Merry Christmas 2014

 Hermana Nielsen,

 
It was great to see and talk to you on Christmas day.  You look great and appear to be doing well.  We have had a good time reflecting on the diarea conversations.  I hope Hermana Bott was not too embarrassed about you sharing her moments of inconvience.  We had a good Christmas.  We stayed at home and just enjoyed the company of our family. 
 
On Friday, since this will be cody's last Christmas at home for 2 years, he got to pick what he wanted to do.  I took the day off work and we drove up Mountain City Hwy to go sledding and rabbit hunting.  There was not alot a snow, in the mountains.  We turned off on the dirt road that goes to Dorsey reservoir and there were a few hills with snow on, but mom thought it was too steep and dangerous for the kids to go sledding.  So Cody and Chica went for a walk to hunt rabbits.  He shot a cottontail, and was waiting for Chica to go retrieve it and she ran right pass it, and the rabbit ran into its hole.  But it was fun to get out and see some country.
 
On Saturday, my family had a family party at 6 pm, so we left about 10:30 am and drove over there and went to Costco, so Cody could pick out some glasses.  He has contacts, but he says they bug his eyes.  So we shopped around there for a while.  The price of gas there was $1.91 which is the lowest I have seen prices since the mid 1990's.  We had a good get together.  Sharon and Brian had gone to Israel, Egypt and Jordan for 18 days, and they showed us their pictures.  It was neat to see all those sites where the Savior did all his miracles, etc.  Brian had 2 tickets to the Jazz game, so he gave them to Cody and Joe and they went to that instead of the party.  They were on the 12th row, so really good seats. We stayed at Sharon's and Brians that night and Sister Teddy Wright came up to see Amber and they talked until 3:30 am. They seem to have forgotten the missionary time frames.
 
We got up early and came back to Elko for Church.  The Bishop and brother Simons were gone and I was the lone ranger up there.  It was missionary mom sunday and Mom talked about you and we heard from Sister Olsen and Sister Talbot.  Alex comes home in 3 months.  Brendon Smith's mom emailed me a letter note from him that I read.  It was a good meeting, one that I always enjoy.  It snowed about 3-4 inches yesterday, so all the roads are slick and every thing is covered with snow.
 
I can't believe where this year has gone.  The years seem to go by quicker and quicker.  We are so thankful for our wonderful family.  Mom and I comment all the time about the great kids we have.  We are thankful you are serving a mission.  We are blessed as a family almost as much as you are as a missionary.  We love to have missionaries out from our family.
 
On Christmas eve, I had to go down to the church to cut a check for a needy family in our ward, and so, Cody, Amber, Summer and I played a little bball while we were there.  I had to work with cody on his freethrows.  He went 1 for 8 the last 3 games.  They lost on Monday and won there game on Tuesday.  So they went 2 and 2 in the tourney.  The 2 games they lost were by 3 and 4 points, but they were leading in both those games almost the entire game.  Cody had 7 or 8 points 1 game and 4 the other.  If he could have made his freethrows, he would have been in double digits.  It was good to get him home.  It was like a 12 hour bus drive.  He got home at 4:00 am on the 24th of Dec.
 
Well Have a super week. We love you and pray for you always.  We are happy that you and Hermana Bott get along so well.  Where is she going to go to school when she gets home?
 Have a super week and work hard!
 Dad

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Hola Hermana Nielsen,
 
We are excited to talk to you in 3 days through skype.  That will be lots of fun.  We already love Hermana Bott and we have never met her.  I feel we love and know her just as we loved Sister Wright with Amber.  We can feel how much you care for Hermana Bott and it instantly makes us love her even though we have never met before.
 
We had a good busy week. I finished up my class and grading and had to turn grades in on Tuesday.  On thursday we had a GBC pot luck with an ugly sweater contest.  Thursday morning, I asked Cody to find me an ugly sweater and he found one of my mom's.  I wore it and won the ugly sweater contest.  I did not know it was mom's until Connie told me, so that even made it the more special.  I won a mug with chocalate kisses in it.
 
