Fathers and Sons 09'

Brayden and I left Mom and Logan at home and headed up to Mount Lemmon for Fathers and Sons. Mount Lemmon is 8,000 feet above Tucson and is a beautiful area that we have gone the last 2 years. Brayden really enjoyed cooking marshmellows and finding sticks in the woods to throw in the fire. Since our Ward is fully stocked with 3-5 year olds, Brayden had lots of friends to play with. This year we were totally civilized and slept in the back of our new minivan. The only problem was that our air mattress went totally flat by midnight so I was sleeping on all the bumps in the floor. So it was as close to the outdoors ground as possible for me. Because my side was totally flat, Brayden's still had quite a bit of air in it so he had a nice comfortable sleep. In the morning we had to keep with tradition and play some wiffleball. I am not sure if that is spelled correctly but I decided that when I can't spell a word that I should just spell it how it sounds. Anyway, it was a great trip and next year I will bring both my boys.

Mother's Day

I wanted to post some pictures of our Mothers Day celebration! We had a wonderful day pampering and spoiling our Mother, Camille! Of coarse Brayden, Logan, and Daddy got up and cooked her breakfast and let her sleep in. Then she had fun opening up earrings that Brayden and I picked out, soft lips, and a bread maker. After church the Stevens came by and it was nice to be able to see my Mother on Mothers Day. My Dad helped me on our wonderful Ritz Chicken dinner with cheesy potatoes and brocolli. All these items were made by the Dad's and Jonny Rocket so it probably was as good as it could have been. As you can see, I had to sport the apron to ensure that I was the official cook in the kitchen and no Mother was allowed this day. Also I just couldn't resist the flowers. One of the best things of the whole day was when Brayden went up with the Primary children and sang, "Mother, I love you". Overall we had a great Mothers Day with our Mothers. I hope I wrote Mothers enough for everyone in this post, I counted up 9 in total.

Our Family Garden

A few months ago our Stake volunteered plots of land as a garden to any family that wanted to plant vegetables and fruits. We had never planted a garden and so we decided that it would be a fun experience. Every week we have been going to our garden and pulling weeds so that our stuff will grow. One week recently we got to the garden and our plants had grown 5X's as much as the last time we were there. Not only were the plants large but the vegetables were HUGE as well! We had never seen zucchini or squash so big. In fact we brought out the measuring tape and captured the size of one zucchini at 16 inches!! As you can see from the pictures it is comparably large to Camille's head and Brayden's body.

Brayden's Primary Excitement

As illustrated in this video, Brayden has really enjoyed being in Sunbeams and learning all of the primary songs. The Primary President gave us a cd with all of the songs they are supposed to learn for the upcoming program and he knows all of them already. It makes us so proud as parents to see our boy learning these songs and enjoying them. As you can tell from the video Brayden has quite the voice and even adds some vibrato in there also. For Mothers Day last week Brayden went up with all of the other primary children to sing some Mother songs to Camille. As I watched him up there knowing and singing every word I couldn't help but feel a deep appreciation for this boy and realize that he is a special child. I scanned the other kids in the front row and it looked like they were typical sunbeams; some were looking off into space, some playing with their neighbor. But not our Brayden boy, he was fully attentant and singing with all his might. I know that he is unique and so I want to relish this moment forever. More important than him I believe he was sent to us to teach us. At least once a day he is setting an example for me and sometimes even telling me how I need to be better in certain areas. For example, just tonight we had dinner at our pool and when all of us started eating Brayden interupted and said, "Daddy, we need to say a prayer first." Sheepishly I said, "Brayden you are right. Thank you for reminding us." What a child!