The Harris Place

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Firsts All Around

My first day of clinic (you can see that I am wearing my name badge and dosimeter badge-it tracks my radiation dose)

Dal's first alarm clock. We thought if he had a cool alarm clock to wake up to it would make waking up a little easier :)

Dal's first day of 1st grade (this wasn't actually his first day but it was the first day closest to his first day when we finally got around to taking a picture :)


Braelyn's first day of preschool--she was so excited to start preschool. She paints, plays in the sand table, plays outside, plays with kids, eats a snack, etc. and she loves it!

She felt like she had to come up with some cool pose for her first day of school pose :)

Braelyn's first "All About Me" paper to hang up at preschool

Dal & B's first dress-up birthday party invite. My cousin Juli threw a really fun b-day party for her son Trace who was turning 5. There were bad guys (the dads) trying to steal the fair princesses (all the little girls) while the superheros (all the little boys) came to the rescue to save the day. Despite the fact that both Dal's ninja swords broke during his battling the bad guys (which made him really sad) the kids had a lot of fun!

A lot of fun cousins were there. It has been fun to live close to them so that our kids can get to know them and have fun with them.

Braelyn's first cute red dress from Savers

My first white lab coat experience. This is the white lab coat that I wear every day at the hospital.

I love being a part of the Huntsman Cancer Hospital. It's an amazing cancer hospital with a lot of great people. Everyone has been so nice and welcoming and the physicists and dosimetrists that I work with a lot are great teachers and neat people. I have also met some fellow BYU fans, which is nice :)

Dal's first take home Chinese symbol practice sheet. He spends half his school day being taught in Chinese. He hasn't seemed overwhelmed by it all and is enjoying school so we are happy about that.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Montana Trip & Start of Dosimetry School

I just made it through my first week of Dosimetry school and clinicals. It was a good first week, but really tiring. I have to wake up really early because I have to be at the hospital around 7:00 am every morning and I have to be at the trax station around 6:00 am. (I do love taking trax though. I get to read scriptures, study, relax and just enjoy the fact that I don't have to drive in crazy traffic every day. After I get off trax I get to take a nice brisk 10-15 min walk to get to the Huntsman-I love that too!)

At the hospital I have met a lot of great people. Everyone has been very nice and welcoming. It's been a little overwhelming to see everything that I will need to learn over the next year but it's been good. It's also been really cool because they are having me attend chart rounds (which is where the Dr's, residents, a couple physicists and dosimetrist come together and discuss the new patients for the week and treatment plans. It is very interesting.) I also get to attend a physics lecture and residents lecture every week. Those were very interesting as well. I am going to have some awesome learning experiences at the Huntsman and I am so excited to get to be trained there!

My classes are interesting as well. We have class from home through video conferencing. I even wear a fancy headset :) I can see my teacher on video and then when he asks one of us a question and we answer our video shows up on the screen so that our classmates can see who is talking. It's kind of cool. We have a lot of papers to write and other assignments so it is going to be a very busy year.

This past week Dal did Chinese camp at his school for a week to get geared up for school to start in a week or so. He is going to be doing a dual immersion Chinese/English program so it will be fun to see how it goes. (He is the one who said he wanted to do the Chinese program so we are here to support him 100% :) He met some nice kids and had a lot of fun at Chinese camp, so that's good. Three of the physicists that I work with speak Chinese and they have all offered to help. One told me she would be happy to tutor him for free. She told me that she couldn't charge anything because her Chinese is too good to charge for :) She was sweet.

Before I started school we decided to take a trip to Montana because we hadn't been up there since Christmas and we don't know when we will be able to go up there again because I only have a week off for the year and its at Christmastime. The kids love it up there and its always fun to visit. We had a ton of fun and took a ton of pictures. We had an Avengers Party, went to Lewis & Clark Caverns (which was so fun!), went to the lake where both kids rode on the tube behind the boat (sadly I had forgotten my camera so I didn't get any pictures of that :( we tie dyed shirts, made smores, rode the 4-wheelers, played outside and just had a blast. Here are the pics...

