Relief Society: Something Extraordinary

Happy 16th Birthday Landon

*Sorry the pictures are backwards

Maron, Brooklon, and Emerie had their own little get together during Landon's party. They sure have a fun time together. Can I just say one more time how sad I am that Brooklon and all of her cute cute girl friends will be split next year. I'm hoping to have them still get together often.
It started raining hard while at the park. Thanks to Grandma Brooks we were able to move the party to the great room at Grandma's. We watched a movie (Despicable Me) projected on the wall and ate ice cream. Landon has a nice group of friends. Kids came and went steadily all night long.

We rented a huge game of Twister at BYU and played it at the party before it started to rain....hard.

I think the Twister game was a fun thing to start off with. As more showed up they just jumped right in.

They listened to music as they visited and played.

-We barbecued hamburgers, hot dogs with chips and soda.

-We had a table set up with a paper table cloth so everyone could write birthday wishes to Landon.

-Landon did a little show with liquid nitrogen. I think the kids enjoyed this more than anything. Maybe a little too much at times! (Some kids/kid!!! got a little too crazy.) All in all it turned out good thanks again to Grandma for helping us out when it got really wet out.

Gavon is a full time job. We'll leave it at that.:)

I am going to be so excited when they cut this cast off. You have no idea. (It's starting to stink...bad!)

I'm sure no one will be happier than Gavon though. He is being such a trooper. It's not easy being stuck in that thing.

The other day was "Beach Day" for Brooklon at school.

Maron thought it was Hippie Day until she got to school and realized it wasn't anything for her class. The peace necklace and cool head band came off real quick. She still looks cute though.
Feild day is tomorrow. I'm hoping to get up to the school to get a lot of pictures.

Happy Sweet 16 To My Sweet Landon

*Is he not just so handsome? I'm a proud mom. I couldn't be more pleased. I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father sent Landon to our family.
7a.m. Landon was at the DMV getting his license so he could drive to school. He drove to school and then called after school to see if I needed anything or anyone picked up.- I could totally get use to this :).

-He had been promising the younger brothers that he would take them fishing on his birthday after school. After picking up the kids from school he took all of the boys minus Gavon and Christian fishing and caught 3 fish.

We had Landons favorite dinner of chicken enchiladas and his favorite birthday treat of cheese cake. Saturday we will have a fun friend party at the park. We'll share those pictures then.

16 things we love and adore about Landon

1. He is genuinely a good person.

2. He cares about others no matter what.

3. Great son and brother.

4.Helpful. Especially if I need him to drive somewhere :). He jumps in and knows how to help when and where needed.

5.Honest.

6.Cheerful.

7.Positive. Always so uplifting.

8.Great example. He teaches me things.

9. Great teacher. He helped me learn some math in the way I needed. Very patient and kind.

10. Clean/organized. His things are always so orderly.

11.Thoughtful. He has a big heart.

12.Respectful.

13. Great Smile :)

14. So smart.

15. Friendly with everyone. I think everyone knows Landon.
16. He loves his Heavenly Father and makes choices that bring him closer to Him.

I'm so proud of you Landon and the person you are. I'm proud of the choices you are making and the example you are. I love when you dress up in your dress clothes and wear your dads missionary badge to school proudly. I know you are going to be an amazing missionary. --I love when you shake the hands of all of the boys passing the sacrement. You are a good example and a good leader. I love when you share your testimony and the lovely things you say about me. You are thoughtful and kind and I am thankful. I love to watch you interact with your brothers and sisters. They feel of your love for them. That is so important so that you can have good relationships when you are older. I'm thankful that you talk/share with your dad and I all the things going on. I couldn't be more pleased. I'm thankful always to be your mom.

Love Mom

I might pop if one more kid goes to the Dr.

Today was......exciting! Yeah that's a good word for today. Christian called me from Brooklons soccer game and asked if I wanted him to pick me up to go to the Dr. or if I just wanted him to go by himself. I thought "No! Your kidding right?" "Not funny!" Brooklon took a soccer ball to the eye ball and the green/blue part of her eye had a blood blister (you can't really see it in the picture) and she couldn't see anything out of that eye. Christian said that it hit her so hard that it knocked her down and she was kind of in shock. He thought she was going to throw up. ---I thought "We are really being tested it seems." But actually we are trully blessed. I know Heavenly Father is watching out for us. There may be bumps in the road but nothing we can't handle with Heavenly Father helping us.--They said to watch her vision/pain/swelling and it should go back to normal in the next week or two. -- I think I'm going to make everyone stay in bed tomorrow and not move just so I can breath for a minute :).
*Just an update for journal sake-This morning (the next day) Brooklon's eye is already looking better.

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore!

Shriner's Hospital

Sully, Mike, Jordon, and Gavon-These characters were at Shrinners Hospital. Shrinners Hospital is trully an incredible hospital. What a blessing they are to families. They asked us if we understood how their hospital worked and we had no idea. I was a tad bit concerned how we were going to pay for everything having went to three different hospitals but, Shriner's said that we would never see a bill from them. They really help a lot of families. It has been an eye opening experience for me. I want to give back some how/pay it forward in some way. -Our Dr. was amazing too. We talked to her for a bit about Landon wanting to be a Dr. and how he was taking the CNA class over the summer. She said "bring him in next time you come and I'll answer any of his questions and ..... she said she would hire him to do CNA work there at Shriner's if he wanted a job. What a great opportunity. What a great hospital.

We did family home evening last night on "Making Righteous Choices"-By Paul V. Johnson-New Era Sept 2010. Next week Brooklon and Maron are doing the lesson.

Today is Pirate day for Jenson's class.

We have a Dr. appt. for Gavon at Shrinners Hospital.

