The Givens Family

Let's Try This Again

2008-11-06T21:18:00.012-07:00

Too many of you have threatened to boot me off of your sidebar so I decided that I better step up and get back onto this blogging bandwagon. So, here we are again, I'm going to call this a fresh new start and maybe I can stay on top of things a bit and keep things rolling here. It's been so long that I don't even know where to begin, here goes nothing....

A few weeks ago I had a very talented friend of mine take family pictures of us. She gave me our CD tonight and I'm so excited about! Here's a little peek at a few of them, I can't wait to get these up in my house.

My handsome little guy

So kissable

CAM

2008-06-01T22:42:00.004-06:00

Oh Cam, I love my little guy! He is so full of energy and he's at the age where he's saying the funniest things ALL THE TIME. He is obsessed with balls, any sport, any time but second only to tractors. He's definitely "all boy". He's becoming his father's little shadow. He loves to help him mow the law with his very own "La Loo" (aka. lawn mower) he wants to be right by Rod's side whenever he's working on anything and he loves riding in "Daddy's big, big twuck". His very first frozen "Go-Gurt". He's hooked now!
Of course it's a Boise State hat, his father's at that, he wouldn't have it any other way.
Cam with his cousin Warren, the boys have got to stick together.

He's becoming quite independent, even if the end result looks something like this.

BRYNN

2008-06-01T22:06:00.007-06:00

It's been almost 2 months since my last post! I don't post enough to keep you all up to date on the fun activities in our lives as they come so I decided that this time around I'd do a separate post for each of my kids so you can see what they've been up too.
Starting with Brynn. She's now 5 months old! Time definitely seems to fly by much quicker now that I've got two. Brynn is our little drama queen. When she's happy, she is the world's happiest baby. She laughs and coos and can be such a ham. But when she's mad, she's mad. If you ask Cam, "Who's our little screamer?" he'll tell you Brynn, every time. She can scream like I've never heard a baby scream before, this very high pitched shrill. She's learned quickly how to get what she wants. But I love every little ounce of her. I wouldn't have her any other way!!
Brynn and Uncle Tim.

Trying the kids out in the bike-trailer. What do you think? Do they look comfortable or what?!?
In the "jumper" for the first time. This was Rod's mom's when she was a baby.
They don't make 'em like they used to!
What a good big brother

Another one of Rod's infamous "tricks". I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I saw this one.

Some Of My Favorites

2008-04-05T11:58:00.009-06:00

I know, I know, this post is exactly like my previous one but I just don't have the time to do anything different. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past month. Nothing too exciting but hey, it's a new post, right?!?

Here we are!

2008-03-06T20:42:00.008-07:00

Here are a few pictures of my beautiful kids (I am allowed to say that about my own kids!). I've come to understand what people mean when they say that one of the greatest feelings in the world is seeing your children get along and interacting together, really, it makes my heart melt when I catch Cam hanging over the edge of Brynn's bouncy chair talking to her as she's grinning back, ear to ear, I know that this is only a small glimpse into what it'll be like the older they become. I love my kids!!

Tag, You're It!!

2008-02-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by my friend Alisa and thought that "Couples Tag" was kind of fun so here goes. It was actually so funny doing this with Rod. Enjoy!!

How long have you and your significant other been together?
First date February 7^th, 2003 that brings us right too 5 years.

Who eats more? Without a doubt, Rod eats the most but those rare times when I eat the same amount as him, I always make him take an extra few bites so I don’t feel like such a pig!

Who said "I love you" first? We’re having a hard time remembering this (that’s so bad huh, aren’t you supposed to remember things like this?)

Who is taller? Rod, coming in at 5’10.75” (he’s making me put the .75, he needs all the help he can get!)

Who sings better? Definitely Rod, he won’t admit it but he can harmonize even when he’s just goofing around. (I can stay on key though, you’ve got to give me something here!)

Who is smarter? Well, depends on the subject matter. Maybe we’ll just call it a toss-up.

Who does the laundry? What does this include? I always put the laundry in the washer and move it to the dryer but if folding the laundry is included in this then we both do it, folding laundry is our little “TV watching activity”.

Who does the dishes? Rod does the dinner dishes but I’m the one who keeps things done during the day and I’m almost always the one who unloads the dishwasher.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Looking at the bed, Rod does (seems like I’ve seen that most husbands sleep on this side).

Who pays the bills? Definitely me! Rod wouldn’t know what to do if I died, periodically I have to run him through the process just in case something did happen to me!

Who mows the lawn? Rod

Who cooks dinner? I do, but Rod helps out by pouring the milk and putting the butter on the table, that’s his idea of “getting dinner ready”!

Who drives when you are together? Always Rod. He hates it when I drive, he’s a total back seat driver with me!

Who is more stubborn? Rod laughed at this and right away said “You!” What’s he trying to tell me?

