Oakton Stake Pioneer Trek

Was it worth getting up at at 4:30 so I could shower before we left for trek? Why, yes, yes it was. We met at the church at 5:15 and loaded up the suburban with kids and gear and headed out to the Marriott ranch in Hume VA. We met "our kids”: 7 boys and 5 girls. We picked out our handkerchief color: navy blue. The boys got right to work assembling the hand carts while the girls painted our banner with our name to go on the side. Mostly Vienna Ward boys:

and some of the girls: Syd, MK, Meagan and Jenessa

The first morning was a little on the chilly side but I wasn’t complaining since there was a zero percent chance of rain for the next 3 days. All of our kids had good attitudes and were willing to work. Which was really nice. We had two spring lakers, Carlos Sanchez and Anthony Batres plus Matthew Fredrickson and Rachel Epps as the big bro and big sister. We also had Sarah Quan, Sarah Stevenson, Kate Heninger and Ashley Patrick. Rounding out the boys were Thomas Landrith, Peter Crawford, John Teare and Wade Whitt. The first part of the pull was WAY harder than it was 4 years ago. We were the lead cart and the kids worked hard to get over pretty rough and steep terrain. By the time we stopped for lunch we were more than ready to rest and eat. The food was absolutely fantastic the whole time. The girl's pull was ridiculously tough. Here they are before it got hard: We had to be rescued by boys. The wives of the members of the stake presidency gave good talks before the pull that gave the girls good stuff to think about. We walked 7 miles the first day and it was sunny and not too hot. Wade dug the fire pit and helped Bruce build the fire. The girls peeled potatoes, cut up carrots and celery and got them into the dutch oven. We added the canned beef towards the end of the cooking time. It was soooooo good. There were also rolls to go with it. We also made an apple crisp in the dutch oven that was good for dessert. The first night we slept under the stars for the first time in my life and it was really neat. Lucky for us there was no moon so the stars were that much brighter. It got down into the 50s but I stayed nice and warm and comfy in my sleeping bag and air mattress. I slept well but was awakened by what sounded like a bunch of girls playing a prank making lots of noise. Found out the next day that it was actually coyotes howling.

Day two was by far the longest. We were up at 6:00 and since there was a heavy dew fall it was pretty cold and wet. After we made oatmeal over our fire for breakfast we got packed up and headed out for a 3 mile pull to the place where we had the activities. After we made sandwiches for lunch there were tons of activities-- hair washing, friendship bracelets,stick pull, whip cracking, ax throwing, three legged races, stilts, scones and butter making, a water melon eating contest, leather bracelet branding and a place to brainstorm our skit. A lot of the kids just ended up socializing and playing in the stream, but they all had a good time. For dinner there was 400 pounds of chicken to feed 200 people. And that is a lot of chicken. I think the 14 of us in our family ended up throwing out at least the equivalent of a whole chicken. It was pretty cool how they prepared it on spits of rebar over a blazing hot inferno.Mikey sauced the chicken before it went over the flames and helped to get it off the re-bar. After we cleaned up from dinner and got our bed rolls laid out, we headed up to the meadow for the nights’ program. Unfortunately they staged the evening up hill so it was a killer to try sitting there on the ground. The night started out with the some cute skits put on by each family and sweet musical numbers. Sarah Q,, Sarah S and Rachel from our family played their violins and were they ever good. By the time the skits were over it was getting late so the stake presidency gave their messages in the dark. P Hatch spoke about being a Pa 4 years ago and having Laura in his family and how happy he was to see her sealed to Jordan last week. All of the messages were really good. By the time we made it back to the river it was bishop’s time and pushing 10:30.

The bane of my existence: We finally got into our sleeping bags, once again under a clear starry night. The next morning we walked back to the meadow and had a testimony meeting. It was 3 hours but really want by fast. All in all the testimonies were good and the kids were reverent and totally into the whole pioneer experience. The pull up the last hill to the catered barbecue was a breeze and the food was really good. Mikey and Garrett Bourne were among the boys who pulled the empty handcarts another mile to the sheep barn where they helped to take them apart and put them away. We got home around 3:00 in the afternoon and was I ever ready to take a shower and collapse in a heap. Instead after showering and checking for ticks, I did tons of laundry and went to the mall to pick up Laura’s glasses. At 8:00 went to the trek dance/slide show (which was a huge hit) at the stake center for a while. Mikey and MK both had a blast.

