Nauvoo

The first weekend in August ( I know, this is overdue) we drove to Nauvoo, Illinois to meet up with Bryce's oldest sister and her family from Oregon. His sister, her husband, and six kids were taking the Amtrak across the United States stopping in various places (sounds crazy if you ask me :), but we LOVED seeing them!)

Brycen has improved tons with him sitting willingly in his carseat, however, his limit is usually 15 minutes and needless to say, I was a bit concerned about our 5 hour drive each way. One of my friend's suggested to buy a few toys at the local Dollartree and not show Brycen until needed on the trip. New toys work wonders! As soon as Brycen was getting restless, I introduced the new toys one at a time. Each new toy kept his attention for about 45 minutes (16x longer than older toys) and then he was done; which worked out perfect since the toy was usually broken by then :) (gotta love those $1 toys!) After making a brief stop for gas and lunch, Brycen then napped for the rest of the trip--yay!!

Our first stop was Cathage, where Joseph and Hyrum were killed.

Yes, I am apparently rather skilled in the blinking category....

Outside the jail

So...I experimented with my hair just days before we left and long story short, it turned out red. We were the "cute, redheaded family".

Even though I have been before, it was so awesome going with Bryce and Brycen who haven't; especially Bryce. I loved watching him take it all in and then discussing it afterward. It is definitely a special place and has a wonderful spirit to it. After Cathage, we then took the very scenic drive along the Mississippi River to Nauvoo (Side note: We saw the biggest mansion along the way! So big, right on the river---gorgeous!)

The only times I have been to Nauvoo was during Pageant month (July) when it is HOT and so CROWDED and needless to say, I was expecting the worse. However, what a surprise! Nauvoo was empty-we had the place to ourselves and the weather was gorgeous (70s, not too hot, not too humid). And since Bryce's sister was camping, they really lucked out (no thunderstorms, tornadoes...)

We had a wonderful time, saw awesome shows, the BYU folk dance group was even in town, and Bryce and I got to attend the temple TOGETHER. What a concept. :) Our nieces and nephews LOVED having Brycen around and luckily, it was mutual. They fought over who got to hold his hand and since his sister's youngest child is about a year older than Brycen, she loved having someone younger to take care of. Brycen didn't even miss us while we were gone (amazing, really)! Bryce and I even had the opportunity to be the witness couple at the gorgeous Nauvoo temple and it was really, quite a treat. What a magical, spiritual experience.

Waiting for a show to start

This is our idea of entertaining seven kids while Bryce's sister and her husband attended the temple...thank goodness the hotel had one :)

So...one of the pixels on my camera burned out...can you tell? If you don't get anything else out of these pictures, you can try guessing which pictures are from my camera by finding the black smudge :)

At the Blacksmith Shop, they gave out nail rings to everyone--Brycen's looked adorable...too cute to not get a picture (since as soon as it comes off, it most likely will never go back on)! But since this was on the last day...Brycen was crabby and did NOT want us to photograph his cute ring on his cute finger.

Somewhat of a success...

Can you say, grumpy? So not like Brycen...we had to take a picture. haha.

Brycen and his apples....we tried to take away his apple after we thought for sure he was asleep. Without opening his eyes....he snatched the apple back from Daddy's hands and kept it close. I don't think I will ever get over how cute he is when he is asleep...

We touched the Mississippi!

Just Beautiful!

Oh, I almost forgot, I'm sure you all have heard about the mosquito infested swamp called Nauvoo, well, when we say, we loved having the Oregon family with us, we mean it quite literally. They apparently have very sweet blood...and we don't in comparison. Even though they put on insect repellant 12x times a day...they were still eaten alive. However, in our case, sitting right next to them and only putting on repellant once (for the whole 3 days) when watching them do so reminded us that we probably should, scrapped away with close to none! I got my first two right after we said goodbye on the last day and we walked alone to our car to leave for Indiana. Having family there worked out quite wonderfully, if we do say ourself :).

Since we wanted to spend every last minute with our Oregon family, we left much later than planned to head back to Indiana (9pm). The nice thing though, Brycen fell asleep 30 minutes into the trip and slept for the rest!

