October Minus Halloween

October is the month that I start to get excited about the holidays that are coming up. Christmas music is playing in our house, we have decorations for Halloween up and we are getting ready to have the leaves change and the winter come. Most people say October is their favorite month. Mine is basically every month from September to December. I love the end of summer, fall and the beginning of winter. This month I am not going to write to much but I am going to put up a lot of pictures of what has been going on in our lives but I am not going to include Halloween or Halloween stuff in this post.(Obviously since it is not even Halloween yet.)

 Tanner and Layla cuddling together. (Very rare to have Layla to snuggle with)

Tomatoes, Carrots and Green Onion from our garden. Plus the LARGE carrot we grew!

This is Layla watching General Conference. 

Layla's ten month Pictures

Grandpa Woolley with the Great Granddaughters the night before his open heart surgery. He had 6 bypasses done. He is doing well now. 

The stroller gang with their tough faces on.

Our attempt to get granddaughter pictures taken but they all would never look at the same time. Here are just a few from that night. 

We had a few days of entertainment at our house with this bee head band. 

Layla's new favorite thing is to watch the laundry spin in the washer and drier. She will crawl over to is and stand right in front of it to watch it go around. 

Sometime we stick Layla in strange places. Like on the shelf in our closet.

We enjoy going swimming with cousins but it tired Layla out. 

Andrew got to hold Layla while she slept and Jacqui( Andrew's fiance) did my hair. 

Layla loves to empty things now and then crawl inside them. 

Annalee and Chad invited us to go to the Edge Homes pumpkin party they were having. Layla got a pumpkin and balloon and loved them both. We got to play with cousins and hear some music and eat food. It was a lot of fun!

Tanner and I went on a date that night to the Hudson Lights concert to see McKay, Keith and Ross sing. We were glad we got to see them and some friends we haven't seen in awhile.

Layla was helping me clean by standing under the step stool. 

Layla loves bath time and not having to wear clothes. She is happy to crawl around with just a diaper on!

Layla is starting to really like having Alec hold her. She would prefer that over having to be on the ground. But with both girls in his arms they mostly trying to grab each others faces.

Tanner was able to go to a BYU football game with some of the young men and leaders in our ward so I decided to can for my first time ever. It was easy once I knew what I was doing and I actually enjoyed it. I am looking forward to canning more fruits and vegetables from our garden next year.!

The Nilsson's go to Baltimore

Last Day

For our last day of vacation we decided to go into Baltimore for the day. Especially since we were flying out of the Baltimore Airport we thought it would be a good idea to be in the city so we could get to the airport more easily.
We started off our day getting ready, packing everything and heading back into Washington D.C. to get T-shirts. We always buy T-shirts for our trips that we go on. We kind of were slackers this time because it was not until the last day that we remembered that we needed to pick some up. So, we drove into the city and we found a corner that had a few T- shirt stands. Tanner let me out of the car and I went and bought us some T-shirts. It was funny trying to pick the shirt that was best when there were only a few to choose from but we go them and Tanner drove around the block and then came back and picked me up and we headed to Baltimore.
We got to Baltimore and went to this pier that Tanner had performed at many years ago when he was in Clayton production groups. To start off with we bought tickets to go on tours of two of the ships that were there at the pier. We went through a pirate ship. Okay, I am not sure if it was a pirate ship but it was like that. It was crazy to see how many floors and rooms they could have on one of those ships. Tanner liked the cannons. Which I was shocked to see how big they were. We had fun putting Layla on the hammocks that were hanging up. We probably shouldn't have but it was pretty funny. We walked around the mall that was there and then we headed to the submarine. This was so amazing. It had so many different handles and knobs and levers. I could never imagine having to live in that submarine for weeks or even months. It was so tight and there was almost no living space. It was amazing to read a few stories of the men that served in the submarine.
After that we thought about getting some lunch or ice cream but we decided since nothing look that great and we needed to head to the airport in about and hour that we would just head to return the rental car and head to the airport.
We got to the airport made ourselves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Got in line to check in and get our boarding passes because with an infant in arms the computer made us check in with a person at the counter. Then we stood in what seemed like a long time for security but it actually went really fast.
We got to the gate, I went to change Layla's diaper Tanner went to fill my water bottle with ice. A must have for me on an airplane and got us some smoothies. I of course was getting just a little stressed and frantic about boarding and getting on the plane with the car seat and stroller and Layla crying because she was hungry but I wanted to wait until we took off to give her a bottle. I gave in a fed her right when we boarded the plane but she still did great as always with the air pressure and flying.
The flight went smooth. Tanner is always so calm and great and lets me cuddle him, take all his air all while he is holding Layla. He is wonderful and helps we to calm down a little and relax. I love to travel but flying still gives me a little anxiety.  The flight was a little longer than scheduled at first because a few days before we were flying home. There was a fire at a control tour in Chicago. Because of that we had to go down around Chicago instead of going up and around. ( I think that is what the pilot said) Then we got to fly around a storm which was very good to look at the clouds and lightening happening in the clouds while we were flying beside it. We finally made it home. We got to our car and decided we were hungry and drove into down town Salt Lake City and go some sushi at Takashi. Which even though it was 9:30 at night and had to wait to be seated. It was so so yummy and just what we needed to finish off our Washington D.C. vacation.

