"Most of what this Thoughtlet is named for, the Nelson Reunion 2006, occurred in the previous week (0627.html), i.e Saturday and Sunday 01-02 July 2006. We had filled up at the Sizzler on Friday night, and so were ready to go early Saturday morning. We were one of the first to arrive at the Nelson cabin. Aunt Luana was there getting things organized. Her and Uncle Lloyd had brought in a big trailer, which was parked next to the cabin. We first drove up to the cabin, and then we went down the new road Uncle Dick had created to the outdoor eatery next to the fishing pond. There are 124 photos from the Nelson Reunion 2006 at http://www.walden3d.com/photos/reunions/060630-060702_Nelson_Reunion for those interested.
ne of the first things that happened was Darrell arrived and got out his fly fishing gear and proceeded to fish in the pond. Then others came and started to fish. It was fun to watch them catch fish, and I had no desire to go fishing, which I don't understand since I enjoyed so much going fly fishing with Dad many Friday nights during the summers when I was growing up. I was concerned when the little kids started to arrive, and would wander behind Darrell, and his fly line would come very close to them. I hope I did not offend him with how I brought it up later during the reunion. I guess, if it did offend, too bad. One thing too easy to do at a reunion is to offend. Maybe this is a good reason not to have Roice and Andrea Family Reunions. Anyway there were a lot of fish caught first thing Saturday morning. It was fun to watch the little kids pull in a trout. There is a nice photo of Vanae holding a stick full of cleaned trout while Annette cooked breakfast (http://www.walden3d.com/photos/reunions/060630-060702_Nelson_Reunion/dsc05836.jpg).After a wonderful breakfast, where we all ate too many breakfast burritos, there were the best games set up. Carolyn and Gary Howe, Uncle Ted's daughter and son-in-law, sat up and ran these. They had rubber ducky races down the stream to the pond. Each child, up to about teenagers, had their own rubber ducky, and talk about excitement. It was great. Then they had a game for teenagers and adults. Two 20 foot long poles were tied together on one end with a 8 foot crossbar connecting the bottom. Climbing ropes were tied to the top, and four people each had one of these and were charged with keeping the triangle standing upright. Then someone would be on the crossbar, would lean back, raise the other end, swing it forward, run to the other end, raise up the end they were standing on, swing it forward, and thus walk the triangle. There were two of these monster triangles, and they had races with them to see who could cross a finish line first (http://www.walden3d.com/photos/reunions/060630-060702_Nelson_Reunion/dsc05843.jpg). Thanks to Eric Krueger's son being on our team we handily won the race. There was a planks across hot lava race, and a frisby obstacle course. While we were out with the frisbies, competing with other teams, some of the teams were kept back and they shot at us with surgical tubing sling shots filled with water balloons. The balloons were slow enough we were easily able to avoid them. After a sandwich lunch, Aunt Luana had set up to make tie-die shirts. It was fun, and the die didn't set very well, so our shirts got blurry. Oh well! Aunt Clara Jean and her daughter Shauna came down from Sugar City. I caught a lot of good candid digital photos of family. In the evening there was a cloud burst as Paul and Carl and Lynn (Uncle Bud's three sons, and the three guys who are closest to being brothers to me) were doing dutch oven lamb. It was goooooooood! (http://www.walden3d.com/photos/reunions/060630-060702_Nelson_Reunion/dsc05873.jpg) Then they had an auction, run by my other brother/cousin, Mark (Uncle Dick's oldest son). Mark did a great job and raised a lot of money. I was really surprised at how much folks paid for the various items auctioned. I got a nice photo of Uncle Lloyd and two of his sons, Claude and Eric having a philosophical discussion in front of one of the thrones (http://www.walden3d.com/photos/reunions/060630-060702_Nelson_Reunion/dsc05889.jpg) . Then everyone left, Andrea and I put up a tent, and were the only ones to sleep in the valley. There were several people in Aunt Luana's trailer and several others in the cabin. The ground was hard, even though Aunt Luana had brought some foam mattresses for us to use. Andrea definitely did not care for the camping out. Oh well!
