The Houghton Happenings

I do love my Brady...

2011-04-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

So pretty much Brady has been giving me *&^%# recently as he has been trying to prove is two year-old "manhood." He won't do anything that I tell him to do, but of course does EVERYTHING that I tell him not to do. I kind of just want to pull my hair out right now. However, despite everything that he is throwing at me, I do have to say that I love that little guy.

Tonight when I was feeding Pyper dinner, he came up to me and wrapped his arms around my legs and said, "I love you mommy." I of course replied back with, "I love you Brady," when he promptly responded, "I love you more." Did he just melt my heart? Yes! (I do have to say though that I'm pretty sure that he did not come up with this line on his own, but rather stole it from his new favorite movie TANGLED. He has been watching it quite a bit recently...oh well, still cute).

Another random Brady moment happened today that I wanted to get down for future posterity...mainly to be able to embarrass him on future dates. Tonight I was having some edamame, when Brady came into the kitchen and said he wanted one of my 'green carrots.' I, of course, shared one of my 'green carrots' with him and he proceeded to put the whole thing in his mouth....pod and all. I thought about stopping him, but decided I was enjoying it too much. Several minutes later he came back with full mouth and said, "open your hand" as he quickly tried to spit it out into my hand. Luckily, I guided him to the trash just in time (this isn't the first time he has tried to spit the remnants of his food into my hand). Later, as we were having dinner I was trying to coerce him into eating his green beans and told him that if he ate one bean, he could have his milk. He again proceeded to stick the WHOLE bean into his mouth at once (another Brady trait), and began chewing. Again, several chews later, he said "trash" and started walking towards the trash to spit the bean out. Well, at least I got him to spit into the trash can as opposed to my hand....NOT...when I wouldn't let him spit it out in the trash can, his next plan of attack started with, "open your hand..."

Well, I have to say I did finally get him to swallow his ONE green bean and we managed to finish dinner with only a few minor casualties.

Grandma's Bed vs. the Trampoline

2011-04-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

So, one of the cool things about living at grandma's house is that they have a trampoline. For a two year old, this is a dream come true. When we first arrived, I could keep the kid off of the trampoline. In fact, on one occasion I came upstairs from putting Pyper down for a nap to try to find Brady. I kept calling his name and he didn't respond. I finally thought I would check outside and or course, there he was jumping on the trampoline. He decided that he wanted to jump to he crawled out the doggie door to make it happen.

Since then, however, it has been quite cold so we have had to figure out some alternate activities. Well...grandma's bed made the team. Now whenever I am looking for him, I go directly to grandma's bed. One cool thing about grandma's bed is that there is a mirror. My Brady is just a little bit vain at this point in life. His next favorite thing after jumping is probably making faces at himself in the mirror. So, I guess grandma's bed is the perfect combination. I don't really know how grandma feels about this new found toy, but I think I'll just plead the fifth if she asks me anything about it.

Oh yeah, and one other thing about this video clip. Brady has recently been wanting Pyper to participate in our conversations. Whenever he wants Pyper to have a turn to talk he says, "Pyper's turn" in a super high, squeaky voice and then expects me to be the voice. If I don't do it right, he will keep saying "Pyper's turn. Pyper's turn" until I get the exact right intonation. I guess we know who is the boss in our family.

Life in Utah

2011-04-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

So, I decided that I should probably start blogging again. I was just reading some of my friends blogs from California and it reminded me how much I miss all of them. Miss you guys!!!!

Anyway, life is good so far....other than the fact that our car was stolen, it snows pretty much every other day, and John is not quite yet in love with his new job. Bummer! I've decided it's all a learning process and there is a reason we are here now and who knows where this new adventure will take us.

However, having said all that...I do love being with family! Brady LOVES living with grandma and grandpa and Buddy (the dog of course). One of the new found loves in Brady's life is the drinking fountain at grandma's house. Not only does Brady love to fill up Buddy's water dish (especially when it's already full of water, which usually ends up with the an empty water dish and VERY wet Brady), but he also love giving Thomas drinks from the fountain....of course!!! How thoughtful right? At least once a day, we are cleaning up water or dog food from this room. That's why Brady is so vigilant in this video clip as he is trying to clean up his mess.

You Stole My Car?! Who does that?? Welcome to Sandy....

