Christmas Party!

We are having a Christmas party Saturday, Dec 20th at our home. It will be an open house from 6-8 pm. We will provide soup, rolls and some treats. Everyone is invited. You can bring a treat to share if you would like (and the recipe too) and stay for 5 minutes or 2 hours! It is a chance to relax, visit and eat some yummy food. Hope to see you here!

Cameron is taking a social dance class and taught us a few moves...

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25th Wedding Anniversary

Paul's parents recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary so we had a party last night. (For those of you wondering why only 25 years, Paul's dad was killed in a plane crash so his mom remarried.) Lyle Munk met Donna Page at a single's dance and they were later married. So, to celebrate their anniversary, Paul and his sister, Delis, sang this song, accompanied by Mardene Munk. Lyle and Donna got up and danced! We love them very much and appreciate their love and example to us. Lyle has become a real father/grandfather to all of us and we appreciate him in our family!

Gingerbread Houses!!!

Last night we decorated gingerbread houses, well, graham cracker houses because I didn't want to make gingerbread. We had so much fun and the boys were very creative! Paul was involved in "demolition" and enjoyed his with some milk! Hayden's house included a hot tub, car, deck and all the bells and whistles. Cameron's house had a huge open loft and an edible snowman on the roof. Colton built a two story house with an electric fence. My roof caved in so I made a model home with beds and walls. This is our village! We had a great time!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Well, it's Thanksgiving Day. I have already gone shopping, done two loads of dishes and baked 9 pans of rolls. I love Thanksgiving! Last night, Paul and I read The Forgotten Carols with Cameron and Hayden. The spirit was so strong in our home. So, today, I am grateful for being able to feel and recognize the spirit. The boys discovered the music this year and have been listening to the Forgotten Carols CD quite a bit so I encouraged them to read the story with us. I think they enjoyed it. Afterward, Paul was crying and shared his testimony of the Savior with the boys. It was very powerful. I am grateful for so many things this year and hope I can always remember to be grateful! Now, LET'S EAT!!!

Two Days Left!!!!

Well, today I am grateful for a clean house! My wonderful husband works from home so he pitches in quite a bit around the house. Today, he did the laundry, cleaned the kitchen and is now making dinner. It makes me smile and very grateful when my house is clean. I have said before that I am kinda OCD about the house, except my bedroom. We have company coming tomorrow so it's nice to have it looking better. Thanks, Paul! I love you!!!!

On the third day....

I missed yesterday's post because I had too much going on. So, today I am grateful for knowing how to cook. I have really appreciated my mom for teaching me so much growing up. My mom is an outstanding cook and I have learned so much from her. Then, in college, I majored in Culinary Arts and learned a lot more. But I think I learned the most from my experiences in the restaurant. Paul and I both love to cook and we experiment quite a bit. I don't like boring food...it has to have FLAVOR! As I am preparing for Thanksgiving with my family who knows how to cook, I am sooooo excited to taste and enjoy!!!!

4 days left

Today I am grateful for my family! Well, every day I am grateful for my family but today I will express the reasons why! We love to laugh! There is never a dull moment in our home. Even when Paul and the boys are gone and I have a few moments to myself, the phone is constantly ringing for one of the boys! Constant activity! But we love it! They bring us so much joy and happiness. And I couldn't ask for a better husband! Paul takes such good care of me. He makes me laugh constantly, cleans my house, does laundry and spends time with me...(one of my love languages)! I am also so grateful for my extended family. My in-laws treat me so well and I love them like my own! My family is always looking out for me and helping. I am so excited to see everyone this weekend! My nephew comes home from his mission Wednesday so Thursday will be extra special for the Bradleys! I love you all!!!!!

On the 5th day of.....Thanksgiving!