The Real Royal Wedding

On Friday night, as I was about to leave the church parking lot after the reception, I saw this painted on my car windows: What a weekend. What a weddin’. Yep. That pretty much sums it up. And keeping with the tradition of procrastinating (I am going on the pioneer trek reenactment in about 16 hours for three days and have done very little to get ready) I will commence to blog about it.

First off, can I just say that this is pretty much a match made in heaven? To say that Jordan and Laura are in love is an understatement. Not to mention a dang good looking couple. Kate and Will have nothing on these two.

I guess we should start with when everyone started arriving from out of town. We had so many people staying here it’s hard to keep track: From left to right: Chad McFadyen, Blake Hansen (and his wife Megan), Jordan, Spencer Flake, Jordan Tanner, Casey Goodman and Marcus Barton. Jordan spent the night here on Wednesday, but stayed with his parents in Maryland on Thursday night. And of course Jeff , Nathan and Tom and Justin Stubbs—Tom’s friend from work and the wedding photographer were all here by Wednesday as well. Alas, we didn’t have all 7 of our kids after all because Mikey went to boy’s state. While I’m happy that he had the experience, it was also kind of a bummer not to have him here to celebrate with everyone. Jessica stayed at her place but was here a lot with Mark. It was most definitely a full house! I even numbered the towels downstairs so people could keep track of whose was whose. We kept everyone fed with a bajillion hot dogs which were irresistible thanks to the j-dawg’s sauce that Tom brought home with him. There were also chips and dips, watermelon, brownies and sodas to keep the masses fed that first night. All of the guys who came here were so much fun!!!

On Thursday the masses went downtown to check out the sights while the family went to the temple for Laura's first time through. It was fantastic to meet the all of the Wades: Mark and Denise, Katie, Rachel and Eli. It was also fun to see Aunt Cindy, Jordan's incredibly accomplished aunt. The girl is amazing! We became reacquainted with, Alton and Diana Wade—Jordan’s grandparents who we had met when he was mission president here 10 years ago. We were supposed to go to the 10:00 session, but there was a key mix up so we ended up doing a special 10:30 session with pretty much just us Nielsons and Wades. Afterwards we all came back here for a cookout and chilled out for a few hours.

The wedding dinner at Clyde’s was an absolute blast. First of all—we couldn’t get over how much Mary Kate and Eli hit it off. They were joined at the hip from the moment they met. The food was fantastic and the venue was private and intimate. We really got to know everyone. There was a cute video with Laura and Jordan talking about how their relationship got them to where they are now. It was so sweet. Then everyone introduced themselves. Then everyone told a story about Jordan and Laura. The Wades gave gifts to Laura to help prepare her for life with Jordan. It was really cute. No one went on too long and it was just a perfect evening.

Anna Melinda was here by 7:00 on Friday morning ready to do Laura’s hair. She is AWESOME. Thankfully traffic on the way to the temple was not an issue. We got there a half hour early and had to wait a while for Jordan to get there with his family. The sealing was fantastic. They are so in love and ready for married life. What a happy day for everyone involved!

Right when they were about to make their grand exit to the admiring masses another couple beat them to the punch so they had to wait a few minutes to come out.
What a stunning couple! Justin did a great job taking pictures—we all walked around to the back of the temple where the sun was in a better place and he snapped away for a good hour.

One of my favorite pics of the day, Eli and Cindy:Then he took a ton of just Laura and Jordan in front of the temple. I can’t wait to see them!!!

Laura and Jordan went in Jordan’s rental car and Tom, Dad me and Justin went in our car and stopped off at Chick-Fil-A on the way home so we could feed the crowd that was gathering at our house. We also whipped out left overs from the cookout from the day before. Everyone just chilled for a few hours before we had to get ready for the reception. The cultural hall looked amazing. I was so grateful for Nancy Williams who showed up to help with the Costco flowers that we cut and arranged in mason jars for the centerpieces. They really looked cool with the LED lights sparkling in the flat clear marbles. I was quite happy with how it all turned out. Our goal was to have lots of food and comfortable seating for everyone--especially the grandparents: As is always the case there were a few glitches but all in all I think everyone had a blast. I would guesstimate that we had about 200 people come through the receiving line. The line broke up after an hour and a half and then they cut the cake and had a dance party. Jordan’s friends were HILARIOUS dancing. Tom also did a good job emceeing and moving things along. It all happened so fast that I missed them running down the rose petal path to their car with all of the guests waving sparklers on either side. But Justin was right there photographing all of it. Thank goodness! What would be the point of coming 2,000 miles for your friend's wedding if you couldn't decorate his car?

