Poop in the Toilet!

Bran made a poop in the toilet today! YAY! We are all very excited about this...so excited that we lost our minds and went to WalMart on a Saturday afternoon...we had to though, we promised him a Batman and Joker toy if he would take care of his "business" on the potty! Bran, we are so excited for you...keep up the good work!!Don't mind all of the toilet paper all over the place...I guess that's what 3 yrs do when they are on the potty!

Here's Bran with his prized possessions!

So here is the full story...We've been trying to get Bran to go potty for a long time. About 2 weeks ago we bought him an Elmo potty video and did a whole Family Home Evening about going potty in the toilet. And, nothing happened! Well today, I noticed him trying to do his "business" and I rushed him to the toilet and told him to stay there until he was done. About 30 minutes later I heard "Mom, I put a poop in the toilet." I ran to the bathroom to see if it was true, and sure enough it was! Bran said it was fun and not scary to put his poo in the toilet (that's been his excuse, that the toilet is scary), so we hope this is the start of many more trips to the bathroom.

I'm a Weight Watcher!

You can say good bye to this body...I won't have so much body for long! I joined Weight Watchers, and I'm so excited to get skinny. It has taken me a while to get motivated since I had Trey in January (lets be honest...since I had Bran in 2005)! But I'm ready, so ready in fact, that I'm going to post my weekly progress on my blog. I feel a bit crazy doing that, but I need all the support and encouragement I can get. So if any of you have any tips or recipes for weight loss, please share.

My Crawling Bug

Way to go Trey Bug!

On Treys 7 month mark he decided he was big enough to start crawling! I will try not to be offended but he was crawling straight for his Daddy. He is such a Daddy's boy.
Trey now is trying to climb up everything so he can stand....I swear he is going to be walking before we know it.

Here he is standing in his crib.

Trey and Daddy....doesn't Trey look like a little boy, not a baby anymore.

My 32nd Birthday!

I have so much to blog about...so sorry about all the posts today.

My birthday was on Sunday, Aug. 17 and I had such a fun birthday week...it started on Friday and didn't end until yesterday)! I love my birthday, probably because I'm so good at extending it for several days and I have a husband who lets me!
Here's a list of some of my birthday celebrations:
1. The Friday before my birthday, Julie and Kim took me out to dinner at Chili's and then to the movies. We saw Mamma Mia...Great "girls night out" movie!
2. On Sat., Brandon and I got a baby sitter (we're getting pretty good at the baby sitter thing) and we went shopping, to dinner, and then to this great improv comedy club in Provo, called ComedySportz. It was so fun and the comedians were hilarious it is definitely something we will do again.
3. On my actual b-day, I woke up to Bran singing me Happy Birthday. Bran was so cute before my birthday I asked him what he was going to get me, and he said " two cute girl outfits." What a sweet boy I have.
4. Monday, Kate hung out with me all day and took me to dinner at Chili's (You are welcome Chili's for me having a birthday...you see Ashley introduced me to these wonderfully yummy mini burgers at Chili's, so I was kind-of on Chili's kick).
5. On Thurday, I got to join weight watchers...yes, I consider that part of my b-day celebrations!
6. Friday, My in-laws took me to dinner at Applebee's (they have a weight watchers menu).

So you see, I had quite the birthday week, I'm kind of sad it is all over, but I guess all good things have to end. Until next year birthday...I will miss you!!!

Oh here is a picture of one of my fav. b-day gifts. I found this kiosk in the University Mall that has tons of really cool jewelry, however, I couldn't justify buying any....until my birthday. Thanks Brandon, I love it, you picked the perfect one for me. ( I couldn't decide on which pendant to get, so Brandon picked this one out for me).

Trey's 6 Month Milestones

Trey Bug, you are growing up too fast!
Here you are 6 months old and look at you, so handsome and already getting independent!

I love that smile!

You can now sit up all by yourself and play with your toys.

You can feed yourself your bottle...this makes Daddy a little sad, he says he feels less needed. I say, I still have to get up and make you the bottle, so I still feel very much needed!

And, you are ALMOST crawling. You get into position, and then cry and fall to the ground...maybe next month, bud.

SuperBran

Bran has really been getting into SuperHeros lately, mainly Batman and Spiderman. So naturally he likes to pretend he is a superhero. Here are some pictures of his SUPERHERONESS!

SuperBran to the rescue! After trying on many differ capes, this is his cape of preference.

