"It was the Best of Times..."

Christmas 2011

2012-01-12T13:28:00.020-07:00

We made a bon fire in our backyard and roasted hot dogs...um sorry Brynne is hitting you in the face Andrea haha.
Dane must be a boy because he was especially fascinated with the fire.
We made some awesome gingerbread houses, Brynne had fun sneaking the candy any chance she got.

The finished products!
Dane helping with the houses...or just eating some marshmallows.
Taylor had to work on Christmas day so Santa didn't make it to our house until he got home about 3:30. It was kinda fun waiting because Christmas lasted the whole day. We went to Church wich was great because I usually go to church by myself because Taylor works, I didn't have to leave sacrament meeting once, but my dad had to go out twice with Dane, Kenny once with Dane, and Andrea once to take Brynne to the bathroom...can they come with me every week?! We didnt end up having dinner until 8:00, but it was amazing, we had bbq tri-tip, funeral potatoes, my dads rolls, salad, and carrot pudding that I tried to learn to make this year.

Dane started getting the hang of present opening after a few presents and was loving it, by FAR his favorite part was eating as many candy canes as possible.
The kids loved having all the attention from both of their grandmas and grandpas!
Brynnes Bike she had been wanting for months! We actually found this at D.I. and cleaned it up, painted it, and put on the training wheels. Dane didn't know what to think of Mr. Potato head at first, but now he loves him.

Notice Brynnes wardrobe change..
Who said boys don't like getting clothes for Christmas, he was actually really happy with the shirts he got.
We went swimming one night over Christmas break, both kids are such fish and would swim everyday if they could.
We were pet sitters for my uncles bunny and beagle, it was really fun the kids loved them. Dane adored the dog and would chase it around barking, it was pretty cute!

Andreas Birthday party, we also went to Aurlisas birthday party.

We were going to go skiing but there wasnt any snow, so we got a babysitter and went to a place called jump on it, a big building full of trampolines and a climbing wall, we had so much fun just playing with out any kids, it was a blast and we were all sore the next day. We also went to mission impossible four, it was really good.

I really missed my little brothers this year, but we got to skype with Chad for about 3 hours, and we got to talk to Todd a few times.

Anyways we had a blast being able to spend so much time with our families, it was a great Christmas!

My Ballerina

2012-01-11T18:45:00.005-07:00

I love these pictures
Taylor took of Brynne.
This is what she does for
50% of the day. She
loves being a Ballerina!
We signed her up for a
ballet class that starts next
week and she talks about it
all the time!
She has been watching
Angelina ballerina episodes
on netflix and I am actually
pretty impressed with
her skills!
She is especially good
at spinning around and
around. Her favorite
music to dance to is
"I like to move it move it"

Best D.I. find ever!!
We sure love this energetic
gorgeous, fun, sweet,
ballerina!

Family Tree

2011-12-27T16:36:00.002-07:00

We made this for Ann for Christmas this year, I love how it turned out!

Santa!

2011-12-11T09:12:00.005-07:00

Brynne has been so excited to go see santa! After Taylor got off work yesterday we headed to R.C. Willey, It was so much fun! Santa didn't have a line, we could take our own pictures, and they took pictures and gave us free copies, a much better deal than the mall! The store had hired carolers to sing around the store, it was a great Christmas atmosphere and Brynne could hardly contain her excitement, when santa ask her what she wanted she yelled "BIKE" She has been practicing. She didnt want to get off santa's lap, and then after it was time to go we had to walk by a couple of times to wave. Dane was a little shy at first and wouldn't make eye contact, but there was no screaming like I had planned for. He was pretty happy with his candy cane! Welcome Christmas season!

We are grateful!!

2011-11-29T08:13:00.013-07:00

We had SUCH a great Thanksgiving!
Taylor's famous pumpkin cinnamon rolls that he makes once a year, they were awesome!
Purple girls!
Suzanne making some perfect gravy.
Grandma McAffee and George.
The McAffee's
Kenny and Andreas best friends came from Arizona, thanks Buckmasters for making it more of a party..as you can see :)
Dad hit Dane in the head with a Frisbee on accident...but he doesn't look very sorry to me!
We went swimming at the indoor pool, the kids LOVED it so much we also went the next day. Brynne was being really brave and jumping off the diving board over and over. She was walking up the steps to the board and slipped and somehow did a flip and landed on her head. It is quite the bump and scape, she is fine unless she looks in the mirror :)
Temple square lights

We are so grateful for all our family we got to see and the fun that we had!
Highlights of Thanksgiving
- We got to babysit my newest cousin Cruz
- We got to see the Jensen side of the family
- We played volleyball
- Went shopping
- Watched Jane Eyre
- Went swimming twice
- Went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill
- Grandma McAffee and George came from AZ
- Suzanne and Troy came from Rexburg
- Roy and Elliot came from AZ
- Mom and Dad came from CA
- Kenny and Andrea came from Orem
- Went to temple square
- BYU Basketball game
- The Creameries Almond coconut ice cream and Graham Canyon ice cream
- Dehydrated way to many onions
- Went to the Springville Art Museum
- Played games and card
- Cracker wars with the Jensens
- Ate way to much food
- Taylor and I ran a 5k
- Slept in

I am Grateful for so many things this year, I'm feeling very blessed today!!

WAHOO!!

2011-11-07T17:01:00.001-07:00

I don't know where Brynne found this binky...but thank you to whoever left it at our house. A very needed nap on the kitchen rug!!

Halloween and Halloween Half

2011-11-04T14:45:00.015-06:00

Brynne had SO much fun this year! But who wouldnt have fun in her costume!
Taylor and Dane have authentic German costumes that Taylor got when he was on his mission...I guess he was pretty confident he would have a son someday!
The first house!!

The pumpkin patch in Springville, we got our pumpkins on Halloween, it was a gorgeous 65 degree day!

This is the forced "say your sorry and give your brother a hug" hug.
(Hopefully this doesn't sound like I'm bragging, I'm just excited i'm done!) On Saturday I ran my first half marathon! It was such an anticipated day for me! I first decided to run a half marathon with my roommates in college but I chickened out about a month before the race, and have always regretted that decision! Then I was going to run one with my aunt in Chicago after Taylor and I got married, but I got pregnant.

In May my friend told me she was going to run one so I decided I would do it right this time! When I first started jogging in May I could barely run one mile! In July I started training on a schedule where I would run 4 days a week. Usually a 2 mile, and two 3 mile days, and then a long run that was 6-9 miles. It was hard, but Taylor was great at watching the kids, and that was a great incentive to go :)

I had the thought more that once where I felt like this experience related to the atonement. I had had several opportunities to run a half marathon before that I didn't take, it would have been a lot easier because I was in shape in college, had not had 2 children and everything that comes with that, and had all my time to myself. But I eventually took the chance to get it done, even though it was MUCH harder. But I am so grateful for the opportunity to really push myself and accomplish a long time goal!

It was a Halloween marathon so everyone wore costumes, it was a really fun atmosphere! It was from about 4 miles above Sundance down to the riverwoods in Provo along the Provo River. It was mostly downhill. I finished about 1/2 hour faster that I had thought I could, I am so thrilled to be done!

Thanks Taylor, Brynne, Dane, Kenny, and Andrea for coming to watch and the cool signs!

Loving Fall!

2011-10-23T11:19:00.014-06:00

We have had a few gorgeous sunny fall days this week, I love this weather, it is perfect!!

These two are starting to have so much fun together!

We had a huge storm a couple weeks ago, luckily it warmed back up, dont think I'm quite ready for trying to find gloves and jackets and socks and boots before we can leave the house.
....Dane was almost ready to go play in the snow, but the problem is he's not a fan of clothes, but he likes his new boots apparently.
Last weekend we went to one of my old roomate Amber's wedding in Rexburg. It was a fun weekend! We walked around campus with the kids in a stroller and I felt so old! Also BYUI has changed soo much that I hardly knew how to get around. What a nice school, with so many good memories!
Amber was gorgeous and so happy!! It was so fun to be with these girls again, we had so much fun!
Zoe, Summer, Carrie, and I
Summer just got engaged to Karl in New Zealand! They get married next month, I'm so happy for them!
We got to spend time with the Williams, and it is always great to stay with them!
Sarah and Vinny, he is such a cutie pie!
We had a little halloween get together and I'm pretty proud of these cupcakes :)

Preview of Brynnes costume...I thought she would be deflated by the end of the night, but all of her balloons were intact. She even trip and fell, and she just kinda bounced right up, I should have my kids wear balloons all the time!
Balloon pinata...Mom this is sadly the only picture I got of the back of Dane, so this is a teaser until Halloween :)

Starts with a "T" and ends with a "E" We've got TROUBLE!

2011-09-09T12:26:00.018-06:00

One of my friends just blogged about her rough day dealing with motherhood and messes, well I have been frustrated with my little trouble makers latley too so I thought I would take pictures of everything they get into because I know the day will soon come that I will miss these little one's, and I just want to remember them as funny, not me pulling my hair out :)

TROUBLE
"Helping" with the dishes :)
Heres one way to get rid of all my zucchini!
Mr. I'll climb anything with no fear, but I wont know how to get down so I'll fall or scream until you come get me, and by the way can we go up and down the stairs for a hour straight please?
Ya, just eating 2 pounds of cheese, no big deal.
One whole pot of waterproof eyeliner. Half way through the clean up process. Doesnt come off with soap and water, had to coat her in baby oil and Vaseline, let her soak and then scrub for a hour, then clean up the oil. The tub is still suffering. 2 hour clean up project.
Hey, I'm teething and my sister scares me, please don't ever ever set me on the floor while she's around, got it mom?!
Guess she wanted to get dry after swimming...oh wait she wasn't swimming just loves to wear that cute swim suit..all the time!
Fun with dad!

Labor Day at the zoo with the Broughtons

Brynnes favorite by far, the baby elephant!
Grandpa to the rescue pushing that 1000 lb (almost) stroller and diaper bag!

The girls with Grandma B!

House projects and D.I. finds

$3 picture frame painted blue and glazed, and old book wreath.
End table that came with the house painted almond and glazed. Tray from D.I. for $1.50
Painted and glazed picture from from d.i. $3.
Picture frame arrangement.
Yellow valance that is far from perfect and cricked but I love it anyways!

4 years?!

