February 1st Braden Keith Turner was born and made Kevin and I both very proud parents.  He was happy, healthy and the cutest little man that we’ve ever seen! (If we do say so ourselves!) The next few months flew by in a blur of diapers, feedings, naps and everything baby related.

In May, my parents moved to Southern California for my dad’s job. He retired from HP a year earlier and found a managerial job at Design Works, a design company for BMW! This was a hard change for me to get used to, but as time goes on it is getting easier, and now we have a nice new vacation spot!

June found us up at the lake, in the pools or at the beach. Braden LOVES the water! I think I know where he gets it! We also took our first trip to Camarillo to see my parents new house. It was great to see them in their new surroundings. In July we met the family in Sun River for our yearly tradition of family, food, fun and sun! Pure relaxation!

August and September brought more firsts for Braden; first camping trip and first trip to a pumpkin patch. He loved both. So much dirt, so little time! In October our little Monkey was, well, a monkey for Halloween. We thought it was very fitting for our crazy little man.

November also had another fun first, first live BSU football game! We took our traditional trip down to the BSU vs. Reno football game and this year Braden got to participate. I’m not sure he was able to understand or enjoy it as much as the adults but at least he got a good nap in!

And here we are again in December! Our little baby has 8 teeth, will confidently walk almost everywhere and is growing up way too fast! He is such a joy and is still a very happy boy. We are always so blessed by his sweet smile. We hope you all have had a wonderful year and we look forward to seeing what God does in your lives in the coming year. May He bless you as richly as He has blessed us! We love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Kevin, Morgan & Braden Turner

PS. For hundreds of pictures and videos taken this year, please check out our Flickr account. Or add us as your friend on Facebook.

Three weeks ago, my parents flew into town to help us repaint the exterior of our house. Unfortunately about an hour before they landed, it snowed. Yes, snow. Which means that we couldn’t paint outside. We painted instead and various other little projects around the house. My dad flew back to CA on Sunday night and Braden, my mom and I followed him down there on Tuesday.

On Wednesday we ventured down to Long Beach to visit with my cousin Lisa, her husband Kevin and my uncle Bruce. It was a wonderful time with good food and even better company! It’s always good to see them and we are already looking forward to the next time!

Luke and Steph Timmons came to visit on Sunday. We have certainly missed seeing you guys so much. But we are so happy that you love your new jobs and are enjoying your So. Cal. life!Thanks for driving over to see Braden and me.

The rest of our vacation was very laid-back. We shopped, ate, played and most importantly relaxed. Thanks for letting us come and stay with you. And we’ll see you at Christmas!

Photos follow (for more you can view the photos link above):

Dad

Happy Birthday Dad! Sorry we couldn’t be there to spend it with you, but hope you had fun celebrating it in So. Cal! Can’t wait to see you in October!

Mom

Happy Birthday Mom! I know that it’s not till the 25th, but I thought I’d include you in this too. I’m really looking forward to this weekend at the Large Ladies Walk (err… Largest Ladies Walk, err… The Women’s Fitness Celebration) with your sisters. It’s always such a fun time! We’ll have to share a cake for your Birthday.

Sarah

Happy birthday! I haven’t talked to you in too long! But I love that no matter how long it has been I know that you are praying for me and thinking of me. I know this because I’m doing the same for you! The Lord has blessed me with your friendship all these years. I love you girl!

Stephanie

Happy Birthday dear friend! I hope you had a wonderful day, work wasn’t too busy, you didn’t have to walk too far , and had a margarita for all of us up here in Boise. Friends like you are once in a lifetime! I look forward to seeing you in October.

Grandma

And last but certainly not least is Kevin’s Grandma Turner. Happy 90th Birthday Grandma! This woman is in inspiration to me and I’m sure many more. She is 90 years old and still goes into work almost everyday. Grandpa ran Turner Sportsfair for so many years and when he wasn’t able to anymore, she took over. She raised 4 wonderful children and has helped raise and enjoyed 5 grand children (not including spouses) and now 4 great grandsons. And while we were there this last weekend she proved again to me how incredibly resilient she is: when she had painters come in to estimate the cost of repainting the cabinets in her bathroom, she decided that they were probably going to charge too much and that she could do it herself. Her daughter Jan said Grandma called her and mentioned something about painting the bathroom and when Jan said she’d come over and do it, Grandma simply replied “Don’t worry, I already did it!” What a woman! I can only hope that at 90 I have a fraction of the grace, humility and a can-do attitude that she has. Thanks for creating a legacy Grandpa and Gradndma! We love you and here’s to 90 more!

Also to be mentioned: Happy 30th Anniversary Mom and Dad! In a culture that has a divorce rate of over 50%, 30 years is very rare and very exceptional! Way to stick with it and thanks for creating a beautiful example of what marriage should be for your family to follow. Hope you had fun in Vegas! Love you!

After a dinner of roasted hot dogs we had SMORES! And for those of you who didn’t know, s’mores are one of my favorite desserts, and I have so much fun getting my marshmallows to the perfect tan before squishing it onto chocolate and graham crackers! I’m getting hungry just thinking of it!

The next day was spent on the lake again and ended with the Boise State vs. Idaho State football game, which we won by the way.

Saturday night was a long night for most of us at the camp site. When the thunder and rain storm moved through, Brian and Eryn were woken up and stayed awake concerned that it would wake Liam. Kevin on the other hand loved it and slept through almost the whole thing. Braden and I were in Dick and Joyce’s trailer because the night before we’d had a rough night in the tent (crying every 20 minutes or so). So in the interest of the rest of the campground Braden and I opted for sleeping in the quieter trailer. This didn’t seem to help much and he still woke up crying about every 20 –30 minutes. At 4 he woke up screaming and nothing I did could help. So there we were 4:15am and both of us sobbing in the trailer. Needless to say after breakfast at The Pancake House we packed up and went home. It was a good decision because it rained all day up there. The weekend brought long nights with fun days. Hopefully next year we will have more fun with more sleep!

Neither boy liked the trailer. (Can you see the straps going right over Braden’s face?!) We did one loop and came back to camp. We’ll try again next year…	This was the first idea for night sleeping in the tent. What you might not see is that it didn’t quite fit… his legs are curled up and completely cramped into the bottom of the sack. I decided to go with the brown sleeper instead. I called him my little toasted marshmallow. Here he looks like my un-toasted marshmallow!

While in California we got the chance to spend the day with my cousin Lisa in Santa Monica, and her husband, Kevin, joined us for dinner later that day. We had a wonderful time catching up with them and shopping in the great stores on the promenade. Thanks Lisa for showing us around! We can’t wait to see you again soon! P.S. You made the cut!

On Fathers Day Kevin got breakfast (fresh blueberry pancakes, bacon, hashbrowns, strawberries, oj and milk) in bed with the Sunday paper. The day before we decided that we were going to go on a picnic with the other Turners, Dick and Joyce and Brian, Eryn and Liam. So after breakfast, we packed up the car, stopped for some fried chicken and potato wedges, and headed for Veterans Park. It was a beautiful day and it was fun watching the boys enjoy themselves. It was so nice we went from there to the community pool in Tuscany near Dick and Joyce’s house. It was so fun taking the little boys into the water! We have little inflatable chairs that will also keep them shaded, so they are completely pampered! What a life! All in all I think a good day was had by all and many fun memories were made and traditions started!

Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers in my life! (and Happy Birthday Joyce!) We love you all.