Nelson Nickels

Lucky Rachel

2012-02-06T21:41:00.000-08:00

Rachel went to her ortho appointment, and won a prize in a drawing they had for good brushing.

She was SO excited! She won a cupcake from Jubilee Cupcakes...it was a smores cupcake.

Not only that, they gave her a gift certificate to the mall for $100.00! Can you believe that!

She says she is going to buy lots of earrings, because she is getting her ears peirced on her 12th birthday.

We all got to watch her eat that wonderful looking cupcake. She said it was amazing!

What a crazy week!

2012-01-23T17:16:00.000-08:00

Handwashing Dishes....as a family. Good times.

So, we had some power and tree issues this last week. Ice and snow storms came through and caused some problems. Our power went off Wednesday morning until Saturday night at about 8pm. Luckily we learned our lesson about 4 years ago when a similar storm took our power out for 4 days, and got a power generator. So, we did okay.

We worked most of the time on replacing doors and trim, but at night we played games with the kids.

I ventured outside after a full night of hearing scary tree crashes, and took some pictures. this is the street outside my house.

Scott and I finished

all the doors and trim of the house. It looks much better then before.

This is a picture of what our doors and our cheep-consistantly-falling-off-the-wall trim looked like before.

The kids loved taking the old baseboards out. They also were really good at removing nails.

Snow!!!

2012-01-23T16:48:00.000-08:00

We went to Birch Bay, which is up by the boarder of Canada, and it started to snow! My kids were so excited, and so anxious to get out and play in it. Unfortunately I didn't bring their snow clothes with us, so they only lasted about an hour or so outside.

This is my favorite picture. As you can see the snow wasn't very deep, and you can see the snowball track. The snowman is at the bottom of the picture, and the kids are at the top.

My Harry Potter Lego Obsession

2012-01-13T17:14:00.001-08:00

Rachel is turning 12 soon, and she loves the Harry Potter Lego sets. Eric used to like them when he was young, so I bought him 2 sets that are now tripple in price. Well that was years ago, and all the lego parts have been mixed with the rest of our legos, and used for other imaginative creations. So, because we have already spent our budget money on a fun surprise for the night of Rachel's birthday, we didn't know what we were going to do about a present. So, being the frugal mom I am, I decided I would download the Harry Potter building instructions to these two sets and try to hunt down every little lego and rebuild the sets that are now worth a few hundred dollars.

This is an idea of the magnitude of legos I had to go through...Andrew's box of Legos...

Eric's box of Bionicle Lego parts...And the 5 pound box of Lego peices we own.

After three days, I did it. And I did a pretty decent job. Quite a few peices were m.i.a., (you can order missing peices from the Lego company online) but I ended up making do with what I had. It turned out so good! I of course don't want to give them to my kids anymore, but I will...

Eric is a little put out...mostly because there are so many peices he likes to build with. But in the end he decided this would be a gift from him as well. At least,they will be "on lone", he says.

This is Dumbledors Office

This one is Slytherin House

Eric's Ceramic Class

2012-01-13T17:14:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, I think Eric's ceramic talents are getting better. These are his most recent peices. The demon black cup is so cool! It is my favorite. But his snowman is a close second. He has let me put them in my kitchen.

He made a spoon, and eats cereal with it each and every morning.

He made a jack-o-lantern

Here are some of his earlier things. He loves that flying piggy bank he made. He went through a candy making faze. We have apple and peach rings, a white gummy bear, and a candy corn. There is also the Nelson sign and cup.

He loves our pizza night so here is pizza, with grapes and a cookie for dessert.

This is also a favorite of mine. This was one of his first peices. This is Hugo from the books Fablehaven. Cool!!!

Andrew's Heart is...

2012-01-11T09:40:00.001-08:00

...doing GREAT! We went to his yearly echo-cardiogram checkup, and his heart seems to be doing really great. After his surgery in 2008, for his mitral valve cleft there was some narrowing around the valve they had to repair. Well, his heart has seemed to grow and make up that difference and it looks better than it did last year. He doesn't need to go back to the cardiologist for another 3 years! I am so happy and feel so blessed.

Thank you Dr. Woods!

(surgeon)

Thank you Dr. Stefanelli!

(cardiologist)

Thank you Dr. Nelson!

(the amazing, and might I say alarmingly attractive, anesthesiologist who found Andrew's heart murmur)

May you all be blessed beyond belief for what you do!

Eric's Debut

2012-01-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

Funny little story, I was going through my iTunes a while back as I was preparing to change computers when I ran across some songs that really had no title, artist or album. Curious, I took a quick listen to see if I wanted to keep them or clear some more hard drive space. I struck gold! My curious ears found one of the most precious moments that we as a family have recorded on digital media. Upon discovery of this sound file, I had to pull Wendy in and have her take a listen. She thought about how adorable the sound byte was and wished "It would be so fun if one of our children would do something like this." My reply, "This is Eric." She didn't believe me and it took a lot of convincing before she would even entertain the idea. After more investigating, I realized that the iTunes had pulled some of Eric's voice recordings and stored them onto our main frame at the time. We laughed a giggled for a little and then soon forgot about it until recently when Rachel and Andrew got ipod/mp3 players for Christmas and we ran into it again while loading up there music. This song has now become the family theme song. We wanted to load it here on our blog for everyone to hear but you can't load music, so we made it into a slideshow of Eric. While it may be something that only Wendy and I get a real kick out of, Andrew and Brian are always singing it. Eric is a little hesitant about us publishing a private file of him singing, but we can't resist. We have to share it with others, just be gentle on him if you want to mention it. When we first approached Eric about it calling it a variety of names, he declared it was titled "I ate cheese on Sunday" Enjoy, and please leave a comment. We want to know who has seen our little gem.

Happy New Year

2012-01-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

We were invited to spend New Years Eve with a couple of great friends, and play games, and consume sugar!

We had a blast. We played Forbidden Island, Tripoley, and Pass the Pigs.

We drank sparkling apple cidar, egg nog, and had a killer moose cake!

Scott is on the phone trying to involve Eric and Rachel in the New Year celebration.

New Years from the Seattle Space Needle.

Pass the Pigs was our last game. My friend Megan won that game.

I just think these pigs are so cute!!!

Elizabeth's "30th" Birthday Bash

2012-01-01T21:19:00.000-08:00

So, we were invited to a fun New Years Eve Eve celebration and Surprise Birthday party for our great friend Elizabeth.

Stephanie, Elizabeth and Kim, the party throwers

This is where the party gets a little interesting...

We all played Do You Love Your Neighbor

Some people (Scott, and a few other men) were being really competitive,

let's just say it ended in a bloody mess.

Scott and Alan went for the same chair, but when they got to the chair, it had moved and Scott was falling, grabbed onto whatever he could to break his fall, which happened to be Alan's arm, so Alan couldn't catch his fall, and landed, skidding on his face.

This was not good.

A busted nose, goose eggs, and cuts and bruises later, Alan wasn't looking too good.

Even worse, Scott has a reputation now, and I don't think anyone is going to play that game with us ever again.

Scott and I came home feeling awful, and then Eric started throwing up all over his bed!!!

What a night. We checked up on Alan, and found him to be doing okay, but still had a restless night.

Eric got better quickly, bed got laundered, and Alan looked great on Sunday! Better than we were imagining.

So, Life Happens...and blessings do come.

Christmas at the Nelsons

2012-01-01T20:28:00.000-08:00

Rachel love the Harry Potter Legos.

This year she got Dobby's Release, and The Forbidden Forest.

Andrew received an MP3 player. He is loving music now!!

Brian got a Zumbuddy from Andrew. He was so excited!

Rachel just opened her Ipod from Santa. She was so excited about this because 2 years ago, she lost her other Ipod, and has been trying to save for a used one.

Andrew got a cool Star Wars lego set. It is the Ewok village.

Andrew and Brian go a slot car race set!

Eric got what he has always wanted. An automatic Nerf gun!

Christmas Eve Night

2012-01-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

We always have fondue for Christmas Eve dinner.

This was a tradition in my family growing up.

My kids like it.

They always get to open one gift Christmas Eve night.

Always Pajamas.

This year was the Angry Bird PJ year. I really can't believe we pulled this off.

The Angry Bird PJs were turning out to be hard to find, but in the end one store had

everything. Thank goodness for Kohls!

We also do a present run...my kids favorite. They go get all the presents that were in our room and they bring them down and put them under the tree. Scott puts on crazy Christmas music and the kids run wildly through the house.

Before all this crazyness, we always have a lesson on baby Jesus. The spirit was very strong this night. It was my favorite part of the night.

Run, Run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread man...

2012-01-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve we decided to make Gingerbread men!

This one is my favorite. Andrew decorated this one.

I won't let anyone eat this one...he is too cute!

Eric decorated these

Rachel put hair on her Gingerbread Ladies. Cute.

Brian spent a long time decorating this one.

It was a Santa Gingerbread Man. See his beard.

Andrew also decorated this one.

Yum!!!

Christmas Eve at the Asian Market

2011-12-30T12:12:00.000-08:00

This is our Duck Duck Goose Picture.

This is becoming a favorite Christmas Eve Tradition of ours. Every Christmas Eve we go to an Asian market and get some fun unique foods to try and get some traditional favorites. We also visit our favorite stores. Scott served his mission in Taiwan and so this is a special way for him to share a part of himself and what he loves with his family.

We got some purple and green rolls to try this time.

They were so good!

My kids love going into the toy store there.

Rachel and I found some pig snouts for sale. Yum?

We always buy crab. They are always 5-6 dollars a pound, fresh! We picked the ones we wanted, and we cooked up two. We always eat one right away, and we save a cooked one for Christmas lunch.

Fun in Discovery Bay

2011-12-29T10:49:00.000-08:00

This is a good map that shows where we stayed on our vacation the week before Christmas. Up at the north of WA, by Port Angeles, there are two small towns called Sequim and Blyn. We stayed between Blyn and Port Townsend which is the city to the east of Blyn. Blyn is where the Indian reservation was. Sequim is a sweet little town we went to a couple of times. And we went to Port Townsend once. There is an old Army Base there that is now a national park. Very cool.

We swam every day. There was an indoor pool and hot tub. Most days were were the only ones at the pool. It wasn't a deep pool, so Brian and Andrew were able to swim without much fear.

We played games every day. We started keeping a log of the games we played and who won each game, but unfortunately for most of us, after Rachel and Scott's name were the only ones we were writing down, we stopped doing that.

We were happy to see the resort has a boat launch and a dock, so if we go in the summer we can bring our boat!

This day we decided to make a gingerbread house that we got for Christmas last year. Our kids loved it!

Can you say gross! Eric get your hand out of your mouth!!!

This is the finished product. Held together by lots of love.

This is the dock I was telling you about. This picture was taken out our balcony.

Brian, Rachel and Scott were checking out the dock. Rachel said she even touched a starfish. Pretty cool.

We also entered a scavenger hunt contest. We came in second! We thought we were first because we came in first but a family started after us and finished in less time. We were not happy!!! The sad part about that is we spent most of our time making sure we got the exact thing the riddle was telling us to, and most people were not as particular as we were. In the end they never checked the bags!!! We are too competitive as a family and this really bugged! But we cowboyed up and smiled and took our loss with a half-grin.

This is a picture of where we stayed

The veiw from our balcony

The indoor pool and hot tub

Never ever will you ever see this again in your life!!!

2011-12-28T17:27:00.000-08:00

Eric found the one and only...never before seen...not a double, or even a triple, but a quadruple mini wheat! Four mini wheats stuck together, fresh out of the box.

Now you have seen one. Now your life is complete.

Thank you for enjoying this moment with Eric.

