Ryan's Obituary

Ryan Nelson

We are heartbroken.

Ryan is gone from this life.

His thirty years here were brimming with adventure as he was never afraid to try new things.  He lived large on both coasts and many places in between.  His two favorite escapes were the ocean and the sky—he was happiest surfing and skydiving.

Ryan enjoyed skiing, golf, football and basketball.  He liked to have fun.  He was also a hard worker who strived to do his best on any job he took.  He liked movies and acted in a few.  Look for him next summer in “John Carter.”

Ryan had the heart of a lion and the soul of a poet.  He loved to play with his nieces and nephews—to them he was truly “Uncle Awesome.”  He would do anything to help a member of his family, and often did.

We love him.  We miss him.  He leaves behind a family that is grateful to have shared life with him.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 11:00 am,  at the Edgemont Stake Center, 303 West 3700 North, on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 11:00 am. A Memorial Gathering will be Wednesday, September 21, 2011 from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Park LDS Ward, 275 West Park Street (South of Layton Elementary School), Layton, Utah. There will not be a public visitation on Thursday morning in Provo. Interment: East Lawn Memorial Hills Cemetery, 4800 North 650 East, Provo, Utah, where Ryan will be laid to rest next to his father. Ryan’s arrangements are in the care of Memorial Mortuary, Murray, Utah (801) 262-4631.

(Written by Eric)

Ryan

I never know how to do these things.  They never get easier.

This morning my brother Ryan passed away.  He was in a car accident.  He fell asleep while driving, overcorrected, rolled his truck, and was ejected from the vehicle.  You can read a short article here.

Ryan will be greatly missed.  He was a great brother, and still is.  His fun loving personality will be missed.  We are grateful that we were able to spend some time with him in California.

Ryan and my dad must have had a wonderful reunion.

This is us at Disneyland in 1994 (I think).  Ryan is 2nd from the front and I'm 2nd to the back.

My wedding day.
From the Left it's Joe, Ryan, Me and Eric

Dancing with Ryan at my wedding.

On our way to San Francisco.

We love you Ryan, and we will miss you.

A Trip to the Dentist*

Today was a busy day.  This morning Connor and I went to the credit union to get pre-approved for a mortgage.  Yay!  There's light at the end of the tunnel.  As much as I love living above a mortuary (it really isn't so bad but no dishwasher and no AC is getting old), it's time for this beautiful newlywed experience to come to an end.  Who knows how long it will actually take us to find a home and all that stuff that's involved, but at least it's one step closer.

Then we went to the dentist in Provo to get my cavity filled.  Here's a lovely photo that Connor took of me.

 I love that Nitrus Oxide that they give you.  It's goooood stuff.  :)  And I got to watch Grey's Anatomy/Project Runway, so it wasn't so bad.

Afterwards we went to Coney's (thanks Annie for the recommendation!).  It was soo soo soo good.  I got the Chicago Dog and it was delish.  Connor actually went back and bought a 2nd one because he thought his was so good.  And their custard is really good too.  The only thing that could have made it more enjoyable is if my mouth wasn't partially numb.

This is Connor working on his 2nd Hot Dog.

After Provo we headed to IKEA.  I wanted to get some new plastic cups for our apartment.  One thing that I've learned about not having a dish washer is that it's easy to drop slippery things, and glasses tend to break when they're dropped.  So, sadly, we are down to very few glasses.  Anyway, we couldn't find a single plastic cup at IKEA.  What's up with that?  Maybe we just were looking in the wrong place, but we walked through the entire down stairs portion of the store and didn't find one.  We ended up buying some surge protectors, so it wasn't a wasted trip.

Then we went over to Boondocks for a UFDA convention.  This is the 2nd year in a row that we've gone and it's really fun.  We played a bunch of arcade games, go karts, miniature golf, and had dinner.  Funny story about the go karts, on our 2nd round Connor rammed into me and I ran into the side.  Since there's no reverse on the go karts one of the guys had to run over and push my cart back.  But while he was doing it a whole bunch of people came around the corner and one of them rammed into me.  It was actually pretty funny.  Anyway, Connor was just mad because the first time I beat him.  :)

After that we cashed in our arcade tickets for some Air Heads and headed home.  Fun night!

