The Bradshaws

A little video of the boys at Ben's School Program about Africa. Jacob and Kristina are being goofy and Ben's being goofier :) When Ben first saw this video he said, "Why am I doing that?" and then "That's SO embarrassing!"
Poor Ben.

This week we celebrated Dave's 35th birthday. In the Bradsahw tradition, we celebrated a "Birthday Week" instead of just a single day. Dave introduced me to Birthday Week for my 30th birthday in January, and I have to admit it's a pretty good tradition. Since our budget is pretty tight right now, we tend not to go in for many indulgences. But on Birthday Week, anything goes. Dave's main requests were that I make a lasagne and that we not have a big party. Of course we wound up doing a bit more than that, but all of his requests (most of which had something to do with food) were honored. Yesterday we were sitting and thinking back over the week and realized that it was a pretty darn good week. We had a little get together with Jayne, Josh and Matt and the boys at our house last weekend. The menu was DiGiorno pizza and ice cream. Those of you who were at my bridal shower know that "DiGiorno Pizza" was one of the answers to the how-well-do-you-know-Dave questions. Dave's siblings bought him some little baby clothes as a gift which were adorable. Our favorite is one that has little baby footprints and "New In Town" on the front. The next day we attended church in the building where we were married for the last time. Our stake/ward boundaries were changed and we are now in a new ward and different building. Then the boys went to their Dad's house and we had the rest of the week to ourselves. During that time we ate out more than once. The Pie Pizzaria, Training Table and Cafe Rio - anyone see Dave's signature on that list? We also ate Neilsen's Frozen Custard, bought Dave two gallons of Welch's grape juice, saw a bad kung-fu movie and a midnight showing of the Princess Bride at our local dollar theater, attended a Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband concert, and went to the Arts Festival downtown. Considering that we're the type who are much more likely to stay in than go out, it was a busy week. But it was sure fun. Ben has the next birthday in our house and I have a feeling he's going to love coming up with a week's worth of things for us to do.

Well now, it's been over two months since the wedding... Guess we'd better blog about it :)




First of all, in the couple of days before the wedding, I had not only a Bridal Shower, but also a Sister's Dinner. All put together, planned by, and pulled off by Dave's sisters. A tangent about Dave's Sisters - Ever since Dave and I met (you know, all of seven months ago) he's been telling me about how great his sisters are. How they have always been examples to him of what a great girl should be like. He said he thought that might actually be part of why he took so long to get married, because he was looking for someone as good as his sisters. I'm glad he decided that I could be grouped into the same category with them. And even though I don't know all of Dave's family as well as I'd like, I'm so glad to be a Bradshaw :) Ok, done with the tangent. So the Shower was at the house of a friend of mine and Jayne (Bradshaw) was so adorable. She was apparently designated to "tease" me. However, she blushed much more than I did when the racy gifts were opened, and whispered most of the "teasing" words she tried to throw my way. But aside from the teasing, everything was fantastic. The food was great, the games were fun and the company was amazing. Then on the night before the wedding, all the Hetherington and Bradshaw sisters got together for a dinner. I sat at the head of the table adorned with a plastic sash and glittery tiara both boasting the words "bride to be". It was a great chance for us to spend time together and get to know each other a bit. There was lots of laughing and quite a bit of crying (mostly Kathy ;) but the rest of us certainly had our moments. Afterwards the Bradshaw gang gathered at our house and we talked until late in the night. Kathy cried again when she saw Dave's ring and Dave spent the weekend asking everyone to "guess how much it cost?" he was so proud of the deal we found.



The next morning the Bradshaw family kicked into high gear. Arranging flowers, coordinating rides, picking up food, setting up chairs, and even finding something to entertain the boys for me while I was getting ready at home. I think I might be the first bride in history that had a stress free wedding day. Dave worked right up until we left for the church, but I don't think anyone was surprised by that. The ceremony was short and sweet, the pictures were chaotic, and the reception was just what we wanted. I even got to eat a little bit.



That night the boys got to have a sleepover with their Hetherington cousins, aunts and uncles at Grandma's house (Jacob made Kristina sing him to sleep) and we got to go on our Honeymoon: a cruise from LA down to Mexico. The Bradshaw girls outdid themselves again, packing up a bag full of snacks to take with us. (Also included was Dave's favorite gift, all three seasons of Arrested Development.) We flew down to LA and boarded the ship at Long Beach Harbor, and spent the next four days relaxing and having fun. And although Dave did longingly look towards the internet cafes we walked past more than once... He was able to forget about work for a while and enjoy himself. We are DEFINITELY going to go on another cruise someday.



So, now we're settled into the house, the school year's just ended for the boys and we're enjoying the time together. Dave has figured out how to be both a workaholic and a devoted husband and stepdad. The boys currently request Dave to tell them a story every night, since he apparently does it better than me :) He aslo takes them on Adventures regularly and brings them home wet/dirty/bruised/muddy on a regular basis. Just how it should be.