Our Yoda

My favorite dog in the world died in my arms tonight. It broke my heart into pieces. I loved her SO MUCH and haven't been able to be the mom I wanted to be to her since I had a real baby. I was only able to hold her for about two minutes before she passed away in my arms. It was almost as if she had waited to die 'til I could hold her. She snuggled up in my arms and just quit breathing. Heart failure. It was so sad. Bawled like a baby in the vet's office all by myself, holding her little body. I'm so glad she's not in pain anymore and went home to God. But man am I going to miss that spunky little feisty ball of personality. She was mine-I picked her out from an entire litter of maltese and she was my favorite. So funny.

My favorite thing was how she'd play with ya, her "Rugga Rugga Rugga" voice. You'd pretend to grab her front paws and she'd hunker down, tail a waggin' and play growl with ya, and gently 'bite' ya to play. And how she'd snuggle up to me in bed...her little warm body. Or how she'd grab your shirt with her teeth and pull on it if she didn't think you were giving her enough attention. Or how she'd let you hold her like a baby on her back and would STRETCH her arms straight up in the air when you tickled her arm pits. Or how when my mom would breathe on her face she'd turn away as if she didn't like the smell of my mom's breath. She was so stinkin' funny. Or how she'd lick my hand as I was laying in bed and she wanted me to get up. Or how she'd put her little paws on the bed and stare at me 'til I'd open my eyes. And how she liked to do tug of war with socks. And how when I'd come home from work I'd yell "Gi-irls!!!" and she and Macy would come running down, thundering their little paws on the stairs to come see mom. I feel horrible that they've had to live in their 'nursing room' corner of our downstairs since they lost their bladder control/potty training abilities due to old age. I hope she was still happy. :( I'm going to hold a lot of guilt over that for a long time. I hope she knows I still loved her, even though she couldn't sleep with us anymore. I gave Brendan so much of my attention.....I really pray she knew how much she meant to me. I hope God will tell her for me, since I didn't get a chance to before she died. I only had two minutes. :( :( :(

I have loved Yoda since before I loved Lamar, Brendan, any of my friends in high school or college too for that matter. I have loved that dog since I was a young teenager. She and Macy were my 'babies' for years. I treated them like human children. And I LOVED her! I am SO GLAD I was the one holding her when she died. The vets tried to revive her, but she was gone, even though her heart was barely beating. She laid in my arms and died, HOPEFULLY knowing how LOVED she was and how much I was going to miss her. I bawled my eyes out like a baby tonight several times. It was a rough night. Luckily she's in a better place and hopefully knows I love her. I truly believe we'll get to be reunited with our pets in Heaven, so God be with ya 'til we meet again baby girl!!! I love you so so so so SO much!!!!! :(

More drum playing, on a practice set

This cracks me up. Today after band practice Brendan stole this other little boy's drum sticks and went to TOWN on this drum set in the other room. He was in there for a half hour pounding away. I was amazed at 14 months old he had the attention span. I really wish I would've captured on film him throwing his head back and LAUGHING in total bliss at being able to play the drums. His first time in that little room he was GIDDY! I caught the tail end. It was soooo cute. He loves to play! :D It makes me laugh how at the end of the video he gets mad that little Erik is playing the drums with him. He wanted them all to himself! I had to turn off the camera and try to teach him how to share, since Erik wanted his sticks back. LOL! Erik is only 3 even though he wears 5 year old clothing. He's like Brendan...HUGE! They are instant buddies, and both LOVE the drums. It's so cute to watch the two of them! :D

Brendan is a rhythm lovin' baby!

Sooo....I lost my camera charger, so I couldn't take any pictures or videos for over a month. We finally just sucked it up and went back to Best Buy and bought a new charger and new battery as a spare. :)

This is little man tonight tap dancing with Mommy. He's almost 14 months old and loves to tap dance with Mom. It's so stinkin' cute! :D

He also found my African percussion instruments yesterday and hasn't put them down since. He loves drumming with them! LOL

More coming soon! :D

This weekend with Brendan!

So, I was filming Brendan playing and snapped my fingers to get Lamar's attention, thinking Brendan wouldn't break his focus, and suddenly I realized Brendan was watching my fingers trying to snap too! New discovery! Isn't he too young to figure that out so fast? LOL

He tackled Mommy! Literally!

