Bracken's First Christmas

Bracken's first Christmas!


Bracken's favorite present in his stocking was the orange. He'd roll it around like a ball and bite it until the skin was full of tiny little bite marks.


Kristi, Bracken, Brian, Kira and Melissa. This was the first time Brian's family has had a little kid around for Christmas morning since Kristi was a baby. So it was extra fun for them to have Bracken there too.


Bracken's favorite part of Christmas morning was sitting in a pile of wrapping paper and crinkling and ripping each piece to shreds. This is one of the few tims he actually looked at the toy for a minute before going back to the wrapping paper.

Our Trip to Phoenix

We went to Phoenix for Christmas this year. Bracken loved that he could crawl around on the grass and being outside as much as possible. We could definitely get used to the winters in Arizona!


We went to the zoo with some of Bracken's cousins. Above: Ethan, Ella, Adelle and Bracken.


Bracken liked the goats in the petting zoo. Although his version of petting is still more like hitting.


On Christmas Eve we ran a 5K Jingle Jog with Brian's brothers and sisters and cousins. We had a good turnout and it was fun!


Recreating the finish line: I tied Sally for first place! I only had a chance because she had a minor injury and a major side ache, but I was still excited. :)


Brian finished reading "My Life's Review" this year, an autobiography of his great-great-great grandfather Benjamin Franklin Johnson. Brian came to really appreciate and admire him, and was glad we were able to find his grave at the Mesa Cemetary.

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!