WOW do I have a LOT to catch up on! TX Trip!

Okay...so I've been a total slacker and haven't gotten online in over a month on this site. SO sorry that I haven't posted all our recent trips yet. The week before Brendan's 1 year birthday we went down to Midland, TX where my parents live and visited for several days. It was SO FUN! The videos for some reason won't work, so that'll be in the next post. Grrr! (IF I can get them to work...it really bothers me that blogspot doesn't upload videos very well...UGH!)

Here are some pictures anyway....these were taken for free the night before we left at Babies_R-Us...he loved that little beach ball! These were in TX!!! Brendan's first flight! :D He was SOOOOO good. Only a couple of times did he try to get off my lap. :D We played and read books the entire flight.

Driving with Grandma...in the parking lot of course...

Hanging out with Grandma Karen...

His pre-birthday party for his first birthday!

His birthday cake...the bakery had already closed, so I wrote on it with a knife. LOL!

About to eat the cake, waiting for Grandpa to come home from work...he LOVES Cheyenne!

Afterward...he was covered! :D

His bath...we gave him a typical mohawk for fun...he had fun in a new bathtub. :D I just can't believe how long his hair is! He badly needs a haircut. :DMy mother's HORRIBLE leg bruise, from when she fell down the stairs. She has diabetes, so she doesn't heal apparently...OUCH! It covered her entire leg! I felt so sorry for her. Yuck!

Hanging out with Grandpa before bedtime...Grandpa Wylie had a hard time holding him, since Brendan is such a brick and SO STRONG! Grandma Karen had a really hard time too. So does Daddy. Go Mommy with her mommy muscles! :D This picture is precious to me. :D

This one makes me laugh...they are making the same face. :) Melts my heart.

Uh oh! He got Grandpa's ear! LOL!

Awwww...getting kisses from Grandpa! :) MELT MY HEART! :D

Grandma and Grandpa LOVED having Brendan around! :D They love their grandbaby! Sorry it's kinda blurry and dark...my camera is giving me issues.

With Grandma again...Grandma's little buddy...

One more with Grandma...

One with Mommy...

With Cheyenne...he's almost as big as she is!!!!!

Since I'm in a country band now, and I was in Midland, TX, I had to go buy myself a country hat. LOL! I love it! What is happening to me?!?!?!? LOL!

Now I want to post a ton of pictures from our car ride to Lubbock...Brendan was being so darling...and his eyes looked so blue...I had to take a bunch of pictures. I think he's pretty cute! :)

Such big blue eyes!!!!

Smiling at Grandma from his stroller in the Lubbock airport...

Back at home (Since we couldn't get on any flights) playing with Cheyenne...

Hanging out on the couch with Grandpa and Cheyenne...

Look at the huge mess Brendan made of Grandma and Grandpa's living room!!!! Playing while Grandpa watches TV...

We had sooooo much fun! :) Can't wait to go back at Thanksgiving!

Mommy's helper

Tonight in the bath Brendan quickly learned a new skill. He watched Lamar put all his bath toys in that blue cup after last night's bath. And so today, he figured out he could do it too. And spent the entire bath practicing putting those toys in and out of that cup 'til he became really good at it. :) The best part about this particular video is how he sounds like he says "I Did It!" at the end of it. It's crazy. I'm positive he was just blabbering, but it sounds like "I Did It" really clear...we've been giggling over it. :D Even funnier, is that it didn't dawn on me what I heard him 'say' until I turned the camera off...then I freaked out with "Did you just say..." LOL.

He did this over and over for a half hour...it was fun. He got used to me counting 1...2....3....4... each time he did it. So in this video listen carefully to him the first time he puts the toys in. He is trying to count...says something before each toy. The 'two' actually sounds like 'two'! But you have to listen very carefully 'cause he says it under his breath and I'm loud right before it. . Again, I'm sure it was a coincedence, but we loved it. :D He now grunts before each toy as if he's counting. It's fun. The other thing I LOVE about this video is he is such a Cook kid. After he finally gets the octopus in the cup he gets totally ADD/distracted and I have to remind him of his task. He responds exactly the way I would've or anyone in my family. It CRACKS ME UP! LOL He says something resembling an "Oh" (like oh ya...that's what I was doing) and then right away the '2'. And after the first round he yells "YES!" Like yes I'm a good helper. I just love this video. I love pretending he knows what he's saying. :D

Soon he had almost every toy in the tub in that cup...including his wash cloth. Now if I can just get him to stay in helping mommy clean mode for the next 18 years I'd be set. :D

My giggly sleepyhead...

