Happy Birthday Bridger!!!

It's official. My baby is one year old. When did this happen? Has it really been a year since we had Bridger? I really am kind of sad about this- but not sad enough that I am ready for another one. Two is plenty for now.

We decided to celebrate Bridger's birthday on Saturday since Sunday isn't the best day for parties. We had the Livsey's over and the boys all played for a while. I brought the little slide in and they had fun going down (and up) it over and over again. We had dinner and then put Bridger in his high chair and got him all ready for his big moment. I was really looking forward to watching him eat cake because in October we were at a wedding reception and he got a little bite of cake and was in love. I was not disappointed last night. He was kind of cranky because the evenings are his cranky time (and everyone else's for that matter). He usually goes to be between 6 and 6:30 and by the time we gave him his cake it was like 5:30 or 5:45. I made a little cake shaped like a "1" and when we put it in front of him, he looked at it cautiously, dabbed his finger in it, tasted the icing, and dove right in. He was grabbing it by the fistful and shoveling it into his mouth, all the while making little shouts of delight. I didn't think a little person could eat as much cake as he did but I was wrong. I kept telling myself, "It's okay. He had squash for dinner. It's his birthday. It's not like we give him cake everyday (or any day besides his birthday for that matter). He's not going to become an obese teenager just because he is eating more cake than any grown man could ever eat." I think he would have just kept going if we didn't pull him away from it. Then he was just sucking on his chubby little fingers trying to get the last bit of delicious sugar. It was really cute and fun to watch.

After undressing him and practically hosing him down, we had him open his presents. Well, that was the plan at least. Brody and Hayden got to most of the gifts before Bridger had a chance, but he was okay with that. He was still sucking on the first gift's tag by the time the other boys had ripped open the other ones. Brody still thinks all the new toys are his. Whatever makes him happy. Thanks to our friends and family who spoil our kids. Between Christmas and his birthday, he's set.

We love Bridger and feel so blessed that he is in our family. He is a sweet boy and has a smile that can melt anyone (although you wouldn't know it by looking at his birthday pictures). Happy Birthday Bridger!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Another Christmas has slowly come and quickly gone. It's kind of sad, isn't it?

This week has been crazy and kind of crappy. The boys have been sick- especially Bridger. We ended up taking him to the ER on Sunday because he was really sick and we knew we wouldn't get into a doctor because of Christmas and everything. It turns out he had an ear infection so they gave us an antibiotic and some ear-numbing drops. That night Bridger went down well and when we went to go check on him at about midnight he was sleeping in a puddle of vomit with it stuck all in his hair and ears. It was really sad- so we took him into the bath and washed him down and put him back to sleep. He threw up again today after we gave him his antibiotic so we are thinking maybe he is reacting badly to the medicine. Hopefully we will be able to get in tomorrow and see what's going on. Poor little thing. He has been miserable.

Despite all of the craziness, we had a great Christmas. Last night we had the Livseys and the couple missionaries - Elder and Sister Benson- over for Christmas Eve dinner. It was yummy ham (drowned in brown sugar sauce) and rolls and potatoes and gravy and other stuff- delish! Then this morning we were up really early at 5:45 with Bridger and Brody woke up soon after that. We read the Christmas story together, had a small breakfast and then opened presents. We kept it simple this year due to budget restrictions but thanks to our families, our Christmas was a lot bigger than we had thought it would be. Brody loved opening presents and Bridger didn't so it worked out great for Brody- he opened all of them. After presents we went over to the Livseys house and had a huge breakfast. The elders in our ward came too and we ate ourselves sick.

We came home, took naps, and just kind of hung out the rest of the day. I love Christmas! I love how easy it is for our focus to be on Christ and the awesome things that He has done for us. My testimony of the Savior grows more and more each Christmas as I study and try to understand what His birth must have been like- especially for Mary. What an awful labor that must have been. No epidural, sitting in a dirty stinky stable with animals around her probably driving her crazy. That woman is a saint and I love her. Heavenly Father definitely picked the right woman.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and that you felt the Spirit in your lives and in your homes. I love you all!!! Merry Christmas!!!

