New pics for work

My last post I talked about trimming our tree down a little, but I didn't have any great pictures of the actual process. My friend Jolene just sent me some she took, so I thought I would share them with all of you.

think Bryce decided to do this on New Year's Eve day, so that I would go into labor on the last day of the year for taxes! Well, he was pretty high, but I have faith in his abilities.

Bryce with the help of our neighbors, Bruce and Justin. Kind of puts it into perspective how high it really is!
Bryce with the saw. Glad I wasn't up there! Good job honey, the tree looks good!

Visitors, Snow?, Work and New Years!

I just downloaded my pictures and I had over 100, only from about a period of 3 weeks! Christmas took up most of them, and I should have blogged but oh well. The time after Christmas has had a lot of activities. Bryce is home until the 5th, so we have been trying to accomplish little things before the baby comes, in 3 weeks! Yeah!

The day after Christmas we were blessed with a family visit from Bryce's brother Richard and his wife Courtney and yes their darling girls, Afton and Madelyn. They arrived in the evening and stayed with us for the night. They were headed to visit Bryce's family in Ogden and due to possible pregnancy complications and a note from my doctor telling me I was not allowed to go farther then an hour from home, we were unable to join them. We had fun for the time they were here. Brady loves Afton and they had quite the slumber party in Brady's bunkbed, playing "Peek-a-boo." Thanks for stopping by, it was so good to see your darling family and good luck with your pregnancy, we shall see which baby will arrive first!

Our visitors, without Madelyn, she was sleeping.

Once Richard and Courtney were on the road, Brady kept asking to go on a walk, since it was a beautiful day and Santa brought him a bike and he had not yet ridden it. So we went on a walk and while we were gone, I suppose the sky opened up just on our front lawn and snowed! Well, some friends had a truck full of snow from Mt. Charleston and decided to bless Brady with it. We had a fun time playing and our neighbor friends, Myra and Myles decided to come play too. It was fun for the kids. Leilani just liked eating it!

Brady, "king of the snow!"

Myra, getting a good shot at Brady!

Brady getting ready to get Myra back!

I thought this was cute, so I had to put it in.

Leilani trying snow.

Leilani enjoying her snow.

On to our work. Bryce has been wanting to cut down the top of our big tree for awhile. We get some good winds during storms and he has been afraid of it coming down. Our neighbors the Hatch's were able to come and help. Once they got up there, there was a lot more rotted out branches then we thought. We don't want to lose the whole tree, since it is the best shade tree, especially during our hot summers.

Brady trying so hard to help!

Brady still helping, with our neighbor Jolene.

Here is our tree, all trimmed up. On the bottom right of the picture, you may notice a bent up fence. One of the huge branches that was trimmed, landed on the fence and will soon be fixed.

And of course, Happy New Year's! I had an adorble video of the kids playing with their poppers and saying "Happy New Year," but for some reason it won't download. I don't have the best luck with videos. We wish you all a wonderful New Year and hope it will be better or as good as the last. May we continue our holiday spirit all year long and focus on the Savior and all that he does for us! We love you and wish you the best.

Happy Birthday Brady!!!

Today is Brady's 4th birthday.

I cannot believe that he is 4. I can't even imagine my life without him, I am just surprised how fast he is growing up!

From the moment that we knew he was coming, there was a lot of excitement, because we had to wait so long to have him. He has been an instant joy to our family and we feel blessed that he chose us as his family!

I look back on his life and I amazed by him daily. He is turning into a sweet little boy and a wonderful big brother. He is so excited to have another baby in the house and he talks to Baby Rocco everyday. He says, "Baby Rocco, it is your big brother Brady here. . . " and waits until the baby says hello by kicking me. He is learning to be sweeter with Leilani and has loved her from the moment he met her. He is quick to apologize and give love to her, which gives me hope as a mother that they will be kind and sweet to each other.

This past year has been a lot of adjustments for him and he has done well. He started primary and is starting to learn the gospel. A month or so ago he taught our Family Home Evening lesson and taught us about the crucifixion and resurrection. He knows the basics, which is wonderful to see him soak in all of the things that we have been trying to teach him.

He also has been doing very well in school. Over the summer he started writing his name by himself. He is interested in words now, so I tell him the letters and then he will spell it. We are definitely going in the right direction.

I love this little boy! He is such a pleasure and definitely keeps me going! He is the energizer bunny from the moment he wakes up until the moment he sleeps . . . which thankfully still involves a nap, most days!

Okay Brady, Happy Birthday to you!!! You are loved and adored and thank you for being the darling little boy that you are! I can't wait to see what the next year brings . . .

Here are some pictures over his lifetime.

Brady on his birthday, December 18, 2004

Brady about 3 months old.

Our little gentleman! About 9 months old.

Brady 1 year old.

Brady 2 years old.

Big brother Brady, "She's mine!" Leilani's birth, April 18, 2007.

