Grandpa Denny

Tuesday night we lost an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. man.  Rory's grandpa passed away due to complications from a surgery he had nearly 8 weeks ago.  We are so heartbroken and Connor and Kadee have taken it exceptionally  hard.  We live across the street from Denny and Rhea and so my kids have spent a lot of time at their house.  Connor loves to play basketball in their driveway and the kids all enjoy sneaking over there to visit with grandma and grandpa and get treats.  Rory has so many great memories with his grandpa and for that I am very thankful.  I am so glad we have the knowledge of the plan of salvation and what happens to us after this life, without it I don't think death would be bearable.  We are praying for Rory's mom, aunts and especially his grandma as they go through this difficult time.  Denny and Rhea have been married for 56 years and have had 5 beautiful girls together.  They are seriously the best grandparents, there has never been any doubt that they love their family more than anything.  I am so grateful for the many wonderful memories we had with grandpa Denny. Here are some of my favorite pictures cousins have posted on Facebook:

Candra, Grandpa, and I comparing our "baby bumps"
trying to decide whose was the biggest

Grandpa and Dashell

Great picture of grandpa and grandma at Heidi's wedding

Update

Welcome to my crazy life :)  Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a soap opera!  Matthew is back in our home after being away from us for 2 long days (it really was so hard and long for us).  His mom made some bad decisions and decided that Matthew was better off with us.  I'm so grateful for that.  She is a good person, but she makes terrible decisions.  I think the best decision she ever made was to give her kids to people who could love and care for them when she couldn't.  So now we continue on with the adoption process.   An individual will now come to our home and make sure Matty is safe, has a place to sleep, and is well taken care of.  After that we just wait until he has been in our home 6 months (June 18)  then we can sign the adoption papers and be sealed to him in the temple.  Here's hoping everything goes as planned.

Happy Valentines Day!

Guess who got to come visit us for Valentines Day?  Our little Matt-Choo!  We were so excited the kids made him valentines and I got him some cake pops from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  Rory got me a beautiful white gold heart necklace with 3 diamonds in it and I got him and the kids each a caramel apple (not quite the same as an expensive necklace but I think he liked it just as well).  We are having a very low key Valentines.  We are just going to enjoy our day with Matty and as a family.

Truths

I think I'm a pretty private person.  I don't like to share a lot of personal stuff on Facebook and I try to keep my blog upbeat because I want to remember the good times, not the bad.  However, this has been a really rough couple of months for us.  Rory has had some problems at work, we've had a lot of sick family members, and for the first time in our marriage I have really struggled.  I don't know why I feel the need to share all this now, but I think that it's because I want my kids to know that life isn't always parties and awards.  Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's a battle, and sometimes it isn't wonderful, this being said, it teaches us so much and the good times make the bad times worth it.  Elder Jeffrey R Holland gave a talk entitled "Good Things to Come."  The LDS church made a video of the talk and have shared it on YouTube.  It is such an uplifting talk and I found it at a time in my life that was very dark and I couldn't have needed it more. In this talk/video Elder Holland testifies that for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, there are better days and good things to come.  He says that every one of us has times when we need to know things will get better.  Oh how true and profound this statement is.  A couple days ago Mathew Jace went back to live with his mama.  She has agreed to let us be a part of his life, but needless to say, this has been a heart breaking time for our family.  It all began with some terrible rumors about Rory and Mathew's mother.  I won't go into the details because none of that matters, I will say that it kills me that we were trying to do something nice and got condemned for it.  Since Mathew came into our home, Rory was taken out of his drug court position at work and has had to suffer through degrading interviews and tests.  We have received awful calls and text from Mathew's family, and have heard countless rumors.  We endured through all of this because we knew the bigger picture was Mathew and helping him.  Losing him was almost my breaking point.  I have prayed and prayed that he will be okay, I really haven't stopped praying since he left us and I almost can't stand the heartache.  We taught him so much in the short time he was with us, but I hope we left enough of an impression for him to know he deserves to be loved.  I read this quote and it is the one thing I would tell Mathew if I could, "Sometimes, people come into your life not to love you... but to make you feel that you are worth loving."  I also wrote a letter to the Sheriff expressing my feelings about this whole situation.  I am going to share it here, for no other reason than I want to have a memory of how this brought our family together, how we stuck up for each other, and stood by each other in the face of adversary.  Life may be hard at times, but I'm grateful for this beautiful ride.