The Nilsson's go to Washington Day #6

Day #6

We had planned to go on a tour of the Capital Building around 11 from Tanner's friend Mike that lives and works in Washington D.C. As we got out to the car around 10:30 to head into the city we saw that we had a flat tire. We did not know what to do with a flat tire on a rental car. Tanner called the rental car company and asked what they wanted us to do. We had to change the tire to the spare and trade the car in for a new one. Tanner was so good to change the tire and get us to the airport where the closest car rental place was. We filled the car with gas and went to trade the car in. We looked it up on Google and it took us to a place that had a different name but they returned the car and we switch to a Dodge instead of the Chrysler we had already. We did not like that car as much over all but the space was nice. We sat waiting for them to return the car for about 30 minutes and then we finally headed into the city to meet up with Mike an hour and a half later than we planned. We parked and headed to one of the Senate office buildings.
We met up with Mike and we got to go underground from the office building to the capital. We could have ridden on this little train but with the baby and stroller we decided to walk. We got to the Capital Building got our little badges and headed on the tour. We stopped at a few statues, saw different rooms such as the old senate room, the old supreme court room, and the rotunda. It was very interesting all of the things we got to see. Mike took us down this hallway were they were restoring the old paint that was on the walls. It was very yellow in the old places but on the restored places it was beautifully colored. Then there was a place where if you stand on one side of the room and the speaker on the other that it magnifies the sound and you don't even need to talk loud to hear them. It was incredible. We then stood Layla on the spot that is the middle of the city. It is suppose to be lucky.
After the wonderful tour Mike gave us we headed to lunch with him. Since they are in recess right now he did not have a lot of work specifically that day. So we walked over to this burger place called Good Stuff Eatery. It was delicious. I love burgers anyways but these were so yummy. After we ate. Mike walked with us back to our car and then we said good bye and thank you to him for showing us a little part of Washington D.C.
We got in the car and headed to the Vietnam Memorial, Korean Memorial and then over to Hiroshima Memorial. These were very humbling experiences to see so many names of soldiers lost and knowing how many fought. I am so blessed to live in a country that has men that were fighting for our freedom and for the rights of others also. As I have mentioned before about my Grandpa Taylor it was fun to see where he fought and what he was involved in during so many of these Wars. In his history he doesn't write much about the wars because he says a lot of it was vulgar and terrible things he saw and did not want to remember those or have his posterity remember those. It is kind of sad but very understandable.
This was our last day in Washington D.C. but we enjoyed every minute even when we had to change a tire and the car it was still adventure.