Whata Goof

Today Abby took a sick day and had her first visit to the Insta Care. We all looked so nice in our Sunday best waiting for 2 1/2 hours. She was a real trooper when getting her blood taken. The good news is that it's just a bug. The bad news will be coming in the mail soon in the form of a bill. Corey's helping the Bishop at the church tonight and I just wanted to show you what Grace was up to while I was doing the dishes. Silly girl, lol.

Life Through Pics

I know that I'm always saying this, but I just can't get over how fast time is passing me by! Let me go back a few weeks :) The day after Thanksgiving we broke out the Christmas tree and got to work! Grace informed me that all white lights is boring so we opted for the traditional (though I tried to find light blue lights too {didn't happen}). I have to give props to the girls for pretty much decorating the whole thing themselves. I handed them the ornaments and they went to work. I planned on fixing it when they went to bed, but still haven't done a thing to change it and it looks pretty darn good :)



I have been working on projects like crazy. My newfound crocheting obsession is moving along nicely and I hope to have some slippers made for the girls for Christmas Eve. Here's the cute pattern that I'm attempting. I still have a lot to do before Christmas though and can't believe that tonight officially starts the 12 days before Christmas! Sheesh!



It was really nice being able to hang out with my parents over Thanksgiving weekend. They even stayed over two nights which was just long enough for Kate to decide that they were okay after all. She still wanted to come back to me pretty quickly, but definite progress!



When I was a kid my parents had this porcelain nativity set that they'd put out every year. A few years ago it got handed down to me which I was really excited about. This might be the first time I've actually put it up though. I've always been nervous about the kids touching it. So I decided to put it on the top of a shelf that's in our front room. I told the girls not to touch it. This is how I found it a few days later :)



Does the bible mention The Littlest Petshops? Anyway, here's what's been going on at our house lately:


That new color in the playroom really makes me smile :D


A very happy and very snotty baby.



Yesterday Andrea and I took the girls to see Santa. Abby very shyly asked for Naptime Nikki ($10 at Walmart) without actually making eye contact with Santa, lol. Then Grace sat on his lap and told him that she wanted a puppy. Santa saw the look on my face and was nice enough to talk her into a toy puppy. He talked to her about how much work animals are and how messy his reindeer are. Loved that Santa, though Grace didn't seem to like him as much, lol. I handed Kate over to him for a quick pic and she couldn't stop staring are that long white beard. It even kept her form crying for a second or two :) Before we left the girls got their hair done and we also couldn't leave without getting pretzels (even though they're a HUGE ripoff).

This morning we finally woke up to some real (not going away any time soon) snow! I don't know if I'm really excited or not, though it does feel more like Christmas now. The girls were so excited to break out the snow clothes finally and I do have to admit that I was excited that they still fit them! Kate also had her first taste of Winter which she wasn't so sure about.




That's about all that's happening around these parts. I'm starting to see the light when it comes to being done with Christmas shopping which it nice. I can't wait until everything is done and wrapped! In other news I think that I'll be putting the gat up very soon. Kate is trying to figure out how so climb.




Have a great weekend! xoxo until next time.

It's just begun

Now Christmas season is in full swing! As usual I'm having mixed feelings, but I'm more excited this year than in years past. Usually I'm thinking about everything that I need to do, but at this moment I'm feeling excited about the gifts that I'll be giving even though I haven't started on them yet, lol.

I am IN LOVE with my camera even though I know very little about how to use it. I'm just amazed at how clear the pictures are compared to my point-and-shoot. Anyway even though my father-in-law was making me feel guilty about getting my Christmas early I have no regrets and will happily be taking pictures Christmas morning :) Here are a few of my first and favorite pics of the girls (click on the pic to get the full version. For some reason I've changed the sizes three times and they're still getting chopped. Sorry about that).



