Brian the Stud

I was thinking the other day about how studly and athletic my husband is, so just to embarrass him I decided to blog about it!

Brian's been skiing since he was 3 and snowboarding since he was 8 and he is AWESOME! As modest as he is about it he IS amazing and really talented! This is us when I was first learning how to snowboard, something I picked up fairly easy because of my amazing teacher, Brian.

 I took this 6 days after we met, the day after he asked me to be his girlfriend (we moved really slow). It was fun going out and riding these quads, it was my first taste of how athletic my future husband would be!

Wakeboarding is one of Brian's favorite activities and he's GREAT at it! In case you're wondering, yes that is him doing a backflip in the first picture! We went wakeboarding together the day we got engaged and on our one year anniversary, we really want to get a boat one day to take our kids on.

 Brian's always up for anything, including a little

weekend trip to Montana for some white water rafting! As a side note I was actually about 8 weeks pregnant in this picture!

This was in Moses Lake Memorial Day Weekend 2009 doing our first 5K.

 I just love this picture of Brian and his 2 best friends in High School! I remember in High School hearing about how cute Brian Welty, Vince Freitas, and Cody Gang were and this is the epitome of football studs!

Brian also coached a football team at BYU-Idaho. It was amazing to see how much respect he got from his players, something a lot of the coaches didn't receive. He also had a great record and had a lot of fun doing it.

 Also at Moses Lake, Brian was a natural at this! You'd see guy after guy falling down on this thing and Brian picked it up right away. I don't have a picture of him surfing yet but this reminds me of how great he is at surfing also!

 Basically what I'm getting it at is how athletic, active, talented, and SEXY my husband is! Not everyone is as active as Brian and I consider it a blessing to be married to him. Hopefully we're passing the athletic genes and we've got a football star in the making! (Brian thinks Jackson's a quarterback, I think a receiver like his daddy)

Is there anything that he doesn't do??

Halloween 2010

We had so much fun this Halloween! First we went to the pumpkin patch with Mima to take pictures,

 There we found a scary cemetery, where Jackson put on a brave face,

 We saw clowns holding witches, a sure sign Halloween's near,

 Jackson then found a nice pumpkin-y area to rest,

 And made some friends with the locals.

 Papi holding Jackson at the ward trunk-or-treat

 Warm and cozy in his football outfit

 Teaching Jackson how to do things early

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Disneyland 2010

Never having been much of a fan of Disneyland, I can now say I'm converted.

After my big birthday weekend (Brian treating me to a manicure, pedicure, hour-long full body massage, AND getting my hair done!) we decided to meet up with some family in LA and go to a theme park. Our first choice was Knottsberry farm because Jackson's not old enough to really appreciate these kind of things yet and I've never really liked Disneyland (something about the crowds, lines, and "boring" rides...)

As fate would have it, we ended up at Disneyland.

Not only did I LOVE spending time with my awesome nephews but I ended up having a great time myself! It ended up that on top of all the things having a baby has changed about me I am also much more afraid of rollercoasters, and Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain were plenty of ride for me! I even had to close my eyes a couple of times. (Brian so kindly pointed out to me that even my 6 year old nephew was allowed on those rides that scared me.) As it was I was really grateful we didn't go to a place with anything scarier than those. BONUS: My pregnant sister Michelle, Jackson, and my 3 year old nephew Tyler were able to go on all the rides but 2, saving them from a dull day of sitting around.

Disneyland was all decorated for Halloween

So I have absolutely no idea how Brian got 55,600 points more than me I swear my gun thing was broken.... And I don't know why its all in Spanish....

The Buzz Lightyear ride was the first one of the day!

Can I just brag for a minute about how amazing Jackson was? He seriously didn't cry once and loved all the rides. Well, all except Haunted Mansion, which has a loud sound at the beginning of glass shattering that scared him to death and made him cry. Other than that though he was a perfect angel!



 I can't believe my dad treated us both to Disneyland which, trust me, is NOT cheap!

You can't go to Disneyland without going on the cheesy "It's a small world after all" ride.



