Nielsen Family Stories and Memories from HERMANA NIELSEN

Random Nielsen Family Stories.

 

One night Amber came home late from work. She must have been going in for a mid-night ice cream snack, because she looked in the freezer, and in there she found a unopened gatoraide bottle. Cody had put it in there just early that night before going to bed to take on a basketball trip the next day. Obviously forgetting about what he had learned in science didnt think anything of it. During this time Cody was going through one of his phrases he always used on us, `Better luck next year` he`d say after everything. So Amber took it out opened it and drank a little and put it back in with a sweet little note that read `Dear Cody, ice expands, didnt you learn anything in science class.. better luck next year` It was soo perfect and we all laughed about it.

When we were younger I remember whenever we were asked to give a talk in Primary, we would have mom help us write it and put it together then we would take out the old black vaccum, we took the old blue booster seat stepped onto it and it was perfect hieght to reach the handle of the vaccum which we pretended and used as a microphone. Then we would spend hours practising giving our talks. I dont know whose idea it was, probably chelsea`s but we all did it growing up. Sometimes when I was asked to speak in sacretmeeting when I was older Id complain to myself because I was too tall to practice with the vaccum. This will always remain as a sweet child memory in the Nielsen house.

Chelsea asked me to write what i could remember of the car crash.  I was honestly so little I cant remember much and what memories I do have, I dont know if they were dreamed or not because they seem so far off of what chelsea and Amber remember. So who knows but what I do remember is afterwards there was a huge truck, I remember it being a cemi truck, but it was probably the ambulance and just seemed so much bigger to my little body. I remember there being really nice people in the truck and they let me walk around inside and gave me a stuff animal. I have absolutely no memory of rolling or even feeling hurt. I know I cut my head because mom told me later but i dont remember ever hurting. Just that I got a stuffed animal from a nice guy that had a big cemi truck.

I cant remember how old I was. But Im pretty sure it was for the baby blessing of Summer. The whole Nielsen family decided to drive to Elko from Utah for the blessing. So they all got together, pulled out this old Van of grampa and gradma Nielsen`s and they headed over. Well the old van had seen better days and they had car trouble. We eneded up having to go pick them up cause the Van died. They made it for the blessing and we had a great family visit. Then when it was time to pack up and leave, the van was still in the shop being fixed. So we decieded to lend them the truck to take back to Utah and we would just keep the van til we could bring it back. So that`s what we did. And it was the best! After the van was fixed Dad began driving that to work, so of course that meant us also for dropping us off for school. I remember Amber being a little embarrassed to be seen in the big old brown Van to be dropped off but Cody and I on the other hand thought it was the best thing ever. The van soon recieved the nickname of the `Party Machine` I remember always telling mom and dad that that was the car I wanted to drive when I was older. We had soo much fun with it, so many great drives to church, school everything. We always wanted to take it everywhere. It had like a built in table and tons of seats. Cody and I would switched seats as we drove. It literally was a party van. We loved it! Well the time soon came to drive it back and return it to grandma and grandpa. It was a hard departing with something we had grown to love soo much. (And Im pretty sure it just went back into the garage and never to be used again... what a shame!) but we had our good memories with it. Then I remember we all had to cram into the truck to drive it back to Elko. That was probably my favorite car trip ever. We were all super close together and we talked and sang hymns and primary songs the whole way home. I remember it being so much fun and just being the happiest ever with my family!

One weekend we deciede to go take a hike up Lamoille as a family. So we got everything ready and headed up the canyon. We started up. I remember we passed the Shelley family. And the line of hikers just never seemed to end! They are a big family! There were a few parts on the trail that still had snow so we were throwing snow balls at each other. The way up was pretty relaxed and normal. We reached the lake and had our picnic mom prepared. I think cody tried to fish or something. I remember we found a huge mushroom and just played around. The adventure was just begining though. As our picnic ended we started our trek back down the mountain. And then came the rain. Not wanting to get our things soaked we started heading down as fast as we possible could. I remember on the part of snow it was all down hill and really slick so we basically just skiied down the hill. We were sliding and slipping everywhere. The rain made the trail super muddy we tried our best to stay clean but that soon ended as all of us were slipping and slidding and pulling one another down as we tryed to catch ourselves. By this time I remember running down the muddle trail as fast as we could. We finally made it to the bottom. soaked. wet, and completely muddy but with all smiles on our faces. It was a great day spent as a family!

