Pumpkin Patch

One day in October, with a bunch of Mommies from church, we went to the pumpkin patch. It was pretty fun, worth the free admission and getting out of the house at least. Braden forced us to do our own thing half the time, but he is so cool and cute that it was fine with me.We got to play here for about 5 minutes. Braden loved going up all of the stairs. When big kids came it was time to go. I could tell they wanted to run all of the little kids over. Braden loved looking at the animals and especially loved when they made noise.
Not sure if he thought this was a real animal, but he wanted to give this chicken a love.

My little buddy and I.

Dress Ups

I got our dress up box out to see what we had for Halloween and when I walked away, Braden walked in and found a new treasure! This kid loves shoes.

Death by Wiffle Ball

Devin has all these golf size wiffle balls in the trunk. Braden saw them and wouldnt stop grabbing for them. This is what happened next. I think if he had swallowed it he could have breathed through the holes right? (I'm joking! I was terrified and after about the fourth time he put it in his mouth I decided that it needed to be taken away. I am a pretty good mom. I swear!!)And look at Bradens cute friend Zachary in the background. These two are TROUBLE!!!

Halloweekend

We had a fun Halloween. We went to our ward trunk or treat and then to my parents. Braden loved being Nemo. He would say "Memo" every time he saw his costume and would even cry sometimes when I would take it off of him. Of course his favorite part was the suckers. He had never seen so much candy in his life. Trunk or Treating at PaPa's car.
Our cute family. We won second place in the ward costume contest.

Braden and Pax getting their sugar high on!!

Check It Out!!!

My mom pal and I made these for our front door!! I LOVE how mine turned out and it was so easy and cheap!! Yahoo!

Little Braden

This is a double wammy post. I wanted to show a pic of when Braden pulled a tie out of our closet and put it around his neck. It was so cute. Braden loves his Daddy so much, even though most of the time he calls him "Momma". Then I realized that the pictures showerd two classic Braden looks. If you have seen Braden, you have seen him make both of these faces. He is so funny!!

BICYCLE BICYCLE!!

We finally got ourselves some bikes! We'd had them on our wish list for two years and finally took the plunge. After too many dates to REI, and Braden learning the word bike and knowing to walk there on his own when we got there, we finally found two bikes that suited our taste. For me, I just liked the look of mine. It's a beauty!! And Devin did his research for his and got the exact bike he wanted. We have enjoyed many family bike rides when the weather was nice, and before daylight savings. Braden and I have had a great time riding around the neighborhood and on various errands close by. Devin has gone on several biking trips and has enjoyed having two flats in two trips. We have lots of beautiful paved and unpaved trails around and are glad that we finally did it!!

Devin took an amazing bike trip to the Flume trail at Lake Tahoe. Check out that view!!

One rainy weekend, during a break in the rain, we decided to get out and go to the park. While we were at the park of course it started raining so we had to ride the mile and a half home in the pouring rain. Braden didnt make a peep while we were riding home, but he doesnt look to thrilled either.

Guess What?

Did you know..... I wanted to get a second car. Instead devin got this! A non-carseat carrying, bachelor style scooter. His co-workers call it the bumblebee! Braden thinks its the coolest thing in our garage and loves every motorcycle he sees. Wonder why?! The fun lasted from Aug to Nov. Now its too cold and dark most days. Cant wait until April!!

Disneylandia

In October, we got to go to Disneyland with three of Devins siblings and there kiddos. We had such a blast!! Braden and I also got to spend a day in San Diego with the other Christensens, and we had such a fun time with them. They left their little brother Carter with Grandma and Grandpa and since they missed Carter so much, Braden took his place. It was so fun! We had such a fabulous time at Disneyland and loved being there with the fam bam!! Braden loved it this time and we are pretty sure his favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride because he started saying "Buzz" while we were there. Cant wait to go back!!

Braden loves his cousin Pax. They are best buds!!

When we came in August, we brought an umbrella stroller and Braden had a mega friek out around 2pm from being so exhausted. We ended up having to leave the park and missed out on about 4 hrs of Disney time with my family. So this time we brought the BOB and it was the best! Braden fell asleep twice while we were walking and he stayed asleep for a good 45 minutes both times!!!