2011-03-10T21:49:00.000-08:00

Have I ever mentioned that I HATE wasting my time? It seriously is one of my biggest pet peeves. Well, today I trying to be super efficient by getting my safety and emissions test done so I could go in this Saturday today get my car registered. Well....did I mention that my car got stolen today?! Talk about waste of an afternoon!!!

When I went in to get my safety check they told me I failed because my emergency break was broken. I proceeded to ask them where I should go to get it fixed. They told me to go across the street to Firestone (by the way.....NEVER go to Firestone). I took their advice, thinking that I was again being SO efficient to get this all done at once. Oh yes, and did I mention that I had both kids with me at the time. Okay, so I parked the car right outside of the bay, waiting for it be serviced. I left the keys in car, which don't you always do when you're going to have your car worked on. I got both kids out of the car (Thank Goodness!) and went inside to get helped. There were two men in front of me, who looked like they were about to leave. Within in a few minutes the two men had left and I had moved to the front of the line. I turned around for a second and looked out the window and saw someone getting into my car. My first thought was, "WOW they are super fast here," then I soon realized that wait, that man is not going to fix my car....NO, he is DRIVING OFF with my car!!! Seriously, is this really happening to me! I really felt like I was on CSI of NCIS or something! Well, on second thought, I guess a stolen car would make a really boring TV episode, but it's NOT boring when it's YOUR car they are stealing!

I proceeded to call the police, they showed up and I filled them in on all the details. Well, to make an already too long story short, the police found my car two hours later in American Fork. However, the story gets better (or worse for some). They found my car parked in the garage of a family in American Fork. Apparently, this man had somehow opened their garage door, parked my car in their garage, and then drove off with their Jeep. Oh yeah and I did I tell you that as he was driving off with the Jeep, he ran into this families' other car that was parked into the drive way! Seriously, this guy must be on something because why would you open the garage and steal the car in their when there is another car in the driveway that you could steal!

Well, anyway, props to the Sandy and American Fork Police officers for finding our car so quickly. They stole pretty much everything in our car, including our two car seats and my Phil & Ted stroller :( but it really could have been so much worse. I am so grateful that things turned out the way they did and that my family is safe. It was definitely a learning experience for me and I hope that I will be much more vigilant in the future.

Thomas the Train Birthday Party

2010-08-28T17:17:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Brady's 2nd birthday a little bit early this year by having our friends over to the park for a Thomas the Train celebration. He couldn't have been more pleased! Thomas the Train is Brady's whole life right now. Thank you everyone for coming!

After he opened all his presents he proceeded to organize all of his Thomas loot and just stared in awe. He literally didn't move for 20 minutes. He just kept lining all of the trains up and boy, did he get a lot of trains! I don't think he had ever seen so many Thomas items in one place before. It was pretty awesome.

Brady kept digging into the cake before we started. I tried stopping him at first, but then figured, "heck, it's your birthday and your two. Enjoy!"

He was so excited when we sang the "Birthday-Birthday" song to him (that's what he calls it). He has been practicing for weeks.

Happy Birthday To You...

2010-08-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

Pics from Bear Lake

2010-07-28T13:06:00.001-07:00

Wow...it has been forever since I have posted. I find that the only time I actually get pictures taken of Brady is when my mom is around with the camera (thanks mom). Neither John nor I are very good at popping out the camera, so I am grateful for family vacations!

We went up to Bear Lake for the 4th and spent time boating and playing in the sand. Brady really loved the boat, as long as mom was in his sight of course. In the picture above, Brady REALLY IS driving the boat. Let's just say we went around in circles for quite a while, before he eventually fell asleep at the wheel, hands still at 10 & 2. It seriously looked so uncomfortable!

We had a great time. Thanks for a fun trip mom and dad!

We're having a baby girl!

2010-05-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

We are so excited to announce to everyone that we are having a baby girl! I was certain it was a boy (just like last time I was certain it was a girl), so it looks like I'm 0 for 2. Oh well!! We can hardly wait to welcome this new sweet spirit into our home!

