happy valentines day

i love you all

jb

christmas or whatever

to my loving family,

i would like take a minute and share some holiday blah blah blah. first, i am sorry we won't be able to come up this year. we will be up jan 8th through jan 11th for grampa's party.

i have read my older sister's post (on her blog) about christmas news letters. i too hate these passionately, but, i couldn't agree less with the idea that we were nothing to brag about.
the following is a draft of what i think our parents news letter could have been every year:

to all of our friends and family,

we survived another year. we do not wish to waste your time promoting our kid's minor achievements and/or failures .their self esteem is sufficient that we find it unnecessary and stupid. if you care ,or if you forgot what they look like, here is a picture of our kids.

xoxo

the bradford's


now our beloved mother would never write something like that but, if she would i'd like to think it would look something like that.

now the fun stuff. as my wife has been stressing out trying to get a christmas together for our kids, i got to thinking about christmas and my memories of christmas, more specifically our family before we all grew up and became parents. i also thought about some of the fun we as siblings had (christmas or otherwise). i realized that i could barely remember any specific gift i was given by santa or mom and dad or really anybody else. what i could remember were the little things that no one would put in a christmas letter (except this one i guess). i couldn't tell you a thing i got for christmas when i was 5. i do remember that mom was working at montgomery ward at that time (presumably to get christmas money) and that if i went with dad to pick mom up, she would have some malted milk balls to share with me on the ride home. i looked forward to that. or we would go to the fox valley mall to see the over the top christmas decorations. i also remember we had a guy in our ward in chicago who put on a huge display at his home and we would go to see it each year ( i also think i remember that guy was a drummer, i don't remember his name though). i don't recall a single gift.

when we moved to utah, i remember that the first christmas we spent here, was the last time we had a real christmas tree (i think). i remember me, jenn and matt practicing our reactions for what we might find on christmas morning. i think that was also the year mark went to the mtc...... again, i don't remember a single thing i got that year. then we grew a little. jenn and i were pre-teens and melissa and matt were teenagers and i think mark was still living at home. mom sat all (or most) of us down and read a story called the best christmas pagent ever. well, the story is very funny and i've read it to my kids, but the story is incidental...... we had many candles burning and the christmas tree was lit and beautiful and my darling younger sister just went to go sit down and caught her hair in one of the candles setting it ablaze. i promptly smacked her up side the head to put the fire out, she thought i had just whacked her out of plain meaness. i don't remember a thing i got that year.

anyway, the point of all of this is, as we scramble to get whatever for whoever just remember, take that extra time, spend it with your kid, your mom, your friend, give memories not just stuff!

i don't mean to go all soft on everybody. i guess i just miss my family.

i love you all

joel

crucial, clutch, cargo, road gig

thats right folks. my band will begin our journey to total world domination on dec 13 in the year of our lord 2008! the gig will be at the prestigious washington county rec center. only the best of the best of the st george area get to play there. we will be playing a collection of tiny tim covers ( i rock the ukalaili) . no but really, we are playing songs from the 70's through our current decade. it has come togther quite well. i took about 3 years off from playing music. it's good to be back in the saddle. i will try to record our set and post it on you tube or something.

xoxo
j bizzle

Zoey's Magic Pooping Trick

Okay, to preface this, I know that every parent thinks that their child is the smartest and most amazing person ever born. However, in my case, I am afraid it is true. My Zoey has already figured out how to out-smart her parents (which is probably not really that difficult, but she's only 2.5 months old). Anyhoo, this magic trick she routinely performs begins in this way..
1. She makes a real to-do about showing us that she is "grunting one out."
2. She starts to fuss and cry and squawk so much that we really know she is uncomfortable.
3. We rush to her aid, quickly tearing off, what must be the most uncomfortable and horrible mess ever, based on the amount of fuss she is making.
4. Once the diaper has been removed, we notice, much to our chagrin, that she has only pooped a tiny bit and has saved the best for last. She smiles at us coyly as she unleashes the poop fury all over, at first, the bedspread. Soon we wised up to her ploy and used the fabulous changing mat, so graciously given to us by Aunt Michelle.

Now that we are on to her, we undo the diaper, but leave it on, thus tricking Zoey into thinking that we are changing her, but the diaper barrier remains intact, almost always catching the mess. Almost always, being operative there.

This kid is no dummy. Now that we have figured out her poop trick, she has invented the pee trick, quite similar to the poop trick, just with pee. Luckily, she is a girl and cannot aim and shoot like little boys (Josh, I'm talking to you. You peed on me many a time).

Zoey is really good at letting her wants, needs, and wishes known. She is already keeping me moving, and she isn't even moving yet. I can't wait till she rolls over. Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into?

Love you all,

Jenn

Attention Family

Being a new mom, I have realized that I am going to start getting Sharpie-worthy gifts for Zoey soon, as I know I have given many to all of you in the past. As such, I think it appropriate that we institute The Sharpie Award. The Sharpie Award will be given each year at the Farflungfamily Christmas Extravaganza to the family member that has given the messiest, most annoying, or in general most havoc-causing gift throughout the year. We will accept nominations during the month of December, then we will vote and whomever receives the most votes will win this soon-to-be-coveted award. This is intended to be fun and is not meant to hurt anyone's feelings or cause any animosity. I will design and manufacture the actual trophy and will manage the nominations and voting. Please comment on this and let me know what you think.

Love you all,

Jenn

Hannah is funny

Yesterday (Sunday) I was helping Hannah get ready for church. I was helping her get her tights on which I despise. I had just pulled them up around her waist and she said to me "Mom, you got them in my nuts." I just about hit the floor laughing. I then said to her "Hannah, you don't have nuts." She then said to me "Well then you got them in......." She said nothing. I'm not sure if she was thinking about what she does have or what she doesn't have but I thought it was one of the funniest things I have ever heard the child utter.

Our Blog

Hey all Loved Ones Near and Far,
Just wanted to let you know that Mark and I have followed suit and created ourselves a blog spot as well. It's markmichelleandgirls.blogspot.com. Hope all is well with everyone and hope to see you all very soon. Love love kiss kiss