Brady and Katie's Blog

Happy 2012!!!

2012-01-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

We had SO MUCH FUN this holiday season! We spent the week between Christmas and New Years at the cabin and we had a BLAST!! (someone must have spiked the punch)

This is Brady's new cotton candy machine that he got for Christmas. (sweet present eh?) You can put hard candy, like yummy starburst candycanes, in it to make delicious cotton candy.

We played some sweet "minute to win it" games.

Happy New Years!!
We have a sledding hill by our cabin and sled on it for the first time. We made lots of chains and had a lot of crazy fun.

We spent the rest of the time outside on the swing, snowmobiles, sleds, and on the slide. It was brexon's first time out in the snow and he loved it!

We already can't wait for next year!

Brexon is one!!!

2011-12-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my little Brexon Boy!!
We had 3 parties, one with the Renchers, one with the Tuckers, and one with Chuck E Cheese!

It was soo much fun. We love this little guy so much, and can't believe he's already one!

Viva Las Vegas

2011-11-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

Brady and I took our first trip away from Brexon a few weeks ago. While he played with Grandma and Grandpa, we went to Vegas to watch the BSU vs UNLV game. My dental supplier gave us free tickets and a discounted hotel room if I went to their CE class. Since Brady had that thursday and friday off of school, we couldn't pass up the opportunity. We decided to drive through Utah so we could go to the temple and see Brittany and Carlie.

Brittany's little boy Zander was so cute. He is only 5 months and weighs 20lbs! He did not like me holding him and kept staring me down later, worried that I'd take him again. Sorry little guy!We got to go to the St George temple which was the best part of the trip. I LOVE this temple! I miss living in St George and it was such a beautiful night.

Friday night we walked along the strip and went to Fremont street. We got some fried twinkies and fried oreos. Sound good? Well then you are mistaken. They are disgusting!! -soggy with grease :(

Here is the aquarium at Caesar's Palace. And here is the small show they do at Caesar's Palace.We also saw the Volcano, Belagio fountain, Circus Circus shows, and the Venetian.

On Saturday night we had a big tail gate with the dental supplier and then watched the game. It was so much fun! The night was cold but worth it! We finished the night off with some midnight bowling at our hotel (and yes I brought my bowling shoes and saved three dollars!) Luckily the bowling alley was smoke free, which I think is the only place in all of Las Vegas that is smoke free.It was a nice weekend away. We were so thankful that my parents watched Brexon and took such good care of him. He didn't even punish us when we got back, he was just happy as could be. Such a good boy!

First Halloween!

2011-11-07T10:29:00.000-08:00

Brexon's first Halloween was great! We dressed him up in three fun costumes and partied hardy. First he was a turtle and we went to two young married parties. Since Brady is going to be a Pharmacist, he dressed up as a drug dealer, and I was a tooth fairy since I am a dental hygienist. Therefore Brexon is probably going to be a marine biologist. (at least we didn't doom him to be a fast food worker by dressing him in the hot dog for the parties.)

Then we dressed him in a lion costumed and he really took to it. He really liked to roar (well squeal is more like it.)

Then for our ward Trunk of Treat Brexon was a little hot dog.

Here is our family portrait pumpkin.We had a blast and topped it all off with Young Frankenstein and caramel apples. We hope you had a fun Halloween too!

2011-09-16T18:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a little update on Brexon. He is now 9 months and so much fun! He is army crawling everywhere, loves being tossed and flipped around, and loves running while we hold his hands.

These first two pics are from his 6 month photos.

These are pics we took at Albertson's Park for his 9 month photos.

He is growing fast! Here are his 9 month stats:
weight-17 lbs 8%
height-29 in 73%

Cabin Fun

2011-09-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

We've been to the cabin a lot this summer. This was the first time we took the boat.

Brex didn't like the boat too much but then fell asleep and did great!

We just love spending time with my family and relaxing at the cabin. We'll be sad to not have as much time off to party this fall.

Can't get enough Mississippi!

2011-09-06T19:02:00.000-07:00

I had the last week of July off and kept begging Brady to let us do something fun. So when we found out on Saturday that Brady didn't have to work that week either, we started looking for something to do. That night we looked for tickets to mississippi just for fun but found a good deal. So two days later we flew off to 'sippi to have a sweet vacation with Grandma and Grandpa.We took a few family pics at the swamp

Grandma and Grandpa took Brex to the Children's Museum to take some fun pictures.Here's the life size scrabble board

We sure miss Grandpa and Grandma!! We are so glad we got to see them on our week off. It was a quick but fun trip! We can't wait for them to come home!!!

Tucker Fun!

2011-07-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

The Tucker brothers wanted to get together to play golf over the 4th of July weekend, so we dragged everyone up to pine and made a weekend of it. We only got to play and relax for 2 days but it was a lot of fun. The kiddos played for hours with all the toys and seemed to have a blast.

The big boys found their own entertainment in the form of car racing games.

We also played outside a little bit while the little boys rode their bikes around.

Overall it was a successful weekend full of food, golf, and fun!! The only things missing were Jeremy and Debbie's kids and we all really missed Tom and Annette!! We can't wait till we can have a real Tucker reunion with them next summer!

Off to Grandpa and Grandma's House!

2011-05-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

The long awaited vacation finally came. If only we didn't have to take three planes to get there, but Brex did better that expected. On the flights to Mississippi he slept during the layovers and was awake on the planes. Until the plane started landing, when he would fall asleep again and then stay asleep until we got on the next plane.

We were all really excited when we finally made it to Grandma and Grandpa's. Brex didn't like the 3 hour car ride we still had to take to get to Jackson, but he was excited to finally see his Grandma and Grandpa!!

2011-05-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun in Mississippi with Grandpa and Grandma! We mostly relaxed at home and played with little Brex. We went swimming, went on walks, and played the piano.

We also went out to try some yummy mississippi food, brady and tom when golfing, and we did some shopping. It was so a fun relaxing trip, it always is with Tom and Annette. We love and miss you two!

