Alma's Baptism

On November 3, 2012, Alma chose to be baptised.  It was a very special day shared by family and friends.  This was a first in our little family and will always be remembered.  It was Josh's first opportunity to baptize someone, and how awesome that it was our daughter.  That morning she was kind of emotional, I think because of nerves.  But I asked her what was wrong and she said "I wish I could stay little, I don't like growing up".  She is such a cautious, caring person and she really thinks about things.  She said she didn't like being the first to do things, because it's kind of scary not knowing exactly what to expect.  So, Josh and I tried to help her see all the good things there are about growing up and being the oldest.  And we told her that she was meant to be the oldest child in our family because she teaches Saralyn and Easton so much, and that Heavenly Father knew she would be a good helper.  When we were done talking, she seemed to feel better and excited again about her special day.



Just before the baptism



And after!

 

Grandma Briggs brought her some beautiful flowers

 


Such a pretty girl

 We love you Alma and are so proud of your decision to be baptized. 

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween and hope you all did too!  I'm not usually much of a dresser-upper, but since I am working at the school, I thought it might be fun...maybe.  Problem?  I didn't know what to dress up as (lack of creativity, I guess).  So, I woke Josh up early that morning and said "Help, I need a costume!"  And from nothing, he came up with something....a Pirate!  and a pregnant one at that!  The biggest fear is that no one will know what you are, but I didn't have that problem :)  So thanks Sweetie, for saving the day. 

The kids were: Alma - vampire; Saralyn - Rapunzel; and Easton - camoflauge moose.



Easton was being silly, and it took me a few tries to get a good picture of him.

This was after trick-or-treating and unfortunately we had grown tired of Rapunzel's locks and our vampire "just had to" get in the bath because her hairsprayed, ratted hair was driving her crazy! 

We had a fun time walking around town to the businesses first and then around a few neighborhoods. The weather was wonderfully pleasant and there was no snow leftover from the previous weeks crazy snowstorm, thank goodness :)

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you had as much fun as we did!

Daddy's Deer

So, hunting season.  Josh has a few opportunities to go hunting this year, and this was the first.  He went out with his friend early in the morning and even took Saralyn with him!  They didn't get anything until later that day, when he found this monster buck :)  Just kidding.  It's not really a monster, if you can't tell, but he was happy to get it.  He has been super, super busy with his business, taking in a lot of other people's monster bucks, so he didn't really have a lot of time to "shop around", he just had to take what he could get.  But like I said, he was excited to get it :)



Easton was the only one brave enough to get a picture with the deer.  The girls weren't too excited about the idea of holding up the head of a dead deer, suprise suprise :)  "no dad, that's gross!"  But Easton totally thought it was cool!



Alma's 8 !!!

Wow!  I don't know about any of you, but I totally cannot believe our little girl is 8 years old!  I always forget how fast they grow up! Little Alma is growing up, but she's still little to me :)  We are so grateful that she is a part of our family.  She is so smart, kind, caring, and fun. She loves writing notes to people and making people happy. Saralyn and Easton love her so much and really look to her as an example in all they do.  We love her sooooo much, and had a great time celebrating with her on her special day. 

On her actual birthday we had icecream cake and had some fun family time together.

Then, she had a fun birthday party with some friends from school.  We decided on cupcakes for the party, which she decorated herself with a fun cake decorator set that her grandma gave her.  She is very into cooking right now.  :)  It was our first attmept at a "friend" party and I'd say they had a pretty good time!  Thanks to everyone that came and shared this fun day with us :)

We love you Alma!  Thanks for being such a wonderful part of our family :)

Pumpkin Harvest!

So, the time for our garden has come to an end, for this year.  And we finally were able to pick the pumpkins!  Some of them were still green, but we figured it was good enough since we were cleaning out the garden and didn't want to put it off any longer.



He thought he could handle it all by himself, he just needed a little help :)



I love when the pumpkins are ready and Fall arrives.  Full of beautiful color, cooler weather, and lots of fun.  I am thankful we are able to have room in our backyard to be able to grow food for our family!  And I love how the kids love to help pick the fruits of our labors :)

Wildlife

Sometime in September, when the leaves were bright and beautiful, we went for a ride to enjoy the beautiful scenery.  We were so lucky because this is one thing we saw.  Two bull moose, and they weren't just standing there, they were fighting!  We could hear their antlers crashing together and everything!  It was so awesome :)  I love seeing moose, because they aren't something we get to see everyday.

First Day of School

This was an exciting year for the first day of school.  Alma started 2nd grade, Saralyn started Kindergarten, and I went back to work!  But the best part is, I get to go to school with the kids, at their school :)  Althought it is very busy, it is fun to see the kids around school and for now it's working out ok.



Outside in the front yard.  Saralyn actually still had to wait for another week before the Kindergarten started, but she was still excited :)



Alma in her classroom getting her supplies all put away.

We're having a .....

Girl!  Yes, another girl to add to our little (maybe not so little) family :)  We are very excited for her to get here in a few months.  Easton even gives her kisses through my tummy from time to time (when he's feeling generous).  Hopefully he loves her as much when she gets here and takes some of his mommy time away.  No name picked out yet, although we have had many ideas, none feel just right yet.  Feel free to comment and throw some ideas out to us! :)

Summer Fun with Friends

(This is a post that Josh posted on his other blog "Josh's Bragg Blog", but since it was a family trip, I decided to copy it to our family blog too. He did a good job with it)

Last weekend we went to Star Valley to spend some time with our friends. Becky and Jeramy were visiting from Texas and Colter and Amanda were blessing their new baby boy. Even though they had a lot of family there for a busy weekend, we had a nice place to stay at Darren and Jerolyn's. Sunday evening, Darren took all us to catch crayfish. The kids had a blast!

