The Whole Herd

It's been at least 7 years since all of the Brady children have been in the same state. Shaun and Taylor had their open house this weekend and it has been so nice to have Derek and his family here from Montana.
Here is Derek with Nephew Bryce.










































Since we were all here, we couldn't pass up pictures!














And while we're at it, it's been awhile since we had family pictures taken by someone other than Greg and I.

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Shaun Brady!

Before:




A beautiful Day in Washington D.C.!






















































After:







We were able to go with Shaun and Taylor to get their endowments and loved getting to watch them be sealed for eternity the next day! I was proud that Taylor wore my wedding dress and love that she added a splash of Taylor with the green ribbon around the waist. We're so happy to have Taylor in the family!






































Reception in Pennsylania:







The reception was at Taylor's parent's home in Oxford Pennsylvania -- beautiful! We saw a couple of horse drawn carriages, a 3-horse drawn plow and Amish farms with women in dresses hanging laundry on the line. It was really neat!

On the way home at 8pm, I took a wrong turn and the GPS recalculated me down a long country lane where my mom and I saw a field with more fireflies than I have ever seen in my life. It looked like a Christmas field full of twinkling lights. So amazing.

Shaun and Taylor are enjoying the Bahamas right now and then back to Apex for an open house this weekend. :)

Meadow's three (five) wishes

1. I wish that I could have a new princess dress with a green jewel on it, no two princess dresses, one pink, one blue. You know what I want? A Belle princess dress.

2. A white beetle car. (She saw one out of her window as we were driving.)

3. That the world was covered in jelly beans!

4. That cars had grass growing on them.

5. To go to Disney World!

Three Wishes

Yesterday I gave Parker a piece of paper and divided it into 3 sections and said "pretend you have three wishes, draw me a picture of what they would be, 1 wish in each section." This is what he came up with:

Wish #1 - To fight a real Sith Lord.

Wish #2 - To drive a green (his favorite color) car someday.

Wish #3 - To have a REAL light saber as opposed to toy light sabers.


We'll see what we can do about wish #2 someday. :D

Happy 90th birthday to my Grandpa Woodrow Williams!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!! (Photo Courtesy of Haylie Coats)

What a privilege it is and has been to be your granddaughter! Just thinking about you puts a grin on my face. You are truly one of a kind and one of the best men I know.

My earliest memories are of excitement filled car drives to the farm in Idaho. We just couldn’t wait to get there. I loved everything about our visits with you and when you and Grandma Claire would come to visit us as well. Trips to the store to buy penny candies, requests to see your false teeth come out, the best homemade french fries and fried potatoes I’ve ever had, picking blackberries and green peas on the side of the house, playing in the potato cellar, feeding a bunch of stray cats on the porch, and bedtimes stories of the fox and the grapes and the three billy goats gruff. Sometimes we would have to shake you awake to get you to finish the story if you fell asleep mid-story and you would wake with a laugh and say “Where was I” and we would laugh too. I can hear your laugh in my head even now and it is and always has been contagious!! You would always make sure that we felt special and wonderful by saying things when we entered the room like “There’s that Heather, she’s a good looking gal isn’t she?!” or “She is really something special.” repeated in different ways for each grandchild that came in or out of the room. I loved to hear you sing or whistle and watch you work and cook. You were never in a bad mood and if we ever were you could pull us out quickly with a funny sentence and laughter.

I of course remember our visits to the old Indian home (see Derek’s letter!) and to the zoo! I’ll bet we got to see behavior from the animals that most kids didn’t. I remember once being slightly worried and fascinated about how angry you were able to make the monkeys!! And who can forget getting peed on by a tiger?! How many kids can say that? I was standing a bit too close with my back to the cage and you said “Heather look out!” but it was too late. I think I was too shocked to move! I also remember that I loved to go down in the basement and play on your exercise machine that had the belt that went around your waist that jiggled your insides when you turned it on. You always let us give things a try and be kids and never got upset with us! I also remember loving to look at all of the pretty dresses in the back bedroom that Mom and Aunt Ileen wore when they were in school.

When you came to visit us in the various places we lived you would always make sure to attend our different sporting events and fix our bikes or give them a tune up. I remember once that my neighbor friend also had a bicycle that was broken and she brought it over and you fixed her bike too. I was really proud of that. I knew that my grandpa was the best! We also loved the autographed photos that you would bring us of Miss America or Miss Idaho! :D

On a visit to Idaho when I was about 17, I thought it was so funny that you tried to set me up on “a hot date” with a local football player that everyone thought was so wonderful. Thank goodness he called and cancelled. Lol! I was worried about that. I adored coming to visit and getting to stay with you in Burley while I was at Ricks College. I remember stopping at the supermarket with you for you to pick up some beano and some snowballs. You held up the little bottle of Beano and asked me if I knew what that was and I said no. Then you told me it was for when you ate too many beans and got gas! ☺ You always made sure to show me the drawer where the candy and the snowballs were kept and you always made me feel at home and comfortable. I loved getting to participate in the everyday routine with you and Grandma and I liked hearing you listen to Rush Limbaugh in the evenings and when you would fall asleep watching the news on TV.

