A Summer of Fun, Family, and Sights to see

This last summer has been so much fun. I'll start in May when I had a Memorial Day BBQ and sort of a farewell party before I headed home. I invited all the kids from my branch and we had lots of food and played around outside for a while... then came the water balloons and hoses and we had a fabulous water fight.

Memorial Day BBQ --YSA boat trip around NY Harbor

A while after that there was a regional YSA activity in New York City. We boarded a ferry around 8, and had a really great ride around Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and all over the harbor for a few hours. There was a DJ with lots of people dancing and lots of new people to meet from all over. The boat was docked right beside the USS Intrepid, which was the boat on National Treasure. I drove a van while I was back there so I gave a bunch of people a ride into the city which is always kind of an adventure. My van was nicknamed the Spaceship, because it had so many buttons and fancy little gadgets, half of which I had no idea were even there until I had people ride in the back. It was so much fun hanging out in the city while I was back east...

In the middle of June my parents and my grandma drove out to pick me up with all my stuff. They took a route that took them through Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I was kind of jealous since I've never been to the southern states. They got to my house on a Thursday night and on Friday we started the return trip to Idaho, by way of lots of church and American historical sites. We started out going through Rhode Island on our way up to Boston and stopped over at Plymouth and saw the Mayflower II, and Plymouth Rock. Then it was up to Boston where we walked along the Freedom Trail to see all the Revolutionary War sites. And just our luck, Boston was having it's Gay Pride parade! Bleh! That sort of dampened the coolness of the first little bit of the trail but luckily the trail veered away and we didn't see it anymore. We saw the State building, the old South Church and North Church, Paul Revere's house. We walked around some cemetaries and saw the graves of lots of famous historical people. We went across the Back Bay and saw the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill, which were both so cool! I love Boston and pretty much most all of Massachusettes. It's really pretty and full of history. I really wish I would have spent more time seeing all of it while I was back there. I did get to see quite a bit of it though and loved all of it. It's the same with New York too. It seems like most little towns have some significant part of the revolution or church history that would take a very long time to see. I read a series a while ago about the Revolution and it was really fun to recognize the names and remember what happened there.

Plymouth, MA --Bunker Hill

After Boston we drove back down to my house where all my belongings were packed and ready to go. So Sunday morning we packed them all into the van and went to church. I said goodbye after sacrament meeting and we left, headed to upstate New York. We went to Binghamton where my mom's grandparents and other family lived a while ago. We ended up spending so much time there that we stayed the night there. We spent most of the day in cemetaries and driving to other cemetaries where we have lots of ancestors buried. The next day was Waterville, another family history stop. We found my great-great-granparents house and got to look around and see the house and barn. There was actually a spot on one of the staircases up to the attic where the kids had all put their initials. It was very cool to see where they had written on the wall. We stayed so long that that evening we didn't quite make it to Palmyra where we were supposed to be that morning... :)

Palmyra, NY Temple -- Peter Whitmer Home

In Palmyra the next day we saw all the sights. We went on the tour around the Joseph Smith Sr. farm and saw the homes and Brigham Youngs barn and got to spend some time in the Sacred Grove. We went into town and ate lunch at a diner and I completely forgot about going to a little burger and ice cream shop that's a must when in Palmyra... I was also kind of sad that it wasn't Pageant time. I love the Hill Cumorah Pageant and I'm so glad I got to go the last 2 years. We did go up to the top of Cumorah and see the Angel Moroni monument. When we were done in Pamyra we drove down to Fayette and went on a very quick tour of the house, as the main building was closed for cleaning.

After Fayette we drove down to Kirtland and went on a tour of the church history sites. I hadn't ever been there before and it was fun to see the Whitney store and the mill and other buildings around there. We also went up to the temple and looked around the outside. The only way to get in was to go on a tour with the Community of Christ Church and we agreed it was worth it just to see the outside... :)

Kirtland, OH Temple --Nauvoo, IL Temple --Carthage, IL

From Kirtland we drove down through Indiana and Illinios and headed to Nauvoo, IL. When we got there my parents and grandma went to a session in the temple during which time I walked down Mullholland St. and went into the shops along there. After they were done in the temple we went down to see some of the sites by the river. We stayed there that night and went swimming and in the hot tub in the hotel. The next day we went to more sites and a couple of the shops, then went down to Carthage to see the jail. It was so cool! I hadn't been there either and it was incredible.

