Happy Birthday Brahnson and the First Day of School

I can't believe that I am a mother of a teenager!! Brahnson turned 13 on September 1. We had one of our favorite families from the ward over for dinner. Brahnson chose to have breakfast casserole, scones w/ honey butter, and orange julius for his birthday dinner. Instead of cake he wanted banana splits. We had a good time.

Despite his mother's protest, he got an air soft gun with a protective mask and bullets. Our friends got him various gifts including 9 of his favorite kind huge candy bars, Hersheys Cookies and Cream bars.

The day after Brahnson's birthday was the first day of school. We had a lot of "firsts" this year! This was Camren's first time in Middle School, it was Jorden's first day at Kidnergartin, and it was my first time having only one child at home since only having one child. That is why Sydnee gets to have her picture on here too. I get so much more done, but the day seems so much shorter to me. I am really glad that Jorden has all day kidnergartin. It has been fun to have just "mommy and Sydnee time". I have to think of enough things to keep her entertained though. I don't want her watching a bunch of T.V. We have made treats, colored, drew on the sidewalk with chalk, read stories, had extra long tubby time, and of course go on walks to the parks that are around us. It has been very fun! All of the kids are getting on very well in their schools. Jorden loves Kidnergartin, Camren loves middleschool, Brahnson is loving middleschool a lot more as a 7th grader than he did as a 6th grader, and Tori got secret admirer gifts the first week of school. She found out who it was and told him she just wants to be friends, but thanks for the flowers and cards. We have had a great beginning to this school year! I pray that it lasts all year!

A New Blankie!!!

So, all of my kids get very attached to their blankies. It starts from almost day 1 and continues. Jorden seemed to have gotten the most use out of his blankie, as you can see from the picture. We have been trying this last year to see if we could talk him into giving it up and we have not been too successful! He loves this blankie and whenever we would talk to him about giving it up he would start to cry and be so sad! He used to take it in the car with us, but we had to put a stop to that about two years ago, but it was just plain embarrassing to have it with us. If he ever lost it for a day or two he couldn't sleep. He was very attached. Chad had a few days off this week and decided that it was high time to retire his blankie!

So, we took Jorden to the fabric store and let him choose out his own material and loved that! He first chose dinosaurs, then sharks, but then he saw a pirate one and loved that one. His favorite color is green and so the back of it had to be green. We brought the material home and started on the blankie!




















I should say that Chad started on the blankie, because I don't sew! Jorden helped a little bit too. Chad even quadrupled the batting in it to make it really soft. I helped tie it and then we showed it to Jorden. Chad told Jorden that if he wanted the new blankie he had to trade him his old blankie for it!Jorden wasn't sure if he wanted to do that! He said with big puppy dog eyes, "But, I love my old blankie." I told him that now that he was going to kindergarten he needed to get rid of his baby blankie and have a big boy blankie! The deal was the deal. Jorden had to trade it in to get his new one. After alot of discussion, he finally did it! The old blankie went into the garbage! I asked him how his first night was with it and if he liked his new blankie better than his old one. He said no, his old blankie was better, but he still liked his new blankie. I think he likes the idea that he is becoming a big boy now!

A Little Sad, But Very Glad!!!

