New Pictures

WARNING... THIS IS LONG!

It has been awhile since I've posted any pictures. Most of these were taken on Saturday at my mom's.

Brooke and Cole LOVE to get in the tub and splash and play together. She is such a good big sister, Cole is always watching her and talking to her.

My kids love Grandpa Brad. He is so good to play with them, read to them, etc. Brooke's favorite thing is to help Grandpa feed Mac (his horse).My gorgeous sister, Blair, went to the Sweetheart's dance Saturday night. This was when she was getting ready to leave.

Bentlee, Blair, Brooke, & Brody's best friend Ty

The many faces of Bentlee & Brooke. They are the cutest friends. (excuse their homely looking hair do's - they had been running all around and it was the end of the day, I promise we actually DO get our girls ready)

Sister and Brother.... and Hallie

These were actually taken about a month ago, but they are some of the few I have of Cole. I'm a horrible mom when it comes to pictures.

75 Random Facts About Me!

I've seen several posts lately similar to this one so I thought what the heck! I learned a lot about myself while I was doing this... it's harder than it looks! Enjoy.

1. I love my family more than anything... hardly a day goes by that I don't go to my mom's or talk to her on the phone
2. I've had the same best friend my whole life (Love you Annie Brooke!)
3. I worry about everything... I hate hearing sirens
4. I hate the texture and sound of styrofoam
5. I love the smell of Johnson and Johnson's nighttime lotion... it reminds me of when Brooke was a baby
6. I associate smells with memories
7. I LOVE to run!
8. The one thing in my house I can't live without is my treadmill. Matt told me there isn't enough room for it and I told him if it had to go then he could just send me to the crazy house right now.
9. I ran a half marathon when I was 6 months pregnant... and I took 2nd place :)
10. Someday I want to run a full marathon
11. I am terrified of moose
12. I don't like to watch the news because it scares me
13. I love to read, but I have never read Harry Potter or Twilight
14. I'm extremely obsessive... my house has to be cleaned a certain way every week, my bed has to be made a certain way everyday, I have to check on my kids atleast 3 times before I go to bed, I have a very specific way of showering and getting ready in the mornings... you get the point
14. I shower ATLEAST twice a day
15. I HAVE to wash my hair everyday
16. I shave my legs everyday
17. I have a crush on Brady Quinn... Notre Dame will never be the same without him
18. I like to have everything clean and organized... except my car... it is constantly a DISASTER
19. I drive to Ogden everyday
20. If I could go back, I would love to re-do college
21. I HATED high school
22. I always said I wouldn't get married until I was 25 and done with college... now I'm almost 23 and I have 2 kids :)
24. Being a mom is the most tiring but most rewarding thing ever.
25. I really don't mind getting up in the middle of the night with my babies
26. I would go to bed at 7:00 everynight if I could
27. I need atleast 10 hours of sleep to feel well rested
28. If I don't exercise every day I feel guilty
29. I had a 4.0 in high school but college was a totally different story... I think having kids makes you dumb :)
30. I am JUST like my mom... my dad and Matt call me Junior. There are so many things she does that used to bug me that I do now
31. I hate Halloween
32. I hate Valentine's Day
33. I am NOT romantic
34. I hate getting flowers, they just die.
35. The first 2 years we were married we moved 7 or 8 times
36. I can't wait to have my own house, but I want to build because I'm too picky to buy someone else's.
37. I was the Spanish Sterling Scholar in high school but now I can only say a few things in Spanish
38. I am addicted to Diet Coke... I've tried to quit, I can't
39. I stop at Chevron in Pleasant View on my way to work everyday for a coke
40. I hate wearing clothes... my daughter has picked up on this habit
41. I am way taller than any of the other girls in my family and I have bigger feet
42. My feet have grown 1/2 size with each of my babies... good thing I only want one more
43. I used to want 5 kids, now that I have 2, I only want 3
44. My kids are 18 months apart and I love it... I want the next one to be just as close :)
45. My bed is my favorite place in the whole world
46. I don't like people to touch my belly button
47. I hate being pregnant
48. I haven't thrown up since I was 15 (knock on wood)
49. I've never broken a bone
50. I hate doing laundry, but I do it everyday.... it just never ends
51. I rarely cook
52. I love summer!
53. Of all the jobs I've had (I've had several), working with handicapped kids is my favorite (lucky for me I still get to)
54. When I am concentrating I stick my tongue out, but I didn't know this until Matt pointed it out... Brooke does it too
55. I am very stubborn!
56. I hate making decisions... I'd rather be told what to do.
57. I love dogs, but I don't want any of my own... kids are enough responsibility
58. I love to take naps
59. I hardly ever stay awake for a whole movie
60. I refuse to go to the movie theater
61. I'm always late
62. I don't ever want to go out of this country because I don't want to fly that long
63. I used to want to serve a mission but I know now that I never could have
64. I was a nanny for 3 months and I HATED it
65. I hate writing with pens, I prefer pencils
66. Everyone in my family has names that start with "B"... Brad, Beckie, Bobbie, Brody, Blair... and several pets we've had through the years... Barney, Bo, Buttkiss, Billy, Bluebelly, Buster... not to forget Brookelyn
67. Someday I will visit every baseball park in the United States (I've already been to atleast 5... this is Matt's life goal)
68. I hate cats
69. I know how to saddle a horse and love to ride them
70. Matt picked out my wedding ring
71. When I was little I sewed a lot, I even got a blue ribbon for a dress I made at the fair
72. I have no coordination whatsoever... I say all the time that the extent of my coordination is not falling off my treadmill while I'm running
73. I had braces for 8 years
74. I wore head gear
75. My favorite place to vacation is Las Vegas... I can't even count how many times I've been there

