The Branham Family

Sadie's First Soccer Game

2011-10-09T18:55:00.009-07:00

So this first video is of Sadie practice. I just think its funny how she totally does her own thing!

This is pic/video of Sadie's first soccer game. She actually did a little better at paying attention and going after the ball. She actually almost made a goal! Woohoo! I think the other team won though, they had a couple really good kids. Sadie was the most excited about her new shirt with her name on it, and the snacks!

Daily Life

2011-10-09T18:51:00.002-07:00

So we are back in a routine since we went on our big trip to Michigan. Here's a few pics of life in the Branham house!

We got a Wii! And Tanner got a hunting game with it that came with this super-cool gun!

Peyton so sleepy!

Sadie and Peyton playing dress up! Peyton will love this picture when he gets older! Haha!

I have a picture of Sadie just like this when she was about this age!

When Peyton wakes up from his naps, Sadie loves to get in his crib and play with him until I can go get him!

Happy Girl!

Happy Boy!

Sadie hasn't really been taking naps anymore, so she's been falling asleep at random times, in random places! Its really cute! This was on a Sunday afternoon, while she was watching football with Daddy!

Here's a video of Peyton walking! I only took this a couple of days ago, and he's already so much faster and steadier on his feet! Super cute, but I'm not sure I'm ready for him to be getting around so well! :)

Happy Birthday Peyton!

2011-10-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Our little baby Peyton turned One last month! I can't believe he's grown so much! I can't believe he's not my teeny tiny colicky baby anymore! He's such a happy boy now, he's a pretty laid back, kinda serious little guy. And he's learned to walk! He's walking so good now, its amazing how fast they learn! Here's a few pics from his birthday! It was very low key, its not like he really knew what was going on. He opened a couple of presents, we sang happy birthday, and he had a cupcake!

Sadie helped me decorate the cupcakes - she was so proud of herself! Notice the ones that are really loaded with sprinkles! :)

Sadie's First Soccer Practice!

2011-10-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

We signed Sadie up at the beginning of the summer, and she's been waiting and waiting for it finally start! She didn't have any clue what to expect, but she loves it! She totally doesn't pay attention and it always kind of spacing out or doing her own thing, but, hey, she is only three years old! Here's some pics from her first practice!

She colored a picture on her chalkboard of her playing soccer! It's so cute, I just had to share!

Sadie at her first practice. I think this video is hilarious!

Geocaching

2011-10-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

Tanner brought his GPS with him when we went to Michigan so we could find a few geocaches. Tanner loved it and has totally gotten into it. We all think its fun and have continued doing it since we've been home. Usually the whole family goes, but Tanner's done several by himself too. Its been a really good way to explore the area and gets some exercise - we've had beautiful weather here too! And after hiking for, like, 5 miles, holding Peyton and the diaper bag - yeah, we've invested in a framed backpack/child carrier thing (whatever you want to call it :). Sadie calls it treasure hunting and she's always excited to look in the cache to see if there's any cool things for kids. Anyway, here's a few pics of our adventures!

The very first on we found! In Iron Mountain, MI.

Yeah, this was the one that was supposed to be a much shorter hike, but ended up being almost 5 miles! It was such a long day, but the kids we such troopers - it didn't end up being that bad. It was a beautiful hike though, right through a northern Michigan forest! Sadie said "These are the tallest trees I've ever seen!"

This was the cache we finally found at the end of the really long hike.

A micro-cache.

Tanner found it!

Sadie found it!

A cache that Tanner found that was under an artificial rock! Kind of neat!

Whew! It was a hot day, but Sadie found it! :) I think this was one we found up in the Tucson area - where its much hotter than Sierra Vista!

A nano-cache! Super tiny!

Our first hike with the new kid backpack!

Obviously Peyton thinks its pretty comfy!

Sadie found it!

Fun Up North: Part 3

2011-10-09T17:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, we did! On our way back to the Milwaukee airport we drove right through Green Bay, so we HAD to stop real quick to see Lambeau Field. We only had enough time to look around real quick, but we had fun!

Fun Up North: Part 2

2011-10-09T17:51:00.001-07:00

It was carnival time in Michigan while we were there. We went to the U.P. State Fair in Escanaba one day. It was a pretty big fair, and Sadie just had an absolute blast! It was so much fun to see her excitement to go on all the rides!