Easter Weekend and Easter Egg Hunts

2010-04-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

We attempted several Easter egg hunts this year for Brady. Our home owners' association put together an Easter egg hunt for all the kids to take place on Saturday morning @ 11:00am, not at 11:02am as we soon found out. When we arrived there were literally only two eggs left in the infant and toddler area. Well, to put it bluntly, I was a bit peeved (I do have to say that I am about seventeen weeks pregnant and I am WAY hormonal right now :) ). Anyway, I was so bummed that Brady only found two eggs. While John was telling me to chill out, he told me to turn around and look at my son. Brady had found a sprinkler box and was jumping up and down on it and laughing his head off. Well....this was a good learning experience for me as I realized (again) not to sweat the small stuff. He frankly could not have cared less if he had gotten any eggs. Kids are great! They really enjoy the simple things in life. What a great reminder.

Brady, however, did finally get his easter egg hunt as we spent Easter Sunday up at John's parents' house. And again, he really didn't care, but it was a whole lot of fun for John and I to watch him. Thanks for a fun weekend!

Surprise...we're having a baby!

2010-03-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

So, yes it's official (I guess it was official three months ago), but we are having a baby. Our baby is due the day before Brady was born (and no we did not plan that) and we are super excited! Wahoo!!!

Valentines Day and Random Brady Pictures...

2010-02-15T18:53:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day this year, I decided to show my love by going all out to make John's favorite meal...with a little twist...Is there a better way to say I love you than by a heart shaped meat loaf I ask???

I have to say I was impressed by my own handiwork, so I had to take a few pictures. I created the meatloaf masterpiece above, as well as heart shaped croutons and rolls. (This is definitely not going to happen again in the near future). Lots of fun and it all actually tasted pretty good too!!!

Brady trying to get the last dregs of frosting out of my Kitchen Aid bowl. This child takes his food VERY seriously! What a cutie!!!

Christmas and Hawaii!!!

2010-01-05T12:54:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas we split our time between families. We spent the week before Christmas (including Christmas Day) with John's family up in Santa Rosa and then flew to Hawaii with my family for the week after Christmas. We had fun all around. Since I am a horrible 'snapper' and fail to take pictures everywhere, I bummed a few from my mom from our Hawaii trip. It was a blast...kayaking, rope swings, ocean, LOTS and LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of sand (Brady proved this to me quite early on)...what else could you ask for? Thanks mom and dad for a fun trip!!!

Brady appears to be training for the Olympics...he will be entering the discus throwing event.

This rope swing doesn't appear very impressive, but the top of the rope swing was hanging from a tree about 60ft-70ft. from the water. It was pretty intense and so much fun!!!

My sister and I teamed up to kayak down the river. (John was such a sweet heart and let me go while he stayed back with Brady...He's the man) It started out pretty rough as we couldn't get the hang of going straight and were literally zigzagging across the river while the rest of our family was WAY ahead, but eventually we mastered the paddles and flew past the rest of them (well...sort of, at least that's how I'm going to make the record).

New Years Eve...we stayed up to a whopping 9:00pm and man do we look tired! Woohoo, party animals!!!

Random Brady Moments..

2009-12-06T20:13:00.001-08:00

So...I was thinking the other day that I really don't take enough pictures of Brady. I mean for being a first child, I would have expected that I would be snapping shots all the time. Then I realized that this is the reason I don't get out the camera (or any electronic device for that matter)....because every picture looks like this:
or this:and then he gets the camera from me and all the pictures look like this:

Oh well...I guess I will get it all right with the next kid :)

Thanksgiving....finally!!!

2009-12-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

So...here I am, finally getting around to getting some pics up from Thanksgiving. We had an awesome trip to Utah. We started out Thanksgiving day with our own family Turkey Trot. It was a lot of fun, but we happen to pick the exact same route as the community Turkey Trot (which we had no idea about), except we were going the opposite direction. It made for a bit of confusion, but it was a lot of fun.

The next day my dad took the whole family (cousins and all) on a hike up in the Midway mountains. It was pretty fun to have the whole family together and taking in the view of the beautiful Midway valley. It really is a slice of heaven on earth. Way fun!

We also participated in a fun tradition that my family started doing last year and that is taking a train ride on the "Polar Express." Heber has a train that they decorate for Christmas and then they read the story of the Polar Express and hand out hot chocolate and cookies on the way to the "North Pole." Brady loved it!

Trip to Colorado....

2009-11-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

One of my good friends from college moved to Colorado and I had the fun opportunity to go and visit her and her cute family this past week. She has two cute little boys and Brady fell just in between them. We decided to head to the zoo the first day while the weather was still holding up.

