Happy Birthday To Me!

September 25th was the big day that I aged another year. Good times!! I had a great birthday this year! :) It was awesome to turn 29 again. :) No really, it was. :)

It was so nice to just be with my family. Now I know what my parents meant when they used to tell my brother and I that all they wanted was to be with our family on their bdays. I thought that was so lame at the time....but now I totally get it! Funny how that works, right? :)

We started out the morning with a family of four brunch at The Carillon...and it was yummy. They told us that we did not need to pay for Braden (since he was only two), and that he could just eat off our plates. Well when they saw that he probably ate more than both Chris and I combined, I think they might have wished they would have re-thought that decision. :) That boy loves him some breakfast when he gets in the right frame of mind. Just like his Daddy! :)

Breakfast is the bomb.com. :) After brunch I had been wanting to check out the Umlauf Sculpture Gardens for quite some time...so we did. :) We spent some time there walking around and laughing at Braden posing with the statues. Why is he so funny? :) Hello Donkey!
Hello Rhino!Hello person I don't know... :)Hello javelina!
And hello to my friend the rooster!
Loving up some lilly pads... It was plaid short day. :) I got to take a nap which rocked!! And then my birthday cake was actually Ben and Jerry's. Very nice work! :) We could not take a picture without Braden trying to lick it the entire time. You would think we give this boy sweets all the time since he is so into them right now...but I promise we don't! :)
Brant's look is like "Get me outta here...they are nuts!" :)Chris and Braden went to one of our friend's one year old birthday party late that afternoon...and then it was time to get cleaned up and ready for our date night. Solo. Babysitter. Oh yes.

I chose Uchiko for my bday this year for a number of reasons.
1) I had never been there before so that might have been the biggest reason.
2) We love Uchi...it is just fabulous, so we knew this had to be good.
3) We love sushi and I was craving it big time.
4) I had heard great things from friends about the chefs there....and I wanted to see if for myelf.

Let's just say that we were mighty happy when we left that night!! SO GOOD!! Awesome birthday dinner date. :) Hottie husband, cool food, cool presentation, cool everything... Chicken karage......three words---TO.DIE.FOR! :) We had incredible sushi and roasted edamame...and then last but not least was this pure goodness of a dessert. Oh yes-fried milk. Delightful! :) Awesome birthday..but I am still denying that I turned another year older! :)

I Love The ABC's....

Braden is so in love with the ABC's!! His favorite things to do right now are:

1) Tell you what every letter is

2) Tell you the sound that every letter makes

3) Tell you a word that goes with each letter

He could literally do this all day!! :) So much fun that we had to finally get it on video! :)

A Day Out With Thomas!!

We took Braden to "A Day Out With Thomas" in Burnet, TX....and oh boy how he LOVED it!! :) He was one happy little dude all morning...we made his year I think! HA! :) Every pic he took he was standing tall and proud with a big grin like "I am here to be with Thomas!!" :) It was really fun for the entire family b.c he loved it SO much! I mean I had fun and I am NOT a toddler OR a boy! :)

Taking a step back, the funniest part was that we needed to leave the house around 7:45 am to get there in time. At 7:30 Braden was still snoozing big time. :) We decided we would both go in there and wake him up together and get him really excited. :) We walked in and said "Braden...it's time to go see Thomas." He was hilarious b.c before we could even get the whole sentence out he said "I'm AWAKE!!! I'm AWAKE!!" :) Pure awesomeness. :)

So we made the drive to Burnet and it was all goodness from there. A happy day. :) Plus he got to play with his BFF Jon out there so he was on cloud 9 for sure.


Time to get on...yahoo! :)I want to hug all over Jon...this is so fun! :)
Chris and Jack just enjoying the ride... Brant had fun too! :) The obligatory family pic on Thomas. :)The Followay Family... :)Hi everyone out there! "Come on Jon...let's see if Brant can sit with us without tumbling forward". :) I mean is there really ANYTHING cooler than hanging out with Thomas on a Saturday morning? I think not! :)
All smiles aboard! :)
So proud to be in this picture! :) Daddy...THANK YOU for bringing me! :) Time to get my Percy tatoo! :) Time to play with some trains... This Thomas tent is calling my name..... There was SOOO much Thomas merchandise! Braden was also pretty mesmerized by Sir Topham Hat! :) Gotta stop and eat a snack....
We went to lunch after our Day With Thomas...at the Burnet Feed Store. You know it was good! :) Fun fun day!! Good times all around! :)