Thanksgiving Week 2011

This year was our year to celebrate Thanksgiving with Nate's side of the family. Ben and Katie were kind enough to provide us all with rooms up at the Park City mountain resort. Nate and I went up Friday night and were able to stay the whole week. Nate hasn't that much time off of work since his hernia surgery! It was so nice to be able to spend so much time with Nate. I hated saying bye to him when he left for work this morning.
We did all the usual things in Park City, we shopped at the outlets, more than once. We went out to eat, our big couples' dinner was such a fiasco though! But that is a story for another time. We worked out, the kids and some of the adults went swimming. We played wii, took naps, and indulged in hot chocolate and of course we celebrated Thanksgiving. It was so fun to be away, but it's also nice to be home in my own bed too. Thanks Ben and Katie for a fun week!

Happy Birthday Nate! I Love You!

I really want to wish my husband a very Happy Birthday! Nate, I love you more than you could possibly know. You are the biggest blessing in my life. I'm crazy about you, head over heels crazy. Life is so much better with you. I love our relationship and our marriage. Thanks for always being willing to try my new recipes, thanks for making me laugh, thanks for loving me, and thanks for being you. I hope today is amazing for you and that 26 is your best year yet!

We Are Now a Dot Com

Okay, you may have noticed, we have changed our address. Instead of having to type in our last name and blogspot we are now simply nateandkim.com. Even if you put in our old blogspot address, you will automatically get redirected. Everything is the same except for our address. This is just what happens when your husband loves technology.

P.S. It is Nate's birthday tomorrow so be sure and send him a happy birthday text!

Birthday Dinner

Happy Birthday month to Brandon and Nate! My brother-in-law Brandon had a birthday last week and Nate has a birthday at the end of this week. We had a birthday dinner to celebrate them tonight. We did shredded pork two ways and had tacos and I made Nate's favorite Brazilian lemonade. Everyone had a good time and I hope Nate and Brandon felt loved!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! It wouldn't be fitting if I didn't acknowledge my husband's favorite holiday. I started out the day with an MRI of my foot, yah, it's still hurting all the time and the podiatrist wants an MRI. I see him again Thursday to get the results. I spent the afternoon baking. Nate starts his master's degree program tomorrow so we are going to party tonight! We've got lots of full size candy bars to hand out tonight and in fact we've already had our first trick-or-treaters! Cute Steph, Eliza, and Anna came by this afternoon to show off their costumes. Yes, I actually know the kids in the photo, I don't take pictures of random kids. Nate may convince me to watch a scary movie with him tonight, but I am secretly hoping for Hocus Pocus, the best Halloween movie! Have a fun and safe Halloween!

Please Watch

We came across this video today and it does a good job of summing up some of what our trials are. Please watch.

In Which We Look for the Silver Lining

So funny story. Last week on our date, Nate and I were talking about how even though we are missing a huge blessing, children, we have a pretty darn good life. We have a fantastic marriage, Nate has a great job, I am blessed to be able to stay home, we get to spend a lot of time together, etc. We really are so blessed. This was the tenor of our conversation and we had a great weekend.
Then comes this week, I had a bad migraine and my foot has been hurting like crazy. It's my right foot and it KILLS when I step down on it. It's the back outside of my foot and my heel. I've been walking on my toes on that foot so I don't have to step down all the way. This morning Nate told me that he was sick and tired of me hobbling around and that I needed to make a doctor's appointment. He offered to come with me. I only agreed because I knew if I came I could con him into getting a flu shot. I know! I'm a mean mean wife.
Anyway, lots of pain, two shots, a few x-rays, and several mental curses later, I am now the proud new owner of a boot! Can you tell how thrilled I am? Not. At least I convinced them to not make me have crutches and a boot. He told me I have a sprained ankle and really bad plantar faciitis (some swollen something or other). So yah, I've got a boot for the next little bit.
Moral of the story: we are still so blessed. Now we will just be sure to mention how grateful we are for modern medicine in our prayers. It's been a bit harder to feel blessed this week, but I know we are!

Nate assures me that boots are the "in" shoe for fall. Thanks babe.



I beg of you, please ignore the extreme contrast of my black boot and my shockingly white leg. Please.

