It's been far too long!

Okay, so I know it's been far too long since I last updated this blog.  But I am just now settling down from the previous year.  So, much happened last year and of course Stephen has been on his mission for 7 months now!  So, maybe I should get caught up.

Of course Christmas came and went.  Michael and Megan spent it here in Utah with us.  They really wanted to just be home with the family so we cancelled all of our other plans and just stayed home.  It was nice and quiet.

2013 Nelson Family Update

THE ORDINATION

So, it's been a while since I have updated my blog so this will be my attempt to do so.  The following is all that has transpired since Stephen received his mission call.  

Stephen was set apart as an Elder in April.  

The whole gang that a was there.

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THE WEDDING

On April 26th Michael and Megan were sealed for time and all eternity in the Mesa Arizona Temple!

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful sealing. 

 Mike and I could not be more pleased!

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THE GRADUATION

Stephen graduated from High School on May 24th

This is a picture of Stephen's closest buddies from school

 and their Mom's

Here's a picture of our little family minus Me:)

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SENIOR TRIP

Stephen ended up taking a senior trip with his 

closest buddies for a week.

They had a great time together unsupervised

 and tearing up the outdoors.

Yes, they thought this would be a funny shot.  

Boys will be boys!

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THE TEMPLE

We then took Stephen thru the temple to recieve his endowments at the Jordan River Temple

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful experience!

Mike is not in this picture, not because he was taking it but because he was inside looking for something very important and was taking forever to find it!

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THE FAREWELL

The weekend of Stephen's farewell we had a large family gathering and celebrated 

Stephen and his decison to serve his Father in Heaven

This is the Florida Flag with Stephen and his closest 

"girl friend" (wink, wink) Elsie Rowe.  She is truly a great

influence and support to our Stephen.  We love her

to death!

We had a large family dinner and we each had the opportunity to 

share our feelings with Stephen regarding missions. It was 

a touching time for all.

That night we played! 

 A lot!

Including playing "just dance" 

It was party time with close family.

We enjoyed having my brother Jim out with his family.  

He was so good to Stephen.  He is a super great Uncle to my boys!

This is one of the cousins picture we took of the kids.

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SAYING GOODBYE FOR 2 YEARS

The following Wednesday June 26th was the

 day Stephen entered the MTC

That was a very emotional day for me. 

 I was supposed to work Monday 

and Tuesday but I ended up taking

 Tuesday off to be sure we had everything ready

and because I could not concentrate on

 work while my son was preparing to leave

me for 2 Years!

The day Stephen entered the MTC, 

after lunch together at Costa Vida and

some last minute pictures at the 

Provo Temple I had a short heart to heart talk

with my son as I knew this was my last

 opportunity to say goodbye to my 

sweet boy of 18 years!

 It was just too emotional and it was so 

difficult to say goodbye. 

 Bryce got this picture of me crying

 my eyes out as I was 

saying goodbye to Stephen. 

Stephen was so together and 

told me how much he loved 

me and about the difference

 I had made in his life.

  I swear I love that kid!

And here is Elder Nelson with his Mission Presidents

And that brings us to now!  

Summer has now ended and Stephen has been gone

 for almost 2 months now.

A new school year is starting for Bryce and Life goes on.......

Missionary #2

On Friday night March 8, 2013 Stephen opened his mission call.  

He was so nervous all week as he knew that he would be receiving his call this week and could think about nothing else!  He paced the floor all day friday after he received it in the mail.  He had been getting little sleep and has been so anxious just to know where in the world he was going.

We all really thought for sure that he would be called to a foreign mission.  I guess because Michael went out of the country we naturally thought Stephen would also.  Plus Stephen knows a bit of spanish and uses it here and there.  Plus he looks very latin.  He is such a go getter and is very much a people person with a whole lot of passion.  So, I really thought that he would go to some far away country to make it more of a challenge for him.  But only the Lord knows how he will challenge his children.

Anyway, I was almost as anxious as Stephen was the 2 days leading up to him receiving his call.  The day of I became sick with a flu bug.  So, I wasnt feeling much of anything by that time except sick.  Stephen, however, was still pretty anxious.  Michael had to work late so we had to wait until 10:00 pm to open it.  We had the Mark Nelson family here and Grandma and Grandpa Nelson.  My family felt it was too late to come all the way out so we had them on the phone.  And Stephen invited his 4 closest friends to come with their parents.  Hummer, Payton,  Karson an Caleb. Once his friends got here the 4 of them gathered in the office for a group prayer and hug.   Stephen was the first of them to receive his call but he is the youngest in age.  So, they were all here waiting when Michael finally showed up at about 10:15 pm.  Stephen talked to us a bit while we were waiting about his decision to go on a mission and some of the things that are important to him. 

