.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Clyde tackles basketball


To fill the void in our evenings and Saturday mornings before soccer starts again this spring, we decided to sign Clyde up for basketball. He happily spent January and February learning about dribbling and rebounds and defense and passing and shooting and having an all-around GREAT time.

 We signed up with two friends from church (Hunter and Charlie) and ended up choosing the team with a classmate from school (Cash) whose mom was the coach.

I loved watching Clyde jump right in to a new sport that he's had minimal exposure to in the past.

Loyal fans - Will and Jack and I were of course at every game, and Chuck, Grandma Pam, Cody, and Jacob (who served as my mother's helper when I didn't have any other adults!) all came to two apiece.

More action shots - we were happy to see that Clyde's hilarious run carried over from soccer as he stormed down the court, usually with his tongue out :). Clyde's soccer coach was actually at one of his games watching his nephew on the opposing team, so that was fun!

Coach Tanda and Coach Travis held a little awards ceremony after the last practice, and Clyde was received the "Most Improved Player" Award, wooo!!


And just for fun, here's a video with some clips from the different games. In the first one, Clyde's wearing orange and white shorts, then black and red shorts in the second, and finally green and yellow in the third. (The boys may have an entire dresser drawer just for their athletic shorts...)


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Remember January? Me neither.


I think I've repressed the memories of January, since mostly they revolve around snow and single-digit temperatures. Yech.

BUT a quick perusal of my Picasa photos reminded me that we had some January adventures that were fun and neat and important and blog-worthy.
 
Starting with a super cheesy/sweet experience at the post office: I like to send out 'happy new year!' cards in early/mid-January... for a variety of reasons, including (but not limited to) laziness, December is busy, I like to stand out and apart from all the other cards you get, etc. So one January afternoon found us at the post office buying stamps and dropping off a big stack of letters. Clyde and Will were both very intrigued by this whole process and kept reading off the names and addresses and such and asked eagerly if they could help put the stamped envelopes in the chute.
And thus began the cutest/longest/least efficient assembly line ever: I stamped the envelopes, and they took turns putting them in the slot...one at a time :). By this point, the two post office employees and a handful of fellow customers had all commented on the boys' enthusiasm and general adorableness and it was such a good reminder to me about the importance of having fun and happy and silly and letting my boys be boys and enjoying the simple things in life and all that jazz.


 My dad came over for a Sunday afternoon visit in mid January:
 Will was intent on pretending he was a baby, and Grandpa indulged him by playing along and rocking him and such; it was adorable :).


 My friend Madi's little girl Leikyn turned ONE and Madi put together such a cute party for her:
 Everything was darling, especially the birthday girl herself! And of course I love any excuse to see my Holly.


 The last Sunday in January found us gathered over at Grandma Pam's for a visit. The little boys and Cody found a bunch of those little 'frog' toys (you know, you flip them inside out and then they pop up into the air after a few seconds?) that the missionaries had left behind and thus began all sorts of amusement:
 I love the looks of nervous anticipation on Clyde and Will's faces as they wait for it to pop up!!

 The primary purpose for this specific gathering was so that Chuck (and wonderful Brother Farnsworth!!) could give my mom a blessing prior to her surgery the next morning. The little boys were very sweet in their goodbyes and good lucks to Grandma Pam before we left :).

 And happily the surgery went very well! It was something about my mom's parathyroid not working... or being too large... or something, and so they took it out by way of her neck. Yikes! The staff at St. Luke's Meridian took excellent care of her and she enjoyed her overnight stay as much as a post-op patient can!


Finally, January wrapped up on a fun note as my little Cub Scouts got to have an amazing tour of one of our local fire stations! The Pack did this last January as well, but I was out on maternity leave so I missed it, so I was extra excited for this year's tour.
 The firefighters were SO patient and accommodating and fun and interesting and the boys had a great time. And I have a very nice picture and thank you note for them that I have every intention of dropping off there before February is over...

Friday, February 22, 2013

My Grandpa Braden

               
                  (Photo taken by Sam, June 2011)                         

My wonderful grandpa passed away last Saturday morning. Our family takes great comfort in our testimonies of eternal life, and we're grateful that Grandpa has now been reunited with Grandma, who passed away four years ago. 

