give them a hug

We watched ESPN2 tonight, there was a story about a girl I went to high school with on it. She is a fantastic runner, and is trying to make the Olympic team this summer. But the story was really about her husband, who died during a marathon last November. They were training together to make the Olympic team. The worst part of the story is, they were married for 4 months. That's it. It reminded me of how fragile life is. Alicia, the girl in the story, told her husband she loved him at the starting line to the race and never spoke to him again because he collapsed a few miles into the race from a heart problem nobody knew he had. I cannot imagine losing my husband, especially after only being married 4 months.

I read a story once upon a time about a woman who lost her husband in a car accident on his way to work. Someone asked her how she could cope so well. She said that they made a point of ALWAYS having the words "I love you" be the last thing they said to each other as they went to work. The morning of the accident, they had a big fight and he stomped out of the house mad. She chased the car down as it was backing out of the driveway. She made him stop, roll down his window, and she gave him a kiss and said, "I love you" and meant it. She said that is how she could cope so well- she knew that the last words he heard his wife tell him was "I love you". That story sticks in my mind every day. (Though the story said it much better than I just did.)

Hug your husband, your wife, your children, your parents, whoever you love in life. Never take a single moment for granted.

the bug

I think I have B's bug today. I woke up with a bad stomach ache. I haven't puked, but I slept until noon! Good thing Josh is home now.

Brecken was SOOOOO glad to see Josh yesterday. We were watching out the window for him, and saw lots of trucks go by. But when he saw Josh's, he yelled, "DADDY!!!!!!!!!" and knocked on the window so hard I thought he was going to break it!! Josh brought him a stuffed wolf puppy and a board book about animals you see when you go camping, and I got a t-shirt and a new mug for my soup.

Josh had to go down to the community center this morning to get his health fair results. While there, Senator Barrasso walked in and right up to Josh! He introduced himself and I guess had quite a long conversation with Josh. They talked about the Teton Science School, Gillette, (Josh said I grewup there and he said he was there last night for the Crawfish Feed!) and a few more things. I asked Josh if he asked Dr. Barrasso to interpret his results for him. :) He said no, but the aide took their picture while shaking hands and then asked Josh for his mailing address. I told Josh we now have Washington covered- I know Sen. Enzi and he knows Sen. Barrasso. :)

Today Josh was supposed to help out with the track meet Saratoga is hosting, but it got cancelled because it was snowing hard this morning. It quit snowing but it didn't ever get very warm today.

Brecken can now identify Mickey Mouse. He pointed to the poster we have of him in the bathroom, and said, "Mappy!" That's good, since we only have two months until we leave for our trip to Disney World!

We were invited up to the Hayes' house for a BBQ tonight, but I stayed home since I'm not feeling that great. Josh and Brecken went though. It's kind of nice to have the house to myself for once!

not-so-fun field trip

I had to take my choir kids to Cheyenne yesterday for our annual music festival, where they sing for judges. They did great- my solos got 26 out of 30, 27 out of 30, and my duet got 34 out of 35! I was proud of the kids.

However, yesterday morning at 3:00, Brecken woke up puking. He puked again at 6:30. I couldn't leave him at the babysitter's, so I had to take him with me since Josh is in Jackson. What a not-fun day. He puked all day long. My two students were awesome though- never batted an eye, helped take care of him in the car, and even took turns reading books to him. What troopers I have!

When we got back to the school I told my secretary that I'd need a sub for today. Brecken puked before bed, but slept for 12.5 hours and didn't puke. Hooray! This morning he woke up and asked for water, which he promptly threw up. He slept some more, then has been able to keep down some Saltines and Gatorade. He has slept most of the day today. I did make it up to the store to get some Pedialyte and Pedialyte popcicles, so we'll have those this afternoon. He's sleeping again. Poor kid. And poor Mommy- what bad timing for Josh to be gone! Cleaning up puke for two days by myself isn't my idea of fun!

prom night

I had two smokin' hot dates to the Saratoga High School prom last night. The little one danced his heart out until about 10:30, when he finally gave in and fell asleep on my lap. HOW he slept through that loud music, I don't know. But he did! He loves dancing, however, so he had a blast. Plus, there was pretzels and cake with chocolate fondue, so he was in 7th heaven. :)

Here is B, ready for the Prom:

Dancing with Dad:

Even dancing while snacking:

growing up

You know how it just hits you like a ton of bricks sometimes, that your baby is no longer your baby? Tonight was one of those nights.

and this little piggy went wee, wee, wee... all the way home

These little piggies didn't go wee, wee, wee, but there was plenty of snorting! Josh's Ag teacher breeds pigs each year and B and I went up to see them this afternoon. I wish I would've known when they were born because they would've been a lot cuter then! But they aren't too ugly right now. B didn't scream this year. He didn't get too close, but watched them pretty intently!

I haven't been very good at keeping up with the blog lately. I feel bad, because I know there are people that check in every night! I'll try to be better. I guess we've just been pretty busy. Josh had Parent/Teacher Conferences twice last week at night, and B and I went to hang out with him for a bit each night. This week, he is setting up for prom from 4-7 each night, so we won't see much of him this week, either. And next week, he'll be gone all week on a trip with the 8th graders to Teton Science School. Then maybe we can have our daddy back!!

This past weekend we went to Lyman to see Beth and Jeff. We had a great time. Saturday we spent the whole day shopping in Park City and Salt Lake City. Everyone found great deals except for me. Rats. We had a wonderful weekend though.

It was BEAUTIFUL today. I love it when we don't have to wear coats! Brecken even had to have a bath at daycare because he had mud everywhere, Deb said. Even in his hair! He must have had one heck of a time playing outside this morning! He was wearing his extra outfit when I got him after school because his clothes he went in, plus his coat, were all in the washing machine. :) He's an outside lover, that's for sure.

spring

I went outside today, hoping to find signs of Spring. This is what I found instead:

But after searching hard, I found signs that Spring should be here soon:

trick rider

bubbles

I forgot to mention in my below post how long we were stuck on Sunday. I wrote it in my original post, but as I hit "publish", the internet said, "Cannot display the webpage" and I LOST everything! I had to start over. Anyway, we were stuck in the truck stop for 6 1/2 hours. Yes, SIX AND A HALF HOURS. It was miserable. But not as miserable as some people- a teacher I work with just got back from Rawlins this afternoon! She didn't get out while they were letting Saratoga people go on Sunday night and she got stuck all night, all yesterday, all last night, and all this morning. She finally got back after lunch today. Wowzers.

Back to the subject of bubbles. Craig and Lennie were here for a couple days to babysit for us. It was wonderful and B had a great time! They brought him some Easter presents, and his favorite of them is a big ol' bubble tube. He and his grandparents spent some time outside today blowing bubbles. This afternoon after they left, he asked me, "Bubba?" which means bubbles. I asked "Do you want to blow bubbles?" and he nodded yes and ran to the bathroom, where he takes bubble baths! Silly kid. So we blew bubbles in the bathroom.

stuck and going nowhere fast

We had a great time in Gillette last week. It was nice to sit around and relax! My grandma came over for a few days too and had fun playing with Brecken with his cars. The Easter Bunny left lots of new cars for B, so he was in 7th Heaven.



Yesterday we headed back for home. After Casper, you have two choices for which way you want to continue on to Saratoga- through Medicine Bow or through Rawlins. Each is the same amount of time, and one usually has a bit better roads. We chose to go through Rawlins. As it turned out, that was the WRONG choice!! We left Rawlins and the sign was blinking to tell us the road was closed at Sinclair, 6 miles up the interstate. So we stop at the gate that was keeping the road closed and talked to the highway patrolman, who said that there was a bad 12 car/semi pileup at Ft. Steele, another 10 miles up the interstate and they were working to get it cleaned up. So we pulled in the truck stop parking lot along with at least 100 other cars, thinking it would be an hour or so. We got B out of his car seat and he sat up with Josh in the driver's seat, "driving". He looked out the window at all the cars and said, "Oh geeze." HAHAHAHAHA. I didn't know he knew that phrase! He said it a few more times and we cracked up. :) After about an hour, Jeffrey called because he and Beth were on their way back to Lyman and passed the wreck- he said nothing had been cleaned up yet. So, knowing it was going to be a while, we made our way back to Rawlins. We stopped at the TA Truck Stop in Rawlins and said hi to Beth and Jeff for a very fast minute so they could get back on the roads before the snow, which was falling, became worse. We let B pick out a treat from the truck stop and we settled in one of the tiny little booths from Subway, which was inside the truck stop. This was a much NICER truck stop than the one in Sinclair- no smoke smell, had tables, and was a lot cleaner and friendlier.



