One Week Left!

Only one week left, let me know if you'd like a gift card for your husband, father, boss, friend, or brother. J. Hilburn Gift Cards are the best gift because they can style their shirt or trouser however they'd like! Let me know if you'd like to order anything and you can get $20 off your order (gift cards excluded) if you order by 12/31/09, go to http://www.jhilburn.com and enter in coupon code "AngelBrockbank20". Thanks!

I decided since everything went digital this year my card would be as well. That and the fact that I just don't have time nor do I want to get paper cuts all over from addressing, licking, and stamping envelopes. So here is our Christmas card this year, hope you enjoy it!

Pictures from School

So this year we had choices of poses and colors of backgrounds. I chose purple for each the same pose. I spent all this time doing their hair and picking out a shirt that fit their personality well. I did Abbie's hair all cute with these new bows that my sister made for her and then I get the picture back and she had taken them out of her hair and put the bows right behind her ears and they did a green background instead of purple. SO... thank goodness for retakes. Well, I wrote on the package that I want PURPLE, not GREEN, and low and behold, its still green... UGGGGHHHH. PLUS her smile is all fake, it looks like she doesn't have any teeth! That girl, my goodness. At least her hair looks cute, right?

Halloween Party/Costumes

Abbie decided to be little Mermaid but then changed her mind the day of our Halloween Party and decided she wanted to be snow white. So glad I spent $35.00 on her costume with Disney.com. Victoria was a Genie... and I decided I should dress up too since I was in charge of our Church's Halloween Party this year, so I dressed up as a Genie too! I wore my Dance Team Uniform from High School. Good thing it still fit :) Brad put on his Brazilian Jiu Jitzu costume and a wig. Its really the only day of the year he can wear that wig without being made fun of. So I just realized that we didn't get pictures of the girls for Halloween. Can you believe that? They were having so much fun that when I had the camera out they weren't around and I was so busy with the party. Geesh, I guess I'm not a good blogger. Well, at least Brad and I look good.

Hooray its Christmas Again!

So my Christmas Season starts on November 1st. I know there are some Naysayers out there that claim it doesn't start until the day after Thanksgiving but to them I say "Nay." With all the time it takes to decorate for Christmas, and the good feeling that it gives you when you see those decorations up, why not get the most out of it? So my blog is officially "wintery" today. However, I will say we all took a walk outside today with short sleeves and shorts on because its in the 70s and sunny here in Dallas. Yep, its wonderful. I'm feeling grateful today for being here in Dallas. Grateful for my wonderful family, both my close immediate family as well as my extended family. And I'm grateful for all of my friends too. I read the words to "Count your many blessings" today in Relief Society, that is such a great hymn. If you have the time, go take a look at it, it really helped me as I'm feeling overwhelmed with work and home and the holidays and just life. I've got so much to be grateful for. During testimony meeting the counselor's wife bore her testimony and said, and I quote... "God Rocks"... that's Texas for you. But he does.

-angel

First Tooth

Victoria lost her first tooth last night. It took at least an hour for her to get up the courage to count to three. More videos coming soon. She had some great one-liners though, here's one of them...

Coodie Bugs

Well, about a year ago a little Kindergarten Boy kissed Tori on the lips. She was of course horrified... (and probably a little delighted)... this was around October when the weather was changing. She had some dry skin and was itching like crazy. She told me that a boy kissed her on the lips when she came home from school and I informed her that she shouldn't let boys do that. I told Brad later that day when he was on his way home from work. Tori was itching her dry skin at dinner time and complaining about it and asked why she was so itchy. Brad, as quick thinking as he is, said, "Oh No, do you have the Coodie Bugs?" She looked at him confused and said "What's the Coodie Bugs?" And he replied, "Did a boy kiss you?" Her eyes got big and surprised that he would know that since he just got home. She sheepishly said, "yes." And Brad said, "UH OH, when a boy kisses you, you get the coodie bugs, and it makes you itch!" She was determined to never kiss a boy again...

Continuation of story...

Abbie informed Tori that a boy kissed her on the lips about 3 weeks ago and this is how it went:

Abbie: "A boy kissed me."
Tori: "What? Where?"
Abbie: "On the lips."
Tori: "Oh no, you must have the coodie bugs, are you itchy?"
Abbie: "No."
Tori: "Oh, you just wait, you'll be itching soon. That's bad Abbie, you can't let boys kiss you on the lips because you'll get coodie bugs."


