Happy Holidays!!

We hope and pray that this letter finds you happy and healthy.

2008 was a great year for the Pickett family. Forest Grove, Oregon continues to be the place we call home.

Brock turned 17 months old on Christmas day, and is getting so big, it is unbelievable. Each day brings new surprises with Brock, as he is quickly becoming an expert climber, learning more sign language, and attempting to ride the dogs like horses. His vocabulary is up to 17 words and 9 signs. Don’t forget that he skipped right over walking, and went right to running for his birthday.

The dogs, Titan and Nismo, are doing well, and really love playing with Brock. I guess I should say that Brock loves playing with the dogs. He sits on them, tries to ride them, hugs them, and shares his snacks with them. Needless to say, the dogs are very happy about getting snacks from Brock. One day in the summer, the dogs thought it would be a great idea to take a tour of Forest Grove, so they ran off through the open gate and played with some students down at Pacific University. Needless to say, they had a blast! (I didn’t have so much fun, though).

Jon continues to work as a Product Manager at International Wood Products. They had a fire at an off-site storage facility this year, and lost three million dollars of inventory. In July, he went to New York with two friends from college to catch some baseball at Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium. They made the trip because 2008 will be the last season for both buildings, as the Yankees and the Mets are moving into new stadiums. Jon also plays in a regular poker game, and participates in several Fantasy Football leagues.

I went back to work at Fred Meyer this year, working part time on weekends and evenings, in order to avoid having to pay for childcare. Fred Meyer is good, but my days at home with Brock are undoubtedly the highlight. I love every moment that I spend with Brock. I also like to squeeze in quilting and scrapbooking in my rare free moments.

From our family to yours, have a prosperous 2009!

Snow anyone??

So holly cow!! We have a ton of snow, and yes I do mean a ton of snow. This afternoon when I stuck he tape measure down in the snow we had 8 inches and it was coming down like crazy. I am sure that we have closer to 10 by now. I can not believe this weather that we have been having, thanks global warming. We took Brock out in the snow and he did ok, he was not all that fond of it. He likes to watch it snow from inside the warm house. So here are a few pictures of our snow.

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum

Last weekend we got our Christmas tree!!! It finally felt like Christmas. We found this nice place where you cut your own tree not far from where we live. Walked around for a while, and after going back and forth we got the tree that we picked first. This happens every year. We find a treed and then find a different one and so one and so forth and then always come back to the first tree. Though after this year we have a new family rule, and that is what ever tree I pick out first we have to find one ½ it’s size. Some how I seem to pick out HUGE trees for a small house. I think it was about 9 feet or a little more. Jon needed help getting it to the car because it was so heavy, and when we got home had to cut about a foot off of it. And it still manages to make our living room look so very small. Well after we got it set up and it place with the decorations on it looks pretty good. The next morning we came downstairs to find it had fallen over that night. Our plastic tree stand is no match for our 100 lb tree. So it is now leaning in the corner, it looks a little funny, but we have a tree and it is Christmas.

Paradise Found

Early morning on black Friday Jon, Brock, and I piled in to the car and ventured down the coast to Bandon, Or. For those of you who don’t know the town, I am not surprised. It is a wonderfully small beach town on the southern Oregon coast. My parents have a wonderful vacation home there and had it that weekend. It was the most amazing weather that we have ever had out at the beach. I think it was around 70°, sunny, and the most amazing waves ever. Or fist day we spend playing in the sand with toys and taking a shot walk. We did find that Brock is not fond of standing or walking on the sand, but he does just fine playing in it.Brock loved being in the beach house, every where, even the cupboards.

On our way home we decided to drive up hwy 101, which is our favorite thing to do. We stopped at this little turn out that is close to Yahatts that we came across on our honeymoon 3 years ago. There is a bridge that we both love and the sand is quite nice there. We got Brock out of the car so we could stretch our legs.

Later that day we decided to stop and the Newport Aquarium, another top 10 on our list of things to do when at the coast. The last time Brock went he was just about 6 months old and I think he slept the entire time. This time he was running from display to display and even was able to touch the animals in the touch tank. We all has so much fun.

Wow that’s a BIG bath tub!!

Well we just completed our first set of swim lessons. It was so amazing to see Brock’s reaction when we first when to the pool. He looked at the pool and then looked at me and then back to the pool. I could see the wheels turning and by the expression on his face I knew exactly what he was thinking, “Wow that is a big bath tub!” He did so good with his lessons. As the weeks went by he got more comfortable on his back, but still is not thrilled with it. He loves the songs, playing with the toys, and his new friends. He is able to hang on the wall all by him self and does not mind to much being dunked. He likes being splashed by the other kids and likes to swim with the instructor. I am so happy that he enjoyed swimming and hope that he continues to enjoy it.

