Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas to everyone!

We are fast approaching our second Christmas in Enoch. It is amazing how quickly time flies when you don't stop to breathe. We hope all of our friends and family are doing well.

Here is a quick update on what we are all doing now...

Skyler has adjusted to life as a high schooler. He is looking forward to having his braces removed in 2010 (the doctor promised, again). His favorite classes are Men's Choir and Seminary. They have their second choir concert this week. Skyler is looking forward to turning 16 so he can date and drive (in that order apparently). It appears that girls no longer carry cooties.

Sydney is looking forward to being in the state honor choir in Salt Lake, doing an internship at the hospital, and driving again (she killed the car she was driving). She is in two choir classes, a number of honor classes and some medical classes to keep her busy. Surviving pre-calculus is a high priority for the rest of the year. She also is now living in the basement because her new room is finished.

Vicki said yes one too many times (new young women's president). She is still enjoying working at the courthouse in Parowan in the human resources department. Vicki now gets ready for bed in record time since getting her eyes fixed via Lasik surgery. Merry Christmas to her.

Rich hasn't been fired yet from Canyon View High School. He works with some great people and still enjoys showing up each day. November is the off month for Rich because it is in between sports seasons. He enjoyed not eating at Subway or In-N-Out Burger 3 times a week. The doctor reported he is a walking heart-attack and to quit eating at In-N-Out Burger. He is serving as an assistant in the local old-fart group that meets each Sunday.

Smokey, our 11 year old cat, is still alive. Barely. He manages to outrun us when we are chasing him after puking on the carpet or jumping up on the counters to eat our scraps (which he then throws up).

We are trying to plan a trip to Nauvoo in the summer (it is really a disguise to get to go to Cedar Pointe Amusement Park in Sandusky Ohio, but don't let Vicki know). Other than that we don't have any grand plans coming up. Well, Vicki and Rich are going to Las Vegas to celebrate their wedding anniversary by watching Donny and Marie Osmond. Maybe he will dance and show off his trophy he won last month?

Merry Christmas to everyone. We hope you are well and know of our love for all of our fiends and family.

The Nielsen's (Rich, Vicki, Sydney, Skyler and Smokey - at least this week)

Oh, I forgot I had a blog...

So this past week I picked up Sydney from girls camp in Salt Lake City (she went with our old ward). While I was up there, a friend (Josh DeMoux) reminded me that I hadn't updated our blog since Christmas. My initial thought was, "I have a blog?"
So here it is, 8 moths or so after our last post and I am finally updating the blog...

Let's see what a quick recap would entail.
January: Vicki worked (started full-time with the county). Rich went to basketball games and wrestling matches. Sydney and Skyler went to school. Skyler went snowboarding with the middle school up to Brian Head and had a blast.

February: Vicki worked and hurt her knee again (cleaning toilets and playing church basketball are hazardous to your health!). Rich went to basketball games, wrestling matches, state basketball, state wrestling with Sydney, state drill team with Vicki, and kicked some kids out of school. Sydney and Skyler went to school.

March: Vicki worked and got called as the ward Relief Society secretary. Rich had a couple of weeks of down time between sports seasons and got called to serve in the ward old man group as the first assistant. Vicki's presidency meetings were twice as long as Rich's (go figure). Sydney turned 16 and got her drivers license. Rich and Vicki took turns fainting. Skyler went to school and received his Deacon's Duty to God award.

April: Vicki worked. Rich went to boys soccer, boys baseball, boys tennis, track, and girls softball. Sydney and Skyler went to school. Sydney received her young woman recognition award/medallion.



May: Vicki worked. Rich went to boys soccer, boys baseball, boys tennis, track, and girls softball. The family took a trip to Roosevelt to watch state softball. Rich went to state tournaments for all of the above sports in Provo and Spanish Fork. School ended and Skyler and Sydney started sleeping in. Rich and Skyler went on a father's and son's campout using 4 wheel drive up a muddy mountain to get there while pulling a trailer.

June: Vicki worked. Rich and Skyler fished. Sydney slept in, ate Doritos and hung out with friends claiming she was job hunting by networking with friends. We went up to Matt Brown's farewell in the old ward (he is a freakin stud by the way). We took a 10 day trip with Dave and Karon's family (Rich's brother) up to Oregon and the Redwoods in California. Had a wonderful time horseback riding on the beach, in the trees, up the river (without a paddle), and hanging out with 50 billion mosquitoes at Crater Lake. Winemucca we could have done without, but other than that it was awesome!