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Sunday, July 29, 2012

24th of July, Temple Square & Hogle Zoo

It was fun this year to be living in a state where the 24th of July is a BIG holiday. There were all sorts of fun things going on all over the city. We decided to head over to the Union Pacific Depot where we got to ride on a little train for free and eat a free cupcake. We also got to watch some cool fireworks that night.

While downtown we decided to head over to temple square. We hadn't been there for a really long time so it was neat to see the temple and the visitors centers were awesome!

The flowers on the temple grounds were soooo beautiful and it smelled so good all around there

Dal took this picture for us - not too shabby :)

The other day we went to Hogle Zoo with Collin, Tiff & kids and Chase. It was really fun. We had never been there as a family.(Jake had been there a lot when he was younger)

B-Rae was really excited to hold Mckayla like this after Dal got to in the previous picture. She did a really good job but afterwards she said to Tiffany "Whoa, she was heavy!" :)

I think my favorite part was watching this awesome polar bear do his swim exercise routine. He was amazing!

Here he is bringing his head out of the water before he goes for a back dive

After his swim he walked a few laps and then got back in the water to swim again

Chase showing B how to take a picture of yourself

Braelyn & Landon were really cute holding hands

Dal was so excited about this "baby acorn" that he found

I think giraffes are so cool
We had a great time at Hogle Zoo!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Hilton Family Reunion in Flagstaff, AZ

On the way down to Arizona we stopped for a driving break to check out Lake Powell, Glen Canyon dam & the visitors center

We all stayed in a huge, nice house that my parents rented for the week.
We played lots of tennis, some basketball, darts and board games (especially Wits and Wagers which is a really fun game)
Here are some of the kids playing trains with Grandma

Hot tub time with Grandpa

One day we drove to Rock Slide State Park which is near Sedona. It is an awesome place to play in the water with a bunch of natural rock slides.

Braelyn holding tightly to Uncle Chase's neck as they go down the rock slide with the current

Dal & Grandpa going down. Dal loved it (you can see from the smile on his face)

B & I going down. It was pretty cool!

Braelyn, Tiffany, Mckayla & Landon chillin'

We also did a little cliff jumping. Here's Jamie & I --its obvious that I am all about plugging my nose :)

Conrad & Kylie (she's a brave one)

Chase, Mckayla, my mom & B-Rae

Collin, Landon, Dal & Kylie

Dal thought it was just the coolest place-he could have stayed there all day.
We all had a total blast!

Since we were there on the 4th of July we decided to go check out the local parade. Nothing too special but the kids did get a little candy and some flags so they liked that

I just love that little Mckayla, and she loves me (and my camera strap :)

At one of the parks in Flagstaff they had a 4th of July celebration with some bouncy houses that the kids could jump in for free. They loved it!

Braelyn so happy to be holding Nixon, Con & Jam's new baby boy. We got to meet him for the first time and he is so adorable.

The five of us.
It has been like 6 years or something since all 5 of us siblings have been together, so it was so much fun to get to play and hang out and chat. Loved it!

Our kids.
The cousins (11 of them now) had a great time playing together!

Dal & B had to get another pic with Mckayla

Pinata time! The kids had a great time hitting the pinata and running after the candy

Dal wanted to use his bow & arrow that his dad helped him make :)

When that proved rather ineffective he decided to take his "arrow" and hit the pinata with it. It worked much better :)

My mom sat with the kids and helped them make some cool creations out of play dough. This is a pony she made that Braelyn and the other girls loved playing with

Our reunion finished up with us driving to Glendale to help Conrad and Jamie move out of their apartment and into their new house. It was fun to see their old place and their new place. Here are some of the helpers. As you'll notice they all have otter pops stuck in their mouths-I think they
cleaned out Conrad & Jamie's supply of them :)

Chase just makes me laugh.

The seven of us.
It was seriously so fun to all be together.
Hopefully it won't be too long before it happens again!

Some Dalyn Cute Moments

Dalyn says and does the cutest and funniest things sometimes so I thought I would make a running list to remember some of those moments...

