Happy 18th Birthday

This post should have been on Saturday, but I just didn't get to the computer.

My younger brother, Landon, turned 18. This is such a huge milestone. He can do many things at 18 that he has not been able to do before. He can get into places, he can register to vote(I hope he will), he can sign up for the military, he can go to college, and he is technically an "adult". These are just a few of the many things that 18 brings. Landon is off to college next month....Texas Tech, of course and he is signing up for the military....sort of. Landon has been blessed with a full Army ROTC scholarship. I am so proud of him! This brings bittersweet feelings for me. Mostly sweet....he will learn so much, make great friends, begin a wonderful future and have opportunities that most of us will never have. The not so sweet for me is that he will have to be far away at times.....across the world.

Landon was born when I was 13 and became "mine" very quickly. I walked him around and held him WAY more than I should have, but I had someone to take care of and I was thrilled. I feel like in a lot of ways I have raised him. My dad and stepmom are wonderful parents and have always been present. I have just had the opportunity to be sister, friend and parent when needed. I changed his diaper, wiped his nose and even wiped tears at times. Words do not adequately express what I feel for him. I truly believe God blessed me with Landon for lots of reason, but one that I think of often is that God knew he would bless me with 2 sweet boys of my own. My boys definitely have a wonderful uncle to look up to many ways. He has turned out to be such an amazing young man and I look forward to watching him grow.

Happy 18th Birthday, Landon! I love you dearly and you will always have a special place in my heart. Know that you are loved by us all, but especially by your Heavenly Father. Keep your eyes on Him and your focus will be just right.

A Couple of "Firsts"

There will be many posts from our vacation to El Paso I'm sure. Ray lovingly calls El Paso the vacation capital of the world. Not so sure about that, but it is a great place. One huge reason is....Grandpa and Grandma live there. The boys were loved on and spoiled for a full 10 days and they loved every minute of it. Our biggest moment while we were there was that Cooper started walking on July 2nd. We were so excited for Mr. and Mrs. Miranda to be a part of a "first". Cooper just took off....his first attempt was 11 steps. He walked from Daddy to Grandma with Uncle Jay in the middle, just in case. From that moment he was off to discover a whole new world upright. Clayton's "first" was Daddy and Grandpa took him fishing with his cousin, Danielle. Grandpa had gotten him a pole, tackle box and all the fixins. They headed out to Rainbow Lake for a great time. They didn't catch anything, but that seemed to be okay. Clayton just wanted to fish. I'm not sure he knew he was suppose to catch something. :)

Wonderful News

Clayton had an eye appointment on Thursday that gave us great news. Dr. Stager is removing the bi-focals out of the glasses and we will be back to patching up to 2 hours a day. We are so thrilled with this news. This means the surgery worked and the eyes are getting better. We don't go back for 6 months. We have been going to the eye doctor every 2-3 months for almost a year and a half. Clayton has been a wonderful patient and such a trooper.

Lots to Post

I will be working this weekend on getting posts up about our trip to El Paso. We had a blast and enjoyed the West Texas weather. Many milestones took place. Stay tuned.