Happy Halloween!!!

We had a very fun Halloween this year. We started off with eating our Pumpkin Pizza from Papa Murphys and then we got the boys dressed up and went Trick-or-Treating. Max sat in the stroller the whole time sucking on wrapped candy while Darrin ran to the door, said Twick-or-Teet, and then after they would give him some candy he would say, "Bro Twick-or-teet" and then he would stick his hand in their bowl, grab 2 candies and put one in the cup holder of the stroller and another one in Max's little treat bag.

The Ferocious Lion (he even Roared!)

The Thomas the Train Conductor

After we left one house, Darrin would get sad and say, "More Candy." So, we'd move on to the next house and he would get more. He was so cute and loved it so much that he asked if he could go trick-or-treating again the next morning. Good Times!

The Goods!

The Potato-Head Pumpkins

Thanks to Troy's mom; this year the boys got to do Mr. Potato Head Pumpkins instead of carving them. They had so much fun with them and it was MUCH easier to clean up.

Troy and I still carved our pumpkins, (although we are thinking of doing Mr. Potato Head's for ourselves next year); mine is supposed to be a cat!

The Pumpkin Patch

This year, instead of picking our pumpkins out at the grocery store or Wal-mart, we went to "The Pumpkin Patch" at Staheli Farm. It's a farm that has a lot of fun things for kids to do. They have a bunch of baby animals to walk around and look at, there is a playground with "corn" as the sand, there's a corn maze and of course, the Pumpkin Patch where you can pick out your own pumpkins.

The boys loved everything about it...Darrin was our "leader" through the corn maze and actually found the way back. Darrin also loved riding on the tractor pulls all around the farm - that's how you get around to the different areas. Max just loved being outside and seeing the animals.

"Hiding" in the Corn Maze (brang back memories of Iowa!)

Max Turns 1!

Our Max turned 1 years old on August 23rd. It's crazy to think that he is already one, but yet it seems like I was pregnant so long ago!

For his birthday, Troy's parents were came down and we went swimming in the afternoon, barbecued for dinner and then opened presents and ate cake.

We thought that Max would down the cake, and were very excited for the fun pictures. Well, he really let us down (you can tell his thoughts by the picture above). He was very hesitant to even touch the cake so Darrin would dig in a little bit and say "Brother, eat" (you have to understand that you never have to TELL Max to eat; he's always putting something in his mouth!) After many attempts, we finally got him to taste it a little bit and still, nothing. The funniest part of the whole thing was he started doing things just to entertain us. He stuck his finger in the frosting and put it on his face and started laughing. This went on for a little bit and then he just pushed the whole thing away! We were shocked at his performance. Hopefully next year!

Max got lots of presents that Darrin enjoyed opening. He got a couple of books, lots of clothes, animal cookies, a little tikes car garage, some bath toys, toy keys and (still coming) a fun ride-in car.

Thanks to Troy's parents and Jodi and Steve for celebrating with us! And thanks to Max for being in our family! We love him to pieces!!!

6 Whole Years!

Wow, I can't believe that Troy and I have been married for 6 Years! We are SO old! It's amazing how fast time flies and how much fun you can have in the meantime! It has been a great 6 years and I wouldn't have wanted to spend it with anyone else.

Troy is an amazing husband and father. He is so good to me and puts up with all of my craziness. The boys adore him and it is so fun to watch him play with his 2 boys (even if that doesn't mean always changing their diapers too). I love you Honey!!!

So, to celebrate, we decided to go on a trip this year (we were going to go for our 5 year, but I happened to be 9 months pregnant)! And, the lucky place was...Lake Tahoe!!! We didn't realize it was so far to drive; however, it ended up being a fantastic trip. It was so nice to just be able to spend time together without having to worry about the kids or the business.

The BEAUTIFUL Lake

The Beach (don't you like the Pine Trees?)