2011-09-02T09:52:00.003-06:00

Taylor and I recently celebrated our 4 year anniversary, it has gone so fast, and soo much has happened it is crazy! I just found one of our wedding invitations, and it has made me think of all the fun we had planning the wedding! I think if I were choosing invitations again I would want these to be exactly the same. I knew what I wanted when we were looking for invitations but couldn't find it in our budget, so Taylor to the rescue! He ended up making these on powerpoint, haha! He is amazing and talented at so many things, and he rescues me from something everyday. I'm one lucky girl!

Creepy...

2011-08-18T14:38:00.001-06:00

Brynne was NOT happy about taking a nap today.
So she sent me this message under the door to let me know.
I'm a little disturbed...this WAS one of her favorite dolls.
Ahhhh, I will miss life with both kids taking a nap!

One year of fun!

2011-08-10T22:11:00.018-06:00

Brynnes Birthday song for Dane: "happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday DANNNNER BOY!"
I love Brynne's extreme jealousy of Dane's new toy in this picture, haha!
Who's more excited about the shoes?

We took Dane to this lake when he was a few day's old last year, he had alot more fun this year! This is one of my favorite summer destinations in Utah, Payson Lakes.
Dane wishing he could jump off the dock like me and his sister.
walking around the lake

So tired after swimming all afternoon

The Angel Fish cake
School of cupcake fish

Some of the Broughtons and a Walker came over to celbrate Danes birthday. It was a great day!

Some of the things I want to remember about Dane at age 1.

- Scoots around using one arm and a one leg landing on his bum. Resembling a little chimp.
- Saids mama, dadda, nanna (banana or food), and uh oh.
- Loves dogs and makes a strange barking sound while bouncing up and down when he sees one.
- Is so excited to see who ever gets him out of his crib in the morning
- loves to swing, and this is the only time he will blow kisses
- Is great at giving high fives, and is very proud of himself after he gives someone one.
- when his sister takes a toy he has started getting up on his knees, putting his arms wide out, and screaming ferociously until Brynne gets freaked out, starts crying and gives the toy back. I think this is hillarious. This also makes me very nervous for all the future fights over toys that will happen.
- Has his top four teeth, and it looks like the bottom two are finally about ready to come in.
- Loves spaghetti and anything sweet
- is not a fan of me feeding him anything, wants to do it himself
- Is still a cuddler for short amounts of time
- wants to climb every stair in sight, but trys to dive back down them
- Favorite food must be dirt and rocks because he acts like he is starving when he sees them and dives right in if i'm not watching closely.
- likes his peace and quite at night
- thinks Brynne is a comedian and laughs at her all day
- favorite game is trying to stick his fingers, toys, bottle, binky, or anything he can find into his parents mouth

We love you Dane, you are such a sweet, fun, energentic little boy and we are so glad we got to have you a year ago today!

-

Remember yesterday, when Dane was born?

2011-08-09T21:33:00.010-06:00

This isn't the post that I talk about how fast time has flown and that I cant believe that Dane is one year old! But this is the post where I talk about how darn cute and sweet he is and show off some pictures of our 1 year old! Happy Birthday Dane J!

http://brookeschultzphoto.blogspot.com/

My thoughts during nap time

2011-08-04T14:34:00.003-06:00

Random things on my mind I feel like writing about instead of cleaning the house

1. I'm excited about a huge picture frame I got at D.I. for $3 that I'm going to paint "global blue" to bring more color into my black and white front room...even if it will clash with my MAROON couch..how do you decorate around maroon, I am still trying to figure it out...on the same D.I. trip Taylor decided to buy a huge air hockey table, don't know how I feel about that, at least we have a basement.

2. I am loving having a potty trained Brynne. She has been going strong for a month and a half now with out many accidents, she made the drive to Lake Tahoe and back with out one accident! So what I learned about potty training is that it will NOT happen if you are casual about it. I couldn't get her trained until I decided to take her every half hour...EVERY half hour, even if I had to take her in the wal-mart. I think she had to realize that it was easier to go in the potty than have a mess to clean up...and get one of her "princess dresses" dirty. Also my mom was out the first week and she gets all the credit for keeping us consistent. I also learned that Brynne would do anything for gum and little dolls from the dollar store :)

3. I read THIS article that talks about how we should talk to little girls. She said that as a society whenever we see a little girl, we tell them how beautiful they look, and how cute their hair is etc. The point of the article is that if too much focus is put on a little girls looks at a young age, they will have less confidence feeling like the only thing that really matters are how she looks. This article has made me think about how important it is to also emphasize other accomplishments that are more important like sharing, or being sweet to her brother, as much or more than I compliment Brynne's hair clip or nail polish. Although, I think it still fine to let them know just how cute they are in moderation.

4. I couldn't sleep last night worrying about these two incidents! This world is a dangerous place! I took the kids to the park the other day and was letting Dane crawl around on the grass, when he started screaming his "I'm in real pain" cry! I picked him up and saw hornets flying all around him, he must have crawled over a nest! I thought hornets nests were in trees? Weird! He got stung 7 times!! It was terrible, once on his lip (which swelled up huge) several on his hand, some on his back, and stomach. Poor guy! The next day we went to get the kids pictures taken (The lip swelling was almost back to normal for the pictures thank goodness) and the kids were playing on the grass, our photographer came up to us and said that there was a big rattle snake 50 yards away! A rattle snake, that's a big deal! I just can't stop thinking about if we hadnt have found out it was there and just kept letting the kids run/crawl. Terrifying! What do I do now? Two days in a row my kids were hurt and in danger just because I let them play on seemingly harmless grass! Do I stop letting them play on grass now?

5. A average chocolate chip cookie has 200 calories. I had two. Running one mile burns 100 calories. I ran 3 miles yesterday, and it was HARD, but it still wasn't enough to burn off those cookies. Sigh!

Lake Tahoe!

2011-07-26T14:38:00.018-06:00

We had a fabulous vacation, I am still working on unpacking and doing laundry, but it was worth it! Taylor had been working non stop (literally 7 days a week) since Feb. with out a day off, and he was able to take 9 whole days off for our vacation, it was amazing to beable to spend so much time together with our families!
We spent most of our time at the beach and the kids loved it!
Grandma B. taking Brynne for a ride!
"Camp" Taylor and his brothers spend most of there time snorkeling, they were in the freezing water for hours catching crawdads, it looked so fun Erica and I went and caught a pincher-less crawdad too!
It was great to see all the cousins play together, they had a blast!

Brynne and Maddi decided to pose AFTER we tried to take a big family picture, I'll post some of those when I get the edited pictures! Besides swimming we spend time at the cabin Ann and Wade rented playing Psychiatrist, Bang, card games, and learning to play poker, and of course eating too much.
We stayed in a really nice hotel after the Broughton reunion (we found a great deal on travelocity!) We were just tourist, and went to look outs around the lake and visitor centers.
Then my parents came up for two nights so we got to see them too!
We had a fun dinner at Hard Rock Cafe

Kenny is in this picture...i'm talking to him on the phone :)
We went on some fun hikes
Then back to the beach one last time!!

We wish we were still there but had to come back to try to save our lawn and garden from drying up! Thanks to all our family for making it a great trip :)

AMERICA

2011-07-08T09:12:00.005-06:00

We had a fun 4th, we usually go up to Rexburg and Idaho Falls so we missed that, but it was fun to be home and relaxed. We had dinner, made homemade iceream, and did sparklers and snakes. They made the bigger fireworks legal in Utah this year, so we just sat on our front porch and watch everyone elses fireworks for a couple hours. It was nice not to have any trafic! We are proud to be Americans!

back in business!

2011-07-03T11:17:00.012-06:00

We just got our good camera back in the mail yesterday, finally! So here are pictures of our Saturday :)

Family Reunion

2011-07-03T10:57:00.004-06:00

We had a great time at the Jensen family reunion this year! Taylor had to work so I drove up by myself. I was worried but it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be, at least the kids are stapped in :) It was great to see everyone!

J and K's Wedding

2011-07-02T16:03:00.004-06:00

Dear Jamie and Kevin,

We are glad we got to go to your wedding, you looked gorgeous, you are so in love with each other, your temple ceremony was inspiring and made me cry (I know your not surprised about that.) Your reception outside was decorated beautifully and the colors were fabulous!

Brynne thinks Jamie is a princess and keeps asking when she will marry Kevin in the temple, we've got some explaining to do! We love you guys! Thanks for being my almost little sister!

Love,

The Broughtons

The love of Spaghetti

2011-06-12T10:46:00.005-06:00

There's no denying Danes favorite food! He was literally licking the plate clean! He is pretty much the cutest spaghetti eater Ive ever seen :)

1.2.3.4.

2011-06-08T12:44:00.014-06:00

1 - I grew up hearing the story that when I was little I was a Binky addict, so eventually to give them up, my parents had me give them to the fish which I loved! Well Brynne must be a little like me because she has also been a extreme Binky addict and loves fish, so the other day we headed to the nearest steam and Brynne threw these things away that her dr. said are starting to shift her teeth. I think it was just as hard for me to say goodbye to those things that saved my life in the car and during nap time for so long. BUT she has done really well and every time she wants her Binky we let her watch the video of her throwing them to the fish and she is satisfied that they must have really needed them, and I'm sure they did!

2 - We have moved! It was soo much more work than I was anticipating! Packing and cleaning with two kids and a husband who is hard at work is more than a quick job! But thanks to some great friends who took the kids for a awhile we got it done! We are going to miss living in our old neighborhood and ward tons, but we had simply out grown are place there.

3. I just realized this is a Brynne post too...I will have to do a Dane post soon. Anyways she got a misquito bite right next to her eye on Sunday and it just keeps getting more and more swollen. We may take a Dr. visit soon. She also had a rough first Sunday in her new nursery class where she ran into the corner of something and has a large gash on her forehead, poor little girl!

Nice granny panties...but they are helping somewhat with the potty training!

4. We are renting a much bigger house and we are so excited! Some things we are going to love about it are the fenced back yard with a gorgeous view, garden and families of quail living in it. The great bsmt for storage, the sleep we are getting with Brynne and Dane having there own rooms, two bathrooms, and so much more! We are grateful we found this house to rent for awhile!