Cody left Thursday morning for San Luis Obispo for a bball tournament.  I guess there are 24 NBA players who have played in this tournament.  Elko played Taft, a prep school out of L.A. and we were leading the entire game and tied with 1 minute to go and ended up losing by 4 points.  I don't think Cody had any points.  The score was 38-34. Taft was ranked nationally.
 
Saturday we played another school from CA and beat them by 12 points.  Cody had 5 points and would have had 8, but had 3-pointer called off due to 3 seconds by one of his teammates.
 
They play again today at 1 pm. and tomorrow.  BYU plays in its bowl game today in Miami.
 
We had our adult 3rd ward white elephant exchange on Sat. and that was fun.  I drew number 1, which is the best number as at the end, I get my pick of all the items.  We went through 39 people and I had not seen any thing I really wanted, and a recent convert as of a couple months had this hand made afghan which someone made and really liked it and Jason Harris had stolen it from her.  So I stole the afghan from Bro. Harris and gave it to Amber Gibson, the new convert.  One guy in our ward on Sunday, so that made his whole night when I did that.  Mom said, perhaps I have started a tradition of giving in that game.
 
Amber got home from BYUI on Sat. so it will be good to have her around for a couple of days.  We had a really good Sacratmeeting yesterday.  The primary kids sang and Addelaide was standing next to Payten Myers who was singing really loud at the top of her lungs.  And I guess, Addie kept looking at her and making a funny face, like, what in the world are you doing.  I could not see her face, but mom said it was great.  Brother Madsen sang Let Him In, and the new sister missionary sang and the Skollingsbergs spoke.  It was a great meeting.
 
Well we love you and are happy to talk to you.  Did you ever get your debit card yet?  Have a super week and a great Christmas.  This will be one that you will remember forever.  I will look for Sister Bott's skype account.  Mande mis saludos a la misionera de Argentina por favor.
 
Love,
 
DAD

Hitting Your 1 Year Mark

Hermana Nielsen,
 
Mom sent your new debit card to the mission office, so you might contact them to let them know that it is coming in and try it out.  We had a good busy week.  Monday was Cody's football banquet, and I believe mom mentioned all the awards he received.  Dr. Bergeron, who is one of his coaches, said that cody was the best athlete he has ever seen or coached I believe.  Something like that, I might be making the ever seen part up.  But that is a great compliment coming from a Dr.
 
Tuesday night I had to go to district scout meetings all night.  Wednesday was our 26th anniversary. Thursday night we had mutual.  Friday we had bball games against Fernley and Sat. we had bball games against Fallon.  Elko beat Fernley by 40+ and the mercy rule came into affect where we had a running clock.  Cody had 7 points.  We beat Fallon by 20+ points and Cody had 2 points I believe.  But he took a finger to the eye that dropped him to his knees.  He said everything went black and he could not see any thing.  Fingers to the eyes are dangerous.  He said his eye and forehead to half way up his head are all numb.
 
They leave for a Tournament in California this Thursday.  We also had our ward party on Sat. night and mom had to cook a ham and funeral potatoes.  Summer had some bball games on Sat morning that we went to watch and she did well.  But it was a busy day.  Bishop Bryce is in Arizona until after the new years, so Brother Simons and I are running the ward. 
 
Well you will hit your year mark this week.  Keep working hard and being obedient in everything.  We love you and alway pray for your success. 
 
Hey did you sign up for the app where is my i-pod.  We can't find it and I wanted to try to check that and see where it is.  Addie had it in the house and now we do not know where it is.  If so, do you remember your password to check on that?
 
Love,
 
Dad

The BIG 20. Happy Birthday

Hola Hermana Nielsen,
 
The majority of last week was spent in Atlanta, Georgia.  I had to be at the airport at 5 am to catch my flight.  In the SLC airport, going to Atlanta were about 60 missionaries on my flight.  40 of them were going to different missions in Argentina.  That was fun talking to all of them and telling them how much they were going to love Argentina and the people of Argentina.
 
