Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving week was lots of fun. We left for Boise on Monday night before Thanksgiving and Joel woke up early the next morning to drive to Washington with my dad and brother. My grandpa had a tractor he gave my dad and Joel went to help him get it. I really wanted to go too but it is a 9 hour drive and they drove straight there and then back. Brynlee doesn't do well in the car and I would have been very uncomfortable having to sit for so long. I decided to stay with my mom and grandma. My sister and my cousin and her family went to Washington too but they drove their own vehicle. Joel got to meet my grandpa (on my dad's side) for the first time. It was a long and quick trip but I think he had fun and he was back by Wednesday night. While he was gone I got to help get ready for Thanksgiving dinner. We had lots of people over so my grandma made eleven pies.

I love these two so much. 

For the rest of the week we did some puzzles, played games, talked to family, went shopping, and enjoyed lots of great food. It was great to be able to reflect on all of the blessing in my life and to think about all I am thankful for. Having Joel gone for a few days made me rally appreciate him. I am also grateful for my wonderful family, for my beautiful daughter, and for my Savior. I am glad for the opportunities we have to visit family. It was a great week. We really do feel so blessed. The only bad part about the week is that Brynlee and I both got colds. Hopefully they wont last long and Joel wont get it too.

It's Autumn Time

This year fall in Rexburg started out really nice. On the first of October Brynlee and I spent the day outside in t-shirts catching bugs and playing with bubbles. 

And then on the 6th of October it snowed quite a bit. Brynlee was not a fan of the snow. The wind was just blowing so hard it was really cold. Since then we have had some days that have been really nice and we have been able to play outside with just a light jacket on and there have been other days that it is too cold to even leave the house.  Lately there are more cold days than anything. 

Brynlee has been really ingenious at coming up with things to keep herself busy on the days we are stuck inside. She loves to dress up in mom and dad's clothes and she is constantly making piles of toys and nicknacks all around the house. She loves to read books, although she won't sit still for an entire story. In the middle of the book she gets up and leaves and then brings me another book to read. She also loves to sing songs. Our favorite part of the day is when dad is home. Brynlee loves to wrestle with dad, they play blocks together, and he builds the best tents.

Here is a short video of us singing some of our favorite songs. 

It's a...

GIRL!

At my doctor's appointment yesterday they did an ultrasound and we found out that we are having another little girl. We are way excited. I think it will be lots of fun to watch Brynlee interact with a little sister. Plus we don't have to buy this baby a whole new wardrobe. Joel was excited to be having a girl to. We plan on having more kids so he said he didn't mind waiting for a boy. 

The baby looks healthy and was moving all over the place. At first we didn't think we were going to get to find out the gender, but at the last second she gave us a brief glance. If this baby is anything like Brynlee we will get a run for our money but I would be really happy. 

Brynlee as a newborn

Brynlee's Favorite Game

A few months ago I taught Brynlee how to play Ring Around the Rosie and now we can't play it enough. Brynlee loves this game. She is constantly walking around the house, usually going in circles, singing "Ashes, Ashes, Down." Then she falls to the ground. She is always trying to grab my hands and get me to come play with her. Lately she has started to play with her baby dolls or her stuffed animals. 

Won't she make a great big sister? Lately Brynlee and her Uncle Brian invented a new way to play the game. We all love it when Brian comes over because he likes to play with Brynlee and he is good at keeping her entertained. 

Trick-or-Treat

For Halloween this year we all went trick-or-treating. We dressed Brynlee as a spider and took her outside. We tried to get Brynlee to say trick or treat all week and she would just tell us no. We had a few trick or treaters at our apartment right before we left. We were surprised that anyone would walk up three flights of stairs for candy but we had some candy to give away. Once Brynlee saw these kids outside though, it totally motivated her to go and when Joel told her she had to say trick or treat if she wanted to go she was all over it. (Although it was more like "Ti o Tee") 

Brynlee rode in the stroller to the first house but insisted on walking the rest of the night. She loved watching all of the other kids and seeing all of the pumpkins and decorations. The whole night she was in awe of what was going on. At each house she would walk to the door, knock, say trick or treat, and then freeze once the door opened. A few times she waved goodbye or would say thank you and several times she tried to get more candy from the person. "More" she would ask. A few times it even worked. A few times she tried to walk into the house, especially when she could hear a dog barking.  We made it down one street and back but it took quite a while so then we were done. We stopped by the church for our ward FHE Halloween party where we got lots more candy and then we headed home.  

