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Garrett is so dumb! He has pretended to be me (if only he was that lucky). I would never write how much I love the Penguins! That is all Garrett does during hockey season and it drives me crazy! He goes to games and watches them at home. I even trained my cat to pee on his hockey jersey. :) Ok...........that was all Oreo, but I wish I could take credit. Garrett, don't mess up my blog with your stupid hockey team! You've been warned!!!

Go Pens!

Garrett with Kris Kunitz of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He came to Garrett's office to drop of the company's season tickets. It's been fun to be in a hockey town. I love to watch the Penguins. Hockey is becoming one of my favorite sports. I might add that my husband is looking pretty hot in this picture.

Trapper

Today, my sweet little puppy, Trapper passed away. It has been such a hard day! He was the best dog in the world! He was so gentle and loving. He was such a good dog and got along so well with the cats. Tiger and him were always sleeping together. She will definately be a lost soul without him. He was so friendly and nice, but if you were not supposed to be in his yard he was ferocious! A couple years ago my mom was home alone with Corban and she heard Trapper barking a mean bark and then she heard an animal screaming...anyways, Trapper cornered something under the deck and when we got home he was there to greet us just wagging his tail. Garrett checked out to see what was under the deck and it was the biggest raccoon ever! Trapper had snapped it's neck and killed it. There was no way he was going to let anything hurt his little Corban. He used to go everywhere with us and especially loved Lake Powell. We would jump off rocks into the lake and he would come after us thinking we were drowning. I have so many special memories with him and will miss him, but I am very thankful I had 15 years to spend with him!!!

Garrett's New Project

The boys, my mom and me went to Utah for a couple of weeks. While we were gone, Garrett decided to start a new project...ALL BY HIMSELF!! We have needed a carport to cover our boat, so Garrett decided to build one while we were in Utah. I was gone for a little over 2 weeks and my AMAZING husband did this alone. I don't know how he did it, but it is awesome! Well, I guess I can't give him all the credit I heard that the cats were there trying to help, but kept getting under his feet and trying to trip him. He sure is picky with his help. :)

Before picture.

I have to laugh because these are his plans for the carport on a Sears Portrait coupon! :)

It is huge!!! We can park the boat and truck under it!

It's a good thing I love my kids!!!

I had just finished cleaning my house and while I was putting the vacuum away and putting in a load of laundry my boys decided to do this! There was a picture frame in this box that I have never used and behind it was some styrofoam to protect it. Anyways, Corban discovered that if he tore the styrofoam apart it made Jayce laugh. I came up to find this mess. I grabbed the camera instead of beating them. :)

Yes, that is some in Jayce's mouth and I think I got most of it out. :)

Corban thinks he is so funny! :)

Happy 4th Birthday Corban!!!

I can't believe my baby is 4!! Corban turned 4 on September 2nd. We had a week long celebration and more parties planned in Utah for him. Saturday, the 29th he had his friend party, but he kept calling it his "fake" birthday. The party was hunting themed, of course! He had such a good time. On his "real" birthday we had just a family party with me, Garrett, Jayce, Grandpa Hyita and Grandma Hyita. We started with breakfast, which was his favorite, blueberry "muppins" and we had lunch and a gourmet dinner of his favorite, hot dogs and mac & cheese. He got so many gifts it was like Christmas, he got so many hunting gifts. I think he is set up to bow hunt better than Garrett! :) This past labor day weekend we took him to Splash Lagoon, an indoor water park in Erie, PA, and they had a cake waiting for him in our hotel room. So, he had a great celebration! He is such a joy in our lives! He is so smart and I can't believe how fast time has gone by. We love you Corban!!!

4 years old!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Today is my mom's birthday! She is the best grandma in the world and my kids adore her! She is my best friend and I don't know what I would do without her! So, Happy Birthday Mom! You are the greatest!!!

Congratulations Garrett!!!

Garrett finished his Master's Degree on Tuesday! We are so proud of him and I am really excited to have him back! :) He did night classes and I swear every night he was at class something freaked me out at the house. :) I hate to be home alone. Also, the same day Garrett got a new job promotion. He is now Senior Analyst of Corporate Strategy. (I think that's his title) :) Congrats again Garrett!!!

