Fun at Aunt Samantha's

Can I just say family is the best thing on earth. Eli's sister Samantha has been an angel to let us bunk at her house with our rambunctious Axel and Grady. She has been the sole reason we have been able to go to the temple at all since moving to Montana. She is such a wonderful sister! Axel absolutely loves spending time with his cousins. He gets so excited when we go. This last time he went right in and gave hugs to everyone, including Wes, his old rival. :) Luckily they have moved past the pushing and hitting phase and can actually play together with the usual occasional fight over a toy. I think we have seen Sam and Doug more since we moved than when we lived in Rexburg. And it has been so much fun. Here's some proof.....


Axel loved pushing the Gradester in the swing, and Grady thought it was so much fun.




Grady thoroughly impressed with the experience...



And on the opposite spectrum, Axel would rather be behind the swing pushing it than in it....I left him in there just cause it was a bit funny that he hated it so much.

Eli, Wes, and Axel playing in the tilled garden with Real dirt toys...little pilers and tractors and everything. I don't know who enjoyed them more, Eli or the boys.

And back at the ranch, we have the brotherly fun in the jumper. Axel can make Grady laugh harder than anyone else, and he doesn't even have to try. It's usually when he is just running around the room being crazy that Grady busts a gut. One of my other favorite things is when Axel sees Grady in the walker or highchair and will go over to him and talk baby talk..."aah doo doo dee" He even has the flexions in his voiceand will shake his head back and forth. It's the best.

Eli having fun with Grady's bib overalls. He "flew" him all around the house chasing Axel. Good family fun.

Everyday at our house

I just have some pictures to let you all know what we've been up to lately...

Axel has been Sheriff Woody and still would be if I hadn't hid the outfit and bullseye too, after he played in it, slept in it, and even threw a doosey of a fit when we took it off to go to church...then we gave in and let him go to church in it. We got a lot of strange stares but you know church isn't about what other people think right?...I mean I saw a deacon in a buzz outfit a couple weeks ago...just kidding...no buzz outfit and no we didn't let him go to church as woody. But I did hear the other day that Woody is a mormon...at least he wears a ctr ring on Toy Story. ha ha



This picture I couldn't resist cause #1 he fell asleep jumping and #2 check out the toe...yes the toe sticking way out there getting some fresh air.

Both boys jam packed in the stroller. They do love it though. It is nice and cozy. Now they know how my three sisters and I felt packed in the backseat of the orange chevet. No need for seatbelts, if we got in a wreck we weren't going anywhere. And then there was the Sam's Club shopping trips, which fortunately they would let us be packed in first, then we would cozy up with the toilet paper and various bulk items until no breathing room was detected.

And now we have "Mortimer" for those of you who have seen "Fun and Fancy Free" if not he is a buck toothed puppet that was a dummy in all forms of the word..no pun intended...that looks exactly like what you see below.

And finally introducing the new and improved glasses for dear Axel. They make him look really handsome and the best part is...there are no bite marks in these lenses. Oh yes and his muscle T-shirt!

Here is a video of Axel doing decline pushups. We couldn't stop laughing. He is actually pretty good and of course he is sheriff woody.

A Very Late Easter Post

Our Easter Weekend encompassed a wide range of emotions... our main reason for heading to Grace was Jean Tibbits funeral. It was nice to be reminded of the resurrection in the same weekend of her passing. It was a beautiful funeral and really reminded us of what a wonderful community Grace is. There was so much support shown to the Tibbits and it reminded us of how much support we received with Grady, a lot from people we had either never met or met briefly. The funeral also reminded us of how important family is and how much we want to be close to our family. Hopefully in the near future we will find our home in Caribou County once again. Here are lots of pictures to document a great weekend.

The family gathered around what spectacle you ask...well, we all chipped in for a bike for Lisa for Mother's Day. We gave it to her a bit early. You should have heard her squeal, she was so excited.
Lisa taking her bicycle for a test drive

Now this picture is just priceless. Mothers are the very best!! I'm glad she raised him to be such a good man!

What's Easter dinner without a whol lot of CHOCOLATE! Melissa is sporting it for us.

Gathered around the dinner table. The place that always attracts the fam...where the food is.

