Family

Just had a great Thanksgiving with lots of cousins. Sam flew out from Portland, and Ashley, Darius and Spencer drove out from Utah. We were so glad to see Kirsten too, she rode out with Ashley. Kenny and Corbyn hung out with us too, they met up with us several times too. Carolyn and Matt were going to drive out, but the weather was just too tough.

Now that they're back to school, it's back to reality; homework, presentations, projects, and the piano jury coming up. I think I'm finding ways to keep the schoolwork from being too consuming, and I'm figuring out how to be more efficient. Hopefully, this will give me more time with the family!

Our basement is done! It looks fabulous! Kudos to Greg Gabler, our contractor. He did a fantastic job!! I would highly recommend his work. So excited to make use of our new space. I think it really sets off our house. My only regret is that we didn't do it sooner.

Beautiful June

Time to update the blog. I have been noticing that I'm much more attentive to my Facebook account and keeping up with friends and family there, and seriously neglect this blog. So here's some catch up, to anybody who happens to come here. :)

Kirsten graduated last month, and is ready to head off to Utah State in the fall.

Carolyn and Matt's 3rd baby is due July 5th. I'm so lucky to get to go out and help for a few days when they have the baby. My major duties will be to take good care of grandkids Jordyn and Tyler, which is going to be a blast of course.

I'm set to start school in the fall at CU-Boulder, in the Master of Music, Solo Piano program. I'm very nervous and excited at the same time.

I'm also finishing up a BYU independent study course, Organ Certification Level 6. The hardest part is learning the 12 pieces to play for the judge in August. Yikes, what was I thinking? I also have to dress up 4 hymns, but luckily that's dressing up 4 hymns that I already have internalized. The 12 pieces are not yet, but are getting there.

Our house painting is just about finished. We went with "Anchor Gray" for the main color, and white trim, and I mean *white*. I really like how the color has turned out, it's exactly the feel I was looking for. Lots of personality, but not whacky, still very classy and modern.

Eric

Five years ago today, our son Eric passed away from a ruptured brain aneurysm. In some ways, it feels like just yesterday, but in other ways it feels like forever. He was 20 at the time, and would be 25 today. He was almost mid-point in his mission for the church (California Anaheim, Spanish), and was enjoying every minute of it. Eric was a fun, good young man who tried to do his best at whatever he was doing, and be happy and enjoy himself at the same time. I'm sure that he's continuing to spread joy to those around him in the spirit world, and he's continuing to teach the gospel, especially to those who are Spanish speaking.

Here are a few pictures. Just want to pay tribute to a fine young man, who only had 20 years on this earth, but made a huge impact on all those around him in such a short time. Eric, you are loved and missed.

Happy Birthday Kirsten!! #18

It's unbelievable, but Kirsten has turned 18 today! What a wonderful young lady she is. She's all set to attend Utah State in the fall, to major in Photography. We know she's going to take on the world.

Here are a few pictures of our wonderful Kirsten....







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Yikes, we're leaving for dinner... I'll post more later...

Happy Birthday Kenny!!

Today it's Kenny's 23rd Birthday. What a wonderful young man he is. We're so grateful that he's in our family. We are so proud of him.

Here's a look back at Kenny - enjoy. :)

Kenny sitting on his Dad's motorcycle, age 2.


Kenny couldn't wait to do everything the big kids do.


If you know Kenny, you know what an excellent cook he is. He had an interest at an early age.


What an athlete!


And cool in every way.



He's a talented ballroom dancer. Here he is dancing with Corbyn in their dance troup in high school.


Graduated just a couple months ago.



Happy birthday Kenny!!! We love you so much.

What a last few months!

It's been way too long since I've updated my blog. I find myself very quick to post on Facebook, but too slow to keep my blog going. I need to seriously change that. My daughter Carolyn seriously keeps hers well updated, and I really enjoy reading hers and other friends. My son and his girlfriend have a great blog going too. My good friend Sybrina has a really fun, great blog too, and she gave me a well-needed nudge when I saw her tonight (thanks Sybrina!). So here I am updating.

We've had some really exciting times the last few months. Let me start way back with my cousin David's wedding in LA. On my mom's side of the family, I have three cousins, and they are all quite a bit younger than me. I'm the oldest cousin (on all sides.) All of my siblings were able to go to the wedding too, so it made for a wonderful cousin reunion!

