Christmas in August and The Naked Cowboy Rides Again

Last weekend Brandt's cousin Riley (Wells) handed down some of his toys, including a big red barn that Santa made for him a few years ago, horses, tools and tool belt, lego dumptruck and loader, and a basketball game. Brandt was so excited and told my parents to come see his "Christmas."
He wanted his picture taken with his new stuff. In this one he really is excited and saying cheese, not constipated...

The horse also had to have his picture taken and even said cheese.

Posing with his tool belt. And now for the really fun poses...

Brandt doesn't always feel there's a need for clothes and tends to strip down whenever I'm not paying attention for a minute.

He was bucking in circles on his bucking bull, and then it got a little wild and he bucked off...

No worries, he got up and right back on again...
And off he rides into the sunset...

Every now and again Brandt will bring my camera to me and want his picture taken. I thought these ones were pretty cute.

Don't you agree???

BRANDT HAVE BABY, TOO!

For about the past month or so Brandt's been saying "Brandt have baby, too." Everyone laughed and chalked it up to some of his aunts having babies in the next few months and thinking he was just copying his cousins. Guess everyone should have payed a little better attention to him cause he was right! Don't ask me how he knew cause it was a shock to us! It took us 4 yrs and fertility drugs to get Brandt and this one wasn't even close to planned. Bryce says it's maybe a good thing since otherwise it may not have happened again anytime soon since I was so miserable with the last pregnancy. I still don't know how I'm going to survive this time and try to chase my little wild man and work, but I'm trying to remember that it must be meant to be. Thankfully my parents are close by and so supportive and helpful! I know for sure I couldn't do it without them. I'm due in March and will be just a few weeks behind my sister, so it should be fun to have babies so close together, as long as we can both survive being sick up until then. As for now, we'll see how many people believe Brandt buddy when he tells them "Brandt have baby, too!"

24th of July Jr. Rodeo

My sister Kelli lives in Cokeville and they always have a huge 24th of July celebration. Rylie was finally old enough this year to ride a sheep in the Jr. rodeo, so Brandt and I went over with my parents to watch. It was the funnest little rodeo I've ever been to! Brandt even sat still to watch a lot of it. I signed him up to do the stick horse race and while he was excited for that, he really wanted to ride a sheep like Rylie.

Anxiously awaiting their events with grandma, grandpa, and Kelli.

Braydee was also in the stick horse race and was nice enough to let Brandt borrow her stick horse in order to "warm up" in the stands. :)

Rylie was the youngest (and best if I might add) little sheep rider there, and rode his sheep to the other end of the arena where he finally went off and then did about 4 back flips! He landed on his behind and was holding his head crying. Of course we all thought he was hurt, but come to find out he was just upset cause his cowboy had fell off and he didn't know where it was!
Soon it was Brandt's turn to shine. He was so excited that he left the starting line before they even told him to and headed for the first barrel.

He got a little confused in which way he should go after the first barrel, so Ashley's husband Cody was nice enough to help him through it. He had so much fun that when he crossed the finish line and I was trying to give him a high five, he turned around and ran for the first barrel again. I had to go after him and carry him back kicking and screaming so the next little kid could go. After both boys were done "competing" bampa gave them each a 5$ bill. Brandt has been pretending to ride sheep and buck off as well as riding his stick horse around the barrels ever since.

Splish-Splash

I obviously still have the same problem with uploading pictures from my phone, so these are way small pictures. Sure wish they were bigger so you could get the full effect of the cute faces Brandt pulls. He loves water and especially loves the bubbles that grandma Thompson gave him. He says they're bampa's bubbles cause she told him that grandpa likes bubble baths, too.

Isn't he so cute???

It's hard to believe it, but when he lies down in our tub now he almost goes from one end to the other! He's grown so much!

This particular day he decided to give his cows and horses a bath in a bucket in the kitchen sink. I swear I only turned around for a few seconds and next thing I knew he had his diaper off and was in the bucket. He said he was taking a bath with his "manimals." What a silly kid!

