Thursday, March 12, 2015

February Celebrations

February is always a busy month at our house,

full of lots of fun and celebrations!

Braiden's 12th Birthday

(February 8)

Braiden is our lovable, handsome, funny, hardworking,

amazingly athletic, smart, and always thoughtful 3rd child.

He has grown up way to fast! It seemed like just yesterday

he was our busy-mischievous-into everything little toddler.

And now, he's a helpful young man who works so hard to

please us and make us proud! We love you Braiden!!!

(Braiden-age 3 at the beach in Cali)

(Braiden- wake boarding at Lake Powell last summer )

Braiden had a few 6th grade buddies over a (couple days early)

for some birthday pizza and then we went to Lowe's Extreme

Air Sports for 2 hours of jumping, flipping, etc...

I even let Mason join in (it certainly gets harder as

he gets older to guard him from germs....he does not

want to miss out!), but believe me I practically

bathed him in sanitizer during and after!

He loved every minute of being a normal kiddo!!

Ammon also had a great time and burned off

lots of his abundant energy!

Braiden showed off his back flip for us too!

The night ended with some sweaty tired kiddos,

a birthday song, and yummy birthday cupcakes!

During the fun night, Mason managed to trip over big

sister Kaitlin and somehow hurt his foot. He limped

around for a little while, but then wouldn't walk on it

at all. Over the next 4 days we went in for x-rays 3

different times checking for a fracture on his foot, leg,

or hip..... because he still could not walk on his left leg.

After no fracture showed up and we finally got him to

walk just a little bit (with a limp) on the 7th day after

the fall, we speculated a sprain or a pulled ligament.

A month later, he's better now and running around just fine!

Besides a fun night at Lowe's, the one thing Braiden wanted

to do for his birthday was to ski with Preston and his cousins.

Here is a picture from the summer of 2009 of the four skiing buddies.

From the left to right - Braiden, cousin Peter, cousin Christian, and Preston

(This is was at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire)

......and here are the same four boys all grown up skiing at Alta

together during Braiden's birthday weekend this year.

They are growing up way too fast! Can I just stop the clock?!

Braiden's actual birthday fell on Sunday this year,

which meant after a morning at church we had a

nice relaxing family day with some birthday pie

and of course a few presents for the birthday boy!

Hope you had a great birthday Braiden!!!

Valentine's Day

On Friday February 13th Braiden had his 6th grade

Valentine dance that they spent months learning dances

and preparing for at school. It's been a fun tradition that

Kaitlin and Preston also took part in their 6th grade year.

The parents are invited to watch, take pictures, and even

dance one or twice with their son or daughter.

Braiden and buddy Max

Braiden was definitely getting his groove on!!!

After the dance Braiden, Mark, and Kaitlin headed down to

spend the rest of Valentine's weekend in Las Vegas for

Braiden's Baseball tournament. They enjoyed some warm

sunshine and Braiden played some great ball!

I stayed home with the other 3 kiddos and

we had a fun Valentine's weekend too...

we went out to dinner, to the movies, and to a wedding reception.

Thanks for being my dates Preston, Ammon, and Mason!!!

February = Heart Health Awareness Month

And more specifically, February 7-14 is Congenital Heart Disease

Awareness week. CHD's are what we have come to learn so much

about these last 7 years since our Miracle Mason joined our family.

I'm a month late with this (as usual), but still wanted to share some

CHD info to help all of you become more aware and educated about

the heart world that affects countless children and families each year.

CHD Facts:

Congenital heart defects are the #1 birth defect worldwide. Nearly one of every 100 babies is born with CHD.
There is no known cause for CHD. Only 15 – 20% of CHDs are related to genetic conditions.
Congenital heart defects are the leading cause of all infant deaths in the United States.
Each year in the U.S., nearly 40,000 babies with CHD will be born. Thousands will not live to see their first birthday and thousands more will die before reaching adulthood.
Pulse oximetry is a simple test that can be performed during newborn checkups to help detect some types of CHD. Early detection is crucial to saving little hearts.
More than 50% of all children born with CHD will require at least one invasive surgery in their lifetime.
Surgery does not always cure CHD. Many Heart Heroes will require additional surgeries and lifelong maintenance to sustain their heart health.
(This list was taken from CongenitalHeartDefects.com.)