Brandvold Gazette

**Melissa has been making a monthly newsletter as a family journal for the past two years, called the Brandvold Gazette. I can post a link to the newsletter here, so I am trying to recreate it on the blog--check back each month for the latest Gazette!**

THE BRANDVOLD GAZETTE

"Your Reliable Source for up to date Brandvold News"

January 15, 2006 - Vol. 3 Issue 1

A Christmas Concert
Brayden performed fabulously at his Preschool Christmas Concert. To our surprise he performed very enthusiastically and wasn’t shy at all. He knew all the songs and the “moves.” I dare say he was one of the best in the class ( a biased opinion, I know). It made me truly appreciate his teacher. A class of 18 three year olds could certainly be nerve racking, but somehow she kept them in line and kept her cool at the same time. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to years of such events to come!

A New Year Full of Resolutions
Along with everyone else in the world, our family has set our sights on some great goals for the upcoming year. I am pleased to report that we did tremendously well on our last year’s goal to have Family Home Evening every week. I believe the only times we missed were once or twice when Kevin was out of town, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it without him. This year we have selected Food Storage to be our goal. I have mapped out for us a plan to get the “basics” for a year. I call it my “no frills” food storage plan. I am amazed at how overwhelming just the basics can be. We got our jump start with a gift of rice and beans from mom and dad for Christmas, and I am feeling quite enthused about the project. Hopefully the enthusiasm continues. Expect a full report in 2007!

Book of Mormon Challenge
I failed to report in December, our successful completion of the Book of Mormon challenge issued by our beloved President Hinckley. To complete the book by mid December we read about 2 chapters each night. We found it something we definitely should have been doing already and so I think we appreciated the little push. We have already started the book again, so I think the initiative proved successful in establishing for us a habit that will bless us and our children for many years to come. It’s a wonderful thing.

A Sunbeam
I am not sure if Brayden was more excited or if I was for him to be a sunbeam. It is really such a fun transition- a true milestone, I think. I suppose the idea is fun but sitting quietly and losing toys and snack time may actually be a bit of a bummer. Brayden didn’t seem to mind all that though. I could see how proud he was when we dropped him off with the “big kids,” and he seemed quite happy when we picked him up. He told us that now he needs a Book of Mormon of his own to take to church. I think it is just neat that I have a child in primary. I wonder if this takes me out of the “new mother” category. I probably have been out of this category for some time but every new stage of development makes me feel quite “new.”


Babbling Brayden
Here are some of Brayden’s recent noteworthy quotes -Brayden asked his dad “Do you remember when I was in Mommy’s tummy?” Kevin replied, “Yes, do you?” to which Brayden replied “yeah it was kinda dark and I didn’t have a flashlight so I wanted to come out.” -Before preschool one day I was trying to talk Brayden out of his favorite BYU t-shirt (yes, he has been brainwashed by his dad) and into something with long sleeves. I said to him “you might be cold at school,” to which he replied, “If I am cold, I will stop, and I will drop and roll.” I decided to drop the issue with that – I suppose if he does get cold, rolling on the ground might indeed warm him up, and so what if he’s not the best dressed in his class. Pick your battles right. Winter

Weekend Away
For Christmas this year, Kevin gave me a most wonderful gift. He arranged for a little ski weekend away from the kids. His parents came up to watch the kids and have a little visit. We had a lot of fun skiing and just being away. It was simply lovely. Sadly, but truly, neither Kevin nor I has been skiing since we got married. Earlier this year I had remarked to Kevin that this needed to be our year since I am not pregnant or nursing. Fortunately he was listening and, I got my chance. The only unfortunate part was that there was really no snow- well not any naturally occurring snow that is. We’re fairly novice so that didn’t take away from our experience too much. We stayed at a cute little inn at Canmore and skied at Nakiska. It was a wonderful little trip.

Wisdom Teeth Extraction
Kevin had the great displeasure of getting his wisdom teeth removed- and on the dreaded Friday the 13th (not a good day I know). The recovery has been as unpleasant at anticipated. The first day was the worst as he recovered from the anesthetic and tried to control the bleeding and endure the pain of unfreezing. Since then he has made a little progress each day and now, three days later he evened ventured downstairs to watch some TV. He’s dealing with a lot of pain and swelling and general discomfort. I recall my own wisdom teeth removal to be a dreadful experience… but Kevin should be back on his feet in no time I am sure. Positive thinking- that is the key!

Makenna’s New Tricks
Makenna’s new words are grandma, mommy, dada, wuv you, and cheese. From time to time she imitates other words but nothing else consistent. Though her repertoire of words is rather small, she still talks an awful lot. Everytime Brayden tells me something, she chimes in with a story of her own. One is just such a cute age!