Lots of time has gone by since I posted! We welcomed baby Liam into our family on July 2013. He was born with a cleft so it was lots... ok TONS of work at first to get him fed. We still enjoyed every second snuggling and loving on him though! We made it through the initial surgeries and he is definitely getting his food intake now! He is 15 months old already! The time has flown by. Brynn and Gavin are still the best of friends and love their baby with all their hearts. We are so incredibly blessed!

Brynn is in 2nd grade! When did that happen? She is a rock star at everything she tries. She has been doing tumbling for 4 years now and can now do back flips, ariels, round-off back hand-springs... and does cartwheels everywhere she goes (instead of walking:)). She loves soccer and has gotten quite good! This was her third year and she scored lots of points and had tons of fun doing it. She is an AWESOME reader. She reads all of the time. She is an awesome singer! I told her she needs voice lessons because she was definitely blessed with an awesome voice. She said she will do that later but will NOT sing in front of people. :) Brynn is helpful, thoughtful, kind, full of energy, sassy, smart, and an incredibly great daughter and sister!


Gavin is in preschool and LOVES it. This was his first year in soccer and he was so funny. He was a lot younger than most of the kids so, even though he is really fast, he just couldn't keep up... and could care less. He would try to catch butterflies or floaty things in the air and jog up and down the field. LOL He had fun though! He is also in tumbling and absolutely loves it. He mostly does stretches and balance and somersaults into the "pit".  He loves to ride his "easy roller". He has learned all of his sounds to his letters and is trying to put them together to form words. Gavin is HILARIOUS! He giggles almost all day long. He loves his family and is very sweet, patient, and loves to play tricks on us. He is so gentle and gives the best hugs!


Liam is a walking/slobbering ball of love! He loves to eat! He enjoys being outside. He loves to play with his brother and sister. He has been a really good baby (as they all have). He is so so SO much fun to love on and that is what we all do!


This year we have grown a TON as a family and continue to learn each day how to meet each other's needs differently and in a more patient (still need work) way. We love being together, playing games, going on walks around the park, watching movies, eating yummy dinner together each night, going to all the college football games, and just snuggling up every night to read a good book. I can not even describe in words how much I love being "the mommy" of this awesome family of mine. I LOVE IT! We are incredibly blessed and so thankful for our loving Heavenly Father whom blesses us with small and tender mercies every single day.

First Day of School and TWO TEETH!

       Brynn started KINDERGARTEN! She has been so excited to go to "Elementary School". She could barely sleep the night before school started because she was so excited.
       When she was tested the week before school started her teacher jokingly said that she could just skip kinderten and go to 1st grade! lol She is super smart and Daddy has been helping her learn how to read every night before bed this summer. They called me later and told me that they are putting her in a class with some other kids her same level so that she can be challenged this year. She really loves her teacher  and loves having LOTS of friends.
        Matt and I volunteer in her class so that we can make sure we know what's going on. I do it twice a month and Matt goes once a month for 2 hours. Needless to say, it makes Brynn very happy! :) When we asked her what her favorite part of her first day of school was she said, "When my Mommy and Daddy both came and picked me up from school!" hahaha (Matt snuck away from work for 15

 minutes and surprised us both!)
       When I dropped her off the first day she went up to the other kids and asked them what their names were and told them her name. She asked them all if they'd like to play with her and it just melted my heart. We are so proud of her for being friendly and doing her best at school!

       When we were on vacation to go see "Alladin" at the Tuacahn Theatre Brynnlie ate a half bag of carrots and then said, "My teeth are bleeding!" I of course said, "Then stop eating carrots!" When we got back to our hotel and got ready to go swimming, I looked at her teeth and tried to wiggle them and they both just fell right over... ka-plop! I almost cried and Matt was upset because she's only 5! She started Kindergarten and lost her first 2 teeth and her mommy and daddy want her to STOP GROWING UP SO FAST! :) She was excited and put her teeth under her pillow when she got home. The tooth fairy gave her $2 and an OFFICIAL CERTIFICATE with REAL FAIRY DUST ON IT! She has told everybody they can look at her certificate but not to touch it because she wants to keep the REAL FAIRY DUST on it! HAHAHA

Brynnlie's 5th Birthday

Brynnlie turned FIVE!!! I still can not believe it. Time flies way too fast! She told me that she wanted a strawberry shortcake birthday. She also said that she wanted her very own steak at sizzler and wanted to go miniature golfing. hahaha
 

I had to sneak in her room the night before and take a picture of her sleeping the last time as a 4 year old.... (crying)


She woke up to a vanity, stool, and mirror and was so excited that she got what she asked for. She can now put "make-up" and jewelry on 26 times a day. :) hahaha


She opened up a present every couple of hours all day so that she could take time to play with each item. She loved it!





