CHEESY BUM

Gavin's latest thing is he DOES NOT like to be changed.  He will roll over and crawl away in 2 seconds flat.  This was funny - tonight I was trying to change him and he escaped over to the bed with his little cheesy bum hanging out.  He just stood there like, "ha ha, you can't catch me".  I did eventually get him into his jammies... he's just so snuggly and cute!

SUMMER SPOILS

Every time we pick stuff from our garden I always say I'm going to take a picture... but then we eat it!  Well this week after picking a bunch of stuff, I finally grabbed a shot - it looked too pretty not to - and then made a huge bowl of fresh salsa!!  YUM!

QUICK UPDATE

Blake and I had an amazing "getaway" last week (though I use the term loosely b/c it was actually a working conference for him!!!).  For me though, it was such a great chance to relax, read, rest, recharge... all those great R's that are had to catch at home with little ones and responsibilities to keep up with.  THANKS to Blake's Mom and the Lenon kids we were able to go by ourselves... we missed the kiddies, but we got by!   

Anyway, our destination was Atlantic Beach, NC.  Such a cute little town (we'd been there two years ago, so we already knew where we wanted to eat... the most important part, of course).  Highlights included, outdoor dining on fresh seafood at a restaurant on the pier, movies: Get Smart and the midnight premiere of Batman, Dark Knight.  A dinner cruise w/ other conference goers, great Mexican (I know, but Mexican food and the beach always went hand in hand for me so it only seemed right), great weather and water on the beach... and best of all, LONG hours laying in the sand, reading and soaking up the rays ALL BY MYSELF!!  I had a really fun beach read: EAT PRAY LOVE.  A great book.  Well, I could go on and on (which I've really already done - you would think we went to the Greek Isles the way I am gushing!!)  I'll sign off with a few random pics of the town and one of the amazing pier/beach our hotel was on.  LOVED IT!

ps - for anyone who's read the book EAT PRAY LOVE, I thought about my "word" the whole time I was there.  Of course, you can't really come up with a realistic word after laying in the sand for 5 hours.  So, it came to me this week (back to reality): "multi-tasker".  I think that about sums it up.  (in fact as we speak I've got booth the Mac and PC running so I can blog on one and work on the other... and so life goes! 

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY (a little late, but here they are)

Yay!!  I'm finally getting these posted.  We had a great 4-day weekend in Cherokee, N.C. for the 4th.  It was actually a surprise to Susan, Blake's Mother, for her 60th B-day.  All the siblings and grandchildren were there (minus Chris) and is was a TOTAL shocker for Susan.  We had a blast, and as you'll see throughout, the focus for Bray was MOTORCYCLE MANIA.  The boy can't get enough.  Papa's moto was out of commission, but it was all the same to him.  He spent the majority of his time sitting on the motorcycle on the trailer in the garage.  In between we fit in a fun day at the pool, fireworks, movies, sequence and LOTS of good food and cake!

Happy 60th Nana!!

At the church, going the rounds on the trailer... I don't think he noticed the difference!

Fourth of July Fireworks... before the big show in Bryson

"Wrastlin' w/ Papa"

A rare moment of TWO smiling boys... although, this time they did get along just GREAT.  Evan even said Braden was his friend some of the time... that's progress!  Next thing you know, they'll be rooming at BYU.

Collin gets the "Gavin holder" award.  He took such great care of Gavin the whole time!!

SWIM LESSONS - June 2008

Last week we finished swim lessons, so I thought I'd post a few pictures before I post all of my 4th of July pics.  I signed him up here at our neighborhood pool with the life guard Taylor, that he absolutely loves!!  He was actually not too pumped in the beginning and then  hot and cold throughout the rest.  It usually took him a few minutes to warm up to it each morning and he was not big on going under (though I do have awesome footage of several dunks in the bath since the lessons!!!)  Oh well... he's 2 1/2 (and everyone else was 3-4)... what can I say!!  It was fun and totally worth it to him for the king size chocolate bar he got at the end of the 2 weeks!!!  

He did it... he dunked!!!

Thank you chocolate... the things you help this little boy accomplish!

This is so cool...

Last night Blake and I were going through a bunch of random old pictures for this project we are working on. I came accross some mission pictures and in particular this one of the Romero Family... a very dear family to me. I met them in my very 1st area on the second week of my mission. They were my first full family that I taught to be baptized. Over a year later when I was transferred back into the city (after a bought of Malaria and almost going home) they had moved and were in my new area. SUPER LONG story short, my companion and I were able to help them prepare for the temple and when my Padres came to pick me up 4 months later, we took them to the temple (in cochabamba) for the first time.

As life goes in Bolivia, it is VERY hard to keep track of people (no addresses, let alone street names in most places), but a few months ago my one of my WONDERFUL peruvian companions - Milagros - was able to visit Bolivia and track them down. She told me they are doing great and put me in touch through email (yeah... Bolivia finally stepped into the 21 century!!!) with their daughter Yuselin (who was 12 at the time when I first met her).

ANYWAY... here is the entire point to my BLOG entry. Tonight I got an email from her that said she just put her mission papers in!!!! WOW, that is the gospel and missionary work coming full circle. It's crazy b/c I just found the picture of them last night and had been thinking about them all day, and then to get that news... guess it's hard to explain why it's so neat, but it makes a year and half of sweating your way through jungle and dirt roads, sleeping and showering with bugs, living in a Bolivian hospital for a month and half and so much more in between, even THAT much more worth it...if you've been there, you know!

I wanted to post these pics... but please totally disregard chubby perm girl... that was Bolivia for me :)