Another Nelson Drum Major

You’re looking at the new Junior Drum Major for the Hopewell High School Marching Band! Last night was the Band Banquet and it was fun celebrating all these cool kids and their hard work this year. Band is a big part of our lives and we’re grateful for the things it teaches our boys. Landon will be following in Dean and Tanner’s footsteps and we’re excited to see him step up to help lead the band next year. Go Vikings! 💛💙💛

Landon will be the Junior Drum Major and Carter Weber will be the Senior Drum Major making another Weber/Nelson Duo.

The Band Sophomores

Clay, Michael, Joe, Landon, William, and Braden

We somehow won all sorts of raffle prizes.  Landon was especially excited to get an air fryer he can take to college.

After sitting for hours at the banquet my back and stomach were SORE.  We're slowly but surely healing, but man it's not easy.  But forever grateful not to miss out on this big night.
 

RoboSumo

Today Landon, Braddock, and Bridger all got to participate in the Beaver County RoboSumo competition. They have worked all year designing and coding their robots and were so excited that all three of them could go together this year, and were just a little bummed that if Tanner hadn't have graduated a year early he would have been there too! Braddock(and Jack) got 2nd place, Landon(and William) got 3rd, and Bridger did awesome and made it to the finals on his first year participating. He just started building his robot a couple months ago and was all new to coding so we're super impressed.  Proud of these boys and all their hard work and that they were each other’s biggest cheerleaders today!

Jack and Braddock making some quick fixes between competitions.

Braddock's Robot

Landon's Robot

Bridger's Robot

William and Landon accepting their award

Jack and Braddock excepting their award

And they all got to stop at the mall on the way home for lunch.  China Max for the win! And Braddock and Bridger even rode the little mall train.

An Engineering Champ

Braddock went to the regional engineering fair at the Carnegie Science Center today. He built a double decker, motorized, spice machine customized to fit in my spice cabinet.  This kid worked his butt off, with the help of Dean’s guidance, to bring his project to fruition. They easily clocked over 100 hours building (and re-building when plexi glass broke!), coding, filling and labeling spice jars, and tweaking things till it all worked well.  He and I pounded out his poster (that's my area of expertise 😉).  Then at the fair someone messed up and put him in the middle of the science fair not the engineering fair.  They also made him remove all his spices and cover up the spices on his poster because they are made from living things!?  Not sure why that's a problem, but apparently it was against the rules, but we're not sure if that's the rules of the science fair (which he shouldn't have been in!) or the engineering fair.  Anyway, despite so many set backs this kid still killed it and came out with a second place win and a cash prize!  He’s one cool kid and we’re so proud of him for working so hard, persevering when things got tough, and making the best of things when it was a mess.  

Ridiculous rules that shouldn't have even applied to him since he wasn't competing in the science fair! Wish someone would have recognized the blunder and got him moved to the other floor. 

Nothing left but the empty spice bottles since they made him remove all spices. Ug!

Pretty impressive he could still take 2nd place in a category that had nothing to do with his project at all since they messed things up so bad. I think his judges realized how much work he put into this and what an impressive project it was and gave him the win anyway.

 

Landon's Biggest Fans

Volleyball season is in full swing for Landon. He came back 6 inches taller, much trimmer, and stronger than last year, and he’s excited to continue to get better and hone his skills. He’s got a great serve and scored a bunch of points for his team. They came out with a win on Monday and we’re looking forward to the rest of the season! 🏐 (Well Keaton may not be. He was not a fan of the noise and sitting still for five games. 🤣 He kept yelling, “good job boys!” And then said, “they aren’t talking’ to me!” 🤣)

Spoiled Rotten

Braddock is hilarious.  Bridger was hesitant to go to bed this week because he was worried he'd be missing out on whatever his brothers were doing, so Braddock played it up big and took this photo to show Bridger how awesome things are after he's in bed.  Later he set it as his contact photo in my phone, so this is what I see every time he texts or calls.  Hahahahaha!  I love this kid and his sense of humor.

20 Years

This week Dean and I celebrated 20 years of marriage! That feels like a long time, but truthfully it’s flown by. Looking back it’s been full of ups and downs, joys and sorrows, good and bad, but there’s no one I’d rather be doing life with. We snuck away a couple times yesterday to celebrate. Dean speaks my love language so we did some eating and shopping! 🤣 We had a yummy breakfast at Cafe Gianni and stopped at a thrift store on the way home. Then last night we went to my first ever hibachi at Ichiban that did not disappoint. Then we hit up Marshall’s (cause it was right next to the restaurant and I had a return), but of course that meant some shopping too! 🤣 Grabbed some Coldstone on the way home and reminisced about the amazing life we’ve built together. Life’s not easy, but it’s so so good. I love you Dean Nelson! Thanks for picking me! 🥰

 

St. Patty's 2026

No pinching was had around these parts today. Everyone made sure to sport their green. We woke up to green milk, chocolate gold coins, and Lucky Charms for breakfast. Now may the Luck ‘O’ the Irish be with all of you! ☘️

Bridger was cute and got in Keaton's letter practice before he left for school.