Master Bathroom Remodel

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

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.)

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 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!"

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 . . .