What's in a name?

When we picked Caden's name, we had never heard it before. We were trying for something just a little different. After we had Caden, we started hearing his name everywhere, at the zoo, at church, at the store. He even had another Caden in his preschool class, along with an Aiden and a Brayden. So much for being unique. With Dallin, we didn't know too many other Dallins. Steve had never had a Dallin at school, and we weren't living in Utah so we thought it'd still be unique. For the most part, it is. Outside the church, everyone thinks he is saying Dillon when he says his name, but it seems like every LDS person we meet either has a brother, cousin, uncle, nephew or friend named Dallin! When our third boy, we just gave up on being unique and just picked a name we both liked.
Last January, a family in our ward had a baby. It was the first baby boy in a year, so everyone was real excited about it. When they announced his name was Caden, Steve and I just smiled. A few months later, another baby boy was born. When they announced his name was Dallin, we had to laugh. A few months after that, another baby boy was born. When they announced his name was Andrew, our jaws dropped! Three baby boys in a row, with our boys names, in the same order! What are the chances of that!?! Like I said, so much for being unique!

Summer Track

We put Caden in a track program this summer. To say he enjoyed it would be stretching the truth, but it was good for him. Another boy from his primary class was in the program too so they goofed off together. Steve and I wanted to inspire him to be more competitive and work harder, so we took him to a track meet down in Denver. It was the middle of July and it was getting hot early. He did the baseball throw (shot put) and a relay. He could do one more event but the shorter sprints wouldn't be until much later. We explained it to Caden and he decided to do the 800 meter. Now keep in mind he had never run a full lap before, and this was two laps. Well, he did it! He was half a lap behind the next to the last racer, but he ran the whole way! We were so proud of him. It was nice to hear the people cheering him on at the finish line. Although he didn't enjoy the race, he felt really good about himself afterward.

First Day

We've been looking forward to this day. Caden has the same class and teacher as last year, so it made it easier to get excited about it. Last week, Caden's teacher sent him a postcard saying she was excited to see him and where the new classroom was. He turned to me and said really excitedly, "Mrs. Ferachi is moving next door!" I had to laugh and explained to him that she meant the classroom is next door to the old classroom. He was a little disappointed, but still excited to see her. Yesterday we went to the open house and saw his teacher had broken her leg skydiving earlier in the summer. Caden told Steve about it:
"Mrs. Ferachi broke her leg!"
"How did she do that?"
"She jumped out of an airplane!"