Basketball! Lots of stories...

I feel that I should preface these stories with: John is 20 months old

If you know my son- you know that he REALLY likes basketball! He has since he was 8 months old and we would go cheer on Brett as he played with some friends once a week. Well, I received a box of hand-me-down clothes to go through and there was a shirt that said Mr. Big Shot and has a big picture of a basketball going through a hoop on the front. John just about lost it when I went to put it in the "too small" pile. He insisted on holding it and carrying it around- all day. When Brett got home from work he put it on John- it was ridiculously small on him but neither of us had the heart to take it off him, he was spinning and jumping around the room saying "basketball shirt" "Basketball!"

He pulled it out of his laundry basket this morning and managed to get it over his head and one arm through all by himself, so he is wearing the too small basketball shirt again today. Over the shirt I already put on him this morning. I know that at some point it is going to need to "disappear," but he just feels like a million bucks in his basketball shirt!"

John is developing a sense of humor similar to his Dads. What do you expect from a boy born on april fools day?!? I was sitting across from John at dinner a few nights ago, he ran out of milk and very politely asked for more, so I reached across the table to get his cup from him, but my pregnant belly got in the way. So I stood up and reached for it and John (with a giant smirk on his face) deliberately held it just out of my reach and kept moving it further away as I got closer so it was always just beyond my reach. I gave up and sat down, John and Brett had a really good laugh at that!

John is starting to realize that a baby is coming! He understands the difference between his room and "the baby's room". I ask him, "where is your baby brother?" and he puts his hands on my stomach or points.

The other day John put both hands on my stomach, look me in the eye, and said "basketball, mommy". Oh boy… (10 more weeks…)

Bretts car is out of service, possibly forever, and is in our garage right now with the hood up so Brett can get it put back together and take it to a shop or somewhere… that's a whole different issue, but every time John sees it he says "I broke it!" Haha- not sure where he picked that up!

One more story-- In November I took John to the voting booths with me. I had him in his stroller, for obvious reasons, and when I was half way through filling out my ballot he turned around in his stroller and yelled "Mommy, I'm stuck!" I said, "I know, thats why I put you in the stroller!" and the old man in the voting booth next to laughed really really hard. Sorry to disrupt the peaceful voting atmosphere! He was sure a hit with all the volunteers.

And some pictures…

Santa is coming!

I have too many stories to share so I will separate the regular stories from the christmas ones…

Today John picked up an old cell phone, he usually pretends he is talking to Brett but today:

Me: Who are you talking to?
John: Santa!
Me: Oh yeah? (big smile!) What did he say?
John: Ho! Ho! Ho!

We took John to see santa at the museum of Idaho. They have lots of displays including nativities from around the world, antique santa clauses, and gingerbread houses. They also had a display of the Grinch going down a chimney and John pointed excitedly at him and said "Froggy!" (He also called me a Froggy on sunday because I was wearing a green shirt)

When it came time for John to sit on Santa's lap he was ok sitting there, but he would not look at Santa, no matter what he tried! Poor guy, but he did give him knuckles before taking a candy cane, so thats something.

Brett's Iphone

I was borrowing Brett's phone the other day because mine ran out of battery and I decided to look through the pictures and I discovered a couple of things:

1. Brett doesn't take very many pictures

2. Brett hasn't uploaded any pictures since he got his iPhone

3. Brett has been hiding some great pictures!

Here are some of the gems I found:

4th of July race I almost didn't finish because of morning sickness

adventures at the pumpkin patch

You'd have to ask Brett to explain this one!

The first peach I have ever peeled

John staring down a chicken

My trouble maker!

John is always doing cute and sometime naughty things, and I always intend to write and share about them and it doesn't happen! Except for my absolute favorites that I write in his baby book. (Like when Brett showed John his belly button and John said in a voice filled with horror "What's that!?!" I guess John had never seen a hairy tummy before…)

Today in church I am pretty sure John didn't hold still for more than a second. There was a little boy sitting 2 rows behind us and anything that little boy said John had to repeat… only much louder! I am pretty sure he was competing with the speaker. That just happened to be the bishop today. Oh well! We  got a lot of sympathetic glances :)

Later in Relief Society I glanced back to see the new sister that was introducing herself and when I looked back John was gone. He had run all the way across the room, grabbed my visiting teachers hand, an older lady, and was trying to drag her to the door with him. ("Come on, lets get out of here while she's not looking!") Little stinker!

I am sure you have heard the phrase "in a new york minute" well, with a toddler it is a new york second! John has made some pretty big messes lately and it happens faster than I can even catch! I will get some pics off my phone to share the preciousness! (Maybe he would make less messes if I did more than just laugh and take a picture…)

This is soup that he pulled out of the garbage can- notice it is all over the kitchen and floors too.

Eating mud

Flour- everywhere! It only takes a second!

Johns favorite book right now is "The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear" We average reading it about 6 times a day, which I do not mind at all! One of the lines in the book is "Oh, I see!" and so John says this at random times, as well as "Boom, Boom, Boom!" Its really cute because he says them the same way I do when I am reading the book. 

