Together Again!

Well, My family is together again, and it is such a GREAT feeling. Tyler Came for Peach Days, and then left for Oregon. He wasn't supposed to be back until the 28 of Sept., but he surprised me and after he got off the plane he packed what little stuff in his car, and cleaned out his stuff from work, and drove home, and I was so surprised to see him outside when he got here. I am including some family picutres that we had taken while Ty's grnadparents where here, and then I will add the professional ones later they probably turned out a little better. Just so you know it isn't easy to get three little boys to smile, and so we picked the best ones we could :). The one with the five boys is all the grandkids.So now we are just house hunting, and that is not an easy task...it is just more fustrating to find the right thing for the right price. All your guys pictures are so cute.

The Ultimate Gift

Hey Everyone!
Thanks so much for all the great advice! Right now I am taking some medication(that is WAY expensive w/out insurance!) that seems to be making the nausea bearable! I am so grateful I live right now with all of the modern marvels of medicine!
I just wanted to let everyone know about a movie that Ryan and I watched last night. It is called The Ultimate Gift. We both really enjoyed it and it was nice to not have to worry about sex, violence, nudity and so on. (It is rated PG). It also has a great message. So if you are looking for a feel good movie, this would be it! It is based on the book, The Ultimate Gift. The author of this book is blind which is kind of interesting. I had never heard of neither the book or the movie until my mother-in-law recommended it to us! I definitely think that this will be on my Christmas list this year! So if you have a free evening, I highly suggest renting this movie! Well I hope that everyone is doing well! Have a great weekend everyone!

Greetings!!

Hello Brigham Babes! :) It was fun scrolling through the blog and seeing what everyone has been up to (having babies looks like the popular theme!) and the different ways we have all taken. Thanks Heather for putting this together. Since I'm still in the single scene, I guess I'll post the latest guy I've been dating instead of kids (hee...hee...)! I'm still living in Salt Lake City. I work as a nurse at Primary Children's Hospital and love 99% of what I do. When I'm not working, I'm usually playing outside or going on some new adventure. The pics are of a softball team I played on this summer and the other one is of a place we backpacked into called Havasupai Falls...it was amazingly beautiful! So good to hear from everyone...

Applejack Festival

I just had to post this picture! I loved it! This is Aaron and his girls (well besides me!!)

This weekend we went to Applejack days in Nebraska City. It is compariable to Peach Days, but not near as fun. Things were all over town, so you couldn't just walk. It was fun for something to do and after we got some fresh apple cider!

a little news from the Watkins'

Well, it has been awhile since anyone has posted anything so I thought that I would break the silence! And since I have a little bit of news it is a perfect oppurtunity!
Ryan and I have recently found out that I am pregnant! We are both really excited, well I am excited when I am not throwing up! Ryan, well he is just pretty much excited! I am about 2 months along and will be due the end of April! We feel very blessed, it has been something both of us have wanted for awhile and so we were a little in shock when we found out it was actually real! The baby will coming at the perfect time, because I will just teach until he or she is born and then take the rest of the year off! So everything is working out very well!
I hope that everyone is doing well! I was sad to miss another Peach Days! I always get a little extra homesick around this time! Oh and if anyone has any anti nausea suggestions, I am open to them all! Yeah I am not having morning sickness, it is more like around the clock sick! But it will be good, I only have another month left, right?
Well take care!
Holly:)

Hey Everyone

This picture is of Miles and me at one of the 32 covered bridges in Parke County, Indiana (Covered Bridge Capital of the World), where we took a drive while my Mom and Dad were here. We went to 9 covered bridges.
So kind of crazy, I thought I wasn't going to make it to Brigham City until Christmas time, but my uncle unexpectedly passed away this last weekend and I came home for the funeral. It was really hard, especially since my uncle was only 44 and he left a 14 year old son and 16 year old daughter. I can't imagine losing my Dad at such a young age. So Miles and I came home on Tuesday to stay for a week. It was actually kind of good that I left this week because it was midterms for Jared. He didn't get home from school before midnight every night this week.