 

One great memory I have of mom is one day when she came home from the store and ahd all the groceries out on the counter, like usual Cody began looking through to see if there was anything good to eat that she had bought. When he came across something mom had bought him from Christmas, he did a little hmm what is this? Mom said hey dont look at that give that to me. Cody being the stinker he is, cause ahh I see.. And as mom came around the counter to get it from him he quickly moved too. So they played the counter in the middle one moves one way the other the other way, so mom wasnt able to get it from him. they did this for a moment then somehow cody escaped and started heading down the hall, mom was on the oposite side of the kitchen table now and without even flinching chased after him and hurdled the middle part between the counch and the reclainer chasing him down the hall, cody had made it to the bathroom and locked the door mom was right on his tale. I cant remember exactly what was the end of it, I was laughing too hard cause i couldnt believe mom had actually hurdled the couch.

 

Dad was born in Pocatello Idaho and grew up most his life in Nebraska. AS a kid he enjoyed hunting, fishing, and playing sports. Which he still continues today. He served his mission in Buenas Aires south Argentina which changed his life, as some may comment, he has never finished serving. Dad has been a great example to me of sharing the gospel and is not afriad to talk to anyone. We joke that we were born this way, we are a missionary family. We pray everyday as a family to find people for the missionaries to teach and have had many oppertunities to share the gospel as a family and teach other families in our home with the missionaries. Words cant describe those feelings as we shared what was the most important to us with someone else without those blessings and watch and share the experience as their lives begin to change and as they take that first step into their new lives entering the waters of baptism. With this example and experiences I was even more confident and excited to sharing the gospel with everyone, I thank a lot of that to my dad. I remember one accasion we were on our way home from Utah and stopped to get gas before heading on the road. we were running late as usual and I had practice to get to, the other sibblings work. So as dad was filling up he noticed a family across from him speaking spanish.. and of course he just could not resist. As we waiting in the car, eargently yelling Dad we gotta go! He 10 minutes later got back in and shared how he had basically shared the first lesson. That is just Dad, any oppertunity to speak spanish he is on it, and any oppertunty to share the gospel has him name alll over it. Dad went to BYU provo and there studyed to become an accounting, When asked why he chose to study accounting he casually states Because the line for engeneering was too long. typical Dad.. Dad also lived very truly to “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” minus the do without, because he refused to get rid of ANYTHING! Just ask mom and her experiences of trying to secretly throw away old ripped stale basketball tshirts. Or those old shoes he bought in the 7th grade or something skipping lunch to save up for.. yep still has them. AND YES still wears them. (Note to DAD: Im gonna add all the stories you would tell us as kids about your childhood here, Like throwing snowballs off the church roof, wrecking the motorcycle, grandma chasing you and you breaking the class, You should take the time to write them down too so we can have your perspective too.)

 

