Brandon Loves to Talk

Here is Brandon over the Christmas Vacation.

Warning: This video is like 3 minutes long, I just thought it was cute and thought some of you would like it.

It's been a long time

It has been awhile, but we are still here and doing well.

We spent the most of holidays at home. Thanksgiving was nice, but we missed being with family. We decided to go to a movie for the first time all together. I was a little nervous that Bridger wouldn't last a whole movie sitting still and staying quiet. Both, Brandon and Bridger actually did surprisingly well, the popcorn & candy helped - a lot. It was really fun. We saw Ponyo, it was really cute.

It was really nice staying home for Christmas. Brandon and Bridger had an awesome Christmas morning. They loved everything! Christmas is so much more fun now that Brandon really gets it. Ben made his delish gingerbread pancakes, yum! The next day we headed down to Utah. We saw a lot of family and friends and had a really great time. Our trip was cut short because of bad weather, but it was actually really nice to come home and relax for a few days to make our vacation feel like a vacation. We went to another movie when we came back that was awesome, it's called Fantastic Mr. Fox. The kids really liked it and Ben and I thought it was really clever. Great family flick!

My brain is a little foggy because I took some Nyquil last night, so I hope this post doesn't reflect too much of my fogginess :)

Christmas Morning, chowing on sweets and playing with new toys.

Batman PJ's are a big hit. Pillows at the bottom of the stairs made a great landing for batman.

Gingerbread decorating.

Bridger's camera face.

More Halloween time pictures!

Here are some more Halloween pictures that I thought were worth posting.

I had to laugh when I saw this picture. Remember how I said that Bridger drools like a Saint Bernard. Well here is some proof. He stood there for like 2 seconds and he already has a small puddle under him with a long drool on its way down.

Incase you were wondering, if Spiderman bumps his head - he cries.

Here Come the Holidays!

Well, it has been a little while since our last post and a lot has gone on so I am just going to make it an extra long post. Last Saturday Lori and her friend ran a HALF MARATHON! She ran the whole thing in spite of a knee that has been bugging her off and on. We all loved driving along beside them as they ran and offering them rides every ten minutes.... but they stayed strong and finished running.

There was a huge wind storm at the finish line and everything was falling apart as Lori finished (or it is quite possible she was running so fast that her tail wind was knocking everything over. I mean, she worked pretty hard for the title Lori Swori, as in, I swore I just saw Lori. I guess they beat everyone else to the finish line....). They were treated to relaxing massages after the race courtesy of a friend and ended up a little sore but she didn't complain much.

We also made a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins. Both of the boys were terrified of the talking statues holding plates of candy. When Lori took the check to pay over by them Brandon screamed in terror thinking she might not make it back.

Brandon stole the pumpkin carving show this year instructing us that, since he couldn't use the knife, it was his job to draw the faces on the pumpkins so we could cut them out. I think they turned out awesome and below you can see Brandon was able to get his own likeness onto the jack-o-lanterns.

On Halloween morning we made orange pumpkin pancakes. Get that camera out of my kitchen!

It was a fun breakfast and Brandon was extremely disappointed to find out after waiting five days, he also had to wait until it got dark to trick or treat.

Bridger kept repeating "I'm scared" every time he even saw the Pooh costume, but we slipped it on him quick after his nap while he was still woozy. After he saw the candy start rolling in it was the last thing on his mind. We did the Trunk or Treat at the church before moving on to Trick or Treating in our neighborhood. Both of the boys loved it and were very polite as their bags filled with candy. Bridger loved talking to everyone when they answered the door and got lots of smiles as people tried to translate his well-intentioned ramblings.

And here is what we consider the biggest news! Below you can see Bridger putting a call in to his stylist. Apparently he wasn't afraid to abandon his girly locks and went ahead and got a trim.

He did great during the haircut and we love his new look. He looks older which is a habit of his lately and we are simultaneously sad and thrilled to see the progress he is making every day.

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We can't wait to see everyone we can during the holidays!

What we are up to

So maybe you've been wondering what we've been up to lately. Not a whole heck of a lot! But here is an update for you anyhow.

Ben - Is going to be getting his engineering license in a couple months, he's passed the test and done his time. He is still working here at the Idaho branch of Horrock's Engineers. Ben is a cub scout leader in our ward. He seems to enjoy it. Ben is still biking to and from work almost everyday, even in freezing weather. He loves biking! It's awesome. Ben is awesome and super hot!

