Roslyn is FOUR!! :)

 Our baby girl is four!! She is an absolute joy in our family and is adored by every single one of us. She has grown so much in the last year! She started her first dance class last September and went from needing me in class to now being a little social butterfly, haha. She dances and sings at home, you know she's happy if she's singing a little song. Benson taught her the Popcorn song, too. And it's been fun to be in the Primary Presidency and get to see her singing in primary. :) Her primary teachers, the Taft's (a young couple who don't have kids yet), are so good with her. One time, I saw her keep lifting up her dress during singing time and showing Sister Taft and saying "these are my bloomers!" We were all laughing as Sister Taft kept putting her dress down, it was so funny. 

She also got her first haircut right around her birthday, she and I had an appointment together and she was so excited! I saved some of the hair we cut, with her beautiful baby ringlets. I was worried her curls wouldn't come back, and while her hair is definitely more straight now, she still has some natural curl. But her hair is so much easier to manage now and I know it was time!

As I'm thinking of everything Roz loves, the list is getting long! She is full of joy and is so happy and sweet. Everyone loves to be around her and is drawn to her personality. She gives the sweetest little smiles and combine that with her sweet, girly voice and this baby girl has us wrapped around her fingers. 

She pretend plays with her little toys so sweet, it's such a difference from the way her brothers play (explosions, crashing, etc.), and in the last several months her and Anderson have really developed a sweet and imaginative friendship. She's fun to play with, she joins right in and plays along, and is so sweet and agreeable, haha. They play together every day! Benson often joins them too, and brings his amazing creativity to their playtime. She loves to paint her nails with me, and put pretend makeup on both of us. She loves to choose out her own outfits and loves to wear her "Sky" pajamas (from Paw Patrol), and also, anything PINK. She LOVES PINK. She loves to jump on the trampoline, even with all her brothers on there! Her tiny jumps and kicks are so cute. She's quite brave on there and has started doing really fast somersaults and jump kicks, etc. Also, I often have to tell the boys to quit wrestling with her, but it's hard because she encourages it, haha. She loves to ride the Strider bike and roll around on her little pink scooter, and she loves to play at the park so much that she cries when we leave. :l 

She's SUPER GIRLY. She loves hair bows and matching her outfits with mine. A couple of Sundays she actually changed her dress to match mine and I thought it was so, so sweet. We both wore leopard print. :)

She's wild at bedtime, kicking her legs and trying to keep herself awake and play. For the last few months she refuses to get in her blankets because she's "too hot" every night, we both know it's just because her blankets make her sleepy. She always tells me, "read your scriptures with me!" So I'll stay longer, haha. I love her. She still sleeps with her "babies" every night, but I've noticed she's not quite as attached to them as she was even just a few months ago. Up until now, she NEEDED her Fuzzy or her bunny, or one of her "Nunicorns" to sleep with and cuddle and she would spend some time every night choosing just the right one. She loves listening to Mother Goose Club songs and sings along until she falls asleep, she’s so sweet. She also loves to cuddle in our bed, and when Grandma and Grandpa Brown came to visit during the summer she slept in our room on an air mattress on my side, and every night she ended up climbing into our bed and sleeping with us, haha. 

Every time she needs to go to the bathroom she comes and finds Mommy or Daddy and says, "I need to go pee (or poo) so come with me!" It's funny because she's the only one of our kids to do this and I think it's a girl thing, wanting someone to go everywhere with, haha. 

Her and Anderson played outside almost everyday during the summer months, they would find little potato bugs with Benson and she thinks they're sooooooo cute! She kept one as a pet in her bedroom in a little bowl with grass and one night I saw it (it was dead), and she said, "SSHHH!! It's sleeping!" Haha. Sooooo...I snuck it out of there a couple days later. 

She weighs around 34 lbs and has been wearing 4T size pajamas and clothes for awhile now, I feel like she's pretty tall for her age. She does Kahn Academy Kids for her "school" and she does an amazing job! She can sing the alphabet song and recognize some letters and numbers. She nursed until the beginning of May, and then I weaned her because I knew it was time, but we were both so sad! I have peace about it, and am so grateful I was able to nurse her for 3.5 years, we both loved it. :)

• She has been potty trained since just before she was 2.5, but she's a pro now. Her and Ander get six chocolote chips for going poop, and ever since we started that she's been going every day, sometimes more than once! She still doesn't like going in public bathrooms, especially gas stations on trips (me neither, baby), she'll just look around at everything with a disgusted look on her face. So now I just tell her to look at me and I hold her little face in my hands while she pees, haha. 
• She eats most everything we give her! Her favorite things are cucumbers, raisins, grapes, cherry tomatoes, watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, and let's just say ALL fruit. She'll also snack on raw cauliflower and broccoli, sometimes carrots. She loves pizza, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, 
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22 Questions With Roslyn:

