Happy Birthday Josh!

One more year until my insurance rates rise again.  Josh turned 15 and can't wait to get behind the wheel.  We had a good couple of days celebrating everything Josh.

Josh had a field trip at school on his actual birthday, so I checked him out for lunch the day before his birthday.  We sure do like Costa Vida around our house.  Good stuff!  Josh was happier than he appeared in this picture.  I couldn't get him to give me a real smile.  He had basketball tryouts that afternoon and was also very nervous!  He found out on the morning of his birthday that he made the team!

 Josh wanted to have dinner at Los Hermanos with the family.  De-licious!

 15!

 

 Opening his present.

 Josh really wanted some AirPods, so he pitched in all of his birthday money and received his AirPods.  He was pretty happy!

To celebrate his birthday with friends this year, he invited them all over and we rented a 9-Square game:

Since it was chilly outside, we also had hot chocolate along with some pizza:

Once it got too cold, they all retreated to the basement to watch a movie and to play games.  They all had a great time!

Josh and Kayden ended their birthday week at Grandma Haacke's house for a nice birthday dinner.  I was supposed to make the dessert, which I did but then left it home.  Grandma made a last minute batch of brownies to blow the candles out over and then we ate them with ice cream.

 Happy Birthday Josh!  We love you lots and are grateful for the feeling you bring into our home...even though you are sometimes grumpy.

15 Things We Love About Josh:

1. He loves to be with his friends.
2. He is a great help around the house.  He does a great job on his weekly chores.
3. Up until he had 5:30 AM basketball practice, he has been a great bed maker.  His room is always straight and neat.
4. He enjoys baking....or at least making cookie/brownie batter dough to snack on.  Not a lot of the actual baking going on.
5. His love for basketball.  He is super excited to be on the school team!
6. Can't say I love this, but it is definitely Josh: texting.  This kid is always texting.
7. He is socially confident.  The girls like being around him and it is easy for him to talk to them.
8. He loves his family.  He is a great older brother and a great younger brother.
9. He enjoys playing tennis.  He likes playing with his dad and also with his friends.
10. He still gives me a hug goodnight.
11. He is a good students and works hard in school.
12. He is grateful.  
13. He doesn't complain about dinner when he doesn't like it.  He quietly eats his "thank you bites" and then makes himself something else to eat without being rude.  It is usually followed by a "Sorry mom."
14. He spent a better part of the year flying drones with his friends.  He has gotten some pretty cool shots using the camera on the drone while in flight.
15. He is SO much like his dad.  This year he has even starting procrastinating bedtime just like his dad.

Happy 12th Birthday Kayden!

You blink and you miss it.  That's right.  My boy turned 12 today and I am not sure how that happened.  Time is a funny thing.  We had a good time celebrating Kayden today.  It was a fun day!
 

 Both Josh and Kayden started their birthday week off by celebrating at Grandma White's house.  Adel got to celebrate her birthday with them too.

 

Kayden blew out the candles in behalf of all of them.

 

Kayden started his actual birthday off by requesting pancakes for breakfast.

I checked Kayden out from school to go get lunch together.  Costa Vida and some one on one time is the best!

 We took the family and Kayden's birthday gifts to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate as a family.

Kayden received a Zelda game that he has been wanting and an Jazz shirt for his birthday.

We finished off the night by letting out a Yee-haw to wish Kayden the best of birthdays!

The weekend after Kayden's birthday, Kayden invited some friends to go to the space center.  They had a great time!

 They started out the party by having some pizza for lunch.

 

 Kayden's friends all showered him with presents.

The space center director started out the mission by having all the kids sing Happy Birthday to Kayden in some unknown space language.  Kayden had a good giggle.

Even though Kayden and his friends were unsuccessful at completing their space challenge, they still had fun:

12 Things We Love About Kayden:

1. He loves karate and is doing very well.  He never complains about going to class and loves to participate in the parades and on the demo team.
2. He loves his family and wants to be a part of everything they are doing.
3. He loves to read.  Harry Potter is at the top of his favorite books list.
4. He has enjoyed serving as a deacon this past year.  He was among the first group of 11 year old boys to receive the priesthood.
5. He is a smarty pants and does well in school.  He never has homework because he finishes everything up at school.
6. He is a gamer.  He loves playing the Nintendo Switch.
7. He loves his friend Josh and they have a good time together.  He loves all his friends.
8. He does his best to be a good boy.  He is always quick to say "Sorry".
9. He loves listening to music and will listen while doing chores, working in the yard and while he takes a shower.  He likes to listen to "pump up" music while on the way to sporting events.
10. He loves the Utah Jazz.  
11. He wakes up happy when he is met with a hug and kiss each morning.  
12. He still loves to snuggle and give hugs.  It is probably my most favorite thing about him!

