Archer

For the past few weeks Carrie and Archer have been missing their third wheel. Bobby had an opportunity to travel overseas for work, so we had cause for some extra face time with them while he was away.

I get to hear about all the fun stuff Archer does from Carrie, but it's a lot different when you get to see firsthand all the little quirks he has. He is thoroughly entertaining and has such a fun and thoughtful personality.

Archer has been walking now for about a month, and I forgot how fun it is to watch a new walker teeter and totter around a room. He's starting to pick up speed, and it won't be long before he's tearing around.

Archer has such a love for books already. He has favorites and will bring Carrie the books he wants read to him. Even months back when he was at the age that babies will often opt to chew on books, he would instead sit and listen.

When we're visiting at Carrie's house, she is very much an extension of me and has no problem disciplining my boys and keeping them in line. Zach got sent to timeout for something he had done and was feeling pretty sorry for himself. His crying and complaining got Archer's attention, and seeing how upset Zach was, he crawled over to him all concerned and started giving him kisses. It was one of the sweetest things I've seen a little tot his age do.

Zach may not have appreciated Archer's concern for him, but I couldn't get over what a sweet gesture his kisses were.

Archer does this thing right now where he gives everything the thumb test. It's definitely his go-to digit. He's very deliberate in the things he does, and I thought his restraint with an open tub of skin cream was impressive. He'd dip his thumb and return to the same spot on his leg to moisturize while Carrie went about rubbing him down.

Whenever I get an opportunity to watch Archer for any period of time, he always does really well for me. His crazy cousins provide him with good entertainment and a distraction for whenever he realizes that his mommy isn't around. However, if we're all together and Carrie is out of his sight, it's a totally different story. He loves her fiercely and doesn't like it if she goes too far. The mama's boy term doesn't exactly capture their relationship with each other. It's so much more than that.

This is what Archer does whenever Carrie is in the bathroom. No joke, he doesn't like her out of his sight.

I've been asked if Archer (or any other baby) makes me want to have more kids. Ummm yeah, that would be a no. There are times where I find myself missing some of those fun, early stages; but I'm happy to get my baby fill from Archer, and I figure if his cute mug isn't enough to sway me then I'm pretty well decided.

A year.

Probably one of my favorite parts of each day is getting my daily photo of Archer. Carrie has been so good about texting them to everyone this past year, and I love all the little glimpses into how he spends a second of each day. I love this kid!

It's always great to come together to celebrate that first year mark, and Grandma DJ put together a great party for her first grand baby's first birthday. :)  I think that first birthday is as much a celebration for the parents and relatives as it is for the little one.

There really isn't anything out there that can prepare someone for a baby, and I know Archer has had some challenging stretches, but Carrie and Bobby have come through it all beautifully. I'm already looking forward to seeing how much Archer changes over this next year.

I remember the phone call I had with Carrie when we first got the news that Darius had been offered a transfer to Salt Lake. I knew what it meant it be able to live close to her and the rest of the family. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be around, to watch Carrie become the mother that she is and to see Archer grow and be able to spend time with them both.

Hello Summer.

Technically the calendar hasn't declared it to be Summer yet, but I think it's safe to greet it early. It's hot, school is out, road construction is in full swing, and BBQs are a plenty! This past week/weekend we did our part to welcome in Summer with a picnic in the park and back-to-back BBQs.

Late in the week the boys and I joined Carrie, Archer, and Joy for some top secret Dad's Day gift making which we followed up with a picnic lunch at Sugarhouse Park. Despite the hot temps, we found a nice shady spot under a tree and enjoyed some face time with each other.



Ben has been trying his had at picture taking lately. The only photos from our picnic were the ones he took.

I love Ben's shot of the coolest picnic blanket ever! I so need to make one of these.

The boys and I headed to the Bruhn backyard the following evening for some tasty kebobs and a fruit-tastic pitcher of Sangria. Yum! Joy came over with Courtney, Josh, and a recovering Ulli. It was just a super chill, relaxing evening with some of my favorite people.

There are not enough words to describe how stinkin' cut I think this boy is! Love him!

The following day Zach did some cute harassing and scored us an invite to Jonas' house for dinner. There are very few days when I don't hear frequent requests from Ben and Zach to visit Jonas. It doesn't even matter if we just visited him the day before. They'll ask, and ask, and ask when we're going back. I'm so glad that they have as good of a friend in Jonas as I do in his mom!  Brandi prepared us a delicious meal, which was followed up by a water balloon fight amongst the boys, and some pie later on. It was a treat that Darius was off from work that night and was able to join us.