A memory I will always hold dear about Dad is when he would drop us off for school every morning. Northside Elementry School was right on the way to his work so we all piled in the beat up, old, falling apart `Little Car`. Some days if we were running late Dad would pull off the emergency break and let it roll. We were wait and try to see how far down the street we could get without turing the car on. We were `saving gas` this way Dad would always say. Only once I believe we made it down to the McEntires house. Then for a while we had to pick up Chance and Chelsea Gardner. Chance would always sit in front and just slide in with his packback on so he would be taking up the whole front seat and Dad could never see out the window. From that time on anytime anyone was in his way from seeing in the car he would call us Chance. Since we were in the old Little Car, nothing worked right, including the window wippers. I remember one rainy day Dad made me get out at every stop sign until the school and move the window wippers with my own hand to wipe away the rain so he could see. But my favorite memory of all about Dad dropping us off is that he would ALWAYS without fail say `Studying hard, Learn alot, Choose the right, Return with honor and Have fun` as we were running out of the car. That phrase has been so special for me. When I began driving myself or getting picked up for seminary, Dad would only say it every once in a while if he remembered, but he still used it for the little girls he would drop off for school. Sometimes I never realized how much I missed hearing that everyday. When Amber was on her mission, one email home I remember she quoted Dad`s phrase before we started school, but she added and `share the gospel`` at the end. Dad liked it so he started adding that on. The day I left for my mission, Dad had been the one to drive me over to Utah to catch my flight. So it was just Dad I was saying my final goodbyes to. After I hugged him goodbye and got in line he yelled, `Study hard, learn alot, choose the right, return with honor and Have fun AND share the gospel!`

 

Dad`s most famous quotes include: `Good Night` Ìm gonna kick you in the middle of next year` `Nucklehead` `I DONT YELL!!!`

 

FUNNY STORY! My freshman year our high school soccer team made it to the State tournament. Dad decided to drive down to Vegas and watch me. The game started at about 6pm. As the game went on it started getting darker so they turned on the feild lights. This wasnt enough for dad and he being alone and just commenting to those sitting around him kept saying, its so dark out here, they need better lights, and I can barely see anything how are they able to play with such little light. After about 15 mintues of Dad´s complaining and comments about how dark it was outside, some lady a few rows in front of him turned around and yell, TAke off your sunglasses!

 

CODY: Oh my stink I have the best brother in the whole world! I am soooo grateful I had this kid so close in age that we were practically raised side by side. I have sooo many memories with my brother. I am only 2 years older so we spent alot of our younger ages playing together. We had our fair share of barbies and sports. so it was a great combinations. A memory I have of Cody and I as kids is always competing agaisnt our imaginary apponents ´Johnny and Ceila¨ when we played sports. We would roller blade down in the basement and we always went up against JOhnny and Ceila. We would do comintaries outloud about how close they were behind us. We also sold paper fans together and put together a little buisness one summer so I could save up money to buy me a skippet. We spent our entire summers up in the Desert (empty coldsac up the street) There we played with all the nieghborhood kids. We played Altantis, and cody was always Milo. We aso make forts out of the long weeds, we called it Weed Staff. We also enjoyed playing dress up, since our male dress up clothes were limited Cody was always dressed up in dresses, we called him Karina.

Cody and I loove to quote movies. We basically speak in Movie quotes (mostly disney)

Cody is the perfect brother, seriously I couldnt say enough good about him. I remember my Sophomore year I was asked to prom, something happened and the guy told me he wouldnt be going with me but with someone else. I was a little bit heart broken. The night of prom roled around, my plans were to just go to bed normal. I then recieved a text from cody around 9, It said hey what are you doing tonight? I replied going to bed. He said ´you cant cause were going on a date. You drive. Ill pay. Meet you upstairs at 9:15´. He ended up taking me to mcdonalds, we decided dollar menu drive thru would satisfy. Then we just drove around town talking about all sorts of things. about 10 til 10:30 he asked if I wanted to go to the Senior walk, so we decided to go and sat together as all the seniors escorted there dates across the walkway, when the kid that had orignally asked me past by we both smiled super big and waved, he looked very uncomfrotable seeing us there. It was the best! I love my brother soo much!

Cody and I have a relationship most teenagers would consider weird or creepy. Most of our friends and peers would tell us we were too close. I guess other people werent that close with thier sibblings which is too bad. I loved my brother because he was never embarrassed to be around me. We would hang out together all the time with the same group of friends.

