Christmas

Brandon was so much fun this year for Christmas. He really understood about what was happening and was excited about it. We go up around 7:30 or 8:00 and all went into the living room. Brandon got a Basketball hoop from Santa and played with that for awhile. While he played we made our traditional Christmas blueberry muffins and then finished opening our presents. Brandon was so funny opening presents. He opened a shirt that had a tractor on it and he said "Oh a tractor" even before he had it opened enough to see it. Then he opened a pair of pants and held them up to his face and said, "Oh...cute". I don't know what he was talking about....pants?? cute?? to a 2 year old?? It was funny. The best one of all was that I wrapped a truck in an old potty box and when he opened it he was like, "Oh, a toilet!!" and he was so excited that he opened a toilet. I had to tell him that his present was inside of the potty box. So Funny!!

After we finished doing things at our house we went over to my parents to open some presents with them and then played games with them most of the day. During the evening we went to Ben's family's house and ate dinner with them, opened presents, and played games. It was a very eventful day!

Keeping up with the bloggers

Boy I sure do have a hard time keeping up on this blogging stuff. I have a bunch of fun things to put on here, but due to lack of my photos it's always hard to want to add anything.

Ben, Brandon, me and most of my family went on a Train ride on Ben's birthday (not FOR Ben's birthday mind you) called the Polar Express. The kids get to dress in their pj's and you get to ride the train to "the north pole". On the ride you get served hot chocolate and cookies by elves and read The Polar Express. When you finally get to the north pole Santa gets on the train and gives all the kids a bell.
Brandon had so much fun. He couldn't wait to ride the train for "Daddy's party". He thought for sure we were going on the train for a birthday party for daddy. He loved to sit by Caitlin, Jessen, and Grandma, and always wanted to have Tylee sitting with him. It was lots of fun.

The next day Ben and I proceeded with our shopping for a new car, which we had done the day before and met everyone at the train. We eventually found a car that we both really liked. (Pictures eventually) And you know car dealerships....it took us forever to get out of there. But we went home fighting over who got to drive it ;) Just kidding. I drove part of the way and then let Ben drive the rest of the way home, and boy did he smoke me. I couldn't even keep up with him. It is a silver 04 Toyota 4runner.

I'm sure there is something else I've forgotten to update but this will do for now! Hopefully I can get into a better jive.

Tagged again (thrice)

I'm not very quick about responding to these tags. But here they are.

8 Favorite TV Shows
-Top Chef
-Criminal Minds
-Charmed
-Dancing with the Stars
-The Biggest Loser
-CSI
-The Office
-CSI- New York
-Eleventh Hour

8 Favorite Restaurants
-Hollow Moon Cafe
-Ruby Tuesday
-Cafe Sabor
-Olive Garden
-Canton City
-Ming's Garden
-Village Inn
-Subway

8 Things I Did Yesterday
-Had a birthday party for Crystal
-Changed diapers
-Watched BYU football
-Made a cake
-Wrapped presents
-Cooked dinner
-Set up a Christmas Village with Ben
-Cleaned up toys

8 Things On My Wish List
-A vacation almost anywhere
-A pampered chef measuring thing
-New clothes that fit my ever expanding body
-Be debt-free
-Get in shape
-Find time to have friends over for games
-Decide on a name for the baby
-Have some money to eat out

8 Things To Look Forward To
-Thanksgiving
-Christmas
-Disneyland with my family next year
-My new baby boy in March
-Ben's semester of school to be over
-Getting a new car
-BYU/Utah football game
-Bed


2nd Tag: Post a picture that is in your 4th picture folder 4th image over.
I suppose I'll tag Emily, Brittainey, Mell, and Amy (Sorry guys I don't have many to tag) ;)

This is actually a wedding announcement picture. My parents went up to the mountains with us and we took some pictures. This was one that we used.

