The Branson Family

BLING Team Christmas Picture

2011-12-09T20:07:00.005-06:00

Meet my team, well we are actually a mix of 4 teams, but we all make up the BLING Team! Our building used to say Y Building and some of the letters fell off, someone moved the remaining letters to create the word BLING. So it stuck!

We have
8 Video Producers:
Mark Dawson, Chase Layman (Experience Team)
Kevin Ely, Grant Downing, Darin McClaugherty, Daniel Daily, Travis Tindell (Media Design)

4 Graphic Designers:
Stephen Cox (Experience Team)
James Hugo, Jeremy Brown, Kaleb Nimz (Media Design)

3 Production Coordinators:
Kirk Suttles, Amanda Hyden, Jacquelyn Edwards (Production Team)

2 Tech people:
Warren Hough-Technical Engineer, Sunny Thomas-Project Coordinator
(The Message Capture and Broadcast Team)

1 CG/Animation artist:
Sean McHargue (Media Design)

1 Project Coordinator (that's me-Media Design)

1 Administrative Assistant:
our newest member - Jenna Bethany (Media Design)

and 1 Team Leader:
Beth Johnson (Media Design)

I'm so very blessed to work on this VERY talented team, besides starting out at LifeChurch.tv in the LifeStore, this is by far my most favorite position at LC.tv. I'm growing/learning/dreaming now more than ever. I'm so thankful to be where I am right now and I'm excited to see what God has in store for our team! Great things are happening and the best is yet to come!

CAROLS - FREE Christmas Music and an AWESOME video

2011-11-22T22:24:00.001-06:00

I seriously work with some of the most talented people on the face of this earth. Here is the video Daniel Daily produced to promote our FREE Christmas Music CD (used as an invite tool to invite people to LifeChurch.tv for one of our many Christmas services). Now that you've watched the video, now go download the music. Enjoy! You can thank me later! :)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

Now wasn't that worth the wait? I love how creative his teachers are and you can't help but smile when you look at the cutest bunny ever! :)

From April Fool's to One Day Without Shoes!

2011-04-08T10:00:00.003-05:00

This post will be full of random happenings from the first week of April.

On April 1st, Danna and I made edible eyeballs to share with everyone at work! They were so easy and fun to make and everyone loved them. So yummy! Brought some home for Chris, Mikah and Gavyn and the kids thought they were super cool!

My friend Abbi hosted a Clothing Swap Meet at her house and I scored these super cute/sassy red shoes! This is the second one I have attended and it's pretty awesome to get some new clothes without spending a dime!

April 5th was One Day Without Shoes hosted by TOMS shoes (which you all know that I LOVE) to raise awareness for all the kids who walk around with no shoes on EVERYDAY. I was barefoot the whole day, even went to the dentist with no shoes on! It was hard for just one day, let alone everyday. Made me thankful (and yet sick to my stomach) that I have a closet full of shoes.

Lukas' teacher sent me this pic and I just had to share cause I think it's stinkin' cute, but just wait till you see what they ended up doing with the picture....

And you'll have to wait till Easter to see it...hope everyone is enjoying April so far! I'm loving the spring weather when we have it that is. :)

Gavyn is 5!!!

2011-04-07T11:56:00.004-05:00

Our little girl is growing up....she turned 5 on March 9th! Here she is all dressed up as the Birthday Princess, yes she wore it all day.

My mom is making afghans for all the grandchildren this year and Gavyn was the first one to get hers. She loves it!

At school, they have birthday celebrations once a month where they sing to each of the kids with b-days and have cupcakes and juice.

Gavyn with her friend Tatum, who also has a b-day in March.
So blessed by our sweet birthday girl! Can't believe she starts Kindergarten this year!

Mommy/Daughter Date

2011-02-23T00:01:00.001-06:00

Beauty and the Beast came to town and we were able to get tickets before they sold out, so I took Gavyn on a Mommy/Daughter date! Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite Princess movie, and I have always wanted to see it on stage. Gavyn LOVES all things princess, so it was perfect! We got there WAY too early (I thought the show started at 7, it started at 7:30) but I got an awesome parking spot, so that was a plus.

We played outside for about 20 minutes before heading inside to find where we were sitting.

A rose for my princess...she wanted the Belle doll, but um wasn't going to spend that much money at the overpriced merchandise table, so we settled for a rose. She held it all night long and waved it at the end. We had a slight meltdown once we got to our seats, I guess the upper box seats freaked her out a bit! And then she was saying she was scared of Gaston and didn't want to watch him fight the Beast and that she wanted her Daddy. I was finally able to calm her down and told her she could sit on my lap and that I would keep her safe. Well she ended up on my lap for all of the first part. After Intermission, she stood up some and sat in her own chair all of 5 seconds and then was back on my lap. She ended up loving it and talked nonstop on the way home until about 10 minutes from our house, and she was out. It was a great Mommy/Daughter date and will be planning many more!

Playing at the Park

2011-02-19T00:01:00.001-06:00

If we are friends on Facebook, you might have already seen all these pictures (and more than likely all future pictures). However my mom, who is on FB but hardly checks it, asked that I post more often on the blog (cause she checks the blog often). So here you go mom, now you don't have to "get onto" me anymore! :)

Since the weather is in the 70s this week (complete opposite of our blizzard weather) I promised the kids we would go to the park one day. I found Mikah's old baby sunglasses and grabbed them at the last minute before heading out the door. Lukas wasn't quite sure about them at first...

But then he got distracted and momentarily forgot that some weird black thing was on his face. I love his little peach fuzz mowhawk shining in the sun!

Started out at the playground, which Gavyn was happy about....Mikah....

not so much....he really wanted to play sports and had brought his football, baseball and bat. I told him we would play on the playground for about 10 minutes and then move on to the sports. He huffed/puffed/sulked on the bench for a bit, but then the draw of the playground got him off of it. Still wasn't too happy about it though, as you can see in the picture.

Time to move on to sports and we have a complete transformation on our hands. I was wearing Lukas in my hotslings, so he had to throw the football gently to me and then I would throw it back.

Lukas really liked the park, no really he did....so much so that it put him right to sleep! :)

Gavyn taking a break and snacking on FunDip from her Valentine's day candy stash. The wind was a little too much for us (as you can tell in the pic from Gavyn's hair in her face), so we packed it up and headed home before getting ready for KONNECT at Church.

We had a great time at the park and are so enjoying the nice warm weather...just hope it lasts...

Blizzard...

2011-02-18T16:40:00.005-06:00

So we had a blizzard come through OK a few weeks back and we were snowed in for a few days, which was totally fine with me! Picture out our front door, sorry it's not that good of a pic.
Gavyn checking out the snow from her window...the kids and I went out to play in the fluffy white stuff and had a lot of fun!

Aftermath of being outside in the snow

Lukas didn't feel so good, so he spent alot of time doing this. He had his first ear infection. :(

First time in the snow!

Chris made some YUMMY Chicken N Waffles, oh my word - SO GOOD!

Mickey Mouse pancakes were served as well...

I took advantage of the time at home and found myself crafting, here are a few things I made!

Hair clip and Headband

Owl Teether Toy

Tie Pacifier Holders for a couple of upcoming baby gifts.

I really enjoyed our time together at home and with the family. Got a bit stir-crazy after the second day stuck in the house. All the snow melted and then we got hit with more snow a week later....crazy OK weather!

I HEART Babywearing

2010-12-22T15:16:00.009-06:00

While pregnant with Lukas I heard and read a lot about babywearing. Since we didn't want to lug around an infant carrier carseat (we went with a convertable) I knew I wanted to try this babywearing thing out. Green Bambino hosted a Babywearing Class where I learned about the different kinds they carry as well as some practice time to try on the carriers. There are so many wraps/slings/carriers out there that I was a bit overwhelmed, but a few that I knew I wanted to try out.

A friend and I bought fabric to make our own Moby Wrap. We purchased 5 1/2 hards of jersey knit and then cut the fabric in half length-wise to make them, if you are taller than 5'4" you should probably go with 6+ yards. I watched video instructions on the Moby website and tried it out while my mom was still visiting, it looks pretty intimidating at first, but is really easy to use/put on the more you use it.

We walked our first 5K during LifeChurch's family reunion, Lukas was 4 weeks old!

At his first OKC Thunder game - slept through the whole thing!

The next carrier I got was a Hotslings, purchased from Green Bambino and the best part - I got it on sale!

First time in the Hotslings!

Gavyn wanted a carrier for her baby, so I grabbed some fabric I had laying around and sewed one for her! You can't tell me that's not the cutest thing ever!

The last carrier I have tried out is a Mei Tai, that my mom helped me make. I found the instructions here. I wanted to make it with the interchangeable panels, but we were at my mom's house and she didn't have any velcro. But that's okay, cause I love how it turned out and I can always make another one with the panels.

Fussy baby+stick him in a carrier=calm and to lala land he goes

At Target on a girls date with Gavyn!

If you can't tell already - I am in LOVE with babywearing. So wish I had done the babywearing thing with Mikah and Gavyn, but thankful that I get to with Lukas. I have a list of carriers I still want to try out, like a Ring Sling, and an ErgoBaby. You can bet that I will be saving my money/looking out for sales!!!

OSU Infant Nutrition and Health Study

2010-12-14T16:45:00.008-06:00

Lukas is a part of OSU's Infant Nutrition and Health Study in Stillwater, OK. He went for the first time at 3 months and we were just there a few weeks ago for 6 months. He will go back for the last time at 9 months. I found out about the study when I was pregnant and was intrigued by it, so I looked over the information and signed Lukas up. I didn't get any pictures when he was 3 months, but here are some pics from his 6 month appt.

Here he is looking at faces (a picture of a man first, then both a man and woman side by side) on a monitor. I was standing behind him the whole time, I wish I could have seen his face because Stephanie said he was really trying to interact with them and had a confused look on his face as to why they weren't talking or moving. They have him hooked up to measure his heart rate and also have a camera on him to see how he interacts with the screen. He also kept kicking his right foot (which is why it's blurry) I think he liked the sound it made.

The next test was his brain waves, Lukas barely sat still to get all the stuff on, but with the help of some toys to distract him, he was finally ready. They play beeps through the headphones and I was supposed to keep him as still as possible. He did really well for the first 5 minutes or so and then he wanted the stuff off of him, he kept pulling the headphones off. I nursed him to keep him still and then thankfully when he was done, he just laid in my lap. I started kissing his fingers and he just looked up at me and smiled! Melted my heart! Stephanie came in after it was over and she said he was the most calm during that time.

The last test was again in the carseat, but this time they played a loop of babies crying. Lukas kept looking back at me and then looking around then back at me. I joked with his teacher at school that he was looking around for his friends! He did get agitated at the end, and was ready to be done hearing those babies cry (as was I).

I will post more pics when we go back for his 9 month appt. It's been a fun experience so far and I'm looking forward to telling Lukas all about how he is apart of history! :)

Lukas Samuel Branson

2010-11-12T15:07:00.005-06:00

He's 2 months now, but here is a recap of his birth story:

My last month being pregnant was full of contractions that would be close together and consistant for a time but then all of a sudden stop. I even walked around at 5 centimeters dialated for 2 weeks! The little guy was in NO hurry to join our family, much to my dismay. I was ready for him to show up and stop tricking me!

