7!! And he is straight from heaven...

 He was not going to smile-NO WAY NO HOW!

It only took 6 tries to get the picture BEFORE he blew out the candle!!  He does love to blow out candles.

Oh how those brothers love him!



Halloween...again? I can't believe it.

Oh Keaton...this smile got him lots of chocolate. He was Stitch the alien, but we had to say he was a ZOMBIE alien or he just wasn't happy.

 I really don't need to explain...this is really quite appropriate for this one.

 6:00 as Keaton is ready to head out and Bryce has a thousand friends showing up to the door he says, "Hey mom, can you paint my face like a fox?"  I said ,"uhhhhhhh-NO!" There is no way I could paint his face like a fox in 5 minutes. That would take weeks of stewing and googling HOW to do that.  3 and a half hours later, Bryce and his friends walk in and he looks like this! I was blown away, it looked so good. His friend Kaylees mom apparantly does face painting etc for fun-thank god for her!

They didn't trick or treat per say, they just ran around the neighborhood.  We went through our plethera of costumes and suited up 3 or 4 of his buddies.  Logan on the far left- is a very handsome hockey jock, put a dress and a bra on him and he was gorgeous!  Gus did not like Bryces face painted. He would not leave him alone.

OOOOHHH he is just so cute!

This is the face I see whenever I picture my Devon. 

 He has the most infectious giggle and smile. Don't you want to just eat him?

And Another First...

 First Homecoming Dance...Bryce got to take his lifelong best friend Maddy.  These two have had so many firsts together...first day of preschool, kindergarten, then first and second grade.  The list goes on and on.  I hope they treasure how lucky they are to have their friendship and all of these experiences, I know their parents do.

 Tyson(this is the same gentle giant who accidentally landed knee first on Bryces foot last week and broke it), Meghan, Joel, Tiffanie, Ryan, Ayden, Bryce, Maddy, Parker, and Kenzie.

I do believe it was a great success and they had a great time! I am sure they were the best dressed best friends there!

Making Friends

 On this first fallish day...Keaton, Devon, and I drug Granny Sandy out to the zoo.

Keaton was like a little dart shooting here and there but he has gotten so much better about not taking off.  He made it out without being fed to any large meat-eating animals.

I don't blame Devon for looking scared that Keaton is behind the wheel.

Fall Ball

 This is kind of a Where's Waldo search and find.  Devon is on the far left looking very serious and his dad, the defense coach is shorter than the kids hidden in the back...

 #30...he is a maniac.  There is nothing better in  his world than when he is hitting kids on the field.

Freshman QB In Action

 Oh the pressure!  Starting high school, starting QB for Meridian High-I would say life is good.

So far 3 and 1, this is the most games Meridian freshman have won in 4 seasons and there are still 5 to go! Wish them luck!

First Things First...

 First day of school.  First day of Meridian High School.

 First day of 5th grade. First day of the last year of elementary school. Boo hoo hoo.

First day of 1st grade.  Do you see Gus trying to plan his escape to jump on the bus?

 



Litter Of Lizards

 Devon and Keaton were riding on the 4 wheeler when suddenly the sound of the 4 wheeler stops and I look up to find Devon running around a tree with Keaton right on his heels.  The 4 wheeler is still running and it takes me a minute to figure out they are chasing a critter around the tree.  Devon caught it and they are both squealing with excitement.

We had to quickly find a container and make this fat little critter a suitable home.  As the weekend progressed Devon found himself in tears and torn because he knew he should leave the wild beast in the mountains with his family...but oh he already loved HIM~he let him go twice only to be so upset Travis had to recatch him.  We finally decided that we would bring him home for 2 weeks and if he didn't seem happy we would take him home the next time we went to the mountains.

The next week Devon and Bryce went to different mountains with Grandma Sandy, Grandpa Ray, Uncle Scotty, Aunt Julie, Kyle and Rachel for a long weekend...and in his absence the BOY lizard Poseidon decided to lay 17 eggs!!  We now know why he/she was so fat and happy...and easy to catch.  Travis quickly did his critter research and IF we have baby lizards they should show their little faces about the third week of August...oh yeah!! 

Best Camping Trip Ever...

 Cool dude coming down the track, looking like a pro.

 It's a yetti!!

 Bryce still riding dads bike, but doing it like a pro!

 That is one dirty dog!

 The boys were amazing with Keaton on this trip.  They had been at each other the week leading up to going and I was a little afraid we would be tempted to leave them in the mountains, but they were so much fun and so good to each other and Keaton.

 I think they are having a great time, what do you think?



Who Says There's No Such Things As Aliens??

 No one can tell Keaton you can't wear a padded Halloween costume in 90 degree weather.

Look at that cheesy smile.

He Just Keeps Getting Older...and Older

 14!!  I can not believe it.  I didn't get any pics of his party because he had a sleepover (in the camper-I am not crazy enough to have a bunch of football hooligans in the house).  Although we saw them to feed them, this happened 3 times in a 12 hour span, otherwise we checked on them in the camper and the obnoxiousness was contained outside. Around 11pm they set out to t.p. Bryces old friend Maddys house-she got us the night before really good, and they got caught!  Maddys dad Pat (who has been friends with Travis since they were wee ones) came outside and startled them.  These boys dropped the toilet paper and ran!  Bummer!  They were laughing because the whole thing was pretty funny-they all said they have never run this fast-keep in mind the football coach makes them run 6 days a week and I'm sure would have been impressed with the speed they posessed at this moment.  Around 1 Maddy and her buddies showed up in cute fuzzy slippers and bathrobes to attack the boys with eggs and mustard, it backfired and the girls went home dripping in soda...turnabout is fair play I suppose.  Calling it a sleepover is completely inappropriate as they never slept! I got a call in the house around 8 from his cell phone asking in a very tired voice, "Is breakfast ready??"

 His team is such a great group of kids and his coach Dustin is amazing! Bryce has had him 5 seasons and although he has provided him the hardest (physically and mentally) and most demanding experiences, he has taught Bryce buckets about himself and what it takes to be a disciplined athlete and person.  The team put together a community service project for the new amazing park. The mayor and city council members all showed up to watch these boys at work. They formed teams and were competing against each other to get the most work completed-imagine that.

I was amazed at how proud Bryce was of the work they completed and himself.  It was such a great opportunity.