Grocery Shopping with Kids

This Ebay description totally cracked me up! Scroll down to read the description after clicking the link. All I can say is thank goodness I don't have six kids to grocery shop with! :) I hope you all get a great laugh out of this!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ru=http%3

Old Job

After spending a few days with my husband we sent him back to Grants Pass, Oregon :( I was very said to see him go, but while he was here he had the opportunity to have an interview with his old boss at the Brigham city Wal-mart store, and they have offered to take him back, but the GREAT news is instead of him losing 20 thousand dollars a year he will only lose 6 thousand a year to step down, and there is more...the south Logan wal-mart store will be opening sometime around summer of 2008, and they say he would have a good chance of stepping up to a co-manager again when that store opens up, and so I must say we have been blessed, and so in a couple of weeks Tyler will be here for good, and we are going to start looking for a house :) we are extremely excited for everything that is opening up for, and all the opportunities that have come our way. Well I just wanted to share the exciting news, and I hope all is going well with you and your families. Heather: Those pictures are cute, and thanks for sharing them!

Hey just a thought maybe we should just comment on the main page then everything may not be everywhere and easier to find! Just a thought!

"Wednesday Madness"

The title is in reference to a book my father used to read to me when I was little, where the main character would fake sick every Wednesday in order to miss school. :) But seriously, I think I may be getting a sinus infection. I have this headache that won't go away and I feel blah. Is sick season already approaching? I haven't been sick since I had Miles and I've just realized that this is not going to be fun. You don't get to take off from being a mom just because you don't feel well, and considering Jared left at 7:00a.m. and got back at 8:30p.m. I don't think he's going to be much help. Rats!
Anyway, I had to post these pictures that my mom took the week before I left town. Aww!What cute kids!!!
This past week was fun! My Mom and Dad came out to Indiana to see us(well really to see Miles) and I got to spend time with them while Jared studied. My mom spoiled me by bringing me a new baby quilt she made for Miles, a new wall-hanging and a new tablerunner. We made new curtains for my living room and for Miles room and decorated Miles nursery while she was here as well! It's kind of funny while we were living in Salt Lake our living room was decorated in black and red and when we moved I decided I wanted something different, so I bought this really pretty gold fabric before we moved and decided I would redo every thing black and gold! Well I was walking through Walmart the first night we were here and walked into a sea of black and gold. That's right! I inadvertantly decorated my new living room in Purdue colors! Nobody can say we don't have school spirit around here!
Oh, Yeah! I forgot to mention that the new video I posted is my friends Jamo and Sarah's video that they posted on YouTube. So cute! It make me smile. Hope it does for you as well!

Naptime Tips?

We are getting pretty desperate for any naptime tips any of you moms/ aunts/ friends have. I just don't have the heart to listen to Allie cry herself to sleep anymore (hence the photo of her in her swing). Is it too terribly bad to let her nap in her swing? Help, please :)

Woohoo!

Wow, never done this before. Oh well, learn something new every day, right?
It's so awesome to hear from all you girls. I can't believe where everyone is going in their lives. I'm glad all of you are posting pictures of your kids, it make me jealous that I don't have kids...or a dog! (Does a fish count?) Ok, so my life is pretty fun. I am working in the OB/GYN department located in the University of Utah Hospital. My official title is Exec. Sec. but I humor myself and say that I'm part sec. and part office manager. I really am enjoying the things I'm learning and have added another layer to my medical background! I live in Murray, but will soon be moving downtown for a change of scene. I think I'm the only one still dating...so we won't go there.
Fun things, hmmm. I will be going to New York at the end of September and am already planning my next big trip. (Wildly jealous yet? I had to try after seeing all the cute kid pictures!) I get to see Wicked, and that I am really thrilled about becuase I listen to that cd all the time. Well, that kind of sums up big events for me. Hopefully I'll get to talk to some of you girls soon!

Loo

Hey Friends!!!

