Bryson's Halloween Idea

Today over breakfast Bryson told me he wants to be Jesus for Halloween. Oh dear. Hopefully this idea will pass.

Anyway, thought it was funny, had to post.

Bryson, the birthday boy

Yep, he did it!

Bryson turned 5!!!

On July 19th, we were able to have a day full of celebration! What a wonderful kid he's been! Seriously, such a joy! I couldn't be luckier!

He was able to open one presant before church....

He got a stylin' camo backpack for kindergarten.

(Yeah, I know, he's a total cutie!)

And here are the boys all gussied up ready for church.

After church, we got home and did presants right away.

Here he is opening a presant from Grandma Marilyn.

And from Daddy, he got....

GUNS!!!!!

And from Mom....

COWBOY BOOTS!!!

Aunt Isha (Shelisa) came over in preparation for

CAKE TIME!!!

Shelisa and I attempted to make a brownie-ice cream cake, with two layers of brownie and mint chip ice cream inside. The idea worked a lot better in our heads, but Bryson was still a happy camper.

Bryson is such a joy, we're honored to be part of his birthday celebration!!!

And here is Dallin doing one of the saddest birthday dances I've ever seen.

but no worries, before long he passed out completely...

I know I'm Bryson's mom, so I'm biased and all, but Bryson seriously is one of the best kids you will ever meet. He's so patient with us all, it's incredible. He's smart and sweet and handsome and well-behaved. I always call him my joy, because that's truly what he is. I just have to express how happy and proud I am to be his mom.

Happy birthday, bud, I love you!!!

Old Pictures

So, I have had pictures stored on my camera (not the card, but the camera itself) for a very long time without the know-how to load them onto my computer. Well, I was bored while Cory was in his appointment, so I was messing around with my camera, and TA DA....I figured it out - although if I had to do it again, it's anyone's guess if I could figure it out again.

So, here are some old pictures. This group is from last summer when we went to visit John at his work.

Cory on John's lap driving a backhoe.

Bryson on Matt's lap on another piece of equipment (I want to call it a loader?)

And John, showing off his stuff to his kids and wife

The next couple pictures are of my grandparents when they visited our house while we were in Escrow, over two years ago, I think I was about 6 weeks pregnant with Dallin when these were taken.

Banana and a rose from our rose bush. That plant is like three times that size now.

Snow storm in 2006, the kids just look so little!!!

Cory building a snow-goat with Nanny's help.

Bryson and Nanny with the snow-goat.

Bryson (looking a lot like Dallin does now) at 2 1/2 years old, all bundled up for the snow.

And potty-training Bryson. Again, he's about 2 1/2. I take a day and stay in a tiled room and give them TONS of salty treats and juice to make the process a little easier. We have lots of games and toys to play with to make the time pass quickly. Here's the little guy in big-boy underwear.

Cory was a good big brother and helped potty-train and entertain Bryson too. Here's Cory driving the train he built.

Another trip to Phoenix with Cory-son

Cory had another appointment in Phoenix with the NACD yesterday. As I've said before in an earlier post, we just love this one-on-one time together, we have a LOT of fun.

Here's Cory out in the parking lot of the building where we meet with Bob Doman, the founder of the NACD.

And here's cute little Cory waiting patiently and quietly for Bob, even after 3 1/2 hours in the car. He's such a trooper!

Cory and Bob Doman. He's been so helpful with tips on how to deal with sweet little Cory.

On the lookout

Then, as is our tradition, we went to the temple. He ran in saying he was excited to learn about Jesus. It was cute.

He had fun pushing all the buttons on the display. We also saw a video presentation about families and the Christus.

And of course, the highlight of Cory's trip to the temple: petrified wood.

We also went to Subway and Bahama Bucks. Oh so much fun.

On our way home, we hit a major Thunderstorm. And of course, we happened to be in a construction zone when it hit us, so there was nowhere to pull over. At one point I just had to stop on the freeway because I couldn't see ANYTHING out the front windsheild. There was also large hail, and I was just praying it wouldn't crack the windshield. We finally got out of it (with my knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel) and we hit ANOTHER storm. After making it through the second storm, there was an alert on the radio from the national weather something-or-other saying that there was a severe thunderstorm warning for Tucson (where I had just been), and to watch for damaging winds, large hail, multiple lightning strikes and excessive wind.

Yep, sounds about right.

All in all we had a LOT of fun, though. I love my little Cory.

4th of July and my b-day

I just love July! It's got my b-day, 4th of July, monsoons, and Bryson's b-day (plus of course my dad's and Sarah's too!) We are off to a good start so far. Monsoons have come early this year, so we've been having lots of fun watching these powerful storms roll in. My birthday was great, spent time with the fam, went to a free movie, and had a free dinner, I totally scored! Here's Reenie with my birthday cake she made me, which was actually a fruit pizza...soooo yummy!!!

And of course, the 4th is wonderful. My two sisters were in town, and then my aunt, uncle, cousin, and her hubby and two kids joined us. So much fun, and we had a wonderful fireworks show. If we ever move, I'll miss this part of SV the most.

Bryson has never seen the fireworks before because the loud noises always scare him, but this year he actually peered out from under the blanket, and ended up liking them. Cory did fantastic, and Dallin slept through most of it.



Ahhh...good times.