Davis Family Blog

Full price? or "fool" price?

2012-02-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

Look, I understand we all want the best for our kids, and sometimes that means forking out a large chunk of money for things we can't make ourselves. But I also think, at least for me anyway - part of being a mother is learning to be resourceful, and sometimes, buying brand-name stuff at overly inflated prices is going against every grain of my motherly-instinct. I just don't like the thought of being taken advantage by some corporate brand-name retailer just because I have an inherent need to keep my kids safe and comfortable.

There is this thing out right now called the Boppy Newborn Lounger...OK, to be perfectly blunt - it looks like a dog bed for newborn babies:

Am I wrong? =)

Having said that, I'm not going to lie, it still looked pretty cozy, and I can see the benefit to having one if you are limited on space. And in our case - we are VERY limited on space. Anyway, when it came down to it - I wanted one (for the baby...not me), but at $40-$50 a pop - no thanks! So again, I naturally tried to take a stab at making one with some remnant fabric I had lying around. I had no pattern to go off of - I pretty much looked up the product dimensions on a retailer's website, sketched out the shape on some fabric, and cut away. And it definitely didn't come out too shabby:

One side:

Other side:

With the stuffing, I think this was about $7 to make, and mine is reversible - one side cotton, and one side flannel (but that was purely done out of necessity - I didn't have enough of one fabric for both sides.).

Flannel:

Cotton:

And thankfully, this only took me about 45 minutes to make from start to finish. I am sure if someone was an advanced seamstress, they could make this in about 20 minutes or so, if not less time. Thinking about how easy/cheap this was to make makes me wonder why they are being sold for $40-ish dollars each (retail)....oh yeah - brand-name price inflation! Oh - you sneaky, sneaky corporate giants....I'm on to you......

The Adventures of Suzie Homemaker

2012-02-08T17:43:00.000-08:00

Well, I am about 34 weeks pregnant and counting, and so far so good. I have had about a billion ultrasounds (Well, realistically, it has been about 20. They have been closely monitoring me since about 20 weeks since I was at risk for preterm labor during my last pregnancy - yep, had to have surgery for the last one and the whole nine-yards, but it all turned out alright) and I have had numerous tests done - I can't tell you how many times they have drawn blood from me during the last nine months. And then I've had the added pleasure of doing a 24-hour "collection" (mothers out there who have been through the same testing will know what I mean by that.) Despite all of that, there is no room for me to complain - the baby is healthy and growing well, and I am not in any serious discomfort.

Anxiousness has been my main battle thus far - so naturally I have been looking for things to keep my mind completely occupied for the past month or so. When I am not doing the usual mom-thing, wife-thing, art-thing, or church-thing, I am always looking for something to clean, organize, sew, or write (as in - this blog, which explains the vast increase in our blog posts over the past month!). Some would call that "nesting" but I just call it "keeping my sanity."

Well, one thing is for sure, I have never done so much sewing in my life. I don't really "enjoy" doing crafts per se, but my drive to not pay full price for something that I know I can make myself is the real reason behind all of these projects. First was the baby blessing dress, then I started a combination car seat cover/nursing cover. I really had no idea what I was doing, but I just let the artist within me take over - I just get a vision then work with it until it comes to fruition.

Here is the car seat cover I made. It also doubles as a nursing cover though, so it has multiple uses. The fabric cost me about $5 total (on clearance for $2 a yard) and the buttons, ribbon, velcro, suspender clips, zipper, and charm were about an extra $10 total. So this cover was about $15-ish dollars to make. Not bad for 2 items in 1.

I installed a zipper (my very first attempt at one) to allow easy access and air-flow to the baby while she's in there:

And here is a pocket I made to hold a pacifier and the strap to convert it to a nursing cover when needed:

I found this charm on clearance and couldn't resist putting it on the zipper - it says "Lil Sister":

Here it is as a nursing cover. It is basically a piece of matching ribbon that I sewed onto a pair of suspender clips. It is removable so that way it doesn't pose any hazards.

There is more stuff to post, but I've gotta go and do the mom-thing and tuck my son into bed...then I've gotta do the wife-thing and clean up this huge mess I made in our room...oddly enough, I made this mess while trying to clean....

Baby Blessing Dress

2012-02-06T12:24:00.001-08:00

After many, many, MANY hours of looking for a baby blessing dress for our soon-to-be-daughter, I realized that purchasing a dress would be 2 things - 1)expensive, and 2)frustrating. I can't tell you how many stores I went to, and how many websites I visited only to find dresses that were either too large, too "fru-fru" (not my style), or WAY too expensive ($75-$100+ for just the DRESS, knowing I would still need shoes, tights, a headband, and a blanket - all to be worn for just a few hours...I love my family and all, but I must still be practical as well - and that was too expensive of a pill for me to swallow.)(p.s. - And I completely understand that there are some moms out there who will gladly spend that amount on a dress for this special occasion - If you have the money, then by all means, go for it! But please understand that I don't. lol) All I wanted was something white, simple, cute, comfortable, and affordable.

I finally got the idea to do a "composite dress." That is basically where you take different articles of clothing, cut off the parts that you like, and compile them into one ideal garment. To start with, I found this dress on clearance at the Children's Place for only $11.99:

I removed the white bottom from the black top with a seam-ripper, then planned on attaching the white skirt to a white long-sleeved onesie. The dress on the right was a layout (un-sewn) of my original "plan" :

Anyway, after a lot of tinkering, here is the finished product:

Here is the back view:

Here it is with all the little accessories. The white ribbon was $1.99 for the whole spool. The onesie came in a pack of 3 for $5.99, so figure the one costs about $1.99. The tights have little ruffles on the back, and I bought them on sale for $2.99 at Sears. The shoes were the only thing I paid full price for, and those were $9.99, also at Sears...but, I'll admit, someone gave me a gift card to Sears, so I technically got the shoes and the tights for free, plus I used a $5 off Sears coupon. The beautiful blanket was a gift from my mom(grandma). And before I go on, Karen Davis, I am officially asking if I can borrow the following white headband that you made! I was looking through your stash of homemade hair bows for an example of a rosette to sew, which I found, but I also ended up finding this adorable white headband! lol. I tried to get Matt to call you to ask, but he said you wouldn't mind. Since I know you read our blog, I am asking you anyway. And from your design, I learned to hand-sew some rosettes for the dress! Thanks! =):

