Kick off to Christmas!

Last night we had our first annual Christmas Musical Celebration in our home.  It was a success except for the fact that we started an hour later than we had planned...ouch!  Okay, so you had to figure something would go wrong the first time right?

Mike welcomed everyone and hosted the evening. 

We started off the program with our family singing a primary song

"Samuel tells of the baby Jesus"

Amy Workman, neighbor, friend and RS president, was our accompanist and also sang a beautiful song by Hilary Weeks, that I cried every time I heard Amy sing ..."Christmas Time". Absolutely beautiful!

Stephen and Sophia sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"....in beautiful harmony.

I was impressed!

Sophia sang "When Mary Sang Her Lullaby"...

this is one of the reasons why people fall in love with this girl!

Absolutely beautiful!

Tristen Nelson(Chaparro family) sang and played Jingle Bells for us!

Awesome!

Sandy Nelson (Chaparro family) read us a heart warming Christmas story...

we all were teary-eyed after that.

Tatiana Nelson (Chaparro family) also sang a lovely "Away in a Manger"

She has such a sweet voice:)

Finally we heard a story by Mom about a missionary boy...(we had to include Michael somehow)

We tied it into Christmas and the message that Michael is sharing in Australia.

Here is Grandma Nelson with Sister Chaparro. 

Mom said she was happy that her son could go to Argentina and teach the gospel to their family!

I think everyone enjoyed the program and the evening. 

 It was a great way to kick off the Christmas season.

We had some refreshments afterwards and enjoyed just visiting.

And of course we had to take a picture of the 2 Nelson families.

(Stephen not shown...already shut down for the night.)

Sandy (Chaparro) Nelson was the first to hear the gospel in Argentina.

 Mike and his companion baptized the family and Mike confirmed Sandy 28 years ago. 

 She later married another Nelson who also served in the same mission.

Unfortunately the weather hindered my family from being there. 

I really missed having them there, but we managed to still have a great evening!

Can't wait to do it again next year!

A Christmas Musical Celebration with The Mike and Lisa Nelson Family

     Well, it's that time of year again! The best time of year when we celebrate the birth of our Savior. I am so excited for this season especially this year as we are finally here in Utah with family. We have missed them so much!  So, Mike and I have decided to start a new traditon that we are especially excited about. "A Christmas Muscial Celebration with the Mike & Lisa Nelson Family". This special celebration will be hosted by our family of course, and will be featuring our family as well as our immediate extended family members.

     It will be held the first Sunday after Thanksgivng and will be an opportunity to grow closer as a family and share the Christmas spirit with eachother. This night we will celebrate the birth of our Savior to kick off the Christmas season with special musical numbers and a few stories. Each person in attendance will have the opportunity to share some of thier talents with us Christmas style.  In addition to our immediate families we will be inviting a few special guests each year. To end the evening we will have a special christmas story told by one of the grandma's and then each person in attendance will recieve their first christmas bell of the season.  Afterwards we will share some christmas goodies. We are so excited to start this new tradtion. So, stay tuned to see how it went.

     Merry Christmas!

A great turkey day

Bryce was my helper on Wednesday.

  He helped put the finishing touches on the tables.

Kids table

Adult table

Christopher and Joey Mason

Regina telling stories....as usual

We played a fun game that Regina thought up.

Everyone put 2 things that they were thankful for in a jar.  Then we each took turns pulling one out and reading it and guessing who wrote it.  It took a while and it was a lot of fun.

Jim, Regina and Sophia sang some Phatom of the Opera songs for us.

Beautiful voices!

It was a great Thanksgivig Day! 

Our first big snow storm

This is our backyard view. Isn't it so pretty? 

We've been waiting for a snow like this.

The kids are loving it and so are we, as long as I dont have to go out in it!

Our house

Mom and Dad's house behind our new basement:)

Thankful for extended family

Last night we traveled to West Jordan to spend time

with my sister Regina and her family.

Valerie, my neice had just arrived after spending 2 1/2 years working and living in So. Korea She was there as a teacher, teaching english to little children.  She said that in Korea the children are 1 year old when they are born.  They are considered to be growing for the first 9 months that they are in their mothers womb.  Then after they are born, the following January they are then 2 years old.  So, many of the children who were considered to be 5 years old were actually 3.  Very interesting.

She traveled all over the world while she was there.  She went to places such as Bali, South East Asia and China.  She brought out just a few of the beautiful souveniers she aquired while she was there.

She shared many stories with us about her travels and the people she saw and the living conditions she witnessed.  She is a very sensitive girl and shed a tear or two as she told us of some of the

poverty she saw.  She is a very loving a giving young woman.

The kids enjoyed their time with their cousins.  Rickie is quite the story teller.

Such a Stephenson...always acting and telling stories!

Rickie and Bryce shared some wrestling moves but wouldnt let me

get a picture of them...so this is what I got.

Chris, Sophia and Stephen were stylin' in their black jackets!

What a bunch of hams!

It is so nice to be making memories again

with our extended family!

House building progress

Well, the weather started out good when we first began to form the foundation.

Dad has been out there making sure all is going well.

Brad has been helping out too.

Mike finally got to get out there and work one morning

before work and on Saturday.He was in heaven. 

I love to see him working...building...oh, baby!

Then the forms for the walls started going up.

The pour for the walls

Bridger and Reese taking full advantage of the mountains of dirt that was dug out

I thought it was so pretty the other night when the sun was going down.

Then the forms came off and we have a basement!

Then the snow hit, it's going to be a very cold building project

But,

So far, so good!

November at the Nelson's

Welcome to our Home

 So Thankful for the simple things in life!