Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry {Different} Christmas!

This year was a little different at our house - we all felt it. It seemed to be the theme for this Christmas season - different. A couple of traditions we had been holding onto fell by the wayside. Everyone still felt the Christmas spirit, the anticipation and the excitement but I think all would agree it was a bit different. Different isn't bad - different is different. Our Missionary has been out for almost 3 months at this time and I freely admit I miss him! We miss him! We are overwhelmingly proud of him and love receiving his emails and phone calls which do nothing but reassure us that he is well and where he needs to be but there is a presence who has always been with us missing and we felt it this Christmas. Now while some traditions kinda got forgotten 1 of my favorites is the Santa Photo and I persisted and they willingly agreed. I wanted to have a larger picture of Max but when I grabbed the 8x10 frame off the wall Cooper said 'People will think he is dead' - Huh! Hadn't thought of that but it did seem a bit much so on the phone - hard if not impossible to see is our Max :) and a different Santa than years past - different!

Another tradition - the Christmas Sunday before Church picture with another appearance on the phone is Elder Nelson (Yes Cooper is very tall but the real story this year is Brody - He has sprouted like 4 inches this year and has past me liberally - just harder to tell when standing next to Coops))

Yup - Cooper can rock a photo!

This year our ward put on a Live Nativity Pageant. Over the number of years we have lived here the ward has always put on a Nativity display in the building with 100's of Nativity sets from all over the world and it has always been so beautiful and such a neat offering to the town to share in the spirit of Christmas but it was time to do something different... again something different. Cory and I both served on the Nativity committee in areas of our strengths - Cory with Advertising - so calling people he doesn't know and asking them to do stuff they may not normally do and I was in the kitchen organizing the refreshments for after each performance - this was not different! Can't think of anywhere I would rather be!! It was such a fun experience and the town really surprised us with their response! What a wonderful way to bring the Spirit of Christmas not only to those watching but to all of us who participated - such a special thing.

Cooper as the Angel Gabriel, Brody in the chorus of Angels, Cory, Ivy and Tanner as Shepherds. It was such a beautiful night with the snow lightly falling but it was really warm to be outside. Such a cool experience.

Yup - we look like a million bucks on Christmas morning!! We had to send Tanner back down to the hide-a-bed around 4am but then the fun got started at 6:30ish. 

Tanner and his Santa gift - he got just what he asked for a Marvel Avengers Gaunlet

Brody just asked for a hoodie with an all over pattern - so Santa found one dear to his Dad's heart! Brody was very pleased and has hardly had it off his body since the paper came off!

Cooper didn't get his letter into Santa this year but Santa remembered him with 

some new Basketball kicks - Greek Freak 1's

Apparently I did not get a picture of Ivy with her new Fitbit but Santa found her as well - obviously because she is always on the Nice list! Tanner also got this T-shirt which he immediately put on and then went to his room to find his Stampeder's hat and the 2 have hardly been off his body since Christmas as well!

For the last 10 years we have had the missionaries over for Christmas breakfast. We have loved this tradition and I have even had to book them as early as October to make sure they know they are expected at our place around 9am on Christmas morning to indulge in deep fried French toast - we love it! They come and some have made their calls home from our home, some come in their jammies and all come and seem to really enjoy spending that time with us. Again going along with the different theme of Christmas we, for the first time had Sister Missionaries! Sister White and Sister Sommerville are beyond awesome and we love having them in our home every time and this time was no different! They came and played games with us (numerous rounds of Dutch Blitz!!) and ate a very small amount of breakfast - (Cooper's record still holds at 8 pieces) but they were different in the most lovely way and I loved having them with us. Then it was home to Barnwell for Marlene's Christmas dinner which was as always amazing - games were played, laughs were heard and peace was felt. There is just something about being surrounded by family at Christmas. We always go down south during Christmas holidays but it has been years since we were there for the actual Christmas day dinner and it was so wonderful! I have been a Nelson for 22 years and it is my home as well and I love to be there. Cory, Cooper, Brody and I headed back on Boxing Day for work and friend time but Ivy and Tanner stayed for a few extra play dates with the twinners and Macy. 

This year for New Year's Eve we also did something different - for the last number of years we have been down South and participated in their NYE festivities but this year we were on our own to plan some fun so we went to dinner and hit the movie - Jumanji 2 was great. We loved the first one and the second was just as fun! Brody then headed to the Youth dance and partied until 3:30 am - yup 3:30 am!! He was the night owl this year! Cooper hung out with friends and was tucked in bed before Brody got home if only by an hour. Me, I was tucked in and drooling by 12:10!! Much to Tanner and Ivy's disappointment- thankfully Cory is a bit more of a night owl and I honestly don't even know when they all headed to bed - bliss!

On New Year's day we again did something a little different for our family - we love the outdoors but do tend to spend more of our summer months outside and our winter months inside waiting for the summer months! But I convinced everyone to head out to Chester Lake and snowshoe up a mountain trail  and then we crazy carpeted back down! So much fun! It was a first for Ivy and Tanner but they were great troopers - it was a tough hike but there wasn't too much complaining. Heading down was true to form for our family - Cory had to be talked in letting me carry the extra stuff so he could join in the fun, Brody took off and never looked back, Cooper watched out for Tanner and Ivy took a bit longer to warm up to the idea but ended up going for it and having a blast! I went on this hike a while ago and have wanted to take my family ever since I am so glad they were good sports (they had had very late bed times), the weather was perfect and the trail wasn't too busy because it was a favorite memory for me and I love that we started our year off a little different!

