brockbank family blog

Camera still broke!

2011-03-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

So my camera is still not fixed and I'm tired of waiting! I will try to start catching up, more for myself than anything, and hopefully will have some updated pictures soon! So I left off right before we said good-bye to my brother for 2 years! He left on his mission in mid-August 2009 and guess where he went??? Salt Lake City, Utah!!! Yes, that's right! We tried not to poke fun but who could resist :-) He is having the best experience of his life and it has been such a blessing for him and our family! We are so proud of him and can't wait to see him again in 5 months!

My mom and dad moved to Dallas, TX about a year and a half ago and my mom is LOVING the warm temperatures! And as much as I loved visiting them in NY, I love it even more visiting them in TX. They are driving distance away and I am a 100% summer girl so I love the warm temperatures too!

We've also moved a few times. We got a job offer in Houston, TX so we sold our house, for full asking price, before we had to be in Texas. We got a rental home in Littleton, CO closer to where Brock currently worked until we were needed in Texas. A month or two after moving into the rental we found out that the company in Texas changed the job location to Louisiana and the guy who hired Brock quit, because he didn't want to go to Louisiana, which left us out of a job. Fortunately Brock had never gave notice to his current job and we are still with that company. We finished out our rental lease and moved back to Highlands Ranch, CO in September. We are currently in the same apartment complex we started out in 6 years ago when we first came to Highlands Ranch and the same ward! Which we LOVE!!!

The kids are growing like weeds! Josh isn't a baby anymore, sad :-( Ella is enjoying her first year of pre-school and is the biggest princess ever! Kiera is enjoying Kindergarten and doing so great with math and reading and some personal goals she has set and Kayla is our social butterfly. In first grade now and doing so well she has a birthday or a play date every week! Life is busy and hectic and fun and exciting. We are soooo grateful for all that we have and know that the Lord has his hand in our lives!

Terrible!

2010-11-13T15:01:00.000-08:00

I know I've been horrible at keeping up. I can't believe I let it go this long! We've had a crazy year and honestly, I don't know how much of it I'm going to post because it would take forever to catch up so I may just start with the present. Our camera is broke right now so I can't even post pictures but I just wanted to let you all know that I'm planning on posting again if you're interested and I hope you're all doing well! Look forward to getting back in touch.....again!

Kayla and Kindergarten!

2009-09-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

On August 12th Kayla had her very first day of Kindergarten! I can't believe she's in the big school now. Time just flies. I had so many people ask me how I was doing and I think they were surprised to hear that I was excited for this day! It's a little sad because I know, now that Kayla has started, the rest will follow very quickly. With that said I was counting down the days I got one out of the house, even if it is only for 3hrs. She was so cute and she thinks she is so big. She loves her teacher and her class and even has a few of the girls from church in her class. She is so excited about school and I'm so grateful because it makes getting her out the door very easy! We are so proud of our big kindergartner!

These first two pictures were actually taken in her classroom during an orientation

First day of school

Walking to school

All the kids have to wait in a line outside and the teacher comes out and takes them into the classroom

Bye family

Utah

2009-09-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

We took a trip out to Salt Lake to visit with Brock's family for a few days. It was so fun seeing all the kids and how much they've grown. Our kids loved playing with their cousins and it was fun to watch them all get together and interact. We just hung out, played some football, watched Sadie(one of the cousins) play soccer, had a sleep-over with Aunt Brit, celebrated Hunter's and Ella's birthday and went to Lagoon. We had so much fun we kept forgetting to pull our camera out! I have a few from the day we went to Lagoon and that's about it. Sorry. It was a great time and look forward to the next time we can get together!

Ella's the one waving and she's sitting with Grandpa

Happy Birthday Ella!

2009-09-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

On August 11th we celebrated Ella's 3rd birthday with our friends Jeff and Jamie and their kids. She is finally talking and is my biggest drama queen by far! She is also my girliest girl. She loves princesses and dresses and getting her nails painted. She is so fun and we love her tons!

