Ummm, will someone please tell me how it is already 2025?!? Time just seems to be moving faster and faster. With that said, I'm so thankful for a way to document the ins and outs of our life as it's happening (mostly). Here are all the posts I made to Instagram in an effort to do just that from January through June of 2025. I started the year off with posts that were playing catch-up from the hectic end of 2024 :-).
01/03 - A few weeks ago, we were blessed to celebrate my Granny Tiger's 🌟90th🌟 birthday! The day was super special as we got to hug the necks of cousins, aunts, uncles, etc that we hadn't seen in several years. There were about 70 of us there to share stories, laughter, and tears with each other, and we even spent some times singing Granny T's favorite hymns together. I'm so grateful for a wonderful day to love on her and each other!
01/05 - 🌪🏀OKC Thunder! 🏀🌪
01/06 - About Christmas (part 1) . . .
December was a whirlwind this year, but in the best sort of way. We got to spend time with many of our loved ones, and it was great! The festivities began when company arrived at our house on the evening of the 20th and continued until New Years. Whew!
01/06 - About Christmas (part 2) . . .
The festivities continued with Christmas morning at home just the six of us, then my parents joined us for lunch and the afternoon. A few days later, we celebrated with Chris's side of the family at his parents' house, then my sister and her family came to town a couple days before New Years. We rang in 2025 playing games and having fun with them. We are so blessed!
01/09 - Ahhhh, that winter sunrise 😍!
01/10 - ❄ Perfect snow day! ❄
02/01 - Bren was back on the court today after missing a few weeks due to illness. Love watching him play! 🏀🏃🏀
02/03 - Happy 10th birthday to my babies! It's crazy to think that we no longer have any kiddos with a single digit age 😢. These girls are so much fun! They work hard, they play hard, and they love hard. We spent part of the day at one of their favorite places . . . the zoo! They love animals and get so excited to see them. Per their request, we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and cream corn for dinner, then finished off the day with ice cream sandwiches and fudge bars. These little ladies bring so much love and joy to our lives. Happy birthday, Brooke and Brecklyn! 🎂🎁🎈
02/09 - Oklahoma sunset 😍😍😍
02/10 - Today we officially have another teenager in the house! Brenson's 13th birthday started with a cold, early morning run practice 😰. Once we warmed up, it was off to lunch at Braum's with Grampy and G-Jo, followed by a stop by Game Xchange for new games. Bren and Brooke spent a good part of the afternoon gaming, and per Bren's request we had chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes with cream gravy for dinner. He always wants ice cream sandwiches for dessert, but he wasn't thrilled when we started singing to him 😁. Finally, the kiddos ended the day with a game.
Happy 13th birthday to our favorite son, Brenson! In addition to your endless questions, random thoughts, and steady stream of facts about everything, you bring much joy, love, and laughter to our lives.
02/18 - Happy 15th birthday to Brianna! Today was easily the wintery-est ❆❄❅ birthday she's had, which meant a day spent inside our cozy house. We slept in, did some reading, made cookie dough and popcorn, watched the musical Oliver, and stayed warm! Bri doesn't love winter or snow, so she was fairly unimpressed with today's weather 😁. However, she is great to take things in stride and embrace whatever comes her way. We are thankful beyond words for our joyful girl who gives great hugs, talks a whole lot, thinks running is fun, and loves others so well. Happy 15th birthday, Brianna! We love you!
02/19 - Who else made snow ice cream? So yummy! ❆🍨❆
02/21 - It was a cold but fun weekend in Kansas City! On Friday night, we went to a hockey game (KC Mavericks vs Tulsa Oilers). I'd never been to a hockey game before . . . it was very entertaining and violent! On Saturday, we did some sight-seeing which included the KC Public Library and adjacent parking garage that is painted like a bookshelf. Loved it! We ate lunch at Pigwich, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It did not disappoint! Then we explored the City Market and rode public transportation downtown. Lisa and I have ridden lots and lots of public transportation together . . . just not much in the US. It was a definitely a new experience for my suburban kids! We 💖 KC!
