Updates Updates!

I am such a slacker.  Matt says he's given up on my blog.  Lets be honest though, it really isn't at the top of my priority list, especially when it is summer and I'm rarely home :)
Now that school is back in and we actually have a schedule, I have LOTS of updates.  I'm going to start with the most recent and work my way back to July.  Check back the next few days and scroll down to see everything we have been up to.

Fun Things

Other fun things we've done this summer that I don't have pictures of:

• Swim lessons at Gin's
• Lots of time at Grandma Beck's
• Lots of time with Aunt Bla
• Sleepovers at Annie's and Cammie's
• Trip to Vegas for Matt and Bobbie
• Swimming at our neighborhood pool
• Planting a garden
• Mowing the lawn with daddy and Grandpa Brad
• Accepting an offer on our house... preparing to move to SLC
• Riding the 4-wheeler to take the big dogs to the canal
• Seeing Carrie & her girls from Virginia
• Real Salt Lake Soccer game in the Cafe Rio Suite
• Riding the "fast train" to Salt Lake to Dad's softball game
• Family party at Grandpa Popcorn's before Kortni and Jeremy left with the military.

Also, I thought I should include since I never have and I realize there are a few people who read my blog who don't know my family...

I have one brother and one sister.  Brody and Blair. 

I also have two double cousins who are like my sisters.  Kelsey and Annie.  Their mom is my mom's sister.  Their dad is my dad's brother. 

So basically it goes like this... brothers married sisters.  On our mom's side of the family there is only the two of them.  That means 5 grandchildren and our spouses (Kelsey and Chris; Annie and Nate - who have Bentlee and Tate; Bobbie and Matt - who have Brooke, Cole, and Bailee; Brody and Amber; and Blair)

On our dad's side of the family, we have lots of aunts/uncles/cousins.  This is Grandpa Popcorn's family.  ALL my family lives somewhere in Cache Vallley.  There are 4 brothers who all live on the same block.  Their 2 sisters also live in the Valley, but in different towns.

That probably didn't make much sense.  It is hard to explain.  Hopefully it will help clear up some confusion to those who don't know my family.

Preschool

Brooke and Cole are in preschool this year.  Yesterday was their first day.  Brooke was so excited she could hardly sleep.  Cole had a harder time and was sobbing when I left him, but the teacher said he was fine as soon as a left and had a good time.  He's the youngest in his class, not 3 for another month, but I wanted him to have something of his own to do without his sisters during the day.

9 Months

Bailee Boo is 9 months old!  She is such a joy and a good baby, we absolutely love her.  She has been on rice milk for 3 months now and I'm happy to report she hasn't had a single ear infection!  I'm very glad I decided to seek alternative treatment and not just put the tubes in her ears.  If you talk to me much these days you'll find I'm very pro natural health and not so fond of doctors.  There has to be a balance and doctors definetly have a place in this world, I'd just much rather do anything natural first!!  Anyway... off my soap box.  At 9 months Bailee

• Crawls like crazy!  One day she just decided she was going to and she hasn't stopped since.  She does this funny little thing a lot of the time where she won't put her left knee down, she uses her foot, kind of like a bear crawl, but its only on the left side that she does it.
• Loves her blankie.  Today Brookelyn was carrying her favorite pink silky blankie and she was literally chasing her down to get it.
• Still sucks her thumb at night.
• Has figured out how to pull herself up to furniture... especially her crib.  I will put her down to bed at night and I swear she just waits quietly in there until Brooke comes in and then she will stand up and start yelling at Brooke.  If Matt or I walk by she hurries and lays back down and hides in her blankies.  Those two stay up WAY too late most nights, but it is hard to get mad because it is so cute.
• Finally has some hair!
• Only takes a bottle morning and night most of the time, she just wants whatever we are eating.
• Yells at Brooke when she knows she is eating or drinking something in the car
• Says mama, baba, Hals, hi, and go go go.  Mama is me or Matt, Baba is her bottle or anything to do with food or drink, hals is the dog, and she has no idea what go go go is, but she likes to say it.
• Mama's girl!!  This is something my other two weren't because I was always working and taking them to the sitter.  Bailee is my mama's girl.  Matt and I went to Vegas a few weeks ago, just the two of us and I actually had a hard time leaving the kids for the first time... mostly because I was worried about Bailee.  Luckily my mom was able to keep her a lot of the time and lets just say she was thrilled to be at Grandma Beck's :)
• 16 lbs. 12 oz. (17%)  27 in. (40%)
• Likes to play in the dog food... I try my best to keep the door closed.
• Thinks "no" is funny. 
• Is supposed to sleep from 9-8, but it usually ends up being 10 by the time she and Brooke are done playing.  Naps 2-3 times a day for 2-4 hours.
• Picks up her blankie in the mornings... it has to get out with her
• Hates bananas
• Still has two bottom teeth and the top right is just starting to poke through