Shreveport Louisianna

2011-05-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

We had a fun night in Shreveport where we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse (Brex didn't have so much fun there) and then went to the boardwalk along the river. First Brexon threw his crayons and then made Grandma hold him to calm him down.

Here is Brady with some alligators in the background.

It was such a fun night. We topped it off with some shopping at baby outlet stores and sitting in the hot tub with Brex.

Last Day in Sippi

2011-05-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

We drove to Shreveport the night before we left on the airplane and stayed at a hotel. It was so nice and made the airplane day so much better.

Here is Brexon having fun with grandma before the inevitable goodbye.

Brex is happy here because he didn't realize that he won't be seeing them again for almost 8 more months. He cries all the time now just thinking about how much he misses his Grandma and Grandpa!

We had so much fun and can't wait to go back! We sure love you Grandma and Grandpa!!

Happy Birthday Brady and Happy Easter!

2011-05-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

Brady turned 26 a few weeks ago. We had a blast that week celebrating. First we went to the Melting Pot with some of his family; Shane and Amy, and Jeremy and Debbie. It was so much fun, I'm sad we didn't take any pictures. This pic is from Tucanos where we went on Brady's actual birthday.

We took Brexon and went with Jeff and Mikaela. Since Mikaela's birthday is in May too, they each got a free meal. We tried last year to go together, but finally got there this year and it was great!!!

Brexon just started sitting in his play gym for extended periods of time and it is so nice. We were able to get packed the night of brady's birthday since we had to leave at 5 am the next morning for Mississippi.

He usually loves it, and was particularly happy this time.

Brexon's first Easter was the funnest Easter yet. We went to the cabin with a bunch of my family, and we all had so much fun. Here is Brex with his easter basket.He really just liked the wrapping, so we are saving the rest for next year!

Brex was determined to get the most easter eggsThe egg hunts wore him out and he fell asleep right in the middle of doing crafts. Silly boy couldn't take all the excitement.

Brex

2011-03-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

We took Brexon swimming for the first time a while back. The water was a little cold, so we only got in for a few minutes but it was still fun. I just can't wait until summer so we can swim outside in the warm sun, cuz this kid loves his baths! (like most kids)

We were able to go visit Carlie and her new baby Amelia. She was so alert and just darling!

Sadly, I think this picture will capture their future friendship perfectly! Amelia is tan and short, and Brex is the tall, pale, red head in the dorky highwaters. (He blew out and soaked his cute size-apropriate pants)

We spent the weekend of Brady's spring break at my family's cabin. It was a blast with a few of my siblings and their families there. We got Brex bundled up and took him outside for the first time up there. It was such a gorgeous day.

We took a couple bronco photo shoots today, these are my favorite pics.

Such a cutie! We sure love this little guy and all of his funny facial expressions!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

Brexon had a great Valentine's DayBrady decorated the apartment and got us flowers

Brady and I had to do our final weigh in for our fitness center weight loss competition in the morning. Brady did GREAT losing a whopping 15.5 lbs in 4 weeks, and I loss 10.5 lbs.

As a reward for sticking to our P90X diet, we had pizza and chocolate fondue that night while watching a movie.

Brexon got all dressed up and was really happy all day. Luckily my dental office was closed so I didn't have to work and got to play with Brexon.

We sure love our little guy and love his little smiles and coos. He made Valentine's Day even better!

Smiling

2011-02-20T20:23:00.000-08:00

Here are some smiley pictures

He loves his bottle

We went on a little picnic when the weather was nice last week

Here are some pictures of my boys

Bumbo

2011-01-22T20:49:00.000-08:00

While Brady was watching Brexon he whipped out the bumbo. Brex seemed to not mind it too much and sat there pretty well.
Brexon is already flashing some sign language.

He looks so scrunched in there. What a cutie!!!

I love this little guy!!!

My latest project

2011-01-22T20:26:00.000-08:00

My brother Brian and my dad helped me make molds of Brexon's hand and foot. Here are the completed projects, which I think turned out great! Good thing to, because I did not want to do it again. Brex screamed the whole time and I'm surprised that I didn't break his ankle pulling it out of the mold. He had it belt so far up.

It is neat how detailed they are.

Thanks Brian and Dad for helping me!!

Christmas and New Years

2011-01-06T13:55:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! We spent Brexon's first Christmas in Twin Falls. Here we all are in our Christmas Jammies!!

He was so happy Christmas Morning.

Brex and Daddy waiting to open christmas presents.

Then we celebrated New Years at my Family's Cabin. Here is Brexon getting his party on!!

New Year's family picWe took family pictures the last day at the cabin. Brexon loves his grandpa!Then we blessed Brexon this last Sunday after we got back from the cabin. He was really excited as you can tell.

We hope you had a good Holiday season too!

Firsts

2010-12-22T10:19:00.000-08:00

First car ride home from the hospital

First big trip to the cabin!!

It snowed the time we were at the cabin. Brex did awesome and loved all the attention from Grandpa and Grandma

First car accident

This is just a ridiculous story. We were driving to Twin Falls yesterday and came up a hill when a stupid washing machine was just sitting in the middle of our lane. Both of us saw it at the same time (which was too late) and Brady luckily swerved enough to not hit it straight on. He kept it under control and we are so lucky that we didn't roll or that another car didn't hit us or the washing machine as it flew across the other lane. This is a picture of the demolished washing machine and compared to the damage on our car I think that we won the battle. At least our car still runs!! I hate it when washing machines just pop out of nowhere!

First bath at home - did not like it!!

Second bath at home - loved it!!

He was so cute, I can't wait to take him swimming!

First Christmas presents

First Christmas Tree
we celebrated our little family's first christmas way early.

First family picture at home.

I love all of his happy little firsts!! (not the car accident of course) He is so much fun and we do the craziest things to kids, like dress them up in tons of clothes and make them pose over and over again when they can't even smile or hold their head up. Good thing he is such a good sport about all of it!

Random Pics

2010-12-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

You can see his little billi light glowing on his backHe looks so little in his swing

Our little avatar baby. He was a little too jaundicy when we took him home from the hospital so he had to wear this biliblanket all day and night for 7 days. We were just happy to have him home instead of under the light in the hospital.

