Uncle Kyle and Aunt Cindy bundled Tate and Remy up and took them out in the back yard and made a totally awesome, all inclusive, eat your goldfish crackers and drink hot cocoa in SNOW CAVE!!!!!
The boys LOVED it!




Seriously, I don't think they even noticed we were gone. They had so much fun with their family!

Christmas Cheer with Steve and Connie!

We got to spend Christmas this year with Steve and Connie! Who are Steve and Connie you ask?

Why, Steve was our RN and Connie was our PCT at American Fork Hospital! And, really, who better to spend Christmas day with?

Better than nurse Bonnie on Christmas Eve.

Darrin started passing yet another kidney stone the Saturday before Christmas, it was painful until Sunday night and thankfully he was able to go to work on Monday. Monday at UPS brought with it a huge snowstorm, lots of packages and Brady getting stuck in his seat belt for an hour. Yes folks, Brady, Darrin's helper was stuck in his seat belt for an hour. They had to wait for a supervisor to come cut him out and install another seat belt. (Brady has it for a souvenir.) After climbing over Brady for an hour trying to still deliver packages, his stone started moving again. He came home at 9:00 pm and was in labor until 5:30 am. He had two Lortabs and 4 ibuprofen in his system and it wasn't doing anything for the pain. Sooo......

We dropped the pajama clad boys off at my second home/family...the daycare at 6:30 am and went across the street to the ER. Darrin was given lots of good drugs and it helped him so very much. Kind of like an epidural for a laboring woman.

He was sent back home on percocet and phenogren and did good for the next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: We had a fun Christmas planned. Darrin's two brothers, brother in law, sister and sister in law and his parents and my mom AND cousin Charlie were all spending Christmas at our house. They all came over and warmed our house up with love, laughter, and Charlie even pee'd in a measuring cup. It was so great to have them all here!

But, Darrin didn't cooperate. He couldn't keep his medicine down and was in huge amounts of pain again. I finally convinced him to go back to the ER about 6:00 pm Christmas eve. There he found out he was dehydrated and had an infection. Also, they finally did a CT scan and saw exactly where his stone(s) were.

The doctor admitted him due to all the complications and the fact that Darrin's kidneys are already suffering and he didn't want more complications. So, we spent Christmas Eve with Nurse Bonnie. And Christmas Day with Steve and Connie, who were much more fun than Bonnie. Darrin was finally released on December 26th.

We came home and opened some presents and watched video of the family opening presents on Christmas morning.

Overall it was the weirdest Christmas ever. But, I did glean some Hospital Chair sleeping skills to add to my numchuck skills. Darrin, he is still waiting for the stones to pass....we'll keep you updated.


Yummy Christmas Dinner!



Darrin's Super-de-duper family: David, Betsy, Charlie, Cindy, Kyle, Brady, Mike, Ruth, Nancy, Remy and Tate came to spread Christmas Cheer! Thanks for the support guys!!!!!!!!!!!



Mmmm, cake.



This hospital stuff is Pretty BoRiNg!

Santa wears brown...

And drives a UPS truck! Every year Christmas is just a little teensy bit marred by the fact that Darrin works 12 hour days in the snow, cold and wind delivering packages to all the good girls and boys.

This year has not been as bad, due to the struggling economy (good for our Brown Santa, but not good for our country). But, it finally hit yesterday. Between the monstrous storms that have hit in the past couple days and all of the Amazon packages finally arriving, Daddy has been rolling in way past bedtime.

This year Darrin's brother Brady is his driver helper, his elf you might say....Brady just got back from his mission and it worked out to have a little extra money until Christmas. So, now we have two Bradshaw boys wearing o' the brown.
Tate and Remy love to go see Daddy and Brady, so we tracked them down the other day to say hello and take some pictures!


We stalk this truck on a daily basis.



This is how we kiss Daddy goodnight at Christmas time!



"That house right there, if you don't do it I'm telling MOM!"



"Um, you guys could get a lot more done if you would stop trying to kiss each other!"



"Okay boys, just hold it for one more picture!"
Darrin: "HURRY, we need to go!!!"
Brady: "What's the rush?"

My new favorite blog....

Here is my new favorite blog..The Jolly Porter, http://www.thejollyporter.blogspot.com/, (why won't this hyperlink?????????) I'm retarded.

Anyway, I found it thru my other favorite blog, c jane http://blog.cjanerun.com/, and I laughed OUT LOUD. At night. While everyone was sleeping. It was just that funny.