Daddy got off work early and took us to Sizzler. Brynnlie loves Sizzler because of the salad bar. There is nothing she won't eat as far as vegetables go. She is the Vegetable Monster at our house. We didn't think she could eat an entire steak all by herself but she definitely did!

Afterward we went miniature golfing and we had a lot of fun! I actually beat Matthew by 2 points!!! (I still have the score card on the fridge to remind him. HAHA) Brynn really thinks she won the whole thing though. She actually did get a hole in one and we all jumped up and down and screamed. :)



 

We invited some family over for strawberry shortcake and Brynn opened a few more presents from her Grandma and Grandpa. She told us it was the best day ever!




We love you so much BrynnieBoo. You are incredibly smart, beautiful, funny, positive, brave, loving, compassionate, patient, and helpful. We can not imagine life without you. You are the light of each of our days. You are the greatest big sister in the world. You amaze your mommy and daddy every. single. day. You are SO VERY SPECIAL!!!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our Sweet Punkin Eater Baby Cakes!

Preschool Graduate

Our baby girl is finished with Preschool! I have to admit that I teared up a bit when I dropped her off for her last day of preschool this morning. Matt and I and Gavin came back to her school an hour later for graduation. She did a really great job with all of the songs, sign language, and stories.

I told her that she needs to stop growing up so fast and she said, "Mom, you knew when you had me, when I was a baby, that I would grow up!" hahaha. We are very proud of her. She is very excited for kindergarten. She and I went on a bike ride to her new school last night so she knows where she will be going in the fall. I can't believe that it's been 5 years since we were blessed with our beautiful daughter.  We love her with all of our hearts.

She is my best little girlfriend and we are very excited for this summer. Here is our list we made up this afternoon of our SUMMER ACTIVITIES.

o   Tumbling

o   Swimming lessons

o   Go on bike rides

o   Have a Tea Party with real food & Dolly, Harriott & Mommy

o   Princess Bubble Baths

o   Bake Cookies together (use sprinkles and icing)

o   Pop a big bowl of popcorn and watch a princess movie

o   Have a picnic

o   Go on a hike

o   Practice reading - Read books with Dolly

o   Pick out fabric and make matching skirts for Brynn & Dolly

o   Go to the library

o   Make Ice Cream Sundaes - Go get Ice cream

o   Write poems together

o   Play games on the computer

o   Start a journal and write in it every day

o   Do puzzles

o   Play a board game

o   Go up the canyon for a fire and smores

o   Complete the preschool-kindergarten workbooks

o   Make real juice popsicles

o   Make jewelry with beads

o   Sleep on the trampoline & watch the stars

o   Paint finger & toenails

o   Paint or Color pictures

o   Build a fort and read books with a flash light inside

o   Put the sprinkler under the tramp & jump

o   Fill pool in back yard and swim/slide

o   Have a friend over

o   Spend a couple of hours with Grandma

o   Go to the swim park

o   Play Hair Dresser with Mommy’s hair

o   Go Camping

o   Color With Side Walk Chalk

o   Go to the lake

Praise To The Man

Brynn loves singing her primary songs and I am impressed that she knows a lot of the really big words in this song. Enjoy!

Birthday Girl turns 4!

Brynners birthday was in May and it was very exciting for her because she has literally been talking about turning 4 for the past 7 months. I wish I was exaggerating about this but I'm not. Every cashier at each store we've been to in the last 7 months has been told about this impending birthday. hahaha! (SO... we are not going to even mention the fact that she'll be turning 5 in another 12 months, k everybody? thanks for your help in this matter ;))

Brynn's birthday party wish-list:
Belle Birthday
Belle hair
Red Roses
Barbeque
COUSINS & Family
balloons
& YUMMY "Lemonade" Cupcakes

I have to be honest and say I really didn't go all out on the "Belle Theme". I did get a few princess balloons along with some red and yellow (and of course RED roses)and she was perfectly happy with that. We did wake up and do "Belle hair" which turned out perdy cute (she wore her Belle dress for a few minutes). We had everybody over for a BBQ (inside because of the rain). And the "Lemonade Cupcakes" were DELICIOUS if I do say so myself ;).

