These are a few of my favorite things

My favorite things about Brevin...

The messages he leaves. He recently left Bryson a message and said "My name is Brevin Vaughan. I don't have a number, I am only five years old...." Also, when he hurt his nose around thanksgiving (no I didn't post pictures, it made me so sad that I couldn't bring myself to take a picture until it was too late) he said, "This is Brevin Vaughan. The one with the big nose, gewd night!" Brevin absolutely LOVES to play sports (I'm not sure why) so every night he has a "game." Especially after we have been to one of Bryson's games. He can hardly contain himself. I overheard him talking the other night and asked who he was speaking to. He told me he was "getting a game together." I looked around the corner and saw him with his cell phone.

I also heard him arguing with Bryson during a football game the other day. He kept telling Bryson to quiet down. Then I heard him say..."after further review..." I could just picture him downstairs with his hands on his hips.

We have some pretty strict rules about TV at our house. It has to stay off all day, but we can watch one thing together at night when we are winding down. We love reality TV, and Brevin's favorite is survivor. I was mopping the kitchen and had all the chairs in the living room. The boys were climbing all over them and Brevin started panting saying that he was in an immunity challenge, and couldn't be interrupted until it was over. Then I found him in his room making an "immunity idol."

Also, I always have the TV on when I am working during their naps, so they sometimes come down when I am listening to Oprah or Ellen. A few days ago Brevin said that someday he hoped to be on one of these shows. I was surprised and asked why and he said "Because they always say...and everyone in the audience is going home with one of these!"

I love how smart Brevin is. Yeah I know. All parents think their kids are smart. But I really do.

Brevin loves loves loves to read, and is starting to figure out how to read and write on his own. I bought him a Christmas coloring book and he opened it to this page. I told him to write a letter to Santa. He left the room and came back about twenty minutes later to show me this. It melted me. Now keep in mind he has never gone to school, so he has a few rules to learn. Like the words are supposed to go from left to right, not up and down. And he is going strictly on sound so Dear to him is Dr, but I was really proud of him.

The translation is this... Dear Santa, I want you to bring a new scooter. When is it going to be Christmas? Brevin

My favorite things about Kesler...

Whenever Kesler gets hurt something is always "broke." The other night he was playing basketball with his brother & dad and got hurt, like always. He came and told me "I broke my bum, I need a new one!"

Kesler loves to sing. He can remember the words to pretty much any song he hears. It is just so stinking cute to see this little white-haired boy walking around singing all sorts of songs. I often hear his daddy asking him to sing him a song. He even sang the prophet song for our pediatrician. Who was awfully impressed :)

Kesler is so loving, and I LOVE it! He is always hugging me and telling me that he loves me "all way a stars!" And every night he asks me "Mommy you lay me? Sing sheep?" I also absolutely love that when I am holding him or when he is laying on me he always plays with my hair. mmmmm I love it!

He doesn't just show love to me though! He loves his daddy and his brother too. He wants nothing more than to be just like his "Big Bro."

Maybe my absolute favorite right now is that Kesler actually believes that he has whiskers. Recently he had accidentally drawn on on himself and Bryson told him that he had whiskers. So now if you ask to see them the makes an "ooo" then an "eee" back and forth really quickly. It is so hilarious.

Mommy's new camera

I bought a new camera...still not sure if I am going to keep it or not. I forgot how hard it is to adjust after being so comfortable with my regular one. So we had a little photo shoot today. Too bad the weather wasn't a whole lot nicer, we would have had much more fun outside. Brevin is awfully used to having his picture taken, as you can see. I just tell him to pose and he does it himself. Kesler, on the other hand, has a different opinion...

Prophets and Popcorn

This may be the cutest thing I have ever caught on tape. We sing a lot at our house, and I mean a lot. About three weeks ago bought Brevin a book about the Doctrine & Covenants that has pictures of all of the prophets in the back. I would point to their faces and sing the prophets song. I had no idea that Kesler had picked it up until he was cruising around the house singing it. I thought I'd better get it recorded before I lost my chance. The end needs a little polishing, but I'd say for barely two years old it's not bad. Brevin has a great singing voice and can carry a tune like nobody's business so I wanted to show him off a little too, since nobody gets to see this side of him! This is certainly worth watching...I think anyway...so enjoy!!

Halloween

Just for the record...I have taken my time posting Halloween not because of my tendency to procrastinate, but because I wanted Brevin to get to be in the spotlight for a few days.

For Halloween we went trick or treating at Bryson's office first. It can be a little scary up there I must say, but Bryson's coworkers are very good to our boys. Then we headed down to Malad. It seems only logical seeing as how we have five grandmas and five grandpas there. The problem is that after visiting all five grandparents' homes there is little time for anything else :) The boys loved it, though. Kesler kept saying, "I a zeba". Brevin didn't say much, I know that's hard to believe, but I told him people didn't give out candy unless he said "trick or treat." So I guess the alterative ouweighed his shyness, and that's pretty much all he said that night. I wish he hadn't, though. Those candy bars just scream at me from the pantry all day long to come eat them. My willpower doesn't stand a chance against those Baby Ruths. Actually I am sitting here eating one as I type...so much for reaching my goal weight, huh?

Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday Brevin! On October 30th Brevin turned five! Hard to believe; I know it sounds cliche, but I seriously can't believe it has been five years since that freezing cold day in Anchorage AK! Brevin wanted a race track cake, so once again mommy did her best. It actually looked pretty good, but they way it tasted...well...I let Brevin choose EVERYTHING. He chose one red velvet cake, and one of those nasty funfetti cakes. Then we had both chocolate and vanilla ice frosting. Toasted coconut served as the grass and grasshopper cookie crumbs for the road. Then we topped it all of with "birthday party" and "very berry" ice cream. Rhonda teased that each bite was a different experience...ha ha. It was his day, though, and he thought it was great!

Brevin's favorite part was "whacking the pinata!" No this wasn't a Mexican fiesta, but last year when he turned four he had recently watched an episode of Dora where a pinata was involved. We went to the store the same day and he spotted one and asked if we could do that at his party too. I agreed, I didn't know, however, that we would be doing it every year. I hoped to escape it this year, but just as we were grabbing some Halloween candy he spotted this ghost pinata. I have a feeling a pinata is going to be present at many more birthday parties to come.

No this isn't my newest lip color that Kesler has smeared all over his cute face. It was that red velvet cake batter. If there is one thing my boys absolutely love to do with their mommy it is baking. It makes Bryson sick to watch the three of us inhale the batter and cookie dough. He's constantly saying "Okay, okay, that's enough." He eventually leaves the room dry heaving...but we enjoy ourselves all the while.

So I had passed the batter bowl off to Brevin and Kesler and when I looked over I about fell over laughing. It looked like we had started our prep work for Halloween a litte early. I told him to give me a smile and this "cheese" says it all.

Bryson's 30th Birthday

Happy Birthday Bryson!! For Bryson's 30th Birthday I wanted to do something really fun...so I planned an 80's surprise party. After lots of secret planning I convinced Bryson that we had been invited to a Halloween party. He said he didn't want to go, but I told him we would just call Tod and Rhonda (the epitome of the 80's) and get some of their old clothes. He cautiously agreed. I had all of our friends sneak into the garage and once they had all arrived we sneaked down the stairs where he was watching a very preoccupying Yankees game. We came down the stairs with a cake singing happy birthday. Bryson's face turned 5 different shades of red. He was totally taken back. We had fun eating on gold and black plates, playing eighies trivia, and snacking on pop rocks and nerds. Thank you to everyone who made it. We had tons of fun with all of you!

So for the past little while we have spent every single spare minute we have working on our new house. Our boys were so good to put up with it. They brought their tools to the "job site" and came home FILTHY every single night. Brevin and Kesler played in the dirt while we tiled, grouted, painted, cleaned, and did whatever else needed to be done to finish in time. Just as suspected--as soon as our house sold we had 30 days to get out of our old house and about 40 days worth of work left on our new one. So we worked as fast and furiously as we could and came up just short. We ended up camping in Malad for a few days. Which proved to be a good thing--gave us a minute to breathe.

We are thankful for good friends and family who helped us. We wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise. Brooke and Bree were very helpful with the boys while the adults worked our tails of. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who helped. We are so excited to finally be in our new house. We aren't all the way in yet, but we are getting there.

It has been a much bigger adjustment than I had anticipated. I thought the boys would be the ones to struggle, but I have been the worst of all. Don't get me wrong--I am sure we made the right choice, it has just been a big change...and I am no good at change.

We're Back!!! After 2 months of blood, sweat and tears we are finally in our new house. HOORAY!! So I have A LOT of blogging to catch up on....I know, I know. But most importantly I want to post Kesler's 2nd Birthday!! (Then, I will fill you in on the past couple of months). So....

On September 21st Kesler turned two!! I cannot believe how fast the past two years have gone. Kesler is so stinking funny, and cute I might add. He was sooo excited for his bertday! He wanted a Ka-er-pi-der cake. So his mommy did her best :) Lots of family came to eat cake and ice cream. Kesler's favorite part; however, was "bow canels!" For lunch I told him we could meet daddy and asked him where he wanted to go. Of all places he chose "Chilis" I have a feeling his brother may have been whispering that in his ear when I wasn't looking.

Brevin T-Ball

Well, Brevin's T-Ball season is over. It was so stinking much fun. Even though it took up a lot of our time it was worth every minute. So I made a little "highlight film." The quality isn't that great, but it's a little glimpse of my little baseballer for all of you who weren't able to come to any games...I know, I know, they were in the morning. Also, thanks to everyone who did come to a game. I can't tell you how much it meant to Brevin. Now watch the movie, and be impressed!

Brevin is hilarious. He tries to pretend to be shy, but he is always saying the funniest things. Grandma Mary Ann often jokes that it would be impossible to keep track of all the things he does and says. From the priesthood blessings I've caught him giving to his little brother to the lyrics he knows to every single song on the radio...you never know what might come out of his mouth next. (Maybe a little Adrianne in him, I don't know) But this one was so funny, I thought I'd better share...

