I am totally in love...

So... its true... I am a little bias when it comes to this face. Regardless I am totally in love with this boy!! What a sweet blessing it is to have such a wonderful son. His birthday is coming up and I cant believe it has been 2 years already since we met for the first time. Since we are expecting now... it brings the reality of how fast they grow up seem so true. Its so amazing how quickly everything changes and how incredible it is to be a Mother. Ok ... I'm done gushing but this pic is truly special to me I really think it brings out his true personality. What can I say I am a proud Mom lol.

Yes, in the picture below he and Ender are sharing his goldfish crackers lol, they are seriously joined at the hip - he and his buddy do everything together. Ender sleeps on the floor wherever it is Ori is napping at the time, and he follows him everywhere. Ender is a great nanny and takes a lot of abuse from Ori (but he loves every second I promise lol).

A Tearful (Sort of) Goodbye

Well, the time has finally come. We appear to have sold the montero. The guy is coming from Fillmore to pick it up tomorrow. He has given it a test drive, he has a loan, and he's ready to go. It's very bittersweet for me. Since I was a kid, I had wanted a big, black, powerful SUV in which I could take on the elements. I would take my friends snowboarding, go camping, or even pull some wave runners. I was way stoked when I bought it. This was the first car that I bought all by myself, with no help from my parents or anyone else. It worked well during my days at PCTV, and I have loved owning it. But as my life has changed, so have our needs as a family. I went snowboarding one time last year. I haven't been camping or wakeboarding in longer. I no longer work up the canyon, and gas prices....well, you know. And if I am being objective, I must say that the montero sport only gets about 17 mpg, and we've had to dump a TON of money into it to keep it running this year (183,000 miles!) So Brandi has finally convinced me to adapt, for our finances sake. I'll miss you, montero, except when I have to fill up. And when we have to fix you every week. And when....

spoiled? Nah...

So Orion's best buddy Isaac (lives next door) has some cool cousins who own a bouncy house. They decided to bring it buy and man what an exciting time, this big huge bouncy house for two small boys.
all the neighbors would drive by and slow down it was pretty funny to watch and the boys went crazy over it. Orion slept great that night haha!

We love St. George!

We finally got a little time to go down to St. George and visit my Gammy and Grandpa - we sure have fun when we go down there. The weather was beautiful and perfect for playing outside in the water (as you can see lol). Dustin and I LOVE to golf and I am really starting to like it more then I ever thought I would. However it is a little difficult now that I am so prego (throws off my center and swing ha). While we were there we got to go three times, and while we were gone this was Ori's entertainment. Because we live in a Condo he doesnt really have a place to play in the hose - but he sure loved it down there. Everyday he was outside most of the day playin in the water and with golf balls etc.

These pics were taken with my phone ( I always forget the camera) so they are a little fuzzy but still fun. He is watching TV with the dogs.

We sure love our time and visits there. Thanks Gammy and Grandpa for being so great! We always look forward to coming again and it is so nice to talk and spend time with you both! We love you.

Surprise!!

So, we went up to see Carlos and Raquelle for our 5-6 month check up. Everything looks great so far and I am feelin pretty good, runnin around trying to get ready for this new baby and our life changes. We had an Ultra sound done, which is pretty common for us when we go up for our visits. This is the first picture! I love it when they get this size and its so obvious where they are and what they are doing, its fun to feel them kick or punch and see it at the same time on the screen.
Here is the second shot, great shot of a leg and two feet. :)
Here is the surprise shot! We were totally preparing for a boy and have been for quite a while. Carlos was 85% sure it was a boy and so was I before we even went up for an ultra sound months ago. However, this ultrasound did not show a boy! It seems to be a GIRL!! I was totally shocked! Raquelle did the ultrasound and she is 100% sure its a girl she says, and as you can see it does look that way, leg on the bottom of the screen, bum on the left and another leg on top - but no boy parts! So, now we are both shocked (Dustin and me) because we were expecting another boy. I am totally unprepared for a girl - exciting and a little scary news lol.

22 weeks! Oh man...

Its going so fast now, I must admit those first four months felt as though they were SOOO long and now that I have three months left I am freaking out, lol. I dont know if I said this in my last post or not but I feel as though I have two months to finish every project on the house that I have started thus far because after that I will be out of commission for like 4-6 months depending on how things go with a newborn and a toddler. I am a little worried about that as well lol. Anyway, we didnt take many pictures while I was pregnant with Orion so I wanted to have some to remember.

