I want to be a "yes mom"

The past little while I have felt some contention in my home and I've wondered why, and how I can keep it from getting to that point where I am so angry I could turn purple. Today while I was doing my regular blog checking I was reading a friend's post about life, communication, yelling and being a "yes mom." It totally gave me the gumption to try harder and remember that in the end my purpose here IS my family and I want to be happier with them. Just wanted to share some (well, most) of her post...maybe it will encourage you to be better too...

"A "yes mom" is the one who wants her kids to be able to do lots of fun activities and play with their friends and eat ice cream for dinner once in a while and play in mud and go to the movies and just enjoy being a kid. It is the mom who does not say no just for the heck of it, but finds a way to give her kids many different experiences and enjoys it with them. She picks her battles, and doesn't expect perfection.
One of the biggest obstacles to overcome in becoming a happy family is learning effective communication. Yelling is a huge part of this. Many studies show that yelling can be just as harmful as physical abuse, especially from adults to children, but the results are similar in child to child and adult to adult cases. We tend to think that by yelling, people will respond by paying attention and learning to behave as we want them to. When we repeatedly yell, the child or spouse or whoever is repeatedly knocked down emotionally, but does not learn the desired lesson. We trigger a negative reaction in them, so they often want to rebel and do something to punish us back. The lesson learned is that situations are dealt with by getting angry and emotional. We have a world full of people who automatically get angry and defensive because just like physical abuse, it gets passed down through generations. "

Slide...

The swirly slide at Meadow Park (Park Meadows)

Looking down at me from the top of the slide

Not Really knowing how to feel about the first time down

LOVES the slide

Going again...and again...and again

JC and Brooklyn

Doesn't this look like Trouble?

JC and Boky 'swimming' in the pool.

Splashing around

I think she is in a daze...

Isn't he a cutie?

Close up of her CHEESY face

Having a house is wonderful! We have been able to have our friends up to play, a few get togethers, and many other social things. This particular weekend we had some friends come over to watch UFC fights and Zach and Noelia decided to come up and stay the night. It was great to see the kids 'play' together. JC had a hard time adjusting to playing with a girl (he kept pulling her hair) but in the end I think they had a good time. Ever since they they played that day when Brooklyn sees his picture (because she steals my camera and looks through the pics) she is always like 'oh...JC' I'm glad she recognizes him. Can't wait until they are old enough to play together with out having to be watched very closely!

ARG Matey's!

Yo Ho Yo Ho a pirate's life for BOKY!

Let me explain...
On July 17th we went to the Jimmy and Pam Howard Family Reunion and I won this cute little bandanna and eye patch from the bubble gum blowing contest (Stefie and I actually tied). I Love the bandanna, however it is a little small for my large head so I gave it to Brooklyn after we got home. She LOVES it! This is the only picture I got of her though and I know it's not a great one but she wasdancing around and having fun (and I won't lie she HATES the eye patch).

Zach's 22nd Brithday

I didn't even get any good pictures! What the heck is wrong with me? I dunno. Anyways...

We got up early (0730ish) and started to get ready to head to SLC. I decided that I would let Brooklyn sleep an extra few minutes (given her grouchy attitude lately) and just take her stuff with us so we could get her ready when we got there. We were cruising down I-15 and all of a sudden I hear Zach say "oh S***" and my first thought was "where is the cop?" I didn't see lights or anything but Zach was already explaining to me that he saw the cop going north bound and he flipped around just when he saw Zach. I thought he was being paranoid but...He got pulled over! The cop was large and mean looking but he proved to be very nice and just gave Zach a warning...wheh!

When we got to SLC everyone was happy and excited to see us. We hurry and got Brooklyn ready and headed to Ihop where we had breakfast/lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Day, Mark and Tammy, Amanda and AJ, and Danika. It was good to see them all. Brooklyn was being a booger as usual and kept floating around the table to anyone who would take her. At the end we even got Ihop staff to sing a little ditty and give Amanda and Zach some Ice Cream. They weren't too thrilled but admitted it was better than years past where they had to hoola hoop and wear a coconut bra!

After Breakfast we all headed over to Mark and Tammy's to just hang out and visit with everyone (including Zach's cousin Tyler) and we got to meet a couple of Amanda's friends. Brooklyn and I took a short nap which was very much needed and then everyone started leaving.

