The Wheelers

Silhouette Love

2012-01-28T21:38:00.000-08:00

You can thank my sister-in-law Myhoa for me finally doing a post. I have been seriously negligent when it comes to blogging and in many other areas of my life. With 2 little ones, work, holidays, travel, many illnesses at our house plus all the normal stuff...I have just not figured out how to get much done! But Myhoa asked me about my silhouette machine which I love...so I told her I would post a few projects I have done with it. You are going to love yours Myhoa!

Just a simple monogrammed plate

This is a frame I made with scrapbook paper then added the vinyl letters. Too bad I STILL don't have a decent family picture to put in it! Why don't 2 year-olds cooperate for pictures?!

So I just did this little baby display in our hallway. It has been on my to-do list for months and I finally did it last week! I was so determined to get something crossed off my list that I made Brandon help me hang it around midnight.

From one of our favorite books! Sorry about the glare.

And here are a few projects from Hazels room that I did with fabric.

There are several more things that I have been wanting to make and one day need to sit down and learn how to use the machine even better...but this is a start!

2 Months

2011-10-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl is 2 months old! Of course time is flying by and that means I have to go back to work in less than a month! I have grown so accustomed to this new life of a full-time stay-at-home mom that I think it will be quite difficult to go back. Especially if Hazel doesn't start sleeping on a more regular schedule. Her stats are:
Weight: 11 pounds 15 ounces (75^thpercentile); Height: 23.5 inches (75 – 90^thpercentile)
At 2 months Ty weighed 15lbs 10oz...quite a big difference there. And that is very good since I am really not supposed to lift more than 10 pounds after the surgery I just had. Here are some pics of our little sweetie.

She always has this concerned look on her face when we take her picture.

And just for good measure I thought I would show a couple pics of our rascal Ty. He is very silly but is definitely having the terrible twos. He used to be so layed back but now I think he has OCD (my fault) and throws quite the tantrum when his shoelaces are not just right, he does not have the shirt on he wants at that moment, his hands are dirty, etc. But one funny thing he does is for some reason before bed or naps he often decides to wear a hat. Sometimes I will go check on him during nap-time when I can tell he is still awake and he will be wearing a hat "reading" books. This is from tonight.

Stories with dad.

This is from some time last month.

He is adorable and makes us laugh but also drives us CRAZY sometimes. I guess that is what children do.

Sleep Deprived

2011-09-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

Wishing our baby looked more like this between the hours of 11pm - 7am.

Instead she often looks so awake that her eyes look like they are bugging out and she doesn't even blink! At least my husband is back in town now a little more to share in the joys of sleeplessness. We were truly spoiled with Ty so I shouldn't complain; and I keep reminding myself to treasure this time because it will be gone before we know it.

Hazel Jane

2011-08-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

Our friend Leigh took some fabulous pictures of our sweet baby girl. Unfortunately Ty did not want to participate in pictures that day so we couldn't really get any good ones of the whole family or of the 2 of them. Bummer! So we will have to do some family pictures later I guess. Here are a few of them. Thanks Leigh!

She's here!

2011-08-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hazel Jane Wheeler was born Monday August 8th at 10:02am. She is just beautiful and has been a little angel so far. Here are some pics of the momentous occasion. Here I am before surgery...don't let the smile fool you...I was very anxious and nervous.

This just makes me laugh...Brandon in his moon boots getting ready for the OR.

Hopefully this next pic won't gross too many of you out. This time around it was really cool because the OB allowed Brandon to go in front of the sterile field so he could really see what was going on and was able to take pictures during the surgery. I will spare you my insides but when they pulled Hazel out she grabbed onto the suction tube with both hands and they had to pry her off.

Here she is with her daddy. She weighed in at only 7lbs 7oz and 19 3/4 inches long...a full 2 pounds lighter than Ty! We think she is just the tiniest thing although this is probably an average weight.

For anyone who cares about the medical side of things...apparently the reason I carry babies the way I do is because my sacrum protrudes into me pelvis and there is no room for a baby to fit. So I always carry really high because the baby cannot get into my pelvis. Don't know why the last OB didn't notice this. Hazel's head was right up against my previous incision and the OB said had I tried labor I would have ruptured because she would have just pushed against the incision instead of the cervix. At least now we know for the future!

Here is Ty meeting his sister for the first time! My mom was so great to have Ty while we were at the hospital and brought him to visit each day.

Our first family picture.

Here is our tiny thing leaving the hospital. She was a little jaundice.

Love the pose!

This is Ty today with her. He has been so great and sweet to her. He always asks where she is and tries to give her the pacifier and pats her head. So far we have not seen much jealousy...let's hope it stays that way.

I am still in some pain but getting a little better each day. Apparently my abdominal muscles were split completely in half from Ty so the doctor sewed me back together (really only the bottom half because she couldn't go all the way up with the low incision). Because of this I really cannot lift anything heavier than the baby for a full 6 weeks. This is going to be very challenging with our 2 year old...but I am really going to try so I don't separate the muscles again. Thanks Brandon and mom for all of the help!

Ty's Room

2011-08-05T16:44:00.000-07:00

So I still haven't taken pics of the laundry room so I decided to show you Ty's big boy room. This has taken up so much of our time and energy that our poor baby girl has a room that is still barely decorated, even though she is arriving in 3 days! Ty's new room has been our storage/scrapbook/Brandon's video game room since we moved in. I am sad I had to move all of my scrapbook stuff out. And we had to install the cabinets in the laundry room for storage so we could empty his room out. It is now transformed into a cute little boys' room. I forgot to take before pictures but here are a couple once we had already started moving everything out.

There is not much to see...lots of white and lots of stuff. There is my scrapbooking table with all of Ty's baby book stuff on it. I also wanted to finish that before Baby #2...I am not even in the ballpark of close.

So here are some after pics. That bookshelf was a major pain. We already had it...it is laminate and was almost a pinkish wood-tone. We added bead-board to the back and then had to do MANY coats of primer, then yellow paint, then I whitewashed it to get it a similar color to the storage bench.

Guess I should have turned the light off...photography is not my strong suit. As you can see we did a board and batten treatment to the walls which also was a pain... so much caulking! But we like how it turned out.

Ty's new big boy bed.

Ty had these letters in his nursery but I had to take them apart and redo them to match his new room.

I made these pictures. The green one is always hanging off-kilter since when Ty goes to bed he likes to kick the wall just below it.

The knick-knacks for the bookshelf are not complete yet.

I got that cute Dr. Seuss printable from the ishare printables website. Love it!

I still need to finish making a magnetic board to hang plus would like to get a bean bag chair or something to put in the empty corner of the room...but we have done a lot of work.

We moved Ty into his big boy bed the very end of June. He loved his crib and had never tried to climb out, so I felt bad moving him. I was also worried that he would wake up super early and also get out of bed a million times as I hear lots of kids do. He has been great! The first night he did not want to go in it and wanted his crib. Here we are reading stories his first night.

PS. He was not eating in bed...that was an empty container he was playing with.

I seriously had tears when we left the room because my baby is really growing up. He didn't budge that first night and slept great. Since then he has continued to do so well. He stays in bed for the most part...has never gotten up in the middle of the night...and most of the time still waits for one of us to come get him in the morning even though he can get out on his own. We are so proud of him and how smoothly he has made this transition. Here is a picture of his first night when I snuck in later to check on him.

He is such a precious boy. The past couple of weeks he has started to call me "honey" since I guess he hears Brandon say that. It is adorable. I am going to miss this time we have had together just the 2 of us...had a meltdown last weekend realizing it was our last week before the baby. I hope he loves his sister and that he won't be too jealous!

Kids Bathroom

2011-07-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

So we have been busy this year making lots of improvements to our house. I can't imagine what we might do with our weekends if we had no home improvement projects to do! One of the first ones we did, which I never shared, was a mini make-over of the kids bathroom. We did this Dec 31st and Jan 1st. Happy New Years to us! Here are some before pictures.

Notice the lovely light fixture, white walls and brass hardware. So we painted the walls and added a wall of bead-board with chair-rail. We then built the little plaques to install a new towel rod and hooks too. We switched out the light fixture and all the hardware to a brushed nickel. Then I added a little vinyl once I figured out how to use my Silhouette machine!

It was nothing major...we would really love to get new cabinets and frame in the mirror...but those projects are way down on the priority list. Our next project was the laundry room which hopefully I will post soon.

Large

2011-07-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have seen me pregnant...you know that I get quite large. Unfortunately I am not one of those ladies where you hear "oh I can't even tell you are pregnant!" Ok, maybe from behind, but definitely not from the front or the side. I blame it on my 9 1/2 pound baby last time, and it looks like baby girl is following suit. I was trying to avoid another c-section...but at my visit last week when I again measured 4wks ahead of schedule (measured 37 at 33 weeks), I went ahead and scheduled a c-section for August 8th. If she decides to come on her own before then, I will attempt labor...but I am not holding my breath for that one. Here I am last week at over 33 weeks (I have been horrible at taking pictures this time).

Yesterday we did an ultrasound to see how big baby girl is. Luckily she looks perfectly healthy and really not too large. I think she was about 58th percentile overall except for a huge belly...Ty had the same thing. They estimated her weighing 5lbs 10oz right now. Not huge but she is only 34 wks and I have several friends who have had full-term babies who weighed that much! So anyway, basically there is no explanation as to why I am so huge. I am just lucky that way I guess. We were unable to get a good 3D of her because she had a hand over her face and was smooshed up against the placenta. So in a month we will have a baby for sure and I cannot believe it is already so close. I have SOOO much to do to get ready for her and want more time to spend with my precious Ty. By the way, during the ultrasound he said "no I don't want a baby." :( Um...too late kiddo...she is coming!

