What's new with Brad (according to Emily)?

(The little shingles in the peaks and the front door need to be pained dark brown still and the columns need stuco and stone still - other than that the exterior is almost done. In the interior, we mainly just need carpet and faucets in, along with touch up painting done and then it will be pretty much done too. Hopefully about 2 more weeks to completion!)

Well, first off it's Brad's birthday on Thursday, the 4th so happy early b-day to him and he'll be the big 28 this year. (It's also his 10 year high school reunion this year.) We'll be celebrating his birthday on Tuesday with some friends watching the Lost premiere and eating prime rib and red velvet cake (hopefully it turns out). This last month we've been watching all of the old seasons preparing for this big event. Then on his actual birthday is a Home Real Estate Awards dinner that we'll be going to so that should be fun. Brad has been busy this month with trying to get all the contractors to our house at just the right time so that we can get it done ASAP. He's done great and am glad that it's him doing this though and not me. I just like the fun part of picking stuff out and that's all - he's done fabulous. The house that we started out building for us we actually have on the market though just to see what happnes. If it doesn't sell by the beginning of March then the plan is for us to move into it. Therefore, we're in a bit of crazy, stressed state of having no idea what will happen. Either way I am good - if it sells it would be great extra money and if it doesn't well then we have a beautiful place to call home soon. And if it sells then we get to start all over (or Brad gets to start all over would be more truthful). There's a lot in the same development that we like and we would already have a lot of the stuff picked out that we used on this first house. However, we'll know some things we would change the second time around - for example the crazy, intense blue color we chose for Mya's bathroom (a sorry goes out to our painter for having to repaint it - I hope I can find a better, more calm color tomorrow). Other than being busy with our house, Brad's busy selling houses. We pray for another great year of real estate transactions. Mya loves her daddy and they are always goofing around being silly. I am so glad that Brad has a flexible schedule that allows him to be with her more. She is his little helper and whenever his phone ring (which is a lot!!!) she's very concerned and makes sure Brad heard it.

What's new with Mya Bear?

Mya is almost 16 months old - above are her 15 month pictures. Stacie continues to amaze me with her photo taking skills b/c Mya is quite the handful for pics and is usually not too happy and always on the move - despite this Stacie always ends up w/ some cute photos for me. Mya had a huge growth spurt betwee 12 and 15 months, she grew 4 inches and gained 4 pounds!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it? She has quite the cute personality and is already my little drama queen. Here are some of her latest tricks:

- she can fold her arms for prayer, it's the cutest thing ever

- she gives high fives

- she waves to anyone she sees

- she says the following words: ball, mama (usually when she's mad), dad, this, eyes (& can point to them), hi, buh bye, juice (kind of), Jason (well she just says "Jace" but she tries , she loves baby Jason and is constantly giving him hugs - the poor guy), and her latest thing is "oh no oh no oh no" It's so funny, so many things are "oh no oh no oh no." She tries to say lots of other words but I can't quite make them out yet.

- she can "dance" - meaning stomp her feet around and kind of shake her booty

- she can reach almost anything I swear no matter how high I seem to put it

- She understand so many things that I say, despite her lack of ability to completely communicate back to me - I can't believe it; it's so amazing. For example, yesterday I asked her to go get her socks. She went straight to the dresser drawer with socks in it. I then asker her to get her coat - straight to the coat closet she went. I asked her to get her shoes - back to her room she went to get them out of the closet. Whenever, I say "Mya, let's go get your milk or food" straight to the fridge she goes. I sometimes forget just how much she can actually understand already.

- she is constantly brushing her teeth and into the toothpaste/toothbrush drawer

- she can throw fits

- SHE CAN MELT YOUR HEART!

She's full of energy and keeps us on our toes but is the cutest little thing.

What's new with Emily?

Well, once again I am behind on blogging but I am determined to be better this year about posting more. I can't believe it's 2010!!! That's crazy, it seems like it was just the year 2000. I am definately finding out that time goes even faster once you have kids, so scary. 2010 is off to a way busy start for me. January through March is about the busiest time for me at work and I am out doing a lot of presentations for all the kiddos. This last week I would have to say that I saw one too many 1st graders and made one too many "yummy bugs." The kids are so cute though. I was at Everett 1st grade doing a healthy snacking presentation and I was reviewing w/ the class about MyPyramid and some other things they learned from their "Healthy Me" kit when one little boy politely interrupted me and said, "Um, can we just get to the part where we get to eat our snack?" Either I was totally boring him or he was really hungry, probably the first one. I had to laugh; it was so funny. Luckily, I'm still getting to work at home when I can. I am only taking 1 credit hour this semester for grad. school and it's an independent study so that helps to make my schedule a little less crazy. I hope to be done in a year and a half or so but we'll see about that. I am also serving in the Young Womens in our ward and am busy with all sorts of fun-filled activities. We have a great group of girls that have good parental support which makes a huge difference. I almost forgot to mention too that I am a member of the YMCA and am very excited to be back in the gym. After a year of inconsistent exercising, I told Brad this had to change. I missed working out and the gym atmosphere and was way out of shape. Of course, I was pretty sore the first couple of weeks of exercising but it's getting better. I also have a couple events I am looking really forward to these next couple of months:
1. Feb. 15 (hopefully nothing gets in the way) I will be at the spa all day long!!!!!!!!! Brad and Mya got me a day at the spa package for christmas and I haven't had a chance to use it. I am going to feel like a new woman I think afterwards.
2. In March (also hopefully nothing gets in the way of this) I am going to a weekend scrapbooking convention in Grand Island. This is the only way I will ever get any scrapping done I think. I haven't done any of Mya's book since I was on maternity leave. What's even better is that my sister and hopefully a couple of my sister-in-laws and buddy Jenn will be going too. Girls weekend crafting!

Other than that the highlight and joy of my day still revolves around Mya - oh yeah, and Brad. More to come about those two crazy cats in the next posts.