Abort! Abort!

Well.....I only made it until 1 pm with the potty-training! Ha! Here a few of my crucial mistakes:

(1) I wasn't prepared with a cute sticker chart, and Bryn just wasn't impressed with my lined sheet of paper taped to the wall. She didn't even want to put her reward stickers on it.

(2) Bribes. I need to buy some. My big reward for her going potty was a chocolate chip. And that obviously didn't cut it.

(3) I only bought a 3-pack of undies and after she wet through her first pair I realized I was going to need more than 3 little pairs.

(4) This is just embarrassing, but I also realized after her accident that I didn't even have enough quarters to use the washers/dryers at our apartment complex. Definitely a problem for potty training days.

(5) And this is what did me in: After she wet her pants I gave her a bubble bath to wash off because she needed to clean off, right? Bad move. Baaaaaaaad move. After she got out of the bath she kept saying "Brynlee want to wet her pants and have another bubble bath!" Great. So now I had given her incentive to wet her pants. Obviously, the bubble bath was far more appealing than a sticker and a chocolate chip.

So I put her diaper back on, took down the potty chart, and ate the rest of the chocolate chips that she didn't use.

I ordered the toilet training book a few of you suggested, and we'll give it a whirl in a few weeks when the memory of today's failed attempt has faded.

It has begun...

I was about to postpone Bryn's potty-training because I was getting scared, but unfortunately Bryn remembered I told her she could start wearing her new pink "undies" this week. So she brought them to me this morning, excited to start. And so... we started. Here we go!

So far she's gone to the bathroom a couple times and she thinks it's so fun. But I'm sure there will be lots accidents to come! Bryn's had to stay on this very special "potty spot" all morning:

*Of course, while I turned my head to make this blog post Bryn moved just to the side of the "potty spot" and wet her pants! Rookie mistake to turn my head. No more blogging til we get this down!

Welcome Summer

We BBQ-ed at my uncle's house tonight and had our first corn on the cob of the season....one of my favorite summer things. Now it officially feels like summer. Let the BBQ season begin!

Walk to the Pier

It had been a while since we last walked to the pier, so tonight... we walked to the pier. It was a beautiful night, perfect for a little walk. Downtown was busy with visitors for Memorial Day weekend, and Bryn loved staring at the crowds and pointing out strange hair colors: "Bryn see a lady with RED hair!!...Bryn see a lady with PINK hair!!..." Huntington Beach is always classy. Don't get any ideas, Bryn.

Jammie Time

Why is it that as soon as the pajamas come out, it means silly time for Brynlee? When Bryn gets her jammies on she gets an instant boost of energy and immediately starts jumping, spinning, running around, talking a mile a minute, and trying to convince us she's too cute to be put to bed.

The classic plugging-your-ears trick. "What Mom? It's time for bed? I can't hear you!"

Waiting

I'm not very good at waiting.

(I'm learning this more and more each day. Each week. Each month).

And that's probably why I have to wait -- because I'm not very good at it.

Potty-Training

This is the last week of Bryn's cute, little playgroup, and then the real fun begins:

It's time to POTTY TRAIN her! Yikes!

PLEASE let me know if you have any suggestions because I haven't figured out my game plan yet. I'm just planning for a crazy week...or two....or however long it takes.

Young Women Camping Trip

Last weekend I went camping with these cute girls at San Onofre State Beach, and it was such a blast! We missed some of our older girls and a few leaders, but it was a really fun group!

Our wonderful Camp Director, Kelli (on the left) organized this camp-out and it was such a success! Can't wait for Girl's Camp in June!

I love these girls!

The girls introduced me to "Banana Boats", where you slice a banana in half (lengthwise) fill it with marshmallows and chocolate chips, and then wrap it up in foil and cook it in the fire pit. Yum.

My wonderful counselors, Kristi and Megan. Megan is the camping queen (She had a camping themed bridal shower. No joke). She wowed us with her killer chicken enchiladas in the dutch oven and all of her other outdoorsy skills.

We did a fun hike to the beach on Saturday

And we attempted a four layer pyramid, with no success.

I loved being in the outdoors, going on little hikes, eating yummy food from the dutch oven and campfire, getting to know the other leaders better, and most of all I loved talking and laughing with these cute girls and hearing their sweet testimonies. What a great weekend!

Josh + Bryn

I had a Young Women camp-out this weekend, so Josh and Bryn got some fun daddy-daughter time. And I love that Josh always takes phone pics to show me the fun they had! First of all, they hit up McDonalds for some fast food that I never let them eat :)

One of my very favorite things is seeing how Josh dresses Bryn when I'm not around!

