Snowmobile

We went to Coalville and went snowmobiling. I don't think I need to say anymore about how Dallin did. I'm lucky he forgave us for doing such horrible things to him.
Luckily, Grandma Kathi stayed home, so we were able to take Dallin back there. Here he is recovering in the car on the way to Grandma Kathi's house. He looks like he thinks he has been betrayed by his parents.This is just a random picture of him all ready to go outside. He really does like playing in the snow, just not on loud machines that go fast and make him cold.

Holy Snow, Batman!

So I hope you all had a very merry Christmas. We did. On Christmas Eve evening we went to our annual Braegger family Christmas party. It was a lot of fun, but boy does Dallin make me tired. He had a rough night. Before we left for the party, Dallin fell and split his lip open. Then, at the party, he fell off the small stage they had there and gave himself a big bump. Then he was tackled twice by Dax. Who knows why? And all that running around, his belley must have been upset because he spit up or threw up twice. (what's the difference? He is 13 months old and it smelled like throw up to me, but it wasn't much. More like the amount an infant spits up.)

Dallin did get some fun gifts from Great Grandma Braegger. Kathi, my mother-in-law, made that shirt that Dallin is wearing. Russ wore it when he was little.And this is what happens when Dallin doesn't get his way. I know you all think I have such a sweet baby, but he's not always that way. Now you see the truth.And this is the daycare training taking over. This is where Dallin is not happy with his own toy, so he takes Easton's toy instead. Good thing for Dallin that Easton was more interested in running around.

Just a picture of Christmas gifts.

We waited for dallin to wake up on his own, but he still looks so tired. I think he was confused. We spent all holiday season telling him not to open the wrapped gifts, but on Christmas mpring we want him to. It took some persuading to get him to do it. And as you can see from thr picture, once he opened one, he wouldn't put it down to open another.


Christmas day we went to my parents. We opened gifts and went to a movie, Marley and Me. I couldn't bealieve how good Dallin was. We are never brave enough to take him to a movie, but he slept the first half hour and the rest of the time he just sat on my lap with his sippy cup and cereal. Don't think I'm crazy enough to try this on a regular basis. That night we got to talk to Candace and Lewis. That was fun. It was good weather most of the day, but by the time we were done talking to Lewis, it was storming. It was snowing so bad, Russ didn't want to drive in it. So we spent the night at my parents. For those of you who know Russ well, you know he does not like to sleep anywhere but hisown bed, so that tells you how hard it was snowing. Thanks for your bed Dan!

The day after Christmas we spent most of the day playing The Settlers of Catan. It was way fun!!! We played 4 or 5 times. Ashley, you are in for some fun gaming next time you guys make it down.The hard part about playing games was keeping Dallin ocuppied. He was the best when he got a cinnimon sucker from See's Candies. He loved it, as you can see. And it got everywhere.

Well, I'm off the navigate the snow packed roads. We are heading to Coalville today. I'm sure I'll be boring you will more pictures tomorrow. Happy New Year!

Family Christmas Eve Outing

Since Russ and I didn't have to work today, we thought it would be a good day to take Dallin down to Christmas Village. We weren't sure how he would like it, but it turned out he had a lot of fun.

On our way to 25th street.

He had a lot of fun looking in all the windows and the fact that he could walk all over on his own. Since it was 10 am, there was no one else there and he could roam around where he pleased. He especially liked the music that they had playing. Here is a quick video of him dancing. It's not the best, but if he sees the camera, he stops.

We then went to get our Christmas tree.

OK, so it's a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. We bought a live one from Lowes and planted in. It's only a foot tall. Russ thought it would be fun since we needed something small to keep up high from Dallin. His goal is to keep it alive till next year. It's so small that I had to hang out annual ornament we bought this year from the side of the pot. Hey, at least we got a tree. We almost opted not to.

Merry Christmas!

Family Christmas Party

We had my mom's family Christmas party on Sunday. Here are a few pictures from that.