 

AMBER: I been completing my ´MY FAMILY´ book and added pages for each of my sibblings and wrote a little about them I then realized I should transfer all those memories and how I see them here for all to see.
Amber is one of my best friends! When I was younger and couldnt say Amber I would call her Bober, she then soon got the nickname BOB (but Im prettty sure Chelsea and Cousin Rachel are the only ones that still call her that) Even though she was 4 years older we were still able to be close. I entered High school right after she graduated but she didnt go to school that year until January, so she stayed home and I really feel thats when we became so close.She has been such a great example to me also, she always had the best advice for EVERYTHING I always went and still go to her with all my problems and she helps me through everything and helps me have an eternal perspective on everything. She really does have a gift in that sence. Something that she always did that was an example to me was writing in her jounral, she always wrote in her journal, and the best part about being a younger sibblings is getting to follow these things and learn from their example. I ended up becoming a good journal writter myself and I thank all of that to Amber. We enjoyed doing many things together such as photo shoots, making up crazy music videos, watching and quoting kids history. She then left on a mission to Honolulu Hawaii! I was excited but it was gonna be hard not having her to text every second with advice. But she changed so much and became such a strong young women because of her service. Amber loves to run, sing and have a good time. She has....(sorry I havent finished writing your section yet)

Good memories with Amber:

Our good JOKES..
One night we were hanging out as a family over at the house of the cabilluos... ( still working on this one too sorry, )

 

CHELSEA: I been completing my ´MY FAMILY´ book and added pages for each of my sibblings and wrote a little about them I then realized I should transfer all those memories and how I see them here for all to see. so I will start with Chelsea. Chelsea is my oldest sister.Chelsea is one of my greatest examples to me in my life especially at such a young age. Chelsea is like the Nephi of the family. Always super obedient to our parents and faithful to the Lord. I remember growing up always seeing her read her scriptures and praying before she went to bed. We shared a room growing up so this impacting me a ton at such a young age because her being my older sister I wanted to be like her and do what she did. Therefore thanks to her example I began reading my scriptures too, just to be following what she was doing. She worked really hard in school and always had perfect grades! She couldve been considered the perfect child, minus a few trips to the hospital. Chelsea was the reason for or the person in the hosptal. always. She gave amber and cody stitches. Broke her arm, had surgury on a bad hip and had a bad bursted appendix. She worked in the library in high school, which was the best and most fitted job for her. Once when she was a little younger told me her goal was to read the whole library. If new books didnt keep coming in everything I think she wouldnt achieved that goal. Chelsea is someone super orangized but a collects alllot of things. She is know for her huge chapstick collection, which she has perfectly organized and has each flavor written out on a piece of paper and she rotates everyday so that everyone is used. Its insane! And she has every stinkin flavor! In high school she participated in Band and choir, and did a little bit of strings (volin) She was a 4 year all state choir student, which is really hard to get! And did marching band playing the mellophone, and her senior year was the drum major. She looves the read and try new things. She made a list of 100 things to do before she dies and is determined to complete all of them. I just remember one of them was eating a worm.. and yep she did it and made me her witness and sign her bucket list. She went to BYU provo and there soon met her husband Brain. They were married in the Quirrih Mountain Temple and have been living in New Mexico. She has been working as a school teacher. Her and Brain liked to read together, cook together and visit different temples. She has gotten really into blogging and keeps everyone updated with a great detailed blog including pictures!  ( sorry this is all I got so far, im planning on adding alot more stories! if you have any ideas let me know! )

 

