Rie's Wedding

My beautiful sister Marie got married yesterday! I left my camera and video camera in California, so I got zero pictures, which is a bummer. But a friend sent some pics to my Mama.

My freezing fam outside the temple

The only picture I have of the reception...Logan and Bryn having a little chat. What a wonderful day!

Tester

Christmas time means waaaay too many baked treats! We've been baking almost every day the last week and Bryn loves to be my little helper. It takes triple the time to make things because she has to be a part of every step. She has also designated herself as the "Special Tester", which means she is the one to taste the first goodie of each batch and tell me whether they pass her standard of approval.

I think I was my mom's designated "Special Tester" my whole childhood! And I'll gladly resume that role again when we're in Utah next week!

Ward Christmas Party

We had our ward Christmas Party at the church on Saturday and my favorite part was watching Bryn dance and dance and dance. There was a cool folk band performing Christmas songs and Bryn was loving it!

I tried a few times to upload a silly video of Bryn shakin' it, but to no avail. Just imagine the cutest thing ever :)

Disneyland

A few weeks ago Jason and Brandi and their girls were in town and it was so fun to meet up with them at Disneyland for a day! (They came on a really cold day!)

Bryn had so much fun with her cute cousin Hunter and Halle

Today was another fun day at Disneyland, although we were overdressed for the unexpected heat!

Small World is really cute at Christmastime. They decorate it with tons of lights and Christmas decor and they sing Christmas songs.

And I love the other Christmas decorations around the park, too.

Hooray for Disneyland and hooray for Christmastime!

Babies

How do I convince Bryn we actually do want another one of these...

(This is cute, jaundice-yellowed Bryn at 3 weeks old)

In every prayer Bryn says she prays for a "new baby in our family", but on Saturday she stopped in the middle of her prayer and said "Mom...I actually don't even want a new baby in our family. I only want a new KID in our family. I don't really like babies, but I do like brothers and sisters that know how to READ."

And now the wheels in her head have been turning and she's told me more and more ideas of the perfect type of "kid" we should add to our family.

So our options are: (1) shift our approach and look into adopting a KID instead of trying to have a baby, or (2) convince Bryn all the wonderful things about BABIES. I think we'll stick with the second option for now :)

R Day

Today I hosted R Day for playgroup and it was a fun one. We started off with some books on rain and rainbows. Then we made rainbows with felt.

Aubrey and Bryn

Ivy

Then I put elmer's glue onto their letter R's and they stuck on the rainclouds and the rain.

They practiced writing the letter R and colored rainbows.

And we snacked on rainbow fishy crackers and rainbow fruit by the foot.

Hooray for R!

Marie's Bridal Shower

The whole purpose of my trip to Utah a few weeks ago was for my sister's bridal shower! It was a shower with both sides of my extended family, so it was great to see lots of cousins and aunts! I didn't take any pictures, but my aunt Carolyn and cousin Diana sent me some pictures....

Me, Marie, and Diana.

Diana, a former event planner, coordinated the shower and she is so talented at this sort of thing! No detail was overlooked!

Some of the food

Marie and her cute, little parfait

Diana interviewed Marie's fiance and used it for a game at the shower

Four generations

Marie and I are such good friends and I was so grateful to be there to celebrate with her!

Brynlee getting to know her second-cousin Anna

Love you, Rie! Can't wait for the wedding in three weeks!!!

Thanksgiving

Right after I got back in town from my Utah trip, my brother flew in from San Fransisco. Jae comes down every so often and it's always so fun. We spent Thanksgiving with him and my uncle Mark who lives around the corner. I cooked the turkey, rolls, gravy, and pies, and Mark made brought the vegetables, stuffing, and a mean batch of mashed potatoes. It was a great meal and so much fun to be with Mark and Jae!

Bryn LOVES Jae and had so much fun playing with him. Any time she'd catch him sitting down she'd bring out her blanket stash from her room and cover him, saying "Ok Jae, it's time to get comfy and cozy!"

One of Jae's best friends is getting married in a few weeks and specifically asked Jae to be sporting a mustache at his wedding, so Jae willingly obliged. Bryn, however, is very anti-mustache! The whole weekend Bryn repeatedly told Jae "I like everything about you, Jae, EXCEPT for your mustache!" She kept asking him to wash it off. When we dropped Jae off at the airport Bryn said "I hope I see Jae again! But not with a mustache. I like everything about Jae but his mustache." Despite the mustache, we had a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for flying down, Jae!!!

Black Friday

While Josh was working, I did my share of Black Friday shopping with Bryn and my brother Jae. Can you tell what's at the top of Bryn's Christmas list??

At every store we went to (well....except for Best Buy) Bryn found a Men's furry hat to keep her warm. I think she'd make a cute Eskimo.

Play Group: Thanksgiving Day

I hosted the Thanksgiving Day at playgroup and it was a fun one!

We started off by reading some Thanksgiving books, talking about cornucopias, and playing with felt cornucopias I made.

We played "Pin the Feathers on the Turkey"

Each girl got a little turkey snack plate with a PB & J body, apple and orange feathers, cranberry eyes, cheese beak, and pretzel legs.

I cut out lots of cardstock leaves and we made "Gratitude Wreaths". Each girl told me 12 things she was grateful for, one for each leaf. It was so cute to hear their answers! If you can't read the leaves, Bryn's answers were: "Grandparents, Ivy, Aubrey, Mom, Dad, babies, fruit cups, rocks, beans, going to Utah, Santa, and Disneyland. "

I had planned on doing one other craft where they would make "Indian corn" by using Q-tips to paint the kernels on the cardstock corn. BUT....the girls were extra silly and energetic and I was nervous to get out PAINT with them. So I skipped that craft and I printed out a quick Thanksgiving coloring sheet instead!

Quick Utah Trip

I just got back from 5 days in Utah and it was wonderful!

Cooking with Grandma

Playing the piano with Logan

Bryn's second-cousin Avery was verrrry friendly with her, but Bryn was completely focused on her food. Food first, cousins second.

A little performing

In HEAVEN at Grandma Tueller's house, playing with the Little People sets my Mom grew up with.

Uncle Rich brought Bryn a HUGE new book and read it to her before bed

Bryn LOVED playing this horn all weekend

She even played it while hanging upside down on Jordan's back

Hanging out with a skewer

It was fun to get to know Devin, my sister's fiance. He and Marie are so cute! Only one more month until the wedding!

We had a big family dinner on Sunday and Marie and Jordan drove up from BYU. (Pretend that I'm in a cute Sunday outfit instead of sweats!)

Bryn loves Jord

My mom, Bryn, and Logan

Not pictured:

Playing games at Grandma Tueller's house

Getting together with my dear dear friend Lindsey

Lots of fun play time

Talking wedding details with Mom and Marie

And....the whole reason I went to Utah: my sister's bridal shower! I didn't take any pictures, so I'll post about the shower when I steal pictures from my cousin.

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As always, I was crying all through the airport after saying goodbye to my mama! And as always, I left Bryn's favorite red blankie in Utah....which I seem to do every time we visit!