02/25 - Brianna had a wonderful opportunity to share about one of our favorite books at our local library. If you haven't read The Boys in the Boat, you should! It's a great, inspirational, true story.
03/01 - Bren's basketball season ended today with an INBC championship WIN!!! This season has had its ups and downs, but Bren worked diligently and persevered through it all. He plays with a 🔥fire🔥 on the court, and we love watching our #31 hustle! 🏀🏃🏀
03/11 - The first track meet of the season is in the books. One child was there to compete and one was there to socialize 😁. Brenson placed 1st in discus, 1st in the 400m, 3rd in shot put, and got a PR in all three! It was a beautiful day for a meet!
03/17 - Wearing our green and studying the origins of St. Paddy's Day today!
03/26 - That post track meet nap just hits different. 😴
03/28 - All the kids had track meets this week, and I'm so thankful I was able to be there to cheer them all on. They do lots of running, jumping, and throwing, and I do lots of hustling between track events and field events 😁. Love my Falcons!
04/02 - This photo is of my lap covered in a blanket this morning at a {chilly} track meet. My mom, Granny, and Gramsie (great-grandmother) made me this blanket when I was in high school to take on band trips, academic bowl meets, field trips, youth group trips, etc. They always called it a "lap robe". It's warm but breathable, heavy but not bulky, and washable but not delicate.
It was the perfect blanket for activity trips when I was younger and now the perfect blanket to take when I watch my own children do what they love.
To most people it probably just looks like an old blanket. But for me, I can fell the warmth and love of my mother and grandmothers when I use it. 💜
04/08 - He came home from track practice and went straight to making oatmeal raisin cookies. It's all about balance, right? 😉
04/20 - 💖
04/26 - Next adventure in the works!
05/04 - Hmmm, that seems to have escalated quickly!
05/05 - I'm packing for Track & Field Homeschool Nationals this week and can't wait to cheer my crew on. We are blessed to be part of a great team! Go Falcons!
05/09 - Homeschool Track & Field National Championship 2025 was a great meet for the Nelson kids! They participated in a combined 18 events over three days, along with about 1100 other athletes. The weather posed an extra challenge as it rained off and on for hours and hours during the meet. Thankfully, competition only had to stop one time for lightning . . . the rest of the time the athletes just competed in the rain!
The highlights of the meet include Brianna winning 2nd 🥈in discus and 3rd 🥉in a 4x800m relay. Even though she brought home an ankle injury, this is her very first time to medal at Nationals and we are thrilled for her! Brenson added a 1st place 🥇 triathlon win, a 1st place 🥇 discus win, and a 1st place 🥇 shot put win to his collection of hardware for the season. Brooke also brought home 1st 🥇 in discus! Brooke and Brecklyn were part of a 4x800m relay team that took 2nd place 🥈! These kids work diligently and consistently all season , and Nationals is really the highlight of all their hard work.
We are so grateful for the relationships we've built through the years with not only our own team, but other teams as well. Yay for another great year at Nationals!
05/11 - We saw a beautiful rainbow after church services this evening, and it just felt so fitting to me. Mother's Day always puts me in my feels, and this year is no exception. For years, we yearned for children and cried to God for our family to grow while we battled infertility and baby loss. The situation often felt hopeless and like a dark cloud we carried with us always. Who knew empty arms could feel so heavy?
But God. His care, love, goodness, and faithfulness never wavered. His strength and comfort were there exactly when we needed it. He blessed us with abundantly more than we could have imagined.
Being a mother is one of the greatest privileges of my life. The perspective we have because of the struggles we endured is such a gift. And even on days when I feel weary, overstimulated, frustrated, and just DONE, I try to always remember that I'm living exactly what I prayed for. What a beautiful and gracious gift.
05/19 - Delight in the Dakotas - Day 1
Our trip began with a major driving day, so we left before the sun came up at 4:45am. Our goal was to leave at 4:30am, but we had a small issue with a crazy junebug that got trapped in our van and caused a little drama. Ahem.
