NAUVOO 9 vol. V

Hey Girls I just want to let you all know in case you haven't checked your email's yet that the Navuoo 9 Newsletter is out! So enjoy! Hope all is well with you and your families!
lOtS oF lOvE
Shannon

The Latest on Jaden

This is our little family at Mesa Falls near Rexburg a few weeks ago. Jaden hates to be bundled up, but it was a little chilly.
This is Jaden's first trip to Texas. Of course we had to buy him all of the Texas gear we could. Giff went to the UT football game with my brother and they yelled so loud they didn't have voices when they came home. We had a blast down there! Grandma and Grandpa Hollingsworth could hardly stand it!
Jaden was a penguin for Halloween. I don't know if he liked it very much, but we sure did.
Jaden is four months old in this picture. We tried to get him to smile for the camera, but he just liked staring at the light on it. We took so many pictures he started balling. I guess he doesn't like the camera all that well yet.
Yes!! He has now discovered his toes. Who knew we could be so excited about our little one discovering toes. We must be parents I guess.

These are a few updates on our little Jaden. I am anxious to see what's going on with all of your families lately too. Happy Thanksgiving early!!

Love,

Amanda

Hey Girls I just wanted to arrange something this weekend for all of you that will be in town for conference, Jen has a meeting in Boise but hopefully if all goes as planned will be coming down late Fri. I am open all day Saturday and would love to see as many as can! Give me a call and we'll figure something out!

Love ya Girls... Shan
P.S. I promise the Nauvoo Newsletter is coming..school has been a little crazy but it will be out soon!

Hello Ladies!

I haven't written on here for awhile so I thought that now is a great time. Well, Giff and I are having a great time being parents. Jaden is so fun to be around. He has been smiling and cooing to us for quite some time now. I added on some of his recent bath time pictures. I put them on the newsletter too...I think. Anyways, Giff and I might be coming down for conference as well. He has a ticket for the priesthood session and Giff and I have tickets for the Sunday afternoon session. We aren't quite sure if we are going because Jaden can't be in the conference center and we're not sure what to do there, but if we end up coming I would definitely love to see any one who down there. Keep me posted. I love y'all lots.

Love,
Amanda

General Confrence

Hey Girls-
Jen gave me a call the otherday and she and Josh are going to be in town Confrence Weekend (October 5-7). She would love to see who ever will be in town the same time. So were trying to get something together, so let either Jen and I know and we'll figure out a good time and place! Talk to you all soon!

Hey Girls!!! I have been meaning to post my happenings on here for a while, but I was kinda lost in how to do so. Luckily I saved the first email Jenna sent out about the blog and was able to follow her meticulous instructions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All is well with Shannon. I have been doing good and keeping busy. This summer has been spent mostly working (which I hate…but we’ll get to that later), volunteering at This Is The Place, catching up on some reading and just doing nothing!!! Nothing too exciting in the way of traveling this summer but hopefully I will find someplace great to go for Fall break. I am still working at the hospital, which I don’t like. The management recently changed and they are making life pretty miserable and to be honest I just want a normal job where I don’t have to work nights, weekends, or holidays. If you hear of anything in Utah that you think I might like let me know! This Is The Place was a lot fun but I was glad when it was done, spending the day in two petti-coats, a dress, and a bonnet all day it sure does get hot! Here are a few pictures from my summer…

The Little Pioneer

This is the open prairie of This is the Place

Just a little Looming..(Bring back any memories?)

Some Bread anyone?