Ooohhh, look at those muscles!

This is his silly face. As a superhero (and just as a normal 3 year old) goes between making silly faces and growling at you.

And you know how superheros have to keep themselves lookin' good...here is Bran giving himself a manicure. I now have to tell him I will only paint one of his fingernails, if he had his choice I would paint them all and paint them pink! He told me today his favor nail color was pink! Real men still wear pink, right?!

One CRAZY FUN week!

We haven't had a week as CRAZY BUSY as this week was in a long time. Nor, have I had a week as FUN as this week was in a long time either.

Monday - My visiting teaching companion, Janeece, and I (and our kids) went visiting teaching to 3 of our ladies...we had good visits and I really enjoyed getting to know some of the women in our ward a little better. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I've been in our ward for a little over a year and this is my first time going visiting teaching. I've never actually been a fan it before, but now that I'm a stay home mom I think I will really enjoy visiting teaching a lot more.
Tuesday -Hum, was there a Tuesday this week, I can't remember! Oh yeah, Brandon and I had a fight because he went to Arby's and didn't get any Arby's Sauce! Note to anyone reading this...DO NOT ever go to Arby's for me and not bring me any Arby's Sauce!!!
Wednesday - The Godfrey clan came to visit us and stay the night. Cody had some work meetings in Provo and Brandon was at work so that left me and Ashley with 5 kids! And for some crazy reason we decided to take them to lunch at Chili's and then do some shopping. Lucky for me and Ashley (and probably the safety of Brexton and Bran) Brandon got off work a little early and met us at IKEA. After that we picked up Cody and headed back to our house to hang out and go to bed...Sorry guys our house was soooo HOT...Their whole family ended up sleeping in our living room on our futon mattress because our guest bedroom was too hot.
Thursday - Brandon and Cody had to go to work, once again leaving their crazy wives with the kids. We decided after breakfast to let the kids play outside (we really do try to be good moms and let our kids have fun!) and they did have a good time playing on the playground, sandbox, and in the pool. After play time we got everyone ready and decided to do more shopping with the promise if the kids were good we would take them to Jumping Jacks ... needless to say, we didn't make it to Jumping Jacks...maybe next time kids! After Cody got done with work on Thursday, they headed back up to Logan. Thanks for coming and staying with us, I really did have fun and you are more than welcome to come again anytime....we'll put the A/C in that back room for you.

Brexton, Payzli & Branson...at our little 7 Peaks!

This why you should use a swim diaper! Nice bum, Bran...I think that diaper weighs more than you!

Hey, some one let us out of here! Trey & Ayda...you guys are too cute.

Good thing you have a mini van, Ashley!

Friday - I had lunch with Janeece and then we had her kids come over and play while her and her husband went on a date. It's nice to have friends to trade babysitting with, especially since we live so far from family.
Saturday - I had so much fun hanging out with my friends Julie and Kate (who now lives in Australia). We always have so much fun when we get together and can catch up on each others lives and reminisce about the good ole days! We used to all be roommates and live in Salt Lake together. And actually, Kate was my first friend when I moved out here to go to USU...She's orginally from New York and me being from Ohio we just clicked right away. Anyway, we got together and made Kate's famous peanut butter balls....HEAVEN!!! They are sooooo YUMMY! I was sad to cut our day short, but I was excited to rush home and have a date with my hubby. Janeece watched our kids while we went and saw Dark Knight. Brandon picked the movie and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It was a great movie, I'm not surprised it is breaking records like crazy.

Me, Kate and Julie

Kate's yummy peanut butter balls...sorry we made them square and big, K8...we were just trying to help so we could eat them faster! Seriously, these are to die for.

Nothing like good friends....I love you, guys.

Sunday - The first sunday of the month is always busy with meetings. Today I had meetings before and after church for Young Womens and Brandon had meetings after church too. It is so nice to be home and have time to relax. Now we just need to get Bran down for a nap!

Best Things In Life

I thought I would write a blog post for a change. This is more or less going to be a list of things that I love and some of the best things in life.