1. What is your favorite toy? 
2. What is your favorite part about school? 
3. Who is your favorite scripture hero? 
4. What is your favorite food?
5. What is your favorite dessert? 
6. What is your favorite vegetable? 
7. What is your favorite fruit? 
8. What do you want to be when you grow up? 
9. What is your favorite snack? Crackers and cheese, heavenly hunks, and daddy's protein bars.
10. What is your favorite book? The wingfeather saga.
11. What is your favorite thing to have for breakfast? Collagen that tastes like chocolate milk and toast.
12. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas because grandma and grandpa come over to our house to give us presents.
13. What does Mom always say to you? Time to start school! 
14. What does Dad always say to you? Who wants smoothie?!
15. What is your favorite TV show? The ball show
16. Who is your best friend? Leo from soccer and Calin from church
17. What are you really good at? Skiing
18. If you could have a wish, what would it be? To get what I wish for so I could have infinite wishes.
19. What is your favorite primary song? Gethsemane
20. What vegetable do you hate the most? Tomatoes
21. Best memory from this year? Trying crumble dessert
22. Something you accomplished? Skiing

Life. :)

 I haven't done a regular update in awhile! 

I'll start back in January, with ski season! Jeremy, Bridger, and Beckham go skiing every Saturday at Showdown from January to April. The boys do the youth ski league and Jeremy usually ski with Tyler Knudson and other friends he meets up with up there. The three of them have excelled and learned so much! They take videos and pictures to show us when they get home, and I love that. They ski from the beginning of classes to closing, so around 9 AM-4 PM every Saturday. They usually get a few runs in after the kid's classes end for the day, just the three of them. Skiing is their favorite sport now! 

But I have a miracle to share that happened on one of their ski Saturdays. Jeremy was skiing with Tyler Knudson, and another friend, Robert Yost (another helicopter pilot on base, he works with Tyler). Anyway, they were going down a black run and Tyler had gone way ahead, Jeremy and Major Yost were both trying to avoid a lady and her daughter and Major Yost ended up slamming into Jeremy really hard. They both fell and started sliding diagonally across and down this run. Jeremy was sliding head first, and Major Yost was feet first, and their faces were close enough together that they had this "conversation" as they were sliding. Major Yost told Jeremy that his leg was broken and asked him to please stop them. Jeremy was doing everything he could, but his awkward position and the steep hill made it really difficult. When they finally stopped, Jeremy dug in and held Major Yost in place. Another friend saw what happened and went for ski patrol, and they took over an hour to arrive. It was horrible. Jeremy helped Major Yost stay really calm, and he asked if he could pray with him, and he did. Major Yost finally got to the hospital and he's still currently recovering, but here's the miracle...Jeremy didn't receive any injury. Besides a slightly sore clavicle, he was completely fine. Major Yost couldn't believe it, his ski pole was bent at a 90 degree angle, and he broke two bones in his leg, and Jeremy didn't get hurt at all. Major Yost said it felt like he hit a truck! And while they laughed about it later, we believe Jeremy was protected, his garments covered him from wrist to ankle that day. 

Jeremy was the ward clerk since we moved here, and was released several months ago, and was then called as the adult Sunday School teacher. He taught maybe four times (so a few months) before he was then called to the High Council a few weeks ago. He's enjoyed all of his callings and we are grateful he has the opportunity to serve as a High Councilor now and learn this new position. We are still figuring out what that entails for our schedule and things, but we're very grateful. I've served as a primary teacher for the CTR 11 class for the past 1.5 years and have really enjoyed it. I taught CTR 10 and moved up with them with the new year, so I've been teaching the same four girls for this entire time and they are a really awesome class. Just today I was asked to accept a new calling as 2nd Counselor in the Primary presidency, and I accepted! This will be my first time serving in a presidency, so I feel like there's a lot for me to learn and I feel a little nervous, but I'm grateful for the opportunity. 

Our kids are doing great with going to their church classes now, and Bridger is really enjoying being in Young Men's. They travel to the Helena temple to do baptisms about once a month, and Jeremy always goes with them, it's been so good! We want to be in the temple with our kids. :) But our ward has been really amazing and each of our kids have really good teachers and good friends. 

Our four boys have all been playing soccer this summer and it's been SO BUSY. My goodness. We have two overlapping practices at different parks on Monday nights, games on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and more practice on Wednesday evenings. So four days a week for the entire summer has been filled with soccer in the evenings. But the boys have all enjoyed it and are doing great, they are learning a lot and I see them improving even in just the past few weeks. 

We are still loving Montana. The winters are like eight months long and quite severe, and the mosquitos in the spring, summer, and fall are absolute monsters (I'm also allergic to them so my bites get HUGE), but the people here are so humble and good, and the summer temperatures are relatively mild. We love going to the state fair in August every year and eating really delicious ice cream in the dusty barn, haha. We've enjoyed walking on the trail beside the Missouri River, and we've really loved going on field trips to different places with our homeschool group. Jennifer Clark (a sweet Christian lady who used to be in the Army) really took our family under her wings and included us in her co-op she started. She's amazing. 

