State Volleyball 2011

This year our Varsity Volleyball team went to state and took third place! During Districts, Declo (our only rival this season) beat us in the first round, we beat them in the second, but they ended up winning the District Title. That had our girls out for some blood! We beat Malad in a play in game, and packed our bags for Couer d'Alene Idaho! We were able to raise enough money to take a charter bus (which is such a good thing!) We split the trip going up into two days. We practiced and stayed the night in Grangeville Idaho. It's a nice little town, reminded me of Gooding. We played the very first game on Friday morning, and ended up taking down Nampa Christian. Declo lost {twice} that day, and went straight home. Needless to say our girls were in a great mood! On Saturday we played Butte County and lost. Later Saturday we faced Ririe (who beat Declo), and the game was on. There were some touch and go moments where things looked a little iffy, but the girls fought hard to pull out the win, and take home that third place hardware! I was so proud of them!

with the C-Team Coach Kari Pease, and Varsity Coach Megan Millican. This was Megan's first year as a Varsity coach. What a way to start your career!

This group of girls couldn't be more special to me!

Kelsey Norris, Laramie Turner, and Kayleigh Erickson. (Amaia Demmary is missing from this picture. She was having knee surgery and couldn't go to State. She was really missed on and off the court. She was our team libero, and was one of the best little liberos I've ever seen!)

This group of girls was one of the last groups I remember from being in school with them. They were still in 8th grade when I graduated, but having known them through small town ties made them super special to begin with! These girls provided so many laughs and {some maybe not so funny} stories. I had a ball with these girls and will REALLY miss them next season!

After we lost to Butte County they put the hardware on a table outside the gym. I told the girls to touch it and rub some on their face... it'd be good luck. It seemed to really work!

(Thanks Kayleigh for making it look like I'm kissing you in this next picture! Freak!) haha! I really am kissing the little statue's head!

And I can't forget Stewart! Jon's farewell was on Sunday, and he was worried I wouldn't make it back in time. {We weren't sure that they'd drive all night- especially if we happened to be in the championship...} anywho- he drove me home. I slept {almmmmost} the whole way home. I guess he stopped somewhere for an hour to sleep. The best part is that the bus beat us home by 15 minutes. :] Fail. But I can't lie- it was fun having him there with me!

Ketchup...

....No not as in the red stuff you eat hot dogs with.... but more like CATCH-UP! I'm SO behind... so here it goes. (and it's a really long post).

• Brogan probably wins with the most exciting news. This little guy is growing up SO fast! He's got his first tooth poked through, he's crawling (hands and knees) EVERYWHERE, and his latest trick is pulling himself up onto things. He pulls himself up onto EVERYTHING he can. HE really loves his new mobile abilities. He's still not very good with his feet, but it doesn't take too long for this boy to get it! His hair has seemed to grow really fast all of a sudden. I like to play with it. He's too cute with some spikes (or the occasional comb over ;)

• Addison has taken on her terrible twos (like yesterday morning at 9:42 am) I haven't been able to catch a break from her. Her favorite thing to do (besides intentionally drive me nuts) is to pester Brogan, or do the opposite of what I'm doing (ie- cleaning up toys... she takes them out and puts them back on the floor). She hasn't been all bad though. She recently learned that pushing chairs around will get her up to counter/sink/stove/microwave level, and life hasn't been the same since. She's a "helper" at the sink while I'm doing the dishes, she likes to microwave random items (binkis, bowls of already popped pop corn...etc). She has also taken to cooking with me. (This doesn't bother me like dumping cups of water on the floor does). In fact I enjoy having her help me (to a point) when we're making dinner. I try to give her her own utensils and piece of whatever we're working with. She's growing up, and is definitely interested in what Mom's doing!

(And don't think that I didn't have to wrestle her down to comb and fix that hair!)

