Lacey

After 5 weeks of marriage Taylor & Patricia decided to adopt! On September 12, 2009 we welcomed the first addition to the Nelson family.... Lacey! Due to both of our love for canine companions we adjusted the budget and went to Maricopa County Animal Shelter where our precious Lacey, a 3 month old Australian Shepherd Mix, was waiting to be rescued. Although we did not know just how much rescuing she needed at the time, we are so glad to have her in our home.

Taylor was told that Lacey had a upper respiratory infection or "just a common cold" and that we could get some pills from the vet and she'd be fine. So we took her to the vet the following Monday. She had been lethargic and had a runny nose and raspy breathing. We also found several ticks on her and so we decided to run a blood test for tick fever. The vet took her temp and it was 105 (normal for dogs is 102). So she said we would treat her for Kennel Cough but she was worried it was distemper. Distemper has a 95% mortality rate in dogs. So prayed and hoped for the best. A few days later we got the result of another test we did on her back and found out she had Giardia and Roundworm. So we put on on yet more medicine! So 3 weeks and 3 diseases later... we have a healthy, happy puppy! Lacey is learning how to play fetch and loves chewing and romping! She is a very smart dog and was potty trained with in a week. We are excited for her to make a complete recovery so we can teach her all sorts of fun tricks and take her hiking with us! We are so glad to have Lacey in our home and hate to think of what would have happened if she stayed in the pound!
So our advice for the week is... adopt a pet from the shelter!!!!!

Everything else is going well for the Nelsons! We absolutely love married life! We try to sneak a few hours of together time in here and there between Taylor's school and our opposite work schedules. We are making it work with just one vehicle. It is nice that Patricia works on campus and can walk or get a ride to and from the office. There is also a bus that runs from campus to Taylor's work which is helpful! Taylor is getting through his rough anatomy class and learning how to play the guitar! We are excited for the cooler weather so we can begin our goal of getting to the summit of every mountain range in Arizona (194) !

THE TEMPLE

So I just went back and read my post about the wedding and decided that I did not talk nearly enough about the temple. We tried really hard to make sure that we kept our wedding day focused on the temple. We planned a simple reception and incorporated the temple by having pictures of it for the centerpiece. We know that temple cermony was by far the most important part of the day. We got to the temple at 11:00am. The temple workers were so helpful and sweet. Jenny Black (Patricia's long time family friend) helpped her to get ready. It was so nice to have her there through all the comotion. Even with all the chaos of having so many people in the temple and people telling you which way to go and what to do next there is a sweet feeling of peace and order in the temple. It is just a "busy type of order"! After Patricia was dressed she was led to a hallway with several love seats and there was Taylor waiting for her. It was so nice to be able to sit in the coriordors of the temple and talk about the sweet ceremony that was about to take place. After a while the man who was to conduct our ceremony (the sealer), came out and explained to us what was going to take place in the ceremony. We could feel of his sweet spirit while he was talking to us and we knew that he was in fact called and oradained by God to preform this sacred ordinance. We were then led to the sealing room where most of our family and friends were seated waiting for us. We were filled with an overwhelming feeling of love and support as we walked in and saw everyone there. The sealing ceremony took all of maybe 15 minutes but it was full of beautiful promises for our future together. Then we were greeted by each one of the guests individually. We went our seperate ways to change then met each other in the lobby so we could walk out together. We walked out and were greeted by all of our friends and family! We spent the next half hour in the hot sun doing photos! It was good although I am sure we are all making funny faces from the bright sun in most of the pictures!! We are so happy to have had the privilige to be sealed to one another for time and for all of eternity! What a special blessing we have! More pictures are on the way....

The Nelson's Honeymoon (Part Two)

Wednesday we came home and opened all our gifts! We got a bar b que grill, a George Foreman grill, cute picture frames, pots, pans, kitchen stuff, bedding, towels, dishes, bowls, a toaster, a blender, a crock pot, a microwave, cooking pans, area rugs, $400 in Target gift cards, money, all sorts of great gifts! Then we took our gift cards and went and bought all of the other things we needed/wanted! It was so great! Taylor, because he is so so smart and always thinking ahead, only brought half of the gift cards with us so that we would be able to go back the next day and do even more shopping! Unfortunately, he forgot to tell Patricia that he only had half of them until we were standing in the check out line. So it ended up costing us a little more then we expected to have to spend but we had another fun day of gift card shopping on Friday! We also got to go on a little shopping spree at Bed, Bath & Beyond and at Walmart and we had a free dinner at TGI Fridays and Jack in the Box! YAY for gift cards!

