Trip to Fort Fun!!

We took a trip to Fort Collins and enjoyed walking around Old Town, and posing with statues :)

James' First Birthday Party!!

James, Grandma Sandy and Papa Allen

Papa Allen, James, Grandma Sandy, Aunt Rachel and Aunt Sandy

James, Mommy and Daddy

Papa Nick, Grandma Betty, Mommy, James and Daddy

Cowboy James

Playing with Evan

Evan and Grandma were kind enough to help blow out James' candle, since James didn't really grasp the concept...

James was a HUGE fan of the cake...as you can see :)

He enjoyed opening presents with a little help from his cousins!

We had James' First Birthday Party at his Grandma Betty and Papa Nick's house. It was a western theme, and lots of family were able to come celebrate with us!! It was a lot of fun :)

It's a...

GIRL!!

In typical Brandon and Mandy fashion, we had to reveal the gender in an exciting way :) We met my family for coffee after our ultrasound this morning for the big announcement. We walked in with a blue diaper bag and a pink diaper bag (courtesy of my parents cleaning out their garage and finding the diaper bags Steph and I had for our Cabbage Patch Kids). We set the appropriate colored bag on the table and the secret was out!! In all the chaos at the coffee shop we didn't get any pictures taken of the reveal, so we recreated the scene here at home so we would have pictures to share :) We even had a pink balloon and a blue balloon at the scene and James picked the pink balloon before we even made the official announcement - they're already bonding :) Anyway, we're all really excited and are just praying for a safe, healthy pregnancy and delivery. Thanks for sharing in our excitement!

P.S. When I was looking at these pictures before I posted them, I mentioned to my husband that he took them at an unflattering angle and I looked a little hefty. To which he replied, "You don't look fat, you look pregnant." (He earned some brownie points there.) He then offered to try to "fix" the pictures, and clicked on the "Trim" button. We found that that crops the picture, it doesn't make you look trim. So these are the unedited, pregnant (not fat) Mandy pictures for you to enjoy :)

Mandy <><

James' First Birthday!!

For James' birthday we went to the zoo - which was a lot of fun!! We went out to dinner at Cici's, which, as you can see, he enjoyed thoroughly. And on our way home from dinner we noticed that the elementary school in our neighborhood was having a carnival, so we checked that out. James loved the cotton candy!! It was a good first birthday!!

Eleven Months Old!

He's kind of beyond wanting to just lay there with Casey anymore...


But I was fast enough to get this one.

Some random pics

Evan and his chocolate cupcake. He is such a ham!!


Our little Rockies fan :)



James finds the open Kix box...


Let's us know he's found it...


And digs in!!




James is very laid back while he drinks his bottle. Notice his legs, crossed at the ankle :)






I've decided it's really fun to throw a pair of Brandon's clean boxers on James while I'm folding laundry. It keeps James occupied, since they're hard for him to take off himself, and it keeps me entertained, since he looks kind of like a superhero with a cape. He'll so appreciate these pictures when he's older...

Things you never want to hear your hairstylist say...

A few weeks ago I decided I needed a new haircut. I also decided that my sister would be the perfect person to cut my hair for me. Keep in mind, she's not professionally trained or anything, but she does a great job cutting my nephew and my brother-in-law's hair, so I figured girl hair can't be that different, right? She was pretty reluctant at first, but once I talked her into it, she got pretty excited. So, she whipped out her colorful sea animal protect your clothes cape and we got started. She had a picture and things were well underway. I had total confidence, until she started saying things like, "This is making me so nervous!!" "I really hope you like this." And then, she went to shorten up the front, and that's when she said it... "I think I've given you a mullet." Now, as those of you who know me know, I don't care much about my hair. I don't take time to do much with it, nowadays I'm lucky if I get it brushed. So I'm not the pickiest about my haircuts, but when the word "mullet" came out of Steph's mouth, I have to admit, I panicked. I took a look in the mirror and we had to decide how to proceed. Steph decided she could "fix" it, and she ended up doing a great job. When we looked back at our sample picture, we did realize she wasn't supposed to have cut it that short in the front in the first place, but we made it work and it's actually pretty cute. All I really have to do is blow it dry and try to keep James from pulling out my hairclip. All in all it was a pretty fun afternoon, and I think I'll keep her on as my regular hairstylist...as long as we stay away from using scary words like "mullet" :)

Mandy <><




No mullet here!!