back to real life

Friday, December 2, 2011

In October...

We went on walks to the grocery store. Chris grew a stellar mustache in anticipation of "Movember." Google it. Unfortunately he shaved it off before Movember even started.

We played at the park, Brooks was so proud of himself for climbing all the way to the top.

We stayed inside and colored when it was cold.

We were gnomes for Halloween. NOT from gnomeo and juliet. I got, I mean Brooks got lots of comments on his creative costume this year. We went to a few events and everyone loved him. Garden after Dark at Red Butte Garden with the Gibbons' was great. I'll have to remember that for next year. I only slightly panicked once when I couldn't find Brooks after he went into their little garden maze. It was super dark. Doug found him a few minutes later. Phew.

BYU Law School has a Halloween event each year with a pizza party, Halloween Parade and trick or treating in the law library. It was a fun party. Someone caught this photo and I think it's AWESOME. Brooks looks really evil. He was letting the "other gnome" know which gnome is really in charge. Brooks was actually nice to the other kids.

Brooks didn't officially go Trick-or-treating this year. I had to work and Chris had lots of school work. We were pretty much Halloweened out on Monday after all of the weekend's activities. Next year.

I had some fun with the Camera on a warm Sunday before Church. It was still nice and warm outside. Brooks was generally a good subject. The hardest thing was framing the pictures to keep out what I didn't want in them. Our yard has some fun features that make for good backgrounds.

Monday, November 14, 2011

In September...

We went to the zoo with Chris' mom Kathy AKA "am-a ka ka, no no am-a coo coo." The origin of the name has a long story.

We went to Swiss Days in Midway and stayed at the Homestead with my mom, sister Erin and her step-daughter Hannah (Erin gets married later in the post) and my sister-in law Terra. Note to self: FIND A SITTER FOR BROOKS NEXT YEAR. Swimming was "fun"-ish again with Brooks but Swiss days was AWFUL with him. Overall it was a fun time.

We went to the State Fair with Ben, Terra, Beck and my Mom. Brooks loved the big yellow slide, thanks uncle Ben! There was a huge robot at the entrance that totally freaked Brooks out. He still talks about how he cried when he saw it and how bad the robot scared him. In this pic Brooks is wearing a corrective brace on his left foot. He's doing AMAZING but still has a little muscle weakness and increased tone on his left side. He struggles with fine motor skills with his left hand too. Hopefully when he grows out of this brace he won't need another. Fingers crossed. He actually likes it and calls it his boot. There's a kid in his early intervention class that wears them on both feet and Brooks thinks it's pretty cool that they have "same-same boots." The problem with increased muscle tone after a brain injury is that tone is dynamic. It changes as he grows. We notice different nuances in his gate after growth spurts and they usually calm down after a while. Currently he drops and turns in his left foot, which he used to trip on ALL the time, not so much anymore. He also has what looks like a limp cause his left hip muscles are really stiff and he doesn't relax them enough when we walks. None of this keeps him from running, jumping and climbing and I couldn't be more grateful.

He LOVED riding the pony.

Brooks loves it when his Uncle Ben will rough him up.

My sister Erin got married. We had fun taking pictures while we waited for them to get dressed.

My super stylish and HOT husband.

We didn't coordinate our purple and silver very well.

The bride and groom. This was the best pic I got. Hopefully the real photographer got some good ones.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

In August...

We enjoyed Chris being home after work each evening and went on lots of walks. Brooks got a lot of practice riding his bike. He's way too brave and lift his feet up going down hill, he loves it.

My cousins and their children were in town and we had a little get together at the park with my Grandparents. The park is just below my grandparent's home and Brooks and I were able to walk from our house to the park. It was a little warm for that long of a walk uphill but we were happy when we got there.

Our friends the Gibbons' invited us to go canoeing at Silver Lake near Brighton. We had a fun picnic and took turns taking the canoe out and hiking with the other kids. There were 4 year old twin boys and then Brooks and Lily who are just a few months apart. It took three adults in the canoe with Brooks and Lily. Not the funnest canoe ride trying to keep Brooks in the boat. Doug and Stephanie were kinds to watch all the kids so Chris and I could go out on our own.

One of my best friends Tiffany came into town from AZ with her kiddos. They stayed at our place for a few days and we had lots of fun. Luckily for them we don't live in a tiny two bedroom apartment anymore. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of Brooks with his BFF and twin friend Charlie. Brooks and Charlie were born one day apart, they're going to be friends for life! (even if they really don't like each other right now). While they were here we hiked cascade springs and had a picnic. We picked up one of Tiff's friends in Midway and then being the know it all that I am I took them the LONG way down Provo canyon and back up to the springs making EVERYONE in the car sick. The return drive to Midway after I got smart was only a few minutes and a lot less car sickness, sorry guys.

Brooks loved his map and liked pointing to it and to things that he was seeing.

The whole gang. Brooks' BFF Charlie is the one being carried in the back.

We went for a swim after hiking. Brooks was such a turd! He kept swimming out of my arms and would push off of me. He'd jump in the pool when I wasn't there to catch him or after I had told him I wasn't going to. I let him sink for a few seconds quite a few times to teach him I was serious. Go ahead, think I'm an awful mom. I realized it wasn't going to teach him anything after he would come up and gasp for air, catch his breath, laugh and then be ready to do it again. I guess swimming lessons are in the works for next summer. Tiff was nice to swim with Brooks once I was worn out. Charlie was a perfect two year old and hung out in the shallow end never once trying to drown.

