A New Year

Well, it is a new year and I have a "new" computer. YEAH!!! I am so excited! My computer got a really bad virus and it was making it impossible to do anything. I have had the virus for a while and we bought this anti-virus software and it would get rid of it for a short time but it kept coming back. Finally Nate and his friend Larry just erased the hard drive and reloading everything on to it. It is so nice to be able to get on the computer and actually surf the internet and open pages read blogs and emails without having a million pop ups and the page change to this stupid virus thing every 15 seconds. It was incredibly annoying.

So here I am with a lot of catching up to do. It has been 2 1/2 months since I have posted anything and there was a lot that happened in that time. I'll do my best to get you up to date.

I will start with Thanksgiving. We went to Arizona for the week to be with Nate's parents and sister Kelli (and her fiance Chris). Unfortunatly Nate's mom wasn't able to be there with us. His sister Christi was pregnant and she went to San Francisco to be there with Christi. Christi had a beautiful baby girl on December 4th. Mom and Baby are doing great!

We had a lot of fun. We drove and Max was so good. I was nervous about how he would do since he pretty much never stops moving. I thought he might get restless in the car but he was so good. We stopped a couple times and let him run around for a long time. We listened to music and he played with toys. He did insist on having one of us (me) sit in the back seat with him. We left monday morning around 7 and we got to Flagstaff around 4. We spent the night there. Nate's parents are serving a mission in the Pheonix mission home right now. His dad is in charge of all the mission cars so he had to be up in the Flagstaff area to do some inspections. We stayed in a hotel there and then headed to Surprise tuesday morning.

Unfortunately Nate and Max both got sick on the trip. Max just had a runny nose and was a little tired. He slept like a champ. Nate spent a lot of his time in the bath and napping. He didn't join us on any of our outings. We missed him but still had fun. He was able to help dad pigeon proof his house before he got really sick, so that was a good thing. On Wednesday Kelli and Chris came over and spent the night. We made some yummy soup for dinner and played games. It was fun.

Thanksgiving morning we started cooking dinner around 9 and had it ready and eaten by 1. Pretty good for a group of people who have never done Thanksgiving dinner before. Nate's family has some very specific dishes they eat for thanksgiving so we did our best to cook like mom. It all turned out really good I thought. We missed you Mom. We all gained a whole new level of appreciation for what you do.

Friday Kelli came back and we went to the park and walked around. Max loved it. they have a lake with ducks and geese and we fed the birds. Max really liked that. We were there for a couple hours playing and walking. It was so nice. The weather was great. I do love Arizona in the winter. Friday night Kelli and I had a girls night out. We went to Twilight, which we both liked. Then we decided to go to 4 Christmases which was pretty stupid. We stayed up really late talking and laughing. We were gone so long that Nate and Dad did an entire 1000 piece puzzle and went to bed before we got home. It was fun! I love having girls time. Sometimes we girls just need to talk. Thanks Kelli for hanging out with me.

Saturday we hung out some more at home. We went to Petsmart to look at the puppies. They were so cute. Max ran around like crazy and spent some time crawling on the floor. That really grossed me out so I tried to stop him but I was unsuccessful. After that we went to the Library and read stories. Max loved that too. That was his first trip to Library, I was a little bit nervous about taking him to the library and having him pull all the books off the shelves but he did really well. It was fun.

We left sunday morning and made the long drive home. It only took us about 12 hours with 2 really long stops. We figured about 10 hours of driving time. Once again Max was a champion traveler. He even sat in the backseat by himself for a lot of it. He of course doesn't sleep in the car anymore. So he didn't sleep at all on the way down there and on the way home he fell asleep for about an hour at 7pm. He is such a good boy. We are so lucky!

