The Bradford Family

and so it begins....

2011-07-19T01:03:00.000-07:00

a few pictures from the last few years...

Family Christmas picture 2008...

Christmas morning - 2008
Sun is up and presents are still unopened...
how could I let this happen???

2009 - Cub Scouts Blue and Gold Dinner
The boys had to make a cake and the moms couldn't help!
it was pure torture for me...

June 2009 - Camp Pendleton 10k Mud Run
Brad had fun getting down and dirty...

June 2009 - Nathan got braces!!!

2009 - San Diego Comic Con
This kid was in HEAVEN...

...so was this one...

Summer 2009 - Utah - Riley Family Reunion

Nathan's first fish!!!

Halloween 2009 - The King

I made this costume all by myself...there were a lot
of blood sweat and tears put into this costume...
my favorite part??? THE CAPE!

and the attitude.... love this kid!

Christmas 2009
same place - different year - i'm pretty sure that
Christmas 2010 will look almost identical - again the sun
is up and presents are unopened?? sheesh...

Christmas 2009 - no family photo this year...

2010 Cub Scouts - Blue and Gold Dinner
Nathan wanted to make a big donut cake - I looked online
and found a cake pan in the shape of a donut at
Williams Sonoma isn't this the most awesome idea???
It just so happened that the Simpson's were
celebrating 20 years on TV that year too....

2010 - 5th grade field trip to my families farm -
the Riley Farm in Oak Glen, CA - the kids got to
watch and participate in colonial reinactments. fun times....

TO BE CONTINUED....

i think i'll take a mulligan...

2011-07-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

3/21/2009??? wow... i guess i've been...busy?? lazy?? boring?? maybe a little "all of the above"??... I'm sure there have been a few things I could have blogged about between then and now.??.. Holy smokes - the last time i blogged nathan was still in the single digits! I actually had good intentions - I wasn't going to post again until i did my "pay it forward" (see previous post) so if Ann, Alicia and Nichole are reading this then please let me know if you have not received* the extremely cute, amazingly thoughtful,100% homemade and better than you ever dreamed of gift from me.

for all who care i will be going through over two years worth of pictures and will post a few of my faves in the near future but don't hold your breath... :)

(*estimated delivery time - give or take a decade)

Pay It Forward!!!

2009-03-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

So, here's how it works: the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Come and play!!

16 years and counting

2008-12-21T17:07:00.000-08:00

December 19, 1992

Last Friday we celebrated our 16 year wedding anniversary. Wow 16 years has gone by so fast. How can it seriously be 16 years already??

Wicked fun!

2008-12-05T23:16:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday my mom and I went to LA and saw Wicked! We had so much fun. I got the CD and have been listening to it non-stop since then. Everytime I hear Defying Gravity I get the goosebumps. Nathan is so cute...the other day he told me that he thinks it would be fun to go to a musical. I so wish I could take him to see this - I know he'd love it.

Thanks for the fantastic time Mom!

Halloween...finally

2008-11-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween Nathan wanted to be a Biker Skeleton. Here he is getting ready for the annual ward trunk or treat...

with the bandana without makeup

with grandma snow white

Clayton, Sarah and Nathan

Nathan, Clayton and Maleah.

At mom and dad's after trick or treating.

all the loot - he made piles and wrote notes on them letting us know which piles we were allowed to take from. What a turkey - this kid never even eats his candy yet places restrictions on what we can and can not have. Check out the Disneyland pennant - 30th year??? When Nathan was looking at it he said..."wait, they've been around for longer than 50 years!" HA! 20+ year old halloween treat.

This is for Steph...me in Hannah's "hot n spicy" wig - it's a wig for adults (i tried to say that a few different ways and any way that i said "adult" sounded wrong) Hannah was Ariel and Steph found this wig that worked perfect. By the end of the night I think we had all tried it on...Brad says that we are easily amused - i certainly dont' know what he's talking about - i'll spare Kelli, Doug, Brad, Steph, Dad and Mom and only post this pic of me... :)

disneyland

2008-11-26T23:01:00.000-08:00

We love going to Disneyland and go every chance we get.

A bunch of us met on Matt's birthday...

Nathan and his best friend Clayton
we just so happened to run into Clayton and his mom. small world

California Adventure

strange boy

apparently Nathan has joined the Casey Jr. chain gang...

sign flasher

can't get enough of casey' jr.

Brad said we looked homeless...I guess main street disneyland wouldn't be such a bad place to be homeless.

Mission Bay Triathlon - 2008

2008-11-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

Brad did the Mission Bay Triathlon again this year. He improved on his time - I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that he actually trained this year! Here are a few pics from the day.

Brad in the transition area.

I'm happy to report that this year was nude free - Last year this guy dropped his pants 15 feet from where i was standing. what the heck man this isn't blacks
Nathan standing in the same spot I stood in last year (see above note)

Brad and Nathan before the swim - is Nathan tough or homeless?

my cutie...waiting patiently

bike to...

run - Brad said i got this same shot of him last year - HA!

after race skating

how i spent my summer vacation...

2008-10-27T21:43:00.001-07:00

with all that life has going on i attempt to finally finish this post - i actually started this back in September - it is now October 26th...oh blah dee

seriously what vacation? I remember when I was a kid I used to think that you went to school for a year then had summer vacation for a year. What a terrible day when I realized how wrong I was - and then another terrible day when I realized that when you work there is no such thing as a 3 month break. Oh well.

So besides giving Nathan the "cheese touch" as often as possible (see Diary of a Wimpy Kid book volume 1) here are some pictures of how we spent our summer vacation...

we celebrated dad and all 60 of his years!!

we played in newport

i made my first icing roses!! watch out mom...

I witnessed this guy getting baptized in Carlsbad

and this kid having a blast!

FINALLY got to swim!

we moved maddie into her new college life...wait that's nathan sitting on a college girls bed, with a college girl, in the college girls room! isn't that bed awesome??? I put it together! i rule.

went to St. George and trespassed at Sand Hollow

drove recklessly in the church parking lot

and climbed and hiked everything we could...

fun times were had by all!

hmmm

2008-09-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, tonight Nathan found a measuring tape from a sewing kit and walked in with it around his waist. I pulled him over and measured 29 1/2 inches around his waist. I looked up at him and said Nathan that's what my waist was when we got married. He looked at me and said "WOW! You wanna see how big it is now?"

yeah, not so much...