Jayce is 1!!!

My baby turned 1 on Saturday, August 8th. We had a family party for him and he loved it! Grandma Hyita made him a dinosaur cake. He was so funny, he destroyed it. He even put his bum in it! :) Corban sat next to him and ate the cake that Jayce would throw to him. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. He is such a joy in our lives!

Jayce, 2 weeks old

1st Birthday party

Updating!

I have been so busy doing nothing these past two months! I am finally updating my blog. So, I have posted a ton of pictures of some of the things we have been up to lately. :)

Alexander Lodge

We went to the Alexander Lodge in Virginia this past weekend. It was so much fun! Corban loved it! He caught fish, salamandors, frogs and a few snapping turtles! We heard the bears, but only Matt, Sam and her little brother saw them. Corban was disappointed. We have so much fun there! It is so nice to be there with my whole family! It's become a yearly tradition and we love it!

Sleeping on my Grandpas!!

Jayce fell asleep on both of his grandpas just watching everyone! He must have been really comfortable because he won't do that with me! Gary and Tricia came out for a visit in May to watch Garrett graduate with his Masters degree! We had such a good time with them and we wished they could have stayed longer. Corban and Jayce love all their grandparents so much and are very lucky little boys to have such great grandparents!

Corban

Corban is almost 4 years old!! Time goes by so fast! He is so much fun to have around and keeps me laughing all day! He is such a good helper and Jayce absolutely adores him! He had his first dentist appointment last month and he did so well. He didn't even cry. Such a brave little boy! He loves to swim and will swim by himself (with his life jacket of course) in our pool and in the river when we take the boat out. He has even been asking Garrett if he can wakeboard, but I'm still too nervous to let him. He has no fear! We love him so much!

Jayce

Here is a little update on Jayce. He is now 10 months old! He is crawling everywhere and up my stairs! He can stand by himself for a second, but usually just stands holding on to something with one hand. He is into everything! He is always unloading my cupboards and drawers in the kitchen. It's his favorite thing to do! He loves grilled cheese sandwiches and everything else you put in front of him. He is so sweet and fun!

Pittsburgh Zoo

We took the kids to the Pittsburgh Zoo in May and they loved it! Corban loves animals so much, he didn't want to come home!

Fun Pictures

Here are just a few pictures of the boys having fun!

Silly Corban!

So, tonight I am cuddled up with my little Corban watching cartoons and a barbie commercial comes on. I tease him and ask him if he wants a barbie and he says, "no, mom I'm a boy!" I said how do you know? He then tells me "because I fart, boys always fart." He's so silly! He makes me laugh all day!

Grandma "Ranch's" Cowboy Cookies

Corban wanted to make cookies last night so we got out the Branch recipe book and I asked him what kind of cookies he wanted to make. I read him a few choices and he decided on Cowboy Cookies because he's a cowboy. I told him that this was Grandma Branch's recipe and he had me explain that. I told him that she made it up and wrote down what we were supposed to do in the book. So, we go on to make the cookies and I had just creamed the butter, eggs, and sugar and was about to add the flour when Corban got serious, looked at the recipe book and said "Mom!!! Grandma Ranch says always, always let your baby taste the cookies after it mixes, it says right here!" He's so cute! So, Sue you have to put that step in the recipe book because that's a step we can't forget! :)

Easter

I didn't get very many pictures of Easter. I know I'm terrible! :) We took the kids for an Easter egg hunt at church on Saturday before Easter. Corban had so many Easter egg hunts. He loved it!! Here are just a few pictures of the boys over the weekend. Corban got Jayce to play laser tag with him, it was so cute! They really love each other.

More Pennsylvania Wildlife

We have a possum that comes to our house every night in search of food! It has been getting in my garbage and eating my cat's food (which I have been putting in at night). It is fun to watch it from our sliding glass doors, but I am worried it is going to hurt someone or my cats. Corban loves it, but I think it's time to do something about it. I really don't want to kill it, but I don't want it making it's home in a tree by my house and having it bite my kids. Any suggestions??????????

