Michael can't catch a break

Poor Michael.  The holidays are a difficult time for him, mainly because the anticipation of unopened gifts is pretty much agonizing for him.  Not knowing what I've gotten him drives him crazy, this grown man that I'm married to.  This is the same man that made us open all of our gifts on Christmas Eve last year, because he couldn't wait for Christmas morning.  And it's not just wanting to know what I've gotten him, he's also dying to see me open my gifts, too.  Personally, I think it's adorable, and incredibly fun to mess with him and taunt him.

Unfortunately, it's not as easy for him to tease me.  Last week when Michael was ordering a few things on Amazon, he started taunting me, "A couple of these things might be for youuuuu."  I think this elicited a shrug and a smile from me.

Compare that with later that day when I brought home a couple of gifts from the store and wrapped them before he woke up.  When he saw them later, he was instantly asking me a million questions.  "What did you get me!  Can I open it?  This one looks like a movie.  Is it a movie?  I can tell it's a movie.  What movie is it?  Is it one of the ones on my Amazon list?  Let's look at my list together and you can tell me if it's one of those."  Then he took me through EACH movie on his list, all of which I said "no" to.  (Heh heh heh)

Then we have the following conversation:

Michael: "It isn't The Big Bang Theory, Season 2, is it?"

Me: "No."  [Long pause]  "Is that what you got me?"

Michael:  "... CRAP!"

Me, after I stopped laughing: "Did you get it for the same deal we saw on Black Friday?"

Michael: "No, it was about $15 more.  But Alice in Wonderland was $10 off, so it balances out a little."

Me: "Michael? Is that the other thing you got me?"

Michael: "CRAPPPP!!!!!"

Poor Michael can't catch a break.

Somehow every year I accidentally figure out what he's getting me.  Ok, 2009 he did slip a couple of surprises past me, but pretty much every other year I've always figured it out.  Probably because he tries to taunt me and then accidentally lets a clue slip by and I figure it out.  But this year he really didn't give me much to work with!  I mean, I can't do much when he's literally telling me what he got me.

There's always next year.

They're baaaaack

The herd is back in their favorite winter haunt.

This one has a favorite spot as you can see, where he can keep an eye on our house and watch our comings and goings.

I watch the herd from my kitchen window as I'm doing dishes, and the other day two of the deer were literally butting heads for almost an hour.  I finally got out the camera and of course they did it for about 30 seconds more, but I caught a little bit of it.  You can hear Jane chatting with me in the background and banging on her food tray.  The video isn't the greatest, but the brownish blurs are supposed to be the deer.

Jane's first Thanksgiving!

Jane definitely had fun at her first Thanksgiving!  We went to Michael's aunt Marlene's house in Riverton, only a half hour drive from our home.  It was the first time that Jane met a lot of her relatives on Daddy's side.  But it looks like she's been accepted as one of the gang!

Jane is ready for grub!

Jane and Grandma Carrie

There were a lot of pies!

Jane knows how to get around

Michael, Jane and her Great-Grandma Bonnie!

Jane and her great-aunt Sherren.  You can't see but Jane is giggling!

Marlene giving Jane some love

What a fun day!

Sleep talking

Today I changed Jane's diaper in her room and stayed in there for a few minutes to fold some clothes and put them away.  Jane was sitting in her crib playing with all of the clothes I intended to fold and making monster sounds, and I was chatting with her as I worked.  Michael was asleep in the other room but the door was slightly ajar, and suddenly I heard this:

Michael: Breannnnne.

Me: Yes?

Michael: I need you to come get this baby.

Me:  ... The baby is in here with me.

*rustling of the bed covers*

Michael: Are you sure?

Me: Yep, she's in my arms.

Michael (doubtfully):  Okay...


As you can probably tell, Michael's graveyard shift at work has been taking a bit of a toll on him lately.  He's told me before he wakes up in a panic thinking that the baby is in the covers and looking desperately for her in them.  Poor Michael!

No place like home

...which is exactly where Jane spent Halloween!  She didn't go Trick-or-Treating, seeing as how neither Michael nor I wanted to go knock on someone's door, hold up the baby and say, "Now give me candy."
Instead Jane helped me hand out candy (aka grabbed at it while I tried to juggle her, the bowl, and give children fistfuls of candy).

But what's Halloween without a costume?

So... cute!  Must... try... to resist... pinching cheeks.
By the way - I honestly didn't like to play dress-up with dolls when I was little. I thought it was a pain to try to stuff little cloth or plastic arms into tiny outfits (I was a pragmatic child at times). But, I absolutely LOVE dressing Janie up, as you can probably tell.

Would you like to see several more photos?  Okay!

Toto!

I took more, of course. Because I can't take one picture of anything (I must take a million!). You can see the album here.

If you're wondering, I purchased the dress and the shoes (separately) on Etsy.  I was really impressed with the dress... the white peasant shirt was actually sewn in and it all had one zipper going down the back - so easy to put on her.  Plus, the seller also sent me matching blue gingham pantaloons (okay, it was a diaper cover, but that just sounds less cute), blue socks, the headband, and Toto.

Sneak Peek

More pictures to come =)

Guess who

Guess who Jane is going to be for Halloween!

Labor Day

I haven't had a chance until now to post about our first backyard party in this house.  Last year my sister suggested we have a Labor Day party here, but it was a little too soon after we had just moved in.  So this year early September was the goal to have things ready for a party.  But now she says that I am booked for Labor Day every year!  I didn't see that coming!

It was cool to see some of the nice features of my backyard actually get used.  Our swing set was nicely broken in:

Jack is a monkey!

And our backyard stream got lots of attention:

We put some tables outside and had an awesome dinner (potluck ftw!):

 

Jane's cousins, being the amazing explorers that they are, found all sorts of edible things in my yard that I didn't know were there.  I have trees with some fruit that everyone disagrees on: some people say it's plums, kumquats, or some kind of nectarine.  All I know is that it tastes like an orange otter-pop.  We also found lots of grapes, and the biggest surprise of all: onions!

And our backyard fire pit got used for the first time!

 

Of course, Jane had lots of fun, too!

 

She especially loved riding on Uncle Adam's shoulders!

All in all, it was pretty fun!

Family Fun

In August Michael's brother and sister in law, Chris and Camille, came to visit family in Utah. They brought their two kids, Ian & Abby, and it was the first time we'd ever met Abby and the first time they had ever met Jane!

We all had breakfast in American Fork canyon, joined by Michael's aunt, Shara and her daughter Melise.

Shara cooking up some yummy breakfast.

Chris and Abby

Grandpa lugging Jane!

We went to Cascade Springs after breakfast.  Pretty!

Melise was awesome and loved holding Jane!

Ian and Abby on Chris and Michael's shoulders.

Jane had a hard time keeping up with everyone!

 The day after we went to Salt Lake and had fun seeing the town.  I don't have very many pictures of that day, but I liked this one of Jane and Melise.

Jane's New Shirt

I saw this a few years ago and picked it up, crossing my fingers that I'd have a girl to put it on. Lucky Jane!