A little bit about Brogie Bear

It's been awhile since I've told you what this little dude's been up to, so here's a little bit about Brogan.

Brogan is such a happy Boy.

• He get's jealous if anyone "has" his Mom {very big Momma's boy}
• He doesn't like to share very much, but likes "new" kids
• He goes to nursery easier than Addison (even though he's not 18 months yet)

•  He loves to wrestle, and can be deadly if he uses his weight against you. 

• He LOVES to eat.  Seriously- he is ALWAYS eating. 
• He makes a HUGE mess when he eats
• He always wants ketchup/ranch/mustard/dressing on his food (whatever we have he wants).

• He looks happy now, but he hates being washed up.

(This is what almost every meal looks like).

•  He loves "fixing" his hair. (He wants it sprayed, combed and gelled.  Then he wants to do all that again, by himself)
• He also loves to touch his hair (usually after I have just fixed it, or when he has a whole bunch of greeby stuff on his hands)

•  He really loves to eat.  Really.  I'm not kidding.  :)
• He's handled teething like a champ.  
• He has a serious little temper, and knows how to throw a tantrum.
• He likes red popsicles, not green.  If you try and give him a green one, he'll throw a tantrum.

•  Every morning Brogan wakes up and immediately says "sissy" and points to Addison's door.  He loves to wake her up.  He loves her SO much.  
• He copies everything Addison does.
• He's starting to talk.  A few of his fav words are "nama" (grandma) "nana" (JoAnna) "dis" (this, which includes a point), "tant oo" (thank you), "dada", "Suze" (Suzie the cat), and "papa" (Grandpa.
• Brogan has taken to snuggling lately.
• He loves to blow kisses and open the door for people who are leaving our house.
• He loves outside.
• He is a tough little guy.  Even after a bump, fall, or hitting his mouth, he wants to stay at the park and play it out.  (That's my boy).
• He's heavier than Addison.  Last weigh in he was 30 lbs (Addison was 26).
• He's almost as tall as Addison, but definitely more built.
• He loves to climb on the footstool and jump from couch to couch. He and the floor are pretty good friends. ;)
• He always has a cracker in his hand. (because he loves to eat!)

We sure you love Brogan! You are so special to us!

Hungry?

Hmmm... Where's Addison.  It's been a little too quiet around here.

 Oh- she must've gotten hungry.  

Peanut Butter straight from the jar, with a spatula?  Always a good idea.  

What a funny little girl.

Church

Have you ever been to a church meeting where there is this family with two small kids, and for whatever reason, they can not be kept entertained.  The kids are running up and down the isle, screaming, and throwing a temper tantrum when a hand goes over their squawking mouth?  You've seen the people I'm talking about.  Yup.  We are those people.  Normally my kids are SO wound up during sacrament meeting.  I have literally tried EVERYTHING to keep them quiet, but we always end up roaming the halls as soon as the sacrament is over.  It's also become a tradition for the nearest mother {usually with grown children} to tell me "what worked for them", or to make snide remarks such as "your mommy is so much nicer than me.  I'd have smothered you by now"{in a baby voice, but totally true}.  So this Sunday was one worthy of a blog post.  That's right, these Bingham kids stayed in sacrament meeting, {mostly} in our pew, with minimal crying/screaming/laughing/shouting!  It was like a dream to actually be IN the chapel for once!

I'm not counting on it happening every week, but hey- we're getting there baby!
(And never did I think there would be a time in my life that this would be such a huge accomplishment in my book!)  :)

Goodbye BBQ

Before Antonio left we had a little goodbye BBQ for him.  It was just us, some family, and a couple of his friends.

These are all exchange students (there were probably even more) that went to Gooding.  What a great group of kids!  

 Addison and her new-found, new-favorite, cousin Lizzie.

 Antonio opening his going away gifts.  My mom made him an awesome picture book of his time spent here.

 After the BBQ, the kids were SO dirty.  I told Stewart to start the bathtub so we could strip them down and throw them in.  A little later I was showing off the house and came into the bathroom to find this!

