On the FIrst Day of Christmas my good friend gave to me........

Someone is doing me for the 12 days of Christmas this year.  On the ninth day of Christmas, they gave me a lemon meringue pie.  It was so tasty, that I ate the whole piece, except for the crust.  The crust is harder to chew, but the rest, just slipped right down and I enjoyed every bite of it! 

This is my friend Mark helping me eat the pie  He is surprised that I ate as much as I did!  He is happy to just finish off the crust for me though.  Mark is from New Jersey!  He doesn't have much of an accent, except when he says, "PEE-can" pie and "HARR" ible.  He is an old romantic style kind of guy, so if there are any women out there looking for a 22 year old single, who can sing like a canary, and play sports well and quite the competitor., give me a call.. I'll hook you up. He served a mission in Paraguay.   He especially LOVES tall girls!  And he is a really nice guy.  I'm glad he's my friend.

 

 

 

Nativity Plays in Seminary

The Scene set up before we arrived

Getting dressed

In place.. next to Mary and the baby

Doing my part!

Every year, my seminary class does a Nativity.  Last year, I was the shepherd.. but THIS YEAR.. I got to be Joseph.  I got to sit in front, and wear towels and head bands. We sang songs with the congregation.  

A long time ago, when I was about 6.. we did a video of the Nativity, and I was the baby Jesus.  I was very sick that year with Bronchitis and so I coughed through my part of laying still on the couch and looking cute.  This year it was nice to be the "man" of the play. 

I love to see the Temple!

I got my temple recommend!  I get to go do Baptisms for the dead, except, I really can't do baptisms, so I just do confirmations.  I got all dressed up in my church clothes and went inside and down stairs.. Actually, I'm betting how you are wondering how I got down the stairs?  Well, I didn't really go "Down" the stairs.. I took the elevator.. seriously, can you see me wheeling down that stair case?  I don't think so!  Anyways.  We waited for my turn.  There were quite a lot of youth there that day, probably because it was during the Thanksgiving season.  But what I didn't realize is that I had to be in all white, and I wasn't.  I was a little worried, seeing all of the people there.  And my thing to do when I see a lot of people I don't know, and I don't know what they will think or act towards me, so I close my eyes.. Yep, I have done that since the first time of my accident and I still seem to do it. When they came out to get me, they draped a white sheet over my body, to cover the colored clothes. Then they took just me and my mom, and Julie and Rory and my dad and went into a special room.  There they placed their hands on my head and with the Priesthood that they held, they confirmed "the past" with the gift of the Holy Ghost. I was in proxy for them.  It was a wonderful feeling.  The Holy Ghost was so strong and present in the room.  Even the brother who was saying the names, was struggling with talking because the spirit was so strong.  I want to do this every month.  My mom has now gotten me new white pants and tie so that I can do this.  This is a miracle that I can do it, and I love it!

Julie, Dad, Mom and Nathan

Us at the Mount Timpanogos Temple

Us again! in the front

Me and Rory

I am SO grateful!

It has been a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  I had all my brothers and sister come and visit and eat turkey and Pumpkin pie with me.  My sister, Kalynn, came home from College and we put up our Christmas tree ornaments.  We also added our new ones that we received this year.  My ornament this year is a snowman that is fishing because I have discovered that I have loved to go fishing this year. 

    

Everyone was here this year, including my Grandpa Stott and Zelda.  It was so fun having them.  Zelda brought this cute Thanksgiving decoration, to remind us of the season.    It was nice having everyone home again.  I have so much to be thankful for. 

 

There is a song by Josh Groban, that my mom especially loves.  These are the words: 

Some days we forget to look around us; some days we can't see the joy that surrounds us.

So caught up inside ourselves, we take when we should give. 

So for tonight, we pray for what we know can be.

And on this day we hope for what we still can't see.

It's up to us to be the change, and even though we all can still do more,

There's so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves; there's so much sorrow, It's way too late to say, I'll cry tomorrow.

Each of us must find our truth, so long over due.

So for tonight, we pray for what we know can be.

And every day we hope for what we still can't see.  

It's up to us to be the change, and even though we all can still do more,

There's so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences there is a place we're all connected;

Each of us can find each other's light.

So for tonight, we pray for what we know can be.  

And on this day, we hope for what we still can't see. 
It's up to us to be the change. And even though this world needs so much more.