Zuccuni bread story:  A funny story I remember about grandma was a visit we had had at her house around 4 years ago. I had visited grandma´s house a month earlier, I cant remember for what reason, but it was only me and dad or something. In that visit a month early we arrived late that night and Charlene was there, she told us we could eat anything we wanted from the fridge, she got our a few things and set them on the counter for us to choose from for dinner, she had out a zuccuni bread someone had made, I really like zuccuni bread so I went for that. I cut myself a slice and took a big bite. Then froze. It was sooo bad! And not just your average stale and old tasting grandma fridge food. It was bad bad. Nothin from it tasted good or safe to eat. I quickly spit it out without anyone looking and decided to just stick with the preztle jar because my appetite just quite wasnt the same anymore or my confidence to try anything else. I had forgotten about this experience til we had visited Grandma again a month later, now as a family and Cody was hungry so of course grandma showed him to the fridge and had it opened as she started handing him things to eat. Cody was standing on the other side of grandma where she had it opened I was standing near the door to the family room just observing. I then heard her say ´Here have some zuccini bread´ I watched as Cody with a little ´MMm¨ take it from her. I then, standing behind grandma so she couldnt see gave him the warning sign waving my hands across my throat, shaking my head, I think my look of concern scared him but he understood and quickly said ´actually I think ill just have... ´ changing it to whatever else was in there. When grandma had left I then let him know that I had tried that SAME zuccini bread A MONTH AGO and it was bad then, he thanked me for the warning and we together tossed the old bad discusting zuccini bread in the garbage never to be tempted by anyone else. :)

 

Reduing the roof:  The summer of 2009 (maybe) Dad decided we needed to redo the roof, the sheilding has begun to peel and he wanted a nice new roof for winter. And Dad being his cheap self didnt want to pay someone to do it. sooo.. he decided we as a family would do it together and get it done within the first couple weeks of summer. Dad went and bought all the roofing supplies and we began. The beginning was fun! We enjoyed tearing the roof apart, pulling up all the old shielding and pushing it off the roof into the truck. (I remember the first time getting on the roof I basically crawled to the top because I felt so uncomfortable standing and unblanced, but by the end of the summer I was running up and down doing cartwheels on the roof.) We continued working on it day after day, after the shielding was all off we had to lay down a now tarp that went under the shielding. Dad wanted everything perfect so if we rolled it out crooked while he was stampled we´d get yelled at. haha. Some members from the Stake who knew how to roof came over to help out, they knew what they were doing and began working very fast. Dad didnt like this at all because he didnt feel they were doing it neatly enough and didnt like thier quality. He was getting pretty ansy and didnt like the help, he ended up redoing alot of the parts they had done. From that Cody Dad and I joked around about them. Thier names were Bruce and Richard. So anytime Id so something wrong, Dad would say Your just as bad as Bruce! or Alright Bruce. (To this day Cody still throws in the name and calls me Bruce if I do anything clumpsy) The days then began to turn into weeks. Every morning after papers Dad make us all get up there and work, (there went our entire summer) We were starting to get tired of it and trying anything to get out of it. I remember once purposely cutting myself on a nail so id have to go inside and get a banaid.. I never returned. Most the time It was just Cody Dad and I up on the roof, and usually Cody and I just joked around and make fun of Dad. It ended up taking us the ENTIRE SUMMER, and even though it wasnt the most fun thing in the world I look back now and it was definatly one of my favorite memories. We had many bonding hours up on that roof. ANd we finally finished it! That year for the 4th of July we all climbed up on the roof as a family with a bowl of popcorn and watched the fireworks. It was my favorite and most memorable 4th of July. It was a long hot summer up on that roof, but now im really greatful for the memory.

Where Did January Go?

 Hola Hermana Nielsen,

We sure enjoy reading the letters of Hermana Bott and your letters.  They sure give us 2 different perspectives.  The spider and rat story was hilarious.  For some reason, I could vividly imagine both of you two in those situations.  Hermana Bott sounds exactly like you.  We had a good busy week.  Monday was Martin luther king day, so we stayed home and worked around the house.  We have been having very nice weather for this time of year.  It was like 55 degrees.  Mom and I went to a movie on Monday afternoon called unbroken.  She had read the book and it was based on a true story, but for me, the movie seemed to drag on a bit.  How many hours can you watch a people drifting on a raft in the ocean and then in a prisoner of war concentration camp.  