Heather, you are the best!!!
How fun to be able to see everyone and all the beautiful children!! Wow!! I had no idea everyone was all over the country! Anyway, I hope all is going well for you and your families!! Josh and I are still living in Utah. He is going to school at UVSC and I am now teaching Kindergarten! We are both working very hard and hardly get to see one another during the week. We don't have any children, but we did get a cute little dog. He sure does require a lot of attention and work. He is a miniature schnauzer and his name is Stex. He is a fun little guy to have around.
I miss everyone dearly and love reading your e-mails and everything. It makes me feel like I still know each one of you. Although, I still picture most friends like they were in Highschool because I have not seen some of you since then. I think it would be fun to see all your little ones. Well, have a great day and keep smiling (someone cares about you.)
Alicia

Washington

Hey Everyone!

First, Thank you SO much Heather for making this blog! Evanicio and I (McKell) moved to the Seattle Washington area in June and lets just I'm not liking it. I'm doing my best to like it as that it looks like we will be here for at least few years. But really I just love that this blog connects me back to my wonderful friends. I have yet to find a friend here in Washington, other than my awesome sister. I do know that Seattle is awesome to visit (just never live here) if any of you want to visit, my door is always open! Evanicio is working as a civil engineer in downtown Bellevue. I have been working as an Employee Relations Representative Program Manager, the longest title I have had yet, in Redmond. We live in a little place called Maple Valley. Everyone has been telling me this is the worst summer they have ever seen (worse meaning it rains all the time). I'm less than impressed by the nutty traffic, high prices, and depressing weather but life is an adventure and I'm hoping this is just one of the many stops along the way!

PS: the picture is of me at a place called Snoqualmie Falls, it was one of the very few sunny days we have had and was still only in the high 70's.

Question

Does anyone know if there is a way to find out where the new posts are? I can only figure out that you have to go into each post every time and that is just too time consuming. Thanks!

Weeks up-date

1st picture: My nephews Jace 4yrs old and Ransom 2 days old

2nd picture: Xander happy to be three on July 13

3rd pictures: Landen Just Playin in the car

4th picture: Kayden at the cabin (he said that it was stinky)

Hey this is awesome I love hearing about everyone, and what is going on each of you and your families. YEEEAAAHHHH I have good news. As some of you know I am currently back in Utah. Tyler has been in Oregon the last month while I came out to help with my sister-in-law she just had a little baby boy named Ransom, and she had a lot of complications, bed rest, and hospital stays so I helped out watching her oldest boy. Sadly this will be my last nephew from her, but she has two wonderful little boys and is blessed to have them. Anyways back to Tyler...He is currently packing up a uhaul, and driving to Utah today. I am so excited to see him after a month. The down part of the the whole experience is that he is going to have to take a pay cut. We lived in Grants Pass, Oregon, and the living circumstances are not good. The County was losing so much money that they couldn't 't pay for things like law enforcement, and so they cut them back. Everyday there were articles in the paper saying that police aren't responding to calls because they don't have enough man power. Tyler said that just last week two panhandlers were fighting in the parking lot, and someone called the police, and no one showed up, and so one got killed. There are some days that Tyler gets Three-Four bomb threats a day at the Wal-mart store (sorry for those that don't know he is a co-manager for Wal-mart) and that is scary sometimes, because you don't know what people are capable of doing. So we have decided that is not a place we want our kids to be, and I was scared in the situation, and didn't dare going out by myself so I was in the house a lot. So we are not sure what he is doing yet, but we just know that we have to get our family out of that situation, although it will be sad to leave our new friends that we have made. So anyways we are just going by blind faith. So we we are currently living with Tyler's parents till we can get everything the way it needs to be. Kayden is starting Preschool, and is way excited every time we get in the car he asks if he gets to go to school today sadly we have to say no you have till the fourth of Sept.. He is an awesome big brother. Xander for all of you who don't know when Xander was two he had lead poisoning, and had test after test done for information on why he wasn't talking and why he was so far behind in things. We are safe to say that we think a lot of his delay was due to the lead poisoning, but he has also been diagnosed with speech apraxia (which is like when old people have a stroke, and they can't talk, but young kids with it with the right help can grow out of it) so we have been doing early interventions, and speech therapy, and happy to say that Xander can now have some what of a conversation with us, and the screaming has almost gone away. Although he still shows a lot of frustration when we can't understand him or he can't get out what he wants to say. He has been accepted for a special preschool for delayed kids that he will start going to in Sept. Landen is doing GREAT he talks just a little less then Xander, and that make me feel GREAT he is learning new words all the time...it is sad to think that my little baby is growing up so fast. So currently I am just staying home with the boys and loving it although sometimes a break would be nice it seems as though I keep going and never stop. So I just wanted to up-date everyone on what is going on in my crazy life. Well hope to see some of you for peach days. Oh if any of you are around Brigham I was thinking next summer because it may be to late now, but we should have a park day that way everyone and the kids could get together...we may still have some time to do it before it gets to cold, but let me know I would love to work ever thing out! talk to you all later!

