The Farrell Family

Halloween 2011!

2011-11-23T21:03:00.000-08:00

Halloween was great! Fun Halloween party, pumpkin carving with Lex, and trick-or-treating with cousins. Super Girl had a great time running around with Bo Peep and my little monkey enjoyed his m&m's while strolling around in the freezing Portland weather.

Jack is 1!

2011-09-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

Jackson is one! The year flew by, but at the same time, it's hard to imagine a time without this fantastic little man. He is the best boy and we love him to pieces. He is doing lots of big boy things like waving, giving slobber filled kisses, high fiving, wrestling, speed crawling, standing (for a few seconds), and charming all of the oldies at the grocery store. He has 7 teeth, says mama, dada, amen(sort of), and lots of other cute, jabbery words. He has the world's most infectious laugh, a little bit of blond, fuzzy hair, and hazel eyes. He has chunky thighs that I want to devour and the most ticklish neck around. Jack is still not the world's best sleeper, but when he cries in the middle of the night and wants to snuggle, we go running. Gasp. We totally spoil our baby. He really has the best disposition and such a fun personality. We LOVE him so much and are so glad he joined our family a year ago today. Happy Birthday Jackson Scott Farrell!

We had a little family party with presents, balloons, and cupcakes. Pretty low-key, but just right for our one-year-old Jack. He wasn't quite sure what to do with the cupcake at first, but had some yummy fun with it before the party was over.

Mammoth 2011!

2011-08-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Mammoth this year was great. Lex had to work (boo), but the rest of us were there and we had so much fun together.The kids played and played and so did the grownups. Here are some things we did...rode horses, played cards, went to movies, went shopping, saw "Grease" at Tuacan, went fishing, went on a treasure hunt, went hiking, played at a lake, played on the slip n' slide, crawled around (mostly just Jackson did that one, but he did a lot of it), took naps, talked, and reconnected.

Brighton and Miss Maeve all ready to ride...

Grandma, Brighton, & Caddy

Kodiak & I were paired up for a ride and I learned all about Pokemon and all kinds of other 8 year old boy things. It was awesome. Love this kid.

Q & J

The girls &...

The boys

Take that cuz!

Grandma's necklace...mmmmm.

Fishing!

Ohhhh. That looks fun to play with.

The Mammoth Creek treasure hunt! The kids had oh so much fun collecting their treasures!

Sometimes you just need a nap.

Navajo Lake hike

Rock, Paper, Scizzors!

Slip n' Slide!

And that's all. It was so great to spend the week with everyone. Missing them already. I heart my family. Sigh. We missed you Lexi Lou! Quit working so hard and come play with us next time!

July Fun!

2011-07-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

So here's what we've been up to this month...

The 4th was great this year...breakfast & bike parade at the church (no camera), pool party/BBQ with friends (no camera), and BBQ #2 and fireworks with Bren, Megh, Barb, Ellie, Cam, & Connor. Fun, fun, and that's right, some more fun.

The zoo with my two favorite little people.

Grandma & Grandpa visit! Oh the fun we have when they come to visit. We had a great time with them. Lots of playing with the kiddos, shopping, eating, card playing, talking, and just enjoying each others' company.

Happy Birthday to ME! Did Don try to put 32 candles on the cake you may be asking yourself. Why no, he did not. He tried to spell ASH with candles. Looks more like 32 randomly placed candles, but I love that he tried. xoxo

"Give me 5 cuz"...

"No? Fine, then I'll just pull your hair".

Slumber Party!

10 months old! Seriously, where did the time go?! Jack is the best baby and I really might say that even if I weren't lucky enough to be his mama. He is all smiles and giggles and is just a joy to be with. He is crawling...finally...well, kind of. He goes for a bit on all fours then plops down to his tummy and goes full speed commando style. Hey, whatever works. He has two adorable, sharp teeth that he loves to give us "love bites" with. He is a puller of hair! He gives me big, slobbery raspberries on my face and neck all the time and I love it. He is not the world's best sleeper, but hey, nobody's perfect and he's so stinkin' cute, I almost don't care.

Jack's first trip to the beach! We had a great time in Seaside last weekend. Jack ate sand, dipped his toes in the ocean, and even got his first sunburn (despite our best efforts to keep sunscreen and a hat on our alabaster little man). Bri had a blast splashing in the ocean with her cousins, building sandcastles, and eating sticky, saltwater taffy. It was 75 degrees, which is super warm for the Oregon coast and it was a glorious day!

California 2011!

2011-06-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

We had a great trip to Windsor, California with the Farrell clan.
It was great to see everyone and we all had a great time!

We had so much fun on Pat's boat!
Lots of surfing and swimming in the lake!

Couldn't get enough of the pool and the sunshine!

Giants vs Twins at AT&T Park! It was so much fun and check out the view from our seats!

These two were attached at the hip and had a blast laughing and playing together all week.

Spring!

2011-06-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

After a long, long absence, the sunshine finally broke through the gray Portland sky and we have been hitting the park as much as possible. Oh how we have missed you Mr. Sun!

This girl is a monkey bars enthusiast!

Pre-school end of the year concert. Pure, adorable comedy.

The elephant tap dancer!

Easter Weekend

2011-04-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

Everybody else ate loads of candy for Easter, but Jack was perfectly happy with his oatmeal and really, doesn't it just look delicious?

We had a great Easter weekend. We had Don's parents and the Meg/Darin clan here this week. It was great to see everyone and the kids had lots of fun running around like crazy all week.

Saturday was Easter egg hunt day. It was fun and all the kids got plenty of candy. The kids also went to play laser tag and mini golf to celebrate Ben & Nate's birthdays. On Easter the kiddos got up early to search for their baskets & eggs. It was a fun morning. Bri gets so into it. Makes it fun for us. :) Barrett and Autumn came down from Washington to join us for Easter dinner. It was so great to see them and their cute kids. I had big plans to take some pictures with all the kids, but by the time I thought about it all of the babies were DONE and ready for sleep. Next time. All in all, a busy, crazy, but fun week and, as always, so good to spend time with family.

Nita bought these two matching outfits, which, they were all sorts of excited about.

Easter Egg Hunt!

And the basket is found in the back of the shoe closet. That Easter Bunny is a tricky hider.

Such a handsome little devil!

Grandparent Fun!

2011-04-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

Oh how we love it when grandparents visit! We had such a great time with them here. We celebrated Grandpa & Bri's birthdays, played games, most of which I won...(I'm the blog author so no one can contest that statement. Ha!) , and just enjoyed being with each other. We miss them already and hope they come back very, very soon (hint hint) xoxo.

One of the days Lex was here I came upstairs to find these two getting their workout on. Bri talked about how she loved working out for a few days after her ride on the elliptical. Oh the fun.

This girl loves her Grandma. Pretty sure she'd trade me for her. I can't feel too bad about that though. My mom is pretty great.

One of B's birthday presents was a hair stylist kit. Here is Grandpa getting one of many haircuts/styles. I know what you're thinking.... "She's a natural. His hair looks fantastic! When can she fit me into her schedule?!" Well, good news. I'm pretty sure Bri would be happy to pause her barbie play to fit in a quick hairdo session at any time so come one come all and Beautician Brighton will style you up!

This guy put on a cute show for Grandma and Grandpa in hopes that they will come back and visit soon. Let's hope it worked!

These two were good pals during the visit. I love that my dad is a baby person. It was so fun to see them together.

Bri sporting her new ensemble.

Oh who doesn't love baby giggles?

This boy is trying oh so hard to get some teeth in that cute, gummy little mouth of his.

Bri's 5th Birthday!

2011-04-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

Brighton Lily turned 5 today! I'm pretty sure that there has never been another child in the history of the world who was more excited about turning five than Bri. She has been sooo excited! It was a great day. She had a party with her buddies at Pump it Up this afternoon. It was wild! It was chaotic! It was bouncy! It was fun! Bri also had a little family party with the Bren/Megh crew and Nina & Papa tonight. She had a super 5th Birthday.