There were a ton of people at the TA that were stranded with us, and there was a line of semi trucks so long that I couldn't see the end of it. There was a grandma and grandpa with their granddaughter who was probably 7 or so, and they were sitting next to us. The grandpa asked B if he wanted one of their bananas, and was just really nice. And through this whole thing, B could've been a monster and I wouldn't have blamed him, but he was AWESOME. With no toys or anything, he just sat at our booth and watched out the window and watched the people in the store with us. A few times he wanted down and would run around for a minute or two but then would sit down again. He was incredible.

Josh had been in touch with the dispatcher from Saratoga's police dept., who was giving us updates from the Highway Patrol. As we were sitting and waiting, waiting, waiting, we got the bad news that National Weather Service had called and said we were getting a big storm at 7:30 (bigger than what we were getting already!) and that the HP wasn't going to let anyone through on the interstate. Even "local traffic" (those of us that live in Saratoga). That totally bummed me out. We were making plans to stay overnight in the truck stop when Josh got a call at 8:00 or so from a guy he knows, who was also stuck in Rawlins, saying the HP was letting us go through. So we hurried up and got ready and headed out. It was pretty eerie- the usually very busy interstate had two of us on there- our car and the guy Josh knows. However, I much prefer that to traveling with all those trucks and the 7 bazillion cars that were waiting to get out!!

I would've documented the whole exciting ordeal with pictures, but my camera battery died in Gillette and of course I didn't have my charger! BUT, we're all home safe and sound.

thunder and snow

Right now, in Gillette, we are having snow so thick it has covered my mom and dad's deck in the past 5 minutes, and with it we are having lightning and thunder! What a strange combination.

B and I went to story time at the library today. Gillette has a fantastic library. We actually almost missed story time- I thought it was at 10:00 but it was actually at 9:30, with one for 3 and 4 year olds (and younger, but the majority were older preschoolers) at 10:30. We made it in time for the last song, and then B and I played with the puzzles, played in the great fort they have just for little guys, played with the bead table in there, climbed on the outside up the ladder to the reading nook where B played "BOO!" with me, picked out a movie to check out, and then the other story time started. B didn't want to participate in the song they were doing but was very interested in the surprise box, so interested, in fact, that he let a stranger help him down the stairs so he could get right close. After that, however, he lost interest and we went home.

B gets to hang out with his grandma and grandpa tonight while Josh and I go to a movie. That is, unless we get snowed in and can't get to the theatre. :)

eggs

B has been busy today. He decorated 3 eggs (and in the process, spilling green egg dye all over the table) and then found 10 more at the Easter Egg Hunt we went to this afternoon. Whew! Big day for a little guy.

spring

Happy SPRING!! Saratoga is welcoming the new season with a forecast for snow. Of course.

We had a busy week this week. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights at school until 8:00 p.m. for Parent/Teacher Conferences. I hate Conferences. This year was especially boring, because out of the 8 hours I spent at them, I saw a whole one parent. Whoop-dee-doo. And being at school for over 12 hours a day wears on a person!! I went to school this morning feeling like I had a hangover! Josh and Brecken came up on Tuesday night for a few hours and had dinner with me, which was nice. Brecken likes it at Mommy's school because I have lots of noisy instruments to pound on in my room. :) He also found the lockers and discovered that he fit inside of them. He thought that was pretty hysterical. :)

We had an early out day today, we got to go home at 1:30. Josh had a full day of school, but neither of us have it tomorrow because it is the start of SPRING BREAK!!! Hooray! We are leaving tomorrow to go up to Gillette. We haven't been to my mom and dad's house since August so we're looking forward to the visit. We'll stay until next Sunday.

luck o' the irish

Some of you may remember this adorable picture from last St. Patrick's Day...

I tried again this year with another hat but B had other ideas. I was barely able to snap this shot before he threw the hat with all his might across the living room with that "ug" of disgust:

Sorry it's blurry- he moves fast!

the bear

Our Advanced Art class at my school did something awesome: The State Wildlife Museum gave any school that wanted to participate, a fiberglass bear. Plain white. Nothing on it. Their job was to decorate it somehow, like the Pronghorn project here in Carbon County, or the Cow project in Chicago. I think Cheyenne did something like that too. All of the bears that were decorated by art classes around Wyoming are going to be judged at State Art and a winner will be determined. I think our kids did awesome. ALL of the things on the bear were made of clay and they are so tiny I have no idea how they got the details painted on! All the boulders are made of clay, all the little tiny animals are made of clay, everything was painted. Teeny tiny. Some of the little chipmunks are so small that you miss seeing them the first time you look at the bear! It's quite amazing.

You can see the rest of the pictures I took at: http://www.flickr.com/gp/14494706@N03/Mn8LMH

Click on "view as a slideshow" to get the full effect.

a tornado

A tornado went through our house. Or, that's what I'm going to tell people when they ask why it's so messy.

We decided to put our house on the market, hopefully next week. The realtor is coming on Monday to give us a Market Analysis on it, so we're feverishly going through things and not only throwing a lot of stuff out, but packing up things that aren't needed, that way when we DO get to move, we won't have *as* much packing to do. We have simply grown out of our house. It's a tiny little 1200 square foot house and we simply need more room! We don't have any storage, only 3 bedrooms, teeny tiny bedrooms, a tiny living room, etc. The only thing I'll miss about it is the beautiful view we have out our front windows! We've looked at 3 houses now, and fell in love with one, but it only had 2 bedrooms and I really don't feel up to an addition on the house right away. Turns out, it didn't matter because an offer went in on it the very next afternoon! We've had our eye on one house and it's supposed to come on the market within the next week. We'll go look at it and hopefully it will be wonderful and in our price range! It is supposed to have 4 bedrooms, a finished basement, and a brand new kitchen. However, if this isn't the "right" house, we'll just wait for another one to pop up. The nice thing is, we don't HAVE to move. We can take our time looking. When we moved to Saratoga, we had one day to look at houses and out of the 8 we saw that day, our current house was the only one that was in good shape. So we had to take it. This time around, it will be nice to not have to settle, and wait for the right house to open up. I HATE moving, so I don't want to settle for something we won't be happy with in a few years!!

think pink!

The beautiful being growing here in my sister's belly is my new NIECE!!!

bad, bad babysitters.

Deb and Dr. Jake babysat for us Friday night so Josh and I could go on a real date. We went to dinner and then to the Count Basie jazz concert! When we got back to Blazzard's, we got B and then talked for a few minutes. I looked down right as we were getting ready to go and noticed blue underneath his sweatshirt. B had worn an orange shirt under his sweatshirt when we dropped him off... So I pull up the sweatshirt and under it was a stinking BYU jersey!!!! (Deb and Jake are BYU alumni and make fun of us for loving Brown and Gold.) Both Jake and Deb went, "OH MAN! We hoped you wouldn't notice until you got home!" B wouldn't let us take it off, either. In fact, that's what he slept in!!!! Dang kid!!!

I know the jersey got put on because last Wednesday night, the Blazzards went to Laramie
for the BYU-Cowgirls basketball game. BYU lost bad, so I put B's WYO shirt on to go to their house the next day. :)

Dang jersey. :)

in love

My son is in love.

With a pair of shoes.

Now is where you say, "Yup, just like his daddy. Again."

He wears them all day long. He wears them for naps and cries when you try to take them off. They are the first things he brings you in the morning and gets very impatient when you make him put on socks before the beloved shoes.

I'd say he's in love with them because of the little red man, but frankly, I'm pretty sure that just happens to be an added bonus. His first love is the shoes themselves.

lucky

I'm a lucky girl.



Here's why: I have an immediate in-law family that I love. Not everyone gets to say they love their in-laws.



I've always wanted a little brother. A few summers ago, I got to add THREE of them (including my sister's husband) to my family! All in one summer!! My three little brothers-in-law (here on out known as my brothers in this post) are awesome. I get to joke around and rough house with them like I always wanted to do while growing up. My brothers are the best.



I have two sisters-in-law that are awesome. We can just sit and hang out together, or go shopping, or do lots of quality girl-talk. My sisters are the best.



