Family Christmas

These are in the wrong order.... but here we go! Today is the day after Christmas, Saturday, and we wanted to do some sight seeing. We live in Vegas, but we never go down town! So we woke up, got ready and headed to the MGM to see the lions....Zach growled the whole time, and screamed when we pulled him away from the VERY crouded window!
We also went to the Bellagio. Their garden room is beautiful. The kids loved the train they had, as well as the larger than life polar bears, all made of flowers! Beautiful!

I've never been to the M&M store so we went there too... we paid 24$ for just over a pound of candy...so what, 4x's the price in a store? But we saw a movie, a race car, 4 levels of memoribilia, and Zach never broke anything! Brady won't smile at me....

The aftermath.....

Chrsitmas Eve. We are so happy because we wrapped all the gifts a week ago, so we watched The Christmas Story after setting out the Santa gifts.... oh and our kids were in bed!

Thank you Dramma PP for the jammies! Brady finally got to open something! For the past few weeks Brady asked me a few times a day what he was getting for Christmas.... my amswer was always Underwear! Two days before the holiday he couldn't stand it anymore.... "moooomm, please don't say underwear anymore!"

Christmas Eve Dinner! We stayed home ALONE this year.... WOW it was GREAT!!! I made a huge dinner, ham, sweet potatoes the works.... it took 3 hours to make, and 10 minutes to eat!

Isn't it Pretty!?! Thanks sister for the homemade GREAT apron! I love it!

Santa came to our ward party.... Zach disappeared so many times I lost count, he'd run back into the Santa room, pull his beard and yell in his face, "hi santa!!" It was so dang funny! And of course Brady ran around the church all night will all the big kids!

Who needs a play room???

Zachie's new church outfit!

Letter to Santa!

Santa at the mall.... "mom, I didn't even cry", Brady said when it was all over! Love that kid!

Life

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you. Yep, 29! And yes, Jeff put the '9' on backwards! Still, it was yummy!

The week before my age change, was Thanksgiving. We headed to Utah. Where, thanks for a great planner sister we did a lot of FUN things. The Dino Museum....A train ride, swimming, a LIMO ride (dad rented one.. best surprise EVER!) Lights, Mcdonalds, good food and a lot of resting. It was wonderful...

Brady looking at the air machine in the museum, so cool.

Boys resting in the morning.

Zach and his 'bink'. He is obsessed with it... I guess I missed the window of easy opportunity to get rid of it!

The boys on uncle Newel's put-put.

Zach is talking all the time. His favorite things to say are, binkie, blanket, mama poo poo, Beanhouer, motorcycle, tractor, airplane, and SANTA HO HO HO! As well as almost everything he hears. He is in to Everything.... I mean it... he is a monster with making messes, screaming, and being wild. Last saturday he fell over the pew at church... right onto his forehead, lucky parents.

Brady is getting older and while it makes me a little sad I am so proud of all the things he is able to figure out and do. He is writing, with help, a lot of things. He hates to color, and he talks your ear off if you let him. He is obsessed with motorcycles, loves his baby brother, and still loves watching movies. He is the greatest cuddler, and sweetest boy ever.

How can 2 brothers be so different? I love them to pieces!!

Zach-er-ezie

Zach was dipping his lettuce in ketchup then squencing up his face.... when we noticed and started laughing he didn't stop... this kid will do anything for a laugh!

squenchie face~ which he does on demand now!

The BEST big smile. Love this baby! He tells me when he is poopie, but only lets me change him if I have a good reason... not just come and change, but something like, lets get that kaka poopoo off your bum... then he thinks, OK! He is starting to talk like crazy, and we are so sad that he is getting bigger! he loves to play chase, attack Brady, and watch the garbage truck.

Happy Birthday to my BEAN!

This boy was so excited for his birthday that we had to have a candle in his toast! So he could blow out the "fire". Yes, it was still dark outside! He crawled into bed with me and when I said, 'Happy Birthday buddy', he said. 'yeah, I'm 4 now, because I growed up!' so cute!

Here he is listening to Papa Bobbus tell him happy day! He thinks everything is funny, hence the face! Brady also peeked at presents in bags, he couldn't stand waititng for Zach to wake up from his nap! (so we didn't).

Zach has discovered candy.... it is his new love! That and water, tractors (every driving thing!), his family, birds, and poking people in the eyes!

Blow out the Candles dude!!!

We spent the day with cousins, going to the Disney store, lunch, and then home to wrap presents and set up for his party. We had a great time! Brady wouldn't wear his costume at the party he said, "no mom, birthday boys don't wear costumes." oh, well now i know!

