the Nelson Family blog

2010-04-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been two years since I set this up and used it. A lot has happened since I started this. I will hit a few high lights for future details to be added.
We had a great family reunion in August. Wendy did not come because she was almost due with baby no. 2. She, Ceila, was born just two weeks after the reunion. Jeremiah did not come either. The reunion was here in Pleasant Grove with four groups staying at our house and the others at the Mariott in Thanksgiving Point and Stephanie and Scott stayed at Johnson's cabin near Sundance.

We had a great time with many different activities and the kids had organized a surprise dinner and celebration for our 50th wedding anniversary. What fun. I need to get more details about the activities, but I will do that later.

In Sep. we went on a cruise to Alaska through the inside passage. The weather was not the greatest but we enjoyed every minute of it. We were on the cruise on our anniversary September 11.

My mother's health has been up and down and in Oct. she ended up in the hospital and I really didn't think she would make it. She did rally and then went to a rehab hospital for about 7 weeks. She had a number of scary episodes but always rallied.

We had two open houses for her in Feb. for her 95th birthday. She enjoyed them so much it is hard to describe. We had great turn outs. We held one in Tooele and one here in Pleasant Grove. We saw family that we haven't seen for years.

On Feb. 18th mother collapsed and was taken to the hospital. She never regained consciousness and her condition rapidly declined to a complete sepsis and she died just 15 hours after her collapse. Jay and Val and I were all there with her.

We had the funeral Feb. 26. We held it in Tooele and she was buried at the Tooele cemetery.

Our second annual mother/daughter retreat was in Las Vegas Mar. 26 to Mar. 29. It was fun and we enjoyed being together. Wendy did not come because of her nursing baby and it was too far and expensive for Rachel to come.

We had dinner at a nice Thai resturant, had a pedicure, swam in Jared's pool, ate good food, played games, laughed and enjoyed each others company. We exchanged gifts, talked about a book that we read and really had a good time.

family reunion 2009

2009-08-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hi to all;
We have concluded our latest and greatest family reunion. We had a great turnout and I think everyone had a wonderful time. We started with a service project on Wed. We all purchased the supplies to put together school kits. We were able to assemble 50 kits. That represents one for each person here. That was followed with a taco dinner spearheaded by Rebecca and Tyler. Everyone 16 and older (with a few exceptions) was invited to spend the night at the Johnson's cabin at Sundance. Only a few had to sleep on the floor I understand.

Thurs. morning after a bit of confusion about where we were to meet and how to get there we all came to the Johnson's cabin for pictures which Stephanie took with her new camera. I will try to get some pictures on this blog. We had lunch there and then moved down to Vivian park where we were going to take the Heber Creeper train ride. Much to our surprise the train left from Heber not Vivian Park. When we did this before it was fromVivian Park. Oh, well. A lot of the families stayed there and played and some hiked up around Bridal Veil Falls.
We had reserved a pavilion at South Park and we started getting dinner ready. We were going to do dutch oven chicken, corn on the cob, salad and smores.
It was a really nice day. Not to hot and we had a few showers and wind. Not too much to be uncomfortable just a nice change. Dinner was good and everyone had fun cooking the marshmallows for smores. We also had biscuits cooked over the coals and rolled in butter and cinnamon sugar. Yummy!

Friday: August 7. People did activities this morning of their choosing. Some golfed, some biked, etc. Unfortunately Devon had to leave this morning to go to work. We met at the Bountiful Temple at 2 pm for Melissa and Timothy's wedding. It was very lovely and then pictures were taken outside. The temp. was about 15 degrees cooler today that Wed. What a change. We then drove to the Atrium in Sandy for a luncheon followed by a ring ceremony for those who couldn't attend the temple. Then a reception with good desserts and some dancing.

Saturday. Today was our water park outing and it turned out to be the coldest day we have seen in August. Fortunately we were going to Lehi which has a great indoor facility and they were able to close the doors so we were all very comfortable. We really had a great time with many things for everyone to do.
We were told that dinner was at the church at 6 pm and when I got there I was surprised by seeing Val & Sallie, Julie & Doug, Jay & Barbara, Burke & Darla, James & Evelyn, Joye & Fred, Jewel & Lynn, Judy & Jerry, Bill Told & Elaine, Howard & Dixie, mother and all of our children, spouses and grandchildren.
They had a lovely dinner; ham, potatoes, salads, rolls and cake. What a lovely surprise. Jennifer had put together a lovely book. They had family pictures as table decorations and a slide show. Jan and his siblings played some old dance music and we had a wonderful time.

Sunday: We all went to church and then gathered here at our place. We were able to enjoy our dinner on the patio. The weather was still cooler than normal. After dinner; German spaetzle & goulash we had home made ice cream and a special birthday cake to celebrate Jan's 74th birthday. Tyler and Melanie left today.

We had a fun gift exchange and then played "I have Never....." It was so cold that we had to find jackets and blankets to be comfortable. This was our last official reunion activity.

Monday: people began to leave. Lisa & Janice, Paul & his girls, Stephanie & Scott. Jared & Jeanette left. Erik & family went up to Timp cave in the morning.
Tues: Erik & Rachel left. Jenn & Merrill left. Becky & family came here to spend the night, Sheila & family also came.
Wed: Becky and family left.
Thurs: Sheila and family left. Shauna Jo arrived with Bob coming Saturday.

2009-05-02T17:14:00.001-07:00

I think the best approach is to start with the more current and work backwards. Right now it is May 2009.

2009-05-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

I had forgotten about this blog site until I was redoing my password sheet. I have done a lot since the last entry and I will try to summarize a lot of it. I am doing this mostly for me but others may find it helpful and informative. I really wish that I had gotten into the journaling habit when I was a teenager. I liked to spend more of my time outside and reading. Memory is not as good as actual recording at the time but it will have to do.

Musings about January

2008-02-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

I have heard a lot about blogs but really have no idea what they are or what they can do for me to make communication better or easier with my family. I am going to try this out and see anything worthwhile can be accomplished.

We had very delightful visits with the East Coast families. The newest addition in the Talbot household is a real sweetheart. I will be anxious to see current photos of him as he grows and changes.

It will be a real change in Erik and Rachel's family when they add a little girl into the mix. Those boys are full of energy, excitement and noise. We had a great visit with them.

I have been fighting an Upper respiratory and sinus infection since I got home but I think I am getting on top of things now. I have had two rounds of antibiotic and think it is about whipped.

We went to the temple yesterday for the first time since mid December and it was nice to return. It is such a wonderful blessing to be able to serve there each Thurs. morning.

Utah has had more snow in January this year than we usually get through the entire winter. We haven't seen this much snow in Jan. in 17 years. Today it is snowing again and another storm is expected on Sunday. We are so appreciative of all this moisture however. As we drove around last summer it was scary to see how low the resevoirs were. I have never seen them so low. Even this record amount of snow probably won't fill them up. So we could have several years like this to catch up.

The Deseret Morning News has added a new weekly section to the paper called the Mormon Times. Just go to Desnews.com and on the left hand side bar there is a link to this section. There are some nice articles about Pres. Hinckley. I liked the ones by Jerry Johnston and Orson Scott Card.

I hope you are all having a great day and feeling well. All my love to everyone. Mother