Em's April Graduation

2011-06-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

OK, so thanks to Ashley I am going to attemp blogging again and see if I have better luck this time. A lot has happened since my last post so hopefully this will be the first of several posts. In April Emily graduated from BYU (that makes all 7 members of our family). We made the long drive up to Provo and stayed in a house that my parents rented out for us. That was so nice! All of the siblings were there except for Andrew...it is always so much fun to spend time together. We drove up on Wednesday and then stayed up until at least 2am talking with Em. That became our average bed-time for the rest of the trip. Thursday morning we went to campus for a little shopping at the BYU bookstore. I miss that place! I had not been back to campus since I graduated in 2005. Time flies! Then we layed Ty down for a nap and met our friend Tod at Pizza Factory for lunch. Yum! We love that place.
Then that afternoon we had Em's convocation (the large ceremony for everyone). We didn't take any pictures right after that because it was freezing and the wind was blowing like crazy! Here we are back at home. It is hard to dress my pregnant belly.

That night my parents took all of the adults to a fantastic dinner at Chef's Table. I always wanted to go there but never had. It was there that we met Max, the BF, for the first time. It was a great night and incredible food...and lots of it. Then we went back to the house for games and soon-to-be-married Tod and Betsy came as well.

Friday morning we went to the temple to do family sealings. Emily was nice enough to watch Ty for us. Then we were off to Em's graduation. Emily especially liked all of the speakers talking about juggling the demands of being a student and a mom at the same time. Ha! :) Here are some pictures taken after the ceremony.

Emily truly looks like a midget next to Max...but let's give her some credit...she is part-midget and he is part-giant.

As you can see it was very sunny.

How cute are they?!

That night we had a Price gathering at our place for pizza and games. We love being with our cousins and aunts and uncles and wish we got to see them more. It was great to catch up a little! Here is our Ty that night.

Saturday morning we went up to campus for a little bit and explored. I wanted to see the new Hinckley Alumni Building, but it was closed...boo! We took a short drive through the beautiful canyon and then hurried home so Brandon could meet Tod and our cousin Mark for golf. Ty and I took a much needed nap! That afternoon we went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was absolutely beautiful! And it was still so cold so we could only imagine how much more beautful it would get in a few weeks.

Ty tried to steal any empty golf cart that we came upon. That boy loves cars!

That night we got yummy PF Chang's takeout and then to top it all off huge shakes from the Malt Shop. Of course we stayed up way too late playing games...and then the next day we had to drive home. It was Easter Sunday and was spent entirely in the car. It was a great little trip and we are so proud of Emily and can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

P.S. Any of the good pictures were taken by my SIL Myhoa...thanks for sending them!

Ty is 2!

2011-05-04T22:06:00.001-07:00

Well once again I am very behind on blogging. We have been busy with a couple of trips, Brandon traveling for work and then working on our house whenever we are home. Our precious Ty turned 2 last month. Time is just flying by so fast! The day before his birthday Brandon and I took him to the zoo. We had a good time but it was incredibly hot for April. :(

Our friends Jimmy, Jenelle and Isabella met us there as well.

The petting zoo is always a favorite.

We had plans to take him to the train park after his nap...but Brandon had to go to General Conference, so we did that another night. On Ty's birthday we went to my parent's house in the morning for breakfast since it was conference.

Ty LOVES these plasma cars and typically does this the whole time everyone else is eating.

We went home in the afternoon and then back again for dinner that night. My mom made basically a Thanksgiving dinner. Yum! Trampoline time after dinner...Uncle Andrew was even in town!

Ty's lemon cake with lemon cream cheese frosting...he thought it was yummy!

Present time! One of Ty's favorite presents was Elmo, thanks to Uncle Dayne and Aunt Myhoa!
Milly "helping" Ty unwrap his presents.

Corinne, Ty and Milly playing with some new toys!

Ty with some of his loot. We just love our little Ty. We think he is adorable. He is very sweet most of the time although he is definitely acting like a 2 year old on occasion and wants to be independent. He is all boy...loves being outside, loves cars and loves to dance to music! We hope this will be a good year for him and he will be a good big brother.

P.S. I hate blogger...this post took FOREVER because it would not let me move pictures and no matter how many times I delete them it makes huge spaces b/n things! Help!

Sugar and Spice

2011-03-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

and Everything Nice...is what we hope our little girl is made of! There she is!
I thought it might be a girl when I saw her legs nicely crossed. Ty sure never did that in his ultrasounds. :) But I kept asking the ultrasound tech if she was sure it was a girl and she had no doubt. I just think it's amazing the things they can see so I thought I would show off her perfect vertebrae.
Brandon seems more excited than me to have a little girl! I am definitely excited, but now I keep thinking of all of the stuff we have to get and more preparations we have to do...and all of the money it will cost. :) The other good thing is she was just average size (at least right now) instead of huge like her brother!

"Outside"

2011-03-11T12:15:00.000-08:00

This is what Ty frequently says as he stands by the door. Since January the weather here has been so wonderful and we have tried to take advantage of it. We play with friends outside and go for family walks. Here is Ty pushing his friend Isabella.
We go to the park, feed ducks and have tried to go to the zoo at least once each month. In January we were able to take a trip there with some great friends. That is Jenelle and Blake with me; our friend Carolyn was with us too but had already left when we took this picture.This is Isabella and Ty mooing to the cows.This picture was taken as Ty's hat was falling into that puddle below. He was looking at a goat. At the time I chose to believe it was just water. Right after this picture was taken Ty himself fell off the fence and landed in the "water" below. Great.
We then went to pet the goats and Ty decided he had to sit down in the dirt to pet them instead of standing...thus he became muddy. Yeah again.

When we got home it became obvious that the "water" was indeed goat pee. Ty reaked (spelling?) and his pants, socks, hat and shoes had smelly, yellow pee dried on them. Fabulous!

But...we had a good time anyway. This week and next week are in the mid 80s. It is beautiful weather but can already feel hot in the sun. I am NOT at all ready for summer and so we are trying to enjoy being outdoors while we can!

Hair-do

2011-03-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

So in January we finally took Ty to get his first haircut. It was a long time coming. This picture was taken shortly before (we spiked it up just to see how long it was, I promise he didn't normally look like that. :)
Ty was not too happy when they put the cape on him and fussed even though his dad was holding him.

Aaahhh the magic of dum dums. He cooperated much better once he had a sucker in his hands!
Afterward he looked so much older...I guess he really is a little boy now and not a baby. Stop growing up immediately!

December Highlights

2011-02-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

Well I figured since it is now February...it is just about time to do my December post! We of course had a very busy, but very fun month. The month started out with a visit from our friend Tod and his girlfriend Betsy for the weekend. It was fun but short. We went to the Suns game Friday night and then to the Sugar Bowl...it was a hit!
Brandon even managed to catch not one but two Suns shirts...as you can see we were in the "party zone."
Tod is so amazing that he even helped Brandon put up our Christmas lights on Saturday...what a good friend. We also went to a late lunch at the Olive Garden and that night went to Castles and Coasters and went mini golfing and on some rides. Hope you guys come back soon!

Here's Ty lining up his cars which he loves to do...what a little cutie!
Then I had this little surprise to show Brandon...yep that's 2 pink lines! Due in August which is the absolute worst, but we are excited anyway. :)
For Christmas my whole family was here with the exception of Andrew's family. :( They had a new baby girl...plus it is very expensive flying a family of 5. They were greatly missed. My mom had a schedule for the entire week of all of the activities we had planned. It was exhausting but worth it. We had a girls lunch at the Wrigley Mansion and then some shopping. That night my parents got us a party bus to go see all of the Christmas lights. Yes it was complete with stripper poles and all.
We had tons of Christmas goodies, Christmas tunes, and had a blast going all over the city (my parents had mapped out all of the hot spots in advance). Here we are at the JW Marriott at Desert Ridge looking at the amazing Wonka factory made out of all chocolate and candy...so cool!

Christmas Eve morning Brandon and I took Ty to the zoo for the first time. No one was there and we had tons of fun.

Ty LOVED petting all of the "doggies"...he thought most of the animals were doggies.

By the end Ty was just lounging in his stroller eating snacks while we looked at the animals. We bought a membership so we'll be back!

Christmas Eve was at my parents' house with all of the relatives in town. We had an Italian feast. Of course I waited until the very end of the night (way past bedtime) to get a family picture. This was as good as we could get.Of course we did the usual acting out of the nativity...many of the actors are far too young to cooperate much. Ty was baby Jesus last year and this year was a shepherd. He wandered all over the "stage" with his staff throughout the story.
It was of course hilarious to watch. Look at Milly the angel, spread eagle. :)
Here is our Christmas tree...our first real one. We loved it, but they are quite messy!
Christmas morning we opened presents with our little family. Ty really raked it in this year. He would have been pleased with just his new sippy cups from his stocking.
Here are Ty's gifts just from our house! Santa brought him a table and chairs and many of the other gifts are from his Wheeler grandparents. He is so spoiled!
Then it was off to my parents for an amazing brunch and then more presents! My parents got 2 of these plasma cars for the grandkids and they were a hit.
I made my parents a calendar with family pictures and important dates...one of those dates was the due date for Wheeler Baby #2. They didn't see it the first time through, but were very excited to hear the news!Aunt Myhoa and Uncle Dayne are so generous and gave Ty this beloved cozy coup.

This is how he can be found every day now...LOVES it is an understatement.
Christmas went by so fast. I had to go back to work on Monday. :( But after work I met all of the adults plus Gabe for pizza and laser tag, SWEET! We had a blast and dominated the second round once we got a strategy down.