Brynlee got lots of candy. We dumped the bag out when we got home so we could check everything. Brynlee kept trying to pick up as much candy as she could. Joel tried to eat a piece and she got really mad at him. Eventually she gave him a piece of candy and we put Brynlee to bed. 

It was a great and fun day. Once Brynlee was in bed Joel ate lots of Brynlee's candy. I had to hide it from him. 

Pumpkin Carving

Ever since we brought a pumpkin home Brynlee has been obsessed with them. She points them out every time we see one. On Saturday we finally showed Brynlee what people actually do with pumpkins. We carved a nice face in them. At first Brynlee was very curious about what was going on. 

Once dad pulled off the lid Brynlee backed way back.

Eventually she came in for a closer look. 

She watched dad clean the pumpkin a little bit. 

And then she got right in there and helped. 

She loved pumpkin carving. 

Here is a little video of Brynlee cleaning out the pumpkin.

Here is the finished product. Joel made ears and eyebrows for the pumpkin but Brynlee kept pulling them out.  They only lasted for a few days before Brynlee took out an ear and took a bite out of it. She didn't try to eat anything else but I guess the ear looked good. Luckily she spit it out. 

Fun Day

Brynlee and I love to play on the computer. Brynlee especially likes to watch herself while we listen to music. Here is a short video of me and Brynlee watching ourselves on the computer. 

P.S. Our trip to Boise was a LOT of fun. I love getting to see my family. 

What a Week

So far this has been a really long week. It started on Sunday with Brynlee only taking a short 20 minute nap at church. We had some family over for dinner and even lots more family over to celebrate Joel's birthday with us. We bought an ice cream cake but I forgot the candles. I guess Joel really wanted candles on his cake because the next thing I knew he had one of my scented candles in the microwave and he cut up one of my hair ties (thanks Joel) so he could make his own. One of them actually worked. We had a fun night of cake and games.

As soon as everyone left we put Brynlee right to bed. I have never seen Brynlee that grouchy. Almost as soon as we went to bed, we were awaken to the sounds of Brynlee throwing up. This happened throughout the night so we didn't get any sleep. I kept having to change her clothes, or her sheets.  On monday morning she seemed to be much better. She was running around and making all kinds of messes. I was just glad it was a short bug.

Tuesday was Joel's real birthday. We spent the morning at the doctors for a check up on baby number two. They also gave me the flu shot while I was there. As of Yesterday I am 17 weeks pregnant and baby looks healthy and has a good strong heartbeat. We find out if it is a boy or girl on the 3rd of November and baby is due on March 22nd. We are all pretty excited.

After the doctor's appointment Joel had to go to school. Brynlee and I went to the store to buy him some presents. We came home and wrapped everything, I made Joel a cake, and then I felt so sick I couldn't even get off of the couch. I got whatever Brynlee had and felt miserable. I just let Brynlee terrorize the house and she did a good job of making a huge mess. When Joel came home he had to make his own dinner, eat a piece of cake alone with Brynlee, and he brought the gifts in the bedroom so I could watch him open them. Then he spent the rest of the night taking care of Brynlee and doing homework.

On Wednesday I felt much better but I still had no energy. Later that day, Joel came home early from class with the same sickness we had. He spent the rest of the day in bed but he felt much better by dinnertime. He didn't get near as sick as I did. He felt completely better On Thursday and was able to go to all of his classes. We finally got to put some real candles in the last piece of cake and sing happy birthday to Joel that night. Now it is Friday and we are getting all packed and ready to go to Boise for the weekend. My grandpa and Uncle are there from Texas and I haven't seen them in almost four years. I am really excited to get to visit with them and my family is always excited to see Brynlee. This should be a good weekend which will make up for our crazy week.