(Actually we bribe her with candy)

(Yes... I'm a horrible Mom)

• My Mom's birthday is in November (the 4th) and she put on her Birthday list "A to-die-for Chocolate cake". So I went to work. I found a good recipe online and made cake #1 which overflowed in the oven (which resulted in a very clean oven). I didn't get down. I just tried again. Cake #2 didn't come out of the pan in one piece, but I snagged a taste of the cake, and it was "to-die-for"! So I decided to try yet AGAIN. (This time I greased and floured). Still didn't come out clean. SO I just smooshed the cake together into a cake form, frosted it, and put dark chocolate shavings on top. It was pretty darn good, but I think I'm going to have to find a new "to-die-for" recipe (one that comes out of the pan!)

• Aunt JoAnna is the best aunt ever! She spends a lot of time with my babies, and sometimes they don't cooperate the way they should, but JoAnna always loves them no matter what! Addison's favorite room at Grandma Jensen's is JoAnna's room. It has so many cool "off limit" things she likes to play with. JoAnna let's Addison listen to her i-pod, and that's one of Addison's favorite things!

It's pretty safe to say that JoAnna is Brogan's ultimate favorite. I think he'd almost rather have her over me {almost}. He LOVES JoAnna!

One day Aunt Jo did Addison's makeup. (Um...a little hookerish... but Addison still had fun).

• I babysit kids at Jazzercise on Wednesday mornings. Charlie Turner is one of Addison's favorite friends. On Mon-Wed-Friday mornings the only way I can get Addison to willingly get up and dressed is to say "Don't you want to see Charlie!?!" She loves Charlie!

Um... No- I don't spend waaaay too much time on the computer... haha!

Phheeewwww! Tough day today! I feel like I need to just vent for a bit, but Stewart's already mad at me, and whatever I put on facebook will be criticized by my peers for being too negative (and at the same time I sorta want my kids to know someday, that it wasn't all puppies and fun dates). So I figured... hell- why not blog about it!

So we took the bars off of Addison's crib (now a toddler bed). It's been three nights. And tomorrow the first thing I'm going to do is put the bars back on. I seriously can't take it. Not that she just wants to sleep with us at 3:00 in the morning, but the fact that 1)she has not slept through the night since we took them off 2)she can't find her own to our room (no lights throughout the whole house 3)when she ends up in our bed, she sleeps ALL OVER ME! Not Stew- ME. (Even though Stewart will tell you how horrible he slept) 4)I'm the only one who hears her crying. Yep. And if I do manage to get Stewart awake to go get her, he has to wake up, (which takes forever) and go pee. By that time I'm so worried that Brogan will be awake I usually go get her myself.

Last night I put her to bed like usual. Read her 2 stories, said prayers, then put her in bed with a bottle, binki, and her bunny. (Don't hate on the bottle and binki- the girl is not even 2, and I like to choose my battles). Then I laid on the floor (like I do EVERY night. The only way I can get her to stay IN bed). 45 minutes later I snuck out of her room, and she was fine. Fast asleep. At 2:30 I heard her crying and screaming, and decided to let her tough it out. Until I heard her throw up (which she can make herself do). Yup. Love that. I can't just leave her in her throw up, so I got up, cleaned up the puke, changed her diaper and jammies, then did the whole night time routine over again. Every time I tried to get up- she cried. I ended up sleeping on Addison's floor for 3 hours. By the time I got back to bed she was screaming again- so I brought her to my bed (at which point Stewart wakes up and says -she was crying?) Um- yes- and I've been gone for 3 hours. HELLO!?!? So Addison is in bed with us and she starts burning up, and acting fussy. I took off her jammies, Stewart got her a cool washrag, and we cracked the window. At this point I was supposed to be getting up to go to Jazzercise (5:00) which I had a goal to do 5 days in a row this week. Ya- no way was I going to be able to make it through a whole day on such crappy sleep! So I slept in till the blessed hour of 8:00 (which is sleeping waaaay in for Brogan), then started my day with diapers, bottles, and breakfast.