Fun at the Indian Reservation

2011-12-28T17:19:00.000-08:00

So Andrew said he had been studying about totem poles at school, so we stopped to take some pictures of totem poles and kinda landed into a cool spot of luck. We went into a gallery/store where a native american told us that her son was going to work on carving a totem pole and wondered if our kids wanted to watch. So we went with him and got to watch him carve totem poles!

Eric said the guy had something in his nose...(I think it was Eric's finger)

Andrew and Brian watching the carving

This is a big finished totem pole that the kids found. They cost $5,000. 00 per foot. Can you guess how much this one might have cost? They were pretty impressive.

Christmas is Coming...

2011-12-24T11:41:00.000-08:00

We finally decorated our tree before leaving on our little vacation.

Andrew wanted to earn some money for buying Christmas presents, so Scott put him to work blowing leaves outside...in the rain. He was so frozen and wet when he came in. But he earned his $3.00!

Scott and I got to go on a dinner cruise around Seattle for Scott's Work Christmas party. This boat behind us had Christmas carolers singing for a while. It was really fun. The food was so-so, but the boat part was great!

White Elephant Christmas Pary

2011-12-07T09:43:00.001-08:00

This was the best party ever. These are a few of my wonderful friends that were at the party.

This is the White Elephant Man. This present ended up being a vacuum cleaner that kinda sucked...

Playing Minute-To-Win-It at the party. Up above we have Mike Bassett and Megan Jacobsen playing Junk in the Trunk. They had to shake the balls that were in the tissue container out by shaking their "trunks". Poor Meg is pregnant and realized that it is harder to twist around with a baby inside you. Mike won that battle.

I am trying to get these candies into my mouth. It wasn't as easy as it looked.

This was such a fun party!

Christmas Tree

2011-12-07T09:27:00.001-08:00

Rachel sang in the Festival of the Nativity with the Stake Children's Choir. She did such a great job! She is growing up so fast. She was so excited to get all dressed up. She even got to wear a touch of make-up that night. (Scott wasn't too happy about that)

Sorry these pictures are kind-of in reverse order. Well we went and found our tree and cut it down. Andrew is the one who spotted the tree and insisted that we use it. Well he won. We couldn't find a better tree, or we just ran out of patience. As you can see Eric is really excited about this family tradition.

The Rest of November...

2011-12-05T20:47:00.001-08:00

Brian finished soccer! He got awarded soccer player with the most emotional stability.

Scott played paintball with his army friend, Captain Travis Bailey. He had an amazing time.

Rachel went with me to the Garners for a Zumba Party. As you can see Cameron got into it as well.

Rachel started babysitting. She loves to babysit, and does such a fantastic job.

Scott and Eric made duct tape ties in Young Men. Very impressive.

Rachel completed her Faith in God! Yippy!! Good Job Rachel!

Scott made some amazing apple pies for Thanksgiving.

Rachel loved hanging out with her cousins Daphni, and Kaylee

Scott with the Nelson twins, Beck and Reese.

This is the Thanksgiving run everyone did (except me, I forgot my running shoes) :-( The kids ran a mile, Eric ran 3 and Scott ran 7.

Tyler Nelson, Scott and me after the wonderful Thanksgiving feast. Best food ever!

We are so blessed to have such a great family, and wonderful friends. We love you all!

Brian's 6th Birthday!

2011-11-14T10:17:00.001-08:00

Brian turned 6! He had a special day in Kindergarden. Dad miraculously had the day off, so Mom and Dad got to bring him yummy donuts to share with his class. Everyone sang to Brian and he was all smiles!

After School, Dad and Mom took Brian to McDonalds for a Happy Meal! What a treat!

When Brian got home he got to play the Wii all by himself for as long as he wanted! (Special Birthday treat for all Nelson kids.)

Because it was recently Halloween, Brian was wanting a ghost cake with Halloween Candy on it. This is the best Scott and I could come up with. It was kinda fun to eat all the candy off the cake!

I was feeling kinda bad because I didn't plan any party for Brian and he kept asking me when his friends were coming over to celebrate his birthday. So, I desperately called my friends and asked them if they could spare their children for a surprise party for Brian that night. All my friends came through and we had a very fun surprise party for Brian that night. All the kids were so excited to jump out and yell surprise to Brian when he came home from the dollar store with his dad.

Brian made a wish and blew out all his candles in one huff! I'm sure his wish will come true!

Halloween at the Nelsons

2011-11-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

We were invited to carve pumpkins with a couple of families in our ward for Family Home Evening. We had such a fun time, and we were able to carve our very first alien jack-o-lantern.

I think it was Eric's design.

For a Young Men activiy, Scott and Eric had fun carving two more pumpkins.

This is the Thompsons at our party. They won best costume!

Scott and I threw a family potluck Halloween party for a few families in the ward. We need a bigger house to invite all the people I wanted to invite, like most of the ward, but I think with the few families we did have, my house was bursting at the seams. The kids had a fabulous time.

Here are Rachel, Jessie, and little Lia being girls together.

On Halloween night, we had some visitors from the ward. Here is the Titus family and all their so- sweet wonderful kids.

Ron, Lisa, Leah, and baby boy, also came to trick-or-treat. Dosen't Lia make a beautiful Snow White!

Eric dressed up as a Toyota Salesman, Rachel a Cat, Andrew a Jedi Knight and Brian Dash from Disney's Incredibles. They came home with so much candy! I think we will have a candy stash until next Halloween. Crystle Ridge is the place to trick-or-treat.

Scott's Amazing Vacation

2011-10-25T19:38:00.001-07:00

Here is Scott on his vacation from work. Doesn't he look relaxed.

We are growing a special kind of moss under our trampoline. It is the kind that is really thick and takes forever to power wash off. I think Scott spent 2 days of his vacation tackling the moss on the cement.It looks really pretty now. Thank you Scott!!!

Oh yeah, I also had Scott put up little retaining walls, and ground covering on our trees out back to make them look nicer. Don't they look nice now. Thank you Scott! This was only like two afternoons of work during his vacation...not too bad right?

Not only did Scott do all this, he got the boat winterized, found and discussed our financial future with a great financial advisor, started finding a lawyer to get our will and trust done, trimmed all the bushes outside, mowed the very long grass, exercised every morning for an hour or more, drove kids to and from soccer games and practices, went food shopping with Wendy, and did it all with a smile.

So Brian wanted to help Scott take out this big dead bush. So he told Scott he was going to do it all by himself. Scott laughed and said, "Okay Brian let's see you take it down." So Brian grabbed it and easily pulled it right over. Scott laughed so hard, I think it made all this working outside worth it.

I guess it really was a sick bush!

At the end of the vacation week, we were able to take advantage of some hockey tickets Scott's group had purchased. They asked Scott how many he wanted. Not wanting to be greedy, he only asked for 8 out of the 22 the group had purchased, thinking we would let the two older kids bring a friend. So, we get there and no one else took the other tickets! Do you see the whole empty row next to us? Those were seats that more of our friends could've enjoyed! Scott decided to ask for all the tickets next time something like this comes up! I guess it is okay to be greedy sometimes.

This was way more fun than I imagined it was going to be. Hockey players fight so much. I felt a little like I was watching a mix of Ice Skating, soccer and UFC.

So in the end, we did do some playing. I guess the moral of the story is go away for vacation, or expect a long Honey-do list from the wife.

Wendy's 36th Birthday!

2011-10-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

Did I ever tell you my family rocks! Well they do. They have such a way of making me feel so special. So this is the story of how my family made my birthday the best birthday ever!

So, fortunately the kids had school off and so this Thursday morning I didn't have to drive Eric to seminary at 5:30 am in the morning...I slept in until 9:00, and woke up to find this sweet train track my kids built for me. If you can see it says mom.

Rachel made me my own batch of warm chocolate chip cookies, that I didn't have to share with anyone, if I didn't want to...but I ended up sharing. Don't you love the MOM in the cookies! I ate those myself!

Then we went to Long Beach, WA and stayed at our timeshare. It was great! The pool was so warm and fun, we watched movies, played games and cooked together!

Scott made me these amazing pancakes. They are called pumpkin cinnamon roll pancakes. Instead of putting syrup on top, you put cream cheese icing! Can you just say YUMMY!

We went out the next morning, and went to the local cranberry harvest festival. Yep! Those are the flooded feilds, and that red is the cranberries. This only happens 2 days a year. It was cool to watch.

While we were out and about, we happened upon a pretty cool car! What would you call this a TRAN, or a VANCK...I made Scott stop so I could take a picture.

Next we went to the kite festival that was going on at the beach. The kids got to make their own kites and fly them on the beach. This was their favorite part.

So in the end this was my favorite birthday! I LOVE MY FAMILY!

The Nelson's At the Puyallup Fair!

2011-09-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the fair this year! Grandma and Grandpa Nelson came up from Portland to spend the evening with us there. All the kids got to catch and release a fish, Rachel said she got really wet!

All the kids got to shoot an air riffle and shoot at targets, they all did a good job. I think that was a favorite of theirs. This is Eric sporting the amazing bulls-eye he got...or close to bulls-eye.

All the kids competed in a tractor pull. We do this every year. They all got to the 2nd round this year, except poor Brian. His little legs just couldn't pull the weight.

This is Rachel sporting her face painting she got done. She went tribal this year. Such a pretty girl!

Brian went all tatoo, with teddy bears with red hearts and rainbow horses. Eric was a bit dissapointed in his choices.

This is one of my most favorite fair pictures. The corndog looks HUGE! Good photography Scott!

Dinner time! Ribs and more ribs! This BBQ joint is the best! Braces and ribs just don't mix. Eric and Rachel looked pretty scary after the carnivor fest.

We got to see the baby piggys. That poor mommy pig. I have never been fond of nursing, but this is taking nursing to a whole new level!

Scott enjoying his ribs!

Yes, you see correctly, we actually found a place that fries butter! This says "Deep Fried Butter" So they have a scoop of very cold butter. They dip it in batter, then they fry it. We watched as someone was eating one. It got pretty messy. Only in America!

Well that was the Puyallup fair. I love the fair because there are so many things to do with your kids for free. All these activities (exception of food) were free. The kids even get a free ticket to the fair from School. So this makes it fun and affordable. What a fun place to live! It is a fun tradition we enjoy every year. If you want to join us next year come along and "Do the Puyallup"!

The Nelsons at the Filipino Festival

2011-09-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

We were invited to go to a Filipino Festival with our friends. We had the best time ever! We were very welcomed and the group was so incredibly friendly and fun! Our friend's uncle is the president of this group and one of the coolest people I have met. We had wonderful Filipino food, and we learned how to do the stick dancing called Tinikling, my kids played all the games...It was so much fun!!! This picture was taken at the end. By looking at the picture it may look like we don't fit in but by this time we felt like part of the Filipino Family.

This is Brian doing upside down bowling at the Filipino Festival.

Tug-o-War at the Filipino Festival. This was really funny to watch.

Andrew learning how to stick dance

She was determined to learn this new dance.

Thanks to Ron and Lisa and Lia for sharing this with our family. My kids are still talking about it.

September Fun

2011-09-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

This is Rachel up on water skis! She seems to really love water skiing. We tried to get Andrew up and he got up for a little, but said, "This is just too freaky!" We got skis on Brian and we got him in the water, and that was it for him. Maybe next year for Brian.

I am officially a Soccer Mom! Andrew and Brian are both in soccer this fall. It is so fun to go to Brian's games. There are 3 girls and 3 boys. One boy will not play with the team, and the 3 girls are emotional basket cases. It makes the games very entertaining. Most of Brian's team cries 90% of the game. Brian plays the whole time, because he is more mentally stable than his teammates.

