Winter Youth Conference

We had Winter Youth Conference this past weekend and it was so much fun!

We had lots of devotionals and workshops, played Capture the Flag at Central Park, ate lots of yummy food, played games, went ice skating, had line dance instruction and a dance party, and finished it off with a fireside and testimony meeting last night.

These events are always exhausting, but so worth the work! I love seeing the youth build friendships, have fun, and strengthen their faith.

(This is the only picture I have of the whole weekend, but it's me and Alex...one of my old young women who moved to a different ward in our stake. Love you Alex!)

P.S. You can see in this picture that my baby bump is starting to emerge! Earlier than when I was pregnant with Bryn!

W Day

Yesterday was W Day for playgroup. I didn't take many pictures, but here's what we did...

We talked about W is for Weather. We read "Little Cloud", one of Bryn's favorite Eric Carle books. It's a cute one about clouds and rain.

Then we read "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". Bryn had never read this one before, so she thought it was hilarious!

Bryn and Ivy were hard at work, coloring parts of their "Weather Wheels"

Practicing writing the letter W

Here is Bryn's finished "Weather Wheel". We talked about each kind of weather and then they colored the pictures and glued them to their wheels. Bryn keeps checking out the window to see if she needs to change the arrow. Yesterday the arrow stayed at "sunny" all day long, but today she has loved changing it from sunny, to cloudy, to windy, and back to sunny.

Halfway through playgroup Bryn remembered witches start with W, so she dashed off to her room and came back as a "witch", clown collar and all. So here is the little witch!

We also did a weather matching sheet and one other weather game, but I didn't take pictures.

Fun day!

Peter Rabbit

Remember how Bryn went on a Birthday-Date with Josh and bought Peter Rabbit?

Ever since that night Bryn has no longer been Bryn. She has been Peter Rabbit. And I am Cottontail and Josh is Mr. McGregor. All day she refers to me as Cottontail instead of mom. And all day, literally all. day. long, she corrects me if I call her Brynlee instead of Peter Rabbit.

I thought it would only last a day or so, but this might be a permanent change??

Yesterday Bryn announced "Hey Cottontail- Peter Rabbit needs to go potty. I'm going to put my little rabbit bottom on the toilet and use my rabbit paw to flush the toilet."

Today Bryn had a doctor's appointment and every time the doctor or nurse called her Brynlee she said "I'm not Brynlee anymore. I'm Peter."

And all day she asks for carrots instead of her usual snacks. Naturally, Peter Rabbit prefers carrots to goldfish or bananas.

She runs from room to room, stealing Mr. McGregor's vegetables and rolling around, tangled in the "goose-berry nets". You'd think she'd be getting sick of this story by now!

I don't know how long this rabbit phase will last, but we just bought 10 pounds of carrots just in case. Peter Rabbit loves her carrots!

(Three is a great age!)

Bryn's Birthday Pictures

A few weeks ago we did Bryn's yearly photo shoot with Michelle Photography. Michelle is an amazing photographer and she also happens to be one of my very best friends! I LOVE these pictures! I have about 50 favorite pictures from the shoot, but here are a few of my very favorites...

Michelle also did Bryn's 1-YEAR and 2-YEAR photos and each year she's gotten such great pictures that capture Bryn's personality!

P.S. We used Christmas money from my Tueller grandparents for this photo shoot, so Grandma Tueller if you are reading this...Thank you! :)

V-Day

I hosted V-Day for playgroup today!

It was hard to think of what to talk about that started with a "V", but luckily it's close to Valentine's Day, so we did Valentines stuff.

I made little felt mailboxes and valentine hearts with V's on them. The girls had to say who they were sending each of their valentines to, then they could put it in the mailbox!

Then we got out paper, stamps, stickers, glue, and made some valentines. I loved how meticulous the girls were with their gluing and the placement of each heart. It was serious business!

And then they practiced writing the letter V. They are so much better writing their letters than they were when we started! (It doesn't hurt that V is a pretty simple letter, I guess!)

Fun day! Hooray for V!

A little news...

I'm 17 weeks along, due July 1st, and couldn't be more thrilled!

We are so THANKFUL for all the prayers from our family and friends that have helped this little baby hang on!

After my 4th miscarriage last summer, I was referred to a new high-risk pregnancy doctor (Dr. Sassoon) and she and her staff have been awesome! I wish I would have been working with them from the start. We're been doing a few new treatments this time around, including Heparin injections every 12 hours. I'm not a big fan of shots (who is?), but it's a small price to pay if it will help me stay pregnant the whole nine months!

We are feeling really optimistic about this pregnancy and really grateful that this baby hasn't had any complications yet. Hopefully all will go well and we'll have a new addition this summer!

25

I turned 25 yesterday and had such a great birthday!

