Beach Weekend

Friday Date Night

We walked down to the Pier, two fish tacos from Wahoo's (so good) for me, one peanut butter shake from Ruby's for Josh, watched Mark play some sand volleyball, felt the nice sea breeze, looked out at the surfers and the setting sun over the water. Not a bad night.

Saturday Beach Day

Met up with Josh's old roommate and his new bride, played in the waves at the Balboa Pier, let Little B kick around in the sand, tossed around a football, ate fruit kebabs and chicken and croissant sandwiches.

There are definitely perks to living in Huntington Beach.

Screamer

Brynlee's newest thing is screaming. I think she must get it from all the angry screaming Josh and I do in the home. (Ha). Luckily, it's "happy screaming". When she gets really excited about something she does a few fake coughs, then lets out loud, high pitched screaming and kicks her legs. Or if I want to make her do it, then I just do one little soft screaming sound and it will set her off. I can't decide if it's cute or strange. Should I encourage this screaming or get her to stop? Parenting brings the hardest decisions!

Bryn Pics

Brynlee can't sit up on her own yet, but she loves to be propped up on a chair or on my lap, so she can look around the room. Here are a few pictures of her this afternoon.

Squirming around!

Family Update

JOSH Saturday was the big CFA exam for Josh. He's been studying soooooo hard since January. I've been really proud of him. He won't find out til mid July if he's in the top third that passes the test, so we're keeping our fingers crossed!! I am so very glad for the test to be over and to have my husband back! To celebrate we a yummy dinner, went on a nice, long walk with Bryn, and then had Josh's favorite Marie Calender's key lime pie with my uncle. (Thanks Mark!)

LAURA

I've been busily working on a cute sewing project for Brynlee's room. I'm sewing lots of little birds and I'm going to make a mobile of some sort. Pictures will definitely come of the final product, but here's one little birdie in progress.

BRYNLEE

Little Bryn is as cute as ever. She's gotten more active and curious. She still makes crazy noises and those gargling noises, along with little sighs and laughter. She's been making herself laugh lately, which really cracks us up. She'll just be laying on the ground playing with a toy and she'll start giggling and fake coughing (one of her signature noises) out of the blue. We love this silly stage. (Do I really not have a new picture of her!? I'll have to take one and add it to this post!)

Gettin' Crafty (Part II)

I am loving my new sewing machine! Bryn's naptime = sewing time for me! (and of course the daily housework). I used to have this... ...in the corner of my kitchen. An ugly box full of plastic grocery bags. We use them a lot for putting diapers in and other things. This box was put here during our move and I just never moved it, even though it was ugly. I just didn't have another place to put it. THEN I decided to make a grocery bag holder. I had seen some ideas for this project online, so I just combined some different ideas and came up with my own beautiful bag holder. (I know, I know. It's a very beginner project, but I'm just learning!)

This project should have taken me about ten minutes to make, but it took me a LONG time because (A) I'm a perfectionist and everything had to be measured exactly right and sewn perfectly straight, and because (B) I'm not good at sewing....yet. I spent a good hour and a half at the fabric store, deciding on fabric, ribbon, what brand of elastic, etc. etc. Luckily, it turned out just as I wanted it. Now it's hanging inside our utility closet, keeping all those bags out of sight. Learning a new skill is so rewarding. I feel like a little kid, just so excited and proud! I've asked Josh about twenty times: "So do you like it!?", "Do you like the fabric!?", "Does the blue fabric match the blue in the print enough?", "Do you want to try it out!?", "Come on, do you want to pull one more bag out!?", "Do you like that your wife sews!?", "Am I cute when I'm at my sewing machine!?"

I couldn't resist buying extra fabric. Any suggestions on fun (and easy) sewing projects?

Gettin' Crafty (Part I)

My sister Marie is one of the most BEAUTIFUL, talented, creative people I know. And she has the coolest style! I wish I could put together the type of outfits that she comes up with. Anyway, while I was visiting Utah Marie taught me how to make a few of the little accessories that she makes. One of them is these cute fabric flowers. You can make them into headbands (as pictured above), hair clips, pin them onto your favorite cardigan to spice things up, attach them to a bag, or whatver else you come up with. I made three bunches in cream, plum, and black.

They're really simple. You just cut 5-6 circles of fabric in varying sizes, then stack them from biggest to smallest. Then sew them together with some little beads or pearls, add some puckering, and then sew on the pin, hair clip, or headband. They're easy, but they turn out great!

Sunday

Most of our family is in Utah, but we're so lucky to have one relative close by: my uncle Mark who lives in the same neighborhood. And on Sunday we had one more! My cousin Cara has been in town for the last few days and it was so great to spend Sunday evening with her and Mark. Nothing beats being with family.