Bri is the best kid. (I'm not biased). She is sweet and sassy and smart and funny and sensitive and silly and beautiful and loving and spiritual and kind and friendly and happy and energetic and analytical and fancy and sparkly and sensational. She loves swimming, dancing, going to school, being a big sister, playing with friends, playing with her daddy, making Jack laugh, being silly, singing more than talking, coloring pictures and giving them away, and playing outside on those rare dry Portland days. She brings so much joy into our home and we are constantly in awe of our amazing little Brighton. Happy Birthday Bri! We love you!

6 Months Old!

2011-03-22T09:41:00.001-07:00

How is this guy already six months old??!! Jackson is just the most delightful little person. He loves to laugh, pull hair, suck on his fingers (and toes), play with the remote and Mom's phone, pull off Brighton's glasses, and snuggle. Oh, and he's super cute. Look at that face. What more could you want in a baby? He is getting pretty good at sitting up and has started eating rice cereal. Well, most of it is spit back out, but still. What a big boy! He was a bit on the skinny side, but now has the most kissable chubby cheeks and the most squishable chunky thighs. Oh, how we love this kid!

Brighton is doing great. She loves school, swimming lessons, dance class, and playing with friends. She is the most social little kid! She dresses up every chance she gets, which means we see ten different outfits a day. Between Bri and Jack there is a plethora of laundry to be done at any given time. She is such a good girl and is growing up so fast. Bri loves to be silly and makes us laugh everyday.

Attempted escape from the bumbo!

Bri went on a Valentines Day scavenger hunt to get to her new Valentines Day dress. She loved it. She cut up pieces of paper and we had "scavenger hunts" for the rest of the day.

MMMM, toes!

Jack & Aunt Lex are good buddies. She even babysat for us one night so we could go on an actual date! The first in many months.

Ahh, the famous hair pull. If there is hair is within arms length, Jackson WILL pull it. Brighton is a great sport. It is so fun to watch them together. She loves to try to make him laugh and he loves his big sis.

Cousin buddies. I'm sure they'll be great friends someday. So fun that they are only a few months apart. Right now, Jack enjoys staring, smiling, and grabbing at baby Connor. Aren't they cute?!

Chillaxin in one of his favorite spots. Bri's ladybug beanbag. Perhaps we'll get him a less girlie one of his own someday.

There is just something about Daddy that makes this guy just want to snuggle up and go to sleep. Bri was the same way.

This is such a fun age. Jackson is full of personality and we all have so much fun with him. Part of me just wants to freeze time and keep him just like this. Babies change too fast!

4 months old!

2011-01-31T21:40:00.001-08:00

Jackson is four months old! He is the happiest little person in the world. We get lots of smiles and laughs from the little guy every day. He is so much fun. He loves to play, watch his big sister dance around, babble, bathe, and check his cute self out in the mirror. Bri is such a good sister. It has been a big adjustment for her to have a little brother, but she is so helpful and really loves Jack so much. Oh, I love these two cute little people.

Christmas 2010!

2011-01-03T20:27:00.000-08:00

Brighton and Don joined forces to make this masterpiece gingerbread house. She was pretty proud of it.

Bren, Megh, Ellie, & Cam came over on Christmas Eve. We had a yummy dinner and decorated cookies for Santa.

Jackson's first Christmas!

Oh the anticipation of a four year old on Christmas morning! Brighton was beyond excited. Such a fun age for Christmas!

No matter how much we tried to veer her in another direction, Brighton's number one Christmas wish was to have her very own Go Go My Walkin' Pup. Wish granted. Santa is so nice.

We had a great Christmas. It was a laid back day and we just enjoyed being with each other. Jackson hung out in his bouncer the whole time we opened presents and was his usual, pleasant self all day. Santa was nice enough to wrap up some of the stuff he already owned for Christmas...for his sister's sake. Brighton was happy to unwrap all of his old stuff for him. She also unwrapped most of her parents' gifts. Bri was thrilled with everything. Even when she unwrapped a pack of socks we got a "thank you so much, these are the most prettiest socks ever!" We went over to Bren & Megh's for a bit and when we got home Bri just stood in the middle of the kitchen and burst into tears. I asked what was wrong and she said that "Christmas is almost over and it won't be Christmas again for a long, long time and I LOVE Christmas." So funny. So Sad. So Brighton. I've never in my life seen someone so excited for Christmas. Love that girl.

This & That

2010-12-22T10:44:00.000-08:00

Here are a few things from December... We had fun decorating for Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving. It was pouring rain when we went to cut down the tree so that was interesting, but we do live in Oregon so rain is part of the deal.We got two trees for the house. We...or really mostly Don, endured the rain to cut down tree one. Tree two came from Home Depot this year. Brighton insisted on putting up most of the ornaments on. She did a great job decorating in her "ballerinatard." It's so fun having a four year old at Christmas time. Talk about Christmas spirit & enthusiasm!

We also blessed Jackson this month. It was a beautiful blessing and we had lots of family here to share Jack's special day. It was fun to have everyone here to dote on Jackson. My dad made best friends with Jack while he was here and we all decided that they are lookalikes. Jackson is the most pleasant, happy little guy and we feel so blessed to have him in our family.

We had a fun, mini Christmas with my parents. Brighton was thrilled with her new ballerina doll & cowgirl outfit. I was thrilled with my new yellow heels. They are to die for and even if I can't quite get into my jeans yet, at least my feet are back to normal. In case you didn't get to see them, I had ginormous Shrek feet & cankles during my pregnancy. So, so pretty.

Bri & Jack also got to see Santa at the ward Christmas party. Check out the Santa suit! I was dying over how cute he looked...Jackson, not Santa.

Fall 2010

2010-11-21T21:35:00.000-08:00

Fall has been a whirlwind this year. I have been putting off blogging because I feel like there is so much to write. So...I decided just to get some pictures up here, write a mini update and call it good for now. The pictures aren't all in order, but they are up so I'm happy.

Brighton is doing great. She loves pre-school and is a very helpful big sis. She is such a funny kid. The other day I walked in on her with her dress pulled up and her doll's faced smashed against her stomach.
Me: What are you doing?
Bri: Just feeding Jenny; she likes belly button milk more than chest milk.

Love it.

Jackson is so fun right now. He has started smiling lots and making happy baby noises and I just want to eat him up.

We had a month's worth of visitors when Jackson was born...my parents,Don's parents, Steph, Quincy, Debbie, & their kiddos. It was crazy and fun.

Here are some pics from the past couple of months...

First day of pre-school

Bri & Ellie at the Library

Jackson joins the family!

Bri & her favorite dress-up pal, Sophie

Helping Grandma

Steph! It was so good to see her. We spend about an hour or two together a year, which is so not enough, and it was great to do some catching up in person instead of just on the phone!

My mom stayed for two weeks and is the most helpful person on the planet. I wasn't sure I'd survive when she left. The good news is, I did, but I still miss her! Come back!

Nina & Papa hanging with Jackson. It was great seeing them!

Hiking up the gorge with Q, Deb, Kodiak, Coop, & Maeve. We loved having these guys visit & think they should move to Oregon. xoxo

Bri was delighted to find out we had a Wii. She couldn't believe we'd been keeping it from her.

Pumpkin Patch with the cousins!

Getting ready for some trick-or-treating fun!

Boo!

