Layoffs are horrible

Ever since I started my professional career, I've had to deal with layoffs.   The first few years were stressful. They seemed to always come when we had just made a major life change. A birth, home purchase, etc.  I remember the first time I went through a layoff, we had just purchased our first home and moved in.  The rumors were flying and I was worried, but I didn't want Deni to worry, so I didn't tell her. (which is not typical of our relationship)  Side note, don't tell me something you don't want Deni to know, as we talk about everything. Work, personal, etc.

I did my best to not let it effect me, but did a horrible job of hiding it. After a stressful day at work, I came home, only to get into a fight with Deni. During our fight, it came out that layoffs were just around the corner and that I could lose my job.  Although I had attempted to not let it effect me, it was a major stress in my life and I was bring it home with me.

We made it through that layoff and about ten more since then. After the first few, they got a little easier.  In those early years there was a methodology of how to avoid losing your job.  Mainly not be the worse member of the team. The majority of the layoffs were getting rid of those that should have been fired anyway.

However after all the dead wood had been shed, the decisions started getting harder and harder. They start getting more and more personal each year.

Last year a close co-worker of mine was let go. That was hard for me.  We were hired within the same time in 2000 and our careers mirrored each other through the years.  It was hard to watch him lose his job and struggle looking for a job in the down economy.

Then this year another close co-worker was let go.  Although I haven't known him long, he was instrumental to helping me with the new project I took on this summer.  I'm saddened by the reckless decisions made each year that effect people and more importantly families. 
 
These last 2 years, more than any, have made me change my thinking about my job.  I've changed my thinking from "if I will lose my job" to "when". 


In chatting with friend that lost his job this year, he said something about still keeping in touch and even helping me, if I needed it.

He said:

Well, my friends are my friends and I wouldn't let them down

Wow - I need more friends like this, but more importantly, I need to strive to be this type of friend.

The day after

We spent the night at my parents so we could go shopping on Black Friday.

I can't say that we got much sleep. We got to bed around 11pm and then got up at 3:30am.  Part of the whole fun is watching grown adults push, fight and act like 3 year olds at 5am, but It wasn't as crazy as years past.

I started going with Deni a few years back.  I'm sure many husbands would hate to go shopping, but its been fun the last few years that I've done it with Deni.  We had a plan of attack and got in and out of the stores we wanted to pretty quickly. Besides that we finished 90% of our shopping on one day, who wouldn't like that.

Gingerbread Houses

We spent Thanksgiving over at my parents this year.

Last year we started the tradition of making Gingerbread houses while at Grandma's. The kids love it and it keeps them busy for a little while.

I helped Deni melt the sugar to glue these graham cracker houses together.

Sydney and Deni working on Sydney's house

Sydney's finished product.

Ryan's finished product.

Isn't it about time

One of Ryan's favorite past times is playing with legos.  He's always making ships and new creations. Tonight Deni and Sydney went on their "date" bowling.

That left Ryan and I at home with the whole house at our disposal.  We obviously gravitated downstairs to the legos.  We played for well over an hour.

Here is Ryan's creation.

 Any my creation.

It' was fun to have one on one time with Ryan. No distractions. He's a great kid with a great imagination. He amazes me everyday with what comes out of his little head.

Joes Pizza

This afternoon, Ryan called my cell phone from our home phone. He was in the living room and I was in my bedroom.

I answered "Joe's Pizza". For a moment there was silence on the other end of the phone. So I said, "Do you want a Pizza?" Ryan quickly said "NO" and hung up.

Deni and I laughed for a few minutes, thinking he'd come in and tell us he dialed a wrong number. He didn't. A few minutes later I went out and asked him if had called a Pizza store on accident.

His look was priceless. First he looked guilty and thought he was in trouble, then as I smiled, he realized he hadn't mis-dialed and I was the one and only "Joe" from "Joe's Pizza".

Halloween 09

Monday night we went and picked out our pumpkins. The pumpkins were only 8 cents a pound, so we let the kids choose whichever pumpkin they wanted. A few minutes after getting to the store, I see Ryan and Sydney attempting to carry a pumpkin over to the cart. Turns out the pumpkin they were carrying together was 30 lbs. All in all, we bought 88 lbs of pumpkins (4 pumpkins). 30 lbs, 25 lbs, 20 lbs and 13 lbs.

Thursday night we carved our pumpkins.