In SLC, they were over booked on the flight and asked for volunteers to get bumped to a later flight.  So for $600 in flight dollars, I accepted to invitation to get bumped.  But that meant spending about 7 hours in the SLC airport.  And when I caught the later flight, they put my in first class.  So I had the big seats, and they gave me a meal and we got to watch movies for free and as much snacks and drinks as we wanted.  It was great.  I took the subway from the airport to the Hotel and got to my hotel about 11:30 pm Altanta time.  So I was tired all week.  The 3 hour time change got to me.  I would have to get up at 2:30 am Elko time and would not get to sleep until later on as I was not on schedule for the new time.
 
On Wed. I caught a subway up north to the Atlanta temple.  I looked on a map on how to get there by walking about 1 mile or so from the subway.  But when I came out of the subway, it was dark, so I did not know which way was west or north etc.  So I asked a few people which way was west, and they did not have a clue.  Finally, I found a couple out running with their dog and asked them, and they looked on their GPS on their phone and pointed which direction I had to walk.  I got to the temple about 7:30pm and the last session was at 8.  We only had 3 men and 2 women in our session.  That is one of the smallest sessions I have ever been in.  But time I walked back to the subway and got back to my hotel it was 11:30 pm again.  Not good when I had to be in classes all day for training.  I was sleeping through alot of the classes.
 
I got back to Elko, on Friday, ate dinner and went to the high school to keep score.  I did 2 games on Friday night and 3 on Sat.  Elko beat Carson City on Friday.  That was a good game. Carsen was suppose to be one of the best teams in 4A in the North.  We won by 8 I believe.  Cody played okay, didn't do any thing spectacular.  Elko beat Damonte Ranch on Sat. by about 20.  Cody had 2 points I believe.  He played with more aggression on Sat.  I guess Elko beat WEst on Thursday night.  So they will start the session 3-0.
 
Brian Hirst came home off his mission on Sat. night for medical reasons.  I guess he was struggling a bit with some health issues.
 
Summer had 2 bball games on Sat.  She played in the 1st game and we missed that, we went to the 2nd game and they lost to Spring Creek and she did not play at all.
 
Well, we hope you have a great bday.  We love you and are happy we had that little girl join our family 20 years ago.  Keep working hard, the time is passing too quickly.
 
Love,
 
Dad

So Much To Be Thankful For

Hola Hermana,

We had a wonderful week this past week.  Chelsea and Brian were here and Amber came home on Wednesday.  We just stayed home and enjoyed each others company.  We did not go shopping or hit any of the big sales.  We really enjoyed our time together.  Brian cooked the turkey and it was really good.  Addie about ate it all before we sat down and ate dinner. Summer sprained her ankle last Sat. and it was all black and blue and really swollen.  She is still limping around on it.

Cody played his alumni game on Sat. and they won by 12 points.  I believe Cody had 7 points. 2 for 4 from the three point line and made 1 for 2 from the line.  The girl alumni team beat the elko team and only had 8 players.  Raelynn, Anna, Emma, Marissa, Butterfield, Rogers, Shae, and that is all I can remember.  But they were tied with just a few seconds to go in the game, and Raelynn drove the lane and threw up a prayer and it went in at the buzzer, so the alumni team won by 2 points.  Raelynn looked alot heavier, by about 20 lbs.  I hardly recognized her.  Everyone else looked the same.

Today in church I had to speak in the Spanish branch and spoke for about 30 minutes.  I did not think I could do that, but it went ok.  There were only about 16 people there in the branch.

Amber showed us this little thing in family search using puzzilla and hope chest with the Google chrome and it finds our cousins names in our lines that are in family search and do not have their temple work done.  She had 77 names reserved.  So I tried it today and last night and I have 74 names reserved about 50 of them just from one search.  So if you need names, let us know.  The names I found were on mom's side.

I fly out to Atlanta Georgia tomorrow for training for the financial aid and the new laws.  So I will be gone all week, and come back Friday.  Amber left today and Brian and chelsea went back yesterday.  It was cold this today and was snowing off and on.

Have a super week.  I love that story with the rain and the mamita.  Keep working hard, only about 6.5 months left.

