Snowsuit & Dancing

Braden and I went on a walk with our neighbor yesterday. Don't worry that it was like 30 degrees. We just bundled Braden up in his snowsuit. It was the first time he has worn this. It was fun to watch him try to crawl
He had a hard time sitting up too. It reminded me of 'A Christmas Story.'

The walk was a lot of fun, but cold. Afterwards Rachel & Isaiah (who is 8 months), came over and played. Braden had a great time.

Blake has taught Braden how to dance. This is just a glimpse of his moves. Don't mind my serenade in the background.

(And it was a farming conference yesterday.)

Can you Guess?

Blake's work has an events center that they use and rent out for public use. They have many conferences during the week. Today we drove up to see about 4 trucks for every car or SUV. Can you guess what kind of conference it is?

4 Years Ago today...

was Blake and my first date. And right after that date Blake packed his bags and headed down to Ogden to see his first (and soon-to-be) my first niece. Ella was born that night. I remember talking to Blake once he got back from his weekend with this little angel and he said how beautiful she was.

I soon had the privilege to call Ella my own niece too. She quickly grew and was into exploring. This was both of our first Barnett Christmas. Ella was so cute playing with all the bows and ribbons. (Nicole, she looks like Micah in this photo.)
It was so fun to see Ella hold Braden for the first time. She was so careful to hold him tight enough so he wouldn't fall and so gentle to make sure he wasn't hurt.

We sure love the spirit and fun loving personality that Ella brings to our family.

This is our most recent Barnett Christmas. See how Ella (in the back) is showing the little kids how to do things.

4 years old today. Wow Ella, you are one big girl. Things we love about Ella right now:

1. She's into Princesses
2. She is definitely a girly girl
3. She can keep up with her older brothers
4. She likes to call us and visit
5. She's a great cousin to Braden

We love you Ella and hope you have a fun birthday!

Feeling Better

I just wanted to thank everyone for nice thoughts and concerns. I did go to the Ready Care on Sunday to find out that I had a terrible sinus infection. The doctor put me on some antibiotics to help get better.

I do feel that I am getting, however, whenever I take the medicine, it makes me sick to my stomach and gives me a bad headache. Blake thinks it's because I need to eat more food with it, but I don't think that's the case. Only 7 more days of taking this stuff.

A Thankful Heart

So the past 3 days I have been getting progressively worse. My throat hurts, I have weird lumps growing on my jawline, my left nostril hasn't felt fresh air for who knows how long and Braden nor I have gotten out of our p.j.'s since Friday. With all this going on, I just want to say Thank You to 5 really great people.

First, Blake has been so patient. And he is doing his best to take care of me and Braden, both daunting tasks. Here is he teaching Braden how to make fajitas, which we soon learned Braden loved. The fajitas that is, not the cooking.

Second, I have to thank my little boy. Especially on Friday (since Blake was at work), Braden couldn't have been more pleasant. As his mom couldn't force herself to get off the couch, he was great to play by himself and take the most incredible naps, which allowed me to take some long naps too.
Third, yesterday Blake and I were discussing what sounded good for dinner. Nothing sounded good to me. I heard a knock at the door and was surprised to see my good friend Jessica and daughter Avery with a bag full of yummy comfort food. I felt bad because Blake and I were going to tend her daughters while she took her husband out for a romantic birthday dinner, but I didn't want to infect her whole house. So instead of going on a date, she brings us over some delicious soup, rolls, juice and hot chocolate. Jessica, thanks for always being so selfless. Please don't move. And we promise to watch the girls soon.

Fourth, my Primary Presidency. I have had responsibilities these past couple days and they have been so willing to cover them for me.

Fifth, my mom & brother-in-law Chad. Ok, so these are 2 people, but these are the people who kept telling me to go to the doctor. Chad is so willing to listen to all my symptoms and diagnose me and my mom is all to eager to tell me how stupid I am for not going to the doctor's. Thanks you two.

I am headed off to the Ready Care right now. Hopefully they can give me some good drugs so I won't continue to get worse. Has any one's tongue ever hurt? Because that's what point I am at now.

I am Tired

I am...