By 8:30am, we were driving through KC, and around 11:30am we stopped for a quick lunch at a visitor's center in Iowa. We hit South Dakota around 2:30pm and drove west on I-90 for nearly 300 miles, fighting an absolutely ferocious (40-60 mph) headwind the entire way. It felt like forever, but we finally arrived in Badlands National Park just after 7:00pm. That was with "gaining" an hour crossing into Mountain Time!
We quickly moved into our little cabin the the Badlands, then went out to catch the sunset and some amazing views of the park. We were all awed and so excited to explore the park further!
05/19 - Delight in the Dakotas - Day 2
The wind raged around our cabin all night long, and then the rain kicked in around the time we woke up. We had planned a hike for the morning, but the trail we planned to take is considered "treacherous" in windy and rainy conditions. None of us wanted to be hiking in the wet and cold anyhow!
We changed our plans and headed to Wall Drug for a hot breakfast and shopping. After that, we stopped at the National Grasslands Visitor's Center where we learned about the black-footed ferret, then on to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site for a quick education on the Cold War.
The wind and rain persisted, so we grabbed lunch out of our food bin at the cabin, then enjoyed the scenic drive through Badlands National Park. The scenery was incredible, but the highlight was seeing bison 🦬 up close!
We had reservations for an evening of stargazing at the Badlands Observatory, but sadly the event was cancelled due to weather conditions. Instead, we grabbed dinner at the lodge near our cabin and planned to stay in for the evening. The wind had worn us out! However, just as fast as it had come on, the wind died out. The skies cleared, and we suddenly had a gorgeous, clear, and still evening on our hands. We ventured back out into the heart of the park to watch the incredible and serene sunset. It was a good ending to a day that did not go as planned.
05/19 - Delight in the Dakotas - Day 3 (part 1)
Day three in the Dakotas was a full one, so I'm breaking it up into two posts.
We woke up to gorgeous weather and couldn't wait to take a few trails in the park. We started with the Door Trail, which is a boardwalk that leads to an area of the park where you can free hike and explore. We loved this! We took a few other very short tails, but unfortunately the trail we really wanted to take (that we had to miss the day before) was still not advisable - per a park ranger - because of the heavy rains the day prior.
However, we were thankful for amazing weather and time to discover God's incredible creation before we said goodbye to our cabin and Badlands National Park.
05/19 - Delight in the Dakotas - Day 3 (part 2)
Upon leaving Badlands National Park, we drove to Rapid City for a quick lunch at Arby's. As soon as we finished lunch, we headed for Mt. Rushmore!
The afternoon was perfect for our visit. We enjoyed the faces in the mountain, explored the visitor's center, indulged in ice cream, viewed a movie about the history of Rushmore, and took the Presidential Trail around the base of the mountain. It was impressive and awe-inspiring!
That evening, we got settled into our VRBO in Rapid City, ate at Old Chicago Pizza (which took forever), and got groceries for our stay. Our introduction to The Black Hills had us looking forward to more!
05/20 - Delight in the Dakotas - Day 4
Another rainy and cold day meant adjusting our plans once again. We started the day with worship at a local church, then back to our VRBO for lunch. Then, we set off for Custer State Park and Needles Highway. We ended up driving over an hour out of our way due to a road closure. Sylvan Lake was beautiful and so unique, but a good portion of the trail around the lake was closed for renovation.
I remember Needles Highway and its tunnels being just incredible from previous visits to The Black Hills, but today wasn't the day to see it in all its majesty. Fog blocked many of our views, although the kids still thought it was amazing because they didn't know what they were missing!
We planned to return to Rushmore to see it illuminated at night, but the fog prevented us from doing that. Instead, we did a little bit of souvenir shopping and had ice cream in the quaint, touristy, mountain town of Keystone as rained poured all evening. Chris and I stayed in Keystone some years ago, and it was just as cute as we remembered.
05/22 - Delight in the Dakotas - Day 5
It was very cold and rainy when we woke up this day, but we had a big agenda so we didn't let that stop us. We started the day at Bear Country USA and loved it! In the drive-thru portion of the park, we saw elk, deer, mountain lions, wolves, antelope, bison, SO MANY bears, and more. The walk-thru portion of the park was great, too, but we were the only ones up for the challenge of the weather.
