Mothers, Fathers, Sons, and Daughters

Eliza is so funny with Sparticus. She loves him and carries him around like a baby doll. Poor turtle! He tolerates it (what can he do anyway . . . blink at her), but he crawls as fast as he can to hide in the trees if she ever lets him go.

Just a little peck

And a big smooch

Eliza thought she was going on the Fathers and Sons camp-out this weekend, so she got her doggie ready to go.
Kaleb's been looking forward to camping for weeks and had a countdown going. He kept reminding me that girls are not allowed, just boys. I think Braydan was equally excited. He got home from work early and they were the first ones from our ward there.

They did the usual:, throw rocks in the river, make cool forts, eat unhealthy food, and stay up too late.

Speaking of which, I felt like I had a hangover (not that I know what one really feels like), but I had a sleep hangover Saturday morning. We had a girls night Friday night at Ambers and stayed up late. By the end we were laughing hysterically at the dumbest things. I had a stake meeting early the next morning and felt awful for it, but amazingly I still felt the spirit really strong through all my yawning.

I forgot this video. I guess Kaleb had a different breakfast fare in mind for camping.

He had to give his first talk on Sunday. He did so good! I never prepared him at all. The week before I freaked him out about singing in Sacrament for Mothers Day. I reminded him about it all week and we practiced the song every morning, so by the time Sunday came, he was terrified. He came out of his room and said he wasn't going to church. I asked why and he said he didn't want to sing.

Well, we got him to church, but he was really quiet. When it was time for all the kids to go up, he wouldn't. I tried not to be disappointed, but I've been looking forward to having my kids sing in church. I think it's so cute when they get up there! He knew I was disappointed, so he cuddled close to me and then I felt so bad for him. He said he promised he would sing it for me when we got home, and he did. I love my boy!

So, for his talk, I never mentioned it, never told him until the moment of it. I was conducting and said, "okay, now Kaleb is going to give his first talk!" He stood up and did a great job, despite having his mom cover him up with the picture of Joseph Smith (Braydan informed me of this afterwards). Whoops.

Speaking of Mother's Day, it was wonderful. Braydan and Kaleb made me pancakes. It took them a long time because Braydan was relying on Kaleb for instruction. He thought Kaleb knew how to make them since I make them all the time for him, but Kaleb's recipe had him whipping eggs and who knows what else. I just smiled in my bed as I heard the blender mixing forever. I knew I would get breakfast eventually.

After church, Braydan cleaned up lunch and breakfast and I went and took a nap without a care in the world. So nice! We went on a walk and delivered some mothers day treats.

It was a nice day. I love being a mother to my two babes!

6 Years

What an fun weekend! Saturday we celebrated our 6 year anniversary.

The YW in our ward have been planning an "Evening in Italy: 2nd Chance Prom" fundraiser for months. At first I thought, "no way are we going to that on our anniversary!" . . . . but I'm so glad we bought tickets.

Friday I went dress shopping at goodwill and spent $120 on prom dresses to try out with friends (don't worry I took most of them back!). The check-out lady thought she added it up wrong, probably because nobody has ever spent that much there. We had fun playing dress up and deciding what to wear. Braydan and Wes stayed up past midnight Friday night setting up the lights. It looked amazing, if I don't say so myself.

Saturday morning I made him German pancakes and we headed to Molbaks. He and the kids wanted to pick out flowers for Mothers Day. They spent the afternoon planting them for me and having fun outside.

At 4, we met at Amber's to do our hair. Emily rescued me and did mine. We had a line going on: I flat ironed Rebecca's while Emily did mine. Belinda worked on Sara's while Sara curled Amber's. It was dangerous in that bathroom with cords going every where.

We raced home to get babysitters and get dressed. Braydan thought it would be hilarious if he wore a mustache (a two-day old one). I was not impressed, but couldn't persuade him out of it.

We went to dinner and got lots of stares from other guests. One couple finally asked us if we were really 17. They heard from the waitress that we were going to prom and they couldn't believe we were all that young.

The dance was so fun. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. I saw moves from people that I never expected (including Braydan!). It took us a few songs to warm up, but then we were fine. In fact, by the end of the night Braydan had his tie wrapped around his head and his suit-coat thrown somewhere. He was the wildest dancer of all (if you don't count Matt and Sam).

I thought I would surprise Braydan and request our wedding song (The Luckiest), but he requested it too. It was fun to hear that song again and dance to it.I know this is cheesy, but I really am the luckiest girl to have him in my life. Mother's Day reminded me how wonderful he is. I'll have to write about that later . . . .

April Fools

We're not moving now. Earlier this week Braydan turned down the job offer in CO. What a crazy month this has been. First I had to go through all the sad emotions of leaving (not to mention all the stress of searching for housing, getting our house ready to rent, starting to pack . . . ) and now I've had to suffer weird feelings of finding new purpose and direction in my life. It sounds dramatic, but for months I thought we were leaving and now that we're not, I feel a little funky.

When Braydan was in Fort Collins, they made him a verbal offer: told him what position they would give him and salary. When he got home, they emailed, kind of a heads-up that the offer coming in the mail was going to be different than they discussed in CO.

After talking to friends and family, we learned it's common for companies to negotiate and they expect you to ask for more and talk it out. But Braydan didn't like how they went about it. They had several reasons for changing the offer: cost of living differences, etc., but Braydan didn't trust them.

We went to the temple twice and fasted. He felt like it was not the right job anymore. Instead of feeling relieved, I said, "what!? Are you crazy? This is our chance to get out of the rain!" I questioned him, but had to keep reminding myself to trust him.

I keep wondering what the point of all of it was. Maybe it was to test my faith in Braydan to see if I would support him. Or maybe it was to remind us how much we've been blessed with here.

One huge plus is that it's given Braydan confidence to change his work hours. Before he would work until the project got done - - a sensible thing to do right, but not when he's salary and we hardly see him! He decided to change that and work 40 hour weeks. He has come home at 4 every day this week! Hallelujah.

I'm sure Fort Collins is a wonderful place to live. (sniff, sniff) But today, as it was 65 and sunny beautiful, I am reminded of how wonderful Washington is. Home is where your heart is right?