Happy Birthday, Jace!!

I know I'm a day early with this post, but I usually NEVER have time to post on Saturdays, so I thought I would get ahead of myself. Tomorrow is going to be a spectacular day because it's my sister's birthday!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo!!!! I just wanted her to know how much I love her and miss her!! She has always been such a great friend to me and a perfect example of an awesome mother. I'm pretty sure she is annoyed with how many times I have begged her to move up here or come and visit, but I only do it because she is greatly missed by all her sisters here in Utah. We all love you tons and hope you have a fun day!!!

Where do I even begin????

Holy cow!
It feels like forever since I've blogged. I have to admit though, it's been quite nice taking a break from it. Life has been crazy the last couple of weeks!!! Last Saturday, my boys were both sick with stomach flu. It was disgusting! I know you've had enough with the puking stories, so I won't burden you with anymore of them. Let's just say that both boys left me a huge mess to clean up (neither of them made it to the toilet on time). Good thing I'm out of the sick stage or it would have been a disaster. By Monday, everyone was feeling themselves again and I was looking forward to having a happy, healthy week!

On Tuesday, my sister Jenna and I went to Oldnavy, Ross, and TJ Max. Unfortunately, all three stores were a disappointment, so we decided to head on over to Olive Garden. This is where the story gets good. SO, we go into eat.....laugh a lot, talk a lot, take care of our babies a lot and then we leave. I put Braddock on my shoulders and skip to the car. Then.......I pause. "Is my car running???" I ask myself this as it sounds like MY CAR IS RUNNING!! "No, it can't be running. I'm not that retarded." Sure enough, I look through the window and see the keys in the ignition and my car is freaking on!!!! It had been running for about 45 minutes with the doors unlocked.
All I could do was look up toward the heavens and thank Heavenly Father for being so incredibly understanding of my stupidity and protecting our vehicle. Everytime I think about that incident, I get very nauseated. Jim still does NOT know about this and WON'T until the title is no longer in our name.
Oh, and there's more!! SO, I get Braddock in his carseat and all of the sudden I feel a liquidy heat sensation all over my arm. Braddock spewed alfredo sauce, breadstick, and applejuice all over his seat, my arm, and his clothes. Thinking it was all over, I hurried and grabbed some napkins to wipe it up, but it just kept comin' and comin'. The few napkins that I had were worthless at this point, so what did I do??? I started laughing and then.....I started crying. Our half hour drive home felt like an eternity. I had my head out the window the whole time I was driving because of the stench. I looked like a dog, but really didn't give a hoots.
I'm so grateful that day is over with! Oh, and sorry about ANOTHER puking story.

Onto a better note: I got called to be second counselor in the Young Women's Presidency! For the last two years, I've been teaching Relief Society and have absolutely loved it, but am now looking forward to being part of the younger organization. Yesterday during sacrament meeting, I looked at the ward program to see who was speaking and all it said was "to be announced". Sure enough, they had the old presidency and the new presidency get up and share their testimonies. Everybody in the presidency that was released really was torn about leaving because they loved the young women so much and had really gotten close to them. We have a great bunch of girls in our ward which makes me even more excited. So anyone who has been in YW's, please give me some tips. I'm going to need all of the help I can get.......seriously.

Well, I guess it's time to shut my mouth now that I've grossed all of you out and have made a serious fool out of myself sharing the "car" story with you.
Oh, one more thing! Look at the pictures below!
Today, Braddock wanted to sit up on the piano bench, so I set him up on it.

This was his reaction......

This little guy cracks me up.

What could possibly be so thrilling about this experience??

I guess we'll never know.

Doesn't he look chill in this picture??

Ultrasound Pics

This is our child waving hi. LOOK - it has all 5 fingers! Hallelujah!!

Okay, so I know I've only told all of you a hundred times, so I might as well tell you again.........
we're having a GIRL!! I don't know how to read the picture below, but apparently the doctor does. We'll trust his judgement.

This is Emmalee Epps' profile. Do you see it????
Her head is on the right side......if that helps any.
We're lovin' her already!!!

4 Things..........

Four Jobs I've Had:

- QC Parks & Rec Worker (Good times, Aimee)
- Office Assistant for Town of Queen Creek
- Worked at a doctor's office. Don't ask me what my title was though. I did pretty much whatever they told me to do. :)
- Mom

Four Places I've Lived:

- Queen Creek, Arizona
- Troutdale, Oregon
- Marion, Arkansas (so glad I don't remember living there)
- Payson, Utah

Four Movies I Love:

- Elf
- Wild Hearts Can't be Broken
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Little Mermaid (I know, I'm 21.)

Four Movies I'd Love to See:

- I really haven't had time to think about it.

