happy birthday!

My baby boy turned 2 today! Holy moly, how time flies.

September 11, 2006
September 11, 2007
September 11, 2008

two years ago today...

I woke up and threw up. First time in a while that had happened. (And after 5 constant months of it, I didn't miss it at all!!) I told Josh after I puked that we needed to get the baby's room done that day, because I had a feeling we were going to have a baby sooner than we thought. All we had left was curtains and blinds and straightening up, but it needed it! Little did I know, 2 hours after making that statement, I would go into labor! Tried stopping it with water and laying on my left side, didn't work. Tried a bath. Didn't work. They were long contractions and regular, but they sure didn't hurt like I thought they would. Instead, it felt like a body sized rubber band squeezing the air out of me. I knew they were real though! Called the dumb doctor on call and he wanted to prescribe me a pill, but on a Sunday in Saratoga, there was nowhere to get it filled. So off to the hospital we went. We got there and got checked in and I was given the pill to stop labor. Didn't work. They gave me the worst shot I've EVER had (OH MAN, I can still feel the stinging in my arm!) and that didn't work either. So I labored all night. Counting the minutes until MY doctor came on call. :) For the rest of the story, you can read it here.

And yes, I still think about those babies in the NICU and ICC. Every day.

two years ago today...

was a Friday. I got up and got ready for work, totally oblivious to the fact that it would be my last day of work for a few months. I'm sure there was a football game that night that I attended, too. I didn't have any of my sub plans or info ready to go. If we are lucky enough to have another baby, I will have all affairs in order by 30 weeks, just in case. :)

backet

For as long as Brecken could talk and identify people in pictures, photos of himself were always "Baby", "Rynee" (Ryan) or "You". Today, for the first time ever, he saw himself in a photo (of him on the potty, none the less!) and said, "Backet!" Not only was that the first time he has identified himself, but the first time he has EVER said his name!! (well, close anyway.) He said it again, and then pointed to himself and said it again. Yay! And he did it before his 2nd Birthday!!

Here's the famous picture:

airplanes

The group of terribly rich people with their own airplanes who fly to Saratoga just to hang out are in town this week. Brecken, as you know, is fascinated with airplanes so I took him to the airport for a closer view today.

waterboy

It's official- I became the mother of the waterboy today. He helped Macy fill them up...

Then he carried them over...

And carefully placed them in the water holder thingys (don't you love my technical terms?) for the boys to drink later.

We went to Hanna for Josh's game tonight. It was COLD AND WINDY. But we won- a solid 58-6. :)

fyi...

For you grandparents and such that are looking for something to give to a 2-year old for his birthday... here's what we got him so do NOT get him the same thing. :)

Thomas the Tank Engine railroad tracks, expansion pack, and a couple trains:

Shape sorter:

And Josh's choice- a 4-wheeler similar to this. Only it's just blue, not Batman. :) It's small, like his bike that he is in love with, but this one is battery powered.

road trip

We took a road trip yesterday. Wasn't planning on it, but it happened anyway and was a really fun day!

The day started off a bit silly...

B thought it was hilarious to wear Josh's socks instead of pants. What a dork. But it made us laugh, hard!!

Then we went up to do a family session for some new people in town. Josh teaches with the dad...

Then we headed up the mountain to visit Aspen Alley. Last year, we missed the gold trees. We went the weekend after Labor Day and it had already snowed and there was not one single leaf on any of the trees. This year, they were still GREEN. We'll have to see if we can find another day to drive up there.

By the time we were done at Aspen Alley, it had started raining. Hard. And the fog was thick.

Right before we made it back to Encampment, we decided to drive down to Hog Park Reservoir since neither of us has been there. On the way, there was a sign that read, "Steamboat Springs, CO- 68 miles". We had diapers and lunch, we were set, so we decided to continue, on the dirt road, to Steamboat! It took 2 hours since most of it was dirt road, but it was a fun drive. Coming off the dirt road and onto the highway, we got to see some pretty amazing houses. In Steamboat, we parked on one end of downtown and walked down one side of the street and back up the other, shopping in all the stores that were having sales. It was crowded down there! We also passed this gas station, which was out of business. You can tell how long it's been out of service:

We wanted to eat dinner at Beau Jo's Pizza, but it didn't open until 5:00. So we found a park for B to play at and for Josh to read the paper:

Steamboat is sure in pretty country. I have never been there before. So it was a good road trip to take! Here's the view leaving Steamboat and the Yampa Valley, along with the pretty setting sun on the mountains on our way home.

13-9

And unfortunately, we were the ones with 9. :(

But MAN, what a pretty backdrop our new field has!

Getting pumped up:

First kickoff on the new field:

go panthers!

Today is the opening game for the 2008 Saratoga Panther football season. We play West Grand High School out of Kremmling, CO for our first game at 1:30 this afternoon. Right during naptime. It ought to be interesting. :) The game will be the first one played at the new field, so it should be exciting!

I somehow lost the cord to my camera so I haven't been able to upload pictures for quite a while. However, I have a real session tomorrow (a senior!) and I needed to be able to get the pictures off my camera! So I had Josh get me a new one in Laramie yesterday when he went over. While uploading pictures, I found this one from last weekend when Craig and Lennie came over to see the new house.

Brecken is in love with his two Papa's right now. He even pretends to call them on the phone. And if he sees a truck like either one of them owns, he goes, "PAPA!" He loves to look at pictures of them. Papa's are fantastic people.

