Oregon - 1st of Many

We took a big family vacation to Oregon this year.  We spent a very full two weeks hanging out with Jacob's parents and exploring.  This will just be the first post of what I'm sure will be many.  I took a lot of photos and we did a lot of things.

We had to leave our house at 5:30 am to catch our flight out of Denver early Friday morning.  I was hoping the kids would just sleep in the car ride down there.  Not so much.  Then I thought, maybe, just maybe Ben would nap on the plane.  Not so much.   But they did a wonderful job traveling.  They were mostly happy and well behaved.  I was grateful.  I was also grateful that we got put in all the fast lines for checking our bags and security.   It was the smoothest airplane travel I've had.  I tried to take a few pictures of Ben on his 1st plane ride, but they weren't great.  And somehow I didn't get any of Isaac.  

When we arrived in Portland Grandma took the boys to look at the planes taking off from the parking garage while Jacob and I worked on installing car seats into his parent's truck.  I thought the picture of the three of them was cute.  As exciting as being on an airplane was for both boys (Isaac loved it!) they were both ready to be done too.  They enjoyed this quick breather to stretch legs and climb before being strapped into car seats for the drive to Jacob's parent's house.  Ben definitely fell asleep on the ride there.  Poor exhausted babes.  I think Isaac was on excitement overload and didn't sleep a wink until bed time that night.

I was happy to see that Ben warmed right up to Grandma.  He snuggled with her after his nap that afternoon.  She liked it too.  He's normally not a stranger person but he was okay with Grandma almost instantly.  I'm not sure if he's actually capable of remembering her from her visit in March but it seemed like he might have.

And she was certainly a hit when she pulled out her banjo to show the boys.

We kept it pretty low key Friday to try and recuperate from traveling.  I don't know if it worked or not.  We had some difficulty adjusting to the hour difference in time and even though they were up somewhat late that night we still got an early wake up call from Ben.  I think it was 5:30 that first morning.  Ouch.  That's not great sleep.  But what can you do?!  You get up and go to the forest, that's what!

Jacob's parents bought some land in the forest about an hour away from their home.  They are in the middle of building a home on the property and have done a lot of work caring for the forest, making trails, cleaning out unwanted plants and weeds, and such.  It was really fun to be up there after hearing so much about it.  And, they have a tractor and a 4-wheeler.  The boys were in pure heaven!

Isn't their home lovely?  They were working on picking out paint colors for the exterior, you can see the paint swatches by Isaac's head.  The inside was all framed out on this first trip and by the next weekend up there it had wall board.  Fun to see it in process.

We explored the alder grove area of the forest and hiked around a bit.  It really was beautiful.

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These boys also loved being with Grandpa and learning from him.

But most of all they LOVED the tractor and quad rides.  L.O.V.E.

I was not a fan of driving the tractor.  It's bumpy and scooping the dirt is way harder than you might imagine.  It did not come naturally to me.  I did, however, love the 4-wheeling.

Jacob was a fan of the tractor.  He took the opportunity to move some dirt and wood.

Isaac also liked moving the wood, albeit a little more manually.  They liked watching their daddy driving the tractor too.

Then Grandma took Jacob and I into the forest for a little shooting.  I've never actually shot handguns before.

Can you tell I was nervous about it?  Turns out, it was a lot of fun and I'm a pretty good shot to boot.  I think I had the best set of the bunch.  Just sayin'.

Jacob got a little tutoring from his mother as well.  He's a pretty decent shot too.

And then it was time to go.  It was amazing how much fun we had.  Jacob and I were surprised we were able to fill the entire day at he forest and not get bored.  The boys helped Grandpa back the tractor into the shop to call it a day.  They were sad we had to wait a whole week to go back.

After being at the forest all day Saturday we were grateful for a Sunday day of rest.  We went to church (turns our Chris Taylor from high school days is in Jacob's parent's ward.  Weird.  I didn't have much of a chance to catch up with him though.  It was just kind of weird anyway...what do you talk about after 10 years?), ate some delicious home made pizza, and put the kids to bed on time.  It was a nice, relaxing day.

We also decided to keep Monday pretty low key too.  We took a stroll around a park near Intel (I think?  What isn't around Intel in Hillsboro?  The Intel campus is HUGE) that has a great pond with ducks.  The boys loved it.

Jacob had to keep a tight grasp on Ben because he was trying to jump in the pond with the ducks.  Ummm, no thank you.  That water is nasty.

We were going to try and go to the library that is right near the park but Ben started melting down, tantrums and all.  He was over tired.  Can't blame the kid but man he decomposed so quickly.  One minute happy as a clam, next minute crying and screaming...for the next 10 minutes.  I think he might have cried the whole way to Winco.  If only he knew the bulk section he was about to experience!

Regardless, Jacob had to carry Ben back to the car and the library didn't happen.  But we had to stop and get some groceries for the week, so Winco was a must.

That afternoon, after Ben's nap, we went swimming at one of the neighborhood pools.  We didn't take any photos of that.  I should have thought to bring the camera but probably wouldn't have taken pictures anyway because we were both so busy keeping boys from drowning.  Priorities, right?