~We had eaten at a buffet and Dal loved it. He said "If I'm ever really hungry again just take me to that place where you pay for the first food and then get the rest of the food after that for free." That's a good way to look at a buffet :) (10/2012)

~Dal was doing something and being impatient and I said "Dal, you just need to be patient." He said "Mom, being patient is such a waste of my time." I understand how he feels :) (10/2012)

~Jake was having a bad day and was in a lot of pain. Dal said "I'm going to say a prayer for you daddy." Then he said "Dear Heavenly Father, this is important, my daddy doesn't feel good. Can you please help him feel a little better. Please. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen" It was the sweetest, most sincere prayer I have ever heard and it touched my heart. (6/2012)

~Dal's kindergarten teacher's birthday is coming up and I asked him if he wanted to make her a birthday card. He got really excited about it and these are some of the things that he was thinking about writing..."Happy Birthday Mrs. Bryan! You are now older than the old number you were before your birthday. Birthdays are a special celebration. Birthdays are special because you are older and bigger." (9/2011)

~ On our way to church today Dal told us that he asked his friend Sadie from school what church she goes to. She told him that she goes to the Kid Church. Dal told her ..."I go to the church of the Son of God" :) (4/2011)

~Dal has decided that when he grows up he is going to have 4 kids- 3 boys and 1 girl. Their names are going to be: Junior, McQueen, & Robin (as in Batman & Robin) for the boys and Sally for the girl :) (4/2011)

~On our way to church today Dal was talking about his friend Cash and said "Cash says he doesn't like church so he doesn't go. But I want to invite him to come to church with me and help him understand how important it is to go to church. Then I will tell him that he came from heaven and that I came from heaven too." Dal is just the cutest little missionary! (2/2011)

~Dal is so creative and imaginative. He has bigger sized lego blocks and he makes those into any toy or character imaginable and then sets up his room as whatever world or place that fits with the theme of his creations. It's so fun to watch and play with him in his toy world. (9/2010)

~Dal came home from preschool and told us he had a new girlfriend. So we started asking him questions and found out that they hadn't really played together or even talked for that matter he just said "She just looked so beautiful." So I guess because of that he decided that she was his girlfriend :) (9/2010)

~The other night when I was putting Dal to bed he said "Mommy. The Holy Ghost is so cool. I'm going to listen to the Holy Ghost and I am not going to listen to Satan!" I thought that sounded like a great plan. :) (3/2010)

~So Dal came home from preschool and told us that "Conner made a bad choice and squirted my girlfriend." We asked him about his girlfriend and he told us that a girl at preschool told him she wanted to be his girlfriend. We asked him what he said and he told us he said "Ok, but not really." Then we were asking him more and he said "Um, never mind. I don't want to talk about it anymore." On no, barely four years old and it already begins! :) (1-25-10)

~When I take Dal to preschool they always practice writing their names when they get there. Today he wrote his name really fast and crazy like and his teacher said "Well maybe you will be a doctor when you grow up", and Dal said "No, I'm going to be a prophet." That's what he has decided he wants to be when we grows up :) (12-16-09)

~I heard Dal saying his bedtime prayers and part way through he said "Heavenly Father, I love transformers. I know they are expensive so please help us to have more money so that we can buy transformers because they are really fun." (11-20-09)

~The wisdom of a three year old: Dal and I were hitting some of the community trick or treating events and when we got to the last one I told him that after this we were going home. He said "Good. I'm tired. All of this walking around getting candy makes a little kid like me tired." (10-31-09)

~We were reading the scriptures and trying to teach Dal about the second coming, when Jesus would come again. Dal's response: "When he gets here, I'll show him my Batman toy."

~Dal was building a tower with legos and I asked him to do get his shoes on so we could go somewhere. He said "Mom, you're sweet, but here's the thing, I am building a tower of power."

~Dal has a little friend that lives close and comes over to our house often. They play together almost every day. About two days had passed and they hadn't seen each other and then Zach came over and Dal opened the door and excitedly said "You came, you came!! Zach, I was so worried about you!"

