Amputee Walk

Today my brother-in-law, Tyler, hosted the first annual Amputee Walk at Tempe Town Lake. He is full of ideas on how to raise awareness for amputees and how to bring amputees together for a sort of support group. He is an amputee himself and has really turned his situation into a positive one. He works for an prosthetic company and I feel really brings a lot to the table since he can so closely relate with his clients. His is such a motivated person that is always trying to think of the next big idea! So he put together this Amputee Walk and I think it turned out awesome! He had a great turn out, great raffle prizes, and awesome speakers. Nick and I had a lot of fun walking with his wife Kristina and their two girls. Kristina is quite the wife and mother! I could learn a thing or two from her! The Healing Field is set up at Tempe Town Lake right now and it is truly amazing. They have a flag for every victim that died on 9/11/01. Each flag has a picture on it of the victim, their name, age, and whether they were on a flight that crashed or the business they worked for in the WTCs. There were stuffed animals on the poles of the flags that honored children who had died. These children were on the flights that crashed in PA and into the WTCs. They had all the flags for the police and firefighters that were killed along the perimeter and all the civilians on the inside. It was put together this way so it would look as if the police and firefighters were surrounding the civilians and protecting them. It was so moving. It made it so real to see the pictures of the victims and see how many flags were waving in the wind honoring the dead. I felt like it really brought it all full circle to have the walk there today. Some service men and women come home from the war that was set out to avenge the enemy that did that horrific act on 9/11/01 as amputees, and people like Tyler are there to support and help them make the most of their life. I love that he helps people see that life does not have to end with an amputation. You are such a good example to us Tyler and Kristi! Thanks for letting us be a part of the walk! We are looking forward to next year!

Nick pulled the wagon

the whole 5K!

Allie and Emma

had fun riding

together for

part of the way!

Sometimes Kristi

pushed the stroller

when it looked like

this...

and sometimes it

looked like this!

The girls couldn't

decide if they'd

rather ride or walk...

so they did a little

of both.

This was our view

for the last leg of

the walk. They had

2,996 flags total.

Tyler stood in front

of this flag that listed

all the victims who died

on 9/11. It is the only

thing to be signed by

all the senators in all

50 states. A man

explained the flag in detail

and it was very interesting.

This is the logo on the

back of the shirts that

everyone got.

Such a Ham

This girl never fails to crack us up. These pics wouldn't post on the last one, but I had to throw them somewhere.

She came out of

our room the

other day wearing

Nick's socks.

She loves calling

Grandma before

church. She picks

up the phone and

says, "I call

Grandma!" and

starts randomly

dialing.

Thanks for always

talking to her Mom!

We Are Alive!

It has been forever since I posted last...but we are alive! We have been super busy though! Last weekend our whole Primary Presidency was released so I am currently callingless...is that even a word? I absolutely loved my time serving in the Primary, but the new Presidency called are fabulous women and will do an amazing job. This will free up a lot of my time so hopefully I will use it wisely. I have only been to Relief Society twice since Nick and I have been married, and before that it was the Relief Society in my singles ward at BYU, so I'm actually a little excited to go tomorrow! I have been in Primary ever since we got married so it will be a change to actually go to Sunday school with Nick and then to Relief Society. The next couple of posts will tell you some other things we have been up to, but here are a few random things! Today I went to a baby shower for one of my good friends, Joy. It was so good to see her! It was also fun to sit and talk with other girls that I haven't seen in months! Why on earth do we let it go that long without seeing each other?! Natalie and Nicole...we are counting down until Thanksgiving when we get to see you girls! Stacey and Rachael, are you coming? Please can we plan an all out girls day for when everyone is in town?! I miss how easy it used to be to get together! Anyways, here's what we've been up to...(warning: there are A LOT of pictures)

Allie had twins!

I wrap up her Starbucks

bears up and then

she carries them

around. She has them

take naps, drink out of

sippys, talks to them,

etc.

Allie put on mascara

and got sad when

Mommy took a

picture.

We made invites

for my soon-to-be

sister-in-law's

bridal shower.

Allie ran to the

pool with her

cousins!

Allie let Emma

check it out

before she got

too close.

She ate otter-pops

with cousin Shayla.

Allie fell asleep many

times with Daddy on

the couch.

She splished and

splashed in her

froggy pool.

We celebrated August

birthdays! Left to

right:Eric, Lynsey,

Erin, Cami, and

Grandma!

We ate delicious

gluten-free desserts

and desserts with

gluten at the

August birthdays!

Allie brushed her

teeth hippie style!

Nick put up the fan

for the patio we
bought when we

moved in.

And Allie helped!

Allie Has a Big Girl Bed!

Allie figured out how to jump out of her crib, so we traded it in for a big girl bed! We are all still adjusting though. She did so well at falling asleep in her crib until she starting crawling out. Now it is really hard to get her to stay in her bed and fall asleep. After one night of her jumping out before I could even walk out of her room (like 20 times!) I thought we'd better trade it in before she broke her neck! Any suggestions at keeping her in bed?? I can't belive how big she is getting! She will be 2 next month! Where did the time go?!





