Friday, November 30, 2007

Christmas Songs???

So Stewart has taught Eli some Christmas songs and Eli thinks they are HILARIOUS. It's times like these that I think that Eli is a genius. He only had to watch this once (with Stewart) to practically have it memorized. It's kinda funny to hear Eli sing it though. He does the fade out at the end "dinnng friiiies are dooone."



Another one is this. It's family guy too but there aren't videos of it out there.

Eli goes around singing "I brought these gifts for you they're up in my bum."

So these are the Christmas song I think that I'm going to hear all season. It tried to get him to listen to jingle bells or Rudolph but he wasn't having any of that. He just kept saying, "let's watch Family Guy."

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Red, Red, Red!

I got a new bedspread and curtains! I love them. The bedspread is from Ikea and the curtains used to be tablecloths that my grandma helped me turn into curtains. I love red so much. I want the red corduroy couch from Ikea and someday I will have a big red kitchen. I do have the red kitchenaid and all red kitchen utensils but my kitchen is to small to have all my cute stuff out. Someday...

Eli says:

I just remembered some fun things that Eli has said recently:

This is a picture of my matryoshka doll that I got in Russia. I have told Eli not to touch it a few times. This morning he said "look mom" and pointed at the doll. He had put them back inside each other. I told him to put them back the way that I had them because I wanted them out so people could see all of them. He said, "but you told me not to touch it."


When Eli is talking about something that happened in the past he has a funny way of saying it. For this example we'll pretend that he is talking about going hiking. He'll say, "We went hiking yesterday from a long week ago."

One time I called Eli by his actual name which is Elias. He looked very offended and said "I'm not Eli Lettuce!" Eli detests lettuce.

At the Dr's office Eli was sitting upside down on the couch. I told him to sit up like a normal boy and he said, "I'm not a normal boy!" If I ever call him normal he thinks that it's an insult.

Christmas Decor

Well ALL of my Christmas decorations are up! I love it. These are our NEW stockings that my mom made for us! Aren't they cute. Eli absolutely LOVES his stocking and really put the pressure on my mom to finish them.

She also made us a tree skirt that you can see in the pictures of Eli laying under the tree.

These are stockings that are similar to the ones that i had growing up. They are just so fun to have THANKS MOM.


Here is a close-up of Eli's stocking. Eli wasn't exactly happy that it's spelled E-L-I-A-S and not just E-L-I.

I put my Christmas village out in 2 places across from each other. The effect is really pretty. I love it. Eli does think that he should get to play with it but I don't so there is some contention there.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Christmas Tree

On Friday we decorated our Christmas tree. It was so much fun. I went and bought a pre-lit tree since I couldn't face the idea of actually having to string lights. Eli was so excited to see the tree and had a great time decorating it. I was laying there looking at the tree and asked him to come snuggle with me. He climbed under the tree and said that he was going to snuggle under the tree.


So for the past 2 night Eli has said "Promise that you won't put the Christmas tree away." Like I'm just waiting for him to go to sleep so I can put the tree away. He has also been saying, "promise me that you'll get me this many presents." As he holds up his hands with his thumbs in (meaning 8 presents). I say, "no I won't promise that. You have to be a good boy to get presents." And he always replies, "I am."

As soon as Eli woke up this morning he rearranged his ornaments. His are pretty much in a little cluster. It's pretty funny how happy a Christmas tree can make him.

Here is Eli with his ornament cluster. I just think he's so cute.

Turkey Day

We love turkey! As Thanksgiving approached I took the opportunity to teach Eli a little about Thanksgiving. What did Eli think was the main point? The fact that we would be eating turkey. For DAYS he talked about eating turkey! When I said that I was going to eat all the turkey by myself he got very serious and said, "NO, don't eat all the turkey you have to share with me and Daddy."

We went to Stewart's parents house and had a wonderful dinner. I really love Thanksgiving. It's one of the best holidays. Tonight we had our own little Thanksgiving dinner. We put the drumstick on Eli's plate and he LOVED it. He was like a little caveman. It's further proof of Eli's manliness. For more proof click here.

Anyway, Eli ate the whole thing and left the bones. He did say that I could eat the bones if I wanted too. Isn't that sweet?! :)


On a serious note I am thankful for many things this year. I have been Especially thankful for Stewart. He's been very supportive and sweet in the hard times that we have faced this year. I have appreciated him so much. I am also so thankful for my sweet little boy. He's such a joy in my life I don't know what I'd do without him.

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving too.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Black Friday!...UPDATED

Well I just got back from some Black Friday Christmas shopping. This is my 3rd year of going with my sister. We started at Walmart and then hit Target and then breakfasted at Sam's Club. It was SO fun. If you have never experienced this holiday tradition I highly recommend it. I was scared the 1st year that I went but after my first fight with some old hag I knew that Black Friday and I were friends.

So I got all sorts of stuff and it was so fun. I'm really tired now so maybe I'll post my buys later but for now I'm going to sleep!

