UTAAAAAW

FINALLY ON THE PLANE



Can't wait to get on the plane and out of the airport!!



Our annual trip to Utah to go to Shriner's Hospital is always a blessing. We get to see family, enjoy the cooler weather, and check on Miss Bray to make sure her x-rays look good, orthotics are fitting properly, and most importantly..her progress continues.

Indeed it is...:) Every time I go to these appointments with Brayden it really does make all the crazy days worth while. I truly can say that I love being at all appointments and therapy with my baby girl! So many parents sit in the waiting room while their kids go in to therapy. I just can't. I like to be apart of it all so I can learn and grow right along with my superstar. It's getting tougher as she gets older though. She is starting to verbalize how "hard" it is to walk through the grocery store; how she doesn't like wearing braces on her legs; how she just gets "tired" a LOT after a very short period of time...and soooo... THE TOUGH LOVE BEGINS :)




UDALL COUSINS!!


Bray and cousin Jessica

Madalyn and Bray

Bray with the ONE AND ONLY, her Aunt Bev! I totally look up to this wonderful woman. The day before we were supposed to leave for Utah, my sisters house flooded...(as you can see the carpet was torn out in the picture). I'm sure she didn't want company but our flight had been arranged, appointment was made, and there was really no other way to change anything. Bev has 5 children of her own, is the Primary President of the kids at her church, and is the PTA president at her children's school. Oh, and I forgot to mention...she also had a flight booked to leave with her husband for part of the time while we were there, so she had to deal with cancelling that trip too. I love you, my amazing sister. Thanks for always being so optimistic and such a great example of working hard, enduring through so much, and making it look easy! I love being with you under any circumstances and appreciate you letting us come during a stressful time for you.

We do things like go on a treadmill (in therapy), play baseball, basketball, soccer, and hopefully bike riding lessons very soon. I look at other kids and just hug my sweet Bray more because it's such a hard task to physically "play".

She prefers reading books, watching movies, and singing about her "match cards" the most. I am so proud of her small achievements, and not giving up. Going to the park used to be a challenge. Now she takes more chances on her own, and I'm learning to back off. She's good about asking for help too. We are excited about the "little" things... like climbing up a slide. The difference between most kids and Brayden is they will literally trample on top of her to pass her up 3 or 4 times, and she will slowly but surely make it to the top and then make sure I cheer with her once she makes it down. I have noticed Bray likes to patiently wait until no one is behind her. Makes sense. She said to me, "Mom - this boy totally pushed me down the slide without even using his WORDS!" haha, ohh - it's bittersweet because most people have no patience for "slow" people. I just want my awesome girl to have CONFIDENCE regardless of how hard or fast. I see so much strength and growth. Go Bray Go!


Visiting my cousin. If you look closely you may see some deer behind us. Beautiful area


This year in school has been tough socially for Brayden.

Except when I help out in the classroom of course....;) For a brief period of time she would fuss about going into class every single morning, even though the school year is almost over. It's hard to know at her age when she's trying to get attention, or something is really going on at school that we need to focus on. After a lot of talking and emailing with our support group of therapists and teachers, we all agreed that Bray is extremely smart, but just needs to work on socializing more. Her life isn't typical with play dates and siblings to mingle with. It's mainly just her and one other person. I think she gets overwhelmed and over-worked with certain things. I am learning that she needs breaks, and I catch her saying, "mom, I'm not gonna give up even though this is hard for me!" That truly makes me ecstatic. She generally needs a lot of praise, so we are just trying to look at her strengths, and keep pluggin along. I worry about next year a whole bunch. But, just like everything else, she's been a trooper, and I expect nothing less. I wish I could be a secret spy and see what goes on when I'm not around. It's so hard to know...
I DO know that this summer we will keep working extra hard to prepare for KINDERGARTEN! And we always find ways to make it fun, so at least that will keep us motivated.

Like BOWLING

Or getting EXCITED while BOWLING ;)

Or going to the ultimate fun indoor trampoline place called, "Jump Street!" She rocked it that day! Below is a Valentine's song Bray learned in her music class. She loves to sing more than anything and has enjoyed this class so much. Hope everyone had a "LOVELY" day. Thanks for keeping up with our adventures with us.....love to all!!!