2 going on 16 and Youth Conferance

Brayden has this obsession with driving. He enjoys sitting in the truck and steering. He also loves keys. He likes putting them in the ignition. When we go shopping at Ross or at Wal-mart he likes to take my keys and shuv them in a small hole in the shopping cart to act like they are in the ignition. He screams if I pull them out. Excuse the wild hair but his hair has so much texture and volume that he looks like a wild man all day.

These past few weeks Jeff and I have been busy with our callings in YM and YW. I will be heading to girls camp in two weeks and Jeff has been getting the YM ready for scout camp and Philmont. A couple weeks ago we had youth conference. To start off youth conference there was a dance and our ward was in charge of decorating. We decided to do a luau theme. My friend Kristi who is the Laurel advisor came up with the idea to make 3-dimensional palm trees. After mutual on a Wednesday night Kristi, her husband Kingston, Chris(YM Pres.), Jeff and I stayed up pretty late and made 4 of these palm trees. I think the trees turned our great!

Brayden and Heather's Birthday and a visit from the Hartsfield's!!

Last Thursday Brayden turned 2 years old. Where has the time gone? Before you know it he will be in kindergarten. We had a birthday party for Brayden Thursday night. JD, Janae, and Crew arrived in San Antonio Thursday afternoon so Brayden was a able to have one friend his age at his party. I decided this year to do the John Deere Tractor theme. (Now that we live in Texas I thought the theme was very appropriate.)It was so much fun. My favorite part of the party was decorating the cake.

I found this John Deere Tractor fabric at Hobby Lobby which is one of my favorite stores here in Texas.
(Thanks for the tip Lucy!)

This picture is everyone that made it to Brayden's Birthday Party. I am so glad we were able to share Brayden's Birthday with our family and friends.

My sister in-law Heather had her Birthday on Wednesday. She is now 15. We called her cake the guacamole cake because we frosted her cake with the green frosting we could not get to turn bright green. We think it was because the food coloring was old. She is such a good sport about letting Brayden take most of the attention on their birthdays.

Brayden got this red rocking chair from Grandma Jill. I love it.

Brayden's favorite gift was his motorcycle tricycle that Mommy and Daddy got him. Too bad his feet do not reach the pedals yet. Oh well he still loved it.

After we had pizza, cake and ice cream, we all went swimming. We had a blast. Brayden loves the pool. I think we will be spending a lot of time in the pool this year.

The party did not stop Thursday night. The party continued throughout the weekend. On Friday we took the Hartsfield's boating we had a blast on the lake. Saturday we went sight seeing in San Antonio. We visited the temple and went to the River walk. Monday we went to six flags and rode all the roller coasters. The party ended Monday night when JD, Janae, and Crew headed back to Phoenix. Now it is back to reality. The fun has ended. Time flies by so fast when you are having fun. We sure will miss the Hartsfield's. I can already tell Brayden is missing his buddy Crew. Hopefully Jeff and I can come out to Phoenix this summer. We love visitors so any of our family and friends are welcomed to come visit us anytime. We promise to show you a good time!!!

This is Janae and I in front of the San Antonio Temple. (Can't wait Janae' for you to come visit again so we can do a session together.)

Trip to AZ

For my birthday gift Jeff bought me tickets to see my parents in Peoria, Arizona. I wanted to stay for two weeks but I only was able to stay for about a week due to the fact that children can only fly free until they turn two. It was great to spend time with my family and I was able to visit with a few of my friends. I hope to come out again this summer with Jeff and we will definitely have to spend a least a week on the east side of town so that we can visit with those of you I was not able to see this last trip. The time went by so fast and before I knew it I was back in San Antonio. During my visit in AZ it was annouced that a temple will be built in North Phoenix. I am so excited for my family and friends who live in the Peoria, Glendale, and Surprise. They will not have to drive all the way out to Mesa or Gilbert to attend the temple. While staying at my parents we had a little family celebration for Brayden's 2nd Birthday. Here is Brayden with his Grandpa Mortensen and his Uncle Bryan.

Brayden loves anything sweet. I guess he has my sweet tooth.

Carly is Brayden's only first cousin so far. They had a blast playing with each other. Here they are playing on my parents piano. I love Carly's smile.

I love little girls with dark hair and dark eyes. I think Carly is so beautiful. Maybe I am just bias because I have dark hair and dark eyes.

Brayden and I were able to visit with Brayden's Great Grandma Fuller/Smith. He loved the wagon she had in her backyard.

One afternoon I was able to get with my girlfriends Janae', Kerri, and Alli. We took our kids to the mall playground due to the rain and odd cold weather we were having in Phoenix. The kids had a blast. Its weird to think that seven years ago we were all going to the singles ward together and now we are moms.

Here is a picture of Janae's son Crew. I love his hair and his big eyes. I think he is a mini JD!