Bear Flats Camping Trip

My Speakman family all took a trip to Bear Flats and camped out for a couple days together. This was the first time we have all been camping together since us kids started getting married, so it was fun to be able to all be up there and spend some quality family time together. The weather was a little warmer than we would have liked until night came, then of course it was FREEZING. Luckily I came prepared and pulled out the piles of blankets so the kiddos could stay warm. It was nice and relaxing and we all had a good time. The highlight was probably the Quads that we rented to have up there, minus the small accident Shaliah had on one of them.

Here is pics of random family members just chillaxin'...


You can't see this pic very well but Johnathan of course had to show off his manly prowess and climbed up this insanely high rock and was doing Tarzan calls. He cracks me up. If you look closely he is right in the middle of the pic posing for the camera...

Jaron, cooling off in the cold river. Thats one way to do it I guess.

My little man, enjoying the random hats he would find and put on. I think his favorite part about the quad rides was that he got to wear a helmet the whole time! Silly boy.

My beautiful Bella

Dad Speakman, enjoying being in nature and letting out the good ol' cowboy stored up inside.

Mom and Bella

Father and Son. Dont you just love all the smiles B-rax was giving the camera on this trip? He was like anti-smile anytime a camera came around him.

Bouncy B-rax

My sister watched some of our nieces and nephews while their parents were out of town last weekend, so we took all the kids to one of those cool bounce house party places to let them play for awhile. Sadly, the age limit was 14, or me and my sis would have been all over that right along with the kiddos, but alas we had to stand and watch them have all the fun. There were at least 8 different bouncy balloon obstacle course thingies and they all looked like a blast. Braxton was terrified at first and just had fun running around the arena, but I forced him to go down some with Shaliah and then he of course loved it and didn't want to stop. They all had so much fun. I was jealous!

Braxton and Bella

Its so weird, but cool, to see your little babies turn into little people. Braxton is talking up a storm all the time now, and although I don't always understand everything he says, HE knows what he is saying and its so fun listening to him. Its also amazing to see how much he understands and takes in. He already knows some letters and numbers and is starting to learn the colors. His favorite is blue, of course. Everything is "Bwoo!" He is my little man and turning into a big helper. Of course its not always roses, as he is getting into the "Terrific twos!" as my mom calls them. He is going through his kicking and hitting phase and starting to bite when he gets mad at me. Hopefully it will end soon. He is a sweet kid though and I will do anything to get this kid to smile and laugh at me. I love to hear him laugh. Pure joy.

He here he being his silly self and trying to see how many things he can bump into with a garbage can over his head. Luckily he has a hard head, as he hit pretty much everything in the room, including the dogs.



My beautiful baby girl makes my heart sing. She smiles all day and loves to be loved. She is definitely a mamma's girl, and is usually pretty content as long as she is in my arms. She has been dealing with a little bit of acid reflux and its so hard to see her unhappy and in pain and not be able to do anything about it. I can't wait for it to be over so she can be my smily baby again. I love kissing her fluffy cheeks and hearing her babble on. She is my little princess.

This is the first time she wore the outfit "Aunt Heidi" made for her. Its my favorite outfit she has right now. Thanks Heidi B!


Just a random pic of me and my sisters (and baby girl) during one of the general conference sessions. We were doing backrubs. Gotta love conference!

New York '09

Walking to the Lake on Sunday afternoon. Beautiful, but the mosquitos were a killer. We let Braxton walk, too, and that was a mistake. Poor kid was exhausted, though it wasn't that far from my mother-in-laws house.

We took a family trip up the mountain that my mother-in-law lives on and went up to the rim. It was gorgeous, and the weather was just perfect and the air nice and fresh and crisp. It got me excited for Autumn, whenever it decides to show up here in AZ! Braxton of course HAD to push the stroller rather than ride in it. He is obsessed with anything that has wheels and INSISTS on pushing or pulling it himself. Try to help him, and all you-know-what breaks loose! (This makes it extremely difficult to go grocery shopping, as if it wasn't hard enough with two kids!)

Standing on top of the mountain overlooking the river...

Baby Bella, chillin' in her car seat. One of the few times she was semi-happy while being forced to sit in it during the car rides!

The Thursday and Friday we were there we took a trip down to Boston to spend some time with one of Justin's old mission buddies and good friend, Brad. We ate at good restaurants, rode some fun trains, played at the park, went to the huge Aquarium, and just hung out with Brad for awhile. It was fun being back where Justin served his mission and seeing some of the places he served. THanks again Brad for letting us bombard your bachelor pad and putting up with our two kids. Your awesome!

The weather, again, was gorgeous but a bit chilly. Had to actually break out the sweater some of the time we were there. Loved it!

