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| Maria decided to donate her hair to Locks of Love. Locks of Love takes the hair and makes wigs for children who have cancer and have lost their hair during the Chemo. This was the first time she had her haircut besides trimming the dead ends since she was born. |
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| Holding her foot of hair she donated and she still had long hair. |
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| Her new haircut! |
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| Anthony wiring at National SKILLS USA in Kansas City, MO. He had one day for the Electrical Code Test then two days totaling 8 hours of wiring. I was able to attend for free so I watched in amazement for the 8 hours. |
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| Anthony standing next to his completed Residential Wiring competition. This began as a blueprint. |
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| We did have fun at night, too. All competitors attended a Kansas City, Royals game. It was much fun being in an outdoor stadium at night. |
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| This is what Anthony received just for competing at Nationals. Many companies donated. |
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| Anthony received 8th out of 48 competitors from all over the US including Guam and Virgin Islands. It was so much fun and an opportunity of a life time. |
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| Maria went to Schoenstatt Camp in Sleepy Eye. Maria and her friends standing after the dedication of their room shrines. Beautiful young women inside and out. |
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| One of our baby goats. We had a very successful year with having twins and triplets and not losing any of them. |
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| On August 10th we celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary. I can't believe we have been married that long. I am married to a truly amazing man. He is a great father who loves to spend time with the kids. He is always smiling even after a long day. He is not afraid to chip in when things get hectic and I need help. I couldn't ask for anything better. We have started date nights with just the two of us and highly recommend it to anyone. It doesn't need to be expensive. We go to Applebee's after 9PM and order from the appetizer menu which are half price from 9-close and just talk. |
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| Our little girl turned 5 in August. She is happy all the time unless she isn't getting her way. We can't describe the blessing she is to us it grows more and more each year. We could be having a rough day and she will come give us a hug and and bat her big brown eyes at us and the whole mood changes. |
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| She enjoys her Dora. She can count to 10 in Spanish better than she can in English. |
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| So excited about the cupcake..free from Hyvee Birthday Club. |
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| Maria's 12th Birthday. Maria is always happy and ready to help with anything. She is a second mother to Christina. She loves to sew, bake, read, play piano and organ. She is the bright sunshine to our morning as she wakes up with a big smile and a "Good Morning" before everyone except her dad. She is our big sweetheart. |
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| Happy with her birthday present. |
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| This is why we don't have new cars. No matter what kind of fence they seem to get out. These are two bottle goats from this Spring. We woke up to this one morning after thinking we had them locked up so they couldn't get out. Wrong!!! |
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| Birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Nelsen's. |
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| Christina's first pumpkin carving. She wasn't thrilled getting her hands dirty. |
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| All done and ready to light for All Saints Day. |
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| The proud hunters. Michael got his first big buck. |
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| Putting up the tree the first day of Advent. |
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| Christina was able to put balls on the tree all by herself this year and she only broke one. We just need to teach her to put them on other parts of the tree not in a 12 inch section. |
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| Maria was so excited to be chosen to put on the angel this year. |
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| Michael's TKD Tournament trophies. 2 first and 1 second. |
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| Annual Lefse making night. |
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| Michael testing the first one. |
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| Christina had more flour on her than on the lefse board but as you can see fun was had by all. |
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| Grandpa Nelsen laughing at his gift. I think he liked the box more than the gift. When he opened the box it was a recording of all the kids saying "Merry Christmas Grandpa" |
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| Grandma Nelsen opening all her gifts with Christina's help, of course. |
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| Uncle Darren tickling Christina and enjoying every minute of it. |
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| Christmas 2011 |
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| Merry Christmas |