On September 3rd, I had contractions that were 4-5 minutes apart for over an hour, so we called Chris' parents at 11:00 pm to come stay with Mikah and Gavyn. We got to the hospital at 11:30 and they set up the moniters, which showed contractions every 6-7 minutes, and I was still 5 centimeters dialated. We walked the halls for 30 minutes (contracting the WHOLE time) and got back on the moniters and my contractions had gone to 8 minutes apart and still only at 5 centimeters! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Little stinker! By this time it was 3 am and we were given the option of staying for a few more hours or going home. Chris and I were both exhausted so we opted to go home and try to get some sleep. I was really disappointed and felt bad that we were waking up Chris' parents only to say "False alarm!"

Of course as soon as I got home the contractions started up again. I slept/rested as much as I could and by 6 am the contractions were 3-4 minutes apart, and VERY intense. I was biting my pillow so I wouldn't scream out and wake up Mikah and Gavyn. I woke Chris up saying, "Call your parents." They came back over and we headed back to the hospital with Chris speeding to get there. So glad no cops were out! :)

We got to the hospital around 6:30 and they hooked me up and checked me and I was dialated to an 8. Praise Jesus! Finally we were going to soon be holding our little boy in our arms and on his actual due date no less! We called Randy Coleman (good friend and awesome photographer) and he arrived around 7:15am to start documenting Lukas' birth. The on-call doctor (Dr. Hall) came in around 7:30 and broke my water, by 7:50 I was ready to push, by 8:05 I was pushing and at 8:21on September 4th, Lukas Samuel Branson was born! The cord was wrapped around his neck and Dr. Hall calmly cut the cord and assured me that he was fine. Whew - very scared for a few short minutes! He came out looking around and crying every so often. I think he was glad to finally be able to stretch out! He weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 21 inches long. Randy was in the room taking pictures and I am so thankful that we had him document Lukas' birth. We will treasure the pictures/slideshow for the rest of time! You can see the slideshow on Randy's blog. I have watched it over and over again and cry EVERY SINGLE TIME! Gavyn asks to watch the video with the sweet song when Lukas was born! So cute!

Mikah and Gavyn love him and are great helpers (who I take advantage of when I don't want to get up off the couch)! We are very much blessed!

Mikah's First Day of 1st Grade!

2010-08-20T09:00:00.001-05:00

We have a big time 1st grader! Mikah was excited to go back to school, we'll see how long that lasts!

Blessing upon blessing...

2010-08-20T06:00:00.001-05:00

We were able to bless someone with a car at the end of last year and were so very excited/happy to do it. Well God decided to in turn bless us recently!

Someone from work called me a couple of weekends ago and very generously asked if they could bless us with their mini-van! Um, what, excuse me??? Yes, you read right, we were given a minivan for our growing family! :) I was starting to wonder how we were going to fit all 3 kids in the backseat of our Honda, but I knew that other families had worked it out, so I figured we could as well. But now, we have PLENTY of room and also have room for passengers, which works out great cause I am picking up my friends girls from school. They each now have a place to legally sit! Mikah and Gavyn are loving the van and are ready to take it on vacation!
Alison came over and painted Gavyn's Princess wall! She did such a great job and Gavyn loves it. We painted her name the same color blue as the lower wall and Alison used the two pinks that were on Gavyn's Princess Bedding. She will eventually paint on Lukas' wall as soon as we officially decide what we want/like!

Random cute picture of Gavyn - she was CHOWING down on her corn-on-the-cob and when she was done, this is what she looked like! Too cute! :)

Maternity Pics

2010-08-19T13:41:00.002-05:00

Are on Randy's blog - check them out here! Again - he is an amazing photography and I can't wait to get some of the pics to hang around our house! :)

8 Years

2010-08-19T12:31:00.002-05:00

Chris and I celebrated 8 years of marriage on August 10th, which fell on a Tuesday. My parents came up from Texas this past Sunday and stayed the night with Mikah and Gavyn, so we could get a hotel room and spent some quality time together, just the two of us! We splurged and stayed at the Skirvin Hotel, ate dinner at Red Prime Steakhouse, went to the movies and just enjoyed some much needed time together. On Monday, while Oma and Opa took the kids to the Science Muesum, we drove around OKC daydreaming about our next house (we are about to outgrow our current one, but staying put for the time being). Ended up eating lunch at Victorias Pasta Shop in Norman, and then dessert was at Il Dolche in Moore. So all in all, we spent good quality time together and ate very well in the process! :)

We normally don't give gifts to each other, but Chris surprised me with a pair of fabulous shoes - the new TOMS Wedges! I have been eyeing them since they came out and was so surprised and happy when I received them at work. We were checking out Blue 7, one of our favorite local stores, and found some TOMS for Chris as well, so we bought each other TOMS for our anniversary! Check out the TOMS shoe story, if you haven't already. They are so worth it!

Here is a pic of our Anniversary shoes, Mikah took the pic for us!
Thanks mom and dad for coming up to stay with the kids, it was a huge blessing! :)

Sneak peak at my maternity photo shoot

2010-07-22T13:16:00.004-05:00

Last Thursday evening, we headed to Bricktown to meet up with Randy Coleman for my maternity photo shoot. Chris took the pic below with his phone and I CANNOT wait to see the pictures that Randy captured. He took pics of me, me with the kids, Chris with the kids, all of us together, and some with just me and Chris.

Macy is his assistant, who happens to be Randy's brother-in-law's niece. Confused? Macy is our good friend, Chris Fitzgerald's niece (we actually meet her when she was 12 or 13, now she is a Sophomore in College) and Chris married our good friend Christie (who is Randy's sister). Understand, now? :) Randy is in South Africa on a mission trip, so I am TRYING my hardest to be patient until he gets back. It's not working that well. Will post some pics as soon as we get them from him, hopefully soon!! If you are in need of a photographer, Randy is one of the best! This is the second time he has photographed our family and we have him set to photograph Lukas' entrance and also newborn pics. Love, love, love his work!

Weekend fun...

2010-07-14T10:42:00.001-05:00

Gavyn was invited to a friends house for a birthday sleepover and then Mikah also was invited to a friends house, so Chris and I ended up with a date night! We went to eat at POPS (I was craving a Dublin Dr. Pepper which they have in bottles as well as fountian) and this was a pic I captured of the sunset outside the car window. So beautiful!

After dinner we rented "The Book of Eli" and watched that. Very good movie, has violence and cussing. But seriously a movie worth watching.

Chris and Gavyn snuggled up on the couch! She was worn out after her sleepover and painting (see pics below).

Mikah and Gavyn were bored and so I suggested that they paint, and oh boy did they paint! Gavyn stopped after 4 or so pictures (they are on the right of the pic), but Mikah kept going and going! He was painting anything and everything he could think of, toys from his room, a b-day card for his grandpa.

Here he is painting the alien from Toy Story! I think the boy has talent! :)

Preparing for Lukas

2010-07-12T13:53:00.004-05:00

We are slowly getting everything ready for the arrival of Lukas Samuel, only have 8 weeks left, so it's crunch time. I put the Bassinett together all by myself one night while Chris was working. I'm pretty proud and so thankful we saved the instructions! Next up is his crib.

We found this awesome bag at a store called Collected Thread located in the Plaza District, we love it so much that we decided that orange and gray are going to be the colors for his crib (that is if we can find fabric that we both agree on). My friend and co-worker Danna embroidered his name on it for us and we love the way it turned out.

I purchased the first of many re-usable diapers from Green Bambino. I'm so excited to try out cloth diapers! I am choosing them over disposables for cost as well as environmental reasons. The more I researched, the more it made sense for us to go with cloth diapers. And oh my word they are SO cute! Can't wait till Lukas is here and wearing them.

Saturday, part 2

2010-06-24T10:38:00.006-05:00

After walking the dogs and eating lunch, we jumped in the car with Uncle Jeff and took off towards Harrah, OK to go pick peaches. Deep Fork Peach Orchard opened that day, and it was our first time to pick our own peaches, so we didn't know what to expect. They only had one type of peach available (Earliglo) to pick, and there was about 4-5 rows of them. It was so fun, except for being in the hot sun, and we all really enjoyed it.
Yum, don't they look delicious?

Gavyn wearing Uncle Jeff's sunglasses

They gave us a "picker" to get the peaches of the top of the trees. Mikah really enjoyed using it!

This pic shows how HOT it was!

Chris found the perfect peach, with stem and everything.

Showing the fruits of our labor, a box full of peaches. I ate a few on Sunday and even though they were still on the crunchy side, they were extremely sweet and flavorful. After a few days of letting them ripen more, they were some of the best peaches we have sunken our teeth into. SO GOOD!!! I have been eating 2-3 per day and am going to be VERY sad when the last one is gone.

We were SO hot and thristy we HAD to stop at the first Sonic we saw. The kids got slushies and Jeff, Chris and I each ordered Route 44's. We were that thirsty and thankfully it was Happy Hour! :)

We already decided that we would head back to pick peaches soon, but will be bringing water and an umbrella to stand under.

Saturday, part 1

2010-06-24T09:53:00.003-05:00

Some friends of ours were out of town over the weekend, so they asked us to come over and make sure their dogs had plenty of food and water and to also take them for walks. Mikah and Gavyn each walked a dog, Chris and I just had to follow behind or in front to make sure they went the right way. They were very excited to walk the dogs (even though it was crazy hot) and here are a few shots of them walking up the driveway. Oops, waited too long. Go back to the end of the driveway and walk up again.
Oops, to far away, one more time please (I'm sure that Bailey and Rydor thought we were CRAZY making them walk up and down the driveway).

I gave my phone to Chris (he is the better picture taker) and he snapped this shot. Perfect. Okay we are done, you can go inside now and cool off. :)

Something's Missing...

2010-06-15T11:46:00.002-05:00

After a few months of being loose, Mikah FINALLY lost his first tooth. He was eating yogurt of all things when it happened. I had been trying to get him to eat apples or anything that would help the tooth come out and it came right out with yogurt, go figure. He was/is pretty excited!

Mikah is 6!!!

2010-06-11T16:29:00.003-05:00

This little guy....is now this (not so) little guy! He turns 6 years old today! Happy Birthday to Mikah! You are a blessing and we love you!

He has spent this week at Basketball camp at Santa Fe High School and was awarded a 1st place trophy, a 2nd place and 3rd place medal. And I'm a horrible mom cause I can't remember why (I'm blaming it on the pregnancy). Will find out on Monday, cause Chris' mom is the principals secratary and she can ask the coach for me!

Sporting his new basketball shoes from his grandparents for his birthday, just in time for basketball camp! We are planning on buying him a basketball goal for the driveway, cause this kid LOVES him some basketball!

Grandpa's Birthday and Family Reunion 2010

2010-06-10T12:49:00.001-05:00

Last week we were in TX to celebrate my Grandpa's 90th birthday and have a family reunion of sorts. We didn't get to see everyone, but it was fun seeing my aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids who were able to come! My parents had a housefull as there was 14 people staying in their house, so glad they had enough room for all of us.

I got to meet my new nephew Titus! Jackie (my oldest sister) and I fought over him the WHOLE week, cause you know one of us has to be the Favorite Aunt (and I'm pretty sure it's me). :) This is one of my favorite pics of him, I just love the face he is making - too cute!

This is our family overtaking the Prairie House Restaurant in Roanoke, TX. It was pretty loud with all of us in there and there was 11 kids alltogether.

Grandpa holding his newest great-grandchild.

Jackie planned some great water balloon games, we played Dodge Waterball, Wallyball (Volleyball - we used towels to get the waterballons over the net), Baseball (each person got 2 hits each and you got a point if you hit the ball). Then a huge water ballon fight. I participated in all but the water ballon fight, had to save Lukas from being pummeled!

Afterwards we had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to Mikah since his b-day is on the 11th and all the family was together. Gavyn enjoyed the icing, of course!

Birthday boy opening presents.

