Time has flown by so fast. Brody is nine months today! We went to the pediatricians today for his well child check and he is in the high nineties in percentile in height and in the twenty fifth percentiles in weight. Still tall and skinny. Brody actually went up to Primary Children’s yesterday to have a VCUG done because he had a UTI which is unusual for boys, especially at his age. A VCUG tests whether or not he has reflux from his bladder to his kidneys. I guess this is bad because scar tissue builds up in the kidneys causing high blood pressure. They had to catheter the poor little guy and hold him down while they did x-rays. I felt so bad for him because he was screaming when they put it in and while they took the x-rays. Sure enough he does have reflux so we have to go back up to the urology dept at Primary’s to see what we need to do next. On a happier note Brody started crawling a little bit before nine months and he is everywhere now. Whenever we are watching TV in the basement Brody loves to crawl to the side of the entertainment center, pull himself up and chew on the glass. He tries to pull himself up onto everything, and can scoot along objects now like the coffee table, chairs, or anything he can hold on to. The other night Brody learned the trick of pulling himself up in his crib when it’s time for bed. We were downstairs after we put Brody down for bed and all of a sudden we noticed the baby monitor from upstairs turned off. I went into his room to see what was going on and Brody had one hand pulling on the monitor, and the other hand was trying to pull down the mobile on his bed while bending over the side of the crib. It scared me to death I thought he was going to fall out. Needless to say the mattress on the bed was changed immediately to a lower setting. He now loves to pull himself up every night when he is supposed to be sleeping and cry until we come in and try laying him back down. Our little Brody is keeping us on our toes, but is a lot of fun.

This time of year is one of my favorites. Not especially because of New Years, but the entire month of December in general. Spending time with family is at the top of my list for really enjoying this time of year, but also because at my job, everyone has to use up their paid-time-off before years end, or they lose it. So in the past 2 weeks, I have only worked 3 days. It has been a much welcomed break, and is really difficult to get back into the usual routine. For New Years Eve, we had Megan & Tyler (and Judson), and Nelsy & Weston over to our house for a New Years celebration. We had soup bowls for dinner, I ate too much and made myself sick, and then played games and hung out. Megan & Tyler had been in town from Virginia for the last few weeks, but we hadn’t been able to spend much time with them, so it was nice to have them there. It was nice having Nelsy & Weston there too After sitting and snacking on a bunch of treats and junk food, we watched the ball drop on TV and made a bunch of noise to ring in the New Year. Luckily the kids slept through it all. Happy New Year!

For more pictures, check out the gallery: New Years 2010

The holiday season was a little more difficult this year than in the past. When I say a little, I mean a lot. My brother-in-law (my older sister’s husband), Bobby Bragg, passed away on December 14 after some complications after a shoulder surgery. It has been an extremely rough time for all of us, especially my sister, but it has also been a strong reminder of how much I love my family. We hadn’t taken the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them in the last little while, but we did get to spend Thanksgiving together, and I feel blessed that I was able to spend my last moments with Bobby, playing guitars and talking and laughing about a week and a half before his passing. Although it was nothing out of the ordinary at the time, it will now be a memory I will never forget. He will be greatly missed.

I have always been a huge fan of Thanksgiving and Christmas, mainly because it seems like we need it as an excuse to get the entire family together for an uninterrupted day spending time with each other. I love spending time with my family, and Danielle’s family, and of course, our own little family, and this year has been no exception. In fact, the weeks leading up to the holiday this year has made me appreciate being with our families even more. We were able to spend some time at my parent’s house on Christmas Eve, just hanging out and visiting with each other. That night, we headed over to Danielle’s parent’s house for the big Christmas Eve dinner that we have every year. The food was as good as ever, and we were able to see all the grandkids open up their gifts that they get every year (pajamas). I think it was the first time Brody has been able to open up a present for him. We ended up playing games and hanging out which also was a lot of fun. We headed home pretty late and Danielle and I opened up 1 present we got for each other and then headed off to bed. It was a really fun day and night.

