Which Santa Do You Like Best?

First Sight of Christmas

Christmas Slide

Santa had no idea he brought Brandon a slide!

Christmas 2008

Sorry I didn't edit these pictures so they are not the best. As you can see we are all looking lovely for Christmas. We were so lucky this year. It was a lot of fun to see Brandon get so excited. He never bothered the presents until he figured out what was in the wrapping. After a opening few presents he wanted to open everyones presents. He is loving all of his new treasures and I will get to spend tomorrow finding a place for each one of them. I love being a mom!

Christmas 2008

Christmas

Today is Christmas Eve an I cannot help but ponder some of my Christmas's past. Dad and Mom my first thought goes to you. My earliest memory is Christmas morning when I believe I was two. I will never forget the excitement of a little girl when I walked out and saw the baby bed that you had made for me. Mom even sewed the little quilt and pillow. For those of you who don't know, my mom doesn't sew. Twenty years later I was having my own little boy. That Christmas I again got a cradle made by my dad. I still weep at the love that went into those Christmas's. Those are some of the most precious memories of my life. Second, I feel very blessed to have been taught of the Savior throughout my entire life. I hung some pictures on our wall for Christmas and asked Chris what he thought. He replied, "It just looks like everyday." At first I was annoyed at his comment but now I realize that it was truly a compliment. I am grateful for a season that causes me to ponder the life of my Savior. Jesus is the Christ! know that he lives! I love that he loves me! I know that he was born by a miracle and that he lived a perfect and exemplary life. I know that he suffered and died for my sins. I know that I can return to him one day. For this knowledge I am grateful. Merry Christmas to you all. We love you very much.

Jesus Christ Slideshow

Crazy Snow Days

It is snowing again today. I cannot believe how much snow we are getting. These pics are taken from my front window. This is so cool to me because I never grew up around this much snow. I am loving it!

Brandon Decorating Gingerbread

Christmas Traditions

Merry Christmas everyone!!! We love you all so much. We have had so much fun this season. It all started with the first snow and sledding. Brandon loves the snow. Unfortunately, he always gets a little cough if he stays out to long. Then we went up to Ogden because I found a Christmas Tree for sale up there. When we went to pick up the tree the family just gave it to us. What a good deal huh. We ended up spending two days taking off the lights because they didn't work, but it is beautiful now. While we were there we visited Christmas Village. It was really neat. I wore the wrong shoes though and my toes were numb by the time we were done. The next morning Brandon and his Grandma Hess spent some time creating gingerbread people and a gingerbread tree. As you can see he loved the frosting. Finally, this morning I let him color some ornaments to put on the tree. Now he thinks he can take all of the ornaments off of the tree and put them back on. Oh well it was pretty for a few hours. I love Christmas; only one more week!!!!

Christmas Fun!!!

Our first snow!!!

We had so much fun in the snow today. It took a while to round up all of our snow clothes, but it was worth it. We all went out to the park in town and built a snowman, sledded, and threw snowballs. Once again I was shocked at how fearless Brandon is. He flew down the hill on his sled all by himself and then wanted more. I think we need to take him to the top of a black ski hill. After a long day of fun in the snow he pooped out in the truck on the way home. It didn't take two minutes. I love that.

First Snowball

Sledding with Mom

Brandon, who's that?

Brandon is getting so smart. He has a book with the family's pictures. He knows Brad-"bubba" and grandma-"gramamama" and chase-"CHSS sound" but best of all Brooke!

Rice Krispies

Brandon's favorite snack lately are marshmallows; so I thought we could mix it up a bit. This was the first time I had ever let him cook on the stove with me. I hope that wasn't a bad idea. He loved stirring the mallows and watching them melt. Of course his favorite part was pounding the rice krispies into the pan. I am sure no body wants to eat these now that Brandon has had his hands all over them. The truth is, he loved them so much; I am not sure he would share. He also liked stretching them out as far as they would go. It was fun to watch him get so excited and enjoy his hard work.

Falling in Fun

Falling for you

Brandon is so lucky. He has the greatest dad in the world. Chris always seems to find a way to make life fun. I think Brandon has even reached the age where he realizes that his dad is more fun than mom. Lucky for me, mom is still more cuddly. Last night we raked up half of our leaves. The pile reached to the bottom limb of our tree. We had fun tossing Brandon in. The first time he sunk under and we couldn't even see him. Chris dove in and found him. It was pretty funny. We were more careful after that. Brandon liked running through the pile and tossing the leaves. I was really itchy when we were done so I got in the shower and realized I was having an allergic reaction. I was scared because last time I had one I was miserable for a week. I told Chris to bring me some medicine but I didn't realize he gave me two pills instead of just one until I had swallowed them. I was out 30 minutes later and feeling pretty groggy for the whole next day. No more leaves for me.

Halloween 2008

Sometimes life gives you sweet rewards. After a long day Brandon conked out in his high chair. So cute!