We had the party at Alan and Mary's home. It was a lot of fun. Santa came to visit. (do those eyes look familiar?) and then we did a gift exchange game. I got the best of the gifts there thanks to Russ.
Thanks to Brandi too, since she is the one who brought the gift. Here is a few pictures of my cousins' kids. They sure know how to ham it up for the camera.
Aren't they cute?!? :)

First Snow Outing

OK, so it wasn't much of an outing. We just went in our front yard, but Dallin had fun. I think he knew that he was going to go outside once I started to put on the snow pants because he sat patiently on my lap while I got on the coat, mittens, and shoes. He had a hard time walking in the snow because he drags his feet still, but he didn't seem to mind when he fell down. He just was confused at why the snow wouldn't all shake off this mittens.

Isn't he cute!

Dallin Can Walk

This video is for those of you who haven't seen Dallin walk yet. Last week we stayed at my mom's house while she was in Phoenix with my dad. With all that open space, Dallin got brave. It wasn't long before he was walking all over the place. We can't wait this Bryn and Sky come down for a visit. I think Dal will have so much fun with them now.

At Ashley's Request....

OK, the problem with the picture is the girl binkie. How it happened....When Dallin was only about 3 month old, Russ went to the store. I asked him to pick up a pack of binkies while he was there because we were down to one. He comes home and and hands me the binkies. I ask him what he was thinking when he picked out the binkies. He didn't understand. They were the right kind. What was the big deal. I then kindly explained to him that there is a reason there where two colors of binkies. At three month, if I give Dallin a pink binkie, he's going to look like a girl. They have been sitting on my baker's rack (Supposedly going to be exchanged) since then. This past weekend, Dallin woke up Friday morning very sick. He was crying and nothing I did calmed him down. I couldn't find a binkie anywhere. It was 6:00 a.m., so I was not going to to store. So out came the pink and purple binkies. And now they are here to stay. On the bright side, now he's one I think you can tell he's a boy, even with a girl binkie.

You Learn Something New Every Day.

And what I learned today is that I have always been lied too. It is just as bad when it's your own child throwing up. Just because it came from Dallin, it does not mean I dry heaved any less. It's a good thing Russ had a strong stomach.

Can You See Anything Wrong With This Picture?

Russ thinks there is nothing wrong. I want other people's opinions.

What Would You Do?

So I have a problem with Dallin, and I wanted all the Mom's I know out there (and even if you're not a Mom, you opinions are appreciated too.) to let me know what they would do. Dallin bites. Not to be mean or when he doesn't get his way. It happens when he's tired and wants to be held. You pick him up and he snuggles into your arms. You hold him, rock him, snuggle with him, kiss him, and next thing you know, he bites you. The Doctor said he is just over zealous when showing affection and I should be careful not to react and make seem like a game to him. How are you suppose to not react when he bites your chin and won't let go? Usually He just bits my shoulder or the inside of my elbow. Any ideas on how to break this habit? Should I worry or not? I don't want to end up with the Biter in the daycare. He only had bitten Russ and I, for now. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks!

Faking Sick?

So I'm starting to wonder if Dallin is learning to fake sick already. I got a phone call at work today. It was the daycare. Dallin had been crying all morning. For those of you who have been around Dallin, you know this isn't normal. He didn't want to take his bottle. He was acting like he wasn't feeling well at all. I didn't question it because he had a fever on Monday. I just thought maybe it had come back. When I got to the daycare I could hear Dallin crying. As soon as I got into the infant room and sat down with him on my lap, he stopped crying and acted completely normal. I took him home and took his temperature. Normal. When we got home, he was giggly and silly and played in the front room with me. Not one cry. I think he was faking so he could go home. :) OK, so he has a bit of a runny nose, but the Doctor thinks it's just a small cold. After spending all day with him, I couldn't believe he was acting to ornery at daycare.

Not only was he happy today, he learned a lot of new "tricks" while we spent the afternoon together. He learned to open the china hutch cupboards. (Adding one more danger zone in our house now.) He learned that if he throws the ball at me, I will roll it back to him. (OK, so it's more like throwing the ball towards the ground and it bounces to me, but he had fun playing. We played for almost 20 minutes and he would giggle every time I would catch the ball.) And he took his first steps today. (He walked about 3 steps the first time before he got to me. We practiced a bunch more times too.)

Today was a lot of work for a "sick" kid. :)

Pumpkin Patches, Birthday Parties, and Trunk Or Treat

Here is a quick run down of the last week.

Dallin loved the hayride. This is him with his pumpkin.

Grandpa Clark, Dallin, Skylar, Grandma Tana, and Brynlee on the hayride.