The Best of Friends

Brycen has several wonderful friends that he loves to hang out with. Luckily, I get along with their moms just as well so it's a ton of fun. We, moms, like to help each other out and will often babysit swap as one or the other needs to do errands or go on dates with the hubbies, etc. It works like a charm and at least for me (can't really speak for the others) it is a win-win situation. Having another child to watch actually makes my job easier because Brycen has a playmate and I get a break from having to constantly entertain him.

Moira is 3 months younger than Brycen and a whole head shorter. Brycen seems to realize how little she is and usually treats her with care. He is very overprotective and loves to follow her around. She also takes a binkie pretty well so if she is upset, Brycen will immediately find her binkie and place it in her mouth for her. A few days ago, we were watching her and when she wasn't using her binkie because she was eating or something, Moira would usually just let her binkie fall to the ground, but Brycen insisted on picking it up and holding on to it until she needed it again, offering it to her every few minutes. He loves her and is going to be a great older brother some day (some day, no announcement here :)). Moira is kind of crazy though and loves to give hugs and kisses (pretty much attacks Brycen with her mouth wide open) and this usually sends Brycen running in the opposite direction or he will try to put up his arm to stop her...haha...that's our boy! :)Brycen also can't stand it if I pick up Moira without picking up him as well, so I usually end up holding one in each arm and he loves it! He loves having company as he uses Mommy Taxi Service and it definitely gives Mommy her work out.

Double Decker Stroller. I don't own a double stroller and Brycen is going through an anti-stroller phase anyways so he won't sit in it. But sitting on top--completely different thing and it makes going to the community center to play possible! I simply use Brycen as the steering wheel to push the stroller and keep him on. We get STRANGE looks but I know they're just jealous that they didn't think of it first; it works wonderfully :)!

Brycen likes Moira alot!

But who can blame him? She's adorable!

Madden is 5 months older than Brycen and about the same size so it changes things. Brycen pretty much tries to mimic everything Madden does and Madden tries to mimic everything Brycen does so as you may imagine, it can get rather interesting. They carry on quite a few conversations by just saying, "hi" back and forth as well as giggling. Once one giggles, the other starts and it can go back and forth...well, until they get distracted. Even though they are friends, they usually forget that when it comes to sharing toys. Madden is a little better than Brycen and understands "sharing" a tiny bit more, but they are both way overprotective of their own toys and have no problem ripping it out of each other's hands if one is playing with another's and it causes hurt feelings. Luckily though, our community has a community center with a playroom in there with lots of neutral toys (ones that don't belong to either Brycen or Madden) and so Brycen and Madden then can play really well together.

So apparently, Brycen was shredding a stick while we were walking and dropping it on Madden. Madden never complained and it sure explains why Brycen was so quiet on the trip!

They were actually shoving the table back and forth to each other, what boys!

Cali is our cat and Brycen's current wrestling partner and 24/7 friend. Brycen has learned (from Nursery) that it's best to pick on people your own size and in our house, that would be our cat. He has also learned that Cali is fast and won't just sit still for Brycen to come and play with her SO...Brycen has resorted to tackling her instead. He tackles her and then does whatever it was he wanted to do: brush her, pet her, give her a hug. When he's done, he will get off, help her to her feet, and then give her a little push to let her know it's okay to run away. haha. It's gone from a love-hate relationship to a love-tolerate relationship and sometimes I actually believe she doesn't mind the attention. Occasionally, Brycen pushes it too far and she will let him know, but besides that, she doesn't even meow in protest anymore. He LOVES having her around :)

Step 1: Tackle

Step 2: Pinned!

Step 3: Hold still!

Step 4: Brushed!

Step 5: All done! Isn't she so pretty?