Tag #3

Quirks:
1. I can't stand to wear shoes very long. As soon as I get in the house I have to take them off.
2. When I wash the dishes I always have to wash in the right sink, rinse in the left, and always in a particular order.
3. I'm very cluttery, but I hate when things are all cluttered around so I feel like I'm always cleaning.
4. I grind my teeth when I sleep.
5. I almost always eat cereal for breakfast. It's easy and I like the other breakfast foods for dinner anyway.
6. (this one is cheating because it's about Ben) He is a perfectionist. We set up a Christmas Village the other day (he loves to do that) and he just kept fixing things after I thought it looked amazing.

Halloween and Birthday!

Happy Halloween!

Here are some of the cute Halloween pictures that we got of almost all of the grandkids. My cute little bat wouldn't sit still very long and so in the picture with "everyone" we are missing Taylor in her cute fairy costume. Both Brandon and Jessen were bats so that was fun. I made Ben a batman costume and I was a simple cat.

Brandon thought that his birthday party was lots of fun. We had Ben's family, my family, and our friends Kim and Brandon (Big B) over. Brandon loved everyone singing to him, and he would have let us do it over and over again.
While we were singing Brandon thought he needed to fold his arms!
And then he would clap afterward and say, "Sing birthday again"!

This is my cute niece Taylor. We decided she needed a party hat too!

Finally!

I'm such a procrastinator and I never feel the need to run in and get pictures of Brandon done professionally, mostly because I'm too busy and too cheap. I went with my mom to visit my sister Emily and we ended up going to Kiddie Kandids. Here are the cute results. (even though Brandon was super duper tired and didn't want to cooperate with the pictures at all!)

My House got Tagged!

I was supposed to do this forever ago, but the only camera I have is on my camcorder and it has been with Ben at work for who knows how long.


Kitchen Sink



Bathroom



Closet


Fridge


Favorite Room


Self Portrait



Favorite Shoes



Dream Vacation

I guess if I could go anywhere on vacation right now it would have to be San Diego. Ben and
I love it there!


I think I forgot to take pictures of the Laundry room (oops) I guess since I'm not at home I don't have to! ;)

I guess I'll tag.... Amy, Mell, & Anna! Good luck ;)

Memories

I got this off of my best friend's blog.

Here are the directions-

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together or it can be a memory with Ben or Brandon. It can be any memory that you can think of, doesn't matter.

2. Re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. Or if you don't feel like commenting you can email me if you have my email address.

Vacation

Boy how the time flies. I just can't seem to keep up on my blog. Lots of things have happened in the past little while. One weekend my mom went out to pick up my niece and nephew and they hung out for the weekend which was a lot of fun. Brandon and Jessen don't get a long super well yet, but they are still cute together. Brandon loves to swing at Grandma's house.

In the middle of July we went to a family reunion with Ben's family which was a lot of fun.

At the end of the month we went down to Las Vegas with my sister Emily and her husband, Derek. We stayed with Derek's family and they have a pool. Brandon loved to go swimming, the whole time we were there he probably swam at least once a day. We had so much fun.

While we were in Vegas we got to go to The Phantom of the Opera, which was SO good. We had amazing seats and it was spectacular. We also went to the Mirage to see the Secret Garden and Dolphin habitat, the bad part is that Ben and I forgot our camera, so we don't have any pictures of it. While we were there we walked underneath to see the dolphins swimming and Brandon said "uh...habit" (that's have it), he wanted the Dolphin so bad. When we got to the top Ben was holding Brandon over by the water and he saw the dolphins swimming and said, "in there" and tried to take off his shirt so he could go swimming with them. Very cute!

Another fun thing that happened while we were in Vegas was that Derek's dad is a police officer and works special events when they need him to. He was working a Toby Keith concert and called and said that he could get us in. Emily said that she would watch Brandon so Ben and I went with Derek's mom and sister. It was a lot of fun. While we were gone Brandon got to go swimming yet again with Derek.

After Vegas Ben and I went to Cedar City to watch a play at the Shakespearean Festival. Ben took a Film/Drama class and got to go to 3 different plays there and really wanted me to get to watch "The Taming of the Shrew", so on our way back we went. It was a really good play.
This July has been really full of fun things to do!

