ELECTION YEAR

Attending the Nevada Caucus Victory Rally - what the entire nation saw on the news...

....and what we saw.  We never knew we were on camera.

 So...I'm politically active. We both are. And we're grooming our family to be the same. I guess. A couple of weeks ago we were caught on camera as a family cheering Mitt through his victory speech after the Nevada Caucuses. It was crazy. AND, after getting home and realizing we were on every network and cable news channel our country has, I've decided I will a) never chew gum in public again; b) let someone else who is in front of the camera take the pictures; c) remember that just because you're sitting directly behind the speaker doesn't mean you can't be seen; d) respond to comments with words, NOT extremely dramatic and ugly facial expressions.  If you don't understand where I'm coming from, you haven't seen all the youtube clips of this rally. Hopefully, you never will! 
  

Ann Romney signing Nina's poster at the Brady Industries rally

Nina with Mitt as he signed a poster, too.

Being there an hour early paid off! Front row - Channel 13 News - Signed  posters - the works!

Rex reaching out to shake Mitt's hand...

...and Mitt happily shaking it.

Prime seats, whether we liked them or not!

GO MITT ROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT!!

Lorenzo Joel Nelson

Lorenzo Joel Nelson, born November 4, 2010

Grandparenting is turning out to be everything it's cracked up to be. The treasures that come to this earth through your own children give such inexpressible joy. And they offer such a wonderful trade-off for wrinkling skin, graying hair, and aching bones. Aging is all worth it somehow when you hold ones of these angels. Even better is watching the full-grown angels crying and cradling and cuddling and marveling and experiencing the miracle that they once were in your own arms not so long ago. And it IS a miracle. Every time.

Miles and Nixon meeting Lorenzo

Nixon has told us many times, before and after the baby was born, that he is going to be "the BEST biggest" brother, echoed quickly by Miles repeating, "I a big bruh-der, too." They are both completed enamoured already. I don't know how many times Nixon has said, out of the blue, while doing any number of various activities, "Isn't my baby brother so cute?"

Uncle Rex & Aunt Nina with Nephew #3!!

Grandpa Erv holding "Little No-Name" when he was just a few hours old.

Lorenzo didn't have a name for a day - He and Hayley have that common distinction, now, in our family. But, it had to be just right, right? "Lorenzo Joel" was how he left the hospital, just one day old. We love it! And we love him. Congratulations, Derek & Lindsey.

Little Enzo - welcome to our family!

Return to Blogging

I've heard it said by journalers and scrapbookers and diary-keepers who are in the 'know' that the best way to catch up is to keep up. In other words, don't try to go back until you're moved forward. Therefore, I re-enter the blogging world with a fresh update or two, and THEN go back to other times and places for my own journaling satisfaction. Chronological correctness be hanged. I'll leave the current happenings to Facebook. Paige: this is for you.

HAPPY EASTER!

Easter is one of THE BEST holidays! So welcome this year -- it came at the end of our Spring Break Vacation and capped the week off beautifully.

Grammy Lisa with her Easter Lily...Lily did her make-up all by herself!!

To introduce the slide show below, a few notes:

After a day or two of Easter eggs and flowers and cookie-making, we woke up to a rather cold but eventually clear Easter Sabbath. Everyone donned their new Easter wear and headed for church after a mouthful of Easter basket candy and then let Mom take a few pictures afterward before the sweats and slippers replaced our Sunday best.

Here's where one of the more embarrassing moments took place -- Mom talked everyone into sitting for a family photo out in front of the house with the flowers and all dutifully, if not begrudgingly, cooperated. While Mom set the camera on a rock behind some bushes and tried to trigger the self-timer, the rest of the family situated themselves looking at it which meant that they were also facing the street and our neighbors' homes. The camera was not visible from the street and so as I pushed the timer, raced to my spot, and we all put on our broadest grins for the camera (which we kept waiting to click), our neighbors pulled up to their home and saw our entire family grinning broadly toward them in the perfect posed arrangement of bodies for, as far as they could see, no apparent reason other than to greet passers-by. Yes...I know....it was mortifying. The story ends with them coming over and helping us take the pictures instead, which is a good thing because after visiting and laughing with them and our next door neighbors, we went inside to check the pics and discovered that our self-timed one never happened! So, next time you need a family photographer, try posing in front of your home and simply smiling!

We had a lovely Easter celebration. It was just so serene and filled with the Spirit. The family almost felt complete because while we were waiting for dinner to cook and Joel's family to arrive, we skyped with Derek's family and enjoyed the darling sight of all 4 of them - giggling, dancing, singing, and showing us their toys, their fat, and their smiles (the little boys, of course -- I didn't see an ounce of fat or one moment of high-stepping from either Derek OR Lindsey).

