Any regrets???

So often I am asked what I would have done differently in life, ect.... I always hate this question and I hate to answer it because I wouldn't change a thing. Sure I wish some things had turned out better at times, but all in all, I LOVE MY LIFE. I have sooo many wonderful blessings that I just am glad it has all turned out so good for me. BUT lately, I have come in contact with a regret. It isn't huge and with some work I could change it. But years ago, I got into ASL and was a pretty good signer. I was going to get my masters in it and it was a good decision for me not to, one I do not regret. I was determined to never lose my sign skills. But then life gets busy and my semi good skills became very basic. That was all I needed to teach my little non-verbal preschoolers. Well, we have a very fluent signing teacher in my building and every time I see her sign I am extremely jealous!! I mean get stomach ache jealous. And I am not a jealous person!! And she is very very good. Not pretty nails and fake good. She could pass as deaf. That is a big complement if you are a signer! I guess this regret is also bugging me because Max does not sign!! I have only even signed a few things to him and I have not been consistant. And of all people, I do know that you have to be consistant!! So there it is...my one regret.... well, i have to get back to work, and maybe walk down the hall and practice alittle sign.... Any regrets from you all???? (Did I really just ask the question I dislike so much??)

LIFE...

You know life is just busy at times! It is always good to us but sometimes we are just not home and then we get home and a bomb exploded while we were gone! A bomb made of dirty dishes, dog hair, and laundry!! Do you all ever feel like you will never get caught up??? I am vowing to not go to bed tonight until my house is ready for an inspection!!! We have such busy schedules that we have to be on top of everything and when we slack one night it all falls apart!! Luckily I have a wonderful husband that helps. Or is he the cause?? Just kidding, he really helps alot. That is the joy of working outside of the home...husbands have to help!! ;) I guess I am just feeling overwhelmed with life today, which I know none of you ever feel that!! It all started when my alarm clock, that has a mind of its own, decided not to go off again after I hit snooze. And the real annoying thing is that I had only hit snooze ONE TIME!! Usually I hit it at least 3!! So I slept through a workout, that is happening way to much, and now I still have love handles that I am positive would have disappeared with that one workout!! So I will also vow to buy a new alarm clock today! Now I will stop blogging so we don't have any more of my grumpy side recorded!!

New York, New York

So you who know me well, know that I do not turn down a vacation. Remember when I had no money and still managed to figure out a way to go on a cruise and later spend 5 perfect weeks in Spain and France?? And there are all of the trips to places in the states....anyway, I love to travel and I am still shocked that my sisters and mother are in New York without me! I made the decision not to go. I have a list of practical reasons for not going, but the real one was because I could not leave Max for a week. I have only left him for a day and that was long... I think if I was not working and stayed home with him and needed to get away I would have gone. The women I work with say that I am now a "mom" and I get it, but is that it or am I crazy!! We all know I am not practical when it comes to travel....the money would have been tight due to it being last minute (Katelyn has been a nanny there and so we were going to pick her up.) but we could have worked that out. I just didn't think I would enjoy myself while stressing about Max. Brian couldn't take him to his school everyday, so his mom would be gone and his days would be totally different. Brian going to Peru made me glad I was not going. Max was fussy with him being gone and I take care of Max more then Brian does. (And I was still nursing at the time of buying the tickets.) I like to think of this as a start of me becoming mature.... also, Brian has signed in blood that when the new "mom" in me is ready for a trip I can take one, or when grad school is over, we will leave the country! With not a practical thought about it!!

Catching up....

So life has been busy and I have not been watching TV for 2 weeks now! (We still don't have season 2 of Prison Break.) I have been trying to update but I have run out of pictures. So here are a few things I should have blogged about...
1. Max is walking everywhere now. It is very rare for him to crawl.
2. Max learned to get off furniture. Sometimes it is more fun to go over the arm rest...
3. Max learned to stand up in the middle of the room with no support.
4. I was asked to be on the parent advocate group for child care in Idaho and now I have 2 new soap boxes and charities... lucky for all of you!!
5. Brian came home safe and sound, you will all see pictures soon.
6. Max grew his i-teeth (I have no clue how to spell that!) One is in and the other is coming down. And he is not FUSSY during these teething moments. He was horrible with the others!