9 months

2011-05-10T18:35:00.007-06:00

Some of the things we LOVE about our sweet 9 month old

- Eye lashes to die for!
- He purrs like a cat when he's happy
- Is great at playing if your happy and you know it
- Is starting to get back at his sister by pulling her hair every chance he gets
- shakes his head back and forth really fast when he's excited
- crawls like a little gorilla
- loves grown up food
- loves his parents
- is shy around strangers and will cuddle up next to whoever is holding hims shoulder if someone talks to him.
- wakes up happy from his naps and in the morning
- LOVES is purreed carrots
- Loves any toy that makes noise, especially grocery sacks
- will imitate a wave and a kiss
- Has a sad face I cannot resist and therefore he is spoiled and carried around most of the day
- weighing in at almost 20 1bs
- Has the most perfect tan complexion I am jealous of
- Loves patty cake
-hates it if I sit down at the computer with him and not let him "type."

We love ya tons Daner, so glad you are 9 months old today!

P.s. I realized today that when Brynne turned 9 months I was a couple of weeks pregnant with Dane...crazy!

Finished D.I. chair!

2011-05-05T21:21:00.002-06:00

I have had this chair for months, I got it D.I. thinking it would be a easy project. I was wrong..I didn't know how hard lacquer was to sand off, and the wood on the seat frame was broken and stapled together, so luckily taylor was able to make a new one. Anyways we have had a few gorgeous sunny days where I could to go outside during naps to sand and paint. It looks so much better, I wish I had a before picture! The seat is made out of the curtains that came with our bedroom set because we only have one window and the set came with curtains for two...destiny.

6 Easter Trip Miracles!

2011-04-28T23:24:00.023-06:00

We said out goodbyes to Taylor because he had to stay and work poor guy, and headed to AF to pick up Kenny and Andrea. We made it half way across the salt flats when the van said we only had 39 miles of gas left, this was a problem because the next gas station was 65 miles away. We thought for sure Kenny was going to do some hitch hiking but Easter trip miracle #1 we made it to the gas station somehow! We were so relieved!

Then we hit quite the snow storm on Donner pass and didnt slide off the road, Easter trip miracle #2. Then we were about 2 miles away from my parents house when we got a extremely flat tire at 4:00 a.m. Easter trip miracle #3 my dad was able to come save us and help change the tire.

We had a great time in CA! We went to the park, went to the Oakland Zoo, had easter egg hunts, ate alot of halibut from my dads fishing trip, visited the Broughton side in Lodi, had a BBQ, Brynne got to have her first sleep over with her cousins at Erica and Riley's house, we played Tennis, and most important to Brynne fed the Chickens.

On our drive home Easter trip miracle #4 happened. I left my wallet on top of the van (heaven help Taylor and I when we are old) the next day I got a text from a random number staying there ex-sister in law had found my wallet! Apparently this sister in law found my wallet and saw that I was mormon because of my temple reccomend, and called her sister who lived in Sandy. Apperntly she thought that because I lived in Utah and was mormon her sister in law might know me...cute! So the sister in law looked me up on Facebook and saw he had a friend in common. So she called my friend I used to work with at TGPD and got my number, and then I text her my address and my wallet came in the mail yesterday obviously run over but with all my cards. Easter trip miracle #5 I had taken most of the cash out and given it to andrea to hold for gas right before I left it. Easter trip miracle #6 that Kenny and Andrea (Andra) helped me out SOOOO much on that trip, I could have never done it by myself! Thanks so much guys, we will miss you while your selling for the summer!

Grandma Broughton with Brynne and Natalie.
Easter Morning with Maddi and Brooke, Brynne already in a dress up dress! I sure loved seeing my brother and sister in laws, nieces and nephew. (I guess I didn't get a pic of Jack..dang, he was so cute and knowledgeable about all his body parts ;)
Grandpa B and Dane playing a fun game.
Grandma M letting Dane be a boy and get dirty!
Uncle Kenny and Dane having a Tea party.
Brynne and Todd couldn't get enough of these swings, Brynne ran right for the swings at the Easter egg hunt instead of trying to get the plastic eggs...
Matchy
These two have so much fun together!

My mom bought Brynne dress up clothes when she was only a couple months old...now Brynne is finally able to enjoy them. Wow she LOVED being a princess!
Checkin out the Baboons at the zoo.

Brynne collected eggs with grandpa in the morning...one day my dad let Brynne carry two eggs in, she promply threw them on the ground, then looked at grandpa and said "I soo sorry gampa." After that every hard boiled egg she found she would throw and the say, "I so sorry." Not sure she understands the sorry concept yet.
No words...
Brynnes new hobby, photography...I found over a hundred pics like this she had taken of herself with out me knowing.

Insomnia.

2011-04-11T20:01:00.003-06:00

I am a lover of sleep. I don't ever remember being one of those kids who begged to stay up late, and there was only a short period of time I wanted to wake up early to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings. I was probably 14 before I could actually stay up till midnight on New Years Eve. I wore earplugs and tried avoiding roomates who snored in college at all costs! When I was pregnant it was not uncommon for me to go to bed at 7:30pm!

The last few weeks I have NOT been able to sleep at night, it is the wierdest feeling to be up at 3:00 a.m. not wanting to sleep, knowing so many nights when I have been awake with the kids I would have loved the opportunity to go back to sleep!

I am exhausted until about 10:00 and then I have a sudden burst of energy and decide to wash all my cupboards, organize the bathroom, learn a song on the piano, lay in bed and jump at every noise (despite the fact I probably live in the safest neighborhood in the world, I am always sure someone is trying to steal my babies), watch five episodes of biggest loser, try to will my herb plants to grow, and worry about everything. Has anyone had this problem, any drug free solutions?

I guess I will enjoy a cleaner that normal house, being able to follow the conversation at bunco night revolving around everyone's week night shows, and hopefully keep that dang cilantro alive.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2011-04-05T23:22:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday Mom!! I hope that you had a fabulous day, you deserve it so much!
Thank you for being a great confidant, mother, grandmother, boggle player, gardener, Volleyball player, biker (not a Harley), teacher, advice giver, listener, funeral potato maker, example, strong testimonied, organ and piano player, nurse, psychiatrist, cleaner and organizer, best shopping buddy, sewer, etc, etc...

My mom can pretty much do everything! She is the one person who I can talk to about anything and she always gives me the most encouragement and best advice, and knowledge that she believes that I'm amazing and makes me feel like I could do anything! She also thinks every little thing I tell her about the kids is amazing and that they must be proteges! I love having someone in my life who is truly excited about all of our little families accomplishments! She is a truly positive person, despite all of the hard things she is juggling in life right now!

One of the moments in my life I treasure the most is when my mom got to the hospital about a hour after Brynne was born, and as a very new mother I was able to understand a part of how much she loved me, and had gone through for me, because of how I felt for my new baby. Love you mom! Happy Birthday, cant wait to see you at the end of the month!

Brynne's new look

2011-03-28T12:43:00.005-06:00

Brynne is starting to act so grown up, so she needed a big girl haircut! (This is the only picture I could get her to smile in roughly 200 tries)
little miss attitude!
After we put her down to bed, she woke back up after a couple hours, so Taylor went in and found her in Dane's crib. (He was in the pack and play in our room luckily)He decided to just let her stay in there and gave her a kiss on the forehead. What he got was not only a kiss, it was a mouth full of vasaline. This girl has vasalinedar or something, she ALWAYS finds it and puts it in her hair. This time was the worst of all, though it probably took 15 washes with dish soap and clarifying shampoo to get it all out, and its still looking a little greasy! Hopefully soon her haircut will have the no grease look again.

What a weekend!!

2011-03-23T09:41:00.010-06:00

Last weekend my amazing husband took time off work to watch the kids so I could go to St. George with my awesome friends from Vernal!! I left all guilt for leaving Taylor with the kids and had such a great weekend! These girls are so fun, and I have known some of them for 14 years and some for 22 years! Its so great being with girls who have know you at your most awkward perm and big bangs stage of life and still love you, there is nothing that bonds quite like having your most embarrassing moment in Junior high together, or being there with you when you first get pulled over by a "scary" cop for the first time, and not to forget my first group date, yup you guessed these girls were there! What a blessing that we are still able to get together and talk about everything :)

Typical Dynelle hiding our Olive garden device thing in the bushes so we could go shopping while waiting a hour for our turn to be seated, haha! "Dione, why would I put it in the car when I can put it in the bushes??"
We had so much fun going out to dinner, shopping, chatting, doing face masks and pedicures, hanging out at the pool, eating lots of junk food, staying up until 3:00 a.m....sleeping in until 9:00, well at least I slept in :) Thanks to Chalices husband for getting his works condo for us!

Meanwhile taylor was dealing with this....
and this....
and this .....
Just in case I wasnt a spoiled enough lady, when I got home Taylor had a surprise for me! A portable dishwasher, are you kidding me!!!??? Its been 2 1/2 years without one and I guess Taylor couldnt take the complaining any more, haha! What a FABULOUS husband I have, I am one happy girl :)

One year older and wiser too...

2011-03-15T15:27:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday to you (DAD/GRANDPA!) We hope you have a fabulous day!

One story about my dad that will help you know how great he is: I was in Chicago for a internship when I was 22. I drove there by myself from Rexburg in September. Four months later, I was going to drive home by myself also, but since the weather was bad, my dad flew out to Chicago, just to turn around and drive three days back to California with me.

I have NEVER been on such terrible roads, there were cars that had slid off the road every few miles. It was a three day drive home and I was sooo grateful that he would come and get me, keep me safe, and listen to the Harry Potter books on CD with me and be so selfless!

At one point we stopped at a store, and it was snowing so my dad dropped me off at the door while he went and parked. This didn't surprise me because he is the most considerate person you have ever met! I was used to him doing this sort of thing all growing up, but this considerate action was in stark contrast to how I had been treated by a guy I dated in Chicago. From that moment on in my dating life I looked for the type of guy who would do things like drop off others at the door while they went and parked!

I have many stories like this about my dad, he is amazing!! (And a fabulous grandpa)

Love ya Dad!!

Spring Fever!

2011-03-13T18:32:00.004-06:00

What a gorgeous week it was!! We went on walks everyday, and to the park three days in a row...heaven? Yes! Please stay sun :)

A Sunday Post.