Brad laughed...he won't be laughing later on... ;)

a few of my many quirks...

2008-09-20T08:46:00.001-07:00

Nichole this ones for you... :)

Seeing as I've been such a bad poster lately, I figured I would have a go at this tag.

Mention the rules on your blog

Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you

Tag 6 following bloggers by linking to them

Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

1 - Walking on grass grosses me out - even with shoes on! sick man.

2 - When I put our colorful plastic cups in dishwasher or the cupboard they have to go in a pattern - orange/black/orange/black/orange/black or red/green/red/green etc etc etc. i know ocd. but my real question is WHO DOESN'T HAVE IT? yeah that's what i thought.

3 - I will not swim with fish - no ocean, no lake - pool only! The thought of fish touching me is just disgusting.

4 - I hate milk - you will never catch me drinking a plain glass of milk - add it to cereal or even add chocolate ok but plain - heck no!

5 - I don't like pedicures! I know, how can I be serious?? I don't like when people touch my feet - good thing Brad hates feet! HA!

Wow - I've been so negative - which is strange because by nature I always look on the bright side of things - hmm i suppose that could also be a "quirk"

6 - I would rather be behind the scenes than out in the center of attention - I suppose that's why I love taking pictures - I can hide behind the camera instead of worrying about being in front of it.

Ok - that's me in a nutshell. Now I tag anyone who hasn't done it yet. Surprisingly, it was hard for me to do this tag - too many "quirks" to narrow it down to just 6 - and I didn't even get into the whole Satin quirk I've got going.... ;)

pool fun

2008-08-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

Ok so i've been a big fat slacker lately...here are a few pics of the pool...

finally filling :)

enjoying :)
nuthead - no diving board yet
Audrey chillin' on the top step

diving board!
still nutty
brown fence - makes such a huge difference

more!

2008-07-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Here the coping and deck have been poured - what a difference!This is where the diving board will be - and before rocks were put up...
and after rock...

tune in Tokyo
and we say these things...

Here is an example of the sturdy scaffolding that the workers were standing on while we had our little earthquake the other day - surprisingly nobody fell - Brad likes to scare the heck out of mom and walk out on the boards - he likes to live dangerously - he is a rebel.
the spa is ginormous now - LOVE IT!

They have now finished all of the rock, finished the tile work, and installed the turtles. Next stop plaster then water then me!

updates!

2008-07-31T21:34:00.001-07:00

Here are a few oldies - i've been so diligent in updating my blog lately - so much has happened in mom and dad's backyard - here is some of the progress...

Nathan sitting in the fat spa...they have since trimmed and shaped it out - can't wait to fill it!

Standing on the new Baja Reef - kiddies and dad will be loving that.

I love the wheelbarrow in the deep end.

underground water superhighway

time for some changes

2008-06-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

For those who have been to my parents house this is a typical picture of their pool. It's been in the family for 24 years and we've had plenty of fun in it. The spa has had it's fair share of dish soap bubbles, friends, and grand kids over the years. Here are a few "before" shots...

Times a changin' and it's time for a pool face lift!!!
Brad wanted nothing more than to get this thing empty so he could skate it.
Nathan doing his part :) Check out how steep those stairs are - they sure don't seem like they are that steep when they are covered with water.
Nathan "accidentally" fell in. The water looks sick but it's really ok water - it was clean until they started this project and dirt and rocks from the sides fell in.

Brad emptying the spa.
No naked carrots in this spa! Whoa - blast from the past Riley/Harris spa humor!
Airboard drop in.

Still wishing the pool was empty and in skateable condition...
Dad demonstrating his swimming technique!

I told Mom and Dad that they should use this picture as their Christmas card picture this year. I doubt they will go for it. ;)
This pool is ENORMOUS!

Cheap labor. Mom made really nice little piles for the workers - I'm sure they appreciated it! Dad couldn't understand why mom wanted to sweep the pool out. She said it was "fun!" Hey Mom why don't you come over and have some "fun" at my house?

This is Nathan doing what we like to call "The Matt". I was trying to take a picture of Brad and at the last second Nathan jumped up in front of the camera to steal the scene aka "The Matt".
I'm pretty sure Mom has never been this deep in the pool (especially with a broom).
Almost completely empty! Of course it was way to late in the night to actually skate it. So sorry Brad... Brad was in charge of the pump and making sure it was working properly. My Mom was having flashbacks to the days right after my heart surgery, when Brad would make sure that my chest tube and all of the other tubes coming out of me were working properly. Fun times!

More pictures as the ShopKo* continues... (mom will get that now)

*ShopKo - A long time ago my Dad and I were at my Grandma Riley's house in Bountiful, Utah. We were standing in the kitchen going through the newspaper and no doubt eating chips and licorice and there was a Grand Opening spread for ShopKo. Dad looked at it and said "Whoa! Progress!" Grandma looked up at him and said "No, I think it's called ShopKo." Dad and I just looked at each other and then Dad said "oh yeah, you're right." HA! Gotta love G-ma Riley.

Mom and Nathan day

2008-06-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

The last awards assembly for the school year was last Friday. Nathan and his best friend Clayton both received awards for Responsibility for Learning. Here they are with their principal Mr. Hausner. They were so excited that they both got the same award. These kids are like two peas in a pod. If you see one you will see the other - they are practically joined at the hip.

Since Brad was out of town fishing we had Nathan and Mom night on Friday night. We had lots of fun taking funny face pics and watching movies. Since I wake up at the crack of jack now - I'm usually really tired by the time Friday night comes around. But Nathan didn't seem to care since I let him stay up as late as he wanted! :)

So the other day I went into Nathan's room to clean it. PLEASE LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES...start early and make your kids clean their own room or do other chores around the house - I didn't and now I'm paying for it! Anyway, I went into his room and I see this envelope on the ground. I pick it up and it says... "Do not open until Mother's Day 2018 Nathan". I took it over to Nathan and asked what it was. He said it was part of my Mother's Day gift for the year 2018. I said "2018???" and he said "Yep! In 10 years." Apparently I can't open this up for another 10 years - I have it on my refrigerator we'll see if it makes it until 2018!