My mother-in-law and father-in-law treat me like I've always been in the family. They've been nothing but nice from the day I met them, which was a terrifying experience- I met them at Red Lobster along with a whole table full of Josh's family- talk about nervousness!! My mother-in-law and father-in-law open their arms to their new daughters-in-law like we've always been in the family, but were just gone on a long vacation. They've never been judgmental, they love us for who we are, they love us for what we bring out in their sons, and I think secretly, my mother-in-law likes having girls around for once. :) For that, they're the best.

funny for the day

I love kindergarteners.

I have a bean-bag activity song that I do with my really young kids, where they have to balance a bean-bag on their head, walk around the room, and when the song says "Sha-boom", they have to jump and try to keep the bean-bag on their head. We haven't done it for a while, so when I pulled it out again I asked my kindergarteners if they remembered what the magic word was in the song, and one of the little girls goes, "YEAH! LIGHTNING MCQUEEN!" I thought she was crazy and wondered where in the world that answer came from until I realized a few minutes later that that song IS in "Cars"- it's when the town gets all spruced up and the cars are dancing down Main Street. I think I probably laughed out loud when I realized that her answer was a very clever one!!!

busy on the ambulance

Josh has been busy on the ambulance already this week. Sunday night/Monday morning, he got a call at 3:00 a.m. Poor guy, got home about 5:30 and had to get up again at 6:30!! His ambulance director went with him. And then she called last night to let Josh know that the lady they hauled (an elderly lady having problems breathing) tested positive for influenza. So Josh is now on Tamiflu, because he never did get his flu shot. He went and got it tonight.

Then he got another call at 5:45 tonight. This one might take a while- the roads are SLICK out tonight because it's been snowing off and on all day. And like usual, it can't just snow, it has to BLOW, too. My drive home from work was real slick this afternoon, so I can imagine how much worse it is tonight!!

oh my gosh!

Encampment's boys basketball just won State!!!! I think this is the first time in school history to have a State basketball title. Man, was it close- within 1 or 2 for most of the game. It was tied and one of our boys made a basket with 2 seconds left in the game for the win. Our home ec teacher said on Thursday that she dreamed it would come down to this boy, Garrett, and how weird that she was right, since he was the one that won the game for us tonight. Whoo-wee! How exciting! Too bad we weren't there.

B and I made a run to Laramie today to stock up on stuff. We were going to go to the rec center indoor playground to play, but I think they were having a swim meet there and we would've had to park a mile away. So instead, we went to my sister's house, where nobody was home, and played in her front yard instead. :) B had fun on the swing and the slide and then found a water puddle and because of it, had to ride home in a t-shirt and his diaper because his pants, socks, and shoes were soaked. He had a blast though! :)

laundry in the night

Doing laundry in the middle of the night is never fun. I guess this wasn't really the middle of the night, but close enough! Poor Brecken woke up about 11:00 coughing, then cried pretty hard, calling for his Mommy. (Some day, I really want him to call for his Daddy.) I went in there and the poor baby had coughed so hard he threw up. So in went the load of laundry. I got him changed while Josh threw the dirty things into the washing machine.

Josh left about 6:00 this morning for Denver for the coaches clinic. Brecken decided he wanted to get up then too. We don't have school today, so I was hoping I'd get to sleep in! But B had other plans. And from the time we got up until about 9:00, all he did was throw tantrums. Then at 9:00, he gagged and threw up again because he tried to put a toy in his mouth. So, I got to clean up puke twice in 12 hours. It was lovely. I finally got him settled down enough to take a nap. I took one with him while I had the opportunity! After a nap and some lunch, I finally got some smiles out of him.

Sure was nice out today, but there's nowhere to play outside since we still have a foot of snow on the ground. I could tell B wanted to go somewhere, however, because about 1:00 he brought me his shoes and my coat. He wanted his, but couldn't reach it. So on went the shoes and coats and we went to the library.

Now I'm watching the webcast of Encampment's boys' basketball team playing the semi-final round at State. Saratoga plays right after them, but that one will be on the radio.

regional basketball

We all spent the weekend in Torrington watching Regional Basketball. I left right after school on Thursday and picked up B, then headed out. We missed most of the first half of Josh's game but watched the whole second half. Unfortunately, they lost two games in a row, (Friday morning was their second game) meaning they were out of the tournament and are not going to State. :( The team stayed all weekend to watch the boys though- the boys team ended up Regional Champions and are going in to the tournament with the #1 seed! Hooray! We didn't get to watch any Encampment games, because Encampment's Regionals is in Lander.

Brecken did really good on the trip. He had to sit and watch a LOT of basketball and was ready to run around by the end of the day but he did so great. He really enjoyed the trains in Torrington- our hotel room sat practically ON the tracks so he heard the whistle every time. He'd then want up in our arms to see out the window so he could watch the trains go by. By the end of the trip he was saying, "Tray!" I have a smart kid. :)

i think they smell good

Here are the roses I got from Josh for Valentine's Day. I got 18 beautiful red, white, and pink roses. I said above that I think they smell good because Brecken and I have terrible colds and I cannot smell them! Too bad, because roses are one of my favorite scents.

flight for life

I never knew how much Brecken's Flight for Life trip cost because we never got an insurance claim form for it. I was always curious though, because I've never known anyone needing Flight for Life services so I had no idea how much it cost!! YESTERDAY, after a whopping 17 months after the Flight for Life service, we finally got a statement for it. I have no idea why it took that long to get claimed, but it did. And it was expensive. Are you ready for this?

$14,183.00

WOW. That's a lot of money.

older ladies

Since Josh's team hasn't played a game in almost 3 weeks, he and Amy, the head coach, planned a fun game for tonight. Josh came home the other night saying they were inviting some older ladies to play. In my mind, "older ladies" means 80-some year olds and I couldn't figure out why they would invite them to play ball... He said, "No, like Deb!" Deb is all of 34- maybe? I laughed that he called her an older lady!

Anyway, Josh coached a team of "older ladies", including his cousin Dixie tonight. There were 12 of these "older ladies", two real refs, score keeper and clock man, and then the Saratoga girls team. What a fun game to watch! And the "older ladies" an Josh won! By 9! Everyone had a good time. There was a pretty good crowd, too! It wasn't really a "game", because that would be against WHSAA rules, but it sure was a fun "practice"!

Brecken spent the day at Amy's house today. Dr. Jake had some things he needed to do in Rawlins so he didn't want to keep B. Amy's such a trooper- she's home on maternity leave, so she had her son Dylan, who will be 2 in April, Brecken, and then her 4 week old baby Cooper. Brecken had a great time playingwith his friend Dylan all day today. I held Cooper for a while tonight while the game started and Amy's mom wasn't there yet, and I was exhausted from holding the tiny little baby and chasing after Brecken!!! I'm glad I don't have a newborn right now! But it sure was fun to hold such a tiny little guy again. Cooper is over 10 pounds, but I don't remember B being that small! :) Brecken loves Cooper. At the game, he'd go pet Cooper's head or pat his feet, just to make sure he was OK. He even gave Cooper a kiss all on his own. I'm glad he loves babies. :)

aperture

Here is Stacey's assignment for this week: Aperture. This means how much of the picture is in focus (on purpose!). Here are Brecken's farm people set up in front of their big ol' barn.

it always tastes better....

When it's been dumped on the floor.

"vacation"

We had a nice day yesterday. Josh's game got cancelled AGAIN (this means their girls haven't played a game in 3 weeks!!) even though the roads were all open and pretty favorable conditions. Josh was pretty ticked. But we haven't been out of town and haven't gotten to a Wal-mart since before Christmas, so we decided to go to Laramie and stock up on everything. We went through Encampment and down that way to Wood's Landing because even though the interstate said good conditions, it was WINDY and 3-way (the way we went) is usually much better. However, yesterday, it was NOT. Very limited visibility for about 15 miles of it, with snow drifts covering the whole highway. We had to go in the other lane to get around lots of the drifts, which was scary because we really couldn't see who was coming at us! We were too far away to turn around though- this all happened in the Colorado stretch of the drive. When we got cell service again, Josh called the Highway Patrol to see if they could get ahold of CDOT to either close the road or get someplows stationed out there!