We were able to go hiking, swim, layout, get a couples massage and go on a dinner cruise (the drunken people were very entertaining!). Thanks to my mom, Kaylee, Jessica and Jodi and Steve for watching the kiddos!

July 2008

So, I know I'm still updating the summer (which was a couple of months ago); but hey, I seem to live a couple of months behind. Time just gets away from me!

Hanging out in the pool


July was very eventful this year. First, for the 4th of July my parents and Kaylee came down and we swam, did a few fireworks (which Max slept through and Darrin ran when they went off) and then even made it to the City of St. George show. We were very impressed - they even had background patriotic music. It definitely made me feel proud to be an American!!!


The Fireworks Crew (notice Darrin's terrified look)


A couple of weeks later, for the 24th, my parents, Christy & Greg, Cody, Kaylee and Jessica all came down so we could party at Lake Powell. I was so excited because it is my favorite vacation and I haven't been able to go for YEARS!!! So, everyone headed over on Monday and Troy and I were going to head over there on Wednesday night. Well, Kaylee called me at like 9:00pm on Monday night and said "Brooke, I just wanted to let you know that the houseboat caught on fire." I was shocked and didn't believe her at first. Then she told me what happened and I couldn't believe it...you mean, OUR houseboat caught on fire? It was crazy!



We don't really know what happened exactly, just that it happened pretty soon after they got on the boat, and luckliy, hadn't left the slip yet. Later that night as I was thinking about it, I realized how disastrous it could have been and was just SO grateful that nobody was hurt. I concluded that for some reason, we weren't supposed to be at Lake Powell that week, for whatever reason and was just so thankful that everything turned out okay.



So, instead of partying at Lake Powell, we were able to hang out at my parent's house and swim away the heat. The guys did a lot of golfing and the girls were able to just hang out and we even got pedicures (thanks mom!). All in all, it was a blast just to be able to hang out with my great family. I love them all so much and wish we could do it more often!!!

Bear Lake "Boot Camp"

This is the start of my summer update...at the end of June, we were able to go to Bear Lake with Troy's family. We had a blast. It was definitely nice to escape the heat of Southern Utah and get to relax with family!

Our "Boot Camp" consisted of a strenuous 1-mile hike, with gorgeous views, a water grenade fight (they were pretty hard to pop!) and a snowball fight (with socks)! We were also able to go wave-running and swimming in the COLD, yet very gorgeous, Bear Lake. And my kids got play in the mud puddles!

We even got our own private showing of Iron Man on the back deck (with no attack of the skunks this year.)

Thanks Troy's family for a GREAT time! It's always fun and crazy at the Braithwaite Bashes!!!

All About Max

All About Max

Age: 11 months

Nicknames: Mr. Cheeks, Mr. Bubbles, Splash Monster, June Box #2

Favorite Foods: Who knows? Max is such a picky eater like his dad, it drives me nuts! The only things he will eat are formula, yogurt, pudding, goldfish & cheerios

Favorite Shows: Max LOVES Finding Nemo. When we turn it on he smiles really big and just stares at it...his expression is classic.

Favorite Sayings: Max can say, "Mama", "Dada", "No No", "Whoa" and sometimes I can hear "Nemo"

Things He Loves to Do: Grab everything that Darrin is playing with, Just be outside in his stroller, go for drives, take baths (especially with Darrin so he can SPLASH like crazy), pull Harley's tail, make very messy diapers (hence the name Mr. Bubbles)

His Personality: Max is quite the character. He is very loud and assertive, compared to how Darrin was when he was younger. He has a bit of a temper, especially when he's tired and hungry; however, if those two areas are taken care of, he is the most pleasant child in the world. He has the cutest blue eyes (I never thought I would have a blue-eyed child) and the cutest smile. He cheeses it for everyone that smiles at him and has the most contagious laugh in the world. His is very chubby and has the chunkiest Thunder Thighs you can imagine. I love to tickle him (especially his thighs) and hear him laugh his heart out. He loves his older brother and now that he is mobile is happy just exploring all of the fun things he can get into.

