Mostly Pictures

Well, Dawn, here ya go. Since you are about the only person to look at this. You requested them, so here they are.

How about this face? Precious, huh?

He thinks he is such a big boy since he can climb up the stairs. When he gets to the top, he tries to turn around and come back down. That doesn't work so well.
Here is Victoria with her Daddy. I think she got his tan, what do you think?
Normally, Jonathan does the grilling, but he was going to be late one day and asked if i could start the steaks. Brayden figured that since he was the other man in the house, he could help. As long as there is a man grilling, it doesn't matter how old he is, right? I have to say, that those steaks were extremely delicious!

Gatlinburg

A couple of weeks ago, we took a little trip to Gatlinburg. We wanted to do something before Victoria went back to school. And we have lived here for 11 years and have never been, so why not? Anyway, we stayed 3 nights in a cabin. It was nice to be away from people. We did walk the main strip a couple of days, but just for a little while. There were so many people, it felt like we were in Hong Kong again. Our first night there, a mother bear and her four cubs came to our front porch looking for food. All they found was Brayden's dirty diaper that I put in the outside trash can. They poked around a bit and then when on to the next cabin.

We brought food from home to cook for dinner and just went out for lunch. One day we ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp. It was really good, but expensive.

I wish i had gotten a picture of the bears because it was really cool, but oh well. i'll have to post later about Victoria's 1st lost tooth and Brayden's 1st steps!

Birthday and Anniversary

Well, this month Brayden turned a year old and we had our 11th anniversay. We didn't really have a birthday party for Brayden, but the family took a little trip to Atlanta for a couple of days to get away. He likes to talk a lot, jibberish, but when he gets going, it's not easy to stop him. He will stand alone for a while, but not walking yet. This is him standing on top of our couch trying to get outside.

For our anniversary, we had a babysitter lined up and we were gonna go out to eat and maybe see a movie. Well, I was getting ready, Victoria was watching Brayden, and i get a voicemail from my babysitter saying she couldn't do it. As you can imagine, i was extremely mad. i decided since i was pretty much ready for a night out on the town, i was still gonna have a night out on the town. so, us and the kids went to Olive Garden and came home and watched a movie. not exactly what we had in mind, but what can you do.

My Little Girl

Last week was Victoria's 6th birthday. I can't believe I have a child that is 6 years old. Anyway, she wanted to go to this park that has a zipcord, therefore known, to us, as the zipcord park. She invited a couple of friends to come and then they were going to have a sleepover. Is 6 years old too young for a sleepover? I don't know. Well, one of them couldn't come, so here is her one and only birthday guest. That's pretty sad isn't it. Well, it didn't bother her. I made cupcakes and put a letter of her name on each one and some other designs on the other ones. Emily's mom said it was such a creative idea. I said, "No, it was a cheap idea." Anyway, they ran all their energy off and we came home and grilled hot dogs and they went to Victoria's room to play. They were asleep by 8:30. Not like any sleepovers I remember, but it was fine with me. Well, here is a picture of the 2 men in my life. Aren't they cute? Brayden liked the park and he loves being with his daddy.

Oh, something funny that Victoria said to her friend Emily. Emily was saying something to Brayden in Spanish and Victoria told her that he didn't know Spanish. Emily asked, "He doesn't watch Dora?" Victoria said, "No, and I don't watch it anymore either."

Emily - Why not?

Victoria - Because she always has to ask for help. If you have to ask for help, you are not an explorer.

I thought that was pretty funny. What an observation.

Brayden

Well, the latest addition to our family is almost 10 months old. He has 2 teeth and started crawling about a month ago. If I want to do anything in the kitchen, I'll put him in the living room with about a million toys. By the time I get to the kitchen, about 3 steps, he is in the dining room playing with the canned cat food that is on the floor. I put him back and he goes to the kitchen to help me "clean" the floor. He will find every spec of anything that is there. He has started pulling up and sometimes will stand on his own for a few seconds.

But he eventually falls. I try to make sure he is on the carpet. Poor thing. Anyway, he is a sweet boy and he just started waving goodbye and clapping. He will not kiss his daddy and it's pretty funny. All in all, he is a good baby and LOVES his mommy. I guess that's a good enough Mother's Day present.

Easter egg hunt

Well, the Easter egg hunt wasn't really exciting, but i said i would write about it, so here. i am in the Primary presidency, and we were in charge of the egg hunt like every year. i went early to help hide the eggs and jonathan brought the kids when it started. there were probably about 25-30 kids, which is a lot for us. half of them were visitors or people from other wards. we had about 300 eggs (plastic ones of course). when victoria found 13 i told her to stop so that everyone else had a chance. unfortunately, everyone wasn't that considerate. anyway, Sunday afternoon we went to Sis. Stoner's daughters house. her daughter is Victoria's good friend. we had lunch and another egg hunt. Victoria had a good time. it's pretty boring around our house, so when she gets to get out, it's pretty exciting for her.

Louisiana trip

ok, so obviously i don't know how to put pictures where i want them to be, but here they are anyway. Me and the kids took a trip to Louisiana to visit my aunt and surprise my mom last week. My mom was visiting my aunt and she had no idea i was coming. she had to do a double take to make sure it was us. it was a fun trip. Jonathan was afraid the drive would be too much for me to handle with Brayden, but he did great. it really didn't seem like a 9hr drive. i like to take road trips though. Victoria had a wonderful time with Tricia's husband Bob. he took her 4wheeler riding a couple of times and she watched him clean and cut the fish he caught. she told Tricia that the food there was good. i guess she means the food at our house isn't. if i ever find the adapter for our digital camera, i can put some pictures on here. this weekend is Easter, so i guess i will write about the Easter Egg Hunt at church tomorrow. Until then.