Christmas

Well, Santa was good to us this year. Braxton recieved his "green machine" which he's been talking about for months. His other big present was a drumset. (I think that's going to be a present we are going to regret.) Hailey got her kitchen, along with a vaccum that really works (figured if she's going to play with a vaccum, she might as well be helpful) Braxton slept in till 8am and then we woke everyone up to open gifts. Mikes entire family was here, so we had a houseful, but the kids had a great time.
Until next year.............

Primary Partay!

This past friday night we had our ward Christmas party, well one of them anyway. For some reason, instead of doing a family Christmas party this year, they split it up between the adults and the primary kids. The adults had a dance at the Humphry home (a very wealthy family here, who's house has a bowling alley in it, golf course, 50's diner, 5 stories just to give you an idea of the size of this place. The primary kids had a party at the church, not on the same night. But Santa was there. This is actually the first time we've seen a Santa at any church party since we've moved to Georgia. But Braxton loved it. He was able to tell Santa all about the "green machine" he wanted. Hailey wouldn't even sit on his lap. She just ran up and took a candy cane out of his bag and ran off. Smart girl!

Dressing Hailey

Having a boy for my first child and my only child for almost 5 years, I missed out on one of the perks of having a girl, dressing her. There are so many cute choices out there! Being a girl myself, I was never really into wearing dresses other than to church. Hailey, on the other hand, loves to wear dresses. She also loves to wear dressy shoes. She will bring me or Mike a pair to put on her to wear around the house. I did however love to have my hair done as a child and still like to do different things to it. With Hailey, it's a big struggle to even brush it (unless I have her sit in front of a mirror, so she can watch herself). I'll do her hair and two minutes later, it's either a huge mess or she's pulled everything out that I've put in it.

Graham Cracker Crazy!

We have officially constructed our graham village for the Christmas season. I have tried to carry on the tradition, from my family, of making "Christmas" graham cracker houses. It's not quite the same as getting together with my parents, sisters and brother, with all of their kids to work on our houses, but close enough. We invited our good friends the Maddox's over to join in the fun. Braxton made a wonderful house all by himself and Mike helped Hailey with hers. (which was pretty much Mike doing it and Hailey watching while she ate candy) I spent most of the night making the frosting, but in between batches I was able to put a couple of small houses together, to add to our little village.

Decorating Fun

Well, it's that time of year again. It comes so quickly, doesn't it? Today is actually a dreaded day for me. I used to enjoy putting up the Christmas decorations, but over 10 years, we've collected a lot of decorations. So, it takes a couple of days to put everything in it's place. But we try to have fun. Braxton loves to help and Hailey enjoys the music. She walks around the house singing, "Happy Day!"

Making Cookies

Well it's Election day and I don't know about everywhere else, but here the kids are out of school so the parents can vote. I think that just makes things complicated, but hey, that's just me. We went to the Dr. this morning to get flu shots and found out that Braxton has strep. So what do you do, when it's rainy and you can't go anywhere? You make "strep cookies"!

Halloween

Trick or Treat, everyone! Well, this Halloween was a crazy one for us. I had to go out of town suddenly and didn't get back home till Halloween afternoon. We were invited over to our bishops house for dinner and trick or treating, so we went straight over there, forgetting our camera. Long story short, no pictures of the kids hopped up on candy. So I just put them in their costumes today and took their pictures. (They'll never know) Braxton was a ninja and Hailey was a witch.

Visit From Spokane

My sister and her husband decided to take a little break from their very hectic lives and come out and visit. It was a lot of fun to have them here. We went to "Stone Mountain", where we took the tram to the top of the "mountain" and then hiked down. Which, in the 8 years that we've lived here, we have never done that. We were able to show them a little bit of Atlanta, and I got to take Kerry to do a little bit of shopping! Braxton had his last football game while they were here, so they got to see what Georgia football was all about.

The Basement

As most of you know, Mike has been working hard on our basement. He has a little over half of it done. People are amazed when they see it the detail that he's put into it. Mike has found a hidden talent. If there was something that he didn't know how to do then he'd read about it in a book to learn. As you can see we are still waiting for furniture, but as long as Mike has his big screen up and running, that's all he cares about.













These are pictures of the "home theater".

10 Years of Bliss

Mike and I just celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Knowing this is a momentous year we wanted to plan something BIG for our celebration. Mike wanted an exotic trip and I wanted to put hardwood floors in our dining room and get some nice china. (Ever the romantic, I know) Since we couldn't agree we decided to save our money and just buy a new house! Mike surprised me anyway with an overnight get away to the Barnsley Gardens. It's a spa/golf resort up in north Georgia. So we unloaded our kids to some friends for the night and headed out. It was a lot of fun and most of all it was very relaxing!
Mike and I walking around the gardens. The cottage we stayed in.

End of Summer

Well, it's that time of year again. The leaves are slowly changing, the temperature is dropping and football is in the air. Braxton has had three games so far this season and their team is 0 for 3. We pretty much get SPANKED every game. But, Braxton has a great time, and that's what it's all about, right? His position is offensive lineman, and is very good at it. He's not afraid to tackle and will get anyone that gets in his way.

Hailey on the other hand, is all girl! Since Braxton was our first we've only had "boy" toys for her to play with. A couple of weeks ago we went out and got her some "girly" toys. And she loves every single one of them. She's either pushing her "baby" around in the stroller, having a tea party with Mom or brushing her Strawberry Shortcake doll's hair. She also loves to dress up in her new fairy costume.

