The Brande Bunch

Amazing Woman, Wife and Mother...

2010-10-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

I love this video, sure puts things into perspective...

Summer Fun...

2010-08-15T14:50:00.001-07:00

Isaac finally got some teeth...his 2 bottoms and top fangs! Must be from me talking about,reading and watching too much twilight!! Ha Ha
He has also decided that he hates to ride in the car. Here he is having a breakdown...this makes for really enjoyable long drives, like to and from Las Vegas, by myself, with both kids:)...AHH sooo fun!

Ike chillin at Ecko Reservoir during a boat trip

A day boating trip with our little family and my sister and brother in law's family....so fun!

Two cute nieces Nora and Abby having a lunch break

We took a weekend trip for Mac's 3rd birthday to see my Dad in California! We did and saw a lot! Here are the boys in front of the Sacramento River. We stayed on an old river boat right on the water that was turned into a Hotel called the Delta King. It was so historic and pretty.

Happy Birthday to my little buddy Mac!!!! Can't believe you are 3. We don't remember life without you, we love you:)

My dad took us to the Alamaeda County Fair on Mac's Birthday!!! He loved it and wanted to go on all the rides by himself like a big boy.

Since Mac has an obsession with trains we are in luck... my Dad's profession is based around locomotive safety. We visited lots of train spots and the Train Museum.

We went to Hearst Castle, which was amazing! If you haven't heard of it before like we hadn't, google it or visit! It was gorgeous!

The main mansion of Hearst Castle

Took a hike through the Redwoods. I laugh at this picture because it doesn't give the size of these trees justice, but still my Dad, Spence and Mac look like midgets!!!

Santa Cruz

On the boardwalk at Santa Cruz, gotta be one of my favorite places to visit. Thanks for a great trip Dad, we had a blast!

4th of July!!!! Staying patriotic to our Country and school......!!!

Bluffdale 4th of July Parade

Fishing at our cabin

Mac getting a fishing lesson. We love Summer and don't want it to end!!!!!!

We are not in the 80's anymore!!!!

2010-06-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

Chubby little Ike

Mac learning to ski! I about died, his skii's were only 2 feet long! It was so cute.

Ike taking a dip in Lake Powell.

Mac hanging out playing tractors of course on a beach in Lake Powell

Here we all are in front of our boat during our first trip to Lake Powell as boat owners:)

If you have not noticed, I never update my blog, check my email or send any because we have not had the Internet in our house until now!!!! Hooray.... I don't live in the 80's anymore!!! I know that may sound like a simple pleasure, but I am thoroughly excited about it!!! Thanks to my Dad, he got us a fabulous new computer for mine and Spence's Birthdays, so we thought it time to get the Internet as well. So here I am! I have a lot to catch up on, first and foremost we are moving to Las Vegas. Spence had a great opportunity to transfer there for work and we felt really good about it so we are taking the plunge and moving. We are very excited! Spence has been working there full time since April and commuting back on the weekends until our house sells. The plan was that our house would hopefully sell in a few months, we would buy a house there, and then me and the kids would move down. But of course our townhouse has not sold, so we are giving it another month and if nothing happens then will will rent it and have to rent something there as well. Crappy, but at least we will not be separated any longer. In the meantime, we have done a lot of fun things. We went to California for my Dads wedding, to Phoenix to visit Spencer's brother and family, went to lake Powell on our boat we bought with our friends the Sorenson's and have made many trips back and forth to Las Vegas! And I can't believe it but Mac will be 3 in 2 wks! He is so big. And Isaac is 10 months already.... and is soooo big literally weighing in at 25lbs! Chubby babies are the best:) That is about as much catching up I have to do for now, but stay tuned since I am connected to the Internet now!!!!

Catch Up!!!