So apparently Coodie Bugs are just as real as... Santa Claus... and the Tooth Fairy ;)

Abbie's Growing Up

I was watching Wizards of Waverly Place the other day with the girls and realized that Abbie has a lot of resemblence to Alex. So I took pictures of Abbie today to post... But as I took these pictures and looked at them, I realized, wow, she really is growing up, and then I was trying to figure out who she looks like, and maybe she looks more like my sister, Andi? What do you guys think? She's definitely getting bigger. (First two pictures are Alex from Wizards of Waverly Place, Last two pictures are of Andi and I growing up, probably close to the same age?)

Lizzy

Well, here's a little update on the Lizard now, since so many have been asking... "Do you still have the Lizard?" The answer is of course, Yes. I'll be honest, I've named her, so now I'm growing a little attached. As much as I play that this thing is horrible and yucky... I'll admit I do find a fascination with this lizard, its beautiful colors, and the way that it snaps crickets in half leaving their antennas hanging out its mouth. Don't get me wrong, I think its disgusting, but... its still fascinating. So not only do we still have the lizard, we actually also acquired a sort of Cricket Hospice. I would consider it a hospice only because calling it a hotel would be weird. These crickets often stay there for 1-5 days, their last bit of home before they make their final journey to their "home in the sky" by way of Lizzy's mouth. Brad found out from the guy at Petsmart that if you put a wet papertowel and some crushed up dog food the crickets will live longer, that way you don't have to go to Petsmart every other day, you only have to go once a week. The large crickets are about 10 cents each. It adds up though, so I've supplemented her diet with wild crickets I've found on our floor. I'll bet they were looking for the hospice anyway. Can you believe I've caught 3 crickets in our house? These aren't the cute little buggers I used to catch in the field when i was little, these are the nasty black crunchy ones. SO GROSS! I don't catch them with my bare hands, don't worry, I use a cup and a paper. Those little guys are FAST! So yes, we still have Lizzy... and a cricket hospice. Maybe one of these days I'll get a video of Lizzy eating a cricket so you can enjoy watching with some popcorn :)

Lizard on the Run...

Written on 9/15/09: So it all begins last Saturday when Brad was on a hunting trip with the Boy Scout troop he volunteers with. They drove 4 1/2 hours away to teach the boy scouts how to hunt. They were on the look out for Dove. I told him that before he pulls the trigger, I want him to put himself in the place of that Daddy Dove when the Mommy Dove gets shot and dies, how much that Daddy Dove is going to miss his wife, and how bad the baby Doves will feel when their mommy is shot dead and how sad they will be the rest of their life. That and why in the world would you go out to shoot the very symbol of peace?! Well, turns out the weather wasn't so great, so thankfully no Dove were killed in this story. However, they caught a lizard and a baby rattlesnake. Brad brought both of them home. He kept the baby rattlesnake in a 7-11 Slurpee cup, put it in the freezer and let it die peacefully. I still felt bad going to sleep that night, wondering when the baby snake's spirit would separate from its body and meet its maker. I told Brad we were NOT keeping the lizard. Its about an 11 inch desert lizard, and it loves the heat. It was pouring down rain outside. I knew if we let it go in the storm it would die, and I couldn't let that happen, so I allowed him to keep it overnight... until the rain stopped. Well, the rain still hasn't stopped, and in the meantime he has purchased a glass cage, desert sand, and about 30 crickets to feed the guy. Actually, we found it he's a she. I'm still having a hard time considering that something like a reptile could be a girl, but considering Brad's odds at home with 4 to 1 (our dog is a girl), I'm not surprised. So anyway, the lizard is in its cage, happy as can be... Abbie is of course very excited to have a pet lizard and loves to see it move, so she likes to move the light we put in there, and the box, etc. to see it move. I told her this morning that if she touches the cave again, we're getting rid of it, even if its raining outside. I made sure she understood that. She even repeated the consequence to me this morning.... okay, so...

I had a meeting this afternoon from 3pm-8pm with work. We got a babysitter to watch the girls. I got a call around 6:00 asking where the vanilla was because she was making muddy buddies with the girls. I got a call at 6:30 which I gave to Brad who then went out of the meeting to talk to our babysitter. He came back with a huge smile on his face, and here's what happened...

Abbie went upstairs to play with the sand in the cage with the lizard. When she put her arm in the cage, the lizard ran up her arm and onto her back. Of course this freaked her out, to quote her she said, "The Lizard Tackled Me!" She ran downstairs screaming as the lizard was attached to the back of her shirt the whole way. As soon as she got downstairs to show the babysitter, the lizard LEAPED off her back, and scurried into the kitchen. They all went to go try to catch it, but it jumped into a little whole underneath our kitchen cupboards and there she remains.