Here's the text of Grandpa's obituary:

J. Pat Braden
1926 ~ 2013
J. Pat Braden, 87, of Boise, peacefully passed away on Saturday morning, Feb. 16, 2013, at his home. Pat was born on Jan. 7, 1926, in Weiser, Idaho, to Leroy and Anna Braden, as the youngest of six boys. His growing-up years were spent in Weiser on 2½ acres of land, with a large garden and lots of animals. He especially loved horses. Pat grew up during the depression. From his father, he learned to work hard and the importance of dedication to family and making life secure for them. Pat learned how to be frugal and to love and serve others from his mother.
Pat graduated from Weiser High School in 1943 and attended three months at College of Idaho. On Feb. 14, 1944, Pat entered the Marine Corp. He faithfully served in Guam, Iwo Jima, Japan, and China and was honorably discharged as a Corporal on June 12, 1946.
Pat met his wife, Lois Montgomery, at a roller skating rink in Weiser, Idaho, after he returned from serving in World War II. They were married on March 19, 1948, in Ontario, Oregon; and their marriage was later solemnized in the L.D.S. Salt Lake City Temple. Pat and Lois shared their lives together in Oregon and Idaho for almost 61 years, until Lois passed away in Feb. 2009.
Pat loved people, and he was loved by everyone he met. He was full of energy, had a great sense of humor, and was a continual optimist. Pat frequently expressed his love for his family, and he was a beloved Sunday school teacher of the youth for many years, a calling he thoroughly enjoyed. Pat continued to work until he was 83 years old. He especially loved his last position as what he called, "the Vice President of the Exterior," for Idaho Independent Bank.
Pat is survived by his five children: Diane (Brent) Belliston, Terry (Brenda) Braden, Cory Braden, Randy (Deana) Braden, and Lon Braden. He has 23 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren. Pat was preceded in death by his parents; five brothers, Cloyce, Harry, Earl, Carl, and Bill; and one grandson, Riley Belliston.
Funeral services will be held at 12:00 noon on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at the LDS Church off Vista Avenue at 3020 W. Cherry Lane, in Boise, Idaho. Friends may greet the family at the church from 11:00 a.m. - 11:40 a.m. prior to the funeral services. A private, family interment will be held on Monday at the Idaho State Veteran's Cemetery. Services are under the direction of the Relyea Funeral Chapel.
The family would like to express appreciation to the employees of Idaho Independent Bank for their loving support and for providing weekly meals to Pat for the past four years. We also express appreciation to Pat's home nurse, Paris Morrow, who went above and beyond his duties to take the best care of our father. www.relyeafuneralchapel.com.

Read more here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/idahostatesman/obituary.aspx?n=joseph-patterson-braden&pid=163179479&fhid=6470#storylink=cpy

Jack had a doctor's appt in Boise a couple of weeks ago, so Cody and I made plans to meet up and go visit Grandpa, and I'm so glad we did. Cody ended up spending quite a bit of time with Grandpa over the next few days helping him with things around the house and driving him to get a haircut (after Cody sweetly washed Grandpa's hair in the sink as per his request!). What a tender mercy.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Grandpa from recent years:
Jack and Grandpa, Christmas Day 2012

Grandpa with some of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, August 2012

Grandpa with my three boys, April 2012

 Will and Grandpa, April 2012. Will's middle name Patrick is in honor of Grandpa.

First meetings with each of my sons:
Clyde, September 2006

Will, May 2008

Jack, April 2012

 Grandpa wrestling with Clyde and Will, December 2008.

Possibly one of my favorite pictures ever :). June 2011.

 Thanks to Sam for taking these pictures while we were at Quinn and Eden's reception, 
June 2011.


While we were at Grandpa's earlier this month, he started telling us some stories from his time on Iwo Jima during WWII. I quickly hit record on the camera to get as much of the story as possible. Jack started fussing, so parts are hard to hear but here it is:

What I most want to remember about Grandpa is what I shared on facebook that night:

My sweet, charming grandpa Pat Braden passed away today. He was an incredible example to me in many ways, but one that sticks out the most is how much he loved his family - and how often he expressed that love. I was always the honored recipient of a hug and a kiss on the cheek and quiet words that he loved me and was proud of me and I will treasure that forever. I'm trying to heed Will's wise words to "Be happy, Mom, don't be sad. You still have a grandpa, he just live with Jesus!" and my hope is to honor Grandpa by making sure my family always knows how much I love them as well.