My Sweet Husband

So, over the last two days Garrett has come home with little surprises for me. He brought me flowers on Tuesday and on Wednesday he made me a card. He is such a good artist and he knows I love it when he draws me pictures. He is so sweet and I love him so much! He's so good with the boys and they love their daddy so much. I am so lucky to have him as my husband.

Some Cute Pictures

I am finally updating! I have been so busy lately. Here is a little update on the boys.

Corban ~ He turned 3 1/2 on March 2nd. I made him a cake and he thought it was so cool. He is so smart. School is going really well for him and he loves it. He is really into animals and wildlife. He loves to watch the discovery channel and loves Survivor Man. He just got some legos and he plays with them for hours. He builds all kinds of animals and robots and can build anything you ask him to. He is in primary now and it is amazing all the things he is learning there. He loves to say the dinner prayer and blesses the bears and things like that, it's so cute! He also knows almost all the words to So What by Pink. We sing it to Garrett all the time. Ha ha. He is such a good big brother to Jayce and is always so cute with him. Jayce gets so excited when Corban walks into the room. He's such a good kid and I don't know what I'd do without him.

Jayce ~ Jayce is now 7 1/2 months old and it is amazing how fast time flies. He has been sitting up on his own for awhile now and loves it because he can play. We are trying to get him to crawl and he can get on all fours, but he then decides to roll over. He's so funny. He can say Mama, Dada and No No. He still doesn't have any teeth. We are waiting for that to come. Corban had 2 when he was 4 months old. It's funny how different they are. Jayce is such a good little eater and loves to eat everything in sight. He can feed himself any finger food I put in front of him and he'll even share. He is so sweet and loves to be held. He growls when he gets mad and it's so funny. We love having him in our family and can't imagine life without him.

Matt is engaged!!

My brother, Matt, got engaged to Samantha on his birthday, March 15th. She was in Utah visiting him for spring break. I am so excited for them! She is so cute and fun and I am excited to have her in our family. They are so perfect for each other. Matt is going to the University of Utah to be a Mining Engineer and Sam is going to West Virginia University to be a Mining Engineer also. They are planning to get married next summer sometime.

Matt and Sam

Her ring is so pretty!

Utah trip

We went to Utah again in February for my Aunt Laurie's and my mother-in-law, Tricia's 50th surprise birthday parties. We stayed for 2 weeks and had so much fun, but it went by so fast. I have posted a few pictures of our trip.

Corban fell asleep on the plane listening to my ipod.

Jayce asleep on the plane.


The kids watching an alligator eat a mouse.


Dakota playing basketball. They won the whole tournament while we were there.

Corban and his Laney.

Jayce and Aunt Laurie dancing.

Some Cute Pictures

Garrett has class tonight so on days like this me and the kids do whatever we want for dinner. Tonight we had waffles (Corban's choice) so I thought I would give some to Jayce for his dinner. He has been eating whatever we eat (mostly) for about a month now. He does really well with all kinds of food. I just make sure to mash it up for him. I haven't given him eggs or milk yet, but he has had foods with eggs and milk in them. He loves it and will not eat baby food anymore. I know I started him really early, but the poor kid looked so hungry and wanted to eat. Now, if only we could get Corban to eat this well. :)

Jayce with waffle hanging out of his mouth.

Corban watching t.v. while eating. :)


They fell asleep like this together.


Jayce being happy.

My mom has a blog!

My mom has started a blog. She will probably keep up with my kids better than me. :) If you want to check it out the address is: http://grandmapegspage.blogspot.com.

Bart turns 50!!!

My Daddy turned 50 on December 26th. We had a family party at home like we do every year on his birthday and then the next day we told him that we wanted to go to dinner at the country club. It was so hard to get him there because he didn't want to go out. When he finally got there we had a surprise party waiting for him. We all had a really good time and we really did surprise him, which is very hard to do. I just hope that when I'm 50 I look as good as he does.

Party at home. Corban helps everyone blow out their candles.

Surprise!!!

Shooting tequila with friends.

Corban was so tired he fell asleep at the party.