On the second half of my trip, the snow just started coming down hard core! By the time I was supposed to leave, I was seriously concerned that I wasn't going to be able to get a flight home. Luckily, everything worked out and I made it back to sunny San Fran where the weather was 70 degrees! Yes, you have to love California just for that. :) This is a picture of Brady in the snow. He was so mad at me for making him go out there, but I figured what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right???

Video games....

2009-11-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

On one of the snow days in Denver, we were searching for something for the kids to do. We ended up at the local Field House and Brady found the video games....again, I think this just comes ingrained in them. He started out in my lap...
But apparently that wasn't good enough for him! He needed a better view I guess!

The Month of Vacationing.....

2009-11-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

October really was the month of vacationing for our family. Brady went on a total of six plane flights this month! Okay, even I will admit that's a bit ridiculous. Earlier in the month we went down to San Diego for the BYU game. This is a picture of Brady showing dad how he knows exactly what to do with the remote. I think that men must be born with that intuition.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-02T19:39:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we went to the local pumpkin patch to take Brady on the train ride and get John some Kettle Corn (he swears this is the best kettle corn he has ever had :) ). We went to the same pumpkin patch last year when Brady was only a month old. It's crazy that he has grown so much!

Our Halloween was Incredible!!!

2009-11-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I guess that was a bit cheesy up top, but yes, we dressed up in red spandex and tights for all the world to see! Not our brightest idea ever. My family had the costumes already and then I made Brady's to go along with ours. Pretty sure that's the last time John will ever where spandex...he made that very clear.

On Halloween night, we went trick-or-treating in Downtown Walnut Creek. It was way fun because all the businesses were handing out candy. Truthfully I got a little carried away and got into combat mode to make sure we hit all the stores. Brady was going crazy by the end, but don't worry...we made it to every shop!!!

Brady is walking....kind of

2009-09-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

So...Brady has been working really hard at trying to get the whole walking thing down. Again, I thought I probably needed to get it on film for posterity (and for the grandmas). I love the turn around at the end. Sometimes I really wonder what is going through his little head.

2009-09-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Brady...you made it to the big ONE!!!

2009-09-20T21:29:00.000-07:00

Yea!!! Brady is one year old!!! I feel like completing the first year has been such a roller coaster and a huge accomplishment. It has been a joy being Brady's mother as he has shown me his fun, sweet, loving personality. To celebrate Brady's birthday, we obviously opened presents yesterday and then today we had several of our friends over to have some cake and ice cream. John and I "crafted" (a word from John's vocabulary) and created this pretty cool train cake, if I do say so myself. Wahoo for being one and I look forward to many more birthdays to come!!!

Lafayette Reservoir

2009-09-20T21:25:00.001-07:00

John, Brady, and I went over to Lafayette Reservoir a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful fall day and we had a nice walk around the reservoir and finished up with a picnic at the park at the end of the trail. I took this picture of Brady and John on our way out and I thought is was so darling. I love how Brady is just looking up at his dad. I love being a mom!!!

Tilden Park

2009-09-20T21:19:00.001-07:00

A Acouple of weeks ago, I didn't have any plans so I took Brady to Tilden Park. This is a really huge park with a carousel, steam train, lake, and golf course. I really wanted to take Brady to ride on the train, but when we got there is was closed. We ended up heading over to the lake to check things out. I didn't bring a suit for either Brady or myself, but Bman loves the water, so he went in anyway. He is getting really good at walking with just my one hand holding his, so he was dragging me all over the place. He was completely drenched by the time we left. Way fun!!

Swiss Days

2009-09-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day, I was able to go back to Utah (again...the story of my life :) and head on up to Midway for Swiss Days. For those of you who haven't heard of Swiss Days, it is a boutique festival with lots of booths, a parade, a 10K run, and most importantly a HUGE pancake breakfast! John had to work so he was not able to travel with me, but my brother Johnny came up for a day and the three of us spent some time together. For some odd reason, the three of us (Johnny, Brady, and myself) have been in the same together a lot recently and we haven't gotten several comments on "our" cute child and when pictures have been taken, people have told us to "stop acting like it is our first date." Kind of awkward :). We had lots of fun watching the parade and enjoying the crisp fall air. I was finally able to wear a sweatshirts and jeans and not feel like I was boiling. In the last couple of pictures, Brady was on my shoulders and was attempting to get his hoodie off. It was pretty funny and very unsuccessful.

