Update on Nikol and Family

Sorry for all the updates.  I'm trying to get caught up before the end of the year and before we move.  We haven't been notified yet on if we have been accepted for on-campus housing and hopefully will find out before the end of the month.  As for me and what the doctors have found...... Nothing really related to the pains that I've been having, at least that's in my perspective.  They found hemorrhoids, which is probably caused from 3 children being born.  Can they really cause that much pain?  I have my own diagnosis though....... Extra stress on my body goes into shock.  When I start stressing out over a project or thing that needs to be done my body tenses up and I start having problem.  I'm trying to just take things one at a time and things have been better. Do any of you know how to better deal with stress?  My body starts shaking and then pain..... so help and advice would be great.

Much to be thankful for

My dad and I were able to go to Daxton's school for the Kindergarten Annual Thanksgiving feast.  It was way cute!  The kids were dressed up as Pilgrims and we, as parents and guests, were the Indians and they had feathers for us to put in our hairs.  It was fun.  We had a little dinner with rolls, turkey and carrots and olives.  Then yummy pies after.  The kids did a cute song called Children of Many Colors.  It was really cute and if I can figure out how to put it on the blog I want you to see it.

But at this time of year I just want to write down a few things that I'm thankful for this year.  (sorry if it gets cheesy).... I'm thankful for....
1) My loving husband who has done so much for me, with being with me when I've been sick or to emotionally help me through some pretty big struggles physically and mentally this year.
2) My boys.  Even though they can drive me a little crazy and get into things and destroy things so quick, they also have soft hearts, warm hugs and great kisses that just melt ya.
3) The outdoors.  This year we were able to do a lot of camping with friends and family and go to many different parts of the state.  I'm thankful for the wonderful creations that God has given us to all look at and appreciate.
4) Answers to prayers.  I just want to testify that our Heavenly Father answers prayers in many different ways and He knows our needs.  Hence, why we are moving to Logan and Mat will be able to finish school and hopefully me as well.
5) My health.  I know that that may sound a little weird since my health has been up and down, but I'm still here and kickin' and I'm grateful that I can still function.
6) The priesthood.  It has helped me to get through the tough physical stress put upon me, especially the last few months and given me that added boost.  I'm grateful that Mat is worthy to hold the priesthood.
7) Temples.  I'm been blessed to be able to go the last 2 Saturdays with friends and family.  It's been so nice to be reminded of the many blessings we have been given and renew those covenants with my Father in Heaven.

I hope there are a few things that you have been thankful for this year and take the time to write them down and remember them.

Hauntingly cold Halloween

Well Halloween was extra cold this year, but thank goodness for the costumes that we had for the boys and they were able to wear nice warm winter hats. The ones that were cold were me and Mat.  But we had a great time. Hope you like our theme we did.  We had this planned since last year when my sister found out she was having her fourth boy, making 7 total between the 2 of us.  The other pictures are from my sister's Halloween party that she does every year. We LOVE it, although our costumes were not ready by this point, so we are in different costumes.

Disneyland October 2010

I know that I'm late with Disneyland photos and all, but it's been WAY too crazy around here. Well, we were able to start off the trip pretty well until we got outside of Mesquite and Hayden got sick from the windy canyon. (I think I spelled that right.) Anyway, so that was interesting, but I think he just got a little car sick and nothing like the flu.  Then we stopped at my Uncle Steve's house and had dinner with them and stayed the night.  I love having family to make the trip not so long.  The boys were so excited to be there and excited for the adventure of driving another 6 hours the next day.  Every time we stopped they would ask, "Is this DISNEYLAND?" and every time we would have to say, no.  But we finally made it to Disneyland and our hotel to find out that our hotel was extra busy because of all the Utah and Arizona travelers and we couldn't park our car at our hotel and had to take it to a sister-hotel down the way, and we couldn't check-in till around 4 and it was 2.  So we got all our stuff out of the car and put it in their storage area, drove the car to the other hotel, shuttled back to our hotel and then walked over to Disneyland.  It was very interesting and one of the only downfalls to the whole trip.  We were able to meet up with Mat's family and even a few friends from UT.  It was AWESOME!!!!  We didn't do a whole lot in the park, but the first character we saw was SNOW WHITE!!  It was so cool for the fact that I was dressing up as Snow White for Halloween. The other problem was that we left one camera in the car and the other at the hotel in the storage area, so thank goodness for technology and we were able to use Mat's phone.
I won't go into the day to day details, but we were able to see more characters than we ever thought we would.  During the week was better than on the weekends.  There were too many people on Saturday and SOOO many lines that were more than an hour and that was too much for us.  I definitely will go back during the week over the weekend.  Friday wasn't too bad, but Saturday was AWFUL!! We were able to go to the new attraction, World of Color and it was beautiful and breathtaking.  We got to the show that was really late, not the latest, but it was 10 at night when the show started and Corbin and Hayden were asleep and slept the whole time.  There were times of frustration with family members and lots of miscommunication, but when is there a trip that doesn't have a lot of that.  My favorite parade was the Pixar parade in California Adventures where you see all the Pixar characters and it wasn't as crowded as the Disneyland parades.  The boys had a great time to say the least.  They keep asking when we can go back, which is up in the air, but we will definitely go back.  Hope you enjoy the pictures and see how much fun we were able to have as a family.