Today I am grateful to have a testimony. I woke up this morning not wanting to do anything. It has been a rough week at work and I needed a relaxing weekend. I didn't want to go to church because I didn't want to do anything. But, I got up and went and had a great experience. I felt so uplifted! I am grateful for the plan of salvation, my Savior, my family, my Beehive class, the scriptures, prayer, good friends, etc, etc, etc. I actually feel like I can tackle another week! (And I am grateful it's a short week!) Yea Sundays!

6 Days til Thanksgiving!

I was just reading my neighbors blog and she is doing a post every day stating what's she's thankful for. I thought this was a great idea, so I'm copying! Thanks Jennie! We have had a rough year with gas prices because Paul's job relies so heavily on fuel. We have had to be very conservative to make it work and there were times that I didn't know how it was all going to work. We spent many nights on our knees pleading for help. So today I am thankful that we have a kind Heavenly Father who answers prayers. There were several times this year when we received blessings out of the clear blue and I was humbled. We are making it through a tough time in a tough economic world!

Music

Last night we went to an amazing concert in Logan! The whole time I was thinking, I am in Logan and witnessing this. Craig Jessop (from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) is the new Music Department head at USU. He is amazing. He has put together a choir of about 300 and they had their second performance last night. They performed Mozart's Requiem. I cried! Hayden loved it! He chose to attend this instead of a dance and when I looked at him about halfway through, there were tears in his eyes. I never thought I would ever see anything of that calliber in Logan. We saw a few familiar faces there. It was packed! It filled the Kent Concert Hall. We are looking forward to their spring concert in April! Paul is the choir director in our ward and today we performed "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." To tell the truth, I never felt we were prepared to perform this piece. We have been working on it off and on for over a year and I think we all felt inadequate. Well, we had an early morning practice and it still didn't seem to come together. During Sacrament Meeting, I leaned over and asked Paul if he felt we were ready. He said, "We've been ready for two months. We have been waiting for everyone to have the confidence to do it." Well, our time came and halfway through the song, I thought it was angels performing. It was beautiful. It was by far our best performance EVER of this song. It was amazing. The chapel was silent and people were crying. The next speaker (High Council) paused, and just said, "WOW!" The spirit was soooo strong. I am so grateful for Paul's talents. He never ceased to amaze me. I loved music before, but my appreciation for it has increased a hundredfold since I met Paul. Thanks, honey for sharing your amazing talents with our ward family!

Beaver Creek Lodge

One of my favorite traditions is our annual trip to Beaver Creek Lodge up Logan Canyon. Paul has been friends with this group for years and every year we get together for the weekend to relax, eat and hang out. It is a great time to get away and forget the stress of life. They are an amazing group of people and have welcomed me into the group so readily. This was my 4th year and I feel such a love for them and from them. Thanks everyone for the memories, laughs and tears! We love you!!!! Paul and Brian "cow racing" on the Wii.....quite humorous!

The breakfast cooks at work!It's a guy thing....don't ask! Just hangin' out!

Mom and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary

My parents have been married for 50 years!!!! We had a family party last week to celebrate. All of my siblings and their spouses gathered for dinner with my parents at Goodwood restaurant in Provo. I made a replica of their wedding cake and my sister Lori put together a scrapbook. It was huge! We had a wonderful evening and were able to recognize an amazing couple! Congratulations Mom and Dad!!!! We love you!!!!!

Tagged Again.....

This is what you do:

1. Open up your picture file

2. Go to the fourth folder

3. Open the fourth picture

4. Post the picture on your blog and write about it.

This is a picture of Colton playing baseball this summer. He really enjoyed being on the team this year and has some great natural abilities. We really enjoyed watching his games and his enthusiasm. He's a great kid!!!!!

Tagged....