Braden had a great time on the Dumbo ride. It was pretty crouded while we were there so my arms got really worked holding Braden so much while we were in all the long lines for our favorite rides.

Little Swimmer

I put Braden in swimming lessons over the summer. He was frieking me out by diving head first into the water so I decided he needed to learn to swim. It took 2 twenty minute private lessons and now he can swim like a champ. (with floaties) Next summer the floaties are gone and he will be doing it on his own. This summer he was only kicking hard enough to propel himself forward, not to get his head out of the water so the floaties were perfect! We had a fun summer full of pool time every day.

It Starts!

Yup! We have a toddler. I am learning slowly, and surely how to deal with the new Braden,but its tough man. Braden was such an easy baby. When I say easy, I mean it. He slept through the night from about 3 weeks on, he has never had any trouble eating, obviously, he has been super healthy, I think he has been sick like twice, and has been so delightful. But those days our gone. I have a toddler in my home. He is still delightful. I love spending my days with him. He makes me laugh all day long and is the cutest little guy ever. He is the best and I love having a boy if it means having a little one who does popcorn popping, who sings to me while I change his diaper, who will break out dancing when any beat catches his ear, including at church, who calls himself Baby, who gives the best hugs, who has begun to laugh at himself, who finds any phone and puts it to his ear and says hi, who has the cutest little voice ever, who has turned our world upside down and we wouldnt have it any other way. We love our Braden!!


At 14 months he figured out how to climb onto the kitchen barstool. I was mortified!!

But imagine my horror upon finding "this" inside my toilet. Yeah scary!! This happened in a 2 minute period where I was changing the diaper of the boy whose feet are pictured in the corner.

FINISH!!!

My Partner and I Pre-Race. Can you tell Braden woke up early to come see us off?

I started running in HS. I joined the track team and that gave my Mom a good laugh. I did hurdles. I kind of enjoyed it, and even set a few school records, that got broken the next year by a girl who was really fast. Bummer for me. When I started running again after Braden was born, I set a lofty goal. I wanted to run a half marathon. I started training and run 7mi, but then hurt my foot, and got sick in the same two weeks and then new that I missed the boat for that race. Again, all summer I ran almost 5-6 days a week to keep my body in shape for a race I wanted to do in November. Of course the race was cancelled. It is really hard to find Saturday races around here. Its a bummer. So my options were few. 1) I could run a race out of town, but the cost started to get too lofty. 2) I could run a local trail half marathon, which basically means I can run a 13mi hike. I chose option 2. It was insane. I cant even describe the power I felt after having accomplished that! On every uphill stretch, which was probably about 75% of the course, I kept telling myself "I can do this. I have had a baby. I pushed for four hours." But towards the end, it was not keeping my motivated. By about mile 11, I decided that the race was more exhausting than pushing for four hours and I just had to keep telling myself I needed to finish. It was so killer and I do not ever want to run a trail half ever again, but I look forward to running a street half marathon sometime next year to see how much my time can improve on the street! On a sidenote, my brother and sister at BYU did a half the following weekend and they were so amazing!

My Love and I post-race. Surprised I was standing! I was sore for about 4 days!

The Redwoood Forest

I am only a month behind on this post. But sitll have not updated from our Aug disney trip. Ha Ha. Oh well. For Labor Day Weekend, we (us, my sis Emily, and Bairds)had the chance to drive up to the Redwood parks near the Oregon and California border. What a beutiful and AWEsome part of California. It was amazing to see how beautiful another part California is and to remember how blessed we are to live in such a beautiful state. While in our neck of the woods and south, it is a bit crowded, there is still a ton of un-inhabited land that is so amazing to see!! The sights were amazing, and we had a truly awesome time.

Fri: Like magic, Braden got sick the night before we were to leave and I had to wash his carseat and Winco had to wash their floor (we left without our groceries). Oh and did I mention I had to wash Bradens sheets. Perfect start to any family vacation right?! Fri was such a busy morning, and we got off to a very late start. After a few stops for some more carseat cleaning, and then a stop for me too, we finally made it to our campsite in the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, at the Mill Creek campground at 10:30pm. Yikes! It was an exhausting day and I couldnt wait to sleep in a tent. My favorite!!

