3 Years!

I'm always a little behind in posting but Tuesday the 26th was our 3rd Anniversary!
I was looking through my wedding pictures to post one. That is so dangerous! My brother, Dixon and Bracken's aunt Candace both took pictures for us. Needless to say we have like 900 pictures. I spent way too much time looking at them! I love remembering that day and realizing that my love for Bracken has grown even more since that day.
I thought I knew Bracken really well when we got married, even though we had only known each other 6 months, but now I have even more reasons to love him!

I love watching him play with Hayes. Watching my two boys laugh and smile at each other is one of my favorite things in the world. Smiles, laughs, roars and wrestling are moments I never want to forget.

I love that he has never complained about my cooking (okay except once but even I wanted to throw it out!)

I love the way he talks to Kamri and calls her his little girl and sings songs to her to try and keep her happy.

I love his political ramblings. (I will admit there are times I tune out, but trust me...I listen more than anyone else)

I love that he watches the kids in the morning so I can sleep in.

I love that he can still make me laugh even when I'm in the middle of crying over something irrational. (That happens way too often when I'm pregnant)

For our anniversary we couldn't do too much without Kamri since she has decided she won't take a bottle. Bracken's parents were awesome and took Hayes and Kamri while we went on a ride called Sonic Boom and to Costa Vida for dinner. The ride was awesome, the scariest ride I have ever been on! It doesn't last long but I was shaking. You sit in this little metal mesh thingy. It reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory..the glass elevator. But you climb like 250 feet (I don't know if that's how high it is..but it's high) and then you sit up there for 10 seconds and you can see the whole valley and then it drops you into this tube that looks like it's all rusty and the only thing that stops you is the air. It makes this really loud noise and that's why it's called The Sonic Boom. The picture makes it look shorter than it really is. It's really cool when you are up there since it's just wire mesh you can see all around...not really that I was looking that much I was much too busy screaming! When we drove home from picking Hayes and Kamri up, Kamri was screaming and Hayes was copying her. I love them but it was sure nice to get away for a little bit!

And looking through my wedding pictures, I just had to add this picture. Haha...Telly so getting shut down by Kristin. I love it!

Tagged

My sister-in-law Skye tagged me.
The ABC's of Me:
A. ATTACHED OR SINGLE? Very Much Attached
B. BEST FRIEND? Shayna
C. CAKE OR PIE? Cake
D. DAY OF THE WEEK? Friday..can stay up late and maybe get to sleep in!
E. ESSENTIAL ITEMS? for now diapers and wipes.
F. FAVORITE COLOR? Green
G. GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS? Bears: Cinnamon covered in chocolate
H. HOMETOWN? Cedar City, UT
I. INDULGENCE? Ice Cream
J. JANUARY OR JULY? July, seems like july is just parties & vacations all month long
K. KIDS? love both of them
L. LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT? Family
M. MARRIAGE DATE? August 26, Tomorrow!
N. NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS? 3 brothers, 2 sisters
O. ORANGES OR APPLES? Apples
P. PHOBIAS OR FEARS? mosquitos..or i just hate them. and losing family
Q. QUOTE? "There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort"
R. REASONS TO SMILE? Kamri's smile and Hayes' laugh while playing with Bracken
S. SUPERMAN OR WONDER WOMAN? Wonder Woman
T. TAG 5 PEOPLE? Shayna, Jill, Linda, Christine, Ashley L.
U. UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME? When the kids aren't in the car I like to rock out to music and act as immature as I really am.
V. VEGETABLES? Corn on the Cob or Peas...both fresh out of the garden
W. WORST HABIT? so many..right now eating too many cookies
X. X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND? Ultrasound for good news, X-ray for bad.
Y. YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? Rice
Z. ZODIAC SIGN? Cancer, When I was little i thought that meant I would get cancer!

Anguish

I know many people have already posted about the terrible plane crash. I haven't been able to keep it off my mind since my mom called me Saturday morning. I am amazed at the strength of the families. I'm praying for all the families involved and I only wish there was more I could do. I knew of everyone on the plane and they were all amazing people. I knew Dallin personally, he was buddies with my brother and we had a math class together. I remember the whole class teasing Dallin about how innocent he was. He chose not to be involved in a objectionable discussion and I really looked up to him because of it. He was so nice to everyone and was always so positive. I never heard him say a negative word and he was always striving to do what was right. What a great example.

I'm so grateful for the gospel and the knowledge that we can be with our families forever, but at times like these it really reminds you to enjoy each short moment we have together. To all the victims' families...our prayers and thoughts are with you. Click here for a blog set up for the memories of the victims and condolences to the family.

FHE Idea

Bracken and I decided that we needed to start doing Family Home Evening lessons geared towards Hayes, not just us. So Bracken had the assignment for the first week and me the second. I was thinking of coloring some pictures and holding them up (the usual) but I knew he probably won't sit still for too long. Bracken came up with a great idea! I had never thought of this before so I thought I'd share. He put together a PowerPoint but just had one picture on each slide. Then he showed Hayes the slide show and talked about each picture and then had Hayes press the 'enter' key.

