Pictures of Brad

My sister put up pictures from the concert on her web page. To check them out just click on the link to her blog (Brittany Brazell).

Look How Close We Are!!

So this is the worst picture ever, but I forgot my camera. This past weekend my sister, Brittany, came to town because her wonderful husband got her 4 tickets to the Brad Paisley concert for Christmas. So Saturday was a total girls day (hence the reason Steve & Kayden had a guys weekend). We went to lunch with my Grandma, Aunt Colett, Aunt Dar, and Linda. Jenna and Erin (who also went to the concert with us) met us for dinner and then we all went to the concert.

As we were walking in this guy says he's with Brad and asks us if we want closer seats. We were really hesitant to take tickets from him and asked us what we had to do for them. He said NOTHING!! They just wanted spirited people up front. So this leads to the question of why did he choose us? We were fully clothed girls, not showing any skin, totally sober, and all wearing wedding rings, but I must say we were all looking really good! Anyway, he gives us the tickets and they were FRONT ROW SEATS!! As in, the only thing in front of us was the stage and the speakers. We had to go through about 10 people with yellow jackets & get wrist bands, but then we could do whatever we wanted as long as it was legal!! Don't worry, no actions occured that our husbands need to be worried about.

So it was a great concert! I have never been at a concert before where I had to turn around because the performer was behind me. The only bad thing was that we couldn't hear what Brad was saying because the speakers were behind us. But it was worth it to be that close. Next time I need a cute kid though because they were the only ones who got autographs and handshakes.

Chuck Ricks and Rodney Atkins were his opening acts, and they were really good too. They all preferred the blonds on the other side of the stage though. And I must say those are the tightest jeans I have ever seen in my life!! There was also a guy stripper between acts who was removed by security and a crazy girl (without a wristband I might add) who managed to get up on stage and headlock Brad. I think he should get some new security. It was so much fun, I think we should make it a yearly Christmas gift. What's the next concert we should go to?

My sister has all of the pictures on her camera so she better get them up soon so everyone can enjoy pictures of Brad and cute butts in tight jeans! Did I mention the guy that gave us the tickets turned out to be Brad Paisley's Dad!! Thank you Bill!!

Hooty's tag

I have to tell 6 habits about myself and then tag 4 people according to my aunt Hooty. We call her Hooty, even though her name is Heidi because she likes Hooty and the Blowfish, and it is funner to call her Hooty. So here we go:

1. The rear view mirror in the car has to be at exactly the right angle for me to look out of. If it is too high or too low I get frustrated. I am constantly moving the rear view mirror to make sure it is in the correct position. A little OCD, I know...

2. I have a bad habit of saying these three words or phrases too much: "Dude," "you know what I mean?," and "what-not." I know you liked that one Drew.

3. I have to have breakfast. Breakfast is my big meal of the day. It is usually some cereal and yogurt. If we don't have anything in the cupboards, I will go get some donuts or mcgriddles from mcdonalds.

4. I have to golf once a week. If I don't I get antsy. I am an outdoors person, hate being locked up inside in my office, so I try and work as many hours as I can Monday thru Thursday so Friday I can clean up and play in the afternoon.

5. I have to have something to eat before I go to bed. Usually, this is another bowl of cereal. I don't eat big meals during the day. A normal size lunch, small portions of dinner and then cereal before bed. If I don't eat before bed I wake up at 4 am starving (like this morning) and have to eat then cause I can't sleep.

6. When I sleep on my side, I have to have something between my knees (the blanket obviously). I can't sleep if I don't have the blanket there.

Ok, that was pretty boring I know. However, I could have gone into a lot worse habits that my wife and I know I have.

Nobody responds when I tag anyway, but Kelsey, Keith if he ever reads this, Linda, and Stan have to respond.

In the voice of Kip, "peace out."

Guys Weekend

I was extremely surprised that Christina did not post her incident about this weekend concerning her up close and personal encounter with Brad Paisley. Since i just spent the last 4 hours of my life drafting a Lease Agreement for a horse stable near Red Rock, i decided it was my turn to post. I entitle my post "guys weekend" for 2 reasons. First, Kayden and I spent the weekend together, alone because of Christina's incident with Brad Paisley, and second, because in March i am going for 4 days to Houston to see one of my best friends, Jared Call.

I love spending time with Kayden. Yeah, changing diapers and feeding the kid can be a hastle, but taking care of someone you love so much is only rewarding. Saturday morning we went to visit Carrie who is watching Erin and Kevin's kids again while Erin is still suffering from her surgeries. Once done, i knew we had to hustle to walmart because the UNLV game at San Diego State started at 1pm. For once the game was on tv. The Mountain West is retarded in that it has a very tiny contract to show Mountain West games with a network called "The Mountain." Problem is, if you don't subscribe to cable, you can't get the Mtn. network. Since the overwhelming majority of games are shown on the mtn i am out of luck mostly. However, Saturday's game was on Versus. Great game, Kayden slept while I watched the Rebels get a great road victory against a team that some think is the best in the league this year.

