Christmas Weekend

Christmas day we had to wake up our kiddos for the presents because we had to quickly pack up and head to Shelley to make it fr Christmas breakfast. Hunter was crabby and Gookie looked dazed. But once the fun presents were opened HUnter was a little more into it. We receieved wonderful presents that morning. But they werent even touche after being opened. sad.

Breakfast was delicious. Then we went to Memaw and Papa Steve's. We took wonderful naps there and then had a great dinner and opened presents. Memaw and Papa Steve spoiled us. We are so thankful for the time and thought they put into each gift for us, they were just perfect and we thank you!!

Saturday the boys went snow mobiling, but they had to go the distance to find the snow!

We stayed there the whole weekend and Hunter had so much fun with the cousins. Here they are dancing. Averee kept saying "Hunter hold hands!" It was too cute!


We got home last night and were able to put together the presents that were here. Hunter was given a train set and a fisher price garage and he has been playing with NON STOP!! it is fun to watch. Gookie will come up and climb up on the garage and Hunter is good to just play around her. When he woke up this morning he went straight to playing, usually he come and get's me. So i got an extra 20 minutes of sleep this morning!

Christmas Eve

Well here it is almost midnight and Brad crashed 2 hours ago, before the kiddos even! Poor man, he is just exhausted.

I love the traditions of Christmas. Hunter's first Christmas we were here in Idaho and for Christmas Eve we went to Sonic for dinner and then drove around and looked at the lights. We did that again tonight, our own family tradition.Hunter loved the lights and Gookie fell asleep. Then tomorrow it is to Gramma Landon's for Christmas Breakfast at 10.

Tonight we put on our red nightgowns. This is a tradition in my family that my great great grand parents started back in the day when everyone wore nightgowns. They would dye them red just for Christmas time and wear them Christmas eve to bed. Ever since then, generation after generation has continued to wear red nightgowns.

Hunter and I made some cookies for Santa, he was a great help. We tried taking pictures of the kiddos. I am horrible but i think the one of Gookie crying is too funny because isnt it typical when you are trying to take cute pictures of your kids, someone is crying?

Hunter took the stockings (another tradition in my family. everyone has a knitted stocking with their name on it that my mom or great aunts have made. mine is so old school compared to brad and the kids)and was trying put it on his head. Once i helped him out, he was so determined that Gookie put hers own too.

I am watching White Christmas. Good thing Bradley is asleep because he would insist i change it to watch star wars instead, yuck! I will put the presents under the tree and do the dishes.

Merry Christmas!!!

Favorite Video

8 months old!!

Brooke is 8 months old today, and we still call her Gookie. Here is what she is busy doing
-babbling
-laughing
-always smiling
-always on the go
-she escapes from all my baricades I make to keep her maintained
-finally eating baby food really well
-starting to pull herself up onto things


She is soo happy and we all love her. Can't believe how the time just flies by!

graduation!!

HUZZAH!!

Brad graduates in 3 hours!! He had his phone interview with Boys Town in Omaha this morning and says he feels like it went well.

Potty training came to a halt after Hunter went on the couch twice in 3 minutes!!! It is not really connecting with him.

I need to take a shower but I am waiting for some hot water. Not a big fan of people living upstairs. Especially when they have a dishwasher and we dont. Yeah, I'm bitter.

Did I mention Brad graduates in a mere 3 hours??!?!??!?!?! HUZZAH!!!

There really IS a Santa Claus!

Yesterday we received a big box full of presents for our family!! We are now going to be able to have a Christmas thanks to this family who sacrificed getting alot of gifts of their own so that we could have presents. The kids wrapped the presents and they look amazing! Hunter was so excited when he saw all the presents! We will be sure to record when we open the presents!
Thank you Hammarstroms!!

Family has helped us out so much especially this year and we are grateful and humbled. I hope that some day we will be able to pay back everyone in some way.


Famiies are wonderful! We love you all, and a million times, thank you!!

~Pictures~

Stockings, Christmas songs, running noses and coughs, beginning to look alot like Christmas

We have had two bad nights in a row where Gookie just coughs and coughs and wakes herself up. She is all stuffy and restless too. Along with that, Hunter has been waking up too which is weird. He doesnt necessarily have a cough, I guess he just wants to join in on the fun.

We are all pretty tired and crabby today. Hunter has had two major meltdowns this morning. Gookie is beginning to try and pull herself up and stand. She was doing that yesterday and Hunter just came up to her and pushed her down. She fell backwards and hit her head on the ground. The carpet here doesnt have padding underneath, a plus when cleaning up potty but a big minus when it comes to hitting your head. She blacked out again, this is the third time she has done that. And it wasnt because she was crying hard. She just blacked out. I hate it! Hunter had a timeout that was longer than normal.

The whole potty training thing is going pret crappy. But it was only the first day yesterday.

Primary Program

Yesterday was the Primary program, and since we are in a student ward and all the kids in primary are in nursery, HUnter had a part. The parents sat on the stand with their kiddos. Memaw and Papa came so they were able to hold Gookie for us so we both could be up there with Hunter. He did his part really well (repeating the words one by one) and went up to sing, but didnt sing. It was pretty smooth sailing until the very end when a member of the bishopric was giving his comments. Hunter was trying to get away from Brad to run off and he fell. SO we are up there infront of everyone and I am trying to tell Brad to take HUnter out. When Hunter sits up after laying on Brad's shoulder, Brad has blood all over the shoulder of his white shirt. HUnter was bleeding pretty bad. All for the ward to see. SO i take Hunter down the steps, past everyone sitting down and out the door to the bathroom. That was our first experience with our child in the primary program. Funny thing is the same thing happened to another family. Their little girl fell and the dad took her out. WHen i saw him in nursery he had blood all over his shoulder too! I think that is why nursery kids arent in the program!

I am giving all my time and efforts to potty training this week. I have the m&m's and hershey kisses all ready. Last week he pooped on the floor and I said , "oh no hunter that's poop!" he replied "not poopoos Mama, it's a snake!!" Oh dear.

Hunter's new favorite movie is Lady and the Tramp. Memaw let him borrow it and he cant get enough of it. SO for now he is sitting on his potty watching that movie. Whatever it takes right?

And so it begins...

I have applied to over 30 jobs for Brad. In almost every state. I just looked for jobs that sounded like a good fit for him and something he would enjoy doing and applied. Our whole attitide is to apply for all we can, and continue to pray that Brad will get a job where he will be happy and we will end up where the Lord wants us to be. And so the waiting game begins. He has received three calls total, and has a phone interview tomorrow. We will just continue to apply and to pray. He has to start somewhere and gain experience, we'll just wait and see where that somewhere will end up being. We havent heard back from anywhere in Idaho. He has received calls from Boys Town in Omaha, that would just be amazing for him if that worked out. He got a call from California today and we'll see if anything further happens from that.
So it is kind of exciting. And it feels good when you are open and doing all you can. I think the Lord can help you more when you are open. And we need all the help we can get! So please continue to pray for us that all will work out and that Brad will get a job where he will be happy, gain great experience and love what he is doing. After a year of waking up at 3:30 am and working so hard, he deserves the best job out there for him. I love him so much and I am so proud of him. He truly is so amazing.

This made me laugh so hard

the "real world"

No I am not talking about the MTV show. I am talking about life after Brad graduates. Because his job right now is early morning custodial up on campus, that will end in 2 weeks when he graduates. As much as he has hated waking up a 4 am, atleast it was a job. I think it is all hitting Bradley like a ton of bricks. He is just exhausted. It is really hard to be away on vacation and then to come home and have reality kick you in the face. It is a scary position right now.
So I have been applying to jobs. And it has actually been fun. Here is the thing.. for the higher jobs you have to have a Masters in Social work plus experience. So right now he needs to get jobs with the experience so that after grad school he will have both masters and experience. He has to start somewhere. And as of right now there is NOTHING in the area. Only 2 jobs in all of Idaho and they have been in Boise. I have applied to jobs in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Montana and even NEBRASKA (tells you how desperate we are). But isnt that the whole process, apply everywhere and see what happens? I just hope we get some action before we are out in the real world in two weeks!!

Giggles

Home Atlast

We made it home!! The truck needed a new alternator and we were on the road headed home by noon. Thank you to the family members who made it possible for us to be home and not on the side of the road in Battle Mountain Nevada.

We were able to stop in Shelley last night and spend time with Papa Steve and Memaw. And then we made it to rexburg and pulled into our driveway but could not get into our garage. The landlords had come and had a trailer full of stuff in the way. They have rented out the upstairs and are here getting everything out of upstairs. You always look forward to coming home but it is definately a reality kick in the pants. No more relaxing and tons on our plates. Our rent will most likely be going way up, Brad has sooooo much to do for school and unpacking is just NOT fun!! Back to reality. It sure is lonely without 20 plus people in one house. We had fun and miss all of you!!

Family fun

Daniel


Reghan


Brevin


Chase


Mckay