Forgot to post this last night after we took it. :) I love my giggly little slap happy sleepyhead! :D

Introducing...my band!

So...I'm in a country/cover band now. Singing lead vocals. LOL. Who knew? Just wanted to share a couple of pictures from rehearsal with our band. That's Kasey behind me...has his masters in guitar performance...KILLER chops.

And Kirk, my drummer buddy, surprised me by expressing total confidence in my ability to learn the drums he does for "Sweet Home Alabama", so he can sing it without having to play on the set as well. He handed me his sticks in mic check and had me play the basic groove for it so he could go into the house and hear the mix. (I haven't played a drum in over two/three years, but it came right back.) And then the three union guitarists joined me for fun and it was such a high. I totally held my own with those three for the entire song and I was like a kid in a candy store. So Kirk decided I was going to do the drums for it in our set, and he'll teach me his more complicated fills. (YAAAAAAAAAAY! See...he ROCKS! He subs for "Mamma Mia" drummer all the time...the dude is amazing. He used to be my drum teacher...so excited to learn this song!) So I'm going to be passing him the mic, he'll be passing me the sticks for that song. SO COOL!!!! I'm really giddy about it. In rehearsal, during the giddy revelation that I was to be drumming during "Sweet Home".
It was awesome last week to play live together for our first gig and just get it up onstage. We're going to record three tracks in the next few weeks. I'm excited! I will keep you posted and will eventually post something we do, but it'll be awhile. I'm a perfectionist, and unless it's perfect it won't be posted. :D Sorry! :D I love love love those guys in the band and we're going to have a BLAST working together! It's just cool to do something new. :D Who knew I'd ever do country? LOL!

Brendan is ALMOST WALKING!

Can you believe how fast he's growing up!?!?!?!?

Quick story...at church today Brendan was totally intrigued by this 14 month old little baby girl (who is about 10 pounds lighter than Brendan) that was walking in the church hallways. She looks way too little to be walking already...it's SO PRECIOUS! Well, Brendan caught sight of her and started following her around the church, totally intrigued by her walking. He'd crawl right alongside her and just stare at her walking. She probably thought she had a stalker. :D He followed her for about twenty minutes and was totally taken by her.

Okay, so tonight we were all home at the same time for the entire day. WHAT A TREAT! It was awesome. We had so much time to play and be together as a family tonight. Yay! So we noticed Brendan was happy we were finally all at home together without rushing to and fro, and he decided that while mommy and daddy were BOTH home he would start walking!!!! He must've been inspired by the little lady at church today!

He averages about 2-3 steps most of the time, but there are times where he can get up to 6!!! This is a progression of him getting better and better at walking! We had so much fun with him today. Forgive my messy house in the background. I'd much rather spend my free time playing with my kid then worrying about a messy house. :) Tomorrow I'll clean it. Today was Sunday. Anyway...this is the start. And by the way...he is SO MY KID! The second he sees that camera he turns into a ham and a half. He's done that since he was 6 months old. uh oh! :)

This was taken after I got back from ward choir today, and Brendan was back in his sleeper for his nap.

Starting to walk without holding my hands...




He is such a ham! Look at him! He's not even concentrating on walking! (He was doing better than this before we pulled out the camera!) He was just grinning it up at Daddy holding the camera. The little stinker! LOL. I had no idea he was hamming it up so much...Lamar didn't tell me. Wow is he my kid. I was an obnoxious camera hungry kid too. Lovely. He is not even a year old yet. Not a good sign. LOL. I'll tell ya what though...Lamar is quite the ham when you put a camera on him too...so the kid's doomed.

Another cute little attempt, but being distracted by trying to be cute for the camera! LOL I swear he does not act this cheesy ever, without that camera in view! Can you believe how tall he is??? That is a 2T sleeper on him, and clearly he's almost out of it. He won't be a year old for another two weeks!