Brevin came running in the house a few days ago and said "Mom, it's coming, it's coming! I'm starting to get hair on my tallywhacker!!" He had gone pee outside and I think the sunlight must have reflected just right on those teeny tiny, soft, white hairs that are all over our bodies. He was so excited. I just tried to play it cool and tell him that that was great while biting the insides of my cheeks to keep myself from laughing hysterically!

Now Kesler, on the other hand, hasn't got the shy act down really well just yet! He doesn't mind letting it all hang out in public. We've been working on potty training, and he loves to go "pee pee deck." The only problem is, I can't ever get him to come in the house afterwards. Thus, he is always naked outside. My friend, Leslie, even made the comment the other day that his little toosh is now tan.

Kesler loves to watchagame...yes, all one word. He loves to watch his brother and cousins play baseball and softball, and he even loves watching it on tv with his Dad...Bryson's dream come true! He sits patiently and watches every play. He even includes his own little narration-whackaball, pitchaball, foul, strike, and catchaball. And if you think he can speak well about it...well, you ought to see him play.

We had a lot of fun in Malad for the 4th of July, our favorite holiday! It was really, really hot, but we loved spending time with a lot of our friends and family.

We went to the parade in the morning, watched Bryson, Brady, Nate, Brandy, & Brett play in the dodge ball tournament, and we were pleasantly surprised when Brevin ran in the races! Every year he says he's going to and when he gets to the starting line he freezes. So this year Kesler had had enough and Bryson decided to take Kesler back to the house becaue he knew Brevin wouldn't run. But Aunt Sissy stood at the starting line with him, and he ran his little heart out. I was really proud of him!

Both of the boys absoultey loved the fireworks. We all went to the high school to watch. Kesler was in awe watching them on Grandma Mary Ann's lap snuggled up in a blanket. Then we went back to the house to do our own. Kesler didn't quite make it; he was so tired he fell asleep in the car and slept through all the noise. Brevin was afraid to touch any of them, or hear any of them for that matter, but he had fun watching with his cousins. We only had two small fires :)

This past weekend we went to Bear Lake. The boys had so much fun playing with their cousins in the water. The kids loved chasing the seagulls and building sand castles. I can't believe how content my kids are when there is water close by. Makes me want to move somewhere hot.

Kesler was naked most of the time. He wanted to "peepees dirt" and "peepees water"
over and over. He thought that was great!

For Young Womens we went to ISU's challenge course last week. We buckled ourselves up, tied ourselves up, and tangled ourselves up into all sorts of gadgets...the helmets and and glasses included. Then our "team" hoisted us up fifty feet into the air where we had to make a choice, literally, to let go of a rope which sent us free falling to the ground. It was so stinking much fun!!

T Ball

Brevin had his first T-Ball game Monday. He absolutely loved it! He hit off the first pitch both times and was so excited. The night before his game every line in his prayer had something to do with baseball. "Please bless that my food will make me grow big and strong so I can run really fast. Please bless that I will be able to throw the ball really far...." It was funny. He is pretty tiny out on second base, but he keeps up with the others. He has another game tomorrow morning and asks hourly when his next game is.


Kesler was very upset that he couldn't play also. He cried everytime someone used Brevin's bat.


After the game the boys cooled off in the pool. I took some cute pictures of them.

So here we go...I've been thinking of creating a blog for awhile. Anyone reading this is aware of how terrible I have been at keeping in touch lately. So I thought this might be an easier way for you to stay caught up on our lives.

A little over a week ago Bryson graduated with his Master's Degree in Counseling. We are soooo excited!! It has been a long journey-the past year especially. But we are so excited to finally have things slow down a little. He still working for Child Protection full-time and doing counseling on the side at MK Place.

I have been crazy busy like always. Chasing these two around everyday, young women's, pictures, and vinyl....leaves little down time.

Brevin is doing great. He is going in for an eye check today. We'll find out if the surgery was a success and see what we have to do from here. He has been so funny lately. I bought them journals and he seems to think that is a lot of fun. Last week as we were eating dinner he asked me if we could grow some garlic bread in our garden next summer. He loves to be outside especially if he is playing baseball. His T-Ball team should be starting up right away and he is so excited to be a part of a team. He might be the scrawniest one, but that boy can hit the ball.

Kesler is our little spitfire. He and Brevin are about as opposite as two kids could be. His electric white hair must somehow travel to his body. He loves to egg is brother on and wrestle, and he too loves to be outside. He likes to "hit ball" and "see kitty" but most of all "pop bubbles!" He loves me to blow bubbles for him to chase!! Kesler has become a real mommy's boy lately and doesn't ever like me out of his sight. He give me lots of "tisses" and I look forward to every single one of them.

Last week I bought Brevin & Kesler a sprinkler and they had so stinking much fun together. They ran around and laughed for what seemed like hours I took about a million pictures! One is at the top of this page.

So....I look forward to hearing from all of you, and hope that this will be a success!!