Almost the New Year!!

I cannot believe that in 2 days it will be January. We had a very rough year losing my dear Grandpa in July and then my Uncle Kevin only a few weeks before Christmas on the 8th. I hope and pray that 2010 will be a better year for our family. Other than those two things, we had a great year.

We spent Christmas this year traveling from house to house. Christmas Eve was spent with the Ransom's as usual although this year we only stayed for a little while because we wanted to add one thing. I have never (in the 12 years Josh & I have been together and 4 that we've married) spent a Christmas with his family. They celebrate on Christmas Eve at his Aunt Connie's house. We were there around 5:00 and had a very yummy Jambalya dinner, played games and visited. It was a lot of fun and Jaxon was soooo ready for bed when we left around 10:00.

Christmas day was spent at my mom's with a Prime Rib dinner that was fabulous! We all got spoiled as usual and had a lot of fun. Ken's kids were there which made it a larger gathering than usual which was nice. Next year will be crazy because we will have both Jaxon & Levi running around...and who knows, maybe there will be another baby?!?!?! Christmas night, Mom, Ken, Lindsey & Matt all came over and we played the Wii. It was super fun for everyone but Mom fell asleep on the couch and slept through everything. She definitely needed the sleep though so we let her get away with it!

The day after Christmas was spent at my Grandma's house in Sunnyside. All of my cousins were there which was nice. We haven't all been together since Christmas 2006 and my Grandmas house was packed. She made a wonderful Rib dinner and lots of wine was drank, although not by me! It was a very long day and Jaxon was sleeping within just a few minutes of getting put in his carseat...poor little guy. The past few days have been spent trying to get him back on his schedule.

So, for New Years we have no big plans. Hopefully we'll just ring it in with a few friends and some family. I go back to school January 8th to start my second semester and after being out for almost two months it will be hard to get back into the swing of things. I had just barely got into it when the first semester was over....

Hope you all have a fun and safe New Year!!

I'm back!!

I think my last post was somewhere around April or May. It's been way too long. Anyhow, much has changed but much has stayed the same. I am still staying at home with Jaxon. I've begun the Masters in Teaching program through Heritage University. We have one weekend left in our first semester and then we have four more semesters to go. Student teaching will be the Spring semester of 2011. That means I could potentially have my own classroom when school starts for the 2012-2013 school year. (Hint-hint to my mom who needs to seriously consider retirement at that time so I have a someone to watch Jaxon for me!!)

Josh started working at Hanford. After years of being in the farming industry, he decided it was time for a change and got hired on at CH2MHill as a Nuclear Chemical Operator. He is still in training so as of now, he doesn't exactly know what all his job entails but enjoys what he's doing so far.

We are one day away from our baby turning 2 years old. These two years have absolutely flown by and Jaxon has made them the best two years of our lives. He is such a happy boy all the time and he is always giving hugs and kisses. We had a friend of our take his 2 year pictures and she did a fabulous job. Here is one that she got when he was laughing. I'm not sure what was so funny but whenever he sees this picture he says "night night". He thinks that he's going night night because his eyes are closed. He's so silly.

We celebrated his birthday last weekend and had our family and some friends over for his party. It was a great time and Jaxon had a blast. He played and played and played. Luckily it was a nice enough day outside that we could be outside! He crashed hard that night and slept very good.

We also have added an outdoor kitchen to our backyard patio. We are very excited about it and it has come in very handy for our last two parties; Jaxon's birthday and a Halloween party. It has a built in Traeger BBQ, two sinks, a propane stove top and a bar that seats 10 + people, along with tons of counter space. It isn't quite complete yet, we still need to grout, get the electical put in, and stone the outside but it is useable and we love it!!

Thanksgiving is next week and we will be hosting at our house with Josh's family. It will be nice to have everyone here and especially good to see his sister Heather who will be home from Montana. She doesn't come home nearly enough and she will die when she sees how much Jaxon has grown since she saw him last.

I will say again, like I do everytime I update our blog, that I will be better about doing this. It's not that I'm so busy, I just seem to find other things to occupy my time. So for now I'll just say that I will try...

Catching up...