2009-12-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

Well, this is going to be a very long post since it has been a very long time since I have updated! And I am sorry but I am retarded and still can't figure out how to put the pictures in the order I want, so forgive me that they are out of sequence! I have a lot to catch you up on, so to start we had a great summer! Spence and I went to Maui Hawaii for our 5 year anniversary and had a blast! It was so beautiful and relaxing, I think I want to take all my vacations there!!! We had a lot of trips to our cabin, had girls camp there, then I was released from my 2 year calling as Young Women's President. Mckay was potty trained (yahoo!!!) and celebrated his second birthday. And last but not least we introduced our new little one, Isaac James into our family! Isaac was born 1 month early on August 29th. During my pregnancies my amniotic fluid level runs low and eventually gets to the point that it is dangerously low despite bedrest and careful monitoring, and I have to deliver. Isaac was born early and due to a condition called pulmonary hypertension he spent the first 2 weeks of his life in the newborn intensive care unit. After he was born he had a really hard time breathing, had some fluid in his lungs, and his blood pressure was out of wack. He was put on a ventilator and was sedated so the machine could do all of his breathing. He was given many IV's, medications and was getting his nutrition through an IV that went right into his belly button into an atery. We were not able to hold him until he was 1 week old, and believe me that was the longest week of my life! But after all of the waiting, great care in the NICU and a lot of prayers he was slowly weaned off everything and was doing great. We were able to take him home with us 2 weeks later and what a great feeling it was!!! We are so grateful he did as well as he did and is home with us! Isaac is the best baby and we can't imagine our family without him!Here we are in Disneyland last week. We went as a family for our Christmas!

We had to visit Newport Beach, which brought back memories of my senior trip!!! Ha Ha

Mac and Spence on Dumbo

Me and Mac on the Tea Cups! He rode them over and over again. This was definately his favorite ride!

My Chubby little Isaac who already weighs 17 lbs at 3 months!!!

Isaac at the cabin all bundled

Our family after Isaac's blessing

Happy Halloween!

Me and Ike

The first time I was able to hold Isaac

Spence holding Isaac for the first time

Mckay seeing his new little brother for the first time 10 days after he was born. I love this picture. I will never forget that moment and Mckay's face seeing Isaac for the fist time. Priceless!

I was hesitant to put this on but I love this picture! So sorry to the weak in stomach viewers!!! this is my c-section and Isaac being born.

Welcome to the world Ike!

Even though he was one month early, he was a big boy... weighing in at 7.5 lbs

In the NICU

NICU

Me and Mac at the Cabin

Riding the 4 wheeler

Girls Camp at our cabin! I love these girls and miss them!

Mac on his birthday

Blowing out his candles

On a hike in Maui, 5 moths pregnant

At a luau which I loved!
Happy 5 years!!!

Girls Trip to DiSnEyLaNd!!!!

2009-04-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend my Mother in Law treated all of the girls in the family on a trip to Disneyland! We had such a good time! The girls always try to take a trip once a year and so far we've ended up always coming here! I could go to Disneyland every vacation of my life and be happy...seriously!!! I Love everything about it, the smells, sounds, rides, food, TREATS and really just the whole atmosphere! I guess it helps that I have so many great memories there. Growing up my family would go to Disneyland for our summer vacation every year. Being there reminds me of my grandparents, being with my siblings and just being young! I hope that I can continue this tradition with my own family and go there often! I am lucky that I married into a family that loves it just as much as I do! Here we are outside the entrance to California Adventure!

Teresa, Emily, Me and Julia enjoying a nice cool slushie in the hot Cali sun! Yum

Julia and I posing with Jessie from Toy Story! We are about to enjoy a very delish never ending bar-b-q! It was tasty and filling!!!

The girls pretending to be all out Disneland tourists!!

Here we all are in front of the castle! I love my family!!! Thanks for such a fun trip and many more funny memories!

It's a BOY!!!

2009-04-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

I know these are not very good scanned photos so forgive me!!! These top three pictures are body profiles. It's so exciting to see how fast and how much they grow in such short time:)

Now.... these last two are clear shots right between the legs! And if you can see it there is a definate little something there! We are so excited to have another little boy, we have had so much fun with Mckay. We can't wait to meet him!!!

A Bump On The Bean...

2009-03-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

So...let me first explain Mckay's obsession with brushing his teeth and the taste of tooth paste! He LOVES it! He calls it TT and if I let him he would suck on a tooth brush all day and only eat tooth paste! Well, the other day he had been brushing his teeth and kept asking for more tooth paste for about an hour, so I decided that he had enough and was afraid he was going to make himself sick. So I took it away from him, well he didn't like this very much and was running and screaming after me calling for his "TT" and ran right into the corner of my bedroom dresser! He hit so hard that he flew back onto the ground. He was still crying but not about the huge bump that was immediately starting to form but was still crying for his beloved "TT"!

