The Pledge....

Any of you watch "The Office"???? If you do, you'll appreciate this....

The other day, Brayden started singing the Pledge of Allegiance... to the tune of Old McDonald. He did this because Old McDonald is a fav song to sing for FHE (I don't know why, it just always has been!) So as we were getting ready to sing Old McDonald the other night, Patrick starts to sing the Pledge... the Michael Scott version. Brayden thought this was hilarious, and so started singing it that way too.  So if I get a call from his teacher about how he was singing E-I-E-I-O at the end of the Pledge, I'm gonna let Patrick handle that one!

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of cute and funny things that my kids have done...

This morning as the boys were eating their Lucky Charms, I see them running from one side of the table to the other, handing each other something. I ask what they are doing and tell them to eat breakfast so we can get ready for school, and they so lovingly tell me that they are picking out the heart marshmallows from their cereal, and giving them to each other as Valentines! How can I get mad at them for that?!? So I just smiled and told them to finish eating.  :)

First trampoline casualty....

Last night we had a super bowl party at our house... of course, we had to cheer on the Cardinals, and were so disappointed they lost. They were soooo close to winning it!!!  We had lots of fun though. We had lots of friends over, and TONS of yummy food! All the kids were outside jumping on the trampoline, and of course, leave it to Conner to be the dare devil. He thought it would be a good idea to walk around the trampoline on the outside of the net, as you can see.....

It was NOT!!!! He fell head first off of it. Then later, he bounced into another kids head, and got a bloody nose. Poor kid, he had a rough night.

But he is still a happy little boy!

By the way.... his face doesn't look nearly as bad today as it did yesterday.  He's a tough kid!

Calling all Tooth Fairy's!

This happened a few weeks ago, but I keep forgetting to write about it....

Brayden lost his first tooth!!!

He was very excited, it was just hanging there, and so finally when Patrick got home from work, he let him pull it out. He wouldn't let me, but I guess Daddy has the magic touch. He got a whole dollar from the tooth fairy that he decided to take to 7-11 to get a Slurpee with.  The tooth right next to the one he lost is already loose too, so it won't be long before the Tooth Fairy has to visit our house again!

I'm a Pepper!

As I have mentioned before, while we were in Dallas visiting my sister after Christmas, we made a quick road trip to Waco, TX to go to the Dr. Pepper Museum. I bet many of you didn't know such a thing existed, but it does! And since we all know how much Patrick's loves Dr. Pepper, this stop was a must. We had a lot of fun just being goofy, and taking pictures of everything. 

Here is Patrick in front of his little piece of heaven.  

They had a huge room that was just full of all the different Dr. Pepper vending machines over the years, from the very first one back in the 1800's to the newest one that was just released last year. It was kinda cool to see how they have evolved through the years.

Um, I don't think we were suppose to put our children in a 100 year old vending machine... oops, our bad!  

Here we are in front of an old Dr. Pepper delivery truck.  My sister, brother-in-law, and cute niece came with us, so that is my BIL Jeff and niece Bailey!

Our fam

They had lots of cool things to see and read about the history of DP. One thing we thought was cool was a theater where you could watch all the DP  TV commercials throughout the years. It was funny to see some we remembered, to laugh at the clothes from the 80's, and watch people dancing in the commercials singing "I'm a Pepper!" 

One of the coolest parts to the museum was their old fashion soda fountain. There they had all kinds of things to get, we tried an original Dr. Pepper, made from pure sugar cane. It was really good, and yes, it did taste different then what you usually get at the store. We also had DP floats, and even a nice hot Dr. Pepper they had special for the holiday season. It wasn't too bad, but we all preferred the cold stuff.

The boys thought this was a pretty fun thing too, especially since we let them have some Dr. Pepper, which they never get. We bought funny souvenirs at their gift shop. They even had DP BBQ sauce and Marinade. We haven't tried those yet, but I'm sure they will not disappoint!

"A nice cold Dr. Pepper is like a warm hug from Jesus."  --Patrick C. Patton

We love Texas!  :)

Texas!