We spent some time at the Observation area at the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport to watch the planes land and take off. The kids enjoyed climbing on the statues as you can see.

Fuch's, Branson, and Delgado kids with Great-Grandpa.

Flying like airplanes, kind of....

We had a great time with the family and enjoyed a day at Schiltterbahn in New Braunfels and also Sea World in San Antonio as well. It was a very fun and yet tiring week. On the way home, Mikah and Gavyn asked why their cousins had to go back home and were asking when we would see them again. Just might have to make a trip out to UT sometime soon!

Gavyn

2010-06-09T12:42:00.003-05:00

Gavyn was plaing quietly in her room, a little too quiet....

Cause this is how she came out of her room. Totally should have checked on her! :)

Baby boy finally has a name!

2010-05-27T13:30:00.002-05:00

We finally picked a name (it's actually a name that we originally came up with, but I had a few months of fickleness)!

Anyway here it is:

Lukas Samuel Branson

Lukas (cause we like the name and both agree on it, possibly will call him Luke and yes we are spelling it with a K so we can keep the tradition alive since we already have a Mikah) and then Samuel after my dad (his middle name is Samuel).

We are excited to finally be able to call this baby by name.

Kindergarten Graduation

2010-05-18T12:30:00.002-05:00

Mikah graduated Kindergarten this past Monday (but schools not out till the 28th)!

Here he is with his amazing teacher Ms. Randolph.

Grandma and Grandpa took him/us out for ice cream after the ceremony and he also got $20.00. The boy thinks he is rich now and says he is going to save it and put it with whatever birthday money he gets in June. Smart kid! :)

Update on Baby Boy Branson

2010-05-11T09:59:00.005-05:00

Baby Boy Branson's Profile

I'm 23 weeks today, but these pics are from the ultrasound when I was 18 weeks. I am feeling good, this baby is a mover and a shaker...his kicks are already hurting me! Oh and my siatic nerve is not being very nice to me, thanks to baby as well. But I am treasuring every minute and the kids are praying each night for the baby to come in Sept and that I would feel better. It's super cute! Baby boy still doesn't have a name, so any suggestions are welcome. We are having a hard time naming this kid for some reason. Hopefully by the time he is born he will have a name!

Baby Boy's foot!

I have lots to post about, just haven't made the time to do it. So I hope to start posting at least once a week starting this week! :) Sorry the pics aren't very good, they are pics of the ultrasound pics.

Gavyn got her hair did!

2010-04-14T13:48:00.003-05:00

Gavyn and I had a mommy/daughter date with Marie last month! We both needed some much needed hair attention (aka gray hair was popping up all-over). I got some highlights and a trim with more added layers and Marie cut Gavyn's hair all off! It was a lot of fun and Gavyn was a hit at the salon. Deciding how short to cut her hair!
First cut, I can't believe that much was cut off! Gavyn sat there the whole time and didn't squirm at all. She did everything Marie asked her to do and of course got some peeks here and there to check out the progress. (She looks just like her cousin Naomi in this pic, makes me smile!)

Done cutting and now on to styling!

Here we are with our finished do's! We will for sure be enjoying more mommy/daughter days at the salon!

Gavyn is 4!

2010-03-23T13:58:00.004-05:00

Gavyn turned 4 on March 9th, I'm a little late in getting this birthday post up, but hey better late than never! Here are some pics of the first four years of our little girls life! Happy day - Gavyn Hope Branson was born!
Eating her Ice Cream cake at her 1 year old b-day party!

2 years old - swinging with her cousin Grace!

At her 3 year old Princess party.

4 years old and ready to go to an OKC Thunder game! Her hair has gotten so long and she isn't fond of me brushing/doing her hair, so this Thursday she is getting a haircut. Not sure how short we are going to go...stay tuned...

(I think she would look ADORABLE with a chin length bob)

Thunder Season Ticket Holder Party

2010-03-14T00:29:00.000-06:00

Chris took Mikah to the Thunder Season Ticket Holder Party at the Ford Center, here are some pics from the night.

Mikah getting his OKC Thunder pendant autographed by Thabo Sefolosha.
They had all the stuff that they do at the games available for the party goers to play/enjoy. Mikah is shooting a t-shirt into the audience area.

Playing the big drum that Rumble the Bison sometimes plays!

Shooting a basket - he is so serious!

Passing the ball into a net.

And the highlight of the night - getting Kevin Durant's autograph! Mikah and Chris are HUGE fans of KD as you can tell from Mikah's jersey!

Mikah will be going to the Thunder Basketball Kids camp during Spring Break, he is very excited and some of the players will be there to help the kids. It's going to be fun to see Mikah learn some basketball basics - will try and get pictures and maybe a video as soon as I can!

Mikah's Thunder Pillow

2010-03-13T00:07:00.004-06:00

I saw Thunder fabric at Hobby Lobby a couple of months ago and told Mikah that I would make him an OKC Thunder pillow someday. I pretty much forgot I said anything about it, but my sweet 5 year old did not forget. He kept asking me, "When are you going to make my Thunder pillow?" Since my mom was in town this past Sunday, I was able to ask her the best way to turn this yellow pillow:

into this:
Thanks mom for your help - it took me all of 15-20 minutes to make this pillow! I pulled the stitches out of the yellow pillow to take it apart and use that for my pattern. Basically I just had to sew three sides together, stuff with the stuffing from yellow pillow and then handsew the pillow closed. Mikah absolutely loves it and sleeps with it EVERY night!

Keep It Local OK Launch Party

2010-03-12T12:55:00.004-06:00

I couldn't get the video to work, keeps saying that it was temporarily unavailable. Click here to watch the interview on NewsOK.com and here to see some video that Mike Jones took during the party! Lots of fun and momentum is building, more local businesses are added every day!!! :)

My Birthday

2010-03-01T16:47:00.007-06:00

My birthday was on February 26th and my wonderful husband surprised me with this:

Don't worry, we didn't pay an arm and a leg for it...it's a refurbished iPhone from AT&T for $50!!! The only added expense was the data plan. It's so much fun and I LOVE it! Still learning how to use it and I'm sure will be learning for a long time to come.

Keep It Local OK also had a Launch party on Friday (I totally pretended it was all for my b-day) and it was a great night, with free coffee from Cafe Evoke, free appetizers from Chef Ryan Parrot of Iguana Mexican Grill and beer from COOP ale works. I didn't partake of the beer of course, but I did enjoy the best Chai Tea Latte from Cafe Evoke and sampled all the yummy appetizers! I didn't get any pictures, but will post an interview that Chris and Bryce did for NewsOK along with another video that Mike Jones put together.

I've been crafty or something....part 2

2010-02-20T00:01:00.000-06:00

Here is the second part of my craftiness - I found the idea here, printed out the instructions and left them in my bag for a good 2 weeks. My afternoons lately have conisisted of getting Mikah and Gavyn snacks and then laying on the couch to take a nap while they play x-box (Mikah) and/or watch a video (Gavyn). I finally decided I was going to make this tie headband because it was so stinkin' cute and so I ditched my nap and got to work. I ended up handstitching the elastic to the tie cause I couldn't get it through my sewing machine, so it's not very pretty in the back, but most people won't see that part anyway! So here is my finished tie headband. I love the way it turned out and am going to make some more for Gavyn and myself when I get more energy of course!

New Addition

2010-02-19T14:09:00.003-06:00

Baby Branson will be making his/her debut sometime early September!

This ultrasound pic was from when I was 8 weeks along. I am now 11 1/2 weeks and it's been a rough first trimester so far. I'm finally starting to feel better but have never felt this bad with all my other pregnancies (this is my 5th). I feel nausious from the time I put food in my mouth to the time I go to bed. Thankfully I haven't thrown up (just once from a pre-natal vitamin sample - yuck and they so need to make smaller pills), just feel like it pretty much all day. But I am so thrilled and have been praying over this baby since we found out. We have been trying/not preventing for over a year since losing Isaiah and I was praying hard in December that if I was to get pregnant I wanted to find out around Christmas. I had gotten some EPT tests for free with coupons around the 18th of December and I took on just to see. It was negative. I wasn't expecting a positive, but it's hard to have a test in your bathroom and not take it. :)

Well on Christmas Eve during the Blizzard of 09, while Chris was driving home from work, I took a test on a whim, fully expecting a negative. I walked out of the bathroom to help one of the kids with something, then walked back in, looked down and there it was - POSITIVE! I just laughed and almost wished it wasn't snowing so I could got out and buy another test to see if I was really and trully pregnant! I didn't know what to do with the test, so I wrapped it up in wrapping paper and stuffed it in my purse. When we were at Chris' parents I had Chris come into the living room when no one else was around and gave him the present, he unwrapped it and was completely surprised, excited and a bit apprehensive. We ended up telling his mom and I shared the news with my mom closely after. We waited to tell the rest of the family and a few close friends until after we saw the beating heartbeat at the ultrasound. And waited to announce it to the rest of the world until now.

So far things are great (other than the feeling yucky part), my doctor will be sending me to a high-risk doctor at 18 weeks to have a more in-depth ultrasound to make sure everything is good and for peace of mind. Which thankfully I have had since I found out about the precious baby growing inside of me. Mikah and Gavyn are SUPER EXCITED and can't wait to meet their new baby brother or sister. They are both saying they want a brother, Gavyn has gone back and forth, but Mikah is adament it's a boy. So we will see! Please pray with us for a healthy baby, mom and pregnancy. Whew that was long, hope everyone has a great weekend!

I've been crafty or something...part 1

2010-02-19T12:49:00.009-06:00

So every once in awhile I get all crafty and amazingly actually finish a craft project - this is one of a two part post on my latest craft projects. I love to find projects, just don’t always make time to actually craft them!

For Christmas, my sisters and I wanted to give family pictures to my parents. We were planning on putting them in frames and wrapping them up, but one day as I was going through my blog reader, I came across this idea and thought it was perfect. I immediately sent the link to Jackie and Fran to see what they thought. Jackie went out and bought all of her supplies and made some for her friends for Christmas presents and so it was decided that they would send me their pictures and I would find coordinating paper and put them all together here, since we are closest to my parents are were planning a trip around Christmas. We ended up making the tile version instead of the wood block one, and it was a much easier process since you don't have to sand or paint. The hardest part for me was picking the paper - especially when the whole aisle is lined with lots of fun prints.

I got all my supplies (tile at Lowes, Modge Podge, paper and ribbon at Hobby Lobby, embellishments I had thanks to my friend Breanne) and set to work. Here is the outcome:

All three together.
The Fuchs family!

The Delgado family - soon to be a family of 3 in April! Will have to make a new one when baby Delgado is born!

The Branson family - and will be making another new one with our new addition coming early September! Will post more on that later! :)

I ended up making a few more, one for Chris' parents for Christmas as well as for my wonderful friend and co-worker, Danna! These were lots of fun and turned out super cute! I will for sure keep this in mind for next year...

Social Media Fast

2010-01-25T10:20:00.004-06:00

Our senior pastor, Craig Groeschel asked the staff to fast for the first 21 days of the year. I didn't feel the pull to do a food fast so I decided to fast from Social Media, which meant no Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc. I had come to realize that I was spending too much time checking out what everyone else was doing, that I wasn't spending time on what I should be doing - reading the Word, praying.

I started one of the Bible reading plans available on YouVersion and have been reading through the Bible chronologicaly. I'm reading in Job right now, trying some days to stay awake, but so far it's been pretty good!

In other news, Chris has been really busy with his newest business venture, Keep It Local OK. I have been dying to post about this, but had to wait till my fast was over (even though I did twitter about the Gazette article cause I was so proud)! Here's the article in the Gazette and here is their debut on News 9.

