I can't believe it has almost been six months since I last posted! We have just been super busy so this one might be long. Sorry. First off, we have been busy with house projects. I stained my cabinets and my mantle and our kitchen table dark. I really like it now! The only bad thing is with dark cabinets they show everything so I am washing them a lot more than I did my light ones. We took a little break for Christmas and then started our next project. I found out about this AWESOME sale on moulding last month. They were selling everything for $0.25-$0.50 a foot! We got molding to frame our windows, do headers on our doors, and new base for our upstairs (except the bedrooms). Eventually we will be putting hardwood floor in the main living areas and down the hall so we needed new base to put up over the flooring at who could pass up $0.30 a foot. We also got new ballisters and a railing to redo our stairway. Right now we just have a half wall between the stairs and the family room. We are going to rip that out and put in a railing. I'm so excited because it will open that room up so much. For all of the rest of my projects upstairs we need our hardwood floor done first. I keep saving and hopefully by the end of the summer we will have enough to buy it so by Christmas we'll have it done. That's my goal anyway. On all these projects when I say "we" it is mostly me. Ben and I have a deal that he only has to help for 10% off the project. He would rather higher it out than do it himself and I really enjoy doing it, so he helps when I can't do it all by myself. 
Our next project is finishing the room downstairs that itsn't finished. We are making it an office. We organized the storage room with shelves and I sold and am still selling a bunch of stuff that we don't need anymore. In about a month or two it should be done.Isaac- He had is first birthday in September so he is almost 18 months now. He is still such a snugglie boy. He doesn't talk much so we are teaching him sign language and he is picking it up pretty quick. He loves books and cars. Last week we moved him to a toddler bed and he is doing really well! The first night he went right to sleep. We have learned that if we keep his door shut he will stay in his bed, but as soon as you open it just a crack he wakes up and comes out. In the mornings he wakes up and gets toys to play with and takes them to his bed. When he is ready to get out he calls "MOM" (which is one of the only words he says and you can understand). Every morning there are new toys in his bed.
He loves to go for rides in the car and he likes the dishwasher. I think he likes hearing the water inside so he puts his ear up the the dishwasher to hear it. He is a cutie, but man can he get into trouble!!! He gets into way more things than Max ever did. He is definaltly a little tornado which is funny because he is so sweet and quiet you would never guess. My kitchen drawers are always empty and mostly down the stairs, my floors, walls, and doors are all drawn on with pencil (I try to keep the pens hidden). He has a fasination with plugging things in. At least once a week he will take the toaster out and plug it in the family room. He use to plug in my hand mixer and turn it on. It scared him a couple times so now I have it in a different place. He definatly keeps us on our toes!
Max- What can we say about Max. He is too smart for his own good! Because I tutor kids he wants to be tutored as well. I gave him some of the first grade math pages and he could do the math! They were the first of the year stuff, but still. He knows all the letters and sounds, he can count to 100 with some help. He has a leapster and one of the games he has does times tables and he was doing times tables the other day and getting them right! I thought this summer we would start reading. He loves books, especially Clifford and Arthur.
We got a Wii for Christmas and he loves to play it! It has made for good insentives. He has to be dressed, clean his room , and have his bed made before he plays. He is pretty good at making his bed all by himself. He has gotten very independent and wants to do almost everything himself. He says the funniest things. One day we were talking about what he wants to be when he grows up and he said he wanted to be a mom and a dad. I told him that he could just be a dad. He said okay and then said "I want to be a good boy with lots of pazzaz!" I laughed so hard. Another day I asked him to let the dogs in and he asked me "What does that entail?" I don't know where he comes up with these words!
Ben- He has been working a ton. I know that is the story of his life. He still works and Lakeview and McKay. We are trying really hard to get out of debt so he is working a lot to pay it off. We should be done in about a year and then he won't have to work so much. Ben turned 30 in December. We went up to Park City to the Westgate and left the boys with Tricia and Adam. It was so nice to have a weekend without kids and to be able to see Ben for an entire weekend. That never happens. Ben is starting a new business. I know that's what we always are doing. It is a rental business. He is just getting the website going so all his free time he is working on that.
Brooke- Well, I have been busy not only with house projects, but with my business. This August I started a business with my friend, then she got called the the Relief Society Presidency and doing the business was too hard so she gave me the business. Now the business is going really well! I make table displays for Multi Level Marketing consultants like Scentsy, Mary Kay, etc. I have had most of my success on eBay. I get an average of 5 orders a week. It's really nice to have the extra money and it sure does keep me busy. Ben is really good about helping me paint things and stuff. My website is http://www.ashiningdesign.com/ if you want to check it out. I am also tutoring. I haven't advertised in over a year and I stay full by word of mouth now. That is really nice. I have 4 kids that I am tutoring now. Last week I applied to work at Jet Blue Airlines as a work at home Reservation Agent. Tricia just got a job there and really likes it. I actually got the job there three years ago, but the boundry line was Centerville. They have since moved the line to Layton so I can work there now! I have been waiting since September for a job opening and finally there was one. I am guessing that I won't start until June.
Well, sorry this is so long. It's hard to cram in six months worth of stuff. I'll try to be better at staying up to date!