Too much sugar...

2009-09-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

So, I probably shouldn't be giving Brady licorice and I will probably regret it in the future, but I have to say it is so dang cute to see him try to eat stuff like that. I had NO idea that licorice could be so messy.

As Brady continues to grow, he has gotten just more and more fun. Everyone told me that would be the case, but as his first birthday approaches I beginning to see that this is so true. Brady has shown his love of socializing with other children (even if they are way bigger and tend to run over him), of any kind of dog (much to John's dismay), of beautiful music (when he sings/screams with us at choir practice), and most of all his love for his family. I knew I would love being a mom, but I had NO idea how rewarding it would truly be.

Bay Area Children's Museum

2009-09-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Brady and I and a few of our friends went to the Bay Area Children's Museum right near the Golden Gate Bridge. It was so much fun!!! It is in such a scenic location right off the bay in Sausalito. Brady is so fun to be with as he is becoming more and more interested in his surroundings and is definitely showing more emotion and excitement. With all of his various emotions, screams of joy (and anger at times :) ) I am realizing that he is for sure my child. He is NOT afraid to show me how he feels!

In one of the rooms in the museum, Brady kept bending down to look into this rock formation. It took me about 10 minutes to realize that he had found a little screen that would turn on when he pressed tiny button next to it. It was at just the right level for little babies like him to find. Who knew!

He loves his veggies....

2009-08-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

Brady loves his corn...but I should probably teach him the proper way to get the corn into his mouth :)

Trip to San Francisco!!!

2009-08-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

One of the fun things about living in the bay area is that we can head into San Francisco whenever we feel like it. On Friday, we traveled into the city with a few of our friends, went out to lunch and Bubba Gumps, watched the sea lions, and then got some fudge at Pier 39! It was great. Brady is such a good traveler and trooper even without his naps.

Brady hanging with his friends....

2009-08-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Brady loves water!!!

2009-08-16T20:55:00.000-07:00

We went over to a friend's house a couple of days ago and Brady found the water fountain up front. Needless to say, he ended up drenched before we even got inside. I suppose I could have stopped him, but it really was so much fun to see him splashing in the water. Do all babies love water so much?

Aloha Hawaii....

2009-08-16T20:44:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, my little sister had a softball tournament in Hawaii. Because i have the one and only grandchild on my side of the family, my parents decided to invite me along so they could spend some quality time with Brady... I was invited along to chaperon :) . We had lots of fun going to the beach and the Polynesian Cultural Center and just hanging out with family. Brady loved the ocean and it was impossible to keep him out of the water. It is really fun seeing your kids enjoy life!!!

Brady's patented "deer in the headlight" showed itself quite frequently on this trip...:)

For Posterity..

2009-07-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, so don't watch this unless you are one of Brady's grandmas because it will be completely boring. I was talking to a friend yesterday about how Brady started learning to crawl, but he looks so gimpy! He can't quite get his one leg bent correctly and it kind of causes him to go in circles. Very cute. Anyway, I figured I better get it on camera now before he gets this whole crawling thing down.

Happy Birthday John!

2009-07-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

You probably can't see the pictures very well, but my brother Johnny put this photo collage together for us for John's birthday. I was so excited when he gave it to us and now I feel like a need a really nice camera and a class in adobe photoshop to learn how to do fun things like this!!!

A Weekend With My Little Bro...

2009-07-20T21:15:00.001-07:00

This past weekend my little brother came out to visit us and take a break from his guiding in the Grand Canyon this summer. It was so fun to have him here. On Friday we took a trip to Muir Woods to see some redwoods, which were so beautiful. Saturday we got on BART and headed to an A's game, followed by dinner at McCovey's (one of John and Johnny's favorite restaurants...totally a guy place...tv monitors on every wall showing every sport you could think of) and then we topped it all off by going to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was a pretty fantastic weekend! Thanks so much Johnny for coming out to visit. Brady misses you already!

More pictures from the weekend....

2009-07-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

Belated 4th of July post...