After I was married, I was really excited to get to come see you and to meet Beverly and for Greg to meet you. I knew he would love you!! We had the best time. I remember that you and Beverly both went out of your way to make sure we had a great time. We went to the lava caves, the place where Evil Canival jumped, Sun Valley, and the rock climbing place (I can’t remember the name of it now) but it was so much fun! One evening at the house the missionaries stopped by and they came in and visited and one of the Elders spoke in broken English and you asked him where he was from. He was from a small remote island somewhere and you said “What do you eat there roots (pronounced ruhts)?” I got so tickled that the chair I was sitting on began to shake and Greg and I couldn’t make eye contact. We still repeat that occasionally. :D I also loved getting to hear you say again, as I often remember you saying, when a plate of food is placed in front of you “I can’t eat all that!” We also loved getting to spend some time with Ileen’s family!! Greg was so honored and thrilled to be able to make the trip back to interview and film you as well. You did such a fabulous job on camera telling your stories and I always cry at the end when I watch it. We all know that you love us Grandpa and I think that is one true mark of a wonderful Grandpa!

Grandpa, what a lucky family we are to have you. Thank you for all of the things that you have taught us by example and who you are. You have made a difference in all of our lives and we are filled with wonderful memories because of you. One phrase in particular that I can remember you telling me repeatedly throughout my life is to “not worry about things because it doesn’t do any good and things always work out in the end,” a refrain that has echoed in my mind throughout the years whenever I had troubles or worries. I am really grateful for that, for your sense of humor and for your example of hard work, spirituality, and selflessness. I love you!!!

Love, Heather

Picture Day

Meadow had picture day for her dance class and they wore their adorable recital costumes so we had to take some pictures at home too. :)

Allergy testing update

Well, the results came back from Parker's blood test and it was as I suspected, not as good as the skin test showed. Not good. Drat. Although I tried my best to not get my hopes up, hopes have a way of sneaking up so I was disappointed a little. I just want him to be able to enjoy more foods, but in the scheme of things I know that it will be ok. We will just keep on keeping on and work at keeping everyone healthy and happy.

With the blood test, they did a panel of his other allergies as well. Peanut/tree nut numbers have gone up, as has egg (they are a bit worse) which can happen even though you are not ingesting them and is frustrating. Wheat was actually a little higher as well.

We have had a time with eczema through the spring, but we usually see an improvement with that as well as asthma through the summer. So that will be nice. We will go down to one preventative breathing treatment a day as opposed to the two we were doing through the fall and spring with both kids.

As a mom you just wish you could wave a magic wand and make everything better but they are happy and otherwise healthy which is a blessing and they are learning life lessons and becoming strong through challenges as are we as their parents, as are we all.

I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes

Greg filmed "Sleeping Beauty" for the Carolina Ballet and so we got free tickets to take the kids, Aunt Karissa and Cousin Laney. They enjoyed it! Well, most of it! After the dragon came out and Sleeping Beauty had been kissed they were finished so we skipped the last 30 minutes of the 2 hour ballet and that is when the true fun began. We had no choice, it was in our fingers and in our toes. :D

Before the Ballet:



Introducing their royal highnesses....





















After the Ballet:

Track-out adventures

Parker just recently tracked back into school, but here are some pictures of some of the track-out fun.

Meadow's pick - The Zoo!

One highlight of this trip was watching the zoo keeper feed the Gorillas. The large male gorilla sat under the wall that she was throwing food from and caught every piece of carrot that she threw in. He never went for the lettuce or anything else. Then she threw some pieces of carrot over by the window where we were watching from and he came and got those too. The kids thought it was funny and called him "the carrot thief" because he ate every single one and none of the female gorillas got any that we saw.
Another highlight was the cougar. We got to watch him climb a tree, catch a mouse, bring it down and eat it all within about 25 seconds. I'm surprised I didn't throw up, my gag reflex is so awesome right now. lol.
The third highlight to the kids were the giant slushies. They only sold one size where we bought them and they thought it was so cool to have the giant size.































































































