October is the beginning of fun season

Last weekend was the ward Halloween party. Us Brady's decided to submit a chili to the chili cookoff, and we probably would have won, but our Chili somehow turned out EXCEPTIONALLY HOT. By far the hottest chili there. It was so hot that I could not finish more than 3 spoonfulls, it burned your throat. The flavor was great, but we did not win, although it was fun making it. Afterwards there was a trunk or treat which was so much fun.

Alex was dressed as Florence Nightingale, and Archie was a banana. Once she got a hang of it Alex loved running from car to car and holding her bucket out expectantly.

I think Kate should have won the costume contest, she was a fantastic scarecrow.

Little Florence with her injured bear.

Last Saturday was also the BYU Homecoming Parade, so Kate and I took the kids and although you can't tell from their faces, we all had a great time.

The annual Brady pumpkin carving contest also took place about a week ago. Tyler won (far right) followed by Devin (far left)

Devin (2nd place) , Ben (3rd place), Tyler (1st place)

Kate, Kara, Kristen

Alex also decided that pacifiers were cool. It only took 18 months. She played with it all day, and then was done.

Now for real Halloween, and then on to Thanksgiving!!!!!!

Fun Fall Stuff

Last weekend my Mother and brother David came to visit, we went to a pumpkin patch, the scarecrow festival (I would recomend it if you have kids and have never been), Tucano's, the bombay house, ate icecream and in general had a LOT of fun. Here are some pictures of the great times.

Red barn pumpkin patch ride. Alex was really interested in the baby sitting next to me. Lots of fun.

Uncle Michael and Alex checking out the geese at Thanksgiving point.

Aunt Danielle, Alex and I as pumpkins.

My mother and Alex at the pumpkin patch.

David, Danielle, Alex and Mom at the Red Barn. I really liked their apple cider doughnuts.

On our way to a great lunch at Tucano's!

Archie and Alex getting ready for a bike ride.

Today I fulfilled a lifelong dream

As we were driving to Tyler's parent's house. We passed a house with a DELOREAN parked in the driveway!!! Of course as a huge back to the future fan, I made Tyler turn the car around so we could gawk, and talk, to the people. Turns out Tyler knows them and they detail the car all the time for their friend!!!

Of course I had to invite myself to sit in it, the drivers seat, and even pull the fancy doors down. I was a giddy fool. It suddenly made all the nausia go away and everything was ok in the world.

They even invited me back to have my picture taken sometime. I know, what a dork.

When it rains, it pours.

These were Alex's real reactions to the news.

I had to steal the title from Natalie's blog, because it was so appropriate.
I promise that someday soon my posts will take a turn for the better and I will be writing and posting pictures about all the fun happening in Utah. Unfortunately, until then, and on top of everything else, I have the flu.
I don't know about Tyler, but I have reached the point of semi considering moving out of this house. If the location wasn't perfect, I am sure I would have already gone apartment hunting. The landlords seem to think our bathroom stench is due to our own uncleanliness and will take care of itself, and I am convinced we have killer mold growing in our walls. So, I have decided to take matters into my own hands and call the health department.
About the time I was getting REALLY frustrated about all of this, I seem to have contracted the flu from somewhere. At first I thought it was the morning sickness day from hades, and was seriously afraid this was going to be the new trend. But after vomiting 6 times and coming down with a fever, chills and terrible muscle aches, I decided that I was just having a bad flu day and thank goodness, it would probably go away.
Poor Alex hates nothing more than mommy laying on the floor all day not playing with her. And Tyler is trying to write a paper, take care of the baby and his wife.
While this all sucks now, and I can't imagine things getting much worse (knock on wood) I know someday I will look back and laugh about all of it. That is if the mold doesn't kill us all.

I feel like this story is somewhat meaningless until you know.....

Yes, we are pregnant. Due May 1st.



