Snow time.

Braden and Heleyna really enjoyed the snow and lights. Check out how cute they look all bundled up in their snow gear. We were surprised Braden could even walk with his big heavy snow coat.

Christmas In The City

What a beautiful time to visit New York. Snow, lights, family and holiday spirit all bring the city to life during this time.

We were lucky to have Eric and Jennifer as our guides through the lights and window displays. They know how to get around and what is fun to see. Thanks Eric and Jennifer!

We saw many exciting things but the funnest for Heleyna and Braden were the store windows. Heleyna and Braden just couldn't get enough. Saks had a story on their window and Heleyna and I spent an hour watching the story unfold. Truthfully it took us an hour to go a block because of the crowds. But Heleyna didn't even notice.

What surprised me was that the lights were on during the day, and you can see them. Those buildings sure cast a dark shadow. Luckily Elmo was there to brighten the day.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Definitely Brad's son

Check out Braden laughing. He is definitely Brad's son with his infectious laugh. And the cause of all this hilarity....my dancing. Yes, apparently it is truly comical. Must be why I don't do it in public.

Look Who's Walking

Braden is ready to rock and roll now. He is mastering the art of walking and having a great time at it. Heleyna likes to help him practice and often pretends she's a baby just learning how to walk too. They are both pretty excited about it.

Braden's Parade

Braden thoroughly enjoyed the parades and shows. This video is one of the many parades we attended. Brad held Braden right up front and all the characters were coming by to say hello. He got lots of hugs (and a kiss) from them as well as an incredible amount of smiles and waves. There were parade watchers to both the right and left of us who were filming Braden rather than the parade. There was even a couple that commented that they were ready to have another baby because watching Braden got them baby hungry. It was a great time.


Here's Braden getting kissed by Drizella. Althought not very nice to Cinderella, she may have changed her ways. She was really sweet to Braden.

More Disneyworld Fun

For some reason Heleyna was really fixated on Epcot. She especially had a great time in Mexico where she got to watch a man making crystal figurines. Brad let her pick up and look at several of them and she was very careful with them. Then she looked around the shops at the various trinket items. Of course, she had to organize them all and make sure they were in their proper place.

Her and Braden had a great time trying on the Mexican hats!

Brad was good enough to plan ahead and made certain that Heleyna and Braden got lots of character time in. We had several sit down meals where the characters came by to say hello during the meal. Both Heleyna and Braden got a kick out of it. Take a look at Braden's face with Tigger. He was definitely Braden's favorite.

Heleyna was a perfect lady with Mary Poppins. When she came by, Heleyna had just taken a large bite of waffle. She politely took her napkin and wiped the corners of her mouth and then got off her chair to say hello. Mary was gracious enough to allow her to chew her waffle before they took the picture. Heleyna was in heaven. Check out that smile!

We had an evening at the hotel pool. The kid area looked like a pirate ship and had several water fountains and slides for the kids. The water was only about six inches deep. Braden enjoyed it more than Heleyna. Don't let his serious face fool you. He only looks stern because he was so intent on playing.

We went back to Epcot and Heleyna got to meet Mulan in China. There was a chinese acrobat show as well which she got to watch. Look at her cute princess smile.

She got to have lunch with the princesses in Norway. She was so excited when she saw them. She talked to each one and of course had to give them all a hug.

Heleyna is with her matching princess. Even though she dressed up as Aurora, Cinderella is still her favorite and she made sure we knew that. She was such a little lady with the princesses. She was on her best behavior when they were around because princesses are very well mannered.

Along the way, she got to meet other little girls dressed up as princesses too. She was in her Aurora dress nearly every day we were there. As she told us, "Some kids dress up and some don't." She wanted to be one of the kids that dressed up. She met a little princess on the bus that was also dressed as Aurora. They compared notes. It went something like this - "You have a crown and I have a crown. You have an Aurora dress and I have one. I don't have my hair on because I left it at the hotel." They chatted the whole bus ride, it was cute. One day when we got on the bus, Heleyna was in her Aurora dress and was really in princess character, pulling up at her dress as she walked and giving a little curtsey to the bus driver. Over the loud speaker on the bus we heard the following: Everyone be on your best behavior, we have a princess on the bus with us today". Heleyna got a kick out of it and brought it up to us several times after that.