Here it is pictured with a little white sweater I got at a consignment shop for .25 cents, yes, a quarter! Not sure if I'll use it, but I guess if I need one, I'll have it ready. You'll also notice there are also a 2 little rosette that I sewed out of the ribbon - One I sewed on the dress, but am not quite sure what to do with the other. I'm sure I'll figure it out...Anyway, my total out of pocket cost for the dress and accessories was $16.22, and it came out to be everything I wanted. Can't wait to see it all on her! =)

Aaron's Adventures

2012-02-04T13:40:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you leave your child alone with markers for 5 minutes:

Oddly enough, I took off his clothes so he wouldn't get markers all over them...I guess the joke's on me...

On another note, I was taking pictures of a few of my crafts and as soon as I started snapping pictures, Aaron started yelling "Cheese!" and smiling for me, so here is one of him playing with one of his Christmas gifts:

The next 2 pictures are of Aaron's first trip to the Discovery Center. He had a lot of fun with the "Floating Ball" exhibit:

This was some kind of spinny-tornado-thingy...well, whatever it was called, Aaron loved it.

And here is Aaron playing in the first real snow of the winter back in mid January...But again, the joke was on me - As I was getting Aaron ready in his "warm" clothes to go out into the snow, I realized that he didn't have any snow boots! So we sent him out in his regular shoes that actually worked pretty well, but I didn't want to take any chances, so we decided to take a trip to Walmart to grab him a pair...wait...it get's better....

As mother nature would have it, as we were driving to Walmart, it started to rain. Not thinking twice, we bought him a pair of snow boots and headed home.

When we got home, Aaron and Matt got out of the car and immediately started throwing snowballs at each other. Matt made a huge snowball to give to Aaron to throw:

Well, after experiencing our first real snow of the winter, we all went back inside to warm up. The next morning we all woke up to look outside - THERE WAS NO MORE SNOW LEFT! It all melted away with the rain. So as it turns out, the first snow of the winter may have been our last snow of the winter. It has rained off and on here since then, but mostly we have had sunny skies. And being that it is already February, I don't see too much more snow in our near future. Sadly, Aaron's lonely, unused, snow boots are still sitting in his room with the tags on...good thing Walmart has a great return policy! ;-)

And finally, Aaron has officially transitioned to a booster seat (still a 5-point harness, of course - mom wouldn't have it any other way)! It's an Evenflo SecureKid 300. We LOVE it. Aaron loves it too. He calls it his "Big Boy Seat." We especially love the cup holders - just throw a Capri Sun in one cup holder and a few french fries in the other, and he's good to go! =)

A California Christmas (Part 3 - The Final Installation))

2012-01-25T16:18:00.000-08:00

During part of our Christmas trip we also went to visit Matt's family in Atascadero and San Luis Obispo - The weather was AMAZING! It was nice to be able to go without a jacket for a while.

Our first stop was at Grandma and Grandpa Parson's ranch. We all had a great time enjoying the fresh air and visiting with Matt's grandparents and his aunt Pam. Roberta made me a couple of the Lynn's mini-pies and I am not ashamed to say that I happily ate them both - one hot out of the oven, and one the next morning for breakfast (And let the records show that I tried to share them with Aaron and Matt, but Aaron was too busy playing with Legos and Matt was too busy playing with the "Bill Ding" toys. Yes, that is a real toy - feel free to Google it - they're pretty cool). She then gave us a full sized Lynn's Pie to take home, and yes, we ate that one too! =) And for anyone that doesn't know what a Lynn's Pie is - they are simply the best pies in the WORLD! Anyhow, it was nice being able to visit everyone - we just wish we could have stayed longer!

Here are a few pictures Matt took of the Parson's Ranch:

This one is my favorite:

After that we went to visit Matt's Grandma Davis and to our pleasant surprise his Uncle Craig was there visiting as well. It was fun chatting for a few hours and listening to the story of how Matt's family became members of the Church.

Here are a few pictures of everyone:

And these ones were so funny - I was trying to get a good picture of everyone, but either Aaron or Lorraine always had their eyes closed...maybe one day we'll photoshop a composite picture so everyone's eyes are open. You know, now that I look at it, these two pictures would be great as a set of "Can you spot the differences between these two pictures" game! =)

A California Christmas (Intermission - Random Christmas Photos)

2012-01-21T14:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas pictures of Aaron:

A California Christmas (Part 2 - Suprise Baby Shower!)

2012-01-21T13:46:00.000-08:00

A few days after we got to Brandy's Dad's house we went to what we thought was just going to be a small family barbeque at Brandy's Aunt and Uncle's house. Since we hadn't seen some of Brandy's family in a while, and since they can make some awesome barbeque, we were ready to eat and casually mingle. However, when we got there we found out it was actually a surprise baby shower for Brandy put on by her dad's side of the family (Thanks Aunt Cynthia, Uncle Joey, and Brandy's dad!). After the initial yelling of "SURPRISE!" the first thing we noticed was Brandy's face plastered 3 times on a huge banner hanging over the sliding glass door - I guess they didn't want anyone mistaking who the party was for. Haha! You can see it in the picture below. And I love how the pink tree just went with the theme perfectly! (And by the way, we were all having such a great time at the party that most of us forgot to take pictures - My dad's cousin Frank to the rescue with his camera phone! So these pictures are all courtesy of him. And although you can't see her face too well, that is my Aunt Cynthia standing up in the middle of the picture. She really knows how to host some great parties!):

Playing the Cotton Ball game. This was such a hilarious riot! Everyone was cheating and egging each other on but that is what made it so much fun to watch!:

Playing Pass the Present:

Party favors:

The night progressed with more games, food, and more teasing between family members (all in good fun though). This was a very special night for me and I am very thankful to have such wonderful family!