Hailey

Hailey is now 19 months old, and she is VERY active. She loves to dance, whenever she hears music and will ocassionally try to sing with the song if she's in the mood. Her favorite song to dance to is "Black horse and the Cherry tree". But it doesn't take much to get her moving.

Hailey recently fell down the stairs and broke her arm. She was cranky for the first day, but has adjusted to her cast pretty well. You'd never know she had one, if it weren't so darn bright. She has learned to use the cast to her advantage and play the sympathy card, when she needs to. The other day she was emptying the dirt out of the potted plant, when I was scolding her she grabbed her arm and said "owie"! The hardest part about the cast has been keeping it dry. She loves the water! Bathtime has been extremely challenging.

Hailey has been our messiest child, so far. Braxton never liked to get dirty and would freak out if he even got sand on his feet, but Hailey doesn't care. There has never been a day when she hasn't gotten her clothes covered in something, whether it be food, dirt, marker, juice or anything that can be messy.

Summertime

Summer is our favorite time of year out here. We look forward to the vacations, boating, pool and just plain old relaxing. Living 10 minutes away from a large lake, we try to take advantage and do as much boating as we possibly can. After a lot of coaxing and bribing Braxton got up on the wakeboard for the first time! He was nervous at first, but now LOVES it!

We've also taken a couple of vacations this summer. We went out to Utah for two weeks! We had a lot of fun spending time with our family and with friends. Braxton really enjoyed being able to play with his cousins and going to the pool, out in Kearns, with the big bucket!

We also took a quick trip up to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We met up with Grandma Cheryl, Grandpa Dave and Uncle Ryan. We stayed in a cabin that had it's own hot tub, and Braxton loved sitting in it with Grandma. We did a little hiking in the Smokey mountains, which was very pretty.

Braxton

Braxton is now 6 years old and all boy! He loves school, baseball, football, playing with his friends and being with his family.

Braxton just started playing his first football season. Now, unless you live in the south, you can't comprehend how serious sports are out here, even at age 6. Games are a major deal and parents can quickly get out of control. Braxton is a "War Eagle" this year. He is one of the bigger players on the team so I think the coach is expecting big things from Braxton.

Braxton has many friends, but most of them live too far to walk, so he's not able to see them very much, other than at church. If you were to ask him who his "bestest friends" are he'd tell you Jake, Zach, Drake (from church) and Jordan and Evan(from school). Braxton just started his first grade school year. Unfortunately for him, none of his friends are in his class this year. But, he has quickly made new friends and already has been scolded for talking too much.

One of Braxton's favorite things to do is just be with the family. He is constantly asking, "What should we do now?". He enjoys laying in Mom and Dad's bed, with them, watching a movie and eating popcorn, going in the front yard and playing catch, going for a walk, playing games, reading, cleaning and helping out around the house. Mike just finished our theater room in the basement, so Braxton loves to go down and watch movies on the "big screen". He also loves it when friends and family come to visit. (So keep comin!)

The Magical Kingdom

This year for spring break we headed down to West Palm Beach and then to Orlando, Florida. We went with Grandma and Grandpa Brallier, Aunt Kerri, Aunt Traci and cousin Dayton.
In West Palm we played in the pool, went to the beach, swam in the ocean and relaxed. After three days of this we headed up to Orlando, where we went to the Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom. Braxton and even Hailey had a lot of fun at the Magic Kingdom. Braxton was able to ride most of the big rollercoasters this year. Disney has come up with the wonderful idea of a "fast pass", which allows you to make an "appointment" to ride the ride later in the day. This way you don't spend most of your day in lines. (Where was this when I was a kid?)
At the Animal Kingdom we went on a safari through the African Bush, watched an interactive movie, and rode a couple of rides. It was very hot and everyone was exhausted from our day at the Magic Kingdom. So, we headed bakc to the condo and sat in the hot tub to relax. After all of that activity, by the time we made it back to Georgia we all felt we needed a vacation from our vacation!

Best Buddies

There are 5 years between Braxton and Hailey. When I was pregnant I was worried that Braxton might resent Hailey because he'd been an only child for so long. That clearly wasnt' the case. From day one Braxton has been in love with his little sister. He can't get enough of her. If she naps too long, Braxton is constantly asking if he can wake her up. He is a great big brother. He is always being complemented on what a great big brother he is, even by strangers. Hailey in turn loves her big brother. No one can make her laugh like Braxton can. She loves to be entertained, and entertain. They'll be up in his room and all I'll hear is laughing from both of them.

Easter

Well, Easter came and went! Braxton had forgotten all about the Easter Bunny this year, which we should have used to our advantage, but we reminded him, Saturday night, that the "big bad bunny" does come and leaves a basket for the good boys and girls. Sunday morning he woke up and saw the "treasures" left on the fireplace. He came in our room and announced that the bunny had been here and had in fact left him a basket full of "stuff"! Hailey on the other had could have cared less. She loved carrying the plastic eggs around and eating the candy. Here it is almost two weeks past Easter and we are still finding the eggs around the house that Hailey has hidden. (Mostly under our feet.) Just whent I think we've thrown them all away, another one will appear in our bed??
We spent the morning getting ready for church and were all excited to wear our new Easter clothes. After a rushed morning we all made it to church, but not for long. We took the sacrament, but I was in a lot of pain, with the kidney stones, so we ended up going home. That afternoon, when the pain medicine had kicked in, we layed in bed and watched the Ten Commandments. During this Mike asked Braxton what he thought Easter was all about. He sat there and thought for a minute. Having talked to him myself about this, earlier in the week, I thought for sure he'd say "Jesus", so I'm waiting for that proud moment we all do when we want our children to say some profound, spiritual comment. Braxton's eyes lit up and he says CANDY!