Labor Day... a month later!!!

I know, I know... this is way after the fact, but I just got this from my sis-in-law and they were too cute not to post!!  We met Blake's sister's family up in Marion at Lake James for Labor Day.  The boys camped out Sunday night and then Monday we spent the day on the lake, tubing, wake-boarding etc...  It was a blast (even though Braden sort of freaked out over the tube).  Thanks Lenons!

Rainy Day - Sept '08

So, things are a little crazy here in Charlotte right now.  We have been/still are in a major gas crisis.  It is insane.  There is NO gas anywhere and when there is, the lines are anywhere from 1-2hrs. long.  Blake was on empty and left at 11pm last night on a gas hunt.  He came back an hour later victorious.  But seriously, it's weird.  The gas stations on our side of the state line (technically we live a few miles into S.C.) have been absolutely bombarded anytime there is a gas shipment.  It is supposed to end sometime next week.  They even cancelled all church activities this weekend.  So... we have been going a little stir crazy!  And to top it off, it rained the entire day today!!!!  Here are just a few random pics.  Gavy is so close to walking (and getting into EVERYTHING).  He can literally tear apart a room in minutes.  He can also crawl up the stairs in seven seconds flat.  Braden is still doing couch gymnastics (started sometime around the olympics... the sport still pops up on longs days).  We finally headed outside on his new 4 wheeler (my $25 garage sale find... yeah!!!) to go puddle jumping.  Enjoy the pics!

SOME FUN NEWS

Just a quick update on the blog tonight!!  The 3oth B-day went great.  I had lot's of fun, but the best is yet to come!!  For my present I am headed to NYC... yes, New York City!!!  I am so excited.  Ashlee is actually meeting me here in Charlotte (during her layover) and then we will fly into the city together... ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!!  We are going to take in all the sites, shop, eat, see Wicked and I am also going to a photography workshop (a dream of mine for a while now).  So anyway, I am so grateful to Blake for making this all possible and more than excited for next Thursday.  I'll keep you posted!!!!! 

Happiest Birthday to the Sweetest Girl!!!

Dear Lindsay, How can I say enough wonderful things about you to make this special birthday memorable?  I won't reveal your age, since you will never be a day over 25 in my eyes!!

Thank you so much for being the most incredible, wife, mother and best friend that has ever been!  You have always been there for me and I know always will.  I have been blessed every day since meeting you on that January night in 1999, Provo, Ut.......and no I didn't know you then, but I am so glad that I do know you now!  It's so funny to think back to then and imagine that 3 1/2 years later, after Bolivia for you and  Mexico for me, we finally came together and fell in love.  

You are the fountain of my happiness and the reflection of my joy!  I love you so much and want to wish you the most elegant of birthdays!  

I love you!!!

-Blake   

FINALLY A NEW LOOK!!!

I have been so over my old brown blog layout for a LONG time now, but I just couldn't find the perfect replacement... until now!!!  It's a lot like what I had in mind and definitely upgrade in style.  Yah!!!  Worth the hour it took to design a new header and figure out how the heck you do this...

59-0 Need I Say More....

Wow, what an awesome game on Saturday... unbelievable!!  Go Cougs!

Heading out to our Cougar Fan Game Party... gotta wear the blue!

The Annual Branch Camp Out

It's that time of year again... CAMP OUT TIME!!  Last year we tried this (well, Braden and Blake did) and I ended up picking Braden up at 1am (and it was a 45 minute drive... not fun).  So this year, with high hopes, Braden and Daddy did it again.  I went up for all the pre-sleeping-in-a-tent-with-an-eleven-month-old fun.  I really wish I would've taken more pics!  Dinner was AWESOME: carne asada, rice, beans, pico de gallo... you know, your typical camping spread.  After Blake played guitar and gave an awesome pioneer themed FHE lesson... all in all a great time... and no 1am phone calls this time around.  Maybe we can do this again :)

The Leitze's Goodbye

Goodbye party w/ the whole crew at Harpers

Ava's little goodbye party out our house later in the week!!

Braden made the girls matching pasta necklaces

SEPTEMBER'S HERE - My favorite Month

And no, not just b/c it’s my B-day month… September has just always been my favorite month! I love September weather, I loved going back to school (high school, college years), football games, the new fall line up (though I don’t have much time to watch TV these days), here in NC the leaves change, long evening walks, light sweaters and jeans make their comeback… all around, it’s just a great time of year. And yes, my B-day, which means the BIG 3O, so we’ll move on quickly…

So, what have we been up to the last few weeks with summer winding down?!?!? Mostly just fun times w/ the boys and LOT’S of church stuff in between. Here are a few highlights.

POTTY TRAINING – Braden is officially in underwear during the day. It took us two weeks, one potty-training chart and several packs of rolo’s later. I wanted to do it before he turned three. He was ready, I was just a little… let’s say… lazy about the whole thing. Anyway, it’s been a good experience and Braden has done fantastic. My favorite moment: The first time he went poo poo on his potty, he turned around and looked at it and said, “Mom, I pooped a pancoon” (which means pinecone) and yes, it looked exactly like a pinecone… way to go!

MONSTERS – Last week Bray starting freaking out over “Monsters” in his room. He couldn’t sleep and was all torn up about it. After lots of attempts at scaring the monsters away and/or showing him there really aren’t any in the room after all, the one thing that work was saying a prayer to help him be safe. I told him he could pray any time he was scared. It was SO CUTE b/c the next two nights after we would leave his room, I would stand outside the door and he would be in there saying LONG prayers about staying safe from monsters and anything else that occurred to him. Very sweet… which also sparked the adorable question, “Mom, where does Heavenly Father live?”

WEDDING PLANNING w/ JOHNNY – I only write about this b/c it has been one of the most time consuming things the past few weeks. My friend from the Spanish branch got married on Friday and without a car, limited English and the need for some major negotiation skills we set out to find beds (the girl he married has a 2 and 3 year old), apartment furnishings, clothes for the wedding and the rings. Anyone who knows me knows that somehow I always seem to find SERIOUS deals… so, with luck on our side, we found some great things including an over half a carat solitaire engagement ring and diamond eternity band, originally $1,360 for ……. $449 (yes, it was real and beautiful and 90% off!!!). Compared to the other TINY diamonds we looked at to stay in his budget it was a fete worth writing about. Friday was the wedding. I was the photographer, witness, made some food, got the kids ready… whew….

PRIMARY – Not sure if I’ve ever blogged about this, but I’ve been the Primary President for 5 months now and it has been non stop!! We had the Pineville Primary Olympics Saturday and passed out ALL our program parts and CD’s and music folders etc… I had to write the program VERY quickly this year (so if anyone has any cool ideas that they are doing in their program I would still welcome ANY input/ideas etc…) I know it won’t get less busy w/ the program coming up, but I’m glad to have that weekend over with.

Well, lot’s more, but I should probably cut it off there (I’m realizing this is REALLY long!!!) We finished the summer off with trips to the pool, monkey joes, lot’s of lunch dates w/ friends etc… Here are some pics of the Boys I took last week… can’t believe they’ll be 1 and 3 next month!!! Where does the time go.