Chuck E Cheese & Halloween

We have some good news.  We never did get our camera back with all of our photos, but we did ask Santa for a new camera, so we're hoping that he'll bring us one.  We also found a few photos from recent months on our phones, so at least we have some photos of Halloween and other events in recent months.  The photo quality isn't great, but here are a few of our favorites:

We took Livie to Chuck E Cheese a couple of months ago... she loved it.  She did think it was a little strange to ride around in a car with a mouse.

Even though this isn't a great photo of Livie, it really is a classic.  Notice the position of Livie's drink on the table.  This photo was taken a millisecond before Livie spilled her drink everywhere!

Livie was very excited for Halloween this year. Here she is proudly modeling the new Halloween shirt that Hammy sent her.

Ever since Livie was a tiny baby, Brad has referred to her as "Little Monkey." Maybe that's why she likes to pretend that she is one of the monkeys...

Ashley found a costume at Costco that she just couldn't pass up. Livie liked it so much that she wanted to sleep in it!

Here is Livie trick or treating in her cute little costume.  We might be just a little biased, but we think she is the cutest monkey we've seen!

And of course, a monkey just would not be a monkey, nor would Livie be Livie, if she did not find a reason to play in "the cage!"

In case we don't post again in the next 10 days, we hope that each and every one of you have a wonderful Christmas! May this season bring peace and joy to you and your family!

Love, Brad, Abby, Livie, Peanut & Bailey

Peanut Poll Results

In our very scientific "Peanut Poll," 63% of you believed that Livie is having a little brother.  In this case, the majority guessed wrong.  Livie is going to have a new baby sister!  (Stockton, I am truly sorry... I know how heartbroken you will be when you hear this news.)

Most importantly, we are thrilled and grateful to hear that our baby girl appears to be very healthy.  All of the lab results and ultrasounds indicate that she is developing properly.

Thanks for your votes!  We appreciate your love, support and interest!

Love,
Brabby, Mo & Peanut

PS We lost our camera 10 days ago when we took Livie to the circus.  We were devastated... sadly, we had not transferred any of our photos for the past two months, so we lost all of the photos from our cruise, the fair, the pumpkin patch, pumpkin carving and all of our other Autumn photos.  Unfortunately, no one turned it in to the lost and found, so all of the pictures are gone, which is why we haven't been able to post any photos recently.

Peanut Poll

As you can see, we've added a new poll on the right of the blog.  We welcome all to place your vote on whether or not Peanut will be a boy or a girl.  On November 9, the ultrasound should reveal the real answer.

Autumn in New England

As you might expect, Maine is absolutely beautiful right now--the air is crisp and the leaves are changing. We are really enjoying our first autumn in Maine.

Last weekend, we took Livie to the county fair. She got such a kick out of feeding the sheep!


She loved seeing all the different animals so close...

Despite this ox weighing 3900+ lbs more than Livie, she wasn't intimidated at all. She insisted on petting it even while it tried to swat her with its tail!

This weekend, we took Livie to pick out pumpkins. Some of the pumpkins were bigger than she is!

She had so many pumpkins to choose from...

She found one that was just her size!

We found several great pumpkins: one for Dada, one for Mama, one for Livie and one for Peanut!

Once we got home, Livie didn't want to let the pumpkins out of her sight...even while she ate lunch!

Although our corn didn't provide many ears for eating, at least it was good for something! As you can see, Livie found a new little seat that is just her size.

Oh, and by the way, Livie is still finding new ways every day to torment Bailey, or as Livie calls her, "Bay"! Livie now thinks that "Bay's" crate is her garage.

Our Little Peanut!

We are excited to announce that Abby passed "the test" with flying colors--two pink stripes! Abby is pregnant and expecting our second little one: Peanut!

Livie was the one to break the news to many of our family members while in Puerto Rico last month. Abby quietly put on Livie's new bib and waited for someone to notice. Since they were sitting right by Livie, Hammy Shan and Ashley picked up on it right away.

We are excited to have our own little Mainer! Peanut is scheduled to join our family on April 3rd. So far, all of the tests and ultrasounds have gone great. We feel very blessed to be able to have another child and a little friend for Livie!

Update & Videos

We know, we know... we haven't been very good at blogging lately.

We've had a lot of company in the past month or so and we've had a busy summer, so we haven't made much time for blogging. However, having so many visitors has helped create a lot of great pictures. We have a few videos that we thought that some of you might like.

This first video is of Livie in Bar Harbor, Maine. Bar Harbor is a beautiful area near Acadia National Park where the ultra-rich used to go to play: the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts both had "cottages" in the area. Today, Martha Stewart, John Travolta and the likes keep summer homes in the region. Unfortunately, since we can't afford to hang in those circles, we stayed in a little motel 40 minutes out of town. We still had a great time.

Livie was content chasing the birds in the park near the pier. (This reminds me of an old video of my brother, Scott, when he was a little boy chasing the birds on the beaches of Hawaii.)

