Fun stuff

So I've decided to homeschool Zach. He seems to do better one on one than any other way. What kid doesn't really? Anthony says he still wants to go to regular school, but that when he comes home he wants me to teach him. He's such a busy little bee. Here in Rexburg the school system seems to be pretty good so I'm not terribly worried about it.
So, we love our house, we love Rexburg and I don't think I'd ever move back to Oregon after living here. I miss my family sure, but you can't beat raising your kid in this environment.
We made a trip back to Oregon in early May for two weeks to visit my grandma. She has an abdominal aortic aneurism. They said when it got to five cm they would have to operate, but she's 90 so its not advised. Well it go to 5 and now we are just waiting to see how much time she has left. We went back to Oregon to visit her because I didn't know if she would make it to Christmas. She's being a brave little girl as anyone who knows my grandma would expect, but you know, it was an excuse to go see them. We had a wonderful time.
All the kids are doing great. Haylee is talking up a storm, and Zach has learned all his numbers by sight and knows how much they are worth. Still working on those letters, he just went another avenue than Tony which is fine for me. Anthony is top in his class, but its Kindergarten so I don't know how excited I should be about that. If he stays that way, great, but honestly as long as he does well I am happy.
Adam was recently diagnosed with high cholesterol, hyperthyroidism, and pre-diabetes. We are trying to change his diet, but he is stubborn.
Yesterday we tilled up a huge garden with my new tiller. I now have a beautiful sunburn to show for it and 400 sq ft garden, give or take. Now I just need to plant some seeds.
Anyway, hope life is good for everyone else! Love,
Brandi

Life in Idaho

So, it is tough learning to live without your family by your side every waking moment, but we are slowly getting there. I've never lived anywhere but Oregon and therefore have gotten used to the lovely winters. Idaho is the polar opposite of Oregon, but we like it...I think. :) The kids say they like it here too, but I think they especially like the fact that they have their own house to play in and that they can have puppies. Do I like having puppies? ...um...sometimes.
As of today, I am getting over the flu, which stinks. I don't think I can remember a time when I've been this sick. Luckily the rest of my family got flu shots. Why didn't I? You tell me LOL.
Here are some pictures.

Haylee- she is going to be 2 next month and talks like a 3 yr old at least. She can tell us anything she wants us to know. She also has this cute little stance she makes when she doesn't want to listen, folding her arms and glaring at us. Its so funny, but it never makes me mad. I just love this age and want to enjoy every little look she throws at me. Haylee loves her daddy and her mommy, but we have finally found a babysitter that she does not cry for. Dani is a girl who lives nearby that watches them when we want to go out on a date. Every other person we've left her with, she has cried for at least a little while the first time. She is 14 which is how old I was when I started babysitting other peoples kids. Anyway, they love her.

Zachary- He is going to be 4 next month and is doing everything you can imagine a 3/4 year old to be doing. He likes to ignore you, cuddle you, get into trouble...etc. Zachary also knows almost all the alphabet by sight, and is learning the sounds they make. He is not as interested in it as Tony was but that's ok, my kids don't have to all be alike for me to love them just the same. They really are the best kids. While I have been sick, they have been content to entertain themselves either by watching a movie or playing in their room with siblings. Gotta love having more than one kid, they keep each other busy.

Tony- is going to be 6 in July and is the best little Kindergarten student. In fact, his teacher at our latest PT conference told us he got the highest marks in the class for the yearly testing they do and some of the highest they've seen. Also that he was ready for first grade. We are not going to move him up, although we did talk about it before the school year began. He can sit down and pick up any childrens book and read it by himself. Tony is also very good at telling us no and ignoring us. It is quite annoying but it is the age I think and we deal with it as best we can. We try to keep in mind that he too just moved away from his family and still misses them as much as we do.

Otherwise things are fine, the puppies are growing, the snow is melting, and we are learning to parent without grandparents to tell us what to do every second. We miss Oregon but love having our own house in Idaho.

How time flies

I know I don't update this blog much due to everyone I know being on facebook, but here's the news for those of you who want to know.
We moved to Rexburg Idaho on October 4th 2010. We bought our first house. It is 3bedroom 1 bath right now. Once we finish the basement we will have another 2 bedrooms and an extra bathroom downstairs, as well as a lot of storage space and possibly a small den/playroom. When all is said and done it will be 5/2 with around 2000 sq ft, give or take a few 100 feet or two. We are super excited to be here, we love Rexburg.
Here's a pic of when the house was about 95% done.

