It has been a cold and rainy spring up here in Seattle. It has been the coldest since 1948 as measured by days over 55 deg. Lots of rain. But every once in a while the clouds break and we get some really beautiful skies like this. this is just up the road from our home.
Any how I, we have been working alot. some weeks hit 70 hrs. I just finished my largest project ever. It was a good growth opp. And we proved to ourselves that we are a great team. I really have great workers, and love my job. Here is a before and after of the project.All three of these are from approximately the same viewpoint. We did 180 ft of wall. We removed 110 cu. yds of soil. We made a beautiful and functional space that was not there before.
That's it for now.

We're still here :)

Well life has never been busier for me, us. Nor has life been better for many years now. We have had some dark and trying times, but now it seems as though we have made it through and life is brilliantly wonderful right now.
As you know I started my own design firm last May, and have been achieving moderate success thru it. I would design the landscape and then manage the installation of it for the homeowner by hiring all the different contractors. That got to be very confusing and tedious. So at the prompting of my wonderful business coach I started a new division on Grounded: we now do all of our own construction 'in-house'! I have 2 great employees and am working on purchasing trucks for the company.
I am currently running a very large job that entails about 170 feet of retaining wall with a high-end block coming out of So.Cal. Removing approx 100 cu yds of soil and bringing in a 15 ft Nurse Log.
It's been a lot of fun.
The phone has been ringing off the hook. I had 9 new appts last week and signed 4 of them. I do no advertising, all new customers are word of mouth referrals. I have spent a long time working on building a great network of friends and colleagues that pass my name around.
I am having the time of my life.
So many people from my past have told me that I am not good enough, smart enough, do not fit in, have no talent, whatever. It's been a tough road. I almost gave up on my dream of being a designer, at points even those closest to me said that I should give it up.
But I didn't.
And now that I have taken the reigns of my future and success in my own hands, and doing what I love , and am doing it my way, I am having a lot of success.
I am good, smart, talented enough.
I am finding great success.
Life is so great.
I thank God daily for the blessings that He has given me.

Lyn has been my beautiful assistant, taking care of the bookkeeping and what not. and I have been working 12-14 hr days.
The kids are great. I love watching them grow and learn. Henry has such an aptitude for machinery and building. I wonder what he will do with it?
Anyhow, Lyn had her B-dayThen I had mine
( I have no idea who those goofballs are)
Then on Saturday the 26th we had our Spring Bunny Celebration. We decided that the Easter Bunny was too much in competition with Jesus so we asked him to move his Easter egg antics to the first Saturday after spring equinox. We dyed our own farm eggs. And even the brown ones dyed up well.
We got flooded again this weekend, but only very minimally.
We are looking forward to summer. We have doubled the garden space from last year. Now it is nearly 1000 sq ft! We are looking forward to swimming in the river, camping, hiking. And we are looking forward to visits from our beloved family members.
Life is sweet and we thank all of you for helping us thru the times when it was not.
We love you and send out big hugs thru the air to reach you as you read this.

"The New Rich"

There is a term that aptly describes our thoughts on life. It's "The New Rich". More and more people are realizing its value, and the empty calories that are money rich.

"The philosopher Heidegger explored the meaning of being as defined by time. He thought that an analysis of time gave us insight into our nature, our being. Reflection and contemplation move slowly. The subjective self can't be forced to blossom. Can something as important as our nature, our very being, be defined by money? Is our life measurable in dollars and cents? One answer to these questions is offered by a renewed interest in voluntary simplicity that is sweeping the country. Voluntary simplicity describes a process whereby people opt out of the harried life of modern day living, and choose, instead, to live more simple, slower lives. Simplicity in this sense doesn't mean austerity. Rather, it means getting good value for every minute of your life energy and from everything you have the use of. It's slow food, a garden, yoga, bicycling and so much more. And, it offers us a really, really good life!

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031309_economics_food.html#ixzz1DuDryJqP"

Kids grow up fast, life passes quickly. Do yo want to wake up one day and say 'whoa! where did it all go?' 'I didn't do any of the things I wanted to.'

Live life more simply, enjoy the subtle beauty in all that you have been blessed with.

various little things

Today we'll share some various little happenings from the Nelson household.
First off, you'll remember that the head gasket in my Trooper blew. The mechanic estimated around $1,000 to fix it. I can't justify putting that kind of money into a 4 cylinder motor and will be too small for us in the near future. So we decided to sell it. W/in 6hours of posting it online, I had a buyer who bought it without dickering on price. I got a really good price for it too.

