Brady's Home Run!

Brady now plays for the Yankees!

He has had to learn to hustle, or not let the ball get past him, now that he plays catcher.

Brady up to bat....this is from his very first game.






This year is the first year that Brady is actually playing little league, (in years past he has just played coach pitch). He is on the Yankees, and I think that it is quite an eye opener for him. Especially when you get some of those little league pitchers that throw bullets across home plate. He mostly plays catcher, now that he has learned to hustle, on the defense. Last night was a very exciting game, not only for Brady but for the whole team. It was the last inning, the Yank's were up to bat but were down by 2, and there were 2 outs with one runner on 2nd. Brady was up to bat next, and HITS A HOME RUN! He first made it to second base, but since the other team was trying to get the first runner out he booked it on to 3rd, and then they over threw the ball trying to get Brady out, which then he stole home. I'll never forget the look on his face as he took off for home....a little terrified. But he slid into home and TIED UP THE GAME. The next batter struck out, but that was okay, we had our chance to pull ahead. The next inning the other team scored 4 runs, which the Yankees answered to and tied it up again. (This tie was also made possible by a home run.) Another inning, another chance. Again they scored 4 runs, but the Yankees stepped it up and also scored 4 runs before the 3rd out. They called the game a tie after that, since in rec leagues there is a time schedule and we were almost an hour past. I was very proud of Brady, and was texting Nate the whole time on the status of his game. (Nate wasn't able to make it since he had his own double header softball games.) Brady was chosen to receive the 'game ball' since he hit a home run, but also because he had a lot of outs at home plate. He was also very excited to receive his free soda from the concessions .... whenever you make a home run you get a free drink ... quite important to 10 year old boys!

Pine Wood Derby

You can kind of see Caleb between Brett and Nate 'helping' with his car. Brady was also in on the action! I tried to catch them red handed, but those pictures are reserved for later black-mail dates.

They are really proud of their cars.

Brady, with Zack and Rachel in the backgound, cheering on his car.

This is the heat where Zack's car took first...he was so excited.

One of my favorite pictures of the night: Jace, Zack, Josh and Jacob waiting for the cars to come down.







This past week was our Pine Wood Derby. And I am pleased to announced that with the wonderful help of their father, Brady and Zack took 2nd and 3rd place in the Derby. Flashbacks of the movie Down and Derby enter my mind, but in defense of my hubby, he did let the boys help cut out, design, and paint the actual car. There were rumors floating around our ward that our shop had been turned into an All-Night Pine Wood Derby Car Factory. Because our good friend Brett Clayson came over numurous times to work on his son, Caleb's, car. (FYI....Caleb took 1st Place.) When I asked Brett how much time he spent on Caleb's car, he estimated about 30 hours.... seriously! Nate didn't spend quite that much time, and he also had to work on 2 cars. Most of his time was spent working on the tires and axel's, in years past he hasn't done much besides just stick them in and add a little graphite. Plus Brady's friend Mitchell came up 4 days before the race and asked for help on his car, which Nate willingly helped him with. (FYI...There really is a Pine Wood Derby 'Bible' out there, which was referred to many times.) But the boys had a great time, and were really into the race and watching their cars smoke all the rest....even Caleb's a couple of times. Nate and Brett got quite a lot of slack at the race from all the other dads, but in the end they were giving out pointers for next year. I'm proud of all my boys, but very glad that it is all over!

5 Year Anniversay

Nate just after getting the Halo on.

This isn't the last bike Nate will ever own....just the last time he'll ride on the road. From here on out it is dirt bikes only!

This is the windshield where Nate's head hit.

The totalled out PT Cruiser. (My kids and I now call these cars...PT Losers!)




