Briella's 1 Year Old Pictures

My cousin's wife Kayleigh Searle took Briella's year old pictures.  They turned out so cute.  I love them!  Here are a few of my favorites:

August In Review

In August we watched a LOT of Olympics.  I love the Olympics!  I love all types of sports, so to see so many different events with incredible athletes is like Christmas for me.  I had them turned on constantly, so it is no wonder Braxton started doing what the athletes were doing on the TV.  For example, I was watching track and field one day and some chap stick whizzes by my ear and hits the wall.  He said he was throwing the javelin too.  When gymnastics were on, he would run full speed at the couch and somersault up onto it so he was upside down because he could do that too.  Another day, he set up some pillows to run and jump over saying, “Mommy, I’m like the horses”—we were watching the horse jumping.  And he was SO concerned that he couldn’t swim like the swimmers.

Brian’s sister Brandi had her baby in August and we drove up to meet little Kyler.  Braxton is so excited to have a boy cousin.

I tried sushi for the first time in my life and was NOT crazy about it.  I think if my first taste been one of the fried rolls I might have been okay.  But, I tried one that was just wrapped in rice and had seaweed in it first and my gag reflex triggered pretty strong.  Needless to say, I was gagging down the rest of the meal and my favorite thing was the edamame!  I probably need to try it again sometime, but it might be a while.

In July, Brian and I decided to try working out together in the mornings before he goes to work.  We started doing Insanity and they are seriously the hardest workouts I’ve ever done.  But, I love Shawn T.  He is really good and motivating without being annoying like the P90X guy.  Insanity is an intense 9 week program and by the end of August I had lost 18 pounds, so I am currently doing it again!

We also celebrated my birthday in August for a whole weekend.  On the actual day, Brian took off work and he let me sleep in, brought me breakfast, cleaned the house while I worked out, we spent the afternoon swimming, and finally had dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  Then the next afternoon we went up to SLC to see Wicked and have dinner at Market Street Grill.  Then on Sunday night we had a bonfire with our friends and cooked smores.  It was an awesome birthday!!

Finally, to round out August, Braxton started preschool at Kids Village in Orem.  It is the most amazing school I’ve ever been in.  The cuteness of it all is crazy, they have a drive thru drop off/pick up, and they go to music, science, art, and cooking with different teachers besides their academic teacher.  We love it and he is doing so well!

Briella’s 1st Birthday

Our precious baby girl turned 1 in July.  The week before her birthday she started crawling and pulling herself up on furniture.

She loved opening the presents, but I think she was disappointed when they weren’t edible--she tried to eat them all.

She did a lot more playing with her cupcake than eating it.

July 4th Week

We went home to Idaho for the 4^th this year.  Braxton practically became a cowboy and loved to do all of Grandma Coombs' farm chores.

Briella rode a horse for the first time and Braxton rode by himself for the first time.  I was so proud.

We took Braxton to the parade and the awesome fireworks show in Idaho Falls.  He was so excited.

We also took Foster family pictures while we were up in Idaho.

June

This summer has been so much fun.  Since it is almost over, I thought I would do a quick recap for the blog.  In June, Briella finally started sitting up.  She had been fighting it for months, then one day she just sat up and hasn’t gone back. 

We did a lot of swimming and Braxton has become a daredevil when his lifejacket is on.  We have really had to watch him because he thinks he’s invincible. 

We also braved the randomly freezing day of Orem Summerfest.

We bought summer season tickets to the Scera Theater and saw some fun movies.  Brax loved his weekly date with Shaylie Mann, our cute neighbor.

Braxton's 3-year-old Pictures

My cousin's wife, Kayleigh Searle, did Braxton's pictures this year and she did an amazing job!  Braxton is so high energy, especially at parks, so it is hard to reign him in to get a good picture.  I was so happy we got so many cute ones.  Here are my favorites:

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend, all of Brian’s family came down to Orem and we had so many fun things planned. And then of course, it was SO rainy! Brian’s sister recently got married and it was so nice to get to know her new husband and his two sons. Brian’s brother also brought his girlfriend and her three kids and it was nice to meet them as well. Braxton and Briella went from having no cousins on this side of the family to 1 cousin on the way and 5 step-cousins within the last 6 months.  It was so fun for Braxton to have some buddies!

Saturday we headed up to Hogle Zoo. We were there for only an hour or so before it started pouring rain. Briella and I took refuge in the car while the rest of the group ran from exhibit to exhibit. Braxton was glued to the glass at every turn. We definitely need to go back when it is better weather!

Later that day we headed over to one of the hotels to do a little swimming since it was so cold outside.

Then that night, Grandma and Chris watched all the kids so the ‘adult kids’ could go out to dinner.

On Sunday afternoon, we played board games and went to the park to feed the ducks and play on the toys to get the kids out of the house.

Finally, on Monday the weather was warm enough to go to Seven Peaks.  It was so fun to feel the sun and go down some slides.  After we were done swimming, everybody headed home.  It was a great weekend of good food and fun family bonding time!