Christmas 09/OK Blizzard 09

2009-12-26T21:13:00.004-06:00

If you haven't heard, Oklahoma had a white Christmas this year in the form of a BLIZZARD! It was CRAZY! Pretty much EVERYTHING closed down, churches cancelled their Christmas Eve services, Highways and Turnpikes were closed, LOTS of people were stuck and/or stranded. So thankful that LifeChurch has Church Online as we still got to experience a Christmas Eve service. And it was AMAZING!!! Check out Kevin Ely's short film "This Christmas" that was filmed specifically for LifeChurch's Christmas Eve experiences. He is one talented guy!

The day started out with rain, then it turned to sleet, then pure ice and THEN snow. It took Chris an hour and a half to get home from work (they only let them off 20 minutes early) which normally only takes about 20 minutes. Thankfully I got off work early before the worst of it hit, I was able to get the kids from Chris' parents and head home to get some stuff done and wait for Chris.

We were already told to pack our stuff so we could stay the night with everyone at Mike and Karen's. Once Chris got home around 2:15 he could only get halfway up the driveway so we loaded his car, told the kids to be quiet so dad could concentrate on driving and PRAYED the whole way to their house. I was a nervous wreck, but Chris did an excellent job driving in the crazy snow. So now that you know the back story of the crazy OK weather, here is some pics of Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day.

Aunt Jennifer handing out presents to Mikah and Gavyn (we only did presents for the kids this year)

Only took a couple of tries and lots of "Stand still", "Look at dad", "Smile"...but we finally got a good one of our two cute kids!

Christmas Day:

We bundled up and headed outside to play in the snow.

Uncle Jeff had the lucky job of pulling everyone on the sled (and yes that is an extension cord - it was the only thing we could find)

Jennifer getting me square in the back with a snowball.

Family pic in the snow.

This is a favorite pic of Gavyn - thanks to her Aunt Jackie who sent her this snowsuit earlier this year. I was totally thinking she was never going to get to use it...boy was I wrong! It was the cutest thing watching her walk around in that snowsuit.

Mikah after playing in the snow....he was loving it. And I was totally wishing we had a snowsuit for him after seeing him covered in snow!

Making snow angels - it took Gavyn some coaxing to lay down and make an angel, but after she did, we would look over and she was making 5 or 6 of them all over the yard.

Gavyn shoveling up her big brother (posed of course by dad). We had a great time playing in the snow.

We ventured out today (12/26) for Aunt Jennifer's b-day dinner a day early, and the roads were pretty much clear, only a few spots were a still icy/snowy. Chris, Jennifer and Mikah are at a Thunder game tonight and since it's Jennifer's b-day they got upgraded to COURTSIDE seats! Fun stuff. Mikah already called me to tell me he got to sit down low, not up high and you can see all the players! Can't wait to hear more about it when they get home.

Biggest Thunder fan around....

2009-12-26T20:58:00.004-06:00

Chris and his sister Jennifer have season tickets to the OKC Thunder for the second year in a row. Well Mikah has been able to attend a lot more games and he absolutely LOVES it. Here are some pics from a game night in his Thunder room!

He gets his face painted and a tattoo every game.

#35 Kevin Durant is his favorite player on the Thunder and so last year we got him a jersey (he wears it almost every game). His room was already light blue, so we painted one wall Navy blue (see first pic) and then the shelves that are behind him, they used to be white. We bought orange accents - the buckets for his toys, picture frame, clip-on lamp for his bed, etc. He has some Rumble and Thunder team posters hanging on his walls as well. He loves his Thunder room.

Dunking the ball - we play lots of basketball in this house. We keep asking him if he wants to play basketball on a team, but his response is always, maybe when I'm 6 I'll play. Um okay....

Cutest Thunder fan around!!!

Thanksgiving 09

2009-12-26T20:47:00.002-06:00

We went to Chris' parents house for Thanksgiving this year. Here are some pics - I know, I know I'm a month or so late, but I finally had some down time to post and saw the pics on the computer and thought why not!

The kids with Grandpa.

Me with my sweet and yet sassy girl!

Girl hug! Aunt Jennifer, Karen, Gavyn and me.

These are the beautiful plates that Mike and Karen inherited from a grandma (I think Mike's side) they are hand-painted originals (I think) anyway, Jennifer and Jeff think they are hideous, but I LOVE them! Totally hoping they will be in our family someday. :) And so we had a great time eating and hanging out for Thanksgiving this year.

Chris and Kids on the news

2009-12-09T14:00:00.003-06:00

While I was in Chicago visiting Fran after her surgery, Chris took the kids to see this at Penn Square Mall. They loved it! Even made it on the news and meet Rumble (OKC Thunder mascot), I was bummed I missed out on all the fun. But enjoyed watching it online the next day with my sis, her husband, and my mom.

So guess what Mikah is getting for Christmas! :) That's right, LEGOS! He IS a Lego Freak right now, as my husband so lovingly called him! It's so fun to watch him play with the few sets he does have and just see his imagination grow.

Compassion Bloggers Trip: El Salvador

2009-11-10T12:57:00.009-06:00

There is a Compassion Blogger trip to El Salvador this week. This is the best way for me to see how our monthly support is making a difference in the life of a precious child. I love looking at the pictures, watching the videos and reading all the tweets on twitter. I would LOVE to actually go on one of the blogger trips, but since I don't actually update very often and all of 5 or so people actually read this here blog I don't think it's going to happen any time soon! But who knows...maybe I'll submit my blog! :)

I have followed many of the previous trips (here are some of the bloggers: Anne Jackson, Heather Whittaker, Carlos Whittaker, Shannon) and I also follow Kelly as she is one of the bloggers on the El Salcador trip along with Heather.

Our family sponsers Claudel from Haiti, and I worked for Compassion when I lived in CO. So Compassion International is dear to my heart. My goal for our family is to sponser a child for every member. So guess what we are going to do as soon as we are out of debt? That's right, sponser more Compassion kids. One down, three to go! I love what Compassion does, they are true, they are real and they are releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name. Please consider sponsering a child(ren) if you aren't already! YOU can make a difference in the life of a child...check out Compassion International or click on the links above.

Where, oh where is the Branson Family?

2009-10-12T13:45:00.007-05:00

Still here, I promise!

Just busy (isn't everyone) and our camera is broken (sad day)! I had every intention of posting about Mikah's first day of Kindergarten, oh you know a month and a half ago, but all the pictures are forever lost on our camera, and for some reason I think people won't want to read about our lives, but want to see it in picture form (maybe that's just me) and so I haven't posted a thing. So I thought I would write a bit anyway even if there are no pictures to add!

Mikah started Kindergarten and loves it! A few weeks into the school year, his school added a new kindergarten class. So we volunteered to have Mikah moved to the new class with a brand new teacher (we thought one of his friends were going to volunteer, so we did and then it turns out they were too late). Mikah loves Miss Randolph and I have to admit I do too! I am volunteering twice a month in his class and have really enjoyed it. Totally learned that I don't have the patience for 18 5-6 year olds, and am amazed at the amount of patience Miss Randolph does have with them. Mikah is also playing soccer again this year with Upward Soccer through Portland Ave Baptist Church. He is a completely different player this year than last...he is actually running after/with the ball and playing soccer instead of running in circles and off in la-la land like he was last year. He's even scored some goals!

Gavyn is well Gavyn, she is still sweet and sassy as ever. She is learning to write her name, she writes an upside down G and A and then the VYN part is correct. I asked my co-worker and former teacher, Danna if that was normal and she assured me that it was. Whew, got worried for just a bit. Since I started this post, she has turned her G sideways, so we are making progress, people! :)

Chris and I are still working our full-time jobs and also working part-time at Henderson Hills Baptist Church in their childcare. Still plugging away at getting out of debt....And Chris and his friend Bryce are starting a side business, will share more about that soon!

Fun homeowner story:
Last Sunday night, after we got home from working HHBC, I was in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher and the glass front of our oven SHATTERED and glass went everywhere! Nothing touched the glass, the oven wasn't on or anything, it just shattered in to a gazillion little pieces. (I so wish our camera was working, so I could have taken pictures of the craziness.) I have since called the manufacturer of the oven and they stopped making parts for our particular oven in 2007. So now I'm on the search for anyone locally that would have parts from a GE oven that was installed in 1992! Fun stuff!

It's Fall Break here in OK and so we are headed to Branson, MO this weekend. Mikah, Chris' parents and sister are already on their way there. Chris, Gavyn, Jeff and I are leaving tomorrow night to join them. Looking forward to a weekend away in good ole Branson. It will be the first time I've been there since becoming a Branson...should be interesting! :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Branson Family Vacation - Day 1

2009-08-12T11:59:00.005-05:00

For the past couple of years, we have had a Branson Family Vacation with Chris' side of the family (mom, dad, brother and sister). This year we went to Orlando Florida, and no we didn't even go to DisneyWorld! :)

Our first day at the resort was spent at the pool, that is when it wasn't raining. Here are some pics of us playing at one of the many pools they had.

This is where we stayed for the week.
Mikah lounging around...didn't last long, just long enough for Chris to take a pic and we were off in the pool.

Gavyn was technically too little to go down this slide, but she really wanted to and so I took her down with me (again against the rules) but it was worth it and I had a TIGHT grip on her...she had so much fun!

Mikah's turn...

Hanging around the pool with Grandma and Grandpa.

This is one of my favorite pictures. They were having lots of fun.

Family pic in the pool! Our week consisted of swimming, eating, being lazy and Universal Studios. It was a great vacation that was enjoyed by all.

Branson Family Vacation - Day 2

2009-08-12T11:41:00.004-05:00

Sorry there was a break in posting about our vacation, I tried to get all the days written and posted before we left for San Antonio for a wedding of two of our good friends, but I ran out of time.

So here is day 2: First day at Universal Studios.

This is how we started out our day at Universal and then ended our second day there as well in this exact same spot.
Mikah with his 3-D glasses, we were waiting to see the Terminator show.

Grandpa, Gavyn, Donkey from Shrek, Mikah and Chris! The donkey was funny - when they walked away, he told Gavyn, "Work those donkey ears, girl".

Again, but this time with Shrek.

Chris and I took the kids to play in the Curious George land. We walked in dry and walked out....

Soaking wet! We climbed through the playhouse area and got all the way to the top. Heard a bell ring and then all of a sudden we were DRENCHED. There was a bucket that was filling up and when full, the bell rings and then the water comes pouring out. It was fun and since it was hot, it cooled us off for the rest of the day.

Branson Family Vacation - Day 3

2009-08-06T16:24:00.004-05:00

Wednesday was filled with Universal's Island of Adventure. We hit the kids area first, so the kids could get in all the rides. It was great, hardly any lines for the kids rides first thing in the morning!

Mikah outside the Cat in the Hat ride.
In the store...Thing 1 (Chris), Thing 2 (Jeff), Thing 3 (Jennifer), and Thing 4 (Mikah).

Gavyn on the Caro-Seuss-el, she was really happy to ride the kids rides since there were quite of few from the first day she couldn't ride.

Mikah being attacked by the dinosar from Jurrasic Park!

Again, there is something with the Branson family and putting things on your head to get a picture. :) At least the kids are still too young to care that we make them do things like this!

