A man of courage is also full of faith. Marcus Tullius Cicero

2011-10-31T20:31:00.000-07:00

While tanner was still in afganistan. He told me he planned a Surprise birthday/anniversary since he missed those things. We successfully waited for the actual surprise. It was so fun and may i add he did a pretty good job planning. he scrapbooked the itinerary. (i love his creativity) the day we started we Went shopping at the outlets, Ate dinner at Red Banjo on mainstreet. (pizza and pasta) we ordered the silver king. then went to the rocky mountain chocolate factory for dessert. second day at breakfast at the romantic burger king. lol tanner ordered in room 1 hour massages. It was heaven. the girls did amazing job. it was my first massage and i love it. then we went back down mainstreet cause i love that place and i love the fall leaves down there. after we went to tj max for a bit more shopping. then got icecream and hot cocoa and 2 red box and went back to our hotel. I STAYED AWAKE FOR TWO FULL MOVIES. thats a big deal. lol and the next day ate breakfast at kneaders and went home. I loved my get away with him Tanner is doing awesome so far. its been a bit over two weeks and we are loving our time together. we have so much fun laughing, cuddling, hanging out, talking, and catching up on old times. I love him so much.

the sweet itinerary.
isnt this such a fun fence?

MY handsome
I love Tanner and I love fall leaves in P.C
some random vacant patio with coke stools, tables and umbrella's.
Wonderful getaway with the ONe WHom I LOvE

"OUR PLACE"

2011-10-31T19:57:00.000-07:00

Tanner chuckin his rocks.

One friday we decided to take a walk. Now if you know me and tanner you know we love DAYBREAK. well we came around the bend and saw a million seaguls. The child in tanner just had to throw a rock at them. so He threw a small rock and sure enough all the seagulls arose all together and started flying around and squacking. well we didnt have the camera dang it. so we waited till sunday to come back. well we didnt see many birds in the first part of the lake so we kept on walking. and came to this part. well we threw many rocks and the birds must have been immune. cause they didnt do awhole lot. so i said lets just sit here for awhile im sure something will happen. a husband and wife decided to go canoeing and as soon as they threw their canoe in the water the birds all arose together and once again flew in circles. its so awesome!! I just love having tanner home with me. going back to daybreak on our weekly walks.

Ducks, seagulls, and geese chillen

Here they are right as the canoe landed in the water
Flying around in circles
Birds in Flight
AHHHH they are going to poop on me

Me just chillen in the nice fall weather with my husband.

I love you tanner

LAST GIRLS NIGHT

2011-10-31T19:36:00.001-07:00

All of a sudden Anne and I realized OH MY the guys are coming home pretty soon we better do one last girls night. But we were both so busy and didnt have much time so we chose to have BREAKFAST FOR DINNER. it was fun and quick. Well I love these girls and the three lil ones did AMAZING during their daddies deployment. THey def had rough days but all in all i think they did great. So i decided to make them hot pink posters telling them how much i love them along with a bag of ring pops cause what little girl doesnt like those? we have had a blast during the 16 months our guys have been gone and we have had sad times and awnery times. We are BFF's
EMMA modeling fashionista
laura. and her treat was the push up sucker in the other photo and boy did she love it!
savannah she loves getting her picture taken i took about 5
Sweet emma
and Savannah also loves!!! to take photos
Cute laura
Savannah was so into her hot chocolate.

Thanks again girls for being my best friend through such a hard year. I wouldnt have gotten through it without you guys.

BEST DAY

2011-10-23T15:46:00.001-07:00

I woke up october 15th. I felt the same exact way i did August 7th. Our wedding day. I could not have been more excited, relieved, more at peace, happy, and full of motivation than i did this morning. I sent tanner to his first training july 10th 2010, and said good bye 5 different times. It was prob the hardest, saddest, draining year of my life. I have so much pride. I love tanner so much my words could not explain. I dreamed of this day the way most girls dream of their wedding day. and it turned out 100 percent what i had hoped for. seeing tanner for the first time was soooo happy. as i watched the airplane fly into hill air force base i got all teary eyed. WE did it is what first came to mind. at times i didnt think i could make it. i prayed some days 5 times. asking for the safety of tanner and his battle buddies. I was truly blessed. i know tanner was watched after. i know my prayers were answered. Me and tanner survived our last deployment together. It feels soooo amazing. I will never have to go through that again. Tanner I love you
I love this picture.

we are so Happy to be in each others arms again.

