December

Well, December flew by. I didn't even realize it was nearly over until I had started the Christmas Break. And oh what a break it has been. We have two full weeks off. I'm on the Tuesday of the 2nd week, and I'm pretty dang happy. Yes, the anxiety of next week has been creeping in, but I've planned an easy day so that we can slide in easily. Oh, there's Charlie, just woke up. Be back!
WellI'm back after an hour and a half. Kinda, I have to type when Charlie's back is turned or he yells at me. He's been pretty selfish with my time lately. All I've done for the last week is play with Charlie's new Christmas cars. Every time I get out my phone to text Jay or check Facebook he points at me and says, "Momma, pocket." It kind of cracks me up because that's what I do all day long with my students.
Anyway, let's see. There's not a whole lot to talk about right now. Everything has been going as usual,  busy busy Brooke with hardly no time to play. So, I'll talk about the holidays.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was kind of business as usual. We went to both Jay's family dinner and my family's dinner. I can't think of anything particularly crazy happening. Charlie at more than cranberries this year, which was nice for me later on.
After Thanksgiving the rest of the year flew by. I didn't even realize December had come for a long time.

Christmas

So, let's jump into December and Christmas. Once again, it was pretty much business as usual. Jay and I couldn't really stop to take a breath most weeks. Busy busy busy. Christmas shopping, Christmas Carol at Hale, Christmas parties at work, other meetings at work... no wonder the month flew by.
Charlie unwrapped his present the week before Christmas. After he unwrapped it, I rewrapped it, but he called it hid Big Truck Present afterword.

He really enjoyed Christmas once he got to start opening presents. It was tough at first, because he wanted to play with the stuff he had already opened more than unwrap more presents. Needless to say, he was spoiled.

Jay and I were also spoiled this year. Thank you everyone! We got a lot of cash. Instead of saving it and using it for the good of our finances, we've decided that we want to take a trip to Wendover soon. Now, we won't spend it all. Usually we take 40 bucks, split it between us, and once it's gone, it's gone. I know our church doesn't want us gambling, but I think of it more as spending some money to go relax and play some games. I just love watching the little wheels spin on the slot machines! We never spend more than we've set aside.

New Years

Well, today is New Years eve. We're planning a couple of fun things. First, I'm going to Leatherbys with my friends around noon. I haven't seen them for a long time. We're all so busy, it's nearly impossible to get together. But I love them!

Then, we're going over to Grandma's to play games and eat food and some fireworks. It should be fun. I don't know if Charlie is going to make it to midnight, but that's ok.

New Years Resolutions.... Yeah, I have a lot this year. 

1. Jay and I want to start paying our tithing again. We've been extremely bad at that lately. We haven't paid in a long time.

2. Walk every day. We always hole up during the winter and both of us are a lot happier if we walk a mile every day. The dogs are too. We also want to start snowshoeing on the weekends. I'm excited!

3. Take my iron pill every day. It'll make me happier.

4. Clean and feed the small pets every day. they are all the way downstairs, so sometimes, since we're so busy, they got forgotten. I always feel awful....

We'll see how well these go.

Charlie

Charlie is growing, growing, growing. His vocabulary is exploding and he's learning sentence structuring and even pronouns. It makes me happy. Now, if only he'd be willing to be potty trained. He is not there yet. In fact, a couple of weeks ago he told me, "Mamma, I'm not ready." Little turd.
Yesterday, he picked something up that broke my heart. When I put him down for his nap, he started screaming, "Don't leave me, Mamma." :( That is just plain mean, Charlie. He did again when it was time for bed. He knows what buttons to push.

Pets

All the pets are doing well. I think the rat might be ready to kick the bucket, he's getting older. He always looks grumpy. 

I got a lizard for a classroom pet. It's a bearded dragon. His name is toothless, and he's kind of a pain in the butt. Lot's of maintenance. Next time I'll be getting a simple leopard gecko.

Whitney is actually beginning to grow on us. I think she's finally become an official member of the family. If only she'd stop jumping the fence.

Jay and I

We're doing well, just busy. Our lack of time to relax has caused a few arguments lately, but I think as things calm down a bit we'll be able to relax.

School is going good, I always feel like I'm behind and I'm a little worried about next year for reasons  I can't talk about, but I love what I do and that won't change.

I'm Back!

I am ashamed of myself. I haven't written in OVER A YEAR! I missed Charlie's first and second birthdays, I never talked about our new house, I never even mentioned my job at Granger. So much has changed in this year and a half I can hardly believe it. To be fair, I didn't have a computer for about two months, but I don't think it's the best excuse. There's no way I am going to be able to write about all of it. I will, though, go over the biggest things. I will also renew my efforts to keep a journal of my family's lives.

Charlie

Most of what I write about Charlie will be on his blog. But, seeing that I have also not written in his blog for a long amount of time, I can give everyone Charlie's story here.

I am very disapointed that I did not write about Charlie's first birthday. He's grown so much since last summer. 