Gingerbread House Contest

Last night was our third Annual Ginger bread House Contest with the Owens family. It is interesting to look back at all three and remember what each one was like. The first year, we had just moved into our house here in Georgia and we met the Owens, who live around the corner from us. She was a few months pregnant with Benjamin and we just had Brody. Their first house turned into a gingerbread jail and they were so unhappy with the way it turned out, they just left it on our car on their way home. We left it on their porch with a blue ribbon on it, not realizing that they had gone out of town and it brought a lot of ants to their front door. Oops, okay?

We got to know each other while making our first houses and then last year we decided to have a rematch. They had Benjamin who was 6 months old and I was REALLY pregnant with Bridger. After completing our houses, we emailed everyone and asked them to vote. After deciding who the winner was (it was us, but I don't like to brag!) they made us dinner.

This year we had two kids (who luckily were asleep during the construction of our houses) and they had Benjamin here. Poor little guy- he was tired and all the candy on the table was so tempting for him. This year we are going to post our pictures on our blog and we are asking for you all to comment on our blog and let us know which one you like best. Whoever wins gets dinner from the other couple!

Motherhood At Its Ugliest

This week has been pretty ugly, as the title of this blog suggests. I'll just jump into explaining why. Sunday morning Bridger woke up early and wanted to eat so I nursed him on the living room couch. About halfway through he started gagging and before my brain could register what was happening, I had projectile vomit in my MOUTH and all over me and all over the couch. And I mean ALL OVER. I have often wondered how so much stuff could come out of such a small body. Anyway, I ran into the bedroom and woke Adam up (which I kind of felt bad doing since he had gone to bed at 3 because he had worked the night before and was adjusting back to his weekend day schedule). I immediately went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and cleaned myself up. That morning was the beginning of a very gross week with lots of dirty laundry, lots of runny diapers, and not so much sleep for any of us. Today is Thursday and I am still cleaning up puke and other not-so-pleasant bodily fluids that kids have when they are sick. Adam was really sick from Monday to Tuesday but is feeling much better. I am really grateful that I haven't gotten sick but not so grateful that I'm not going to complain about everyone else being sick. Today I about lost it. I have really been trying to be patient with the boys when they are whiny and needy and smelly but today was day #5 and I am so over it.

On Wednesday morning the boys took a break of being sick and tricked us into thinking that they were better. They woke up happy and they ate breakfast and all was fine. So we decided to take that opportunity to go to the mall and get their picture taken with Santa. I have always been against the mall Santas but the other chance we had with Santa was taken away when Santa's camera wasn't working and Brody loves talking about Santa so we just gave in and went. I can't believe how expensive it was! We got the 2nd smallest package (only because the smallest was 3x5 pictures- what do you do with a 3x5 picture???) and it was $20!!! I wanted to crawl into Santa's fake little house and cry. You better believe I am downloading that picture and using it in every way that I can think of. Brody was really shy when he first got on Santa's lap. He actually covered his face with his hands so Santa couldn't see him. Bridger just sat there and stared at him. No one was behind us in line so they just chilled with Santa for a while. Did they both smile at the same time while looking at the camera? Of course not but at least they aren't screaming, right? Also, Santa's eyes aren't really as creepy as they look- it's just the glare on his glasses.

On to other things.... as Brody said in his blog about being tagged, he likes to take his jammies off while in his crib. Then I have to go in before I go to bed and redress him so he doesn't freeze all night. Well my friend Hannah gave me a really good idea to put a t-shirt on over his jammies so he can't unzip them and take them off. So I did it and it worked...for a couple of days. Then he figured out to just put his hand under the shirt and unzip the jammies and just take his legs out and leave his arms in the sleeves. What is with that? Oh well. It is now only every once in a while that he gets out so I guess it's worth keeping the t-shirt on.

Bridger is now saying "Uh-oh", waving bye-bye, and taking up to 5 steps at a time.

Brody is now saying "Why not?" whenever I say anything (even when I say "yes"). Today I was on my way to the UPS store to mail a package that I had printed out a label for and I saw a UPS truck stopped at someone's house so I just stopped and gave it to him. Brody asked "what" that man was, meaning who he was and I told him he was the UPS man. When we got home more than an hour later, he told Adam that he saw a "U...P...S...mailman".

Also, here are some pictures of the boys playing at the park and of Bridger's cute haircut. That's about all for now. Any of you who are actually still reading this, thanks for sticking around and letting me vent!

Freak!

I was told by some birdies that I have been tagged - like everyone else and their dogs. I don't think I have any really abnormal traits so this should be pretty darn short.