After we finished at Bear Country, we went back to our VRBO to get dry shoes and grab food for lunch. Then, we set off for Jewel Cave through the beautiful, snowy Black Hills. It snowed off and on all day, but thankfully that didn't affect our cave tour.
Once we finished our visit to Jewel Cave, we headed back toward Rapid City. We stopped in Custer for some ice cream and pie at the Purple Pie Place . . . definitely worth the stop! On the way back to Rapid City, we decided a second visit to Bear Country was in order. It was just as good as the first!
We warmed up and had dinner at the VRBO before setting out for our evening adventure. We wanted to see Mt. Rushmore lit up at night, so we arrived there about 9:00pm. We were some of just a handful of people braving the cold, but it made the visit so serene. We were surprised at the snow that had been cleared from the main walkways, and of course the kids (and Chris) had to play in it a bit. We really enjoyed the day, despite the wet and cold!
05/22 - Delight in the Dakotas - Day 6
We started this day at the Black Hills National Forest visitor's center. Then, we drove the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop. We didn't see much wildlife, except for these crazy burrows in one area who stuck their heads right in our van. Once we closed the windows, one decided to get a good head scratch on our mirror 😂.
A cave tour at Wind Cave National Park was next on our agenda for the day, and it was amazing. We all thoroughly enjoyed winding through the cave for an hour and a half with our guide.
We enjoyed the scenic drive around Wind Cave National Park, then drove to Custer for some souvenir shopping and ice cream again 😁. We tried a different place this time, but the kids said the Purple Pie Place was better.
To round out the day, we visited the Berlin Wall Memorial in Rapid City. It was very sobering, but interesting for sure. Then, we randomly visited a Quarter Pounder statue to commemorate Rapid City consuming more Quarter Pounders per capita than any other city in the world. Hmmm, I'm not sure I'd be proud of that, but we had fun with it!
05/22 - Delight in the Dakotas - Day 7
This morning, we left our VRBO in Rapid City and drove to Wyoming for a morning at Devil's Tower. The kids loved climbing around on the rocks and seeing rock climbers scaling the face of the tower. We hiked part of the Tower Trail around the base of the tower before heading out.
We drove from Wyoming to Montana, crossing a portion of Custer National Forest on the way. We saw firsthand why Montana is called "Big Sky Country"!
After driving most of the afternoon, we arrived in Glendive, Montana for the night. We had dinner at a delicious little place called Gigi's Trail Star Cafe, then planned to explore at a local state park. However, it was chilly and rainy again, and we decided to just stay in for the evening instead. A relaxing evening was really nice!
05/24 - Delight in the Dakotas - Day 8
A visit to Makoshika State Park just outside of Glendive, Montana was our first stop for the day. We finally had some gorgeous weather, and we were excited to do some hiking and exploring. We hiked to see the "Twin Sisters" in Makoshika, then headed down the road once again - this time to North Dakota!
We've been listening to a book about Theodore Roosevelt during our hours of driving time on this trip, and rolling into Theodore Roosevelt National Park made the book just come alive. We saw several bison near the visitor's center as soon as we arrived. We didn't know this was foreshadowing for our hike we would take later in the day. That hike deserves its own post, so stay tuned for that!
After exploring the visitor's center and the excitement of our hike, we checked into our lodge outside of Medora, North Dakota, then headed to town to eat dinner and explore. Medora is "Medorable" in the words of Brianna, and she's right! It's a quintessential western/tourist town, and we had a great time walking around town as evening set.
05/24 - Delight in the Dakotas - A Great Day for a Hike
Upon arriving in Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, we paid a visit to the South Unit Visitor's Center. The park ranger recommended the Painted Canyon Trail for our beautiful afternoon, so we drove eat to the Painted Canyon Visitor's Center.
