Pebble Beach, CA- Day One

 Well we just pulled in last night from our summer vacation.

Pebble is one of the most relaxing vacation spots. 

The view from Grandma White's front patio is breathtaking.

This year it was just our little family and Aunt Fergie and Uncle Jordan {the Overtons}

We left Saturday at about noon and drove..... and drove and drove.

What should take about 13-14 hours took us 15. 

Really not too bad with a two month old and a two year old. 

Perry was seriously an angel. 

I brought lots for Steele to do. 

Playdough on a breakfast tray, coloring books,

 toys and lots of his choice movies.

{taking up time making silly faces}

{Steele copying mommy's silly faces}

{and the best travel buddy ever!}

Finally we pulled into Pebble Beach at 3 am. 

We went straight to bed but Steele was so excited to be on our much talked

 about "trip" it took him some time to fall back asleep.

We slept in as long as the kiddos would allow.

Our first day was the Pebble Beach car show. 

Before walking down to the show the boys had to get a few puts in on the 14th green.

This picture sums up Steele's trip.

He loved spending all his time with Fergie.

Jordan started calling Steele Jenn's puppet master haha. 

What ever Steele wanted to do....Fergie did.

The car show is UNREAL.

Millions and millions of dollars worth of cars at this show.

Admittedly I know nothing about cars, but these are a few of my favorites.

This one reminded me of a skeleton version of the batmobile. 

 Behind this car from left to right you can see;

 me carrying Perry, Fergs and Steele, Jordan, Daniel, Shane and Blaine.

{Shane-Brett's brother, was there with some of his buddys the week before us.}

This was my favorite of the bunch. Such a neat melding of new and old. 

That's our first day, well really two but one day of driving doesn't count as a day of our vacation...

bright eyes

perry has become so alert and alive.
she is always kicking her legs like she boxing with her feet.
her eyes are so observant and you can tell she is really checking out her environment.
smiles are coming all the time now, although you do have to coax them out of her.
she and steele are the brightest part of each day

and the best news, she slept all the way through the night two nights ago. 11 to 7!
last night she only woke up once at 4:30 and then slept till 8:30.
ahh the feeling of a goods night rest. love that!
.
i love being a mommy and i am grateful for life!

{we'll see if i still love it after our 14 hour drive to pebble beach today......wish us luck!}

naughty, yes naughty

it's official. 

my sweet perfect little angle boy is....

ok not gone but becoming

very very mischievous. 

i love it though. 

its such a little boy faze to go through.

most of the time i can just laugh.

like the few naughty things i've recently taken pictures of.

i know i shouldn't but i love capturing his naughtiness.

i was in the office and i could hear steele with a bag.

it sounded like he had the triscuts in his room.

he loves triscuts and gets them out of the pantry all the time.

he'll take the plastic bag out and just go to town 

{which the fiber is great for him. more on that later.}

then the quiet set in. 

any mother knows when they hear 

complete silence something is very wrong.

i went into his room and this is what i found...

it was everywhere!

his bed was covered in white powder.

this picture doesn't show the white very well.

it was all over the floor too.

then i had to find steele. 

i could hear the crinkling plastic bag in the pantry.

and yep. there he was hiding with the bisquick.

look at those mischievous eyes. 

and that smirk. he obviously knew

 he was doing something he wasn't supposed to.

a few days later i was getting ready

to go to lunch with my mom and sisters. 

i ironed my pants, put them on and sat down at the

computer for a few minutes. steele was in the

office with me playing with some golf balls. 

only a few minutes went by.

 i turned around and saw yellow everywhere! 

what was it? yellow puff fabric paint.

he had painted the legs of the ironing board and several 

spots had dripped on the carpet!

luckily none of it had time to dry so it cleaned up pretty well. 

steele had paint all over his hands so i put him in the tub.

i bathed him then got him out and set him on 

the couch in his towel to watch a show so i could get dressed.

only a few minutes later....

i came out into the kitchen and this is what i found.

i'm not sure how steele reached the knives

but he had gotten a butcher knife and a row of 

unfrozen otter-pops. he sliced through all of them and 

liquid had spilled all over my counter, down the 

cabinets and onto the floor. he had it dripping

down the front of him. back into the tub.

i'm just thankful he didn't injure himself!

another....

 just the other day steele was in the tub.
i was in my closet getting dressed and i hear him say