This was the end of kind of an obstacle/climbing coarse that Sadie loved. She did it over and over again!

The first time Sadie did this we didn't think she'd be able to go down on her own, so Tanner went with her. She got really mad at the top when she realized she'd have to sit on his lap instead of doing it herself. So as soon as they got to the bottom, she climbed back up and did it all by herself!

Riding a semi-truck ride.

Riding the ferris wheel with Grandma Branham.

It was pretty hot that day, so we bought her a cowboy hat, and then we found the pony rides. Perfect picture opportunity! :)

Doesn't Peyton make the perfect piggy! HaHa!

Sadie loved taking pictures in these things! She kept begging Grandpa Branham to take pictures of her in them!

Riding the carousel!

Riding the little dragon roller coaster. This was her favorite by far!

She's in the third car from the front.

Riding a motorcycle ride!

She caught three fish and won a prize!

Yay! A cheap, huge, inflatable hammer! Woohoo!

We were also able to go to the much, much, much smaller Iron County Fair, just down the street from Tanner's parent's house. It was pretty cute, and Sadie had fun, but I think by the time it was over we were all carnival'd out!

Sadie got this cute outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Branham and it went perfectly with her new hat! Doesn't she look so cute as a little farm/cow girl? She loved it!

These things are always a favorite of Sadie's. She did this thing over and over again!

Weeee!

This is what Peyton was doing half the time we were there! Sleepy Boy!

Sadie was all excited about the bumper cars, but I think Tanner had way more fun on them than she did! :)

Here's a video of her riding the ponies at the U.P. State Fair.

Fun up North: Part 1

2011-10-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

So we had lots of fun on our trip up to Michigan! It was a great trip, especially since we had over two weeks to have fun and relax. Sadie had an absolute blast! She loved being spoiled by her grandparents! She followed them around the entire time! Peyton had fun too, but it took him a little while to warm up to everyone. Here's some pictures of our fun!

Tanner's parents have three free range chicken they keep in their backyard. Sadie loved being able to help gather the eggs every morning!

Sadie and Peyton both had fun playing with the sidewalk chalk. Although it was a challenge to keep it out of Peyton's mouth! :)

Peyton and Daddy, enjoying the beautiful, cool weather we had while we were there!

Playing at the park!

Swinging on the swings!

Peyton discovered the rocks and was very intrigued with them!

We had a couple of family BBQ's at a lakeside park. It was really nice to just get out and relax with the family for the afternoon! This is Peyton at one of the BBQ's all ready to play in the water!

We went swimming several times in some of the many lakes they have up there. It was very cold water, but it was lots of fun! Sadie had a blast this first time we went, but she wimped out the other times and didn't get in much.

Diggin' in the sand. At one point we asked her what she was building and she told us she was digging a hot tub! Guess she was feeling a little chilly! :)

Peyton absolutely loved the water, cold or not! He got so excited every time we walked toward the lake to get in, and he would just splash and splash! It was so cute!

The whole family, swimming in Silver Lake in Eagle River, WI.

Tanner had a lot of fun riding around on his parent's bikes.

This is a video of Sadie helping Grandpa Branham gather the eggs from the chicken coop!

Peyton Says Hi!

2011-08-10T21:05:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to teach Peyton how to wave and say hi for the last month or so, and he's finally gotten it! Its so cute! I just had to share my growing boy's new skill! :)

Singing Sadie

2011-07-28T16:06:00.003-07:00

Sadie sang me some songs today and let me take a video of it. Its kind of funny - about a year ago I posted some videos here of Sadie singing some songs. Its neat to see how much she's grown!

Coronado National Memorial

2011-07-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

The other day we decided to go for a drive up in the mountains around Sierra Vista. So remember when we had all that fire going on around here? This was our view of it from our backyard. It was so crazy!

Well, on our drive we saw the devestation left from all that fire. It was so crazy seeing it all!

We ended up going to Coronado National Memorial. You drive to the top of a mountain and then hike about half a mile to the highest point and look out over everything. It was so beautiful. And it was the perfect day for it - slightly overcast and in the 80's. Beautiful! I wasn't really prepared for hiking, so I had to trek up all those steps and gravel paths in my flips flops, while carrying Peyton. But it wasn't too bad - actually it was really fun!