Me- I'm still just staying home with the kids, getting crazier everyday! I am going to be running a half marathon here in Boise on October 24th. I'm excited! I am the primary secretary in our ward. I seem to be enjoying it :) Just kidding, it is a nice calling. I am a coupon queen/freak. I spend way too much time on this, but it saves a ton of money. I'm loving this time of year, but dreading the winter. I'm dreaming of a warm destination vacation in January, we'll see if that dream comes true (fingers crossed).

Brandon is 5 now. Now that he is 5 he is stronger, doesn't cry as much even when Bridger hits him, and sometimes eats a lot and fast, because he's bigger now, that is what he says anyway. Brandon still loves transformers and if he is ever pretending to be one his lips pucker, his voice gets really deep and has a very serious face. It is really funny. It is also funny if he watches Ninja Turtles because suddenly he's doing somersaults all over the house. Brandon is such a loving boy. He says the nicest things. He is in preschool again this year. He really loves it. Brandon is currently afraid of our upstairs, dresses up in his spider man costume almost daily, loves to sit on the couch with Duncan, he can't wait until Halloween, loves playing outside with Bridger, his favorite book is a book about planes, trains and airplanes, and he talks way too much. Brandon has grown so much and is doing great.

Bridger slobbers like no other kid I have ever seen. He is like a Saint Bernard, seriously. He getting so big. I still think of him as my little baby, but he getting too big. Bridger currently loves airplanes. He love to point and say "Look, up in the sky" when he hears an airplane. He is talking more and more and we're able to understand more and more of it everyday too. He's like our little parrot, he'll repeat almost anything. Bridger is a boob if I have to take him to the store or anywhere that he has to sit. He wants to walk, run, and play. He has TONS of energy. He loves canny (a.k.a. candy), so he might like Halloween this year, except he is really afraid of statues and stuffed animals that sing or talk, so I'm wondering what he'll think of people in costumes. I guess we'll see. He loves story time at night and is looking so cute in his cold weather footed pj's. Bridger is a tank, and it is fun to see how different our kids can be.

(Brandon and Bridger playing with there magic blankets that give them super strength powers)

Duncan - is still the same old dog. Spends his days sleeping, trying to get table scraps, and loves barking at the neighbors dogs. He is an awesome dog, he is cuddly and nice.

We miss Utah a little too much. We miss our family and friends. But for now Idaho is where we live and it is beautiful and lovely, and our house and neighborhood are awesome, and we're so blessed.

Not really part of our family update, but look at what was in our garden:

This spider was huge!!! I guess it is just a garden spider but is was so humongous!

Polaroids

I love the look of old polaroids and I found this website called Rollip that will convert your pictures to looking like polaroids. Love it!

Here is my awesome bike that I got this summer. I've been cruising around my neighborhood with kids in tow. It is my most favorite thing. :) Love, love, love it! Did I mention I love it.

Adorable Bridger eating his cupcake.

Brandons first fake shave with his Dad.

Island Park family picture.

Me having a nice relaxing time watching the kids at the park, while Ben does all of the hard work chasing the kids.

Taking an evening stroll down by the river.

Can you tell these are totally random pictures. They were at least all taken this Summer. I mostly just wanted to try out this polaroid picture changer. Hope you like it as much as I do.

Here are some other sites that convert your pictures in other cool ways:

BW Vingtage - Changes your photo to a vintage black and white. It is in Japanese, so you'll have to click on the "English" button on the upper right.

ObamiconMe - Changes your photo to look like the poster people made of President Obama.

Be funky - Changes photos into pop art.

Kyolo - Makes it so you can put little speech bubbles to your pictures. Kind of coolish.

Enjoy!

Brandons is 5 years old!

Why is it so hard to believe it when one of you kids get older? It is just hard to believe that we have a 5 year old. We are much too young, except for the fact that we're actually not! So, we have a 5 year old now, and he is as cute as can be.

We had a party at our house with some friends from church and school. The kids had the best time, we had our water slide up, Ben filled water balloons, they beat the heck out of a pinata, ate pizza and cupcakes in Brandon's Teepee. It turned out great! Brandon greeted everyone in his spider-man costume with hugs and declared his love for each particular friend. It was so endearing. Brandon can be so kind and loving.

So now that he is 5, Brandon says he is going to start eating fruits and vegetables and not cry when he gets little ouies. (But he later took it all back and said that when he is 10 years old he will start eating fruits and vegetables :( Dang it!