One Year

It's hard to believe it's been a year already since Daniel was born! I miss him a lot today.

I am so grateful for the time we had with him. I have never felt so much love, and the spirit so strongly as I did those days he was with us. He has a very precious spirit.

We have learned that just because someone dies doesn't mean the Lord hasn't performed miracles...Daniel was a miracle in MANY ways. Our experience with him has taught us a lot. We feel so grateful for him and are excited for the day when we will see him and be with him again! We also feel blessed that we have felt so at peace, and know that it was his time to go.

We love you Daniel

My Dad brought us a book when he came for the graveside service that a friend gave him called "Angel Children". It explains the doctrine of children who die before age 8 and is very insightful. Here are a few quotes from it that have really touched us:

"...the Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth; therefore, if rightly considered, instead of mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil, and we shall soon have them again...

The only difference between the old and the young dying is, one lives longer in heaven and eternal light and glory than the other, and is freed a little sooner from this miserable, wicked world. Notwithstanding, all this glory, we for a moment lose sight of it, and mourn the loss, but we do not mourn as those without hope." -Joseph Smith, HC, IV, 553-54

"Joseph Smith declared that the mother who laid down her little child, being deprived of the privilege, the joy, and the satisfaction of bringing it up to manhood or womanhood in this world, would, after the resurrection, have all the joy, satisfaction and pleasure , and even more than it would have been possible to have had in mortality, in seeing her child grow to the full measure of the stature of its spirit..when she does it there, it will be with the certain knowledge that the results will be without failure; whereas here the results are unknown until after we have passed the test." -Gospel Doctrine, p 453-54

"The spirits of our children are immortal before they come to us, and their spirits, after bodily death, are like they were before they came. They are as they would have appeared if they had lived in the flesh, to grow to maturity, or to develop their physical bodies to the full stature of their spirits. If you see one of your children that has passed away, it may appear to you in the form in which you would recognize it, the form of childhood; but if it came to you as a messenger bearing some important truth, it would perhaps come in the stature of a full grown man..." -Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 455

"We have more friends behind the veil than on this side, and they will hail us more joyfully than you were ever welcomed by your parents and friends in this world; and you will rejoice more when you meet them than you ever rejoiced to see a friend in this life; and then you shall go on from step to step, from rejoicing to rejoicing and from one intelligence and power to another, our happiness becoming more and more exquisite and sensible as we proceed in the words and powers of life." -Brigham Young, JD, VI, p. 349

"Little children who die before the age of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom..."

-Joseph Fielding Smith, "Little Children in the Celestial Kingdom," Improvement Era, Oct '56, p. 702

I also loved the words of Elder Christofferson this conference,

"A central purpose of the mortal experience is that each spirit should receive a body and learn to exercise moral agency in a tabernacle of flesh. A physical body is also essential for exaltation, which comes only in the perfect combination of the physical and the spiritual, as we see in our beloved, resurrected Lord. In this fallen world, some lives will be painfully brief; some bodies will be malformed, broken, or barely adequate to maintain life; yet life will be long enough for each spirit, and each body will qualify for resurrection."

-D. Todd Christofferson, "Reflections on a Consecrated Life" Oct 2010

The Beautiful Tetons

We hiked Table Rock this summer with some friends from the ward and Kris's brother Joel. It was a very strenuous hike, but awesome to be right at the foot of the Tetons once we reached the top! I love the mountains. Hiking and being in nature is so refreshing to me.

Family Togetherness

This summer we have had some fun opportunities to spend with family-which we really enjoy, especially since most of our family lives away. Earlier in the summer two of my sisters got married, and near the end of the summer two of Kris's sisters got married. Talk about a summer of weddings! We enjoyed being a part of all of them and we are excited about the new additions to the family.

Marion and Josh Got married in August in Auburn, WA

and Dad Brian performed the ceremony.

Their daughters (our nieces) Hannah and Olivia made very adorable flower girls :)

One month later, Michon and Steve got married in Philomath, OR

and Josh performed the Ceremony.

Nielson Family

We spent a couple of extra days both in Washington and Oregon

and enjoyed hanging out with Kris's parents and other family that was there.

In July, my brother Nathan and sister Whitney came to visit us for part of a week. We had so much fun with them! Here are some pictures of the adventures we had with them:

We went to Badger Creek for the weekend and were able to go horseback riding and camp in a Teepee. In the morning while we were making breakfast,

the horses wandered over right where we were! It was pretty cool to be surrounded by grazing horses.

