Oh how I love to climb...

I thought Isaac loved to climb, but he was nothing compared to this little girl.  She will climb up anything. She climbs up into this chair all the time.  Though she has a harder time getting out of it. 

 And yes, she climbed into the basket all by herself, and leaned over to get the toys by herself too.  I'm surprised she didn't fall out.   She also loves to climb up on Isaac's bed, I just don't have any pictures, even though she does it all the time.  She loves to climb up and play with all his stuffed animals he has up there.  Also the poster on the wall.  I'm a little worried for when she starts walking and can reach up higher easier!  She's even started trying the couches! 

Just some pictures

Here are just some pictures for family's sake. 

 Emily loves to try and copy anything that we do, especially faces.  She's even gotten the fish face down...

 Isaac has to try and capture the spotlight in more ways now, including climbing to daring heights.

 Or crawling into tight spaces...

 These kids love their dad, and he loves them.

 If you look closely in this one, you can see her two teeth on the bottom. 

 This little boy loves to read.

We love our kids.

Happy Birthday to our little Emily

Even though it was half a month ago, our little Emily turned 1 year old.  It's crazy to think that it's been a whole year.  She is our little ball of personality.  She is full of spunk and very curious about the world around her.  And yes, she does finally have teeth.  She got one right before her birthday, and a second one has come through, with a few more starting to show up.  I thought she'd never get them! 
For her birthday we just had some family and our neighbors come over for cake and ice cream. It was small, but Emily didn't have a clue what was going on, so it was all good.   She did enjoy the presents once they were out of the packaging and turned on.  And she absolutely loved her cake and ice cream.  She went to town and chowed all of it down. 

 This little girl loves clothes.  She loves to try and put them on.  She got some clothes from Grandma Brown, and after we opened them, she took of with one of the shirts and 'put' it on, then cruised around the house like this.  It is so funny to watch her. 

We love our little girl so much.  She is always smiling and laughing, or else trying to get into to something.  She never wants to sit still, she always has to be on the move!  We are glad she is in our family. 

Thanksgiving Point

We went up to Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum a few weekends ago, and Isaac was in heaven.  He kept running ahead waving us on saying, "Come on you guys!"  I think his favorite parts were the erosion table, that has sand and water and little toy dinosaurs.  He played in there for a good long while.  (Of course we forgot our camera, so these are off Brandon's phone.)

He also loved the digging place, where you could dig for dino bones.  He and I were in there digging away with our brushes. 

 Even Emily got in on the action.  She and Dad did their own little excavation on the side. 

We all had a lot of fun.  It is really a pretty amazing museum, too bad it's so expensive.  Isaac keeps asking if we can go back.  Someday kiddo...

Our Drive Home

Every time we come home from Christmas we end up being the carrier service for all odd sized presents that don't fit elsewhere.  (Which is fine, that's part of the reason we bought a van)  This year we were especially loaded, and we were taking my sister, Gayleen, and another boy.  We made really good time, and we were at the boarder of Utah/Idaho just coming out of Snowville when of course, we got a flat tire.  Earlier in the trip, Brandon had said, "I hope we don't get a flat tire because it will be a pain to get out."  (Our spare is inside, behind the front seats.  Which of course was loaded.  I guess is was better than unloading the back.)  Well, of course that jinxed us and we really did get a flat!  But, the Lord blessed us so much.  Instead of the tire actually blowing up like it should have, it just slowly started leaking.  Brandon felt it and was able to pull over safely.  The tire has shredded with like a 10in gash in it.  And because we were taking this other boy, Daniel, to Utah, he was able to go out with Brandon and help with the tire while Gayleen and I stayed in the car.  (We weren't too keen on going out there!)  They were able to get it changed safely, and we were able to drive home safely on our spare tire. (Despite our heavy load.)  Though it turned the remaining 1.5 hour trip, into a 3 hour trip I am still so grateful that everything went well, and we were all safe.  And the kids thought it was a grand adventure to be playing around in the care. 

More Holiday fun

In Salem, they have what is called the Kroc Center, which is a community center with a pool etc.  Well, they also have a rock climbing wall, and when we went to go swimming, we also decided to try rock climbing.  Jackson, my nephew was the one who really wanted to do it, but Isaac also was willing to try it (mostly because Jackson was doing it).  Brandon and I even got in on the action. 

 Isaac got about half way up before he wanted to get down.  He had a lot of help with where to put his feet and hands etc, but I was really proud of him. 

 Nothing like a flattering shot of your backside to boost your self-esteem!

It was fun, I haven't been rock climbing in a while.  You forget how much energy it actually takes!

New Year

We have had a ton going on over the last month or so, and it has been a little hectic.  Brandon finished up school and graduated with his Bachelors in Information Technology.  He worked very hard and put so much in to school, as well as getting out a lot in return.  (Thankfully)  He has been working 20 hours during each semester, and 40 hours during the summer to support his family.  I have not worked since having Isaac, and I feel very blessed to have a husband who is willing to work so hard to support us.  He has worked for BYU Broadcasting, and has loved it.  He has gained so much experience, and it has been such a blessing.  His schedule was always very flexible, which allowed us to work out our schedules to I could also finish school (with a very demanding degree). 
Throughout his work experience he has had multiple companies he's worked with tell him, "When you're done with school come talk to us about working for us."  Since he graduated he interviewed for one job, and had another interview lined up.  He accepted the first job, so he never went to the second place to interview.  Though they held the position open longer so that he could interview when he got back from vacation.  And since then he talked with another company who he works with at his job, and they said if he hadn't accepted there, they would have hired him on. 
BYU Broadcasting hired him on full time as an IT media engineer.  He manages all their systems that store their data etc.  (That's about my extent of knowledge about what he does.  It's a little technical!) 

I know this is a little bit of bragging, and I'm sorry for those who are offended, but I have to tell the world how proud I am of my husband.  He is such an amazing man, and this is just one aspect of life that shows just a portion of his awesomeness.  In an economy that is struggling to produce jobs, my husband has made himself very valuable and employable.  And yes, we have been very blessed in his employment, and I am so grateful for the blessings that I have!

My husband is an amazing man, and wonderful husband and a loving father!  Congratulations Brandon on being so awesome!