UPDATE: Ok I can now post about my holiday shopping. Stacy and I had it all worked out. I got the Elmo and Tonka truck and then went over to get the movies. On my way to get the movies I picked up this kids toy laptop and some magic sand stuff. I just grabbed them because I could. Stacy in the meantime got the SD cards and a printer and the movies. I got trapped and couldn't get over to the movies so I backtracked and went to get a Christmas tree. Unfortunately the tree I wanted was gone. (I did go to a different Walmart later and it was there.) Oh Stacy also got some digital picture frames. We got everything that we wanted so it was nice.

At Target I got a sewing machine* and the movie Annie. I can't remember what Stacy got though. We had so much fun! The only sad part was that when I went to Walmart later pretty much everything was still there! It's more fun when you barely get the stuff you wanted.

*there is a long story about this machine but just know I got an expensive one for a cheaper price

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Eli's 4 year old pics

These speak for themselves. He's just really cute!


Ornaments

When I was growing up every year my brothers and sister and I would get at least one new ornament. my mom would try to get something that had to do with something that we did that year (like I got a snowman skiing the year I learned to ski) or they would match with my siblings ornament (like Mike got snoopy, I got Woodstock and Stacy got girl snoopy? or something.) Anyway, this is a tradition that I have carried on with Eli. It's so FUN to decorate your Christmas tree with memories! Whenever I pull out my ornaments I remember decorating the "kids" tree with my siblings and having SO much fun with our ornaments.

This is Eli holding his new ornaments. He got a train from Grandma Sorensen and I got him a boy fishing with his dad in honor of Eli's 1st father-son fishing trip. (He also got a Hogle zoo ornament after this picture was taken.) Eli keeps saying "I can't wait to put these on our Christmas tree!" I can't wait either! I think that this year I will make it to the day after Thanksgiving to put up the tree. Last year I only made it to the day before Thanksgiving.

The Truck

With winter fast approaching and motorcycle season ending we decided that we needed a new vehicle. I wanted a small car that gets great gas mileage and Stewart wanted something with 4 wheel drive. Who won you ask? Just look below!
Yes, Stewart got a victory! Of course after driving it around for a few days I declared that I would be the soul possessor of the Pathfinder. It is pretty fun to drive...except off-roading which I am afraid of! Stewart took Eli and I off-roading on Saturday to break in the truck. The whole time I was saying "why are we doing this?" I didn't have fun but Stewart did maybe Eli did a little.

I remember going camping with my dad and the whole time I would be so scared because he NEVER actually looked a the road. He was always looking for deer. I just remember thinking that we would go careening off the cliff with the trailer behind us. I would sit there and watch the road like a hawk and mentally steer us on the road. We probably were never in danger but it really scared me and THIS is why I believe I will never like off-roading.

Monday, November 12, 2007

More Eli Awesomeness

Below is a snippet of my little brother Danny's post: Just remember the swears are from Danny's mouth not mine. To read his post click here.

"Saturday a few friends and I went out to the west side of Utah Lake in order to keep the pumpkin population in check. We shot the living crap out of dozens of pumpkins with shotguns, AR-15's, pistols, and sniper rifles. Yes, we sniped the shit out of the pumpkins! My 4-year-old nephew, Eli Brough, made sure to do his part by continually hitting a pumpkin with a baseball bat for over an hour. When I asked him how it was going he said, "I'm just hitting this pumpkin. There's still a little more to hit." And he kept going. It was funny."

Eli is so funny! It's like everything he says is to make me laugh. Before they went to shoot pumpkins Eli told my grandma that he was going to shoot tigers. When he got back he said that he shot tigers that were like pumpkins.

After doing laundry today there were a lot of little rocks in the bottom of the washer. I admit that my 1st thought was that they were from Stewart because I thought that his army pants were in that load (they weren't.) But then I realized that Eli had put a little rock collection in his pockets.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

zoo blog

Jeri's Zoo Blog Link

Here is a link to a day at the zoo. we went with my friend Jeri and her kids. If anyone wants to go to the zoo just call me. I can get one adult and one child in for free with me and kids 2 and under are free anyway. Eli LOVES the zoo and would go 6 times a week if I let him.

Eli says:

We went to dinner tonight at Stewart's parents house. We had a good time and Eli got 3 huge candy bars from Grandpa Brough. When we got home Eli wanted to eat them and I told him that he had to wait until tomorrow. Eli protested and I said "you aren't eating them tonight! Put them in a safe place and you can eat them tomorrow. What safe place do you want to choose?" Eli said, "umm, my tummy." That's what I get for asking!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Stewart's big adventure!!!

This post is a long time coming... but it was still kind of cool.

About two weeks ago, Becca tricked me into going to bed at 6 PM on a Friday night. However, her plan backfired and I woke up 1 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. I watched the end of Carrie on TV, read about guns and animals I would like to shoot, and then around 4 AM, I got the bright idea to hike to the top of the mountains just east of our apartment!