We went on a camping trip with the Hardys. Brooks LOVES being outside. He had a great time. We slept in our tent and were freaked out that a bear was going to eat us both nights, there were bear signs all over the campground. We also got rained on, A TON! We were camping just below a ridge and super severe thunderstorms would roll in in minutes. One night we were up for hours (except Brooks, thank you melatonin) with the heavy rain, lightning and thunder. The thunder literally felt like an earthquake.

We went motorcycle riding on the trip and bike riding too.

Chris' dad bought some kayaks so we would take their trailer down to the lake and set up for the day, hiking, kayaking and playing by the water.

It was nice to do so many fun things in August before Chris started Law School at BYU. Here's the obligatory first day of school picture. He wasn't too thrilled about it.

And... last but not least. Brooks is potty trained!!!! He was trained in about two days and has only had a handful of accidents since then. We're lucky he took to it so well. I've heard plenty of horror stories and I'm prepared for them in the future. He grabbed the magazine and started reading it all on his own. He must be a Hardy Boy.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Mondays

1. Wash, dry, fold and put away towels. Hang new ones.

2. Wash, dry, replace bathroom and kitchen rugs.

3. Clean master bathroom.

Easy enough! I'm working on simplifying my life and making things easy. For many of you with perfect homes, always in order, always clean, always with tons of time on your hands to do what you want...I haven't quite figured out the balance yet so don't judge.

I went to a presentation by Marie C. Ricks (a professional organizer) for BYU Law spouses. I have to admit before I went I was quite skeptical. Now I'm sold. She was so spot on when she talked about how to organize and why. We talked about how and why to organize 1. Meals 2. Laundry 3. Personal Hygiene 4. Relationships. I thought the 3rd and 4th weren't really on topic until we got into it more. Basically if we make all of these routine we won't need to put so much time and effort into planning how we are going to carry them out. It was a very small group (which was unfortunate for those that didn't come) and it was amazing how she knew all the lame reasons why we put things off. It was kind of a sort of therapy session for all of us that were there. She totally called us out on stuff and it was actually quite refreshing to be around someone so honest.

This week I have been focusing majorly on one word:

Every task I do I just FINISH and it's amazing how much more time and less worry I've had. I'm not nearly as stressed about keeping the house clean or worrying about getting everything done. I'm also not letting my mood dictate if I'm going to complete the 1, 2, 3 or 4. They're routines that are just going to happen without thinking about them. I of course am going to have to make them routine by doing them over and over again. But...so far so good and I'm totally sold.

Next week I'm starting my 28 day repeatable meal plan. I'm working on fine tuning it.

Am I the only one who can't stay on top of house stuff, not because I'm too busy but because I try to do anything else instead and never finish things?

In July...

I had a birthday. It was alright. Three birthdays in my life have been super awful. In 1995 when I turned 11: 7 days after my two youngest sisters tragically died in a car accident and only three days after their funeral. In 2006 when I turned 22: just over one month after my dad passed away as a result of suicide. This year, when I turned 27: 22 days after my brother Chris died by suicide. Each time people want to focus on me since it's my birthday and they try to be happy, but these were never happy times. It's hard to fake being happy even if there is "something" to be happy about, like me getting older. Three times in my life my birthday has been the first "happy" thing we have done as a family after awful tragedy. I decided this year was the LAST time it was going to happen. No one else can die until I'm old and especially NOT before my birthday. I had a serious talk with Heavenly Father and let him know that I am WAY DONE with stuff like this in my life. Seriously. D-O-N-E!!!!! I'm working on trying to find positives and find ways to turn around all the crap and do good things with it. Wish me luck, haven't found anything positive yet.

On a more positive note...we borrowed "Chasey Bug's" jeep and went on rides.

Brooks got a ball pit to put all his balls in. Saying he LOVES it is an understatement. I haven't had it out with all the balls in it for a while now, I can't stand when they end up all over the house. Maybe I'll surprise him tomorrow after his nap. Speaking of napping, he would only sleep in the pit for about a week.

We went on lots of bike rides. We got Brooks an ibert bike seat for his birthday. It was really a gift for me so I could go riding without getting a sitter. He loves riding on it. We talk about what we see and he says "wee" a lot. I love living just off of Wasatch Drive, we have lots of riding options. My goal next year is to be fit enough to ride Millcreek canyon from our house.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

In June...

Brooks turned two. We had a fun family party. Brooks had a present for the family, it was letting everyone know that we decided to stay in Utah and Chris was going to go to BYU for law school...so that meant a month at my mom's until we figured out living arrangements.

We went on a fabulous family vacation to Orcas Island in WA. Life was good. We took ferry rides.

walked down to the private beach from the cottage.

looked for crabs and starfish

had lots of fun hanging out with uncle Chris

We went whale watching, I got really sick, Brooks loved it.

we had tons of fun shopping, going hiking, standing under waterfalls, going to a farmers market and just hanging out.

My oldest brother Chris died June 20 as a result of suicide. Pretty much super horrible and something that has and will continue to forever change my life.

We moved into a new place in the foothills of SLC. We're kind of house sitting for my uncle's mother and we're so grateful for such a great place to live. Brooks LOVES the space and I do too.

Brooks got super sick from a gastro bug and ended up in the ER super fevered and dehydrated. After lots of IV fluids and antipyretics he drank 16 oz of apple juice and we had no excuse to stay, thank goodness.