A Rocky Christmas

Don't let the title decieve you, we had a wonderful Christmas! We just spent Christmas in the Rocky Mountains with my brother, Rhett, in Colorado Springs. We forgot our camera so we just have these lovely photos of our visit to the Garden of the Gods. So far our 3 week visit in Colorado is going great and we look forward to more fun adventures.

Kissing Camels. (No, not us....the rocks above us!)
There were some awesome rock formations just popping out of the middle of nowhere, so we climbed up inside one of them for some alone time!

He's So Sweet

I don't know where Ivan got it, but he is so kind hearted. He is gentle with just about anyone and anything (with occasional exceptions). Tonight after we said our prayers he saw that his animals were still out and said, "Oh, I gotta put animals away." So one by one he picked them up and put them in their bucket and said, "Goodnight Elephant. Goodnight Pig. Goodnight ihnocerpus. (rhinoceros). Goodnight Horsey. Goodnight lion. ROAR! Goodnight sheep." etc... And then when we put all of them back in his closet he said, "Goodnight animals. I love you!" It was one of those moments where I knew that being a mom was the absolute best thing in this world. It might not seem like much to my readers, but I love moments like those and want to cherish them forever.

I also wanted to share one of Ivan's new tricks--he now gives himself choices all of the time. I try to give Ivan choices as much as I can ("Do you want to wear the red shirt or blue shirt, do you want your shoes or boots, milk or water, Heavenly Father music or signing time, pikachu or bear, etc...") and he's definitely picked up on that technique.Here are some of the latest choices he has given himself...

Me: Ivan, would you like to drink water or milk?

Ivan: Um, juice OR juice!

Me: Ivan, would you like to take a nap on Ivan's bed or Mommy's bed?

Ivan: Um, beanbag OR beanbag!

Me: Let's put a diaper on you and get ready for bed. It's bed time Ivan.
Ivan: No, it's SNACK time! Yeah! Snack Time!

Me: Sorry, but it is bed time.

Ivan: Want snack OR snack!

Sometimes he makes it difficult for us to stick with the original choices because it's just too funny and cute when he offers himself better choices.

Once There Was a Snowman

Ivan and I made this little cutie with cotton balls and my new favorite project material: contact paper! I use it for a lot of our art activities. It accomplishes the same thing as glue but without the mess!

Early Christmas

My in laws think I'm lame because it's taken me forever to post about their visit, but I'm finally getting around to it. SORRY! We didn't think we'd get to see Ty's family this holiday season, but Gary, Kerri, and Kyle decided to come visit during Thanksgiving break, and as usual, it was a very nice visit. We wish we were just a little closer so we see eachother more often, but we'll certainly take what we can get. And since we don't see eachother very often, we usually get very SPOILED!!

This time around, Ivan made it out with a huge haul. Grandma and Poppy caught wind of Ivan's obsession with CARS and found him a toy Mack.

He didn't put that thing down for days! He even needed Mack, Wingo, Snot Rod, and DJ (the three cars that came with Mack) to sleep with him. Ivan now thanks Heavenly Father for those specific toys each night during his bedtime prayers.
He also got a bunch of clothes (which were very needed), a NOISY firetruck, and a HUGE Froggy.

Kyle and Brook got him a little soft bowling set . I'm grateful that they picked the soft set opposed to the hard plastic set...Ivan has definately tried to use the ball and the pins as ninja stars since we got and watched The presents were nice, but the people were nicer! We love having family around. For about three days after they left, Ivan was asking for Uncle Kyle and Grandma and Poppy. They will be missed. I always seem to forget to get good pictures when the Browns are around, but here are some pics of our little boy who is cuddly ONLY with Poppy and Uncle Kyle.

Cute Background

So I just created my very own blog background. Cool, huh! It's still not perfect, I can't figure out the sizing so I have a little white space on the outside, but I've worked on it long enough, so this will have to do for now. It was suprisingly pretty easy to do (just a little time consuming). If you want to learn how to make your own blog backgrounds, go here.

