Nate's Baptism

Nate's baptism day was amazing. He was so excited. Andy was even more excited. Andy called it his "first" baptism, since he didn't baptize on his mission in France. Andy was also baptized in the very same font since his family lived here when he himself turned 8 years old. So this was a special day for everyone involved. The program was awesome; Grandpa Stubbs spoke on Baptism and Grandma Brox spoke on the Holy Ghost. The Brox's sang "If the Savior Stood Beside me" and Aunt Shanna got the hiccups right before, and at the very end of the song she hiccuped so loud that everyone heard and laughed. Some shared their testimonies, and my visiting teacher jotted down parts of the confirmation blessing so that Nate can remember what was said during his blessing. It was an amazing day, and the spirit was so strong. As a mother whose baby was baptized, I felt completely overwhelmed with love for him, for my family, and for my Heavenly Father.

New Aspirations

Nate and Jace have been playing piano for 2 or 3 months now, and I have been so impressed with how quickly they have learned something new! They both have taken so well to playing and are very consistent with practicing (I do nudge them a bit in that direction at times). Their skills are improving all of the time. So my boys have been such an inspiration to me with their willingness to learn something new, that I have decided to do the same.

Now I have always wanted to learn the guitar. I grew up in a musical family. My dad plays the guitar and the banjo, and he is amazing at the piano, playing only by ear. My mom is very talented at the piano as well, and is a beautiful singer. I grew up playing the piano and was the only one out of my brothers and sisters who stuck with it. I am decent, and even good when I practice a gazillion times.

Andy has a guitar that he never plays. So I got online, looked up free guitar lessons, and started with lesson one. The next day, I wanted to cut my fingers OFF. They were so sore! But I worked through it, trying to practice at least 15 minutes a day. It has been three weeks now, and I am STILL on lesson one. I learned three chords and I am having such a hard time transitioning from one to another. But guess what? My fingers don't hurt...

I may be slow but at least I'm consistent!

Love Notes

Since Drew has learned to read, a whole new world has opened up to him! He loves to sit and write things that are important to him. So when Andy saw this magnet board, he recognized the value in Drew's words. He may be four years old; he may be a little monkey that I have to get after occasionally; but through his words I am reminded that I have a little angel living in my midst. How grateful I am for his "werds"!

Bee City

Lobeco

There is this sweet little country produce store in Lobeco, just one town over. It has a great vareity of fresh produce, and they make the most AMAZING chicken salad sandwiches! This place comes alive around lunch time! It also has a little petting zoo around back with pigs, goats, rabbits, and a couple of bunnies.

We just had a severe rain and thunder storm, so this animal petting zoo was very stinky!

America's Next Top Model

Sara's modeling pics are finally up! For those of you who don't know, she was asked to model some bows for a bow company. I took over 300 pics of her, they bought 8, and have 4 up on their website. Go check it out! http://littlesunshinebowtique.com/index.php

Beach Bums

I was able to take the kids to Hunting Island for the day and we had a blast! We brought lunch and ate in the picnic area near the lighthouse. Afterwards we went swimming, digging, and hunting for shells. The boys also came up with a fun game. It was called: sling mud at each other until we get it in our eyes. Fun for them, NOT fun for me! This was the first summer outing we were able to go on since school got out. It is too hard to do things like this when I am watching baby Alex, so on the rare occasion that I don't have her, we have to take advantage! It was A LOT of work, (being by myself with all the kids at the OCEAN) but thankfully they are all getting old enough that I don't have to worry about them too much!

The "Talk"

The day has finally come. The day that every parent dreads- the day, that inevitably scars a person forever. The icky-sticky-yucky-mucky talk that will have a profound impact on one's life. Andy and I have been waiting for this day for a long time. We have been anticipating when the opportunity would arise, in giving Nate the dreaded "talk of shame".

