Pioneer Day
By Brad SchvaneveldtJuly 24th, 2010
We had a pretty fun Pioneer Day. We headed over to Danielle’s parent’s house in the morning for breakfast. We had a really good meal with all sorts of tasty food. Brody really likes spending time over there. There is so much space, he just explores around in the backyard and will sometimes follow the other kids around. It is exciting to see him wander off and do things without his parents. He is growing up so fast. Later on that night, we went to the Real soccer game with Jai and Rachel. It was our first time in the new stadium, which is within walking distance from our house. The game was pretty cool—they ended up with a tie, 1-1, which is something I’ll never understand about soccer. I think it would be better to see a shootout and have a clear winner than just end the game with a tie. The opposing team had an entire section of fans not too far from where we were sitting, that came and they played their drums and horns the entire time. It was actually really annoying. After the game, we went down on the field and watched the fireworks, which turned out to be pretty good.
For more pictures, check out the gallery: Pioneer Day
We had a really busy 4th of July weekend, full of events and rushing from one place to another. I wanted it to be an eventful weekend, so I had planned a lot of stuff, but by the end, we were so tired that maybe it was a little too much. I had finally gotten my motorcycle running after buying a new battery, and was able to take that for a spin Saturday morning on my way to play some volleyball. After playing for a few hours, we headed to the Draper pool to spend some more time outside and to swim and play in the water. After chasing Brody around for a while, we had to rush out of there to go to a BBQ at my sister’s house for Jai & Katelyn’s birthday celebrations. We had some good food, and were able to watch some videos and see some pictures from our Lake Powell trip the week before. After that, we headed out to go see the fireworks in Sandy. It was nice because the fireworks were not far from our house, so we were able to walk and not get stuck in all the traffic. Brody was not interested in the fireworks at all, and instead wanted to wander around and get into mischief.
When I was in high school, my family would go to Lake Powell every year, sometimes even 2 or 3 times a year. This continued for years after high school, until the water level at Lake Powell started to drop considerably. The reason that made Lake Powell worse is because all those nice beaches to camp on were no longer close to the water line, and the new exposed beaches that were once under water were all thorny and crappy. This, combined with the bad experience of smashing the prop on some rocks, and less interest from family members has kept us from going to Lake Powell for 4 years. This year we decided it was time to go boating there again, and I am glad we did. The water level has risen considerably and is nearly back to the way it was back in the day and we ended up getting a really good beach to camp on thanks to Jai and Rachel heading down the day before. We were a little worried how things would go taking Brody down at such a young age, but he seemed to have a great time there. His favorite things to do on the boat were to play with the steering wheel and push all the buttons on the dash. The movement and sound of the boat while we were moving lulled him to sleep almost every time, which was a nice way to get him to take a nap. He loved playing on the beach too. He would sit at the waterline, and play with his beach toys. He also loved picking up seashells and random sticks that came floating in and dug around in the mud and sand.
It has been a while since we have posted on here, and I know you have just been waiting on the edge of your seat to find out what we have been up to, so I figured I had better post something. But seriously, I question how many people really care what our comings and goings, so writing in our blog is pretty low on the priority list. Thus, the first post since Brody’s birthday in April. The rest of April went as follows: we were excited for spring time and the warm weather, only to have it snow a couple times. We celebrated my 31st birthday, which turned out really good. Danielle got me some nice gifts, and I was able to get a massage and have some sushi for dinner. We also were able to go to a movie, which we did all the time before Brody was born, but hardly ever go anymore. After that, we headed home to watch the Jazz game, back when they dominated the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs, which was a nice ending to my birthday. At least there was a little joy with the Jazz season before getting crushed by the stupid Lakers the next round.
May seems to have gone by in a flash. We celebrated Mother’s Day, which was a good day. I made breakfast for Danielle, and then we spent time with both of our families later in the afternoon. Over Memorial Day weekend, we drove up to Canada to visit my grandpa. We hadn’t been there for a couple years, and my grandpa hadn’t had the chance to meet Brody yet, so we thought it was a good time to head up there for a visit. It pretty much rained most of the drive up, and the whole time we were there. I don’t think we even saw the sun once the entire time we were in Canada. The hotel we stayed in was pretty good. They had a pool with a waterslide, and an exercise room which Danielle took advantage of. The bad part of the trip, Brody got sick…again. It started on the drive up. He fell asleep with his head in a weird position and ended up getting a stiff neck. It was so sad, his head was stuck in a forward position and he couldn’t turn it at all. Then the fevers followed. He had probably the worst fever he’s ever had which lasted for a couple days. It was really rough for him. It ends up he had something called foot and mouth disease, which I guess is some kind of virus that had been going around quite a bit, he also had an ear infection. By the time we had gotten home, the worst had passed, but we were able to get some medicine and he was fine. It was really good to visit with my grandpa. He seemed to love having us there and spent some time joking around with the kids (Brody and my two nieces, Sydney and Katelyn). We were also able to go out to dinner and just hung out and visited. It was a good trip.
