Wedding Anniversary

I can honestly say that the BEST day of my life, aside from Greyson's birth, was the day I married Chad. Chad is an amazing husband and father. He is my soulmate and my best friend. I cannot imagine my life without him. Today we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. Because Chad had to be in Las Vegas for business we decided to turn it into an anniversary getaway. We ate dinner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant which overlooks the entire city. From the view, we were able to see the water show in front of the Bellagio Hotel. It was absolutely breath taking. While awaiting dinner, we made a list of our 10 best memories together...

1. The Proposal http://www.mywedding.com/chadandbrannanforever/stories.html



2. Wedding/Honeymoon



3. Greyson's Birth


4. Breckenridge Snowboarding Trip


5. Moving into Our New House


6. Summer Boating Days


7. First trip to Disneyland


8. New Year's Eve 2005


9. Flagstaff/Snow Bowl/Lowell Observatory


10. Our First Family Vacation


Just before leaving, Chad reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out two 4x6 photo cards and began reading aloud the words that were printed on them. I quickly realized he was reading his wedding vows to me. It wasn't the words that I heard that made me realize this, rather the lack of words and tears in his eyes that gave it away. He was just as choked up as he was on our wedding day. My eyes welled up with tears as I listened to the words he struggled to speak. He managed to get through them, but says he is certain that even 50 years from now he will have just as hard of a time.

Wedding Video Montage
(For the record, we were not nearly as red as this video makes us look!)

"All Done"

When it's time for Greyson to take a nap or go down for the night, he is more than happy to oblige. That is, as long as he has his blue blankie (boo) and paci (pa-pa).



Once Greyson awakes from dreamland, he knows that his "lovies" do not leave the crib. While he will gladly leave them behind, he always tries to make the escape with paci in mouth and blue blankie in hand. With a smirk on my face and raised eyebrows, I slightly cock my head to the right and ask, "Are you all done napping?" He knows that is his cue to quickly do away with both lovies if he's planning on seeing the other side of those bars! Ninety-five percent of the time that's exactly what he does. Every so often he needs a little more alone time with his lovies, so I just leave him in his crib and close the door behind me until he's ready to make the separation...usually about 5 minutes.



Very early this morning at 4:00 AM, my sleep was abruptly interrupted by Greyson crying. It was still pitch black outside and I had been asleep only three and a half hours. Once I realized Chad "couldn't hear him," I staggered my way toward his room and flipped on the hall light hoping not to blind either one of us. Seeing as how Greyson does not get up until at least 7:30 AM, what I had planned to see when I opened the door was my child looking just as disheveled as me, frantically searching for his paci so that he could fall back asleep without knowing he was ever awake! To my surprise, he was standing up in his crib with paci in mouth and blue blankie in hand. He instantly stopped crying and it was obvious that he was delighted to see me. That precious little cheeky grin, visible even with his paci, told me that I might not be heading back to bed as quickly as I had hoped.





As I approached Greyson's crib, he let go of his blue blankie with one hand, pulled the paci from his mouth and threw it to the mattress with the other and said, "All done!" The dos and don'ts of parenting went out the window at that very moment. All that mattered was that my cute, sweet, adorable little boy was all done! He was ready to get up and start his day. He wasn't even going to attempt to take blue blankie and paci to the other side. So do you know what I did? I picked him up and we went downstairs to eat an early morning snack! He had a banana and I had a cinnamon roll. As tired as I was, I enjoyed those 10 minutes that we spent together snacking under the microwave night light before heading back to bed. Sometimes as parents we just have to take advantage of those priceless moments and enjoy them to the fullest.

Auntie it-ey

Greyson LOVES his Auntie Whitney (it-ey)! He thinks she's the cat's meow. She is a singer/song writer and recently started a live online broadcast that airs every Tuesday evening from 7:00 to 7:30 (AZ Time)...this is the link http://www.ustream.tv/channel/whitney-steele-s-favorite-show

I always make a bowl of popcorn for our little family to share during the show. Greyson gets so excited when it's about to start. He points to Whitney's profile picture on the screen and blurts out, "it-ey! it-ey! it-ey!" Here are a few pictures I took of him watching the first show that aired.

"it-ey! it-ey! it-ey!"

Snacking on his popcorn with his eyes glued to the screen.

Going in for a close-up...

I really hope he doesn't have my family's bad eyes!

