Brandon's Law School Grad Bash!

Here are a few pictures right after Brandon's graduation.  He graduated on May 16th and he had a big, and I do mean BIG party that night.  I haven't gotten any pictures from the party, since I didn't take any!?!  I know, how did that happen.  I'm kind of picture happy.  I'll add pictures of the party when I get them.  The ceremony was pretty typical.  A few speakers, all the students walking.  The sound system wasn't working very well and the speakers all sounded kind of like adults on a Charlie Brown cartoon.  We did hear and understand Brandon's name and all stood up and hollered for him!  Since it was just the law school, it wasn't that long!

Here is a picture of everyone who came to graduation!

Mykii took a couple pictures of our little family, this one was my favorite!

Taryn and my cousin Trevor, she loves him!

Cute little tired Tyler!  I love her!

Taryn and Megan (Trevor's cute wife)!  Since Mykii came and took some pictures for us I didn't end up taking very many myself.  Byron was having cake and running around, so I didn't really getting any pictures of him!

The party was really, really fun!  Brandon had a sushi chef come, I made the best kalua pig ever (really it was amazing!), and he had a chocolate fountain!  I love to eat!  There was also a DJ, and we are pretty sure he showed up just for Byron.  He danced on the grass for nearly the entire four hours of the party!  I think he took a couple of 15 minute eat & drink breaks.  He is hilarious, I feel bad for all who missed his rockin' moves!  It was so fun to visit with everyone, hang out and eat delicious food! 

Mother's Day Weekend

I have to be honest that Mother's Day hasn't been my favorite holiday the past two years.  That has nothing to do with being a mom and everything to do with being in charge of our Girl's Camp fundraiser, which is lei's and chocolate dipped strawberries for Mother's Day!  Fundraising is stressful!  That just doesn't lend to a restful or rejuvenating Mother's Day!  So that was my madness the week leading up to Mother's Day.  I thought way too much about flowers, berries and chocolate (they were very yummy by the way!)  It was all over the day before though!

Mother's Day itself was a good day!  Steve made waffles and we had breakfast together.  That was really fun.  Taryn can put away the waffles!  After church we had dinner over at my parents house, and more chocolate covered strawberries!  The boys did a pretty good job cooking for us!  We just helped a little.  Byron was very cute and wished me a happy mother's day at least five times.  He also let me know that he thinks I am beautiful on the inside and gorgeous on the outside!  I just love him, he is so funny!  Taryn was so much fun to hug and kiss on!

Here are a few more pictures of the reasons I love being a mom!

Taryn snuggling on her daddy while he was trying to take a nap!

 Taryn's got it all: bling on the go!  Check out her new skill!  

She is so close to walking on her own!

Who can resist this smile?  Not me, it makes my heart melt every time he flashes it at me!

Could there be a cuter mess than this?  No way!  

She loves oatmeal, and she loves eating it all by herself!

Byron put Taryn on the trampoline all by himself, and I do mean ALL by himself.  I am truly nervous about the sticky situation he may get the two of them into someday!  She wasn't so sure about it, but he cheesed pretty good for a few pics!  This one was my favorite!

I truly enjoy being a mother!  It is hard, frustrating, stressful and I love it.  It is also beautiful, joyful and rewarding.  Lots of moms have varied emotions about Mother's Day because it causes us to reflect on who we are as mothers.  I too reflected on that.  I do some things really well.  I am working on my patience and the tone/volume of my voice when I am frustrated.  I try to remember to stop and love on my babies and laugh with them.  I love bedtime.  Some nights I wish Byron wanted dad to put him to bed, but when I get in there I wouldn't give up that time for the world.  We usually read a couple of stories, and then I (sometimes we) sing two to four songs while I tickle Byron.  He loves tickles; on his legs, arms, back, everywhere.  He often points to his armpits and says, "tickle these spots mom, right here."  Then we get to snuggle for a minute.  When that minute is over Byron always wants just "one more minute mom."

Taryn is so fun at bedtime.  It has become her funny time.  She starts laughing as soon as you take her clothes off.  She too loves to be tickled, but she wants the belly laugh tickles.  She also loves to play "steal the binky".  She laughs and laughs when I steal the binky out of her mouth with my teeth and then give it back.  (I bite the hard plastic back of the binky).  As soon as I lay her down these nights she pulls the binky out and tries to give it to me.  Taryn is also the musical baby, so she loves to sing a goodnight song too.

