Swimming

 Bryn's had swim lessons the last couple weeks and has loved it! 

She does little private lessons with Maddy, a cute girl in our ward. This is her second summer of lessons with Maddy and it's been great! 

Second Cousins

 My cousin Alli is in Southern California this week, and it was so, so fun to get together with her today! 

We met at a fun park in Orange....which was great except I forget how HOT it is when you go inland! I'll stick to my 65-70 temps in Huntington Beach! :) 

Luckily for us, there was lots of shade!

 Alli's daughter Racquel is just two months older than Brynlee and she's the sweetest little girl. Bryn and Racquel have probably only met a few times (sad!), but they are cute little buddies and they play really well together. 

Bryn was so sad to leave our play-date and the whole way home she kept asking to go back and play with Racquel some more! I wish we lived closer!

Love you Alli!!!

Graduating Laurels Luncheon

Yesterday we had a luncheon with the young women to honor our 4 Laurels that are graduating this month. I will be so sad for these girls to move on and leave our little young women group, but it's exciting to see them start their next stage of life! 

This is our whole YW group, minus a few girls who were missing yesterday.

Man, I love these girls!

Good Things

After months of studying, Josh took level 3 of the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) exam yesterday!

That calls for chocolate cake!

We won't find out if he passed for 2-3 months, but it would sure be nice if he passed because then he'd be done with the CFA exam FOREVER!!! (He's been working on the CFA for the last three years because there are three levels and you can only take the exams on one certain day each year. As fun as studying for the CFA has been these last few years, I think we're ready to be done!) 

It will be wonderful for Josh to have a break from studying now and for him to spend time in the evenings with Bryn and me. Hooray!!!

In other news, we only have four weeks to go until baby #2 makes her big debut! I'm getting into that whale-ish, uncomfortable stage of pregnancy, so hopefully these final weeks will fly by!

P.S. Bryn's face in this picture kills me. She wanted to be in the picture of course, but she was still sour because we had just told her she couldn't wear her "fancy dress-up shoes" to church. Life is tough when you're a three year old and you're not allowed to choose your own wardrobe.

Other than Bryn's frustrations about her footwear, life is good!

Crystal Cove Camp-Out

 Last night we had a fun camp-out at Crystal Cove with the young women. 

I'd never camped at Crystal Cove, but it was cool to be so close to the beach! ...definitely a change from the Utah camping I am used to!

Setting up camp

 My two wonderful counselors...who also happen to be hardcore campers. It's good that they know what they're doing because my "camping skills" are definitely lacking!

We were missing a few young women, but it was still such a fun group!

 Doing our little hike

 Dishes!

 The girls are taking a bow after their awesome skit for the leaders.

 And we ended the night with scones and a great testimony meeting.

I LOVE these girls and am so grateful to serve in the Young Women program!

Baby Shower

 Last week I had such a fun baby shower with one of my good friends who is also pregnant with her second little girl. Thanks so much to Michelle and Jamie for throwing such a cute shower!!!

I have such amazing friends in Huntington Beach and I am already so sad at the thought of moving in 2 months and leaving such awesome ladies! 

Quilty Quilt Quilt

I finished a new quilt this week! I'm not really a quilter, so this was a big deal!!

 It was going to be a baby quilt, but it ended up 44" x 66", so I think I'll use it on Bryn's toddler bed or draped over the crib or something. Bryn's room has some coral and orange in it, so I think it'll look fun in her room somewhere. 

The fabrics I used are random orange and coral prints from Anna Maria Horner, Heather Bailey, 4-5 Riley Blake prints, and then a couple prints from our local fabric shop Jenny's. The back is a Kona cotton solid in "Mango". Now I'm kind of wishing I would have done a print on the back instead of a solid color....but it's too late now! Oh well.

This was my last big sewing project before the baby comes, so I'm glad to have it finished!

(P.S. Thanks to my friend Autie for letting me quilt it with her quilting foot!)

Bryn Primary Scripture

On Mother's Day Bryn was assigned to give the scripture and prayer in Primary. It was the cutest thing ever....the perfect Mother's Day gift!


She was asked to give a scripture on baptism, so she memorized John 3:5 and this is what she said at the pulpit...(Josh was subbing in Primary that day, so he recorded part of what she said).


"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:5
When you turn eight you get baptized...just like Rachel (a lady who was just baptized in our ward). 
You go under the water, and you come back up, and it makes Heavenly Father really happy."


And here's what she said for her prayer...


"Dear Heavenly Father, we're thankful for this day. We pray that we can have a new baby in our family. We pray that Jae and Jordan can get married. And we pray that Grandma Tueller can feel better today. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."


Bryn LOVED being in the spotlight (surprise surprise) and was in tears last Sunday when we told her she wasn't the one to do the scripture and prayer since she had her turn the week before. Cute cute cute.

Table Runner

Here's a little sewing project I made for my wonderful mama for Mother's Day.

It's a table runner. AND it's reversible. 

Because some days are yellow days and some days are green days.

And you just never know what color of a day it's going to be. 

Mother's Day

Mother's Day 2008 was when Josh and I told our families that we were expecting a baby! I was so excited then at the thought of becoming a mother, and being a mom has been even more fulfilling and FUN than I imagined! I'm grateful to be Bryn's mom!

Mother's Day 2009

Mother's Day 2010

Mother's Day 2011

Mother's Day 2012

Next year I need to remember to take a cute Mother's Day picture before we leave for church and the day gets crazy. But actually, I guess the clown hat is a pretty nice touch. It pretty much sums up Bryn's stage right now!

Car Seat Cover

 I never had a car seat cover with Bryn, but today I made one to use for our second little baby (who will be here in 7 weeks!). I think it will be great for when she is napping in her car seat. And another perk is that it will hide the not-so-cute pattern of my carseat! Hooray!

 I made straps on both sides, so it could be reversible, but I think I'll use the flower side because it looks more girly :)

And here's a close-up of the velcro straps because velcro is fancy, right?