Mikah met Spiderman! Those people at Universal are pretty smart - they have the Super Hero's come down the street on their rides (big 4-wheelers), park them and then go off to their stations for taking pictures. Well Spiderman goes inside the Spiderman store and you can get pictures with him. But an employee is also there to take pictures. The background is white in our pic, but the background in the pic they take has a really cool Marvel comic book look and then there is your kid with Spiderman on the front! You take a look and say how can you not buy the picture...that's when you ask them how much and they say $20. And you as a parent say cool, no thanks. However if you are a grandparent you say okay, I'll take it!!! :) So Mikah has a pretty cool pic of him and Spiderman in his room, thanks to Grandpa and Grandma!

Last pic before leaving for the day. We were all wiped, but put out on our best smiles for the picture Karen (Chris' mom) requested. We were actually surprised it turned out as well as it did and loved that the person who offered to take the pic snapped it at just the right time so you could see all of Universal and not just half of the word or something. It's always a risk, you know!

Branson Family Vacation - Day 4

2009-08-06T15:42:00.004-05:00

Thursday was spent fishing, swimming and eating! Grandpa, Mikah and Chris went fishing while Gavyn, Grandma, Uncle Jeff and myself went swimming. Mikah had been talking about fishing for a couple of months and the grandparents bought him his own Spiderman fishing pole.

Here are some pics of Mikah learning how to fish. Getting the pole ready...
Grandpa showing Mikah how to fish.

Mikah trying it out for himself. They didn't catch any fish, but they had fun and there was some quality father/son/grandson bonding I'm sure.

After all the fishing and swimming we were hungry, so we headed to the Worldest Largest McDonald's. The kids loved it...

It's pretty much a McDonald's that has extra stuff on the menu - I had the Frisco Patty Melt, Chris had the Taco Salad and the kids of course had Chicken nuggets! There is also an arcade upstairs, so we let the kids play for bit.

It started pouring on our way back to the resort, so we had to stay indoors and relax instead of going back to the pool. For dinner we went to Giordano's. We always try to hit Giordano's when we are in Chicago, so we jumped at the chance to introduce Chris' parents and brother to the World Famous Chicago Stuffed Pizza goodness!

Pepperoni and Spinach - YUM!

We had planned to go to the "Dive-in" movie night at the resort after dinner, but it was raining, so we didn't get to go. We were bummed and stuffed, so we just hung out/watched tv instead.

Branson Family Vacation - Day 5

2009-08-06T15:14:00.005-05:00

Our last day, well morning really, on vacation was spent where? Oh yes at the pool! Chris took the kids for one last swim before we loaded up the van and headed home for the LONG drive. This is our second time to drive (well we technically rode) to FL this year!

Here is a video of Mikah while we were stopped for gas in one of the states between OK and FL...he was so tired he couldn't keep his head up. Poor guy! And then being the nice parents that we are: we captured it on video but then Chris sat down and let him put his head on his shoulder so he could actually sleep. :)

Mikah's 5th B-day party

2009-07-17T14:52:00.007-05:00

We asked Mikah what he wanted to do for his 5th birthday and he said, "I want to go bowling with my friends!" Our first thought was, "Ugh a smoky rundown bowling alley", but then Chris had the idea of looking up RedPin (www.bowlredpin.com) a fairly new bowling alley/restuarant that opened in Bricktown. We had never been there before, but heard good things about it. So we booked 2 lanes and started planning.
We decided on cupcakes instead of cake, to make things easier. Chris made the cupcakes and they were delicious! Everyone raved about them...he looked up some cupcake hints online and found some from the owner of the cupcake place Sprinkles (www.sprinkles.com). Anyway - they were GOOD! We placed mini M&M's in the shape of 5's on each cupcake and then placed them as displayed below!

Here's the birthday boy bowling....good thing he's had lots of practice with Wii bowling! :)

For some reason we didn't get any pictures of his friends who came to the party, except this one of Grant who is behind Mikah and he is the older brother of a boy in Mikah's class at StaffKIDS.

Bowling at Redpin was so fun and it has a really cool atmosphere. We will definitly be going back again, but this time without the kids. I'm thinking date night, just need to find some coupons and it would be perfect!

Isaiah

2009-07-09T12:57:00.002-05:00

Last year on this day, I was delivering Isaiah at 20 weeks. I think about it and still am amazed that I was able to survive the situation. I still get upset/sad/mad at times, but this morning as I was driving to work, crying I prayed "Thank you that I was able to “know” Isaiah as much as I did. I could have miscarried earlier and not ever have been able to feel him move or kick inside me. To me that's the best part of being pregnant is feeling the baby move around. I look back and unfortunately feel like I didn’t marvel at them like I should have, was too busy with life and work. And I'm so thankful that I got to hold him in my arms and that Chris got to hold him, my mom and in-laws. He was perfect in everyway, had all of his fingers and toes, arms and legs, fully formed little baby. To see firsthand the miracle that babies are leaves me speechless and I will never forget. He was one loved little boy that never took a breathe here on earth. But in Heaven he is complete and whole and in Jesus' arms." That is what I hold onto that I will one day hold him again. I have a reminder of that on my foot and everytime I look at my tattoo, that's what I think of. I know when I get pregnant again, I will treasure every moment, movement, hiccup and God-willing a full term baby. Please pray for us as we are hoping/praying that God would bless us with more kids and soon! :)

Fran and Ernesto's Wedding!

2009-06-24T10:22:00.005-05:00

The nieces and nephews handed out programs to those attending the wedding. They all looked adorable (especially the two youngest, I mean seriously how cute are they?)!

Gavyn and Abraham

Here are the bigger kids, Grace, Naomi, Mikah, Hannah and Josiah - they all took their job very seriously! My mom made the girls dresses, very simple, yet very pretty!

Fran and Ernesto

Jackie (my oldest sister), me, Emily and Wendy (Fran's roommates) and her friend Jenna, she had two other bridesmaids, her friend from her Eddie Bauer days Amy and then Ernesto's sister Maria (but they aren't pictured, blame Chris-he had the camera).

Exchanging rings

After the wedding, me with my love!

Me and the kids

Kissing - LOVE the red flats my sis wore! After we left the church the wedding party went to Montrose Harbor to take some outdoor pictures. I should have grabbed the camera from Chris, cause the pictures there were AMAZING!

Reception!

2009-06-24T10:05:00.007-05:00

Fran had some wonderful friends decorate for the reception. This is one of 3 banners that hung behind the wedding party during dinner. It's hand painted! Love it! The place it was held, "The Loft" was amazing - wood floors, with one brick wall.

Her cake was amazing! I loved the Chicago skyline made out of white chocolate, it was yummy!

Fran and Ernesto cutting the cake.

Aunt Fran and Mikah

Aunt Fran dancing with Gavyn (she talked about nothing else for 2 days, but dancing at the reception)!

Dancing with Daddy! Too cute!

Me dancing with Mikah (somehow I made it the whole night without taking off the heels, don't ask me why - I don't know.)

I'm the mom of a 5 year old!

2009-06-11T09:25:00.004-05:00

That's right, our little guy turns 5 today and poor little guy is sick with a fever (he is acting fine, just has a lowgrade fever)! :(

I can't believe it, it seems like it was just yesterday he was a tiny baby that I had no idea what to do with! Now he is growing up and I still don't know what to do with him AND he starts kindergarden this fall! :) Oh what will I do?!

Despite the fever we took him to IHOP this morning to eat pancakes (he has been talking about this non-stop for the past week) and Chris' parents met us there which made it extra special. We are supposed to go Incredible Pizza tonight with the whole family (which he also has been talking about), so we will see how he is feeling and hopefully his fever will be gone for good.

Anyway - here is the birthday boy, sporting his new shirt from SuperDawg in Chicago!

Remembering

2009-04-29T13:59:00.002-05:00

On the way to work this morning the song, "Praise You in this Storm" came on the radio and I just started crying. This was one of the songs that Trent Austin sang the weekend after I delivered Isaiah. I couldn't sing...I just sobbed and sobbed right there in church. I remember Chris lead me down to the front to take communion and pray with me. I knew that God was there but I just couldn't physically sing. I haven't heard the song since then and this morning for the first time I sang along while tears were streaming down my face. So glad the kids were in the backseat playing/talking with each other and didn't notice mommy crying. I feel like I am getting hit all day with little reminders of our little boy that is in heaven with Jesus, first I read this post by Angela Smith while at work and my eyes welled up, and then Marcy's song "House of Mourning" came on my itunes right after that. Feel like I've been hit by all sides today. All I want to do is go home, climb in bed and cry it all out but unfortunately life won't let me do that today. Maybe tomorrow...

Also if you aren't following the Compassion bloggers during their India trip, you are missing out on some wonderful, heart-touching and wrenching stories of what Compassion is doing to release children from poverty in Jesus' name. Love it!!!

Rumble!!!

2009-04-22T13:34:00.002-05:00

I was going to wait to share more pics (story about that is below), but my big sis is impatient...love you Jackie! :)

Meet Rumble...he is the newest member of the Branson family.

He is part Beagle, part Border Collie. Mikah named him Rumble after the OKC Thunder Mascot, Rumble the Bison! The photo was taken when he was 6 weeks old, he is now 8 1/2 weeks old. This is the only picture I have right now. We let Chris' dad borrow our camera as he is on a trip with the Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma to Armenia and Isreal for 2 weeks (very excited to hear all his stories and see pics when he comes home). When we get the camera back, I will make sure and take lots of pictures of Rumble to post his cuteness!!!

Mikah and Gavyn are enjoying him (well when he isn't jumping or nipping at them-we are working on that) and are learning how to take care of him. Gavyn is like a little mother, "Rumble, Rumble, be careful, Rumble" which is so cute in her little 3 year old voice.

He is almost housebroken...only a few accidents in the house, so that is a good thing. I have been going home during lunch to let him out (we have him in a kennel) and run around the yard with him. He has been waking up around 6 every morning, so I have been using that time to read my Bible and pray, which has been really good for me. Don't have/make much time for that most days.

2009-04-21T10:13:00.003-05:00

This Thursday LifeChurch is hosting an awesome event Town Hall for Hope with Dave Ramsey. I highly encourage everyone to find a venue near you or watch it on Fox Business. It's going to be good!

Gavyn's Princess Party

2009-04-03T14:42:00.026-05:00

Our little girl turned 3 and with that came a Princess Party! We invited all of her friends from school and asked them to come in their princess dresses. Here is pic of a few of them (some were too shy, didn't want their picture taken). We had 3 stations set up, one for hair, nails and make-up. Our camera battery was dead and so we don't have any pictures of the girls getting all princessed up. But then our good friend Bryce Bandy saved the day and showed up to take some pictures.

Tatum, Gavyn, Abi, and Jasmyn (3 Cinderella's and one Snow White!)

Eating lunch and watching a Princess Sing-a-long that we borrowed from the Library. Lunch consisted of heart and star shaped sandwiches for the kids and an all out Sandwich Sub Bar for the adults, chips and we were supposed to have grapes out, but we forgot and left them in the fridge. Oops!

Princess Gavyn!

She is such a cute Princess!!! :)

Time to open presents and everyone wanted to help! It was really cute.

Me telling Gavyn to slow down and say "Thank you" to the those who gave her gifts. She was going from one gift to the other without stopping she was so excited. I made her give out hugs and thank you's after each gift. :)

She was trying so hard to open this one, Jasmyn was helping too! I finally got the ribbon off, so she could rip the paper open.

Showing off her new My Little Pony to her Opa. She was serious about showing him!

All the princesses wondering what to do now that all the gifts were open....

Gavyn knew what to do.....EAT cake! I love this pic that Bryce took! So cute!

And here is the cake that a friend and co-worker of mine (Abbi Zeliff soon-to-be Meadows) made. We had 4 princess figurines on top, as you can tell from the indentions. I thought we had a pic of the cake with the toppers, but I was wrong, so unfortunatly this is it. Bummer - it was even cuter with the princess toppers! All in all it was a fun and very princessy party! Gavyn loved every minute.

