Happy Day

Brody turned 2 this past Monday. We began our celebration early because Matt had to leave out of town and was going to be gone on his actual birthday. Saturday we kicked off the celebration with my mom still in town, and all week he has been spoiled rotten by family and friends. He loves to sing Happy Birthday, but he can't say birthday so he just says "Happy Day." So in honor of Brody I will share a little bit about what it's like to be Brody at two.

TwO iS: joyful SQeaLs at the simplest of pleasures, an ExPlosIoN of new words,

EnDleSs energy, knock down Drag-out FigHts with my brother "Kaabee", InSaTiaBLe aPPeTitE for all things junk - a.k.a. "shhnaaks,"

TeRRiBlE tAnTruMs that quickly change to LaUghTer, BiNkeRs and BeAr bEaRs, fLirTacIouS and FiCkle, and best of all...ChuNkAliCioUsly ADoraBle!

Some things we love so much about Brody right now are:

His love for his blue "bear bear." His Great Grandma Shirley gave him this bear and he has loved it since he was tiny. His favorite part of his "bear bear" is the silk tags on the back. He runs his fingers through those tags and carries it by the tags so much that he won't accept the original bear anymore because the tag is in shreds. Oh, yes, there are 4 additional backups that are rotated, two of which he has determined are frauds because the manufacturer changed the tag and took away the tail!

His incredible vocabulary - some of our favorite are; no way, watch this, I do it, mine, happy day, Baaahney (Barney), Punge Pob (Sponge Bob), Shhnaak (snack), panpake (pancake), I dit you (I get you), I miss you, La loo (love you), and how he says sentences, he says the noun first and then the adjective or verb. So he will say " Kaabee (pause) push" or "bus (pause) big (pause) yellow"

His sweet temperament. Despite normal tooty two tantrums, he really is a sweet boy with a very mild temper. He often says uhhmee (excuse me) if he bumps into anything or toots. He loves to give kisses and hugs, and we swear he is European because he insists on kissing both cheeks. His favorite foods are all junk food - snacks, pizza, bacon, yogurt, apples, rice, sketti (spaghetti), chokit (chocolate), and water. Nothing but water. Occasionally he will splurge on a little chocolate milk but he won't drink juice, he tries to be healthy after all the junk food I guess. :)

On his real Happy Day we woke up and had his favorite bacon and cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

Colby gave him some rides on the blanket. And then we headed off to the mall for a surprise.

Build a Bear! It was fun, but I have to laugh because he was totally creeped out by the floppy lifeless bears (can't blame him). He insisted on holding the display bear until I could secretly swap it for the one we had stuffed. He wanted nothing to do with the stuffing process. Colby did better with it, and they loved the rest of our time there.

We ate pizza at the food court and found the little train to ride.

After the train ride we got chewy cookies at a little place and headed home.

After nap, we finished off the day with presents and ice cream at Amy's ice cream with Auntie Marcie. The boys finally got to see what I have been telling them about Amy's. They do all kinds of funky things to put your ice cream in the cup. This time the girl threw it up about 4 ft in the air and caught it in each of their cups. I have a heard a little rumor that sometimes they throw it across the street run and catch it. Seriously is that not insane? We had so much fun.

It really was a Happy Day! Happy Birthday Brody! We love you!

Cheerio

We had to say too many goodbyes, to way to many amazing, neighbors, friends, ward members, and family members when we got back from vacation. Time literally slipped away from us, and it was incredibly hard for us to say goodbye. This move was seriously bitter sweet. It was an answer to prayers in so many ways, but on the flip side it was also completely devastating to move away from Matt's whole family. We love them so much. The boys have a special relationship with their Mimi and Papa and we miss Sunday dinners and being so close that we can visit whenever we want. We miss our cousins so much too! There just are not words.

We tried for about a month to figure out what to do with Colby's fishy "Blackie." A mention of giving him to a friend brought him to inconsolable tears. The thought of him not making the trip to Texas was unbearable, and the likelihood of him actually surviving an hour out of his tank without an aerator was unrealistic. Matt and I seriously googled humane ways to take care of this problem if you know what I mean. Bleach came to mind. But we never could bring ourselves to do it. My dad had a great idea. He said to let him go in the Power Ranch pond and make it a party. So we did just that.