Jeremy leaves for the month of August in a couple of weeks (he's going to SOS), so we're all feeling sad about that, but grateful he can go now instead of when we PCS next. 

And my very best friend, Andrea Knudsen, and her family, are retiring from the Air Force and moving to Logan, Utah. My heart is breaking a little knowing that they are leaving in just one week. We went on a double date to get pizza last night with our husbands and it was so fun, and so bittersweet. They are a strong, stalwart, Christlike, and steady family. Andrea reached out to me when we first moved here and really pulled me out of my shell, she's been a true and selfless friend, one who I can truly trust and talk to. I keep reminding myself that it's because of the Air Force that we've met, and even though their time in the AF is done now, I'm grateful we had these last two years to build our friendship. I'll miss our afternoon chatting on Saturdays during ski season, our kids playing and trick or treating together (we both homeschool), going out to breakfast or dinner on Saturday mornings and nights, sitting together at RS activities and girls nights, and before she had foot surgery, we'd get up early on Saturday mornings to walk. And after she had her surgeries, I spent hours at her house chatting with her when she couldn't leave. We also ran together at one time, and walked almost daily together after our workouts at the gym. She introduced me to the gym, helped me feel more comfortable, even on the track and treadmill area, and even a little with the weights. She even taught Anderson's primary class for a few months before they got released to move this year. I'll miss her so much. I feel like we are soul-sisters. I feel so sad she's leaving, I'm not sure how to handle it, honestly. It's been a huge blessing to feel like I have a true friend for the first time in years. I'm praying for both of us, a lot. Everytime we see each other we hug and get sad because we know they are leaving so soon! 

Beckham is TEN!! :)

Beckham turned ten on May 25th! He was counting down the days to his birthday for like three months!! Haha. Beckham is full of love and light and brings such a happy vibe to our family! He is good to help out, especially with Anderson and Roslyn. He loves to build LEGO's, and he's really developed a love for reading fantasy this past year (just like his Mom and Dad! haha). I've loved seeing him reading so much and truly enjoying the magic of it. He even started to write a short story, after he saw me working so hard on my book, and he did awesome! 

This past year Beckham played soccer over the summer and had a blast, and he was also in the youth ski league at Showdown for the three month ski season and absolutely loved it. Skiing is one of his very favorite things to do and he never wants to miss even one Saturday of the season. He loves to help me in the kitchen and he's become interested in cars and how they work, so I'm currently teaching him kitchen skills and trying to find a way to teach him about cars when I don't know a thing about them, haha. He and Bridger love to listen to techno music and other silly songs, he loves to use Flight Simulator on the computer, and he's been coding on Scratch and creating games and doing awesome. One of his games is called "Little Blue," and it's a little animated cube you can go through a game with, it's really cool (I think it's cute, haha). 

He loves to be early to events, like me! Being late really stresses him out and he's always watching the clock when we need to go somewhere so we leave on time, haha. He loves to ride his bike and is wanting to learn how to mountain bike when we go to Southern Utah, I love that he's willing to try and put in the work! He is also interested in learning to lift weights and has started a little of that at home with our home equipment, which I love! 

He likes to draw funny pictures during school time, and take funny pictures with Bridger. And he and Bridger like to jump on the trampline after dinner when the little ones go to bed. He enjoys playing Minecraft with his siblings and Dad on the weekends, and having water balloon fights with everyone on hot days. And sometimes, when I lay out during the summer, he'll bring his school outside and sit with me, which I really love. :) He's also always had a really sweet relationship with Anderson, Ander really loves Beckham and says that he's his best friend, they also share a room and that has helped Anderson not be afraid at night. And when Beckham is sweet to him and really calm, he can help Ander calm down better than anyone (even me!). They, of course, have their sibling-fight moments like all siblings have. But I love their bond. Beckham will also cuddle him at night and trace his face and tickle his arms to help him settle down and Ander loves it. It makes my heart so happy. :) 

He's doing amazing with his school work, he has been working really hard to develop his integrity and honesty and he HAS. I am so proud of him! He is excelling with his education, he just finished 4th grade, but has already been doing 5th and 6th grade level work. I love to see him learning and growing. He does Language Arts, IEW Structure & Style (writing class online), Life of Fred, typing, handwriting, Spanish (with our teacher in Guatemala), and online piano lessons. We also got the kids crate subscriptions for Christmas, his and Bridger's crates are called Crunch Labs and are engineering STEM-type crates. Every month he can't wait to get his new box! He usually builds it the same day it arrives, he just absolutely loves it. He watches the Mark Rober videos to go with each build, too. 

Beckham isn't a very picky eater, he doesn't like tomatoes, but he loves pizza and spaghetti, so that's funny, haha. Otherwise, he might complain a little about some foods, but honestly he eats well and I'm grateful for that. He loves fruits and vegetables, homemade bread, and pretty much everything I make on a regular basis. And like I said, he's been wanting to learn more cooking skills, so he's been in the kitchen with me more often, which has been so fun. 

