Back to School Already?

Today Cayson and Braydon started back to school for the new year. It was strange sending them off to a new grade after only finishing the last one two weeks ago. Cayson is in the 5th grade now and in his own words the "Kings of the school". The majority of the kids from his 4th grade class are now in his 5th grade class unless they changed tracks over the break. He said he only has 4 new kids in his class. Braydon is now in 2nd grade and was really excited about going to school today. He will have a majority of the kids from his 1st grade class, but because there are 2 different second grade classes on his track, he will have new friends to meet. With a tear in my eye and a smile on my face I also sent off my baby to her first day of Kindergarten too. Madisyn was very excited about finally going to school and now when we drive by the elementary school she is proud to say, "Hey there is my school" not just the boys' school anymore. Justin had to laugh listening to her talk to me last night before she went to bed and picked out her outfit. She wasn't quite sure if she chose the right outfit and after trying it on and having all of us tell her how cute she looked, she then decided that was the outfit she would wear. She went on to question, "How should I wear my hair tomorrow?" and her dad's response to that was, "Boy are you a girl!" To all you mom's out there with girls HELP!!! I of course could not miss taking pictures of each of them on their way to school. Madisyn had a little different schedule today so she was not awake yet when I sent the two boys off to school. Once Braydon got on his bus and headed the 2 second drive to school, I walked Cayson and his two friends over to the school and was able to get some pictures of Braydon being taken off the bus. It was overall an uneventful day for them all! They all will be in school for the next three weeks and then off for three. We will head home to Vegas for two of the weeks. Hope we all can take the heat!?

4th of July fun

We had a nice 4th this year. There was one major difference in this one other than our usual Vegas 4th's! Notice most of us are wearing jackets!!! It really cooled down, I guess it was in the low 60's that night. It rained just before we started the bbq. It rained really hard. We had Justin's cousin and family over. They moved here almost 2 years ago. All the kids had fun lighting off their fireworks. Jacob and Cayson are commited to getting a Rolling Stone firework again next year. We did that one as the "Grand Finale" and it was really neat. At one point we thought it blew up, but it just popped off some ground blooms. My boys have been researching their firework purchases over the internet weeks before they could buy them. Cayson had made a list of what he wanted when it came time to go purchase them. BOYS!?! Kaleb wasn't in Colorado. He headed back to Vegas and now is off to EFY in Provo. Sure missed him! The night before we went to one of Justin's employee's house and watched a beautiful fireworks show. (I know fireworks on the 3rd! What will they think of next?)

Happy 7th Birthday Braydon!!!

WOW!! I can't believe it has been 7 years since we had Braydon. As I look back at all he has been through and where we are now I feel so grateful to have him in our lives! He truly is a blessing in our lives! With that being said I would like to mention seven things we love about Braydon:
1. You have a very contagious smile


2. You light up a room whenever you enter it.


3. You seem to make a friend wherever you go.


4. You are our little miracle.


5. You are a loving brother.


6. You are so smart.


7. You are such a blessing to our family.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAYDON!!! We love you and are thankful everyday for your special spirit in our home!

A Birthday Gift for Mom

Braydon and I share the same birthday and I was singing and being silly(Wished I didn't record that silly moment!) and he decided to give me a birthday gift! This is the clearest I have heard him say Mama. I couldn't have asked for anything more!

Tornado!?!

Today during the last 1/2 hour of our church meetings we were interrupted by the tornado sirens and instructed to gather together in our cultural hall. Luckily we were the last ward in attendance at the chapel so there was plenty of room. We could see the funnel moving towards our building 3 miles to the west as it headed towards us. It moved quite quickly above us and touched down about a mile east of us. Southland's Mall and Lowe's received the most damage. Windows were blown out of most of the outdoor mall shops. Red Brick Pizza had interior walls blown out. Trees, park benches and cars were thrown and flipped all over the place. The Lowe's had all of their air conditioners ripped off the roof. A townhouse development across the way was damaged. Some had garage doors blown in, windows blown out and loss of power. They shut the area down for awhile for gas leaks. In all there were 5 different tornados that touched down throughout the Denver area.
Back at our church building as we gathered into the cultural hall, you could imagine their were scared children and to help calm them down we sang primary songs(which helped drown out the pounding on the roof of the huge hail that followed behind the tornado). We were lucky enough to not have any hail damage to our vehicle, but some had dents in their vehicles. The most damage we saw in our parking lot was one member's windshield was cracked all the way across. The hail turned to rain and allowed us to get home safely. Within 2 hours of all of this, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping in our backyard. We feel truly blessed to be safe and unharmed.
There were no reports of any injuries to anyone anywhere after the storm had passed.

Cayson's Spring Performance

Cayson's school had a choir performance with each grade level performing different songs. The 4th grade did songs about the state of Colorado and America. He is standing behind the microphone on the right. He was excited because during their "Fifty Nifty States" song, he was able to hold both Nevada and Colorado. I had Madisyn on my lap during most of the videotaping, so I apologize for the unsteadiness at times.