My Little Explorer & The Perfect Day!

Brogen loves to hike around and explore, just like his Daddy. One of their favorite things to do is go on the trails behind our house or go hiking or exploring somewhere. One day when I was at work Jared sent me this picture of Brogen up on the Dixie rock. It made me a little nervous but Brogen was having such a good time hiking around and me being the paranoia that I am was glad that I was at work so I didn't have a 100 mini heart attacks seeing what was going on. I made Jared promise me that he would watch him like a hawk and everyone came back in one piece. Ha!










A couple of Saturdays ago we decided to take advantage of our pass to Zion and went to go on a little hike since that seems to be a favorite family activity. It was still a little bit cold, there was still snow on the ground in some spots, so we bundled up and headed out but the sun was out so it wasn't too bad. Since it was our first time taking Brogen and we didn't know for sure how he would do there we picked the easiest hike to the Weeping Rock and it seriously took us 5 minutes to get there. Brogen loved it! He was in awe of the water coming down off the rock and was so excited to be there. It was so cute, he was so happy that he had a little skip to every step he took. He was truly in his element. We wanted to do more so we picked the lower Emerald Pools hike and had a blast listening to Brogen point out everything around us. I kept saying this is seriously the perfect day. Brogen can be adorable but he can also be a little stinker but he was on his best behavior that day and there is something about being in that beautiful setting that just made me think of how blessed I am especially with my amazing little family that I have. Sometimes he would get a little tired so he would ride on Daddy's shoulders for a bit and then he would want back down to walk. I just love these boys!
















































We had the best time and can't wait to go back! Another thing we have loved doing lately is feeding the ducks. That has been our new Sunday thing since we are out of church so early. We get a loaf of bread from the dollar store and Brogen throws piece after piece until it is gone. There are so many ducks at this pond that they literally fight over the bread and it just cracks us up. This picture doesn't even do justice to how many ducks are there.



















Since it is Valentines Day I want to give a little shout out to the 2 loves of my life. Brogen I love you for making me a better person. I never knew that I could love someone so much. I have never had so many sleepless nights, been so frustrated that I wanted to scream, and worried so much it made me sick until you came along. When you wrap your arms around me and flash that smile and I see that cute dimple I don't even remember any of those things. You make me so happy! You really are a smart, amazing little man and I am so glad that I get to be your Mama and learn something new about myself and you everyday. Jared, I love you for loving me no matter what. I am not always easy to please and you are always trying your hardest just to make me happy. You are constantly making me laugh, without even trying, and I knew I had a keeper when on our first Valentines Day together you said to me, "How did a girl like me get so lucky to get a guy like you?" I just fell on the ground laughing. It was before we were engaged and he was so nervous and I have never let him live that one down and he is going to kill me for sharing it, but its too funny. So thanks babe for all you do for me. I love you!

So Sneaky!!!!

Last Saturday we went to a few stores to find Jared a new pair of pants. Brogen does not share my love for shopping and it is never easy to take him but it was particularly bad this day. I was trying to get different sizes for Jared and take to him in the dressing room, and try and keep track of Brogen and he was bored so he wasn't sticking by me very good. I turned my head for literally 2 seconds and he was gone. I thought ok no biggie he is just probably on the next aisle but he wasn't. So I walked to the front of the store and I didn't see him anywhere. I start calling his name and walked to the back of the store. No Brogen. So now I am starting to panic just a little but think to myself there is no way he left the store he has to be here somewhere. So I keep walking around the whole store and finally tell Jared to come out and help me look. Mind you this store is not very big so I am really starting to get panicked by this point. We are calling his name and then Jared says I just heard him sneeze so he is here somewhere and then a girl said are you looking for a little boy because there is one hiding in the clothes rack over here. Sure enough this is what we found.















































I was so relieved that he was in the store and not taken by some pedophile, but then I was mad at the little stinker for hiding from me and not answering when I called his name. Who does that!? I gave him a little lecture about how he needed to stay close to me because unfortunately there are bad people who might take him and I would never see him again and that it is naughty to hide from me and he was in trouble. He just stared at me and then said "No Mama, I hide! So I am positive he didn't care about one word I was saying. Jared also said my lecture became obsolete when I told him to pose in his little hiding spot so I could get a picture. Ha!

I guess it is exhausting hiding from your Mom and making her lose a year off of her life worrying about you being gone, so he had to take a little break and put his feet up.

A year gone by.......