As you can see Grace is in a fun phase of your life where she won't just smile when I whip out the camera :) Last weekend I finally painted the playroom (which is the first room that you walk into when you enter the house). I thought that I was going pretty conservative with the shade of blue that I picked out. After the first coat went up I realized that I hadn't, lol. It's pretty bright and I love it. I don't know that Corey would agree, but it's perfect for a happy place space. Here's a little wall art that I put up the other day.



I've found that I have a hard time focusing on one thing for too long. I love to create things and I have a whole list in my head and on my computer of things that I want to try. The other day I started thinking about crocheting. My roommates in college taught me how to first crochet. I made a blanket for my parents and that was the first and last thing that I made. That was about nine years ago so I didn't really remember much. I went to Etsy and found a cute pattern. Then I asked a girl in my ward to help me get started. The next day while we drove to my brother's for Thanksgiving I made this:



This is my sweet niece Lizzy modeling it! I made it for Abby, but it was too tight so I'll have to try again with a bigger hook. Last night while I was staying up too late I made this hat for Kate:



Needless to say I'm super excited about crocheting now! I have my eye on a few more patterns here and here. Oh and aren't these so cute?

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It's always fun when we get to hang out at my brother's house. The kids get along great, I get some good girl talk time in, and Corey made himself right at home downstairs with the Wii. I put Simon, Isaac, and Grace in charge of making the placecards while we got dinner/lunch going. They really created some cute cards and really took the job seriously. I loved it.



Corey had his first Black Friday sale today at Ogden's. He advertised like crazy in the newspaper and on the radio. The deal was, spend $999 on flooring and get a Wii for $99. There were actually a handful of people lined up when they opened and all the Wiis were long gone by the end of the day. Definitely a success which is great.

Instead of doing any shopping I stayed home and broke out the Christmas stuff! I was surprised at how few things we have. I even went downstairs again to make sure I didn't forget any boxes, lol. That's okay though. I broke out the crafty junk and made a little garland.



It's been a long time since we've had a little crawler at Christmas time. Today I realized that we won't be able to decorate the bottom of the Christmas tree. Kate is super quick and so interested in anything new. Love it. Here's her starting to help me earlier. Have you have a wonderful and restful weekend!

I Can't Believe...

That November is almost over!!! Wasn't Halloween just last week? Time is really flying which I can't decide if that's a good thing or not. That means that Christmas really is just around the corner. Let's take a step back before I start with Christmas though. I have yet to post about Halloween and I had some pretty cute little girls to hang out with that day.



A few friends and I headed downtown for a little trick-or-treating on Main Street which was fun. That night we had a Brady family party which was a lot of fun. Just throw us all in a room with games and food and we're good to go. I really had no idea what to dress up as so I went with pajamas and curlers (very comfortable I might add). Corey was being pretty grouchy about dressing up and then a few hours before we left he did a complete flip and knew exactly who he wanted to be. He even shaved his head for the occasion :)

A few Saturdays ago I finally decided break out the rake. You couldn't even see our grass it was so bad. I didn't realize how big of a job that it would be, lol. I got most of it raked into piles around the house when Kate finally decided that she was not happy outside anymore. So the piles sat for a few days (I had good intentions to finish it up) and one day half of my yard was totally cleared off. A few days later the whole yard was totally leaf free. All I can say is I have some awesome neighbors. Two of my neighbors are retired and it seems always peeking out the window for someone to help. Love it.



It's been two weekends ago now since Chuck and Nicole got married. It really was a fun day and very HOT PINK! The girls looked so cute in their dresses and everyone else looked great in pink, black, and silver. It was pretty chilly, but a beautiful sunny day. Here are a few pics from the day.



They're back from their honeymoon now and opened presents Monday night. It was fun seeing what people gave them. I think I'm going to have to buy one of their many crockpots from them. I think that everyone get's at least one funny gift. Something that someone doesn't want and is re-gifting to you. Corey and I got a glass snowball for a wedding gift. We still have it and have no idea what to do. Chuck and Nicole got some funny swan candle holders. One was even broken.

