Scott's Amazing Vacation

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!

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!

 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

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

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!!

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

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.