I'm so grateful that children are so forgiving.  That really makes motherhood easier.  They are so willing to give you a hug and tell you that they love you 5 minutes after your voice was too loud and frustrated!  I have learned more in my 4.5 years as a mother than I learned in 10 years as a teacher of young children.  So many opportunities to be stretched and to grow!  So to all you mothers out there, do your best!  That is all you need to do!  Make this year better than last year and love those cuties!  To all the wonderful mothers I know, don't forget I think you are awesome!

Arizona Trip

The first weekend in May we took a road trip down to Arizona!  We went to visit my sister Ashley and her husband Robert in Tucson, AZ.  They are down there because Robert had a bone marrow transplant.  He was diagnosed with Leukemia (AML) just before Thanksgiving last year.  Steve, Taryn and I drove down to Tucson from Mesa on Saturday morning.  Steve stayed at the hospital with Robert and played video games (that was a BIG sacrifice for him :)  Taryn and I took Ashley to the mall and out to lunch.  We had such a good time hanging out with them!  I wish I had taken some pictures while we were in Tucson.  I think Ashley has a couple of the girls, but we didn't think to take one of the boys!  

Those two are amazing!  They have such strength and faith!  We love them and think about them all the time!  They will be in Tucson until the beginning of August, so we will be going down to visit them again this summer!

We also got to visit with my family in Mesa, AZ.  Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles & Cousins.  The other fun event that we got to participate in was Ava's baby blessing.  She is my cousin Mandy's baby girl!  It was so fun to visit with everyone!

Family photo after the blessing! Byron the winker!

Two cute baby girls!  Ava & Mandy Morris!

Byron and his cousin and fabulous buddy, Severin, they were inseparable this trip!

The boys had a great time together!  Byron thinks that Severin is big and very cool.  He told me a couple days after we got home that "Severin is my cool guy!"

Liberty loving on Taryn!  My baby girl was almost spoiled by all the love from those cute Chase girls!  They really had a good time with her, and Taryn sure didn't mind at all!

We stayed with my cousin Tonya and her husband Daniel.  We got to go out to eat with the Whiting cousins and that was really fun, seriously the best belly laughing I had done in quite awhile!  Byron asked everyday for a week if we were going back to Tonya's house, and then could we play at Tammy's house!  It is so fun to watch my children with my cousins.  I have such fond memories of playing with my cousins when I was young!  Family is awesome, amazing and so much fun!

Blog Catch-up!

So am I an incredibly busy mother or just a lame blogger? Who knows. When I read other's blogs I realize that no excuse of mine can be that good! Everyone is as busy as me! You are all amazing bloggers! Hopefully the next couple of blogs will catch you up on our life, and at least explain some of the madness!

Taryn Time!

Here are five sweet pictures of my little girl!

Sleeping Peacefully! She was 2 months old!
2 1/2 months. With her big eyes wide open! And I just love her pouty little lips!
Peacefully sleeping naked in her bath towel!
I just know she is thinking, "I'm just like the big kids, slurping my own Capri Sun out of a straw!
"That's right! Show me the Love!"

or

"Oh my goodness, can you get her to stop, or what?"

This little sweetheart is so full of spunk and fun! She never stops moving, and I mean NEVER! Even those who love her and bribe her into letting them hold her, will eventually give up and put her back on the floor. She is so squirmy it makes her difficult to hold on too. At church, or any other time/place when you just need her to freeze for a second all you have to do is hang her upside down or let her hang her head off your lap. She loves it and will generally look around for ten minutes, or until her face is so red that I feel like I'm torturing her. (You should see some of the looks I get walking the halls with an upside down baby!)

Taryn doesn't cry much at all. Only when she is hurt or really tired. However, she is really great at letting you know what she wants, by yelling! She will just sit in her high chair and holler when she runs out of food, until you get her more! She hollers about most everything, happy, sad, mad and frustrated! She is loud too! She loves to hear herself talk, LOUDLY! It is pretty cute. She is a crack up to watch and listen to when you sit her in front of a mirror!

She is a picky eater! (Not in the same way her daddy is though.) She has never given any baby cereal (i.e. rice, oatmeal, barley) the time of day, and will actually seal her lips together should you attempt to feed them to her. She will gladly eat cooked original oatmeal with the rest of the clan! She loves balsamic vinagriette covered noodles (from my pasta salad), this one surprised us! She likes her food to be seasoned and warm. One fun food story--she would not eat her sweet potato chunks and was yelling at me! I warmed, buttered, salted and peppered them and the whole 1/2 cup was gone in under 3 minutes!

She is such a happy baby! We think she may skip quickly over crawling in favor of walking. She has only been crawling distances for a week or two, and she has been pulling up on things for the past few days and is starting to cruise along them! Look out world! Here comes Taryn!