I was tagged quite a while ago but life has been hectic so it wasn't a priority. I am finally doing this but I think I am quite normal, without many quirks! ;-) I guess we'll see if I can come up with anything..... 1. My house has to be clean, with the exception of my bedroom. I will pile things in my bedroom to get them out of site. Then I can just shut the door of my bedroom and forget about it. 2. I need ME time. I ride the bus to work every day and I use that time to read and relax. When I don't get my ME time, I get irritable and onery. 3. I love to experiment with food. I guess with my years in the restaurant business, I got used to trying new things. Now when I cook, I don't usually follow a recipe. I just throw things in and change it until it tastes good. The down side to this is I am not very good at re-creating a good recipe the second time. 4. I can't waste time watching tv. If I have the television on, I have to be doing something else too. I have many projects that I work on while I am watching television. It works both ways. If I have a project to work on, I have the have the television on. I don't work well in silence. 5. I love to work outside. I spend most of my time in the summertime indoors at work. Every chance I get, I go out in my garden to enjoy the fresh air. It is a great release for me. 6. I am a klutz. I will walk into walls and doorframes. I don't walk straight and I don't judge distances very well. It is kind of embarrassing sometimes! I won't tag anyone because most of the people I know have already done this one!

Life is Fragile

Life is so short and fragile! It is time to stop and make sure you hug and kiss all of your loved ones more regularly. I have been reminded several times today about this and hope I can follow my own advice. I just found out that an aquaintance of mine passed away this morning. It was sudden. Then I ran into a friend of mine from the restaurant that has cancer and he looks like he has aged 20 years. He isn't doing well. I guess it was a reminder to me that you never know what will happen in your future or in the future of your loved ones so we need to make the best of each day and create wonderful memories!

My Love Languages!!!! I love this book!

The Five Love Languages

My Primary Love Language is Physical Touch

My Detailed Results:
Physical Touch:	10
Quality Time:	9
Receiving Gifts:	4
Words of Affirmation:	4
Acts of Service:	3

About this quiz

Unhappiness in relationships is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. It can be helpful to know what language you speak and what language those around you speak. This is an amazing book to help figure out how to communicate your love to those around you and how to accept love from those who love you.

Take the Quiz!
Check out the Book

I thought there was going to be a new episode of CSI tonight! So sad!!!!!

Rambling

Like always, the Lord takes such good care of us! We are constantly receiving blessings and I am soooooo grateful! It has been a hard two weeks because I have been really sick and now, unfortunately, Paul has it. In the middle of it all, I had to can peaches and try to keep up with life. It seems like we had something every night plus work every day and it was hard to keep up. But the Lord blessed me to endure it all and I am finally on the downhill side of it. I spent a lot of time talking to Heavenly Father on my knees and He wrapped His arms around me and pushed me forward. So, now life is trying to get back to normal, meaning busy, busy, busy. Marching band competitions have started, Young Women's, homework, work, etc. But I love it! I have also started helping my family with their vinyl business so hopefully I can figure it out soon! I have a lot to learn and it is their busy season so I'd better learn quickly! So, all in all, life is good. I have felt the guiding hand of the Lord in our lives and I am humbled by it all! It has been so much fun to have Hayden living with us. He is a great kid and I love having him in our home. I have learned a lot from him! I am also so grateful to my family for accepting the boys so easily. It has made a HUGE difference, so thanks everyone! Well, I'm off to YW to teach a candymaking class so I had better get it ready! Congratulations to Cortney and Chase! We are excited to have Kenadee in the family!

Colton the Bullrider

We were out running some errands the other day and stopped at Peterson's Country store to check on some things. They had a bull out front so Colton decided to be brave and hop on! We really expected it to be kind of fun, but this is what he got.....

It wasn't very challenging but he made it fun. Hayden didn't think it was challenging enough so he hung on too. We all got a pretty good laugh out of it though.....