This is the first day of school. Brian was really mad when I told them to switch signs around with his siblings. It is so weird to have all my kids in school. I have kept busy with all the kids gone, like water skiing with Scott on his post-call days, taking leisurely walks in the neighborhood, organizing the house. Yeah, I think I can get used to this. (I am actually pretty busy, I was trying to sound like I have been living it up, but in all reality, Scott and I took the boat out once, and really that would be our one fun day. Most days I am cleaning, exercising, primarying and so forth)

Finally! We have a summer!!

2011-08-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

We have been waiting and waiting for good weather to take our boat out! Finally the other week we were able to go! It was so much fun. We were able to take it out and nothing went wrong this maden voyage. Here are Rachel and Brian being pulled behind the boat. Rachel is showing her balancing skills, and Brian is hanging on for dear life. When he got off, he yelled at Scott, "I TOLD YOU TO GO SLOW!!" In Scott's defence, he was going very slow.

Here is the Captian of the boat!

Andrew was very happy the whole day! They love going on the boat.

Ericksen Family Reunion

2011-07-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

At the Ericksen Family Reunion, in Post Falls, Idaho, we were able to go to a community pool and play for a while. It was really fun. For about an hour we had to get out because someone (no one from my family thank goodness)threw up in the pool. Yuk!! Eric had a fabulous time...

Rachel and Scott showing off their amazing strength...

We had a "Minute to Win It" game with the kids, and one of the challenges was balancing two golf balls on top of each other. So Ben, my nephew, who is really competitive, and awesome balanced three golf balls after the game. Well, it was pretty amazing. So Rachel decided, well if Ben can do it, I should be able to do it too. So this is Rachel's accomplishment.

We were all amazed and thrilled at her newly acquired golf ball balancing skills. You know what they say about people who can balance three golf balls...

Mathew and Andrew playing "Minute to Win It". What did they win? Respect.

My dad picking up noodles with a noodle. He almost won, but he was beat by his wife, my amazing mother!

This was our reunion "Amazing Race". This is the Blue team. They had to find a chimney that was shaped like the state of Idaho. Looks like they found it. Andrew is posing with Mathew and David.

Scott was the leader of the blue team. This is Scott reading the next clue.

Scott, Mathew, Andrew and David posing next to a Moose statue. They had to find all the Moose statues in the City of Coeur D Alene.

This is the Red Team. They were in last place here, but they ended up winning the whole race. Kent was unstoppable!

Here is the Blue Team again. In this task they had to take a paddle boat and paddle out to a tree that was sticking out from land, and paddle back. It took the teams about 20 to 30 min to do this. The men said it was pretty challenging.

This is the Green team. They had the most man power. My brother John was the leader of this team. He had Ben, who was 16, on his team. They gave everyone a run for their money. The white team was the other team and we didn't get any pictures from that team. That team was lead by my brother-in-law Dan. Rachel and Brian were on Dan's team.

We took family pictures at a beautiful garden in Spokane Washington. Scott took a picture of Brian just chilling out.

Rachel and her cousin Sarah and James were taking some pictures together on the side as well.

It was a great reunion. Everybody was there. I think every one's high-lights were playing Forbidden Island, and Pirates Cove, and the Amazing Race and swimming at the fun pool in town.

My least favorite part was on the 4th when the Roman Candle fireworks we bought blew up in my kids and husbands hands. (Not a good night) Well, in the end everyone was okay, and the trip was wonderful. I love my family.

Camping at Ocean Shores

2011-07-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time camping at Ocean Shores! Our good friends invited us to come along and camp with them at one of their favorite camping spots. We got the best camp grounds and had such a fun time. We were the family with the oldest children, so I think things were easier for us in general, but then again...camping with me is not the easiest task. I am more of an indoor girl than a roughing it kinda girl. I put on my smile and just went for it. My husband and friends made it fabulous! Great weather didn't hurt either. (Although I am still getting a little teased from my friends about my need to do my nightly skin ritual, and my morning make-up)

I think this is how wet Eric got at the beach. This is a bit funny because when he was younger, we couldn't keep him out of water, even if it had ice in it. He was our little fish, and now he just won't have anything to do with it. He says it is all the times he got plastered with sand. That IS a miserable feeling...

Rachel had fun flying kites with her friend Lauren. This picture makes me laugh. Rachel is so small for her age, and Lauren is so tall for her age. No one would guess they are like 4 years apart.

Rachel also had fun making a sand castle. I don't think we got a finished picture of her castle, but it was fabulous. She wanted me to explain that she has a swimsuit on under that shirt. She was concerned that people would wonder why she is walking around with no pants on.

Why...?

Oh, I think Eric is the way he is at beaches because he used to do this.

This is Andrew. He was acting like he was in Hawaii. Now the weather there was great for this beach, but it was still a bit chilly, and very windy. That didn't stop my kids.

This is Brian sporting his 5 o'clock shadow.

This is what I did most of the time on the beach. There was a big log, as you can see, and it blocked most of the wind. It was pretty warm there. I got up occasionally and took pictures and socialized. But I would say the majority of the time I was here.

See...my kids are crazy. It was a warm day, but the water was a bit on the freezing side. Scott had to take them in the water and wash them off. (See above pictures)

Um...I think Brian forgot to wash his face off.

One of the best camping trips we have had! Thanks to all who were involved in making this so fun! I think my favorite memory will be watching my boys ride around the camp sights on princess, pink tricycles! (Exception of Eric)

Scott's big Birthday Present

2011-07-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

Scott and I went to the U2 concert in Seattle for his big birthday present. U2 is Scott's favorite music band. I think they are my favorite too. We went to the concert in Vancoover, BC in Canada two years ago, and this concert was a bit different, and still amazing!

This was the view from our seats. Last time we went we were on the other side. I can't believe how much energy those guys have!!!

My new Cub Scout!

2011-07-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

There is something so sweet about seeing your new 8 year old in his new little Cub Scout uniform. He was so excited to start the Cub Scout program.

He is handing me his assignment, and homework for his next week's meeting. My boys are growing up way too fast!

Andrew's Baptism May 21, 2011 in Oregon

2011-07-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

Andrew was baptised in Oregon on the same day as his cousin Kaylee Nelson. This is Andrew with his Mom and Dad, and his Grandma, and Grandpa Nelson.

Here is my wonderful Andrew, with the blaket he got from his cousin's mom. She was talking about the Holy Ghost, and explaining how it can make you feel warm like a comforter, or a blanket. He still sleeps with that fuzzy blanket. He loved his baptism and enjoyed all the family that were there.

Kaylee and Andrew with their Dads, Tyler Nelson and Scott Nelson.

Andrew was very excited!!

My parents were able to come down from Post Falls, Idaho. Andrew didn't know how to contain his excitement of having both sets of Grandparents in one room! It was so fun to have my parents visit. We all had a great time.

Andrew Turns 8

2011-07-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Andrew had a busy day on his birthday! After school, Andrew had a baseball game, then we came home and had present time, and cake, then we rushed off to Oregon for his baptism.

The Big Cruise

2011-07-19T18:47:00.000-07:00

This is the day we got on our boat! Scott's Birthday! It was April 24th, 2011, and it was Easter Sunday. We took off from Acapulco, Mexico. We took the red-eye in and were in need of some serious sleep.

This is me shopping and haggling with the natives of Hatulco, Mexico. The people were very nice. A little pushy at first, and it gave me quite a culture shock. Scott of course did fine.

This is Scott and I getting ready to go zip-lining. We were in Costa Rica. It was very fun.

Scott is ready to go...We got to go on 12 zip-lines.

Scott got a picture of me before I headed down one of them.

We are in the main city of Costa Rica, San Jose. We only got to spend 30 minutes there, but it was interesting.

I think this is Colon, Panama. We were asked to stay just in that area. It was supposedly dangerous to venture any further.

While on our balcony, we saw this beautiful sight while through the Panama Canal. This is the Panama Temple. It was such a wonderful sight to see.

A tug boat in the Panama Canal.

This is what a lock looks like in the Panama Canal. We are going through the lock on the other side.

We saw a train while we where going through the canal...

The white part of this picture is our cruise boat. the cement is the lock, and there is a little space in between. That is how close we are in a lock to the sides of the lock. Crazy huh!!!

We even saw a croc in the Panama Canal!

This is what the locks look like coming up to them, or leaving them...

This is what the weather was like when we got to Jamaca. There was a tropical storm. It was raining so hard. It was crazy. Not my favorite day! The people were really pushy and scared me a bit. I will probibly try to avoid Jamaca in the future. (That sounds kinda funny...)

This is us leaving Jamaca. It looks really pretty from a distance!

That was our last stop. The cruise was so much fun!

Nelson's 2011 Easter Egg Hunt

2011-07-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

Each year, the Conders invite us to celebrate Easter with them and their family. We love this!! I have never seen so many fun eggs hidden everywhere! Each year I think there are more eggs. This is Brian and Sharon's grandson pigging out on their sweet egg finds.

Andrew taking his hunt very seriously

Rachel is never too old to join in. Eric is always busy finding Eggs. I think he was too fast for Scott to find and take a picture of.

Here is Brian again. This is such a fun, cute age. Right after this, Scott and I started off for our cruise to the Panama Cannal. Scott's mom came into town and watched our kids. What a wonderful mother to have!

Beach Day in California

2011-07-16T23:47:00.000-07:00

Las Brisas restaurant near Laguna Beach in CA. The restaurant was recommended by a friend who used to live in the area. The food was fantastic, all you can eat buffet for breakfast. We made a brunch out of it. Got to sit by a window with amazing views of Laguna Beach.

We then went down the steps from the restaurant and the kids played in the surf.

Rachel and Andrew playing in the sand.

Andrew was building up a wall of sand that the waves kept taking down.

Brian is very dry right now, but about an hour later he was soaked all the way to his head. He said he liked the beach better than Disneyland. Andrew and Rachel had to follow him in. They all got pretty wet.

We went to a bakery that our friends recommended. The kids had fun with the bike rack out front.

We found the Hospital where I, Wendy, was born. This hospital is in Long Beach CA, and seconds, and I think a street away from the PCH.

This is my hungry family eating a red velvet cupcake at Sweet Jill's Bakery, in Long Beach. We also shared a huge cinnamon roll.

Here we are with Laguna Beach as our backdrop. We had such a fun day. We found the VA hospital where my father did his residency, and the two homes they lived in while they lived there. It was a great day!!!

Mickey Mouse T-Shirt Day

2011-07-16T23:20:00.000-07:00

Rachel waiting to go on Grizzly River Run.
The first time I went on this ride I got drenched! So the next time I brought my raincoat, and I am glad I did. I did not think this would be a great day for a wet t-shirt contest. My shirt was a nice light pink. I also saved my hair.

Andrew and Brian are flexing their mighty muscles!

Rachel got to ride in her very own Autopia car. She did really well. Her foot got really tired pushing down on the peddle.

This is Scott and I waiting to go on a ride.

Family picture after the soaking wet ride. My hair still looks good!

We had so much fun at Disneyland and we loved all the sun!!!

More California Pics - Red Day

2011-07-16T23:15:00.000-07:00

We bought tickets to see Fantasmic in Prim Seating! It was awesome! We got front row and tons of food. They brought my kids unlimited hot chocolate, and everyone got a cheese, fruit and dessert tray. We got to watch the fireworks from our seats first, then we got to see Fantasmic. The kids loved it!

Today was really hot! Can you tell? We went to bugs life area in California Adventure and played there for a bit.

We went to lunch at the Blue Bayou. That is the resturant inside the Pirates of the Caribean. The Monte Cristo Sandwich is the best thing on that menu. We love doing this at least once every time we go to Disneyland.

Having fun on the Alice in Wonderland ride. I don't think Eric was thrilled about the ride, or the color of the caterpillar he had to ride in. Scott and I are just ahead of them. That is how we got this picture.