The family gathered around the big dining table for a traditional Nelson Easter dinner of glazed ham, au gratin potatoes, peas, rolls, and Val's delicious raspberry pretzel-jello which was by request via our girls. And, I introduced "frog eye" salad as an appetizer which some already knew about and loved and others squinted their eyes to because of the texture and probably the name and decided to demurely set their serving aside. All the more leftovers for those of us who really liked it! We didn't even make it to the lemon pound cake. We're still working our way through that one.

We also didn't get to watch our traditional "Ben Hur" movie - I suppose last year's viewing was enough for our youngest ones to be satiated with that show for a while, but we did watch the church's Easter video with Elder Holland's talk and images of the crucifixion and resurrection. Truly beautiful. And perfect. Plus, we opted to play Apples to Apples which is always kind of fun for a group like ours with so many different age groups. We play the Junior version to ensure the content will be G-rated and it's just great fun.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The weater was cold but our hearts were warm and it was actually kind of sad to see the whole thing come to a close, but it made us so very grateful for the many blessings we have been given by our Father in Heaven - our family, our surroundings, our Savior, and our testimonies of His true church and gospel.

Happy 2009

At the end of the year we took some formal family portraits which we had every intention of using as a New Year's card, but when we got the proofs, we were disappointed, so instead? we just post them all over the internet!! Whatever. It was a huge treat to have our entire Nelson Tribe all in one place for the holidays. We loved it...


Our least formal but Mom's favorite family pic --

Handsome sons....
Gorgeous daughters....

Beautiful families....

Joel, Val & Lily

Derek, Lindsey, Nixon & Miles

Twas the night before Christmas and all through our pad

were visions of Nelsons in every kind of plaid....

It's a really long story, but Rex got a puppy for Christmas...

Dahlia Noel Nelson (yes, after Black Dahlia - purely Rex's preference)

She's already demanding, insatiable, and back-talking - very similar to the other teenaged girls in the house...observe how we even caught her chewing on her instruction manual.

This past winter was a particularly cold and snowy one for Las Vegas.

We don't often get to see our house and yard looking like a winter wonderland. So...there weren't many complaints around here.

The kids had lots of fun playing with the white stuff and I froze myself trying to capture it all on camera. Still....I was in heaven! Nothing makes me happier during the holidays than snow. Nothing.

Just had to go to a UNLV at least once this season -- they even beat BYU!! which made Paige happy and a few of us grumpy!

Janury 5th - Erv's 53rd Birthday. Surrounded by love and a new coat!

SADIE'S DATES AND SISTERS

SADIE HAWKINS DAY...

In keeping with tradition here in Las Vegas, Hayley and several of her friends went on a giant group Sadie Hawkins Date. It takes lots of planning and shopping, of course, because matching outfits are a MUST!



The evening started out with another tradition - group pictures. This time, at our house on our staircase. Moms and dads love this tradition because we all show up and take lots of pictures and get to see all the kids in the group, meet each other, and beam with pride for a moment or two. Always lots of fun....

Hayley took her good friend Laurent Gontier

Don't they look great?!

They did lots of fun things including dinner, a scavenger hunt along the Vegas strip, and a bus trip to Disneyland (Laurent's first time!).

Paige was excited for her "sis" - and, of course, gave her many sisterly squeezes before she sent her on her way.

It was a great adventure - exhausting but fun. And since most of the kids were seniors, a great way to end their high school Sadie's Days.....

Labor Day Weekend

Rex & Erv went with on a fishing trip

Rex and Erv went with good friend Larry Turner and his son Bryan along with some other men to Oregon for a salmon fishing expedition. It was cold and kind of crowded but a great experience. Rex didn't catch anything but saw one of their group make the largest catch of the season - almost as big as he was! A great time ....

Summer 2008 update

It's been so long - I'm embarrassed. But, I think I better update things a bit before another school year comes and goes. Our life has been jam-packed - just the way we like it!!

First, we must say that Nina's horribly disturbing injury has totally healed. We are tremendously blessed that her leg healed beautifully and her mobility is almost back to 100%. And, just in time for all the summer fun.

Just before summer vacation, we went to Salt Lake during Memorial Day weekend and had a beautiful experience where we remembered our dear Uncle Ken.

Aunt Suzanne and her girls had a bunch of blue balloons that we took to the graveside and wrote messages for Ken on, released them into the air, and watched them float to heaven where we're sure he could see and read them. It was cloudy, but for a moment the sun burst through and made us all feel a little happier.

Little Kate kept us smiling, even through our tears.

Rex and Erven went with their King cousins to a Fathers-and-Sons that same weekend at BYU and had a very active and busy time. It was filled with sports events and lots of Las Vegas friends and neighbors and sight-seeing in Salt Lake City. What more could boys and their dads want?

