Quotes to Remember

Summer 2014

At 3am, I was in the boys room after Benson woke up.  Brig woke up while I was in there, but didn't see me so he left and went to my room.  Brig came back a few minutes later, and said to me, "Mommy, Daddy is in your room and he's DIED!"

Summer 2014

Jon and Benson were talking about an aquarium we went to in Denver.

Benson: "Is it super far away?"

Jon: "Ya."

Benson: "is it super duper far away?"

Jon: "Ya."

Benson: "is it super duper luper far away?"

"Ya."

Benson: sigh. "We're never gonna go."

October 2014

Vanessa: "Mom, does this dress make me look thin?"

Me: "What do you mean by thin?"

Vanessa: "You know. What you say when you look like squished?"

Dec. 17, 2014

Benson: "Mom, does Jesus live in the sky?"

Me: "He lives in Heaven."

Benson: "Is that in the sky?"

Vanessa: "We don't know. But humans do know that Santa lives in the North Pole."

Dec 2014

Driving down the road, we're talking about how there are no real words that rhyme with orange.

Benson: "let's do blue, yellow, red, green- squirrel!!!"

He actually saw a squirrel run across the road but it was a total "Doug" moment.

December 28

Brigham: "Mom let's go get your baby out."

Me: "it's not time yet to get the baby out."

Brigham: "We need cereal to get your baby out."

Christmas Festivities

The Christmas festivities started on Thanksgiving with setting up Christmas decor and continue to be a thrill for the kids. Our elf stopped by the first day of December. This year we have a girl elf, although she looks just like the boy, and her name is Dandy. We attended a fun Christmas activity at the library. They had a Santa visit and had a little store kids could shop at full of kid-affordable gifts. They assigned a shopper to help the kids so they could get something for their parents. It was very fun for them. Brigham also made best friends with Santa and went back for a third, fourth, I have no idea how many visits.

We also stopped by Bass Pro for their Santa workshop activities and our yearly Santa picture. My parents came to visit and the kids opened all their Christmas presents from grandma and grandpa. They were very spoiled. The boys got their first Lego sets and Grandpa helped put them together.  We also got a late delivery package just the other day that contained Super Hero Lego Men only.  Brigham has been loving them.  I swear I can never guess what toys that boy will like.  Other gifts included stamps, Leapfrog Explorer, house with keys, trash pack dump truck, magnetic alphabet letters, puzzles, polly pocket, littlest pet shop, Magic School Bus science experiments, and Christmas jammies.  We also had to make a stop at Andy's ice cream and check out the Christmas lights around town.

Our ward had a Christmas party with authentic middle eastern food and Christmas carols. I wasn't too sure about the food but it ended up being pretty good. It wasn't the most kid-friendly program so we ended up leaving early. We can only tell the kids to be quiet and stop running on a Saturday night so many times before it's exhausting.

I randomly found a gingerbread train at the store and grabbed it to put together.  The kids loved doing it.  They just love doing that sort of thing and I have been meaning to go get another house to decorate to add to the train.  Hopefully it happens before Christmas.

 

We made ornaments for the kids mini tree. The idea was that they would decorate their own tree and leave the big tree alone. It didn't work and most of their ornaments ended up disappearing.

We tried making ornaments out of homemade Clay but it didn't work. Apparently the blog we read skipped a crucial step- you have to cook the mixture. We'll get that next time.

Benson and Vanessa also made this cute Christmas tree. We used the bottle caps Jon has been bringing home from work. They look just like buttons.

We did a little science experiment with food coloring and flowers. We did red and green to be festive. Vanessa knew exactly what would happen but it was still neat to watch. We also switched some of the flowers to see if the color would mix in the petals. But it didn't. They just had streaks of red and green.

On Christmas Eve, we made and decorated sugar cookies.  Vanessa said we needed to make sugar cookies because those are Santa's favorite (same as hers). 

We had minestrone soup for dinner, read the Christmas story from the Bible, did a treasure hunt to find one present, and then The Night Before Christmas.  The kids were in bed by 8 and Jon and I were able to watch a movie!  They also slept in until about 6:30 which was great.  We all got up and went to open presents together.  I have zero pictures of first thing Christmas morning and just a few before breakfast.

On Christmas morning, Jon just wanted bacon and eggs. Easy peasy. But I wanted something fun for the kids so we made snowmen and reindeer. I tried to do santas with strawberries and cream but it was a fail. We just had strawberries and cream. 

In the afternoon we went to a movie at the theater. We saw Penguins of Madagascar. I forgot to get a picture inside but here we are heading home with our ginormous popcorn refill.

 

Jon completely spoiled me this year.  He basically gave me anything I could ever want for the kitchen. I used most of it to make dinner and I loved it.  We had a honey baked ham, steamed broccoli (the steamer was from Shauna), mashed potatoes, green beans, and strawberries.

