my BIRTHDAY come and gone...

well as most of you knew it was my birthday on wednesday...thank you for all of the cards, gifts, love, emails, comments, etc. i truly felt loved and appreciated by all my friends and family. i am now 24 years old....yipee! my birthday started out like really any other day. we got up and went to the gym. when i got home i convinced one of my friends, cait, to drive out to my house to play. we went to the mall and got pedicures. it felt oh so good! then she went to run errands and i headed to norfolk to meet josh at our big mall and we went shopping. i think i bought out banana republic...dont worry most of it is going back. thank you josh for watching the kids for me while i shopped. after shopping we went to the cheesecake factory with sean and cait or as brody calls them haun and cake, to celebrate some more. we love spending time with sean and cait. they are so much fun and we are so lucky to have them as friends out here. dinner was eventful as always when you have two kids and they are both not very well behaved. after dinner i went home with my cheesecake to go and couldnt wait for the kids to get to sleep so i could enjoy some of that delicious delightful one of my oh so favorite desserts. it was a fabulous birthday. thank you to everyone for all the love you showed me. i have the greatest family and friends!!!

ITS A GIVE AWAY FOR YOU!!!

Alright...so I dont know how well this is going to work but we will give it a try. My friend Jenni had this on her blog, she is absolutely adorable and totally crafty! I want her to make me something so if you even dare to respond to this post I will make you something too. I am not as crafty as some out there but I am okay I think. Here is how the give away works...

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!

My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year.

4- You have no clue what it's going to be.

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment will win a homemade gift by me!

OUR LIFE...

So nothing really new to report from us in the past week. Life is just going on as usual. I spoke in church yesterday so Saturday was busy while I was trying to juggle the kids and get my talk prepared. I am soooo upset with what happened last week on the Bachelor. Jillian was by far my favorite. We continue to go to the YMCA and we love it. It is such a nice break for me from the kids and they enjoy getting out of the house and going some place. Every Tuesday I have a mommy play date at my house. Last week was sad because only one mommy came and she came late so I thought that no one was going to come. But it ended up being fun because I got to know her a lot better.

BRODY

As you read below we started potty training Brody. I am not quite sure if he is completely ready or if I just don't trust him. He made it through church yesterday without an accident but it is a slow process because not a day goes by yet that we haven't had an accident. Which of course creates more laundry...just what every mom wants right?! Besides that Brody is just loving life. He is such a happy little boy. Last night he was being so silly and Brooklyn was cracking up at him. It was so cute to watch and I have never seen her laugh so hard. It was adorable. We are still working on teaching him his numbers and letters. He loves to read books and play games with mommy and daddy. Baseball is his favorite sport this week. He loves to play catch. Last week it was Basketball. Who knows whats next?

BROOKLYN

Brooklyn is six months this week. I just cant believe it. She has the cutest smile and dimples that melt your heart. She is such a good baby...now! It was not always that way. She can sit up but still falls over a lot. She loves rice cereal and sweet potatoes. And this is so weird to me she does NOT like bananas. What baby doesn't like bananas? Strange one. She also loves to read books and chew on everything. She loves her daddy so much. It is fun to watch her facial expressions when he comes home and she hears his voice. She definitely loves her daddy. We play with her every night right before bed and I tell you she is a hard one to get to laugh. I will try everything I can think up. She saves most of her laughs for her brother.

JOSH

Josh is love of my life and my best friend. He is busy with his school routine. He usually has one test a week and is loving what he is learning. We are trying to figure out what to do this summer. Josh is thinking that he would like to do a competitive specialty and usually you need to do research to get into something competitive for residency. So we may be in Arizona living with Josh's family for the summer while Josh does research with an orthopedic surgeon or we may stay here and do research with and ENT doctor. Or we may just try and do research who knows where. I have come to the conclusion that we like to live on the edge of our seats in our family. You never know what to expect from us or where we will be living. Besides school, Josh just loves me. What can I say....who wouldn't?! jk! No seriously he just loves to spend time with us at home. He looks forward to everyday when he can jump in his truck and head home to see us. He is such a wonderful man and I love him with all my heart.