Tuesday was the first day of school for GBC, so we were busy trying to get students paid.  Then I had to go to Battle Mountain high school for FAFSA night and got home around 8:30 pm.  On Wed. night Elko had their FAFSA night, so I got home around 8:30 pm.  Thursday, we had PAL basketball practice.  They have practiced almost every day and I have only been able to make 2 practices.  So we still do not have an offense or good defense for that matter.  Our 1st game was on Sat. and we are still working things out.  We have 2 twins on our team that stand around and do nothing, so it is a little frustrating.  We lost 22 to 12.  They had a couple of natives that played pretty well.  Summer did not have any points, but had a couple of good looks.  We also had mutual on Thursday night, so I have been gone every night this week.  Friday the kids did not have school since it was semester tests this week, and Cody left for Fernley and Fallon Friday morning.  We beat Fernley by 40+ we 40 point mercy rule kicked in 1 minute into the 3rd quarter.  Cody did not score any points.  On Saturday we beat Fallon 59-37.  Cody had only 2 points.  He is playing the entire 1st quarter and not playing at all the 2nd quarter.  Eric Klekas has been scoring about 13 points off the bench, so I think he is getting more playing time than Cody.  So we are 17-2 this season.  Last weekends games started the 2nd half of the season.  Elko girls lost to Fallon by 3 points.  They were up by 1 point with less than a minute to go in the game and had 3 shot attempts and missed and fallon went down and made a basket.  I was going crazy here at home listening to the game, when you have the lead, you don't need to shot again.  Make them foul you.  Anyway, that is a game we should have won.  Now the girls have 2 league losses.

Sat. I worked here at home on year end taxes and a few odd jobs.  The bug will not start again, so I don't know if it is the starter or what.  So with Cody driving the trooper, I am left without a car.  Sunday was a good day, we had a new younger couple in our ward over for dinner.  They have 2 small kids.  Cody and I went out home teaching and Cody had mission prep.  The Gouldings are buying a house in 1st ward and should be moving this week.  Romney Goulding should get her mission call next week and Cody can turn in his mission papers on March 1st.  That is really exciting for me.  We are anxious to find out where he will serve.

Any way, tell Hermana Bott we are very grateful for her letters and giving us 2 views at your misison.  Mom talking with her mom, it sounded like her dad and I have a lot of similarities.  Have a super duper week.  We love you and are very happy you are serving a mission.  I sent a copy of Bednars talk to the Espinels and Rolando Cubillo.  Marlene replied back to me, I will copy her message and send it to you.

Querido Scott, Te agradezco mucho por enviar el mensaje de élder David A. Bednar, lo he leído con detenimiento y puedo decir que es verdad, que Ustedes los misioneros llevan la palabra de Dios de puerta en puerta, puedo decir, que mi familia y yo aprendimos mucho de Ustedes. No hay ni un solo día que no oremos y leemos la Biblia juntos como familia. Los domingos lo dedicamos a Dios y compartimos como familia. Aprendimos de la humildad y el amor hacia el prójimo , la generosidad y de las buenas virtudes . Cada vez que vemos a un Élder , nos identificamos con ellos y recordamos a tu linda Familia y a tí. Sabemos que Dios es grande y que su amor es infinito que quièn prueba de su dulce palabra no se apartará de él...  Por Ustedes es que ahora nosotros podemos conocer a nuestro Señor . Gracias Amigos , ha sido el Mejor obsequio que hayamos recibido. Bendiciones

Nota: Nosotros tenemos en casa dos revistas que la hermana Erin y su compañera nos obsequiaron , lo hemos leído con la familia.

Love Dad.

No School Today

Hello Hermana Nielsen,
 
How was your week?  We are happy you finally got your debit card.  Hopefully it will work for you.  We had a busy week.  We started PAL basketball practice on Monday night.  We need alot of time to improve and get an offense and defense in place.  Monday was the national championship football game and Ohio State beat the Oregon ducks.
 
