Grandpa Nelson's 90th Birthday!

This man...

Terence Powderly Nelson Jr - turned 90 years old on August 23, 2014!  

He is a great man and has served the counrty and the church and his family with such passion and dedication!  I am lucky to have married his grandson and married into such a legacy of love and service!

We celebrated Grandpa Terry on his birthday with a fun shindig for friends and family!

Here is the happy 90 year old!

Shayla and Mitchell with their great-grandpa

Red, White and Blue decor in honor of his love for our country!

A celebrated member of the 4th Marine division

Four generations of Nelson men!

Grandpa Nelson with our family!

The grandkids (minus two)

and his legacy continues with the great grandkids!!

We love you Grandpa Nelson!

Back to School Time 2014

It's that time again!  Back to School time!  

This month, Mitchell headed off to preschool and Shayla headed to 2nd grade!!!  We had a fun surprise this year when the week before Shayla was to start school we got a call from Santa Clara Elementary that they had a open spot in 2nd grade for Shayla.  Santa Clara Elementary - aka The Little Red School House - is a special small schoolhouse that Jon and all of his sisters went to when he was in elementary school.   It is as small public school (3 classrooms grown from the one room school house it was when Jon went there) that you can get into by either living in the small district or by getting in via lottery drawing.  Shayla had her name on the waiting list since she was 1!  There were no open spots in kindergarten or first grade, so we were happy to come in this year - better late than never for an amazing school opportunity!  She is one of eight 2nd graders and 54 students in the whole school grades K-6.  Such a neat opportunity for my little student!

My two kiddos!

Mitchell's First Day of Pre-K 

All about Mitchell 

Mitchell and his teachers- the same teachers Shayla had for Pre-K 

 

Shayla's first day of 2nd grade

More about Shayla 

Shayla at her new school!! 

Instagram School Pics!

Summer 2014 Wrap Up

 We are so sad that summer 2014 is coming to an end!

It was full of so much fun (thus my lack of posting very much in the summertime!) and I hope the kids have many fond memories of this summer as I do! Here is a quick summer wrap up in photos! 

Our summer was full of...

Lemonade Stands...

Magic Mountain visits...

 

and Hurricane Harbor visits too... 

Swimming... 

Making homemade ice cream... 

Games and Puzzles...

Lots of READING...Shayla read over 100 books... 

Fair time (pig racing!)... 

Parties with friends... 

Aquarium visiting... 

 Museum visiting...

Bible Camps... 

Boat and wakeboarding... 

Girl Scout Camp... 

Baby cousin love... 

More swimming... and more cousin love... 

Berry picking... 

Girl time... 

Beach camping... 

Bike Riding...

Smores... 

Tidepooling... 

Tooth losing... 

Bowling and Leslie visiting... 

Cheesehead showing... 

Library program days... 

MORE SWIMMING... 

Hill rolling... 

Boogie boarding... 

and ICE CREAM...

among other things!

We had a fun summer but are looking forward to the adventures the new school year will bring! 

The family that _____ together stays together!

The family that Pokemons together stay together!  

We have been enjoying our new found game of Pokemon!  Shayla has been collecting cards for over a year, but our friends just recently showed us how to play the real official game, and it is fun and a learning tool at the same time!   Fun character cards combined with strategy combined with the kids using math (adding how damages and subtracting resistance and weakness) and reading skills creates a great game.  Even Mitchell has figured it out (but needs some help still!).  Each of us have a playing deck and our favorite cards/characters to play and it is fun learning more about the strategy the more we play.  So if there are any other Pokemon families out there, we would love to challenge you to a game or too!

It seems complicated but really is easy to get (as I said my 4 year old can play it).  It is easiest when someone shows you, or trainer or basic packs come with instruction sheets which guide you through each step of the play and make it easy!  

Here are a few training links too!

Basic rules - http://www.wikihow.com/Play-With-Pokemon-Cards

This one has a but more detailed rules. 

http://ppalme.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/how-to-play-pokemon-for-stupid-dummy-dads/

Come play!

Annual Refugio Beach Trip 2014

Well it's summer time which means REFUGIO time!!!  We were able to go to Refugio this month with with family and friends and had a wonderful time.  This year the beach was strangely covered with rocks along the entire surface of the shore which supposedly were washed up or uncovered by a storm, so we did not have the pristine sandy shores to play on and boogy board, but we made due with tidepooling, playing on a small area of sand and visiting neighboring El Capitan beach!

The beach sunsets across from our tents were always a beautiful sight!

Tree climbing at campgrounds always a must!

And bike riding!

And we were brave this year and had the younger kids have a tent sleepover!

They survived and we slept in peace! 

And the kids got buried in the sand! 

We loved the tide pools and searching for shells and pretty rocks - look at these rocks on the shoreline! 

Me and Mitchell!

  

We took a side trip to Solvang area to go to Ostrichland and feed the CRAZY aggressive Ostriches!

And Jame and I got to go on a nice morning bike ride along the coast.

And of course smores! 

\

Two years in a row - a tradition for Shayla to lose a tooth at camp!  Good thing the tooth fairy knows where the camp is! 

And a photo of the 4 year old boy crew! 

  

David and Amber even came from Utah to join in the fun!

Piggy back rides on the beach are the best! 

And proof that I was there and not just taking photos!  Until next year Refugio...