Brandon

Well, in tradition of birthdays... Brandon's birthday is today, May 2nd. So here are 15 things about him:

1. He started off being impatient, wanting to come out too quickly and I had to hold him in until antibiotics took effect so he wouldn't get strep.
2. Always been a talker. Even when no one understood a word he was saying except Kyle.
3. He wants everyone to love him.
4. He's good with kids.
5. He's very smart, just doesn't always show it.
6. He's a lot of fun.
7. Comes up with some crazy ideas.
8. He use to love putting my hair in his face when he was upset. Probably still would if I could handle it.
9. He likes hoops.
10. He loves his big bro.
11. He likes to use words he thinks make him cool. Like hoops, bro. and calls his dad Fabio.
12. He's getting pretty close to earning his Eagle.
13. He wants to make everyone happy.
14. He's very social.
15. Great member of our family and we all love him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDON!!!

Well, I did it...

I actually went walking/running this morning. I am doing the program that Andrea introduced me to. Only, this time I am doing it with Shaulane Brower (sp?) I think I'm going to die!! Good thing there are these nasty pictures of me out there. They are my inspiration. I'm going to try to get back to where I was a couple of years ago. I can do it, I just need to try to do it without paying for a gym membership. That's the hard part. I want to lose at least 15 before our camping trip Memorial weekend. Do you have good exercise or diet tips?? I need all the help I can get so please comment...

Let's try this again!

OK, I know have been very bad at keeping up with this blog thing. However, with Chris leaving for Iraq again in July I have to try to get in the habit at keeping this up again. So, if you don't see anything from me after a while get on my case. Ryan is now out at college at BYU-Idaho. I'm glad he's at school, hopefully he'll concentrate on school for a while instead of girls. I don't care if he goes out with them, I just want him to make school a priority right now while he's getting started. My brother thinks he'll be married by the end of the year. And, if Ryan has his way it could be as soon as July 25th or 26th. The day after he gets home from school for break and the day before his dad leaves for Iraq. I would absolutely die if that were the case. Anyway, I don't want to keep this long, but a friend's daughter has set up a blog where she tries out recipes and posts them and the results on her blog. A lot of these recipes totally reminded me of Andrea, I think she in particular would love them. But you all might like them too. But Andrea, when you try these recipes (and I know you will) I want a taste!!! And vice versa. Here's the link http://ahintofhoney.blogspot.com/

Feeling Old

OK so it's official. I am now feeling old. I became a "great aunt" recently. My niece had a baby girl. Avery Michelle Norton. She is so cute and has a ton of hair. But something about a title with the word "great" in it makes me feel old. I don't think I remember my great aunts without gray hair so it should be an old thing. Guess it's time to go buy some hair color just to make sure I get all grays covered.


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1803726&id=549306675

Who is that kid?

Do you ever have those moments as a parent where you look at your child and wonder if he's the child you raised? I look at Ryan and he looks like Ryan, but there are moments that he totally blows me away and I have to wonder if it is him. Last night we were invited to the High Council meeting where Ryan gave his mission report. I just kept looking at him in awe as to how awesome he has grown to be. I know we raised him, he has always been good at giving talks on spur of the moment and active in church and had a strong testimony. But, to listen to him speak in front of all of those great spiritual men I was in awe. I guess that's when I realized we weren't the only ones that raised him. He's had great teachers, friends, leaders, mission companions and president and many others to help him along the way. And now we have this return missionary with a great testimony and understanding of the Gospel. You listen to him and just feel like you are in the presence of a future teacher, bishop, stake president, mission leader, maybe even higher, apostle, who knows maybe a prophet. We are very blessed to have Ryan home and with our family again, and he has grown so much on his mission.

Misc. about England

Hotels we stayed at
Wychnor Park Country Club
Recommend this one highly. It was lovely.
Notting Hill Gate Hotel
Was not thrilled with this one. Very small, neighbors were smokers and you could hear everything from their rooms.


Grateful for
The Mace Family
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2144768&id=585300796
An awesome family who went above and beyond to make our trip more enjoyable. Thank you Mace Family!
Tomtom (GPS)
the curbs that tell you which way to look when crossing the street.
Wychnor Hotel for making sure we were fed on Christmas day

England Day 8

Well, today we had to leave. First, we had to skip breakfast because the hotel's breakfast was late due to the New Year. So, we couldn't wait and had to leave for the tube with intentions of grabbing something at the airport. Well, there were a few delays on the train due to some problems with the signals at terminal 5. Caused problems further down the track. So, we got to the airport where the lines were super long. Our flight was due to close in the next 10 minutes and we still hadn't checked in. They finally called our flight to a different line to check in for this reason. After we finally got checked in we practically had to run to the gate. But we made it. The flight was long, but an hour shorter than scheduled. Thank goodness. I was starting to panic about that though because we had asked people to meet us at the airport to welcome Ryan home since that was what he was missing by us going to London. Luckily we have good friends that were checking on our flights and notified those that were going to be going. As soon as we landed I turned on my cell phone and there was a text from Andrea saying they had just seen our plane and were on their way and would be there shortly. I was instantly relieved, especially when she told me that everyone had been notified. She and I kept in contact letting her know where in the process of customs we were, which was pretty quick. And she let me know when everyone was there. As we were walking out we let Ryan walk out first. He was surprised when all of these people started yelling for him. He really did appreciate it though. Thanks to all who came. We appreciated it too. The Kunz family had driven our car to the airport so we could drive straight to the Stake Center where Ryan was released. I know he had mixed feelings about being released. We stopped at Arby's to pick up dinner. This is what he wanted, he really missed it. As soon as we got home he actually wanted to change, That's when I knew things would be normal. We had visitors that night and he ended up going to their house where they played Guitar Hero World Tour. I think he just watched though. But, he did go out yesterday with someone all day. Life is back to normal.