Em's graduation!

On May 8, 2010, EMILY GRADUATED from NAU!

She got her BS in Parks and Recreation Management. She is still working on her internship but will be completely done and ready for the real world by the end of summer! We got to go to Flagstaf for the weekend (Taylor had to stay home and work... yuck!) It was a nice graduation ceremony then we went to Outback Steakhouse then back to our hotel, The Little America. It was nice to be able to spend the weekend with the family! We are so proud of Emster!

On Sunday we went to a formal brunch at the hotel for Mother's day!

The Survival trip!

vhe last weekend of April Taylor and Patricia went on a 3 day 2 night survival trip! We were each allowed 1 sleeping bag, a poncho, 2 water bottles, a knife, and a tin cup. We made our own shelter and started our own fire and ate off the land. It was a grueling 6 hour hike in and miserable 4 hour hike out. It pushed us to the end of rope and then pushed a little more! The second night we were solo, so we had to make our own fire, set up our own shelter. I am not sure what was worse, the cold, the fact we were with 10 strangers trying to pull together as a team, the rugged terrain, the lack of food, the lack of sleep, or just being pushed so far out of your comfort zone! But we made it and we are stronger because of it! The good news is that neither of us fought with each other the whole time! It was cool to see how we really came together as a couple and helped each other. Especially Taylor, he was so survival trip. o protective! As hard as it was I definitely recommend it for all people, especially newlyweds!


Taylor realized AFTER he had built his shelter that there 2 ant hills on either side of him. So he made a deal with the ants that of they ate him he would eat every last one of them! (Yes he really would have... he was snacking on a different colony earlier that day)! Luckily no ants were harmed as a result of revenge The last weekend of April Taylor and Patricia went on a survival trip. TAYLOR SNACKING ON ANTS!

Greenwood Wedding!

On April 24th, Erin got married to Willie Greenwood! They had a beautiful wedding in Las Vegas! We got there Saturday morning due to Taylor's work schedule so we missed all the fun with the bachelor/bachelorette parties. But we got
to ride in stretch hummer to the chapel from Willie's sister's house. The minister was a perfect Vegas minister with his deep southern draw. But he had some very nice things to say and Erin and Willie wear beaming with happiness! It was a beautiful ceremony!

It was fun to be able to spend a few night in Vegas! We gambled alot but luckily did not loose a lot! Patricia even won $50 at BINGO!The Fountains at the Belagio were my favorite! This is a view from the top of the Eiffel Tower!

UPDATE

Life is expensive!
Due to a credit we thought we could get but found out we could not, on our tax return, I am sad to announce that Disney World has been postponed! We were going to still try to scrape our pennies and make it happen, however Patricia's older sister announced her long awaited wedding date! April 24th she will be married to Willie Greenwood in Las Vegas! So we are doing a little wedding with just the family! We are sad to not be going to Disney but so excited to be able to see them get married! Willie is a great guy and we couldn't be happier for them! Erin got accepted to Ross vet school in the Virgin Islands! THey will be moving down there in September!
We spent a weekend in Eagar with Erin & Willie and had a blast! Lacey loved playing with her big doggie cousins, Brutis (a great dane) and Mae Mae (a mastiff/boxer/American bulldog mix). We even got snow! It was fun to be there with the Sherman's! Taylor, Patricia's Dad, and Willie went fishing on Saturday and Taylor caught his first fish! It was a 17.5 inches rainbow trout!! He leaned how to clean it and we had it for dinner and it was DELICIOUS!
We had a great Easter with Taylor's side of the family and loved General Conference! Saturday we got to have an Easter celebration with Scott and Christine and the little ones! We dyed eggs and had a great time!
We have had a little bit of conflict regarding the terms of my Community Assistant job but with a little compromise we were able to work it out. ASU stimpulates that a Community Assistant only has 20 hours of outside employment. Since Patricia works 40 hours a week at college safety this was an issue. However, no mention of it was made until after she was hired. She went and met with the supervisor and was informed that either she goes down to part time or she cannot be a CA. This was a little irratating as she was upfront about her employment situation from the begining and was still offered the job. The supervisor was appologetic for not making the stipulation known before hand. So Patricia had the option of either going down to part time or giving up the CA job. After crunching some numbers and praying about it, we have decided that it will be best for her to go down to partime starting in August. She is excited for the simi break from work and we will still be able to save a considerable ammount each month! *DISNEY HERE WE COME*=)

This week was spring break and we spent it moving!!!! We are now living in Norht Desert Village which is nice because it is about 5 minute walk to Patricia's work. We were greatful to have Patricia's dad come and help us on Thursday. Lacey was a bit stressed out with all the moving but she is adjusting. Our new house is bigger and the bedrooms/bathrooms are on opposite sides so Emily can have some more privacy! On Saturday Taylor helped some people from our ward move out (Taylor just got a second calling as Ward Moving Coordinator), and was able to get a white picket fence for us! Our new house a little partion in the back but it is not fully enclosed so now we can work on getting it closed off so Lacey will have a little yard. We also had a communty yard sale on Saturday and were able to raise $60 for our Disney trip! Speaking of our Disney trip... our tax refund was about $1,000 less then what we thought it would be so are not sure we will be able to go the Disney World in July. So if anyone has any offers... so far Taylor has resorted to selling his own plasma and swimming in a freezing cold pool. Yep, he'd do ALMOST anything!

Adventures await us!

Well... we have some exciting news.... no we are not pregnant- it's better... We are going to Disney World! We got a good tax refund and Taylor's friend is getting married in Florida so we figured since we are going down there we might as well go all out! This will be Taylor's 19th time and Patricia's 1st! We can't wait! Our little Lacey will be spending the week with Grandma and Grandpa Sherman! They are excited to have their grandpuppy come visit!

