An update

Man, I feel like I have been horrible with just old regular, no reason, posts. I have only been posting when we have done something special.I just can't figure out what type of blogger I am.

Am I one who always just blogs about my kids. Do I want to be a blogger who shares cool ideas and information? Do I want to be the blogger who only blogs about rainbows and butterflies and how amazing my life is? Do I want to be a Debbie Downer blogger? I think the answer to these questions is yes.

I want to be all of the above. I want to be me. I want to be real. When I look back on our blog, I want to know what we did from day to day. With that being said, I want to post when Avery says crazy things, or when Brooklyn has a poo through (which happens a lot). I feel like I am trying to please an audience, but what matters is that I'm documenting our lives, boring for some people to read or not. So if I only talk about how sometimes I don't wash my hair for days or if I only post pictures of my beautiful baby, don't hate me, just hate my blog. I'm doing it!

Now that I got that out of my system, I feel like I should start fresh. Here is an update of the Charles family as of late...

Travis

OK its kind of sad that I had to scour through all of our pics to find just a picture of him by himself... note to self, take pics of things besides your babies!

Travis is working hard these days. Right now he wakes up at 4:45... snoozes for 30 minutes, gets out of bed and has to be at work by 6. Sometimes he will be home by 5, and other times he is not home till about 7:30-8. Last week he pulled a 90 hour week. No, its not always like this, this is the extreme part of residency. I joke with him that he is aging like a dog. I feel like he has aged 7 years this past year. He can't make it through a movie to save his life and he is in bed by ten most nights. The great thing is that next month he will officially be a 2nd year resident. Rumor has it is that residency is mostly all down hill after a couple of months in 2nd year. Woo hoo!

Travis is still a major ball hog in soccer. He still loves sports.

He is way into "words with friends" right now. He's pretty good at it.

He loves coming home to his girls.

He puts Avery to bed every night. I don't know what those two do for so long when he puts her to bed, but I think its pretty special for both of them.

He was the pusher of getting the mini van. I was surprised. The guy got rid of his Audi to sport a mini van and he loves every inch of Paige, she is the other woman.

Its so weird to think that he is an actual doctor. I think its pretty cool when a neighbor calls and asks if he can come and look to see if their kid has an ear infection. I think its even cooler when he can diagnose our own kids.

Anyways, Travis is hanging in there. He is doing a good job of balancing a busy work schedule and the moody woman who he lives with. Although, I do think he is turning into a bit of a ditz. He knows what I mean. He he, I sure do love you Boo. PS I call him Boo now, because he told me I needed to call him something besides Trav because Avery has started calling him Trav a lot!

Milli

I have been lambasted with baby number 2. Seriously, its been so dang hard! Its not Brooklyn though, she is easy. Its just physically draining. You have to get them both ready, drag them to places, clean up after both, tend to both of their needs (sometimes at the same time). Two is just a huge adjustment. I've had my moments lately. Especially with Travis working so much. I whine a lot. I cry a lot. But in the end, I know I'm growing into what I need to be. Blah blah blah, life if tough right now, but enjoyable too, in a weird way.

On a lighter note, I haven't dyed my hair since August. I'm trying to see what the heck my natural color is. I think its reddish, blondish, brownish. I'm bored with it. I want my blond locks back, but I made a goal not to touch it till at least the end of the Summer. I really do think blonds have way more fun.

Whoa, I sound like a drag don't I? I really am happy right now, but I'm just in total mommy mode. I still like to hang out with my girl friends. Every Monday I watch the bachelorette with them. We like to make treats.

I'm really into cooking right now. I love all the cooking blogs out there. I love to eat. I wish I hated it, but I don't. So therefore, I am working out a ton too. I'm really into bootcamp at the gym these days. I haven't been biking or running much. Its too hot here!

I just got into the Ipad world, and I do have to say that its only been about a week, and I don't know what life was like before that. This contraption is amazing. Steve Jobbs needs a nobel peace prize. Hey I'm not going to get all political, but if other people can get it for no real particular reason, I'm pretty sure Steve deserves one just as well. Wow, I'm rambling. Moving on...