2011-02-27T16:48:00.010-07:00

Well I can't get my cute video of Brynne dancing to upload, so this blurry picture of her will have to do until I can get it up :) She got this new dress the other day, and doesn't like to take it off. In fact I made the mistake of letting her wear it before church...she found the baby shampoo and dumped it all over her self, the carpet, and the couch by 9:00...luckily it was plenty of time to wash and dry it before church. When I scolded her for doing it, she just shrugged her shoulders and said "No way mama. Nice and clean?" Funny girl! My favorite quote from Brynne today was after I got dressed for church she said, "CUTE DRESS MAMA! I Like it!" haha, I love having a little girl with fashion sense. Brenna and I took our kids to the mall the other day (4 kids, 2 and under.) We went early and were in good company with the elderly mall walkers..I hope to be one of them someday. It was kind of crazy,but we chocked it up to training our girls to be our shopping partners.
This smile pretty much melts my heart every single time! I gave Dane his first haircut today, he looks so grown up! This little lover has been getting really good at being entertained by his sister. The other day we were driving and Brynne was talking to him, and then he would crack up laughing so hard, this went on for about 20 minutes, it was such a sweet welcome moment in my day! (Especially since usually driving = Dane screaming.) Brynne and Dane play best with their over sized lego's. Dane sucks on them and watches Brynne build her (so called) air planes.

This is one of Taylors Valentines gifts! We went to lunch and the BYU vs. UTAH basketball game the Saturday before with Alex and Megan, it was a fabulous and a much needed date! Tay got a job at the State mental hospital about a month ago, so that he can get patient experience, this way he can eventually apply to Physicians assistant school, it will probably take 1-3 years before he has all the requirements to apply since it is so competitive, but we feel this is the best course for us right now *plans subject to change :). ANYWAYS, he hasn't been able to quit his other job yet because we have our health benefits through them. SO..he is working 80 hours a week (superman). He is hoping that his older job will let him go part time next month, 60 hours sounds fabulous right now! We miss him lots, and he misses us too and his sleep! Taylor's dad was able to give us blessing right before Taylor started the new job, and I am so grateful for those words, and have been feeling really strengthened and able to find so much joy in my kids. Of course I still get frustrated and upset because its so hard for me, but I have been trying to really live in the moment, because it is my tendency to wish for the future and next day, it has made all the difference in my happiness and gratitude for life latley.

Cookie Dough Truffles

2011-02-25T12:17:00.001-07:00

Cookie Dough Truffles by Paula Dean

I love Paula, she makes me want to go around talking in a southern accent. I am making these for the girls I visit teach today, hopefully I have the will power to not eat them all, but they look too good not to share!

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
* 1/2 cup semisweet mini chocolate morsels
* 1 cup finely chopped pecans
* 1 1/2 pounds chocolate bark candy coating, melted

Directions

In a large bowl cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add vanilla. Gradually beat in flour and add milk. Add chocolate morsels and pecans, mixing well. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place on waxed paper; chill 2 hours.

*Cook's Note: Since the dough is sticky, roll your fingers into flour. This will make it easier to roll.

Melt chocolate bark candy coating in a double boiler. Using 2 forks, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Place on waxed paper and chill to set. Store in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

1/2 birthday!

2011-02-10T13:21:00.005-07:00

I can't believe today Dane is 6 months old! He is the sweetest most cuddly 6 month old! He sleeps best right in between his parents..which we try to avoid, but sometimes sleep wins this battle. We went to the Dr. yesterday for a check up and found out that Dane is 27.5 inches long 85th percentile. 16.67 lbs 35th percentile. He is getting so big, and sitting up so well! He is constantly locking his knees and trying to stand up. He is very patient with his sister, and loves to play with paper and bags that make noise when he grabs them. Dane is eating apples, bananas, rice cereal, peas, beans, carrots, and sweet potatoes. We have loved Danes first 6 months, and cant wait for the next 6! I think ill make Dane 1/2 a birthday cake tonight..out of rice cereal..or peas? OK maybe not!

Brynne is 2!

2011-01-30T14:24:00.011-07:00

I Can't believe this baby is 2 years old. It brings tears to my eyes thinking about this time two years ago. Definitely one of the best days of my life! Happy Birthday Brynne, we love you so much!
Brynne had a great Birthday, it started out the night before with a trip to Wal-Mart to get her 12 balloons, I wish I had taken a picture of her face when they brought out the balloons, she was in heaven! They had to stay by her everywhere she went that night. Eating dinner, brushing her teeth, getting her diaper changed.
In the morning Taylor made her choc. chip pancakes and let her help!
I didnt want to leave Dane completely out of this post, because he's so darn cute!
She opened presents! Grandma and Grandpa B gave her the outfit she is wearing and when she saw it she screamed "OH SHIRT!!" only she forgot to pronounce the "r."
She had a happy meal!
Played at the play place.
Went to the muddy park!
Had a Barney cake!
Tried out her new roller blades!
Wore her new PJ's to bed. All in all it was the best day ever for a 2 year old I'd say!

Practice makes perfect!

2011-01-25T15:33:00.003-07:00

Here are a couple videos of the kids, and Taylor being a patient dad!

SLC bachelor villan

2011-01-22T12:28:00.001-07:00

If you have been watching the bachelor you know that the girl from SLC is crazy, check out this Mormon movie trailer she is in, hilarious!

What's New in Mapleton.

2011-01-18T21:10:00.011-07:00

Dane is 5 months old! Here comes the cliche...I can't believe how big he is, they grow up so fast :)
Dane is just full of tricks at 5 months, he can roll over both ways, he's working on sitting up, he is eating solids, depending on his mood he is either freaked out when he see's Brynne or he thinks she is hilarious, loves to take a bath, being sung to, reading books, drooling, baby talk, smiling, laughing, playing with anything that makes noises especially plastic grocery sacks (under supervision of course, what kind of mom do you think I am?) He hates being set down, so he is usually carried in the bjorn around the house, when Brynne try's to get to close, loud noises, riding in the car, being fed too slowly, being dressed. We love our sweet little man so much!
What the? Your feeding me vegetables?
Love those kissable cheeks.
The best seat in the house.
Brynne is taking a mommy and me gymnastics class, she just had her second class today. She has NO fear at all, this is her favorite activity, I have to pry her off of it so other kids get a turn. I'll probably post more pictures about the class later.

Brynne's favorite activity at home besides watching Barney is doing dishes, she always asks me "more dishes please" She really just likes playing in the water, but I'm planning on never letting her forget she said this when she's older!
The other day Brynne was eating Jello and turned around to see Dane happily being fed something a little more delicious than pureed carrots.

Brynne's friend Jade taught her the fun of dress up and Brynnes swim suit is a favorite. This was a good 2 year old activity, she stayed in there for a hour playing with toys...we don't have a bath tub, just a shower, so it was exciting!

December from Taylors Phone

2011-01-11T20:35:00.023-07:00

Our camera is being fixed, so December pictures are from Taylors phone :)

Taylors work gave him executive suite seats to a Jazz game (The seats were even leather!) They also paid for us to have a fancy dinner! We had sooo much fun!!
We went sledding down the dam in AF canyon with Todd, Kenny and Andrea on Christmas eve day!

Brynne Loved it! Dane wasn't a fan of the cold or his hat falling into his face!

Kenny made us hot chocolate from snow, yum!
Andrea and I almost hit this dumb dog that wouldn't get out of the way resulting in a almost broken thumb for me..this pic doesn't do it justice! I was convinced it was broken for a couple weeks, but it's healing very nicely now!
Christmas morning was sooo fun, Brynne loved opening her presents, although it took awhile because she wanted to play with each toy before she moved on. Taylor made us homemade biscuits and gravy!
My famult all got to talk to chad on Skype so it felt like we were all together on Christmas morning :)

We ate Christmas Dinner at Alex and Megan's, it was fabulous and Brynne still keeps talking about Ella and Lucy.
One of Danes presents was rice cereal...he has learned to love it and we are now on carrots! Its rough to be 4 months on Christmas!
We went to the Provo Town Centre mall for New Years Eve, Taylor was in a hot sauce eating contest and won us a free chips and salsa coupon from Chili's (we thought that was a classy prize!)
Brynne rode the train, had candy, got a balloon animal, it was a good time, they even had 9:00 fireworks for people like us who only made it tell then :)

We went to the BYU game on Saturday with the kids, they were so good. Oh and amazing win tonight against Utah!

We hope you all had a fabulous Christmas season. We felt very blessed this Christmas season and tried to focus on whats most important! Were grateful for all of the amazing friends in our lives!

Two! Well, close enough.

2010-12-15T13:15:00.002-07:00

The terrible twos are here!! But I am so loving this little girl filled with personality, she always wants me to paint her fingernails and toe nails, just what I always wanted growing up with all brothers :) There are hair issues though as you can see! She is as much sweet/funny was terrible!

Today I'm trying to feel the Christmas spirit! I'm loving the snow and getting some treats baked for the neighbors. But I would like to document the accident me and the kids were in last week! I was driving home from doing Christmas crafts at Brennas when I had the thought "You should go the back way home." But since I had already turned towards the free way I ignored this thought (prompting)! I was in Spanish fork when the road turned into construction so I had the super scary cement wall on my right, and there was a semi to my left. A few cars in front of me, a truck lost the hood of its car! It was right in the middle of my lane and I had no choice but to hit it, in our new van. Immediately I began hearing hissing noises, clanging, I knew it would be bad! I finally found a place to pull over and started sobbing because I was so freaked out. Dane was sound asleep and Brynne started saying its o.k. mama, its o.k. mama! So there was a construction worker that saw the whole thing, thats how I knew it was a hood, I didn't know what it was when I hit it. He told me to call 911, so that was kinda exciting I always wanted to do that! Unfortunately the truck who lost the hood did not pull over so we are stuck paying the collision deductible :( The van is in the shop for a least a couple more weeks. But I am trying hard to just feel grateful that we didn't hit the truck or cement barrier. It could have been a tragedy instead of a inconvenience.

Hosting Thanksgiving!