So since Christmas is coming at an alarming rate I was going to tell you a new tradition that we're going to start this year. This is from the Enrichment night that I mentioned. The idea is to do three gifts. The gift of Meaning (wrapped in red), the gift of Wonder (wrapped in gold), and the gift of Usefulness (wrapped in green). They go along with the gifts from the three wisemen. So the girls will get their Santa gift and then these three gifts from Corey and I. I'm really excited. I've always wanted to figure something out so that I don't go overboard on buying things and I want the girls associate Christmas with Christ more than they do. Here's the idea:



I'm working on some Christ ornaments and also red, green, and gold ornaments to put on the tree that will go along with a few family home evenings that we'll do the few Mondays before Christmas. I'm so excited for Corey's gift of meaning! I'd tell you now, but just incase Corey happens to read my blog for some strange reason I better keep it hush hush for now.

Speaking of Christmas I've been asking for a new camera for probably the last three years. We were in no position to get me a new one, but I always hoped. Well this is the year for me!!!! I order my early Christmas gift the other day and it's on it's way here right now!!



And I'm almost as excited about this:



You just can't have a cool camera without a cute strap :)

Elsie's class started last week and I've having a great time. There's just so much fun inspiration and I'm trying things that I never have before. Fun stuff. I'll be posting things that I make in my Flickr account so if you want to check it out go for it!

Okay, I guess that's all for now. I have Weight Watchers today. Wish me luck.

It's About Time...

I blogged :) What a crazy and fun time Fall is! October has flown by so fast I can't believe that Halloween is just two short days away. I still don't know what I'm going to be (I need a costume for the second annual Brady Halloween Party). If you have any great ideas throw them my way. So what's been going on with me you ask? Hmmm...good question. Well here are 12 things that come to mind:

1. We dogsat Panda for 10 days (the closest thing that the girls have to a cousin on the Brady side) while Ryan and Christa were in California
2. While we were at it we did a little fish sitting too. Dolphin is our neighbor Kaylee's fish :)
3. Grace got her first visit from the tooth fairy!
4. We did a little late night pumpkin picking (then painted them at home after some Little Caesars Pizza).

5. Volunteered in Grace's class a few times.
6. Hosted a bridal shower for Nicole. Lots of fun and you can't go wrong with a chocolate fountain.
7. Held a sick little Kate a lot (just a bad cold and some very sad eyes to go with it).
8. Helped prepare and attended a really great Enrichment night that's helped me put Christmas gift giving into perspective (will tell more later).
9. Went to the Pumpkin walk with my friend Milana and her kids. Here are a few characters we found along the way:

10. Signed up for this online class that I can't begin to tell you how excited I am for!!!!
11. Joined Weight Watchers last week! I set up a new blog that I'm going to be posting that part of my life to so check it later today and you'll see the first of many posts to come.
12. The girls and I made a mini road trip to see Emily, Bryleigh, and Jeremy last Saturday! It was a lot of fun seeing her new super stylish house, eat some yummy food, and just hang out and relax. Oh and a tiny bit of crafting in there. Emily was sweet enough to take some really cool pics while we were hanging Twin Falls. You're going to have to wait to see some though (Christmas cards in the works);) Thanks so much again Emily and I hope that you and Ray ate that cheesecake bar together. If not, you probably want to get it out of your van, lol.


On Friday I'll post picks of my little mermaid, rainbow fairy, and a baby giraffe! See you then.