Then Tuesday after work we all met up at the Landmark in Mesa for a scrumptious dinner! Thanks mom and dad for all of the fun.
Dayne and Myhoa had to leave the next day and Em a few days later. It is always great being together as a family and I can't wait for the next time. We are truly blessed and had a wonderful Christmas.

Take a Seat

2011-01-20T14:43:00.000-08:00

So I haven't had time to post in awhile. As soon as I can I will post about our fabulous and hectic Christmas. But in the meantime, I decided to do a quick post about this little project that I finally did. I got this little beauty at Goodwill months ago. It then sat in the garage for months waiting for spray paint weather...doesn't work so well in the heat (the paint crackles).

The painting took forever...2 coats of primer, 2 coats of paint, some glaze and a little clear sealer. The reupholstering was much easier. So here was my first attempt at it.
I loved the detail of the chair. It sits in our formal living room, which is currently also known as the play room. :) We also did a little makeover of the bathroom which I will post sometime.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-16T13:42:00.000-08:00

Well I figured it is about time I get our Thanksgiving blog done since Christmas is next week! We had a great Thanksgiving this year, especially since we were able to spend time with both of our families. We started off our Thanksgiving with a fabulous Baird Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday before.

I love getting pictures of people eating. :)
Ty was in heaven and was eating with a spoon in one hand and a fork in the other for much of the meal.After dinner Ty had to catch up on his texts while Gabe played the Gameboy (as always). The day before Thanksgiving I was able to spend time with Em watching Oprah's Favorite Things and shopping (although we did much more wishing than buying).

Thanksgiving morning Brandon played football for several hours and then in the afternoon Em took us to the airport. We flew to St. Lewis and Brandon's dad and sister picked us up there and we drove a couple hours to the Wheeler home in Quincy, Illinois. This was our first time visiting there since his dad and Becky moved there several years ago. Kristan and her family drove up from Dallas earlier in the week. So we basically spent Thanksgiving traveling :(. Ty did pretty well other than coughing the whole flight and puking his crackers up on Brandon. The flight was half full so we got to spread out! So we celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday with another delicious meal. After dinner we all went for a walk in the neighborhood.

Ty with Grandpa. We played lots of games while there including Killer Uno, Apples to Apples and Michigan Rummy. On Saturday we went to Nauvoo in the afternoon.
We were able to see the beautiful temple and some of the other sights like the Cultural Hall, Bakery and graves of Joseph Smith and some of his family members. It was great to be there but we needed lots more time.

Ty talking on the phone (he always holds it behind his head on his neck). Sunday morning we left on a train at 6am! to go to Chicago. We stayed at the Felix Hotel right downtown which was fabulous. BUT, our room was pretty small, so Ty got to sleep in the bathroom some of the time. Unfortunately for him this was not the first time. Emily, do you think it's worse to sleep in a drawer or in such close proximity to a toilet?

Sunday afternoon we went down to Michigan Avenue and met our friends Sam and Ashley and their little boys Parker and Lincoln. Why don't I have a picture of them?! After walking around the shops we spent way too long trying to get to the zoo via subway. We got there right around when the zoo normally closes, but shortly thereafter the lights came on and we spent a few hours in the cold seeing the zoo lights and some of the indoor animals like monkeys, lions and penguins.

This is going into the zoo. If you are ever in Chicago check out the zoo...it is free! Then we took a much easier bus ride back and went to Gino's East for some deep dish pizza. Yum! The next morning we had big plans! We had from 8-12 to see the city. Ty was going to nap from 12-2, then we had to head off to the airport. Well apparently the city sleeps in, which meant our plans were ruined. We took a subway to Willis Tower...closed until 10. So we walked to the art museum (Becky had lent us her season passes)...closed until 10:30. Well now we have wasted half of our time just trying to get to these places and then not even seeing them! Grrr! So we took a cab to Navy Pier...everything there was closed too but we still walked down the pier and looked at the city from the water.
I swear we weren't wearing the same thing every day on the trip. We just each had one jacket and so it appears like we had the same clothes on every day!Then we took a cab back to the art museum and had seriously 30 minutes to spend there. We went straight to the French Impressionists...Degas and Monet are my favorites. Then we had to run back to the Willis Tower. (Drives me crazy that they changed the name. You can't just go changing names like that! Like from BOB to Chase Field...boo).
It was pretty cool at the top...and they have made some little overhangs at the top which are quite scary.
After that we had to rush back to the hotel for Ty's short nap and then made it to the airport on a couple of subways. We were quite the site with one large suitcase, 2 small suitcases, a stroller, a car-seat, a baby, a backpack and a tote bag. We were glad to make it home...and Ty puked on Brandon again on the flight back. This time I couldn't stop laughing/crying and I think the lady next to me must have thought I was a terrible mother. If she only knew how many times he has puked on Brandon, I'm sure she would have laughed too. :)

Gotta Love Free Things

2010-12-06T21:03:00.001-08:00

So I'm sure most of you have used Shutterfly for one thing or another. I mostly use them to order prints when I finally get around to it. I have been wanting to make one of their cute calendars forever! Hopefully I will find time soon. The other thing I have been wanting to do is send out Christmas cards. Brandon and I have never done it. First we decided it was lame since we didn't have kids...who wants a picture of just us? Then we had Ty, so I wanted to send cards last year, but we ended up moving the week of Christmas (note: bad idea). Needless to say, Christmas cards didn't happen. So I planned to do it this year. Once again we have been busy and time just seems to fly by! Now it is December and we have no family pictures and no cards ordered. I was about to skip it yet another year until my fabulous friend Jennae posted about getting free cards from Shutterfly. Yippee! How could I pass up 50 free beautiful Christmas cards...even if we didn't take any family pictures?!

Well I couldn't, so... it's time to send out the first Wheeler family Christmas card! I don't know how they will turn out or what picture I'm going to use. What I do know is that they'll be free and maybe our beautiful, free, non-staged, unprofessional picture will hang on friends and families refrigerators for a month! I could spend all night browsing through their gorgeous selection of cards. Go to the following links to look for yourself...that is if you have not already ordered yours. (Am I the only one just starting this process?)

Holiday Photo Cards
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

Christmas Photo Cards
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

Here are a couple of examples of how I wish mine would look, but our pictures will likely not be as high quality or cute since I have slacked! Hopefully the cute card design will make up for the pictures.

If you want to get in on the action of 50 free beautiful cards...there may still be time. Go here to get the details.

DIY Wannabe

2010-12-02T12:46:00.000-08:00

In October we finally did our first real home improvement project (other than the usuals of painting and hanging light fixtures/fans). In Ty's room we replaced the base boards with thick pretty ones and put up bead board and a chair rail. There were a lot of hiccups along the way and it is definitely NOT perfect which drives me crazy. (I will not even point out the major problem). But hopefully now we can do it next time without the same mistakes. Here are some before and after pics.

Before:

After:

Sorry about the poor lighting.

Now all the room needs are curtains and new carpet! So glad to have one project done...just a thousand more to go.

October Recap

2010-11-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

So we have had a busy month! At the beginning of October I had my 10 year high school reunion! I cannot believe it has been that long. I decided to go kind of last minute. It was fun to see all of these girls...but it really wasn't a very good turnout unfortunately.
On October 3rd our little Ty turned 18 months. He is the cutest! He still wasn't walking (due to his low muscle tone) but by about 18 1/2 months he had it figured out. Yeah for me! My arms can finally get a break occasionally. :) He is just the sweetest boy. He is so friendly and has to talk to EVERYONE he sees...at the store or running down the street where he sees a neighbor. This past month he has been learning new words about every week. Some of the favorites are bye-bye, hi, ball, car, ding-dong (belly button) and uh-oh.
One weekend Ty and I went with my mom up to her house in Snowflake. My sister and her kids were already there. We went from Thurs night to Saturday night...not long enough but still fun. Here is Ty mowing the lawn. He loved this and just mowed the whole lawn. He was really trying to walk on his own then so this was the perfect toy to help him.
We also went to the pumpkin patch. I wanted to stay longer but it closes at dark. So cute! Here is Milly pulling Ty in the wagon (she still tries to be his little mom even though he weighs more than her :)

Ty was really not into getting his pictures taken...but I sure tried!Gabe, Corinne, Ty and Milly
Milly just loved that sheep!

Nana and Ty
We spend a lot of time outside in Snowflake...here is Ty playing with popsicle sticks. Milly and Ty in the bath.

There was a major splash zone in the bathroom...they had a blast!This year we carved a pumpkin as a family. Ty mostly put the seeds back in the pumpkin when we took them out.
This picture was shortly before he started slinging all of the pumpkin guts around my kitchen and onto the recently mopped floor! That's when he was removed from the kitchen and Brandon and I finished alone.Ty was a pumpkin this year for Halloween. Brandon and I decided to dress up for once this year...it has been too long! We went to Goodwill on half off day and came away with Dorothy and Scarecrow costumes...they are pretty ugly but were only a few bucks. Then I felt bad that Ty didn't match our theme...oh well! On Friday before Halloween we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. Ty LOVES being outside so he had fun just wandering around in the dark.
At some point he found Piglet in a stroller and started pushing her around.On Halloween we went to my parents for our typical Sunday dinner and then did a little trick-or-treating on their street. Here is Missy with Ty, Milly the frog and Corinne the Fall princess fairy?
Ty just held a candy bar in his hand all night (nice and melted) and half of the time he would put candy back in people's bowls instead of taking from them. That's ok though because the candy was all for mom and dad. Ty didn't eat a single piece...he was content just to hold it all. I'm afraid that won't happen next year.
Then for the second half of the evening we rushed home to our neighborhood. Our neighborhood goes all out with decorations and everyone sets up tables and chairs in the driveways with food and lots of alcoholic beverages. We felt like the slackers on the block but at least made our rounds to say hi and to decline numerous drinks (don't think they ever caught on!) So glad our neighborhood is so festive! Next year we will have to step up our game.