Anyway, we made it to Laramie and had lunch at Applebee's with Kristen, David, and Ryan. Then K came with us to Wal-mart while D took R home for a nap. Then we went to K's house for a while and then Kristen and I went to watch "27 Dresses" at the theater while the boys stayed home. It was a cute chick-flick. I haven't been to a movie theater since last summer, I don't think!! B and Ryan had a great time playing together. B would dance and R would laugh, and they'd run around together playing. When Kristen and I got back, we all picked up the toys that were ALL dumped out of the bins, and then we headed home. This time, on the interstate. :) It was dry all the way, just windy. Got home about 8:30, got B out of the car (he was asleep before we even got out of Kristen's neighborhood!!) and put his jammies on and he went right back to sleep.

This morning, Josh left to go snowmobiling with our neighbor and B and I are being lazy. I love lazy days. :)

polar bear in a snowstorm

We have been hit terribly with wind and snow this winter. The "old timers" in the teacher's lounge have all said within the past week or two that they cannot remember a worse winter in our Valley. The visibility is terrible, the wind is even worse, and looking at the ground, you wouldn't THINK we've had much snow but that's becuase with 60 mph winds (and gusts up to 80), the snow all blows away. I honest-to-goodness can't remember the last time the snow fell DOWN here, it always falls sideways.

Way back in college, I used to draw "art". It was completely dumb- and I must have had too much time on my hands while sitting at the front desk of the dorm, answering phone calls and sorting mail for the dorm. It looked like this Photoshop rendition: (and don't laugh- this is the extent of my artistic abilities!)

I called this "creation" Polar Bear in a Snowstorm.

My drive home today looked extremely similar to the above picture. Here's the photoshop rendition of the trip that took forever:

That grey line is the reflector pole that I would be able to see just as I came up upon it. Our English teacher also lives in Saratoga, so we booked it out of school as soon as we could and she followed me back to town. It was not fun, that's for sure! The weird thing was though, that we got about halfway back and all of a sudden, instead of not being able to see anything, we had blue skies! Saratoga was nice and clear, whereas we drove through a white-out to get there.

Our cat Ditka had to go to the vet yesterday to get neutered. The vet comes from Rawlins on Wednesdays, so we dropped him off yesterday afternoon. I was supposed to go get him this afternoon, but there was no way I was driving on these roads, in the dark on the way back, to go get him. However, one of the vet employees lives in Saratoga, so Ditka got sent home with him. He was supposed to get here about an hour ago, however. I guess the vet clinic called Josh on his way to basketball practice to tell him that the guy got stuck at a roadblock on the interstate. I'm assuming that means an accident on the road. He was going to wait a bit and then see if he could still get here, or if he would have to turn around. (I would think they would all have to turn around- the interstate is closed again. It's been open for about 4 hours in the past 48.) We haven't heard anything since the initial call, so I think the poor guy is still sitting on the interstate. With a meowing cat. I can think of better things to be doing. :)

an owie

Josh went to pick Brecken up from Jake and Deb's today after school. Jake watches B on Tuesdays, because he has the day off and Deb works at the hospital in Rawlins. Here's how the conversation went when Josh walked in the door:

Jake: We had a bit of an accident today.
Josh: Oh, great.
Jake: You know how Brecken follows you around everywhere, wherever you go?
Josh: Yeah....
Jake: Well, I'm not used to that and I ran him over. He fell and bit his lip and I thought he needed stitches, he was bleeding so much. But he finally quit bleeding and he doesn't need stitches.

Poor Brecken!!! He's been whining when eating, I think it hurts him. And he's a GRUMP, you can tell it's hurting. And his lip started bleeding again a while ago, but I didn't notice because he's sucking on his mimi, and by the time I noticed, the bleeding had stopped. So I still don't know which lip it was coming from. Good news is, at least he got hurt at the doctor's house. :) I bet Jake would've done the stitches for free, too. :)

hungry, hungry hippo!!

Brecken is eating us out of house and home. No joke. For the past week and a half, he's been eating CONSTANTLY. He seriously eats all day long. And if he doesn't have anything handy, he goes to his high chair and tries to get up in it, saying, "bowl?" And even while eating all day long, he still does eat full meals and drinks lots of milk! He must be in one heck of a growth spurt. Yesterday we got home at 4:30 and at 5:30 I finally took him up to watch the end of basketball practice to keep his mind off the food! In that hour we were home, he had juice from a real cup, cauliflower, and Wheat Thins. Then after we got home from practice, he finished the 100 Calorie pack of the Wheat Thins and then ate a full dinner. Then a snack before bed, too. He's been eating Deb out of house and home also- we'll have to give her a raise to keep up with food costs!!!!

Josh said with B eating all day long, there IS some of his mother in him. :)

accomplishments

On a board I belong to for people that are struggling and have struggled with infertility, someone asked us on the parenting side of it to list the recent accomplishments our kids have achieved. I thought it would be fun to post what Brecken can do here, too, for those of you that aren't close enough to see him a lot!

Words: bowl, mama, ah-mee (mommy) dad, daddy, dit-da (Ditka the cat) kee (kitty), dog, woof, moo, uh-oh, see, this, juice, mimi (what he calls his pacifier), milk, tee (tree), ball, vroom (when he's driving his cars) and boo!

Body parts- he can point to the following body parts on his body or anyone else's: nose, eyes, ears, mouth, belly. (though he has to lift up his or anyone else's shirt to get the belly!!)

He is in size 4 diapers now, size 18 month clothes, and size 5.5-6 shoes. He has 9 teeth and is using them lately to the fullest- we can't keep this kid full this past week! He is CONSTANTLY eating. It will be interesting to see what he weighs next time we go to the clinic.

He understands what we say. He can answer questions like the best of them. He nods, shakes his head, and turns his little hands up in the "I don't know" pose when he doesn't know. 99% of the time, he answers the questions correctly, too!! Last weekend I didn't feel like putting much effort into getting dressed, so he ended up wearing what I pulled out first- a red pair of sweatpants and a purple Panters sweatshirt. Josh asked Brecken if his clothes matched. He shook his head no. He then asked B if he was sad about not matching, and he nodded his head yes! :)

No more bottles! He FINALLY gave up that nightime bottle this past week. Now we're full-time into sippy cups, cups with straws, and his new favorite- REAL CUPS. He does really good- doesn't spill anything! If we're at a restaurant, he will not drink out of his sippy cup- he insists on the real cups. He practices lots at home, too.

Sleeping is still sketchy- some nights he does great and sleeps through the night until between 6 and 6:30. Other nights, it's like he's afraid of the dark and wants nothing to do with sleep.

His favorite toys at the moment are cars and balls. And books. Oh, how he LOVES reading books. He's very much into climbing now, he climbs on EVERYTHING. The other day he wanted up on the side table next to the couch. He stood on his tractor to get there, but still wasn't tall enough. So he went and got on his chair, up on the couch, and over the arm of the couch to get on the table.

So, there's my (almost) 17 month old! It's so crazy how fast time flies.

new words

Brecken has two new words this week: Bowl, and ah-mee. Bowl means snack, because usually put his snacks in bowls. So when he's hungry, he'll walk around going, "Bowl." :) Ah-mee is him saying "Mommy" instead of "Mama" now.

Josh's games this weekend both got cancelled due to the weather. It's been weird to have him home on a Friday night and a Saturday afternoon! He did get called out on the ambulance about an hour ago, though. They needed an Intermediate for a transport from the nursing home.

Brecken's asking to read books now, so I better go. We've only read about 100 already today.

penguins

So we were singing a song from Africa in my kindergarten class today so I showed them on my map where Africa is. I told them that in Africa, most schools aren't as lucky as we are and they don't have fun playground equipment to play on at recess. So instead, they might play kickball in the dirt, or sing songs with games, and then a little girl raised her hand. She said, "OR, they might pretend to be penguins!"

Yes, yes they might.

giggles

Brecken had a great case of the giggles tonight while playing a new "game". It involved putting his cars down my zipper hoodie, then lifiting the hoodie up to let the cars fall out. We played that "game" for quite a while tonight- he would laugh, then I would laugh at his laugh, which made him laugh harder. It was quite fun!