July: Vicki worked. Rich and Skyler fished. Sydney slept in, ate Doritos and hung out with friends claiming she was job hunting by networking with friends. Sydney also went to girls camp and helped work on her new room in the basement. Rich and Vicki went to George Strait at USANA in Salt Lake (that was a "died and gone to heaven" moment for Rich).

August: Vicki worked (see a recurring theme yet?). Rich and Skyler fished (you saw that one coming too right?). Sydney slept in, ate Doritos and hung out with friends claiming she was job hunting by networking with friends. Sydney also went to girls camp in Salt Lake with the old ward and helped work on her new room in the basement. The room is now officially finished and she is loving life in her ginormous room. We all went camping at Panguitch Lake with Dave and Karon's family. Rich and Skyler caught 0 fish. Kyle (10 year old cousin) caught 4. Ryan (12 year old cousin) caught 1. Sierra (6 year old cousin) caught 1. Kory (4 year old cousin) caught 1. Dave (40+ year old brother caught 1). Sydney ran away anytime someone caught a fish as part of her fish-o-phobia. Vicki is now working with the 14-16 year old girls in young women's. Less meetings but more activities.

Now Rich can be seen moping around the house as he is officially employed again. Vicki can be seen working (still). Sydney and Skyler are hanging out waiting for school to start so there is something to do...

Hope all is well with everyone!

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas!
On Christmas morning we opened our presents as usual. The last present the kids opened said to pack your bags because we were headed to San Diego in 3 hours. Apparently everyone was excited to go because we were on the road in 2 hours.
We got out of town just in time as well because there was a masive storm that hit town just after we left and we drove through wind and rain the whole way down it seemed.



We stopped at Grandpa and Val's house to deliver their present. It was good to see their Christmas fun as well.
In San Diego we stayed in La Jolla north of San Diego a few miles. It was just over the freeway from the San Diego temple, which provided a nice view in the evenings.



On Friday we went to the "Happiest Place on Earth." No not Mickey Mouse land, but Shamu land. We absolutley love Sea World!



The crowds were light and the shows were great. The only downside was that the temperature was a little low to ride Atlantis too much and be wet for the rest of the day. So we only rode it twice and wore our rain slickers. They had a lot of Christmas twists to the shows and the park was all decked out for the holiday. A couple of highlights for us were the "Dine with Shamu" and "Behind the Scenes Tour." We had never done those before and it was a great way to see a little more than we have before.



On Saturday we went into San Diego and went on a charter boat out on the ocean to look for whales and dolphis. We were able to follow one California Gray whale for a half hour or so. We were not able to see any dolphins but saw some sea lions (or were they seals?) and plenty of birds. The only down side to the boat ride was that the ocean created a little motion sickness for us. We just aren't used to that motion in Utah you know!



We did some shopping at a nice mall and found some after Christmas deals and went out to see the sun set to end our quick little getaway.



It was a great trip and should provide some great memories to look back on.
We hope you all enjoyed the Christmas season as well.

Return to WVC

This past Saturday and Sunday we had the opportunity to return to our old stomping grounds. It was a great weekend and we were able to visit with many good friends. Sydney stayed the night at Katie's and went to a region dance and saw some friends from school. The rest of us stayed at the Hampton Inn in Jordan Landing. Nice place!
Sunday we went to church in our old ward. We went up to Salt Lake to be able to hear J.T. speak in sacrament prior to his departure for an LDS mission this week. J.T. is an awesome young man that we all hold in high regard in our house. He has been an example to so many and will be a great missionary.
Then we stopped out at Dave and Karon's to exchange Christmas gifts. We had a great time visiting and playing with the kids but had to leave early because of some pretty heavy winter weather that had been hitting Utah.
It was a great weekend getaway!

Our Christmas Letter...

