Scott and Mary Ann Nielson

OUR PATRIOTIC DUTY TO PARTY

2011-07-18T13:59:00.001-07:00

Once again, it was the "Barber Barbie Q." 2011 was an especially great party. We were only missing 11 of us out of a family of 65. Even Joan and Craig were on their 3 week break from the MTC in Mexico City. We were even joined by the newest member of our family...Libby (12 days old).
The fireworks were epoch this year as Utah has now legalized aerials only increasing the desire to make it the best show ever. The entries were so creative with displays including "Osama Ben Betta," "Robyn's Independence Day," new "TSA Screening," "WWW Death Rink," "Death by Tyler," "Project Runway," "MOMMAR GADDAFI plays Omar Kaddafi," "The Mexican Wave with Joan and Craig sneaking across the border," "Donald Trump for President," "NASA's Last Space Shuttle Flight," "Knight in Shining Amour (deadly to be sure)," "Anthony Weiner," "Nancy Pelosi Raises the Roof" and the grande finale..."Back to the Future."
There was a 15 foot tall inflatable double waterslide. Let us not forget Chet and his "You've gotchyer wee, You've gotchyer not so wee, and you've gotchyer big fricken huge!" Such was the case when the "wees" were kicked off the slide by the "big fricken huges" for a hysterical round of relays. As far as parties, families and fun go...we are never too old or too young to play together. What better way to celebrate life, love, freedom, and the blessing of family!

It

2011-07-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

2011-02-16T17:46:00.000-08:00

Where's the flood Noah? A couple of weeks ago I walked into the district's admin building where my office is located and my first clue that all was not well was the water on the floor that had leaked out of the building's boiler room. Walking further down the hall, I found the caution tape strung in front of the elevator. Because of the torn tendon in my foot and the heavy cast up to my knee, I almost turned around and went home. But No! I trudged up the 40 stairs to the floor where my office is located only to find out that a major pipe had broken and my floor as well as the floor below us had broken and flooded the building. With all of the construction needing to happen and all of the asbestos that will be exposed during that construction, it became necessary for us to relocate. I am now a refugee and temporarily housed at the Title I portable at Freeport Center. I don't mind. It is only a 6 minute commute compared to the 25 minute commute to Farmington. I love the folks who work there and with people not knowing where to find me it is really quiet. The only drawback is that my administrative assistant is located in Farmington but with technology, we keep in touch. How long will I live there...it is anyone's guess. I have heard anywhere from 4-6 months. Until then...traffic is terrific!

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE!

2010-10-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

Last night was great! I came home from work to find most of my family at home. Kathy was coloring Christy's hair. Scott was making waffles for dinner. Andrew was feeding Easton plums. Katie was feeding Cohen a bottle. Addison was watching Diego on T.V. and toys were scattered over the entire floor. The only two who were MIA were Adam and Serina. Chaos was definitely the master of the house. All the plans I had made on my drive home from work to get my windows washed in preparation for my upcoming surgery and recovery just disintegrated into a puff of great intentions.

As I walked into the house Addison heard me come through the door and ran to me saying, "Nana. Nana. Come watch Diego." She loves me. I walked over to the table and Easton sat and grinned at me with plums covering most of his face. He loves me. I walked over to the overstuffed chair where Katie and Cohen were and Cohen smiled at his Nana. He loves me. Scott had me sit down and he handed me a delicious waffle with peaches on it for dinner. He loves me too. I looked around the toy strewn, make-shift hair salon, noise filled family room at the family that I love and I saw life through a whole new set of windows. The view was wonderful!

More Is Always Better

2010-03-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

Whomever said that less is more never had grandchildren. Our family recently grew by one more. Our little grandson Easton was born at the end of February. He made his entry earlier than expected but how sweet it was. He waited until I could fly across the country to make his debut and I never cease to marvel at the miracle of birth.

I spent two of the most wonderful weeks holding, cuddling and loving this little guy. Although there was a lot of running back and forth between his dad's school and the hospital, and the theater, and the doctor appointments, and back in the hospital, and more doctor appointments, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

It was hard to get on a plane and leave him and his parents and fly back across the country, but I know that they will be back home in Utah soon made it just a tiny bit easier. I am looking forward to that first week in May when I am able to cuddle with him again.

