Where in the world Will Connor Go?

 

Guess what?  We got an email on Tuesday night from our Stake President saying that Connor's mission papers had been submitted!!

This boy is SO excited to serve the Lord for 2 years on an LDS mission!

He is spending extra time everyday studying the scriptures and the Preach My Gospel manual.

It truly warms my heart.  I am so happy for him and this experience that will change his life. 

 

 

So we have a couple of weeks to make guesses as to where we thin he is going to be called

Where do you think?

 

 

I sure do love this boy so much! What a gift to be his Mother!

Sweet 16

 Yesterday our Connor turned 16...and it was one sweet day!

I started the celebration myself the night before going through 16 years of pictures and being flooded with happy memories.  I had a balloon and picture for each year of his life along with little notes from myself, his grandparents and Aunts and Uncles. I put them all in his room while he slept--so fun!  It was a very sentimental project for me and my heart was filled with love for this boy that first  made me a Mother!

Then I was up bright and early to make it across town to the DMV for a drivers license test!

I was a little worried thinking it would be horrible to fail on your birthday, BUT he passed, easily!!

Woo hoo--our first licensed driver!

 Then I was honored to be his first date...lunch at Lupis pizza.  I had actually been teasing him that I wanted to be his first date, and for Mothers day he gave me a gift card to Lupis with a cute note about how he wanted to take me out for his first date!  I loved it!

Then I dropped him off at his friend Ethan's house who was helping me with a surprise party. He had arranged 18 holes of golf to get him out of the house for me!  

These two are making fun of my request to take a picture  by posing silly--goofy boys!

Party time:)

 Waiting on the birthday boy:)

It was so fun having these beautiful girls in the house--so much better than the usual sweaty boys in gym shorts that hang out around here!  ha ha!

It was so funny, we were all gathered around the front room, with my camera lense fixed on the door, when Connor surprised us and came in through the garage...augh...so the only picture I have of the big moment is a super fuzzy picture in the kitchen!  Darn it!

He was totally completely surprised though!!

It was a success!

Happy 16th Birthday Connor Bradley!

Weekend in Pictures

 Friday started out with Coleman's scope at the Children's Hospital.  Luckily there was ESPN while we waited.  We caught up on the March Madness.  With everything going on at our house, we totally forgot to print off brackets and fill them out!  Darn!

The procedure went well and we had some good news!  The Dr felt from his view that the damage is minor and we have caught it before it progressed too far.  We are very grateful for that!  We have to wait until next week for the pathology report from the samples that he took for biopsy but the Dr was pretty confident that it will show little damage.  

 I was hoping with that news that maybe it wasn't Celiac disease but just a wheat allergy that he could outgrow.  Unfortunately the Dr explained that this is not the case.  The blood panel they ran showed that Coleman definitely has the disease.  He said there are certain antibodies that they test for and would be about 5 normally and Coleman's were like 125--which makes them 99.9% positive that he has Celiac disease. Since this is a genetic disease, now our whole family needs to be have that blood test--just a fun little Spring Break activity--the boys are so excited:( ugh. LOL  The Dr said that he is always surprised that some people have the disease and it is doing damage inside but they do not have symptoms.  Strange, huh?

Luckily he was feeling back to normal pretty quick.  Good enough to put puzzles together the next morning.  Yeah!  Any activity that does not require a screen, makes this Momma HAPPY happy happy:)

Brad and Connor's long awaited guy road trip to the NCAA National Wrestling Championship finally arrived.  Connor was SO excited about this weekend!  He didn't forget to fill out his wrestling brackets:)

 Getting to meet Olympic gold medalist and national Champion Jordan Burroughs!

 Happy boy and a very sweet Daddy to drive him 12 hours.  I wondered why they didn't fly--since with all Brad's traveling we have lots of flight miles and he said he wanted the long hours in the car to talk to his son:)  Connor was also able to practice his driving skills since he is turning 16 in May.  Woo hoo!

 My Easter grass is growing like crazy!!  We have had to give it a haircut since this picture!  I am going to have to remember to start it just a week before next year.

 Sunday games with friends.  SO darn fun!!  We need to do this more often:)

Cannon is it for "Ducky Wucky" much tohis delight!

How was your weekend?  I hope happy!

We are currently on Spring Break--and it is so freezing cold here, darn it!

All my outdoor activities I was planning will probably have to be scratched... Grr!

A New Adventure Has Begun

 

Connor is the proud owner of a TN drivers permit!

Luckily, he seems to be a natural at this driving stuff, but oh my goodness I thought I was going to have a heart attack the first time we left the safety of parking lots and hit the road!

It seems that this boy of mine is growing up fast-- what an adventure!

 

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15 years today!!

Connor turned 15 today and is now old enought to get a driving permit!  Yikes!

Brad getting ready to take him our for the first time!

 I had the treat of taking my boy out for a birthday lunch of his choice--5 Guys Burgers!  Yum! 

Later we had some of his friends over to celebrate--love these guys!  They had youth group at our church tonight so we are having our family party tomorrow.

We love to prolong the celebrations around here:)

Happy Birthday Connor!