• go to bed at 9:00pm tired
• need to take 2 naps a day tired
• wake up at 8:ooam, with hopes that Braden will sleep longer tired
• put off the season opener of Lost for 2 nights in a row tired (and that's really tired)
• not in the mood for food tired
• miss meeting with 3 sunbeams tired
• feeling like a terrible mom tired
• freaking out about weird bumps (on my neck again) tired

I Hate being sick. I just want to get better, I am sick of being so tired.

Persistent Little Boy

(recommendation question located at bottom of page)

Blake and I had an eye opening experience yesterday. We got Braden out of the bath tub and were determined to get him dressed for the night. Our little boy was a little more determined to play. After a 5 minute struggle just to get his diaper on, we had to let him play. His persistence had won out. Here are just a couple more examples of how head strong Braden is.

We had his 1 week follow up at the ENT yesterday. I sat down in the chair with him and he got really upset. I tried setting him on the floor to play and he wouldn't have it. I finally realized he wanted to sit in the chair all by himself. It was so cute I had to get a picture.

I wanted to get another picture, but he wouldn't have that either. He kept looking away and giving me the, "Mom, stop that!" looks. He is also learning so quickly. He loves talking on his Elmo phone (thanks Aunt Nicole), even though he holds it the wrong way. He won't let us correct him. He insists he is too smart for us. I swear he already thinks, "What do mom and dad know?" Is that normal for an 11 month old?Here is my favorite story. Anytime we come downstairs he heads straight for the stairs. We have started putting up baby gate, but if that gate isn't there (and he checks every time), there is a mad dash to see who can get there first. Fortunately, I am still fast enough to win, but I have a feeling I won't be for long. He wasn't too thrilled to see Blake putting together a new baby gate. He wouldn't get off the box. Well, he would get off the box for a minute, but would jump right back on once Blake started pulling the gate out. His last persistent story has to do with computers. This has taken place at our home and my parent's home. If a laptop is ever open, Braden is there. He wants to type on the keys or close the lid. He spent a good 20 minutes climbing all over my dad last week trying to get to his laptop. He will try and distract you and then go right back to his initial motive, the computer. He has a memory like none other.

Let's just say, we already know the toddler years are going to be challenging. Both Blake and I agree that we would rather have a persistent, head strong, motivate, determined little boy than someone who needs our constant motivation and approval. I guess these are qualities that we will need to encourage and help him make a strong talent for when he is older.

Recommendation Needed: However, if anyone has a good parenting book for one to toddlers years, please let me know. I would like to go into the next couple years with some kind of plan.

Uncle Brent's Birthday

Today is my brother-in-law's, Brent, birthday. He turned 25 years old. He is currently living in Orem, UT attending his first year at BYU Law School. We all expect him to be the rich uncle. Since we were all together over the weekend, we decided to celebrate his birthday early. My mom made this wonderful looking cake, she was very excited about the colored flames candles.

Brent blowing out his candles.

This was Braden's first time seeing a birthday celebration. He didn't mind that it was dark, he was fascinated about the burning candles and the Happy Birthday song. He even clapped when all the candles were blown out.

Braden sure loves his Uncle Brent.

It was such a great way to spend our last day together. We are happy for Brent and hope he has an excellent birthday. Mallory better treat him right and at least make him dinner.

Grandma Evans Funeral

My Grandmother's funeral was held on Saturday. It couldn't have been a nicer day. All my Aunts and Uncles were there, along with the majority of my cousins. It was so nice to see my cousins, as we haven't been gathered together for some time.

This was the display outside the chapel with some of my grandmother's accomplishments.

I was excited to see baby Devin (one from LA). I can't believe how big he is, just 2 months ago he was so tiny.The funeral service was so nice. At my grandma's wishes, all of her children spoke. It got pretty emotional, especially to see all 4 brother and my mother cry. Their talks were amazing and really painted a lovely picture of my grandma's life. The spirit was so strong. Also at my grandma's request, all the grandchildren sang a beautiful arrangement of "I am a Child of God." We think for some of us, it was her final practical joke, as we (at least the Forsberg family) are NOT singers.

