Busy Nine-Month-Old Boy

Braden is nine months old today and crawling on his hands and knees, pulling himself up on anything around, standing by himself for about half a second, teething (two more came in on top), and my personal favorite - holding his own bottle. My sister Jodi actually taught him how to do this, and I love her for it. Now when I get up in the middle of the night to make him a bottle, I hand it to him in his crib and go right back to bed. I would prefer that he just start sleeping through the night, but I'll take this, for now.

Braden is definitely the busiest of all of my kids. He's all over the place! He goes nuts when I have to change his diaper. I have to hold him down so he won't roll away and move on to something else.

He loves William and Rebecca. He is really good in the car unless his brother and sister are not in the backseat with him. I had to take him to get shots without his siblings one day, and he cried the whole way there. I thought he was just having a bad day until my sister told me he did the same thing to her when she had just him in her car.

He's a sweet boy, even though he has turned into a bit of a screamer. Lately he wants what he wants the instant he wants it, or he starts screaming.

We've had lots of new babies born in our ward over the past couple of months, and they all make my baby seem so big. It's sad that they have to grow up so quickly. I love it when they are little and helpless, and only mama can give them what they need. But I do love seeing Braden's little personality start to emerge. And he still let's me cuddle him sometimes, which gives me my newborn baby fix.

Utah

I got to go see the New Moon movie with the Sutton sisters at midnight since Amy and Allison's sister Jennie bought out a whole theater and sold the tickets to whoever wanted to go. I've seen a few midnight movies, and this was the best way to see one - we didn't have to wait in line, and our theater didn't have a bunch of giggly, screaming little girls in it. Thanks, Allison, for advertising your extra tickets!

But I couldn't celebrate a Twilight event without my beautiful friend Ashley Bailey:

So on Friday, November 20th we drove up to Tremonton so I could see the movie with her on Saturday.

Before the movie we took a walk with the kids around the neighborhood. Then we decided to get pizza and let the kids bowl:

This was the first time my kids had been bowling, and they loved it.

We went home and rested for a bit before Ashley and I drove down to Ogden to see the movie. She chose the Ogden theater because it has assigned seating, which meant we didn't have to stand in line. Such a good idea! Las Vegas needs a theater like this.

It was so nice to see the Bailey's again. I wish they didn't move so far away. Thanks for the fun trip, Ashley. I'll see you next summer!

Birthday Trip

Rebecca turned five on November 22, so after our trip to Tremonton, Kevin and I packed up again, left the boys at home, and took Rebecca to Disneyland to celebrate her birthday.

I don't ever remember seeing Disneyland decorated for Christmas when I was younger. We finally got to see it this year, and I loved the decorations, especially at Small World.

We ate dinner at Ariel's Grotto where Rebecca got to meet all of her favorite princesses.

I'm pretty sure they have two or more people dress up as the same character. For instance we've seen two different Snow Whites. But the Jasmine Rebecca got to see at dinner was the same Jasmine she met back in June:

I think this girl is so perfect as Jasmine, and I love her cute picture poses.

It was nice to spend some time with just Rebecca since her younger, more high-maintenance brothers get most of the attention when they're around.

I love you, Baby Girl. I hope you had a fun birthday at Disneyland!

Utah Again

After Disneyland, we came home, did a lot of laundry, and packed up again to spend Thanksgiving in New Harmony, Utah. After a week of lots of driving, we took it easy for the first couple of days of this trip. We planned on doing early morning Black Friday in St. George again this year, but when the alarm went off, I told Kevin I didn't want to get up, and I'm pretty sure he was okay with that.

We did get up a little later that day to go snowboarding in Brian Head. It had been six years since the last time I was on a snowboard, so I had a few wrecks during this trip. I came home with two bruised knees, sore palms, and a shiner on my face. (I won't be posting any pictures of those injuries.) But I am grateful to have a hobby again, and I'm grateful to have babysitters an hour away from Brian Head so that I can really enjoy that hobby.

I didn't take any pictures on this trip because I was sitting on the couch most of the time, but we did get a video of Braden's favorite thing to do on this visit:

This kid loves attention from his cousins.

What a great week of trips!

No More He-Man

We love the new haircut, Bryan!

