August Update

Brig

He is hanging in there. He rarely has a negative thing to say despite the monotony of his work and the long hours he puts in. He has kept me up a few late nights talking on the phone and all I do is pray that Max sleeps in a little longer! He lives to see Max on the webcam and in video. He watches some videos at least 50 times. The other night, he told me this... "Guess what, Shaychan? We are down 115 days and only have 113 to go! We are on the downside, isn't that exciting?" I thought about all that has taken place in 115 days and how long that took and about cried at the thought of 113 more. I didn't say too much to ruin his excitement.

He has the opportunity to be an example to those he works with. Many have already gone crazy and come home and some are dealing with serious marriage problems. He has given some soldiers a bit of hope. The morale is very low over there, so anything that could lift his spirits in a crude world would be welcomed. Here are some photos of him:





Shayla

I moved into my little apartment in Provo at the end of July. We have spent our Saturday mornings at local garage sales and shopping on craigslist just to get those things that we need since all of our stuff is still in Lawton. I have made it a place where I feel at home... as close as it will get without Brig. I spent next to nothing on furniture and appliances, but bought some nice frames to hang pictures of our family! We like it here. I have been working on my online classes and just finished one and have one left. I have had my old college buddies over for dinner and my little cousins and nieces over for a girls night. It helps to keep me from feeling too lonely. The ward is great. I have to shut the windows even if the outside air makes us comfortable. A little boy in the ward is named Brigham, and when he is playing outside - his mom calls him several times, and I get a little disappointed! I will be starting a full load on Sept. 2nd. I am both excited and scared. I am excited to get the semester rolling and over with, and scared to have to leave my little Muffin with someone else! I can already tell that Max's first day of kindergarten will be the worst day of my life!

Girls Night Out with Moffats and Udalls




Max

He is now 6 months old and even cuter than ever. I let him cry it out (my sister called it 'Baby Boot Camp') about 2 weeks ago despite him waking up about 5 other kids in our complex and Brig telling me to go get him (because we were talking on the phone and he was not giving me the moral support that I needed - he kept saying, "Poor guy!"). Ever since then, he sleeps great! It has made me a very happy mom. He can entertain himself quite well, at least for 10 minutes at a time. I will let him play on the floor with some toys and within 3 minutes he has rolled from his back to his stomach, and he will start screaming because he can't roll over the other way. Needless to say, he does it over and over and I have to come to his rescue, just like a beetle who flips on its back and is helpless. He is still eating like a champ and grabs the spoon from me so he can feed himself faster. He loves peaches. Bath time has gotten more and more thrilling... with the kicking and splashing. I will leave him in there until the water is cold. He chews on his tongue and flips it all the way over. I am afraid that when he gets teeth, I will look and see a bloody mouth because he has eaten his own tongue! He is such a happy kid - giggling and smiling non-stop. He gets real happy if he sees another face besides mine.

Madden and Max - one month later....

Little Madden has grown just a little...

Reunion # 2 Great-grandma Udall's Birthday Celebration

Max and I went to Arizona for my husband's 2 family reunions. The first of those was the extended Udall family reunion, in which we celebrated his grandma's 90th birthday. The thing that surprised me the most was how two people can really multiply over the years! Max is her 100th great-grandchild, amazing! Here are a few pictures from that.




Aunt Adeline and the Hubba Bubba Max


Grandma Udall in her glory with Max and our nephew, Hector


Uncle Tommy and Aunt Camie would lie on the bed and Max would fly over them and just grin and giggle. Max wouldn't dare claim a favorite, but Uncle Tommy is in the ranks!


In the huge 'Great-grandchildren of Gwenn' photo, many babies and toddlers were quite unhappy - in zooming in on Max, his state was once of sweetness and innocence. Again, Hector is holding him. Hector is Max's first and second cousin all because Brig and I met at a family reunion! Hahah. For those of you we don't know, our family tree is a little messed up. I married my Aunt Kate's husband's brother.


Brig's immediate family, only missing HIM! There are now 23 grandkids. A little table was set up for Brig so that his relatives could write him notes and see pictures of him. I told him he didn't miss much because everyone really only wanted to see MAX!


Aunt Sym and Great-aunt Karma give Muffin a little kiss.


