Zoo & Chuck

Hello! Braylen had such a busy weekend! Saturday morning we took him to the zoo for the first time! We got there at 9am (when it opens) and that was a great time to go. It wasn't crowded and the animals were top notch! Braylen was in awe to see these huge animals walking around. He was scared every once in a while but he had an awesome time. Here is a picture of him seeing an elephant for the first time.

We had packed a lunch and while we were eating a peacock came and joined us. Braylen had dropped some of us bread on the ground so the peacock came over to eat it. Braylen didn't seem to notice otherwise I think he would have freaked. Then we went to a Cheetah Run! They have this show where they make the cheetahs sprint and they explain everything about them! Braylen did not really enjoy this because I had to force him to sit on my lap! He just wanted to go play! But Guy loved it, so at least one of my boys enjoyed the show. :) Here is a picture of Guy and Braylen (my favorite picture). They were walking on the "Jungle Trails." And below is a family picture!

Saturday night Braylen stayed with Jon and Peggy while Guy and I went on a dinner date and to a wedding! We had a great time. We had made some money from the yard sale at my parents house :) so we decided to have dinner at the Tousey House in Burlington. It was delicious! We shared the spinach and artichoke dip (which was amazing) and the cream of Chicken soup (yummy). And then Guy had halibut and I had a chicken sandwich. You should definitely check it out. Very good. Then we went to Lindsey Burcham's wedding at 7pm. It ended up being a long night but we enjoyed it.

The next day we had a good time at home just the three of us. We weren't able to go to church but listened to a sermon online. You can check it out at our YL Leader Resource page and it's called "Calling." Braylen played in his inflatable swimming pool and loved it. He loves water so much. Guy let him play with the hose and Braylen thought it was the coolest. That night we decided to take him to Chuck E Cheeses since we had a coupon. Well Chuck E came out from this door all dressed up and Braylen literally SCREAMED! I mean screamed his little heart out. It was so so sad! He was so scared. I had to unbuckle him from the high chair and take him away. Poor kid. I can relate though........... took me years to get over those furry characters. :)

Hope everyone has a great week! Thanks for reading!

100% boy

What a great day today! The weather is awesome. This morning Braylen woke up around 7:45am and he was in a great mood! These past few mornings he has just been fussy and wanted to be held all day long. He was running around like crazy. After breakfast we went upstairs to change his dirty diaper. I had waited to change it until he went #2. :) He has had diarrhea these past few days, so I shut his bedroom door and let him run around a bit airing out his clean bottom. I started to hang some clothes when all of a sudden I heard this "watery noise"-like water hitting plastic or a can. I turned around and Braylen was holding his trash can and peeing into it!!!!! Oh my goodness. He had a big laugh about that when I freaked out. It was so funny. Of course he wasn't tall enough to get ALL the pee into it so a little bit got on the carpet. No big deal to him. It was hilarious. I carefully removed the trash can (after he was finished of course) and took it downstairs to empty it out and clean it. He is no doubt 100% boy. So funny. I put his diaper on after that. He's like a little doggy.

After that, we went out to do a few errands-shopping for a booster seat, sandals, a wedding gift for tomorrow's wedding, and then we met Guy for lunch. Braylen was laughing at everyone. Guy had taken him to his bible study dinner this past Tuesday and he said he was able to get a glimpse into my daily life with Braylen because like "20 people" came up to talk to him! I said you mean 20 girls? He said girls and old people. Ha. But seriously it takes me like an hour to go grocery shopping because Braylen is so friendly with everyone.

After lunch we went to pick up my new ring! Yea! Glad to finally have it back. It is beautiful and I was able to get $50 back! nice. Not sure how we managed to get money and a new diamond but not complaining.

Tomorrow will be fun for us since we are going to take Braylen to the zoo for the first time. My goal is to leave the house by 8:30am! We'll see. I'll update you on our trip and post some pictures!