WAKE UP!!!

This morning Tyrel woke me up in a panic...

"Mandy wake up! You're late for work!"

I rolled over to look at the clock and saw this....

Ty blames his poor eye sight on the hour and minute hand mix-up, but really I think he wanted to wake me up so I'd make room for him on the love sac (we did laundry late last night and were too tired to fold it so we put it all on our bed and slept out in the living room --Ty on the floor and I slept on the love sac)

HSM Syndrome

I have definitely brainwashed my child!
I don't know too many people that would be thrilled by their 2 year old son requesting but I know that I sure was! Ivan and I love to listen the soundtracks and sing and dance along with them. Today he said, "High School Musical. Sixteen!" (one of the songs starts out by saying sixteen over and over) I just laugh-because I know someone out there is shaking their head in disbelief and disappointment. I promise he'll grow up just fine, but for now, we can appreciate fun music together!

I'm grateful for....

A HUSBAND WHO LOVES TO HAVE FUN AND MAKE PEOPLE LAUGH!

After our Thanksgiving dinner with a few friends in the ward, we played a game called "Would You Rather..." and Ty wanted to try his hand at break dancing for one minute rather than wear a pickle mustache for the rest of the game. Now you know the real reason I married him....definitely for his moves!!!

`Twas the Night Before Friday

Twas the night before Friday

and all through the house,

Not a creature was sleeping,

not even my spouse.

-

He was up doing homework,

watching cartoons, and playing a game.

I tried to catch some zzz's

but a horrible cough I could not tame.

-

After bringing me some water,

He finally climbed into bed.

Thats when I decided

I should prop up my head.

-

I moved from the bedroom

to the cozy love sac.

My cough got a little better

but the sac hurt my back.

-

Once I got cozy

and dozed off to sleep,

A car outside

had an alarm go BEEP, BEEP!

-

I closed my eyes

I got comfortable once more.

Then my husband came out

and him I tried to ignore.

-

He went back to bed.

He fell back asleep.

That's about the time

I heard my son weep.

-

I went in his bedroom,

A huge smile crossed his face.

Not an ounce of sleep in his eyes

Not even a trace.

-

He told me some stories.

He needed to go potty.

Really he wanted candy

For forcing pee from his body.

-

I gave him two m&m minis

and sent him back to bed,

But he had the idea to sleep with daddy

stuck in his head.

-

I was able to convince him

it was still night-night time,

But apparently bringing water, not milk,

was committing a crime!

-

He calmed himself down

and about ten minutes later,

He was standing beside me

saying, "want to watch Mater!"

-

I thought to myself,

"You must be out of your mind!

It's 4:30 in the morning,

I am certainly not that kind."

-

It was then that I decided

Sleep wasn't coming this night.

I tried to get some rest,

I tried with all my might.

-

I gave into my child

and popped in a toon.

I guess I'll start my day early.

Hope I make it till noon!

-

ABC Chart

I have a lot to get done today, but I decided to work on Ivan's ABC chart instead. I created this on the computer, printed it out, laminated it with contact paper, and put it up. It took way longer than it should have, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. Ivan loves it too--he's walked around the room pointing the the duck, monkey, kargaroo, ball, turtle, car, apple etc... several times already. So now that my "little" project is done, I should probably go take a shower and get ready for the day (it's only 2:52pm!!)

Working out with Mommy

Last night I was doing a workout video and Ivan thought he should do it too. I tried to get it on video myself, but he wouldn't cooperate. So we had to re-enact it when daddy got home (he did way more the first time around!)

Smiles

Today was packed with precious little moments with Ivan. It was actually kindof a crumby day, but he sure brightened it up for both Ty and I. I just thought I'd share some of his rays of sunshine with you.