On Thursday we decided it would be fun to drive the Apache Trail. We stopped at Superstition Mountain Historical Society Museum, Tortilla Flats, and the Roosevelt Lake Dam Visitor center. At the visitor center we saw a tarantula on the side of the building. While we were looking at it the ranger came out and said we could pick it up if we wanted to. Taylor wanted to see it move but neither of us were too excited about touching it. When the ranger encouraged us to poke it with a stick Taylor said he did not want to because he was afraid that it would shoot it's hairs into his skin! Patricia has a lot to teach that boy!!! :-) It was a long (6 hours) but fun drive!

After driving the trail we decided to head over to Taylor's parents'. Patricia was tired of driving by this point and she and Taylor were having a conversation when she looked in her mirror and saw a motorcycle cop with his lights on. After saying a few swear words and telling Taylor that she was in deep trouble... she pulled over to the side of the road. The officer was very upset with her and sternly asked "What are you doing going 70 in a 45?" Patricia mumbled some excuse and appology and said she simply wasn't paying attention. Then he noticed the dark long necked bottle on the seat next Patricia and demanded, "Have you been drinking that? Are you Drunk?" Patricia's heart sank as she looked over and saw an empty bottle laying on the seat next to her. Then she grabbed the bottle and showed it to the officer saying "no, it is root beer"! He said, " oh, alright, well just make sure you watch your speed" and left! Didn't ask for her license or anything! (Thank-you to who ever wrote "JUST MARRIED" on the back of our truck!)

Friday evening we went over to Taylor's parents to do some laundry. We only had 2 laudry baskets and they did not fit in our truck tool box. So Taylor, being the genius that he is, decided to use some of the saran wrap that was left over from our truck decorators to secure the clothes. We wrapped each basket 4 or 5 times in plastic wrap... we didn't loose any clothes! Saturday we continued to unpack and bought a few more things at Bed Bath and Beyond, like a new cabinaate for the living room, and lots of fun things at Walmart.

We got a phone call on Saturday from Patricia's mom saying that her 12 year old dog was not able to walk. He has had bad hips for a while and is pretty old. So we are affraid his days are numbered. We headed down to Patricia's parents for dinner and for Patricia to say her goodbyes to her beloved canine companion. He has an appointment at the vet on Monday morning. Fourtunatly we were able to have a fun evening with the Sherman's playing Balderdash!

Sunday was back to work for Patricia and Monday is back to work for Taylor... but it will be nice to still be able to see each other every night! We look forward to our life together and the fun adventures we will share... stay tuned.....

The Nelson's Honeymoon (Part One)

We headed out to Pointe Hilton Taptio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix. While Patricia was waiting for Taylor to check in some random guy came and knocked on her window and said "congratulations on the marriage" then asked her to get out and show them her dress.YAY for random people!:-)

The first morning we were woken up by a knock on the door. Before we could even realize what was going on... in comes the housekeeping lady! I am not sure who was more startled... the poor lady who didn't speak English or the half asleep newly weds.

Part of our deal was a $50 credit to the resort and 4 "buy one get one half off" meal vouchers for a restaurant at the resort. We enjoyed just being lazy and appreciated the money we had received at the reception. We went to Walgreen's to buy some snacks since the resort vending machines were $3 per item! (And we must have had too much on our minds because we both forgot to bring out toiletries bag!) We found some fans that were 50% off and purchased 3 for about the price of one! We were very proud of our mad bargain hunting skills even while honeymooning! Yeah, we are that good! :-) We went out to Phoenix Mountain Preserve and realized how very out of shape we are! (Maybe it had something to do with the fact that it was like 110 degrees outside!)

The second day there Patricia decided to shave her legs with the cheap razors we bought at Walgreen's. She took a huge chunk of skin out of leg. She must have looked pretty romantic as she hobbled out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel holding a bloody towel against her gushing ankle. Really she was just trying to give Taylor a chance to practice some of his nursing skills! Taylor went to the gift store and spent about $20 onNeosporan and band aids for his clumsy wife. It is a good thing too because the next night while leaving the room Patricia caught her toe under the door and again needed to be bandaged. Good thing her husband is going into nursing!

