Our Little Skeleton

I feel like time is flying by! Braxton is about five and a half months now, and we love seeing more and more of his personality (most of the time:). He knows exactly what he wants and he will always let us know. For example, when he wants out of his bouncer, he doesn't just start fussing... He does this thing where he arches his back and pushes so hard that he practically falls out of the freaking thing. While doing this, he's not really crying, its more like a yell or a grunt (imagine the sounds you would make if you were strapped into a chair and were trying to get out. That's what he sounds like;) The minute I get him out, he's all smiles.
He already has his two bottom teeth! His second tooth came in last week.
He recently learned how to roll from his back to his belly, but he gets stuck on his belly and gets all mad and starts crying. We usually have to help him roll back over and he acts like we were the ones who made him do it. A few seconds later, the kid is back on his belly and the cycle continues. Just barely, I went in his room because he was crying and he was stuck on his stomach with his legs tangled in the bars. It was hilarious.

Brax Man is my running partner! We run with two of my friends and their kids. It's a blast. We love chatting about kids, husbands, embarrassing moments, happy news, sad news, basically EVERYTHING.

He loves chillin with his daddy. Here they are studying (although I wouldn't doubt that Ry has ESPN pulled up on that computer).

Ryan and I love playing with our little man! We love his little laugh and funny looks. See for yourself...


We had a fun Halloween weekend! On Saturday night, we swung by our ward party for a little while. For those of you who watch baseball (or who have crazy husbands who do).... you know that the Texas Rangers lost the world series in game seven last Friday. So, Ry and I dressed up as "Broken Hearted Rangers Fans." Ryan truly was broken hearted over this tragedy. After the ward party, we went to a party that our friends, the Lee's, were throwing. It was a blast!


Two little skeletons. Braxton and his date, little Sophia, at the Lee's party.


We love our friends here in Texas!


On Halloween day, we had a pot-luck dinner with our med school friends. It was fun to relax, chat, and eat yummy food!

Life this past week...

Ryan's cousin and wife, Kevin and Melinda, are joining us in Texas! Kevin took a job in Fort Worth. We're super excited to have some more family down here! Ryan's other cousin and wife, Randy and Marissa, came down to help Kevin and Melinda and also visit us and Ryan's parents. We all had baby boys within 3 months of each other! Brax was the first, Hudson (Randy and Marissa's) came three weeks later, and Easton (Kevin and Melinda's) came a month after Hudson! My in-laws' house was busting with babies last week! It was crazy, but a lot of fun.
Easton, Brax, and Hudson

Brax and Hudson



I love this boy!



Like father like son. Already addicted to watching sports.

Taking a nap with Papa T.

We also took Braxton to his first BYU game! We went with our good friends, the Meier's, to Austin to see BYU v. UT. Us and the Meier's must have bad luck because this is the third road trip we've taken to see the Cougars play, and they have lost EVERY time! Seriously, what is up with that? Every time I tell my family that we're going to a BYU game they beg me to stay home because they say we're bad luck. I assured them that it would be different this time because now we have Braxton. Unfortunately, the child brought no such luck Saturday night. But, despite the loss, it was fun. However, going to a game with a kid is quite the change. I spent most of the time sitting outside with Brax because it was so loud. But don't worry, there were a million other mormon moms out there with their kids. Was I in the halls at church or a football game?? I couldn't tell. The UT fans were so thrown off when they would walk by and see all these young girls with a bunch of children. I don't blame them for their reaction;) Ry and I found a cozy little spot on the grass where we could see the jumbo tron.

It's never too early to start teaching your kid what's right!

What we've been up to...

My family came down a week before Braxton's baby blessing, and we went to Pensacola, Florida! It was so nice to get out and enjoy the sun. We've basically been shut up in our house all summer for two reasons: One, Texas is hotter than HECK and the pools are even too hot to swim in! Seriously, you hop in the pool, and ten minutes later you realize that you are still sweating hot. Summer in Texas is like winter in Utah, no one goes out! Reason number two, Braxton is still so little. So, Florida was amazing, and the beach was so much fun! The water was beautiful and felt great! We rented a condo right on the beach. A bunch of my extended family met us down there. I hadn't seen some of my cousins in years. My grandma even flew down and chilled at the beach! My family is in love with Braxton. My parents were always willing to watch Brax so Ryan and I could go play.

My sister, my mom, and Ry at the beach.

Happy Family!

My sister and me. She's going to pass me up. I'm going to be the shortest in my family:(

Brax chillaxin at the beach.

Some of my aunts and cousins.

My parents have some friends who retired in Pensacola. Al took us out in his boat early one morning. He,my dad, and Ry were fishing. My brother, Ian, and I went to spot dolphins. One swam right alongside the boat!

We went to the U.S. Naval Air Museum with all the kids and my dad. We are standing in front of the famous Blue Angels jets.

On the way home, we stopped at the Battle of Vicksburg in Mississippi. This is one of the Civil War Union ironclads that traveled up the Mississippi River during the battle.


Here are some pictures of Braxton's blessing! I just can't describe how much love I have for him. Little Braxton is everything to me, and I would do anything for him. Having him has strengthened my testimony and understanding of Christ's atonement. I better understand why God was willing to give His Son for us. I don't have to fear the future because I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for my little boy, and everything will be okay through Christ's atonement; no matter what happens! We are a family forever!



My grandma brought down this beautiful blanket to use. Braxton's great, great Grandma made that blanket. He is the third generation to be blessed in it.

8 Weeks and counting...

Brax is officially 8 weeks old and he finally decided to smile really big for the camera! The past 8 weeks have been the best of our lives! I never could have comprehended how much joy this little boy would bring me! It's amazing being a mom, and I thank my Father in Heaven every day for this precious boy I've been blessed with.