From there we drove across Iowa and Nebraska without much to see and lots of fields and open spaces! It was beautiful, and I really enjoyed hanging out with my grandma and my parents. When we got to Wyoming we met up with my aunt and uncle who came to get my grandma and headed to Vernal. We went on our way home staying the night in Ogden and finally home the next day. All in all it took 10 days to see all the sites from Boston to Idaho... :)

When I got home I had already planned on going camping with my sister's family a few times, so we went up to Sage Hen, and Tri-pod Meadows. We went hiking and did a little bit of fishing. There was scavenger hunts, and really yummy dutch oven cooking. And as always we came home with 5 incredibly dirty, tired boys. :)

Me and Brett -- On a hike at Sage Hen

In between fun weekends with my nephews it's been mostly yard and garden work, and getting ready for a couple of family reunions.

On the fourth of July I went over to Middleton for the 4th of July parade. We all got to ride on either the pick-up truck or a trailer where we had huge tubs of water and water balloons. We all had water guns and had a great time spraying the crowds and throwing balloons at friends and family. Middleton parade is really fun and mostly because they have a spot in front of the fire house called the wet zone and anyone in that zone gets soaked! The pictures don't really show it well but everyone on the float is soaked from head to toe! It was so much fun!

Middleton, ID 4th of July Parade

In the middle of July we had a really big, really fun family reunion. It was in honor of my great-grandpa's 114th birthday... all of his decendants who could come where there and it was fun to see cousins we hadn't seen for years!

The Nielsen Girls --Orr reunion girls --Orr reunion boys

We camped and had a huge birthday party for our Great-grandpa and our Grandma who is turning 80 this year. We had 114 cupcakes with candles and all the kids blew them out with Grandma. We swam and got some kayaking and water fights of course. We spent 3 days there camping in tents and cabins with all the family, it was so much fun! We then headed home by way of Heber... and a stop at Granny's Drive-in which has been tradition for almost 20 years. Each of us getting our favorite kind of shake... :) Mine of course was butterfinger heath... :)

Fishing at Horseshoebend Pond --Who needs fish?

A couple weeks ago I got an invite from my nephews to go fishing with them up at Horseshoe Bend Pond. We left early and brought the big container of worms we had shocked out of the ground the night before. Each boy had a fishing pole and we had a lot of fun with worms and garlic flavored marshmallows. The 3 year old, Brett, used his pole for about 5 minutes then decided that playing with worms was more fun. He pulled quite a few out of the container and laid them on the table and talked to them and played with them till they dried out... then got some more... :) After he got bored with them my sister bundled up one of the baby's blankets and he held it like a baby. He named the baby Camper, then changed it to Water because a baby can't be named Camper... The older boys each caught at least one fish. Benson, the almost 5 year old, caught about 8. I caught 2. Whoopee! :)


Paul --Josh's Baptism --Hannah

Last weekend we went up to Washington to visit my brother Paul's family for his oldest son's baptism. We went to the church for the baptism and it was wonderful! It was so nice to be there and see Josh baptized and be able to remember his brother Jacob. And it was really cool to see my brother as a dad baptizing his first child! :)

After the baptism they had a big BBQ at their house for all the family and it was crowded and fun! My parents and I and my sister Lindie and her daughter, Hadley, were there from our family and my brother's wife, Tiffany, had lots of family there too. We had a lot fun staying up late, playing games and spending time with the kids there.

Dad and Mom --Lindie --Hadley

So finally, this weekend is our Nielsen Family Reunion. We have almost everyone here, just missing my sister Maren's husband, Paul. Other than that we're having a great time with everyone here. On Thursday we spent the day with Paul's family and Lindie's family at the Discovery Center. Yesterday and today we've spent the day here at home with everyone, including our Grandpa Boyd (Mom's dad) just hanging out, playing games and staying up way too late!

Yesterday we also took family pictures which turned out pretty well...