~Dal has been on a super hero kick lately, so sometimes when he's at the playground and other kids ask him what his name is he says "My name is Super Duper Super Hero!" It's pretty funny. The other night I also heard him praying that he could be a super hero like Larry Boy. (6/09)

~We were reading out of Dal's picture scriptures and we read about Elizabeth and Zacharias who prayed to be able to have a baby and then she got pregnant with John. Dal asked "Did you pray to have baby sister?" I told him we did and then he said "So I can pray to have lots of baby brothers and lots of baby sisters!" I thought it was funny but thought that it was only a passing thought for him, not that he would really take it to heart:) Then a couple nights later when he was saying his bedtime prayers he said "Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that I can have lots of baby brothers and lots of baby sisters!..." It was pretty cute...but then I thought, uh-oh...hmmm, let's define the meaning of "lots":)

~Out of the blue Dal asked me "Mommy, do you have a puppy in your tummy?" I told him that I didn't and explained that I only carry babies like baby sister in my tummy and that mommy dogs carry baby puppies in their tummmies. I asked him why he asked and he said he asked because he wanted a dog and was wondering if I was going to have one. (He has enjoyed having his baby sister so much and knew that that's where she came from, so I guess he assumed that if he wanted a baby puppy that I would have to have it too. :) (5-13-09)

~In an effort to help Dalyn say his prayers at night I told him that when he prays and thanks Heavenly Father for things he has or got to do that day then it makes Heavenly Father happy. So last night after he said his prayer he jumped up and with both arms in the arm he shouted with glee "Now Heavenly Father is so happy! Heavenly Father is so happy!" I'm sure he was :) 4/12/09

~Dal was in the bath tub and he got out and I asked him what he was doing. He said "I just have to see if I'm so cute." He then pushed the stool up to the mirror so he could see himself, took one look and said "Yep, I'm so cute." Then he got off the stool and got back into the bath tub and continued playing with his toys in the tub. I got a good laugh out of that one. (2-19-09)

~When Dalyn found out that I was taking Braelyn to the Dr for her first check-up Dalyn yelled in a panic-stricken voice "No don't take her back! I want to keep her!" It was pretty cute. I reassured him that we would not be taking her back and that we would get to keep her forever. He was quite relieved. He loves his baby sister.

~Once when Dalyn was holding Braelyn she started rooting around and found his hand and stuck her tongue out. Dal laughed and said "She's trying to lick me!" He then thought that they were playing a game where she was trying to lick him. He just kept laughing and laughing.

~When Dalyn first saw Braelyn he just stared at her and said "She is so small. Her hands are so small. She doesn't have any teeth" He was pretty observant.

~We went to the school playground on Saturday to play and Dal found a jump rope that had been left on the ground and he was trying to swing it and he wanted me to jump. I told him that I couldn't jump very good with baby sister in my tummy. So then he wanted me to climb the little rock wall with him to get to the slide and he said "It's okay mommy, baby sister will hold on tight." It was so funny and so well thought out, and yes I did climb the little wall with him. (11-1-08)

~Dal was busy playing cars with his daddy and they were each in character having the cars talk to each other and I had to tell Jake something so I was talking to him. Dalyn repeatedly kept telling me "Mommy, don't talk to daddy anymore!" (I was distracting Jake and Dalyn wanted his full attention while they were playing.) After telling me to stop and I didn't Dalyn then came and took my hands and said "Mommy you go to sit in time out" and he led me over to the chair and had me sit down. I thought it was really funny so I sat there for a minute to humor him.

~I stubbed my toe on the door and said "Ouch" and Dalyn looked at me really concerned and said "Mommy?" So then I told him that I hurt my toe. He said "Okay. I'll come kiss it better." Then he came over to me and got down and kissed my toe. (It was so cute!) After that he said "Are you okay mommy?" And of course I told him that I was now. Even though my toe still hurt there is something about getting a kiss better that just makes it all okay. Amid his craziness he is such a thoughtful kid.

~When someone is at our house and he doesn't want them to leave he'll go and block the door and say something like "It's too hot out there" "You can't go out there" "The door is locked and you don't have key" "You don't have your shoes"...or something of the sort. He's good at coming up with good reasons for people not to go. He just loves to be around people.

