We're moving!

So, it's been a whirl wind of the day. We signed the final offer to sell our house (I freaked out thinking I was homeless) and we found a house that we love! Of course it's in Daybreak. It has a play room right off the family room. And it has a guest bedroom for Mom in the basement (it even has a cable jack so she can have her own TV). It seems like it should be perfect for our family.
So cross your fingers and pray for us that everything goes okay and the people buying our house don't back out.

What color Crayon are You?

You Are a Purple Crayon

Your world is colored in dreamy, divine, and classy colors. You hold yourself to a sky high standard, and you are always graceful. People envy, idolize, and copy you without realizing it. You are an icon for those who know you. And while it is hard to be a perfectionist, rest assured it's paying off! Your color wheel opposite is yellow. While yellow people may be wise, they lack the manners and class needed to impress you.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Gymnastics

Brenner started Gymnastics in the beginning of January. This is the perfect thing for him... he can be a monkey! He loves his class soooo much! He can't wait to go each week.
When we pick Brenner up from gymnastics, Joren gets to stay for Free play and he loves it too! This past week was really funny. There was this couple there that were fascinated by Joren. They asked me how old he was and I said, "2." Then they said that they had never seen a kid with so much energy and who could climb so well. They kept watching him the whole time we were there (instead of their own kid.) Joren really is a wonder to those around.

It's all about BLUE

My little Brenner is obsessed with BLUE. I think it all started when he decided to be the Blue Power Ranger. He only wants to wear blue and sometimes it takes a lot of convincing to get him to wear another color. Every time he comes home from preschool, his artwork is colored in ONLY BLUE. It doesn't matter what the picture is. Here is one fine example of that. There are many other colors of marker, but he will only use blue!

Rules of Blogging

I am not an expert at blogging and I probably break my own rules. But, I have been thinking of Rules of Blogging for a while and thought I would do a post. I have researched these and taken some from people online and some of them are my own rules.

1. Update Regularly. Once a day would be the best, but because some of us get busy at times, once a week would have to be the minimum.
2. Be interactive. Encourage people to leave comments and always leave comments on other's blogs. Put links to other's blogs, stuff online, etc.
3. Vary Topics. Don't just post stuff about your kids (this is for me.) Try to post things about yourself... hobbies, interests, work, etc.
4. Be creative. Be creative with titles, different topics for posts, post tags, polls, etc. Try to get people to want to read your blog. And always make sure you have PICTURES! (except on the post:)
5. Mix things up. Change backgrounds, update user profile, etc. Make sure people notice the stuff on the side, not just the posts.

Like I said, I'm sure I break my own rules all of the time, but these are 5 rules that I think are good rules for blogging. (You may add more rules to this in your comments.)

The Changing Names of Joren

So, last week when Grandma was at our house, she kept asking Joren what his name was and he said, "Pickle."
Now, for some reason when we ask him, he says, "Spiderman." The funny thing is, that he answers to that. Last night when we were looking at houses with the realtor, he called Joren spiderman to get his attention and Joren totally stopped fighting with Brenner and turn to Mike like he was actually going to listen to him.

My crafty boy!

Brenner loves to do crafts. He loves to paint and color and do play doh. The newest thing are these plastic beads that you put on templates and then melt with an iron. He loves to do them and can't wait until Joren goes to sleep so he can do his beads.
Can you tell which ones I made and which one Brenner made?

I love my toaster oven!

I have been wanting a toater oven for awhile. Ryan got me one for Christmas. It is so great for many reasons.

1. I don't have to heat up my whole house to cook a totino's pizza.

2. It takes just less than a minute to preheat to cook my totino's pizza.

3. It takes less than 10 minutes to cook my totino's pizza and it's nice and crispy.

4. You can bake other things besides totino's pizza and they cook nicely too.

So, like my cousin Libby, who is obsessed with her salad spinner, I am in love with my toaster oven. I am yet to find out all of the things that I will love about it, but for now, it is great! I can't wait for summer when I really don't want to heat up the house. I would also like to try to cook a cake in it or something like that!

Cravings

Fortunately for me, I don't get very sick when I'm pregnant. But trying to find something to eat is a whole different ball game. I will spend all afternoon cooking dinner and than not want to eat it. Then, there's the cravings. First, it was these.... After eating the whole bag (minus that few that I let Brenner and Joren eat). I no longer want them and they sound yucky!

Then it was these....

They are still okay, but they just don't do it for me.

Now, it's this.... Brenner and I are having one right now as a snack (Lucas isn't the only one that eats Totino's Pizza as a snack.)

What will it be next? Because if I don't have something that I'm craving, it's really hard to even find anything that I want to eat.

It's listed!

We have decided to try to sell our house. This is a scary and stressful process!!! We really want a bigger house and especially a 3 car garage and some storage space. And there are many things about our floor plan that we don't like. So, here's our listing! Check it out.

http://www.utahrealestate.com/763394

This was really fun at first. But now I just want this weather back.
It is so freezing cold. So, can I go here for my birthday?
If not, I will settle for 40 degrees. Really, 40 would be way better than 30. Come on, can it just warm up a little?

Hospital, Shmospital!

So, when Brenner was 9 months old, he got ITP

(Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is the condition of having a low platelet count (thrombocytopenia) of no known cause (idiopathic). As most causes appear to be related to antibodies against platelets, it is also known as immune thrombocytopenic purpura. Although most cases are asymptomatic, very low platelet counts can lead to a bleeding diathesis and purpura.)

He looked like this... (If you click on the picture you can see it better.)
He was supposeed to have surgery this morning to have a dermoid cyst removed from above his right eyebrow. Because of his medical history, the surgeon wanted to check his blood just in case. So, to make a really long story, just kind of long, we were waiting in Pre-op and they came to tell us that they wouldn't do surgery because his platelets were at 9000 (anything below 20,000 is bad and 200,000 is normal). We couldn't believe this was happening again... they said it wouldn't come back. So, they sent us up to Hemotology. When we got there, the doctor said that it was weird that he should be back again. However because he didn't have any symptoms (bruises, nose bleeding, etc.) and was much older, they wouldn't treat him. It will heal itself. But they told us to have him take it easy and wait at least a month for his blood to get back to normal before we reschedule the surgery. Then the doctor says, "Let's just check his blood one more time before you leave just to make sure." So, we did. They called right after we got home and... his platelet level was over 200,000. It was a lab error and he is perfectly healthy! So, should we be mad that we didn't have the surgery. And now we have to go back. But, at least we were reassured that Brenner was okay.

My Little Photographers

I don't know if it's because the kids see me taking pictures so much or if it's because the camera is always out within their reach, but my kids love taking pictures! We usually get pictures of the ceiling and the floor and maybe a view up someone's nose. But my favorite are the pics of their feet. Here's a pic of Brenner's feet at about 20 months and Joren's feet today.

What a cutie!!!

We finally got around to getting Joren's 2 Year pics today! He was so adorable. He would totally pose for the photographer without her even asking. He was just such a little model!

Birthday Fun

So, we thought we'd try to make it a fun birthday for Joren. So, I took them to the Children's Museum at the gateway. This place is really fun and there is so much there for the kids to do. We stayed there for 3 hours and then came home for Joren to take a nap. After dinner, we took the kids swimming at the South Jordan rec. center. I was freezing cold, but the kids had tons of fun. Shellie will have to post pics because I forgot my camera.
After we got back from swimming, Joren got to blow out his candles. I could not find my birthday candles any where, so got to use tea light candles. Then we opened the presents and spent all night playing with them. Lots of fun!!! Joren got a Black and Decker tool bench. A tool belt. A magtastik roller coaster. And a vacuum from Mom and Dad and Brenner. And Lucas & Shellie gave him two nerf guns. And Grandma Blake gave him a remote control car and a Diego track thingy. Brenner loves all of his toys! So does Joren!

Happy Birthday Joren!

January 3rd 2006 at 7:08 in the morning, Joren was pulled from the womb into this beautiful world. He wasn't sure if he was ready for that and refused to eat for almost a whole day. Joren is such a happy kid. He was such a sweet baby. Such a cuddler. He still loves to cuddle and sleep with his mommy.

Joren loves to be naked or in his jammies. He does not like to get his diaper changed or put clothes on.

Joren has quite the attitude. He screams at you if he doesn't get what he wants. He's a stubborn little boy!

Joren is the messiest little eater I have ever seen. He still does not like to use a fork or spoon... he likes to eat with his hands. He also refuses to sit in a booster chair.

Joren loves to be outside... he loves to play in the snow, but can't wait for spring so he can play outside more.

Joren loves to play in the water. My bathroom mirror is always dirty from him playing in the sink. The bathroom gets flooded every time he takes a bath. He can't drink anything without spilling or spitting it all over the front of him.

Joren loves to be a big boy. He loves to play with Brenner and wants to do everything that he does. He likes to play dress up. He loves guns and makes a lot of other toys into guns. He loves animals. And he loves babies... especially dolls.

Oh What a Day I Had!

So, I was busily getting ready for the day and was half dressed with my hair wet, when this went off... my CO detector. Now, it has gone off before for no reason, but this is something that I wanted to be sure about. So, I called Questar gas and they told me to replace the battery first. So, I throw on some clothes and throw the kids in the car to run down to the Holiday to buy a 9v battery. I replace the batter and try to reset it and nothing happens. So, I call Questar again. They could send someone out, but I would have to be home. I have appts to get to, so I can't be home. They tell me to open windows on all sides of the house and see if that helps. If not, call when I get home. So, off I pack some necessities and head to my friend, Cami's, so that I can blow dry my hair, brush my teeth and get the kids dressed. She is watching the kids for me for a couple of hours anyway. Then I get to go to the hospital for an MRI. This wasn't so bad. I hurt my back about 6 weeks ago. My back is mostly better, but my left foot is numb. So, we're stiff trying to figure out what is wrong with me. Okay, I can do this. I can lay perfectly still for 30 minutes and listen to a machine buzz... after listening to my CO detector beep all morning. If I don't hear well next time you talk to me, you'll know why.

After my MRI, I have 20 minutes to run to Lowe's because I'm thinking I'm going to need to buy a new CO detector. Then I head to the dentist. He tells me that my cavity isn't that deep and he could drill without me being numb. Ummm, no, he's tried that before and that didn't feel so good. So, I opt for being numbed. He hits a nerve and numbs the whole right side of my face. That's okay, it's the opposite side of my numb foot, so that balances things out. (And, by the way, it's not numb any more, so no worries). And of course, I get to listen more loud noises.

But, surprisingly, I don't have a headache. And we don't have any CO in our house. We were home just long enough to close all the windows, turn the heat up, get some lunch and have the Questar guys come to check our house. Then, Brenner got to start gymnastics for the first time today and he loved it!!! Joren got to go after for Free Play and he loved it too! (I forgot my camera, sorry).

And thanks to great friends who helped me through all of this. Cami was my life savor! She let me use her CO free house to get ready and took Brenner to preschool and baby sat Joren for me. And Rachel watched my house while all the windows were open so no one robbed me. And Rachel got to listen to me (oh, I hope I wasn't speaking too loudly after all the drilling and buzzing and beeping) moan about my lovely day while the kids were at gymnastics.

Highlights of 2007

(Look for Highlight Photos in slide show)

January... Joren turns 1 and learns how to walk!
Anisa, Brenner and Joren enjoy many playgroup outings. Anything to keep busy since it is too cold outside.

February... We get to go to St. George 2 different times for almost a week for some work conferences for Ry. St. George in February is just really nice. It's just jacket weather when Salt Lake is still freezing and has snow.

March... Ryan's brother, Dane came home from his mission to Boston and Legacy Shay Blake was born to Lucas & Shellie Blake (my brother.)

April... Ryan and Anisa go to Georgia for the practice round of the masters golf tournament. We enjoyed going to Six Flags over Georgia and visiting some sites in downtown Atlanta as well. The Easter bunny visits and Anisa and the kids are just excited to be able to go outside again.

May... We went on a family vacation to San Diego.. the zoo, wild animal park, sea world, etc. Brenner turned 3. Ryan and Anisa enjoyed a rafting trip. And memorial weekend family fun in Kanarraville.

June... many family camping trips. The Blake family roughs it outdoors in tents. The Scholes family rents a lodge by zion and sleeps indoors. Both ways of camping are fun and the kids had a blast!

July... started a blog. You know the rest! Looking forward to lots more blogging fun in 2008!