Spring Break Day Five, Disney's California Adventure Park, CA

2011-04-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

Blue Day in Sunny California

Redwood creek challenge, Andrew and Rachel

I think the real challenge is to find your kids!

This is probably the last time Eric will be okay taking a picture with a character.

We were in line for the Toy Story ride for like 2 hours. It was a challenge for all of us.

It was a super cute ride and worth the wait. Scott got the most points out of the family on this ride, he skunked us!

Here is our little Jessie. (Rachel

This is on the big Mickey Mouse Ferris Wheel with sliding and swinging carriages. As you can see by the smiles on the faces of the children, it was a thrill.

Lastly, a photo op with Lighting McQueen and Mater from Cars. It was a great day that ended with the water feature/show "World of Color" which was spectacular. If anyone is headed to Disneyland soon, you can find a "hidden Mickey" under what should be Mater's hood. Eric spotted this one, it was a good catch.

Spring Break Day Four, Disneyland, CA

2011-04-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

As you can see we are in Disneyland! I love that place. It was pretty crouded, and Scott and I are not used to such a crowded Disneyland, but we had such a fun time anyway. The temperature was in the 80s everyday! This was fun coming from rainy Washington. This is our Orange day. This was right after the Buzz Lightyear ride. I, Wendy, got the highest score out of my whole family. I was a proud woman, see the big smile! Scott's Editorial note: For the record, Wendy did best me this day, but on return run through this ride, I almost doubled her score from this day. That afternoon we ate at The Big Thundermountain Ranch BBQ. It was great food, all you can eat ribs, chicken and sausage. Eric loved the cornbread, and we all went on Space Mountain after that.

This is a cute little picture place across from Splash Mountain (which was closed!)

This picture was on Tarzan's Treehouse.

Scott took this picture while we were spinning. Crazy fun! By the end of the day we were sunburned, hot and swollen, and happy!

Spring Break Day Three, Lego Land, Carlsbad, CA

2011-04-08T19:16:00.000-07:00

So, on Monday we went to Lego Land. This was fun. My kids really liked it. Unfortunately we only made it to half of the park. It is only open from 10-5, so time just flew. We were not able to see all the pretty city scapes, but we did ride some fun rides. Eric couldn't do some things because he was to old, but I still think he loved it. Andrew is there in red, and Rachel is behind him in a pink shirt. On this ride, they just let the kids go where ever they want to go. Kinda fun. Eric couldn't ride this one:(

This is Andrew on his own little motor boat. Rachel was ahead of everyone and got all turned around and caused a major boat jam. I, Wendy, was an excellent boat driver and passed everybody except Eric. Now I just need to work on driving our real boat well...

This was a spinning ride and it was really fun. (Notice Wendy is not on the fun spinning ride, that is what made it so fun...)

Eric and Brian are kick'n it with a bionicle.

This was when we arrived at legoland. It was a really fun day. At the end of the day we drove two streets over and spent the evening with my grandma. She lives right next to Legoland! That's pretty cool if you ask me. We took her out to eat and then she took us home and made us all rootbeer floats. Rachel showed her a paper she is writing about her in school, and we gave her some dark chocolates from Ghiradelli (she loves dark chocolate). It was the perfect day!

Spring Break Day One...USS Midway, San Diego, CA

2011-04-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

Our family just spent a fabulous week in Southern CA. It was sunny, and hot most of the days. This is day one. We went to visit an aircraft carrier in San Diego called the USS Midway. It was fun. We took a family tour, and the kids went on a sort of tour scavenger hunt to earn some wings. Eric absolutely loved it! This is our green day. We tried to color coordiate so we could keep better track of our kids. It was also helpful, as it identified us as a group. It also makes for good family pics! This is us with some cardboard men. Each color represents a different job on the ship.

This is a picture of my family after being cooped up on a ship for a little over 3 hours.

Scott found the "OR" on the ship. This is where he would've worked. The guy behind him is not real, nor is the patient.

My kids are in the brig! I decided that every household should have a brig.

This was a really fun trip. Lots of laughs, climbing on bunks, ringing alarms and bells, ducking through tiny doorways, getting in fighter jets, and just being together, made the day unforgettable.

We have great kiddos!

2011-03-24T23:33:00.000-07:00

Rachel got an award at her school for "Thinking interdependently". I know you are all thinking...What the heck does that mean? Well that is what Scott and I were thinking anyway. I guess it means..."Rachel is a cooperative student who knows a group can achieve more than an individual. She has creative ideas, yet is willing to listen carefully, support others and is able to change." I summed it up to... Rachel is a team player! Good going Rachel!!

Andrew got an award for citizenship. His award says, "Andrew shows kindness to his classmates on a daily basis. He is a great helper in our classroom and is always one of the first students voluntering to help anyone in need." What mom doesn't love to hear that! I agree 100%! Andrew has such a kind heart. We all love a bit of Andrew love.

Good job Kids!

Boom!!!

2011-03-24T23:24:00.000-07:00

My chicken pot pie blew up! So, I made this really great chick-pot-pie in my pyrex 9 by 13 casserole dish. I always skip the crust and just have a puff pastry on top. The puff pastry was cooking a little fast, so I pulled it out of the oven, and just to ensure I had the veggies cooked in the middle, I turned the burner on my glass cook top on low just to keep it warm/hot without the top continually cooking. Well after some time, I thought that it would be fine, and I slid it off to a cool side of the oven and that's when it happened! Boom!!! Glass shattered everywhere! It was so loud that Scott jumped out of his seat! Well let me tell you that my physics classes came back to me and I saw the error of my ways. Needless to say, we all had cereal that night.

Eric's 14th Birthday!

2011-03-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

Eric turned 14! What the blazes is going on! Anyway, Eric loved his gifts, he got some Robotic bugs, a Lego Tie Fighter (Star Wars), a DS game, some books and spending $$, and he got his favorite breakfast cake mix from his Aunt Becky. What a lucky guy!

I think Eric blew all his candles out. ( I think he kinda spit the last one out...yuck!)

This was his cake. It was a tall orter, but Scott, the cake decorator man, pulled it off! Love those tie fighters!

For Eric's party, he asked his cousin Zak if he could come from Portland and he did! (Thanks Becky!!) The Gibbons spent a fun night with us decorating crazy pizzas. BTW, Chips burn in the oven, this was not a well thought out plan. Everyone had a blast. Happy Birthday Eric!

Bono, Our Bearded Dragon

2011-03-24T23:02:00.000-07:00

This is Bono, our pet bearded Dragon. Well, technically it is Andrew's; but who is kidding who? The kids like to take Bono out for some "play" time and this day, I guess, Bono got to drive around on a truck. He stayed on there for quite some time. I think he was scared to death. But hey, what else are you going to do with a pet lizard?

Rachel's 11th Birthday

2011-03-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

Rachel had her two best friends over for a small birthday party. They went to a pet store, then made a huge banana split that they ended up smashing to bits and sucking up with a straw.
Rachel is about to blow out all eleven candles! She looks so old to me! Where did my little princess go? She told me today that I know nothing about what kids her age wear... I had to laugh...

This is Rachel's Raspberry, Brownie bottom, Chocolate truffle Cheesecake. She loves cheesecake. This one was a little rich for her taste. Scott and Eric LOVED it.

This is right before she got her lovely presents, clothes, a camera, and a Harry Potter Lego set.

Has anyone noticed that I am wearing the same shirt in all my blog pictures? I must like that shirt!

Recital

2011-03-03T12:07:00.001-08:00

So, these are pictures Eric, Rachel and Andrew after they played in the Winter recital. They all did an amazing job. Sorry we failed to write something, I think Scott started blogging this and didn't have time to finish.

Silent Sunday

2011-02-20T20:51:00.000-08:00

Silent Sunday

Stephanie's Baby Shower

2011-02-01T16:12:00.000-08:00

January 28th Lisa, Megan, and I threw Stephanie a baby shower, and it was so absolutely fun!

Megan made a most fabulous cake! It was a vanilla cake with a raspberry cream cheese filling and a fudge icing. Worth every calorie.

Lisa, Megan and I had lots of fun, and wish Stephanie the best in her laboring endevors. We sure do love ya!

Qik - andrew by fried_liver

2011-01-26T14:53:00.001-08:00

Roller Skating Fun

2011-01-26T14:27:00.001-08:00

Family at the Skating Rink

Andrew was hot, swetty and bruised beyond belief, but he kept going and going...

Eric was helping Brian

Rachel got some new skates from Santa Clause, and that is why we had to go.

She got pretty good on her new skates.

New Year's Eve Fun!!!

2011-01-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

One show that we like to watch as a family is "Cupcake Wars" on the Food Network channel. Rachel loves the show. We were watching it on New Year's Eve, and Rachel said,"I've never been to a cupcake store. I would love to go someday." (This was the 28th time we have heard her say this.) So we said, "Let's go find one right now!" There was a wonderful store in Tacoma, and there we had ourselves a wonderful calorie-ful treat.

Scott had the above coconut cupcake...very tasty!

Brian picked the Gingerbread and Maple frosting cupcake on the top...one of our favorites. And Rachel picked the Chocolate peppermint with Chocolate peppermint buttercream. Very nice.

I, Wendy, chose one of their best-selling carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It was too delicious.

As you can see, this is a child who has just had a dream come true.

This was Andrew's choice...vanilla with vanilla buttercream.

And Eric chose the ever-popular red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting.

In the end we all shared bites with each other and our top 3 favorites were

1. Ginger bread (unfortunately seasonal)
2. Carrot Cake

3. Coconut

If you ever want to have a magical sweet experience, the place is called "hello, Cupcake" on Pacific Ave. in Tacoma, across the street from Union Station. Let us know if you go, and what you liked.

2011-01-01T16:21:00.000-08:00

This is our Artsy collage of our four beautiful children. Brian (5), Eric (13), Andrew (7), Rachel (10).

2010-12-31T19:19:00.000-08:00

This is our Christmas Eve Picture.
Andrew is Coloring his Menchies Shirt Christmas Eve. He is quite the ham.

The Nelson's Crashing Seattle.

We went to Seattle to the Pacific Science Center to see the Harry Potter Exhibit, we had fun but couldn't take any pictures of the Harry Potter stuff.

We found our perfect Christmas Tree.

Brian was so tired in the car...

Wendy with one of the Twins(Beck), at Thanksgiving in Portland, OR.

Preparing Thanksgiving at Nelson's house in Oregon.

Brian's 5th Birthday Cake, yum, Trains and bugs and Fondant oh my!

Brian openning one of his gifts from Dad. Criss-Cross-Crash!!!

Eric and Bono, our Bearded Dragon.

Happy Birthday Wendy

2010-10-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

Below are some questions that I asked the children about their mother in July 2009 and then followed up in October 2010 for comparisons. It is quit fun.

Impressions of Mom

What is something your mom always says to you?

July 2009
E-I love you
R- Rachel, Come here
A-Umm, clean up
B- Go to sleep

October 2010
E- I love you
R-Is your homework done yet?
A-Go to bed, its time for bed
B-Stay with me

What makes your mom happy?

July 2009
E-She likes suprises that are like chores
R- Doing chores without being asked
A- Cleaning up
B- Don’t break stuff

Oct. 2010
E- Lots of sleep
R-When I do my homework without being asked
A-Hug and kiss her
B-Loving

What makes your mom sad?

July 2009
E- When we don’t do chores
R- Being Wii sick
A-Hurting Brian
B-Doing something bad

Oct. 2010
E-Evil People
R-Not doing my homework
A-Me punching her in the eye (Have you done that before?) –No, but that is something
B-Hurting

How does your mom make you laugh?

