Brinley's First Trip to Lake Powell

My fondest memories growing up are family trips to Lake Powell. I have wanted to share those experiences with Aaron since we first got married. He had only been to Lake Powell this year with Devan and I really wanted us to go as a family. Thanks to Brandey and Devan we finally got to go and share it with Brinley too (and kind of baby boy!).

We had such an amazing time. This was also Brinley's first time camping and I was so impressed with how well behaved she was and how adaptable she was. She didn't bat an eye when we told her she was sleeping in a tent on an air mattress. She slept better, ate better, and behaved better the whole time we were there. We had a pretty crazy wind storm one night and she even woke up during it and went straight back to sleep. The next day it rained and she just took it in stride. What a trooper. We would go out on boat rides every day and she would crawl in my lap and go to sleep and sleep until we were back to the beach. What a great trip, I can't wait to go back with the whole family!

This is Brinley being a ham on the beach. She loved playing in the sand and the water.

Brinley was a little fish. She never cared if the water was cold (it wasn't, its Lake Powell). She wasn't scared of the little fish that kept biting mommy, and she didn't mind the rocks under her feet.

She loved riding in the boats and was awesome about wearing her life jacket. She got a rash on her chin (I so remember that as a kid) but she still wore her life jacket like a champ.

I was surprised that the water didn't scare Brinley at all. She would happily swim out as far as we would let her and she was very good about staying in water below her knees when she didn't have her life jacket on.

Such a good kid. Love this kid.

More playing in the sand. She could pretty much entertain herself all day.

Ruffle Butt

This was our wonderful campsite. Nice little sheltered cove. Camping in a tent at 7 months pregnant wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The nights were a little bit warm but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I love Lake Powell

Aaron got in some rest and relaxation when he wasn't building sand castles with the kids.

Aaron was so great about setting up shade for his girls. He played in the sand for hours with Brinley while I sat in the water to stay cool.

Brinley and Hailey building sand castles with Aaron

Brinley was so happy the whole time on this trip.

Cheese from baby Hailey (this poor kid will still be baby Hailey to me when she is 15)

Can't wait for next year!

Update

A lot has happened in the last few months. Brinley turned 2 on January 14th! We had a party at the Little Gym and she had a great time. She has been at The Little Gym since she was about 10 months old. She loves her teacher Miss Kim and we are now taking the summer off.


We were so grateful to all the friends and family that made her birthday party so much fun. We feel so lucky to call this little girl ours.



We took a trip to Phoenix for my work and stayed in a beautiful hotel.

The Golf Course Behind the Hotel


In the room ready to go swimming!


Running to Daddy the day we left

We also stopped at Lake Mead and let Brinley feed the fish. I have such great memories of trips to Lake Mead that I wanted to share a small part of that with Brinley and Aaron.

Sitting on the dock feeding popcorn to all the fish

Holy Fish Batman!

So interested in everything she saw

My little Daddy's girl

We lost a couple of memory cards full of pictures from the last few months so I don't have a lot of updates. We are expecting a baby boy in October, I am currently 24 weeks, and we are pretty excited about that.

Baby's Profile

Hello World! I am a boy in case you were wondering

These days we have been spending lots of time outside enjoying the summer heat.

Thats all for now. Hopefully I will be motivated to update more soon.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the world. We love you so much Aaron.

Catching Up

I have been a major blogging slacker mostly because I have to blog from my Ipad and it is not very user friendly. Also, we have been busy. I work a ton and when I am not working I would rather hang out with Aaron and Brinley. With that said, I am going to try harder. Now is time for catch up.

Halloween 2010 Brinley dressed up as a horse and a cowgirl. I am hoping that the pictures made it to my external hard drive because we lost all the pictures on one of our memory cards and I am afraid we lost our Halloween pictures. Anyway, Brinley loved Halloween even though it was a crappy cold rainy day. She refused to wear her Cowgirl hat because it touched her staples and she did not like that at all! We went and trick or treated in Papa and Grammy's neighborhood and Brinley was so excited to get Cheetos at one house. She turned to me and said "Look Mama Cheetos!"

1 week after the staples went in she got them out. That was a horrible experience. The nurses were great and tried to be as quick as possible but it sucked. We had to be very careful with her head for about a month. She wouldn't lay down on it, didn't like to lay her head back in her carseat. It was rough. She is fine now but she still remembers it. She used to love the shower, she would stand in there for hours if we let her but now she usually just wants a bath. She will still tell people about her fall and she brings it up sometimes when she is in trouble. I put her in time out the other day and as she was crying (fake crying) she looked at me and said "I bonk my head in shower." She is too smart for her own good sometimes.

