Family Time

We spent this last weekend in Island Park with Brad's family to celebrate my sister-in-law, Mandy's graduation from BYU-I. It was such a fun, relaxing trip, we stayed in a big cabin so we could all fit in 1 place and it was fabulous. Brad's parents came from Alaska and it was the first time Dave has seen Daylen and his cousin, Ivan, since their baby blessings last November! It was great for Daylen to get to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Gasaway since he doesn't get to see them very often.

It snowed pretty much the entire time we were there so there was plenty to play in. Between sledding, snowmowbiling, playing games, watching movies, eating, enjoying the hot tub, and doing absolutely nothing, I think everyone had a great time. I have a few pictures to share from our trip, Karen took a great picture of Brad and I on the snowmobile so once I get that from her I'll post it as well. Daylen had fun playing in the snow for the first time, he really liked knocking it off the tree branches.





We tried taking pictures of Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids and Daylen was not in the mood to get his picture taken as you can see. Little stinker.

Daylen loves to play pat-a-cake, he kind of can say it, but unless you knew that was what we were playing you probably wouldn't recognize that's what he is saying.

So we just got back from this trip this past Monday afternoon and now we're leaving again tonight after Brad gets off work for Walla Walla. I sure hope I'm ready for another long drive. We'll break it up by staying at Jamie's in Cauldwell tonight then driving the last stretch tomorrow morning. We are going for my friend Candice's wedding this friday and then staying for Christmas. It's been 3 years since we've been in Walla Walla for Christmas so I'm pretty excited. Merry Christmas everyone! I probably won't post anything else until after Christmas so have a fun, safe holiday!

Tagged

Ok, I've been tagged by my friend Natalie so I get to share with you all 6 hopefully interesting things about me. Here goes:

1. For 3 summers during college I worked as a Park Ranger at a National Historic Site called The Whitman Mission. It's a small Site close to my home in Walla Walla, Washington, but I was amazed at how many people it attracted in the summertime from all over the world. My favorite thing was reading the guest sign in book to see where people were from and what they thought of The Mission. I got wear the whole green and gray getup, badge and Smokey the Bear hat and all (the hat luckily was only when I went outside). I gave "ranger programs", did cultural demonstrations on Saturdays dressed up in costume of the day, and learned a lot of history.

2. I absolutely LOVE food, I may be small but I can pack it down as anyone in my family can testify to. Forget dessert, as good as some can be, I would take an extra large portion of a main food dish over dessert any day. Brad tells me I can eat more than most guys he knows, but I'm not sure if I would go that far. The only problem with being pregnant for me now is that it has messed up my taste buds and my favorite foods just don't give me the same pleasure as they used to, you have no idea how sad this makes me.

3. While at BYU I started taking ballroom dance classes for fun and found out I not only loved it, but was actually pretty good at it. Out of at least 20 competitions I entered for different dances, my partners and I rarely were cut before at least the semi-finals, and I made quite a few finals. I love the thrill of competition, standing on the dance floor waiting for the music to start, and then hearing the MC say in his english accent, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the samba" or whatever dance it was. Ahh, it gives me chills. I also had the amazing opportunity to dance on a back-up BYU Ballroom Dance team and found performing just as thrilling as competition, I LOVED IT!

4. Music has always been a big part of my life, I just wish I could somehow be as involved now as I was in high school. I played the clarinet for 9 years, but haven't so much as picked it up since my freshmen year at BYU, I know sad. In high school I was 1st chair throughout my junior and senior year, played in a Clarinet Choir and a Woodwind Quintet. I especially enjoyed the Woodwind Quintet being the only clarinet to carry my part.

5. I am related to Filo Farnsworth, the inventor of the television. Because of my ancestor you all have the privilege of enjoying General Conference from the comfort of your home. However, we take no credit for all the other junk that is shown on TV now.

6. I love amusement parks, roller coasters in particular. I love the feeling of my stomach dropping. My all time favorite amusement park is Six Flags (all roller coasters!) and my all time favorite ride is the Tower of Terror at MGM Studios at Disney World.

There you have it, now I am tagging Mandy and Janell to see what interesting things they have to say!

Party Time!

Christmas time is my favorite time of year, not only is it a time of giving and kindness and celebration...it's party time! There are always so many different parties to go to and it all started last night for us. We had our annual work Christmas party for Namifiers, the company Brad works for and I did as well up until I had Daylen. They have to keep out doing themselves every year which is great for the employees. This year it was at Tucanos, a Brazilian restaurant in the Riverwoods mall, all the meat and salad bar you can eat. For anyone who hasn't been there they constantly bring around all different kinds of meat on spickets and if you want to try some they cut you off a piece. You have a little green light red light wooden something that you keep on green if you want more and if you need a break just turn it over to red until you're ready for more. Let's just say it was a LOT of meat.

Anyways, once everyone had pretty much had as much as they could eat the prize drawing began. Namifiers gave away $15,000 worth of prizes, every employee got something. I think the smallest prizes were $50 gift certificates to either Walmart or Provo Towne Center, there were also $100, $150, and $200 gift cards, Ipods, Ipod nanos, digital cameras, HD radios, a desktop, and the grand prize....a 50 inch plasma television!! Holy cow! Unfortunately we weren't elegible to be entered in to the drawing, but it's fun to see the employees get excited about it. (Don't you wish things were this big when we worked there, Emily?) It was a fun night.

As for coming up parties, tomorrow night we (as in Namifiers) were invited to the Republican Christmas party at Mitt Romney's Cabin in Park City so Brad and I are representing the company there, Saturday is our Ward Christmas party, then Monday the 17th we are having a Executive Christmas Party, my sister-in-law, Mandy, is graduating from BYU-I so we are going to party hardy in celebration in Island Park, and then there is Christmas itself of course, always a party then! Whew! I hope I don't get partied out....nah! So much to look forward to, I'm getting all excited just writing about everything. I hope all your holidays are just as much or more fun filled!

