Visit to Vegas

My little sister Sarah, Bracken and I went to visit Linsy in their new home in Vegas. Sarah was such a big help and it was fun to have her along. Kylie crawls all over the place and even took her first steps while we were there. She and Bracken had a great time together.

Sarah insisted we needed to go swimming. It was cold! We didn't last in the pool very long and just played on the stone animals nearby.

Kylie Brynn and Linsy

Bracken loves watching Signing Time. He commandeered Kylie's baby rocker as his easy chair whenever we let him watch signing time.

Not the greatest picture but we had a memorable moment here. We drove into Vegas to see the Bellagio gardens and water show. While we were waiting for the water show to start, Bracken was watching the ducks. He got a little too excited and threw his water bottle in the water. As soon as it was out of his hands he wanted it back and was really upset upset that we couldn't get it back. He wouldn't stop crying until we told him that he was nice to share his water bottle with the ducks. This became his favorite story to tell for the next month or so. "Water bottle all gone, quackies, water show! Water, Wow!" Repeated over and over to anyone who'd listen. We're just hoping he doesn't decide to share whatever he's holding the next time he sees ducks...unless it's bread.
Linsy, Kylie, Bracken and Kira with a 900 pound pumpkin in the background.

Thanks for letting us come visit Linsy and Caleb! We had a great time playing, fixing and eating yummy food, and just spending time with you. Come see us soon.

Shaylee Dawn's 1/2 Marathon

My little sister Shaylee ran in Cedar City's 1/2 Marathon in September. Bracken and I went to watch her cross the finish line. Bracken had fun clapping for everyone as they ran the last little bit.

When we saw Shaylee we both started cheering really loud and calling her name. She looked around for a second until she saw us, then she took off sprinting like a maniac, passing people left and right. She finished in just over 2 hours. Way to go Shaylee! We're so proud of you!

Below: Bracken was happy that Shaylee shared her end of the race snacks with him.

Fun in Richfield

My parents went to Lake Powell this week, so I went to Richfield to watch and play with my little brothers and sisters. Bracken has been going through "Lucy withdrawals" since his best friend moved, so it was nice to have lots of friends constantly available to play with. Bracken loves his aunts and uncles and they are so good with him. We had lots of fun together: we went on 4-Wheeler rides, played with the endless amount of toys in the toy chest, read books, went to the library, went to Dallin's soccer game and part of Ryan's football game, made caramel popcorn and watched 101 Dalmatians 2, picked and bottled green beans, and played outside a ton.

Bracken loved wearing the boys' hats. They were way too big for him, so we had to turn it sideways or backwards so he could see, but he had a hat on almost constantly.

Bracken playing with Uncle Seth. We spent a lot of time on the back driveway. The boys would ride their bikes and ripstik around while Bracken rode one of the little bikes or played with the toy kitchen. He thinks it's so fun to take a toy and move it from the cupboard to the microwave to the fridge over and over again. I loved that they stayed entertained for so long while I just sat and watched them and cheered for all of their "tricks."

One of Bracken's favorite things about Richfield is being able to see the horses. He asks for Bre and the horses from the moment he wakes up until I'm putting him to sleep at night. "Horses, Randy, Nebo, Walka, Neigh!!" is one of the most common phrases he said while we were there. He is so happy whenever anyone will take him out to see the horses and when he can feed them some grass.

Tonight when I was helping Bracken say his prayers, he reminded me (more like insisted) that I thank Heavenly Father for each one of his aunts and uncles that he played with this week. We had a great time and look forward to playing with them again soon.

Bracken Funnies

Bracken is 18 months old now. Here are some of the funny things he does:

∙ When we read together I always give Bracken a choice between two books. He used to just point to the book he wanted me to read. But lately he's been playing his own version of eenie meenie miney moe. If I hold up the books If you give a Pig a Pancake, and Are you my Mother? he'll point back and forth from one to the other saying, "Pancake, Mother, Pancake, Mother... Pancake!" He gets all excited when he says his final choice, kicks his legs a little and hits the book harder. He repeats this each time I give him another choice of books.

∙ When Bracken sees a piece of paper with words on it he pretends to read it. Or if we walk past a sign on ground level like a "Permit Parking Only" sign he stands in front of it, bends over, and gabbers for a minute while he "reads" it. Today we were playing on-campus and he disappeared behind a flower garden. After a minute I went over to find him and found him bent over a small sign reading it. Silly kid.

∙ Throughout the day, Bracken randomly decides its time to say a prayer. He'll be in the middle of playing in the dirt and all of a sudden he'll fold his arms, bow his head, and start praying, "Daddy, Mommy, Bampa Rob, Mamma, Susu, Shay, Jairus, Trees, Food, Jesus, Amen." and then throw up his hands and continue playing as if nothing happened. He melts my heart.

∙ Whenever we ask Bracken, "Who loves Daddy?!" (or mommy, or grandpa, or doggies, or food) he raises his hand and says in a high voice, "I do!" When Brian is being silly and asks him who loves spankings, Bracken never raises his hand.

∙ Bracken has been getting even more adventurous lately. Jumping off the curb is his new daring trick. He gets up on the curb, balances on the edge, bounces his legs, and begins to count: "two, two, two, jump!" then he just steps off. While I laugh, he claps and cheers for himself as if he has just performed the most daunting feat.