This morning he spilled his water and from across the room I said, "Ivan. Hurry and pick up your cup!" He just looked at me with this awesome blank stare and did nothing. So I walked over and said, "Oops. You spilled your water." He put his hand in the soiled carpet and said, "Uh-Oh!" I thought it was over and done with....it was just a little water, so I just left it. Ivan on the other hand felt that something needed to be done about it... so he went in the kitchen, pulled a couple wash cloths out of the drawer and then went back out into the living room to wipe it up, all the while singing "Clean Up. Clean Up!"


He's pretty set in his bedtime routine, so if we stray from it a little, we usually find ourselves in his bedroom 3-4 times before he finally hits the hay. So tonight, we brushed his teeth, gave him a drink of water, kissed daddy goodnight, and then I turned on his music and laid him down (forgot to say prayers--my bad). He asked to listen to his Signing Time cd, but Ty and I decided that Signing Time was a much better daytime CD than a nighttime CD so I put in his Primary Children's Songs (aka "Heavenly Father Moose-kicks") A few short minutes later he came out whining...so I instantly knew I must have forgotten something. "Prayers. Right, we forgot to say prayers." I thought. So we knelt down together and began our prayers....

Me: "Heavenly Father."
Ivan: "Father"
Me: "Thank You for this beautiful day"
Ivan: "Thank you, Day"
Ivan: "and mommy and daddy!"
Me: "Thank you for my friends."
Ivan: "Friends"
Ivan: "And. And Signing Time!"
Me: "Thank you for my music."
Ivan: "No. Heavenly Father Moose-kicks broken. Signing Time!"
Me: "Please help us to sleep good."
Ivan: "Listen signing time."
Me: "In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen" (I had to stop quickly to keep from bursting out in laughter)
Ivan: "AMEN! Signing Time?"

You can probably guess that our decision to keep the Signing Time CD a daytime CD was OVERRULED!

We sure love our little boy! He makes us smile!

Because My Mom Said So....

I just found this...it was an old post that I never published. I think this happened on Oct 21, 2008 (not that the date matters much to you, but it does to me--My blog is a good portion of my journal!)

My brother Randy so graciously shared his food storage with us and it was quite the adventure finding the space for it. Let me tell you about it. We unloaded our car and brought the heavy tubs full of food up when we got home Sunday night, but I didn't have the energy to put it all away, so I saved that job for Monday. On Monday, I had a lot of re-organizing to do to make it all fit: moved the bookshelf into our bedroom (to make room for the love sac we're borrowing), then went through Ivan's closet to make room for the stuff that was in the outside storage unit , put shelves up in the storage unit, and finally unloaded the 3 1/2 tubs of food onto the shelves and into some of our cubbards. Phew!! That was a lot of work. I was so proud of my accomplishments and couldn't wait for Ty to come home and see what I had done. He came home just in time to meet our guests for Family Home Evening and didn't even get to look at it before my wonderful neighbor and friend, Jen, informed me that the outside storage unit was probably not the best place for our newly acquired food storage because it would freeze and explode! Of course I thought to myself, "AWESOME! I just did all that work for nothing!" So I took comfort in the fact that we were having a spell of warm weather and said a little prayer that my food wouldn't freeze, because I certainly didn't have energy to fix it that night. So first thing this morning, I did a little more rearranging--moved the shoes into our room and put the outside shelves up in our enrty-way closet--and moved the food inside.

This picture does not do the job justice but it means that the job is done! While I was stacking cans and trying to keep Ivan out of the garbage can behind me, I was talking to my mom on the phone. She got a kick out of the story and assured me that I would laugh about this experience someday. So because my mom said so, I'm writing this down so I can look back at this adventure and laugh!

Thought this was cute--while we were playing a game last night with some of our friends, Ivan and Zoie had their own little movie/popcorn/pajama party!

Some Old News

Me Matey, Ivan

I just realized that I had no pictures of Ivan from Halloween. I think he was the cutest pirate around!

For Arrrh Halloween

We hosted a pirate murder mystery for halloween this year and it was an absoulte blast! We purchased the party materials from www.host-party.com and let me tell you it was worth every penny. My time over the last 2 weeks has been consumed with party prep and it all paid off Thursday night.