Hayes loved being able to participate by pushing the enter key and he was also entertained by the changing pictures. The first lesson was on Families Can Be Together Forever. Bracken put a picture of Jesus, President Monson, our family and some others. Hayes was so excited to see himself and Kamri and then a whole family picture.

Also, I didn't realize but on the church website they have music that you can play on your computer. We don't have have a piano and aren't very good A Capella so it was awesome to be able to having an opening song and it actually sound right! They have primary music and some hymns. The website is http://www.lds.org/churchmusic/

The next Monday I used Bracken's idea and did a lesson on Prayer and had a picture of each step of getting ready (eyes closed, fold arms, etc) and then pictures of things we pray for. It's fun because he actually sits through the whole thing and wants to go through it again!
Anyone else have any Family Home Evening ideas for young kids? I would love to hear your ideas!

Sunday Best!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYES!

Wednesday August 13th was Hayes' Birthday! He's 2. It's so weird to think he is two. It makes me feel like I have kid, not just a baby. Crazy! Anyway. He had a great birthday. He had no idea what was going on but Bracken and I had a lot of fun giving him his presents. In the morning we gave him his new big wheels bike. He loved it and went around the kitchen pressing the button that makes a revving noise over and over again. That night we had a birthday cake and he opened a few little presents. The look on his face when I lit the candles was hilarious.

He got to go shopping and to dinner with his Grandma Niece and Grandpa Paul on Friday night. He came back with a ball, a race car and a fork lift. He loves all of them but the fork lift kept him entertained all Saturday morning. It has a lever to move the fork up and down and buttons that make it move forward, backwards or make noises. He would push a button and when it started moving he'd look up and have this huge smile! Anytime he smiles I just can't help smiling and laughing. I love my baby Hayes! (I guess he's not so much a baby anymore!)

Let the Games Begin

I've seen it a million times...and I still laugh.



OUCH!

Summer Olympics 2008

Last October Bracken and I were debating on getting satellite TV. So I didn't really want to get it because then we would just watch more TV and there is so much trash on TV. We decided to get it with DVR so that we could watch TV when we wanted to and watch what we wanted to instead of just watching whatever junk was on. The big deciding factor in why we wanted to get satellite...well Bracken wanted to watch all the latest political news during an election year and me? the blessed day is almost here. I wanted it for the Olympics! Ok maybe I am a little bit of nerd to turn into a couch potato while I watch others that train for hours a day but I LOVE the Olympics. I am amazed at the fast runners and swimmers. The gymnasts...wow. I wish I could even do a flip on the trampoline much less land on a beam that is like 4 inches wide! And now that we have DVR, I can actually watch the water polo games that are usually aired at like 3 in the morning! Seriously..the sport doesn't get enough credit. (or there isn't enough crazy people in the world to play it.) So having DVR has been great and it'll be awesome to be able to watch every Olympic event I want!

GO TEAM USA!!

Mendon 24th Celebration

After the triathlon in Burly we drove to Mendon for their 24th of July celebration. We got there just in time for Hayes to be able to hold the bunnies and go on some rides. Then we all watched a baseball game and the famous Mendon fireworks. Every year Bracken talks about how great the Mendon fireworks are because they are so close ashes sometimes fall on you. They didn't dissapoint this year, there was one firework that was super low. I love small town celebrations especially when you have extended family there to enjoy it with you too.




Hayes loved the rabbits and kept on going back to them and wanting to hold different ones. Almost convinced me that we should get a pet but Bracken brought some sense back into me ; )It was nice to have cousin's Izen & Jate there to help Hayes wrestle his dad.












I thought this was so funny, Hayes is at the top of that huge line, they were all waiting (very patiently I might add) for him to SLOWLY climb up the stairs.
I thought he'd be scared to go down the huge slide but again he proved I'm a bigger wuss than him. He LOVED it!

Kamri chilled in her stroller. Luckily she likes her stroller and as long as it's moving she's happy. Hopefully the "as long as she's moving she's happy" won't apply when she starts crawling and walking.

Triathlon

The weekend after the 24th Bracken did the Triathlon in Burley. He made it through it and loved it! Maybe I can talk him to doing it with me next year...that is if I get the motivation to do it next year, I can't run! He did it with his brother's Telly & Kade and his Dad. I would say it was so much fun to watch but I will admit that I got there right as he finished! So I got a picture of Telly and Bracken looking exhausted. I was so excited to watch him and I'm just still slow at this two kid thing and then Kristin and I got lost trying to find the dang place. I was bummed we missed watching it but Oh well, I'm glad he had fun doing it!

Hayes didn't love the swim cap but he sure loved to play in Bracken's bike gear. Maybe next year he'll be up to the challenge...