July 2009
E-The problem is I don’t laugh often, (more probing) she does something silly
R- Playing Monopoly games
A-Tickling me
B- Being happy and I laugh

Oct. 2010
E-Sarcasticly funny jokes
R-By eating pie
A-Tickling Me
B-Tickle

What did your mom like to do when she was a child?

July 2009
E-Ride her bike
R- I guess I have to say wrestle with her brother John
A-Dancing with music on
B-Be happy to me

Oct. 2010
E- She played with airplanes and mermaids
R-Think about boys, you should see her journal
A-I don’t know. . . um. . . play!? With her friends
B-Loving

How old is your mom?

July 2009
E-very old -35
R- 34
A-22
B-23

Oct. 2010
E-35 years of age (asked on her Birthday)
R-35(asked on her Birthday)
A- 37, wait no I think it is 34 (this was asked two days before her 35th birthday)
B-I don’t know, I think its 31, no wait I remember, 34(also asked two days before her 35th birthday)

How tall is your mom?

July2009
E- A little taller than me and I’m tall
R- About 7 feet
A- Bigger than me
B- 16

Oct. 2010
E-She is taller than dad
R-Taller than you (speaking to dad)
A-about. . .35inches
B-this big (as he stretches his arms from the ground to as high as he could reach)

What is her favorite thing to do?

July 2009
E-She loves, I repeat loves to eat chocolate. Be with us an make us happy
R- Be with her family
A-Playing board games, she likes to clean up
B- Being happy

Oct. 2010
E-Read
R-Making me do my homework
A-Play games with me
B-Love me

What does your mom do when you're not around?

July 2009
E- She reads and she kisses Daddy
R- Go shopping
A-Play a board game, and cries when I was in kindergarten first
B- Play puzzle piece

Oct. 2010
E-She eats chocolate cake and yummy foods that I don’t ever get to eat
R-Read
A-Work
B-Find me

If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

July 2009
E-She will be famous for her scrumptious delectable pizza
R- For excellent reading
A-Good at singing
B-Mommy can be with dad

Oct. 2010
E-Her Pizza
R-Being ordinary and tallish
A-Being friendly
B-(shoulder shrug) Loving

What is your mom really good at?

July 2009
E- She is really good at making us kids happy and cleaning up
R- Helping me when I get really hurt
A-Singing
B- Uh cleaning the dishwasher

Oct. 2010
E-Making food
R-Hmm. . .She is really good at taking care of me
A-Loving me, and loving dad
B-Making pictures

What is your mom not very good at?

July 2009
E-Reading fast
R- Playing baseball
A-Let me think . . . I don’t know . . .cleaning a lot –so we have to help her
B-Playing Leapster

Oct. 2010
E-Spelling
R-Buying me silly bands
A-Running fast, I’m really fast, faster than mom
B-Painting hearts on the wall

What does your mom do for her job?

July 2009
E- She takes care of us kids
R-Take care of me and my brothers
A- Doing the laundry
B- Get to work

Oct. 2010
E- She does not have a job, she is a mommy
R-Stays home and uh takes care of me and makes me do homework
A-Work with Eric, and help me to do math stuff
B-Clean up! Clean up!

What is your mom's favorite food?

July 2009
E- Chocolate
R- Oh my goodness that’s a tough one . . .she loves everything
A- Lasagna
B- Apples

Oct. 2010
E-Provolone cheese (really?) yeah, everyones favorite food is provolone cheese
R-Chinese Food and Pizza
A-Hamburgers? I’m guessing this
B-Everything

If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

July 2009
E-Taz . . . sometimes
R-Hmm what gets cold easily? . . . A penguin because without all the coats they would be freezing
A-Phineus
B-One that you like . . . at a baseball game

Oct. 2010
E-Thomas the Tank Engine
R-An angel
A-This is going to be way too hilarious. . . um. . .the flexigirl on mister incredibles
B-(shoulder shrug . . . question again) herself

What do you and your mom do together?

July 2009
E- We go buy bakagon. (after some probing) –Watch wipeout
R- Go to the Library and shopping
A-Play board games with Rachel, playing monopoly
B- Hug and kisses

Oct. 2010
E-Shop for cool stuff
R-We talk about stuff and things
A-Games and puzzles and oh yeah flashlight hide-and-go-seek
B-Love

How are you and your mom the same?

July 2009
E- We have brown hair, we both love chocolate and we know we have to save our money sometimes.
R- We are both girls, we both like to go shopping
A-Because we are persons
B- a’cause we can be happy

Oct. 2010
E-We both like airplanes at one time
R- We are both girls
A-We both are people
B-We love each other

How are you and your mom different?

July 2009
E-I have telekinesis power, and can read peoples mind and tell the future. (after telling him not to be silly) I am younger, she is older, I am a boy and she is a girl. She likes more foods than me
R- Mom has brown hair, I have dark blonde
A-Because I am a boy and she is a girl
B-Mommy and daddy can go shopping

Oct. 2010
E- I am fat and mommy is not
R-I have blonde hair, she doesn’t. She has brown hair
A-She’s a girl and I am a boy
B-Not being married

How do you know your mom loves you?

July 2009
E-She makes us happy and plays games with us and try to make us happy in all the ways she can
R- Because she gives me food clothing and a shelter. And she says she loves me
A-Because she kisses me
B- Because I can give momma kisses

Oct. 2010
E-Cause she says it every day and every night and I hear it a lot so I think she’s kinda got it drilled into my head
R-Cause she tells me every night
A-She’s my mom
B-That’s ‘cause I love her

What does your mom like most about your dad?

July 2009
E- Your athletic and do stuff when she needs help
R-The way he is kind and lovable
A-Big and strong
B- Give kisses to you

Oct. 2010
E-Daddy is so strong, he could probably knock down one of the walls of our house
R-That he is so handsome and cute
A-Its his husband
B-Kissing

Where is your mom's favorite place to go?

July 2009
E- The New China buffet
R-Megan’s house maybe. . . I don’t know, that would be my first guess
A-the restraunt - - the Chinese buffet
B- Grandma and Grandpa’s house (which grandma and grandpa) my grandma and grandpa

Oct 2010
E-She likes to go to Hawaii cause its pretty
R-Home
A-To the pizza place, what was it called?
B-The fair

Where is your mom’s favorite place to vacation?

July 2009
E Oooooh that one is tricky. I am going to have to go with going to her Mom and Dad’s house
R-That’s a hard one. . . to reunions
A-Go to her grandma and grandpa’s house
B- Go shopping

Oct. 2010
E-Anywhere with you dad, obviously
R-Probably anyplace warm like Hawaii or Mexico or Southern California
A-Um I think, oh, Hawaii
B-Puyallup

What makes you proud of your Mom?

July 2009
E- I can always look up to her in times of need and get answers and look to her for an example
R-For being such a good Mom
A- Being nice
B- Tickle me

Oct. 2010
E-Mommy is super nice and she does awesome stuff
R-She understands me a lot and shes a good mom
A-When I am playing baseball. (re-questioned and explained the meaning) That she is my mom and nobody else’s
B-Loving her

Rachel's Birthday Party

2010-03-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in February with Rachel's birthday. Below are some of the pictures from a scavenger hunt/Amazing Race that we set up for Rachel and her two best friends. The boys of course tagged along as well.
I didn't get all the pictures in yet but thought I'd get some commentary on the photos I did get in

One 0f the clues led them to the OR (my workplace) where they had to don blue scrubs that I wear everyday at work. Here they are sitting on an OR table.

This is with their masks up. I got a hilarious response when I asked them all to "say cheese" and after doing so, they realized that it was completely unnecessary - how silly am I?

Brian kind of looked like a blue bozo the clown in this picture, had to put it up.

This was probably one of the more difficult tasks for the children. They had to each eat a fried jalepeno pepper while at the food court in the local mall.

Brian captured the moment quite well, but they were all very good about trying something for the prize at the end of the race.

Another stop was the local "taco bus" as we call it. Of course the girls are not big mexican food fans so at first they didn't want to have to eat lunch here, but they eventually warmed up to it. We got them quesidillas that they loved and a drink call or horchata which is like a cinnamon/almond milk that the kids couldn't get enough of

This is inside the bus. The last third of the bus is the kitchen and the first two-thirds is the dining area that is lined with the thin counter that the kids are sitting at below.

Our final destination was Menchies. It is a frozen yogurt shop that has a do it yourself area where you mix whatever yogurt you want, put whatever toppings you want and then pay by weight.

Hopefully I can get some more photos up later, but this week is looking bad for blogging. I still have Eric's birthday as well . . . I can't believe I actually have a bona fide teenager now !

Master Bathroom Remodel

2010-03-04T12:14:00.000-08:00

Before and After Pictures of the Bathroom Model.

We remodeled our master bathroom this last year. I've loaded the before and after pictures. If you click on the pictures you can see them as larger photos. This is mostly for Dad and Mom since they are about to remodel their bathroom.

Before

This shows that we had carpet in our bathroom, can you believe it?

Nice lighting behind you when you are looking in the mirror

Notice that there are no drawers only the under sink cupoboard. It was awful, the only place we could put things was in the medicine cabinet on the right side of this picture

The shower needed help too, since it had leaked again and we had replace the ceiling underneath for the fourth time.

After

Our new shower with tile from floor to ceiling.

A cute boy and a tile (instead of carpet floor)

Notice all the cupboards and drawers now. We love it. This is also a granite counter which probably what Dad and Mom really wanted to see.

More of the granite.

Hope this helps. We love it.

Boy Scouts Aviation Outing

2010-02-20T19:14:00.000-08:00

Aviation with the Boy Scouts

As most of you may or may not know, I am the assistant Scout Master/Deacons Quorum Advisor. Today we were treated to go to McChord AFB and Thun Field to help the boys complete their aviation merit badge. We started in the AFB control tower which was a lot of fun. We learned how they control planes coming in and out and how landing/departing runways are named. I didn't have a memory card at the time so there are no pictures of that.

Below is some of the pictures from Thun Field, the airstrip in Puyallup. We did a pre-flight inspection on the Cessna below. That is Eric in the pilot's seat, Matthew is co-pilot and Duncan is the passenger.

Part of the pre-flight instruction with Bro. Vance the merit badge counselor.

This was at McChord where we got to go out on the tarmac and check out a C-17. It was huge but apparently compared to the C-5 it is tiny.

This is inside the fuselage looking forward. Again the size was just big.

We also got to get into the cockpit of the C-17. More switches and dials than it seems one could learn. After talking with Captain Vance of the Air Force, it sounds like they have made it very pilot friendly as technology is replacing a lot of the crew that it use to take to fly these big birds.

We had a fabulous time thanks to father and son both Captain Vance, the Air Force, and of course the Boy Scouts (which often gets us permission to do things we otherwise would not have been able to do.)

2010-02-15T17:45:00.000-08:00

Piano Concert

Rachel and Eric had their first concert with their new piano teacher. They both did awesome. I got a bit scolded from Wendy because I took this picture of Rachel while playing. Eric's picture is posed after the concert was over.

Chocolate Truffle Layered Cheesecake

For Christmas Wendy got me a Hershey's Dessert Cookbook so every Monday we find an awesome dessert from it and make it for an after FHE treat.

2010 Winter Olympics

So we headed up to Vancouver, BC for this extended weekend to take in the Olympics. Although we were never able to get a hold of tickets to get in because they were either too expensive or sold out, we still had a lot of fun. We stayed at a "host family" that were so hospitable. Their daughter is one of the nurses that I work with in the OR. It made for a very fun trip.

We of course went and saw the Torch, but I was surprised how far away they put up the beautiful chain link fence to keep everyone out.

We went to the Royal Canadian Mint where they make the Olympic medals. There was a huge line to wait in, but it was worth it.

They gave us special gloves to handle the medals. No one was to touch them as they would be awarded later to the athletes. Of course Brian was able to sneak in a couple of bear handed grabs.