We made cupcakes, had bubbles and balloons, and we sent "Blackie" off in style. Colby was still sad. There were many tears before and after but he was very excited that his fish got to go live in the big pond.

Literally the night before I left my sweet girlfriends and I went out and had a girls night. I can't thank Jen enough for the awesome send off and all my girls for their amazing friendships! I miss you guys so much! Katie thank you so much for bringing your camera so we could take this picture. It was really awesome to be able to spend one last GNO with you all! Love you all and please keep in touch!

Newport Beach 2010

So first, let me apologize for the novel that is about to ensue, but I haven't blogged in like forever, so you will forgive me right?!? So this year we went a little later in July, we rented our own house, and Matt's fam stayed in another, and things were different, but still great. We were determined to have fun before our life was literally turned upside down with the move and we did just that!

Matt and I celebrated our 8th anniversary in Newport this year. It was really great. We woke up and started our day with Colby locking Brody in the master bedroom that had no key, and later that night on our date, the battery died in our car. But the good news is, thanks to Papa's handy wood whittling skills, and Matt's smooth hand with a credit card Brody was free in about 15 minutes. Even better news, Matt and I were still able to go to a fabulous dinner at Ruth's Chris, enjoy a movie, and get the car home before the battery totally died.

This year the boys played so great with their cousins and we actually got to lay on the beach and chill, so I took entirely too many pictures of them! I just wish the sun would have been out, I came home still white as a chicken!

Colby could not keep his pants on, it was too funny.

It's not very often that I get both of them to cuddle on the couch. I love this picture!

We spent hours looking for crabs in the rocks. We learned that crabs are super fast, the rocks are stinky and super rough, kitchen tongs make the best crab catchers, and falling into 4ft crevices head first is no fun.

The day before we left I turned around to get our bucket and tongs and ask Colby to come down lower with me because he had ventured too far. Mistake. He tried to climb down, got distracted and fell head first into a crack. By the time I turned around he was no where in site, and as I looked for him I heard a faint, "mama" When I found him he had fallen about 4ft and was lodged inbetween two rocks. Luckily though his head was down first it missed all the rocks and he was wedged from his chest to his feet. In fact, all I could see was his feet when I came up to him. Yeah, heart attack, ya think?? I was so scared. We thought he might have broken his arm, but he turned out to be just scraped and bruised. We were so thankful!

Brody flying a kite.

I love those chubby little foot prints.

After a few days on the beach we discovered that some neighbors from Cortina, the Opfels, were right there with us. Our kids were actually butting heads for part of the time, but they worked it out. They built this giant hill one day and our kiddos thought it would be fun to make it a slide with their boogie boards! I love the faces they are making!

I'm not sure how this picture got here, but I am too lazy to change it...Matt built a seriously awesome sand castle one day with Colby and Andrew. Their arch nemesis was Brody who tried with all his might to crush everything they built.

The boys played so hard in the water. Brody loved it, but wanted Matt or I to be right there with him. He loved when we would hold him down in the water and lift him up just as the waves would hit him. After a few days he did venture out on his own.

The waves were huge this year. Bigger than we have ever seen. It was great!

Colby absolutely loved the water. He didn't care if he was freezing or got knocked down, or completely wiped out by a wave. He and Andrew were buddies. We sure do miss our family already.

Brody loves babies, and he did not want to let go of Braxton. Check him out. Seriously that kiddo is a beast! He is such a miracle and totally a mini me of his daddy!

We always walk down to the pier, and this picture cracks me up, number one b/c the boys are wearing their cools (sunglasses) and number two b/c we all look very serious and concerned.

Our last night at the beach was perfect, ate fantastically greasy beachy food for dinner at Jane's corn dogs, had the best lemonde, walked on the pier and saw all kinds of fish and a sting ray, ate dessert (mmm frozen bananas are my fav), and then were able to have a sweet stranger take a great picture of us!

We had a great time, and it truly was just what we needed before the move!