Our Family Memories


All families have their own personal favorite memories and most embarrassing moments. Much to Lori’s chagrine, here are a few of ours:

June 1994

I want to go see a movie (Maverick), but hate to go alone. I finally get the courage up to ask Lori. Unable to come up with a quality reason to say no, she agrees. To her amazement I turn out to be semi-normal, and we both have a good time. A week later I invite myself, or so Lori says, over for dinner and we spend several hours talking. She decides I just might be a decent person. Numerous dates follow in the subsequent months, and I buy a ring while TDY to Nebraska.

September 1, 1994

I really go off the deep end. On a visit to the Washington, DC Temple, I struggle to get the ring out of my pocket and slip it on Lori’s finger, asking THE QUESTION. Her response…”You can’t do this here”.

April 21st – 28th, 1995

The big day has arrived. After a solid week of cloudy, cold, and rainy days, the Salt Lake Valley wakes up to a glorious, sunlit, yet breezy, day. Numerous prayers have obviously been answered, and Lori and I go to get married. After spending the morning in the Salt Lake Temple and having numerous pictures taken, I go to get the car. As I pull up in front of the Temple to pick up my new bride, the right rear tires goes flat. After a bonding moment with my new father-in-law, I again get Lori in the car, turn on the radio, and get more bad news. Now there’s an accident on I-15 South at 90th South with a 5-7 mile backup. It’s already 3:30, the reception starts at 4:00, and it’s in Provo, normally an hour away. We finally arrive at 5:30 and enjoy the last half hour of the festivities.

Monday morning we load up to drive to Boise, stay over night, and arrive in Seattle Tuesday afternoon at my parents’ place with no problems. Tuesday night I come down with the 24-hour bug, and poor Lori wakes up at 4:00 a.m. to find me sleeping up on the couch. Poor girl goes crazy thinking my parents think she kicked me out of bed already. Fortunately there is much understanding in the household. My sisters come and kidnap her and haul her off to do some girl stuff (see shopping). I recover in time to take Lori out Wednesday night on a ferry ride to Bremerton and proceed to get stuck over there for 2 hours due to a fluke in the ferry schedule.

The craziness continued as we went to enjoy a gift from my mother. Mom had set up reservations for us at a bed and breakfast near the Seattle Center. After having a wonderful dinner at the rotating restaurant in the Space Needle and other activities, we went to this place for a lovely nights rest. Unfortunately we ended up having plumbing problems in our suite and thought we couldn't do anything about it. We found out otherwise the next day as we checked out.

February 14th, 1996

After numerous months of queasiness and general discomfort for his poor mother, MacKenzie makes his grand entrance into the Nelson family picture. His timing could have been better, however, as he started the drill at midnight after his parents had already had full days. The process finally ended at 1:28 p.m. Fortunately Lori’s parents are in town to help with everything.

June – November 1996

Uncle Sam decides to test the new family by sending me to England and Turkey for 4 ½ months. We had two weeks to prepare before my flight out on July 6th. We barely survived thanks to daily e-mail messages and frequent phone calls. Man, did I hate the phone bill!!! Fortunately I was able to get home before Thanksgiving. We definitely had much to be grateful for this holiday.

The really ironic thing in this trip was the movie Independence Day. We saw it the day before I left for England, I saw it the night before I flew to Turkey, and then saw it again the night before I flew home. All of these were during the opening weekends at the different locations with no intentional finagling on my part.

I’m sure there are more stories I could tell, but I’m probably pushing my luck with some of these. I’ll have to sit down with Lori and come up with some others to share. Be sure to check back with us from time to time and keep up with our continuing saga. If you have any comments or questions, drop me an e-mail.

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