We spent one day at the water they had at the resort. There was a beautiful jacuzzi, a fountain, and a fun slide! The last night we were there we decided to have a fancy diner and went to a fine dining restaurant at the resort. We got all dressed up and fancy and walked to the restaurant. Now, this resort is built on a hill and the fine dining restaurant is called "A Different Pointe of View" so naturally, it is on the top of the hill. Patricia, being the stubborn girl that she is, refused to let Taylor go get the truck but rather insisted she could walk. About 20 minutes later Taylor and Patricia arrived at the fancy restaurant dripping in sweat as a result of the hike up the steepest hill either of them have ever seen. (Yes, Patricia had high heels on!) As if we didn't already feel like we did not belong in such an elite restaurant, the dripping sweat from our heads made us stick out like a sore thumb. So much so that the 2 (yes, two) servers did not even offer us a wine list but instead immediately removed our wine glasses from the table! The view was beautiful though, we could look out over all of Phoenix and got to see the sun set on North Mountain. It was worth the blood, sweat and money! We played in the pool, slept, ate, slept some more, and just relaxed for the week! It was wonderful and very needed by both of us!

The Nelson's Reception!

Well, the honeymoon is over...at least as far as vacationing goes! Patricia is back at work and Taylor goes back on Monday! We have thoroughly enjoyed the last week of being able to just hang out with each other. What a blessing it is to have your best friend by your side every minute of the day! Even when we have to be apart for the day, we get to start and end each day with each other. How awesome is that? We have had many fun adventures and lots of funny stories to share! We have adapted to our "blogging life" quite well it seems, anytime something funny happens we say "that's totally blog worthy!" HA HA!

We'll begin with the prewedding stuff...


Taylor's parents' house was full of fun and excitement for a few days with Scott & Christine (Taylor's brother and sister-in-law who live with his parents temporarily), their 2 little boys; Ryan & Bonnie (Taylor's other brother & Sister-in-law from Utah), their 2 little boys; David (Taylor's friend who flew in from Florida), Taylor, and Ashley (Taylor's sister)! So it was quite a house full as you could imagine.

On Friday Patricia got to enjoy a day of pampering thanks to her mom. Patricia and her younger sister, Emily, their mom, and Emily's friend, Megan, had half hour massages (Megan got a pedicure instead) then got their nails done. It was a fun day! Erin was able to join us later in the day to help with the food prep for the reception. Patricia's mom, her sisters Erin & Emily, Emily's friend Megan, and Patricia all spent about 3 hours cooking hamburger meat, chopping tomatoes, olives, and onions for the taco bar at the reception. Patricia was touched to see that everyone had tears in their eyes until she too caught a whiff of the freshly cut onions. :-) Friday night we had a delicious bar-b-q at Taylor's parents' house. We had smoked turkey and brisket. It was so fun to have everyone together!

Saturday the festivities began with a hair appointment for all the Sherman girls at J.C. Penny's Salon at 9 am. Barbara (Patricia's mom) won the prize for the most dramatic change taking about 6 inches off! All the girls looked charming! Since the hair appointment took a little longer then expected Patricia was rushed back to the hotel room where her family was staying. Erin and Emily showed off their hidden talents and did a beautiful job on Patricia's makeup! Taylor met Patricia at the steps of the temple at 11am. They walked hand and hand into to the temple where they were greeted by some of the most choice men and women who helped to make sure that everything went smoothly for the special day. It was so nice to be able to be in the temple and just feel the peace and certainty of the decision to be married. What a wonderful feeling it was to walk into the sealing room and see some of our closest friends and family sitting waiting with love and support for us.

Then the real fun began... time for the reception! Patricia got to be the spoiled bride and got yelled at any time she tried to help with decorating. She quickly learned that this is probably one of the few times she would get in trouble for trying to help and decided to soak up every minute of it. She really enjoyed bossing everyone around... it was good practice for married life!

The reception was beautiful... we had about 100 people!







It was especially great to have Patricia's 94 year old Granny there!






The first dance song was "The Answer" by Sarah McLachlan.









Taylor and his mom and Patricia and her dad shared a dance to "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion.