Love 

Dad

Turkey Day is Coming

Hola Hermana Nielsen,
 
We are a little slow getting our letters out to you today.  I appoligize for that.  Last week was a blur.  I had a big report due on Friday and that is what I was working on all week.  It has been real cold here in the mornings and Saturday, it rained almost all day.  Chelsea and Brian drove up from New Mexico for Thanksgiving and I was worried about the roads but they got to Elko about 7:30 pm.  I guess the roads were pretty good for the most part.  Amber will come home on Tuesday.  It will be great to have the entire family together for thanksgiving.
 
Cody had basketball tryouts on Monday and Tuesday.  And he made the team.  They have 9 seniors on the team with the fab five and 14 total.  He likes bball but does not like Klekas much.
 
He dreads the practices as all they do is run.  He wants to work on his skills more.  Summer played her 1st games in bball for Adobe.  She did not play at all the 1st game and her team beat Owyhee.  In the 2nd game she started and made her 1st basket and missed a couple more shots, but early in the first half, she jumped up and came down on someones foot and sprained her ankle.  So it is all swollen and she is hoping around.  She is disappointed.  Hopefully, it will heal quickly.
 
There was a nice letter to the editor from one of the Moapa Valley parents telling the Elko team and parents that they were 1st class and all acted in dignity.  Her son only had one arm and caught a 42 yard pass and she was impressed that many of the Elko fans clapped and cheared.  I did not even realize that he only had one arm.  So I wasn't clapping.  It was a touching article.
 
We had a good Sunday yesterday.  We had a guy over for dinner who just got baptized 3 weeks ago and another family who Brian and Chelsea knew and were good friends at BYU who now live in our ward.  It was a fun day and great Sabboth.
 
Well we love you and are happy you are having miracles with your teaching.  It is amazing how the Lords provides the way for those who are ready and searching.  I had to teach part of the 5th sunday discussion yesterday in church on the retention of new converts.  But I was the last speaker and did not have much time.
 
Have a great week.  We are very grateful that you are serving a mission and preaching the Lord's gospel.  Our family has been extremely blessed.  Always be thankful for all you have.
 
Love,
 
DAD
 

Moapa 40 - Elko 7 :(

Querida Hermana Nielsen,
 
Well as mom told you we lost the big semi finals game in football.  I was so pumped up for the big game, I could hardly sleep Friday night.  I really liked our chances as I thought we matched up really well with them on paper size wise.  But they executed their offense alot better than we did.  They were very precise and did everything well.  Our offensive play calling has to change and mix things up if we every want to win it all.  We can't run the same plays over and over.  We needed Jason Wilson's dad out there calling the plays with misdirection, etc.  But it was a good season and a great year for Cody and the team.  Cody played really well.  He was fired up as well, but had nothing to give in the 4th quarter.  He was spent.  I felt the game was alot closer than the score indicated.  We lost 40-7.  But we were inside their 20 yard line, 3 times and came away with no points.  Near the end of the first half, they were up 14-0 and we were inside the 10 yard line ready to score.  If we score and go into half 14-7, I liked our chances.  But we turned the ball over on downs and they threw an 80 yard pass with less than a minute left and scored a touch down right at the end of the 1st half.  So instead of it being 14-7, it was 21-0.  And that took the wind out of our sails.  Our defense was on the field almost the entire game and the offense was 3 plays and out.
 
One of Cody's coaches asked him if he was going to go play at the next level.  But we do not do a very good job of exposing our players.  I think a BYU option after his mission is the best option.
 
Adelaide was funny this morning.  She does everything she sees her mom do.  This morning she was "getting ready for the day" combing her hair, etc. and I asked her, guess who's birthday is this Saturday?  And she did not know, so I told her it was Cody's.  She asked how old is was going to be and I said 18.   And she said, "Cody has not found the girl he is going to marry yet.  But I have, but we are just going to be friends since we are so young.  That's what you want us to do, huh?"  I guess she thinks she has found the person she is going to marry.  It snowed earlier this week and Addie was out building a snow man and could not get the head on top of the snow man.  So she told mom, "mom, can you help me, I'm struggling trying to get the head on" my snow man.  She talks so grown up.
 
These past few days, it has gotten very cold.  Coming home from Ely, yesterday, it was -7 degrees.  The highs are barely above freezing and it is getting down around 0 at night.
 
