*My 26th Birthday*

Today was MY BIRTHDAY!! I love my birthday just because it's the one day out of 365 days that is mine! So today was wonderful and these are the reasons why: 1. My husband brought me breakfast in bed 2. I got an amazing workout today 3. I found my Safeway card that I thought was lost, and was able to save 30 cents a gallon on gas. Also saved $11 on groceries w/ coupons! 4. My wonderful parents sent me flowers and will take me on a shopping spree when I move home for a new summer wardrobe 5. I locked myself out of my apartment but was able to break back in :) 6. I made myself a beautiful pink cake, and my dishwasher got fixed which they said wouldn't be done till tomorrow BONUS :) 7. My wonderful husband took me out to the Cheesecake Factory for a delicious dinner just us two! 8. I got the sweetest card ever from my hubby and Jaden w/ money to get my nails done. Also the iPad was our joint BIG present which we have been enjoying every day! 9. Lots of birthday wishes on facebook and text messages from all my friends and family which has made me feel so loved! 10. My wonderful in-laws got me an amazing juicer which I will post pictures of once it arrives in the mail. At 26 years old I'm loving life and couldn't be happier with where I'm at (although I would like to be in Arizona) but Washington has been good to us. I feel very blessed to be where I'm at today and can't wait to see what this new age has in store for me!

Until next year....

*Our little reader*

I'm a little blog crazy tonight hahha but Sunday's are the best day to blog because it's a good time to reflect on the week and of course post pictures from the weekend. Anyways back on subject. Jaden has grown to LOVE reading and basically anything that looks like or is of any kind of reading material. So every night now Josh will sit on the floor, and Jaden will bring him book after book, and they will sit there and read together for about a half an hour before bed. It's so cute and I love to see his love for books and reading. He also likes to sit in his chair and read books too which I think is just too adorable!

*There is beauty all around*

One thing about Washington I do actually love is the beautiful spring time flowers that bloom everywhere on the trees. I'm not sure what kind of trees they are but I want to plant them in my yard in Arizona. The flowers are the most vibrant pinks and reds you have ever seen and I'm in love with them!





So if the trees aren't able to live in AZ I hope to find ones like it. Or just hang up lots of my own pictures that I have taken so I can always be surrounded by this beauty.

*18 months*

Our sweet Jaden is 18 months old holy smokes where has the time gone. Here are some stats on Jaden at a year and half.

Weight: Somewhere between 21 and 22 lbs

Height: 31 inches

Clothes: 12 to 18 months

Shoe size: 3 to 4

Diaper size 3 (although he fits ok in 4 but still a little big)

Teeth: All four teeth have come in on top and bottom. He is now getting a lot of back teeth so we are back to teething again, which I can tell is making him a tad cranky these days.

Sleep: 12 Hours!! Goes to bed around 9pm and wakes between 9:30 and 10am, he is for sure a Bracken because he LOVES to sleep in! Also takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.

Eating: Three meals a day with snacks in between and down to only TWO bottles a day..we are getting him off slowly but surely.

Binki: YUP, and I don't intend to take it away any time soon :) One reason being is it stops him from grinding his teeth, and is also helping soothe his gums since he is teething again.

Likes: Reading books at night with daddy, puzzles,brushing his teeth w/ his electric Sponge Bob toothbrush, ripping paper up into little tiny pieces, playing in the kids club at the gym, copying everything we do and say, any kind of electronics he can get his hands on (especially Josh's iPhone) quads,going through my wallet, and climbing up on anything and everything.

Dislikes: Going to bed early, when we take things away from him, sitting in his car seat for a really long period of time, getting his diaper changed, and being ignored (which who likes being ignored hahah although Jaden tends to scream if no one is paying attention to him for too long which can be very obnoxious.

Jaden has been the love of our lives for the last 18 months and we are so blessed to have him in our family. Here is a little collage I made of the last year and half.

***18 MONTHS***

*The power of prayer and fasting*

Our ward here in Washington is doing a 40 day fast, which basically every member chooses one day to fast. So I signed up for today, which I wasn't sure what I was doing it for until the missionaries called the night before. They asked me to fast for their appointment they had with an investigator, that she might be open minded to the teachings of the Gospel and just for everything to go well in general. They also asked me to fast that they might find more investigators to teach. I of course gladly accepted and did my fast starting and closing with a prayer.

I thought about what I was fasting for all day and really kept the prayer I started with in my heart that the missionaries might be successful in their meeting with the investigator but also they would be successful out in the field today. I also kept my brother in-law Logan in my mind and heart today as he is out serving the Lord in Buenos Aires, Argentina on his mission. What a hard but rewarding job it must be to serve the Lord every day for two years. I really came to have a deeper love and respect than ever for all they do for the Lord and His Church.

Anyways, the missionaries called me tonight to let me know the meeting went very well, but not only that they also found 4 more investigators that have committed to prayer and reading The Book of Mormon. My heart could not be fuller, and my testimony more strengthened by there good news, it brought tears to my eyes. It just goes to show how powerful fasting and prayer is, and how essential it is in the Lord's work. I'm going to bed a happy girl tonight :)

*Jaden's 1st Sunday in nursery...HURRAY!!*

I know I should probably be sad that my baby (haha who is not really a baby anymore but will always be to me) is finally in nursery at church!!! This was a happy day for me, because I FINALLY after two months got to attend a full Sunday school class and go to Relief Society. Before Jaden could crawl/walk I was able to attend all my meetings at church and I now know I took that for granted. Not really being able to go these last few months has made me miss it so much, and crave that spiritual nourishment that our meetings bring to us on Sundays.

Jaden did pretty well for his first day and isn't a crier, except for when all the other little ones cried it brought a little bit of the water works from him. But other than that he loved it.... so yeah today was a good day :)

*Happy Easter*

Easter was in Washington this year so not the most eventful but still fun. The Easter bunny brought Jaden an Easter basket this year which was LOTS of fun. I had Jaden's bumbo out recently and for some reason he has loved to just sit in it haha but he is too big for it, so I told the old bunny for Easter to get him his own chair.




I love seeing the happy look on his face when we showed it to him this morning and of course he loved his Easter basket too! Now I know the joy my parents felt when seeing our faces during fun holidays like Easter and Christmas. Church is needless to say very difficult and I think I heard a few sentences from the Sacrament talks. Only ONE more Sunday to get through and Jaden will finally be old enough for nursery HURRAY! I will say though he looked extremely handsome in his church clothes and love him more than words can ever say.

*Fun at the park*

FINALLY a warm not rainy day that we could actually go outside and play at the park! I feel so bad for Jaden because about 95% of the time it rains or it's too cold to go outside, so the poor thing is cooped up in the house all day. Not yesterday though! Jaden had so much fun at the park, going down the slides and swinging in a swing for the very first time. Sad that it took almost a year and half for this to be the first time. He also had fun just running around in the grass and getting dirty hahah.

I would also like to say thank you to everyone that commented on my last post. I think I was just having a little anxiety, but with all your love,support and my own prayers I feel soooooooo much better!

Anyways, here is a collage I made from the pictures I took at the park. If you click on the collage you can see it as a bigger image.