This is our cat Sid aka Fat Sid - too bad she doesn't have a good life.

Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my...

2008-06-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

This last week Brad went up to June Lake area on a fishing trip with his dad and a few of his long time fishing buddies. They have gone 2 times a year for about 30 years (give or take just a few) ;) This time they stayed in a cabin and when they got there they were told to make sure and not leave any food in their car because there is a bear that has been hanging around. A bear? Holy cow. They got up there on Wednesday morning and when Brad called me later that day he told me this. On Friday night Brad called and said that they had gone out to eat. When they got into the cabin they could tell that someone had been there. Brad looked at his stuff and it hadn't been touched - phew! They walked back to one of the bedrooms and realized it hadn't been a person it was an animal! The screen on the window was all torn and the curtians were shreaded. There were M&M's all over the ground and some HoneyCombs cereal. Brad went outside and walked around the corner and came face to face with the intruder - the bear! He said it was a smaller one only about 300 pounds! When Brad looked at the bear it got this guilty look on it's face and kinda crouched down - just like Rosie (our dog) does when she's done something wrong. Then it ran around and hid under the porch. The other guys came out to see what was up and they watched it try to climb a few trees, try to hide behind a bush and then finally walk around out of sight. So get this - the window must have been just barely open - enough for the bear to get part of his claw in and then it just barreled it's way in - they think that he was even still in the place when they got back from eating. They must have startled it and it tried to grab what he could and get the heck out of there. Needless to say they got home safely yesterday afternoon - I was so glad to have Brad back home in one piece. Seriously though, I could have gone another night without knowing "the bear" story :)

there's a wolf in our house...

2008-06-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the final Scouts Pack meeting until after summer. We had a BBQ at the park. Nathan has worked really hard and finally finished up his Wolf requirements so it's official. He's a wolf. PHEW!!!!!

Nathan receiving his patch and my pin :) and he even pinned it on me without drawing blood!

Isn't this just the cutest kid. He's going to make a great husband someday. :) And who will be the lucky one to get me as a MOTHER-IN-LAW??? wow all of the sudden I feel really old. (Especially looking at all of my wrinkles in the picture below, why am I losing weight if fat fills in the wrinkles???)

So proud to be his mom. How did I get so lucky??

Seriously...where did May go?

2008-06-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

VH1 Big Shopping Day

2008-04-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got up at the crack of jack and headed out hillbilly style to Hollywood. VH1 was having their 3rd Annual Big Shopping Day and Lacy & William was a vendor!!! Holy smokes. It was held at Boulevard3 on Sunset. It was so much fun. I didn't get a picture of our truck but it was quite a sight. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Nathan standing in the "Press" area not being noticed.

Inside Boulevard3 - l&w was on the 2nd floor - right before the corner on the left.

Mom and Alyssa ready to work it.

We had a 16 x 9 space and Mom and Alyssa made ours look the best.

I just love this kid.

We were chillin' downstairs - the guy in the red shirt on the other couch is in some boy band called V Factory - there are 5 guys in the band and they were walking around hoping to be recognized.

Alice Cooper was there - Brad was trying to be sly and take Nathan's picture with him in the background and all of the sudden he looked right at Brad when he snapped the shot.

Matt in Hollywood working the pink phone hmmm

While we were sitting outside Alice Cooper walked by and Brad said "Excuse me Alice, can I get my picture with you?" He said sure and Brad's day was made :) We keep laughing about it - excuse me ALICE - hahahaha But what was he supposed to say Hi Mr. Cooper? Yeah that works!

Nathan was such a trooper - we had to leave at 5:30 am to get there in time so at 1:30 pm he was ready to get the heck out of dodge and enjoy him some La Brea Tar Pits... 30 minutes before Natasha Bedingfield was supposed to go onstage. Oh well. We took off and had some family fun time eating over priced cheeseburgers at LACMA and checking out the tar. Before leaving Nathan rolled down the big grassy hill a few billion times with some girl (that sounds funny).

I found a few pictures from our Hollywood adventure last year.

Nathan at Hollywood and Highland

Brad and Nathan at Johnny Depp

Pinewood Derby 2008...

2008-04-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday night was the Pinewood Derby at Scouts. Nathan got 2nd place in his division. He was SO excited. Of course there were only 3 kids in his division :) BUT who cares at least all 3 boys felt like winners! :) We promised Nathan that next year we will spend more than 2 hours on his car. HA. At least he didn't have to race a Harris! :) (sorry if that brings up bad memories Matt)

Cute kids

Happy Birthday to my boys...

2008-03-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Brad and Nathan!!! Yesterday was Brad and Nathan's birthdays. We had a very full day... I took Nathan to school in the morning with 3 dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts, said good luck to the substitute teacher and ran home to get ready for a funeral... Last Saturday late afternoon our neighbor and friend died in a motorcycle accident on the 91 fwy. very sad...

We ended up having a pretty low key night - just the 3 of us - we went out to CPK where they gave us a HUGE sundae that we all ate like pigs :) then came home and finished up homework which included Nathan's 2 of 2 class Moon journal - He thought it was a great idea to sign up and do it on his birthday. HA - little did he realize that it meant he would now have to do HOMEWORK on his birthday - so much for the homework pass we've been saving for months :) oh well. It was fun - i went online and found out what the moon looked like on his actual birth day 9 years ago (seriously 9 - how can that be???) and also on Brad's birth day 9+ years ago and did a little compare and contrast dealio. fun times.....

holy smokes...