This next video is one of our favorites. Livie loves to pretend that Bailey is her "horsey." Thank heavens that we have one of the most mild natured dogs on the planet or Livie would probably be in trouble!

We'll try to post more of our photos, but I wouldn't hold your breath for too long...

P.S. Please forgive the "dorky" commentary and laughing in the videos.

Fun with Uncle Bret

Uncle Bret (Abby's Brother) came to visit us a week ago. Livie was a little unsure at first of this strange man living in her house...she tried to hide in Bailey's crate.


She quickly realized that Uncle Bret is very nice, and even included him in her nightly round of "kisses." (Unfortunately for him, he came after Bailey in the "kisses" lineup.)


Uncle Bret took Mama and Livie to one of the renowned restaurants in Portland, "Street & Co." Livie wanted to make sure that she looked her best for her big night on the town.

Since Uncle Bret is the "foodie," we decided to try cooking lobsters at home again with his help.

As you can see below, the lobsters turned out much better this time with his help. Thankfully, we didn't have "lobster sushi" again!

We all went to see Portland Head Light, one of the most famous lighthouses in the U.S. It was a beautiful day and lots of fun.

Dada and Livie played while Mama and Uncle Bret read all the plaques.

We loved this photo that Bret took on his iPhone of a sailboat on the ocean. The photo was taken only about an hour after the photo of us in front of the lighthouse. As you can see, storms move quickly here in Maine.

We think this would make a great "Demotivational Poster." One idea that we have for a caption is, "Have you ever felt like a dark cloud is following you? It is!"

Uncle Bret, thanks for sharing all these great photos that you took on your trip. We miss you! Come back and see us again soon!

Lil' Beach Bum

On Memorial Day, we took Livie to the beach for the first time since our trip to So Cal last November. We are fortunate to live within 40 minutes of several great beaches on the Maine coast. This one is called Old Orchard Beach...it's one of the most popular in the state.


At first, Livie was a little apprehensive of the water.

But she warmed up to it very quickly, even though the water temp was in the 50s!

Livie wanted to walk back and forth in the shallow water as the waves came rolling in...

She loved swinging and splashing her feet...

She cried so hard when we took her out of the water that she had huge tears pouring down her cheeks. As usual, she got her way...

She would have been content to play in the water all day long.

Livie is already a big fan of the beach and playing in the water!

She even tried to bribe us with kisses to bring her back to the beach again soon!

Her plan worked... she and Abby usually go at least once every week. We think that Livie (and "Mama") will be very sad if we ever have to move away from the ocean!

Livie's Best Friend

The day that we picked up Bailey, Livie was very apprehensive of her. She has always liked dogs, but she didn't know what to think of a puppy being around her all the time.
Fortunately, it didn't take Livie long to warm up to her new little friend.

Bailey soon learned that the most lucrative hang out in the house was right under Livie's high chair.

Livie gradually became more and more daring, even to the point that she started petting Bailey all on her own. For a little doggy, Bailey is very tolerant of a little human.

Livie soon learned that it tickles when Bailey licks her hand. She'll let Bailey lick her hands and just giggle and giggle. (We try to discourage the behavior, but it's so dang cute!)

Sometimes Livie will even lay on the floor to encourage Bailey to come and play with her.

After eating dinner, Livie would much rather let Bailey "wash her hands" for her instead of washing them in the sink. Bailey loves Cheetos!

Livie gives all of us, even Bailey, good night kisses every night!

Bailey likes to return the love!

We're grateful that Bailey is so good-natured and gentle, even as a puppy. We think that the two will be best friends for many years to come!

Family Pics

Can you believe it? Two posts back to back! As usual, we've been slackers at posting on the blog lately.

Livie got this cute dress for Easter, but today is the first day that she was able to wear it to church. We thought that we'd take some new family pics, including the newest addition to our family... Bailey!


Livie is so much fun -- she's such a happy little girl (usually).

We can't believe how fast she is growing up.

She loves to run around and play outside.

Livie and Bailey play together outside every day. Bailey is Livie's little friend...Bailey is really good with Livie.

Bailey has another new friend. Our neighbors have a Portuguese Water Dog puppy named Bella. Bailey and Bella play so hard together every day that they wear each other out...it's great!

Livie loves to play ball with the dogs.

With all the "real" toys that we have for Livie and Bailey, who would have thought that they would fight over a random sock! As you can see, Livie won this round.

We have tons of pictures that we've taken over the past few months of our adventures in Maine. We will try to post some of them soon. We really enjoy being in Maine. It is so beautiful here now that the leaves are on all the trees.

We hope that you are all doing well!

Love,

Brad, Abby & Livie

P.S. Oh yeah, did we mention that Livie is walking now? She finally gained her confidence on her trip to Utah. Ever since then, she has been running around the house and yard almost nonstop!