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Today's Featured Biography

Michelle VanGenderen Nielson

Michelle VanGenderen & Thomas Nielson


Thomas & Michelle ended their senior year at Meridian High dating. We knew it wouldn’t last long at the time. Thomas was preparing to head off & serve a mission for our church in the fall and Michelle was heading off to school. But that wasn’t the end.

Thomas left for Arcadia, California in November of 1997 to serve a Spanish-speaking mission for two years. In the meantime, Michelle worked & attended Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. We kept in touch through letters the entire time Thomas was gone. He returned in November of 1999 and Michelle graduated from Ricks the following spring. Michelle left Rexburg and returned to Boise with an Associates degree and an engagement ring. However, being so young and not feeling the timing was right, the wedding was called off and we went our separate ways in the summer of 2000.

Thomas moved into an apartment in downtown Boise & began attending Boise State. Michelle had the same idea—new start, more schooling. We never lived too far apart, but after breaking off an engagement we resorted to civil “hellos” as we passed on campus. We both enjoyed the apartment-roommate-dating life for a couple of years as we worked out our school-full-time and work-part-time schedules…sometimes work and school BOTH full-time! Coincidentally, all of Michelle’s roommates and all of Thomas’ roommates were constantly making connections. We all got along very well and would hang out on a regular basis. This led to several occasions to get reacquainted.

In the fall of 2001 we began dating again and were engaged by January 2002 and married June 1, 2002 in the Boise, Idaho LDS temple.

Our married life started in downtown Boise, as we both continued working & going to BSU. Michelle graduated with her BA in Communications/Journalism in December 2002. Thomas graduated in December 2004 with his BS in Business Management. From there we uprooted from “home” and took our little family—including Emily, who joined us in May 2004—and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to start that first “out of college” job with a homebuilder, Pulte Homes.

Thomas began his unanticipated career in construction, while Michelle ran a daycare in our home in order to stay home with Emily. While we enjoyed our “life lessons” there and met some incredible people, we knew we wouldn’t be there forever. We added one more member to our family—Spencer—who came in July 2007. And Michelle decided that was the first and last pregnancy she’d have in Las Vegas’ heat. Thomas got some wonderful training and experience with Pulte Homes and was able to use that background to eventually take us a little closer to home.

In February of 2008 we moved our family of four to northern Utah—somewhere we both swore we’d never live (never say never!). Thomas began working with the Maverik Corporation as a Construction Manager for their new stores and remodels.

We just bought a home in Roy, Utah (near Ogden). Thomas absolutely LOVES his job, traveling and overseeing the production of new stores throughout Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada & Wyoming. And Michelle finally gets to have the job she’s been aiming for—full-time mom. Emily (3) & Spencer (1) are both beautiful, wonderful kids—-both handfuls, but wonderful!

We finally feel we are at a point of settling in and putting down some roots. There’s a saying we love: We don’t have it all together, but together we have it all. We are proud of where we’ve been, what we’ve accomplished and who we have become. We have a ways to go, but what a fantastic ten years!

Update that.....10 years later....2017. We still live in Roy, Utah. Almost have a teenager and 4 kids total now (& final). Thomas worked at Maverik for 10 years and left them last fall for some new adventures. And adventures they have been!! Michelle went back to school for a second bachelors, working towards speech pathology. Thomas is in the process of changing jobs and directions. So life is crazy and interesting right now! But we have 4 healthy kids, we're happy and love where we live.

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