Bryn and I spent the morning at Disneyland. (That's the only picture I have to show for it). It's the first time we've been to Disneyland without other friends, and it was super cute to have a fun day with just Bryn. We did whatever Bryn wanted to do.....which meant multiple rides on Little Mermaid!

Then I had a fun date with Josh last night!

I hope my next 25 years are as wonderful as my first 25 have been :)

Birthday Eve

Josh and I ate these at 10:30 pm last night, in celebration of my Birthday Eve.

We normally don't celebrate "Birthday Eves", but I love any excuse to make a late-night treat!

Cinnamon rolls are maybe my very favorite treat, and THIS recipe is probably my favorite recipe for them. It's the Lion House Bakery recipe and they are amazing! (I use skim milk instead of half and half for the glaze). YUM!

Ric Rac

Josh is on a camp-out tonight with the scouts, so Bryn and I spent the night playing with ric rac!

A long time ago my friend gave me a big stash of ric rac, trims, and bias tape but I had forgotten about it til Bryn found it today while rummaging around my craft drawers. In the spirit of Valentine's Day (she's a just little excited for this holiday!) she picked out all the V-day colors and made a nest for Oscar the ostrich.

While Bryn was busy nesting, I made a handful of simple Valentine's dish towels with ric rac remnants from the stash. (For an even cuter version of ric rac dish towels, check out THIS post on "Aesthetic Nest". Josh's talented cousin Annaliese has so many fun ideas on that blog!)

Three cheers for Ric Rac parties with Brynlee!

Yesterday

Yesterday Bryn's playgroup was cancelled, so we did the next best thing:

We walked to the beach, found a bench on the pier, and watched the surfers.

Bryn thinks surfing is hilarious and laughs so hard when surfers fall and their boards flip up into the air. It's good entertainment! She was begging to go out in the water and try it herself, but that definitely won't be happening any time soon!

Love Pillow

V-Day Project #2...

I made this pillow yesterday during naptime with materials I had on hand. I just cut the cursive "love" out of white felt, hand stitched it onto some home dec fabric, and then sewed it up!

Hooray for simple, FREE projects!

It would have looked more Valentine-ish if the fabric were pink (I didn't have pink fabric), but the gold goes along with our V-Day Garland, so I think it works.

(P.S. I got the idea for the pillow from THIS beautiful room).

Birthday Date

We have a tradition that every year Bryn gets to go on a birthday date with Josh to pick out a new book from Barnes and Noble. Last night was the big night!

Bryn had so much fun last year, and had been anticipating this year's date for so long! She was completely giddy as she left and she was even more giddy as she returned.

Last year she picked out "The Little Red Hen". This year she picked out "The Tale of Peter Rabbit". (I'm glad she's picked out good ones, especially since I'm not even there to influence her choices!)

After the Barnes and Noble they made a stop at Wendy's for a little treat.

I am not very good at establishing family traditions, but this is one tradition that I really love. It's the cutest thing ever to see Bryn so excited about her special night with her dad!

Beach Day

I really love January in Southern California!

It's been so warm this week and we've been enjoying the awesome weather with lots of time running around outside, playing at parks, and hanging out at the beach.

V-Day Garland

Bryn LOVED the Christmas season with all the decorations, books, crafts, goodies, and excitement. As soon as we put our Christmas decorations away Bryn started asking me every day "Hey Mom! What holiday is next?!" And when she heard it was Valentine's Day she started asking "What do we do on Valentine's Day?" and "What decorations are we putting up for Valentine's Day?" We don't really have any V-Day decorations, so Bryn and I are going to change that! Here's our first project:

Yesterday we headed to JoAnns, stocked up on felt, cut out tons of circles and hearts, and made some simple garland. Bryn loved being involved in the whole process, especially putting the shapes in order and handing me the next shape as I sewed. We still have a few weeks before we'll actually put them up (still too early for Valentine's decorations, right?), but at least we've got one V-Day decoration that Bryn is excited about!

I got the basic idea from Dana's "Happy Day Garland" found HERE.

Primary

Yesterday was Bryn's first day of Primary at church! I can't believe she's old enough to be a big kid in Primary! She had so much fun and loves her new teacher.

Bryn's Birthday!

Usually we're in Utah for Brynlee's birthday and we do a little party with my family, but this year we were back in California. I was bummed we couldn't do a family party, but it was actually really fun spending the day with just her and me!

She was bounded out of bed in the morning and sang happy birthday to herself.

And she chose orange juice and square cereal (Chex) for her special birthday breakfast.

We did some fun things during the day and then she helped me make some yummy chocolate cupcakes. (I used the Magnolia Bakery recipes for the cupcakes and the chocolate buttercream frosting. I actually don't really like cake, but this recipe is yummy).

We had a "party" that night with my uncle Mark and our friend Dede who lives down the street. They were so nice to come and sing to her, help us eat cupcakes, and make Bryn feel important!

Opening presents

Thanks Mark and Dede for coming over!

And most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite little girl!