Congrats Zak and Domonique

Nate's little brother got married yesterday! Thank goodness the rain held off until we were nearly finished with the pictures. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Smith!

Holy Smokes Batman! It's About Time for an Update!

No, we haven't gone Amish or been abducted by aliens or anything like that. We've just been busy! I've been meaning to blog for some time now, but I'm so far behind it's just felt a bit overwhelming. No more procrastinating though!

Okay, first up is the rest of July. Nate's parents and his youngest siblings moved to Portland, Oregon in early July and have been adjusting to life away from the majority of their kids and all their grandkids. The kids finally started school this week and it sounds like everything is going well with them. Back here in Utah, we spent lots of Fridays swimming at the pond with all the cousins.

Towards the end of the month, Nate and I started a new exercise program that we are LOVING. I'm jealous because Nate has seen bigger results than I have, but we both are seeing results and feeling much better. I still need to work on my blood sugars, my second A1C was higher than the time before, so I'm trying to really focus on that these next 3 months until they test me again! My heart is doing pretty well too. I finally feel like we are at a good level of medication and I don't have too many episodes these days. Woohoo!

Next is the month of August. In August, Nate started working an earlier schedule at work, so now he is done by 4:30 pm, which is really really nice. We love it. The two days a week that he does go in to the office he gets home before most of traffic and then on the days he works from home, he is done early enough to have lots of time to still enjoy the day. Can I just say how much I love Nate working from home! We are so blessed. Mid August, Nate's parents came back in town for a visit and we threw a bridal shower for Domonique (my brother-in-law's fiancee). Thanks to everyone who came.


We had some fun dinners with Nate's siblings. See, even baby Jack had a good time. Sorry, it's a cell phone pic.

The last week of August I met with a new doctor regarding certain "lady" things. I left the appointment angry and bawling. The doctor couldn't answer any of my questions and so he just referred me to someone else. It was a huge waste of time. To top it all off he told me that with my age and diabetes that my clock is ticking. He said that if I want any chance of giving birth I would need to get pregnant asap. Awesome. I had a really hard time turning 25 earlier this year and now I feel older than ever.

Almost done! September so far... I can't believe it is September! I am SO ready for fall and changing leaves and cooler temperatures. Not next week but the week after I am going to make soup. I've been craving soup for weeks now and I have lots of soup recipes I want to try. Unfortunately I got the news that my grandpa has colon cancer which they are concerned may have spread to his liver and is having surgery next week. My grandma had a total knee replacement Tuesday. This is the set of grandparents that I lived with for a while. I still talk to my grandma at least once a week on the phone. I feel like I'm not handling it very well. My mom, aunt, and I have been busy coordinating to make sure someone will be there at all times an that my mom (a nurse) will be at the major doctor appointments, and all that that entails. A rough start to the month. Nate and I were going to go camping tonight with Justin and Whitney, but due to work schedules it was cancelled. I am so glad, I spent all Wednesday night and yesterday so sick. I would have had to cancel anyway. I am starting to feel a little bit better, so let's hope I'm over the worst! Nate is excited that BYU football season has started and has already requested treats for the game this Saturday. I finished up making Zak and Domonique's wedding announcement, at least I think we are finished! Now it's time to work on the family calendar.

I think that is all that's new with us. At least, that's all I can think of for the time being. Hopefully everyone is having a fabulous week!

Let Freedom Ring!

Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday. We celebrated with the in-laws, Spencer's girlfriend and her kids, and Zak's fiancee's mom and sisters. It was a full house! We enjoyed a barbecued dinner and a firework show. My husband's favorite holidays are the 4th of July and Halloween. Seriously, he gets so excited to light fireworks every year. This year the big aerial fireworks were legal in our state so Nate was even happier. We definitely went over our firework budget, but it was so worth it! This was the best firework show we've done! In addition to all our fun, I want to take a moment to thank all of our service men and women for their selfless service to protect the rights and liberties we enjoy in the amazing country! My thoughts and prayers go out to all them and their families. Nate has an uncle, a father of 11 children who has spent a lot of time overseas, including Iraq, and we love and appreciate you Uncle David!

Now for some pictures of our festivities! I have to admit, taking photos of fireworks has been my biggest photography challenge to date. I had a lot of bad ones, but I think I got a couple decent photos too. Let me know if you have any tips!