It was a fabulous vacation and we are sad its over. We all had a great time, including Braden. His favorite part was one of the parades at Magic Kingdom. Brad put him right up in front and all the characters in the parade came by to say hello. He was smiling and jumping throughout the whole parade.

What a magical vacation! Disney definitely knows how to make it special. We highly recommend it to anyone. It was the best worry free vacation we've had and it allowed Brad and I to really enjoy the kids and the wonderful blessings they are to us.

Magic Kingdom

Yesterday we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. Poor Heleyna was sick, but that didn't stop her from having fun. And Braden, the kid is unstoppable. Those two have so much fun. Braden got to ride his first horse and meet Peter Pan.

We had lunch at the Crystal Palace and Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eyore all stopped by to play. They had a parade, and even though Heleyna was sick she marched on with a crowd of other kids following her.
Then it was off to the Not So Scary Halloween Party. Can you believe it? Heleyna's favorite part was playing with other princesses at Pooh Corner. We spent an hour there and Heleyna, even though she was sick, had a huge following of friends. She seems to draw a crowd wherever she goes.
The kids were tired and so we left the party early, but not before we filled our bags with candy and danced in the parade.

Disneyworld Halloween Adventure

Yes! The rumors are true. We are at Disneyworld for Halloween! The kids are in 7th heaven. We went to Playhouse Disney Live today and both Braden and Heleyna LOVED it. We visited characters and then went Trick or Treating at Downtown Disney. And that's just the first day! We'll keep you posted.

Zoo and Driving

We got to go to a very cute zoo they have here that is not too far away from us. I didn't think I would like it because we've been so spoiled by the San Diego zoo, but it was actually very cute. We went with Andrea and her two boys. She was our personal tour guide and it was nice. Brad and her husband, Clint were off scuba diving. Rough gig for them.

Heleyna got to pet a bunny rabbit and then feed the parakeets. Those birds are a bit mad and like to live on the edge. They attacked the stroller wheels and I couldn't get them off. I even tried rolling the stroller, but that lot didn't want to move. Eventually they must have heard the call of the wild because they all flew away. It was fun playing with them though. Heleyna wanted to touch and hold them though they weren't naive enough to let her.

Braden has really been getting around. He's a very fast crawler now and I have to be careful when I turn my back. I always think I have more time then I do. He can make it across a room in a pinch. He's been having a go at horse riding and car driving. I was totally against the car driving, but he was under the watchful eye of dad and didn't get us into any accidents. (For those of you who are a bit concerned, we were parked. We're not that crazy!)

We're getting ready for Halloween, one of our favorite holidays. It's nice to be back in colder weather because it actually feels like fall now. The leaves are starting to turn colors. I thought I would be home sick over San Diego, but we're actually enjoying the changing seasons. Happy Fall everyone!

Touch Me

Brad took us all to the Touch Me Museum in Philadelphia. Heleyna and Braden both loved it. Heleyna got to go shopping and have a tea party. Braden had a great time crawling around and playing with the animals.






Here's Heleyna having a tea party at the Alice in Wonderland exhibit. The Mad Hatter and the March Hare attended her party with her.






Heleyna got to do some shopping. She bought a lot of cake mixes and vegetables. Then she had to put all the food away in the kitchen fridge and cupboards.








Here's Heleyna and Brad on our nightly walk. Check out the matching shirts. Heleyna was so excited she had a shirt that matched dad's.

Braden has been actively getting around. He tries to do everything his big sister does, which means he crawls around all over the floor. O.K. Heleyna doesn't do that anymore, but he tries to keep up with her and follow her everywhere.

Wagons, princesses and storms

I put Braden in the wagon because the stroller was locked away in the car. I had no idea he would like it as much as he does. He thinks its fantastic to go for a ride in and he sits in it and holds onto the sides like he's in his own personal carriage - I guess it somewhat is. We've been using it to go on a walk everynight since and he and Heleyna both have a blast. Heleyna has to pick up a pine cone every night on our walk.