1) Lets just get all the gross stuff out of the way first: I pee in the shower. I pick my nose and sometimes wipe the goobers on my pants. After I blow my nose I always have to look to see what marvels I produced and sometimes when I'm in the shower I blow right into my hands. If the mood is right when I burp or expel other unwanted gaseous odors I like to make sure some one I love knows it smelled real bad. If all those lovely quirks turn you against me, you can stop reading now, but if not I'll keep trying.

2) I like to randomly slip into various accents when I'm trying to be funny. Sometimes it is funny, sometimes I only make myself laugh. Sometimes I wish I were in that shower so no one could tell I just peed my pants.

3) I have an extra bone attached to my spine that makes me walk funny and throws off the balance of my whole body. For instance, the left side of my body grows more hair.

4) Jess claims I don't ever smell bad. I can go work in the back yard in the blazing sun, or exercise all day and come in smelling like I just walked out of the shower. BO is not my friend. We don't hang out. Sometimes we catch up on good times, but that's about the extent of our relationship.

5) Opposite of most people I know, I feel like I have to order something new at any restaurant i go to. I almost never order the same thing because i always want to try something new.

6) Jess calls me the "Good Idea Guy" because I come up with ingenious ways to do things. For instance, I make my hot chocolate hotter than normal and then add a scoop of ice cream. Try it and you'll never go back to normal.

7) I am a super efficient cleaner and can make the whole house look clean in half an hour.

Reading back through my list two words come to mind - disgusting and lame. So if you have a better idea for my list, please feel free to make suggestions. In the meantime, you can feel disgusted and lamed.

Adam's Family (do do do do snap snap)

Okay so it's been a while since I've posted but Audrey hasn't posted in like a month so I'm good (hint to Audrey). We have had a lot happen this week and I still haven't posted about Adam's family being here so here goes...

Adam's mom, dad, brother Hyrum, sister Faith, and her husband Allen came to stay with us Thanksgiving weekend. They drove through the night 12 hours to be here on Thanksgiving day. Adam prepared the meal and it was delicious. He brined the turkey overnight, made crock pot mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies, etc. He even made a white chocolate mint Oreo cheesecake that was really yummy! I didn't have to worry about anything except setting the table. How great is that? The Livseys came over for dinner and they brought the yummiest rolls and stuffing, more pie, and I think some other things too but it's been a while, okay? It was a good day.

Friday morning Adam and I left the kids with the fam and went Christmas shopping for a couple of hours. We just hit Target, Michael's and Old Navy. We got some sweet deals, but I have never seen anything like that parking lot. It was before 8am when we got there and there was no where to park! It was insane. The line at Target was wrapped around the whole store, but they had a system that worked well so we were only in line for about 10 minutes.

Saturday night we went to Lights of the South. You go on a hayride pulled by a tractor through the trees and there are light displays and characters and you ride through it all. It is amazing. Then you can go to Mrs. Claus' kitchen and get hot chocolate or marshmallows to roast over the fire and you can go see Santa. We wanted to see Santa so we went and waited in line and after every person Santa had to get up and help the lady with the camera. Apparently he can make reindeer fly and deliver gifts to everyone in the world in one night but can't fix a camera. After waiting for longer than we wanted and seeing that the line wasn't progressing we left without seeing Santa. It was sad because Brody actually wanted to sit on Santa's lap. We are going to have to find a Santa to let him sit on.

The rest of the weekend was pretty much just hanging out, playing games, and putting up the Christmas decorations. Brody had so much fun with everyone. He took a particular interest in Hyrum and Allen because they would wrestle with him and throw him around like his dad does. He never was lacking attention and he was in heaven.

So other big news is that Bridger has started to walk. I say walk, but what I mean is take a few steps. Last Wednesday (the 29th) he took his first step and since then the most he has taken is 3 steps before falling. He is getting really good and standing up on his own but he is hesitant to take off. He has a lot of weight he has to balance!

We are getting excited for Christmas to come. It is such a special time of year. It is so easy to feel the Spirit during this time when our focus is on Jesus Christ and the amazing things He has done for us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, so I know I am a little late for Thanksgiving but we have had family in town since Thursday and have been super busy so this is my post for Thanksgiving. In keeping with the true spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to tell you all what I am most thankful for.