2008-03-18T21:34:00.000-07:00

well what haven't i been up to lately?? it would be easier to get thru that list... I got a job :( i mean Hip Hip... It's a really great place to work and they are so incredibly awesome with the whole family first thing - it's great. Of course i am now waking up at 5:00 am!! Which also means that it's WAY past my bedtime :) The good thing is i get to leave work at 3:00 pm every day - so now Nathan only has to go to daycare for a short time (which i make him start his homework) so it all seems to be working out. (I'm sorry I'm rambling)

Nathan started baseball - AA Yankees!!!

and i must say he is really workin the catcher position. This kid can catch and he gets better each game. It's really fun to see.

The schedule is pretty crazy though...this week he has 3 games! I'm tired just thinking about it.

A while back Brad had a Health Fair at work and he brought home one of those make your own sentences out of magnet words deals. They were geared more towards the healthcare field and we have definitely had our fun with it. After about a week it got pushed aside and it finally found a home in Nathan's room. Well, tonight i walked with Nathan into his room to get him into bed and i notice something on his shelves attached to his bed...I go in for a closer look and this is what i found...

hmmm.....

Nightie-O

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

2008-03-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

Sid wishes you all a very Happy St. Patrick's day.

wait a minute...

2008-02-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

The other night i was making dinner and Nathan was sitting at the table doing homework. Brad had just gone thru the mail and took out the "credit card" that American Express sent us trying to get us to bite. Brad handed Nathan the card and said here you go buddy. Nathan looked at it and said cool. A few minutes later Nathan said "Hey wait a minute...this is not an actual credit card!" (i think maybe he finally looked at it and read what it said) we laughed! did he really think that we would just hand him over a credit card? he's only 8 - could you imagine him hitching a ride to target and using a credit card - ha! I'm sure he would keep it in his wallet next to his LegoLand drivers license!

family fun

2008-01-29T15:32:00.000-08:00

Here is what we do for fun in the Bradford house...

we sit on the couch and try to see who can get the best shot. isn't that nose shot awesome??? i did that one. :) we've had some pretty funny ones...

Nerf guns are so much fun!

2008-01-28T15:21:00.000-08:00

Ok so i've been a little MIA lately... Nichole tagged me and i wanted to make sure that i fulfilled my civic duty... Anyway... here is a little about me!

Four jobs I've had:

1. Valley Hallmark - professional card stocker/reader
2. Escrow Officer - various locations
3. Property Casualty Insurance CSR - Napa
4. On-Site Rep for title company blah blah blah

Four places I've lived:

1. Orange, CA aka the OC
2. Logan, UT
3. Napa, CA
4. Bountiful, UT (yes it's true and fine i'll admit it - i was born in pootah)

Four movies that I love:

1. Moulin Rouge - love love love it!
2. Music and Lyrics
3. Nacho Libre
4. Almost Famous - Jason Lee hmmmm

Four favorite foods:

1. Diet Coke - that's a food right?
2. rice krispie treats - or Rice Kripsies as Nathan would say while throwing a Fribsee around oh yeah and reNember the time when... yesterday we were in the car and one of his friends was with us. for some reason they started talking about the show Go Diego Go! and nathan turned teen and started saying how lame the show was (lame is a really funny word coming out of his mouth!) anyway he followed the conversation with "oh yeah and reNember the time when..." even funnier is that last year one of his spelling words was REMEMBER - we thought for sure that would break that one - nope... p.s. i make really good rice kripsie treats!
3. Gulliver's creamed corn...
4. mom's rolls

Four weird things about me - only 4??? wow where to begin...

1. Money in my wallet MUST be in order!!! all bills must be right side up, faces to the front and in order from smallest to biggest $$$. It drives me bonkers when i get change and the bills are all over the place - i'll organize it before i put it in my wallet and annoy all of the people behind me - hey better than me being annoyed! right? :)
2. I can't stand to walk on grass - even with shoes on! it grosses me out - especially when i'm barefoot - sick! now, don't get me wrong i will walk on it if i don't have any other options. But if i can help it i keep away...i'd rather walk 100 feet out of my way to walk on the sidewalk!
3. I have a really hard time going into thrift stores. i would never in a million years ever buy something for me to wear from a second hand store. i can't stand the thought - it gives me the hibbie jibbies (or however you spell it) - i can't even stand to touch things there. Brad doesn't understand it - i don't expect him to. apparently i'm strange...
4. Satin - enough said!

Four favorite TV shows:

1. Flight of the Conchords!!!
2. The Biggest Loser
3. Survivor
4. My Name is Earl - again Jason Lee

Four places I'd love to go:

1. Paris, France
2. Italy
3. Hawaii with my boys
4. into my room and have all of the laundry already put away...

Now I would like to tag: Alicia, Matt and anyone else reading this - i put that as if there are so many people actually reading this thing...

how many more are there?

2008-01-21T10:56:00.000-08:00

how many more teeth does nathan have left to lose?

i have to admit i can't wait until all of his baby teeth are over and done with. i don't know what it is but loose teeth gross me out. when nathan has a loose tooth i do not wiggle it. i'll drive him over to grandma's before i'll wiggle it.

last night i was tucking nathan into bed and for some reason asked him if he had any loose teeth. what do you know he did. one of his top molars was so loose i couldn't believe it was still there. he got up and went into the bathroom to try to pull it out. i immediately called for brad and got the heck out of dodge. after a few minutes of checking things out he decided to go to bed and work on it in the morning. i came back into the picture and started the tuck in experience again. This time i actually did look at the tooth that was loose and realized that his new tooth coming in had already broke thru and i could see both teeth!!! sick. i called brad again and made nathan get back into the bathroom. i told them to get it out before he swallowed it. believe me i know nathan didn't want to swallow the tooth so i knew at that point he wasn't going to bed with that still intact. again i made my exit stage left while brad the finisher (again see how this name would work as his american gladiator name??!!) took care of business!

brad was holding onto the tooth and wiggling it around a little while nathan made lots of over exaggerated loud noises (of course i'm sure he wasn't thinking about his awful dentist experience previously posted) and all of the sudden brad had the tooth in his hand. nathan "OW'd" a few more times before realizing the tooth was out. all of the sudden i could hear (from the other room of course) nathan say "oh it's out??" HA! actor... don't know who he gets that from...

yeah it was out!!! I again got nathan back into bed. nathan was so excited because this now meant that the tooth fairy was going to be making a visit. I asked him if he thought that she would come (because it was actually quite late 11:58 pm - hey no school today!) and he said "yeah, you know she does work all night" then "hey mom this means that now i'll wake up and get money on Martin Luther King Jrs birthday!!"

come on now who doesn't want that???

twins

2008-01-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

no i'm not making an announcement...i wish... Anywho, the other day there was a story in the news about some twins that were separated at birth and ended up getting married. I was reading the story to Brad and Nathan and we were talking about how it would be to be a twin and not even know it. the end of the conversation went a little something like this...

