Game Day!

Saturdays are always nice b/c I don't have to figure out what we all are going to wear. So as long as I have all our BYU clothes clean, we don't have a problem. Since Josh goes to all the games, I decided that I didn't want to stay home with the kids all night. I packed us all up and went to watch the game at my parents, and although it wasn't a great game we still had fun hanging out with them. Here are the kids outside playing around. Brayden kept tackling Brookyln, which was fine until he got a little too rough. It's fun to see them starting to play more together.

Utah State Fair

Last Friday we stopped by the state fair for the evening. I definitely like the County Fair better, but I've gone to the state fair my whole life so we've continued the tradition. We didn't stay very long, but we had a lot of fun. Here is Brayden in the kids farmland picking apples:

Planting a potato seed:
Riding the tractor:
It was much more fun this year since Brayden wasn't so scared of the animals. He actually touched them, in fact he wanted to pet every animal he walked by. Here he is petting the goats:
This steer is SO huge. It made me a little nervous for Brayden to get that close, but I guess the steer is used to it b/c it didn't move a muscle.Here's the cute little baby calf. Of course Brooklyn was more interested in the ground, but Brayden loved this calf. I love his smile in this picture. He was smiling so cute saying cheese (which doesn't happen very often) then as I was about to take the picture Josh picked him up to sit him behind the calf. Thanks for keeping your smile buddy!

Cute little Brooklyn not sure what to think about all the animals making their sounds:

Newest Addition

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that in the 10 years I've been out of my parents house, I've never bought a piano. Dancing, a mission, work, and kids always got in the way. While I was pregnant with Brooklyn I started realizing how much I missed playing the piano everyday, so I started saving up. It was pretty crowded in our little condo, so since we've moved I've been seriously looking for a piano. My mom and I have been looking on KSL for a used piano with no luck. This week I saw that Riverton music was having a liquidation sale so I decided to check it out. My parents came with me and after going back and forth between Riverton Music and the Piano Gallery, we found "the one." As soon as we saw it I knew I was going to take it home. Since I was trained on my parent's Baldwin grand piano, I absolutely love how Baldwins feel and sound. The salesman I had started working with ended up with his wife in the hospital to have a baby, so we were lucky to work with the owner of the store the rest of the week. He gave us an incredible deal that was within my budget. The piano was supposed to go to a school this year, but when it was delivered they sent it back wanting a grand piano. So this piano has never been used, eventhough we got it at the used price. And the best part is that I will be able to upgrade to a grand piano and they will trade this piano in and give me what I paid for it to go towards the upgrade. Pretty sweet deal, since I plan to get a grand piano at some point. N-e way, I love everything about this piano - the color, the touch, the sound...everything. Isn't it pretty?!

One of the BEST things that I have never seen before is the new practice bar they attach to the middle pedal. I've always thought of the middle pedal as being like the appendix of the body - I'm sure it serves some function, but not sure what that is and I could certainly do without it. Well now it serves a great purpose. You can lock the pedal in the down position and it mutes the entire piano. It's awesome. I can pound on the piano and it sounds like I am barely touching the keys. This will come in very handy as I will be able to play while the kids are sleeping and my pounding won't wake them up.

The kids, in the meantime, also love the piano. I'm not sure what I'm going to do to keep the kids away from it. I don't want to be extreme, as I want music to be a part of my kids' lives, but I also want to keep my piano in great condition. Brayden loves to sit on the bench with me while I play and he also loves to sit and play by himself. He has always been drawn to music, so I'm hoping he'll continue to develop a love for it. Brooklyn also loves to sit on my lap and play. She's the one I'm worried about. Brayden already knows he has to wash his hands, that he can't bang on the piano, and doesn't touch it without asking me first. Brooklyn, on the other hand, loves to break all those rules. I'm thinking I'll have to buy some sort of cover for now to keep her from getting too close. We'll see. Here's Brayden playing and singing Mickey Mouse. So cute!

First Piece of Licorice

So this is what happens when you let your one year rome around the BYU party and she finds the bag of licorice. She quickly devoured it, leaving only a trace of it on her shoulder as evidence. I think we've found a new favorite treat.