And he took mom out with him a couple of times...! :D I sound like my sisters laughing at the end. So weird!

This is one of my favorite videos lately too...he is still hamming it up, but he starts his jibber jabber that is so funny and adorable. You can really see his bubbly personality on this video. He's so addicting. I love his laugh at the end of the video...turn up the volume so you can hear him talk and giggle....we were having fun! I love being home with my baby and honey!

He finally stopped obsessing about the camera (I think he realized we weren't going to be taking his picture...no flashes...and got bored. WOW!!!! What on earth am I in for?!?!? LOL) and started walking. His first two steps on camera! He was all proud of himself-applauded himself when he walked the two steps! :)

I laugh SO stinkin' hard at this next video. My child looks like a directionally challenged muppet. :D And when he walks he puts his arms above his head like a monkey. LOL

He got four steps in a row! First day of any of this walking business. So excited for him. :D I wish you can see his face in this video...he looked shocked and SO proud of himself! :D It was darling.

He started getting more and more consistent on the four steps away from the couch to me!

He was being so cute and proud of himself...one last video.

Yes, there were lots, but I wanted you to see the progression. More tomorrow. :D You only get one chance in life to get these first steps on video. :) Isn't he doing SO GOOD considering he's HUGE and started crawling way late? 27 lbs. :) LOL I love my tall little tank!

Trying to catch up on a missed month...

I apologize for being SOO late posting all of these posts. I've honestly been trying to load videos on this site for weeks and unfortunately my computer didn't cooperate. I'm hoping it's going to work this time, so I can fill you in on Brendan's past month.

This is him attempting to drink out of a water bottle. In July. (Sorry!) He got it quickly after I took this video, so I'm glad I caught this while I did, since it's so funny. He didn't quite grasp the concept at first...LOL!


Brendan is his daddy's son alright. His new favorite game is 'driving' Daddy's truck or Mommy's Durango. So Lamar was letting him drive and I had to get a picture. This one makes my heart happy 'cause they look like they match...Like daddy like son. : ) It's cute!

Little dude loves playing with Daddy's glasses, but doesn't like to keep them on for very long. I was quick and got this one on film. : )

He got the glasses off. I love this picture of his eyes. So blue! I think he looks like Lamar in this one...

So Brendan LOVES baths nowadays...especially when I let him play with the nasal aspirator...the BEST bath toy! : ) He was gettin' me with it. :D And no, he didn't get me every time, but I still acted like he did 'cause he thought it was so funny. :D I love how you can see his giggly personality on here...and how he tries to match my enthusiasm in his squeals too. I love this kid. Sorry it's a bath video. I didn't try too hard to censor and I probably should have. But it's so fun I had to post anyway. He's not even a year old yet. :D I'm just surprised he actually has aim and can hit me with all that water! By the end of this bath I was dripping from head to toe. It was a blast!

These pants were falling off...had to share his ghetto look. :D Sorry he's a little blurry in this. :D

Another one that looks exactly the same, but you can see his pretty eyes better. :D His thought bubble: "What? You gotta problem with me?"

One of my all time favorite photos....makes me laugh so hard. This is how mommy spends a vast majority of her day, when she is trying to get things done. LOL!

This was taken at band practice, one of our first ones. Brendan comes with me usually, and Kirk and Kasey are so cool about it. (Even though I know it gets old having me chase him all over tarnation, making sure he doesn't keep turning up Kasey's amp, or Kirk's laptop, etc. It's a constant battle.) Kirk is the drummer (my drum teacher, actually too. Good friend!) and Brendan LOVES watching Kirk drum. Kirk jams on those things! (He subs in for the drummer at "Mamma Mia" on the Strip all the time. He's really good!) He hates that set though...it's a crappy electronic set, but it gets the job done when we are at the music school we all teach at. Brendan spends some of his time at practice just like this...mesmorized by Kirk's playing. I'm sure Kirk just loves being stared at, but he's a good sport. LOL Wanted to share...Brendan loves band practice. He also stares at Kasey playing the guitar. I didn't catch him staring at Kirk, but turning and looking at me...but you get the idea. :D