He's walking everywhere!!!

He giggles every time at the end of this one, when I kiss him. He gets so tickled by that! LOL!

Brendan for the first time last night let us put our hat on him and he liked it! It was fun to see him suddenly like the hat!

He loves to wrestle with anything and everything now...last night it was bear. He tackles everything and hugs it. LOL!

Where's Brendan? He's reminding us more and more of "Boo" (little baby character on 'Monsters Inc')...it's so fun!

Brendan also just learned how to color! Well...sorta...he still tries to eat the crayons. I have to watch him like a hawk!

Brendan LOVES to lay on Mommy while Mommy kisses his double chin! I love love love these times! :D

On the ride home from Disneyland

Took some more pictures of the little guy in his car seat. He was being so stinkin' funny. It was a LONG squished drive home from Disneyland, and then we had two flat tires...so it turned into an almost 7/8 hour trip instead of 4.5! Ugh!

His big blue eyes...!

We were VERY squished in the truck, and he was very restless, so we entertained eachother with the camera. :D Brendan is funny...he likes to see his picture after he takes one! He pulls the camera over and wants to see. He's VERY attentive to his own videos...it's almost like he's already critiquing himself on camera...SCARY! At least we had the camera to keep us busy for awhile. He understands very well what the camera is and does...it's really funny, considering how young he is, and how young he started doing it! We're going to be doing a LOT of math and science classes! Take after Daddy little dude!!!! LOL!We bought him a second Nemo stuffed animal that was much smaller and easier to travel with. He wouldn't put it down! So fun! I love his four teeth! :) He was hamming it up for the camera again...lol!He looks like he's saying "Are we there yet?"...

My little Nemo...such big eyes!

I love that right now he thinks Mommy is sooo funny! He's so fun to hang out with. :DHis 'serious face' he makes before busting up laughing. So dramatic! He laughed when he saw this picture of himself!

Busting up after the serious face....I love how he still has his baby double chin!

Talkin' on Mommy's phone! Whenever I ask who is calling he usually says "Dadda". CUTE!

He'd tease Mommy and then try to get away!

Concentrating on doing the right hand motions for "Popcorn Popping", or one of the primary songs. He does them SO WELL now! He's ahead of alot of my 18 month olds in nursery! :D I'll have to film it soon and post videos of him copying me. It's precious. :) He 'sings' now too. I LOVE IT! :D Daddy driving...he actually had some leg room! :D
We were soooo glad when we finally got into Vegas! I was an hour late to rehearsal, but luckily Gladys didn't seem to mind/didn't notice. WHEW! Hopefully next time we drive down there the Durango's A/C will be fixed, or we'll have a new car by then, 'cause road trips in the F150 are NOT fun! lol!

DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!

(Ok, have to apologize in advance for the MASSIVE size of this post. It took me almost a week to finish, since there are so many pictures and videos! Feel free to scroll fast, I just wanted to put all these up more for us, so if you have time, enjoy! :) Otherwise, I won't have my feelings hurt if you don't see them all. :D It was quite the undertaking! AND I only used a small amount of the 300+ pictures we took!)

For our birthdays this year (Lamar:Aug 14, Brendan: Aug 30, Me: Sept 5) we decided we'd celebrate at Disneyland together! Our first time at Disneyland in 20+ years, and first time with Brendan! It was SO FUN! Here he was sleeping with his stuffed Nemo the night before...(Nemo is his favorite)Here's us at the castle... With Daddy...I felt so bad, 'cause I accidentally got sunscreen in his eyes! Oops! He didn't whine about it though...just blinked through a swollen right eye for a couple of hours 'til he was able to tear it out. He's such a good natured little guy!!!
On "Winnie the Pooh" ride...his first ride! He loved it!
Brendan loved going on all the rides with Mommy and Daddy!
He was so in awe of everything around us...kept pointing at things and looking at everything with huge happy eyes. It was darling!On the carousel with Mommy...he loved it! Our friends Steve and Sandra (same friends that came over on the 4th of July) went with us to Disneyland with their four gorgeous children...it was so fun! Here's Steve, Chloe, Piper, and Ryder on the carousel in front of us! Video of Brendan and Mommy at the end of the carousel ride...he loved it! (He also loved playing with our leather seatbelt strap! LOL) Poor little guy...he was so sick!