We also went to Carly's and Summer's parent teacher's conference this past week.  Summer is getting all A's except 1 B.  And Carly is getting good grades and her teacher, Mrs. Powers said Carly is the perfect student.  So they are all doing well.  Cody is really putting in the effort on his grades as well and getting good grades.
 
Well we had stake conference yesterday and it was really good.  We hope you have a great week.  Keep learning that Argentinian spanish.  Tell your argentine companion, "Che vos, que te pasa?"  They call everyone che.
 
Keep working hard, the days are going by too fast.  We love you and pray for you every day.  That was a neat little tender mercy with the dress and Grandma Nielsen.  I am sure those 2 are watching over you and cheering you on every day.  They were always so very interested in their missionaries.
 
Have a super week.
 
Love,
 
Dad

Semi-Finals

Hola querida hermana Nielsen,
 
How is every thing going?  This past week again passed by very quickly.  As mom said, Cody passed his Eagle scout board of review, so now he has completed everything but the dancing.  (2 weeks before his 18th b-day, nothing like waiting for the last moment).  But it will be good to have and a great accomplishment.  Now he can concentrate on a football state championship.  As mom said, we played Fernley here on Friday, and Fernley is a good team.  He had to go up against a 6'7" 275 pound kid.   That kid kept complaining that Cody was punching him in the gut the entire game.  After the game, he told Cody, you were punching me in the gut the entire game and Cody told him, that he only came up to his belly, so that is all he could block.  Elko played well.  We should have shut them out, they had a long pass play in the 2nd half that got them into scoring position.  We also got inside the 10 yard line 3 times and could not score.  We need to improve on that to win state.  Cody had a quiet game.  He had 16 tackles against Spring Creek and got defensive player of the week, and he said they were double teaming him all game long against Fernley.  So he hopes Moapa watches that film and over looks him.  Mom told you we play Moapa Valley, and coach Sellers told Cody that they are all Mormon down there and that the town paints their barns and gets into the football season.  So it should be a fun game.  I think we will match up great again them.  Cody hopes they keep playing in football so he can miss the basketball tryouts.  That starts a week from today.  He is not looking forward to Klekas and the bball year.
 
I was trying to get Summers deer all cut up last week.  It is mostly done now, just some little clean up work.  I worked on it all day on Saturday.  The Elko girls and boys soccer team did not make it to the playoffs.  Spring Creek girls made it and lost to Truckee in the 1st round.  Elko boys and girls cross country teams took 3rd place each at state.  The spring creek boys team won state, with their highest kid only placing 12th.  But their entire team were only 37 seconds separating them all.  So they got lots of middle points.  The elko volleyball team won the district tournament, so now they are going to state this weekend as the number 1 team from the north.
 
I saw the Woo (sp??) from Spring Creek, the one you went to EFY with, and she just got home from her mission to Guatamala.  She said she loved it.  Also, some Knight boy from Spring Creek got home about 6 months ago from El salvador was in my office last week.  Lots of spanish speakers.  They asked me to speak in the spanish branch on Nov. 30th.  We have stake conference this weekend, but we might miss most of it as we will be traveling home from the football game. 
 
We are having really nice weather.  It warmed back up and it gets into the low 60's during the day, which is really nice for November.
 
Well I can't think of too much more to say.  We love you and pray for you daily.  Keep working hard and the time goes by extremely fast.  There is no other time in your life that you can dedicate 100% of your time to the Lord.  Take advantage of it and love every minute of it.  It always ends too fast.
 
So do you have an Argentine companion now?  If you do you will need to tell her hola, and have her teach you some argentine spanish.  I would love to hear her argentine accent if you two are still together during the Christmas skype conversation.
 
Have a super week!!
 
Love
 
Dad

It feels like winter has arrived

Querida Hermana Nielsen,

I think our nice weather is over.  It got cold on Sat. and snowed in the mountains.  I guess it is suppose to get a in the low 60's later in the week.

We had a good busy week.  I had my accounting class on Monday so that is always a long day.  Getting home around 10 pm and starting my day at 5 am.

