Happy 1st Birthday, Bryn!!

Wow, we cannot believe that Bryn is now 1 year old!! Where did the time go?!? We are so grateful for this sweet, little girl of ours! She always has a ready smile and has quite the personality already! She loves to show-off when she knows she has an audience, she adores her brother and sister, and definitely has her daddy wrapped around her little pinky!!

Here are a few more things about Bryn:

~She only has 2 teeth so far. She finally poked those through at around 10 1/2 months...hopefully that means less dental problems later on!! :0)

~She was a late crawler, too, but being the 3rd child, we didn't mind too much! ;0) When she did decide to crawl at 11 months, she just did it. No, rocking back and forth on her hands and knees or anything like that. She just went. Funny girl. We have a feeling she's going to be the same way with walking!

~Along those lines, she is cruising all over furniture right now, so walking isn't going to be too far behind.

~She is tiny compared to Paige and Austin at this age. She is our petite child (she just takes after my side of the family, I guess!). She has her 1 year doctor's appt on Monday, but the last time she was in, she was around 15 - 20% in both height and weight. We'll see how much she's grown on Monday. :0)

~She absolutely LOVES dogs and horses! In fact, dog was one of her 1st words (the other one was Dada, of course). This girl can spot a dog or horse from a mile away. When we were at the 24th of July parade, I learned to hold onto her tightly whenever a horse went by because she seriously tried to fall out of my arms to get to each one!! She's just like Paige in this area. Maybe we'll have 2 vets in the family! :0)

~So far, Bryn says dog (daw), Daddy (dada), Mommy (ma), that (dat), uh-oh (uh-uh-oh) and lots of jibberish! She will also wave if she feels like it.

Those are the highlights of our beautiful, sweet, Bryn. Here are a few pictures from her birthday party and in her cute birthday outfit.

She looks so grown up in this picture!! I embellished one of her onesies this morning. The picture below kind of shows it better. I just cut out a flower and a number one and sewed them onto the onesie. Then I made a fabric flower bow to match.

We actually celebrated Bryn's birthday on Monday because Kandra and the kids could come and it worked well as our Family Home Evening for the week! She got a new baby swing, some finger puppets from IKEA and 3 adorable animal "cars". She really loves the snail car that my mom and dad gave her!

As you can see, she LOVED her cake. We had to laugh at how she kept putting her foot on the table. At times, it looked like her big toe was giving a big "thumbs-up"! (She moved it before I could get a picture of it. Darn it!)

Paige and Austin helped me make a lady-bug cake for her. It was the best we could do since we decided to have her party just that morning! :0) The cupcake head worked great for Bryn's piece, though!

We love you so much, Bryn!! Happy Birthday!

New England trip - Part 2

The 2nd day of my trip back East we went to New York City. We took the train from Connecticut to NYC and when we walked into Grand Central Station it really was surreal. I just kept thinking of all of the movies with Grand Central in it and couldn't believe I was there! It just got better from there, too! We stayed at the Hilton in Times Square with the best view ever. We looked down onto Times Square and could see the Harbor just to the left of us. It was awesome.

Here we are in Times Square. I couldn't believe how many people were there. It was packed, but I guess that's New York City! ;0)

Ash wasn't so sure about this guys for some reason. :0)

Jill was just being silly and walked up there to get a picture with this guy and then when he handed her the torch it read, "Now you owe me $3." Oops! ;0)

We went in the St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was a beautiful building. I'm always amazed by the details of these old churches!

I'm so glad we went to NY over Memorial Day weekend because we were able to see scenes like this at 30 Rock. It seriously took my breath away seeing all these flags. It was beautiful.

That night we got dressed up and went out to eat at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill, and then to Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theater. Here's Nan, Athena and I in a taxi on the way to dinner.

Our meal at Mesa Grill was AMAZING! I had the spiced pork tenderloin medallions which were divine!

Right before the show. Oh, how I love Broadway!!

I don't know if it was all the exhaust, the different smells, or what, but my allergies started acting up the night we were in NY. I thought it was hilarious that Nan took this picture just at the right moment to make me look like I'm sleepwalking on Broadway! ;0)

Central Park was amazing. I wish we had the time to walk around in it more, but we were trying to fit so many things in our trip to NY. It still is so crazy to me that a place like Central Park can be right in the middle of NYC.

We took the subway to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero and Wall St. Definitely a 1st!

