Henry Day

FYI: Henry Day is arriving soon. It is Henry's b-day celebration. Since his full birthday is so close to Christmas, we decided to celebrate on his half birthday. That means no cake and presents in December. (Although since this December will be his baptism, there will probably be a little something.) Anyhow, IF you wanted to do something for Henry on his birthday, you should do it for June 16th.

Also, we would encourage you not to send a gift, but to send the equivalent $ amount, as he is trying to save up for a VERY special Lego set. You should see his eyes light up with pure innocent joy when he sees pictures of this set... He has been working with Caleb and other odd jobs to add to his life savings. Secretly we will help pay for it, but we want him to work and save to be able to purchase it, not just ask and have it gifted.

Also, birthday wish phone calls will be great that day too. :)

Thank you very much.

Musings from Lyn

Garden gloves. To think that was all that really stood between me and loving gardening.

I remember as a child dreading weeding, raking out the big rocks, and working in the garden in general. A couple years back I got some gloves and I have discovered that I LOVE being outside working in the earth. When it is cold and rainy, I really find myself longing to find some more long forgotten plants around our house to weed around and check on the garden. I love seeing the potato plants emerge from the ground and see the little beet and carrot tops come up. My lovely 14+ rhubarb plants are lots of fun to tend (thinning, deciding which stalk to pull next, picking off slugs to throw to the anxious chickens). Our garden is double the size of last year’s and I’m excited for some more sun so everything will grow! PLEEAASSEEE let this summer be nice and warm—I really want some tomatoes—last year they all molded...

Anyway, funny how time (and gloves) change what you enjoy.

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.