Grady and Grandma Hubbard!

Grandpa Hubbard with Grady and Axel in their Harley outfits. The source from whence the obsession came!

Eli climbing a tree at Mom and Dad's Easter party to try and get a balloon that drifted...a real life spiderman.

Axel enjoying his Easter spoils in the giant sandbox aka the sand volleyball court. It looks funny cause it is so huge compared to him and he is there all alone. What a twurp.

We had to keep reminding Axel what the task at hand was...get the eggs buddy. He had fun though, when he wasn't distracted. Maybe he had forgotten what green grass was and how it felt to be outside after such a long winter.

Mom and I sporting the pinata parts as hats. Like I said Mom's are the best!!

The crew of Hannah, Ellie, Mickey, Tess, and Pacen and Murr.

I finally caught him looking at the camera on the easter egg hunt.

A happy looking bunch...Braxton, Murr, Sunny, Grady, and Mom

The happy family that is impossible to get everyone looking at the camera...let alone looking pleasant, which is why our family picture is so outdated....hopefully one is coming soon.

Grady "hunting" his eggs too.

Fascinated by the rolled tongue. Check out his look of extreme concentration.

Just evidence that I was actually there! :)

A picture is worth a thousand words...

and they call the thing a rodeo

It's dust and mud and boots and blood..Good ole Garth. We took the kids to the rodeo at the MSU stadium. Pretty sure we were the only ones there with little tikes. We even heard comments on the way out from the people behind us, "why would you bring kids to the rodeo?" to them I respond, "why the heck not?" It's noisy, dirty, and rowdy which is exactly what a little boy is...a noise with dirt on it!! Axel cried loud a couple times and guess what? no one even noticed because the rodeo was louder than him! It is a beautiful thing really. It isn't like it is church. Gee Whiz! On one occasion Axel got a wild hair and in the blink of an eye grabbed his glasses and flung them into the arena. We were not surprised, boy that kid is unpredictable. We still are convincing him that his glasses are not a toy, it's not an option to wear them, and they are not expendable. So, here is the proof that we actually went on an outing together. Yes, hold on to your hats we actually left the house.

An Ode to Tennille

After much sweat, tears, worry and loss of sleep Tennille, my sister, sent Axel his birthday present early. It took about three weeks to get here, because of some wierd mail issue, which accounts for her loss of sleep thinking it was lost, but it finally arrived. She made him two car roll ups and a crayon roll up..with a sewing machine that has a mind of its own...I would know mine is identical and sometimes a simple project requiring a straight stitch can take hours. For those of you like me who did not know what a car roll up is, it is like a crayon roll up that you stick crayons in to take in the diaper bag so they are not all over the place. Only in a car roll up there are slots for cars and there is a road on one side. So, since I am still bringing cars to church, Axel is obsessed with his cars, that will come in very very handy. Unlike the couple sitting behind us last sunday...They have seven kids from age jr. high on down to age 2 and they all were so quiet with their arms folded saying "amen" after each testimony... No toys no snacks just well-behaved children. Meanwhile, we are frantically trying to keep control of Axel and minimize his fit outbreaks with Eli clinging tightly to him telling him to calm down, and the occasional pretzel taking flight across benches...yep that is us. But I'm sure there is someone out there who can relate to a wild two year old with a stubborn mind of his own. So, back to my ode to T-bomb. She also gave us a copy of her book "Twitch's surprise" which has the cutest illustrations...hopefully the world will be able to enjoy it soon...hint hint Tennille GET IT PUBLISHED...along with all of her other brilliantly written soon to be masterpieces. Anyways, the best part of putting together a gift that you know someone will love is seeing them open it. Well, since the miles and states separate us, I thought I would video it and snap some pictures. Just so you know at the end of the video he did say "thank you" it was just in a whisper so you probably didn't hear it..and he LOVES his car roll ups. It makes it much cozier to sleep with his cars cause he has been taking them to bed in a bucket. So, thank you thank you thank you for thinking of Axel! We love and miss you all. Here it is Axel's early Birthday Party!!

And so Grady doesn't feel left out here are some pictures of him...

Fell asleep eating again. I had to post it though cause his hair is growing in so well. You can hardly see his scar anymore. He finally doesn't have a doify looking hair cut! Yeah!

