Family Photos 2010

Wednesday, February 24th--HOORAY! I just got these copies from our photographer, Shadow Mountain Photography. They are watermarked, no copies please. Anyhoo, they turned out SOOO awesome. I actually got tears in my eyes seeing them. Mike and Becky Jeide made our session so fun and enjoyable. Then when we met back up they worked with us and our requests (a little photoshopping was needed on a few things, like switching the squinty eyes to fully-open eyes, etc!). Here's some of them, I'll post when I get the rest.

Our precious kiddies!

Pic #1, this is proof Brady has passed Elise up in height!
Pic #2, that kiss says it all for Brady!

Now the sweet couple! We're celebrating ten years of marriage in two weeks! I can't wait!And, finally, our sweet, beautiful Elise. About to turn 8 years old and be baptized. She's so angelic in her white dress. These photos just make me so proud to be a mom--the ones with both kids do too!

Brady & Aiden

Saturday, February 20th--Yes, lots going on today! Brady has a very good friend, Aiden, who lives across the street. They get-together and play pretty often and Brady just loves it. It is SOOO funny to hear the two of them talk to each other! Their logic on various topics is knee-slapping funny but I don't dare have them catch me laughing because they are totally serious about their opinions and, of course, they are absolutely right! he he he Today they split their time between houses. Brady went over to Aiden's house for a while then they both came over here. When playing with Legos, the jungle gym, and various other toys in Bradys room got boring they switched over to Wii Legos Star Wars. At first, things were going great and then the game proved to be somewhat frustrating so both of them ended up handing over the controls to Elise and I and watching as we played. That got boring fast and so they wanted to give Wii Legos Indiana Jones a try(cuz that's WAY less frustrating......not! he he he) but the Wii decided it didn't want to work, for some strange reason. That made for two little sad/mad boys. Luckily, Spongebob had just started and they were able to turn those frowns upside down. Gotta love Mr. Squarepants! Their adventures, for the day, ended when it was dinner time for both Brady and Aiden. Aiden, reluctantly went home (until his dad informed him it was egg salad sandwich night, then he happily cheered---a much different scenerio would have been played out if I announced that for dinner in my house, Nate and the kids would be running out the door and to McDonalds!) and Brady was not too happy to see him go home. Luckily, there are more days of play time ahead for these little buddies. At least, till Aiden moves in May. For now, they just get to enjoy spending time together, doing what little boys do best!

Crazy Us!

Saturday, February 20th--So the baby shower was over, everyone left, house was cleaned up and everything put back in place but we were still having camera fun!

Here's Elise realizing she doesn't tolerate sour lemons like she use to!

And Nate and I being silly! Elise takes good pics!

A Party for Baby Chandler!

Saturday, February 20th--Baby Chandler is not quite born yet (4 weeks to go!) but we threw a baby shower for him and, WOW, did he make out! This little guy will have clothes GALORE, toys GALORE and everything else GALORE! Chandler is due to be born to Carly & Nathan Bates. Carly is my cousin and she's about to make her parents, Alan & Manya, first-time grandparents! Of course, they are MUCHO excited and this kid is already proving to be quite spoiled--since that's what first-time grandparents do! Uncle Alan is already dreaming of the time he can get "Lord Chandler" (as he calls him) on a little motor-bike. I couldn't help but hint to Carly to take grandpa along to Toys R Us when Chandler is old enough to want a little kid-sized Escalade! Yep, I'm full of great ideas! he he he

As most baby showers go, we had lunch, yummy white chocolate fountain, cakes courtesy of Carly, and my, favorite bakery, Dippidee, and games. We discovered you can make A LOT of words from "Chandler", including "nerd"........hmmmm........he he he. Then it was present opening time. Like I said above, he got lots of things. He got a lot of trendy looking outfits--we want this little guy to be looking quite schnazzy! As with my own kids, I LOVE baby shoes so Chandy got some shoes to match his trendy outfit. Yeah, shoes make no sense with a little baby but they are just so darn cute! I went overboard on shoes with Elise and Brady but really enjoyed it and it looks like Carly is planning to do the same......awesome!

It was so nice to be able to visit with my other cousins and aunts too, as well as my sis, Alishia and niece, Sammy. Elise dressed in a purple dress for the occassion, something from her dress-up chest so she was looking quite fancy.

