President Hinckley

I was so sad to to hear that President Hinckley passed away last night. Don and I sat and talked about him for awhile and about what an exemplary life he led. I cried when Don told me his experience with President Hinckley in New Zeland and how he truly knew that he was a prophet of God. I am so grateful to have that same knowledge. It's hard to imagine there being another prophet, but I know we will all come to cherish the next, just as we have cherished President Hinckley.

I loved President Hinckley's spirit, his fun sense of humor, his passion, his selflessness. I loved that when he spoke, I could always feel his love bursting through the tv screen and I always just had to smile at this warm, amazing man with seemingly endless amounts of wisdom, love, and service to give. He has truly made a profound impact on my life and on this world.

A Brighton Update

In case anyone is wondering, the tragedy of no bink is getting a little better. Nap time is a battle, but bed time has been easy the last little while. Bri is still getting up in the 5's though, which is killing us! The last couple of days we have brought a couple of snacks upstairs the night before, along with some favorite toys and had Bri just play and snack upstairs for an hour or so when she gets up. It has worked pretty well. Don can sleep through anything so he thinks it's great, but when she's running around our room jabbering and singing, I just can't sleep. I SO much hope that she goes back to sleeping till 7:00 one of these days!

Anyway, here are a few pics from the week...

Our happy little lady

Look everybody, no hands!

After weeks of begging "outside" from Bri, we finally took her out for a stroll around the neighborhood. It was freezing cold, but I swear she could care less. She was just so thrilled to be able to run around outside for a little while. I can't wait for good weather!


Naps. Although Brighton isn't too thrilled about the real thing, she thinks playing nap with her babies is super duper fun and she loves to do it several times a day.



Pickles and salsa anyone? That's right, I said pickles and salsa. This is Bri's new favorite combo. She thought this one up on her own and it has become her new favorite snack. She asks for it everyday. I am all for pickles and I am all for salsa, but together...yuck! Bri gives yum yum commentary everyday during pickles and salsa time, but I just can't get myself to give it a try.

Bye Bye Blissful Binki Nights

This week we decided to finally bite the bullet and say goodbye to the binki. Sad, sad, sad. We cut little holes in the top of all of Bri's binks and when she went to suck on one only to find that it was broken, she was like "OH NO!" in the most dramatic, sad fashion you can imagine. It was half funny and half very sad. "OH NO" over and over again. It was like the worst thing to ever happen in this world had just happened...a broken bink. You can imagine the devastation. Brighton actually did pretty well going to sleep that first night. Perhaps she was in shock. Since then it has been super tough though. She just cries and whimpers and says mommy and daddy over and over in the cutest little sad voice. It is almost impossible not to give in to her every want! Don is much better at resisting than I am. He keeps me from running into her room every five seconds. Bri has been getting up just before 5am since we ruined her precious binks. I think she is trying to punish us. :) We have been sticking her in bed with us in hopes of another hour of shut eye, but all we have gotten is a hyper little girl jumping up and down on the bed singing E-I-O and asking for snacks and cereal. We are really, really, really hoping that Bri can adjust to a binkless world sooner rather than later! It was actually sad for us to take her binkis away too. It felt like we were pushing Bri to be a little girl instead of a little baby or something. Sounds kind of dumb when I write it down that way, but I guess it's just a little sad to see her grow up so fast.

Speaking of growing up, Bri has decided she knows all about what the potty is for. The other day while I was running her bath, we couldn't find her for a minute. Don found her in the other bathroom naked and peeing on the toilet seat (lid down). She said "pee pee potty." She knew where that pee pee was supposed to go. The next day when I asked her to go throw a diaper away, she went straight to the toilet, threw the diaper in and said "poo poo" as she tried to flush it down. Apparently she knew where poo poo was supposed to go too. So the next day we bought a potty seat. She seems a little young to do the potty training thing so we're not pushing it at all, but she seems interested so we'll see.

Christmas

Coop & Bri

Bri & Uncle Q

Fun with Tickle Me Elmo

The Farrell Fam on Christmas Morning


Helping Bren strum a tune

Lex & Brighton

Bri & Grandma

Grandpa, Brigton, & Ash

Ellie & Bri chowing down on french fries

San Diego Zoo

The beach!

Enjoying the sun, sand, ocean, & each other

The Girls

Brighton & Grandma

It was a busy, great holiday sesason for us! We started out in Utah. We got to spend a day with Quincy, Deb, & the boys (wish it could have been longer!) and then headed down to Mammoth. We stayed there for about a week and had a great time. Christmas was a blast! Brighton was more interested in opening the presents than the actual presents themselves, but is now thoroughly enjoying her new toys. She went from person to person and was a great little present opening helper. She got lots of fun toys, etc. (Not a bit spoiled) Ha! She loved Grandma and Grandpa's giant Christmas tree and loved being the center of attention all week.

After a great week in Mammoth, we headed down to San Diego to see the other side of the family. We enjoyed the 70 degree weather and had a great time with the Farrell clan. We went to the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, a cool science museum, and of course, the beach! Sea World gets our vote for best tourist attraction in San Diego. We had so much fun there. Brighton had fun being chased by her cousins and we really enjoyed spending time with everyone. We are so grateful to have such a great family. We loved seeing everybody and think everyone should come visit us in Oregon! (Soon)!