Unplanned Surprise = MY TATTOO!!!

2009-03-17T13:45:00.009-05:00

Chris, Breanne and John asked me what else I wanted to do while in California, they said I could do whatever I wanted since it was my b-day weekend. I asked, "Can I get a tattoo?" And they said, "Really??? If that's what you want to do then YES!" John called and made an appt with Energy Tattoo in Santa Barbara. So here is the story of the unplanned surprise and some pictures of the process. :)

I have wanted a tattoo for the last couple of years, but always said I was too chicken to get one (and plus didn't know what I wanted to permanently mark my body with). Anyway, Breanne has a beautiful tattoo on her right foot of a swallow and flowers that I fell in love with and I told her that if I ever got a tatto I would go to the place she went to in CA. And so of course that's where we went!

This is a before picture while the artist was setting up her station. I was a nervous wreck and really I hate the picture, but it shows how worried I was so I am including it!

Here is the story behind the "why" of my tattoo:

Last July, Chris and I went in for a 20 week ultrasound and found out our 3rd baby no longer had a heartbeat. We were heartbroken. I delivered on a Wednesday (hardest thing I have ever gone through) and we found out our baby was a boy. We named him Isaiah, it fit, for some reason it felt right (Isaiah was actually the boy name we had picked out for Gavyn if she had been a boy and my mom was the one who reminded us of the name).

I didn't want to go to church the following weekend, I would have much rather sat at home and cried. But everyone encouraged us to go and I'm so glad we did. The worship set that weekend (Trent Austin did/does an amazing job) felt like it was put together just for us and then the sermon comforted, impacted and helped Chris and I through our grief.

Our pastor Craig Groeschel was in the middle of our "At The Movies" series and he had PRE-PRODUCED a message on the movie We Are Marshall, which dealt with loss. (Side note: Chris' sister actually graduated from Marshall University in May 2008.) He quoted the following verses from Isaiah 61:1-3

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.

2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

It blows me away how everything seemed like a coincidence at the time, but in actuality it was God orchestrating everything for His purpose and glory.

Back around Oct/Nov last year a thought popped into my head, I know what tattoo I would get if I ever get one. I wanted a bird, flowers and the Isaiah scripture reference. The only thing was when was I ever going to be in CA???

And so here I was in CA, and I wasn't going to let this chance slip away.

I told Nic what I wanted and she drew it up.

All outlined and ready for some color!

This is what my face looked like while she was doing the outside of my foot, it hurt and tickled at the same time. Weirdest feeling in the world. Chris got a kick out of taking pictures of all my wacky faces, this is the only one that will be making an appearance for others to see.

Most of the color has been added, almost done.

I had to hold my leg to keep it from going crazy, it was periodically spazzing out and jerking. Thankfully Nic has a steady hand and I don't have any random lines sticking out anywhere.

The finished project, a little bloody, red and swollen!

It took 2 hours and yes it hurt! I love how it turned out. The colors, design, meaning, everything. Every time I look down at my foot, it's a reminder that Isaiah is with Jesus and that God has carried us through and will continue no matter what happens.

California (part 2)

2009-03-13T15:32:00.011-05:00

John and Breanne meet us at the airport, I started crying as soon as I saw them walking towards us. It was so good to see them in person and hug their necks, we said goodbye to them last July when they moved back to CA. I can't believe Breanne was able to keep the secret but she did, we mainly texted back and forth for a few weeks prior (which was weird since we talked on the phone quite a bit), and I found out she was scared she would accidentally tell me something if we were talking on the phone. Makes total sense now! :)

We got our suitcase and headed to their car, where I got to open my b-day present from them. They got me a giftcard to Sephora (so excited and already knew what I was going to purchase) and then underneath the giftcard was two tickets to none other than DISNEYLAND (surprise #2), because where else do you go for your birthday when they are letting you in for FREE ON YOUR BIRTHDAY! So we decided to get something to eat and head to the Happiest Place on Earth. Of course we stopped at In-n-Out, we are big fans and are sad there isn't any here in OK or anywhere close for that matter!

Here's me wearing my "Happy Birthday Lisa" button, it's really strange when complete strangers (Disney Cast Members and other guest) say Happy Birthday to you at first, but by the end of the day it's not a big deal at all, you get used to it. Chris, John and Breanne all had buttons on that said "We are Celebrating" It was so fun!

We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for my birthday dinner. OH MY WORD I had the best steak of my life! It was so good, everything from the salad, to the mashed potatoes, to the FREE birthday Cheesecake (they put sour cream on the top and man oh man was it DELICIOUS).

Okay so here is surprise #3! Chris made reservations for us to stay at the DisneyLand Hotel, with an amazing view of Downtown Disney! I could have bursted I was so filled with happiness.

Day 2 was at Disney's California Adventure where we found Sorcerer Mickey, and somehow this was the only picture of the 4 of us we took, yes, lame, I know. At least we got one! Chris and I realized when we got home that we (or rather he since he is the picture taker) barely even pulled out the camera! The best ride there was the new Toy Story Mania, so so fun!

After 2 days of playing at DisneyLand we headed for some dinner to Pink's in Hollywood. Chris likes to watch the Travel Channel when we travel (we only have basic cable at home) and gets all sorts of ideas of places to go eat. Well we saw Pink's on a show about the History of Hot Dogs or something like that and have wanted to go ever since. The line was long, which helped us decide what to get because who knew there were so many different ways to dress a hot dog! Chris and John got the Bacon Chili Cheese Dog, for Breanne a plain hot dog (I know, right? Who gets a plain hot dog at Pink's? JK) and I got the Nacho Cheese Chili Dog. The hot dogs were okay, nothing too exciting. But fun to eat there since it's famous and all and famous people eat there!

After Pink's we headed to John and Breanne's apartment and Malachi, their 18 month old son entertained us. He would fall of his 4-wheeler, say uh-oh, laugh and then roll over and over across the floor. He is pretty darn cute!

To be continued again...

Santa Barbara day is next and the surprise that was actually an unplanned surprise! :)

30th Birthday Celebration

2009-03-13T13:59:00.014-05:00

So my WONDERFUL husband planned a HUGE surprise for my 30th birthday. I knew he had something up his sleeve, but I never imagined what he was up to! Come to find out he had been saving for months and also our families chipped in for the surprise too!

On the Wednesday night before my birthday (Feb. 26th) I got home from working at HHBC and he had some candles lit, sparkling Pear Juice and OH MY WORD Godiva Chocolate Covered Strawberries. I loved it and was a happy woman with just that, but OH MY WORD there's so much more!

Chris was standing outside our bedroom in the hallway, staring at me. Totally weirded me out, but I asked if he wanted me to come over there. He said yes and so I walked towards our room and when I walked into the room, there was our suitcase on the bed. Chris said, "Pack for the next 4 days, here is the weather forcast". "WHAT?!?" Did I just hear that? "Where are we going?" "What about the kids?" He said, "The kids are at my parents, everything's taken care of".

The only thing he would tell me was that we had to leave the house at 5:30 AM as in 5:30 in the MORNING! So we packed our suitcase, now the weather forcast he printed out had the weather in the 70's, which was the weather in OK, so I was all confused and jokingly said, "Are we going to Dallas (only other place I knew of that would have similar weather to us)?" We had always talked about heading to Dallas for a weekend getaway, so I just figured we were going there.

So at 4:30 am on my birthday I got out of bed and got ready for the best weekend of my life! We got to the airport, Chris made me sit on a bench while he checked our bag (which we paid $15.00 for - can you say RIDICULOUS?) and got our boarding passes. As we walked to security, he said, "Do you want to know where we are going?" Of course, I said, "YES!" and he handed me my boarding pass. And guess where it said we were going? Dallas/Ft. Worth! I asked if there was a connecting flight from there and he said, "You will have to wait and see." I kind of knew that there had to be a connecting flight, cause I doubted that we would fly to Dallas when we are only 3 hours away if driving.

On the plane towards the end of our flight the attendant, hostess (whatever they are called now) was announcing the connecting gates. The only gate I heard that I thought could be our destination was Las Vegas. So I was kind of thinking that might be it. We got off the plane and headed to our gate. When we walked up to our gate I saw the words, Ontario, CA! WHAT? I turned to Chris and said, "Are we going to CA?" He said, "Yes" and then I said as I start crying, "You are taking me to see John and Breanne?"

OH. MY. WORD!!! I can't tell you how excited and happy and ecstatic I was. My husband scored some major points with this surprise! Chris said this was one of many surprises that awaited me on my Birthday Celebration Weekend.

To be continued (only because this is already an extremely long post and my fingers are getting tired of typing!)

Character's Galore, cont.

2009-03-12T13:58:00.012-05:00

Lightning McQueen! Mator was there too, but the kids stayed right next to McQeen.

Gavyn was so cute, she lifted the side of her dress almost looked like she was going to curtsey and then dropped her dress and put her arm up right before the picture (which is why it's pulled up on the side) and was smiling from ear to ear.

Mikah and Naomi found Mulan during their Kim Possible Mission. They and Chris had such a fun time searching for the next clues. Those people who work at Disney think of everything!

We found Sleeping Beauty again! Here's a pic with Gavyn and her cousins Hannah and Grace.

Pluto is always so much fun! The kids got a kick out of him signing their autograph book because he put the book right on top of his nose, so he could see where to sign.

Character's Galore

2009-03-12T13:36:00.014-05:00

We saw and met so many Disney Character's. It was so fun to see Mikah and Gavyn's faces light up everytime they went to hug or high-five one of them. Here are some of our favorites! Minnie Mouse

Mickey Mouse

Gavyn and Sleeping Beauty (Mikah for some reason didn't want to stand in line to see the Princesses)!

Belle

Cinderella - Gavyn loved EVERY minute of meeting the Princesses that she told us she wanted to have a Princess party for her b-day in March.

DisneyWorld

2009-03-12T11:04:00.007-05:00

Here are some pics from our family vacation to DisneyWorld. My parents bought a vacation rental in late 2007, knowing that we wouldn't be using it until late 2008/early 2009 (we all definitely needed to save money for this trip). It turns out we went the last week in January. We drove with my parents from Dallas to Orlando (very long car ride, but the kids did GREAT). Jackie (my oldest sister) and Nate flew from Utah with all 5 of their kids (no, they are not mormon) and Fran and Ernesto flew in from Chicago. We had a great time with all the family together and my dad says in 5 years we will do it all again! Can't wait! Better start saving now!

Mikah outside the resort we stayed in, ready for his first visit to Disney World!
Gavyn's all ready too!

Most of the cousins: Abe and Gavyn didn't want to have their picture taken, but after looking at all the squinting going on, I now know why.

Mikah and Josiah, our kids talked about their cousins for weeks after we got home. I love it when they get to play together.

Mikah got to drive the car with Opa riding shotgun (I'm surprised Mikah isn't scarred for life - my dad is from the Bronx and my mom taught us how to drive)! :)

More pictures to come tomorrow - Characters galore!

Christmas 08

2009-02-24T18:38:00.008-06:00

Our Tree (we got it from my Grandpa a few years ago - Chris hates it, I love it, so we always have a fun time decorating)! This year we might do a real tree, but the one time we did I sneezed all Christmas season. So we will see what we end up with.

Gavyn checking out her presents...not sure which one to open/put together first. She received a Disney Princess Tricycle from us and a pretend kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa. Oh she had so much fun unwrapping the big presents.