Murder Mystery dinner

We had a murder mystery dinner party last week with some of our neighbors. We got the game for Christmas and had never played it yet (thanks Darren and Tina...that was a great present!). We decided a couple of weeks ago that we had to finally play it so we invited our friends and they really played the part! It was based on a 1950's barbecue where our mutual friend was murdered and we had to figure out who did it. They were all dressed up and were hilarious. There were times that we couldn't tell if they were acting or not. They were very convincing. It was a great night and we had a blast. This is Layne and Laury. She was the Miss Kansas City and he was a musician, "Chubby Cheddar." They were so funny and she was very convincing in her role. This is Travis and Holly and Cody and D'Le. Travis was a Russian rocket scientist, Holly was the local tramp, Cody was a mechanic and D'Le was a 50's teenager. We were kind of the extras for the game. Our parts really weren't very fun but we had a great time watching the others. We weren't there when the murder happened but showed up shortly afterward so we were there to help solve the crime but we weren't suspects. I was a newspaper journalist and Paul was an actor that played a detective in a television drama.

Fishing!

Paul took the boys fishing at the local trout farm a couple of weeks ago. They had a great time. It is a great place. They provide the fishing poles and you just show up, catch as many fish as you want, and they clean them for you! Then you pay for the fish and eat em! They tasted sooooo good. Plus it was fun, for them anyway. I was home canning....

Our Garden!

This was our garden a few months ago. Potatoes, green beans, peas.....tomatoes, corn, etc. This was our garden a few weeks ago...Our potatoes, green beans corn and tomatoes. We have really been enjoying the "fruits" of our labors recently. There is nothing better than freshly picked vegetables. We are just about done with it all. We still have tomatoes, onions and potatoes going but we are on the last leg of the garden for 2008!

Bradley family pictures

This is most of my family. My parents, siblings, spouses and nieces and nephews. There were a few that couldn't be there but it is sure the most updated picture of us! It is a HUGE, FUN group!

This is a picture taken at my grandpa's funeral, Feb. 2008. My parents in the middle front, surrounded by all of my siblings and most of the spouses. It isn't often that we are all together so we had to document it!

Random Pictures

The boys in front of a monster truck at the cruise-in. The three babies born in the Bradley family this year. Kynli (left) was laughing at Bradley (center), who was crying and Maddie (right) just gave him dirty looks. It was hilarious. Colton at one of his baseball games. Paul and Lisa watching the baseball game in the hot sun. Colton showing Grandma Munk how to stack cups (speed stacking). He is pretty good. He can do a round in about 15 seconds.

Aquarium Pictures

We were in Salt Lake for my nephews baptism so we went to the aquarium while we were there. Here is a picture of Paul and the boys by one of the tanks. Here is Colton petting the stingrays. Hayden petting the stingrays...the stingers have been removed. The boys looking at one of the tanks. The pictures are kind of dark because the lights are low and I had to put the camera on a special setting. (No flash allowed.) Cameron was reaching into some boxes with various fish in them.

Bradley Family Reunion

We had the Bradley family reunion a couple of weeks ago and had a great time in Bear Lake! Almost everyone was there and that is an accomplishment with my family! Colton was gone to scout camp and joined us Saturday! My batteries were dead so I didn't get any pictures of him but Cameron and Hayden got in to a few! Cameron is a magnet for some of the cousins.......Here he is getting dog-piled by some of the girls.

Cameron with his notorious pose! We were just getting ready to eat dinner and Cameron had to pose for the camera!

Bradley Family Reunion II

We had the Bradley family reunion a couple of weeks ago and the theme was the Olympics. My sister Linette put a lot of work into the weekend and we had a great time! During the opening ceremonies, each family was in charge of a performance so of course I asked Hayden to take care of our portion of the program. He sang part of Jim Brickman's " Love of My Life." It was a fun weekend!

Hayden's Performance

Hayden has been at choir camp all week long at USU. They did a musical theater program yesterday and he was Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. They learned some spiritual music, Disney songs, and some various other music. He had a great time and learned a lot. They have a great music program here and he was excited to learn from some great conductors.