Another pic of the Bump...on his upper right side of his forehead! Poor little guy, I think I felt worse than he did as you can tell from the picture... he looks really hurt! He is going through a cheesy faze right now and loves to have his picture taken. He will smile like this and say cheese!

Lovin' his pudding!

Mckay is getting close to being potty trained. He comes and tells me every time he has to go to the bathroom. I have put him on his little toilet a few times and he has gone, but I have decided to wait another month till I get real serious with it! Scary!!! If anyone has any tips, I am all ears! But for now he thinks it is a little seat and when I am not watching he will sneak into the bathroom and pull it out in front of the tv! Oh boy I love him!

And then there were FOUR......

2009-03-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

Yes.... I know it has been an extremely long time since I have posted, so long that I am sure most people don't even bother checking my blog anymore!!! But we have been very busy and very well, so well in fact that we are expanding our family of three to four! I am expecting a new little member of our family mid September! We couldn't be happier or more excited, we can't wait to meet this new little person! Well, that is all I have to say and announce for now but keep posted for pictures soon!!!

Our Trip To San Francisco....

2008-11-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to visit my Dad who lives in Vallejo California, which is in the bay area right outside of San Francisco. We had such a great time! We visited all of our favorite places, ate lots of great food and spent a lot of good time with my Dad. Here are Spence and Mckay looking out at the Carquinez Bridge. This is about 100 yards from my Dads front door! Great view...

My Dad and Mckay!! Mckay loved spending time with his Pappa and being in a new place! He especially loved his dogs!

My Dad took us to the new Natural History of Science Museum in the Golden Gate Park. It was amazing but way too crowded! They had this way cool replica of the rain forest that you could walk through. It was about 4 stories high, so you walked through and up it on a spiral stairway around it! There were butterflies flying all around you and all Mckay could say when one passed us was Eeewww!

Mckay pointing at a butterfly saying Eeewww! He looks like a little tourist!

There was also a huge aquarium in the basement. They had a ton of fish the are only seen at the bottom of the ocean and live in darkness all the time. It was really interesting and fun to see. Mckay wanted to kiss all of the fish.

2008-11-15T19:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the fish we saw! They were so pretty!

Here we are at a major tourist spot in San Frans... Pier 39. Behind us in the picture is Alcatraz. If you ever go to San Francisco make sure you book a tour ahead of time to go to Alcatraz. It is sooo interesting and creepy too! But you definitely don't want to miss it! My Dad took us on the tour a few years ago and we all loved it! We didn't go this trip, but we will definitely go again sometime!

Our little Fam in front of Pier 39! It is pretty fun to see and go to especially if you have little kids!

Me, Mckay and my Dad in his back yard. It was such heavenly weather! Every night we sat out here, talked ate and enjoyed the weather

Here is my naughty little child on the plane ride home! I know he looks homeless here, but that is why I am showing it!!! All Spence and I could do on the way home was laugh and make fun of ourselves! We joked that we were the way annoying family on the plane whose kid looked way dirty, was fussy the whole time and was way stinky with a poopy diaper! I am sure you have all been on a plane with a family like that....well this time that was us!!!! Mckay was super fussy so I pretty much tried to give him any treat or snack I had to keep him busy, hence the messiness. Then he had a poopy diaper, well where the heck are you supposed to change a diaper on a plane? No where, so everyone around us got to enjoy the lovely scent from my child! Oh boy I sure love you Mckay, but I am glad that plane ride is over!!!! Thanks Dad we had so much fun and can't wait till next time:)

HaPpY hAllOwEeN!!!

2008-11-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

We went to CornBelly's with some cousin's and enjoyed some Halloween festivities!!! It was so much fun, Mckay loved riding the tire swing horse! Here he is with his cousin Thomas.

My Little DUMBO!!! This was the funniest costume ever! I wish I would have taken a picture of his bum in it! It has a little tail that wiggles when he walks! Spence and I would randomly put Mckay in it before Halloween just to get a good laugh! He was so cute!!!