THE 3 PEOPLE I LOVE THE MOST

1. Peggy
2. Branson
3. Trey

THE 3 PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH

1. Peggy
2. Branson
3. Trey

THE 3 PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO SLEEP WITH

1. Peggy
2. Branson
3. Trey

MY 3 MOST FAVORITE PEOPLE

1. Peggy
2. Branson
3. Trey

THE 3 PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO BE STRANDED ON A DESERTED ISLAND WITH

1. Peggy
2. Branson (I think)
   
3. Trey

BRANDON BUTTARS' 10 MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

1. Peggy Buttars
2. Peggy Buttars
3. Peggy Buttars
4. Peggy Buttars
5. Peggy Buttars
6. Peggy Buttars
7. Peggy Buttars
8. Peggy Buttars
9. Peggy Buttars
10. Kate Beckinsale

I would just like to thank my wife for all the great things she does and all the many things she does for me and our family. She's great mom and wife. I know she sacrifices a lot to be a stay at home mother besides her sanity and her figure. She's smarter than me, better looking than me, a better parent than me, and a lot more spiritual than me. I'm blessed because of that.

Well I better go. Branson wants to play Kung Fu Panda.

My Random Thoughts 7/25/08

1. Why are my kids so annoying?
2. Why am I embarrassed to go out in public with out make up on? I think I miss out on some fun and great opportunities because of that? What gives me this thought is...I didn't have any make up on one day and my friend called to remind me that a Soldier from our ward, who was wounded in Iraq, was coming home and he would be there in just a few minutes. While I appreciated her reminder call, I thought, I can't go I don't have on any make up. Well. I decided to put a hat on and go anyways...and I'm so glad I did (I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about how awesome it was). We got to stand in front of this Soldiers house which was lined by about 20 American flags and watch him and his family get escorted by a fire truck and many police cars to their home. It was an awesome experience and a great way to explain what a TRUE HERO is to Bran. I really need to get over this no make up fear, I don't want to miss out on any opportunities over something so stupid.
3. Why does getting up and going running in the morning sound like such a good idea at 6 pm at night, but not 6 am in the morning! Will I ever train my body to get up and exercise in the morning?
4. Are using cloth diapers Mon-Thur really saving me any money...because I still gag like crazy ever time I open that diaper pail! Brandon's not a fan, so I don't use them on the weekends...that way he can have diaper duty!
5. A lot of people have been asking me about my eyebrows since I've got them tattooed...well, so far I'm glad I did it. No, it didn't hurt. I still have to color them in with my eyebrow pencil. I hope I won't have to after I get my touch up in August. I'll blog about them more after my next touch up and show more before and after pics.
6. Really, I only have 5 thoughts...I guess there's not a lot going on in that brain of mine! I blame that on the kids!
7. One more thought...Am I the only one who can NEVER get those darn letters right at the end of a blog post the first time! I hate those stupid letters! But, I have to wonder, are my eyes going bad or am I just getting old? Anyway...here I go to verify AGAIN!

Spoiled Rotten! 7/25/08

Bran, Bran, Bran you sure are one spoiled little boy! The day after Bran's b-day, we went to Logan. Well, Grandma and Grandpa Buttars wanted to celebrate Bran's b-day, so they got him a Cars cake and lots of gifts. Not only that, but he got gifts from his aunts and uncles too. Bran you sure are one lucky little boy!

Bran was sooooo excited for his cake.

These are some of Bran's new favorate things...His new picnic table, shark pj's and play dough.

Once we got back to Spanish Fork, it was Fiesta Days (a full week of Pioneer Day celebrations). On the 24th we went to the Big Parade, which hats off to Sp. Fork it's a great parade. I didn't take any pics but we had a good time (minus Brandon, because he had to work, bummer). But we got to hang out with our friends and Bran got to watch the parade with Alivia!!!
Once Brandon got home we decided to go see the fireworks...which are even better than the parade...I tell you what, Sp. Fork knows how to party! We decided to drive to a spot were we could get a good view and watch the fireworks from our car. Before the show began we thought we would take some family pics. ENJOY!
Finally, one good use for our Element! I like to drive it, but it is so not convenient with kids in car seats. However, it was super comfy to watch the fireworks in.
Brandon and I used to be the bomb at taking our own pics! When we put our wedding video together we realized we didn't have any pictures of us together, so we went around taking pics of ourselves together, we got pretty good at it too! Well, I think we lost what we used to have, we kept trying to get a cute picture of us but we had to settle on this goofy one!

Our Family...I hope to get a better family picture soon!

Just a few more pics...because I obviously love pictures!

Hey Bran, your brothers not the Pillsbury Dough Boy!

