Brig's bed adjustments

Last Tuesday Brigham surprised us with another one of his "firsts". I had put him in his bed for his morning nap and called my sister back when suddenly I realized that I was hearing something that I wasn't prepared for. Brigham was knocking on his bedroom door. Hmmm??? I went to investigate and found Brig standing at his door. This was his first - of now many - successful attempts at getting out of his crib.

After monitoring him and seeing that he could fairly safely manuveure his way out of the crib I decided it was time for documentation.

So... here he goes...

Up and over....

and safely back down the other side! Ta-Da!

Needless to say, this last six days has been full of lots of in-n-out of bed, lots of "stay in your bed", and lots of sleeplessness for both Brig and Mom/Dad.

Our little guy's much too smart for Mom and Dad. We've tried just about everything to keep Brigham in his bed - we even turned the crib around so that it'd be harder to get out of with the higher back in his way (not successful on our part).

This morning Brigham climbed out again in front of Mommy, so with approval from Dad we began transforming his room from Baby room to Toddler room.

Luckily, Brig's crib can be easily turned into a toddler bed. Brigham seemed pretty amused to watch me partially unassemble his bed, wipe everything down, make his bed with different bedding, and hang up his new (non-baby) quilt that Nanny made for him.

Here's the new "big boy" bed...
and Brigham showing off his new quilt!

Thanks mom for the quilt and blanket on his bed. Now he's got "big boy" colors in there too! :)

Brig was really excited about it all until I put him down for his morning nap later this morning. Hopefully he'll want to stay in his bed sometime in the near future.

Wish us luck!

Christmas Sugar Cookies!

In our attempt to continue the "sugar cookie" making tradition this year we decided to invite over our friends and their kids last Thursday night. (More kids = more cookie making fun!)

It was awesome to have Josh & Elizabeth and their four kids over to join us. The kids had a great time rolling out the dough, using cookie cutters, & frosting the cookies once they'd been baked.

Brigham and Gracie also really enjoyed eating the dough and frosting. (Honestly, I'm surprised that Brigham wasn't sick in the night from all the sweets he consumed in such a short period of time.)

The evening was a success and tons of fun!

Omniture's Natal Carnavalesco 2008

December 13th was Omniture's annual Christmas party. It followed a Brazilian theme and was a great night of socializing with Jared's co-workers.

They held the event at the Grand America hotel in Salt Lake. It was a lot of fun to go out on the town all dressed up with Jared by my side.

Thanks Omniture for the great time!

:)

We hope you all had a very

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Brig loved the family party, visit to Dad's work & Mom's old office, and Trick-or-Treating through the neighborhood. He looked absolutely PERFECT - Isn't he the cutest!

Happy Halloween!

Sweet Reminder!

So, yesterday morning when I headed into the bathroom I found a little surprise....

These little shoes don't normally belong on the bathroom floor and you can probably guess who left them there. I wish it wasn't true, but my normal reaction to seeing something like this out of place might be to sigh and feel slightly overwhelmed that there's yet one more thing to pick up and put back in it's place. Luckily, it was morning and I wasn't overwhelmed yet and instead was flooded by feelings of gratitude. Brigham had left me a sweet reminder of the blessing that he is in my life. I am so grateful to be blessed to have a little person roaming around my home and here to enrich my life!

Quarterly Update!

I have to compliment all of my friends who are so awesome at blogging and posting on a regular basis. You guys are amazing! As for me... I seem to be on a quarterly update for the time being. Sorry!

Since I have three months to report on I'm going to be pretty vague - so here goes...

We have had an awesome summer this year! It included multiple camping trips complete with rock climbing, Manti Pageant, boating, and hiking.

I love the looks on both of their faces in this picture when we were hiking a slot canyon in August!

Brigham started walking at the end of June and now runs throughout our home and pretty much anywhere else that I put him down. He loves being a big boy and is very independent.

Jared traveled to London again for work this summer. This led to lots of Brig and Mommy time together including our first Mommy-Son date. I have to say that we got a few funny looks while we were out to dinner just the two of us, but it was still lots of fun. Plus, we had a great time playing at the park afterwards.

Of course, boating is always on the top of my summer fun list. We had so much fun out on the water this summer. Brigham even got used to wearing his life jacket and wouldn't cry when we put it on him. Jared learned to wakeboard this year! I'm excited for him to have something new to get excited about when we are out on the boat. Good job, Honey!

We also had a great week enjoying Thanksgiving Point - thanks to Omniture's company party! It was fun to take Brigham around to see the gardens, dinosaur museum, and farm country.

Our summer has also been filled with redecorating our upstairs family room. It's been quite the adventure since neither of us are good decision makers. Luckily, we have finally been able to figure out what style really appeals to us and get it all set up.

Brigham has had many firsts this summer: walking, running, new teeth, popcicle eating, camping/sleeping outside, using a spoon, etc.

He's also gotten incredibly good at getting into things. He knows how to climb up and onto the table to my chagrin and is proficient at pulling the vent covers out and hauling them around the house. He pretty much just loves everything that's not a child's toy. :)

Well, I think that about sums it all up for the time being. We love you all!

