The Things They Do

So the other day Brooklyn and Cade were playing together and soon enough they started arguing. It was one of those times that I was pretending that I couldn't hear what was going on. Pretty soon I heard a loud smack and then Cade started crying. I'm sure I rolled my eyes and thought, "Here we go again." Shortly after, Brooklyn started crying. It wasn't her hurt cry but sounded more like her really sad, I'm sorry cry. I was hoping she was feeling badly that she had hurt her brother. So I walked up to them ask what happened. No answer. I got closer to Brooklyn and kept asking why she was crying so hard (Cade was fine at this point). Finally between sobs she managed to get out, "Because my song is on!" What? As I paid closer attention to what was on the radio, I recognized the song, Where are you Christmas? from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas soundtrack. Earlier this summer Brooklyn watch that movie for the first time. She was watching it by herself and I decided to check on her. It happened to be the part where Cindy Lou Who is singing Where are you Christmas? Brooklyn was bawling her eyes out. I thought she was hurt but she told me she was crying because the little girl sang that song so beautiful. Yikes, is all I have to say. The girl is only 5 years old and she is so emotional about a song! I'll be honest, I was trying not to laugh. Wow, we are in for a treat when Brooklyn is a teenager. Good thing she's so lovable!

On the flip side, Cade is such a boy! If there is anything he can throw, he throws. If there is something to kick, he kicks it. If there is a pile of whatever on the table, he knocks if off. For example, I was at the store this morning and Cade saw a huge Christmas tree with pretty ornaments on it. So what did he do? Yep, he walked right up to it and knocked this huge bulb right off the tree and sent it bouncing. Nice Cade. Luckily it didn't break. Don't get me wrong, I love the little guy and he is a good kid. We'll just work on not being so destructive. It'd probably help if Heath and I weren't always laughing. His faces are too funny not to.

Nine Months Old and Kids That Fly!

I think each kid grows up a little faster than the last. Who knows where the last nine months have gone. This is a typical expression for Brynlie. She is definitely a squealer turning screamer. I know she's trying to communicate but it would be a little more pleasant if it was an octave lower. She is such a fun baby though. She is pretty much always happy unless Brooklyn is over doing it on the hugs and kisses (which happens often) or Cade is squeezing her cheeks too hard, or he's sitting on her like she's waiting to give him a horsey ride (which also happens often). They've got a lot of love for their little sister.

She's crawling everywhere. If she sees something she wants to play with she laughs until she's got what she wants.
Brynlie is such a little Heath. We've tried calling her Heather and Heathina but...no.
She loves to suck up necklaces like she is eating spaghetti. Of course everything goes in the mouth at this stage. It's like she has her own built in pocket.
The kids LOVE to jump on the couches. This morning they were showing me some of their flying techniques.

Nice form Cade! He's working on getting his back straight. They had to check out each picture and then they tried jump a little different or a little better. Not bad entertainment for a Thursday morning!

Family Pictures

A few weeks ago we were able to get family pictures done here in our house with the main purpose of them being used for my dental office. So thanks to Kim, Josh and Dusty for hooking us up with free family pictures. Here is a sampling of what an amazing job Dusty did while setting up his own mini studio right here in our house.

Chin Talk

This is the fun we have on Sunday evenings.

Brooklyn



Caden

Photo Shoot

We recently had some fun taking pictures of the kids in the backyard. We were waiting to get some pictures done for Heath's office and thought we'd take advantage of the kids being clean. They actually had fun posing and listened pretty well.

Trip to Utah

The first part of October I drove with the kids to Utah. I tend to get really tired when I drive so I was lucky enough to have my mother-in-law, DeEtte, drive to Utah with me and my mom drive back to AZ with me. Thank you both for your help! We had such a great time. I hadn't seen my brother for a year and a half and it had been two years since I'd seen my sister Tiffany. Cade is sporting his BYU sweatshirt because he watched his cousin Graham play football and he wanted his own football shirt. He wore it for two days straight.

It is always fun to be around my parents. Mom took such good care of us and dad was always playing football or something fun with the kids.

Brynlie got to meet her Great Grandparents Mary and Bob for the first time. Grandpa is so great with the kids and they all love him.