A California Christmas (Part 1)

2012-01-21T11:13:00.000-08:00

As we promised, here are the details from our Christmas trip to California. Enjoy!

So usually for a couple of weeks during every Christmas we make our annual trip to visit our families in California. And every year we always have to be extra cautious about the snow as we travel. In 2010 we had snow all the way through Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, and some of California all the way until we got down into Sacramento.

And just when you thought that the long stretch of road from Oregon to Winnemucca and beyond couldn't get any more boring....well....guess again...

Yep...about 2 hours of good ol' fog....

But again, the good news is that those crazy road conditions were only during our 2010 trip. However, our hopes still weren't high for our 2011 trip. But somehow, some way, Mother Nature decided that there would be no snow during the course of our most recent trip, and we were blessed with the company of the sunshine instead:

When we finally reached California we stopped at Aaron's Uncle Jeff and Aunt Yolanda's house. We also got to see our old friends Tink and Bob (2 of our family's dogs). And anyone that knows Bob - you'll know what I mean when I say he's still the same ol', same ol'. =)

After our visiting with them we stopped to get some dinner before reaching our final destination of Brandy's Dad's house. We immediately went to the one place that we had been missing so much:

Hungry?

After our In-N-Out fix we made it to Brandy's Dad's house on Friday night and had a wonderful time hanging out with him the for the remainder of the week before Christmas. Brandy's family even ended up surprising her with a baby shower during our visit!...but we'll tell that story later.

During Christmas Eve we had a huge party with Brandy's family, and by huge, we mean about 30 people-huge! It was so much fun though and it was nice to see everyone again.

It started out with a pull-string Christmas Pinata for all the kids:

Aaron's turn:

Everyone gathering their Christmas Candy loot:

And a few family-friendly Christmas games. This is a picture of a candy cane game in which a person has one minute to pick up as many candy candy canes as possible - the catch: you can only use one candy cane in each hand as your tools.

Aaron playing with his cousin Chris. They got along so well and had so much fun during this night! If you notice Aaron's excessively rosy-cheeks and sweaty, matted hair throughout any of these pictures it is because him and his cousin Chris were busy chasing each other around the house the WHOLE night! Needless to say...Aaron slept really well that night after the party.

Santa even made an appearance and gave everyone at the party a Christmas gift!

Every year we have a gingerbread house contest between all of the families. Each family gets exactly the same bag of supplies and 15 minutes to complete a gingerbread house. Brandy's dad judges the houses and selects a winner. Since he was unable to choose his favorite this year (due to so many great entries), he resorted to picking a number out of a hat. This was the winner! $100 in prize money!

Aaron opening gifts at Brandy's mom's house Christmas night:

Again, this is only part 1 of our trip. So....to be continued.....

Happy Halloween!

2012-01-20T23:35:00.000-08:00

Although you may be inclined to look over your shoulder and double-check the date on your calendar, please rest assured that it is, in fact, January 2012, and yes - you are seeing Halloween content in the midst of all of these Christmas posts. We were going through our many, many pictures and realized that we never posted pictures of Aaron's Halloween 2011 costume. So here are a few pictures Matt took of our little Sock Monkey during our trip to Boo at the Zoo in Boise. If I remember correctly, Aaron's costume cost about $10 to make. All the fabric was either clearance fabric or remnants. And somehow it all worked out even though I didn't have a pattern to sew by. I simply took one of Aaron's old jumpsuits, turned it inside-out and traced the outline onto my fabric. The hat took me a couple of tries without a pattern, but the end result came out great I think. His Halloween pail was originally an orange jack-o-lantern, but with a little bit of extra fabric and a lot of hot glue, it morphed its way into a Sock Monkey. (By the way, the pictures above are of Brandy's carved 3D pumpkin that she did for a friend of ours from church for this past Halloween. It took about 4.5 hours to complete and came out just like she wanted - pretty scary looking!)

Christmas Parade

2012-01-08T20:10:00.000-08:00

So this time around we have an excuse for updating our blog so late - we have been out of town visiting our families in California for the past few weeks. We had a great time, and we'll get to all the details about that trip a little later.

For now we thought we would show you pictures from the Christmas Light Parade that we went to before we left on the trip. It was so much fun and the floats were really elaborate. We left in the early afternoon to attend a Christmas event that was being held at local fire station. They gave the kids tours of the firehouse and firetruck and served punch, hot apple cider, and cookies.

Rumor had it that Santa was going to be making an appearance there, which he did...only, Aaron had more interest in the "Firehouse Dog" than Santa. Here he was giving him a high-five:

Aaron sitting in the firetruck:

For the record, although Santa did not receive a high-five, we did all take a picture with him. Unfortunately the printed picture is still hiding somewhere in our unpacked luggage. And since I have never used the scanning feature on our printer, I'm not even going to bother going down that road of frustration just for one picture at the moment. Anyhow, it was a great little event they put on for the kids - a nice prelude to the fabulous parade that was about to begin.

Now, maybe it's because I am indoors for a large chunk of the day, or maybe it is because we are home-grown Californians, but geesh - I completely forget how dang cold it can get here in Idaho at night. Luckily the bright lights and fun music of the parade distracted us from our frozen flanges for about an hour. I have to be honest - we were expecting to see some 20 minute long, rinky-dink parade consisting of a few cars decorated with lights and maybe a marching band or two, but I will admit I was totally surprised at how much thought and Christmas spirit that was put into these floats. For example, the first float blew us away; It was a whole stage set up with the Pinocchio theme. And get this - Pinocchio (a real boy) (...no pun intended) was actually hanging from some kind of large mechanical device that would swing him off of the side of the float and dangle him there in the audience for a few seconds at a time. It was such a neat thing to see and really set the tone for the rest of the parade.