TOU Half

I ran the Top of Utah Half Marathon with my friend Ann on August 27th. I was really worried that I wasn't going to be able to keep up with her because she is training for the St. George Marathon and is an awesome runner. I'm running on average about an 8:20 pace, so my goal was to be under 8:30 and beat my last half marathon time of 1:55. Well... I kicked butt!! I finished in 1:43:08.  13.1 miles friends. Thats an average pace of about 7:50. I was thrilled to say the least. I was a little tired the last two miles, but overall it was an awesome race and awesome to see my bestest friend from forever, who I don't see nearly enough.  By the way, I lost Ann in the bathrooms at mile 3 and she ended up finishing about 3 minutes behind me, hence the reason I am by myself. 

Can't wait for next year! But next up... Ogden Marathon in May... we are going to try to qualify for Boston in 2013! Wish me luck!

P.S. These are pictures from the website so they have the name all over them but they are half decent otherwise and they are all I have :)

Crafts

My little sister left in August to be a nanny in California.  All of her bedroom decor was outdated and filled with memories from her high school years.  We spent the week before she left updating everything so she could actually have a cute room in Cali.  Way too many late nights, but so much fun!  I swear that there was more than this, but apparently I failed to take pictures.  Love that my sis is one of my best friends.  Miss her!

Hogle Zoo

Matt and I took the kids to Hogle Zoo over the 24th of July.  The last time we went they were really little and mostly just scared.  This time they loved it.  Their favorite was the giraffe's we spent a long time looking at them.  Brooke had been saying all summer that she wanted to get a pet giraffe to keep in Grandpa's pasture, but I don't think she knew how big they really were until she saw them.  Cole was scared of all the dinosaurs but fine as long as nothing got too close.  Even Bailee was mesmerised by everything.  Next year I plan on getting a membership since we'll be so close.

Lagoon

Annie, Nate, Kels, Chris, Bla, and I took the kids to Lagoon in July.  We spent the first half of the day at the beach (with Mama Shawnie) and then went to ride rides.  The power went out for about an hour... ugh it was a pain, but we had fun overall.  Brooke is ALMOST tall enough to ride the big rides and wanted so bad to go on the big rollercoasters.  I'm sure she'll be able to next year.  Cole on the other hand is scared to death!  He only like nice, gentle rides.  That is exactly how Brody and I were as kids.  Funny.

not so sure...

LOVED the swing

Best buddies at the pool... you'd never know Bentlee is a whole year older.

They spent hours on this slide

Not quite as brave as the girls, but content as long as Chris is there to catch him

Choo Choo train

Mama Shawnie stayed at the pool with Bailee while we rode the water rides.  We came back to find her zonked.  She stayed asleep for a couple hours under this chair.

Bentlee Brooke

Cole Matthew

Grumpy Brookelyn Rae

Kelsey and Chris

Nate and Annie

LOVE THIS!!  Kels is the best.

Blair and Bailee

She found some nerds the big kids spilled...

and shoveld them in as fast as she could :)

SO tired!  Zonked out while we were waiting for the power to come back on.