 

Isn't this cake AMAZING?? My good friend Kristen, aka Bertha Bilgewater, made this with her own sweat and blood (seriously, just ask her!)

 

This is what it looked like when you first walked into our apartment (Thanks for your help decorating Melanie!)

 

Here's our living room packed to capacity. No we weren't sardines, we were pirates! ARRRH!

 

The Whole Blimey Clan!

The party turned out to be better than I ever imagined. There were 16 participants in our little apartment but it worked out perfectly! Here's a little peek at our fun evening. (I'm sorry if I didn't get any footage of all of the characters, but my little digital camera can only hold so much!)

PHOTO TAG

This is what you do:
1. Open up your picture file
2. Go to the fourth folder
3. Open the fourth picture
4. Post the picture on your blog and write about it

So...here's mine. I've always wanted to have a beautiful bedroom set up--the pillows and fluffy bedspread and all that jazz--and this was a pic I found and saved for dreaming sake.


I tag Suzi, Kristen F., Charish, and Jen (and whoever else wants to do it!)

For those of you who want to know....

I started my digital scrap booking adventure when I found www.shabbyprincess.com . They have free kits (paper, letters, rik-rac, buttons, flowers, etc...) to download and other stuff to purchase if you wish (as well as several links to other great sites and tutorials). They recommend using Adobe Photoshop but for those of us that don't have photoshop, Microsoft Publisher works great. If you're not familiar with either program, I can guarantee that Publisher is much easier to use than Photoshop--it probably doesn't have near the capabilities as Photoshop but it gets the job done. I'm still learning myself, but if you have any other questions, let me know and I'll see what I can do to help you get started.

Digital Scrapbooking

I'm trying my hand at digital scrapbooking...I think I may have just found a new addiction! I absolutely hate scapbooking because it takes forever and then I never seem to be happy with the final product. Digital scraping is soooo AWESOME! I can change little things if I'm not happy with them because it's not glued down. I can also print these out and put them in a binder and I don't have to buy all of the expensive paper. "I'm happier than a tornado in a trailer park" -- we're watching Cars right now-- that I discovered this. Do you like it?

4 Things

My friend Keri Christensen did this on her blog and I thought it would be fun to do too!

4 things I like about my husband...

1. He can make anyone laugh at any given time (even me when I'm not in a laughing mood!)
2. He doesn't complain about my cooking (even when I forget to add seasoning to my beef stroganaff)
3. He lets me win when we play boardgames (even when it's his favorite game)
4. He likes watching chick flicks (at least he claims that he does. Maybe he just likes it cause I'm generally more cuddly when we watch chick flicks)

4 movies I can watch more than once...

1. Sahara
2. Sandlot
3. Field of Dreams
4. Cars (because I have to watch it at least 3 times a week to keep Ivan happy!)

4 TV shows I watch...

1. The Office
2. Lost
3. The Office (seasons 1-4)
4. If I had TV I would probably watch TLC or HGTV alot

4 places I've been

1. Newport, Oregon
2. Anaheim, California
3. Boston, Massachusetts
4. Nauvoo, Illinois

4 people who email me regularly

1. My brother, Randy
2. Rachel Goodwin (can't remember her married name) -- Personal Trainer
3. Elder Clint Brown --Ty's brother who is serving a mission in Dominican Republic
4. My nephews, Garret and Brett

4 Favorite Foods

1. Kung Pow Chicken
2. Corn on the Cob
3. Mashed Potatoes
4. Apples from Milton-Freewater Oregon (right off of the tree)

4 places I'd like to visit

1. ALASKA (I miss my mom and dad and I love Alaska)
2. Craters of the Moon. We've been here for about 5 years and we've never gone.
3. Denver and Colorado Springs
4. Hawaii -- I'm not sure how I'm going to convince my husband to take me there, but I am faithful about reminding him that I would like to visit!

