A Little Catch Up

I haven't really blogged for awhile. I've been waiting for the computer to be up and running and to have some time on my hands. So here are some of the things that have been going on the past few weeks.

First I need to showcase some drawings of Xander's. I love them and have them hanging on the wall in my bedroom! The first 2 are temples, then a pic of "Our Family", and then a pic of Pat & I at the temple getting married and it says (if you read bottom to top) "Mom and Dad got married at the Temple". He spelled married all by himself and was quite proud of it.

Pat's Grandma was in town for a few weeks and we were able to celebrate her birthday with her before she left. It's always great to see her!

There was a bird stuck in the garage and Pat was able to catch it. I got this 1 picture of it before it flew out of his hand and disappeared. We think it went into the attic. Poor bird, it will probably die up there.

We got a new computer (which I mentioned in the last post). It is so nice!! I totally love it!! Here is Pat setting it up.

Old vs. New

What a difference!

7 Years

I can't believe it's been 7 years since we got married! I love you honey! The past 7 years have been great and I know the next 7 will be even better!

Newness

I haven't taken the time to go through pictures for this post, but I just wanted to say "Yeah!! We have a new computer!!!!!!" We were able to get a much needed desktop computer this week all thanks to Pat's parents! We were able to get it with their help. (It is a graduation gift for Pat) It is so nice and new!! Our old desktop was purchased in 2003 and only had about a 30 GB hard drive (but we have an external drive that we have been using for the past year). This new one has a 700 GB hard drive! A total upgrade :) This is going to be a great computer and I can't wait to be able to use it more. Thanks again JD for helping us get it all up and running. I don't know what I would do without my own little Nerd Herd :)

Cool Legos!

We went to a new Walmart by Lone Peak High and were greeted by a Clone Trooper made of Legos!! So cool!!

We Survived!!

It's been a long and trying 10 & 1/2 weeks, but we did it!! Today was the last day of Pat doing his Student Teaching. We are all excited about having daddy home tomorrow (even though he is going to be doing some work on his final project and has to go to his last class at UVU). It's going to be so nice having him home in the morning and him being able to help with the kids. Looking back on the past, it hasn't been all that bad. I have had my days, which all people do regardless. I feel like there have been more good days than bad. I am just glad to be on the other side of this. I am looking forward to having him home at night, but that means I have to start cooking again! ;)
Now onto finding a job! Wish us luck!

Someone's Ready For Summer...

Even though it's been cold and snowy today, Mara thought it was time for summer.

I So Mad At You!

Mara makes me laugh!!! At almost 3 years old she is so funny in the things she says. She asked me about 10 minutes ago if she could take a bath and I didn't really give her an answer. But she went into the bathroom and used the potty. So I figured, why not!! Right?? I go down the hall and she has stripped down, okay, she was wearing only underwear before, and is asking to get in the tub. So I start the water and glance at the toilet and there is a puddle on the floor and a handtowel in the puddle. She, of course, is out of the bathroom looking for her 'girls' (princess polly pocket dolls). So when she comes back in I ask her what happened and she says to me "Mom, I so mad at you! I don't know what happened." I started laughing and said "You're mad at ME??" and she replied, "Yes!" She is just so funny!! Trying to put the blame on me when she knows it was her that did something wrong. At least she tried to clean it up a little. After I laughed she did say she was sorry, so all is forgiven.

Life Doesn't Stop

Life doesn't stop when you want a break. I think that I went a little overboard in saying I was going to stop blogging for a bit, because I don't like getting behind in posting (it bothers me when I do). So I have found other ways to 'fix' what I wanted to fix. And so I'm back after a short but eventful weekend.

In my file from last week, another picture of Mara asleep in the middle of the day.

On Tuesday me, Mara and my mom went to the cemetery and put some pinwheels on my dad's grave. Mara placed her toys this way and told me to take a picture, so I did!

On Friday Mara & I went to The Fairy Tea Party at the Provo Library with Liza & Addi, and Liza's sister and daughter. It was held in the ballroom where I had my wedding reception so it was extra fun to be there!!

The Fairy King

I borrowed a Tinker Bell costume from Susan (Thanks again!!) and Mara was in heaven. We each got a crown and a wand too!!

I took a pic of Mara in the window sill, they have such great windows in this place.

There were ballerina's that performed...

and The Fairy King and Princesses.

Mara was in her element!! She was able to dance around, play, and just pretend the whole time!!

Me & My Fairy Princess

One of my favorite wedding pictures is in front of this window, so I had to get a few with Mara.

Saturday I was able to go to the Salt Lake Temple, a friend of mine had her daughter sealed to her and her husband. It was great to be able to be there. My mom was nice enough to watch my kids so I could go. But this is what I came home to:

The kids had been running around while she had the cutting board out, and Mara ran right into it! Mom put a butterfly bandage on it with a band aid. Mara is doing great, but still talks about her 'owie and blood'! Her eyelid is a little purple, but not as bad as it could be.