In Memory of Grandma Leora

"When someone special passes on

It does not mean they are gone.

Though they are no longer with us

Their memory lives on.

She will forever hold

a special place in our hearts.

And we will remember

Until we meet again."

It amazes me how life has its own way and we never know what is going to happen. I was just thinking yesterday on my way home how long it has been since I've been to Grandma and Grandpa's on a Sunday and that I really should stop by sometime. But of course I brushed the thought away thinking, "I'm too busy, I'll see them on Monday for her birthday". Then, just hours later I found out she had been life-flighted to Ogden. I think it was the Sprit's way of letting me know that something was going to happen, but I didn't realize it until after.

It is times like these that I am so grateful for my knowledge of forever families and that death is not the end. Somehow, it makes it a little easier knowing that even though she is gone so suddenly, it is not forever and someday we will see her again.

As I've thought about my Grandma, I just wanted to list a few of things I remember best:

• Cookies (her chocolate ones were my favorite) - there was always a HUGE bowl of them whenever she made them and she always said it took her ALL day.


• Popcorn on Sundays


• Special treat bags on Halloween and Valentines Day (she still did this for the great-grand kids)


• Cops and Robbers in the back yard and getting reminded to "stay out of the flower beds"


• Sleeping over as a little girl in the spare bedroom and her reading books (for some reason the only one I recall is Heidi) to Annie, Brie, and me.


• Christmas Eve family parties


• When I started middle school my mom and dad were gone on vacation and I wasn't adjusted to waking up so early yet. Grandma and Grandpa were staying with us and Grandma was worried that I was sick because I fell asleep after school and I didn't want her to take me to the doctor so I ran away to Shawna and Jerry's.


• More recently... and this is one of the things I'm most grateful for... her love for her great-grandchildren. Whenever the kids were around she wanted to constantly be holding one of them or playing with one of them. She was always willing to do whatever it took to make them happy. And somehow she seemed to have a special touch to calm a crying baby down and get them to sleep.


• Crocheting and Sewing


• Stories about her childhood and horseriding bareback (I always wanted to do that, but never have)

Until we meet again... we love you Grandma and know you are watching over us.