Four Favorite Foods:

- Chocolate
- Lime Chicken Tacos (Jenna's Recipe)
- Anything Mexican
- Ruby River's Turkey Avacado sandwich

Four Weird Things about Me:

- I pass out when I hurt my fingers. (One time I smashed my finger in my car door as I was heading over to Bank One aka Chase Bank. I passed out on the sidewalk, so the manager came out, drug me across the pavement and moved me inside. I woke up sprawled out on their floor with a dozen faces staring at me. When I stood up, everyone started cheering and then the fire dept pulled up. It was humiliating having to tell everyone my reasoning for passing out..."Uhhhh.......I smashed my finga."
- I think I am OCD when it comes to the way my table looks at a restaurant. I can't stand to see a little bit of a spill, pieces of food, or crinkled up napkins just laying there. After I am done eating, it's a MUST that I clean up the area.
- I don't like animals. Dogs are cute, sometimes, but only when they're outside and I am inside.
- I heart Christmas. My sisters are all weird like that too and my Mom. If you don't believe me, check out our Christmas countdowns!

Four Places I'd Rather Be:

- In a home that is completely remodeled.
- Hawaii wouldn't be too bad
- Anywhere that gives a good pedicure/manicure/massage.........Jim, are you reading this?
- I could always go for a trip to AZ

Four People I Tag:

-Aimee
-Cara
-Jenna Winters
-Anyone else who wants to join in!!

Updates SCHMUPdates

CAMO anyone???? Seriously, before Braddock was even born, I think I received at least 10 different outfits/blankets/hats that were camouflage print. You know you're an Epps when half of your child's wardrobe is camo. Good thing he looks unbelievably cute in it!!
On Saturday, it was 30 degrees and snowing, so I got Braddock all fancied up in this sweet jacket.
I want one. Why doesn't anyone buy me some camo???? White trash, I know.

HERE'S AN EXTREMELY SAD STORY FOR YOU........................
So yesterday for FHE, our family decided to play a little game of Tug-o-War. Well, it was more of just Braddock and Jim playing and me taking the pictures. Braddock thinks it is really funny to clench his blankie with his teeth and have dad do the same on the other side. They are both quite competitive about it which makes mommy laugh really hard. So we were all laughing and having a good time. Later, I grabbed the blanket and teasingly hit Jim with it (like you would if you were having a pillow fight), so Jim teasingly hit me back. Everytime Jim hit me with it, I would laugh and scream in a happy kind of way. After a few seconds of my loudness, we heard Braddock say "Da-Da". He had a huge frown on his face and then he started trembling really bad. It looked like he was having a seizure!!! He fell to the floor and started screaming because he was so frightened. Jim and I felt TERRIBLE. I hurried and grabbed Braddock to try to comfort him. The three of us all hugged each other for about 5 minutes until Braddock stopped shaking and crying. It was incredibly SAD!!

Where has time gone???

This last Friday, Braddock turned one. I can't believe how fast time goes by!! Just one year ago, I was carrying him inside my tummy. Yes, I know I was huge, but I loved it! The excitement of him arriving was too much to handle.

I couldn't help but post this picture. Can you say HIDEOUS? Jim thought it would be good to look back on a photo like this. I think I said some pretty choice words to him for taking it, but now I look at it and think it's really funny. I'm having a massive contraction and haven't had my epideral yet.
After half an hour of pushing, Braddock arrived on September 21, 2006 at 12:34 PM. He was so chubby!!! 8 lbs! Jim thought that maybe it wasn't his child. He had dark olive skin and lots of thick black hair. We're not sure where that came from as both Jim and I we're both toe head babies, but we thought he was darling anyways. Below, is a picture of him looking at his daddy.
This was just a couple of minutes after he was born. He was so alert (and still a little purple). He had such a cute little personality though. I remember he just looked around at everything and sucked on his three little fingers. I love him.
Here we are a year later. We went to Ruby River on Friday for his birthday with his aunts Jenna & Alyssa. I know, like he had ANY idea what was going on. I wish he was staring at the camera because I rarely get a picture of just me and him. I love this little boy so much and am so grateful that Heavenly Father brought him to our home. He's the best!

Family Pictures

So I am a bad mom and just barely decided that it was time for Braddock to get some pictures taken of him. We took quite a bit of all of us. To my family: Please let me know what pictures you like the most and what size, so I can get them ordered. To those of you who are looking for a photographer: I highly reccommend the one we went to - Rebecca Carter. She did an awesome job! It took an arm and a leg from all of us to get Braddock to smile. I'm not sure how she captured him at the perfect time because he whined most of the time. I'll be posting her website on my blog on Friday if you want to see some of her work. Also, the pictures on the slide are a little blurry and I can't figure out why. No worries though, the actual photos are fantastic!