Rachel and Ryan

2009-09-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

On Aug. 1st we were in NY at my parents for my "baby" sisters wedding. They got married in the Palmyra Temple and had a reception in my parents backyard. Most of you know my Dad's not a member so because he couldn't attend the temple ceremony Rachel had a seperate one in the backyard as part of the reception. Me, Jes, and Sarah were bridesmaids and she had Kayla, Kiera, and Ella as flower girls and Josh as the ring bearer(with Brock's help). The idea was that we would play the wedding music and we would all walk down the isle with our escorts followed by the flower girls and the ring bearer and then my dad would walk Rachel down and pass her off to Ryan. Sounds adorable right? Unfortunately it didn't happen so smoothly. All of us bridesmaids were wearing shoes with a very long heel and as beautiful as they were they were very hard to walk in. My shoes kept piercing through the isle we were walking down and I was dragging it behind me. My escort, Ryans brother, was bringing his knees up to his chest to avoid tripping over the isle. Somebody saw that my shoe picked up the isle and pulled it off and I think tried to hold it down so that we could get down the isle. We made it and stood in our places while everyone else came down. Kayla and Kiera made it down good but Ella, who was carrying a cute basket full of flower petals, tripped over the isle and flew forward face planting right in front of the mirophone. The basket of petals went everywhere and she of course was upset and crying. Then Josh was screaming so Brock had to carry him down the isle and the cute pillow with the rings tied to it. Needless to say it didn't go as planned and I'm so sorry Rachel. Good memory though right?

Some of my Dad's side of the family drove up from Maryland to be there too and it was so good to see them! Starting on the right going counter-clockwise is my cousin Crystal, my Aunt Lynn, my Grandpa and his wife Mary lou, my cousin Jeff and his wife Brooke and Crystals husband Brian(the guy in the yellow striped shirt).

My Uncle Jeff, very left of the picture, and my Aunt Robin with Josh

My Uncle Ron

After a yummy dinner it was dance time. It of course started with Rachel and Ryans first dance

Then the Daddy/Daughter dance

Then everybody else

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Jes with Kiera

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Rachel with Kayla and Ella

Cousin Crystal and Brian

Uncle Jeff and my mom

Cousin Jeff and Brooke

RJ and Aunt Robin

What cute boys!

Look at these party animals!!

What a cute couple! It was a beautiful wedding and we're glad we could be there. We are very excited for you Rachel and Ryan and know that you will make each other very happy (most of the time). We love you and wish you the best!

Happy Birthday Joshua!

2009-09-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Whew! It's been awhile. July 25 we celebrated Joshua's 1st birthday. I can't believe how fast this year has gone and the older they get the faster the years go by! I love this stage of life. It is so fun watching his personality come out and interact with his sisters. He is so happy and active! And already a tease! I just love this little man!

The ribbon was his favorite thing the whole night!

Daddy's taking the ribbon away so we can have some cake.

Oh, poor baby:-(

Mmmm cake.

A birthday's not a birthday without your birthday suit.

Way Behind!!

2009-06-19T08:39:00.000-07:00

Just a shout out to everybody to say SORRY! I'm crazy busy and blogging has taken a back seat and I will catch up with everybody hopefully within this next week! Some quick updates: The girls got summer haircuts and the lady did a fantastic job! Joshua has finally gotten his top teeth, is climbing stairs and everything else, standing on his own, and yesterday took one step to the side two different times!!! Ella is talking more clearly: I haven't really gone into Ella but she is almost 3 and still can't talk but everything appears to be fine with hearing and everything else so were not sure why she's not speaking yet but in the last month she has really made some big steps so hopefully we'll avoid speech therapy but we'll find out in Aug. so I'll let you know. I'm flying to SLC tomorrow to help my sister, Sarah, drive back all her stuff from college and she'll be staying with us until my other sister, Rachel, gets married. I can't wait for the help and the company:-) Sorry no pictures, I'll post some when I get a chance!

Another long story!