Since we couldn't show you all of the 100+ pictures Matt took of the floats, here are a few of our favorites:

The marching bands were awesome! Although you can't really tell in the picture, not only was the music great, they were also lit up from head to toe with lights and glow sticks:

Of course the Grinch had to be there to steal Christmas:

Although you can't really see it in the picture, this float was set up to look like a mock-crash - an out of control jet-ski that crashed into a Christmas tree. Very clever!:

If only all school buses could look as cool as these...:

An awesome Winnie the Pooh float:

This was supposed to be Alvin and the Chipmunks. Even though I don't remember Alvin having a mustache, it was still pretty cute to see three grown men singing karaoke and dancing around just to get the spectating kids to smile:

Needless to say, be will be going back next year. And this time we will be prepared with chairs, blankets, and a few large thermoses of hot chocolate!

New Pictures - Finally

2011-12-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

As we promised, here are a few more pictures. As of right now, they are all of Aaron, but we thought we'd show you how big he was getting. One thing's for sure - He's no longer a baby.

Here is Aaron experiencing his first snow during this winter season. The snow didn't end up sticking, but he had fun in it anyway.

Playing in Grandma's rock garden:

I believe he was saying "Coldddddd" here:

So Daddy took him in to warm up and continued to take a few more pictures. Aaron was obviously happier to be inside where it was nice and warm:

Below is Aaron's gingerbread house that he made all by himself! Ok...so he had a tiny bit of help from mommy - but just a tiny bit. We made it using his left over Halloween candy (You know - the stuff no one ever really eats - like the Smarties [What are Smarties? - Exactly!], Peppermints, the cheap candy that comes from the value bins at Winco, and candy that comes in a clear plastic package without a label, aka mystery candy). Anyway, it all came in handy along with left over gram crackers, a bit of milk and lots of powdered sugar, and whole lot of imagination and fun - and Viola! Aaron's Gingerbread House!:

Finally, he are some fun shots of Aaron having fun in our new family car. It's a 2003 Honda Pilot. We bought it in early November of this year and we absolutely love it!

That's it for now, and plenty more pictures to come!

We're back!

2011-11-30T22:07:00.000-08:00

Note to all of you bloggers out there: If you decide to not post a blog entry in 2+ years, please do not make the same mistakes I did: 1) Spend 45 minutes figuring out which darn e-mail address you used to create your blogger account and then find out it was something with a weird/random name that you neglected to write down at the time you created it (Luck was on my side today!). And 2) COMPLETELY forget how to use HTML code and spend the next 3 hours re-learning to update your blog and make ONE measly post.

Ok, onto the good stuff:

So since we haven’t updated our blog in about 2 years, we figured that instead of posting a hundred different entries to catch up, we would simply instead post one entry with a very short and sweet summary of the past 2 years since we moved from Utah. So without further ado:

The Davis Family’s Past 2-year Checklist (in no particular order):

- Matt went back to school – Check!
- Moved to Idaho – Check!
- Moved in with Matt’s parents – Check!
- Aaron had second birthday (3rd b-day coming up in 2 months) – Check!
- Aaron finally grew hair – Check!
- Brandy finally cut off her long hair! Woo hoo! – Check!
- Aaron finally started talking….nonstop – Check!
- Aaron started preschool twice a week – Check!
- Took Aaron on his first trip to Disneyland – Check!
- Brandy started participating in more art shows – Check!
- Sold our Hyundai Santa Fe to get rid of a car payment– Check!
- Sold our Nissan Frontier to get rid of a car we didn’t need – Check!
- Bought a used 2003 Honda Accord to use in Idaho – Check!
- Sold the same 2003 Honda Accord a year later – Check!
- Bought a 2003 Honda Pilot because we needed a bigger car – Check!
- Realized that we need to stop switching cars so often – Check!
- Brandy is pregnant again (Baby girl due in March 2012) - Double Check!

We’ll obviously fill in some of the gaps and add some fun pictures in later posts, but for now, that is the summary of the past 2 years for us. On another note, it’s good to be back (blogging)!

My gift for Mother's Day

2010-05-08T15:02:00.001-07:00

Well, as you can see, these pictures pretty much say it all! He is my little gift, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

He even comes in a box! (Gift wrapping optional...).....

And a gift bow! (Although beautiful, daddy wasn't really a fan of the look...) =)

And the only gift I know of that comes ready to party!....

Needless to say, he is the best gift any mother could ask for!

Aaron is finally walking!!!

2010-05-08T14:50:00.000-07:00

He just started walking in the last week of April, and hasn't stopped since! We are very proud of him.

Since pictures can't really capture the moment, we thought a cute video montage might do it some justice. Hope you enjoy! (And let me know if you experience any problems loading the video.)

Aaron's 1st Birthday!

2010-03-26T12:54:00.001-07:00

Ok, so better late than never, right? =) And besides, I took a lot of time to make this video. It was made with lots of editing, lots of music, and lots of love. And hopefully it will be something Aaron will enjoy watching when he is older. His actual birthday was in January of this year. He spent the day with mommy and daddy, ate pizza, and had his very own cake. It was a cute day. Glad we got it on video. Also, below are a few pictures. Thanks for watching!

Utah - here we come!

2010-03-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

Well, as you may, or may not know, in January 2010 we moved to Utah. And so far so snowy. Yep...when we first moved, "snow" and "cold" would be the only words I would use to describe Utah. Although, I must say, the mountains right next door are very beautiful. We are lucky enough to have a perfect view of them every morning when we wake up. Since we have moved, the snow has all melted, and the sun is starting to make his appearance more often than not.

Here are some pictures at the start of our trip. However, we didn't take too many pictures of our actual trip. Since we stayed up until about 1:00am the previous morning packing the remainder of our stuff, our primary focus was just getting to Utah quickly and in one piece. I have told numerous people, "You'll never really understand exactly how much stuff you have, useful and pointless alike, until you pack it all up and start loading it into the truck - box by (never-ending) box..."

We ended up driving one of our vehicles, and the other vehicle was towed by the Uhaul driven by Brandy's dad. There it is...off in the distance.

Here is the view from our balcony and front door:

I will post pictures of the interior of our place too, but I would like it to be clean before I take pictures. Judging by the way it looks now, it probably wont be anytime soon. =)

Aaron's First Christmas

2010-03-15T18:55:00.001-07:00

We took a trip to Candy Cane Lane in Clovis, Ca with Brandy's mom. This neighborhood really goes out of their way to get everyone into the Christmas spirit. As you can see neighbors constructed "Whoville" from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

It even came complete with the Grinch's dog "Max". I tried to get a good picture of him, but this was the best I could do.