There's so much to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for all of my family and friends and the many prayers that have been offered for me in the past, and are still being offered for me.  I couldn't be where I am today, and my progression after my accident without the love and faith of so many people.  I'm truly grateful for all of you in my life.  Thank you..... from the bottom of my heart.  I love you all!  Love Nathan

Grandpa and Zelda Stott

Nolan and Melissa and baby coming

Kalynn and Me

Derek and Katie and Brogden

Julie and Jon and Lizzy and Sammy

Everyone at thanksgiving.. (except Adam).  We posed for Christmas cards, and letters and then hurried off to see the new Disney movie, "Tangled"!  It was so much fun.  With each new addition, my family gets better and better!  See!  So much to be thankful for!

Captain my Captain! That's me

For Halloween this year, while shopping with Kalynn, my mom got on one of her crazy ideas and together they picked out this captain's outfit for me.  She also got herself a banana costume, and my dad a gorilla costume.  At my school, I got "BEST COSTUME" for secondary grades, and my Dad won "SCARIEST COSTUME" at the ward Halloween party.  I think that I look pretty good in the costume.  I do look like I could take command and at my school Halloween fundraiser, people saluted me all the time..It was a fun party at the school, I won prizes and treats and bought cotton candy.  I'm all about cotton candy. It's the one thing my mom allows me to have without hesitation  because it melts so quickly in my mouth and it tastes so good. It was a good party.  At the ward Halloween party, I was a bit late, but I went around during the "trunk or treat"  to see all the other kids costumes.  We didn't have many trick or treaters on Halloween night, but that was because the rain was coming down so hard.  Other than that, it was a great holiday.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Our State Fair is the best State Fair (insert music notes here please)

When my mom was a little girl, her dad would listen to KSOP and she would say to him... "How can you stand all that twangy singing"?  And Grandpa Stott would say, well I love listening to KSLOP because it's the best radio station that I can sing better than the songs... and then his eyes would twinkle with laughter, cause you see, my grandpa Stott couldn't sing that well...On Friday night, as Rory was driving home, he was listening to KSOP... it's 11:15pm and there is a contest going on for the caller who calls in.  Not knowing what the prize is... hoping it's something really cool.. Rory calls and he wins!!!  And what does he win?  He won 4 free tickets to the State Fair for Saturday the 18th!  So he calls my mom and asks if that would be something that we could all go to do.  Mom talks to dad, and yep.. on Saturday, early afternoon, we take off to pick up the free tickets and go to the State Fair.  I have never been to a fair before, that I can remember.  maybe when I was really little, but I'm not sure. 

 

We went to see the prize bulls, cows,

 

sheep, goats, (the goat said the it would pose with us... how very kind!)

 

Roosters, rabbits, 

 

 and many other things.  

 

 We saw paintings, quilts, and there was this great sculpture of cows, made out of 700 lbs of butter, which is actually 2800 cubes of butter!  (behind us)

 

  I got a huge bag of cotton candy.  It was hot and muggy for the day.  Thank goodness I had sunscreen on, and wore my hat and sunglasses part of the time.  There were many rides to ride, which I couldn't do, but that was okay.

 

 My mom saw this sign.  She felt that it really depicted what grandma's are all about, spoiling their grandkids.  She laughed a lot at it.  She wanted to get the sign for our home... because she loves to spoil my nieces and nephews.

  It was a lot of  fun, and I'm grateful for Rory for sharing his tickets with us. Thanks Rory for the great idea!

A day at Melissa and Nolan's=FUN!

It was a holiday from school, and my parents decided that we were going to take the day and go visit Melissa and Nolan.  Melissa and Nolan had an amazing day planned for us.  We decided that we were going to go to the zoo.  Can you believe that Logan Utah has a zoo?  Well, it does.  The most exotic animal, I would have to say, was the kangaroo, but hey, that's okay.  Nolan, my brother in law, wanted so bad to run and get his bow and arrow when we saw the elk!  The elk were still, staring at us, and nothing was between us and the elk, (but the chain link fence).  But he had a lot of control, and so restrained  from doing it.    After the zoo, we went down the street to a fishing pond.. but it was the wrong time of day for fishing.  The sun was high in the sky, and fish just aren't biting that time of day.  Nolan, helped me by putting the worm on my hook, and cast the line clear out in the pond.  Two small fish were visible, but as soon as the worm came by them, they swam off like they were frightened of a little ole' worm!  Geez!  We tried for a couple of times, but no luck.  We did get to see two ducks kiss.. at least someone was getting some action!    It was a fun day anyways.  And I enjoyed seeing my sister, her newly painted house, and I got to take a walk in her neighborhood, seeing her neighbors and the sights of Richmond.. (which if you didn't know, it's just 20 miles north of Logan).  All in all, it was a great day, and different than working at school.  Holidays are good!

