We have a walker!

Monday Parker decided he was FINALLY ready to walk. At least he made it before 15 months I guess. He's so proud of himself and walks all over the place now. Sorry for the delay in getting the video up. We've actually had a very busy week, so here it is :) I really could watch these two play like this all day! Enjoy! Listen close at the beginning as Brody can be heard in the background saying, "This is so fun!" and then halfway through when Parker LOVES getting his brother. He can hardly contain himself :)



This second video will probably only be entertaining for the Grandma's and Grandpa's but it's a typical family night at our house. We just thought is was funny that Parker's sign for "more" looks like he's saying "I'm going to pound your face" haha!

The Policeman and The Rascal

Just a couple funny stories from the last few days. I think I've mentioned before how there is order in all things with Brody. He's very methodical and quick to tell me if something is wrong. This has recently been projected on Parker. I actually really appreciate this as Parker is getting more and more mischievious and it's nice to have an extra set of eyes. For instance, yesterday I had gone upstairs to put away some laundry. Brody comes upstairs and tells me, "Mommy, I see a little stinker again!" I came downstairs to find this:

Apparently Parker thought he should be able to look out the window like a big boy so he climbed up on the tallest thing he could find at that time. This is a new favorite activity for Parker. I often find them like this:

Parker has the best cheeks and I just liked this picture of Brody.

Well, I moved the little car after a while because Parker kept climbing up there without Brody and tipping the thing over because he insisted on getting up on the steering wheel. He found an alternative very quickly:

There must be some serious fun going on outside our window. This is what we usually see any time we come home, though this time they were in separate places on the push car. Which ever parent is at home knows when the other is walking toward the house because Parker will randomly say, "HI!" in the midst of his jibberish. It's pretty funny!

Mr. monkey getting a better look at his toys. Notice he's never far from Brody :)

Today we went with some friends to a place that you paint your own pottery. It comes in handy being friends with people from around here because they inevitably know much more about what's going on! Today was a preschool day so kids under 4 painted for free, you just had to pay for the piece you painted. Brody was very intent on this little frog he chose to paint! Now the store puts it in the kiln or whatever it is you do with pottery and we pick it up next week. He's excited :)

The finished product:

Lastly, I'd like to introduce you to a book that has taken over our house. When my dad was here a couple weekends ago we went to Borders. Brody saw this book on the bargain shelf that he was enamored with. I told him he couldn't get it, because let's face it, he got enough stuff at Christmas to last us a decade! However, my dad went back and bought it without me knowing it and gave it to me later. He said to save it for when Brody's done something special. Well, last week Jared worked 5 straight days which meant we were stuck in the house for that amount of time (we still share a car). It was raining and cold so we had to be very creative to come up with things to do. Brody really was such a trooper and so sweet the whole week. So, Friday when I was out of ideas and Brody had been so good, I let him have his book. Oh boy. He takes it with him wherever he goes and we have to read it. The problem: It's 511 pages long. Remember that whole "order in all thing" with Brody? This translates into not being aloud to skip a single page. This means it takes me an hour and a half to go through this book. Seriously. I have instituted a we-read-until-Mom-puts-a-bookmark-where-she-wants policy. This picture is not great but this was tonight's bedtime:

Oh, I forgot to tell you what this book is about. Can you guess? Yep, Cars. Lots and lots of cars. Every page has a different kind with at least 5 pictures and descriptions. It's an encyclopedia of automobiles and Brody's obsessed.

I've learned about everything from Alfa Romeos to DeLoreans to Fiats. I really want to know what this kid is going to be when he grows up.

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam!

Since we were traveling and then sick, today was Brody's first day as a Sunbeam at Church. He really was so precious. It seems like the last few months Brody has grown up a ton. He's made some friends here and I've loved watching him interact with other kids. He's learned that playing is in fact fun and they're not always just trying to steal your cars like he thought when he was a little younger. His teacher today said he was wonderful. I get to be in sharing time with Brody since I teach another primary class so I got to see him in action a little bit. He got up to help hold a picture during the song they were singing. His little hands were shaking as he was so excited that he got to participate. He was all smiles from ear to ear. Otherwise he sat so nicely on his chair and occasionally turned around to smile and wave at me. I'm so grateful I was able to see it. He's been a great helper with Parker lately and has earned lots of little "pebbles" for his jar so he can go on a date with Mom or Dad. He filled his jar for the first time this week and has decided that a park date with Dad is what he'd like to do for a reward. I love how he enjoys the simplest things in life and reminds me what it's like to be little. Thank you Brody for growing up to be such a sweet boy. We love you and look forward to this next chapter in your life!