2009-05-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to my sister Sarah who just graduated from the University of Utah with her masters in nutrition! 2 weekends ago me and the kids drove out to Utah with my mom and Aunt Rachel for Sarah's graduation. Since Ella was potty training, and we didn't want to stop every hour, we packed her little potty in the backseat right next to her car seat for potty convenience and it worked out great! She didn't have one accident, in the car, the whole way there!! We got in around 1am Thursday morning and as soon as we checked in to our hotel we crashed! Everybody that is except Joshua! So lucky me, Rachel, and Kiera got to listen to him scream for an hour before he finally passed out. Then Rachel, who was sleeping in a bed with Kiera, calls out to tell me that Kiera has wet the bed. I had no idea what time it was and Kiera had slept right through it so I told Rachel that I would take care of it when she woke up. Well an hour or so later Rachel woke up soaked in pee because of absorption spread and had to take a shower and then sleep the rest of the early morning in her towel because her bag of clothes were locked in the car and she didn't want to wake me up. Isn't she so sweet! Joshua kept me and Rachel up until 5 in the morning the next night too! Sorry Rachel! Great birth control though! So my dad was able to fly in and my brother came down from Provo and we all were able to attend Sarah's graduation which was really great and special for her to have everyone there. We missed having Jes and Kevin there but it was really great to see everyone else. We were also able to see Brock's side of the family as well and had fun meeting them at Liberty Park where we had a picnic, visited the aviary, and fed the ducks and then the next day we all went to the Hoggle Zoo together where Macy's was doing an event and we got our faces painted and free ice-cream and did normal zoo stuff like see all the animals and ride the train and the carousel. We also got together for a BBQ at Grandma and Grandpa Brockbanks where we ate some really great food and got to visit with all the Aunts, Uncles and cousins. It was so fun to see everyone and how they're growing and our kids loved playing with all their cousins! Thank You Brockbank family for having us and making my side of the family feel so welcomed! We love you!!! On Sunday we headed back to Colorado with my mom and Uncle RJ. Rachel stayed for an extra week to get engaged!!! Congrats!! So my mom and RJ drove my car with Joshua and Ella and I drove my moms car with Kayla and Kiera. Before we even got started Ella had an accident in her car seat so my mom put napkins down as a barrier between her and the wet seat. And she didn't put panties or anything on Ella before buckling her in. We drove for an hour or so and then had to stop for gas and Ella had fallen asleep but we thought it would be good to take her potty. There were some napkins and stuff on her lap before I could get her out of her seat and when I lifted them off there was this brown mushy stuff sitting in her lap. It took a moment but when I realized what it was I was, words just can't explain it. My brother started to laugh and moan and Ella began freaking out because she hadn't even realized that she messed herself! I took her out of the seat and my mom was trying to peel plastered napkins from her bottom and wipe her down while I was cleaning the seat. We ran out of wipes and of course the gas station we were at didn't sell any kind of a wet wipe so we just had to do the best we could with what we had and luckily there was a garbage bag in my car, thank you Rachel, that we could cover her seat with for the remaining 8hrs. of the trip! There were other incidents where we had to pull over on the side of the freeway because my brother is a big baby but I'll spare the details. What kind of entertainment would there be on these long boring road trips without kids! OH, one more thing I have to tell you and it didn't involve the kids. We stopped to get everyone some dinner at KFC and stretch a little bit. We sat at a table where one side was a booth and the other side had chairs. Me and RJ were on the side with chairs and the kids were in the booth. When my moms food was ready RJ ducked under the table real quick to sit in the booth with the girls and I attempted to scoot over to make room for my mom. I had forgotten that me and RJ were sitting in chairs and not in a booth so when I "slid" over to make room for my mom I fell flat on my butt making a huge crashing noise that put the whole place in a dead silence and all eyes on me. RJ broke that silence with laughter and my mom decided to sit at a different table all together. I was so embarrassed! Never a dull moment! We had so much fun seeing everyone and we are proud of you Sarah for working so hard and making this happen and we're glad we could be there to celebrate this great achievement with you! Congratulations and we love you!!!

ONE!

2009-05-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

One what you ask??? Only ONE little toosh with a diaper on it! About two weeks ago my sweet Ella potty trained and I'm so proud of her! What a blessing it has been to have her in big girl panties! She loves that she goes potty in the big girl potty just like her big sisters and she's so proud of herself! And she was sooooo easy! It only took about a week before she started doing everything all by herself with no reminders from me! And I have to thank my mom and sister, Rachel, for helping because Utah would have been crazy without your help so Thank You!!! (More about Utah to come) Way to go Ella, I love you!!!

Utah and Murphy's Law!