That's gonna leave a mark.

Yes, that's right, Darrin didn't see the rotary gerter and he totally rolled his ankle the other day at work. He really thought he had broken it because it hurt so bad (this coming from the man who passed 6 kidney stones last month without meds).

It turned out to be some pulled tendons, which apparently hurts worse than a broken ankle. He went to the "UPS doctor" and was told he was fine and the doctor put him on full duty...Ha!

We called some friends and they came to give him a blessing that night. The next day he tried on 6 pair of shoes trying to find some that would go over his brace, but still allow him to work. Ha!

He finally settled on his good ole boots, which gave him some good support. He got home that night, and took his boots off and we saw this:



It was just as bad on the inside and all over his toes too. I decided that was one of the coolest, but grossest things I had seen in a while.

He was given a runner for the last week, which was a blessing, so he could heal. He is getting better, but I have enjoyed calling him peg leg pete all week because of his new gait.


PS, If the title of the post and the first line make no sense to you, then ring your call button and I'll have Tommy here come over and hit you in the head with a tack hammer because you are a REtard. (um, just watch Tommy Boy, okay?)

A little tree family.

We set up our new Christmas tree, you know the one that I found on clearance last year? Well, it is a 7.5 foot pre-lit variety! What I didn't notice is that it is the "slimmer" style. Very pretty tree, but better designed for those 100 sq/ft mock up homes in IKEA. Also, I really don't like Christmas trees slimmer than myself.

Quandary.

Epiphany!

I remembered I had an un-opened box of 3 graduated pre-lit pine trees that I have been moving from home to home for the last nine years! Let's make a tree family!!

So the boys each got their own little tree to decorate, and everything is right in the Christmas tree world again!



Tree, a la Snugger Buggerson!

Another Tate/Remy ism....

I was asking Tate if he knew what my name was. Mandy, he replies. But, I call you mommy.
M: "What is Daddy's name?"
T: "Darrin"
M: "What do you call him?"

T: "Stupid"

I thought Darrin was going to pee his pants from laughing so hard.

****************************************************************************************

Remy has had his little blanket which he affectionately calls "snug" since he was 6 months old. He only uses it at night to sleep with now, and the other night I had finished reading him his stories and he was hunkering down for the night and he says
R: "Where is my snugger buggerson?"
M: "Did you just say snugger buggerson?"
R: " Yah, that is what I call my snug now!"
M " I love it Remy!"

Polyga{re}my

My co-teacher and good friend at preschool is Cherish. Cherish has 3 beautiful daughters (and one handsome son). Both of her youngest daughters come to preschool with us. Josie is 4 years old. Remy and Josie love to play together. One day in the summer Josie gave Remy a big hug and said, "I'm going to marry you Remy!"

Remy took this proposal very seriously and from that time on he and Josie were betrothed. Remy and I were talking about which temples all of our family members got married in. He then announced that he and Josie were going to get married in the Bountiful temple like mom and dad and Cindy and Kyle.
Another day I was explaining to him that my name hadn't always been Mandy Bradshaw and that mommies change their last names when they get married. "Oh, so when Josie and I get married her name will be Josie Bradshaw!"

Well yesterday we hit a snag.

We were lining up after outside time and Remy and Josie were lining up together. Josie said, "Remy and I were fighting."
Me: "That's too bad. Did you make up?"
Josie: "Yes, we're still going to get married."
Me: "Well good for you"
Remy: "Yah mom, I am going to marry Josie first and then Bryton, Jordan, Emily..and.."
Josie: "And Sophie!"
Remy: "Yah, Sophie!"
Me: {hmmm, I don't even know how to explain all of this} "Well, you know Remy, Daddy is only married to mommy and Josie's daddy is only married to Cherish."
Remy:"That's OK, Josie and I will get married first and go to work together, and the other girls can take care of the babies!"

And with that they walked inside hand in hand, ready for lunch.

Hmmm...we'll see how long Josie is OK with this.

Scared to even say it.

Well, I have been delaying even saying anything for fear of jinxing myself, but, here we go! We are officially done with diapers!!!!
Yea! Tate has been so easy to potty train, I guess I deserve an easy one, right? I must say though, I know that Tate was so willing to be a big boy because of Remy's example. So Thanks Remy!

Can anyone relate?

Diagnosis C.A.A.D.D.

