Mothers' Day

Hermana Nielsen,
 
It was great talking to you yesterday, even though it was very difficult to communicate.  Be sure and tell Hermana Giler that it was not her English that we could not understand, but it was the delay in hearing it.  She is doing very well in English.  We could hardly communicate in English ourselves.  You looked great.  We only have about 5 more of these emails addressed to Hermana Nielsen.  Next it is Elder Nielsen.  We are having a lot of fun learning Tagalog.  I think I enjoy it more than Cody.  He is still focusing on school work, so it is hard for him to dedicate a lot of time.
 
Well, what did we do last week.  It alls seems to be a blur these days.  I know Summer had a couple of softball games and she is doing well for her 2nd year playing.  I think she is probably in the top 3 players on her team.  They still have not won any games, but they are coming close.
 
The big news is we went to Dayton on Friday morning.  Cody played at 11:30 am and we were there until almost dark, around 7:30 to 8:00 pm.  We stayed in a hotel in Carson City.  Then we were at the ball fields on Sat. from 9 until almost 5 or 6.  2 games on Friday and 3 on Sat.  We beat South Tahoe on Friday in the 1st game, with a walk off home run by Kyle Whitted in the bottom of the 7th. We won 6-5.  Then we played Fallon and the game was late starting and it was 5-5 in the end of the 5th inning and it was getting dark and they got us out and a guy hit a home run on their team and they called the game due to darkness, we lost 6-5.  On Sat. we played South tahoe again and beat them pretty handedly, then we had to play fallon again and beat them 2 to win regionals.  We won the 1st game and they beat us the 2nd.  But we spent almost 10 hours each day at the fields.  Our players were tired and made some costly errors.  It is hard to stay mentally focused that long of period.  But we are still going to State down in Vegas next weekend.  So that will be fun.  Cody hit a home run in one of the games, so did Benton and Jacob and Kyle Whitted had 2 home runs.
 
The Filippino family including the mom came to church with us yesterday so that was good.  They had a discussion with them while we were in Dayton with Bishop Bryce.
 
Sister Simons had a baby boy last week.  Nathan Nielsen, your cousin is engaged, so that is good.  Everything is going well.  We are just trying to wrap up the school year and all the senior events.  The Choralier concert is tonight.  Cody's last one, and I think he is happy about that.  He has enjoyed it, but it is a lot of time. You will have to tell Sister Bott, that Cody should take Ruth out on a date before he leaves.  I know he and Jacob want to go to Lagoon.
 
Well, have a super week.  WE love you and and so happy you are serving a mission.  We love having our kids serving missions.  Keep working hard.
 
Love
 
Dad
 

Dearest Hermanita Nielsen,

Well, it was good to see you yesterday, even though the picture was kind of blurry and and froze a lot.  I got to hear your laugh and that was great.  Soon, enough I'll be able to talk to you about all the things that were too hard to get across yesterday.  I wasn't going to mention that; can't have you getting trunky now.  We would have liked to have met your cute little companion, but it was too frustrating to communicate.  

Cody sent in the papers for his passport last week.  He also needs a typhoid shot, and his wisdom teeth out.  We will do that after baseball is done this weekend.

We left for Dayton last friday morning to cheer Elko  in the baseball Regional tournament.  We got 2nd, which means we still go to State this weekend in Vegas, but we go as the #2 seed from the north.  We first played South Tahoe, and we beat them, but it wasn't easy. The field there in Dayton makes ground balls really hop and Tahoe was hitting a lot of grounders and we had a hard time fielding them.  On the other hand we were hitting  mostly fly balls to the outfield, and making it easy for them to make outs.  We got through that game, winning 6-5, helped by home runs hit by Benton Wickersham and Kyle Whitted.  Then we played Fallon, they were tough and we were right there with them, but then it started to get dark and they don't have lights there so they decided they would end after the 6th inning instead of going to the usual 7 and the catcher hit a home run to go ahead and win the game 6-5 right there.  We didn't get a chance to play one more inning to see if we could have matched it or finished it the next day-- it was over.   The next day we  played S.Tahoe again since they beat Spring Creek in there 2nd game.  That game was different, we played better and were in control of that game.  We won that one 9-4 and Cody had a homerun in that game.  So, we got to play Fallon again, and we played tough and beat them 8-2 in that game.  That meant that we had to play them again to break the tie.  We kind of struggled with our batting in that last game and lost 7-2.  It was the boys third game of the day (Fallon's second)  and we were tired.  Being out in the sun for nearly 8 hrs had taken its toll.   We will travel to Vegas on thurs.   I'm hopeful we will play well down there.   

I had a good mothers' Day.  I am so grateful for wonderful children.  I am so blessed, each one of you kids are exceptional and amazing and I love you all,  Mom