I have three boys in my life that mean the world to me. I met Adam in 1996 when I was 13 years old and had a monstrous crush on him. It took a while for him to notice I was alive (granted, I was
13 and he was 16 at the time) but he did. Skip ahead a few years and we got married and he has been my best friend through out these years. He is so supportive and service-minded. He makes me laugh every day and is so fun to be around.

Brody is my 2 1/2 year old. He is so full of life and energy and is so smart. He amazes me. When he isn't driving me crazy, he is making me laugh and wanting to play and wrestle. He is an awesome big brother and takes good care of Bridger, even if that means trying to boss Bridger around so that he obeys mommy.

Bridger is my little baby. He is almost one and he is such a sweet baby. His smile melts me and his laugh takes away all ill will. I think that if terrorists and world leaders could all get together and just stare at him, we would have world peace. His thighs are yummy to munch on and his eyes are like bright blue stars.

My three boys make my life so rich and fun and sometimes very loud. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father trusted me to take care of them and to be their mom (and wife).

Toddler Tag

Hi all, this is Brody but my dad is helping me type this out. My mom tagged me too, so I guess I will have to tell you 6 of my dark secrets. Here goes nothin!

1) I pick my nose. I like to pick my nose. My mom says my finger is in my nose all the time, but that's simply not true. Sometimes its in my mouth, like after I pick my nose. Boogers just taste good. You should try one sometime.

2) I know all my letters of the Alphabet, but not in order. Dad wrote the alphabet under the table, and I have magnetic letters and we read 2 books every night. I think I'll be able to spell some words soon! Like honorific­abilitud­initatibus. That was coined by some guy named Shakespeare.

3) I like to drink my bath water. I don't think it tastes any better than real water, but I figure since it has all that soap in it maybe it will help me wash my insides.

4) I also like to pee in the bath water.

5) I love my best friend Hayden. We play together all the time; we push each other, hit each other, steal each other's toys, make each other cry and sometimes Hayden pulls my hair. Its so fun. I cry when I have to leave Hayden's house.

6) I prefer to sleep disrobed. After my mom and dad put me in my bed I secretly take my jammies off and then sleep with my hand in my diaper. While I'm asleep sometimes the magic naked police put my clothes back on.

I could go on about all my special features, but I think you get the idea. Also, my mom is hotter than your mom, and my dad could beat your dad up.

I've Been Tagged

So I was tagged twice and didn't do it and now I feel bad (sorry Tina and Julie) so I am going to respond to both of my tags in one post. How does that sound? The rules are that I have to say 6 things about myself that people may not know and then tag 6 people to do the same thing. So here goes:

1. I am a really picky eater. I don't try new things and I have rules about eating. For instance, my vegetables can't touch my other food. That is gross. I just like my food a certain way.

2. I met Adam when I was 13 and he was 16. He was my older brother's friend and didn't even know who I was but I wanted to marry him so bad. He was so dreamy. One time he and my brother Zach were going to the movies and I begged Zach to let me come so he did and he sat in between Adam and me. I know- what's with that? Anyway, we all shared a big tub of popcorn and since Adam touched it, I took it home and cherished it for a while until it got kind of gross and then I threw it away.

3. This one is kind of creepy. Whenever my hands aren't busy doing something, my fingers are spelling words out in cursive. I have been doing it since I can remember being able to write cursive. When we are watching tv I am usually spelling out what people are saying in mid air. Don't ask me why. Sometimes when my hands are busy, I spell with my toes. I know. It's creepy. Can we still be friends?

4. I was born with a large bump over my left eyebrow. When I was still a small baby, my mom took my brother Zach, my sister Eliza and I to the laundromat and Zach got jealous that my mom was paying more attention to me. He sat on my face- I don't know if he was trying to kill me or just hide me from my mom but either way, the bump popped and now I have a small hole where the bump was. Take a notice next you see me. It's weird.

5. I love Josh Groban with all my heart. He has such an amazing voice. Adam got me tickets to go see him in Vegas when we lived in California and then found out he couldn't get off work to go with me so I invited my dad to go instead. Poor Adam. It was awesome. Josh Groban has a new Christmas cd out called Noel if any of you are interested. In one of the songs, he sings with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

6. I may lose some friends over this because some people consider it disgusting but if you don't want to be my friend because of it, you're not that great of a friend anyway so here we go. I love popping zits. It is fun and is a great stress-reducer. Adam is really nice to let me torture him all the time. If only he had more acne. I miss having my brothers and Adam's brother around.