The next day ended up being even busier. We got off to a late start in the morning, we tend to try to sleep in whenever we get the chance. We got up and opened up all of our presents together. I especially enjoyed watching Brody open all his new toys and to my surprise, he didn’t care much at all about playing with the wrapping paper, he was really eyeing those toys. He enjoyed them so much in fact, that he started whining every time we took a toy away to have him open another gift. As we were finishing up opening our gifts, my family came over for breakfast. We have had breakfast at my house for the last few years, and we thought we would do it again. Breakfast ended up being really good, and then we had to hurry and get ready and headed over to Danielle’s parent’s house again to spend some time and open up some gifts over there. It didn’t seem like very long when we headed over to my parent’s house to have dinner and open gifts there as well. We were able to play some Beatles Rock Band, and some other games of the Wii which were really fun. And then after that, we headed home to spend some time together with just the three of us. A very busy couple of days, but a very good time nonetheless.

For more pictures, check out the gallery: Christmas 2009

As many of you that know me already know, I love to play volleyball. I played quite a bit over the summer, and as the warm weather came to an end, I was excited to move back to the court to play some indoor ball. We had gotten a team of guys together last year that all went to Utah State, and won both of the city leagues we played in, so this year I was hoping to get our same team back and win some more. After replacing one of the guys that moved out of state, we started playing in a league in Sandy way back in September. There were a few really good teams that were competitive, but we ended up pulling out the championship in the end.

After only a week break, we jumped right back into another league in Murray which ended up being the most competitive we have played in so far. There were 10 teams, and most of them were really good. We had a little trouble getting our entire team to play on a weekly basis, so we had to use a lot of subs. One of the guys hurt his leg pretty bad, so he ended up sitting out the final 4 weeks of the league. Luckily we were able to convince Joe Hillman (former BYU player) to come play with us for the final 3 weeks. I have also had some problems with my shoulder which required me to go get it checked out at the doctors. Because of that, I had another guy come and play for me when my rotation was on the front row, while I played back row. Anyhow, we ended up pulling out the victory for the championship in that league as well.

In addition to the leagues, we also played in a men’s tournament at Utah Valley University at the end of November. Up until that time, we had only played in city leagues, so we were unsure how we would fare against club teams from UVU, UofU, SLCC, and the like. Because we were an unknown and unranked team, we were placed in the lowest pool were we played a high school club team, and UVU’s C team. We were playing amazing that weekend and beat everyone in our pool pretty convincingly. After pool play, we started the playoffs by facing a really tough team from Vegas. We had pretty good leads in both games, but ended up losing to them in both. The loss sent us into a losers bracket where we played and smoked Air Force Academy’s club team, and then we beat a team which consisted of some guys that used to play for UVU years ago. Our goal was to place in the top 10, and with that 1 loss and a unlucky draw in the playoffs, we ended up taking 9th. It was probably the best time I’ve ever had playing volleyball.

One other thing to mention when it comes to volleyball, Danielle has been playing on a women’s team in a city rec league. I’m kicking myself now for not ever bringing my camera to her games, so I don’t have any pictures of her playing. They started out a little shaky, but were still a middle-of-the-pack kind of team when compared to all the teams in the league. But after playing together for a while, and getting to know each other, they have gotten much better. In the tournament at the end of the last league, they lost their first match, which sent them into the loser’s bracket. They ended up having what seemed like a marathon run through the loser’s bracket, beating nearly every other team in the league to make it back up to the finals. The last night of the tournament, they played probably 10-12 sets, which is exhausting, and ended up running out of gas in the final match to take 2nd place.

For more pictures, check out the gallery: Indoor Volleyball 2009

October is one of the best months of the year! Brody turned 6 months on October 6th. I can’t believe it has already been a half year since Brody has been born. He has grown up so much in that time and has really started developing a personality. He has started getting set in his routines and has a rough time when he doesn’t get his usual nap and feeding times. The bigger he gets, the more he fits into clothes that make him look less like an infant and more like a little man. On all the recent Dr visits, he has been doing great, still in the high percentiles for height, and low in weight, not much has changed there.