This is a very special day for me too--the day I became a Mother.

A day I will cherish forever..

I love you with all my heart my first born boy!

xoxo

He's fan of...

As you know, our Connor is a BIG fan of wrestling.

He was so excited for the NCAA National Wrestling Championship this last weekend.

He had all of his brackets filled out and had asked if we could upgrade our Dish programming to ensure that  he could watch it.

Well, his Dad who may not be a big fan of Wrestling (not much experience or knowledge of the sport--but he is learning:) -- is a HUGE fan of Connor, so he decided to take him to St Louis for the big event! 

You can imagine how thrilled Connor was!  And Brad was equally thrilled to get one-on-one time with his oldest!

They had a great time and loved every minute! 

And I loved thinking of them together all weekend knowing that this trip will be a  very fun memory they will both cherish:) 

St Louis or bust!

This Time is Precious

Today, I am so grateful to be a Mother and a homemaker.

I can see that this time is precious and will be gone before I know it.
 Lately these words have been going through my head and I know the are true...

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will - to your surprise - miss them profoundly." - President Thomas S. Monson

 I am sure he is right, someday I WILL miss these 5 loud and messy little boys running through my house,  profoundly. 

 It feels like just the other day I was starting out as a Mother with this little bundle in my arms.

Now he has grown into a tall and handsome young man.  And it happened in the blink of an eye:)

Do you ever look at your children and realize just how fast they are growing up?

This month as I have tried to slow down and appreciate all the simple joys and blessings in my life, I have felt very sentimental about my family. One early morning I was looking at my oldest boy--up on his own at 5:30am to go to a seminary class to study the Old Testament before school --I was filled with so much love for this child of mine and a longing to stop time. 

 Connor is 14--that only gives me a little more than 3 years to have him in our home before he is off to college and more!  With that in mind, I felt a desire to do better about being "present" as a Mother.
. 

 To really soak up and enjoy these years we have together.

I know that you can be home with them, but not really" there" when your mind is off  in another place amd your busy with projects and such.  I am guilty of this at times. 
This family is my number one priority right now.  I felt a new determination to have my time, energy and talents reflect this:) Some other ambitions and activities will have to take a backseat for now. Their time will come--just not now!

 I am learning that babies don't keep and children grow up way too fast! 

 I heard once that  "it is impossible to be a perfect Mother, but that there are a million ways to be a great one!"  
 What a happy thought:) 

You have to be DEDICATED and TOUGH...

to run cross country in High School, especially in the heat and humidity of the South in August.  I don't know about you, but watching my son and these other kids run and struggle and improve each week is SO inspiring for me!  This is a tough sport and the caliber of kids who participate is impressive.  These are committed, hard working, ambitious individuals.  I can tell you that I have 'stepped it up' in my own workouts and runs lately, motivated by their stellar examples!  Connor runs about 4 miles everyday after school with the team and he never complains or whines about the difficult workouts his coach leads them in, ever!  This sport builds  physical strength and stamina along with some serious mental toughness!  I LOVE it and am so thankful that my boy loves it too!  What a great experience!

This was about half way into the 5K--Connor giving his little brothers a quick smile as they cheered him on from the sidelines!

I didn't get a shot of the end--I was too busy cheering the kids on...  IT WAS AWESOME!!  Connor always sprints at the end when he looks exhausted and beat--he somehow pulls down deep and finishes STRONG--and I mean FAST.  He passes people at the end left and right.  I love that determination.  He is not the fastest by any means but he gives it his best and that makes me proud!

What a super example for his little fans:) 

(This was taken somewhere in the middle of the race when the runners are out of view for awhile. It gets a little boring in the hot sun-poor guys!)

These little boys are troopers with Cross Country meets for Conn and Football games for TJ, they do a lot of cheering in the hot sun each week!  Bless their hearts!

How is your week going?  Are you busy cheering young athletes on too? 

14 Years ago today...

Brad and I welcomed our first son into the world!  It was a VERY rough labor that actually started early on the 22nd of May, but did not successfully bring forth a baby until the 23rd.

We were OVERJOYED and SMITTEN at once with our new little boy.  Connor Bradley weighed in at a whopping 8lbs 14oz and we thought he was PERFECT!

Now our sweet little bundle has traded in chubby cheeks for a tall and lanky look with braces...and we are still smitten with this boy!

He requested pizza and a white cake with chocolate frosting. YUM!

This year he was gifted a bench and weight set, some American Eagle clothes, Sperry topsiders, "The Bourne Identity" movie (which we are watching with clear play right now), along with some Reeses Pieces candy and 5 gum.  He loved his gifts and his brothers loved presenting them to him.

 I LOVE birthday parties--but let me just say ALL my boys including the Daddy were so wild and goofy during the festivities that I seriously thought to myself ...'I do not get boy humor' and wondered if I ever will?"   Sometimes, I could really use another girl around here...I am so outnumbered!

Happy Birthday Connor Bradley!  I love you my darling boy!

PS Do you like the new look around here?  Thank you Emily from Designer Blogs-I highly reccommend this company.  The prices were great and the service was FANTASTIC!