Yes, this is what 12 hours of Disneyland will do to you.



It was so amazing seeing Michelle and her family, we had a blast!





One last funny story, at Disneyland you can get these passes called FastPasses that let you skip almost the entire line, the only catch is that you have to come back in a couple hours to do it. So Craig spent any time NOT on a ride running around getting the right FastPasses so we could skip the line of a certain ride a few hours later. By the end of the night it got too dark for the workers to really see what time was on the FastPass, so we Danielsons, having learned from the best, decide that we could get a FastPass, and despite it saying that we could only get on a ride 2 hours later, we could skip the lines and give them the FastPass right then. We later joked that these are the things that we want our kids growing up learning, and because my mom and grandma aren't here to teach them, we have to uphold the traditions of scavenging and getting the most of your money ; ). It was all in good fun!

Inherited

As Jackson's getting older and we're seeing more and more of his personality, I'm able to pinpoint some things that he's inherited from mommy and daddy.

From Kaitlin: His mouth and tongue

From Brian: Everything else

From Kaitlin: Freakishly strong legs

From Brian: Freakishly sweaty head

From Kaitlin: Taking up half the bed when he sleeps

From Brian: The congestion and snoring when he sleeps

From Kaitlin: The inexpicable crying

From Brian: The inability to focus on one thing at a time

From Kaitlin: The hair color

From Brian: The hair on his toes

From Kaitlin: The constant need for attention as a child

From Brian: The constant need to eat

All jokes aside its so fun to see how much he grows and learns every day. We see more and more of each other and its fun to say "he got that from me!" or "he definitely got that from you!"

Some funny quirks that he has (which are probably all to be said for most babies) are:

-He loves sitting up and hates to be laying down or reclined when he can sit up or stand and look at the world

-He loves his changing table and the minute we lay him down in it he calms down and he talks way more in it, even if we leave the room or he can't see us

-He loves to coo, especially after he's eaten or when he wakes up

-When I'm working at the computer with him in my lap he will twist his head up to look at me and smile

-He will whine when we leave a room, but has the biggest smile when he sees us again, whether he wants to smile or still pout

 

I can't believe we were blessed with such an amazing, sweet, handsome, funny, active, perfect boy!

Welty Update!!!

Time for an update on the Welty family!!!

  Brian Robert Welty

Brian is still working hard at Eagle Med, supervising the production of a brand new orthopedic instrument. He's not only working full time but also taking a couple prerequisites at Cuesta so that he can try and transfer to Cal Poly next year. He wants to get his degree in Biomedical Engineering, the field he's actually working in right now. The need for biomedical engineers is supposed to go up by 72% in the next 10 years so we're really confident with his career choice.

 More recently, Brian decided to take up surfing again! He used to go when he was 10 but hasn't done it much since. Its amazing how fast he's picked it up again! He's such a natural athlete, and so good at wakeboarding and snowboarding which are kind of similar, that I wasn't surprised at all to see how good he is. Also, because he's so amazing and patient, he found the best deals on a surfboard and 2 wetsuits! He got the surfboard for FREE and the 2 almost brand new Oneill wetsuits for $20! Isn't he the best??

 Brian is the most amazing father. I remember when I was pregnant reading an article on babycenter.com (which is amazing for anyone pregnant or with kids!!) about fathers who don't want to handle babies when they are crying and automatically pass them to their mom. I feel so blessed that Jackson knows and loves his dad and Brian can calm Jackson down just as well, if not better!, than me! Just the other night, Brian took care of Jackson the entire night AND let me sleep in so that I could catch up on some much-needed sleep. I don't know how I got so blessed with an amazing, kind, hard-working, studly man!

 Jackson Robert Welty

Jackson is just the best baby I could've possibly hoped for! Even though he's currently going through a little bit of a rough patch in the sleep department (maybe he's teething??) I feel like he is still ahead of a lot of other babies his age. At 2 months he was already sleeping 8 hours a night! And maybe I'm just being a typical parent bragging about weird things but his motor skills are developing a lot because he's already able to see something he wants and grab it. Of course he's still shaky but I think he's doing great!