2009-05-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago I got to go on a girl trip with my friend Jamie for a whole weekend! We drove to Salt Lake to get away from the constant demands of motherhood and housekeeping, I'm sure you can all relate. The first day we got together with her sister and mine and drove up to park city for some shopping. On the way home we stopped at Wingers for some of the best wings I've ever tasted. It's my new favorite restaurant! The next day we got together with some of Jamies family and friends and my sister and brother and his friends for a BBQ. We were running a little late and were getting stuck behind some of the slowest drivers and Jamies sister yelled out, "Murphy's Law!" I had never heard of it, yeah I know, so I asked what that meant. She of course couldn't believe I had never heard of Murphy's Law and once she was over the shock of it she explained that Murphy's Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. So we continued on to the BBQ and when we arrived we noticed that Sarah, my sister, had a flat tire. It didn't look too bad so we decided to ignore it thinking it was a slow leak and we would be able to deal with it the next day. We had a lot of fun visiting and mingling, eating, playing games, soaking our feet in a hot tube, and shooting hoops. We decided to go bowling before heading back to Salt Lake but when we got back to the truck we realized that the slow leak was a really fast leak and her tire was almost completely flat! We stopped at a gas station to fill the tire with air and find the leak so we could patch it until she could get in to have it fixed. After putting air into the tire we realized that the tear was in her valve stem, try patching that. So we decided to change the tire but couldn't loosen the bolts in order to get the tire off. So we just headed off to the bowling alley and decided to deal with it later. At the bowling alley we met up with one of our friends husbands who gave the tire a try and fortunately was able to remove it and put the spare one on! We bowled and had a lot of fun and then said our good-byes and headed back to Salt Lake. Jamie was driving her car with her sister and two brothers and me and Sarah were in her truck. We were only a few exits away from our exit and Sarah's truck began to shake vigorously! We looked at each other like what now and after a few seconds realized that another tire had blown! So we called Jamie and everybody exited and pulled over. We got out of the car and sure enough another tire had exploded. Well, we didn't have a second spare so we had to take that tire off and put the one that was leaking back on. And thank goodness Jamie's brother was there to do that for us! We patched the leak as best we could in hopes that it would hold out long enough to get through the night and then got back in our cars to go home. Sarah turns the key and the car won't start! It died! She left her lights on while the tire was being changed and the battery died. At this point we're all laughing hysterically! So out came the jumper cables and with Jamies car we were able to restart Sarahs truck. Me and Sarah said our good-byes and I headed home with Jamie and her sister. And what's the moral of the story.....Murphy's Law!!! The next morning me and Jamie left for Colorado and on the way back had another run in with Murphy's Law. We both love Wingers and we found a sign for one when we were passing through Wyoming. We decided we were going to stop one last time to get some of their yummy wings. For 15 minuets we looked for another sign to give us the exit we needed to take and finally decided that we had passed it so we figured what the heck lets turn around and go back. Once we got to Wingers and were seated and waited 5min. for our waitress we finally got to order. We both ordered the wing dinner and guess what. They were out of wings for the day! It was only 1 o'clock in the afternoon so we asked how they were already out of wings and the waitress told us it was the last day before their next shipment. We decided to leave and get cheap fast food elsewhere. Crazy! The trip was a lot of fun and I've decided that I need to do that at least twice a year to keep my sanity! Sorry this is such a long story and I have no pictures either because I forgot my camera. Also, I forgot to mention that we went up to Kennecott Copper Mine which was really fascinating! And sorry if I couldn't stop by to visit, we were only there for 2 days so I'll have to get you next time!

26 Wipes

2009-04-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

So Kimberly this is for you. I was reading your post about the 29 wipes today only to catch my son in the act. I swear this is not a set up, It really happened! I thought it was so funny I had to post it!

Crawling, Standing, and Teeth Oh My!

2009-04-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

Joshua is changing so fast it's unbelievable. About 4 weeks ago he got his first two bottom teeth and about 2 weeks ago he started crawling and about a week after that he began pulling himself up to a standing position. I can't believe how much he's changed just in the last month. It is so cute watching him move around the house getting into everything and trying to keep up with his sisters. I love it!

Easter

2009-04-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

So blogging has been slow for us lately and I apologize for bombarding you all with updates! We had a wonderful Easter this year with egg dying on Saturday night and an indoor, it was cold and rainy, easter egg hunt on Sunday followed by a yummy ham and potatoes with jello and rolls dinner at our friends, Jeff and Jamies. I was up all Saturday night with Joshua, who is teething and sick, and I'm sick myself and so are the rest of our kids and church is at 8:30 in the morning so we, unfortunately, missed our easter service this year but we did have our own little lesson on Christ and the Atonement to keep in mind the importance of this special day and why we really celebrate Easter.