Grandma stayed with us for a week which was so Wonderful!!! It would have been hard to take care of him and the biliblanket with just one person.

I'm sure we'll have many more random pictures to come!

Meet Brexon!!

2010-12-04T09:41:00.001-08:00

Brexon decided he loved his mommy so much that he sent me into labor the day after I stopped working. We had him on Thursday Dec 2, 2010 at 6:41 am. He was 7lbs 1 oz, and 19.5 inches long. He is so perfect and had great timing!His full name is Brexon Scott Tucker

Daddy's got the magic calming touch.

Here his is right after birth trying to exercise his little lungs.

This is my favorite picture. He has such big puppy dog eyes that make mom and dad just melt. I love every little wimper he makes, they are just such cute little noises. He's doing great and eating and sleeping like a champ.

We couldn't be more happy! He is just the cutest thing we've ever seen, and makes us smile every time we look at him. The hospital has been so great and now we are ready to face the going home challenge. Wish us luck!!!

Thanksgiving Fun

2010-12-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

This year we stayed in Boise and had a Tucker family Thanksgiving before rushing to Twin Falls on Friday to celebrate with the Renchers. The whole weekend turned out really great!
Here I am relaxing with the boys.

Brady didn't even make it past dinner before he took his long Thanksgiving nap.

Here are a few more belly pics (and hopefully the last before the baby comes!)

Now we are ready for Christmas!! Well as ready as we can imagine without a screaming baby to give us a reality check. But I say...Bring It On!!

Nursery

2010-11-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

These are a few pics of our nursery so far. I finally finished making the bumper, crib skirt, mobile, pillows, and curtains. Now i just want to make little decorations, a diaper holder, and things like that. My sis Jaylynn gave my the cute poka dot pillow, which matched everything perfectly. Even the back of it is a fuzzy material the same color as the bumper.

I love this picture frame that Amy gave me, and I am so excited that Debbie found some matching wall hangings. I have the best sister/sister-in-laws!

This is a sweet pic of Brady rockin the empathy belly. What a good hubby to come with me to birthing classes!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

Our ward had a joint Halloween party with the other married student ward on Friday night. It turned out really well. They had carnival games, a costume contest, pumpkin contest, dancing, and tons of yummy treats. Brady and I blasphemously went as a pregnant nun and a priest or as Brady would say, "sister mother, and father father." Sorry, I can't make the pictures bigger.

For FHE we got together with some friends and carved pumpkins. We decided to carve what we thought our child would look like.

Here is Logan carving with a power drill. Its what we call extreme pumpkin carving.

Like mother, like son

Our little monster! Well ours will probably have less hair.

The Final Rencher Wedding!!

2010-10-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

My brother Jeff got married this Saturday and everything went really well. They were sealed in the Twin Falls Temple by her Grandfather which was soooo neat! Here is Jeff and Mikaela walking out of the temple.Just a quick pic while we were waiting for the bride and groom.

Classic open mouth smile

We went to Boise that night for their reception which was at a gorgeous clubhouse that was a two story cabin on a river. Brady and I took the liberty of decorating their car.

My friend has been begging for a belly pic, so after taking a million pictures and hating every one I will finally post this one and be done with it.

It was so much fun to have my whole family together since it hardly ever happens. We are so proud of Jeff for getting sealed to an awesome girl like Mikaela. We just love her and I'm so glad that they live in Meridian so that we can hang out all the time!!!

New Car!!!

2010-10-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Brady and I went to Utah this last weekend to look for a car and get out of town. It was such a fun weekend and luckily was productive. First we found Brady's favorite restaurant from California and Hawaii, L & L Hawaiian BBQ in Salt Lake by accident which made him happy. Then we ate there again in Provo the next day which made him really happy!We found this Santa Fe in Salt Lake after looking for the last few months and we love it! We just wanted a little SUV for our little baby with less than 100,000 miles. And this one only has 70,000 miles, 4 wheel drive, and a tow package. Hopefully it will last us the next few years til Brady is out of school.

We were able to spend some time with Carlie and Coleman in Provo. They made us delicious pasta and we ate tons of caramel corn while watching Conference. I can't wait til we have little babies to play together. She found out on Friday that they are having a girl so now the pre-arranged marriage begins!

We had such a fun time which was nice since this was probably the last little vacation we'll have before we become parents. I can't believe we only have two months left. We still haven't picked a hospital, taken a class, or have anything we need! Hopefully we get better at this parenting thing when our little boy comes.

Day 2

2010-08-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

Activity 1...Success
We took the boys to the park and had lunch. Cade first ran to see the giant ducks.
It was such a nice day and the boys did great. It also helped that there was a cage around the park with only one opening so Carson couldn't run off.

Plus there weren't many kids so they had the playground almost to themselves.

Activity 2...almost a success.
We played in the back yard with the hose which went really well until grass started sticking to Carson's feet. He didn't like being wet after that.

So after awhile I dried Carson off and took him to pizza hut to get a pizza while Brady and Cade partied in the water.

Activity 3...Success
So at least the day ended really well with pizza, popcorn, and Toy Story 2.

Earlier while we were driving to the park, we sang Elmo's song three times, and it was so cute I had to record some of it. They know the words so well and would get really loud at their favorite parts. The rest of the ride Cade pointed out all of the mazdas, jeeps, and hondas, plus they would say the colors of the cars. Such smart boys!!!

Day 1...Success

2010-08-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

Brady and I are watching our little twin nephews this weekend. We survived the two hours we had with them tonight easily before putting them to bed. We took them for a ride and Carson was pretty sad that his dad was not in the car. To distract them until their parents left for the weekend, we took them to McDonalds (which was just an excuse for me to get ice cream. I love McDonalds 50 cent vanilla ice cream!) So we wore them out by playing on the toys and stuffed them full of ice cream. It totally worked to, when we got home we put their jammies on, gave them milk, brushed their teeth, said prayers, and then they went RIGHT to sleep. Not even a peep. Well Carson snored a little by his door, until I put him back in bed, which was kind of tricky since his face was stopping me from opening the door. They are sooooo cute. It is good being the fun aunt and uncle, if grandparents can give the kids whatever they want then so can we! Tomorrow I'll take pictures. Luckily Brady is only at school while the boys should be taking naps. We'll see if tomorrow is a success too.