Abundance of Strength and Hope in Life's Journey

As I have been getting things ready for our family to move in the next month or so I find this abundance of strength helping me, and pushing me along, and I wanted to share this article I found on Time Out For Women that totally describes how I feel and it was amazing and hope you find a little bit of peace and joy in your journeys of life.

Natalie Nyman

October 19, 2010

I look through my to-do lists and see evidence of the roles I play and the absence of the roles I want. There are articles to read, errands to run, sisters to visit, laundry to do, papers to write, spinning classes to attend, and scriptures to study. There are family members who need love, friends who need support, and decisions to make about dating. From the moment I wake until the time when my head returns to its pillow, life is constantly in motion. Sometimes I look at the schedule and post-it notes and paper reminders of goals I've set and feel like the apostles asked to feed the 5000. There is not enough time, not enough energy, not enough me. I look in the mirror and then back at my planner and wonder if the tasks of the day, week, month or year will ever translate into who I want to see in my reflection.

In these moments I find comfort in the life and example of my Savior. The Redeemer of the World, the Chosen Messiah, the Christ- my Perfect friend - had a moment of mortality when His cross was too heavy. Until He could carry it again, an unknown man shouldered His burden. I think of this man, of the privilege it would have been to serve the Savior between the bitter cups of Gethsemane and Calvary. And then I think of those who have likewise seen me struggling to carry my load and who have silently and tenderly walked with me, bearing my burden until my strength returned.

I remember family members, friends, teachers, and even strangers coming to my rescue in these times of need, people who understood and lived the covenants taught on the banks of the waters of Mormon. Truly, their hearts had internalized the principles of bearing others' burdens and mourning with those that mourn. But ultimately, I discover hope in knowledge born of experience and testimony that my Perfect friend, Jesus Christ, walks with me. He waits for me to drop my cross at His feet and pick up His yoke. "Even as He calls us to come to Him and follow Him, he is unfailingly running to help us. However halting our steps are toward Him -- though they shouldn't be halting at all -- His steps are never halting toward us" (Elder Holland, "Come Unto Me" April 1998 Ensign).

As I have run to Him, I have felt Him at my side, fulfilling promises uttered in ancient and modern times. I find hope not in my own capacities and successes, but in the realization developed over time that there is no righteous journey I embark on alone.

Nikol update!

Along with all the changes that have been going on with the leaves changing and our lifestyle changing, my body continues to do things that totally CONFUSE ME!!!  I went to the specialty doctor last Wednesday to find that I confused yet another doctor, which is getting really old and I really want to find out what is going on with my stomach. So he put me on some medicine that will hopefully help me out and in 6 weeks I get to go back for a little procedure to see if it is doing something to help out.  So far, I feel the same and nothing has changed and its been a week.  Maybe there is something they are not seeing and hopefully will be able to find it in 6 weeks.

Family life update!

On Thursday Sept 30, 2010 I got a text from Mat.  Something that happens everyday, right, but this was a different text.  It said, "As of Dec 24th I will no longer have a job!"  I thought that it was a joke or something, but it's true.  Mat is being let go and now we are making choices for our family that will take us else where. He will be getting a severance of 2wks per year he has worked for Ziplocal, which is 2 years so all of January we get paid and after that we will have to see.

