Autumn Time!

This last weekend the weather here has been AMAZING! Saturday was so windy and beautifully cool, and thankfully the low temps have decided to stay a little longer. Today Cori and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and have a picnic at the park with the kids. Wahoo! We love picnics!





Cori, Indianna and Christopher, the son of some good family friends



Me and B-rax and Indi. With the wind blowing it was almost cold in the shade! yahoo for Autumn weather! (Finally!)





B-rax's first time in the sand. He couldn't decide if he liked it or not.


I guess he decided he DID like it, cause he tried to eat it! Should have seen that one comin...

Indi climbing the bars

Christopher and Baby Isaiah



Going down the slide with mommy. This was his favorite part!


There's a smile! If you look closely you can see his top two teeth poking through his gums. I am still getting used to how he looks with teeth...he looks so different!

It was so nice to be outside for awhile and actually ENJOY it again...I love Autumn time!

Camping!

A couple weeks ago my father and sisters were going on our annual "Father-Daughter Compout," but unfortunately my grandma (Father's mother) is sick and won't be around much longer so my dad had to bail to go be with her for awhile. That kind of ruined our father-daughter plans, so instead we called one of my other brothers and made it more like a sibling hang out! It turned out to be pretty fun, and the weather was of course BEA-UTIFUL! Can't beat Arizona White Mountains in the fall!

My two older brothers, Daniel and Jaron. They always make camp-outs the bomb! (And a SPECIAL thank you shout out to my oldest bro Daniel who brought along a lovely make-shift porta-potty so us ladies didnt have to SQUAT! Wahoo! :) )

My silly sis Alisha enjoying her hot chocolate. Yum!

Braxton all wrapped up by the fire. It was COLD!


Braxton and his cool wilderness man uncle Jaron!

Baby and Me in early morn...can you tell I only got about an hour of sleep that night? Thats what strange noises and not gettin' up to pee cause its FREEZING will do to ya..

My boy playing in the grass. He loved being out in nature!

I didn't get pics of everyone, but Daniel's kids and Jaron's boy were there, along with me and Brax, Alisha and my youngest sister Shaliah. We had a blast! Thanks for going with us everyone!

YES ON 102!

This astonished me. I of course am an advocate of Prop 102 and firmly believe in marriage between one man and one woman, but I had no idea that if 102 doesn't pass...these could be the consequences. It makes me sick and scared for the world my children will have to grow up in if this fails. PLEASE PLEASE register to vote (click HERE if you haven't!) and then vote YES on 102. Lets make sure our future is one full of hope.



Click HERE to watch the video

The Explorer

There once was a great explorer who wandered far and wide in search of new and exciting adventures. Then one day, he happened upon something he had never really seen before...What could it be?!?!


A door to the outside world! YES! Now if he could only figure out how to give the Mother the slip. Hmmm...he would have to think more on that one. But have no fear, sooner or later, he will prevail!


(Or so he thinks. Not if Mother can help it! He sure is trying though!)

Our Hero

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me present to you:
The Future Olympic Gold Champion of the World!!

Just remember...you saw him HERE first! :)
(Picture courtesy of Justin)

Yum Yum!

Last Sunday I was making yummy yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (Thanks Heidi! I still use that recipe!) and Braxton got in on the action by licking his first beater. He did a great job lickin' in clean...

And thoroughly enjoyed it! :)

And this picture is just cause I was feeling left out since my face kept getting cut off in the previous pictures...:D

Braxton ate his first piece of dog food today. I washed his mouth out, and he still had doggie breath. Yuck.

This video is kind of long cause I don't have time to edit it, but this is B-rax in his little walker. He is so funny as he races around the kitchen. Usually he chases the dogs but they weren't in here at the time. He has it down so good and knows how to maneuver it everywhere and stuff...it makes me laugh every time I watch him.

This was hilarious. I was feeding him dinner and he started exaggerating his chewing and was making the funniest faces! Don't mind my fat arm right in the middle of the camera every now and then...

CUTE, FREE BACKGROUNDS!!

There is another AWESOME blog that just opened, curteousy of my good friend CORI, with adorable, FREE backgrounds for your blog! Its called Scrap-e-Blog, and you can check it out HERE! There are tons of varieties and lots of options and they are really easy to use, and whats cool is that they are all fresh and unique and have never been used before! AND...they are backgrounds and not templates so you don't have to lose any widgets! Check it out!

And the Sun Appears...

Well after one long and tiring month full of dreary days, the clouds are finally parting and the sun is shining its bright face on us once again! Braxton's fevers are gone, his bottom two teeth FINALLY popped through, his diaper rash is completely healed, and I think things are finally back to normal around here. Well, almost. We got into a bad habit while he was sick. . . I would pick him up anytime he woke up during a nap or in the middle of the night and hold him to try and get him to go back to sleep to comfort him, so he would be awake for hours in the middle of the night instead of going back to sleep. We are working on this though and are making good progress, so hopefully he will be sleeping through the night again soon and THEN we will be back to normal!

We had his 9 month well visit last week, and after another blood test (which went MUCH better than last time...he didn't even cry very much at all! It could be because another man was helping so Braxton thought he had to be all macho or something, I don't know, but whatever it was I am so grateful it went better!) he checked out nice and healthy with no sign of infection. It seems like just within the past couple of weeks, he has grown so much and has turned into a little boy rather than my tiny baby. Here are some things that I want to remember about this stage of his life:

- He is crawling all over the place now! Its adorable, but although it would seem like I would get more done since he can entertain himself more, 'tis not true. As soon as I put him down he takes off for one of two things: The dogs' toys and food, or the stairs. He is OBSESSED with the stairs and gets so mad whenever I put the gate up. He grabs it and shakes it and just cries like he is behind bars or something. Funny, but frustrating. So, I have to follow him everywhere to make sure he isn't eating doggy food or sucking on doggy toys or anything. Yuck.

-He uses his feet like a monkey, grabbing things and holding them or bringing them up to his hands. Its so cute and I laugh every time.

-I taught him a new trick - he can give kisses! He even puckers his lips and everything. My heart just sings every time he gives me a kiss. Aw, the love.

-Whatever I am eating, he has to have some. And after I put a little piece in his mouth, he will look up at me and give me the biggest smile like he is so proud of himself!

-He loves to play the piano. I will take his little finger and play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and he wants me to do it over and over again. I hope this means I have a little musician on my hands!

-He smells EVERYTHING. He will pick up something and smell it before he puts it into his mouth, he will take out his paci and smell it then put it back in, he will even sniff ME sometimes when I am holding him. Don't know why, but its dang cute.

-He loves anything stringy - cords, ribbons, string, and ESPECIALLY hair. He falls asleep with a big clump of my hair twirled around his fist. This has gotten a bit uncomfortable since I have cut it shorter...

Here he is in his new walker. He finally mastered it and loves chasing the dogs all around the house. I will have to get a video soon. Its pretty funny. And I know I am biased, but I really do think I have the cutest baby in the world. :)

As for me, I am taking piano lessons again. I have been feeling like if I don't use my talents soon I am going to lose them, so its time I start working on them again. I am really enjoying it so far and can't wait to be good enough to accompany people and actually play hymns in church.

I also am in a course for my writing to help me hone my skills and hopefully get some things published. It will take awhile of course, but thats my goal. Its nice to be challenged again and have something to work towards!

Life is Good!