The next morning, which was Sunday, we got up and went for a fairly long hike. Beautiful country. We saw baby ducks on a pond, bird nests, beautiful vistas, and got back in time for breakfast. The Warners cooked french toast, bacon, hashbrowns, and eggs. A big part of the Nelson Reunion 2006 was eating. Maybe my overeating is genetic? One of Uncle Ted's granddaughters found a really neat arrowhead. So that means there are others there to be found. Most of the folks did not come back up the mountain until after lunch because of church commitments in the valley. Aunt Sara put together an "orchestra," each with different vocal parts, and then brought everything together with a concert. She brought all kinds of costume materials up, broke everyone into different groups, and we each had to write and present a skit. It was fun. I was responsible for the genealogical workshop. I thought it went fairly well. If I could ever get caught up on Thoughtlets, and get my e-mail working reliably, then I will start posting the stuff I promised to do. There were programs before dinner each day, and different family members who have passed on were remembered. I was assigned to remember Mom and Dad. I choose to do so by singing two songs: 'Mothers Day' ( ../0315.html and ../0439.html) and 'Howard Nelson' (../9913.html). Before singing Dad's song, I told everyone my goal was to change what they heard every time they heard a meadowlark in Cedar Valley from now on. After the song someone told me they had been told the meadowlark is singing 'Cedar City's a nice little town.' I like Dad's Aunt Sara's words better: 'Howard Nelson's a good little boy.' Most of the memorials were very emotional. There are good memories built and lasting friendships forged when families get together and spend time playing and singing and eating and hanging out together, like we did at the Nelson reunion 2006. It rained again on Sunday afternoon, and most of the folks left in a fairly big hurry.
Monday was the slowest day of the reunion. I did show Roice Krueger my draft of 'An Open Mind.' I was surprised at how much he liked the concept. He was very positive about Jan Miller. He said she is very much the professional, as he learned when he worked with her putting out 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.' He said there was someone else who was even better, and if she was not interested in pursuing representing the book, his other friend would be interested. We have had several e-mails since then, and nothing since the last time I went to China (0635.html and 0636.html). There was a family meeting on Monday evening. I represented Dad's family. It was decided the Nelson's will have a reunion every third year. I took on responsibility for the Nelson Reunion 2009. Maybe, just maybe, some of you kids would be willing to come to this reunion, even though it is with with hundreds of folks you do not know and will never know in this life unless you come to one of these reunions, and maybe we can tie into it a Roice and Andrea Nelson reunion. Time will tell. I expect, based on the reaction to my suggestions a few weeks earlier (0625.html), that if there is any kind of Roice and Andrea Nelson reunion, it will be tied to something like this that I am organizing. I've already talked to several of my cousins about having a Nelson float in the 4th of July Parade in Cedar City, and they liked the idea. So at least Andrea and I will be in Cedar City for July 4
Tuesday morning, 04 July 2006, Ben and Sarah and Ethan stopped at Aunt Sara's and Uncle Des' house to have breakfast with us. It was nice to be able to visit, however briefly. However, this was one of those times in which the visit seemed very strained, and somehow I figure I must be responsible for the feelings. Oh well! Maybe it was when I attempted to give Ethan my Boeing hat and he said 'No, I don't want that.' Or maybe it is because Ben knew I would have liked him to meet my cousins, and he was under time constraints because he had to be at his old job for one day to be eligible for a bonus. Oh well! We got to play basketball, to meet their new dog, to talk, to laugh, to share a hug, and to say good bye. Maybe that is all one can expect out of life. And maybe these brief memories become the highlights of our recollections.
