Great to be 8!!!

Braxton turned eight years old today. I can't believe he's old enough to be getting baptized already. Braxton started off the day by making pancakes for the family by himself(with Grandpa's supervision). And only one made its way onto the floor. Delicious! We took the grandparents to the Airborne Museum and Braxton spent about an hour freaking people out by pretending he was a human statue along with the other mannequins there. Grandpa Denning told Braxton that he would take him to any restaurant that he wanted to go to and so he chose his favorite, Red Lobster. He ordered off of the adult menu and had the 1 1/2 lb King Crab Legs and ate every bit of it. We celebrated Braxton's birthday yesterday afternoon at our Army Base's ice skating rink. What a blast! And the best part about it is that it was the most relaxing party that we have done. No games, no mess, not much money, mom is happy. Life is good!

Santa brought the Snow!

Braxton loves spending time with his Grandpa playing wii. And Isaiah loves sharing his stickers with his Grandma.










When Santa left, he brought the snow with him! We had a blast getting to play in the snow the day after Christmas (Yes, they canceled church does this count as a family Sunday activity?). Isaiah told me that he ate some snow and he said it was delicious. We were waiting for Grandma Jenkins who was stuck at the Salt Lake City Airport waiting for her flights to re-open. She made it here at about 1:30 a.m. We're glad that she made it here safely.

Santa Clause Came to Town!!!

We had a blast with our boys this Christmas! The boys were up at 12:30 a.m. and we didn't realize it until 2:00 a.m. They were jumping around on Braxton's bed with smiles on their faces. Mom came in and told them that they needed to go to bed right now. They couldn't stand going back to bed, but they didn't wake back up until 6:30 a.m. who could complain about that? Santa delivered this year and both boys received most of what that they wanted Braxton got a b-b gun and Isaiah an Easy Bake Oven and his all time favorite a pack of 390 stickers. They played with the rest of their toys all day while waiting to go to the airport to pick up Grandma and Grandpa Denning.

Happy adoption Day Isaiah!

Isaiah has been ours for four years now! And this past weekend we were able to celebrate this special day with him. We had pizza and cake and watched a movie. He has brought so much joy and excitement into our lives. We are truly blessed! We are so grateful to his wonderful birth mother who placed her trust in us to raise her little one. He is such a happy little boy who loves to play tricks on everyone and tries to get a laugh. He is so loving and caring to all who are around him. He also loves to share stickers with everyone. He is attending preschool here and loves every minute of it being one of two boys in his class. We love you big guy!

Pinehurst Turkey Trot!!

Before the Big Race!






All the boys were entered in the Turkey Trot here. Braxton(10:50ish) and Isaiah (11:32)both raced in the one mile run and Brandon participated in the half marathon. We all had a blast and both little boys were so excited they just couldn't stand it. I think Isaiah ran with a smile on his face the entire race. He prayed last night that he would win the race and that he would cross the finish line. Well, they both took about 45 seconds at least from their fastest time that we have recorded. Good job boys. Brandon had a great run and a good time. His course had quite a bit of hills that proved to be a challenge. I am very proud of my boys!!



Brandon's Race!

Halloween Festivities!

We let the boys carve pumpkins on Friday night due to the fact that Saturday would be the last of the soccer games and our ward had a trunk-or-treat later on in the afternoon. Here depending on what county or city you live in determines when you trick-or-treat. Our county here is on Sunday. Hopefully we don't get a lot of kids tonight as we have just about passed out all of our candy to our ward. Braxton was able to have a little freedom last night by trunk-or treating with a few boys from his primary class in the parking lot. Brandon and I were struggling with this, I guess we are just trying to keep him little forever. But what trouble could he really get into at our church building? The boys had a blast and Braxton was milking his newly found freedom to the fullest. He had to walk another friend around the parking lot again because he didn't have anyone go with (with the instruction to not trick-or-treat again), but somehow his bag seemed twice as full and twice as heavy as Isaiah's Hummm! I wonder how that happened? Then he has a special friend here for the last year they have done most everything together, somehow she couldn't seem to be able to figure out how to walk herself down to her car. Braxton saved the day and helped her out.

Mini Marathon

I had a goal this year to be able to run a half marathon. So some friends and I started training in January. We signed up for a half marathon hoping just to finish. Let's just say that we started out pretty pathetic and ended up getting better as we went. For the past few months my goal was to finish the 13.1 miles under 3 hours. So we headed down to Myrtle Beach, SC this past weekend and had a total girl weekend without the kids and had a great time watching a high heel race (minimum of 2 3/4 inch heels) and shopping until our legs couldn't take it any longer (Well, really we had to wake up early the next morning so we just had to stop).
But to my surprise I was able to finish the race in 2:43:43. I had so much fun running, I am hoping to be able to possibly run more races.








Jerry made it in last place!












Coming around the turn at the 12 mile point





The last 100 yards or so to the finish line










The view of the finish line






With the girls after we all finished

Ragnar Relay- Washington D.C.

24th through the 25th of September I ran the Ragnar Relay from Cumberland Maryland to Washington D.C. with ten of my teamates from North Carolina, Virgina, and Maryland. Our 201 mile journey took us through beautiful country starting in the Applachians and through cvil war towns, and ending up along the Potomic river in Washington DC.
The Relay consisted of 236 teams we began at 8am Friday and finished at approximately 4pm on Saturday. Out of 236 teams we placed 93rd at around 32hours for our time. It was a challenging experience. Alot of running and almost no sleep in those two days. With that said I'm ready to do another relay. It was a challenging fun experience, and a great way to meet new people.

Soccer, soccer, soccer!!

Today Isaiah had his first soccer game. He was pretty aggressive out on the field and scored the first goal. By the end of the game Isaiah kept walking off the field telling me that the kids keep taking the ball away from him (his own teammates). He said that soccer is a very hard game to play. But we had a blast watching him go for it. We think his coach was very impressed too. Braxton also had a game at the same time so mom and dad had to alternate who got to watch who. Braxton played goalie at first and it took mom a while to figure out where he was. When he finally got to get out of the goal box, he rocked things up a little. His coach came up to me after words and told me that a few times he told her that he was ready to sit on the bench and then after a few minutes of resting was ready to get out there and beat the field up. Way to go boys! We are so proud of you! You both ROCK!!!

Happy Birthday Brandon

Brandon's birthday was today, however we celebrated it on Monday. It was about the only time this week that we didn't have fifty million things to do. We grilled hamburgers and watched a movie. The boys had a blast making pictures to give Brandon to show him how much they love him. We love you Brandon!!