My Grandpa Evans at the graveside

Grandma's casket. It was really beautiful. The whole Forsberg crew

After the graveside service we headed back to the church for a wonderful lunch (thanks to the Relief Society) and some great conversations. We decided we need to plan a family reunion because one day was not long enough to catch up and play.

The Forsberg boys (Toren, Blake & Brent) and Bob Evan's boys (Jon, Philip, Andy & Taylor) headed to a different church to play some football and basketball. This morning Blake woke up and said, I quote, "I have never been so sore in my life." He had a great time. While they were playing, I spent some time at my cousins Stephanie's house visiting with her and Kara.

Braden enjoyed his time with cousin Devin

By the time we got home, Braden was exhausted. He just wanted a bottle and some good cuddle time with Grandpa. it has been night and day with Braden going to others. Even my mom said Braden is a more confident boy since 2 weeks ago when we were in Lake Havasu. I give credits to the ear tubes.

Once again, Saturday was a nice day to honor and celebrate the life of my Grandma. I think everything about that day is exactly how she would have wanted it.

Aunt Helen & Ikea

Braden had a terrible night. He slept for the last 3 hours of our car ride the night before, so he was awake and wanted to play until 1am and then gave us another run for our money from 4-5am. Needless to say, we were all exhausted.

My sister and her husband flew in that afternoon. Before picking them up we stopped by my Aunt Helen's. Well, my dad's Aunt Helen. There aren't enough good things I can say about this women. She has supported me throughout many big events in my life. We even wrote (not e-mailed) letters my whole senior year of college. She was so generous in dressing Braden. He is just now fitting in all the clothes she got him, very cute and stylish clothes might I add.

After picking up my sister we headed off to Ikea to look for some storage units for our front room.

We didn't find what we were looking for, but Braden sure had a good time.
He loved being throw into a basket of stuffed bull dogs.

Blake and I even got him a new toy. He loves these things.

Day 1 was nice. It was fun to have all the Forsberg's under one roof. It has been awhile since we have all been together.

Brushing Teeth

Braden is such a copy cater. The other day he was watching me brush my teeth. His cousin Doug gave him a tooth brush while we were in LA. Right when we got down stairs he went straight for his tooth brush and brushed his 2 teeth. This is a video we got of him later.

I was up 6 times last night.

Teething SUCKS!

Surgery: Ear Tubes

Sorry for the delayed post about Braden's surgery. I want to thank everyone for your prayers, thoughts, comments, and calls. Monday started off like any other day. Wake up, get ready, wake Braden, get him ready, and load him into his car seat. Except instead of driving daddy to work, we headed off to the hospital.

I have only had to use the services of the Pullman Regional Hospital twice (Braden's birth & surgery) and I couldn't be more impressed. And I am not just saying that because my Bishop is the Head Administrator.
We arrived at 8:15am and got to put him in a cute little hospital gown. It was actually more like a pair of pj's. Braden loved crawling around on the bed.

It took the nurse 3 times and some tape in order to get the bracelets to stay.

He was very interested in what the nurse was doing.

And quickly decided he didn't like it.
Daddy played with him right before he was taken by the nurse. The nurse grabbed Braden and no tears were shed. She said we could follow, but Braden seemed happy enough so we stayed in the room.

We were told that the procedure would take anywhere from 15-20 minutes. That's why we were surprised when we heard Braden crying after 10 minutes. The nurse came and asked us to come back to recovery to help calm him down. With Braden's 3 favorite b's (bottle, binki & blankey) I was ready to comfort my baby.

Daddy decided to have a go at it. We turned on some cartoons and Braden was instantly happy. He has never even seen cartoons before. Is it in a kids DNA to love cartoons? We had them on for about 20 minutes until we were released from the hospital.

I was nervous about how Braden would act the rest of the day, but he was happy as could be. In fact, he loved the hospital bracelets. He didn't put them down for a good 30 minutes.

Braden was his usual self most the day. Napped like normal, made a mess like normal, and was just as adorable as normal. I would recommend this procedure for anyone who is having troubles with their ears. It was fun to watch Braden all day. He could tell something happened, but didn't know what. Good news is that he hasn't been tugging at his ears anymore. We love our little boy.