Recently, I was diagnosed with C.A.A.D.D. - Child Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests: I decide to do the laundry. As I start toward the basement, I notice that there are cheerios all over the floor and my house keys are in the cereal bowl. I decide to pick up the cheerios before I do the laundry. I lay my keys down on the counter, put the cheerios in the trashcan under the counter, and notice that the trashcan is full. So, I decide to take out the trash. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash I may as well pay the bills first. I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left, my extra checks are in my desk in the office, so I go to my desk where I find a sippy cup full of juice. I'm going to look for my checks, but first I decide I should put the sippy cup in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the sippy cup a plant on the counter catches my eye--it needs to be watered. I set the sippy cup on the counter, and I discover baby wipes that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back in the bathroom, but first I'm going to water the plants. I set the wipes back down, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote, left on the kitchen table. I realize that when I go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the plants. I splash some water on the plant, but most of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down, get some paper towels and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do. At the end of the day: the laundry isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a warm cup of juice sitting on the counter, the plants aren't watered, there is still only one check in my check book, I can't find the remote, I can't find the wipes, and I don't remember what I did with my keys. Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today. I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail. Don't laugh--if this isn't you yet, your day is coming."

Welcome Home!

Welcome Home Elder Bradshaw! Retuned with honor! Darrin's Brother Brady returned from the Oklahoma! Tulsa mission last saturday. We were glad to see him and glad to have him back. His homecoming is this Sunday the 9th. We love you Brady!

Sorry, I didn't feel myself get tagged..I think I was in the safe zone, but whatever... ;)

I am - a child of God
I want - to be out of debt!
I have - clean toilets, thanks to Darrin!
I wish - he cleaned them every couple of days...
I dislike - fish
I fear - loosing my loved ones
I hear - the toilet running because the chain is caught
I search - for something for dinner most every night
I wonder - how can a small boy pee SO much
I always - wish I could sleep a little longer
I usually - love to joke around, I am very sarcastic
I am not - a big fan of lima beans
I dance - with my boys to Laurie Berkner
I sing - along while we dance
I never - sort clothes before laundering them
I rarely - take baths (don't get me wrong on that one..I shower)
I cry - seldom
I am not always - listening to you even if you think I am. (preschool ruined me)
I lose - my mind often
I'm confused - on a daily basis
I need - some locks for my cupboard doors
I should - eat better
I dream - of perfect fall days

I tag...Betsy Bradshaw. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Out of the mouthes of babes

We have the Children's Songbook CD's with the primary music. We listen to them in the car when the boys ask to and also when the whining and screaming have gotten so out of control that mommy REALLY needs the spirit with us.
The newest "hit" song knocking Popcorn Popping down from it's #1 spot is The Wise Man and The Foolish Man. As we were listening to the song the other day, Remy pipes up from the back seat. "That foolish man who built his house on the sand...Well, he really should have known better."

Ode to Eagle Mountain...

I am a firm believer that each part or stage of life teaches us lessons and helps us grow and develop as a person. I am really dorky in the fact that I am constantly looking for these lessons in the mundane. It's kind-of a hobby of mine. ( I collect Hobbies, you know). Thus my Ode to Eagle Mountain.