Family is the best part of the party!!! (Matt and I chose to stay and live by family after we were done with school for this very reason; so that our children could have awesome memories and feel the love and closeness our family shares.) We have such awesome FAMILY! Thank you all for coming and making it SO MUCH FUN:).




We love you Brynn! We really enjoy being your mommy and daddy. We have so much fun together. You are BRIGHT AND CHEERFUL and light up each and every day. You are really energetic, happy, have such kind words, and so willing to help out! These last few years have been the VERY BEST of our lives because of you. Tks sweetheart. Enjoy being 4 and stop growing up so fast! You are our very favorite little 4 year old in the entire world ;)!

PlayGround

We debated digging up this old swing set to make more room in our less-than-spacious back yard. We are SO glad that we didn't because Brynn plays on it every day. She yells," Goin' to the playground!" and runs out the back door. Here are some of her "tricks" she loves to show me. hahaha! She cracks us up.

This is determination.


Really? :)


I told her now that she's going to be 4 that she needs to learn how to pump herself on the swing. This is what she got out of my lovely teaching abilities. I laughed forever when I first saw this ;).

Graduate ;)

Brynn is finished with her first year of preschool so we are singing our "OUT FOR THE SUMMER!" song (and dancing too). I know she was only gone 2 afternoons a week but it sure is nice to have her home all of the time! :)

I think it's pretty silly to have "graduation" after 1 year of pre-school but the kids did a good job singing and acting out a story. Brynn had fun so that's all that matters.

Girl's Night

Brynn went to sleep yesterday at 2:30 in the afternoon and woke up at 7:30 (bed time). I asked her if she was feeling ok and she said she was feeling "GREAT!". I told her that Gavin had just gone to bed and asked her if she was tired. "NO WAY Mommy!" hahaha. Matt was feeling sick and was upstairs laying down. I got excited and told her that it sounds like we get to stay up late together and have a GIRLS NIGHT!

We took a shower and blow dried our hair for church. We put on our jammies and jumped in the car and went to the 8:50 showing of Rio. We got popcorn and shared a Laughy Taffy. We put on our awesome 3D glasses and giggled and snuggled through the whole movie. After it was over we ran through the parking lot to our car and pretended that we could fly. :)


We came home and there was a crazy wind storm outside that was rattling the windows and the fence. The sky was clear so we threw all of the blankets we could find out on the tramp and brought our pillows. We snuggled under the warm blankets and watched the sky and listened to the wind whirl around us. We talked and told funny stories. I told her the special story of how she came in to our family and how our Heavenly Father answered all of our prayers. I told her how much I love being her mommy. She hugged me and told me I was the best mommy in the whole world. We laid there quietly and looked at the stars and the moon. Then the fence made a loud cracking sound and we both made a break for it and ran into the house to go to bed.

It was so much fun sharing a night with just the two of us. We need to do that more often!

Her Her-nia

So Brynners has had an Epigastric Hernia since she was born and her doctor told us that this type of hernia doesn't heal on its own. In fact they get bigger and more dangerous with time so last Friday she had a scheduled surgery on her tummy to get it fixed. It was very hard for mommy & daddy to watch her leave by herself for the surgery and she was very upset that we would do such a thing. The surgery went great and her body has been recovering quite well. She came out of the surgery and snuggled with mommy for a couple of hours until she could walk and use the bathroom and then she came home and slept/watched movies/drank jamba juice and sucked on popsicles.

Brynn before surgery (pics taken with phone)


There was another child screaming bloody murder (coming off anesthesia) in the room next door before her surgery so she was wondering what in the world was going to happen to her.



The only thing we have been wondering is if the surgeon did another surgery while she was in there that we don't know about... to somehow change her personality. The day after the surgery she started showing signs of a very short temper, yelling, attitude beyond belief, and a hair-raising mouthful of words that she didn't learn from us ;). For the last week... as soon as Daddy comes home, I run and hide and pray for more patience than I can possibly come up with on my own. I know she is uncomfortable and also hasn't been able to be going, doing, jumping like she loves to. We've tried our best to be patient and think of fun things to do at home while her tummy heals.

