Ragnar 2011

Bryan (and his Dad, Mom, brother Tyler, sister Andrea, and cousin Ethan) ran in the Ragnar this last weekend. We were able to drive down and meet Bryan at the beginning of his third leg of the run. It was pretty awesome getting to be there and also to watch them cross the finish line together. I'm so proud of them! Bryan ran just over 14 miles total! He also passed 15 people, and only 3 people passed him, none of which were girls (he likes to say).

Rice Cereal

Samuel is a good sleeper. Typically he will sleep from 7pm-6am. And... I've gotten used to having a good uninterrupted night's sleep... So when he started waking up at 1am... I couldn't handle it. So what did I do? I started him on rice cereal, and he is back to his 11 hour night schedule! Yeah!!!
BTW, he absolutely LOVES the rice cereal. I thought he wouldn't since Tate didn't when he was little. It always amazes me how different Tate and Sam are:)

Best Friends

Tate and his best friend Ryal playing Othello on the kitchen table.

Thomas is Home!!!

My youngest brother Thomas just got home last week from his mission. He served in the Washington Tacoma mission. It's so awesome to have him back.

4 Months

Samuel is four months old-already! How did that happen? It's kinda sad how fast time goes... he's going to be up and walking before too long.

Here's his 3 months scrapbook page:

Saturday Night Soccer

Bryan plays soccer through an indoor soccer league here in Mesa. He plays ever Saturday night. The boys and I LOVE to watch him play and rarely miss a game.

Bryan had these SUNKISS POOLS jerseys made for the team to wear and he even got one for Tate.

Here's some of the guys on the team... All hot and sweaty right after the game.

Happy 10 Year Anniversary to Us!

The day before our anniversary, Bryan told me that he wanted to take me on a date that night "and never come back!" He told me to pack clothes for a day, get the boys ready to stay at his Mom's house, and plan to leave around 4pm.
I had overheard him talking on the phone to someone about a resort by Tempe Town Lake, so I thought for sure we were going to stay there. Nope, although we did stop by there on the way out, but only to drop something off to someone. I then guessed that we were going to Payson. There is a really nice hotel there that we stayed at for one of our other anniversaries. We had had a really nice time, so I thought maybe Bryan was going to take me there again. Nope. So then I guessed that we were going to be staying in Flagstaff. Nope. In fact when we got to Flagstaff, we stopped at a gas station and Bryan got some pickled flavored sunflower seeds so I knew that we still had a ways to go. At that point, I figured that we must be going to the Grand Canyon. For our five year anniversary we had gone to the Grand Canyon and ridden on the train from Williams. I figured that we were going to do that again. When we passed the Grand Canyon and didn't stop, it finally occurred to me... I KNEW WHERE WE WERE GOING!!! We were going to St. George Utah to visit my sister and to see her brand new baby! Even though I finally guessed right, Bryan never officially told me. He is the world's greatest surpriser, and I love being married to him!
So we stayed in a newly refurbished Best Western suite that had a jacuzzi in the room and the very best continental breakfast I'd ever had (seriously).
I text-ed Christina to get her address since we didn't have it with us and I soon got a text back. I text-ed her again to warn her we were coming and said "Thanks, and I hope you're dressed". I got a text back saying "This is Joseph, I borrowed Christina's phone for the day". So I text-ed back saying, "This is Maria, I borrowed Bryan's phone for the day" (since I was using his phone). Ha/Ha. So... No warning for Christina! We showed up at her house and she didn't answer, so I called her on Joseph's phone. She answered and said that she was with her MIL at Smith's and that they were stranded because their car had broken down. So I said, "Maybe we can come help". She then realized we were in town. It was an awesome surprise!!!
We ended up hanging out for a couple of hours (which was awesome) and having lunch together. We also got to play with Craig and their new tiny baby named Tyler.
We drove back through Vegas and stopped to walk down the strip and eat dinner at the Outback. Fun Times! Even though it was a fast trip, we had a wonderful anniversary together, and I LOVED the surprise!

Me and my newest nephew Tyler

Craig kept grabbing my glasses off and trying to wear them himself. He's so cute!

Here's the only picture we got of the both of us. Some random guy in Vegas offered to take our picture. It wasn't the most scenic place for a picture... But it worked.

My Hot Man.

My car "Jim" reached 186,000 miles on the trip. He getting old and is still driving great.

Sorry to those of you who think their baby is the cutest...

Because they just don't come any cuter than Samuel!

He is one little chunk... And I LOVE it!!!

This is Sam's most favorite toy... Here he is just sucking away on it.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Here's a close up of the boys valentines this year.

For Sam's valentine I found a picture of him where he had made a fist with his hand. Then using Photoshop, I wrote text on it. Then I cut two slits in it, slid the lollipop through and we were done! For Tate's, I helped him draw a picture of a dinosaur and color it. I then scanned it onto the computer, used Photoshop to shrink the picture, wrote text, and added a border. Lastly, we punched holes and slid the lollipop through the holes. (He helped a lot with this part... See post below)

Making Valentines

Tate's been sick the last few days with strep throat. This is his third time to have it since October! Anyways, since he's had to stay home from school... I decided it would be a good time to make valentine cards. So that's what we've been doing!

My Little-Old Man

This is Sam's "Elder Holland" Face...

Good Angie

Angie is such a good dog. She lets Tate dress her up, pull her around, and whatever else he does. The other day I was babysitting my niece and nephews, and one of them climbed up on Angie's back. Angie was totally patient and let them go for a ride.

On another note... Angie can now go potty on demand! I've been working really hard on getting her to do this. It's amazing how treat motivated she is.
We are really enjoying having a good family dog!

Baking

I LOVE to bake... and I do it all the time. Tate and Sam are my little helpers.

Burzynski Clinic, Houston's Premier Cancer Treatment Center

Check out this YouTube video about the Burzynski Clinic. My Mom is now cured of her cancer thanks to Dr. Burzynski.

Legos

Tate doesn't so much like BUILDING legos, but he can usually stand it long enough because he loves PLAYING with the finished product.

Hike #2

One of Tate's New Year's goals this year is to go on a hike as a family every month. We ended up going to South Mtn. again this month, but we hiked a different trail than last month... so it seemed entirely different.

What Makes Me Happy?

Finding Tate in his bedroom reading "Jesus Stories" just for fun!

Angie and the Dinosaur

We found out that Angie is TERRIFIED of Tate's toy dinosaur!

Tate was playing with it before school today and left it in the office. While Tate was gone, Bryan began cleaning the office, found the dinosaur and placed it outside the office door (which happened to be directly across the room from where Angie was laying). Angie immediately began growling, barking, crouching down and freezing up. After school, we told Tate about Angie's ordeal... And of course, Tate being a boy... he thought it was so funny and so he immediately set out chasing her around the house with it!

My Favorite

My MIL gave me this baby carrier a while ago. It's by far my favorite... I like that it's homemade, has huge pockets, a nice head rest, and Sam is far enough back to actually see me. It's a keeper!
P.S. Doesn't Sam's hair look red?

The Bumbo

Sam is using this chair more and more and I like it! Obviously you can see that he's holding his head up really good now.

Bedtime

One of Tate's very favorite bedtime stories is "The Star Spangled Banner."

Our Garden

I've been telling people that our garden failed this last season, but I realized tonight that I was wrong... Tate came into the kitchen with a pile of peas and some onions and he just kept saying "we are so blessed to have such good food to eat!" Tate is so right! I'm very grateful to have him as my son. He's my little optimist and he teaches me plenty!