As of late

What we've been up to as of late!

I went to the Mesa temple pageant with the young women. It was really great.

We switched Susanna to a forward facing car seat. It's fun looking back and seeing that smile. (I took this picture in the passenger seat, don't worry).

Very focused

I had a birthday! It was a good one, too. Paul made me breakfast for each meal of the day.. it's my favorite meal after all. We had hash browns, and french toast, and scrambled eggs. He made a chocolate cake with home made frosting and all (he only needed a little help :) ). I got Beauty and the Beast and Disney on Ice tickets for my birthday along with a few other things from family and friends.

Another great birthday treat was my little brother's visit. Logan came down to Phoenix for his Spring Break.

At the zoo

At Midwestern

We had so much fun, Susie was exhausted!

At the park

We took turns jumping off the swings.

Logan's jump was much more impressive.

Paul on the monkey bars.

I have a cousin who works at an indoor shooting range. He was able to get us a great discount. Logan took a girl out in our ward so we doubled. It was a lot of fun!

Happy Easter!

I made this gorgeous cake myself!

Susanna and Paul had a little Easter egg hunt this morning.

A little update

March usually isn't my favorite month of the year but this one hasn't been too bad! And we're almost all the way through it! This month has flown by. Here are some of the things we Wests have been up too.

Well first I can tell you that Paul is always studying. This quarter is a difficult one. He has multiple tests every week so he wakes up early and stays up late studying every day. Including weekends :( which is no fun for the girls that love to hang out with him. At least it won't last forever.

Meanwhile Sue and I have been...

Teaching Preschool

Hanging out with the awesome YW in our ward

Here Susie is at an official Thunderbird High School tennis match. (She enjoyed scooting on the cement more than watching the tennis).

Susie and I also recently gained a new buddy to join us on our daily shenanigans. His name is Sam and he is one of my preschool students. His mother recently went back to work and so we get to hang out with him from 8-5 Mondays, Wednesday, Thursdays, and Fridays! Today was our first day together actually and we celebrated by going on a picnic (shown above). We had a lot of fun! Sam is a really good boy. We are all going to go swimming together later on this week and are excited for that. It's getting hot in Phoenix!

That's it for an update!

The Grand Canyon

Brrrr!! Last week we took our first trip to the Grand Canyon in honor of Susanna's first birthday. We headed out after preschool on Monday, drove for about 3 1/2 hours, and arrived at the Canyon early evening. We checked into our hotel and drove around the Canyon rim to get a look at some of the amazing views, but man was it cold!

The wind was blowing and temperatures were about 40 degrees. We thought it would surely be better the next day around noon so we headed back for a fun night in our hotel room (the 3 of us have never stayed at a hotel together!).

The next morning we woke, excited for our day in the Canyon... until we looked out the window. Our car was covered in snow. It had snowed about 10 inches that night. We made the best of our day though and had lots of fun trying to keep warm. Boy was it cold. The Canyons were absolutely beautiful though and we're so glad we went. We definitely want to go back in warmer weather!

Susanna likes popcorn on road trips, like mother, like daughter!

We had a little family birthday celebration the day we got home, cupcakes, candles, and presents. Then Thursday night we had a few friends over for dinner and cake so we could celebrate again! It was fun! Happy birthday Susie!

The Laugh of a Child

"I love it, I love it, the laugh of a child, now rippling and gentle, now merry and wild. Ringing out on the air with it's innocent gush, like the trill of a bird in the twlight's soft hush. Floating up on the breeze like the tones of a bell, or the music that dwells in the heart of a shell. Oh the laugh of a child, so mild, so free, is the merriest sound in the world for me."

Isabelle Athelwood

(this video also premiers the "booty scoot" and getting from a laying to a sitting position :) )

Another quick note: Susie and I flew to Utah last weekend for a short trip and we flew over the Grand Canyon! It was awesome!

(from the plane)

Paul and I have been wanting to go to the Grand Canyon since we moved to Arizona and he has this next week off from school so we're going to head up there tomorrow. Which is perfect because Susie's birthday is Tuesday. We are using a gift card we received for Christmas from Paul's family in DC to pay for the hotel. Thanks Jon and Kylee! We're so excited!