Baby Jackson

2010-11-03T08:51:00.001-07:00

Well, I am FINALLY posting some baby pics. Newborn life is a whirlwind of exhaustion and joy. I honestly don't get much done besides taking care of little Jackson. So blogging hasn't been at the top of my list, but I do want this time recorded so it will just have to come in bits and pieces. Here is the first bit. Jackson Scott Farrell was born on September 22nd. He weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. I had a c-section this time around due to all the fun I had recovering from Brighton's delivery. There was a part of me that really just didn't want to have a c-section, but the recovery has been SO much easier and I feel like we made the right choice. He is six weeks old today, which is seriously crazy to me. Time is flying by! Having a newborn in the house has been a big adjustment for all of us. Bri has adjusted pretty well for the most part. She has been such a good little helper and is really sweet with him. She blesses him in every prayer she says and gives him lots of love. She is going to be a great big sister.

Jackson is such a precious little guy. He has his moments, but is generally pretty happy. His cry is the cutest and he makes the best little baby sounds. He loves to snuggle and is starting to smile, which is the greatest thing on earth. We are in love with this little guy and are so happy to have him in our family.

These pictures were taken by my friend Ally when he was 12 days old.

Seaside!

2010-07-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took Brighton and Ellie to Seaside. We all had such a great time. There was carousel riding, sand castle building, splashing in the ocean, beach song singing & dancing, salt water taffy eating, and lots of giggling. Fun, fun day!

Grandma & Grandpa Visit!

2010-07-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

My parents came to visit earlier this month. It was so great to have them here and to spend some time with them. I'm scheming to find a way to talk them into moving here. Pretty sure it's not going to happen, but you can't blame a girl for trying.

While they were here we went to The Lion King, which was great! We we had a shopping day and we spent a day at the Rhododendron gardens, which are gorgeous, even though not much was in bloom while we were there. We had some good games of Hearts and had a great time just hanging out. Brighton keeps talking about how she is so excited for Grandma & Grandpa to come back in the fall. (So are we)!

4th of July!

2010-07-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July weekend. On Saturday we tried to go to the St. Paul Rodeo, but it was sold out when we got there. Luckily they had lots of rides and things for kiddos to do set up outside the rodeo so we still had lots of fun. Bri loved the rides & had a blast. On the 4th we had a bbq with Lex, Bren, Megh, & family, then watched a good firework show at Tigard High. Brighton was pumped to watch the fireworks. She was oohhing, aahhing and cheering the whole time. Good fun. :)

Bass Lake & Yosemite 2010!

2010-06-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

We met up with the Farrell fam last week to do our annual Bass Lake/Yosemite trip. As it turns out, 15 hours straight in the car isn't as fun as it sounds when you are a big swollen pregnant lady with an aching back. Bren, Megh, Cam, & Ellie came in our car and all of the kids did great on the drive! I was the one doing the complaining. So...I wasn't a fan of the drive there or back, but our time there was great. We spent time swimming, boating, wake surfing (sad that I couldn't do it this year), hiking in Yosemite, hanging out, catching up, and playing games. It was a fun week and it was so great to see everyone!

Picture Day

2010-06-05T19:08:00.001-07:00

Boy oh boy, this was one excited girl! She got to wear pink curlers to bed and get all dressed up in her costume for picture day at her dance studio. She can't wait for her recital in a couple of weeks! More pictures to come...

Zoo Day

2010-04-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

Today we met up with Megh, Ellie, & Cam for a trip to the zoo. We all had a fun day. The girls may have had more fun just running around on the grass than they did checking out animals. As long as they had fun I guess. :)

Brighton's 4th Birthday!!!

2010-04-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hooray for four year old princesses! Brighton turned 4 yesterday and I have to say that she is just the greatest kid in the world. She has the biggest heart and is such a little mother. She loves to help and always wants to make sure everyone else is taken care of. She is so excited to be a big sister and I have no doubt that she will be a great one. She kisses my belly every day and lets us know all the things the baby is saying. Apparently, we have a we have a pretty clever little person on the way. Brighton loves to be funny. She is one silly girl and makes us laugh everyday. She loves to dance and twirl and sing. She dresses up in some form everyday. Ariel is her very favorite right now, thus the Ariel themed princess party...
We had 12 little princesses over at our house for an afternoon full of princess fun. There was dancing, crown & bracelet making, magic wand finding in the back yard, playing princess games, eating princess cupcakes, and opening princess presents. It was a little crazy with so many little people, but they all seemed to have a great time and Brighton stated that "this was the best princess party ever!" so it was well worth the chaos. On her actual birthday, we had breakfast with Lex and dinner with Bren, Megh, Ellie, and Cam. Again, I have to say that we sure love finally having family close by! Bri got a new barbie bike that was a big hit and she had a great 4th birthday. Brighton is pretty excited about her new age. She has been telling everyone that will listen that she is not three anymore, but is now 4!!! Oh so exciting.

We love you so much Brighton Lily! You bring so much joy and sparkle into our family and we are the luckiest parents in the world to have you. Happy Birthday Princess!

Easter!

2010-04-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter this year. Brighton woke us up nice and early and the search began for her basket. She was so excited when she found it hiding behind the couch. she said, "that Easter Bunny is such a tricky hider!" Then it was time to find all of the candy filled eggs around the house. Oh the fun. Lex and Nate came over for breakfast and we had fun hanging out with them for awhile. Then Bren, Megh, and family came over and spent the rest of the day. Bren and Megh did most of the cooking and everything was delightful, especially Megh's carrot cake! It was the best we've ever had. Yumm! Don re-hid the eggs a bunch of times and Bri and Ellie had a blast finding them again and again. We've been by ourselves for Easter since we moved to Oregon and it was so nice to have family around! Happy Easter everyone!

Spring Break n' Other Stuff

2010-03-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for quite awhile. Partly because we haven't been up to too much and partly because I have been pretty sick for the past few months. I am 14 weeks pregnant! We are due at the end of September and are so excited. It took lots of tests, drugs, and procedures to get here and we are so thankful that we are finally pregnant. I'm still in the lovely sick phase and am hoping to snap out of it any day now. I have been a lot more sick with this one than I was with Brighton and I'm afraid I haven't been a very fun mommy lately. The other day at breakfast Bri says, "Dad, you are so funny and fun." So I say, "What about me?" Bri thinks for a second then says, "Uh, no, you're not very funny or fun Mom." Sad. I hope to be your fun mommy again soon Bri.

We went to Utah last week for Spring Break. I thought I would be feeling good by this point, but no such luck so I spent most of my time taking naps, watching basketball, and reading books at my parents' house in Mammoth Creek. It was nice not to have to do the cooking or cleaning and it was great to spend time with family. We stayed with Quinc and Deb for one night and flew out the next day. It was fun to see them, but we wish we could have spent more time with them! Brighton loved playing with her cousins and the whole time at the airport just begged to go back to their house. We didn't see any friends while we were there. Next time for sure though! Better yet, we have a guest bedroom just waiting to be used. You are all invited to visit!

My parents still have lots of snow at their house so Brighton got to make snow angels, have snowball fights, and go sledding. She had a blast and was so excited to play in the snow! She also loved helping Grandma cook and had a good time playing with every barbie and stuffed animal in the house.

Snow in Portland!

2009-12-29T14:45:00.000-08:00

This doesn't happen everday here and there were some excited little people at our house today. Hooray for snow!

Christmas 2009!

2009-12-26T15:28:00.000-08:00

We usually travel to both Utah and California during the Christmas season, but couldn't fly this year because of Don's ear so we stayed in Oregon. Bren, Megh, Ellie, and Cam were here too and we had a great Christmas together. On Christmas Eve, we cooked a yummy prime rib dinner, made sugar cookies for Santa, read the Christmas story, and sang Christmas songs. It was just right.

Bri often uses the fireplace as her stage and here she is leading the group in some singing.

Christmas morning was great. The girls were super excited...so were the grown-ups.