June seemed to go equally as fast as the previous month. Just like last year in June, it rained practically every day, which has totally ruined the first half of summer. It seems like summer has just began, but it really is almost half way over. The rain managed to ruin some plans for being outside, including wanting to have some BBQs, and playing some outdoor volleyball, not to mention again the dismal weather on our Canada trip. There have been some good moments though. We celebrated Father’s Day which was another great day, and we also celebrated Danielle’s 26th birthday. For her birthday, we went to the driving range and hit some golf balls (Danielle has been wanting to do new things and golf was one of them). We were lucky enough to have my dad come (who is an awesome golfer) and give us some lessons. After the driving range, we went to dinner at Tepanyaki, which has become one of our favorites, and went to see Toy Story 3. It was a pretty good movie, I was impressed. Happy Birthday Danielle, I hope you had a great day.
We just had Brody’s 1st birthday party last Monday. We can’t believe how fast his first year went, it feels like he was just born. I searched for cute 1st birthday decorations all over, and the options were limited for boys. So we decided to do a curious George theme party. I forget how much work it takes to throw an event until I’m reminded every time we have one. It was worth it to celebrate Brodster’s birthday though. He loved all of the attention, and he got a lot of great presents. I’ll remember to not buy a cake that has red frosting next time because it gets everywhere! It was a success, and we are so grateful to everyone who came and supported him. Brody is such a curious little boy. He gets into everything now! His favorite spot is getting into the bathroom and throwing everything out of the cupboard under the sink. About a month ago he had a rough month. He had the stomach flu, RSV, and ear infections. Poor boy couldn’t catch a break. He is doing great now though. I’m almost done with my first semester of nursing school in three weeks, and I can’t wait for the summer. I really like the nursing program so far, but it is always nice to have a break. I think Brad is probably excited too, so he doesn’t have to listen to me freak out every Wednesday night about my tests for Thursdays. Other than that, there isn’t much new with us. Were just ready for the warm weather to come so we can play outside!
Time has flown by so fast. Brody is nine months today! We went to the pediatricians today for his well child check and he is in the high nineties in percentile in height and in the twenty fifth percentiles in weight. Still tall and skinny. Brody actually went up to Primary Children’s yesterday to have a VCUG done because he had a UTI which is unusual for boys, especially at his age. A VCUG tests whether or not he has reflux from his bladder to his kidneys. I guess this is bad because scar tissue builds up in the kidneys causing high blood pressure. They had to catheter the poor little guy and hold him down while they did x-rays. I felt so bad for him because he was screaming when they put it in and while they took the x-rays. Sure enough he does have reflux so we have to go back up to the urology dept at Primary’s to see what we need to do next. On a happier note Brody started crawling a little bit before nine months and he is everywhere now. Whenever we are watching TV in the basement Brody loves to crawl to the side of the entertainment center, pull himself up and chew on the glass. He tries to pull himself up onto everything, and can scoot along objects now like the coffee table, chairs, or anything he can hold on to. The other night Brody learned the trick of pulling himself up in his crib when it’s time for bed. We were downstairs after we put Brody down for bed and all of a sudden we noticed the baby monitor from upstairs turned off. I went into his room to see what was going on and Brody had one hand pulling on the monitor, and the other hand was trying to pull down the mobile on his bed while bending over the side of the crib. It scared me to death I thought he was going to fall out. Needless to say the mattress on the bed was changed immediately to a lower setting. He now loves to pull himself up every night when he is supposed to be sleeping and cry until we come in and try laying him back down. Our little Brody is keeping us on our toes, but is a lot of fun.
This time of year is one of my favorites. Not especially because of New Years, but the entire month of December in general. Spending time with family is at the top of my list for really enjoying this time of year, but also because at my job, everyone has to use up their paid-time-off before years end, or they lose it. So in the past 2 weeks, I have only worked 3 days. It has been a much welcomed break, and is really difficult to get back into the usual routine. For New Years Eve, we had Megan & Tyler (and Judson), and Nelsy & Weston over to our house for a New Years celebration. We had soup bowls for dinner, I ate too much and made myself sick, and then played games and hung out. Megan & Tyler had been in town from Virginia for the last few weeks, but we hadn’t been able to spend much time with them, so it was nice to have them there. It was nice having Nelsy & Weston there too 
After sitting and snacking on a bunch of treats and junk food, we watched the ball drop on TV and made a bunch of noise to ring in the New Year. Luckily the kids slept through it all. Happy New Year!
