Nielson Family Reunion 2010 - Lincon City, OR

As I mentioned in a previous post, last month we headed over to Lincoln City for our first ever Nielson Family Reunion. I'm the 5th of 6 kids, so since we are all grown and older, sometimes it's hard for everyone to get together, thus the family reunion. It had been in the works for almost a year, thanks to my sister Jeralee. She did an amazing job finding the house, planning, and coordinating with all of us to make this a success. We spent 3 nights in this beautiful 8 bedroom house.


It was close to the ocean and was nice that we all had space of our own. I was and had been battling a cold for almost a week by the time we got there, and it didn't get much better when we were there. We got there Thursday night and were able to celebrate my mom's 61st birthday. Friday morning, there was a fish pond for the kids, which was of course a big hit.


The second day that we were there, it was an absolutely beautiful beach day. It started out quite foggy, and turned out to be clear and quite warm for the Oregon coast. Plus there wasn't any wind, which was a definite plus. We spent the entire afternoon down playing in the sand, and the kids braved the cold water and played in the ocean. There was some kite flying as well.


It was funny how much our boys loved being buried in the sand. Probably because it was warm and something different. Marshall buried them facing each other, and it was so cute. They just smiled and talked to each other. It was also a great time to be with my mom and sisters. We are all pretty close, but don't get to be all together that often, especially since Jeralee is a 13 hour drive.


That night, we played some games that Avry coordinated. I didn't get any pictures, but have quite the video from it. There were pudding eating contests, unwrapping bubble gum with only our teeth, and a lifesaver game. Saturday morning, we drove out to Drift Creek Falls, where we hiked about 2 miles in and 2 miles back. The boys did really great, and had to be carried at times, but I was impressed that they could do a hike like that. It was really pretty the entire way in, and of course the suspension bridge and falls were way cool.

After our hike, it was off to dinner at Mo's, a popular chowder house there in Lincoln City. Chowder is just plain awesome on the coast, because it's fresh. :)


Saturday night, we did karaoke, and spent more time visiting. The entire weekend was full of so many laughs, good times, tons of food, and great memories. I'm really grateful that I have such a close knit family and that we all get along. I hear of other families that have a falling out and don't talk to their parents or siblings. Sad. I couldn't imagine not being close to mine.
Sunday morning, we cleaned up and headed out. We got a few group pictures, but I haven't seen them yet as my dad took them. There are tons of other pictures I wanted to post, but there were so many, it was hard to choose. Can't wait for our family reunion next year. There was talk of Sun Valley, ID, but we shall see.

Studying

So I've totally been meaning to update the blog with our trip to Oregon. It just seems a bit overwhelming because there's so much I want to say and so many pictures to put up. Therefore, I have not done it yet. School started Wednesday and I'm excited, but there is so much information we covered in just one day and it all seems so foreign - it's like learning another language. I've been studying for about an hour and a half and find myself needing to take a few minute break about every 20 minutes. I guess I can blame it on the mommy brain. I've spent the last 5 years changing diapers, talking baby talk, and not getting near enough adult interaction. Now I'm thrown into a situation where I have to think in medical terms and try to grasp concepts.
I'm also working on fine tuning a schedule. I tend to keep my browser open on my computer all day long, and it's so tempting to just sit down for 10 minutes here and there throughout the day when I'm upstairs near the office. Can't do that anymore. I went out and bought a big desk calendar today. Sounds cheesy I know, but I'm going to pencil in every little thing from what chores I need to do that day, to work and school, to activities that I'm going to do with the boys. I think it will really help me stay focused since I've experienced a very small taste of what is to come.
There you have it, random thoughts from mommy mush brain. I'm headed to bed to dream about image defintions and labeling, anatomic positions, subcutaneous tissues, abscesses, hernias, hematomas, lipomas and more.....

