Girl's Camp and Other Neat Things (Brady is Home!!)

With all of the excitement lately, I have kind of postponed things a little bit. So I will try to catch up on things. The first pictures were taken up at Kennan's Scout camp.

He got his horsemanship merit badge. Ellen also went up and got to ride a horse.

The horses belonged to the Bill Briggs family. Yes, Ellen has ridden many horses in her life. It was a fun time.

After Scout camp it was girl's camp. Being a bishop, I got the opportunity to go and spend a night at girl's camp. When Ellen used to be in the YW, I always went as the priesthood holder, so this wasn't anything new to me. I enjoyed it a lot. These are just a few of the many pictures Ellen took. (As bishop, I got to take my wife also). This is McKenzie with a bunch of her friends. I really don't know what they are doing with the chopsticks. I'm sure it isn't healthy.

The girl's are back row, left to right: Mariah Boyer, McKenzie, Hannah Dayton. Front row, left to right: Lauren Fiscus, Bethany Briggs, Torie Larson. McKenzie also had to do some of the cooking and cleaning as you can see.

As you can tell, McKenzie really liked cleaning up.

Sometime after the 4th, Kandyce, McKenzie, and Ellen went to Logan so Breanne could take Kandyce's bridal pictures. I just picked a couple that I thought really showed what went on. The first picture is the girl's eating at some restaurant. Do they look anything alike?

Kandyce was just doing a fun little pose for the camera. I thought it was cool. Flirt with the camera!!

When they were taking pictures by the Logan Tabernacle, a couple of little girls were watching and they thought that Kandyce was a princess. They just had to meet her.

As with any model that you work with, sometimes they just pack up and leave you.

Of course the big news so far this month was the return of Brady from his mission to the Baltic States, Latvian speaking. For those of you who don't know where that mission is, it is by the Baltic Sea next to Russia. It was an exciting time for the family. Breanne and Kandyce came down. Breanne said that she was going to be the first to give Brady a hug, she was. For the fun things about the airport, go to Breanne's blog. It was truly funny. Here are some of us waiting patiently for Brady's return.

When Brady finally arrived, with all of the excitement, there were a lot of blurry pictures. So we don't have pictures of him hugging people. Brady is here talking with Shari on the phone. Shari made Kandyce call her and talk to her the whole time as we were waiting for Brady. Kandyce was doing a play-by-play.

Isn't this a great family? We are just missing Shari, but next month, Shari and her family are coming for two weeks. I am so excited. We are definitely going to take family pictures and then you can see the whole family.

Here we are again getting some extra hugs from Brady.

Of course with Brady being home, things are a lot more fun and exciting. He was cleaning his room and he found his Nerf guns. He and Kennan were shooting each other. I think Kennan got the better shots. It was fun.

Brady spoke with Trevor Teichert on Sunday the 12th. He then reported to the High Council with Trevor. He'll be helping around the house for the summer as he prepares to go back to Western Wyoming to get his associate degree. He has also been asked to be on the Institute board for the school year. He is excited about that. For the upcoming events, I have the Wyoming Coaches Clinic this next week, then the family will be going to Nauvoo with the Briant Teichert family, then it is the big wedding of Kandyce. We will be very busy these next few weeks.

With Brady and Kandyce serving missions, our family has been blessed for the last 4 years. We acknowledge our love of our Heavenly Father for their service that they have given. We have truly been a blessed family.

Special Event

So there is a special event that is coming up real soon. Many people celebrate it and I'd like to also show why this special event is so special to me and my family. This was Ellen's idea, so I thought it was a great idea, so here goes. Do you recognize this person?

             

            

            

            

    

So you have probably guessed that we are celebrating Breanne's birthday. She will turn a certain age (not suppose to tell a woman's age) tomorrow, July 2. Breanne was born in Star Valley on a hot afternoon. Ellen was in intense labor so much that she actually passed out. Scared me to death. Ellen was the only person in the hospital, so they asked her what she wanted to eat for supper. They only stayed overnight and then came home. The unique thing about Bre was that she had the cutest little dimple on her right cheek. Breanne was quickly spoiled by her two older sisters.

We asked people to tell us some of the fun things they remember about Breanne. Grandma said she remembers riding with Bre going somewhere and Bre was driving and putting her makeup on at the same time. She was using her hands to put the makeup on and she was driving with her knees. Grandma said it scared her pretty bad.

Kennan says this about his sister, "I love Breanne because she is a fun loving sister who makes everything fun. I remember in the 3rd grade, Breanne was leaving to go back to Logan and I was at school. I came to my desk and I saw an Almond Joy (my favorite candy bar) and a note from Bre."

This next picture of Breanne was taken when Ellen was taking her senior pictures. Brady and Trevor came along and they thought it would be neat to make it look like the leaves were falling. So they grabbed a bunch of leaves and started to toss them in the air above Breanne. Of course with Brady's sense of humor, he had us all laughing.

Another funny story about Bre was when we were camping with the Briant Teichert family. Breanne was sitting on the bench with her knees tucked up inside her big sweat shirt. She wasn't very old. As we were all talking, we heard a big thud and looked and there was Bre on the ground having fallen off the bench on her side with her knees still tucked up in her sweat shirt.

Breanne really loved sports. She was very competitive and hated to lose. Her senior year the basketball team was very small. At one of the ball games, she got a big thigh bruise and it hurt her like crazy. The coaches wanted her to sit out, but she was begging the coach to let her back into the game. She was one tough kid. This next picture was at Lander after they had gotten beat out at Regionals. It was her last basketball game, hence the tears.

She also had the opportunity to play college volleyball. She played libero and helped her Western Wyoming team win Region IX and place 9th at Nationals. She is one of very few from Cokeville who got to play in a national tournament. Here she is playing and celebrating.

 

While at Rock Springs going to school at Western Wyoming, Bre met her love of her life, Greg Aullman. They had so many things in common, late nights not being able to sleep, computers, etc. They were married in May of 2005. The first picture is when Greg came to the house and we did our family tradition of making gingerbread houses. The middle picture is one of their announcement pictures and the last is when they bought their house in Logan. Cute couple.

Another neat thing about Breanne is her relationship with her younger brother Brady and her cousin Trevor. I think she is more excited for Brady to come home from his mission than anybody else. She said that she is going to be the first one to give him a hug. But it wasn't always like that when they were little. I was one of those parents who always said, "If you two don't stop your arguing, I'm going to stop this van and make you walk." Here is a picture of the three. We have lots of prom pictures that Breanne took with Brady and Trevor. She is a great sister.

Breanne has always taken an interest in photography and video editing. She was the yearbook editor and created a number of videos. But most of you know that already. Just look at her blogs that she has. She is a very talented person. When she was 12 years old, she was the Beehive president. Marti Warner was the YW advisor and she said that she could not have done her job without Bre. Bre was organized and planned most of the activities. We also have a lot of videos of people then Breanne's head would pop in front of the camera. Breanne made the 1997-1998 yearbook on cd all by herself. This book was not sent to the publisher, but the pages got lost and were later found. She scanned all of the pictures and made a great memory for those classes.

Of course, Breanne is also a great aunt. Just ask all of her nieces and nephews.

Most of all Breanne is one of the girls that is special in our family. We have many but this week we are honoring one of the best. Happy Birthday Breanne! Mom and Dad love you.