Oregon

My family consists of 2 parents and 7 kids. Getting together with the whole family is fun, chaotic and does not happen as much as we would like it to. I have two brothers who live out of state, it makes it harder for us to get together as much as we would like. Our family does a thing that every 2 years we go on a family trip together. This year was my brother Greg's turn and he planned Oregon (that is where he lives). We all drove out to the coast to spend a few days with them. I am so glad we could I have never been to the Coast and it was amazing.

This is us on the drive there. I am not much of a car traveler. If I have something to organize I do ok. I also do ok if I can talk, but Nelson loves looking at the scenery. Good thing the kids travel better than I do. The kids played picture scavenger hunts with the camera. It was fun. I was a little worried we were going to cause a wreck with Max trying to take pictures of the drivers next to us. They kept looking over trying to figure out what he was doing. On the way there we stopped at an awesome waterfall.

We stayed in beach houses on the coast. While we were there we were able to go to some tide pools. It was awesome to see the different Sea life that was hanging out on the rocks. The kids favorite part was the crabs that they found and got to hold on to. In fact a few of the girls were convinced they were taking theirs home for their pets. Let's just say that did not happen like they thought it would. While at the tide pools we went through some lighthouses. Below is a picture of all the kids bothering the poor worker. They kept telling him he was Joe Jonas and asking for his autograph. I am sure the kid was so glad when we left.

We went down to some shops and were able to see a bunch of sea lions just hanging out. This is Max and his normal crazy facial poses. This is a picture of my whole family minus 1 nephew (we missed you Josh). I love being with my family.

We spent many hours on the beach building castles, looking for crabs, skim boarding (which by the way I am really bad at),walking, picking up seashell and having bon fires. The guys were able to bring their bikes and go on a few rides. I am so glad we were able to spend this time with my family. Max even let the girls paint his nails, now he is not so proud of that but it is ok it was just for fun.

This is Asher after getting his foot on some of the coral. He did not care for that much. My dad and Nelson tried making a bandage out of seaweed. Then he spent a good part of the day being buried in the sand by his cousins-

Summer Photo Shoot

Since our family pictures are over two years old I decided to get new ones taken. If Nelson had it his way we would do pictures every 5 to 10 years. It is not his favorite thing. A friend of ours in the neighborhood takes way cute pictures. She had us meet her at the junk yard next to Smith and Edwards in Farr West. The boys had a blast picking up all the junk and having it in all of the pictures. In these pictures Maxwell is 8 and Asher is 5.

Baseball and Raptors game

The last few years Max has been playing baseball and this was Asher's first year of T-Ball. This is one sport that they both really enjoy and do really well at it. After each season their coach sets up for their team to go to the Ogden Raptors baseball game. The kids are able to line up and get to run out with one of the players.
It is amazing to see how their faces bright up when they hear they get to do this. They are so excited to have their names announced and to get to run out with one of the players.

Max & his team waiting to run out & Max with the Raptor player:








The kids would not leave the poor mascot alone. Each time they saw him they had to talk to him or get an autograph. We will have to remember paper if they do this again. Asher ended up having his face, arm, shirt and leg autographed because he thought it was so awesome.











Asher & Makensy and the rest of Max's team. They had a great time at the game.

Travis Poll

On June 18th, one day before his 36th birthday and two days before Fathers Day, Travis Poll's battle with esophagal cancer ended. Travis was one of Nelson's really good friends from JR High and High School. As parents, we always want our kids to find some "good friends". Nelson had that. He had some great friends growing up and still does today.

Travis and his family battled cancer for 2 1/2 years. We have learned many lessons from their family and our love for them has grown even more. Nelson has some very fond memories of Travis and is so grateful for the friendship they share.

