Cute Braedon moments!

Okay, so pretty much every day (at least to me) is a cute Braedon moment. But I have a couple of stories that I hope you all might enjoy!
First off, Braedon has learned how to pray! The last couple of months when we would tell Braedon it was prayer time it would be a struggle to even get him to fold his arms and usually he would just laugh through the entire prayer. So, completely off the praying topic, Derek learned a little trick from my dad (that my dad uses on his dog!) in order to get Braedon's attention. When Derek wants to get Braedon to come to him so he can change his diaper he will fold his arms and turn his head pretending to ignore Braedon and Braedon comes running. Well, back on the praying topic, the other day Derek was doing this little trick and instead of running to Derek, Braedon folded his arms and said "Heavenly Father, Amen." So, Braedon is now the one who says the prayers in our home! It is great because they are so short!
Okay, second, and last cute story for the day! Yesterday I was going to get Braedon out of his crib from his nap. He immediately said what I thought to be "where's Daddy?" but I didn't know for sure so I said "what?" Maybe thinking I didn't know who daddy was he then said, "Derek...where's Derek?" I thought it was so funny!
Okay, I hope you all enjoyed those cute Braedon moments as much as I did. He is much funnier in person than in my stories I am sure!

The ZOO!

Yesterday my dad had the day off so we went to the Zoo! It was lots of fun! It was also very nice because there wasn't very many people there and the weather was beautiful! Braedon loves animals so he had the time of his life!

This is a picture of my parents (Grandma and Grandpa) and the grandchildren (Tyler, Drew, Braedon, and Mandy).


At the playground in the zoo there is a really big teeter totter (sp?). My mom got on with Braedon and he was having so much fun!


We then put Mandy next to Braedon. My dad was making them bounce up and down and they were laughing so hard!

Tag!

Okay, so Erin tagged me a while ago and I have finally decided that I should think of 6 things about myself for you all to read! Anyway, here goes nothing!

1. I love being a mom! I have an almost 19 month old little boy named Braedon. He keeps my day full of excitement and joy! Just this morning I was changing his diaper and he was trying to run away so I said "Braedon" in a firm voice and he said, "Mommy, chill out!" How am I suppose to enfore anything when he is constantly making me laugh!

2. The highlight of my day is just after lunch! Braedon and I turn on music (usually Donny Osmond Christmas CD) and we sing and dance. He has a new dance to show me everyday! It is so cute!

3. I love to find new things to decorate my home with. The fun never ends when it comes to that!

4. I have an obsession with organization. I'm sure I got from my mother!

5. I would love to move to Arkansas! Most people wonder why, but where my dad is from it is beautiful, and it would be a fun change!

6. I have a huge fear of driving. I will get out of it whenever I can because it seriously terrifies me.

Okay, well that is it! That is a little part of me! If you want to be tagged go ahead and do this for yourself!

Halloween/Birthday Party!

Last night we had a birthday party for Derek's sisters son Tanner (hopefully that isn't too confusing!). He turned 2. The theme was a halloween party so all of the kids got to wear their costumes! We had the party at the Cherry Hill Farm in Orem and it was the perfect setting! The kids got to play stick the nose on the pumpkin and they also got to decorate and eat their own cupcakes! We took lots of pictures of Braedon in his costume and also doing the activities. Here are some of the pictures. Oh, by the way, if you can't tell Braedon is a giraffe or in his words a bigaffe.

I looked out the window and what did I see...

SNOW!!! That is right! It snowed last night! Since we aren't taking Braedon to church today just to make sure he doesn't pass the virus on to the nursery we decided that it would be okay to let him actually play in the snow! He was too little last year so he was very excited to see the snow this morning! So when I go home from sacrament meeting we put his snow suit on and he and Derek went out and made a snowman! Here are the fun pictures of our sunday snow playing!

It's Jazz time!

Okay, so if any of you know my husband you know that he is obsessed with the Utah Jazz! Last night my dad's work had a special dinner at the Energy Solutions Arena (where the Jazz play) and then we got to watch the Jazz play a game. We had a really good time and it was fun to watch the players. We also had a question/answer session with the players and it was fun to hear what they had to say! Braedon loved saying GO JAZZ! (but not as much as he likes saying "YYU, GO COUGARS!") Here are a couple pictures of last night.

Fall Fun!

So, since Braedon has been sick we haven't been able to go anywhere so we don't spread the germs from this virus. Well, last Monday we decided that if we went to the mountains and kept him in his stroller there would be no way that he would get anyone sick. So we decided to go and see the colors at Cascade Springs. It was perfect weather and lots of fun. Braedon really liked the water! Here are a couple pictures of us and the colors!

Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease

NO FUN! That is the best way that I can describe this virus that Braedon is trying to get over. The symptoms of this virus are: sores and ulcers in mouth, sores and blisters on hands, feet, and in diaper area; high fever, no appetite...MISERABLE. Well, most kids get this when they are young it is just so easily spread and you can't stop it. But, when most kids get it they usually only get one of the symptoms (the most common being sore in the mouth). Well, somehow we got really lucky and Braedon has had ALL of the symptoms and not just a little bit of each...full blown. I'm talking 10 sores in his mouth, blisters all over his hands and toes, red dots all over his body. For two days the only thing Braedon could do is scream because he was in so much pain. It had Derek and me crying because we didn't know what to do to help him. And the bad part is that there is nothing to help it, it is a virus so you just have to wait it out. Braedon is now eating and doing a lot better, he still has a lot of sores but I am pretty sure we are over the worst of it. I took some pictures but I will spare you all the pain of having to look at them. If you want to see the pictures let me know and I will email them to you. Well, that is all I have to say about this! Hopefully it will be gone soon!