I discovered teeth #8 and #9 tonight. His left bottom tooth next to the two middle ones finally came in. I also discovered one on his top right gum, in the middle of his mouth. He HATES us looking for new teeth. And the little man knows when we are talking about it somehow, and he shuts his mouth TIGHT and turns his head. In order to get a good look in his mouth, we have to get him laughing and hanging upside down so he doesn't have a choice but to open his mouth. :)

holy macaroni

I'm sure glad I made it home today- the roads were slicker than snot but it wasn't snowing or blowing. I pull into town and BOOM. The storm hit. I was inside getting B for literally 10 minutes and when I came back out, I had to scrape my windows. I couldn't see where my street was to turn on to until I was right there. B and I sat in the car for 10 minutes (with seatbelts on because I thought the car was going to get blown over!!) because I couldn't see the front door, which is no more than 10 feet away from the car. Then I decided I better get B inside before the tree blew over because the car sits underneath. So I covered him up and we ran for it.

Here is what it looked like from my front door. There IS a street and stuff beyond the yard, but you wouldn't know by looking at this picture. It's been like this now for an hour and a half.

fun with blocks

Stacey posted a year's worth of weekly challenges in her blog at the beginning of January. I don't usually have a ton of time to be super creative, but this week's challenge I figured I could get knocked out while playing with Brecken this afternoon. This week was "words". Here's my go at it:

It bothered me that the C and the O were the same colors- it's not very symmetrical this way. However, I couldn't find another color of either letter. So, I fulfilled last week's challenge, too- "Photoshop before and after" and did a real quick fix. Could be better, but at least the two letters aren't the same color anymore:

Like I said, it was a quick fix and actually now that I look at it, it looks pretty terrible. But here it is anyway.

reaction

Brecken had an allergic reaction to his antibiotic. I noticed a rash on his belly while I got him dressed this morning. He was going to Deb's house for the morning while we had a district in-service, so Jake looked at it real quick and confirmed that it was an allergic reaction. So, we quit that antibiotic and will start Amoxicillin (or however it's spelled) tomorrow. I hate that one- it's a LOT (1 1/2 tsp!), twice a day, for 10 days. Last time, B hated it by day 3 and I had to disguise it in his milk. I was really hoping this first antibiotic would work since it's only 1/4 teaspoon, once a day, for 5 days. But, the rash on his belly and back which is now creeping up his arms and down his legs, isn't worth it! B is now logged in the pharmacist's computer as allergic to a medicine. I'll have to write down the name so I can put it in all his medical records.

He sure is feeling better today though. He was easily aggitated this morning but when I skipped the work-in-your-room time at school this afternoon to go pick him up and take him home, he was having a good time. Jake and Deb are big BYU fans (and we are NOT!!) and they had a BYU jersey on B this afternoon. He sure was proud of it- he ran up to Josh and I, stuck out his little belly, grinned, and patted that jersey. Jake said he felt better because he had that thing on. We'll have to dress B up in his WYO gear on Monday. :)

We went to Josh's game tonight. They played Hanna here at home. No JV game so we just watched the varsity. With 15.4 seconds left in the game, we were down by 2 and one of the best players got fouled, but she got hurt on the way down. This girl reminds me of the Bionic Woman already, with her hi-tech leg braces on both legs because her knees are so bad, and she hurt her knee really badly tonight. They even called the ambulance. Josh went with her, as did the girl's mom. The team tried hard to win it, but were on the short end at the buzzer and we lost 55-53. Bummer. We didn't stay for the boy's game since Josh wasn't there anymore and B wasn't interested in watching more basketball, so we came home. Tomorrow the teams are at home again against Wyoming Indian.

oh, thank goodness, mommy's home!!

Man, did I come back to a mess when I got home from Sheridan yesterday afternoon! Monday night, Josh called me to ask if I would please come home. I couldn't for two reasons: I was chaperoning students AND the only way I'd be able to make it home was if I stole the school bus and left everyone there! I guess he had gotten the stomach bug and threw up all night.

Brecken had been whiny that day and that night, after Josh finally quit puking, came to sleep with Josh. Josh said he was really hot but he thought he was just getting some more teeth. Tuesday Josh stayed home from school and Brecken stayed with him but didn't have much life in him. Wednesday, B went to Deb's house where he still didn't have much life to him and when I got there at 3:50 to pick him up, Deb had to wake him up from a 3 1/2 hour nap, which never happens! I knew then that it wasn't teeth coming in, but that B was sick.

Since I knew he wasn't feeling good and all he wanted was to be held, he slept with me and Josh. I should retract that- there was not much sleeping going on. He kept tossing and turning and crying, which in turn meant Josh and I did not sleep. He was also BURNING up. I took his temp at 2:45 and it scared the daylights out of me- 103.5!! I about cried- fevers scare me ever since my niece Karlee went into a seizure because of a fever. So I called my sister and bless her heart, she answered her phone at that un-godly hour! She said to get some ibuprofen in him (which I had already) and get him to drink some cold water. He chugged it. At 3:15, his fever was 102.2. Josh went to the couch to get some sleep and I stayed with B. I didn't sleep. Actually, I slept for about 10 minutes and in that 10 minutes, B managed to fall off the bed. I felt so bad. :( He didn't hurt himself though, it just scared him.

I called in to work today and stayed home with Brecken. Josh called Deb and Jake to say we wouldn't be bringing B over today and Jake said to bring B into the clinic. He's seen lots of 1 year olds this week with fevers that last for a few days and then go away, but he wanted to make sure B didn't have an ear infection. So I called as soon as they opened and they said to come in right away. And B doesn't only have one ear infection, he has TWO! Poor kid- no wonder he wasn't feeling good!!! So we went to the store, got his antibiotic and some Pedialyte, and came home to take a good long nap. He's been very clingy this afternoon but I've managed to get one or two smiles out of him. Right now, he's sleeping next to me on the chair.

So, I got a big huge "Thank goodness! Mommy's home!" when I got back. I feel bad that I was gone while both of my boys were sick!! I'm glad Josh is feeling better. He went back to school yesterday. Let's hope it's not my turn to get sick this weekend!!!

brr

Brecken and I took the opportunity to go outside this afternoon while there was a slight break in the wind. It was so windy this morning that I could hardly see the deer across the street in the field because the snow was being blown sideways! We were only out for a few minutes but it was nice to get some air. This picture shows you his totally fake cry- he didn't think he wanted to walk in his snow boots and wanted me to carry him! Wuss.


Josh should be home in a little while. His team went to Farson to play on Friday, then spent the night in Rock Springs before playing in Cokeville today. His varsity team won their game last night but lost pretty badly today.


Tomorrow I leave for Sheridan. The All-State music convention starts tomorrow night and goes through Tuesday night. We are coming home on Wednesday. I had a choir student make it into the All-State choir, and we are going to travel with the 5 kids and 2 teachers from Saratoga, as well as the 1 student and 1 teacher from Hanna. Cross your fingers for a break in the storm tomorrow while traveling, and again on Wednesday when we come home!!

tooth #7

Josh found a new tooth in B's mouth on Sunday. We had been looking for one, but not in the spot where it was found! It's on his top left gum, in the middle of nowhere. I think it's the one next to the I-tooth, in-between that and the molars. We were looking at his bottom gums for new teeth- he still only has the front two down there! Guess we were looking in the wrong spot. We don't know when this new one came in- it's been there for a few days because there was quite a bit showing through. I asked B on Sunday if it was easier to chew with his new tooth and he nodded yes. Silly kid. I love asking him questions- he gets the answer right 99% of the time but I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what all the questions mean!!