Parker's pick - The beach! The kids and I managed a day trip while Greg was working. We always like to go to the last public parking section on Wrightsville beach because they have outdoor hoses and showers to get the kids cleaned up before the drive home. The weather was about 85 - perfect! It wasn't too windy and there just happened to be an awesome tide pool for the kids to play in that was warm! It my haste to load up the car in the morning I left the bag with our swimsuits and towels in it and so we had to do a shopping trip to Wings for swimsuits and towels for the kids - uggh! (but aren't they cute? hehehe)

What's been goin' on

Dishwasher fixed - Check
Car out of the shop - Check
Driver's license renewed - Check
Painters out of the house - Check
Greg back in town - Check
(of course all of the above had to happen while he was gone)
Ordered tickets for Meadow's first dance recital - Check
Yearly food allergy retesting done- Check

Parker's wheat allergy was so much better this year than last that they decided to do labs to see how the results showed up on the blood test. So we went and drew blood today and I am anxiously awaiting the results. Man, wouldn't that be amazing if he could eat wheat in the next year or two? What a tremendous blessing that would be. I refuse to let myself get too excited yet. I feel the excitement bubbling up inside and I squelch it back down just to spare the disappointment later if the results aren't as great as we thought. We should get those results back within a week! We'll probably start immunotherapy for his outdoor allergies sometime in the next year. This will include a weekly shot the first year and then they get spaced farther apart the second and third years and it can really make a big difference. He has a lot of tree allergies, ragweed, one kind of grass, and of course dust and mold, cats and dogs.

Greg flew to Salt Lake for a friend's wedding and also got to visit some friends that moved not far from there and meet their little baby. I was a little jealous that he got to hold her and I didn't. ;) He had a great time and wished he could have stayed longer to make the drive to Idaho to see some family there. Next time! (when he bring us with him! ;)




He got home just in time on Mother's Day to send me upstairs for a nap. Which I gladly took. I woke up to a cake and sweet smiles and cards. I loved how excited they were to show me the surprises. I love being a mom.







Parker was amazing while Greg was out of town. I could tell he was trying extra hard to be good and one morning he said that he was the man of the house while daddy was away. He was helpful to his sister and even helped me bring in groceries from the car on his own accord. :) He has one more week of track out and then back to school. We ran into his teacher in the grocery store and he really like that. He came home and painted her a picture of the beach and we mailed it to her.



Meadow is such a funny girl. She cracks me up lately! She has an imaginary horse named "Parpie" and she gallops around the house with her arms held out straight in front of her like she is holding reins and she says things like "ride like the wind Parpie!" She also will break into this gallop in the grocery store and anywhere we happen to be around town. It's pretty cute. Right now she also likes to sing along with the Disney Princess songs and she will close her eyes and shake her head back and forth for full dramatic effect.

Seriously...

Our dishwasher that we have had for a little over a year is not working and has a flashing error message that means not enough water pressure. Repair man coming Friday. Tried the circuit breaker, didn't make a difference. No other appliances running or using water at the same time. Could there be anyone more unlucky with dishwashers than me? Seriously? Click here if you need me to jog your memory. After I was done crying about it, I cried a little bit more and now I am resigned to unloading the still un-clean dishes from the dishwasher and washing them by hand. I could blame it on the pregnancy hormones (Surprise!! :) But I think I would have cried about it anyway. I am still not over my three month stint of handwashing dishes from last time. I need a bigger sink. And a magic wand. And a magic carpet to fly away from my kitchen on. lol.

Ah well, this too will pass I suppose. I will just think about the pioneers and be grateful for running water...

Where's the fiiya?

Greg was in the parking lot at his work today talking to a co-worker when they smelled smoke. They looked across the street and saw flames coming up from the hay that was spread around the building and around these AC units with wires everywhere (I can only assume for growing grass or maybe it was pine straw to keep weeds from growing.) Side note: We know someone whose house caught on fire from hot grease dripping from their grill on the back deck onto pine straw that was spread underneath the deck. Be careful everyone. Maybe mulch is the way to go. Back to the story: So Greg runs over and starts stomping on the flames and yells to his co-worker to go get a fire extinguisher. She does and throws it to him and he puts out the fire. That's my boy. :) Then the fire fighters arrived to check it out and say thank you and he got an honorary fire fighter badge. Just kidding about the badge. That is what happened on Clifford. But it was still exciting to be a volunteer fire fighter for the day. Afterward, everyone in his office said he smelled like beef jerky because of the smoke.

In other news, my brother Shaun is getting married in June. We are having an open house at my house, and you are all invited. More to come later on that. Come eat cake! :) The other exciting thing is that all of the Brady siblings will be there and I get to meet my brother Derek's daughter for the first time. :)