On another note we drove home for the holidays. When we were 56 miles east of bend (where pretty much nothing exists except sagebrush) we got into a car accident trying to avoid a deer. Everyone was ok but the car was toast. So, after making it 600 miles our trip hit a bump. Adam's sister drove to bend to get us and the tow truck and ambulance got everyone to the hospital. We are all ok, just a little sad.

We spent Christmas with our families and on Monday decided to drive home in Adam's mother's car. After a rough 500 mile drive we got into yet another car accident and unintentionally totaled another car. A lovely LDS family saved us from total despair, took us in for the night, fed us in the morning and helped us find a way back home.
Some friends from our home ward in Rexburg happened to be in Nampa where we were and drove us to Pocatello where our Bishop had driven to to get us. Lots more details remain but long story short we made it home on Tuesday evening safe and sound.
Let it be known it will be a looooong time before we attempt to drive home again. Not just because we currently don't have a car either. :)

So our insurance has taken two weeks to get back to us and hopefully we will know today whether they are going to fix it or not, but I doubt it.

All is well on the homefront, other than being a little sore. We have both seen the chiropractor a few times and feel better.

My birthday was on Thursday the 30th of December and I got my one birthday wish so I'm good with that. That was to get home safe which we did. Long story short we learned a lot about service and love over the Christmas weekend and have changed our lifestyles accordingly. Some wonderful friends and neighbors have been helping us out and offering help without thought of anything in return. I've been making up fudge and fresh bread for these wonderful people in hopes that we can at least do our part to return the favor.

We are strong, healthy, and in awe of the Lord's grace in keeping us all safe even in two car accidents. I know Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be happy. We thank Him for our blessings and health.

Updates on the family.

So, it's a boring one but to all of you who actually read my blog, we moved to student housing in April. However, OSU was not working out for Adam so we decided to return to the University of Phoenix (online) and therefore must again move out of student housing. We decided to move closer to family since we can go to school online anywhere. Anyway, we found a house in Creswell. It is a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath, one story, hardwood floor, big kitchen, huge living room, and a large fenced back yard. Also, there is a park right behind our fence which I'm sure could be annoying at times as well as awesome. Our landlord said we could put in some garden boxes in the back yard to plant some veggies which is cool.
We are moving July 1st, so if anyone is in the area and wants to help that'd be cool!

Anthony: Turning 5 on July 5th (magic birthday). reading and writing at a solid Kindergarten level, almost a 1st grade level and has never had any formal schooling. He loves to learn and we are thinking of doing homesource home schooling so he can have one on one attention and get as far along as possible. I know home schooled kids sometimes end up being further ahead than other kids.

Zachary: 3 now and a sweet boy. He is excited to have a new bunkbed to share with his brother. A little nervous to move to a new house since he really likes his friends here at student housing, but we are all happy to have a new house with lots more room.

Haylee: Talks a lot, knows and understands tons of words and phrases. No she is not walking yet but crawls like a pro and is very close to walking. She loves her mommy and her daddy and can stand up on anything!
All in all we are doing as good as can be.

It was nice yesterday.

(pic 1)It was a nice day yesterday which is rare around here. So we decided to go outside and enjoy the sun. I have no idea what Zachy is looking at, but it was cute.

(Pic 2) Haylee was hanging out on the trampoline enjoying the show. AKA watching her brothers play. She even kicked the soccer ball around a bit with mommy's help and had a lot of giggly fun.

(Pic 3) This was too cute of a picture of two brothers just hanging out. Adam thought it was adorable too!

(pic 4) Zachy was pushing Haylee around in this little car. He went back and forth so many times it made me tired just watching him push her.

(pic 5)He finally said "mom, I'm tired." He sat down and took a break, but he enjoyed pushing her as much as she enjoyed being pushed.

Ode to the old times

Man, I look at mine and Adam's engagement pictures and thing. Wow how carefree were we. I can't remember the last time I had that little to worry about. I used to be so busy I though. Now every day passes quicker than the last. These are just for fun and were taken in 2004. Enjoy!

Love my kids!!!

These pictures aren't the greatest since they were taken on my phone, but you can get the idea. The last one was taken with Adam's blackberry storm ( a very cool phone). Anyway, enjoy!




We got stuck in Portland a week or so ago and ended up with a few inches of snow...like 5 it seemed. Anyway, it took us around 6 hours to make a 1 1/2 hour trip. Real fun with 3 little kids in the back seat. It all worked out, we even got to play in the snow for a little while. The boys made snow angels and threw snowballs...mostly at me. :-)