For his first birthday, my family met at Taylorsville Park and we threw him a big party. He was super, super spoiled, as usual. Since then, he's grown and developed like the crazy toddler he is. He's even had his 2nd birthday. That party was at our own home (more about the new house later).

Charlie talks in complete sentences most of the time. About 95% of what he says can be understood by nearly everyone. Sometimes he'll say something that I have to work out, but for the most part I understand him perfectly. It's just amazing to me how language develops. Kids just work it out, it's incredible.

I think Charlie is one of the most polite two year olds around. He is very good about saying please, thank you, and sorry. There are times that he decides to be a brat, but when he's being his happy normal self he is very good about being polite.

Here's some awesome pictures of Charlie:

New Home

In my last post I talked about being house-hungry. Well, funny enough, that week we started working on getting that house we were going to "save" for. Also funny, I mentioned a house in West Jordan I was interested in, well, that's the house we got. In fact, the house nearly fell into our hands. At first, this house was marked as sold, so we gave up. Then, when our real estate agent took us to look at houses he brought us to this house. I told him that it had been marked as sold before, and he called to check write there. The owner told him that the buyers just suddenly decided to drop out and he was kind of desperate to sell. So, we got an awesome deal. (By the way, if anyone needs a GREAT real estate agent in Salt Lake, check our Phillip Mostow)We pretty much decided to go for it, and it was the 2nd house we looked at. We did go look at one more, but really everything else in the price range were huge fixer upers, and this one was not. Sure, there's stuff to be done, but nothing was required to happen before we could actually lived in the house, so we were happy. We moved in the day before Halloween 2012.

This house is awesome! It has a huge backyard with a huge garden, a huge fountain, a hot tub (not yet working sadly), a shed, and a cute little playhouse with electricity and a little loft. So awesome. The frontyard is beautiful, tons of trees, it just screams my name.

Inside, there are 6 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a large kitchen and dining area, and 2 large living rooms. It had new carpets and had just been freshly painted.

That said, there have been a cou
ple of things that were really crazy. The first week or so we couldn't figure out why it was so dang cold. I'd set the thermostat, but we were freezing all night long. Grandma came and figured it out for us, the battery in the thermostat was dying. D'oh!

I was walking downstairs at some point and noticed that there were mushrooms growing in the carpet. Mushrooms! In the carpet! I was flabbergasted. Well, we called a family friend, Mark, and he found the leak in about 3 minutes and did a quick fix. My sister's boyfriend's (at the time) father gave us what we needed to get the carpet dried out and it's been fine since, but my goodness that was weird. 

One day I opened one of the front doors (it's a double door) and it would not close, it was stuck! Well, Grandma to the rescue again. We got the door shaved down a bit.

There's been a few more leaks and some semi-crazy stuff, but hey, I guess that's home-ownership.

We've loved having our own home. I planted a garden this summer, it was a weird garden... we had 31 pumpkins! Also, the Browns moved in (my sister married that boyfriend) and that's been another weird experience, an ongoing one. ;) Love you guys.

Whitney

I got a new dog. In summary of everything, she was the worst decision I ever made, but I still love her. She was a 7 month old black and tan coonhound. I found the dog on KSL, she sure is pretty, so I wanted her. She was living with the owner's friend and it was a pain in the butt to actually get her. Still, the owner said she was potty trained and that she was being trained as a police search dog, so I was excited. 

Potty trained, ha! She peed all over the place for the 1st 5 days. Then, I finally figured out that she was peeing way too often, so I took her to the vet. She had a urinary tract infection. Blug, 2 $70 bags of dogwood later and about 8 useless vet trips, and she's good as new. Not many accidents anymore, except when she gets excited. The dog has a lot of other hang ups, too, but she tries really really hard. Plus, Gabby loves her. We've got her crate trained, though, and that's our fallback when we don't want the entire house to be chewed to pieces while we're gone.

My New Job

I got my dream job! I am teaching biology at Granger High School! It's been great, but extremely absorbing. This and the new house has probably been why blogging hasn't even crossed my mind for the longest time. My first year had an interesting, and I'd say rocky start. But, I was well prepared for most everything and I got through it. I got through it. I do remember questioning my career choice quite a few times. But, it's very rewarding and I LOVE IT!

So, far, about 1/4, into my 2nd year, I think I've got it down. My classes are much, much, much better. They've added a lot of crap that I have to do as a teacher, but at least the classes are going better. I still love it, even though it is still exhausting.

We moved into a new school this year, and boy that was another experience that I NEVER want to go through again. My room is beautiful, though.

Canada

Our summer vacation was to Canada this year. Banff National Park. I wish I could describe it, and I wish I had the time to tell you everything about it. Canada is beautiful. I want to retire to Canada, sadly I don't think countries like it when you retire into them...

We stopped at Yellowstone on the way home, which was as amazing as always. I want to go back there again very soon.

Well, that is all I can think of right now... sad, I know. This 1 1/2 years have probably been the most defining for my family. So much has changed, and I have so little documented. Well, like I said, I will try and do better. Talk to you soon, gosh darn it!

Summer 2012, As Busy As It Gets

Things really took off in July. We've been running around like mad people! I really hope I remember everything! Jay, please remind me if I forgot something important so that I can post about it!