Avri, our babysitter, said that Abbie was so upset, and was crying so hysterically, that she threw up. I couldn't stop laughing as I envisioned her running down the stairs with the lizard attached to her shirt back. Can you imagine?!

J. Hilburn on Fox Business News!!!

NEED YOUR IDEAS AND FAST!

We're doing a belated birthday party for Tori and Abbie tomorrow from 4:00-5:30 after school. I figured 1 1/2 hours was long enough to call a party, short enough to keep my sanity. I planned a pool party... well guess what?! Yep, looks like rain. And the even more exciting thing is Brad won't even be here to help me. SO, I need some quick party game ideas. Crafts or games or something to entertain them for 1 1/2 hours. HELP!!!

Victoria is SEVEN!!!

It is amazing how they get so grown up so fast. She is already SEVEN! She wanted a Rock Star Cake, so My Mom helped me decorate it, I think it turned out pretty well considering it broke all to pieces when we tried to put it on this plate. Oh well. She got to go to her first gymnastics class yesterday, she was really excited. She did really well. She also got some cute clothes, little crafts, a doll named Alexandra "Alex", and some Hanna Montana notepads, etc. She was a happy girl. My Mom and Dad came into town and we went to the Great Wolf Lodge from Thursday-Friday, it has an indoor waterpark. Pretty cool. And then we finished off the Saturday with the perfect BYU game that was INCREDIBLE!!!

Rangers Vs. Red Sox Game

We got front row tickets from a co-worker at J Hilburn, it was a great game, we won, we got a foul ball, and a free t-shirt. It was incredible!!! For those who care, Nolan Ryan was just a few rows ahead of us to the left. It was a great experience. Note to self, don't bring the kids to a 7:00 game that lasts 3 hours. Abbie asked when we were leaving about 3 minutes into the game. Next time we'll bring some friends who will appreciate the great tickets!!

Abbie's Scary Face

Back to School

I've been super duper busy so I'm sorry this is delayed, Abbie started school last Monday and here are some pictures from their first day.

Funniest Video OF THE YEAR

Through a child's eyes

Blast from the Past:

Columbian, The (Vancouver, WA)

November 17, 1997
HOMELESS MEN SLEEP, THANKS TO BOY S HARD WORK
Author: Columbian editorial writer
Section: B section
Page: 8
Estimated printed pages: 2
Article Text:
Imagine spending 300 hours Sheetrocking, sanding and painting walls in the heat of summer.
Now, imagine doing it for free.
Brad Brockbank, a 17-year-old Prairie High School student, had spent months searching for an Eagle Scout project. Nothing felt right. Most possibilities, like building trails or stacking goods at the food bank, felt ordinary and overdone.
Then he heard about Share Houses plan to create a temporary homeless shelter to replace the one destroyed by arson last December. They said they had no labor, and I said, Heres your man. And then I ran home and told my mom I had my project.
The project became an Olympic-sized event: transforming an empty rectangular building into a mens shelter with rooms and a hallway. The slabs of donated wallboard had to be pieced together. The mud could never be too thick or thin. The sanding, Brad said, was endless.
Other than a few odd jobs with his grandfather, he had few construction skills prior to the project. Now I feel like Icould go Sheetrock a skyscraper,he said.
The shelter opened Nov. 3, barely in time for cold nights. Two men stayed that first night; now all 38 beds are full.
About 150 homeless people live in the downtown Vancouver area. Nearly all have local roots, said outreach worker Gina Warren. Some live out of their cars, some have mental or physical disabilities, and some do odd jobs, trying to save rent money. Most lack warm clothes, blankets or sleeping bags.
Brad could have flipped burgers and saved money for a nice car this summer. He could have followed the example of the many adults who dismiss homeless people as vagrants and obstacles to downtown redevelopment. But he and many others in his church and the community did not. As a result, 38 men have temporary refuge from rain, snow, ice and that special form of bitter cold that has little to do with the seasons.
Susan Nielsen, for the editorial board
Copyright (c) 1997 The Columbian Publishing Co., P.O. Box 180, Vancouver, WA 98666.
Record Number: 1997321036

Going Private

I know its annoying, but I need to go private. I just saw an article online that made it clear that its just not as safe out there as we hope. Anyway, send me your email address and I'll add you. I'll be going private in about two weeks or so, so respond with your email(s), thanks guys!

-angel

You know your baby is growing up when she's cleaning her room, listening to teenage girl music like Taylor Swift with the door closed so her sister won't come in. It's pretty crazy how fast she's growing up. I think she's beginning to look like me, what do you think?

