Several Updates in One

So I have about 5 different posts that I've started over the past 1 1/2 months but haven't posted because I kept waiting to download pictures. Rather than doing several post I thought I'd condense everthing into one post. So here's a little of everything starting from most recent:

-On Saturday we finally did haircuts. All three of the boys were in desperate need. It was a battle and a half getting Brayden to agree to his haircut. He just kept saying, "No, not my curls, I like my curls." At long last we got him to agree to things and he was quite relived to see he still had curls when we were finished. We cut off about an inch but you can hardly tell his hair was so long. Tavita looks so much older (and chubbier) with his new haircut. I started the cutting but Junior had to finsih it because I couldn't get him to sit still. So aside from a little bald spot on the side of is head (opps!) Junior did a great job of doctoring up my mistakes. While we were cutting Tavita's hair Brayden kept saying, "Cut his hair curly Mommy, I want him to have curls." Sorry buddy, we tried but it just didn't happen!

-We entered our hideous kitchen into a Utah's Ugliest Room Competition and are currently one of the finalist. Keep your fingers crossed that this eyesore:

Will soon look like this:

-On Sept 4th my dear hubby turned the big 29 and being the neglectful wife I am I didn't even post anything. Luckily my mom is better than I am and acknowledged it on our family site. I am so grateful for such a great husband! We didn't do anything to big and exciting. Had a nice dinner at home then a major jam session to some MJ, one of his birthday presents (everyone needs him in their collection).


-Dear Uncle Ryan went back to Hawaii at the beggining of the month. The boys were a little lost for a few days after. They kept running into his room hoping he'd be there to wrestle with.



-Yeah, that's right, we had snow on Labor Day, I thought it was an ominous sign of things to come, luckily we've had relatively nice weather since that day.

-On Aug 28th Junior and I used some tickets I won from work to go see Boys II Men! That's right their still alive and kicking! Only three of them are touring now because their bass singer has become disabled from MS but they were still very entertaining. Turned out a couple of our neighbors also had connections so we all went together and had an abolute blast. I couldn't believe how many people turned out for the concert. We got there pretty early and still had to battle for a spot of grass to sit on. They've just released a Motown CD where they do copies of all the classic motown songs, which they performed with some priceless moves. It was great!




-Our good friends/neighbors have started an addition onto their house across from us. The boys absolutely love sitting at the window watching them work. Especially when they were in the digging stage and had all the tractors and backhoes. This phase was about a month ago and Tavita couldn't get enough of it. One day we got back from shopping and Tavita needed a diaper change and Brayden had fallen asleep on the way home. So I figured I'd at least get the diaper off Tavita, put Brayden in bed, grab a diaper and finish up with Tavita. I got Tavita out, cleaned him up and was going to let him run in the nude for a minute. However, due to the draw of the construction he started darting across the street. I brought him back into the garage and started closing the garage door, Tavita kept bending down farther and farther as the door closed so he could watch the construction. I left the door open a crack while I took Brayden upstairs. I came up and Tavita was sprawled out half asleep on the floor while he continued to enjoy the construction across the street.


Well, that about sums up all the blogs I had started over the past while. Hopefully (haha) I'll be better at posting more regularly so I don't have to do any more jumbo blogs.

Our First Set of Stiches (actually staples)

Last Sunday the boys were playing in their jumping castle (Brayden's birthday present). The scene looked much like this and all was peaceful.

Soon, their Uncle Ryan decided to spice things up a little and the scene got a little more precarious.

The boys were having the time of their lives and begged for more and more. and got braver and braver.

It didn't take long before the scene changed dramatically and we were here.

With Brayden's head looking like this.

Now it looks like this.

You would think that getting launched out of the castle, slamming into the hinge of a door and splitting your head open would deter Brayden but oh no. With his head covered in blood and tears running down his face, Brayden was trying to climb off my lap saying, "I want to do that again." When we got back from the doctors, what were the first words out of his mouth? "Mommy, throw me around in the castle." He wasn't at all trumatized by the experience. He thought it was great that instead of going to bed he got to eat a sucker and watch Cars. The don't even use shots to numb you any more. They pour this liquid on and let it sit for 15 min, and walaah no pain. Like any head wound there was a lot of blood and poor Ryan felt horible but all in all, it really wasn't that bad of an injury (only 2 staples, it was a weird cut and they couldn't hold it together with stiches) and Brayden was up and running the next day as if nothing happened.