Lastly, Caden is 8 months younger and is definitely the littlest of them all. Yesterday, we watched Caden while his mom worked and it was quite a learning experience for Brycen. Caden isn't quite crawling yet and instead, rolls and sluggs his way around--something Brycen is completely foreign too since he kinda skipped that phase all together. Brycen wasn't sure how to exactly interact with Caden since Caden spent much of the time lying on his belly or back. So after attempting to sit on him, roll him, and steal all his toys (not much fun, Caden never minded, never put up a fight), Brycen found it indeed fascinating how much this new friend was so different from his others. Not only could Brycen do anything to Caden without him objecting (Only Mommy objecting, Caden is SO easy going:) but Caden needed help eating and Brycen loved this. Since Brycen already loves to feed Mommy and Daddy almost any chance he gets, he loved that he was able to feed someone else. At first, Brycen sat on Mommy's lap and directed her arm as she would scoop up some banana with a spoon and then place it in Caden's mouth, then it progressed to Brycen putting graham cracker pieces into Caden's mouth, then when he realized that Caden could finger feed himself, Brycen would place the pieces in Caden's hands, and lastly, Brycen insisted on holding the bottle for Caden when it came time for milk. Brycen was a great helper and loved that Caden was so dependent on him! Brycen started fetching Caden's binkie for him, his toys, etc. However, one thing still remained, if Caden was either on Mommy's lap or in Mommy's arms, Brycen had to be as well. No baby was going to steal his Mommy and he made sure of it. I LOVE that Brycen still wants to be held :)

We could never get Brycen to sit willingly in his infant car seat but he sure loved Caden's!

Brycen has started to HATE having his picture taken. "Hey, Mom! The baby is that way...take pictures of him!"

Like my mis-matched feet? Haha!

Caden LOVED getting his picture taken! He is SO cute! And quite tan! Shows you how white Brycen is--true redhead!

Mommy, is sneaky, and stole another picture of Brycen! I still can't get over how cute he is! We love him!

5Forever...A runner's novel! Beware :)

So...I RAN (no walking involved) a 5k this past weekend. What? Exactly...I know..I did what? Me and running go as well together as... drinking OJ after brushing your teeth (sorry, first thing that popped into my head). But anyways, I HATE running....and have always been so intrigued by the people that sign up to do these races for FUN. As a result, I have also always secretly wanted to (still not exactly sure why) do a race just so I could say that I did and since it would make me sound so...I don't know... athletic? Something I have never been considered before, ask my brother, Josh. He laughs whenever he even pictures me doing any sports. Not sure why...I do enjoy them for the most part. But anyways, I love to be spontaneous and do the unexpected. Hey, I even surprise myself sometimes :)

Anyways, it worked. I committed to doing this race a few months ago and as a result, started/ more like needed to train for it and my friends were always impressed when they heard/saw me running. "I didn't know you're a runner"....Me:"I'm not"....Them: "Oh...hm...so..then...?" Yeah...I asked myself that every time I ran.

The local zoo here is free and wonderful but in order to keep it so, it holds these annual zoo runs/walks to raise money. I figured that since it was in the area and doing a race was for some reason on my bucket list, might as well get it over with while I'm still young...and so, the LONG process started.

My first ran started like this: I ran...jogged... a block...okay, not even a block...and had to keel over out-of-breath. haha...I was dead serious about the part where running and I don't get along. I went back home roughly 8 minutes after starting and Bryce laughed.

SLOWLY...I was able to run around our little neighborhood (we are talking weeks here)...and then I got to the point where I was able to run around the neighborhood and not be in pain while doing so...and then.... I got bored. Running is SO boring! Without my body whining in pain, I didn't know what to do with my running time....hm...I ended up letting my mind start wandering and it always ended up asking myself why I was running again...and then it reminded me all over again how much I hated it. So...I added music to the run and it helped a little... only a little.

If I was ever going to be able to get to the my goal of running this race, I needed to do something different...so..I ended up going to the neighborhood community center where they have a few treadmills...and no tv...so besides counting how many tiles were in the ceiling, I had no idea what to do. So I ended up bringing a book and it worked! I would get lost into reading and totally forget what I was doing...and besides nearly falling off and feeling sick a few times as I tried to read while bouncing up and down...I would look down when I was done and would be AMAZED that I actually ran a mile...mile and a half...two without dying in the process.

Well...the race rapidly approached...two weeks away and I figured I should probably get out of the air conditioned club house and try to get used to running outside in the 120% humidity. I would plan out my routes on google maps to run 3 miles but never came close to doing it. I always got SO bored and never ran more than 2.5 miles. I also hated the idea that no matter where I ran, I would have to either walk or run back to the house...so I chickened out and usually stayed close...(something, I loved about the treadmill, when you're done, it's over and you're right where you started).

