First Steps!

This is for Mum & Dad. Brady taking his first few steps the night before his Birthday!

Happy Birthday Brady!

I can't believe it has been a year already! Our little Brady just turned one and it was so fun to celebrate his birthday with Mark's family. Brady was a show off and decided he could walk after we'd sung to him and he'd eaten his birthday cupcake. It was so funny. He'd only ever taken a few steps before that, so to suddenly see him just get up and go..... it was pretty cool! And in front of the G'parents too! I'm so glad they could be there to see him do that. There is no stopping Mr.B now either! He is non-stop and hasn't stopped walking since. He is a little bruised up because he keeps falling and banging his head, but he is definately very persistant and determined because that hasn't slowed him down any. Brady is a sweetheart and we love him and are so glad he's part of our family. Happy Birthday! Getting a good look at him for the first time.
How adorable!

Here's your cake.......

Yum!

Playing with his green car he got from Gran & Grampy.

Happy "Pink" Birthday!

Natalie had her birthday this week and she was so adorable all day! Everything was all about "Pink!" Whenever you would ask her about her birthday she would start by saying it was her "Pink Birthday". She would tell us she wanted pink cupcakes, and pink strawberries and when I asked her what she wanted to eat for dinner she just said Pink! She also wanted a pink bouncy ball. She got a pink dress and wore it all day, and also got some pretty pink shoes with a matching crown, necklace, ring from G'ma. She was really cute when she first woke up. She came in our bedroom and the first thing she said was "I'm bigger!" She had a fun day with a trip to the movies, lunch at McDonald's and a Pajama party with Matt and Katie where they stayed up and got to camp out in the Bonus Room. It was a great birthday and she is so cute. Happy Birthday Natalie! We love you.Beautiful pink birthday girl!
Getting ready to open presents and Matt holding up 3 fingers.

Her pink bouncy ball.

Natalie's pink princess flashlight and pretty pink dress.

Pulling a crazy face!

Her pink cupcakes.

Getting ready to blow out candles.

Make a wish!

All worn out at the end of the day.......

Happy Birthday!

Emily's National History Day Competition

This weekend Emily participated in a Regional National History Day competition for school. She is in the Gift & Talented Program at school and had to do some kind of project based on someone in History and say why they thought that person changed history. Emily chose to do a group performance with 2 other girls from her class. Emily's group chose Beethoven and Emily wrote the script for the performance. They had to highlight 3 aspects of his life and she chose Endurance, Passion, and Independence. Each girl had to portray that trait and Emily was Endurance. The performance had to be about 8 minutes long and all memorized. Emily's group performed on Saturday morning and then on Saturday afternoon they announced the winners. The top 2 from each catagory (different catagories included website designs, documentaries, performance, displays, historical papers) goes on to perform at the State Competition in April. Well, guess what?! Emily's group won!! Out of all the schools in the area that competed they were the best! Hurray for Emily! We are so proud of her. They did a great job and what an accomplishment! If they place in the top 2 at State, she will go on to compete at Nationals in Washington DC. That would be so cool! We wish her, Alisa, and Kayce the very best of luck! Awesome job! She had to dress in a period type costume and this is what we came up with! Her hair was curled in ringlets and I think she looks great!
A picture Alisa, Kayce and Emily before their performance.

Alisa wore pink to represent passion, and Kayce wore blue to represent Independence and Emily green for Endurance. The choice of colours had to be reflected in their submitted written paper.

Tag!

This is from my sweet sister-in-law Cindy!

Rules:

Go to your picture files. Open the 6th folder, and the 6th picture. Post it on your blog and tell the story of the picture. Then tag 6 people.

Here is MY picture!

About 2 years ago we had a big spring storm that came up from out of nowhere. The sky got very dark and the wind started to blow. I was watching out the window and saw our trampoline get lifted a few feet by the wind. I went outside and moved the trampoline up against the fence hoping to help secure it. A few minutes later we were looking out the front window and saw balls rolling down the street. (Our kids like to play with lots balls on the trampoline.) When I ran outside to get one of the balls, I suddenly saw our Trampoline, upside on our mail box! The wind had picked it up and carried it over our 6 foot fence and it landed about 30 feet away in the street! It was quite the sight! Our kids thought it was so funny and pretty amazing. That was one strong wind! Needless to say that our trampoline was a complete loss, and has since been replaced by another one that has been tied down to our fence with a rope! Hopefully no more flying trampolines.

Tag to..... Holly, Candee, Deedra, Leanna, Jackie & Rosie. (Only if you want to!)

In Memory.....

Just this past week I found out some very sad news about a dear friend of mine from home. I have been friends with Kylie since I was about 16 years old. We went to Girl's camp together, Stake Dances, and other fun things where we would just hang out. We have remained good friends even though we lived many miles away. We would email and instant message each other. Kylie was the one who told me while "chatting" about Middleton High School being on fire when she lived halfway around the world!! I hadn't heard from her in awhile and had been trying to get in touch with her again so this past week I sent her husband an email asking him to have Kylie email me. He wrote back to me and shared with me that she had passed away. He said she had been suffering from depression for some time and the pain became too much and she took her own life. I was totally shocked. I am so heartbroken for her and her family. She leaves behind a loving husband and 3 beautiful children. It is so sad to me. She was married in the temple, and had so much. I am just so thankful for the Savior. He knows us, and he is the only one who can know what we are going through. I know he can heal us and make us whole. I am grateful to know she is in a better place where she is free of the pain and suffering she must have felt. She was a dear friend, and will be sadly missed.

An old picture of the two of us, in happier times.

My Little Escape Artist!

Mr. Brady is getting to be very tricky lately! He has figured out that no gate, chair or blockade that I use to lock him in somewhere is too big or tall for him to escape from! He can move just about everything I put in his way lately. I caught him this afternoon standing on the stairs trying to lift the latch so he could open the gate and go upstairs. I think I'm going to be in for it when he starts walking... arggghh! He is just too clever! What a little monkey!
There's no stopping me now!

HA!! Gotcha Mum!

My Cuties

On Saturday morning I caught these two cuties sitting together on the couch watching cartoons. It was so cute to see Matt holding his brother and being so sweet to him. Matt's a great big brother and looks after his younger brother and sister too. Just wanted to share this moment with ya!
I love Natalie's face!