Avery

This girl already acts like a teenager. Heaven help me when that comes. I'm not going to lie, she is a tough cookie. She requires a lot of attention and she has a lot of spirit in her. So she wears me right out. But I also love this about her, there is NEVER a dull moment. She is hilarious and says some of the funniest things.

She is a very smart girl and she remembers everything! She speaks like a grown woman. Which throws us off because she still acts like a two year old. She cannot sit still for the life of her. I don't understand when I'm at church and I see other two year olds just sitting there and coloring for the whole hour.

She is the sweetest thing when she wakes up in the morning. We will have the funniest conversations. As the day gets later though, she slowly gets sassy, defiant and she finds herself in time out a lot!

She is nothing like Trav and I. She is a born leader, she is very confident and not shy one bit. She is so social. She loves to play with friends, but of course loves to fight with them as well.

She loves oatmeal, and would eat it for every meal if she could.

She loves pretty dresses. I don't think she has ever said the word "dress" without the word "pretty" in front of it.

She is obsessed with getting married. She is going to marry Jude Taylor, he is her prince. I told her she can't get married until she is big and tall like Momma.

She eats vegetables, maybe its because I tell her that they will make her big and tall and that is her ticket to get married?

She is a fish. She loves the water. She is in swimming lessons and they bumped her up to the 4-5 year old class because she is pretty much doing cannon balls around all the kids.

She loves her sister, but sometimes is a little bit too rough with her.

She is our monkey and we love her. We call her Crockett (Avery Crockett).

Brooklyn

I can't believe how different she is from her sister.

She is mellow.

She sleeps in till about 9 every morning.

She is chunky. She weighed 14.9 pounds at her last appointment, which meant that she was in the 75th percent for weight. This girl has some intense thighs. She is growing so fast, she is in size 3-6 month clothes, and I think she is ready to be in a size 3 diaper.

She plays with her toys for long amounts of time. She will sit and just watch and be content.

She will let me cuddle with her. I take a nap with her every day.

She laughs a lot. It is easy to get her to smile.

I feel like she has an old soul. I feel like she is really mature, like she understands that Avery is a bit of a handful, and that she wants to help me out.

She just started rice cereal, and she usually eats two bowl fulls. She loves to eat. But she is more of a grazer.

She does take after her sister in that she will not take a bottle!!! My girls are boob girls I guess, can't keep them away.

Brooklyn is very handsy. She will grab everything within reach. Sometimes she pinches me, and it really hurts.

She loves to be in the water as well. We have taken her swimming a couple of times and she loves it!

This sounds weird, but I feel like Brooklyn can sense the feeling in the room and she takes it on. For example, if I take her to the gym and some babies are crying, she will usually start to cry. If we are happy and laughing, she will usually join in. If I feel stress, I think she can feel it too. I tell you, she really is an old soul. My mom even said that last time we were with eachother.

I really do love this baby. Before she was born, I wondered if I could love another baby as much as I loved Avery, and it is very possible.

So now that I have updated with a million words, I think I want to post a million pictures. I haven't posted enough of my girls lately. Here they are...

Sisters?

This is Jude, her prince

Yes, this was Brooklyn's blessing dress

First rice cereal

The Campout

We went camping with a bunch of friends this last weekend to Smithville lake. We went for one night, and I felt like I packed for a 7 day cruise. What is with that? Trav got home from work around 4 on Friday, and we loaded up, gassed up, turned around because we forgot something, stopped at Target, stopped for an Avery pee pee break, and got up there about 6:30. PS the camping place was only 20 minutes away, funny how that works. When we finally got there, we found this lovely spot.

Then we roasted hot dogs and had dinner and then it was so hot we did this...

Avery is scary brave of water. She jumped in with no fuss and even went under. She thought she was swimming in poop because she found the gross mud and it did look like poop. It kind of smelled like it too... maybe it was?
After the dip, we set up camp.

Nice try Brooklyn, we brought you the pack and play... although you did end up sleeping on that for half of the night.

