Baby McKay!!!

Well after a year long hiatus, I've decided to recommit myself to the blog....mainly because I want to be able to remember every moment with our little munchkin and all his cuteness. I also want to share pics and stories with family. OH AND BECAUSE BEN IS MAKING ME!!!! So we absolutely can't get enough of our little man, (he's found his voice this week and is currently screaming/squealing as loud as he can right now with Brandon) we think everything he does is the most awesome thing anyone could do. I also got a new video camera for my birthday last month so now I can't post some videos too! I'll post a few pics today since he's already grown sooo much! (5 month pics to come...)

4 months....

                                              3 months....

2 months and blessing...

1 month....

2 weeks....

At the hospital....

Goodbye April...

This month has seriously been such a blast, so fun in fact I haven't even had time to blog about it! So lemme start at the beginning....We started out by going to Conference. We got to go to the Saturday afternoon session with my whole family. It's always so refreshing and uplifting. It was nice just to have the whole weekend off together. Brandon's family does a really fun thing at his grandparents house the Sunday after Conference. The WHOLE family goes over for dinner and then we talk about our favorite part of Conference. I feel like it's a great legacey and tradition...I wish I had pics. We also got to go to the Jazz vs. Lakers game that weekend. Breanna's boyfriend got us tickets on like the 12th row...it was way fun. But I'm afraid the Jazz have failed us this year. Oh well better luck next year. Thanks Boyf!! And don't ask me why I'm always creepin behind Brandon in all the pics.

The very best part of the month is my sissy Kaylie comin home!!!! We're soooooo happy to have her back! She is such a joy and we love the spirit she brought home with her. I feel like I've been breathing, sleeping, eating, living at my parents house this last week cuz it's so fun having her home!! I didn't even realize how much I missed her!

Isn't she soo cute? I love hearing all of her stories and just laughing and catching up. It reminds me of my own mission and made me miss it so much!

A couple days later we celebrated Brandon's birthday. We had a BBQ and the boys played some B-Ball while the girls judged their dunks....or wannabe dunks?? Here's a couple previews.

Breanna baked him such a delish cake too! It was so nice of her....and Brandon always melts for a good piece of chocolate cake!

Then we went to Boondocks to play mini golf. Can I please just say for the record that I won!!!
I wish we would have made an awesome bet so I could have gotten something really cool from it.

We also hit up the Go Carts. Look how excited Brandon looks...

On Sunday after Kaylie's homecoming we had such a lovely Easter dinner at Brandon's house. We always look forward to dinner at Kathy's. Brandon got to celebrate his B-day again with Connie and Dave too!

Grandma and Grandpa even came down from Idaho...always excited to see them. It seriously topped off such a fun weekend. Doesn't it look so cute and Easterish....

Airborne

So the other night Brandon and I both had the night off so we went last minute to this place in Draper. The truth is Brandon had really been wanting to go for a long time and it was actually pretty fun....if you minus the part about us being there with a bunch of highschool kids! So yeah I guess we should say once they cleared out it was pretty fun. We had the whole place to ourselves. Honestly it was good just to get out of the house and play!! The boys showed off doing cool tricks and flips, we played tag and dodgeball and actually got a good workout!

Spring Fever

Wow I haven't posted anything in sooo long. I guess we haven't been doing anything too out of the ordinary lately. Brandon is studying like crazy and I'm picking up lots of shifts at work. We did get to go to Desert Star on Saturday night. Sometimes it's nice just to have an excuse to dress up and not wear scrubs every day! The beginning of the year is always so BLAH to me. I keep getting so excited for warm weather and then get crushed when I wake up to snow AGAIN! The only snowmen I want to see anymore are THESE!! This is me dreaming of summer.....or at least spring! Sheesh.

Goodbye 2010!!

I of course have to recap 2010 since it was simply perfect. At first thought all I can remember is school school and more school. But as I dig through pics and reminisce with Brandon I cannot believe all that we did! What a year! I'm so grateful for where we're at and for all the sacrifices and encouragement from family. We are just loving life and can't wait for all that 2011 holds!

We started off the year with a cabin trip with friends and family.....if you know Brandon's family, you know snowmobiling was involved. (I got to break out my new pink gear which was the funnest part for me!) We saved every penny to be able to take our trip to Vietnam. It was a study abroad for my nursing program and Brandon came along as a medical assistant which looks great for grad school applications. Sorry for all the pics on this one. It truly was one of those life changing experiences. I wouldn't say it was a "VACATION" but we had a blast, learned a lot, made some great friends, and hopefully made a difference in some small way. WE were touched for sure! How could you not be by these cute litte orphan faces?

Closing dinner after our 3 weeks there...you can tell it's the end cuz look at Brandon's beard.

We ate soooo much seafood....and surprisinly loved it soooo much. Maybe since it was so fresh, they would actually be fishing off the side of our boat for lunch as we were doing clinics, and sure enough a couple hours later we had tables full of seafood! Brandon actually won "most adventurous at the table" award. (It's custom that the men had to finish all the food on the table since they don't waste ANYTHING, so this may have been part of it.)

Halong Bay....they call it their "8th world wonder" it was gorgeous! We visited caves and a whole community built on the ocean.

Leper colony. These cuties had been married 50 years! And we learned in Vietnam that were giants!

Water buffalo holding up traffic.

Mountain ladies beggin for glasses so they can do their stitching for a living.

What can I say, it was incredible, I wish I could have posted like 100 pictures but that would have only been for me, I'm sure you all would have been bored!

In April we celebrated Brandon's birthday with a gift certificate to La Cai. It was delish but I'll never go back again. This salad alone was about $20!

Said goodbye to Elder Duffin number 4! What an honor to have all 4 boys serve missions. What a cute bunch.We all got to do a temple session together too with the whole family there! It was a special moment to have the whole family together for the first time in the temple.

A couple days after sending him off we were off ourselves.....to Disneyland....as the Incredibles.

And the best news is that Brandon graduated with his Bachelors last May. YEAH!!! I'm so proud of this guy, he works so hard to fulfill his dreams.

Later that summer we spent some time in Park City with my family.

And went 4wheeling in a fugly sweater apparently. (I'm currently watching Mean Girls on TV)

Spent a weekend in July up in Idaho boating on grampa's boat.

How cute are these 2? Grandma and Grandpa Zollinger are all decked out for Declo Days!!Priceless.

Metcalf reunion also in July for more boating. We were pretty much acrobats with our tricks on the innertube.

Brandon learned to wind surf....harder than it looks.

In August I finished Nursing School!! YEAH!!! Can't believe we are graduated people! The guy at the bank called us DINK's. (Dual Income No Kids) It's been soo nice but hopefully that will change this year;) We'll see if Brandon actually reads this blog when he comes home and says "babe why would you write that?) P.S. no idea why this pic makes me look like a little pig nose.

Went on a graduation trip with my nursing school friends to the Oregon Coast. Brandon wanted a new tennis raquet for his graduation....of course.

October found us in Vegas with my family. We just love getting away I guess.

October found me pondering a lot about life as Hailey welcomed in her brand new precious baby Ruby...

And we said goodbye to my precious Grandpa Watkins. Still remembering him...

The December month always leads to parties, good food, lots of family and fun as we remember our Savior, His birth and sacrifice, and rededicate ourselves to becoming better this year! We are so happy to welcome in this New Year and all that it will hold for us. So Happy New Year to you all and we hope your happy and well. Lots of love!