Family Room

2010-10-14T12:22:00.001-07:00

So I took these pictures of our family room forever ago and decided it was time to show a little more of our house. We have just begun our first major project (in the nursery) so hopefully will have some good before and after pictures by the end of the month. Actually, painting in this house is a major project due to the soaring ceilings...but we won't count that.

Obviously I didn't clean up all of the doodads that had accumulated on the pass-through...please ignore.

Here is a quick peak at our adjoining kitchen. It is smaller that I would like but so far works just fine for our 3-member family. We really haven't done much to it other than replace that hideous light fixture over the kitchen table. One day when we have lots of extra money to spare (please say this will be the case one day!) those ugly kitchen cabinets will be gone!

Cruise

2010-10-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

OK so I am finally posting the pictures from our cruise as requested. Of course it is hard to narrow the trip down to a few pictures but I will do my best. We went with Christin (above), my friend from PA school, and her husband Bert, on a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise. We arrived in Miami on Saturday afternoon. We went to a place called Bayside for linner (never ate lunch) and shopping. Then we went to South Beach for awhile and got back to the hotel late.

On Sunday we boarded the ship and did some exploring. Brandon and Bert didn't waste anytime starting off with some ice cream cones...the first of many each day. Monday we spent at sea...pool, reading, eating and shows. Tuesday we went to Grand Cayman. We went to a sandbar called Stingray City where the stingrays come and we fed them squid. It was amazing! A little scary at first when they literally charge right into you to get the food, but awesome! That's Christin and I checking out a stingray.Seven years good luck for every kiss. Then we went snorkeling and then to gorgeous 7 Mile Beach. This was the most beautiful island and water and there was NOONE there. The resorts on the beach looked like they must be closed...we would definitely return.

Wednesday was Roatan Island (Honduras) where Brandon and I went scuba diving. We saw turtles, eels and lots of fish...also a cool wrecked ship. Afterward we had a little time to meet up with our friends at a beach near the port.Thursday was Belize and maybe my favorite. We did zip-lines through the jungle canopy. LOVED it!
Then we went cave tubing. There is a river that runs through caves in the pitch black. So cool!
At the end of the day with our awesome guides.
Friday we docked in Cozumel but Brandon and I went to the mainland so we could go to the Mayan ruins of Tulum. We ended up ditching our tour group shortly because we were too impatient to wait every 5 minutes for all the slow people. So we walked around ourselves.
It was blazing hot there...good thing the Mayans were so smart to build their temples right over the beautiful Caribbean ocean! We had to go for a swim to cool off.
Saturday was another day at sea. We were exhausted from staying out late each night at the shows and then getting up early for our excursions. So we were glad to have another day to just relax. Brandon and I didn't get out of bed until 11am. This is on the last formal night.
This is us at our table together on the last night of the cruise :(We arrived in Miami Sunday morning. Since we had several hours until our flight home, Brandon and I decided to do an excursion to the Everglades. We saw lots of alligators just hanging out (there were no fences in the park).We went on one of these sweet air-boats and saw more alligators and snapping turtles.
We got to hold this baby named Snappy.It was a fabulous cruise and great company. We are so grateful to my mom for allowing us to go by watching Ty. We are already planning our next cruise together. We want to do the Panama Canal...probably won't happen since it is a 14 day cruise and we both have kids...but we can dream, right?

Beyond the Sea

2010-09-03T12:38:00.001-07:00

So...da da da!! We are leaving on a cruise tomorrow morning! We are going to the Western Caribbean with some friends. So excited...but I am not sure I am going to be able to leave this little guy for a whole week! I mean, just look at that cute little face. How will I survive?P.S. I really never thought I would be that mom, but I guess things change.

Update: Ty just left with my mom to go to their house in Snowflake and I am bawling like a baby. He didn't shed a tear.

"Honey, you just had a baby in your pants!"

2010-08-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

HA HA! That is my new favorite line. While eating my hot dog lunch from Costco just now I turned on the TV to the most amazing show "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant." If you haven't seen this show on TLC you are truly missing out. Brandon especially loves it (not really, for some reason the stupidity of the women makes him mad.) Well anyway...the above line was said by the nurse after "something" fell into this woman's pants. Classic.

How Sweet It Is

2010-08-11T16:47:00.000-07:00

My mom ordered me a box of apricots a few weeks ago, so one of my projects in July was making apricot jam. Yum! One batch was the traditional way with buckets of sugar and the other was a low sugar version...that is why some of the jars look different. We also had apricot cobbler, and Ty is enjoying his apricots about twice a day. These pictures were taken after shoving half of a sloppy joe (literally) into his mouth and then apricots afterward.That's one happy boy!

Hello World!

2010-07-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

I think I must be the last person on the planet to get DVR...but it is fabulous! We have been wanting it forever, but I am just too cheap. The only reason why we got it is because Brandon called Cox for a different purpose and talked them into giving us 2 HD receivers and a DVR for free! (for a year) Where has this been all my life?! No more rushing home from work to catch 24 while trying to get Ty ready for bed and not having him watch TV in the process. (I really don't want him to watch much TV...especially not Jack killing endless people). We were always missing our favorite shows, but no more! The only bad thing is now pretty much all of our shows are over. :( No more 24 and maybe no more Office. All I have currently is So You Think You Can Dance, but at least I can re-watch the dances as many times as my heart desires! Who knows what is next for me?! Facebook possibly? It only takes me about 5 years to join the bandwagon on these things. Just in time for everyone else to be over them. :)

California!

2010-07-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

So we were fortunate enough to take a family vacation to Southern California the beginning of July. It has been waaaaaaaaayyy too long since we have all gone to the beach together and I was having serious withdrawals. Everyone was able to come except my sister-in-law Courtney who is expecting and my niece Abby. We missed them but they were nice enough to let Andrew and Carson come alone. We stayed in Escondido for a week at the Lawrence Welk Resort and had 4 suites there...hallelujah! That meant plenty of room to stretch out there and not getting woken up super early by Missy's kids...although we still did somewhat because they were in the room above us and Milly did track and field events each morning (at least it sounded like it. :)
So I have couple hundred pictures and it is so hard to narrow them all down...so I am sorry but there are a TON of them here. Here is Ty on the car ride there...he always has his legs all over the place. He did quite well for only napping for about 10 minutes!So of course we spent a few days at the beach...but not nearly what we wanted too. Unfortunately it was record lows for July and was pretty dang cold all week. That meant I only boogie boarded once! and I am still super white because I had to wear so many clothes at the beach! Ty was a little sand crab on the beach and mostly just crawled all over the place.Digging a hole with GabeWiffle ball (that's Em at bat)We were able to meet my good friend Mary Ellen (from Theatre Ballet at BYU) and her cute family for dinner. It was so good to see her after so many years and have her be just exactly the same!
The 4th of July consisted of church
Tennis (I did not bring work-out clothes)Fun at the resort...too bad I don't have the pic of my dad hula hooping (Brandon is the only one who cannot do it) MeEmilyMomBrandon and Andrew
Bar-b-q (almost impossible to get a good picture of all of the kids)And fireworks from Camp Pendleton...now that's what I'm talking about...right over the ocean!We spent a day in Old Town San DiegoCarpenter FamilyDayne and Myhoa (who had to leave on Tuesday :( and were missed)Panning for gold at the Mormon Battalion Museum
Some of the family went to Legoland but we went to Wild Animal Park
Of course there were some cold beach days and more fun at the resort pools, water slides and tennis. We were able to hang out with our friend Sam a few days too before he moves to Chicago. On Friday morning Andrew and Carson left for home and we all checked out of the resort and checked into the Marriott La Jolla for the last weekend. We spent a very freezing day at the beach in La Jolla. Our last day we went to Balboa Park.

Then to the tide pools in La Jolla
and stuck our fingers and toes in all of the sea anemones (Emily and Gabe below)and saw the seals and sea lions (so cute!)
Then we went to Belmont Park at Mission Beach and went on the very old and jerky roller coaster...still so fun! Ty and Milly went on the carousel.

Then went across the street to Luigi's pizza for some small slices of pizza and ate at the park, yum!
It was such a fun trip. We stayed up late every night playing games and then Ty was fabulous and let us sleep in every day. He was exhausted from never getting naps. We ate way too much; as Emily put it we were on a 3000 calorie diet. I even got to read a fabulous book (These Is My Words) which I rarely get to do. The bad thing is now I have to read the 2 sequels! Thanks so much mom and dad for a fabulous vacation...we can't wait for the next one!

Our House - Backyard

2010-07-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

So we have lived in our house for about 6 months now. The time has flown and I wish we had made more of the improvements that I have envisioned in my head...hopefully the next 6 months we will get more done. Anywhoo...I have never shown any pictures of our house. A few weeks ago I took some pictures of our backyard as it is today...so I thought I would start with those. Maybe I will go room by room as each is finished? But they will probably never be truly finished in my mind. The following 3 pics are taken from near the back door standing under the patio from left to right.This is facing towards our house from the back of the yard. As you can see we still need a pool fence...it will definitely put a damper on things visually :( but is a necessary precaution. This last shot is a boring one of the side yard. There were already these 2 large yellow flowering trees (obviously the scientific name) and we added a lemon and a tangelo tree. You can see the little lemon tree in the middle in this pic.So there you have it. It is not huge but just right for us. I know Brandon would not want much more yard work than he already has anyway.