Next up was Thanksgiving. We had great food and great times with family. Here is Brinley all dressed up and ready to go.

And here she is with Nana!

She slept through dinner but had a great time anyway.
The week after Thanksgiving we flew to Denver for a few days so I could attend some training. The only pictures I have are on my phone but Brinley did amazing on her first flight. Nana got her some books about airplanes and she happily sat on our laps and read her books. She got a bit antsy on the flight home but she really was a trooper. This is the only time she will be able to fly without her own seat!

While we were in Denver the concept of peeing and pooping in the potty really clicked with her and we haven't looked back since. She is now completely potty trained and gets to wear big girl panties. We are waiting for her bladder to grow a bit more before she can make it through the night but she does awesome during the day.

Christmas was so fun this year. We first celebrated with Aaron's family.

Here is Brinley in front of the tree waiting to open presents.
She was so excited!

Waiting with Auntie Amanda for her big gift from Grammy and Papa Cheeser

She was so excited when she saw it!
Her very own horse!

She loves it!

5 minutes later she stripped. My child hates to wear clothes, some days she never gets dressed. She still refuses to wear pajamas and she will do anything not to have to wear clothes.
Then it was time for more presents.

Thanks Grammy, I love my presents.
The horse and this skirt from Great-Grammy and Grandpa Petty have been a huge hit!

Christmas eve was time for more horse riding, this time complete with hat.

Christmas Eve Santa came to visit after Brinley went to bed.

We had to wake her up around 945 or she would have slept all day. She was excited (once again please excuse my underwear clad child, she refuses to wear clothes, ever)

She was super excited about Thomas the train.
She made out like a bandit!
After Christmas morning we headed to Idaho to see the Berry family

Brinley got even more presents and got to hang out with her cousins. She loves them and still asks for Brooklyn and Sam.

Brinley has just been enjoying her Christmas loot. She is a hilarious kiddo.

She dressed herself but at least she has clothes on!

My mom had matching aprons made for me and Brinley for my birthday this year. The other night we were making dinner and Brinley wanted me to take pictures of her in her apron. She is such a ham!

Finally, January is the month of birthdays! My friend Anna and I were pregnant at the same time. She was due January 17th and I was due the 18th. It was so nice to have someone to be pregnant with that I saw about every day. We got to compare stories and aches and pains. She had her beautiful daughter on January 8th with Brinley coming along just 6 days later on the 14th. It has been so fun to watch them both grow. The other night Brinley and I went to Eva's 2nd birthday party at The Little Gym. Then we have a few more birthday parties this month
Dressed and ready to go

The cute little birthday girl.

In the doughnut together.

January girls together

I hope they get to grow up to be great little friends.
Anna used to work with me and I miss her every day.
Brinley getting ready to swing.
Mama watch me!

She had a great time and I can't believe how much she is growing up.
Brinley will be 2 in just a few short days and I can't believe it. She is such a good kid and she amazes me every day. Love you Brinny boo.

That is all for my giant catch up post.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Youch! Brinley's First Trip to the Emergency Room

So at work today I got a call from Aaron at about noon. He calmly told me not to panic-so of course my heart dropped into my stomach! He told me that Brinley had fallen and that the ambulance and the paramedics were at the house. He said she was doing fine but that she needed to go to the hospital. I of course started crying and told Aaron I would meet him at Primary Children's. I could hear the paramedic in the background saying she was fine. Luckily I work with amazing people and they got someone in to cover for me immediately and I walked over to the ER at PCMC. I met Aaron and Brinley in the ER driveway and we rushed her in. She was so happy to see me and no tears to be found. The back of her head was covered in blood. Her hair was dyed red! We waited for a bit and Brinley made a little friend. He had fallen 1 week earlier and cut his head open and gotten 2 staples. We had great docs in the ER and they numbed the wound and flushed it out. She got 3 staples, they watched her for a while, gave her a teddy bear and a popsicle and sent us on our way. We grabbed her some food and headed home and she has been great ever since. What a trooper! She is way tougher than her mommy. She gets the staples out in 1 week and we just have to watch her and keep it clean. She will tell anyone who asks that she bonked her head. Thank goodness I have an awesome husband and daddy that reacted quickly in a scary situation. I am so glad that Brinley is doing so great.


Sorry, this is a bit graphic


Cheese!


At home and doing well!