A Welcome Site

Especially after seeing a lot of this:

Ten Year Reunion, Round 2

Kevin had his 10 year high school reunion for Banana, I mean Bonanza High School on October 24. This thing was planned so quickly that three weeks before the 24th at my reunion we were talking about how Kevin probably wouldn't even have a reunion. And I hope Stephanie doesn't read my blog because I would have to say that this reunion was better than Chaparral's.

Kevin's reunion was not only planned in less than three weeks - it was cheaper than my reunion, it was held at the Turnberry Towers Stirling Room which was gorgeous, it offered an awesome three course dinner that was served to us, and the organizers got tons of free stuff donated for raffles and table games which were a lot of fun. I think the drinks were more expensive at Kevin's reunion, but that didn't bother me because I don't drink. I actually think even this made his reunion better because people didn't seem as drunk at his reunion as they did at mine.

I forgot my camera, so I stole some pictures from Carrie's blog (thanks, Carrie).

Kevin still sees most of his friends from high school quite a bit. They are a fun group of guys.

The girl in the black dress planned this event, and she did an amazing job.

Amy, Carrie, and I were the only wives that came. Dave's wife just had a baby the week before, so she had an excuse for not coming, but I really would have liked to have seen the other wives.

We had a great night, and I'm glad that someone finally stepped up and planned this.

Halloween Week

I love Halloween. I think it is starting to take Thanksgiving's place as my favorite holiday.

Our Halloween week started on Monday with Rebecca's Dance or Treat party with Mrs. Stephanie.

The girls got to dress up in their costumes for dance class, and they had to dance to get their treats from Mrs. Stephanie. Rebecca loved this last year, and she was so excited to do it again this year.

Then Friday was our Trunk or Treat. I didn't get any pictures from it, but it was a great party. Kevin and I dressed up, but no one could tell. We were trying to be these two:

I wore a headband and earphones, but people just thought I was being anti-social. Kevin only spiked his hair for his costume. I guess that's what we get for being lazy dresser-uppers. I kept thinking all week, "I should go buy a long brown wig for my costume." I never did, and hence no one was aware we were even in costume. Maybe we'll try harder next year.

To celebrate Fall, Rebecca's preschool class went on a field trip to the Gilcrease Orchard in North Las Vegas. She got to pick out a pumpkin to take home from the trip. On Halloween morning, Kevin helped her carve it for our Halloween party that night.

We had this Black Cat pumpkin stencil, and Kevin let her do most of the hole-poking so that he could carve it.

We took her pumpkin to my brother Travis's annual Halloween party. The cousins always have cute costumes for this fun event:

As always, my brother put hay bales on his trailer for trick or treating:

The kids love this because they can climb on whenever they get tired of walking, and the adults love this because they don't have to walk at all. We just send the kids up to the doors and watch from the trailer.

And now we have plenty of candy to eat for a while. What a great holiday!

Seven Months Old

Braden is seven months old, and he has grown up so much in the past couple of months that I really shouldn't have skipped his six month post.

• He has two new teeth on the bottom that both came in at the same time. I've never seen that before, but I'm not complaining. Two new teeth in half the teething time works for me.
  
  
• He likes to do this fake laugh whenever he gets excited:

He especially likes to fake laugh at his brother and sister.

• He is by far the earliest of my kids to attempt any kind of crawl.
  
  

The other two weren't mobile like this until about ten months. He'll pull himself from my bedroom to the playroom, so I already have to keep an eye on him around the top of the stairs.

• He's finally eating solids. He eats one pack of fruit or vegetables a day. We tried rice cereal at four months, and he kept throwing it up, so we gave up on solids for a little bit. I tried straight bananas with him at six months, and he didn't throw them up, so we just don't give him cereal.
  
  
• He's almost completely a bottle baby now. I'll probably only nurse him two or three more times until I totally run out of milk.
  
  
• He's sleeping in his room that he shares with William. About a week ago, I put them both in the room for a nap at the same time, and they both went to sleep, so now they nap together and go to bed together.
  
  

I can't believe my baby is already seven months old. He is still a dream baby, and I'm so happy that he's here.

Ten Years Ago...

...I graduated from high school. This past weekend was my high school reunion, and even though there were a few people I wanted to see who weren't there, I still had a blast.

Here we are - Chaparral High School class of '99 (those of us who showed up anyway). I was cool enough to hold the the sign for the picture. I feel like everyone got better looking in ten years. As people were walking in, I kept thinking, "Wow, he/she looks great!"