This is Dallin's birthday cake from the Jenkins' party. It's really a bunch of cupcakes.

Dallin loved opening the presents. Skylar had to help him because it took so long for him to get them open.

Lots of candle because we were celebrating Dallin's, Brynlee's, Ty's, and Jason's birthdays. As for the lack of clothes, I know Dallin was getting ready to get messy with birthday cake. I don't know about Bryn and Sky. :)

First time Mom has let Dallin have more than a few bites of cake. And definitely the first time he has got to eat it on his own. He loved it.

This picture was taken after the trunk or treat at our ward. He had a blast. And didn't mind his costume. Yeah! Aly took some cute pictures of him on Halloween. I'll post it once she gets it to me.

We went out to eat with my mom, Ash, and her kids. All we could get Dallin to eat was an ice cream cone minus the ice cream.

And here are the cousins. That was a tough picture to take.

Family Photos

Well, Veronica Reeve, who took Dallin's 6 months pictures, took our family pictures a week ago. Here are the one's she posted on her blog. What do you all think. Russ and Dallin look great. I think she took so many of Dallin because she knows I'm a sucker for buying cute pictures of my baby. And if you are wondering why her post is lable the "J" Family, it's because I email her from my old account, Nicole Jenkins. I guess I never mentioned that my last name is now Richins. :)

What I Learned

So today I had a day off from work. I had already paid for daycare, so I thought I would make the most of this day. We all slept in about an hour. Once we got up, Russ and Dallin got ready for the day. I dropped Russ off at the train station, Dallin off at daycare, and I headed home. My plan---clean the house. I did jobs I have been putting off or just didn't have time to do when Dallin was around. I want to share a few things I learned today.

1. Baked on tomato soup is one of the hardest things to clean off. If it's not crusty and completely baked on, forming a hard and impenetrable outer shell, then it is this slimy outer layer that you must clean off layer by layer until you then reach the crusty shell below.

2. You can start your oven on fire when seasoning a dutch over. This leads me to....

3. It takes a good hour to get all the smoke to clear out of your house. In the mean time, your eyes burn and your nose runs and you are freezing because it snowed a foot yesterday and all your windows and doors are open at 9 am.

4. A sign of craziness is looking all over your house for the banana you where going to eat until you realized the oven was on fire, then eventually finding the banana peel in the garbage. I must have eaten it, but I have absolutely not memory of doing so.

5. Laundry multiples in the hamper.

6. The problem with deep cleaning is the more you clean, the more there is to clean.

This is today in a nutshell.

Update: Not long after I posted this, I got a call from the daycare. Dallin was running a fever of 101.9. That put an end to my cleaning day. On a brighter note, after picking up Dallin from daycare, we went to my mom's. Dallin took a long nap while I finished making the sorbet I started yesterday. It was yummy. Get the recipe here.

Cool Story Con't (Pictures)

Read the Cool Story first so you understand the pictures.



So here is the "other guy's" car. I can't believe he only had a broken finger and some bad bruises where his seat belt was. The cop from the scene called my mom tonight. I guess the guy was going 75-85 mph when he hit. He's lucky he didn't roll.

Here's a view of Dan's car from the driver's side door. Notice how the driver's seat is on top of the passenger's seat.

Another view of the driver's side door. We think that in the upper right corner, where the headrest of the driver's seat should be, is the backseat.

And here's a picture from the back end of the car. The back tire is somewhere in the location that the backseat passengers usually put their feet. I think everyone involved was very blessed. Dan told me when he pulled over originally, he didn't think he was far enough off the side of the road, so he decided to coast forward about 10 more feet. And I'm convinced that if the guy hadn't hit the car, he would have flipped, ended upside down, and his injuries would have been bad. And we are lucky my dad and Jay didn't decide to go change the tire when Jay got home after 11pm. They may have still been there when it happened. On a lighter note, when my dad told Jay that it was a good thing they didn't go that night or they might have been killed, Jay responded with, "Maybe that was the plan. Maybe we messed up the plan with our laziness." Count on Jay to have a sense of humor in every circumstance. Thanks for keeping us laughing Jay!