22 Questions With Beckham:

1. What is your favorite toy? Foxy
2. What is your favorite part about school? Typing
3. Who is your favorite scripture hero? Nephi 2
4. What is your favorite food? Spaghetti
5. What is your favorite dessert? Carrot cake
6. What is your favorite vegetable? Carrots
7. What is your favorite fruit? Pink lady apples. Actually, I like oranges. 
8. What do you want to be when you grow up? A mechanic.
9. What is your favorite snack? Crackers and cheese, heavenly hunks, and daddy's protein bars.
10. What is your favorite book? The wingfeather saga.
11. What is your favorite thing to have for breakfast? Collagen that tastes like chocolate milk and toast.
12. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas because grandma and grandpa come over to our house to give us presents.
13. What does Mom always say to you? Time to start school! 
14. What does Dad always say to you? Who wants smoothie?!
15. What is your favorite TV show? The ball show
16. Who is your best friend? Leo from soccer and Calin from church
17. What are you really good at? Skiing
18. If you could have a wish, what would it be? To get what I wish for so I could have infinite wishes.
19. What is your favorite primary song? Gethsemane
20. What vegetable do you hate the most? Tomatoes
21. Best memory from this year? Trying crumble dessert
22. Something you accomplished? Skiing

Benson is 7!! :)

 Benson turned seven on March 21st! We love him so much. Benson brings so much sweetness and goodness to our family. He has a giving, generous spirit and always makes gifts and "presents" for everyone. He loves to draw and craft, he loves to build LEGO's and makes really awesome designs, including a little "Nintendo Switch" LEGO creation that was super cool! We were all really impressed with his design. He draws cool pictures on his easel in his bedroom all the time, and draws little pictures on all of his Language Arts assignments, haha. He also makes little books that are adorable. 

He's always ready to help out, he offers to do everyone's chores for them as service (without me ever even suggesting it!). He gets really creative to help out with Ander and Roz, making little games for them to help them be obedient. It's so sweet. He has a Christlike love for people that I can hardly describe, he's just always so willing to love and help without expecting anything in return. We all have our grumpy days, but most of the time he has happy and loving. He has a chillness about him that I've always loved, he's so good for me. When he plays, he's usually building something, and that something is usually HUGE. We're talkin' forts here, and big "games" using couch cushions, pillows, blankets, etc. The messes are gargantuan, but he's super creative, haha. 

He is doing AMAZING with his education. He's only in first grade according to public school standards, but he's doing second and third grade work and cruising with it. He has a hard time actually getting his school started in the morning (he wants to play, and that's totally understandable), but once he's started he hardly complains at all, just gets his work done so he can earn some screen time. His school usually takes about 40 minutes, so not very long. He's reading extremely well. He's been reading his Life of Fred chapters on his own for almost a year now, and can read any of our picture books to Roz and Ander. Actually, in the mornings when I leave for the gym before 7, he will often go in Roz's room and read with her until it's time for them to get up. 

He loves to make food, usually he takes recipes from his Kiwi Co books and makes his own version of them. And he LOVES to build his Kiwi crates, he does them all on his own now. He's quite independent and helps out with the little ones all the time, he butters their toast, opens their yogurts, gets them almond milk, their greens, oatmeal, vitamin c drink, and vitamins. 

He loves cuddle time at night before bed, and getting his back scratched and his face traced every night. He's loved that for like at least three years now. He loves his stuffed animals and sleeps with a different one every night. 

He is also very tall and skinny! He's growing so, so much! He will get growing pains in his legs sometimes, and his clothes are all getting too short, haha. He weighs around 58-60 lbs, and he is 

Other things Benson loves...jumping on the trampoline, helping me cook and bake, riding his bike, playing at the park, and playing Scratch! He was only using Scratch Jr. for awhile, then recently he started on Scratch and has been coding and building his own games (block coding), and doing absolutely amazing! 

He eats really well now, in the past year we haven't had to "work" for him to eat. He'll pretty much just eat whatever I give him, even if it's not his favorite. I might hear a few complaints, but I don't have to beg him and chase him around like I do Ander and Roz still. That's been so nice, haha. He loves pizza, spaghetti, pb&honey sandwiches, protein balls, popcorn...this list would be huge! He loves ALL fruit, cucumbers, and carrots, and he likes broccoli okay. He does NOT like yellow potatoes, and those are the one food I don't make him eat, haha, I usually throw a sweet potato in for him since he likes those better. 