Sat: Surprisingly all 8 of us got a wonderful nights sleep, and we even all slept in until almost 8, which if you are a camper you know that is super rare since the sun comes up at 5am and when the sun is up usually so are you! Since we arrived in the middle of the night, we missed the majesty of the drive and the beauty of our campground. It was so lush and beautiful all around us. There were trees and ferns everywhere and it was like a fairy village. We had an awesome breakfast of all you can eat oatmeal and hot chocolate. Dev brought his Jetboil and we had hot water in like 2 minutes. That thing is rockin!! We took a slow start that morning and made it to our first destination around 10. We hiked around Stout Grove. The trees were so gigantic. I could hardly believe it. We really felt so small walking around. It is hard to imagine how tall they are because we couldnt even see the tops of them. There were so many trees that were all so tall, that we couldnt see very high because the forest was so dense. It was so beautiful. We really enjoyed that walk.

This is the root of a fallen tree

This disgusting banana slug makes his home in the forest. Kalem said "Ewwww poooop!" when he saw it. It was just as gross that is for sure.

After Stout Grove, we headed to the beach for a some tide pool viewing. It was really neat. There were a lot of anemones, hermit crabs, and starfish all over. We saw a lot of crab shells, but no live ones. Dont know what happened to all of them. We took a hike up to Battery Point lighthouse. It was a great view and interesting to hear that the lightkeepers are trapped there most of the time because the tide comes in and prevents them from leaving. It is up on this island cliff that can only be accessed during very low tide. We went on the right day. It was such a beautiful view of the ocean right next to the forest. I could not get over the ocean views every time we saw it. The ocean so blue and really beautiful up there.

After doing some laundry, and stopping at Safeway, we headed back to camp for some chicken kabobs, french bread and smores! YUM!!! Dinner was delish and warm and just what we needed to end the great day.

Sun: Braden graced us at 5:30am with another gift from the puke fairy. Poor kid. Little ones throwing up is honestly the worst. It just comes without any warning and usually never makes it into anything disposable. Somehow hardly any got on his jammies, and I could just wipe it off, and only a little got in his hair. So we had to pull out a nasty barf blanket out of the tent and steal a blanket from under Dev who was just sleeping on the floor in the car. (After a nap in the car, I dont feel bad because it was silent and warm in there.) Then he threw up again in the morning at breakfast. Oh the joy. But again, Sunday was a marvelous day. Braden may have been sick, but he sure wasn't acting like it. He was pleasant and fun the entire trip. :)

We headed down the coast to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and to our final resting place of the trip. We switched campsites, and that was a great idea because our new campsite was just as beautiful as the first, and even a litttle quieter, although we were not near the bathroom, which later proved to be a problem several times in the middle of the night. Our first stop in Prairie Creek was Fern Canyon. I swear Disneyland gets all of their decorating ideas straight from nature. It really felt like we were somewhere manmade. We hiked into this canyon that was probably about 30 feet wide, and the canyon walls were sheer cliffs about 50 feet tall. They were completely covered in moss, and ferns and at some places had little waterfalls dropping over the sides. The canyon floor was basically just a stream where we walked over bridge after bridge. The bridges were basically just slats of wood laying on the stream floor so somtimes they barely made it over the top of the water. It was so incredible and one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. After that hike, we took a quick walk down to look at the ocean for a few minutes. But I could see Bradens eyes staring at the sand, and knew that we wouldnt stay long. :) We then went back to our camp for dinner and bed. Lucky for me, I got sick that night and couldnt wait to go home.

Mon: The troops cleaned up camp while I slept in the car since I had a rough night, and then Braden fell asleep on a bike ride with the nanny (Emily) so he came and joined me. It was a fabulous nap and I was a little jealous that Devin got to sleep in the car all three nights. It was great in there. After we were all ready to go, everyone went on a bike ride and I stayed behind and read MOCKINGJAY for a little bit, and then took another short nap since I was feeling pretty crummy still. We got on the road late again, but at least made it home around 8:30 and still had time for a stop to drive under a tree. Sweet. It was a fabulous trip and if you can stand camping and driving, I would definitely recommend it. It was well worth all of the craziness just for the majesty of Gods creations that we got to see.