So, I said I'd be better but I really haven't. So, I'll do a quick catch up for all of you so don't feel like you are left out. My last day of work at Anne's office was January 30 and since then Jaxon and I have been busy with a whole lot of nothing. We are always doing something but we really don't get a whole lot accomplished in one day. We go to the park, which he absolutely loves. Lately we've been working out in the yard trying to get it all nice and ready for him to play in. The weather certainly has been helpful with that the last few days. He was in shorts both yesterday and today!! I start my temporary job at Energy Northwest on Monday. I am looking forward to the income but not the hours. I'm not sure how well I'll do being away from Jaxon 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. I haven't been away from him for more than a couple hours at a time ever (with the exception of my crazy busy Saturday). I know though that he will be in good hands with my sister, mom and Josh's aunt Connie. And, I'm still planning on starting school in August which I am very excited about. I took my test over the weekend so hopefully I passed and won't have to take it again. Josh has been very busy with work and we are praying for a good cherry crop this year...we really need it.

Anyhow, here are a few pictures from the last few months...

This was at Easton Ransom's first birthday party.

Here he is at the park in February. It was freezing cold but he was happy as could be!! :)

Here's your sign...

So, I had a 'here's your sign' moment yesterday and now I'm feeling a bit guilty about it. I thought maybe if I tell my story I'll feel a little better.

Many of you probably know that Jaxon's hair is very curly and the more it grows, the curlier it gets. It is very cute. Anyhow, yesterday I met my sister for lunch at Subs N Jean in the Parkway in Richland and if you haven't been there before it is a place that you order at the counter and then they bring the food to your table. Lindsey was holding Jaxon while we were standing in line to order and a man in front of us in line kept turning around and looking at Jaxon (obviously admiring how cute he is). Finally he looked at me and asked "Is his hair always that curly?" I responded to him by saying "no, I did that special for today." He did not say anything and turned around and I couldn't help but think to myself that was the dumbest question I've ever heard. My sister's eyes got big at me and I just shrugged and said something along the lines of it was a stupid question. As time passed I didn't think anything more of it until this morning when I remembered that dumb question and told my mom the story. Her response to me was he was just trying to be nice and I said that I knew that but it was a dumb question. Then she called me a "little snot" but she did agree with me that it was a dumb question. So now, here I am, feeling like a little snot and really wishing that sometimes I would just keep my mouth shut or at least not say the exact thing that is on my mind.

So if any of you are somewhere and hear a man talking about some snotty mom at Subs N Jean, please let him know that I am sorry and that yes Jaxon's hair is always that curly. Please and thank you.

It's been awhile

Jaxon & Dexter

Christmas Eve 2008

Hello everyone. It has been quite awhile since I posted anything. Things have been a bit crazy although I really don't know with what. Life I guess. Our Christmas was good. We spent Christmas Eve with the Ransom's as we have for the past several years now. It was so much fun with 3 babies this year. Next year will be even better when they are all running and playing with each other. Christmas day we spent at my mom's and we had mexican food. Tamales, tacos, rice, beans and the works ~ it was so yummy and it makes me want it just remembering it. Josh and I went and saw 'Marley & Me' while Mom & Ken watched Jaxon. If you haven't seen it yet, you definately should...it was so cute.

Christmas Morning at our house

He got lots of Elmo stuff which is good because he loves Elmo!

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to this Friday because it's my last day of work!! I've been working with Josh's sister for the past year in her new Allstate Insurance office and that has been good but I would like to be able to have the chance to stay at home with Jaxon. I look forward to the weather getting a little nicer so we can go down to the park and take walks during the day. It will be nice also to be able to keep the house cleaner on a consistent basis. It usually looks ok on the weekends but weekdays are not so nice. This fall I plan on starting my Masters in Teaching through Heritage University. I will be starting the application process next week. My first project once I'm no longer working!! I'm really excited about that too!!

Jaxon is doing good. Walking all over the place and getting into everything. He is now just under 25 pounds and we're hoping he gets height from me and not from Josh. It's so much fun watching him figure things out and learn how things work. Here he is talking to Ziggy through the sliding glass door ~ Ziggy just wanted inside!
Well, I promise to try and be better about posting. It should be a little easier now that I'll be home more often!