Twilight

Ok, well I have been waiting and waiting and finally the month has arrived. Twilight will be released!!!! This is a really cool website I found for all of you Twilight lovers. You can download icons, desktops other pics, etc. Also, you can take a quiz and find out which Twilight character you are most like. Cool huh. I took it and found out I am an Esme. Chris refuses but maybe I will get him to cave. Count downs on girls!! Oh yeah the site is http://twilightersanonymous.com

Check Out My Loot!!!!

Giant Pumpkins

Check Out these Giant Pumpkins. It weighed 384 pounds!!!!

Halloween

I can't believe how much has happened since last year. Brandon is growing so fast. We were just looking over our blog and he started naming everything he saw. I didn't even know he could say pumpkin but clear as day he saw it and said it. He had such a good time trick-or-treating. His Grandma Hess got special clearance for us to come into her work and between her friends at work and herself, his bag was already half full of candy! That gave him enough time to realize that this was an excellent day and he was ready to go that night. Chris found his old newspaper wagon in grandma's garage so we packed it up and were on our way. Brandon would run up to the house and start knocking on the door. If someone didn't come immediately he would pound!!! Then after they would give him candy he would give them a look and they would give him another piece. Not to mention the silly people that just held out their bowl to him. That will teach them. Little hands can grab a lot. One thing is for sure. Brandon has his Grandma Bliss's sugar tooth.

Pumpkin Patch

I hope everyone heard that Chris is a local celebrity down here in Santaquin!!! He was in the paper as the hayride driver at the farm and people have come from all over the state requesting to ride with the guy in the paper. No autographs yet but I am sure that is coming next. Brandon had a wonderful time as usual. His little legs got a little scratched from the pumpkin vines but no permanent damage. He kept helping everyone pick their pumpkins and then the people would get a kick of how good he was riding on the hayride. He really was made a to be a boy. All things motorized are the excitement of his life. Well enjoy the pics. Love and miss you all!

SOOO FUNNY

Water Park

We stopped in Tulsa to spend time with Mom and Dad Bliss. We had a lot of fun Saturday when they took us to a water park. At first Brandon was sleepy. He fell asleep on the ride down and was determined to get his nap in. He finally got the courage to start exploring and found himself a playground that had water gushing from every seam. He loved turning the wheels that opened valves to spray water, but the most enjoyment he found was on a water slide. He would run up the stairs climbing through a waterfall that could have drown him and then race to the top at times jumping in head first. We have always known our son was a dare devil, but grandma and grandpa's adventure raised us to a new level. They both got to take him down the slide and we all laughed when his bright and happy face came out the bottom of that dark and wet tunnel. He couldn't get up fast enough and when he would run to get back and do it again, the water past his knees, he would fall face first. We finally just started handing him up to awaiting aunts and uncles who wanted to see first hand Brandon's happy little face as the anticipation built for his turn to go down once again on the big green water slide. It's hard to believe all the things he wants to do at only 18 months, but as his daddy I find joy in all the things I learn that he can do.

On Our Way

We are finally on our way home!!! We will be back in Utah by Friday and ready for school to start. Chris has enrolled for a full load after taking a couple semesters off. Hopefully his brain still works. I am in my last semester and I couldn't be more thrilled. We have stopped to see grandma and papa on our way home. Brandon loves, loves, loves them. He has had so much fun so far that he has been completely skipping his naps so that he won't miss a single thing. Yesterday we went to a huge park and then stopped to get a slushy. Brandon was devastated when his Aunt Baylee wanted to try his and so we let him have his very own and he sucked it all down. Brain Freeze!

Summer Sales

We are in Columbia, SC now and we are doing well. Last week I sold five alarms and they counted as double so really it was 10. I am finally to the point where every sale matters. At the end of the week I will have made $12,000 and in two weeks at the pace I am on I will double that. This really was the best thing we could have done as a family, for our family. Briana is so great and is so supportive. I work long hours but it reaally will pay off for us. there are just over 5 weeks left and then we will be back at BYU.

Pictures

These Pictures are from Chris and Brandon's trip to Utah. They left me for a whole day. Good thing Chris had Brandon to push all of his stuff around. I also put on some pics of Brandon and his Papa Bliss laughing and Brandon with his Uncle Michael having his first Jamba. By the way he loved it and drank to whole thing!!!

Check out my Slide Show!

Sorry Everyone!!! I can't believe it has been since November that I last posted. Right now Chris is working more than full time trying to save up to get us back to Utah. The plan is May but we have not decided if we are going to live in Provo or Ogden yet. Maybe I should add a survey to see which of our friends love us to most. I am in school and I only have four classes left to finish at BYU. I have decided that August is my deadline and so I have been working hard to stay on top of it. Brandon is just busy being a boy. He had his first birthday on Feb. 25. I took him to get his picture taken and the lady scratched his arm. I didn't notice until I picked up the pics and took them to show Chris and he pointed it out. Great job lady! He has figured out that he has a voice and loves to scream. He also knows that when you open to hymn book everyone sings so we have learned to keep it away from him when it's quiet time. We love it though. Well enjoy the pics. I think they are all done downloading now. Love ya