I am the primary chorister in my ward. So I am singing primary songs all the time to Brendan. I also teach the nursery kids the same songs when I'm not doing singing time in jr/sr primaries. So he sees this alot. He's starting to get the actions down too...so fun! In this I sang "Popcorn Popping" 'cause he loves it so much. Whenever I start singing the song he claps 'cause he's happy I'm singing it. He only did three of them in this video...I think 'cause he was so tired. Normally he's much more crazy excited too, that I'm singing it, but he looks almost bored in this one. LOL But he'll do some of the actions with me now!!! I just giggle...it's so CUTE! He gets "Popcorn Popping", "Surprise!", and "But it seems to me" in this video. Normally he applauds at the end too, and normally does some others, but you get the idea. Not even a year old yet! Some of my 18 mos old nursery kids don't get this much. :D I think it's cute.

Brendan can almost walk!

Wanted to share these videos right before bedtime...he started off slowly, but after several tries he was CRUISING! And having so much fun. He's adorable. :)

Brendan's a big helper!

Brendan likes to help Mommy pick out dvds to watch like his cousin Brody. :) And gets SO MAD if Mommy puts them back on the shelf neatly. In his brain they go ON THE

FLOOR MOM!
He also tries to help with the dishes...but like the dvds he thinks no dishes should go in the dishwasher. I've learned to wait until after I've scrubbed all the dishes to add the silverware in, 'cause the silverware goes all over the kitchen floor otherwise!

Helping me put clothes away...he shuts the drawers with Mommy watching over like a vulture 'cause he has a tendency to shut the drawers and slam his fingers in them. Hasn't learned yet.

More picts from 4th of July weekend!

Brendan is just getting to be so big. Wanted to post some more picts from yesterday. I still haven't fixed his horrible haircut yet, so bear with us until we do! :D (And he doesn't QUITE match...Lamar dressed him...LOL...good enough though...Brendan doesn't know!) Again with the blurriness...GRRR! You can still see how grown up he's getting though!

He likes to stand up on everything now, especially the leather couches...and then he likes to CHEW on them! He's worse than a puppy! :D Our solution for him crawling up the stairs...it got scary last week when he fell down just one stair and bruised his cheek! With us sitting right there with him! So we're going to have to teach him how to come down the stairs, so it's not so scary for us! Here he is trying to get to our new gate...

Hey Buddy, what are you doin'??? :)

Tryin' to get Mommy's camera as usual. He LOVES to sit and watch videos of himself!!! :D

Hi happy guy!I think he looks like me as a baby in this one!

Okay...so he just learned what "SO BIG!" means...or at least he knows to put his hands up over his head when I say it. Or "All gone!"...he does the same thing. I got him on camera doing it finally! It's cute. He's getting so tall!

Another one of "So big!"...he's so fun. I LOVE it that he's starting to understand our words/inflections and know what we mean.

K...this next video is soooo fun! Lamar is chasing him down the hallway into our spare/guest room. No that is not our bed. It's a foam mattress we use for guests that we haven't put back up yet. :) But Brendan loves playing on it, so it's hard to get up the motivation to put it up. Brendan JUST figured out today what "I'm gonna getcha" means, and now it's his new favorite game. I know all kids love this, it's just cute when it's your first kid and they first get it and want to play. :) Something clicks in their brains and they suddenly can PLAY with you. It's SO CUTE! Lamar is such a good daddy. I love watching them play.

Now, let me explain my comment at the end...it sounds funny. Lamar yesterday was pretending to be in a boxing match with Brendan, lightly touching him as a 'punch' and Brendan would BURST out laughing and try to touch/punch Lamar back. It's another favorite game of Brendan's. So when I tell Lamar to pretend to punch him, I promise we're not abusing our child! He LOVES it. AND my camera died right before the burst of laughter happens, after the punch, so it looks funny. :) :) :) LOL! But it's darling. I'll try to get it on camera tomorrow/this week sometime so you can see how much he loves 'fighting'! He's all boy. I love it! :D So hope that explains my 'punch' comment! Don't call social services! LOL

Fourth of July!