Frosty the Snowman:

One of the many festive houses:

Aaron's first picture with Santa:

These pictures are from Christmas at Brandy's dad's house. It was a fun little get together with Brandy's Aunt's, Uncles, Cousins, and different people from the Lipan Apache tribe. Here, Aaron is hanging out with his baby Cousin Nevaeh:

Giving kisses:

Aaron and Grandpa

This is Aaron's very first Christmas gift from Mommy and Daddy. What could it be?..read to find out...

Here is Daddy holding Aaron on Christmas Eve helping him open a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Davis. The tradition is - you can open ONE gift on Christmas Eve - the rest will have to wait.

However, he only seemed interested in the cardboard...

Here is Aaron trying to open other people's gifts:

Aaron's favorite toy of the night:

Great Grandpa Parsons and Aaron on Christmas morning at the ranch:

Christmas gifts:

By the way, as promised, here is what was in that big green hunk of wrapping paper for our little boy:

A Christmas horseback ride:

After we got back from Christmas at the ranch, Brandy and Aaron went to visit her Aunt and cousins to help make tamales. Here is Aaron taking a nap with Brandy's cousin Alexandria:

Great Grandma Maria:

Wow, it wasn't until after I posted this that I realized that we did so much for Christmas. I guess you could say - "Lots of love for lots of family."

Thanksgiving 2009 (sorry about the delay)

2010-03-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so after only 5 short months, we are back, AGAIN. But there is an explanation for the blogging hiatus this time. We did our first big move. Instead of living in Fresno, California, we are now located next door to the snowy mountains of central Utah. We just moved at the beginning of January 2010, and it is now March, and I finally have had time to work on our blog. The pictures on this post are actually from November 2009; mostly from Thanksgiving. So once again, we apologize for the delay, and we hope you enjoy these pictures.

The following pictures are from Casey, Rachel, and Isaiah's trip to Fresno for Thanksgiving. They stayed with us for a couple of days, and Aaron finally got to meet his cousin.

Here are a few pictures from our family outing to John's Incredible Pizza:

Grandma, Grandpa, and grandbabies Aaron, Bailey, and Isaiah:

"Draw Bucket of Water..."

Daddy and Aaron:

These pictures are from our first trip to Utah. We stayed with Casey and Rachel while we searched for apartments in the area.

Aarons 1st Parade!!!

2009-12-30T10:33:00.000-08:00

These pictures were from November 11th, Annual Veterans Day Parade 2009. The parade always honors Native American Veteran's, and we are always so lucky to be a part of it. Aaron had so much fun getting all dressed up and riding on the float, and hanging out with Grandpa Aaron. He never got tired of smiling and screaming at all of the people. Aaron was definitely the star of the show that day - people just couldn't get enough pictures of him - neither could I. I made him his ribbon shirt and baby moccasins just days before - he looked so cute.

Me and Aaron getting ready on the float:

Aaron and Grandpa hanging out before the start of the parade:

Aaron, and his funny face, and me on the float again,:

After the parade, went to a pow wow at the park and Aaron got to watch the Aztec Dancers. It was a fun day.

At the Pow wow:

And above is a short clip from the powwow

Halloween Pictures are Here!

2009-11-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

Well, Aaron's first Halloween is over, but we have some awesome pictures of it. For those that do not know, Aaron was a monkey for Halloween - complete with a banana and all.

Even though Halloween was on Saturday it actually started on Wednesday for us. I did pumpkin carving with the Young Women for mutual on Wednesday and they all came out great. There were a few pumpkins left over so I decided to take one home and work on it for the upcoming pumpkin carving contest in our ward. Our ward had a party and a trunk-or-treat on the night before Halloween and you had to bring your pumpkin already carved for the pumpkin carving contest. Here is my entry (1st place!!):

This is right after I finished it

This is it about 3 days old with a carved pumpkin feather

It took about 3 hours total. I just used clay sculpting tools and a few kitchen knives. It was my first time trying to carve a pumpkin like this, but I was pretty happy about how it came out.

Here's Aaron and Daddy ready to go to the party

The ward Halloween party was really fun. My mom came too to see her grandson all dressed up. Aaron was the cutest monkey there.

The funniest thing was that midway through the party, TWO BIG BANANAS walked in!!! You just know I had to get a picture.

Then we did trunk-or-treat. It was actually my first time experiencing one. For anyone that doesn't know, a trunk-or-treat is the same as trick-or-treating only instead of going house to house, you go through a parking lot from car to car, well, trunk to trunk. Thus - trunk-or-treat. Usually people go all out decorating their trunks. Thanks to Matt, we had a pretty cool trunk. His decorating saved us!! I had all this cool stuff to put up, but no time! They announced for everyone to start going out and trunk or treat and I had NOTHING ready. Luckily, by the time I got out there, Matt was was already out there and ready to go. Decorating problems aside, I really wish someone (::cough cough::...Matt....) would have told me that the trunk-or-treaters go around more than once! I ran out of candy within the first 5 minutes! Luckily my friend Sarah came to my rescue and gave me a whole big bag of candy to continue handing out. I was RELIEVED! PHEW! (thanks Sarah!). Yep - exciting night.

On Halloween Day we went to Matt's parent's house and spent the evening up there. I finally got to take some good pictures of Aaron in his monkey costume.

Here's is Aaron's very first trick-or-treating. (He obviously had no clue what was going on...but it was still cute)

And winding down after a long day....

The many sides of Aaron:

2009-11-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

Focused

Bewildered

Frightened....

Ferocious!!

"DOH!"

HOLY FLYING GOLF BALLS, BATMAN!