Happy Birthday Brayden

Here's to the cutest boy in the ward (as voted up at girls camp!)




So, I posted early today about yesterday being our anniversary. Well, on the night of our 1st anniversary I went into labor with the one and only Brayden Kasamu Shum. After a lot of puking and 13 hours of labor, Brayden entered the world 3 years ago today. He has brought us so much joy and laughter in these 3 years, he was truly meant to be the oldest brother in our family. Sometime that boy has wisdom beyond his years and a memory that never ceases to shock us. When we were camping this summer he had taken a little hike down to a river with Junior and the next day was wanting Janessa and I to take him. Niether of us had a clue where to go and he simply said, "Come on follow me" and down the road he went. He led us right to the river no problem. He is our little daredevil in some ways (i.e. water, heights, exploring) but all so conservative in other ways (loud noises, messes etc. He his determined and once he knows what he wants, he follows it. Brayden is destined to become a star one day, he loves movies, pretending, acting and most of all being DRAMATIC. The other day he was crying and through sobs he said, "Mommy, hold me up to the mirror so I can watch myself cry." He is a kind and caring older brother that is always looking out for Tavita. On Tuesday I put them down to sleep and I heard Tavita cry for like 10 seconds and then stop. Later that night I went in to check on them and both boys were in Tavita's crib, intertwined and fast asleep. The next morning I asked Brayden why he slept in Tavita's crib and he looked at me and said, "Mommy, Tavita was sad so I played with him and read him stories. What more could one ask for in a big brother!

4 years and lovin it!

Junior and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary yesterday, and as with most other days, I didn't have time to get on here and give kudos to my wonderful hubby. I know everyone says this but I couldn't have a better husband. He is the perfect match for me, we compliment each other so well. He's always there as a constant symbol of patience and humility. I'm constantly told how lucky I am to have a husband that is so involved with the kids and it's true. I'm always telling him he makes a better mom than I do! It's hard to believe it's already been 4 years but at the same time when I look at all that's happened in these past 4 years (2 kids, a move, a house, 2 trips overseas etc) it's hard to believe it's only been 4 years. I am eternally grateful for the day Junior came into my life and look forward to many more years with him!