2010-12-09T10:51:00.006-07:00

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving this year. We had everyone at our apartment, which was close quarters, but still very fun! Suzanne, Troy, and Jamie came from Rexburg. Ty,Sarah and Vinny from Idaho Falls, Wes and Crystal from Logan, Grandma and George from AZ, Mom Dad and Todd from Ca. We had great food, played some games, watched some football and attempted and little shopping. Thanks everyone for coming and making it a great holiday :) We also got to see a little of the Jensen family too!

good vs evil

2010-11-28T21:47:00.003-07:00

I love the gospel. Its a fact. However, church with two babies makes me want to pull my hair out. Bless those people with more and many more than two children who bring them to church each week!

Today was a rare day we got to church on time and sat on a pew instead of in the overflow area on folding chairs. Oh of course Dane is fussy so I take him out a couple of times, on the walk of shame to the foyer, with Brynne yelling no Momma and throwing a fit trying to follow (because she is impossible at nap time.) Awkward!

Then I get to Primary where I am currently the secretary (well actually second councilor now) and I hear Brynne screaming in the hall. I go out and find her poor nursery leader caring Brynne who is soaked from her head to her toes because of a diaper malfunction (Danes size 2 diaper instead of her regular size 4.)

So I go back into primary and find a innocent bystander to watch Dane while I go interrupt the Gospel Essentials class (Also awkward) that Taylor teaches holding a screaming pee soaked child to get the car key so I can change her. Then the innocent bystander is stuck with a Dane who has decided that if someone is holding him, its necessary they stand or he will scream.

Meanwhile the 1st councilor is trying to deal with the secretary jobs of assigning talks, passing out the rolls etc, that by the way I didn't have organized yet! Thanks goodness for people willing to help!

This day went on and on......and on. Anyways I could keep going, but I will stop complaining in hopes that I am not alone in my case of church anxiety!

Fall Family Pictures

2010-11-16T21:03:00.016-07:00

We just got back our family pictures, and these are some of my favorites! My only regret was that the only pair of matching shoes I could find of Brynne's when it was time to leave were neon purple...oh well!

BUMBO BABY AND ZIONS NATIONAL PARK!

2010-11-12T13:26:00.012-07:00

I have a tendency to call Dane my Angel boy!

Brynne has picked up on calling him Angel boy too.

Maybe because he usually sleeps through the night, stops crying when someone picks him up, or gives me the biggest smile when he see's me or hears my voice, has the most adorable curls,blue eyes and chubby cheeks! Or maybe it's because he stays in one spot, doesn't make a mess, and never says the word "no", and isnt currently trying to break open the finger nail polish. Haha! I love both my babies, but at the moment Dane gets the "Angel" title :)
We went to Zions last week with Kirk and Dynelle, and Brenna and Joe! We had a fabulous time, the girls had so much fun playing and tormenting each other!
It was absolutely perfect hiking weather, with beautiful (and dangerous for six kids 2 and under) views.

It took us about 2 1/2 hours to do this 1 mile hike with all the kids!

What good Dads!

I had so much fun hanging out with my friends! I realized Brenna and I have been friends for about 22 years now, and Dynelle and I for about 12 years!

I forgot to bring the memory card for our camera, so if these pictures look familiar its because I stole them from Dynelles blog!

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T12:45:00.009-06:00

The first house of the night!
My little bee!
Taylor and Alex about to take the Kids out to face the rain!
What troupers!
They were the cutest yodeler/giraffe combo.

Yes, Kenny IS wearing a hot pink leotard.

Swagger Wagon

2010-10-23T01:02:00.003-06:00

Taylor and I bought ourselves a "Smokey Metallic" Nissan Quest after a grueling week of going back and forth in between two dealerships! Taylor did a great job of getting us the best deal possible on our hip van! We are excited (especially after over two years of sharing one car), and Brynne is beyond happy to watch Barney on the dvd player. Check this video out, it's pretty good!

Danes Blessing Weekend

2010-10-16T16:10:00.014-06:00

Last weekend we blessed Dane, on 10.10.10. We had a great weekend visiting with family who were able to come out for the Event! We all got to the BYU game and had such a fun time, especially since they won!
Grandma and Brynne are matchy in their cool sunglasses!
Taylors Dad rented this cool hummer truck, that Brynne loved!
The kids were great at the game, such a miracle!
Taylor with his dad and brother Alex.
Andrea, Kenny, and Todd
Mom and Dane after church.
Grandma and Grandpa McAffee and Dane
McAffee's
Broughton's
Proud mama and daddy
Taylor made Danes vest and my mom made his pants and tie. They are made out of material from my wedding dress.
We went to get pumpkins today, and they had a few animals that Brynne was way more excited about than pumpkins, I dont blame her!
This picture makes me smile!

Smiley!

2010-10-03T17:50:00.002-06:00

LOVE this sweet face.

What should we be!

2010-10-02T17:19:00.002-06:00

I'm excited for Halloween! Decisions decisions, what should we be for halloween! I'm excited because this year Brynne is going to love trick or treating, or at least getting some candy! I found this picture from 2 years ago..we thought we were funny.

Farwell Chad, see you in 2 years!

2010-09-28T17:50:00.017-06:00

Oh man I love Brynne, she is becoming more and more fun all the time. We have conversations all day, and whenever she gets excited about something she always comes to find me and tell me all about it! She reminds me to be happy about the little things in life like planes, flowers, dolls, cookies, phones, and especially balloons!

This weekend we drove to CA for Chads farwell (he is going to Rome), we had a great time! We drove through the night and realized that Brynne talks in her sleep, she must have had a nightmare because she started saying balooo baloo (balloon) in her sleep, then she started sadly saying balloo bye bye, balloo bye bye! When ever we pass car dealerships with balloons she gets so excited! Last night when we got home she found a tiny piece of a broken water balloon on the grass, came running up to me so excited that she found this balloo and wanted me to blow it up! Brynne babbles on the phone to anyone who will listen to her, and anything can become a phone for her. About 12 times a day she asks us for candy randomly, when we say no candy she promptly saids, cookie?? She loves her baby dolls and spends alot of time positioning and buckling them into chairs. She still loves shoes and knows where the shoe aisle is at target, I usually let her wear a pair around the store until we check out. SHE IS GETTING TOO BIG!
Dane got to wear his swimsuit for the first time at Muir beach this weekend, he looked so cute in it, even though he was already to big for the 0-3month size!
Chad and Dane getting a good tan.
Karen and Brynne enjoying the sand!
Todd got in a biking accident while we were there, he was taken in a ambulance, had to get staples, separated his shoulder and may need surgery because the ligaments were torn. Poor guy! He was a trooper about it though, and didn't complain hardly at all.
Dane and grandpa met for the first time! While we were in CA Chad took out his endowments, it was the first time all my brothers, parents and I were in the temple all together, it was worth the trip to be able to be there for that.
Grandpa Jensen, mom, and Dane

We also got to stop in Lodi for a few hours! I love that none of the kids are looking at the camera at all in this picture.
Dan, Kalie, Jack, and Dane
Riley, Erica, and Dane

4 weeks!

2010-09-10T13:34:00.012-06:00

Our internet has been down for over 2 weeks, its crazy how much we use it! So I am excited (not as much as my mom) to post some pictures, Dane is already a month, I hate how fast time flies with new borns!
Sweet feet!

This is my favorite, I think I'll use this for his birth announcements!

I feel like I'm lying posting this picture, because this is a very rare moment! Very sweet though.
Dane on the birthday present I bought myself from KSL, I'm so happy to get rid of my 70's couch with a cover that always looked like someone had just slept on it. Yay!

Preppy little man!

Going to church!

Brynne and Dad
Grandma Broughton came to meet Dane and visit everyone, is was great to see her!

Spiders and Snakes!

2010-08-27T14:16:00.002-06:00

We live in a basement apartment, its a great apartment in a gorgeous neighborhood, for super cheap.... but I think it might be time for us to part ways! We have spiders, huge brown wolf spiders to be exact and they are gruesome. I will admit that I have a slight case of arachnophobia. Growing up my dad always would come running thinking someone was being murdered when I saw a spider and get so mad at me for screaming, but I have made improvements since high school, up until the last couple of weeks that is, and now my reaction to spiders has digressed, I cant help it and its all Taylors fault!

I couldn't stand the thought of these spiders crawling around my new baby when I turned off the lights, so I sent Taylor to Wal-Mart to pick up some spider glue traps. The packaging said they can also catch mice, lizards, snakes and all other types of creepy things, gross!

The next morning I check the first trap and it has a spider, I was too disturbed to check the other traps, so my mom checked the one behind the dryer. As she walked a way she turned white and started to hyperventalate! She wouldn't tell me what was wrong because she didnt want to upset me and my post pardum hormones. This made me more upset. Finally she said that there was not only a spider on the trap, but a SNAKE too!

So my mom and I are huddled in a corner far from the snake trap freaking out, and Brynne is crying because were upset, we couldn't finish our breakfast because we were too grossed out. We didnt know what to do, but we could not stay in a house with snakes!

I could not believe that not only do I have spiders living in my house around my two babies, I have snakes! How long had a snake been living in my house, are there more snakes, are they poisonous??!!

We heard our landlord pull up outside so we went to see if they had someone not scared of snakes to get it out of the house! It was the landlord Peggy and friend Anna back from a bike ride. We tell them about the snake, and now the landlord is also freaking out because there are spiders and snakes in her house! Peggy has to hurry to get to work, so Anna saids she will come down and look at it for us. She starts poking at it with our tennis racket, and she decides its dead and that its most likely a water snake. So she grabs the snake (I couldn't be in the same room) and she saids that its really stiff. She brings it out into full light were she can figure out what kind it is and finds that it is a very life like looking plastic fake snake.

TAYLOR!!!!$%^&&*#@#

If you know of any good way to get this man back, let me know. So far he has got peppercorns in his muffin, but that is nothing compared to what he did. I need justice!

just cause hes cute!

2010-08-21T19:36:00.012-06:00

We are surviving and I am trying to enjoy every moment of this newborn while still enjoying every moment of Brynnes 18 month old stage, although this is harder than I would have thought because she has taken up hitting, kicking, and biting to make sure she always has our full attention! I'm afraid she is traumatized by everything.

Dane is as sweet as can be, he is super mellow so far. He is so good natured and strong, he has already rolled from his tummy to his back twice!

My mom left on Thursday, I dont know how I would have survived with out her, seriously. Thanks mom! I wasnt ready to be by myself yet so Taylor took Friday off. Monday will be my first day by myself and I am nervous!

Here are some pictures of the last week or so, isn't he precious?

