Daddy

I think the day Nate was born was the best day of Scott's life (our wedding day was way too hot to be in the running).  Scott was so, so excited to become a dad.  He wanted kids sooner and in greater quantities than I would ever even consider.  When Nate came along, he was the happiest new father I've ever seen. 

 

I think Scott's greatest strength as a human being is the way he embraces his role as a father.  I mean, he's really, really good at it.  And being Nate's father is extremely hard work in every way something can be hard work.  Nate's condition taxes you physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and every other -ally out there.  But Scott's love for and sense of duty to Nate is way bigger than any of that. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you see Scott, Nate, and his vent sitting down way out there?  Scott was bone-tired by the time they got to that point.  And there was still a very long way to go to get to the water.  And Nate is SO heavy these days.  And his vent is heavy.  And it was hot.  And the sand was hard to walk in.  But Nate wanted to dip his feet in, so Scott took him to the water.  That's the kind of dad Scott is. 

 

I don't really know what else to say except that I really believe that Scott is the perfect dad for Nate, and I hope that someday Nate will be able to catch even a tiny glimpse of how lucky he is.

 

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

The van. And thank you.

Meet the newest member of our family, Bill.

I am in no way a "car person" but I love this car so much I want to hug it every time I see it.  It has literally changed our lives.

Check out that ramp coming down with just the push of a button on our keys.

Ta-freakin'-da!

The whole floor of the van is lowered so the ceiling height is fantastic.  Scott and I can both practically stand up in there.

Nate's wheelchair can act as his carseat.  We just lock the wheelchair base in and that's that.

 I like when he uses his wheelchair because his cute little face is right there behind me while I'm driving.

But we still use his carseat sometimes, too.  It's so easy to push his stroller into the van and put him in.  We used to have to practically throw him into his carseat in our sedan and bumped his head almost every time.  

One of the best things about the van is that it has power outlets for all his machines.  This is how we were able to go on our first road trip.  

You could probably guess that an awesome van like this comes with an awesome pricetag to match.  We never, ever could have made this purchase without the help of so many generous friends and donors.  We are grateful every single day for those of you who helped make this dream a reality for us.  

Nate gets to leave the house so much more now.  He's safe and comfortable getting in and out of the car.  We can be out for more than a couple of hours.  We can go on vacation!  Very simply, life is just better for Nate and for all of us now.  And our car could eat the rest of those non-accessible minivans out there on the road.  

If you participated in our bike ride last year, bought tickets to the BYU/SJSU football game, donated to the Fundly page, or contributed to Nate's special equipment fund, you made this van possible for us.  We cannot say thank you enough!

Road Trip!

Last week Nate and I packed up half our house and road tripped all the way to Orange County.  I almost gave myself an ulcer worrying about it and came close to backing out about ten times, but everything went great and I'm so glad we went.

 

Nate and I drove down with my dad and he spent pretty much the whole time watching Blues Clues and talking about all the different trucks on the road.  Easiest six hours I've ever spent with Nate.

 

 

Nate was so excited to see his cousins when we got there.  He just kept following Mack around like a puppy and saying, "How's it going, Mack?  Hi, Mack-Attack!  Hi, Macky-Do!" over and over.  Jonah showered him with attention and was a great swimming buddy and friend, as usual.  So sad these guys live all the way in Texas. 

 



While Nate and Carrie watched a video together he slipped his arm around her.  Boy was it adorable.

 

 

We stayed at my Grandma Bell's house which was awesome because I have so many happy memories there from when I was a kid.  One of my favorites was always seeing Grandpa Bell sitting in this green recliner reading the paper in the morning.  Nate spent a lot of time in "Grandpa Bell's chair" during the trip.

 

 

My grandpa built this house when my mom was little and it is just as cool now as it was in the 60's.  Nate had a blast exploring.

 

 

The house has an attic bedroom that is only accessible from a wooden ladder in a tiny closet.  Clearly Grandpa was not planning on having any disabled grandkids who wanted to go on his roof.  I am sort of scared to get myself up there but Nate really wanted to see it so ya know, we made it happen.  I should mention that Scott flew down to meet us on the second day.  Nate never would have made it up here without those muscles.

 

 

Once when we were kids, my brother and I put an egg out on this roof to see if it would cook on a hot day.  It did not.

 

My Grandma and Grandpa Lowe live just a few blocks away from Grandma Bell.  They have a pool and it was an instant hit for Nate this year.  We swam with cousins everyday. 



 

One morning we went to the arboretum at the state college.  They had this funny dome house that Nate thought was a real volcano.

 

We were so busy the whole trip that he only managed to get one bath, but don't you love his post-bath hair?  I do.  Nate told me these chairs were "baskety".



 

The last day we went to Newport Beach and rode the ferry over to Balboa Island.  This was a huge highlight for Nate.  Too bad the ride is only four minutes long.

I love these boys. 

 



As we were leaving, Nate said he really wanted to go to the beach.  We hadn't taken him to the actual beach since we can't really push his stroller on it and he can't play in sand anyway, but he wanted to go so bad that Scott decided to just carry him.  I've never seen Scott so sweaty as he was when they finally got back.  Nate insisted on going all the way to the water to dip his feet in, and Scott obliged.  If that's not love, I don't know what is.  Nate is really heavy these days.

It was so great to be in Fullerton and to see so much family and especially to spend time with my grandparents.  Even though I came back from the trip even more tired than usual, it was totally worth it.  It was also really nice to see that we can in fact travel with Nate and the world will keep rotating on its axis.