Five Months

Brynlee is five months old today! She has seemed so grown up lately! She loves to grab things, anything she can get her hands on. Then she puts it in her mouth and sucks on it. When I hold her and walk around the apartment she will grab at picture frames and wall hangings that are in her reach. I used to occasionally hold her on my lap when I ate my lunch, but now she grabs at my food or knocks over my glass of water....which has happened three times this week. (You'd think I would learn!) When Josh or I burp her she turns and looks us right in the eyes, smiles, then grabs onto our face. It's so funny! She's not content to just sit still. She needs to be holding something or reaching for something. We love her so much and are so lucky to be her parents!!! These monthly pictures are getting harder and harder. All she wanted to do this time was eat the card. Showing a little leg. After months of wearing just socks, Bryn is finally wearing shoes! They're a little large, but she'll grow into them. Seeing her in shoes makes her seem so old to me! *If you're a perfectionist like me, you'll be bothered that the sign reads "5 month old" instead of "5 months old". I realized that after I was home from Kinko's and I just didn't think it was worth it to drive back and fix it. But now it's driving me crazy!

Rice Cereal

In honor of her five month birthday we gave Brynlee rice cereal for the very first time, and she absolutely loved it. It was a messy ordeal because she wasn't used to eating from a spoon, but I think she really liked the taste!

Utah

My trip to Utah was sooooooo fun. I had a great time visiting my family and friends. The trip went by so fast! (But of course I was so anxious to get home to my husband!!!)

My dad and brothers were out of town the first few days, so I got to spend lots of time with just the girls. We ate yummy food, watched chick flicks, worked on some crafty little projects, and sewed! Yes, they taught me how to use my new sewing machine!!!

Brynlee loved seeing her uncle Jae play in a BYU intramural game. It was great seeing all the Tuellers that came to watch!

Bryn loves her Aunt Marie. Marie got her to laugh so much!

Logan is such a wonderful uncle. He introduced Bryn to the pigeons, but she was a little nervous around them. She is her mother's daughter!

I was so glad to see Josh's Dad and Mom...

...and Becky and Hema. It was so great hanging out with them! I married into the best family!

My cousin Alli came over to visit with her cute daughter Raquel who is two months older than Bryn. It was so fun for our girls to "play" because they're going to be best friends someday! Brynlee was a little shy, as you can tell.

I got together with four of my very best friends from high school. It's always great catching up with them!

I love this happy girl!

Bryn was so thrilled to be in the land of her birth. You can see it in her eyes.

P.S. Bryn was a champ on both flights! She really was perfectly quiet and content. I was so relieved that travelling was so smooth with her. She's the best!

Brynlee survived her second....

earthquake! A 4.1 earthquake hit California yesterday afternoon. We felt it, but it wasn't quite as strong. This is becoming almost a daily occurance now!

Brynlee survived her first....

A 4.7 earthquake hit California last night and we definitely felt it. I hadn't been in an earthquake since I was a very young child in the Bay Area. It was a weird feeling! It's been too long since the emergency preparedness lessons in elementary school. I couldn't remember whether I was supposed to stay low to the ground, stop-drop-and roll, just say "no", or brace myself. I ended up running out the front door... in an attempt to run away from my problems? Josh was the one who actually ran for our young child. Woops. I'll do better next time! I don't think it caused any damage or injuries to anyone. (I think it was actually a pretty small earthquake, but I don't really know much about them). Only a few things fell off shelves in our apartment. I was secretly hoping that we'd have to pull out our lantern and live off our shiney tins of food storage, but maybe next time.

Trend Setter

Bryn has always been a stand-out when it comes to style. She calls this latest look the Aunt Jemima. You'll be seeing this look on infants across the nation, once the others catch up with her fashion sense.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

On Thursday Brynlee and I are flying to Utah for a week with my family. It is a much needed little getaway and I am so excited to see them! This will be Brynlee's first flight. Any advice for flying with an infant?

4th of July...in May

I know, I'm a little early. I was going through Brynlee's "Too Big" box and I found this cute 4th of July outfit and these little red cowboy boots from my mother in law. Everything's a little big on her now, but I think it'll be great by the time the 4th of July gets here. Between now and then I've got to find a matching headband or even better: a little cowboy hat! It is way too much fun playing dress-up with Bryn!!!