ME

Me well, I pretty much already talked about me. I need some new recipes to try if you want to shoot them my way that would be fabulous. I love to cook, hate to clean but cant stand a messy house so I do it anyways, I am learning to love working out again but that too takes time to love, I enjoy doing crafts and my best friend Cait is amazing and teaching me all her crafting skills. So to all my family you are going to love your Christmas gifts this year! And that's about it. I guess I am pretty boring. I turn 24 on Wednesday. I know I am getting old and I am not too happy about it. I still feel like I am 20, I probably act it to. Well now I am just trying to think of things to say about myself so I will say bye now....BYE!

We are so proud of Brody...

He did his business in the toilet.....twice and told me he had to go. YEAH!!!

A Valentines To Remember

Well this year for Valentines Day or should I say weekend we celebrated lots and lots! Thursday morning was spent making cards for daddy. Brody made a car card and mine was full of hearts. It was fun finding ways that day to surprise daddy. We got him candy, a balloon, a rose, and made him sugar cookies. Friday morning our friends were having a Valentines party for the kiddos. We had so much fun there playing the day away. We made more cards and decorated more sugar cookies (our favorite!) The rest of the day the kids were tuckered out from all the play and so was mommy. Saturday morning Josh kissed me goodbye and said that he suggested that I check my email throughout the day with further instructions to the game. I was so excited because I had no idea what was in store for my day. That morning as I was getting ready I received the email posted below. The day went on and I gave the kids their small gifts and went to the mall. Brody got money from Grandpa and Grandma Barrus, and he decided he wanted to spend his money at the Disney Store. Brooklyn got a couple of new spring shirts with her money. Josh got home from studying about 2pm and came with even more gifts. Our kids are very loved by their daddy! We got them down for their afternoon naps and left them with a babysitter (for the first time ever, can you believe that), then we headed out to play our game. We had so much fun going to different stores and finding items. After the game was completed we ate dinner and shared our items with one another to determine the winner. And who loves who more....the winner is ME! I LOVE JOSH SO MUCH MORE! Happy Valentines Day to all of family and friends. We sure love you guys!

My Email

Who Loves Who More?
I know we always argue about “who loves who more,” so I have decided that tonight we are going to decide it once and for all (or at least for the next month.) So here is how it is going to work….

We will each be allotted $10.00 currency, and we will have to use the money at five different stores (to be determined) to purchase various items that most represent the following questions that I have compiled.
Questions:

Our most memorable date ever.
Your significant other’s favorite dessert.
Our best vacation ever.
Your best friend’s favorite holiday.
Our funniest experience together.
Your other half’s best attribute.
Our plans for the future.
Now that you know the questions and have an opportunity to think about them, I will no longer have any unfair advantage over you. But there are still some rules you need to know about, and a point system that I have devised to determine “who loves who more.”

Rules:
You cannot under any circumstance go over budget, or you will automatically forfeit.
You can not purchase more than two items at anyone store, or you will loose points.
You can not allow the other person to see any of the items until judgment.
If at judgment time you do not have seven items you will lose points.
There is a list of over ten stores that will be put into a bag. Locations will individually be drawn by alternating parties between each location. Only the first five locations will be used.

Point System:
At judgment time we will go through the items individually to determine whose item better fulfills the above statement. If a decision cannot be made as to who has the better item, or the items are essentially equivalent, zero points will be awarded to either party.

The additional points system is as follows:
One point will be given for each item deemed better than the other.
Half a point will be given to the person that has completed their purchases in each store first.
When more than two purchases are made in any one store, one point will be deducted for each additional purchase (and I will be checking receipts.)
Two points will be deducted for every missing item.

The Reward:
During judgment time (at a restaurant of my choosing) we will determine who has the better items, and tally up the scores. The winner (which will most likely be me,) will be allowed for the next month (until March 14th) to ask the other “who loves who more,” and the loser will be required to state the following…. “You love me so much More.”
If however the loser refuses to repeat the preceding statement, or if the winner states that he, or she loves the other more, and the loser responds by disagreeing, the loser will owe the winner a half hour back massage.
As this is a legal and binding contract, each spouse will be required to sign the above document agreeing to all the terms and conditions.