Prior to the game was Walmart with Kayden. I love going to Walmart with Kayden, or any other store for that matter because he just likes to look around. Saturday, he sat on the handle of the shopping cart, facing forward. I leaned over and we pretended we were racing the cart. I would go, "Vrooooom," and he would go, "Vroooooom..." It was awesome. Kayden woke up from his nap around 4 and we ate dinner, played with his cars, played with his Mr. Potato head, played his favorite game of hide and seek, which consists of me chasing him and he sometimes hiding.

Second guys weekend comes in March when I fly to Houston to see Jared. Jared and I are planning on playing 36 holes on Friday and at least 18 on Saturday. Couple that with the fact that this will be the same weekend as the first weekend of the NCAA tourney and I am in heaven. Christina would like to come, but she has to work as it is tax season. O well. Hopefully Kelsey won't be too upset that she won't see much of Jared. It will be good to just hang out. We have found it hard to find friends here to do much with in Vegas. We have good friends in Houston, Omaha, and Idaho. We see them every year or so, especially Rick and Lyndsay in Idaho 2 or 3 times a year when we meet in SLC for golf, shopping and dinner.

The problem with finding friends here in Vegas it seems is that very few of us have much in common. I am way into sports. I like to golf. It is rare to find someone that enjoys golfing and/or sports like I do. I understand the problem is getting away from family and kids, I feel the same way. But in the summers you can play til 9 at night. Very frustrating, especially when the wives go shopping for 3 or 4 hours but won't let Husbands go out to a game or golfing. Some say I should broaden my horizons, but no offense, I don't really want to go to dinner with someone and talk computers or work, or business, or the stock market or heaven forbid, BYU.

A speaker in church yesterday spoke about how BYU is almost considered a gospel topic. Uhhhhh.......I have such a problem with the whole BYU thing. No, it isn't cause i am jealous of people who went to BYU (cause i was admitted out of high school, i just chose not to go), and it isn't because BYU people have no personality. I am great friends with my uncle Andrew, who attended BYU. We like to joke and push one another regarding BYU, but for the most part, I have struggled being friends with a person that attended BYU. In law school, I couldn't stand to be around the BYU people because there wasn't much there, to be honest with you. Don't get me wrong, because the majority of people don't fit into this mold, but my experience with BYU people on a whole has never been that satisfying. For example, at stake conference in Omaha, we were conferenced in from Salt Lake by some of the brethren. One of the brethren's wives said the following in her talk, "I am so proud of all my children. They all graduated seminary, all went on missions, all got married in the temple, and all went to BYU." When she said it, Christina and I kind of looked at each other like, who the He** cares! Congratulations that you went on missions, graduated seminary (I guess) and it is awesome you got married in the temple, but what does BYU have to do with eternal salvation? Additionally, when Christina and I moved back to Vegas, a girl from SLC and her husband who played hoops at BYU gave their talks on how Vegas is sin city, how they can't wait to move back to SLC, and how hard it is to live here. I always laugh at the BYU people who move here for their first job. Guaranteed the majority of them are gone within the first year cause they miss their families and the bubble back in Utah.

Recently, a friend of mine's wife said that she cannot understand why people who are LDS but didn't go to BYU don't cheer for BYU? First, what reason do I have to cheer for BYU? Did I attend the school? No. Are there any sports players that I like to follow? Not really (except for in my youth when Ty Detmer was there). I was born and raised in Vegas and was an avid UNLV hoops fan in my youth. Why would I cheer for a team located in Provo, Utah that I have no affiliation with whatsoever? An LDS person cheering for BYU simply because they are LDS is like saying that every black person will vote for Obama because he is black. There are thousands of schools around the country that have institutes of religion for the LDS kids where they get the same experience and exposure to the gospel as BYU people do. The best part about not being at BYU is you get the LDS experience without Satan's Plan, the Honor Code. To say that BYU is the Lord's School is false doctrine in my opinion. Every school where a member of the Church attends is considered the Lord's School because that member of the Church should be an example to the rest of the world about the Church's teachings.

Ok, so I am done ranting. Can't wait for another guys weekend.

Steve

"Porto"

Steve is in young mens at church, and since Kayden won't go to nursery he goes with Steve. All of the young men call Kayden "Porto" (pronounced "porcho") since Steve speaks portuguese to Kayden. I didn't know if they really called him that or not, but I heard them talking to Kayden in the hall in church on Sunday and they really do call him Porto. Kayden responds to it too and smiles because he knows they're talking to him. I think it's so cool when the youth take an interest in little kids.