Greyson Finally Says "Mama"

Hearing your child say his first words is such an exciting moment for parents. In our case, Greyson said his first words at 10 months. Of course he was not rambling off big fancy words, rather words like, uh-oh, touch, hi, and Chad's favorite, da da. I was aware that most babies usually say da da before mama since developmentally the da da sound is one of the easier sounds to make. I let Chad think he was extra special for about 4 minutes and then I felt it was necessary to clear up any confusion he may have had. :-)

By 11 months Greyson was saying a lot of words. Whether they were words we taught him or words he just heard and repeated, new words were constantly flowing out of the mouth of our babe. All of these words, yet he would not say mama. His first birthday came and went; still no mama. The big shot began throwing out 4-syllable words like alligator and helicopter. It was apparent that this was now a game for Greyson. When asked to say mama his response was da da. I figured if I quit asking him to say it then it would just happen when I least expected it. My patience was running weary!

He is now 13 months and all I can envision is Greyson at his high school graduation giving his valedictorian speech, "This is the day that someone very special to me thought would never come. It has been 18 long years, but the time is here." Then he glances up at me sitting in the stands and out comes that little four letter word, "Mama." *drag needle across record* Ridiculous, I know. Don't worry, my absurd thought no longer exists. Today is a day that goes down in our family history book (or blog rather)! Greyson called me mama! If only you could have seen the joy in my face!

Tarzan, King of the Jungle

Now Starring in...


Tarzan in His Early Years



Tarzan the Fearless



Tarzan the Botanist


Tarzan and the Getaway Car

Tarzan Finds a Dad

Tarzan Feeds Nana

Tarzan Goes Trick-or-Treating

Tarzan and the Woman Who Terrorizes Jane

Greyson's 1st Year Video Montage

I really struggled trying to find the perfect song to complete Greyson's 1st Year Video Montage. My little boy is one now! This last year was a big year not only for Greyson, but for me and Chad as well. We survived our first year as parents! I wanted a song that really put our year into perspective. One that would make my heart melt and a flood of tears fall from my eyes the instant the first note was heard. The song I was hoping to find would posess the trifecta of a sucessfully sappy, sad, yet happy mom/dad/baby song. Many downloads later, I found the perfect song. Although it doesn't meet my criteria, what makes it perfect is that it's Greyson's favorite song.

Musicology 101

Today was Greyson's first day of Musicology. He loves music, loves to dance, and more than anything he loves to play the drums. One might ask herself, "What better way to spend an hour of the day than to watch my child being entertained by a few of his favorite things?" There's only one problem here, "Greyson" and "1 hour" don't mesh...

1:00 pm - Not just one drum, but TWO...Greyson's favorite number.

1:05 pm - Coming over for a quick hug...his way of telling me how much fun the first 5 minutes have been.



1:07 pm - Moving on to the next activity...what kid doesn't like balls?



1:10 pm - Greyson and his cousin Laila rockin' the maraccas.



1:11 pm - Still rockin the Maraccas.



1:14 pm - Hmmm, can you find my kid? 14 minutes into class and he was done...I'm sure you can imagine what the last 46 minutes were like.

Pumpkin Patch

Our trip to the pumpkin patch didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. The biggest problem was related to the fact that we live in AZ and it is still a million degrees in October. For those that are unaware, heat is known to cause extreme irritability. Greyson just wasn't having it and I really couldn't blame him. I made the poor guy wear his festive, long sleeve shirt with shorts that were ridiculously too large and made out of a material that should be celebrated for it's enveloping warmth.

Here is Greyson with Carter, Celia and Brayden.

Greyson's thoughts: "Big pumpkin or little pumpkin?"

My thoughts: "Did I really put those shorts/flood pants on my kid and leave the house today?"

He briefly forgot that he was crabby.

When Chad saw this picture he was mortified and actually asked me if I let Greyson pet the pig. Of course I let Greyson pet the pig, the petting zoo was the highlight of my day!

My shirtless little pumpkin picker was mesmerized by the tractor. However, it was only a matter of minutes before the tractor was just a tractor. Greyson was ready for his crib, paci and blue blankie.

Greyson's 1st Birthday

Greyson is to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom as I once was to The Giving Tree...utterly infatuated! Sooo, for his 1st birthday I chose Chicka Chicka Boom Boom as the party theme. I wasn't really sure where to begin, but after many sleepless nights obsessing over letters and coconut trees, I think it turned out to be a great 1st birthday, party theme...

The Invitation


The Cake (made by Cara)


Snow Globes
I filled little water bottles with letters and palmtrees then hot glued the lids.


"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" Book Pack


The Craft - I stamped each kid's foot to make the palm leaves
and then glued the letters of their name climbing the tree.

Greyson's Smash Cake