Well, first for the sad news... We have decided that we will not be able to make it back to Utah as a family this year. We have had some unexpected medical bills, pay cut, and just the whole economy thing hit us more than we have liked. I am grateful that we can pay our bills, but we don't have as much wiggle room as we once did. My kids were really sad when we told them, but they understood. This was going to be Tori's first year going to Cedar City, that made it a little harder for her, but she said that she can wait until next year. Hopefully, we can get family to come to us. I keep telling people that we are only an hour away from the Water park capitol of the world! :) Anyway, I have been so homesick! I tried not to get to sad about not being able to go, but I wasn't doing a very good job. If the subject came up, I would totally break into tears! I am typically not like that!
Now, for glad news... My husband saw how sad I was and really felt that I needed to go and see my family, even if we can't all go. He asked me if there was a time in August that I would like to go. I couldn't go during Cedar City, because I wasn't going to go without my daughter. Then I realized that I could go for BYU Education week! I told Chad about that time and he thought that was a great idea! He got online and found an unheard of good deal to fly out of Madison to SLC. Usually you have to go to Chicago or Milwaukee to get good deals on flights. He purchased it and even made it so that I can be in Utah for 12 days! He is going to take the week of education week off (using his vacation) to stay home with the kids! I am so excited!!! I feel bad that not everyone can go, but we will try to go back some other time as a family another time. I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR MY HUSBAND AND LOVE HIM SOOO MUCH!!!! THANK YOU HONEY!!!!!

Happy Birthday Chad!!

Happy Birthday to my best friend for the past 14 years! Today is Chad's birthday! I am so grateful for everything that he has done for me and our children. He is the best husband and father that anyone could ever ask for. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said a chess set. Well, I am not a good chess set picker outer so, I told him that he could go and find one that he wanted and get it for his birthday present. I then asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner. He said he wanted omlettes. I don't make omlettes, but he makes awesome ones! So, he made everyone omlettes for his birthday dinner. I then asked him what kind of dessert or cake he wanted. He didn't want anything! Well, I had to make him something! We are not big cake eaters here, so I made him homemade doughnuts and he seemed to like those. We sang him our family birthday song and we also had our adopted "family" here for dinner as well. It was a great evening. I am the luckiest woman alive to be married to Chad. Happy Birthday Honey! I love you with all my heart!! :)

Answers To Prayers

Tori came to me, a few months ago after a hard emotional day at school, and said that she didn't feel like she had any really good friends her age at school. She explained to me that she played more with the boys because the girls acted dumb. They weren't very nice a lot of the time either and only wanted to play what they wanted to play and wouldn't play what she wanted to play. She asked me what she could do about it. Taking the opportunity to teach, I told her to start praying for friends. I told her that Heavenly Father wanted her to be happy and have good friends. I also told her that she should pray for good friends that were nice and she would get along with. Tori started praying for friends that very night and has kept it up. Lo and behold, she has two new friends that are her age and will be in her grade living on both sides of her! They moved in within a couple of weeks of each other. She has gotten to know one of them and she is very nice. Her name is Courtney. They can play for hours on end and not have one problem. The other friend, Anna, on the other side she hasn't met yet. She will be here this week! I have talked to Tori and made sure that she realizes that Heavenly Father has answered her prayer and that she should make sure that she says thank you to Him. I love it when you have those opportunities to teach your children that prayers really are answered and how much Heavenly Father loves and knows each one of his children. I am also so glad that I have Tori for a daughter and that she does her best to choose the right and to be kind to everyone. I love her dearly!

No More Pain!!!

We just got back from the doctor, he concurred that Brahnson had Bursitis. We don't know why he has it or what caused it, but at this point, I don't care. Brahnson is not in anymore pain and he can sit down! The doctor gave him a cortisone shot and it had almost an immediate affect! We were so excited that he could actually sit down in the car, we had to make a stop at Culver's to get a shake to celebrate. I am glad that the doctors could rule out all of the major stuff, I just wished they would have tried the simpler stuff first. Thanks again for all of your concern and prayers! Love you all!

We Know the WHAT, Just Not the WHY!!!

So, the doctors and the physical therapist think that Brahnson has Bursitis. They don't know why, because bursitis is not usually seen in 12 year old boys. They are either seen in pregnant women, athletes, or geriatric patients. Brahnson doesn't fit into any of these categories. Anyway, they are treating the symptoms that they can locate. He has pain in his trochataric (SP?) part of his hip. We have to go twice a week and they put this medicine on an electrode and place it on his skin and the electric current pushes it through his skin to the place that it hurts. He still can't sit down after two treatments, but the therapist said it may take a few more to notice any difference. So, as his mother, I am glad that they are doing something for his pain, but I still would like to know why he has this. We will continue our escapades to other doctors next week and hopefully find some more answers! Thanks for all your concern and prayers for his behalf! I'll keep you posted!