Here is the Gold

Andrew's got the silver

Rachel's got the bronze

Oddly enough, the silver metal, if melted down, would be worth about $250. The Gold medal is also silver with a little gold plating so it's not worth much more. Why the cant just make a pure gold medal was beyond me. The bronze, if melted down, is only worth about $3.50

Here are the children with their favorite Olympic Mascot

A pose next to the torch. Can't go to Canada without curling. . . still not sure its a sport, but apparently they have programs in their schools to introduce it at an early age.

We went sledding without snow. Very clever those Canadians.We also went ice skating without ice. It was the first time for R, A, and B on skates and it was hilarious. This is one of the only times Andrew wasn't either on his rump or in the act of falling.They didn't have any skates Brian's size so he ran around an looked cute. . .but when Andrew was done, we put his skates on Brian, and as you can see below, it was a family affair getting him to skate.
We also went to see the Vancouver, BC temple. It was beautiful.

I'm so glad that families can be together forever. We had a blast!

2010-01-18T21:46:00.000-08:00

2010 Nelson Family Home Evening Day Photo Scavenger Hunt

A serendipitous turn of events on the Monday commemorating MLK. I was on call all weekend which meant I got Monday off to rest. The kids had the day off as well. So before Wendy and I hit the sack Sunday night, we planned a scavenger hunt hoping I wouldn't have to go back in that night. I got lucky and so Monday morning we were off with the four children in tow with the following scavenger hunt list:

-Eat Lunch with a troll under a bridge

-At "Ye Olde Curiosity Shop" find a tarantula, viking hat and a mummy

-Try a new fruit of vegetable that you've never tasted at the Market

-Have your palm read at the Magic Store

-Find Old fashioned lunch boxes at the Toy Store

-Find a flying fish

-Ride a pig that doesn't move

-Make a Penny Press

-Buy some Bubble Gum, chew it and put it on the Bubble Gum Wall

-Give Lunch to a homeless person

-Have Fun!!!

We headed off to Seattle, and below are some of the pictures from the Hunt.

Above and below is the giant troll under the Fremont Bridge who is eating a VW Bug. We thought we should join him. The children also climbed all over him but Wendy and I didn't want to stay too long as it was our first stop and much dirtier than we expected.Here is the piggy back ride, right in front of the "flying fish" market.Did you know that there is more than one bronze pig in the Pike's Market? I didn't either but we happened upon a second that was much larger and taller so Andrew decided to put the smooch on the pig as pictured below.
For the new fruit or vegetable, we tried one of both. The first picture is the children trying a blood orange, very tasty. They look just like a regular orange. The peel has a slight difference being that it has some maroon coloring on it. Brian started getting a little anxious once the peel came off and he saw the dark color of pulp.. We got him to take a bite but when the juices hit his tongue, it was immediately rejected. Andrew later asked some interesting questions. The first, how do they get the dark color in? and second - - is it real blood? It was good for a little laugh. This is Eric trying a new vegetable, kind of. We got a bushel of multicolored carrots. Interestingly, the dark purple carrots had more flavor than the other yellow and orange ones.Next is "Ye Olde Curiosity Shop" that some of our friends showed us when we came up with them. Rachel has the tarantula, Eric has the viking hat on, and the Mummy, Sylvester, is pickled/preserved and standing behind. This shop has a whole bunch of curious things to look at.
Here is Brian and Wendy getting their palm read at the Magic Shop. We prefer the electric palm readers. We all gave it a spin since the shop clerk so kindly uncovered it from the plastic and plugged it in just for us (they were under construction at the time but still open). Brian's reading was "Nasty Relatives" as was Rachel's. Eric's reading was "Lucky in Love," we are still probing into its meaning but Eric isn't saying a thing. Wendy was also "Lucky in Love." Andrew's was "Free Spirit." My reading was "Happiness is Yours" of which I couldn't agree more. It was beautiful day in the mid 50's, sunny and pleasant, and we had a very successful outing with four beautiful, lovely children that we couldn't adore more. I think they are the best children ever, but I could be biased.The consensus favorite was the bubble gum wall. If you've never seen this wall or one like it, come and visit us (free room and board), and we'll take you up to see this spectacle. I don't consider myself a "germ-a-phobe," or even anything close, but this wall gives you that swelling of heebeejeebees into your stomach like none other. You don't want touch it or even get close to it, but you definitely want to see it to believe it. And we even had bubble gum that we all stuck on it which was still creepy in that germ-a-phobe sort of way.

Click on these pictures if you really want to get your share of heebeejeebes, it's something else.
And finally, here is Rachel with that "should I really be touching this even if I only touch my own gum because this is really grossing me out. . . Mom, hurry up and take the picture!"

2010-01-15T22:49:00.000-08:00

Family at Ricks College

Wendy got me this new scanner for Christmas so now I can get all my old pictures from the negatives on the computer. This happen to be one of the photos that I pulled up and had to send out for my sister and cousins. This was about 15 years ago. Boy don't we all look so young.

Below is probably one of the first pictures of Wendy and me together. Again this is 15 years ago in the frozen tundra that is Rexburg, Idaho.

Oh to be so young and carefree . . .

2009-08-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

Photo Catch Up/ Update

Rachel's Birthday

"Heavy-Heavy Hang Over"

Rachel's Ice Cream Birthday Cake

Eric's Birthday More "HHH"

I love all the boys expressions in this one. Moment capturing
His Lego present
High powered "HHH"

So imagine being a week out from taking the most important test of your life and then while your daughter is learning how to sew from her awesome mother, she cuts the whole end of her finger off!! Very traumatic.

Nothing like children to help you keep an eternal perspective

The New York Trip for the Big Test. My parents joined up with us afterward and turned a sour moment into a cheerful one. We went all over Manhattan, and had lots of fun.

At a restaurant called Serendipity 3 where they serve "Frozen Hot Chocolate". Somewhat of an oxymoron, but you've got to try it to understand. It was the best hot chocolate I have ever had

On top of the Empire State Building

To Chuck E. Cheese for Andrew's Birthday

...of course there was HHH but pictured below.

Then to Oregon for some Portland Beaver Baseball and hiking with the Gibbons and G'ma & G'pa

Eric even participated in one of their on field events and scored a sweet ball cap from it.

Always ready to strike a pose.

"Dad, take our picture!"

I provide the humor on this trip with a very up close a personal meeting with the swamp.

The ol' Heavy-Heavy Hangover!

Andrew turned 6 this year and was long overdue for me to teach him how to ride a bike

My Father's Day Dinner - - Ribeye Steak, bake potato, asparagus, and fresh fruit. One of the best ever

And of course the Best Family ever too!!!

Eric's New Passion
Cutthroat Trout caught on a fishing trip with Grandpa!

but it is getting late, I'll hopefully post more later.

Wendy's Recent update to MyFamily. com

2009-08-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

So let me catch you up on life at the nelsons.We recently went to Central CA for our other family reunion. It was a lot of fun. We visited San Fran a few times, and did a Pleasenton version of "The Amazing Race" which was very hard but very fun. We got to visit Modesto for the weekend and hang out with all the Ricks family except for Gail, who was with mom, and Brent, who dosn't live there. Any way. We got to see Aaron's sweet house, and Bryan's huge house, and we got to visit with Uncle tons, and we got to see the girls and Adam and hear their plans for the future...they scare me a bit.

Anyway, we visited our old house, and actually went up the hill! We think it was much more open and beautiful they way mom and dad had done it. There are so many huge things taking up all the space, a tracter, boat, RV and a big barn, and they put up a big fence around the front of the house that closes it up so much. It was very cluttered. The driveway center planter area was still the same, same olive tree. The rose garden is halfway still there, and the little statue in the rose garden is still there. The orange trees are still there and the garages are still there. The house looks the same on the outside, but they put in a new front door and painted the house a dark tan color. It was weird but really fun to see again.

We are finally remodleing our master bath. Everything in it is broken, so we thought it was time. The shower plumbing broke and caused a lot of leaking under the lanolium and that all looks really bad, or toilet is broken, our cabinets door on our bathroom cabinate is unfixable, and there are so many weird things going on with that room, so we are finally doing something about it. We will have to take pictures of before and after.

We went out on the boat on monday and I had a little acident on the inertube. I caugt a big wave and the inertube bounced up really hard and hit my neck and did a litte damage to my vocal cords, and neck. I can't talk really well, so if you call I sound kinda weird. I went to an ENT doc yesterday to make sure there wasn't anything really bad going on and I should heal up fine on my own. My vocals are brused, and have a blood blister on them, and they are swollen, that is why talking has been so hard. So, with all this we have had 100 degree weather here and we don't have AC so life has been a bit uncomfortable, but we are trying to stay positive. It is 12:30 right now and my thermostat is at 82 ! Our house is at it's hottest at about 5-6 at night so we have a long day ahead of us. This is record high for here. Last year I think we had 1 or 2 days in the low 80s.

On a more positive note, Scott is not studying for the boards!!!! My kids are wonderful, and healthy, I did a french manicure on myself yesterday, and I loved seeing the Harry Potter Movie! Thanks to Audrey, I saved 6 dollars on Monday when I went grociery shopping (She has great coupon sites she sent me) and Heidi is coming on Saturday! I am excited to have her. I hope all is well with you all. Love, Wendy

Angels

2009-08-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

Children, no doubt, are some of the most frustrating things to live with at times. Juxtaposing that frustration on a scale with the amount of joy and happiness that they also bring, the scale not only tips to the side of joy and happiness, but it comes crashing down at the very attempt of trying to compare the two. And with that I give you some more "Ribbits" as they have been come to be know or in other words "Nelson Nickels" from E, R, A, or B.

Our always charismatic Andrew who often can have a flare for the dramatics when he is trying to get what he wants was in the middle of throwing a loud, high-pitched, self pity-party tantrum that just gouges the last nerve. What it was over evades me at this point, but in my attempt to handle the situation by obfuscation and distraction, the following conversation took place:

Dad: Andrew, if I told that I would give you five dollars to stop screaming and crying, would you stop.

Andrew: (in his whimpering fallen sparrow voice, tears still dripping): what dad?

D: I am asking you if you would stop screaming and crying If I told you I was going to give you five dollars for stopping

. . . ( a very measured pause of silence)

A: I'll take twenty

At this point I lost all expressions of seriousness from my face and walked away throwing my arms up in air, holding in the laughter, befuddled at how to counter what Andrew had just said.

Andrew, upon realizing that there would be no greenbacks coming his way, continued his whining and crying.

Not that the other children don't say anything quote-worthy but Andrew had another insightful 'ribbit' that must be told as its implications of what goes on in his head is staggering.

Last night he was eating his well earned otter-pop after dinner out on the deck as usual to keep the kitchen clean. I was cleaning up the grill after having successfully cooked pork chops when I hear some excitement from behind me. He comes running over with a hole in his smile and a tooth in hand. "Dad!" he exclaimed "my first loose tooth." I can not adequately express his exuberance that he had just lost his first tooth. You see, during kindergarten this last school year, each child had there name on a paper laminated tooth cut-out in the classroom. Each time someone lost a tooth, they would get to put a star on their paper tooth for everyone to see. Andrews remained empty the whole year despite other classmates teeth filling up with stars. He was so intent on being able to put up stars that he brought his tooth home and has adorned our refrigerator since getting out of school in June. He was so excited about putting up a star on his tooth, the whole tooth fairy concept had somehow passed him by. So Wendy and I were educating him on the ins-and-out of the how the tooth fairy works. Well Eric couldn't help but add that sometimes it takes a while for the tooth fairy to get around to coming which in turn made Andrew very concerned. We explained that the tooth fairy never misses the first tooth, and her timely response is all based on whether or not the child who lost their tooth believes in the tooth fairy.

