Compilation

Well, I figured I should write something. Like I said when I started this blog, I usually don't have much to say. Just ask my husband :) Well, if you have nothing to say, you shouldn't just spout out nonsense, right? When I say something, it's for a reason. Anyway, enough about that.

The weather has been so nice for February, it's like when I was in Louisiana for Christmas! Loved it! Upper 60's in Georgia in February isn't bad either. But December and January we had lots of snow, well, lots for around here. Victoria got a whole snow "week" off much to her pleasure and my displeasure :). So they had to go to school on President's Day and another day next month that they were supposed to be off.

So, after a few months of not being able to go to the gym a whole lot, I have finally started to get back to it. It's 15 miles from my house, so I can't go every day. If I had an unlimited supply of money, I would, but I don't. I try to go on Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's. Those are the days that have classes I can go to. I drop Victoria off at school and go to the gym for the 8:30 class. Monday is cardio intervals, Wednesday is spin, Friday is kickboxing, my favorite. I used to do a Jane Fonda kickboxing VHS tape LOL! Let's just say, this is a little more strenuous. Actually, a girl from church teaches it, she teaches all the classes I go to. She has way too much energy! But I think I do pretty good for a 36 1/2 year old :)

When I'm not at the gym or taking Brayden to the potty 20 times a day, I am doing school work. This is my last semester before I student teach in September. Then I am done. If only I can find a job, I'll be a happy camper. Actually, I don't really like camping. I need to think of another metaphor. Well, I guess I should add some pictures. Here are the most recent.

Brayden trying to make a snow angel.

Victoria and Brayden in our backyard with 7 inches of snow.

Victoria was Mulan in her school's wax museum.

This was on a trip to Sportsman's Warehouse. Brayden had to get in every single tent that was set up. That would be about 12 of them. They all decided to get in this little one. Look at my cute family.

December 2010

Well, December started with Jonathan and Victoria taking a small trip around the block to Hong Kong. Jonathan was worried about one parent taking a child out of the country, but it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. To say that she LOVED it, is an understatement. She got too meet Jonathan's family and see so many things. Maybe one of these days, I'll get to go back as well. She got to see the Hong Kong Temple which was dedicated while I was a missionary. It's awesome, of course. It is not only the temple, but also has the mission home in it an a ward meets there as well.

This is Jonathan's Uncle Sam that he thinks very highly of. Victoria got to meet so many people, she can't keep them straight. She now has an advantage over me, because I haven't met ANY of these people!

It did actually get cold in Hong Kong while they were there. Luckily Jonathan's sister and mother bought Victoria enough clothes and jackets to clothe her whole class at school. Speaking of school, she goes back tomorrow and can't wait to tell everyone of all her adventures.

This is Jonathan's sister, Victoria's Auntie Kate. They stayed at her house while they were there and Kate and her husband took them so many places. Kate's family is coming to visit us this summer and we plan to show them a good time. Hopefully, we will be able to go back to the beach! :) And a few other things as well. They will be staying about a month.

Here is Kate's son and Victoria's BFF while she was there, Kisson. I'm glad she had someone close to her age to hang out with.

Ok, time for my trip. Brayden and I went to Louisiana for Christmas! I had such a great time! I hope I get to go back before too long. Of course, being the retarded person that I am, I only took pictures of Brayden and not of the many wonderful friends that I got to see. Pictures of Brayden are good of course, but I haven't seen these people since high school. That would be almost 19 years. That's correct people, I'm old. Anyway, my next trip, I will definitely remember to document my happiness with pictures.

I started with a visit to my dad's wife, Jo. It was a good visit. She looks a lot older and her health isn't very good. She has an anurism behind her eye and is having surgery to have it removed later this month. She loved seeing Brayden and wished that my dad could have met him. Me too.

We got to stay a week and the weather was WONDERFUL. Complete with a day of 80 degree weather. Brayden loved playing outside in the dirt. One thing I love about Louisiana at Christmas is being able to wear short sleeve shirts!

