Wow, I have turned into one of those emotional moms!!! My youngest baby is 2 years old and has grown up way too fast! My sister-in-law took the above awesome pictures along with some other family pictures last weekend up the canyon. It was beautiful and she did a wonderful job. If you look closely, you will see Nathan's black fingers. He was loving throwing these rocks over his shoulders and he had a bit of a black bum as well from sitting on the railroad tracks. That just made these pictures all the more natural - since Nathan loves to play in the dirt. Next thing I know, my little Nathan will be packed up and ready to go to college! Of course, that is how he looked the morning of his 2nd birthday (in the pictures below)! He begs for my phone most of the day - and ALWAYS when it rings or I'm on the phone, which makes it very difficult to make phone calls, unless he is down for a nap. They really need to have phones that are like real cell phones to entertain this boy so that I don't have to worry about him throwing it if something doesn't go right!!!
I have tried and tried to download pictures from my phone for this post and it just hasn't worked since we had to change my passwords due to some crazy situation where videos from my phone kept getting uploaded to facebook! I thought Nathan was the culprit, but apparently my phone was doing it on it's own because over a dozen videos were uploaded to facebook while he was sound asleep. So, sorry Nathan for thinking you would ever do something like that :)!
Your Daddy and I and your siblings sure love you, Nathan! From the moment you wake up to the moment it is time for bed, you fill our lives with excitement. You have so much natural wonder and curiosity about the world around you and it is so fun to see your eyes light up when you make a new discovery! I love the way you pucker up your lips when we ask you to, or you want to give me a kiss. I love the way you get SO excited when you see a football or see that a football game is on tv or on the computer! I love the way you fit perfectly when you put your head on my shoulder and wrap your arms around me when I sing, "I am a Child of God" anytime you are going down for a nap or bedtime and how you always finish the song with the word, "Day" in your oh so cute little voice. You even do the same for Daddy when he puts you to bed, even though he likes to make you laugh by singing silly. I love how you are starting to speak in sentences, so that we can get a glimpse into what you are thinking. Your new sentence at lunch time yesterday was, "I want eggs." That was very helpful to know! You also just learned "What's that noise?" and I love the way you say "noise"!!! You love airplanes, ants, animals, wrestling, somersaults on the trampoline, leading the music with both hands, Daddy & siblings coming home, playing at the park and swinging really high for a very long time, helping Mommy bake, clean, & sweep, coloring pictures, reading stories, dancing (or squatting with an arm swing), and running everywhere there might be an adventure or a favorite person waiting!
Your favorite foods are pizza, pasta, french toast, eggs, watermelon, strawberries, grapes, tomatoes, yogurt, chicken, meat, ice cream, cookies, and most everything else. You are a pretty good little eater and we have so much fun watching you eat your food! You are now 2 going on 16 and we know the time will fly by way too fast. Many of the arguments among your siblings begin with who gets to play with/carry/help Nathan with this or that. You are so very loved and we just can't get enough of you.
Most of all, I love how you love and trust so perfectly in us. Your beautiful blue eyes melt our hearts. I love kissing your warm cheeks when you wake up and holding you while we read a story or sing a song when you are sad. I love playing outside and working in the garden with you by my side, playing in the dirt and exploring the world around you. I love how you are so good to help me focus on what is important. Sometimes I get so focused on seemingly insurmountable tasks that need done that day, only to find you begging for my undivided attention. When I stop what I'm doing to hold and love you, I am never disappointed. Your sweet spirit warms my soul and makes me want to be the mother that you deserve. I know that you bless my life so much more than I bless yours and I am so grateful for the gift of having you in our family. We recently read an old short story about a girl who had never known her birthday or what birthdays were all about. When a woman gave her some money and told her to go buy some gifts, she went to the store and bought gifts for all of her family and the kind woman who had wanted to help her have a good birthday. That little girl had a wonderful birthday because she was able to give gifts to those she loved. Her new friend and others who witnessed her joy on her birthday then made it a tradition to give gifts to others on their birthday. That story reminds me of you. You would have been completely happy without any gifts for your birthday and your favorite gift was actually a wrapped up marble works toy from when Drew was a toddler, but you share your gifts with others so willingly and you are truly a gift to all who know you. Thank you for sharing your gifts - your time, your love, and all that you are with us, Nathan. We sure love every little bit of you from your wiggly toes to your strawberry blonde head.