A special Thank-YOU to Auntie Ellie and Soph-Soph who brought over a 100 piece puzzle that she loves and a butterfly craft project she had lots of fun doing. (look at that angelic face... you aren't going to believe me now are ya.)


And also THANK-YOU to Gramma and Grampa Miller for bringing over a mini-bake set. She spent a couple of hours making a mini-double-layer-vanilla & chocolate cake with sprinkles and has big plans to make a double-layer-carrot-cake for Easter.



Her tummy after a week.

Primary Songs

Brynn LOVES to learn and sing her primary songs. Here is one she sang for us during FHE last week and I had her re-do it afterward on video because she is so darn cute :0)!

Love these chillins

We sat up to a hot bowl of chicken noodle soup and garlic toast tonight (yes it is still snowing here) and I looked at our two beautiful children and said another little prayer of thanks for the miraculous opportunity I have been given to be Mom. I am so blessed. Brynn & Gavin keep us on our toes and keep us laughing constantly. Oh the joy!!! I tell ya... these two bring so much happiness into our home.

Lately Brynn has been putting "stick in the mud" into all of her sentences. For example, she asks me quite frequently... "Mom, what are you stick in the mud doing?" Or... "Mom, that is so stick-n-the-mud funny!" She says "stick in the mud" really fast and adds it into EVERY THING. It cracks me up to no end. She is so incredibly sweet and makes sure people know how much she cares. She tells me quite often, "Mom, you are a good mommy." And it melts me.

"silly face"


"sweet face"


"mad face" - (not really... it's worse than this ;o))


"happy face"



Gavin likes to scrunch up his entire face and sniff in & out really fast. With his two new front teeth, I can't help but laugh out loud every single time. I have to blow that face up and put it in my kitchen window so that I can laugh at the hilariousness for years to come. He gave me my first kiss yesterday and I melted into a puddle right then and there. He does an open mouthed kiss with his tongue slightly out (No, I didn't teach him that!!!) and it is too sweet for words.

"sniff face"


"sweet face"


"sad face" - (no, I did not pinch him... he just wants to stop taking so many dag-gom pictures!)


"happy face" -- HA HA HA HAHAHAHAH! Oh buddy... you is soo C.U.T.E. with those teethers.

The World Of Color

Last Sunday my friend Amy and I decided spur-of-the-moment (just our style ;)) to take our girls to Disneyland for the week. We left Monday afternoon and spent the most amazing SUNNY week in California and we loved every minute of it! We lucked out and had weather between 75-80 degrees the entire week. It did mama's body good....











Brynn surprised me by being 42 inches and could ride most of the rides in the park (she liked Thunder Mountain and Maderhorn the best I think and didn't really like pirates). We really enjoyed The World of Color show our second night there - it was amazing! We also took the kids to Ariel's Grotto one morning to have breakfast with the princesses. Brynn was in complete awe and was so adorable to watch with the princesses. She went right in for the hug and had them sign her autograph book. She was a little disappointed that she never got to see Jazmin and Princess Tiana on this trip but we'll have to go back another time to make sure to catch up with them.




I can't tell you how wonderful this week has been. It was totally worth it to soak up some rays and see the light of day for a week. After Amy and I put the kids to bed each night we ordered fruit smoothies and sat out in the warm night air on our awesome patio and talked and ate sunflower seeds. We walked to the park each morning and you couldn't wipe the smile off my face as we walked along in short sleeves underneath the palm trees... ahhhhh. I told Matt at the end of the week that he may just have to come down and drag me back to the cold dark valley cause I couldn't force myself to do it ;). We made it home all safe even though it ended up being quite the journey! Brynn & I were so excited to see Daddy & Gavin.

We hit Sea World the last day of our trip and Brynn loved the dolphin/diving/dancing bird show the very best (the frozen lemonade & popcorn topped it off). It was a wonderful trip & we can't wait for our next Sunny trip the end of February. This time we get to go with Daddy and Gavin along for extra amounts of fun.


Thanks Amy, Tia, & Kendall for sharing this awesome adventure with us~!
And Thank You Auntie Ellie & Grandma Miller for watching Gavers while we played!