I LOVE celebrating the 4th of July in Rexburg. 2 years ago I took Brayden for that weekend and loved it. It was fun to have Josh with us this time. We woke up and hurried off to the parade. My sister-in-law Jana's family saved us a great spot near the beginning of the parade under a nice shady tree. It took Brayden a while to realize that candy kept coming and he could save it. He tried to eat every piece he picked up. The first picture is Brayden checking out his stash of candy. Notice the bagel behind him he quickly discarded as soon as the candy started coming. What a great breakfast!

The third picture is Brayden waving and saying hi to the big tractor.

The fourth pic is the reason we came - cute baby Simon.

After the parade we headed back to Ryon and Jana's for some pizza. Jana's family has a tradition of doing a huge waterslide every year, so we helped get it all ready. It was a ton of fun going down the waterslide, although Brayden wasn't a fan. Josh first took him down with him but ended up going really fast, so Brayden screamed the whole time. So we decided to put him on the slide just half way and push him down. It went well the first time, but the second time Josh pushed a litle too hard and he ended up on his back. So we tried one more time and he ended up sliding head first into the puddle of water. Let's just say he was done. Unfortunately for him, we were not.

So after about 30 minutes, I carried him up the hill while he was kicking and screaming and took him down with me. I covered his eyes when we went through the water and I think that helped, although it was not the solution. At the end of the day he still hated it.

Brooklyn, on the other hand, absolutely loved it. I took her down with me quite a few times, then started sending her down just holding her hand. I didn't get a picture of her, but she was giggling the whole way down. It is surprising how fast you get going.

Brooklyn loved the little kiddie pool. I love her bitter beer face in the last picture. You may have to enlarge the picture to get the whole effect. She looks just like the baby in the commercials.

My brother blessed their baby boy, Simon, on the 5th of July. So we decided to make a vacation of it and spend the whole weekend with them. We left on Thursday night and got there around 12:30am. On Friday we relaxed all morning and played with their kids. It was fun for Brayden to spend the day playing with his cousins. He had a lot of fun. The first pic is of Josh and Brayden holding Simon.

The second pic is of Ryon playing the guitar and singing to Simon. I didn't get my camera in time, but when he started singing Simon just sat and watched with the biggest smile on his face. It was so cute. You can also see Carson and Nacho, the dog, in the background.

While the kids napped, Josh went with Ryon and their kids Hannah, Carson, and Harrison to the ice caves. I forgot to send him with the camera, of course, but he had a lot of fun.

That night we went next door to the neighborhood firework show. He had bought some illegal fireworks so everyone came out to watch. Brayden HATED them. He just screamed and screamed b/c of the noise. I love the first pic where Brayden is trying to hide. We all thought it was funny until a firework fell over and shot something at the kids standing next to us and then it fell in Brayden's lap. We all jumped up freaking out. Luckily nothing happened, but that was the end of it for Brayden. He was beyond freaked out now so Josh took him inside for the rest of the show.

I am getting a little antsy to play with Brooklyn's hair. She still has nothing to work with!!! Here is my attempt to get a clip in her hair. All I want to know is how in the world do you get a little girl to sit still?!

Brooklyn loves to climb in the dishwasher. She is a great helper at unloading the dishes, whether they be clean or dirty. She knows she shouldn't climb on it, so the second picture is when she realized she was caught. She was so cute I had to let her keep playing.

When Josh cleans the fish tank, he puts our huge goldfish in the tub. The kids LOVE watching them swim around and they always end up over feeding them. Since this was the first time at this house, Brayden was so cute showing Brooklyn the fish and telling her all about them.

Well our little family just got back from our vaction to Mexico. We went to Playacar, which is just south of Cancun. My entire family went, 8 adults, and 9 children under the age of 9. It was a little crazy, but SO MUCH FUN!
We stayed in a beautiful resort that was all inclusive. It was awesome having everything included. But as a result I think we all ate way too much food. Thakfully the resort was huge so there was a lot a walking involved so we could burn those calories off!

