I must remember this......

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother... Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children... Some may have to work part-or full-time; some may work at home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else." Elder M. Russell Ballard

Life.....

Life is so hard sometimes. I know, I know, some people have it much harder.... But it really is tough sometimes.... Thank goodness for friends. Good freiends. Real freiends. Best friends. and I have some of the best.

I know life is what you make it, but isnt this a little true????

Sometimes I forget what a friend is and what it means to be a friend....... so I turn to this....

Yep, these are my friends!

Anyway, there is my rant and here is my motto......

And really to be thankful for such GREAT friends!

Family Pictures 2011

Ahhhh! I can't believe it has taken me almost another month to post! Anyway, we had our family pictures taken at the begining of October and here are a few of our favorites...

Such is life!

I am so sad that it has taken me a MONTH to post, but such is life :) This is in no particular order :)


Braylee is now 10 months old, ALMOST 11. Where does the time go?? She is great. One of my favorite things about my two little dolls is that they L-O-V-E each other sooo much. Brody loves to squeeze Braylee's cheeks, ALL the time. I finally got proof.... Also, Braylee always sits like this and I think it is so cute/lady-like. She has her tip toes touching the ground, but not a thing more!

We have been busy supporting those Broncos......

 

  We've been supporting daddy out on the football field....

 

 We've been jumping on the tramp....

And we've been having some fun at hop to it!

I feel like these months have just flown by. My babies are growing up, and I have been so sad/happy about it!

I was able to catch Braylee crawling for the first time a couple days before she turned ten months. We were all so excited because Brody never really crawled. He just decided to walk. It was only a few week later and then she started pulling herself up on everything and walking around everything :)
 

Here are a few first shots of her pulling herself up to things :) SO BIG! (little)

  

And Brody boy has just been spending his days with her. I cant believe the relationship they have already. Braylee adores him and he adores her. She giggles at his every move and he pouts when she goes down for naps :) During nap time this is what he does....

He is the toughest little boy on the block, I'm sure.

Braylee spends her days now looking for things to get into, and following Brody everywhere. She even likes to help daddy with his homework :)

And for some reason, I LOVE taking pictures of her sleeping. She is just such a BEAUTY :]

 We also decided to finally get out those piggy tails thanks to my dear friend Kara. What would I do with out her?.... :) They looked adorable and she looked older :(

And this is one of the first "sweets" she really had...I think around 6 months or so...I just forgot to document it  :)

We've also been getting so excited for the holidays around here.... CANT WAIT!!!

Our annual Halloween tree :) Bray fell asleep...Next year?!!!

 

I cant believe Braylee with be 1 in less than a month. Time really does fly... Here are some ten month shots.

These two make the days worth living.

Back to School-Back to the Gym ;]

So I'm super proud to say that Derek is hitting the books again for like the 4th semester in a row, A RECORD....! Just kidding :) Well, I'm not. But anyway, he is super smart and has some pretty lofty goals to accomplish :) I needed something to get back to, and since I have taken about a three month break from the gym this summer, I decided that getting back in the gym wasn't a bad idea ;)

Another toot for Derek, hopefully he doesn't read this (HA!), but he has been going to the gym for about 5 months straight 5-6 days a week. He has set goals, made them, set some more and is reaching them. Awesome, huh? I have never been able to say that I have reached goals at the gym.......YIKES. Although his goals would be easy for me (to gain 15 pounds), it is just as hard for him to gain as it is for me to lose! UGH! I wish! Anyway, he has been a little bit of an inspiration for me. Not to mention working all the while ;) He is a buff piece of man meat with a pretty awesome six pack ;)

I also love how good he is at his job :) and he loves it. and so do his babes. Every chance we get, we try to go with him to the fields :)

Brody loves the "big tractors" and wants to be just like his dad. Braylee is just excited to be with her brother.

We took a little hike up to Ross Falls one weekend. My Camera died before we got to the top, but we did get some shots for memories sake. The last time we had hiked up there, was when I found out I was pregnant with Brody. It was fun to remember :)

 And I guess the best part about being the author, is if you hate the pictures of yourself, you don't have to put em up ;)!

Brody and Braylee are growing up so fast ;( I have been trying to be a little better and spend more time with them... just playing... This is what our typical days have been filled with......

We also have been spending a lot of our nights sleeping out on the tramp :) Now that it has been getting cooler a little quicker, it has been so nice! Derek has a fun stars app on his phone where we can see all the stars, constellations, planets, etc.... Sometimes we stay up WAY too late playing on it :) 

 

Braylee is getting so big, well wait, she is getting so old! She will be 10 months in a week or so. She seems to be thinning out a bit lately but still is as chunky as can be :) She signs for drink, bye bye, & points to the light, momma and dadda. She also has been jabbering a bit more lately and says Mamma and Dadda. 

~Her favorite movie is Kids Favorite Songs with Elmo

~Her favorite food is POPCICLES and ICEE's!!! (she's her momma's girl!)

~Her favorite person is Brody (by far), and her Grandpa Bunny :)

~Her favorite toy is basically anything of her brothers, lately airplanes 

~At almost 10 months, she still has NO teeth!

~At almost 10 months, she still DOESN'T Crawl, but would love you to walk her around the house.

Bray girl is the sweetest little thing on this planet. Hands down the best baby :) We love her to pieces!

Brody boy is getting so big and OLD too ;( I cant stand the fact that I only get 5 years at home with him :( I'm pretty sure pre-school is scratched off his list! He is the sweetest big brother. He is constantly wanting Braylee to join in on the fun. Whenever he is going to do something fun, he turns around and says, "What about the little sissy?" He carries her everywhere, brings her toys, and bites off little pieces of his food for her so she, "Doesn't choke and die, mommy." I was driving in the car the other day and packed Brody a sandwich to bring along. Braylee was fussy and I turned around and Brody had pinched off a teeny tiny piece, so small that I'm not even sure she tasted it. It was the sweetest thing EVER.

One day as we were cleaning up our lunch Brody asked me, "Mommy, How does Jesus get all this food to our house?" I was so shocked that he actually thinks about what he says in his prayers when he thanks Jesus for the food :) Oh the joys of raising and innocent 3 year old :)!

Brody is constantly reminding me how tough he is. At least a few times a day. One day he said, "mommy, did you remember that I was tough?" I assured him that I remembered and I didn't think I would EVER forget. A few minutes later he said, "Mommy, your not as tough as Daddy and me, are you?" I again assured him that they are WAY tougher than me, and reminded him how Daddy and him basically take me out on the tramp together almost daily :)

Derek is playing on a city-league flag football team and you can imagine how super excited Brody was for this. His first game was last week and Brody is still talking about how he needs to get a helmet, poky shoes, and some gloves so he can be like those, "football guys." 

Anyway, that is a little update :)