Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving...what a great time of the year to spend a little extra time reflecting on our many blessings. This year was both wonderful and bittersweet. The wonderful part was of course being with family and the bittersweet part was that not all of the family was there. Melissa prepared her first Thanksgiving dinner and had a houseful to share it with...what a proud moment for me as a mom seeing my beautiful daughter grown into a wonderful woman, wife, and mother as she welcomed all to her home this Thanksgiving day. It was a bit sad for me to not have my own mother there but I know her spirit was nearby and she shared this proud moment with me. I know there will be more Thanksgiving meals in the future where not all my children will able to attend as there have been some in the past where they were elsewhere, but I will always carry them with me in my heart. I am thankful for the blessing of the gospel and for the awesome adults my children are becoming.

Lake Tahoe 2009

Who knew that 29+ years could go by like the snap of a finger?! Sure some days seem to last forever and some years are harder than others, but when you take some time to look back and reflect on where you were and where you are now, it seems as if no time has passed at all. For 29 years I have been married to the love of my life and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. We have endured some trials and through them all he is there for me and I hope I am there for him. We have also had so many joys in our lives not the least of these being our 6 children. Now we also have an awesome son-in-law and an adorable grandson. So many blessings! For the last several years, we have tried to get away once or twice a year and just reconnect. This year we went to Lake Tahoe and spent 2 relaxing days enjoying the view, a concert, a leisurely drive around the lake, and each other. I hope we have at least 29 more years together!

Preparedness Adventure Concluded

Sooooo, are we prepared? For most emergencies we did pretty well but I did discover that I want better food in my 72 hour kits. They just didn't really cut it when it came right down to it. Of course, we could survive on them but since I am a 'stress' eater, I want to actually enjoy my emergency food in times of stress. I also found that I needed more water than I had. In my defense, I thought I had more water stored, but my family has been nipping from my stash for ball games, hikes, and such. Silly family, I guess they would have to go without in a real emergency, eh? It was a real eye opener to go through these 'emergencies' and now I have a list of things to help us better prepare. I would reccommend a drill to all families. Then there would be fewer surprises in the event of a real emergency.

Preparedness Adventure

We are about to find out if we are really prepared for an emergency. I signed us up for a 7 day preparedness test through a website called www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net. I am excited and nervous to see how prepared (or not) we are. I have lots of food storage and recipes to use, some water stored, and I know where most of our important papers are. What else is there? I guess I will find out next week...

Ft. Bragg Camping Trip 2009

We went to Ft. Bragg with the Atkin family, and the Doughman family. Melissa, Bob, Joshua, and Kari joined us for the last three days we were there. We watched fireworks over the ocean on the 3rd of July. Unfortunately the fog rolled in and all we saw were flashes of light on the fog. There was a radio simulcast, however, that was pretty funny. At one point the announcer even said "Well, it sounds like a good show!" We laughed and laughed about that one. We didn't have hot showers most of the week but we made it through. This may be our last trip to McKerricher to camp because our state is threatening to shut down many of the state parks. We have made many memories with our friends and family and we will treasure them forever.

The Whole Gang

Sunbathing???

Papa & Joshua

Melanie has graduated from college! Yeah Melanie!! On April 10, 2009, we were priviledged to watch our third child(4th daughter) graduate from BYU Idaho. It was a wonderful experience. We drove and drove to get there and loved every minute of our time in Rexburg. We are glad Gma and Gpa were able to come share in this special time, as well.

As I sit here reflecting on Melanie's accomplishment, I am led to think about my own college experience. It was brief, just 2 years, and then I married and had 5 kids pretty quick with a 6th one later. Now 3 of my kids have graduated and are better educated than their mom. I might not have much book learning, but I have a lot of life experience to draw upon and it has shown me that knowledge is a good thing, but wisdom is better. The keynote speaker at graduation talked about this. Wisdom is sometimes lost when we seek knowledge; knowledge is lost in all the information out there; so it is important to seek wisdom because that will always get us through and keep us on the right path in life. I treasure the wisdom I have gained in this life. Someday I may have a college degree, but until I do, I will bask in the accomplishments of my children and keep seeking wisdom.

Disneyland!!

The happiest place on earth is Disneyland, so they say, and I have to say that I can be very happy there when I am with my family on a spur of the moment vacation. This year Disneyland is letting you into the park free on your birthday and so we decided to celebrate Ray's birthday by going to So. California for a whirlwind trip. We took Hannah and Katianne and spent 3 fun-filled days riding our favorite rides, watching parades, and eating some really good food at the Hungry Bear. We enjoyed frozen lemonades, popcorn, churros and other great junk food, but most of all, we enjoyed being with each other and relaxing from the stresses of daily living. When we weren't at the park, we spent time with Mom & Dad Nelson and Keith & Vickie. We played games, ate more good food and talked, talked, talked. It was a great way to spend the first weekend in February.

Happy New Year!! O.k., I know it is half way through January already, but it is still a new year and I am happy for it! We had the most awesome day on Friday when we went to Sacramento and met up with the Whetten's who had picked Sean up from his mission just the day before. We spent time in the temple with them, went out to lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and walked around Old Sacramento where Sean showed us a great candy place that gave out free samples. This weekend we also got some new photos from Portugal. Sister Lyman sent us some shots of the fireworks they set off on Madeira, one of which I have included and some more pictures of our elder. He looks good. Happy New Year everyone.