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