On Tuesday, I started coming down with a cold or flu bug and my entire body ached all day.  We drove over to Winnemucca to watch the big games on Tuesday night and when we got out of the car, I was freezing, my teeth were rattling, and I could not stop shaking.  It was wierd, but my head hurt and was cold the entire game.  The girls team lost by 3 or 4 points, Lowry started out really hot and Elko never recovered from the big lead at the beginning of the game.  It was a good game.  Elko battled back and we had our open looks at the basket at the end to tie it, but we could not hit the shots.  The Elko boys team won 60 - 30.  Cody had 8 points, no 3's.  But we blew them out from the very beginning.  Then on Thursday, the Elko boys team traveled to Las Vegas.  They beat Liberty on Friday by 20+ points and beat Chapparal on Sat. by 20+ points.  Cody scored 4 points on Friday and 0 points on Sat.  They got back about midnight last night.  So now their record is like 18-2 or something like that.  Cody and the fab 5 seniors went to the early morning rotory club to visit with them.  Their picture was in the paper the next day.  We were going to go to Vegas, but Summer had a geography B on Friday so she did not want to miss that.  But I went over and watched her and she got out in the 1st round.
 
School starts Tuesday, and I am teaching my accounting class again, so I have to get that all online.  On Wednesday, I had to drive down to Eureka to do a FAFSA night down there.  I was still a little sick, but feeling better than on Tuesday.  I got back about 9:30 pm.  I have been on the road alot and I am kind of worn out.  Tomorrow is Martin Luther King day, so it will be good to rest a bit.
 
The sister missionaries are getting transferred out of our ward.  We are going to have to share missionaries with another ward.  25 missionaries are going home this month, and only 9 missionaries are coming out this month.
 
We love you very much and are glad you are on a mission.  Mom and I were talking on the way home from Winnemucca about having missionaries in the field and the $400 / month.  Mom said, that some how that $400 comes back and I got thinking that before Amber left on her mission, we had to pay out about $8,000 on Amber's shoulder for medical expenses, and the next year Cody had his knee surgury which cost us about $6,000.  But ever since we have had missionaries out, we have not had any medical expenses.  That is a huge savings compared to what we spent before we had a missionary out.  The Lord will always bless us for our efforts and sacrifices.
 
Have a super week.  Today is your 13th month mark.  Continue to work as hard as you can and enjoy minute of this special time.  This is the greatest time of your life.  Tell Hermana Bott hello for us and that we love her too.  Mom found your ipod down in the basement in a sock box.  So that is a big relief.
 
Have a great day,
 
Dad

Getting Back in the Groove

Hola Hermana Nielsen,

How was your week?  This past week went by extremely fast.  I went to Winnemucca to meet with Fin Aid students on Monday during the day and then that evening I did a FAFSA night at Lowry high school, so I did not get back to Elko until about 9:30 pm.  Tuesday was the big Elko vs Spring Creek games.  Both varsity teams won pretty easily.  Mom said that is the weakest Spring Creek girls team she has ever seen.  The boys played well and beat them by 30+ and the girls won by 20+ points.  It is good for the girls to get that monkey off their back. 

Wednesday I drove down to Pahrump, to meet with fin aid students down there.  I was down there until Friday morning and came back to see the bball games here this weekend.  We played sparks on Friday and the boys shot the lights out of the gym.  Everyone was making baskets.  Elko had 58 points the 1st half and as a team they shot 71% from the 3-point line.  We were up by 40+ points in the 1st half but the mercy rule does not kick in until the 2nd half.  So it was a running clock the entire 2nd half and the final result was like 83 to 30.  Elko made 15 3-pointers for the game and that is a school record.  Cody had 5 points on Friday.  Nate could not miss.

On Saturday we played Truckee and they were a real scrappy team and we beat them by 30+ points.  The team had 11 3-pointers in that game and Eric Klekas had 7 of them.  He was high scorer with 23 points.  Nate had a terrible game and only had 4 points.  So both the elko boys and girls varsity teams are still undefeated in league play.  We go to Lowry tomorrow for the last game of the 1st half of the season and then we start the 2nd half of league play.

