Cavin is a TEENAGER!

Last week Cavin reached the ripe old age of 13 and entered his teenage years! He's never really had a friend party and this year he asked to do one. The Saturday before his birthday, Ragnar took him and 9 other boys to Gotcha paintball and they had a blast playing together. 

The weather was beautiful and for whatever reason Cavin loves to play paintball. Not sure why boys think this is fun. 

He had a good group of boys who indulged him and played together with him. 

All the boys were injury free...minus a few bruises, so that was a success. 

His actual birthday was on a Monday, so he went to school and we had dinner at Culvers with my parents and Natalie after school and then we had cake and icecream.

The perks of working for a sign greeting company, is the kids get fun signs in the yard.

Cavin has this saying right now where he says "man" in a Jamaican voice after everything ;) haha

Morning birthday donuts are the best!

He really wanted clothes for his birthday, so we went shopping and to dinner the week before and got clothes and shoes. He also got a switch remote, money, a remote control car, games, and a suit. You know you are entering teenage years when you want clothes and money ;)

Cavin is a good kid. He has incredible grades and works hard at school. He is in National Junior Honor Society. He is becoming a more dedicated and confident athlete and still plays soccer. This year he plays for TMS which he likes. He still loves math and figuring things out. He is very innovative and creative. He is thoughtful and kind and still pretty gentle. He is becoming more confident in being vocal with peers and is officially taller than me at 5'7. He is very funny, and now other people besides are family are getting to learn his personality. His favorite color is orange. He loves snapped Cheese It'z and Hersey's cookies and cream bars. He doesn't watch very much tv unless it's sports, but enjoys playing Minecraft on the Nintendo Switch. He is often outside playing basketball or soccer or some made up game with Deacon and they are the best of friends. We sure love Cavin!

Tipis on the Guadalupe

We had a great Easter weekend. Our friends invited us to the tipis on the Guadalupe river in New Braunfels, TX about 3.5 hours from our home. We went up Thursday afternoon and stayed until Sunday morning. 

I am not a huge camper, so these were perfect for us to experience the outdoors with some commodities to make us comfortable as well. There was ac/heat, a tv, a mini kitchen to cook, and our own bathroom/showers. It was a cute little tipi with 2 queen beds and a sofa bed. 

There was a swing overlooking the river and it was such beautiful weather all weekend. 

The grounds had ping pong, volleyball, corn hole, and tetherball which the kids enjoyed playing. They also played a lot of football. 

These cute girls had a fun time together. Channing, Jane, and Cheyanne. 

The first day we went kayaking and tried to swim, but only the kids were brave enough. The water was SO cold!!

Channing was not very confident her first ride in the kayak alone, but she finally made it back and did great after that. 

Our friends brought this lily pad float that the kids loved playing on. 

We went for a short hike to canyon lake and we spent a while skipping rocks together. Danny won the skipping contest. 

These 3 ladies are some of my favorite people and I am lucky to have them as friends. Becky Brown, Rachael Wharton, and Sharlene Hatch are the wonderful women and their great families we got to spend the weekend with.

Such a fun group of families. 

We went over to the Gristmill for dinner after our "hike". We had to wait a while so the kids occupied themselves playing duck duck goose. 

All the kids had great friends there. I'm so glad they have great youth to hang out with! Deacon's 3 best friends were there to, but naturally he was too busy running around to get a picture :)

We made dinners and each night we built a fire and made s'mores. 

They even bought some fancy thing to make the flames change colors. 

The kids enjoyed the s'mores!

The last night we had an Easter egg hunt on the property and it was fun to hide the eggs. One of the women bought these cute cookies to give the kids. I thought they were adorable!

We had listened to conference in the tipi, had a morning Easter devotional, listened to more conference on the drive back and then watched the last session at my parents home. Ella had her patriarchal blessing that my father, Kerry Speers, was able to give her, as he is a patriarch. It was a special blessing and I am so glad she was able to receive it and recognize all the wonderful things Heavenly Father has in store for her. 

We finished off Easter with a wonderful dinner and dessert with my parents, Natalie, and Chris' family. We have so many things to be grateful for. The atonement of Jesus Christ is at the front. I am so grateful for all He did and to know that He lives. It was wonderful weekend.

The End of an Era

This past week our family said goodbye to the Houston Rockets organization. Ragnar has worked for them for 12 years and joined when Cavin was just 10 months old. It is basically all our family has known and it is sad to move on. We were so grateful for the experiences that it has provided for our family over the years and while it is sad to move on, it is time. We will forever be Rockets fans and have great memories of that phase of our life. 

Last Monday we went to our last Rockets game as employee family members. 

The kids wanted to go to Ragnars desk one more time. 

One more family picture together. 

The kids' friends, the Browns came over to our suite and watched the game with us and made it much more lively.

We sure have loved all the events and games here in this arena. 
Here is Ragnar's last day of work at center court. 

Ragnar will begin working for Deutsche Windtechnik today. He is excited to be back to his German roots and try a new industry. I know he will succeed and be as beloved by his new co workers as his last. Here is to a new phase of life and his first day of work picture today.