::Happy 7th Birthday Bryson::

Happy birthday to Bryson!!! Today little Bryson turns 7. It is so weird to think that I met Bryson when he was 1 and a half years old. I can't believe that I have been part of his life for that long and watched him grow up to this wonderful little person that he is today!

He came running into our room this morning and yelled "I am 7 today ... I am 7 today" he is so excited to be 7, it's like he has reached some kind of mile stone that he has been waiting for his whole life!

Here are 7 things that we love about Little Scooby

1. He is the greatest big brother any little sister can ask for, he always takes such good care of his sister Kira and always makes sure she is having fun with whatever they are doing.
2. He is always so helpful and so willing to help out whenever he is asked.
3. He is the funniest kid ever you just have to look at him and laugh.
4. The stories he tells us keep us laughing for days.
5. He is very sensitive to the needs of other's.
6. The way he acts as the man of the house and takes care of his mom and sister.

7. We love the little man that he is growing into.

Here we are celebrating Bryson's birthday dinner at La Luna and yes he picked.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYSON WE HOPE YOUR DAY WAS EVERYTHING YOU COULD HAVE HOPED FOR!

::Christmas 2008::

Even though my previous post would reflect that we were so busy that our Christmas sucked, it really was one of, if not the best Christmas I have ever had. It was so much fun having Bryson with us on Christmas eve night and waking up with him Christmas morning. I took so many pictures and finally figured out how to make a slide show with them that I will attach to this post when they all upload (yes I took that many pics!)

From the previous post you pretty much get the idea of how our Christmas went. It was busy but so much fun and we all got SO spoiled by our Friends and Family. My parents gave us a new stove and tons of fun new camping stuff, Jeremy's mom gave us the food saver and a super cute front door decoration along with some fabulous jam's and jelly's.

Bryson pretty much hit the mother load and got EVERYTHING that he asked for. He got the Nintendo DS he wanted so bad from Santa at his mom's house. He got the D-Rex and a real Bow and Arrow and target from Santa at my parents house. He got his Night vision goggles from Santa at our house ... and SO SO SO much more from everyone that loves that little guy!

We had some great food with great people and got the best presents ever. Our Christmas was awesome and we hope your's was too.

::Busy busy day::

I will post about Christmas day fully later when I get all my pics in a slide I was just wondering if anyone's Christmas is as busy as ours so I am going to lay out a little Christmas time line of our day:

11:30 pm (Dec. 24th) Santa comes to town
5:00 am: Bryson is awake and ready for presents
5:15 am: Doug and Lou come to open presents at our house
6:30 am: Our power goes out (luckily we were all done with presents)
7:15 am: Take Bryson to his mom's (power still out)
7:30 am: Open presents with my family
10:00 am: Breakfast at Aunt Cindey's with the Rodda Clan
11:30 am: Pick up Bryson from his mom's
11:45 am: Back at our house (with power) to get ready for the day
12:45 pm: Leaving house to head to Grandma Bowles'
2:00 pm: Leaving Grandma Bowles' on our way to the Sutherland's (have to make a stop at home b/c we forgot our food assignment for Christmas dinner)
2:30-6 pm: Hanging out with the Sutherland's opening presents and eating dinner (finally relaxing a little bit)
6:45 pm: Up to Aunt Kimm's house (on South Mountain in the snow) to do presents and dessert.
8:00 pm: Back to my parents for Bryson to open his Christmas there
10:00 pm: FINALLY BACK TO OUR HOUSE
11:00 pm: Waiting for our sheets to dry b/c forgot about them all day!

And if you all remember correctly what the weather looked like on Christmas day we pretty much spent the whole day driving around the valley!!! We got loads of stuff, had tons of fun, and are SOOOOOOO EXHAUSTED!

We hope all of you had a very merry christmas (and a less busy one than ours)!!!

::Thank you Chandra::

I just want to take a moment on Christmas eve to say thank you to Bryson's mom Chandra. This year for Christmas she let us have Bryson at our house on Christmas eve night so that we can wake up early with him on Christmas morning.
This is the best gift she could have ever given us and we want her to know how grateful we are for her and for the mother that she is to both her children. I just wanted her to know that we think she is great and wouldn't change anything in our relationship for the world. Most people in our situation don't get along with each other but we have a great relationship.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO CHANDRA AND THANK YOU FOR THIS WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS GIFT!!!!!

::Girls Night In::

Hey ladies ... mark your calendars now and tell off of your friends and family member's ... I am having a purse/shoe party on Saturday February 28th from 7-9 pm. The website for the shoes is www.4theloveofshoes.com. There is no website for the purses but the lady has designer purses like Coach, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Chanel, Burbury, etc. etc for GREAT GREAT prices. So mark the calendar for a night of fun, food, friends, and shopping, what more could you ask for!

