Thankful Thanksgiving!

I took some time the other day to write down 100 things that I’m grateful for. I started in order and than it’s pretty random after number 11, but all of this is important to me! I realized that I had more than 100 things that I’m grateful for, and I’m very grateful for the many blessings that have been bestowed on my family and me. I hope everyone on has a wonderful thanksgiving with family and friends! Sorry, this is so long!

1. My testimony
2. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
3. My husband
4. The Temple
5. My children
6. My parents
7. My In-Laws
8. My Brother’s and Sister’s
9. Extended Family
10. ALL of Nile’s PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE HELPERS, TEACHERS, ASSISTANCE, CHURCH HELPERS!!!!
11. Doctor’s that KNOW what they are doing. I like confidence!
12. School
13. The School Bus
14. Patient Bus Drivers
15. Wonderful friends
16. Wonderful neighbors
17. Good Books
18. When Football Season is over!
19. Broadway Musicals
20. Friday night dates with my husband
21. Sunday dinners at my parent’s house! SoYummy!!!
22. Temple Marriage
23. Be Sealed as a Family
24. Savings for unexpected repairs and Nile accidents! Seriously!!!
25. Dental Office
26. Money to pay the bills
27. A Dad who can fix anything or put anything together
28. A Dad who can laugh at his daughter who only knows ½ of what he does!
29. The ability to cook
30. When my family actually eats my cooking with out complaining
31. My Visiting Teachers
32. My health…..with the exception of my back!
33. Dr. Daniel Ryklin M.D. An amazing back Dr.!!! Highly Recommended!
34. My Mom who teaches me how to do so many thing
35. My Mom who fixes my sewing projects….I have so much to learn
36. Dentistry…because it makes my husband so happy!
37. Dallin’s laugh
38. Nile’s Smile
39. A soft bed
40. A car that works
41. Plumbing
42. A washing machine
43. Dishwasher
44. Fruit
45. Pizza
46. Panda Noodle
47. French Fries ( Nile doesn’t eat much)
48. Funny/ Cheesy movies/shows
49. Swimming Pool
50. Vacations (Especially, w/out the kids!)
51. Support Coordinators (Nile’s Case worker)
52. Medicine
53. Nile’s services from the state
54. Insurance
55. Yummy Food!
56. Clothes
57. Clearance Shopping (It makes me so happy!)
58. A Clean House
59. A husband who doesn’t mind do the laundry
60. Clean Sheets
61. Sharpie Markers
62. The Internet
63. The People who came up with Google/ Amazon/ Mapquest
64. Humanitarian Program
65. Make-up
66. Ponytail holders
67. Natalie Hall’s Amazing Talent of cutting hair!
68. My back brace
69. A roof over my head
70. The prophet, Thomas S. Monson
71. Conference
72. The Book of Mormon
73. Love
74. Hope
75. Patience
76. Older Autistic kids that give me hope for my Son Nile
77. A beautiful view
78. Nile’s therapy
79. The Sun/ Rain
80. Fall in Arizona
81. Modest Clothes
82. Flowers
83. Heavenly Father
84. Shoes
85. Chocolate
86. Cookies
87. Salad
88. Relief Society Presidents
89. Bishops
90. Primary Presidents
91. Nile’s weighted blanket
92. The Holy Ghost
93. Prayer
94. Priesthood
95. Music
96. People that respect others
97. My supportive husband
98. Priesthood blessings
99. The Quorum of the twelve

100. Thanksgiving, so we can remember to be thankful!

Halloween 2009

The husker football player and the number 1 fan!

Nile didn't last long with trick-or-treating....oh well

Happy Halloween!

Grandparent's Halloween party!

Nile was a little overwhelmed....
Like my stylist addition to my wardrobe?
I really want to bedazzle my back brace! However, I won't.

Dallin was sad that the goats where running away from him.

My parents, Dallin and the dogs!

Nile wanted nothing to do with Halloween this year...oh well!

The carving of the Jumbo Pumpkin!

My boys having a ball carving the jumbo pumpkin that Grandpa gave us! Thanks Grandpa!