So as summer ends, school begins, I’m taking my last few classes to finally graduate with my associates, its been a long road but I guess it dosen’t matter how long it takes you to get there, but that you get there. So after that who knows what, I am thinking about going to either the U or USU for my bachelors in Sociology. What about Nursing you ask? Well after doing allot of soul searching and praying I've decided that Nursing isn't for me. It has taken me a long time to come to this point cause its what I've wanted to do ever since I can remember! But I know that Heavenly Father has a plan and I am doing my best to put my trust in him and have faith that everything will work out. Its no secret that I LOVE Church History It would be my dream to work in the church history department for the church so I have decided to go in to Sociology. I talked with someone in the Church History Department and they said that Sociology or History is there recommended major for someone who wanted to pursue that kind of field. Then they told me that they have internships for students in between their graduation and starting graduate school. You have to have a Masters in Library Science to work there, basically what a Masters in Library Science is learning how to Archive, Catalog and Research methods. So that's the road I'm on. As exciting as it is, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the thought of it all so I’m just taking it one step at a time.
So I have been thinking that it’s about time for another edition of the Nauvoo Nine Newsletter. So If I could have your updates and pictures by September 14th that would be great! I love you all and can’t wait to hear from ya!

Jen,
That's really cool about your move! I hope everything works out for you guys. I can now relate to being married and having to make a big move...it's quite intimidating, but it always turns out well! Love ya!
-Jena

Boise

Hey Girls! Josh and I have moved to Boise. I was actually really sad to leave Pocatello but I am hoping we will have some good experiences here. We are only planning on being here for a year. Josh will (hopefully) graduate in May. Our plan is to then move back to Pocatello so I can finish my school. I guess time will tell. We moved into an apartment and it was hard to move from your own house with lots of space to an apartment with all your neighbors really, really close. However, there seems to be a lot more to do here and a lot more places to go. So, if any of you are near Boise anytime soon (which I doubt you will be) you are welcome to stop by. I got a job with the school district here and I am excited about that. I guess I will be Josh's sugar momma for the next year. Hahaha. I hope all is well with each of you. I love you all.

Hello?

Where are all the updates Nauvoo Nine?!?!?!

Oh me, oh my! Life in Portland.

Where do I even begin? Life has been quite hectic for us the past few days. We are finally in Portland and almost completely moved into the Nike house. Let me share with you a few of our...dilemas or experiences, whichever you will. First off, this house was trashed!! We were under the impression that no one lived here and that by the time we got here it would have been cleaned (that is what we were told); however, it turns out that there were people living here and that they were college boys. Therefore, this place was a complete wreck. To add to this- they STILL LIVE HERE! I'm sort of venting if you can't tell! One of the guys was supposed to move out at least by yesterday and he's still here and the other guy, as far as we know, has no plans to move out! Josh's coach is the one who is in charge of this house (we get to live here for free...so it's not like we own the place or something), and Alberto would certainly be freaking out like we are, but as nature would have it he had a heart attack the day we moved here and so he obviously can't do anything to help us get rid of these guys, nor do we want to bother him with minor details while he is recovering from his almost fatal heart attack. I am sounding all too negative and I don't mean to, I say it more or less because hopefully we will soon be able to laugh at this experience, but we have spent days cleaning this place up.

Funny story- the guys were actually planning on throwing us a "Welcome Home" party, so there was a keg in our living room and the fridge was full of beer. Did they not know we were moving from Utah? We had to explain that one right away. They don't drink around us anymore.

As for the good news- the house is cleaning up really nicely. Alberto is hiring some people to come in and paint the place, take the trash away, etc....so once all of that is done too it will look much better! We are loving it here and are so happy to be in a bigger place. We were living in a 550 sq ft apartment in Provo, and so it's nice to have windows, space, a yard, a kitchen, etc...I am really grateful for all of these things. We are getting used to all the traffic and congested down town areas, but it will still take some adjusting. I come from Klamath where town is a 15-25 minute drive and now I live 2 blocks from the heart of Portland. It's a little strange. I hope this doesn't sound so negative because we really do love it here and things are realy starting to look good. Josh is actually working outside right now, so I had better run and help him!! I will post pictures soon and tell you more about our house and experiences!! It's a hoot. Love you all.

Rock it Girls!