Family Pictures

Jamie just sent me some pictures she took with her camera while we were there and I liked hers better of our little family so I'm posting it now as well. Bryson also took one of the whole family so here we all are.

Happy Late Thanksgiving...and a little something more

What a wonderful time of year this is. We just back last night from a Thanksgiving trip to Cauldwell, Idaho where my sister lives. My whole family was there together as well as my brother-in-law's parents. We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner, a relaxful afternoon, then witnessed the special experience of blessing my newest niece Kayla. Then to top it off enjoyed some delicious pie afterwards. What a great day! It's my favorite meal of the whole year, anyone who knows me well knows I love food, and all my favorites we get to have on Thanksgiving. Daylen had a fun time playing with grandma and grandpa, aunts, and cousins, at least most of the time.

We have a lot to be thankful for in our little family, not only is Daylen the cutest boy we could have asked for, but he will not long be the only bundle of joy in our life. He will get the opportunity this next June of becoming a big brother! We are very excited and are trying to explain it to Daylen, but he doesn't get it. He would get a little jealous when he saw his mommy holding his baby cousin so hopefully he'll grow out of that in the next few months. We just wanted to share our happy news with all our friends!
Here is Daylen and Lily jumping on her trampoline together. He got the hang of it pretty quick!

Daylen with Aunt Rachel.
Daylen developing his artistic talent. He loves to draw or scribble rather with paper and crayons.
We all took pictures by Jamie's Christmas tree before we left Sunday. That was fun trying to take one of the whole family and get all the kids to look at the same time.

What can I say?

I love being a stay at home mom, really, it's just that I don't think other people will find the things I do from day to day all that exciting. One reason I haven't posted a blog for awhile. But today I thought I better do something. So I thought I'd tell you the cute things Daylen has learned or done lately.

*Every morning when Brad leaves for work Daylen says "Bye-Bye Dad!, Bye Dad!" while waving over and over. When Brad closes the door he then runs to the window and pulls at the blinds so he can watch him drive away. Cute!

*He folds his arms and bows his head for prayer, until we start praying, then resumes the position once he hears "Amen."

*He grabs any item, usually a wooden spoon, silverware, or funnel and swings it like a baseball bat while making a clicking noise with his tongue. Homerun Derby here we come!

*He has the biggest smile and cutest laugh ever, and he knows it.

*This afternoon I wanted to calm him down to get ready for his nap so we rocked and sang Primary songs together. His attempts at singing are adorable, it was so fun to cuddle with him again!

These are just a few of the reasons I love being able to stay home with Daylen, he is such a cutie!

She has arrived!

My sister, Jamie, had her baby yesterday! Little Kayla Aileen Perkins joined us at 5:20 PM, measuring 19 in, and weighing 7lbs 2oz. Kayla is their 3rd child and the 4th grandchild for my parents. It sounds like Nathan who is 3 is excited, but Lily who will be 2 on Friday is not so sure about her little sister yet. Congratulations Jamie, I'm glad everything went well, I can't wait to see her in person!

Trick-or-Treat!

Our ward had a Trunk-or-Treat this last Saturday and Daylen looked so cute in his wizard costume, as you can see. He had so much fun running around the parking lot laughing. He looked so much faster with his robe billowing behind him. He even won a prize for being "so dang cute!" I was Pippylongstocking and Brad a sunburned tourist, nothing too exciting but we had fun dressing up as well.

My Boys

I just thought I'd share some fun pictures I've taken recently of my boys together. Brad has really been into golf lately and he likes to bring his clubs in the living room to practice his putting. Daylen has picked up the swinging action and will grab everything and pretent to swing at a ball. Brad is starting him young!




Daylen wants to be like his daddy, that means wearing a hat if daddy's wearing a hat.


Daylen loves to get into the cupboards, literally, especially my baking supplies. He managed to dump out all the cornstarch while I was making dinner the other night. That was a fun mess to clean up.

Boston Trip

"Captain Daylen" taking us on another adventure
Savanna had to push Daylen in the stroller wherever we went. She would just put her head down and run wherever the stroller took her.

We got to go to the Boston Temple while we were there, so beautiful of course.

Daylen had more fun playing with the snails than actually getting in the ocean when we went to Cape Cod.

Walden Pond is behind us...the most beautiful, clean pond I've ever seen.

Here is everyone waiting to take the famous Boston "Duck Tour"

We got to see the Red Sox play at Fenway Park, they won wo-hoo! Although I must admit I'm for the Rockies in the World Series.

Boston Trip

Now that I can finally add pictures...Our most recent adventure was our trip to Boston the end of September to visit Rhett and Kristen and their adorable family. Brad's mom Karen, Grandma Murray, and Aunt Jan were also there and we had a fabulous time. We saw the East Coast for the first time ever and much much more. My favorite part was the Duck Tour through downtown Boston and then on the Charles River in these amphibious trucks meant for both land and water. Daylen had a fun time playing with his cousins whom he met for the first time. Here he is with Ellie and Savanna.

Here We Are

Here we are, the Brad, Jana, and Daylen Gasaway family for all to see. We are happily situated in Spanish Fork, UT, living and loving life. Brad runs the marketing department for a company called Namifiers and couldn't ask for a better job. I love being able to stay home with our little guy, although he is getting bigger all the time. Daylen is 14 months old and learning new things every day that surprise us. He has a smile that will brighten anyone's day stopping strangers all the time to admire it. When I figure out why none of my pictures will load I'll get some up for you all to see.