~Along those same lines, Dalyn used to get really creative to keep other kids from taking toys away from him that he was playing with. When a kid would come up to him and try to get his toy he would say "It's hot!" in an effort to get the other kid not to touch it and to back away. It was pretty funny.

~Dalyn and I were playing and then he stopped and got this cute look on his face, rubbed my head and said "Sweetheart, I love you." It was just too cute.

~The other day for some reason Dalyn was sure it was his birthday. He sang himself the birthday song, he found something at the dollar store and told me it was his birthday present, etc. Then when we went to check the mail we got a little blue box with a fake ribbon on it and Dalyn excitedly yelled "My birthday present!" When we got in the house he couldn't wait to open it...It was some free sample tampons from Walmart! He was so excited and yelled "A blue one!" "A green one!" and they became swords, laser shooters, rocket ships and anything else he could think of. He had so much fun with his "birthday presents". It was pretty hilarious.

~Dalyn is always looking out for others. Any time I give him a popsicle or something and he sees his daddy (or whoever else is around) he'll say "Where's daddy's popsicle?" He wants to make sure others get in on the good stuff.

~Speaking of popsicles, sometimes Dalyn gets a little creative in how he can get more than one...I gave him a blue popsicle (his favorite) and he said "Daddy wants a blue one too" so I gave him another blue one to give to daddy and then he walks in the room where his daddy is, looks at his two blue popsicles and then comes back in the kitchen and says "Daddy wants orange popsicle".

~We were sitting in church on Sunday and Dalyn unintentionally burped and then looked around him and said "What's that noise?" It was pretty funny!

Some Braelyn Cute Moments

~Braelyn likes to think that she speaks Spanish. She has learned some Spanish words and is excited to practice them. Sometimes she will come up to us or other people and say something and they have no idea what she is saying. Then she informs them that she is speaking Spanish :) (10/2012)

~Braelyn gives the sweetest hugs and kisses. I love it when she says "I love you mommy (or daddy)! You're my best friend!" (5/2012)

~We were at Wal-mart the other day and Braelyn saw a baby sittting in a shopping and she was so excited to go talk to the baby and turned to me and "Mom! I want one of these at my house!" (3/2012)

~Braelyn absolutely adores babies. Anytime we see a baby she wants to go see it and talk to it. She always says "Awww, a baby!" and "Baby's so cute!" in a cute little voice. She is so sweet with the babies too. She will be such a good mommy some day :) (9/2011)

~Braely Rae is starting to talk a lot and she says some funny things. Sometimes when she does something or asks someone to help her with something she'll look and say "Oh, perfect!" She also loves to play ball and is good at saying "play ball". The other day I was leaving for school and I gave her a hug and kiss and then she said "nuzzle!" and she rubbed her little nose on mine. She also likes me to do her hair and then when we are done doing her hair she'll run to Jake to show him and she says "Daddy, pretty hair!" (4/2011)

~During sacrament meeting Braelyn kept turning to me and holding her finger to her mouth saying "Shhh" and then she's say "Remember Jesus." It was really cute :) (4/2011)

~B-Rae can be so cute and thoughtful. The other day I sneezed and she looked at me, reached up with her little hand to touch my face and then said "Bless you mommy." (2/2011)

~Braelyn loves baby dolls. She has a baby beans doll (which used to be my doll when I was her age) and she carries it around and gives her lots of kisses and tries to give her drinks of water too. (9/2010)

~ Sometimes we think B is a WWF girl in the making. When anyone is laying on the floor (especially her daddy) she loves to go up to him and do a double jump move and then a body slam. She can even pin Dal to the floor with her amazing wrestling moves and we have to go rescue him :) (9/2010)

~Today at church B-rae kept putting her hand up to her ear like she was talking on the phone and she would say "Hello, Hello" and then "Bye-bye, bye-bye" (9/2010)

~Braely loves babies. Every time we see a baby she gets really excited and says "Hi baby! Hi baby! Hi baby!" It's so cute. (9/2010)