Lessons I have learned while living in Eagle Mountain.
1- You reap what you sow.
2- In order to sow, you must lightly water dirt, add some sandy loam and peat moss.
3- While sowing, do NOT over water dirt.
4- Native Eagle Mountain Soil is the NEW quicksand. If over watered.
5- Sow nothing. Reap tumbleweeds.
6- Do not try to ignore small growing weeds in yard.
7- Tumbleweeds are like small, seemingly insignificant sins. They start out so small and benign and if are left un-attended...well, one day you look out your kitchen window and the small insignificant weeds are now large, bushy, thorny beasts.
8- Russian Thistle is a type of tumble weed.
9- Never try to pick Russian Thistle without full body armor.
10-I am severely allergic to Russian Thistle. (think, ER visit..can't breathe!)
11-Nothing beats the satisfaction of using a rake in the fall to annihilate the dead Russian Thistle along our property line (in long sleeves, gloves, etc..).
12-Russian Thistle makes a great, cheap fence. Keeps our kids in, the pesty neighbor kids out!
13-Always look before backing out of driveway.
14-There will ALWAYS be one of the following behind you: small child, skateboard, bike, transformer or cat. Or all of the above.
15-Two things you can count on in Eagle Mountain: Every one has either small children or a dog. Or both.
16-Your kids will always have friends to play with outside.
17-One ring on your doorbell=adult, multiple rings in a row for 5 minutes straight=kid.
18-It is so much fun to be surrounded by people in basically the same stage of life as you.
19-Eagle Mountain communities practice the law of consecration. The set up for this Celestial principle goes like this: Everyone has a home based business (Lia Sophia, Scentsy, Shoes, etc...) Everyone attends everyone else's parties and spends money. No one actually makes money in their businesses, the money just circulates around the neighborhood.
20- If your shoes are scuffed, houses smell yucky, or you are un-adorned, you are not doing your part to support one another.
21- Neighbors are very generous when it comes to lending an egg, 1/4 cup sugar, stick of butter, or any other small ingredient needed while baking on a Sunday.
22- Always call your friend while you are at Wal-Mart to see if she needs anything while you are "in town"
23- Friend is an "angel of mercy" because you just realized you don't have a head of garlic for your famous lasagna and you don't have 1.5 hours to go "to town" for garlic.
24- You will share your space with snakes, tarantulas, black widows and sand puppies.
25- You will be a member of at least 3 different wards without even moving once!
26- You will have a village of wonderful people to help mentor your child.
27- You will have many moms to bond with and discuss temper tantrums, potty training, school work and to swap recipes with.
28- You will always have dirt in your window sills, in your carpet and in your garage.
29- The stars are brightest here.
30- Your neighbors porch lights light your way home.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year here in Eagle Mountain. I have learned so much and made so many wonderful friends here. I am living in my little house on the prairie, and I love it!

Yo Ho Blow the Man Down!

Yesterday we had some really windy weather in Utah County and especially in American Fork where Darrin has his route and we have work/school. The preschoolers had a ton of fun outside throwing the leaves up in the air and watching them blow across the playground.
Later that afternoon Darrin called me and told me he had gotten hit. I immediately had a picture of a scrunched brown truck. I said, where did you get hit? He said, I was walking down the street.

What?! YOU got hit? He said yes, I was walking down the street back to my truck and out of nowhere this tent hit me!
Yes, a fully erected, family size tent complete with rain fly, smacked right into my UPS driver. Luckily he was not impaled by a stake or smacked up the side of the head by the zipper.

I might venture to say that he will be on the look out for accompanying sleeping bags and canteens with in the next few days.

Fish are friends, not food.

OK, we need your help to settle a little dispute that Darrin and I are having. Remy was watching Finding Nemo and the part where Dory and Marlin run into Bruce and his friends came on. Darrin says to me that he believes that Bruce and friends just wanted to lure Dory and Marlin in to eat them and that the Fish Eaters Anonymous was just a front for them to get fish to trust them so they can eat them. I strongly disagree and feel as though they really were trying to stay on the wagon and not eat fish.
So, what do you all think?

Aahhh, Fall.

Last Saturday we decided that we needed a little outing. We loaded the kids up in the car and drove up to Sundance Resort. We bought passes and hopped on the chair lift and rode up the mountain and enjoyed the beautiful red, yellow, orange and green leaves. The boys loved riding the lift and looking at all the fun colors too. We loved it so much that the following Monday the boys and I took Grandma Owings. This time we packed a lunch and got off at the top and had a little picnic. I think we will make this a tradition.

PS, we did have pants for Tate...until he had a small accident on the way up the mountain. We had to buy a $22 onesie in the gift shop so at least his diaper was covered up.

Have you given up on us?

What a lame blogger I have been lately! Aarggh. So here is our top 100 list of things we have done recently!
1-Killed a plethora of black widow spiders.
2-Made peach jam.
3-Threw away enough peaches to make another batch of peach jam, no time, went rotten.
4-Realized that was very wasteful.
5-Had a small cancer scare (Darrin has cysts, or tumors, or lesions in his kidneys)
6-Darrin does not have cancer. He does have a large kidney stone though, yipee!
7-Still not sure what is wrong with Darrin's kidneys exactly.
8-Remy learned about insects at school.
9-Tate is speaking full sentences now (we have slow talkers)
10-We spents LOTS of time with Grandma Owings (she moved to Provo 1 month ago)
11-Cleaned out and organized the basement.
12-Fell in love with our neighbor's shop vac.
13-Harvested tomatoes, peas, zucchini and carrots from our garden.
14-Learned Artichokes do not blossom in Utah weather.
15-Wondered why Wal-Mart had a artichoke plant in it's greenhouse.
16-Walked 6 miles yesterday with my friend Wendy.
17-Helped Cubscouts make a Pack flag for pack meeting.
18-Did really stupid cheers during pack meeting.
19-Remy found a LARGE gross looking insect in backyard.
20-Tate hit head/fell down/jumped off couch/slipped/tripped 300 times last week.
21-Thanked Heavenly Father everyday for protecting Tate everyday from serious injury
22-Remy practiced -og words and learned about graphing.
23-Remy colored everyday for hours a day.
24-We listened to Paper Airplanes by MIA everyday because it says "UPS trucks" in it
25-We disconnected our cable and declared ourselves free from Television
26-We still watch movies and DVD's.
27-There is a difference right?