Brad: i wonder if when they met they felt any sort of connection?
Nathan: yeah like... you look familiar

needless to say i laughed my face off and immediately called my mom!

Rachel got me!

2008-01-14T22:39:00.000-08:00

Rachel tagged me so I get to fill out this fun little survey.

Two names you go by:
1. Mom
2. Hey

Two things you are wearing right now:
1. socks
2. pj's

Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Laugh
2. Watch The Biggest Loser while eating ice cream...

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. Something salty - the last thing i ate was sweet and i need to balance out
2. To be as thin as Rachel :)

Two favorite pets you have had/have
1. Sid #3 - she kept me company when we were first married and Brad worked the night shift
2. Rosie
2.5 Suckie - our enormously huge sucker fish - it's bigger than us all...

Two things you did last night:
1. made - i mean helped with - Nathan's mystery snowman extra credit assignment. Let me tell you that thing is freakin awesome... we got - i mean Nathan got 8 bobcat bucks for it!!!
2. made Nathan a mean peanut butter sandwich among all of the craft crap

Two things you ate today
1. animal crackers
2. mom's leftovers

Two people you last talked to:
1. Brad
2. Nathan

Two longest car rides:
1. Orange to Springfield, Oregon - Nathan threw up at Magic Mountain, 30 miles south of Sacramento, and thru the Mount Shasta Pass - fun times....
2. Orange to Rexburg, Idaho

Two favorite holidays:
1. Christmas
2. 27th of March - Brad and Nathan's birthdays :)

Two favorite beverages:
1. Diet Coke - duh
2. H2O

Now i get to tag someone... I tag Nichole!! Maybe this will get her to actually make a post in 2008! :)

OC 13.1

2008-01-07T22:31:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday morning Brad ran the OC 1/2 marathon. He even shaved time off his last years finish. Way to go Brad!! Or as you would say...I rule...

Here are a few pics from the day.

Finish Line...finally

Brad the Finisher - that should be his American Gladiator name

On a side note, later that afternoon we went to church and Nathan began his Senior Primary adventure. Senior Primary! Holy smokes... He's only 8 yet when you look at him he's about as big as some of the Deacons in our ward and probably just as mature. Deacons are immature right?? good then he's right on target...

Happy late New Year!!!

2008-01-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve was spent at my parents house. Mom had tonz o food - Yum! Steph and Doug and the kids, Matt, Rachel and the kids, and the Rushton's were all there to ring in the new year. We played wii, XBox 360 Guitar Hero II and Dance Dance Revolution - or DDR as dubbed by Matt and Rachel aka King and Queen DDR...

Brad kicking the junk out of his opponent

Nathan boxing - check out his thumb :) He has crazy thumb war winning thumbs!

Mom boxing - SKILLZ!!! Thanks to Rachel and her killer moves the girls seem to kick some booty on wii boxing!

Dad hitting a guy with glasses. I have to say i think the funniest thing about the entire night was Dad knocking the guy OUT in his first round. Matt was at a loss for words as to how he can play video games for the last 25 years of his life and his boxing match had to go to decision and dad got a KO in round 1!!! :) Don't worry Matt, Dad will never beat you at DDR!

Stephanie giving it to the man!

Nathan playing Guitar Hero

Matt ripping at Guitar Hero!

Brad do you want to dance? NO! Check out the TV - he got a perfect! that's what i'm talking about...

Nathan can DDR like nobody's business.

While going thru my pics of the night i was floored when i realized that i didn't have any pictures of:

1 - Rachel wii boxing - pictures wouldn't do justice to the real deal - you have to see to believe!!!

2 - Matt and Rachel Dance Dance Revolutionizing - i was soaking in their moves and couldn't multi-task!

3- poppers! Mom bought a bunch of poppers and we all went outside at midnight shot confetti all over the backyard.

Nathan and Mom last year...

i don't think you are supposed to aim and pop at others - oh well...we all lived to tell about it.

Happy New Year!!!

santa came to our house

2008-01-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas in the Bradford house is a little different from the Riley house. Notice in the first picture the sun is up and we are just waking up to see the goodies that Santa has left. I can honestly say that never in my Riley life do i ever remember opening up presents after the sun came up. I remember being so excited going to bed christmas eve and lots of times all 3 of us girls would sleep in the same bed. Santa was smart and left our stockings next to our bed so that we could rummage thru them before waking up our parents. That at least gave them a little time to catch a few more zzz's before we ran in and woke them up.

Nathan with some of his loot

Santa brought us XBox 360...

and Guitar Hero II

Christmas afternoon at my parents.

random cute pics

2008-01-03T22:55:00.000-08:00

Ben and Hannah came over to decorate holiday cookies...

Hannah LOVES our cat Sid

Julie and Margaux stopped by and Julie took some pics. She told them to make silly faces. The look on Margaux's face totally cracks me up.

So cute...

Sabrina and Audrey at Aunt Leslee's Christmas Eve party

Santa came and Hannah and Natalie were SO excited...

so was Nathan... :)

Barrett on Christmas center stage

Sweet Audrey

and of course you know it's business time!

fun with the cousins

2007-12-28T22:50:00.000-08:00

Last week we all got together to eat pizza, have fun and do some holiday craft projects. It was so much fun having everyone together!!! Dan, Nichole and Audrey drove down for christmas and pulled into town just in time for the festivities. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful family.

Natalie showing off her projects...

Margaux

serious Sabrina :)

Nathan and Ben watching tv

Hannah and Natalie

Barrett eating pizza and "hanging" out...