Hotdog tied with yarn onto a short stick was the crayfish catching machine.

After a few minutes, trophy crayfish were all over the hotdogs. Then you slowly pull them up so they don't fall off.

A Trophy Crayfish!

Easton and Saralyn showing off their skills.

This was something we won't ever forget! Thanks Darren!

On Monday evening, Jeramy and I were able to go fishing...just like the good old days!

Catching Cutthroat like these sure brings back great memories.

We even got to fish 'till dark (thanks to our awesome wives!) and were treated with an gorgeous sunset.

On Tuesday, Tre let us use his horses for day and we were able to give kids a nice ride up in the mountains.

We had a great time with our friends in such a wonderful place. It was really nice getting to spend time together and watching our kids play together now that we're older and all have a family of our own, jobs, and things that keep us busy. I'm sure there will more times like these to come! Thanks again to Darren, Jerolyn, Colter, Amanda, Jeramy, Becky, Tre, and Savannah for being such great friends to have!

Canoe!

We have been wanting a canoe for a long time.  I had only been in a canoe once or twice (when I was small) before I met Josh.  He has lots of fun memories of going canoeing as a kid, and when we visited his family before we were married, we went canoeing and have gone almost everytime after that (when the weather was right).  So, Josh found a great deal on this awesome canoe and decided it was time!  Saralyn and Easton were a tiny bit nervous, but way excited the first time we took it out.   Alma, our cautious and careful one, was terrified--not kidding! 




This was how Alma looked for probably the first 15 minutes-at least- and she was screaming " I want to go back! I want to be back on land!"



"take me back NOW! I don't like it...." and on and on.  I literally had to drag her into the boat.  Poor thing :(

This is how Saralyn looked from the start...ready for a good time :)

And this is how Easton looked at the start.  Riding on the front end, draggin' his legs in the water...No fear.  You can't see his face from here, but you can bet he was probably sucking on his fingers, which translates to "ahhh, this is the life"

After the first little bit, everyone was smiling.  And Alma even said "I like the boat" by the end of the trip.

Here is a deer that Saralyn spotted on the way back

Not the best picture of us, but it's the best I could get since I was in charge of the camera.  At least I have proof that I was there too :)



Saralyn, excited to have her turn sitting up front



I had a hard time getting Easton to look at me.  He was facinated with the water.  On the way back, he actually fell in!  Not all the way in though, just his head and upper body.  Don't worry, I saved him :)  And he wasn't too upset by it.

 So, we had a great first ride out and I am sure there will be many more to come!  Thanks Daddy for making fun memories with us!
**If you're wondering why Easton is wearing a pink Barbie life jacket, well he inherited it from Alma.  He hasn't complained one bit :)

From Chicks....to Chickens!

From Chicks.....

To Chickens! 
 Easton is the only one of the kids brave enough to actually pick them up.  The girls will pet them, but Easton chases the the chickens down and makes them love him!  He pretty much entertains the entire neighborhood :)  He has even  been seen with a chicken under each arm!  He is also often found in outside wearing only a diaper (if we're lucky) carrying a chicken through the garden.   I think this one is actually getting used to him.  But some of the other ones have actually started chasing him back :)

Oh, yeah.  And to add to the fun, we have also been getting eggs for the last couple of weeks!  The kids are so excited, they go out to check for eggs about 20 times a day.  Luckily we have only had 2..or 3 break :) 



Although I was skeptical myself at first, they have been a lot of fun, and we all enjoy having them as part of the family :)



Yes, it's true. Baby number 4 is on it's way :)

Are we crazy? Maybe, but there's no turning back now.  Baby number 4 is growing strong and we are so excited! This little one is due on January 1, 2013 (pretty cool, huh) and I am almost 17 weeks along. We decided we would tell the kids before we told anyone else and it was pretty funny. When we told them they were way excited and had about a million questions, "when? boy or girl? what should we name it?" and on and on. We told them that we had to keep it a secret until we told all our other family.  They said "OK, we will" , but you could just see how excited they were and every once in a while I would catch them staring at my stomach and you can only imagine what must have been going through their mind :)  Anyway, one day I was outside hanging clothes on the line to dry and the kids were outside "helping" and playing and Saralyn was telling Alma something about the baby, quite loud.  Alma quickly said "Saralyn, how many times do I have to tell you?  Don't say the B word!" Saralyn said "oh, yeah. Sorry" Then, it was so cute, that night when she was saying her prayers she said "please help me to remember not to say the B word".  She was so concerned about keeping our little secret, so sweet.  Anyway, since we have told our family, I have had quite a few people come up to me and say " the girls told me you are expecting another little one".  The swimming teacher, primary teachers, neighbors...I think it's cute.  I am more of a private person, so I don't really spread the word very well.  So it's good that I have the girls to help me with that :) So, we are all very excited and there will surely be more news to come as we go along :)

4th of July

We had a GREAT 4th of July!  Grandma and Grandpa from PA were still here, and Grandma and Grandpa from Idaho came and brough cousins with them!  And they got to spend the night :) We watched a parade, went to the park for all kinds of fun, ate good food, and had a blast!



Eating some of the before mentioned good food :)
Easton, Jordyn, Saralyn, Kylee, and Alma



Eastons cooling off in the kiddie pool.  The water was freezing, but felt sooooo good in the heat of the day:)

Saralyn getting drying off a little before she gets wet again :)

Grandpa Briggs, testing the water.  Yep, it's cold... go ahead, jump in!

 Jordyn and Saralyn showing off their face paint and balloon animals

More face paint pics



and...one more :)