Family, Fun, and Freedom

I failed to take any pictures on the 4th this year; not sure what I was thinking. So, I guess I can just tell about the highlights. The day started with our traditional not-so-early-in -the-morning family breakfast at my house. We thought about not having it this year since my grandparents weren't going to be able to be there now that they are at the manor and my sisters couldn't come either. Since I have always been a lover of tradition, my mom and I decided to carry on no matter how few in number we were. We ended up having a nice, quiet time with my parents and Van and Cindy. Well, sorta quiet I guess; Brandt was still there and there isn't much quietness about him! After that we were off to the Paris Parade. It was pretty good this year with quite a few interesting entries. I especially liked the old tractors and truck entered by the Glenn Rich family. Brandt like the fire engine with Smokey Bear. He was actually more interested in playing with the black lab next to us than he was watching the parade or trying to catch candy. Later in the afternoon we headed to Georgetown to have dinner with Bryce's family. Brandt had a great time playing in the little swimming pool with Jolie and the other cousins. After dinner we went to Montpelier to watch the fireworks; unfortunately Brandt fell asleep on the way there and wouldn't wake up for them. I'm not so sure he would have liked them much anyway since he doesn't like any type of loud noises.

Bryce's family tradition used to be to either go to the east side of the lake with the Hemmerts for a picnic and swimming or go to their house in Liberty to celebrate, but they haven't really done that since Bryce's grandpa passed away. The 4th of July was Don's favorite holiday I think and he loved making a big deal out of it with all of his family. He always made sure that we had a memorable day, especially with all the big fireworks that were set off at the ball diamond at the end of the evening. He was a very patriotic man, and there is even a flag painted on the roof of the mill by their house courtesy of Bryce's uncle Jeff. We all are reminded of him and miss him even more around holidays like this.

My growing up memories of the fourth include doing fireworks at our house prior to the 4th for Kelli's b-day, which is on the 3rd. The celebration on the 4th would start with the Lewiston parade, which was beyond huge! The day continued with vendors and free entertainment at the park, softball games across the street, and the rodeo. It was always the funnest day hanging out with my Bodily cousins. The finale was the Lewiston fireworks which were always amazing, and then the long drive (at least for my dad) back to Bear Lake. It's really not a long drive, but since the rest of us slept I bet it was a long drive for my dad who had to be exhausted from the day's events. Amazing the sacrifices our parents make that we never think about til later. I sure do miss the time spent in Lewiston with my family and am thankful for the memories I have. I hope that Brandt will be able to enjoy our little holiday traditions that we've started, especially on the 4th when we celebrate our gift of freedom, so that one day he can appreciate his memories of our family as well.

Rope 'n Run

The Wells cousins participate in Rope 'n Run at the fairgrounds all summer and Brandt has decided that he loves going to watch. Mostly because uncle Kevin spoils him and lets him ride their horses with them in between events.
Kaylen is the oldest cousin and also the most patient with him. She has such a calm, mothering way about her and Brandt adores her. Of course it didn't hurt that she let him ride with her all over...

Adrie also let him hang out on Skip with her a couple different times. He loves her, too, and is constantly asking to go play with her.

He didn't have a chance to ride with Riley this time, but maybe one day. I'm sure we'll be going to more of their rodeos this summer since they have them on Monday nights and it's a cheap and fun family home evening. Besides, I love being an aunt and being able to stay involved with their lives and watching them grow and develop their skills. I couldn't ask to be related to better kids!

Willow Park June 09

A couple weeks ago Brandt and I went to Logan with my parents for the day. Usually we do the marathon shopping day since we hardly ever go down that way, but this time I talked them into having lunch at Willow Park and spending some time there. Bryce and I took Brandt there last year and he loved it, especially feeding the ducks. Brandt was so excited to see the "manimals" that he wouldn't eat a thing, so the picnic part didn't work out so great since I ended up chasing him and trying to hold him on my lap while we ate (anyone who has seen me at church with him knows this isn't an easy task!) Finally, it was time to walk through the zoo part and he loved it.

He loved the monkeys
and this huge turtle that crawled right over to him, which he thought was pretty awesome.

One of the most awaited parts was the place where he got to feed the ducks. My dad was so cute with him. He spent a lot of time with him buying duck food and then helping him throw it through to the ducks. I think they both enjoyed it, and my mom and I enjoyed watching them.It didn't take long for Brandt to figure out that in order to get the food he had to turn the little knob on the vending machine.

Brandt kept sticking his fingers through the fence to feed the ducks and thought it was hilarious everytime one of them would bite his finger.This same little mallard duck kept coming back over and over and Brandt just kept letting him bite his fingers and looking up at me with the funniest looks. Of course, I never got a good picture of that part.

Buddy and me by the duck pond. Somehow my mom once again escaped without having her picture taken. As soon as we got home, Brandt started rattling off all the animals we had seen to his dad, plus a few that he must have imagined including bears. Some of his favorites were of course the monkeys, turtles and ducks, but also the snake, elk ("melk"), baby deer, coyotes, "lions" (actually bobcats) and all the millions of birds. What a fun, quiet, shady place to hang out in the summer and we can't wait to go again.