The Brennans

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Don't judge....I've been busy....

I'm a good food blogger...bad family blogger. I'm sorry. I post a few photos on my food blog and talk briefly about our family happenings but probably should do better. Life has been busy for us but in great and wonderful ways! I have gratitude in my heart 24/7. Every single day, I get to work at a job that I LOVE and stay home with my wonderful, beautiful, smart, witty daughter. My husband has a job he loves. We are all healthy. We can be together every day. We have food to eat, a roof over our heads, a way to pay for these comforts of life, a wonderful family and awesome friends. How grateful and thankful we are every day. Every night, Gordon and I look at each other and are almost in shock at how blessed we feel. I hope we can always see the good in our lives. Keep the blessings flowing!

Anyways, like I mentioned, we've been busy:

1. We moved from Milkwaukie to Hillsboro so Gordon's commute could get reduced considerably. It now takes him 5 minutes or less to get to work. We see each other a lot more! Just how I like it...

2. My blog is keeping me busy along with storytime at the Library, my running, Activity Days {new calling}, being a mom and just everyday errands.

3. A few weeks ago, we traveled to Idaho to visit my parents and Shayna's family because she just had another beautiful baby! I was so happy to go back to Rexburg and spend time with MY family. Oh, how I love them! Also, is this not a beautiful child?

4. The beginning of June, I went to Seattle to go to a blogging conference. Did a lot of networking and ended up getting invited to a special Dole event in California. I'll be leaving next Sunday for that. Yay :)

5. I ran the Epic relay again this year with the same group of gals and had a fabulous time! I can feel my body getting stronger which is a cool feeling! Still had a heck of a time on my last long run, but was so happy to finish! I was sore, but not nearly as sore as last year! Baby steps...

6. I'm training for a marathon...not sure I've announced that one, but it will be happening :) 26.2 is in my near future!

7. My blog is keeping me busy. Compared to other bloggers, my photography is just so so {according to me}. But, sometimes I take photos that give me a glimmer of hope that I could maybe one day be THAT good. Yesterday, I snapped this one and LOVE it. I still need to do very minor edits, but not bad, right? Hooray for practice making perfect!

8. We went to the coast for Memorial day and had so much fun being with my family! It is such a joy to just be with my husband and daughter! Oh how I love them! We had a picnic at the beach, went on a hike and got some ice cream at the Tillamook factory. The Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream was beyond amazing.

9. I'm slowly getting our new apartment in order. I'm dying to get a new desk and new couches, but know they can wait. We're getting to be professionals at the waiting game. :) Patience is a virtue patience is a virtue patience is a virtue....

10. Brooke will be starting ballet and tap classes next Thursday. I can tell she's going to love it! Ever since she saw her cousin Zoe perform at her ballet concert, she's been hounding me to take lessons. I would have enrolled her sooner, but typically you have to be 4 and the classes for the 3 year olds start in September. I got lucky though and found a summer class. She is thrilled.

11. The 4th of July is right around the corner. We're going to Hood River Tuesday evening so I can do the traditional 7 mile run from Odell into Hood River. It won't be as hot as last year, so I'm hoping to run it a little faster. Then we'll go back to Gord's parents place for a BBQ, s'mores and fireworks. It'll be a late night cause we have to travel back to Hillsboro that night, but totally worth it! Brooke loves seeing her cousins.

12. I've started writing everything down on these google calendars I've printed out for myself. Recipe ideas, runs I have to schedule, blogging events, appointments, church events, basically anything I need to remember goes on this thing. It makes my life easier! My memory is non-existent.

13. My sister Chelsea will be coming to visit me in August. I'm so excited to see her. She's the bomb dot com and I love her face.

14. I miss my Amy's. We are long overdue for a reunion. :)

That's it for now. Hopefully I'll get one or two more blog posts in before 2013 is here.

Just kidding.