One Year Old Pics

2010-06-09T21:46:00.001-07:00

So these are a little overdue, but here are some of the pictures from Ty's one year old shoot.

Not too shabby for JCPenney pictures I guess.

Wedding Bells

2010-05-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

I just LOVE weddings. Last weekend one of my oldest and bestest friends, Carolyn, got married in her backyard. How cute and perfect! Carolyn and Dan have the cutest baby Aria. They also have an adorable house in one of the best neighborhoods in AZ (in my opinion) and they have been super busy fixing it up and landscaping the yard. The last time I was there it was all dirt with a newly installed sprinkler system done by the multi-talented Dan. This time it was gorgeous with green grass, a fountain, flowers, trees and an arbor also built by Dan.Is that not the cutest thing you have ever seen...the three of them walking down the aisle together?!
Carolyn was absolutely gorgeous! She ALWAYS is and I don't know how she was able to pull everything off. They did practically everything themselves. Hand-made invitations, food, the cake and the decorations...all that while being new parents, transforming their house, working and school. AMAZING! I was so honored to be at this very intimate ceremony and am so happy for this cute family!Can you believe that the two of them made and decorated this?!Carolyn and Aria...what a precious moment and they are both so beautiful!Jenelle, Carolyn and I...still friends after all these years!

Little Snappers

2010-05-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago Ty started swim lessons. The baby class is called Little Snappers. So far Ty is always timid and usually cries in the beginning. But by the end he is ok and will go under water without crying. The first week it was just the two of us. Then the last few minutes of class he got super excited and started splashing around. I thought...oh, great! He is having fun! Not realizing that his dad had walked in and he was just excited to see him. This was him splashing me.
The second week Brandon swam with him while I watched...that won't happen again since it is a million degrees and humid inside this building. I about jumped into the water in my clothes! There are a few baby girls in his class who are pros. I think if he had started earlier (they can start at 6 months) he would not have been as scared. But hopefully soon he will be a little fishy since we plan on being in the pool a lot this summer.These pics were taken when he was still not too excited about the water.

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a fabulous Mother's Day for several reasons, mostly because I LOVE being a mom to my little cutie. The day started with breakfast made by Brandon, yum! The morning could have been better if I didn't have to spend the whole time preparing my Primary lesson, but oh well. I did get a massage before church because my neck was killing me! Church was nice, especially because I got to be with the women the 3rd hour instead of Primary. Yeah! Then we got to spend the evening with my wonderful mother with dinner and dessert prepared by the boys. It was very good...they should do that way more often. :) The ultimate end to a wonderful Mother's Day was watching the Phoenix Suns sweep the Spurs in game 4! Even with one-eyed Nash we were able to dominate, woo hoo! They so deserve it! Hope all you mothers had a fabulous day!
This pic is not great but the only one we were able to snatch as we were leaving for church.

Congratulations!

2010-05-09T20:26:00.000-07:00

Congrats are in order for a couple of people. One for my brother Dayne, the brainiac, who just finished his MBA from Georgetown with some sort of honors. Now Emily is the only Baird child without a masters degree. Ha ha! No pressure Em, seriously. The other congrats is for Brandon who recently got a big promotion that he has been working towards. We (my family and I) are not at all surprised because he always goes above and beyond and is well-liked by everyone at work. But I am so proud of him nonetheless. He will have to travel more :( but we are so excited for this new chapter. It is totally different from what he was doing but one week down and he is figuring it out.

6th Anniversary

2010-05-07T12:53:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, May 1st, was our 6th Anniversary. Yeah! It has gone by so fast and we have been so blessed. Brandon is the best husband and father any girl could hope for. Brandon planned a little get-away for the big day. My parents were nice enough to have Ty for the night and we went to stay at Hermosa Inn on Camelback. I had never heard of it, although I am told from others it is famous. It is a small "boutique hideaway," only 34 casitas. Brandon wanted to go somewhere different and quiet. It was absolutely beautiful. There were tons of gorgeous flowers. Friday afternoon when we got there we went to the pool and relaxed and read. Brandon was brave enough to swim...I just went in the hot-tub because of course I was cold. Here are some pics of our casita.
That night we got dressed up and went to Lon's (at the Inn) for a wonderful dinner. Of course I had to have my fave creme brulee for dessert. Picture courtesy of the camera timer.When we got back to our room the lights were dim and there was music playing and there were candles and rose petals all over. A bubble bath was drawn and there were chocolate covered strawberries and other chocolates. Yum! It was so beautiful and romantic.
In the morning we got breakfast brought to our room and then we went on a walk in the surrounding neighborhoods around Camelback. These people are loaded...they were mansions! It was a lovely day and we would have loved to stay longer...but needed to go get our precious bub. Thanks for the awesome anniversary hon. You are the best!

Family Picnic

2010-04-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

So one Friday night a couple of weeks ago we decided to go on a family picnic. Brandon and I have been talking about doing this forever, and we finally did. It was so much fun and we want to go again. We went to Roadrunner Park and started off by feeding the ducks. Ty thought this was fun and I remember going to this park to feed the ducks when I was little too.Next we ate our yummy picnic in the grass. We have this super cute picnic basket that someone gave us when we got married and I am ashamed to say that we have NEVER used it. Like I said, we have been meaning to go on a picnic forever.
This little guy loves his daddy!
I just think this picture is funny...esp because a minute before some guy walked by and commented on how we had champagne for our nice evening. And then there is Ty with the bottle (of sparkling cider)
After dinner we took Ty to the playground for a little bit and went on the swing and the slide. It was beautiful weather...I was actually cold which won't surprise many of you, and it is so nice to be outside this time of year. I will be really sad when we have to stay inside everyday and abandon our walks around the neighborhood!

Easter

2010-04-19T21:47:00.001-07:00

So this was Ty's second Easter...last year I believe he was 9 days old! In the morning Ty opened his Easter "basket."That afternoon Brandon and I were in charge of getting Easter all set up and food in the oven at my parents' house. They were in Utah and getting home around 4:30 and were hosting Easter dinner! This is horrible lighting but this is where we ate. Then the kids did an Easter egg hunt. Since I had hidden then eggs I got to do a hunt at the end to find all of the stuff that the kids missed!
I realized that night that we never got a family picture! So after a long day we got a family picture inside :( Not the ideal Easter pic.Wish this spring weather would last forever!

Birthday Babe

2010-04-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

I can't even believe I am saying this, but our sweet little bub is one now! EVERY parent says it, but time really does go by too fast. I wish I could hold time still and keep him my baby forever. At the same time I can't wait for him to get bigger so we can enjoy more things together. He now weighs 25 1/2 pounds (50-75th%) and is 30 1/2 inches long (75th percentile). So although he still looks like a chunk...he really is in proportion to his height! He is the sweetest little guy. He is a great sleeper and is normally quite happy and likes to laugh a lot. He likes to wave his hands in the air when he laughs and claps his hands. He army crawls all over the place but still does not stand or walk! We are in the process of looking into this to be sure his hips are ok. But it is more likely that he is just a little lazy, or I prefer layed back. A few other facts about Ty:

He has 6 teeth - 4 on top, 2 on bottom
He sucks his thumb only when he is really tired (and it is really cute)
When he takes a bath there is a splash zone...and the bath-giver is always in it and comes out wet too
He is a night-owl many nights and just sits in his bed talking and singing
He loves his dad and will cry if Brandon comes home briefly and then has to leave again without him

We had 2 small birthday get-togethers. First a family birthday dinner the Sunday before. I made chocolate cake with banana cream frosting. He picked the slices of banana off of the top. It took him quite a while before he finally dug in, but he was way more interested in smushing it in his hands than eating it. Fine by me if he prefers fruit to cake! :)
On his actual birthday we just had a few friends over for a bar-b-q. We have been wanting to have them over anyway so this was a good excuse. We had a fun time and Ty had his second cake, this time lemon. His favorite was still playing with it. (Note: he is allergic to egg whites so I had to modify both recipes). He got lots of fun new toys which is great because he was getting bored with his old toys. That night we watched the video of the first year of his life starting in the hospital. It was so fun to look back, but sad at the same time because it all went by in a flash! We cannot imagine life without this cutie and cannot imagine a better baby. How did we get so lucky?

Friends and Fun

2010-03-12T13:07:00.000-08:00

WARNING: long post. Well the past couple of months have been busy (as always) but also lots of fun. We will start with Blake coming to visit in February, from the freezing of Ohio, so I could finally meet her little Hugh (5 months). We took the boys to the train park, and it was Ty's first time to a park! Look at Hugh's cute smile! Wish she lived here so they could be pals.
Ty's first time on a slide and in a swing (other than an infant swing).
It was impossible to get one of both of them smiling because Ty was ready for a nap and not his usual smiley self.He was so exhausted by the park that this is what he looked like when we got home...he rarely falls asleep in the car. Looks like he needs a neck brace.

I went on a quick trip to Houston the end of February for work and then when I got home my nephew Gabe got baptized. Cannot believe he is 8!

The beginning of March Brandon and I got to go to the Suns game (thanks mom and dad for the Christmas present). We are huge Suns fans but would never be able to pay for such awesome seats! Unfortunately we somehow lost to the Jazz despite leading the entire game!Look how close we were! Love these seats!
Then I was finally able to get together with some of my dearest and oldest friends, Carolyn and Jenelle. We went to see Carolyn's adorable house that they are fixing up. We got to catch up and go for a walk in Care's awesome, cute neighborhood. We all had babies last year...Ty first in April, then Isabella (Jenelle's) 2 months later, then Aria (Carolyn's) 2 months after that! So much fun! We always talked about having babies together, but who would have thought it would actually have worked out that way?!

