Such a Spiritual Child

Brynlee is so righteous. She LOVES to pray! She comes up to me all day with her arms folded wanting me to say a prayer. It's pretty cute. I used to say one every time she wanted, but then she started doing it all day, at the park, in the grocery store, everywhere. So now we have limited her prayers to meal time, at bedtime, and maybe a few other random prayers. Otherwise, we'd be praying all day. It's so funny.

Love her goofy face in this one.

She's got the praying thing down, but is still a little wild child when it comes to modesty. Check out her bare midriff. (It's laundry day, not a lot of options).

Pei Wei

(Note to self: Do Bryn's hair before I take her out in public). Last night we went with uncle Mark to one of our very favorite places: Pei Wei! It turns out Brynlee love, love, loves edamame. She could not get enough of it!

Today's Theme

And of course there was the laundry basket, the kitchen drawers, my shoe bin, and a handful of other boxes and containers.

Kind of random, but pretty cute.

Egg Drop

Easter is the perfect time for a little egg drop competition. Josh did one with the scouts last night for their activity. The competition was fierce (just look at how nervous Josh is).

Scotty won the competition by suspending his egg in panty hose within a box. Not a bad idea!

Love This Picture

my sister Marie, me, my mom, my mom's mom, and Bryn

My aunt Carolyn just sent me this picture from Christmas, and I love, love, love it. I know I will cherish this photo because it totally shows my Grandma Tueller's personality. She was singing her classic children's songs to Brynlee, complete with the little actions and Brynlee was mesmerized. My grandma is so sweet, full of life and excitement, animated and energetic, always making people happy. I am so grateful for any time Brynlee can spend with her.

Well Dressed

I always love it when Josh dresses Brynlee. Today I was gone at a Relief Society conference for five hours, then I came home to this awesome outfit: pastel floral shirt, brown velour pants, and purple etnies. And gotta love the stringy hair parted down the middle!

The two of them had so much fun going on a run, playing at the park, reading books, and making the world's coolest fort that takes up her entire bedroom. Josh makes it easy for Brynlee (and me!) to love him!

Spoon Feeding

Bryn's got a long way to go with the whole feed-yourself-with-a-spoon thing.

Michelle's Baby Shower

Tonight we got together at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Michelle's baby girl that's due next week! I'm so excited to meet her new baby!

On a side note, I ate an entire piece of Key Lime Cheesecake. And I should regret it, but then I remember how GOOD it was. (Although it wasn't quite as good as the red velvet cheesecake. Still can't get that out of my mind!)

Jammies

Brynlee is lovable all day, but especially when she's in her jammies!

Burp Cloths

I've been chipping away at my huge list of half-finished projects, and I've actually been able to cross several things off the list! One thing on the mile-long list was to finish some flannel burp cloths for my friend's baby shower. Such an easy project: cut rectangles of felt, sew front sides together, leaving a gap, then flip them right sides out, and sew a top stitch. My kind of project!

Jem

Whenever I listen to my ipod I get flashbacks from memories associated with particular songs. Tonight I've been listening to Jem, and it brings back such vivid memories of my freshman year at BYU: I would listen to Jem every time I ran (back when I chose to ignore/abuse my already-messed-up knees). Becky Whipple and I would suck in our stomachs and squeeze through the little crack in chain-link fence around the BYU track, then we'd do our weekly run on the track and up and down the bleachers. We'd do a few crunches, stretch, and pledge to run more frequently and eat less at the Cannon Center cafeteria. (Neither of which happened). Turns out, Jem is good running music and good sewing music. I've been sewing for the last four hours, singing along to Jem, and smiling as I think of how things have changed since my late-night runs four years ago. The last Jem song ended, and the next song was "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias. Now, that's a laughable flashback. Stake Dances! Ha ha.

Camp Out

Josh is camping with the Scouts this weekend, so Brynlee and I decided to have our own camp-out in the front room. (Until 7:30 pm when one camper was moved to her crib for the night). A sure way to get Brynlee giggly and frisky is to build her a fort! It never gets old.

Way Too Old

Something about this moment just cracked me up.

Bryn's concentration, and little smile. Her fingers "texting" a mile a minute. Her necklaces. Her perch on the kitchen chair. And the low neckline, since her shirt's a little large.

Who does she think she is?

Necklace Queen

Bryn is such a girl. It fascinates me that she naturally gravitates to jewelry, shoes, brushing her hair, looking in the mirror, and cuddling with her stuffed animals. She has cars, a big bus, balls, other more boyish toys, and she does play with them. But not nearly as much as the time she spends doing feminine things. It's cute. Bryn's favorite thing right now is NECKLACES! She wears them all day, putting them on and taking them off, over and over and over. She also finds my headbands and other random things and uses them as "necklaces".

Spinach Mush

We're still making our daily spinach smoothies, and loving it. To make them healthier, I've been adding more and more spinach, to pack in those dark leafy greens. And it still tastes great! Bryn LOVES it, too! Today we gave her spinach smoothie even more substance by pouring in the dry flakes of Gerber whole wheat cereal. It looked completely disgusting (see above picture), but she still went nuts over it. Doesn't it look like we're spooning her pesto or something!?

Date Night

Tonight we went on such a fun date! It had been a while, so it was a great time. We didn't get a babysitter in time, so we took Brynlee along. We used our Chili's gift card and had a delicious meal! (I recommend the Carribbean Salad with grilled chicken. Delish.) Bryn was getting squirmy by the end of it, but she was actually better than I thought, thank goodness. Then we went to Barnes and Noble, our favorite. Bryn was in awe of all the colorful books. She was running from one shelf to the next, doing some pretty crazy babbling and letting out high-pitched screams of excitement. It was too much for her. And then, we finished it off with a little frozen yogurt. (As if we needed anything else in our stomachs!?)

I love going on dates.

I love good food and good reads.

I love my sweet daughter.

And I love love love my cute husband.

Visit from Jae

My older brother Jae visited us for President's Day weekend. It was so so so fun being with him. We went to the beach a few times, did a frisbee golf course, ate my favorite fish tacos, and of course had lots of hilarious coversations.

Thanks for visiting us!

Jae introduced Brynlee to longboarding. (Where are her clothes!?)

Swimsuit Shopping

Last night I went to Target to buy a swimsuit.

I tried on several swimsuits, then headed straight to the fitness section.

And I left the store with a swimsuit and two work-out videos.

They really should sell swimsuit/work-out video combo packs!

Bed Head

Not every picture can be glamorous.

Beach Day

So glad Bryn's out of the eating sand stage! (But now she's in the run-all-over / steal-toys-from- strangers stage.) Such a fun day!

We love February in California.