B-rax's first time riding a carousel! This was probably one of the highlights of the whole trip for him. He loved it and screamed when we had to leave. Poor kid. With $3 a ride, though, we couldn't endulge him as much as he would have liked. It was fun watching him enjoy it for awhile though.

At the Aquarium!

This Sea Turtle was H-U-G-E!!! She was the biggest animal in the tank...even bigger than the sharks in there! That is one giant mamma!

He loves his fishies!!

Me and my boy! (Sorry Bella, your head got cut off! )

Daddy and Son

Our New Home!

Here is our new home!! Wahoo! I couldn't back up enough to get the whole house and yard all in one shot, so imagine these first three pictures all side by side and you get the idea of what it looks like.

Big side yard with lots of FRUIT trees! Yay!

Front of house

Other side-full size basketball court, and behind that another yard with a little jungle gym for B-rax

Close up of jungle gym. Braxton already loves it!

Pool in back of the house. We are loving this amenity, thats for sure!



Doesn't quite feel like "Home" yet, but it is starting to slowly as we get more settled in. I'm sure it will take awhile before it really feels like home. It is so nice being close to family again and being withing 3 miles of pretty much everything. I went to relief society for the first time this last Sunday and really enjoyed it. I think I am going to like this ward alot and will enjoy being friends with the women in it. Its definintely a different scenario than in Maricopa. Our ward out there was twice as big and had so many wonderful young couples our age with young families. Relief Society was just one big party with all my friends! Here, almost half the women are mothers of kids I went to school with. Interesting and weird to now be on their same level, but fun at the same time. There are only a few young families, and I haven't been able to meet anyone my age yet. Thats ok though, I am excited to be able to make friends with more "seasoned" women and see what wonderful lessons I can learn from being part of their lives.

New York was fun, and it is so beautiful there. It was nice to get away from this heat for awhile and enjoy the beauty of nature. Its nice to be back home though. We were able to go to Boston for a few days and spend some time with one of Justin's good buddies from his mission. I actually really enoyed it there. That was probably the highlight of the trip for me. Pics to come soon hopefully.

Bella's Blessing, Moving

We blessed Bella Rose in our home in Maricopa the Sunday before we moved. My family and a few close friends came and Justin gave a sweet blessing of happiness and health. It was more special to me because I finally got to dress my baby girl in the same dress that I was blessed in when I was a baby! I have been saving it for YEARS just for this day, and it was so neat to be able to finally use it and see how pretty she looked in it. I am glad we did it before we moved and went to New York (where I am now!) cause she would definitely have been too chunky for it if we had waited even another week or two. She BARELY fit, my little chunky marshmellow. She's a beauty though, eh?

I can't get enough of her smile!

The move went well. It was a long weekend, but we had so much help from my family and some good friends and neighbors. We were completely packed up and out of our house within 3 1/2 hours, then had everything unloaded probably within an hour at the new house. Our friendly neighbor grabbed his boys and called the EQ prez of our new ward and with everyone's help it went so quickly. Many hands make light work, thats for sure! I am so grateful to everyone, especially my wonderful family, for all their help and hard work. They stayed for awhile after everything was unloaded to help unpack boxes and makes sure all the food and beds were set up and ready so we could at least sleep in peace that night in our new home. Then the next Monday, labor day, they spent all day helping us do yard work (a HUGE task with an acre of land!) to get the outside in decent shape. I don't know how anyone does something like this without family to help. How blessed we are for them!!

We are so excited to be in our new home and are already loving how close we are to family and, well, pretty much everything. I underestimated how much I was going to miss my Maricopa friends and the wonderful ward we have there though. Thats been the hardest part so far for me. Braxton seems to have adjusted well enough and loves his new big room and swimming pool and all the space he has to play in. Nursery in the new ward is going to be the biggest challenge, as he would barely even go into his old nursery where he knew everyone and had friends. Any suggestions on that one? Our next priority is to get a fence up around the yard so our dogs can run free and enjoy all the land we have. Until then, they are stuck in the "play room" with a doggie door that leads to the back patio. Pics of house coming soon!

B-rax, taking all the dvds off the racks that Justin has just so neatly organized. He had to stay busy somehow!

Me papa, enjoyin our lunch break

My wonderful mother and sister, orgazing my kitchen for me while I ram-rodded the setting up of the rest of the house

My brother Johnathan helping set up the living room

My brother Joseph, all tuckered out from the long day

Changes

So, its official. We are moving! We have been looking at this house for the past 3 months and have been in the process of buying it for the last 2, and everything is FINALLY coming together. We closed last week and as soon as the funding goes through, we are off! We are really excited to get into a bigger house with lots of land and A POOL and fruit trees (wahoo!) and much more goodies. Its close to my family and right in the middle of the valley and only 15 min from Justin's work. But, we are also sad to be leaving our friends here in Maricopa. Its been a great past two years and we will miss everyone we have come to know and love. The only drawback is finding something to do with this house. We are trying to rent it first, so if anyone out there is interested in a great, relatively new home in awesome condition, let me know! Pics of the new house to come soon! (Well, probably not SOON cause we are a little busy around here...but as soon as I have a spare minute!)