Brig's Birthday!

Brig's 1st birthday was lots of fun....

We woke Brigham up early and gave him waffles for breakfast. He loves eating waffles - funny boy! Around noon we took him in for his 1 year pictures. He was so good and smiled almost every time they tried to take a shot. (This time was so much easier than the past times we've taken him for professional pictures. What a relief!)

Brigham had his birthday party in the afternoon. Some of his cousins came over for the party - thanks to all of you who came. We loved seeing you! Brigham got spoiled with TONS of presents – much more than he needs, we're sure. I guess he’s all stocked up for the coming year. We had cake and ice cream after we gave Brig a chance to enjoy his cake. (A 1-year old tradition.) Brigham loved his Cookie Monster cake and seemed to enjoy how tasty it was.

Brigham loved seeing his cousins, aunts & uncles, and grandparents. It really turned out to be a wonderful day.

Last Hoorah and coming home!

Well, we've been home for over a week now and things have been crazy busy, so sorry for the delay in the Japan adventure log.

Jared was able to take a day off before we had to head home, so we decided to use it to take in a little bit more around Tokyo. (We wish we could have had more time to go and see some of the surrounding areas. Maybe next time, right?)

So... Thursday (April 17th) was a great day with Daddy! Our first stop was at the Fish Market. We were a little late getting there so we didn't see a lot of the craziness of business there, but it's probably a good thing since we had Brigham in tow. It was really fascinating to see all the kinds of fish they had: large, small, dead, alive, and oh so SMELLY!

After the fish market we decided to try to visit a traditional Japanese garden style park. The park we picked from our internet searches to visit was called Kiyosumi Teien. It was very pretty and I was glad that Jared got to see it. Plus it provided a nice and relaxing piece to our day. Brigham was such a good sport and really enjoyed looking at the ducks, fish, and park benches. Hmmm - Funny kid!
I know that this picture of Jared and Brig is pretty far away, but isn't the scenery awesome!

After our time at the park we headed to Akihabara, which is known for its electronics. I have to say that we weren't overly impressed. Maybe it's because we weren't looking for anything specifically - I don't know. The good part though was that we found a great Tepanyaki place there for lunch! (Sorry no pics of that one!)

The touring part of the day ended after lunch time (which was more like 2 or 3 pm). It had started to pour outside and we were all a little tired. It was nice though to relax a little that afternoon and stroll around Ebisu one last time that evening.

Our flights home the next day were really pretty good. Brigham did well again and was a hit with the flight attendants.

We're glad to be back and settled into this time zone again. We loved our time in Japan, but it's nice and comfortable back in our home. Plus it's so fun to see our yard start to blossom and be here and excited for another summer!

Last weekend!

Last Saturday took us to a town called Kamakura. The train ride wasn't too long and it made for a fun day out and about seeing sites, tasting yummy foods, and just "experiencing" a little bit more of what Japan has to offer.

Our first stop was to visit the Great Buddha on the Kotokuin temple grounds. The statue is the second largest in Japan and was cast in 1252 - Wow that's a long time ago! It was really neat to see such a huge statue. Brigham just stared at it for the longest time.
After our first stop, one of Jared's co-workers, Yoigi, met up with us for lunch. We had a delicious tepanaki meal of a special Japanese beef. I think Jared would say that it was one of the very best meals here so far.

After lunch Yoigi took us to the Tsurugaoka hachimangu shrine. Our favorite part was having the chance to watch part of a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony. How cool?
Yoigi explained about how people pray and even told us about the fortunes that some people get and what they do with them. We each got a fortune - mine was for "excellent luck" and Brigham and Jared both got ones for "good luck." ;)

After spending time with Yoigi, he headed home and pointed us in the direction of north Kamakura (Kita Kamakura). We enjoyed the walk and headed to take a look at another temple there. We visited the Engakuji temple right by the train station. The grounds were really large and the temples were really cool to look at. Brigham was especially happy here - he had had a bottle and a nap and was feeling great!One of his favorite parts was watching the fish in the pond. What a cutie!
Our day ended with a train ride back to the Kamakura station and a walk down to the beach. It was Brigham's first time to see the ocean. He loved the sand in between his toes and the water running over his feet. He had so much fun!
We really feel so blessed to be able to see and do so many things! We've enjoyed Japan so much more than we could have expected to. Our time here has been great!

Sakura on Saturday!

Well, we can't believe that we've been here already for an entire week. We've been told that we came at the best time of year and easily believe it because of all the beauty around.
We had to stop in the Yebiso Garden Place to take a photo as we headed out on Saturday morning. We walk through this plaza every day. They keep it so nice and clean and the trees and flowers are beautiful! (Jared's not bad too, if I do say so myself!)

We jumped on the train and headed up to Shibuya where we transfered onto the subway to head over to the north-east side of town. Our first stop was in Ueno to take a stroll through Ueno park which we've been told is famous for it's Cherry Blossom (Sakura) trees. It really was quite the site to see. People were everywhere and the trees were in full bloom. We really are lucky to have come right at the peak bloom season!