Mat is thinking of going back to school at USU in Business Marketing! So our family might be moving to LOGAN, UT!!!  Back up to Logan after 5 years of being away, almost 6 years!  Can't believe it!  It will definitely be a change of pace for our family. We actually having been thinking of going back to school and the Sunday before Mat found out from work (which they could have done ON Christmas Eve) about going to school at USU.  Funny how the Lord works sometimes.  This was the needed push, almost, to get us going.  We are a little scared for the change of pace, and being students again and being away from family, but this is where the Lord needs us and He will provide as long as we do all that we can.

OCTOBER!!!!

I love OCTOBER!!!  Not only is Halloween on the way, but it's officially fall and the color of the leaves is splendid, the temperatures are some what cooler and its time for wonderful fall, harvesting activities.  Not only is canning pretty much done, but I get to enjoy more time with the boys outside having fun.  Oh, and I can't forget that it's also time for CONFERENCE!!!  The last few weeks have been really crazy, but fun!

First off, I was able to go to the Relief Society Meeting AT the Conference Center.  Our Stake was given so many tickets per ward and I grabbed 4.  One for me, my mom, my sister Apryl and my dear sister-in-law Leslie.  It was AMAZING!!!  We started off the evening picking up everybody so we could go to dinner before the meeting rather than after.  We ate at the Olive Garden which was in walking distance from the Conference Center and then we walked on up for the meeting.

It was an amazing meeting!!!  Very powerful on how to be better women in the church and better women in general! Awesome to spend it with 3 amazing women in my life.  Wish I could have spent it with all amazing women in my life, but only so many tickets.

Second, FALL COLORS!!!!!  I love living so close to a beautiful, scenic canyon.  The Mount Nebo Loop is in my backyard, (well, technically in my front yard but you know what I mean)!  We went up a couple weeks ago and saw the colors and then stopped off in Santaquin Canyon and roasted hot dogs and had fun playing in the dirt.  That's what boys do best right?!? The next day Mat and I were able to go up the Canyon and hike the Mount Loafer trail and although we got onto the wrong trail at one point and never made up on top of Mount Loafer, it was still a great time to spend with my husband and in nature.  LOVED IT!!!
Here are some of the pictures we took:

This is the stream in Santaquin Canyon and I had fun taking the picture and playing with the camera!

 Finishing the hike!

 Mount Loafer Trail

 Top of Payson Canyon towards Camp KoHoLoWo

Me and my best friend!

Third, playing outside with the boys harvest style!!! We were able to go to the Rowley Farm in Santaquin, which we do every year, to take the hayride to the pumpkin patch and take lots of cute pictures!!!  It was great this year!  The boys look forward to every year!

The 6 boys! Too cute!

Cute lil Andrew Durrant!

My most recent family photo until this Saturday!

Finally, CONFERENCE!!! With our Stake getting tickets this year, our bishop let us all know in the ward that there were tickets for the Saturday Afternoon session and Mat and I took the opportunity to go!!  It was awesome.  Mat's mom watched the boys and took them to their cousin's birthday party. And Mat and I went to conference!  It was amazing to say the least!  It's amazing how you feel in the presence of the prophet and apostles. There were so many answers to our many questions that are happening in our life right now, but that will have to be in a later post.  :)  We were able to eat a sack lunch on Temple Square before the session started and then walk around Temple Square for a little bit.  It was amazing to feel the unity of everyone wanting to listen to the prophet.

 Temple Shot with the American Flag!

 Outside of the Conference Center, it was nice and hot and VERY bright!

Us in the Conference Center

Quick Update

So I forgot to update about my ultrasound and all came back good and no problems. Soooo... they still want me to see the specialty doctor on Wednesday.  There is good and bad with this.  Good I have no problems picturewise, and BAD because I almost wanted something there just so I KNOW what it is.  I have been feeling better, but I do get an episode of sharp pain every once in awhile.  Hopefully this specialty doctor can help me out!

Baptism!!!

My cute nephew Trev was baptized over Labor Day weekend.  I felt bad that Mat and the boys were not able to go with me.  Money's pretty tight and we need to save ever penny we can for Disneyland in October.  So I was able to hitch a ride with my mom and dad and my brother Josh came too, without his family as well.  It was nice trip without the kids, to say the least, but I still missed them and talked to them as often as I could.  We left Friday the 3rd and made it into Blackfoot, ID late that night to my aunt's house.  The next day, the 4th, was Trev's baptism.  I was soooo excited for him.  He turned 8 back in June, but my brother and sister-in-law wanted him to be ready and have it be his choice to be baptized or not and he was definitely ready.  You could just see it on his face and feel it from him that he was READY!!  It was really cool to see and 8yr old look so mature.  He was actually the tallest one being baptized.  There were 5 in his stake being baptized that day as well.  The program was wonderful and the baptism amazing.  He was only dunked once, which is amazing because his 2 older sisters were dunked 2-3 times before it was right.   It was a great day to be with family, and I was able to get some great shots.  Enjoy!!