It was a wonderful day!

and we are off... to a different year... decade! Here we go!

Cliff jumping at Christina Lake 2019

Here are some cliff jumping videos from a hike near Christina Lake. It was really very high but that was of no concern to the boys. Not really surprising about the Max, Cooper and Brody. We have to often stop them from jumping off things but Tanner just walked right up and jumped off - he surprised Cory and I a bit but after the first jump - he went like 20 times! Ivy watched from the bridge and cheered loudly. Dawn and I went back later in the day and after much focus and preparation and encouragement - also jumped! Such a fun day!

Family Vacation Summer 2019

Our summer plans for 2019 took a bit of a detour. We have had some 'fun' times with our Expedition and it made me a little nervous to travel by myself with kids so originally we had planned to have myself, Cooper, Brody, Ivy and Tanner head to the Island to visit with G & G Bunnage and then meet up with Cory and Max in Christina Lake where the Nelsons had rented a cabin for us to spend time at with all the Nelson fam. Anyway after much consideration we opted to not go to the island but instead extend our whole family time together. We ended up on what I call our 'Greatest Hits Holiday!' This holiday ended up combining a few of the places/things we have already done but loved into 1 holiday! Which I thought was perfect considering it is the last family vacation for a while with Elder Nelson away for a while. Anyway below are a few of the highlights:

A traditional pic of the kids with the Big truck in Sparwood

Car selfie - Brody was out asleep in such an uncomfortable position :)

He woke up to eat a calzone the size of this head!

We had planned to stay at a campground by Wasa Lake (which we have fond memories of) but it was raining so hotel in Cranbrook it was! it was a very tight fit :)

a few good men at Silverwood

Panic Plunge - I sit this one out but this year everyone else rode/dropped on this one

This ride is nuts - kinda like a washing machine and topsy turvy all in one - Cooper- who has a hard time with spinning rides opted to sit this one out until Ivy made a dash to the line - he was overheard saying 'Dang if she does it I can't sit it out!"

Can you even?- what a great smile

Some creative hand coverage makes this sign perfect!

I love that he takes selfies with me

The wet spots on this tent are from Cooper breathing at night

Mokins Bay campground near Coeur d'Alene - it was beautiful - we were there for like 18 hrs and the drive in was treacherous with switch backs and in the dark - CrAzY!

No trip for the Nelson Fam in the USA is complete without a stop at our favorite - Sonic!

Then we were onto a new adventure - I had some fun googling our places to stay for this trip - it was very short notice so we were limited a bit but in my internet digging I found this gem. I was so excited about it I sold the kids on it by dangling it as a surprise the whole trip. we stayed in  a real life Treehouse - like high up in the trees, no doors or walls.

This pic is Max (obviously) in front a a small cabin also on the site

This is one of the open air tents - the boys ended up in one of these for space

Playing chess 

the trail to a tent

the Treehouse

The bridge to the treehouse

These pics were just on my phone - I asked Cooper to take a walk around and grab a few pictures because this really was such a cool place and this is only a few of what he got pics of... lucky me!

We did so many things together this trip that were really great memories of things we had done before and I can't think of any better way for us to have spent this precious time when we are still in this familiar family stage. Things are changing around here and I am glad we took the time/chance to go back and remember some of the really wonderful things we have done together and to remind ourselves that we have so much fun being together. After this we headed to Christina Lake another place we LOVE and spent time with all (most) of the Nelson's... playing in the lake, tubing behind a boat, hiking, cliff jumping and sliding down a natural rock waterfall! I will have to get pics from others for that post because I was too busy having fun and didn't even take 1 picture!

By Special Request for Elder Nelson

This is for Elder Nelson... as well as for Cory and in all honesty for me. I want to use this platform as a place to record our family. I have tried and failed many times to keep this history but as we were driving our first missionary to the airport he asked if I could 'try to start doing the blog again' and my hubby has often said he goes to this page when he is having a hard day at work and it makes him smile and remember why he works so hard - so for those reasons I want to be better at this and will try hard to keep it up to date.

    This first post is about Elder Max Nelson!

     Morning he left we got the kids up at 3:45am to say their 'See ya laters' - no goodbyes here!

Elder Nelson and his first companion

Car selfie - We are on our way to the Stake Center for his Setting Apart as a Missionary for 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Nobody can really prepare you for what it is like to send your son, the one who has always been with you since starting this parenting thing, away on an airplane for 2 years. I held it together pretty well (yeah right!). Cory seemed so proud of Max and I wanted him to know I felt proud of him as well but I just cried and asked him to stay in our hug a little longer. After 'we' let go and he started to the line of people I asked Cory to please go tell him how much I loved him and I wanted him to have a wonderful experience because I worried he would remember me as a blubbering mess! Cory and I stayed and watched him get through security and I fretted about his carry on not having a label! After much fretting and patience on behalf of my husband we talked a security agent into yelling his name so we could give him a tag we found at a ticket desk... so Max's last words from me were 'Put your name on your bag!' At least it was true to form... I am what I am... a controlling but loving Mom :). It was a long day with no information on his arrival at the airport or that he found his luggage or that he made it to the MTC shuttle or that he arrived at the MTC. I really think someone should have the job to call all the plane arrives parents to let them know their missionaries at least arrived but we received a sweet email from our Elder at 10:30pm - he arrived and would write more on his P-day- what a relief! It is Tuesday today and I can't remember being more excited for a Tuesday. I have so many questions - which he may or may not answer but most of all I want to hear whatever it is he wants to share with us... can't wait!