Brecken was sick the end of this week with a horrible cold. It was accompanied with a lovely fever, which he suffered with Thursday night. Yesterday I started coming down with the cold. Hopefully I won't get the fever that comes along with it.

Go Panthers!

helper

I have had a helper in the kitchen lately. B LOVES to help me cook. He climbs up on his helper stool and helps with whatever he can. Tonight, we're having fried chicken and mashed potatoes, and I cut up the potatoes into chunks and then gave them to B to put in a bowl. He'd pick one up at a time and THROW it into the bowl "ala" Emeril. But instead of "BAM!" B shouted "MOING!!" It was hysterical. Filled the whole bowl, one at a time, doing that. And only missed once!!!

my boy!

He's not a baby anymore, that's for sure. Here are the rest of his 2-year old pictures. Stacey is fabulous!

http://www.flickr.com/gp/8125773@N08/sGmKaC

work

Back to work today. :( I had to go to an inservice with our elementary teachers that ended up not having anything to do with me. Luckily, tomorrow, I don't have to go though everyone else still does. I get to work in my classroom, which will be much more beneficial to me!!

Today was also B's first day of daycare for the school year. He woke up crying this morning and cried the whole time I was getting us ready to go. I know he knew what was going on. And he had a meltdown when I left him at Amy's. But when I picked him up, Amy said they had a great day. They were playing in the yard when I pulled up and B shouted,"MOMMY!" and ran to give me a huge hug. :) Amy said he had two hot dogs at lunch- I was shocked since we can't get him to eat hot dogs here at home!!!! I've been asking him tonight what he did at Amy's, and I've gotten "play", "trucks", and "ball doggy". So they must have played trucks and played ball with their doggy!! He nodded and smiled when I asked if he had fun and wanted to go back, so that's good. :)

Josh left at 5 this morning for morning practice, and they are going until 7:30 tonight. Yikes. Sure hurts when WHSAA moves their calendar and they can't have 2-a-days until this week, when school is starting! They have early morning practice through Wednesday, and then no more. Just regular night ones.

wedding

There have been several people having problems not being able to open the wedding pictures. So, for ease of use, I created a shutterfly website with all of them on it. Feel free to go and look!

http://jeffreyandbeth.shutterfly.com

missing

When we moved into this new house, Josh told me to organize the kitchen however I wanted, he didn't care. We have so many cupboards and drawers in this kitchen that I have empty space!! However, my oven mitts have been missing. I can't find them at all in the drawer. I had 8 or so, and they all are missing. I've been cussing Josh under my breath, thinking he's just not putting them away in the right spot. So to pull things out of the oven, I've been having to double up on washcloths and move fast.

I found them today. In another drawer. The drawer they've ALWAYS been in, just that I thought they were in another one, despite the fact I decided where they would go in the first place. Oops.

So do you have to apologize to your husband for cussing him, even though it was always only in your head?! :)

a few more

Now that Beth and Jeff have seen their wedding pictures I thought I would share a few more of my favorites.

The kids' dads have a picture when they were about this age of them lined up eating watermelon. We thought it would be fun to get one so we could have a generational thing. :)




First glance at his bride...

my little stud

As Stacey's post said, another year has gone by and my little guy has grown up. Last year for his 1-year pictures, he couldn't stand up on his own. This year, for his 2-year pictures, he was running. What a different a year makes!! Here is my little stud this year:

http://staceyjphotog.blogspot.com/2008/08/another-year-gone-by.html

a boy and his bike

Brecken's favorite thing to do these days is go outside and ride his bike. He could ride that thing for hours, even though he can't reach the pedals. He gets his feet going, Fred Flinstone style, and has a ball. His giggle is the best sound in the world.

a u.s. olympian

So I totally know one of the US Olympic team members! Brett Newlin is his name. He and I were friends in high school- he was from Riverton but we went to Ireland together. I remember him as this really tall goofy kid and one of the nicest boys I knew. I just saw a picture of him in the paper and he's still really tall- 6 foot 7 inches- but I would've never recognized him! He has grown into his body just a bit. :) He is a member of the 4-man rowing team. I can't wait to watch it on TV during the Olympics. I have a feeling though, that it is one of those events that is on at 3:00 in the morning. :)

pedicure

When I give B a bath, I always give him some soap and tell him where to scrub. He loves it that he gets to "help". Tonight we got done with belly, arms, back, and I said to scrub his legs. He leans over and scrubs MY legs. So I took advantage of the situation and swung my legs over the tub and he rubbed down my ankles and feet for a good TEN MINUTES! It was a lovely pedicure. Now I just need to teach him how to put nail polish on my toenails. :)

relay for life

Josh and I walked for Relay for Life the other night. I've never done that before and it was kinda fun! It's held at the Veteran's Island Park here in Saratoga, right down by the river. It's actually an island, and you can only get to it by walking over the bridge. That bridge is where the luminaries are lit.

This one is for my grandpa, who died from bladder cancer:

Here are three people in our family- and two of them are survivors! They are certainly heroes.

This little lady is 6 years old. She is going to be one of my 1st graders at school this year. She and her mom did live music at the Relay. She is quite the little singer. She has been doing the Star Spangled Banners for rodeos since she was 4 years old. In this song, "Cowboy Sweetheart", she had to yodel, and it was quite amazing.

more for you brooke fans....

perfect

She is perfect today....