We were able to get out to the pumpkin patch and get some pumpkins for Halloween. We usually like to spend some time later in the month carving pumpkins, but we didn’t get around to it this year. It was fun to spend some time at the pumpkin patch and take some fun pics with Brody. A week later, we ended up going to another pumpkin patch with Stephen and got some really nice photos. We have been wanting to get some professional pics of Brody/family pics for a little while, and since Stephen is da man when it comes to photography, he came out and took some good ones. Brody wasn’t in the best mood in the world, so we didn’t catch him smiling too much, but they still turned out really nice.

I mentioned in the previous post that we made a fun and “scary” Halloween movie. I am hoping this can be a family tradition that can continue each year. As kids in the family get older and are able to “act,” we can start incorporating more and be able to watch them grow older each year by having fun movies to watch down the road. If you didn’t get a chance to see the movie, check out the previous post.

Another thing we did was have a Halloween party at Danielle’s parent’s house on the 23rd. This year was a lot of fun. We took pictures of everyone in their costumes, had homemade doughnuts and such, and then spent some time outside with a campfire. Danielle’s sister Amity (with the help of the kids) did a really good job setting up some nice decorations and put together and fun doughnut eating contest for the kids. We also roasted hot dogs and told scary stories around the fire. We ended the night by gathering around the TV and watched our Halloween movie. It was a really fun night.

On Halloween night, we were able to meet up with my sister Rachel and her family as they walked around the neighborhood trick-or-treating. It was fun seeing how excited the kids got over the candy. We then went home and were able to pass candy out to the kids in our neighborhood. Overall, it was a very fun and eventful month.

For more pictures, check out the gallery: October 2009

For the last couple years since we have been married, I have had this idea to start a new family tradition to make a home movie for Halloween. We finally got a video camera for Christmas last year, so this year I decided to move forward with it. After recruiting a niece and a couple nephews that are old enough to do a little acting, and coming up with a story, we spent a fair amount of time filming, and an equal amount of time editing. It was a lot of work, but think the end result turned out really good, and made for a good end to our family Halloween party last week. Hope you enjoy. Happy Halloween!

Click here to view the movie: Halloween 2009

Time goes by so fast and I forget to blog about what’s going on with our little family. Brad and I had our 2nd anniversary on August 15th and had a nice day. We did a little shopping and had some good eats, two of the greatest activities. It was nice to go out together and have a short break away with just the two of us. I’m back in school, yes in school AGAIN, and I am taking just a couple classes I have left until I start nursing school. I was told I am an alternate for spring semester in January so lets hope huh. Brody is getting so big. At his 4 month appointment he was 27.5 in and 14.9 lbs, but that was nearly 2 months ago. She told me to start him on rice cereal to bring up his weight a little bit. His height was still in the 97th percentile though. Tall and skinny! He is already filling out 6 to 9 month clothes. He is eating from a spoon fine but I can’t get it into his mouth fast enough, he’s definitely a hungry boy. His sixth month check up is coming up soon and we are excited to see where he’s at. Brody is a lot of fun, he laughs sometimes to see if you will laugh and then if you laugh back he thinks it is so funny. What a goof ball! He’s sitting up now pretty well and likes to stand up (with help that is), he’s a strong little guy. In case anyone has forgotten, we take pictures of Brody with that blue dog for a purpose. We do it monthly to compare his size against something as he grows. Brad got this idea from a friend so we decided it would be fun to do. We have had a fun summer and are sad it’s over, but we have Halloween to look forward to now so it makes the change in season bearable.