A Great Woman Died Today

My Grandma, Nola Jean Carter Evans. Yes, there were times when she could be strict, mean, and harsh, but she was mostly loving, caring and fun. While she is fresh in my thoughts and memories, I thought I would take some time and write down some fond memories of my Grandma Evans.

1. Take your Grandma to School Day (1st grade, 1991)

2. When I was young (probably 8 or 9). Mallory: "Grandma, who is a better singer, Maren or me?" Grandma: "Maren of course." Mallory: "Why?" Grandma: "Because she is older."

3. Watching old classic movies that she recorded from the tv.

4. Listening to the Christmas stories that my Grandma wrote and illustrated.
5. Cross Country trip to Hutchinson, Minnesota. Heaven knows why my grandparents would travel 3 full days with 3 teenage girls, but I had fun.

6. The elaborate family reunions she organized (Missouri, South Dakota, Utah, Oregon)

7. Getting suitcases for my high school graduation. I guess my Grandma wanted me gone even more than my parents.

8. Eating lunch with her and my grandpa at the retirement home.

9. My wedding day (as noted in the previous post)

10.My monthly Sunday calls where I got to hear the latest gossip.

11. Doing temple sealings

12. Introducing Braden to his Great Grandma Evans.

I am sure there are many more memories I will think of over the next couple of weeks. These are the ones that just came straight to my memory. I assume funeral arrangements will be held this weekend (still uncertain), so Blake & I are making another trip. My Grandma always wanted her funeral to be a party of sorts. A big family reunion with laughter and fun.

Well Grandma, we will miss you but are grateful we can see you again. Just try not to have too much fun in Heaven while your waiting. I am sure you can teach some people a thing or two.

One Sad Day

Just a quick post about my Grandma Evans. Blake received a call from my dad tonight indicating that my Grandma had had a stoke yesterday and was now in a coma. When I returned home from the fireside I was attending I promptly called my mom. It was true. My Grandma has been sick for many years. A few of you may remember, the day before Blake and I got married my Grandma had to be hospitalized. I feel I am pretty close with my Grandma, so we had a couple of hours to spare in between our luncheon and reception. So I made Blake get back into his tux and me into my dress and we headed off to the hospital. Yes, we did get looks, but it was worth it to see the look on my Grandma's face when we walked into her room. I am glad she was able to spend a part of our day with us.

Anyways, at that time she had decided when her time came she didn't want to be resuscitated (this includes life support, feeding tubes, etc). Thankfully she pulled through then and has been living with my Uncle Steve and Aunt Madelyn. They deserve gold medals for their sacrifice and devotion to them. She is currently at home in her bed. We don't know how long she will be in this state. The outcome doesn't look good, although, it is her desire to return home to her Savior so I guess it kinda does look good.

I love my Grandmother very much and want her to be comfortable and happy. I will miss her, but that's the wonderful thing about our Heavenly Father, he has created the Plan of Happiness for us so that we can be reunited with our families.

Go Cougars!

The Washington State Cougars that is. Blake got some tickets at work. We actually were doing something for once. This was Braden's first official basketball game.

Proud Father teaching his son

The whole first half Braden just watched the game. It was fun to see him truly intrigued by what he was watching.

A cute video of Braden clapping & getting excited. 2 girls were sitting in front of us and couldn't stop complimenting him. I don't blame them.

The Cougars had a hard game and lost. In fact, we left a minute before the game was over, so we didn't even know the final score. We got home to discover a pleasant surprise. (Notice Post Below.)

Curious George

We got home from the basketball game tonight to discover a package from Grandpa and Grandma Forsberg. We opened it to discover Curious George. They sent him a little cuddle buddy for his surgery on Monday. Yes, the surgery isn't that big of a deal, but it still makes me sad. They also sent a cute card (see below) and a beautiful Sunday outfit. He is in desperate need of some nice Sunday clothes.

Here is the card

And the inside. If you can't read what she wrote on this side, it says, "Your Lovely (with ely crossed out and ing added). I guess my Grandpa Evans always did this with her and she always did that with us. So she is really saying Your Lovely Grandma & Grandpa. I always thought it was cute and funny.

This is was the Curious George actually does. It's cute!