Jon got a drill press and a blu ray player (for all three blu ray discs we own).

 

Grandma Brady sent the kids a gift card to pick out their own toy. Benson picked a bird that sings. Vanessa picked some ponies. And Brigham threw a tantrum and didn't pick anything. So I ordered him some ninja turtle Legos from ebay (that's what the tantrum was about because they didn't have any ninja turtles left). She also sent them Christmas church clothes. 

Kansas City Happy Anniversary

Our anniversary isn't technically until the end of the month, but Jon's vacation was the first of the month so that's just kind of how things worked out.  Last year, we spent one night in Park City while the kids were with Jon's parents. We were gone for a total of 24 hours and it was the first time we had ever left any of them over night, other than to have a baby.  Because my separation anxiety from them has been lessoned by pure exhaustion, I was ready for anything this year.
Initially, Jon wanted to go on a cruise just the two of us.  That plan got majorly busted when I looked up the latest they'll late you cruise while pregnant- 24 weeks.  So since that plan was crushed, we decided to keep it really chill and just head up to Kansas City.  We did however, find a nice hotel with a HEATED pool.  It had to be warm enough for me since I like to basically sweat from the hot water :) 
So we drove up Tuesday late morning and stopped for some of the best BBQ in the US.  Seriously.  I had no idea until we rotated in Kansas City back in 2012 but they have some of the best BBQ in the country.  Formerly Oklahoma Joe's and now just Joe's, is amazing.  There are three or four in the city and all of them are pretty small.  The one we went to is actually in a gas station.  But don't let that fool you because the food rocks.  I had just the pulled pork which was delish until I tried Jon's which was pulled pork and beef and that was even better.  After a more than bursting stomach, we went to IKEA.  We grabbed a few organizing things, but no major purchases this time.  Our wallet thanks us.  After that, we checked into our hotel and went swimming.  The pool had a very nice and warm hot tub as well as an awesome lap pool.  They have an outdoor pool as well that they decided to close for the first time this year.  Bummer.  However, the lap pool was cool enough that it was okay.  It was more like a lazy river because it actually went in an oval so you didn't have to turn around.  You just swim  in a circle.  Novel idea!  Why does no one else do this?! I kind of didn't do much swimming because I can't coordinate my breathing while pregnant (yes I have problems). But I walked laps around the pool and that felt pretty good.
On Wednesday, we slept in.  Like slept until 9! It felt great.  We very slowly got ready and headed to the temple.  I think this was my first temple trip since having kids that I didn't stress about getting there quickly to get back quickly so the babysitter wouldn't have to be there long.  I didn't stress about memorizing every word.  And I didn't even stress about trying to learn something new.  I was just there to be there and enjoy the spirit.  It was a different experience than I've had in a really long time and I think I learned more and felt much more peace than I have in a long time.
After the temple, we grabbed a few more gifts for the kids at Target.  Then we headed downtown for dinner and the symphony.  We found a sushi place just a few blocks away from the Haufman Center and decided to walk so we didn't have to find parking at dinner. Let's just say it was a nice brisk walk.  Haha.  I tried miso soup for the first time which I really liked but the sushi was just okay.  It's crazy to me that my favorite sushi place is still in little old Springfield.  Who would have guessed Springfield would have the best sushi?! The symphony that we attended was called, "Walking in a Winter Wonderland: Classics Unplugged."  They played winter themed songs from several different classic composer.  Some I was familiar with and some I was not.  However, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire show and was not bored for one second.  I can hardly wait to take Vanessa to the kids matinee here in town now.
That night, we stayed up way too late watching a movie.  We stayed up late to watch the 2nd Hunger Games so that we could go see the 3rd Hunger Games the next morning.  But then, we were too tired and opted to sleep in longer and just make the drive home.  Being that tired, however, made us miss a few turns and it took closer to four hours to get there.  Oops. 
It was great to spend some alone time with Jon and mostly just get a break from the endless needs of three kids.  It was even more wonderful though to miss them and be able to come home to their craziness, sweet hugs, and tender kisses.  I'm so grateful to my parents for coming out to watch the kids for us.  We would not have been able to go without their help.  I just don't think either of us would have felt comfortable leaving the kids with anyone else. 
Happy seven years together Jon!  I know it's cliché to say, but I really do love you more today than I did when I married you.