Fifteen Months

This girl turned 15 months a few weeks ago. 

At Brynlee's 15 month check up she weighed 21.1 lbs. (23%) and she was 32 in. (91%) tall. She grew almost 3 inches in 3 months.  

Brynlee loves to play outside. She loves dirt, mud, and bugs. She is good at blowing bubbles and loves to play with them. Nowadays she is really fast and runs everywhere. She is extremely independent and wants to do everything by herself. She also wants to be included in everything we are doing. She is good at helping us load the dishwasher and make dinner. 

Brynlee only has two teeth (the bottom ones) in her mouth but she is finally starting to grow some more hair. She says new words everyday. Some of the words she can say include... thank you, please, what, more, bite, dog, kitty, cow, bug, nose, mouth, eye, belly, go, down, bath, no, wee, bubble, mommy, daddy, and Joel (Joel was not happy about this one so now I can only call him dad in front of Brynlee). She can say several other words and has even said a few small phrases.

Brynlee can be very sweet and loving but she also has a temper. Lately she has not been fun to take anywhere because she doesn't like to sit still for long. Lately her tantrums include throwing herself on the ground with loud screaming and kicking. She throws several of these fits a day. She is just a very busy  little girl. 

Overall, Brynlee is a happy, healthy, active 15 month old little girl and we are very glad she is in our family. 

Corn on the Cob

While we were in Boise, we got to chance to pick some corn. My family went with us and we got lots of corn to freeze.

As Brian went to shuck a piece of corn, Brynlee grabbed it right out of his hands and ran.  Then she ate that corn like it was candy. "Mmmmmm" she was saying the whole time she ate it. She actually ate quite a bit of the corn off of the cob. I was impressed, especially since she only has her two bottom teeth. 

Brynlee even shared some of her corn with her grandpa. 

It was a fun day and we got a lot of corn. 

We spent the rest of the day shucking, cutting, and freezing corn. The whole day Brynlee kept stealing samples of the corn. Although, I think she liked it best fresh from the field. 

Seven Week Break

Joel finished his internship on July 22 and school didn't start up again until Monday, September 12. This gave us 7 weeks to do whatever we wanted. We decided we needed to earn some money so Joel and I went to Kuna, Idaho and stayed at my grandma's house where Joel worked on the farm with his brother. He worked as a mechanic from 7am to 7pm Monday through Friday so we didn't see him a lot. On Saturdays he had lots of projects planned. He helped my family fix some vehicles and put in railroad ties, rocks, and sand at my grandma's house. Brynlee and I helped him when we could. The rest of the week we spent time with family. Here are just a few of the things we did.

We went to the lake with Joel's family and played in the water. His sister Joy was there from Washington and his sister Jenny and her family was here from Canada. We got to ride in the boat and Joel went tubing while we watched. Brynlee liked being in the boat but she hated the life jacket.

We spent a lot of time outside. Brynlee loved playing with the dogs and grandma Verna let her have her own ice cream cones. Grandma also got Brynlee her own fly swatter and taught her how to swat those flies. 

Brynlee loved riding on Grandma's riding mower with her dad. 

We went to the park and saw lots of ducks and geese. We also went to the Boise zoo and Brynlee got to feed the goats. 

We ate lots of good food.

We spent another day out at Lake Lowell. This time we went with my family and Joel got to water ski while we played in the sand/mud. 

We visited Joel parent's several times and we got to see their new house. They have some kittens that Brynlee really enjoyed playing with. 

And best of all, we just got to spend lots of time with family.

It was a great trip and I am glad we went but it is nice to be back home again. Brynlee is sleeping much better now that she is in her own room; which means we are all sleeping better. I can tell Brynlee misses everyone but is adjusting well to being back home. This is Joel's last semester so we are excited for him to go to school and finish. So far he thinks it will be a busy semester but he likes most of the classes he went to.