22 Questions With Benson:

1. What is your favorite toy? My little garbage truck.
2. What is your favorite part about school? Handwriting, cause I love tracing the little letters and drawing pictures.
3. Who is your favorite scripture hero? Jesus, cause he's special.
4. What is your favorite food? Pizza
5. What is your favorite dessert? Cookies, rainbow sprinkle. 
6. What is your favorite vegetable? Carrots
7. What is your favorite fruit? Bananas
8. What do you want to be when you grow up? A police, and a worker, a painter, a fire person, a builder, and...all of them. 
9. What is your favorite snack? Protein balls, and crackers and cheese.
10. What is your favorite book? Magic Tree House
11. What is your favorite thing to have for breakfast? Toast
12. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas, cause that's Jesus' birthday.
13. What does Mom always say to you? I love you!
14. What does Dad always say to you? I love you!
15. What is your favorite TV show? Autobots
16. Who is your best friend? Elijah, from soccer.
17. What are you really good at? Soccer, cooking, drawing pictures.
18. If you could have a wish, what would it be? I'll get one million dollars, and my next birthday will come in ONE day. 
19. What is your favorite primary song? Popcorn Popping On the Apricot Tree
20. What vegetable do you hate the most? Onions
21. Best memory from this year? Playing water balloons and jumping with Daddy. I also love playing with Grandma and Grandpa. 
22. Something you accomplished? I started going to primary and sitting in class without hiding.

Ander is 5!! :)

Anderson turned five this year!! 

Naptime cuddles. :)

Playing with Aunt Kathie. :)

Roller skating for the first time!

April Fools! Haha

This was the usual Sunday morning for awhile. :l Haha.

My heart. :') This was one of the last semi-regular naps he took.

First thing that comes to mind when I think of Ander...he is SO BUSY!!! This boy keeps us going all. the time. Haha. We love him so much. There's no way I can list all the curious shenanigans he gets into, and that he's now teaching Roz to do, haha. I bought locks for the closet doors where we keep the batteries, humidifiers, baby monitors, oil diffusers, etc. ...and guess how long those locks lasted? Maybe a day. He's in there constantly. He sneaks into the garage to take Jeremy's tools and takes apart toys upstairs. He also loves getting the humidifiers out when I'm busy and getting them going, playing with toys in them, etc. He loves to take all the fans from the bedrooms and plug them in everywhere around the house, I find random batteries everywhere. He plays in the water in the bathroom, plugs the baby monitors around the house, takes all the Echos and plays with them and plugs them into different rooms. He loves to make machines out of random toys and household items, for example, he made a cement truck with a variety of Hot Wheels tracks, a ride on car, some plastic toy gears and other things. He also stacked a bunch of small organizing drawers we are supposed to use for LEGO's into a tower and dumped water in the top, he learned it would drop through the tiny hole in each drawer, all the way to the bottom (huge water mess). He loves marbles and marble runs. He plays with the laptops and mouses and headphones, and constantly carries one of Dad's bluetooth speakers around the house trying to connect it to whatever device he can get a hold of. He REALLY loves crane toys and he loves trucks and firetrucks, too. He also really loves this old CD/stereo we haven't used in forever, but he carries it around and turns the radio on and will search and find a rock station to listen to, haha. He's also tried putting a variety of discs in there. He loves the remote control car he got for his birthday (since he took the one he got for Christmas apart and it wouldn't charge anymore, haha...)

These are examples of the way Ander "plays." The short list, actually. This is his style. I'm positive he'll be doing something with engineering or building when he gets older. And he's super focused. When he's "playing" I have a difficult time getting his attention because he's so into his imaginitave machine making and building that he literally doesn't hear me. He really doesn't try to get in trouble, he seriously so curious and busy and I think he doesn't realize how big a mess he's making or that something he took apart will be hard to get back together. He's just so curious! 

He loves rock music (gets that from his daddy), LOVES his vegetables and fruits. He has the deepest, tasty little voice. He's been super attached to Daddy, lately, and always wants to cuddle him extra at bedtime. He loves to jump on the trampoline and pretend like his Strider bike is his motorcycle. He's also doing amazing with his preschool and is learning to read (he struggles to sit down for the full 30 min sometimes, but he's doing much better than a few months ago!). 

22 Questions With Anderson:

1. What is your favorite toy? I love playing with my "mote control car" 
2. What is your favorite part about school? The claw game! (On Upstart preschool)
3. Who is your favorite scripture hero? Jesus 
4. What is your favorite food? It's chocolate Cheerios. 
5. What is your favorite dessert? It's ice cream. "Ganilla." And my next flavor ice cream is chocolate.
6. What is your favorite vegetable? It's cucumbers. I love cucumbers and carrots. I definitely love carrots, too. Those are my both favorite vegetables. 
7. What is your favorite fruit? It's grapes.
8. What do you want to be when you grow up? "I want to be a dad. I'm gonna tap stuff on your computer, that's gonna be for my work." (Hahaha)
9. What is your favorite snack? Iiittt'sss toast. No, I actually love chocolate bread, that's my one. (banana bread, hahaha)
10. What is your favorite book? It's the caterpillar book (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) 
11. What is your favorite thing to have for breakfast? Cream of wheat. I love cream of wheat. 
12. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas, because it has lots of presents. 
13. What does Mom always say to you? Go to bed and go to naps. 
14. What does Dad always say to you? I can play with boats. (He said this one time, hahaha)
15. What is your favorite TV show? Hot Wheels
16. Who is your best friend? It's Beckham. And I always hug Beckham because he's my friend.
17. What are you really good at? School. *He says it all happy 
18. If you could have a wish, what would it be? It would be about cars and ride on a train and play iPads and draw my little pad and read books. *He laughs, "I'm doing eevveryythhinnggg"
19. What is your favorite primary song? Follow the Nephi (Follow the Prophet, hahahaha, so cute)
20. What vegetable do you hate the most? None! *He says it all happy
21. Best memory from this year? Eat chocolate bread. 
22. Something you accomplished? Roller skating. *He's all happy and confident about it