Nathan & Audrey wearing the pj's they got from Grandpa & Grandma.

Grandma with all of the kiddies...

more christmas pics to follow...

15 years...so soon?

2007-12-19T19:48:00.000-08:00

Today is our 15 year wedding anniversary! I can't believe how time files. Anywho, just wanted to share.

Happy Anniversary Brad...i love you.

i love love love christmas...

2007-12-18T08:56:00.001-08:00

Every year we get at least 2 real christmas trees. One for the living room and i mainly decorate it, of course this isn't a control freak thing ;) and one for either the family room or Nathan's room. This year the tree that Nathan picked out was a "mystery" tree. It was wrapped in red netting and we didn't open it and look at it until we got home. A friend of ours told us about a family that every year they get a "mystery" tree and part of the thrill is opening it and seeing if they got a good or bad one. I put my foot down on the big tree. Brad of course thought it was genius idea (of course i'm sure it was just because i am so particular on how i want my tree to look - i want lots of space, tall, kinda thin...) i put my foot down and said HECK NO! Well we actually got really lucky with the little guy that Nathan picked out. Our mystery ended well.

Here is our main tree. This is actually our shortest tree since we moved into this house. We have really high vaulted ceilings and when we first saw the house i immediately thought - "Yes i can get a really tall christmas tree!" Much to Brad's dismay i think that was my moms first thought when she walked in as well. Hmm where do i get it from??? Nathan took this picture so it's kind of a strange view.

Our "mystery" tree. So very cute. This year instead of putting it in Nathan's room he said we could put it in the family room.

Nathan chillin' by the tree...

The other day i gave Nathan the camera and told him to take some pictures of his favorite things around the house. Here are some of his pics...

We have a new tradition. Every year we buy a new Nutcracker. We started this a few years back. Of course i jump started the collection before we started the tradition :) Here is our collection so far (of course this pic was taken before we bought this years)

Our Nutcracker Village

One of the many Nativities we have around the house. Also we apparently had Nathan's Arapaho Indian project sitting on the piano next to it. HA! p.s. i got 100% on this project, i mean Nathan did... ;)

It's fun to see things from his angle.

Very cute Nativity mom made for all of us.

And Spongebob???

who knew?

2007-12-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

I took this quiz to see what holiday character i am most like... CLARK GRISWOLD!?!? When i first saw Clark i thought what the heck? I'm so not like Clark Griswold! So i decided that they were wrong and that i would re-take the test. There were a few of the questions that i was between answers so when i re-took the test i put those answers. AGAIN Clark Griswold. I decided that maybe they knew something about me that i didn't and then i looked up above this badge and read what they said about me, i mean Clark...read below and see for yourself...

The holiday season brings out your competitive side. You want to give the best presents, have the best-looking house on the block, and cook up the most delicious holiday feast. You strive to be number one at everything you do, which makes you prone to holiday freak-outs when things don't go as expected. As long as you stay calm, you're great to have around during the holidays – mostly because you're trying so hard to make sure everyone else has the BEST possible time.

Holy cow...I'm Clark...you don't even want to know how many different christmas tree places we usually go to before i find the perfect tree... HA!

Orange Stake Creche

2007-12-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

Last tuesday night we went to the annual Creche in our stake. We had so much fun checking out all of the beautiful displays. There was a children section where they can dress up and make crafts etc.

Nathan as a wise guy

shepherds

the king - not to be confused with elvis...

Disneyland fun

2007-12-08T10:21:00.001-08:00

Last night we went to Disneyland with Grandma and Grandpa Riley (sorry mom) :) We had so much fun. The fun started with us hitting every single red light possible on the drive over. We finally got past the Disneyland sign in the Lion King parking lot when dad (driving) saw his eye on the prize (parking pay booth) and gunned it to get there first. Mom (not driving) quickly notice that dad was about to run over little innocent orange cones. She knew she needed to act quick and warn my dad and started yelling out "CUPS CUPS!!" My dad swerved out of the way and the little orange cones (CUPS) were safe. Disaster averted - thanks mom for thinking quick on your boxes, i mean feet. :)

We had so much fun! We started out in California Adventure where we went on Soaring over California and California Screamin' (which at the end of the night i accidently called Screamin' over California) two times! Nathan, mom, Brad, and I went on California Screamin' and when we got off we figured that dad could also ride it and not have back issues. We jumped back in line and rode again - to much fun. Brad and I took mom on Tower of Terror (Nathan refuses to go on that ride again) she loved it! Then we went over to Disneyland. We rode Space Mountain(Nathan's 2nd favorite ride), walked around, and had fun checking out all of the christmas decorations.

When we were on the tram ride back to the car we were a little delirious (ok so maybe it was just me) and we were laughing about the night and this guy sitting next to mom leaned over and said that his daughter liked my laugh! HA! The rest of the tram ride she sat and stared at me waiting for me to laugh. Talk about pressure. Of course i gave her what she wanted :)

while driving in the car...

2007-12-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

Last night we were driving in the car and Brad started telling us about this posh grocery store in NY. This posh upscale grocery store was advertising the sale of the "Hams for Hanukkah". I do believe there is a marketing director out looking for a new job at this point. We laughed and laughed. We told Nathan that they don't eat ham and when he got it he also laughed. Brad continued and started telling him about Hebrew National hot dogs and that they are kosher and how they can eat them because they don't have pig in them. On the side he said yeah they just have cow lips in them. I looked at brad and we chuckled. Nathan very serious said "cows lips?" then sat for a moment pondering the thought then said "then how do the cows eat without their lips?" as if they specifically harvest cows lips - yeah they raise cows and then take the lips only and let them go back out into the field to live out their dream life. We laughed then set him straight with the cold hard truth and then he started to sign the Hanukkah song he learned at school.

Cows lips - sick.

snowflake fun

2007-12-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

I don't know how i got to this site but Nathan and I have been having tons of fun making our own snowflakes.

http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com

try it...you'll like it.

The truth comes out...