Andrew took it all in stride and then asked "Mom, what if the the tooth fairy goes bankrupt?"

Can you believe a six year old is concerned that a tooth fairy might be bankrupt and he may not get his money. It must have something to do with our increased frequency of playing Monopoly as of late.

Another one from yesterday occured while I was teaching in my new calling as a Deacons quorum advisor. Present in the lesson were three deacons including the our oldest Eric, and two other leaders, Brother Sean Stout and Brother Jeff Nelson. My topic was Christ-centered repentance. The nice thing about this deacons quorum is there willingness to participate in lesson. Eric is no exception.
As we are going along, I notice that Eric is starting to race to answer the questions before any of the other boys. So I remind the whole class to raise there hands before speaking. The other two oblige my request, but Eric continues to more or less blurt out the answers before raising his hand. So being his Dad and deacons quorum advisor, I am conflicted about how to approach singling him out to get him to be more polite. I don't say anything at first, continuing on with the lesson, since he is the only not raising his hand. Meanwhile I am pondering how to effectively get the point across to him. Finally, after once again blurting out answers while my back was turned to the class writing on the chalk board, I just call him out "Eric , you need to wait to talk until you have raised your hand, and I have called on you." To which he quickly replied in his quieted whimpering voice as if I had just asked him to do impossible chore "I'm trying, its just sooo hard when I know all the answers." Brother Stout and Nelson couldn't hold back the laughter while I just kept my back turned and rolled my eyes.

Anyway, gotta love these angels that Wendy and I have been blessed with.

Wendy's Take

2009-05-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

This is Wendy's perspective of all the recent events that have been occuring in the Nelson household. I cut and paste this from her myfamily.com posting.

I know most of you know this, but I wanted it on the family sight, incase other family members that didn't hear would know. We are happy, excited, and all good things. Thank you to everyone for many years of fasting and prayer.

I thought it was interesting that for two of Scott and my most exciting times, poor dad was not feeling very well. Our wedding, if you all can recall, dad was sick in bed, and our house was for sale. Well, dad, I am happy to say, Scott and I are not anticipating any really exciting things in our future for a while, so I think your health will be fine.

We have had such a good time with Brent recently. He has been in Tacoma for 2 weeks and he spent Mother's day with us and he got to follow Scott around for a bit at the surgery center. Brent is also going with us this weekend to see Star Trek and I am taking him to church again with us on sunday. He is so fun to be with. He is always so funny.

Eric gave his first talk in Sacrament Meeting on Mother's day. He did such a good job, and luckily Susan Nelson was able to help him write it, because they were in town to celebrate Board passing, and to help me with the LDS Prom. He looked nervous, but he did really well.

New York was really fun. We went to the Statue of Liberty, the top of the Empire State building(my least favorite). We saw Shrek the Musical, and Wicked. Wicked was my favorite. We are seeing it again in Sept. with Eric and Rachel, when it comes to Seattle. We went to a restraunt where Bobby Flay did a "Throwdown" and lost. It was a cheesecake throwdown, and let me tell you that cheescake rocked! We also went to Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay's resturant) and had Scott's Birthday dinner there. The food was so good, but the resturant was small, packed and very loud. You had to shout to have a conversation. But at least we got to taste his creations. We went to central Park and ate at Tavern on the Green!, Yum! We rode in taxi's, subways, and boats. We went to the Chineese district and bargan shopped for knock-off purses. Scott got mine for 15 bucks. We got to visit FAO Shuarts the biggest Toy store. It was so amazing! They had lots of Harry Potter stuff there. We walked everywhere and saw an Indian parade, pretty cool. We ate a hot dog at one of those hot dog stands and had an ice cream at Serendipidy 3, where the most expensive sunday is. (We got the normal priced icecream)We did all that in 2 and a half days! Pretty impressive huh. Oh, our hotel was right next to where the twin towers were, so we got to see the two big holes that they are still working on.
Wendy

BOARD CERTIFIED !!!!

2009-05-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

A very heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported me through these oral board exams. Your prayers and sacrifice have payed off. I passed the oral board examination and am now a full fledged Diplomat of the American Board of Anesthesiology. Wendy and I found out last night when one of my good friends from medical school called to congratulate me. The weight and yoke of passing has finally been lifted and it feels fantastic. Thank you again to all who offered prayers and fasting in my behalf. The Lord has truly blessed us with this trial, and made us stronger throughout the process. His outstretched hand of love has supported us and we have more to be thankful for than we can ever repay.

The TEST is over . . . at least for a while

2009-04-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

So I have finally taken my oral boards for the third time. Unfortunately I think I failed yet again. As such I will have to take the writtens again, pass them and then on to the oral boards again. I actually don't get the results until late May, but my feeling afterward was that I didn't do so great. The test was in New York, right in Times Square to be exact. Wendy came with me and then my parents flew out that day. We all met up afterwards (Thursday) and spent the rest of the weekend in Manhattan. It was a lot of fun riding the subways and just adventuring through the Big Apple. My birthday was the next day so we celebrated by going to the Mesa Grill - -chef Bobby Flay's restaurant. They have some very tasty food. I got the Rib eye steak, my Dad got the New York Steak, Wendy got the Tuna, and Mom got the Mahi Mahi. All were very good. The desserts were great as well. I took pictures of all of it and will have to post them when I am at home.
Wendy and I also saw Wicked, a new musical, the next day. It lived up to all the hype that we heard about from our family members that had already seen it. We got really good seats which made it that much more enjoyable, front and center. We want to take Eric and Rachel when it comes to Seattle so Wendy is working out how to do that.
Other thing that we did were of course Liberty Island and the Empire State building. We also saw Shrek the Musical. It was fun too but not as good as Wicked. The subways and taxis made the experience a lot of fun too. Our first cab driver was downright fast. At one point it seemed as thought we were topping 50mph on the street so I peeked up to see the speedometer - - of course it was broken and reading 0mph.
One of my favorite destinations from the subway was Chinatown. The first visit, we just went to have some authentic Chinese food. The second trip we did some wheeling and dealing. I was able to get a really nice purse for Wendy for only $15! It was fun to speak in mandarin again and use it to my advantage for getting the price lower.
Part of the fun there was the great places to eat. We also ate at Tavern on the Green which is in Central Park. We had some "Frozen Chocolate Cocoa" at Serendipity3 that was delicious and huge.
Overall it was great fun. We flew back on Sunday, but due to the fact that I was preparing for the test and it was in Manhattan, so it seemed like one of those vacations that you need a vacation(or maybe staycation) afterwards.

Long time no type

2009-02-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

Since it has been so long since I updated this blog and I am stuck at the hospital not doing alot on Sunday, I thought an update was in order. Unfortunately I have no access to any of my family photos, so you'll have to do with text. Then again, maybe I can put up some pictures I have on this computer from some of my frequented blogs.
We had a great holiday season. We had the Gibbons and Tyler & Cassidy's family up for Thanksgiving. We were told that Tom wasn't a huge turkey fan and that they liked to do ribs for their Thanksgiving. Fortunately I have some friends who cater big events who gave me some tips on how to make excellent ribs because I had not previously made any. So we ended up doing turkey and ribs. I may be biased, but I think they turned out excellent. My children even agree and so we have made ribs a once or twice a month staple at the Nelson house, and I think will continue a new and somewhat unique Thanksgiving tradition. Maybe the Gibbons or the T & C Nelsons can weigh-in on what they thought of the ribs as well. The turkey of course was really good in my opinion as well - - but again, I may be biased.

For Christmas we kept it low key with just us and the children. This allow us to prolong the day and make it full of just enjoying each other and the gift opening. We had our usual nativity scene and scripture reading on Christmas eve. We kept the tradition of opening one gift that night and everyone somehow got pajamas. Christmas day we didn't even head downstairs till 7am and began the gift opening. We held out till about 12 to 1, taking breaks for breakfast and lunch. It was a very lazy and relaxing day. We also made our way over to our locally adapted grandparents Nancy and David (the one with the chickens). Their children are far away and rarely if ever get to see their grandchildren. As with the rest of the Northwest, we got dumped on with snow the whole week preceding Christmas. So it was a very white Christmas for us!!!

New Years we had some of our friends from the ward come over and play games. You know your getting older when you go to bed shortly after midnight on new years. That is what we usually do, but somehow we played Mario cart with our friends till like 1:30 in the morning when one them was falling to sleep while driving(the mario cart that is).

Some blogs that I look at frequently
noblepig.com - lots of yummy looking food and a family putting a vineyard down in the wilsonville area
pinchmysalt.com - - more yummy food
foodporndaily.com - - quite possibly the best pictures of food ever

no time for pictures but the above three blogs will make you drool so bring napkins

Oh the Irony!!!

2008-06-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

So the schoo year is winding down which often portends to activities at school that have nothing to do with academic type learning but Shaw Road Elementary has taken it to new heights recently. Normally when I ask the children how there day was, they have very little to share or report, but not the other day. Eric, our soft-spoken, slightly less athletically gifted Eric, comes home gushing about his PE class. Mind you PE still stands for Physical Education as far as I know. What is he gushing about? Well when he gets excited, he tells stories with such attention to details that you often get lost on the big picture . He starts to paint a story about how he and his friend Alec had a really fun competition in PE the other day. They were giong back and orth and doing really good. Then he begins to tell me that he had to play this bar and push buttons on a guitar shaped joystick and that his friend was hitting drumsticks. WHAT????? I couldn't believe my ears and grilled him for more details because is sounded like he was describing playing "guitar Hero" - - a video game. I thought maybe that he was talking bout his "Field Day" activities but soon deciphered that in fact he was playing video games in his PE class- - -in Physical Education!. I was beside myself. Wendy just sat back giggling at our interchange because I became so stunned from the news. Granted the school year was winding down and it was the last PE class of the year, but Wendy and I couldn't help but wonder what the teachers were doing during there lunches and breaks with a video game sitting around in the gymnasium. Anyway, I knew that there were movie videos being watched at school quite often for rewards of doing a good job, but this just took it to another level . . . video games during PE class, what will they come up with next?

Spotlight on Brian

2008-06-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

Brian has required that we extend the same amount of attention to him that we have been giving Andrew. Hence the photo below. Of course Brian has his own style to everything.Who can resist such a cute little tush.

Andrew Update

2008-06-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here is Andrew starting to be himself again. He's flexing muscles and flashing his smile.More muscle flexing.....

Here he is just being plain ol' silly!!

Happy to be home.

The white middle bandage is for his sternotomy (cutting the sternum/breast bone) incision. The black dot at the bottom of the sternotomy is the stitch for his chest tube that was draining the bleeding around his heart. The red crayola bandage was from the wound left by aspirating the pleural effusion (water around his lungs). The green bandage on his left collar bone was from the central line ( a big triple IV that was placed in the large vessels close to the heart).

2008-06-04T16:11:00.000-07:00

ANDREW IS HOME !!!!

He is doing much better now. The water around his lungs has subsided enough that he isn't so labored when he is breathing. He has gotten most of his strength back. We are happy to see his and Mom's face lighten our home. He still has to take a diuretic so that he will continue to get the rest of the fluid out from his lungs. But he can take that orally so they let him return. Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and support.

2008-06-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

Some more pictures of our angel Andrew at the hospital. I have a little more free time than usual at the hospital, so as you can see, I have been expirementing with the photo editor.

This picture below is typical of his mood most of the time

2008-06-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Andrew from Saturday. He was still a bit narcotized but doing well. Don't be fooled by the smile, it was very forced and that was the only time we have seen it.

