Cocoa Beach - Florida

Friday, January 14, 2011: Our last day in Florida after our week long trip. It was a very enjoyable trip....we had a great time! However, there was still one other thing that Matt and I really wanted to do while we were in Florida that we hadn't done yet. We wanted to go to the BEACH!! I love living in Utah, but that is one thing that I really do miss. I miss the ocean and the beach! :)

SO.....after quite a few really great suggestions from others about where to go that wasn't too far away from Orlando, we decided to check out Cocoa Beach, Florida. We drove about an hour to Cocoa Beach and spent a little while there before driving back to Orlando. Matt and I would have enjoyed spending a little more time at the beach, but we understood that it wasn't Carolyn and Julie's favorite thing to do so we didn't make them stay very long. Plus, it wasn't very warm, either, so that made a difference as well. Next time we go to Florida, we're going when it's WARM.....and we're going to spend some more time on the BEACH!! :)

Anyway, here are some pictures that I took while we were at Cocoa Beach.

A seagull. We actually see quite a few of those in Utah, too. :)

Matt.

More random shots of the beach.

A plane went flying over our heads with this banner streaming behind it.

Matt and I.

Julie, Matt's oldest sister (left), and Carolyn, Matt's Mom (right).

Another picture of Matt.

The 4 of us: (left to right) Julie, Matt, Me, and Carolyn.

We flew home back to Salt Lake City early on Saturday morning, January 15, 2011.

Quite often I'm reminded that I'm very blessed to have married into such a wonderful family. I'm truly blessed to have such great in-laws, and to have such a great relationship with them all. I love the Nelson Family and I'm very grateful to be a part of their family!

Thanks to Julie & Carolyn for treating Matt and I to this trip and enjoying spending time with us! We really appreciate all you do for us, and for loving us and supporting us so much! You're the best! :)

Nelson Family Christmas Party - 2009

Sunday, December 27, 2009 - Every year we always have a Nelson Family Christmas Party. Here are some pictures of last year's party.

This is a picture of the family rockin' out with Rock Band down in the basement! Good times! :) You can see Matt in this picture to the left on one of the guitars, Josh (our nephew who is currently in the MTC & heading to Barcelona, Spain on his mission shortly) on the other guitar, and Darcy, Josh's Dad and our brother-in-law, is on the drums. The 2 girls in this picture are actually cousins on the Greep side of the family. They had come down from Canada with their family to visit Suzie & Darcy for the Holiday and had joined us for our party as well.

Here's another shot of them rockin' out to Rock Band. The little girl on the left with the white hair bow in her hair is Sarah....Josh's youngest sister and Darcy's youngest daughter/child. The other little girl in the red shirt is Brenna, another niece of ours.....Paul & Halley's little girl.

In this picture, you can see Carolyn (Matt's Mom) in the background to the left and Julie (Matt's oldest sister) in the red, hugging Sarah. The woman sitting in the chair next to Julie, the man standing in the background, and the girl sitting on the couch are all part of the Greep family from Canada that had come down to visit and joined us. :)

I've already "introduced" everyone else, but the cute blonde girl playing the drums is Suzie & Darcy's second to youngest child/daughter, Raquel, another one of our very cute nieces.

Bethany, to the left, another one our nieces....Suzie & Darcy's 2nd to oldest child/daughter.

We enjoy getting together with the Nelson Family! I feel very grateful to have married into such a truly wonderful family! :)

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving..........one of my favorite times of the year! I love all the great food and getting together with friends and family to remember all that we are grateful for. I thought I would take a minute to mention some of the things that I'm so grateful for in my life.

First and foremost............I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for guiding me to Utah and allowing me to meet Matt. Life just wouldn't be the same without him in it! Matt is truly my best friend! He's such a great guy. He's someone who loves and accepts others for who they are and makes people feel so comfortable to be around him. He truly loves people!

When Matt and I started dating, I was pretty much DONE with dating! But he really was like a breath of fresh air. He is known to bring flowers home just for the heck of it and is probably one of the most caring people I've ever met! He makes me laugh and always tells me how beautiful he thinks I am (sometimes I think he needs his vision checked!)...................and we always have fun together. Like I said, he's truly my best friend! I love you and adore you, Matt!