Funny Pics:

This picture comes with a funny story...and actually happens too often than it should. Max has always had crazy problems with his bowel movements which has left him naked in many instances when his flaky mom forgot an extra outfit. This particular night I took a picture because I thought the hammer added a nice "white trashy" touch. My poor kids!!!

Max & his favorite past-time: his bottle

All About Darrin

Since I am the worst about scrapbooking and baby books, I've decided to create posts that are "All About Darrin & Max". That way they will know a little bit about their childhood (hopefully). Here it goes:

All About Darrin

Age: 2 1/2 years old

Nickname(s): Mister, Boo Boos, June Box #1 (don't ask where all of these came from)

Favorite Foods: Chex Mix, Carrots, Fruit Snacks, Salad, Chocolate Milk, did I mention Chex Mix? I swear, he could eat a whole bag in one day...it's crazy!

Favorite Shows: Finding Nemo, Cars, Doodlebops, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse & Choo Choo Soul (he sings the whole song)

Favorite Books: We're going on a Bear Hunt, Good Boy Fergus, His Nemo Book

Funny Sayings: "Unga", meaning...who knows? (all of his cousins love this one!), "Da Goon" meaning...Harley, kennel! (the funny thing is, Harley knows exactly what he's saying), "Hi" meaning...yes (he says Hi to say hello and also says a form of it as yes. Somebody told us that's how it's said in Japanese; go figure)"Duck Bread" this is what he calls all of our bread now because sometimes we will feed it to the ducks.

Things He Loves to Do: Feed the ducks, play sports (especially baseball, golf & basketball), blow bubbles, color, help me do anything I'm doing (laundry, cooking, cleaning), throw toys away from Max, ride his bike (which he nows know how to pedal), swim (once we force him into his little floatie thing, he loves it), going to nursery.

Personality: Darrin is a very laid-back kid. He is quiet and reserved and not very adventurous. He doesn't like to try new things or be in big groups of people. He is a great with his little brother (most of the time) and is starting to enjoy helping me with chores around the house. He is a joy to have around the house and makes me smile with his cute sayings and expressions. He is so excited about life right now and it is so fun to see him learn and explore all of the things he can do. He has been a little slow with his speech but is starting to expand his vocabulary and is trying really hard to communicate and put sentences together. It is so fun to hear what he comes up with!

Cute Pics:

Playing baseball in the neighbor girl's princess shoes! He has a fetish and I just had to take a picture so I have some blackmail as he gets older (Troy isn't a big fan!)

Showing off his new golf clubs from his Great Grandma Elkington...thanks Grandma, he loves them!

What's Up Down South?

Since Disneyland, life has been crazy, as usual. Does it ever slow down? The month of May was very eventful and busy; however, it must not have been very exciting because I don't have any pictures to show for it. The major events that happened in May were:

-We attended the baby blessing for Naomi Braithwaite, the FIRST girl to come from the Braithwaite Boys!!! (so you're saying there's a chance?) She is such a doll!

-Troy and I took a business trip out to Kansas City for a training with Duct Tape Marketing. We have decided to add a marketing division to our company and this was the "official" licensing training. I got to tag along which was fun...definitely nice to get away w/ good company!

-My little bro, Cody, graduated from high school (wow, I'm old!). He looked great and was so excited to be done. He is an amazing person and I am glad to have him as a brother...he always lights up a room with his fun-loving personality! To celebrate, my family had a big bash at Lagoon. It was fun to go on some of the rides and to watch Darrin go on the same 3 rides the whole day! No seriously, he was OBSESSED with the little car ride that goes around in a loop. He would get on, ride around, get off, and then jump back in line. Everytime he got to the end the lady would say, "Here he comes again!" It was quite hilarious!!!