Brendan never got scared...just sat and stared in awe in all the rides. It was darling. :)

We went to the hotel with our friends so they could check in, and so we could relax. Check out the height difference between these two babies. Lola, the itty baby girl is three weeks OLDER than Brendan. Uhh....LOL!!!! Our baby is a giant!!!!

I went outside and took a few pictures of them playing at the window...so cute! And wow is Brendan huge! LOL. He's such a happy little dude.

We were amazed at how he never got scared on any rides...just had a blast!We finally got a family picture, thanks to our friend Steve! :D

We went to California adventure the second half of the first day and found some surf boards...

That's our little friend Piper Huntsman behind us...huge soft spot in my heart for that little girl...she's SO CUTE!!! (Steve and Sandra's little girl...)

Brendan was driving the boat...

We think he looks like his cousin Alec here...so cute!

Here's a video of him driving the boat...he loves to drive!!!

We found this little fireman...

We rode on the rockets at California Adventure too, and he loved them!!! He could barely see over the edge, but he was havin' fun! :D

We went on another carousel at California Adventure...he loved the lights/music/action! :) It was cute...

We stayed the night at my aunt Mickey and Uncle John's house...this is John's new Ford GT!!! AMAZING and amazingly expensive! It was beautiful!Tackling Daddy on the floor at Mickey's on Sunday after church!

Brendan LOVES his Daddy! :)This picture is so funny...like father like son! :)Tackling Daddy videos from Sunday...so cute! He drums/pounds on Daddy, and then hugs him. It's so cute!




Brendan was playing with Mickey's 3 lb weights like they were light rattles...it was cracking us up!!!! We didn't get him swinging them around like they were nothing though...by this time he didn't want to play with them/throw them anymore. LOL! He's such a brute. He also LOVES his Nemo doll...wanted to share this cute video of him playing at Mickey's. :)

Brendan RARELY lets me hold him like this anymore...only when he's extremely exhausted, like in this picture. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my baby!Brendan got his own shot with the GT! We got some pictures with Uncle John and Aunt Mickey! :) It was so fun to see them and hang out for the weekend!

The second day at Disneyland was just as fun!!!! Daddy took Brendan on the rockets at Disneyland...same thing...he could barely see over the edge, but he LOVED them!

We rode on the cars too..."Autopia". It was SO HOT and humid none of us really enjoyed being crammed into a hot car so much, but it was still fun being together! Here's Lamar with the little guy...

This picture took us FOREVER to get...literally like 30 shots! One of us was always not in the pictures...it was funny how many it took to get a shot where you could see all three of our faces! :) He looks totally squished in between us! I think he had fun anyway...

On the teacups!!! This is our friend Steve with three of his four kids...we love them! :)

Brendan LOVED the teacups! I was worried he'd not like it, or get dizzy, or sick, but he was giggling the entire time!!! Proof! :)The video of him wasn't as cute as the other times we rode it...he was giggling and squealing before I turned on the camera. He looks dizzy and ill, LOL, but he wasn't! He was having fun and got mad when we got off! I'm not surprised he liked them though...they were my favorite ride as a kid 'cause my father would get SO EXCITED and spin us so fast we'd squeal the entire time. :) It was fun to take MY kiddo on it. :) And oh how many more times we're going to go! :) :)

We got a photo opp in a tea cup outside the exit. :) He kept pointing, wanting to go again, but we'll go more next time. :) Our friend Steve again with his kiddos...

We found this hat and were tempted....but took a picture instead. :)

On the Alice in Wonderland ride...he loved all the lights!

I found Alice!!! (Piper...isn't she SO STINKIN' BEAUTIFUL!?!??)
It was a door just Brendan's size!!!

Riding in the cab with Daddy...

Playing in toon town...at Goofy's house! Brendan was so strong he was able to bust out of jail. :) That's Chloe, another Huntsman beauty, in the Ariel dress. :D She's one of the most imaginative children I've ever met!

Steve and Ryder were soooo strong! They almost picked up Goofy's weights! Isn't Ryder DARLING??? Love that little boy! :D I've known him since he was an itty baby! :) I LOVE their children soooo much!