Dumbo the FlYiNg ElEpHaNt!!!

Mckay with Spence and cousin's Alyssa and Hallie. As you can tell Mckay was quite curious about Hallie in her puppy costume! He is way into dogs right now and wouldn't leave poor Hallie alone all night! he followed her around, pet her and pulled her little tail! Sorry Hallie!! We had a great Halloween!

A little bit of what we've been up to...

2008-09-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy busy busy past month! First of all Girls Camp was a blast with my Young Women!! They are so much fun and can always get me laughing!!!!
Mckay has been pretty busy riding the Harley!!! Check out his face...if looks could kill!
Playing in the rain and LOVING it!
We went on a little hike up to Cecret lake with the Young Women this week and Spence and Mckay came along too! We saw a Moose right off the trail on the way up! Here are my guys posing with the Moose in the background.

The three of us up at Cecret Lake!

Mckay turns 1 at the cabin!!!

2008-08-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

So I am way late at posting this, but Mckay turned 1 July 11th!!! We went to Spencer's family cabin that weekend and celebrated. Mckay loved being with all of his cousins and loved his cupcakes...YUMMY!
Our little family! Happy Birthday Mac!!I swear Mckay spent most of his time out on the deck riding the horse!! Here he is with Grandpa, Giddy up!
On the four wheeler with Dad, cute hair Spence!
Rise and Shine! Here we are bright and early in the morning.

This Time Last Year....

2008-07-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

In the beginning! Here I am getting ready to start the journey...
Here is Mac right after he was born and pretty blue! Poor little guy had a pretty rough couple of days too!
Strike a pose! This is Spencer's favorite picture, the Dr. held Mckay up like this to Spence and said, " Meet your Daddy."
Here's the three of us in the operating room right after my c-section. I know I look reeeaaaal PRETTY! But seriously, I couldn't have done it without Spence. Thanks for being such a great Husband and support. I love you!

Well, I've been thinking a lot latley about what I was doing this time last year. One year ago I was 38 weeks pregnant, very uncomfortable, hot and ready to have little Mckay! What I wasn't prepared for was the journey I was about to take to get him here...The week before I had Mckay I had been feeling a lot less baby movement than I had been before and I kept on having a feeling that something just wasn't right. So finally after not listening to my instinct for a few days I told my boss Dr. Yamashiro (who was my Doctor as well) what I had been feeling. He told me that he would do an ultrasound for me at the end of clinic to check things out. During the ulrasound we found that my amniotic fliud was on the low side and that's why I wasn't feeling as much movement anymore. It wasn't to the point that we needed to worry yet so I went home that weekend and was told to take it really easy, not to do much at all and to call if baby movement decreased anymore and if not we would do a follow up ultrasound on Monday at work. The weekend went well and nothing changed as far as I could tell. On Monday I went to work like anyother day or so I thought! When we got the chance to do my ultrasound, we realized that my amniotic fluid had gone done in half of what it was when we last checked. Mckay pretty much had hardly any fluid to swim around in so it was time to do something about it. I knew what that meant and I started to get really scared and paniced! Yamashiro who knows me really well told me that I needed to go home, get my bag packed and go right back to the hospital to be induced. I was so frazzled and worried that I was bawling my eyes out! I managed to call Spence and told him what was happening and to meet me at home. Yamashiro told me that I shouldn't drive since I was a little freaked, so my good friend Brooke who I worked with drove my home to meet Spence. (Thanks again Brooke!!!! )So after getting home and meeting Spence we were back at the hospital by noon July 9th and ready to roll.......My body wasn't ready and I hadn'y dialated at all so I knew it was going to be a long one! I was hooked up to the IV's and was given Pitocin to help get my contractions going and hopefully get dialated too. By that night I hadn't dialated at all, I was having pretty good contractions but I wasn't feeling them at all, so Yamashiro decided to give my cytotec which is another way to help get you dialating. I was given that all through the night and that was sure lovely!!!! By Tuesday morning I was dialated to a .........1!!!! And that was all, luckily it was just enough to be able to have my water broken. After that, I was started up on Pitocin again and they also put an IV type tubing through my uterus to put more fliud in for Mckay. Mckay was reacting pretty well to what was going on, but occasionally his heart rate would drop and the nurse would hurry and roll me on my side or move me around to make sure he was alright. By 6pm I had dialated to a 6 and got my epidural and by 10pm I was at a 10 and started pushing. Two hours later and a failed forcep delivery I had a C-section!!!!!!!!! Mckay was born at 1:15am Wednesday July 11th. Oh Boy!!!!! It's a very long story and believe me it felt even longer living it! By the end I was so exhausted, I hadn't eated or slept 2 days. And Poor Spence was just as tired and in shock at the whole experience. It definitely was the toughest couple of days in my life but the best and most treasured at the same time. I am so blessed that it turned out ok in the end and that Mckay was healthy and perfect. Thinking back on it I can't believe it has been 1 year! Spence and I can't image our lives without Mckay and I am so blessed that he is here and is alright!!!!! I learned my lesson on listening to my instincts and what my body was telling me and I am thankful that I did. I can't wait to celebrate his 1 yr birthday in a few days!!!!I love you Mac....