So here is my Kayden story for the week. Like any other parents we think Kayden is so smart, but I think Grandma Judd thinks he is smart more than us even. Grandma babysits Kayden on Wednesdays. This week Kayden went to the back door and wanted to go outside. Grandma told him it was too cold. So he went and got his jacket and beanie and took them too her. Well, now Grandma had to take him out. So they got dressed and went on a quick walk around the circle. We love Grandma!!

Nothing Exciting

I feel like we need a new post, but our family doesn't have much to post about. So I will just tell you a little of what we did this weekend. The title of this post does warn you that this is boring, so only read on if you have nothing else to do.

I started working full-time this month, so we don't really do anything during the week besides work, eat dinner, and go to bed. I did go to a visiting teaching kick-off Thursday, which was really good and gave me a renewed desire to do better this year, which shouldn't be too hard since I only went once last year. Plus, there was good food!! I had to hurry home though so Steve could go play basketball, of course!! I had 3 missed calls by 9 o'clock.

Since we were at home sick all last weekend we went out and ran errands this weekend. We got some pizza on Friday night at the place where we ate for my 16th Birthday for any of you that were there. Then we went and got another car seat so we won't have to constantly move the one we have, or go without. Steve picked Kayden up on Friday and didn't have a carseat to bring him home in. Luckily, it is close to our house and nothing happened. Then we went to the mall on Saturday and got Steve some more work shirts so he won't have to wear holy ones anymore, and of course we had to get more ties too. I think ties for guys are like shoes for girls. You can never have too many. I also got some cute, new work clothes with a gift card from Christmas. It is always the best to get clothes when you don't have to pay for them. Then we finally got a new grill with a giftcard my mom gave us for Christmas. So, of course, we had to go get some steaks so we could try out the grill that night. It was delicious!! Good job Steve on the grilling (and his Dad for telling him what to do)!!

Sunday was church as normal and then dinner at the Dixon's with Grandma and Grandpa Dixon and Great Grandma Stapely as well. We love when they come because we don't see them very often. I especially love it because then everyone starts reminiscing and I get to learn a lot about what the Dixon's did growing up. Plus we always ask Grandpa gospel questions, which I really appreciate since my own Grandpa is not here anymore, and I didn't ask him near as many questions as I should have.

Well, not too exciting stuff, but it was a fun weekend for our family to spend time together. I don't think Steve and I saw each other more than a few minutes each day during the week. Hopefully my next blog will be more eventful.

When it Rains, It Pours

Well, Kayden and I were sick for the past week (along with most the Dixons and Camps). First, Kayden's babysitter called me at work last Tuesday morning to tell me had had thrown up. So I went and got him and the poor kid threw up all day long. It was like in the movies where they have a stream shooting out of their mouth. I would get one mess cleaned up just in time for the next round, or the next diaper. I went though a whole laundry basket of towels, and could barely keep enough clean clothes and pajamas. I think Kayden went though about 10 different shirts that day. I gave up on putting pants on him. By early Thursday morning I had the same thing. So Steve got to stay home and be super Dad and take care of us. I think that puking is the WORST feeling in the whole world!

Our hot water heater also went out. I'm not sure when, since I didn't take a bath for a few days there. Poor Kayden had to have his little red bum hosed down with freezing cold water at 2 am. Thankfully, the Dixons have let us come and use up all their hot water for showers, on the condition that we only get one a day. (If you know Steve that is a big sacrifice for him.)

We are feeling better now and will hopefully be healthy the rest of the winter. Hot water would be nice too, but I'll take no hot water over being sick. One the up side I did lose 7 lbs in 2 days. I'm sure it will be back though. Here are some happier pictures of Kayden that I never got around to posting.

One day I walked into my bathroom and found the cat in the sink trying to get away from Kayden and the dog, who were waiting for him to "come play". This is also the day that Kayden learned how to climb up on the tub to get up to the sinks.

I think we need a haircut!

Kayden always get the mustard out of the fridge, but he was also trying to drink it. Gross!

Posing for the camera.

Steve and I went golfing together last Friday at this golf course in Sacramento. There was a misty rain when we got there. It stopped after a while, but then the breeze came. So it was a pretty cold time. I must say, I think I was a pretty awesome wife for going out golfing in that weather. It also doesn't help when your husband is a crazy golf cart driver and spills hot chocolate on you. I was colder golfing than I was snowboarding the next day.

Anyway, on to the important part of the day. On the 7th hole I got a true, legitimate PAR!! This is my second one ever. So since I got par you are probably thinking that Steve birdied it. NOPE! He got a bogey. Therefore, I BEAT Steve! Yep, let it be known to all that I beat Steve on the 7th hole of the Wildhawk golf course!!

I have no recollection of what happened on any of the other 8 holes I played.