Aaahhhh....can you feel the love!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAN BRAN

Oooohhhh, Who lives in Pineapple under the Sea? Bran did today! He turned 3 and had such a fun SpongeBob Squarepants Party.
In preparation for his party Brandon and I stayed up late decorating our living room to give Bran that WOW factor when he woke up. And boy did we achieve that WOW...he walked in and said "is this even our house!" It was so fun to watch his excitement as he checked out all the decorations and then opened his presents. And his presents were everything Spongebob...from Spongebob shoes to Spongebob books and video games to Spongebob sippy cups and spoons and forks.

This was his "BIG" gift...a Spongebob pillow.
After a morning of fun, it was time for his party. We had the Bean family and the Crafts over for a BBQ and some fun in the sandbox and pool.

Alivia, Logan, & Bran...finding TREASURES in the sandbox...really, I hid little treasures in there.

Bran had so much fun riding the 4- wheeler with Alivia...he's already learning that older women are a good thing (she is 4)! She can steer the 4-wheeler and well, Bran still can't! It was so funny, Alivia and her brother, Logan, were riding together and Bran wanted to ride, so they both got off. When Bran got on, he sat on the very back of the seat and just stared at Alivia. It was so cute how he wanted her to drive him around. Another thing that was so cute was when Alivia was leaving Bran just automatically went up to her and gave her a big hug and kiss on the cheek....really, it was soooooo cute! He just loves that girl. But she was quick to say they were just friends!

They also caught fish and rubbery duckies in the swimming pool with their butterfly nets. Sorry Bran I thought they were fishing nets...besides, when did you get smarter than me!

Here's Bran with his Spongebob cake....he was so excited about his cake. It was cute this morning I had Brandon call and make sure the cake was ready to pick up and it was, so Brandon left. After he left Bran kept saying "Daddy's going to get my cake, That's so nice of him, That's so nice of him."

Here are Janeece and Jen and the kids....the men, well, they are on the computer! Go figure!

Trey Bug waiting for his cake and ice cream!

Bran...not even five minutes after his party! I guess he really did party till he dropped...those crazy 3 year olds!


A few days before Bran's B-day we let him open the presents Grandma/pa Ketterman sent him. He was so excited when he opened his Cars pj's and SpongeBob pj's. You did good Mom...he loved all his gifts!

Look at that face....pure happiness!

This picture is funny because after Bran opened his presents we put some dance music on...while I was messing with the CD player to find the best dance song, I said, "Bran, I hope you have your dancin' shoes on, because we are going to dance!" Well, he ran so fast downstairs and came back upstairs with his monster slippers and said, "Help me put my dance shoes on, Mom." Bran, you are just too funny. I love you.


Bran and Trey also had their 3 year and 6 month doctor appt. this week....here are their stats:
Trey 6 months-height 28.5" 97% weight 18 lbs 9 oz 84%
Bran 6 months-height 28.5" 97% weight 17 lbs 3 oz 50% (it's just fun to compare)

Bran 3 years-height 39" 83% weight 31 lbs 42%
Congrats Bran...you reached the over 3 feet tall club!

Work and Play 7/13/08

Yay! We finally got all the tree branches out of our yard (we had a ton, because we did some MAJOR pruning of our apple tree that was totally out of control). I called the YM Pres. to see if any young men would like to earn a little extra cash to help us, but none of the YM were available, so the YM Pres, Bro. Sorensen, came with his truck to help us. It's weird, but both Brandon and I have a really hard time accepting help from others, so it was a good and humbling experience for us and makes us both want to do more service and just be better people in our community and ward.
Well, after we got all the branches sent to the dump we had lots of little sticks to pick up and our yard to mow...so it was a really busy morning. But after our work was done I got to have a fun girls day out with my friend Julie. Brandon, once again, was so nice to let me go for the day while he spent some good quality time with the boys (after i was only gone for about 2 hours, I got call from him seeing when I was going be home...so I'm sure it was some FUN quality time)! But my quality time with Julie was sure fun. We went to Park City and rode the Coaster, which was a blast...I would highly recommend it to anyone. Then we ate at Baja Catina...which I would also highly recommend! After a good lunch, we went to the outlets, I mean really, can you go to Park City and not hit up the outlets. We didn't really buy too much but we had a good time. After getting back to Salt Lake we, of course, had to stop by "The District" and go to Target! It was a much needed get a way for me...I tell you what...Stay home moms have it tough and we deserve a day away every once in awhile.