TREK 2008!!!!

2008-06-19T19:38:00.001-07:00

Ok....well, Spence and I were asked to be the "Ma and Pa" for our ward for the pioneer Trek that our stake just did! I was pretty nervous at first since I never went as a youth but Spence had been before and knew what to expect! It turned out to be amazing! It truly was once of the best experiences of my life.I gained such an appreciation of all of the trials and struggles that the pioneers went through. We had awesome kids in our family that made it all worth it. So...3 days,34 miles later and with totally aching feet we finished! Here we are Day 1 all decked out in our pioneer clothing and all!
Here we are Day 2 with our little Trek family and handcart getting ready to start up for the day!!!
Some of the girls in our family helping to push the handcart.
All the handcarts in a line getting ready to do the women's pull....OH BOY!!! That was pretty hard!! We, just girls, had to pull the handcart up a mile long hill! But we did it....YeAh!!!
Here we are combined with a couple other families from another ward on the last day!!! Here we come showers!!!!

A peek at little Mac!!

2008-06-08T19:49:00.001-07:00

Spence being the biggest BYU football fan ever took Mckay to the blue and white game! They had a lot of fun and got a little too much sun!! I love the face he's pulling!
Me stealing some hugs!
Mckay loves to go on walks lately! I swear we go on 2 or 3 a day!
Lovin' his bubble bath!
Our little family on Mother's Day! I am so happy to be a Mom and so blessed to have the family that I do! I love you guys:)

Lots to CaTcH up on!!!!!

2008-06-08T19:49:00.000-07:00

So...we finally made it to Brazil and LoVeD it!! Here we are at the famous Market in downtown Sao Paulo! So many yummy fruits to choose from....
At the top of the tallest building in Sao Paulo the Banespa! The dowtown is enormous and keeps going as far as your eye can see!
Visiting Jose and Domingas and their family. Spence baptized them on his mission and since then they have gone through the temple! They were such an incredible family. The day we went there was my birthday, she made me a cake and they sang Happy Birthday too! It was a great 25th!!!
Looking down on Caraguatatuba...so beautiful!

Here we are on the Island of Ilhabela, which I loved, loved, loved!!! On one side of the island all the people live and on the other it is uninhabited with amazing beaches. In order to get to the other side you have to take a 2 hr jeep ride up the mountain down to the beach. Once you get there you can do whatever you want! We took the crazy jeep ride which was just like the real Indiana Jones ride...so much fun! And when we got to the other side our guide took us on a hike to this waterfall! Such a pretty adventure!

More, More and More Brazil!!

2008-06-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

A picture of the trail that doesn't give justice to our Jeep Adventure!
Visiting Emanuelle and her family. They were so much fun and so good to us! Spence loved to see them again.
This was the neighborhood next to a resort that we stayed at right on the beach at Angra Dos Reis. I was wishing I could live somewhere like this!!!
Here we are on a catamaran boat ride! There are 300 islands off the coast at Agra Dos Reis, so you can take a boat ride to some of them that have unbelievable beaches! We took a 6 hr ride which dropped us off at three different locations...2 beaches and then a coral reef in the middle of the ocean to snorkel! It was like nothing we'd ever done before! Definitely my favorite part of the trip! i hope to go back there some day!!!