We love you all and will post more regular in the near future. Maybe.

Yucky Virus!

We are back after a short hiatus with a virus. Yes, our poor little computer got sick! We called Dr. Mike Bradshaw and he was able to revive it after some time in ICU. Thanks Dr. Bradshaw!

Mrs Walker and me!

My baby starts kindergarten

Well, my 5 lb baby grew up and is now a 5 year old who started kindergarten! He loves it so much, he didn't even look back on the first day going into class. He is an eager learner and has had so much fun. His teacher is Mrs. Walker and he goes to Shelley Elementary in American Fork. I have been trying to add a picture of his teacher but, apparently blogger does not like me (see slide show in previous post) So I will have to try to post it later (grrrr...)

Tagged

I was tagged by my sis-in-law Cindy...

**4 Random things I adore about my husband:

1-His calves
2-His immense patience and selflessness
3-His sense of humor
4-His ability to work very hard

**4 movies I would watch more than once:

1-Tommy Boy
2-Clue
3-Oscar
4-Gone with the Wind

**4 TV shows I watch more than once:

1-Big Brother (my current fave)
2-The Office
3-Medium
4-Three's Company

**4 Places I have been:

1-California
2-NYC
3-Mexico
4-Price, Utah!

**4 people who email me regularly:

1-Mostly spam, we all keep in touch VIA blogs!

**4 Favorite Foods

1- Rice
2-Tortillas
3-Steak
4-Chocolate

**4 Places I would like to visit:

1-Nicaragua
2-Germany
3-England
4-Australia

**4 Things I am looking forward to in the coming year:

1-Seeing Remy grow and learn in school
2-Potty training Tate
3-Getting our Tax return
4-Getting a poodle (I don't know!)

**4 people I tag:

1-Mikelle
2-Dawn
3-Macy
4-Wendy

August=Crazy Month

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Wow! August has been so fun and so crazy! We had our Aunt Lisa and Cousins Trajan and Macey come visit us at the beginning of the month. We had lots of fun! We went to the Children's Museum, the Thanksgiving Point childrens gardens, the BYU Creamery, Swimming at Lehi Pool and our house, the Dinosaur Quarry in Emery Co., BBQ at G&G Bradshaws and lots of fun playing Bionicles, Indiana Jones and Star Wars. It was great to see everyone!

A New Member of the Family

The adoption process is fairly easy in this case. Alls ya gotta do is buy some kitty food at Wal-Mart and they are yurs forever!

This is the newest member of our family, Tinkerbell a.k.a Belle, or Belly as Tate calls her. She is a neighborhood stray and the boys have been begging for a cat since we moved into our house. So we compromised. We will feed Belle, but she may not come in the house. I think its a good compromise, don't you?

This seriously is the best cat though. She is still pretty young, though not a kitten anymore, but she is sooooo patient with the boys. She lets them carry her around and pet her and is pretty happy about it. She climbs the screen on the sliding door (Darrin is NOT happy about that), climbs the wispy tree in our back yard and is a fun little cat for our boys.

Oh.

This morning Tate had toast with honey butter for breakfast. He loved it and it loved him. He had honey butter all over his face and hands.
Darrin cleaned him up and we headed out the door to school. As I was putting Tate in his car seat I noticed some honey butter on his ear.
When we got to school I took him out of the car and I thought, I better just lick that off so it doesn't get sticky all over the place.

It wasn't honey butter at all. It was Darrin's deodorant.