So a few days after Christmas, we flew out to Dallas to go see my sister and her new baby! My whole family was gonna be there for my nieces baby blessing. We had a great time with everyone. Many laughs, good food, relaxing... it was wonderful! Patrick went the whole week without a Xanax, that is amazing, it really was a nice relaxing vacation if that happened!!

You of course can't go to Texas without enjoying a little Texas BBQ. So we went to this place called Rudy's. Patrick and I laughed when we drove up, cuz it was in a gas station, but my sister and brother in law swore it was great BBQ. And luckily for us, it was awesome! The boys loved it too, they chowed down every last bite of their lunch.

Brayden loved the BBQ ribs, he ate them all himself! I was shocked he ate so much. He still is talking about those ribs, and how he wants to go get more. Too bad it's so far away!

Here I am with sweet little Bailey.... (sorry our eyes look creepy, I tried to fix the red eye on them, and messed it up, and now I can't figure out how to make them normal. Anyone know how to do that on iphoto???)

I bought her this adorable little dress a while ago, I love shopping for little girls! I don't get to do that much...  :)

I love her chunker legs!! They remind me of Conner's chunky legs he had when he was a baby.

I love going on trips. I love holding sweet little babies. I love having fun with my family. It was so great to see everyone!

While on our trip to the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco (I promise I'm gonna post about that soon!) we stopped at this great place called the Czech Stop.

It was also in a gas station. Apparently some of Texas's greatest treasures are found in gas stations!  :)

They have these pastries called Kolaches, and WOW, they are yummy!

They have lots of different kinds, they were to die for! 

This one was our favorite, Strawberry and Cream Cheese. So good. Seriously!

Patrick was especially excited about this place. He served his mission in Budapest, Hungary and the Czech Republic boarders Hungary, so they had lot of food that he loved from his mission, or very similar. He was especially excited to learn that they will ship any of their food to you. So he is excited to get his Hungarian meat (I'd try to spell it, but I know I'd get it all wrong, so I'm not going to attempt it!) and cheese, and pastries delivered right to our door. He hasn't had some of those things since on his mission.

***Just FYI, I wasn't that big of a Nerd to take pics of the Czech Stop, I got these pics off of Google Image. Just thought I'd throw that out there to keep some sort of respect.  :)*** 

Christmas at the Patton's...

...totally stunk this year!!!!!! Let me tell you why...

We put the kids to bed on Christmas Eve like normal, and we went about our "business" to get things ready for Christmas morning. After we were done with that, Patrick and I were laying in bed watching our new flat screen TV (thank you Chrysalis Christmas party!!!) and we hear Brayden start to cry. I go into his room and he is burning up with a fever (totally came out of nowhere, I hate it when that happens!!) and he was complaining that his ear hurt. So I gave him some Tylenol and told him to go back to sleep. Long story short, it was a very long night of him crying because his ear hurt so bad, and none of us got much sleep. We did manage to sleep long enough for Santa to come. Poor Brayden barely lasted through opening presents before he wanted to go back to bed. You can kinda tell by his face here that he just doesn't feel well at all.

However, Conner felt GREAT!! He was super happy about his new Power Ranger scooter, and rode it around the house all day!

Brayden did try his out, but he only made it down the hall once, then was done. He really wasn't feeling good.

My sweet Conner enjoying some of his presents from the grandparents!