∙ If anyone mentions the word bath, Bracken starts saying and signing "Bath" like a maniac and practically drags me to the bathroom so he can get in the water. If it's in the middle of the day it takes some major distracting to keep him from climbing in the tub and throwing a fit because I don't turn the water on.

∙ Bracken went to nursery for the first time last week. He lasted for thirty minutes, then I heard his screams in the hallway. The teacher said he'd been fine until they tried to put away the toys. I went back to nursery with him so he'd realize it wasn't so bad. During the lesson he ran away and somehow got into the locked toy cupboard. During snack time he tried to eat his little neighbor's treats. I think he's going to love nursery.

∙ In trying to help Bracken become more familiar with what goes on in nursery, we've been singing some common nursery songs. I've discovered he doesn't like the song "When you're happy and you know it clap your hands." Every time I sing it he says, "No Mom, Grumpy." while signing "grumpy" (the sign for grumpy is so funny, he scrunches up his face while scrunching his hand over his nose and mouth). He wants to sing, "When you're grumpy and you know it stomp your feet" instead.

Bountiful Garden

At the beginning of the summer our garden was a lot of work. Brian set up the drip line system for the entire SUU garden with all their old equipment. After we planted, there was major weeding to do for several weeks. It's like somebody scattered grass and weed seed over the whole garden. We'd go to the garden in the morning as a family, then Brian and I took turns working on the garden and taking care of Bracken. Bracken loved the cows and would spend the whole time feeding them grass and weeds from over the fence. But holy cow they smelled bad! He also loved playing in the dirt. If we didn't watch him closely enough, he'd eat it too. There was one day he had a really weird diaper and I finally realized it was because he'd eaten a meal of dirt. Yuck!


On the way home from the garden: Bracken always plays hard at the garden. This time he was so dirty we had to strip him down to his undershirt. He fell asleep before we'd been in the car for one minute. Gardening can be exhausting!

I was getting a little discouraged for the first month and a half of gardening. It seemed like the weeds were the only thing that were thriving. But all of a sudden at the beginning of July, things started to grow! This picture is from the second week of August. We were just starting to harvest our veggies, and we got to share them with Brian's family while they were here. You can see how tall the weeds around the garden are. Brian keeps the pathways weeded, but they are like a forest around the perimeter of the garden. Bracken thinks it's so funny to go hide behind the weeds. He'll stand there quietly while we say "where's Bracken?" and then laugh like crazy when we come and say, "We found you!"

Hooray! One of our first harvests. (Don't mind the swim attire, we'd just come from the lake.) We've definitely learned some things by trial and error with our garden. Most of all, next year we'll plant our tomatoes much further apart, and we'll use stronger tomato cages. We have a tomato plant jungle right now.

Today's harvest: beets, eggplants, zucchini, green beans, onions, grape and early girl tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, purple and green peppers, and fennel. This is as good as a bountiful basket any day...except no fruit.

I'm not sure what his expression is about, but Bracken kept coming into the kitchen and taking green beans to snack on. Speaking of snacking, some of our favorite meals and snacks using our garden produce lately have been: Eggplant Parmesan, Zucchini Fettuccine, Salads, Green Beans with toasted almonds, Eggplant Towers, Fennel Soup, Tomato/Mozzarella/Basil Quesadillas, and of course, fresh Garden Salsa. Harvesting, sharing, and eating our produce has definitely been the best part of having a garden!

It's Not Easy Being Big...

Bracken and I had a rough night a couple days ago. It had just been one of those afternoons. He'd gotten tired and cranky early and was into everything, being his busy self. Then he threw several handfuls of dirt onto my freshly painted --still wet-- shelf. Ohhh man! Then while I tried to fix dinner he stood on my bare feet with his shoes on and kept giving me indian rug burns while he fussed and cried for attention. The final straw came when I didn't push a big bowl of vegetables and olive oil back far enough on the table. He grabbed it, dumping the entire contents onto the floor, and then proceeded to "skate" through the olive oil. I don't think I've ever been so mad at him. I said "Bracken!" and none too gently scooped him up and set him down on the couch in the living room. He cried while I cried as I cleaned up and then mopped my oily kitchen floor. He'd already eaten so I decided it was time for bed.

He picked one of his favorite books, "It's Not Easy Being Big" for me to read to him. As I read the first few pages I just kept thinking, "That's for sure!" Then it starts saying "It's not easy being small." Up to that point in the evening I was feeling pretty frustrated and picked on. I was feeling like it wasn't easy being big: Trying to be patient while every button was being pushed, making a healthy dinner when I wanted to order pizza, wanting a few minutes of "me" time. Then I started thinking about Bracken, and how it's not easy being small. How he tries so hard to talk but isn't always understood. How he can't get his own food when he's hungry. How he has to rely on me or Brian for pretty much everything, but at the same time wants to be independent in so many new ways.

So at that point I got a little reality check on my pity-party. Bracken still had a really hard time going to sleep, and thank heavens Brian came home and took over for me after a long day of his own. Not only did he get Bracken to sleep, but he told me to read or watch a show while he did the dishes too. Thank you Brian, you're amazing. Even though it's not always easy being big, I'll try to remember it's not always easy being small either. I am so grateful to have my little boy (and my wonderful husband!), and hopefully I'll be a little more patient the next time we're having a rough day.