Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize the little things were the big things. ~Robert Brault

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

What do you think?








Here are a few pictures I took of Brailyn and Jaxon (some friends' little ones). Let me know what you think of them. :) Remember, I'm just a beginner. This it the first time I have taken pictures for anyone else. Cute subject matter, huh?

What a Sleepy Head!






So this morning, Addilyn was hanging out in her Bumbo seat. For those of you who haven't seen one they are these new little chairs that your child literally cannot fall out of. They are pretty cool. Anyways, I was playing with Carter while she was doing her own thing. She's a quiet little baby so I didn't think much of not hearing much out of her. When I looked at her a few minutes later she was OUT COLD. She was asleep enough that I took about 15 pictures of her, moved her to her bed, changed her diaper, and swaddled her and she only woke up enough to let me give her the pacifier. She is the world's easiest baby. Not to mention so very cute!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Better Than Christmas




Every year from about mid-June until the beginning of February (Superbowl Sunday to be exact) I drop one level on the priority list of my sweet husband. I am replaced by the wonderful world of football.
Today happens to be the most important day of the year for him. It's "Better than Christmas" for him. It's the day of the big Fantasy Football Draft... more affectionately known as cyber-football to me. It marks the beginning of several frustrating and/or rewarding weeks to come. Each Monday night for the next several months I will have either the most elated man around or someone not to be toiled with... someone whom you completely ignore so he can wallow in the misery of what is a game lost.
Now, I know a lot of men are into this little game (or way of life, as Bryan knows it), but most are not like Bryan and his friends. He and his high school buddies have played every year since they were, like, 2 years old or something. (With the exception of their missions.) Each year, pre-draft, there are MILLIONS of mock-drafts, talks of trades, keepers, who's been in the league for too long, and who the up-and-coming players are. I lose my husband several evenings a week to his "boyfriends" as I call them as they try to strategically plan who will pick which players and who will keep other players, and whether or not they should trade their draft pick for a better option.... I don't really know the details. I stop listening once I see the look in Bryan's eyes that tells me he has gone to another place... a place without nagging wives, needy 2 year olds, and crying babies. This "place" is a place he will be long after the phone call or instant messaging ends... a place he dreams of at night (over dreaming of me) and researches on the Internet during the day.
To illustrate my point of Bryan and his friends being COMPLETELY obsessed with their fantasy football league, please read the following. This is a poem that Clint wrote about their league. (I was told that it's MUCH funnier if you know all the guys.)

Twas the day of the draft and all through the land.
Team owners were hoping to not show their hand.

Bryan studies his options with worry and care,
In hopes that McNabb would somehow be there.

The wives are all nestled at home in their place,
While men go to Meacham's with smiles on their face

With all in their jerseys and some with a cap,
The draft started late because Clint had to crap.

Then up on the table stopped all of the chatter,
Alexander picked who? What the hell is the matter?

Away to his cell phone Dave left to go call her,
While Bill was still wishing he didn’t trade Palmer.

When what to our wondering ears did we hear,
Steve picking Mike Anderson yet one more year.

Now, Portis! Now, Manning! Now, Rivers and Grossman!
On, Romo! On, Boldin! On, Benson and Losman!

As he drew in his head, Ken thought of some sleepers,
After waiting so long Chad reveals all his keepers.

Jarrod bragged of his team as he filled up his belly.
Somebody farted… Man was it smelly!

We wrapped up the draft and finished our plight.
“Good draft day to all and to all a good night.”


