Tay's Nature Shots

Tay spent some time out in the yard and woods last weekend taking photos. I think she's pretty darn good...maybe a future photography major/minor like Carol & John?

Yoda

I snapped this picture of Juneau in Mackinaw this weekend. A quote from Danielle, "He's wrinkley enough to pull this off!" When we went to the Island, he wore his hat the whole time, Danielle had her hat on with rounded bear type ears, and from time to time, Willow wore her Princess Leah style hat. I can't tell you how many people commented on the hats. Danielle should have had a backpack stuffed full of them to sell. She could have made a fortune!

The Mantle is Back Up

When we got back from Mackinaw Sunday night, Kevin put the mantle back up over the fireplace. Yes, that's a fire in the stove (very cozy)!

Willow Almost a Year Ago!

The Last of the Garden

We spent the evening cleaning out the last of the garden and digging potatoes. The potatoes are now in their dark, dry storage, but here are a few shots of the peppers and onions.

Game Room After

If you're not a fan of purple (which I typically am not), this might just be too much for you. It seems a little lighter in the pictures, but just try to picture it with darker carpet, a black futon couch, and lots of brushed nickle picture frames and silver & black lamps. When the painters started in this room, they got worried, and when Kevin walked in and said "OHHHHH...", they really got worried. They made him get me to come in and give my approval before they would continue. Notice that wall by the bookshelf is now a light brown color.

Suria, Are You Wearing Deodorant?

I would just hate for you to go a day without deodorant and I know how important wearing it is to you, so you just better check and be sure that you have some on. If not, you can always run to CVS on your break for another stick!

Dan Shaw, Don't Read This!

It's opening day of bowhunting season in Michigan, and Walker is going on his first hunt (you may recall the story that he teared up when Kevin bought him his first license). Last night, he and Kevin spent a little time getting their bows ready so that they could walk out the door at 6am. Several weeks ago, they bought a new blind that looks like a camo tent on a metal platform (which stands on steel legs up in the air). I'd be tempted to sneak back in the woods to take a picture of them in the blind, but they might shoot me! Here's to some fresh meat in the freezer for winter!

Game Room Before

The painters didn't get to the game room yesterday, so I snapped a few before shots last night when I got home. They arrived bright and early this morning to get started, so hopefully later today, I can post some "after" pictures. In this picture, I'm standing in the game room, facing the door out to the landing. The wall on the landing by the bookshelf is being painted brown as I type this. The game room will be a purple color (a color I never thought would enter my house, but go figure, I think it goes well with black and gray).

This is the north and east wall of the gameroom. The slanted ceiling will stay white, but the rest will go purple.
Finally, the southwest corner of the game room. The west wall will have wood on it up to the height of where the ceiling meets the walls on the south/north walls. Then, I will probably paint the wood to match. That way the old angled windows will be covered up. If you think back to when the kitchen and living/dining room downstairs had open ceiling, these were the upper slanted windows that were on both sides of the fireplace. Next summer, we will reside the house outside to cover the old windows from that direction!
For anyone visiting the Priest household in the future, this will be your bedroom! It's too bad that Bryce chooses to always stay with Jason, because the fouton couch in the game room will be facing the flat screen tv that will go up on the wall.

After pictures of the Living Room

So, again I complain about the quality of the cell phone pictures, but at least it helps me post more often! Here is a photo of our hallway downstairs after being painted brown. The coloring on the picture is not the best, but I love it in real life. This is the wall where the black and white photos of the kids usually hang (think baby Walker naked and full of mud, Taylor's faded out face that is sketched back in, the kids being tossed in the air at the 200 W. Pickard house, etc.).
I changed my mind about the orange color three times AFTER I told the painters what color to mix. Luckily they waited until the morning of painting before they actually mixed the paint! I was aiming for an orange similar to John and Danielle's kitchen when it was orange. My first several picks were very bright red/orange and looked more like Taylor's bedroom. I was drawn to them on the little paint cards, but knew that they would be too bright for me on the walls. I finally borrowed the color book from a different paint company, knowing that they could still mix those colors with the paint that I wanted. After that, I only had to call one more time to change my mind. I am VERY happy with the final color and the room already feels warm and comfy, even though there are no photos on the walls, no moulding, no curtains or even furniture.

"Auntie" Glasses

For those of you who didn't get the cell phone photo, here is a shot of Taylor in her new "Auntie" glasses. She rarely wears them because she also got contacts, but I forced her to let me take this shot.