In the meantime, we are waiting for another one who will make his way into our family in June. And all I can say is, "Life is great...and the more, the merrier!

THE BLESSINGS OF FAMILY

2009-11-16T08:14:00.000-08:00

This has been a great weekend. Busy...but great! I took a couple of days off of work to spend with family last week. Kathy is here from Florida. Thursday Kathy and I watched Addison while Katie and T.J. went to the doctor. They brought home video of their new little one who will be joining their family the end of June. Love, love, love the miracle of life. We will have three grandchildren by July and I can’t wait. We went to lunch for Christy's birthday and ran some errands. Adam and Serina came over for dinner.

Scott took Friday off to spend with us, but he and I spent time together for the first half of the day. It was fun just the two of us. The last half of the day we worked on getting food and home ready for Kathy's baby shower. It was a long but great day.

Saturday it snowed. The first snow is the best. It was the baby shower for Kathy. It was so good to see so many friends and family and they gave them so many beautiful things for their little guy "Peanut," who will join our family in March. We wish his dad could have been here as well. We miss Andrew. Kathy will be here until the 23rd and then will fly back home to Florida.

Sunday morning Scott fixed a breakfast fit for a king. It was T.J.'s birthday breakfast. After church we had our little family over for a faux Thanksgiving dinner with Kathy. It was great. Then we watched "UP." I had never seen it before and it just emphasized what I had already been feeling. Family is everything! And as for me…I love mine!

Blessings Dug Deep

2009-08-17T15:18:00.001-07:00

For the past couple of weeks it seems as though I have forgotten to look at my blessings each day and be grateful for them. I am sure that it can be attributed to stress...from worry about family, work and taking care of a lot of people who seem to have lost jobs, homes, and sadly for some everything.

These little worries have kept me from getting great sleep, feeling secure and being basically happy. And the interrupted sleep has made things seem a little worse. I have had to dig deep inside and take inventory of me and who I am and what I can do to make each day its best. I have come to the realization that I can't be all things to all people...nor is that the roll I was given in this life. There is only one person I know who was given that roll. I needed to be reminded of this. I can only worry about the things I know I can control. The rest I have to let go and give it to the brother that promised me He would take care of it. That takes great faith...another re-discovery I have had to make in the past couple weeks of self evaluation.

The basic truth is that my family is everything to me. It is more important than any physical thing I own on this earth. More important than anything I could ever hope to acquire on this earth and it is without a doubt the one treasure that I will take with me to eternity. The bottom line is....no matter how bad things get economically in this world or how bad things get politically in this world, as long as I have my family with me, albeit even if we were forced to live in a cardboard box, I know life would be OK.

Annual Barber "Barbie-Q"

2009-07-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

Burn Baby Burn! It was a time for fun and fireworks at our third annual Barber Family "Barbie-Q." Each July I host a Barber family party and we have a lot of fun. We get together for a family picnic and then we have a firework display of our own. This is not your typical firework display, and the planning that goes into it is a year-long event. Family members go to great lengths to decide who will be the victim of the "Barbie-Q." Once they have determined who will burn...they purchase the Barbie and lace them with fireworks. The diaramas are very detailed and creativity abounds as they decorate to demolish and destruct. We alway have fun!

This year's entries included: Government Spending Barbie, East High School and the entire cast of High School Musical, Welcome to Oregon--Land where beauty and Jack-A*!@$ abound Barbie, Twilight's Go Team Jacob Barbie, Billy Mays Barbie, Michael Jackson Barbie, Miss South Carolina Barbie, Carni Barbie, Mr Noodle Barbie and many more! There were two non-Barbie entries where snakes were burned by my grand-niece Elle and my nephew Flint wanted to teach his three sons that women should be respected so their diplay included Gi-Joes rescuing Barbie.

Our family keeps growing so it is always fun to get together and spend our time together. We don't see one another too often so it is quite the treat to be around one another.

It's Summer Time

2009-06-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

It is about this time of year that I regret having a 12 month job. I love the summer. I like being out in my yard. I like little home projects. I love mowing the grass. I love sleeping in. I love little "daycations." I love vacations. I loved it when my kids were little and they got out of school for the summer. Back then I worked at DHS for 9 months every year and we all had our summers off. But for the past 8-9 years I have worked on a 12 month contract and the only time I get off in the summer is when I take vacation days. Taking 5 days of vacation during the summer is not the same as having the whole summer off.