Baby Dane J

2010-08-14T16:24:00.015-06:00

Dane was born on 8.10.10 at 1:53 p.m. We went to the hospital at 6:30 a.m. to be induced. They started the petocin and found out that I was already a 3, so they slowed the medication because I needed to have 4 hours of antibiotic because I had step b. I got the epidural, but it ended up only working on my right side, so I felt all the contractions only on the left side until I was a 8, and then they decided to give me a whole new epidural, so that was annoying, but I would still rather have two epidurals than no epidural! I was a ten before long and pushed for about 20 minutes and had him! He weighed 8lbs 15.2 oz, I thought for sure he would be smaller than Brynne, but I was wrong :) He was having trouble breathing because he had a lot of liquid in his lungs, he had to be in the NICU for about 18 hours, but he is doing great now! We came home Thursday, and had a LONG first night, but last night was better. We took Dane on his first adventure today to Payson Lakes, it was gorgeous and he did great. Brynne just loves him and wishes she could carry him around and tickle him all the time, so that is scary but I'm glad she loves him! Dane is the sweetest thing, and I love all his dark hair! I thought he would be a blondie! He is such a blessing and we are so grateful for him!!

At the Car Wash

2010-08-06T21:39:00.005-06:00

Nesting Projects

2010-07-28T11:08:00.006-06:00

Dane's side of the room is almost ready, he is still missing a mattress though! I have a couple more things I need to finish in order to boy up his side of the room! Less than two weeks till the inducement date, hallelujah.
Tay made this cute bed for Brynne from scratch, he did a great job! His mom called the other day and ask what he was doing, he said "I'm nesting for Dione" because of all the projects I keep giving him. Eventually I want to make some sort of canopy for the toddler bed. Brynne has been in her bed for about 2 weeks now, and is doing really well! We will see if it stays that way when she realizes she can get out of the bed by herself! Has anyone put two babies in one room, what are the tricks to make this work???
I got inspired from allthingsthrifty.com and found this great frame and candlestick holder to redo from D.I.
Pillows
I got my first tomato today, I'm going to eat you for lunch!

24th of July

2010-07-26T13:19:00.007-06:00

Our cute little town has its own parade on the 24th, it reminds me alto of all the Vernal parades I went to growing up with lots of horses and old cars, but nothing too exciting! It was fun though, our primary kids decorated their bikes and we were nominated to ride with them, Taylor made this cute little hand cart, and Brynne was a hit. After the parade I went and got a maternity massage that was amazing! There is this place in Spanish Fork called Primrose resort, and they are having a sale until the end of august, a hour massage was only $30! It was such a cute place, I ended up being there for 2 hours. They had me come early and you sit in the "relaxation" room, then I had my massage, then they have a sauna you can sit in for free, a nice shower, and this room filled with sand and some hammocks with vitamin d lights. They also had a room you could eat complimentary snacks. Anyways it was all very girly, but way nice! We went swimming later that day, and as you can tell nothing makes Brynne more happy than swimming. Multiple times a day she tries to get her swim suit on so we can go swimming somewhere!

Good Book!

2010-07-17T19:58:00.005-06:00

Taylor and I are listening to this book on CD. It is fabulous, although very sad. It's about some Latter Day Saint Immigrants that sacrifices literally everything to travel to Utah, based on a true story. I usually try to stay away from books that are sad because I get way to emotionally involved. But this book makes me grateful for everything I have, and a little guilty for using any modern conveniences. There is a fun love story involved, so that is always a plus. Its so inspiring how much faith these people had. In the spirit of Pioneer Day, you should read it!

June and July

2010-07-14T20:56:00.003-06:00

Well, we had a little grape juice/camera accident so I am very sad we haven't taken pictures of our crazy busy summer so far! But I still wanted to write about the highlights so I can look back and remember.

-A few weeks ago we went camping at Flaming Gorge. I love that place because I grew up going there! We went with Matt and Stephanie Williams from our ward who are living in Vernal for the Summer. Their Grandparents have a cabin we got to stay in, so technically we weren't camping we were sleeping on a king sized bed. Fabulous. We fished, went to the dam, made tin-foil dinners, went on the dam tour, tried to keep Brynne from jumping in the water 24/7.

- We went to Rexburg for the fourth of July, this is my 7th year of being in Rexburg for the 4th! Great tradition! We went to the parade, had a delicous BBQ with Suzanne and Troy, saw my cousins, went to the green belt in I.F. for the fireworks (but left before the fireworks) Stayed with my Bff roommate from college, went to breakfast with Grandma and George, went swimming with Carrie and Justin at Lava hot springs. I was completely exhausted after this weekend!

- The Walker family reunion was this weekend so we got to see all of Taylors family. Erica and Riley stayed with us, Brynne absolutely loved having her cousins around all the time. I have been having a really hard time keeping her entertained with out them. We spent time with Taylors parents and Alex and Megan and girls. It was another great weekend!

- Now we are staying in the area waiting for this baby! I went to the Dr. the other day and I will be induced on Aug. 10th if I haven't had him yet.

- My new job is going great, I love it so far! I have a lot of responsibility and it keeps me busy, but its working out great with our schedules and it makes me happy to have a couple hours with a change of scenery. Hopefully it will stay that way after Dane is born. Oh yeah, we decided we are going to name him Dane J Broughton! Unless of course I go see the twilight movie and decide he needs to be a Jacob or a Edward, we will see.

Multitasking

2010-06-17T22:34:00.002-06:00

Taylor is Watching the NBA finals, talking to his mama, and painting my toe nails during time outs.

BLESS HIM!

Back to work!

2010-06-16T11:34:00.008-06:00

I occasionally look on Craigslist to see if there is any good work from home jobs listed, but there never are, it’s Utah and every mom wants a work from home job! A month ago I saw a part time job that looked perfect. I got an interview, and it was BY FAR the hardest interview I have ever had, and wasn't helped by the obvious fact that I'm 7 months pregnant, then a second interview, and finally after a third I was offered the position.
My dilemma is that they want me to work in the office about 15 hours a week until the baby comes to get trained, etc. Then after the baby comes I will work some from home, but still go in for a few hours a week. Sooo Taylor is going to go into work early and I will go in to work for about 3 hours after he gets home. Nervous!
But I am so excited to get to get to do a job that is fully Public Relations and Marketing based with lots of freedom to do what I want! I can’t wait to start Monday and have a few hours each day to really use my brain, even though it will be super hard to leave Brynne and Tay for a few hours!

We got to go to Chad’s high school graduation last week in CA, although we didn’t get to see a whole lot of Chad because of grad night etc. Taylor had to work so he only got to stay for a couple of days and rode home with Kenny and Andrea, but I got to stay the week and my mom drove me back on Saturday. We had a great time with grandparents, cousins, lots of swimming and of course the baby chicken that followed Brynne around my parents back yard! My camera battery died, so sadly these are the only good pictures I got of the trip.

Sentences! Wes and Crystal's wedding.

2010-05-22T20:03:00.013-06:00

I'm so proud, Brynne spoke her first sentence today!

Brynne: Pease cracka mama!

me: Good job Brynne!! (Hand her a graham cracker.)

Brynne: Tank ooo mama!

All the time teaching please and thank you and she is starting to get it, yay!

___________________________________

Last weekend we got to go to Rexburg for my Cousins wedding. We had perfect weather, great family, and of course a wedding! What more could you ask for? Oh yeah cake..we had that too!

After Church at Suzanne and Troy's house, thanks so much for letting us stay with you!
Yup Brynne is still very obsessed with shoes, and can officially shuffle by herself in Andreas 4 inch stiletto's. I'll have to post the video soon!

Wes and Crystal had the coolest carriage at their wedding!
We had a bachelor party for Wes, a bon fire at Bever Dick park.....yes that's the official name of the park, I lOVE Rexburg.
Sarah, Tyson, Aaron and part of Wes
Happy couple!
Just married!

deal or no deal?

2010-05-07T11:49:00.002-06:00

Saturday: Went to D.I. and found a cute little chandelier for Brynne's room

Paid: $5...DEAL!

Then Taylor was trying to get it set up and cut himself with a utility knife

Lots of blood, nauseous Dione

Went to the urgent care and Taylor got 9 stitches, he is healing great!

Found out his insurance ran out the day before

Medical bill: $300...

Total Chandelier cost: $305...NO DEAL!

Graduate!!

2010-05-01T21:41:00.009-06:00

Taylor graduated from BYU with a BS in biology, yay! We are happy he is done with his undergraduate. Both of our families were able to come out from California for the occasion, it was great to see everyone! Taylor started a new job yesterday in a laboratory in Springville, so we get to stay put for awhile, I'm so glad I don't need to get out the boxes quite yet!
Taylor graduated with his brother Riley, so luckily we only had to sit through one ceremony instead of two!

"It looks better on me, dad!"
We had a bbq for the graduates, and we made these cute chocolates that we found at bakerella.com

My grandma and her husband George spent the day with us and took us all out to Goodwood!
Playing in the water after our bike ride to bridal veil
Just cute!

Get you!

2010-04-27T21:18:00.000-06:00

Brynne’s Life Through My Phone

2010-04-20T22:23:00.000-06:00

Well, this is Taylor. I haven’t blogged in a while, so I guess that means that I have to make some kind of apology, then an excuse, and then promise to post X amount of times in the next month, but I’m not going to.

We took these pictures with my phone, so the quality isn’t that great, but they are memories none the less. I mostly use my phone to get Brynne to calm down when she is acting up in various places, and these pictures are the result.

At RC Willey and the Grocery Store… Her first donut!!!

Studying with Dad at school. Dione says these pictures show how much alike we look.

Brynne’s first chips and salsa. She mostly just licked the salsa off the chip. She didn’t mind the spicy.

Brynne loves to swing and go to the park. She has learned to pull herself up onto platforms and isn’t afraid of the taller/steeper slides, in fact she prefers them!

She loves the trampoline out back. Just about every time we go outside she says, “bunts” (bounce) and she throws a fit if she doesn’t get to!

Salem Pond on a Sunday afternoon. We went to feed the ducks, but they didn’t like the goldfish crackers we had for them. She knows that a duck says “kack, kack,” and thinks all birds do the same. Brynne decided to go for a swim too. Water was freezing!