Spence and I saying our goodbyes to the beach at Hotel Do Frade!!!!! It was a once in a lifetime amazing vacation! We saw and did so much, but it was good to come home in the end! We missed Mckay way too much!!!!!!

A Quick Update!

2008-04-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

Well....it has been a really long time since I have done a new post! We have been so busy around here, I kind of forgot about blogging...We were supposed to have gone and been back form Brazil by now, but things didn't work out as planned!!!!! The night before we were supposed to leave we had our bags packed and everything was ready to go, we realized that we had some problems with our visas and couldn't go! Believe me we were pretty disappointed, but it all turned out alright. Spence got right on the phone and the Internet to cancel all of our reservations and plans and then rescheduled everything again! It was a big fiasco! We have everything squared away and hopefully good to go for the second week of May...that is if we don't anymore surprise complications again!!!!!Sorry, this is kind of a boring post but I will do a better one soon with pictures of what we have been up to!

BRAZIL HERE WE COME!!!!

2008-02-11T20:27:00.000-08:00

So...... ever since Spence and I have been married we have always talked about going back to Brazil to see where Spence served his mission. And I really mean it was all talk and never really taking the step to actually go. We would say things like we will go after we have been married about a year, we'll go before we have kids, then before we knew it 2 and 1/2 years had passed and we had not been and I was pregnant! Spence of course truly wants to go back more than I want to because it's where he served and he loves the people, culture, food(besides the beans!) and everything about it! He seriously talks about it all the time. So when I was pregnant I didn't feel good about traveling so far away. Spence teased me that he was going to go without me because he was afraid that if he didn't go then we never would because we would then have a baby. Well, he never went and he still talks about it more than ever before. So after much thought we decided to take the plunge and go. We figure if we don't go now then we for sure never will until we are older and done having kids and they are older. I am nervous about leaving Mckay behind, but he is too little to go that far away and yet old enough to leave him here with my sister-in-law (thanks Julia). But I hope not too old that he will really know to cry for us when we are gone! So we booked our flights last Friday and we depart at the end of March. So, there is no turning back! Spencer is so excited he can hardly stand it and I can't wait as well, other than knowing I will miss Mac terribly!!! But this is a once in a lifetime journey and I know it will be worth it!!!

Mac's 6 Month Pictures!!!

2008-01-26T19:18:00.000-08:00

Mckay with his favorite toy, his Monkey! He loves it and always has it in his hands...
Big Boy sitting up...
My little chubby buddah...
Cutest close-up...and lastly, you gotta love those long eyelashes!!!!!

Long Time No Blog!!!

2008-01-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

Mckay on Christmas Eve! Giddy Up Cowboy!!!
Playing with some of his presents...
fast asleep in Santa's arms!
In the Army now!
Mckay with my Grandma Jackie, this will always be a treasured picture.

Well, I finally decided that it was time to update the blog so here it goes! Wow the past 2 months were so busy for us in good and bad ways... To start with the good we spent a lot of time visiting family and friends, Christmas was here and Mckay turned six months old!!! Mckay enjoyed his first Christmas even though he was so confused of what was going on!! And we finished the year out in Arizona feeling much warmer than home visting some family. The year also ended in a sad way for us as my Grandma that raised my siblings and I passed away from cancer in the beginning of December. I guess I should say it was a sad event for all of us that she left behind, but a wonderful one for her as she gets to move on, progress and be with my Grandpa again who also passed away 10 months earlier. She and my grandpa were amazing people and such examples to me. She will be missed very much. I am so thankful that she was able to meet Mckay and spend some time with him before she passed. What a blessing it is to have the knowledge of eternal families and to know that I will see her again!

Family Visits!!!

2007-11-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

Mckay with my Dad on Thanksgiving!! He was in town for a few days so we were able to spend some time with him! He hadn't seen Mckay since he was brand new so he was surprised to see how big he had become! He loved seeing his Grandpa!!
Mckay's first experience with Rice Cereal... YUMMY!!!! Can't you tell how much he is enjoying it!
We had Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Trina's house, so here are my cousins Malree and Mailee with Mckay and our Great Great Uncle Doug! We had a lot of fun together and ate way too much! I guess that's what Thanksgiving is for though, right?!
I just had to throw this picture in because I think it is so cute! This was Mckay at his 4 month check up!!! He has figured out what his tongue is and loves to stick it out!!!