2009-07-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

I figured it was about time to post again. We have had a fun couple of weeks with family. For the 4th of July, we went to Utah and then continued on up to Bear Lake for a few days of water skiing, pizza, and oreo shakes. Could there be anything better?

Brady had his first experience on a ski boat and he loved it. Every time he was zipped into his life jacket and the boat started moving, he would just zonk out! It was fantastic. If only he would do that for his naps at home. It was so fun to be all together with the family.

See Jane Run...

2009-06-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, I was able to participate in the See Jane Run Half Marathon in Alameda. It was seriously a lot of fun. I ended up driving down with a bunch of women from my stake and it was such a great experience. At the end of the race they had all of the goodies as usual, as well as chocolate for all the participants. Who wouldn't run for chocolate! John and Brady were at the finish line to cheer me on, which was the best part of all.

My little bird....

2009-06-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

When we came back from our vacation in Yosemite a couple of weeks ago, I was doing a little weeding in my flower pots in my front yard. I picked up what I thought to be a dead flower, but turned out to be a bird's nest! I was completely shocked! I was certain that because I had touched it, the bird wouldn't return. Well....

I WAS WRONG!!! Our little bird has since laid four eggs! It is so fun to go out there every morning and evening and to see this sweet little mom sitting on her eggs. She rarely leaves. It has kind of given me a really cool perspective on motherhood. Definitely one of those things I could use in a Sacrament talk someday. :)

Yosemite...Wahoo!!!

2009-05-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, John and I (and Brady of course) traveled with my sister and her husband to Yosemite. It was seriously amazing! It was my first time there and WOW, it was incredible. The pictures don't really do it justice. We spent most of our time in Yosemite Valley where you get to experience these massive cliff walls on either side of the valley. So beautiful! We went hiking and biking and really just just enjoyed spending time with family. My sister is moving to Arkansas this summer, so it was great to be able to spend some quality time with her before she moves away. And let's be honest, she was a great babysitter! It was Brady's first camping trip...well...if you can call it camping.....we stayed in heated tents. I would totally recommend this trip to anyone, even if you don't like camping. It is worth it to see such beauty!
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Brady got progressively more and more tired throughout the trip. By the end, he was a bit out of it as you can see from the picture. He was definitely a trooper! Below is the picture we took at the top of our hike. Brady basically slept the whole time...I love hiking with dead weight on my back!!!

Yosemite Trip

2009-05-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures of out trip. I have to say my favorite has to be the one where Brady's belly is completely protruding over his pants. That's enough to make any parent proud I'm sure.

A few photos of my baby boy....

2009-04-20T21:41:00.001-07:00

We went down to San Jose to see the Winchester Mystery Mansion last Friday when my family was in town. If you haven't seen it, you should definitely check it out. It's pretty crazy with stairs leading to a random ceiling and doors to nowhere...very interesting stuff.

Brady was very enthralled with the whole thing....um not really.

This is a random picture, but my son recently discovered toast and absolutely loves it! I don't really know how much actually makes it into his stomach, but he sure loves sucking on it. He really just devours it!

My not so secret garden...

2009-04-20T21:30:00.001-07:00

Last weekend my family was out again (I'm pretty sure I spent every weekend in April with my family so far. I would have to say that is pretty impressive as I live in California and they live in Utah. Kind of crazy, but lots of fun). This past trip had a specific purpose though....to plant my garden! Now, it may not look like anything special in the photos, but it is pretty awesome to me. I should have put a before and after shot so you all could see that it was basically just dirt before my cute cousins created this masterpiece. I never knew that plants could bring so much joy. I go out there at least once a day and sit on my porch and just soak it all in. I just really hope I don't kill all the plants by the end of the summer. Thanks so much to my mom, Aunt Judy, and Loni and Heidi for helping me put my beautiful garden together!!!!

Our Day at the Park...

2009-04-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

So, Brady and I went to the park with some of our friends today. The weather has been so nice out, it was so much fun!

Brady discovered his toes and the swings...

2009-04-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

Brady doesn't exactly look like he's loving the swings here....okay, he really doesn't appear that he's enjoying it at all...normally he loves it! It is really so fun to see him grow up.

At Brady's last check up, my doctor said that Brady would start to discover his feet pretty soon and sure enough about a week and a half later, he did. Now I can't keep them out of his mouth, not that I'm trying. I think it's pretty cute.