At my Aunt's house, there are various stuffed wildlife around. Brayden loved it. He thought it was real, of course, but he loved petting the cat and bird. There was a deer head on the wall too, and he kept saying that he wanted to "touch the reindeer's nose". So I had to lift him up to touch it.

Some of his favorite Christmas presents were all his tractors.

Well, that's about it. Like I said, I wish I had pictures of my friends that I visited, but it will have to wait until next time.

Catching Up

It's been so long since I wrote last, that I figured I needed to do something about it. There will be no pictures since I'm really bad at taking pictures and don't have any recent ones that aren't already on Facebook. I've actually been pretty busy lately. I finished 33 credits this semester and am working on some in-class tasks right now. I'm working with Victoria's teacher and she is really nice and easy to work with. My next semester starts in December and it will be the last one before I start student teaching next September. The end is in sight.

Something that I have been looking forward to for months is going to Louisiana for Christmas. I am SOOOO excited! I haven't been for the past 2 Christmases and am looking forward to visiting friends that I have found on Facebook that I haven't seen since high school. That would be a really LONG time ago! Brayden and I will be the only ones making the trip, though. Jonathan and Victoria will be going to Hong Kong from Dec. 9th-21st. I will be leaving the 18th. They are both so excited. I have been giving Victoria Chinese lessons and she's doing really well. Jonathan's good friend is getting married and that is why he is going. His sister and mom are buying Victoria's plane ticket so they can see her. So Brayden and I will be hanging out for a while by ourselves. I can't say that I'm too sad about that. Everyone needs to get away every once in a while, right?

My new love...

The loud music, the sweat, the pain...Ahhh, the gym. Yep, I love the gym. When I was working, I used that as an excuse not to lose weight. I had to sit at a computer for 8 hours a day. I did go through spurts of walking and eating better, but I like carbs too much. French fries, chips, bread, not to mention chocolate and all that good stuff. Well, when I quit working, I had time to walk and I really wanted to join a gym, but didn't want to spend the money. Jonathan, being the good husband that he is, encouraged me to do it. And also, since I am now in school, I get a student discount, even better! Several of the girls at church go to my gym and a couple even teach classes there. I love the kickboxing class and they just started another one, Butts and Guts. I need that one for sure. I have to say I am so sore from that class that was two days ago. I told Jonathan next year my goal is to get in a bikini! That should be interesting.

Well, here is a "fat picture". This was probably 5 years ago, back when Jonathan was thinner and I was fatter. Now it's the other way around :) He is doing better though. He has started walking on his lunch break.

Can I say that I look so retarded in that picture. You can't even really tell that I'm "fat". Oh well,

here is a better, much more recent picture. It's from far away, but with a lot less clothes on :).

I hope we get to go back to the beach next year. That was SO FUN!

Summer Fun

Well, I suppose I should write about our trips this summer before my memory fails me. First, for Victoria's birthday, we went to Atlanta and stayed a couple of nights. (We got a REALLY good deal on a 4 star hotel!) Anyway, we went to the Coke museum which was pretty cool. We went to the mall and of course ate lots of Chinese food.

At the Coke museum, Brayden loved that bear! Victoria refused to take a picture with him. Jonathan tried to bribe her saying that he would pay her $5 if she would stand by the bear with Brayden. I was like $5! Are you crazy? I don't think he ever gave it to her though :).

This is all they did in the hotel room. Watch cartoons. Too bad the room didn't have 2 tv's! Well, I guess that's not ALL they did. Brayden ran around the room most of the time, terrorizing everything.

Our next little trip was for 5 days in Sandestin, Fl. It was so awesome. We made it before the oil got there. It was so nice. We stayed at a Hilton resort that had a private beach and there weren't that many people there. A lot of people cancelled their reservations when they heard about the oil spill. So that meant there were also more rooms to choose from. We got a room with a partial ocean view and it had bunk beds for the kids and 2 double beds. Victoria loved sleeping on the top bunk and they also had a separate tv this time! Brayden loved looking out at the pool and couldn't get enough "outside time".