You think that poem is bad? I guess now would be a good time to tell you (although I am sure few people are still reading this) that there is a name for this league of cute dorks. "Football Frenzie" is in it's 6th official season. There is a trophy which dons your name if you are the lucky season winner. (We had it PROUDLY displayed in our home a few years ago when Bryan won it... the following season he came in last place!)
All in all, this is the most important time of year for my amazing, sports-obsessed man, with perhaps the exception of the NBA Playoffs. I love that he loves his little cyber football so much. I love that he looks forward to this day all year long. I love that they all get together (no kidding, fly in from all over the place) one time a year to talk about a bunch of other men all day. I love that they started the morning off before the sun was even up with breakfast and won't be home until well after I go to bed, culminating with a late dinner after the Cardinals/Chargers pre-season game. I love that for the next several months, days will be measured in how long he has until he knows the results of whoever he is playing this week. I love that weeks will be judged based on which teams have byes that week. I love that he talks to me about football like I understand... and care. I love the way his eyes light up whenever he talks about this silly little game he plays with his friends. I just love Bryan. His obsession with fantasy football is one of the things I love the very most about him. He is, in every conceivable way, PERFECT!

Such Innocence....

He looks so innocent, doesn't he? Don't fall for it... it's all a lie! :) I want to get some cute pictures of him on the blog that I took this same day of him playing... that will show the REAL him. He is so cute, though, and I LOVE playing with him. We play trains, trucks, cars, chase, and his new favorite: He stands at the bottom of the stairs and turns the stair lights on while I stand at the top and turn them off. (over and over again) I'm sure this uses electricity that we can't really afford but I don't care. Hearing him in complete hysterics every time I flip the light switch is worth every last cent! (Besides, what's a few more pennies, when we are going to be paying off hundreds of thousands of dollars in school loans in a few months?!?)

THIS is pure innocence and I am loving every last minute of it.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Baby Blake

Today the kids and I went and spent the day with Natalie and Blake before they take off for Arkansas for THREE YEARS! Matt is going to law school there so he is taking his family away from us. So sad! So, at the ripe old age of 9 days, we spent a few of his last hours with him. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of him. Of the 150 I took (seriously) probably only 5 turned out great. Natalie, of course, loved them all but I am much more of a critic. When I got home tonight I played around with one of my favorites on Photoshop. So, here's the original with a few different options... remember... I'm just a beginner at this stuff!

This is after I played with the color... tried to take some of the red out of the picture.

And the good ol' black and white we all love! Isn't that a cute kid?

Sunday, August 19, 2007

No Pain, No Gain!

Yesterday, Courtney and I finally had both husbands convinced that piercing the girls ears was in their best interest. I know both Nona and Grammie are going to go into cardiac arrest when they find out that I poked holes in my baby's ears but... oh well! :) So, we headed to the mall before Daddy changed his mind. Addilyn did great... until they actually poked the holes. Then, she screamed bloody murder!!! She was fine after a few minutes but I felt kind of bad... until I saw how totally CUTE her ears are. Seriously, so cute!



The Calm before the storm. McKenzie and Addilyn had NO idea what they were in for.




"Hey this is fun! So many people watching me. I wonder why..."













They tried to do both at once but Addi was too squirmy.













The aftermath! She cried for a few minutes but I know she is so excited to have little pink daisies in her ears.














This one broke my heart.



















See, that wasn't so bad!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

I Just Love This Picture

My photographer friend fixed this picture for me. It's even cuter in normal colors. Thanks, Kristyn! You're awesome!!!!


This kid is the cutest! I know the lighting is horrible (I had a polarizing lens on my camera that I didn't know about) but I just love this picture of Carter. Hopefully I can get him to cooperate with me again without the extra shadowing. :)

Monday, August 13, 2007

Why I Love Little Girls!



How young is too young to shoe shop? Seriously, baby girl clothes are super cute, but the SHOES?!?! Totally out of control. And the great thing is that all her shoes are hand-me-downs.



My mom got me these bunny shoes years ago and saved them as a surprise for when I had a little girl. (Anyone who knows me well knows that bunnies are my fave.) So, Addi wore them under her blessing dress... you know, kinda like the whole flipflops under a wedding dress. Bryan just rolled his eyes. (surprise, surprise)

Friday, August 10, 2007

Poor Carter...

