Brandon's 13!

I have been holding off on this post, because I wanted to post a picture of him when he was little too. However, I cannot find the disks that contain all the pictures off my old hard drive. Anyway, here he is -- a teenager . . .

But still with the same joyous smile he had as a little boy! Brandon is and has always been just so fun. Kids would flock to him (and still do), because he was always having fun. He is a very nice kid too, so people always feel safe around him. He doesn't make fun or mock. He just is fun.

Brandon is very diligent about his homework, about his priesthood and scouting duties, even about organization. He keeps getting the "Most Organized" award at the end of the school year. He is an excellent big brother to all those little boys -- especially Kellen and Liam. He is setting such a good example to them of how a young man should be. I am so proud of him and who he is growing into. I can't wait to see more of him as he matures and grows. He still has not gotten too cool to like his mother, and he treats me with great respect and love. He has a testimony of the Gospel and the Savior and is always trying to do what is right. I could not have asked for a better oldest son. He is an excellent student, musician, scouter, athlete (quarterback and inside linebacker), son, brother, friend. And what a great smile! Love you, Buddy!

First Day of School, 2009

He's way too little to go to school in my mind, but at the same time, he's perfectly ready. I can't believe how big he's getting. I asked him how school was after the first day, and he shrugged his shoulders and said it was fine. No big deal, Mom. That's what he was telling me. However, he is thrilled each day to show me that he got a green face in his folder -- still, and we're in week four here.

Morgan left far too early for me to get a picture of her. It's Cade's first year of school, Brandon's first year of junior high, and Morgan's first year of high school. Lots of firsts!

Box

Oh, the joys of a big box. Better than a big box of toys for sure.

Play that funky music, white boy . . .

Summer fun

I didn't think to take pictures until we were getting ready to go home. The kids love the pool. It's really about all you can do outside when it's 107. Alice thought it was hot when she was here, and admittedly, it was a warmer June than last year, but I think the high was 97. Still -- wish you guys were all here to hang out with us at the pool.

This is becoming epidemic!

Okay, so this time it was because I didn't put him down for a nap before church, but this is getting ridiculous. I guess he must be growing. Once he got some food in him after church, he was out like a light.

Dad finally thought we could stop taking pictures and get the poor child up. It was too early to put him to bed for the night (like 6:00), so he wanted to keep him up a little longer.

Dad took him to the living room where we were watching AFV. Liam promptly grabbed his lovey, and you can see the result.

Dad took pity on the child and carried him up to bed -- for the night, yes. And he didn't wake up until the next morning. Poor kid. All I can say is he's going to be one gigantic kid with all this sleeping!

Independence Day

I love Independence Day. I don't know totally why. Maybe it's the colors associated with it. Maybe it's because I share my birth month with our nation. Maybe it's just my fond memories of watching fireworks as a kid. Maybe it's all of the above. But I just love it, so every year I take pics of the kids in their red, white, and blues. Usually I make them something new, but not so this year. They just wore what they had.

Starting out on the trampoline, the sun was completely in their eyes, so no good shots there.

We headed to the front yard for some shade and a different direction. Liam didn't want to take pics, so he kept pulling up his shirt and running away. You can see on his face how he's getting upset.

Our neighborhood had a little parade -- kids on bikes, et cetera.

All in a row.

Later that night we did sparklers. Good idea. Give your kids burning sticks and tell them to run around with them. We had a few "forest fires" as the kids call them, but we still have a lot of grass left in the yard.

Kellen especially thought "doing the fire" was fun. He's just a little too enthusiastic about this.

"Isee mew" = "I see the moon."

You know it's not a real holiday without a big wrestling match on the trampoline afterwards. Despite all the running and tackling, we had an injury-free day.

The kids went to bed, and Michael and I watched the fireworks from our back yard. It was a quiet evening, very relaxing. Next year I think we'll be a little more boisterous and do it up big. Hope you all had a fun holiday!