New Years Eve and Cousin Fun

The week after Christmas we had a wonderful present from some of our cousins who live in Utah. They came down for a week to play with us and celebrate Christmas and the New Year with my Speakman family! It was so great seeing them again and getting to know their cute little babies and just being around them.

Some of the fun stuff we did while they were here: Going out to the desert and playing with their "toys!" (Quads and dirt bikes.) It was FREEZING cold that week for us here in Arizona (high in the 40s!), and I had to actually go out and by my kids winter clothes for our little excursion! We had a blast though.

Bella all bundled up for the cold. We were taking a break from the CRAZY wind and enjoying the warmth of the car.

B-rax got to go out for a long ride on the quads with Jono and the gang. He had a BLAST and talked about it for days afterwards. He is enjoying a nice big donut and dethawing in the car with us.

This is by far the coolest toy they had, and definitely B-rax's favorite. :) A mini dirt bike with training wheels!!! Cousin Brian bought two of these for his cute twin girls for Christmas, and was nice enough to let Braxton ride it a few times. He quickly became addicted and never wanted to get off, of course. Brian added a rope on back to stop the bike and prevent and mishaps, and fixed the gas so it could only go so fast. It was so fun watching B-rax enjoy it!

Bella with Cousin Neil on a quad! She was so excited to finally have a turn!

Posing for a pic before another ride...

We enjoyed just chillin' with them all wherever we were, but it was fun to let the little kids play out on our carport with their little mini toys.

Bella pushing little Zoey on her little quad. So cute!

You gotta love this girl...

Brian and Tina's girls turned 2 while here! We had a little party for them to wish them a happy birthday.

New Years Eve was a blast. We had a HUGE party at the church house with lots of family and friends, with our amazing cousins Neil and Ben D.J.-ing for us the whole night. Here we were having a dance off between two of the youngsters there, and B-rax just HAD to get up and join in.

Games and Fun

Bella was a champ at the Limbo :)

Happy New Year!!

The kids made it until about 11:00, then both started to get that "glazed" look in their eyes so we took off to go home and put them to bed. Justin pooped out on me just before midnight, but I was a champ and stayed up (barely) to see the ball drop and hear the fireworks go off. Another year, come and gone. 2010 was wonderful. Can't wait to see what the new year brings!!

Milestones

Braxton has been saying really cute/funny things lately. I love watching him explore and discover the world around him. Here are some of my favorites:

"Mom, can I have crackers and fishies?"

"Sure Braxton." (I grab a bag and pour the crackers and fishies into the bag for him.)

"Good job mommy!"

(Sitting in bathtub and is petting his leg, then kisses it.)

"I love you my sweet leg!"

Braxton and Bella have little "conversations" all the time and I love listening to them, especially since half of Bella's words are still unintelligible. We were in the car and they were "talking" and Bella said something to him and Braxton scrunched up his face, tapped his chin and said, "What? 'Shwumpee?' Hmmmm....now what does THAT mean?" :)

(WHile we were swinging outside)

"Mommy, look a butterfly! ... Wow...Its so beautiful!"

We reached a milestone today. I FIIINNNNAALLLYY got Braxton to poop in the toilet!!! WAHOO!! He has been peeing for awhile but was deathly afraid to poop for some unknown reason, UNTIL TODAY! Is is sad when a mother gets so excited over her child's bowel movement? Well, so be it. Today I am one happy woman. :)

Last Sunday was Bella's first day in nursery, and Braxton's first day in primary! Braxton had a little bit of a hard time going into the primary room at first and sitting with his class, but after about 10 mins he warmed up and finally went and sat down. I was so grateful. For some reason I was just so emotional that day, and I could barely keep the tears at bay when Braxton started getting a little emotional about going in there by himself. I don't know what I would have done if he refused to go, since I still had Bella squirming in my arms and Justin was teaching his class. THEN I went and took Bella to nursery, and thats when I lost it. :( I don't even know why!! She was so excited (and heaven knows I had been looking forward to this day for MONTHS!!!) to go in and wasn't even crying, but I just couldn't stop the tears this time. It was so embarrassing! I said goodbye to her and had to go to the bathroom and have a good cry for a few minutes. Sad, isn't it? A grown woman. Sheesh. i'm such a baby. She ended up doing well the first hour, but I guess lost it the second hour and they had to bring her to me in Young Women's cause she was crying so much. I of course was teaching though, so they had to take her screaming out of the room again to go find Justin. It was a hard day. I was grateful when church was over and I could take my kids home and hold them and kiss them and love them all I wanted. I'm such a softie.