I took the earnings from it and went to the car auctions yesterday and got a 2000 GMC Sonoma for a company rig. I got a great deal on it. After I get it cleaned up and have my graphics installed I'll post some pics.
I'm sure going to miss my Troop. It was my most favorite car that I have ever owned. It was a sad sight seeing it being trailered off.
My next rig will, hopefully, be a mid-80's Toyota Landcruiser. Something like this. (After I'm done)

Minus someone else's wife of course! Our family has begun planning our Great Alaskan Adventure. We hope to take 35 days and drive to Alaska, explore around, and take a ferry back with multiple stops to see/do fun stuff. We will take with us a rig like the one pictured above, 2 sea kayaks, 4 mtn. bikes, tents, canned food, stove, etc. Several of the roads traveled will be 4-wheel drive routes. Hence the rig. It is going to be epic! We plan on doing this in a couple of years, 2020 to be precise! We'll need that much lead time to save up and get everything prepared.
Work is slowly picking up. I have several health care facilities wanting to talk to me about designing a Healing Garden for them. My first one could be for a hospital here locally. Eventually I hope to cover the entire PNW including Alaska.
All's well here. Lovin' life. I'll leave you with a bit of valley beauty.

More wet.

So we just got flooded again.
It was about a foot higher than last time.
It's sounds terrible, but it isn't that bad.
We had a grand time yesterday getting the house and yard ready, and playing in the puddles.
At around midnight our home was sitting in water. Our food room got about 4 inches.
The nice thing about our home is that we still have heat and light when it floods.





With all the hassle of moving our stuff out, and then back in. And the inconvenience of not being able to go anywhere for several days, I can't see myself wanting to live anyplace else. I think Lyn would say the same. It is wonderful here. Every place has it's drawbacks, but this place has more than it's fair share of benefits.
I think that we could/ might be here for life.

Happy new year

Now that we are significantly into the new year we felt it was time to put up a post.
We'll look Henry's B-day then at some Christmas pics, next we shall delve into Henry delving into a corner, and then who knows what we'll do from there.
So here goes.
Here is Henry's B-day. we had a small little dinner. We celebrate Henry on his half B-day, aka Henry Day. He wanted Salmon, artichokes w/ Herbes de Provence, and wild rice. He's quite the little gourmet. [Now Tidwells: doesn't this look uncannily like Paul? I think so.]
Henry is 7 and is getting very excited to be baptised next year. So now we are on to Christmas, my most favorite time of year. I love spending time with family in a nice warm house. I love eggnog. I love our annual family Christmas open house. I think that it is probably one of the top 3 events for the year. White Friday is number one for sure. I love having all my friends and those that I am excited to become better friends with come by and share in warmth and treats. Christmas day was a lot of fun too. Santa treated us nice, but our family was even nicer. Our Christmas would not have been possible w/o help from those we love, and who love us. That is what we have explained to the kids as to why people give gifts; because they love us.

Here is Henry with one of the gifts that he loves. Legos are always a hit with him. He can play with them for days on end. And he really makes neat stuff.
Here is the kids with their Grinch and his dog Max watching The Grinch after all has been opened. Silly kids. Fern adores the Grinch, which would be just like her.
Henry really is excited about his bike, we have picked out the colors and some neat things that are going to make for a cool bike. Here is the before

As you can see it's kinda beat, but watch and see how it turns out.
About a week after Christmas Henry Fern and I were horsing around. They had been turning the lights off on me as I was changing clothes after church. (our light switch is outside the door! ?) Then the came in and hoped under the blankets, I then ducked out and turned the lights of on them. 30 seconds later we hear a thump and then Henry comes out screaming, with blood all over. We said a prayer for him and then took him to the new ER in Redmond. He was quite the trooper thru it. The doc wanted to do stitches, but Henry told me earlier that he did not, so I asked the doc and he said that they could just as easily use glue. So it was, Henry got Glued up, and is all better now, but he will have a gnarly scar for some years to come.









I'll put some spaces in so you can put it up, off the screen. It was hard to look at for us too.







Any how. I have been playing private investigator for a local attorney. That has been fun.
I have been busy trying to find a winter job. I hope to find something that I can keep throughout the year. Perhaps working nights. I have also had an early start on landscaping this year. I can't say if it is due to the economy, or my hard work or my amazing network. But I am experiencing projects and interest fully 4-6 weeks earlier than in the past.
I have been so bus that I felt like Henry needed some Boy Time. So we went to the REI climbing wall and had his first experience with climbing. He went straight up that wall. Like a pro. Then he did a nice job coming back down, and I taught him a bit about rappelling.


Pretty impressive eh? It was about 35 feet up. I made it up the 45 feet column, but nearly died doing so! I need to get in better shape.
Any how we are having a nice time here in our wonderful home and are enjoying running our own business'. In case you missed it Lyn started her own custom sewing and alterations biz. It's called Resergence. You can see a link to her website on the left, just below the link to grounded. (which by the way you should check out and see the cool things I have been designing for my clients)
We are all in good health and hope that you are too.
Happy new year.