2007-12-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

Today Julie had to go into the office for a little bit so Margaux and Barrett came over to play with me. We had so much fun. Barrett was so excited to see all of the non-baby proof items i have around here. He moved at a constant pace from one thing to the next. Wow - it really made me realize how long it's been since i've had a young one living here. Margaux was so funny. I took her to the bathroom and sat her up on the potty. I walked away and she said "so Aunt Shannon, how is your day going?" It's great Margs thanks for asking! She loved looking around at all of my christmas decorations. I found some pictures of Nathan from when he was younger and showed them to her. She loved seeing Nathan her age and younger. One of the pictures was of Nathan and me. She looked at it and said "Aunt Shannon, is this you when you were different?" to which i replied "yes Margaux it is." :) Key word being "different" aka skinny. What a sweet, smart little girl. Well now that they are gone i guess i better be off to the gym...

Thanksgiving in Utah

2007-12-05T21:33:00.000-08:00

I know it's a little late but we went to Utah for Thanksgiving. Dan, Nichole, and Audrey let us crash with them at their house. Nichole made a wonderful turkey dinner and we had a blast playing their wii. Audrey was so excited to have company that she tried to stay awake all night. You know i shouldn't say this but we got away with the whole baby thing pretty dang easy. Nathan slept thru the night the first night home from the hospital and every night since (with the exception of any nights that he woke up sick). We never had sleepless nights. Dare i say??? I think i'm pretty safe to say without it coming to bite me in the end - it seems as though it's just not in the cards for us to have more kids. Of course now that i'm jobless, Brad is in the process of changing careers, and i've just put in black and white that we got away easy if it was ever going to happen i'm sure it would be at a time like this. :) i won't hold my breath...

We had so much fun in St. George. Dan took Nathan and Brad out to see Sand Hollow, where Dad and Mom are investing in our families future funness.

Nathan with Audrey. Nathan is such a good cousin.

We have a new tradition...when we go to St. George we hike. I say tradition - ha - we have been to St. G 2 times since Dan and Nichole have moved there and both times we have gone hiking and exploring. Tradition! Last time we went to Zions and had so much fun. This trip we checked out another place - can't remember the name - but it was beautiful. Here are a few pics of the beauty...

Brad living on the edge....

Nathan found this stick and turned it into a gun - hmm boys and guns - what's up with that?

Where am I???

2007-11-18T19:53:00.000-08:00

The other day Brad said that he was looking at out blog and noticed that there weren't any pictures of me on it. And the problem is????

So i looked at our pictures on the computer and realized that we don't really have many pictures of me - it looks like i am the picture taker in the family... Anyway, i did find some of Nathan and I messing around with our webcam. So Brad here you go... :)

Where does this stuff come from???

2007-11-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

So Brad, Nathan and I were just sitting around the table talking about pi of all things. Yes pi and crazy enough Matt was not in the vicinity. How could this happen??? Anyway, Rosie, our dog, was over in the corner on her bed and she started chewing at her back. I yelled "Rose stop that - don't be gross!" She stopped and laid there like a lady and all of the sudden Nathan says "Yeah it's like your making out with yourself!" Brad and I looked at each other with looks of - what the heck! Then started laughing. To say it surprised me would be an understatement. I seriously never thought i'd hear my 8 year old use a sentence with the phrase "making out" in it. How does he know what making out is? What else does he know?? Would i really want to know the answer to that last question??? NO!

Anyway, Nathan was Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Daniel Crockett or Davy Boone - you choose - for Halloween. He was so cute. He loved his costume and i think has still put his coon skin cap on at least once a day since. I made his entire costume - except for the hat and the belt. I must be getting crafty in my old age. I didn't get a picture of him on Halloween - figures - but i did get some at the Trunk or Treat at church.

just a few pics from Halloween 2006

(yikes look at our awful old floors!!!)

Nathan was a handsome knight...

aka Prince of Margaux

60 minutes

2007-11-04T21:50:00.000-08:00

So tonight we were laying around watching TV and while surfing our saved shows Nathan saw that we had the show "60 Minutes" recorded. He said "60 minutes??? Why don't they just call it an hour???" hahaha we laughed...i more than Brad...shocker... :)

Raingutter Regatta

2007-10-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

Last night at Cub Scouts they had the annual Raingutter Regatta.

Nathan's ship was "Sea Dogs"

Oh no falling behind...

But of course since he is my son he was able to come up with enough hot air to blow his boat to Victory!

Way to go Nathan! He ended the evening in 3rd place with a lovely "bronze" certificate to add to the collection.

VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED...

2007-10-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

You have been warned...

When Nathan was a toddler i was tickling him and while looking up in his mouth saw something strange. I swore that one of his molars had a huge hole in the middle of it. I couldn't see it though so i took him to our dentist, who is also my friend (thank goodness). Sure enough his top right molar had a HUGE void in the middle of the tooth. If you looked at it from the side you couldn't tell anything was different from any other tooth but if you looked straight up into the tooth there was a big cave. She checked it and it was all ok - as in no nerve exposed etc. She proceeded to fill it in so that things wouldn't get caught in said hole.

Well, the other day Nathan started complaining that his tooth hurt. I took him to the dentist and part of his filling had come out. While drilling and trying to fix the filling we all found out in a very loud way that the tooth was worse then it looked. Poor Nathan screamed like you wouldn't believe. She stopped and took X-rays only to discover that the tooth was not going to make it. It needed to be pulled! YIKES!

Lucky for me Brad was on his way home from work. He detoured over to the dentist and was able to sit at Nathan's side while the dentist pulled his tooth out. Brad is such a good dad. He sat there and let Nathan squeeze his hands almost off and told him he was doing a great job the entire time. I on the other hand sat at his feet, laid across his legs and balled my eyes out. He screamed so loud it was a good thing he was the last appointment. I have never heard him scream and cry so loud - it was so sad. I told him that if there would have been any other kids in the waiting room they would have run out the door faster than light speed.

Here are a few shots of the tooth - roots and all...

Holy cow - no wonder he screamed so loud...

Once the tooth was out he felt so much better. I certainly wasn't going to make him go home and do his homework so i did what any good mother would do and let him stay home from school the next day and we went to Disneyland. No joke. We had fun but took it easy - no roller coasters!