Fun on TRAX

We went to visit Aunt Cindy and Uncle Kyle in the "big city" (salt lake). Uncle David and Aunt Betsy and cousin Charlie were there too! We had a lot of fun while at their house...we ate yummy barbecue, tried superhero Popsicles and raspberry creamsicles, jumped on the 'love sac', watched "Brave Little Toaster" for the first (and probably last)time, and Tate POTCBFC, got to play with Charlie. They said "hey" to each other quite a bit and later on in the day Charlie tried to eat Tate's face (he was hungry).
After the BBQ we decided to go ride TRAX, one of Kyle's favorite things to do! Some parts of TRAX are free on Saturdays, so we went to the Library and took a tour of it and rode the glass elevators. The library is pretty cool and I would highly recommend checking it out if you are in SLC.
Anyway, the train comes every 15 minutes on Saturdays and for some reason we kept missing it. Kyle kept wanting to run to make it because he was so excited, but we had some kids slowing us down. So we ended up waiting on the platform outside the library for 15 minutes waiting for the next train to come. Now, this wouldn't have been too terribly bad but it was 100 degrees outside. We were all a little hot. But, the train did come and Kyle excitedly showed us how to push the button to open the door to get on. Sadly, Cindy and Kyle had to leave to travel down to Price for a wedding reception, so we had to wave goodbye to them after we got on.
Remy and Tate had so much fun on the train, their eyes got so big every time we took off after a stop. I think they especially loved it because they were in moving transportation without a car seat or seat belt. We enjoyed it because it was air conditioned.
Our plan was to get off at the "energy solutions arena" and then take the next train back to the library. So, when the arena stop came, we all jumped up and went for the door. We were looking around and all of us were saying "where is the button?" "you have to push a button" "i don't know where the button is!" "is that the button?" "no" .
By the time we realized we didn't know where the button was the train was starting off again. All of us were standing up and we all just about fell right over. Luckily, I was there to catch David, and we all got back to our seats. There was an old guy sitting by us and he showed us how to open the door.
We got off on the next stop and had the privilege of walking a couple of blocks back to the stop that we couldn't get off at before to catch the University Line back to the library! What fun!
We did stop at Burger King to rehydrate everyone and that brings us to Charlie being so hungry that he was trying to eat Tate.
We love our family!

Gross factor= 10

We were driving along the other day and Remy said, "Look I have a booger on my finger!" Mandy: "You know you don't have to use your finger, I have tissues up here."
Remy: "That's OK, I just eat 'em anyway!"

My question: Is there must be some genetic marker in young little bodies that compel them to eat those yucky boogers?

Memory Tag! (Thanks Lacey!)

Thought I'd join in on the fun with this tag. In advance for anyone who leaves a comment, Thanks! I'll enjoy reading them.
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Bear Lake

We went to Bear Lake for the 4th of July, the Alley's (Darrin's Mom's side) always have a reunion at their site at the lake. It was the first time we have been able to go and it was lots of fun! Remy and Tate took rides in the canoe with Grandpa and Grandma and Tate dug in the sand on the shore with Grandma Owings (he LOVES sand!) and They both loved swimming in the cool water. Remy especially loved playing in the water and I think would have lived in it for the whole time we were there. We had to drag him out when it was time to eat or sleep. Remy drove the seadoo's with Daddy and had a fun time doing it!

We had lots of fun with cousins we don't see very often, and we had to drive to LeBeau's for a Raspberry Shake....mmmmm....

We did fireworks that evening and our puny little "legal" fireworks looked sad next to the awesome "not so legal" fireworks going on all around us and all around the lake.

Finally, As some of you may know our kids are very accident prone, so, in honor of that here is the list of things that happened to poor Tate on our Bear Lake vacation:

1-G&G Bradshaw have a pop up trailer. We were in the trailer and Tate was rolling around on the bed. All of the sudden he was gone. I said, "Darrin, where is Tate?" Next thing we see is Tate walking around to the door from the side of the trailer. We open the door and he says "I fall out!" There was a hole in the side of the trailer where the tent part meets the trailer part and he fell right out of it onto the ground. We couldn't believe it.

2- Tate was feasting on some of Aunt Blanca's Carne Asada and he choked. I was just flipping him around to do stomache thrusts when he threw it all up...all over me.

3-Tate was doing a sparkler. It was done and he put it down to bury it in the sand, then decided to pick it up again, giving himself a second degree burn on his hand.

Land of the free, because of the brave

Jordyn trying on the body armor.



Remy is not trying to look vicious, he is just trying to keep the helmet on his head!



Salute Soldiers!