I have so many people to thank. My mom and dad supported perfect. My mom never let me leave without giving me a huge hug since tanner wasnt here to do so. my dad was always so upbeat and happy. and always asked how SWEETY (tanner) was. tanners parents and family. His mom always hand delivered my flowers for tanner each holiday. i could not have survived without these to families. always took care of me. My room mates for always checking on me and keeping me involved. whitney especially. She cooked me dinner so many times and always came to my house to keep me company. of course tanner. he called very often and did his best keeping our marriage afloat. and my church members. going to church each week would motivate me for the following week. and so many other people. i love everyone who helped me. i will admit i was not always the nicest person. you would be able to tell if i was very stressed or had a bad conversation with tanner cause would be very awnery. but i am now very happy and motivated. i can now say I LOVE MY LIFE.

rest in peace ARRUDA

2011-07-31T15:27:00.000-07:00

I am a proud wife of Tanner Nelsen. I have been supporting him in the army for 7 years now. He is my Hero. I am sooooo in love with him. He is such a sweet husband and has done a wonderful job of supporting me through 2 deployments. I can always feel his love for me. He has lost One of his Amazing battle buddies. what a strong set of guys he is with. Every one of them are amazing. It will be a rough road ahead, how ever CPL ARRUDA Will never be forgotten. I love our soldiers and will always support them.

I hope you enjoy this movie i made of the funeral. I got permission from his father to video tape and take photos. I made this on behalf of our soldiers still in afghanistan fighting. we pray for your comfort and safety.

Tanner I love you with all my heart. You are my best friend and forever my HERO

P.s I hope this copy will show up good. The one i have on my computer is the actual one.sometimes blogs dont present the best quality.

Flowers for grandma and Ring

2011-03-19T22:13:00.000-07:00

So me and tanner decided to get his grandma some flowers. I had been wanting to do so for a few months. well I finally did. Isnt she so cute? and she just loved them. And i was able to sit and chat with her for a while. i love talking with grandmas especially about when they were my age its so great to hear how it was in their generation. Tanner I love you so much and your grandma absolutely loves them.

Ok so Me and tanner both suck at surprises. WE just get so dang excited!!! so one day he said so i bought you a surprise and the next day he said "so do you want to know what i got you? cause im so excited." lol i just love him. he told me he got me a ring. Now tanner Loves getting me authentic jewelry from where he deploys and i SO love it. He just puts so much thought into what he gets me. When he was in iraq he got me awesome necklaces and earings i love them. so luckily our friend tim came home on R.R and tanner sent the ring with him so i would get it sooner. Well friday came and TA DA isnt it so cute? hand made from afghanistan. Tanner told me they go hunting through the mountains around there for the gems. I Just jewelry from places like iraq and afghanistan knowing the conditions of the place. And i love tanner so very much for his thoughtfulness in always thinking what he can get me. Tanner if you read this your my best friend!! thank you so much.

VINTAGE STEREO CABINET

2011-03-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

DO IT YOURSELF PROJECT DAY

It was so much fun to get together with my dear friend Keesha. We explored many D.I's this day. One in salt lake and then one on Highland drive (which was so hard for us to find. Luckily we didn't give up cause this is where i found My awesome find. A lamp. We spray painted frames, made a lamp and i tried to get a mirror out which ended in me breaking the mirror and slashing my thumb. dont worry i got it all on film. for tanner of course. ( again im sorry for breakin it keesh:)
I love Blog land. I have seen these super cute stereo cabinets all over different blogs. Well i decided i really wanted one. i was done having that large entertainment center in my house. so I had been searching the D.I. for a while and ksl. No luck for a few weeks. one morning i thought ok i guess i will call jen ( she is the ksl queen and can find anything. see that green end table she found that for me for just 5 dollars) anyways i call her and explain what i want. Her reply "oh ya i found one yesterday for 25 dollars." oh my heck are you serious? luckily i found out that yep it hadnt sold it was totally meant to be mine. So here is the before. I love it.
got so excited about this that i didnt get a total before. the whole thing was hideous brass. 6 dollars at the highland D.I
And same with this frame. brass. I got this from a yard sale for 2 dollars. OH HEY!!!!
Almost done. I am loving it.
The beginning of a huge project.