Grandparents Visit

When you are counting down every day, multiple times a day, for at least two months, it feels like forever before they finally arrive.  And then they're gone in the blink of an eye.  My parents talked of coming in December way back before they knew about the March baby.  And then they said maybe they would only come in March but changed their plans so Jon and I could get a MUCH needed break for a couple days.  We picked them up on Saturday, December 6th and headed straight for the beefiest meal you will ever encounter for lunch.  It's a burger joint called Bairs that is pretty much awesome but can't be good for the heart.  After that we headed home and opened presents.  Sunday was a typical Sunday only made much better with lots of playing with the kids and card games for the adults.  It's amazing how much easier it is to play cards after the kids go to bed when we are at home.  Whenever we visit Utah, it feels like we don't get to play, usually because the kids get to bed late and then we're too tired.  Or maybe jet lag?  I don't know.  But we had lots of late night cards this visit.  On Monday we did the Bass Pro activities and tried out Jett's Pizza.  Best. Pizza. Ever.  And since we hadn't had nearly enough eating out yet, we got Andys later that night with our Christmas lights drive.  On Tuesday, Jon and I headed up to KC, while my parents took charge with the littles.  On Tuesday, they went to Chuck-E-Cheese.  Apparently, they got 600 tickets!  Which is amazing because we can get 200 at most, if Jon and I help a little.  And, apparently they didn't buy a single coin.  Go figure.  I guess the machines were spitting the tickets out and the employees just kept giving them free coins.  I don't know what exactly happened but the kids were pretty stoked about it all.  On Wednesday, they went to the Children's Museum.  The kids and I have only been once and I have been debating getting a pass.  Vanessa keeps talking about how much she loved it so I think we will.  She didn't seem to love it as much the first time we went, so that's why I haven't gotten a pass yet.  But if it makes her happy and keeps them entertained, while learning, it's a win-win.  On Thursday, they went to the library, read books, and played with the toys.  I'm not sure what day but they also made a trip to Chick-Fil-A a.k.a. Chicken-Fil-A or "the cow one."

Jon and I got home Thursday evening and while the break was much needed and definitely nice, it was so good to squeeze those cute kids.  I was surprised by how much I missed them after just two nights.

On Friday, it was warm enough weather to go to the park.  We went to Nathaniel Green per the kids request and even took Rocky with us.  It was pretty secluded seeing how it wasn't THAT warm and most kids are in school.  This made it 100 times easier to have Rocky there.  It is a beautiful park with tons of paved trails to walk.  My mom kept telling us she couldn't believe we hadn't brought her here in the summer and we HAVE to come back.  She would probably be the only other person to appreciate the Lily garden as much as I do so I think she's right. After that, we went to Lamberts.  We always eat out way more than I ever intend when my parents come into town.  And, I don't even like Lamberts.  But their rolls are killer, so I guess it's worth it.

We finished off the visit with more cards.  We basically always play girls against boys in hand and foot and it kind of sets the competition for girls against boys in everything.  This visit, the girls basically dominated.  I won Five Crowns, my Mom won Rummy, and the girls won Hand and Foot.  It needs to be documented because the boys have a funny way of always remembering winning :)

Saturday was basically consumed with packing and getting to the airport.  The kids were totally bummed to send Grandma and Grandpa home but as always, we couldn't have been more grateful for their visit.  We sure are lucky to have them!

 

Gymnastics Days

After paying for her new Leo, warm-ups, and two non-refundable meets, Vanessa finally confessed that she doesn't enjoy and doesn't want to do gymnastics. I saw it coming but I thought she would last through the meet season. After two practices full of sobbing and her not letting me leave, we had a little heart to heart and decided it was time to just be done. I'm trying to look at the fact that we will be saving all her monthly tuition fees. I guess we just need to find something else for her. Maybe we'll start doing one session of a bunch of different activities and see what she likes.

Fire Station Field Trip

Since we pulled Vanessa out of school, we go to a co-op once a week. Vanessa goes for two hours. It's a one room-schoolhouse set up with grades kindergarten to fourth. Once a month the co-op does a field trip of some sort. November's co-op was to a fire station. It was pretty cool.

60 Hours of Brigham

This is the reason for my current insanity. I have decided I spend at least three hours a day specifically cleaning up after Beigham. It's exhausting. This weekend I took a picture every time he dumped or broke something. This was Sat morn To Mon evening. I just keep praying he grows out of this because I am apparently inadequate at teaching him not to be so mischievous. Since these are from the weekend, the damage is slightly less. On a weekday he can usually do all this in a day; when there is only one set of eyes. So, here goes.

An entire bag of Frosted Flakes. We had maybe one bowl from it?

Two puzzles because separating the pieces is awesome.

Yes, dump it on the floor and eat it like Rocky.

"I wanted some cookies Mom. And you said NO. So I got them myself."

That 200 piece puzzle again and a bag of chips.

The bowl of popcorn. Don't you love how it barely phases Vanessa and Benson?

I was loading the kids in the car. We were leaving. As I'm herding Brig out the door, he ran in the playroom for two minutes. Not to grab a toy, not to play; but to dump a bucket or two. For good measure.

Just because it's fun?

This was a candle that he knocked over while climbing a shelf he has been told not to climb 100 times.

This was a moment when I thought Brig was with Jon and he thought he was with me. Wrong!