Can Bracken go to Nursery Early?

This is a little bit of a rambling post. Church today had some funny moments, and embarrassing ones. Kind of like every Sunday.

When Bracken was born, I didn't think about how much, um...fun church would become. From the first time we took him to church, I don't think I've sat through an entire sacrament meeting.

And then there's nap time. It's always during the middle of church. Sometimes we wake him up early and then he's grouchy the rest of the day. We've kept him up and then we're all miserable. I've gone to a different wards sacrament meeting in the morning and then stayed home while Bracken finishes his nap and then rejoin Brian for Sunday school and Relief Society.

For the first six months of his life Bracken lasted until the opening song and then screamed bloody murder for three hours. I often wondered why we even went to church since one of us had to be in the halls or outside with him the whole time. Now he's just loud. When he sees his friend Lucy on the other side of the chapel he yells "Susu!" and becomes an escape artist trying to get to her. Yesterday when we were reading quiet books in the back of Sunday school he saw a picture of a cow and yelled, "MOO!! MOO!!" interrupting the teacher. A few minutes later he started "lecturing" one of our friends, shaking his finger at him and jabbering away. The whole back three rows were distracted. Honestly, it was hilarious, and I was cracking up, but I felt guilty because we were all so irreverent. Where is the line between keeping them in the classroom so we can try to listen, and taking him out so anyone else can hear?

On Sunday's I'm grateful for Bracken's "Jesus book," that he likes to look at the pictures in our Gospel Principles book, for crackers, water bottles, and the closing song in Relief Society.

For all of that, I'm grateful for church. We're always blessed for being there. We're able to take the sacrament, feel the spirit, and know that we're where we should be. Bracken is learning to fold his arms and be reverent, even if it's for short periods of time. He gets so excited anytime he sees pictures of Christ and says, "Jesus! Jesus!". If I forget to help him say a prayer before he eats lunch, sometimes he'll just fold his arms and wait for me. He wants to read a verse or two from his blue Book of Mormon and look at all the pictures each night before he goes to bed. He learns as we're consistent. I want him to always go to church and love being there. I want him to gain a testimony for himself. So even though it's more difficult and often embarrassing to be at church now, it's worth it, and so important for us, and our little guy.

But I am excited for nursery in three months!

Bracken's Little Friend Lucy

Bracken gets so excited whenever I ask him “Do you want to go see Lucy?” He starts bouncing up and down and waving his arms to be picked up so we can go while saying “Susu, Susu!” which is his way of saying Lucy. They play so well together and Bracken is always happier and less work when he’s with his little friend. They give each other hugs and share toys and raid each others snacks. I'm so glad he has such a good little friend close by!

Playing together at the temple, and just being flat-out adorable.

Getting into the diaper bag..."I just know there are snacks in here. I think you guys are holding out on us."

Bracken and Lucy love bouncing in the crib.
Swinging at the park.
Playing at Lucy's birthday.

Curious Boy

Bracken is getting so big! He's almost fifteen months old. He’s running all over the place. He loves balls, bubbles, balloons, food, books, being outside, his “dadada” and me. He’s an adventurous little guy. When I took him to the park the other day he climbed right up the stairs and tried to walk onto the slide. He loves going down the slide with someone or by himself. He’ll walk up to other little kids, put his face right next to theirs and smile a cheesy grin. He’s started talking and my favorite words that he says are “Jesus, bubble, water bottle, duck, shoes, Lucy, and ball.” He knows all sorts of animal noises and where his head, ears, nose, hair and eyes are. He loves watching “Signing Time” videos and is learning some sign language. He’s so curious and is always exploring. I love watching him growing, learning, and discovering. What a fun age!

A Bit About Us...

I’m always writing about Bracken, (and let’s face it, most of you would rather see pictures of and hear about him :), but I thought I’d post about what Brian and I have been up to.

We’re still living in Cedar. Brian has two more years of undergraduate work left before he can apply for medical school. In the mean time we’re enjoying being closer to my family and get to see them fairly often. We’ve moved every summer since we’ve been married for Brian to sell security systems (in Denver, Philadelphia and Minneapolis), but we’re staying in Cedar City this summer. Summer sales have been a good experience for us, but Brian is very ready for a break, and he needs to get patient exposure before medical school anyway.

Brian just finished his finals and maintained his 4.0 GPA! He had some difficult classes this last semester, but he studies so hard and I’m glad it paid off for him. He also just became certified as an EMT and is hoping to get a job on the ambulance or at the hospital this summer. Now that school is over, we are planning our summer garden, taking a few trips, going camping, and enjoying just spending some time together as a family. Brian has taken between 18-21 credits each semester and hasn’t had a summer break since before his mission, so he’s ready for a chance to relax a bit.

We’re actually really excited about our garden. Last year I had a little herb garden, but this will be our first time growing our own vegetable garden. So we’ve bought all our seeds and started some transplants. Brian has a part time job managing the SUU student garden over the summer and we’ve been working on getting that ready to go. There are a bunch of cows, horses and sheep out by our garden and Bracken is always pointing at the cows and “moo”-ing at them. He also gets filthy out there digging, throwing, and eating dirt…but that’s healthy for a little boy, right?

Brian and I discovered caucus meetings this year. A friend asked me to come to our precincts caucus meeting to vote for him and I found out that is where each neighborhood chooses delegates to represent them at their party’s convention. At the convention the delegates vote to choose which candidates will run to represent their party in the November election. Sorry for the explanation if you already knew that, but I didn’t until recently. Brian and I were elected to be county delegates, so we studied up on all the candidates, went to meetings to listen to them speak and ask questions, and got lots of brochures in the mail. Being a delegate and going to the county convention was a good experience, and we learned a lot.

My little sister Shaylee is going to school at SUU now and I’ve loved having her around. We go to the gym together and have started running. I just enjoy having her around, coming over to cook with me or just hanging out. Speaking of running, Shay and I had planned to run a 10K (about 6 miles) last month, and trained so hard for it. My family all came down and even the little kids ran for part of the way. Shaylee finished it, and my Dad even ran the whole way! I was so proud of them. I was bummed though because I injured my knee running and had to stop so I didn’t hurt it more. It’s healing up now though, and I’ve started running again, I just have to build my endurance back up. Brian bought me a sewing machine for Christmas (gasp! Who would’ve ever thought I’d want or use one?). I love it! I haven’t sewed any big projects with it yet, but I’ve patched a few of our older jeans so you can’t even tell, mended a whole pile of things, and made a taggie blankets with my sister Linsy. (The green one is Linsy's, the brown/blue one is mine.)
Those are a few of the things we’ve been up to. We’re loving each day of warmer weather and actually being able to see each other!