Also on Sunday, he picked up one of his baby socks, took it to Josh, and put it down on Josh's foot and pressed real hard for it to stay there. We laughed for quite a while about that one- B wanted to put socks on Daddy!!!

ping-pong

My best dog ever, Pongo, died yesterday morning. He was the dog we got when my dad and sister and I went to Casper one day and decided to adopt a puppy, even though my mom had said NO! We brought him home, this tiny little bundle of fur, and when my mom came home and saw him, she said, "What is that?" We said, "Duh, Mom, it's a dog!" She then replied, "Well, what is it doing here?" She eventually learned to love him, though she would pet him most when she thought people weren't looking. :) We named him Pongo, because he looked like those tiny little puppies from 101 Dalmations after they had rolled in the soot and then got rain drops on them. My grandpa always called him Ping-Pong. He was the dog that had to take a stuffed animal with him while on a walk to the mailbox once. He was the dog that always slept at the foot of my bed. He was the dog that loved car rides, but hated hotel rooms, so he was happier sitting in the car looking at the door to our room. We'd have to drag him in the room to go to sleep. He was the dog who knew I was moving to college and wouldn't drop his tennis ball to give me a lick goodbye- I cried more about leaving my dog than I did about leaving my parents! He was the dog that would pick up his stuffed football and do a victory lap around the house every time we yelled, "TOUCHDOWN!" He was the dog that somehow got into a zipped tight backpack, into a Ziplock bag, and opened a big bag of chocolate cookies and ate every single one of them. He was the most gentle dog in the world, and I'm going to miss him so much. He turned 14 years old last August and had recently gotten pretty sick. He had always suffered from a thyroid condition that was regulated with medication and a strict diet, but the vet discovered a tumor on his bladder a couple months ago. I knew when I saw him at Christmas that it would be the last time. I cried for miles after saying goodbye to him at Christmastime and I'm still crying today after receiving the news that my mom and dad had to put him to sleep yesterday after he took a severe turn for the worse on Friday. They said he was snoring before the injection was even finished, so they knew he was happy with their decision. And I'm glad he won't be sick and suffering anymore, but I'm sure going to miss my dog. He was most definitely the best dog ever. Hopefully he's up in Heaven with my grandpa, so Grandpa and Ping-Pong can keep each other company.

varsity debut

Josh made his Varsity coaching debut last night with his basketball team. The head coach is extremely pregnant and in fact is being induced on Monday if she doesn't go on her own this weekend. She was told at her appointment this week that under no circumstances was she allowed to travel with the team this weekend, so Josh is now in charge of the Varsity girls. The assistant boy's coach from last year is taking this year off but stepped in to help out while Amy is out of commission.

Anyway, the point of this post is, that in Josh's Varsity debut, they WON! The team went to Baggs last night and beat them. They traveled to Burns today and the last text message from Josh said the JV won and it was time for the Varsity to play. Josh was very nervous to coach Varsity, but I don't quite know why. I guess I just don't understand the game, because to me, a basketball game is a basketball game, whether it's Varsity or JV!

The football team was supposed to serve lunch at the speech meet at the high school today, but none of the coaches were in town- they were all gone for sporting events. So it was all the wives serving a taco lunch today. B is grouchy today and wouldn't let me put him down, so serving lunch one handed was a lovely experience. :) Good fundraiser for the team though.

a sleepover?

So Brecken LOVES his new babysitter. In fact, this afternoon, I had to chase him down to get him to put his coat on! He didn't want to come home. His friend Chandler, Deb's 2 1/2 year old son, told me, "Brecken can stay." I said, "Oh? Are you going to have a sleepover?" Chandler said, "Yeah!" and I look over and Brecken was nodding his head with a big smile on his face. :) I told him we probably needed to sleep at our own house but that he could come back tomorrow and play. Boy, was he mad at me for making him come home! I guess that's a good sign, that the new place is working out! I know he's getting a lot of attention there- Deb asked me to put new books in his diaper bag because she read each one (there were three in there) four times today. :)

Here's another one of B's new things: He now sits on the dogs like he's riding a horse while they are laying down. He thinks it's fun to bounce up and down on them like he's on his Bounce and Spin Zebra that Santa brought him. Birdie isn't so hot on it- she gets up and bucks him off. Good ol' Hogan though, just lays there and tolerates it. I swear, if dogs can roll their eyes, Hogan certainly is!!

playing

Brecken and I spent the day playing hard and reading lots of books. He's such a goof lately- laughing and flirting and trying to trick me- it's pretty funny. He has two new things that he does a lot- he will now say, "uh-oh!!" when something drops (whether on accident or on purpose!) and his really funny one- he turns his hands over and almost shrugs his shoulders in an "I don't know, Mom!" pose when you ask him a question he doesn't know the answer to. It's quite funny.

lonely

Well, Josh isn't coming home tonight. His teams were in Yoder playing ball this afternoon. The two buses decided to wait in Cheyenne for the Speech bus who was also in Cheyenne and then all decide what to do. Josh's principal was on his way home from Cheyenne and called and said the summit between Laramie and Cheyenne was pretty nasty, and then some parents of one of the boys called and said they slid off the road on the summit. I've been checking Road and Travel and after Laramie, highway 230 (through Wood's Landing and up through Encampment) is no unnecessary travel, but highway 30 through Rock River, Medicine Bow, and Hanna is normal- slick in spots and windy. One of the bus drivers freaked out and won't drive tonight, so they all have to stay. Josh is ticked- they keep getting calls from parents saying once you get to Laramie, the roads are OK if you pick the right road. Josh said they could've been home by now if they would've just kept going and not waited for the speech team. And his poor head coach really wants to be home- she's VERY pregnant (being induced on the 14th unless she goes sooner) and was barely even allowed to go on this trip, and now she's stuck overnight with kids, making her more tired. Josh said everyone is blaming me for being stuck in Cheyenne because I made Josh bring an overnight bag. I jinxed them. :)

So, I'm on my own tonight. :(

Don't know how the boys' games went but both girl teams lost. By a lot, from what I could gather. Josh didn't tell me the scores, but he was kind of laughing when he told me they lost, so I'm gathering they lost by a ton. I'll have to go look on the web.

new daycare

Brecken is starting with a new babysitter tomorrow. He'll now be full time at Dr. Jake and Deb's house. If you want to know the story, email me and I'll let you know. I don't want to post it on here because it's a public blog and I don't want say anything negative. But Josh and I are excited about the new plan!

15 months old

Brecken had his 15 month appointment before we left for Christmas. He's a growing boy! He's now 19 pounds even and getting closer to that percentile chart. His head grew as well and is in the 75th percentile and he is now 31 inches tall, in the 50th percentile!

We got some stuff taken out of his room and rearranged his room so that he can now have his bigger toys in it. He sure likes playing back there. And it's nice to not have everything he owns in the living room. :)

quick catch up

It's been a while since I've been around a computer to update everyone! We had a great Christmas. We went to Worland after Josh's game on Saturday and stayed for a few days. My grandma's friend down the street was gone out of town, so my family got full use of her house. It was WONDERFUL. We could let the boys leave their toys out and not worry about being in the way. :) Brecken did a great job on the trip and loved his presents.

Then we went to Lingle for Christmas with Josh's family for a few days. We had a great time there, too. We came hme with a TON of presents that almost wouldn't fit in the pick-up. I was holding some things in my lap. :) We came through Cheyenne with Beth and Jeff following us yesterday, all on our way home, but ended up getting stuck there because all roads in and out were closed due to weather. So we hung out at the mall and did some shopping, and then all stayed the night with Brady and Stacey. Sure glad they lived there so we had somewhere to stay! Josh's aunt and uncle live there too but not sure we'd make it out to their house in the country.

We finally made it home around lunchtime today. It's nice to be home finally!!!!

counting down

I'm counting down the minutes until school's out for Christmas break. And the minutes are going by VERY SLOWLY. The kids are horrible this week. Coal-worthy horrible. In fact, my jr. high choir was SO NAUGHTY on Tuesday that today during class, they will be reading their silent reading books. And that's it. I even bribed them at the beginning of choir on Tuesday, that if they worked well that day, I'd let them bring in Guitar Hero, which they've been BEGGING to play. Not even that bribe worked. They'll be very, very angry today. That's OK- they can think I'm the wicked witch of the west all they want- some day, they might realize that it's THEIR attitude that hurts them, not my "mood", as they put it.

Josh's school goes through today and they're out on break. We go until 1:30 tomorrow. :( It won't be too bad- I'll have my kindergarten class, then all the elementary kids break into groups to do centers, and the Spanish teacher and myself are in charge of teaching them a Christmas song in Spanish. Ought to be interesting since I don't know a lick of Spanish past "margarita, rapido!" :) Then during silent reading time and 5th hour, the whole school will be watching a movie in the gym. Then finally, we get to go home. I can't wait- it took a lot for me to get up and come to school this morning, so I'm definitely in need of a break.

Our babysitter's son was sick on Monday and Tuesday, so on Monday B went to Deb's house and Tuesday Josh had to stay home with him. Yesterday B was back at Loree's house and he even got a Christmas present from her! We opened it last night so that we didn't have to haul it to Worland with us. B is way into bows this year, so he got real excited when he started opening the present, but after he got the bow off, he walked off with it very happily and didn't care about the rest of the present. :) Inside was a Leapfrog letter school bus. He LOVES it. We vroom-vroomed it and danced to the songs all night last night. That's two things my boy loves- cars (he even makes the "vroom vroom" sound while driving them!) and dancing to music!!