All the men who confirmed him!

Jared's family

(L to R) Daycia, Madilyn, Jared, Heidi, Sharylee with Korryn

Trevon, and Dalton 

Mama and Trevon

Sharylee and Trev

Mama Lou and my mom

Mama Lou with Andrew and Apryl

My dad and his mom taking a nap! Too cute!

Sharylee and Heidi, their foreign exchange student from Korea.

Times flying by....

So I don't know have any excuses of why I haven't posted lately.... other than running around crazy....!!!:)  August went by tooo quickly.  We had a lot of family come to visit that month and I'm glad to have family around.  The one thing, well two, most eventful things happened in the month of August.  First,  Hayden sprained his foot by jumping off a 1 ft table in their bedroom.  We didn't find out that it was a sprain until after 2 visits to the doctor and my 2 uncles looking at him.  The story is that Hayden was trying to "go swimming" with his brothers in the bedroom and jumping off the table to land on the blue rug, "the water."  Well, he had been doing this for sometime, and then we heard him jump, then cry, and so Mat went in to find him on the floor on his side.  I thought that he had bunked his head, until the next morning and he was complaining his leg hurt.  Didn't think much of it until I put him down to help Corbin go potty and he wouldn't stand on his legs and collapsed on the floor.  That really worried me, especially since my parents were out of town with my brother and his family in San Diego.  I called my mom and talked with her. She said if there is any bruising or swelling then take him in.  There was nothing!!!  So I called my lil sis to come and look at him and his hips moved fine and he was not giving us any indication of what was really going on and where he was hurting.  FRUSTRATING!!!  So I called and made an appointment to see the doctor and my doctor was not in so I saw the on call doctor there.  They did x-rays and still couldn't find anything.  They said if by a week he was still not walking to come back in.  So I did.  One week later we were back in the office with yet another doctor and took different x-rays but still couldn't find anything, so they put a splint on his foot and wrapped him up good.  A few days later he was starting to crawl and by one week after his splint was put on he was walking again!!! and I took off the splint.  My back hurt so bad to be carrying around a 30 lb toddler.  He's pretty hefty!!!

Well during this time my Aunt Darla came back from her mission from Samoa.  It was great to see her and my cousin Karma, her daughter.  We had a great time and I was able to get my own lava lava to wear.  :)

 

Here's Apryl & Dave Durrant, Mat and Hayden Larsen, and my cousin Karma Tucker

 Aunt Darla

                       My sweet Grandpa Anderson                  My mom, myself and Apryl in our lava lavas!

We were also able to see good friends too and it is just so nice to visit!!!

The next big thing that happened was DAXTON IS IN KINDERGARTEN!!!!  I felt bad that I wasn't able to post about this sooner, but as you can see my life has been kind of crazy.  So.... here is my big Kindergartener!!!

 

 Isn't he just handsome and ready for school?!?!  I can't believe he's already in Kindergarten.  And no I didn't cry when we took him to school, I was actually excited for him to be at school.  Not like he's a bad kid and I want him away, but it is nice to focus a little bit of time on the other 2 kids.  His teacher is Mrs. Thomas who was also my little sister's teacher too.  So she knows my family and it's nice to know a familiar face.  It is kind of weird to think that he is going to the same school that I went to and even some of the same teachers are there.  CrAZy!!!

During the whole month of August my body has been shutting down and having problems.  I won't go into all the details because they are kind of embarrassing, but for the most part my stomach has been cramping up and it doesn't matter what I do it hurts!!  I have been passing out a lot lately and been really shaky and just plain hurt.  I have been to the doctor a couple of times and they have tried me on fiber pills and that makes it almost worse.  I did just go yesterday and had some blood drawn and my results came back this morning as everything is normal.  No probs with the thyroid, kidney, liver, diabetes, not pregnant, etc.  So that's great, but not sure what is still wrong with me.  I've even fooled the doctor and he is a little scared.  So on Friday I get to go in to get an ultrasound on my tummy to see what's going on with my stomach.  Then I have an appointment with a specialty doctor later in the month.  So pray for me and the doctors so that we can find out what's going on.  I'm a little scared, but just unnerved mostly.  I hate not knowing.

