vegas!

staff and students of taylor andrews before NAHA'S. i work with and spend my days with some of the most talented students and staff.

time flies when you're having fun!

this summer has flown by, right before my eyes! we've had fun along the way. here are some pictures to share.

brighton LOVES his cousins. james and lizzy spent a month in hawaii and they were super excited to be reunited.

i guess this is the country girl in me... kyle and ryan would not let me leave the store with the boots or hat. party poopers.

tucker, brighton and madison. we had the opportunity to visit colorado. it was lots of fun. brighton and the cousins all insisted on sitting on the same side of the tiny table, even though you can see the other side was empty.

lagoon day with taylor andrews academy! the picture is kindof fuzzy... but brighton absolutely loved driving the bumper cars. it was a great day!

so... as you can see our summer has been filled.

we were sad to miss the johanson reunion in georgia, and look forward to spending time in the future with them all.

we did get to visit colorado for the weekend of the 4th. my dad had his cancerous prostate removed that week and we were able to spend some good time with him. he has recovered well and we feel fortunate.

while we were there, we went to the north pole. all kyle's christmas wishes came true. we saw santa, rode the amusement rides and had a great day with my brothers and sisters and all the cousins. it was a fun weekend to be able to spend time with ALL of my 6 brothers, 2 sisters and their families.

AND lastly... a shout-out to blake, the baby boy of my family. he got his mission call to alaska! i'm so proud of the choices he's made to allow him to be able to serve a mission.

much love to all!

moments to remember

today, as i was rushing out the door, with armfuls of snacks, toys, dvd's and books for brighton. he just looked up at me and said... "mom, you're the best mom ever." my busy world paused for just a moment. i almost dropped all formentioned items and cried.

everyday, i feel like the luckiest mom and wife ever. i have the best boys i could have ever hoped for. i feel so blessed to have been trusted with such a special little boys spirit.

nostrils... and raisins.

way back when i was in 4th grade, i can remember my teacher mrs. meyers, having to leave school to take her young son to the emergency room. she said he had put a bead in his nose and was unable to get it out. i can remember thinking that only a bad, naughty kid would put something in his nose! gross!

fast forward to a few weeks ago...
i picked brighton up from school, we were running errands, he'd been sick and had a runny nose. as i was getting him out of the car, i got a wipie to have him blow his nose. he blew a few times, and like a good mom, i checked the color of his mucus to make sure he wasn't getting a sinus infection. i saw this HUGE brown thing. i showed him and asked him what it was. he told me it was a raisin, then proceeded to tell me there was a veggie-a-table in his nose too. i'm pretty sure i just sat there in disbelief for a minute. he proceeded to tell me that his friend KJ and him had put raisins and veggie-a-tables in their noses. of course then i asked WHAT KIND OF VEGETABLE? he just kept saying just a veggie. later that night, and 20 nose blows later, out came the cooked carrot.

luckily for us, this incident didn't require a visit to the ER. we did have extensive talks about why we do not put things in our noses or ears and what would happen next time he did. i am happy to report that so far, so good!

my little fireman

brighton loves all things fire! his 3rd birthday was fireman themed and he regularly dresses up. he can spot a firetruck, ambulance or police car miles away and often before i see them.

mittens required

mittens required when eating a gogurt. on his second gogurt, i noticed brighton was wearing his mittens. before thinking, i asked him why he had his gloves on. he looked at me and replied, "because the gogurt is cold, mom." man, i felt silly.


i have to tell you a funny, yet sick story that happened tonight. brighton ate a hotdog with ketchup for dinner. when he was done, he had ketchup around his lips and on his hands. i asked him to go upstairs and get a wipe to wash his face. he looked at me and asked if i could just "lick his face" because he didn't want to go upstairs to get the wipe. where do they get these ideas?!

super... something!

so here we have a little combination of super-something. he likes to call himself super-spidey when he wears this. yes, he does wear this atleast once a week.

spiderman sweatsuit, spiderman hat, spiderman underwear, spiderman slippers, batman cape, wiggles mp3 player, whistle, and safety goggles.


priceless...