Darrin & his cousin, Stacey, on the infamous car ride (this was the beginning of the obsession)

Changing it up a little w/ a boat ride

Back to the cars

Happiest Place on Earth

We survived Tax Season...so, to celebrate, we packed up the kids in the family van and headed off to DISNEYLAND. We met up with Troy's parents and his sister, Bobi, and her family there and had a blast. I can't say that it was the Happiest Place on Earth for Darrin (when he would get off a ride he would dart out of the building, collapse on the ground outside and start bawling, almost like he was so grateful that he survived the ride!) Needless to say, we only took him on two rides and after the outbursts we figured it wasn't worth torturing him.

His favorite sites were:

Playhouse Disney Live on Stage

The Choo-Choo Train Ride

Buzz Lightyear

His new buddy, Brock

Max was just happy to hang out in the stroller and kick-back a bottle of formula. He fell asleep in his stroller a couple of times; however, he HAS to sleep on his stomach, so his little feet would hang down out of the stroller and it was hilarious looking.

Max's favorite event was the pool. It was his first time swimming and he LOVED to splash. We started calling him the "Splash Monster" because he would get in the pool and just start splashing like crazy. He would get water all over his face and he didn't even care. We even started chasing Darrin around the pool with Max trying to splash him and he would make a funny monster noise. What a character!

All in all, it was a great trip. It was nice to spend some time with our kids and Troy's family and just get to relax a little!

Happy Easter

Since Easter came early this year, and because we were in the middle of tax season and having major employee issues, we didn't get to attend the Annual Easter Extravaganza put on by the Braithwaite's. So, we stayed home and attended an Easter Egg Hunt put on by some of our friends here in Hurricane. There were tons of eggs filled with all types of goodies, and all Darrin cared about was pushing Max around in the stroller. He did happen to "find" a couple of Easter Eggs and that was as much fun as he needed.

The next morning, the Easter Bunny had left some presents for our little ones: Darrin got a new Geo Trax and Max got a counting Piggy Bank. He also left a couple of eggs around the house for Darrin to find. And, you can't forget the matching church shirts (as you can tell, they were thrilled about them!) All in all, we had a Happy Easter!!!

Back from Hermitville!!!

So, I realize it has been almost three months since my last post, which is quite frankly, pathetic. So, instead of cramming the past three months into one post, I am going to post one event at a time. Hopefully it won't take me another three months!!!

Blame it on Tax Season!!!

I know I always have some excuse for my slackage, so this time it's Tax Season. Oh, what a wonderful time of year in the accounting business! If you want to check out our business's website, click here: http://www.ab4you.com/.

Besides working day and night on tax returns, we have had some fun. We had a Superbowl Party with Troy's family where we ate, watched the game, and played everyone's favorite game....ACQUIRE! (For those of you who like business/strategy games, this is a must!)

On Valentine's Day we ate Papa Murphy's infamous heart pizza, and Troy suprised me with roses.
For Troy's birthday,we went down to Mesquite to play BINGO (I know it sounds silly, but it's REALLY fun) with Jessica & Matt and Jodi & Steve; while my parents so kindly watched all of our kids.
For my birthday, Troy and I got a babysitter and both went and got Pedicures. It was great fun...Troy has always wanted a pedicure and he enjoyed it; however, he said he would rather get a massage next time. He did get adventurous and paint his toes blue! I also got a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my parents.
Thanks everyone for making our birthdays fun this year!!!

5 Months Old!

Max just went to the Dr. for his 5 month appointment and we can't believe how big he has gotten. He weighed in at a whopping 19 lbs. and 28 1/2" long!!! He is bigger than Darrin was at 9 months. We have a feeling that he will pass up Darrin eventually.

He has been a great baby so far and we feel so blessed to have him in our family. We just love our two boys to pieces and enjoy watching them grow and learn.

I just had to post this picture of Max because his expression is so hilarious! We have been trying to feed Max rice cereal and oatmeal to help curb his hunger, but as you can see, he's not loving it! He wants to skip the baby food and get to the good stuff (believe me, I wish he could!)

Finally...