Jenelle and Isabella
Carolyn and Aria
Hopefully these 3 will love each other as much as their moms do so we can all play together often!

Then our good friend Tod came to stay with us for the weekend. He still lives in Provo but had interviews in California on Friday and Monday and came to see us in between. So nice of him to do all that driving! On Saturday after a fabulous breakfast made by Tod and Brandon, the boys went to the driving range. Then that afternoon we went to an A's vs Angels spring training game. The A's won (Brandon's team) and Ty did great at his first baseball game. Only cried when we poked his eye with sunscreen. Ouch! That night my mom watched Ty and we took Tod to Oregano's for dinner (and of course a pizookie) and then went to Dave and Buster's for games. Sunday was a little more mellow with church and dinner at my parents and then he had to drive back to Cali. It was great having Tod here and we are so excited for his wedding in a few short months.

So that was just the beginning of the month. Hopefully there is lots more fun to come while the whether is so perfect!

How could anyone resist

2010-03-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

How could anyone not want one of these little cuties? Here is a day with my little 11 month old. Here he is just waking up for the morning.
Playtime!
Bottle time
Bath time...he loves his ducky!
Can't imagine life without him.

New Orleans

2010-02-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

So a few weeks ago Brandon and I took a little trip together to New Orleans...minus the babe. :( This was my first time leaving him and I missed him so much! But I must say it would have been way too hard to take him there. I was going for a trip for work (pharmaceutical research meeting) and so we bought Brandon a ticket too so that we could see the city. We loved it and could not believe there was so much to do there! We flew there Thursday and after checking into the hotel immediately walked to Bourbon Street to a seafood restaurant that had been recommended to us. We were starving and it was delicious - shrimp and alligator sausage gumbo, jambalaya, and shrimp and crab creole. Everyone there was so nice...that night we met this guy while waiting to be seated who bought us our appetizer and told us all of the places we needed to go. That night we walked around Bourbon Street some (which if you ever go you can skip...at least at night). Vegas has NOTHING on this place.

Friday morning we walked over to Cafe Du Monde for beignets. These are super yummy French donuts with powdered sugar which they are famous for. Yum! We had to rush back to our hotel to catch a ride, but loved the French Quarter and all of the incredible shops with French Antiques on the way to and from. If only I had a million dollars! Then we went on a swamp tour which took up most of the day. It was fun but a bit of a disappointment. Apparently the alligators stay at the bottom when it is cold, which everyone failed to tell us prior. GRRRR! That was like the whole point! But it was fun anyway.

>When we got back to the city we went to Drago's at the Hilton known for their charbroiled oysters. We had not had lunch so we got some oysters and crab cakes...delish! Then I wanted to go shopping on Magazine Street. Of course there was then a torrential downpour like never before with winds you wouldn't believe. Umbrellas turned inside out. Eventually the winds died down so we were able to continue walking in the rain. We ended up taking a street car down to St. Charles St. and saw some of the most beautiful homes ever. I love old houses. They have such character. But the French architecture was incredible. We got kind of lost so never quite found the shopping district, but oh well. That night I had a dinner at the hotel so Brandon went to Mother's for a po boy.

After my dinner we headed back to Bourbon to a jazz club we were told about. The music was great and we had a good time...although I am pretty sure we are the only people in the city who don't drink! Everyone looked at us like we were aliens or something.

Saturday while I was at my meeting, Brandon went to the WWII museum which I guess was fabulous. He said he could have spent several more hours there. I ditched out of my meeting a little early so we could go on a riverboat tour on the Mississippi. It was F.R.E.E.Z.I.N.G. I do not recall being that cold in my life...the chill from the wind goes right through you. We were not expecting this cold streak and did not bring super warm clothes. We did some more walking in the French Market...had some more fabulous seafood for dinner, and I think made it back to the hotel by about 7pm. We felt this was a sin to go home so early on our last night there...but the cold was more than I could bear any longer. Even Brandon, who always thinks I am a wuss, was cold.
We definitely could have stayed for a whole week because there were so many other things we wanted to do...plantation tours, Katrina tours (9th ward), cemetery tours (must all be buried above the ground), more shopping, etc. It was a fun little get-away but I was so glad to get home to our little Ty. We are so fortunate that my mom watched him for us so that we could do this and hope to go back one day. Oh yeah, and everything was decorated for Mardi Gras and the Saints. Who dat?!

Ten Months

2010-02-04T15:14:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it but our little Ty is 10 months old now! People keep asking when I am going to have another baby, and I keep thinking, what?! I just had a baby! But before I know it he will be a year old. Ty is just the best little guy. He is such a happy, pleasant baby. He weighs over 22 pounds now and has the biggest, cutest belly. He loves to eat. He loves balls, books, Baby Einstein and remote controls. I wanted to take some pics of him outside yesterday for his 10 month birthday. But he has a little cold and was not feeling great, so I got about one picture before he let me know that it was not the day for a photo shoot. :(
He is definitely layed back like his dad. He is still not standing or crawling...he just takes his sweet time. He thinks his legs are just there for decoration. He does, however, scoot backward. Here he is last week after backing himself into the wall. Now he is stuck there.
We are so blessed to have Ty in our family. He is so social and friendly...smiles and talks to strangers. He waves and claps. His doctor is very impressed with his social skills. So I guess at least he will be good at making friends even if his mom has to carry him around forever. :)

Snowed Out

2010-01-27T09:26:00.000-08:00

So my parents rented a cabin for last weekend outside of Flagstaff so that we could all go up and play in the snow! We were going to go sledding and Brandon and I were going to go skiing/boarding on Saturday. Well of course the one time we are going to do this we have storms like never before. We were quite sad that the roads to Flagstaff were closed and we had to cancel our little trip. :( Instead we stayed home and got lots more done at home and lots of errands run. It was probably for the best since I was gone the weekend before and I am now leaving for New Orleans tomorrow. I have never really been to the South so I am excited to check it out. Has anybody else been there? Anything we need to see, do or eat while there?

Until we meet again...

2010-01-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Ty and I went on an unexpected trip to Utah. My cousin, James Robert Price, died at the age of 23 from pneumonia and ARDS. His funeral was on Saturday and it was truly heartbreaking to watch his family bury their son and baby brother. They are so strong and know they will be together again someday. But everyone will truly miss him. Last time I saw JR was at our Thanksgiving dinner at the Village Inn. JR is the one on the right with my cousin Chip on the left.

Here he is with his family (sorry for the horrible picture)

I pray that I will never have to go through what this family has. I cannot even imagine losing a child.

Christmas

2010-01-13T11:27:00.000-08:00

We had a good and busy Christmas this year. We moved the Saturday before Christmas. Since we both had to work the beginning of the week, our house was still in boxes for Christmas and we didn't have ANY decorations. I am such a bad mom...hopefully Ty will forgive me. Ty was also sick for a couple weeks but still managed to be a happy boy despite us constantly attacking his nose which he did not appreciate.

One of our traditions is that each Christmas Eve Grandad reads the story of Jesus' birth from the New Testament while we act out the scene. Well we finally have some kids again and it was so fun to watch them act it out. We were all cracking up. Ty got to be the baby Jesus and was so good. He did not mind at all sitting in his "manger". Here we have Jack and Milly as shepherds, Corinne as Mary, Ty as Jesus and Gabe as Joseph.

This was so funny. Ty was laying on the ground drinking his bottle. But Milly, being the little mom to him that she is, came up and started feeding him. So Ty decided to take full advantage of this and just relax...why use your arms if you don't have to?! (He still has his "swaddling clothes" on).

Our family on Christmas Eve.

Christmas day

New Year's Eve

Em with her arms full.

Some of us went to my Aunt and Uncle's house to play games with all of the cousins who were in town. Always fun to be with the cousins.

As a side note. Shortly after moving into our house we realized that our heater was not working. We were without heat for almost 2wks! It was quite cold in the house despite a few space heaters (it was in the 50s inside). WAY too cold for a baby, and for me. Unfortunately, we had to replace the whole unit! A very expensive, unexpected cost. But now we should have very good heat and a/c for years to come. Here are my boys snuggling on a cold morning.

Catch-up...Finally

2010-01-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

THANKSGIVING

OK, so I already told you a bit about our Thanksgiving. But here are some pics. These first ones are from our fabulous Village Inn dinner. Of course we had to take pictures outside after to capture the moment.

Our fam with Grandad.

Dayne and Em.

My parents, aunts and uncles with Grandad.

Here is Ty at the family reunion talent show. His talent was just looking cute.

Cute cousins Gabe, Chase, Carson and Corinne after our 2nd Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's house.

Milly with one of her favorite people...Ty.

Messy Carson and Ty. Wonder who liked their food better?

Crazy

2009-12-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

This refers to my state of mind as well as the events of the past few weeks. And there is much more still to come. Last week along with Thanksgiving came a huge Price reunion (my mom's fam). All of my siblings were here along with almost all of my cousins. It was a blast but left me exhausted. On Thanksgiving we had our first white trash Thanksgiving dinner at Village Inn. There were 74 of us so we really couldn't do it at someone's house. It really wasn't bad though. There were maybe a couple hundred relatives at the reunion as well. The earliest I think I went to bed was 1:30am because we were up late playing games each night and either stayed with Em at Orange Tree Resort or had to drive back to Mesa. Hopefully I will find some time to blog more about that because there are lots of cute pics.