 When the moment finally arrived for Stephen to open his much awaited call. Stephen said he suddenly felt a great calm come over him. ( I also no longer felt any anxiousness).  We decided later that this must have been the spirit preparing Stephen for a non-foreign mission. Stephen proceeded to read a very calm call for him to serve in the Tampa Florida Mission.  I think we were all shocked and a bit let down at first since we all kinda expected some foreign country.  However, we knew that this was a call from our Father in Heaven.  Stephen will be a great asset to his mission! He will enter the MTC on June 26th.  

We have since learned that he will be coming in at the same time as a new mission president is assigned to his mission.  And my best friend is the most excited of all.  Denisa is from Tampa Florida!  She has shared many interesting things about the area.  The climate will be a lot like Micahel's mission in Australia was.  And there are a lot of ethnic groups there.  Cuban and Dominican to name a couple.  Not to mention that there is a very strong Baptist following there with very well versed Bible followers.  "They know their Bible"!  So, Stephen is really looking forward to going and serving the people of his  mission.  The Tampa Florida Mission!

And we are so excited and pleased with this fine young man who has been sent to our family.  

This is why I am a Mother!!

Keeping you updated

    Well, we've been a busy family as of late. 

We celebrated Micahel's 23rd birthday on Feb 19th .  He and Megan are getting more and more excited for their wedding coming up at the end of April.  Aren't they adorable together?

Bryce entered himself in the Nebo School district Middle School Weight lifting competition and Won 1st place in his weight division.  He was surprised and very proud of himself.  Here he is flexing and looking tough.  He also just made the High School JV Soccer team.

What a stud!:)

Stephen has been attending lots of dances but this one is worth mentioning.  He was asked by this young lady to her Sweethearts at Maple Mountain High School.  The fun thing about this date is that Kayla is the Student Body President at her school and Stephen is the Student Body President at his school.  She and Stepehn had gotten to know eachother thru different school functions.  Maple Mountain is also Springville's rival school. They had a blast together and have become great friends.

  "Now that's a lot of Political Power right there"!

We also celebrated Mike and Bryce's birthdays since they are within the same week.

Mike Feb 27, and Bryce Mar 2.  Mike 50 and Bryce 15.

Mike and I hope to do a bigger party for our 50th Birthdays a bit later in the year.

There's too much going on!

But Bryce was so excited when Michael and Megan gave him 2 little chick's to raise for his birthday.  They have been concerned about what he will do when Michael gets married and moves out and Stephen is on his mission.  So, they thought this would give him somehting to do with his Dad.  He was thrilled!  Mike just said, "Oh boy".....

Last but not least we are awaiting at this very moment the arrival of Stephen's mission call.

He is such a character that kid!  As soon as the time was exactly the amount of time that he could fill out his paperwork for his mission and send it in, he was on it.

We had little to do with it.  Mike and I tried to get him to slow down and wait a bit to get other things done, but that's a laugh!  It's a good thing I am such a laid back Mother because there is no stopping this boy!  He is always charging full steam ahead and this time the determination in his heart was more than any of us could try to control.  All I can say is thank-goodness he is driven in good ways and not in "other" ways:) because I would be a nervous wreck most of the time with his constant anxious ambition.  I am truly blessed to have righteous sons who want to serve their Father in Heaven.

His call is on it's way and should be here by tomorrow!

All in all life is  good.  I thank my Father in Heaven everyday for the good in my life.  I have truly been blessed.  I wouldnt trade it for all the riches in the world! 

In fact, I have all the riches in the world with my family!

The Proposal

So, the deal was that Michael had asked Megan on a date one night.  But he had his two younger brothers pick her up.  They drove around a bit and then ended up here at the Riverwoods Mall where it was all lit up for Christmas.  They escorted Megan to the Gazebo in the middle of the mall where Michael was set up with his guitar and hooked up to speakers and amplifier.  Michael had written a song for and about Megan.  As he was singing, some of his friends and family were standing in the background with posters that said, "I love you because.... " and we each held a different reason that Michael loves Megan.