As it got dark, we roasted smores, munched, chatted and put the kids to bed. After putting the kids to bed, Trav went to check on Avery, to find that she had so much fun playing with the lake poop, she decided to use her own poop to play with. It was one of those moments that every parent has to experience. The inevitable poop paintings.

Besides that moment, camping sure rocked! I can see why its a family activity. It was so much fun to watch my girls, especially Avery, experience eating a smore, roasting hotdogs and sleeping in a tent outside for the first time (well that she can remember). I think we will be campers.

Here are the girls

And the Dudes

Thanks for the fun times friends.

A bunch

We have had a bunch of new things going on lately, so I just went on a blogging rant. Make sure you take a gander. There are about 5 or 6 posts.

Nauvoo

Since we got a sweet new ride, we were itching for a road trip. Trav's parents have been really wanting to go see the sites in Nauvoo. Off we went! Trav and I have been before, which was a good thing, because we quickly came to realize that you can't see too many sites with a two year old. Or at least our two year old. She about "remodeled" Brigham Young's home. We did find some kid friendly activities, and stuck with them while Trav's Dad took his own tour of the place. Avery loved the pioneer dress up place. Although, if you ask her if she is a pioneer, she responds, "No, I'm just a princess."

We swam a lot in the hotel pool and just hung out. It was pretty relaxing. I really enjoyed the carriage ride and all the church history stories I learned. Oh and of course I have to mention that I won the church history trivia game given by Trav's dad at the end of the trip. Woo woo!

Just taking a pee pee break on the side of the rode. (both of them

Peeping Avery

I think she would have made it as a pioneer child

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More lovely visitors

After my parents left, Trav's came. We did a lot as well! They are real go getters, we went car shopping, park hopping, went to Nauvoo, took lots of naps, ate lots of good food and got our Mumu and Grandpa time in. I think by the end, they were ready to go home, sleeping in a basement on an air mattress for 13 days would be wearing on anyone! Thanks for all the meals, hotel room, and presents you bought for us. Our girls love you, and so do we!

Look at what we are sportin' now

I don't even care about the stigma of the mini van. I'm 28, have 2 kids, its super convenient and roomy and easy. I'm just in that stage, one day I will be out of it. Travis has wanted one for years. We love it. We call her Paige, cause look at her license plate. There will be lots of fun memories in her. Can't wait!

TRI

Every year we always look forward to the Ft. Leavenworth sprint triathlon. I don't know why I look forward to these events so much, because I'm usually pretty miserable during the races. I think it must be like labor, its really no fun during the event, but afterwords you forget how hard it was and end up doing it again. It really was so much fun. My good pals did it with me, along with my pops. He is 53 years old and only trained for about one in a half weeks. Kind of crazy Sid!

So just a quick synopsis of the race. First you swim 200 meters in a pool. They have you jump in 10 seconds apart from each other (there are timing chips involved so you know your time exactly). The swim for me was good. The guy in front of me was a backstroker. I tried to pass him up, but he was so long. I couldn't lose to a backstroker.

So after you swim, you run half naked to your bike. You have to put your shirt, socks, shoes, helmet, etc on and then ya just start pedaling with all of your might. The bike is the longest event in a tri. It was about 13 miles. I LOVED it. I felt so dang free! That is until the darn hills. They were never ending towards the end. And the crappy thing about it was that I accidently dropped my water bottle on mile 3 of the bike, and I didn't stop to pick it up, so I was feeling a little bit dry at the end. As I was finishing the bike, I saw my mom walking up the street with my girls. That was pretty cool for me.

After the bike, you have to change from your bike shoes to your running shoes. By this time, my legs felt like jello. But I had to start running. The first mile was miserable. I swear it took forever to get to. But after I saw that one mile marker, I caught my second wind and I decided to just book it and be done.

Finishing felt so spectacular. What a relief!

I think the reason I do these races is because I need to feel like I'm something besides a mom. I know a lot of women have side jobs, or do awesome crafts, or bake etc. I think this type of thing defines me as me, not me as a mom or a wife. Get it? Got it. Good.

Here are the pics to prove it.

This one is of all the girlies in my neighborhood who did it. No, I'm not sucking in. I promise. (I had to, look at all the hotties I'm standing next to.)