Labor Day Weekend - Monday

Monday morning we met up with my family to take pictures of the grandkids. Since my sister Rachelle and her husband won't be here until maybe Christmas, we'll have to wait until then to get a big family picture. We went to a little stream by my parents house and it wen't quite well, considering all the young kids we had. This is the only picture my brother has sent us, so hopefully I can post more when we get them. Everyone split up for the afternoon. My mom came with the kids and me and we went shopping for a bit. The kids napped all afternoon then we went to my aunt's house for a fun BBQ. The only pictures I took were of Simon chowing down on corn and honeydew. He was SO cute. When Jana took the corn away he got very upset, so that's when the honeydew came into play. We had such a fun weekend with everybody. Thanks for making the trip home so we could see you all. Can't wait until Christmas!!!

Labor Day Weekend - Sunday

Sunday was Sadie's blessing at Nate's parent's house. We're so glad that they decided to come home so we could all share in this experience with them. Nate gave a beautiful blessing. We spent the afternoon eating and spending time with everybody. Here's Brooklyn enjoying the food:
Josh and Paige: This was the best picture I could get of our kids. They aren't the best posers for pictures. Brayden found a football at the house and never put it down, even during the blessing.
Hannah and Brooklyn:
Sadie and Simon:

Sadie and me:

Hannah and Brayden:

Sadie and my mom:

For some reason Brayden loved this plant with flowers in it. He made me take his picture with each color of flower, and then I had to take his picture smelling the flower. This is one of the few times he has wanted me to take his picture, so naturally I took about 30 pics.

After the blessing we went to my parent's house. We walked to a little playground by their house and enjoyed the evening. Here's Brooklyn, Paige, and Harrison looking through the tube while Hannah is hanging out on top. (I was so focused on getting a picture of the three little kids looking through that I didn't realize Hannah was on top until I looked at the pics later. Oops!)
Brooklyn trapped trying to figure out how to get out:

Labor Day Weekend - Saturday

Athough Celeste and Nate spent the day with Nate's family, the rest of still got together to spend time with Ryon and Jana's family. In the morning we headed to the Lehi pool to swim. It was awesome. Unfortunately, Brayden was having issues and spent the first 1 1/2 hours clinging to Josh or me. He finally chilled out and enjoyed it the rest of the time. When we got there we were told by Ryon to watch out for the baby. Sure enough, we almost missed him. Here's little Simon fast asleep:
Here's Paige going down the slide:

Brayden going down the slide (finally by himself):

My parents with Simon and Hannah:

Our little family:

Justin, Ali, and Paige:

Ryon, Jana, Hannah, Carson, Harrison, and Simon:

My mom with Brooklyn:

After swimming we went home so the kids could take their naps. We then had everyone over for the BYU game. It was an awesome game and since they won all the guys were in a great mood afterwards. Of course I forgot to get a family picture of us all in our BYU gear, but I did get the kids. Here's Brayden snitching snacks before the game: Our little Cougar Cutie:

Labor Day Weekend - Friday

My sister, Celeste, and her husband decided to fly home to bless their new little girl, Sadie. It was so fun to have her home for the weekend. Ryon and Jana also brought their family down from Idaho so we all got to hang out. Friday morning I took the kids at met Celeste, Sadie, my mom, and my grandma at IHOP for breakfast. We did some shopping then relaxed at my house for a few hours. Friday night we met at my parents and went to a nearby church to eat dinner and play games on the grass. It was a lot of fun to hang out and see everyone. I thought I took more pictures, but I guess not. Here's the few I ended up with:

Latest Project

Just call me Mrs. Handyman. I saw some shelves at my brother's house and decided that I wanted to build some just like it. I've been looking for shelves for our garage for months and haven't found any within our budget. So I went to Home Depot, bought the wood, and started hammering away. They turned out great - not perfect, but pretty good for my first time using a drill and working with wood. I'm really excited to start organizing our garage so we can start parking in it. I have plans to build 1-2 more of these, depending on how much stuff I can get on them. They are 8ft x 8ft x 2ft. Don't they look great?!