The Saturday before he passed we were able to go say our goodbyes. I learned many lessons that night. Nelson and Travis hugged and talked a bit. They kept talking about what it was like to get to go see Jesus. Nelson even mentioned that he was a little envious. I understand that is the reason why we come to earth so we can return back. I just could not get past the part that he was leaving an awesome wife and 4 beautiful kids behind. While we were there the home health nurse made the situation a little crazy by her constant complaining. I was a little disgusted by what she was saying. Mandy, who had been struggling with this great trial looked at the lady and said it is ok, just do what you need to, we are not mad at you. The pure love she had amazed me. I am sure I would have probably started yelling. She definately reflected the pure love of Christ at the moement and it taught me a valuable lesson. No matter how crazy things are we truely need to love those around us.

I had a hard time watching my husband tell one of his best friends good-bye. I had an equally hard time the next day at church when we sang I believe in Christ in Sacrament. Nelson could not hold it together and just cried and cried on the stand.
Nelson has many memories of Travis and has learned many lessons. Some of the lessons he learned are:

1. Cancer never over powered Travis friendship. No matter what was going on with him, his frienships he had built over the years still meant a ton to him. He was still determined to keep those relationships strong.
2. Nelson felt that with Travis friendships were special rather than just a common thing.
3. No matter how bad Travis was struggling he never let it get in the way of his family. He would always be there for his kids as well as recognize every little thing they were doing.

We will always be grateful for Heavnely Father blessing us with such great friends. We feel so blessed to have the Poll family in our lives and to have been strengthened by them.

At Travis's graveside some of the people put their Livestrong bands on his casket.

Here is Nelson and his friends(including travis in High School and College)

Jumping

I really think I was meant to be a mom to boys. The rough and tumble aspects of boys does not get to me at all. I am not sure I would be able to handle a child that was whinny. My boys have been fun.
One day we were playing around and decided to get out my moms mini tramp and our ottoman. They put the two by each other and run and jump on the tramp and do tricks over the ottoman. The kids can spend hours and hours doing this. When they think they need a lot of momentum they will even open the door and start outside to run so they can go faster (I don't think it helps, but they sure do).
We have done different things such as jumping over many pillows (they can do as many as 5 now), jump over the mop at different heights, and the most adventurious is jumping over people. It is crazy how much entertainment a mini tramp and ottoman has provided in our home. Here are some fun pictures of Max

Here is Asher doing his tricks

Buck Skin Gulch

For the last few years Nelson’s brother Spencer has been planning a Boys back packing trip. This was the third trip. Spencer plans trips in different places and gets as many family members and friends to join along that want to. This year they went to Buck Skin Gulch down on the border of Utah and Arizona.
Max is now 8 and Nelson thought that was a good age to let him start joining in on the guy’s trips. It took us a bit of time to talk him into going. He is a studious kid and wanted to stay behind and go to school. He was afraid he was going to miss out on something. We kept telling him that the memories you build with your family out way the few things that he might miss at school. He made it to the science Olympiad at school and the competition was going to be during the trip. This was a hard blow for him to take because he really wanted to be a part of the science competitions. He did finally agree to go.
When Max got home he could not stop talking about the trip. He was the only kid that went but he was such a trooper. The guys could not believe how well he did. Max was so glad he went and is now signed up to a part of every guy’s trip. He is even asking us to get him is own backpacking gear, he must have had a great time. Hope in the future trips the guys will remember every story, every silly thing that happened, every poo that was named my 8 year old remembers. He made some awesome memories on this trip and enjoyed every minute of it.

Nelson, Spencer & Max All the guys bags

Asher and the movies

I have been very behind on my journaling so there are many things that have been missed. When our cute boy Asher hit about two he hit a pretty aggressive stage. If he was mad or did not get things his way he got aggressive. We were sure that when he hit the age he is now (6) and was in school we were going to be in the principal’s office because of him getting in a fight or what not. He has since then turned that aggression around and is a great kid.

The one cute thing about him is that he is very sensitive. If he thinks things are not going to work out or thinks someone is hurt he gets very emotional. I can’t tell you the last movie he saw for the first time that he did not cry in. We can count on him being brought to tears at one point or another because he is worried. I think it is cute and would much rather deal with the compassion then the aggression.