Brynne recently learned how to draw. She does well drawing on the paper and herself, and has now started stabbing the page. I am disappointed that she wont let me trace her hand.

The flowers are in bloom here and Brynne learned to smell them. Then when she discovered the dirt, she tried to fill the tulips with it. and her dress as well.

Brynne’s most recent trips to the doctor. The bottom 3 are before and after Brynne’s surgery. You can read about that here. The above pictures are of her first “non check-up” visit.

I love this little girl! She makes us laugh so hard and keeps us smiling. Although I don’t want her to grow up too fast, I can’t wait to see the young lady she will grow into!

Well, that is it. Even though many of you are Dione’s friends and not mine, please comment anyway. The more comments I get, the more substantiated I feel about my life!

Pavlova recipe

2010-04-18T15:02:00.003-06:00

Life has been absolutely crazy this last week, more for Taylor than me. He took his MCAT yesterday, so he has been studying like crazy for that, he has had finals, he had 3 interviews in SLC, he got a job offer that we are trying to decide whether or not to take, whether or not to move.. etc, etc. Its true that when it rains it pours!
Anyways I was watching some cooking shows to keep myself busy while Taylor has been gone. Its got a baked meringue crust which reminds me of Ms. Oviats food class in 9th grade, she was this really eccentric crazy lady that had lost like 200 pounds and so we learned how to make really healthy things....so the crust has no fat.

Meringue crust
4 large egg whites at room temp
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
2 teas cornstarch
1 teas white vinegar
1 teas vanilla

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place a sheet of parchment paper (I used aluminum foil and it did not work) on a pan. Draw a 9 inch circle on the paper, using a 9 inch plate as a guide. Then gurn the paper over so the circle in on reverse.

Place egg whites and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat eggs and salt for about a minutes. slowly add sugar till first shiny peaks. sift cornstarch, add vanilla, and vinegar to the top of egg whites, slowly fold in with rubber spatula. Pile mixture onto pan using the 9 inch circle as a guide. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Let cool for a hour. will be crisp on outside and soft on inside.

Whip a pint of heavy whipping cream with a teas vanilla a three tablespoons p. sugar. place on cooled meringue, top with any fruit, and a fruit syrup.

I did strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, with a strawberry syrup, and it looks gorgeous, and is really unique and fancy.

7 things :)

2010-04-06T10:59:00.025-06:00

1. The Tongue Surgery.

A few months ago Brynne fell and I noticed she had a tiny white mark on her tongue. Well...it kept growing and growing, and honestly, it was getting really gross. I finally took her to the pediatrician, where he didn't know what it was, and neither did the other pediatricians in the office. So, they found a pediatric dentist that was going to remove it and then they were going to do a biopsy (we still don't know the results of this.) Sooo they said it was going to be 20 minutes no big deal.......so I wasn't emotionally prepared for the big deal it was! We got to the hospital at 6 am because Brynne was supposed to be fasting. We filled out paper work, took vitals, changed Brynne, waited around, talked to the Dr., talked to the Anesthesiologist, and about 8:30 she was finally done and coming out of the anesthesia. When we when we went in she was having a hard time coming out of the anesthesia, she was thrashing around, had blood ALL over her, didn't recognize me or Taylor, kept trying to pull her 3 stitches in her tongue.....oh it was for sure my personal hell seeing her like that! Around 9:30 we finally calmed her down enough to put her in the car. She took a nap when we got home and did really well after that....but I'm sure glad its over! P.s. this pic doesn't nearly do that growth justice.
2. The Aquarium.
My mom came out to visit for her spring break last week! It was so fun to have her! We had a great time, and Brynne loved all the extra attention. We went to the aquarium one day, Kenny got to come because he took a half day off work....it was really nice for only $9! What a deal...the Monterrey aquarium is like $40 I think. Anyways they had some cool exhibits, Kenny and I got attacked by a ray we were trying to pet, and we didn't bring the stroller so Brynne was constantly running around.

3. Independent girl.
Brynne is learning that she likes to do things on her own! She has learned the word "NO."...it is frustrating! She LOVES to go Bye Bye because it's her opportunity to try to run to the back yard to get on the trampoline...she could stay on there for hours. She has created this game that when shes bored she will try to walk from place to place with her eyes tightly closed, its hilarious. When she gets an idea she will say PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE relentlessly till she gets it...like this camel-back, our phones, but especially chocolate. Its better to not give her any at all! She has learned to twirl in circles when she dances to any music from twinkle twinkle to some old beastie boy music. Oh she has so many good tricks and is always keeping us entertained, we LOVE her and her fun personality!
4. Easter.
I love when conference weekend falls on Easter! It makes it easier to remember the atonement. Taylor and I got to go to Saturday morning session thanks to Kenny and Andrea for babysitting and changing not 1 but 2 dirty diapers. It was so nice to go and feel the spirit so strong, and not be distracted. I have a lot to work on as a parent that is for sure, but I felt like conference was very encouraging. We also had lunch at Johny Carinos, so good. It was a much needed date!
Brynne loved the candy in her basket and for awhile wouldn't eat anything unless we put it in the egg first...so she ate pieces of a casadilla and crackers from her eggs. Taylor made us some great Easter pancakes!

5. New Table.
This beauty was our first furniture purchase not from craigslist or KSL, and I am in love. Someone gave us our other table when we got married and the chairs were broken and the table was starting to fall apart...so I convinced Taylor that we did get our tax return.......Taylor did some wheeling and dealing and got the sales man to take off more than $200 off the sale price, so we got a amazing deal!

Using the table for mom's birthday party, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We had the party on April fools, so I put some vinegar in Kenny's drink. But he tricked me later when I bent down to pick up Brynnes sippy, and switched our cups, so I also got to try the vinegary crystal light...delish.
The table hard at work during our fondue party we had with our FHE group.

6. New babies in the Family.
Alex and Megan had their third baby recently! His name is Wesley, and he's darling. His sisters seem excited! Erica and Riley also had their third baby girl, and her name is Natalie, she has got the most gorgeous dark hair! We are excited about our new nephew and niece!

7. Loyalty. What a great quality!
Just something I've been thinking about.....I think its so important to have feelings of loyalty towards your friends, family, country, etc. I like this quote from President Hinckley. "I think of loyalty in terms of being true to ourselves. I think of it in terms of being absolutely faithful to our chosen companions. I think of it in terms of being absolutely loyal to the Church and its many facets of activity. I think of it in terms of being unequivocally true to the God of heaven, our Eternal Father, and His Beloved Son, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ."

Its a ........

2010-03-22T12:54:00.004-06:00

Ultra sound technician:
It looks like its a boy!
Oh wait that might have been just the cord.
We'll double check. Yep its a boy!
He is such a active little guy, he wont hold still! (her excuse why all the
ultra sound pictures are blurry!)

Taylor: Yayyyyyyy!!!
Me: We have to go shopping! Babies can be boys? Cant quite imagine it!

Winter crafts

2010-03-17T10:22:00.008-06:00

My mom wanted to see this quilt I made for one of Kenny's bff's. He said he wanted a real "Mormon made quilt." So he sent me all the 501's and dickies he had been saving, haha. I probably wont ever offer to do that again. But anyways sewing is always a lesson on how to be detail oriented because I am not that way at all!
Purse I made out of a chair cover wedding gift we never used.
There was this family in our stake where the parents of 10 were hit by a car of someone on drugs, and the dad died and the mom was in the hospital for a month without much health insurance, and the dad didn't have life insurance, so we had a charity auction, so sad. I forgot to take a picture of the finished quilt, but if we are having a boy I want to make his bedding with these colors.
I inherited this chair from my sister in law, sold my glider I didn't like, and used the money to re finish this. There are a few issues with this chair and I haven't put a clear coat on yet. I wish I would have practiced the antiquing on a board or something first.....oh well its finally done! But I will chalk it up to a learning experience, and it will look good enough in Brynne's room.

Brynne Latley.

2010-03-11T15:39:00.005-07:00

Spring Fever!!

2010-02-23T14:04:00.010-07:00

Happy Valentines day! Taylor and I have always gone out for Tai food on Valentines day, but this year the restaurant was quite the disappointment, so we got some dessert! We also went swimming at the indoor pool which was great, I forget in the winter how much I love to swim...even if I was possibly the whitest person in the pool!

On Sunday we made this fancy meal...I am really really bad at making meat, so my new goal is to learn how to make it without it being dry. I ALWAYS overcook it because I cant handle the thought that it might be raw or underdone. I have only in the past couple of years not needed to put baggies on my hands before touching raw meet. Anyways these were called braised short ribs, and they were moist, yay, a first for me!
Our little Valentine!
Here is Brynne ripping up her valentine:) Taylor gave me a swifter mop (romantic I know..but what I wanted!) And he hid it outside by the dumpster, where he had put the old mop out there, and he was playing that song from the commercial "Baby come back!" I thought it was hilarious, those commercials crack me up especially when the mop falls in love with the bowling ball!
Brynne and I flew to California to "hang out" with my brothers while my parents went on a much needed vacation to San Diego. Brynne obviously thought we were in Hollywood.
The first part of the week was absolutely gorgeous, how I LOVE the sun! I know my mood changes to ten times more happy when I'm outside! We spend most of our time at the park next to my parents house.
Telling grandma a joke!
Brynne and grandpa love the apple blossoms........who doesnt!!
Brynne and chad.....after dinner. I guess Chad's shirt was even more dirty than Brynnes and he had to take it off.
Todd studying away! In fact he was at the computer so much that whenever he wasnt there Brynne would look at the computer and say Taaaaaaaaa??

The toy room

2010-02-08T09:58:00.002-07:00

Brynne discovered a fun new area in the house today, my closet! She is a fan of shoes, even the word"shoe" is one of the more prominent words in her vocab. This lady couldn't be more happy in the closet, and I don't blame her!

1 year!

