Entertained

This little fort kept Bryn's attention for nearly two hours straight, so I could work on some things for my calling. She was going in and out, in and out, giggling, singing, reading books inside, playing peekaboo with the blanket, and giving "loves" to the toys she had brought inside. Just completely in her own world. It was awesome.

Step Ladder

Our cupboards are really high, so I'm always using a step ladder. Bryn always drops what she's doing, runs over to the ladder, joins me at the top, and bounces up and down with a big smile. It doesn't take much to make Brynlee happy!

Mail Sorter

I've been on an organizing frenzy since being home from our trip. But so far my apartment is in the gets-worse-before-it-gets-better stage. Hopefully I can get things set soon. I just made this little mail organizer after seeing a link to this on Apartment Therapy. I changed the dimensions and added a fifth pocket for receipts, but the basic pattern is great and easy to follow. I love one hour projects.

Snow Day

Exploring the back yard

Sledding with Josh

Logan shows us how it's really done

Bryn just loves snow and wishes we had some in California

Bryn told Jae he should shave his mustache. ASAP.

He thought she was joking so he laughed.

But it was not a joke.

And that wraps up our trip to Utah.

New Years Eve

We played Charades

and

Watched Planet Earth

Christmas

(Thanks Rie for the pictures)

The always-glamorous Christmas morning picture.

Bryn loved Christmas One on one time with uncle Jae

Bryn LOVED exploring my parents house

I love this little girl

What a wonderful Christmas!

Bryn's Birthday

Pretend like I posted this on December 30th Brynlee celebrated her first birthday while in Utah. We had a little party at my parent's house with my family and a few of Brynlee's Hawkins cousins. I was so glad we were with family to celebrate!

Bryn loved the attention and loved the cake! As luck would have it, Brynlee got her very first cold on her birthday. She had a runny nose and little red cheeks, but thankfully she was still in a good mood.

Christmas

I mainly relied on my sister's camera while I was in Utah, but I didn't get copies of her pictures. I've been waiting to post her good shots. In the meantime, these are the only shots I've got:

Four generations.

We spent Christmas day with my family and my Tueller grandparents My beautiful, photogenic sister Marie.

Bryn's new bus. Thanks to Logan for pushing her all over the house.

Bryn liked the balloons for my Dad's birthday way more than any toy she got.

And that's it. Unless Marie forks over her pictures.

Field Study Reunion

FYI: I tried hard to condense it, but this is a really long, reminiscent post, and probably only interesting to my fellow field study friends. Consider yourself warned. While in Utah, I got together with some good friends that lived with me in Tonga and New Zealand for Fall 2006 semester. It was wonderful to see them!

Since then, I've been thinking so much about how blessed I was to be a part of that trip. It was the semester right before I met Josh and it truly taught me so many important lessons.

I lived in such beautiful places:

New Zealand

Tonga

Met such remarkable people:

Family in Ha-apai

Family in Okoa

Made wonderful friends:

Family in Whakatane

Good ol' Butch

Robyn and Jane

Did some crazy fun things:

The Shotover Jet

Through the Canyon

Aukland's freaky bungy thing

"Camping" at the base of the Frans Josef glacier, without camping gear. Not on purpose.

But we survived the freezing night.

Bungy jumping in Queenstown

Just far enough to dunk my head into this river.

Played on the Buller Gorge Swingbridge. A little too wobbly for my liking.

And did some difficult things:

(Living a month in Tonga. Enough said. I'm a wimp.)

First night with Jane in Ha-apai. Scared out of my mind. Bathing in hand-sanitizer all day long.

Finding strange creatures in the sea. And then eating them. With the natives watching your reaction. (Difficult, but really awesome actually).

Octopus. The catch of the day. I lived with a fisherman while in Tonga.

This field study gave me awareness and appreciation. It tested and stretched my character. I grew tremendously as an artist and a person. I still reflect on the memories of my time in Tonga and New Zealand and the many lessons I learned.

Thanks to my dear friend Robyn, for the reunion lunch, and for reminding me of what an awesome experience we had!

First Year

And there you have it. Bryn's first twelve months.

The plan was to pose her for a picture every month until she turned twenty five, but I think we'll stop here.