Brady, almost 3, getting ready for his hiking adventure!

Brady, Thanksgiving 2008, almost 4.

A Surprise Guest

Last week at school, we had a surprise guest visit our class.

There were some ringing of bells. . . yes, it was Good St. Nick!

I have been nervous about this, because the kids haven't been so excited about strange people, dressed in strange costumes. Disneyland was not a great place for Brady, back in February so I didn't think that he would like him.

For the first time, ever, Brady willingly stood in line to sit upon Santa's lap to tell him what he wants for Christmas.

Before our guest arrived the newspaper was there, yes, we do have a small newspaper in our little town! They interviewed the kids and one of the questions asked was, "How does Santa get into your house?" Brady said, "My dad says he has a special key." Since we don't have a chimney we need to be creative for him.

Brady is thinking hard about what he wants for Christmas.

Here are some of the kids with Santa.

Leilani was absolutely not going to have anything to do with the guy in the red suit. She held on for dear life and would start to shake if you got too close. There is no need to scare her to death, we didn't with Brady and now he seems to be okay, so hopefully this will be the same for Leilani.

Even though she didn't sit upon his lap, she got a stocking and she liked that!

On a completely different note, last night Leilani went potty by herself! I don't have a picture, which is fine with me but I thought I would share my news. She has been showing signs of wanting too, so last night we sat her on our little one and she did! I need to actually do it, it is just hard to get up the energy to do this again, but it would be worth it if she wants too. She is almost 20 months, so we shall see!

Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Brady's 4th birthday! I cannot believe that he is going to be 4, I kept thinking, "We only need 3 candles." Nope, we needed 4! Wow, he sure is growing up fast.

We had a fun day filled with lots of friends and even more sugar! Great!
We have always have had a big BBQ with a lot of friends, but this year we decided to just have a kids party. This was a lot of fun and a lot less stress!
Here are some pictures from the party. We made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, which the kids loved and then we did the basic cupcakes and presents.
Nice fun day and pretty good weather that the kids were able to soak up some vitamin D.

Gotta love the southwest!

The kids making their gingerbread houses.

Leilani chillin in her swing.

Some of the kids having fun in the backyard. That is quite the train!

Brady with his cupcake.

Brady blowing out his candles.

Leilani's gingerbread house.

Brady's gingerbread house.

Has it been that long?

I was looking at my blog and yes, I have known, but it sure has been awhile since I last posted.
I don't have any updated pictures, I am sure there will be more soon.

Life has been crazy, as I am sure everybody's is around this time of year. I am just trying to get through all of the stuff that I am doing.

I have been trying to finish Brady's Mickey Mouse apron for Christmas, and after buying the material back in the summer, it is finally almost done. I just have to sew on the pockets and ties and then we will be finished! Just in time.

I am also scrapbooking both Leilani and Brady's scrapbook. I haven't made books for either of them so this has been a huge undertaking. I figure if I have some for both they will be happy.

Then the easy project is making a tie blanket for Leilani and her doll. I haven't started this but I know I can do it in an hour or so with matching pillow.

Along with all of this I have been crazy busy with Young Women's and all of their activities and trying to fit in some service for the holidays for them.

Okay, so this has been my life. I am trying to keep myself not too busy so I can keep my blood pressure down. It has a tendency to go up in my last trimester so the doctor has put me on medication and that has kept it down. We don't want a premature baby. We are doing well other then the other aches and pains that come around this time. Baby moves like crazy and it is fun to see Brady with the "baby." He wants to talk to the baby everyday and puts his ear on my belly and talks until the baby says hello through a little kicking. It is neat and I love that.

Well enough with the novel. I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are ready for Christmas. It sure is a wonderful time to count our blessings and celebrate the birth of our Savior.

All Hallows Eve

I feel like we have been celebrating Halloween all week. Brady went to two Halloween parties. We had a party at his school on Monday and then later that day he went to a friend's party. We carved a pumpkin to add to our family of painted pumpkins on Tuesday. So it wasn't all week but Brady sure did know what was going on and could hardly wait for the sun to set on Friday. He was ready from the moment he woke up and it was slightly cloudy. He said, "Mom the sun isn't coming up so can we go?." He isn't used to that, but we did wait. Poor guy.

Brady was dressed as Super Why from the PBS show Super Why. For those that don't know the show, he has the power to read. It is a cute show if you ever want something that isn't too annoying to watch and it really reiterates reading and letters.

Leilani was dressed as Princess Presto, who has the power to spell.

We had a great night trick-or-treating around our little neighborhood. We hit only the houses we knew, which meant not too much candy for the kids.

There is a family in our ward who every year has a bonfire and serves chili, donuts and hot chocolate. We went there after we were done gathering our candy and it was a lot of fun. The kids ran around and we got to socialize with our friends.
It was a fun night and the next day Leilani brought me her costume wanting to wear it again. She learned fast how to get candy and she loved her dress with cape on the back.