So that's me. Pretty LAME if you ask me! Now I am tagging Hannah, Eliza, Audrey, Ingrid, Heidi and Anita.

My Boys Make Me Laugh

Bridger makes me laugh. As you can see in these pictures, Bridger is cute and has plenty of character (and cellulite). He has this cheesy grin that makes me melt and when Brody is laughing, Bridger laughs too- not because he knows what is so funny, but because he wants to laugh just like his big brother. When he isn't happy, however, look out. He is a pro tantrum thrower. We start them young in our family. If something isn't the way he likes it, he will arch his back and scream from his throat and it is loud and annoying. We were at Wal-Mart yesterday and he started screaming like that and people were looking at us like, "What are you doing to him?" Brody has thrown quite a few public tantrums but I have never been really embarrassed because people know kids throw tantrums. This was different- it was like Bridger was trying to convince people that we were abusing him. I guess we were, if you consider giving him snacks and juice and toys to play with to make him shut up abuse. I say tomato.....

Brody makes me laugh too. He is starting to say really funny things. Maybe they aren't funny things, but the fact that he says them is funny. Today I was feeding Bridger baby food for lunch and I spilled some down his pants. Here is what followed:

Me: "Oh man!"
Brody: "What wrong, Mommy? Mommy make mess Buh?" (Buh=Bridger)
Me: "Yes, I made a mess on Bridger."

About 20 minutes later, Brody was at the table eating his lunch and his chair back "came off" which means he ripped it off. He exclaimed "Oh man!" in much the same way that I had and said, "Dis wall down!" (this fall down). It was funny that he picked up on it.

Also, Brody is slightly anxious about elevators. He likes them, he likes to push the button, but he always has to hold our hands and he looks a little uneasy while we are in them. Twice this week he was in an elevator with either Adam or me and Bridger and both times, he grabbed Bridger and said, "Okay, Buh. Here go!" (It's okay, Bridger, here we go!) He was trying to comfort Bridger because he assumed Bridger was scared too- at least that is my guess. It was cute.

I don't have any appropriate pictures of Brody this week. I have one that I took in the middle of his nap after he took his pants and diaper off (which is a regular thing now a days) but I'm not posting it on our public blog for chesters to find.

We had our first Relief Society Meeting in our new ward on Sunday and I think it went well. I was a little overwhelmed looking at all the sisters and feeling a new love for them and thinking of the responsibility I have to makes sure their needs are met. I am getting used to the idea, though, and I am excited!

County Fair and Other News

Yesterday we went with the Livseys to the Columbia County Fair. It was fun for about the first 4 minutes. Brody went on a couple of rides with Hayden and we got to go see the petting zoo (it was really a sad place). Everything was ridiculously expensive and it was crowded and smelled like manure and cigarette smoke. Yummy, right? Oh well. Now we can say we've been to the county fair.

After the fair we went to Cici's Pizza, which is a pizza buffet much like Stevie B's Pizza, only way grosser. Stevie B's has the best breadsticks and a huge variety of pizza. I'm a pepperoni only girl, but Adam likes to try new things and they will custom make a pizza for you with anything on it- mac and cheese, baked potato, anything they have they will make into a pizza. Cici's food had a weird taste to it and was pretty disappointing, but they had really good mini cinnamon rolls. I think I had like 5. Or maybe more- who knows? We are glad we went, though, because now we know how much better Stevie B's is and we can tell the world.

Friday was a really long day. Brody didn't take a nap and Bridger only took a 45 minute nap in the afternoon so they were crabby and it was frustrating having to keep them quiet while Adam was sleeping (he is on the night shift again). I was trying to think of things to do to keep them happy and one of them was a sticker party. We got a cute Halloween package from Legrand and Valarie (Adam's brother and his wife) and it had 4 sheets of Halloween stickers in it. Brody loves stickers so we stuck stickers all over each other and it provided quite a bit of entertainment for us. Bridger was confused and I'm pretty sure he didn't like the feeling of stickers all over his face, but sometimes we all have to make sacrifices to make Brody happy, do we not?