Yesterday (Thursday) I had my 4th and final wisdom tooth removed which was such a treat (can you sense the sarcasm?) That puppy had the longest root with a little hook on the end and did not want to come out and did not want to get numb. Then last night we went to the temple lights where my mom's bells group was performing with the ASU Institute choir. It was very good and Ty was super cute all bundled up.

Tonight (Friday) our friends Sam and Ashley and their son Parker are coming to visit and stay with us for the weekend. We are excited to see them and hopefully we can find some fun things to do. I spent today cleaning because with being gone all last week for the reunion it has not been done in a couple weeks.

I just realized earlier this week that we are supposed to close on our house next Friday! Holy cow! This has crept up on me so fast and we are not ready! We have to clean the inside and then hopefully do a lot of painting and I wanted new carpet installed all before we move in. Well we have been so busy that we have not even looked into getting carpet and have not picked out paint colors! Somebody asked if we are all packed and of course I laughed since we have not even thought about packing and don't have a single box. So this weekend is out for getting anything done and next weekend I have to work! PLUS, somebody had the horrible idea to have us speak in church next week. Some mean joke. So since I have no time to write a talk I was hoping to just read a story straight from the Ensign. What!? Some teenagers do it, why can't I? I guess I will be up late Saturday night writing that after working all day. Joy. So I am starting to really freak out with everything that I need to get done not to mention Christmas is coming and at some point I have to go Christmas shopping and mail several people gifts ahead of time.

I am sure I have missed half of the things I need to do...I seriously need to make a list. I guess moving during Christmas is not the brightest idea.

First Halloween

2009-11-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

So I waited until the last minute to get Ty a costume thinking everything would be cheaper. Well that was a bad idea because the 2 stores I went to the night before did not have one single infant costume left. Luckily for us we were able to borrow the little costume Gabe had worn when he was a babe. He was a little builder/construction dude. We went to our ward's carnival for a little while then over to my parent's house.

Sorry, this was the best pic I could get. Milly as Tink, Ty as builder, Mom as colonial woman, Corinne as princess and Gabe...well that's obvious.

Ty is still such a joy. The closest thing he got to candy were some peaches, yum!

Date Nights

2009-11-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

Well we typically don't get to go on such incredible dates...well we really just don't go on many dates at all since having the babe. But the past 2 weeks we were spoiled. Brandon and I had the amazing privilege (finally) of seeing U2. It was absolutely amazing! I have been waiting my whole life to see them, and they did not disappoint! I am even more in love with Bono now...he is seriously the epitome of a rock star.

We both agree this was the best concert we have ever been to, and I hope one day to have the opportunity to go again. Oh, the Black Eyed Peas were really good too.

Look, our seats weren't too bad. We were close to the stage, just on the side.

Then on Thursday Brandon and I got to go on another date together. I took him to Phantom of the Opera for his birthday present. He used to tell me he would like to see it, and I hadn't been in years...so we thought we should take the opportunity. It was fabulous! We were on the 6th row! Much better than the other times I went. Christine and the Phantom were incredible. I cannot even believe it but Brandon told me that night that it was his first musical ever! Of his whole life! I still can't believe it. We have been married 5 1/2 years and he has never been! We definitely need to take a trip to New York! But that won't be happening anytime soon since we are buying another house. Yeah! I will share more about that later.

Now Brandon just left on another business trip, and Ty and I miss him already. It is too quiet here!

Hacked

2009-10-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

Ggggrrrrrrr! As many of you probably noticed, my email was hacked into today. Let's just say that today was not a good day. Work was a zoo, and no people, you probably don't have the swine flu. And then to top it all off some jerk hacked into my email and sent everyone an email saying I was in Malaysia and needed some money. Well, I am here to let you know that unfortunately I am not in Malaysia. But if you so feel inclined you can still send me money. Just call me and I'll tell you where to send it. :) The worst part of it all is they changed my password so I cannot even access my emails which is a nightmare in and of itself. There is so much stuff in there that I need! So bottom line, do not email me until I get a new email address. Of course I won't be able to email most of you to tell you my new address since I didn't memorize your addresses. So that will be quite a chore. Hopefully tomorrow will bring better things...like an incredible view of Bono!

6 months!

2009-10-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

I just love, love, love this little guy!

I cannot even believe that our little Ty is already over 6 months old! All parents say that time flies, and now I know what they mean. I want time to stand still so I can enjoy our Ty as a baby as long as possible. I want to always be able to carry him around and kiss his fabulous cheeks over and over again. Well Ty is now 19lbs 14oz and 27.5 inches long. He has dropped down to the 75-90th percentile. This is just fine by me, but his pediatrician said we are not feeding our little chunk enough calories! We had been feeding him solids twice a day but we have to bump it up to 3 times a day. Anyone who has seen Ty's rolls would be shocked to know that I have been starving him! These pictures are from his 6 month birthday (in Snowflake).

Don't mind the rash on his arm...he has the MOST sensitive skin and his eczema is hard to control sometimes.

He is just such a sweet boy. He is still a great sleeper. He already has his first 2 bottom teeth! These are sharp I might add. He can kind of sit on his own but still falls over...all those rolls get in the way. He loves to blow raspberries or spit bubbles now and loves to drink from his mom and dad's cups. He thinks he is just such a big boy now.

I just think this picture is so funny. Brandon loves it when he bites the spoon.

We feel so lucky to be Ty's parents and hope we will do a good job!

House Shopping

2009-10-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

So through the years of living in various houses and apartments, I have come to realize that most of these living spaces have been designed by men. This has been further driven home while shopping for houses this past month. You women out there all know what I am talking about. Who designs a kitchen with one drawer? ONE DRAWER! That is what we have in our current townhouse. Where the heck are you supposed to keep all of your utensils, hand towels, washcloths, measuring cups/cooking gadgets, place mats, potholders/trivets, etc?! Same goes for pantries, small or nonexistent. So many houses don't even have pantries! Obviously these places were designed for men like my brother (before Myhoa came along) who had used his kitchen only one time...and all he needed was one drawer for his takeout menus.

Many houses are also lacking in the bathroom department...tiny bathrooms with one sink and no storage. Where are we supposed to keep all of our hair items, makeup, lotions, etc. But my number one pet peeve is all of the 4 bedroom houses that don't even have decent master closets! This is no small problem and has kept me from wanting to make offers on houses. Do you feel me? And no, the solution is not to get rid of all of my clothes and shoes as Brandon suggests (and he is dead serious).We need some more female architects out there who will think about these important things while designing the places that we live!

Little Talker

2009-10-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

So Ty just loves talking on the phone...or at least listening to someone talk to him on the phone. He usually will get really quiet when Brandon is on the phone and listen. He gets big eyes and and reaches for the phone. The other day Brandon was getting home late (surprise, surprise). Ty was needing some attention but I was busy trying to get dinner ready and he was just not happy. So Brandon said he would talk to Ty while he drove home so I could work on dinner. Well it kept Ty happy for quite a while. Here are some pics from when I went to check on him.

So Cal

2009-09-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

So fortunately we were able to go on a little family trip to Southern California last week. Brandon and I have been dying to get to the beach. It has been far too long! We wanted to see our friends Sam and Ashley who live in San Diego, so we planned to stay with them. Well then they got tickets to go to Texas to see Ashley's family and go to the BYU vs Oklahoma game (which they ended up not going to) so they weren't even there! But they were SOOOOO wonderful to let us stay at there cute apartment while they were gone anyway. We did get to see them briefly Wednesday morning before they left which was nice. So anywho, we got there Wednesday morning and were just exhausted from lack of sleep from the 3 previous nights and looooong days of work for me. So after Brandon took Sam and Ashley to the airport we all took a little nap. Then late that afternoon we headed to Seaport Village and walked around and enjoyed the wonderful ocean air. It was actually a heatwave for them, but NOTHING compared to AZ.

Then we went to stroll on Mission Beach as the sun set. So gorgeous! I just love the beach! Then we didn't think Ty would be able to make it through dinner too so we picked up some yummy bar-b-q to go and got a few essential groceries for the week.

On Thursday we hit up the beach at Del Mar. Love it! SO many memories of that beach from growing up. The water was incredible! The warmest I can ever recall. We got some boogie boarding in which was super fun even though the waves were breaking too close to the shore. I'm not sure how Ty felt about all of this. He got really tired but for some reason didn't realize how nice it is to sleep on the beach! :) After much work he finally gave in and snoozed for a good 2hrs. Yeah! That night we went to Horton Plaza - love this outdoor mall in San Diego. I was so good, promise, mostly just window shopped and got some dinner.

Friday we packed up the car and headed for LA. Took us longer than we thought due to the traffic...we should have left earlier. We walked around Hollywood Blvd and went to Madame Tussauds wax museum. It was actually super hot there! Me in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Our cutie in his stroller

We really wanted to go to Rodeo Drive and to drive around the incredible houses in Beverly Hills. We shouldn't have, because we were already running late, but ended going there briefly anyways. Then we had to hurry off to get to Camarillo (about an hour north of LA) where we were meeting up with our friends Debra and Patrick. I swear that traffic is ridiculous! I can't handle it! We were always at least an hour late for everything because of the dang traffic. Our poor Ty was just being dragged all around the place with no real naps and meals very spaced out. He would be hungry and we would just say...oh he can wait 30 more minutes until we get to wherever...and then it would be like 2hrs until we ended up getting there! I felt like such a bad mom! If only it were possible to breastfeed while driving! It would have saved lots of time and hunger for Ty.