After Ben and Sarah and Ethan left we went over to Main Street and watched the 4th of July parade. I did not take any digital photos of the parade this year. Andrea and I walked down Main Street to the City Park. At the park we saw Sherrie Maddox, who is the Primary Secretary in our Ward, her three girls, her father, my 2nd cousin Keith Nelson, and his wife Evelyn. We caught up briefly. We ate a snow cone. The we walked over to the Iron Mission. It was my first time to go inside the Iron Mission. Uncle Ted was there and had set up for a private tour, including a discussion of the Hunter house, which had been moved from 2nd East down to the Iron Mission State Park to preserve the house. The house was built by my Great Great Grandfather Bengt Nelson for his daughter and her husband. There is a lot of years of Nelson and Hunter and Shirts history and sacrifice tied up in the Iron Mission and the cemetery next door. My notes say I did some genealogy work in the afternoon. I do not remember doing this. I do remember I was reading the book "Collapse" by Jared Diamond. Tuesday evening we went to Applebee's for dinner, and at least Andrea and I went to see 'The Devil Wears Prada.' Chick flick, and it was OK. Good message about how easy it is to get caught up in the corporate world and to forget what is important. Andrea and I went out on Leigh Hill and found a place to watch the fireworks which were set off out at the airport.
Wednesday I me with people from the Central Iron County Water Conservancy District (CICWCD). They had things come up, and there was not time for me to present to them again this trip. Oh well! I had prepared several CD's, and I left those. I learned that Dad's farm has 378 acre feet of well water rights and 10 shares of Union Field irrigation water from Coal Creek. Each share is worth about 6 acre feet, so there is a total of about 438 acre feet of water tied to the farm. Andrea and I went out and visited with Darrell and Nancy Krueger. He had a health scare, and has not become very integrated in the Ward or the valley. The discussion with Darrell convinced me more than ever that I never want to retire. I also took some genealogy material back to Mark Nelson. He wasn't home, and I left it with his daughter.
Thursday I went to St. George and had a work session with Ward Abbott on the On-line Atlas. I sure would like to finish this project we started in 1988 before Ward dies. Of course if he dies, his knowledge goes with him. I got good photos of examples, and I have since put these together as a nice prototype. Mike has gone to Shell Oil and tried to get them interested in putting up money for building the atlas. No luck so far. Oh well! Fern told me about something her and Ward have been doing which they find a lot of fun. My notes say it is described at http://www.geocaching.com, and the basic idea is like a spatial scavenger hunt. Maybe someday. I also went by Jerry and Mary Lynn Tousa's place and took them copies of the photos from the Cemetery in Switzerland where we found all of the Stucki names. They were very appreciative. I went to the CICWCD meeting Thursday evening. Most of the meeting was closed, and so I spent most of the time in the hall talking to Norman Grimshaw. He reminds me of the tow truck in the movie 'Cars.' I said, 'It's good to see you.' He said, 'It's good to be seen.' I asked if he remembered me. He told me he remembered me from when I was this (about three feet) high. He served mission in Lagos. We shared Nigerian stories. I learned that when the spring at Enoch was running, it never froze over. This is more convincing evidence there is a potential geothermal energy source sitting underneath Enoch. I did get to talk to Scott Wilson, who obviously runs the CICWCD, and Kelly, who is the consultant that does the engineering work for the CICWCD. However, all in all, it was another disappointing meeting. Oh well!
There was a bunch of family drama during the week, and I won't write about it for a long time. It was sad to leave Andrea (she stayed in Cedar to help her Mom with the move and the new house until Matt got back from his Advanced Individual Training at the end of July. However, frankly I was glad to get out of Cedar City, and I left wondering why it was I thought I wanted to move back home. I guess it is because it will always be home to me. One interesting thing happened when Des and I went to pick up a movie on Thursday night. In Lynn's Grocery Store, Mitchell and Jana, the couple who own Red Cove, were there picking up a movie. Mitch recognized me, introduced me to his wife, and we had a nice discussion. She was coming to Houston in September to spend time with Sister Branning, and I did not learn if this ever happened. They obviously think the property is worth a lot more than the $200,000 we had discussed a couple of years ago. Oh well! What happens will happen.
Saturday I went back to Houston via Lubbock. There were mixed memories for my week in Cedar City, and the good memories were tied to the Nelson Reunion 2006."