Mark and Tam were nice to keep Brooklyn while Zach and I went out and did a little shopping. We went to Pet smart to get a few things that we needed to bring Kiwi home (HURRAY) and over to Kohl's to check out their sales which turned out to be not so great because we couldn't find anything). On our way home Jess (one of Zach's friend's) flagged us down at his mom's house so we stopped and visited and got all caught up. Then we took Brooklyn back to see his mom Linda and she gave her all kinds of treats :)

After we visited with Jess and his family we went and got slurpies at the 7-11 and then we hung out and BBQ ed some burgers. On our way back to Tremonton we swung by the Eliason's to say hi for a brief moment and off we went. We stopped by my parent's house for a minute to say hi and show Kiwi to Jade and Jamie then we went home for a nice night of sleep.

I felt bad because we didn't do anything to extravagant but Zach didn't seem to mind. I think that once you are married with a kid and a house holidays don't seem as important as the every day life. It's interesting. I will tell you though that he ordered a muzzle loader for his birthday, which he was VERY excited about.

Thanks to all of you who called, left messages, sent cards, and wished my Hubby a

HAPPY 22ND BIRTHDAY!!

Sleeping...

Lately I have much enjoyed Brooklyn's naps.I'm not sure if it's because she has been such a stinker the past few weeks or if it's because I can get so much done in the 1.5-3 hours that she will sleep. It's just recently that I have realized she isn't going to take naps forever and it makes me sad. However she is very cute while napping take a look...

I just love watching my baby girl sleep. It amazes me at how precious she is when she is unconscious :o)

This one kind of makes me sad. I remember when she was so little that she could fit in her crib perpendicular to the way she is laying in this photo. She is growing so much everyday which means I need to enjoy every little moment.

Hide Out

Her new place to get away from me...


This book shelf is in our front room next to the piano. We had Jamie, Jade and Grandma De over this day and Brooklyn was trying to hide from all of us.

I was surprised that she fit so well and it was so funny. She is always coming up with the funniest things.

I love the look on her face in this one it almost looks like "ha ha mom isn't mad at me."

Our House...

So I finally Got the pictures of the house you have all been waiting for...well at least pics of the outside. I will get pics of the inside little by little (or cleaning week by cleaning week) and try to post them as I go...

The Front view of house!
Kinda hard to take a picture because of the tree in the front yard, but you get the idea.

Back view, when we first moved. Now the scooter is moved and there is a BBQer there. oh and the garbage can is kept elsewhere :O)

More pretty roses. They were quite gangley when we moved in but Grandma Pam and Kristen at work helped me figure out how to cut and shape them. Now they're pretty again.

I believe these are Lillies and I have like 5 or 6 of them in the side flower bed. They are very pretty.

Boky looking in the sliding glass door.

I love this girl :o*

House Activities...

Things that we have done since we have had a house...

• mowed the lawn
• trimmed roses
• ran through the sprinklers
• BBQ ed our own dinner :o)
• went on a bike ride (this may not seem like a big deal but in our apartment there were no blocks to go around, but I guess that shouldn't have stopped us seeming how we did 3.2 miles)
• Sprayed weeds
• Sprayed bugs
• planted some grass seed
  
• bought a bug zapper
• Ate in our dining room
• Moved the piano in!! (Thanks Dad)
• talked about buying furniture
• pulled weeds
• set up the work out equipment
  
• stocked the pantry (mostly with JUNK)
  
• Hung a few pictures on the WALL

I know I said I'd get pictures on here, it just hasn't gotten to the top of my 'to do' list yet. We are SO loving the house and being able to do whatever we want. I still find myself trying to be quiet at night because of not being able to do anything at night in the apartment. Brooklyn is still wanting to go outside every minute of the day and I find myself wanting to go out as well now that we have our own space. The sidewalk chalk has been put to a lot of use since the move. We also had our first sleep over (with Jamie and Jade) this week. Now we are going to be getting ready to have some BBQ's with our friends and family :o)

Straight Hair

So I have tried straightening Brooklyn's hair and I think it kind of makes her look older. She absolutely hates her hair being done lately. I think it's because I'm getting lazier and lazier with her hair. It's sad I know. I only have two heads of hair to do and I'm a major slacker.

This Picture is kinda funny, the look on her face is like "another picture?"

I like this one minus my ugly butt in the background :) I love how she watches herself in the mirror, it's hilarious!