Chocolate, a visit from grandpa and some gingerbread men

Noteable Quotables by Brayden

1."You're making me crazy!" I wish he didn't hear that one from me.
2. "I went potty at nursery today and I missed, so I cleaned it up and I tried to wash my hands but I couldn't reach." Gross. But I still had to laugh.
3.(In reference to an apple that he wouldn't finish earlier so I gave it to him at lunch) "Mom, it's old, did you get it from the garbage?"
4. Sitting on Santa's lap--"I want two gums of packs."
5. "I LOVE it." Brayden really loves everything and everyone. It's great. I love positive people. Now we just have to work on Caleb, whose favorite phrase is "No, mama." Mike's favorite quote is when Brayden runs up to him and says "I love you, Daddy."

Farewell Penny Cherry

Wednesday, Nov. 7th, Mike's mom, Penny Cherry, passed away from complications to heart failure. As Mike's sister, Kristi, said, "We're happy when we think of her, but we're sad when we think of us." The pain of separation is hard, but we are glad she has been righteous and there is no question about her salvation. She touched more people than most people I've met. Hundreds of people came to her funeral and many told the family it was the best service that they had been to. I'm sure a lot of it is because they all had so much love for such a wonderful person. And then another big part of it is because of the doctrine that was taught. There were many powerful messages shared. If anyone wants to check out in a little more detail things that have happened, check out pennycherry.blogspot.com.

Things unique to Caleb

1. Ma--means more. He used to do the sign for it now he just says ma.
2. The way he signed more was to fold his arms like he's saying a prayer.
3. He loves putting things in and taking them out.
4. He loves tools. Can't get enough.
5. He loves all things dairy. We buy string cheese in bulk just for him.
6. He tries to say "Ah oh," but it comes out "Oo oh." He has the proper intonation though.
7. He grins sideways. I think it's probably like the crooked smile Edward has in Twilight. :)
8. He loves Elmo. He got pretty mad at me today when I moved Elmo away from the pile I was sweeping in the kitchen.
9. He really likes Bob the Builder. We have one book of Bob and Caleb goes for that book first every time.
10. He's a mama's boy. It's getting better now that nursing is over. But don't expect him to ever let Mike go to him in the middle of the night. I wish this was actually cute, but it's a bit irksome.

I know there are more. I think about them all the time. I think part of me still expects a clone of Brayden; silly, I know, but I still kind of think it. His little individual personality kind of surprises me sometimes.

Cider Mills with Bastians and Whiteheads

This weekend my brother Phil, his wife Noelle, and her sister's family the Whiteheads, all came to Michigan to visit and to check out the cider mills. We chose two favorites, Dexter Cider Mill and Jenny's Market. We wanted to go apple picking at Erwin Orchards, but it's a bit of a drive and we didn't really have the time. Next year! Heather Whitehead is a photographer, so she spent quite a bit of time snapping the shots at the mills and I'm posting of few of the highlights here. There were so many good ones it was really hard to choose!

The boys started off the morning playing Frisbee.


Here is Noelle, me and baby Shannon hanging out waiting to enjoy the cider mills and donuts.


Cute pics of Brayden and Caleb




New family fav. Thanks Heather!


Phil and Noelle


Here are the Whiteheads and a really good picture of pumpkins.




Noelle showcasing our apples for the caramel apples we did that night. Yeah for cider mills and apples!!!


Some other highlights were that Tanner and Brayden had a sleepover in the boys room, Phil and Rick got to watch a really good University of Washington football game (although, I think in the end they lost), Heather and Noelle did my dishes for me, we ate Cafe Rio salad, we visited Hogwarts, oh, I mean the law school where Heather and Noelle's dad went to school and walked through the Arboretum. When we drove home from the Arb, Brayden fell asleep so he missed Phil and Noelle's departure and when he woke up and realized they were gone, he was so sad. Even while they were here he kept asking, "Where's Noelle?" I think he loves his aunt and uncle! Thanks Whiteheads and Bastians for a great time!!

Sissy Visit

While I would love to enumerate all the super fun things my sister, Michelle, and I did while she was here, tonight it will have to suffice that I just put up a couple pics of the good times. :)

Yeah for running!

Sharon Thacker is a planner and a go-getter. She and Mandy are always coming up with fun parties and the latest and greatest was a race. She found one that was actually not on a Sunday and it was a 5k and a 10k. I was pretty stoked. I can't really do long runs anymore with my knees, so 5k was perfect. Mandy and I ran the 5k and Mike, Sharon, and Eddie ran the 10k. Mike pushed Brayden in a jogger and I pushed Caleb in the other jogger. I ran a 28:58 as the official time, but we started probably a minute or 30 seconds behind everybody because we took a "before" picture. My goal was to finish in under 30 minutes, so I'm pretty happy. And I had zero knee pain or tightness, so I'm REALLY happy about that. Mike had a good time too--I don't remember the official time, but he had under an 8 minute mile for his 6.2 miles. And Brayden even got orange ice cream after the race because the whole theme was "melon days." So Brayden got melon ice cream. He had been begging for it since the day before when we got superman ice cream and then afterwards saw orange. Oh, and incidently, we ran the race on our 5 year anniversary. I think that is a great way to celebrate.