Not my baby boy anymore

Well it is official, Brock is now a little boy. Today he got his hair cut for the first time. I have been putting it off for quite some time, and he was starting to get a mullet, which is very very bad. So we went to one of the kids barber shops and got it cut. He did so good. He loved sitting in the plane. While the lady cut his hair he would smile at himself in the mirror or laugh at daddy spinning the propeller. They were very nice and did a good job! On the way to get his hair cut we saw these amazing rainbows, and at one point we could see it in its entirety.

Dip anyone?

So have you ever tried to explain/show a 1 year old what to do with dips? We recently introduced Brock in to the dipping world. With his chicken nuggets we will give him BB-Q and Catsup. So we show him how to dip his nuggets a few times and then let him fly solo. So the other night he got it for the most part until he decided to dip his face into his sauce. He thought it was very funny and it was.




After dinner while I was cleaning up Brock showed me his newest trick….. that’s right he loves to climb.

What happened to Halloween?

Wow where did Halloween go?? I blinked and it was gone. Well we had fun dressing Brock up as a Monkey! He carried around a banana most of the day till he decided to take a bite out of the peel, which happened not long after my mother-in-law and I were talking about how surprised we were that he had not tried to eat it. Go figure. One of the ladies at my work gave Brock a balloon, he carried that thing around like it was going out of style. We hung out at my in-laws most of the day and then Jon brought him by my work so my co-workers could see him. All in all it was pretty low key, but next year I know will be a different story.

Pumpkin Patch

Well it is almost Halloween and what is Halloween with out a pumpkin? So today we ventured out in search of the perfect pumpkin. Our first stop was at a pumpkin patch that was only a few miles from our home, but after pulling up and no one being there we had to opt for plan B, a different farm a few miles further down the road. After waking Brock up from a quick nap we ventured out to the field. Our first stop was the wagons. Boy did Brock love the wagons! We pulled him around and around and around, trying a few time to separate him from the wagon. Which was followed with crying and pointing to the wagon, or if we put him down he was trying to pull it him self. So after some convincing we were able to draw his attention to the “balls”. He tried to pick, push, and roll all of them but finally gave up when out of the corner of his eye he was the wheel-barrel. We did take a break from that to take a picture of him peeking through the corn, like Jon did when he was about Brock’s age. As we were headed to the check out line, Brock still pushing the wheel-barrel, it happened…. He lost his balance and toppled over. And just laid there, no crying just a look of who is picking me up. It was quite funny. Then Daddy and Brock ventured to the kiddie hay-maze and had lots of fun playing “I’m gunna-getch-ya”. One of Brock favorite games right now. We finally settled on a beautiful reddish/orange pumpkin and some fresh corn. After paying we went on a very interesting hay ride that lasted about 10 minutes and that concluded our first trip to the pumpkin patch.

Dinner Time

It seems like yesterday that I fed Brock rice cereal for the first time. Now at 14 ½ months he can and wants to feed him self. He does not like it for us to feed him. Though we offer some assistance with putting his food on the fork for him. As each day goes by he get more independent.

Going Wild in Roseburg

A few weeks ago Brock and I went to Roseburg to visit my parents. While I was packing Brock has his first encounter with the suitcase. He has so much fun getting in and out he was even laying in it at one point. The day we got there Brock found the chair that Oma got for him, and it was just the right size. While we were there we had planned a play date with one of my dear friends and her son who is 7 months older than Brock. We planned a trip to Wildlife Safari. I grew up going there and was very excited to take Brock. We had so much fun looking at all the different animals and we even got to feed baby goats that were only a few weeks old. It was so hot, but we had lots of fun visiting. While we were that my parents house Brock found the end cabinet. He had no problem opening and closing it, with him in it. It was hours of free entertainment.

Welcome

Welcome!!!

Well let me get you caught up with what is going on with our family. In July of 2005 I married my best friend, Jon. Our wedding was amazing, it was on the edge of the North Umpqua River at sunset, surrounded by our close friends and family. On Labor Day of 2005 we added our first puppy, Titan our red and white Boston Terrier. In June of 2006 we purchased our first new home in Forest Grove. It is wonderful, it is the neighborhood setting in the country! Then on Labor Day again we decided to add another member to our family, Nismo our Brindled Boston Terrier, (who has now grown to a whopping 40 lbs). Then to our surprise our sweet baby boy was born 2 days after our 3 year wedding anniversary, 8 weeks early. Brock is now 14 months old and is defiantly all boy. He love to jump off the couch, roll around with the dogs, and get in to every thing he should not be in. He is WONDERFUL!!! I am currently staying home with him during the day while Jon is at work. He is working for IWP still and is enjoying it. I am working for Fred Meyer again, just nights and weekends. It is a good balance between work and family and friends.