It seems as though one loses track of time when you work all year. The seasons seem to meld together and before you know it... the year is gone. I am working four tens this summer so I can have Fridays off. It makes for very long days, but on Friday I am certain it will have been worth it.

I am taking "vacation" next week to finish cleaning out my mother's home and then the following week I will be at a conference in Las Vegas. Before I realize it, June will be over! So much for the dog days of summer!

A Place Where Dreams Come True

2009-03-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

We just finished a family trip to Disney World. Not all of our family was able to be with us, but most were. We missed Adam and Serina this trip. We will have to make another one. One of the reasons we went to Florida was to see Kathy and Andrew who are living there while Andrew is in graduate school.

We were able to spend some time at Disney World with Kathy and Andrew while Scott was in meetings. He joined us in the evening when he was finished. We had a lot of fun. The most fun was watching our little Tinkerbell...Addison react to everything. I know she is too young to ever remember this trip but I will remember it always.

My favorite day was going to see the space shuttle launch. It had been postponed earlier in the week and was scheduled to go on Sunday evening. We went to church with Kathy and Andrew. Their ward was wonderful. Afterward we packed a picnic lunch and all loaded into the rental van and made a 35 minute trip to Titusville to Space View Park. We had fun visiting with a couple thousand of our non-closest friends and spending a relaxing afternoon together. Two of Kathy and Andrew's friends joined us and that was fun to get to know them. The kids played board games while we waited.

For me, witnessing the miracle of science and all that living in this wonderful country brings was the icing on the cake. It was so exciting to listen to the conversation with the space shuttle crew and ground control before the launch and when they said to the crew, "Good luck and God speed, we will see you in about three weeks," I felt a huge amount of gratitude and pride. It made the 4 and 1/2 hour drive back to Kathy and Andrew's house worth it. Traffic coming home was horrible any route we went. We had fun, laughing; Andrew slept; we needed a bathroom; the baby was tired of being confined in a car seat, but Scott and "Gladys" the GPS got us home on some back roads which shortened our trip home.

Things I learned on this trip.

1. Florida is much warmer in March than Utah.

2. Grandbabies are the best!

3. Family vacations are wonderful but 8 days may be a little too much togetherness.

4. Grandbabies are the best!

5. Diets go out the window when you are traveling.

6. Grandbabies are the best!

7. A long drive home is worth it to witness a miracle.

8. Grandbabies are the best!

9. Curtains do make the best hiding spots.

10.Grandbabies are the best!

Life is wonderful and spending it with your family is what it is all about. My motto: Enjoy the journey!

Good News Is Always Great

2009-02-12T09:49:00.000-08:00

The human body is a miracle. When one thinks about the inner workings that keep us breathing and alive, it is too much to comprehend. I have always had a heart murmur. About two years ago I had an echo done on my heart and at the time they felt that maybe I had, at one time as a child, had rheumatic fever. I asked my mother if I had ever been diagnosed with it and her answer was no.

When my mother became ill and was diagnosed with aortic valve stenosis, her surgeon told us children that we all needed to have a baseline echo done on our hearts because the condition was genetic. I took my baseline that had been done a year earlier to him and he looked at it and said, "You do have aortic valve stenosis but it is mild, so you will need to have a cardiologist follow it and have the echo repeated yearly. Your aortic valve will need to be replaced in the future."

In August, I visited my doctor for my annual exam and he told me that my murmur was worse. He repeated the Echo and it showed some progression in the calcification and recommended that I repeat the Echo in 6 months. The blood flow over the valve was at 1.3.

I started to experience some swelling in my legs last month and my doc ordered another Echo. It showed the blood flow was at 1.1 and in some views less than one. My internist explained to me that when the flow is at 1, they replace the valve. I was terrified. I had seen my mother go through this surgery and pass away 7 weeks later. Granted she was 83, and I do know that it was the Lord's plan but the prospect of the surgery and its risks still frightens me. He referred me to a cardiologist.