By about noon, we had decided we have tried everything we could think of to help Brayden feel better, but nothing helped, he was just getting worse. His ear started to hurt just to touch it, and he could hardly hear out of it anymore. So after trying really hard to find an Urgent Care open on Christmas Day (yeah right, no such luck) we decided it would be best to take him to the ER. So off to Centennial Hill Hospital we went. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be in the ER, I thought we would be there all day, but we were in and out fairly quickly, for an ER at least. Then the bigger challenge I faced was to find a stupid pharmacy that was open on Christmas Day. After several failed attempts, and many phone call, I finally found one open over in Summerlin, about 30 minutes away. So I got back in the car and went to get his meds so he could start feeling better soon. (after all, we were leaving to fly to TX in one more day!) They were pretty busy, so I had to wait for 45 min to get his prescription. By now, I was starving, I hadn't eaten since breakfast, and it was about 6pm. So how convenient, there was a Jack in the Box across the street from the pharmacy that had it's drive though open. It was pretty crowded too. So I ate Christmas dinner from Jack in the Box... by myself... in  my car. Oh, and I failed to mention also that this whole time Patrick was not feeling well and was starting to get an abscessed tooth. PERFECT!!! Dentist's aren't open on Christmas either!! Patrick however suffered through until the next day and even though his dentist was still closed, we called her and she called in some meds to help Patrick last until we got back from TX. Merry Christmas Patrick... you get a root canal and we all get medical bills!!! YAY!

The good news, we got to Texas and had a great time with all my family. Everyone was feeling better by the time we left for Texas.

More about that trip to come later....

Brayden's birthday!

Why, yes... I realize that I'm very behind on blogging, but we have been gone, and life has been hectic, so here we go....

On Christmas Eve we celebrated Brayden's 6th birthday. He was very excited all day and it was almost torture for him to wait to open up his presents until his dad woke up.

He got a lot of cool thing, at least he thought so. He was very happy to get a Nerf Gun as you can see...

His Iron Man toy was also a huge hit!

After opening his presents we were off to lunch at Chili's, one of Brayden's favorite places to eat. We even let him have a Dr. Pepper with his lunch as a special birthday treat. He thought that was awesome since we never let him do that.

Then we went to Blockbuster and let him pick out a game for the Wii to rent and we all came home and played it together for a while. Then it was cake time! He was very specific in wanting not just any Batman cake, but a Dark Knight Batman cake. So this was as creative as I got. He thought it was cool though, so that is what matters.

He's not excited or anything.....

He had a great day!

The Best Christmas Present EVER!

On December 24, 2002 at 11:04 am our lives changed forever when we got the best Christmas present EVER!!! We must have been very good that year, because look what Santa left for us in our stocking....

Brayden was born into our little family weighing in at just 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 20 inches long. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and the sweet nurses put him in a stocking when they brought him back from his first bath! Too cute!

He was a fairly good baby. I just didn't realize it at the time, since of course I had never been a mom before, but he actually was a pretty laid back baby. He loved his swing from day 1. He loved to sit back and watch his mom and dad, and probably laughed to himself at how clueless his parents were to this whole baby thing. He was (and still is) a small little guy, but he's just so cute! He spent the first week of his life in a billi-bed because he had jaundice pretty bad. But after that cleared up, he was a happy, healthy baby.

Since he was a Christmas baby, how could I not dress him up as Santa for a few pictures....

One of my favorite things about Brayden is that he got his Daddy's incredible dimples! It melts you're heart every time he smiles at you! He has always loved to cuddle with me, and I of course love it too.

This was his blessing outfit that my mom made for him. I loved it!

Such a sweet angel! The poor kid though didn't get hair till after his 1st birthday.

One of his favorite pass times was wearing his dad's hats. He loved that! He has always been a little bit of a daddy's boy, and always wants to do anything and everything his dad does.

Today, Brayden is still a great kid! He is smart, funny, a great big brother, and still our little angel! He loves Power Rangers, Batman, Transformers, and Star Wars. (all things boy!) He is doing great in Kindergarten, and loves to go everyday. He has brought so much happiness to our family, and we couldn't imagine a better Christmas gift!!!!!!

Happy 6th Birthday Brayden!!!

We love you so much!

Getting ready for Christmas!

I have been meaning to post these pictures for a few weeks now, but I keep forgetting. But we did get our tree up a while ago. They boys were of course super excited to put it up.

My cuties!!!

I can't believe my little boy is going to be 6 next week! How is that possible?!?!

This is when the boys got to see Santa at our Ward's Christmas party a few weeks ago. Lucky for us, they asked for all the things Santa already got for them. They were excited to see Santa!

I love that Conner was keeping his hands in his pockets the whole time. He's so funny!

