Colin and Megan's Wedding

Last month Nate's uncle Colin got married.  He donned his most dapper duds and even put a little gel in his hair for the occasion.

Nate kept trying to hug Micah but it was hard.

Then he tried to kiss him and it was even harder.

The happy couple.

I feel like a total outsider in this picture.  Nate was so into hugging Scott.

He loves his new auntie Megan.

We got to meet his soon-to-be-uncle, too.  Nate was not too sure about him.  Love those shifty eyes.

Nate was totally psyched about going to the "wedding party". 

Happy day with my two favorite boys in the world.

Tahoe

This year was Nate's first time in Tahoe, made possible by our new van. 

This picture does not do it justice but there was a lot of stuff in our van.  90% of it was Nate's.

 

 

My entire family goes for a week every year.  This year our family count is up to 30 people, so it's a pretty big party.  We decided to do four days there since traveling is really hard for us, and we had a wedding to get back to.  It was a lot of hard work hauling Nate around everywhere but it was a blast.

 

He loved getting to see so much of his cousins.

 

One of his favorite things was throwing rocks in the lake.  He just thought it was fantastic.  He got pretty decent at it, too.



 

The last day we got to go on a boat.  This is what Nate had been anticipating ever since we told him we were going on this vacation, and it did not disappoint.  He was so excited and just kept wanting Grandpa to go faster.

 

 

Tahoe is my happy place.  I'm so glad Nate got to experience it this year.

 

 

 

The Smardy Duo

***UPDATE***

*The Smardy Duo has already sold out but will be restocked mid-September,

so stay tuned!*

A few months ago, my sister mentioned to me that she had a coworker at Red Cross who had heard about Nate and wanted to do something to help.  Her coworker owns a nail polish business on the side and decided to create a couple of custom colors in Nate's honor.

I thought it was an awesome idea, but it wasn't until I checked out her Instagram that I realized how amazing this girl really is.  Over 16,000 followers?!  She is the real deal in the nail polish biz!  Polished by KPT sells out regularly since their colors are amazing and all of the polishes are handcrafted, custom blended, cruelty-free, and free of the big 3 nasty chemicals that usually go into polishes.  So I feel especially cool that she has just introduced these new colors just for Nate!

The first color is called Bleu Cruiser and represents Nate cruising through his battle with SMARD.  Blue is also Nate's favorite color. :)

The next color is Glowing Smardy, which represents hope in a dark place.  This stuff glows in the dark and I LOVE it!

They are priced at $9-10 a bottle and 50% of the proceeds will go straight to Nate's fund at the DCipher Group to be used for medical expenses, therapy equipment, and donations to SMARD research.

Polishes can be ordered here.  Get some for yourself and everyone you know!  Christmas is coming soon, right? :) 

You can also help by spreading the word about these polishes on your Facebook, blog, Instagram, Twitter, or whatever the kids are using these days to tell people to about awesome stuff.

HUGE thanks are in order for KPT herself, too!  Be sure to check out her other polishes while you're shopping her site!

Photo Dump

Scott mercifully took over blogging duties for me last week, which was very sweet, but now my conscience is pricked and I feel like I have some major catching up to do. 

 

So, without further ado, I present to you Nate's entire summer.



lots of cousin time

lots of pool time

lots of seeing what sinks and floats.  fascinating stuff.

painting, and then getting a bath

Storytime with Mom.  I love that we can both fit in his new bed!



Learning to climb up and down his ramp

 

Waking up with 4-dimensional hair (and no pants, apparently)

Getting up close and personal with the construction equipment downtown

More cousin time

Visiting the temple

"Helping" me make dinner.  Why is there a loader in my casserole?

Lots of semi-annual checkups with all of his specialists.  He only shows up for the stickers.

Playing at Grandma's "beach"

Riding Caltrain

Being obsessed with human anatomy

Playing "guess my expression"

Helping me water the patio

Even more cousin time

Watching plane take off at the airport

Running through the sprinklers



Nate climbed these stairs all by himself for the first time in his life!

twice-weekly therapy

new baby cousin Lydia

Phew. 

Nate has been busy

So what has Nate been up to the last month.  

He had his 3rd Fourth of July.  He thought it was great.  We went to the Los Altos 4th of July extravaganza where Nate got to hear a live band, wave an American flag and get a real close look at a turtle, which he thought was hilarious.  What he didn't think was so hilarious was at the pool party that afternoon....when he took a dive into the pool.

Nate was in his trusty fire engine floaty having a blast when something slipped and suddenly Nate was over the edge of his floaty and completely underwater.  We had always assumed this would be instant drowning for Nate but I yanked him out and (after a panicky moment) despite being completely freaked out he was fine.  So we cleared out his tube, suctioned him and I brought him back in despite his protests.  He ended up loving it.

Nate has also spent some time with cousins.  He loves his cousins.  Sometimes he just loves them a bit too much.

Adorbsies moment of the month was Callie having a walk with Nate outside Grammy's house.  She pushed him a few houses down and back and if we hadn't had to leave they would have wanted to keep at it.

He loves to sit on the bench in the back yard.  He apparently also loves to pretend fish with Callie.  I made him gut his own pretend fish though and that seemed to turn him off the idea.

Nate built and painted a train his Grandpa gave him for his birthday.  He's been asking us to let him paint it for months.

He managed to become not one but TWO superheroes.  I don't know where he finds the time but a kid with SMARD is the perfect secret identity.

He's been busy.