Ella's Angels

2009-04-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

Ella has had a few close encounters with death so I have to thank her Angels for working extra hard to keep her safe. She is naturally prone to accidents but the last few have been scarier than usual so I wanted to blog about them, more for my own memory than anything else. A month ago or so I took the kids to Blockbuster to pick out a movie for family home evening activity and we were in the parking lot loading up to go back home. I was putting Joshua in on one side and telling Ella, who was standing in her seat on the other side, to sit down and start putting her arms through her carseat straps. So I made my way around the car to the other side to help her and when I opened the door guess who did a 1 1/2 backwards sommersault out of the car and landed on the concrete road on her head. You guessed it, Ella. You could hear the crack when she landed and I thought to myself, "Okay, we're defiently going to the hospital for stitches just please let her skull be in one piece." So I picked her up and held her close for a minute and when I checked her head I couldn't find anything. Not a single drop of blood. She just had a little scrape. I called the doctor cause I was concerned about a cracked skull or internal bleeding and wasn't sure what to do. The nurse told us to watch her for 48hrs and she gave us some exercises to do with her to make sure she was responding normally and told us what to look for in case we needed to bring her in. Well, she never showed any signs of discomfort at all, not even a headache. Then, a couple of weeks ago she was supposed to be taking a nap. I heard her playing in her room and then I heard the ceiling coming down followed by a high pitched scream. I ran upstairs to find Ella on her back with her dresser on top of her. She had pulled out the drawers and because it's top heavy it fell on top of her. I thought for sure she had broken something but when I got the dresser off of her she stood up and jumped into my arms more scared than anything. There is no logical reason why, in either of these situations, she shouldn't have been in the hospital with stitches or a broken something and some of you are probably used to this sort of thing but I'm not and am so thankful that she walked away from both unharmed.

Turbo Kayla!

2009-02-20T18:27:00.000-08:00

Ow! Ow! Look at those muscles! My mom got Kayla this workout outfit because she's really getting into exercising, she gets that from me. So the other day my mom did turbo sculpt, a workout I have on DVD, and Kayla did it with her. It's a 40 min. workout and Kayla did the whole thing. Go Girl! So today me and my mom were doing that workout and invited Kayla to do it with us and she said, "Well, when is the tummy part because I don't want a tummy bruise". HaHaHaHaHa! I love it!!

6 Months!

2009-02-20T17:44:00.000-08:00

So Joshua is really 7 months already but I'm posting his 6 month numbers. He was 17lbs (50%tile) and 27 inches (50-75 %tile). He was actually losing an ounce a day at this point because his acid reflux had gotten so bad that he wasn't eating hardly anything. After many visits and phone calls to the doctor we finally realized that he was not getting the right dosage of his medicine. About a week after upping the dosage he was eating again and has gotten more of an appetite since so I'm curious as to how much he now weighs. He has been so much happier over the last month, since we upped his meds, and he's sleeping better and actually taking naps during the day now, YEAH!!!! He is so much fun and so animated. He's sitting up and holding his own bottle, he loves to say babababa, he likes to nibble on his feet and go on walks, and he's developing a temper. He will fist his hands and grunt when he wants something or someone takes a toy. It's so cute, for now anyway. We love him so much and are so happy he's a part of our family!

Snow Day!

2009-01-18T18:27:00.001-08:00

Colorado this year has had a very mild winter and we've had hardly any snow! Last week we woke up to snow, snow, and more snow so I let Kayla skip school and we took advantage of it. We geared up and headed out! We wanted to make a snowman but Joshua didn't last long enough. We still had fun making snow-angels, rolling around, and eating it. Afterwards we came in for some yummy hot cocoa and The Little Mermaid! I love days like this!!

Joshua

2009-01-18T18:06:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of Joshua. I'll post more when he's six months in like two weeks.

Do you think it's time to buckle him in?

CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-29T16:19:00.000-08:00

We had a very fruitful Christmas thanks to our wonderful ward! The relief society president called me a month before Christmas asking me if it was okay to put our family on the giving tree this year, we've been struggling financially for a few years and they know of our situation and wanted to help us have a Christmas. I of course said no and urged her to use some other family in need but she didn't listen and so a week before Christmas we went to her house and picked up four garbage bags full of gifts! So with that and the gifts from grandparents and the few that we bought our tree was stuffed with presents. As much as we appreciate it we feel bad at the same time because we don't feel that we're missing out on anything despite our financial situation and we just feel that somebody else was more deserving of all those gifts. It did make our Christmas very special and we hope that someday we can make Christmas extra special for someone else. We were also supposed to go to Utah to spend Christmas with Brock's family but it didn't work out because of cost. Since having Joshua we've been unable to get a car that seats our whole family so we were going to rent a van. Did you know it costs 14-1600 hundred dollars to rent a van!! INSANE!!! There was no way we could do that so we missed being with family but still enjoyed our Christmas very much and are so grateful for everyone who made it special.

Joshua at 2-3 months!

2008-12-29T16:12:00.000-08:00

I know I promised pictures and these aren't up to date but these were taken a few weeks after he started smiling so I thought I'd share them and I will, at some point, get some more recent ones up!

Brithdays!!

2008-12-19T09:12:00.001-08:00

Kiera turned 4 on Novemver 13 and Kayla turned 5 on December 12 and we didn't celebrate their birthdays on the same night but because we did exactly the same entertainment for both I have choosen to post them together.It was very laid back and low key. We didn't even have a bunch of friends come over this year. The Wurstens did attend and we ate dinner together, opened presents, ate cake, and went swimming.

We had so much fun with both birthdays and love our girls so much! I can't believe we have a 5 year old!! They are growing so fast and we love the individual talents and blessings they bring into our home and add to our family.

I'm Grateful For....

2008-12-19T08:49:00.000-08:00

Both Hands! 3-4 years ago I fell on my wrist and had an excruciating amount of pain. I did not go to the doctor because it didn't swell or turn bluish black so I figured whatever happened would work itself out. Well the pain continued to get worse over the course of a few years and a bump appeared on the top of my wrist. A year ago I went to the doctor to have it x-rayed and although the x-ray showed nothing the doctor believed it was a ganglion cyst so to be sure she sent me to a wrist doctor. Well, being pregnant with Joshua, I was unable to get to the specialist but about a month ago I finally made it in and sure enough it was a ganglion cyst, which is just a fluid filled sac that plants itself between the joints most commonly the wrist and hands. 10 days ago I had it surgically removed and had to wear a cast. The cast came off yesterday and though my wrist and hand aren't yet that functional and I'll have to do a month of physical therapy to get it working fully again I am sooooo glad to have both hands free again! The doctor had to chisel some of the wrist bone out in order to get the root of the cyst to lessen the chances of it growing back so my wrist is swollen and my hand is bruised so, because of the pain and discomfort, I was unable to use my hand as a support to pick things up, change diapers, load kids in the car, cook, clean, drive, and anything else. It was a very frustrating and interesting 10 days. And it was only 10 days and I'm grateful for that and I've never appreciated both hands more than I do now!

THANKSGIVING

2008-12-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

This year we got to enjoy the company of my two sisters, Sarah and Rachel, and my brother, RJ. It's rare that our whole family or even some of our whole family is ever together at the same time anymore so having all the siblings minus one was a lot of fun. The weather has been warm for this time of year so the kids got to enjoy some trampoline wrestling with Uncle RJ and flips with Aunt Sarah. They got to do the fingernail painting with Aunt Rachel and all of us enjoyed swimming at our rec center on 3 different occasions.

Brock and RJ fearlessly headed out to our wards annual Turkey Bowl Thanksgiving morning.RJ came home with a nice bruise on his back side and Brock's still complaining about how sore he is but they still managed to maneuver around the roof to get our Christmas lights up! After that it was football, football, football and then.....TURKEY! And I was so excited because this year I managed to do it right and it was yummy. We really enjoyed our holiday and are so thankful for our friends and family that make these times so special

4 MONTHS!

2008-12-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

On November 25th Joshua turned 4 months. He is 16 1/2 lbs. and 25 inches long (50-75th percentile for both). He likes playing with his feet, chewing on his toys, sitting up in his bumbo, sucking his tongue (very interesting looking and hard to do), jumping up and down, playing pat-a-cake, and laughing at his goofy sisters. He has struggled with acid reflux and colic which has made things difficult but he is such a joy and despite the extra challenges he's brought time is still moving too fast. He is such a blessing and we love him to pieces. I'll have to post some pictures later.