He does and says a lot of other cute things but my allotted blog time is coming to an end and I want to make sure I get lots of pictures into the post!

Cousins

Who new a book store could be so fun!

At the ogden temple open house

Trying to break down the gate with a friend

At the park!

Big smiles and a Belly What?!?

John is 16 months old now and is such a cute little handful!! (Some may not agree with the "little" part but he seems small to me!)

He can tell you where his eyes, nose, mouth, hair, and ears are. As well as his "bewy butt" (Belly button) Ears are his favorite right now. He will randomly grab our ears when we are lying on the couch and loudly say "ear"!

Every morning me and John have this conversation.

John: Fake dramatic sneeze
Me: Bless you
John: tank too
Me: Your welcome

Then I am expected to fake sneeze so he can say 'Bwess oo' and 'elcome'.

This morning right after breakfast I was chatting with Brett and John brought me his shoes, I put them on him and then he brought me my flip flops. I put them on and then continued chatting with Brett. John then brought me another pair of my shoes… hmmm, I guess he really wanted to go outside! Which we did.

Love this picture!

New House, New adventure!

This month our family took a big step and moved into our first home! It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, with an unfinished basement on a half acre plot. It has a "country feel" for Brett while still being "city" enough for me! We really couldn't have found a better match!

We felt so blessed to have so many friends and family come to help us move. I can't imagine how it could have gone any smoother! (It also helped that John slept through both moving out of the apartment and into the home)

We love our home, neighborhood, and ward. Everyone has been very kind!

John is learning so much! He loves having more room inside an out, and is always pointing to the back door saying "out". He has lots of new words- "one, two, THREE" being one of his current favorites as well as "please" "thank you" "dog" "cracker" "fishie" "baby" etc. He also likes to point at things and say "that?". He is also filling in a lot more words into his favorite songs like, old macdonald, the itsy bitsy spider, and do as I'm doing. His favorite book is one that counts ladybugs backwards, and his favorite toy lately is a green frog stuffed animal.

Really trying to get the fish at the library!

Hmm… helping with dishes?

Congratulation to my cousin David and his family! He left a few days ago to serve a mission in Italy! He will be a great missionary and greatly missed by his family! He can expect letters from the Binghams!

Sheree Bingham

Starting off summer right...

Our family has had a lot of fun these last few days!

Friday- Bear World! We are lucky to  live about 30 minutes from bear world! Brett and I went about 2 years ago, but it was a lot more fun with John! John has always loved animals. He sat in my lap as we drove around looking at all the animals! He growled at all the bears and moo'd at the buffalos :) At the end of the bear "tour" (you drive around yourselves) they have a petting zoo with the friendliest animals I have ever met! There were deer, goats, ducks, geese, chickens, and peacocks. John got a lot of attention from a deer that came right up and licked him all over! He laughed and laughed, he didn't even mind when it started nibbling on his clothes! He also walked right up to a goat and started poking it, don't worry he was closely supervised, and the goat just looked at him and then ignored him. We will definitely be going there again! And to think I have still not taken him to the zoo…

That evening we were invited to dinner by one of Brett's friends from high school, now we are all friends. And her husbands name is doug-- the only doug I have met other than my little brother (just a random fact-mostly throwing that in for my mom). They introduced us to malaleuca. We are trying to a lot of their products and so far have liked them!

Saturday I ran my first 5k! And it will certainly not be my last! I really enjoy it. It was one of those races where they throw color on you as you run-- don't think I will do that kind again, but it was nice for the experience, especially since I used to work for a company that organized those kinds of 5ks. Brett and John came to cheer me on- I love those two!

On sunday we were Reunited with our sunbeam class- it was stake conference last week. We also got to experience 3 hours of church with a walking baby for the first time- what a game changer!

We celebrated memorial day with my little brother that attends BYUI. He came down for hamburgers and a great game of monopoly. Which I would just like to say I won. My winning ratio in monopoly is about 12 loses to every win- no joke. Not because I am bad with money- just because I go to jail a lot, and always land on the really expensive properties, and get bad chance cards.

Recent good times...

One of Johns favorite things to do is take all the dish towels and throw them in the trash can. It is too irresistible and he can do it in like 5 seconds! He loves getting into drawers, this last week his new favorite is taking the pans out from the drawer under the oven, throwing them on the ground, and laughing hysterically at the horrible loud crashing noise they make. 

I said, "Smile at the camera!" John got it- Brett did not. He is still handsome! John is starting to say a lot more words and is getting good at copying what we say. His favorite word (other than banana) is "Hi". He says it to EVERYONE: Grocery store people, other little kids, bankers, homeless guys… doesn't matter to him :) His other new words are keys, cheese, milk, and shoes. He also makes puppy, dinosaur, cow, and monkey noises.

