Random

Dallen is 10 weeks old!! No, that is not a type-o, although it seems totally unbelieveable that my baby is so big :) Just last night, Dallen starting holding his own bottle. He is not quite strong enough to hold it the whole time, and he hasn't quite figured it all out yet, but we were so proud.Also, here are a bunch of pictures from the past 10 weeks that have no cohesive theme, other than that they are of Dallen and I hadn't posted them anywhere yet. Enjoy!!

Dallen loved looking in the mirror at my parents house when I was changing his diaper. It was hilarious!!Dallen's first of many trips to In-N-Out.Meeting his Uncle Matt who is home from Hawaii. Yes Dallen, that's what a tan looks like, someday I'll get mine back!A collage I put together a while ago of the funny positions we catch our baby in.

My Muse...

Meet Chloe:

This BEAUTIFUL little girl has inspired me to experiment with my photography abilities. I am no expert but any picture with this doll in it turns out gorgeous.She and Dallen are going to grow up to be the best of friends.
And of course, my own beautiful baby. I am excited for when he is older and can pose :)

What I like best about AZ...

COUSINS, COUSINS AND MORE COUSINS!!!I just know Dallen is going to have so much fun growing up around best friends and family.

Santa Claus has come to town

Every party has a pooper...

...that's why we invited you!!

Dallen was so sleepy he slept right through the cake and presents. We thought he was being such a little stinker, but it turns out as soon as the crowds left, he was the life of the party!! Gotta love that kid :)
We had so much fun at your party Chloe, thanks for sharing it with us!!

Speaking of the Temple...

My awesome sister (http://aubreymessick.blogspot.com/) posted on her blog the coolest little story. She googled herself and stumbled upon something she didn't expect. When she was here visitng (back when I was prego) she took this beautiful picture of the temple. Apparently she submitted it to the church website (http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/mesa/gallery/) and they posted it with a credit to her name. How cool is that?!?!

Family Night of Lights

The other night for family home evening we went with our cousins to the Mesa temple to see the Christmas lights. I thought that Dallen would sleep through the whole thing because he almost always falls asleep in his stroller. He really likes lights though and stayed awake the whole time to look at all the pretty colors. We should do more fun family nights in the future.

Free Photo Genius

On Thanksgiving my cousin Jason, who just graduated with his photography degree, took some gorgeous pictures of our little Dallen. I can't thank him enough for these adorable pictures!! I love LOVE love the way they turned out, and best of all, they were free :)















THIS GORGEOUS BABY IS 2 MONTHS OLD TODAY!! WOW HOW THE TIME FLIES :)

A Blessed Day

Today was a day I will always remember. What a blessed moment for a mother to see her baby receive a blessing from his father. Today I was reminded of how much I love my family, how grateful I am for the opportunity to be a mother and most importantly how much I love my Savior and He in return. What an awesome responsibility to be blessed with such a precious gift from Heaven. What a Blessed Day!!

Guess Who?

Can you guess which pictures are Dallen and which ones are Mommy and Daddy?
I converted the pictures to black and white because it was totally obvious which pictures were way older in color, as you will see. Make sure you make your guess before you scroll down to see the answers. Moms, don't cheat since you probably already know based on the clothes and stuff!





DON'T SCROLL UNLESS YOU'RE READY...









The top row is Dallen. The first 2 were taken at 2 weeks and the second 2 at 6 weeks. The middle row is Jacki at 2 months. The bottom row is Mark at 2 weeks. It is so amazing to me how similar Dallen looks to both of us. It is so fun to pick out the different features in our little baby. So far we have decided that Dallen has Jacki's nose and Mark's eyes. He is just an adorable combination :)

How did you do?


8 WEEK UPDATE: Dallen is 8 weeks old today!! Yay! We went to the doctors office today instead of on his 2 month birthday next week because Dallen has not been feeling very well and not acting himself. He has acid reflux and is also being tested for Apnea now. He will have to wear a little monitor :( Other than that, he is a growing, healthy, beautiful baby. He is 23 inches tall and weighs a wopping 11 LBS 5 OZS. I can't believe how big he is getting. I will take more pictures soon! I'm off to take a nap :)

Picture Tag

For this tag you go into your pictures, your 4th folder, and use the 4th picture. Mine happened to be a picture of me looking awfully large at my AZ baby shower in September. What will yours be? I tag: Aubrey M, Michelle M, Heather N and Bonnie V

A Thankful Weekend

This past weekend I was very thankful. I was grateful that my husbands flu was only a 24 hour bug, my baby sleeps so well in the car and I think mostly that having a blog nearly forces me to take more pictures and provides me a way to share them with all of you.

Dallen got to meet lots of new friends on this trip. The pictures on the left of the collage were taken in Arizona the day before we left. He got to meet some of his Bracken cousins, Stone and Chloe. It was hard to get pictures becuase when Dallen was happy the older kids cried and vice versa. On the right of the collage are pics from CA. Dallen got to meet his Great Grandma, his Auntie Michelle is my best friend from high school and Siena is another friend from high school's new baby girl. We already planned their wedding :)Dallen also had his first trip to the beach where he got to meet the Gardner clan. Unfortunately for him, Dallen slept through the whole beach experience.
I am also grateful I have such an adorable family to take pictures with. My sisters and I have a little too much fun together!! My sister Aubrey takes such fun pictures and Scott and Kellie are always willing participants.

All in all we had a great weekend and made so many great memories!!