Boy or Girl?!?!?

2010-07-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

We are definitely having a boy!! The ultrasound is a little too graphic to show :) But our doctor had no doubt and we were just so excited to have another ultrasound. It is crazy that just a few weeks ago we could see the whole baby in one picture and now you only see one part of the baby at a time. It makes it a lot more real to know that this parasite inside of me is going to be a little baby boy. Plus now Brady can feel the baby kicking me, so that has been really fun. It was a wonderful birthday present as we celebrated my birthday just a few days after the ultrasound.

Here's a pic of my huge belly. Don't be deceived, I'm only 4 1/2 months along, not 7 months like I look here. Here's another pic where I'm not sitting or slouching to compare.

M I S S I S S I P P I !!!

2010-07-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

We visited Brady's parents in Jackson Mississippi for ten days recently. It was such a wonderful, relaxing trip...except for the flight over there.
This is Brady in the airport for the second day after our second plane cancellation. We were all dressed up for zone conference that morning but we didn't make it in time. So instead I changed into pants and took a 2 hour nap on the floor.

When we finally made it 24 hours after we were supposed to, we had a great time.
Here we are with the Assistants in the mission home. I wish we would have taken a picture with Tom and Annette while we where there.

We went to Vicksburg and toured some civil war sites.

And we drove through Yazoo City where a tornado hit in april.
This building was missing half of its roof and all of its windows

I can't imagine having your whole neighborhood destroyed and having to just abandon it. The devastation was so sad.

Here is Brady pointing to an aligator in the water. Good luck finding it since only its eyes were popping out of the water. We watched it for a while and were so excited to check "seeing an aligator" off our list of things to do.

And here is a little turtle that played with us for a while on Tom and Annette's back patio before it walked under a tree to hide from the scorching heat.

We had so much fun with Tom and Annette and we're so greatful for all the excitement and entertainment they provided for us! We already miss them like crazy and can't wait to visit them next time with our lil baby.

12 WEEKS!!!

2010-06-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

Well a lot has happened in the last 12 weeks but our biggest news is that we are 12 weeks pregnant!! This is our first ultrasound at 9 weeks. And this is our second ultrasound at 11 weeks. It was pretty amazing how much it grew in just two weeks. It was moving it's arms and legs and bounding up and down. At both apointments we could see and hear the heartbeat (what a relief!) and this second apointment he showed us the brain and spinal cavities.

Other events in the last 12 weeks include Brady's 25th Birthday.

He picked chucky cheese's to have his birthday party and Jeff and Mikaela came with us to celebrate.

Where a kid can be a kid!
We also had a great dinner with Jeremy and Debbie at Famous Daves but didn't take any pictures.

We celebrated Memorial Day by going to 3 bbqs. At our friends house they had a zipline across their private lake. Brady went first and then when he came back around I went.

Here is a pic of me stuck over the lake, hanging on for dear (dry) life. They told me not to let go at the end too fast or I'd fall over, so I held on and it bounced me backwards over the lake. Luckily while Brady laughed at me and his unborn child, Kevin ran around the lake and saved me.This last weekend we celebrated my Dad's birthday by going to the western day's parade in Twin Falls, eating mini doughnuts in the park, going out to dinner, and going bowling. It was really a whole day packed full of fun. Here is Brady on the worst ride in the whole park with the niece and nephews. I don't know why they like it so much, I got sick just watching them.

Other events in the last 12 weeks include Brady finishing his first year of Pharmacy School. I also got a job covering a maternity leave for Dental Hygiene in boise, and now they are hiring me back in July permanently when the hygienist moves. Until then we are working in Twin Falls and will be going to Mississippi in 8 days!!!

Recap

2010-04-04T15:54:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since we blogged so here is a recap.

Our friends Carlie and Coleman visited us and we made a big feast starting with cheese fondue, then hot pot noodles, meat, and veggies, then ended with chocolate fondue. Delicious.This is the entrance to the Kuna Cave.

It was larger than we thought, with tons of openings to new areas.

It was full of graffiti

sporting my sweet head lamp

We went bowling to celebrate our nephew Austin's 3rd Birthday.

Jaylynn and Mark came up to Boise and we went to Chucky Cheese's.

Afterward we went to a hockey game and got ice cream.

Brady's brother Phil and his wife Brooke had their baby and named her Lydia. She is adorable and has the cutest brown curls!

This is us at FREE ICE CREAM DAY at Ben and Jerry's. It was awesome.

This is at PF Chang's celebrating Shane's Birthday. We went to our 4th hockey game after dinner with Shane and Amy, and Jeremy and Debbie.

During spring break we decided to buy bikes and found these SWEET beach cruisers. I especially love how pink mine is! I now have a white basket and a matching pink helmet.

The Friday before Easter we went to Twin Falls and had a big dinner at Sizzler. We even had a whole kids table there. It was great.

All the kids wanted to be by grandpa when it was dessert time. I'm sure each one of them had a few ice cream cones from the dessert bar.

I don't have any pictures of Easter but it was very exciting. We had a huge brunch, then hunted for candy easter eggs, then hunted for real easter eggs outside, then hunted for money eggs, then hunted for our hidden easter baskets. As you can tell we did a lot of hunting! We also enjoyed General Conference and a delicious Easter dinner.

Utah

2010-02-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

Jaylynn and I went to the Utah Dental Convention with our mom and dad. It was actually a fun time looking at all the exibits, and getting free popcorn and cotton candy. (The lectures were pretty boring though.) Jay brought Aisley and Dad left Friday night, so we turned the rest of the weekend into a "girls weekend". We slumber partied in a hotel and took Aisley swimming.
She loves swimming and made a really cute bunny rabbit.

