Brandon's BIG days

Wow. Not only have we survived a month-long road trip, but Brandon had some very eventful days along the way.

First up, his 8th birthday! My big boy is eight years old. Crazy. And he's grown into this lean and lanky big kid. He spent his birthday at Boondocks, a huge fun center in Utah with

go-karts,

bumper boats,

and laser tag.
Along with a bunch of fun video games.

And he was able to celebrate with cousins,
which made it even more fun.
Thanks, Grandma S!!!

He had a Star Wars cake.

And got a skateboard and helmet,
along with some fun Bionicle sets,
Lego sets, and a Transformer.

Next, his baptism day. In our church, you can get baptized when you're eight, so part of why we planned this huge adventure was to be around family for his special day. And I'll tell you what, we got what we wanted.

Twenty-nine family members to be exact.
(You can barely see Aunt Denny's left eye
above Grandpa's shoulder.)

The baptism went really well.
It was a special, spiritual day.

We are happy for you, buddy,
and know you made a great decision
to follow the Savior's example and
be baptized.

And, finally, Brandon got to take a trip to California with his Gigi and Grandpa. My mom has been saying for years that when her grandkids turn eight, she wants to take them to Disneyland.

She lived up to her promise!
Brandon had a BLAST being the center
of attention. Some of his favorite parts
were Space Mountain, Innoventions House,

the fireworks,

and getting chosen from the crowd to fight
Darth Maul. Go B-train!

He also got a bonus trip to

Legoland!
(Or what heaven will be like
for eight year old boys.)

They saw amazing lego creations,

rode some roller coasters,

hung out with R2D2,

and Grandpa battled Darth Vader
and won! Oh, wait, he was made
out of legos. I guess it was a stale mate.

Thanks so much, Gigi and Grandpa
for making some amazing memories.

These are most definitely days to be remembered.