Boise Idaho!

As I mentioned in the previous post, we drove 10 hours last weekend to visit my sister and her family in Star Idaho (about 11 or so miles from Boise. At least that's what the sign said). :) It was SO much fun and so nice to get away for a few days. We (especially me) were really sad to leave but it was good to be home after so much travel.

On Saturday we went to a place called "Bounce." It had all those huge blow up toys that are really fun. There was an obstacle course, velcro wall, jousting and bungee, a tall steep slide, and more. It was as much fun for us as it was for the kids. :) Here are some pictures of that and of us at Christena's house.

Matt and I stuck to the velcro wall

Christena and I jousting. As you can see, I won. :)

The husbands went at it next. Rik got pay backs for Christena's defeat by beating Matt.

Sophia coming out of the obstacle course.

Brennen and Matt coming out.

Brennen was pretty tired by the end.

Sophia, me, Abigail

A view from above in the house. Rik is teaching Tanner piano (I REALLY want one of those!!!) and Christena is laying by Brennen.

Brennen hanging out with his aunt and cousins that are closest to him in age.

On the way back we stopped and stayed the night in Lyman and saw the rest of my family. It was so good to see everyone!

Sleep anyone???

This past weekend Matt, Brennen and I made the 10 hour trek to Star, Idaho to visit my sister Christena and her family. We drove there at night and I'm glad we did but we were both tired all weekend. We had SUCH a good time though and it was so much fun to see my sister and spend time with her and her family. Pictures will be in the next post.
But to top off our tiredness, my little "sleeps through the night at one month old" boy has now decided to stop sleeping through the night. The past week or so he's been waking us up at around 2:30 AM and then he's up for good before 6:00. Up until then he had been waking us up at about 5:00 at the earliest but usually not until closer to 7:00! What happened??? And he still won't take naps. UG! I've tried so many things and it seems like nothing I do ever works! Either that or I'll do something and it works once but won't again and now he's only getting about 7 hours of sleep at night and hardly sleeps during the day. I think a big factor is that he no longer stays swaddled. He'll usually fall asleep at night (not during the day for some reason) when we swaddle him but when he "busts out" of the swaddle he wakes up earlier. I knew the swaddling days would soon be over but I guess I was hoping they'd last longer.
I guess I just needed to vent that but if anyone has any suggestions I'm open to them! :)

3 Months!

It's so weird that my baby is three months old today! In some ways it seems crazy that he's that old but then it's hard for me to think of our lives without him. I realize that no one reading this lives and dies by what Brennen is doing but, well, I kind of do. :) So I'm going to tell you a few things about him.

• He sleeps through the night and has (for the most part) for more than a month! It used to be from 10-5 or so but now, I kid you not, EVERY night for the past two weeks he's in bed before 10 and never wakes up before 7. This morning it was after 8!
• But....... he still struggles with naps. He takes a nap every morning while we're out for our walk/jog but wakes up right when we get home and MAYBE takes another nap in the afternoon. I.....have.....tried.....everything. The most effective things have been strolling him around in his bassinet til he falls asleep or leaving him in the car seat after a drive.
• He is SUCH a morning person. He laughs and smiles and babbles for at least a half hour when he first wakes up. He doesn't even cry for food after being asleep for at least 8 hours, I just feed him anyway (logic, you know). :)
• He can roll from tummy to back and is starting to go the other way.
• He's starting to grab things and will stuff anything in his mouth (just like any other baby. I know! but it's new to me). :)
• He's not nearly as fussy as he was even a couple weeks ago. I guess he's just growing out of it (for now...)
• He really notices when I leave the room or even when I'm out of sight... it's kinda cute when he cries when I leave and then grins when I come back but......I have to get stuff done every now and then. :)

He's just so cute and such a joy to us. Matthew and I are SO happy and we are SO thankful that we've been blessed with Brennen.
We haven't really done anything exciting lately... Matt's working at Walmart in the pharmacy and taking classes and I'm just at home. I decided not to do that para job.... When I prayed about it I felt strongly that I shouldn't do it but I tried it anyway.... then it kept eating at me so I decided to just stay home and teach piano and now I'm watching our friend's little boy who is almost 9 months old for about 2 hours every afternoon. I'm really happy with my decision to be at home with my baby and I'm still able to make a little money for us.
That's us right now! For good measure, a few pictures of 3 month old Brennen.

Happy in his crib

Takin' a Sunday afternoon nap at Grandma and Grandpa Clark's

Bundled in the stroller

Old Friends and Jon Schmidt!

This week my best friend from Lyman, Hannah Vercimak, was here visiting her sister. Hannah and I were best friends pretty much from 3rd grade through high school. We lost touch a little bit into college and I hadn't seen her for 3 years because she's been off to distant lands being a Navy nurse. We had tons of fun together and caused lots of harmless trouble in high school along with some of my guy friends, especially Jenn Voss. So the three of us along with Jenn's wife Mandy and my husband Matt (and B-rennen of course) went out to dinner the other night and it was so good and fun to catch up and have some good laughs about old times.

It made me realize how much I've grown up and changed but it also made me really miss some of my old friends that I've lost touch with throughout the years. Then yesterday Matt and I took Brennen to the Jon Schmidt concert here in Laramie and sat with Hannah and her sister. It was an awesome concert and I love his music so much! If you don't know who he is then google him and listen to some of his music. His most popular song right now is a piece he arranged of a Taylor Swift song combined with a Cold Play song. It's really cool. But my personal favorite is called "All of Me."

This little guy missed out on some good music cause he was sacked out almost the whole time.

Some great pics of Jon Schmidt playing. (well, great in a sense. they're kinda blurry)

Bloom Where You're Planted

A few months ago we had a Relief Society get together (formerly enrichment night) and a sister in the ward shared 10 tips for how to "Bloom Where You're Planted." Then a couple weeks ago we had another get together and they gave all the sisters a laminated card with those 10 tips on it. Matt saw it and said, "Is this like a survival guide for stay at home moms?" :) I'm pretty sure that's not how it was meant but I've really applied some of these things and they've helped me a lot so I thought I'd share the tips.



1.Get out and move
-I always feel TONS better when I can get out of the house and/or exercise.
2. Eat Right
3. Dress Right
-I've found that if I actually get dressed and do my hair and makeup that I feel so much better about myself.
4. Surround yourself with people and things that lift you up.
5. Change the decor.
-I took all my pictures off the walls and put them in new places and re-arranged the living room and it helped my spirits more than I thought it would.
6. Be with others.
-Cause even though I love Brennen and wouldn't change where I spend my days it can get a little lonely sometimes just me and him.
7. Grow your interests.
8. Sign up to play a sport, take a class, or teach a class.
-It really helps me to be active and also do things to keep learning.
9. "Fertilize with love," serve others.
10. Look to the Son for strength.


Anyway, I just wanted to share that. And as always I have to post a picture of Brennen. :)