This post is a bit late, but there are some good pics to go with it so I think we should still post it. We have wanted to go to the zoo for quite some time now, but something always got in our way of going. So, we finally made it there on Labor Day. I know Brody can’t enjoy it quite yet, but I still love it. It was fun but really crowded considering it was a holiday. While at the zoo I noticed some of the best animals aren’t even there anymore, like the hippos and polar bears. I was very disappointed in Hogle Zoo for getting rid of some of the best animals. We had a good time at the zoo and so did Brody even if he doesn’t know it yet.

For more pictures, check out the gallery: Labor Day at the Zoo

This past Saturday was definitely a day to remember! For Brandon’s 30th birthday, he wanted to go skydiving. His wife agreed, so he asked me if I would be interested in doing it as well. I have actually wanted to go skydiving for a long time, but never made the effort to do it. I figured if I didn’t do it now, I would never do it. So I agreed, and we were signed up and ready to go. We arrived at the airport in Tooele around 10 am that morning and started by watching a 20 minute video that explained how we would have to fill out paperwork that would protect the skydiving place from being sued if we happened to be injured or killed. That was really reassuring. The video then went into the details of a tandem jump (for your first time, you skydive while attached to an instructor), and went into detail of what we are supposed to do throughout the event. After the video, we filled out the paperwork, commenting to each other how crazy we were and how insane this whole thing was. After the paperwork and paying the $195 that it cost, we had to wait for a while because there were other groups going ahead of us. It was cool to see the previous people come down and land and it gave me a little idea of how that was going to go. We saw one girl who put feet down when coming in for a landing, which you are not supposed to do, and her and the instructor hit the ground and toppled over. The instructor ended up hurting his ankle and she walked away just fine.

Not long after, Danielle and Erica showed up with Brody and Boston and they waited with us. Then we heard our names being called and went over and met the instructors that we were going to be attached to and got all suited up in our harnesses. As they were strapping us in, they went over a little of what they were doing, and things that would happen when we got on the plane and throughout the jump. Danielle came over with the camera and filmed a little bit while Brody was crying, he must’ve been really scared that Daddy wouldn’t make it. We then went out of the hangar to a plane mockup to do a little practice run of how everything would go. As we were talking about that, we realized the plane was pulling in, so we had to book it out to the runway to get on the plane. The harness was pretty tight and made it awkward to walk/run so it felt like I was waddling out there. Then the plane pulled up and we got on board.

The plane ride up was pretty chill, the instructors joked with us a little and went over what we needed to do as we waited until the plane reached the proper altitude (13,000 feet). My instructor asked if I would be down to do a gainer (a forward moving back flip) as we exited the plane which I told him absolutely. I wanted to do as many tricks as we could! As we started getting higher, I noticed we could no longer see any land because we were in the clouds, and the temperature was quite cool that high up. At this point I started to get a little nervous. And then the light on the wall changed to indicate its time to open the plane door. Next thing I know, the 3 in front of us were jumping up, the first girl hung half her body out the door while the second guy jumped, and then she followed. Then the third guy hopped up and was quickly gone out the door. Which meant it was my turn. At this point, I was pushed into action and didn’t have time to think or be nervous. I slid up the bench and moved my feet so my toes were hanging over the edge and moved myself into the doorway. It was almost surreal as I squatted there halfway out the plane door watching the clouds rush by, feeling the cool damp air as if it were raining. Ready, set, go, and we were out of the plane. The flip we did went by really quick and the next thing I know, we are face down coming out of the clouds. The instructor tapped on the shoulders to remind me to move my hands into the proper position, and tapped my hips to remind me to push my hips forward. I remember thinking, I can’t believe I am skydiving right now! The freefall lasted about 60 seconds, but it hardly felt like we were moving. We were so high up, it didn’t even look like we were getting any closer to the land, the only indicator that we were moving was the wind pounding my face making my cheeks flap around, and the loud roar as the wind blasted my ears. Then the free fall was over, the instructor had pulled the cord and the parachute was out. It was actually pretty smooth transition from 120 mph to the slow steady fall under the canopy. Other than the actual jumping out of the plane, this part was my favorite. We were still so high up that it was an awesome view, but I also got to take the handles and make some turns. The turns were really cool, because you would start to swing to the side really fast. We did a couple half turns, a 360 and a 720 before the instructor took the handles back. At that point we practiced what I would do when coming in for the landing and then he steered us into position and started in for the landing. Next thing I know, we were on the ground, safe and sound, I didn’t die! Brandon came in right after us and we celebrated a little as we walked back over to the hangar where Danielle and Erica were waiting. It was such an amazing, exciting experience. I want to do it again!