Bridger is 12!! :)

Bridger turned twelve this year and twelve is a big birthday! He was ordained a deacon, started passing the sacrament, and is able to do baptisms for the dead now. Grandma and Grandpa Brown left the day of his birthday, but we were able to celebrate with them the Sunday before they left. They also watched the younger kids overnight so we could take Bridger to Billings to go to the temple for the first time. It was such a blessing to be able to take that birthday trip with him. We loved it so much! 

We left on January 2nd for Billings. We went to dinner at a pizza place in Billings, then we went to a candy store across the street! Bridger and Jeremy were super happy about it, they had a ton of different varieties of candy. Like, everything you can think of. So we chose out some unique things and took them back to our hotel to try out. We got there kind of late, but we were able to swim at the pool for a little bit before getting to bed. :) The next day we got up early and ate breakfast at the hotel before we went to the temple. We said a prayer before we went in, we were so excited to share the temple with him! When we walked in, we showed our recommends and even that was special! Inside, it was how the temple always is, peaceful and warm and quiet. They led us to the baptistry area and we changed before they had a member of the temple presidency sit down and talk with us personally about baptisms for the dead, which was so cool. It was just us there! Then, Bridger acted as a witness with the sweetest old lady beside him while Jeremy baptized me for our family names, then Bridger and I switched. We brought our own family names, and I did a few for the sweet old lady. But they let us do ALL our names, it was amazing. After, we changed and did the confirmations, and then we took a picture in front of the temple. He was a little nervous with this being his first time, but he did so good, and Bridger said he really loved being in the temple. It was special and I'm so grateful we were able to make this special trip with him. 

Bridger has really developed a serious interest in coding these last couple years, but especially this year. He is constantly coming up with new ideas to make on Scratch and his games are really, really good! He has goals to start a YouTube channel this year, which we are discussing. He shows us what he's worked on every night before bed, and it's fun to see his progress. Coding in the afternoons is great motivation for him to finish his schoolwork in a decent amount of time so he has time for it. He does his school independently and I never have to worry that he's skipping things, he does everything he needs to do and does an excellent, quality job on it everyday. He just finished Level 7 in TGTB (equivalent of 9th grade), he also finished the level of IEW Structure & Style he started several months ago. His writing has improved SO MUCH. I'm so proud of him. He's also now working through Life of Fred Fractions and is doing awesome. He still takes Spanish online two days a week, and does online piano lessons through Hoffman Academy. He also takes a 3D Animation class over Zoom on Monday mornings, which has been really cool!

He's really been enjoying Young Men's and being a deacon, our ward has been so supportive of these new young men, it's been a huge blessing. They walked them through passing the Sacrament twice before they actually did it, and that really helped Bridger feel more ready and comfortable. He's made some good friends even just in the last two months! 

How do I describe Bridger? He is responsible, intense about his interests, very silly when he's in a mood, and he has a fun sense of humor. He's super creative and has a really intuitive sense about style with coding and animation. He no longer likes me to do his hair, so we have to battle about that when we leave the house (haha!). He eats pretty much everything I make for meals without complaining, which I appreciate. He really likes spicy food, too! He complains about doing his schoolwork (like all kids do, sometimes), but he has also told me how he's grateful to homeschool and I know he's seeing the importance of education as he gets older and is appreciating it. He does his chores really well, too, which I appreciate, haha. He has really developed a close relationship with Captain this past year, too. Captain follows him around the house and lays beneath his feet when he does coding, it's really sweet. Bridger is constantly talking to him and petting him and playing with him, I love to see it. :) He has matured so much, he's growing into a young man and it makes my mom heart so happy (even though I cry because my kids are growing up so fast). He's started to babysit for short amounts of time in the last few months, and that's been really new for our family, and really helpful, haha. :) 