So I guess looking at the list, I don't know what we have been doing besides the norm....so sorry for being a blogging slacker!!

Special Olympics

In my free time I volunteer for the Special Olympics. We are a new team, starting last spring. I was head coach over the basketball coaches and they still use that title, but I really just do whatever the lady in charge asks. I am in charge of the money, which yes I find that humorous! Anyway, currently we are bowling and we have earned all the money we needed for that but our next sport is floor hockey. Which means lots of needed equipment. So we did a potato dinner and cake auction. I took lots of pictures and not one of them showed up! Well, this one, but it is horrible! Karen (mother-in-law) came to help with Max, because this was also the night Brian returned from Peru. All of my family members that live here were huge help! I was in charge of Chili and they all donated and then still came to buy dinner. Actually, my sister-in-law, Sara, baked my part of the potatoes. So basically, when I volunteer for something, the whole family gets to help!! They are all wonderful!! It was a great night and we earned the money we need and little cash for things that pop up!

Halloween at school...that is Maxs school

Max attends the Early Childhood Professions Program at Skyline High School. It is basically preschool for infants and toddlers. Max is in the transitioning toddler group. It is the best place ever! It is comparable to the college programs you do when studying education. Anyway, someday I will tell all about how wonderful this program is but for now, lets talk about how fun they made Halloween. They went to the high school and went trick or treating, it ended up taking hours. This picture was their attempt to please me...but most of the kids were ready to be done with the festivities.They also painted pumpkins, decorated and ate sugar cookies, played with many Halloween type toys, then crashed!! When Max was done there, he came to my class and played some more. He is very good at humoring me!

Mini NFL

Brian was an assistant coach for an IF Grid Kid team this year. He loved every second of it! A few of the parents are teachers at my school. We quietly named it the mini NFL due to the humor of the seriousness of this team! They were very good, and spent many hours practicing (although even the bad teams practiced that much!). So after many hours of practice, many games, late nights of coaches meetings to watch the previous games...they went to the championship game. This is when it really resembled high school ball! They played at one of the high school stadiums, it had the score board and announcing (I finally could follow! ). I was not told to wear the team color and paint my face.... which made me stand out like a sore thumb! We had pro signs made, it was serious!! Also, the whole stand was full! Did I mention these are 4th and 5th graders!!! Well, this champion game was the best all year. Both teams were undefeated and they actually had competition. But THEY WON!! It was close but they still did it!!

It is now over and my husband stays home at night! It is very nice for all of us!! The other night was the end of year banquet! Seriously it was bigger then my ending banquet after 3 years on the dance team before graduation. True, it is easy to now make slide shows, ect but really this was unreal!! The boys ate it all up and now I just hope they get this treatment for every season! What a great end to a great season!!

Painting pumpkins

A few days before Halloween we finally got to our pumpkin painting! No carving for us this year! Here are the finished products, plus a few little ones that make great balls to play with!

our lil' stinker

Max was a skunk this year. This is appropriate on many levels! And he was dang cute. Unhappy by this time of day but still darling!

way to busy to blog

I realize it has been a while since my last post....one may think it is due to such a busy life of working full time, haveing a very busy one year old, football, cleaning house, special olympics, church callings, studing for the GRE....you get the point. But the real reason is this man...




and his show PRISON BREAK. Now you all know of my obsessive compulsive life, and how Brian is now picking up on it. A friend lent us season one and we had it for months before we were bored one night with nothing to watch or rent so we stuck it in. We were hooked instantly and sad to say that is what we have been doing the second Max is in bed until we are too tired to continue (around 10 :)) Anyway, we are done and until I get my hands on season 2, life can continue, or catch up now!! So it isn't as good at 24 but still good....

Last day of being single....