My little pumpkin

Dallin wanted to be a pumpkin more than words can explain. Unfortunately, they don't make pumpkin costumes in 4 T's. I found this idea in a magazine, minus the hat. So this is the pumpkin outfit I came up with. Dallin was in hog heaven and so happy! It's so fun to see your son so happy over such a small creation that Mom whipped up. We love you Dallin!

Wonderful Friends!

These are my wonderful friends from high school! We went on an amazing trip to the East Coast our Junior year. This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip! We are on the dock of Ellis Island.

This week we met and went out to dinner because Carlyn is moving back east. I dropped the ball and forgot to take a picture until after a few of our friends left the restaurant. "Please just pretend your in the picture Melissa, Marci, and Louise!!!" It's always a fun time getting together. We are going to miss you Carlyn! We hope you have a wonderful time back east!

Garnet Block Party

Thanks Erin and Ryan for putting together the block party! We had a great time and it was nice to meet some new faces!

Fall Break

I took the boys to my parents cabin for fall break. It was actually a little cold. but we had a great time!

Bonfire with Smores! Nile didn't want to get to close to the fire, so he stayed back the whole time.

Riding the four-wheeler with Grandma, Grandpa and the Dogs!

Thanks Mom and Dad for all your help! We had so much fun!

Swimming with the Dolphins in Hawaii

Tyler and I had one full day to adventure so we decided to go swimming with the dolphins. We have done some pretty neat things in our marriage, but this is definitely high in our top ten list! We went on a boat and got dropped of in the ocean and their was tons of wild dolphins all around us. I think we got really lucky because it was birthing season and their was tons of babies and they where amazing to watch!

There was a guy on our trip named Chuck and he had a 10 mega pixel camera with an underwater case and he gave us his amazing shots. I'm very grateful for the pictures because they turned out way better than the ones from our disposable camera.

Beach Adventures!

Tyler and Mary in Hawaii!!

Spitting Cave of Portlock

We found a really cool spot called the Spitting Cave of Portlock, the water goes into the cave and shots it out. We barley found the spot before the sun set. It was nice because there wasn't a ton of people at the location.

Our trip to Hawaii!

Our Staff on the Waikiki beach

Tyler and his employees "except me.....I'm just the supportive wife"

Tyler and I....our first day in Hawaii

The shuttle pick up and drop off that took us to the convention was in front of the hotel that Tyler and I stayed on our honeymoon!

Bad Back

This isn't my x-rays, but I thought it would be fun to throw in a picture. I thought I would finally blog about my back issue because it has now consumed my life since June. In June, I threw my back out for the 6th time and my Dr. told me I had to start P.T. I been going to P.T. for 4 months now and I have thrown my back out twice since I started P.T. "One of the times was while I was in P.T." I'm now going to a spine Dr. and I finally know what the problem is....Yeah! Sort of yeah.....I have a bulging disk and an annular tear. So, I have to start getting cortizone shots and epidurals. I hate needles!!! My biggest fear about having kids was the epidural. I'm a "flincher" when I get shots, so I was always scared I would flinch and become paralyzed when I got an epidural. Well, I'm going to have to get over my fear because I have three epidurals coming up in the next three weeks. I'm just hoping and praying that Nile is on his best behavior because I have to wear a back brace for a little over a month during this whole process. So I won't be doing any interventions for my son the next couple months. So if you have a little extra time to say a prayer, please pray for Nile to be on his best behavior for the next couple months! Thanks!

Pizza Pizza!

I got a crazy idea to make homemade pizza on the BBQ grill. We had some friends over that had a missing Dad in Europe. We all got to make our own pizza and the kids had a blast! The only problem: I made way to much food!!! Oh well it was yummy!

Banana Hot Dogs Anyone?

One Saturday morning, Dallin was watching Playhouse Disney and they where making banana hot dogs. He thought that was the coolest thing in the world and asked all day if he could make them. We decided to make them for dinner and laughed the whole time at Dallin's charming smile! In the end....he said it was to heavy and he couldn't lift it. Dallin you're a crack up!