This seemed like a good way to get back in shape for ROTC (I'll be re enrolling and finishing my last class next semester after a 2 year break), so I got dressed in my boots and uniform. Besides, after watching Carrie, I was afraid the Boogie Man might try to get me while I was hiking, and if he saw me in my high speed low drag gear, he'd figure I was a ninja and leave me alone.

I started up the mountain at 5:30 AM and reached the summit just before 7. When I got to the top, here's what I saw:I'm not a fan of "the city", but I think I finally found a way to appreciate Salt Lake - from 2 miles and a few thousand feet up. (I kill me) Danny will appreciate that I have an "evil head lamp" (you might remember his comment about the evil pumpkin on Becca's post about Halloween). I have to confess that most of my personal possessions are possessed.

Speaking of the Boogie Man - when I arrived at the summit, shortly before taking this picture, I saw two men reach the summit, just 50 feet away from me - they came up from the canyon just south of where I made my ascent - I don't know what the odds are of that happening at 6:50 AM on a Saturday, but it rattled me when I first saw them. They never saw me - I didn't try to attract their attention either since they were both carrying rifles and from my recollection there is no shooting allowed in Salt Lake County, and there wasn't a rifle hunt in progress...

A scant 20 feet from the peak, I found a mail box wedged in a pile of rocks:
It was full of journals that had been left by someone named James (I think) for hikers to fill out. I left a short message and signed my name and hiked back down the mountain after watching the sun rise.

If you ever have a free Saturday, I suggest getting up before dawn and doing a hike like this. It won't replace a vacation, but it puts everything into perspective when you can see how small your daily life appears from up there.

He has a camera and he knows how to use it.

Here are some of Eli's photography skills on display. I was working on the computer and heard a suspicious noise. I couldn't believe how many pictures he took! There were 3 more than this too. Do these pictures speak to you? Do you see the artistic talent that he possesses? I mean the composition, the lighting, the content! it's amazing! We will probably be making prints of these and selling them so if you need Christmas presents you know where to come! :)

Monday, November 5, 2007

Building a Bear

Well the thumb sucking is over and for the reward Eli got to build a bear. When Eli turned 3 his Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen took him to build a bear. Eli built a really cute little Buzz Lightyear bear and he has loved it ever since. So tonight we took Eli to go and build a bear. It was so cute. Eli was so excited all day and was very well behaved. (it's SO nice to have a threat! I'm already using Santa Clause.)

So here is Eli hugging his bunny to make sure that it had enough fluff. I'm not really sure why he chose a bunny because there was a dinosaur that he really liked too. I think that he chose the bunny because it was more expensive! When my mom and dad were paying he chose the cheapest bear!





Next Eli got to give his bunny a "bath" He was really cute and brushed it all over.













Out of all the cute clothes that he could have picked Eli chose this fisherman's outfit which I didn't like. There was a really cute pirate costume and an army outfit but Eli decided his bunny was a fisherman. If they would have had a woody costume Eli would have chosen that but they didn't...unfortunately.

So Eli named his bunny "Fisher" and when we got home he introduced "Fisher" to "Buzz Lightbear." Eli set them up like this and had me come and take a picture. It was so cute.





All in all it was a fun evening. Doing things like this with kids is so fun!


Sunday, November 4, 2007

While the cat's away...I remodel

Whenever Stewart is away I get the urge to move furniture. I've heard jokes about this sort of thing before and I have found that for me there is some sort of instinct that kicks in when Stewart is away. This summer when my boys went camping I re-arranged my bedroom. This weekend Stewart went on a bunny killing trip with a friend Friday night so I painted a dresser that I had and re-arranged Eli's room.
The dresser turned out so cute. I like it because it's not as tall at his old one. I was always scared that it was going to fall and kill him...probably because it DID fall one time. So after paining it I moved Eli's furniture around. Eli was SO excited to have a "new space." I think that it turned out really cute.

And Again...

I kind of feel like I'm bragging or something but I got MORE flowers! On Friday, Stewart had more flowers sent to me. I love opening the door and seeing someone holding beautiful flowers for me. I don't know what's gotten into Stewart but I'm not going to complain. There was a time when Stewart would get me flowers only as a sign of contrition, but it's been many years that he sends them when things are going exceptionally well or to cheer me up if I'm sad or stressed. Now I just get things like clean kitchens as signs of contrition...and that works well for me! :)
Here is a picture of Eli being really ornery because we wanted him to hold the flowers for a picture.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Halloween



This Halloween was pretty fun this year. Eli and Stewart carved a pumpkin on Tuesday. Eli wanted a scary one so Stewart obliged and created a scary face for the pumpkin.

I got the flu on Halloween so we didn't get to go to Stewart's work party to trick-or-treat but Eli did get to go trick-or-treating to some houses. I was so sad because I was so excited to take Eli around to the houses but instead I sat in the car and watched while Stewart got to take Eli to the houses. At the last moment Eli decided that he wanted to wear his owl costume! I was glad because it's a warmer costume but annoyed because I tried to get him to be an owl instead of a pirate so I didn't have to buy a pirate costume! Oh well I guess now he has more dress-ups.