Thanksgiving Tree

This was our Family Home Evening last night. I actually stole the idea from another blog (thanks Jenny!), but I thought it looked so cute, so I did it too. I probably should've cute some more leaves, but I was happy with the turnout.

Is it too late for Halloween pictures?

Yep, that's right. We're really backtracking here. And we have a lot of ground to cover. We have way back to Halloween and on up from there. Including, a trip to the park, visiting the museum, our temple trip, and Brayden's first birthday present!

We've had a lot of fun that I haven't blogged about. First off, Halloween was fun. Brayden and I went trunk or treating at our ward party Friday night while Preston was in Charleston SC for a conference. He got back at about 3 am on Halloween and after church we just spent the day together playing games and handing out candy. It was fun! I posted pictures earlier about our costumes (The lion, witch and wardrobe). Preston presented some research at the conference. It was his first one and he didn't know what to expect, so he definitely didn't expect to win (he didn't even know there were winners), but when they announced the top poster (mix of presentation, poster and content I think) he was tied for his section! YAY! So, he brought home a little spending cash for himself :D That's my honey!

Then there's some pictures of Brayden just being cute. He's started "talking on the phone" when he gets it and he holds it almost behind his head and listens very intently. In this picture he has two phones and he couldn't decide which one he wanted to talk on, so he just switched between the two. So cute. He also likes to sit with his feet either crossed or propped up on a tray or something. He's a lounger, what can I say? So, I had to get a picture of those cute crossed feet with his big toe sticking up. Classic Brayden, ya know?

Then we have the temple trip. We were FINALLY able to make it to the temple! The Orlando temple is really beautiful!! We loved it! We wish it were closer, but it's worth the 4 hour drive and hotel cost. We were able to go with some friends who watched Brayden for us and then we watched their 3 boys for them. Haha. . . we may or may not have lent them our car with an empty tank. . . Pretty sure they ran out of gas in our car that we didn't fill up because we wanted to hurry and let them make it to the temple. Next time we're getting gas. How embarrassing! Luckily, they just laughed about it and we were able to take care of it with minimal setbacks. Then we all went to the BIGGEST McDonalds that I have ever seen for lunch before we hit the road back home.

Haha, so I wasn't going to mention, but I think it's really funny. I forgot to pack my skirt because I had Brayden grabbing my legs and wanting attention while I packed. Luckily, I took a swimsuit and cover up for the hotel pool. So. . . the cover up became my skirt for our temple outing. Haha. I was so grateful I had something!

Last Sunday Brayden got to open his first birthday gift from his Grandy. She wanted him to have it now and she was leaving for Malaysia the next day, so we did a little google chat so she could see him open it. It was pretty fun. The pictures say it all.

look at that grin!

We also discovered that Brayden likes the massage chair. He was laughing his head off!! SO CUTE!!!

Brayden and I visited the Florida History Museum, which was actually a lot of fun. We kinda ended up there because we went to the wrong library and decided to take a look while we were there. They had a big cannon replica with a small 6lb cannon ball that you could lift a little to see how heavy it was and Brayden thought it was so fun to watch it go up and down. Yeah, we stayed at the cannon for like 5 minutes :) And he would laugh EVERY time I lifted it up or put it down. Anyway, they also had "grandma's attic" which was full of the fun stuff that they would've had for kids back in the day and Brayden found himself some oldie trucks to drive around. His favorite. Then he got to captain a big ship and spin the steering wheel. . . haha, is that what it's called on a boat? I'm having a serious mind blanking. It was pretty good times and I have no pictures. I actually took one on my phone and uploaded it on facebook if you really want to check it out :)


 Finally, we went to the park. It was a lot of fun and we stayed for quite a while. We went on a short walk with Sadie and then Brayden and I played while Sadie waited in the car. The only pictures I got were at the very end when Brayden's hand got stepped on accidentally by a little girl in the ward so he has red teary eyes in all the pictures but the first one. Still cute though.