I did, however, manage to win three tickets to the race! That was wonderful! It killed me every time I tried to commit to actually signing up for the race...paying for something I hated...not happening. haha.

The morning of the race came and I was so nervous, that I didn't sleep the night before and woke up feeling horrible. Oh, wonderful. Bryce and Brycen planned on doing the race but only since we got the free tickets. Bryce refused to go running with me every night I went for a few months (he hates running as much as I do, unless it's part of a sport and leave the A/C to go running? never. haha) but the idea of a free t-shirt and breakfast won him over in a heart beat and he also liked the fact that he could claim that he did a 5k, at no charge, and never had to do another one. We get along well :)

Waiting for the race to start.

I wasn't too nervous about the race itself, I just hate doing things for the first time. I like knowing what to expect and after I do it once, it's SO much better. I was mainly nervous for Bryce's sake. Since Brycen started walking, we couldn't get him to sit in the stroller longer than 3 minutes at a time...let alone 3 miles. So either Bryce was going to have to carry him and push the stroller or there would be a whole lot of screaming (and that's how I planned on locating them after I finished).

Well the race was worse than I thought it would be. Figures...haha:) Once it started, I couldn't help but pick up my pace as it seemed like half of Indiana was passing me (how was I supposed to be encouraged by that?) So...I started to actually run..not the usual jog...and surely regretted it. After what seemed like forever, I finally approached a group of race workers that held up a sign "1 mile". "Yes, one mile to go!" is all I could think...until right as I was passing them, they yelled out "8 minutes, not bad!" and my heart sank, there was no way I ran 2 miles in 8 minutes...I was already so tired and so bored (I'm pathetic, I know) and sweat was running into my eyes! Yuck!

Thankfully, between the 1st and 2nd mile, they offered a cup of water and that erased my boredom and my constant stream of thoughts, "I'm NEVER doing this again, what was I thinking? How can people really enjoy doing this"...but only for about 30 seconds. I was also briefly fascinated by the fact that after the runners were finished with their cup of water, they just dropped it onto the ground. Was that normal? I have no idea but it felt wonderful to follow in suit and actually be allowed to litter? Awesome. haha. The sound of the plastic cups hitting the pavement randomly was also a fun distraction.

At the second mile marker, I was about to die and I was convinced that we were running more than 3 miles...6 miles for all we knew, could we really trust their measurements...really? Has anyone ever double checked, questioned them? Anyways, the only thing that saved me from nearly breaking my goal of not giving into my tired body and walking, was that suddenly I realized I, me, started PASSING people. Not just any people, but people I recognized. Those that made me feel so slow and stupid at the beginning of the race. I found it fascinating that the people that passed me looking hardcore (short shorts, fancy running shoes, headband, sports bra or no shirt (males only)) at the beginning...were now walking.

Slow and steady...surely,wins the race in the case of me and those now walking people.

Somehow, I found it in me to finish the race, in surprising, 26 minutes and some odd seconds. I had accomplished my two..well three goals: 1: To do a race. 2: To run the entire thing (if I was going to commit to the race, I was going to run dangit) and 3: To finish under 30 minutes (mainly because when I first started "training", Bryce told me that I could walk the 3 miles in 30 minutes (since then, I realized two things : my walking actually might be faster than my running, and running a 5K in under 30 minutes isn't too bad...I'm quite pleased (finished 18th out of 103 in my age group...178/645 over all :) Either way, I was briefly proud and then before my proud-ness could cloud my mind too much, I made me promise myself that I would never run another race. ever. haha.

As soon as I crossed the line, I started drinking some water and immediately listened for Brycen's screaming. It's crazy how in tune a mother is to their child's scream, I would be able to pick Brycen's scream out in a crowd. So I listened. Nothing. No screaming? I would probably only be able to hear it if they were within a relatively small distance..Bryce isn't that slow, is he? hehe ;) Well...I decided that I would just start heading backwards into the race and hope to run into them (like alot of people started doing). Not too far from the finish line, probably about half a mile, I saw Bryce flag me down and that's when I saw it. Brycen was.... asleep!? Him falling asleep never even crossed my mind as a possibility. He hasn't done that in forever...and it wasn't even close to his naptime. That could only mean one thing...he wore himself out crying and so I expected the worse when I asked Bryce, "How long has he been asleep?" Bryce replied, "About 30 minutes" (we were about 37 minutes into the race then)... "So was the first 7 minutes just horrible?" Bryce: "Nope, he just loved watching us pass all the people...so fascinated with what was going on and then conked out" (since Bryce was pushing a stroller, he was forced to be behind the last walker when the 5k run/walk started).