So I have been trying to put a picture on here so we can remember how darling Brian is but it is not letting me....darn blogger...
HE COMES HOME IN 14 HOURS!!! I am so tempted to take the day off and drive to SLC to pick him up at 1:00 when he arrives!!! I am soooo excited to see him! Unfortuneatly it is such a busy week for both of us that we will have to stay up all night to catch up. The first day we have is Sunday, and that is a very very long time from now!! Who needs sleep anyway!! I will post his picts as soon as I can!

Single parenthood continued....

I have a picture but the computer is acting up and my tech is currently in Peru..... I have been amazingly fine!! I am missing Brian like crazy but i haven't been scared and i have been sleeping. Friday we went to the pumpkin patch and then to my moms. My brother Matt came from Provo friday night and stayed until this AM. We had a fun day yesterday at a fall festival. We were going to watch movies all night, I was out by 9;30, Matt watched 2.... until who knows what time!! Max and I vegged all day and cuddled on the couch, we didn't even go to church. Although that was due to him being fussy and tired and why would I go there to stand in the hall??? My in laws came over for dinner tonight. We had a good time. only 3 more nights!!!! 2 more days!!!

Who needs to eat the cone from the top????

and yes there really is ice cream in there...

Pumpkin patch

Max and I went to the pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin with both Grandma, Great Grandma, Aunt Sara and cousin Quindy. Quindy loved exploring and Max really just liked the big pumpkin, it was the most fun to bang on!

Day 2 of single parenthood...

Just so you know, i probably won't update this daily the whole time he is gone...well I shouldn't due to a very messy house! But I am killing a few minutes until my sister-in-law comes over to make invites to another sister-in-laws baby shower. Sooo just to fill you all in, I had a great night last night. I blogged for way to long then read a book and went to bed. I only woke up when Max was fussing at 2:30 for a minute. THen I got up with the alarm on time. I don't know how I did it but we both were fed and dressed 15 mintues early....I guess that is because there was no warm body to cuddle with. Tonight will go well also....
Thanks for all of the comments I love reading what you all have to say!

Day 1 of single parenthood

So my father in law retired this year. His son thought it would be a good idea to travel to Peru to celebrate and hike Machupichu (no clue how to spell it!) So all of the other sons joined in and that is how I have become a single parent. So I am very excited for Brian to go and extremely jealous, (many many reasons, most named Max, as to why I didn't go). BUT I am already wishing he was back!! For one, I hate knowing that he isn't coming home for 8 more days, second I can't sleep at all with him gone. All of these noises come out of nowhere! I realize I could stay at many peoples houses..and I still might...but for now I am letting my son sleep soundly in his own bed, and taking care of the dog. I guess I am trying to overcome fear and be responsible. We will see how long that lasts!! Speaking of being responsible...since I have been alone, the house is a mess, not one dish was washed and I have been blogging for 2 hours now.....

A clip of the first year of Maxs life...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Max is 1!!!

My baby turned one on sunday the 7th! We had a big birthday bash with Grandparents from both sides, aunts and uncles, and a few friends. Max was spoiled with gifts! He had his own cake and loved bashing it in! He only ate a little...
The year went so fast!!

OCTOBER 6TH!!

We woke up today wondering if the rain from yesterday had stopped so we could get some yard work done. These pictures are in our front and backyard at 11:30 AM. It didn't stop dumping until around 1:30ish. Many trees were broken due to the weight and alot of people lost power. Hopefully this stops until December, then we get this much all winter for some great boarding!!

(this bench is made of old snowboards. Brian made it this summer. I will take a picture when the snow melts. it is very cool )

fall means football....

I don't think he should play with this...

So this fall Brian has been one of the assistant coaches for a grid kid team. One of his good friends is coaching his kids team so Brian and another friend are helping. They are 4th and 5th graders. It is actually an IF team and some of the kids go to the school that I teach at. He has had a lot of fun with it! It is very time consuming and we will all be excited when he is home most evenings but it has been a good experience. I am afraid this is the way the next 20+ years of falls will be like.... Brian is just getting good coaching practice for when Max can play!