Bradley's blessing

Bradley was blessed on November 28, 2010 at the Mt Airy building.  He wore the same little tux that his brother's wore on their blessing day.

Ryan's blessing Sept 2006

Bradley's blessing Nov 28, 2010

Dallan's blessing April 1997

Bradley Raymond Campbell

Bradley Raymond Campbell was born on November 15, 2010 at 3:24 pm.  He weighed 9lbs 7 oz and was 21 inches long at birth.  Raymond is my grandpa and father's first names.  We didn't decide on Bradley until he was already a day old.  I am not sure why we had such a hard time deciding on a name. 
He is so sweet.  He is very content and healthy.
He came into this world in a very weird way.  I was laboring at 7 cm with regular contractions on Sunday morning at 7:30 am.  By Monday at 2 am, we decided to go to the hospital.  I progressed to 8 cm by 7am, but at 2pm there was still no change.  I had planned to have him naturally.  We are not sure why he never progressed further.  Eventually it was decided that a c-section was needed.
After Bradley was delivered, a few things went wrong in the operating room.  Clay left with the baby while I was sedated, given a blood transfusion, and put on a respirator.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to be with Clay and the baby until the next afternoon because I was recovering in the ICU.  It was a scary time, but prayers were heard and after a priesthood blessing, I recovered very quickly.  The respirator came out much sooner than expected and everything got easier and easier.  I have great sympathy for women who have to recover from a c-section.  It is much harder.  Clay and I are determined to focus on the blessings and the positve aspects of having a baby this way.  It was the furthest from our plan and has humbled us.  It is a Faith building experience and we are changed for the better.  Clay and Bradley spent quality time together and Clay has learned so much about what new moms go through.  He has been wonderful throughout this ordeal.  He takes care of everything so that all I have to do is nurse the baby and heal.  I am grateful that certain people were put in my life before this experience in order to prepare me for this.  I had a wonderful relief society lesson about being grateful.  It was fresh in my mind as I was going through my trials.  I was able to think about other people's experiences and feel thankful in my trials rather than complain.  Clay gave me a blessing before we went to the hospital and I am so glad that he is worthy to do that for me.  He was inspired and we were both prepared to follow the spirit during our labor plans.  He also gave me a blessing with a ward member while I was in the ICU.  Although I didn't hear it, I knew they were there and could feel the power of the priesthood.  Through their faith and the faith of others, I know that my recovery was quicker than it would have been.  My ward members and friends immediately helped our family with meals and taking care of our kids.  I am sure that people that we don't even know prayed for us.  We felt all the love and support and know that the Lord will bless those who served us!  We got to go home earlier than expected.  Now we are home and getting into a routine.  Here are pictures of our sweet baby!

Halloween

We enjoy Halloween, but not all month long.  Usually we are too obsessed with the Postseason to notice that Halloween is coming up.  We like jumping into the festivities at the very last minute.  So on the 29th we went to a farm for Ryan's field trip.  Then we went back to the school for the costume parade and party.  The kids had such a great time.  We had to hurry and watch a couple of Halloween movies and carve pumpkins to enjoy as much of the holiday as we could.  Everyone seemed to have a good time!  Here are a few pictures:

 

This is Leah's first grade class getting ready for their party.

 

This is Ryan being silly before the parade.

 

This is Leah as a queen butterfly with her friend, Nivea as a mermaid.

 Here is Dallan as himself, a nerd.

 Ryan was done trick or treating after our little circle because he wanted to get started on eating candy right away.

 I threw this pic in here because I don't have any pregnancy shots on this blog.  Here I am about 36 1/2 weeks pregnant.

 Leah got started on her candy right away.

 I carved (and designed) the top pumpkin.  Clay did the skull and Dallan did the bottom one.  Next year we need to carve them earlier....seems like a waste to carve them and set them out for only one day.

 

This is Leah and her boyfriend Greggory.  Yes, they are a couple and it is well known around this neighborhood.  Too bad he is moving next month.

Summer Vacation

Our vacation began on August 9th.  We were waiting for a flight to California, but there wasn't enough room.  It was expected, so we were not upset.  While we waited for our next flight, we got to watch the President board his flight on Air Force One.  It was pretty cool. 

We were very fortunate to get on a flight that would take us to Alexandria Louisiana and then to El Paso Texas the next day.  We really just wanted to get as far west as we could rather than wait for a direct flight that we would probably not be able to fit on anyway.  It was such a great blessing!  We were the only other passengers besides the crew-which were all NAVY rather than Air Force.  It was so relaxed that my kids even got to fly the plane!