I knew during the hour + time I spent filling water balloons that they would be gone in minutes...about 2-1/2. It was all worth it! Ben handed me balloons and kept telling me that he loved me as I filled them, and it was lots of fun to watch the boys launch them at each other.

We're very grateful and extremely happy to have family and friends with grills...especially when they're nice enough to have us over!

Thank you BBQ hosts, we love you!

Mishmash

The past few weeks have been a good mix of some fun stuff. Now I know why my dear friend will publish "This week in pictures" posts every so often. Time has a way of sneaking off, and this past month has gone by pretty quick...so I guess instead of a week's worth of photos, I'll cover most of May instead. :)

Darius, Ben, Zach and I joined Clair's family for a swim party to celebrate Makenna's recent birthday. I had lots of fun making cute little fondant owls to top her cupcakes, and we got to watch Makenna jump off the diving board for the first time!

I made several cakes this month...this one was for my cousin, Anthony's, lovely wife for Mother's Day. They enjoyed Grandma's birthday cake so much that they had to have another, so Anthony got in touch with me and surprised his wife.

I love that Clair and I love the same baseball team! Most of the family was able to get together for a BBQ at Carrie & Bobby's place to celebrate Clair's birthday. We feasted on some good eats...Sanpete Turkey, homemade rolls, yummy salads, and pudding cake. There were some really happy tummies. :)

My lovely and extremely talented niece, Karissa, graduated from high school. I put together this cake as a nod to her talents as an artist. We joined her family for some lunch and cake and enjoyed a good visit with them.

This sweet little soul just turned 1! The boys and I drove up to James and Brooke's home in Idaho to celebrate Madison's birthday. I brought some pizza dough and sauce and we cooked up some pizza the night before, and enjoyed a little family BBQ the following day. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed a great party!



 

We've been wanting to get a dog, but it's just not in the cards for us right now. Lucky for us, we can get our puppy fix from Joy's sweet new friend, Ulli. The boys and I got to dog sit for him while Joy was at work. The boys love him (so long as he not chewing on them).

It's been a good month! I love my family, and it feels really good to live close to everyone again. There's a bunch of us, and there's always something going on, and I love that I'm not missing out on so much of it anymore. 





"High Five, Who's Five!?!"

"When I'm a big kid...." It's becoming a daily comment of Ben and Zach. They're already craving for the things to come as they get older, and they made a big step towards those musings this past week when they turned five.

Five?! Really?

We had planned to throw them a little party, but unfortunately the boys and I all came down with a stomach bug during the days leading up to their birthday, so we opted for a little family day instead. I think it was pretty awesome day by their standards.

They started out with some gifts, followed up by toast. Joy brought them some costumes to dress up in and lots of books, including their first copy of Dr. Seuss' Happy Birthday to You!

 

 We lucked up and had gorgeous weather. It was definitely a day to enjoy the outdoors. After presents, breakfast, and cake frosting/decorating, we got ready and headed out to City Creek. We gave the boys a little birthday spending money and let them pick out whatever they wanted. Ben was thrilled to find a Zurg Blaster at the Disney Store. He first saw it at a store in Downtown Disney while we were in Florida and begged me for the better part of an hour for it. Needless to say, he was thrilled at the chance to get his paws on it. The boys got some playtime in at the kids dino play area, and after exchanging some clothes for them and a visit to the fountains, we headed out.

Zach opted to spend his loot at Toys R Us and thoroughly visited nearly every aisle, pausing and ogling over the toys that were all naturally outside his means. He finally made his picks after a little nudging, and on we went to enjoy the sunshine at Liberty Park. It was SO nice outside, and the boys had fun playing and chatting it up with the other kids and parents on the playground.

The boys have only been to an Arctic Circle once before, but when we passed one on the way to the park, they decided that's where they wanted to go for lunch. Maybe it had something to do with the creepy, buggy-eyed Spring creatures they wanted with their meals. I almost feel bad to admit that they quickly found their way to the trash can...almost!

I got extremely lazy this year with their cake and went the easy route with an edible image, slapped it on their cake and called it good. I promised myself after last year's cake drama that I wouldn't spend hours working on their cake(s) this year. I only have a mild case of guilt, and I think that's pretty good for me.

Since the boys' bellies were still a little off from their 24-hr bugs, they didn't have appetites and didn't hound us for birthday cake. We were able to hold off until late in the evening and had some special visitors join us for the blowing out of the candles. Bobby, Carrie and Archer (we felt incredibly lucky he came too) got their first chance to join us for the boys' birthday and it's definitely time they got a turn. We loved that they came to celebrate with us.

Ok, so what's the trick to getting a great cake/burning candles shot? I have yet to get a really good one, and I'd like to figure it out before next year. Tips anyone?