I was astonished at how lovely it worked out. I then offered to push the stroller while he finished and he replied, "No, I.... am... going... to... finish". Haha...all out of breath..red faced...at least that is how I remembered it...he probably would never admit it now :) The real kudos go out to Bryce, finishing the race while pushing a non-jogging stroller.

The race just wore him out!

After the race, they had a pancake breakfast (we both hate pancakes but these were by far the best tasting ones I have ever had) and Brycen woke up halfway through and within seconds saw that we were eating and had his mouth open saying "AHHH" before we even realized he was awake. Apparently the race made him starving as well.

Yes...I'm proud of myself :) For the first time ever, I'm wearing one of those number tags!

All in all, I do feel very pleased that I did it. It was a nice family outing, one I hated doing at the time, but it made us all feel healthy and good about ourselves afterwards. Will there be another? Who knows.

We didn't think to take pictures until after breakfast and after they started taking it down...hence the time clock :)

I have surprised myself once again and am STILL running. As much as I hated actually doing the race, I hated "training" for it even more and I am really very pleased that for the first time in my life, I can run a couple miles straight with relatively little pain (if I jog, not run run). And even though I hate the running part, I love how my body feels so accomplished and healthy afterwards.

So, as for right now, I want to keep it up (can't promise for how long) and have gone back to my treadmill/reading runs at the community center this week. As long as I have a good book, I get sucked into the story and my body totally forgets that I'm actually running. I actually look forward to it at the end of the day because it is my "ME" time when Brycen is in bed, Bryce is getting some work done on the computer, and I get to have my reading/exercising time. Very precious time to me since I don't ever find time to read otherwise and I love reading.

The End.

Sorry for the novel. I figured since I'm probably only doing one race EVER...might as well record it as best as I can and that way, if I do ever feel crazy and start thinking I will do another, I can re-read this and talk myself out of it :)

P.S. I also did this run for you Josh, I knew you would first not believe me (I made sure to take pictures) and then maybe feel proud...? haha....picturing you, picturing me running and you laughing was fun to think about and kept me going. For those who don't know Josh (he my older brother, is studying to be a doctor, and LOVES to run...yes, I agree, he's nuts!) ;)

So Pretty!

So...I'm thinking that Bryce might just about explode when he finds out that I posted this... BUT I just couldn't resist :)

I resisted for 14 months but just couldn't any longer...

Yes...I put Brycen in a dress. He's a good sport and actually found it pretty humorous himself!

One day, I will love to have a baby girl and dress her up...and if she gets any of Brycen's looks...she will be beautiful :) Can you imagine Brycen's face with a head of curls and a bow? Maybe not... maybe I'll take a picture for ya! haha...just kidding...I won't push my luck on Bryce possibly exploding and I'll resist until a girl comes along :)

Until then..Brycen continues to rock our world and we love him dearly.

Walking!

Brycen has been walking for a while now (he started consistently walking around 13 months old), but I just wanted to document the milestone with this video!

Brycen took his first steps at 10 months old but stopped shortly after making a hard fall ( I don't blame him) and his legs would just turn to jello if we even tried to let go of him. When he turned one, I googled how to encourage your baby to walk (it was getting hot outside and I wanted Brycen to be able to wear shorts without getting his knees all scraped up as well as not burn his hands on the hot cement as he crawled) and it said that there really wasn't much that could be done, they just walk when they're ready. So, I decided that if he did anything on his own (standing on his own, taking a step, etc...) that we would just clap like crazy for him while saying, "Yay!!", encouraging him as much as we could.

It worked! One day, I was doing dishes and noticed something new as Brycen had pulled himself up to a standing position on the couch and was looking like he was contemplating on how to get to his toy, a few steps away. I dropped everything I was doing, picked the toy up, held it out, and encouraged him to walk to it--and he loved it! For the first time in a long time, he took some steps and fell, (I clapped like crazy of course) and he loved the thrill of it and wanted to do it again. I was SO excited and proud of him. When Daddy came home that night, we surprised him and Brycen walked from Mommy to Daddy. Daddy's face just melted as he twirled Brycen around saying, "Good job!! Yay!!" after Brycen walked to him.