Grandpa made the vacation for Isaac by bringing out his train set.  They spent many an hour working on the tracks and running the train.  And Isaac couldn't have loved it more.  We are grateful Grandpa was patient.  I wish I had his patience and calm demeanor.

Stay tuned for the next installment of photos!

Ben at 18 Months

Oh Ben! I tell ya, 18 months is the time the switch flips if you ask me.  All the sudden sweet little babes turn into full blown toddlers.  Tantrums, independence, abilities, they all increase rapidly.  And for Ben, the switch has definitely flipped.  He can throw a really good, down on the floor, kicking, crying, tantrum.  Really good.  We experienced several of the worst I've seen from him on our trip to Oregon.  One was at church because I was done with him playing in the water fountain and getting himself all wet.  He hit the floor crying like crazy.  He didn't want to be picked up or talked to or anything.  I hauled him outside and tried to calm him down.  He was way too overtired.  Poor thing.  But, even at his well rested best, if he is mad he will let you know.

How can so much attitude be packed into such a cute, sweet looking boy?  I don't know.  His new favorite phrase is "No, me!"

He is also copying a lot more of what we say.  Sometimes it's really cute, like when it's his turn to pray for family prayers.  I also really love his favorite answer to questions (aside from no), "maybe."  But you have to know how he says it.  More like a really high pitched "may-me."  Cute.

He loves to be outside and especially if it means playing with Isaac.  He still loves playing with his brother.  He's starting to get a little more sassy with Isaac though.  He will pull back and take toys from him now too.  They have learned to properly bicker I guess.  His favorite outside thing to do is push the toy lawn mower around and say "mow mow."  Sometimes "Dada mow mow."  He also loves climbing on the swing set and will grab onto the upper post and swing his legs out over the rocks.  He is not to be trusted on the swing set alone...

I was blowing raspberries trying to get his attention for the picture above.  He started copying me instead.

And the picture above captures Ben's personality.  He walks around all the time with his tongue out to one side.  I think he liked exploring the new teeth in there.  He has finally gotten all the teeth he should have by this age.  He cut 4 or 5 at once and was a real trooper about it.  He slept pretty well still and was only mildly more cranky.

Ben still hates nursery.  Even though he is declaring his independence it is paired with a love for his mother. He does not want to be left with others.  And he will still run up to me and grab my legs and say "mama" until I pick him up.  Then he wants to be cuddled for a little while.  But, he wants to lay out the terms of the cuddle.  If I try to hold him wrong or reposition him to something more comfortable I often hear "no no no" followed by him removing my arms or hands from his body.  Kind of funny, I know, but also annoying at times, especially those wee hours of the night times.  (He's had few really rough nights in Oregon and a couple rough ones now that we are back.  I think he's still adjusting from all that fun of vacation.)

Ben learned how to climb out of his pack and play while we were on vacation.  The skill has also transferred to his crib.  This new development has also probably contributed to the increase of sleeping trouble.  But he sure thinks he's cool.  He especially likes climbing out in the morning and coming to our bedroom to greet us.  I actually prefer this to having him yell from his crib for us.  So maybe it's a win-win?

Ben is still a silly boy and loves to laugh.  He and his brother were making faces for our little photo shoot.  They were laughing and having so much fun.  That's a pretty good silly face for an 18 month old if you ask me!  He laughs when Isaac says "joke" or "knock knock."  It's pretty cute.

I sure do love this crazy boy.  He is sweet, loving, energetic, sassy, and pretty stinking adorable.  Glad he is part of our family.  He is good for all of us.

Brotherly love!

They both love this scooter from Jacob's childhood.  We spent much time pushing Ben on it and letting Isaac cruise.  Cuties!

Such a Slacker!

Ben has been 18 months now for about 2 weeks.  And I still haven't taken his official photos or blogged about his cuteness at 18 months.

And I'm still not entirely ready to do the whole post.  I'm a little consumed with getting ready for our trip to Oregon.  I've been cleaning and list making and...well, mostly cleaning.   And now we are leaving soon and I'll be packing and doing a bunch of Relief Society stuff this week.  So poor Ben continues to be neglected.

But, I had to post about a couple of big things for our little Brunson boys.

We weren't in our ward last week so Ben didn't go to nursery then.  So, today was his first day.  I was so anxious.  I don't remember feeling that way with Isaac at all.  But, these boys are so different.  Isaac loved other people, still does.  Ben is completely opposite.  He is a mama's boy.  So clingy!  His separation anxiety is great.  He cries if I leave him with his dad.  The tears are short lived but they always come.  He cries when we leave him with babysitters.  He usually calms after 5 or 10 minutes though.  But, if I leave him somewhere other than home he is a wreck.  I get comments like "Well, he didn't cry the whole time."  Or "I never realized how many songs and books have the word mom in them.  He would cry for mama every time he heard the word mom."  Needless to say, I was worried about how he would react to nursery.  I went in with him to nursery a couple weeks ago during the Sunday school hour, you know, trying to slowly acclimate him. And then this morning before church I kept telling him how great it was that he was a big boy and got to go to nursery and play.  He remembered a ball he played with and seemed fine with that idea.  But as we progressed in talking about how we would leave him there he was getting nervous.  And then finally, as I was putting his shoes on, he started to tear up and say "no" when I would ask him if he was excited for nursery.  Poor thing.