In other big news, our ward split last week. We were asked to go to the Stake Center on Sunday night and they created a new ward called the Grovetown Ward, which we are now members of. We lost a lot of good friends but we still live close and hope to see them every once in a while. Also, we now go to church at 12:30 which we learned today is quite brutal. It is nap time and crabby time and the I am pretty sure the nursery was a nightmare for those poor nursery teachers. Bridger was not a happy camper. Also, this morning Adam and I met with our new bishop and I got called to be the new Relief Society President so I got sustained and set apart today. I still kind of feel like I'm going to throw up whenever I think about it but at the same time, I know I will have a lot of help from the Lord, from Adam, and from the other members of our ward. I love our new ward. It is young and fresh and it is a new start. I know that obedience and willingness to sacrifice bring blessings and you know I love blessings! I am nervous and excited and confused all at the same time (I am too young for this!).

Happy Halloween!

Tonight we went trick-or-treating with Brody and Bridger. Bridger mostly just stayed in the stroller, but was admired by passersby. Our friends Rachel and Jonathan with their son Benjamin met us at our house to take pictures and then we were off. We just went up and down the streets of our neighborhood. Brody was a little confused at first. He would say "gickogeet" and then just stare. He would get his candy and we would remind him to say thank you and the staring continued. After a few houses, he was a pro. "Gickogeet", candy, "Dit do", turn around and go to the next house. He even started saying "Ah ah self" meaning he wanted to go to the door alone. At one such house, I stood back a few feet and let him knock on the door. Once he knocked, a fogger turned on and started blowing fog loudly at him. He freaked out and ran towards me. The guy answered the door and saw fraidy cat Brody holding onto me and said, "The first person I turn the smoke on for turns out to be a fireman. I feel bad." After that Brody was happy to have Adam or me go to the door with him.

Our neighborhood was quite festive. A lot of houses went all out with Halloween decorations. Even more had carved pumpkins or scarecrows or other scary things. It was fun to see all the other kids dressed up.

Brody scored, which means that really Adam and I scored. We didn't even come close to getting all the houses in our neighborhood and we had to empty his firetruck candy holder a few times because it was overflowing. We were out for about 45 minutes and then came home to put the boys to bed and started giving out candy. I'm already out of candy. It was a busy night.

Bridger's First Haircut

Bridger got is first haircut yesterday. I kept putting it off because I didn't want to cut his baby hair off, but he was getting shaggy around the ears and his bangs were becoming a little out of control. These are the before and after pictures. You can't tell but I cut off almost an inch in most places. He liked it at first (he got to play with a nose hair trimmer that has the blades taken out that Brody always likes to hold during his haircuts) but then towards the end he was swatting my hand away. Doesn't he look devastated that I cut his hair? Like "What did my mom do to my beautiful hair?"

He looks so cute- it makes him look like a big boy to me. He is a stud.

An Introduction

Hi. My name is Broderick, but you can call me Brody. I feel like it's time for me to let the world know that I am not just a cute face attached to a perfectly scrumptious body (that is how my mom says it). I have a brain too. I know all my letters and read books all by myself. I brush my teeth and put my clothes on by myself too. If I wanted to I could even change my own diaper, but I choose instead to punish my parents for not feeding me ice cream for dinner every night. They're trying to get me to do my business on a potty, but to be honest I only do it for the M&Ms or when I don't want to go to bed right away. They're so easily manipulated - like giant gobs of play dough in my hands! It's much more efficient to just use a diaper anyway, plus I can be in charge of my own time management and not a slave to nature. I'm trying to persuade my Dad to use diapers, but so far I've had no luck. I'll let you know if that changes.
I have a little brother named Bridger, but I call him "Boo" - you can too. Sometimes when we're bored we'll just laugh at each other for fun. He's cute, but not as smart as me yet. I'm trying to teach him how to pray and walk and eat stuff, but, like I said - he's not so smart.
I think lions are pretty much the best animal ever. If I could be an animal, a lion is what I'd choose. Not just because they have cool hair, or eat people, but because can poop wherever they want and nobody cares. Also, they can roar really loud and so can I.

Halloween Costume Woes

Hello friends! You may notice our blog looks a little different this week. It was getting stale to us so we changed it up a bit.

I always try to write within a week of the last post but it never seems to happen. This week is no different. If you are like me, you go to all of your friend and family blogs almost everyday to see if there is a new post and when there isn't, you are disappointed. Well, get used to disappointment.