We all took a turn at a really high rope swing which was quite breathtaking and fun.

On the way home from Badger creek we went swimming near St. Anthony and played in the sand Dunes. We had a GREAT time being with them and were sad to see them go back home to Colorado.

We are looking forward to going home to Colorado for Christmas this year, and feel so lucky we were recently able to spend a week and a half with Scott and Jennie in China! (More to come about our China trip).

We are so grateful for our wonderful families and cherish time to be together.

SUMMER TIME!

We have had a great summer so far! Here are some of the fun things we have been doing when we are not working:

Our friend Nicholas took us and our Niece Lily on her first plane ride! He let Kris fly the plane for a few minutes too, which he LOVED!

We have enjoyed spending time with family. We were able to spend some time with my family in Utah and Nauvoo, IL before and after the weddings. I was also able to go spend a week at home in Colorado and help my Mom with Chemo. It was great to be home with the family. She is doing remarkable too.

We had a couple great visits here in Rexburg from Kris's Parents. We always enjoy their visits. We've had some fun get togethers with the Niece's here in town too...It's so fun to watch them grow!

This last weekend we went to Utah for Kris's Grandpa Perkes Funeral. It was well done, and really nice to be there with the immediate and extended family to honor a great man that we love!

Girl's Camp! Stake Girl's Camp was in June. It went really well and was a lot of fun.

I was the camp director for the ward again, and was glad I got to do it again this year! The theme was blossoming testimonies, and it was a neat experience to be a part of. I love these leaders and girls!

Kris and I have also been on a couple of camping trips which have been a lot of fun. (I forgot to take pictures...oops.) We went on a camping trip to West Yellowstone, which was beautiful. We visited a really neat Wolf and Bear exhibit the next day.

We also went camping at Kelly Canyon and were able to try out our new camping stove! (It works great if you were wondering).

We spent the 4th of July in Driggs, ID. What a great place! There is a beautiful view of the Teton Mountains, the people are very friendly, and we found some fun things to do there. We went mountain biking for a couple hours on a scenic trail, and then we came back for lunch and staked out a spot on Huntsman Springs Driving range to listen to Glenn Beck give a speech, and then watch fireworks. Since we got there early, we were able to meet him! What a nice guy. We really enjoyed his inspiring speech, and the fireworks were great!

We are looking forward to more warm weather, a couple more weddings at the end of the summer, and a visit from my younger brother and sister!

NEW...

Kris and I have inherited a few "new" things lately:

1. A new brother in law!

My younger sister Kristen got married on May 1 to Brent Ludwig in the Nauvoo, IL temple. The wedding day was wonderful and they are SO happy together! (Brent's parents were Kris's mission presidents so they have known each other a long time and are very excited to be brothers now!) We also got to visit a few church sites during the weekend which was really neat.

2. ANOTHER new brother in law!

My older sister Annie got married on May 29 to Ian Finlay in the Salt Lake City, UT Temple. I couldn't ask for a better guy for her. He is awesome, and treats her really well. They are so cute together!

3. Last, and not quite as exciting. . . we got a new (used) car! We are grateful to have 2 cars now so we can both get to work, meetings and do errands when we need to. It's a Saab we got for a good deal, and we like it!

That's pretty much the update. We are enjoying life and feel very blessed in many ways.

Family Pics

Our Little Family

Lincoln Beach, Oregon (during Christmas)

The Nielson Family

Christmas 2009

DANIEL

Daniel Nielson

Daniel Nielson was born Wednesday, November 11 at 7:59 am. He was 4 lb 15 oz and was 18 inches long! He passed away peacefully Thursday, November 12 at 7:45 pm. Because of some complications and abnormalities he had, we had been told previously that he would probably not live for very long. We felt so BLESSED that he was with us for 36 hours! We enjoyed lots of good snuggle time with him, and Kris was able to give him a name and a blessing.

It was a beautiful and spiritual experience.

We were able to have a viewing and grave side service here in Rexburg with some family members this weekend. We feel so grateful for the knowledge that we can be together forever as a family and that the Lord has a plan for Daniel. We know he is in a better place with a lot of work to do! We have felt very comforted and strengthened by all the prayers in our behalf. Here are some pictures of Daniel:

Mama's Boy

Daniel's First Bath (Dad and Grandma)

Daniel's First Meal

"So Daniel was taken up out of the [lions] den... because he believed in his God."

-Daniel 6:23