Eat More Chikin

Chick-fil-a is my new favorite fast food place and I will tell you why... Last Wednesday Ryan and I went to the Rangers game (Brax stayed home with Grandma) and they were handing out these cow hats from Chick-fil-a at the entrance. I of course thought they were lame and didn't get the point of them, so I had Ryan toss them in the trash. Well, then they announced that the upcoming Friday was Cow Appreciation Day. If you went to Chick-fil-a wearing the cow hat, then you would get an entire meal free. Now I'm mad I threw the hats away, and I'm filled with regret. So Ryan sends me to go looking for cow hats. Luckily I found some piled on this ATM machine. I'm just glad I didn't have to resort to shamefully snatching them out of the trash! So Friday came along and you can bet that we ate at Chick-fil-a for lunch... and then dinner rolled around and we thought, "Hey, Chick-fil-a sounds good," so we hit up a different Chick-fil-a. We had lunch and dinner completely free! To top it off, they got Ryan's sandwich wrong at dinner so they gave us another sandwich free for messing up. It was awesome. And yes, we are the epitome of cheap, poor people. I will always be a loyal customer of Chick-fil-a.

Baby Braxton!

I thought I'd have so much time to update my blog and post all kinds of pictures considering that Braxton is a newborn, but boy was I wrong! I'm busier than I ever have been. I can't even describe the love I have for my son, it's amazing. Ryan and I adore him and it's a good thing because he is a lot of work.
It's funny how these tiny babies come out with so much personality. We are really in for it because Braxton is about as stubborn as his mom and dad and he's only 3 weeks old. We're scared! He pulls tons of funny crusty looks and gets mad when we play with his feet. My mom says he gets the dirty looks from me, but I disagee because I never give dirty looks;) Having a little person of our own has been life changing.
Everybody has been asking us who he looks like, but Ry and I never could tell because we didn't think he looked like either of us. Last weekend we were at Ryan's parents house and we finally solved the big question. They pulled out Ryan's baby pictures and Braxton looks just like his daddy! We couldn't believe it.

Here is a picture of Ryan.


Here's Braxton


Taking a bath with Grandma



We're in love.

Last Minute Road Trip...

A couple of weeks ago, we were at our house watching the BYU v. Gonzaga game with some friends when we found out BYU would be going to New Orleans for the Sweet Sixteen game! For those of you who don't know, this was a BIG deal. BYU hadn't been to the Sweet Sixteen in over 35 years. Ryan of course was going crazy. He loves basketball and is a huge BYU fan. In his excitement, he got a little carried away and bought 6 tickets to the game! I about killed him because first of all, some of us didn't even know if we'd be able to get work off, and second, he just dropped a bunch of money on these tickets and I did not want to get stuck paying for them! Luckily all of us working people were able to get work off and we were headed to New Orleans for 4 days! We went with a group of our friends who all went to BYU. Sadly, BYU lost but it was an exciting game. Luckily, we stayed a couple days to check out New Orleans and we had a blast.
New Orleans was quite the experience. It was like a different country down there. Seriously, it was nuts! I will give you a little taste of our adventures in this interesting town...
First, here's a picture of us at the game. Poor BYU:(


We went on a swamp tour and saw alligators. The guide would get the alligators to come close by putting meat on a stick and holding it over the side. It was pretty awesome. These are some of our awesome friends who came with us! All the boys are going to med school with Ryan. We've made some great friends through med school, some of which came froom BYU too. It's been fun having other BYU couples down here! It's nice having friends that we can reminisce with about the good old days at BYU, and Utah. For example, no one else can understand the pain we feel from the lack of Cafe Rio except these people:)




Ghost Tour...

Meet Bloody Mary. That's right, Ryan and I our standing next to Bloody Mary. She took us on a ghost tour around the city. We went with our friends, Adam and Katie. We met up with Bloody Mary at a bar at the end of Bourbon Street. She gave us a real taste of the city and the locals. She is a professional voodoo person, attending the voodoo temple regularly. She has cast out many spirits and knows all kinds of sick stories about murderers who lived in New Orleans. If you're planning a trip to New Orleans, or if you'd like to know more about Bloody Mary, you should consider looking up her blog. Just type in "Bloody Mary New Orleans." You won't miss her. She's famous for these ghost tours. Our friend Adam even received a personal phone call from her. It's not every day you answer your phone and hear, "Hello, this is Bloody Mary calling." ha ha

When we met up with Bloody Mary the night before, Bourbon Street didn't seem so bad. We didn't see any of the nasty, crazy things that we had heard about. So then, the next day, some of our friends wanted to see Bourbon Street so we went down a different part of the street. That's when we realized that Bourbon Street actually was as horrible as everyone says. This freakish street was rank. I'm not just talking about the nasty businesses and shady posters hanging around. This place absolutely reeked! I am not exaggerating. The best way to describe this smell is a vile mixture of smoke, beer, horse crap, and old food. Don't ever go!


Here we are posing by some art. You might ask, "Where is the art?" We were wondering the same thing. In this picture is Brock and Lindsey Hansen, and Katie Meier (her hubby is taking the pic).


Here we are with Adam and Katie at Jefferson Square. If you look closely, you'll notice I have a bead necklace on. NO, I did not flash someone to earn that necklace. This girl told me that instead of flashing her, I could flash her my prego belly instead and she'd give me the beads. There's no way I was going to do that. I told her, "no," so she gave me the necklace anyway because, "I was a cute little pregnant person." Katie also got some beads from this woman, but she didn't flash the lady either.