2009-11-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

So for those that do not know...a few months ago our brand new car was hit with a golf ball as we were coming home on Freeway 41. Some genius decided it would be smart to build a Golf Driving Range next to a freeway...which, in the end, caused us to fork out about $230 for a new windshield. What really gets me is that after we confronted them, they kept saying it was impossible that it was one of their golf balls, and insisted it was a rock...yep, a perfectly spherical rock, that happened to be the exact same size as a golf ball. (For the record, we saw the actual golf ball hurling its way towards our windshield as it happened.)

So anyway...to let off a little steam, I created this...(all in good fun though. We're already over it. I just happened to come across some pictures I took of our broken windshield after it happened and thought this would be funny):

(This is to be read in the tone of the Budweiser Real Men of Genius commercials)

Matt and Brandy Davis presents:

Mr. Golf Driving Range Next to a Freeway Builder

Today we salute you Mr. Golf Driving Range Next to a Freeway Builder
(Mr. Golf Driving Range Next to a Freeway Builder)

When conventional wisdom said it would be smarter to build a golf ball slinging madhouse away from heavy traffic, you did the unthinkable.
(My body is here, but my mind has already teed off!)

Even after the first 300 golf balls were ferociously fired over the barrier net, and even after the first 50 furious passing drivers came to you with golf ball-sized dents in their cars, you, Oh Marvelous Merger of Fairways and Highways, continue to stand your ground.
(Maybe it was a rock!)

No one’s going to push you around and tell you where to build, Oh Defier of Common Sense. You have the most awesome driving range, and you want everyone to know it – even if it means a golf ball through the windshield and to the face – they’ll remember you!
(Free advertisement! It’s a hole in one!)

So here’s to you, Mr. Golf Driving Range Next to a Freeway Builder, because you really do put the PRO in PROJECTILES.
(Mr. Golf Driving Range Next to a Freeway Builder)

Annnnnndddddd - WE'RE BACK!

2009-11-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. It has been a while, but we're back and ready to keep on bloggin' again. We have done a lot since our last post and it's time to share it all with you.

Well, first things first - at the beginning of October, we all got the SWINE FLU, and survived. =) Yeah, that was miserable....Matt got sick on a Sunday, then Brandy got sick on the following Wednesday, then Aaron got sick on Friday. Oddly enough, Aaron got over it before Matt and me. Within a couple of weeks, we were all 100% and ready to go the Big Fresno Fair.

We took Aaron on his first trip to the Big Fresno Fair on October 17th, the last Saturday it was open. Brandy's dad came too and had a great time with his grandson. Aaron's favorite part was seeing all of the reptiles at the Wild America exhibit. Matt got a "Monster Dog" which was about the size of THREE corndogs put together. It was so big that Matt couldn't finish it, and ended up having to be split between Matt and Brandy's dad. Speaking of the Big Fresno Fair, Brandy won 2nd place and $140 for her new feather painting in the Fine Arts - Mixed Media category. Not bad at all!

Sorry to backtrack, but we forgot to mention that in July we went to the Paso Robles Mid State Fair with Matt's family. Also, we while we were there, we went to visit Matt's grandparents in San Luis Obispo and Atascadero. Don and Lorrain hadn't had a chance to see Aaron in person yet, so we figured it would be the perfect time. They had such a good time getting to know him. The rest of the time we all had a great time hanging out at the Parsons' Ranch. It was a big change for Aaron to go from the noisy city life of where we live, to the nice and peaceful hillsides of San Luis Obispo. During that trip, Aaron also had his first visit to the ocean. During our trip home, we took a small detour through Morro Bay and stopped for fish and chips. We also let Aaron get his first feel of beach sand. He also got to get up close and personal with a few seals while watching daddy feed a few of them at the aquarium.

Grandma Davis and Aaron

Here he is with Matt's Uncle Craig

Also, Matt was recently Captain Moroni at a Book of Mormon Cruise that was put on for primary kids in his sister Melissa's ward. He had to tell the story of Captain Moroni, as if he was Captain Moroni - The kids really enjoyed his segment. As you can see, he really got into character:

Now, I would say his was the best, but really, it was a tie between Matt's and Matt's parents. Their Tree of Life was nothing less than awesome. Great acting skills too. =) Here's everyone in the cast:

Ok....enough of this post....onto another... =)

New Car....Used Car...."Our Car"

2009-07-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

OK, as promised, here are pictures of our 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe:

(The color of the exterior is "platinum sage" which is just Hyundai's sugar-coated way of saying "charcoal gray with a hint of green." Naturally, you can't see the true color in the picture, but the back half of the car shows the color closest to "platinum sage.")

Happy Father's Day! (and a new car....)

2009-06-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Yep...Matt's very first Father's Day has come and gone. I think he enjoyed it...

Since we knew that we would be spending a large amount of time at Matt's parent's house on Sunday, we decided to spend Saturday evening at my dad's house to celebrate Father's day with him. We cooked him a nice dinner in the evening and for the rest of the evening my dad enjoyed his first Father's Day being a grandpa.

On Sunday, we started out with a day at church, only to find out that the two wards in our building got combined into one HUGE ward. Over 250+ people now (I forgot the exact number). Sadly, no talks were given on the joy of Father's Day, but we did get to hear from our old bishopric, as well as our new bishopric. But, no worries - the fathers were definitely not forgotten. The young women had prepared a special gift of nicely wrapped chocolate chip cookies for all of the fathers in the room. At the end of sacrament meeting, they kindly asked all of the fathers in the room to stand so that they may receive their gifts. Matt stood up with a quiet pride (and a smile) as he held Aaron in his arms and received his Father's Day cookies. It was nice to look around the room and see all of the father's and take a moment to appreciate them.

After sacrament meeting we had no second or third hour. Instead there were refreshments prepared and ready for us in the culture hall. We got to mingle with our new ward members and introduce Aaron to everyone.

After church, Matt, Aaron, me, and Jeff all headed up to Matt and Jeff's parent's house where they had a little barbecue. We had some excellent tri-tip and took lots of cute pictures of Aaron.

Also, I forgot to mention, before we went to my dad's house on Saturday....we got a new car!!! (well, it's a used car, but it doesn't sound as good when you shout "We got a used car!") Anyway, it's a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. No pictures yet, but as soon as we get some, we'll be sure to post em'. Hey - I'm just happy there is room for all the baby stuff, with room to spare for groceries! No more crummy Galant! Ugh! (that thing was falling apart - literally!)