Brayden was thinking hard of what to ask for, can you tell????

And then of course, here is proof that my kids are a little crazy!

What a great helper!

The other night after spending most of the day doing laundry, I asked the boys to go and get their pajamas on. I told them they were probably still in the dryer. So Conner runs up the stairs as as fast as he can, and this is what I find him doing....

Ask and ye shall receive! He was trying so hard to find both his jammies and Brayden's. What a great helper!!! He loves to help me do the laundry, the weirdo!!

Me... Canning.....

Last night I went with some ladies in the ward to the cannery. No, not the casino by my house, but the church cannery. I must admit, I was a cannery virgin, but it was surprisingly easier then I thought it would be, and we all got the stuff we wanted, and filled other ward member's orders, and even looked smokin' hot in our hair caps and plastic aprons! It was a sight to see!   I personally was on label duty, and those labels went on pretty darn straight and perfect if I do say so myself. :)  I got a few cases of canned things, so I am slowly but surely getting our food storage up to par. Maybe one day it will be as big and organized as my BFF Kym's. But it's not yet!

They had a sign on the counter at the cannery that made me chuckle... it said:

300 LBS of Wheat....... $100

25 LBS of Beans....$12

Following the Prophet.... Priceless

Yes, it is true, but it just made me laugh.  

Teeth...

So Brayden, while eating lunch on Saturday says. "my tooth hurts". Patrick takes a look, and sure enough, Brayden has his first loose tooth! I was kinda shocked. I don't know why, a bunch of his friends have lost teeth, I just can't believe he's old enough to start losing teeth. Even though he will be 6 in like 2 weeks, it's things like this that make me realize he's growing up!

As you can see, he is very excited about his loose tooth. All night on Saturday, while at our Ward Christmas party, he was asking if he could eat whatever it was he was eating with his lose tooth. We finally assured him he could eat all the same things with a loose tooth. He wiggles it all the time, so I'm sure very soon, the tooth fairy will have to come and visit our house for the first time!

Silly kid!!

Black Friday....

Yes, I know that it is a bit late, but life is kinda boring, so you get it anyways. Last week Patrick and I braved the incredible crowds and stood in super long lines all for the joy of.......

At midnight, we went with Patrick's brother and our sister in law and stood in a HUGE line (much like this, only not in front of Target)

But in front of Toys R Us. They were opening at midnight with some sales and we wanted in on the action. Now every year, Patrick and I go shopping on black Friday, but it's usually just whenever we wake up in the morning, we'll head out. But this year, there were so many things that we wanted to buy in all the doorbuster sales. So we decided to brave the crowds! And WOW! were there crowds. I have never seen anything like it before. It was total craziness! After spending a while at Toys R Us, we decided we needed to have a new game plan. We ran home, dropped off our purchases and my brother in law who was falling asleep, and decided it was best to divide and conquer. So Patrick went back to Toys R Us to stand in lines for things going on sale at 5 am, and me and my sister in law went to Super Wal-Mart (at 2 am) to wait it out there. We were lucky and found some things we wanted and stashed them in our carts. But most of the things we were in hot pursuit of didn't go on sale till 5 am. Luckily for us, that particular Wal-Mart had a Sonic in it, so we got ourselves a Route 44 Dr. Pepper, and waited for the 5 am sales to start. When that hit, HOLY COW! It was just like you see in the movies where people are grabbing everything like crazy. I have never seen so many people in Wal-Mart before! After finally finding all we set out for, we went to leave. We waited forever in the checkout lines, then the most hilarious part of all was me and my sister in law trying to get the new trampoline I got for the boys for christmas into the back of Patrick's truck. That things was heavy! After a few failed  attempts, a nice man helped up lift in into the truck, but not without laughing a little at us. 

So we literally didn't get one bit of sleep that night. We finally all got home about 7:30 am! I haven't done that since college, but I was so glad we did. We save so much money!!! It was awesome. I probably won't ever do that again, unless I will be able to save a ton like I did this year. 

And I must be getting old, because a week later, I'm still paying for missing that night of sleep!