It still took a few weeks for Brycen to walk consistently, he could go short distances, but would chicken out if there was no end in sight and would just resort back to his comfort zone of crawling. Finally, one day at the park, the bark chips were enough incentive to keep walking since crawling on them hurt.

As you will see in the second section of the video, Brycen was so used to deserving claps when he walked, he became his own cheerleader! haha. We found it hilarious! Enjoy!

P.S. Please ignore all background noise in this videos, it seems like every time I video tape, a car alarm goes off....the bugs come out...Mommy sounds silly, etc. :)

The walking journey...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Even now, Brycen is a pro at walking and we don't clap as much anymore, but anytime he hears, "Yay!!", he automatically starts clapping. It's adorable! :)

We love that he walks! He doesn't get as dirty, we don't have to carry him AS much (he still loves to be carried), and he is able to do things around the house (throws away his own diaper, retrieves laundry and brings it to Mommy to put in the washer, etc.) Brycen loves it because he can carry things so much easier (when he crawled, he would often carry his toys in his mouth) and is so much faster when he is chasing us (and when we are busy...the cat) and is being chased (he LOVES chasing, our cat is still NOT a huge fan...and might never be. haha).

July Celebrations!

4th of July!

Saturday BBQ with Bryce's co-workers.

4th of July Family Picture

Brycen LOVES eating things off the core; previously, all we knew of were apples but now we can add a new one to the list!

Doesn't he look patriotic? Even his shoes!

He's newest thing: sticking out his tongue! It's a game he loves to play.

His first sparkler!

Sunday BBQ with neighbors:

More to the list of eating off the "core": watermelon! It should be it's own food group, Brycen couldn't get enough. He only had 4 slices...

Once he discovered the watermelon, he never let it go.

His shirt says, "July 4, 2003"- Love hand-me downs :)

6th of July-Daddy's Birthday!

Brycen and Mommy woke up early to make Daddy breakfast (fruit smoothies and German Pancakes--yummy!) and then continued to cook all morning and made a delicious lunch of Daddy's favorite homemade chocolate chip cookies, chicken enchiladas, and strawberries with fruit dip and then took it and surprised Daddy on campus. After Brycen's nap, we took Brycen to a friend and treated ourselves to a date to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was awesome-wonderful movie, and we loved having time for just the two of us! It was the first time Bryce has been to a "real theatre" (not a dollar theatre) since high school, my second time since high school. It was really, quite the treat! Such a weird feeling, seeing a movie that has been out for just a few weeks, rather than months :)

Birthday family picture!

After the movie, we picked Brycen up and went out to eat to Steak n' Shake-seat down style restaurant but with fast food, definitely our style! Brycen only lasts so long...

Negotiating with Daddy--I'll give you the red if you give me the blue crayon.

So yummy!

Jello cake! It didn't work out as well as planned but it was yummy. Brycen thinks Jello should be it's own food group as well-he devoured half of it :)

Lastly, after we put Brycen to bed, we went on a bike ride! Bryce has wanted to go on a bike ride for forever but we still haven't invested in a child's seat for Brycen so after he went to bed, we used our expensive baby monitor and went on a bike ride just around the neighborhood. By expensive baby monitor, I mean, we left my cell phone on speaker right by Brycen's crib so that it would pick up all the sound and then had it connected to Bryce's cell phone which was on mute (so we could hear Brycen but he couldn't hear us). Bryce then used a hands-free set so he could listen while we biked. If Brycen woke up, we could be home within a minute, but otherwise, we enjoyed the bike ride together. It was a perfect evening and I don't think I have been on a bike ride in about 8 years or so, I had forgotton how much I enjoyed them!

We had a wonderful week and then Bryce and I...got sick! yay!... at the same time..we couldn't really take care of one another...so instead, we could only be moral support as we laid side-by-side saying, "this sucks". Haha. This amazing stomach flu seems to be hitting everyone in the U.S. -so, you might just be next! :D