4 things I'm looking forward to in the next year

1. Losing weight and getting in shape
2. High School Musical 3
3. Getting pregnant (we hope so anyway-please pray for me)
4. Writing and publishing a children's picture book

I'm not going to tag anyone specific but I'd love it if you did the 4 things post on your blog.

The Giving Tree

Sometimes being a mother feels very unrewarding, but that doesn't make a mother's roll less important. Last night, I was up with Ivan most of the night because he was sick and hurting. I gave him everything I could: my arms to hold him, my voice to comfort him, my bed to help him relax, and my energy to heal him. The only thing Ivan shared with me was some super smelly vomit (awesome!) and alot of tears. Tyrel was a little more sweet and thoughtful and surprised me with the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein today after that long and miserable night. I read it with tear filled eyes as I thought of the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ, has for us. My little unrewarded moments don't seem to measure up to the sacrifice He made for me. It was neat to make that connection. I feel humbled and honored to have the most precious opportunity to be a mother and to be a giving tree for my little Ivan.

Here is a little giving tree that we made for our Family Home Evening activity.

Ivan's pretty talented for a 2 year old!

Getting ready for church

Ivan thought it was so fun to watch daddy shave this morning so Ty popped him up on the counter and gave him another lesson about manhood: shaving.

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

4 THUMBS UP!!!!!! Ty and I just read for about 3 days straight (today for 7 hours with minimal breaks --only to use the bathroom and make sure Ivan was fed and entertained) and we loved the final book in our beloved Twilight series. For those of you haven't read these books, please give into the dark side and do it. I know some of you have resisted just because it's a big fad right now, but there is a reason they're so popular! They're very entertaining. This fourth book was beyond our foresight but was definitely our favorite.

Get'r Done

So there may be a little bit of redneck in us...you be the judge!

Head, Shoulders, ...

This is the best that we could capture on video...he sang his parts (knees and toes and mouth and nose) perfectly before we got out the camera.

True to Two

There must be some trigger in a child's brain that switches on their 730th day of life, because from the moment that Ivan turned 2 his behavior has been a little out of control! We keep wondering where the whining, screaming, and the random tantrums,in any public setting, came from. Of course shortly after the craziness, he'll give hugs and kisses, and soften us right back up. It's amazing and very tricky! The smart little tike knows how to work his parents. Anyway...yesterday was very much a terrible-2 day. Ivan went on a hitting streak and kept getting put in time out because of it. Fortunately for us, time out has been pretty effective in the past because Ivan wouldn't get out of time out until we picked him up and 'freed' him. Well that was until yesterday of course. The idea finally clicked in his head that when he was in time out, his feet were only about an inch from the ground, so it was nothing but a little scootch forward to escape. Time out quickly turned into a game rather than a method of discipline. One time I got down on the floor to talk to him about why he was in time out -- which was hitting that time -- and he reached out and hit me in the face. Clearly, time out was not the answer. So, I quickly moved on to my next genius idea....I tied his hands together! Just like before, he laughed and thought it was a game until a few seconds went by and he realized he couldn't use his hands anymore. After about a minute we untied him and let him down. It was evening then, so we asked him to go take a bath. He of course needed several reminders because in the 20 feet between the bench and the bathtub there were about a million distractions (fuzz on the carpet, cheerios on the floor, chairs to climb, books on the shelf, a roll of toilet paper, a toilet, etc..). When he finally made it to the tub, I had him go pee on his little potty chair (which is sooooo cool by the way) and then plopped him in the bath. See, Ivan loves to take a bath and I love it when he takes a bath too because it's one of those wonderful times in the day where his mess is contained to the tub (sometimes the floor--that I can totally deal with), he is so happy, and I can sit a relax for a few minutes. That's the way it usually works out...not yesterday. Yesterday, I walked out of the bathroom and into his room (less than 5 feet away) to grab his pj's and when I turned around, I saw his naked little tush running away from me into the living room. Just as I was reaching down to grab him, he stopped dead in his tracks, right in the middle of the living room, and started 'watering' Ty's video game controllers. I nearly helped Ivan water the controllers because I was laughing so hard...and I couldn't help but think "This is something I've always dreamed of doing!". It was just amazing--his aim and timing was impeccable. Of course Ty didn't see any of this happen and when I told him about it he didn't think it was quite as funny as I did. In fact, his exact words were "Dang It, Ivan!". He wasn't angry, mostly just shocked, but that was enough to get our little mocking bird going. For a few minutes following Ty's reaction, we could hear Ivan in his room saying "dang it. dang it." over and over again. I'm just glad that nothing worse came out of Ty's mouth for Ivan to repeat! Anyway--yesterday probably could have and should have been mostly frustrating, but I have to admit it was mostly just hilarious. Sure tantrums are a little annoying, but I know that it's just my little guy trying hard to be independent and do what he wants to do and besides...how could I be angry with such a sharp shooter?