AJ's Wedding -

My Cousin AJ got married last week and we all got together for the wedding. It sure was nice seeing most of the family again and hangin out. My Gammy and Grandpa came up for the wedding it was fun to spend some time with them. I forgot my camera, of course. Gammy sent me these two pictures though so I thought I would throw them on.

Answers for Lori

Ok Lori here are my answers to your Tag.

What is your name: Brandali (Brandi)

Four letter word: Love

Vehicle: Audi

TV Show: Psych

City: Balboa

Boy's Name: Orion (I cheated)

Girl's Name: Rory

Occupation: Psychologist

Something You Wear: Swimming suit

Food: cheese enchiladas

Something Found in a Bathroom: Shells

Reason for Being Late: cant find anything to wear - tearing through my closet.

Something You Shout: hey!

Yay for the thanksgiving point petting zoo! We had so much fun on Saturday! Orion loved the petting zoo, though when we first got there he was so excited to be let loose in such a cool place it was hard to get him to stop running and pay attention to the cool animals lol. As soon as he did he was pretty interested (for as long as a 21 month old can be ha).
This is the first ramp where we just let him out of the stroller to go see - as you can see he took off lol that is a goat at the end he is going to talk to.
They have some feeders all around the park where you can buy feed for 25 cents and feed the animals. In this pen there were some really really cute baby goats that weren't any bigger then a small cat. They were cute!
This is the cow that Ori kept mooing at - you know cow's pretty boring and slow so we didnt stay here too long haha.
Cute Daddy and Ori talking to a goat.

Here is a quick video of the poni ride that came with admission, Orion wasnt sure what he thought about it. He wasnt scared, he is just so serious that he was concentrating really hard on what he was supposed to do, he would smile and wave when I yelled to him and said hi - but then right back to his serious concerned face. What a fun day we had together as a family - its been a while since we have been able to do something all together since I have been sick and now I am nesting and going crazy with house stuff ;) So it was overall a great outing.

Yay Gymnastics!

I took Orion to gymnastics last Friday for the first time. I have been trying to find a way to burn his excess energy in a productive way that will help his developmental skills a little, so we decided to try this. He LOVED it and had a blast. He was so tired the rest of the day, lol it was kinda funny. They did all sorts of learning games, they learned front rolls (which he was already doing off our bed ugh) and they learned how to do a few other fun things. They got to run and jump and throw themselves all over in this padded place so he had so much fun.
for this game the kids hold on to one side and then they get rolled over the top of this wheel into a front roll, Ori was really mad other kids had to have a turn.
once during the whole thing I turned around and found this, he walked the entire beam without falling! I was totally amazed one foot in front of the other practically running.
These are small bubbles that they had fun trying to get - it was actually really good for the fine motor skills because the bubbles were so small they were less the an inch in size (I never thought to use smaller bubbles).

Playing and thinking

Orion has just started to do this more and more, whenever he is concentrating he will stick his tongue out like this. Sorry the pics are fuzzy, it was my phone that caught these pics. Dustin actually does this also when he is concentrating well that or chews on pens as many of you know. ;) He is putting his train track together and trying to use his cars on it lol.
I just got some sidewalk chalk for Ori to play with out front, since he loves being outside. These are a few of his first masterpieces.

Some catch up pics

Orion loves to pull this little play golf bag Gammy gave him all over the house, but instead of carrying his clubs or his balls or his cars it carries his sippy cup. I thought it was pretty cute to see him walking around then stopping to take a swig and then continuing on his journey.
Here is an up close pic of his sippy in the golf bag, it fits perfectly as you can see.

This is a picture Dust took last week when Orion was trying to walk in his shoes. This is something he has just started to do, he will grab Dustins shoes or Steves shoes and try and walk around. He is developing an obsession with shoes because before he can go outside (which he constantly is asking for) he has to get his shoes and socks and get them on. So, now he loves to find his shoes and get them on because the reward of outside is soon to follow.
This is a picture Dustin took last week just after Orion woke up from a nap and was starving. We thought his hair was so funny, its always so crazy and hard to keep looking nice, its very fine and easily pliable. (pay no attention to the fish tank in the background, my poor tank has been very neglected since my down time).