My dad took us to eat lunch at the Church Office Building. After we got to meet my mom after some of her meetings and she showed us around the Relief Society Building. The girls in the picture are Secretaries there. Emily is on the left and Anne Marie on the right. They are so fun. I also got to meet Sis. Allred and Sis. Beck (I met Sis. Beck at General Conference).
We had to get some pictures of the kids at Temple Square. My dad was taking our pictures when Cade runs off and is kicking the flowers! Apparently Cade didn't get the memo that says you have to at least act like you listen to your parents at Temple Square. Poor flowers.
The kids had such a fun time playing with their cousins. Cade loved having Graham around to play with.
Quincee and Brooklyn got along well also. I wish we lived closer to them all.
The kids had so much fun clearing out grandma's garden before it snowed. And it did snow Sunday morning. The kids were SO excited to see snow and make a snowman. We walked out of church and it had all melted. Caden cried and wondered why someone would take all of the snow away. We are missing Caitlin and Jonah in this last picture. I'm so glad we were able to go and play and have so much fun. Thanks for letting us leave you for so long Heath. We are happy to be back home with you!

6 Months old and Baseball Fun!

Well, it may be rather obvious that I am not great at this blogging stuff, so here is a post so that "someone" will stop asking me if I have posted anything yet. Brynlie is 6 months old already! I really can't believe how fast time flies and how fast my kids are growing up. Brynlie is doing great. She is sitting up now and is always giving you a huge smile. She has started laughing a lot more which is so much fun.

Cade loves to try and get Brynlie to laugh. Speaking of Cade, he is looking so old!

Last weekend we drove down to Yuma to watch our brother-in-law, Dionys, play baseball. We've never seen him play before and it was a lot of fun. Too bad he doesn't play for the Diamondbacks, we could see him play a lot more often.

Cade was showing off his baseball that he got from Dionys in the dugout. He was pretty excited.

In between games Dionys let the kids go out on the field and play around. I thought this picture was so cute. D.J. is explaining to Cade how you hold the mitt and how you catch the ball, etc. Hopefully Cade can get really close to A.J. and D.J. because he's been around dress up clothes for too long!

Dionys even played catch with them. Cade had such a good time out there. Thanks for letting us come watch you Dionys!

This picture is from earlier this summer. They are sure glad to be here close to their cousins!

Now I Can Sleep!

How great is America! We are so lucky to live in the BEST NATION ON EARTH, and I'm so glad that they represented so well the last two weeks for the world to see. No, of course athletics is not everything and a country can't be judged by its olympic performance, but not only did we win the total medal count (as I predicted we would), I am proud to be an American for how our athletes handled the Olympics and all their successes. From Michael Phelps, to the Men's Indoor Volleyball team, the athletes of the USA were absolutely remarkable. And, to top it all of I must say that my respect for Kobe Bryant has actually increased the last 2 weeks. I'm still not a HUGE fan, but it was just neat to watch him handle himself at the games, not just on the court, and to see him lead his teammates to an Olympic Gold. I got to watch an interview with him during the games, and he was genuinely proud to be an American and didn't apologize in the least that he stated we are the greatest nation on earth. I respect him for that. And, as I predicted again, the guys basketball team was dominant, in every single game! GO USA!!

Oh, as far as the title of this post goes, in case you didn't already figure it out, now that the games are over I might make it to bed before midnight!

Olympic Mania

So far the Olympics has lived up to all my expectations. The swimming was unbelievable, one of those sporting events that I won't soon forget and am likely to be talking about even 10 years from now.

Of course the US Mens Basketball, the Redeem Team, has got their act together from 4 years ago and is rolling over the competition. I have mixed feelings about Kobe Bryant, not a huge fan, but I must say that I believe his attitude is right on with US basketball and it has done a lot to help the other players. Also, what better move could you make than to get Coach K to be the head coach? Much better job with these players than a NBA coach would do.

Of course the Olympics wouldn't be the Olympics without the judging controversies either. I don't profess to be an expert on gymnastics in the least, but I don't understand how someone can get a medal when they completely fall on their dismount and someone else who only takes a little hop doesn't even medal (see the girls individual Vault event).

Looking forward to Track and Field. The 100m event was already crazy. If you missed it, the Jamaican, Bolt, can flat out fly!!! Only one more week of sleep deprivation!

