BABY BRIELLE HAS ARRIVED!!!

We are so excited and happy to announce the birth of

Brielle Rose Brandvold
7lbs 14 oz
Born October 15th at 12:27pm

And here is her story...
We got the call from Labor and Delivery at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center at 6 am. They told us they had a free room and a nurse so we rushed to the hospital to have our baby. We didn't expect the induction to happen that way so it made it a bit more exciting. By 7:30, I was getting my I.V. and getting ready to be in labour. The doctor arrived shortly thereafter and broke my water. I was suprised by what little pain I was in and I was holding off on getting the epidural (just to maintain mobility). However, the nurses kept getting upset with me because when I moved, their monitors weren't giving accurate readings so eventually I gave in and just got the epidural. By the time the anesthesiologist got there I was indeed having pain so it was good timing. Getting the epidural was the worst part of my labor (so I can't hardly complain). The anesthesiologist treated me more like a farm animal than a person. He was pulling me here and pushing me there and I always just feel nervous about the whole procedure. Once that was over, Kevin and I enjoyed a couple of episodes of Full House and Family Matters (daytime tv is really lacking these days) while waiting for me to dilate. I started to feel weird pressure around 11:30ish and the next time a nurse wandered in I asked her to check me and sure enough I was completely dilated. She went to find our nurse and call the doctor. When our nurse arrived around 12:15, she said the doctor was on his way. We were chatting when I told her I was feeling even more pressure, she took one look and actually said "oh my gosh" ran to the door and yelled out- "the baby is coming" (Apparently her head was already half way out). I was actually laughing at her at that point. It was pretty obvious this was a new experience for this young nurse who had told us just moments before that she had never had the experience of a doctor not making it in time. Some other doctor then came in and starting getting his "stuff" on and just then my Doctor arrived and told the nurses not to move my legs or the baby would come out. So the nurses put his stuff on and he told me to give a gentle push and out she came.
It was wonderful. Here are the pictures:

Our Annual Pumpkin Patch Adventure

Of all the pumpkin patches we have visited in our family life- this year we found the best of all. Last night for FHE, we went to Hee Haws in Pleasant Grove and it was so much fun. It was a nice warm night and we didn't get at all lost getting there so considering that alone, it beats last year. Here are some of the highlights.This was a mini maze for the kids- they loved it.

And here are the pigs- kind of, sort of, cute in a weird sort of way. There were pigs and goats and bunnies and cows. It was at this point where I pulled out the hand sanitizer and squirted myself and children about every two minutes (I'm not really much of a farm girl).

Unfortunately my camera batteries died when the great pig chase happened. They put the kids in a big pen with the pigs and had a contest to see which kid could grab hold of one of the pigs first. It was hilarious! Makenna was too scared to try but Brayden got right in there and ran after those pigs. However, when he came to the pig he couldn't quite bring himself to actually grab onto it. He gets an A for effort though- I don't think I could've grabbed a pig either. This pig was quite a sight- 1300lbs!!! I don't know if I should say Wow or Gross.

Makenna LOVED her pony ride and doesn't she just look like a pro?

This picture is like "Wheres Waldo?" only its "Where's Kenna?" It was like a sand box but it was dried corn, hence the "Corn Box"
And here we see the real reason we do fun "kid activities"- obviously more for Dad than the kids but he lets them come along too :) Yes, the picture below does show Kevin riding on the kids tractor pull. What a good dad!

Here is a picture of Brayden on the "Trick or Treat Hayride." It was a definite highlight. We all loaded up and rode through the pumpkin patch on a big trailer filled with had and at various intervals we were met by an array of costumed characters who pelted candy at us as we rode by. I guess it was fun...and a little dangerous. At one point the tractor pulling us ran out of gas so that made things even more exciting. It was definitely the stuff memories are made of!
And finally, we did make it out to the pumpkin patch to pick some very prized pumpkins. So now we are ready for Halloween- we just of course need to add one more member to our family to claim that very littlest pumpkin. Just 6 more days!!!

The First Signs of Fall

I havent noticed the leaves changing (thats not to say that they aren't) but I did notice the caramels out at Walmart, so I figured it must be fall-- time for Caramel apples. We made them for Family Home Evening and they were delicious. Of course what else would we decorate with, other than some sort of Reese's product- Reece's pieces - which turns out to be a very fall appropriate candy with their orange, yellow, and brown colors. Aren't they cute (I meant the apples but the kids are cute too).


