Jon Schmidt - Taylor Swift Meets Coldplay Video

Incredible passion, love this video and I think you will too if you haven't seen it. It makes you feel so good!

God Bless Truman Madsen

Truman Madsen (1926 - 2009)

Thank you Brother Madsen for your teachings on the Atonement and the Prophet Joseph Smith. May the Lord bless your family as you part company with them physically for a season.

Truman Madsen website

Great article by Scott Proctor

Memorial Day 2009

Pictures of Memorial Day 2009 with the Shelley family -


Elias, Austin, Porter, Lauren, Joshua - actors of the first rate

Our first roses usually come out near Memorial Day

Lauren and Chase stopping to smell the roses

Lauren injecting herself into a picture of Dallin

Joshua stealing a drink from Lauren and raising his arms in victory

Austin Shelley - it only took 3 tries to get this picture right

Dallin wandering with his wagon

Dallin drinking his whole drink at once, before touching any of his food

Elias and Porter, contemplating trouble

Blades of Grass and Pure White Stones

In honor of Memorial Day we have chosen to post a video of this song. The guy singing it is kind of cheesy but I love the message and the images.

Fathers and Sons 2009

All of the Nelson boys (minus Brennan for reasons that will not be explained, but can probably be guessed) went out to the friendly, dusty, bathroomless campsite at the Vernon Beef Ranch in Vernon, UT. Don't know where Vernon is? If you blink you will miss it, kind of like thriving metropolis of Faust, UT.

We had a good time, nobody was seriously hurt and we all survived the night. Dinner was mainly soda, hot dogs, chips, more soda, then burnt marshmallow smores. Then some more soda. Did I mention there weren't any bathrooms at this ranch? Ask my brother-in-law Dave if there were any working toilets . . .

Some highlights of the night -

• High Council reading poetry for part of the program. Ugh.
• Kids running, riding their bikes, screaming all over the campsite at 11:30 pm. Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of sleep.
• Elias burrowing into the Guacamole Cave. He had a green-colored sleeping bag and in the morning we found him curled up in a ball inside the bag, at the very end.
  
• Dallin waking up, we think, at 1:30 am and beginning to giggle. This continued for 4 hours. That must have been some dream!

We all had a good time and look forward to next year. Before we go I do need to get one thing off of my chest - Fathers and Sons are for fathers and their SONS. Not their daughters. This isn't a girl activity. Don't bring your daughter, adopt somebody else's son, bring a nephew, come solo. Having girls there changes the dynamics, how am I supposed to teach my boys how to belch properly after good swigs of cream soda and beef jerky? :)

Slow Dancing

I found this poem a couple of weeks ago in a book I read and I really like it. It reminds me of what I need to do so often - slow down. Those of you who know me know that if you mess up the schedule I have - your name becomes mud. Slow down, don't dance so fast Greg.

Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

Do you run through each day on the fly
When you ask "How are you?" do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores running through your head?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
'Cause you never had time to call and say "Hi"?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away...

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

David L. Weatherford

Happy 10th Birthday to Lauren!

Lauren celebrated her 10th birthday on Saturday but we waited until Monday night for cake and ice cream. Hooray for 10!


Obviously not 10 candles here but candles can become expensive in our home with as many birthdays as we celebrate. Thank goodness we only have to use 19 for Kathryn's birthday!

Lauren is quick on the draw, knowing that there are many brothers and sisters waiting to blow out the candles right before she starts. Savannah is just out of the picture frame on the left, she blew out one of the candles right before we started to sing so Kathryn had to relight it.


Lauren trying to look at two cameras at once and the flash going off on Kathryn's camera as I am taking a picture. That is not the wild-eyed demon look. Like something out of Twilight.

Tabernacle Choir Goes MTV

Every time this song is played or we sing it I get a lump in my throat. Too many good memories I guess. They didn't show any Russian footage in the video, guess they didn't want those who served stateside to be jealous . . . :)