I Havva Everything

A favorite quote of mine-- I found it in an Anne Geddes book and think of it often.

"If you havva no babies, you havva nothing."

Italian immigrant woman

A Mother's Love

I'm so grateful to be a mother. There are many days when I sit back, look at my little girl and I know that no other happiness can compare to this. Being a mother has brought more joy in my life than I ever thought it could. I love waking up knowing that I get to spend my day with my little Sue. I love comforting her when she bonks her head and explodes into hysterical tears. I love to reach back for her when someone else is holding her and she just wants her mommy. I love singing to her before bedtime and seeing her look back up at me with those drowsy eyes. I love watching her play and learn new things. I love watching her face light up and feel her wiggle with delight when Dad walks in the door. I love snuggling with her when she is in a snuggling mood. Her head fits perfectly next to my heart. I love knowing that I will always be her mother.

So I've always been a sentimental schmuck. Sorry if that was way to much mush for you!

Here's a Susie update:

- She is coming up on 11 months. She will be one year the end of February. (!?!?! already!?!?!)

- She is getting around.... not crawling or walking but some how when she is on the floor alone she gets from point a to point b. I think she just sort of scoots.

- She has 2 teeth on bottom, and two coming in on top.

- She loves to eat whatever we are eating. I got a mini food processor for Christmas and throw whatever we are having for dinner in there, chop it up a bit, and feed it to her. Yum!

- She loves going outside and is a good little running buddy in her stroller.

- She takes 2 naps a day, goes to bed a 7:30pm and wakes up at 7:30am. (Yep I'm one lucky woman)

- She weighs about 17 lbs now. Last appointment we had she was in the 5th percentile for weight and I think 80th for height.

- She says lots of babble words. Most often it's Da.

-She likes to be read to and can turn the pages for mommy.

And lots more fun things! She is a joy to be around!

I'll love you forever

I'll like you for always

As long as I'm living my baby you'll be.

Christmas Memories

First, a few pictures at our house:

Susanna ate a whole sugar cookie!

Ok lots of it was in her neck...

Paul had two whole weeks off of school and boy did we make the most of it! First we headed to Rexburg. That's a 15 hour drive from Phoenix, thankfully we found a nice bed and breakfast on the way in Cedar City to cut the drive in half (thanks Mom).

It wasn't hard to tell we weren't in Arizona anymore due to the freezing temperatures of Idaho. Paul and I have so many sweet and lasting memories of Rexburg that is was quite tender to be back. We took "memory drives" and reminisced about our dating and first married days. Paul's parents spoiled us the whole time we were there--- babysitting so we could go to the temple, treating us to Fongs and Mission Impossible 4 (it rocked!), cooking our favorite meals, financing an eye exam at Today's Eye Care (where I used to work), not to mention the Christmas gifts! We all scored. Especially Susanna!

I loved spending time there, especially when it comes to watching them with their grand daughter. They are such great grandparents. It was hard to say goodbye!

We left on the 27th where back in Cedar City they were celebrating Christmas Eve. My family decided to postpone Christmas a few days so that we all could be together. My grandparents, Aunt Mandy, and cousin Morgan were able to join the Braden clan for a late Christmas. It was a full house! Christmas Eve was quite magical and I was grateful to feel the Spirit of Christ in abundance. We celebrated New Years Eve there as well which included tormenting Olivia who feel asleep early this year (again) with loud blow horns and silly string in the face.

(4 generation picture)

There is so much joy to be found in spending time with family. This was Susanna's first Christmas and we made some pretty amazing memories.