Camping

We did finally get to go camping this summer! The best part is that we've been to a few of my favorite places in the world (so far, I haven't been many places). No, not Yellowstone National Park, we might do that next year, but this year we've been to the Unitas, specifically Whitney Reservoir, and to Hidden Haven up by Bear Lake.

When we got up to Whitney Reservoir we were disappointed when we saw how low the lake was. Seriously, I would have given it 20 feet at its deepest and 60 feet at its widest. We weren't surprised, Dad warned us, but wow! We drove on about 5 minutes further and ended up at Beaver lake. I don't know if it was low or not because I don't remember it very well from when I was younger, but it at least looked better and there was a beautiful place to camp just waiting for us.

 I gotta say, my Jeep looks awesome when it has trees and mountains as a backdrop. The definition of wildness, there. :)

We did one of my favorite things to do while I am camping. We wandered. I love going off the road, off the trail and just heading toward whatever captures my interest. It makes me so happy. We had a great little walk. We saw a deer, which Gabby chased. We also happened upon a cute little beaver pond, that was pretty cool. Didn't see any beaver, though.

Some of you might be saying, "What idiots! Don't they hear the stories of boyscouts getting lost in the Uintas all of the time?! And they had their baby! What irresponsible people, that's bear country." Don't worry, I always keep an eye on the scenery and know where I am. Plus, I've always been really really good at knowing what direction North is. Never fear, we weren't lost for a second.

We  actually caught another fish! That puts the count up to 3 in our entire 4 years married. Go us! The fisher-failures. 

Then, it rained, like all afternoon. It was beautiful to listen to. 

We discovered that if we are going to make chili for dinner while we are camping that we should pack a can opener. Luckily, our not too distant neighbors had one! :)

Nights were cold, so Charlie ended up with us in bed each night. It was nice, but not a habit I want him to get into. He seemed to enjoy camping, but did not like being left in the pack n play while we put the tent up. He was mad!

We also made it up to Hidden Haven for Raspberry Dayzz. It was a lot of fun! I love Hidden Haven. It was nice to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa and Pam and Glenn. We got go down to the craft fair, which was kind of disappointing this year, and we got to see some pretty fireworks. 

We also rode on some 4-wheelers. Gabby chased us up Booth mountain, poor dog. She could hardly walk for a week. Silly girl.

We also had some super yummy raspberry milkshakes. Yum!

We're planning on going up to Hidden Haven in another couple of weeks for Labor Day, only this time Carrie and Jayde will be there. I am so excited.

Hiking

 Every weekend in July we went hiking. Mostly, we were trying to prepare for Timanogos. In August we really kind of stopped, which isn't good, because Timp is this weekend! Oy, its gunna be a painful hike. But fun, I'm sure.

 I'll be sure to include photos of that!

Charlie

 Well, it's happening, he's walking. In fact, he's almost running. Crazy little guy is growing up so fast! He isn't much for communicating yet, but I think he'll get there soon. He points at airplanes, vroooms at cars. He says  Mamamama and Dadadadada and Amma and Ba (that's grandpa). It's cute. I think he knows Dog too.

 Almost one year old. In fact, that's next week. I can hardly believe that its been a year! That makes me sad, but happy, but sad. I just don't want him to grow up too quickly.

Teaching

Well, the summer is nearly over and school has gotten very close. I have been trying my bests to prepare lessons and such so that I am prepared to teach. I am so anxious I can't sleep at night. I think everything will be fine after that first day of school, but right now its all so new it is scary.

I have gone to a week of Professional Development that I really like and I am excited to use what I have learned there! I also went to a teacher orientation with the district. That was kind of a waste of time, aside from the time that I got to explore the district office a bit.

Wish me luck, I've got my fingers crossed!

House-Hungry

So, my friends Carly and Jenelle have just closed on houses. So has my cousin, Amanda. It has made me supremely jealous. This week we went up and actually saw Jenelle's house. This just sent me off my rocker. All that night I just sat and looked at houses in areas we want to live in.
I discussed my feelings with Jay and my idea that I think we could possibly afford a house payment when I start getting paid. He agreed, but we're both worried that there is a chance that I won't get hired on again next year, just because my position is being paid for by a grant. The school is growing by almost 1,000 students next year though, so I mean, the odds are in our favor. But, I don't want to take chances when it comes to getting a house.
So, we made a deal. We are going to save up some money this year, and once I get hired on for next year we are going to start house-hunting. I'm still looking at the houses available in West Jordan, South Jordan, and Sandy. :) I'm thinking 4-5 bedrooms, 2-3 bathroom and .23-.25 acres. Big backyard! he he he We'll see.

Lazy Times

Though I haven't been working, I have been trying my best to plan for the school year. I got 2 units planned and a tiny bit of the 3rd unit planned. I am so excited to start. Even if all my plans crumble and I have to start from scratch. ;)

I did, though, spend a marvelous summer with my little boy. I watched a lot of court shows and read some books. Part of me will miss my leisurely times.