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?

Easter

showing off her freshly painted pink nails

After our fun egg decorating/hunting morning, we headed to the park with Dyers, Bettilyons, Weeks, and the Westergards to play whiffle ball. It was such a beautiful day, I even got sunburned.

Sunday I taught the resurrection in sharing time and it was the first time that I felt the spirit really strong. I hate to admit that, but I'm usually too nervous and not calm enough to let it come. The kids were quiet! It was a neat experience teaching about Christ's last week on the earth.

After church we got ready for a big dinner. We had 12 adults and 16 kids come over! I was a little worried, especially when it started raining, but it turned out great. We had lots of food, especially dessert :-) All the kids ran around and played, but weren't loud -- a huge blessing! I was reminded of how much I love Scattergories. We could never agree on adjectives. Do they count or not?

Colorado

In January, Braydan applied for a job in Fort Collins, CO. He wasn't quite qualified for it, but he knew it was an awesome job--designing some of the largest mines and dams in the world. I cringed when he told me, but quickly forgot about it as time went by and we didn't hear anything. Then they emailed him in March and asked for a phone interview. Last week they flew him down for an interview and offered him the job, wanting him to start June 1st.

What to do, what to do!!??? We made pro/con lists. We did research: schools, crime, church, weather, commute, farm potential, distance to family, etc. It all added up to moving to Fort Collins. But still my heart was not in it. I love my home. I feel like I was finally getting it where I wanted! I was so excited for my garden and chickens. They are almost going to start laying eggs! I love my neighbors and friends. They are like family to me. I love our little ward!

Last night Braydan told me that we can't move if I'm going to be angry and bitter at him. He got an answer that it's the right thing, but told me (gently) that I need to get my own answer because he did not want to drag me there and have me be unhappy.

He fell asleep, but I prayed and stayed up late thinking. I got the same answer that I've been getting for weeks: to trust in God and trust in Braydan that everything will work out okay. I knew deep down that it was the right thing and once I told myself that we're moving, I felt like I could fall asleep! I've been sleeping horrible lately and now I know why.

Today I tried to look at the positive things more instead of what I'm leaving behind. We will be 7 hours from my family (instead of 14)! It's sunny almost every day of the year there. We are sick of Braydan's commute (an hour and a half every day) and found houses within a mile of his work. The houses are bigger for the money. And they are building a temple there! I couldn't believe it during conference when President Monson announced a temple there. 5 of the elementary schools scored 10's and others are at least 8 and 9.

So we have less than 6 weeks left. I thought by writing this down it would help it sink in, but I'm still not doing much to get ready. How can I get over this denial phase?

Where's the Badgers?

I don't know if it was the new car, the beautiful weather, or I really lost my mind, but Wednesday I told the kids, "let's forget everything and go to the zoo." They, not surprisingly, complied. I wasn't truly rebellious because preschool was canceled and my zumba class is at night, but still . . . it was bold for me. When I told Amber, she asked if I was feeling okay. LOL! It made me realize how scared I am of breaking routine and especially petrified of driving around Seattle. However, I did it! I had my GPS on and I made it in 35 minutes! I felt like I could conquer anything after that.

Eliza, in a dress of course. Silly girl.

Kaleb asked me the whole time if we could see a badger. I said sure, but when I finally looked at a map and realized there were no badgers, I decided the otters would be a good substitute to fool Kaleb. Then I couldn't find them, so I thought all the other animals would distract him, but no. He really wanted to see a badger. (Braydan just informed me that otters don't look anything like a badger. Maybe I need to go to the zoo more often)

Kaleb loved climbing through these tunnels like a meerkat :) It was so funny to watch him make friends with other little kids, like it's no big deal to play with complete strangers.

We had an okay time at the zoo. I got my workout pushing 2, 3olb. kids around. I didn't think the kids really liked it or thought much of it until a few days later they started telling Braydan animals they liked. Weird kids :)

It seemed they had more fun going to visit Carla. She's a nanny for 2 doctors in Seattle, so we got to hang out in this cool house with three levels overlooking the water with a boat dock at the bottom. I wish I would've brought my camera there :)

The Swagger Wagon Birthday

Last Saturday I turned 27. Braydan woke up at 5 because he was so excited. I thought this odd at the time, but now I know why (more on that later . . . ).

He and the kids brought me strawberry crepes in bed,
but Kaleb insisted I come down and open all my cards before I ate. The kids were excited for me to open their present: a jumbo bag of whopper robin eggs - my fav this time of year. And Braydan got me a hands free thing for my phone since I guess I always talk with my neck kinked. They told me I had another present later, but had to wait.

Then I went to Zumba. I can't miss my favorite class on my birthday.

I took my sweet time getting showered and dressed when I got home, which happens . . . never. They picked up my favorite pizza for lunch and then I went shopping by myself. Braydan told me to be back by 5.

I got home and he whisked me to dinner at a fancy place in Bellevue. It was a little too fancy (sorry Braydan!). He ordered escargot for the appetizer and I almost puked watching him enjoy it.
I ordered salmon because it was the only food I recognized. And get this-- all my sides were pureed: my carrots, potatoes, asparagus, and cucumber thingy. What was even more disturbing than the escargot was that Braydan kept texting under the table during dinner. When I asked who the heck he was texting during my birthday dinner, he just smiled and told me not to worry about it.

After dinner, he asked if I was ready for the next surprise and asked if I would drive. I started to argue that I don't know where we're going when he handed me the keys. And they were not my keys. I froze. No way, I thought. No way, no way, no way. I looked around the parking lot and right in front of me is a brand new toyota sienna. I could not believe it!

I finally got in the car after getting over the shock and ooed and awed over all the cool gadgets. I think the car dealer guy was more excited than Braydan because he filled the van with balloons and flowers (he was the guy Braydan was texting). I don't know how Braydan kept it a secret! He bought it and kept it at the dealership for over a week. I never saw him looking online for cars. We never talked about it. Well, I guess we did talk about our trip to Montana this summer and how our buick is getting older, but that's it!

Anyway, my crazy day ended with some delicious pies with some friends.

What an awesome day! I get excited every time we have to go somewhere because we get to drive the new car. I love the new car smell! I've never had a new car smell. I love that I can open the doors with a remote when my arms are full of groceries and Eliza. I have a camera to watch so I don't run over any bikes or neighborhood kids. It tells me exactly how many miles I have left before I run out of gas--Braydan was quick to point out this feature to me for some reason. It has 12 cup holders! I don't know why I would need that many. I can talk on the phone with my steering wheel (haven't quite figured that one out, but still).

Sammy asked me, "so how is Braydan going to top this next year?"

I asked Braydan and he said, "this counts for the next 10 years."

I'm not worried though. He'll forget.

Goodbye trusty Buick! You've been so good to us! Thank you for never having a problem.

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