Just Hanging Out

Most of our days consist of just this:

My sweet little Boys...

There are days that these two drive me nuts... but I still think that-- the majority of the time-- they are the sweetest two kids a mom could ask for!

Day of Love...

I know Valentines Day was a few weeks ago... but I wanted to document it nonetheless...

These fowers I made up for a lesson that I taught at our ward's YW activity the week before valentines day.

Tyler was very sweet and brought me home a big bouquet of balloons! He insisted that none of the flowers at the grocery stores looked good. I told him to look there.... especially during Valentines Day since the price of a rose doubles ( I always tell him NOT to buy me flowers from a florist, but to get them at the grocery store and I will arrange them)-- after all I'm perfectly capable of arranging myself, so why bother paying someone else to do it? He also included with the balloons... a sweet card, a chocolate candy bar, and a redbox movie. Later he laughed and said to me... "geez, if I'm this nice this year... How am I going to top it next year? I think I'm setting the standard too high."

In return I slaved in the kitchen to make us a tasty dinner of Steaks, Scalloped Potatoes, and a fresh green salad...complete with fancy drinks. For dessert we had some leftover strawberry cheesecake ice cream cake with fresh strawberries sliced on top. Overall it was a delicious dinner and Tyler was thoroughly satisfied.

I know there are some people who think that Valentines Day is all commericalized and I'll admit that to an extent it really is... BUT I think it's great to take at least ONE day a year to focus on the things we love about our significant other. After all, when you've got 2 kids... sometimes those ideas for celebrating your love together go out the window real fast!

I love you Tyler. Thank you for a wonderful Valentines Day.....

Happy 1st Birthday Braxton

Braxton's 1 Year Stats:
Weight: 22lbs 15 oz
Height: 301/2"


My apologies that this is LATE and the pictures are sort of out of order, but there were so many... It was taking too long to rearrange them.

We had such a great time celebrating with my family. It was the first time that Nanny and Pappy had ever been to our home. Although we had a busy week previous to Braxton's birthday, being able to spend time on Saturday afternoon with family, eat some cake, and let Braxton open a few gifts was the perfect way to celebrate our little boy turning 1 year old!

Since it's been a few weeks I feel I can finally share that there was a minor catastrophe... I made a brownie birthday cake with confetti sprinkles for 'braxton's cake' and then we also purchased a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for the adults. While taking the ice cream cake out of the fridge I lost my grip and watched-- in horror-- as it dropped to the kitchen floor, face down (of course), luckily I was able to pick it up quickly... and that I'd just scrubbed my home clean top to bottom- floors included... and recover the whole cake with the exception of some frosting on the top. At the time I wanted to burst into tears-- though I somehow managed to compose myself, but now that the horrible event has passed, I'm able to at least mention it for record purposes... Lets hope that it doesn't happen again in the future!

Present Opening:


Braxton was so excited to open his gift he dived right into the first one and found this stuffed leapord. Quincy has named it "Lepi"


What started out like the above picture, Quincy gently encouraging B to open his gifts....

...Turned into B playing with the paper while.....

... Quincy basically "Helped" open the rest of the gifts.


Braxton got lots of great gifts! Thank you everyone!

By far this little firetruck is one of his favorites... it's a 'noisy toy' from Grammie and Grandpa Loren.

Cake Time:

Thinking 'what is going on?'..............

The Birthday Boy's Cake.... not the one I dropped...

Singing happy birthday.... he still doesn't quite know what's happening.

After getting the go ahead to dive into his cake... he proceeded to sit there calmly and then whined for a spoon. He didn't want to eat it with his hands... go figure.


First bite... still thinking about it...

Having some fun...


MMmmmm... starting to really enjoy it!

All cleaned up and yelling for more!


He eventually got into it as you can clearly tell.


***Sugar coma***


Love that sweet little Pot Belly!

(A picture of Braxton on his actual Birthday 02/10/11)
Braxton has changed SO much within the last few months it's hard to believe, but my baby has already turned one!


Grammie and Grandpa trying to get a pic with the boys....

Karter and I goofing around....

Nanny, Sarah, and Auntie T....

Finally a semi-descent picture...

Nanny and Spencer...

Braxton and Grammie...

Quincy all 'tired out' from running around.

Tyler and B.

Three of the four siblings... Spencer, me, and Karter.

B and his mama...


Everyone just chillin...

Nanny and Pappy....


Quincy and Grandpa Loren rough housing...

The boys playing with the new 'piano'

Dad, me, and Tyler.


Just my size... right?

Quincy waiting for the party to start...

Grammie playing catch with B.

B loves his balloons.....

What Braxton has been up to lately:

* has been walking/ starting to run (walking

is now his main mode of transportation)
* can stand up to walk without support of anything (ie. tables, walls, couches)

* can bend over to pick something up while standing and not fall down

* can give hugs and kisses on demand, BIG slobbery and juicy toungue kisses, but they are still SO cute!

* can catch a balloon when we throw it to him

* can say "words" (sounds which we associate with words) ie. 'ba'- bite, anything food related, 'ma'-milk, 'mo'- more, 'ma mo'- more milk, 'da'- diaper, 'buh'- book, 'bah'- ball, 'gah'- good... there are a few others he says peridocially, but those are the ones he uses most often. He also 'answered' his pretend cellphone and said 'hey doe'? It was so cute. :)

* has got 1 molar and is working on the other 3... :(

* is recently beena little wary of strangers, but usually warms up to them after he decides they are no threat to him

* is self feeding, sometimes he uses utensils, but most times he opts for the 'quicker picker upper'-- his fingers!

* can wave bye bye...precious
* understands a lot more of what we're saying to him. When we ask him "Where's the dog?" He goes and gets a dog... same for any object we ask him where it is.


* LOVES his brother. The 2 are quite the pair... Braxton is fascinated about the capabilities of his older brother and loves to be around him. Quincy sometimes gets frustrated that Braxton wants to play with 'his' toys... so there are mulitple times that I'm playing referee... but overall the 2 are great friends!

Happy Birthday Braxton!