Then at the end of the song we flipped our posters over and they read "Megan McGee will you marry me"!  At the same time Michael had those same words in his song to her.  Then he got down on one knee and with the ring she had chosen, he asked her to marry him.  Megan said he was crying when he asked her.  Then they hugged and kissed and we walked around the mall and took pictures and we all got some hot chocolate.  It was a fun experience!

And that is how it all began!  Some time I will tell you about our experience driving out there that night.  It was the first real snow storm of the season and everything that could go wrong, went wrong. 

Michael and I drove out together and it was a comical experience! 

Anyway, I am so happy for my baby boy!  They are an awesome couple!

Winter 2012 Pictures

So, since we hadn't had any family pictures taken since Michael came home from his mission, and we all knew that Michael and Megan were going to be getting married and Stephen going on a mission in 2013, I was determined to have some family pictures taken of just the 5 of us one last time! I enlisted my good friend Amy who lives accross the street to use her nice camera and take some pictures of us. She took over 200 shots and these were among my most favorites!

The men in my family

Stephen-"oh it's so cold so I need to look like I'm freezing because my picture is being taken and I cant ever make a normal face in a picture because I'm Stephen"

Mike - what the heck are we supposed to be doing in this picture? It's cold and I just want to go inside, but I must endure the cold for my wife who thinks she has to have these family pictures taken and

she's probably right"

Bryce - "I dont care how cold it is, I must look good and cute because my picture is being taken and my Mom thinks I am so good looking so I must please!"

Michael - "What the heck are you guys doing? No one is paying any attention to the camera

 there is no rhyme or reason to this photo, and what the heck happened

to all of you while I was on my mission?"

The attempt at lifting Mom

Now this picture is one where we were trying to figure out what to do so the boys decided they wanted to lift me.  Well, Michael was ready to just pick me up.  Stephen took a second look and said "hmmmm, not sure I want to do this.  Bryce is always willing to jump right in.  Me however, I knew that it was going to be a disaster so I refused.  I think Stephen was relieved.

The jumping in the air shot

And next, the infamous jumping in the air shot!  They boys must have done this 5 times as they wanted to catch as much air as they could.  I love Mike's face in this....not much expression...that's Mike, doesn't matter what he's doing, it's always just a skill.

The Infamous Dip

Okay, I love this one.  What can I say?  This is us.  He's got me right where he wants me laughing uncontrollably! 

The clowns

Okay seriously, this picture says it all.  Do you see how Stephen is way up high making himself known to all the world?  Well, that's the way it is at my house. Michael is just having a good time being cool and letting you know he's watching you.  Bryce? 

Whatever his big brothers are doing is cool so where they lead he will follow:)

The Nelson Family of Five

And lastly I was astonished that we actually had this one good picture of the whole family come out.  We actually all look pretty normal for the most part. 

I  LOVE  MY  FAMILY!!!

THERE  IS  NO  WHERE  ON  EARTH  I WOULD  RATHER  BE  THAN  WITH  THEM!

He's Engaged!!

Michael and Megan 2013

Okay, so much has happened since I last posted, BUT!(if you buy 2 completos it's only 2 dollars ...if you dont get this you can click on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD2RO0Cws1Q watch ) this is the biggest!!!  So, I will cut right to the chase!  My baby boy is engaged!  And....He is engaged to a beautiful, smart, fun, strong, down to earth, return missionary, amazing young woman!!  Just the way Mike and I always hoped and dreamed! 

Megan McGee is from Tucson Arizona.  She is #4 of 5 children in a family of all boys except her.  So, needless to say she gets us!  Which is so awesome!  She served a mission to Chile and has been home now for about 9 months.  Michael is head over heels in love with this remarkable beautiful woman!  I have been very blessed to have been able to get to know her very well as we now work together.  It was probably only a month into their relationship when she got a job at the Chiropractor office where I work.  So, I pick her up every day and we work all day together.  It has been a lot of fun getting to know her.

Anyway, so much has happened since they started seeing eachother and well, I just dont have the time these days to blog like I used to so I will have to catch you up as we start this new chapter in our lives. 
Their plans are to be sealed in the Mesa Arizona Temple on April 26, 2013 and we couldn't be more pleased!  We love you Megan McGee soon to be Megan Nelson;)