Summer Fun!

Okay, so I am finally taking the time to sit down and update my blog. This summer has been really fun and busy for us. Most of the time has been spent working on our yard and putting shelves in the garage. We also were able to go to Washington and Oregon to visit family. We took a few side adventures...like camping and 4-wheeling here and there. And then all of a sudden summer was over and the new school year started and Derek went back to work. So, enough with the writing...hope you enjoy our pictures from the summer!!!

This is our family photo in Portland! We were waiting for the tram to come and get us! (yes, there is a tram in the city!!!)


This is a picture of my cousin Channing and me and Braedon. We visited her and her family in Portland. It was so much fun!


Here we are all patriotic! We went to the 4th of July balloons and parade. We didn't stay for much of the parade because Braedon was so tired...at least we got a picture!


What a wonderful husband! Derek spent many days putting shelves up in the garage! They look wonderful and are great for storage!


Yep! That is me! I am on a 4 wheeler! I don't go very fast, don't worry! We went 4 wheeling with some friends one weekend this summer. Braedon loved it! You could not get him off the 4 wheeler.

Welcome Tyler!

Brad and Lori had their third child on friday. He was 8lbs 2oz and 20in long. His name is Tyler Trussler (named after my Grandpa Bowles). Here is a cute picture of him!


This is a picture of Tyler, Me (Linsey), Aubrey, Braedon, Drew and Mandy shortly after he was born.

Aubrey and Britton Howell!

Aubrey got married to Britton Howell her highschool (sort of) sweetheart on April 27. Here are a few pictures that I have for anyone who wanted to see how beautiful she was on her wedding day.

Braedon's Birthday Safari!

Okay, I have so many pictures to post! So I will just start by saying for Braedon's birthday we had a safari and Derek and I went to the extreme to make this the best party ever! So...I will post the pictures that show what we did and hopefully most of them will explain themselves...if not I will try to stick an explanation with the picture. Just know that we (meaning Derek and I) had soooo much fun!!!


We had a safari swimming pool set up in our backyard for the kids to play with. Braedon is being a good boy and playing next to it.

This picture is the gator hole we had in our backyard! Derek went on his mission to Florida and brought back a gator head so he made this as part of our safari decor!

This is a picture of Drew and Brynlee standing by the hut that Derek made.


This is the last picture I will post. This is Braedon when he was all done with his cake...and no, we did not have chocolate, we had party chip!

Braedon's first birthday!

For Braedon's first birthday Derek had spring break so we decided that we would take him to the Hogle Zoo! He loved it! It was a lot of fun. We were able to go with Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds and 3 out of 6 aunts and 6 out of 10 cousins! Here is a picture of Braedon, Mom (me), and Brynlee standing in front of the zoo's sign.

Here is a picture of Braedon, me, and Derek sitting on a butterfly(?) maybe. I'm not really sure exactly what it is we are sitting on but it sure is a cute picture!

Braedon's Birthday Invitation!!!

This is the invitation that I made for Braedon's 1st Birthday party! I am very proud of myself so I thought I would show it off!!!

Braedon's Cupboard!

Here are some pictures of Braedon playing in his cupboard. He loves to play with everything while I am cooking dinner!

Broken for 9 months!!!

Okay, so here is how the story goes. Last May, I think around my birthday, I went in for my after baby six week check up. As I was walking in I slipped on the wet floor. I landed on my wrist but I just blew it off as nothing. Well, two weeks later my wrist was hurting me pretty badly but I decided that I had a weak wrist and carrying around a baby all the time was just making my tendons sore. Well, it hurt for a really long time...until about December...and then I decided that my wrist must be getting stronger because it wasn't hurting as bad. Well, a couple of weeks ago in nursery I was helping a 35-40 lb autistic boy get out of the toy bin and I hurt my wrist again. So, Derek finally told me that I was being very stubborn and that I needed to go into the doc's. So, I went yesterday. It so happens that I broke the top of my radius and my scaphoid bone (my arm and my wrist). Although they have been in the process of healing there is so much inflamtion going on the they are healing wrong. So, I am currently in this dumb cast/splint thing that makes it so I can't move my wrist or my thumb and I should be finding out soon if I need surgery or not.

Mission Call!

For all of you who know my younger brother Blake you will be excited to know that he got his mission call yesterday! He is going to the Brussels Belgium/Netherlands mission. He leaves on May 9 to go to the Provo MTC. This is an exciting call for our family since my Grandma Bowles come to America from the Netherlands when she was sixteen. She started breaking out her Dutch last night when she found out that he would be speaking her language! We all decided that for our monthly VanderStek family night we are going to learn Dutch so we can all go and pick him up from his mission!!! (wishful thinking!) It is also cool because people are going to think that Blake is a native with his last name! They will soon learn differently when they hear him speak!

Chuck E. Cheese!

This is Braedon driving a car with Chuck E. Cheese! We went with Derek's family the day after Christmas! Braedon really enjoyed himself!!!

This is Braedon standing by Chuck E.

This is Braedon driving the monster truck!!! NO FEAR!

Christmas Day!

Here is Braedon with ALL of the fun toys he got for Christmas!!! Looks pretty spoiled don't you think!

Here is a picture of Braedon on Christmas morning! He had so much fun opening his gifts and playing with them! Those darn toys wore him right out!!!