Wanted to share the fun picts from our 4th of July celebration! We invited our friends over for fireworks and had so much fun in our tiny living room/kitchen. Sandra and Steve Huntsman and their four adorable children came over and we ate dinner that I made in the crockpot. :) I'm starting to really like that thing! Their youngest daughter, Lola, is a month older than Brendan and about half his size. Brendan LOVES Lola! They were tugging on eachother and kissing eachother during the night. She's his girlfriend! Sorry it's a little blurry. She has GORGEOUS blue eyes! (All the Huntsmans do) I love her so much! Lamar opened the blinds and suddenly all the kids surrounded him to watch some fireworks out the window. It was cute. I don't know why my camera is acting up and all the picts are blurry. It bums me out. But you still get the idea.My friend Steve and his four kids, Lamar and Brendan in the background. We had only sparklers at first, until my friend Craig showed up with more fun fireworks! (Thank goodness he did too...since we didn't think to get any cool ones! It's been years since we did fireworks.) My beautiful friend Sandra, her daughter Piper, and Ryder, their 3 year old son. (Who isn't that much bigger than Brendan!)Brendan thought the sparklers were too bright!

Steve and Lola...I LOVE that baby girl! :DRyder! I love this kid. I think he and Brendan look a little alike. :DMy friend Craig! The firework hero! And little Piper...she is SO graceful and a little princess! She's darling. And Ryder, of course.

This is their oldest daughter Chloe! She is so cute, imaginative, and skinny! She is a hoot!

Brendan really didn't like the loud noises and screams of the fireworks. In this one he was climbing up Lamar and holding on for dear life. I had to keep covering his ears and holding onto him tightly until he was okay to watch some more. Bless his heart!

Steve and Craig put several boxes of sparklers standing up in one place and lit them all. The kids loved the big sparks. :D It looks like he's trying to burn down the shrubbery...See...he liked some of them! Just didn't smile a whole lot. Poor little guy! Lola had a great time! It was funny how she was totally chilled and Brendan was uneasy. I think Lamar looks really cute in this picture! Ow! I love my men!

Okay...Steve was Lumiere in my production of "Beauty and the Beast", and frankly stole the show. We were playing with the sparklers and decided the next time we do the show in Oct/Nov he needs to have real pyro for his candlesticks...for reference, here is a show pict...he's the candlestick.

And with sparklers...LOL! I say keep it!

Their kids are SO going to take after them and be in theater!!! :D Copying Daddy...aren't their kids GORGEOUS! :D

Just had to share my new favorite picture of Brendan. Even though he's kinda freaked out by the fireworks and holding onto me for dear life...look at those EYES!!!! They're so pretty and getting to be so blue. I love this picture of us. :D He melts my heart, that's for sure!!!

We had fun! It was Brendan's first 4th of July and we were so glad our friends could come play with us! We love them! :D

Back and forth

Wanted to share Brendan's game he was playing by himself tonight. It was funny. We were sitting there talking for a good ten minutes before realizing what he kept doing. We only filmed the last minute or so, when this occupied his attention for a long time. So quirky and funny.

Need baby proofing!

Brendan's favorite thing is the pots and pans cupboard right now. Well, at least until two days ago when Lamar put on the latches. He LOVED that cupboard! Every chance he could he'd make a beeline to it. Here's a little video of the action. :D

Dumb and Dumber haircut...oops! LOL

Okay...so here's Brendan looking cute but pretty shaggy...

He stands up on everything now...

So I decided to be brave and just try to cut his hair. We'd trimmed the hair over his ears a couple of weeks ago with Lamar's razor, so I figured I could try. He held moderately still, but I still screwed up badly, laughing my head off the entire time. I gave up after about two minutes though...without clippers/guard it was impossible to cut it with Brendan so curious as to what I was doing. So...the poor child now looks like Jim Carrey in "Dumb and Dumber." And Lamar and I just laugh. I suppose it's not SO BAD, but I'm taking him to Supercuts the first chance I get to fix the mess I made of his noggin'. :) LOL The look on his face in this picture is priceless...like he knew I was going for a "Dumb and Dumber" shot. :D I love that kid.