The fire had burned right down the mountain we were on.

Crazy, huh?

Sadie had a blast! She totally loved it and keeps asking when we're going to go back to the mountains!

Looking out over the Mexico side.

The tarantula we saw crawling on the road. Believe it or not - this is only the second one I've seen in the wild, even though we've lived in AZ for 3 years now.

Sadie learning to cut paper

2011-07-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

Since school supplies are on sale right now, I got a bunch of stuff for Sadie to use here at home - crayons, markers, her first scissors, glue sticks, etc. She has never used scissors before - here's her first attempts! She was so funny working her mouth along with her hands - I couldn't stop laughing! :)

Also, by the way, we saw a camel spider in our backyard shortly after we moved here. She was so interested in it that Tanner showed her videos and pictures of them on the computer. Ever since she has talked a lot about "spider camels". :)

Playing Outside

2011-07-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

Here's some photos and video of the kids playing outside and swimming in their new kiddie pool.

Hopscotch

2011-07-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

Sadie learned about hopscotch on one of the tv shows that she watches. This is her attempt at it! Notice the "numbers" she drew with chalk on the ground. And don't you just love the shoes she chose to play it in? She loves to play outside in those ones for some reason! :)

Finally - a new post!

2011-07-28T15:30:00.001-07:00

So... I know.... its been forever since I've updated our blog. So I've got lots of stuff to post. We're doing really good though. The kids are growing fast and learning lots of new things. Tanner stays busy with work, and I try my best to keep up with the kids and house. I'm the 2nd counselor in Primary in our ward here, and I've had to teach this month, so that keeps me busy too! I've enjoyed it so far though - in spite of the late-saturday-night - trying-to-finish-my-lesson stress!:) Anyway, here are some pics of the kids, and be on the lookout for more posts to come!

Sadie waiting patiently for her dinner. ( I don't remember what it was, but she was excited about it and I was taking too long in making it! )

Yummm... fudgesicles!

She's our sweetie pie!

Peyton - he's all boy!

Cutie pie!

This is where Peyton can be found any time there's somebody outside. He always wants to go outside so bad!

Sadie didn't know I was taking this video. I just thought the dialogue she was doing for her ponies was really cute! Here's what she's saying in case you can't quite get it!
"Good bye! Good bye! I can't go with you. I can't go too. I'm going to Wendy's. Good bye. I'll miss you! (Kiss) I love you! I'll miss you! I have a lot of kisses today! Mmmmwah!"

The Kiddos

2011-06-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

Here are the latest pictures and video of the kids. They are just growing and learning so fast, its hard to keep up!

Sadie got some new pajamas, including this tinkerbell princess nightgown that came with slippers and a wand! You should have seen her face when she put it on for the first time - she thought she was soooo beautiful! It was priceless!

Peyton's first time on a swing! He loved it!

Sadie loves the swings! She could spend all day on them!

Sadie's been drawing pictures of her friends lately. So cute, huh? I don't remember who each of these people are supposed to be, but they are supposed to be her friends.

Sister and Brother, they love each other!

Peyton is pulling up to everything!

He's growing way too fast!

Peyton's crawling now! This was taken a couple of weeks ago - he is now much faster!

Tombstone

2011-05-19T14:22:00.003-07:00

We also went to Tombstone during Tanner's time off. Its less than 30 minutes away from here, so we thought we'd check it out.

Sadie as a cowgirl!

Sadie as a U.S. Marshal!

Wyatt Earp and his brothers!
(These men were from the OK Corral reenactment, recruiting people to come to the show. We didn't see it this time around because we'd already paid to see a different cowboy gunfight.)

A cowboy gunfight we saw. Actually only Tanner saw it. After the first two rounds went off it was too loud and Sadie and Peyton were too scared to stick around and watch, so I had to leave with them.

We also went to the cemetery in Tombstone, where all kinds of cowboys and outlaws are buried. It was actually surprisingly interesting and probably my favorite part of Tombstone!

While we were at the cemetery we caught this cute cute video of Peyton. The cemetery paths were gravel, and Sadie (totally bored) started picking up handfuls of rocks and just dropping them. For some reason Peyton thought this was the funniest thing, and just laughed and laughed! It was so cute!