Merry Christmas 2010

I can't believe its the new year and the holidays are over! Boy they sure go by fast. I know they are going to, but it still surprises me every year just how quickly it goes.

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was really chill and relaxing and Justin and I enjoyed partaking of the magic through our sweet children. Here they are in their little Christmas outfits, curtesy of Aunt Patti!

I didn't get too many good pics of the kids Christmas morning. They were too busy opening presents and enjoying their breakfast of chocolate and more chocolate to stop and say "cheese!" :)

Christmas Morning

The kids got some fun little toys to play with and lots of new games to keep them busy and give them something different to do. They played ALL DAY with their new toys and didn't even want to leave the house cause they would miss their new toys!

(The only "good" pic I got!)

B-rax got his first bike!!! He LOVES it and would ride it all day every day if he could. Santa did good this year! :)

After presents we went out for breakfast. SO nice not having to cook Christmas morning! :) I think that will be a tradition we will stick with. The highlight of the day for me was being able to Skype with my sweet sister Alisha who is on her mission in the Bahamas currently. It was so nice to be able to see her and talk to her face to face, so to speak. She is so wonderful. We all went over to my parents house, the whole fam, and were able to be there to talk to her. She comes home this Sept! Already counting down! :)

Merry Christmas! Hope yours was merry and bright!

6 Months!!

I've popped!

Braxton is THREE!!!!

THE BIRTHDAY BOY!!!

THE PINATA!!!

(Some of) THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!

THE CAKE!!!

THE PRESENTS!!!

I hope your birthday was all you had hoped it would be my son! For months you could talk about nothing else, and when asked what you wanted to get all you would say is "You buy me trains for my birthday!" (Hence the ecstatic face when your new train was opened!) You are such a sweet, crazy kid and I love ya more than you could possibly know! You'll always be my baby!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! :)

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was a different experience for us this year. It was the first year we not only had it solely with Justin's family, but at our home. (Much more stressful than I imagined! Thank you Mom for all your help!!) Justin's sweet mother flew over from New York to be with us and his sister came down from Dewey, and we had a friend from Justin's work with us as well who didn't have any family. A much smaller group than I am typically used to, but all in all we had a wonderful day and enjoyed being together as family and enjoying good food and remembering all we are thankful for. Braxton LOVED playing with his cousins that he doesn't get to see too often and cried when they left. It was so nice having "Grandma Bebe" here with us for a week and enjoying her company. The kids took to her and her little dog "Lola" so quickly and asked for her all day after she flew home. It was wonderful to be able to watch them get to know her better and build a relationship with their grandma.

5 months!!

Me and Baby BOY!! 5 months. I can't believe I'm already halfway there!

Halloween 2010

We had a fun Halloween Eve this year, partying with our ward family at a carnival and trunk-or-treat. Braxton asked me every day for two weeks after we bought his costume if it was time to go to the Halloween party yet, and finally the time came!! He and Bella had a ball and Justin and I loved watching their joy throughout the night. Holidays definitely change as you grow into an adult and sometimes lose some of their magic, but I am so grateful children can light that spark again and allow you to live the magic once again.

The Beautiful Bella as Tinkerbell. She started dancing and flitting about just like a real fairy as soon as I donned her costume and literally didn't stop until it was time for bed later that night. She was so much fun to watch!

B-rax, giving me his "cheese" face. He didn't like his mask, but he still made a handsome Batman in suite and cape. Ready for the party!!

Face (hand) painting. He hates people touching his face. Think he gets that from me...

Hopscotch. I loved all the booths cause no matter what it was, they got candy or prizes just for trying.

Definitely Bella's favorite booth of the night (basketball toss). As soon as I put her down, no matter where we were, she would start dancing right back to this one. I was so worn out by the end of the night just from chasing after her!

Daddy and Bella, giving Momma a break for a minute!