Thanksgiving

So, better late than never I suppose. We spent Thanksgiving day at my mom's house with our ever growing family. All of Ken's kids were there, along with us, Lindsey & her boyfriend Matt, of course Grandpa and Anne & Sydney (Josh's sister and niece) joined us for a little while too. They were moving that day and through the weekend so they only stayed for just a little bit. It was nice company...

Jaxon loved it. Last Thanksgiving was the day we brought him home from the hospital so he didn't really get to enjoy much of it; he was still getting used to this big world. This year, he ate and ate. He loved everything from the turkey and potatoes to the yams and of course the pie. I did think ahead though and strip him down so we wouldn't stain his cute outfit. And he went straight into the bathtub when he was done.

To top the night off, Lindsey and I went to see Twilight. (I loved it!! Now I can't wait until the next one). That wasn't even the most exciting part. While backing out of my mom's driveway, I hit Josh's truck. I swear there was more room than that!! Anyhow, we were running late for the movie and since I knew it was my husband's truck, I didn't stop ~ I figured I'd just call him and let him know what had happened. But of course, there were neighbor kids playing out in the street yelling and hollering which made me second guess the fact that I had hit our own truck. So I told Lindsey, jump out and just make sure that it was Josh's truck. As she jumped out, she yelled at the kids "it's okay, it's her husbands truck!!" At that time, Josh & Matt come walking out of my mom's house having no clue what had just taken place. Lindsey yells at them that we hit the truck and that 'Brandy will call in a minute'. So when I did call, he answered his phone by saying "How'd you manage that one?" I still have not a clue how I did manage that, except in my own defense there was barely a dent in his bumper so my depth perception was only a tiny bit off that night. And I was excited to see the movie and didn't want to miss one minute of it.

All in all, it was a good Thanksgiving and we have so much to be thankful for.

Now here we are a week away from Christmas with snow on the ground...better get to baking!!

Jaxon turned One

I absolutely cannot believe how fast the past year has gone by. My little man is already a year old. We started the festivities about a week early because we had some family who were going to be out of town for his 'official' birthday party. So we had cupcakes the Thursday night before his birthday. He opened some presents ~ and of course, true to all babies, he loved the ribbon the most. He was a bit leary of the cupcake and frosting at the begining but after a few small tastes, he was all over it. Shrieking, laughing and pure smiles. Then, lucky me, was up all night with a hyper little boy. I was very thankful that I had scheduled his real party for earlier in the day so he would have a few extra hours to play the sugar off.

As his birthday approached, I found myself becoming way more emotional than I ever expected I would be. I had all kinds of stuff going through my head. Since I had a scheduled c-section when he was born, I very clearly remembered the days and hours leading up to his birth. I said to Josh "one year ago right now we were..." so many times over the week of his birthday. So here is a picture of Jaxon eating his last dinner before he turned one and his last bath before he turned one. I told you, I was emotional...

Jaxon's birthday was on Wednesday so we didn't do much. Grandma came over for dinner and a few gifts. Josh gave Jaxon a bath for the first time which I'm proud to say went very well. He washed his hair and everything. It was a pretty low key evening thankfully because come Saturday, our house was pure craziness.

For Jaxon's party, we had 60 (yes, count them 6-0) of our closest family and friends over for BBQ & cake. This little boy is so loved that we now may have to move to a bigger house just to store all of his new things. Let me just say that no one child (especially a one year old) needs 5 ride-on truck/tractor/backhoe/digger toys. So, at least one of those ride-ons are going to Grandma's house and the others will have to wait for another occasion to come out of the box. All I can say is 'holy cow'. It was a lot of fun and Jaxon will enjoy playing with all of his new toys over the next several months. We need no toys for Christmas, please.

By the end of the day, Jaxon was worn out. As a matter of fact so was I. I was so glad that day was over but at the same time couldn't believe that we had just celebrated my baby's 1st birthday. He's growing up way to fast. It makes me realize that we cannot take one minute forgranted because it's gone in an instant. This has been, without question, the happiest year of my life so far ~ thanks to the best little man a mom could ask for. I love you baby!!

Thank you to all of our friends and family who helped us celebrate!!