Two fully clothed, fully diapered kids had jumped in the tub!  Stewart had started the tub, but forgot about the "stripping them down" part! What goof balls!

{out of order. eh.}

The Popes.  (Clive was Antonio's Sunday School teacher and did a great job of making him feel welcome)

 My cousin Tomi and her daughter Lizzy.

 All the exchange students and Kelsey.

 The Odells

I didn't take pictures of everyone (people came in shifts, and I only got the camera out once).  It was a great party.  Thanks to all that came.  I know Antonio was glad to see you one last time!

The Big Back Yard REVEAL!

We've been enjoying the work we've been putting into our back yard, and it's safe to say we're pretty close to done with projects (for this summer anyway).  

(This is probably the best "before" I've got- you can see the grass is all tore up, and we're getting ready for the sod).

And here's an After.  Look- the bush is gone!  This spot will be my future strawberry bed.

another "before".

 Another (half way) "before".  We did the sod in two parts.  This day we were getting ready to lay round two.

 This is the pile of Junk we've accumulated since the beginning of our adventures.  The big bushes we ripped out, a broken tree branch, and the old stair boards.  (This pile was here for about a month, so it's monumental that we have a "before" for it).  :)

 Ta-Da!  Brand new steps and new edged flower beds (complete with flowers!)

 We added some flowers to this side of the house to make it more cozy (it used to be creepy and spidery).  We also added some planks so I can chase the kids to the garage without having to walk on these awful little red cinders (they do it, but it hurts me too bad!)

 Look!  My garden!  Hopefully the birds don't eat all my stuff! (and the row there is for my raspberry starts I'll be getting soon!)

 Just a nice shot of our back yard.  I LOVE being out here now, and so do the kiddos.  We've eaten outside almost every day of the week!

 Remember that awful pile we had?  GONE!  It's now dedicated to sunbathing, and drinking carbonated beverages :)

 If you're ever in town, be sure to stop by and have some lemonade on the patio with us!  Your kids can swim in the kiddie pool, and we'll BBQ something good, just for you! :)

The "Go to Hell" Yellow door

No- unfortunately you can't go to Lowes and ask for "Go to Hell" Yellow, but I do like this yellow color (almost orange) I picked out!  This door has so much character, I just couldn't stand to see it be so boring!

Ta-Da!  My new yellow door! 

(If you don't like it- .... well you know where you can go)

 I LOVE it! 

Such a refreshing pop of color in this beige house!

The Stairs

Lately I've found myself becoming a project whore.  I just can't stop doing projects!  This major stair project started out as me innocently scraping off the top layer of paint (since it was peeling anyway). 

 It doesn't work well to paint over a stain, so I figured I would just scrape the paint off to the stain and have this nice red color that was hiding underneath.  {I had help}

 That same night Stewart came home to find this (and me scraping away to the bare wood).  (He wasn't impressed).  I had to use the heat gun to get all the paint off.

 After I scraped/burned/sanded the wood down (and vacuumed up my mess) I finally got to the primer part. (YES- I taped off EVERYTHING, and it was EASY!)   Also- I decided that I would paint this little window frame white while I was at it.  {See what I mean? It's a sickness}.

 After much ado- TA-DA!  (Although it's still not finished.  I have to put all the "finishing touches" (And another coat of paint on the railing), but good enough for now!  I like how the white makes the beige really pop!  {SOMEDAY I would like to paint all my trim white, but Stewart will tell you that won't be happening anytime soon ;) }

Yellowstone Trip {2012} -Take Five-

This is the Fifth and final take!

We spent our last night in Jackson Hole WY.  We checked in too late to even go see the pool, but we got some Wendy's and all crashed a little early {in our teeny, cozy little room}.

The next day we met Antonio's friend from Brasil, who is also an exchange student, living in Jackson Hole.  They enjoyed speaking non-stop Portuguese to each other {probably talking about how crazy each of their host families are} ;)

We ate at this Mexican place "The three little Piggies" {something like that}.  It was good food, but Addison wasn't very interested in staying.  She just wanted to "go".