I will post lots of reminders so that no one forgets!

::Gingerbread house::

This year we decided to make a gingerbread house. It was a lot of fun. Bryson and I were laughing and having a great time! It didn't turn out super pretty but we sure loved to make it and I think it will be something we will do every year!

He dropped some candy and was laughing so hard while trying to pick it all up.

On a side note I pulled out the video camera to get ready for Christmas morning and Jeremy wanted to see what video was in there. Well turns out it was a video of Christmas and Bryson's birthday party in 2005. WOW ... he sure was little at that time. I can't believe how small he was. I am going to load it to a DVD and hopefully I will be able to get it posted on this blog for you all to see b/c it is so cute and so funny. Jeremy had gotten 2 packs of brownies in his Christmas stocking and Bryson picked them both up and says "Look daddy one for you and one for me!" It was so cute. Just thought I would share this with you all b/c it was so fun to look back and remember that Christmas and birthday party.

::Shoveling the driveway::

On Friday when we got home before our family party Bryson and I needed to shovel the drive way and Bryson wanted to help out so bad. He was so good at shoveling the driveway that I told him he can do it all the time!

::Bowles' family Christmas party 2008::

Friday night was the Bowles' family Christmas party. I love this party and look forward to it every year. It is such a fun time to get together with all of my dad's family and eat, see Santa, and watch the kids open their presents. It is also so fun watching to kids interact with all their cousins and just being best friends. All the parents bring a present for their kids and we give them to Santa and he gives them out. The kids love it, they think Santa came especially for them and knew that they would want this special present. It is so much fun to watch them open their gifts in amazement that Santa would pick out a special present for each of them and bring it to their party.

What a fun family tradition this has been ever since I can remember and now I get to share it with Jeremy and Bryson and I love that part of being our own little family.

I picked Bryson up from Julie's on Friday afternoon and he told me he was just so excited to go to the party to see the elf. Initially I had no idea what he was talking about but once I saw Ikabod the elf (he is bending over in this picture) I remember who he was talking about and thought it was so funny that of everything he can remember about this fun party he remembers the elf.

Well I have no idea how to make a slide show of pictures so here are only some of the pictures I have from this party (I took a ton but figured it would suck for you guys if you wanted to look at them to have to just keep scrolling through so here are a few.) Bryson got a skate park thing with a little skateboard that you use with your fingers and make it do tricks, I don't understand it or how it works but he sure loves it and that is all that matters right.

::Jr. Jazz Game 3::

I have no pictures from game #2 so we are just going to skip that game and go straight to game #3.

So far Jr. Jazz has been the BEST sport for Bryson. I don't know if he just really likes basketball, if he is just getting a little older and understands the whole competition thing, or if it is just because his dad is his coach and he really loves that but he is doing AWESOME.

This is the first time he has ever actually participated in any of the sports that we have put him and I love going to his games and watching him get aggressive with other 6 year olds and actually fighting for the ball and wanting to play and participate.

I am pretty sure that basketball will be something that we keep him in all the time. I am actually really excited for him to try football as well, but that will be a couple years because he has to be 8 to do that sport. For now we will stick with baseball and basketball and continue to watch him grow and develop his skills!

Just hanging out on the bench waiting his turn

Just him and the coach practicing

Catching the ball.

Here he is fighting for the ball!! Go Bryson

And I think he lost, but hey at least he fought for it!

::It's Official ... ::

Jeremy and I are both officially done with fall semester. What a weight lifted off of my shoulders. Now I have the stress of studying for the GRE, getting all my grad school applications in by January 1 and the stress of waiting to find out if I actually made it into Grad School. Oh well the life of college students ..... until next semester!

::Zoo Lights::

Saturday night we went to dinner and the Zoo with Jeremy's family and had a great time. Now I know what you all are thinking "The Zoo in December?" but it was actually really fun. They put up a ton of Christmas lights all over the zoo and we just walked around the Zoo and looked at the lights. There were a couple of animals out and about but not many. We saw some penguins, black bear, cougar, and a cheetah. It was a really fun night with Jeremy's family and all the cousin's being together. Those are the best memories for the kids. Bryson was initially having fun, but then turned into a party pooper and just wanted to go home! After the Zoo we headed over to Leatherby's for some delicious ice cream.

Thanks everyone for such a fun night we need to make that a tradition.

The three of us, obviously Bryson doesn't want his picture taken

Me and my cute niece McCall

Jeremy and Bryson

All the cousins

Jana and Hunter

Cute Malone

Cade is in the back on the Lady Bug

Hunter and Trey

All the other kids rode the carosel and then there is Bryson who sits on the bench and eats a pretzel (this was in his bad mood phase)

Leaving the Zoo Jeremy, McCall, Hunter, and Cade being silly

::Jr. Jazz::

We signed Bryson up for Jr. Jazz basketball a couple of weeks ago and he has been talking about ever since so Saturday he had his first game and loved it. He did awesome and we are so proud of him.