Cool Story (Or At Least I Think So)

So last night Dan was coming to Ogden from Logan with a date, when his Honda got a flat tire on the freeway near Willard. This was strange, since the tires were new last week. Dan got out of the car to see if he could fix the tire, but he didn't have a jack. He called my dad to come and help. Dad showed up in his truck and with a jack, but they could not get the jack to work. After a while, they decided to leave the car on the side of the freeway. Dan dropped Dad off at home and left on his date in the truck. My dad called his cousin Jay to go with him to get the Honda. Jay wasn't home and wouldn't be home till about 11 pm. They planned on going to get the car then, but once 11 rolled around, they changed their minds. They would get it in the morning instead.

This morning my mom gets a phone call around 8 am, before my dad had a chance to go and get the Honda. They caller was a lady in her Stake. She asked if my mom had a Honda that was on the freeway last night. My mom told her yes. The lady then informs her that it is no longer there. What had happened was her son was driving home from a date last night about midnight. I'm sure he was going about 75 mph, and he fell asleep. He crashed right into the Honda and totaled it. He woke up to the the air bags deploying. Her son was able to walk away with nothing more that a broken finger. If he hadn't hit the Honda, I'm sure he would have rolled and who knows how bad off he would have been. As my mom said, what are the odds that he would fall asleep at just the right time so he would hit the Honda and not roll off the freeway?

I thought it was a pretty cool story.

**If Dan or Dad read this story, please correct any info that I have wrong. This is how I understood it from Mom.

Bath Time

Dallin loves to take a bath. And it's been tons esier since a friend on mine lent me her baby bath seat. It's great. He still tries to climb out of it after a while, but that's my cue that bath time is over.



A while back I had a video of when we first put Dallin in his jumper. His feet didn't even touch the ground. Now he's almost too big for it, but boy does he love it.

This Is A Favorite Of Russ

We were watching You Tube this evening and came across this Scrubs song. Russ was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. Since we have a good time watching Ben's Daily Humor together, Russ thought we would share a bit of our own today. Warning: If you are going to be offended by someone singing about poop, you better not watch this video.

Anyone Want To Babysit?

OK, so I found a new website called Worth1000.com. It has tons of tutorials, mostly for Photoshop, but some of them work well for Photoshop Elements as well (which is what I have). I thought I would share with you the products of my efforts. My other two babies.....

First up, my alien baby. Isn't he sweet?

Of course he's cute. Look how good his mom looks.


Next, Dallin's evil twin. I knew Dallin was too good. He had to have an evil half somewhere. I found him.

Thanks to everyone for humoring me. And no April, these aren't real babies. :)

This One's For Kami Jo

So here's how I did my Photoshop picture. I just want to note that I have Photoshop Elements 4 for Mac. So your computer may be different, but it might give you an idea how to do it.

First, open up the photo that you want to take the image from.

You are going to use the Magic Selection Brush Tool

Start to color in the area that you want to "cut out." Make sure you do it without lifting your mouse button, Once you life your mouse button, the program tries to determine what area of the photograph you want highlighted.The area that is highlighted with the "marching ants" is the area that will be selected to "cut out." If you didn't quite get enough area, start coloring more of your image with the Magic Selection Brush Tool.

This may take you a few tries to get the entire part of the picture that you want "cut out." It's better to get too much than not enough. You can always erase a toy, but your baby would look pretty funny without an ear. :)


As you can see (maybe) In my final "cut out" picture, I have more highlighted than just Dallin. I'll take care of that later.

How go to edit, copy. This will copy all your highlighted area.

Open the picture you want to add your "cut out" to. Go to edit, paste.

Now your "cut out" will probably wither be too big or too small, so you'll have to adjust it. Make sure you hold down the Shift key while you do it in order to keep the proportions correct. (Some programs may use a different command to keep the proportions. Check your user manual.)

Once you get the "cut out" to the correct size, place it where you want it.

Now you zoom in and erase the "Extra" parts of your "cut out" that we talked about before. It may take a bit of time. And remember you can change the pixel size of your eraser to get into the small areas. NOTE: Make sure you are clicked on the correct layer before you start to erase.


Now you are all done. YEAH!

Maybe no one will read this, or maybe it makes no sort of sense at all. But I had fun making it. I learned how to make screenshots on my computer. Way Cool! And one thing...I learn stuff by messing around with Photoshop. I'm sure there are more professional ways of doing thing and they look a lot better, but I have no idea how to do any of that.