As some of you may or may not know today is the 5 year anniversary of Nate's motorcycle accident. (I am going to write down the days' events for journaling purposes...so bear with me.) I'll never forget that morning standing in the garage in Saratoga Springs in our pj's, with Brady (5), Zack (3), and Rachel (18 months.) We wished our daddy farewell on his first ride to work on his new motorcycle. (Later Nate told me that just before we came out to say goodbye, he had knelt down and said a prayer wondering which road he should take to work, Lehi Main street (the busier road), or the back roads...he chose the back roads, which I guess was the right choice ;-) Just a little while later, while feeding the kids some pancakes for breakfast and writing down my grocery shopping list, I received a phone call. On the other end was a Lehi Police officer, telling me that Nate had just been in a head on collision and was being taken to AF Hospital. But Nate was conscious and was able to give the officer our phone number. I asked him where it happened, and he told me, but also said to go straight to the hospital, since I probably wouldn't make it to the crash site before Nate left. I rushed the kids into the van, and drove as fast as I could. I asked Brady to say a prayer as we passed Albertson's, and I will always remember the faith of that little boy and his little prayer. I had called my sister, Chalise, just before I left and asked her if I could drop off my kids, since they live right by the hospital. She and Kyle rushed out with her 3 oldest and grabbed my kids. Walking into the ER, I didn't know what to expect to see. Honestly I was expecting the worst, like a mangled unrecognizable face. There was some blood, but not anything I couldn't handle. Nate was scared, but so was I. Nate went in for an x-ray, and they found that vetrebre C-1, C-2, and C-3 were all crushed. (These are the vetrebre that hold the brain stem and spinal cord.) Nate had the same injury as Christopher Reeve, but his vetrebre didn't go out of alignment, they were just compressed with 9 fractures between the 3 of them. But the Dr's said that they weren't equipped to handle this type of injury, so they needed to send him to Utah Valley or LDS Hospital, but more than likely he would end up at LDS because he needed a neurosurgeon. So he was life flighted to LDS hospital, instead of an ambulance transport, because they didn't want to run the risk of his vetrebre moving and Nate becoming paralyzed. That wasn't very fun standing off to the side on the grass with Nate's mom, watching the helicopter take off. My mom came and got me at the hospital and we sped up to LDS hospital, and met Nate in the ER. His mom, and Kelly and Aimee were already there waiting for the latest word. After many hours he was assessed and put into a halo at about 10:30 that night. The Dr said that people are in halo's from 6 months to a year depending on how they heal. Nate was awake during the procedure of the Dr's drilling into his skull in 4 different spots. He also had a cracked left rib, tore his ACL in his right knee, broke this left wrist, and had plenty of road rash. He was transferred to ICU, for the first 2 days there. What a great relief it was when I first walked in ICU and saw one of our good friends, Wes Adams, who was a medical student at the time at the UofU, and doing some type of internship in ICU. I'll never forget Wes' face when I led him to Nate's room and started to tell him what happened. But he sure was a fountain of knowledge and was able to explain all sorts of medical terminology to us during our stay. Nate had a ton of visitors for the 4 days that he spent in the hospital. After 4 days they gave him to okay to go home, which was a little scarey for both of us. We didn't quite know how or where he was going to sleep. At home it was a bit of an adjustment, but we managed. The kids sure liked having their dad home. There were many times we would sit in the lounge chairs and just watch them play on the slip and slide, or run around outside. After about a week at home, Nate's boss called and told me to either take away Nate's pager, or he was going to confiscate it himself. (Nate was trying to work a little from home, which didn't sit well with anyone at work.) We had so many people bless our lives during that time, I'm sure I didn't get the chance to thank everyone appropriately. But they sure were in our prayers, because we were so humbled and in utter awe of the outpouring of love for our family. Nate was in the halo for 3 months. I credit his quick recovery to his great health and all of his basketball playing. (Plus I was a wonderful nurse who slept on the couch beside his lazy-boy recliner downstairs, so that I could help him during the night...even for potty breaks.) He doesn't have full movement in his neck, and sometimes people will ask if he has a stiff neck when he turns, but for all that he went through we are so very thankful to have him here with us today.

Zack's Baptism

Zack and Dad on the big day.

Brett Clayson, Caleb, Zack and Nate all ready for the Baptism.

Caleb and Zack....best buddies!

Zack with Great Grandma and Grandpa Adams.

Jacob and Jace....Caleb's and Zack's little brothers...these two are best buddies also!

Hannah and Rachel, these are the Easter dresses that I made for the girls. Since we were out of town on Easter, this is the only shot I have of them in their 'matching dresses.'
Zack and Mom on his Baptism day.

Wow, April has been a busy month. There are so many things that I havn't had the time to blog. So I will start with one of the most important, and then work my way backwards. (Hopefully I can get caught up before the end-of-school happenings all start ;-) Zack was baptized Saturday, May 2nd 2009. He was so excited and anxious for the big day. I thought April was going to be a long and dreary month for him, since he turned 8 on April 8th, but it came soon enough and the wait was well worth it. The day was beautiful, even with all the rain. When we walked out of the Stake Center at 6:00 pm, the sun was shinning for the first time all day. We had a great family party at our house afterwards. But what made the day even better, is that Caleb Clayson, one of Zack's good friends was also baptized. We just love the Clayson's and hang out with them as much as we can, so it was wonderful to share the day with them. Brady also played a paino solo and duet with his piano teacher Stephanie Reid during the interlude of the baptism. I'm sure proud of his accomplishment of learning to play the piano. (But I think I was more nervous than him when the time came to play.) One special memory I have of Zack's baptism, is when Bishop Mazeika was up in front talking to Zack and Caleb after their confirmations, he asked Zack who loved him besides all of these people in the room. He answered correctly and said, "Heavenly Father." That is something that I have always tried to drill into my kids' heads, since that is what my dad always asked us while we were growing up. So I am glad that Zack remembers, and I hope that he always will! We sure love you Zack and we are so proud of you for making such a great choice to be baptized!