Barbies are for Girls!!

Brandt obviously didn't get that memo! He looks quite at home playing barbies with Jolie, Allee, and Adrie and G&G Thompson's. Guess that's what happens when you're surrounded by girl cousins.
I actually snapped these shots as a joke for Bryce's benefit, but I think I may hold onto them for blackmail purposes. Can't wait to pull them out on Brandt's first date!! :)

Much to Grandma Thompson's dismay, the kids wouldn't leave the wagon alone this Sunday, and Brandt was the ring leader.

Brandt's very favorite thing at G&G Thompson's house is "Bampa's bird." Actually, it's Tiffany's, but it sorta stayed when she moved out. He loves to "tweet" at it as loud as he can and spin it's cage around (not sure if the bird enjoys it as much as he does.) He begs us to get it out, but since it freaks out both Bryce and me, he has to find someone else to humor him, which they do. He knows how to open the cage door, and I'm sure it won't be long before he's getting it out on his own when we're not looking.

Riley is already quite the computer wiz-he oughta be, it seems like that's all he wants to do. I thought this was so cute when Brandt climbed up on the chair by him and put his arm around him. Riley's always so patient with him.

A Visit from London

On Saturday my cousin Amy brought her daughter London up to visit my grandparents in the hospital. On their way through, they stopped to visit for a minute and to see the baby calves. Brandt was way excited to see her and have her play with him for awhile.
Bryce was kind enough to drive us out through the cows in his truck so we wouldn't get mucky in the 10 feet of soft crud in the field and the kids loved it. Brandt was the perfect little tour guide pointing out all the baby calves and their mommies and made sure to show London which ones were drinking milk.

The highlight was when Bryce found my dad's pet calf. It's mom died so it became pretty attached to my dad when he was bottle feeding it. Now it follows him all over the field and nudges him and plays with him.

The kids had fun petting him and I think he enjoyed all the attention as well. He even let London sit on his back for a second, but of course I missed it with the camera.

Sure do dread the day when it's time to sell him...

A Day at Grandma's with Amanda Jean

Jana and I spent last Tues. afternoon at my mom's going through some stuff and Brandt found this giant blue cup. He took it straight to the tub and climbed in. He knew it belongs there since there's a matching red cup already there. He insisted on taking it home, and of course grandma let him, and he now calls it "bampa's cup" and has to have it everytime he takes a bath.

This is his "who me?" face. Looks innocent as usual! :)

This is his determined look; cracks me up! I've never caught it on camera before, though.

It was such a nice afternoon, we decided to take Brandt and Mandy for a walk. As you can tell, they were pretty excited to get outside.

Amanda Jean (or ThereyagoJean as Brandt calls her lately) looks so dang cute in this hat!

"Enough pictures already! Let's keep walking for crying out loud!"

Battle Wounds and Birthday Cake

As far as I can tell, Brandt loves nursery, although a couple Sundays ago he came home with some battle wounds. Actually these pics are after we got home and for some reason he wasn't loving the camera as much as usual.
The pictures really don't do the scratches justice, but they were pretty nasty ones on his cheek and neck.

Not sure if he was an innocent party in the whole thing or if he started it, but I'm sure he'll come home with more wounds than this as he gets older.

See, he looks pretty innocent in this picture...

Also got his hand pretty bad; I'm guessing they're "defense wounds" since he didn't have any scratches on his face on that side. Aren't boys fun???

Later that day we headed to the Topham's to celebrate Ammon's 2nd B-day. Seems like just yesterday that LouCin and I were pregnant together, of course, and now look at them..

It's hard to tell, but his cake was Thomas the Train and so cute (and actually yummy; I'm not usually a big cake eater.) Chey had to light the candles over and over for the boys to blow out, so I wonder how many little germs were on it by the time we ate it. Oh well!

Ammon got legos just like Brandt's and they both had fun trying them out. They play really well together and get along great for the most part.

Cruisin' in Ammon's car. Won't be able to fit in it together for much longer. They are both curious little creatures and it's fun to watch them and see what kind of mischief they'll come up with next.

Hitten' the Sleigh Hill

Last weekend we took Brandt sleigh riding for the first time ever (ya, we're slackers) with the Wells' cousins in Georgetown. He absolutely loved it!!

Riley, Adrie, Kaylen and Brandt, ready to go!

Going down was a ton of fun for all of us, going back up the hill was another story. Wasn't so bad for Brandt since he got to ride all the way up, but for the rest of us it was quite a hike. Brandt would sit back and enjoy the ride, eating handfuls of snow on the way.

This sleigh of grandma and grandpa Thompson's was perfect for us to be able to ride with Brandt in. Even Bryce's long legs fit...
Couldn't quite say the same for our little red sleigh!!

Like father, like son

The title pretty much tells all. Bryce and Brandt have spent a large amount of their time together watching various ATV movies and looking through ATV magazines ever since he was born. It is in Bryce's blood to love the action, noises, smells, and often-times the wrecks that go along with 4-wheelers, bikes, and sleds, and he has definitely handed that trait down to Brandt buddy. He loves to spend time out in the garage climbing on and off the "Brrmm's" and making all the sound effects and actions of riding and crashing.
My dad found this toddler helmet and couldn't resist getting it. Brandt looks like a bobble-head in it and it's hillarious to watch him try to walk around and hold his head straight.

Brandt and his daddy on the "Brrm, brrm". Brandt begged to stay out there on it all night even though it was freezing.

Slave Driver

As I've mentioned before, Brandt loves helping out with household chores. He pretty much has laundry down now, so all I have to do is sit back, relax, and let him take care of it. LOL!!!

Weekend Get Away

For Christmas this year I bought Jazz tickets for Bryce and booked a room at the Radisson Hotel. It was a much bigger sacrifice for me than just the money since I've never left Brandt for the night before, so I was more than a little anxious about that. The 28th was the big day (also well planned since it was 2 days after my b-day) and totally worth it. We had a nice drive down with hardly any traffic even when we got to Salt Lake (we were worried that it would be a zoo since it was Larry H. Miller's funeral day). Checked into the hotel around 4pm and discovered we would be on the 9th floor-way fancy! Pretty sure we've never been on the 9th floor of anything before! Walked across the street to the game while everyone else was scrambling for a parking spot, found the cutest Williams jersey for Brandt buddy, and still had plenty of time to find our seats. They weren't the greatest, but still so much fun and so exciting to actually be there live. The game was awesome; Brewer especially killed it with all his dunks. I neglected to get many pictures and the couple I did get aren't great, but proof that we were there, I guess. After the game while everyone else was once again scrambling to try to get to their cars and get out of there, we walked back to our hotel and had a nice, quiet, and very yummy dinner at the in-house restaurant. It was so different to have the entire night just to ourselves for a change. Some of the time we actually didn't know what to say to each other since we usually have Brandt for entertainment and subject matter. Sunday morning was relaxed and also very different than trying to shower and get ready for the day with an almost 2 yr old. We once again enjoyed good food at the hotel at their breakfast buffet (free with the whole Jazz packet-- nice!!) I had absolutely the best omelet I have ever had in my entire life and would go back again just for that. Anyway, we discovered that it was a much needed break from "real life" and that it was kind of like dating again since we didn't have to worry about anything but each other. Hopefully we won't wait so long for our next retreat.