The trail is a one mile loop down into the Painted Canyon and back out, fairly easy and quick. As we set off from the trailhead, a young man passed us and took the loop going the opposite direction as us. We descended down into the canyon - enjoyed the beautiful views - and noting all the bison prints on the trail. We even saw bison fur in some of the flora along the trail and thought it was so cool.
We had made it about 4/10 of a mile down the trail when Chris took over leading our crew because our leaders were having a bit of a fuss. He rounded a corner and came face-to-face with two large bison bulls blocking the trail. Eeeep! 🦬🦬
We slowly backed away, then took off rapidly up the trail. It was all uphill and steep, but the bison were coming up the trail directly behind us. They weren't chasing us or showing aggressive behaviors, but they were WAY too close for my comfort! Of course, Chris Nelson was pretty calm about the whole thing. Ahem.
The guy who had passed us at the trailhead on the way down came up on the backside of the bison bulls, and somehow made it back to the trailhead before us 😂.
Once we were safely at the trailhead, a park ranger came over to make sure we were ok. He said he had seen the bison on the trial from a viewpoint and saw our group approaching, but we were too far away to stop. He was stopping other groups at the trailhead.
The bison eventually made their way to the trailhead parking lot (not too far behind us). They seemed completely unbothered by us, but I can assure you the feeling was not mutual!
🦬🦬
05/24 - Delight in the Dakotas - Day 9
Today was another day exploring Teddy Roosevelt National Park! We started our day in Medora for a delicious breakfast at the Farmhouse Cafe, followed by some shopping. Then, we entered the park where we saw at least three large herds of bison. Each herd had several cute calves!
Next up was the short Wind Canyon Trail to an incredible overlook. After that, the rain and wind started up again so we opted out of any further hikes.
Instead, we headed back to Medora for a mid afternoon ice cream treat. Just what we needed!
Teddy Roosevelt NP is unique because it has two units (North and South) that are over 60 miles apart. We hadn't yet explored in the North Unit, so we drove that direction to see what we could see. The North Unit is home to wildlife, amazing scenery, and super unique concretions that we enjoyed. We were thankful we took the time to see the less popular North Unit, too.
We grabbed dinner at a local steakhouse before heading back to our lodge for the night. Teddy Roosevelt National Park did not disappoint!
05/26 - Delight in the Dakotas - Day 10, 11, & 12
These days were all about one goal - getting HOME! We left Medora, North Dakota on Saturday morning and drove until we reached Kearney, Nebraska . . . over 600 miles! We encountered rain, fog, more rain, slow farm vehicles that we couldn't get around because of the fog, and still more rain. But eventually, we made it!
On Sunday, we worshipped with the Lord's church in Kearney, where we were able to be with some family friends. We all went out for lunch after church, then we once again hit the road. After about five hours of driving, we stopped for the night in Wichita, Kansas. We were all feeling pretty over the whole road trip adventure by this point!
However, there was one more important thing we wanted to do and that was pay a visit to my Granny Tiger. It was wonderful to visit with her and hug her neck Monday morning before embarking on our final three hours of driving.
After what felt like way longer than it should have, we crossed into Oklahoma. We continued to fight the rain until we arrived home around 3:00 in the afternoon. We were thankful, exhausted, and a little smelly . . . all marks of a fantastic trip with memories to last a lifetime!
05/27 - We finished up our school year at LIGHT Academy several weeks ago, and what a year it was! The year started off kind of rough . . . in my excitement to learn and grow with my students (and my inability to narrow things down), I overloaded our schedule. Days were feeling way more stressful for all of us than they should, so we made some adjustments, pulled the reigns back on a few things, and slowed our pace. It was the best decision, and we saw immediate improvements in our every day.
These photos show the obvious physical growth of the children, but there has been so much more than physical changes. It's a beautiful blessing to walk this journey with them!
05/31 - VBS prep is going strong! We would love to have you join us . . . classes for ALL ages!
06/11 - What a sky tonight! 😍
06/25 - 💗Favorites💗
Looking at six months of our day-to-day in photos put together like this never ceases to remind me of blessed we are. Thank you, Lord, for this good life!