On Wed. we had our truck or treat combined with the elko 4th ward.  There were alot of people there.  We all ate chile after the treating.  It was good to associate with the members of the 4th ward.  Then on Thursday night, Elko played Spring Creek in Football for the final game of the season.  It was a very exciting and interesting game.  We got the opening kick off and marched down the field and had first and goal inside the 10, but we could not score.  We went for it on forth down and did not score a touch down. Spring Creek got the ball and moved down the field.  On one play the runner was stopped and we stripped the ball out and it landed in front of a spring creek player who ran it about 40 yards, which was a lucky play.  But they scored a touch down, went for 2 point conversion and made it, so it was 8-0 for spring creek.  Spring creek kicked off and we ran it back to the 45 yard line.  And on our first snap, we fumbled it and gave it back to spring creek.  From here it went back and forth and Elko eventually scored to make it 8-7 at half time.  Cody had a big sack on the SC quarterback and caused him to fumble, but SC recovered it.  That him changed the momentum in Elko's favor.  In the 2nd half, SC scored again and went up 15-7.  Elko eventually scored again I believe in the 4th quarter, and went for 2 and made it, so the game was tied.  We about 4 minutes to go in the game.  Elko was driving the ball down the field.  They came up with a 3 and 15 and they went to the wild cat, where they but their big boys on the offensive line and put Benton, Cody and Jordan Walters in the backfield, (the big power backs) and they gave the ball to Cody and he busted it to the out side and out ran a couple of players and ran over another and made 19 yards for the 1st down.  It was a great run.  So we kept the drive alive, and got down to the 8 yard line with 2:58  to go in the game.  Cody was back in the Wildcat position and I know he was going to score a touchdown and not be denied.  However, they hiked the ball to him and he took his eyes off it to look where he was going to go, and it went threw his hands and hit his shoulder pads and he went to catch it again and the SC player hit him and he fumbled the ball.  A SC player picked up the fumble and ran it back for a touch down with 2:45 to play in the game and now SC led 22-15.  They kicked off to us and we marched down the field and scored in 45 seconds and we went for 2 points and made it and we went ahead for the 1st time in the game 23-22.  And we ended up holding them and winning the game.  Cody was lucky, I did not want him to have to remember losing the game to his rivals his senior year and having to remember that for the rest of his life.  I told him afterwards, he needed to thank his team for bailing him out and he said he already had.  IT was a good exciting game that lived up to the big rivalry.

Friday was Nevada day, so Summer, cody and I went deer hunting for summer's deer.  We did not leave very early, we got a late start and it was 8 in the morning before we got to the area we wanted to hunt in area 7, northeast of wells, NV.  So we started hunting and were following a bunch a tracks.  Elk and deer.  It was in the area where we were hunting elk for Cody. But it was a very enjoyable hiked, nothing steep, just rolling hills.  We could have walked all day.  We got to this big canyon and we were going to have Cody walk down the middle and summer and I up top so we could see the game moving.  We were getting our walkie talkie radios ready and talking, and I looked at Summer and she all of a sudden got very interested in something down the mountain.  She took a couple a steps down, but did not day a word.  I asked her, Summer, do you see something, and she shakes her head yes.  So Cody goes over there and he sees something moving.  I look in the Binos and it is a doe and a fawn.  But she told Cody she saw one with horns.  But we could not see any thing and it was in thick juniper trees.  So I said shoot the doe.  And we fumbled around for about 5 minutes trying to get her situated and have her find the doe in the scope.  She has to shoot left handed as she can't close her left eye by itself.  The doe just stood there and looked at us.  We did not know if the gun was sited in or not, so I thought it would be good for her to take a chance.  She shot and dropped it.  So she is 1 for 1.  It was a nice big doe.  We did see the buck run off after she shot the doe, but we would have never been able to get a shot off as it took so long for her to get set up.  Cody carried the doe back to the truck on his shoulders.  We shot her at noon and was back home about 3:30 pm.  It was a very fun and enjoyable hunt.  I found a real indian arrow head made out of flint on the trail on the way back.

Sat. I had scout meetings at the church and watch some football.  It was very cold and wendy and a nice day to be inside.

Well we hope you have a great week.  We love you and pray for you daily.  We did get your package with the letters, thank you very much.  Cody and I love the ties.

Love

Dad