Brody, an update.

 

Brody is our little comedian.  He thinks everything is funny and teases us a lot to get us to laugh.  He can't resist tickling you if you are wrapped up in a blanket and laying down.  He comes at us chanting, "ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka" in a fast high pitched voice.  

      He loves to play different animals.  He plays fetch while pretending to be a doggy, will climb on your back faster than you can blink if you are kneeling on all fours so he can ride a "horse", and loves to play cows or camels or any other little game that Chase has taught him.  

       He is starting into the terrible two tantrums.  When he gets mad he puffs out his chest and starts breathing loud and quickly through his nose like a red bull with a gold ring in his nostril, puffing steam out his nose.   He starts to scream, and starts to hit you or anything around that he things might make you mad.  When he gets in trouble for that, it just eggs on his martyr drama and he will throw himself backwards onto the ground and start rolling around while screaming.  It's really quick funny if you can get over how frustrating it is that he is dumping garbage all over in the process, or whatever new destructive action he can muster.

      Not long ago Daniel and I were trying to talk about something and both of the boys were really pushing our buttons.  We were trying to get them to go play upstairs so we could have a couple minutes to figure something out, (I can't even remember what it was, it was THAT important :)  Both boys were taking turns fighting for our attention and driving us crazy.  Daniel had put up with all he could from Chase and told him to go to time-out and right at that moment, with both of us highly frustrated,  and the boys equally frustrated Brody stuck out his tongue and started spitting.  I couldn't hold in the laughter at Brody's attempt to diffuse the situation and it turned into a giggling fit for us all.  Daniel and I never did get to resolve that really important thing that I can't even remember.

       He can still out eat all of us when he wants to.

       He picks things up from Chase very quickly , especially the things that Chase shouldn't be teaching him, like jumping on my couch, dumping the toy box all over the floor and other troublesome activities.

       He's been a little behind with his language skills compared to Chase at that age.  He doesn't really say any single or double syllable works except: momma, daddy, and go-go.  But now he is starting to speak in short sentances, such as:  I need help "a needa oup" and here you go "ere a go" (which means please)  and a few others that I can't remember right now.  He also LOVES the ABC's.  His favorite show is the Letter Factory about the letters (and tries to make the sound of the letters along with the show), his favorite book is a very simple book that just lists the ABC's and he loves when we sing the song.  He even sings it as well, even though you can't exactly tell what letter he is trying to say. 

      He contributes a lot of laughter and happiness to our home and we love him to death. 

(After seeing the above picture, Chase just asked me what Brody was doing in space :)

Me (to Brody who was mad I was changing his diaper) :  "Sorry Brodes,  I gotta change you because you pooped."
Brody screams.
Chase: "I guess we'll have to get that other baby."
Me: "What other baby?"
Chase: "Just a different baby."
Me: "You mean you want to trade Brody in for a different baby?!?!"
Chase : "Yeah.  Because he just keeps on pooping"
Me: "Well where are we going to get a different baby?"
C: "Where the babies are."
Me: "Where are the babies?"
C: "At the hospital."
Me: "You want to go to the hospital and trade Brody in for another baby?!?!"
C: "YES!"
Me: (Jokingly for the record) "Ok, let's go."
C: "...Or maybe I'd rather keep him just a little longer.  I'm not ready to let him go yet."
Me: "Ok."

Brody

Photo taken by Michelle

Brody is growing right up and I thought it was about time for an update.  Here are some facts about my little Broads.

-He is almost 9 months old.  Yikes!

-Loves to be standing.  He is constantly pulling himself up on the couch/chairs/exersauser/ walls/ boxes etc. and then he walks back and forth  with whatever object he is on.  He can sometime even get from one object to another.

-Still loves Chase, and really loves to chase Chase.  Chase runs when he sees Brody coming and Brody gets excited and goes after him.

-He has pretty much quite the his little inchworm crawl and is getting around quite fast with a normal crawl.

-LOVES baths.  Nothing cheers him up more and if he is close to the bathroom he will crawl right in adn pull himself up onto the bathtub and wait for a bath.  If the water is already going and he is standing by the tub he gets really excited and starts bouncing.

-He often has his bottom lip sucked in (as in the picture above.)

-Hates real food.  It's  battle everyday to try and get him to eat some solids, and he hasn't liked a single thing we have tried so far.  When we get him into his high chair he purses his lips together and won't allow any food in.  The only way we can get him to eat anything is by getting him to laugh and shoving food in when his mouth opens up, or to give him a spoon and when he goes to put it into his mouth, shove ours in first.  He often reacts like he is eating a lemon when we finally get the food in (i.e. weird faces, stick tongue out, head shake back and forth quickly, etc.).

-He's just as busy as any little boy should be.  Often getting into things he shouldn't and often getting himself into predicaments he can't get back out of.

-He is a very happy baby.  Always smiling, laughing and is very ticklish.

-Still doesn't sleep through the night.  Although THIS is the week that that will change!  (Trust me.... ok don't, I've only been saying that for months now!)

He has brought a lot of joy and personality to our family and we love him to death!

The lesser of two evils.

This year our circumstances left us with two less than ideal choices for a Christmas tree.  1- We could go get our own tree as tradition would have it, but it would have to be a juniper (gasp) or 2- We could go and BUY a tree (double gasp)!

We decided the memories of cutting down the tree would make it worth having a juniper and I think we chose the right idea.  Besides as Daniel put it " a juniper tree is no worse than a pinyon (the kind I grew up with)." And I felt the same about the Charlie Brown tree (or Blue Spruce as he calls them :) that he grew up with.  (Love you babe :)

We forgot Chase's gloves and he just couldn't resist playing in the snow, so we had to make do.