A Fun Filled Family Vacation!!!

2007-10-31T00:15:00.000-07:00

Okay! Well we had originally planned this trip to San Diego to see the BYU football game, but with all of the fires it was canceled:(! So we decided that we were still in need of a vacation and went anyways! We had a lot of fun and did and saw a lot of things! Here we are holding a star fish in Sea World!
Mckay with Grandma and Grandpa Brande at Sea World! We were able to spend half of our vacation with them, thanks for all of the fun!!!
At the Shamu Show... at which we were sure to sit up high enough so we didn't get drenched!
Our Beautiful Hotel in San Diego!
Mckay had such a rough day, riding around in his stroller, taking naps, getting fed and being held! It's so hard to be a baby! Here he is hanging out and relaxing on the bed... he is getting so chubby!

2007-10-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

The gorgeous San Diego Temple... it is so amazing!
The start of a two day visit to Disneyland! It was so fun to see all decorated for Halloween.
Mckay loved Disneyland! I swear he slept the entire 2 days we were there!
In front of the castle, Bye Disneyland!!!
We had to take a quick stop at the beach! Thanks for the great trip Spence!

I've Been Tagged.....

2007-10-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Four Places I've Lived...
1. Mt. Olympus Cove, UT
2. Sugarhouse, UT
3. Iasi, Romania
4. Bluffdale, UT

Four Jobs I've Had...
1. Souper Salad
2. Sun Center
3. St. Marks Hospital
4. OB/GYN Associates

Four Things I'd Like To Do Before I Die...
1. Go visit Israel with my family
2. Go back to Romania and see all of my kids in the orphanage again
3. Go on an African Safari
4. Go on a hot air balloon ride!!!

Four Favorite Desserts...
1. Tiramisu!!!!
2. Nutty Coconut ice cream from Baskin Robbins
3. Coconut cream pie.... ( I love coconut!)
4. Homemade Oreo cookies

Four Interesting Facts About Me...
1. I'm not a huge chocolate fan, I prefer sour candy instead!
2. I took Mandarin Chinese lessons when I was younger and could speak it pretty well
3. I failed my drivers test twice before I passed!!!
4. Spence and I met in Las Vegas!

Four Favorite TV Shows..
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. The Office
3. Oprah
4. The Hills...( guilty pleasure, how embarrassing!)

A Fun Weekend!

2007-10-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

All the cousin's from oldest to youngest at my nephew Kobe's birthday party. Lexi, Kobe, Addie, Jet and Mckay!!!
At Grandma and Grandpa Brande's house during conference priesthood session and hanging out with more cousins! As you can tell, I had a lot of helpers with Mckay that night!!
Spence and me!
Mckay chillin' in his BeBe Pod.

Discovering his hands, he will sit and stare at them forever! I can just imagine that he is trying to figure out what they are for and how to use them!!

Just Rolling Around!

2007-10-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

I had to post this picture because I think it is too funny! Check out his crossed eyes and drool!!!
Well, this past week Mckay has learned how to roll over from his tummy to his back. It is pretty hilarious to watch. The first time he did it I thought it was by accident because it happened so fast. But he has successfully done it several other times. He gets tired after about 10 minutes on his tummy and eventually gives up by laying his head down, rubbing his nose on the ground and starts grunting! He's so funny and is getting so big!

A Photo Shoot for Mckay at 10 days old!!

2007-09-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

So sweet and innocent!

2007-09-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, since I am a little late at starting my blog I will start by showing some of the first pictures of Mckay and then work up to the more recent! Sorry if you get sick of all of them, I just love to show how much he has changed! So this one is Mckay's first picture right after my c-section!! He is a little blue!!!

2007-09-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

Mckay at 2 weeks old, just lounging around. And yes, his hair is red....so cute!

2007-09-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

All smiles while hanging out with Dad! He has a blue wrap on his foot in this one because he was jaundice and had his blood level checked that day...sad!

2007-09-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

Lots of hugs

2007-09-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

I love his little smashed face in this one!