Mish Mash

How to begin? How to begin? Well a few weeks ago Grace came home from school and told me about how a few of her friends had their ears pierced and how cool their earrings were. I asked her if it made her want to get her ears pierced and she said without hesitation "NO NEVER!!!" Fast forward one week later. We walked in the house after picking her up at school and she says "I'm read to get my ears pierced." That was a pretty short never :) So I sat her down and talked to her about it (not trying to scare her, but telling her that she'd actually get holes punched in her ears and it would hurt for a second). She still said that she wanted to do it. So I said that we'd head to the mall on Saturday. She was so excited the whole week and Saturday morning she woke up early wanting to get to the mall first thing. I really thought that Abby might even jump on the bandwagon after she saw Grace do it. So we finally made it to Claires and Grace was super happy. She picked out the ones she wanted (pink ice) and she didn't even act nervous for a second. Then...

the first earring went in and the tears come pouring out (yes I'm regretting taking her somewhere where they only do one ear at a time). I felt so bad! Grace was covering both ears and saying that she didn't want to do it anymore. It took me at least ten minutes to talk her into taking her hands down. In the end I held her in my arms while she had the death grib around my neck for the last earring. Needless to say after watching Grace I will be surprised if Abby EVER wants to get her ears pierced.

I've been really really trying to figure out how I can totally dejunk and organized my house lately. It's coming along slowly, but I think I'll eventually get there. Right now it's in that in-between stage where it looks messier than when I started (love that). In other news on Sunday I got called to be a Webelos leader. Since I have all girls I guess they thought I'd be perfect for scouts, lol. I'm a bit nervous :)

I got to hang out with Emily, Ging, and Ange on Tuesday which was a lot of fun! Emily's computer crashed and so she brought it to Logan to get fixed. I don't know that I'd go as far to say that I'm happy that her computer crashed, but it was sure great to see her.

I guess that's about all that's going on around these parts. I'll leave you with some pics of Kate having a great time pretending to drive (the vehicle was not in motion at the time) :)

Have a great weekend and xoxo until next time.

Fall is in the Air!

I really love the cool mornings and that I keep looking at my Halloween decorations and wonder if it's too early to break them out. I'm thinking about getting a jump start on Christmas (actually the jump starting has begun) and brainstorming some fun dinner party ideas. I love Fall even though I feel like it doesn't last long enough. Here's something that I love to make as soon as it feels Fallish and then keep making every few weeks until Christmas is over :)



Hope it's feeling Fallish at your house ;) xoxo until next time.

The Photoshoot (Part 1)

So taking Nicole and Chuck's pics was a lot of fun. We're going to have to do some more this week because we were losing daylight at a rapid rate, but that's okay. I live a few blocks from a park that is perfect so you'll get to see some of those later this week. Here are a few of my favorites of the cute couple. This is what a point-and-shoot camera can do (along with some major photoshopping) :

While I was taking pics the kids were at grandmas playing. Kate was crying the majority of the time, but I think it was good for her (and mostly me) to be away from me for a minute. When I got back she was so excited to see me that she wouldn't stop jumping on my lap. Now it's Monday and she's still jumping :) I better head down to the basement and find our bouncy seat. Have a great day! xoxo until next time.

PS. Ging, thanks for the tip on the alley!!! There was a bride getting pics taken when I got there. Must be a popular spot :)

This and That

I've been thinking, and thinking, and thinking about how I need to post, but for some reason when I walk past the computer I have no desire to be on it! That's a super shocker for me :) My mind has been on so many other things lately. I've realized how much I dislike homework as a Mom even, lol. Grace has it everyday and she also started piano lessons almost two weeks ago. I now have become a total naggy mom. I hate it! Grace NEVER wants to practice and she's so stubborn that I really feel like pulling my hair out. It's really important to us that she takes piano and she was really excited about it at first too. If you have any great ideas for me please send them my way. Abby started preschool last week and is loving it. She feels so important opening up her backpack when we get home and showing me everything she did that day. Here she is on her first day:

Last weekend I was invited to a baby shower for Lindy (Corey's cousin's wife). She is super sweet and we've become good friends just from the few times that I get to see her a year. The shower was in Eagle Mountain so it was a great opportunity for the kids to get to have a sleepover with the cousins (Simon, Isaac, Anna, Nick, and Lizzy) the night before. We're always looking for excuses to visit them anyway. I picked Grace up from school on Friday and headed straight down. On Saturday morning Sara, Louise, and I headed to IKEA while Jon was nice enough to watch the kids (or at least most of them). We hadn't even been there five minutes when I heard my name and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Emily standing there. Of course we both had cameras with us, lol. I was so good to see her and I still am shocked that we were both far from home and we ran right into each other.

