Brunch with Grandpa and Grandma

Grandpa and Grandma Ellingford stopped to see us on their way back to Evanston from Yuma for Christmas. We went to IHOP and stayed for almost three hours just visiting and having fun. (Above: Grandma, Linsy, Kylie, Grandpa, Kira, Bracken and Shaylee.)

Grandma and Grandpa with their great-grandkids.

Thanksgiving

We ran a 5K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. Even my 3 year old brother Tyson ran the whole way. Breonna was Dallin's pit stop crew. She drove the car and fixed his bike chain each time it fell off. After the turkey trot we all felt like we deserved an extra piece of pie.


My silly family...do you know how much arm twisting it takes to get everyone together for a simple family snapshot? sigh.


I am thankful for my boys!

Clucking and Crawling

I've loved each stage of being a mom. But these last couple of weeks have been my new favorite stage. Bracken is discovering and learning so many new things. He's crawling, clucking his tongue, clapping his hands, picking up cheerios with his thumb and finger, saying "dadadada," "mom," and "dad-deee!" He loves looking at books, pulling Brian's homework out, and crinkling paper. When we roar at him he will either respond with a roar of his own and attack us, or pretend to be scared and flee to the parent who didn't growl at him for "protection" before turning around and smiling for more. He has a bottom tooth and two top teeth and so looks adorable and silly when he smiles and laughs.

This video is for Grandma Sue!
Laughing, Tongue Clucking, and Crawling:

Happy Halloween!

Grr! Happy Halloween! Bracken is always growling, so a lion was the perfect costume for him. When we were at home he kept growling back at us, but when we went trick or treating he just hid in my shoulder, so we called him the cowardly lion. He loved playing with the candy because of the crinkly plastic.

Roar!

It's a Girl!

Kylie Brynn

7 pounds 7 ounces

20 inches long

Born October 26, 2009

We're so excited to welcome the first niece on my side of the family! Caleb and Linsy's little girl was born Monday night. She's so beautiful. Bracken isn't sure what to think of her yet, but I'm sure they'll be great pals as she gets a little older. Congratulations Caleb and Linsy!

Family Pictures

These pictures are from our last week in Minnesota, just a few days before Bracken turned 6 months old. Our photographer friend Megan took them for us. It's fun looking at these and realizing how many new things Bracken has learned to do in the last month. I had a hard time deciding which pictures to post because they all turned out so cute. Thanks Megan!



Bracken was just barely starting to sit up when we took these. He'd wobble over to either side or backwards at any moment. So Brian and I were sitting on each side of him just out of the cameras view ready to catch him when he started leaning. He loves being able to be upright and see what's going on.

Bracken loves swinging, bouncing, and being thrown in the air. This is one of his favorite games to play with his Daddy.


He's not too sure about this kissing business.