Bri asked Santa for a RAINBOW CAT this year! Ugh. What? We...er...I mean Santa looked everywhere for a rainbow cat that Brighton said she had never seen before, but that she knew Santa would make for her. Finally, Santa located one in Hong Kong which barely made it here in time. Whew. Brighton was thrilled with her stripey rainbow cat and we were just glad it met her expectations of what a rainbow cat should be and that it arrived before Christmas!

Look out American Idol...here comes Brighton Lily.

It was all giggles and smiles outside on the new princess scooter. Oh the fun!

Bouncy Jingle Bell Singers...

Merry Christmas!

Zoo Lights!

2009-12-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

A few more pics from Thanksgiving...

2009-12-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas...Take One

2009-12-17T18:16:00.001-08:00

My mom and sister came out for a week since we are staying in Oregon for Christmas this year. It was great to have them here. It was pretty low key. We did get some good shopping and a couple of good resturants in, but mostly just hung out at the house and spent some good quality time together. I loved it.

Grandma bought Bri this purple tree with pink ornaments for her room. Brighton loves it and apparently, so do her stuffed animals.

Brighton went to Grace's Sugar Plum Fairy party. It was adorable. The little girls got fairy wings, decorated magic wands and trees, played fairy games, and even ate fairy food. Seriously so cute and Bri was in heaven.

Grandma knew Bri was headed to a sparkly fairy party so she let her open a present before the party...sparkly pink shoes that went quite well with the rest of her fairy ensemble. Bri loves them. Shocking, I know.

So we celebrated Christmas with my mom and Lex since we won't see them on the actual day. (Mom will be at her house & Lex will be in below freezing temps in Alaska...yikes...um, I mean how fun). We all had a great time together. Yummy waffle breakfast and fun presents for all. Bri was a good little helper and made sure everyone had plenty of assistance opening their gifts. A good first Christmas of the season, or Grandma Christmas, as we called it.

Bri LOVES her grandma and was the saddest little person you've ever seen when it was time for Grandma to go home. Sigh. We miss you already Grandma! Come back and visit soon. Better yet, move to Oregon so we can see you all the time!

November Festivities

2009-11-30T14:14:00.000-08:00

So a couple of pics in this post are out of order, but blogger is just not that user-friendly sometimes and is not letting me move them around. Grrr. Oh well, I'm surely not going to start over. :)
Brighton LOVES her Aunt Lexi (so do we) and it has been so fun having her close by. We can't wait to play with her some more next week!

As you can see, the festivities of the last few weeks have worn these two out. November started off with a bang. I had H1N1 followed by ear surgery for Don. Lovely. The rest of the month though, has been busy and fun. Bren, Meg, Ellie, & Cam are staying here for a few weeks and it has been so fun to have them here. Brighton is in heaven having her cousin Ellie to play with at all times of the day. We even had them sleeping in the same room for a few days. They thought it was the greatest thing in the world, but as you can imagine, sleeping was not on their agenda. Lots of giggling, dressing up, and reading each other books though. It was cute so we hated to break up the sleepover fun, but we all prefer non-cranky 3 year olds during the day so Ellie got moved to the playroom. Sorry girls.

Ralf and Nita came up for Thanksgiving and Lex drove up from Corvallis so we had a pretty full house for Turkey day. We had delicious food and it was great to spend time with everyone. We have so much to be thankful for. I took a whopping two pictures on Thanksgiving so I'll have to steal Lex's pics and add them later.

We also celebrated Ellie's birthday while she was here. She is such a little cutie and like I said before, Bri loves her playmate. It is so fun to have them together. Their conversations are classic and for the most part, they play really well together.

So we are all about getting Christmasy the second Thanksgiving is over. We have gone to the same place the last few years to cut down our tree. It's fun. They have treats, llamas, and trees. What more could you ask for? We ended up getting two trees this year. They are all decorated and Christmas music is blasting and will be until New Year's. I love this season!

Halloween 09!

2009-11-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween this year! Brighotn has been so excited about it for so long! This week was filled with Halloween parties, crafts, pumpkins, and treats. Oh the fun. Bri was Snow White this year. Last year she was Cinderella. I wonder if we will just cycle through all of the princesses.

Brighton had a great time trick-or-treating and got plenty of candy. Good thing, because we got a million trick-or-treaters and ran out of candy so we started handing out Bri's candy. We gave away about half of it along with a box of fruit snacks we had in the pantry before Don made it back from the store with more. Of course, as soon has he got back, the trick-or-treat traffic slowed WAY down. Bri loved handing out candy! She might have even liked it more than the trick-or-treating. She may not have been so excited about it if she had realized she was giving away her own candy though. (Shh, don't tell).

(70's detective, if you were wondering)

Did you know Snow white carried a magic wand? Well she does.

Alexis came for the weekend and helped out with our pumpkin carving. She carved the two on the right. I'm sure you can tell what they all are, but in case you can't...from left to right: The Joker, a cat, turned owl, turned raccoon, Bella & Edward, and Snow White.

Pumpkin Patching

2009-10-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun picking out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch the other day. I think Brighton would have run around in the pumpkins all day if we would have let her. Such a great time of year. I love the leaves changing and the crisp air and the and sweaters and Halloween and carmel apple cider and pumpkins and the pumpkin spice candles I always feel the need to burn this time of year and pumpkin pie. Mmmm. I love the fall!

Brighton Lily

2009-10-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

We got Brighton's pictures taken at Eric Cable Photograpy and he was so great! He talked to her about princesses and ballerinas the whole time and captured her so well. We love these pictures!

Welcome to Oregon Lex!

2009-09-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

So my sister Alexis is starting her PhD this fall at Oregon State. Woo-hoo! That means she will just be an hour and a half away for the next three years. We are so excited to have her so close! My parents drove up to help her move in so we got to spend a few days with them too. As always, it was so great to see them!

We had fun at the Oregon State game (even though they lost) and Bri was a trooper (even though she's not much of a football fan).

Brighton LOVES her grandparents! She hasn't stopped talking about them since they left. Come back soon! We miss you!

My parents brought down my bike and Brighton thinks it is the greatest thing in the world that the grownups in her life can ride bikes with her now.

Lexi turned 26 yesterday! Brighton insisted the cake be orange (Lexi's favorite color), she also made her an orange card with orange stickers, picked out these lovely birthday hats, which have an orange stripe on them, and some balloons (she made sure a couple of them had orange on them as well). She's also been talking about an orangey, sparkly, fancy dress that she was going give Lex for quite some time. For those of you who know my sister, you know she is really into sparkly things...and fancy dresses. We never did find the perfect sparkly orange dress. Sorry to disappoint Lex. Maybe next year.

As soon as one person's birthday ends, Brighton asks whose is next and begins the party planning immediately. She has been pumped for Lex's orange themed b-day since Don's Spiderman party was over a month ago. This girl LOVES birthdays! So if anyone needs a good party planner, you know who to call.

Camping in the Rain

2009-09-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend, we met up with Bren, Megh, Ellie, and Cameron in Crescent City for a little camping trip. It was a little crazy with all of the rain, but we still had a great time together! Growing up we always camped far away from civilization with no running water in sight. This camping trip, however, was just outside of town at a KOA campground. Not quite the quiet serenity you get when you are secluded in the mountains somewhere, but with little kids, camping with a "K" wasn't so bad. It was nice to have a playground within sight of our campsite and potties near by. :)

Brighton loves her cousin Ellie and they had a blast playing princesses and fairies. All of our clothing changed colors, got polka dotted, and striped quite a few times by the fairies and their stick magic wands. Gotta love three year old imaginations. Brighton loves to change Don's clothes into PINK. She thinks it is so hilarious. Sometimes she even makes his clothes sparkley...even more hilarious. Gotta love her three year old sense of humor.

One day when it was pouring rain on us, we got in the car and drove to Brookings, where it was 75 degrees and sunny so we did get to play on a sunny beach after all!

Happy Birthday Don!

