Easter Weekend

I have been looking forward to Easter for along time now. Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Growing up, my family would do a HUGE easter egg hunt for all the kids and we would get HUGE easter baskets full of fun stuff! I always looked forward to the new outfit i would get on easter morning. So now that we have Brynlee, i was excited to carry on those traditions. We we went up to SLC on friday. We decided to stay at chris's parents house the whole weekend so we didn't have to pack up our stuff and move it to my parents. So friday night we went to dinner then watched a movie at the Judd's. Chris went to the dunes with my brother for the day on saturday so i figured i would go to my parents house and spend some time with them. Chris left at 5:45 in the morning and Brynlee woke up at 7:00 so we had an early start. I got us both ready and we headed to my dads. My parents were watching my niece Presley so i colored some easter eggs with her. She kept asking why Brynlee wasn't helping so i decided to put her next to Pres so she could be involved in the egg coloring process. It was soooo cute. Then me and my sister in-law went on a shopping trip. We went to the cheesecake factory for lunch then shopped till we dropped!!! Our intentions were to just go to a few stores for US. Oh no, we ended up shopping for the little girls for a few hours then we quickly ran into the stores we wanted. By the time we were done, we had spent 5 long hours at the mall. It was sooo much fun and the girls were so good but i was exhausted by the time i got home. When chris and the boys got home, we all went to Iggy's for dinner and hung out for a little bit after wards. I was so tired and ready to hit the sack. The next morning was easter so i had to put Brynlee's basket together. Easter was finally here. I was so excited. When Brynlee woke up, i fed her oatmeal and then the kids got their baskets from the easter bunny. We got Brynlee a book, movie, stuffed bunny and an outfit. She was so excited and she loved her bunny. I was a happy mommy. Then it was time to put her cute easter dress on that i had been looking forward to for a month. And oh man was she the cutest baby!!!! We then headed to my dads for the annual easter egg/basket hunt. Brynlee got spoiled! She got 2 new outfits, toys galore, bunny ears, food and money. She had so much fun playing with all her new toys! Then we ate lunch and headed back to the Judd's for their easter party. Everyone but the Omaha and London Judd's were there. Needless to say, there were 39 people!! it was very crowded but it was sooo much fun to see everyone and catch up. All the kids played together and the food was amazing!! We were all exhausted at the end of the night but we had so much fun. I love easter and the time we get to spend with our families. Having Brynlee makes the holidays more exciting because we get to make our own family traditions!!!! I hope everyone had a good Easter :)

Dexter

Dexter is our family dog that we got back in 1998. He is a golden lab and the cutest dog. He is kind of a wimp and a mamas boy, but thats what we love about him. We had another dog, Tasha, and he was sooo protective over her and wanted her all to himself if you know what i mean!? hahaha. But when she passed away about 5 years ago, he was not himself. He kind of went through a depression because he missed his best friend. He recently started have weird attacks where he couldn't breath and his tongue would turn purple. It was the saddest and scariest thing i have ever seen. Those have been happening quit a bit that last couple years. Then just last Sunday, he had his worst attack ever! We all knew it was time for him to go up to heaven and be with Tasha again. My dad took him to the Vet on Tuesday and he was put down. I was so sad when i heard what was going on. Even though he bugged me sometimes, like all dogs do, i loved him! I didn't get to see him before he was put down and that was very hard for me. Its going to be so weird to go to my parents house this weekend, and not see him there!! Even though we are all so sad he is gone, we know he is in a better place and not in pain anymore. He is probably running around with Tasha again!! I love you Dex! :)

Sand Dunes

Last weekend we went to the Little Sahara sand dunes. This was our first camping trip with Brynlee. At first i was a little skeptical about taking her. I wasn't sure how we were gonna get water for her bottles, keep her warm at night and just overall take care of her in the desert. Then my parents decided to come and all my nervousness was calmed. They have a trailer so i wasn't worried that we weren't gonna be able to take care of her. We were both so excited to go camping that we got up way super early on friday, packed the car and headed north. The weather was awesome when we got there and i was so excited to be outdoors instead of cooped up in our apartment. Chris went on tons of rides with my brothers while the girls stayed back and camp and played with the kids. Brynlee had so much fun in the sun and she loved the jumper my sis in-law brought. I bought her some cute hats at Wal-mart and oh man did she look cute! i will post pictures of her soon!! Chris had been begging me to let him take me up the "valley" the whole week so when we got there, he started begging even more. The "valley" is this HUGE, STEEP mountain covered in sand. Chris has never taken someone up there with him so i was a little nervous. I finally gave in and went with him so he could feel manly!!! haha. Needless to say, it was a BAD decision. Chris missed a gear on the way up and we stalled in the middle of the mountain. I had to get off of the 4-wheeler so he could turn it around. I was soooo scared. The mtn is so steep that i felt like i was gonna tip right over and roll down. Luckily my brother followed us up and i hopped on with him and he drove me down the mtn. Chris felt so bad and wanted to take me up again so he could redeem himself. Inside i was saying, "hell NO!!!" but his face was so sad and cute that i decided to go one more time. And we made it up and back down with safely!!! He was so excited that he took me up but i will NEVER do it again. hahaha. I am not a huge fan of the dunes especially now that we have Brynlee but our family friends have a sand rail. They are pretty much like a car and have a corvet engine in them. They are huge and scary. Everyone was going on rides and saying how fun it was and that i needed to go. NO WAY was i going after our little mishap on the valley. But once again i gave in and im glad i did. It was soooo much fun and i actually felt really safe on it. The thing was a beast and we were rallying all over that mtn! The weekend was a blast. We lounged in the sun, laughed, ate WAY to much, and had fun with all our friends and family!! I am looking forward to the summer so we can go on more fun camping trips!