Dear Sheriff Cordova, 
I know that recently you have received some letters and heard some rumors regarding Rory’s character. I have had many sleepless nights trying to figure out why this is all happening and what I can do to make it better. I realize now that God gives us challenges to make us stronger and that there is nothing I can do to make things better, simply wait for the storm to pass. That being said, I would like to defend my husband’s honor. He is a good man. He is a kind man. He is a respectful man, and up until recently, a man who loved to go to work. He is one of the few people left in this world that still have integrity and that are willing to do the right thing no matter the cost. I promise you, he would never do anything intentionally to jeopardize his job or the life he has provided for our family. We took Mathew in for no other reason than to give him a better life. Ever since we did this we have been bombarded with negativity. No one can do anything nice in this world without having an ulterior motive. I am here to tell you there was no motive, nothing to gain by what we did; we just wanted to help a little boy that would have never had a chance otherwise. Now our hearts are broken, our spirits wounded, and I don’t think either of us will ever be the same. The Dalai Lama once said, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, please don’t hurt them.” Please remember this when you hear negative things about my husband. Please know he is a wonderful man, who respects you and respects the badge he puts on each day. Please have faith and trust in him and encourage those just under you to do the same. I’m not asking you to not question or to not do your job, simply to do it with kindness and to remember we are all fighting a hard battle.

Sincerely,

Sarah Bradley

Happy Birthday Kadee Jo!

A couple days ago my little girl turned 7!!  She is so fun, smart, and talented and was so excited to celebrate her birthday.  Friday I took cupcakes to her class and we all sang, "Happy Birthday."  Then Friday night was our schools annual Valentine Carnival so we went to that and had so much fun. Mathew and Kinlee were hilarious.  They could not get enough of the pizza, suckers, and excitement.  Rory brought them home a little early for me so that I could stay and clean up.  My kids and all the PTA kids that we drag to every activity stayed after the carnival and helped us clean up, we have awesome kids.

Saturday was Kadee's birthday party.  We went with a movie theme and decided to show Madagascar in 3D.  We also had a photo booth, trophies, and of course the famous movie clipboard.  We had popcorn, kool-aid, and cupcakes.  After the movie the kids had fun posing for the photo booth and loved running around in the basement.  Love having my house full of my kids friends.

Sunday was Kadee's actual birthday.  She loved that they sang to her in primary and then we got to go to grandma Debbie's for dinner.  After dinner grandma and grandpa Bradley came over for some yummy ice cream cake.  So grateful we got to celebrate this special girls birthday for 3 days!

Kadee's Yummy Ice Cream Cake

All the kids enjoying the movie

20 Things a mother should tell her son...

1.  Play a sport.  It will teach you how to win honorably, lose gracefully, respect authority, work with others, manage your time and stay out of trouble.  And maybe even throw or catch.

2.  You will set the tone for the sexual relationship, so don't take something away from her that you can't give back.

3.  Use careful aim when you pee... somebody's got to clean that up, you know.

4.  Save money when you're young because you're going to need it someday.

5.  Allow me to introduce you to the dishwasher, oven, washing machine, iron, vacuum, mop, and broom.  Now please go use them.

6.  Pray and be a spiritual leader.

7.  Don't ever be a bully and don't ever start a fight, but if some idiot clocks you, please defend yourself.

8.  Your knowledge and education is something that nobody can take away from you.

9.  Treat women kindly.  Forever is a long time to live alone and it's even longer to live with somebody who hates your guts.

10.  Take pride in your appearance.

11.  Be strong and tender at the same time.

12.  A woman can do everything you can do.  This includes her having a successful career and you changing diapers at 3 a.m.  Mutual respect is the key to a good relationship.

13.  "Yes ma'am" and "yes sir" still go a long way.

14.  The reason that they're called "private parts" is because they're "private."  Please do not scratch them in public.

15.  Peer pressure is a scary thing.  Be a good leader and others will follow.

16.  Bringing her flowers (or chocolate) for no reason is always a good idea.

17.  Be patriotic.

18.  Potty humor isn't the only thing that's humorous.

19.  Please choose your spouse wisely.  My daughter-in-law will be the gatekeeper for me spending time with you and my grandchildren.

20.  Remember to call your mother because I might be missing you.

Reflections

My sweet little Kadee Jo decided to submit another reflections entry this year.  Last year she wrote a story and placed at the school and at the regional level, so she decided to try it again.  This year she went the Visual Arts route.  The theme was, "The Magic of a Moment."  So she took my camera and took pictures of "things that make everyday magical."  She took about a gazillion pictures, but we finally narrowed it down to her favorites.  She did everything herself.  She cut letters out on the Cricut, put the pictures on scrapbook paper, and Modge Podged them to the poster board.  She submitted her entry and placed 2nd at Wellington Elementary. After the judging at our school the entries were sent to the region director.  I got an email that said she and several others from our school had placed at the regional level and that there would be an award's ceremony for them on Jan. 30.  I am so proud of the kids at our school.  We had 16 entries and out of those 9 placed at regions.  Last night was the regional awards ceremony and Kadence placed 3rd in her category.  The Sun Advocate was there to take pictures and they said that all the winners will have their picture in the paper within the next couple of weeks.  I am so super proud of Kadence and all her accomplishments.

Dad and Matty

Nana and Kadee before the awards ceremony

Kadee's 3rd Place Ribbon

Ninee in her monkey hat

All the winners in the Visual Arts Category Grades K-6