Independence Day

This year we experienced our Independence Day in Star Idaho (just outside of Boise) with Scott's parents. I bought us all Old Navy Flag Tees which I love, Scott humored me enough to wear it for the day!

My mom bought Caleb a bib to wear for his 1st 4th of July. The bib was a little big for him!

In the evening, we went next door and had a neighborhood party. Caleb, being the newest grandbaby, at only 6 weeks old, was passed around from grandparent to grandparent. Brendan was excited to run around and play with other kids and new toys.

This was also Brendan's first experience with fireworks and sparklers (the video was posted earlier). He really was a little nervous and couldn't decide if he liked them or not, but we did about 3 sparklers, all the other kids loved them.

Unfortunately, it does not get dark until about 10:00 at night. We gave Brendan a late nap hoping that he would be able to make it. At first he started to get fussy, but he settled down on Grandma's lap and watched the fireworks. Much different than California, Idaho allows you to have actual fireworks that shoot up into the sky. It was quite an experience for me, I had never seen fireworks like this shot off from someones driveway! We started with some floor fireworks, move to bottle rockets, and then had the real, large fireworks in the sky. Brendan was the only kids who stayed awake through the entire show. He wasn't too fond of the loud noises, but got used to them and as long as he was held, he was fine.

Caleb on the other hand, slept through the entire thing, noises didn't bother him a bit!

Pool Time

After almost 4 weeks after Caleb was born, I was starting to go a little stir crazy from being in the house all the time and Scott still working. So when my parents came down to Southern California for Vacation in Indio (if you have ever been to Indio you will wonder who the heck vacations there…my parents). Although the heat was intense, I decided to tag along, there is air-conditioning and a pool so I figured it couldn’t be that bad.

Brendan of course had a great time, especially because he got to spend time with his “Unka Jon” I told my brother that he is Brendan’s favorite right now. I didn’t get any pictures of Brendan (luckily my mom sent me pictures to add) he had a wonderful time in the “water” and asked to go over and over again.

Caleb did some sun bathing while everyone else played in the water, he couldn’t have been happier. Less than a month old at his first trip to the pool.
You will also notice his wonderful onesie he is wearing with his initials on it. My friend Casey made it for him at my babyshower.

Jelly Belly Factory

After Christmas, Scott, Brendan and I drove up to Sacramento to spend some time with my family. One day while there we visiting, we all took a trip to the Jelly Belly factory. This was Brendan's first taste of Jelly Bellys. The first picture is of Brendan trying the candy. I must say, it was a big hit with the 1-year-old!

Festival of the Trees

On Saturday after Thanksgiving, while we were still in Idaho, we went to Boise's Annual Festival of the Trees. We took our Niece, Elyse, with us before she moved to California. She loves spending time with Brendan, and Grandma & Grandpa wanted to see her as much as they could before she left. So we bundled up and went downtown. It was very enjoyable, even though we didn't get to spend as much time there as we would have liked.

There was many, many trees; all being auctioned off to raise money for community health care. Some of our favorites (or the ones Scott took pictures of anyway, were the Soda tree, Thomas the Tank Engine, Tribute to Michael Jackson, the Boise State tree with the Broncos, and the Wizard of Oz tree. I love that the tree is upside down!

We also were able to sit for a little bit and watch some performers. There were a dozen different ballet/Jazz/Hip-hop groups that came on and preformed of all ages. Brendan sat on my lap with his juice and watched them intensely for at least 20 minutes. After a while though, he got restless and it was time to move on.

Overall it was a very nice experience, I would love to go back and be able to see more, there was so much more to take in!


I also have to share that Brendan's cute little "Hunter Outfit" was purchased by my Aunt & Uncle (My dad's brother) last Thanksgiving in hopes that he could wear it by Christmas, my kid was so little that I was afraid he wouldn't ever get the opportunity to wear it. Luckily, it fit this Thanksgiving! A year later! That's one reason why I don't shop very much at Gap kids, the size 6-12 months is too large of a gap for me!

Thanksgiving 2009

For Thanksgiving this year, we went to Idaho to visit Scott's parents. It was Brendan's first Thanksgiving being able to enjoy the food. I flew up on Sunday evening with Brendan to spend a few days getting everything ready for Thanksgiving and letting Grandma play with her Grandson. Scott then flew up on Tuesday evening after work to join us. We started Thanksgiving day with monkey bread. Scott and I work together to make it, although I ended up making too large of a loaf, it was so good! It was the prettiest one I have ever made, we were very proud. My Mother-in-Law thought it needed some frosting and whipped some up to spread on top. It was a great breakfast, Brendan's favorite part of the day I'm sure!

My MIL does not like Turkey, (neither does my husband) but she was determined to make a turkey for Thanksgiving. None of us had actually ever made a turkey before, so we bought the smallest one in the store, a little less than 10 pounds. With all of us together, we were able to pull it off.

Okay, so looking back on it, I didn't really help much with the turkey besides picking it out in the store. Great job guys!

Overall, this Thanksgiving dinner seemed to be pretty stress free, we even noticed about 2 hours before dinner, with the turkey in the oven "Shouldn't Thanksgiving dinner be more stressful than this?" But with the whole family working together, it came together fairly smoothly.

The table was set and ready, we had all the "Traditional" dishes: the Turkey of course, green-bean casserole, stuffing, sweet-potatoes with marshmallows on top, mashed potatoes with homemade gravy, olives, pickles, bread rolls with butter, canned cranberry sauce (my favorite) and my mom's recipe of Cranberry Jell-o salad, which I had to chop all cranberries, apples, and celery by hand! It was a very nice dinner surrounded with family.

Scott's sister Brianna & her daughter Elyse

Brendan & Grandma

Brendan liked the Mashed potatoes the best,

but not as well as the Monkey Bread from breakfast!

The weather wasn't as cold as we thought it would be, we still had to bundle Brendan up when he wanted to go outside and play. I thought he looked so cute in his new jacket. His big cousin Elyse helped get him all ready to go outside to watch Daddy & Grandpa play a few games of ping-pong after dinner. After the dinner dishes were cleaned up and our stomachs had settled a bit, we had dessert. As we sat around the table with our pies, we went around the room stating what we were thankful for this year. It was a great time as a family to reflect on the past year and what Gos has given us.

This year Scott & I are thankful to have such great jobs in this economy, many teachers are without work this year, but Scott has found a great school to teach what he loves. I have a great job that I love, and that gives me the opportunity to have vacations and holidays to spend with my family.

We are thankful for our house that God provided at a price we could afford when we thought becoming homeowners was far into the future.

We are thankful that we have found a great church to attend and get involved with. We are excited to see the journey the church is taking and to be a part of God's plan with it.

We are Thankful that we have such a wonderful family. That we are in this together, Scott and myself. We are a team that works together. We have a wonderful and smart boy, and were given the gift of another on the way.

We are tankful that we don't have to face this parenting alone, we have many grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends to help us through it all.

We have a lot that we have been blessed with, and a lot to thank God for.