This is a good idea! These are a few pictures from my wedding and reception. It is almost a year now but thought you might like to see them. Anyway, yesterday was the last day of my summer term and I actually have some free time now. I got my master's in may and have two years left to get my Ed.S degree for school psychology. Basically, school is the story of my life. We are actually moving in about a month to Northern Idaho. Josh is going to finish school up there so that should be an adventure. So we have some changes headed our way but nothing major. Let's keep each other posted. I love you all! JEN

IS HE HERE YET?

Hey fantastic girls! I am not very tech savvy, but this whole blogg thing is such a great idea. I love reading about y'all and everything you are doing. I feel like seeing the pictures and reading about you gives me my Nauvoo fix. :) Well, Giff and I are still waiting for our little one to come. I am exactly a week away from my due date (July 4th) and ready for him to come now. My mom is coming up a few days before I'm due, so I am very relieved and excited to have her help. We are pretty set on naming him Jaden Gifford Nielson and we finally finished his little nursery of vintage airplanes. It has been so fun to get ready for him to come and now I am just anxious to get him here now. While I have been getting bigger and bigger, Giff has been waiting to hear from the nursing schools he applied to. He applied to the University of Texas in Austin and to BYU-Idaho. He was lucky enough to get into both, but he will probably finish out here in Idaho. The temple here in Rexburg has really progressed and we are excited for the dedication and open house next year sometime. I never thought I would live down the street from a temple again after living in Nauvoo, but here I am again. It has been awesome to watch the temple get built. Well anyways, life is going great for the Nielson family here in Rexburg. We love ya and miss ya.

Love,

Amanda

What a Great Idea

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! It feels like forever since I have talked to any of my Nauvoo 9! This will be a fantastic way to keep in touch and to update each other on what is going on! As for the Forts we are doing great! The summer is already burning hot here in Austin Texas, but we have been spending a lot of time in the pool to keep us cool! Nate and I just got back from our first cruise. Neither one of us have ever been on a cruise and it was a blast! We went to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. As for the rest of the summer, I am going to girls camp and in August am coming to Utah and Idaho! I am coming to see Amanda's little bundle of joy! So if anyone is available I would LOVE to see all who will be in Utah or Idaho! Well I will stop boring you with my life, but I love ya'll and can't wait to hear how everyone is doin!

Lindsay
PS I will post pictures later!

I am so excited!

I am so glad that we have a Nauvoo 9 blog! It will be so fun to keep in touch this way.

I hope everyone is doing great!

I love you all! - Steph

Dancing Through Life....

I don't know about you girls but I'm really excited about this blogg. I think its such a great Idea! Thanks Jena and Steph for getting it going! I don't really have anything new to tell you about right now I'm just "dancing through life". But hopefully I will have something to post soon. Can't wait to hear about all your happenings! Love you all!
Shannon

Hey girls! Welcome to the Nauvoo Nine website. I just put a random picture up here, but this is kind of the idea. You post a pic, write a little diddy and you can do it whenever and however often you want! We want lots and lots of pictures and posts. Even if you don't have any new pics but you just want to write something have at it! Write your heart away. This can be our gossip channel.

While I'm at it I'll up-date you guys on the my little family. Josh just had nationals on the 8th of this month at Sacramento State. He didn't do as well as he wanted because he was sick with bronchitis, but he still took 8th. We are working with our agent right now and have almost officially decided to sign with Nike. Therefore, that means that we will be moving in about a week and a half to Portland, Oregon. Josh will start training with Nike for the Olympic trials marathon in New York. I'm going to get a job at Nike too...however, I have no idea what it will be...definitely not running! I can't even keep up with Josh on my bike. We are terribly excited to move into a new place and for Josh to start running professionally. My family lives about 5 hours away from Portland, so I am thrilled to be that "close" to them. - That's about all of our exciting news for now. I will let you know when we officially sign with Nike or Adidas or whoever and with all other things that life brings!!! I can't wait to hear from you girls about your lives and your babies and whatever else you want to say. I love you all and hope this will be a great way for us to stay in touch.