Anyway - Father's Day weekend was a success.

You know, on the subject of Father's Day, I once heard a wonderful talk given by someone in our ward whose topic was on the Plan of Happiness. He spoke of recalling the memory of seeing his son and daughter-in-law being sealed together in the temple, and what happiness that brought him, because he knew it would bring them true happiness. Then he spoke of his same son and daughter-in-law as he looked at them in the audience, as they held their newborn son in their arms. And he retold a short story of how, a few days prior, he and his wife were visiting their son and his family at their home for a few days. Sometime in the evening he and his wife walked in the living room and saw his son, daughter-in-law, and newborn son sleeping peacefully together on the couch. He said that he and his wife stood in the doorway and stared at them while tears filled their eyes. As he was speaking to our congregation, again tears filled his eyes, and he said that it was that moment that reminded him that family is the true Plan of Happiness...that Heavenly Father has made it possible that we can all be together forever.

How comforting to know....

5 months and counting....

2009-06-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

Yikes! - it has been quite a while since our last blog. As soon as I finished posting the last blog, I thought for sure I would be posting at least every other day or so...but yeah...reality struck...and we realized that we really aren't all that interesting! lol. Oh well. But we still have a wonderful son who will still take up a majority of our blogs.

So anyway....Aaron is a little over 5 months now and currently experimenting with his vocal range...well, maybe volume is a better choice of word. If someone is standing outside the house with all the doors and windows closed, you can still hear him cooing away inside.

Oh, and the best thing ever - he has started laughing!!! (Not to mention, he is starting to become quite ticklish). Matt can get him to laugh the easiest though. He found out that Aaron particularly likes it when you hold him right in front of your face while you sing the phrase "What would you doOOoo, for a Klondike Bar?" HaHa - go figure! But you have to sing it just like the commercial, or else no laugh...

And man oh man - the boy can JUMP. We got him a Giddy-Up Jumperoo off of Craigslist for $35 when he was about 4 months old. He loves it, as you can see:

And some funny little quirks about Aaron - He blushes and smiles when he recognizes his reflection in the mirror. He loves chewing on blankets, and also loves squishing them over his face (which I think is his first attempt to get them into his mouth). Oh, and now when he sees Bean, he'll either smile or attempt to talk to him every time. Just cute and fun little facts.

What to do, what to do?!?!

2009-05-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

The following pictures we like to call "the classic Aaron face" (It cracks us up every time):

So....since this was a rare 3 day weekend for Matt, we definitely had no intentions of wasting it. In fact, we had too many ideas for what we should do with it: A yard sale, the beach, the lake, time at the grandparent's houses, the park, hiking, camping...the list probably went on...I don't really remember. But when it came down to it, we did none of those things...well..."postponed" would be the better choice of word to describe our decision. As much as Matt loves to be a "planner," I have come to the conclusion that it would be better for us to be "spontaneous-go-with-the-flow people." Every time we try to plan something far in advance, we ultimately give ourselves time to talk ourselves out of it, or something else comes up. So after all plans fell through, some opportunities fell in our laps, and a few things we ended up doing on a whim. All-in-all we ended up having an awesome weekend.

We had no other plans for Friday night except to get ready for a yard sale we were having on Saturday. Yep...that plan fell through (but for the better). Matt's parent's had originally stopped by earlier in the day to see Aaron. So while we waited for Matt to get off of work, Melissa, Trent, and Bailey stopped by. We all hung out at our place for a while and then decided to head off to Plaza Ventana for dinner. Aaron had a fun time there learning to play with straws.

So anyway, that left our Saturday open, which we then "planned" on using to go to the beach (or the lake...or hiking...you get the picture). Again, we talked ourselves out of that on account of holiday traffic. We stayed home and cleaned for most of the day, then relaxed a bit. Later that evening we took my dad out to eat at one of our favorite Chinese restaurants. Then for some strange reason, after dinner Matt and I were both determined to get a chocolate ice cream cake. We went to a few different stores but couldn't find what we wanted so we settled for Foster's Freeze ice cream. (Although, when Monday rolled around, we resumed looking for our ice cream cake and gave up when we came across some Ben and Jerry's that was on sale...enough said) All in all, Saturday was a productive day. I wouldn't have changed it at all (probably because I got to take a long, and much deserved, nap during the day while Matt watched the baby).

Late Sunday we ended up visiting my dad and decided, on a whim, to have a barbeque. Good thing we did....we made the BEST tri-tip ever! (If only we had more of it...) While we were cooking, Matt took advantage of the red and white striped shirt Aaron was wearing and meticulously placed him on my dad's couch and said to me "Hey Bran, where's Waldo?" I turned around and looked into the living room and I couldn't stop laughing. We just had to get my dad to take a picture! Here it is:

"Can you find Waldo in this picture?" =)

Here is "Waldo"on the recliner:

On Monday, Memorial Day, I woke up early with the baby. Although we originally had no plans, I refused to have a boring Monday, so I immediately decided we would take Aaron to the zoo. Matt woke up about an hour later and while he was still drowsy I announced to get ready because we were all going to the zoo. Amazingly, he thought that was a great idea. While we were getting ready, Melissa called and asked what we were going to do for Memorial day, and one thing led to another, and the group that ended up going to the zoo was: me, Matt, Aaron, Matt's mom and dad (Karen and Brian), Melissa, Trent, Bailey, Jeff, and Yolanda. That was lots of walking for one day, but lots of fun. Here are a few pictures from Aaron's first trip to the Chaffee Zoo:

If I had to sum up our weekend I would say:
Life is simple, good, and oh so sweet... =-)

FIRE!!!