BYU vs. Airforce

2008-12-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

On November 15 we went to the BYU vs. Airforce game up in Colorado Springs. We drove up with our friends Jeff and Jamie and then met up with another couple, Curtis and Jen, once we got there. We were at the 50 yard line and only like 10 rows up. The weather was perfect, sunny and 55-60 degrees. It was a close first half and BYU was making us nervous but they came through in the second with a final score of 38-24. Before the game ever started Airforce had their jets do a fly by and poor Joshua got so scared from the noise. He freaked out and was difficult the whole first half so I missed most of that but by the time the second half started he had passed out. THANKFULLY!! Here are some pictures from the game.

HALLOWEEN '08

2008-12-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

WOW! I can't believe how long it's taken me to do this. So Halloween this year was pretty uneventful but still fun. We had our traditional chili and very greasy, buttery, and oh so yummy bread sticks and then headed out for lots and lots of candy. Last year Halloween was soooo cold that the girls wanted to come home after like 5 houses so this year I made sure their costumes were very warm.

Of course it ended up being like 50 degrees and the girls wanted to come home because they were too hot. Oh well, we at least managed to make it to more than 5 houses and candy was everywhere for the next 7 days and then they went through very cranky withdrawls. It was fun and the girls are still talking about what they want to be next year. Kayla was a kitty, Kiera a "toodle" (poodle), Ella a dinosaur, and Joshua a dragon.

Stage Fright!

2008-11-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

On Thursday and Friday I got to go watch Kayla and Kiera sing Halloween songs with their preschool classes. This is a photo of Keira and her class. Kiera is the poodle right in the middle, with her hand in her face, directly in front of her teacher. She sat on the couch with me the whole time and didn't even watch her class perform. I'm actually surprised we got her to stand in the picture. I don't have a picture of Kayla because she actually sang and danced so her performance is all on video and it's 15-20 minutes long so I'm not posting it. The songs were so cute and it was fun to watch.

Pumpkins!

2008-11-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally posting our pumpkin carving fiesta from a week ago. We went to Walmart where pumpkins were only like 3 bucks each and had our girls pick out a pumpkin. Later that night they got to get their hands all slimy while they pulled pumpkin guts out.

Then they each picked a face from our pumpkin carving kit and I carved them. It actually took about 4 days to complete all three of them. Kayla picked the kitty cat, Kiera picked the scarier looking one, and Ella picked the friendly face, of course.

After cleaning what seemed like an endless supply of pumpkin seeds we then boiled and soaked them in salt water and then cooked and ate them. Yummy!

Earlier that day me and the girls made some caramel apples dipped in heath pieces. And on one of the four days of pumpkin carving we enjoyed them. Delicious!

It's a lot easier to see the design the girls picked for their pumpkin in the dark so that's why I posted them like this. All in all it was a fun time and I'm so glad we only do it once a year! I'll be posting Halloween soon so check back!

Rollin' Rollin'

2008-10-20T15:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I had Joshua on his tummy, which he hates but we've been advised that he needs 30min of tummy time everyday, and we were singing and talking and then....ROLLING! I couldn't believe it. My little man is growing so fast and because he's probably our last one it was an exciting but sad moment all at once.

Joshua's Big Day!

2008-10-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

September 7, 2008 was a special day for our family as we got to bless Joshua. We were able to share this special event with Grandma and Grandpa Brockbank and our friends Jeff and Jamie. Grandma and Grandpa flew in from Salt Lake City, UT and Jeff and Jamie came from Arvada which is about 40 miles away from us and because we have 9:00 a.m. church they had to get up super early to get there 3 kids and themselves ready in order to be at our service on time. What great friends and family we have! Brock gave a very touching blessing and we really appreciate those who were able to be there to support our family. Thank You!

Brock's Birthday!

2008-10-03T20:39:00.000-07:00

September 26 was a day of celebration! Kayla didn't have preschool so we were able to meet Brock at work and have birthday lunch and then later our friends Jeff and Jamie and their kids met us for some birthday dinner, birthday ice-cream cake, and birthday presents.

The girls made him some birthday cards and got him a game called 'RAGE' that we had fun playing with my mom and brother, RJ, when they visited for a few days before heading out to Provo, UT to drop my brother off at BYU.