Lana has been helping Heleyna play dress up. She did Heleyna's hair and makeup and then I flew her around the house with her fairy wings. What little girl doesn't love to play dress up? Heleyna reminds me nearly everyday that she is all girl.





We had a big storm on Friday afternoon. The winds were so strong, they blew down one of our neighbor's big trees. All of it landed in our yard and took out 4 trees in the process of coming down. Brad was in San Diego for the week so he missed it. He got in late Friday night in between storms. He arrived at 1:30 a.m. and wasn't home more than 30 minutes before the next storm hit. We're lucky he got home when he did. The thunder was so loud, it woke Heleyna up so she jumped in our bed until the storm was over. Needless to say, Brad got very little sleep on Friday night.

Welcome Lana!

Dianna's been very busy with work this past month, so I thought I would jump on and write a quick update.
Our biggest news is that Lana came out to stay with us. She's from St. George and Dianna's and Lana's families know each other. Even with that Lana decided to come out to New Jersey and hang out with Heleyna and Braden. The kids love her. Poor Lana doesn't get any time to herself because Heleyna wants to be right there with her.
Not only is she great with the kids, but she makes amazing food! What we ever did before she arrived, I'll never know.
Want to know more about Lana? Check out her blog: http://lanasnannyprofile.blogspot.com/

We live in NJ?

We're almost all settled in our new house. It's nearly double the size of our old house and I must admit that we're enjoying the room. It's also extremely green in NJ and we're soon learning why its called the garden state. Heleyna and Braden love the jungle gym in the backyard and we are loving the deck out back. It's perfect for BBQ and entertaining. The house is fabulous. The only complaint is that we can hear the noise from a busy freeway in back of us, but as one of our friends told us, soon it will sound like the lull of the ocean in the background.

One of the first things we did when we got here was take the kids into New York to see Aunties Jenn and Alicia. Jenn had just obtained a Chugg puppy that Alicia imported from Arizona. That was a trip for Heleyna and she had the best time playing with (or beating up on) the puppy, depending on how you look at it. We've been to the city several times to meet Jenn and Eric there and play with them. Its a nice perk to be so close.

On the fourth of July we stayed local and went to a parade. Heleyna had the best time running into the street and grabbing candy when it was thrown out from the parade marchers. Her and the other kids in the crowd had a nice pact going and they would share with each other each time it was thrown. At the end of the parade she had a huge stash. It looked like Halloween she had so much.

We went to a carnival after the parade and Heleyna got to ride a horse. She loved it of course. She got to play in a bounce house for a while and then go to a pool of balls. She was having so much fun she didn't want to stop. That night we went to some new friends house for a BBQ and Heleyna got to play with lots of kids her age. She was in absolute heaven. We didn't stay up for the fireworks because it was so late, but she had her own fireworks by all the fun she had.

New Jersey has lots of deer. Although everyone tells us they will soon become a nuisance, we are enjoying the novelty of having deer in our backyard. It seems odd for us to see them in the middle of suburbia. Heleyna gets a kick out of seeing them. I was only here two weeks before I almost hit one. They come out of the bushes and dart across the road quickly.

Grandma Garner came out here and stayed with Jenn in NYC. We met her at Central Park one day and had a lovely time walking around. Heleyna got to ride the carousel and then Jenn took us to a castle in the middle of the park. Heleyna was totally enamored with it.

Braden is growing up fast. He has so much fun bouncing around. He makes us walk him all over the house and he's getting around on his tummy now and almost saying mama. Whether he's just babbling or intentionally saying mama, we don't know, but I like to think its the later. So far NJ has been good to us, even if we have times of heat and humidity.

In Limbo

While we're in between houses (and cities), we've done our best to make it more like a vacation for the kids rather than just in limbo land. We camped out on the Keddington's before we left San Diego. They were gracious enough to let us use their house as our personal diner. We had a nice hotel in San Diego over looking the Torrey Pines golf course and ocean (why didn't I take a picture of that?) Heleyna got to go swimming with the Keddington kids in our hotel pool. That was a lot of fun for all of them.