It all happened when Nate recived a magazine promo in the mail about animals. He loves that kind of thing, and so he was excited to read about the Sabre Tooth Tiger and the Killer Shark attacking its prey. He is reading along, and as he is discovering more and more things he didn't know about the wild animal kingdom, he is excitedly telling Andy and I what he has learned. "Mom, did you know that alligators eat the heads off of deer?" I looked, and sure enough the vicious alligator has its jaws locked around the neck and head of a deer (or what was left of it) in its gigantic jaws. He is going on and on, and eventually he and Andy end up in the other room talking about all the cool animals featured in this mini magazine. A few minutes later, Andy walks in, with his face contorted, eyes watering, obvious signs that he is holding in loud laughter. I'm looking at him confused. "What did you do?"

He sits next to me and whispers "I did it! I finally gave him the talk!" Immediately my face turns bright red. I can't believe I am blushing. But the thought of my sweet and innocent little boy dicovering a little more about the "wild animal kingdom" was certainly more than he bargained for, and I just couldn't help with identifying with him in that moment. He likes girls. As friends. But when it is teased into something more, he goes crazy with anger. So just imagining him learning about the s-word was more than I could take.

It was a little awkward at first. Nate went to his room for a little bit, undoubtedly to process the information on his own. But when he came back out of his room, all was well. He quietly opened his magazine and continued to read. And it was then that I realized how sweet, unproblematic, and uncompliated children really are.

Stubbs Ave.

My friend Pamela sent me this picture after she took a trip to Provo. We know the street well! We used to live in Orem and Andy worked for Turf Plus (a lawn spraying company). He would travel throughout the area and one day he ended up on Stubbs Avenue! He thought "hmm how funny is that?" After spraying the lawn he was assigned to, he had to get the homeowner's signature. He noticed after looking at the paperwork that it was a Stubbs. So he told the guy that he was also a Stubbs and the man said "who's your father?" He doesn't know him. Then the man asks "who is your grandfather?" Andy tells him and the guys says, "hey, that's my brother!" What a small world!

Hooked on Phonics

I have been out of touch with the blogging world for a couple of weeks. But it is thanks to the blogging world that Drew can now read. A BIG thank you goes out to Jenny Bobo for recommending the Leap Frog Letter Factory video on her blog! I would be amiss if I did not pass on along the same information. This video teaches letters and sounds. I bought it specifically for Drew (who turned four just last month). I ordered it sometime in February and had him watch it EVERYDAY. It was his "school time" at home. And throughout the movie, it was his job to participate in saying the sounds and singing the songs as it went along. Within a week, he knew 20 out of the 26 letters by sight and sound. Before he started watching the movie, he could only identify about ten letters by sight and he didn't know many of the sounds. So this was a HUGE improvement, all within a week! It became a daily ritual; before nap time he would get out his special chair and watch this movie. This went on for about two months.

Once he knew all of his letters and sounds well, I started him on the Hooked on Phonics program. Hooked on Phonics was one of the best investments we have ever made! We bought it on ebay about five years ago and I have used it to teach Nate and Jace how to read. (They are both advanced readers in their respective classes.) The last three weeks Drew has been doing the program, as well as a neighbor boy, Jace's best friend Jayson. Drew is almost done with level 1 and on to level 2. It is amazing to see how well kids do on this progam. So I have to HIGHLY recommend these two products, they are worth every penny!

I've Been TAGGED!

I've been tagged! Thanks Sara, for calling me out and potentially embarrassing myself!

10 Years ago...

Katy, Heather, and Me in 1998!

I was 18, living at home, working with my dad at his Dental Lab, going to school part time at community college, and dreaming of the day when I could move out and go to school full time. You see, I didn't go to college the year after I graduated. At my mother's insistence I stayed home (and I daresay at her ignorance on matters of financial aide to get school loans and the whole applying to college in general). It was difficult for me to stay home when all I wanted was to move away and be independant. It was difficult for my parents to let that happen too easily, me of course being their first child, and so I had to fight for it.