Our whole group under the antler arches.  {Damn we're a good lookin group of tourists}

We didn't SEE much, but we did buy some sweatshirts {and these awesome coats} because it poured ALL day!  The kids sported their monkey hats, and Addison refused to loose the binki all day {going to be a World War over that thing...and I'm just not ready to fight yet}

And HEY!  We found Bruce the Moose!  Turns out he was hiding in a store called "Moose on the Loose".  Duh- should've looked there first!

And finally for the long drive back to Gooding!  We did stop at the ice cream shop that serves square ice cream {From our first trip to yellowstone I vaguely remember stopping on the way home and everyone having ice cream, but I was heavily medicated for my morning sickness- so it's a blur}, but we stopped at the same shop for some.  Turns out they had sherbet {GOOD sherbet} and I got to enjoy some ice cream too.

It was a great trip, our first WHOLE family vacation {we finally took Brogan somewhere besides Twin}. 

Great trip to Yellowstone!  

{2012}

 The End. 

Yellowstone Trip {2012} -Take Four-

Yes- there are a lot of takes, but we covered a lot of ground!  

Old Faithful was quite the experience this time. See that water pouring off the roof?  That's from the snow that was melting at the speed of light!

 Old Faithful was expected to erupt right about three.

 Headed out to the Visitors Center before we watch the geyser

 We've still got it ;)

 Addison was so cute.  Cue America's next top model.

 Look at that leg action! ;)

 And even when I was trying to get the others rounded up for a photo op, she continued down the modeling path.

 Two fifty-eight!  We better get outside to find a seat!

 Could there be anything more precious!?

 Brogan decided he wanted to walk by himself.  As soon as he saw this stroller with another child in it, he B-lined for her!  Too bad she was sleeping so he couldn't really say hi!

 Headed out to the geyser.

 Antonio wondering what the heck we are gathering around for that is going to be so spectacular.

 Two minutes before the geyser was supposed to erupt, a downpour started, and I mean DOWN POUR!  We just stood there for two minutes getting soaked to the bone.  All our clothes were soaked, the stroller was soaked, and we were starting to get cold.

 There went the geyser, and we didn't even wait for it to finish before we booked for the van.

 Look who's drivin!  {He drove the WHOLE trip}.  LOVE him!

 We headed East up the lower loop of Yellowstone to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and some more pretty sights.

 Along the way Brogan decided to ...eh.... make ...a... mess.  He blew out everywhere!  Talk about STINKY!  Stew just had to wipe him down outside to avoid getting more stink in the van.  As I was wiping his bum, Stewart was holding his hands, and wouldn't ya know it, Brogan finished doing his number 1 business (a straight-shot for Stewart's shoe!)  Brogie doesn't look like he minds this little spout of attention huh?

 It was really disgusting.  I had to take his car seat out at our hotel and wash it in the sink, then attempt to blow dry it with a hair dryer because it was THAT bad!

 Look... more buffalo.  {He's so close I could have pet him!}  hehehe...

 Stewart and I have a picture of us in this exact place from the first time we went to Yellowstone as a young {and newly, sickly, pregnant} couple.

 When we stopped at this little "mud pot" pull out, it was beautiful.  No precipitation, sun out, and nice.  We got 1/4 the way around the board walk and wouldn't ya know it, rain!  Then it turned into HAIL!  "What the Hail!?!"

 I wanted a picture of this guy {these park rangers are all the same, like- cookie-cutter same}, so I made Stewart and Antonio endure a story of his in the hail!

 Another place we took a picture together.  Love this canyon.  It was definitely worth the long drive to see.

 Love Antonio's bright pink shirt.

 Leaving the park, and headed to Jackson Hole, Wyoming!

 The other part of our crew leaving Yellowstone.

We headed down through the Tetons and found our way to Jackson Hole.  {Still didn't see a moose, or anything else besides buffalo and elk}.  But that's okay.  Watch out for Take FIVE!  {The last leg of our journey!}