Wedding cake

I did a wedding cake for Amber's brother last week and I think it turned out pretty well. She is from Russia and wanted something simple so we did a two-tier cake with ribbon and flowers. I was quite pleased. It has been a year since I have done any cakes. It is harder to want to do them since I got married....no time and too many hands around to accidentally touch them. I used to do quite a few of them. It is fun to see how pretty they turn out though. So, here's the latest addition to the creations. Jaxson, my nephew just had to get in the picture too!

New pictures

Our friend DeeDee came over the other day so we convinced her to snap some family pictures in our neighbor's front yard. I can't believe how much the boys have grown!!!

Stuff

Well, life has been crazy the past few weeks! Between family reunions, work, wedding cakes, girls camp and gardening/canning, I haven't had any free time to do anything! But life is good and we have jobs and food to eat so I can't complain, right? My mind has been focused on being grateful for life and health. My brother Larry told me today about a friend of ours that was in a bad car accident over the weekend and I have been thinking about how unpredictable life is and it was a good reminder to be grateful for every minute. Sometimes life can get hard and it is so easy to get caught up in the trials of life that I sometimes forget to live life. There have been a lot of changes in our lives, especially mine, during the past year and I have had to learn to have a positive attitude, no matter what! It has been a challenge and I have some good days and some bad days but I think I am adjusting alright. Luckily I have a wonderful husband who helps so much! He is constantly making me laugh and helping me around the house so my stress level stays somewhat low! Hayden has been living with us this summer and it has been fun to have him in our home. He is always laughing and creating some excitement. These boys have definitely blessed my life! Who knew that it would be so easy to love? Well, those are my thoughts for the day! Hopefully soon I can get this blog updated again!

Fun New Recipe

We have tons of cilantro in our garden but our salsa garden isn't ready yet so I have been researching ideas to use it. I came across a recipe that I adjusted to fit our tastes and came up with the following dip. We love it and have put it in tortilla wraps, on chips, in breakfast burritos, etc. So thought I'd share! In a blender or food processor, combine a package of cream cheese, about 2 Tbsp of sour cream, 1 cup of salsa, 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic, 2 Tbsp. lemon juice and seasonings to taste. (I used garlic salt and lemon pepper but be creative!) Blend until cilantro is chopped and enjoy!

Blessings

Since I created this blog, I haven't taken many opportunities to just write something. I am always trying to keep it updated with pictures and that's all I can seem to do. But, I feel like I need to express my gratitude for all of our blessings in the past month. It has been a fun-filled month with the boys in our home and it seems like there was always something going on. It was BUSY!!!!! But, it was a blessing to have them here. They are the funniest and most loving kids I have ever met. There is never a dull moment with them around. There have also been a few times when the Lord has blessed us so much that I have been in tears. I have had a few opportunities to feel extra doses of the spirit and I am so grateful for a very loving Heavenly Father that knows my individual needs and provides the needed blessings. Even now, I am bawling and feeling overwhelmed as a daughter of God. My lesson in YW on Sunday was on having an Eternal Perspective and I am amazed at how Heavenly Father can keep track of all of us and know what we need, when we need it. I know He has been there for me this month, through it all. Sometimes I feel undeserving but that is when I feel the most love! My testimony has been strengthened tremendously this month! I am so grateful!

A Fun Memory Game

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I have together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! (You can play this even if we're just blog friends... something that you remember from our blog time together! haha!) 2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see what memories people have of you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

Cameron's marching band parade performance

This is the Mountain Crest marching band during Hyrum's July 4th parade. Chase, my nephew, is in the colorguard and Cameron is marching with a snare drum. Chase is on the far side and Cameron is the closest snare on the front row. Paul was walking behind them, cheering them on. The whole family was in the parade except me so I was the designated picture taker and driver to pick them up at the end of the parade route. It was fun but they were exhausted afterward.

Parade Pictures

Hayden and his dance partner, Jenna. Hayden on their dance float in the 4th of July parade. Colton taking a break during the parade. (Far right) Mountain Crest marching band at the end of the parade route. Cameron taking off his hot uniform after the parade.