49 Years

Last Sunday was Mike's 49th birthday.  He has stubbornly decided that he is only 44 years old.

  I think he is freaked out that he is this close to 50 now! 

 I make sure to rub it in real good

(like 2 cakes with a total of 49 candles between the 2 of them)

 that he is actually 49 years old now!

I know, I'm too kind .... right?

Anyway, we had a really nice get together with some family and close friends on Sunday night.

Mike and I enjoy our kids friends so much we use every excuse to invite them over! 

They are all so talented and ambitious!

Of course Michael and McKenzie sang for us!

And Katie and her soon to be Mr. Right, Tom, entertained us.

Man that boy is talented!! He even sang me some Billy Joel!

And our home teacher even played us some tunes.

Can you tell we love music?

We all had a great time and Mike said it was one of his best birthdays ever!

This growing old stuff is fun when we do it all together!

The Birthday Boy!

Michael turned 22 on Sunday.  Don't you just love his cake?  We had a great time with some of his friends and the immediate family.  I thought this was a cute cake I found at Costco, so I just had to get it for him and we really talked it up before we let him see it!  We told him he was gonna love it and well, he did!

Among his many friends this cute girl came and sent Michael on a scavenger hunt before his party.  It ended in his bedroom with pictures of the two of them plastered all over his wall.  McKenzie is Michael girlfriend and is a very nice, talented, kind, fun-loving girl.

  Michael sure knows how to pick them!  They make a great pair.

However, McKenzie has chosen to leave this cute boy for 18 months in order to serve a full-time mission for the Lord.  Now, how can you be upset about such an honorable choice?  Of course Michael would love to marry her TODAY!  But it looks like we will just have to wait for "The rest of this story"

McKenzie's papers were submitted on Michael's birthday! 

Now the wait begins!

What a couple of great kids!

THE BASEMENT

Just thought I'd share some pictures of the basement area.

Now, remember that flood we had? We would not have been able to
 carpet our entire basement floor like it is if we hadn't had that flood.

The Lord works in mysterious ways:)

Here's a view of the downstairs. 

 There's the bathroom in the middle and then Bryce and

 Michael&Adams bedrooms on either side.

Here's the view lookig down into the basement from the stairs.

Here is our movie area for now. 

We have wired this area to eventually be able to

make it a kitchen area.(someday this whole entire basement can 

be a whole separate living quarters)

 For now this is a great little family room area.

Around the corner in the main area is our ping pong/ game area.  The door to your left is where the

theatre room may eventually go.  It is now being used as a weight/storage room.  The door at the other end of the ping pong table sits underneath our front entry way and is used as a storage room. 

Here is the veiw close to that storage room and shows Stephen's bedroom.

And opposite that china hutch(which was my grandmas) there is a small closet underneath

the stairs which I am using as a family history room.  It houses all of my pictures, scrapbooks etc.

And that is our basement besides the boys bedrooms which are a mess, so I wont be

showing those for a while.  One of these days they will all be cleaned at the same time and I will

dare to take pictures of them. For now, you get the idea:)

Mom and Dad Nelson's 50th Wedding Anniversary

Last night we celebrated my Mother and Father in Law's 50 Wedding Anniversary.  We had hoped that we could get the whole family out here for this but it crept up so quickly after Christmas and we were running out of time.  So, between Me, Darcie, Coleen and Jamie, we pulled off a pretty nice event.

We moved our living room furniture out and set up 4 long tables with room to spare. 

We decorated the place like a dinner theatre.

Everyone except Mom and Dad came early to help set up and get the food ready.

We had a nice dinner of a choice of chicken or salmon with roasted potatoes, green salad and rolls.

Of course Mike started out by toasting to Mom and Dad's 50 years of marriage!

He pointed out how important the family is and how Mom and Dad have accomplished something so rare these days.Then Mark took a turn and that got everyone conversing about old times.

After dinner we had some entertainment by the kids. 

I even sang this time....even though I had to choke back tears throughout my whole song!

After dinner and entertainment, we had Mom and Dad cut their cake that Darcie made.  They cut it and fed it to eachother just as they should have 50 years ago...they said they never did do this part!

They were so cute!  We made them kiss several times because our camera's

 just weren't quick enough to get that shot! Darnit!

Anyway, it was a fun time for everyone.

So, here's to the happy couple!  50 Years of hard work, loyalty, love

and never ending devotion! 

 Cheers!

Nelson Family Update

I thought it was time to update you all on our family happenings.  So, here goes!

Bryce-  Bryce is enjoying his 8th grade year in middle school.  His best friend is a cute girl named Faith.
He is enjoying taking 2 dance classes 1- ballroom 2- hip hop.  Faith is a very talented dancer and has encouraged Bryce to take dance in between football and baseball seasons.  He is getting taller and taller everyday.  About 5'8" now.  He is very good to his Mom, loves to look his best and is more like his Dad than his brothers.  So, they butt heads a lot!  Oh JOy!

Stephen - After football season was over this year he decided to try wrestling.  Well, that lasted about a good month as he decided that he was tired of being constantly beat up!  Now he is enjoying a football pre-conditioning class every morning before school at 7am and his Singer's  group at school which is a choir class that he had to try out for as they do alot of performing.  He loves it and has landed a solo for the Valentine's day performance coming up.  He's enjoying school with lots of friends and a particular girl in mind that he likes to bring over and spend time with.  We try to push the dating of other girls in between and so does her family...thankfully!

Michael - is thouroughly enjoying school at UVU this second semester.  He is especially enjoying his psychology class...( I knew he would).  He teaches SS in his ysa ward and is working at a home for autistic boys in mapleton.  He has been dating a terrific girl who has planned to serve a mission for a very long time.  Stay tuned to find out what happens with this one!  He's head over heels and READY to get married now!  So, only time will tell how this story will end. 

Me -  Loving my job at the Chiropractic office. I run the front office and enjoy the job, the people I work with and the many patients that come into our office everyday!  Work a half day on Thurdays and Fridays so even though I work sometimes til 6 MTand W I still get to run my errands and things on Thurs and Friday.  I was recently released from my calling in the rs pres.  I am laying low and enjoying my VT assignment which Mike and I do together each month.  Enjoying my new home which still has lots of touch ups needing to be done but enjoying the space and the fun of having friends over and entertaining them.

Mike- Mike is still looking for a permanent job.  He is doing a small side job for his cousin in Mapelton, finishing off the upstairs attic of their garage by putting in a small apartment there.  Mike is especially enjoying the time he gets to cook and try new receipes lately.  It's been a yummy experience.  He has also recently been called to our stake high council and has a ward assignment and of course speaking assignments.  He is looking forward to his new calling much more than the last time he had it.  I guess he feels more ready for it this time around. 

So, that is the latest.  We are all happy and healthy and trying to have faith that life will begin to look up in this economy for us soon!  We feel blessed and looking forward to what may lie ahead of us this new year of 2012!

Marriage for Eternity

I am thankful for my Temple Marriage!
Have a beautiful Sunday!

ENTHUSIASM!

  So, get excited about your life!