On Saturday we got massage pedicures which was really fun, but also really hard not to kick the girl painting my toes when it tickled.

We got fun designs and sweet flip flops! (the flip flops where super flimsy)

Then we went out to lunch at MiMi's for Jaylynns birthday with her sister-in-law Kelsey that had a birthday the day before. MiMi's was so good and even put a candle in each of their free desserts.

We went shopping the rest of the time. This is Aisley in Dillards cracking up. She was laughing a lot more before we started filming.

It was a really fun time and a nice way to celebrate Jaylynn's Birthday!

Happy Valentines Day Indeed!

2010-02-16T17:42:00.000-08:00

Brady surprised me by planning our whole valentines day (on Saturday) and he made it so great!
Brady woke me up with this festive breakfast to start out our wonderful day.Then he took me to The Melting Pot where they do fondue style food. I've been wanting to go there for years and was so excited about it. And as an added bonus, Mark and Jaylynn drove up from Twin Falls to join us and Jeff and Mikaela. The food was so delicious and it was so much fun!

After the Melting Pot we went to the movie Valentines Day. It was really good. We went out for ice cream afterwards and then hung out with Jay and Mark. It was such a great day.

Then on Sunday we did fondue dessert with Shane and Amy. It was yummy. We had brownies, krispy treats, strawberries, bananas, apples, and pretzels, and dipped them in chocolate, white chocolate, and caramel. Very glutenous but very delicious.

Then for presidents day we went to Lucky Peak with Jeff and Mikaela and had a camp fire. We ate dinner, roasted shmores, and made strawberry cobbler.

Thanks hunny for a wonderful Valentines Weekend! I love you so much and am thankful everyday that you married me!

Girl Date

2010-02-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

My Sister-In-Law Brooke is having the first Tucker girl in March, so for her baby shower we took the opportunity to have a girl date.We had lunch at the Macaroni Grill (my first experience there) and it was delicious! I totally missed the memo about wearing pink though.

Then we got manicures at this cute little Vietnamese salon. (also a first for me)

We hung out for the rest of the day at my apartment and opened presents, talked forever, and watched a chick flick.

I love my In-Laws. I can't believe we all get along so well. We could have kept talking for hours and not realized it if we didn't have our hubby's and chillin's to get back too. I'm so glad we are back in Boise and that we all live so close.

Brooke, congradulations again!! We can't wait to have a little Tucker niece to play with. And Annette, we love you and talked about how much we miss you for most of the day. Thank you for being such a great example and an awesome Grandma/Mom. Every night Brady tries to plan how and when we can go back to visit you again.

MEWWY CHWISTMAS!!!

2009-12-25T21:45:00.000-08:00

This is in front of Tom and Annette's Christmas tree after zone conference on Christmas Eve.

This picture summarizes our Christmas Eve. After finally having the last zone conference done and returning from a Christmas party, we tried to watch a movie. As you can tell, I'm the only one that was able to watch it.

Brady woke up earlier than anyone at 9:00 and took pictures of the "children" waking up on Christmas morning.

I saved these jammies for Brady to open up here in Jackson.

The parents present from the whole family.

My new sweater!

You can never have too many ties!

These are our looks of pure shock and gratitude. We had accepted the fact that santa wasn't coming to Mississippi, but to our utter shock he definitely delivered! THANK YOU TOM AND ANNETTE aka santa!!!!

It didn't take us long to break out our present

This is by far my favorite part of the day. It was so much fun playing rock band 2 with Tom and Annette!

After our Christmas partying, we went for a drive and walked around a swamp.

We didn't see any alligators, so we did our best to imitate them.

Thank you Tom and Annette for a wonderful Christmas!!!

I'm goin to Jackson!

2009-12-23T20:44:00.001-08:00

Brady and I flew out to Mississippi on Friday morning to see his parents for Christmas, but first on Thursday night we saw the lights at temple square. During a talk in sacrament in Louisiana, Brady's mom reminded everyone that Christmas lights are symbolic of how Christ is the Light of the World. What a magnificent display there is around the Salt Lake Temple. It really got us in the Christmas spirit. This is in the Joseph Smith Building. It was beautifully decorated too. Today is his birthday so it was wonderful to to be reminded of our wonderful Prophet and all that he has done.

We finally made it to Jackson, Mississippi on Friday night.

This is Brady's super excited anxious look when we first saw his parents.

It is so good to be here with them. It felt like we hadn't see them in FOREVER, and now if feels so normal to be here, it is hard to think that we won't be able to drop by every week.

They gave us one day to relax to fool us into thinking that they had spare time and then the next day showed us the real craziness of their lives. So far we've driven 9 hours, been to five big cities, and two states, been to three different hotels, had two zone conferences on back to back days with another one tomorrow morning, and wrapped over 600 presents in newspaper for the missionaries...all in three days. This is Brady living off of 5 hours of sleep every night for three days. No, really we are loving it, we don't mind the sleep deprivation and we get way more than Tom and Annette.

The missionaries playing the garbage can game. Probably the biggest group that has ever played it!

Aren't they just the best looking Mission President couple ever!

Me and Brady with the Shreveport Louisiana zone.

Randomness

2009-11-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

Some things i made for my new little nieces. (except the nursing cover, Jay had cute left over fabric so i attempted to make one for her)

Us girls went to Chillies to party with Jay before she had her little baby.

The nastious bug i've ever seen! we thought it was a tarantula at first, it was as big as one.

We carved pumpkins with some friends for FHE. Ours is the Holy one. (After we were finished i realized that the one i wanted to copy was done with a drill. ours was not as cool)

Brady at the hospital with Jaylynn and Marks new little girl Aisley. Doesn't he look so good holding a baby girl?!

Second attempt at carving a pumpkin. it is supposed to be me and brady. our first attempt rotted while we were in twin falls and left a moldy mushy mess all over our carpet.