Wow! Its awesome that it has been a year since I have blogged! What a slacker. I promised Annie that it was one of my New Years resolutions to keep up a little better on the blog. I think I just get too overwhelmed thinking that I have to do something great and always have pictures but I really don't I can just write something. Then if it has been awhile I don't know where to start so I just keep getting further behind. Brogen does and says so many cute things that I want to remember and so I need to write them down. So how do you recap a whole year? You don't, so I am just going to start with right now and go from there. So here is what we have been up to lately:

Jared- Just started his last semester at SUU. I have to pinch myself a lot because it feels like I am dreaming. We have been doing the school thing since we got married. That is 5 freaking years! He has taken a couple classes a semester until just the last 2 years and he has gone full time. I am so excited for him to be done. We just got through the worst semester of our lives and we almost didn't make it out alive. We literally only saw each other on the weekends and it was really hard. This is the second semester that Jared has had to drive to SUU everyday so we are excited for him to be done with that commute and to have a little extra money in our pockets. Paying for gas is killing us! We recently did a weight loss competition with my family and Jared lost 20 lbs and is looking pretty dang good. He also won the competition and got some money to buy some stuff he has been wanting. He is still working nights at the school and that has been a blessing for him to have that job that works around all of our schedules.

Shannon- I just try to keep up with working full time and being wife and mom to my very active needy 2 year old. I was able to cut back to 32 hours a week this last semester so that we didn't have to put Brogen in day care and that was so amazing to get to spend that time with him that I don't normally get. I am crossing my fingers that after graduation Jared can get a decent job and I can become jobless or at least part time. I am crossing my toes too :) I lost a few pounds doing the weight loss competition but I am still working really hard to lose more. We are trying to be a lot healthier at our house and I am trying to do some sort of work out everyday which is not easy. Some mornings I get up bright and early and get to the gym and some days I just do a work out at home but anything is better than nothing. I have a new found love for pinterest. I just started a couple days ago but I have already spent way too much time on it. I have been loving all the fun ideas I can use someday if I ever get a house.

Brogen- I don't even know where to begin with him. He is a one of a kind that is for sure. He is in a really fun but hard stage right now. He already has a very strong willed, stubborn personality so put that with the terrible twos and watch out! I think he is teaching me patience. He will be 3 this April, I can't even believe it. He is a smart little guy and has the memory of an elephant. He knows his alphabet, all the colors, can count too 25 and knows all the numbers. He can totally run our computer and has been for months now, mouse and all. It took him about a minute to figure out how to run the mouse. I couldn't believe he could do it! So now he can play Starfall all by himself and I don't have to sit there and click it for him while he bosses me around. He loves to draw still and he always draws a moon. He is obsessed with motorcycles and his cars and trucks right now and he loves playing daddy's motorcycle game on the Xbox. He has no interest what so ever in potty training no matter what we do and he has started having night terrors so he is waking up screaming in the night and we can't seem to ever feel like we get enough sleep. Over Christmas break he missed quite a few naps and then just decided he is done with naps altogether so that has been rough because he still needs a nap. We still have to go to great lengths to get him to eat but he is getting a little better. Right now we can get him to eat pizza, PB &J's, popcorn chicken, broccoli, hotdog, and corn. He loves popcorn and M&M's and he loves to sneak swigs of my "Mama juice" as he calls it (Diet Pepsi). He still has to have his juice and blankies and says to me I want to hold you Mom. So I get to snuggle him until his juice is gone and then he is done with that. He loves going to the nursery and playing with other kids. My friend Mikell tends him for 3 hours 2 days a week for us and her little boy Cayson is the same age as Brogen and he loves going there and playing with Cayson and it has been really good for him. He can still be pretty shy when he is around new people but he is getting better with that. He has been saying the funniest things. I wish I would have written them down but a few that I can remember:

-He wanted me to play the motorcycle game on the Xbox so I humored him and I wasn't very good so when I finally passed a level he said "Good job Mama, you are so big"

Since he doesn't eat great we really praise him after he eats a meal and say "you did it, you ate that pizza so good" and one day he ate really good so I let him have a chocolate kiss and when he was done he said, " I did it Mama, I ate that chocolate so good!" Like we really have to talk him into eating chocolate :)

The other day my Mom was at our house tending him and he wanted to watch Toy Story so she was trying to figure out how to do it since we got a new TV and it was taking her a minute and he finally said, "What the duece Grandma?" He learned that one from his dad, he says it all the time.

My little nephews taught him to say, "what's up brotha" and he folds his arms and moves his head around when he does it. It is hilarious!