I haven't allowed myself much time to contemplate this milestone. I'm kinda glad I've avoided it too. I can only think about it in small doses. I'm happy for what's to come for them and (as hard as it sometimes) their increasing need for more independence. I don't openly admit it to many, but halfway through the night the boys still find their way to our bed. Ben usually seeks out Darius and Zach finds me. I know it's not going to last much longer and that makes me very sad. Even with elbows and feet to the face, I never sleep as sound until one of my snuggle bugs is cuddled up next to me.

The boys recently got bunk beds and on most nights they sleep (half the night) together on the top bunk. Last night Ben was laying quietly next to a sleeping Zach, and I could just see the wheels turning in his head. I knew sleep wasn't visiting him anytime soon, so I invited him to get up and join me for a little while. He was full of questions and asked me if he was still five. I told him yes. He asked me what would happen if he wasn't five anymore. I told him after he was all done being five, he'd be six.

I'm happy that's still a year away.

Happy Birthday Archer

The best Christmas gift ever.

Archer greeted the world early this morning, and I've been on cloud nine all day. I'm in love already, and I know his parents are light years beyond me.

Congratulations Carrie & Bobby! You made one beautiful little boy, and I couldn't be happier for you.

48-hr Cram

I'm still in awe that it all came together! Sunday afternoon I returned to Orlando after a very quick trip to Utah. Sitting in the Orlando Airport waiting to see if I made the flight to SL Friday morning, I was mentally preparing myself to be let down. I was more than shocked when I lucked up and got one of the last open seats on the plane! As Joy told me the night before, it was meant to be.

A couple months back, Joy found this 5k mud race/obstacle course called the Devil Dash. After I checked out the website, it wasn't hard for her to talk me into doing the race with her. It was a little intimidating to me at first, but I followed the workout guide I found through the site and found myself getting really excited to participate. It was the race which brought me to Utah for a quick weekend.

After arriving in Utah, Joy picked me up and I dropped her off at her last final of the semester (she rocked her classes again this semester...Awesome job Joy!). While Joy took her final, I headed over to visit Carrie and helped her study for her last final. I got to have my first chat with Jr. Bruhn (It's a BOY!) and told him to stop turning his mama's brains to mush. Despite work, pregnancy, and pregnancy brain....Carrie is doing amazingly well with everything on her plate. I can see her now shaking her head and disagreeing with me.... all I can say to that is, I'm right and you're wrong, Carrie. You just can't see what I see!

After Joy's final, we headed out to lunch and got lost trying to find Ruth's Diner, so we settled for some establishment named after a porcupine. Joy had to work that afternoon/evening, so I dropped her off and spent some quiet time to myself browsing books at Barnes & Noble, before meeting up with my dear friend, Brandi. We chatted at her place and then enjoyed some time to ourselves at the pool hall in her neighborhood. What a great visit we had! Love you friend!

I headed over to visit with Carrie and Bobby before picking Joy up from work. We watched the Olympics, and I enjoyed listening to them discuss baby names...how fun! Joy and I headed back to her place and got to bed at somewhat of a decent hour.

Saturday was the Devil Dash, so we got an early start and made the drive up to the Weber County Fairgrounds in Ogden. Our start time was 9:30, and we're both glad we didn't end up with a later time! We picked up our race bibs, free t-shirts, and timing chips and killed some time before our heat started. The race looped around the fairgrounds and there were lots of messy fun obstacles. Click here for photos of the race. Joy and I are on pages 11, 63, 113, and 188. I'm by no means a runner, but I would do another race like this. I had a lot of fun.

We met up with Connie at her place after the race, took advantage of her shower, and then we all headed out to SL to meet up with Eric and his family for lunch at Gourmandise. Tasty. It was great to see everyone, especially when I was in town for such a short time.

Joy and I headed out to Ikea after lunch and picked up a frame for her bed and sweet curtains in the bargain section. We spent the evening assembling the frame before she took me back to the airport and then later picked me up again when I didn't get out, so I got to try her newly-elevated bed after all. Early the next morning, Joy made her 4th trip out to the airport in two days and Sunday afternoon I was back in Orlando again.

Quick trip...makes my head spin a little bit trying to spit it all out (and this was my shorter version). I know how to cram a lot of stuff into a 2-day period.....did I mention I'm headed back to Utah again tomorrow? That's another long-winded post for another day.

Joy & other wonderful faces - Thanks again for a fantastic weekend! Can't wait to do it again...a little bit longer this next time. And huge thanks to the Bacon family for helping us out with the boys while I was away...huge, really huge.