I love this...

I love that we have this blog. It's great to hear what all of you are doing and it brings a smile to my face at the end of a long day. Here is a photo of Cooper and he is actually with JaNae Packer Morris' little boys, my sister Heather's kids and Mandi Packer Pearson (Janae's older sister and she married John Pearson, Tony Pearsons older brother) kids. I'll go left to right, We have Cooper, Samantha (Heather's daughter who is 15 months old) Tanner (Heather's 3 year old boy) Janna (Mandi's brand new little girl) Corbin (JaNae's 3 year old boy) Hunter (Mandi's 18 month old boy) and Taylor (JaNae's 19 month old boy). They are all close in age and we love getting together when we can, which is not very often. Any who, Everything is going great here in Brigham. Chad is almost done with his first class at the University of Phoenix (online) and I'm so proud that he is at an A right now. We almost have all of his credits transfered to the University so we will soon know how many more classes he has to take. I am excited to hopefully be on the downslope. My two jobs are going great. I work for a gentleman named Adam Hess who owns a lawn mowing business and I answer his phones, do invoices, etc. It's really only about 10 hours a week. Then I am still working for a company in Salt Lake from home that does insurance reports. Both are great but between them, Cooper and keeping up a household, life is busy. I will take it though. We live on the west side of town just a couple blocks north of the fire department. I will be honest it is different being on the west side of brigham rather than the east side. I didn't think there would be a difference but there is. I actually enjoy it because we are a lot closer to downtown and Kent's. Plus, we are very excited to walk to Peach Days this year rather than drive from Salt Lake for Saturday and that's it. Well, until another free moment. C ya girls.

FYI

I'm so glad you all have joined our blog and are navigating around it so well! Just a couple things you might or might not know. You can sign in by either going to www.brighamgirls.blogspot.com or you can also sign in at www.blogger.com . When I go to blogger.com it automatically signs me in (?) so it might do the same for you. I don't know how it works like that but it is cool! Another thing is you can go back and see any post that has been made by checking the archives, even if it has been months. One thing that I think is fun is the YouTube videos on the side. This is one of my new favorite songs, "Bubbly". I think it is so cute. Click on the second picture. The first one isn't working for some reason.
I really hope that we don't use this just for updateing on our lives every couple of months, although that is a good way to start, but that we actually talk about what is going on day to day, whether it is something your kid or schoolkid said that was hilarious or your husband/roommates are studying and you just need to vent to somebody.(Heaven knows that is what I used my dental hygiene blog for) And please post pictures!!! Okay enough of me.
Love ya, Heather