Monday, February 11, 2013

what I've been doing lately instead of blogging


1. cursing February and all of its germy nastiness. 
Pretty sure that between the three boys we've gone through like 12 boxes of Kleenex in the last two weeks. Gross. And it turns out my patience levels decrease as the snot and sick/whiny levels increase, soooo let's just say no one's been in top form around here. Blessedly Clyde and Will seem to be over it all and I can send them to school guilt-free, but poor Jack is still a congested, coughing mess. Bleh.

2. backing up pictures!!!! 
Once upon a time, I kept up on this pretty well, stopping every couple of months to back up all of my pictures on the hard drive and also onto CD's buuuut for some reason I let ALL OF 2012 (and the last bit of 2011) go by without doing it at all. Picasa has been kind of sketchy a couple times lately when I import pictures, and last week it scared me enough that I bumped this ridiculous project to the top of the priority list. It's time consuming because I [finally] make myself go through and delete all of the 'unnecessary' pictures - blurry, super unflattering, duplicates, etc and I can only go through about fifty pictures before my (self-diagnosed) ADD kicks in and I have to check twitter or go get a snack.

3. running... well, jogging :).
I do love February for being warmer than January (granted, not a hard task). The Race for the Cure is celebrating its 15th anniversary by offering a special on registration ($15 instead of $25, ends February 15th) and I'm excited to run this 5k for a third year. To make sure I can do it, Paulina and I have started running four nights a week, woooo! It's been awesome so far, mostly hanging out with Paulina, not as much the actual running...

4. watching The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (modern adaption of Pride and Prejudice told via YouTube videos).
I know I have a long history of getting addicted to shows and then having those shows suddenly get suuuuper dumb (aka Glee, which I had to abandon early third season - didn't everyone??) or suuuuper depressing (aka Downton Abbey, which I actually haven't watched at all this season because I read spoilers and decided I didn't want to spend my Sunday nights sobbing when I can just wait and spend one emotional weekend watching them all back to back...) BUT I feel confident that my questionable track record will find its vindication here. It's just so, so good.

5. pondering some craft-y type projects around the house. 
Nothing too daunting (I know my own creative limits), just updating a wooden sign with paint and a new saying and also making temple pictures for the boys' rooms,which might involve me using modpodge for the first time.

But anyways, my plan is to finish with the pictures in the next day or two and then productively produce a plethora of pithy (is that a good thing??) posts. We'll see what happens - is it spring yet?

Monday, February 4, 2013

Snow Much Fun (part two)

Once upon a time, there was a darling little boy who had three things: a shiny new orange sled (courtesy of his school jog-a-thon back in October), a ridiculous amount of snow outside (courtesy of, you know, the weather system), and a lazy/weaksauce mom who prefers not to actually touch snow (probably courtesy of childhood whitewashing trauma at the hands of one of her brothers; I don't have any specific recollection but I think we can all agree it probably happened).


Luckily, that same boy also had a very, very nice daddy who took said boy and his brother out sledding! Twice! And took the camera! And used the camera! For pictures AND video!
There's a lovely park near our house that had the perfect hill for sledding (thanks to the Walkers for the tip!) and the boys had sooo much fun both times.


As I said, Chuck recorded lots of their runs down the hill, so I took the liberty of compiling my favorite clips into a video. I'll take this opportunity to address a few questions that will undoubtedly arise during the viewing:
  1. Yes, the waistband of Clyde's jeans needed a slight adjustment, although I think he did pretty well keeping them up as he ran down the hill to chase Will.
  2. Yes, Will narrating his imminent trip down with his daddy IS the cutest thing ever. Also, he talks that much basically all the time; it's hard to remember when he needed speech therapy!
  3. Yes, we did check Clyde for whiplash after Will's helpful push-start...
  4. Yes, the "Oh, he just got up by hisself" line is ACTUALLY the cutest thing ever. Disregard #2 above.
  5. Yes, I have trained my children exceedingly well such that Will actually interrupted himself to say 'Smile' when he thought Chuck was trying to take a picture.
  6. Yes, Chuck did ask a complete stranger to make the video of him taking Clyde down the hill.
  7. Yes, Chuck and Will did almost take Clyde completely out when they went down the hill.

Okay, I think you're prepped. Here's the video:

So fun, right? Jack and I are even considering venturing out with them next year...

Friday, February 1, 2013

It was my birthday [month]... shout hooray!