Carter has been hacking up a lung the past few days. So, off to the doctor we went only to find out that he has croup. That really sucks! He is now taking a cough suppressant that is awesome because it totally knocks him out. He slept until 9:00 this morning, which is nice since for the past several days he has been waking up between 5:30 and 6:00 because he doesn't feel well. Now, Carter is not the best sharer around (reminder: he's 2) but he did decide to share his sickness with Grace and Abby. I have been apologizing to Kelly all day long. Hopefully Tag and Josh don't get it, as well.
Addilyn didn't want to be outdone so tonight she showed off her new pink-eye. Who the crap knows where she got it but it's there none the less. So, I'm not quite sure whose more contagious.... I am just doing my best trying to keep them away from each other. And I have come to the conclusion that I am going to be contracting both of these within the week... oh well... part of being a mommy, I guess. And boy, do I love those kids!

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

All the Cousins

The Ladies. (Abby on the left and Grace on the right.)




Abby in the front.
Abby on the right and Grace on the left. What CUTIES!!!


Josh with his little turtles. (Kevin and Abby's little guy. 7 months old.)
Tag (Ryan and Hillary's tank. 8 months.)













Little Josh. Look at those chompers!!




Miss Addi-cakes in her blessing dress. What a little angel!


Now that we are all officially in Arizona (I know, what's wrong with us?... it's a dry heat!) we decided to have some pictures taken of all the kids together. Mine were less than cooperative so there aren't any of Carter that I am completely in love with but all the other cousins are darling!! I just wanted to be the bragging Aunt/Mom and share a few with you all.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Addilyn's Blessing





Addilyn was blessed today. It was so wonderful and Bryan did an amazing job. I think we have quite a wonderful little spirit to raise. The people that stood in were Bryan, my dad, Bryan's dad, Ryan and Kevin, Matt, Bishop Livingston, and Brother Lovell, the second counselor in our ward. Afterwards we had everyone over here for lunch, which was cinnamon rolls, baked french toast, and other goodies. It made me miss the family that wasn't able to come, like Uncle Bradley on his mission in Canada, Uncle Ben and his family in Utah, and Aunt Nicole and Uncle Jon.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Even Though He's 2...

Even though Carter is SO 2 years old, he still does the cutest things on a daily basis. Most of them involve his developing language skills. He's so hard to understand sometimes and we all get frustrated with the lack of communication. Here are two of the funny words he says... and what they really mean:
he-i-cotter: helicopter
asher: dinosaur
bread cake: banana bread
He also makes the cutest little statements and we have no idea where he gets them. For example: He will turn off a light (in a room that has tons of natural light), put his hands on his cheeks, and say "Aahhh! Scary!". Then he will turn the light back on and say, "All better" and sound quite relieved.
I just need to keep reminding myself of these cute little things for the times during the day that he is a little twirp. I just keep thinking to myself, "He'll grow out of it... this is only a stage." And then I remember that I have another one coming into the 2's right as he leaves... wow...

Such Groupies!





Last night Bryan and I went to the most bitchen concert. (verdict's still out on whether that's a bad word or not... I say no, Bryan says yes.) One of our favorite bands is Jimmy Eat World. It was beyond amazing. We have seen them several times in concert before but this time was better than ever. Bryan has loved them since he was in 7th grade and they played at a party when they were in 10th grade 0r so. He has been a faithful fan ever since. I have enjoyed them for the past 5 years or so.
Anyways, we were in the THIRD row. Close enough to see that his pick was red, he didn't have any boogers, he was sweating like a pig- and every time he flung his head around the sweat would FLY-, and even close enough to realize that Tom, the guitarist is super cute. ;) (That was mostly my observation but Bryan totally called me on it... caught me looking I guess!) They did their normal set and then came back for their encore. We were expecting 3ish songs but they went CRAZY. They probably played 12 songs. They would just decide spur of the moment what the sing next and asked the crowd what they wanted to hear. It was so very amazing!!
At one point it was just Jim on stage and he had the sound guys cut all the mikes. He sang "In the Middle" completely acoustic and had the crowd sing with him. We were even close enough that we could hear his voice even though there were no mikes on or guitars plugged in.
It was the best concert we have been to for a while. The energy was over the top, which always makes it better. Plus, they have major hometown pride. GO JIMMY!!!