Spring Cleaning.....

So today i thought it would be a good idea to start my spring cleaning. Oh man what a BAD idea that turned out to be!! I started in the kitchen, at first i was just gonna whip the cupboards down and wash the floor but it quickly turned into me rearranging everything in the cupboards and wiping EVERYTHING down. I probably threw away 2 trash bags of old food we had!! nasty i know. After all that, i washed the walls, window seals, swept and mopped. I decided to take a little break and play with Brynlee since i was neglecting her with my OCD!! After a little play time, i put Brynlee down for a nap and started cleaning the living room. I emptied out our coffee table draws, arranged and cleaned them, dusted every nick and cranny, washed the floor boards, edged and vacuumed. Then they was the 2 closets that i organized, dusted, edged, wiped down and vacuumed. After all that, its sad to say that im not even close to being done. Tomorrow i need to clean the bathroom and the 2 bedrooms. UGH.....! As i sit here tired and worn out and wondering where all that OCD came from, i can't help but feel a little accomplished!!! I love having a clean home for my family! Plus it was quit the work out!! :) Im just looking forward to having it all done and out of the way!

SUCCESS!!!

As i posted earlier, i started Brynlee on rice cereal about a week ago. At first it was a little difficult trying to feed it to her. Every time i gave her a bit, she would have a confused look on her face like she wanted to say, "what the hell are you feeding me mom????". It was the funniest thing i have ever seen. But as i tried to give her more, it turned from funny to frustrating. She would turn her head and yell while kicking her legs which led to me spilling rice cereal all over! I was not looking forward to feeding this to her everyday. As the days went on, i started to thicken the cereal more and thankfully she got MUCH better!!! She now swallows it instead of spitting it out and doesn't make the "what the hell??" face anymore. I actually think she is liking it. We only have 3 more weeks till we can start feeding her veggies and fruit and i can not wait!!! I love sitting down with my little girl and feeding her every night. She is getting so big and its sad but i love her personality and how fun she is!! :)

Rice Cereal

I have been counting down the days till Brynlee could eat rice cereal out of a bowl and with a spoon. A few weeks ago we started giving her rice cereal in her bottle to help her stay full longer but its not the same as feeding it to her. So yesterday we had her 4 month check up and she weighed 15 lbs 4 ounces, yes we have a chunker, but i didn't mind because she was almost double her weight which gave us the go ahead to feed her!!!! YAY! I had decided to weight till her last feeding of the day to see if it would keep her full through night. Since i waited ALL day, the time went by soooo slow. Once 8 o'clock was here, i rushed to the kitchen and made her a bowl. I was so excited to see her face, and oh man, she didn't disappoint! It was priceless!!! On the first bite, she didn't really know what to think about the spoon. She made that "What the hell????" face. It was hilarious! I can't wait to feed her more today and see how she reacts to it!! I love having her in my life and seeing all the milestones she makes. She is always making us laugh and i love when i walk in her room in the morning and she gives me the BIGGEST smile!!!! :) It's the best feeling!!

Weight loss challenge

After having a child, i have noticed how much harder it is to lose weight. I am only 5 pounds away from what i was pre pregnancy but i feel like these last few pounds are here to stay. Since i have been down about my weight, chris and i have decided to not eat out or eat junk food for 3 weeks till we go home for easter break. I am excited for this new challenge and am hoping that i can stick to it. My goal is lose 5 pounds by the end of may and work on losing another 5 pounds after that. WISH US LUCK!!! :)

Brynlee's Room

I have finally taken pictures of Brynlee's room!! So here they are.....

MESQUITE

We have been soooo tired of this crappy weather. It gets warm then freezing, sunny then snowing!!! So as i was looking at the weather, i noticed that mesquite was going to be in the 90's over the weekend. So jokingly, i told chris we should go stay down there for the weekend and soak up some rays at the pool! To my surprise, he agreed! On thursday, we were headed for warm weather on our first family vacation! We had to stop at St. George and grab Brynlee a swimsuit for her first time in the pool. We found a way cute animal print one and we just had to get the matching had and sunglasses!!! We were so excited! We arrived in Mesquite at about 8 and it was soooo warm. we didn't even have to put jackets on. We loved it! We were a little tired from the drive and decided to go to bed early. We got up early the next morning, had breakfast and got ready for the pool. The pool there was AMAZING!! It had a rock water fall and the chairs were so nice! We just lounged and swam in the pool for awhile. After we swam, we went and got lunch. Have i mentioned how CHEAP the food is there??? Me and Chris shared a sandwich for 6 bucks and it was HUGE!! We couldn't even eat it all! After lunch, we went to the pool one more time then went to our room and got ready for the all you can eat sea food buffet!! This was one thing i was looking forward to the whole time and it didn't disappoint! We ate so much Crab and it was AMAZING!!! After the buffet, chris played 20 buck on the slots while me and brynlee waited. And needless to say, she was quit the main attraction there!! Almost everyone who walked past us stopped and talked to her and told me she was soooo cute!! When we met up with chris, he told me he had lost the money but i wasn't to mad because he had a good time!! We took a little walk outside and soaked up the good weather. We took some pictures by the water fall and just talked for while. We were sad to be leaving the next day but we were glad we came down. It was nice to get our of Cedar and into warm weather! It didn't last long though, as i looked outside this morning, the ground was covered in SNOW!!! Ugh...... all i can do is hope that the weather gets better soon. After all, summer is just around the corner and we can not wait. We have so many fun plans and trips ahead of us!!!!