Shaving?

Today was a very big day in my life. My little boy of 17 years took the razor to his upper lip full of peach fuzz. It took him all of about 2 minutes to get it off the upper lip, but it was a moment that I'll not forget.
Time goes by so slow, and yet it is gone in a flash. Next he'll be done with high school and moving on to collage, I'm not ready.
Please go back to the days when he wanted his face in the video camera and had the high pitched voice of a little 6 year old. All he wanted to do was show me his "Plummer Butt".
Love ya Brandon...STOP GROWING UP!

P.S. We opted for no photo's for this event.

Homecoming for Corona

Brandon has had some great things happen lately. Over fall break he went and got his drivers license. Paul took him over to the "Mesa DMV", it's the best place to take the test. They called me when he was done, and Brandon was really excited! So, yep, we've been sending him on little trips to the store and to pick up kids from different places. It has been so nice, but I miss having my on wheels, he drives my van, "OLGA". I miss her when he takes her out.

PacSun has kept him busy with work. Which is great because he has to buy new things at least once a week, fashion is important when you are a senior in high school. He also buys food for himself right and left. The boy can put it down. He is now 5'11'' and 125lbs. It doesn't look like he is stopping yet...he might just be as tall as his Steenhoek uncles.

Tonight is the Homecoming dance over at the high school. He asked his date in a very cute way. He would have Subway for lunch with her a lot and knew her fav sandwich but on this day he knew she would be going home for lunch. So he had me pick up her fav sandwich and drop it off at her home and in the wrapper was his note..."I've never gone to Homecoming with you before, but I'd like to try it. Is there "SUBWAY" you could go to Homecoming with me?" (I guess that he says that line a lot when they go out to eat for lunch, "I've never tried that before, but I'd like to try it") She came back the next day with a poster saying, "It would be my "Delight" to go to homecoming with you. On the poster, outside the front door had a big jug of Sunny Delight, and yes was chalked all over the driveway. Kids...they have so much fun.

That's a little up date on the ever growing boy...Brandon. My does time fly.

Brandon 17?

Yep it's true. Brandon just turned 17. (yesterday) We just had a small family dinner with the cake and ice cream. Brandon got a new QUEEN Size bed for his BIG present. Then some other cool "Bro" shirts from Pacsun. (that'swhere he works, in the mall.)

Brandon put one of his new shirts on his head and was talking about the gum Brittany gave him. I love the way he says "Delicious". I don't really know why, but it just makes me smile everytime he says it. SO...Enjoy.

Brandon is 16 years old!

Yep, Brandon had a birthday and is now 16 years old. We don't really know how time went by so fast. We thought about keeping him back a year...but ya know...we couldn't.

He woke up on Saturday to French Toast and a phone call from England, Grandma and Grandpa Steenhoek.
Brandon invited 21 friends over for a party from 12 to 3. The party was soooo cool that the last guest didn't leave until 7pm! And only because he had to go home to get ready for the stake dance that everyone was going to at 7:30.
Paul got 8 pizza's and a cake from CostCo. He stayed at the party while the rest of us left for a few hours. They played Rock Band on one T.V., Dance Dance on another, and Call of Duty on the third one. When we got home around 3:30...the party was in full swing. Loud happy noises were coming from everyone. Like I said, the party lasted waaaaaay longer then we thought. Brandon had a blast and got some great cash and gift cards from everyone.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sunday Brandon was ordainded a Priest after church. Grandpa and Grandma came over and stayed for lunch and a family party. Brandon again had super day!
Love ya buddie!

Snow Camping anyone?

Brandon went with his scout group up to the very cold country of "Flagstaff" to go snow camping.
The group left on Friday (Jan 30th), after school. (only after Brandon had 3, count them THREE RED BULL's. Yeah, his school was handing them out and he wanted to try one, but somehow drank THREE!!)
SO needless to say we were a bit glad that Brandon was on his was to snow camp after school.
He had a great time hiking to the camp site in the dark, and setting up the tent. He slept in a two man tent with three guys, too keep them warm. When he woke in the morning he said there was frost on the inside of the tent. So every time they moved and shook the tent a small amount, little frost dropped down upon their faces.
They had s great time cross country skiing in the morning for a couple of hours. After lunch they did some major sledding. Brandon got "AIR" from what we are told.
Once home after 8pm he ate like a horse and took a shower, then fell right to sleep.
Thank you Adam Stewart, Brad and Brooks Edwards. He made some great memories:)

December 20th

Brandon had a Musical Event up at the St. Thomas the Apostle Parish church in Phoenix. His choir director Mr. Hebert put together a night of singing the most wonderful songs. El al don don, Regina Coeli, O Magnum Mysterium (Vittoria), Verleih uns frieden (Mendelssohn), and Vivaldi Gloria with an orchestra. The chapel was very large and perfect for singing these great songs. Brandon was right in the middle of the choir and we could see him because of his blonde hair. We couldn't take a very good picture of him because he was so far away and because we couldn't use the flash on the camera.

We have ordered the cd from the night they sang. We can't wait to get it, it was so beautiful to listen to, just amazing.

Westward Ho!

Last week, Brandon went on a pioneer trek. He dressed the part and only packed what was really needed. He walked 16 miles one day and slept under the stars.