Brahnson's Pain

Brahnson has had a pain in his hips for about the last three weeks. At first, Chad and I chalked it up to growing pains and told him it would go away in a few days. Well, it didn't go away. A week ago Sunday, he could sit through church and was okay. His pain was a little annoying, but no big deal. By Wednesday, he couldn't sit down without having extreme pain. We decided to take him to his pediatrician, who then referred us to an Orthopedic Surgeon, who then ordered an MRI, put Brahnson on anti-inflammatory medicine with heat and cold packs, after that the doctor had him go to Physical Therapy, and is now back to doing another MRI on Monday. Brahnson is still in pain and cannot sit down. The Physical Therapist thought that he was in too much pain to have him move him around. So now, they are going to do another MRI to look at his whole spine. The pain still might be from growing really fast that parts of his body can't keep up. They don't know right now and neither do we. Brahnson can stand for a period of time or he can be flat on his tummy. Either position, he has not been able to attend school. He has been doing his work at home by standing next to the counter in the kitchen. He has also been allowed to play way too much Wii. He doesn't have a problem standing for that! It is sad that he has to be in pain and nobody can explain why. He is a tough kid though. I have to admit that he and I butt heads quite a bit, but having him home with me hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. He is actually a lot nicer to be around, than he was when he would go to school. We love him dearly and hope that we can figure out what is going on so he won't have to be in anymore pain.

End Of The Year Concert

Ever since Camren was little, he has always had a little song going on in his head. He would even dance a little when he walked. As he has gotten older, nothing has changed. Camren loves music. Camren has taken up the violin. His school that he goes to has a great Orchestra program. He has had orchestra twice a week with one of those times we have to take him to the Middle School at 7:25 in the morning and then they bus him to his school. He has enjoyed it and practices on his own. Chad and I were really surprised at how much he practiced and kept up on it. We really thought that he would have gotten tired of it and not practiced. He proved us wrong. He loves playing the violin. Hopefully, this summer, I will have more time and I can help him improve to get ready for next year at Glacier Creek Middle School.

This is Camren's friend Jordan Futch. He goes to a different elementary school, but in our ward. He is also in scouts and Sunday classes. We see him every time Camren has a concert.

Camren's teacher Mrs. Corry. She was so good with him. He was the only 5th grade orchestra student and so he got one-on-one lessons with her once a week. She said she was amazed with how quickly that he took to the violin. We are very proud of what he has accomplished in such a little amount of time.

Sydnee's Birthday #2 and 2 New Callings

Sydnee turned two on May 24, 2009. We have really enjoyed having Sydnee in our family! She has certainly kept us on our toes! She has us all wrapped around her little finger. She has been a very bright and loud spot in our family. We love her dearly.
We went to our friend's house and had her birthday party. Their kids were so cute! They wanted to give something to Sydnee and so the looked around their house and wrapped up toys that they thought that she would like. She has been playing with everything that she has gotten non-stop!
Along with Sydnee's birthday, Chad and I got new callings. Chad is serving as the Secretary in the Young Men's and I am serving as the Enrichment Councilor in the Relief Society Presidency. I have never served in the Relief Society Presidency, but I have been the Enrichment leader. I am excited to try some fun things and stir things up a bit in this new calling. I was sad to say good bye to the Cub Scouting program. I will miss seeing all those cute cub scouts every week. Chad and I are both grateful to be able to serve our Heavenly Father in anyway we can, even if it means that our lives are going to get more than little bit busier.

"MY PRESENTS!!!"

"Barbie Diamond Castle! My favorite!!"

1, 2, 3, BLOW!!!

She was happy to get her own piece of pie!!

Sydnee loved her birthday pie!!