A week or so before Christmas we found out that Paul did not get accepted into the Healthcare Scholarship program for the Air Force. We knew it was a long shot-- they were only accepting 25 students nation wide this year but were still disappointed when we found out. Dang it! We might try again next year. To help combat student loan abyss Paul is looking for a Pharmacy intern job. He can actually get paid pretty good money... I just didn't want him to have to work during graduate school. The silver lining is that because we won't be receiving income from the Air Force while going to school, I have decided to open an in-home preschool! So we've made some great goals for the new year and are excited to get going! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving Vacation

We are back home now and things have started to settle down. We've been having so much fun lately I wasn't even sure I wanted to go back! But now that we're all settled, I remember how much fun everyday is, too. For those of you who didn't know, we like to do a family vacation once a year and thanks to my dad who flies for Southwest and shares his free passes, we have done some awesome things in our three years of marriage-- for free! This year we decided we just missed Jessica, Dustin, and Thomas so much we needed to fly out Florida for our family vacation. And it turns they were able to get us into three parks in Orlando for free! :)

Here's a recap of the AMAZING time we had!

We went to SeaWorld the first day. Jessica lives about 5 walking minutes away so we didn't even have to pay for parking. SeaWorld had some fun roller coasters and Jessica was nice enough to watch the kids while Paul and I rode all the rides. That was until I couldn't take them anymore. That's right! I'm turning into my mother!! After the 3rd roller coaster my stomach was in knots. But perfect timing because we wanted to see all the of marine life. We watched the dolphin and whale show, touched the sting rays, saw penguins, sharks, polar bears, and watched the Shamu show which was the best.

Dolphin show-- the were so neat!

stroking sting rays

The next day we went to Walt Disney World which I was so pumped for. DISNEY! There are four parks in Disney World but we only had one day so we soaked in as much as we could. We got to go to Hollywood Studios and ride the Tower or Terror and such. Then we went to the Magic Kingdom. It was... magical! Very much like Disneyland so of course we hit all the classics. Pirates, Splash Mt, Big Thunder, etc. And we were able to take Susanna on lots of fantasy land rides like It's a Small World. It was so much fun. The Cinderella Castle is breathtaking, especially at night.

The next day we took off in order to recuperate from the last two. We got to hang out with Jennifer (another of Paul's sisters), watch movies at Jessica's, went to downtown Disney at night, and just relaxed for a day.

Next came Universal Studios, home of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Sweet! The Hogwarts Castle was so cool! We ate at the Three Broomsticks, shared a Butterbeer, and went on the rides. We didn't run into any death-eaters.. whew.

The rest of Universal was pretty neat too. I liked the Jurassic Park ride a lot, the Mummy ride, and Jaws!

It was fun to have Susanna and Thomas together. They are only three months apart and enjoyed splashing together in the bath tub. They both did a great job with all of our running around. Susanna slept in her stroller whenever she needed a nap and did great with the two hour time difference. We were so lucky!

This may seem long but it's such a brief summary of all the fun we had! It's a trip I'll never forget. I loved getting to spend some time with my sister in law. She was so hospitable and made our trip very special. I married into a great family!

We flew home, spent the night in our own bed, did lots of laundry the next day, and left the following morning to spend Thanksgiving in Cedar City with my family. This time we drove. It's an eight hour drive from Phoenix to Cedar and once again Susanna was a trooper. She just goes with the flow. I loved being with my family for a few days. No matter what, being with my mom, dad, and siblings is precious time for me. Following the lead of our fearless-black-friday-shopping-Tiffany we ventured out Thanksgiving day at 9:30pm. We returned 8:30am the next morning. And wow. I was a zombie after about 4. But I did my best to make my sister proud! I think we did alright for ourselves! Despite the insanity, it was pretty fun.

"Turkey" Vegetable Tray (as seen on Pinterest)

Mom always does such a great job on the table. Those are acorn candles we lit. We each said our favorite Thanksgiving memory then blew out our candle.

We have so much to be thankful for. I am very grateful we were able to take these two weeks to be together with our families. It was great to have Paul, all day, everyday for those two weeks. He has started a new quarter and I miss him already! We are happy the Christmas season is here! Our Christmas tree and decor is up! Merry Christmas everyone!

(PS: In regards to the new picture of Susie at the blog title--- are you kidding me!? Have you ever seen anything so cute in your LIFE?!?! Yeah. I get to be her mother.)

Makeup

If she wants to starting wearing makeup when she's four, we'll know who to blame.