My tagline for my birthday this year was 
"Because you only turn 28 once... unlike 29, which I plan on turning several times."
(Which is actually a straight up lie, but it served its purpose of allowing me multiple celebrations. Age really doesn't faze me. I think I'm in a much better place in every area of my life than I was in my late teens/early twenties and I feel pretty confident about continuing on that track. Also, I was 21 when Clyde was born so that doesn't leave me a lot of wiggle room to lie about my age without raising eyebrows...)

So my first order of business was to throw myself an early birthday party. I recruited some friends to come over late one night for hot chocolate and ice cream and just to mix things up a bit, I challenged everyone to wear as much orange as possible.

The [pretty sophisticated] decor: 
 exhibit A. 
My mother-in-law gave me a spool of this orange mesh ribbon and it's just been waiting to make its debut!

 exhibit B. 
Crepe paper streamers make everything more exciting, right?

Some party attendants. Things to note: the orange-ness of baby Jack and baby Clark, the fact that Holly and Madi steal other people's babies, Tami being so sweet and dropping by mid-date to say hi, and the fact that Nicole and Kristen were at all surprised that I was taking pictures, haha.

Jack was in a hilariously social mood that night, he snuggled right up to Holly and later wandered around the living room handing out shoes (mostly to Em K) and cuddling with Paulina. What a goof!

 He ended up crashing about an hour in, bless his little heart. My other boys were champs and slept through the entire shindig.
 
 Some group shots; I had to post them all since we didn't manage to get everyone looking and smiling in the same picture, haha. Thanks for coming and hanging out and sitting on my living room floor, love you all!

 OH, and a few people disregarded instructions and brought me presents (which awesomely provided me chocolate for days and days!). Maren was one such rebel and she gave the disclaimer that hers was a gag gift... so you can imagine my surprise when I opened it: an awesome wide orange belt.
It was immediately suggested that I wear it that Sunday to church, so I did :).

 
 Next up was a dinner out with Kara, Nicole, and Paulina to celebrate Kara's and my birthdays (three days apart!) and serve as our last outing before Kara's baby boy came.
 I'm not even sure there are words to describe this night; I haven't laughed that hard in a while... our dinner was (mostly) excellent, our server was adorable (hence the need to get a picture with her), our conversations were wildly inappropriate and therefore awesome, and the amount of food we left carrying was somewhat embarrassing :).


 Den meeting for Scouts fell the night before my birthday,
 so I made the boys sing to me (Noah sweetly led them) and sweet DeArley brought me a present!! Love her :).


And then it was my actual birthday:
And I woke up to three darling boys, lucky me! 
(Four if you count the cute guy taking the picture... and he's my favorite because he let me sleeeeep innnnnn!!)

The day was delightfully normal and low-key and wonderful.
Will purposefully picked his Packers shirt to wear since he knows it's my favorite team :). Also, he was sitting there singing primary songs which was ADORABLE.

 It was my turn (Chuck and I usually alternate weeks) to go help in Clyde's classroom, where I got to help the kiddos glue their [paper] hearts onto their little [paper] bodies. And then I stuck around while the kids went to music so I could chat with Mrs. Holman, whom I absolutely love. She probably had "teacher" things to "do" but whatev. It was my birthday.

The kids have mostly had inside recess because of the FREAKING COLD, but they got to go out for a couple of minutes so I went out too and got a picture with my favorite Clyde Monster.

 OH, after school we ran some errands that included two of my favorite destinations: Costco and Savers, within the latter of which I found these PERFECT shoes! (And, luckily, their respective mates). I've been looking for dark silver flats forever... well, a month, but it felt like forever. And these were five bucks and almost identical to some I'd been coveting at Target and fit perfectly, wooo!

Then we came home and ate some dinner with this cute little elfin baby.

 
 And the boys played some Kinect!

 And hugged adorably.

Oh, and then Chuck challenged me to a dance battle and beat me soundly. Here's the photographic proof:
 It wasn't even close. So embarrassing... possibly for both of us :).

 Post-dance picture to prove we're still friends.

 And then we put the boys to bed and Chuck sweetly stayed up and watched a girl-y movie with me. It was seriously such a lovely day spent with my boys. I also was amazed at all the sweet birthday greetings people sent via facebook and email and text - so fun to receive them all!

And my final birthday celebration was with the incredibly wonderful woman who went to the edge of death (aka had a c-section) to give me life: my mama!!
 The Sunday after my birthday we gathered at Grandma Pam's for delicious dinner and cake and SET, which I dominated. Naturally.

And now I'm 28 and life is so so so good!