We didn't do anything too exciting for your birthday, but you didn't complain! We started your day out with some yogurt which is one of your favorite foods. Somehow we talked you into a kissy face too! I have a little video that I tried to download as well as some pictures of our outing to McDonalds. I can't believe how you had 4 teeth and then all of a sudden, you had a full mouthful of them!!!
I read recently that a good mom lets you lick the beaters. A great mom remembers to unplug them first! You helped me make the frosting for your cupcakes and you were even more helpful licking off the chocolaty beaters! It was so fun watching your different methods!
More!?!
One of your new favorite things is coloring your face. Your sisters call it face painting and I have learned to hide the non-washable markers from you and your sisters! So, it was only appropriate that we enjoyed some face painting on your birthday!
You also love being outside and one of your favorite activities this summer has been picking and eating tomatoes. You are very accepting and have no prejudices about the color of the tomatoes skins! But, I think you do prefer the taste of the red and orange cherry tomatoes over the green ones.
You were so excited that we were able to have our old neighbors over the night of your birthday for a little homemade pizza party! We were missing an ingredient and it just took longer than planned as you can see by the lack of sun, but you guys didn't complain because you had your friends to play with!!! Even since our friends moved away, you still look over at their house and say, "Samuel!" You loved the pizza so much that I found you scavengering around the picnic table eating everyone's leftovers before I realized that you wanted seconds! I guess I've taught you well to clean off your plate - I just didn't expect you to clean off everyone else's plates!
You looked like quite the king on your throne when you moved the bar stool over to the table. It was pretty cute! We decided to use these polka dotted wrappers for your cupcakes because you LOVE dots! You always point to each one and say, "DOT! DOT! DOT!" The girls are always making pictures for you with plenty of dots to keep you entertained. And, the kids wanted to use marshmallows for decorating because they look like dots too! But, you ate your first cupcake too fast to see that part!
You loved this new book that G-ma and G-pa Walker sent you. It has a moon that glows and you like to have it in your crib every night with the moon glowing as you go to sleep! You also loved the new soft and comfy jammies they sent you! You look pretty handsome in the new outfit, but I haven't taken any pictures of you in it yet.
You were very excited to watch the BYU game on your birthday. Our internet isn't very fast, so that was frustrating at times, but we put you to bed around 9 pm, an hour past your bedtime and you cheered on those Cougs from your crib until 10:30 at night! You were a true BYU fan!!! It was pretty darn cute if you ask me! Again, I have pictures of you with Dad watching the game, but they are on the phone and aren't uploading.
The next day, you got to eat cupcakes too. You were pretty happy & pretty cute as usual!!!
Daddy cut your hair a couple weeks before your birthday right before I taught a Relief Society lesson on a beautiful talk given April 2012 by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency:
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/the-merciful-obtain-mercy?lang=eng&query=merciful+obtain+mercy. Miraculously I got through the whole lesson with a couple minutes to spare and was able to share a thought I had had about you during the sacrament that morning. I mentioned that I was so sad when Daddy chopped your hair off, for 2 reasons. First, because you have beautiful hair and I hated to see it go. Second, because you remind me of the little Jewish boy on the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas". Your Dad and I just watched that movie a few months ago and it is SOOO sad. But, it taught a powerful lesson about how important it is that we realize that when we allow hate to enter our hearts, it has very real and very sad consequences that effect not only us, but those that we love. The father in this movie thinks that his family is safe and unaffected by his willingness to allow the Jews to be mistreated and killed in a nearby concentration camp. He ends up losing his son (who was trying to help his new little friend on the other side of the fence find his missing father) in the same horrific way that he thought would only effect the Jews. So, every time I see you with this short hair cut, I think of how important it is to love and show mercy to all around us, despite our differences, as our Heavenly Father and Savior love us. You are such a perfect little example of unconditional love and we love you so much. You have touched us so much with your sweet, loving spirit. Happy Belated Birthday, little precious guy!!!