My good friend from way back in middle school, Jorge Sanchez, joined up with the Marines out of high school. He served his 5 year term and a mission to Ireland and then became an Army recruiter. He was such a good recruiter that he recruited himself into the Army National Guard. He served in Iraq and came back about a month ago. I invited him to be a "special guest" at my preschool on July 3rd. He came in his uniform and brought all sorts of cool stuff. He totally impressed the kids and they had an awesome time!! Thanks Sgt. Sanchez!!!

We're Baaacck!

Hello, One and All! We have been having some great summer fun. We took a staycation in June and we went camping a couple weekends ago and we took a trip to Bear Lake for the 4th of July. We have had a lot of fun for the first part of the summer. Here are some pictures of our activities

Bowling Fun! We went bowling and the boys had fun doing some crazy bowling, and Tate even got a bloody nose when he tripped in his bowling shoes and fell on the floor. Poor Tate!

Darrin doing his most favorite thing ever...fly fishing!! Darrin helping Remy reel in his first fish of the season, The boys hanging out after playing in the charcoal in a firepit (what a mess!) and Tate saying "hi fishy!" to his first fish.

Who needs a real bed, or real food for that matter!

I guess we really don't need to provide the niceties of life for our boys. We have a nice, comfy queen size bed for Remy to sleep on. We have yummy, scrumptious meals for our boys to eat everyday (you know there are starving kids in Africa!). But, I guess they just really are low

maintenence.

Remy sleeping on the treadmill and Tate serving Playdough for dinner.

What a Sod Story

This really is more of a happy story: We got Sod for our backyard!!!! What a crazy adventure it was too! We have a neighbor and friend who's mother works for the church. She is a secretary in a department that oversees 60 churches in the Salt Lake area. A church in West Valley was turning some of its huge huge grassy area/softball diamond into a parking lot and we could have the sod for free, we just had to cut it and haul it away. Hallelujah!! We figured we needed 2000 sq/ft and this would have cost us about 500.00 if we paid for it.

We borrowed a truck and small trailer from a friend and one of my Bradshaw hero's, papa Mike, drove up to drive it up to WV for me on Friday night (Darrin was working and we were starting at 5:00 pm). We started cutting and putting sod in for 5 families in our neighborhood and we finally after 3 hours started loading up our little truck and trailer. We got about 300 sq/ft in it. Yup, that's it. So, by that time Darrin had come up and traded his dad and grandpa took the boys home to get them to bed. Darrin and I started to drive the truck home and we were on the road to Eagle Mountain when we passed two Utah Co. Sheriff's and Darrin said to me "Does this trailer have working tail lights?" "Nope", I replied. And right on cue the lights came on. "Oh, fiddlesticks" Darrin said (Edited for content) Long story short, the cop was nice and didn't give Darrin a ticket, we drove home with our flashers on, and when we got home we couldn't get them to turn off. While trying to turn the flashers off Darrin honks the horn, which is NOT in the proper place but a rogue button under the stereo. Mike and Darrin finally got them turned off, and we laid our first 300 sq/ft at 11:00pm

Many more trips the next day (four to be exact), a visit to the instacare for Darrin (kidney stones), and Grandpa Mike loving us more and more with every piece of sod he carried, we finally finished with our yard.

We spend a total of 130.00 for gas and our share of a sod cutter. Not a bad deal money wise, but 500.00 wasn't sounding too bad by load number 3...

Issues

Ok, so I got tired of the hair on my arms, so in a fit of girlish vanity and stupidity, I "Naired" my arms. It provided such nice soft skin. I kept rubbing my arms on my cheek and admiring the smoothness. Then it started growing back 2 days later. My realistic voice came into the picture. "Mandy, you can't keep this up, you do good to get deoderant and teeth brushing accomplished on a daily basis. What were you thinking?" I wasn't. I just wanted smooth, supple arms.
One day I will make friends with a laser technologist. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

Graduation 2008

Remy graduated from preschool on Tuesday, there were 13 graduates in our class this year. I have been doing preschool graduation for so long, it was very surreal to have one of my own in the group. As we presented them their diploma we did a little spotlight, here was Remy's:

Favorite Color: Purple (up until this very moment it had ALWAYS been blue, maybe the social advancement made him reconsider?)

Favorite Food: Sausage

Favorite Thing about school: Playing with Danny

Favorite Person in the whole world: mom and dad (I LOVE this age!!)

What do you want to be when you grow up: UPS man like my dad

Remy, you are such a great little guy with such a passion for learning, carry it thru your life and you will do well!