I decided today that I should get out my Christmas decor (since it takes so long to put out with the kiddos around- I might as well be a step ahead- because there's no point in getting it out the week before Christmas just to put it all away again). All day while I was trying to put the garland above my cupboards, Brogan just kept crying and crying! And he's got a pair of lungs! He's changed his cry to a scream these days, and the only way to get him to stop is to pick him up. He just wants me to play with him 24/7. Which, most days- it's all that seems to get done. But today- I needed to get the stuff out, and the clutter cleaned up (because between that and the crying kids- I was going insane!) As the day dragged on, Addison felt worse and worse. I could tell because she'd come snuggle me wherever I was, no matter what I was doing. At one point, I was holding Brogan on my lap on the floor, and Addison crawled onto me (in front of him) and tried to push him out of my arms. I tried to set him down and it was like setting of an alarm! So I picked him back up and he started pulling Addison's hair. She started crying, which made Brogan start crying, which almost made me start crying! I was holding BOTH of them, and they were STILL crying!!!!! By the time Stewart got home, I could barely cope anymore. We were supposed to go to pack meeting, but I told him I wasn't going with both kids, but he'd have to take one. He was good about taking Brogan (I knew if there were people to play with him, and new space to crawl around he'd be fine), and he was. Addison spent the rest of the night in my arms. She fell asleep at about 7:00 and I attempted to put her in bed (which only pissed her off). I finished picking up the toys, and got the boxes out of my kitchen/living room. When Stewart got home from pack meeting I felt officially defeated.

Addison isn't going to bed tonight (hence the late night rant). I can't sleep (because of all this pent up frustration), so I folded a bunch of clothes and picked up a bunch of crap in our room. We tried to let Addison cry it out tonight- but she lasted a good 45 minutes before I went in there and played good cop/bad cop with her. that didn't work. So now Stew is in there laying on the floor next to her bed (which seems to be the only option of putting her to bed). I'm pretty sure that first thing in the morning, those damn bars are going back on the bed. I can't handle this crappy night/crappy day/crappy attitude thing. It's killing me.

So that's my rant. Stewart is a great dad and an amazing husband (so don't think he's worthless), I've just had a tough day. I just needed to be able to vent, and in this case it'll make good reading for Addison some day (the little stinker!).

Buddies

Addison loves her uncle Jon! Before he left on his mission they did everything together!

Here they are coloring on the floor.

Eating Jon's taco Wagon Birthday lunch. Addison would NOT sit in her high chair. She wanted her own plate like Jon, and she wanted to sit by him (scooch over Grandma! ;)

Jon smashed his finger while he was working at Turner's, and he was pretty helpless without it. Simple tasks like buttoning up his pants, were difficult. But it wasn't anything Addison couldn't handle. :)

Uncle Jon is going to make a great missionary! When he gets home Addison and Brogan will be so much bigger, but I know Addison will still love him just as much!

Date Night

Awhile back (like August) I planned a surprise date for Stewart. It was a great date, and pretty inexpensive (my favorite).

We went out to my parents' pasture where they keep their horses. It's nice and mowed down. We parked by their little stream, and built a little blanket fort.

We used the pickup to make the tent, then we built a fire to cook our tin foil dinners (which really only need to be cooked for 10 or 15 minutes... not half an hour) (Stewart!) :) Yup. We burned the hell out of our dinner, so we picked around the charred pieces of meat and potatoes until we felt like we couldn't eat any more burn. :)

We made campfire cone s'mores (found it on pinterest), but after they came out burned too, I decided I needed waffle cones, NOT sugar cones. (Yup, we would never make it in the wild).

We played some UNO by fire-light, drank kool-aid out of my fancy glasses, and enjoyed the view. Isn't it fantastic?

As it started getting dark we were going to snuggle and look at the stars. As soon as we got settled we heard howling like 10 yards away. (It happened like in the movies... ya know- they get all settled in, hear scary noises, then pack up as quick as they can). Almost comical even! As we were packing up, all of a sudden someone in a white shirt was standing right by Stewart, and he had a gun. We both stopped really quick, until we realized it was just Jon. He'd come to check out the "thief" "stealing" his junk. :) We had a fun night just being together! Love you Stew!

Kid's Stats

I found the kids stats from their last doctors appointment! {I knew it would only take a month! :}

On October 3rd 2011:

Addison weighed in at 26 lbs, 10 oz. Her height was 34 inches, and her head measured 18.5 inches.

Brogan weighed in at 22 lbs, 11 oz {YA- HOLY SMOKES!}. His height was 26.5 inches, and his head measured 17.75 inches. {yup... he's a big boy!}

By the way- Brogan is officially crawling! He can get wherever he wants now. {oh joy}. Although he can get around, he would rather just be carried everywhere. Yesterday he crawled down the hall from Addison's room to the living room and cried the whole time. Poor kid. I think he doesn't like crawling because it burns too many calories. He's got a reputation ya know! ;)

Thankful~Day~3

~Day 3~

I'm thankful for Temples. I'm SO thankful for the Covenants we make in the Temple. I'm thankful that through those covenants we are able to be with our families for eternity. I'm thankful for the peace and closeness to my Heavenly Father I feel when I go there.

The Salt Lake Temple is a special temple to me. It's "my" temple. I'm thankful that I was able to go there to be sealed to my amazing husband!

Thankful~Day~2

~Day 2~

I am SO thankful for my kiddos! I'm not sure what I'd do without them! Sometimes I think that we were crazy to have kids so fast, and so close together. Then other times I don't think that until people tell me so. Often I struggle with the world's opinion of how we've started our family. This October our Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) held it's semi-annual General Conference. During this conference we are spoken to by a living Prophet and his Apostles. It seemed like each talk was written just for me. I especially loved the talk given by Niel L. Anderson entitled "Children". I cried through the whole thing, but the following paragraph, really gave me a comforting feeling.

Many voices in the world today marginalize the importance of having children or suggest delaying or limiting children in a family. My daughters recently referred me to a blog written by a Christian mother (not of our faith) with five children. She commented: “[Growing] up in this culture, it is very hard to get a biblical perspective on motherhood. … Children rank way below college. Below world travel for sure. Below the ability to go out at night at your leisure. Below honing your body at the gym. Below any job you may have or hope to get.” She then adds:

“Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling.

You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps.

It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in.

It is what God gave you time for.”⁷

I love my babies, and am so glad that I have the opportunity to fill my time raising them (no matter how tired or crazy they make me!)

{I think} they are close to the same age in these pictures. They look a lot alike {more than I realized}. I think Addison is my clone (with Stew's eyes), and Brogan looks just like his daddy (with my eyes). Both are so happy, and good babies! I LOVE them!

Thankful~Day~1

This month is always a good reminder to be Thankful for all the Blessings we have. I know that far too often I focus on the things I want instead of the things that I have right in front of me. Each day I'll post something I'm thankful for and why. It's always good to count your Blessings, and journal them too!

~Day 1~

Words can not express how Thankful I am for Stewart. He puts up with so much crap from me! He deserves so much better, but I'm glad he loves me for who I am. I can talk to him about ANYTHING. He listens and makes me feel better. I love that he pushes me to be better. He honors his Priesthood, and takes his church callings seriously. He is an AMAZING Father, and loves our kids. I don't think I've ever seen another man help so much with his kids. Sometimes I may complain, or rant and rave, but this man means the world to me! I am SO glad I met him, and overcame my "not getting married" phase. I am also SO glad that he "took me back" after I told him I was in a "not getting married" phase. He is an Awesome person, and the love of my life. He keeps me laughing, and always treats me like a queen. I Love you Stewart! I'm glad we have an eternity together!

ALWAYS keeps me laughing! LOL!

Laughter...

...they say is the best medicine. Well I'm a believer. Both of my kids are SO silly! I spend so much of my time laughing with them. I remember years ago, my Mom told me that when my oldest brother Jason was a baby she'd just lay on the floor and laugh and laugh with him. I thought she must've just been one of those weird crazy ladies! But now that I have two hoodlems of my own, I understand, and often find myself doing the same! I hope my kids will never lose their ability to laugh, and always have their tickle spots.

Brogan got to ride home from Uncle Jon's farewell dinner. (Grandma forgot the car seats). He laughed all the way home!

Addison the gnome making Daddy laugh!

Brogan loves bath time! He splashes and laughs and just enjoys the whole thing!

Addison is nuts about binkis! Silly Girl!

Brogan laughing with Great Grandpa Funk!

Addison "sewing". (She kept tangling the thread around the footer. She thought it was so cool!)

Addison and I were both wearing headbands one night. Addison didn't want Brogie to be left out, so she brought him his own. He didn't mind.