2009-08-23T18:29:00.001-07:00

Today is Don's 32nd birthday. Happy Birthday Hun! Brighton was a great helper in preparing for his birthday. She helped me pick out and wrap all of his presents. She got him Hercules because "boys like that movie." She then hid all of the presents in the closet of her playroom so Daddy wouldn't open them before his "birffday." She even wrapped her necklaces around the door knobs of the closet to serve as locks. She went with me to the party store to get balloons and was adamant that we get all of the Spiderman decorations because she thought that Daddy would LOVE them. How could I say no? So Don got a Spiderman themed birthday. Just what every 32 year old man wants...whether they are willing to admit it or not.

So Don and I went out last night to celebrate and we celebrated today with french toast for breakfast, presents, Don's birthday dinner of choice--Hamburgers, and of course, Cold Stone birthday cake. Yummm. It was a pretty low key day, but we had fun. Brighton gets so excited about birthdays and it makes it more fun for everybody else.

We love you Dad! You are our favorite guy in the whole world! Happy Birthday!

Mammoth Creek

2009-08-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Mammoth last week! Here are some of the highlights...

Hiking in Bryce Canyon, horseback riding, playing on the slip n' slide, curling up with Jane Austen on the deck and listening to the stream and the humming birds, girls day of shopping, boys day fishing in the Boulders, kite flying, playing cards when the kids were asleep, resting, playing, talking, laughing, reconnecting.

It was so fun to be with my family last week. We had everyone there except for Lex. One of these years our schedules will ALL align. We missed you Lexi Lou!

The kids got along so well and would run off and entertain themselves for hours at a time. It was so great! We all got some good quality time with each other and I miss everybody already! Thanks for the fun week Lewis fam!

This was so classic. Brighton and Don went out to the shop, turned barbie room, to play. We heard Brighton singing at the top of her little lungs and peeked in to find this.

We had a great time horseback riding and the kids loved it. You'll notice there are no pictures of my hubby in this segment. He was bucked off a horse named Satan, that's right, Satan, when he was younger and would go nowhere near these harmless, tame animals. :)

Grandpa and Coop playin' a little one on one with Brighton dancing on the sidelines.

Seaside!!

2009-07-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

We went to Seaside last Friday and had a great time!

Here is Bri with her sandcastles and Don on the phone behind her. I guess that's what we get when we take Dad to the beach on a work day. (We didn't let him do too much work). Notice in the picture that the water is quite a ways away from our stuff. Well, apparently not far enough. There we were just enjoying ourselves and playing in the sand when a big old wave came and got us. By the time we realized it was coming, all I could do is grab Brighton. We got drenched and all of our stuff was scattered down the beach. Brighton was seriously more upset than I have ever seen her. She was so mad that the wave got her princess towel all wet and dirty. Really, the nerve of that wave. She had this low mad cry I have never heard before and I couldn't help but just laugh. She was cracking me up. So while I was unsuccessfully trying to calm her down, Don was running around the beach trying to rescue shoes and cell phones. Miraculously, we recovered all of our shoes. We lost Brighton's one pair of shorts (which is fine because she wears a dress or skirt 99% of the time), a shovel, and my cell phone. I was a little sad about the cell phone for a minute, but then I got my new Palm Pre and am actually kind of glad that the wave got us because it's a pretty nifty phone. ;)

Luckily we had a change of clothes for Brighton in the car so we got her changed and calmed down, played on some rides, and ate salt water taffy for the rest of the day. Lots of fun.

July Fun

2009-07-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

The Fourth of July growing up was always so fun. We always had a huge party with both sides of the family and had fun activities all day. It was always one of my favorite holidays and I miss having lots of family around to celebrate with. Sigh. That being said, we still had a great day full of red, white, and blue fun. We started the day off with a little patriotic nail painting, went to the ward pancake breakfast, made a cake, did the whole bbq thing, and went with some friends to watch fireworks at the high school. Bri loved the fireworks, especially the pink ones (shocking, I know). It was a great 4th!

I have to say that I much prefer summer over winter. It is so nice to be able to get outside and play everyday! We went berry picking the other day and Brighton LOVED it. Eat one, put one in the bucket was her berry picking strategy. Quite effective. We went with her little friend Ryan and his mom, but we don't have any pictures of him because he was too busy running away from her and hiding down the rows of berries. I was glad Bri was more into the picking thing and less into the running away thing that day. It could have easily gone the other way. :)

So on Friday, I turned the big 3-0! Woo-hoo! One of our home teachers (he's 14) told me that everyone he knows hates turning 30. Well, so far so good. I actually quite enjoyed my 30th b-day. To start out my fabulous day, Don and Bri took me to breakfast then dropped me off at Nordstrom for a little birthday shopping spree. Appropriately, the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale started on my birthday so, although it was a zoo, I was able to snag some great items. From there it was off to the spa for an hour and a half massage. Ahhh. Then home for some Coldstone banana-brownie heaven cake and some gifts. Bri has been telling me about the teapot she was giving me for my birthday all week. (I still acted surprised). After that, we dropped Bri off at Catherin's house and splurged at El Gaucho for dinner. Honestly, they make best steak in the universe! So incredibly delicious. Yumm! We ended the night seeing the new Harry Potter movie and I have to say that my hubby did a great job planning a fun 3oth birthday for me. Thanks Hun! Muuuwaaahhh!

Part of Your World

2009-06-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

Um, this was the cutest thing ever...Brighton and her cousin Ellie singing "Part of Your World." The sound isn't very good at the beginning, but it gets better at the end.

Bass Lake 09'

2009-06-25T20:39:00.001-07:00

We had a blast at Bass Lake with Don's family last week! It was so great to see everyone!

Bri and Ellie played so well together on this trip. They had to hold hands wherever they went and usually each had a stick...I mean a magic wand in the other hand. It was adorable.

We had so much fun wake surfing and cruising on the boat! When we left we vowed to one day own a boat of our own so we can go more than once a year. Sigh. One day. Here are Erik and Pat showing us how it's done.

We finally got to meet baby Cameron. He is the cutest! We got to be good pals on this trip. :)

Brighton LOVED swimming in the pool! With her new arm floaties she thought she was such a big girl just cruisin' around the pool by herself.

We had a great trip and can't wait to do it again next year!

Yosemite!

2009-06-25T19:30:00.000-07:00

We loved Yosemite this year! We hiked to Vernal Falls and to Yosemite Falls. The kids did great! Brighton was a trooper. Vernal Falls was a pretty steep hike and she hiked almost the whole way. She only needed a couple of short piggyback rides along the way. Brighton had so much fun hiking with her cousins and turning everyone's clothes pink and purple along the way with her magic wand (stick). She also turned quite a few people into frogs and many people with black or brown hair were blond by the end of the hike. Yosemite is really one of the most incredible places I've ever been to. No matter how many times I've been there, I'm always blown away by how majestic and spectacular it is. If you haven't been there, I would highly recommend making the trip!

Flowers, Family, & Fun!

2009-05-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

Don's parents came for the weekend and we had such a great time with them. Those of you who know Ralf know that he loves flowers and pretty much anywhere that Ralf and Nita go, they check out the gardens in the area. While they were here we, of course, went to a couple of beautiful gardens. I'm so glad they love to do that because we would probably never go on our own, but I always love the gardens that we get to see when we are with them. Brighton had fun smelling all of the flowers and skipping around the gardens, and she was in heaven with all of the attention she got from Neen and Papa this weekend. We love you guys! Come again soon!