Abbie is FIVE!!!

Here are some birthday highlights. We went to build a bear and medieval times, I gotta get back to work, but I thought I'd add these :) It took her about 5 puffs to blow out all the candles, but she did it. I told Brad she was only supposed to have 5 candles, but he wanted to go all out. I took these pics and videos with my new iphone :) Brad dropped my old one twice so I was forced to upgrade, bummer ;)

She's OKAY, Its just a BEETLE!!!

Speaking of Everything is bigger in Texas, I've been meaning to blog about the 4th of July. Last year was a train wreck, we never ended up getting able to see the fireworks. This year we got two nights straight of great location, great fireworks, a fun pool party, and loads of fun. I had a blogworthy moment however on the 4th of July. We were staked out on the lawn of a chase bank about 2 minutes left until the fireworks. It was dark, there were people and policemen EVERYWHERE. We're having a nice chat with our friends when all of the sudden, this DEATHLY SCREAM comes from MY CHILD of course. Yes, Tori is screaming like she's facing the grim reaper himself, it sounded like a siren, AHHHHH AHHHHH AHHHHH, almost steady like a siren, I think she had to breath in there, thus the quick pauses. I was thinking to myself, "WHAT THE HECK!?!" So I got up quickly of course and went over to where she was sitting to find out what caused her to create such a loud scene that EVERYONE was watching now, including the police men. It was a beetle. I picked her up, and she STILL continued to SCREAM! My instant reaction was to cover her mouth so as to mute the sound and then I realized that hundreds of people (and policemen) are now watching me holding up my child with my hand over her mouth as they are listening to muted screaming... I said loudly in my defense, "She's Okay, Its just a beetle!!!" And as I predicted, a quick chuckle was heard throughout the area, and we were back to business as the fireworks started. I'll tell you what, that child has a SET OF LUNGS!!!

Everything's Bigger in TEXAS

Woke up this morning to a nice visitor, Everything's bigger in Texas. Nuff said.

Happy Father's Day Brad!!!

What do you get for a guy that has more clothes than his wife for Father's Day? Well, I did get him an awesome blue t-shirt that said, "I'm pretty much the best Dad in the World." That was good. I also bought him a new sweater that J Hilburn is coming out with in September. But we recently (this last week) bought a Wii ($100 off on Amazon for an open box unit, what a deal!) so I told him that was his Father's Day Gift this year. I think its a pretty good one we can all enjoy. I did want to just brag a little about how amazing Brad is as a Dad though. We were driving a lot today running errands and such, and he had a great talk with Victoria about her personal testimony of Christ and the church and how she needs to find out for herself, and we shared some personal experiences with her, and just had a great talk with her, and I just sat back in my chair and just kinda took a deep breath and a sigh of relief that I ended up with such an amazing man as my husband and Father of my children. I got a priesthood blessing when I was 17 that spoke about a lot of things in my life to come, including my future husband (patriarchal blessing). It said, "You will marry a man who has a strong testimony of the gospel." I was hoping for an exact description of him, maybe a name, hair/eye color, or something to tip me off, so that I'd know him when I found him... little did I know I already knew him, I just didn't realize it yet. But as I struggled with the little amount of information that I was given, I realized that that was all that mattered. If I could find a man who had a testimony of the gospel, everything else would come in that package as well. And its true. He has such a high patience level, and knows how to really help the girls when I can't. I hope his Father's Day is a memorable one. Happy Father's Day Brad!!!

Patience is a Virtue

We've been trying to teach the girls (Tori especially) about how important it is to be patient and wait until Mom and Dad are done talking with each other or on the phone before they ask us a question, because we constantly get the "MOM... mom... MOM Mom MOM mom.... MOM... mom..." You get the picture... so we had a good talk with Tori about this a few days ago and every day is a work in progress. Today we were all in the car waiting for her to get her shoes on and come out to come with us to go pick up a computer from a guy on Craigslist (we seriously got a mac today for $6.00, no joke) and Tori tells me this in such a matter of fact voice, "Mom, if I'm learning how to wait, you can too." I couldn't stop laughing. I thought it was a good point. So, I waited. ehehehe. Love that girl!

PICTURES!!!

Just got a gorgeous pic of Abbie back from my favorite photographer, more to come!

Eavesdropping

While I'm working here at my desk and the girls are watching Barbie's Diamond Castle I hear this conversation:

Tori: Would you rather be a girl or a boy?
Abbie: A Girl
Abbie: Actually, half girl, half boy.