22 Questions With Bridger:

1. What is your favorite toy? I'm twelve, mommy. Actually, I like fidget toys like by hexagon ball and my squishes. Except you threw away a bunch. I like the computer, too, because it has an RTX 3060 and 32 ram, and it's the newest version, Windows 11.
2. What is your favorite part about school? I can do scratch or stuff like that after school.
3. Who is your favorite scripture hero? Jesus, because he suffered billions of peoples pain.
4. What is your favorite food? Pizza, or hot dog thingies. Like sausages or polish dogs.
5. What is your favorite dessert? Cake or ice cream or cookies or stuff...
6. What is your favorite vegetable? Tomatoes. Except they're fruit, so carrots.
7. What is your favorite fruit? I said I like tomatoes as my favorite vegetable, because I like other fruit more. Like grapes and blueberries or watermelon, or everything mostly. And grapes.
8. What do you want to be when you grow up? A dude, like a business guy or a coder. I want to make a tech company.
9. What is your favorite snack? Popcorn? Maybe chicken biscuits...
10. What is your favorite book? Percy Jackson
11. What is your favorite thing to have for breakfast? Donuts. But I never get to, so cereal. But I don't get cereal either, so toast.
12. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas, and Easter is my second (or possibly first) favorite because Grandma Brown always prepares 
13. What does Mom always say to you? Goodnight! (If I don't go to bed) or Goodnight, I love you.
14. What does Dad always say to you? Go to your room (If I'm in trouble), or I love you.
15. What is your favorite TV show?  Youtube. Or an older kid show, like that show we watched once, I think it had the word Street in the title.
16. Who is your best friend? Calum, maybe.
17. What are you really good at? Coding. And making youtube videos, but I can't make a youtube channel because of rules that moms make.
18. If you could have a wish, what would it be?  To have power to create anything out of air, like a machine that brings back people that died.
19. What is your favorite primary song? Umm... I'm twelve, Mommy. I don't sing anymore. Except I do like Gesthemane.
20. What vegetable do you hate the most? Sweet potatoes.
21. Best memory from this year? Going to Grandma and Grandpa's house twice a year.
22. Something you accomplished? I got one-thousand followers on scratch. I started in February, and finished in January in the next year. I also finished my IEW and Good and Beautiful Language Arts, which both of those were so boring they were probably a waste of life.

I have one-thousand followers on scratch. actually, as I write this it's one-thousand one-hundred and thirty-three. I love to code, and I make cool games like Honey, something I've been working on.

These are a couple of my recent games, and I worked pretty hard on them.

I used to make logos, but now that I have so many people asking I decided to just make games. I'm glad I chose that path. Months later, I used another account named jarvin_other to make logos again, and that helps my games get popular with my name on people's profiles.

I also got to go to the temple again, and did baptisms. We went the Saturday before that, too, but I went bowling because I was late and I wanted to spend time with my family.

I don't know what to write next, but I do like technology and jumping on the trampoline, having late nights, doing stuff with kids my age, and other things. Oh, yeah. I also like to use unique text fonts, like this, and this.

Funny Things From 2022

January

**Bridger got a bunch of stop motion equipment for his birthday, awhile after he opened his gifts we had this conversation.

Bridger: "How much did you spend on the table?"

Me: "$$$$"

Bridger: "I thought my budget was $200. Now I know what it means by things being overpriced these days."

Then I realized this is the table he was asking about, NOT our dining room table we had just bought. His maturity about it, though. hahahah!

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Not funny, but ultra sweet...

Ander: "Can I talk to Jesus while you read a book?"
Then he says, "God is here. Cause He needs to help us out."

February

How homeschool goes with Benson...
Benson: "I'm a beaver." 

A little later he says, "My tooth helps me read faster."
It actually did. 

March

Benson: "You smell like flowers."
Me: "Aww, thank y..."
Benson: "But I don't like flowers. So you smell disgusting."
(Boys!! :l) haha. 

April

Roz: "I'm bored of my seatbelt..."

May

Benson: "Can I get in the bath?"
Jeremy: "Sure, get in."
Benson: "I can't."
Jeremy: "Why not?"
Benson: "Because Mommy said I can't and she's the REAL boss."
Jeremy: :l
hahaha, Benson's not wrong. ;)

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Bridger trying to cheer me up: "I don't like myself. But I still have to be me." *all compassionate and sweet*

haha, thanks. I think. 

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Anderson: "Butterflies poop and pee and fart. They do everything."

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Anderson *all serious*: "I listen to you sometimes." Sounding all pleased with himself.

June

Roz saw me painting my nails before church and wanted hers done, too. So as soon as we got home she chose out a color (pink, of course!) and then wanted "sprinkles" (sparkles) on top. She's so sweet. 

July

Roz singing all beautiful in the bath: "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life's about a boat." 

Haha, so cute. 

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Beckham: "It smells good, like a fresh Hot Wheels car out of the box."

I didn't realize "fresh Hot Wheels car" was a smell descriptor until now, hahaha

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Jeremy to Roz: "Do you want jelly bread or yogurt?"

Roz: "Fruit snacks!"

Jeremy: "No, do you want jelly bread or yogurt?"

Roz: "Avocado!"

Hahaha

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Roz: "Follow the crophet."

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Ander: "Honey comes from honeybees. It sure tastes a little bit yummy."