Tomorrow while I'm at work, Josh will bring B in for his 15-month well baby check. I was thinking the other night about the fact we were supposed to have him in for shots at 15 months and then all of a sudden it dawned on me that we HAD an appointment scheduled, for last week! I totally spaced it. So he goes in tomorrow instead. Then we'll pack up and Saturday morning after dropping the dogs off at the kennel, we'll head up to Ethete for Josh's game, then head to Worland for a few days of snowmobiling, family, and CHRISTMAS! Then down to Lingle for a couple days and then finally home for a couple days of resting. If I don't get back here to blog before we leave, I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas!

ho, ho, ho!

Brecken was in the bathtub this afternoon, when I heard sirens coming up the street. We live on the edge of a very quiet town, so sirens coming up the street are unusual. I got B out of the bathtub and wrapped him in a towel so we could run to the door and see what was going on. Lo and behold, there was Santa getting off the fire truck and coming up to our door! He had a sack of candy for B and tried talking to him and saying "Ho, ho, ho!" My suspicions were then confirmed: Brecken hates Santa. Oh, he cried and tried to get away from this Santa who was giving him candy. Santa was a good sport and laughed, then drove away out of sight, on the big red sleigh also known as a fire truck.

lion hunting

My friend at work said today that her husband was coming to my house today to hunt for lions. I guess the game warden called a group to come to town and try to find the mountain lion. I haven't seen tracks in our yard since last week but with the sightings around town, he's still here somewhere. No word on if they found it today though- I'm going to assume they didn't because I think the game warden would've called Josh to tell him.

It was 17 below zero when I left for work today. I knew it was terribly cold when I drove down the street and could see steam from the river above the trees all the way across town. What a beautiful sight that was!! Too bad I didn't have my camera with me.

scare of the night!!

So last Thursday night, the game warden was over at our house until 10:30, tracking the mountain lion tracks that went across our front porch and in our yard. Talk about freaky- a mountain lion walking around your porch!! I guess there were a couple sightings around this past weekend. We've been told to be very careful walking outside since it seems to be hanging around this neighborhood. So tonight I hear a big noise on our porch so I tiptoed to the door to look out the window and this HUGE dog was looking right back at me. I just about had a heart attack. My heart is still recovering and the incident happened 30 minutes ago!

Please excuse the poor look to my post below, I really do put spaces in between my paragraphs but Blogger is not putting them in when I post, no matter how many times I edit it.

grandma's party

Well, Brecken and I made it to Chicago and back. We left about 9:00 on Friday morning and made it to Denver in plenty of time. The roads from here to Cheyenne weren't very good at all, but Cheyenne south to Denver was great! I'm glad we were early though, the interstate from Cheyenne to Ft. Collins closed that afternoon due to the weather that came in.

Getting through security was horrible. I got Brecken out of his stroller to get everything ready to get folded up and he took off into security and I had to run and get him. Folding things up and getting things into the bins with a toddler in your arms is horrible. THANK GOODNESS the next time I had to go through security, my mom and dad were there to help me! Brecken did great on the plane rides.

Saturday morning we drove downtown and went to Marshall Fields (now it's Macy's though) and looked at the windows that they do for Christmastime, then went inside to see the huge Christmas tree. We tried to see Santa but the line was absolutely ridiculous. Then we went to a few other stores, then back to the hotel for a rest before we needed to get to the party.

The party was fun- I got to see cousins and aunts and uncles that I haven't seen in 10 years. I also got to meet my cousin Beth's fiance, and my cousin Christine's pretty serious boyfriend. There were balloons for decorations so Brecken had a great time as long as he had those balloons.

Yesterday was a long day- we got to Laramie OK but then two out of the three routes home to Saratoga were closed. We didn't get home until 8:00 last night. I was exhausted.

Super quick weekend but it was a good one and I'm sure glad we had the opportunity to go.

busy, busy, busy

This week has been super busy for us already and it's only going to get worse! Tonight, I have my jr. high/high school Christmas concert. I also have to pack suitcases and get everything together for Brecken and myself to fly to Chicago tomorrow afternoon. I'm still not sure how I'm going to get from the car to the check-in counter and then through security with the suitcase, stroller, car seat, diaper bag, winter coats, and my camera, and then add Brecken along with that! Thank goodness after I get security, my mom and dad will be there to help me out. Then I'll have to figure out how to get all of it back to the car by myself after we fly back on Sunday afternoon!

Then Monday night I have my elementary school Christmas program. I can't wait until these concerts are over- a big load of stress will be lifted!!!

candy canes

I was thinking yesterday, "I need some candy canes so I can see if Brecken likes them as much as I do." Besides, I thought that would make a really cute picture. :) And voila! there were candy canes in my mailbox this afternoon in a birthday card from Barb! Thanks, Barb! You must have read my mind. She also asked about what I did for my birthday: Not much. Josh had practice until 8:00 so it wasn't much of a celebration. We were able to go out to the Hotel Wolf the night before though, for a fantastic steak dinner. So at least we were able to do that. The night of my birthday though, was just me and my best boy, Brecken, hanging out together!

I've been trying and trying to figure out the settings on my camera so I can take better inside pictures without using my flash. Today I found some of my settings were locked, and as soon as I unlocked them, things were much easier and lots less frustrating for me! Here's one I got tonight. Hopefully soon he'll be in a good mood so I can get some smiles, and in the daylight so I have some lighting help!!:

ear infection

I picked up B at lunch today because I had the afternoon off, and Loree said he'd been poking his fingers in his ears all morning. So I called the clinic to get him checked out before the weekend came. They managed to squeeze him in this afternoon. Sure enough, B has an ear infection. He did NOT like Jake putting the light in his ears, especially his left one, which is the one with the infection. Jake said it was medium-bad but was going to get worse and not better so B is now on antibiotics for 10 days. After the appointment, Brecken got to pick out one of the Ty beanie bears that was in the lobby to take home with us, but B wanted nothing to do with them- he only wanted to play with the bead rollercoaster thing!! Oh, he threw a fit when I made him put his coat onto leave!! He cried and cried and I had to pick out his bear for him. While we were waiting to get in to be seen, B had loved those bears and picked them all up, but hugged one of them, so that's the one I picked for him. :)

We didn't take his clothes off to get weighed today, but he weighed 19 pounds, 7 ounces! He only weighed 18 pounds 3 ounces 2 weeks ago. I don't know how much a onesie, jeans, slippers and a diaper weigh (and I changed his diaper before we went to the doctor) but he seems to have gained some good weight for 2 weeks! WAY more than the 3 ounces in a month that he gained last!

this is why i love my commute!

Driving home, I saw TWO huge bald eagles right next to the road sitting on a fence. I was 5 miles out of Saratoga and didn't have my camera. So I drove home, got B so Josh could go to basketball, grabbed my camera and headed out to see if they were still there. They WERE! Only, I got out of my car and they flew away. I could only find one and he was a long way away, so I zoomed as close as I could and had to crop the pic when I got home.

Josh had to go get Brecken at lunch today, Loree called him at work and said B wasn't feeling good and needed to go home. He slept from 1:00-3:00, which is crazy long for B! He's been pretty normal since then though. I'm not seeing much sickness, other than a few coughs.

home sick.

Not me, but Brecken. He woke up crying hysterically last night and it took forever for him to calm down. Then this morning, his nose wouldn't quit running and he couldn't quit coughing. He also woudn't quit crying and wouldn't let me put him down. He can't go to daycare like that, so I stayed home with him today. Josh has already stayed home once AND brought him to school with him, so it was my turn. So, I changed back into my sweats (I was already dressed for work) and got comfy with Brecken. He's feeling a bit better after a nap and some juice, and we managed to get my Christmas Village put up. It was quite comical- at one point, Ditka had shoved himself into one of the styrofoam boxes and Brecken was wearing another one of them on his head like a hat. Silly boys.

too funny.

My dad apparently has a lot of time on his hands, because he made this really funny video starring Brecken, Ryan, himself, and my grandma. It's hilarious to watch, check it out: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9559253829

Brecken is now walking. Saturday, he was only walking a few steps at a time and on Sunday he was walking a lot of steps at a time! He's getting really good at it!!!