Back to School

I can't believe that our little girl is so grown up. Yesterday was Brooklyn's first official day of school as she started kindergarten. This is the first time that she has gone somewhere for school, as she did preschool at home with Chelsea last year. I was anxious to see how she would handle it, but she acted so adult like and just walked right into school like she didn't even care she was leaving us. It was so fun to see her so excited to get dressed up for the first day, and have her hair just right (such a girl)! I even got to take the afternoon off of work and was able to walk her to school with Chelsea and the kids.
Unfortunately we are in transition right now with homes, we are staying at my parent's house, and so Brooklyn will have to switch schools probably about the time that she is starting to make friends in her class. Chelsea and I struggled with the decision of what to do as far as where to send her for school, but when push came to shove we decided that kids are incredibly adaptable and she would probably do fine no matter what we decided.
Here are a couple more pictures of our mini adult!

This is why I LOVE the Olympics

Wow, for any of you who didn't stay up last night to watch the Mens 4x100m Free Relay you missed out big time. Lucky for you I have copied a link here to the NBC Olympics website where you can go and watch it, and watch it you should. It was absolutely incredible and our athletes are amazing!! The video is not that long, the race was not even 4 minutes, so you don't have any excuse not to watch it. Go ahead, indulge your inner self and enjoy!

Click here to go to the website 

Together with Friends

This weekend we were able to get together again with our good friends from dental school, the Mitchell's and my good high school friend and his family, Cody Smith. It is fun to be back home to hang out with friends again.
I must tell my parents and my sister, Ondria, thank you so much for letting us stay in your homes while we are looking for our own place to stay. You guys have been very kind and we really appreciate it.

These are a few of my favorite things

Yes, you should think Julie Andrews and the Sound of Music when you read that title (wow am I displaying my age and my inner "manly" touch with that!)

I just thought it would be appropriate to get back on the blogging scene with a couple of my favorite things that I have been able to enjoy recently. Now it goes without saying that my wife is definitely my favorite and that the following don't even come close, but for this post lets focus on these other favorite things.

Number One: Apple iPhone!!
Yes that is right, I finally was able to fulfill my guilty passion and am now a proud owner of the iPhone. Lest some of you think I am a spoiled new dentist who is buying all my fun new toys, I have wanted this thing for over a year now and have held out. I even suppressed my desire to buy the new 3G phone when it came out, and thankfully I did. You see, my wonderful brother in law, Juan, is a proud new owner of the 3G iPhone and so he was kind enough to sell me his old iPhone for a great deal, and I couldn't pass that up. I am a bargain shopper you know.
So how do I like the iPhone so far, you might ask? I love it!!!! Chelsea is already sick of me telling her how cool it is and how many things it can do. But the thing really is amazing and I am using it all the time. Thanks Juan, and thank Chelsea, for letting me cough up the 5o bucks for this wonderful gadget.

Number Two: The Olympics
I admit, I am a huge fan of the Olympics and have been waiting for the opening ceremonies now for a while. It is so amazing to me to watch these athletes compete and to see how good they are at what they do. As most of you know I am a huge sports junkie and there is just something magical about watching the worlds best compete on such a huge stage. It is disappointing to say the least when you hear about the doping scandals and such, but regardless of all that which goes on, I still love these two weeks that come around every two years.
I must make one comment on tonights opening ceremony in Beijing. If I had to sum it up in one word...AMAZING! I am not usually a big fan of the opening ceremony, although I usually always try and watch it just because I love the olympics so much. It is usually too symbolic and artsy fartsy for me. But the one tonight was incredible. The things they did were so precise and so neat to watch. For those of you that didn't get to see it, you have got to try and find it on the internet and just watch the drummers sections, remarkable to say the least.
Last comment. Many people are saying that China is going to lead the medal count when all is said and done. I am making my bold prediction right now, that the greatest country on Earth, even our own US of A is going to lead the medal count when all is said and done. And I make one more bold prediction. That Team USA Basketball will take home the gold this year and do so in a very dramatic way, by cleaning house of everyone they meet! C'mon now USA, don't let me down in front of all my readers!!!

We're still here

No we haven't fallen off into the ocean of Phoenix's new coast line due to global warming. We are still around and doing well, it's just that we don't have regular internet access so it limits our blogging abilities.