Home Sweet Home

2009-05-18T11:53:00.001-07:00

So for those of you who don't know, we purchased our first house! One of the doctor's Don works with, who was also in our ward, called us up one night and told us that they had just bought another house, needed to sell this one quickly, and would give us a killer deal if we wanted it. So that night we drove over to look at it and after much back and forth and freaking out (mostly by me), we decided to get it. We LOVE it! It is in a great neighborhood on a coldesack. We got to stay in our ward, which we love, and we are really excited. We are learning how to take care of the yard and still have a few more paintings to find homes for, but we are more or less pretty settled now. So come on out and visit us everyone! ;)

Brighton has had a great time playing in her new backyard. She loves to hide up under the big trees and with the recent warm weather has pretty much lived outside. Her blow-up pool from last year popped so she picked this princess pool out. She calls it her swimmy castle and LOVES it! The pictures of the princesses on it are kind of scary looking, but she doesn't seem to mind so whatever. :)

Brighton Lily is 3!

2009-04-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

So almost every child's birthday blog I have read says, "I can't believe (insert child's name) is (insert child's age)!" But really, I can't believe Brighton is three! She is our beautiful, loving, witty, pink loving, sassy, polite, girlie, tender hearted, hilarious, sweetheart, light up your day little princess and we just love her to death!

So Brighton has been to a few little birthday parties and seriously months ago she started asking about her own party and talking about how all of her friends would be there. So even though we were originally just going to have a nice little family party, we caved under the pressure of those big blue eyes and that excited little voice she would get every time she talked about how fun her birthday party was going to be so....Brighton got her friend party.

The party was at Gymboree (the play gym, not the clothing store). It was perfect. There was an awesome instructor who did little games with the kids and they all had a blast playing. We ended up having about 15 kids and their parents show up and I was thankful we decided against doing the party at our house this year!

Bri was very specific about her cake. It had to be her two favoirte things...pink and princess.

She had plenty of helpers opening her presents!

Brighton got a lot of princess gifts for her birthday this year.
As you can see, she hardly liked them at all!

Happy Birthday Brighton Lily! We love you!

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T17:35:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter weekend. We saw the Easter Bunny at the mall and Brighton was so excited! She ran right over to him, gave him a big hug, and crawled up on his lap. We had a fun neighborhood Easter egg hunt on Saturday, and of course, the Easter Bunny stopped at our house last night and hid Bri's Easter basket. He brought a polka dot Easter dress and a purple stuffed dino. Since Bri loved finding eggs at the Easter egg hunt yesterday, the Easter Bunny also decided to re-hide all of the eggs. Easter egg hunt number two was a big hit and we had such a fun morning. We went to church and had a wonderful sacrament meeting on the Atonement. When we got home from church, we colored Easter eggs and put (of course) princess stickers all over them to make them pretty. Happy Easter everyone!

Sunshine!

2009-04-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

So we have been having some fabulous, glorious, sunshiney weather. We've been at the park or in the back yard all week soaking up the warmth. Ahhh. I am more than ready to say goodbye to gray rainy days. Welcome Sunshine!

So this is how we have been finding Bri lately at naptime or bedtime. As soon as we leave the room, she crawls up in her chair and reads books until she falls asleep. If it is bedtime, we move her to her bed, but if it is naptime, we just leave her, because who in the world would risk waking a napping toddler?!

Princess B

2009-03-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

If you ever come to our house, chances are, you will be greeted by our little princess. This girl LOVES to dress up. Here, she is reading a princess book with Dad. We read a lot of those around here!

Here she is with Denmark. Don's cousin Dave comes up with his family every few months to visit. Brighton and Denmark had such a blast together this visit. And Denmark was a such a good sport to join Brighton in her princess adventures.

Here is Bri with some song and dance for all to enjoy. ;)

Spring Break!!

2009-03-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

So for my spring break, my wonderful mother came out to stay with Brighton while Don and I went to Arizona to get some sunshine. (Thanks again Mom)! Brighton was in heaven with Grandma and it was nice not to have to worry about her and to get some good quality time with my hubby. We stayed at a great resort in Scottsdale and had such a great time. We went to a couple of spring training games (go A's!), played some tennis, went to Sedona for a day, ate way too much good food, got to see Britt, Jason and their cute kiddos, and just enjoyed the nice warm weather. Ahhh, glorious sunshine! I can't wait until we get some of that here! When we got home, we had a couple of extra days with my Mom. It was so fun having her here. She's the best! Come back soon! :)

Brighton Ballerina

2009-02-28T15:50:00.000-08:00

So we just put Bri in a little creative dance class. She loves it as long as I am in there with her. (Hopefully she'll love it on her own soon). It's so fun to watch little tiny people dance though. I love it! ;) This is a clip of Bri dancing in the kitchen after her first little class. She's a natural, right?

February Fun

2009-02-28T15:14:00.000-08:00

For Valentines Day I ordered a delightful Coldstone cake. Yummm! Don also got Bri this pink teddy which she loves and now has to sleep with at night. We got a babysitter and somehow lucked out and got into a nice resturant without a reservation and without a wait. It was fun to have an actual date with my hubby. xoxo!

We have actually had some hit and miss nice weather and it has been so great to get outside and play! I am more than ready to say audios to winter. Bring on the sunshine!

Today we went to our neighbor's birthday party at the Portland Children's Museum. Brighton had a blast! Her favorite part was probably playing grocery store checker. I think she could have done that all day long! Maybe she'll have a career as a checker at Safeway someday. ;)

So when Bri was a baby, we took a ridiculous number of pictures. Seriously, we took multiple pictures everyday. The older she gets though, the fewer pictures we take. Kind of sad. Not that I want to get back to taking a million pictures, but I am going to try to take more because lately we have hardly taken any of our cute little lady!

This N' That

2009-02-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was Brighton's first haircut. I was a little sad about it because she had these great ringlets and I didn't want them to be cut off. Unfortunately, the ringlets were growing at a faster rate in the back and the whole hair style was starting to look a little bit too mullet-like for my taste. Thus, the haircut. It turned out cute though and Bri thought it was great. She got to pick a movie, sit in a pink car, and pick out new sparkly clips. She asked people all day long if they liked her new hairstyle. Of course they all did. :) I also got a trim yesterday (different salon) and Bri told me that my new hair cut looked cute, but that hers was BEAUTIFUL. Maybe I should have had my hair cut at Little Clippers too.

We had Aunt Lexi here for the past couple of weeks. We had great fun with her and loved having her at our house! She might be going to school at Oregon State. We're crossing our fingers cause we would love to have her close by!
This is perhaps a little contradictory...playing Wii Fit while eating an ice cream cone. Hmmm. I guess it's better than me just eating mine sitting on the couch.

I went to pick up some take out last night and came home to this. Cinderella cuddled up with her prince. Ahhh.

Fun With the Gunns!

2009-01-13T14:44:00.000-08:00

Steph, Ben, Easton, and Phoenix came to visit last week. It was so fun to reconnect and spend some good quality time with them! We saw a Blazers game, went to the zoo, rocked out with Guitar Hero, and just hung out. It was so much fun! Come again soon Gunns! We loved having you guys here! We always seem to be spread pretty thin on our Utah visits and never get to spend as much time with people as we want to when we're there. So we love to have visitors come here! (Hint, Hint to all of you reading this).

Bri and Easton were cute little friends on this visit. At one point Bri wanted Easton to be Prince Charming and dance with her (she was of course Cinderella). He was a good sport and they held hands and danced around the living room for a bit. They of course stopped when I got the camera out, but as you can see above, they do make a very cute little couple.

San Diego!

2009-01-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

We spent a week in San Diego with Don's family after our trip to Utah. It was great to see everyone!

Um, Princess Brighton LOVED this gift!

Bri and Ellie were good little friends on this trip. Cute, cute.

We woke the girls up from their car nap so we could take a few pics at the beach. As you can see, they were super excited about it.

Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth. We had such a blast! Brighton LOVED it and so did we!