Here are some interesting facts about the Redwoods National Park Area:

• The weather averages about 58degrees the entire year January through December.


• The average age of the Redwood Trees is 500-700 years old and can live up to 2000 yrs


• The Redwood trees can have bark that is up to 1 ft thick, which contains a chemical making it fire resistent and virtually indestructible to insects and disease


• The Redwoods can grow up to 350+ feet and average about 250 ft


• Their roots grow only 6-12ft deep, but spread out between 60-80ft


• Multiple trees can grow out of one root, on a knot from the side of the original tree, called a burl

FISH TACOES!!!

Holy Smokes. I had the luckiest day ever yesterday. I had fish tacoes for the first time over the summer and they did not disappoint. So since I had some Halibut hanging out in the freezer begging to be devoured I thought I would try and make some home made fish tacoes. I will admit, it was a little risky finding a fish tacoe recipe online, but I had my greatest cooking success ever! It was the most delish recipe I have ever tried, and is now one of my all time favorite meals. It was so yummy and super easy. I dont know if I have ever cared enough about the spreading of a recipe to share it on my blog, but this was honestly the most delicioso meal I have ever made. I am not even exaggerating. I was even lucky enough to have just enough left over for one for lunch today. I mean man were these some good tacoes. So here is the recipe. You had better try it out. If you like tacoes, it will not dissapoint. Even if fish is your favorite, I think you would still like this recipe. (the recipe is for about 8 tacoes, give or take)

Spicy Blackened Fish Tacoes

FISH

1lb firm fleshed fish (halibut, salmon, mahi mahi etc)

1 tbsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 C flour

2 tbsp vegetable oil

desired number corn tortillas

avocado

lemon juice

Heat oil on Med High in a skillet. To get the skin off of the fish, I just fry it skin side down, and when it gets cooked, the skin just peels off. Mix chili powder, cayenne, sugar, salt, and flour. Dredge fish in flour mixture. After skin has been removed, dredge fish in flour mixture. Fry on both sides until cooked through. Serve on warm corn tortillas (I put mine in the microwave for about 40 seconds on damp paper towels so they stay moist) with avocado chunks, charred salsa, and aioli. YUMMI!!

Charred Corn Salsa

1 C frozen corn kernels

2 diced roma tomatoes

1/4 C diced red onion

1 minced jalapeno, seeds removed

1 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

Preheat broiler and put oven rack in highest position. Toss all ingredients in a small bowl. Transfer mixture to shallow baking pan. Broil about 5-8 minutes until tomatoes and onions are soft and mixture has browned a little bit.

Cilantro Aioli

1/4 C mayo

1 tbsp lemon juice

a few sprigs of cilantro

I just put all the ingredients in the food processer, and it minced the cilantro and blended it all together. Super easy. On a side note, while I was taking a pic of the tacoes, Braden said "Cheee". Didn't know he could say that. So I snapped a shot of my little Cheeser. Love this kid! Also I am still working on a post from our last Disney trip and from our Redwoods trip.

A Child of God

Over a year ago, when Braden was just a few weeks old, he and I shared a tender experience that I never had a chance to record. Recently this memory was brought back to my mind and I wanted to record it.

"I am a child of God, and He has sent me here, has given me and earthly home, with parents kind and dear. Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way, teach me all that I must do, to live with Him some day." These are the words to one of the most common of all primary songs, sung within our church. I learned this song, probably as a three year old, when I started going to primary, maybe even sooner. For twenty plus years, I sang these words countless times, but they never had as much meaning as they did when I had my sweet Braden. The meaning of the words changed.

I was not the one being referred to as the "child of God" but rather the one who would "teach Braden all that he must do to live with Him someday." As I sang these words to Braden one night, as I was rocking him to sleep, tears welled up in my eyes as I realized my purpose as Bradens mother. Our Father in Heaven has sent me and angel and it is my responsibility to take my knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and of our Fathers plan, and teach it to my sweet son. The veil has been placed over his mind, and although I am sure he is still close to heaven, time will wear, and he will forget the memories of his past life. It is my job to remind him and to teach him of the Plan of Happiness that will take him back to our Savior, Jesus Christ. As I sung, I could not finish because of the emotion that I felt. I thought I would just move on to another song.

