Double Digits

Hard to believe that 10 years ago today, Brandon was born.  He likes to say that he is a DECADE old. :)

 

We had a little party for him today with a few of his friends.

Then after Brandon's requested dinner of meat loaf Dave & I gave him his present from us ...

 

... his very own Red Ryder BB Gun!  He was pretty excited to have his very own real gun!

 

Happy Birthday Brandon.  We love you!

Brandon's 2nd Pinewood Derby

Tonight Brandon participated in his 2nd Pinewood Derby.  He designed the car, helped Dave to cut the shape and then did all the sanding, painting and decorating himself.

He won the "Fastest Looking Car" trophy!!  Great job Brandon!

Brandon's 9th Birthday!!

Can you believe it ... Brandon is NINE today!!  He had a party with his friends today and had a blast!!

They had fun whacking at a pinata ...










And decorating cakes with silly faces!!








And of course opening presents which where mostly Lego sets ... surprise surprise!! 

And then after all the fun with friends we went out to dinner at The Mayan with Grandma & Aunt Amy!!

Happy Birthday Brandon!!!

Pine Wood Derby

Tonight Brandon participated in his very first Pine Wood Derby. While he didn't have the fastest car he did win "Best in Show" for his very "HOT" car!

Unfortunately, Dave wasn't able to be there with us tonight because he is in Portland spending time with his father who is very ill. But, neverfear, we have 8 more years of Pine Wood Derby's ahead of us. :)

Brandon's Baptism

Brandon was baptized today! It was a wonderful event and one that he has been preparing for and looking forward to for a long time. We are very proud of Brandon for his decision to be baptized and for all his preparations. We love you Brando.


What a nice older brother.

Looks like two (little) missionary companions. :)

We had a brunch after with lots of family!

Student of the Month

Brandon was nominated by his teacher this month as the IB Learner for the month. He was presented with an Eagle pin at an awards ceremony which Dave & I were able to attend this morning.

They also gave out Soaring Eagle awards to the kids that have a B+ or higher grade point average so both Eric & Brandon were presented with this award.

Great job guys!

Scouts

Being that I have three boys I always knew that I would get called into Scouts at some point ... it's just inevitable. So it wasn't a surpise when a little over a year ago I was called to be the Webelos leader in our ward. It has been good though and the boys love joining in with the scouts and going to pack meetings with me.

Now that Brandon is 8 years old he is old enough to join Cub Scouts himself and be part of the Wolf Den. Since he just turned 8 on Friday he hasn't been to a den meeting but was able to go to his first pack meeting today as a scout. He was so excited and couldn't wait to get his uniform on. He has also already read nearly his entire Wolf book cover to cover. :)

What a handsome scout!!

Brandon's 8th Birthday!

Brandon turned EIGHT today! Hard to believe. Yet also easy to believe since Brandon in many ways seems much older. Brandon has a very old soul and thinks and feels things very deeply. He is very intelligent and very thoughtful. We are very blessed to have him in our family.

We celebrated his birthday today and it was an all day affair. We started with a special family breakfast and gave Brandon his birthday present, the "Slave 1" LEGO set that he had been wanting. They had the day off of school today so we wanted him to have it so that he could spend the morning building. Of course he had it done in about 2 hours. It's pretty awesome! :)

We played all sorts of LEGO games, like relays ...


Balloon pops ...

And LEGO tower building.


Then things got really crazy when they got to use sticky hands to slap LEGOs.

Yes, I need to take a cake decorating class like my cousins have done. My LEGO cake was a bit of a disaster but thankfully 8 year old boys don't care!

Of course Brandon added quite a few new LEGO sets to his ever growing collection thanks to his friends.

Then this evening we met Grandma Chris and Aunt Amy at 5 Guys Burgers for dinner ...

and then on to the Jordan High School football game where Aunt Lizzy's dance company was performing at half time. Grandpa Clark, Uncle Randy, Uncle Brian & Aunt Carie and a bunch of other relatives met us there. It was a lot of fun!!

Happy Birthday Brando! We love you!Then this afternoon we had a friends party for him and his school friends which worked out nicely since they were off today.

Brandon's first day of 2nd Grade

Brandon was SO EXCITED to go back to school today! He starts 2nd grade today and is just growing up so quickly. He is so bright, intelligent and fun and we are so proud of him!

Eric has Kindergarten testing today and will start school next Monday.

Book Worm

When I was a kid, I read anything and everything that I could get my hands on. I guess not much has changed. Brandon ... well he definitely takes after his mother. :) We have made FOUR trips to the library this week! Each time Brandon gets a huge stack of books like this and by the next day he has finished them all and I have to take him back. What a little smarty!

Grandparents Day!

Last week Brandon's school had Grandparents Day. Grandma Chris and Grandpa Clark rearranged their schedules to be able to attend with Brandon. Brandon was very excited and happy about that. Thanks Grandpa & Grandma!