One of our friends gave us a brand new boys bike last fall (they originally bought it for a ministry but for some reason didn't end up getting it to them) so they asked if we would like it for Mikah! We gladly accepted the bike and decided to keep it for Christmas. We got him some safety stuff: Spiderman helmet, elbow and knee pads to complete his present. He was so thrilled and talked of nothing else but his BIG BOY bike for days.

Pumpkin Patch 08

2009-02-24T18:14:00.003-06:00

Okay, so we are going back even further than Christmas, how about October/November!

Sitting with their friends, supposed to be singing songs about pumpkins! :)

Mikah was so proud of his BIG pumpkin!

They had lots of fun at the pumpkin patch last year!

Where Have I Been?

2009-02-09T16:43:00.002-06:00

Not sure what happened, I have been neglecting this here blog for the past couple of months. I guess I need to fix that. Pictures from Christmas (2 months later, yes I know) and our recent trip to DisneyWorld will be posted soon, I promise.

On another note - I am going to be dropping some hours from my part-time job at Henderson Hills Baptist Church, so I should have lots more time for regular posts (hopefully anyway!). So excited to be able to not work SO much! :)

I promise pictures and posts are coming!!!

With all my love,
Lisa

Apron Giveaway

2008-12-15T10:56:00.002-06:00

A friend of a friend is giving away one of her aprons...they are so cute!!! Check out the giveaway here! But don't wait - the giveaway ends today.

Early Christmas Gift

2008-12-05T16:35:00.002-06:00

Today someone at work came in the door and handed me an envelope that had my name on it. I wasn't expecting anything and thought it was a bit strange, but nevertheless I opened it up. Inside was a Christmas card with 2 money orders included for a pretty big amount of money. What the ....? was my first response and then I demanded that the person handing me the envelope tell me who gave it to him and he said he wasn't supposed to say or describe them. So we have been AMAZINGLY blessed by someone and we are truly grateful. If this person happens to read this blog, know that we are touched and we cannot, I repeat cannot thank you enough! GOD IS GOOD!!!

Robbie Seay Band

2008-12-04T10:38:00.001-06:00

Robbie Seay will be leading worship on the Internet Campus of LifeChurch.tv this weekend. Click here for dates and times. Come join us for some incredible worship and the start of our new series, Prayer.

The Bod Squad

2008-12-03T09:18:00.001-06:00

I'm over here today....go now and check it out...

The Bod Squad

2008-11-10T12:49:00.004-06:00

I have become a part of an online community called The Bod Squad. My friend Abbi came up with the brilliant idea - now maybe I will actually work towards my goals that I have for this body God supplied me with! My day to post is next Monday - don't worry I'll remind you to check it out! It's going to be good!

Shoes

2008-11-10T12:34:00.004-06:00

Anne Jackson of Flowerdust.net launched her secret project yesterday.

Click on the button, check it out, donate at least $5 for 2 pairs of shoes and then spread the word!

New jobs for the Bransons...

2008-10-24T21:25:00.003-05:00

Lisa's new job:

A receptionist job at LifeChurch.tv opened up about a month ago. I didn't think much of it at the time, but after a few weeks and a walk up the hill one day to the main building, I felt God saying to me, "Go for the job". So I did and I got it! I start on Monday and I'm really excited about it. I have been praying for some way to be able to spend more time with the Chris and the kids, clean, cook, and do all those fun things around the house! And with the receiptionist job I will be able to. I will be working Monday-Thursday 8-3, and Friday's 8-5, so the kids and I will get home around 3:30 instead of 5:30! Love it!!! I'm sad to leave this job and those on the Media Design team, but I will still get to see them so that is good!

Chris' new job:

Chris starts a new position within First Fidelity Bank on Nov. 3. His position will be one of the eOperations Representative in the Deposit Operations department at the Corporate office, which means he will be working with the ATM cards dealing with applications, issues, and I'm not really sure what else. He is ready to do something different and learn a new aspect of the banking business. He won't have to work any more Saturdays or wear the black pants, blue shirt and tie on a daily basis. Back to business casual for him, the only bad thing is he got rid of all his business casual attire when they went to the uniforms. Oh well - small price to pay for a bigger and better job!

Please pray for us as we transition into our new positions. And of course I will keep you updated!

Good Song...

2008-10-16T13:29:00.002-05:00

Check out the video to the right -

I heard Brandon Heath's new song on the radio a few months back and have loved it ever since. Wanted to share it with you today, this has been my prayer lately....

Tomorrow...

2008-10-14T21:16:00.002-05:00

is National Day of Remembrance (October 15th) for pregnancy and infant loss. This includes all babies who have died because of miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS, or any other infant death.

Isaiah has been on my heart and mind so much lately as it gets closer and closer to when he was supposed to be due (Nov. 24). I know he is in heaven and Jesus is taking care of him, but to quote our four year old, Mikah, "But, I want to take care of Isaiah". I look forward to the day when I get to hold him in my arms again and kiss his sweet head.

Thanks to Angie over at Bring the Rain for posting about tomorrow. If you have lost a baby, I encourage you to check out her blog. It has helped me in so many ways.

Mikah's Haircut by Chris

2008-10-06T17:14:00.004-05:00

Chris got his haircut short last week and ever since Mikah has said he wanted his hair cut like dad's, and since Breanne moved so far away we had to improvise! Chris borrowed some clippers from Uncle Jeff (his brother) and started clippin'! Here is a before picture....(I love his hair this length when it starts to curl out, but he has some wacky hair in the mornings that most of the time won't stay down, so in the end I was okay with a haircut!) Chris took him outside, so he didn't get hair all over the house.
The mullet - thankfully it didn't stay a mullet for long!

Here is the outcome...Chris didn't do to bad for giving his first ever haircut! Thanks to Uncle Jeff for letting us borrow the clippers, we will need them again soon!

The Spero Project

2008-10-03T23:55:00.003-05:00

Our friends, Brad and Kim Bandy are starting a non-profit organization called The Spero Project: Sustaining Hope in a Global Community!

Spero. (Latin) to hope for, hope.

The mission of The Spero Project is to provide information, resources, and networking opportunities, equipping and encouraging individuals and local churches to meet the needs of a global community in innovative, effective, and exciting ways.

Chris and I are thrilled to have helped them a little bit along the beginnings of their journey and are looking forward to helping them as much as we can in the future. Chris is actually on the Board of Directors (sounds so offical!) We are very excited to see the impact the organization will make, not only within our communities here in OK, but other communities as well! Show them some love and check out The Spero Project!

Get fit and get paid!

2008-10-01T23:26:00.004-05:00

I found this website Wellness360 over at Money Saving Mom and decided to check it out. Yep, you get money for tracking your nutrition and fitness every day. Just a few minutes a day inputing your info and you'll make a little bit of money too! You can earn as much as $150 per year, not a whole lot, but hey every little bit counts (and of course it will help your fitness/health goals)! Check it out and let me know if you sign up too!

If you do sign up...please use this code ahm825083!

Shaving of the legs...

2008-09-29T12:38:00.002-05:00

I have been shaving my legs with conditioner for over 10 years. I never really liked shaving cream and a friend recommended using conditioner and I have used it ever since. But I ran out a month or so ago and I decided to give Shaving Cream another try. I picked out some yummy smelling stuff that said it would moisturize. Uhm, not so much....my legs feel dry after shaving and are dry throughout the day. So needless to say I will be going back to my trusted (I use the least expensive kind, mainly Suave) conditioner to shave my legs.

What do you use to shave those legs of yours?

LifeShare

2008-09-19T11:35:00.002-05:00

Check out what's going on!

LifeShare, a 7 day online challenge for all of us to extend the love and compassion of Jesus to our friends, followers and online communities. Chris and I have invited friends to church this weekend, we are really excited that they are coming!

Mikah's First Soccer Practice

2008-09-12T16:37:00.005-05:00

Here are a few pictures from Mikah's first practice. He is playing on an Upward Soccer team for the next 2 months. His Aunt Jennifer is his coach. He was so excited last weekend when we bought his shin guards, he wore them around the house with his jeans and flip-flops on. It was too cute!

Kicking the ball...heading towards the goal!

Praying after practice!

So EXCITED!!!

2008-08-29T22:50:00.002-05:00

Why, you ask???

Because Chris and I are about 2-3 months from paying our last credit card off!!! We still have a small bank loan and medical bills, but it is so stinkin' exciting to be so close to being debt free! We will have to be extra frugal with our bucks to make sure we stick with our monthly budget and continue the debt snowball that we started 2 years ago. It's been a slow process, but it's great when you can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I will keep you updated and of course you will be the first to know when we are DEBT FREE!!!

Rose Creek Pool

2008-08-27T10:42:00.003-05:00

Chris has been working at Rose Creek Aquatic Center (a housing development with really nice houses) this summer as the Pool Gate Keeper, and as a perk of him working we get to swim for free!!! So I have taken the kids a couple of times and they have really enjoyed it as you can see from the pictures below!

Labor day Weekend will be the last weekend the pool is open, so we are planning on heading there one last time for the kids to play, swim and soak up some sun!

FFB Bowling Night

2008-08-14T20:30:00.003-05:00

Chris works at First Fidelity Bank and every year they have a bowling night to raise money for United Way. I somehow was placed on his branches bowling team again for the 2nd year in a row! We had a good time (mainly because we were able to bowl with our friends Asia and Jeff). So here are some fun pictures of the night. They gave away door prizes throughout the night, so we were pretty excited when Chris won some gift certificates to Interurban. We are planning on going there tomorrow night for dinner, the kids will be spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa, woohoo we get a date night!!!

I am laughing hysterically because I won 10 votive candles - they just kept piling them on and I wasn't sure I was going to make it back to our lane without dropping them all! I thought it was stinkin funny!
Our friend Jeff won $25.00 cash - we were all very jealous of that prize!
This is Jeff's wife Asia - she works with Chris at his branch. She didn't win anything, but hey they had some stylish FFB tote bags for everyone to take, so I guess that's something!

Family Reunion 2008

2008-08-09T22:50:00.002-05:00

My sister Fran lives in Chicago, so we drove for 14 hours (more like my parents drove) to spend the day with her (and to also meet the boyfriend) and my other sister Jackie and her family. We had a great time checking out Navy Pier - here we are on the huge Ferris Wheel.

Chris and Gavyn taking pictures at the "Bean" in Millenium Park before we head over to eat some Chicago stuffed pizza at Giordano's! YUM!!! After dinner we walked/shopped on Michigan Avenue and then it was back in the van to head to Davenport, IA to meet up with the rest of the family!
You can't go to the Davenport area with out stopping at the John Deere Museum in nearby Moline, IL. There were HUGE tractors the kids could climb in and pretend to drive. Here is a picture of Mikah and his cousins Grace and Hannah.
After the musuem we headed to my mom's cousins house to have dinner and visit with all of the extended family. Gavyn with her cousin Grace (Gavyn loved this rocket swing)! Somehow this was the only picture we ended up with, I think our camera was dying and since everyone else was snapping pictures we figured we would let them take 'em! It was a funfilled LONG weekend, but well worth it to see family again. Our next one is in 2 years in MN - here we come Mall of America!!!

P.S. For those of you wondering if we liked the "boyfriend" - the answer is a YES! He was very nice and great with the kids! We gave Fran our approval!!!

Gavyn's in a BIG girl bed!!!

2008-07-20T14:27:00.004-05:00

We finally made the transition from crib to big girl bed - here are some pictures of the proud BIG girl!!! Now I just have to get used to her getting out of bed at 6:30-7:00 in the morning!

Mikah had to jump in to get his picture taken too!
We are planning on re-painting her walls and getting her a dresser - when that actually happens, I will post the full makeover!