First things first i had to sand the whole thing. I then vacuumed most of it before washing it.
Two coats of primer.
Two coats of cream. Don't ya just love the record player and Vintage radio? I do.
Then every idea i had for the speaker boxes had cost alot so i came up with this idea. This is plastic shield for your ceiling lights. 4 dollars I was going to leave it clear but then i thought maybe it would look cheap so i decided to test and see if it was paintable. of course it was. so i primed it and painted. and antiqued a bit.
Here it is all done. I love love it. However we have an old box t.v so it looks ghetto on top. Possibly tanner will want to buy an updated tv when he arrives home to see me. 29 dollars total. Gotta love projects that keep me busy for 2 weeks while tanner is serving our country.
Dont you just love the detail. I sure do however it is a pain to paint it. I didnt enjoy that part.

Here is my finished lamp. dont those blocks make you smile? they put a huge smile on my face
And here is my 2 dollar frame. So freakin cute.
The End.

2010-10-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Wheeler Farm

so Me and tan man decided to take Nathan, Ruby and Jenna to wendy's and then the farm. It was such a fun day. such great kids. Highlights: Not to happy but jenna got bit by a goose, going through the antique barn, petting animals, going on a little hike, playing on the teetor totter, getting a snack at the country store.

Jenna

Ruby
Nathan....he makes the best faces.
girls feeding the ducks

driving the cool tractor
me and my love
So the dress she is wearing is always called her party dress.

you will always see jenna in dresses. but only this is her

party dress. so we took a picture of her in it in front of the party

house. I taught her to curtsy
jenna and ruby
Nathan

2010-10-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

The state fair

On the list of things to do we chose to go to the fair. it was a bit of a bust but we still had some fun. Mainly we liked seein the animals. And really any time with tanner is amazing. he is such a loving husband.

2010-10-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

GRANDMA'S COPPER BELT

So my mom inherited her mom's copper belt. It is an awesome belt. well i decided i want to wear it to go with my new pencil skirt. (this is the outfit i wore to pick up tanner in) if you look closely there are rings. well my grandma was so tiny that she only needed the one little loop. such a fun belt. and the shoes I got in an antique shop in montague michigan.

2010-10-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK

So happy for my handsome. Its a bit out of order. But the day before he came home to me they were able to go to new york for the day. They all totally deserved it. He loved it and it was so awesome to see the pictures. they pretty much raced around everywhere to see it all. He did mention how he would like to go with just me so we could do what we wanted when we wanted. but it was still a great finish to those pointless 3 weeks in new jersey. I love tanner

2010-09-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

Yellow Ribbon

Tanners unit sent us all to vegas for family briefings. We got there at like 10:45 friday night. it was nice to go with the whole unit. I now know why tanner always takes so long. its tough to get 150 guys through airport checkin and hotel checkin let alone having them

all bring someone. Sat 8 till 4 were briefings. and lots of info given to us about the deployment. afterwards the hotel wanted to do something nice for all of us so they held social event giving out free drinks. we then caught a taxi to the strip and gambled, and ate dinner. WE just love tim and anne. Higgins another guy in their platoon came along with us. sunday was more briefings after we swam and waited to go home. which took another 5 hours to get home.

The awesome dinner we got on our charter flight.
You gotta love a smiley face
Me and handsome at johnny rockets
Tim and anne we love themGotta love a man in uniform

Me and tan man at the water show

LT Higgins. he just won big. yes I helped him win 25 of that.

2010-09-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

Me and tan man love going shooting together. so we woke up early tuesday morning and went west of the lake. we took a microwave to shoot and stopped at smiths to get a 12 pack of big K soda. we have so much fun together. I just love him so much. gotta soak in every second i can

Handsome bein "gangsta"
Me and handsome
He loves me and i love him

2010-09-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

Sleepover At Aunt Juli's House

What did we do??? well of course we made muddy buddies. These 3 boys love love love them. so every time we spend time together thats what we make. then we watched a film. i want to say we watched shrek but i dont remember. also i video taped them for tanners video. its so freakin cute. love these boys. i cant wait till we can add aleah to the gang.

2010-08-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

Video that was made for me and tanner before he leaves for deployment. Sara Did an amazing job. I just love her

2010 In a nut shell

2010-08-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

Valentines Day- Five mile pass

How many people can fit on carl?

