2011- Year in Review

Wow this year has literally flown by.   I can't believe in just a couple days we will be heading in to 2012!   So let me just review 2011 for you first!

My sweet Braleigh has been the joy of our lives.  We have hit lots of milestones with her (as do most babies in their first year) and all of them have been so exciting!  It's been amazing watching her grow from a tiny baby into a toddler!   She has learned so many things it is crazy.  I don't have any other children or around any other 16 month old toddlers to know where she stands, but I do have to say she is one smart little girl!  She is becoming to independent, aside from when we get around other people, then she is stuck to my hip.  Most days when we are home she is running around the house playing in her room or with the dogs in the front room.   Its been sort of nice because I get to catch up on some of my chores, and more often my hobbies.

Her likes are Elmo, Dora, Elephants and Goldfish Crackers.  She does some "signs" but I haven't been as diligent in teaching them to her as I should so right now the ones she knows are eat, all done, and milk. She can point out and say where her mouth, nose, ears and eyes are and she can even answer with those when you ask her how do we hear, see, smell or eat.   When you ask her "How old is Braleigh?" she shows you one finger!   She loves animals and is getting so good at the sounds (at least I know the sounds she is trying to make although others might not figure it out).   The animals sounds she can say are elephant, lion (actually any sort of wild cat makes "rawr"), dog, cat, horse, frog, cow, duck, and there are a bunch more but you get the point.

Christmas Morning 2011

Christmas this year was pretty fun, although she doesn't get the concept of Santa visiting, she liked opening up the presents, and even more playing with new toys!  I would say her favorite present was the tea set she got (although it was re-gifted from her Birthday presents because she got so many so I figured she wouldn't even know the difference).   She likes to walk around the house with the cups pretending to drink from them.

Brad is still working away at the Coal mine at the Conspec position.  He really seems to like his job and I am even more grateful that he is willing to work while I stay at home with Braleigh.  He doesn't really get the extra time or we don't have the extra money for him to do all the hobbies he likes but we try to let him squeeze in as many has he can.  He has been able to go to a few races, Ute football games, and a couple concerts this year so I would say that it hasn't been all too bad for him, although I'm sure he probably has missed out on a lot more than he has been able to attend.   As for his hunting he really hasn't been able to get out and shoot his bow much, but he feel into an amazing trade the other day and swapped out his 2010 bow for a 2011 carbon bow straight across.  I could tell he was sad to let his old one go but he was just as excited to get this new one he thought he would never be able to get.     He hasn't been able to ride a whole lot either this year, but he was able to get out every chance he could and I was usually pretty happy to let him go.  I know he enjoys it so much and I only wish that we had the money to let him go all the time.

As for me, not a whole lot ever goes on.   I stay at home with the babe and try to make myself useful, but more often than not the housework gets put on the back burner for other things. In the past couple months I've had a little bit more time to do the the things I enjoy like play the piano and craft.  I am still teaching piano and I love my students!  I will admit some days it is a little challenging for both of us, but they are all so smart.  I only wish I could find some way to make it more exciting for them.   I remember when I was first learning to play how I hated to practice because I felt I wasn't playing any songs I liked, but I stuck to it and now it is one of my favorite things.  I hope that one day they can feel the same joy and happiness that music brings to me when I play.  Sewing is still a big past time for me as well.  Most of the things I end up sewing are things for Braleigh, I can hardly bare to give them away.   I've also done a lot of re-purposing items and furniture, which has become a little bit of an obsession.

Both Brad's and my family seem to be doing pretty good.  I have two sisters in CO and I miss them more than they know.  My parents are still in Ferron, along with my eldest sister, and my younger sister Meg moved to Price.   Brad's family has had a little more going on, more of with his parents, they have moved to North Dakota!   We miss them so much and we are so sad that they are missing out with Braleigh. But thank goodness for the internet, Skype, and our cell phones.

Our Christmas Card photo, along side our awesome Ute themed Christmas tree! 

2012 will bring lots of new things in our lives.  I have lots of projects planned for next year and My sister Ashley and I are starting up a little business where we will sell some crafts and other things we make so watch for a post about that.   We are also thinking about putting our home up for sell and and moving up to a bigger one (more specifically my in-laws house in Huntington) but we aren't really sure when, how or if it will happen.  I guess if it is meant to be it will fall into place, right?  We don't know the first thing about selling our house but sooner or later we will have to figure it out.   We have a lot of good selling points with our home so hopefully it won't be too hard to sell.  I would be sad to leave our home, it has been good to us, but its one of those things in life you can't really avoid.

As always, thanks for reading.  I wish you all have a safe and happy New Year!