I carved Phineas, from Disney's Phineas and Ferb.   Ryan and I love watching Phineas and Ferb, so I thought it was appropriate to carve Phineas in my pumpkin.

Phineas, from Disney Phineas and Ferb

Ryan and Sydney and their pumpkins.

Stitch and Belle at the Trunk or Treat.  Trunk or Treats are kind of oddity. We all meet at the church and within 10 minutes, the kids have walked around to all of the cars or "trunks" and filled their baskets, they don't want to stand an wait for us to hand out candy, so the kids go around and around and around.  30 minutes from the time we pulled into the church parking lot, all the candy is given out and all the cars are heading home.

After the trunk or treat, we went to a few neighbors and then headed to Grandma and Grandpa Bergers to trick or treat.

Happiness is (part 2)

March 31, 2001 - CHLA Hospital

Happiness is

This picture was taken April 20,2001, while we were in the Hospital at CHLA.

Once there was a snowman

Snow in October? Not a good sign.

When I got home, Sydney was in the front yard rolling a snowball. Ryan joined shortly and it was snowman making time..

There wasn't that much snow, but there was enough for the kids to make the first snowman of the year.

Released and Sustained

I was released as the 1st Counselor in the Young Men's Presideny today and then immediately put back in as the President of the Young Men's.

I've been working in the YM's since we moved into this ward 4 years ago. In Aug 2005 I was put in as the YM's Secretary and then a year later, I was released as the YM's Secretary and put in as the 1st Counselor and have served there for the last 3 years.

At that time I was put in as the 1st Counselor, the Varsity Scout Program was non-existent in our ward. Over the last 3 years, my assistants and I have built up a fairly well rounded Varsity Scout Program.  I'm a little sad that I'm leaving the Varsity Scouts and Varsity Scout Program as I think the Varsity Scout Program is an awesome program.  However the good news is I'll be getting all the Varsity Scouts as they turn 16 and become Priests.

I'm excited to jump in feet first and get a functioning Venturing Program running in our ward. Lots to do.

Tour de St George

54 degrees doesn't sound too bad, even with shorts on. It's cold, but bearable. That is until you start riding your bike at 20mph with no sun.

At the start of the Tour de St. George it was 54 degrees. My teeth were chattering before I started riding. Even worse, the first couple miles were downhill, which meant two things. First I was going faster than normal and second I wasn't having to work hard, which made it hard to stay warm.

Right before we started, they asked us to follow all traffic rules. If you notice in the picture below there was a green light. The light would stay green for about 15 seconds. Most of the riders, road through this first light.  So much for following traffic rules.

I rode the race with Tregaron, a friend from work (aka the one that talked me into doing this). We started the race slow and watched our heart rate, as we knew we had a long day infront of us. Within the first 5 miles there were multiple bike wrecks. I'm certain that one of them the guy broke his collar bone. If I had to guess how many riders there were, I'd guess about 500 or so. Until we hit the first hill, there was a massive group of anxious riders. Because of this, we stayed back and watched all the drama happen in front of us.

There were 2 "older" (probably in their late 40's/early 50's) men riding together. One had a BYU jersey on. I commented to Tregaron within the first few miles of the race that these men were about our pace. Surprisingly enough, we finished within minutes of each other.

Here is a profile of the course.  Although I had looked at the profile before signing up, I didn't realize there was this much climbing. 

From mile 67 to 74 we climbed up a canyon (hwy 18) towards the turn off to the Top of Snow Canyon.  This was a hard climb after riding 67 miles. Had I been fresh, the 7 mile climb wouldn't have been an issue.  I rode between 6 and 8 mph up this hill.

At the top, we celebrated with a picture.  I survived the climb, it's all down hill from here (well so I thought.)

After reaching the summit of our climb, we showed our wristbands to the park ranger as we rode into Snow Canyon. From there, we had about a 5 mile descent. The warm wind was blowing up snow canyon as we rode down it.  By this time it was in the high 80's.

I hit a wall around mile 80. Tregaron lied to me over and over by telling me, "this is the last hill", or "as soon as we get up this hill, it's all down hill from here".  Knowing better, but wanting to believe him, I kept peddling, only to see another hill or an endless hill infront of me.  However Tregaron talked me up to the next rest stop, which was about mile 84. At that point I was able to fuel and feel a little bit better as we rode the last 16 miles into town.

I'll be honest. This race was one of the hardest things I've even done, but it was enjoyable and I'd do it again, but I'll be a little more prepared next time.  

Brett and Tregaron at the finish line.

In other races I've done, I've always been marked with a number. However I knew they weren't marking anyone for this race. Since Deni was unable to attend due to her bike vs car accident, I thought it would be appropriate to mark my legs with "Deni", which Tregaron did willingly.  I was surprised I didn't have one person ask me what "Deni" was on my legs until after the race.

A guy came up to me and said, "why do you have Deny written on your legs?"  I said "it's actually Deni, and it's my wife's name. She was hit by a car last week while training for this race and was unable to attend."   He felt like a jerk, but told me he was sorry to hear and hoped she got better.

No more, no less

I completed my first Century (100 mile) bike endurance event.

Time on the bike - 6 hours 31 minutes and 33 seconds. with water/bathroom/stretch breaks we added just over an hour on top of this time. 

We had to ride about 50 feet past the finish line to actually complete 100 miles.

Every now and then

Every now and then you find lifetime friends. Growing up I never felt like I had too many friends, especially at school, but was lucky to have 2 great friends at church. Ben and I grew up together since I moved to TX at age 4. Kevin was a transplant to TX from California when I was about 15.

Then (1992)

Me, Sarah, Santa, Kevin,
bottom-row Ben.



Now (2009)

me, Ben, and Kevin.

As you can tell, our hairstyles have changed over the last 17 years.  All of us have alot less hair now, some by choice, some by genetics.   However not too much has changed in the last 17 years, still the same old Brett, Ben and Kevin.  We haven't all been together in years, but we had a great time attending the Priesthood session of General Conference and then visiting for a few hours afterwards.

32 years ago today

I'm not sure why I was so lucky to meet and marry Deni. She's beautiful, funny, loving, caring,... the whole package. Happy 32nd Birthday Love.

Growing like a weed

If you've ever grown squash or zucchini you know how they can take over your garden really quickly. To attempt to keep them manageable, I put them inside these cages and pruned leaves off throughout the season.. The only problem is that they quickly grew up and over the cage and all the way back down to the ground.

So I pruned the plant a little more than usual and decided to tie it up and grow it vertically.

It's over

Soccer Season is finally over. After over a month of games on every Tues, Wed, Thurs and Friday nights, we're done.  Sydney scored a goal in her very last game.  First goal ever, last game of the season.

Unfortunately we had just been handed Sydney's soccer pictures and I had taken them out and was attempting to show Deni when Sydney scored her goal.  She came running back with her hands in the air, just like her brother. She was excited to score a goal.  (the winning goal too.)

Ryan's last game was on Thursday. Although he didn't score a goal in his last game, he had alot of shots on the goal. Here's an action shot of him shooting.

There was a hand ball in the goalie box and Ryan's team wanted to take the shot.  All the boys were fighting over it and Ryan just took it. The goalie caught it.  The referee said he (the referee) wasn't ready, so they brought the ball back and put it in the same spot.  Ryan kicked it immediately and the goalie caught it again.  The referee blew his whistle again and then clarified he wasn't ready and that Ryan had to wait for the whistle.  So Ryan took 3 penalty shots (only one of the counting) and he didn't score once, but he got lots of practice shooting.

Ryan's coaches bought them medals with their own name and team name engraven on them.  

Up Payson Canyon

Today was my "long" ride. On Thursday, Deni rode up Payson Canyon to Payson Lakes. Never having ridden my bike up that far up Payson Canyon I thought I'd attempt the same today. I left from my house, rode through Salem and then Payson.

Total elevation gain was 3,500 feet (and my body felt it.)

I suffered up the last few miles and probably would have turned around had Deni not have done it earlier this week.

It took me about 2 hours and 15 minutes to ride from my house past Payson Lakes to the turn off to BlackHawk Campground.

Below is the grade I was riding up.

What goes up, must come down. At around 24 miles I turned around and flew down Payson Canyon. I passed one car that was going 20mph and kept a steady 30+mph for about 12 miles. I learned that the "caution 15mph" signs for sharp corners applied to bicycles as well.

All in all I did 50.24 miles in just under 3hrs and 29 minutes of continuous cycling.

GOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL

Ryan's team played tonight.  We're still not sure what got into Ryan tonight, but he was playing soccer better than he's ever played before.  He was playing forward when he has some close shots on goal and then it happened. Ryan got the ball dribbled it in to about 10 feet from the goalie. He shoots, he scores! GOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!! Ryan came running back, hands in the air. Deni, Sydney and I were doing the same thing while yelling at the top of our lungs.  We were tremendously proud of his accomplishment.

And then it happened, about 20 seconds after the goal, the stupid teenage ref's (that don't hardly pay attention) called offsides.  (What I really think what happened was the father of the goalie dishonestly called offsides after the goal and the teenagers listened to him.)  Ryan's goal was stripped from him. He was devastated.  It was the only score on either side for the night and Ryan's first goal ever.

As far as I'm concerned, he scored the goal.  I was on the oppisite side of the field and things looked good from where I was, besides he had the ball in front of him the whole time.

$50 ride

I was thoroughly enjoying my lunchtime ride when 16 miles into a 20 mile ride I road through an intersection and heard the dreaded sound. 

At first, I thought I had run over something and that something was stuck in my back tire, however as I quickly slowed, I heard the sound of all the 100 pounds of pressure escaping through a gash in the side of my tire. 

I was riding with Tregaron, a buddy of mine from work.  We stopped and assessed the damage of my tire.  Not only did I ruin the tube, but I ruined the tire as well. It appears that a rock gashed the size wall of the tire, which meant I was done riding for the day, even though I had a new tube with me.

Being 4 miles from work, I called Deni to come pick me up and sent Tregaron on his way.

Now I have to buy a new tube AND a new tire, which will set me back around $50.00.  The joys of training for a bike race.

Sydney Soccer

Last year we missed the soccer sign ups. I want to say it was on accident but after having games every night (Tues - Friday), it might have been on purpose.  Actually it was on accident, but looks like a great excuse for next year.

2 years ago, Sydney took an "intro" to soccer class.

At this age, it's pretty much swarmball, but still fun to watch. Sydney has gotten less timid as each game comes and goes.

Someday all the rules and plays are going to click and then watch out.

Sydney throwing the ball in. Nice throw.

Ryan Soccer

After a year off from Soccer, Ryan's back playing.

After all that running, sometimes you just need to see if your heart hasn't come out of your chest.

Ryan has gravitated toward the goalie position. For whatever reason, all the boys fight over this position.  It baffles me, as soccer is a running sport and I always wanted to be up front attempting to score, not standing in a box waiting for the ball.  So I asked Ryan why he wanted to play goalie. The answer was simple - "You don't have to run when you're goalie."

Oh Crap

How many times have you gone to the bathroom at home, sat down, done your business then realize there is no toliet paper within reach?  I'll be honest, it's happened a few times to me.  Once I notice I'm in need of toilet paper, I begin yelling at the top of my lungs for anyone within the sound of my voice for some help.  99% of the time some kind soul, usually Deni comes to my rescue with toilet paper in hand.

As I got to work this morning, lunch and bike in hand, I was invited to lunch to celebrate the release of a new rev of a product I work with.  It's hard to pass up a free lunch.  So I  decided that I'd ride my bike home to compensate for my lack of riding during lunch. Because I was riding my bike home and not catching my vanpool, I stayed a few minutes later than normal to finish up on a few emails.  Then I went to change.

Before I changed into my bike clothes, I had some bathroom business to take care of.  I found a stall, sat down and ..well I'll leave it at that.  Then came the moment when I looked at the toilet paper dispenser and realized I chose a stall with no toliet paper. Now what?  There was another guy 2 stalls over.  Do I ask him to hand me some toliet paper?  Do I wait for him to leave?

I decided I'd wait for him to leave and attempt a quick dash to another stall.  After waiting for a few minutes, but felt like 30 minutes, I was alone in the bathroom. I stood up and quickly jumped into an adjoining  stall with 2 rolls of toilet paperl

I then quickly changed into my bike clothes and headed on my bike home.

Fresh Veggies

It's always fun to be able to pick fresh veggies from your garden. Tonight, we picked a 5 gallon bucket full of tomatoes (see orange bucket next to Syd), 14 onions, and peppers for Salsa.

We even picked a few carrots. I like the 6+ foot tomatoes behind me. Now our neighbors can see our tomato plants from the other side of their fence.

Heading to Genola

Who wakes up at 6:30am on a Saturday on purpose?  I do. I needed to get my long bike ride in for the week, however Deni had something at 9:00am, so I woke up early in an attempt to get back before she left.

I left just after 7am and rode out of Spanish Fork heading towards West Mountain (that's the mountain just south and west of Utah Lake ).  Once I got to the base of West Mountain, I turned South and heading through West Payson, Genola and then finally turning east and heading into Santaquin. I then headed North going through Payson, Salem and the back home to Spanish Fork.

All in all, I did 40.78 miles in 2 hours and 12 minutes.  Amazingly, I felt quite good on the ride and averaged about 18.5 miles per hour.
 

And the Best use of $64.05 dollars goes to

Me. A few weeks ago we were at Wal-Mart and ran on to some clearance outdoor wooden rocking chairs. I've been wanting some chairs for our front porch for a while but they're expensive and there always seems to be something else we need. However, the $85 chairs (each) were marked down to $30. I went back and forth, should I get it or not and decided not to. Well at least until the next morning, when I drove back to Wal-mart and purchased 2 rocking chairs.

I've been teased a few times by neighbors that they are Grandma or Grandpa chairs, but it has become a gathering place for our family. Sometimes it's just me and Deni, others it's me and Ryan or Deni and Ryan, etc.



There's nothing more I like to do than to spend time with my family and these chairs have been a great way to just that.



Just about each night since I've purchased these chairs, some sort of family gathering has happened. Deni and I have also enjoyed getting the kids to bed and then sitting on the porch and talking.

Alpine Loop, Salsa, and 50.6mph

Ryan and I survived the campout. We even slept in a little. We got up, took down our tent, ate breakfast and headed home.

Here's a self portrait after we woke up.




Today was the 3rd stage of the Tour of Utah. Today's stage starts in Park City and goes to Snowbird (via Heber, Provo Canyon, Alpine Loop). After stopping at my parents to borrow a camera lens, we headed up towards Sundance Ski resort and up the Alpine Loop to find a spot for the bike race. We found a spot about 2 miles from the summit of the climb and waited for about an hour before they came by.



As we were waiting for the racers, sponsers came by and threw things out. We got a "Tour of Utah" cowbell to ring, Vitiame water, plus the kids each got a Yellow Livestrong wrist band.

As the racers got to us, there was an 8 man break away that was a few minutes ahead of the main peleton.




Regardless if you like bike racing or not, if you've ever driven the Alpine loop, seeing these guys (50 miles into a 100 mile ride) climb the Alpine is impressive.

8 man break away, a little closer.


After a few minutes, this larger group came through.



After all the racers went by, we continued up the Alpine Loop and over down into Alpine. We stopped and caught this quick picture on the way down.



When we got home it was Salsa time. We had a 5 gallon bucket full of tomatoes waiting for us. We sent Sydney out to the garden to pick a few more onions for the Salsa too. 90% of the ingredients came from our garden.



We started the Salsa and got it all done around 7pm, but then Deni and I took a bike ride. (about 15 miles). On the way down Woodland Hills Road, I was going 41mph without peddling, so I thought, I wonder how fast I could get going if I peddled. The answer 50.6mph. I was 10 mph over the speed limit.

After the ride, Deni finished bottling the Salsa, while I ran to the church to set up chairs. A very busy Saturday.

Dinner and a campout

At lunch I took about a 12.5 mile bike ride with a co-worker. My training schedule states that I needed to get in 34 miles today, so to get my miles, I also planned on riding home after work, however even that wouldn't add up to my 34 miles. My riding partner recommended that as I left work I ride 5 miles north into Provo, then turn around and follow my route back to Novell (10 miles) and then on to home (11 miles), giving me my total 34 miles. So around 4pm, I did just that.

I rode North into Provo, then back along the same route, past Novell and onto my ride home. It was record breaking hot. 101 at the time I was riding. A few miles south of Novell, I felt like I was getting too hot and didn't have enough water to keep me cool, so I decided that it wasn't worth it to continue on and called Deni. I continued to ride towards home, until Deni caught me in North Spanish Fork. All in all, I had ridden just over 30 miles for the day. 4 miles short of my 34 miles, but acceptable. Deni was smarter than I was and rode in the morning before it got hot. She road from Spanish Fork to Santaquin, up Santaquin Canyon a few miles and then back home. She got her 34 miles in, I didn't.

Tonight was the ward's Father and Son's campout. Ryan has been looking forward to this campout for a while. Instead of getting all our cooking stuff together, I decided that we'd just go out to eat then head up the Canyon. The ward was taking care of breakfast, so it was much easier for us to just eat before we went.

Ryan choose Barry's Drive in. It's a local hamburger joint. Deni took Ryan there a while back and Ryan has wanted to take me there since.

After eating, we headed up Spanish Fork Canyon to Sheep Creek (pronounced "sheep crick") by the locals. We set up our tents (and I realized we forgot a nice pad to sleep on.)



We were only about 30 miles from our house, but it's amazing how well you can see the stars when there are no lights around. I sat around a campfire for most of the night and stared up into the sky while Ryan ran around with his friends. You could easily see the Milky Way and Venus the brightest star in the sky. I also saw a few shooting stars.

Tour of Utah

I worked from home today as I had a dentist appointment at 11:30am. This was my first visit to the dentist, although Deni and the kids have been going to him for a while. Good news, no new cavities.

Also today, the Tour of Utah came though Utah County. (Thanksgiving Point to Mt Nebo - 77 mile stage with a mountain top finish) I had planned on going to see the riders ride up Payson Canyon but I had forgotten about the dentist appointment until I got the reminder call a few days ago.

So as soon as I got out of my dentist appointment, I called Deni and decided that we'd head up the canyon to see if we could catch the about 130 riders. I thought Payson Canyon would be closed due to the race, so we headed to Santaquin canyon, which would bring us back onto Nebo loop about 10 miles from the finish. The estimated time of finish was 2pm. We got to the summit at 1:40pm, however the riders were fast and all 130 of them had already crossed the finish line.

We went ahead to the finish line.



We decided to walk around a bit and they were just about to award the jersey's for the day. So we got a few pictures. I was standing in between 2 riders and they happened to be the winners. One of them (Francisco Mancebo) has ridden the Tour de France and finished in 4th and 5th places 2 different years.

The atmosphere was very casual and laid back. I had my little lens, so I was quite close to snap these photos. Completely different than what I saw at the Tour to France. I walked right in and around the riders today, where in France everything was barricaded with a heavy police presence.

Darren Lill - King of the Mountain.


Jeff Louder (3rd), Darren Lill (1st), and Francisco Mancebo (2nd)




I already have plans to take the day off next year and watch at least one day of the race, assuming they come through Utah County again. A lot of spectators rode their bikes up the Canyon before and after the race, that is something I'd like to do next year as well.

A Century

Yesterday a co-worker came by and invited me to ride a Century (100 mile) bike ride in St George in two months. (Tour of St. George)

After talking to Deni, we decided we were both going to start training for it. The kids are out of school at the end of that week and on Monday, I had taken the days off, as we were going to go camping at Zion's National Park, although St. George is just about 45 miles away, so we might do both. The details will fill in, but for now, we're going to train to get ready.

To be ready for the race, I have to get alot of riding in, within the next 2 months.

I set up a spreadsheet to track my progress.

Woodbadge Beads

Last September, Deni and I attended Woodbadge, a week long Adult Boy Scout Leader Course. As we completed the week-long course, we were given the additional task to create 5  personal goals ( or ticket) for ourselves. This ticket needed to be completed within 18 months.  After woodbadge, Deni and I began "working our ticket".  About 9 months later, in June 09, we both completed our goals (or Ticket).

Alot of people go to Woodbadge, but not all of them complete their goals or ticket and therefore don't get their Woodbadge beads. To me, it's the equivalent of lots of Boys are in Scouting, but not all get their Eagle.   When someone completes their Ticket, a ceremony is held where Woodbadge Beads are awarded to the participant.

We were busy in July so we decided to have our Woodbadge ceremony at the next ward Court of Honor. The Court of Honor was on Aug 18th.


We had a great showing from our ward at the Court of Honor.  Although we know we aren't really ever finished with Scouting, it was very nice to be complete with our tickets and receive the Award.

A neighbor took some pictures of us as we got beads, but I haven't gotten the pictures from her yet.

9 years ago today

Ryan was born 9 years ago today. It's kinda crazy to think that Deni and I have a 9 year old.

Ryan has been so excited for his birthday.



He's been asking for bike gloves for months, so we got him some bike gloves.



With a $20 bill hidden inside them.



He actually wanted bike gloves and bike shorts, but being the end of the season, we figured he might want to wait until next spring.

Deni made Ryan a Stitch cake. Pretty impressive.




Deni also put special candles in Ryan's cake. Ryan would blow them out and a second later, they'd light up again. We have some fun video of him trying and trying and trying to get them out.

Now that Ryan's 9, he's ready for the 4th grade.