The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

I can't resist putting these pictures up together. . . good times.

 

This is what I meant to do in the beginning when I posted the dryer pictures, but I got lazy.  Thanks for your comment about the pictures Liz! It motivate me to look for our college pic! Hehe.

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday was a couple weeks ago. . . and I am just getting to this now.  Can you believe it?  Well, I definitely got spoiled this year.  We went down to Orlando and used our Disney passes for a day.  Possibly our last day :(  The Bells (a new fun family who just moved here) came with us and we had fun with them.  We brought a bunch of games and only played one, but that's how it usually goes.  Especially when there's a BYU football game on my birthday. . . .

Besides Disney, we went swimming the next day and got to go to the temple.  All in all it was great!  Of course, I did have to go get a new battery for our car on my actual birthday, and nowhere seemed to have the right one in stock.  But, I also got cupcakes at our park playgroup, yummy cake dessert on Sunday (thanks Porters!) and I got sung to twice in primary.  Haha.  Pretty special.  Of course, our camera got left behind (along with the boy's suitcase... ) on our little trip.  But, I have so many Disney pictures anyway. 

Here's the yummy ice cream cake we enjoyed for our birthday FHE!

New Callings

We both got new callings 2 weeks ago.  Preston got released as Elder's Quorum President and called as a seminary teacher.  This was expected given our new change in life plans - to go back to the Church Education System and get a job there.  However, the stake president had great things to say.  He was very complimentary of Preston's job as EQ president (he has really brought home teachers number up a TON and has been really good for the quorum).  But, he also said that he usually doesn't like any of "his people" (I'm guessing they split up the callings they're in charge of?) to be suggested for seminary because it's taking them out of other good callings, etc.  When Preston was suggested though he said he didn't have to think twice.  He knew it was a perfect fit and was especially happy that it could help with his future career.  That was a nice testimony booster.  I know it will be early mornings at least for Preston and take a lot of prep time.  I'm sure it'll be a challenge.  But, the feeling I got when they sustained him in church was an overwhelming confirmation that this is the will of the Lord.  Knowing that will be imperative at times I'm sure.  It makes all the sacrifice worth it knowing that what we're doing is in line with Heavenly Father's plan.

My new calling isn't life changing, but I'm very excited nonetheless.  I got released as the Personal Progress adviser and got called as the Primary Chorister!  I think it'll require a little more time, but also much more structured and maybe even more fun.  Depends on your definition of fun.  I really enjoyed the Young Women!  But, primary will be like spiritual playtime :) hehe.  I'm excited.  I did it for the first time yesterday and it went well!  But, as I mentioned before, I'm leaving this Friday for California to meet my family and then I'll head back to Utah with them.  I won't be back til August 18th, so I won't get to really jump into it until I get back. 

Anyway, exciting changes here.  Yay for keeping life interesting.

Sunday Update

We've been doing well and have some pictures to share.  They're all just random glimpses into our lives.  Since our last update, Zander has had a few firsts.

1. Zander ate his first pretzel stick successfully and now eats basically any kind of cracker.  Goldfish usually make him throw up later for whatever reason. 

2. Zander had his first bath without his baby seat and sat like a champ.

3. Zander brushed his teeth for the first time and actually let me brush them without resisting.

4. Zander sat in a car cart with Brayden at Publix.  As soon as I put him in Brayden cried "No! Zander out!" haha. But, as soon as Zander was in he started driving the wheel like he knew what it was! So, I told Brayden that Zan had been watching him to learn how to do it.  Brayden would occasionally reach over to Zander's steering wheel and say "teach Zan how." haha. 

5.  It seems like a while ago now, but Zander also had his first wagon ride. He loved it.

Other updates include, our garage door broke (thankfully the part is only $15), we have a moth/worm problem in our laundry room that is finally on it's way out (I hope!), my Dad came to visit for a day because he had a meeting about a job in Orlando (wouldn't that be cool?), and Preston and I have decided to go back to the CES: seminaries and institutes plan. 

Yep.

We'll finish the PhD here, but then we just feel like this was a scenic route to where we knew we needed to be all along. But, this was definitely part of the plan for us.  It has felt right to be in Tallahassee so we couldn't figure out why Preston still wasn't really feeling settled about his future career as a professor.  After talking about maybe going back to seminary it became clear pretty quickly that that's where we want to be and need to be.  We both still kinda feel like we won't be teaching seminary forever, but that's where we need to start. Who knows where the road may lead us.  Just a little FYI.   