Brig's cousin Mindy, who organized this whole party with Lindy, Brig's sister. They did a fine job and Lindy, who was due any minute, didn't have her baby at the reunion unlike Brig wanted. He said that would have been something to really talk about. Her baby, Tevi, was born last Monday... more pictures on that to come! (Mindy, you inspired me to up-date my blog, so you get your very own picture! You are great!)


Cousins Alli, Barry, and Lily (3 of Cord and Heidi's 5 children) I hesitated to post this picture because I don't want Brig to realize that his nieces and nephews are growing up, especially Lily, who said she would stay little forever.


This is Brig's sister, Sym and her cute family. I am putting this one on here for my mom and little sister, Julionna, who say that Nina (their 4 year old little girl) is the cutest Udall kid! I should put a pouty face picture so they don't think that, but she always looks cute even when she has her moments. Brig, she is growing up too. She doesn't have her little pot belly anymore!


Brig's cousin, Emily, who fell in love with little FatMax. She kept finding me just to steal Max and even put his to sleep.


Grandpa Barry got a hold of Max and roughed him up plenty of times. It doesn't phase him at all. Brig, he won't be a little Mama's boy! I think some people are actually scared of him.

Over all, we like the Udalls. Haha! The program part was wonderful and made me grateful to have such awesome in-laws.

Reunions Too Many... July 2008 Reunion #1 - Gilbert Family

Us with my mom's aunt, Ranae and her daughter, Shantel's littlest boy... just 2 days older than Max


Mama and Max


Grandpa Byron with all of his siblings (Jean, Shawna, Tenna, Sherry, Ranae, Maureen, and Frost)


My Aunt Kate on the Skinner side, she is my sister-in-law on the Udall side and my cousins BrookeAnn, Brandon, and Michelle with my mom who is better known as Lil Gma


My cousin, April and Grandpa with lil Digger

Summer Fun

The last few days in Can-tuck-ee...

Max finally got his wish - I started feeding him solid foods. If I was able to post the video of it, you would see just how much he liked it. Is anyone surprised?



Newport on the Levee is the hot spot downtown. We crossed the famous Purple People Bridge. Chels had Max giggling the whole time in the stroller. Madden slept in the Baby Bjorn. I loved to hold him because he actually snuggles with me (and my back doesn't ache afterward!) On the bridge, I felt a huge drop of something and I thought I was going to look down and see bird poo, but Madden just peed out his diaper and wasn't wet anywhere else. He is tricky like that.



Cincinnati is known for a few things - one of them is Skyline Chili. Chels and I enjoyed a nice chili-filled burrito covered in cheese. The boys didn't appreciate it at all and we paid for it!



During our whole stay, I watched little Madden, who is such a good baby. He was still sleeping all the time and I kept telling Chels to be prepared for the day when he just decides to "wake-up." Max did it at 2 weeks since then only takes these 20 minute power naps. Finally, after 6 weeks, Lil Red can say..."I wake up!" He looks just like Bryan but is amazingly still cute!




This is another one of those treats in Cincinnati - Whitecastle hamburgers. I am not a burger fan so Bryan had to work hard to convince me to try them, especially after the girl next to me on the plane told me that they are called "Sliders" (because they slide right in and slide right out!) I ate two of them, and they weren't too bad. They are cooked on a grill covered in onions. You can by 10 of them in a value pack. They cost $0.55 a piece!






Max and I both attended our first Major League Baseball game, the Cincinnati Reds versus the Washington Nationals. Max loves Bryan's mother-in-law because she introduced him to cotton candy. Ken Griffey Jr. is the one to draw the crowd, although he hasn't done much for them. It was a great game and they did sweep the series with the Nationals. That night was Military night, sponsored by the Army so the first 25,000 fans got camoflauged KGJ jerseys. We missed that boat but it was still neat to see the Reds in camo and see a colonel throw the first pitch.






We didn't buy these outfits together, both of them were actually given to us at different times. (I actually took Max's on our trip to take back because Brig thought it was kind of sissy - but since Madden had one too, we had to use it for pictures.) Just wanted Daddy to see that Max told me what he thought of it as well. It is times like these that I wish Brig had his turn! There are handsome though...





Max loved the fireworks, once he got use to them. Madden slept through em, big shock!



A real picture of how I pictured Kentucky. I already miss the the beauty of it.



Chasing after the Ice Cream Man just one more time...



I realized all dads are alike - They try to trick the poor little ballies when mom is the only one they want. This was in between halftime at Bryan's soccer game.