Nina, Grandpa Rex, & Rex

This weekend was also the weekend that our cousin Cameron gave his mission homecoming address. We loved seeing our Pinegar family....

Then, it was time to send Hayley off on the Church History Tour and the following week take Rex to BYU Football camp with his friend and his cousins. Mom had a great time keeping up with 3 9-year-old boys, 2 7-year-old girls, and various cousins and aunts and Grandma that we gathered with to do everything from movies to museums to arcades to bumper cars. It was great fun.

At the movie "Kung Fu Panda" in Ogden - we LOVE that movie!!

Visiting the Monte L. Bean Natural History Museum
at BYU

There's was also a trip for Paige to Spain with Derek and Lindsey and Nixon. She had the time of her life as she lived for 4 weeks in El Escorial, Spain, with side trips to Rome, Paris, Venice, Barcelona, Madrid, and even Pomplona to do the Running of the Bulls. It was wonderful in every way except for the homesickness that came on every once in a while. Well worth it, for sure.

Pomplona, Spain - San Fermin Festival and running with the bulls!!






Perhaps the highlight of our summer was our 4th of July trip to Folsom. What fun we had with so many of our Pinegar cousins, grandparents, and friends. Mayor King and family were quite the hosts, complete with neighborhood parade, jumping water castle, barbecues and chinese food, rodeo with VIP box and private tour of Folsom City. It was marvelous, all of it.

Watching the neighborhood parade

Hayley and Spencer in the chow line - it was as delicious as it was beautiful

Ready for Mutton-bustin' at the rodeo--Alex, Adam, Carter, & Rex

Before summer ended, Derek and Lindsey surprised us all by flying down from Utah to be with us for Joel's 28th birthday! They had been at a wedding and decided to detour before heading back to Florida for another year of law school so we all rejoiced and partied hard.

There isn't anything greater than having all of us in one place at one time. Pure Heaven!!


<---Grandson Nixon (almost 2!!) before his haircut....gorgeous boy! He LOVES his Grandpa "BoBop" Erv

<---Lily (almost 1!!) We call her our little owl...she makes us laugh so much.

She's our little cherub....and a Grandma's Girl!

Cute cousins....our sweet friend and fantastic photographer Jamie Poort came by and took pictures for us and we're so glad she did!

Brothers with babies --->

That weekend was more full of surprises than we knew. Marian (Erv's mom) eloped that same day (July 21st) with her longtime acquaintance and recent boyfriend, Jack Purcel!! As surprised as we all were, we are all so very happy for both of them. Their story is one for another blog and another day, but suffice it to say that they have found great happiness being together after so many years of them both being alone. Congratulations!!!

August 21st & 22nd - Our three birthday people at Cheesecake Factory

Suzanne was next - Sept 1st birthday celebration at The Venetian and The Phantom of the Opera

Lots of relatives came to see Nina get baptized -September 6, 2008

Two days later - Paiges 19th Birthday! First, roses from Landry and then a night at Phantom of the Opera.

A very necessary trip to Florida for "Gammy" (as Nixon likes to call her) Short and very, very sweet. And VERY nostalgic -- it was only 26 years ago that she was doing the exact same thing as Lindsey and Derek: having a second baby boy during a second year of Law School! Crazy and wonderful...

Helping Gammy with pancakes.....Meeting little Miles.....

Playing Bus Stop in the shower (No singing, Gammy! No - no singing Wheels on the Bus!!)

"All Smiles" Miles - smiling and cooing at Daddy while Daddy eats Gammy's homemade Tapioca

Home JUST in time for Homecoming.....Hayley and good friend Camden heading for a great night of fun. Isn't she gorgeous?

Erv and Lisa took a quick trip up to Provo during Homecoming weekend for their 30th Law School Reunion and saw lots of good friends they had not seen in years...

here they are seated with Stuart & Angie Hinckley, Jon & Shauna Butler

Our little Lily Lee also turned 1 this month!!! We can't believe it! She is such a character and loves singing, hooting and barking at our fake owl, wearing hats, says "kitty," and does signing for "more" when she wants a drink, not to mention that she is now walking. We adore her!

Brooke and Hayley's turns for birthdays - Brooke's in Provo and Hayley's at home.....

....and then at Disneyland! Which is for a separate blog at another time .

Let's just say she had her "Dreams come true!" More later....

Halloween was spent in Disneyland as well, which meant we had to leave our sorry, shriveled, moldy, truly scary Jack-O-Lanterns behind. Hm....a striking family resemblance!

Just before we left for California - a little skunk came by to see us. We all just fell in love with her - love that bushy tail!!


We like to call her "Lily LePew"!!

Whew!! That brings us up to the end of October and into November, which we'll tackle another time - just don't have time or space to get into Disneyland and Election Night right now. More later!......