So you know at the end of movies that are based on a true story, they show a picture of the real person and you read a little fact about them. Well I'm going to do that right here on my blog with the gang. Just imagine really sentimental music in the background.

This was Sarah's first triathlon. She finished 6th in her age division. Her dog had puppies two nights before and so she was running on no sleep. She currently resides in Olathe Kansas as of 2011 and lives with her daughter, Evelyn and husband, Jim. (Oh and all those new puppies).

This was Milli's 2nd triathlon. She took 3rd in her age division. She definitely needs to work on her bike time and transitions. Her husband Travis had to miss the race, this was the first race he missed. They are still married as of 2011 with two daughters.

This was Rachel Kanooth's 3rd triathlon. She finished 4th in her age division. She enjoyed the taste of Milli's dust for most of the race. She and her husband, Leif, are currently in the process of moving to Tampa Florida so Leif can do a medical residency. Boo! We will miss Rachel's spunky spirit (see below)!

Jesse Washburn (the man sitting next to kim) has finished so many races, we can't even document them here. He was the ring leader for this triathlon, as he tried to convert many people to endure this race. Jesse unfortunately took a wrong turn on the bike and didn't place this year. This is the first year he has not placed. Maybe he shouldn't go so fast on his bike and next time the traffic controller will be able to wave him in the right direction. Poor Jesse! He is making his wife and kids move with him to Rapid City, South Dakota to do a dumb medical residency.

Kim Washburn has also done quite a few triathlons. She finished #1 in her age group. She is a very good biker, and Milli will miss going out on rides together. She is a good wife and follows her husband to crazy places like South Dakota. They will be residing there with their 2 girls for 3 years.

This was Jana Johnson's first triathlon. She not only ran a great race, but she was Milli's hair stylist before the race. Along with intense training, Jana enjoys Quicktrip runs, watching old films and playing strategic board games. She is the best friend a gal can have!

This was Sid's first triathlon. He finished 7th in his age category. He currently resides in Draper, UT. His goal in life is to never run a full marathon.

Tammy was the babysitter/photographer. Little do a lot of people know is that Tammy could have done this sprint triathlon, and beat a lot of people, but she refused to do it due to the 4 lap swim.

Later that day, the group got back together and had a BBQ bash. The athletes felt that since they accomplished such a feat, they could eat whatever they wanted. The truth is though, that realistically they all really only worked out for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, mostly in anaerobic respiration, thus burning muscle, not fat. But don't tell them that.

Pee Pee in the Potty

Avery is officially potty trained!!! That's right, no more nasty diapers. I'm so happy because I really didn't want to have 2 in diapers at the same time. Right when I was about to run out of "gift" diapers for Brooklyn, Avery was potty trained, so we haven't had to buy double diapers yet. Since we have been to lots of races and things like that, we have had to take Avery behind trees and have her squat to go pee pee. I guess she thinks its a normal thing to do, because the other day, I saw her doing this in our neighbors yard.

We may need to have a small conversation with her about potty etiquette. But I do have to say I'm proud of her for not peepeeing in her pants!

Lovely visitors

Grandma Tam and Grandpa Sid came to visit! It was a quick one. And it went by in a blur! What did we even do? Oh yeah, we played, went to the park, swung on swings, ate healthy food (they are on a kick), did a triathlon (more on that to come), blessed Brooklyn, went to the zoo and just hung out! Our kids love their grandparents!

Oh yeah, we asked my dad to hold Brooklyn while we got dinner ready, and he came up with this "awesome" invention. I kind of think its torturous for a 3 monther.

Cinco de mustache

Another cinco de mustache has come and gone.

We ate the Cafe Rio yummy recipes.

We beat down a pinata.

We grew mustaches.

We drank horchata.

Its always a fiesta to remember.

Well hopefully they remember it after downing those.

Oh come on, its just orange pop.

Or was it?

Hope everyone had a great Cinco de Mustache! I would just like to thank Chris for adding such beauty to the only family shot that both kids are actually looking at the camera. He's pretty much apart of the family anyways I guess.