Before Pictures

Me again! I missed you all, but life has been busy and I haven't replaced my camera after dumping water over it in Thailand. Anyway, I took a few cell phone photos of my house this morning before I left for work. As you remember from old photos, we have been under construction in almost every room in our house (but the bedrooms and bathrooms) for over a year. Well last week, we lived through a TON of drywall dust, but finally got everything drywalled, mudded, sanded and primed (I am now on antibiodic for a sinus infection and cough syrup with codine by the way)! Yesterday the weather forcast announced rain, which means that the painters were able to move us ahead of their outside painting jobs. I am hoping that when I get home tonight, I will be able to post "after" photos of newly painted walls. Here are a few terrible shots of the primed walls (they primed in gray to prepare for my darker colored paint). The living room and kitchen will be a spice color (burnt orange), the hallway and stairwell will be a brown color, and the new game room (no before photos today) will be a steely purple color.

The north end of the living room (we also ripped the molding out so that it could be replaced with a lighter color)

The south end of the living room and kitchen. The cedar beam that goes over the fireplace is waiting patiently out in the garage, but is ready to be hung.

The hallway going up the stairs.

After the painting is done, then comes the new carpet. We are definately wiping out our savings on this one!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I want to tell you a story about a young girl (I believe that she was in 4th grade at the time) who was on a road trip to Florida. At one point in the trip, she was forced to use one of those scary gas station restrooms, where you have to go throught the "Employees Only" door, treck across a storage room to the small dingy bathroom at the back. Now this girl hadn't yet reached the independence she achieved later in life, and so she had her big sister go along with her (which right now is going to prove to be a mistake). Not wanting to catch any germs from the toilet seat, this girl squatted over the toilet and dropped a log right on the back of the seat. She then immediately proceeded to gag and dry heave, and ran out of the bathroom refusing to do anything about her droppings. Now this little girl obviously did not have the same reaction as her mother, but I guess that there are some things that you can never change!

Juneau is Here!

Here is the newest Nelson, born within the last 10 minutes. All I know is his first and last name, but I'm already a proud Aunt CeCe. I can definately say that I believe he has Willow's mouth. Look at that!

Labor Day in Mackinaw

These posts are terribly out of order, but that's what happens when you're trying to catch up on a month's worth of posts at the same time that your sister-in-law is giving birth to the next Nelson! So, have fun jumping between stories! We again spent our Labor Day holiday in Mackinaw and walked the big bridge. My friend Jenny Mankel (Myers) from high school joined us with her four children Keenen (I can't spell it right), Kortney, Kyleigh and Kameron. We had a great weekend eating out, playing in the water and on the boat, picnicing in the tree fort (this was the kids) and walking the bridge. All 6 kids (mine included) walked the 5 mile bridge along with Jenny and I!

For a couple of minutes, Tay found another 7th grader from Shepherd Middle School, and they walked side-by-side comparing their upcoming class schedules for the 1st day of school (the next day).

Please look carefully at Kyleigh's arm (she's the one holding hands with Tay). This is my kind of girl! She carried her purse with her everywhere, including on this 5 mile hike.

Poor Jenny gets the most credit for the walk. She had one kid or another on her shoulders for more than 1/2 of the way. I guess all of that firefighter training is starting to pay off.

We all made it safe and sound to the finish line!

Susu, you would be so proud! The kids went back to the old method of catching crawfish by using a hot dog on a stick and wading into the water to catch them with their hands. After everyone went to bed, they finally called it quits and had me boil them up. Taylor, Keenan (I know I'm spelling it wrong) and Walker took turns getting them out of the pan, took a mini lesson on peeling off the tail shells (sorry Kirk & Derick, but they wouldn't suck the brains), and they each ate at least one!

During our two hour boat ride, we saw three barges up close!


Jenny and the kids

It was finally dry and warm enough to have a summer fire down in the beach fire pit.

We're Having a Baby Today

Well, ok it's really John and Danielle, but I consider all of these neices and nephews mine in some sense!

Danielle was scheduled to be induced this morning (Sunday). When I saw her yesterday she compared a scheduled inducement to knowing that you were about to give yourself a paper cut! She looks pretty happy here, but this was before they hooked up the pain causing drugs!

Meanwhile, Bear played in his first flag football game this afternoon. My mom, dad, Tay & Walk got there to catch the end of the game. My dad said that Bear's team came in 2nd and the other team came in next to last.

Things look like they are definately progressing!