He took the tooth to school for show and tell and i'm sure grossed out a girl or two. HA! The tooth fairy came to visit and rewarded him handsomely and even let him keep the tooth as a souvenir. What a lucky kid...

Fall Ball

2007-10-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

Nathan loves playing baseball. This fall he has been playing on the Storm. He plays with his best friend Clayton. Sometimes they get in trouble because they goof off - ha! Yesterday they were at practice and the coach told them all to take a knee. Which of course means to kneal down and listen. Well Nathan and Clayton proceeded to grab each others knees and tried to "take" Clayton/Nathan's knees. Needless to say when practice was over coach made them run to the fence and back. When they came back laughing and smiling Coach asked if they had fun and they said yes! Wrong answer...take another run to the fence. After the 2nd trip to the fence they got smart and when asked if the run was fun they both answered NO! live and learn.

Here Nathan shows us his signature squinty eye line up before he pitches.

He can pitch pretty good. Brad has been working with him. He can throw the ball pretty hard - especially when he's mad. :)

Getting a little "pep talk" from Coach Mark.

the sabbath on the road

2007-10-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

While driving up the 5 fwy and approaching the San Diego Temple Nathan quickly blurted out "can we go see it?" Were we really going to say no? Could we? Of course not. So we stopped by to walk around the grounds and feel the peace and tranquility that temple grounds have to offer. Since it was Sunday it was nice and quiet. There were a few other people walking around taking pictures but we pretty much had to place to ourselves.

We walked around to the grassy side of the temple and were admiring all of the beauty when we realized that Nathan got away from us and ran out onto the big grassy field. We yelled (had to yell as the freeway was feet away) and told him to come back up with us. It looked like he was going to obey but took a little detour under the area we were standing on and ran to an adjacent grass area right next to the temple. See below.

He seemed to be loving the fact that he had this "heaven" all to himself. I looked at him, he looked up at me and it was as though i could read his mind. I quickly shouted "don't you dare roll down that hill!"

you can only imagine what happened next... Yep you guessed it - he rolled down the Temple lawn! Yelling, laughing and enjoying every second of it.

We finally got him to come back up with us and we decided it was time to leave. I was just glad that the temple was closed and that he didn't make it into the background of any wedding pictures. How nice would that have been to see a little monkey rolling down the hill in the background of your wedding portraits.

I've heard of and participated in the "reverent swim" is there such a thing as the "reverent roll"?

boys will be boys

2007-10-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

Brad loves to skate. He hasn't gone for a while but not to long ago he was going to skate parks like they were going out of style. Nathan is learning and this was the perfect place to get the boards out and have some fun.

Not quite sure what this trick is called? Maybe 1973?

Nathan's really starting to get the feel for this...

Like father...

Like son...

Maybe we need a little more work before he takes over the skate industry. Oh well, anyway fun times were had by all!

Mission Bay Triathlon

2007-10-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Last month Brad completed his 2nd Triathlon. We had fun spending the weekend down in San Diego. Here are a few pics from the Triathlon...

Nathan eating the breakfast of champions... a smores pop tart.... at least he got 3 of the 4 major food groups... marshmellow, fudge and graham crackers... :) Rachel you are not alone. It looks as though i have also fallen out of the "Mother of the year" race... (see Matt and Rachel link)

Brad and Nathan before the fantastic orange swim cap and the race.

Swim down, bike and run to go...

Just the run left...

Finish Line....

You did awesome Brad... You Rule!

Oh the joy's of gardening....

2007-09-19T14:32:00.001-07:00

Today i went to M&M nursery and bought some beautiful flowers to plant in our front yard.

Exhibit "A"

While i was minding my business and working away beautifying our yard i came across an intruder.....
Exhibit "B"

I swear he is looking right at me. How many eyes do these guys have anyway? SICK!

SO after i freaked out because i realized that i had been standing centimeters away from this thing i decided to go over and rake the leaves out of the dirt and start planting the flowers i bought. While i was picking up the pile of leaves i came across Exhibit "C"...

Exhibit "C"

As of this moment the front yard has flowers (unplanted), a rake, other various gardening tools, my gloves and a pile of leaves waiting patiently for Brad to come home and "be the man".

Sorry for that last picture mom.

p.s. i did go out and spray a can of bug killer on this thing before i ran in screaming...

Rancho Santa Margarita - 5K

2007-09-19T14:18:00.000-07:00

Brad and Stephanie are awesome. enough said....

Before...

Stephanie's game face...

Brad's game face...

The end.... What no hug?

What's been happening at our house?

2007-09-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

Good question....

Here are some things that have happened in the past few months.

We had a pool party with all of the cousins. So much fun. Daniel taught Audrey how to pool surf and flipped more than just burgers.

We FINALLY decided to get started on our flooring. Thanks Dad and Mom.... Here is a picture mid installation. We are smart enough to know that we needed to pay someone to install. I have been lazy and have not yet taken a pic of the floors since they have been completed. I keep saying that i will once the walls are painted and the floor boards are installed. Look for this picture sometime in the next millennium...

Summer was ending so we went to Palm Desert for a weekend and had loads of fun. While at the pool Brad pointed out Dr. Rey from Dr. 90210 and his wife with their kids. Dr. Rey even said "hi" to me - either he was being nice or trying to break the ice and talk to me about all of the procedures i need done.... Hmm you decide.....

Here are Brad and Nathan at the awesome pool at the resort.

Can't go to Palm Springs and just drive past the Dinosaurs - must go and see them up close - notice how close we actually got. While inside the head/mouth of the T-Rex we discussed the fact that there was NO WAY PeeWee Herman got a full couch up in that thing to lounge around and watch a movie (or whatever it was they did in that movie)

Nathan started 3rd grade... Seriously no way! How did he get so old because i certainly haven't aged!

Here he is on the first day of school.

blog peeper no more....

2007-08-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

Since Leanne called me a "blog peeper" yesterday i decided that maybe i should actually get on this blog thing and figure it all out. I love looking at everyone else to see what's up and maybe someone will find humor in looking into our life. so here goes....