Hurray whitney came back! Roommates forever

Goblin valley. Cooper Kate Dad

Tanner Hang on the mans nose

Craft night!!

Goofy kylie and Karen

2010 Military Ball. Isnt he handsome??

Wednesday picnic day

Fireworks at the bees game with Autumn and dillan

Me and husband at bees game

Autumn And Dillan

Tanner D Nelsen Julianne Nelsen

2010-08-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

This is the man i am in love with. It has been a wonderful one year for the two of us. also i feel as i look back it has gone by quite quickly. We have done tons of fun things together, camping with both our families, wednesday picnic days, many many walks at daybreak, got my new set of blades, lots of dessert nights, gone to the temple many times, faught, laughed, california, disneyland, midnight betos run, hung out with the fam, hiked, and loads of other fun stuff. In january we found out that for sure he would be deploying, so we jammed in as much stuff as we could think of. it has been a very hard 8 months. the anticipation has killed tanner and I. we have cried and while i cry he just holds me. Tan rocks at cuddle time. July 10 through sept 13 he is gone. ST louis, fort irwin, and new jersey. Been a very emotional time for me. luckily i have had tons of support and friends to hang out with. I get to jump in his arms september 13th and i cant wait. he loves me with all his heart. and i am so blessed for that. i couldnt ask for more. He will deploy oct 7th and that will be quite challenging. I was told by my bishop: one day at a time or even one hour at a time. he is 100 percent correct. when i think of 13 months it overwhelms me and i get very sad. but the fact that i have such a handsome husband who loves and cares for me we both can get through this. AFG will be the last deployment and 9 months he will be out of the service. Tanner is a responsible, humble and righteous man. I am so proud of him. he is an amazing soldier.

Wonderful Friend

2010-08-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

Yes it has been A year in a half since i have blogged. Mainly because i forgot how to do all this, and because my old background was ugly. Well wonderful sara has taught me how to get back into all this. So now i will begin blogging more often.

2009-04-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

EASTER

I Know I am behind but this is the least of my worries. Easter this year was very fun. My mom made a treasure map for each kid. They had to go find each egg which was a piece to the puzzle to find out where their easter basket was. They all had alot of fun. I have such fun and darling nieces and nephews. with two more girls on the way. I cant wait.

Me and ruby after she found her basket.

Me and one of the cutest dogs ever.

Luke Just found one of his cool treasures on his easter egg hunt

Still seaching...

and searching

Me and My handsome. I love him

Scotts fam reviewing their map before they began

My mom Helping ruby Look for her treasures

Issac with his treasure map

This is where you can usually find the boys. All playing nintendo

The Day Has finally Come

2009-03-07T19:18:00.000-08:00

So Thursday March 5th:

Me and tanner decided to go snorkeling at the Bonneville Sea Base. We first get there and it is time for feeding the fish and shark. Which was pretty cool. we saw quite a few large fish. Then it was time to change and get into our hot looking wet suits. We decided to come snorkeling so that i could get used to it before We go to the Caribbean. I get in the water and I'm so nervous i feel like i cant breathe. even the instructor said " I can tell your afraid of the water." well i finally get used to it so we start swimming around and nope we cant really see anything the water was pretty murky. So After awhile the guy said "hey tanner how bout you bring the hunk of lettuce over and attach it to a weight and leave it for about 20 min to see if it attracts any fish. Well i just figure its legit since we aren't seeing any fish. well time comes and we go back to the lettuce and I'm swimming with my head under looking and looking well tan kinda turns me in the right direction and i see a sign but think its just part of the aquarium until i read further to see that it says WILL YOU MARRY ME? i was in shock at first wondering if it was even for me. i caught on and was just freaking out. ha ha ahhhhh im finally engaged. He is the most amazing and creative fiance ever. I am so in love. It seemed to have taken forever. My ring is amazing i just love it so much. It was a great experience to learn to snorkel. Even though we didnt see tons of fish it was still alot of fun. and it worked perfect cause it was just us two. I was Completely suprised. which is good. I really did not think it would happen there. am so happy its all real.

Me and Tan in our hot looking wet suits

I just love tanner so dang much we are the best of friends

Its hard to tell but this is the sign he had under water "will you marry me"

I was so exstatic and shocked

My beautiful ring