"mommy i got blood." he said it so matter of fact and so calmly.

i went to the tub and he was holding my razor and his fingers were dripping blood!

i always take my razor head off and let him play with just the handle.

he found the head behind the shampoo bottle and was trying to put it

back on the handle. poor guy. i felt awful. he had 3 huge chunks out of his fingers. 

they wouldn't stop bleeding. he went through 3 band-aids on one finger.

these are only a few stories of  how steele is starting to become

very very mischievous. he's doing things all the time

that he knows he's not supposed to.

and in only a matter of minutes.

 you gotta love the kid though. 

he is adorable!

sweet newborns

{it wasn't easy getting a good picture of all three babes. the best ones were with their binks in haha.}

wouldn't it be fun to have triplets? i'm totally kidding. that would be A LOT of work.
we took these adorable pictures of our sweet newborns a few sunday's back.
there is so much excitement ahead for these little cousins.

it was so much fun all being pregnant together,
comparing how we were feeling and growing.
it's definitely been a summer to remember with these little guys
making their grand entrance one by one!

there is a pattern in the brady family.
two girls and a boy.
it starts with brett's mom.
she had carrie, brittany and brett. then...
chelsey, hayley and zach
two girls and a boy, two girls and a boy.

there is hallie, madison and bentley. then...
along came the twins ashton and linny then...
of course a boy, steele.

so when the three of us girls where pregnant we just knew
there was going to be... two girls and a boy.

truly it's just coincidence but it is a fun pattern that we discovered.

the 'up' house

KSL News coverage on the Disney "UP" house

how fun is this house? it is a replica of the house in the disney movie UP and it is in the salt lake parade of homes. it was packed full of people when we were there. the interior was adorable. obviously they had to get creative since most of the house is not shown in the movie. but the rooms that were in the movie are identical. they custom made furniture to make the home as close to the movie as possible. the kitchen and nursery were my favorite. the whole house is very fun and colorful.

the coolest part about this house is that my husband did all the structural engineering on it. quite often when i tell people brett is an engineer they don't really know what exactly he does. in short {my version} he makes sure that homes and buildings are able to stay standing. he designs the structural elements including what building materials should be used. basically he is a math wizard.

he has three homes in the sl parade of homes this year. it has been a lot of fun going around and seeing what he has designed. i'm really proud of him can you tell?

a very special day

Today Perry was given a name and a blessing by her Daddy. Brett gave such a heartfelt beautiful blessing. I couldn't help but get emotional as he held little Perry in a circle surrounded by loving Priesthood holders. What a blessing Perry is to all of her loved ones.

Today was the perfect day because she is exactly two months old today. It will be easy to remember her blessing day.

Perry's dress was very special. It is the same dress I wore when I was blessed, along with all of my sisters. My grandmother made it for us to wear on our special blessing day. I couldn't pass it up. I tacked down the collar so it didn't look too pilgram-esk. It turned out perfect. She also had a white hand crochet white blanket made by my Aunt Kristen.

I made her crystal headband and I love how it turned out. She wore a petite pink bracelet made by a friend of mine, Charayye. She looked so pure and beautiful, just how I've always pictures my little girl on her blessing day.

................................................

She then changed into her white "cocktail dress".... well that's what I called it. The other dress is very large and bulky and has a slip under the dress. She needed something a little more airy and flirty:)

Little Perry just started smiling for me! It's about time. Steele smiled at just a few weeks old so I have been waiting in anticipation for this. It's the first sign of affection and as a Mommy you need to feel the love right? She has smiled in her sleep a ton and off into the distance but she has just started looking at someone and smiling for them. She smiled at ME for the first time yesterday morning. My heart melted instantly.

Today I was determined to get a picture. I tried and tried and all I got on camera were a few half smiles. Well the two on the left are really the only two I got. The other two are just cute faces. But at least I got them. She is such a precious little girly.

We adore you Perry Winks!

skousen family photographs

can i just quickly say how great my family is.....really i am incredibly lucky to be a part of such a close family. there is a lot of love in the skousen household. i give all the credit to my parents who raised us all in a way that i hope i also can raise my children.

.................

i love going to lunch every week with my sisters. we all have become best of friends.

..................

all because of these two.

pictures taken by mckenna of make photographie. 

how do you know you've had a good summer?