Brady and I went bowling on halloween which was a real treat cuz i LOVE bowling and Brady does not. i even have my own bowling shoes. It was way fun. i bowled a turkey and brady bowled a double.
I was only there in spirit

White Coat Ceremony

2009-09-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

Brady's Pharmacy class had a white coat ceremony where they welcome the new students into Pharmacy school. It was really a nice event and reminded me of a graduation. I wish I would have recorded it so I could compare it to his actual graduation. They called each student up one by one and "coated" them, had them sign around a poster of the pharmacy code, gave some of them scholarships, took pictures, had tons of speakers, and had appetizers and dessert. I'm pretty sure it will be the exact same at his real graduation.
I'm really proud of him and we are just so excited that he is in pharmacy school. He has been doing really well at studying and his tests have gone really well so far.

Love ya Babe!

Scout Mountain

2009-09-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

On labor day, Brady and I decided to go hiking and cook dutchoven mushroom chicken dinner and strawberry peach cobbler. mmmmmmm. I never realized that Pocatello is so surrounded by beautiful mountains. Brady is already threatening to live in poky forever instead of boise because of all the outdoorsy stuff. Of course that idea doesn't fly with me so i'll try my best to make him hate poky by the end of four years.

My man chopping wood all mannly like.
It was a really fun trip, we even saw a deer run right in front of us while hiking, and two more deer while driving home. The camp was only 15 min from our house, so i think we'll be having a few more trips like this, if not just to roast mallows!

Pocatello

2009-08-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

So, we are finally in Pocatello, and we finally got our housing figured out. The story:
In June i had an interview in Pocatello at a dental office so while i was interviewing brady went looking for housing. When i got done, we looked up a real estate agent to show us around town to get a feel for the housing market. We decided we liked the new look of townhouses and thought they would suit us well. When we got back to twin we talked to a loan officer to see how much i would need to make as a hygienist to afford the town house. He asked what i would do if i couldn't find a job and i said i would commute to twin until i found a job. So he said we could just punch in the income we were getting and say we were commuting to see if we would be approved at that time. That way we could move in sooner. We got pre-approved and started papers on the townhouse. Because of advice from family and friends, plus the seller's irritating real estate agent, and the fact that our banker died in a car crash a few days later, we decided that we should re-look for a house instead. In July we went with another bank who said that everything would be fine and to go ahead and make on offer on a house that we liked. So we did. But a we couldn't get the loan to go through which is understandable, i just wish we would have known before we started this 2 month long process. So while Brady was in orientation 4 days before school started, i desperately looked for an apartment that we could lease month to month. We found one that was actually cute and was way cheaper than any rent we've ever payed before. We got it friday, drove to twin and packed all our things that night,(thank you mark, jay and jeff!!!) and moved to poky the next day after going to my cousins wedding. Suprisingly we liked our little apartment which has two bedrooms and tons of closet storage. We realized that it will take me a while to get a good job, brady only has a 25% chance of being in poky for his fourth year of school, and that we weren't willing to pay more than double our rent to get a house almost the same size. So we luckily got out of the contract due to our financing problem since i don't have a job yet, and we are happy to be staying in our inexpensive cute apartment. (mostly we love our furniture on loan from tom and annette. Thanks!!)

Shoshone and Waterskiing

2009-06-30T21:36:00.000-07:00

We visited the shoshone falls this week with Mark and Jay.

The water was sooo high. I've never seen it like this, actually I've only seen it about two times before this. Thanks for taking us Mark and Jay!

There were little streams and waterfalls all around the park by the falls.

The first day out on the boat with the gang.

The kiddos. Adi's rhinestone glasses are so cute!

Mark getting some sweet air!

Goodbye Parents

2009-06-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

Well the time has come that Tom and Annette have gone to the Jackson Mississippi mission. We are going to miss them so much but we are very excited for them and glad we can visit. We had a great stay with them in Salt Lake City with Brady's family.

Tom was set apart by Elder Cook, and Annette was set apart by Elder Gonzalez. It was such an amazing experience. We are so grateful for the wonderful examples of Tom and Annette and for the gospel in our lives. It is times like that, that we could never deny that the church is true.

Brady and I went to the Oquirrh Mountain open house while the parents checked into the MTC. It was such a beautiful temple and reminded me alot of the Twin Falls Temple. Then we met them, Phil and Brooke, and Jeremy and Debbie, in Provo for lunch/dinner. We had a great time with them and are so glad we could be part of those two days. We love you Mom and Dad!!!

It's been awhile!

2009-06-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

Just this last weekend, we have moved into the house in twin falls that my parents are trying to sell. With 5 bedrooms, a pool and a hot tub, I don't think we will ever be able to live in an apartment again!

Brady's parents are loaning us their furniture for three years, so we are in heaven with a new house and new furniture. thanks parents!
Watching Conan on our small TV
just chillin

Then a week ago we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday and my neice Adi's 2nd birthday (but I only have pics of Adi's party)

My awesome cousins came down to celebrate and of course it's not a party without bowling.

I went with my family to the western days parade.

At the end of May, we went to park city with brady's family. it was a blast! we went on the alpine slide, and the alpine coaster. (the coaster is better)

This is our hotel from the ski lift

And we went golfing of course

In May we also went to Cauldron Linn, a waterfall near Hansen, with my sister's fam and my parents, and grilled hamburgers.

And on May 6th we celebrated Brady's 24th birthday. Happy Birthday Honey! (sorry for taking so long)

I'm Graduated!!!!

2009-04-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

I'm finally done with school....forever!!! My entire dental hygiene class

Using Brady as a pin cushion. He's a good husband!

We had our graduation at the egyption theater in downtown boise

I am so grateful for my wonderful parents! They are so supportive and have done so much for me to help me through hygiene school. Thanks ma and pa!

And I'm so grateful for my parents in law. Thank you Tom and Annette for supporting me during this busy time in your life, and helping us so much while i've been in school!

My brother Jeff, and favorite sister Jaylynn. Thank you all for spending your whole day supporting me!

Adi was sooooo cute. After i walked off the stage she spent the next minute yelling katie, katie. At least i know i have one fan :)

We partied and had a dinner after the graduation.