2010-02-01T11:59:00.011-07:00

Cant believe this little lady is one year old already! It went by sooo fast for me! She has almost tripled her birth weight. Crazy!! Brynne has been such a healthy baby, but this past week she has been more sick than I have ever seen her!
At first I thought it was teething and then I realized that she already has 8 teeth and she never even acted like those bugged her at all. She wants to be held all day, only wants to have bottles..not her sippy cut and many solids which is so not like her. Cries constantly. Has a fever. Etc. Sunday I stayed home from church with her and she woke up from her nap with a bright red rash all over her face, back and stomach. So as soon as Taylor got home we took her to the Insta care. The Dr. looked at her for about 2 seconds, gave her a strep test, and then told me it was a virus and there was basically nothing he could do!! I was so mad/upset with this guy. The least he could do was try to research it more and figure more options, I really dont believe he had any idea if it was a virus or not, he barley even looked at her, and he doesn't understand how not herself she has been acting, this baby needs some medicine. And maybe there is nothing we can do, but he should have at least acted like he was trying to figure something out right?? That is exactly why I never go to the Dr. for myself, but I cant not take my baby because she cant tell me whats going on... grrrr frustating. Kind of Ironic though since Taylor wants to be a doctor...
Anyways Brynne's birthday party was so much fun, we had a GREAT turn out and had to borrow chairs from our neighbors. Thanks to everyone who could come, it was great to get to talk to some adults :) You can tell in these pictures Brynne is sick, no smiles poor thing!
She attempted to eat the top of her cake, and did a pretty good job! She wasnt as into as I think she would have been if she was feeling well, but was a good sport.
She did LOVE her balloons her dad got her, they entertained her for hours :)
According to Taylors Child Development class after babies turn 1 they are considered toddlers, not infants...sad. But she definitely "Toddles" so it makes sense.
Presents!! She got some great new clothes and toys that she/we will love!!
She opened this puzzle from her cousins and immediately started "Baaaing" when she saw the sheep!
"Clothes....whoopie......lets move to more toys!"
This has been basically my entire week with this little one, poor babe!! (Poor me!) I wanted to get a pic of the rash in case anyone had insights to what it was but the flash is blocking it. Oh well, its there.
Get well soon Brynne, we love you! Happy Birthday angel girl!

Number 2's debut

2010-01-22T16:44:00.004-07:00

isnt she/he darling? My first appointment went really well! I ended up choosing the same Dr. that delivered Brynne even though its clear in Orem, I am not a fan of change so I loved knowing exactly how the appointment would go and who the nurses were. I liked my Dr. a lot better when I wasn't mad because he wouldn't induce me sooner :)

Daughter like Father

2010-01-20T14:23:00.003-07:00

We found this old picture of Taylor that looks pretty similar to the one of Brynne, except for the updated carpet and vacuum!

Food Court Compromise

2010-01-15T13:01:00.004-07:00

Taylor is the perfect man for me, that is a fact. He is so easy going and doesn't let anything get him down, he is always, always positive. Thank goodness for that because I let little things upset me, so he always helps me realize "its not that big of a deal."

When we were dating we talked on the phone a lot since we were long distance. When we were starting to talk about marriage I got freaked out and started asking him all these questions about how he would react in certain situations.

So I ask him: But what if we could never agree on a place to go out to eat at? What if I want Chinese and you want Mexican, there isnt really a way to compromise between those two is there? (me being typically illogical.) Taylors genius answer: I guess I would take you to the food court then.

And that my friends is why I love my husband, and why I am in charge of a date tonight and we are headed for the food court.

Christmas Break/wedding post

2010-01-12T17:36:00.014-07:00

Christmas morning was one of the only mornings I have woken up before Brynne. We had to wake her up around 9 so she wouldn't miss the fun! It was a great Christmas day, and probably the last we will all be together for a couple of years. We all were extremely spoiled by mom, and my dad out did himself with our yearly treasure hunt for our chocolate oranges. We had to climb buildings, go on monkey bars, climb trees, etc. We had tons of great food and played bocce ball while trying to avoid my parents chickens that were running around the back yard, and played tennis because it was such a gorgeous day.
We had a picnic on Christmas eve because it was one of Andreas family's traditions to have a picnic and roast hot dogs. She was surprised! We also went on our annual $1 wal-mart excursion. (we draw names, and are allowed to spend no more than $1.07 on that person)
We got to spend time with the Broughton's and Brynne deffinatley loved being constantly entertained by her cousins!
New sippy cup!
I made a peanut butter rice crispy cake for the luncheon (dont worry they had a real wedding cake at the reception!)
We had a open house for Kenny and Andrea in Stockton. It was fun to see alot of old friends from there!
Very nicely coordinated shoes!
I forgot my camera on the wedding day, so I stole these from our family website (thanks Sierra!)
The wedding was gorgeous, and the sealer said some really beautiful things I thought. I did'nt even cry very much! Funny story, after the wedding we went to set up the luncheon and Kenny's best man came with us in my parents car. The luncheon was about a half hour away. Well, as soon as we got there the best man got a call from Kenny asking where his keys were. The best man had the keys, so K@A were stuck at the temple until the best man drove back and gave them the keys. So they were a little late!
I'm so proud of my little brother for being brave enough to get married!! And I'm so excited to have such a fun new sister :)

First Steps

2010-01-06T20:15:00.004-07:00

Walking practice with help from the car Grandma & Grandpa Broughton gave her for Christmas!

Finally we were able to catch Brynne on camera taking a few steps!!! She will be one on the 29th and are glad that she walking, but sad that she is growing up so fast!

9 weeks-ish

2009-12-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

A re you suprised! Me too :)

Brynne's First Christmas!!!

2009-12-25T16:31:00.002-07:00

This is Taylor... I am sure that Dione will post more pictures later, but I wanted to show off how my first major sewing project turned out... yes, I did sew that giant teddy bear and more importantly, Brynne loves it!!!! I think the picture says it all. Merry Christmas everybody!

Feliz Navidad!

2009-12-16T20:21:00.003-07:00

Brynne is 10 1/2 months and she is changing so much everyday that I feel like I need to write down all of her achievements!
- says mama non stop, it means mom, more, dad, pick me up, I'm hungry, etc.
- says dada, means dada and I just want to babble.
- says uh oh, if she drops something.
- says ama at the end of a prayer. This is especially enjoyed by the family sitting behind us in sacrament meeting
- Pulls herself up on the couch, coffee table, the Christmas tree, adults legs, etc
- crawls like crazy
- pushes her little cart toy walking for a few steps
- has 8 soon to be 10 teeth
- loves to brush her teeth
- is not interested in baby food unless its fruit
- eats whatever we are having usually
- somehow can always find a jar of Vaseline to get into
- loves to turn the T.V. on and off
- smiles and makes eye contact with strangers until they stop to tell her how cute she is
- can wear a pony tail
- read her books and tells us all about them
- loves accessorize and wont stop till she pulls your necklace, earings, buttons, scarf
- is not happy until she gets a hold of a cell phone if she sees one
- has the cutest sense of humor, she will see something next to her or in the distance that she thinks is funny and will just start laughing about it.
- has a fake laugh she uses when others are laughing and she doesnt get the joke.
- has the cutest smile full of little teeth!
- loves to drink water
- sticks her tongue out all the time
- pushes her bum in the air and balances on her head and feet
- likes to sing and play the piano with her dad
- Loves to swing

Who has a home phone anymore??

2009-12-06T22:14:00.002-07:00

WE DO

Thanksgiving trip

2009-12-06T21:52:00.017-07:00

Thanksgiving was such a fun day! One thing that we are grateful for is that both our families live within a hour of each other so we get to spend time with both sides out the family each trip out! Taylor and his brother made this cool swing to entertain Brynne and our nieces!
California Thanksgiving, Maddi digging in the dirt!
Grandma Broughton pushing Brynne...Brynne did not want to get out of that swing we tried a few times to go, but she wouldn't have it!
Taylor and his mom swinging...
Lots and lots of Turkey!!
Our brand new nephew Jack! (6th grandchild and first boy, yay!)
Dan, Kalie, and Jack

Grammy and Papa McAffee's house in Benecia

Oh you know, just feeding the chickens! Brynne was a fan of these guys..well I guess they are girls. Taylor also had fun harassing the poor things.
Can you believe Todd doesn't have a girlfriend! Brynne and handsome uncle Todd!
Chad drooling right after he had his wisdom teeth out.....cool shoes man.
Life is good!
We went to Muir woods beach, it was a perfect day! Brynne loved the water and wanted in it, even though it was fridgid, yet again just like her dad:)
Hoods!
Love that laugh!

25th birthday party

2009-12-03T11:25:00.015-07:00

Taylor had a great birthday party while we were in Ca! He got tons of presents including a keyboard, Jacket, camelback, piano music, gift cards, and more. It pays to be 25 apparently! We wish we lived closer to all our California friends, it was such a fun night!

Taylors birthday pie he had yesterday on his real birthday.
Piano cake for his party in Lodi
Taylor wearing the jacket his aunt gave him
A group picture of some of our friends at the party, I wish I would have taken a group pic sooner so I could have got everyone in the pic, we had a great turn out and it was so fun to get to show off our baby, and get to see everyones cute babies!
Gangster keyboard playin, nerf gun shootin, birthday boy!
Should I be worried...she is already into cute boys!
Joe, Jana, and Lily
Ashley and Joe
Annie, Christian, Noah, and Harper
Maddi patiently wating for cake The entertainment for the night...holding babies :)

Scary Clause

2009-12-01T20:09:00.006-07:00

Tonight was our ward Christmas party, Brynne was passed all around the ward and let anyone hold her.......except for santa!

She was grateful for the candy cane!

Primary Pizza Party!

2009-12-01T17:48:00.006-07:00

A few weeks ago we had our primary class over for pizza, they have been looking forward to the party for months! (we kinda used it to bribe them to be good for months also, it was great!) It really turned out so well, they are hilarious as always! We had 7, 6 year olds running around our house for about two hours. They had pizza, decorated cookies, played the balloon game (you tie a balloon to everyones leg and they try to pop everyone elses without getting there's popped...only ended in one girl crying) Jumped on the love sack and were really really loud. It was nice to just let them play instead of trying to keep them reverent. The best thing about our ward is these kids most of them live in our court, the girls always come over..many times a day to check on Brynne, the boys come over trying to sell us there wares (Halloween candy they dont like and pictures they have drawn, and a cardboard and duck tape shelve they made.)

A WIN IN OVERTIME!!

2009-11-30T09:03:00.007-07:00

Click Here to See the Winning Touchdown!!!

The BYU vs Utah game had such a great ending! Click the link above to see the winning play of the game! GO BYU!

wedding announcement

2009-11-18T20:15:00.004-07:00

Andrea's sister made this, I think it turned out darling!