I have so many other things to be grateful as well. I'm grateful to simply have a beautiful house and 2 cars to drive. I'm grateful that we both have jobs. Sometimes money gets tight, but I have to remind myself that at least we do have an income coming in. I do have food on my table every day, gas in my car, and a warm house to sleep in at night. I'm grateful for the ability to be able to go on so many great vacations and to be able to see so much of this great world out there! I'm grateful for the opportunity to have been able to live overseas in Germany for so many wonderful years! I wouldn't have traded those experiences and memories for anything! I'm grateful for all of the many, many friends and people I've met over the years and still keep in touch with. I think, quite often, about others that I don't keep in touch with very well or have lost touch with completely. I'm extremely grateful for the wonderful friends that Matt and I have today and get to spend so much time with.

I'm also very grateful for families and for the knowledge that I have of eternal families. I have 2 really great families! I wish I could see my parents and Tammy more often, but I'm happy that Pauline and her family live close by and we get to spend time with them. I'm also happy to live so close to Matt's family and to be able to spend so much time with them as well. I couldn't have married into a better family! They are amazing people!

This Thanksgiving Matt's Mom, Carolyn, decided to book her condo up in Park City and the family was able to go up and spend a few days up there, which was very enjoyable. Suzie, one of Matt's older sisters, and her husband and kids also have a condo up there as well. Carolyn and Julie, and Suzie, Darcy, and the kids stayed up there pretty much that whole week. Matt and I went up on Wednesday night, stayed all day Thursday, and came home Friday morning. Unfortunately, we missed Paul (Matt's older brother), Halley and Brenna who came up on Friday morning after we were already gone. Here are some pictures that I took of the family as we were up in Park City on Thanksgiving:

This is a picture of the room Matt and I stayed in.

This is some of the family relaxing after dinner.

Matt was playing cards with our niece, Bethany, and nephew, Josh.

Here is Sarah playing a board game on the floor.

A little while after dinner we played the board game, Life-Pirates of the Carribean. We split up into teams and these were our teams.

This is Julie (the oldest child in Matt's family), me, Matt, and Sarah (Suzie and Darcy's youngest).

This is Darcy, Suzie, and Bethany (their 2nd to oldest).

This is Josh (Suzie and Darcy's oldest), Raquel (their 2nd to youngest), and Carolyn (Matt's Mom).

Later, some of us went over to Suzie & Darcy's condo and went hot tubbing. It was FREAKIN' COLD outside!!

Cassie's Wedding - 08/08/08

Matt's family isn't very big on taking pictures, so I've never been able to get a really good picture of them all. I was very excited when I saw how good this one turned out!!

Our niece, Cassie, got married on August 8, 2008. We got a couple of texts while we were up in the Mountains near Strawberry Reservoir four-wheeling, letting us know that Cassie was getting married the next weekend. It was kind of a crazy, whirlwind week with the family all trying to get everything figured out and put together for her..............but it turned out beautifully! She was married in Carolyn (Matt's Mom) and Julie's (Matt's oldest sister) backyard and it turned out very nice. Here are some pictures of the wedding.

Here are some pictures of the serving tables we placed up on the deck at the back of the house.

This is a picture of the table her sign-in book and gifts were on.

Here are some pictures of the backyard.

This is another shot of the backyard taken from the bottom up to the house. This is the house that Matt grew up in. It's beautiful! Julie lives here and helps Carolyn take care of the house since Matt's Dad died in January of 2002, 3 weeks after we started dating.

This is Julie, Matt's oldest sister, with the nieces. The one standing behind Julie is Bethany. The three little girls in front of Julie are, from left to right: Brenna, Sarah, and Alayna.

This is Matt's other older sister, Suzie. Brenna is sitting on her lap, and Bethany and Sarah are sitting on either side of her. You can also see a small portion of Josh, her son and oldest child, standing at the punch bowl in the blue shirt, too.

This is Matt's older brother, Paul, and his wife, Halley. Brenna, sitting between them, is their little girl.

Yes, Matt's the baby in the family!

This is Cassie, with her Mom (Michelle) on the left and her Grandmother (Jeanie, Michelle's Mom) on the right.

The picture to the right is Brett, who is married to Michelle. Michelle used to be married to Brent (sorry if there is confusion), Matt's older brother who was killed in a motorcycle accident about 11 or 12 years ago? Michelle has since married Brett and they have had 2 more little girls over the years, the newest of which Brett is holding in the picture. Her name is Sienna, and she was only about a month old here. She was a bit of a surprise to them, but they are very excited to have her. She's very beautiful!

This is Cassie coming down the hill to meet her Groom. Christopher, her younger brother, gave her away.

Cassie and her Groom, Drew, during the ceremony.

Cassie and her new Husband, Drew! We love you Cassie and we hope that you're very happy!