We saw the Johnson's while we were in Salt Lake. They just moved into their beautiful new house. Braden got to hook up with his almost birthday buddy Abby again. She weighed less than he did at birth and was born a week before him. Can you believe she weighs more than him now?






We took Aja with us to the Children's museum. Thanks for getting us in Aunt Sue! They both had a great time playing together. We were there for a nice long time. Braden enjoyed it as well.







Grandma and Grandpa Campbell helped Heleyna build a castle with blocks. She had a fabulous time at their home. She could have cared less where we were. Braden got lots of hugs and kisses while we were there.





Heleyna also got to play with her Nydeggar cousins. Angela took us to the Salt Lake city library. It was absolutely beautiful. Savannah and Heleyna enjoyed the roof of the library.

My parents came up to see us one last time before we went to the East Coast. They surprised us and came up for dinner, which we enjoyed immensely. Angela took us to a kid fun center and Heleyna got to jump in bounce houses, play games and ride a scooter in a roller skating rink. She really enjoyed it and had fun chasine Alex and Savannah on the scooter.

We made it to NJ and went over to see our new house. Heleyna loved it, especially the jungle gym in the backyard. The house could be a cardboard box as long as she had that jungle gym. We spent the day in the backyard, which was fine since our things haven't arrived yet and the house is empty. We've enjoyed our limbo time, but it will be nice to have our beds back and be settled.

I just couldn't resist taking a picture of our kids while they were sleeping at the hotel. Could anything be better than these two precious little ones?

Imagination Movers

The movers came on Monday. They worked so quickly we just had to get out of their way. I wasn't sure how Heleyna would react to her house being packed up, but she did rather well. She watches a program on Playhouse Disney called Imagination Movers and to see the movers come over gave a bit of reality to it all. While she watched them pack our things she would ask me: "Mommy, which mover is that? Is it mover Rich?" By the end she was calling them all mover Rich. I think because they all had dark hair like him. They got our whole house and two cars packed into one truck. I couldn't believe how fast they worked. It was truly amazing. As we watched the truck pull away, I thought "Wow! Their goes our whole life, hope it makes it to NJ." I guess if it doesn't, we'll have an adventure accumulating stuff again :) As my dad pointed out, the truck was just stuff. We have our whole life (Braden and Heleyna) with us. Good call Dad!

Leaving California

Leaving our beloved San Diego has been difficult. The last few weeks we tried to enjoy it as much as possible. We took Heleyna to the beach a lot as well as to Sea World as much as we could. She had a great time of course. She is so full of energy and enthusiasm for everything its so much fun to be with her. Braden has been an absolute joy and always seems to be happy. He has been fussy (for him that means he's actually cried once or twice in a day) and I suspect he's teething.








We got to spend some time with Kris and Kim before we left. They came down to the condo and let us crash their party. Heleyna had a great time seeing them and Kirsty.



Brad and I went out on a date for our 12 year anniversary. Jon and Theresa came over to watch the kids. Jon took an extra long time putting Heleyna to bed because he's going to miss her so much. When we came home he was still reading her stories so we had to get a picture of it.









Heleyna and I went to Sea World and fed "Sammy the Seal" one last time. Here's a picture of Heleyna with the fish she was going to feed the Sea Lions. The birds there get very nasty and try to steal the fish as you're feeding. We got hit by a bird. Instead of just taking the fish out of your hands as usual, we had a bird take the entire tray of fish. I was holding the tray closed so the birds couldn't get the fish while Heleyna was feeding the sea lions. We had a Sea World worker standing by so he could swat the birds away and wouldn't you know a bird came by and grabbed the whole tray out of my hands. The bird was truly bold! The fish went flying everywhere and I think the birds got most of them. The tray landed in the water and the birds let the sea lions have that --- How nice, the sea lions got the fiber. Heleyna called Brad on the phone and told him what happened. It was very cute to hear her say "Daddy, those mean birds took our fish plate".

We'll miss you San Diego!