The Fam -- Jay, Hannah, Benson -- Crazy Fam

Crazy Busy Weeks

This past week my sister Maren came out to visit and see the sights... And we've been having fun. We spent 2 days roaming around New York City and seeing all the sights. We went to the Empire State Building, and spent some time in Central Park where she was totally scared of getting killed... :) silly... She also didn't want to go near the East River or the Bronx or Queens... dang Law and Order....

We went on a ferry over to Liberty and Ellis Islands. The statue was so pretty and huge! We did the audio tour which was really interesting. We climed the 167 steps to the podium... which was funny because on every landing it counted down the steps ... it was funny...

Then we went to Ellis Island and walked around for hours looking at everything... We had gotten about 3 hours of sleep and had had to get up and out of the house by about 4:15am.... to get to the ferry on time... So after hours of walking around the Liberty Island and hours of walking around Ellis Island, we decided to go in to a 45 minute movie they had and we both fell asleep... it was a great show... :) it was a good power nap. :)

Then we went back to Manhattan went to Time Square to see a show. We saw one called 'Rooms, a rock romance' it was good and pretty funny. We went out to eat at some fun places and were exhausted when we finally got home late every night... it was great.

After that weekend I dropped her off at a phsyco woman's house for an 'apprenticeship'... which is a whole other story... probably the craziest of them all...

So the next weekend I went and picked her up, two weeks early, and brought her back to my house. She wanted to spend the weekend in NYC and I had plans already so she went there and I went to spend the day on Saturday at West Point with some friends we'd made at AWE. It was such a good time. We got there around 2 and went to meet everyone at the dock. We got to take a boat trip up the Hudson in the Superintendent's boat. It was beautiful and there were lots of people there.

Then we played some ultimate frisbee and football, and had a BBQ on a big lawn. We got the grand tour of West Point campus which was beautiful! So old and big and ... beautiful... I think it's definately my favorite of the schools I've seen so far.

It took a couple hours to do the tour and it was awesome! It was dark by the time we got back so we were hanging out making smores when the MPs and a firetruck came by and put out our bonfire.... :) that pretty much killed the party so we headed home.

Next weekend I get to spend the day in NYC at the temple there for a banch temple trip and hopefully going to see the new X-men movie... (which I've actually seen and it's REALLY good)... :) Fun times all around!!

Work, Work, Work

Here are the two wonderful children that I've been watching for the past two years... It seems crazy that I've been here that long. Lexi is almost 7 and is all girl. She loves dancing and drawing, talking on the phone and dressing up. Robert is almost 5 and is all boy. He likes all sports and is really very good at them all. He likes trucks and fast cars, racing and he really likes doing everything that is sister is doing (and driving her crazy at the same time). With these kids pictures say it all!! :)

A weekend in MA, an AWEsome time.

This last weekend I went to AWE which stands for, All New England Winter Extravaganza. It was a blast! We went up to a town near Boston on Friday night and got our boarding assignments. We got to stay with a really nice family that had deluxe accommodations for us... :) We stayed up late and got pretty crazy, it was ... fun...

The next day was full of workshops which were great. I went to one on the Atonement, one about keeping focused on the Savior through a turbulent world, and the last one called 'I used to be indecisive, now I'm not sure.' They were all really good.

After that was a yummy pizza lunch were we made a few new friends from all over.

After lunch was our service project of organizing the food and clothing that people brought ... Then was free time.... So a few of us headed up to Lexington to see the sights... unfortunately it's winter so most of the historical sites were closed for the season. We did however get to see the Mason lodge museum... which was interesting. They had a folk art exhibit and an Ellis Island exhibit, which were very cool. We also had fun taking pictures around town... :)

We got back in time for dinner and it was one of the yummiest meals I've had in a long time. With shredded pork, salad and chips to make a big salad type thing with delicious sauces to go on top. And after dinner came the dance... of course... :) which was interestingly different then Idaho dances and even quite different then Connecticut dances. Lots of salsa and hip hop club type music... which I have to admit isn't my kind of dancing music.... :) but with the right kind of company any situation can be a blast.

The dance ended just before eleven and it was time to drive home... :) I recommend not going to bed so late before you need to be awake for church... :) It was all well worth it though. Good times with these fun branchies and new friends!