Tagged!?!?!

Well darn the luck, I have been Tagged...

A) Four places I visit over and over:
1. My Mom's
2. Provo
3. Salt Lake City
4. Walmart

B) Four people who email me (regularly):
1. Mell
2. Amy
3. ???
4. ????

C) Four places I like to eat:
1. Canton City
2. Ruby Tuesday
3. Subway
4. Olive Garden

D) Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. San Diego
2. Mexico
3. Europe
4. Where I'm at isn't actually too bad, I'm at a KOA in Cedar City with Ben

E) Four TV shows I would watch over and over:
1. Blue's clues (I'm getting attached, since Brandon likes it so much)
2. The Office
3. Criminal Minds
4. The Mole

F) Four People I'm tagging:
I'm ending this tag right here! ;)

Fun "Weekend"

Monday night we went to a Blaze arena football game. Who knew football could be played inside in the same place where the Jazz play?! It was a lot of fun. The game didn't start until about 8:00 and so we were unsure whether or not to take Brandon with us, but he loved it! He probably likes football so much, because last year Ben coached football and we went to almost every game. He got so excited that he would get really big eyes, clap his hands really fast and grin really big. He also liked eating the popcorn, which he started out eating one at a time, but eventually would take big handfuls. He was so much fun to watch.


The next day we went down to my sister Emily's house and got to see her new baby. While we were there Brandon had a blast playing with their dog Willis. He had a kitty on a string and would pull it around and growl while the dog would chase him and yank the kitty away. Brandon thought it was so funny. He even tried to hide it (in plain sight) from Willis and when Willis would "find" it Brandon would laugh.

Time Flies

Brandon on his first day in the world. November 1, 2006 (and his tired mom & dad).

I was thinking the other day about how fast time really goes by. It feels like just yesterday that I was giving birth to our cute "little" boy, but in fact yesterday I was actually at his 18 month Dr.'s appointment. He weight 7 lbs 4 oz when he was born and now weighs almost 27 lbs. I remember being so excited to meet my special wonderful little boy, who has not disappointed in that aspect at all. He is so cute and is always wanting to learn something and be grown up right now. It was definitely hard work, but well worth the results. Here is how much he has grown in the last 18 months. Life is GRAND!!

Lefty

Brandon has been super cute lately (like that's new). He loves to draw and color. Any time he sees a pen or writing utensil he says "pen, pen" and wants it immediately so he can draw. He also has a thing for watching "Blue's Clues" and knows how to "sign" notebook (not sure if it is actually a sign or not). So he asks for a pen and then signs notebook so we will give him paper to draw on. He is so funny. In the picture he is holding the pencil in his left hand like a pro. Who knows if he really will be left handed, but he sure likes to hold his pencil and crayons and stuff in his left hand.

Night Night Jesus!

At night we have a ritual that we usually do with Brandon, at least most of the time. He has a bath, gets into his pajamas, we read books or hang out for awhile, he gets a bottle and then we take him to bed. The funny part about it is he is usually so ready to go to bed that he will run to his room and sometimes try and climb into his bed. He is so cute. The past couple of nights before putting Brandon to bed he has noticed the picture of Jesus hanging on our living room wall, and on the way to put him in bed he waves and says "Jesus, bye bye" and he waves until we get into his room. He is getting so big and I love him so much.

Taylor

This is the cute Kerns family. Baby Taylor is doing well and has gained some weight. She now weighs 3 lb. 11 oz. Keep on growing you cute little girl you!!

The Zoo

Saturday, the same Saturday of the car wreck, Brandon, Ben, and I went to the Hogle Zoo. It was Brandon's first time at the zoo. He liked seeing all of the animals but he loved the leopard the best. The leopard would pace back and forth in front of the glass and Brandon would stand there waiting for him to walk by. Every time the leopard would walk by Brandon would tense up a little and just giggle. It was so fun to watch. It was a little cold that morning, but we sure enjoyed it. It's fun to do things as a family!

The Car Wreck saved Taylor!