This picture is from Friday night. We went to Famous Footwear and bought his first pair of basketball shoes and all of Friday night he was wearing his shoes around the house telling us they make him run faster and jump higher and he was so excited to show off "his skills" at his first basketball game. He came down stairs Friday night with his whole basketball outfit on and when he went back upstairs to get in his pj's he came down in his pj pants, shirt and basketball shoes! He didn't even want to take them off it was so cute.

Here are a couple more pictures of him at his game! Great job Scooby you are awesome and we are so proud of you!!!

Also, on a side note Jeremy is his basketball coach and that is also something Bryson just loves.

::Bolt::

So we went to the see the movie Bolt on Friday night and it was SOOOOO good. I loved it. My favorite was the hamster in the ball! You should all go see it I know you will all love it!

I accidentally bought tickets to the 3-D movie which Bryson hates because of the glasses but he did awesome and wore his glasses the whole time. He said that he loved it too. After the movie we went with my family over to Red Robin (which is a place I love) and ate a delicious dinner.

Thanks fam for the fun night!

::Are you a grandma?::

(The one in the center is my Grandmother)
Now I love my grandma to death don't get me wrong, but do I want to look like her at 25? NO!


Let me explain really quick ... I picked up Bryson from Julie's (day care) and while I was waiting for him to put his shoes and coat on a little girl there came up to me and said

"You look like a Grandma"

A ... WHAT!

I then called my mom and was laughing about it and my mother proceeded to tell me that she was asked by an older gentlemen if she was her baby sister's mother. Now my mom is the first born of 7 girls all born within 9 years but she in no way looks like a grandmother to the 6th born child. She told me "At least the person that said it to you didn't really no any better, but the guy that said it to me should know to keep his HUGE mouth shut!"

After not getting any sympothy from my mother I decided to see if I would get any from cyber space!

::Seeing Santa::

We took Bryson to see Santa at South Towne mall on Saturday afternoon. He seemed to like it but didn't really say much about it. I hope he had a good time. We weren't able to get a picture with him and Santa on our camera b/c they have policies against that, but I will try to get the picture they took scanned in and uploaded but for now here is a picture of him standing in line!

Merry Christmas to all and FYI the mall is already out of control busy so good luck with your Christmas shopping.

::The Jazz Game::

For Jeremy's birthday Bryson and I took him to the Jazz game on Saturday vs. the New Jersey Nets. We had a good time there even though the Jazz pretty much sucked it up and lost it was still a fun time. This is a small tradition that I have done every year for Jeremy since we have been together. He is a HUGE Jazz fan and I love that every year we have this small Sutherland tradition to look forward to on or near November 27!

We are crazy

So much fun at the game!

::My favorite day of the year::

I love love love black friday. Now I know some of you are reading this and thinking that I am a total nut but let me tell you I have scored some major deals by waking up at 3 am to fight the crowds.

This year though I am sad to say I had to work at 5 am and literally fight the crowds as an employee. It was awful but fun all at the same time. I was SO sad not to get to go shopping with my mom and sister but don't worry I made a list of stuff for them to get me and they didn't let me down!

On a different note:

Since we had such a relaxing Thanksgiving b/c it was Jeremy's birthday I ended up getting all of my inside Christmas decorating up. I have pictures and I will post them later but I loved having our own home to decorate.

Jeremy and I have been together for about 6 years now and every year his mom has given me a nutcracker so that I can have a collection like her's and I have NEVER been able to display them b/c I never had anywhere to display them. Well let me tell you this year they are out in full force and I love it.

Also, I have to share this with you all (and Jeremy thinks I am totally nuts) but we have 2, yes 2 full sized Christmas trees up at our house. One is a huge green one that we will put our presents under and the other one is a medium sized white one that I have a Chirstmas village under. The village is what my mom has given me to put together and that is my favorite part about Christmas is putting up the White Christmas tree with the villiage.

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful "Black Friday"

::Happy Birthday Jeremy::

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEREMY!!

Today is Jeremy's 29th birthday and to have to celebrate his birthday on Thanksgiving pretty much sucked for him because he hates, yes I said hates, Thanksgiving. But I told him today was his day first and Thanksgiving second and we would do what ever he wanted to do, so he opened presents and then layed on the couch all day until it was time to go to his mom's to eat dinner!! So I just wanted to take a sec and tell him how much I love him and respect him, to tell him how great of a husband and father he is and I couldn't imagine my life with out him in it!

So here's to you today Jerm's hope it was everything you wanted it to be!