Tomorrow is a very special day at our house. Landon is turning 16 and is going to be driving. He has been waiting and preparing for this day. I believe he's ready. I think he said something about 7 dates in 7 days too ? :) I'll do my "birthday praise" post tomorrow.

Today is going to be a great day!

Saturday

(Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Wray for the fun gift. It came at the perfect time)-When Christian came up stairs to see what special gift Gavon got, Gavon says to Christian "Look what your mom sent me, she's my grandma". It was kind of funny

Saturday wrongly starts at 5 a.m.!

We had been up a couple of times with Gavon during the night so when the phone rang at 5 a.m. I couldn't figure out what was actually ringing. By the time I had figured it was the phone and had answered it the caller had hung up. I remembered that the boys had made plans to go fishing at 5:30 and went to wake them up. I think we had all been in a deep sleep. Landon said he had set his alarm but at some point turned it off. --Landon and Trenton went fishing and then to an all day service project to help pay for scout camp. -- We watched Brooklons soccer game (got sun burnt)--swung on the swings with Gavon and took pictures of him going down the slide with Jenson and Jordon-- Jenson and Jordon have rode their scooters and jumped on the trampoline all day--ran kids to friends houses and birthday parties--planted in the garden--made bread, rolls, and bread sticks--made dinner--It has been a pretty productive day I must say so myself. We are ready to go to bed.

Quote for the day: "You are finished when you quit."

Happenings

Madison-Ready for school to end just in time for school to start. She is really excited to start the cna program.

Landon-Sweet 16 birthday is coming! We are planning on having a bbq at the park with about 50 friends, volley ball game with huge ball, we found a giant game of twister, sub zero ice cream (our friends own sub zero), and a movie with projector and screen (thanks to my brother)

Trenton-Trenton, Trenton, Trenton.....He needs a sport or something. I'm working on that.

Brooklon-has such great friends from her school that she just loves. I'm so sad they have to be separated next year. (I would move to Orem if I could). She is working on personal progress so she can have her own facebook and I can have mine back :).

Maron- is ready for school to end a month ago. She is working on her achievement day book.

Jenson-Loves life, friends, learning, etc... He is just one happy boy.

Jordon-Such a great buddy for Gavon. Loves playing hard and learning new things.

Gavon-Such a little trooper. It's not easy being in a body cast. He says to me every day "Mom! today is the day I get my cast off". It's hard being in a half sitting half laying down position all the time. It's not very comfortable. Sleeping has been hard for him at night. We're suppose to switch positions every 4-5 hrs.for him. I think eventually he just gets so tired he and I both just fall asleep.--- We have been coloring, watching movies,read books, playing play dough, taking walks with the wagon (we can't seem to find a comfy position for the wagon yet). We have even made some velcro clothes to help him feel covered. And can I just say... I have muscles I didn't know I had :). Everyone has really been great at helping. He gets bored sitting. We need some new ideas. We're working on that. I'm just so thankful for family. Everyone just seems to step it up and is so helpful with any bump in the road that comes our way, and we have had a couple lately.-

Christian is getting antsy about getting the garden in. With all this rain it may be a bit.

When life throws you lemons, make lemon aid.
If it can't get worse it can only get better.
Have a great week! Love amber

Friday the 13th!

Friday the 13th!

I just finished reading a friends blog about how crazy her day was on friday "the 13th". These last couple of crazy weeks/days have started to run together for me. After thinking about it for a minute, I realized that that was the day Gavon broke his feemer bone after jumping on the trampoline with Jenson, Jordon, and Brooklon and was put in this lovely body cast.- I'm really not superstitious. I guess if it had to happen it was better to happen on the weekend then during the week. It was a long friday and saturday . I never thought a broken bone could take up so much time. I thought it would just be going to the Dr., having a cast put on and going home to take care and love on him. We went to a after hours Dr, over to Timp. hospital, and then two days at Primary Childrens Hospital (which I have to say really took care of Gavon. They have some great Docter/staff. They have a kids crew there that bring around crafts, playdough, crayons, markers, games, toys etc... to make sure everyone is happy. They had a toy room just outside of Gavons room that he could play in. Video games for older kids. They work hard at making your stay as good as can be. - Gavon is doing well. Better than I expected. I'm thankful that we're home and that it wasn't any worse than it was and I hope no else does anything crazy- we're still trying to pay off Gavons mouth surgury.

Family Home Evening

Last Monday we had a family home evening lesson on how Satan tells us lies and uses different things (drugs, pride, dishonesty, immodesty, etc..) to trap us in his web. It was a really good lesson and we had good discussion.

For family home evening treats Jordon helped me make Ritz cracker spiders with peanut butter, crackers, raisins, and pretzels.

Gavon, Love Bug, Sweet Heart, Sugar Pie

Isn't he so cute!

Do ya love the boots and the huge smile?:)
This is Gavons new thing, if you cover your eyes nobody can see you (or so he thinks). -That's a can of spaghetti O's wrapped in his shirt. He wore it tucked in his shirt for a good portion of the day.

You can't see me!

You can't see me. (I love it. Gavon is so cute and keeps us all laughing).

Dyeing Easter Eggs

We love dyeing Easter eggs!

Jordon used stickers to make a silly face on his egg.
Jenson used stickers too.

Maron and her egg.

Gavon and some of his eggs.

Dyed Easter eggs = deviled eggs later. My kids (especially Brooklon) loves deviled eggs. Deviled eggs are one of our family Easter traditions.

We had a nice "Spring Celebration" with Easter baskets, egg hunts, and dyeing eggs and a nice Easter Sunday with Grandma Brooks over for dinner. We had ham, Chantilly potatoes, asparagus, rolls, and a homemade carrot cake.