While we were there we swam in the pool and went to the beach a ton. We also went parasailing, which was great. I have to admit I started freaking out when we got up really high. It was a little scary for me, but Justin loved it.

We also did an excursion with my sibling and spouses, while the grandparents babysat. We took ATV's into the jungle and went ziplining to three different spots. It was my favorite part of the trip. Then we climbed down this dark hole in the ground into a cave. There where stalagtites and stalagmites everywhere and it was full of water, so we went for a swim. The water was really cold, but felt great since it is so hot there.

It was a great vacation and we are so thankful to my parents for taking us all. We created memories that will last forever.

We had a fun and relaxed Father's Day. I made sure Josh was able to sleep in, then we had breakfast and got ready for church. Josh's dad spoke in their ward, so we went to hear him speak. He did a wonderful job. We left and headed over to my dad's to visit with my parents.

We then headed back to the Ericson's for a big BBQ dinner with Steve's side of the family. It was fun to spend time with all the Ericsons, especially Grandpa Ericson. Surprisingly, Brayden did pretty well with all the pictures I wanted to take since he usually refuses. One picture I have always wanted to take but never have is a 4 generation picture. I was so grateful that Brayden cooperated and we got some really nice pictures.

I'm so grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful priesthood holders. Our grandfathers did a great job raising our dads and I'm grateful for the influence they continue to have in our lives. We are blessed to each have a dad that cares so much for us and our kids, and I am eternally grateful for the father Josh has become. Thanks dads for all you do!!!

Well, dad and I had a whole Saturday to hang around the house and clean. So of course we decided to bag that and to go to the Lehi Chuck wagon Breakfast and then to the parade. As I curled my hair, work called and said my employee didn't show up for work. So I had to jump in my uniform and dash off to work. Bummer. Dad did drive over to the parade for an hour.
Anyway, after work, we decided to go to dinner. After many suggestions, we decided to go to........The Mayan! So we went there, and enjoyed good food (not great), and two divers show. Still love the atmosphere, need to work on the food a little more, although it was as good as most regular mexican restaurants. My favorite part was remembering Rachelle worked there as a monkey for a summer. Wish I could find those pictures!

Well, Its been a really long time since I've blogged....and I've actually have things to blog about! Right now seems like just the time (i have been home sick all day and I just can't lay down anymore)

This month has been really busy.

The first weekend of June was my wards high adventure for the Young womens. As Girls camp director, this fell under my responsibilities. It was really stressful as I had to plan EVERYTHING!!! but it turned out great. We had 8 YW go, myself, the YW president and 2 priesthood (Sean was volunteered for this months ago :) )

We went to enchanted rock, a texas state park. We went for Thursday - Saturday. It turned out great. Thursday we arrived, did a little boldering and then set up and chilled. That night we hiked to the top of enchanted rock and star gazed. The next day we woke up, ate, and met our guide who took us rock repelling!! So much fun!!. When we got back down we decided to drive into town where there is a slow but wide river for the girls to play in. Then that night we hung out some more and Saturday we broke camp and came home!

Ok, now I think i may have sat up to long staring at the computer so I will blog again tomorrow about the rest of the month.

Just want to remind everyone that if you want to give out a direct link to your blog, all you need to do is give them
your first name follwed by brewerfam.com i.e

shantelle.brewerfam.com
ali.brewerfam.com

if you have any questions, let me know.

Thanks
Ryon

So for Orem Fest the City put on a baby contest. I have been wanting to enter Paige into some thing like this for a while. ( People are always telling me to, and well you have to admit, she is darn cute!)So I did it. But apparently the judges did not agree with me. There were a lot of kids there. First they got their pictures taken and then the sat infront of the judges for like 30 seconds. Of course Paige just sat there and did not do anything cute. I knew when we walked away from the table that she would not win. And sure enough, no prizes for us. Oh well, we know she is cute and that is good enough for me!!