After I got there I realized my camera was dead, so I stole these pictures from Julie's blog (thanks, Julie). I was a little horrified to see that they decided to put our senior picture on each of our name tags, but at least the picture was small. And I was disappointed that Brandon Flowers the lead singer of The Killers didn't show up. He graduated with us, but to be honest, I don't remember him in high school. It was after someone told me he went to Chaparral that I went and found a picture of him in my senior yearbook.

Our graduating class really was a lot of fun. I was reminded of that at the reunion. It was so great to see the people who came, and I hope it's not ten years before I see them again.

Announcing Mr. and Mrs. Shane Black

Now I'm the only Emily Bowman that I know. Congratulations, Shane and Emily!

Private Lessons

Almost every day this summer Rebecca has told me that she's ready to go back to ballet. After having the entire summer off, she finally started back yesterday with Mrs. Stephanie. So far Rebecca is the only student signed up for her class time, so yesterday she got her own private lesson.

She's loving preschool. She was lucky enough to meet her teacher Mrs. Hone before school started. And I had no attachment problems when I had to leave her on her first day. I think meeting her teacher beforehand helped a lot.

And I am loving the uniform. I think the elementary school she is zoned for requires the students to wear uniforms, and I'm kind of excited about it.

Just looking at these recent pictures of Rebecca, she looks so much older to me. I can't believe how fast she is growing up! I wish I could make it stop.

Visitors from far, far away

Two weeks ago, my friend Rachel called to let me know that she was in town from Colorado. She also let me know that our good friend Jake was in town from GERMANY!

We tried to meet up at Macayo's, but they had sent most of their help home for the night, so we walked next door to Metro Pizza. Here we are, the Bishops' kids from the Mtn. View/Mtn. Vista Ward (from left): Ryan (his dad is the current Bishop), his wife Katie, Rachel (her dad was Bishop after my dad), Jake (his dad was Bishop after Rachel's dad), Julie (her dad was Bishop after Jake's dad), me, Kevin, and Braden (not pictured).

Jake is living in Germany with his wife and son studying for his PhD. I've really enjoyed spying on his family through his wife Jasmine's blog for the past couple of years, but I have to say that it was nice to see him in person and find out firsthand how things are living in another country.

A week later we got a visit from Jessica all the way from her med school studies in Atlanta. It's too bad the timing wasn't a little better - I know Jake and Jessica would have loved to have seen each other.

Here is where the three of us got started - freshman cheer.

Here we are four years later at graduation with Jeff and Chris.

And here we are ten years after graduation with Julie's sister Jessie and my Rebecca.

I've had so much fun getting caught up with Jessica this week. She's been great to do kid-friendly stuff with me so that my kids are entertained while we talk. She is in her fourth year of medical school at Emory University in Atlanta. She hopes to become an anesthesiologist. She loves Atlanta, so I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up settling there, although I would love her to live closer to us so that my kids can stay close to their Auntie Jessica.

Good luck with residency, Jess. I hope you find a fun place to do it in. I can't wait for our fun trip together!

Five Months Old

Braden is five months old and full of personality. He loves his brother and sister and is always trying to talk to them. He likes to try to sit up, and he rolls all over the floor. I'll put him on one side of the room and leave for a minute, and when I get back he is on the opposite side of the room facing a different way.

He is taking a bottle once a day since his mama started working this week. I started a teaching job yesterday at American Heritage Academy which is a small LDS based private school on the other side of town. I'm teaching Algebra to eighth graders, high school kids, and one advanced seventh grader. The job has been pretty ideal for me so far since I have three kids under the age of five - I teach two classes on Tuesday through Friday, and I'm finished and ready to leave by 9:35 am every day. My kids stay with my sister Jodi in the morning, and they seem to barely notice that I've been gone when I pick them up. Rebecca will start preschool at American Heritage in two weeks, and her tuition will be covered by my salary. On top of that, I will make a little bit of extra money. This is not a life change I was looking for, but I think it will be good for me. Sometimes I feel like my life needs a little bit of a shake up.

So that's where we are right now. We'll see where this new adventure takes us.

Bring It On

What's better than a princess dress?

A cheerleading skirt. At least he's wearing it with a manly baseball shirt. My poor son.

Finally

The last time we took family pictures...

