Christmas 2013

 We had a great Christmas this year. Brig really started to understand the Christmas story as well as opening presents. We asked him many times what he wanted for Christmas and every time he answered, "two angels!" Even after he opened presents he told everyone that he got angels for Christmas. Not sure what this was about but it was pretty cute. I didn't take very many pictures because I just wanted to soak it all in. We ate a big breakfast and then waited for Papa moo moo and Nana to get here to open presents. Brig opened up his 4 wheeler first...

 Wish I had a picture of his face, he was super excited. "Open it! Get the scissors!" It wasn't assembled yet and so he helped Daddy put it together. He is our little mechanic. We watched him ride his 4 wheeler round and round the kitchen island. Quite a bit of time elapsed before he was interested in opening another present.

 Papa showing him how to put on the gas.

 Jared's new favorite tie...

 Yay! More train tracks!

 Studying out the train set with Papa.

 Jared was surprised to get a new drill. Maybe now we can finish putting up the gutters on the house. We then ate a big lunch of bbq ribs, southern style green beans, salads, and pies with the missionaries. We also played games and enjoyed watching our neighbors Christmas light show timed to music.

 Mom and Dad's surprise present was watching video clips of interview questions by us kids. Jackie did a great job editing them. They laughed until they cried.

 Our present to us...the Skull Rider. Hahaha.

 We've already put the 4 wheel drive to good use

 Jared had to work New Years so I went up to FF to play with Jake and Rachel and kids. The kids had a great time playing with the sparklers.

 We also braved the cold and went 4 wheeling up by Scoutana. It was a beautiful but cold ride.

We stopped for a lunch break near the salt lick where they saw signs of grizzly bear last year.

 Brigs checking out the mountain sheep up on the hill.

Someone got into the brownie batter :)

 I told Brigham to go get dressed (which is our biggest battle everyday), this is what he came out in. Good lookin' stud!

 

A short recording of Mom and Dad watching the video. They laughed the hardest at our imatations of them which I did not catch on camera.

Thanksgiving and Christmas Tree Hunting

 Here is my knight in shining armour er I mean his carhart coat and his white stallion...er mare. :) Haha We had a great Thanksgiving in FF this year with Papa Moo moo, Grandma, Duke and Natalie, and Jake and Rachel and their kiddos. We did some horseback riding, 4 wheeling, hiking, coyote hunting, archery, Aunt Natalie gave awesome haircuts, and of course grandma stuffed us with her delicious cooking.

 This was Jared's second time ever riding a horse. He did awesome, and better than me, I got bucked off. But hey, I landed on my feet and then promptly climbed back on the horse. I wasn't going to let that stubborn horse get the better of me.

 Jaxon was all grins on the horses.

 Brigham wasn't too sure about the whole thing.

 He preferred riding in the wagon with Addy.

 Grandma should win the "Grandma of the Year award" for pulling them up and down the hill a billion times. And for pushing them in the swing.

Rachel and I took turns holding baby jet and practicing our archery skills. I call her "Rachel of the Hood" and my name is Bullseye Brooke.

 We braved the cold and went for a hike to Crown Butte. Jared carried Brigham almost the entire way. It was beautiful at the the top but cold and windy. We ate some snacks and then headed back down because Brig was shivering.

 We had our ward Christmas party and Brig wasn't too sure about Santa. Luckily, he recognized his friend Brent's voice underneath that big beard. Then he climbed up on his lap and started chatting away with him. Whenever somebody asks him what he wants for Christmas, his reply is "Two angels." Not sure where he got that from??

 Here is Brig and his buddy Ramsey helping Dad vacuum after the party.

 We had a quick visit with Ryan and Melissa and boys. They played great together. When we were leaving everybody started giving Brig hugs. After a minute Brig said "enough hugs!" haha

 We went to get our Christmas tree up past York. We walked around for a awhile without seeing much of anything. We finally found this beauty! It fits perfectly in our home and smells so good!

 Brigham's coat somehow did not make it into the truck. So we wrapped him up in Jared's. Brig loved walking around looking at trees. He tells everyone he sees about our Christmas tree. He even helped me decorate it.

The crew at gathered for the Thanksgiving feast.

Halloween and November

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I figured I had better post pictures of Halloween. Ha. I will catch up soon. Brigham got to color his own pumpkin and we carved another one together.

"Eww, yucky!"

Brig was an Amtrak train conductor for Halloween. We went downtown for the tots trick or treating and it was a little chilly. Brig got a lot of candy from all of the businesses.

He caught on to trick or treating really quickly. He would say trick or treat, and then pick out a piece of cany. Usually a sucker or fruit snacks.

This is his "funny face"

 

Yes! Fruit snacks!

We also trick or treated around our neighborhood and handed out candy at our house. I think Brig enjoyed giving out the candy to all of the cool "creatures" that came trick or treating.

Here's some pictures of Brig playing out in our first real snow of the year. He woke up in the morning and saw the snow and immediately grabbed his shoes and said "I play in the snow Mom!"

Pure joy! He had a blast looking behind him at the tracks he was making in the snow.

Uh oh! Snow up his shirt. Time for a bigger coat!

 

We also took a weekend trip up to "Papa choo choo's and Anna's." Anna raked a huge pile of leaves for Brig to run through. We saw thousands of snow geese landing in the neighboring field.

Brigham and Addy and the boys had fun playing on the hay stacks.

Smooch!

Brigham loves kitty cats. He calls her "kitty paws"

For my birthday Brigham surprised my with flowers he had picked out.

 

I'm always so spoiled on my birthday.

We had a great family home evening the other night about serving a mission. Brig loved wearing Daddy's missionary tag. Every time he finds a coin he says "mission" and runs and puts it in his piggy bank. He's also got to sit in on a few missionary discussions lately. He's going to be a super missionary.

Brigham loves to paint.

Here's a good side shot of his long curly hair.

Another favorite right now is bubble baths and putting bubbles on his face to have "whiskers like Daddy." More about Brigham these last couple of months: He is the most independent and stubborn child I have ever known. But he is also the sweetest. He wants to do everything by himself "I do it myself." He is super chatty and will often say 6-7 word sentences. He is super tickleish and loves to laugh. Brigham is working hard on his ABC's. He can make the sounds of almost all of the letters. He can also count to 11 on his own.

Brigham helped me clean Grandma LaVonne's old park bench. It needed some TLC. We put fresh stain and rustoleum on it and some new nuts and bolts. Looks much better now! Hope Grandma likes it.