Mikah's 4th B-day!

2008-07-20T14:05:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures from Mikah's Pirate Party! The kids enjoyed hotdog "ships", goldfish and a special pirate drink, "Sharks Blood" aka Sprite with red Hawaiian Punch ice cubes. Here is the treasure chest full of drinks and treasures!
Abbi made the pirate cake for us - it was so cute and delicious too!!!
Captain Mikah opening his presents!
Mikah with his friends from "school", Faith, Haley and Mason! He had a great time and talked nonstop about his Pirate Party for weeks!

Rough Two Weeks

2008-07-17T17:01:00.008-05:00

Wow - it's been awhile since I have posted anything. Things have been pretty crazy/busy here for the Branson Household.

We have had a rough couple of weeks, starting with last Monday. Chris and I went in for a routine ultrasound at 20 weeks of pregnancy and found out our baby no longer had a heartbeat. We were shocked and of course questioning why this had happened. I delivered Isaiah (we didn't know he was a boy until the delivery) early Thursday morning - which was the hardest thing I have ever done or gone through.

We had a beautiful Memorial Service this past Monday.

Our friend, Brandon Donaldson (Internet Campus Pastor for LifeChurch.tv), officiated the service and Trent Austin lead worship along with William Khanagov (violin) and Carrie Belvin (she sang with Trent). Brandon shared some of the things that we had talked to him about a few nights before the service like what we were praying for in this situation (bringing us closer to Him and to each other, and that God would be glorified). He also spoke about how we named Isaiah-we actually had a different boy named picked out but for some reason didn't feel that it was the right name. My mom asked what boy name we had picked out for our daughter if she had been a boy (we didn't know her sex until she was born) and it was Isaiah, which seemed perfect. This past weekend during the series," At The Movies "(a series where spiritual truths are found in blockbuster movies), Pastor Craig spoke about the movie, "We Are Marshall", which focused on the theme of loss. He used the following verses in his message: Isaiah 61: 1-3. It was amazing to hear and read those words - it was just what we needed.

Some of our amazing friends, Erica and Jeff Buchanan, made reservations for us to stay a few nights at a Bed and Breakfast in Stillwater, OK. It was great to get away for a few days and just rest and relax. We are forever grateful to them for this wonderful gift. Chris and I are both back at work and so far are doing okay. I still have my moments (I'm a big time feeler!) but we know that God has a reason for all of this and one day we will see our son in Heaven!

And tomorrow will be a sad, sad day. Our friends John and Breanne Blanchard and their son Malachi will be moving back to Cali. We will miss them so much and of course are already planning a trip to meet them in Vegas in a few months! They have been our best friends for the last year or so and we are so blessed to have them in our lives.

#3

2008-05-02T13:47:00.003-05:00

That's right, #3 will be joining the Branson Family sometime late November!!! Here is the ultrasound picture at 6 weeks (I'm almost 11 weeks now). Mikah and Gavyn are really excited and so are we!

The World of Blogging

2008-02-04T15:40:00.000-06:00

And how it is going to make a difference! So, I am totally into blogging and reading others blogs. I have even started commenting on a few, which is big time for me since I am sometimes on the shy side, but not anymore!! I heard about the exciting trip that 15 bloggers are embarking on with Compassion International...you can read more about it here and see who is going. I encourage everyone to get the word out and be praying for those on the trip (also check out their blogs - good stuff). I'm excited to see what is going to happen in the lives of these Compassion kids. If you aren't already a sponser of a child, please check it out...it's well worth it! And I'm not saying this because I used to work there!!! Somedays I really miss the job I had at Compassion and still love and support the vision and work that is going on there! Check it out! Right now!!! We sponser a child named Claudel that lives in Haiti, my hope is to sponser a child for every member of our family - one down...three more to go!

Puppets Anyone...

2008-01-25T21:20:00.000-06:00

Chris and I work together at HHBC in their childcare on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Chris volunteered to pick out the craft last Wednesday night, he came back with all the fun materials to make hand puppets: brown paper bags, eye stickers, yarn, and pom-poms. We ended up with 10 very active two-three year olds that night, we normally only have about 6-7. While the kids were playing, Chris started working on a puppet. I thought, "Oh he is making a sample one, that's good." Well it was time for the kids to start cleaning up so I could read them the story of Zaccheus and then it was time to color the picture of Zaccheus climbing a tree to see Jesus. I look over and Chris is still at the counter working on the puppet, so I decide to check out this puppet that he is giving all this time too. Well what do you know, he was making a puppet of himself! He did take a break to help half of the kids make their puppets, they got to stick on the eyes, glue on the nose and color the bag, we ran out of time to glue yarn (hair) onto all of the kids puppets. While the kids went back to playing, Chris started on another puppet, I thought, "Oh no, he is making me!" And I was right. So here is the picture for everyone's enjoyment of Chris' artistic puppets....

And of course he added the Heart Support and Toms Shoes logos once we got home to properly represent!!! I'm thinking he did a pretty good job, they kind of look like us! :)

It's late, I'm tired and yet there is so much to do...

2008-01-18T23:13:00.000-06:00

The house needs to be cleaned, the laundry needs to be done, and I just want to go to bed. But hey, at least the sink is empty...only because Chris and I went on a double date to dinner and a movie with our good friends John and Breanne Blanchard. We went to Chipotle (PRAISE THE LORD, THEY FINALLY CAME TO OK) which of course was wonderful and then we went to see the movie Cloverfield. It was an interesting movie to watch...I didn't really care for it or how it ended...I will say that the camera work was pretty cool but after awhile it got annoying to watch. I thought it was funny that they had a disclaimer on the theater door stating that if you were prone to motion sickness then you might not want to see the movie. I'm all about JJ Abrams TV shows, well mainly LOST, but not so sure I'm a JJ Abrams movie fan. Anyway, it was a great night out with friends and, oh my goodness, so nice to be able to have a conversation without any kids interupting!!! Love the kids, but Chris and I were in desparate need of alone time. Again, PRAISE THE LORD his family lives here now!!! Have a great night and you know what I will be doing in the morning...that's right cleaning and laundry!

New Years Resolutions...wonder if I will keep them this year...

2007-12-31T00:46:00.000-06:00

Okay so here are my Resolutions for 2008...

1) Eat better, work out, and spend more time with God. I know it's in a weird order and more like three resolutions in one, but this is how it works best for me...I love sweets, so I need to let go of that love and eat more healthy. If I work out in the early morning (instead of sleeping) I will already be awake and will then have the time to read the bible, pray and just hang out with God before work and/or the kids wake up. So I need the working out part to get me to the more time with God part!

2) Spend more quality time with the family. Find fun, free things to do together, which will help with number three...

3) Continue working diligintely on getting out of debt...hopefully by the end of 2008 we will be able to call Dave Ramsey and scream at the top of our lungs..."WE ARE DEBT FREE!!!" Both Chris and I have part-time jobs on top of our full-time ones to help in this area!

So there you have it...please hold me accountable...I'm going to need it. :)

What's yours?

I forgot...

2007-12-25T21:45:00.000-06:00

I actually baked my first pie today all by myself! Well, everything but the crust, I used prepared crust...I wasn't that adventurous just yet. It is an Apple Pear Crumble Pie and it turned out pretty good. I just may start baking more....if I ever find the time!!! Mom, you would be so proud! Thanks to Chris for making me take this picture...that of course I complained about at the time...but since it turned out good I get some bragging rights!!!

Christmas Eve/Christmas Day

2007-12-25T17:17:00.001-06:00

Christmas Eve was a busy day for us. LifeChurch had two experiences on Christmas Eve at 1:30 and 3:oo, so I served both expeirences at the OKC campus and Chris and Jennifer made it to the 3:00. Chris had to work at the bank till 1:00. The music was amazing and the message was very powerful...a good reminder of how Jesus is our Prince of Peace which concluded the 4 week series on He Will Be Called (names of Jesus). Then we hightailed it to Portland Avenue Baptist Church (where Chris' dad is the minister of music) to attend the 5:00 pm Christmas Eve Service there with the entire family. We ended the night back at Mike and Karen's place to eat Christmas snacks and open presents. Here are some pictures of all the wonderful presents...

Gavyn loves her shopping cart...she also got some food to fill it up with.
We told Uncle Jeff that the kids needed new movies to watch (more for our sanity than theirs) and he got this one for Mikah and Gavyn got The Jungle Book.
Jennifer got some Toms Shoes...if you haven't heard of them check them out. They are my new favorite shoes!!! We got some tiny Toms for Gavyn for Christmas...so cute!!!
And possibly the best gift the boys could have received from Jennifer...Guitar Hero II, enough said.
Mikah got a cool new robot from Grandma and Grandpa, it lights up and even talks and walks. He was playing with it all night. All in all we had a really good time hanging out with family and celebrating the birth of Jesus.

2007-12-25T17:06:00.000-06:00

By the Christmas Tree in Bricktown (Downtown OKC)
The Branson Kids (Chris, Jeff, and Jennifer) Chris and Gavyn!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T16:23:00.000-06:00

We spent Christmas Eve Eve (Sunday) with Chris's parent's, brother and sister. Karen (mom), Jennifer (sister), Mikah and I decided to try our luck at ice skating while the boys watched. Braum's has an ice rink in downtown OKC every year, this is the first year we have actually skated...I think we found a new tradition! Mikah did great as long as someone was holding on to his arms. He didn't fall till right before we got off the ice, of course. After ice skating we ate at Falcones (NY style pizza), and then caught a movie at the Bricktown Harkins Theater. We ended the night with some Starbucks goodies and then it was off to bed.

Mikah and Chris by the Braum's Ice Rink
Getting laced up!
Aunt Jennifer, Mikah and Me on our first lap around the rink.
Aunt Jennifer, Mikah and Grandma.

As Promised

2007-12-21T10:22:00.000-06:00

Here is just a preview of the pictures that Bryce took for us this year. The kids were amazing...they actually listened and stood together long enough to get quite a few pictures done. We were very impressed and as always our friend Bryce did an awesome job at photographing our family!!!

For my sister Jackie...pictures of Mikah's new haircut...same style as before, just shorter!

Exciting News

2007-12-19T22:56:00.000-06:00

As of Jan. 7th, 2008 I will move into my new position as the Administrative Assistant for the Experience Team. I will be working with and for all the creatives (graphic designers and videos producers) that come up with the amazing art/videos for LifeChurch.tv. I am really excited and a bit terrified...they will be counting on me to help make sure everything is running smoothly and deadlines are meet!!! It will be a new challenge for me and I am looking forward to the way God is going to stretch me through all of this. I will keep you posted how things are going once I start. For those that were praying with me about my previous position going away and wanting a position in the same location, a big THANK YOU!!!!

Ice, Ice and more Ice

2007-12-10T18:44:00.000-06:00

The kids and I got to stay home today due to the Ice Storm of all Ice Storms. Chris couldn't get his car out from under the ice this morning, so he took my car to work. Mikah, Gavyn and I woke up to no power in the house. We had a great time playing with toys that don't normally get played with and hanging out with each other. After a few hours of no power, I was getting worried and went out to scrape the ice off of the car. We were graciously invited to 3 of our friends houses and I was ready to take one of them up on the offer. Of course after I spent the 15 minutes scraping away...the power came back on. Thank you God!!! So the kids got lunch, took their naps and I tried to clean up the house a bit. We are thankful that we have power, some of our friends still don't and they are saying it could take up to 10 days to restore all of the power. We are in for some more ice/freezing rain/snow tomorrow and possibly Wednesday, so please pray with us for those who still don't have power and also those who don't have shelter during this storm.