Thank you to everyone that has been there for us while we've been in school here in boise. I am so happy to be done with school, and hopefully my boards go well next week so i can actually be a dental hygienist. We've loved boise but are so excited to be going to pocatello for Brady to start his journey through pharmacy school. If anyone knows any dentists that are hiring in the poky area, please let us know :) Thanks everyone!

Pocatello, Here We Come!!!!

2009-04-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

We finally heard from ISU on Monday, and Brady got accepted into Pharmacy school in Pocatello. We are so excited and grateful for the way things turned out. We were even contemplating switching to Pocatello if he got into the Meridian campus, so we are glad that the decision was decided for us. I really think that it will be easier for me to find a job in Eastern Idaho than in Boise. (Michelle i need your help!)
I am so proud of Brady!! He's been working so hard to get good grades these last three years and it totally paid off. He has been awesome about going to twin falls and working for Dick's Pharmacy to get more experience, and i'm so glad he enjoys working. He even practiced interview questions while running on the cross trainer instead of watching tv :) He is dedicated, hard working, and he is the most wonderful husband in the whole world!!! Way to be honey!

Church News Article

2009-03-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to the Church News' new mission presidents page with my parents. http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/56826/New-mission-presidents.html My dad recently got called as the new President for the Mississippi Jackson Mission with my mom as his companion. They will leave at the end of June for a week in the MTC in Provo and then they are off for M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. We are so excited for them and know they will be AWESOME. Good luck mom and dad!!!

HAPPY 2nd ANNIVERSARY!!

2009-03-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

On Friday Brady and I celebrated our two year anniversary. We ate at Johnny Carinos and then went to this sweet black light mini golf course. Brady wished this was a real bike.

Brady stepping up to the challenge. This is with flash on.
And this is what we were seeing with the black lights on.
Our monkey friend
The carpet was totally wigging us out. it looked so uneven. i'm suprised i didn't fall down just from walking on it.
On Saturday Brady and I went to idaho ice world and went ice skating and watched high school ice hockey.

Good thing that Brady is good at ice skating, cuz i looked like a fool. Brady doing the Chaz Michael Michael's dance.

We got front row seats at the steelheads game saturday night. Best believe we were banging on the glass with the rest of the holigans every time they scored (which was 4 times! we won 4-1 :)

Sporting our FREE steelheads hats

Nothing better than cake-batter icecream with brownies and cookie-dough to end the day!!

V-DAY

2009-03-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

Happy V-day to us!! Brady's parents went all out and got all the kiddos wiis. i'd like to say that we have used self control while i'm getting ready for my National Boards and studied instead of played but that is definantly not the case. We are already Pros on golf, bowling, and tennis :)

Cade LOVES the wii! (or at least the wii controller)

Our first night playing the wii with shane and amy jo.

GO Broncos! We went to a b-ball game for v-day. as you can see the little boys are the only ones paying attention to the game.

Home made cold stone. mmmm

The finished product!

Shout out to my sister-in-law Debbie!!

2009-02-13T10:31:00.000-08:00

Jeremy and Debbie found out yesterday that they are having a BOY!!! I babysat Clayton, their 4 year old, while they were at the ultrasound.

We made this sweet sign in celebration of the occasion.
and then we made sugar cookies with BLUE frosting.

Clayton was an excellent sprinkler... until he found out he could shake them into his mouth :)

This is Clayton dancing in excitement!! and maybe a little bit on a sugar high.

The end product. I love the blue frosting all over his mouth!

We love you Jeremy and Debbie and we are so excited for you!!!

Special Olympics World Winter Games!!

2009-02-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

Brady and I thought we'd take advantage of the opportunity of having athletes from all over the world here in boise. We watched a few of the events throughout the week including: floor hockey, speed skating, and figure skating. These pics are from the figure skating. Standing next to an ice sculpture while in line to get in the quest arena. We had to walk through metal detectors and the whole shabang since Jo Biden was coming.
In the bleachers

The athletes were so amazing. It was so much fun to watch.

Jo Biden speaking at the award ceremony.

They locked us in the quest arena til the Vice President was back in his motorcade. We seriously waited like 45 min and missed our institute class. It was pretty crazy and this is only one side of the mob!

We're in Portland!

2009-01-23T23:02:00.000-08:00

We drove to Portland for Brady to interview with a Pharmacy school this weekend. Since Scott and Oksana live there we knew it would turn into a vacation. They showed us the town in style!

This is the YUKI Japanese restaurant that we didn't eat at! Who would want to eat yucky food?Here we are in the wonderful rail cars of Portland after we walked the boutiques.
Rail cars are so much fun!

Southeast Asian food was right up Brady's ally.

I have honestly never had such diverse food in my life.

Of course Triple Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Truffle Cake, and Baked Alaskan Cake is on our diet!

Cross-Country Skiing in Island Park

2009-01-08T18:32:00.000-08:00

Most of the Gang: My sister Jaylynn, sister-in-law Oksana, and friends Coleman and Carlie.

Carlie and I actually succeeded in making our husbands come!

Here is Brady loving every minute of it.

There was a little village at the end of the trail.

Brady sliding down on his skis after crashing

It was gorgeous. I would highly recommend it to everyone!

Brady and Katie Need a Hobby!

2008-11-04T12:39:00.000-08:00

Halloween

2008-11-02T17:21:00.000-08:00

This boy cracks me up!!

Brady wanted nothing more than to be a luchador this halloween. And since i'm not one to crush little boys' dreams we searched high and low for his own special strechy pants :)

I decided to be his trophy wife. This says FIRST PLACE
boys + passing lifesavers with straws = crazy funThe girls dominated of course

Carving More Pumpkins

2008-10-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Brady and I went to Jeremy and Debbie's house to carve pumpkins.Brady made a pumpkin within a pumpkin within a pumpkin within a pumpkin.
Brady's and my pumpkins
The three little pumpkins are Tanner's, Austin's, and Clayton's (respectively). They've got mad skills!

We even made pumpkin cupcakes that night in tribute of halloween!!

Brady's pumpkin on fire.