As for Nate and I and our baby making process.....I went in for a check-up and the doctors opinion is that Nate and I both need some testing done to see what's going on. Starting with Nate we're going to figure things out and then go from there. Hopefully it's a simple fix. Time will tell! Shopping for baby Chandler just made me hunger even more for a baby!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sunday, February 14th--We had a GREAT Valentine's weekend! The night before, Nate and I dropped the chillins off at Bret & Marissa's house and then we were off for a wonderful date night. First we went to a movie. We saw "Sherlock Holmes" and loved it. From there we were off to find the impossible, a restaurant without a 1 1/2 hour wait! We actually got lucky when we passed a Chili's and I noticed no one was in the lobby waiting. Nate pulled us in to their parking lot and we were delighted to find only a 5 minute wait! WAHOO! Chili's was perfect, everything was delicious and we ended our yummy steak and taters dinner with a white chocolate molten lava cake. Heavenly!

Valentine's Day we got the kids a few little gifts. The day before we went to the Disney store andeach of them picked out some figurine sets. Elise picked out "Bambi" and Brady "Wall-E". We also got them some treats and bubbles. And since we were at the mall, I stopped into my favorite chocolate shop, Kara Chocolates, to get their most-amazing mint chocolate truffles. As Valentine's gifts, Nate and I have a tradition of buying season tickets for Desert Star Theater but Nate also got me some beautiful pink roses and Brady got me a balloon. Elise made some very cute home-made cards. For dinner, I told Nate he could pick whatever he wanted and I would make it. He chose a roast and mashed taters. It all turned out great!

Valentine's night, Brady's "girlfriend" Kerri-berry dropped by to deliver him a special Valentine. He had brought Kerri a HUGE soft stuffed caterpillar a few days before. Brady was pretty excited about his Valentine from her!

What a WONDERFUL Valentine's! I'm so thankful for my special Valentines!

Happy Birthday Kerri!

Thursday, February 4th--So the goddesses took our fellow goddess, Kerri, out for her 39th, er, I mean 21st birthday. This has become an incredibly fun tradition we do and it seems like each birthday celebration gets better and better! We decided to surprise Kerri, which drove her absolutely NUTS! Kerri is a HUGE Twilight fan and adores Jacob more than any other character. As we other three were trying to figure out what the heck to do for our night of fun, I realized my favorite theater, Desert Star Theater, was playing a Twilight spoof. PERFECT! We started the night by having Kerri's own personal Jacob greet her at the door. She was ecstatic! Then came various Twilight-themed gifts. Heather made us all custom shirts: Heather, "Team Emmett", Kerri, "Team Jacob", Dawn, "Team Edward" and, (the best of all!) mine, "Team Who the Hell Cares". It was a favorite among our spouses! he he he

Kerri got a custom-made pillow case with a pic of Edward on one side and Jacob on the other. Hmmm, who to lay her sleepy head next to? ha ha ha She also got some, um, things I won't mention but I think she loved all her gifts! When I booked the theater I had no idea they put us in the front row. The seats were so perfect. We even got some extra special attention by the MC and they mentioned Kerri's birthday at the end. The show "Twi-lite: I was a teenage vampire" was so funny! We chomped on pizza and breadsticks. After the show we headed to one of our favorite places, Cheesecake Factory. Each of us picked a yummy dessert--I tried the fresh banana cheesecake (SOOO yummy!).

From there it was time to head home, as much as we didn't wanna!

Jazz Reading Contest

Monday, January 28th--Elise has been working hard to win the school reading contest. The overall school winner gets a day spent with a Utah Jazz basketball player. Pony Express Elementary wins every year and I'm sure this year will be no exception. Each week students read as many minutes as they can and then turn in their minutes. There is a top reader for each grade. The winner of the week gets to wear a Jazz jersey the whole week and also gets a certificate. Elise won the first week and proudly wore her Jazz jersey ALL week (sorry, I spaced getting a pic!). She continues to read but hasn't been as diligent as the first week. She said the jersey seems "boy-ish" but I told her to still try and go for it. Her friend and neighbor, Adeline, is also competing and looking like she may be in the lead as well. We're rooting for both girls!
The student that wins the most minutes, in their grade, gets to keep a Jazz jersey and will get a certificate. Nate has also given Elise an incentive: if she wins then he'll take her to the local bookstore and she can pick out anything she wants (I'm encouraging the complete hardbound set of the Harry Potter series!).
Good luck Elise!