We are the same

I just watched Letters from Iwo Jima for the first time tonight.   If you haven't watched it, you should consider doing so. This is a story based upon the Japanese perspective of the war. It definitely made me stop and think about our current situation. I wanted to share my thoughts because my heart is aching for all the men and women who have died in war all around the world.  

We all grow up with the ideologies of our country of how we are somehow superior over other countries.   It doesn't just happen here but I'm sure in every country people are taught this.   Its not necessarily our fault that we believe other's are our enemy, but the fault of our governments who teach us this, and being taught this makes it easier for citizens to lay their lives on the line for the good of the "country".  Take for example the current wars the U.S. is fighting now.   We have lost thousands of lives, injured thousands more, and for what? Our brave soldiers go over seas and DIE for us, even without a just cause, because it is the right thing to do (or so we have been taught).  

Now I don't care what people might think of me after saying this but I'm going to say it anyways.   Have you ever thought about the other country we are fighting?   Have you thought about the mother in the middle east who will never see her son again, or the father who just was killed that will never see his new baby?   We have these same type of losses here and so does any other country who goes to war.  

It makes me sad to listen to our politicians speak about war in almost a casual way, like killing people -ours or of the other country - is no big deal.    It makes me sad when I hear others say demeaning things about another culture or person because they are different.  It makes me sad that others don't realize that all around the world we are all the same!  We come into the world the same way, we deal with similar problems in our life, and we all leave this world through death. There is no denying these facts.   We are all connected on this earth, and yet we kill each other over things like money, land and/or oil.

Now I believe that most people don't think war is a good thing, but I also believe people are very naive.  I know I was and still am in a lot of ways. I was only 15 when 9/11 happened.  Just like so many people I believed that we needed to go teach those "terrorists" a lesson!  I didn't know the difference between Afghanistan,  Iraq, Pakistan, or any of those other countries that they were always talking about on the news, all I knew was that we were "defending our country".   I still don't know a lot, but I do know that we used 9/11 to not only to avenge our innocent citizens but to start more than just one war.  Like so many I thought that all those people in the middle east where terrorists because that's what our government was telling us, but they aren't all that way, yet how many of their innocent citizens are being killed everyday in their own country because we invaded them?   How many of them have been living scared because of foreigners invaded their country.   How would we feel if some other country did that to us, even if they said they were trying to "help" us, wouldn't we still feel scare of them and start to HATE them too?

War is not a good thing and it seems to me that we rush into so quickly but yet it takes forever to get out, which we never fully do.   I wish someone could give me one good reason to kill thousands of poor innocent people?  These men and women of all countries who are just trying to do the right thing, the things they have been taught.  I wish someone could tell me how this person who seems to be so similar to me, except maybe a different color or religion, is such a threat or evil?  I am sad for our world.   It has become a hateful, greed-filled place.  I feel more and more each day that it is wrong to think the things I do, to be the person I want to be, and to hope for good things to happen in the world.   Is it so wrong to for someone to sincerely hope for world peace?

The New Craft Blog!

So my sister Megan and I started a crafting blog call "We Can Do That". Its going to be all about easy and cheap do it yourself crafts, originals and easy knock-offs.  It's slow coming right but hopefully as the holidays approach we'll be doing more crafts and be posting a lot more. Eventually I hope we can get to 1 new project a month if not more. We would love your comments on things we could improve on or things you would want to see us try!  If you feel like checking it out here is the link!
http://wecandothatcrafts.blogspot.com

October 8, 2011 Ute Game

On October 8, Braleigh went to her first Ute game!!!  She slept the whole first half, (which is kind of how the Utes played the second half lol). I didn't mind much because I got to snuggle with her and keep us warm. It was so much fun and I'm sure we will carry on this tradition continue to go to games every year as a family! 

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October 22, 2011

This past Saturday we carved pumpkins. Braleigh reacted completely different than I had expected.   I thought that she would love playing with the inside of the pumpkin, instead she ran away from it!  She didn't want anything to it!  It was still fun.   Oh and the big pumpkin was one from my garden!  It probably could have grown longer but it got too cold and all the vines died so I had to pick it.  It still weight over 30 lbs!  WOW Can't wait to see what I can grow next year when I plant my garden on time! ;)

Thanks for reading!  

October 4, 2011 Mile High Farm

Tuesday was Brad's Birthday and we decided to stay an extra day with my sister instead of making him take the long drive home.  We took the kids to a farm down the road from Ashley's how were they got to pet some animals go on a hay ride and pick a pumpkin.  It was fun but we definitely picked the wrong time of day because it was so hot!  But the kids had fun!