Jacob thought it might go better if he dropped him off.  We went with that plan.  Jacob said when he tried to set Ben down on the ground Ben was lifting his legs off the ground and wrapping them around Jacob's legs.  He did not want to be dropped off.  He was crying for mama.  All the while I was sitting in Relief Society almost so anxious I couldn't concentrate.  I wanted to check on him but knew if he saw me all would be over. So, after RS I had a friend open the door to peak in.  She said he was doing great.  I focused a little better in Sunday school after that.

When we went to pick him up the nursery leaders said he did pretty well.  I think the comment was "I didn't have to hold him the whole time."

Hopefully he adjusts quickly.  Cute little bugger.  I did take some photos of him before church that I'll upload and add to this blog later.  Maybe even this week if you're lucky!

The second big milestone in our family was having Isaac sing with the primary in Sacrament meeting for the very first time.  It was adorable.  Isaac continues to be a bit of a handful in Sacrament meeting.  I kept reminding him that if he continued to be so noisy that we had to go to the lobby he would miss singing.  I kept saying after Sister Joyal was done it would be his turn to sing.  So when Sister Joyal finished her talk Isaac said in his not so quite voice "It's time to sing!"  He marched up right behind the Van Shaar kiddos and found a spot right at the front.  They were singing a medley of songs and I think he only really knew the "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home" song.  He sang that one loud and clear.  I could hear him for sure.  He was also really funny before the songs started and he was waving at us and saying "hi."  Again, in his not so quite voice.  Bless his heart.

I love these boys!  Loud, and clingy and all.

Our Finished Swingset - Or At Least Mostly Finished

Remember how we were working on getting this swing set ready for our boys to play safely.  Well, that day arrived.  On one of the really warm days I did the second coat of stain during Ben's nap.  It went on fast and dried even faster.

So that night Jacob and I put it together.  We started after Jacob was done with scouts and it got dark on us pretty quickly.  I was anxious to get it together.  It worked out in the end.  We may have gotten a few mosquito bites...but the next day watching the boys enjoy it was totally worth it.  They were so excited!  Isaac couldn't stop smiling.

I think we've decided to add a couple more support beams on the main structure with the slide.  It's still a little shaky.  I think the area around the bolts just can't support it any more.  I've tightened the bolts but it seems that they don't stay tightened.  A few more boards should sure it up though.  We'll deal with it after our trip to Oregon.  For now I feel it's safe enough for the boys.

And they sure have been enjoying it.  I've also been enjoying it.  It's nice to send Isaac out back and have him play right where I can see him.  He's also not moving rocks from where they should be and that is also appreciated.  We hope to get lots of use out of it.

Flooding and Food

We've had a pretty warm spring and also quite a bit of rain.  These two things combined have caused the river that runs through town to max out and overflow it's banks.  Parts of the city have been on flood watch.  I don't think it's ever gotten as high this spring as it did last fall when we tried to drive home from Colorado Springs...remember that awesome weekend trip?  I do.  But it certainly has gotten high and fast.  There have been several deaths of people getting caught in the river.  Sad.  

Jacob happens to work in a building right off the bike trail that follows the river.  Good chunks of that bike trail have been covered in water.  So have good chunks of the landscaping around Jacob's office.  

This path you can see right behind me is usually where people can walk from Jacob's work (we are standing right near the building looking towards his office) to the bike path.  You can see that the make-shift bridge that usually crosses that little stream/ditch is gone.  It floated away in the flooding river water.  That spot of water right behind us is usually just a ditch.  Sometimes it has a little water, but certainly the amount in the picture is not normal.

Isaac loves going to daddy's work and really liked going the couple of times we did to see the rising river.  Ben is also a fan.

These pictures are just slightly East and West of the previous picture, further down river.  The actual river would normally be behind those far trees.  

And here's a spot where the bike path is flooded out.  That is the overpass for one of the main roads behind the boys.  

Ben would have ran right into the water if we didn't stop him.  Isaac, on the other hand, has heard the stories of the dangerous river and is super hesitant to get near the water at all.  Good for him.  He was finally convinced that touching his feet into the edge of the overflowing river on the bike path would be okay.  But only holding very closely to dad's leg.

In other news, Ben likes to do what he sees his dad and Isaac do.  Jacob was gifted a sawsall for Christmas and has been using it to chop up all kinds of things.  Ben will make the noise of the sawsall while playing with his toy saw or when moving his own hand back and forth like a saw.  It's pretty adorable.

He also likes to help "cut, cut" at dinner time.  He and Isaac both get out the little cutting boards and help chop up veggies and what not.  Mostly they just like to cut and then eat their hard work.  Fine by me.  Makes getting dinner ready a lot easier when they aren't begging for food or pulling at my legs.

And they look cute doing it too.