We were watching Tangled and I started singing the song and he said, "Don't Mama" so I stuck out my bottom lip to let him know I was sad he didn't like my singing and so he said, "Ok, do it Mama."

We have been asking him for awhile now if he would like a brother or sister to come live at our house and his answer varies but the one we get the most is, "No, this is Brogen house!" And no, we are not pregnant we just like to bug Brogen about it because he is so spoiled and we are going to have to prepare him for another sibling like a year in advance.

I know there are a million more things that I can't remember and I am going to be better about writing them down and doing at least a monthly update. We can shoot for that! I am looking forward to 2012. It is going to be a good year for us!

I haven't updated the old blog forever. I have plenty of excuses for why, but I find myself feeling guilty about it everyday. I know there are a ton of things that Brogen is doing that I'm not going to remember unless I write them down. Just a little recap:

November- My little sis had her baby Jaden on the 13th and I spent the night in the hospital waiting room with the Grandmas and Terron's little sister. We were so excited to see him. He is the cutest boy and it was well worth it to pull an all nighter. He had tons of wild dark hair and the tiniest little mouth I have ever seen. On the 22nd Jared's sister Natalie welcomed little baby Paisley into her family and when I say little I mean little! She was only 5lbs 6 oz and is the tiniest little thing I have ever seen! So much fun to have 2 little miracles in the same month.
For Thanksgiving we went to the Blad's and we had a great time eating yummy food and being with family and seeing Paisley for the first time. Jared got up bright and early the next day and hit the Black Friday sales at the Wal-mart in Richfield and I was smart and stayed in my nice warm bed. He scored some sweet deals though so we were both glad he went.

December- We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family and had the traditional things go on. Brogen didn't really get into unwrapping presents, it mostly just made him mad because he just couldn't do it as fast as he wanted. I ended up unwrapping most of them, but he loved what he got. We got him a little upholstered chair that rocks and a wheelies ramp way since he is so into cars. He also got a leapfrog laptop that he loves. Jared got some Wii games and money and gift cards and I got a sewing machine (so I can learn to sew) and a jewelry amoire that Jared stripped and repainted for me. We had so much fun and Jared and I both had almost 2 full weeks off of work. We spent a few more days in Enterprise and then headed home for a day and a half and then headed to the cabin to spend the remainder of our vacation. The best part of that is we got to meet up with Ryan and Bri who we don't see very often and it was so much fun spending some time with them. They called us on Christmas day to tell us they are expecting a baby and we couldn't be more excited for them!

Us: Right before Thanksgiving we found out that Jared got a part time evening job that he had applied for and we were so excited. It has been really tight trying to make it on one income for the last year and a half and it was such a blessing to finally find something to work with his school schedule. He can go in anytime after 2 so he goes as soon as I get home from work which doesn't really leave any time for us except the weekends but we are making it work. My cute little Beehives love babysitting Brogen and earning some extra cash so we have started going out on dates at least once a week. Hopefully we can keep that up. On Tues and Thurs Jared has school at SUU from 8:30-5:30 and then when he gets into town he goes straight to work. So Brogen doesn't even see him those 2 days. Our schedule is crazy busy and it gets hectic with me in Y.W. but thankfully I have great family and friends who are always stepping up to help me out. We decided to take advantage of the low home prices and interest rates and we are currently house hunting and it is stressful! We keep going back and forth deciding whether it is really the right time to buy, who knows where we will end up when Jared is done with school, but then decided if we can get into a house for not too much more than we pay in rent we might as well be putting our money to something that counts. We really want to have a place of our own and enough of a backyard that Brogen can play in. We actually put in offers on two different short sales but everyone says short sales are tough and take a long time so you have to be patient. Well I have no patience so its going to be interesting. In the mean time we will keep looking for something else that catches our eye.

