family...isn't it about time?

we will do what we can with me, the rest look great!

this was a spontaneous shot!

There are 100 of these because Bri would never look up!

Funny!

fix my hair!

my 4 men

Caleb

Kevin

Skyler

fun

Ok, so it's been 2 years since we had our family pictures taken! We missed the prime oppertunity to take them when Brielle was little. WE had a friend takethese and I think she did a great job. Now I just need to pick out the best and have her FIX (photoshop) ME!! My bronzer is too orange, I hate my hair, and I wish I had changed into the black loafers instead of wearing those black sandles! UGH! Everyone else looks great. We even got some great ones of Bri.

You know the drill. Vote for your favorite, these are headed to a Christmas card near you!

Happy Birthday Baby vampire!

Who's teaset is this anyway?

Yum, pink cake!

I'll pose as long as I have my pink balloon!

Vampires like bananas? Who knew?

Look, I'm walking!

Utah State Capitol building

Well, believe it or not, our little girl turned one on September 1st! And as you can only imagine, I made sure she had the right amount of pink decor to go around. Decked out in her pink tutu and ready to party, Brielle was fun to watch as she opened her gifts. I love that Kevin made sure she knew how to use her new teaset. She wasn't too fond of eating her cake, but did lick the frostine off.

Brielle now has her first 4 teeth, but surprisingly not the 4 you would be expecting! Her bottom 2 are in and as of last month her top "I" teeth have come in, making her look very much like a vampire! It's a little weird, but I have seen it before and a friend said her teeth came in that way too. Then Mark says to her, "And you turned out OK" Good one Mark!

Brielle has also started walking about 2 weeks ago. She is taking more and more steps everyday. She is also climbing on everything! It is crazy tring to keep her out of things. Her favorite thing right now is to climb on the dining room table! Help! I forgot how busy toddlers are!

So, my boys enjoyed their last weekend of summer going to the State capitol building for a tour. Then on to sweet tomatoes for lunch, and a new school clothes shopping event! So tired! But a great day.

How can they be 14?

Kevin's bike trail project

Caleb's picture taking project

Brigham City temple

Brielle being cute!

Kevin on a gocart

Frisbee anyone?

How about a game of 4 square?

The bikes!

July was a busy month! Aside from the basics; piano, mutual, orthodontist apt's, church related work, and swimming at the city pool, the boys went to scout camp for a week and have been working very hard on their Eagle projects! Kevin decided to help the city by digging up weeds and debris along a predetermined area for a bike trail! He was able to organize a group of people who brought shovels and weed wackers on Saturday the 9th. Caleb is doing the same project Skyler did which is taking pictures of a specified area in the cemetary and downloading those pictures to a disk which will then be downloaded to the internet for people to look up their ancestors headstones. Kevin has completed his project and Caleb is just working on downloading the 300 pictures he took. These were big projects, but Kevin and Caleb worked hard on them and will be glad to have them done before school starts. Another exciting day in July was that the angel Moroni was placed on the temple. It was raining that day, so instead of watching it outside we went to the church where they were broadcasting it. The temple is almost completed. They just need to work on the inside now. We are looking at fall 2012 for the open house and dedication! Anyone interested in coming to the open house is welcome to stay with us or at least enjoy a lunch or dinner while they are up here.

Finally the biggest news I have to share this month happened on the 28th! Kevin and Caleb turned 14!!! Because we signed them up online, they each recieved a free unlimited pass to Boondocks amusement park. This pass is normally $25 each! Skyler went to Boondocks on his bday, too, but it was pouring down rain, so they gave him a "rain check" where he could come back for free anytime. So with that, we all spent the whole day @ Boondocks for free! They rode the gocarts (a millon times), bumper boats, played lazer tag, a game of miniture golf and a few arcade games before we left at 5pm! After coming home that night we had a nice family party. The boys no longer enjoy my cakes, so they picked out a chocolate cream pie for their dessert. (I didn't mind, it's too hot to bake a cake!) We sat in the livingroom and handed the boys their gifts. They recieved a playground ball, a frisbee and a bottle of bubbles. See how happy they look! So grateful to recieve such little gifts! (Each cost no more that $2) So Mark says, "Hey let's go outside and see how far we can throw those cool frisbees!" After watching them play for a few minutes, Mark says,"Boy, Rachel, has our air conditioning unit always been that loud?" Uhh, let's see..... So we go to the side of our house and I yell, "Kevin & Caleb you better get over here right now!" Thinking they had done something wrong, they were a little confused. Then they saw them.... THE BIKES! Hidden behind the a/c unit were Kevin and CAleb's REAL birthday gifts! Boy, I had never seen Caleb so relieved in his life! They were so excited! So they were happy 14 year old boys who rode off into the sunset until their legs got tired!

Happy 17th!!