New arrival

My older brother, Derek, and his wife, Katie, had their first baby son on August 14th.  All day long we thought it would be a "Friday the 13th" baby.  Having the baby was scary enough, ha ha , but he didn't arrive on Friday.  He came at 12:28 am Saturday morning.  I got to go see him on Sunday.  Here is a picture of me holding him.  They are naming him Brogden.  You say it this way: Bro (long O sound) gden.  They "thought" that they had made it up... but while my sister Julie was doing genealogy she actually found an ancestor way back in the 16 or 1700's with the name Brogden!  I can't remember if it was a boy with the first name, or a girl with the last name, but what if it was a boy, and in some eerie way, Brodgen grows up to look like this ancestor!  Wouldn't that be super eerie cool?   No, I didn't get contacts... The sun was glaring my glasses, so we took them off so that I could look handsome... :)  

Fishingday.. the best day that ends in "Y"

In May, for the end of the Year.. My school class got to go to Salem, Utah and have a fishing trip.  I'm usually sleepy during the day, because I have hard times at night time sleeping, but NOT THAT DAY!  My teacher, Jean Richens,  prayed for better weather, because if you remember, in May it was still hinting of snow at least once a week.  She was worried that it would rain or snow the day we were suppose to go.  We look forward to this event every year, and didn't want it ruined by snow or rain.  Sometimes I am just skeptical about fishing day, but I got bundled up really good and we headed off to our little fishing resort. It rained a little bit, but not much.  We were pretty much protected by the wooded area by this fishing pond. I had help, but I caught two fish!  When they showed me the fish I caught, I was quite a bit surprised... How lucky was I?  And I felt really good that I could even catch a fish!  I got to bring the fish home, much to my mom's horror!  She hates fish, just the taste of them, but she was really happy for me.  On the ride home, I started falling asleep in the bus, mostly because I was so tired, but I was extremely happy.  That is my goal, to go fishing again! 

Na-nan, Na-nan

I just happen to be the favorite uncle of Sammy! Do you know that one of the first words that came out of his mouth, besides the usual, da, ba,  and all those other one syllable words, was NA-NAN??  He was saying Nathan!  Yep.. I am just about the most favorite of all.  We have a very special bond, Sammy and me.  See, we speak the same language, because I can't talk much, because of my brain injury, but I talk with the spirit, and he can't talk much, because he just left Heavenly Father a while ago, so if he could talk more, he would tell too much, so he talks by the spirit too.  So we talk all the time, through the spirit and we are the best of buds.  I'm so lucky that he is my nephew!  Keep an eye on this one.. he's going to be a great person when he gets older!

Until we meet again, Grandpa Petersen. I love you!

My grandpa Petersen passed away.  I loved him so very much. I got to be an honorary pall bearer.  That was okay with me, because that's what Adam was too!  Just for some reflections:  Do you know that when I was younger, he would play "OTHELLO" with me, and I would beat him almost every time!  I loved it that I could beat him at age 6, but he didn't like it.  After a while, he wouldn't play with me, which I thought was funny, but now that I'm looking back, I should have let him beat every once in a while, because then he would have kept playing with me.  He cared very deeply for me.  He came to visit often, and he loved to talk to me.  I know that he is happier being with Grandma though. I miss him already.  Grandparents are the best... Especially if they are involved in your lives.  I had a hard time at my grandma's funeral, but I handled grandpa's just fine.  Grandparents are a reflection on their children.  I'm glad that my Petersen grandparents raised such a great son, as my dad.  I love him so much!

17th Birthday! At home and at school

This was my soccer game.  Derek got tied to my feet, and he helped me kick the ball.  Kalynn was the goalie.. fierce huh??  Katie ended up running all over chasing the ball, and Melissa was trying hard to protect her team, but too bad, because my team won, 5-2!  It was a great game and a great way to end the birthday.

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This is my party and presents and cake!  My mom made the soccer cake.  I got a remote control helicopter from Melissa and Nolan, Derek and Katie game me an ebook so I can download it to my ipod, Kalynn game me a journal, and my mom and dad gave me clothes, books, a new backpack because my old one was literally falling apart, and a memory board of my helpers.  It is a board of the helpers, that have moved on, gone on to colleges far away, or have gotten their careers.

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This is how we celebrated my birthday at school.  My mom bought some glow in the dark bracelets, and I gave one to each of the kids in my class.  So near the end of the day, my teacher, Jean, turned off all the lights, and turned up the music loud and we all danced to the music with the glowing bracelets.  It was fun and everyone thought that the bracelets were cool.  Melissa came to school with me too.  That was so fun to have Melissa with me.  I'm so blessed to have so many friends and family that support me.  What a great day!