Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Wilsonville family featured in Family Circle magazine

Magazine hit newstands earlier this month

• By: Michelle Te  
• Published: 11/17/2009 3:18:31 PM

Photo courtesy of Family Circle
The Nelson family is Kimberly and Guy, with daughters Chayse, 12, Cayden, 10, and Carsyn, 5, and CoCo, their dog.

Kimberly Jacobsen Nelson is accustomed to national exposure.

She’s a winner of both national and international beauty contests, and a local TV personality who has produced many pieces on the region, including Wilsonville.

But it’s an upcoming feature in Family Circle magazine that has Nelson excited these days.
“Family Circle is one of my favorite magazines,” she said recently of the monthly publication that regularly features articles on home, family, health, style and food.

But one of the most popular sections is called “My Hometown.” In it, the magazine spotlights readers and their hometowns. It offers comments about the city they live in, some of their favorite hotspots and what they love about their city.

Several months ago, Nelson was perusing the magazine and thought it would be fun to submit her own family’s name.

“I like hearing about other people’s lives and what they do for fun,” she said. “When I originally applied, in the back of my head I was thinking it would be great if it came out around Christmas time, because we need Christmas pictures.”

Nelson knows that magazines operate on a long “lead” time, and prepare upcoming features several months in advance.

So, contacting Family Circle in the springtime for a winter publication actually made sense.
She sat down and penned out an email submission that included information about her husband, Guy, and their three daughters, Chayse, 12, Cayden, 10, and Carsyn, 5. She talked about the things they like to do as a family, why they moved to Wilsonville, and what the city is known for.

Although Nelson has produced television shows about the water treatment facility and the city’s three water fountains, she also contacted the Wilsonville Chamber of Commerce to shore up a few facts about her fair city.

“It’s a great town we have here,” she said, “so I wrote in and talked about what we like, and how lucky we are to be here.”

About three months later, Nelson finally heard back from Family Circle. The writers said they were interested in the Wilsonville family of five. They told her she was a “finalist” and asked her more questions about their daily lives.

“I was surprised to hear from them,” she said. “They said they liked our family and haven’t featured anyone from Oregon for a long time.”

The writers followed up with a telephone call, and more questions.

Then, they arranged for a professional photographer to visit the Nelson family, with an opportunity to keep all photos taken. Christmas card issue now solved.

“They asked us questions about how Guy and I met, our first date, what we like to do with the kids for fun, our favorite restaurant,” she said. “I know the photographer also went out around the city and took pictures of local places, like Murase Plaza and the memorial wall at Town Center Park.”

Nelson was sure to point out some of their favorite regional spots, like the alpine ride on Mount Hood, as well as the reasons for moving to Wilsonville, including outstanding local schools.

The magazine will hit racks in early November.

“We’re really excited about this,” Nelson said.

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