Families are Forever

Braxton was "helping" me do the dishes last week, and I turned around for a second and when I turned back around, this is what I saw. The little turkey. All well...its a new way to beat the heat, and at least this way I don't have to worry about him getting a sun burn as he plays in the water. And how can you not love that smile??

Bella is filling out. Way out. She is in the top 95% of her weight class. She is a little chunker! Thats ok, that means there is just more of her to kiss and love on. She is so precious. She has gotten kind of fussy over the past few weeks, which is hard at times, but she has also started smiling. I can't get enough of her beautiful smile. It just warms my heart and makes me want to kiss her all over. I think any mother can agree that seeing your new baby smile for the first time is one of the most endearing moments and it makes an imprint in your heart. I love her so much.

My beautiful cousin Lena got married this last weekend to her Tongan sweetheart, Sifa. The ceremony was really special and they both just glowed all day long. It brought back alot of memories from my own wedding and how special and fun that day was. I love weddings! The feeling of love just permeates everything and everyone around and everyone is happy and in a good mood. Not to mention all the good food you get to feast on all day long. :) Even though I had to deal with a tired toddler and a grumpy baby through it all, it was a fun day. I am so grateful for eternal families and the opportunity we have to live together forever with them. My siblings and my cousins (and of course my husband) are some of my best friends in the world and I am so grateful we get to spend forever together. What a wonderful blessing!!

Happy Anniversary!!

Yesterday was our 4th anniversary. I can't believe we have been married for 4 years already! Sometimes it feels like we were just married a few months ago...but then sometimes it seems like we have been married forever. (In a good way. :)) Like he has always been a part of my life and I can't imagine it any other way. Justin was able to get out of work early, so we went shopping for some new clothes for me (thanks baby!) and then we went to Flemmings, a really nice steak house in a ritzy part of town. We had a good time together and it was so nice to be able to spend some time alone away from the kids.

I didn't get to buy a present or a card or anything for Justin, but I want him to know how much I love him and appreciate all he does for our family. He works so hard to make sure we have the things we want and need. He is a wonderful husband and father and loves playing with Braxton and making him laugh. There are many things I could say, but for our 4 years together, here are 4 reasons why I love my baby:

1. I have always had a weakness for big, strong hands, and Justin has wonderfully big and strong hands. :) I always feel safe and protected when he is holding me or my hand.
2. Despite his rough and tough exterior, he has a soft heart and has a special weakness for the innocent and for big dogs.
3. He excels at everything he attempts to do. He is smart and has a keen mind and just knows how to do things, even if its his first time. I have always admired that characteristic about him.
4. He loves me and the kids so much and works hard to show us that. He is extremely loyal and protective of us and would do anything to keep us safe.

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart! I sure love you!!

Daily Life

Its taken some time to get back in the swing of things. I am still learning every day how to do old routines with a new baby. Like putting Braxton down for a nap. Its taken some time to learn the best way to do that with with a baby who seems to wake up just as Braxton is going down every day...and I'm still figuring it out. But overall we have managed to get back to daily life.

Braxton has done better than I expected him too. At least where Bella is concerned. He mostly just ignores her, until she is taking up attention from me that he wants. Feedings are the hardest. That is when he suddenly wants all my attention, and he has also figured out that is when he can get away with anything since i can't get up to stop him! He has had a couple melt downs and its so hard to just sit there and listen to him scream and not be able to do anything about it. Hopefully those will be over soon as we all adjust. On good days though and when he is happy, he loves giving her hugs and kisses and is always ready to be there to put her binkie back in her mouth when she starts to cry. He gets very concerned when he sees her without it! He is such a goof. He is also always is anxious to point out her eyes and nose and mouth and hair to me.

Bella is such a good baby. She of course has her fussy moments but overall she is just happy and loves to be held and talked to. I could swear that she is already trying to smile. Nights vary but usually she lets me get at least 4-6 hours, sometimes even a full four without a feeding. When she sleeps she makes the cutest noises and smiles at least once every minute when she is sleeping lightly. She is just a happy baby! We love her so much and can't wait to see what other joys she will bring to our family.

My beautiful boy and his lifeline...the binkie. :)

One thing is for sure...Justin and I make beautiful babies!!! :D


So pretty in purple... what an angel!