And even better...how he does her hair! This style was pretty great: a little bun on one side, and a clip on the other. I love it.

Park Time

Take a guess- Was Bryn playing at the park with me or Josh today?

If you guessed Josh...you were right.

Safe? No, no, definitely not.

Fun? Unfortunately, Bryn couldn't stop talking about it all day.

Josh is officially the favorite parent now.

Mother's Day

I wanted to take a cute picture yesterday of Bryn and me on Mother's Day! But our first attempt was a rushed, running-out-the-door picture, and then Bryn conked out right before our post-church picture. (There's always next year). Nevertheless, it was a wonderful day! I'm grateful to be a mother and to have such an amazing mother and mother-in-law!

Date with Josh....and Bryn

Yogurt run with my two favorite people!

Visitors

My whole family came to visit us in Huntington Beach the week before Easter. (Pretend like I posted these pictures before my Utah trip pictures). It was so wonderful being all together and having so much fun! And of course, Brynlee was in heaven!

We went to a few parks, including my favorite Central Park. We walked the trail, fed the ducks, and let Bryn run wild.

Lots of beach time, of course!

One of my favorite things to do in HB is ride kayaks through Huntington Harbor. We took Bryn with us this time and she was great! She just sat back and fell asleep, which was awesome!

Josh and Bryn

Dad and Bryn

We also did way too much eating at lots of fun places. Lucille's BBQ is one of our favorites, and my family loved it, too. Above are Jordan, Marie, and Mom

Me, Dad, Jae

Uncle Mark and Logan

Our friend Dede, Josh, and Bryn

Another favorite spot is Duke's! I've blogged about Duke's before, but I love it! It's a must when family comes to town.

Another favorite spot is Houston's, which has the very best ice cream sundae's you'll find.

My whole fam on Sunday. I am so grateful they could all come!

Utah: Part 2

A few more Utah pics...

Bryn is showing how much FUN we had in Utah :)

Singing songs for Family Home Evening

I went to lunch with my three sisters-in-law that live in Utah: Becky, Brandi, and Rindi. It was so fun to let Bryn play with cousins and to chat with three of my favorite ladies!

We visited Jason and Brandi and their cute girls Hunter and Halle. It was so fun to hang out and for Bryn to go nuts on their tramp and playground.

Bryn LOVED playing with my brother Logan, and would follow him around every day saying "Come on Logie!" Logan and Bryn are the same distance apart in age that Logan and I are, so they are good buddies.

The other thing Bryn said everyday was "Bryn hold a pigeon! Bryn hold a pigeon!" She got a little too comfortable with the birds and would run around the yard holding them.

She and Logan also built "traps" for the pigeons to step in, which provided some good laughter.

I went with my sister-in-law Becky to Cabella's to show the kids all the dead, stuffed animals (I don't know the proper term). I thought the animals were even cooler than the Bean Museum.

Vela and Bryn fed the fish some delicious fish pellets.

Yay for playing with cousins and darting around Cabella's like a wild animal!

Bryn is obsessed with trampolines and she jumped on the tramp every day, rain or shine. It was beginning to snow in the picture above, and then....

Wham! We got hit hard. Good thing I packed my sandals and t-shirts. Ha. It was pretty cold and Bryn kept doing this dramatic fake shiver that was cracking us all up. She's a California girl, I guess.

It was so fun to see her playing with the same toys I played with as a child!

We went to my cousin's baptism and then had fun hanging out at my Grandma's house with my Tueller extended fam.

Other fun things:

-Wagon rides with Grandma

-Attending BYU Women's Conference with my Mom

-Seeing a few old friends (wish I could have seen more!)

-Fierce games of Battleship and Trouble with my fam

-My Dad telling Bryn the same "Woody the Woodsman" stories he made up when I was young

-Early morning walks with my Mom

-Cramming on my parent's bed to watch Three Stooges and Perry Mason

-Silly stories and lots of laughter

-Shopping trips

-Way too many good meals and treats

-And I'm sure I'm forgetting things. It was a great trip and Bryn and I had so much fun! Bryn's actually devastated to be home. She's been sad ever since we've been home and she keeps saying things like "Bryn don't like Caleefornia. Bryn only like Utah!" "We go back to Grandma's house?" "Bryn don't like our house. Bryn only like Grandma's house!" "Bryn don't like our car. Bryn only like Grandma's car!" and on and on. Can you blame her? We had fun!