I chose "Families Can Be Together Forever". I sang "I have a family here on earth. They are so good to me. I want to share my life with them through all eternity. Families can be together forever. Through Heavenly Fathers plan. I always want to be with my own family. And the Lord has shown me how I can. The Lord has shown me how I can."

Once again, I could not make it through the song. It had new meaning for me as now I had my own child, and my own family whom I wanted to be with forever. Our Heavenly Fathers Plan of Happiness has new meaning in my life as a mother and wife. I am so thankful that through my Savior, Jesus Christ, who atoned for my sins, I can repent and better myself so that I might return to live with him again. I am thankful that I can live with my family for eternity, as long as I teach my children correct principles, and teach them to follow our Savior. I am so thankful to be a mother to my sweet, hilarious, wild, boy Braden, and the wife to such a faithful and righteous Priesthood holder. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family, and epsecially wonderful parents who taught me the truth and shared their testimonies with my siblings and I. I always want to be with my family, and I am thankful for the knowledge that I can.

Lake Hikes

We love Folsom Lake. In most parts of it, it is not very beautiful and is pretty muddy and nasty, without a boat its kinda lame, but we love it just the same. Especially when we can hike around and enjoy the beauty of the earth. When Lo was here visiting Braden and I chaperoned a hike with her and her pals. We had a great time and Braden loved spending time with all the ladies. We took another trip a few days later for a little skimming and swimming. It didnt turn out the best, we picked a bad spot, but we still had a good time with Braden Raden providing our entertainment.

If Braden didnt sort of know how to swim, I think he would drowned himself out of sheer bravery. This kid has no fear when it comes to the water. Yikes!!

The sis, me, and Boo

Braden enjoyed a little mud bathing after our hike to Avery's pond.

Preview

A few weeks ago, we went to LA to hit up Disneyland and the beach with my family. We had a fabulously exhausting time. Braden loved the beach. It was so fun!! There will be more to come on that whenever I get the pics from my sis. Yay for sisters.

Should We?

So I think after all of these chinese comments that have begun to overtake us that maybe it is time to make our blog private. What do you think? If you have a private blog, does it seem to be going well? If you dont do you just hate the idea? Any ideas other than making this thing private?

IDERHO

We went on a 2 week hiatus from life. It was a grand ol' time. We drove to Rexburg, 14hrs, something I never want to do again, although I know we will, then spent a few days in Provo before we came back home. We had a lovely time creating lasting memories with our family at the Christensen Rendezvous. :) Loved it. I even got to spend a little lunch date with McCall at Mill Hollow. Our trip was the best. Oh how we miss thee Idaho, you will never be forgotten!

Braden wasnt too sure about the PB&J I gave him from "Lunch in the Park", even though he eats it at home all the time. I guess he knew it was free for me so he thought he would rather spit it all out and then eat something we had paid for. Go figure. Bathtime was so much fun with all these little ones to play together. I dont think Braden ever had to take a bath by himself the entire time we were in Idaho. It was so much fun!He was unamused by the carosel ride that Chenae paid $1 for him to ride. I thought he would love it for sure, but he just seemed to be confused and bored the whole time, and maybe a little dizzy. Or was that just me?It was so dreamy finally having all these little boy cousins all together. It had been three years since we'd had a reunion, and half the boys weren't even born then. They had such a blast following each other all over the place and getting into trouble.As usual, Pax and Braden followed each other everywhere and went straight for the electronics.Check out the legs on this one. This was Devins costume of choice for the variety show!! Woohoo!!Pax was not to excited about the Big Judd burger we ordered him, although we knew he could handle it.While in Provo, we got to stay with Katie and Brady. Braden and Marshall got along great and we had fun watching them interact with each other. Marshall was so cute and it was so much fun to see them!

Braden also got to meet "Uncle Rick", Devins roommate from college, for the first time. Rick was often our chaperone on dates and was one of the first ones to know when I was pregnant! Braden was fascinated by the hair on Ricks face. Rick always gets his 5 o' clock shadow about an hour after he shaves and Devin struggles to grow facial hair so that was all new to him. It was so funny! He kept touching and rubbing Ricks face and just staring! So cute!!