Patricia got accepted to be a Community Assistant for North Desert Village starting in August. There are many benefits that will come from this job the best being free rent for a year! We are moving over spring break week into a 2 bedroom house in North Desert then when Patricia starts her CA job in August we will move into a 3 bedroom house! We are excited to have sort of a yard for Lacey.

Taylor completed his application for Nursing School and will find out at the end of April where he is on the waiting list. Then there is a minimum wait of 3 semesters before he can begin the program! We are excited it is getting closer!

Emily is still living with us and we love having her around! Tuesdays and most Fridays and "Tricia & Em night" which is a blast! (Taylor joins us when he can but is usually at work)

So we just are continuing to love life and enjoy all of our blessings. We are very fortunate and grateful for all we have been given. We hope you all are doing well also!

Ok, since 1 of the 3 people who actually do read my blog is getting on me... I will blog!
Our lives are still going great! Patricia is back on 7am-3pm shifts and Taylor still works most nights. Although he is off a bit more now with school. So we get to spend more time together. We just celebrated our first Valentine's Day together which was wonderful! It is so great to know you have a forever Valentine! Taylor teaches Gospel Principles every week and Patricia teaches Relief Society once a month. It is challenging but fun! We are enjoying having class together although the teachers are a bit frustrating. We love our survival class though and can not wait to go on our 3 day survival trip! Lacey is doing well, still as hyper as ever but for the most part she is a good pup!

We went on a backpacking trip a few weeks ago and each carried a 45 plus pound pack for a one night trip! We are excited to learn the survival skills so we will not have to carry so much next time! We didn't even take a tent! We just slept under the stars in the beautiful Superstitions! It was wonderful!

Patricia's grandmother passed away at the age of 94 after a painful battle with cancer. We will miss her very much but are grateful to have known her!

We celebrated our 6 month anniversary on Feb 8th by going to Red Lobster which was a fantastic treat and surprise from Taylor!

Patricia's sister Emily got an internship in Gilbert and will be moving into our spare room on Feb 22nd! We are excited to have her around!

That's about it... nothing to exciting! I will have to try to be better at thinking of funny stories that happen throughout the week to blog about.

Overdue update!

OH MY GOODNESS! I seriously have not written since October? Goodness I am such a slacker! Alright, well since I know you are all dying to know what been going on with the Nelsons... pull up a chair, warm up some hot cocoa and get comfy cause 3 months is a long time in the life of newly weds!

First, an overall update... we are FANTASTIC! Patricia moved to nights for winter break so we get most days off together at least until 3. It makes it a bit harder to keep up with the house work since I am not stuck at home all night now. Our puppy is still doing great! She is finally healthy and so full of energy. We take her to the dog park to let her run and play. As long as there are no "moving chew toys" (AKA small dogs) she loves it! We love her! We got a second car thanks to Taylor's sweet sister, Ashley. It will be nice to not have to work out who will take the truck!

Now on to our adventures... in October we went to the state fair for the day. We had a blast playing the games and even got to go to a free Lady Antebellum concert. I am slowly turning Taylor into a country music fan. It is a tough job but one step at a time! We also tried out some "fried foods" like a fried twinkie, fried snickers, and of course, a fried scorpion! The entire day we had our eyes set on these 4 foot Scooby Doo Dolls that were a prize for the ring toss game. You know, that impossible-to-win-game with the coke bottles and itty bitty rings. Well we played about 4 times and with our last 2 tickets of the night we gave it one more go. Patricia was ready to go home so she was just half heartedly tossing them when to the surprise of everyone, mostly the guy that worked there... SHE HOOKED IT! Scooby now sits in the corner of our living room baracaded by the couch so Lacey won't find him! GO PATRICIA!!! We think the fair will have to be an annual tradition.

Thanksgiving was fun. We started the morning off doing the Turkey Trott (marathon not the dance). Taylor's parents and brother & sister-in-law and us did the 1 mile fun run! Taylor & his mom ran the whole way and finished in about 9 minutes. Then we went down to Patricia's parents where we had a delicious feast!

Patricia was able to talk Taylor into joining the madness of Black Friday by telling him that Sports Authority was giving a gift card between $10 and $500 to the first 80 customers. So at 3 am we joined the crowd and sat out in front of the store... we got $10 each! Then we went to the Disney store anf bought some cute Mickey & Minne Stockings, then Home Depot and purchased our first Christmas tree together (also Taylor's first real Christmas tree)! We were done with our Black Friday adventures by 7:30am!

Our first Christmas together was spent with Taylor's family. We spent Christmas Eve at his parents and had tamlaes and chili then opened our PJ presents! Christmas morning we were woken up by Santa at 6:30 am! Santa was very good to us and we got new internal frame backpacking backpacks! After our celebration at home we went to Taylor's brother & sister-in-law's, Scott & Christine's in Sun City. Then we headed over to some good friends of the Nelson's, the Jackson's for a wonderful dinner! We celebrated with the Sherman's on Jan 3rd so we got spoiled twice! The Sherman Santa gave us many great things including a popcorn maker! We are so thankful for all that our familes do for us!

New Year's Eve was spent just the two of us watching movies. It was pretty uneventful, we looked at each other half way through a movie and said "Happy New Year!" We are, nevertheless, excited for 2010 and all the fun we will have!

This semester Taylor and Patricia are finising up thier Associate's Degrees. Luckily we needed the same classes so we are taking 2 classes togehter which ensures us 3 nights a week together. We are also going to go to institute once a week and we are taking an Outdoor Survival Class together! We are super excited! Taylor is applying to the nursing program at Mesa Community College. After he applies we will have a 3 semester wait (a year and a half)!

So life is good! We are loving being married and being with each other! We hope you are all also doing well! We'd love to hear from you some time!