I've been gone for a few days, I went to Wheatland with a couple of my students for an honor choir. We left Sunday and got home last night. This morning, B and I are finishing up packing and when Josh gets home from basketball practice we're headed up to Lingle. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

babysitting, sharing, and mountain lions

We have the babysitting thing all figured out. Whew! Josh talked to Jake at 5 am this morning (they go lift weights at the school together) and Jake said they could probably do Mondays and Tuesdays for us, even though Tuesdays are his days off. I felt really bad thinking he'd be babysitting on his day off!! He babysat for us today because Loree's husband had his surgery to repair his back, but Deb was home when I got there and she said she'd rather have Wednesdays and Thursdays so that Jake wouldn't have to use his day off. But then she said that if things get too crazy at Loree's, just bring Brecken to their house for the whole week. Hopefully it won't come to that, but it's nice to know we won't be scrambling if Loree changes her mind again!!!

Brecken has been very into sharing lately. He likes to force feed you. Yesterday he grabbed a handful of Cheerios and tried to shove them all in my mouth. He cried when I wouldn't eat them. Silly. He tried to force his sippy cup into Birdie's mouth the other day. Birdie was too startled to actually take it- otherwise she would've jumped at the chance to have B's milk!! :)

I guess our next door neighbor had a mountain lion on his front step theother morning. He went outside to leave for work and scared it and it went running. THAT'S a little scary! I worried about the dogs being outside while we're at work but Josh said the mountain lion wouldn't come
in the daytime- I don't know how he would know that... We now make sure both cats are in at night now though!!

fired

I was messing around at school the other day and created this photo. I thought it was kind of neat.

Well, we got "half-fired" from daycare today. Loree is pregnant, due in June, and is very afraid of having a miscarriage, since she had one earlier this spring. She's cutting down her daycare kids. She's keeping the 3-year old full time, but we only get to go half time, and poor baby Sophie doesn't get to go at all. What a frustrating feeling. Brecken is already going to Deb's house tomorrow, so we're going to ask her if she'd be a regular babyistter again and do two days a week, plus Fridays when Josh has away games. If she doesn't want to be that permanent, I don't know WHAT we'll do. And poor Sophie's mom- she doesn't know anybody to ask! I feel bad for Loree, I really do- I wouldn't wish a miscarriage on ANYONE, especially with our troubles to get pregnant, so I know how precious a new life is. But at the same time, I wish, for once, we could have a "normal" daycare situation!!! :) Annie, wanna move here and open one? You'd be rich!!!

sick boy

We found out why Brecken wouldn't eat and was whiny yesterday.... Josh finally got home at 1:11 this morning and just as he got into bed Brecken started crying. Josh went in there, thinking his coming home woke Brecken up, but instead discovered that Brecken had thrown up. :( Brecken cried and cried and cried. We had to change his jammies and pull the blanket from his pack and play mattress. No fever according to our ear thermometer but I think he had a bit of the stomach bug. So Josh took him out to the couch and he watched the end of the movie he missed, and a while later Brecken came crawling into my bedroom so he laid with me and fell asleep again. He wasn't interested in breakfast this morning, or lunch today, but is finally now snacking on cheerios and some milk. No more puking, luckily!

teeth, whining, blood, and an accident

Brecken sure has been whiny today and won't eat anything. I think his 6th tooth is about to come through and it's bugging him. Hopefully he sleeps well tonight.

I let the dogs inside right before dinner, they had been out most of the afternoon. Then I noticed blood all over the floor. Hogan has several puncture wounds on his head and one ear- I wonder if the dogs were wrestling and Birdie got a bit rough. We had to wash the whole kitchen floor. I let them back outside so we could finish eating, and after Brecken went to bed I let them back in and he still had blood droplets. So I held gauze over all of them until they stopped and he's laying on a towel now so I can make sure if he does bleed a little again, it's not on the carpet. Poor dog- wonder what happened?!

Josh and I were watching a movie and his pager went off, for an accident on some road I haven't heard of before. There were 4 patients though, and Rawlins had been called first so I think it's out that direction. Rawlins needed help because they cannot transfer 4 patients. The dispatcher said after Saratoga got to this road, call somewhere (she said some initials that I don't know what they stand for) for more directions. Sounds bad!! He might be gone a long time.

first steps!

Brecken has on quite the outfit right now: A white onesie and his black tennis shoes. He got into his diaper bag and pulled out the shoes and tried to put them on himself, so Josh put them on. We had been working on walking this afternoon, but after he put his shoes on, Brecken walked his first steps! They must be magic shoes!! He walked four very slow and deliberate steps from Josh to me! Yay! He had no idea why we were so excited, but he got excited with us after I said that deserved some Smarties. :)

YAY, Brecken!!!

moving on

We'll be moving on to a new sport in this house. Basketball season starts next week for Josh and football practice ended last week, though none of us knew it at the time. Josh's team had the semi-final game in Big Horn yesterday and it didn't end in our favor. :( It was a heartbreaking loss. The final score was 13-8, and if we had been able to do anything with our last position it might have ended with us on top, but it didn't work out that way. LOTS of tears after the game, I'm not sure I saw a dry eye anywhere on our side! Or on our side of the field- the boys were pretty teary, too. But WOW, the crowd we had! We had just as many on our side cheering for our boys as Big Horn did, I bet! And the field was really neat- you could pull your car up and around the field and that was so handy because my van was right next to the bleachers we were sitting in, so B could take a nap inside the car and out of the wind! It was a really cool field.

So, Josh now gets a week "off" after school before basketball starts. I bet he won't come home too early though- he won't know what to do with all that time, so I bet he stays at school and finds something football-related to do for a while each day. :)

We had a fun weekend though. I went up with Peggy Hayes and their two girls, and stopped in Casper for a couple hours at the mall, then we stayed in Buffalo at the same hotel as the team. Tons of our fans did too- it was neat to see the breakfast room full of purple clothes yesterday morning!!

"first" halloween

I say "first" because Brecken slept through the whole thing last year!

Brecken had a really fun Halloween yesterday. I picked him up from daycare (where he had a great day- he even ate all his lunch for the first time ever! Pizza and peas.) and took him home to get his costume on. Then I took him downtown to the Trick-or-Treat down there. He wouldn't say anything to anyone but gave good smiles and waves. And he loved it when they let him pick out his own candy!! He got REALLY excited at the art gallery because they were giving out helium balloons! He chattered and chattered about that with the biggest grin. He loves balloons. He got his picture taken at the newspaper office, so we'll see if it makes it in to the paper next week. When we got home he got into his candy bucket and held up a package of m&ms, way up high so I could see them and said, "Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom?" He's never had candy before. He LOVED the m&ms! He had a blue nose to prove it.

Then we went to Encampment's Halloween carnival that happens every year. I bought him some tickets so he could play some games. We did the fishing pond a couple times and the first time got a treat bag with a small notepad in it, a bat tattoo, a little monster that when you squeeze it his eyes bulge (B thinks its funny!) and a couple other silly things. Then the next time he fished, he got a blow up black kitty! His eyes got real big and he grabbed that kitty and KISSED it! It was so funny. He also threw the football and did the beanbag toss too. :) He got to pick out his own candy for playing the games, and he would pick through the selection until he found something he thought he liked and then would put it in his bucket. Smart boy. :)Josh met us at the carnival after football practice was over, and took B home early so I could stay and make sure everything was cleaned up. The Senior class that I sponsor did easy booths this year because they didn't want to stay and clean. :) They did a basketball throw, a football throw, a booth where the kids guessed how many Tootsie Rolls were in the jar (397) and the closest one won the candy, and a bowling lane. Each booth took one or two tickets and tickets were 25 cents each. I have to count my class' tickets today and see how much money we made.

Brecken sure likes candy, for never having it before! Josh said he knew Brecken would, because that's what Brecken inherited from his mother. :) B was WIRED last night, and he didn't even have that much candy! He wouldn't go to bed. After Josh brought him home he gave B some dinner and gave him a bath and he said he was all over the bathtub being crazy. Crazy after I got home, too! We had one trick-or-treater all night while we were home (one of Josh's students) and a high school kid selling Christmas wreaths. On my way into our neighborhood, there is a house with lots of Halloween lights and decorations, and the main door was open so you could see into the house, and there was a HUGE buck deer standing right at the steps, staring into the house like he was asking for candy too. It was funny.

I'll post pictures when I get around to loading them on the computer.