Honeymoon

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Dear Paul, Melanie, Roice, Bridget, Rob, Ben and Sarah, and Sara,

cc: file, Grandma Hafen via Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Claude and Katherine Warner, Lloyd and Luana Warner. Diane Cluff, and Heather and Nate Pace

Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea, belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail box at any time.

"I know it has to be awkward it is to talk about your Dad's honeymoon. Sara found it very funny when Doug Frix called and said he was pleased to learn her brother is getting married. The McClindon's, down the street, said the same thing to her. Oh well! Andrea and I had a wonderful week together and thoroughly enjoyed exploring National Parks in Utah. We drove 1,773 miles. The main places we visited and the main hikes we made included:

Zion National Park: - Springdale Ward for three church meetings, Sunday - Emerald Pools, 1.3 miles, 500 feet elevation, Sunday - Angels Landing, 1.5 miles, 1,500 feet elevation, Monday - Narrows, .5 miles in water up to our thigh, Monday Bryce Canyon National Park by helicopter, Tuesday Manti Temple and Heather Keller's wedding, Tuesday Capital Reef National Park: - Hickman Bridge, .8 miles, 400 feet elevation, Tuesday - Cassidy Arch, 1.5 miles, 1,000 feet elevation, Wednesday Natural Bridges National Monument: - Sipapu, .8 miles, 400 feet elevation, Wednesday - Kachina Arch, .4 miles, 180 feet elevation, Wednesday Edge of Cedars Anasazi Ruins and Museum in Blanding, Thursday Canyonlands National Park: - Needles Overlook, Thursday Arches National Park: - North and South Windows, .3 miles, Thursday - Turrit Arch, .1 miles, Thursday - Double Arch, .3 miles, Thursday - Landscape Arch, .8 miles, Thursday - Delicate Arch, 1.5 miles, 500 feet elevation, Thursday Island in the Sky National Park - Mesa Arch, .5 miles, 100 feet elevation, Friday - Upheaval Dome, .5 miles, 200 feet elevation, Friday - Grand View, .1 miles. Friday Dead Horse Point State Park, Friday Clark's Tuxedo's in Provo, Friday Tony Roma's with Melanie, Bridget, and Paul, Friday Salt Lake Temple Endowment Session, Saturday MHA (Mormon History Association) meeting in Ogden Saturday - The Saints in Russia, Saturday - Russel Shirt's Paper on Mountain Meadow Massacre Location, Saturday Star Wars with Brian, Sara, and Des in Cedar City, Saturday

It was really a fun week. We took several hundred pictures on our honeymoon, which will be put online sometime over the next few weeks. I love the outdoors and it was fun to share this experience with someone I love. Sunday, after church at Andrea's ward, we drove to St. George and took Mom to lunch at the Hunan Restaurant. Rachel went with us. Andrea dropped me off at the shuttle bus, and walked Mom back down to Porter's. It was hard to say good-bye, even if it is only for a week. The flight to Houston on SouthWest was uneventful.

However, once I got to Houston the honeymoon was definitly over. As I started to drive out of the parking lot the Lexus had a flat tire. It took a long time to figure out how to get the lock nut off of the tire. I was frustrated and when I pulled the tire off and threw it in the trunk, the car moved enough the car fell off the jack. It bent some tin on the front passenger wheel, and I ended up having the car loaded on a truck and taken out to the house. It was 3:00 AM by the time I got to sleep. There was another tow truck at the house at 7:00 AM to take the car to the dealership. The bottom line was it was a very short night, and I ended up catching a cold. I don't get sick very often, and I was feeling a little puny on Monday. We had meetings with Kjell Finstad, our investor, on Monday. We went over the marketing results until about 7:30 in the evening, and it was after 8:00 when I got to the house. The Law's and Sister Moreless and Sister Sneidman were all at the house having Family Home Evening. I was too tired to finish up the Thoughtlet I started after everyone left, and so I just went to sleep.

Today, we continued the Board Meetings. There was a mutual disclosure meeting with a new company called Rock Solid Images at 10:00. I left at 11:15 and went out to Dr. Levin's office. They told me to go home and go to bed, and so I did. I have felt very puny all afternoon. After Sara got me the perscriptions I felt somewhat better, and went out and bought the new gas grill my Mom gave us as a wedding present. Sara bought stuff for her party. She is having 60 kids over Thursday evening. And then I finished up these two Thoughtlets. As I take a minute to contemplate last week, and our honeymoon, I hope each of you have the opportunity to experience a week of bonding and love and sharing and doing things we truly enjoy together, like Andrea and I did on our honeymoon."

I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at rnelson@walden3d.com.

With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)

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Copyright © 1999 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.