AN OLD LOVE

I have found an old love! Before my accident, I would go over to my friend, Ben Gottfredson's house and in his backyard, we would play soccer. We got all of our friends together to play and we had so much fun. I loved soccer! Some of us would wear shirts and some would go without shirts. Well, David, who is my "helper", bought me a soccer-ball, and they got me in the "air-walk" get-up and then David tied my feet to his, and my body to his, and then we played soccer, against Chad, my other "helper". It was so much fun. They held my head in place with another tie, and David would help my feet move and push the soccer ball around. I loved it so much. We got loud and rowdy, and I felt just like a kid again. What a great idea David, and thanks for making my night so fun. When I was asked if I liked playing soccer I blinked "YES" so good that they knew for sure that I loved it! I want to play EVERY night! It wore me out, and I do believe that it wore those "old" helpers out more! I slept great that night. Wow... what a night!

School Egg Drop

In April of 2009, my school had an egg drop. My brothers and sister have done this exact same thing before at their schools. It had to have 3 things on the egg to protect it, and we could choose what that was. We could decorate the container anyway we wanted to. And the prize?? A huge Reeses! My FAVORITE! So mom went to work! She remembered Adam doing this and dropping it off the top stair at the Dixie College risers. She remember Adam telling her about the winner and how they won. So She went and got a nerf football, cut it in half, cut out a small oval hole and put the fresh egg inside the hole, but the egg was covered with cotton first. Then they wrapped tape around it to keep the football together and wrote "Nate the Great" on the tape. Well, as you can imagine... I won first place! I receive the reeses and I was very happy, though the reeses was not as big as I thought it was going to be!

New Year's Eve-Eve 2009

Every New Year's Eve-Eve, since I was born, or since I can remember, my family has always designated that night as Monopoly family night; I guess so that my parents could spend New Year's Eve the way they wanted to. This year was no different. We were suppose to have it at my sister's Melissa's house this year, but because of the weather, we had to stay home. But come rain or shine, we play Monopoly. This year, my mom happened to get a Monopoly game with a trophy in it. So it was important to win. I ended up having a few properties, Derek and my dad had the most, and Jon, who usually wins, ended up with NO properties! When all the properties are sold, my mom wants it to be even, and get over quickly, because sometimes these games have lasted way into the night, or morning, whichever way you want to look at it. So everyone ended up with some kind of a Monopoly. But Jon, I'm sorry to say, got out first. Then Jon came over and helped me with my money. He set me up good to win. Derek and Dad were determined to kill each other off, and so I sat quietly in the back ground. In the end, it was between my mom, Derek and me. Then Mom died a slow money death. She had loads of money, but hardly any properties. Derek had a lot of properties. But so did I. When I would shake the dice I would luckily pass by his properties, but when he shook the dice, he would land on mine. I was so lucky! Derek started to see that he was dieing a slow death, and his wife, Katie was getting tired because it was so late, so Derek sadly gave up (because his money was disappearing). So here I am with my trophy! I am so proud after all!

Spinal Fusion

In May of 2009, I decided to have the surgery to have my spine fused together. It was a difficult decision. My dad gave me a blessing, and then we put it in the Lord's hands. I had some terrific nurses, some of whom were REALLY cute. After a really long ordeal, and finding out that my spine had a worse curve PLUS it was twisted, (which is probably why it hurt so much to sit for a long time) and after losing a lot of blood, I came through it just great. We prepared for the worse, but prayed for the best. And now I am 5 foot 6, and I am gaining more weight and growing taller.

Friday April 17th, 2009 Take Me Out To The Ball Game

Today was a lot of fun. I got to go see the Utah Valley University Wolverines play baseball. We got there in the bottom of the 1st and stayed till about the 5th-until it got dark and too cold for me. It was a blast. We moved spots so we weren't getting blown away by the wind, and this turned out to be great, cuz I got a foul ball!! I rushed to get it. Daniel and Rory were glad they could come with me.
I had a great time, and it was so cool I got a baseball. I have always loved baseball since I was little. So it meant so much to me to be able to go to a real live game. It was also special because I got to go with my buddies, and "catch" a real live foul ball!

Nathan's Spring Break in 2009

Here are my "brothas" Elliot and Daniel. They are trying to beat me playing my Taiko drum game, but i am way too tough for them. We play this game a lot, because it is fun and I get to use my arms a lot. Plus I am a natural and whoop anyone I play against.

Nathan playing/learning

Nathan has a variety of ways to play and learn. Each is unique and we are hoping fun to him. He has his PS2 and his Tyco drum set, and his air walking and his water therapy/jacuzzi, and his nerf gun, and his remote control car, and other things. Most of the things that he plays with, he has to have help, but he still enjoys doing them.

Nathan and Samuel

Nathan has a special bond with his nephew Samuel. Ever since Samuel was born, Nathan has seemed to be connected to him. When Samuel first came to visit, Nathan would say the sound "S" all the time. He wanted to be able to hold Samuel. It doesn't take us long to figure things out, so after a few days, we discovered that Nathan wanted to hold Samuel. And the interesting thing about this sweet relationship is that Samuel loves to be around Nathan too! Samuel even tried to kiss (suck) on Nathan's cheek. It is really a sweet thing to observe when those two are together. There is a special bond between them.

Christmas vacation

Nathan had a very sweet Christmas. He got a ipod that was 8 GB and now he can have down loaded for him books on CD and more songs. Nathan listens to songs at night, if he has trouble sleeping. It also helps him to have good thoughts throughout the night. He also got this nerf gun, that shoots a round of 25 nerf bullets. It was such a big hit. He has had nerf guns before, but they only shot one bullet at a time, and you had to cock the gun every time you want to shoot. His helpers use to shoot the nerf bullets at poor Mrs. Bones, until I put a stop to that. Everytime the gun would come out to play, Mrs. Bones would run and hide behind me, so that had to stop. Now Nathan aims at targets. He really enjoys it. It's a fun toy. He also got some really nice looking clothes. He got some new books, which he loves to listen to. He also got some soft ear plugs for his Ipod. It was a very fun vacation, being with his brothers and sisters, and he got to listen to Adam talk to him from Argentina (on his mission).