Ground Zero. The feeling I got there was indescribable. I am just so proud to be an American and have the freedoms we have in this wonderful country. I am so grateful to all of those who have fought and given their lives for those freedoms. I am so grateful for all of the men and women who are now fighting for us and our freedom. I will never forget the tragic day of 9/11/2001.

Battery Park

Wall Street and the Financial District

We had such a blast in NYC. We fit so much in and my feet were so sore from walking so much, but it was worth every mile walked!! ;0)

New England trip - Part 1

I can't believe it's taken me this long to post about my trip to New England. It was such an amazing trip and the girls I went with made it even better. Most of my roommates from my sophomore year at Ricks College were there. We missed Beth, though. She couldn't come with us because she's expecting her 4th baby. I guess that was a good enough reason! ;0) (BTW, Beth, is your sweet baby here yet?!? We need an update!! ;0))

The first destination on our trip was to Newport, Rhode Island. It was such a beautiful place. We toured a couple of the mansions there and, boy, they were some of the most extravagent buildings I have ever seen! The first one we saw was the Breakers. It was the Vanderbilt's summer home in the late 1800's. The whole time we were there, I just kept thinking about how it would be to live in that mansion and it wasn't hard to imagine yourself walking down the grand staircase in a ball gown at the beginning of a ball. It really was amazing. I really wish we could have taken pictures of the inside, but then again, they wouldn't have done it justice.

We had a lobster dinner at our hotel room. It was the first time I had eaten lobster and it was pretty good. We didn't have the right utensil (tool) for breaking open the lobster, so that was a little weird, but it was better than I thought it would be, especially because I am not a seafood lover! I thought it was a very nice-looking dinner, though, don't you think?

Before dinner we went to the beach. It wasn't the warmest day, but it was still fun and refreshing to go to the beach. We had so much fun taking fun jumping pictures and running into the ocean. Ashleigh and Athena even went completely into the water (crazy girls!).

Happy 4th of July

I meant to post this a little earlier. Oops. We hope you all had a great 4th. We sure did. Set off a few fireworks and firecrackers tonight, which the kids LOVED. Had a little BBQ with the fam. Attended church and listened to wonderful testimonies and Paige's talk in Primary about following Jesus' example. It was a great day.

Yesterday we went on a little hike and it was a great one for the kids. I ended up having to turn back a little early, though, because Bryn was having an allergy attack. Something up there was getting to her and her nose was running and her eyes were starting to swell up. It was so sad to see. She was taking it pretty well, though. I might need to take her in if it continues, poor girl!

See her eyes?

A day of firsts

Yesterday, was definitely a day of "firsts" at our house. First of all, Bryn's first tooth finally decided to make it's debut! We were wondering when her pearly whites were going to decide to come out and I guess they picked yesterday! It's her bottom right tooth that's peeking out right now and her bottom left will be coming through soon after, I think. It's weird having her teeth so much later that Paige and Austin. Paige was 6 months and Austin was 4 months when they got their first teeth. Each child is different in more ways than one, that's for sure!

Our other "first" was Paige's first experience with organized sports, T-ball. She had her first practice last night and let's just say she absolutely and totally loved it. She went to bed a very happy girl. She had to go out with Daddy and me to "practice" throwing and catching before her actual practice. She loved using her brand new purple baseball glove with its matching purple and gray ball! At practice, she learned where Home, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd bases were, she practiced fielding (going down on one knee, even), and batting. She did quite well hitting (which she says is her favorite part of the game) and didn't have to use the "Tee". One of her coaches tossed the ball to her and she hit the ball on her 2nd try. Now she just needs to remember to drop the bat and run to 1st base after she hits it! :0) (She definitely wasn't the only one having trouble getting this concept down!) Paige had to tell me several times last night and today that her coach called her "lightning" because she runs so fast around the bases. She really was quite fast which makes me happy being a sprinter in my younger years! ;0) It was so funny watching Paige and her teammates learn a new sport and see how much fun it is to play. Hopefully they'll always keep that love of playing and staying active throughout their lives. We'll see how they do during the season. They have games twice a week for about 4-5 weeks which will be fun! Wish the Mets, luck!!! :0)

More Family Time

We went to Brian's parents' house about a month ago and the kids had so much fun. Here they are showing off their mad baseball skills!

The kids LOVE bedtime stories, especially with Grandma's special books. You have to love how Grandpa and Uncle Dan are fast asleep!

We love our cousins!