The month of vacations....

2009-04-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

So, April has been kind of crazy for our family. It truly has been the month of vacations (well...at least for Brady and me. John has been super crazy at work, so I decided to take some time to spend with family). We were out in Utah for conference and then two days later my family flew out to spend their spring break in sunny California, and next week my mom is coming out again with my aunt and cousins. I guess they just can't get enough of us. :)

Brady going gangster and happy about it!

Brady still gangster, but not so sure about it anymore.

When my family came down we took a drive down to Monterey to visit the aquarium. It was beautiful and so much fun! Brady is starting to get much more observant and he really loved looking at all the fish. It was so fun to watch!
Brady sporting his new swimming outfit with grandpa.

My son....the platypus.

2009-03-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

Ever since Brady was born, he has rarely closed his mouth. I always thought it was because his tongue was too big (and he does have an extremely long tongue...thank you John), but now I am wondering if he knew all along that his lips were just too big for his little face and when he closed them he looked like a platypus. He has recently over come this concern and finally learned to close his mouth and wow.... I'm not sure what I think. All I have to say is that Angelina Jolie has nothing on his lips!

Back from the dead.....mostly.

2009-03-26T12:46:00.000-07:00

So, I hate being sick. What's worse than being sick yourself is having to take care of a very sick 6 month old child while you are sick yourself. Two Sundays ago, in the wee hours of the morning, we ended up in the emergency room because Brady was having a very difficult time breathing. Once we got him there, he calmed down and the doctor diagnosed him as having RSV, a respiratory virus that apparently is pretty common in your babies, and the only cure was just to wait it out. Well, that's what we've been doing for the last few weeks, and bless his little heart, he decided he wanted to share his virus with the rest of the family! Wahoo for being sick...not so much. Anyway, we are finally slowly on the mend and are very, VERY excited about getting back to normal life again!!!

The above shot was one of those 'I can't believe I got this on camera' shots. As a side note, at the time Brady was very confused about what was going inside his nose.

Why is it that naked baby pictures are so cute.....

2009-03-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

Brady had a little mishap with the rice cereal the other day, but it did give us an opportunity for some cute diaper shots. Check out those rolls! I don't even know if I can count that high!

Um....yes, that is the true size of his belly...very impressive if I do say so myself.

Valentines Day

2009-02-27T09:48:00.001-08:00

For Valentines Day, John got up super early and took a series of pictures of Brady with various V-Day paraphernalia and then told me that I got to choose which picture I wanted to be blown up. Well...let's just say that our child is not so keen on photo shoots. (I think this may come from his dad). As the photo shoot went on and on, Brady started to get progressively more and more cranky. Here are just a few of the pictures that John took. Definitely a cute gift idea!!! I totally loved it!

The B-man

2009-02-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

Grandma came out to visit us for a couple of days to check out the B-man, which means of course that we went shopping. Brady sporting his new outfit!

To help John get through his busy season this time of year, I decided that I was going to take a picture of Brady each day and send it to him....well, so far it has only happened once....but at least the picture was dang cute!

Rice Cereal...

2009-02-12T13:56:00.000-08:00

So...we started rice cereal a few weeks ago. I decided it was time to try some solid foods as every time I had him in my arms and was attempting to eat, he would open his mouth and dive bomb into whatever I was eating or drinking. So far so good with the rice cereal, although, I truly think he ends up wearing more of the cereal than what actually gets into his mouth.

2009-02-12T13:51:00.000-08:00

I wish I had a cute story to go with these pictures, but I just thought they were cute and wanted to share!

2009-02-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, John and I took care of the kids of some friends of ours. I wasn't feeling very well, so John told me he could handle it while I took a quick nap.....so, this was John's version of taking care of things. :) I love this guy!!!

When did my baby turn into a little boy????

2009-01-22T20:09:00.001-08:00

Everyone told me that my baby was going to grow up so fast and well....they weren't lying! I was taking some pictures of him today and seriously, I don't know where that little infant has gone. He was getting a head start on what men do best.....relaxing on the couch. All he needs now is the remote control!

Purely to Embarass John...