To say he loved the ocean and the beach is an understatement. He had no fear of the water and just ran out into it. Scary for us, but not for him. Jonathan loved swimming in the ocean and I loved laying on the beach.

We went a few miles down the road to an Air Force museum. Not too much fun for me, but Brayden and Jonathan liked it. Brayden LOVES airplanes and helicopters.

Well, that was our trip. We hope to be able to go back sooner than later.

Brayden's Turn

Well, our little boy came in the middle of two miscarriages, so we know he is supposed to be in our family. He is such a sweetie, most of the time. It's sad I don't have any pictures of when I was pregnant with him. Actually, I have some snapshots from a shower I was given, but not on the computer. My pregnancy with him was pretty uneventful just like his sister's. I was still working at Jacobs Wholesale Paper. I had the same sickness from week 7 to 14. By the way, I was also sick that same time frame during my pregnancies that ended in miscarriages. Four times the sickness for two babies. Oh well. Not long ago, Jonathan asked me didn't I want another baby. I knew he was kidding, but I said NO WAY. He said, "But I thought you wanted four kids." I said, "Actually, I do have four kids." Anyway, back to Brayden. I was induced with him too, but a few days before my due date instead of a week after, like Victoria. It was a lot easier this time. I knew how long I could last before the epidural. I wasn't checked many times, but I remember the last time, they were like, "Oh my gosh, the head is right there. Let me go get Leigh." I don't even think they had time to get everything ready for when he was born. When my midwife got in there, I pushed maybe 3 times and there he was. I was like, "That's what I'm talking about!" He was smaller than Victoria. He weighed 6lb10oz, I think. I know, that's bad. Anyway, I couldn't have asked for a better delivery. Actually, when he came out he DID give me a little scare. He didn't cry. I was like, "Is he ok? What's wrong with him?" They kept saying that he was fine. Eventually, he cried and I felt a little better.

Here he is just a few hours old. What a sweet sleeping boy!

He cracks us up. He always has something in his mouth. He has to free up his hands for more important things.

This is when he USED to sleep during church. All you mothers know what I'm talking about. Don't we wish our kids would sleep during church a little longer than they actually do? He wasn't like most babies and sleep ALL the way through church, but he usually slept through sacrament meeting.

Here he is when we visited my aunt and cousins in Louisiana. My mom bought that walker at Wal-Mart for him to use and then took it back when we left. :)

I just like this picture.

Anyway, that's our baby. He will be 2 on July 8th. He loves to be outside and LOVES to play with his sister, "YaYa". That's what he calls Victoria.

We're happy to have him!

Excited

Well, there won't be any pictures here, but we have a couple of exciting things coming up. Exciting for me, at least. Other than the fact that I finished my first semester of my online classes pretty early. My next semester doesn't start until June 1. So until then, we are going to be taking a couple of trips. Next weekend, for Victoria's birthday, we are going to spend a couple of days in Atlanta and probably will go to the aquarium. We went there when Brayden was 3 weeks old. At first it was fine, then he got hungry. Not to mention, ALL the people that were there! We should be more prepared this time and we will get there RIGHT when it opens!

Then a couple weeks later, we will be going to the BEACH!!! That's right, Florida. We have been to Florida once since we've been married. That was probably the second year we were married and only for about a day and a half. I'm excited to take the kids on a real vacation. We've never really been on one. I think I'm more excited than Victoria to go to the beach. When asked if she wanted to go to the beach or Gatlinburg, she said Gatlinburg! I said, "Are you crazy?" She just doesn't know how wonderful the beach is. I haven't really been since my senior year of high school. I hope I am not disappointed. Anyway, hopefully we will have pictures and lots of fun things to tell about when we get back.