This is a C9 airplane and yes, that is Ryan flying the plane.  The pilot allowed my kids to control the auto pilot.  It made me pretty nervous a couple of times because they didn't always keep it steady.  The pilot had a lot of fun teaching Dallan about the air break and it made my stomach flip.  Leah would not leave the crew alone-she wrote them love notes and loved all the attention that they gave her.

After we landed in Alexandria, the crew gave us one of their hotel rooms.  They were wonderful!  After we landed in Texas the next day, we rented a car and drove to Henderson.  We arrived around 3am eastern standard time.  We had such a great week visiting family in Henderson.  We didn't get to catch up with everyone that we wanted to, but it was such an unexpected part of our trip and we did our best.  Of course, I didn't think to take pictures.  We stayed with Gregg and Shelly and really enjoyed hanging around our old town.  We are so thankful to our family for giving us a place to stay and letting us use their car!  Not to mention the fact that they fed us and took care of our kids at different times.  I don't think we saw Dallan more than a few times because he was so busy with his cousins.

The next part of our trip was a total blast and wouldn't you know it, I didn't take any pictures!!!  What is wrong with me.  My sister in law, Michelle Campbell, took plenty, so visit her blog if you want to see some. OR you can check my facebook page for some of the pictures that I was tagged in.

We bummed rides with family and went to Imperial Beach, California for a week.  Our family has been planning this trip for about 3 years and it was such a great trip.  We swam in the COLD ocean, watched dolphins, played games, ate yummy food, and just enjoyed being with each other.  It was nice to just relax with the people we love!

After we checked out of the beach house, Dave took us to our hotel.  We were allowed to check in early-thank goodness!  We decided to walk to the trolley station and visit Old Town.  We had fun shopping and eating. 

Cuties!

The next day we took a taxi to Sea World.  We loved it and especially love the fact that we got in free because of the 'Here's to the Heroes' program that allows military members and their dependants to get in free once a year.  It is a nice perk!

We got wet during this show and loved it!

Leah loves to be 'dangerous'.

After Sea World, we relaxed at our hotel and prepared for a long day of traveling.  The next day we got to the airport and were notified that our flight was canceled.  This was not a surprise at all, but still a disappointment.  Again, we were blessed with another opportunity right after we got the bad news.  There was a flight to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania which is only about 2 1/2 hours from Andrews Air Force Base.  We hopped on that flight and it was pretty comfortable.  It was a C130, so it was loud, but the seats were comfortable.  Leah hung around with the crew, and learn as much as she could about the plane.  She has developed a couple of crushes, I think.  When we got to PA, we carpooled with some retired military people and got to our final destination around 3am. 

The trip was full of fun, blessings, and great memories. 

Father's Day Fun

We had a fun couple of days to celebrate Father's Day as well as support the Family Fun Day for Clay's work.  We went to a Nationals baseball game as well as went to Six Flags America.  We had a great time!

Clay and Dallan got the opportunity to play catch on the field after the game.

We watched from the sidelines

Ryan thinks that he has to make a silly face every time I take his picture.

Clay and the kids also got to run the bases after the game.  The pictures are blurry because the promoters don't really want you to take your own pictures.  They rush you along so that you will have to buy the picture that they take.  This is Home plate!

Leah ran ahead of the boys.

This is them getting started...yes, the pictures are out of order and I am too lazy to fix it.

This is at six flags.  Ryan looks annoyed.

Again with the silly face!

Dallan brought his friend, Kenny (on Dallan's right), and they had a good time!  They ditched us a lot to ride the big rides, but they came by Thomas Town for a few minutes and we caught them on a kiddie ride. ha ha!

Yay for the splash park---we needed to cool off.

6 flags added Thomas Town this year and unfortunately for me, they loved it.

Leah was a sweetie and it was nice that she didn't have an accident in her swimsuit.  Wish I could say the same for Ryan.

Memorial Day

Here are a few pictures of our ward BBQ!

Even though it was hot, I couldn't get him to take off his ugly 'Indiana Jones' hat.

It was a blast to beat Dallan at teatherball 4 times in a row.  The poor kid had never played before. 

Sis pretty much stayed in the bouncy house the whole time.

We really love our ward and had a great time at the party!

Birthdays

Here are a few photos from Leah and Dallan's birthdays. Leah turned 6 on Feb 23.
Dallan turned 13 on March 23.

I don't know why she does this goofy smile, but it cracks me up. 

She is very sophisticated

She was so excited for this gift.  She loves animals and this is a pet care toy.

Dal got an extra guitar for the band hero game. 

And a cell phone that the poor kids hasn't been able to use since his grades are in trouble.

I love my kids!