Scott went with me to the cardiologist and he had not had the chance to see the echo. He asked me how I was feeling. Was I short of breath? No! Was my energy level good? Great! He explained that my heart has been compensating very well for 51 years for this defect. Eventually it will not compensate. Most patients with this defect have their valves replaced in their thirties. I had gone 20 years longer than that. Knowing that I will have to have the valve replaced in the future, he scheduled an appointment for us to come back after he had seen the echo so he could make an informed, educated decision.

Yesterday, we went back and he said, "Your echo shows that it is in the moderate/severe line. I think with you feeling well, we're going to walk a fine line as to when this needs to be done and we can buy some time." The good news is...I don't need to come back until August and they will repeat the Echo. I am more than happy to take it 6 months at a time.

I am grateful for the miracle of modern medicine. I am grateful for knowing in advance what to watch for. I am grateful that my children will be able to be tested and they will know if this is something they have to watch for. As for being terrified of the surgery? Yes. I can't control that I was born with a bad valve, but I can control the type of health I will be in when this needs to be taken care of and who knows...maybe we can buy 6 months at a time until I am 83.

Save The Orchids

2009-02-03T07:10:00.000-08:00

I miss my mom! There isn't any easy way to grieve for someone who took such great care of you from the time you were born until the day she died. My mom loved orchids and she had a knack for growing them. Their beautiful blooms were the first things that greeted you when you came through the back door. They were bright and cheery and she loved them. She would always walk to the back door with you and say, "Did you see the orchids? Aren't they pretty." And then she would point out the number of new buds on each plant that were yet to bloom.

To me, orchids have always been a mysterious plant that grew in exotic places I only dreamed of visiting. When mom died, we became dedicated to keeping the orchids alive. It hasn't been an easy task as we weren't sure what her secret was in keeping them alive. Some of us took a couple of plants to our homes to try our hand at growing them. Aunt Cathy and Aunt Barbara took a couple and I am sure that the orchids are thriving at their houses. That left about four or five still at mom's home. My sweet niece Nicole, who inherited the family green thumb, took great care to go the grandma's house to water them. Lately we have all become too busy to go to grandma's to check in on the orchids and the neglect has taken its toll.

The other day I went to grandma's house--mostly because I just needed to go home--my growing up home, where like the orchids I was cared for and tended by my mother. Scott, Katie and T.J. helped me gather up the remaining orchids and I took them home and sprayed them with pesticide and watered them. I am hoping that life will spring back to them and they will recover. As for the ones in my garden window that I originally took home, they are in bloom and beautiful. I still don't know what I did to produce these results. Secretly my mom must have been working her magic. And each day I ask my family, "Did you see the orchids? Aren't they pretty." I count the buds yet to bloom and think of mom and have no doubt that she checks in on the orchids and me.

"Rotten Blogger" MOM

2009-01-29T14:24:00.000-08:00

The other night Katie told me I was a "rotten Blogger." Of course she was right. I am. There are a couple of reasons for this. 1) I have no time! 2) I have so many logins and passwords to remember that when I go to login to the site, it takes me forever to remember my username and password (chosen so that I wouldn't forget them) and I just get frustrated and it brings me right back to reason 1) I have no time!

I don't think the memory thing is going to get better and from what I read---IT WON'T--so when I finally retire I really won't remember how to do it at all. So there you have it...It it what it is!

GRANDPA GOES TO WASHINGTON

2008-07-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a trip to Washington D.C.. We took Scott's mom and dad to see the WWII Memorial. Grandpa fought in the war and had always wanted to see the memorial. At 83 and now that he has lost most of his vision, we felt it was time to get him there. Scott's sister Kim and our niece Ally, as well as our daughter Katie, her husband T.J. and our grandbaby Addison, joined us on the trip. We had a wonderful time!

What an honor it was to see Grandpa at the memorial. People continued to come up to him and thank him for serving in the war. It was so touching. He even got a hug from a "Buxom" (according to Grandpa) security guard at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum.

Grandpa doesn't talk much about the war and it seems as though we learned more about the war that day from him than we ever have. It is a privilege to have such a wonderful man as the patriarch of our family.

As Good As It Gets---Grandparents

2008-06-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

Life is wonderful when you become parents....but life is as good as it can get when you become grandparents! Truly, this is what life is all about and we learned that last year on November 28, 2007 when our beautiful little Addison McKay was born. She makes us smile, laugh and puts our life into perspective. We see her almost every day and believe us when we tell you that it is the sweetest part of the day.