The Nielsen Narrative

Monday, March 14, 2011

The A Word

James is autistic. I don't know how long it is going to take before saying that won't cause my stomach to tighten and my lungs feel like they no longer know how to expand. We thought we were prepared, but the reality of what his and our life will be has crashed down on us since his formal diagnosis on Thursday. When I start thinking about how much is unknown about autism, and how much I don't know, and the fact that I have no idea how to best help James, the future seems overwhelming. Fear not though. It says in my patriarchal blessing that I have been blessed with the capacity to have much faith, and never before have I felt the full capacity of my faith. I know Heavenly Father has a plan. I know He loves James and me, and I know that if I do my best He will show me the way. Not to say I haven't lost five pounds already. But, I am not hiding from my life in my bed either. James is a happy, loving, wonderful child. When I think of what his autism could be like, or what it would be like to lose him altogether, I am so grateful that we get to experience whatever life James has been given. I have always felt the hand of God in the organization of my family, and I can tell you now that they have kept me sane. They have circled the wagons around us and I don't know what I would do without them. I am beyond grateful for a husband who is kind and strong and devoted to our family. I can't imagine what life would be like without family. So, together, we will learn as much as we can and take things a day at a time.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

To Infinity and Beyond

This October has been all things Buzz Lightyear. James loves Toy Story and carries all of his favorite characters like this:

It just make sense that his birthday should be all about Buzz so, we bought a Buzz costume.

And made some jet packs out of duct tape and cardboard for James and for birthday party goers.

For his party we made pizzas at Pizza Planet. Then we ate cupcakes and went swimming (James' favorite activity ever).

For Halloween it was a no-brainer.

Our Summer Project: Brought to You by Craigslist

This summer we spent a ton of time working on our backyard. We bought our house as a foreclosure so no one had watered the backyard for a year. The grass was toast and the bushes were way overgrown. After some trimming and bundling a HUGE pile of branches, we made some garden boxes. Then I started searching craigslist and found a really good deal on some retaining wall bricks. With my dad's help, and the help of all of his awesome connections, we got the bricks to our house and got a retaining wall built. I added a play set mid project (thanks to craigslist again), and our yard is coming right along. We kind of stalled after we bought air conditioning (totally worth it, thank you first time home buyer's tax credit) and our budget evaporated. Not that my kids care we don't have grass. James has had a ball playing in the dirt, walking along the top of the wall, and throwing tomatoes. Marshall follows James the best he can and eats tomatoes. Kendal and I just planted some bulbs, so spring should bring a mound of tulips, and with the help of a little more landscaping, a sprinkler system, and some sod, our yard will be looking complete. That's not much at all... really.

This is how our yard started out. We took out a few aspens (we still have tons, the previous owners went aspen crazy) and a bush.

I cut the bushes down to a fourth the size (don't worry, they grew back with abandon). We ended up taking the right one out because the snow had broken so many limbs, which worked out because we put a garden box there.

Then we had the bobcat come and do this.

And leave this on our side yard.

I was inspired by this:

So we made this:

And built this (notice my budding aspen grove?):

And, in the process, dug out these:

But now we have this:

We rigged a stair off our porch for easy access to the swings.

Here is our yeti-child. At least he says "careful" each step down because I've said it so many times. (I promise my kids do wear clothes most of the time)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Lair of the Bear

Lair of the Bear is one of our favorite places. It has cool BBQ spots with big trees and a stream, and beautiful trails. What else could you want. We headed up for an end of the summer goodbye party for Kellie. We had yummy burgers, threw rocks in the river, and Kellie took pictures. The light was a little crazy, but we got some fun ones.

Yes, this is the best picture we got. Marshall has his pacifier in and Kendal's glasses because he was grumpy, and James is staring off somewhere. That's us.