Who is the first to admit when they're wrong? This one’s hard. I don’t know if either of us ever admit it, we’ll just eventually get over it. We usually end up taking blame at the same time after we’ve realized that we need to make-up.

Whose parents do you see the most? We try to avoid both of them but it’s kind of hard when we live within 10 minutes of each.

Who kissed who first? Rod kissed me first, two days after our first date. I used to tease him and tell him that if he really respected me then he would have waited longer, he just couldn’t resist, I guess.

Who proposed?
Rod, isn’t that the man’s job?

Who is more sensitive?
I think that anyone would say it’s me. Isn’t that a good thing? Although, Rod really is a little “softie”, I’ve seen him cry a time or two:)

Who has more friends? Rod thinks it’s me, I don’t object, I love my friends!! Rod has tons of friends too but he’s just not that good at keeping in touch with them.

Who has more siblings? Well, all things considered, I have 8 siblings (do the Russians count?) and Rod has 4, I’ll take this one.

Who wears the pants? I’ll admit it, I’m kind of a control freak, so I’ll take full responsibility here, isn’t it okay that I like things the way I like them?

My turn to tag you! Here goes:
Katie S.
McKenzie W.
Tiffany R.
Kristan J.
Kris G.
Brittany I.

Photo Shoot!

2008-01-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago a friend of mine came to my house and took pictures of Brynn and Cam. They turned out amazing, I am so excited I just had to post a few on here for everyone to see! And yes, it does look like Brynn is going to have big cheeks, just like her big brother, we think they are more kissable this way!

Just A Few Pictures

2008-01-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of life around our house these days. We're adjusting to two kids and loving every minute (well, almost every minute, we are a bit sleep deprived). Brynn is such a good little baby and Cam is being the "perfect" big brother, we have to watch him closely to make sure he doesn't "play too hard" with Brynn. He seems to be adjusting now that he knows she's here to stay.

Brynn Susan Givens

2007-12-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

She's here! Our little girl decided to come 16 days early on December 29th at 12:51 am. She weighed 6 lbs 2 oz and was 18 inches long. Here are just a few pictures.

Cam loves his new "baby sissy".

People always say that a little girl knows how to melt her Dads heart, it's definitely true around here!

We love this little girl!!!

Baby Shower!

2007-11-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

Me and my growing belly @ 31 weeks

Kimmy and I at the shower

Opening presents

Look at all of this pink!
I know, I know, this post is WAY overdue but better late than never, right? As you've noticed, I've had a hard time getting myself to update my blog so today I decided to make myself add something. About a month ago my sister-in-law/best friend Kim threw me a baby shower. It was so much fun! The food was great, the decorations were so cute, and as always, it's so fun to spend time with good family and friends. Can you believe all of that pink? People were so generous, I can't believe all of the fun girlie things I got, I can't wait to be able to use it all. Only about 4 weeks left until my due date, it's gone so fast. We'll make sure to post pictures as soon as she arrives.

Halloween

2007-11-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

I had to throw a few pictures of my little Cowboy on here. We had a great Halloween this year but can't wait until next when Cam will be even more excited. He didn't quite understand what was going on but he sure did have fun going trick-or-treating.

Cam's Big Boy Bed

2007-11-04T13:00:00.001-07:00

I had to show you all Cam's new bed and brag a little about both of my boys. First of all, take a close look at the bed, Rod made it! I have such an amazingly talented husband. He can build anything that I ask and it ALWAYS turns out perfect. This bed is exactly like a bed from Pottery Barn that I fell in love with. Rod's been busy making me a few other things that I'll have to post about later, they're just as great!

Cameron's been in his "big-boy-bed" for two weeks now and has slept so well since the very first night. I thought that my little man would never sleep again once we moved him. Not only did he get a new bed he also changed rooms and I'd heard from people that the room change can be a lot harder than the bed change. So, needless to say, I cried and worried for days leading up to that big night. And to my surprise, he was great, it was actually too easy. We made such big deal about him sleeping in his "big boy bed" and being a "big boy" that for days he'd wake up and the first thing he'd say was "big boy!" It was so cute. I was so proud of him I really couldn't get over it. Our next big project is getting him off of the binky before the baby comes. This is a bigger concern for me because it's the one thing that I can use to bribe him to go to bed. I'm worried that once his bink is gone, so are his hours of sleep!

Cam's Fat Lip

2007-09-19T15:23:00.001-06:00

I just had to post this picture. Cam slipped and hit his lip on the stairs the other day and he got a fat lip. He looked so hilarious, his already BIG lip was even bigger (the angle of the picture really overemphasizes his big cheeks too). Aren't those cheeks so kissable?

OOPS!

2007-09-07T08:25:00.000-06:00

I was on the phone with a friend yesterday and she asked me if I was going to post the news that our little family received last week. I totally spaced writing about this so, for those of you that I don't speak with on the phone regularly, here is the great news, we're having a GIRL! Yeah, we are so excited. My doctor's office called me last week and asked if I wanted to run into the office to "give it another try". Of course my first response was, "Are you going to charge me?" They said, "Nope, the doctor said we'll just call the first ultrasound incomplete." What a great doctor I have! We are so thrilled to have a little girl around here but I think we might go broke in the process, there are way too many cute "girl" things to buy.

