Photo Shooting by D

Remeber this? Little O has been a victim too.

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

As you can see, O is one sad little boy these days. His first two teeth are right below the gums, and it is making him (and us) totally miserable.

Happy Birthday C!

Or should I say...

Feliz Cumpleanos!

C turned 2 on Friday so we threw her a little party with her good friend (babysitter) Dora.

C with Dora and Maura, her new Cabbage Patch doll from Grandma V.

If anyone has 3.5 hours to spare and wants to make a Dora cake, I have the pan.

C was most excited about the sucker tied to her present.

Got it.



It was another very happy birthday.

A Halloween Nap Gone Wrong

O was a baby tiger for Halloween (hence the whiskers), but that didn't stop him from being a devil. Yeah, it's on his forehead too.

Saturday's Adventure

On Saturday we decided to get out of the suburbs and head out on a little road trip to west Texas. And when I say west Texas, I mean a little west of Ft. Worth.

We stopped in Mineral Wells, which is famous for its healing water. It should be famous for Baker's BBQ though because it's the best BBQ I've had in Texas thus far (and I've had a lot ).

C loved it too. Look how she's double fisting those ribs. She makes her daddy proud.

Mineral Weels is also famous for The Baker Hotel. It's been abandoned for several years now, but it used to draw people from all over the country including celebrities. Supposedly it's haunted and we read all sorts of scary stories about it on our drive out. It was a little spooky.

We headed out to Possum Kingdom Lake for a little fun in the sun, but since it was a chilly low-80s day, we didn't bring our swimsuits. That didn't stop C. We stripped her down to her diaper and let her have fun. Although the bubble blower is strategically placed, you can still see that she was wearing a diaper.

2.5 seconds later she was not and in true white trash style she remained this way for the duration of our beach trip.

State Fair of Texas

After the fried food induced sickness that occurred following our last trip to the fair, we swore we wouldn't return. But, D's sister was in town and we had to show her a good time. Friday night we headed down to Fair Park and we had a lot of fun.

C could have thrown pennies in the fountain the whole night and she would have been perfectly happy. Little did she know that the fair was full of all sorts of fun, scary, and interesting things...

Like rabbits that could eat her...

Goats that loved to eat food from her shovel...

And, a mermaid ride that blew bubbles and was so jerky, C almost bashed her teeth out on that bar.

O enjoyed the fair from the comfort of his backpack.

D's sister ate that whole thing. It looked even bigger in person. She paid for it big time.


O was disgusted by the pigs.

Speaking of pigs, you need to go to the fair so you can see this event:



Our pig won.

Like Father Like Son

O getting his game face on before BYU vs. New Mexico. I'd like him to take our game prep a little more seriously, but I suppose he'll learn with time.

Now that O is 7 months old, I figured it was high time for him to meet Snoopy. I was somewhat obsessed with Snoopy as a little boy, so I wanted to see if O shared my affinity. I think they hit it off just fine.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

For play group today we met up at a huge pumpkin patch over in Flower Mound. O was more than happy to have his picture taken in a pile of pumpkins, but unlike last year, C was too cool for such nonsense this time around.

Here he is being cute.

Here he is being sweet and cute.

Just look at him. Sweet, cute, and curious.

I can't get enough.

C looks bored to death.

Yup, still bored.

Mildly excited about the life size Care Bear figures.

But, overall, still bored.

It turns out she was just tired.

Picture was taken at a stop light less than 5 minutes after we left.

Laughing Babies

D has a real knack for making our children laugh.

Our Wicked Little Witch

I know Halloween is several weeks away still, but here's a little preview.

Happy Birthday Braton!

Since Mom forgot to call you on your birthday last year, I thought I would dedicate a blog post to you on your special day just in case she forgot again. I thought about calling to remind her, but eh.

1. Name: Braton Paul (bray-tun - weird family name)

2. Age: 24 (Is that even right?)

3. Height: 5' 9" (tallest one in the family- yay!)

4. Braton is currently studying neuroscience at BYU

5. Works part-time as a care taker for mentally ill patients

6. He's a naughty, but fun uncle.

7. Served a mission to Milan, Italy

8. Can cook excellent lasagna

9. Can make a dang good turkey too

10. Is obsessed with Italian suits and ties.

11. I think he has a girlfriend (do you?), but if that doesn't work out and any of you have sisters at BYU, I have his contact info.