2009-01-22T19:52:00.000-08:00

So John was trying to impress me last night with his mad eyebrow skills (for those of you who can't tell, he is supposedly doing the wave with his eyebrows). I told him that he just looked ridiculous and wanted to prove it to him by getting it on film. He said no because he knew I would put it on our blog within 24 hours....well...he was right!

the binkie vs. the thumb...or both?

2009-01-18T20:07:00.000-08:00

I keep hearing that if my baby would take a binkie, he would sleep for longer periods. I believe them, but the problem is that Brady doesn't believe it. The other day he was teaching me how the binkie really works....how he can use both the binkie and thumb at the same time. What a clever child!!!!

Brady's the man!!!

2009-01-18T19:57:00.000-08:00

It has been about a week since we've had a "Brady Photo Shoot" blog, so I figured it was about time again...and yes, he does look basically the same in every picture!

Children or Dogs....

2009-01-15T12:26:00.000-08:00

In my current state in life, I am surrounded by young moms with lots of children (which is fantastic by the way). We all seem to be trying to figure out the best way to take care of these rascals, while at the same time doing the things necessary to keep ourselves in shape. I usually see all kinds of moms with their strollers either walking or jogging on the trails by my house. Well, yesterday on my walk with Brady I saw something that was very humorous, but at the same time somewhat disturbing. I was coming up behind this older woman who was walking her dog and had a carrier on her front. I assumed she was carrying a child in the CHILD carrier (and yes I'm emphasizing the world child), but as I passed her I realized that she was carrying another dog! Now, don't get me wrong, I really do like dogs. I grew up with one basically my entire childhood, but come on! First of all, isn't the point of walking your dog to actually WALK the dog! And I'm pretty sure the person who invented child carriers didn't really have animals in mind.

While I found it quite humorous when I first came upon this spectacle, I started really thinking about it and it has kind of started to bother me a bit. I feel like the family really is disappearing and children are being replaced with something more "convenient" like a pet. Now yes, I don't know this woman and I'm sure she is a wonderful lady, I just think it's a crazy world that we live in and I'm going to do my best to raise a family full of CHILDREN (and in addition maybe a dog or two :) )!

The Nap Dilemma...

2009-01-12T21:24:00.000-08:00

For the past week, Brady has slept for exactly half an hour, no more and no less, for every single nap. It's been driving me bonkers. Then this morning, the one morning I finally had somewhere to be, he decides to go down for a nap at 8:30am and doesn't wake up until 11:00am!!! Man, what is his deal. I just wish I new what I did differently for this nap so that we could continue this trend. One thing that I am learning about being a mom, is that life is definitely about Brady's schedule and not mine.

Here's my happy baby!!!!

2009-01-12T21:18:00.000-08:00

2009-01-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

This shot would make any mother proud!!!

Amy...I hope you appreciate this one!

2009-01-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

On our trip to Florida, my sister really enjoyed Brady's reaction when we blew in his face. I thought I would try to capture it on film for her.

2009-01-12T20:54:00.000-08:00

So....I guess I love my baby boy!!!

2009-01-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

When my sister checked out my blog, she said "more pictures and more movies!" So....for all of you who aren't family members, this next post may be a bit boring. Well, let's be honest....all of you who aren't one of Brady's grandmas, it's going to be boring! Anyway, enjoy!!!

2009-01-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

2009-01-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

We started out our trek to Utah pretty early in the morning. Brady was a bit confused why we were standing out in the cold waiting for bart at such an obscene hour of the morning!!

2009-01-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

So....having the first grand child means basically every day that he is around Grandma becomes a photo shoot. One of the nights we were in Disneyworld everyone was kind of camera happy and they thought it was sooooo funny to get dad and son with the rally caps.

2009-01-08T19:52:00.001-08:00

2009-01-08T17:06:00.000-08:00

2009-01-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

So...John thought it would be a good idea to make sure that Brady's life jacket fit on the cruise....Brady didn't think it was such a fantastic idea, but he sure looks cute!!!!

2009-01-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

2009-01-08T16:56:00.000-08:00

Brady was very enthusiastic (well maybe enthusiastic might not be the right word) about his first experience in the swimming pool. We traveled to Disneyworld and then on to a cruise with my family for Christmas. It was a blast!!!

2009-01-08T16:54:00.000-08:00

I've decided to join the blogging world. I told myself that as soon as my life got interesting enough, I would start a blog. Well...having a baby makes life very interesting!!!