My pumpkin all lit up

Fun In Twin Falls

2008-10-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

Brady and I went to Twin Falls to spend some time with our families and what could be better quality family time than shooting 22s, shotguns, and 9mm handguns at pop cans!

I swear you can see jeff's bullet as a red flash after his smoke trail!

If you look real close you'll see the pop spraying everywhere right as jaylynn shot it.

I would be really scared if i was Mark

Us girls bust'n a cap! The hand gun is sweet!

You can totally see the pop exploding in this picture. Nice shot babe!!

Later that night we watched the BSU game and ate rootbeer floats and pumpkin chocochip cookies (thanks for posting the recipe Amy!) During half time i got a little bored and decided to carve one of the pumpkins from my dad's garden. By the end of the game this is what came out.

It is supposed to be a spider in its web if you can't tell.

Dutch Oven Pan Pizza

2008-10-18T15:29:00.001-07:00

Brady could be a professional chef. Observe the extraordinary kneading technique. The look on my face is clearly not confidence

This is our ghetto rolling pin. Our house was freezing and we needed to keep the dough warm to help it rise. The oven was already preheated so naturally we thought of the hair drier. I guess if it gets the job done...
Pizza!!!
Yummmm
Disclaimer = we know that this post is lame but we haven't posted for two months and we are really boring!!!

Mesa Falls

2008-08-13T19:49:00.001-07:00

we were up at island park for my family reunion. while i was there i found out that the whole family had been keeping the fact that there was a huge waterfall just a few minutes from the cabin a secret from me. seriously, they said that they used to go every year, yet i had never been there out of my 21 years of going to family reunions. needless to say i found out and rushed to see this amazing waterfall.

this is my crazy dad

My sister and i are nothing alike...as you can tell :) and yes... we did match on purpose, the boys just missed the memo.

Katie's 21st Birthday!!!

2008-08-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

Yay! i'm finally 21, which only means that i had to get a new drivers license. But brady made it a blast by blowing up tons of balloons and putting them all over the house (even in all the closets). then he gave me one of the balloons which had a clue in it for my first present hidden in the house.

i then had to find other balloons with clues in them to find the rest of the presents. He knows me so well by suprising me at home early and making the day so fun!
That night we went to shane and amy jo's and had delicious ice cream cake. we are so lucky to have family in boise. the next day we went to roaring springs together for the first time, which was a blast. thanks Jeremy and Debbie!

These pictures are of the new additions to our house. i had a hay-day with my b-day money and got some cute decorations from my mama. Thanks Mama!!! there isn't anything i like better than getting new home decor. :)

Camping

2008-05-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

Brady and I went camping for the first time this summer. It was gorgeous, we were surrounded by mountains covered in sunflowers and had a creek flowing right next to our campsite. Plus it was so warm with no sign of rain. Brady obviously got a little hungry.

DUTCH OVEN FOOD!!

2008-05-21T20:20:00.000-07:00

This is our amazing new camping table from the mama . We had delicious chicken and potatoes in our new dutch oven along with strawberry cherry chip cobbler (you know you want some!)

MMM...breakfast in the
great outdoors.

BRONCOS!!!

2008-05-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is Brady and I at a bronco scrimage football game. we thought it started at 4 but it started at 6. (longest two hours of my life!) but we had fun watching a football camp for little kids and i fell asleep on the bleachers.

This is Brady in the secret putting green under the stadium. only the cool people get to putt there.

CHRISTMAS!!!!

2007-12-19T22:06:00.001-08:00

These are our first christmas decorations. All i can say is dollar store special. we just got some cheap ornaments and covered them with christmas fabric and made stockings, and decorations. It was way fun decorating our own apartment for the first time.

GIFTS!!!

2007-12-19T21:54:00.000-08:00

Brady and I had our own little christmas this year before we went own to Twin Falls to be with our families. For Christmas eve (Dec. 18) we went to the movie Dan in Real Life, ate lunch and the Cheesecake Factory (SO GOOD), and took around goodie plates. Then we woke up real early (9) on Christmas (Dec 19) and opened presents and had a delicious crepe breakfast. It was the best Christmas ever! and we get to do it again in a week!!! Brady gave me the sweet shoe/boots, the beanie, and the blue sweatshirt. The orange sweatshirt, the bright orange b-ball shorts, and the blanket are from me. It was really fun making the blanket, i had to sneakily do it while he was working in Twin Falls over thanksgiving. sneaky treaky.

BOISE.......STATE!!!!

2007-12-19T21:48:00.001-08:00

This is the Boise/Idaho State Game. I made brady stand in line forever cuz it was the last home game and we just had to go to game this season. it was super fun and of course we slaughtered idaho!!! having fun football games maybe the only good thing about boise, but we'll keep looking to see if there is anything else.

Camping Adventures

2007-12-19T21:45:00.001-08:00

2007-12-19T21:38:00.001-08:00

These are just a few pictures from our honeymoon

All In The Family

2007-12-19T21:34:00.001-08:00

WED

2007-12-19T21:25:00.001-08:00

Here are just a few pics from our wedding.

Bridal Shower

2007-12-19T21:19:00.001-08:00

Our first apartment in Twin Falls

2007-12-19T21:13:00.001-08:00

This was our first apartment we lived in for 5-6 months before we moved to boise. it was very spacious and we miss it now and then.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

2007-12-19T21:08:00.001-08:00

This is the heart shaped pancake, heart shaped french toast, and pink eggs and hash browns that i made for brady for the infamous v-day. pretty girly eh? you can tell that we weren't married yet and i was still trying really hard. well hopefully he doesn't expect much next year.

Exciting Tmes

2007-11-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

Well here we are in November and it's hard to believe it's been almost 3 months since we have moved here to Boise. We are both just plugging away at school and Katie is busy as ever with the kids she is nannying. We are looking forward to our Thanksgiving break where i'll hopefully finally make some more money at my old job in Twin and then its only 3 more weeks until our semesters are done! We are very excited right now with the additions of more Tuckers and are quietly observing and taking note of what to do when we finally do "that" you know have kids. So we are so excited and can't wait to see everyone together for the holidays. Take care, Brady & Katie