Brandon at 8. . . .

Brandon at 8 is full of energy!!  He is funny, happy, playful.  He loves to spend time with friends and play sports.  Brandon can be a bit dramatic, especially when he gets hurt, but we're working on that a bit :)

I asked Brandon to complete this Birthday Interview and here are his answers. . . (Ryan and Brandon were NOT allowed to fill them out together.)

1.  Who is your favorite person in the whole world?  Mom
2.  What is your favorite color?  Red
3.  What's your favorite television show?  Lego Star Wars
4.  What your favorite outfit?  My Nike shirt, socks, and Under Armour shorts
5.  What sport do you like best?  Football
6.  What song do you love?  Dynamite
7.  What's your favorite cereal?  Reeses Puffs
8.  Who is your best friend?  Rocco
9.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  NFL Player
10.  What is your favorite book?  Harry Potter
11.  What are you really good at?  Dirt Biking
12.  Where do you wish you could go on vacation?  Mexico
13.  What is your best memory?  I flew off my dirt bike into a gopher hole
14.  What would you buy if you had $10000?  A Mansion
15.  What vegetable od you hate the most?  Cauliflower
16.  If you could have a wish, what would it be?  To surf in Hawaii
17.  What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?  Cookie Crunch
18.  Who is your biggest hero?  My Dad
19.  What do you like to do best with your friends?  Be Funny
20.  What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday?  Get 2000 tickets at Wahooz

Ryan at 8. . . .

Ryan has grown and changed so much this last year.  He is extremely confident, loves sports, and playing X-Box or on the computer.  Ryan enjoys spending time with friends and loves trying new things.









This year I gave the boys a Birthday Interview page to complete. Here are Ryan's questions and answers. . .

1.  Who is your favorite person in the whole world?  Brooklyn, my sister
2.  What is your favorite color?  Boise State Colors
3.  What's your favorite television show?  Johnny Test
4.  What's your favorite thing to wear?  Under Armour
5.  What sport do you like best?  Football
6.  What song do you love?  Gangam Style
7.  What's your favorite cereal?  Reeses Puffs
8.  Who is your best friend?  Rocco
9.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  NFL Football Player
10.  What is your favorite book?  Harry Potter
11.  What are you really good at?  Football-Quarterback
12.  Where do you wish you could go on vacation?  Hawaii
13.  What is your best memory?  When I went to the Mall of America
14.  What would you buy if you had $10000?  I would buy a flat screen T.V. for my room.
15.  What vegetable do you hate the most?  Cauliflower
16.  If you could have a wish, what would it be?  That all my wishes would come true.
17.  What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?  Cotton Candy
18.  Who is your biggest hero?  My Dad
19.  What do you like to do best with your friends?  Play Thunder
20.  What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday?  Go to Wahooz

Ryan and Brandon Turn 8

Ryan and Brandon took a bunch of their friends to JumpTime (a trampoline play center) for their birthday this year.  Then, Nate brought them all home and we had pizza and cake.  We celebrated their birthday with family on Sunday.  Throw in a baseball game or two and it was a jam-packed weekend. 

 Brandon's new dirt bike

 

 Ryan's new bike

 

 Opening Presents

 

 I missed getting a picture of the whole cake. . .Rats!

 

 New fishing reels from Grandma Mona and Papa Kevin

 

 Coldstone Cupcakes

 

Make a wish. . . .



Hawaii

Nate earned a trip with Allied Insurance this year and so we were fortunate enough to get to travel to Maui at the end of April.  Lucky for us, Grandma Mona and Grandpa Dave and Grandma Connie agreed to watch our three little kiddos for us while we were gone.  Nate and I were super excited to have a "grown-up" vacation and Ryan and Brandon were REALLY excited to spend a week with their grandparents. 

Grandma Mona flew to Boise on Saturday morning so that she would be able to spend a couple days getting acclimated to the kids' schedule before Nate and I took off on Monday morning. 

The kids had a blast and continued on with their school schedule and baseball practices. 

Nate and I enjoyed a week of sun, sailing, and snorkeling.  We attended a luau, went on a sunset dinner cruise, and visited Haleakala National Park. 

 Balcony Hotel View

 

 Setting up for Dinner

 

 Relaxing at the pool

 

 Our snorkeling spot

 

 Haleakala National Park

 

 Our unexpected visitor during our sailing trip

 

 Trying to surf. . . .need to work on the form :)

 

Easter

It was a little crazy preparing for Easter this year since Easter weekend fell at the end of Spring Break and we were just getting back from the cabin.  I tried to do a lot of the work before we went to Donnelly, but there are always last minute things that come up to do.  Luckily, Auntie Jo helped me out and took the kids to the Discovery Center on Friday so that I had some time to get things done. 

The boys had baseball practice on Saturday and then all my boys helped clean up the backyard since we are having amazing 70 degree weather.  It's so nice to be able to enjoy fresh air outside at this time of year.

We went to early service at church on Easter morning and then stayed at church for breakfast and the Easter Egg Hunt.  It was pretty cute seeing Brooklyn open eggs all over the church lawn and put them in her little crate and the boys managed to make out quite well in their own egg hunt.  We were done by 11:00 and then headed home to get ready for family to come to dinner at 1:30. 

The boys did their scavenger hunt after we ate and had a great time "cracking the codes" I made to find their loot. 

We are so blessed this time of year to be with family and friends and we are extremely thankful for a Savior that died for our many imperfections.

 Brooklyn organizing her eggs. . .

 

 Brooklyn and Cousin Luke

 

 

 

 The boys trying to find their Easter clues (they are the WORST egg searchers). . .

 

 Cousin Luke and Auntie Jo

 

Ryan and Brandon working on solving their clues to find their Easter treasures :)

 

Spring Break

We're spending Spring Break at the cabin this year so we can get just a little more skiing in before the snow is gone.  We invited some friends, the Durbins, up for the weekend which made the boys very happy.  The Durbins have a son, Tyler, that is the same age as Ryan and Brandon.  It's definitely fun when you get to ski/snowboard with your friends!! 

Here are a few pictures of our skiing  and snowmobiling adventures this year:

 Mommy and Brooklyn watching Ryan and Brandon snowmobile on the lake.

 

 Brooklyn and Ryan

 

 Brandon taking me on a snowmobile ride.....

 

 

The boys and I at Tamarack

Here are also a few skiing videos of the boys. . .they are kind of hard to watch since Nate is videotaping some of them while he's skiing, but they are fun :)

Well, the videos didn't want to load today so I'll try uploading them later. . .

Spring

Spring Break is just around the corner and I think we're about ready to move ahead to warmer days. 

Tonight the boys took me to their Book Fair/Art Walk night at school.  Each class is in charge of putting together an Art Display based on a famous artist's work.  The boys' class focused on Vincent Van Gogh and Ryan and Brandon's art turned out fantastic.  I was able to purchase their masterpieces for $.50 per piece.  What a steal!! 

The boys each got to choose one book from the Book Fair.  Ryan is REALLY into The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books right now.  He's read four of the books and his goal is to read them all.  Brandon has been reading Big Nate books, but since the Book Fair only sold the book Brandon already has, he chose a How to Train Your Dragon Book instead. 

We also got an e-mail this evening that Baseball will be starting next week.  I guess it is time to starting look forward to Spring :)