Birthday Halabaloo and other adventures

Well, we've had a fun couple of weeks, and as always I've neglected to keep up on posting, I'll try to keep this post as short as I can. I had my birthday on the 24th, and a perk to living in Utah it means that Junior gets the day off of work and there's all sorts of activities going on throughout the weekend. To top it off, my friend Brittany was there for the weekend as well. On the 24th we went to a Pioneer Day Celebration in the park with all sorts of fun activities for the kids. The highlight of that day was the obstacle course. Junior had Tavita and I had Brayden. Brayden tore it up jumping over the fence and through the tires then came time to crawl through the covered wagons, a seemingly easy feat for an almost 3 year-old, however a wrench was thrown into the picture, or should I say a snake. In between the two "wagons" was a big old stuffed snake that couldn't look more fake. Anyway, Brayden was bookin along then suddenly froze in his tracks. He looked at the snake with these huge eyes and dove into the wagon. He sat in there forever with a look of absolute fear and refused to come out for the longest time. I was laughing to hard to do much about the situation. I finally got him out and he quickly made it to the turn around point of the course but on his way back it came time to pass the snake and he once again sought refuge in the wagon and would come out until well after little Tavita and burned through the course. It was an absoulte classic moment, unfortuantely all of us were laughing too hard to capture his face. We also had Brayden's birthday party this past Thursday even though his actual birthday isn't until this Thursday. We invited a few of his friends to join us at the pool (it has slides and all sorts of fun things that spray water)all of which we forgot to take pictures of. Anyway, after the swimmig was done "Captain Brayden" led the other pirates on a treasure hunt through the adjoining park where they found swords, eye patches, hats, tatoos and other pirate loot. After the hunt we had pizza, cake and ice cream, opened presents and had some fierce pirates involved in some killer sword fights. On Friday Junior being the brave man he is took BOTH boys to Father n Sons. They had the time of their lives playing horseshoes and other games, throwing rocks in the creek, exploring and getting DIRTY! I don't know if I've previously mentioned but my brother Ryan is living with us now and has been experiencing the joys of having two energetic little boys in the house. His stuff was constantly being torn into so I told him just to start locking his door, it opens easily with a butter knife. Well the idea worked great for about a week or so but apparently Brayden was quietly observing. Last week Ryan was in changing and Brayden was pounding on the door saying "Uncle Ryan, let me in". Since Ryan was ignoring him Brayden decided to take matters into his own hands, I heard this clinking noise and I come around the corner and there's Brayden, knife in hand, picking the lock. So alas, Ryan once again has no privacy. Luckily he's very patient and the boys love having Uncle around. He has nicknamed Tavita "Stich" claiming he was created soley to destroy. I can't help but to agree with the MANY antics he's constantly pulling. The other day we were all sitting down having dinner and Tavita had escaped upstairs to play. I asked Ryan to go check on him real quick. As he was walking up the stairs he found Tavita standing at the top of the stairs a thing of mayonaise held high above his head (our neighbors had borrowed it and it was sitting on the ledge by the stairs). Ryan tried to stop him but it was too late. Tavita chucked the container down the stairs and it EXPLODED. I wish I got an initial picture but my mind didn't recover from the shock till a few minutes later. The initial scene was this: Tavita at the top of the stairs covered in mayonaise with a look of "uhoh what did I do, I'm definetly in trouble for this one" Ryan part way up the stairs, also covered in mayonaise, completely speachless, and mayonaise splattered everywhere around them. I'm talking all over the stairs, walls, cieling, up over the ledge, all over the carpet the next floor up and to the couch. Luckily we had some kind friends over that helped us with the initial clean up and I spent over 3 hours the next day scrubbing carpet and walls. I kid you not, this boy is into trouble a good 50% of the day, if not more. Often after one of his little antics he takes of running with this mischevious little giggle. Man, I'm in trouble with this one, but he is once cute little monster. Anyway, enough of the novel, I'll let the pics tell the rest.

Daily Joys

Okay, just got off of work and I'm too tired to write any stories. Thought I'd just post some pics of our typical days. I love summer and I especially love kids in the summer. I love them running around with no shirt on, I love their little tan lines, I love watching them splash around in water. There's nothing sweeter than a popsicle grin while swinging on the tire swing.

Why work when I've got this kind of help!

We eat out here almost daily

The day's not complete without an Otterpop

Summer Fun



Brayden and his buddy Carson

I LOVE baby bums!

Ok, so while going through pics I came across this pic and had a random thought. Does anyone see any resemblance, I see it in Brayden and me but with Tavita, I've got nothing.

We're Alive, Just busy!!!

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I last posted. My biggest problem is we've been so busy I don't post because I have way to much to post about and it would be a novel to cover our lives in the past two months. So, I will post little stories here and there. Hopefully two a day we'll see how it goes. Here's a quick summary of what's been going on:
-Thanks to multiple LATE nights (acutally early mornings) from Junior our upstairs (3beds and 2 baths) we are now living upstairs. We still need to finish our master bath but other than that it's looking great.
-We've had my parents, brother and sister, and Junior's parents all in for a visit. Ryan is now living with us and Junior's parents are here for another month. We've been staying busy and loving spending the time with family.
-We took a week long trip up to the Uintas. Loved it!!! absoultely goregeous up there. Junior and the boys got to experience their 1st rodeo.
I'm sure more stories will come as I download pics and what not. Anyway, the boys are at the park with their Nana and Papa and I've got to get on a run. Hopefully I can get the first of the pictures up tonight.