Doesn't Brigham look so happy here? He is such a good sport and does really well site-seeing. He's also the star of every show. You wouldn't believe how many people stop to gawk at him and try to make him smile. (Which you all know isn't very hard to do.) The people love him here!
Jared and Brigham were actually smiling at on of the Japanese ladies when I took this picture. See - I told you they love Brig! Can you believe that tree in the background?

After Ueno park we headed on to Asakusa. We've been told this is the largest temple in Tokyo. There was shopping all around it; Good food - at least the stuff we tried; and TONS of people! We really enjoyed wandering around and visiting the site. By the time we were ready to leave we still had a few hours of daylight left so we stopped by the Imperial Palace grounds to take another stroll. The scenery really is amazing. We loved this view with the wild flowers, Sakura tree, and palace moat.
Saturday really was a great day!

Japan!

We're in JAPAN!!! How did that happen?

Well, about 2 weeks ago Jared was offered the opportunity to come to Japan to do some training. We jumped on the opportunity knowing that it would only be for a few weeks and may not come up again. So...after crazy packing and last minute preparations we boarded a flight on Thursday around 11 am to head on over. We had a short layover in San Francisco and then continued on to Tokyo. The flights, layovers, and commute to our apartment afterward came in around a 20 hour adventure. Lucikly Brigham did amazingly well through it all.

On the flight he even sat still to watch Baby Einstein, complete with headset and all!

It was so wonderful to finally make it to our new apartment Friday night. Jared's co-worker, Ikue, helped get us in and showed us all around and had even stocked our fridge with milk, juice, and muffins for breakfast in the morning. She showed what we're finding to be the epitome of Japanese hospitality. They are all so incredibly kind and willing to go out of their way to help. We'd also been warned before about how much Brigham would be fussed over. That is already becoming very apparent. Even Ikue offered to stay and play with Brigham while we unpacked that first night. Unfortunately we were so tired that we declined her offer and decided to turn in for the night instead.

:)

Yesterday was our first full day in Japan. We decided that our goals for the day were to find the international grocery store for some shopping and to get a look around and some experience on their train system. Well, after many, many hours we can finally say that we accomplished all three. Unfortunately, it really shouldn't have taken that long.

We were told that we could "walk" to the area where the store was through the "subway." After a few hours we finally realized that their "subway" is different than England's "subway" and that you really couldn't walk through the subway. Luckily, by the time we were getting tired, we got on the Japanese subway (which is an underground metro) and made it to the part of town we had been directed to for shopping. As we continued to wander through this part of town the most amazing thing happened...We walked around the corner and saw the Angel Moroni in the distance! Aaah, suddenly everything became so much better. We wandered through a park on the way to see the temple. It was a truly magnificent site and really smoothed our whole day over.

Notice the beautiful Cherry Blossoms! What a site to behold!

After the temple we felt so much better and headed on our way to the international grocery store to pick up the food we needed. Can you say expensive?! We thought England was bad...

Here is the food we bought for a grand total of 95 big ones! Can you believe it?

We took a taxi back to the apartment because Brigham was getting tired. He was asleep before we could even get in the taxi. The best part is that he didn't even get grumpy. He just snuggled in and fell asleep. What an angel!

For those of you who are interested in what our apartment looks like we've included this slideshow. Enjoy!

Also, take a look at this piece of porcelain in our apartment. We aren't exactly sure what all of the buttons do yet.

Well, that's about all for now. Hope you enjoyed the craziness of our life as much as we are.

Love you all!

Nine Months and feeling great!

Well, all I can say is that it has been a very eventful 3 months in Brigham's life. He's learned so much and become so incredibly mobile. He continues to be one of the most content kids around and we love it!

Brigham started eating baby food the last week of December. Let's just say that he didn't like the green beans very much.

Eating time was a fight for a couple of weeks until he finally realized that it wasn't that bad afterall. Now he loves eating again and gobbles down almost anything we give him (especially if it's table food). :)

Brigham also finally mastered sitting on his own around his seven month mark. Yeah!

We went with our friends the Hubbards down to their cabin outside of Zions at the end of January. Brigham loved following around and watching their little boy Calvin. They were instant friends and got along so well all weekend long. Thanks so much, Eric & Tiff! We had a great time with you guys and loved seeing your cabin! Brigham started army crawling that weekend at the cabin and has quickly progressed to hands and knees crawling. He loves moving around and is very proficient at getting pretty much wherever he wants.A couple of weeks ago we stopped to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Rose. Brigham loved seeing them and playing with their toys. Visiting with them was wonderful! We really should be better at doing it more often.Grandpa did "Doodely-Doo" with Brigham for the first time while we were there with them. He loved it and I got the sweetest picture of it. That brings back GREAT memories. I even remember when Grandpa did it with me when I was little. We love you, Grandma and Grandpa!

Brigham sure is fun to watch. He now knows how to pull himself up to standing and can open drawers and some cabinets. (Now a lot of these belong to him and his things - or at least things that he can safely play with.)

He really is getting into EVERYTHING! Soda anyone?
One of Brigham's favorite drawers!We love you all! Thanks for being so patient with our blog and the lack of posts.