2009-05-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

(OK, so I admit this isn't the actual photo of the fire...we just wanted to add some drama to our blog. But there really was a fire though)

So, a couple of weeks ago, about 12:15am on a Thursday night, I am awaken from a sound sleep only to hear Matt say, "Uh...I think we might have to get ready to leave...it sounds like there might be a fire next door, but I'm not sure." (I seriously had thought I was dreaming - How could anyone be "not sure" if there is a fire?) So with my eyes still mostly closed I casually said, "Ok, wake me up if you hear anything else." I hadn't closed my eyes for anymore than a minute when Matt came rushing back into the bedroom to say "OK...Yeah, I think we are going to have to leave...there is a HUGE fire next door..." I instantly popped up out of bed, "WHAT??"

We both walked over to the window by our front door, and sure enough, there was a huge fire on the roof of a residence not even 20 feet away from us. Now, for those that do not know, we live in a condominium complex, so everything is extremely close together. Every building consists of 2 connected units, so if one unit catches on fire, you can be pretty sure the other one will go down with it if not caught in time. This particular fire ended up spreading to the attic of the attached unit. But also, the buildings in general are very close together - I'm guessing about 15 feet apart - so the neighbors were hurrying to warn other neighbors of the fire. Yep, I immediately went into an adrenaline-filled survival robot mom mode while Matt stayed perfectly calm and managed to keep a close watch on the fire while still helping to get things prepared in the event of an evacuation. In a matter of seconds we went to go grab Aaron who was sleeping, and then started to plan what we wanted to take with us in the event that the fire spread.

To our relief, within minutes, about 30 firefighters and about 5-6 fire trucks were there battling the blaze until 2:30 in the morning. Channel 30 Action News also showed up to cover the story. The residents who lived in the building were a couple (about our age) and their 3 young children. While the firefighters broke glass and knocked out walls, the guy and his kids went to stand in front of our place with us and explained what had happened. He explained that he had been outside in his backyard smoking a cigarette. After he tossed it, he went inside only to to find an alarm going off a few minutes later, and a huge fire blazing in his back yard. He attempted to put it out with the garden hose, but after that attempt failed, he called the fire department. For the rest of the night, Matt and I, and another neighbor were trying to make his kids as comfortable as possible while they waited for their mom to get there (who was working at the time, by the way) Imagine her shock as she arrived.

Luckily no one was hurt, but the aftermath the next morning was not pretty. Since the fires were mainly contained in the attics, neither residence has a ceiling anymore. Matt checked out the charred patio of the unit that initially caught fire, and I got to take a peak into the second unit affected by the fire and you can see clear up to the sky. Inside both units there was insulation and water damage everywhere.

Anyway, that was one of our fun-filled Thursday nights. You know...we usually like front row seats, but not to that kind of event....yikes!!! =-)

(And by the way, if anyone is wondering what the heck I am doing up at 5:40 am, I'm waiting for Aaron to stop laughing and talking to the ceiling and go back to bed. And I tried cradling him for awhile, but he apparently thinks my face looks funny because he wouldn't stop laughing at me either. Awww...you've gotta love him) =-)

Another Davis Update...Finally

2009-05-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, time for another update. Let's see......Aaron is definitely growing up, and FAST. He will be 4 months old on the 20th of May. Yikes - It's like we'll wake up one day and overnight he has already learned how to make a new sound, and not to mention, LOUDER sounds, laugh, pick stuff up, and yep...eat a few solids. He is no longer a "bobble-head," as Matt and I used to call him...well, he has his moments, but he has definitely improved his head control. And sometimes you could swear that he is somehow holding an intellectual conversation with you as you ask him pointless, random questions and he looks right at you and does his monologue of baby babble and high-pitched squeals (wishful thinking - I know). But seriously, I am with him just about 24 hours a day and I still find myself thinking, "When the heck did he learn all of this stuff?" So we have definitely learned something about babies, when it comes to them growing up - "Blink, and you'll miss it!"

Matt is in the process of selling his computer. He was parting it out on E-Bay but is now reconsidering that route. One of his packages that was supposed to be shipped to Arizona, somehow wound up in Tennessee. Needless to say, the recipient is pretty mad at the moment. Maybe Craigslist is the way to go from now on...

As for me, that's a whole other blog...which isn't a bad idea. I may actually start a whole separate, personal blog. But geez...I barely have time for this one. =)

Aaron also had his first Easter!! (although we don't think he noticed.) We went to visit my family earlier in the day, the went off to Matt's parent's house. Matt's Mom hid eggs for all of us. Did I mention they were filled with money? I think we walked away with a cool $35.

Anyway, there is still tons more to blog about, like the huge 6 inch gash that is now in our bedroom wall as a result of an 8-inch drill bit accident (cable lines are obviously not easy to install in our home), a Mother's Day makeover, and oh yeah, did I mention there was a huge FIRE next door??

To be continued.......

Our First Blog!!!! =)

2009-03-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well, hello everyone! Let me introduce ourselves - We are the Davis' (Matt and Brandy Davis, to be exact.). Matt and I have been married for 3 crazy, but wonderful, years...ahh, how time flies. Brandy is a member of the Lipan Apache band of Texas and enjoys painting, going to powwows, reading books from her favorite author - Robert Fulghum, and occasionally cooking on her spare time, while Matt prefers to come home and relax to the soothing sounds of his clicking mouse while he fights the "MOBS" on his current computer game - "Goonzu." He has also taken upon himself the new role of "The Handyman" in our home; He has been going on a spree of fixing and installing things whenever he gets a chance. We both enjoy being active members of the LDS church, or to be more specific, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (yes, that is the Mormon church, for those that are wondering). We also enjoy doing projects to remodel our home, hanging out with friends and family, going on walks and watching movies together, and going out to eat...preferably at Cool Hand Lukes! Cold Stone Creamery anyone? YUM!

So up until recently, it had been just the two of us and our dog Bean. But we are proud to announce that after 9 long months, we had a wonderful 'new addition' on January 20th, 2009 - Aaron Michael Davis. He is 2 months and 10 days old already. It has been such a blessing to have him in our lives. Yep - there have been many sleepless nights since he has been born, but seeing him smile makes it all worth it. We wouldn't ever change a thing.
Anyway, we hope you'll get to know us even more throughout the weeks as we post more blogs. It'll be one heck of a ride... =)