Saturday my Mom, 2 sisters, sister-in-law, and her 3 kids all went to the Disney Princesses On Ice. They all rode together in my mom's mini van and afterward were heading down to American Fork where my Brother was meeting up with them to eat lunch. When they were getting ready to get on the freeway a car two cars in front of her suddenly stopped and so the car in front of Mom and Mom had to slam on their breaks to not hit each other. Mom then looked in her rear view mirror and saw a truck heading right for them that must not have seen them because he didn't stop at all. She told everyone to get ready because they were going to be hit. He rammed right into the back of my mom's van smashing the rear window and sending it flying into the van, which sent mom into the car in front of her. So the front and the back of the van got smashed. Everyone was alright except for the to be expected whiplash. My sister, Emily, who was pregnant went to the hospital so she could get checked out. She ended up having contractions (she wasn't due until April 18th) and every time she had a contraction her baby's heart rate would drop to 60 or below. They decided to watch her for 24 hours before she could go home and she ended up having a c-section around noon on Sunday because they figured the cord was wrapped really tightly around her neck. Taylor Elaine Kerns was born at 11:56 am Sunday morning. She weighed 3 lbs 6 oz and was 15 in. long.



So if my mom wouldn't have been in an accident that sent my sister to the hospital to be checked out, we may have lost our new little Taylor. Doesn't God work in amazing ways!?!

ER

If only I were talking about the television show... Yesterday morning I couldn't get Brandon to take a nap when I needed to shower so I let him shower with me, which usually isn't a big deal anyway. Well he was standing up and lost his footing and slipped :( He landed right on his chin and sliced it open as well as biting his tongue. Boy was it a crazy moment because here I am in the shower all wet and still having conditioner in my hair and Brandon is bleeding in his mouth and from his chin. So what do I do? Well I wasn't thinking at all so I just turned off the water and climbed out and held Brandon while I went looking for my phone to call Ben (of course I was still dripping wet). Finally I found the phone and called Ben (luckily he just works around the corner). While I was waiting for him to come home and help me I sat Brandon on our vanity and cleaned him off and saw that we were probably going to have to go get stitches, and then covered his chin with a band-aid.
We ended up going to the ER and luckily the Dr. was able to basically just super glue it back together. Brandon is such a good boy he handled things probably better than I did. Wow what a day!

Sleep? Yeah right!

This morning in a wonderful effort to let me "sleep in" a little longer Ben got Brandon out of bed and took him into the kitchen to help make breakfast. Brandon being the little sneaky monster that he is would wait until the very second that Ben wasn't paying attention and take off at a dead run for our bedroom yelling "MOMMA". Ben would hurry and catch up to Brandon before he would make it to the bedroom and take him back into the kitchen with him. After about 3 times I told Ben to just let Brandon come in. Brandon runs in and jumps up on the bed (with Ben's help of course) and gives me a great big hug. Even though sometimes I don't get as much sleep as I would like, being a mom is great!

Signs

Sign language? Who would have thunk it? I don't know much, but it's fun to teach it to Brandon. He mostly has been using thank you and please, but he also says them. He also has been using more for who knows how long, but not until recently did I realize that he doesn't think it means more of something he has already had, but "I want to eat that". He just wants to be able to say everything that we do. Another cute thing he has been doing lately is grabbing Ben's face and giving Ben a big smooch. He sure is a cutie.

Here goes nothing...

Wow! Once upon a time I thought I knew a lot of computers and the internet and technology, and now I'm becoming one of those people that say... "What? How do you do that?" I had heard of blogging before, but I sure didn't know how to do it or what it was all about. So here I am finally posting my own blog. Maybe this will help me keep my life written down somewhere.



This is my little boy, who used to be my little baby, Brandon James Pugh. He brings me so much joy it's hard to really describe. He was born November 1, 2006 so now he is just over 15 months old. He is walking all over and of course he is getting into anything he can reach, and what he can't reach he climbs so he can. He is also trying to copy everything we say. He just wants to be all grown up already. Too fast for me. But life is great can't complain too much.

This is my little guy being his normal crazy self!