This year my birthday aligned with my sister in laws graduation! So we celebrated in Honeyville. Brett took me to a nice restaurant then we went did go karts, mini golf, and bating cages! It was a lot of fun!

John loves animals! So visits to the farm are extra exciting for him. The other day we went into a home and they had a deer head mounted on the wall. John pointed and laughed. Brett took him over close to it and he hesitantly stuck his hand out to pet it! The poor kid thought it was a live animal… I'm not telling him!

Have you ever played Aggravation? Brett's a pro! But in the end we lost to the competitors on our left. We may have to invest in this game- it was a lot of fun!

And I just really liked this picture. John makes this face anytime he wants to sit in my lap and I take too long picking him up! 

I took John with me to a party last night and I was surprised when he stood up and walked half way across the room all by himself. Before that he has only ever walked between people! As the night went on and he became more tired we had to take off because he started hitting, and throwing a tennis ball at (NOT to) a little boy on the floor. (Can't believe I let him do it twice! Bad mom moment…) It was fun socializing regardless!

Sheree Bingham

New Job!

Brett has been hired on at Idaho National Laboratories in their Accounting department. He writes checks and deals with deposits, and a lot of other things. (It is a 42% increase from what we are currently making) Woohoo!

He will work in town,
not out at the site -- for local information :)

About INL

In operation since 1949, INL is a science-based, applied engineering national laboratory dedicated to supporting the U.S. Department of Energy's missions in nuclear and energy research, science, and national defense.

See more at INL.gov

We are very excited. He starts May 5th but is already beginning to take over the responsibilities of the position-- the plus side of being an intern!

We have been very blessed and are happy to be sticking around Idaho Falls!

Easter Week

I am now realizing that the longer I blog the more uncreative my blog titles get!

This week was busy and a lot of fun! My youngest brother Doug came to stay with us for a few days! It was really hard getting him here because of flights and missed buses, but he finally made it! It was nice hanging out with him. John loved having another person around to play ball with and make him laugh!

Doug, John, and I went and toured BYUI while Brett was at work on Thursday. Our tour guide did an awesome job. It was like memory lane-- I can't believe it has been over 2 years since I graduated and one year since Brett has graduated. Time sure goes by fast. I think Doug was impressed by the atmosphere and everything. It will be nice to have him close for a semester before he leaves on a mission!

This weekend my family came and brought Craig, my other little but not youngest brother, back to school. He is in his junior year I believe and loves Rexburg! This is definitely the best semester to be there… We went bowling and ate at the famous Pizza Pie CAfe (formerly Craigos).

My family stayed until monday morning and took Doug home with them. It was nice having family visit us for easter! We decorated easter eggs Saturday night and had a nice dinner on Sunday. Everyone liked it but John-- he wanted nothing to do with my roast or scalloped potatoes, oh well!


John is learning and growing so fast! He has become quiet the little rebel. He will do something he knows he is not supposed to and then look and me, shake his head, and say  'no, no, no!' and then go back to doing what he was doing. (This usually happens when he is hitting the TV or getting into the trash can).

He has also become very good at climbing-- he doesn't walk yet but that doesn't stop him from getting on couches and chairs! He just pushes over his toy fire engine, and uses it as a step to get onto whatever he wants!

John is very good at telling me when he wants to take a nap or go to bed, He will crawl over to me, look up with a sad face and say "nigh nigh". If it is bed time he says "nigh nigh dada" which is part of the bedtime routine.

3 year Anniversary!

Brett and I have been married for three years and 6 days! We celebrated by going to Olive garden on our anniversary (John loved it too!) Then on Saturday we got a babysitter and went to the movies.

3 Things I have loved about being married to Brett
1. He loves me
2. He protects me
3. He leads our family with the strength of the priesthood. (If that did not make sense you can read more here - https://www.lds.org/topics/priesthood?lang=eng)

I believe that every year is worth celebrating!

Discouraging moments

1. Yesterday as we were walking through the parking lot to a store an old lady yelled at me for not having socks on my child.

2. Today I got to experience my first in store tantrum. John saw a banana and screamed (like a gut wrenching, inconsolable, world is ending scream) until he got one- which was about an hour later when we were finally home.

Response to story #1-- John had a rash on his feet from crawling. They were slightly swollen and hot- I was not going to put socks on him! Not that it was that ladies business anyway…

Story #2--  I feel strong. I handled it and wasn't really even embarrassed. Bring on the toddler years!

Here is the cute kid!

Here is John with his little friend! They are adorable!

Happy Birthday John!

Yesterday was Johns first birthday! We had a small party on Saturday for him- thank you for those that came and celebrated! We had so many leftovers! (Thanks to those that took cupcakes off our hands.) We have enough homemade tortillas and taco meat in the freezer for at least 5 more meals! (and that's after having it for three days after the party!)

Sorry-apparently the clubhouse is horrible for picture taking!

One of the dinosaur cakes

Yesterday we did cake and presents from us and his gram and grandpa! He sure loves eating wrapping paper!

It is crazy to think a year ago I went through this ! 

Sheree