Well we finally made it to Deb's house and she and Patrick had a wonderful dinner waiting for us! Delicious fajitas and the best lemon cheesecake dessert! They are so wonderful. Well as soon as we finished eating we had to rush off again to go back to LA! We went to the Hollywood Bowl to see John Williams and The Music of the Movies. He's the one that composes the music for tons of movies and he conducted the Philharmonic orchestra. It was very good. The best part is when they play Star Wars and all of the dorks bust out there light sabers (is that how you spell that?) and wave them around. :)

Ty looks possessed by the water bottle.

Once again we kept Ty out very late. Poor kid! When he finally fell asleep in Brandon's arms he was attracting a lot of attention which Brandon quickly grew tired of. That's what happens when your babe is a cutie I guess! :) When we left the Hollywood Bowl we got a special treat. We went to Dunder Mufflin! That's right...the real deal where the Office is filmed. Patrick figured out where it was. We saw the office park with a sign that says Scranton Office Park...and there cars were in the parking lot too! We are such dorks but it was cool to see. It was too dark for the pictures to turn out. Well it was after 2am by the time we got Ty in bed...and he was not too happy with us.

On Saturday we slept in a little then Debra and Patrick came and got us and we went to the beach. It was another fun day. The water was much colder than in San Diego, but we still braved the cold and got some boogie boarding in.

Late that afternoon we went back to Deb's house and started watching the fab BYU game on their huge projector screen. Brandon was in heaven. Unfortunately we had to leave halfway through the game and had to listen to the rest in the car. It was so good to see Debra (my old roommate), we miss her! We drove to Anaheim and met up with my cousin JD and his wife Katie for dinner. They are so cute and it was great to see them. We had never even met Katie yet. Sad I didn't get any pictures. It was another very late night when we made it back to San Diego.

Sunday we slept in, then drove to Mission Viejo to the baby blessing of cute Remi (our friends Aimee and Rich's baby). They recently moved to Cali and we miss them. Our friends Matt and Jennae were there too so it was fun to be together briefly. I still hadn't had any fresh seafood so we had to head to Newport Beach to go to the Crab Cooker. It was impossible to get a parking spot (I guess for the holiday weekend) but the food was well worth the wait. Crab cakes, shrimp and scallops...yum! Then we strolled along the pier and the boardwalk. Have I mentioned yet that I LOVE the beach? The breezy ocean air, the smell of the salty water, the sunshine, the gorgeous views. How could you not be happy being there? Went over to Balboa Island for a short walk around and for a yummy frozen banana.

I was so sad to have to say bye to the ocean. We drove back on the Pacific Coast Highway which was beautiful. That night at Sam and Ashley's I got to play Guitar Hero for the first time and love it! (although I am terrible at it). On Monday we had to pack up and drive home and get back to work on Tuesday :( but we had a wonderful little trip. AND I got to read the Last Lecture which was so good and I never get time to read books for fun. Again, Ty was so good for being stuck in his car seat for soooooooo many hours and being starved sometimes (although you can't tell). We hope he grows up to love the beach as much as we do! Hopefully next summer he can go boogie boarding too!

Four Months

2009-08-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

Our little baby turned 4 months old on August 3rd. We went to the doctor for his shots and found out he is 18lbs 5oz and 27 inches long! He is about 98th percentile for height and weight. Where did he come from? He is growing too fast! Here he is in a bumbo that we borrowed from a friend. We wanted to see if his thunder thighs would fit in it before we bought one. Well he barely squeezed into it...so we will wait for the next kid before buying one I think.
Here he is during one of his favorite pastimes, taking a bath.His new trick is that he can turn all the way over and now finally pushes himself up on his arms to lift his head. Now if only he could turn back over, because now he is stuck on his belly.He is such a happy boy and we are so glad to have him in our family!

Thumb Sucker

2009-07-28T12:02:00.001-07:00

Well we officially have a little thumb sucker on our hands. Of course Ty has been sucking on his hands and fingers for a while now, but around 3 months he really found his thumb. He definitely favors his left thumb but will use the right on occasion. It is absolutely adorable!

Right now that is...I am sure when he is a couple of years old I will not find it so cute. What do you think...should I try to stop this habit now before it is too late? Although it might already be too late. He has also been turning onto his left side a lot to chase his thumb since the left thumb tastes so much better. Like Zoolander, he is not an ambiturner.

Did you check out the rolls on that last picture? Pretty impressive right? This last picture is of him contemplating over Baby Einstein.
He is growing too fast!

4th of July, etc.

2009-07-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well I went back to work last week and it was super hard. I cried the first day that I had to leave Ty, but at least my mom was watching him that day so I knew he was well cared for. Otherwise I'm not sure I could have done it. I know I missed him more than he missed me...my mom said he was a wonderful baby (as always). So I survived my first week back and then Friday morning we went up to my parent's house in Snowflake to celebrate the 4th of July. It was a busy house with the 3 of us, my parents, Em and Missy's family (3 rambunctious kids). Friday we just hung out at the house. Brandon, Ty and I all fell asleep together on the bed for an afternoon nap...LOVE naps! That night we ate dinner outside on the picnic table (actually we ate all of our meals there), went for a walk in the cool weather, made smores in the backyard and watched a movie.On Saturday we slept in. Brandon and I took a bike ride and when we got back this is what we found... Emily is always being smothered by children it seems. The Carpenter family

That afternoon the girls did a little outing to my fave chabby chic store "The White Chair" and then to the Dollar Store to get me some socks since I left those at home along with my PJs. Oops...I was too worried about what the baby needed that I forgot what I needed. :) Then my favorite part was going to the rodeo that night with fireworks to follow. Being a city girl, I love the rodeo because it is a novelty to me I guess. Ty was quite the trouper and made it through the whole thing.

I'm such a dork...but I think it's funny to wear a cowboy hat because it is so NOT me. Well we had most of Sunday up there as well and enjoyed being outside a lot with cool breezes since we are stuck inside most of the summer at home. The next picture is from Father's Day. Brandon is such a fabulous father (I know, no surprise for those who know him). Ty is a lucky little boy.

He loves sitting up now (with help of course) because he wants to be involved in what is going on. He loves to talk when he is spoken to as well. We just love him to pieces!

Fun Times

2009-06-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the help with the blog Ashlee/eys. :) My blog is finally back to normal...but only after I deleted everything and then readded them. What a pain! But that was the only way I was able to get everything back into the right column. Anyway, one of my projects the other day was to finally start going through some of the pictures on my computer and getting them printed out. This is still a work in progress...I am just ordering pictures from 2007 now, so this gives you an idea of how far behind I am with my scrapbooking. I don't think I will ever catch up! Well I came across some fun pics that I thought I would post from the past. The first is our family trip to Sedona and the Grand Canyon after I graduated from PA school in August 2007.
All of these pictures are from back in my days of dark hair. Hmmm...sometimes I think I might do it again. Then in February of 2008 my brother Dayne married fabulous Myhoa in Florida. Em, Brandon and I spent a day at Disney World.
We decided to take a picture in every country in Epcot...so here is one of them.
Now this next picture is just classic. This is my fam primping for the wedding. It took a little convincing for some of those involved, but I know they loved it deep down.

Well that's it for now. I have a cute baby who wants some attention.

HELP!

2009-06-22T23:34:00.000-07:00

OK, since I am new at blogging I have been playing around tonight trying to make it pretty like everyone elses. Well that has backfired and now I can't get things back the way I want them. I deleted the cute background I picked because it was only using that background on the sides and keeping the current one in the center (if that makes any sense). But the main problem is that I cannot get the columns back how I had them. Anyone know how to get my blog lists, etc. back on the right side instead of below my posts? Sorry...I'm an idiot when it comes to this. How do you all make your blogs so cute?

California

2009-06-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

So I thought I would make my first blog about our recent trip to California. We went to visit Brandon's mom so that she could meet Ty. It is pretty safe to say that she liked him...or maybe that she thought he was wonderful. We were flying stand-by because we used buddy passes that someone gave us. So our journey there took quite a long time. We were supposed to fly to Oakland but couldn't get on the flight. So then we found a flight going to San Francisco. Brandon called and changed our rental car to San Fran, but alas, there ended up being only one spot so we had to wait again. The next flight we found was to San Jose, so Brandon had to change our rental car again! This time we made it on. The crappy thing was that our bags went to Oakland, so once we got to San Jose we still had to drive to Oakland to get them before making our way to Turlock. Despite all of this, Ty was a great little traveler. While in California we spent time with Brandon's mom and two of his brothers - Cam and Ryan.
The boys spent a day scuba diving...but since I am Ty's food source, we stayed home and relaxed. We spent a day with our friends Kirk and Ashley and their new baby Kade. They moved from AZ for law school and we miss them tons. We went to Old Town Sacramento, and then hung out at their house. Ty loved Kade's toys. (Pictures courtesy of Ashley).

We also spent a day at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. I learned that Sequoias are the same thing as Red Woods but they are called Sequoias in the Sierra Nevadas. Who knew? I didn't. We went with Ryan and his cute girlfriend Roxy and her two boys. It was beautiful.

The best part was that Brandon got a taste of what it's like to lug around a baby on your stomach. :) Ty slept the entire time.Well those were some of the highlights of our trip. We were planning on going to Yosemite one day but ran out of time. We just BARELY made it onto our flight coming home thanks to an incompetent woman at the check-in counter. The whole plane had already boarded by the time we ran up to the gate. Brandon ended up changing Ty's diaper right there on the floor in front of all the crew waiting for us to board...classic. But we made it home and had a great time.

New Blogger

2009-06-18T22:14:00.001-07:00

OK, so I finally did it! After years of looking at others blogs, I finally decided to start my own. I never thought I had enough to say that anyone would want to hear. But now that we have a little guy, there may at least be some relatives that will appreciate some updates. I will try not to bore you too much.