Saturday night we had my whole family over for a 'celebration night' in honor of Dad. We try to be together around his birth and death day. JD brought his Wii over and we had the 2 going and we bowled, played tennis and a little golf. Pat was the big winner of the night and finally got his perfect score on bowling!!
Sunday night when Grandma Joan came over she had the new Bathing Suit Barbie for all us girls. Mattel priced it at $3.oo for the 50th Anniversary of Barbie, because that was the original price of Barbie in 1959!!

We had to do a little photo shoot with Mara's doll!

I love Picasa and the ability of making collages! So fun!!

Taking a Break

I am going to take a little break from the world of blogging and facebook. I think that I need to do this because I feel that my life is revolving around the computer and that needs to change. Pat is almost done with student teaching and I need to take this 'alone time' and get some things done that don't involve me using the computer as much. This is also some life evaluating time too. Don't worry, I'll be back. I just don't know when. If you need me, I'll still be checking my email. bregirl81@gmail.com

Ooh Laa Laa!!

(Sawyer, Mara, & Conli)

I Miss My Dad

Today marks the 6 year anniversary since his death! It's weird to think that it's been this long. I feel guilty because I don't miss him everyday, just every once in a while. I guess I'm just used to him being gone. (I have to use the same pictures everytime I talk about him, because I don't have many of just the two of us.) I love you dad and miss you with all my heart. It saddens me that you are not here to play with my children and watch them grow, but I know that you are being a wonderful Papa to my children who aren't on this earth yet. I can't wait until the day when I can see you again and feel the warmth of your hugs. I loved being able to have adventures with you....

To celebrate the important days....
And the regular days too....
I will always remember what a wonderful father you were. You were always willing to listen to what I was saying and gave me great advice on the things that mattered most....

Thank you for always being there for me. I know that you are still close and watching out for me. Until we meet again....

I Love You!

Recently...

I have been a blog slacker. Mainly because I haven't taken many pictures and I have been using my mom's laptop (so I am trying not to be on it much). Also I have been filling my time with other things, like playing Batman Lego on the Wii with Xander, going through pictures on the computer for the scrapbook, and just plain being lazy. So here are some of the small things that have happened the past few weeks.

Mara is still falling asleep in the afternoons! She will just crawl up in my lap and snooze! She does it about once or twice a week. While I was reading a book last Thursday, she slept in my lap for an hour and a half, and I was able to finish my book! Good thing too because I had my book group meeting that night! Thanks Mara!!

This one I love!! She was so tired all afternoon but didn't want to sit with me but she did want to watch Xander play video games.....and fell asleep!!
I was even able to put her in her bed and she slept for about 2 1/2 hours!! It was great! It makes me miss the fact that she doesn't take regular naps anymore.
We have crayons for the tub and the other night Xander made this masterpiece!! The tree is my favorite :)
My sister Karri has a game for her Nintendo DS that is Tinker Bell. She was showing Mara the game and Mara decided that she was going to play it all by herself. She even got the extra stylist and made Tinker Bell fly!!
Later that night she went to find Daddy and fell asleep on his lap. Luckily it was about a half hour from her bed time, so we were able to just put her in bed.
Lately (more like the past 6 months), Mara has had to strip down in order to play dress ups (which we are quickly changing now), and usually she'll go around the house with only a skirt on. And she has been stripping down her dolls too!! Last week she was being so quiet and I found that she had taken all of the clothes off of her dolls and then just left them on the ground. This is how I found them!!! She will even strip down her polly pocket princesses and will tell me "I want to take a bath with my girls!" It's so cute! She just wants them all to be in their "Simsuits".

Thursday morning we awoke to this message on the back of the front door where Xander's Word Whammer is. He was quite excited about it, especially because he could read it! Thanks Daddy!! (he couldn't find the v so it's a sideways c)

Mara had to turn her kitchen around to play with it, and I just thought it was a cute picture.

And lastly: For my birthday Pat was giving me a re-release of the 1986 Barbie and the Rockers doll. It was supposed to be released in February, so we made an order on the Toys R Us website. Shortly after, we got an email saying that they hadn't received their stock, so it would be awhile. I of course thought back to my Indiana Jones Adventure Heroes and started worrying that they have cancelled the doll, since she was no longer on their website or on Barbie.com!!! It has been about a month since we placed the order, and still no word on when she would ship. Well, we went to WalMart on Saturday and look who was there!!!!! They have made vintage reproductions of 6 Barbies for the 50th anniversary. I had this doll as a kid, along with about 50 other Barbies. While Pat was on his mission I got rid of about 99% of my Barbies. So when I heard that she was being released I knew that I had to get her!! The best part of it is that you can take off the front of the box and touch the doll and stuff!! It even comes with a little booklet like the original did and 3 cards featuring dolls from the 80's, Peaches n' Cream Barbie (which I had and loved), Day to Night Barbie (which Karri had), and Astronaut Barbie! (another one that I had)

Last night Karri was over and got out her Barbies and found her original doll. So here they are together!!

A close up of Then and Now!!

I love her and it makes little Breanne happy to finally have her. Too bad I don't have enough money to buy another one to really open up and play with.

On another thought: Pat has 2 more weeks of student teaching. It's sad that we have become used to the routine of him being gone so much, but I am anxiously awaiting when life will go back to 'normal'!