Zooooo Spectacular!

This summer has been awesome! Since Ty got out of school mid-July it has been all play and no work for us and we're loving it! When we were in Utah last week we watched a Salt Lake ReAL game (Major Leauge Soccer), went to the Dinosaur museum, ate delicious food at Red Lobster, went to a sweet comic shop, dropped Clint off at the MTC, and then went to Hoagle Zoo in Salt Lake. I've only listed a handful of the fun things we've done, but let me tell you that we love the 7 week break that Ty gets from school. It's so much fun to have him around full time. We've taken tons of pictures so here are a few of our favs.

Our Family Photo at the Zoo

An Albino Alligator!?! AWESOME!!!

We had some good luck with the cats! We've never seen them so close. Ty said that even with the glass between them, he was too close for comfort!

Ivan loved the "Big Kitty"

Have you ever rode a Rhino? Ivan has!

On the way home from the zoo we saw this! I was so excited that I had to take a picture.
Anyone know why I was so excited to see East High School? What's so cool about East High?
YUM!!!
Cool roots!
Huckleberry picking with Randy and Tiesha

So Cool

We recently got air conditioning in our apartment and it's difficult to imagine life without it.

Uncle Clinty

Ty's little bro, Clint, came to visit for a few weeks before he left on his mission to the D.R. (Dominican Republic). We shared some sweet memories and many laughs. Ty and I are nervous for any Brown-get-togethers over the next two years...without Clint around, they may be a little dry and boring! I don't know why, but we didn't get any pics of him in front of the MTC (Missionary Training Center). We dropped him off on July 30 and 3 weeks from then, he'll leave for his Carribean Island adventure. He was very excited to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We'll miss him but he'll be a great representative for the Savior and two years will fly by like no time at all. Love you Clinty!!

Here are a few pics of Ivan's favorite Uncle Clinty...

Camping Detour

On Tuesday we decided to venture up to Island Park to go sleep with the bears and moose, but our good friends, Dark and Scary Clouds, warned us that it probably wasn't the best night to go sleep in the wilderness because it was going to storm. So we turned around and headed back to a campground right outside of Rexburg where the Clouds were not visiting! It was a beautiful little spot and I'm so glad that we didn't attempt camping in a hail storm. Our neighbors and other good friends, Jamie and Aaron Myers, came with us. Even though we were only about 4 miles away from our apartments, it was fun camp out. We made delicious tin foil dinners, fought off millions of mosquitoes, played games, read some not so scary stories, listened to coyotes and guitars, and ran through sprinklers (Ivan's favorite). It's alot of work to get ready for a camping trip, but it is sure alot of great fun!

I'm helping dad with the manly stuff! We're building a fire!

Ivan was pretty upset when we laid him down in the tent by himself, until he learned how to unzip the door.

Then our little Houdini thought he was pretty hot stuff when he could get out all by himself. It took a few times of him escaping to figure out that we needed to put the zipper up at the top of the tent instead of the bottom.

This picture is proof that smoke follows beauty cause it's avoiding
the Browns and sticking with the Myers.

We wanted to try Ivan's escape techniques.
(definitely much easier with an Ivan size body!)