We are so lucky to have family so close to us. We get to see them quite often and the kids love it!

Here's Dawson and Bryn. Aren't they so cute?

My kids absolutely adore their cousin, Max. This picture shows this quite well, doesn't it?

Bryn did like this before I came out to take a picture....promise.

And she likes Max, too!

And Max likes Bryn!

And who could forget Bryn?

Here's our sweet, happy Bryn. I took this picture when she was 9 months and I just

love it!! Her toothless smile (yeah, still no teeth) and her cheeks get us every time. She really is a very happy baby unless she's sick (as Brian found out while I was gone last week). She has now begun to really pout when she gets a toy taken away from her or doesn't get her way. It's really quite funny. I have a feeling she's going to as dramatic as Paige, so we'll have to watch out for this one!

I couldn't help but take this picture. Her little bottom was so cute!! And those thighs!!! ;0) I'm just really glad that she took a nap before church that Sunday!

Nothing like gumming a little apple core!

This girl has quite the facial expressions, doesn't she?

Bryn says, "Howdy!"

What Austin's been up to!

Austin is becoming our big boy. It's crazy how tall he seems to be getting just overnight. He's a typical 3 year old. By that, I mean he is stubborn, can throw some major tantrums, has moments when he's just hard to live with, but mainly is a very loving and funny little boy. He loves his cousins, as this picture shows with Max. Austin had to make sure that Max knew how to play with the dump truck he got for his birthday. He also plays well with Paige, most of the time. He has begun to pester Paige quite a bit which is a new challenge, but hey, he's a little brother and that's what they do, right?!? ;0) He's looking forward to starting preschool in the fall. It's going to be really weird just having Bryn 2 mornings every week, but it will be nice.

Austin loves to sneak my camera and take pictures with it. This picture just makes me laugh. I don't know if it's because he's wearing his cowboy boots, or the fact that he had to take a picture of the cowboy boots!

Paige isn't innocent in the camera-thievery either, as you can see, but boy did they take some cute pictures!!! :0)

It's seriously been 2 months!?!?

OK, I can't seem to figure out how to move these 2 pictures to the end of the post on Bri's laptop, so just pretend they're in the correct spot! ;0)

Here's Paige with 2 of her best friends from preschool. They're going to have fun together in school over the years. Hopefully they don't get into too much trouble together!

Paige was so cute in her cap and gown.

You know it's been a long time since you last posted when you have to look back at the blog to see what the last post was about. When I saw mine was Easter I about died. Sorry I've been such a slacker!! I do have some valid excuses that I could use, but I won't. :0) I guess I'll just have to skim over what we've been doing for the last 2 months. I'll begin with Paige.

Since the last picture of the kids in their Easter outfits, Paige cut her hair. Yeah, she decided that she wanted bangs and shorter hair during General conference. I was watching conference in my room and I told Paige to get her piggy-tail holders so I could fix her hair it didn't dawn on me that she was gone for longer than normal. When she finally came in she handed the comb and piggy-tail holders as if nothing was wrong and I proceeded to take out her braids from the day before. When gobs of hair came with the piggy-tail holders I knew something was wrong. I really started looking around and realized that she did more than just a couple snips here and there. I was soooo mad!! The bad thing was this all happened during Sister Julie Beck's talk when she said that you can still feel the Spirit and receive personal revelation when a lot of things are going on in the home, but as soon as you lose your temper, the Spirit is gone. Yeah, the Spirit left pretty quick, I think!! ;0) Luckily, my hairdresser was able to come over and fix her hair. It ended up turning out OK and she has gotten a lot of compliments on her hair, but if Paige knows what is good for her, she'd better not do that again...EVER! ;0) Here's a picture of her hair now. She sure looks older! I think she's pretty sad she did it because she'll look at pictures of herself with long hair and she says, "You can't do that with my hair anymore, huh, Mom?" "No, honey, I can't."

I love this picture. Paige is such a silly girl and I love it. We never know what she's going to come up with next.

Paige graduated from preschool a couple weeks ago. It was a little long, but the kids were all adorable and sang their songs so well. Paige led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. It was so cute! We wished Brian and Austin could have been there, but they went to the Father/Son campout and had their own little adventures. (Waking up in the morning to an inch of snow in the middle of May.) Anyway, Paige LOVED preschool and her teachers. Her teachers were wonderful and taught her so much. She is now looking forward to kindergarten and couldn't be more excited! She's so ready and I'm glad for that.