And introducing Grady in the Bumbo chair...thank you mariah for letting us use it. He is such a happy happy baby. He is getting to be a big boy. He weighs 15 lbs and 15 oz. now, no wonder I get a kink in my shoulder when I put him in the sling. We missed all of our time with him as a baby in the hospital...he is growing up too fast but don't they always. Speak of the devil...he just pooped, probably out of his outfit so duty calls....

The everyday

So, I was waiting to blog again cause you not really that much has been happening that is big in news...which no news is good news for us! But then I thought what is to stop me from blogging about the ordinary funny haps at the hubbard's house? So, here goes...mind you the following picture has a bum shot but I couldn't help it... I came in to get Axel from his nap only to my horror to find that he went to town on the walls with crayons. Aaaah After I scrubbed for 20 minutes with soft scrub, alcohol, and every other wierd thing I could think of I went to my sources..my mom and sisters and found the Mr. Clean magic eraser would do the trick. And it does indeed. So, this is my dear hubby cleaning the walls and Axel escaped from the tub and wanted to help scrub walls. Axel grabbed the magic eraser and I grabbed the camera... I tried to get a shot to show how much Grady's hair has grown in but it is pretty light colored but I got a cute smile after bathtime. Such a happy bloke

Another video of Grady laughing at Axel. He loves it every time Axel will talk to him or play with him. Axel is such a good big brother. I can't wait til they can finally play together.

Moments in Montana

Sorry it has taken so long to update the blog. We have been disconnected with the world as far as internet goes. So, in a sense that is really good news because it means we are finally all together in Montana. We never thought the day would come. But we have been here almost a whole month and unfortunately have already received our Bozeman Deaconess Hospital official mug for our collection. Darn that RSV. Grady was a trooper as usual. I thought it was just a bad cough but with chest x rays it proved a bit more. He was his normal smiley self though. I can only imagine what he was thinking...man compared to meningitis this RSV is cake...maybe something like that. So, needless to say we have been quaranteened to the apartment. Some girl at church bore her testimony and said, " I know that even though we are sick and come to church you still love us." Eli immediately red flagged her and her whole family! Funny but seriously sick people should stay home. Anyways, we are plugging right along hopefully staying out of hospitals for a long long time. Here are some updated pictures that I know you are all dying to see I'm sure.

Grady is quite the charmer with his huge smile. It takes up most of his face when you really get him to smile. He always greets me with a smile in the morning and sometimes in the middle of the night which makes it all the more pleasant getting up with him so frequently. His four month mark also marked his first meal. He loves rice cereal. It is very strange having a kid that actually eats the stuff. It is quite nice. Now, if I can just keep up with his big appetite! But for those of you interested Axel has eaten about every meal since we got to Montana, including one and a half tuna sandwiches yesterday and averaging 4 pieces of toast for breakfast most mornings!! Yes, I know what you are thinking..."Axel?...eats?" the same kid who threw daily mealtime tantrums at the mere words of "Let's eat" :)

He fell asleep almost immediately after his belly got full. What a cute face!The happy mother of a baby with an appetite. And now for all you curious folk wondering how Axel looks in his glasses...drum roll...



Like a nerd! He doesn't wear them at all. I barely can keep them on for a second at a time. And often we wonder at the prescription if it is right. I mean come on with the thick lenses like that

he should almost be blind. They say he is extremely farsighted but he recognizes things up close and it is when he is far from the T.V and trying to focus that he crosses his eye so who knows. You would think if it made him see clearer that he would want to wear them. A mystery for only him to solve when he can tell us what the problem is. :) We are working on that.

My boys all watching the some TV. Yes, Axel has his mother's physique! Who knows where all his clothes are..he is in a diaper though so worry not young eyes...he is decent.

This is a video of Grady laughing. He laughs for Daddy. He loves his dad. Eli can always get him to bust out laughing...and here I toil all day long and he only smiles for me. grrr. :) Hopefully you can hear him laugh over loudy pants axel in the background...saying something over and over and over. ha ha

This is grady in the jumper. He loves it. We had other videos with him jumping like mad but I had to include this one because of the awesome bunny slippers.