I was going to hold out and wait forever to make the big announcement, but I think it is easier to understand the stresses going on in our house, if you know that I am currently in the "super smell" stage of pregnancy.



RECAP: We had wasps building a home in our walls, missing screens and a constantly dripping faucet. Called landlord who came and fixed the faucet and cemented the wasps escape hole. Wasps started to escape INTO the house (LOTS of them) and landlord called exterminator. Exterminator came and sprayed. Wasps have thinned out, only found a few since. About the same time as the hole was sealed, our bathroom started to REAK. I thought it was mold since there is no fan in the bathroom and we can't open the window because there is no screen, and the wasps would come in. We cleaned hardcore, Smell got worse, and was traced to a hole in the wall under the sink.



This smell is like nothing in the world you can imagine. I can not walk past the bathroom because it makes me gag, I have to hold my breath, run into the bathroom, go to the bathroom and run out while taking frantic gasps into a rag, because it smells so bad. My father in law (who is not pregnant and therefore does not have the curse of the super smell) walked in to check it out, and gaged and left. This is how bad it is. I am starting to hate our house. All these things would suck under normal circumstances, but especially during the nauseated, curled in a ball on the floor, can't feed my own child let alone myself, stage of life.



The consensus is mold or mildew or moisture in the wall, so hopefully the landlord won't cut corners figuring this one out, or take his time. Yes my personal hygiene is suffering as showering in that bathroom is pretty much out of the question at this point. The good news is we are past the 3 month mark and I'm starting to feel a lot better, even if poor Tyler still has to stay an arms length away at all times. We are very excited, Tyler is convinced it's a boy, and overall, life is still good.

Return of the wasps

I can happily tell you that items 1-4 on the list from my previous post, have been taken care of. Number 5 though, has me convince that they will have to burn down our house to get rid of the little monsters.

After the landlord cemented the wasps into the wall, it turns out that they survived. Now that their previous means of escape had turned into a dead end, they decided to start exploring and their search turned them right out into Alex's room. Yes, so for the last 3 days I have been finding wasps everywhere, in the bathroom, in Alex's room, in the carpet, and in the hall. My brave husband has killed dozens and finally today the landlord called an exterminator who came and sprayed the OUTSIDE of the house after claiming he found our how they were getting in the house, a hole by the BATHROOM window. I am slightly upset about this, seeing as they are INSIDE our house in the BABY's room, not the bathroom. So until this all gets resolved Alex is once again sharing our room. I think the landlord is just trying to hurry and fix the problem, at least he is doing something, but I'm afriad of what happens in the spring when all the eggs in the wall start to hatch and this turns into a horror movie.

Luckily Ben, Kate and Archie are back and so now Alex and I have people to hang out with now that we are trying to avoid being home. Alex is TERRIBLE at sharing, and poor Archie never gets to play with any toys. She shares with adults just fine, but rips everything out of Archie's hands and throws a fit when we try to make her share.

I would love any advice anyone might have on how to teach a 18 month old how to share.

Things that won't go away if you ignore them

1. Poopy diapers- no matter how much you DON'T want to unstrap your baby from the carseat, undress her again and change that diaper, it is an infinitely better option than taking the poopy smelly child to the store.
2. Super Moldy leftovers in the fridge - Unless your husband is equally as disgusted by them, which so far has not happened. This is only the case because the mere thought of taking the lid off, makes me want to vomit, doing it, might kill me.
3. Dirty Laundry- Alex is looking more and more like a homeless little hobo as our clothing options become more and more limited.
4. Paramedic tests- The more we try to distract Tyler from homework, the more he gets stressed out the night before the huge weekly tests.
5. Wasps- I tried to ignore the wasps congregating under the bathroom window. Then they decided to build a home inside the wall of my home, right next to the toilet. There is nothing quite unsettling as sitting on the toilet while listening to the sound of wasp swarms inside your wall. Thankgoodness for brave husbands and landlords willing to cement them into their narrow little grave.