We are currently living in my sister's house while her and her family are in Mexico with her husband's job. So I guess we are house sitting for a month or so. While we are here we are looking to try and buy a home and wondering how that is possible with the costs of homes these days, and yes I know that home prices are down from recent years. In trying to plan a budget and decide what we can afford, we might just settle down in a nice community trailer park in Apache Junction!

I am working in three different dental offices, one in South Gilbert, one in North Gilbert and one in Tempe. So, here goes my shameless plug, if any of you are in need of a dentist, I can point you in the right direction!

Sorry for such the delay on the homefront. We will try to be better, but no promises....

The Best Nation on Earth

I can't let this miraculous holiday go by without expressing a few of my thoughts about this wonderful country we call the United States of America. How lucky are we to live in such a great nation, where we enjoy so many freedoms that so many others in the world can only dream about. During this celebration of our Independence I would like to express thanks for all those that have fought, and sacrificed so much, to allow this country to remain free. I have a brother who is training to be an Air Force pilot, and at times like this, I always try to take a minute and reflect on how fortunate I am that I have fellow American's like my brother who are willing to fight for our freedoms, and allow me the opportunity to enjoy living in this, the most wonderful country on earth.

And please, don't forget to protect this great nation, and all of its freedoms by not voting for the socialist Obama! I'm not a huge McCain fan either, but compared to the alternative he looks like gold! Sorry, just had to throw the political plug in there.

Feel free to play the following video clip. There is no video, only my favorite patriotic song, God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood.

Mastercard Moving Promotion

Penske Rental Truck: $413.32
Gas: $753.31
18 hour drive with 3 kids under the age of 5: Priceless

On the move

So we have officially left San Antonio. We packed up the truck yesterday and headed out today. We stopped in Las Cruces, New Mexico for the night and will finish up the trip tomorrow. Luckily my parents were nice enough to come out and help us pack up, load and clean the apartment. And then, perhaps more important, they were willing to make the trip in the cars back to Arizona with us. Thank you Mom and Dad, we love you and you have made this so much easier for us. We really appreciate all your help!!

I start work on Monday, yikes! I'm a little nervous, but it will be nice to have an income considering the student loans are already due! I guess our next post will be from Arizona.

The Taylors

We got home from the coast on Monday and that night our good friends, Grant and Amanda Taylor, flew in for a visit. It was such a great week! We knew the Taylor's in Denver and the kids adore them so needless to say, they were so excited to see their friends. They were, however, a little disappointed that they didn't bring their dog Rufus with them. Maybe next time.The kids soaked up all of the attention. Grant and Amanda took the kids swimming, played with them, read books, you name it. I felt like I had two live in nannies! It was incredible and so fun to see the kids so excited. Once the kids went to bed, Heath and I got our chance to hang out with them. We stayed up way too late every night but it was great to catch up with such good friends.

We had fun eating dinner along the Riverwalk.

We got spoiled this week in more ways than one. Thank you Grant and Amanda so much, we had such a great time! We'll miss you guys!

A VACATION!

We had our first family vacation over 2 years ago. Going to visit parents not included. We decided it was about time for another one. The director of Heath's residency has a home in Rockport, TX which is close to Corpus Christi. Last weekend we headed down there and had such a great time!The first morning we got there the kids were ready to go out around 8:30. I went out with them so they could find sea shells and throw rocks. Cade kept throwing his shells into the wind and inevitably they would come back and hit me in the face, thanks Cade.

They had fun making a sand castle with Heath.

Who doesn't like to get buried at the beach! Me.

Poor Brynlie was always so tired but she was a trooper. She blows raspberries when she gets tired.

Brooklyn clobbered Cade with wet sand. Oddly enough he had no clue he was such a mess.

We found a tiny branch to attend church on Sunday. Brooklyn had a great time in Primary which consisted of two other kids.

We had fun walking out on the pier which was just outside the house we stayed in. No, the kids don't always hold hands and yes, I asked them to for this picture. I thought it was cute though.

Here is our attempt at a family picture before we almost blew away.

The home had a couple of big screen T.V.'s and the kids loved the idea of watching cartoons in bed. It was so fun to be somewhere were we could just hang out and have fun. Brooklyn even asked if we could live there. Thank you Dr. Douglas!