Long and Lean

The move to California set us back a little bit with Brynlee's doctors appointments, so she just barely went in for her four month check up even though she's nearly four and a half months. Anyway, she was so wild during her check-up: singing, gargling loudly, and even laughing aat certain points. She definitely didn't know what was coming for her. Shots. She did the same as last time. She cried when they first went in, but as soon as I could hold her again she settled down. She is 26.25 inches long (95th percentile) and she weighs 14 lbs 3 oz (50th percentile). I guess she's not as chubby as we thought she was. When I carry her it feels like she's much heavier than that, but I guess I'm just not as strong as I thought! I'm sure she'll chunk up even more once I start her on rice cereal!

Mom

I didn't want Mother's Day to go by without mentioning how grateful I am for my beautiful mom. I am so blessed to be her daughter and to have learned from her example of faith, integrity, and love. She has always been my hero and my dear, dear friend.

She put up with a lot through the years. (The stinky sock was a real low).

I could list off her countless gifts and talents that she has refined, her beautiful musical capacities, her years of dedicated church service, her wonderful culinary skills, her incredible speech at BYU Women's Conference, etc. etc. but instead I thought I might briefly mention a few of her talents that are often overlooked:


Her karate skills, as demonstrated upon her brother Hal.

And her tremendous upper body strength. Who would've known, right?


I love and admire my Mom so very much and hope I can learn to be like her.

Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day as a Mom! What a wonderful day! Brynlee has been such a sweetie all day. She woke up so silly, as you can tell in this picture! I feel so blessed and humbled to be a mother to this beautiful little girl.

A little Mother's Day surprise. I was thrilled, to say the least. Josh knew I'd been looking at Bernina sewing machines, and he did some secret research and bought this little beauty for me. Let the sewing begin!!!

Hit or Miss

I've been making a lot of new recipes lately, you know, just trying to fulfill my role as the little housewife at home with the baby. Some of the recipes have been definite keepers, others have not. Let's start with the good:
Wheat Bread- I had made wheat rolls before, but it was my first time making bread. I planned on using my Bosch mixer because they're great for bread, but I ended up doing it the old fashioned way of mixing it by hand because that's how my mom does it. The kneading was a little intense and I was a little worried at one point (when the entire dough ball was wound around my sticky dough hands! It's a miracle I got myself out of that one!), but it turned out so good. I could have eaten four whole loaves myself. Seriously. I planned on saving one loaf and giving three away, but I only gave two away. It was just too good. (I definitely need to work on the appearance, though. Two of them looked pretty, but the other two looked pretty funny on the top. But taste is what matters!) By the way, bread is so, so cheap to make! Which is a great reason to make it more often!
Banana Walnut Bread-No picture. I only made one loaf and it was eaten too fast to take a picture. Really yummy recipe from the Food Network Kitchens. Loved it.
Homemade Jam-Super easy. Waaaay better than store bought jam. I have never and will never buy store bought jam. We always had homemade jam growing up, but I had never made it before. My mom always stocked us up with homemade jam when we were in Utah, but it would have been tricky for her to mail me more of it in California. I figured I had better learn how to make it. And I'm glad I did. Delicious!

Now, for the not-so-good.

Pizookie-Bad. Really bad. It literally makes me sick just thinking about it. A "Pizookie" is basically a chocolate chip cookie baked in a six inch pan, with ice cream over it. We also decided to make my Mom's famous chocolate sauce to put over it (as if we needed any more sweetness!?!) Long story short, it was waaaaaay too much. I usually love sweets, but this was just way too much goodness at once. We only made half the dough and we planned on making the rest of the dough the next night, there's now way we're making a pizookie anytime soon. Or ever! We had heard so much hype about how yummy pizookies are, but it was just pure sugary chocolate overload for us. We'll stick with the wheat bread.

How Do I Know When Bryn's Awake?

When I hear gargling from the other room. These strange sounds are getting a little out of control. She gargles and sings more and more everyday. And the noises are getting weirder and weirder. The noises in this video are pretty mild because she's just waking up, but once she's wide awake the sounds just get crazy. Where did she learn this!?

Little Miss Vocal

As usual, here are Brynlee's Sunday pictures. Thanks Marie for the cute skirt! Brynlee was good at church, except during Sunday School when she decided she didn't want to be quiet any longer. She pulled out her pacifier and began making the cutest little noises! I wanted to just let her talk, but I figured I better start teaching her now about reverance during church. Bryn is definitely a vocal child. She's not a crier, but she's always talking and finding new sounds she can make. Sometimes she's talking in response to things we're saying to her, but other times she's just babbling to herself as she plays with her toys. The video demonstrates a few of the sounds she's been doing lately.

P.S. In the picture above you'll see how her hands are clasped together. She loves doing that lately. Her hands are just glued to each other all day long. It's so funny. Her hands are her new favorite toys! I hope she stays this easily entertained!