This picture is of Bridger right when he woke up from a long nap. He looks completely wasted.

These past few weeks have been so busy for me! I always thought that moms that didn't work were full of it when they said they were really busy. What do they do all day? Stay at home with their kids, half of them in school and get stuff done, right? Wrong. The only time I can get stuff done is when the kids are in bed. That happens twice a day- nap time at noon and bedtime at 7. During nap time I usually have grand plans of cleaning or making cards or making phone calls but noon comes around and I am dead. When I can I just take a nap at the same time as the boys. That means that all the stuff I have to do has to be done after they go to bed at night and the last couple of weeks I have had stuff at night. Last week was the RS Visiting Teaching Conference which I was in charge of and we have had birthdays, ward activities to get ready for and I even got a girl's night out this week! Needless to say, the house is a mess, we have had leftovers a lot and I am really looking forward to the weekend.

Thursday the boys and I went to a play group Halloween party. They had their costumes on and we got to see all the other kids in the ward and their costumes. It was really fun. We decorated cupcakes that were oh so yummy and everyone traded candy. Tonight is our ward Fall Festival and I have been trying to get all of our costumes ready. I am going to be Mary Poppins and Adam will be Bert. For weeks I have looked at thrift stores and online for things to put together my costume. I finally put it all together last night and......it looks RIDICULOUS! Adam said I looked like a mime. I guess Mary Poppins on a tight budget isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Adam's costume looks great. I guess he'll just have to go with white trash Mary Poppins. We will post pictures of it all later.

Yesterday I walked into the living room and Bridger was standing up next to the tv holding a toy in both of his hands. Yes that's right- he wasn't propped up on anything- standing all by himself. I am dumb and loudly said, "Bridger! You're standing all by yourself!" and he fell down. I have tried to get him to do it again today but no luck.

Brody is all about doing things by himself these days, or in his words, "Ah ah self". Sometimes it is annoying when I am in a hurry and he wants to put his shoes on all by himself (especially since he ALWAYS puts them on the wrong feet) but it is neat that he is learning to do things for himself. Another cool thing he did this week is spell something out by himself. We play the letter game a lot that Adam's sister Stalina got for him. It's a tin school house with magnetic letters inside with a matching card that the letter fits in. Adam works with him a lot and he now knows all of the letters. So we were at his friend Hayden's house the other day and in Hayden's room, he has letters that spell out him name on the wall. Brody pointed and said, "H" and so I pointed out the rest of the letters and as I pointed, he said "A-Y-D-E-N". It was really cool. I didn't know at that point that he knew all his letters. When we got home I pulled out the letters and quizzed him and he knew them all. Some sound the same- like G and J but he knew them all. I was really proud of him. He even says the word for some of them like D- Dog and B-Bus. I like him.










Oh- I just remembered one more thing I was going to write. The other day Brody sat on the couch by himself and read himself a book. He looked at the pictures and described them using his limited vocabulary. He is so intellectual.

Happy Birthday Adam!!!

Today is Adam's birthday. He is 27 now, which to me is really old but to many of you reading, it is probably really young. We are actually having his party on Friday because it is our good friend James' birthday this week also and we are doubling the fun and having a party with them. Today probably didn't feel like a birthday for Adam but hopefully we will have enough fun on Friday to make up for it. Today I brought him some cookies to share with his friends at work. I remember when my mom used to bring in cookies or cupcakes or whatever we wanted her to bring when it was our birthday. Then everyone liked me for the day, even the people who didn't normal like me.

So these pictures are some that I found in one of our old picture albums. I don't mean albums that are old; I mean albums that contain old pictures. I know what you're thinking and no, we don't put covers on our albums. I love pictures of Adam when he was a little boy. He was cute but not in a weird I like little boys way. His baby picture slightly reminds me of Bridger and he is also quite attractive. The one with Adam in red pajamas is with Legrand and is also one of my all time favorite pictures. You can just see how much they love each other. Sometimes when Brody and Bridger are playing, I see that between them and I love love love it. The picture with Adam lying on the ground is with Stalina. I wonder what they are laughing about.

It is now after 11pm which is way past my bedtime. Adam, Happy Birthday!! I love you and hope you like being old. And to all of you out there, I'll let you know how it feels in a few years when I am old.