Today I'm taking Chuck and Nicole's engagement pictures. No, I've never done that before, so cross your fingers for me :) I'll post the results early next week. I guess that's about all that's keeping this family going these days, but that's definitely enough for now. Hope you're fabulous! xoxo until next time.

I Wish I had Brought my Camera

Last night it was a little crazy (visitors) around dinner time. Around 8:30 we realized that we were hungry and didn't want to make dinner so you know what that means. We threw the kids in the van and away we went. Two blocks later we were at Callaways. Corey and I used to eat there a lot more before we had kids. It's kinda pricey and not really a family place, but really good italian food. The hostess sat us down in the front part of the restaurant which was totally empty (as far as people are concerned). We were all sitting around talking about school, the new store, and all of the in betweens. Somewhere in the middle of Corey doing magic tricks with the napkins and Abby shooting her straw wrapper at me I sat back, looked out the window and thought about what a cool little town I live in. I looked at Kate in her car seat snoozing, the kids laughing at Corey, listened to John Mayer singing in the background and realized how great my life is. I had a feeling like things are just perfect right now. We have had some major kinks in our life which I didn't know if we'd ever get through, but sitting there last night I realized how worth it it was to go through all of the craziness and the kids will never remember those times. Anyway, I was wishing that I had my camera so that I could capture that moment when I really realized how blessed I feel to be where I am (which is nowhere near where I need to be, but that's okay for today). Have a great weekend :)

A Week of Firsts

The lazy days of Summer have now come to an end for us. It feels like it went by way too fast, but I'm always excited to get back into a routine and love the idea of Fall and the holidays right around the corner. So I still can't believe that Grace is in first grade. She started a week ago and is loving it. She feels really cool eating school lunch and she has two new friends that she does everything with. It's taken the whole week for her to remember their names though, lol.





This past week I've been doing a TON of digital design stuff. It's been a lot of fun, but now I'm really wanting to do some sewing and Grace is patiently waiting for that pencil case I promised her. Oh speaking of sewing and firsts I made Grace her first lunch bag and yesterday she was super excited to try it out (and I was pretty excited too):



Kate has decided that she wants to be included at meal time. When it's time to eat she wants to be at the table with us and she's always trying grab food. So I decided that it was time to introduce her to the world outside of goats milk (another story). Here's her trying butternut squash for the first time. What do you think? Did she like it?



That night I also gave her some rice cereal and she was going crazy for it (of course I mixed some apple sauce in with it). She would start crying while I was getting more on the spoon because she didn't think I was moving fast enough. Crazy kid! I'm glad she likes baby food, but it also opens up a whole new world of messes for me to clean up :)

So that about all that been happening around here lately. The business is going great and Abby's not missing Grace too much while she's in school. Abby can play by herself for hours and be happy. Today is back to school night for Abby's preschool which should be fun. Hope life is moving along for you and I'll check back with you soon ;)

Fun in the Sun

Yesterday I took off with my friend (and next door neighbor) Andrea for the day. We took the kids to Bear Lake. Overall the girls were so good the whole day. Kate wasn't a big fan of the water which didn't surprise me too much and Abby said she wanted to go home about an hour after we got there (my little homebody). Thankfully Abby forgot about wanting to go home and wasn't sad again until we were getting ready to leave and the wind blew her float donut thing away (nothing a run to the dollar store can't fix). It was a fun end of the summer outing. Now I get to do some much needed cleaning today :) Wish me luck!