Happy birthday Kayden.  We love you!  You are the perfect caboose to our family.

Just Married!

My nephew Bryan married his sweetheart Hannah in the Logan, Utah temple this weekend.  It was a lovely wedding and it was so fun to celebrate with family!

 The happy couple!
 

 Family is the best.

 Kayden and Grandma Haacke dancing at the reception the next night.

 Jaxon dancing with Grandma Haacke

 

 At the end of the reception we all danced and sang at the top of our lungs to Journey's Don't Stop Believin'.  Hannah may have wondered what kind of family it was that she married into!

We took it upon ourselves to make sure Bryan's car was thoroughly decorated.

Brother vs Brother

When McKay was a senior, he decided to film himself jumping into the lockers at school.  I don't know why so don't ask.  Now two year later, Jaxon decided he would follow suit. 

2017

 

2019

 

Who does it better?  I think they're both equally nuts.

Sunday Shenanigans

Halloween 2019

We had a good time celebrating Halloween this year.  Kayden knew what he wanted to be for Halloween more than a month early whereas Jaxon didn't think he was going to dress up until two days before.  It was a fun year though and our costumes brought lots of smiles.

Jeremy's office went all things Harry Potter this year.  They decked out the office and everyone dressed up as a character for two days.  Jeremy was Professor Snape.

 The office staff day one.

The office staff day two.
 

 Harry Potter and Snape dueling.
 

 Dr. Gardner and Dr. White
 

Bellatrix (Dania) looked all too real!

Jeremy attended a ward in our stake's Halloween party for his church calling.  Since he was already dressed up, I borrowed a costume and dressed as Professor McGonagle and went with him.  Needless to say that when we showed up to the party we were the only adults dressed up.  That may have been slightly embarrassing.  At least we looked good!

The boys costumes as they went off to school:

 Jaxon as fat Thor.

 Josh as Forrest Gump (I am run-ning!!)
 

 Kayden as Steve from Stranger Things.

Kayden at his school's costume parade.  It was his last Halloween at the elementary school.

 My exercise peeps.  Amber, our instructor and friend, has a class where we all dress up and exercise to Halloween themed songs. I went as Napoleon Dynamite.

Last but not least I have to include a picture of a veggie tray I made for Jaxon to take to a Halloween party:

I honestly didn't think any of the teens at the party would eat any of it so I decided to make it cute.  I was wrong though.  The teens ate every last vegetable on the tray!  I guess if you make it look good they will eat it!

Vantage Point Makeover

Our ward took on a large service project makeover of the facility Vantage Point that started over Fall Break and lasted through the next week.  We all participated in various ways by helping with demolition, sanding doors, roofing, painting, landscaping, tiling, putting together furniture, installations, baking cookies, and so on.

 Jaxon meeting us at Grandma and Grandpa Haacke's just after a full morning of demolition down at the facility.  We were helping Grandma and Grandpa with a yard project.

 Josh working on some landscaping.

When we were there on the last day, BYUTV showed up to do a news story on the makeover and they interviewed Josh.  Grandma and Grandpa Haacke happened to record the BYUTV news that day and caught the story along with Josh's interview.  Just keep in mind the story was done by a broadcasting student and I had to record the story off the TV with my phone.

The project was a lot of work but a a big success.  Hopefully many kids will be able to benefit from it in the future.

Fall Tennis Season

Josh and his buddies signed up for tennis this year to play with the high school instead of the Jr High.  It was a good experience for Josh to play against some tougher opponents.  His tennis skills improved a lot and he had a great season!

At the end of the season Josh ended up playing in two tournaments.  He played with the JV team where he lost his singles match and won his doubles match.  Then he also played in the exhibition doubles tournament.

He and his friend Matt won first place!

Photography Story of Pirate Pete

Kayden is determined to get his Eagle Scout award regardless that our church will no longer participating in the scouting program come January.  I have been pretty impressed by his efforts as he is well on his way and is on target to get his Eagle by the end of the year next year.  He went to the BYU merit badge pow wow and had to make a photo story using pictures for his photography merit badge.  He took some pictures of our Halloween Skeleton Pirate Pete and then made a slide show.  His photo story was the hit of his class!  His slide show was titled "A Day in the Life of Pirate Pete".  Here are his photos: