Shingles:(

Poor Emily.  I am just worried sick about her.  She is in London on Study Abroad with BYU.  She has been there for almost 2 months.  Anyway, she just found out she has shingles.  She thought she really hurt her back last week.  It was bad enough that she had to go to the doctor.  They gave her Valium, Codeine AND muscle relaxants.  She called this morning to say that she had a bad blistery rash now.  I told her it sounded just like what happened to Nana earlier this year when she got shingles.  Brad called his counselor, who is a pediatrician and he said it sounded just like shingles.  So, she is on her way back to the doctor.  She is really miserable and I hope it will heal quickly.  We love you Emily and I am so glad I will see you next week.

We wanted Emily to feel better, so we made a video about her having shingles.  It was a lot of fun to make and the boys really got into it!

School Starts Again

Well, the summer went wayyy too fast.  I wasn't ready for school to start this year.  It started August 6 - if you can believe it.  Danny is "big man on campus" at Greenfield Elementary this year.  He is a 6th grader!  It is hard for me to believe that when we moved over here from Towne Meadows that Taylor was just starting 6th grade.  Ryan, my baby, is starting 1st grade.  I wish I could slow time down.  However, I am really glad that they got great teachers.  We were all really happy with how their classes turned out this year.  Danny got Mr. Spomer and Ryan got Mrs. Nolan.  Aren't they cute!

My Hunks!

Taylor is a SENIOR this year - I can't believe it!  Where has the time gone?  Alex is a Sophomore and is glad he's not the baby on campus this year.  Everyone is really upset because the district added an extra half hour to the day this year.  Poor guys have to start school at 6:30 this year instead of 7:00 a.m. :(

Heaps of Patterson's Reunion

Ever since I was a little girl we have been going to the Heap Reunion.  It is held the first week of August up in the White Mountains near Green's Peak.  We decided this year to make it more of an Earl Patterson Family reunion this year.  I was really happy at how many of the family turned out.  We had a great time bonding and getting to know each other better.  My boys had a blast (but we missed Emily greatly)!  It was the first time in a long time that it didn't ever rain.  The boys rode Uncle Don's quad's, found horny toads, carved cool walking sticks (thanks to Uncle Larry), played horseshoes, ran down Green's Peak, chopped down trees and played with their cousins.  Thank you everyone for coming and thank you Ginna and family for all you did.  A special thank you to Mom for the wonderful memory book of Dad that she made.  I know it took a LOT of work.

 

Loaded up to go run down Green's Peak

See how many actually run!

Ryan and Tyler getting ready to run . . .

or should I say "slide" with JoAnn and Leslie!

They made it!

Don took us on the quads up by where we used to camp.  We found a tree that had the Grant's names carved in it and then it said + JoAnn.  You can't tell from the picture, but it was really high up.  The tree had grown a lot.

22nd Anniversary!

We went to Italy for our 22nd anniversary - but on the real date, July 18th, we drove up and spent the night in Flagstaff.  We stayed at Little American and had a nice relaxing time.  Thank you for a wonderful 22 years Brad!  I love you :)

Family Bowling Outing

Annual McBride Reunion

We have been going to Imperial Beach, California every year for the 4th of July week for quite a few years now.  We meet up with Andy and Suzette's families and Sue and Mark's families.  It is such a wonderful tradition that we really love.  With Brad's parents both gone, I think that it is really neat to have this tradition for our families.  

Every year there are amazing sand castles and sculptures done by the family.  Here is an alligator that Brad and Ryan were quite proud of - as they should be!

On the 4th of July, we pack up some food, toys, blankets and chairs, and head over to Coronado.  They city opens up the golf course and tons of people eat, relax and play games for hours before the fireworks ever start.  I LOVE bundling up and watching the fireworks over the water.  It is so beautiful.

This pic didn't turn out very well because it is blurry.  I wanted to put it on anyway because it has a lot of us together.  Brad designed these t-shirts to honor Horton and Marlene and I really like the way they turned out!

You might have noticed that Emily wasn't in any of these pictures.  She was actually in London on her BYU Study Abroad.  We missed her a lot - but she was off having her own adventures!  Here are a few pictures of her.

Hooray for Dads!

How lucky we are to have such a wonderful husband and father.  Brad is so good to us and we love him so much!  I am so blessed that I get to be with him forever and that he is such an example to us.  I hope the kids realize how blessed they are.  I love you dear. :)