12. Loves ska music, whatever that is.

13. Was a wrestler in high school.

14. Supports Barack Obama

15. Likes golfing and fishing

16. Was obsessed with watching Cinderella as a kid

17. Is still obsessed with watching Muppet Christmas Carol every Christmas

18. Two of his favorite tv shoes are The Office and Arrested Development

19. Has recently taken up tennis

20. Knows how to install home security systems

21. Drives a Saturn

22. Owns his own food dehydrator

23. Enjoyed Loretta's craft box as a child :)

24. I guess 24 facts are enough for his 24th birthday.

Happy Birthday Braton!

Our little monkey hates bananas.

And, he looks like a little old man in this picture.

Rollin' with our homies

The Birthday Boy and His Boy

Happy 30th Birthday, D. We love you!

Babies' First Haircuts

A little over a week ago, we decided O was looking kind of mangy and needed a haircut. I decided to do it myself because, well, where do you take a five month old for a haircut? I was pleasantly surprised by the result.

C, on the other hand, has been needing a haircut for months. I've been too afraid to do it myself and was afraid she would cry and freak out if I took her somewhere, so we've been putting it off for a long time. Plus, she's my beautiful baby girl with beautiful baby hair and I didn't want anyone to mess it up. Who cares if she has a little rat tail in the back? Well, I was out shopping at Grapevine Mills today to pick up a couple of last minute presents for D's birthday. We walked past Mastercuts and I decided on a whim that C needed a haircut TODAY. I took her in and she sat there perfectly for the whole five minutes it took and even exclaimed, "That fun!" when it was all over. Fortunately, I had the camera in the diaper bag and was able to capture the special event to share with all of you.

This lady probably thought I was so annoying because I told her 20 times to just cut the rat tail and not to dare touch any of her curls. And, then I proceeded to carefully watch every cut she made.
C had the same serious look on her face the entire time.

An older woman was in there at the same time getting her hair cut and she asked me how old O was. After I told her he was five months old, she said, looking at C, "So, she's about three then?" Um, yeah, uh-huh, she's three. Yeah, that's some reasonable spacing of children. When I told her she was only 21 months old, she said, "Well, that's the best way to do it." I think so too.

Bye, bye, rat tail.

I can hardly recognize her from the back now.

Trip to Michigan

Well, we just got back a couple of days ago from Michigan. It was so much fun visiting my family and enjoying the 80-degree weather.

Here are a few highlights from the trip:

We flew into Detroit and spent some time in Ann Arbor. This is a family picture in front of the law school. It's so beautiful there. I would move back in a heartbeat (if it weren't for the winters).

Future lawyer?

We then met up with some of our friends at D's favorite restaurant, Sweetwater. It's pretty shady, but the ribs and wings are to die for. We used to go and split the above meal, but D decided he needed it all to himself. He was very sicky that night.

The next day we got together with my three best friends from high school and their families. I miss those girls. Come to Texas ladies!

We also got to spend some time up north at my family's cabin. C loved playing in the water.

O got in on the sunbathing action too.

Baby's first time in a boat.

Baby's first time tubing.

Lest you begin to think otherwise, our little life isn't perfect. There was a whole lot of this going on too.

A WHOLE LOT!

Our sweet little O.

C and Uncle Braton (my brother) became fast friends. He's at BYU and single ladies.

These two - nothin' but trouble I tell ya. They may look like friends, but C and Ella have a serious rivalry going on.

C could have spent the whole vacation in that Barbie car.

Great Grandma Bulson and O

O with his cousin who is three months older.

All of the grandkids at their Great Great Grandma's house. She turns 103 this month and still lives alone. Crazy.

We took C to the local ice cream shop on our last night in Lowell. I just handed her an ice cream cone and let her go wild. It reminded me of that paper towel commercial - "If you knew this would happen, but gave it to her anyway, you're crazy."

Plane ride home with sleep deprived 20 month old = a total nightmare.