Merry Christmas!
What a wonderful time of year. As a family we wish the best for you and hope that all is well for our family and friends. You all mean so much to us and we are grateful to you.
As we prepare for Christmas and wrap up 2008, we reflect on a year full of laughs, some tears and many changes.
The year began with Vicki content at Harmon’s in the HR Department. Rich was happy at Hunter High as a Technology Specialist but was busy interviewing for possible administrative jobs . Sydney and Skyler were both doing well at Matheson Jr High playing volleyball.
In April Rich was offered an appointment as a full time administrative intern at Granite Park Middle School in Granite School District. It is the traditional way of getting an administrative job in Granite and was a good step to say the least.
The first week in June, Rich had an interview for an assistant principal job at Canyon View High School in Cedar City. Four hours later when Vicki and Rich arrived back home the phone rang and the principal from Canyon View was on the other end offering the position. We excitedly, and nervously, accepted and three days later put the house up for sale and went on a vacation with Dave (Rich’s brother) and Karon’s family to Mesa Verde and Arches. We had an amazing time camping and the kids loved spending time with the cousins. While we were at Mesa Verde our real estate agent left a message letting us know we had received an offer on the home. It had been on the market for less than a week in the middle of a terrible housing market.
When we arrived back home we took a trip to Cedar City and looked for a house. We had gone through 11 houses and had one house remaining. According to the agent the owner didn’t want us into the house that early so we thought we would skip it. After one more phone call, though, we were able to get into the home. We made an offer on that house and were able to move in 4 weeks later.
So with all of the excitement and trepidation that comes with the prospect of moving 200 miles away, reality soon set in and we were busy packing and driving ourselves to our new home and life in Enoch. Along with the fear of making new friends and having new neighbors comes the realization of how much we truly miss our dear friends in West Valley. We have been blessed to have some truly amazing friends in our old neighborhood and at work that it is difficult to find words to say thank you sufficiently. Rich was fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve as bishop to so many wonderful people. He particularly misses the youth and primary children.
That being said, it is abundantly clear that we were led in this whole process by our Heavenly Father. We have been so blessed to have everything work out as it has. Rich loves his job at Canyon View. It is a perfect fit for his background and is a wonderful school district to be a part of. Because there are only two administrators in the school, he is gone during the sports seasons at least 3 nights per week. But he loves all of the activities so it is hard to complain.
Vicki began working for Iron County in the Human Resource Department in September. It is just her and the H.R. Director and she is enjoying it. She is also learning payroll to be the backup person for the county. She has been part time which has made it nice to be home earlier than she has been used to at Harmons.
Sydney is a sophomore at Canyon View High. She was on the volleyball team and is involved in National Honor Society. She has made some good friends and appears to be adjusting well to having her dad be the assistant principal. She uses his office as her own and appears to think that there is also an ATM in the office when she needs it. She is also loving the choir program here which is excellent.
Skyler is at Canyon View Middle School (across the street from the high school). He is doing great in school and has continued to take piano lessons (getting quite good). He has some great friends both at school and in the neighborhood. He also is becoming quite a runner and is growing taller and taller.
Smokey, The Guard Cat, survived the move to the new home. He was particularly nervous for the first month, and still hates to go downstairs, but he is back to his usual self (if that is a possibility). He also hates the garage door noise, but he will be gone way before we get rid of the garage.
We truly hope you have a wonderful holiday season and that this letter finds you all in good spirits. We love and appreciate you. If you would like to occasionally check in on us, Rich has set up a family blog. Feel free to check it out if you have time and interest. http://enochnielsens.blogspot.com/
Sincerely,
The Enoch Nielsen’s – Vicki, Rich, Sydney, Skyler

How to deal with after Thanksgiving chaos...

Are you one of those that enjoys shopping with a few thousand crazy people the day after Thanksgiving? For some reason I guess I am. Well if not I have a weird way of showing it. Friday as I was in the shower, Vicki came in and said she wanted to go shopping in St. George. OK, well that sounds fun. So we packed up the kids and went shopping at Target, Tai Pan Trading, Costco and Petco. On the plus side we left late enough that the true fanatics that go shopping at 5 a.m. were already at least 6 hours into their day and were losing steam. So we were able to navigate around easily enough. Plus we ran into Dad/Grandpa at Costco.

Then on Saturday Vicki and I enjoyed a couple of hours of Ho-Ho shopping without the kids and then we all went to see Madagascar 2. Funny show! It is nice to see a show without worrying about what the kids (or the adults) will be exposed to.

And So It Begins...

I have been thinking about creating a blog for a couple of years now but never had the time to get it started.
Well, the time is now!
Hopefully this will turn out to be a good adventure for our family and we can share a little more information with all of our family and friends scattered from Georgia to Australia and locations in between.
Stay tuned!