Screaming

So one of Braylen's new things is to scream!!! And scream loudly!!! And scream some more. He just thinks it's so funny. It is hard not to laugh except when we are out to eat or in a public place. It's not like he's screaming because he's mad, but he does it because.....well I guess he thinks it's cool to scream. :) Who knows. He did get mad at me today because I wouldn't let him play with my finger nail clippers and he went to his little lawn mower and knocked it over. Now that was definitely hard to not laugh at. It's just amazing that he is forming this little personality. He is so full of emotion! My friend Amy told me that when her Samantha was a baby she would smile and laugh at everyone. She wasn't shy like Braylen. And Amy used to pray that Samantha would smile at the right people-to those who needed a little pick me up. I mean who doesn't love a happy baby! So I've thought a lot about that and the other day we passed an older man in a wheel chair and he had these black spots all over his face. And Braylen just looked at him and waved and smiled and said "hi!" The man just lit up and was waiving back to him. It was so cute! I really think that God uses babies all the time to minister to the broken hearted. Thank you Jesus for our happy baby!

The Case of the Missing Diamond

I know that it has been almost 2 weeks since my last post but right after I wrote Wednesday's blog, I went into the kitchen and noticed that my diamond was gone!!!! I guess that I had lost it somewhere in Bellevue! I was so upset and called Guy crying. It is such a sentimental piece and so special to Guy and I. However since it was insured I was able to get a replacement diamond for free and my new ring should be ready sometime this week. So sad. :( On a side note-make sure to get your prongs tightened around your diamond once a year! Didn't know that!

Our little family has been so busy with parties, retreats, and get togethers. Last week we went to Rockbridge for a Young Life leader weekend! We had a great time! Braylen loved being the center of attention. And he loved playing with the other kids. There were 8 small/2 big kids and 5 moms from our area in NKY! Wow! Our community has grown so much. We all shared a tiny 2 bedroom/2 living room pull out couch room. Friends of ours brought a little car to push their baby in instead of using a stroller, but every time Braylen walked outside he went right to that car. He was so sneaky about it too. He loved it! The fellowship, food, worship, scenery, was great! Guy and I bought the Chronicles of Narnia on CD and it was so fun to listen to during the ride. I highly recommend it. It made the trip go by quickly. Braylen slept for only 2 hours both there and back but had a great time entertaining himself during the other 4 hours. He is such a good boy.

Braylen has been teething so he has been quite fussy. He had a 101 temperature all day on Friday but seems to be feeling better. He fell asleep in my arms Friday morning because he just felt so bad! He NEVER does that. I of course loved it but once he woke up he had a fever. Poor kid. But he is better now. He is just so much fun. He copies everything we do now! He's so observant now. Yesterday I took the garbage can out from our cabinet to throw some things away and Braylen went over, picked it up and put it right back where it belongs. Today he went into our bedroom, picked up one of Guy's shoes and then tried putting it on Guy's foot. He's so smart. Oh he also went up to this little boy at Cracker Barrel and tried to give him a hug. The little boy just pushed him. Punk.

This week we are having 2 Boone Young Life get togethers, bible study, and then a wedding to go to on Saturday. Lots to do! Can't wait to work out this week! I ate so much food over the weekend! Diet starts Monday! But for real. I'm thinking about taking Braylen to the YMCA's outdoor pool tomorrow but I'm not sure if it will be warm or not!

I will update the blog more often! Here are a few recent pictures of our sweet baby boy!

Bellevue

What a beautiful day! Braylen and I met with Aunt Jess and Grandma Hicks and spent the morning walking and shopping in downtown Bellevue. They have some super cute shops and Jess and I scored some awesome spring jackets from the consignment shop Bella On the Avenue. Then we had lunch at the Bellevue Bistro which was awesome. Best chicken salad ever! Braylen had a grilled cheese. Braylen was a good little shopper but by the end we had to let him out of his stroller to walk on the sidewalk. Of course he said hello to everyone who passed by. He is not shy at all. He just has so much fun doing anything. He loves being outside too. He runs really fast and makes these funny noises. Hilarious.

I was just looking at our wedding pictures and I just still tear up thinking about that day! What a wonderful day! Everything was just so beautiful. I'm so thankful to be Guy's wife!

Tonight we have our all area club for Young Life. It should be a good time and we are hoping more Boone students will come out with us. Braylen is spending time with Collin and Aunt Barb and Jeff. He will have a blast I am sure!

Have a great afternoon!

Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

So one week down of the dinner challenge and we didn't do that bad. I only had to cook two dinners though. Ha. Our life is crazy. Thursday we had a rehearsal dinner, Friday Guy was the best man in Mike and Kim's wedding (which was soooo beautiful!), Saturday we did a big group hangout with friends and watched the new Star Trek (which wasn't that bad!), and Sunday we hosted the Young Life booth at the First Church Mission's Fair. We had a very busy schedule. We also took Corinne to the airport on Saturday morning so she could fly to Ireland! We miss you!

Braylen has been figuring out our bedtime schedule and has been very adamant about not going to sleep! Last Tuesday he started freaking out before I put him down and the next two nights he was the same way! Finally last night and tonight he did fine. We just had to let him cry it out, which only last for a few minutes. He's awesome. He has been the center of attention and has loved it! At Mike and Kim's rehearsal dinner, he had so much fun. And then today at the mission's fair he went around to all the other booths just waiving to people and saying hi. So cute. He even went up to strangers to give them hugs! He is not shy at all! I love that kid. I'm so looking forward to hearing him complete real sentences. His other word is "uh." It's the universal term for EVERYTHING. "Abee" has been more of a song lately. He'll sing "abee" and just sway his head or pick up his feet to dance.

Guy and Braylen bought me a Zoo membership for mother's day so I am hoping to go this week! But we'll see what happens. We have another very busy week. Monday-hang out with YL students, Tuesday-bible studies, Wednesday-All area club, Thursday-Domec's, Friday-leave for Virginia and the YL leader retreat. So much to do! God is good though! Also congrats to my cousin Ryan for graduating! Can't wait to find out if you and Jen are having a boy or girl! I think boy! Hm....maybe girl though. :)

"Abee, Abee, Abee"

"Abee" is Braylen's new favorite "word." He says it all day long. I have no idea what it means. Up, hold me, feed me, happy.....he uses it for everything! I can't wait for him to start actually talking. It's so funny! He woke up this morning saying it.

Yesterday, after I worked out at the Y, I took Braylen to the swimming pool. We saw Bob Boswell and talked with him for a little bit and then went on swimming. Braylen loves the water and since he's been putting his hands into our toilet (YUCK) I figure I should get him into water a lot more. I dunked him a few times and he comes up all wide eyed but he laughs after wards. He thinks it fun. We came home, ate lunch, and both took naps! Braylen slept for like 3 1/2 hours! Yea BabyWise! For dinner, I cooked Chicken Taco Salad (I posted the recipe below) for me, Braylen, and Corrine since Guy was away at bible study. We had study over here at 8pm for the girls and it was good to catch up.

Today we spent time with Grandma and Grandpa Hicks. Braylen had a good time playing with grandpa while I showed grandma how to import picture onto her computer. He played with all of their toys and books. Now Braylen is napping (and coughing). Tonight we are meeting with the Domec's since tomorrow (our normal day to meet) is Mike and Kim's rehearsal dinner. Can't wait for their wedding!

We have been experiencing a difficult time in our ministry these past few days, as a former Boone County YL student, Laura Chaney, died suddenly in her dorm room at WKU. Guy and I were not her leaders but a few current students knew her well, as does one of our co-leaders, Chris. Chris is also the best friend of Laura's older brother. There have been a few prayer vigil's and Guy was able to go to one last night at the Chaney's house. It's been hard knowing what to do since we are new to the school and because YL is not that well known there. Please pray that the Lord would open doors for us to share His message of hope and love to students who are lost. What a wake up call to us all that life is short and you only get one shot at accepting Jesus into your heart!

Thanks for reading!

Chicken Taco Salad

1 pound boneless chicken

1 can corn, undrained

1 can pinto/black beans (or both), drained

1 can chopped tomatoes or tomato juice

1 packet taco seasoning

Chopped lettuce

Shredded cheese

Sour cream

Crunched up taco chips

1-Boil chicken for 20 minutes and then shred with a fork.

2-While chicken is boiling, on low/md heat add corn, beans, tomatoes/juice to large saucepan. Mix all together and allow to cook.

3-Add shredded chicken and mix in taco seasoning.

4-Top with lettuce, cheese, sour cream and chips. Other toppings: guacamole, cilantro, salsa.