Here are all of the cousins - Stacey, Melanie, David (the groom) Michelle, Melissa, Paul and me



Here are me and my siblings - Stacey, Paul, Melanie, and me



Paul has us laughing again!



Here are the siblings with spouses, and my Dad too. - My Dave, me, Paul, his wife Alison, Dad, Stacey, her husband Tom and Melanie.



And a fun shot of me and my brother Paul.



The reception was wonderful, at the Cheesecake Factory in Manhattan Beach! Oh yeah! Here I am dancing with my Dad. He's so awesome.



After the wedding, we went with my brother and his wife to Huntington Beach to stay an extra night in a fine hotel on the beach. We had a blast hanging out at the shore, and then going for a bike ride. We ended up going 7 miles up the coast!








Thanksgiving. We went to my sister Stacey's in Boise. My brother Paul and his family came from Seattle, so it was sort of a mini-reunion. What a blast! I forgot to get my camera out, but we enjoyed shopping, watching my nephew Zach play hockey (man, he's a tough kid!), and enjoyed lots of pizza at my brother-in-law's pizza place. Go Garbanzo's!

In December, Kenny graduated with a degree in Business Management from CU-Boulder.

Here we are outside the hall when they honored the Business graduates. My dad came out from Utah. Kenny's girlfriend Corbyn and her family were there too.



Does he look happy or what??



We all went out to Red Robin afterwards.



The next day was the graduation for the entire school. Here we are waiting for it to begin.. My daughter Bethany, me, my daughter Carolyn and my grandkids Jordyn and Tyler.



Here's Kenny with Corbyn and her mom and sister.




There are so many more pictures, I can't post them all, but you can see the fun we had.

Christmas was amazing...

But then we took Bethany to the MTC in January -

Here is the new Sister Nelson. This was right after being set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Wow!



Sister Nelson showing us where she will be serving on the map in the Stake Center (she's going San Diego, Spanish speaking!)


The night before entering the MTC, Bethany's great-grandpa Garth (my grandpa) called a big family dinner together at Chuck-a-rama. WE had a blast seeing so much family and they were all there to wish her well. Here's Bethany with her great-grandpa and great-aunt Sandi.



Bethany and her cousin Ayden (who will go on his mission next year), and cousin Spencer (who just came home from his mission last summer).



Jordyn was pinned to Bethany the whole time in Utah. She even dressed up in a dress because Bethany was in a dress. Here's Jordyn on Bethany's back, with Bethany's cousin Spencer looking on.



The day of the MTC, we had one final family lunch at Cafe Rio, Bethany's choice. Here she is with her sister Carolyn, and her cousins (the "young" table).



And Grandpa Gary (my dad) was there with Dave and my son-in-law Matt (we borrowed him from the "young" table).



My favorite shot of Bethany in front of the MTC as we were about to drive her in...



Sister Nelson with her parents (sniff, sniff)



Bethany with her folks and her sister Carolyn and her husband Matt and kids. Can you see how excited she is??



Kirsten found out that she was accepted to Utah State. She's planning on going there Fall 2010, to work towards earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography. She wasn't able to make Utah or Kenny's graduation because of school duties (she's a super amazing student! Also, head editor for the Niwot High School yearbook.)


And finally, Liz auditioned for the Master of Music program, majoring in Solo Piano at CU-Boulder, and passed the audition! Now she's just waiting for the official acceptance from the main admissions office. I'm planning on starting in the fall.


Wow, that's it, catching up for several months. I apologize for the huge post, hopefully I can manage smaller more frequent posts.

Going Up the River --- or to Guido's Place

There's a cool place up Highway 7 west of Lyons, that we love to go to. It's just a long pull out on the south side of the road that puts you right on the river. My parents would take us to this spot when we'd go visit, so we decided to call it "Guido's Place". :) Dave and I decided to go up on Labor Day and had a great time, even though we were only there a couple of hours. Kirsten was able to go kayaking with a friend, so it was just Dave and I.

We picked up lunch at Noodles & Company, and drove to the spot. We parked our lawn chairs into the water and ate lunch and read magazines. We tried doing a little wading in the water, but the stones were super slippery because of the moss, so we had to be careful. We even saw a snake on the side of the water too. It wasn't hot, it wasn't cold. The water *was* cold! We need to go to Guido's more often. :)







Here's a look up the river:





The water was cold! But It will get colder as the fall sets in... have to enjoy the river now!




The view down the river:



We had a great time: