Brock and my big ol' belly

Oh he's growing up too quickly! I just want him to stay little! His new thing to do is when company comes over he'll greet them at the door and say, "Come in and Eat!", I think he does this because we feed the missionaries at least once a month and when they come in he knows it's time to eat so he probably just assumes when people come over it's time to eat. The other night Joe and I were looking at something on the computer and someone pulled up to the house and Brock kept repeating "my friends, my friends" and then I heard the doorbell ring. Pretty cute, he never wants anyone to leave either he always says, "Just wait a second!" over and over while whoever it is, is walking out of the front door. He's a mess and has never met a stranger. This is my pregnant self. I am 34 weeks and have 4 weeks and one more day until my scheduled C-section. My maternity insurance kickes in on December 1st, so I am doing anything I can as soon as that date rolls around to induce labor! I just would love to be able to go to my Grandma's in Memphis for Christmas and show the baby to everyone. This will be the first Christmas in a very,very long time that I won't be there and it's really making me sad!

Last night I was watching the Biggest Loser and the contestants were reunited with their families that they haven't seen in 10 weeks, and I don't know if it was just my pregnant emotions or what, but I started thinking about my mom and dad and just how much I miss them being in my life on a day to day basis. As I watched these parents reunite with their children I imagined the reunion we will have when I leave this earth and man is it going to be a great reunion! I always miss them more around the holidays than anytime of year, probably because it's the most noticable that they aren't here. I love them very much and it brings me great joy when I see my little boy grow up with attributes that they both had. Man they would be in heaven with Brock!

Is It Nice.....

I was with some friends last night and I just mentioned to them that I was really trying not to gossip about people. I just sometimes speak without thinking and my friend Monica mentioned that at her work she has a piece of paper with the simple statements, "Is it True, Is it Necessary, Is it Nice?" She said that if she can't answer those three questions then she doesn't need to say what she was about to say. So that is my challenge to myself to ask myself those three simple questions before I decide to open my mouth.

Is it True?
Is it Necessary?
Is it Nice?

So, if ya'll call me on the phone and I'm unsually quiet it's because what I want to say doesn't qualify with those three questions!

Only 5 more weeks! Man oh Man I'm ready for this baby to get here!

This is one of my favorite dances from the tour of "So You Think You Can Dance". I think this is such a pretty dance and the explanation behind it is great. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Haloween and more catch up.......

This post is brought to you by the Too Cool Mr. Brock......

His new thing to do is wear any sunglasses he can get his hands on and last night he just had to wear his glasses to eat his dinner! He's a mess!

For Halloween this year he was Handy Manny, he adores Handy Manny and I actually don't mind watching it so it's a favorite around our house. For his birthday he got actual Manny tools and has been in heaven ever since, he fixes everything! We even bring them to church and he fixes the pews in front of us to entertain himself.

I couldn't get a good front shot of him because he kept telling me that he had to go play with his "friends" even though he didn't know anyone at the party that we went to. He's definitely like his Grandpa Don, he never meets a stranger!

We carved pumpkins at Grandma Brock's house for family home evening the other night and it was a lot of fun, although I have to say I didn't realize that pumpkins go bad so fast! By the time that Halloween came around our pumpkin was nothing but a bunch of mold!

This is my son at naptime, he has been insisting on sleeping with his tools! I think it's pretty cute, he'll have me cover his toes with his blankie and then he says "my tools" and I have to tell them "night night" and cover them up too, he thinks it's so funny! Hey, whatever makes him lay down and go to sleep, right?!!

I went to the Dr.'s office on Monday and we are kinda scheduled for around the 17th of December. Anna is measuring at 4lbs. 4 oz. right now and that puts her due date at December 27th. I asked my Dr. how early we could have her and he said around 10 days early. So, I'm secretly wishing that I'll swell more like I did with Brock and have to be induced earlier than that. It's purely selfish reasons, I just want to be home and feeling decent enough to enjoy Christmas with Brock.

I'm already getting the Christmas bug, I need to put up all of my Halloween stuff and I am really ready to put up the Christmas decorations! It just takes so much time putting them all up that I figure that I should just go ahead and put them up now and then we will have more time to enjoy them, but I know that Joe would think I lost my mind if I started putting them up now.......anyways Have a good week!

We're Off!

Back in July Joe got me tickets to see "So You Think You Can Dance" the tour for our anniversary and today is the day! I'm so excited to go and see them perform! I'm most excited to get away for the night and stay in a hotel. Hotel's are my favorite thing I so could've been Paris Hilton growing up and lived out of hotels! I love the room service, the beds, the free shampoo, the good towels. I'm just excited to get away with Joe for one last hurrah before baby Anna gets here.
About Anna, we get to go on Monday for our last ultrasound. I'm hoping that she is on track with her December 22nd due date because then we can get a set in stone date for our C-section. I'm hoping for the beginning of the month. Last night I was talking to Joe about when I wanted to get her out of me and I mentioned a date that fell on a Friday and he informed me that Friday's weren't good for him because he always turns in homework on Friday's HAH!! That just shows how little he knows about how fast this little munchkin is running out of room in my belly! I kindly told him that I didn't care if his whole college career was due on a Friday, if the Dr. says she can come early then she's coming early homework or no homework :)

Well, we are off to Tulsa and I will try to remember to take some pictures!
Have a good weekend!

Happy Birthday Brock!

Brock had his 2nd birthday on Saturday! I cannot believe that my baby is already 2 years old! He is such a fun kid to be around and he keeps us laughing all the time, now don't get me wrong there are some days when I just want to pull my hair out but I think that just comes with being a mommy and nothing to do with the child! He is talking up a storm and I never know what is going to come out of his mouth next!

This is his Thomas the Train birthday cake that his Great-Aunt Lorna made for him, she did a wonderful job and Brock loved it!

Here's the birthday boy!

It was beautiful outside and the kids had a blast!

Abby(the great dane/horse) gave the kids wagon rides...it only worked for one round, but when no one else is here she does a good job pulling Brock around the yard!

Brock opening his many presents, sorry to say though I'm pretty sure the candy that his Great-Grandma Brock taped onto her present was by far his favorite gift!

He was so funny when we sang Happy Birthday to him he just laughed and laughed! I think that he thought we had all lost our minds :)

Blowing out the candles.....

Here is a picture of my big, pregnant belly if anyone was wondering how much little Anna is growing!

Here is Daddy filming the big event.......

Yum....this cake is wonderful!

After he finished his piece of cake he came over to the table and helped himself to some more icing......

The day was a big success and I was so grateful to have so much of my family from Memphis travel all the way to Conway to share this special day with Brock. He especially loved his Uncle Timmy being here! He thinks he hung the moon!

Happy Birthday Big Boy! You bring more joy to your mommy and daddy's life then you will ever know!

Wow...it's been a long time!

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted on the blog! I've just been lazy, everytime I think about posting I realize that my camera is out in the Jeep and I just don't feel like walking out there! It's naptime at the Rogers house right now so I decided to finally post! We've been busy and I've been taking lots of pics lately. The pictures are all a little backwards but whatever.
Last weekend we went down to Hot Springs, a friend of mine needed Joe to roof her home so off we went. We stayed at some of my dear friends condo. It was right on Lake Hamilton and it was so much fun! We loved the peace and quiet and Brock had a blast looking off the balcony at all of the boats that drove by, he just kept saying "I ride, I ride?" He was a little disappointed that he didn't get to ride but he got over it very quickly! On Saturday Joe was busy on the roof so I decided to take Brock to Mid-America Museum. I went there when I was a kid and I figured that he would love it so off we went.

Most of the exhibits were over his head but he didn't think so! He had a blast putting on all of the headphones.

This contraption was at the very front door as you walk in this was the first thing he saw. He just kept saying "cool", I have no idea where he got that word from but it was pretty cute! I could've just let him look at that for an hour and then we could've just left because this was the best thing he saw!

As you are walking in to the museum there is a big rushing creek and Brock was pretty impressed with it!

This is him at the entryway, he was pretty excited and he didn't even know where we were going!

In the condo they had a pair of binoculars and thank goodness they did because those things kept Brock pretty entertained all weekend!

We got him a little toolbox with tools that look just like daddy's and he is in heaven. He goes around the house "fixing" things for me and it's pretty cute!

This is my almost two year old son and his beloved pacifier....I fear that he might be taking this thing with him to kindergarten!

I don't know if I ever posted on the blog about our little kitty that we got. We adopted him from Petsmart and he is a pretty cute cat, although if anyone would like to have him he is free to a good home! We finally booted him outside after we got tired of smelling that nasty kitty litter. He adapted very quickly to being an outside kitty and he loves the freedom to go and roam the neighborhood but unfortunately he always comes back! And, yes, his name is just Kitty.

This is our great dane Abby on the left and her boyfriend Bodhi on the right. Our friend Donan owns Bodhi and we take turns dogsitting for each other. It is so cute to see these two play with one another. It's like they are saying, "yes, someone my size to chase!" This big ol' moose decided that he wanted to sleep with us the first night we kept him and he climbed onto the bed and laid right on my side of the bed and took my covers! He didn't move the entire night! He is a big old baby and we love watching him!

I am 7 months pregnant and have really enjoyed this pregnancy. I haven't really been swollen too bad, nothing like with Brock, so that probably means I'll go full term with this little girl! I'm so ready to meet her and hold her in my arms!

Brock's New Swingset

Joe and I decided that for Brock's 2nd birthday we wanted to get him a new swingset. All that he has had to play on in the backyard was an old rusted swingset that Joe's mom has had for who knows how long and everytime we pushed him in the swing the whole thing shook, so we decided that it would be a good investment. We asked both sides of our family to pitch in if they wanted to and they helped out too! Thanks family!

This is how many pieces the whole thing came in! Joe started to put it together around 1:30 on Sunday and we worked on it until the sun went down and then got up early today and finished it.

It took 12 hours to go from this pile of wood.......
To this! Brock's new playground!

He was so cute, he just kept saying "I like it, I like it!" When he saw it he ran straight to the rockwall and climbed right up and went down the slide.

I told him that Daddy built this for him and he said "thank you daddy!" Too cute!

So, the swingset is a huge hit and I had a hard time bringing him in for his nap today! To see this little man smile like that was worth all of the time in the heat putting this monstrosity together!

Our Scary Incident!

Yesterday started out like any normal day. I had some chores on my list of things to get done and the first on the list was to use this nasty stuff to unclog the sink in my bathroom. I poured this potent stuff down the drain and in the process got it on my hands. I washed my hands about three times to finally get the soapy, stinging residue off of my hands, put the lid on the drain opener stuff, and started to walk out of the bathroom to return this stuff to the top shelf of the laundry room out of reach of little fingers, but as I was reading the back label it stated to repeat after one hour so, I just set it on the counter in the bathroom and went out to the living room where Brock and his friend Neely were playing.

We decided to make some cookies and in the process I forgot all about the clogged drain. About an hour or so later I was in the laundry room and I thought that Brock was in the living room playing with Neely when all of a sudden I hear this blood curdling scream and I immediately thought that Brock pinched his finger in this new toy he has or something like that and he came running to me and in the hallway I saw the drain cleaner and I instantly knew what happened! I panicked! I went straight to the computer and googled poison control while Brock is screaming and crying. The man on the phone told me not to worry and I'm thinking "okay buddy whatever!" He told me to just have Brock drink some milk and everything should be okay, then before I hung up he asked me if he had any physical signs from the drano and I said "Uh, Yeah his lips are double the size that they should be and he's got a huge rash all over his chin and neck!" The guy then told me to go straight to the ER, and then I really flipped out!!

I ran out to the car to put Brock in his seat and then I realized that I didn't even have any shoes on. So, I ran back in and grabbed mine and Brock's shoes and then we took off to the ER, with Grandma Colleen in tow(she works 1/2 mile down the road). We got to the ER and the admitting nurse was more than happy to make me feel worse than I already did for leaving the drano where Brock could get to it. Thanks a lot lady......

They got us in pretty quickly to see the doctor and when the nurse came in to check Brock's vitals he was running around the room and playing "peek-a-boo" in the curtains, so she decided that his vitals were doing just fine! After three hours of waiting they decided that he just poured the stuff in his mouth and then spit it right back out, because only the tip of his tongue, lips, and chin were blistered and not the rest of his mouth. Thank goodness! I was scared to see what they were going to make him do if they thought that he had swallowed the dang stuff!

It was a very scary morning and I have learned a very valuable lesson. I felt so guilty for leaving that stuff out where he could get to it!

You can't really tell in this picture but his little lips are still swollen up and he's got bloody cracked lips and a blister on the side of his mouth and on his little neck......bless his heart! I just thank my Heavenly Father sincerely that nothing worse happened to my precious little man, I just don't know what I would do without him in my life!

It's A Girl!

Well, this post is about a week overdue! We are having a little girl and we are very excited about it! We took Brock with us to look at the baby on the ultrasound machine and he did not like what they were doing to me! He just kept saying Mama over and over again and then he came over and gave me a kiss....too cute! I don't think he'll like seeing me in the hospital especially not with a new baby in my arms! We like to tease him that he is in denial of things to come. I bought him a DVD about a new baby coming and he refuses to watch it! And, whenever I point at my belly and tell him there is a baby in there he tells me no! It's pretty funny!

I'm finally getting excited about this baby, not that I wasn't before, but because we lost Paige so far along in my pregnancy I always feel like I can't fully get my hopes up. My doctor always sends me to a special ultrasound doctor to look at the babies, he's done this with all three of my pregnancies so this just must be what he does. I always remind her of what happened with Paige so she looks at the baby very closely and spends some extra time looking at every little thing. She said that all of her organs look great, her heart is very strong and her brain looks great. She told me to stop worrying, so I took her advice and now I'm getting so ready to hold this baby and dress her up in all of the cute clothes that I've had since Paige! It is really working out well I was due in December with Paige also so I have lots of cute winter clothes that are just begging to be worn!

We also have a new name for this baby. We have been going back and forth for forever because we both decided that Laney was just not meant to be her name. Every night we talk about names and Joe would always drive me nuts because he never liked any name that I came up with but he never offered any of his own. The other night I told him that if he was going to veto every name that I said that he would have to come up with one of his own, and he said let's name her Anna and I asked him why and then he played me the song "Annabella's Song" by Everlast and I fell in love with the name Anna. Her name will be Anna Kulia Rogers. Now all Anna has to do is get here and we will have a great christmas! We are due December 22nd and I am having a C-section so I figure we will let Joe get done with finals and then she can come so we are looking at around December 16th. I am almost 6 months right now and feel great! I love the second trimester, the sickness is overwith and I'm not too big to enjoy myself just yet!
Anyways, I've rambled enough for today! Have a great week!

Second Cousins, Wild River Country, and Brock's Big Boy Room!

These are Brock's second cousins on his Daddy's side, Makenna is the older one and the younger one is Haley and their mommy is pregnant with their third! They are busy people! They live in New York and come down to visit during the summer while their daddy roofs with Joe. Brock and Makenna are the best of buds and it was nice to have a little one Brock's age for him to play with! This is my goofy son at Wild River Country, I've taken him twice this year and he has so much fun! He absolutely loves the wave pool and the lazy river. The whole time he's in the lazy river he says, "I swimmin'!" It's too cute!
Here he is on the little duck slide in the kiddie area. It's a lot of fun and a great place to cool down in the summer heat!

Joe took all day Saturday and painted Brock's new big boy room! I am very proud of my hubby and the good craftmanship that he did in the room! He put up the trim and everything all by himself! The room was a girly purple color and we decided to coordinate the room with Brock's new airplane bedding for his big boy bed. I picked out the paint and Joe did the rest. The pictures just don't do his work justice, it turned out very pretty!

This is Brock's new big boy bed and he loves it! He hasn't actually slept in it yet but he does snuggle in it and watch a movie on the portable dvd player every once in a while and he jumps like crazy on it! We figure we have at least 5 or 6 months before we have to make him sleep in it, so we are just taking our time.

Well, we get to go and take an official look at the little peanut today. I'm excited to go to just make sure that she is still a girl and also that everything is growing and developing like it should. I don't have any nagging feelings that this baby won't be okay but you just never know. The one thing that I do know is that she/he loves to kick and is a very active baby so I guess that's got to be a good sign, right???!!! Hope everyone has a good week!

Happy Birthday

Today would've been my father's 54th birthday. He was the second to the youngest of seven children! He was born on pioneer day and was named after Joseph Smith's younger brother Don Carlos. My son Brock is named after his Grandfather, and one day when he is old enough to understand I will tell him all about the man that he is named after and let him know that he has big shoes to fill. I often feel my father near me mostly when I'm alone in the house or after everyone else is asleep. Some people may think that is a weird thing to admit but I look at it like this, if I left this earth I would definitely check in on my children from time to time.
My father was a wonderful man full of love and life and he was one of the best men I have ever known and I'm proud to call him my father. I miss him so much that my heart truly aches to hear his voice or have him hug me. I look in my son's eyes and I know that he had a hand in sending me this sweet spirit to call my own. I feel if this world had more men with sweet spirits and kind hearts like my father we wouldn't live in such a place filled with so much war and hatred. My father was and always will be one of my heroes. He didn't have the easiest of childhoods but he never dwelt on the negative and he always talked about his mother and father with the greatest of respect. He was a great example to me of what a good man should be. He never raised his voice at me or my mother and he taught me what to look for in a good husband. I can just remember us sitting and talking when I was younger and he would always say, "I wonder who you will marry?" or "I can't wait until you have some grandbabies for me to spoil" and that he would. I have know doubt that he would love the heck out of Brock!
One of my grandma's favorite stories to tell over and over again is how when I was a baby my parents were dirt poor but he would go to the fanciest stores he could find and buy me the frilliest dresses that they had and he would proudly tell everyone he would see that his baby girl would always have the best things in life. And he kept that promise, and I can't ever remember wanting for anything. My mother and father were never well off and it's probably because they wasted all their money spoiling me and my brother! I love him more than words can express and he knows that I always will. Happy Birthday Daddy I only wish that you were here to celebrate with us!

Brock's Big Morning.....

The street department has been working on the other end of our street this past week and yesterday they came right in front of our house, Brock was in tractor heaven! He sat in this chair for one whole hour just watching the men work. He was so upset when the tractor left he ran down the yard yelling, "my tractor, my tractor!!" He's a nut! This look totally says it all.....get out of my face with that camera I'm busy lady!!

This was what he was totally entranced by.....

I'm still not sure why it took all of these men to do this job(there were 8 total!) but they were nice!

This is Brock's new trick. He is such a funny little boy, I love that he does things just to get a laugh out of us. He came into the kitchen just giggling and when I turned around this is what I found, I told him to wait just a minute I wanted to take a picture of him and when I was done taking pictures he said "bye" and went back into the living room. Such a nut!

He is growing up literally in front of my eyes! He is a sponge and is saying all kinds of things now! His new thing to say is "go home bugs" if there is a fly flying around and "surprise!" I love him more than he will ever know! He is a great kid and I hope he will be an even greater big brother!!

Its A........

Well, we have some fun news.
I have a friend that works in labor and delivery and she recently told me that anytime that I wanted to come down and take a sneak peek at the baby I was welcome. So we called her on Friday and she told us to come down right after church on Sunday and we could see what sex the baby was.
Well, we were SO excited, in fact, I think that Joe was more excited than I was! We left as soon as I taught my class and headed down. We finally navigate our way around UAMS (that place is huge!) and then we got to look at the little munchkin. It was flipping all around and measured just right with how far along I am (17 weeks and 5 days if anyone was wondering) and then they zoom in on the money shot and wouldn't you know it the little thing had it's legs crossed! We couldn't see a thing. I just wanted to cry!
So, we decided to leave the hospital for a couple of hours and come back to see what we could find out! The second time we went in we had to use another ultrasound machine that wasn't as clear as the first one so the pictures were a little fuzzy but the nurse, my friend, and the doctor who popped her head in all agreed that they saw a little GIRL!! We are very excited.
I already have some clothes from when I was pregnant with Paige so I have a little jump start. I bought a couple of outfits from Dillards and Target but I of course kept the reciepts because I won't get a definite answer until August 10th when I go for my official ultrasound appointment. The lady that does the ultrasounds here in Conway has a 100% rate of telling you what you are having so I guess I will have to just learn to be patient! But, for now we have a Laney Kulia Rogers. We just like Laney and Kulia is Hawaiian for Julie and that was of course my mother's first name. So, here's to hoping that ultrasound was right!!!

The File Room

The File Room

In that place between wakefulness and dreams I found myself in the room. There were no distinguishing features except for the one wall covered with small index card files. They were like the ones in libraries that list titles by author or subject in alphabetical order. But these files, endless in either direction, had very different headings. As I drew near the wall of files, the first to catch my attention was the one that read “Girls I Have Liked.” I opened it and began flipping through the cards. I quickly shut it, shocked to realize that I recognized the names written on each one. And then without being told, I knew exactly where I was. This lifeless room with its small files was a catalog system for my life. Here were written the actions of my every moment, big and small, in a detail my memory couldn’t match.
A sense of wonder and curiosity, coupled with horror, stirred within me as I began randomly opening files. Some brought joy and sweet memories; others a sense of shame and regret so intense that I would look over my shoulder to see if anyone were watching. A file named “Friends” was next to one marked “Friends I Have Betrayed.”
The titles ranged from the mundane to the outright weird. “Books I Have Read.” “Lies I Have Told,” “Comfort I Have Given,” “Jokes I Have Laughed At.” Some were almost hilarious in their exactness: “Things I’ve Yelled at My Brothers.” Others I couldn’t laugh at: “Things I Have Done In Anger,” “Things I Have Muttered Under My Breath at My Parents.” I never ceased to be surprised by the contents. Often there were many more cards than I expected. Sometimes fewer than I hoped.
The sheer volume of the life I had lived overwhelmed me. Could it be possible that I had the time in my 20 years to write each of these thousands or even millions of cards? But each card confirmed the truth. Each was written in my own handwriting. Each signed with my signature. When I pulled out the file marked “Songs I Have Listened To,” I realized the files grew to contain their contents. The cards were packed tightly, and yet after two or three yards, I hadn’t found the end of the file. I shut it, ashamed, not so much by the quality of music, but more by the vast amount of time I knew the file represented.
When I came to a file marked “Lustful Thoughts,” I felt a chill run through my body. I pulled the file out only an inch, not willing to test its size, and drew out a card. I shuddered at its detailed content. I felt sick to think that such a moment had been recorded. An almost animal rage broke over me. One thought dominated my mind: “No one must ever see these cards! No one must ever see this room!”
“ I have to destroy them!” In an insane frenzy I yanked the file out. Its size didn’t matter now. I had to empty it and burn the cards. But as I took it at one end and began pounding it on the floor I could not dislodge a single card. I became desperate and pulled out a card, only to find it as strong as steel when I tried to tear it.
Defeated and utterly helpless, I returned the file to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the wall, I let out a long, self-pitying sigh. And then I saw it. The title bore “People I have shared the Gospel With.” The handle was brighter than those around it, newer, almost unused. I pulled on its handle and a small box not more than three inches long fell into my hands. I could count the cards it contained on one hand.
And then the tears came. I began to weep. Sobs so deep that the hurt started in my stomach and shook through me. I fell on my knees and cried. I cried out of shame, from the overwhelming shame of it all. The rows of file shelves swirled in my tear filled eyes. No one must ever, ever know of this room. I must lock it up and hide the key.
But then as I pushed away the tears, I saw Him.
No, please not Him. Not here. Oh, anyone but Jesus. I watched helplessly as He began to open the files and read the cards. I couldn’t bear to watch His response. And in the moments I could bring myself to look at His face, I saw a sorrow deeper than my own. He seemed to intuitively go to the worst boxes. Why did He have to read every one?
Finally, He turned and looked at me from across the room. He looked at me with pity in His eyes. But this was a pity that didn’t anger me. I dropped my head, covered my face with my hands and began to cry again. He walked over and put His arm around me. He could have said so many things. But He didn’t say a word. He just cried with me. Then He got up and walked back to the wall of files. Starting at one end of the room, He took out a file and, one by one, began to sign His name over mine on each card.
“No!” I shouted rushing to Him. All I could find to say was “No, no,” as I pulled the card from Him. His name shouldn’t be on these cards. But there it was, written in red so rich, so dark, and so alive. The name of Jesus covered mine. It was written in His blood.
He gently took the card back. He smiled a sad smile and began to sign the cards. I don’t think I’ll ever understand how He did it so quickly, but the next instant it seemed I heard Him close the last file and walk back to my side. “It is Finished.” I stood up, and He led me out of the room. There was no lock on its door. There were still cards to be written.
-Author Unknown

Summer Fun and a Death In The Roger Home

Summer is definitely here! It is H.O.T. here in the good ole south! We've already had our annual air conditioner breakdown. I swear that we just need to open a savings account just for our air conditioner unit! That thing breaks down every summer and it is a new unit!

Anywho, we've had a pretty eventful summer so far. Brock and I just got back from a trip to my Aunt Malisa's house in Cleveland, Tennessee, she just got an inground swimming pool put in and it is wonderful! We did absolutely nothing but swim and lay around the house. It was the definition of a vacation! I had a blast and so did Brock! He loved swimming in the pool. He is definitely a waterbaby. He would just walk right in and if you didn't catch him he would go straight under and then when you got to him and pulled him out of the water he would just be grinning from ear to ear! It was pretty cute!

My Grandma wore this hat to keep her head from burning and Brock kept taking it off of her and putting it on, he knows that he is pretty funny and enjoyed everybody laughing at him.

He loved these goggles and kept begging me to put them on him! Such a mess.

He was really doing good learning to swim. I think if we would've had one more week there he would have gotten it! When he didn't have his floaties on his arms I would let him go under the water and he would kick himself up to the surface....pretty impressive stuff I thought!


This is Brock's new idol, he's one of my youngest cousins and his name is Max, Brock would run all over the house calling for "Mac" and he did everything Max did, and I mean everything! One night Max was playing with some sunscreen and he threw a bottle behind him and it hit the wall, Brock got off my lap, went across the room grabbed the bottle and did the exact same thing "Mac" did including turning around to throw the bottle. Too Funny! We had a blast and it was really fun visiting with the family I don't ever get to spend time with just them and they are a really special family!


One day while we were in the pool Max somehow got this dragonfly to land on his net. It came back and landed on that net all day long. Then he decided to see if it would land on his hand and the thing actually landed on there! Then the next day we were eating breakfast and talking about going swimming and Max said that he had to hurry and go visit his dragonfly friend. We laughed and told him that we were sure that the bug wasn't going to come back two days in a row and believe it or not the thing came right back to him! He renamed himself the Dragonfly King :) As you can tell we had a lot of fun and next time we are going to take our Daddy with us!

The pictures of the pool are borrowed pics from my cousin Maria because my camera has finally kicked the bucket, hence the death in the Roger house. The last time I got to use it was to take these final shots below.

Joe and I decided to try and take Brock to his very first movie. We took him to see UP and it was a big hit! This is Brock and half of Daddy walking into see the flick.

Waiting in line to get popcorn

This is Brock sitting in the chair waiting for the movie to start! He looked like such a big boy that I even got a little teary-eyed and Joe laughed at me! He actually made it through the whole movie and I was so proud of him!!

I am now 4 months pregnant and I'm ready to find out what I'm having and make sure that everything is okay and that this little baby is healthy and strong. I just can't ever actually relax until I hold the baby in my arms and realize that they made it through the pregnancy! This baby has been kicking like crazy and I love that feeling! Well, I've rambled on for long enough!

I hope that everyone has a GREAT Fourth Of July!!!!!

French Bread Casserole and A New Haircut

FRENCH BREAD CASSEROLE

A lady from my ward at church brought this dinner over to us right after we had Brock and it quickly became one of our family favorites! It's so easy and very yummy!

First, brown a pound of ground beef and a small diced onion

While the meat is cooking, take a loaf of French Bread and cut it lengthwise and scoop out all of the insides....be careful not to tear through the bottoms of the halves!

Then take the scooped out bread and tear it into bitesize pieces and add it to the cooked ground beef.

Then add a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup( I have to use Cream of Onion because my husband's a whiny baby and swears he can taste the mushrooms...whatever)

Then I put shredded cheese on the bottom piece of French Bread

Then add the meat concoction on top of the cheese.

Then top that with cheese. I end up using two whole cups.

Then put the top piece of French Bread on and wrap the whole "Sandwich" in tin foil and bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes and slice and enjoy!

I've had it with my hair and got it all chopped yesterday! She cut about 6 inches off! I hadn't realized that my hair had gotten so long! Joe was not happy but if he prefers long hair then he will just have to get a girlfriend :)

Have a good weekend!

A Mother's Love

A lady read this to us in Relief Society about a week ago and I got my hands on a copy and thought I would share....

A Mother's Love

Author unknown

Long, long ago, so I've been told

Two angels met once on the streets paved with gold.

"By the stars in your crown," said one to the other,

"I can see that on earth you too were a mother.

And by the blue tinted halo you wear

You too have known sorrow and despair."

"Ah yes," she replied, "I once had a son.

A sweet little lad full of laughter and fun.

But tell me of your child."

"Oh, I knew I was blessed from the moment I first

Held him close to my breast,

And my heart almost burst with the joy of the day."

"Ah yes," said the other, "I felt the same way."

The former continued--

"The first step he took so eager and breathless--

The sweet startled look which came over his face--

He trusted me so." "Ah yes," sighed the other,

"How well I do know."

"But soon he had grown to a tall, handsome boy

So stalwart and kind and it gave me

Such joy to have him just walk down the street by my side."

"Ah yes," said the other, "I felt the same pride."

"How often I shielded and spared him from pain

And then he for others was so cruelly slain,

When they crucified him and they spat in his face,

How gladly would I have hung there in his place."

A moment of silence--

"Oh, then you are she, the mother of Christ."

And she fell on one knee.

But the Blessed One raised her up, drawing her near,

And kissed from the cheek of the woman one tear.

"Tell me the name of your son and your woe."

She lifted her eyes, looking straight at the other,

"He was Judas Iscariot, I am his mother......."

No We Aren't Dead!

No we aren't dead but to tell you the truth there have been times in the past month that I have thought that I'd be better off that way! Okay not literally but look at this next picture and you will get the drift as to why I've been feeling that way! Most people already know but I am pregnant again and don't get me wrong we are way excited about it but I have been very sick, I finally got a prescription from my doctor for some sick meds and I feel like a new woman. I'm already growing out of my jeans and it is not fun! I guess on your third pregnancy you do tend to show a lot earlier but jeez! I think about how huge I got with Brock and one can only wonder if I am going to be that big with this one! We've been pretty busy this last month, Brock and I went to Memphis to visit family last week. It was a good visit and I wasn't ready to come home. Brock is getting much easier to travel with so that's always a good thing! He is growing up so quickly, it seems like he learns a new word everyday and he has the sweetest little voice. He's learned some wonderful new things like snatching toys and saying "mine" and he's taking to biting so that's always lovely. I'm pretty sure that I turned every shade of red while explaining to the father of one of the little kids that I babysit why his sweet little son had a perfect imprint of my son's upper jaw on his son's little foot. That was the first time that I have ever been truly mortified by my son....I'm sure there are more times to come! I hope that this was the first and last time that he decides to take a chunk out of another child.

I bought Brock this water toy thing at Target about two months ago when it was warm for a day and then it turned cold again and we haven't been able to bust it out yet. Well, it finally got warm and the kids had a blast in it! I like it because it's not deep and I don't have to worry about little babies and the dangers of a pool! It's a nice toy for this hot summer weather!

This is Brock's first encounter with a catapillar and it was pretty cute! He's definitely a boy, he played with that poor thing for about 15 minutes until Daddy saved the poor creature and set him loose on a tree.

All in all it has been a good month and I will try to keep up with the blogging thing throughout the summer!

Easter and More

We had a great Easter this year. Brock actually went on 3 different egg hunts and he is now a certified pro at hunting easter eggs! This was right before we went to church for his very first egg hunt....he was just excited to hold the basket! Brock and the Easter Bunny
He's on the hunt people move it or lose it!

He got so many eggs his basket was too heavy to lift off the ground!

This was his Easter basket that the Easter Bunny left him...I didn't get pictures of him but when he spotted the basket he said...."wooowww" too cute!

Brock is in a "great" phase right now of getting into anything and EVERYTHING! About a week ago we had the missionaries over for supper and Brock wandered off and got really quiet and this is what I found.....

As you can see, he is quite proud of himself and his discovery :)

I've been letting him play the piano when the mood strikes him and this is what I found the other day!

Instead of getting him down I took pictures :) What a good mother, right???

This phase is alot of work! I feel like I can't take my eyes off of him for a second! He just goes ninety miles an hour! The other day I was cutting up some veggies to get dinner ready to go in the crock pot and had my back turned towards him and he was playing in the pantry, the next thing I know I hear Brock calling my name and when I turned around there was oil all over my kitchen and a greasy Brock holding an empty bottle of vegetable oil looking very proud of himself! I said "Oh, Brock!" and he dropped the bottle and took off running right into my living room! I've been scrubbing up an oily floor for days!! Everytime I think I get it all the light catches the floor just right and I see another footprint! I couldn't stay mad at him because it was my fault for leaving the oil where he could reach it! Live and learn I guess!

My Daddy

Three years ago today is the day my Father passed away...... Instead of being sad and posting about how much I miss him and how much life he is missing out on I am going to post a few of his classic "Don" stories....anyone who knew my dad knows that he could tell a story like no other.....he had this way of making everyone in the room crack up.....

The first story is a true Don classic, when my mom and dad were very first married my mom never wanted to have bad breath around my dad so she always chewed gum and she would even chew it when they went to bed, well one night in the middle of the night my dad woke my mom up moaning and telling her "Julie, I think I'm having a heart attack!", my mom asked him why he thought that and he told her that he couldn't lift up his arm and that that was a sign of a heart attack....well my mom quickly turned on the light and looked at his arm and she started dying laughing.....her big wad of gum had fallen out of her mouth and ended up in his armpit hair and that was the reason that he couldn't lift his arm....not a heart attack!! I think he told that at pretty much every family gathering and it never got old!

Another one is also when they were very first married and had very little money and certainly not enough for a vehicle, my dad would ride his bicycle to and from work everyday. He was the manager at a Burger King at the time and every night my mom would sit on the porch with me in her lap and wait for my dad to return home from work. My dad's bike had a light on the front of it to help him light up the street when he travelled at night. This particular night my mom saw my dad's bike light coming towards the house and then all of the sudden she didn't see it anymore well about five minutes went by and just as she was starting to get worried here comes my dad limping up to the house, his pants were ripped and his elbow was bleeding....he had hit a pothole and flipped off of his bike. The best part of the story is when my dad would tell everyone that my mom didn't even ask him if he was okay because she was laughing so hard!

When I left for college I would call home regurlarly and one night my dad called and he told me that I wasn't gonna believe what had happened to him that day. He told me that earlier in the day he had asked my brother Tim to go to Walgreens to pick up a prescription for my mom and he, being a teenager, told him that he didn't feel like it so my dad ended up going. He went to the back of the store and picked up the medicine and then went up front to pay....as he was walking up to the front of the store a woman who was wearing a big ribbon tied in a bow.....and nothing else.......came running through the aisles of Walgreens. The staff proceeded to chase her out and threatened to call the cops....they later found out that she was just pulling a prank.....but my dad just couldn't believe what he had just seen....when he was describing her to me he said, " she wasn't skanky or nothing!" I couldn't quit laughing and then in the background I hear my mom yelling, "if I hear you talk about that naked girl one more time!!!" I think that that naked woman was definitely the highlight of my dad's day :) Later that day he told my brother, "see, you should've went to Walgreens for me!"

Things like that would only happen to my dad. He was just a mess.

The last story I was actually present for and it makes me laugh everytime I think about it.

One day my dad came in the house and told us that someone had ran over a stray cat right in front of our driveway. Well, for days he called animal control to see if they would come and pick it up and no one ever came and pretty soon the cat had started to become pretty bloated so my dad decided that he would go out and take care of it himself. My mom and I just watched from the garage as he ventured out into the front yard to do whatever he thought he was going to do with this dead feline. He put on big rubber gloves and got a rake and proceeded to try and pick the cat up with the rake. My mom and I are laughing at him because he can't quite get the dead cat to stay on the rake. My mom tells him to just pick it up and quit being such a weanie. So, he puts the rake down and picks the cat up by its tail. Right when he gets the cat up by the trash can the tail of the cat falls off and the cat deflates like a balloon and the smell was so rancid that my dad started gagging and dry heaving and then that sets my mom off and she starts gagging as well! This again would only happen to Don Padgett!!!

These stories will give you a giggle I'm sure but nothing like the gut wrenching side holding laughter that would come from someone when my Dad told these stories. After my dad passed away I wrote a letter to his "family" at the Arlington and asked them to remember him as the funny, great man and mentor that he was and that is how I am going to remember him today as well. I love ya daddy and today I'm smiling for you.

Fun Family Weekend.....and picture catch up......

Yesterday was such a beautiful day and we had to take advantage of it, so after Brock's nap we decided to walk over to UCA which is about 1/2 mile from the house. Joe is on spring break right now so the campus is beyond empty...we were the only people up there for the most part and it was very peaceful and Brock had a blast. We spent about 2 hours just walking around and enjoying our little family. We took Lilly with us and she was in heaven having us all to herself. The dogs are much better behaved one on one so that is how we have to take them on walks! These pictures all loaded up backwards but oh well....this is Brock in the pretty fountain at the University. The water was freezing! Brock just had to take his shoes off and stick his little toes in the water....he had a blast and was pretty wet by the end of our journey!

Daddy, Lilly, and Brock

Pure happiness on his face.....notice that Joe had a hold of the back of Brock's pants...our child is a daredevil and he would've liked nothing more than to jump right in that water if we would've let him!

Brock taking it all in...he was pretty impressed with the fountain!

Saturday morning I was doing laundry and Brock loves to help me take clothes in and out of the dryer, well I had loaded up a basket and told him to shut the door and I went to our bedroom to fold the clothes and I heard him whining and this is what I found! He had climbed in and luckily the dryer wasn't hot. He managed to get in but couldn't figure out how to get out!

Last week was his little second cousin Makenna's birthday and we went to the dollar store to get her some balloons....of course we couldn't leave without getting Brock one as well.....he has held onto this silly thing all week....he was watching tv and still wouldn't let go of the dang thing!

He loves to play in the car while I'm cleaning it out. He is in such a hurry to grow up and be a big boy....he's in a MUCH bigger hurry than I am!

Warning....the next two pictures are GROSS......About a month ago Joe read in a magazine about this recipe that is sure to stop your heart.....it's called a Bacon Explosion....it consists of 2 lbs. of bacon and 2 lbs. of sausage with bbq sauce and bbq rub....you weave the bacon together, smear the sausage on top of that, put more bacon in the middle, and roll it all up and put it on the grill for like 3 hours....Joe and Chris and Micha were so excited to eat it........ugh....it was disgusting. When our three families get together we usually eat and then play games and entertain each other, well after eating this hot mess the boys just laid on the couch and then everyone went home early.....Joe loved the thing and I couldn't have been more repulsed! Let's just leave the cooking up to the girls from now on :)

Long Time No Post....

Well, I tried to download a couple of recent pictures but something is wrong with my memory card. Oh well, better luck next time! I haven't posted in a while because we haven't done much. We've just been doing the same old routine. My pampered chef "business" has really flourished and it's alot of fun and it gives me a little bit of me time, so that's always nice! Brock has been sickness and sniffle free for one whole week now so that's great! I've finally been able to get back to the gym and my muscles are very sore! I know this isn't a very good post but maybe I can get my camera fixed soon and will have a better post next week! Have a good weekend!

An Unexpected Day Off

I'm supposed to be babysitting today but instead I'm nursing a sick little boy back to health. I got a call yesterday afternoon from the Maddy's mom and she informed me that Maddy had strep throat. After the day that Brock and I had yesterday I decided to take him to the after hours clinic and sure enough he has strept too! We don't know where it came from we just know that they both have it! Yesterday Brock was a bit difficult! He usually goes right down for his nap but after almost two hours he was still awake, but fussy and very tired! He finally fell asleep on my bed, I snuck out and fifteen minutes later I hear "mama" followed by pitiful crying, so I go back to my room, pick him up, and laid him on the couch with soft blankies and a pillow and he fell fast asleep for almost 3 hours. I finally woke him up for fear of being up to midnight(again!). I quickly decided that that was a big mistake! He was very very grumpy so I tried to fit him in at the doctor's office but they were too busy so we just went over to the after hours clinic. Two hours later-ugh- he was diagnosed with Strep. He has had two doses of meds and he is a different child! I am SO ready for winter to be over so we don't get any more illnesses!

This was Brock on the couch, he never covers his head like this! Too Funny...

I just love this little picture of him.....He is growing up so quick!
Brock is really into shoes lately and much to his daddy's unhappiness he has been trying on my sandals, so the other night I had to snap a picture of him with his daddy's shoes on. He was very proud of himself!

We are going to make the most out of our unexpected day off, with lots of lounging around and tv watching, heck we might not even make it to the showers today......

A Good Week

We've had a busy but fun week. Last week I babysat everyday including Saturday so that alone made the week pretty crazy! On Thursday I had 4 babies under the age of 2 here and it went suprisingly smooth but it felt like I was rocking children to sleep all day long! Pampered Chef has taken off and I did my first show at my friend Pam's house, it went pretty well and I had a lot of fun! March is quickly filling up with 5 parties and I am willing to do more so just let me know when you are ready to host a party and I will drop off your packet! Anyways, Brock has been a mess lately! I enjoy him more and more everyday. He's started dancing whenever there is music on and making me laugh. He definitely has white boy dancing skills! He's a funny little character. Yesterday he was carrying his blankie down the hall and it got caught on a shoe and Brock stopped and

scolded the shoe for annoying him.....maybe I should tone down my temper around him ya think? We'll just blame that on Daddy :)

Maddy and Brock have been getting my books off of my bookshelf and taking them and pretending to read them to each other, it is pretty cute just ignore the mass of toys on the floor behind them!

Today I was wiping the counters in the kitchen and Brock and Maddy decided that they would help me. I gave them both rags and they cleaned the cabinets for about 30 minutes!

He is getting to be such a big boy!

This is my new best friend! My bestie Pam introduced me to this little angel and I will never go without it again! About a week ago I accidently washed a chapstick in with a whole load of Brock's clothes and all of his shirts came out with grease stains spots all over them. Pam told me about this special spray n wash awhile ago so I went to the store and bought some. It got the stains out of every single one of Brock's shirts! I was SO happy! Definitely my new best friend!

A Fun Valentine's Weekend

We had a nice Valentine weekend, it started out with Brock spending Friday night with his Grandma Colleen. Joe and I decided to go to the movies and out to eat at a nice restaurant. We left Conway at about 5:30 and went to eat at the Butcher Shop, we figured that since it was the night before Valentine's Day that people would've stayed home and went out on Saturday night.....we couldn't have been more wrong! The Butcher Shop had an hour wait at 6:15! So, then we went over to P.F. Changs and they had an hour wait too, we decided to go to the movies first and let the crowds die down at the restaurants, we saw Gran Tourino. It was an excellent movie but not for the easily offended :) After the movie we went back to the Butcher Shop and had very yummy steak dinners. It was definitely worth the wait! On Saturday we decided to have a family Valentine outing and we took Brock to the zoo. We had a lot of fun and Brock loved walking and not being in the stroller the whole time. I can't remember what animal's cage we were at but I do know that Brock was trying to throw his yogurt bites into the cage and making kissy noises.....that's what he does to the dogs at home.....it was pretty cute!
I believe that the zoo is out to rip you off! It was like we were at a theme park! It cost us $20 bucks to get in and then on top of that we had to pay another $6 to ride the train, I just knew that Brock would love the train but he could've cared less!

The chimps were a hoot! Their was a baby chimp that was harrassing the oldest chimp and they were chasing each other and drawing quite the crowd. Then this older chimp sat down in front of us and started waving and pulling branches off of the ground and trying to give them to us, it was pretty funny! We stayed at the chimps for about 20 minutes!

Joe and Brock looking at the chimps.

We walked around the zoo for over 2 hours and my feet were killing me! Joe had to see every single animal in the whole zoo! We then went over to ToysRUs and bought Brock his very own broom. Whenever I sweep he goes and gets the mop and proceeds to run it through my piles of dirt so hopefully this will be more fun for both of us! We were just too tired to cook when we got home(and by "we" I mean me) so we ordered pizza. I ordered the special heart shaped pizzas. They were pretty cute. All in all it was a great weekend and we had lots of fun as family!

Life, how short and sweet it is....

I have this obsession with "blogstalking" and I recently stumbled upon a little girl who was about Brock's age, 3 weeks ago her family took her into her pediatrician because she hadn't been eating very well and they found out she had cancer. Today she died. I couldn't imagine having a healthy, happy baby and then three short weeks later to have them taken from you. The thoughts are well, unthinkable. I don't know this family from the man in the moon and I couldn't pick them out of a crowd but I feel heartbroken for them. Not just for the fact that they lost their beautiful little girl, but because of the fact that they don't have the gospel and the knowledge that they will see their precious baby again. When they lay her beautiful, fragile, little body in the ground they will never know that they will be able to see her in her most perfect state one day.

When I was pregnant with Paige it was the most happy moments to me. I found out I was pregnant with her the night that I buried my father, it was a very bittersweet moment because on one hand I was so excited to be carrying a child and on the other hand all I could think about was how my Father had always wanted to be a grandfather and now he would be missing out. I remember like it was yesterday when that little line popped up I walked into the kitchen and showed my mom, she was dancing she was so excited! She called me everday to see how I was doing and we just knew that this baby was sent to us to help us heal from the loss of my daddy.

The day that I went to the doctor's office to check on the baby I remember sitting in the ultrasound room waiting on the doctor and looking at all of the pictures of newborns that he had delivered and then he walked in, looked at my sweet Paige on the ultrasound machine and that is when my world came tumbling down. I remember to this day saying that this just couldn't be. I mean Heavenly Father had already taken my dad, surely he couldn't be taking my baby too! But, it was true.

My mom and Grandma came up from Memphis and that next morning Joe, my mom, and grandma all escorted me to the hospital. I only broke down once when I walked into the delivery room I think that then it hit me that this baby that I had talked to and loved and planned a future with was not going to be with me anymore. I was in induced labor for 27 hours. I finally got an epidural and as soon as the drugs hit me Paige Noelani Rogers who weighed about a pound, was delivered and I passed out. I truly believe that my Heavenly Father helped me not to be with it enough to see them take my precious baby girl out of the room. All I remember is Joe telling me that it was over and then I woke up the next day. When I woke up I just felt empty because my little girl was no longer inside of me. It was truly a sad moment.

When I was discharged from the hospital the nurse came in and handed me something that I will cherish for the rest of my life, two sets of Paige's tiny footprints. They are no bigger than an inch in heigth it is the only tangible thing that I have to remind me of her.

I only saw her once, when we had to bring an outfit up to the funeral home to bury her in. They wrapped her in a beautiful pink blanket that we had picked out when we found out she was a girl. We put the stuffed animal that Joe had picked out for her in her casket and Joe gave her a blessing and a name. I didn't pick her up, she was too little and I was afraid that I would never have been able to let her go if I touched her so I just left her resting in her casket.
The day that I buried her it was just Joe, me and his Uncle and I remember the funeral people telling us that we could leave but we just sat there and watched them until they had put the last shovel of dirt on top of her and that was that, it was finished.
I remember someone in the family telling me that I would see her again and I would be her mother forever and that we have the promise that I will get to raise her one day, and at the time I can remember that those statements felt empty and had no comfort for me. I wanted her now I wanted to raise her here on earth. I didn't want to have to wait to see her first smile, help her take her first steps, kiss her first boo-boo, I wanted all of that now. It took me a long time to realize that it's not what I want that matters, it's what He has in His plans for us that matters.
I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and the trials that we face are all for our own good.
I don't think of Paige everyday, but when I think of her now I do have the peace to know with a surety that that little girl came to this earth to get a name and a body and that is all she had to come here for. Her work here was finished and I also know that one day I will hold her in my arms, kiss her cheeks and then I will never have to let her go. I am so thankful for the gospel that I have in my life. I am thankful for the trials that I have endured I know that I am a much stronger person for them. I am thankful for the immense blessings that radiate through my life. I am very thankful for my precious son that I do get to raise now in this life and for every little smile and snuggle that he gives me. The Lord has shown me that through my trials I can truly know happiness.
Tonight as I say my prayers I will pray for that little girl and her family and that maybe one day they could be as lucky as I am to know the things that I have been blessed to know, that one day I will hold my little girl in my arms and then I will know the full knowledge of why things are the way that they are.

Today was a day in a half.....

I don't usually use my blog as a place to complain but tonight I need to! Today has been a day in a half! It started out at 5:15 a.m. when the three dogs decided that they just HAD to go to the bathroom and since I'm the only person in this house that wakes up to any noises I got out of bed and put them out. Since it was 25 degrees outside I had to wait by the door while they did their business. So, after about 5 minutes I let them all back in, put them back in their room, and climbed back into bed. After about 30 minutes I realized that I was not going to fall back asleep so I got up and went out into the living room.
I watched some tivo'd shows for about 45 minutes and just when I was dozing off again my alarm clock, also known as Brock, let me know that it was time to start my day. The day was pretty hectic with three children under the age of two here today. Most days are fine but I think it must have been a full moon because they were fussy and clingy and the two toddlers pretty much fought all day long! So, just hearing that all day long can wear on a person's patience. So, by 4 o'clock the kiddos headed home for the day and it was just me, Joe, and Brock. I was planning on going to the gym but I am very sore from yesterday (I got a wild hair and decided to run laps at the gym and am paying for it today) so I just decided that 3 loads of running the dishwasher, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, 5 loads of laundry and wiping booties all day long would just have to count for working out. As I mentioned I had swept, mopped, and vacuumed which means the house was pretty clean, while the dogs were outside and Brock and I were making dinner I looked out the back door and all three of the dogs were begging to come inside because they were freezing so I opened the door, let them in, and went back to cooking dinner.
After the spaghetti was made I sat Brock down to feed him and he ate every single bite....his first solid meal since his double ear infections....I yelled down the hall to Joe that dinner was ready, made my plate and walked into the living room and that is when all you know what broke loose....I found muddy paw prints all over the entire living room and down the hall, on the wall and on and on. I didn't know what to do first! I decided to scrub the carpets and get the stains out seeing as we are trying to sale the house and I didn't think that stains the size of craters would be a very good selling point, then I tackled the dogs, all 300lbs. of them. Abby the great dane was the worst......she weighs 115lbs and I had to pick her up and put her in the tub and then she let me get her all soaped up and she took off running! I was so mad! After all three dogs were clean I had yet another load of laundry to wash due to the fact that I was soaking wet, Brock was soaking wet, the bathroom rug was soaking wet and all 8 towels it took to dry them off were also soaking wet!! I was beyond mad! But, hey Brock thought that the whole thing was hilarious he even helped me bathe the dogs that is until he pulled all the toilet paper off of the roll and threw it into the bathtub and then Abby tried to eat it, I'm not kidding today was the day to end all days!! Here's to hoping tomorrow is much, much better :)

Pampered Chef and More.....

I haven't posted in quite awhile. I don't have any pictures to post but I do have some catching up to do. First, I've started watching an 8 month old adorable little boy named Carter three days a week and he is a true joy to have in the house. So that makes my fourth child that we are watching. I don't watch any of them full time so it gives me time to miss them when they aren't here! I am going to be watching a newborn on Mondays only starting in February which will top us off with 5! Growing up I always said that I would never watch kids at home because my mom always had kids in the house but now I know why she did it! It's fun and I get to make money and stay home with Brock and he likes the company too. I really do enjoy watching these children and making my own extra money on the side!

My pampered chef party went awesome! I had a lot of people order before the show and about 10 people at the party it was a good turn out and I ended up selling $800 worth of stuff and that let me pick out almost anything and everything I ever wanted out of the catalog! I have also decided that I am going to become a consultant and sell Pampered Chef. I think that it will be a fun little thing to do on the side and let me have a little bit of a career outside of being a mommy. So, keep me in mind if you want to throw a pampered chef party!

Brock has been doing great. I think that he is teething due to the drool, slight fever, runny nose and runny diapers! He's growing more and more everyday and I just love him more than life itself. He has added ball, football, and later to his ever growing vocabulary. He is a fun little guy and I'm glad to call him mine! I hope everyone has had a great week and is enjoying the inauguration as much as I am!!!

Update Pampered Chef Info.....

A couple of things that I forgot to say in the last post about the party:

1. If you are from out of town and would like to buy stuff from the catalog you can just look at the website www.pamperedchef.com and then email me at jennifernoelanirogers25@hotmail.com and let me know what you would like to order and I can ring it up on my ticket and it will count towards my show.

2. The party is going to be at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday the 17th.

I think that is all for now, but if not I will add more later! Thanks and I hope ya'll can come!

Pampered Chef Party!

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I am having a Pampered Chef party on Saturday the 17th.....look out for your invites and I will probably be emailing some of you for your addresses....I just got all of the stuff tonight and I am excited about it! Save the date!

More Memphis.......

Brock and I went back the day after Christmas to spend some more time with my family. I had two cousins in town that I hadn't seen in a long time and one that had never met Brock. So, after we got to feeling better in the Roger home, Brock and I repacked our bags and headed back to Memphis for a couple more days. These pictures are in no particular order because I loaded them up and they came out all crazy........

This is the newest member of the family and the third addition to her family. Her name is Leilea Friskillo and she belongs to my cousin John Thomas and his wife Liza....aren't those cheeks the cutest things!

This is a horrible picture of me....it was taken at the end of a very long day so just pretend that it is wonderful :) This is my cousin Lani who lives in California. I haven't seen her in two years and this was Brock's first time to meet her. It was great to see her and catch up.

Someone took about 50 pictures on my camera while I wasn't looking but this is a cute one of my Aunt Lorna so I kept it :)

This is my cousin Nani and Brock

Brock loved being around all of his second cousins.....he thought that he was just as big as they were. Every morning my Grandma becomes a short-order cook and makes everyone anything they would like to eat and the boys get trays to eat their breakfast in the living room. Brock had already eaten but he insisted that he get a tray to sit like the big kids too. He sat up there and ate fruit loops until baby Kimo was done eating......he can't wait to grow up but I'm not in that big of a hurry!!

I put Brock in the tub and Kawika walked in and rubbed his belly and said "Tub Tub" so I let him get in and then his big sister Iwa was right behind him. Brock had a very fun bath that night :)

This is why Brock was always in the tub at my Grandma's house. Everytime I turned around he was eating some kind of goody. This was an Oreo mess from his Great-Aunt Malisa.

These are my Uncle Kimo's two sons Keawi and baby Kimo. They got a really fun game for Christmas and we were playing it and of course Brock thought that he had to get in the middle of the action so Grandma let him sit on the table. He is spoiled rotten at Grandma's house.

This is pretty much the amount of people that were at my Grandma's house at any given moment. Brock was taking a nap so he was MIA in this photo.

This is probably an inappropriate picture to put on here but it is so funny. Brock loves to drag my unmentionables all over the house and the day that I was packing to go to Memphis I could hear him giggling down the hallway and this is what I found. He was cracking himself up. He's a nut! He loves anything silky and has to have a silky blanket at night to go to sleep. When we were growing up my cousin Garrott used to suck his thumb and carry around his mother's silky panties.....this is definitely a blackmail picture for down the road :)

We had a lot of fun but I am glad to be home. Traveling with a baby gets pretty hectic and it is hard on him too because he is way over stimulated and very off of his schedule! The day we got home he took a 4 1/2 hour nap and it was well needed! He never stopped running at my Grandma's! It's good to be home.....plus we kinda missed Joe too :)

Christmas Has Come And Gone Once Again.....

Another Christmas has come and gone, it wasn't the best for the Rogers family but we did have lots of fun. Brock caught a stomach virus right before we left to go to Memphis and he was pretty miserable for about 3 days with some not so fun symptoms that go along with a stomach virus....I'll spare the details....but then when his Great-Grandma gave him some chocolate dipped cookies he perked right up on Christmas Eve! Christmas Eve morning I started to feel achy all over and then by that night Joe and I were both feeling pretty miserable.....we did video tape a little bit but we didn't really get many pictures of the night. Brock got tons of fun new toys to play with and he was in Heaven!He got this giraffe from his Uncle Timmy and his Aunt Priscilla he loved it and he actually went forward on it....that's a first for him, he usually goes backwards and then ends up in a corner stuck and needs help to get going again....
I think that this was his favorite toy this year....it is a little 4 wheeler that his Great Aunt Lorna got him and his second cousin Kawika. As soon as Brock turned the corner and saw his 4 wheeler he said "wooow" and got right on it and didn't get off until it was time to load it in the car :) He loves to ride it down the hall and chase the dogs...he just cracks up when they run away from him..he's got a little mean streak in him!

Other than being sick we had a great Christmas and were very glad to spend the holiday with our families. I hope that everyone enjoyed the holiday as well!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Okay, so this post is really just about trains but I loved that movie it's a classic! Anyways, Brock got a couple of Christmas presents in the mail so we let him open them early. He got this great quiet bag that we are going to use in sacrament today and maybe, just maybe, we can sit through the whole hour without having to visit the hallway :) He also got his very first trainset from our very close friends of the family in Hot Springs. He got a Thomas train and a starter track and he thought it was pretty neat. After Joe taught him to just watch the train he actually sat for about 20 minutes and just laughed when the train came out of the tunnel....pretty cute stuff! He kept trying to "help" the train go through the tunnel
Look at that little smile......

The other night we went out to dinner with Joe's mom, while we were waiting on her to arrive we set Brock all bundled up on the couch and 5 minutes later this is what I found. Poor kid, this coat is so puffy that he can hardly walk in it....he really reminds me of the little boy off of the Christmas Story...."I can't put my arms down!!!!" :)

I just thought that this picture was so cute....this is the little girl that I babysit named Maddox. They love a DVD called the Little Einsteins. I don't mind them watching it either because it's pretty cute and it teaches them about classical music and composers so it's semi-educational so I can justify letting him sit in front of the TV :)

Santa came a little early this year!!!

Santa came early and he dropped off this wonderful new kitchenaid for me!!! I was so excited to get it that I couldn't wait any longer to open it! I even made Joe go out in the freezing nasty weather to buy some butter so I could make us some cookies! I got a Sunbeam mixer when we got married and it broke about a year after we got married. Last week I was making some goodies to give to some friends and my poor little hand mixer caught on fire!! So, I dropped some hints to Mr. Claus about how I sure wish I could have a Kitchenaid for Christmas and I actually got one!! I am very excited to bake so if anyone wants to make any request.......This is what it looks like in good ole Arkansas today...it sleeted all day long yesterday and we are iced in for a while and I don't mind one bit......the dogs are having a blast in the ice....I think that we might take Brock out to play in it a little bit later.....he's getting cabin fever!
This our front walkway......



This is my big baby....he loves sitting in his old bouncy seat....he didn't enjoy it when he was a baby but now he thinks it's the greatest thing....he's getting a football chair for Christmas from his great-aunt Shelley and I think he's going to love it!


One of the little boys I babysit brings the most random things to my house to play with and on Friday he brought over this clown wig and Brock thought that it was pretty funny and he actually wore it for a while....what a goofy boy!

I can't believe that there are only 9 days until Christmas....this year has just flown by and has been full of fun, happy memories and I look forward to many more years to come!!!

My Fun Weekend

Joe and I had a great weekend. About a month ago we decided to put Joe's truck up for sale on Craigslist for fun just to see if we got any offers. Well it sat for about three weeks until this what I thought was a woman named Jan emailed me and said that she was interested in it. We emailed back and forth details about the truck and what we were willing to sell it for. In one of the emails I asked Jan if she was from Conway and she replied that she was actually from Norway the country! I did my research and realized that "Jan" was really pronounced "yawn" and it is a man who is just one of many Norwegians who come to Mountain View, Arkansas, throughout the year for vacations. So, Joe and I went Friday night to deliver the truck and the man who is in charge named Arvid told us that we could spend the night in one of his cabins. I was so mad that I didn't bring my camera with me! This was the most beautiful cabin that I had ever seen. We found out this morning that Arvid Maeland is actually a very famous celebrity in Norway and he came to Arkansas on a trip, saw this huge lot of land for sale and decided to buy it, and now his Norwegian friends all buy lots from him and build cabins on them and then when they are back home in Norway they rent out the cabins to anyone who wants to come. The cabin that we stayed in was a two story four bed two bath with cedar from the ceiling to the floor and it smelled wonderful. It was a great getaway for the night. It's in the middle of nowhere so we got to enjoy the beautiful wildlife. It was a very romantic place and we can't wait to go back!

After we sold Joe's truck we headed off for another town called Searcy, Arkansas, to look at another cheaper work truck for Joe to use until he is out of school, we found the guy on Craigslist and bought his truck today and then as we were traveling home from our long day of travels, we were about 15 miles outside of Conway on a little 2-lane road going about 60 miles an hour and the woman in the car in front of Joe went onto the shoulder and then grossly overcompensated, fishtailed, and then went across both lanes of traffic into an open field and then flipped through the air and suddenly stopped when she hit a huge tree. The car landed on the on it's side with the driver's side on the grass! It was the scariest thing I have ever witnessed! We were so scared when we ran over to the car to see what we were going to find. After three men pried the passenger door open this woman who was about 55 stood up without a scratch on her and told us that she was answering her cell phone and drove off of the road and that was the last thing that she remembered! It was so scary! Joe and another man had to help lift her out the car. She didn't have a scratch on her and she didn't even go to the emergency room but I can guarantee that she will be hurting tomorrow!! It really made me drive much more aware and carefully for the rest of our trip!

After we got home and snuggled on Brock (I haven't been away from him for that long in a while!) we let him take a nap and Joe played with his new truck and then that money that we made today was burning a hole in my pocket so we decided to finally do some Christmas shopping, we went to ToysR Us and got all of Brock's christmas shopping done. We got him entirely too much but oh well he deserves it right???

We had a fun and eventful weekend and we hope to do it again soon! Anyone up to spend a weekend with us in the cabin???

Brock's Great Grandpa and His New Love.....

Brock has taking a liking to all things belonging to Daddy. He loves to play with Joe's helmet, work compressor, motorcycle and all of his tools. Joe loves it and takes great pride in our little Joe Jr.! He brings me this helmet all the time and wants me to put it on for him. Bless his heart it weighs as much as he does so when he puts it on and tries to stand up he falls over! It's funny and he loves the attention it gets him! I just love this picture!

This is Joe's Grandpa, Herman Brock. Many people have heard of him but have never laid eyes on him! He is the best! We love him very much. Brock is making that face because he is in a massage chair and isn't really sure about the shaking that the chair is doing. He loves his great grandpa and thinks that he is very funny! I love that Joe's family lives so close and we get to see them at least twice a week it's lots of fun and very yummy food!!

I decided to put up our Christmas decorations during the week of Thanksgiving because I wasn't watching any children other than my own. As I was getting all of the stuff out of tupperware boxes I put on Brock's favorite Baby Einstein video. He was being so quiet and staying out of the way! I was so proud of him and when I went into the living room to compliment him on helping mommy by staying out of her hair for a little bit this is what I found!!
He was so proud of himself! Somehow he had snuck into the kitchen and grabbed a brand new of wrapping string and had a ball with it!

I couldn't get mad at him he was having so much fun I just let him play with it, it was so tangled up that there was no saving it anyways!

This is where you can find Brock most of the time when the tree is plugged in. He loves it and I won't let him touch it so he climbs underneath it, lays on his back and looks at the lights, sometimes he'll say "wooooow" but most of the time he just lays there....priceless memories :)

He is such a fun boy and I can't wait until Christmas this year.

Thanksgiving was alot of fun this year. We decided not go to Memphis this year and we got a last minute invite to go to Hot Springs and have dinner with my childhood friend Clare and her husband Chris. They moved here recently and we love to hang out with them. I was really excited to go to Hot Springs. The morning of Thanksgiving, Joe went to play in the annual Conway Turkey Bowl. It's a bunch of men that have no business playing tackle football, because they get way too into it and like to think that they are in the NFL. As Joe walked out of the door to go and play I told him not to get hurt and what do ya know but 30 minutes later he comes walking into the door holding his hand and whining about getting hurt! So, Joe spent the morning in the E.R. and after 2 1/2 hours they told him that it wasn't broken and that there wasn't anything that they could do for it! I think that he has learned his lesson and he doesn't want to play full contact anymore thank goodness!

We had a blast on Thanksgiving and felt right at home at the Palmer's. Maybe that will be our new tradition??? We went to the Arlington to visit all of the people I used to work with. It's hard going there sometimes because I feel like I should be going to visit my dad not reminiscing with people about him, ya know?? But all in all it was a good holiday weekend and we can't wait until Christmas!!!

Making Cookies and Sunday Pictures

Can you tell what he is smirking at? I decided to make homemade chocolate chip cookies the other day and just knew that he was missing out on something so I put him on the counter and he sat up there the entire time I made the cookies. He loved every minute of it. He wouldn't take his eyes off of that bowl.....especially after I gave him a taste!

He held onto those measuring cups the whole time he was on the counter....

Mmmmmm......that's the best part of making cookies, licking the mixers!!

I thought he looked so cute on Sunday so I decided to take his picture before we left for church. Cute picture right? Well, it should be because I must have taken at least 15 pictures to get two semi good pictures of him! Little Stinker! Below is the proof....

At least he's smiling right??

This was the last picture I took....I gave up after this one!

He is just way too busy to bother himself with holding still for a picture these days! Oh well, there's always next Sunday!!

My Big Baby

This week hasn't been too exciting but here are a cute pictures of my little man....just in case somebody out there has been going through withdrawals.....Brock loves anything that has to do with his daddy...I really think that he is going to be a rough and tough boy. He was riding his daddy's compressor like it was a car or something...pretty cute :)
He has started to climb into the computer chair and he is very proud of his new accomplishment! He looks so grown up in this picture!

And here is my Big Baby Boy :) I am watching a little girl that is about 2 years old and her mom just had another baby and I got to watch the newborn yesterday for about two hours. I got Brock's swing out of the garage for her to swing in and she didn't even get the chance to try out the swing because Brock was begging me to get in it the minute I set it up. He grunted and whined until I put him in there. I didn't think he would like it once he was stuck in there but he did! He was perfectly content and unaware at how goofy and ridiculously big he looked in there! Bless his little heart, I turned the thing all the way up to high and it barely moved, but he didn't seem to mind....he sat in there for about 30 minutes! What a silly little boy!

Madagascar and Abby......

I am not sure why my blog is doing this but it keeps uploading pictures backwards to the order that I put them in but what ever! This is Abby again...she's been doing lots of cute things lately. After Ethan had a bad morning today and screamed for about an hour after his mother dropped him off because he was mad at her, this is what I found when I came into the living room. I had noticed that he had stopped crying and this is why...Abby came to console him and he loves her! His family moves around a lot so they aren't able to have a pet, yay Abby to the rescue!!! The dog food dish was empty this morning so Abby decided to help herself to the dog food container she must be growing again......

I know this isn't a good picture of Brock but this is about as good as it gets lately.....Joe's mom called last night and invited us to a free showing of the new movie Madagascar 2 so we decided that it might be fun. So we took Brock around 7 p.m. and lasted about 30 minutes....he was finished sitting as soon as the movie started so we went home and left daddy at the movies with Grandma to watch the movie....oh well I didn't really like the first one all the much so I wasn't heartbroken......we learned our lesson....no more movies for Brock until he's like 3!!!

This is Abby at the fence while we were out front playing yesterday, she is getting sooooo big!

This is Brock all bundled up playing outside.....he's not too happy about wearing that hat!

Our Fun Weekend!!

Well, we made it! After planning on using the DVD player for a babysitter on the way to Memphis it ended up not working so Brock and I braved the trip without it! I was so proud of him! He did great, we sang songs a lot and he ate a lot of snacks and read a lot of books on the way there to keep him occupied. He did really good! Gas was so cheap that it only cost me $45 total to get there and get home! Wonderful! We had a lot of fun at Grandma's house. Brock was very spoiled and doted on the whole weekend and that was just fine with him :) He finally met his match in the bullying department! My cousin's middle child Kawika who is 5 months older than Brock and bigger than him too, Brock thought that he would be a bully and pick on Kawika and Kawika let him know that that wasn't cool :) We had a lot of fun this weekend and loved being their for Leilea's blessing, she is a very cute baby and a good addition to the family! Brock loved playing in Grandma's pantry it is a big pantry and he could shut the doors while he was in it and he thought that was the best thing that he had ever seen! We had a fun weekend and I hope that we can do it again soon!

Wish me luck!

Brock and I are going to face a trip to Memphis alone today! I haven't taken him very farther than Little Rock alone because he doesn't really like to be still for very long so he can be a rascal in the car on long trips, but my cousin's third baby is being blessed this weekend and I can't miss that! So, Brock and I are going alone because Joe can't afford to miss work. It will be an adventure, maybe Brock can sleep the majority of the trip....I've got a DVD player for the other half so hopefully it will be a pleasant mini vacay ! Have a good weekend!!

A Fun Halloween Week.....

Okay, for some reason all of my pictures loaded up backwards.....anyways I wanted to post a new picture of our "puppy" Abigail! She has been a great addition to the family and even though she is the size of a small horse she is the calmest, quietest and best mannered dog I've ever been around! As you can see she is getting HUGE! I swear she grows inches overnight! That is our

2 1/2 year old male boxer curled in between our 6 1/2 month old Dane's legs! We really do love her and glad that she has joined our family. Brock loves her too! He climbs all over her and pulls on her tail and she just lays there and lets him do it--too cute! Now don't be alarmed at this next picture......and if you are wondering why I don't let Joe babysit very often it's because I come home to pictures like this :) Brock was quickly found and the knives were put away but still, this wouldn't have happened if mommy was here :) Joe heard the dishwasher open and went into find Brock holding knives in his hands! I think the picture is funny because you can see that he is very pleased with his discovery and that huge smile through his passy!

Brock was a giraffe for Halloween this year, and the cutest giraffe I've ever seen--if I do say so myself. We couldn't quit laughing when we put this on him. He kept his hat on for most of the night...

He warmed up to the costume pretty quickly :)

This was my little man exactly one year ago! I have loved watching him grow and learn and experience all the new things that he discovers. He is a lot of fun and a lot of work but worth every minute of it! I love him very much and had a lot of fun with him this Halloween!

A Day For Me....

So, today I decided to have a me day. I haven't had one of those in a long time. I put Brock down for a nap and then left him with Grandma Colleen. I went to Hobby Lobby and looked around and then I went next store to the theatre and saw The Secret Life of Bees (sorry Clare!). It was the best movie that I have seen in a long time. I cried, laughed and wanted to stay for an encore. It was that good. Now I want to read the book. I absolutely love to go to the movies all by myself. When Joe and I were dating we would get into silly fights so I would go to the movies all by myself so I wouldn't have to think about him for two whole hours....now I go to enjoy alone time for a couple of hours! I've seen about 6 movies by myself to date. The most moving movie I've ever watched alone was The Passion of The Christ--I know that alot of mormons didn't go see that movie for whatever reasons but it was the most moving movie I have ever seen. I often think about His Mother Mary and how in the movie she had to watch her son carry the cross and struggle and now as a mother I have a great love and reverance for Mary and for the sorrow she must have felt knowing that her son was here to save this world and all they did was ridicule and mock him and ultimately took His life and she could do nothing to stop them. What a sacrifice that must have been for her I remember that when the movie was over everyone in the entire theatre left in total silence. It was a neat experience.

In the movie today one of the people commits suicide and she left a note for her loved ones and it said something about not being able to take the weight of the sadness of this world on her shoulders anymore and that really hit me hard. I cried for my dad today and those of you who know me know that I don't do that very often. It's hard being a child of someone who chose to leave this earth willingly. He never even left a note to let us know why, why he would do something so final to end his pain. I can remember the bishop coming over to my parents house hours after my father passed and he said "Don was just too good for this world, he was too tenderhearted to handle all of the sadness in this world he just had to leave." I truly know with all my heart that my father was a good man and I know where he is and I don't question that for one minute. I know that he regrets his decision to leave us behind but he didn't fully leave this earth because he passed down his good genes to my little man. My daddy could light up the room with his smile and so can Brock. My dad never met a stranger and he was everyone's favorite person and I see that in Brock, I see the joy that Brock brings to strangers when he smiles and waves at them and I know that it comes from his Grandpa Don. I love my father and I always will and nothing makes me happier than to know that through the atonement that I will be able to see him again and when I finally get to wrap my arms around him and hug him I'm not sure that I will ever let go. I love you Daddy.....

Funny Little Moments

So, I don't have any pictures to post this time but I do have a couple of funny stories that have happened this week.

First off, Brock and I were at Wal-mart on Monday and we passed the new Elmo Live that just came out. I haven't really liked Elmos all that much because I think that they are way too hyped up and very over priced but I thought that I would press it's foot and see what Brock thought about it....well he loved it! It was the cutest thing he just smiled and laughed a hearty gut laugh and people were stopping and watching his cute reaction to the silly overpriced thing. I got a real kick out of it and called his grandma and told her all about it too. She said that she would go in on half of it. Well, I was at Target last night and Brock had the same reaction again to Elmo and I left the store without it once again. I talked to Joe about it and we took him up to Target with us and Brock was laughing and grabbing for Elmo so Joe put it in the cart. Now this thing cost $60 bucks for a little red stuffed animal that talked to you. I sat in the backseat with Brock and all the way home he laughed and giggled and held Elmo while he was still in the box. When we got home with Elmo we waited for Grandma Colleen to come over to watch Brock get Elmo out of the box.....We finally opened the box and handed Elmo to Brock and what does he do with his $60 toy??? He CRIES! That's right this toy that I told everyone how much he loved and even talked his grandma into forking over $30 for and he cried! He was scared to even touch the dang thing!......Needless to say Joe boxed that sucker right back up and I took it back to Target this morning :) Silly little boy....I stand by my first opinion of Elmo---over hyped and over priced!!!


The other funny thing that happened was one of the times that I was at Target shopping I was passing by the bedding department and there was this 40 something year old man just standing at the end of the aisle looking lost and he stopped me and said, "Ma'am, do you know anything about sheets?" to which I replied, "well, that depends on what you need to know," and he then asked me "what is a fitted sheet?". I tried to hide my giggle because I thought that that was a pretty self explanatory product but I took the time to explain the difference between a fitted sheet and a top sheet :) On our way up to the checkouts I saw him carrying arms full of pillows, sheets and pillow cases. I didn't have the heart to tell him that those actually come in a whole pack together......He was living proof that men really do need women in their lives to make it :)

Halloween is coming........

We thought that this was a good look for Brock this Halloween :) I think this will be his new costume! He's going to so mad at me one day for all of the funny pictures that we take of him :) This was our attempt to take a picture of him at the pumpkin patch....he wouldn't look at me for anything! I probably took 20 pictures and they all turned out like this.....but he had fun that was what was important. He just kept saying "Woooow" everytime we would let him down to play with the pumpkins

This is Brock's future job.....he found this paint roller after church and played with it all afternoon. I think that this is his new favorite toy !!
Just ignore that lovely lady sleeping on the couch and admire how cute my son is.......

Not a lot has been going on this week other than a lot of outside playing in his car and slide and just enjoying this beautiful weather. On another note I HATE DIRECT TV. I'm pretty sure that the people running the business are a bunch of monkeys. I cancelled my subscription with them about 2 months ago but continued to get bills from them, after talking to several of the morons that work there I was assured that it was all taken care of. Then this morning as I was checking my online banking I noticed that they took money that they thought that I owed them out of my account without ever letting me know that they were going to draft it out, causing me to be in the negative....their solution? Arguing with me for about 35 minutes and then realizing that I was right and giving me a credit and $5 more for my troubles and then telling me that it wouldn't be back into my account for another 8 days.....I'm still on hold waiting for someone with a little intelligence to pick up the phone.....I'm thinking about sending them my phone bill too because I'm sure that I'm going over my minutes as I type :)

Tagged

I was tagged about a week ago and am just now getting around to it.
I'm not sure what it's called so I'm going to call it Seven:

7 things that I can do:

1. I can cook pretty much every night and not get tired of it.
2. I can eat Mexican food every night of the week if Joe would let me.
3. I can have a lot of patience when it comes to children....not so much with adults.
4. I can clean the house every day of the week without complaining.
5. I can change diapers all day long and not mind it one bit.
6. I can hop in the car at any moment for a road trip.
7. I can play the piano, although I don't and hate to play in public.


7 things that I can't do:

1. I can't help but be mad at myself for not losing my baby weight faster.
2. I can't help but envy my friends that look better now than they did before they had kids.
3. I can't bake bread.
4. I can't go and just shop for myself without putting someone else in the family first.
5. I can't seem to find the time or money for a long needed pedicure.
6. I can't get my butt to the gym as often as I would like.
7. I can't seem to get my husband to understand that a little romance goes a long way.

7 things that attracted me to Joe:

1. His Muscles
2. I liked that he chased me and not the other way around.
3. I liked that he could take me to the temple.
4. I liked that he never tried to put the moves on me.
5. I liked his family.
6. I liked that he promised to take me to Hawaii.
7. I liked that he provided me with a home---no more apartments!!

7 things that I say most often:

1. Um....I'm not posting some of the things that I say :)
2. Brock
3. Bruiser Shut Up!
4. Son of a .......(I don't finish it)
5. Joe
6. Brock
7.Brock---Okay, I know I'm a little obsessed!

7 people that I admire the most:

1. My mother
2. My Grandmother
3. President Hinckley
4. Joe's Grandma
5. My Father
6. Dr. Phil
7. Joe for putting up with me

7 Favorite Foods

1. Los Amigos rice, tacos, beans, cheese dip--I could go on and on
2. I love a good salad
3. Diet Coke--that should actually be number one
4. No Bake Cookies- I never make them because I will eat the whole batch
5. Olive Garden, I love their salad, and portobella mushroom ravioli
6. Marilyn Brock's Sunday lunch
7. Anything my grandma makes

7 people I tag:

1. Pam
2. Jenny
3. Trish
4. Marji
5. Clare
6. Ashlee
7. Kristin

My Son The Bully........

Thursday was the first day that the boys that I babysit had been to the house since Brock got all of his new toys.....well, as you can see Brock is not too happy to share. This is the three year old boy and he is a very tender hearted little thing and Brock, coming from Joe and me neither of us are in any way tender hearted, so I am very afraid that I am raising a big ol' bully. I can just see the scenario 4 years from now when he is in Kindergarten and he is the biggest boy in his class picking on all of the wimpier kids! Everytime this little boy would try to play with any of Brock's new toys he would climb on top of the kid or take the toys out of his hands. I finally had to put the car away because I was tired of my one year old bully making the three year old wimp cry :) Joe just couldn't have been prouder!
This is Brock's new routine.....he takes a short one hour nap around 11 a.m. and then just plays and plays all day, refusing a second nap and this is how I found him yesterday after I put on Baby Einstein while I cooked dinner. I let him sleep for about 30 minutes and I was scared that I was going to be up until midnight but he ended up going to sleep at 8:30p.m. and he slept until 8:30 a.m. so it didn't turn out too bad. I try and try my hardest to keep that little stinker on a schedule but he is definitely on his own schedule, what's a mommy to do????

Boys and Their Toys......

Brock has taken a new found interest in Joe's motorcycle....every chance he gets he tries to get out the laundry room door and head for Joe's bike. This makes Joe very proud and he even lets Brock play on it and touch everything....for those of you who don't know Joe all that well, he is an only child and never had to share anything so this is a big deal :) Yesterday it was actually cold enough that Brock could wear some of his new winter clothes.
Hanging out with Daddy........
Hmmmm...I wonder what this button does :)
We just took Brock to his 12 month check-up this morning and he is doing just fine of course. He has actually lost a little weight with all of his running around that he does! He is 25lbs. and

31 1/2 inches tall and is in the 90th percentile for both his height and weight. He had to get two shots in his legs and then they sent us over to the hospital for routine bloodwork to check if he is anemic(i think that is how you spell it...) and for lead in the blood since our house is older. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have either of those things but just to make sure we let them poke his little finger...he was not happy to say the least. He wasn't crying but he was yelling....I don't know where he got his temper :) The new thing that the doctor told us is to quit giving him the bottle.....I'm not sure how we are going to do this but we will try!

Brock's Birthday Party!!!!

Brock's party went very well, he racked up in the clothing and toy department, he got a slide, car and a wagon to name just a few. This was his birthday shirt and it was a real hit at the party.... We gave him his little tikes car on Friday night....he loved it. I think that this might be the best toy we've ever bought him. Right now he can only figure out how to go backwards but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he figures out!
This was his birthday hat......he kept it on for about one minute!
Grandma Colleen got him this wagon and he really enjoyed riding in it with his second cousin Max....
He was trying to grab the lit candles.....

He was not very sure at first what to do with his own cake....but it didn't take him that long to figure it out.....


I think he liked his cake.....the bathtub still has a greasy feel to it....I guess I have to scrub it tomorrow!

I think that he had a great first birthday. We had about 35 people come and the house was busting at the seams with people that love our little Brock as much as we do. We are truly blessed with wonderful family and friends. Here's to many more happy birthdays and fun parties!!

They Say It's Your Birthday.......

Well, it's finally here....my little man's very first birthday! It has been a good day and we are all ready for company and for the big party tomorrow.....I haven't taken any pictures of Brock today just yet....so I thought I'd put a picture of the two people who would be the first to wish him a happy birthday if they were here! I just LOVE this picture of the two of them....this is how I picture them waiting for us on the other side....we love you both and miss you always!

He Finally Did It!!!

We are so proud....our son finally learned how to climb all the way into the fridge, he's really growing up! Just kidding....I don't know what his infatuation with the fridge and the dishwasher is but I do know that he is obsessed with them both!
This is his first taste of a cupcake....I'm pretty sure he liked it!!
I put him in his first winter outfit when we went to the gym early in the morning because it was so cold.......
I got him all dressed up and even put his shoes on him....when I put him on the floor to try to walk he realized his shoes were on and he immediately dropped to the floor and started to cry...then he frantically rubbed his two feet together until he got a shoe off and then he laughed....I guess my son is going to get frostbite this winter for his lack of shoe wearing.....
This was one of his first Birthday presents and he has been playing with it ever since! It is a handmade stool from my Uncle Billy and Aunt Janice!! Thank you very much it will come in very handy I'm sure!!!

Blogging and The Women

Well, last night was fun I went to see the movie The Woman with a bunch of crazy woman ;) We had a fun girls' night out. The movie was really good it made me laugh and I loved the birthing scene it was right on :) Definitely a chick flick. I actually let Joe babysit Brock and although I came home to a red eyed crying baby that was freezing cold from playing in the dog water for who knows how long, the night seemed like it was a success and I think that I will be letting him babysit more often! I know Lindsey will be glad to hear that :)
Also, can I just say that I love to get on the computer in the mornings and see that all of my friends have blogged the night before. It makes me smile that I have a lot of new blogs to look at.....I know I'm a dork but hey at least I admit it right???? I can't believe that next Friday Brock will be an official ONE YEAR OLD!!!

Brock's New Friends and His New Playroom!

I started watching these two little boys about two weeks ago. They are very easy, well behaved, and Brock loves the company. They only come three times a week and that is the perfect little part time job for me! This is their wagon that they brought over. Brock loved this wagon so much that we told his Grandma to get him one for his birthday!
I got a wild hair this morning and decided to rearrange our back bedroom into a playroom for Brock and his new friends. My treadmill is in there in hopes that it will inspire me to exercise while they are playing :)

I don't know if I've told everyone, but the foster care isn't going to work out for us right now. We got a letter in the mail informing us that our 27 hour class program was starting up on September the 20th and would continue for the next 7 Saturdays. Well, we've already planned Brock's birthday party on the 4th of October and they have no alternate classes. Also, Joe is in school now so Saturday's are the only full day of the week that he can work. So, we just took that as a sign that it isn't meant to be for us right now.....maybe the Lord has something else in store for us like another baby????

The Retreat!

I had so much fun at the Relief Society Retreat this weekend! It was the first time that we have ever had one and I think that it turned out great! I made some new friends and bonded with some that I already had. I feel like I cried WAY too much but we laughed just as much. I hope I didn't scare anyone away with all of my sappy crying stories :) I would try to tell Joe about some of the funny stories and they just weren't as funny to him as they were to me :) Except for the nut story about Maureen Martindale....that was VERY funny ;) I'm pretty sure that Brock missed me a little too much, he hasn't let me put him down since 12:30 saturday afternoon! We took a long nap together considering that I came home only having about 3 hours sleep. Who knew those women could be so wild! Anyways, this weekend has made me thankful for the gospel and how it brings us closer together as friends and women! Can't wait until next year......

Going to the Zoo..............

Thanks to Hurricane Gustav we've had great, beautiful, open the windows and turn off the air weather and we had to take advantage of it! We went to Little Rock and went to the zoo with Pam, Maddy and Olivia. It was a fun day and it seemed like all of the animals at the zoo were appreciating the weather too!
This was their newest gorilla and that little thing was very fast! We had fun watching the gorillas!
This was one of the elephants, I think her name was Mary....
Brock enjoying the outdoors....
Maddy and Brock posing for the camera

Brock loved these little statue things!
Maddy the ham........


Our future farming family, Farmer Brock with his little wife Madison! We

had a lot of fun and we will have to do it again really soon!

Lounging Around.....And Into Everything!!!

I put Brock on the couch yesterday morning sitting up and drinking a bottle and this is what I found...... He was vegging out watching cartoons and looking like a big kid :)

This is what happens everytime I open the fridge to get something out!
He is very proud of himself as you can see.
Don't let that cute little smile fool you! I found him in the laundry room and I told him that I liked how good he was playing by himself and then he smiled and out fell a piece of dog food!!! I guess he's not getting enough of something in his diet because he eats at least one piece of dog food a day!! It grosses me out everytime I find him eating one!! Joe says it's just good protein.

Vacuums and New Toys

This is our fourth vacuum since we've been married...our last vacuum caught on fire while I was in the middle of cleaning about a month ago...so we broke down and bought a good one so hopefully this will last us a while!!Brock was all about helping daddy put the vacuum together........
Look at that boy with the screwdriver!
Last week Joe and I went to Wal-mart to look for Brock's birthday and I found a bag of balls that he loves to play with so I bought a bag for $10 bucks and made my own ball pit out of his little swimming pool! This is his favorite toy and he spends a lot of time in it!!

Just a whole lotta nothin.....

I don't have any cute pictures to post because I haven't really been taking any lately! I don't know what my problem is there! Um...not a lot has been going on here just the same old stuff. Joe started back at school this past week and he seems to like his classes a little better this semester. The times that he is going is much better, he goes early and gets out early enough to put in a decent days work.

I just got a new part time job and I'm very excited! I posted an ad on craigslist and this lady actually replied. It's a perfect little side job to make extra money that will probably just all go to GAS! She has a 2 almost 3 year old and a 3 almost 4 year old both boys, and I'm only going to be watching them on Wednesday through Friday for about 6 hours a day, so that will be perfect and I'm sure Brock is going to love the extra company! I would still be willing to take a couple of more kids so if anyone knows of any just send them my way!

On Friday, Brock and I went to Little Rock and we spent all day shopping with Pam. I was VERY disappointed in a new consignment sale called the Children's Market...big waste of time, but we went to the mall instead and did a little shopping in there. Of course, the only thing that I bought in the mall was for little Brock, funny how my life has become all about someone else. I can remember when I was single I would hit all of the shops for girls and pretty much buy something in everyone of them and now I only go in the baby shops and don't even glance at the girly shops! But, that's why Brock has a way cuter wardrobe than his mother! But, he's worth every penny :)

Also, on Friday afternoon Joe rode his motorcycle down to Little Rock to meet us for dinner and he stuck his glasses in his jacket pocket and about 5 miles into the trip they were nowhere to be found! So, almost $200 later he has a new pair of glasses on the way and now he has contacts.....it's always something around here!

Well, I've rambled enough for now so I hope you all have a great week and happy blogging!!

Another Tag!

Four Places that I go over and over:

1. Wal-mart. I try to go only once a week but I always forget something on my list and have to go back a second or third time during the week.
2. Target. I don't have to have a reason to go to Target. It's therapy for me.
3. Church every week that counts huh?
4. Gym even though it doesn't show all that much I actually do go as much as possible!

Four people who email me regularly:

1. Aunt Janice
2. Gigi
3. Jill
4. Facebook

Four of my favorite places to eat:

1. My Grandma's house
2. Blackwood's they have the best cheese fries ever.
3. On the Border
4. Market Place

Four Places I would rather be:

1. Hawaii on the Beach
2. In Bed
3. In a long hot bubble bath with candles, music, and no interruptions.
4. Hawaii on the Beach


Four TV shows that I watch:

1. Big Brother
2. Survivor
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. Desperate Housewives

Four people that I tag:

Jennifer Hale
Melissa used to be Hale
Buffie Poff
Lindsee Shipp

Swinging With Daddy.......Or So Mommy Thought!

Brock is teething really bad right now so he is constantly whining and when Joe got home from work yesterday I asked him to take Brock outside to swing so that I could have a couple of minutes of quiet mommy time.....about 10 minutes later I went outside and this is what I found.....This wouldn't be that big of a deal that Brock was in a pool, except that this is the dog's drinking pool and I'm sure that the water wasn't fresh and there is no telling what kind of germs are in that pool! I left them alone for 10 minutes! Men!
So, I got Brock undressed and brought his little pool outside so he could play in it, much better then the dog water!
Well, Bruiser LOVES rafts and anything close to them and I forgot to bring in Brock's little blue pool so Bruiser thought the he got a brand new toy and by the time that I remembered it it was in a million pieces, so when Brock and I were at Target today checking out all the clearance aisles I found this cute little frog pool for $3 bucks! I was very happy, it's really cute it's got a sprinkler in it's mouth but Brock freaked out when it sprayed him so I turned it off. You gotta love a bargain!

Showers and Swimming

This is a picture of Brock after my shower.....this is a reminder to me of why I take a shower during his morning nap! I got in the shower yesterday morning and Brock was crying on the shower door and so I got tired of hearing him cry so I just opened the door and then he proceeded to climb in with me and got soaking wet....and this all happened about 15 minutes after I got him dressed for the day :) I talked Joe into taking us swimming at they gym last night...Brock was very excited....
This is a picture of Brock after about an hour in the pool....he was very worn out!This is my goofy husband....he didn't want me to take his picture because there were people around...but I took it anyways :)
Brock was so cute in the pool he just kicked and splashed and his new trick is blowing bubbles in the water....he's pretty good at it except when he gets the water up his nose! He slept for 6 hours straight last night and I was thinking that I should take him swimming every night before bedtime from now on!

Reading Books, Cereal Straws, and Watching T.V.

Brock has started really playing on his own and it is so cute! He'll crawl to his room, get his books off of the lower shelf and sit down and read them! I really try to read to him every night before bed and he has now started to read them on his own! Maybe this means he is going to be smart.....
I bought him some cereal straws about a week ago and he LOVES them! He chows down everytime I give him one it is a very special treat.
He has started to watch T.V. and I can barely pry him away from it if there is a cartoon on! Since this new development I try to not have the T.V. on all day because a couch potato is not something I plan on raising :)

My Future Peeping Tom!

We went to Little Rock to play with Pam, Micha, Maddy, and Olivia. After dinner we went over to Pam's house and Maddy had to take a shower before bedtime. Well, this is what I discovered when I went to look for Brock....
He was very fascinated by the water coming from the shower head. He stood there the whole time Maddy took her bath! He's such a curious little thing. Maddy didn't seem to mind the company either......

Crazy Friday Afternoon!!

This was our french doors before......
And this is what they looked like afterwards.....
Joe was weedeating the grass that grows out of our concrete and I guess a rock hit the door and it shattered!!!! We just bought these doors less than two months ago and were very proud of them....now we aren't !!! Luckily they are two paned and the rock only ruined one side of the door. So we spent the afternoon with a hammer knocking out the rest of the glass to make sure that there wasn't any left to fall out for the dogs or any bare feet to step on.

Mexican Pizza

Joe made so much fun of me because I took a picture of our dinner last night but, I always love an easy recipe and thought that someone else might enjoy it too. It looks a lot prettier when there are tomatoes over the whole dish but Joe hates tomatoes and he might have had a coronary if he saw tomatoes on "his side"! My cousin Krissy is a wonderful cook and she is always coming up with great recipes, she made this for us just before she moved to California.....

Mexican Pizza

2 tubes of crescent rolls

1 pack of cream cheese, softened

1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

1 lb. ground beef

2 envelopes taco seasoning

1 can sliced olives

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar

shredded lettuce

diced onions

diced tomatoes

Directions:

Unroll the both of the crescent doughs out onto the same cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

While that is baking, cook your ground beef and add one of the envelopes of taco seasoning.

In another bowl mix sour cream and cream cheese together, then add the second taco seasoning.

When the crust is finished baking spread cream cheese mixture over it, then layer the ground beef, cheese, lettuce, olives, onions, and tomatoes on top.

Cut with a pizza cutter and enjoy!

Not A Lot To Report....

This week was pretty slow except for a couple of highlights..... I decided to take Brock to a fun kid place here in Conway called Playworld. Brock has been once when he was about 5 months old but now he is at a prime age to have lots of fun! I took him twice last week and he has so much fun that I haven't been able to catch any really good pictures of him. The first time I took him he pretty much played in the baby ball pit for about an hour, but the second time he went he discovered that there was a whole other world of things to look at and play with! He crawled and crawled all over that place. He loves older kids and had tons of fun just chasing after them. He took the longest naps afterwards. The best part is that it is free for him until he's 12 months old! Everytime we go they try to charge us because they don't believe he's only 10 months old. Joe likes to go so he can compare Brock to all the other little boys and he is so proud that Brock has been tons bigger than all of them!

Our new pup Abby has been scratching a lot so we got flea spray for her thinking that would do the trick, but when that didn't work we started to put oil in her food because we thought that maybe she had dry skin from getting too many baths, but then on Tuesday Joe was petting her and he noticed all these strange bumps on her so we called the vet A.S.A.P. and made an appointment, well $100 bucks later we were informed that she has the Mange! I thought that only strays get the Mange but our vet said that it is going around Conway right now and it is very contagious to other canines. So, our luck I'm sure Lilly and Bruiser will get it too! I hope not. We have the best luck when it comes to animals let me tell you!!!

Some of you may not know but we are currently in the process of becoming foster parents....it is a long process and we are really excited about it. Well, I got a call from a DCFS lady and she asked when a good time would be for her to come over and do a home visit and I told her any day after 5....well she just showed up that night at 5! I was mortified! I had luckily done some cleaning but I don't like to be surprised with company...especially people that have never been here before I like the house to look just so, so you could imagine my nervousness when she just "popped" in while I was making dinner, Brock had a runny nose and no pants on, Joe had just walked in from work he was half naked and dirty and sweaty, and I had my P.J.'s on!!! We were a group to draw to! But, I guess she caught us in our true element....dirty and messy with nothing to hide!

Also, if anyone happens to have one or two twin beds that they would like to donate or let us borrow for awhile we would really appreciate it. We will more than likely get two children and they each need their own beds. So, keep your ears open for me and I would love you forever! That has been our week in a nutshell! Maybe this week will be a little bit more exciting!

Happy 10 Month Birthday Baby Boy!

Brock Carlos Keomalu Rogers

My little baby boy is 10 months old today. Where has the time gone? He has accomplished a lot in his life so far....he's learned to crawl and now he's standing up on his own. He says mama, dadda, and he's even said "hi" to a little old lady at wal-mart....I think it was purely coincidental but it sure made her day. He also waves at people and when you ask him if he's a big boy he raises both of his arms over his head and gets very proud of himself! I love this little boy with all my heart....my dad's good friend Richard put it best...he said that God took all of my heartache and loss and turned it into the happiest little boy we've ever seen and sent him to me. I know that this little boy was sent to me to help heal my broken heart and he has done just that...it's hard to be sad over our losses when you look at that smile that melts my heart! I thank my Heavenly Father every day for letting me be his mommy!

We're Back and Better Than Ever :)

Yes, we are back online....I know you all were sooo worried and missed getting you "fix" from our blog, so worry no more because we are back and better than ever :) Here are a couple of fun shots of our trip to Savannah. We had a blast and are planning to make this an annual trip if money allows. For anyone who's never been to Savannah it is a really fun place for tourists. It's got the beach, fun shopping, good eating and let us not forget Paula Deen lives there too :) This was Brock's first time at the beach and he loved it! Joe took him into the water and he just laughed at the waves and splashed around. Then we put him on the beach and he was soooo curious as to what the big kids were building. Joe buried Brock's feet in the sand and Brock just laughed! Then when Brock realized that the water was moving up and down he started to follow the waves and got so brave and so close to the water that he got a face full when a big wave came :) He was pretty much done after that!
Daddy and Brock waiting for mama after a long day at the beach
We went to a wildlife refuge and it was very pretty...we even saw an Alligator and that is what I was putting on here but I accidently gave you the shot of some birds.....use your imagination :)
Sandy's air conditioning went out on Friday morning and it got really hot so we decided to go sit outside and watch the kids play in the sprinklers....I played in them too. Brock was loving every minute of it! These are Sandy's three kids on the left Eli, Max, and Amelia, with Carla's youngest daughter Anna.

We had so much fun even without the air conditioning. It was fun to hang out with my dad's side of my family because we never get to see them! Now it's their turn to come to good ole Arkansas!

Lost without my internet.....

I am currently between internet companies because At&T are complete goobers and I'm about ready to pull my hair out! We are waiting until we come home to get a new company to come out and hook up a new internet for us...I've been lost without my blog stalking abilities and don't know what to do with myself!

We are in Savannah, GA, right now and are staying with my cousins Sandy and Sheri Crenshaw and their bunch. We are having a lot of fun...we took Brock to the beach today for the very first time and he had a blast! He is a true Hawaiian baby! We are going to be here through the weekend and then another 12 hour drive home!! Hope all is well with everyone and I hope to return to the world of blogging very soon!!!

Fried Pickles and Little Abby???

Well, I have had a request for the fried pickle recipe so, first I will tell you how I came across this recipe. When I was 17 or 18 years old I had at least 3 jobs at all times. I don't really know why I just always did but looking back now I think that it was the Good Lord just trying to keep me busy and out of trouble :) Anyways, one of my jobs was working at a little shop in downtown Hot Springs called Maggie's Pickle Cafe. They were really nice people and I haven't really heard or thought about them in a long time. Well, the other day Joe was watching Emeril on the cooking channel and he was cooking a true "Southern" dinner and he made his own fried pickles. Joe is really into me frying things for him lately so he was all about this recipe. We tried it on our own and I didn't really care for his batter so we looked on the food network website and we came across this recipe submitted from Jennifer Clement, who was my old boss, from none other than the little cafe called Maggie's Pickle Cafe! I thought what a small world it is. So, anyways here is the recipe:

24 dill pickle spears, chilled---we used Klausen
egg wash, recipe follow
breading, recipe follows
canola oil, for frying
ranch dressing for dipping

Egg Wash:
2 cups milk--we used buttermilk
2 eggs
pinch lemon pepper
pinch dill weed
pickle juice
whisk all ingredients together except pickle juice first and then add the juice

Breading:
2 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup lemon pepper
1/2 cup dill weed
4 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons garlic salt
pinch cayenne pepper or more for a kick

Using only very cold dill pickle spears, dip pickle into egg wash and then coat with breading. Repeat this at least two times or until the pickle is completely covered. Lay on wax paper and chill for at least 30 minutes.

In a deep fryer, heat oil to 375 degrees. Carefully add chilled pickle spears, in batches, to the hot oil and fry for about 3 1/2 minutes or until golden. Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain.

Serve with Ranch dressing.


It might sound a little complicated but it isn't and they are very well worth the effort!!


As for the puppy I think that I have settled on Abby. What do you think? Does she look like an Abigail to you? Joe isn't happy but he comes up with dumb names anyways....his childhood dog is named Azeroth and he really wanted to name Brock, Sully.....need I say anymore????

Our Newest Addition.........

Yes, we temporarily lost our minds......Ever since we had to put our Samson to sleep Joe has been begging me for another puppy. Well, my excuse was if we could find a killer deal on a Great Dane we would go for it, well I had to eat my words last night....there was a killer deal on a Great Dane in the paper. She really is a cutie. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with a horse in my house but hey we are up for an adventure I guess :) Here she is with Joe....he doesn't look that excited huh?
She is really cute.
This is her next to our last pup of our litter. He was the biggest in our litter and he is going to my cousin Sandy's house in two weeks. Look at the size difference!!
Brock seemed to like her. She will probably grow to about 150 lbs. at the most. We are excited to have her in the family. Just don't know how we are going to take her places once she is full grown..... She desperately needs a name...any suggestions???

Friends, Fun and Updates.....

Well, first things first....after much thought and great advice I've decided to go back to my old way of getting Brock to sleep. I just HATED hearing him cry for an hour and knowing that he was going to sleep sad, confused and scared. That's no way to live. Just leaving him in his crib to "cry it out" started to effect his naps, and his independance. He would wake up after about 15 minutes in his crib and refuse to be soothed back to sleep, then during the day he completely quit playing on his own and instead would crawl to me and just hang on my legs and cry until I picked him up. It was almost like he was reverting back to his "baby" days if you know what I mean! So, we are back to taking a bottle at about 9-9:30 and drifting quietly off to sleep in the middle of the bottle. Then I lay him down and he sleeps until about 2-3 a.m. and he wakes for a small water bottle and then it's back to dreamland. I know that I probably won't get to do this with our second one, and I may be truly messing Brock up for later but like I've said from the beginning.....he is our practice child :)

Last night we had Pam and Micha and their two girls Maddie and baby Olivia over for dinner and we invited our long lost friend :) Clare and her husband Chris over also. We had a lot of fun. Joe has really been wanting to learn how to make ribs so we went for it. I didn't try any because I don't like meat on the bone....I guess I got that from my mother.....but I think that they turned out really well. The boys all seemed to like them. Then we fried pickles and they turned out really yummy....I'll put the recipe on here if anyone is interested.

We had a lot of fun and we hope to do it again soon!

Puppy update: 7 down and 1 more to go!!!

We Finally Bit The Bullet......

Today at Brock's well child check-up the Pediatrician informed me that the "tail is wagging the dog" because I still rock Brock to sleep and he has to be rocked in order to fall asleep. He told me at Brock's 6 month check-up that I needed to put Brock in bed awake and let him self soothe himself to sleep.....well I tried that very same night and after about 30 minutes of hysterically crying I picked him up and never tried again. Well, I got in trouble at the doc's office today because I told him that I didn't follow his advice. So, Joe and I decided that tonight was the night....we started at 8:50 and Brock put up a good valiant fight.....I put Brock down the first time and then I sent Joe in the rest of the times....Brock started by standing up and screaming at the door and then the next time Joe went in he was on his knees, then the next time he was sitting and he stayed that way until the last time Joe went in and he was on his hands and knees and then at 9:40......quiet. I'd like to say that the quiet made me feel better but it actually made me want to go in and hug him and let him know that I was still here. That was the hardest thing that I have done by far! I hear that it gets better after a couple of days....I hope so! Now, I just don't know what to do in the middle of the night when he wakes up....any suggestions????

Fourth of July Fun!!

We had a really fun Fourth of July this year. We spent time in Memphis with all of my family. Friday we went to Kimo's house for tons of food and lots of fireworks. Brock did very well even with the fireworks. We decided about 5 minutes into the festivities that we needed to bring him inside. He didn't cry or anything but I was afraid that they were too loud for his little ears. Brock was having so much fun all day Friday that he only took a 45 minute nap compared to his 4 hours worth of naps and he did excellent. About 9:30 p.m. he laid in his Aunt Nikki's arms and passed out. He didn't wake up until the next morning! That was a first for him. We definitely wore him out. I was sure that he would've forgotten how to crawl this weekend because I don't think he was put down for more than 10 minutes. He is very loved and adored by my family. My Aunt Malisa even came and took him in the middle of the night when he woke up! Now that's love :)
Brock with Kimo's oldest biological son Keawi
This is Malisa's son Max on the left and Kimo's youngest son Kimo Jr.
This is Kimo's step-daughter Britteney with Brock
Brock with his Aunt Malisa in Grandma's new pool.

I'll have to add more pictures later. For some reason this computer will only let me put in five pictures at a time...

Also, Brock had his well child check-up today, he is still in the 97th percentile for his height at 30 1/2 inches tall and 90th percentile for his weight at 23 1/2 pounds. He is doing great and is still on his way to being a linebacker or so his daddy hopes :)

Brock's First Haircut

Yesterday afternoon I took Brock to get his very first haircut ever! He doesn't have very many hairs on his head, but the ones he does have were getting very long and they were driving Joe and me nuts! I took him to Sport Clips and this poor girl tried very hard to keep Brock still and cut his hair without cutting his ears or at one point his fingers when he tried to pull the scissors out of her hands. We think she did a good job considering how much this boy is on the move. He couldn't figure out what we were doing to him. Everytime she tried to trim his mohawk he tilted his head up so he could look at her :)

Here is a side view of the 'hawk. Which, just in case you didn't know, he was born with and Joe loves it! When we were dating Joe had a mohawk and one day my dad pulled me aside and asked me what the heck was wrong with Joe's hair :)
Such an adorable boy if I do say so myself!
Check out those bottom teeth! He's had one for about a month and just yesterday the other one popped right on through. Brock and I had a conversation and he's agreed to stop growing up so FAST.

My Son Is Into EVERYTHING!!!!!

Brock is taking full advantage of his new found skill of crawling. I was in the living room and I thought that he was just sitting in front of the french doors looking outside until I heard a weird noise and when I went to investigate this is what I found. Brock somehow opened the cabinet and got into the pots and pans, maybe he's going to be a chef someday......
Such a cutie!!!
Then last night Joe was drinking a can of Sprite and for some reason put it on the floor and when I went into the living room from the kitchen this is what I found.......Brock's legs were covered in sticky syrup and he needed a bath....notice he's already had his jammies on....that means he got bath number two for the night!

I do see a trend with these two scenes.....I'm never around when he gets into mischief....please don't call DHS on me :)

I didn't really mean to put this picture on here but oh well, I just took a picture of Brock because he loves looking out the window in the mornings. He's started pulling up to a standing position on the window and it makes me very nervous....I'm not ready for a walker I can barely keep up with him now!

I've Been Tagged

I've never been tagged before so this is pretty exciting!
3 Joys
1. My son (of course)
2. The rest of my family and close friends
3. Swimming on a hot day

3 Fears
1. Losing anymore family (they're dwindling fast!)
2. Not being able to give my son the life that I want him to have
3. Spiders

3 Goals
1. Get out of debt
2. Raise my son to go on a mission
3. As always get in shape

3 Current Obsessions
1. Making Brock a scrapbook
2. Blogging and checking other peoples blogs
3. Checking the front door for a package that I am waiting very impatiently for

3 Random Surprising Facts
1. I brush my teeth in the shower and Joe hates it!
2. The reason that I brush my teeth in the shower is because I know Joe doesn't like it :)
3. I love to clean my house because I feel complete when it is clean...(that doesn't mean that it is always clean I just love to clean it)

5 people I tag are:
Pam
Clare
Marji
Andrea
Trish

Brock's New Tricks and Swimming Fun

This is Brock's new trick....he can pull himself up on the side of his crib and then he just cries and cries until we go in and get him. I think that he is crying to get out of the crib and also because he can't get back down once he gets up.

He was mad at me in this picture above because I left the room to get the camera.
Now he's happy again! You gotta love the drool hanging off of his chin huh!
A friend of mine put me on her guest list at her apartment pool, Brock and I went today for the first time. There were plenty of interesting characters at the pool to keep Brock occupied for quite a while.
This is a close up of what is left of Brock's brush with the floor at Bath and Body Works.....his nose doesn't look half as bad now that the scab is gone and the bruises have worn off.

I love those roly-poly arms of his!!!!

Yummmmmmm......................cherries are in season!!! They are my absolute favorite fruit when they are in season! I bought some today(and paid a pretty penny for them might I add...) and they taste like candy!! Don't they look so pretty....maybe I need to grow a cherry tree in my back yard.......

This is my cute little man exhausted from swimming with grandma, hence the nakedness. I thought he looked so cute sleeping while holding his little toy.

My sweet baby has had the worst week! He started it off by going to the hospital, then after he got better from that, we took him to Target and bought him a new toy and he was holding it on the way home and I hit a bump and the toy hit Brockin the face and gave him a black eye! Then today we were out shopping and I didn't buckle him into his stroller and he did a flying leap right onto his nose and got a really bad bloody nose....so bad that I thought it was broken! He bled all over the place and the sales lady at the checkout continued, through Brock's bleeding and wailing, to tell me about the upcoming specials that they will be having.....needless to say I won't be going back for the specials......well, we hope that your week was ALOT better than ours!!! Have a good rest of the weekend!!

Goofy Puppy Pictures

Just thought I'd share a couple of puppy pictures before they all (hopefully) find homes this weekend!!!Here are all nine puppies in a laundry basket on their way to the vet...........
Isn't this cute? They were all tuckered out from chasing their mom and dad around the yard.....
This is a picture of the runt next to the giant of the litter and Sandy's newest addition to the family......
Bruiser and Kristina snuggled up and ready for bed.....he never sleeps with us so this was a rare treat for him and he was in love!!

Brock with Great Grandma and the runt....Grandma wants the runt if we don't sell her.

Poor Little Brock

We had a wild night last night! I dropped Brock off with his Grandma at 5:30 p.m. and when I left I commented on how good he was feeling all day because for the past week he has been teething and yesterday I didn't even have to give him any tylenol for fussiness. So, around 7:00p.m. she calls me and I can hear Brock wailing in the background and she tells me I need to come home because she can't get him calmed down.
So Joe and I immediately left what we were doing and got to Brock as fast as we could. When we pulled up Grandma was in the front yard with my little naked baby rocking him in her arms as she walked. She told me that they had tried a bath, swinging in the swing, going outside and nothing helped. As soon as I touched him I knew he was on fire. So we took his temp and it was 102 almost 103 and he was doing some weird grunting sound like he couldn't catch his breath and he was very lethargic so I was worried about him. So I called the after hours nurse and she told me to take him to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital we were immediately seen they started running test on him. That alone made me more nervous because they were taking things soooo serious! They gave him a chest xray and swabbed his nose for RSV and then they gave him a breathing treatment. Before the breathing treatment the doc came in and told me that they were going to open up his chest if that was okay with me and I freaked out because I thought he meant physically they were going to open up his chest and he meant open his lungs with a breathing treatment :) That was my blonde moment for the night!! After the breathing treatment he fell right to sleep on Joe and then they discharged us about an hour later after coming to the conclusion that he doesn't have pneumonia, whooping cough or RSV, but he does have a viral bronchial sickness. I took him to our pediatrician's office this afternoon and they confirmed the ER's diagnosis and said that he is contagious and he also on top of the virus has an ulcer in the top of his mouth and a very sore throat.
I am very glad that he is okay and that he is at home and in a very snuggly mood today!

My Escape Artists

I now have two escape artists living with me! I left Brock on the couch with a bottle while I ran to the kitchen to get something out of the oven and this is what I found when I got back to the living room! He got off the couch all by himself and was crawling on the floor! I guess I can't leave him on the couch unattended anymore!
This my second escape artist Bruiser....the other day Brock and I left to go to the gym and we were gone about an hour and as we were driving up to the house Bruiser was outside and scratching at the garage door trying to get in the house! I still have no idea how he slipped by me and got out of the garage without me noticing...it's not like he's a very quiet dog or anything like that! When he got in the house he was exhausted and very glad to be home!

He laid on the kitchen floor for about 20 minutes panting...there is no telling where he went, I'm just glad that he made his way home! We wouldn't know what to do without our little Bruiser!

Carpal Tunnel

So I am sure that I am developing a serious case of Carpal Tunnel! In fact, I don't know how I'm even typing this blog entry right now......I was planning on buying Joe Guitar Hero for Father's Day, but he foiled my plan! He got a big paycheck on Friday and asked if he could buy it. When I told him no he got really whiny and played the "I've worked so hard" card and I finally had to tell him that Guitar Hero was going to be his present for Father's Day, so he just got his present early this year....I've been playing it as much as he has and it is very addictive and lots of fun...I'm not very good but I sure do feel like a Rock Star when I play it!! The reason that my hands are hurting is because you have to hold the guitar a certain way and hold your left hand up to press the keys and my hand gets all crampy....that's my reason for not scoring as high as Joe.....my hands are just smaller!!

Puppies Puppies Puppies

Brock really likes the puppies...they are just his size, I'm sure that he likes the little dogs alot more than the big ones....the pups can't lick him in the face!
This puppy worked his way over to the pool......
Now he's almost there....
Ahhhhh........that was a nice drink of water :)
Here are a couple of the puppies drinking out of a dog dish together.....
The puppies are becoming more lively and now they are alot more fun and getting bigger everyday....now if we could just get about 8 more buyers!!

This Would Only Happen To Me!!

Saturday night we had the missionaries over for dinner and it was a nice night. Halfway through dinner Brock woke up from his unusually late nap, so I go and get him and stick him in his high chair and pulled him up to the table. The missionaries were talking to him and Brock liked every minute of it, we currently have a missionary straight from the island of Tonga and he barely speaks English, Brock thinks he is the greatest thing since sliced bread, he just giggles and smiles at him and he stared at him the whole dinner, Joe says it's because of the brown blood that they share because Brock has a little bit of Hawaiian in him :)
Anyways, after dessert we were winding things up and Brock started to get fussy so I got him out of his high chair and set him on my lap. One of the new Elders (we have four), asked if he could leave us with a spiritual thought, he got out his scriptures and things begin to get a little serious and as he was talking I look down on my lap and there it was....Brock had pooped all over me, I said "OH!" and then the Elders all looked at me, I didn't know whether or not to let him finish or tell them what had happened, so I opted to fess up and I was mortified to have to stand up and show them my lap! They of course being a room full of men thought that this was beyond hilarious and I just sulked my way to the back of the house to change my sweet child's diaper. I came back out about 10 minutes later with a new pair of clothes on both of us and then the Elder finished his spiritual thought. I'm not sure if we will ever have the Elders over for dinner again! This would only happen to me................

Family Fun

We have had a lot of company in the last month and we love it. Timmy and his wife Priscilla, and our cousin Nani all came down to visit from Memphis. They just stayed for one day but it was a nice visit. Brock loves when we have company so much that he refuses to take a nap. He was up for about 6 hours straight yesterday, but I can't complain because he actually slept until 8 a.m.! That was a wonderful treat. Brock and his favorite Uncle Timmy--notice that they have the same shirts on and it wasn't even planned.
Brock, Uncle Timmy, Priscilla, Nani

This is our little runt....she is sooooo tiny I bet she weighs about 2 pounds, but man is she cute!!! Let us know if you want a puppy and we will talk business :)

Chicken Bacon Bites

Chicken Bacon Bites

4-5 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

1 lb. bacon cut in half

Brown sugar

chili powder

Mix brown sugar and chili powder in medium size bowl.

Cut the chicken into bite size chunks. Take a piece of bacon and wrap it around the chicken, secure it with a toothpick and dip in the brown sugar and chili powder mixture.

Then bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked. Enjoy!

Very yummy and very simple. These are one of Joe's favorites.

Brock's First Sleepover

This is the newest addition to the Bailey family. I went to visit Pam, Maddy, and baby Olivia and see what I could do to help and Maddy seemed like the one who needed the most attention. Pam hasn't even taken one pain pill since she's given birth! She's a real trooper! I wish I could give birth and just keep on going! I was out for at least 6 weeks! Anyways, Maddy loves the puppies so I brought her home with me and she was occupied for about 2 hours playing with the pups.
Brock loved having a friend in the bath with him. He just kept looking at Maddy like what are you doing in here?
Joe thinks it's amazing that Brock doesn't cry when he pours water in his face....such a nice daddy huh?

Maddy hammed it up for the camera and had to give Brock a hug, she kept saying "oh he wants to hug", as she was pulling him on top of her :) She's a mess!

A Dream I'll Never Forget

I am sitting at my computer while Brock is taking his nap and I decided to post a blog for the day and I thought that I might share something kind of personal. I'm sure some of you have already heard this story but I thought I would tell it again anyway.

I truly believe that our loved ones can contact us through our dreams, some might call this a coincidence but in my heart I know different. I was about three or four months pregnant when this happened to me.

I was asleep one night and I was dreaming of my mother. I had had other dreams about her and in those dreams she hadn't passed away and we would be doing typical things like watching TV together or random things like that but she never spoke and I never spoke to her. This dream was different I knew that she was dead and I was suprised to see her. She was sitting in a rocking chair and in her arms she was holding a baby. She looked so peaceful and in her element, anyone that knew my mother knew that she loved babies so much that it was a true shame that she only had two of her own babies, anyways, there she sat in that rocking chair, rocking back and forth looking at the baby with great love in her eyes. I walked up to her and called her name, "Mama", she looked up and I said, "what are you doing?", and she smiled and said, "this is your baby boy and I am taking care of him until you are ready to have him".

I awoke immediately and just cried and cried. A sweet calming came over me and I knew that this baby was going to be okay. Ever since we lost our little girl Paige I was very nervous about being pregnant again and after that dream I knew that I would be able to hold this baby in my arms and love him and watch him grow up. About two months after that dream occured we went in to find out that sure enough it was a little boy and I knew with a surety that my mama did come to visit me that night. That is the only dream I have ever had of my mother where she spoke to me and we both knew that she was gone. I know that this was no ordinary dream, I know with all my being that this was my mother speaking to me from Heaven where she is patiently waiting for the rest of her family to return home with honor. I hope that I can become a loving, patient, fun and happy mother just like my own and make my mother proud.

Corn on the Cob and Butt Cheeks

Did you like that title? Anyways, on Monday we inherited a swing set from Joe's mom. It was Joe's when he was a little boy so you can imagine the condition it is in. It's perfect for what we use it for. Brock loves to be outside and he LOVES to be in a swing. We decided to eat dinner by the swing set so Brock could swing and I could eat without him in my lap. We had corn on the cob and I let Brock suck on mine when I was done and he was entertained for about 20 minutes!
He loves his new swing! Thanks Grandma!

Lately Brock hasn't been very cooperative when it is time to change his diapers, he wiggles and rolls all around and it is hard to get it on straight. After about a ten minute ordeal to get him ready for bed, I handed him to Joe and when he grabbed Brock he didn't feel a diaper so he went to investigate and this is what he found. It's not that great of a picture but look at that cellulite :) If you look close it looks like Brock is pointing at his diaper too! I think this should explain all the leaks we have been having lately!

Growing Up Too Fast

February 16th, 2007 was the day we found out that I was pregnant with my little boy and now he's almost 8 months old!!! I feel like it was just yesterday that I was bringing him home from the hospital and now he's sitting up, feeding himself bottles, eating grown up food!!! I suppose that I might blink and I'll be sending him off to college! When I was in high school I remember thinking that I wish I could just hurry up and graduate so I could move off and be grown--kinda fast forward through high school and now I find myself wishing I could find the pause button to slow down my little munchkin from growing up! It goes by too fast!!! Have a good day, I know I will it's my birthday and I get to go shopping for just me! I'm sure I'll get Brock a thing or two also :)

Family

My Grandma and cousin Kristina came to visit us this weekend. It was nice to have them here. I don't think I held Brock more than about an hour the whole time they were here! Brock loves my grandma and the feeling is very mutual! It was a quick but fun visit!

Good Friends

One of my best friends Isaiah Estes, his wife and two kids came to visit us this week. I haven't seen Isaiah in about 6 years and I was so happy to have him and his adorable little family come and stay with us. Growing up Isaiah, Pam, and I were always together. I love Isaiah like family and we were glad to finally meet his wife and his two kids Amos and Jade. It was a fast visit but lots of fun! The whole family: Isaiah holding Jade and Carrie holding Amos

Isaiah's little girl Jade is 12 months old and Brock is the same size! I'm pretty sure we have a giant on our hands :)

Mother's Day

My very first mother's day with Brock :)
This is Joe's mom and Brock's Grandma--I would say that she is quite smitten by him :)
This is Joe's grandma and Brock's Great-Grandma. She makes the best food in Arkansas!

I know I'm a day late in posting the Mother's Day pics but we weren't home very much yesterday and I had a sort of emotionally draining day! But, I'm better now and back to my normal self! I was released from my calling in young womens yesterday. The President was released so I in turn was also released. So I was pretty emotional about that, and then sitting in sacrament looking at Joe's mom hold Brock I just started to think about my Mother and how literally I would've given anything to have her sitting right beside me holding my precious baby. When I was younger and watched my Mother hold countless babies over the years I never imagined that she wouldn't be around to hold mine. Anyways, I managed to hold back the tears until I opened my hymn book to sing the closing song and it was "God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again", I mean come on!! That song was sang at both my mom and dad's funerals and that's when the tears started flowing. Then we had to go Y.W. and say our goodbyes and as I looked at all the sweet girls that have touched my life in ways they won't ever know I started to cry all over again! I don't even know why I wore makeup! But anyways, after church I had a pretty good end to the day. I got two dozen roses from Joe and the movie Juno. I love that movie! Also, Joe did the dishes and I didn't even have to ask him!!! I wish he would do that more often :)

They're Here!!!

The puppies came last night starting at 2 a.m. and ended around 7 a.m. So needless to say we haven't had any sleep!!! There are seven of them this time! We were suprised that she only had that many because she started out with 8 last time and her belly was alot bigger this time but 7 pups are plenty for me!

UPDATE: We now have 10 puppies!!!!!!!! I don't know what to do with myself! Everytime I turn around she's pushing out another pup! They are so cute and look like a bunch of little rats :) They get much cuter as they grow!

Naked Time

Just a couple of pics of my naked little man! You gotta love all of his rolls! If only rolls were cute when you get old!!

Puppy Love

Just thought you might enjoy a couple of pics of my dogs loving on each other. Bruiser was licking his foot and Delilah decided to join in. They are the goofiest dogs I've ever owned!

Toad Suck!!

We went to Conway's very own Toad Suck! That's right I said Toad Suck, don't ask me what it means because I don't have any idea. It's like a small carnival with kiddy rides and games and all the white trash you could ever wanna see! As Jill would say "Country come to town". I've never been before so I took Brock, my best friend Pam and her little girl Madison. We had a lot of fun and we ate the best corn dog I've had in long time! It was so good I talked Joe into taking us tonight so that we can have another one for dinner!
Brock and me taking a rest on the grass while Madison played in the sand.
If you look close at his mouth Brock is trying out his very first bite of grass :)
I think he liked it !!

Brock had a lot of fun people watching...he's very nosy he definitely inherited that from me!!!

Also: Brock is 7 months old today!!!