Today, Sunday, he is a little more labored in his breathing due to having some fluid collecting in and around his lungs. Theyy will be giving him more diuretic today to try and get it off. If that doesn't work than they will add another diuretic, and if that doesn't work, they will have to put some chest tubes in to drain the fluid out. We are hoping that the diuretics work and hope to avoid the chest tube.

The heart rhythm is still holding solid with the medication being weaned more this morning. We will be staying in the Intensive Care Unit today still. He is eating better too. It seems that his recovery thus far has been a daily "one step forward, two steps back."

2008-05-31T15:40:00.000-07:00

Another quick update - - his heart rythm is back to normal and they have started to wean off the medication that is helping him. The rythm is still holding too. He also had his chest tube removed and his foley catheter ( the one draining his bladder) removed.

The biggest joy we had was when he finally pee-pee'd without the catheter. It was no easy event for him. They are giving him a diuretic (stuff to make you pee) because he has a little bit of fluid in one side of his lungs. That was making his bladder distend and become painful. Since he had the catheter in, his penis was painful too. But after much perseverence we struck gold!!! You would have thought that he was having a baby. He immediately fell to sleep after the big ordeal and continues to slumber as I type.

They also stopped the fentanyl (a narcotic like morphine) and started him on an IV equivalent to ibuprofen, as well he can take tylenol with codeine as needed.

He is also starting to cough which is another good little step towards getting home. I think the heart dysrythmia will be the slowest common factor. We'll keep you updated

Just for fun, here is a picture from two years ago of Andrew, its one of my favorites. I can't put any recent pictures up because this computer is incapable.

2008-05-30T21:10:00.001-07:00

Well Andrew got most of his tubes taken out today. He had to be put under just a bit today to cauterize a little bleeding from his chest insicion, but that went well. His heart rythms have been getting more and more irregular, but have not been symtomatic. So we will be in the ICU for another day at least but still shooting for only a four day stay at the hospital. They have had to start a medication drip to help the dysrythmia, so we'll see how well that goes. He still has a chest tube to drain the fluid around the heart, and a catheter in his bladder. Thanks for all your support, we'll send the messages along.

2008-05-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

Well I am sure most if not all of you know that Andrew is done with his surgery. He is doing quite well. His main complaint is that he is "super super duper duper thirsty". Considering all the other possible things he could be complaining of, I am quite satisfied with that one.

He has been oozing a little more than normal from his surgical site so he has had to get a blood transfusion, and other blood products that help you clot. It shouldn't be to much of a problem by tomorrow.

I am posting this from his room, so you can check back here or call Mom and Dad for updates. We can't have our cell phones on in the intensive care unit making it hard to reach us. Love you all and thank you for your prayers and support.

2008-05-27T21:42:00.000-07:00

Off to Battle!!!

Our little Andrew goes in this Thursday for open heart surgery. He has a congenital heart defect named a "mitral valve cleft". Simply put, it is a whole in his mitral valve, the valve between the left ventricle and left atrium. The cleft/whole is large enough that it has caused his ventricle to enlarge faster than he is growing. So he'll get a sternotomy (saw open his sternum/breast bone), his heart and lungs will be stopped and he'll be put on a heart-lung machine. They'll make an incision into the atrium, sew the cleft together and then close everything on the way out. He should be in the hospital for about four days, hopefully coming home on Monday.

2008-05-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

Came across some funny videos on you tube.

Potter Puppet Pals in "The Mysterious Ticking Noise"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4&feature=related

Hahaha -baby laughing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk&feature=related
If Kevin had strawberry blonde hair, we could've sworn this was Jenny's baby

Happy Laughing

2008-05-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

The Big One

Just a quick preview of the most recent pictures I have taken of Eric. This is his science project.

More Later...

2008-05-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

So I thought that I would put some photos up of the children, starting with Eric. Here is Eric and Andrew fighting over a door, yet polite enough to look at Dad as he snaps a photo.

Eric did his last Pinewood Derby. He wanted to do Perry the Platypus, from the Disney Channel's Phineous and Ferb. We thought is was a pretty cool car.

2008-04-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

2008-04-05T21:06:00.000-07:00

2008-04-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

Taking time I don't have to blog = no captions

2007-12-04T15:31:00.000-08:00

Here is this years rendition of the Christmas letter (sans the photos). Rumor is that the second page did not print for some, otherwise you should all have received a copy of it in the mail. If you didn't get the back/second page( or any letter at all), let us know and we will resend it.

Dearest Family and Friends,

We hope you are all doing well. We have had an exciting year! This year we went to two wonderful family reunions, we got a new niece and two new nephews, visited the Oregon Coast, visited cousins, threw up at a baseball game, “did the Puyallup” Fair, got two little kittens, ran over one (by accident), and then got another one. We got new callings, got teeth fixed and straightened, went to piano lessons and recitals, went to gymnastics and competitions and got to see how Harry Potter finally conquered Lord Voldemort. We went on a private airplane, and big airplanes and even a helicopter! We battled rodents, the oral boards, wind storms, and even a gigantic spider under Rachel’s bed! We traveled to Maui and Kauai and snorkeled, scuba dived, body surfed, boogie boarded, swam with turtles, hula danced on stage, survived the road to Hanna, and ate amazing food, and even got to see Scott’s parents scuba dive in the shark tank at the Maui aquarium!

Scott Brian – 3? Years old, enjoys family, photography, loud music, anything to do with being in water, eating his wife’s food, watching sports, playing sports, and putting people to sleep. He is serving as the 1^st counselor in the Elder’s Quorum, and keeps himself busy with studying, his ever-growing honey-do list, and of course, work. He specializes in making his wife happy, the touchy sump pump in the crawl space, and taking out body piercings. Scott dislikes putting on sunscreen, traveling behind a slow car, and the oral boards.

Wendy Jeanne – 32 years old, enjoys her children and family, teen music, books, cooking, “chick flicks”, shopping, being warm, and spending alone time with Scott. She is serving as 2^nd counselor in Primary, and keeps herself busy with yard work, house work, chauffeuring, nursing, shopping, cooking, public relations, and fanatical manager jobs.(In other words, being a mother) She specializes in brushing teeth, killing spiders, and making pizza. Wendy dislikes driving with Scott while he is behind a slow car, and the oral boards.

Eric Scott- 10 years old, enjoys playing by himself, drawing, playing with the cats, reading, anything to do with being in the water, Bionicles, Science and Robots. He keeps himself busy playing piano, playing drums, Webelos, doing homework, doing chores and pretty soon, basketball. Eric specializes in trying to make his mom happy and coming up with wonderful plans and ideas. Eric dislikes most dinners, Rachel singing, and not having his own room.

Rachel “Rose”- 7 years old, enjoys singing, writing in her journal, her mom’s music, cooking, dancing, playing games, and gymnastics. She keeps herself busy playing the piano, doing homework, gymnastics and playing. Rachel specializes in giving hugs, being a peacemaker, and being sweet. Rachel dislikes waking up to her alarm clock, and being far away from her cousins.

Andrew Robert- 4 years old, enjoys Crazy Frog, dancing, eating, running, swimming, and being a boy. He is our independent spirit. He keeps himself busy! Andrew Specializes in pretty much anything he wants to. He just got diagnosed with a hole in one of his main heart valves, and will have surgery sometime before he is 10. We will keep you all posted, but it sure isn’t slowing him down. He has a great personality and is very charismatic. He dislikes being too young to drive, and too young to go to ]-->school. (In that order.)

Brian Gerald- 2 years old enjoys his brothers and sister, getting butterfly kisses, driving in Dad’s convertible, wearing Rachel’s jewelry, and wearing his shoes. He keeps himself busy running after Andrew and trying to do whatever he is doing. Brian specializes in cute, cheesy smiles, loving his grandmas, and baby sign. Brian dislikes being poopy, falling down, and not having his shoes on.

Merry Christmas everyone. We love you all!!

Hawaii Trip

2007-11-16T18:06:00.000-08:00

Wendy recently posted this on her myfamily.com site. Thought I would pass it along

I typed for and hour, and accidently pushed return, and lost all of it. I was am pretty upset about loosing that much, so I am going to sum up.Started in Kaua'i, went snorkling, boogy boarding, went on a helicopter ride, drove to see the "grand cayon" of that island, ate at great places, and tried all the local fish and fruits. After 3 days we flew to Maui and drove the road to Hana, saw black and red sand beaches, Scott took his first Scuba lesson and did a dive with his mom and dad. We enjoyed a luou, (lots of great food, and amazing dancers). Scott, his dad, Eric and I went and snorked at Mulukini, a half moon crater island out by Maui, saw great fish. We also snorkled with about 5 sea turtles, 2 of which started mating, and we saw 2 males fight over the one feamale in heat. Apparently one bit the other one. We drove up to the top of Haleakala (the volcano), then went trick-or-treating. We took the kids on a little underwater boat and got to show them lots of fish. More beaches and snorkling. We then went to the Maui Aquarium where Scott's parents dove in their huge shark and sting ray tank. They picked up stark teeth for the kids. We got to watch them the whole time. The largest shark was a tiger shark 7 feet long. It was memorable. It was fun and very busy!Sorry it isn't very detailed, my other entry was. I am typed out. Love you allWendy

This was her post on Oct 16:
"Hey, I have to leave to go visiting teaching pretty soon so I will keep this short. We took Andrew to the Ped. Cardiologist yesterday because Scott heard a pretty loud murmur. After the echocardiogram, it was discovered that Andrew has a cleft in one of his chamber valves. His heart has to work a bit harder because the valve is less efficient then a normal valve would be. He will eventually have surgury on his heart when the cardiologist feels is neccessary, but for now it will be monitered every 6 months. Well I do have to go. Love you all."

I replied to it with this:
The technical term is an isolated "mitral valve cleft". They are usually associated with other congenital heart defects. Andrew doesn't have any of those other defects. Heather you are right, the first time we heard the murmur was at Dr. Stump's office when Andrew was sick. But we hadn't heard it before and we think it would go away, or least be not as audible, when he was better. But he was playing around with my stethescope the other day and wanted me to listen to his heart. As I did I noticed he had it again, but Andrew proceeded to get sick that night so I wasn't too worried except that I thought it was louder than before. I also could not tell where the murmur was originating from in the heart. So a few days later I pulled out the stethescope again and low and behold it was still there with the same volume if not louder. We got an appointment, the cardiologist couldn't place the murmur either by listening and the fact that I thought it was getting louder got Andrew an echocardiogram and the mitral valve cleft is what we found. It is rare enought that I can't find a picture on the internet to show you. So for now we will be watchfully waiting."

Most recently, I found my theme song
My colleague sent this to our group, thought it would be great to pass along.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xuZl9tRqjoQ

p.s. This is by a group called "Amateur Transplants". This is the only song from them I would listen to. We started to listen to another and there were really bad words in it. The above link/song is very clean.

2007-11-05T21:47:00.000-08:00

Here we are on our last day in Hawaii. This is a beach in Maui just a couple of minutes from the resort that we stayed at in Kipei.

The Puyallup Fair

2007-09-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

We went to the Puyallup Fair. We went twice this season, once with grandma and grandpa and once with Tyler & Cassidy Nelson and their kids. We met Christopher and Marie Liddell there with Cheyenne. Pictures are below

These are pictures I actually took from my brothers blog. We neglected to bring a camera.

Here we are at the petting zoo and on the Merry-go round

Testing the new BLOG for SWERABN

2007-09-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

Moving into another undiscovered realm on the Internet. This is to test my "skills"
The picture on the right is at Lake Couer d' alene in Idaho. We were at a Ericksen Family Reunion. Nothing like being stranded with your children in a small canoe in the middle of a huge lake. They didn't have any paddles and were at my mercy- - gotta love it!

The picture on the left is the Puget Sound at low tide. There were crab (mostly dead), shells and sand dollars galore. We went with some friends and had a grand time.