Rebecca was six months old. As I was scanning this picture for this post, I noticed the copyright on the back of the picture said 2005. So sad. In my defense, we planned on getting pictures done when William was a baby, but then I found out I was pregnant. So we decided to wait until the baby was born. I love this old family picture, but we now have two more kids, so we were way overdue for an update.

We called our good friend Amy Adams to do our pictures. She did an amazing job. Here are some of my favorites:

I have so many more favorites, but I don't want to overload you on pictures. If you're interested in seeing more of Amy's work, she has a photography blog. There's even a post about our little family if you scroll down. Thanks, Amy. I am so happy with these new family pictures.

Have I let him go too far?

William started off wearing these. Today I caught him wearing this:


Maybe I should ask myself, "Have I let her go too far?" since I'm pretty sure Rebecca helped him put this on.

Visitors

My roommate Meighan came down from North Salt Lake two weekends ago with her husband Chris and their two gorgeous daughters Alina and Makayla. Sorry I'm a sweaty mess in this picture. We met up at Town Square, and it was so HOT. But the kids got to cool off at the splash pad.

Meighan and Claire were my older, more mature roommates during my second and third years of college. They helped me grow up A LOT during that time. Meighan taught me to appreciate some of the finer things in life like stage productions and ABBA. She also helped me get through the really tough final semester I had at BYU.

It's been about five or six years since I've seen Meighan - way too long, so I was so happy that she called me while they were here. She dated Chris while we were roommates, and we all took a fun trip to Disneyland with Claire and some friends of Chris and Meighan, so it was great to see Chris too. I'm happy they are doing well, and it was so nice to hang out with them again.

What I'm Loving Right Now

1. Hearing classic Michael Jackson all over the place

I was walking out of Target last week, and this guy was blasting a Michael Jackson song in his car so loudly that I could hear the song even with his car windows rolled up. Then on my way home, I heard four Michael Jackson songs in a row on the radio. I think the station was doing a tribute to him from noon to 1:00 pm. Today I heard a Michael Jackson song being played at the grocery store. I hope one good thing that comes from his death is that we'll start hearing his songs more often.

2. Mormons on my favorite reality TV shows

There's Chelsie Hightower - my favorite professional on Dancing with the Stars. She was also on So You Think You Can Dance last season. When I read she was from Orem, Utah, I knew she had to be Mormon, and I found a clip of her on YouTube that confirmed that.

Has anyone been watching this show that comes on after The Bachelorette?

I have been loving this show because of this couple:

Here's their bio from abc.com:

Sarin & Jed Hinkins: Virgins when they got married, this couple's honeymoon was the very first time they were together. Their honeymoon hotel turned out to be a clothing optional resort - which was incredibly awkward for them. Hometown: Cedar City, Utah.

So Mormon.

Then there's Randi from So You Think You Can Dance this season:

When I saw her cute A-line haircut, and she mentioned on the show that she was married, I thought, "This girl has to be Mormon." Sure enough she lives in Springville, Utah, and she attends Utah Valley University.

3. This sweet boy

Braden turned four months old last week. Right now he loves his feet and putting his toes in his mouth. He sticks his tongue out a lot, and he rolls from his back to his stomach. He likes tummy time a little bit more since he puts himself there now, but he still gets fussy after a few minutes of it and wants to be rolled back onto his back. We are all loving this boy, especially Rebecca and William. He is such a joy. I couldn't ask for a better baby for my #3.

Slacker

So I know Father's Day was a week ago, but I wanted to post what Rebecca did for Kevin in her primary class last Sunday.

This little questionnaire was on the back of his "World's Best Dad" certificate. She did this with her teacher Sister Kilber. I didn't help at all. There is a cute picture Rebecca drew of herself and her dad, and it says that Kevin is 26 (He's 28 - pretty close), he is 6'1'' tall (6'0"), his job is "writing with pens and paper," his favorite food is cereal, his favorite movie is Stars Wars (that's right), and he and Rebecca like to play basketball. I laughed at the last one because I know they've never played basketball together. Then I realized that we put William's little plastic basketball hoop upstairs in their playroom, and Kevin goes up there and plays basketball with the kids. She actually does play basketball with her dad, and apparently she likes it.

This is the cutest thing I've ever seen Rebecca bring home from church. I love seeing what she thinks about her dad. I hope Kevin had a good Father's Day. I know something like this would really make my day.