The whole thing was a blast and they are off on their honeymoon cruise to the Bahamas. I’m sure they are loving life right about now.

Stuff

I only have a about bajillion things to do before the wedding. So, naturally I'm blogging instead.

The last day of seminary came in May this year. Another year of perfect attendance for the Nielson fam. Boo ya! Mikey's class: MK's class:Mikey went to an 80's party the other day:Then he had a 70's decade project to do for his history class:There are no words.
A couple of days ago we found this guy chomping on the apples under our apple tree:There has been a little progress on my latest quilt project. I am actually doing it with my friend, Connie (who is an amazing quilter), as a gift for a mutual friend. G-ma and G-Pa D celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary the other day. They are beyond glam is this pic:Mikey and MK got their yearbooks this past week. I can't even begin to express it's absolute lameness. The only part of it that is even half way coherent are the senior ads. Lame point #1: The autograph pages are black. Yes that's right. You have to have a special kind of pen to sign autographs. Lame point #2: Mikey is pictured on the SGA page as "some dude". Really? Lame point #3: MK was misquoted twice. Lame-osity #4: While it's kind of cool that they attempted to do a piece on our family it could have been so much better had they included names. And last but not least, the title of the year book is: "Wait.... What?" Seriously, I don't know why we cough up the big bucks every year for this thing.

Finally a Sunny Day

We have had a ton of rain lately. Mostly in the form of whacky thunderstorms. It will be sunny one minute and stormy the next. But spring has never been so gorgeous around here so I'm not complaining.

Last night Dad went camping with Mikey. He got back home in time for the 9:00 AM Ma and Pa Trek Prep meeting at the church. Then we were off to a funeral at 10:00 where John Y. Merrell was honored by his family. The highlight being Carly and Brooklyn singing with their pure sweet voices. Then Dad spent all afternoon working in the yard. He brought an electric thatching thing that he pushed around while wearing 4 inch spikes on his shoes to aerate the lawn. No wonder he is out like a light in his recliner with the Mavs/Thunder game going in the background. (Go Mavs and Bulls.) I finally got around to planting these flowers today:Yeah, they're stock photos, but trust me, they look exactly the same. I have a long way to go to get all of my flower planting done.

When Mikey got home from his camp out/hike at 2:30 he got all cleaned up for Mormon Prom. We all met up at the Wheatley's for pictures. Their were over 40 kids from our stake there. Mikey went with Yesenia and all of his buddies from YMs and their dates:A seriously awesome group of kids. MK also went to the prom but with her BFF, Olivia, to help serve food. She had a great day playing outside with all of her buds in the cul-de-sac.

Meanwhile I love to sew, but holy moly, I can't believe the sizing on patterns! MK weighs a mere 107 pounds and wears a size 10? What the??? Oh well, the bride's maid dresses are coming along slowly but surely. But next time I think I will be measuring like crazy before I assume a size.

Whadda Weekend

Laura flew into BWI at 11:00 on Wednesday night. MK stayed up WAY past her bedtime to go with us to pick her up. After going to bed at 1:00 AM she somehow managed to survive seminary and a full school day before coming home and taking a 4 hour nap. Laura and I got so much done for the wedding while she was here. 500 invitations in the mail, bridesmaid dress patterns purchased, lunch at plaka grill one day, lunch at baja fresh another day, dinner at Dad's fave Thai place, shoes picked out and ordered, non stop dance parties with MK,pictures burned onto a CD for the wedding slide show, plus her super nice bridal shower put on by my awesome friends. It all went by too fast! Bruce cooked his amazing spaghetti after church yesterday and we had G-ma and G-pa plus Jessica and Mark and the missionaries. It was fun to visit with everyone before Laura had to leave. The trip back to bee-wee was a breeze. No traffic and the weather was sunny and nice. We got home in 45 minutes only to learn that her plane would be delayed because of impending thunderstorms. 4 hours later she was finally on her way to Chicago where she missed her connecting flight. Lucky for her she has a dad who looks out for her. He was able to book a room in a nearby Hampton Inn where she got a decent night's sleep. Meanwhile Jordan got her shift covered at work and arranged a ride home for her from the airport. She should get to Provo 24 hours after she left here. The girl has quite the traveling adventures!