Where does she come up with this stuff? Really? Maybe I put too many bows in her hair she's getting tired of it, who knows. Thought that was funny though, typical of Abbie.

My Best Friend is Famous!!

My mom just called me this morning about an article she read in the Columbian about Holly (Sonners) Myers has her own reality show!!! I can't even believe it. Here is a preview for her show, starts on Friday. Anyway, at least I know someone who is famous now :)

Preview!

Its Not Too Late!!! Father's Day Gift Cards- $40 Off!

It's not too late, I'll send your gift card right away and have it there before Father's Day. $40 off (new customers), and the prices start at only $79.00 (plus shipping/tax). That is seriously only $39.00 (plus shipping/tax) for a custom shirt!!!

Sup?

Well, sorry I haven't been updating all that often lately, my camera ran out of batteries and we kinda lost the charger. One of these days I'll have to get to that. My days have been incredibly busy with work, kids home for summer break, work, and kids, and work. :) That's about it. I'm really having fun though. We went to Utah a week ago for Mark's wedding (Brad's little brother). It was such a great trip. My extremely kind and daring mom flew into town with my niece and nephew, Nia and Justis, and watched them and my girls while Brad and I took the weekend to go see them get married. We stayed at our old house in Pemberley where some of our best friend's, Justin and Stephanie Morgan now live. It seriously was a life changing trip. I learned a lot about myself, enjoyed being just with Brad, and was introduced to a lot of really cool stuff. Justin and Stephanie introduced me to this book called, "Remembering Wholeness" by Carol Tuttle. I had been struggling a ton lately, trying to figure out the purpose in wanting or trying for anything (for me it was to get pregnant) if the Lord has a plan and is going to do whatever he wants to do regardless of what you want him to do. So why even try? Just submit and like it. That was what I kept telling myself. And I was really having a hard time liking it. Five of my friends that were in Utah either just had or are about to have babies, and it was fun to hold the babies, but you know how much that sucks when you want one and can't have one. I found some peace reading this book on the way home though, and I can't say I'm good to go yet, I'm still working on it, but I'm definitely on a good path. I think its pretty amazing how many arguments you can have with yourself at one time, how many different feelings you can feel, while trying to sort it all out.

I do feel a direction the Lord is taking me though, and I'm excited, although life hasn't turned out exactly as I had planned it, frankly, I'm grateful. This path the Lord is taking me is actually a lot more exciting and fun than what I had planned. I guess growing up I was kind of taught, its babies and diapers, then dance and soccer, then cheerleading and football, then they're off and you're done with that part, then you retire and travel and serve missions, and life is over. I honestly never considered the thought that maybe there was more than just being a mom and a wife. I almost have to rewire my brain and teach myself to dream differently. Because all my dreams I've ever allowed myself to have have always been family oriented, get married, have four kids, go on vacations, help them to grow up and teach them all I know, they're off, Brad and I are back in honeymoon phase, and then we have grandkids and die. Every dream I had revolved around everyone else, and I would have been okay with that, really, but I kinda feel like I may have more purpose in this life than just being a mom. There may be people out there that really need something that I may be able to give them. I don't know exactly all that it will entail, but I feel like something big is coming, and I'm excited.

Brad was always a dreamer. He always has had high hopes and aspirations, and nothing was too big to dream of. I'm not sure why I was never like that, I always felt that dreaming like that is setting yourself up for disappointment or its just too prideful. But what if we allow ourselves to dream? If you don't, you're already destined to fail, so what do you have to lose? What if God wants us to have those things? He definitely doesn't want us to fail. Anyway, if you have some spare time, read "Remembering Wholeness" by Carol Tuttle. It has a lot of the same concepts of "The Secret" only she's got a lot more LDS perspective and a lot more in depth explanation, its not just "Think it and it will come", its more than that, and its about finding that inner peace. That's what I'm working on right now, is finding that inner peace, and finding a purpose in life, and a purpose to my trials. Anyway, have a great week, don't forget its Father's Day next Sunday!!!

-Angel

Victoria's First Composition

Tori got a nasty painful ear infection and missed out on her class field trip to the Arboretum. She was pretty bummed but asked for a Priesthood Blessing from her Daddy and then later made up this song, I thought it was too good to not post. She's actually pretty talented, starting to rhyme and get a nice tune. She's getting pretty big, huh. This was all her, no help from us, she wrote down the words and here it is:

Can you guess the feet?

We had a nail polish party yesterday, loads of fun... can you guess whose feet are whose? Note: There are no duplicates :)