The holiday season was a little more difficult this year than in the past. When I say a little, I mean a lot. My brother-in-law (my older sister’s husband), Bobby Bragg, passed away on December 14 after some complications after a shoulder surgery. It has been an extremely rough time for all of us, especially my sister, but it has also been a strong reminder of how much I love my family. We hadn’t taken the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them in the last little while, but we did get to spend Thanksgiving together, and I feel blessed that I was able to spend my last moments with Bobby, playing guitars and talking and laughing about a week and a half before his passing. Although it was nothing out of the ordinary at the time, it will now be a memory I will never forget. He will be greatly missed.
I have always been a huge fan of Thanksgiving and Christmas, mainly because it seems like we need it as an excuse to get the entire family together for an uninterrupted day spending time with each other. I love spending time with my family, and Danielle’s family, and of course, our own little family, and this year has been no exception. In fact, the weeks leading up to the holiday this year has made me appreciate being with our families even more. We were able to spend some time at my parent’s house on Christmas Eve, just hanging out and visiting with each other. That night, we headed over to Danielle’s parent’s house for the big Christmas Eve dinner that we have every year. The food was as good as ever, and we were able to see all the grandkids open up their gifts that they get every year (pajamas). I think it was the first time Brody has been able to open up a present for him. We ended up playing games and hanging out which also was a lot of fun. We headed home pretty late and Danielle and I opened up 1 present we got for each other and then headed off to bed. It was a really fun day and night.
The next day ended up being even busier. We got off to a late start in the morning, we tend to try to sleep in whenever we get the chance. We got up and opened up all of our presents together. I especially enjoyed watching Brody open all his new toys and to my surprise, he didn’t care much at all about playing with the wrapping paper, he was really eyeing those toys. He enjoyed them so much in fact, that he started whining every time we took a toy away to have him open another gift. As we were finishing up opening our gifts, my family came over for breakfast. We have had breakfast at my house for the last few years, and we thought we would do it again. Breakfast ended up being really good, and then we had to hurry and get ready and headed over to Danielle’s parent’s house again to spend some time and open up some gifts over there. It didn’t seem like very long when we headed over to my parent’s house to have dinner and open gifts there as well. We were able to play some Beatles Rock Band, and some other games of the Wii which were really fun. And then after that, we headed home to spend some time together with just the three of us. A very busy couple of days, but a very good time nonetheless.
As many of you that know me already know, I love to play volleyball. I played quite a bit over the summer, and as the warm weather came to an end, I was excited to move back to the court to play some indoor ball. We had gotten a team of guys together last year that all went to Utah State, and won both of the city leagues we played in, so this year I was hoping to get our same team back and win some more. After replacing one of the guys that moved out of state, we started playing in a league in Sandy way back in September. There were a few really good teams that were competitive, but we ended up pulling out the championship in the end.
After only a week break, we jumped right back into another league in Murray which ended up being the most competitive we have played in so far. There were 10 teams, and most of them were really good. We had a little trouble getting our entire team to play on a weekly basis, so we had to use a lot of subs. One of the guys hurt his leg pretty bad, so he ended up sitting out the final 4 weeks of the league. Luckily we were able to convince Joe Hillman (former BYU player) to come play with us for the final 3 weeks. I have also had some problems with my shoulder which required me to go get it checked out at the doctors. Because of that, I had another guy come and play for me when my rotation was on the front row, while I played back row. Anyhow, we ended up pulling out the victory for the championship in that league as well.
In addition to the leagues, we also played in a men’s tournament at Utah Valley University at the end of November. Up until that time, we had only played in city leagues, so we were unsure how we would fare against club teams from UVU, UofU, SLCC, and the like. Because we were an unknown and unranked team, we were placed in the lowest pool were we played a high school club team, and UVU’s C team. We were playing amazing that weekend and beat everyone in our pool pretty convincingly. After pool play, we started the playoffs by facing a really tough team from Vegas. We had pretty good leads in both games, but ended up losing to them in both. The loss sent us into a losers bracket where we played and smoked Air Force Academy’s club team, and then we beat a team which consisted of some guys that used to play for UVU years ago. Our goal was to place in the top 10, and with that 1 loss and a unlucky draw in the playoffs, we ended up taking 9th. It was probably the best time I’ve ever had playing volleyball.
October is one of the best months of the year! Brody turned 6 months on October 6th. I can’t believe it has already been a half year since Brody has been born. He has grown up so much in that time and has really started developing a personality. He has started getting set in his routines and has a rough time when he doesn’t get his usual nap and feeding times. The bigger he gets, the more he fits into clothes that make him look less like an infant and more like a little man. On all the recent Dr visits, he has been doing great, still in the high percentiles for height, and low in weight, not much has changed there.