Grandma Kathi makes us all put on our Santa hats and pose in front of her Christmas tree. This was taken on Christmas eve at a party at her house. Scott is doing a lot better and was able to spend a few hours celebrating with us before he had to head home to rest and have more medicine. He has appointments with the face doctor and eye doctor on the 5th and they will determine when to take the anchors out of his mouth and whether or not he will need surgery on his eye. He is improving every day. He has started eating a little bit more like little pieces of bread and jello salads, bean soup, and even a little bit of fudge. We are very glad he is improving so fast. He needs to get finished with his surgery so he can get back to school in Colorado. We were glad to have him here for Christmas and very glad that he was healthy enough to enjoy it.

We had a Christmas party on Christmas Eve with all of the Nielsens. Here is a picture of all of the cousins. We have turned into a great big group. There are 17 grandchildren all together. This is a picture of all of us. Trudy has 4, We have 3, Phil has 3, Dan has 5 and Molly has 2. We sure can make a lot of noise, but we have a lot of fun together!

Scott got a lot of clothes for Christmas. He also got some new shoes and movies.

Bridger got a new DS for Christmas. He was very excited. He got new games for it and the Wii.

Connor got he Wii fit for Christmas along with some games for the Wii and his DS.

Today the doctor took off the wires, and replaced them with rubberbands. It gives him more mobility. He is now able to eat soft foods, such as yogurt and pudding. He is having problems with one of his eyes, and we will be seeing an eye doctor in the future to see what we can do about that.

Scott is doing well. He is up and around, and seems to be in a better mood. He can only eat liquids, but is handling that pretty well. He does good with soup, smoothies, and protein shakes. He has lost a lot of weight, and will probably continue to do so. He is having trouble with body aches, and joint pain. We hope it due to being inmobile and loss of muscle mass, and not some other injury. We will be going to the doctor tomorrow, and hopefully the wires in his mouth will get change over to rubber bands, and it will give him more mobility.

Scott went in for his second surgury on Saturday. They had to fix some things that were not healing correctly. He ended up having to get his jaw wired shut, and he is not too happy about it. He is asking that no one visit him right now. He is in a lot of pain, and the hooks that are in his jaw holding the wires are very painful. He will have to have the wires in for two weeks, and then they will use rubber bands. Hopefully that will give him a little more movement, and can help him to feel a little better about things. We hope that within the next couple days, things will settle, and people will be able to visit him again. We really hope that he can get his spirit up as well. Thanks to all those that have brought in meals, thought about us, and for all your prayers. We hope that we are on the road of recovery, and that there are no more setbacks.

Update

We just got news from Scott's doctor that his jaw is not setting right. To correct it he has to go back in for surgery on Friday. The good news is that if he can get up and moving, then he might get to come home until his surgery on Friday. Hopefully that we be our goal today - get up and moving!

Scott has been moved to a different floor of the Hospital. He has a roommate and he wasn't very excited about it. He has a lot of recovering to do but he is in good spirits. He says that the accident is just a slight delay in his life. What a good attitude. We think he has learned quite a bit about what is important in life. Here he is waving a hello and thank you to everyone who has show so much love toward him!

Surgery ended at about 7:00 on Saturday night. It took him awhile to come around and he was very aggitated when he finally woke up. He slept really well last night and woke up a lot more pleasant then when he went to bed. He has been moved from ICU to a new room but they are still watching him really close.

This is us all cheering after the doctor came out to tell us how well the surgery had gone. I think the doctor seemed pretty proud of the work his team had done on Scott.

What a relief to get the surgery over with. We appreciate all the prayers and words of encouragement from everyone.

Here are all the family members waiting during the surgery.

We played games, watched movies, and slept while

we waited for any news on the surgery.