Brogen: is a little ball of fire! He keeps me on my toes and pulling my hair out somedays. He sure knows how to push my buttons. Lets just say he is probably the most STUBBORN kid I know. You don't MAKE him do anything. He will do it when he is good and ready and if you try to force him, all hell breaks loose. He finally got his I-teeth in and not a moment too soon. They took their sweet time swelling up and making him miserable and then going back down and I am surprised we all came out alive. Brogen still isn't much of a talker but does say quite a few things. A few of his newest things his says are "I did it" purple, blue, and black. He loves his dads Ipod Touch and can navigate through it watching videos, playing starfall, and anything else he decides to do. It cracks us up how he just pushes the buttons and takes his little finger and swipes so fast trying to get to the video he wants. Right now he is learning his colors and can recognize quite a few of them and has also learned a few letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make. He still loves to watch his baby einstein shows no matter what I do to try to get him to watch the Disney movies. If I tell him he can't watch a show he just turns on the T.V., puts his DVD in and goes and sits in his chair like he didn't even hear me. He is super attached to his blankies and has to have them with him a lot more than he used to. He is the pickiest little eater I know and all he wants to do is drink all day which usually leads to him peeing through his diaper every night and he wakes up crying in the middle of the night. He loves balloons and has to point them out wherever we go and will play with one for hours. He is fascinated with the moon and has to find all his books that has the moon in them so he can point it out, and he loves to go outside and look at it. He loves to sing silly songs and do the actions but only if he thinks you aren't paying attention. He has turned into quite the little snuggler which I take advantage of every chance I get and he knows how to turn on the charm so he can get his way. He loves being outside and we can't wait for the warmer weather to come so we can be outside more instead of stuck in the house. We suck at taking pictures of Brogen lately but I found this one of him looking bugged that his dad put his hat on his head. So funny!

Halloween

For Halloween this year Brogen was a little tiger which fits perfect with his everyday personality. At my work we always have the little kids come and trick or treat at our desks and its so much fun. Brogen didn't really know what the heck was going on other than he hated wearing his costume. He caught on pretty soon though and loved picking out a candy and putting it in his bag. He was so serious about it though, never even cracked a smile. We really don't give him any candy either so he was loving eating everything he could get his hands on. The next night we went up to my parents and took him trick or treating to a couple of places but he was throwing a fit about his costume so we called it a night. I didn't even dare attempt to paint his face but he
was still a pretty cute little tiger.

What We Have Been Up To Lately

Life is very busy for us right now. Jared is driving to Cedar Tues and Thurs and has class all day long. I am still working full time and trying to balance working, being a mom and wife, and I just got called into the Young Womens presidency as the 2nd Counselor. I was so overwhelmed and still am but I am excited to get to know all the girls and have fun with them. This was only my 2nd week being in but so far it is going good. It seems like we are always gone on the weekends and never seem to get caught up on anything but we finally had a weekend at home this weekend and we now have a clean house, clean clothes, food in the fridge and I am blogging so its been a pretty good weekend. Brogen went to Nursery for the first time today and I was nervous how he would do but he was so excited and went right for the toys and couldn't have cared less when we walked out the door so that was a huge relief. He had so much fun playing with the other kids and all those new toys. That will make Sundays a little easier for us, now if we can just figure out how to keep him in Sacrament meeting for longer than 10 minutes we will be doing good!

17 & 18 Months

The last couple of months I have been slacking on keeping a list of all the cute new things Brogen is doing but I can come up with a couple off the top of my head.

He says Uh Oh, and Ouch but does not talk as much as I think he should. Hopefully he is just catching up from months and months of not being able to hear very well. He understands everything we tell him though and when we read books he is able to point to most things when asked. Any advice on how to make your child talk? Ha ha

He loves Barney, much to our dismay and insists on watching it once everyday. Me and Jared do our best to tune it out but those dang songs get stuck in our head and we hate it!

He pulls the cutest little face when he is excited about something. I need to try to get a picture of it.

He is finally working on those 1 year molars and almost has all 4 of them in. We have had a few rough nights over those teeth!

Loves to play ring around the rosies

Loves to play at the park and go down the slides and just be outside. I think we have a true boy on our hands, he wants to be outside all day and just likes an open space that he can run. He loves to run and he gets in this cute little ready position and says one, two, three and then takes off running. He is so funny.

He is the most stubborn kid I have ever seen. Once he gets something in his mind he wants, it is almost impossible to distract him from it and he has had many melt downs because of it. We are still trying to figure out the most effective way to discipline this kid but for the most part he is a really good boy.

He is a brat about getting his diaper changed but especially when its me doing it. The other day we had a 30 minute power struggle over him getting his poopy diaper changed. I seriously am not strong enough to hold him down and change it myself, (he is almost as big as me:) and thank heavens my mom was in town and coming over, we literally had to hold him down kicking and screaming. I don't get it. Some days!

He points to most all of his body parts but will only do it when HE wants to. We have to catch him in just the right mood.

We haven't been to the doctor for his well check yet so I don't have his stats but he is pretty dang tall for his age. Everyone that asks his age comments on how tall he is. Not sure how that happened with such a short Mommy!

Just some random pics of the cute boy!