Happy 17th wedding anniversary!! We just had lunch at Maddox! Yum!

Fun in the Sun

"Medusa" the wild roller coaster

Caleb & Brielle at Golden Gate Bridge

Bradley cousins taking a break at Sequioa

Big trees!

Boys having fun at the beach!

Brielle's first steps in the ocean!

Look! A starfish!

If any of you reading this have looked at the rain totals for Utah, you'd know it has been like living in Oregon again! We really haven't had many oppertunites to run around and play outside due to the weather being so yucky. It has rained almost everyday in May. Flood warnings have been the biggest news report on tv. Sooo, when June 18th came around we were excited to leave this town and get some sun. We packed our bags and drove to Vallejo California for an all day adventure at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. We had been to Disnyland and Seaworld in the past, but with a baby in tow we wanted to enjoy something for everyone. This was a nice place. The boys got the wild and crazy roller costers, and we still saw a killer whale & dolphin show. There was a kiddie park where Brielle & I ran through sprinklers & fountains. The boys found a favorite roller coaster and were able to ride it 5 times! Mark & I even went on it a couple times. After our 6 flags adventure we drove to San Franscico for a day and then it was on to Visaila California for a Bradley Family reunion. We had such a great time with Mark's brother John and his wife Jane Ellen who hosted this years reunion. They gave 32 family members (who came) a tour of their wonderful city, a trip to Sequioa National Park and a day at Avila Beach Saturday. The boys (including Mark) spent hours boogie boarding in the waves! This was Brielle's first time to the ocean and she loved it! We even found a little starfish wash up. It was so nice to be in a warm, DRY climate and with family!

Happy Birthday Schuyler!

Big 16 year old



Egg salad, anyone?

Today is Schuyler's 16th birthday and so far he's turned out to be a pretty great kid. Granted, like all teens he has his moments! To celebrate we went to Brick Oven for dinner (a pizza restaurant), stopped at Sam's club to let him pick out his cake, then opened gifts when we got home. We did all this Monday because I am taking Schuyler and a friend to the Boondocks fun center after school to ride go carts and play in the arcade today. For his birthday we tried to keep things simple. Although being 16 is a big deal. Caleb gave him a book called 301 dating ideas! Kevin gave him a book on everything you need to know about science, Mark gave him some sunglasses and a new CD and I gave him the afgan I had been working on since his 12th birthday! ( We have moved a few times in the last 4 years and I had a baby, so cut me some slack!) Then we had him open his last gift which was his own checkbook with some money in it. We told him even though he has a savings account he needs to learn how to balance a checkbook and learn to be frugal in his spending. We then explained that this money was to be used for any clothes or shoes or things he needs. If he wanted to blow it all on one pair of shoes, or on a fun group date, he could do that but we would not buy anything for him if he needed something else later. We want him to learn to buy his own things. Now that he has finished taking Driver's Ed. he will need to use some of the money to pay for gas if he uses the car, etc...

This will be a good experience for him.

Also the other day I was cutting up one of our many eggs we hard boiled from Easter and found a twin yolk. I thought it was interesting and took a picture. Brielle officially has her 2 front bottom teeth!

Brielle's 1st Easter

Enjoying a nice Saturday together

Caleb and his Cheeseburger Pie!

I could say that raising an 8 month old prevents me from updating this blog as often as I'd like, however, my SIL has a 2 yr old and 9 month old and she can do it! Nevertheless, Brielle is napping and I've got to share these Easter pic's! I found this dress at the DI for $3.00! She just got her 2 front teeth and is chewing on everthing! I would show more pictures of Easter, but we recorded the boys looking for their Easter baskets and didn't take a single picture!

Also Caleb is taking CTE ( Career Technology Education) this trimester and for the cooking section was asked to make 4 recipes at home on his own. These recipes had to be 5 or more ingredients and at least 3 steps to make. (no Rice Krispie Treats here!) So for one of his cooking assingments, he made one of our family favorites, Cheeseburger pie. I tried to suggest something easier, but he insisted and it turned out great! It's a pie crust with hamburger (or ground turkey) with chopped onion, flour, salt pickle juice, diced pickles and grated cheddar cheese. YUM. MY!!

I may not have a full plate of activites everyday, but last Thursday it seemed everything was on my plate. I went walking with a friend in the morning, the twins had a field trip to Logan, Piano after school for all 3 boys, a soccer game for Caleb and then all 3 went to city council with Mark as part of a merit badge requirement. Skyler doesn't need to go to things like that because he has his Eagle, but he wanted to support his dad.

Then on Saturday, Caleb had another soccer game and Skyler had Driver's Ed. I stayed home with Brielle and we actually had enough sun so I could garden. I was excited to till up the garden boxes Mark made last year and add some compost. When the boys got home they helped me finish the garden and we relaxed outside in the sun before Mark took me out to lunch for Mother's day.