Just for Fun

Emily posted this fun Flickr mosaic game on her blog and I thought it looked like a lot of fun. Here's how mine turned out:



The questions:
1. What is your first name? Tiffany
2. What is your favorite food? quesadillas
3. What high school did you go to? Mountain Crest
4. What is your favorite color? turquoise
5. Who is your celebrity crush? If I had to choose, Jake Gyllenhaal
6. Favorite drink? orange soda
7. Dream vacation? Sounds silly, but just and amazing spa :)
8. Favorite dessert? brownies
9. What you want to be when you grow up? an artist (photography, crafts, etc.)
10. What do you love most in life? My Family
11. One Word to describe you. Crafty
12. Your flickr name (or your blog name or handle or whatever). tiffbrady

To make your own:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.
d. When finished, save to your computer to upload to your post.

Last Week at a Glance

Last week was definitely birthday week around here. Corey's Mom turned 50 and Chuck turned 26 :) The first part of the week I was working like crazy to get a slideshow put together and also helping Nicole put together a fun digi photo book for Chuck. If you're out there somewhere Grandpa Willes I love you and owe you tons for sending me all of those great pics! Here's my mother-in-law that looks more like 40 than 50 and my bro-in-law Ryan.



I made this pic for Chuck just to be funny:


I also got to meet up with Ange and Ging at Fredricos which I wish I could do every week. It went by way too fast, but that's okay. We chatted about Twilight, and digital stuff. Today Ginger's cutting my mop of hair so that I can lose the ponytail look!!! Here's a picture of us and yes I am smiling way too big and need to get some new contacts. Also our adorable super sweet children that sat just like that while we ate lunch and talked (lol, just kidding. they were all over the place, but we were sitting outside so it was good).


That's about it. There was also some cleaning and dejunking mixed in there, but no pictures and it definitely isn't something I want to expound on. I did a bit of sewing and actually made myself a skirt that I wore to church yesterday! The other sewing was for my Etsy shop. Hopefully that will be full of stuff soon.

Have a great week! xoxo until next time :)

From One Day to the Next

Life has been just a jumble of things lately. Mostly good, some bad (well one, lol). My Mom came for a super short visit this last weekend. On Sunday we celebrated my little brother's birthday. Isn't he cute :)

Then on Monday while my Mom was getting ready to leave I backed into her CRV (super nice and pretty new btw) with our van! Ugh. I felt horrible. I was going to take a picture, but decided that it wasn't a Kodak moment :)

Also over the weekend the bulb in our big screen TV went out. Another ouch that turned out to be a good thing. We definitely watched too much TV. The kids were addicted for sure and I always felt bad, but it was convenient at times. So now that we can't watch it it's actually been really good. Before I thought that kids would go crazy without it, but it only took a day or two for them to stop asking. We're definitely going to replace the bulb sometime soon, but might just have to cancel Direct TV. We'll see if we go that far, lol. So now that the TV's off this is what is playing over and over (and over) at our house.



Something pretty big has been brewing for a few weeks with us :) Corey works in the flooring industry. For a few years he was the flooring manager at a store and now he's on the retail end of selling flooring. Okay, not to bore anyone, but he knows his flooring ;) So about two weeks ago we were given the opportunity to buy a flooring business!! Pretty crazy, but super exciting! After, much, thought, fasting, and prayer, we decided to take the plunge. In 24 hours from now we'll officially be business owners!

Over the past few weeks Kate has really become a "mamas girl." She will flash these huge smiles at everyone, giggle, and the whole shabang, but as soon as anyone trying to take her from me out come the tears. They'll hand her back and within seconds the tears dry up and out come the smiles again, lol. She is too funny. I appreciate that she loves me so much, but this could be a become a problem.) Oh well :) Silly kid.



Tomorrow Breaking Dawn hits bookshelves everywhere and I can't wait!!! I've been rereading my favorite parts of Twilight lately and falling in love with Edward all over again. Corey thinks it's pretty funny. I guess that's all for now. Have a great weekend!

Oh I almost forgot, I scrapbooked! It seems like lately my layouts are fewer and far between. I had to use this new kit that Emily Merritt, Marcie Reckinger, and I created. It's called Happy Camper and it's a lot of fun.