We took a week long trip to California with our friends Brandon and Erica. They also have a baby (Boston) that is just barely older than Brody, so we borrowed my mom’s car so we could all fit in one vehicle. The driving was incredibly long. We stopped several times to fill up on gas and to feed the babies. Brody actually did really well on the drive with Danielle back there to keep him entertained. He usually cries a ton in the car, but he was surprisingly chill this trip. We stopped in Reno for some dinner at a sushi place and then drove a little bit further through Lake Tahoe into Grass Valley where Brandon’s dad lives. We stopped there for the night just to break up the drive a little. His dad and step mom were really nice and very hospitable.

We got up and had some breakfast and visited a little bit and then it was off on the road again. We decided to stop in Sacramento for some lunch and then went to some old Sacramento place where they had all these little shops next to the river. We were there for a short time and then continued on our drive when we ran into really bad traffic which extended our time spent in the car. After finally clearing the traffic, we had to stop to feed Brody. So we stopped at a gas station when I realized that car wouldn’t start. It was a stressful ordeal, but after trying several things we decided we needed to replace the battery. So with the help of some people passing by we were able to buy a new battery and it worked just fine, only 3 hours lost sitting at a gas station in Fairfield, CA. We stopped for dinner at an In-N-Out Burger and ended up getting to the Santa Cruz/Capitola area pretty late that night. It was a rough day.

We spent the next 3 days in Santa Cruz, hanging out on the beach, playing some volleyball, swimming in the ocean, playing at the arcade and riding some rides at the Santa Cruz boardwalk. We had a fire on the beach and roasted hot dogs, took a train ride through the redwood forest, ate out a couple times, including a breakfast place right on the beach. We did a little shopping and a lot of just sitting back and relaxing. It was really fun being able to experience Brody’s first time to the ocean, although he didn’t like it when we dipped him in the water.

After the four nights there, we packed up again and headed out for some camping at a little town called Fort Bragg, CA. It was a really long drive again, but we were able to stop for lunch in San Francisco and got to see the Golden Gate Bridge. The drive after that was especially long because we got stuck in traffic again, but we finally arrived in Fort Bragg and were able to get our tents and stuff set up as the sun was going down. It was cold and foggy, and we were so tired from the drive that we went to bed pretty quickly.

The next morning, some of us got up bright and early for some bottom fishing in the ocean. I had never been on a boat on the ocean before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was a little worried I might get sea sick, but ended up not having any problems at all. It was really cold, and I was really tired, but it was actually pretty cool to see the fish that we were pulling out. I caught probably 7-8 fish, but only 4 of them were keepers, one of them being a pretty big lean cod. I wasn’t too excited originally to go fishing, but it ended up being a very memorable experience so it was worth it. We ate some of the fish we caught later that night, which was surprisingly good (I don’t eat fish). Danielle actually tried (and liked) it too! It was also awesome having our small little family camping for the first time. It was pretty cold, so we bundled Brody up in some warm clothes and he looked so cute, especially in the morning when he would wake up with a big smile on his face.

Then came the long trip home. We stopped in Grass Valley again for the night and did a little swimming. Brody & Boston both loved the water and we spent a good amount of time cooling off in the pool. We made the rest of the trip home the next day, stopped in Reno to lose some money at the Wheel of Fortune slots, and made it home just after 9 pm that night. Overall, it was a really fun trip, just way too much driving!

For more pictures, check out the gallery: California Trip