't have very many pictures from Halloween, but we had a fun day. We carved a pumpkin the night before.

Had a fun Halloween lunch with our cousins.

Went to a soup dinner get together with friends and neighbors and went trick-or-treating.
We also went to a fun Halloween party at a friends house. To protect the innocent "Goofy" shall not be named!!

Nashville, Indiana

On another fun adventure with the Cannon's we went down to Nashville, IN in Brown county. It is a nice little town with mom and pop stores lining the streets and a beautiful state park with a lake you can walk around. The leaves were just starting to change when we went. (the group picture with all of us need a little explanation, Dave has a funny face because he was trying to get all the kids to look at the camera. Go figure!)

Rockville, Indiana

For a little adventure we traveled to Rockville, Indiana with the Cannon's for the covered bridge festival. Funny thing is we didn't see any of the covered bridges. Oh well we had a great time anyway. We went on a horse drawn wagon ride, enjoyed all the little booths selling fun things, and ate some yummy BBQ!

Getting WAY to far behind

So I know I said I would do better at posting and that I had a lot to share so I was going to break it up. Truth is, I am way to far behind now. So what would have potentially been a few really nice posts is going to be a few really short posts. With fewer words and much fewer pictures.

So for Austin and Taylor's baptism and Haley's birth and blessing we were blessed to have Dave's parents come be with us. Kerrie came the beginning of August and stayed until all the festivities in the first week of September were over. Rod who wasn't able to be away from the restaurant as long came for about a week when it was time to baptize and bless the kids.

We had a super nice time with both of them. I could not have made it without Kerrie here to help. There are not enough words to express my gratitude to her.

We went to parks and had fun dinners but mostly just enjoyed being together. We even went to Madison, IN where Rod served part of his mission and saw the same apartment he lived in.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

My mom would have turned 85 today. She was an amazing woman who I will be lucky to be anything like when I grow up.

Austin and Taylor's Baptisim

Ok, I know I said it wouldn’t be long before I posted again…I lied! We had such a busy and full last couple of months that I guess I didn’t know where to start! So I am going to do a little at a time. #1 so I don’t bore you and #2 so I actually do it.
On July 9th Austin and Taylor turned 8. They decided to wait until September 5th to get baptized when their Grandma and Grandpa could be here. We also had a special surprise when the boys Great Grandpa Rigby said he was going to be coming. We felt very honored to have him here. The boys looked so grown up to me. I am very grateful that they chose to be baptized, whether they fully understood what they were doing or not. We had a very nice program. Dave baptized and confirmed both boys. Their Grandpa and Great Grandpa both spoke. The room was filled with the spirit. I hope they can remember how they felt that special day.

Here you go!!

I know, I know! It has been 6 weeks Wednesday since we had our baby girl, but man, I totally forgot how much time newborns take! Mine especially thinks she needs to be held at all times, making updating my blog a little difficult. Anyway, before she wakes up here are a few pictures.
We have had a HUGE month but all the rest of the great things are going to have to wait.

Haley Nicole Felt was born on August 5th at 8:35am. She was 8 lbs 12oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

Her first cuddle with mom.

I know it's blurry, but it is still pretty cute I think!

Look at all that hair!!

Caden absolutely loves his little sister.

Time to go home!!

Sleeping baby, awww!

Not so sure about the whole bath thing.

Takin' a break in her swing.

This little girl is tightly wrapped around her daddy's finger.

Well there you have it. Stay tuned, I promise it won't take as long for me to update the rest!!

A month full of fun things!!

I know it has been a while since I last posted, but honestly this month has been CRAZY. July usually is for us but it was more so with the last few weeks of pregnancy going on and a couple other "not normal" things happening...so here is the month of July in a nut shell (and a little bit of June).

All of our family has a birthday in the summer, it starts with me on the 3rd of June. I turned 30 this year and Dave took me on a fantastic date with a yummy dinner and to see Wicked. This is a big deal for Dave, he really doesn't like plays/musicals. We both left though thinking it was fantastic (well fantastic for Dave might not be the right word, but I know he didn't hate it!)

Austin and Taylor started a summer school program that was really well run and they loved it. Taylor even got most improved for his class! It was nice for them to have something to do during the day. This was especially true for Austin as he had Botox injections in his leg to help with the muscle tone, then they put a cast on his foot to hold it in a certain position. They also casted his right arm to force him to use his left arm, his weaker one. He had both casts on for 5 weeks and we finally got them off yesterday. The Dr. was very pleased at the progress he had made, and I think he could tell a difference also. What a trooper!

Dave's birthday was on the 3rd of July and we took the day and went up to South Bend for Del Taco and some playing at the beach. It was a fun day.

Austin and Taylor turned 8 this year, that is really weird for me. They got to go see Walking with the Dinosaurs and thought it was really neat. This also means that it is time to be baptised, they are waiting until September though when their Grandpa and Grandma will be here. They did get to start Cub Scouts and they love it. They have really great leaders who help them and push them! In fact Dave and I got to spend the evening of our 11 year anniversary at the Raingutter Regatta. It was so fun to see the boys blowing on their boats that they painted and made with Dave. (they won every match they were in). It seems like Dave and I have been together forever some days, and not long enough to be having our 4th baby on others. All I know is I am the luckiest girl in the world to be married to such a fantastic guy.

We got Dave's board exam results on the boys birthday and he passed. It was a relief for both of us, but obviously mostly for Dave. He didn't feel too good about this exam when he came home after taking it. It was a literal load off his back to get such good scores. He worked so hard and we are very proud of him. He has started working on "real" people and really enjoys this part of his schooling!

Caden has been in swimming lessons these last two weeks and loved it. He also had is 5th birthday on Thursday and all he wanted to do was go to Chuck E. Cheese. I know we did that last year, but it was what he really wanted. What's a mom to do? The hard thing about Caden turning 5 is that he is old enough for kindergarten. I am going to miss my little buddy while he is gone all day. In fact all the boys will be starting school on the 10th of August.

I think that just about wraps it up. Oh, as for me, well I am HUGE, swollen and ready for this little one to come. I go into the hospital on Wednesday at 6am. We are all very excited, the boys more because with the baby coming it also means that Grandma is coming!

I realize that each of these events deserve their own post, but I really haven't had the energy this month. I can only promise to try and do better in the future (give me a week or so after this Wednesday).

OH!! I also need to give a little shout out to my fantastic sister-in-law who has watched one or all the boys many, many times over the last few weeks for Dr.'s appointments and other things. I could not have made it through the last little while without her! Thanks A, I love you!!

Lake Michigan and Indiana Dunes (lots of pictures, not a lot of words)

This last week our little family went on a two day trip to Lake Michigan and the Indiana Dunes. The boys had such a fun time climbing and rolling down the dunes. The water is still pretty cold, but the boys really didn't seem to notice.

I can't believe how big these guys are getting, where does the time go?

They had a lot of fun jumping into nice soft sand. I was surprised they even tried let alone did it again and again! It's a pretty high jump for a little guy!

Austin's favorite way to get down:

All my boys

How cute are they?

I love that you can see his splash.

Goofy Caden. Again, when did he get so big?

As for me. 4 1/2 weeks left, that's all I have to say right now!