we all have our own way...

One bad thing about my multi level home is the stairs and with a 1 year old it can be dangerous. Call me a bad mom, but I refuse to get gates and put them at every possible place she could go---she has to learn at some point and I am not jumping over the gates to go up and down the stairs everytime.
She figured out how to go up the stairs awhile back and we have been working on going down for a long time! She is really good when she gets to the top of the stairs and will sit and yell at you to come get her. She has never tried to go head first cus she knows she isn't supposed to. She will throw stuff down and watch it tumble. Today she sat at the top and slowly turned herself around and came down ALL the stairs herself!! YAY! It is so funny how even things like this are so stinkin' cute to a mom! Silly, but I was so proud of her!! She got to the bottom, looked up and clapped!!
YAY!!
GO BRAYLIE!!
NOW... walking...

Brandon's dream come true...

Someone to stay up all night and play video games...

.......and not just someONE.....how about FOUR of 'em?!!!
Will we get any sleep tonight!!??
There is hope... Bray has stayed asleep for the past 2 hours amongst the screaming!
We LOVE having the nephews here to spend time with Uncle Brandon.
He loves having some competition to play with!
Love you guys!!

Tons of older posts below... all the way back to Bray's 11 month post.
Keep scrolling and hit older posts once if you want to see them all.
I think I am finally caught up!

The time has come and Braylie turned one.. last Sunday!

I could not get her to take a nap before everyone came and I didn't want her to be ornery for her party. She finally fell asleep for a bit and that must have been all she needed, cus after she warmed up, she was really good!
I maybe went a little extreme on the decorations and the party itself, but once I chose my theme, my mind went crazy with ideas and I had to even cut some out!
I had fun planning it all for little Brays.
We had such a fun day and LOVED having family and friends here to celebrate with a BBQ!!
My side of the family got her the cutest chair for her birthday, which she is working on getting into by herself and will sit and read books now (SO CUTE!)
She was so funny opening presents. She got so excited. She pulled the tissue paper out one by one. I would show her the present and tell her who it was from and to tell them thank you and she looked right at them like she really was paying attention. She would follow the toy as I moved it away to get the next one. She was so good and clapped like crazy when she was done! Thanks everyone for coming and for the fun, cute gifts!
Then the famous 1 year old cake. She was a little hesitant at first, but did really good after she figured out it was ok! She liked it so much she was licking her arms after I moved the cake!
She was SO good and lasted through all the presents and cake without one little cry or fit!!
We had so much fun and I didn't want the day to end.. I started to cry a little when I put her to bed.....I didn't want the day to end and I didn't want my baby to be ONE!!

Happy birthday little Brays!!! WE LOVE YOU and hope you had a FUN day!

1 year..

Braylie's 1st birthday pictures...
COMING SOON!!
I have been working on getting caught up on blogging.
see lots of older posts below posted in order of when they happened
LESSON LEARNED: DO NOT GET BEHIND BLOGGING! :0

A project and some practice

Here is our awful looking deck before.
It needed some serious help.
We set out to get it done before Braylie's party.
It took a lot of work and 2 coats!
Before:

After:

AND...
Braylie gettin some help walking from her cousins...

oNe yEaR stats

We took Bray for her one year checkup and well, she is in the 3RD, yes...3RD percentile for her weight! What the!!? She isn't fat, but she definitely doesn't look like she is not getting enough to eat. Supposedly she has lost weight since last time! :) I am not doubting my dr, but I think maybe they did some wrong calculations. Anyway...we take her back for a weight check to see if she gains weight and we are good to go. Her being extremely active and never sitting still and the fact that I am weaning her from nursing may play a strong roll!!

~She is a whopping 17.5 pounds~3rd oercentile
~30 inches long~75th percentile

She will clap when you say clap
she gives kisses when you say kisses
and will (most of the time) wave on cue
walking against stuff like crazy
can stand on her own for a few seconds
jabbers away
has 4 bottom teeth, 3 top and working on the 4th top one
is working on going down the stairs

tO My bEauTiFuL bABy giRL!!!

***
IT is so HARD to believe that my BABY went from this

to this

SO QUICKLY!!
***

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO OUR BEAUTIFUL LITTLE BABY GIRL!!
It has been such a fun year watching you learn and grow!!
You have brought so many smiles and more love than you will ever know into our lives!
We are so PROUD to be your parents!

Love you forever Brays,
Mom & Dad

tHe fOuRtH

We had just a busy 4th this year!
**headed up to Driggs on Friday evening.
***did a little worm hunting with Grandpa Hartshorn. Braylie even got into the action a little. a little small...sorry.

***went to the balloon races..Bray stayed home to sleep.
There was a guy tied onto the one with the big balloons (just like the movie UP).

**went to the Victor parade

There were only a few kids that watched the parade.

Uncle Jim restored these trucks so the rest of the kids rode on the trucks in the parade. The one is the gas truck that Grandpa used to drive to deliver gas. Made for great pictures! Despite how cold it was.... we still got a little sun!

it was so fun to be able to do things that we used to do as kids.

***Brandon and Matt made it to Driggs just in time to head over to the new golf course (jon huntsman's property) where we got to listen to Glenn Beck and had an amazing firework show! GO DRIGGS, IDAHO! Braylie spent most of the before time sleeping. It was pretty cold, so i was trying to put a hat on her and woke her up and apparently pissed her off... she SCREAMED and threw a fit. I could not get her to be quiet and it isn't like I could take her out anywhere. She finally calmed down and LOVED the fireworks!

beautiful view of the Tetons behind us..

** got in a 4 wheeler ride

**stopped to visit Grandma Bergeson.
We know she loved all the kids right there with her.

she thought she was so funny picking at the flowers when we kept telling her no!

** ran the mile in Perry Monday morning. Brandon did awesome and got 2nd place in his age group and 11th overall. Riley got 1st place. I got 5th place. ;)
No pictures...
**good ol' Perry parade/games afterwards

** Brigham fireworks

WE WERE EXHAUSTED!!!
I don't know that I have even caught up on sleep yet!!