 It was an incredibly muddy road out the the area.  There were huge puddles of water to drive through and we slid off to the side of the road more times than I can count, but this ole' truck just gets us wherever we need to go.

 In front of the tree we picked.

Yep, we definitely made the right choice.

Snow Day

 After 5 years of living in the snow during the winter you might think I would be used to it by now, but every year I'm still surprised how long the snow can just sit there without melting away immediately like it did when I was younger.

I guess if the snow won't go away, we have no choice but to take advantage of it.

 And there just happens to be one perfect hill in Stansbury Park for sledding.

Uh oh...

Here comes trouble.  This kid is even more busy than Chase was at this age.  Anyone who knows Chase knows we are in for some fun :)

San Juan Hill

Thanksgiving weekend


I finally read Undaunted, all 802 pages in half a week, and now I have to do it all over again.  I have to go back the craziest 4-wheeling trail to the Hole in the Rock.  I have to see it all again now that I know a little better what really happened there.  I need to go back to the top of Slick Rock hill and look down at amazement that they were able to follow a mountain sheep to the one spot that could lead them down.  I want to see San Juan hill again and just stare and marvel at the miracle they went through.  I plan on reading this book to my kids and taking them to all these amazing places that so few get to see.  This book immediately made it's way to my favorite books list.

                                                     (Just a part of San Juan Hill)
Over Thanksgiving weekend we made our way down just past Bluff to San Juan Hill.  This was the final push the Hole in the Rock pioneers made before finally reaching their destination.

We love adventures like this.  It creates many picture taking opportunities for me, and lots of outdoor adventure for each of my boys.

 A little cave along the path.

Plenty of dirt to keep a 3 year old boy happy.

 

 

 If you look really hard in this picture you can see the words, "WE THANK THEE OH GOD"  It isn't known for sure who carved these words, but is believed that the pioneers did it as they reached the top of the hill.

Family picture under "WE THANK THEE OH GOD"  Can you see it?

Grandma has these boys wrapped around her finger.

 Porter and Chase finding the perfect rocks the throw.  This is the best picture I got before rocks came flying my way.

 A group shot (minus my dad who headed off to find the highway).

 Once again, hard to tell, but we believe these are markings where the wagon wheels dug into the rock.   One things for sure.  This place definitely had a neat spirit there.

Happy birthday Chase!

 Can it really be possible that I have a 3 year old?!?!

I think that means he has fully exited toddler stage and is now a big boy and I can't stand it :(

He kept telling me on the days leading up to his birthday that he was going to "Make a wish and blow out the candles so that he could eat some cake!"  He had it all figured out.

This was his face while we all sang to him.  (There really are three candles.  One is white and hard to see.)

Eating the cake.

He was pretty excited about what a birthday meant and that he was going to have one so we tried to make it special for him.  We got some balloons and a pinata and had a little party with his cousins.

Brody

This little guy has brought so much personality and laughter into our  family.  He's full of smiles and laughs and gives them freely to anyone willing to talk to him or play with him.  Chase is his all-time favorite person in the whole world.  His face lights up when Chase comes into view and no one can make him smile like Chase can, (believe me we try).

He loves eating his solids.  And rolls around and scootches to get where he wants to be.  He is getting up on hands and knees and rocking,  I'm definitely not ready for him to start crawling.  I'm still trying to figure out where the time went because it doesn't seem like it has been 5.5 months.

His vitals at 5.5months  are:
    2'3" (82%) and 16 lb 12 oz (49%)

Brody's first real haircut

I didn't cut Chase's hair until he was over a year old.  It was well past time for one, but I watched how other babies were turning into little boys simply from a haircut and I wasn't ready for it.  Brody didn't give me the choice.  His hair grew so long and so out of control that I trimmed it when he was only 3.5 months old and just have him an actual hair cut.  He is only 5 months old.

His hair just keeps getting lighter and lighter.  Remember this dark hairy little guy we brought home from the hospital???

Time for an adventure....

We have to keep things moving around here.  That's what happens when you marry a man with a mild case of ADD and reproduce a child with a severe case of it.  If we don't keep things moving and interesting everyone gets a little ornery around this place.

We were long over due for an "adventure" so we drove and drove...... for 40 miles of paved road.... and then on a dirt road...... for 50 miles. 

... and wound up here :

 the huge hole in the ground we search hours for.....

....so we could dig for some of these:

Geodes! 

























An adventure it was.

And it isn't a good one unless you get good and dirty!

Momma included.

Brody enjoyed himself while we were out digging and walking around, but screamed the 1.5 hour ride of bumpy dirt road back home.  He has discovered that he can blow bubbles with his lips.

And dad couldn't be outdone.

Geodes weren't the only treasure we found out there either.  The scenery was beautiful.  I had a friend once tell me that Utah never had pretty sunsets like his beloved Arizona's.  I am stockpiling pictures to prove my case against him :)

This is the first  watermelon we have been able to grow.  Every spring that we have been married we have planted a garden for the garden fresh tomatoes, and each year we have thrown a watermelon plant in just in case.

Well this is the first year that we actually got watermelons to grow!  I thought I was the most excited about it, it turns out Chase was so excited he couldn't help but pick it......even though it was still a little small.

O.k., REALLY small! 

He insisted that we eat it because afterall, we had waiting all summer for it to "get a big belly".  Apparently this was big enough for Chase.


So we cut it open and ate it.  Chase had it in his mouth and back out so fast that I didn't even get a picture of it.

Maybe next year........