All Grown Up

So I know I am way behind on the blogging but I had to post this today! Gabe rode his bike for the first time without training wheels! Joe's sister gave us a Strider bike which is a bike without pedals. It is supposed to help you learn balance to ride without training wheels. Gabe was riding it so well today I suggested that for FHE activity tonight we try to let him ride on his regular bike without training wheels! He was up for it and he did it! I don't even think it took 5 minutes for him to pick it up! He was so excited and I was so proud of him!  Can't you tell!! My little boy is growing up!

 

Thanksgiving and Christmas

So Christmas is about four months away. I figure it's about time I update about our last Christmas! But before I do I can't forget to mention Thanksgiving! I know it's horrible I didn't take any pictures. But for this last Thanksgiving my parents came to visit! I think that it was the smallest Thanksgiving I've ever had. It was nice though! We really enjoyed spending time with them. I learned how to cook my first turkey of course with the help of my mom! It turned out well! After Thanksgiving Gabe and I drove to Utah with my parents to visit Brad's family and meet this little girl

Isn't she so sweet!! We couldn't get enough of her. Gabe LOVED spending time with Carter. They are such good buddies and play well with each other! Here are some crazy pictures of these two boys at the bounce house

Gabe and I also got to visit Joe's parents. One day while taking Grandma to work we saw this guy! Gabe was in love and we had to stop!  It was pretty cool!  But we didn't get to stay long... just enough to take a picture because it was  so cold! Our Arizona bodies couldn't handle it:)

When we got back from Utah we went to see the Mesa Temple lights. Lots of fun!

Our Yummy FHE treat! Yea for Pinterest!

For Christmas we headed to Tennessee. We arrived late Christmas Eve! All but one of the siblings made it and some of the grandchildren. Christmas at the Bradford house was full of craziness but lots of fun! I think there was about 50+ of us. Full of games, laughs, and sickness! Here is Christmas Eve.

What is Christmas without leaving Santa cookies and milk:)

Poor Gabe got sick the day we got to Tennessee. He was a trooper though! He loved is new PJ's and toys! A few days later we ended up taking him to the doctor. I felt horrible right as we walked in the doctors office his eardrum had ruptured and was bleeding! He ended up with a double ear infection! Just after New Year's I ended up at the doctor with and ear infection, sinus infection and strep throat! Great combination I must say!

We took family pictures one day and it was sooo cold! Here is one of our silly poses! I think there is still about 15 of us missing.  It is so hard to get us all together at once but this was as close as we were able to get!

Love you guys!! Can't wait to get together in about 3 years!!

Halloween & Gabe's Birthday

Gabe was very excited about Halloween this year. I don't know if it was the actual Halloween or the fact that it meant his birthday was coming! So Gabe turned 3 this year (well I guess last year)! I can't believe he's getting so big! He was so excited for his birthday he could hardly stand it! We had his cousins come over and we celebrated with cake and ice cream. He had a lot of fun. Unfortunately that night he started getting sick!
Gabe chose to be Woody again for Halloween. I didn't complain because we already had every thing. The only new thing we had to get was a hat. He did enjoy the trick or treating but the poor boy wasn't feeling well at all! He ended up having croup.

He was very insistent on having party hats! It took me forever to find some!

I know this has nothing to do with Halloween or his birthday. To start off this is a pillowcase that Joe made me while we were dating. After carving pumpkins, we started getting ready for bed and Gabe starts yelling, " It's a clue! It's a clue!" Joe and I looked at each other confused. I asked Gabe what he was talking about and he went and pointed at Joe's hand print. Joe and I had a good laugh for a few minutes!

One of his birthday presents! He was like this for literally a week! He loved them!

Update

I think it's been long enough since I have blogged. We have finally settled here in Arizona! We got down here in early September. The move was hard on Gabe but he has finally adjusted well. He tells me all the time that he loves his new house. We are still trying to learn our way around and meet new friends. Overall we are doing well happy to all be together again! Joe is really enjoying his new job! Here are a couple pictures from around the time we moved!

This was taken when Joe had come home to pick us up to bring us down to AZ. Gabe was so excited to see his daddy. He didn't want to leave his side! He kept giving him hugs.

These two love to attack me!

Can you tell who that weird looking girl is?!?! Joe's dad brought this home from BYU and gave it to me. It was in the Daily Universe. Isn't that picture so flattering! Ha! A couple of my in-laws and I ran the Dirty Dash in 2010. We dressed up as nerds!

I found this game on sale and brought it home to Gabe! He absolutely loves it! We spend a lot of time playing it! This is me practicing my photography.

Family Weekend

The second weekend in August Joe's 2 brothers ( Mike and Paul) came into town. We celebrated Joe's dad's birthday and did a lot of other fun things. I think one of the best parts of the weekend was surprising Joe's parents with Paul coming into town. They knew Mike was coming but had no idea Paul was. Mike picked Paul up from the airport on his way down from Idaho. When Mike got to the house he and his family came in and we said our hellos and visited for a bit then there was a knock on the door. (This was around like 10:30) My in-laws kinda seemed surprised they opened the door and in came Paul! It was perfect!!
On that Saturday Brandi and I participated in the Lindon Days 5k and the kiddos did a little fun run. I signed Gabe up because it was free. Little did I know it was half a mile. I can understand when the registration lady gave me a funny look when I told her he was 2! We did it anyways and guess who won?!?! Yes that would be my son!!
At the awards ceremony they announced Gabe as the winner in his division! I was just as surprised as all the other kids when they saw how little he was. We still aren't sure how he won. His cousin finished before him. I felt a little bad taking the award because Gabe did not really run the whole way. He ran about half way and got too tired so we just turned around and went back! We did tell the awards people. I guess they didn't mind! We got a good laugh about it.
We had a great weekend and loved having them in town! We miss you guys a lot! Especially Gabe! He was very sad when everyone left! Here a few pictures of the events!

Gabe's FIRST place ribbon! p.s. He LOVES his Uncle Paul and had a

very hard time when he left!

After the race
All the little kiddos that ran the race. Matthew won his division. Way to go Matthew!
Bailey and Gabe. He is very thirsty from all his running!

I thought it was so cute he had is own number.

Before the kid's race.

My first race in a long time! I really need to get back to running again!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

And we're off....

Joe has been interviewing for jobs on and off for the past couple of months.We did get an offer a month or so ago but did not feel right about it. On July 25th Joe got a call for a job offer! After pondering and praying... we felt good about it and decided to take the job. This job will move us to Arizona. We are sad and excited at the same time. It is going to be hard to leave family and friends! On the brighter side the job is with a good company and doing what he wants.
Joe had to leave yesterday for AZ to start the job. We will join him as soon as we can find a place to live. I hope it's sooner rather than later. I already have a little boy here who misses his daddy! (Yes, I do miss him too!)

Timp Cave

Early in July my brother Thel and his family came to visit from Michigan. It was so good to see them! While they were here we went to Timp Cave. I was a little nervous with taking all the kids but they all did well. I had forgotten what a hike it was! Last time I went was about 10 years ago! I don't think I had sweat that much in a long time. It didn't help that it was hot outside. We had a lot of fun! Gabe had a lot of fun spending time with his cousins and was sad to see them go.

Gabe and his cousins.

Gabe and Daddy

When I first saw this picture i kept wondering what he was holding. I finally figured he wasn't holding anything it was just a cone far away.

This made the hike a lot less worrisome! Thanks Britni! I used to make fun of people that put these on their kids. I totally know why you need one. Especially with a busy little guy like Gabe.

Top of the Cave

In the Cave

The whole gang!