Oregon

We spent a week on vacation a week ago. It was so nice, especially since life is going to get really crazy this next week with school starting. We left Monday the 9th and headed out to Jeralee's in Eugene. We got to Boise the first night and stayed there. We spent the entire next day and the boys were heavenly. Dvd players are the best investment for a long roadtrip. :) Between the 2 days, we spent around 14 hours driving, so it was a nice welcome to get to Jeralee's.
We spent the next couple days visting with Jer's family before we headed over to the coast for our family reunion.
One day when we were there, the kids were all running through the sprinkler and I caught this cute video. Check out the long legs on my niece Moura. That girl is 10 and is already 5'5"




To be continued....

Office Party

On Saturday, we had an office party for Marshall's work. The company he's currently working for, Speed of Trust (Franklin Covey), he's only been with for about 6 months. I'm pretty sure I didn't blog it before, but for over 4 months Marsh was out of work. His previous boss wasn't the most ethical and the way things went down, we couldn't even claim unemployment when he was let go. Marsh started up a web business, Pivo Web Marketing, and although he was enjoying it, we needed more income to have our needs met. So he went looking for a job and came across Speed of Trust. He was hired essentially to do their e-mail marketing. I think so far it's been a pretty positive experience, and he's just working on earning trust and doing as much as he can. He's working on some sales stuff right now too, which I think he is excited about.


So it was fun to get to meet people that he works with and realize what a blessing his job is. We ate fabulous food, did the limbo (yes, I am the limbo queen), and visited and got to know one another. Marshall whipped out his cotton candy making skills, and the boys loved it.



Rowan at one point was sporting a blue beard. Before it was all said and done, they gave the employees each a gift. I think Marsh and I were both a little shocked to see him unwrap an ipad. 3G and 64G, it's a pretty sweet device. Nice, right? We finished out the afternoon by swimming at the Orem rec center which was across from the park where we had the party.

Camping

Camping. Oh Camping. I grew up on it. Backpacking, hiking, camping. It seems like it happened a lot. Then I didn't go for quite some time. I started really thinking about it and I realized I didn't really like to get dirty. I felt paranoid about getting eaten by a bear. There was a lot of prep work. Hot/cold. Smell like smoke. Outhouses. The more I thought about it, the more I didn't really get it. Then I thought about nature. It's beautiful, and relaxing. Smores and camp food are fabulous. However, when you have small kids, the nature experience and enjoying camp food are quickly shattered by your two year old who is whining, wandering or just not feeling well. This last weekend, we braved 2 nights up at the Tetons.


Bennett Family Reunion. Marshall's mom used to be a Bennett, so the reunion was her siblings and their families. It's a quite close knit family, and they are all super fun to be around.
We camped right past Driggs, Idaho and got there Friday afternoon. We spent the evening setting up camp, eating, and visiting. Then the rain came. And it came....and came. It rained all night. Wet. That night I didn't sleep too well. Marshall and I slept in two different tents because all we had were teeny tiny ones. I shared a twin sized blow up with Rowan, and Marsh was in the other tent with Chandler. Little people tend to thrash and take up a lot of room, plus the rain was quite loud.

Saturday we had breakfast and then a big group of the adults set out to go on a hike to tablerock. Marshall and I went back and forth if one of us should go or not. There were a lot of kids to leave behind at the camp, and tablerock is easily a 7+ hour hike. We opted to stay and I'm glad we did for the sake of the adults that were there. Imagine 6 kids in the 2 year old range wandering around, and then lots of other kids that were various ages.

Snuggling with gma Snedaker

Sometimes when we were tired of chasing kids, we put them in the car to watch movies. Nice, huh? That's all Rowan wanted to do.

Instead of hiking tablerock, a few of us took some of the older preschool aged kids and older up on a short hike. We were only gone for about an hour, but I think they all had fun.





That night we played games around the fire, ate delicious dutch oven chicken and potatoes, and then turned in.

Sunday morning we packed up camp and took a few group photos.



And here is cute Rowan drinking from the faucet.