I hope.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Update

Our lives have been very interesting these last few months...I don't know where to begin. Basically, Forrest Gump had it right when he said life is like a box of chocolates because you never know what you're gonna get. How true!!!

November and the first part of December were uneventful for the most part.

Then mid december, we got hired to be apartment managers in Portland, so we moved in right before Christmas. I was planning on doing this managing thing all on my own after Gordon left for OCS in January, but his pulled hamstring kept him home. He was bummed he couldn't go and get it over with, but I was seriously so happy. What girl doesn't want her husband home? I mean the ones who don't really like their husbands could probably care less, but I am not one of those people. Almost exactly a month later to the day we moved in, Gordon got a pretty amazing job doing finance for an engineering firm in Hillsboro. Ironically, he started the same day he was supposed to fly out to Alabama for OCS.

So life went from 0 to 60 pretty darn quick. We went from seeing each other all the time to never seeing each other hardly at all. Even though we don't see each other a whole lot, the time we do get to spend together is pretty darn precious. And, we'd rather be really busy than bored at home.

A typical day for us includes:

-Gordon getting up at 5:30 or 6 for work, working out/reading scriptures/whatever and leaving by 7.

-I get up with Brooke between 6:30 and 7:30, typically.

-We will eat breakfast, Brooke will watch a Dora or Yo Gabba Gabba {which ps is the strangest show ever!!} and I will do blog stuff.

-We'll get to the gym anywhere between 8 and 9:30. I got a gym membership at 24 hour fitness and take -Brooke with me so she can play at Kid's Club {the child care at the gym}. She loves it and I can do classes/the treadmill/elliptical. I LOVE my gym. I will work out an hour and a half and then shower and get ready at the gym. Once I get Brooke we are basically all ready to go.

-After the gym if I have time, I will go shopping or do something fun with Brooke.

-I have to be back at my apartment by noon because my office hours are 12-5 Tuesday to Saturday. It's a small complex, so we aren't busy AT ALL. It's a pretty sweet set up, actually. The office is attached to our apartment so I'll open the office door, turn the lights and the little space heaters on and then go back in the house to feed Brooke lunch. After that, she will watch another Dora and then get put down for nap. Her nap time is when I get all my office work done, if there is any. Since I'm still new, I'm in the process of organizing files. It feels like it never ends!! Oh well.

-Once she wakes up, we'll go on our 'walk' where we pick up trash around the property, clean up any junk around the dumpsters, clean the laundry room, and talk with the residents. She loves going outside, so I take my time. This will take about an hour at the most.

-After this, we go into the house, wash our hands and I will close the office, put a note on the door for the residents to come knock on my door if they need anything and play with Brooke/start dinner/do some blogging stuff.

-Once 5 rolls around, I take the note down, put the cordless phone back in office and start dinner.

-Gord gets home around 6...sometimes 6:30 if he leaves late and traffic is bad.

-We eat dinner and are done by 7. Gord does the dishes {bless his heart} and we have family time.

-Brooke goes down between 8 and 8:30 and we have our time together to just watch something on netflix, just talk or get stuff done.

-Gordon goes to bed between 9:30 and 10 and I'm in bed by 10:30 {unless I'm up late doing a blog post for the food blog}.

Then we get to do it all over again!

Very busy, but happy and grateful to have work, be on our own and have several sources of income.

Oh and we got a 2nd vehicle which we are super happy about. :) An old Honda Accord that runs great.

As for church callings, we both got some new responsibilities: I'm the young women's secretary and Gordon is the ward mission leader. So, Wednesday nights is a huge juggle. Gordon gets home at 6 or 6:30, I leave at 6:45 for mutual, he plays with Brooke then brings her to me at 8 when his meetings start, I take her home at 8:30 or 8:45, and get her down at 9. Gordon gets home at 9 or 9:30 and we get to bed. Such a busy night, but worth it.

And, Brooke is starting swimming lessons on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for the next month or so which she is super excited about. I'm thrilled to see how she does.