Well, that was our Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun. We miss Nate's parents and siblings. It is hard to have them living so far away. We are thankful for every minute that we get to spend with them. Love you guys!
kisses
petting the dog
yummy soup dinner
making the rolls the night before
Nate, working hard
Chris, working hard
cutting up the green beans, he insisted on having them french cut, and he was right. Thanks for saving the casserole babe.
The papa, cooking dinner
the beautiful Kelli, she pulled the whole thing off. Thanks Kell.
playing croquet
waiting for dinner to cook
chillin'
the table. so pretty
the food, so yummy
feeding the birds
getting some bread
looking at the birds
"Hello!"
riding a turtle
talking to the turtle
the big slide
sitting with Mom
reading with aunt Kelli
getting a new book

Sappy Thanksgiving Letter

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you are all having a great day. I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude. I am so blessed. I have been given so much. I just wanted to take a minute and list just a few of the many things that have blessed my life so much. First is my wonderful, loving husband. He is so patient and kind and genuinely wants nothing more then for me to be happy. He can always make me laugh even if I don't want to and that is sometimes the best thing for me. He reminds me daily not to take myself so seriously and to find the humor in everything. He is my light. Thank you so much Nate, I couldn't do this without you. Next is my beautiful boy. I had no idea I could feel so much love and joy from such a little person. I can't imagine life without him. He is so happy and easy, we really got blessed. I love when he just leans over and gives me a kiss for no reason. Or when I walk into the room and his face lights up. Or when he laughs so hard at something so simple, I don't even notice it. He has only been with us for one year and I am changed forever. I can only say that everyday with him is a treasure and I can't wait for many, many more.

Next, I am so thankful for my wonderful family. That includes my parents who are always there for me, even for the smallest thing. They are so loving and supportive, I know I have taken them for granted so often in my life and I just feel so lucky to have them. Thank you Mom and Dad. Also, Nate's parents who have been the best in-laws I could have hoped for. They did a wonderful job raising Nate, I am so lucky to have him. They continue to bless us all the time even from a distance. They have always been so warm and loving I have felt at home with them from the very beginning. We love and respect and admire them so much. We only wish that we could spend more time with them. Continuing with the family, My brothers and sister, I could name each one individually but that would take days there is so much to say. I just want to thank you all for sticking it out. We have learned a lot together and been through a lot together. I want you all to know that I wouldn't take any of it back. It has made me who I am and I am a better person for it. I think there is a reason we all ended up in the same family. I know there is so much I have learned from you all. I love you more then I can express. Thank you for sharing your lives with me and making me a better person. And your spouses, you are all very patient people. I love you so much. Thank you for being willing to jump into our family and love us for who we are. Thank you for letting us love you back. You have enriched our lives. Nate's brothers and sisters, and husbands and wives and children, I love you so much. I am truly the luckiest girl in the world. I married into the best family I could have ever even imagined. Having only met two of you briefly before we got married I was very nervous for what my future family was and what you would think of me. Thank you so much for loving me and excepting me and making me a part of the family. We don't get to spend much time together but I always look forward to the time we have. I only wish it could be more often. I love you.

Now, moving on to the other significant people in my life. I want to first say that the Nybo's have been a second family to us and we love them so much. They make us laugh, and cry with us when we need to cry. They have been there for us in everything and we are so grateful for them all. To my wonderful loving extended family; aunts, uncles, cousins on all sides thank you and we love you. My friends, who have been there with me through it all. You girls have stood by me through the best and the worst. You know everything about me and you still love me. I know that I was blessed to have you all in my life. I couldn't have made it through those hard, hard years without you. I am so glad that you are all still in my life. I am constantly blessed by you. "Thank you" isn't enough, but I don't know how to say it. I love you all so much.

Of course there is so much I am thankful for and so much I have been blessed with. I couldn't possibly name it all. So I will stick to the people who are blessing my life. I want to end with the one who I owe it all too. I am so grateful for everything I have. I Love the Gospel. I know that it is true. I know that no matter what happens in my life the Savior will always be there for me. I know that He has already walked with me and carried me through so much. I know that He truly loves me more than I can even comprehend. I can't imagine where I would be without Him. What a wonderful, beautiful thing it is to know that He is real, that He lives, that He loves us all so much He died to save us, and someday we can live with Him. That is the crowning blessing.