I spent about 4 hours on Saturday morning running around trying to get signatures and forms for all the boy scout registrations.  We had to turn in our re-chartering on sat.  I still have a few more signatures and forms to get, but then I will mail it off.  That has been a nightmare trying to get that all done.

Sunday was good, we had our ward conference.  The nursery leader was out of town and I was more than willing to sub for her.  We only had 3 kids.  Then we had a seminary fireside last night.  So we have been extremely busy.  Summer signed up for PAL and they needed a coach, so I volunteered to do that.  I figure that she and Carly need some extra individual coaching to work on their skills.  I have a lot of fin. aid nights this month, so mom might have to end up doing most of the coaching.

GBC starts next week, and I am scheduled to teach Acc 202 this semester, but I hope it does not go.  We need 10 students to make it go and I only have 7 in there right now.  But with tax season, I hope it does not go.

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner yesterday and they really like our family.  The one sister from Tahiti who is from temple square goes back to temple square next Monday.  She does not want to go.  We told her we will have to go visit her in Tahiti.  Her dad is a canoe man and makes ukuleles and wanted to know if I played.  I said no, but Amber does.  She then asked me if I would want a canoe paddle that her dad makes to hang on the wall.  And I said I would love one.  She is really nice and has a strong accent.  We will miss her.

Whitney welch got home from her mission and she had her home coming talk yesterday.  Cody says it sounds like she speaks spanish very well.  Meaghan Acherman also had her farewell yesterday.  She is going Texas and enters the MTC this week.  Cody went to both of those meetings.  Cody said there were a lot of girls from the Elko girls basketball, but not the entire team like you had.  But that is good for them to go support her like that.  Cody said Siana Carsrud is a member and her mom is a member in Wendover.

Have a super week.  We love you and pray for you all the time.

Love,

Dad

Feliz Ano Nuevo desde Elko. Here we go 2015!

Hola Hermana Nielsen,

Here we are in 2015.  I can't believe it. I don't know where 2014 went, but it disappeared very rapidly.  We had a nice quiet new years.  Mom and I fell asleep in the family room and woke up around 12:30 am to wish each other a happy new year and went to bed.  It was a quiet non-eventful evening.  Cody had a team get together and then he went over to the Gouldings for a white elephant exchange.  I worked all the days except for new years day and Friday.  We were thinking about going to South Tahoe to watch Cody play, but we could not find anybody to watch Chica.  So we just stayed home.  

Cody played in South Tahoe on Friday and they were behind by 1 point at half time and then went on to win by 20 points.  Cody did not have any points on Friday.  He only shot a couple times.  Saturday, they played Dayton at Dayton and beat them by 30 points.  Cody was 2nd high scorer with 8 points, Nate had 14 points and was high scorer.  Cody did not play at all in the 2nd or 4th quarters.  Everyone got to play on the team as they were ahead by a bunch the entire game.  Marshall Dumas has 20 points on Friday and that was a career high for him.  Cody got home around 9:30pm that night.  The elko girls also won both games, so both teams are undefeated in league play so far.

On Saturday, mom and I cleaned and dusted the entire living room.  We pulled everything out and cleaned it from corner to corner.  Addie had your ipod and now we can't find it, so we are turning the house upside down to find it.  Next we will clean Amber's room and then your room.

The kids all go back to school tomorrow.  Amber went back to BYUI on Thursday.  It was great having her around for a few days, although our sleeping schedule got thrown all out of whack.   Things will be back to normal this week.  I go to Winnemucca  tomorrow for work and then to Pahrump on wed, thurs. and Friday.  Elko plays spring creek this Tuesday and also has home games this weekend.

We are excited for the year 2015.  To get one missionary back home and send another one out.  We love you and know you are doing the most important thing possible at this point in your life.  Enjoy every minute.  Mom and I were looking at missionary opportunities for elderly couples and we can't wait until we can serve the Lord again full-time.  This is a very special time in your life.

Tell Hermana Bott Hola for us.  We are happy you two get to spend another cambio juntas.  Que Dios les bendiga en todo.

Con mucho amor,

Dad