QUESTION?!?!?!

I have been thinking about this for quite some time and would like my friends input.  I have been deciding to go back to school and would like to do online classes, but not sure what I want to go into.  What do you think?  What are your views of online classes? Do you like them?  Are they easier?  Or harder?  It's been a struggle for me.  I really want to go back to school, but haven't found what exactly I want to go into.  Nothing has really clicked saying, "Yep, that's it!!!"  I hate it!  Is it easy going to school with a family and a husband who might be going back to school, too?  UGGGHHH!!  I don't know what to do!  I feel so stagnant and don't know what to think or do!  Please help!

Here are the photos of our busy, but wonderful day on Pioneer Day!  That morning we went over to the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days parade with my brother and his family.  It was a pretty good parade and it was nice to be with my brother and just talk with him.  The boys were pretty good with the parade and were done when it was done.  We didn't get too much candy which was fine by me, but we headed up to Mat's mom and dad's place in Draper and spent a few hours up there before we headed up to Layton to Mat's sister's home to have water games and dinner with them.  The boys were EXCITED!!!!  We hadn't seen our cousins since we went camping with them in June.  It had been a month and they were excited to play in the water again with them.  They played hard for 3 hours or so.... which meant at the end of the day they were out before we got on the freeway.  We had a really good time... THANK YOU EMILY AND KYLE!!!!!  Thanks Mom Miller for getting it all together.  We love getting with our family!!!  Enjoy the pictures!

Blessings come big and small!

So I feel like I need to let you know how much we were blessed in July!  We were able to be with our family a lot the last few months and we are so grateful that we are close enough to do that.  But this is not entirely about family. Mat and I were able to go to the Manti temple with our ward for ward temple day.  Since Provo was closed at the time the next available temple was Manti!!!  Which was awesome for us since we were married there 6 years ago.  Anyway, we were getting really excited and hoping the boys wouldn't get sick or have any injuries preventing us from going to the temple.  All was well and Mat and I took the boys over to my sisters to spend the night since we needed to leave by 7 am the next day.  So off we were to spend some time with ourselves.  YEAH!!!!  The next morning we got up bright and early and met the ward at the church and followed down.  We had a really good turn out about 20 people came!!  AWESOME!  We didn't carpool with anyone else because we wanted to go and walk around Snow College's campus and visit Mat's grandma in Fountain Green.  So we took a nice quiet drive down to Manti, got to the temple and hour before the next session started, which gave us ample time to think and ponder.  While we were pondering we noticed a girl that was receiving her own endowment and realized that we knew her.  It was our good friend's little sister and she was with her parents and grandpa along with her fiancé and his parents.  It was really cool. We were hoping that we would see our friends, but they weren't there, although our session was really full and it was amazing.  We were able to talk with the parents afterwards and it was just good to see them.  After that I was in the dressing room waiting to get into my locker and another lady saw me, recognized me and it was my little sister's friends from growing up.  She had just gotten married in the temple a month ago and was at her brother-in-law and sister-in-law's sealing.  It was soo cool!!!!  So we talked for a little bit and it was just awesome.  We then waited outside for all our ward members and followed each other over to a near by park to have lunch.  After lunch, and while our ward members were leaving I found some really good friends of ours from Logan which we hadn't seen for 5 years!!!!  We talked for awhile and found out they were living in Orangeville and some of Mat's family is from there and were actually there in Manti at the park.  So Mat ran over and talked with his Uncle Gordon and Aunt Carol. What a GREAT REUNION!!!  It truly felt like heaven that day where we were able to meet and be with old friends and family again!  I was on cloud 9 the whole day!  Mat and I were suppose to be there that day to see so many old friends that some have been over 5 years since we have seen them.

We then walked around Snow College's campus and it was great!  They have a new library there that looks like the Noyes Building!  BEAUTIFUL!!!!  Good memories were shared there at that dear college!

          I loved my roomies!!!  They were the best both years!  I was hoping to find some other pictures and I need to fix some around and get them a little bit better, but here are some of the memories of room 218!  Let the good times roll!