Bran's Worst Nightmare!

AAAAAAAA! RUN! It's the TEDDY BEAR POLICE!

With Bran's birthday coming up he got a $5.00 coupon to Build A Bear...so off we went (I can't resist a coupon)! He already had a Teddy Bear from there, so we thought we could accessorize him with a cool policeman outfit. You see, Bran has a weird fascination with both Teddy Bears and Police. If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up he'll tell you a policeman, because he wants to get the bad guys. However, when he is naughty we some times tease him that we are going to call the police and he gets soooo scared, he also gets scared when he hears sirens. And the Teddy Bear thing...well that's been going on forever...and some of his "teddy bear friends" are nice and some are mean and scary. So we just thought it fitting to mesh his two love/hate relationships together! And he loves it...now when he is being naughty we tell him to go to his room and talk to his Teddy Bear Policeman, and he does, then after a few seconds he comes out of his room and tells us his Teddy Bear Policeman says he's a good boy! What a silly little guy we have!

4th of July Family Fun

We started our holiday weekend on Thursday, Brandon had the day off and since his company started having 4 day work weeks he now has Fridays off too (it is AWESOME!)! So, we headed up to Logan and made a quick stop at the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. It was pretty cool, but probably would have been more fun if Bran was a bit older and more into dinosaurs. After we got these two pictures our camera died...I must admit I was pretty disappointed at first about the camera, but after I got thinking about it, it probably made the park more enjoyable since I didn't have to yell at Bran the whole time to "smile and look at the camera" and still never get a good pic of him! However, I probably didn't learn my lesson, because next time we go, I'll make sure the camera is charged!

Yeah, that dinosaur is huge!

So, once we got to Logan it was time for the Logan City fireworks and we watched them with Grandma & Grandpa Buttars and the Godfrey clan. I think all the kids enjoyed cuddling up with Grandpa to watch the firecrackers (that's what I call them).

On the 4th...Grandpa's Birthday...We had a BBQ at Grandma/pa's house with the Poulsens and the Godfreys the food was yummy as always. After the cousins half ate their food (they were way to excited to play together) they went outside for some fun in the water.

There was the Slip N Slide

and the little swimming pool.

And of course, the Hot Tub! The kids were so freezing they were beggin to get in.
It was such a fun day and we ended it with doing our own fireworks in the driveway and a fire in Grandpa's fire pit...I'm always up for some smores!

On Saturday, Brandon and Jason went golfing, so I took the oppurtunity to hang with with Mandi at her house for a few hours. Bran had a blast following Harli around and repeating everything she said. He also had fun getting a tubby with Taeden and playing with all their tub toys.

Harli and Mayci enjoyed being a mommy to Trey Bug!

Taeden, Harli and Bran...up to no good!
Later that afternoon, Grandma & Grandpa decided to take the older cousins (how exciting that now includes Bran) to go see Walle. Brandon, Trey and I decided to tag along and we all had a good time and enjoyed the movie...but I don't think it is one we would buy.

On Sunday while everyone else was at church we packed up our car and got ready to go home, but not before Bran got some good play time with Tally and we got some good BBQ at the Poulsen's house.

Bran and Tally...those two are CRAZY! I felt bad because I went inside and left Bran out on the deck with Tally and a few minutes later we heard him crying, Tally got just alittle too rough with him and was nipping at him and scratching him...but a few minutes later he was back playing with her! He just loves that dog!

Mandi and Jason's BBQ
(as you can tell once my camera got charged, I got picture crazy...I hope you like pictures!)

Grandma Buttars and Trey

Oh, how the cousins love their Grandpa!
Bran, Harli and Payzli

Mayci and Pazyi (2 yrs old)

These two little girls are soooo cute!

Taeden and Brexton.....CRAZY SILLY BOYS!!
Ayda and her mama, Ashley...I'm so bummed I didn't get any pics of Ayda and Trey together...I'll have to do that next time.

When it was time to go home Bran just kept saying he wanted to go back to Grandma's house...he was so sad when we told him we had to go home to our house.

Our poor Bran is always crying himself to sleep (can you see the tears)...I'm just glad he fell asleep before we got to Grandma's house to pick up our cold drinks we left in the fridge. After that quick stop, we were on our way home. We had a great weekend, but it always feels good to be home.

Happy Birthday Grameripa!!!

(Brandon made that one up)

P.S. We missed you Nate and Laci and The Kingstons.