Interestingly enough, it was after eating these chewy treasures that we discovered Brayden's first loose tooth- I know it seems a bit early for that so I think it may have had something to do with the sticky chewy crunchy apple combination. Oh well- you got to lose those baby teeth sometime!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAKENNA

I can hardly believe that my baby is three years old! When did that happen? I love to watch my kids grow up but it is always a bit sad too. Makenna had a grand birthday party today. She was so excited all day and had a really hard time waiting until 4 o clock. We spent most of the afternoon playing pretend party with her stuffed animals- so she was well prepared when the actual event arrived.

Here is Makenna with her Dora cake. I strongly tried to resist piping a cake- but when it came right down to it, I more strongly wanted to make sure she had the cake she wanted so here it is. I could tell quite a story about the disasters that occured in the making of the cake (some of them might be obvious just from looking at it), but I'll keep this post about the party.

Here are some happy cake eaters!

What's a party without a pinata (or piesta as Makenna called it). The kids did a really good job of waiting their turns.
Here is the whole crew- a wild bunch indeed! They were actually all really good kids and amazingly enough the party went really smoothly.

This is Makenna with her prized pig that Sammy gave her. She really loves this pig.

What a cheesy girl she can be- with her new necklace from Lizzie and her new pink Leapster from Grandma. What a lucky girl!

And as a terrific ending to a crazy day, we gave Makenna her last present- which contrary to what I thought- did not come preassembled. So Kevin being the terrific dad he is, stepped up and cheerfully devoted his evening to the project. (Do you like how in the picture he is trying to fool us into thinking he is unhappy about putting this together- ...ok ok he really wasnt happy about it but as you can see from the picture below it was all worth it for his happy little birthday girl!) Hooray for daddy!

A New Obsession

Top Ten Signs that My Kids are Obsessed with High School Musical
(and of course High School Musical 2)

10. A new threat has emerged at our dinner time..."no more talking about High School Musical until you are done eating"
9. Makenna is spotting "Gabella"(that is how she says Gabriella) look-a-likes whenever we go out
8. I overhear Makenna chanting in a whisper "summer, summer, summer"
7. When we first brought home the soundtrack from HSM2 Brayden layed by the CD player staring at the CD and did not move a muscle until he had heard all 11 tracks. (a definite record for him)
6. Every time we get in the car, the plea from the backseat is always "high school muscial music pleeeease"
5. Makenna tells me, while eating breakfast the other day and staring off in some sort of daze, "oh Troy, he's so funny, right mom?"
4. Playdates with Brayden's friends usually turn into wild dance parties
3. At the BYU football game a couple weeks back, Brayden couldn't help but let out a cheer or two for the Wildcats---much to his dad's dismay, of course.
2. If you ask the kids, "What time is it?" you are likely to get the answer "summer time" (and of course it will be in song form)
1. Makenna was overheard telling Brayden "you are the music in me"

Makenna Goes To Preschool...and other news

Today is yet another big day in our family's history. Makenna started preschool this morning. She has been role playing in preparation for this event all week and Brayden has gotten her quite pumped up with all he says about it. I was surprised that when I dropped her off she wasnt even hesitant to say good bye. I'm happy for her and I hope she has a great time! Oh and notice the heels she chose to wear. I couldnt talk her out of it!
Saturday was also a big day. We set out to go to the big BYU football- the first game of the season- and a winning game too, which makes it a lot more fun. We went early to get a good parking spot and enjoyed a picnic lunch out on the lawn of the Marriott center. So I guess you could say this was us tailgating. It was a lot of fun! Go Cougars!

Here's our little cheerleader- isn't she precious. It was a hot hot day and the kids were troopers to endure the heat. I think they had a good time- Brayden's face in the picture below is just a pose- not the way he truly felt!

This rainbow appeared Sunday night and Kevin got this great shot- no second coming yet!

The Big Day!

So today was the big day- our child's first day of Kindergarten. He was very excited and so were we. However, we were surprisingly nervous about all the dangers that could now befall him as he makes his way into the "real world." I actually feel sick to my stomach when I really think about it. I've watched enough Oprah to know its a scary place out there in those public schools and there are lots of bad things that can happen. On the flip side though, I cant overlook the fact that the time he is in preschool will be quite precious to me and entering that real world is an important part of growing up. So this is the way it must be. I'm just glad that he was happy to go.

This picture of him standing by the door is metaphorical in nature - just look at his face- aren't you sad to see him walk out that door.

And here he is walking into his classroom.

This picture is sort of out of place with the post. Brayden got new soccer cleats yesterday (and aren't they snazzy). They made him quite happy (as you can see from the picture) so I just had to share it with all of you.