BEFORE:

AFTER:

Oh my goodness

I love this little

girl!!

This is the cake I

am going to attempt

to make for her

birthday. I planned

ahead this year and

bought the pan well

in advance. We will

not have a repeat of

last years cake pan

not arriving in time!

She loves Cinderella,

but Ariel is also one

of her favorites. So

I splurged and bought

this cake pan too!

Maybe this one can be

for next year!

I'm Back in School!

School started again! (Here's the "first-day-back-to-school picture you wanted Mom!) I can't believe I am already through the first 3 weeks of my third semester of Nursing School. So far so good! I am really enjoying this semester so far. Fingers are crossed that I will continue to love it. I have the best group of girls. We, unlike a lot of people in our class, just roll with the punches and don't stress the little things. We know when to take things seriously and when to not stress out and laugh. And you know what? It is working fabulously! We are doing really well in our classes and loving our time in nursing school. Some days we are sad it is going by so fast! I'm doing my clinicals at Banner Baywood on the medical/surgical floor for the first half of the semester and am reminded why I don't want to work med/surg. Thankgoodness there are people out there that want to do it, because we definitely need them, but I am so not one of them. It is Labor and Delivery all the way for me. I have been in L&D department almost 4 years now and I absolutely love it! My externship at Banner Gateway is going really well. I am learning a lot and have to fight off tears everytime one of my patients has a baby. So cheesy I know, but until you are in a room where new life is brought into the world you have no idea the emotions that go into it. I feel so blessed to be a part of it all. I will graduate in May of 2009, so I keep telling myself that I have less than a year left of school before I will have my RN. Woo-hoo!! I am so grateful to my aunt Emily, my grandma, and my amazing sister-in-law Kristi for watching Allie. It is hard enough to leave her, but it makes me feel better knowing she is playing with cousins and being spoiled by grandparents. Thank you so much ladies! I owe you big time!

I love these girls!

I keep saying we have

way too much fun to

be nursing students.

As you can see it was

a little windy this day.

But never fear, Sharla

is a master at ratting

her hair and spraying it

stiff. The wind blew it

up and then it would fall

back perfectly untouched.

I had a Birthday!

I turned the big 2-3 on the 5th of this month! It was an all out birthday weekend. Friday was my actual birthday and my amazing husband treated me to a breakfast in bed of gluten-free waffles, eggs, bacon, lil' smokies, and of course, my favorite, a cold glass of milk. Nice job honey! He also gave me a Sarah McLauchlin CD I've been wanting and $$ for clothes. He could not have done a better job this year! I love you Nick!! My nursing girls treated me and Shaela (who had a birthday the week before) to Applebee's and then we went back to Jaime's for a party. Allie absolutely loved the princess theme. All the party favors had princesses on them! Can I just say that I love the fact that I am married with a child and going to college, and that we can still have parties where we wear crowns, watch Enchanted, and eat cake with pink frosting and sprinkles. Please tell me I will never be too old for these things. I felt like I was in junior high again at a birthday laughing with my friends and trying on my birthday outfits! They gave me some really cute clothes! Why has it taken me this long to figure out that it's ok to dress girly...and that it can be fun?! I know this sounds ridiculous to a lot of you, but those who have known me for a long time can atest to the jean and T-shirt phase that I have been in for...my whole life! Saturday we had a birthday BBQ at my in-laws and played wiffleball in the backyard. We always have a fun time when we're all together! Also, my sister-in-law Kristi announced she is pregnant!! This will be their third and we are really excited for them! Congrats Kristi and Tyler! Congrats to the big sisters Emma and Hailey, too! Sunday we celebrated with my family. My mom bought my sinfully delicious birthday cake at the Cheesecake Factory. They have a Godiva gluten free cheesecake and it is to die for! How on earth is it gluten-free and amazingly good?! (Even the family who don't have to eat gluten-free agreed it was to die for. That is how you really know it's good.) It is the richest cheesecake I have ever had and therefore impossible to eat a slice in one sitting. Thanks Mom for the perfect cake and shopping $$!

Allie got lots

of love from

Grandma and

Rick.

I love it when

all the family

gets together!

Here's just a

small group

of them.

I'm sure poor

Snowball hates

it when we all

get together.

She is so good with

the kids, so she is

always surrounded

by them.

I'm telling you this

cheesecake is heaven

sent! We all looked

like we were in

diabetic comas after

eating it though.

My cute friend

Jess made this

way good gluten-

free cake and it

was inhaled.

Thanks Jess!

Anytime Cami walked

away Allie would yell

for her to come back

and sit by her. They

are so fun to watch!

All tuckered out

after entertaining

so many people!

We cleaned the office...finally!!

Ok, after this I think you will all be up to speed on what we've been up to since our last post...like four weeks ago. After a year and a half of living in our house we finally cleaned out the office...well, at least we organized the office. Nick and I both worked on it together and it didn't take long at all. Why on earth did we wait this long to do it?! It is sooo much easier to see what we have in food storage and to actually get to it.


BEFORE:



















AFTER:

This is an example of what happens when we don't

use our exercise equipment...Allie uses it as a slide.

Leave it to her to make the best of things!