PS- My baby is 3! THREE! Can you believe that? And, she's as cute as can be :)

So, that's what's going on. Crazy, but we love it!!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Family Photos

A few weeks ago, Mark and Tammy took our family photos. Most of them didn't turn out for being too bright and/or blurry, but I found a select few that I could edit and keep. {Brooke is hard to keep still AND happy!} So here they are. I've decided that my family is adorable. The end.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Halloween

Brooke was a princess for Halloween this year.

We have been practicing the week before hand, knocking on doors in the house and saying "trick or treat!"

Brooke LOVES Halloween. It was a great experience for her! After the first few stops we made, she was saying 'trick or treat' like a pro!

We just went to the businesses downtown for the 5-7 trick or treating before it got too dark or late. Mike's ice cream was giving out free scoops, so Brooke was pretty excited about that. We got her a scoop half way through. She sort of lost focus, but once that ice cream got finished, she was back to her old ways. She was thrilled with her Pumpkin Bucket--which lights up, by the way. {We couldn't find the one we used last year, so this was the very last one Walmart had in their store!}

Once we got home, she wanted to eat all her candy, but we saved it and actually still have some!

She still is talking about wanting to dress up and go trick or treating, but is having a hard time grasping the 'only once a year' concept!

My Brooke

This girl has been a ray of sunshine ever since she joined our family nearly 3 years ago. As you can tell by these photos, she has a really happy and funny personality. She loves making people laugh, telling "jokes" and making funny faces.
She is completely smitten with her Daddy. Whenever he's been gone and she hears the door slam, she goes running down the hall while screaming "It's my Daaaaaaad!"
She definitely loves me too! I got home from my run this morning and she came over, hugged my leg and said " Hi Mom. I love you Mom."
Brooke loves her 'pink baby' and 'sister baby'. Can't go to sleep without pink baby.
Beams with pride when she knows she has done something right. We've taught her how to pull the blankets up over her when she's cold at night. When we tuck her in, we let her pull the blankets over her. Once she has completed the task, she looks at us with a huge smile on her face because she knows we are going to praise her for it.
Brooke is very easily startled or scared. She hates loud noises, hates when we tell her "no" {but she usually is scared by us telling her hastily, not the fact that we said no} hates when we laugh loudly. She has a very tender heart and will typically cry after one of these things happens.
She's getting better at being prepared to expect the loud noises when she sees Grandma about to use the blender or me using the hair dryer. She tells everyone in her vicinity to 'plug your ears'. One time, I was blow drying my hair upstairs with the door open and Brooke yelled up at me to "Close the door! Too loud!"
She gets frustrated when trying to learn something new and wants to give up or have us do it for her. Once she gets it down though, she is as proud as can be.
She still is dying to take ballet and dance classes.
Picky about some foods, but most of the time we can bribe her with candy or say something like "But Brooke, these are special yummy squiggly noodles that you love!"
She nods her head a lot more now to respond instead of using verbal cues.

We LOVE Brooke.

Labor Day 2011

I should blog about our vacation to the coast since it's almost October.....

We had a blast, as usual! This is the 3rd year we've gone to the coast with Gordon's Family and the Taylor's {close family friends the Brennan's grew up with}. We got a huge vacation rental in Lincoln City and it was so nice to get away. I unfortunately got really sick on Friday and was feeling awful the rest of the weekend. Brooke was a little under the weather too and started waking up at night. Gordon has been immune to it all, thankfully! A part of me thinks he's a carrier! Ha!

Anyways, we had a great time 'getting away from it all'.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Hair Cut

I'm such a bad blogger. I'm a good one when it comes to my food blog, but that's about it.

I'm slowly getting better...at least I'm trying to get better.

Anyways,

a few weeks ago, out Brooke got her 1st hair cut! She was getting to the point where she wouldn't let me brush it thus creating rats nests that would probably have to be cut out {because she wouldn't let me near her with a brush in my hand!}

I miss her long hair, but I think she looks so much older now!