Date: ____________________ Date: _____________________
Signature: _______________ Signature: ________________

Spring Retreat 2009

Josh's Medical School had a Spring Retreat this last weekend at the Outer Banks and it was oh so much fun! We packed the car up and headed out Friday afternoon about 4. We arrived and checked in. Got our schedule of events and a free t-shirt for Josh (which I stole right away!) Then we headed to dinner. The food for the whole retreat was surprisingly good. We ate dinner with our LDS friends and their families and then we headed up to the party for the night. As you can see we all did some bull riding. I was impressed that I stayed on for 58 seconds. Yeah I know what your thinking...she is amazing...jk! It was really fun. Brody loved it too!
After bull riding we did some dancing and we watched Josh play medical jeopardy. He was in a team with two other first years and they played against a team of second year and fourth year students. The first years SMOKED them! It was so fun to watch Josh in action and see how smart he really is. Which by the way if you don't know already Josh is really smart.
Some of the questions were funny and had to do with real life outside of school while others were hard medical questions.
After Jeopardy we took the kids to bed. We watched the office in our room and caught up on all we have missed in the life of Scranton. We then left the kids in our room and went down to play games with our friends. We brought the monitor....don't worry. We played scum until about 12:30 that night and Josh and I stayed up until 1 talking. Needless to say the next day I was tired.
Saturday we ate breakfast with one of Josh's professors. Super nice guy! We then took the kids out to the beach. Brody collected rocks and shells. It was such a gorgeous day and sooo warm. It felt so nice to be outside. It was 70 degrees and it is only February. YEAH! After that my friend Cait and I convinced the boys to take us to the outlet mall and go shopping. I got amazing deals on kids clothes and we just had fun with our best friends.
Saturday continued to be full filled as we went bowling. The kids or should I say everyone was pooped so we went back for naps. I didnt get to sleep much because I had to catch up on the Bachelor. (I have to say I am pretty addicted to this show... I know it is pathetic but I really do love it. I want Jillian or Melissa to win!) After naps we headed to a deluxe buffet dinner and what else but more game time. We played Ratfink (my family will know this game) my friends called it something else but it was fun. All in all the retreat was a blast we ate way too much candy and had soo many laughs together as friends.
Sunday morning we got up, ate breakfast, packed up and headed home. We decided to stop to see another lighthouse on our way home this time. So here are some additional pictures of that. I think this is one of my favorites so far. I am a black and white kind of gal.
Today Brody is sick with some stomach bug. Lots of yuckie diapers for me so we are stickin around home today. The week is already filled up with mommy play dates, my new calling as Young Womens First Counselor which means mutual, a Valentines party, another tutu order to fill and sometime I need to go grocery shopping and prepare my lesson for Sunday.
One Big Happy Family.
My cutest of girls!

Ready for Church

So last Sunday was a wonderful day for our family. Josh had no morning meetings so he was able to stay home with us and help me get the kids ready. Hurray! As I was doing my makeup Brooklyn was sitting in the rocking chair and Brody climbed up there with her. They were having a fun time and looked so cute so I asked Josh to snap a few pics. Enjoy!

First Foods

Miss Brooklyn started eating last week. We started feeding her rice cereal to hopefully help her sleep longer at night. She was waking up about 4 or 5 times at night for two weeks and was starving every time so it was definitely time. Now she is thankfully only waking up once. I know she isnt hungry and I need to let her cry it out to go back to sleep but when she does cry she wakes up Brody and then I am stuck with two kids up at night. Suggestions? But we are so glad she is eating food and growing up to be a very HEALTHY (i.e. chubby) baby. She loves her food and gobbles it down every night. I hope this continues and I dont have a repeat of Brody who still doesnt like to eat very much food I have to force him to eat.
Yum!
All smiles when we are cleaned up and done. Ready for night time bath. Good job on your first eating sweets!

My Sweets

We have been super busy lately and have not had the time to catch up on our blog. And when I finally did have a little smidgen of time last week out internet didn't work all week long. AGHH! Anywho, we are back in action. Brody and Brooklyn are both growing up so much lately. Some days I look at them and wonder where did they go. I miss the babies that I had. I know that Brookie is still my fuzzie head chunk but I really do miss my newborn and toddler boy that doesn't talk back. Here was a day that we were just chillin at home attempting to relax from all our business.

My little miss brooklyn is such a sweetie pie. I love this picture with her little dainty fingers.

Brody loves to try and make Brooklyn laugh. Most the time she ends up crying.

Smooches for little girls.

Oh it is so much fun to be a mommy to my girl and boy. They bring me so much joy and happiness.