I was also occasionally dating Jason Huntsman (never an item, but I was hoping), and soon to be meeting future boyfriend Ryan, A.K.A. The Highlander, who currently seems to always make it into bedtime stories as "The Evil Highlander" .

5 things on my "TO DO" list today:
1. Get dressed! I have a school program this evening, I wouldn't want Nate to be embarrased that his mom looks a little redneck today! 2pm and I'm still in my PJ's!
2. Fold laundry while catching up with Samantha Who? since I didn't get to watch it last night.
3. Pull out the new scrapbook paper I bought last week and get to planning some layouts.
4. Spend five minutes outside, enjoying the sunshine, while the kids nap.
5. Plan a quick dinner...its going to be chaos from the moment the kids come home from school!

Things I would like to do if I were suddenly a Billionaire...
1. Travel! I would love to be a globetrotter.
2. Get an awesome car, and drive it as much as I want! The ridiculous gas prices will be inconsequential...
3. Hire a maid. I hate cleaning bathrooms and folding laudry.
4. Buy a house with too many rooms, pointless amenities, and insane decor!
Four is all I could come up with, I'm not used to the idea of having whatever I want...

3 of my bad habits:
1. I am a HUGE procrastinator
2. I have a negative inner dialogue when it comes to self
3. I bottle up my emotions until they explode

Places I've lived...
Las Vegas, NV
Orem, UT
Boston, MA
Vista, CA
Beaufort, SC

Jobs I've had...
1. Dental Tech
2. FAO Schwarz clerk
3. Driver
4. Babysitter
5. Ebayer

Something most people don't know about me:

I am a dancer at heart. I love to dance. I wish I was a professional. When I was little, I was a clogger. I haven't clogged since I was twelve, and I miss it. I can still do it, but I really wish I were more involved with it, even now. More than anything though, I am a ballroom dancer. I love anything ballroom. I used to be on a team in high school. I didn't realize what ballroom was though, until I went to an actual competition, right before I graduated. I did a little here and there in college, but I didn't get into it because I got married. If I had the money to afford lessons, I would have been good at it. Really good. So now, I must take comfort in Dancing with the Stars, because that's all I've got!

I tag Melissa, Kendal, Becky, and Annie E!

Mi Familia!

Front row from L to R: Travis, Melissa, Heather, Andy, Jace (on lap), and Nate. Second row from L to R: Kylan, Makenna, Chad, Kierra, and Sara (on lap). Third row from L to R: Shanna, Tyler, Wendy, Donnell, and Drew (on lap).

This picture was taken in October when we went to Vegas for my brother Travis's wedding, right before my brother Tyler left on his mission.





The Brox Family up close:

My Pops. He is a Dental Technician and does beautiful work! He is currently sporting a full head of gray hair, which only adds to his "Grandpa" look.






My beautiful Mammacita. She helps my dad with his business when she can. Mom is dealing with the fact that her and my dad will soon be empty nesters.






Me, of course. I am big sis to this crazy clan. I look forward to the time when some of my other peeps start getting married. 1 down, 5 to go!







Travis. Recently married to Melissa (its about dang time someone got married!), and is exposed to the new and terrifying world of being a dad. He works with Pops at the Dental Lab.

Chad. Current status: single. Why? I have no idea. He is so stinkin' cute, I don't understand what the problem is. Any takers? He is a Tech at Dad's lab too.

Shanna. Working/going to school in Utah. She is also single and claims to have no prospects. Is that possible in Utah? Shanna is an amateur photographer, and will soon be jumping into starting her own business.

Heather. A message therapist (and a darn good one at that!) who works at a hotel downtown. She is ALSO unnattatched...I feel like I'm on repeat...and yes, her and Shanna are twins! Anyone know of any boy twins around the age of 22?

Tyler. He is serving a mission in Morristown, NJ. Ty DOES, however, have a "special girl" waiting in the wings. Just another year and half before the next potential wedding!

Kylan or "Ky" as he likes to be called. This was my little baby. Isn't he handsome? He's in his last year of HS, and looks forward to going to college before turning in his mission papers.