Well Scott finally made it in to surgery at about 12:30. We received the first update from the O.R. and he went to sleep really well. They were able to put the breathing tube in his nose so they will not have to do a trach. They will put metal plates in his cheeks, both sides of nose, chin and upper and lower jaw. They aren't sure whether they will have to tie his jaw shut. They are hoping not to. They are watching his eyes closely to prevent any injury to them during the surgery. We are optimistic that everything will go well. It has been such a relief to actually have him in surgery so we can moved forward to his recovery. Thanks for all the phone calls, txts, and messages from all of you. Thanks also for the many prayers said in his behalf.

Scott is going in to surgery this morning. We are waiting for the doctors to do the assessment this morning then they will take him up. He is very stable this morning. He has been having heart rate issues but they seemed to have gotten them taken care of. They changed how they give him his pain meds which makes him more alert, but he is also feeling a little more pain. His surgery will take about 5-6 hours. He has a lot of family support. He has had family from Colorado and Utah at the hospital. I will report any new info as it becomes available.

On Wednesday November 26th at 11:30 p.m. Scott was in a rollover accident with two of his friends. He was in the back passenger seat of an extended cab chev truck. They were driving too fast when they flipped and hit a ditch in Benjamin,Ut. Scotty was injured. He broke a lot of the bones in his face and he will be having surgery within the next 24 hours to fix it.

This is a picture of Scott right after he got lifeflighted to the U of U. He looks really good. He has swollen eyes and a crooked nose but everything else looks good.

The truck looks good exept where scott was sitting. He was very lucky to come out without anything else wrong. We are very greatful he is alive and that all the injuries he has can be fixed. His family from Colorado drove out to be with him and he has a lot of his Utah family here too. Please keep Scott in all of your prayers.

Well it's been a while since I have been on here! Sorry about that. School started and we just got into a routine and I didn't keep up on this. Bridger is in the 9th grade this year. Connor is in the 7th grade. They both go to the Diamond Fork Junior High. Scott decided to do his Senior year at his moms house in Colorado.

The first term went really well. They have Bridger in a program at school to help him with his school work so he doesn't fall behind. It has been very helpful, it saves me from having to gather all his work each week and try to help him do it in the evenings. He is doing well with his OCD. The meds that he's on help a lot. We still have to work through some things each day. He has a really big desire to stay home, so if we are going places we have to make sure he is taken care of. Connor is really good to stay home and be with him at night so he isn't alone. (He sometimes panics if he is left alone at night by himself.

We had a family Halloween party. Everyone dressed up and we played games and ate pizza. The young kids really had a fun time. Connor didn't want to dress up this year, I guess he is getting to big. Bridger of course stayed home for most of the party. Loud parties and big gatherings bother him, so he stays home.

exchange student from spain

We had an exchange student from Spain in our home for 5 weeks. We had so much fun teaching him about America and Utah. We got to go lots of places. We spent a lot of time together with him and as a family. We enjoyed getting to know him. His name is Anton Larranaga.

This is the boys at the zoo. Bridger didn't go with us so it is just Anton, Connor and Scott.

This is us on the 4th of July doing snaps.

We went to boondocks and Anton loved riding the go-karts!

We spent a few nights at the Salem pond letting Anton fish.

We went to Fat Cat's Bowling. Anton got a strike on his first throw. He really enjoyed bowling, he is a very competative person!

We had a great time in Park City. We rode the Alpine slide and the new coaster that they have there. We went in the human maze but we weren't that excited about it. We had ice cream and chocolate from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory it was fun.

Connor played baseball this year. He was on the Red Sox. He had a great season. Anton learned a lot about the game. He had never watched a baseball game and he became very good and making calls on the plays. He enjoyed cheering for the boys on the team learning most of their names befor the end of the season.

We played cards at the family reunion. We taught Anton all of our favorite games.

Brian, Anton, and Scott all entered the pie eating contest at the family reunion.

Here is a close-up of Anton eating his pie with no hands.

Connor is digging for treats and prizes in the peanut pool a the family reunion

We spent a day in Arches National Park.

They whole family went but Bridger wouldn't be in our pictures.