Arizona Heat

Hello Everyone!
Well it is so fun to hear about everyone! I just wanted to let you know where we are at since I did not do so previously. We are in the heat of Arizona. We live in Gilbert, I work about 15 minutes away in Mesa, (Teacher) and Ryan works about 25 miles away in Phoenix.(Accountant) Even after 2 years I am still not used to the heat. You know how in school we had snow days? Well here we have heat days and they are not fun. Heat days are when it is over 100 degrees by 9:00 am. That means there will be no recess. As a teacher I pray for recess! The other day I almost started to cry when on my way to work at 7:00 am it was 98 degrees! Aghh! But you know don't worry in a couple months we might get out of the hundreds. I tell you I just am amazed at the pioneers who came down here. No airconditioning, cars, oh boy! I am afraid I would have turned right around and headed back to wonderful UT! We do enjoy the shopping, people, Diamondbacks, Suns, geckos, swimming, swimming, and being near Ryan's family. Well have a great day everyone! Hope all is well!

Indiana

Hey everyone,
Well if I went by first impressions I would have said it would be a long two years, but thankfully I can now laugh about our little adventures! :) We got here August 1st and I was really so excited about getting to our new house since we took a long time to get here stoping to visit with family. I was so anxious to get my own home and stop living out of a suitcase. But we got to to our house and I started crying... It was filthy. It looked like the previous tenants had not cleaned the whole time they lived here and the landlords had not done anything, not even repaired any nail holes in the walls or touched up the paint. Half the house is tile and the grout should have been a sand color but was brown with dirt. Which is sad because it's a really nice house and its only five years old. When I mentioned the undesirable conditions to the landlord she acted like I was making unreasonable demands.(But apparently people in Indiana have lower standards than that of Utah because my friend Allison said their house was the same way when they moved in) The next little thing that happened was that the gas had been turned off and despite beggin and pleading we were not able to have it turned on for five days!! So from Wednesday to Monday I boiled water on the stove and in the microwave and lugged it upstairs to the bathtub. And because we were working so hard cleaning this place, at the end of the day we were so gross and we really needed showers! I tell you it really gives you an appreciation for things like hot water heaters!! On the first day taking Jared to campus I got so horribly lost without my cell phone and I thought I was never going to find my way home. And just this week our roof started leaking. Go figure- its a new house! But that really was the worst of it. I haven't gotten lost since that one time and everything else has been great! Our ward is awesome. They have so many activities. There is a Mom and Tots playgroup and an institute class every week, scrapbooking club, knitting club and recipe club. There is a birthday lunch every month. I can't belive how many LDS people there are here. There are 10 mormon MBA students in Jared's class of 200. They call the MBA students wives "Krannert Widows" because you basically sacrifice your husband to the "Krannert School of Management" for the next two years. It's true. I have hardly seen Jared this week. The wives of the Ph.D students at least have their husbands around sometimes. It's a good thing there is a lot of cute young moms to hang out with and so much to do in the ward! But I'm really looking forward this experience out here. I'm still working on getting my dental hygiene license out here which looks like it might tke a while as the licensing for Indiana is a lot different, but I am enjoying all the time I get to spend with my Miles. He just gets cuter every day. And chunkier! Little guy weighed 17 lbs 9 oz last week! I'm going to need a chiropracter after carring him around all day! Well, much love. Sorry about the novel!

Hey All

Hey everyone! Although our life here in the Springs is less exciting then everyone else's, I figured I better share at least a little about us. Jason and I are living in Colorado Springs where the rain never stops. Today we had a massive hail storm and then a down-pour of rain. I have to admit, I do love it, but it comes right when I get off work. So much for going swimming or doing something outside. Jason is working for an ad agency and is soon to move into the media department. He is way excited about that. Plus, he will finally work a regular 5-day week instead of his crazy hour schedule right now. I am working the last job I ever wanted to, but hey...it is a job. I work for LexisNexis as a content editor. The courts send us the documents and we publish them for the attorneys and such. I would love to be teaching right now, but no luck in finding a Family and Consumer Science position. They are getting rid of all the programs here, which is so heartbreaking. I am working with the Beehives in our ward and Jason is in the Elder's Quorum presidency. I just love it. I have way too much fun. That is about it....
Good to hear from all of you! Take care!

Andrea