Ok, so as soon as we got there, Bri started seeing little girls all over who were dressed up like princesses. She said "I wanna dress up too!" about a million times. It was really all she could focus on for our first hour at Disneyland. So we caved and bought her this darling Snow White dress, which she loved! We went to the little princess show and she was in heaven. She got to see all of the princesses and they taught the little girls how to curtsy and dance like princesses. Bri was doing low curtsies for the rest of the day and she loved trying to follow along with the princess dancing. Snow White blew Brighton a kiss and Bri said "Hi Snow White, I'm Snow White." So cute. I don't know if it was more fun for Brighton to be part of this little princess experience or for us to see her so excited.

The Dumbo ride was a hit again this time around. The whole time in line Bri talked about how she wanted the pink one. I knew a meltdown would be in our near future if we didn't get the pink one and as luck would have it we got it! Her little arms were up for the whole ride and that smile didn't leave her face until we were in line for the next ride. She loved all of the rides we went on. She laughed so hard on some of them. It was a blast!

Here we have Bri and Don on the way out of Disneyland...pooped after a fun-filled day.

A couple of clips of Disneyland fun!

Christmas in Utah

2009-01-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Utah was great this year! We stayed with Quinc and Deb for a couple of days when we first got to Utah. It was great to see them! As usual, wish it could have been longer!

This is pretty typical, Coop with his ball and Bri with her magic wand.

Tinkerbell twins!

Grandpa hadn't played barbies in so long...he had forgotten how much he loved it. Luckily he got plenty of barbie time in with Bri around. Don't worry Papa, we'll be back soon for more barbie fun!

Christmas Eve PJ's

Christmas was so much fun. At first Brighton helped every person open every gift, but once she opened her Belle dress up toy, that was all over. She didn't even want to open any more of her own presents. It was so great to relax and spend some good quality time with family in Mammoth. We loved our time there and miss everybody already!

Santa's stylish little helper

Plenty of Christmas snow in Mammoth!

Meet Mr. Napkin Head. He came out to visit a time or two during our stay at Mammoth. Brighton thought he was hilarious (as you can see below) and she is hoping he comes to visit her in Portland soon.

We drove up to Bryce one day. It is so spectacular in the Winter. These pictures don't do it justice.

Bri and Grandma got lots of good story time in on this trip. I think they both quite enjoyed it. :)

Here is a little clip of Bri on Christmas morning

18 Hours!

2008-12-23T14:22:00.000-08:00

That is how long it took us to get from Portland to Utah and no, we did not drive, we flew! Can I just say longest day ever! Ugh. Here are a few of the highlights:

HOURS sitting on various runways.
A co-pilot with too many hours logged thus a search for another which took hours.
Bad weather in SLC so as soon as we were ready to land they sent us to Boise for a few hours.
A lost pilot...once we re-boarded in Boise, no one could find our pilot so yes, another hour + on the runway with no one to fly our plane.
My poor sister sitting in SLC all day and all night waiting.
Many unfulfilled promises from Southwest (worst airline ever) that we would be on our way soon. Seriously, no one from good old Southwest seemed to have a clue what was going on. That was pretty fantastic.
And once we finally landed in SLC, we sat on the runway for another hour.

We were scheduled to arrive at 3pm in SLC and we got there closer to 4am. Woo-hoo what a day! Luckily, Brighton had a much better attitude about the whole thing than her parents did. Seriously she was amazing! She just played with her princess figurines and stickers cheerfully for hours and hours. Don and I were slightly less cheery about the whole situation. We were lucky to get out when we did though. I guess the Portland airport has been closed for four days because of all the snow they are getting so I'll just stop complaining now and be thankful that we left the day before the airport closed!

So we're now in Utah and it has been so fun to see family and friends! We're all cozied up in Mammoth and loving it right now. Bri is in heaven playing with all of our old barbies from the 80's. They all have awesome crimped hair and very stylish clothes. ;)

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

An Early Start on Christmas

2008-12-17T15:04:00.001-08:00

Since we are going to be in Utah for Christmas and Brighton has been asking for a dollhouse for Christmas, Sant opted to bring it to her a little early. We have had three solid days of dollhouse fun. It is honestly the only thing she wants to play with. She doesn't want to go anywhere or do anything that will take her away from her beloved dollhouse. Lucky for her, school is canceled because of snow this week which means no work for Mom and all the dollhouse fun little Miss Brighton can handle.

Bri wanted to build sand castles in the snow so we got out her beach toys and went to work. When I would say something about a snow castle, she would quickly correct me and tell me that it was a sand castle, not a snow castle. Whatever. We had fun. :)

Here is my cute sister Lex. She just left to go back to Utah. We had so much fun having her here for a few weeks! Come back, come back!

This is Bri in her Christmas dress. She didn't actually get to wear it to church because church was cancelled, again due to the snow, but we put her in it on Sunday and she had fun twirling around in her "pitty wed cwistmas dess." Thanks Grandma & Grandpa.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

So I haven't blogged in awhile. Why? Hmm. I don't really even know. I do know that once I haven't blogged in awhile, it's tough to do an entry because it's hard to write about things when it has been a month! So, I'm pretty much just going to write a little about our fun Thanksgiving and call it good.

We had a great Thanksgiving! My parents and my sister Alexis came and we LOVED having them here! Brighton was in heaven with five adults giving her all the attention she could handle. These are the times when we really wish we lived closer to family! My parents had to go after about a week, but we get to have Lex here for a few weeks and we are trying hard to talk her into moving here!

Christmas tree hunting!

Here is a little clip of Daddy the Dino!

Happy Hadoweee!

2008-11-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

As Brighton would say, "Happy Hadoweeee!" Ok, this may be an obvious statement, but I'm going to say it anyway. Halloween is so much cooler with a kid! Bri has been so excited all week and it made it fun for everyone. She asked anyone she ran into what they were going to be for Hadoweee and told anyone who would listen all about her Cindereddi cown and glass slippers. :)We all had such a fun Halloween.

We started out the day going trick-or-treating at my school. My whole office made these little Halloween bags full of candy and little Halloween toys. Bri was in heaven. The star of the show. Just the way she likes it. Last night we went trick-or-treating with some of the neighborhood kiddos and Brighton loved it! She was a trooper hiking up the steep hills by our house in her glass slippers and 10 pounds of candy. (Everyone seemed to think it was a great idea to give the cute toddler loads of candy). Luckily, Bri wasn't too interested in eating it last night. She was just thrilled that she was getting it. Her pumkin bucket finally just got way too heavy for her and she had to have me carry it. That's when we decided we'd had enough trick-or-treating for one night.

Unfortunately our camera was having a freak out day yesterday so most of our pictures turned out fuzzy. Boo. We still got a couple of cute ones though and we did get a cute little video clip of our princess.

A Busy, Fun Week

2008-10-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

So here we have some of my wonderful Portland friends. We were cracking up when Julie's neighbor was taking this picture. He said S*** every other word and I'm not exagerating. It was pretty hilarious to us at the time. I was wondering if he could get through a sentence without his favorite word. I'm going to go with no. Anyway, Julie hosted a fun little get together and we all had such a blast. We talked until 1:30 in the morning, which I haven't done in so long! We had such great conversations and it was so rejuvinating. I am a person who needs to have close girl friends and I have been so blessed my whole life to always find amazing women who inspire me and push me in different ways. Most of you who read this blog are included in this category so MWWAHH! I love you all!

We have been having some gorgeous weather so we have been spending as much time as possible outside since those gray, rainy days we love so much are right around the corner. Ugh. Notice that my child is wearing pants here. Yes, it actually happened. She has worn pants for almost a week straight without much fuss at all. I honestly didn't think it was going to happen without a massive meltdown every morning, but Bri is adapting nicely to life without summer dresses and bare feet.

