Brayden's 2nd Birthday Party

On August 2nd, Brayden turned 2! It was his golden birthday...2 on the 2nd!

He had a Cars themed party and had two friends come celebrate with him! They enjoyed playing and eating cake! All Brayden wanted to do was eat the cake. He was very patient waiting for that part!

Daddy's Home!!!!!!!!!

We've been busy since Brian got home from his summer away! So, I am just now posting those pictures! Brayden was so excited because daddy brought him home an Army truck. It is a Stryker vehicle, which is the type of vehicle Brian will be working with when we move up to Fort Lewis next year. Brayden wouldn't let Brian out of his sight once he got home. He even helped mow the lawn! One of Brayden's favorite things was going to work with Daddy one day. He got to ride the "Daddy Bus" which is Brayden's term for the 15 passenger van from Brian's work. Then he got to catch a bus and a train to come home from work! Too bad he can't go to Daddy's work everyday!!

We are glad Dad is home and are now getting ready for sister to arrive!!

Laying on Dad's bag so he can't leave without me!

Brayden's new Army truck

Cousin Xander's 2nd Birthday

While we were in Colorado, Xander celebrated his 2nd birthday! Brayden had just as much fun playing with his new toys!
We also got to meet Brayden's newest cousin, Axl, while there. He was born July 7th! Soon Brayden will also get to meet his new sister! Only 3 1/2 weeks until her due date!!! We can't wait!

Enjoy some photos of Brayden and Xander........

Xander's airplane cake!

Brayden and Uncle Robert

Playing in Xander's new water table....notice Xander is playing with the water toys and Brayden brought his cars outside to drive them underwater!

Zoo with Xander

While we were in Colorado, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo with YaYa and Xander! The boys had a great time. Brayden really liked feeding the giraffes!! They were both asleep within 5 minutes of getting in the car!!!

Swinging

Brayden's 1st time on the big swings! He may never want the baby swings again!

Haircut

Brayden went to get his haircut before our trip and he sat in the chair all by himself for the 1st time!! The lady even put gel in his hair and styled it for him!

Alameda County Fair

took Brayden to the Alameda County Fair today! It was free day for military families, so we took advantage of it and enjoyed the afternoon at the fair! Unfortunately Brayden is too short to ride any of the rides, so we tried to avoid seeing those! He really liked going into the livestock barn and seeing the sheep (he refers to them as baas) and especially the pigs (which he calls pinks).

I thought he would like the petting zoo, but he didn't really want to do that today, so that was a short stop! He wanted to go back and see the pinks in the barn instead! Too bad he couldn't pet those!

Enjoy some pictures!!

I

Washington

At the beginning of June, we went to Washington to check out Fort Lewis and the surrounding areas. We are set to move there in March of 2011. We really liked the area and think we have decided that we would like to live on post because of the location of the housing area we would be in. It is across the street from a huge lake. We didn't take lots of pictures, but here are a few of Brayden!!

Blueberry Picking

Today, Brayden and I went blueberry picking with friends. We had a great time. Brayden picked some blueberries and put them in his bucket and then he proceeded to sit down and eat them all!

He enjoyed picking the blueberries and running around the farm! The kids even got to bounce in the bounce house at the farm afterwards!!

We got too many blueberries to eat before they go bad, so we will probably eat some, freeze some, and cook/bake with some this weekend. I am thinking that blueberry frozen yogurt sounds good and maybe some blueberry crepes for breakfast on Saturday!

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

We had a very enjoyable Memorial Day weekend here in California! Brian had Friday and Monday off work, so we took full advantage of it since Brian will be leaving on June 8th to go to Fort Lewis, Washington for his summer ROTC leadership camp. He will be there until the end of July. We spent most of Friday doing chores and projects around the house.

On Saturday, we decided to do something fun instead of working around the house. Our neighbors had told us about a regional wilderness area (yes, they have to designate those in California) where you can hike and play in the river and many more things. We took the dog and headed out. Blizzard was thrilled to be able to run off leash and even more to swim in the river. As soon as she saw the water, she was in it! And Brayden then named the river the "Blizzard pool". Brayden was a trooper and hiked about a mile up and down hills without being carried! At the end he even waded across the river, he ended up falling down and getting all wet, but was all better once he got out and got a snack!

On Sunday, we stuck around home. After Brayden got up from his nap, we went to the pool and then we came home and BBq'd in the backyard.

Monday Brian talked us into letting him go to REI, so after haircuts for the boys, we went to REI. When we got home, Brayden napped for 2 hours, while Brian and I worked on cleaning out our garage. We got about half of it done and got rid of a lot of stuff, which is good since we are moving next spring. Now to finish going through cabinets and closets in the house...maybe I will get that done this summer!!!

Enjoy the pictures from our hike!

Brayden likes to hike....by himself! He did let us hold his hand on the steep parts!

For those of you who know Blizzard well, you may be thinking she forgot to bring her ball...no, she brought it, she just lost it. However, she found it on the way back!

Brayden named the river the Blizzard pool!

When Brayden got in the water, he said it was BRRR bubbles.

Help, mom, I fell in!

It's hard to walk when you are all wet!