Lastly, the Dustin mini me. We found Orion like this two days ago when we walked into the living room. He is sitting on our coffee table and totally enthralled - whenever there is music coming from the television he is glued.

18 weeks and counting

so dont look at the face just the belly lol. I am feeling ok still, no episodes to speak of yet - hopefully we are done with all that yuckiness. However, I am still not 100% its still hard to do things that should be easy, such as walking up the stairs, doing my hair lol, showering, running with ori, riding in the car, shopping etc. However, its getting better with everyday and I feel as if the baby is growing so quickly now. I can feel him moving and that is fun. I am also able to eat well now, and I am! I eat every two hours (though it feels like more) I really think my body is trying to catch up for the lack of food for 4 months. I get teased because I am ALWAYS hungry right now, and craving sweets :) I am sure I will gain back what I have lost and then some just like I did with Orion. Its bitter sweet I guess.

FINALLY!

I am finally feeling a little better and I have been slowly beginning to be able to get out of bed and join the living! Dustin took me in for some more fluids on Sunday and I was feeling pretty yucky that day, but since then I think I am feel a little better everyday, and it feels like this little baby is doubling in size everyday ha. I am kinda scared to say I am feeling better just because I dont want to jinx it and I am praying it doesnt come back suddenly. I am 17 1/2 weeks so about half way yay! I have been going crazy laying here for three months trying to keep anything down, thinking of all the things that need to be done and redecorating our room in my head lol.

I cant tell you how much Orion has grown through the three months I have been down. He has changed from a baby to a boy. He climbs up on everything, jumps around, and pretty daring, but he is also so inquisitive. He wants to look and see how and why things do what they do. He is starting to develop such a fun and interesting personality. He has been having so much fun at Granny Janny's with Dayson and the family. I am excited to start feeling better be able to spend more time doing fun spring/summer activities. I have felt so guilty not spending time with him - but he has been so well taken care of and he sure loves to see everyone.

In this picture orion had found a way to climb into his high chair by himself with the tray on - goofy boy.

This is his camera smile - cheesy face.

Back in Time...

This last Friday I was invited to travel back to Logan to Speak at my alma mater, Utah State. One of my old professors invited me to speak to the Broadcast students as a "professional" in the industry. They had a few other people there, 2 reporters from KSL and An assignment editor from Channel 4. We were on a panel designed to help the students get a job when they graduate. I was like: "Sit up straight! Don't Mumble! Call me Sir, Gosh-dang it!" (What movie?) I wanted to be a little more realistic and say: "Get out now! Do you WANT to earn 30K a year for the rest of your life?! Major in business like a sane person!" But I was positive and hopefully the kids were helped out. Gosh they seemed so young.

It was very weird going back to Logan. It seems so long since I was there. There were some new buildings and such, but still, the timelessness of the place really struck me. As a was driving to and from campus, a million memories hit me at once. Every street, every bus stop, every building was loaded with memories. College is such a crazy time in a person's life, so many huge decisions to be made. It was nice to take a travel down memory lane. Hopefully sometime in the future I can return and take Brandi and the kids to a basketball game.

Night Terrors

Dustin Here. People that know me well know that I have night terrors. I do come by it honestly. My Dad has them. I remember well the night when he ran around the house yelling that the mountain was caving in on the house. Mom says he would jump up on the bed and act all crazy. My Brother used to sleepwalk all the time. My Night Terrors manifest themselves when I am stressed out. When I was in the MTC, I would yell and thrash around in my sleep. In college I would sleepwalk every now and then. But the past few years it has gotten really bad. When I lived with Derrick in Bountiful, I woke up standing on the front porch in my G's, With Derrick standing behind me "WHAT are you doing!?" Now, with Brandi being sick and me having to carry a much heavier load to keep the house running, they happen once a week. About a month ago, I flew out of bed, ran down the hall, and promptly fell down the stairs. I hobbled to the couch, with Brandi running after me screaming at me. As I slowly emerged from my fog, I began to feel stupid, which is usually the case. My back hurt for a week. In my mind, I have a very good reason to jump out of bed in my undies and run around. However, as I slowly awake, the reason flees from my brain, and I don''t exactly know why I am running down the stairs at 3 AM. I guess I need to blow off more steam before I go to bed!