Haha. The bath pictures are just random from when I was trying to get pictures. These are about the best ones I could get of them. Haha. No cooperation sometimes.

First wagon ride!

Random cuteness outside. We often come out on the deck
when Zander gets fussy or restless during Brayden's nap.
He calms right down.

The only picture I managed the day my dad was visiting.

First time brushing his teeth!

A Great Day to be Alive!

And to be born. Like I was 24 years ago. I love birthdays and today has been great. We had a crepe breakfast with blueberry pie filling, ice cream, bananas, raspberries, cool whip, nutella and honey. So yummy that I ate some for lunch too! hehe.

I got to open one present so far (which, unfortunately I already "spoiled" in my own little way as Preston will ensure you I always do). Preston bought me a groupon for flirty aprons because we used to see them in the mall and I always thought they were cute, but never wanted to spend $30 on an apron.  When I saw the groupon I told him about it and he said we could look at it and then the time was counting down and we never did look at it, so I decided to buy one for myself since obviously Preston had forgotten. Of course he didn't actually forget but thought he'd try to surprise me. Oops. Well, now I have a fun gift for someone else or two cute aprons. . . we'll see.

Now I've had some time with the boys napping, and I just have to say that I love that they will both usually nap at the same time! Sweet! Anyway, I pulled out this birthday gift that I bought myself with the birthday money I knew would be coming. I'm still figuring out how to use all it's functions, but it's pretty neat and will be fun to play with especially with photo editing and stuff. I got the Bamboo Fun on an amazon lightning/gold box deal and it was really reduced or I never would have considered it. Usually it's $200, but I paid $79. Still more than I like to spend, but sometimes I give in and splurge a little :) At least I'm enjoying it so far!

In about an hour we'll pick Preston up from school and head to Hungry Howie's for a cheap pizza and then over to Chuckie Cheese for some birthday fun! I haven't been there in at least 13 years, but it used to be my favorite birthday spot when I was little, so we're gonna enjoy it again! Plus, it'll be fun for Brayden I think. And when he can appreciate it more maybe we'll go for him! We have a coupon for 95 tokens for $15 and then we'll buy a dessert pizza there. Yum yum. I can't wait! It'll be fun!

Oh, and Preston has a couple more gifts for me as well as the wonderful gift of having my mom here today! She got here on Saturday and will stay until next Tuesday. It's nice to get a little break from holding Zander Man all day long. That's birthday gift enough. But, she's also going to take Zander in her room all night and let us sleep. Minus pumping time because I just can't make it all night comfortably :)

Well, there's my birthday update! Hope you've had a good day too! It really is a great day to be alive!

What do you think?

Here's some baby pictures of Preston & I and Brayden & Zander. I think it's pretty apparent that one child looks much like Daddy and one looks much like Mommy. What do you think?

Preston - not sure how old.
Maybe 5 months?

Angie - 1 Month

Brayden - almost 8 months
(this was actually the
day we moved to Florida)

Zander - 1 week old

I used to think Brayden was a pretty good mix of both of us, but the bigger he gets, the more like Preston he looks. When he was born, Preston and I both agreed that he had my nose, my chin, my mouth, my fingers, my toes. Some of that is still true, but after seeing Zander I'd categorize their traits like this:

BRAYDEN

eyes: Preston

ears: Preston

hairline: Preston

hair: Angie

forehead: Preston

nose: Preston

mouth: Angie

chin: Angie

skin: Preston (I wish all our kids had Preston's skin!)

toes: Angie

fingers: not sure

bootie: Angie

ZANDER

eyes: Angie

ears: Angie

hairline: Angie

hair: Angie (we think)

forhead: Angie

nose: Angie

mouth: Angie

chin: Angie

skin: Angie

toes: Angie

fingers: Angie

bootie: Preston (at least there's something!)

Obviously Zander isn't a perfect clone of me, so there's definitely Preston mixed into those traits. Now the trick is figuring out what. . . But, looks can be deceiving. So far I'd say Zander has more of Preston's personality. We'll see what we think as he gets older!!