*(Does anyone remember how from S1 of Veronica Mars that one rude girl spits in other peoples drinks and calls it "A trip to the dentist"?)

My Nook Book

Can I just say how much I LOVE my Nook?  It's my favorite.  I love that I can read lying down and on my back and I don't have to hold the pages open.  I love that I can hold the book and turn the page with the same hand, at the same time.  I love everything about it.

Okay, I don't love that it took me 3 hours to figure out how to get library books transferred from my computer to my Nook, but that's okay.  I figured it out, and I DO love that I CAN read library books on my Nook.

Anyway, I have read 2 books so far since I got it.  The first was The Help, which was so so so good.  I think pretty much anyone would enjoy this book.  It's a really moving story, and while it may be a bit controversial, I really enjoyed it.  It helped me understand what life was really like for Black Women, and Black people in general, in the South during the 1960s, and the myths that White People created to justify the "Separate but Equal" craziness.  (i.e. Black People have different diseases than White People, and therefore must use a different bathroom so there's no cross-contamination.)  I really enjoyed the book, and think most others would too.

Then I read Water For Elephants, which I also really enjoyed.  Water for Elephants is about an old man who is remembering his days when he worked as the veterinarian in a traveling circus.  This book is really interesting.  It has murder, love, love triangles, and pretty much everything you could want.  I was kind of hesitant about reading it, but it had so many good reviews that I bought it and I'm glad I did.  (Warning, it does have a fair amount of profanity, so if that bothers you then don't read it.)  I haven't seen the movie that came out this year, but now that I finished the book I'd really like to.

Alcatraz

I have always wanted to go to Alcatraz.  I have kind of a weird obsession with prisons, especially old ones.  So when Connor and I decided to go to California for the baby blessing, I really wanted to go to Alcatraz.  We bought our tickets about a month in advance because we heard they can sell out fast.

Alcatraz was really interesting.  It's really a fascinating place, and it's interesting to see how the prison functioned, and also hear about the prison riots, and escapes.  It's also interesting to know that people lived there and grew up there.  Not prisoners, but families lived there.  Also, there is an interesting Native American history there, which is worth checking out.

Our boat out to the island.

One of the Guard Watchtowers.

Not my ideal location for a shower. 

I told him originally that he looked too happy to be in prison so this is the face he made.  :)

Solitary confinement in D Block.

I'm definitely too happy for solitary confinement.

I think this is the cell of Frank Morris, who escaped with John Anglin and  Clarence Anglin.

These are the pipes that they climbed up to get to the ceiling for their escape.

The kitchen.  They had to outline all of the knives in the cabinet so that they could know if any went missing.

We ended up staying out there for about 2 hours, and then drove the 2 hours back.  We got to Joe and Crystal's pretty late, but we stayed up and watched Escape From Alcatraz together.  Good movie.  And it was interesting to see the places that Connor and I had just visited.  

San Francisco

On Labor Day we headed into San Francisco with Joe, Crystal, their kids, and Ryan.  We had a lot of fun sightseeing.  Connor had never been there before, and the traffic was fairly bad due to the holiday so we didn't have a ton of time, but we saw some of the important stuff.

Pier 39

Vista Point by the Golden Gate Bridge

Addison slept almost the entire time.

Lombard St

We wanted to do more, but we just didn't have enough time.  Connor and I had tickets for Alcatraz so we had a bit of a time crunch.  But it was still fun to drive around and see everything.  We will have to go back some day and spend more time there.

Addison Mae

On August 4th my brother Joe and his wife Crystal had a baby.  After having 3 boys, they finally had a girl, which makes her my 2nd niece.  Her name is Addison Mae and she is soooo cute.

This past Sunday Addison had her baby blessing.  Connor and I drove out to California for it, and to spend time with Joe and Crystal and their kids, and do some sight seeing.  We had a ton of fun.  

Addison in her baby blessing dress.

Cameron, with Crystal in the background.

Me and Cameron.  He is so cute and loved to cuddle with me. 

Cody is such a sweet dog.  He is a Goldendoodle and is very good natured.  Connor had a lot of fun playing with him.

I'm not sure why we didn't get more pictures of Taylor and Alex.  Connor was in charge of the camera that day so I will blame him.  :)  Actually, I think the reason was that they were busy playing upstairs, which is why we didn't get any.