Christmas 09

We had a lovely Christmas this year. It was actually the first year we had Santa come to our very own house! Years past we have stayed the night at Grandma's house. We did the traditional Christmas Eve dinner out with the Price's (Carrabba's) then headed home to put out cookies for Santa, watch Joy to the World and read the Luke 2.
Since we are getting ready to move into our first home by Feb 1st, I wasn't sure about putting up any Christmas decorations. But I found a great deal on a beautiful live tree through Bountiful Baskets, so we put up the tree and our stockings. Just enough. And it smelled so nice, even if it was a little lopsided;)
Visting Santa at San Tan Mall


We woke up Christmas morning and Brailyn saw the new bike that Santa brought, complete with Disney princesses, a basket and streamers! She also got some great books, lollipops and Sleeping Beauty. Then we opened our presents from Grandpa Lindsay, Alyson and Joe.



Headed to breakfast at the Prices and opened the rest of our presents with them. Then we spent the day playing Wii MarioKart, Momma running on the treadmill, Brailyn playing with her friend Shaylee, and watching UP. What a day!

She was especially excited for her new Playmobile Horse Barn

Trying out her new bike

November-December 09

The past month has been a busy one, or maybe I'm just getting lazy with the blog:)

Brailyn finished another semester of preschool at MCC's Child Development Lab. The Family Picnic was held at a park in Chandler, and Brailyn had so much fun with her buddy Haris (from Bosnia) and riding the train. Note: it's so cute how he says her name with an accent:)




We had Thanksgiving dinner at Lauryn and Matt's, so Brailyn got to play with her cousins, Brynn and Parker. Brynn had SO many barbies!! And then Daddy did rocket launches onto the couch. All the kids loved it!





Finally, we've started getting ready for Christmas. Since we are preparing to move next month (WE'RE BUYING OUR 1ST HOME!!) Momma wasn't sure about getting a tree up. But then I found a great deal at our co-op, so we got a live tree and got out a few decorations!! And of course there's the annual gingerbread house making:)




Brailyn continues to be sweet and sassy and creative and smart. Today at the bread store a 'grandpa' came up and said that he thought she was one of the cutest/most beautiful girls he'd ever seen! It must be those curls! People LOVE them:)

We're grateful for our blessings and are excited for the new year and *gasp* NEW HOUSE!!

Halloween 09

Lots of fun things to do this Halloween: Pumpkin Patch on Monday, Preschool Costume Parade (and lots of candy) on Friday, Cooper Ward Halloween Carnival Saturday morning, and of course Trick or Treating Saturday night! Whew!
Brailyn was Snow White Ballerina this year, and was as cute as could be. Momma tried to look like Fancy Nancy's mom and was a fancy witch. We trick or treated around Grandma's neighborhood and even helped pass out some candy. And Brailyn was nice enough to share her treasure with Momma and Daddy (who then ate the majority of it anyway!) Yum!!

The classic tractor picture


Picking the perfect pumpkin

This is the way to decorate a pumpkin!!



Ready for Preschool!

Snow White and her Pirate Buddy!


Face painting at the carnival. She chose a baseball:)

Brailyn went fishing about 10 times


And off we go for yet MORE candy!

Camping Trip #2

I like the idea of having a family campout at least once a year. So we headed up to Payson for our own quick little overnighter. Perfect timing too. The weather in the valley was record high (100 for October!), so we could get away from the hot and not be too cold in our sleeping bags!

We had a good time. The campsite was clean, organized, and just right, except for the fact that it was RIGHT off the highway. We once again to did come prepared. The tent we borrowed from my dad turned out to be a 2 man, not big enough for the air mattress. So I got to go back and forth between sleeping on the ground in the warm tent, and sleeping on the comfy air mattress under the stars (a little chilly) while listening to a field mouse scurry around all night. Oh well, I usually plan on no sleep on a campout.
We got to camp, set up the tent, then had our dinner from Qdoba (yum) and made s'mores of course. Then we did a little game of flashlight tag and watched for shooting stars (we saw a really cool one).


jumping, of course, is required



Brailyn had a blast. She was SO excited to wake up in the tent, she just couldn't stop talking, even though it was only 6:15 am! We went on a little nature walk, found a spring to play in, and headed home, tired but happy for a fun weekend.

Goodbye to our Georgie

Today is a very sad day for our family. Our cat, George, was attacked by 2 mean dogs outside of his house, and he passed away. Brailyn and Momma are so sad. George was such a wonderful cat. So friendly, wanting to sit on your lap and drool all over you as you watched tv, and so silly, with his flip flop fetish (he loved to roll around and lick and cuddle flip flops). He had a special corner on the couch where he would take a nap and Momma was convinced that he could talk to us. We have so many good memories of our lion cat, and will miss him so much. Hopefully when we get to Heaven, he'll come back and stay with our family. We love you George!

Summer Fun Catch Up

I just got some pictures from Ashley from some of the fun things we did this summer with Jaxon. They are so cute, and I wish I could post them all, but I'll just have to choose.

The kids did so well in swimming lessons this year. Jaxon learned how to swim to the wall and do his airplanes by himself! And Brailyn's freestyle has really improved. She has a pretty good side breath.





We also went to the Dinosaur Museum in Mesa (Natural History Museum) with Jaxon and Parker and had fun looking at the dino fossils and panning for gold. Mostly they were just being cute.

This is just totally her personality!



Checking out the real alligator

Fun in Del Mar

This past weekend, Brailyn and I decided to tag along with Grandma on her weekend at the beach vacation with Larissa and her friend. Who's gonna pass up a free trip to California?? I just wish we could've stayed the whole week, but alas, there was high school and preschool, and no one to watch Brailyn while I ran (or a treadmill onsite for that matter...otherwise I might still be there!)

We had such a good time, chillin' at the beach, swimming in the pool, playing in the park, and just having fun together. I had some nice runs along the coast (not in the sand, too dirty) and enjoyed the time to do whatever Brailyn wanted to do. Thank you Grandma!! We're definitely doing this every year. Let's just book it before school starts...


Building a Sand Castle



Getting Buried in the Sand


Silly with Lala and Kelsey


Braving the Cold Water


Learning to Boogie Board (although, it lasted only once. A big wave snuck up on us and she had enough after that...)

Preschool!!

Brailyn is excited to be back in preschool at MCC. And this semester Jaxon is there too, so it's even better! She's already jumped right in where she left off, and is determined to paint enough masterpieces to cover every square inch of our walls! I'm so glad she loves school and can't wait to see her learn and grow even more this year!



She insisted I take a picture of her backpack too:)

First Dance Recital

Brailyn had her first dance recital! She took a ballet/tap class through Gilbert Parks and Rec and at the end of the summer, they did a little number to "I just can't wait to be king" from Lion King. It was pretty cute. It took a little bit for her to start dancing, but she hit it big at the finale (a big jump and then fall to the floor- of course she wanted to do that!)



With Miss Bethany

After the recital we gave all the little girls a flower. It was a great little class and have signed up for the next one, which is tap/ballet/tumbling. Can't wait!