April Odds and Ends...

Kacie got to travel with Taylor and Stacie to Portland for a Pacific University Track Meet held on April 7th.  Taylor was able to run with other Paralympic athletes and one is on the USA Paralympic team.  They had a good time other that she said it was super cold.

Brady got to travel with Mom to Utah to see Kyle get his Eagle Scout on April 15th.  He had a great time.  On the Saturday prior while I was doing some yard work this pretty butterfly came to visit me and I immediately thought of Kaylin.  I sure miss her.  Later in the day I went with Kacie to a TVCC baseball game and then that night Scott and I went out to dinner at the Spread.  It just opened last January in Fruitland and we were pleasantly surprised how yummy the food was.  They have a small menu but it is kind of high end food.  It was so good.

 His project was an outdoor chessboard.  He dedicated it to one of his Elementary teachers.  Way to go Kyle!

Kacie went with Stacie to watch Taylor in California at the Mt. Sac Relays April 19-21.  They all had a good time and Taylor was able to meet some other Paralympic athletes which was really cool!  I'm glad she had such a good experience there.

April 26th we were able to watch Ryan's track meet in Nyssa.  He won both of his events and has been doing really well in the hurdles this year.  It's fun to watch him.

After the track meet Kacie hung out with Madi and Mallory for Madi's birthday.  They are too cute!

Saturday the 28th Mallory and Kacie went shopping for bridesmaid dresses for Jocelyn's wedding in June.  They wanted to do it before Mallory left to work in Alaska.  They found some really pretty ones.

I thought Brady looked so handsome for his cotillion on April 28th.

April the 30th I went with Kacie to see her kidney doctor.  She saw Dr. Bender the week before but she has to see a member of her transplant team once a year so we had to go back to see Dr. Jenkins since he was in Boise otherwise we would have to go to Portland.  Thank goodness we found out he is still coming to Boise a couple of times a year.  He told us that Kacie's kidney function has been so good for the past eight years that he thinks it could last her whole life as long as she takes her medicine everyday.  That was such good news!  As we were leaving I thought Kacie should get some more practice driving in Boise so I gave her the keys unfortunately, while she was backing out of the parking spot she turned to sharp and hit the car next to us.  Our car was damaged more the other one but that wasn't fun at all!  I didn't know what to do so I just left a note with my number on their windshield.  

Brandon's 24th Birthday...

We had a small party this year since it was on a Wednesday.  We bought some Pizza Hut and took into his home.  My parents were the only other ones that could make it besides the residents and workers there.  Brandon was in a fairly good mood.  He loved the pizza! 

Grandpa and Grandma got him two pairs of jeans and some chocolate which he loves.  We got him an Aeropostale jacket and long sleeve shirt and a case of Coke Zero and tube socks.

His home got this yummy ice cream cake...

Love this picture!

Every once in awhile we get manage to get a decent family picture...haha!

A couple of days later Kevin and Alexz went to see him for his birthday.  This made my day that they did this and I know it meant a lot to Brandon.  Alexz told me that he even said their names.

Mom's 73rd Birthday...

I had fun posting all these awesome pictures of Mom when she was young for her birthday.

 

 When Rosie was here we bought Mom some new clothes for her birthday including the one she is wearing below.  We celebrated her birthday on the 4th because Teniele and Kacie had class on her actual birthday.  She wanted it simple so I got some Kentucky Fried Chicken and stuff for strawberry shortcake.  We then did he favorite and played some games.  We sure love you Mom!

Love this picture...

Easter...

We managed to get our annual Easter egg hunt done in between sessions of conference this year.  It is always fun to get together with family but we missed Vaughn and Barbara's family this year alot of them went to Utah for conference.  It is so weird that I don't have any kids that hunt eggs but Brady had fun hiding them this year.  After our picnic Kacie and I went to get Brandon for the night.

James...

Haylie and Toni

best buds...

This is what happens when Mom tells me to take pictures...haha!

Brandon's Easter...

Kacie's...

Brady's...

We were happy to have Brandon home with us for Easter.  To be perfectly honest it wasn't one of our better visits so we took him home after the Sunday morning session of conference.  As a mother it is so hard when you can't connect with your child.  We will just cherish the happy moments when we get a glimpse of our old son and pray we will be worthy to see the day when his is whole again. 

After we got back we had a little Easter dinner with Mom and Dad plus Valeda, Melissa, Teniele and her boys.  We then played a few games which was nice.  During conference they announced a couple of big changes.  The first being that they will discontinue the High Priest Quorum and will have just one Elder's Quorum with all the priesthood combined.  The second change is that there is no longer any visiting or home teaching but rather ministering.  Everyone seemed to be pretty happy with the changes.  It was also pretty cool to be able to sustain our new prophet  President Russell M. Nelson.