Pictures are worth a 1000 words anyway!

I just realized that you can't simply copy and paste into this stupid thing! So what I wrote will have to come in my next post.

UPDATE:

Nathan is Student of the Week

We were asked to write up few things about Nathan to be presented to his class this week as they honor him as student of the week. So Mom and I thought it would be a good idea to post this entry on the blog and then to write our memories of each of our wonderful children. So, we will work from last to first over the next few weeks recalling things we love about each of you. It should be a fun walk down memory lane for us. We love all of you very much!

First, let me say that we love having Nathan in our home!! We love going places together and doing things together as a family. He often has interesting thoughts or ideas that he likes to share with us – often making us smile or chuckle. He is like having a best friend and a son all wrapped into one.

When he was little, he could never sit still. He had to be held, or walked around, wiggled or jiggled or he would cry his eyes out. We spent much of the first year of his life trying to keep him from crying. As he grew a little older, he was not quite as “fidgety” but still liked to be on the move and doing something all the time. He definitely won’t ever be a couch potato! One of our favorite things that we started doing when he was about two years old was going to watch Cleveland Indians baseball games. He would sit intently in his seat and cheer when the fans cheered. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was born an Indians fan. I also took him to watch the Kent State vs. Bowling Green basketball game when he was five years old. The hometown team, Kent State, led the entire game until about two minutes to go when Bowling Green finally took the lead. Nathan started to cry uncontrollably. I expect people thought I had hurt him somehow. I tried and tried to get him to stop crying and finally gave up and left the game before it was over.

Nathan has loved to play sports ever since he was a little boy. We would play basketball games down stairs – it was imperative that he win or he was an unhappy camper. We often played baseball outside with his neighbor friend David, but when the weather was bad we would play in the family room, often the ball hit things that were not meant to he hit. I was amazed at how well he could hit my fastest wiffle ball pitches at such a young age. He is now quite good at basketball, baseball, football and even golf. We love to watch him play and love to play with him when we get a chance. Nathan loves games of all types and is a good sportsman. He always wants to win, but is also concerned about playing fair and being respectful of the other team.

When Nathan was about three years old he wanted to help me do yard work. Because he was so small there was not a lot that he could do, so while I mowed the lawn he would get his toy lawn mower and follow me around the lawn while I cut the grass. I am quite sure he thought he was the one actually doing the cutting. I never told him otherwise.

My scariest moment with Nathan was at a Salt Lake Bees baseball game when he was seven years old. After the game ended, the announcer invited all of the kids to run the bases. Nathan went down on the third base side where we were standing and after rounding the bases, he was directed up into the stands on the first base side. By the time I worked my way over to the first base side he had gone up the stairs and I could not find him anywhere. We spent fifteen of the longest minutes of my life frantically looking for him. By then most everyone had cleared out of the stadium and I was certain someone had abducted him and he was long gone. After checking with security, asking people if they had seen a boy wandering around, and praying as hard as I knew how, I then went back down to the field and climbed up on top of the dugout and began to yell, please help me find my seven year old son!! There were not many people hanging around at that point, but in my desperation, it was all that I could think of to do. Finally, a security officer approached me and informed me that they had found a lost boy. I rushed up to the concession area to find him sitting with another security officer eating popcorn - without a care in the world. I cannot, even to this day, express the gratitude and relief that I felt in that moment. I suppose it may be a little bit like what our Heavenly Father feels when one His children choses to return to Him. I can't image and don't want to image what life would have been like if Nathan had not been found!!

Nathan has always been a kind and obedient son. He loves his older sisters, Whitney, Lindsey and Kelsey. He is a great uncle to his two nephews and two nieces. He loves to play with them and makes them feel very important. He always is of good cheer and has a way of making others around him feel happy.

He is everything we could have hoped for in a son! We love you, Nathan!!

Dad and Mom

Kick off

Ok family,

It's time to kick off our family blog again! So here's how it goes. We will take turns blogging each week. I'll start, since I'm already here, and then Mom and Dad will have next week. Lindsey and Stu will take the 23rd, and Kelsey the 30th. Nathan, you can post if you want to, but we won't make you until you have the priesthood :) So enjoy the next 9 months. Now, I WILL hound you. I'll call you on Sunday to remind you. If I don't see a post by 10 pm MST, I'll call you AGAIN. If I don't see one Monday morning, I'll call you every half hour until I see one. So you better just get 'er done quick.

Today we went to see Adam's cousin's farewell. I was a little grumpy about it at first, I wanted to sleep in on Mother's Day, and I didn't want to haul across town. I like my ward, and I wanted to go there. I even told Adam to take the kids, and I would go to our ward later. Haha, BAD ATTITUDE. I got over my grumpiness though, and we went to the farewell. It was lovely, but truth be told, I had a better experience just sitting there with my little Hallie. She didn't want anyone but me all Sacrament, and we sat there and sang songs quietly in our pew, played a few little games, and just did what we do during Sacrament meeting. Hallie was SO good though, and so cute. It gave me a lot of time to really reflect on motherhood and the trials and rewards that come along with it. I thought about myself as a mother and to resolve to do better in certain areas. I love Mother's Day for that reason. I often think about the kind of Mother Mom was, and the kind that I am. I try to put myself in my kids shoes and think of what kind of mother I would really like to have as a 3 year old or a one year old. And mostly, I'm just grateful to be a mom. I get jealous from time to time of those people who are married without children, and think of all the freedoms they enjoy (they are DEFINITELY ignorant to a degree of this magnitude of freedom). But then I think about the joys that I have in motherhood as I watch the women go to school or work, and I don't envy that part of their life. I love being at home with my kids. It is the most rewarding job ever it brings me great joy and happiness, and I know it's exactly what I am supposed to be doing with my life.

Happy Mother's Day