I took a couple pictures when we got home from Church today. This next one may seem a little funny, but I wanted to capture one of my favorite traits of Brody's. If you look closely at his little eyes he has little white spots that go in a circle around his eyes. It's like his little eyes sparkle and I love it. I hope that never goes away! Just one last one showing that he wanted included because it showed off his new sticker his teacher gave him. Plus, I really just can't get over how big he's looking lately!

The Many Faces of Brody

Over Christmas when trying to get a picture with our 3 year old we had a little difficulty. In a 2 minute time span he did all these faces...

...to get to a picture that looked more like this:

We love him, he makes us laugh, and photographers must have a lot of patience.

We're back and catching up!

We are finally home from Christmas and getting to a point where life seems a little slow again. We had such a fun time in California over our Christmas vacation and I can't believe it's taken me this long to get my pictures on my blog. Talk about slacker :) Here we go:

Jared waiting with the boys to come down and see what Santa brought them...

Santa brought Brody his first scooter!

Parker got a ride/push toy to encourage him to walk. He's taking his time, but he sure has fun walking behind this little car all over the place. He loves it (and so did Grandpa Wylie who had to test out every button) haha!

Parker thinks he's a big boy...

We took it out for a little ride around the lake. The first day didn't go very well probably because there was so much going on. However, he's since improved and really enjoys scooting it around and sometimes walking next to it.

I took some pictures of Parker while we were there for his 1 year pictures since I was a little behind on that also. He was a good subject for the most part :) It's tough with such a wiggly, busy baby!

He heard an airplane and his little finger came out to point at it. This is one of Mickey's favorite things that Parker does (points at everything) so I thought I'd include it :)

The only one I managed to get with both the boys.

My sister Ashley, Jared, and I got to go to the Newport Beach temple with my Grandma. It was so nice to get to go with her. She's one of the most amazing women I know and I'm so grateful to have her as an example. I think my sister Ashley is just beautiful. I actually think my boys got their big blue eyes from Aunt Ash. They look more like her eyes than mine or Jared's. I loved getting to spend time with her and really want to find her a cute husband sometime soon. Anyone know any great single guys?!

My family all went up to the L.A. temple one day to see the lights and the new Visitors Center. If you ever get a chance to go, you really should! The lights were just beautiful and the new exhibits were very uplifting.

I think I may have put it on here before, but Parker's favorite word is "Jesus". He points him out all the time and talks jibberish to him. He wouldn't turn around for our picture because he was busy telling Jesus about life.

Ashley and Brody in front of the Visitors Center

I just liked this picture of Jared and Brody. Brody has grown up so much lately!

On one the beautiful trees

I was able to see many of my friends and family while in California. I'm grateful that even though we live far away we've been able to keep in touch. Thank you all for spending the time to get together! We truly enjoyed seeing you! We went back through Sacramento on our way home and stopped at Kelsey's house on night for dinner. Parker tried on some construction goggles...

The boys all coincidentally had orange shirts on and were very excited when Aunt Kelsey announced she was making brownies :)

A little family picture at Gramma and Papa's house. While we were there Gramma Harley showed me how to make a pie crust, some yummy cookies, a cherry pie, and how to finish my quilt. I'm very grateful she shares her talents with me! Now if only mine turned out as good as hers. Someday...

One of my favorite parts of my trip was getting to see 3 of my girlfriends from college and their kiddos. Oh how I've missed these girls and their kids are just precious. Three of them are settling down in Sacramento (2 already live there and one will in a couple years) so maybe I should just move there someday :) Kaylene has a little boy, Kolton, who is 3 month younger than Parker. They were so funny together. They made each other laugh and Parker taught him how to push all the buttons on the TV (sorry kbabe!). I wish I had taken more pictures because the big kids all played really well together also!

Britni, me, Kaylene, and Tiffany. When Brody met my friend Tiffany, he asked her, "Excuse me, are you Aunt B?" haha! I guess the pregnant belly, tall thinness, and blonde curly hair made him think of one of his favorite people :) We thought it was pretty funny.

The whole crew. I'd never met Britni or Tiffany's husbands so that was a really fun treat to finally put faces to these people I've heard about. They were great of course and I really wish I got to see these guys a little more often! Love you all! I believe Brody was smiling like this because he had just burped really loud. Oh such a boy.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are settling into this New Year. Jared started his internship yesterday, so he's having a very busy week before school starts up next week. I have lots of goals and resolutions for this new year, so here's to 2011 keeping us all very busy :) Have a great day!