7.5 years

A 7 year Hump? yes, i guess we've had that.

Last night in bed I asked Jeff if he thought that after 7 years of marriage I had started

dressing frumpy, like an old boring mom.

He was quiet for a long time, I got a little nervous, so I laughed, "WHAT!"

"well, you've always dressed like that."

at least he was honest!

Then we hugged and rolled to our own sides of the bed.

In true marital happiness!

Zach's Gym Class

Today was Z's first day of gymnastics! It's a Mommy & Me class, so it was really fun! He climbed into this circle and laid down so I couldn't get him out!

He Loves to hang! He does it on our swing set, so he already knew what to do here!

They were supposed to summersault down this wedge....he would NOT bend forward, so he ran down it instead!

I can't belive he is already 18 months old! Time flies! He is such an awesome, funny kid, Love you Zachary!

Duck Creek

Brady and Colin found logs, they were so strong, they carried them back to the cabin to throw them around.

Adult game playing, and yes I am sure Marcus is making that face on purpose!!

The Chicken Squakers, Super Grandma Cusick brought a craft for the kids, these things really sound like chickens! We made them when I was little with grandma, and now she has made then with my kids too, she is the BEST! (courtney helped too!!)

The boys caught 5 horney toads, all tiny, and yes I brougth them all home! I, who refuses any pets, now have these things, as well as crickets in my house. I have yet to touch them. Brady put one in the fish bowl last night, he thought he had killed it and was so happy when he realized it was not dead!

Jeff caught this fish!!! It was huge! We let it go, but not until I drove back to the cabin for a camera! When he first jerked the pole the fish pulled so hard that his reel broke off the fishing pole. So with Heidi holding the pole Jeff backed up and reeled as fast as he could, Colin and I ran to get the net, adn Marcus grabbed the thing when it came out of the water! We were all very excited, clapping and making fools of oueselves! It was pretty fun.

The two smallest Cusick's, Cody and Krew. The are about 2 months apart, and both such sweet good babies!

My Family, I LOVE these BOYS! btw, the hike was very short, as the BYU vs. OU game was on in 10 minutes.... Even on vacation Jeff can't miss a game....needless to say after the BYU win he was a very 'happy camper'!!

The Cusick family (now just my parents kids) had our first official family reunion last weekend. We went to a cabin in Duck Creek, above Cedar City. We had such a great time, forget about all the mice in the ceiling, and the not sleeping because we have too many babies, it was a blast!

My Boys

Brady has a new hobby, he likes to draw pictures of himself! They both laid on this paper to be traced, then colored in their own faces, etc. It's pretty funny to see where Brady puts eyes and noses, he does a pretty good job!
Zach loves the garbage.... he'll take food, paper dishes, whatever, out of it. This is the go-gurt box. He dug it out and thought it looked like a cool hat! He was so proud of himself!

Brady is our fish baby, here he is in goggles looking up at me! I asked him lask week what he was going to do as a talent for our family reunion. "oh, just my sick moves", he followed that up with a short break dance....pretty funny kid!

Utah Trip

Went to Utah for my ten year reunion, had alot of fun with Family!

Herriman has a lake....kind of....a retention pond you can swim in. It is so fun. We went with Sorenson's (and my sis!) the kids had a blast.
Courtney and her two babies

Colby & Beaners

On the way home we stopped at Thanks Giving Point. Their petting zoo is the best, there were 2 baby cows and a baby pony. Brady loved the ponies, but was terrified of the bigger horses! Zach wanted to be in the pens with all of the animals.

Lainey Bug

Fish Lake

My family reunion every year is in Fish LakeUT, we love it! This year we bought a tent trailer, which was awesome, except that we had two leaks in the roof. We used Costco diapers and duct tape to fix it, worked like a jem!
My boys waiting out the rain!

Brady went fishing for the first time, they went from 7 am - noon! He caught the bigger of the two fish, but would not touch it.... "This fish has teeth, mom!" this was as close as he'd get to it! But he loved watching it be gutted, sick! We kept it in foil in the garage freezer for weeks, he'd show it to everyone who came over.

Here we all are on our boat ride. Brady drove the boat, and Zach leaned over the edge, a little too scary for me, it was a short ride.

Zach's famous 'Mad Face'. He would yell, "mama!" and do the face, but as soon as I looked at him he'd laugh so hard the face was ruined!

We had so much fun. I didn't really see Brady all week, he played with friends at our camp site, and cousins at the motels. (he learned to say, "I hate you!" which was the only down side!)

Jeff fished, and I sat around with cousins all week, nothing better.