For those of you who know Brock well, then you know that he is a die hard Cougars fan with no apparel to show for it so I thought it would be nice to grace his wardrobe with some Cougar sweatshirts. The second one says "Friends Don't Let Friends Go To The U of U". We also got him tickets to attend the BYU vs. Airforce game on Nov. 15.

Happy Birthday Honey we had fun celebrating with you!

Christmas Wrapping!

2008-10-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago while I was getting some things done around the house my three little angels were playing so nicely, too nicely, in our basement so I went to see what was going on and to my surprise I found them rolling around in 3 large, Costco bought, UNRAVELLED rolls of Christmas paper. This picture doesn't even accurately show how much paper was spread all over the floor. I was annoyed for a second and then just had to laugh. Hey, it kept them happy for a couple hours a day for almost a week until we stuffed it all in more than a few garbage bags for trash pick-up. My house was very clean that week!

Bear Creek Lake Park

2008-10-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we got to go to a place called Bear Creek Lake Park with our friends Jamie, Matthew, Ashley, and Brandon. This place has a lot of fun things to do like horse-back riding, water skiing, boat rentals, swimming, picnic area with a park, camping, and more. We enjoyed swimming in a nice little lake with sand like a beach and when we got cold we walked over to the park for some swinging, climbing, and sliding. We also had fun driving our toy trucks through the sand, finding hidden treasures, and collecting rocks. It was a fun-filled day! Thank you Jamie for having us!

Kiera's first day of Preschool!!

2008-10-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

Kiera had her very first day of preschool on Sept. 9, 2008. She was so excited and had to wear her favorite dress. She gets to go to class with a lot of her buddies from church because she's taught by one of the ladies in our ward. She is highly coveted as a preschool teacher and her classes are usually booked by October, for the next year, so we were very excited when she told us, in February, that she still had a couple spots available. Kiera's completed her first month and she's loving it. It's all she talks about is Miss Kim and how she learned this and that. I love her enthusiasm and I hope it sticks all the way through college. Probably wishful thinking.

Kayla and Ella were excited for her too!

BOONDOCKS!

2008-09-11T12:59:00.000-07:00

We had the privilege of having Brocks parents stay with us last weekend and so we decided to take the family to Boondocks, a fun center with tons of arcades, golf, go-carting, and much more. We've been before but the kids weren't old enough to really enjoy it. Our good friends, Jeff and Jamie, also came and we had a blast!

Matthew and Kayla vs. Ashley and Kiera

Can you tell who scored???

Grandma and Ella riding the motorcycle

This is Grandma and Kiera waiting for lunch, which was quite the wait. We had put in our order and then waited and waited and waited and after 45min. I went to see what was taking so long. They gave our order to one of the party groups and forgot all about us! With 7 hungry kids all 4yrs. and under this was just not acceptable so grandpa made sure we got some extra fry baskets (Thanks grandpa). Another 10min. later we got our yummy pizza. Luckily the guys were able to keep the kids occupied with games for most of the wait.

Matthew and Kayla racing on the go-carts. My camera died right before Kiera and Ashley had their turn so I can't post any pictures of them. We also enjoyed the fast track on the big go-carts and the bumper boats, me and Kiera got soaked but it was so much fun! Thank you Grandma, Grandpa, Jeff, and Jamie for a fun day!

The Cutest Blog on the Block :: Free Backgrounds

2008-09-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

The Cutest Blog on the Block :: Free Backgrounds

The Girls

2008-09-02T19:48:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd add a photo of our girls. Ella is first on the left, then Kiera is in the middle, and Kayla on the right end. Sadly we don't have a family picture so as soon as we get one I'll be sure to post it!

It's a BOY!

2008-09-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

We did it! On July 25, 2008 we had a baby boy. His name is Joshua Park Brockbank. He weighed in at 8lbs 8oz and 20 inches long. Having had 3 girls previous to this event I was not quite prepared to see boy, despite the many warnings we had recieved from friends and family. I am absolutely in love with him and I admire all the differences he brings apart from my girls. I always made fun of the "mamas boy" and now I have one and I never want it to change. Our girls are adjusting suprisingly well. My only fear is that they will love him to death....literally!

FINALLY!!!

2008-09-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

After a long and gruelling 4 1/2 years of pregnancy and postpartum I have finally managed to set up a blog. I'm sure it will be a slow start but hopefully once I figure it out you will all be able to enjoy our posts and pics.