 Okay, another bragging moment, but Jackson's cooing is just about the cutest thing imaginable! He and mommy play a game where he coo's, then I coo, then he coo's, then I coo, and this can go on for about a minute with him smiling the whole time! We've also noticed that if he's cooing with me he'll use a higher voice, and when daddy comes along and coo's he lowers his voice to match! He's also able to match patterns that I do. For example if I give a short coo then a louder coo he can follow! And if I laugh he mimicks the sound and laughs too! I swear one time when I was singing to him he tried singing too, he's so talented!

 Lately Jackson's been on a schedule where he can sleep in his carseat at night but as soon as morning rolls around he wants to be in bed with mommy. So when we wake up a couple hours later he makes sure to do it with a big smile and lots of coo's. He's my little snuggle buddy in the morning and I love it! He just does the cutest things, especially when he's talking to us!

 Kaitlin Lora Diane Welty

I absolutely love being a stay-at-home mom! I know that not everyone is able to do it but I feel really lucky to spend so much time with Jackson and not have to hire a babysitter or anything. I remember when I was pregnant being worried that he wouldn't know me that well. I remember looking at other moms and how as soon as their baby started crying they were able to calm him down better than anyone else and I was worried that I wouldn't have that ability! Well Jackson definitely knows me and I feel a special bond with him whenever I'm able to calm him when no one else can.

 I've been really blessed with a perfect job for my situation. I recently started working for a cousin of mine writing reviews online. Its perfect because I'm able to choose my own hours, work as many hours as I want to, and work from home on my laptop so I get to still spend lots of time with Jackson! Its also helping us a lot because our Ford Explorer's transmission recently went out and we're looking for a new car so this will cover the car payments!

 Lately Brian and I have been playing tennis which we used to do before I got pregnant and we really love! Neither of us really played in High School or anything but its something we both really enjoy and feel great doing! We're trying to stay more active and this is a perfect way to drop off Jackson at mima and papi's house and go spend some alone time and let our competitive sides out again! I also like reading whenever I get a chance and going to get-togethers with families in the ward because our ward has so many fun young families, we love it!

 So thats the Welty family update! We're doing great and hope you are too!

Things I Never Want To Forget

I feel like everyone is always telling me how fast things go and how different life will be even in the coming months. It makes me sad to think that I won't remember the details of all the amazing events that have happened and are happening. So I thought I'd list a few things that I never, ever want to forget.

I never want to forget how as we said goodnight on our second date, Brian walked me out to my car, hugged me and said, "You have a beautiful smile."

I never want to forget the first time that Brian said "I love you" and how that night we told each other it a hundred times.

I never want to forget standing across from Brian as we were getting married and the overwhelming feeling of pure joy and not having the ability to stop smiling!

I never want to forget being in bed staying up too late because we can't calm down because we are laughing too hard.

I never want to forget our first positive pregnancy test, and Brian's smile and my tears.

I never want to forget the first time Brian felt Jackson move, how the timing was perfect and how happy he felt.

I never want to forget laying in a hospital bed with my mother, one of her hands holding mine, the other on my pregnant belly, wishing so much she could live to meet him.

I never want to forget Brian's courage as he held my hand and helped me through my labor more than he can possibly imagine.

I never want to forget the way Jackson and I talk to each other in "coo's".

I never want to forget how happy my family makes me just the way it is!

Jackson laughing

Okay, so maybe I'm biased, but I don't think there's anything cuter than Jackson laughing!

It was 3:30 in the morning and Jackson was just waking up for his night-time feeding. As we are trying to ween him off that feeding I put a pacifier in his mouth and went back to bed. A few minutes later he cried again so I got up, probably not in the best mood.

As I looked down at him, he looked up at me and smiled and gave

3 adorable "coo's"!

People have asked me so many times if I think its so amazing to love someone so much. Its moments like these that make me love my son so much I get emotional and need to feel him in my arms.

Can you blame me for thinking he's the cutest thing ever?