Driving Mommy in Goofy's firetruck...

Getting into mischief...

My new favorite picture of Brendan!!! He looks just like Lamar in this one...SO CUTE!!!!!!This is Ryder and Brendan. Ryder is almost 3. Brendan just turned 1. That is a good reference of how big my baby is! I love these two little guys!!!

In this one Ryder is sitting up straighter, so it's more accurate the difference in sizes. :) Aren't they darling???Driving Mickey's car...

Video driving Mickey's car...

At the toon town tree house...

We toured Mickey's house and Brendan loved everything in it! It was so exciting!

We went into Mickey Mouse's house and met Mickey! We were really nervous Brendan wouldn't like him and scream instead of have fun, but he LOVED HIM! Kept patting him, grinning at him, even gave him eskimo kisses. It was SO CUTE!!!! Here's a family picture with Mickey...

We ordered some more cute ones from our Disney Photo Pass, but they haven't gotten here yet. When they do I'll add them in. :) These are blurry, but you can see how he liked Mickey, and wasn't afraid of him. :)

This is my beautiful friend Sandra and her baby Lola!

We went to go visit Ariel in a private meet and greet! This was the stage where the princesses do their coronation..

Our Ariel was DARLING! She was perfect and so sweet. :)It made Chloe's day to meet Ariel (since she was dressed up as Ariel too...) :)

Little Ryder was smitten by her and kissed her hand like a princess...it was darling!

Piper got a hug too!

It made Chloe's day to see her princess!

Our friends that we went with and love so much...The Huntsmans! Sandra, Lola, Chloe, Ariel, Piper, Steve, Ryder. :) I was bummed we didn't bring Brendan down to meet Ariel! I should've taken him out of the stroller...(Lamar was watching the strollers). Next time! :)Ryder was smitten!Here's a DARLING video of Ryder's reaction to seeing Ariel....

We saw some ducks and Brendan loved them and didn't want to leave!Video of the ducks! Brendan can say "duck" too!

Lola...isn't she darling! My future daughter-in-law!

Brendan and Lola were playing together while the other adults were on Thunder Mountain!

Chloe and Piper are so darn cute. Look at the gorgeous blue eyes on those ladies! My little buddies...

I took some darling pictures of my two men! I LOVE these! :D Melt my heart...

Uh...12 month old babies are NOT supposed to be this tall compared to their 6'2" tall daddys!

Us and our gaggle of children waiting for the parade! The cutest video of Brendan attacking Lamar and his new hat. :) This video makes me laugh. Brendan was a crazy man waiting for the parade to make it down to us! :)

The next video is more of the same, but so cute. :D

Pictures of the parade that I love...Brendan loved it. His little eyes were so big and inquisitive! These two are precious to me...how he looked at most everything in Disneyland!

Watching the parade with Mommy...

He loved it when characters came up to him and played with him!

Finally! The 3rd and last day! We only stayed at Disneyland/CA adventure for a couple of hours 'cause I had to get back to Vegas for a SUV choir rehearsal. So we were bummed we had to leave early, but at least we were able to play for a bit! This is all of us! :D It was SO HOT! Ugh!

Just us in front of the castle and Walt. :D

Waiting in line for the "Nemo" ride!

On Brendan's favorite ride!!!!! He LOVED the "Nemo" ride! :) Nemo is his favorite cartoon character, so naturally he was giddy on this one. We went several times for him. It is such a joy to be a parent and watch your kids be so happy about such cute little things. :)

This is how Brendan watched the rides! He isn't giggling in this one like he was other times (I never seem to get the cute moments on tape! ugh! LOL) but you can see how he'd put his hands in the window and watch very attentively to what was going on outside the window!

One of the scuba divers that captured Nemo!

Brendan had gotten so excited about seeing Nemo that it wore him out and he fell asleep in the window, watching the 10 minute ride!!! I didn't get a picture of it, but in this short video you can hear us giggling about it. :D

This is the little dude just waking up after the ride is over.

Brendan and Daddy above Nemo's pond. :) Last picture at Disneyland...whew! Thought they'd never end, eh? We had a blast and got season passes so we can go back lots in a year! We can't WAIT to go again! :)