~B loves to go outside. If it were up to her she would be outside all day long, either on a walk in the stroller, walking around exploring or going down the slides at the playground by our house. It doesn't matter how cold it is (and Logan is always cold! Well half the year at least) she always wants to go outside. She frequently brings us her shoes and our shoes to take her outside! :) (4/2010)

~B-Rae gives the best hugs. She loves to give hugs. She loves hugging Dal. And she also loves other little kids and sometimes she will try to give a hug to some random little kid she sees in the grocery store. It's pretty cute. She also wanted to give her baby cousin Landon lots of hugs last time she saw him. :) (3/2010)

~Braely Bug tries to say some words really cute...words like orange, shoes, outside, banana, etc. and one that she says really well is "All done". It's funny because whenever we eat dinner she eats her food in her high chair for a little while and then she says "All done" and wants out. Then right when I get her done she runs over to Jake and wants to sit on his lap and have him give her bites of some of his food. She is always sure he's holding out on her and has something better on his plate :)

~B and I have a book that we read together and part of it says "I'll tuck in your blanket and give you a kiss" and its so cute because she knows it says that somewhere in the book so whenever we start reading that book she turns up toward me and sticks out her little lips to give me a kiss--it's the cutest thing!

~B loves her big brother. She loves to chase him around the house, knock down his block creations and then try to help rebuild them, hide under the blanket with him and have us find them and much more. Dal is so cute with her too. He finds fun ways to play with her and he just loves her so much!

~B-Rae loves to eat. Let's face it. She's like her mother and she loves food. One of her favs is cottage cheese. She likes to feed it to herself. It is fun to watch her grab little handfuls and stuff them in her mouth. Cute Cute!

~After a nap or in the morning B loves to grab hold of the side of her crib and rock it back and forth as hard as she can. That girl is amazingly strong and I think she just might break her crib one of these days. (12-3-09)

~Some of Braelyn's Favorite Things: Hold our fingers while she walks around, watch Dalyn jump and dance (it makes her laugh and laugh), crawl up the stairs, eat anything that she can pick up on her tray and feed herself, look at herself in the mirror, be outside, sit in the grass, go on stroller rides, do the sway dance to music...etc.

~B is quite the little crawler. She loves to explore and loves to try to manuever over whatever barricade we put to the stair case. She loves to go up those stairs.

~B Rae is quite the little raspberry spitter. She must love that noise and feeling because she spits and spits and then smiles and smiles. (6-2-09)

~Braely Rae has gotten down the rolling from her back to her tummy but can't figure out how to get back on her back...so when I put her down for a nap a couple minutes later I often hear her crying because she has rolled onto her tummy and feels "stuck" so then I come to the rescue. (5-30-09)

~Braely and a baby about her age were sitting next to each other and they were both squealing, socializing, flapping their arms and laughing. It was so cute and funny! We've already a social butterfly on our hands :) (5-14-09)

~We were at church and I was walking down the hall holding Braelyn. Jake came up behind us and started talking to Braelyn telling her about his day and she just started laughing and laughing as though he had told her something really funny. It was too cute. Baby laughter is one of the best things ever! 4/12/09

~Every morning when I hear Braelyn wake up and I go to get her out of her crib I say "Good morning Princess" and she gets the biggest smile on her face and starts kicking with excitement. She's probably thinking how much she missed me after sleeping the whole night through :)

The Harris Place

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Firsts All Around

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Montana Trip & Start of Dosimetry School

Sunday, July 29, 2012

24th of July, Temple Square & Hogle Zoo

Monday, July 23, 2012

Hilton Family Reunion in Flagstaff, AZ

Madelily 10 months

Kids 2014

Kids 2014

Family 2014

Madelyn's Blessing Day

Family Pic 2012

Blogger Family & Friends

My Talented Sisters-in-Law!

Blog Archive

Dal

Braelyn

Our Two Cutie Pies!

The Fam

Us in 2006

Sweet Siblings

Dal

Braely Rae

Bed Head

Sweet Kisses from Big Brother

Dalyn Jacob

Braelyn Rachel

Braelyn in her Blessing Dress

Some Dalyn Cute Moments

Some Braelyn Cute Moments