On their last day they woke up to 6o mile an hour winds and rain. So they really felt like pioneers. They walked in the mud and helped each other get to the end of the trek.
We missed him while he was gone for three days. Brandon said he learned how hard it was to be a pioneer. He also didn't like the fact that the mob or anti-Mormon's made them keep moving from one place to another.
Love ya, Brandon!

Do You Love Your Piano Teacher?

(FYI this is brittany posting this.)

So, I got dropped off for piano lessons at Sister Arnolds house. Brandon was just leaving, and he and Sister Arnold were talking about the Pioneer Trek. This is part of the conversation they had...

Sister Arnold: Well, don't forget to bear your testimony on Sunday.
Brandon: Yeah, I did that at EFY, too.
Sister Arnold: Good for you! See ya, Brandon.
Brandon: Love ya. Er, I mean, Love ya Brittany. Yeah.

Me and Sister Arnold laughed very hard. When we told Mom after my lesson, she said that Brandon didn't tell her about that. It must have slipped his mind, eh?

Little Fifteen...

Brandon has another birthday. We keep telling him to stop, but he dosen't listen. I guess that's what teenagers do.
We had a family party for him. He raked it in. I guess will be shopping soon.
Happy Birthday Brando!

 

Oh...we didn't have enough candles...so we used 3. Each candle counted as "5". It worked. It's all good.

Brandon's Eagle Court of Honor

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Brandon had his Eagle court of honor on July 19, 2008. What a great night this was. Kevin Pike in our ward made a photo gallery of all the things Brandon has done in his life. Like win Wimbledon, go to the artic, be on the cover of Rolling Stone, giving a talk in General conference as a Teachers Quorum President, and many other things.
Shane Layton presented him with his eagle rank in a way that only Shane can do. Those there will know what I mean. He knows Brandon just about as good as his parents, maybe...just maybe a little better. After all he went camping with him on 17 different campouts.
There was a great slide show of all of Brandon's scouting adventures.
Many friends and family came to support him. What a fun night it was.
Thank you all for supporting our family. Brandon you rock. Keep up the greatness.

Court of Honor

Brandon's Court of Honor will be held on Saturday

JULY 19th, 2008 at 7pm.

It will be held in our

church building, 10 S. Twelve Oaks Blvd. Chandler. Fun Times. Please come.

Brandon becomes an Eagle Scout

Brandon went in front of the Eagle Board for the Salt River District of the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday May 27, 2008. He had to pass the interview and review his eagle project. By his account, he did awesome. The board passed him and he is now an EAGLE SCOUT!!

The next day we got a letter in the mail from Mack Tarwater, the Eagle Board Chairman, congratulating him. Brandon's court of honor will be held on July 18 at 7 pm at our church building, (unless otherwise). Yeah, Brandon. Great job, buddy!

He did it!

Brandon did it! He finished his eagle project write up!
So... we weren't the mean parents after all. We did let him eat his dinner, but right after that he had to sit at the computer and type away all the information needed. Brandon took his paper work over to his leader, Adam Stewart. He'll review it and tell Brandon how it looks and any changes that there might be. Then Brandon can go to the Eagle Board of Review (May 27th) and see if he "passes" and earns his Eagle Rank.
Go Brando, Go Brando, Go Brando, Go Brando, Go Brando!

Brandon's Eagle Project!

Brandon had his eagle project today!
He had everyone who could help show up at the church at 10:30 am. Sign in and head out to St. Mary's Food Bank

Once at the food bank, everyone ate lunch that was provided by Pepperoni's Pizza. 10 pizza's never went faster! Fry's Marketplace also donated cookie, along with the Garner Family (homemade chocolate, chocolate chip), and the Aronld Family (Chocolate chip). The homeade cookies didn't last long.
The two projects were one; fill 900 boxes with food enough for 6 people for one day of meals. Two; paint a break room and other smaller room.Brandon was a great leader. He was able to get everyone working on both projects. The painting was done by a small group along with two volunteers from Home Depot. Brandon was able to have Home Depot donate all the paint and supplies needed. Then the volunteer project leader came with another worker to help Brandon. The rooms turned out great! The funnest part was the assembly line that everyone worked on. The boxes went down the line and everyone put in the food they had been assigned. This is the after shot of the Staff Break Room. What a difference some hard workers and paint can do. Great job.

Brandon did a wonderful job of working with the 50 volunteers he gathered. The hard work of the project is done, now for the write up. As his parents we feel we need to help him get this done fast. So, we have told him that he can not eat dinner tomorrow until he his done with his write up. No lie!

A special thank you to all those 50 people who spent their Saturday with us. Thank you!

Brandon did it again!

Brandon was pulled out of class on Thursday (4-10) by the choir teacher Mr. Hebert, and was asked to try out for the "Jazztecs" choir. This choir is only for the top singers in the A cappela, the top choir of the whole school. (so this is the best of the best)

Brandon had to sing a song off the top of his head, which was, "I'll Be". (In Brandon's words..."I nailed it".)

Next he sang six notes in a row, after Mr. Hebert played it on the piano. Then 7 notes, 8 notes. Mr Hebert next played a cord and Brandon had to sing alto, bass, tenor or soprano. The last thing he had to do, sight read. Again, in Brandon's words, "I owned".
Today (Monday 4-14) the list was posted on Mr. Heberts door of who made the Jazztecs. And, Yes, Brandon Steenhoek's name was on the list. Way to go Brando!