Emily (Patricia's younger sister) caught the bouquet. We cut the cake and Patricia, being the loving, gentle soul that she is, so sweetly fed it to her new husband while he shoved it her face... how rude! :-)


It came time to leave and Taylor and Patricia were told to stay in the church while everyone went and lined up outside. Taylor's friend David came in and handed us a pair of scissors then said with a smile, "your truck is waiting for you"! We exited the church to find our truck covered... no, really... COVERED in toilet paper, saran wrap, posted notes, toilet paper, saran wrap, ribbons, writing, toilet paper, saran wrap, and full of balloons! It was quite a mess! We pealed out with Patricia yelling out the window "If the truck's a rockin'... don't come a knockin'!!!"!





We pulled into the nearest gas station to clean our windshield off so Taylor could see where he was driving. Patricia when to pump the gas but realized she forgot her wallet at the church... thanks for bringing it to us Em!

Our cakes were gorgeous (thanks mom & Christine), the photographer was great (thanks Kristen & Analise), DJ's were awesome (thanks Dustin & Kylee), cooks and servers were wonderful (thanks Jacksons, Matthews, & Shermans), company was delightful! Thanks to everyone who came and those who so willingly helped out! It was sure a fun time!

PreWedding Obstacles

It is interesting how life can be plugging right along for you and then you decide to go down a different path or make a decision that will ultimately help you to become a better person and before you know you are being attacked from every angle. It is true that there must needs be opposition in all things! As long as you are able to stay faithful and true to the things you know, in the end you are always able to stand a little taller. We have had that principle proven in our lives in the last 8 weeks or so as we have decided to get married and start a new life together.

About a month ago, 2 weeks after we got engaged, Patricia woke up with a severe toothache. She went to the dentist the next day to find that she had an infection and needed a root canal. Because she is no longer on her parents' insurance the root canal had to be paid for out pocket. Taylor immediately started crunching the numbers and figuring how to make things work. Without any hesitation or reservation he decided to bust into his piggy bank that he had been saving since he could remember. Luckily for us Taylor was able to save over $500 in his bank and Patricia was able to get the work done that she needed.

About 2 weeks after "the dental crisis" Taylor was heading to school to take his lab final when a truck in front of him swerved causing him also to swerve and lose control of his car. The car behind him then hit the driver's side of Taylor's car. The airbags deployed causing Taylor to cut his lip and bang his arm up a bit but gratefully there were no serious injuries to any persons. However, Jack, (Taylor's car) was totaled. So now we are down to just one vehicle between the two of us. This has given us the chance to spend a lot more time together and provided some good conversations but it is a bit of a challenge to work schedules out sometimes. It is a blessing that we will be living on the campus because Patricia will be able to walk to work.

Our most recent (and hopefully last) hurdle happened just yesterday. One of the first items on our "to do" list after we were engaged was to schedule the building for the reception. We called the building scheduler several times and final got a hold of her. She said that her computer was down but it should be fine and when the computer was fixed she would schedule us in. About a week later Taylor decided to call and followup with her. We have been calling her ever since and leaving messages and have not heard back from her... until yesterday. Taylor called and finally got a hold of her. He asked if we were all set for Saturday and she claimed to have no recollection of ever speaking to Taylor. So we did not have the building but instead, a ward talent show was scheduled to take place that night! We called out the big guns and informed our Bishop of our dilemma. He called the lady who then admitted it was her mistake and called the other ward to to reschedule the talent show!

Of course the idea of not having a building to have our reception in was a bit stressful but Taylor's mom came up with the brilliant idea of a drive thru reception. We could park a few vehicles in a row. Taylor & Patricia can stand out there and shake hands as folks drive by. They can just throw the gifts in the back of Patricia's truck and then we will give a piece of cake as they drive out. We thought it would be appropriate given Taylor's current employer (Chick-Fila). We even were thinking we could have the cows from Chick-Fila come and welcome our guests. For those who wanted to hang around they could go inside and watch the talent show! But then we got the building situation figured out so that will just be our plan B!

SO.... that is what is going on with us! We are thinking that things usally come in 3's so we should be ok now! In all honesty we are greatful for the trials. They make us stronger individuals but also stronger as a couple. We have learned a lot about each other and how we deal with stress and trials in life. We don't expect that the test are over but we know we can handel all of them together! As Jon Bon Jovi would say, "we got each other and that's enough"!