Our friends Jeremy and Liz came to visit from San Francisco this weekend. It was great to see them! We hung out at the Farmer's Market in Portland on Saturday. Lots of good stuff there, but the highlight was definitely Brighton's balloon red heart flower with pink leaves and a purple hummingbird. (The balloon man was pretty creative). When the guy making the balloon gave it to Bri, she looked like he had just given her a million bucks. She was so proud of her balloon flower and had to take it everywhere we went for the rest of the day. She showed it to everyone, and of course gave everyone a turn smelling the flower because latex has such a fantastic scent! Here she is smelling her flower one of the hundred times she smelled it that day.

We also went to Cacao and got some drinking chocolate and it was heavenly! Mmmm. If you live in Portland, do yourself a favor and go get some!

We had two Halloween parties this week. The first was at our neighbors house. Costumes were required, which I thought was great, but Don was less than thrilled about. :) It was fun. There were lots of crafts for the kids and it was fun to catch up with all the neighbors. Bri spent most of her time upstairs playing with their little girls' barbie house. She thought it was a great party.

Party number two was with our ward. It was pretty chaotic, but fun. There was a chili cookoff, a costume parade, Halloween bag decorating, and of course, a little trick-or-treating. Bri thought it was pretty great to go from room to room getting candy. She seems to have forgotten that she got a bag full of candy last night and I'm not planning on reminding her. I'm sure she'll get plenty more on Friday.

Brighton loves dressing up! We debated about whether or not she should be Cinderella for Halloween because she dresses like Cinderella a couple of times a week anyway. I'm glad we ended up going with Cinerella though because she was in heaven showing off her beautiful gown, glass slippers, and sparkly crown to everyone. Plus, the girl makes a pretty adorable Cinderella!

Pumpkins, etc...

2008-10-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been all that much to blog about lately. I've had Walking Pnemonia for the past few weeks and that's been pretty fantastic. Boo! I hate being sick. Hmm, what else...we've pretty much just been low key, hanging at the house lately. Exciting I know.

It's been rainy, but yesterday was finally sunny so we decided to go to a pumpkin patch. It was quite the task even to get there. Bri is, as many of you may know, a total princess. She wants nothing to do with any article of clothing that doesn't sparkle or that isn't a dress. It's been getting cooler so we are trying to get pants on this child, but let me just say, it is no easy task! She was so excited to go pick out pumpkins and go on a hay ride, but not if it meant that she had to wear pants. This was day three of making my child wear pants (I'm so mean) and it was just too much for her. She said that she would stay home so she could wear a dress and she stuck to it for a good hour, which in toddler time is quite awhile! Finally, the prospect of picking out her very own pumpkin beat out wearing a pretty dress and she put on some pants. In the end, I think she was glad that she cooperated because we had a great time. :) Ever since Disneyland, these little hands go up anytime we are about to go over a bump in the road, go through a tunnel, etc. So of course they went up when we were on the hay ride because, it is indeed a RIDE.

The pumpkins were all too big for her to carry, but that didn't stop her from trying. She kept asking where the baby pumpkins were because these were too big! On our way out, we did find some little pumpkins that were just her size. :)

Brighton loved running through the pumpkins. She ran and ran and ran and luckily didn't trip over too many.

Picking up pumpkins wasn't working too well for this little lady so she switched to picking flowers for awhile.

She loved riding in this wagon. The whole way home she asked if we could go back and ride in the wagon some more. It was a great fall day and we all quite enjoyed our visit to the pumpkin patch.

And this is where I found her the other day. I asked if she was looking for something to eat and she said, "No Mom, I'm just building my yogart castle." Oh, of course, a yogurt castle, I should have known.

Bits & Pieces

2008-09-22T13:49:00.001-07:00

Here is our little bruise-faced child. The bruises are a little hard to see in the picture, but last week it was one bonk after another and she had three nice sized bruises on her face. Bonk, bonk, bonk. Her legs were much worse. Seriously covered in brown, yellow, and purple. Poor Bri seems to bruise just as easily as her mother. On top of the bruise fest at our house, we've also all been sick. Bri kicked things off with a fun round of Croup. The doctor put her on steroids, which made my sick child hyper, jittery, and unable to sleep. Oh, and Don was out of town for work. It was a pretty fantastic few days. Don got sick next and now it's my turn. Lots of coughing around here, but we'll all survive.
Don's cousin Dave came to visit with his family. It was really fun to spend some time with them. We went to the zoo on Saturday and so did the rest of Portland. It was packed. We had to park in a parking lot a mile away and take a bus to the zoo, which ended up being both the kids' favorite part of the zoo experience. They were both seriously pumped that they got to go on the yellow school bus. Go figure.

Bri thought it was pretty funny to hold onto Dad's face instead of his neck and ya know, it actually was pretty funny.

Denmark is such a cutie. It was fun to have him at our house for a couple of days. Bri had fun with him. He is all boy and Bri is all girl so it was pretty entertaining to watch them together.

This bear was so fun to watch. He was swimming and playing forever.

I couldn't get Bri to smile for a picture so I pretended to cry, which apparently was hilarious.

Randomness

2008-09-07T13:03:00.001-07:00

So things have been pretty busy around here. School started again for me. Middle schoolers are hilarious. Everything is life or death. Oh the drama and tears of the first week of school. Friends that are in different classes, lockers that won't open, teachers they don't like, and the list goes on. I have to say that I used to think people who worked in middle schools were just a little bit crazy, but I love it. I can honestly say that I never have a boring day of work. Those tweeners keep me thoroughly entertained. :)

Brighton has been cracking us up even more than usual lately. It's amazing how much she picks up on when we think she isn't listening and then she starts talking about something like a week later and we are like "what!!??" Our funny little sponge. Just soaking up the world. The other morning I discovered that she knows our first names. When she woke up, I went to her room and she said, "Hi Momma Ashwee, where's Don?" Then the other night at dinner she asked me if I wanted a drink of my water. I said "sure" and she lifted her glass, clinked it with mine and said "cheers!" Yeah, no idea where she got that from. I am trying to think if they do that in one of the Disney cartoons or something. It's so fun to see how fast she learns and to realize how much she already knows.

I am usually a super picture taker, but for some reason, just haven't taken many lately. Here are a few...

Bri on her new bike

At the zoo

Here's Bri on the train at the zoo. She wanted to ride it so bad so we caved. It ended up being 45 min long and all we saw were trees. No animals. Woo-hoo. She still had fun just being on the train though.

This guy looks like he's had a rough day

And here we have a little tickle torture clip...

Happy Birthday Don!

2008-08-23T17:28:00.001-07:00

Today Don turned 31! I am so lucky to be married to him. He is the best husband, father, and person. I'd list all the things I love about him on this blog, but I know he would really not be into that so I'll just say that there are A LOT and that Bri and I love him to pieces!

We have had a fun b-day weekend! We dropped Bri off at Catherin's for a sleepover yesterday afternoon, went to Palimino's for lunch (yum), and I surprised Don and we went to the Mariner's/A's game in Seattle. We had great seats and even though the A's lost, we had a great time. Safeco is such a great field! One of the highlights of the game was the crazy who sat behind us. He was by himslef, but was giving everyone that would listen the play by play and the history of baseball, including the history of the wave, which he claimed not to really know the orgins of, but still managed to talk about for like 10 minutes. I'm pretty sure he was just making stuff up. He was seriously cracking us up. I felt bad for the cute old couple sitting next to him. We stayed overnight in Seattle, slept in a little, had a great breakfast, and drove back to Portland. It was such a fun little getaway. When we got home, Don opened a few gifts and we ate ice cream cake from Coldstone. It was cake batter ice cream with brownies and oreo's mixed in and had chocolate icing with chocolate shavings and oreos on the top. Um, I felt the need to describe the cake in detail because it was pure deliciousness and of course, quite nutritious. Or, maybe the opposite of nutritious, but it sure was yummy!! Happy Birthday Don/Daddy. Mmwwaahh! We sure love you!!