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**Ander happily eating a bowl of cottage cheese next to Grandma at the table (later in the morning)

Grandma: "Did you guys eat breakfast?"

Ander: "Yes."

Grandma: "What did you eat?"

Ander: "Nothing! We were still hungry!" 

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**Roz singing: "Cuddles make you warm aaaaaaaaallllllllllllll ddddddddaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy llllllllllloooooonnnnnnnngggggggg." *In her tiny sing-song voice while we cuddled at bedtime. 

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*Roz sang to Ander while he sat on the toilet: "a, b, c, d, e, f, g, go poo!" Hahaha

August

**Roz after washing her butt in the shower: "Ok, Dad, time to wash your big butt!" Hahaha

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*Roz feeding Jeremy some food off her plate: "No, don't take a toy bite, take a REAL bite." Haha

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*Roz as Jeremy's Apple watch reset and showed the Apple logo: "Ew, someone ate that apple. That's yucky." Hahaha

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Anderson: "Can we buy a roller coaster and put it in our yard?" Haha

September

Roz: "Look at that, it's so cute. I love it."

**Pointing to the little fly that's been buzzing around. Haha, she's adorable. 

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Benson: "Whenever I'm by girls I hold my fart."

Me: "Ohh! That's GOOD!"

Benson: *smiles all bashful*

October

Me to Roz: "How old are you?"

Roz: **Throws her hands up in the air. "Twenty big!"

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Ander praying at dinner: "Heavenly Father. Thanks for this great food. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

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Roz reading a book: "I don't like cows. And I don't like piggies; they are rude to me."

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Ander: "Stop Benson, you're not the boss, Rozzie is."

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Ander: "I'm fast as LIGHTING!" **He runs down the hall. 

Roz, following after: "I'm fast as a UNICORN!"

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Ander: "Hurray means hhhhhhuuuuuuurrrrrraaaaaaayyyyyyy."

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**Roz follows Ander into the playroom. 

Ander: "Party up!!" 

**Ander starts some dance music on the Echo and turns off the lights and they end up having a dance party, haha. 

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**Benson and Beckham brought me breakfast in bed

Benson: "What kind of party do you want?"

Me: "A school party where everyone does their school so happy and good."

Benson: "No, like a different party." *Smiles all cute and uncomfortable

Hahaha

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*Roz frowning during cuddle time: "We don't put katchup on cake."

November

Me to Roz: "Why did you wake me up so many times in the night?" *Squeezing her tight.

Roz: "I need you to be me safe."

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Ander: "Answer your phone, I'm calling you. Brrring, brrring." 

Me: "Hello?"

Ander: "I've got a problem."

Me: "I've got a problem, too."

Ander: "What is it?"

Me: "My baby won't get his jammies on."

Ander: *thinks for a few seconds* "Are you talking about me?" *Looks all guilty and mischievous

Me: "Yes."

Ander: *Smiles all cute and then says he hung up. "I'm pressing X!"

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**Anderson backs up and I can tell he's going to run at me, so I brace myself. He runs and gives me a huge hug.

Me: "Thanks, baby."

Ander: "That's a hug attack for you."

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Benson: "When I get married I'll make a thousands of kids."

December

Jeremy to Roz: "Mmm, you smell like flowers."

Roz: "Yeah I do. Cuz I'm the flower bee!" *giggles

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Roz: "Jesus loves me to eat." *As she happily eats her apples and dinner. Haha

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Me to Ander: "You don't want to be sick. Being sick is not fun."

Ander: "Yes it is! Because you get tea. That's why being sick is fun!"

Random Pics from 2022

 I always have a bunch of pictures from our day to day things, that I want to add in before the end of the year. Here are a bunch! 

Just woke up from naps and I'll never get enough of sleepy, warm, baby cheeks.

Ice cream at the fair Montana State Fair!

Daddy and Ander getting ready for work. :)

One of his last semi-regular naps, glad I stayed for extra cuddle time. :)

Jeremy preaching at the chapel in December. :)

Benson finished Level K and started Level 1 this year!

The kids love working out with me, here's Rozzie doing a weighted wall seat! Strong girl. 

Just after naps. :)

Making one of his many machines, haha, I love him.

I also like to lay on the floor and watch a show like this.

Game time! Glad they play together so much.

Everyone loves the flight simulator!

These pics are from a field trip we took in spring to a recycling place, we watched a vehicle get destroyed and the kids loved it!

This was just a few weeks ago, the week before Christmas, haha. 

Watching a show halfway under the bed, haha.

Little handsome.

The older boys think it's SO funny to take these selfies, haha.

His mood having to get dressed.

Captain. :)

April Fool's Day.

Her bed hair is beautiful.

So cold. It got down to -50 with wind chill the week before Christmas. :l

Exercising!

Strength training progress photo! This is about three months after starting my new program.

Roasting "hot dogs." Those are bubbles on a fan, Ander created this, haha.