Family Pictures

2007-09-01T14:46:00.001-06:00

Just thought I'd throw some family pictures on here. My dad took these a few weeks ago for us. We've never had official family pictures of the three of us so I decided that we needed some before the new baby came and before I really started showing. They turned out pretty good considering the fact that I couldn't even get my pants zipped up AT ALL! Thank goodness for long camisoles.
So, Cam was having a hard time throughout this entire picture taking process so when it came time to take a few pictures of him alone, it was not going to happen. He whined and whined until we decided to hand him his football for a few minutes. The plan was to let him hold it until he'd settle down, take it from him, and then get some good pictures, yeah right, he cried even more after the football was gone. So, as you can see, the only semi-good photo we got of him alone was with the football too, and it had to be bright orange!!

Making Brownies

2007-08-22T10:52:00.000-06:00

I just had to post some pictures of Cam helping me make brownies today. He was in heaven! So, let the truth be known. Cameron is almost 18 months old and it hasn't been until the past week that I've let him sit on the counter while I cook. I know what you're all thinking, so let me explain. I've had a hard time in the past putting him up there because I'm a freak when it comes to messes, kids are oblivious to messes and I am definitely not. Yes, call me anal, I'll admit it, I can't handle messes. Lately I've been trying very hard to just get over it and worry about cleaning up later. I'm pretty proud of myself, Cameron has been on the counter numerous times within the past week helping me out, yes, he gets food everywhere however, I've been totally calm and have reminded myself that everything can be cleaned and if it can't oh well. I decided to document this brownie event to show everyone that by the end of this whole process Cam was a mess, the counter was a mess, but hey, it wasn't too bad to clean up, stripping kids down and throwing their clothes into the washing machine isn't such a big deal, right?

I've got to explain the BSU jersey too. Cameron loves balls, especially this Boise State football that Rod got me for Christmas. The ball is bright orange and Cam loves to throw it around. Well, for some reason, when Cam catches a glimpse of this jersey in his closet, he points at it and says, "ball, ball" until I get it down for him and put it on him and then all day, when he notices that he has that shirt on, he pulls at it and says, "ball, ball". What a goofy kid, but I sure do love him! For those of you who might not know, Rod is a die hard BSU football fan so whenever he comes home from work and Cam has his BSU jersey on, Rod just melts, he loves that his little man is well on his way to becoming a fan himself. GO BSU!

A Visit to The River

2007-08-19T14:06:00.000-06:00

We had a great day on Saturday. We tried to stay busy and it seemed to work. We spent the first part of the afternoon swimming at my parents house, Cam loves the water these days. Later in the evening we headed up to the MIddle Fork of the Boise River with Blake, Kim and Allie. It was so much fun. The water was warm and shallow enough to walk all the way across so we carried our dinner,some lawn chairs and the kids to a sandy bar along the opposite side of the river. Everyone had such a great time playing around in the water and sand. You've gotta love cleaning off those sandy little bums!

Some Pictures of Cam

2007-08-17T13:55:00.000-06:00

Since Cameron is taking a nap, and nap time seems to be my only time to get anything done these days, I've decided that today I better make time to add some pictures to my blog. I've had too much house cleaning and laundry to do this week to find any other time. I love to look at pictures on all of my friends blogs so I thought I better reciprocate.

OF COURSE!!!

2007-08-17T13:45:00.000-06:00

Well, I had my ultrasound yesterday to determine the sex of our child and of course, just my luck, they couldn't tell what it was! The baby was face down with it's butt up towards my sternum. We tried everything to get the baby to flip around, nothing worked, not drinking orange juice or rolling over on my sides, nothing. Not only were we not able to see whether it was a boy or a girl, we weren't even able to see the babies face, for some reason I'm a little worried about that. For those of you who have experienced this before, you'll understand, it's hard to explain how big of a let down this is. You hear about this happening so often to others, but that's exactly it, this happens to others, not to me. Now Rod and I don't know what to do. It's almost anti-climatic at this point, we almost feel like we don't want to know now and on top of that, if we really want to know, it'll cost us $350 (insurance only covers one ultrasound). Is it really worth it, we already know that the baby is healthy and doing well, we really are considering just waiting it out. Who knows give me a few weeks and I could totally change my mind. There is another option if we wanted, I did just hear from a friend that we can go to one of those Fetal Fotos places for about $85, I don't know, maybe it'd be more fun to wait it out!! What do you think?

It's About Time, Right?!?

2007-08-12T20:00:00.000-06:00

Well, after months and months of reading everyone else's blogs we've finally decided we needed one of our own. So, here's to the beginning of "The Givens Family Blog"! Hope you'll enjoy.