Oh Geez.

Well, well, well, where to start. To say life has changed drastically over the past 8 months would be an understatement. The move went smoothly and we have been going non-stop ever since. I must specify that by "we" I am referring to Brynn and I. Tim and I separated and have been living seperately ever since we got to Utah and I have embraced my single mom duties. I absolutely LOVE every second I get to spend with this pretty little girl of mine and remarkably she has handled the situation wonderfully. It's amazing how resiliant kids can be. I also have never believed more in their power to sense their surroundings. Within weeks of being here Brynn was potty trained overnight, literally, and was sleeping through the night consistently, something she had NEVER done. Kids can tell when their parents are unhappy and Tim is a wondersul person, just not my wonderful person. He is a hard worker and an AMAZING dad to Miss Kaye, to say she adores him would not do it justice. He is my best friend and I thank him everyday for being who he is in my life. Also, I could not ask for better in-laws, they have been so generous and understanding of our situation and I will always be close to them if I have anything to do with it. Brynn loves her new school here and has learned so much in her short time there. I am working in health insurance, again, but this time for Molina Healthcare in Provider Contracting. They keep me very busy and it's so nice to be on the provider side of things like I was in Louisiana. I have been able to reconnect with old friends since coming back and it has been so great seeing all of their cute little families and kids. I have also made some wonderful new ones that will be around for a while I'm sure. I am hoping to get back into the swing of things with the blog. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! :)

Change is Good......

So much is happening right now that this will be a short but sweet post. More details to come after this crazy week. Below is a picture of Brynn and her bestest buddy ever Hannah Klaire. (side note: in Brynns class at school she has a Mia Claire, Hannah Klaire, Madison Klaire and Addison Claire and all of them are said including the first and middle name) Anyway, Hannah Klaire is a very hyper little girl and she says Brynns name a thousand miles a minute so it sounds like she's saying Brilly-Brilly-Brilly-Brilly. Brynn has translated this to Billy and now goes by the nick name Bill. I call her that all day, I can't believe how easily it has caught on! If I call her Brynlee she corrects me and says her name is Billy, because obviously what Hannah Klaire says goes. This is a bitter sweet picture because this was taken at Brynn's pretend birthday party this past weekend. We made the decision a few weeks ago that we were going to make the move back to Utah and we actually start the drive this coming Sunday. It will be a lot of change in a very short amount of time. I had a "birthday party" for Brynn because she wouldn't be here with all of her friends when her real birthday is at the end of May. Brynn and I are going to miss all of the close friends we have made down here in the past 3 years and I am very sad to be leaving my job and the girls I work with. I know I had done my fair share of complaining when we first moved down her 2 1/2 years ago but there are quite a few things I will be sad to leave. I will write another post soon with more details and maybe some pictures of driving through Kansas and it's nothingness for 24 hours next weekend.

Odds & Ends & A Little Bit of Laziness

I don't know if it's because the holidays are over or what but I have not been in the mood for blogging, and I haven't had much to say. (First time for everything:) So here are a few pictures. I have been terrible with taking my camera anywhere lately so there aren't many but you get the idea.
My baby girl has a slight obsession with Monster Trucks lately. Like many other things, she get it from her Mama. I have been fascinated with cars of all kinds, thanks Dave Romney, for quite some time. Love everything about them. My dream job was to be a Mercedes sales lady or one of the people on the car commercials where it says in small print at the bottom,"closed course, professional driver." I wanted to be the professional driver. Any-who, one day Monster Trucks was on TV and the rest is history. She has already obtained quite the mini-monster truck collection and we decided to take her to see them in person when they came to town. She LOVED the first hour where they do the 4 wheeler racing and the junkyard cars and the Monster Trucks just hang out and wait, but once they started the actual races with the big trucks she cried and cried that they were too loud, even with her goofy ear plugs in. No worries though, she still wanted to watch them on TV as soon as we got home.

This is what they do for fun down here before the show. In Salt Lake you could do a meet and greet with the Monster Trucks and the drivers, her you can pay $7.00 a person and they actually put you in the back of one of the monster trucks that will be racing and drive you around the track. It was pretty intense. I was just waiting for someone to come flying out of there.

This is how close our seats were and we bought them the night before. No safety concerns down here!

Brynn and I watching the Grammys. She was so excited when Taylor Swift sang with Hannah Montana it was hilarious.

One of her favorite bath time games for quite some time now. "swinging" from the shower rod before Daddy dries her off. So easily entertained.

Game Pics & A Brynster Update

All of us.

I love her hair.

Brynn giving Aunt Lacie kisses.

While we were at the Utes game we were fortunate enough to have a home sick photographer sitting behind us. She has a 3 yr old that she had left back in Salt lake and of course fell in love with Brynn, she seems to have that effect on people. Anyway, I gave her my email address and she just sent me a few of the pictures she took and I had to share them. Her website is www.mckenziehansenphotography.com and from there there are links to her blogs and such.

I also had to tell you a few things Brynn has been doing and how her personality has been coming out so much lately!

**Her favorite toys right now are her baby dolls and her Little Critter books. She has 2 baby strollers and whoever comes to visit has to push the other one and follow her around the house to all of the different "stores." Aunt Dani taught her this game, she is this close to having her teaching degree and the little kiddos that get her as a teacher will be so incredibly lucky.

**Her favorite song right now is Womanizer by Britney Spears. She also likes Whatever You like by TI, So What by Pink, Love Remains the Same by Gavin Rossdale, Hot and Cold by Katy Perry, Put a Ring on It by Beyonce and Put On by Young Jeezy. And she doesn't just like them, she knows at least the chorus on all of these songs. Don't worry, we listen to the edited versions and we do listen to her Little Einsteins Sing Along CD as well but sometimes the girl just likes to jam. She get it from her Mama.

**Everyone has a "parking spot." If I am sitting on the couch then go to the kitchen and come back and sit in the chair I am scolded for not sitting in my original parking spot. Her cars all have parking spots in the middle of the living room, as does each stuffed animal and baby.

**Brynn is obsessed with talking on the phone right now. Anyone we talk to she has to talk to and whenever she talks she can't hang up without saying, "see you tomorrow, miss you love you bye." She now insists that Tim and I say the same thing whenever we get off the phone too so he usually has some explaining to do when he talks to the guys from work.

**She has discovered Ring Around the Rosies and we have to play it CONSTANTLY.

**She does not like babies. We went to the doctor on Friday for a follow up visit and the cutest little girl waddled over to me jabbering away and put her hands on my knees. Brynn seriously knocked her hands off and said "my mommy." Good thing there are no babies coming in the near future because she is kind of getting used to having all of the attention all the time.

**Everything comes in two sizes, way big huge and teeny tiny, there is no in between. We are attempting potty training the past few weekends and yesterday we were putting her panties on and she said, "I have teeny tiny panties and mama has way big huge panties." Her honesty does wonders for my self esteem. Haha! I have started to teach her that Daddy's stuff is way big huge but Mommy's is medium sized, she's not buying it. She has also started to make a mental note of gifts she would like from her Daddy, it includes: a teeny tiny water tower, a teeny tiny bridge, a teeny tiny horse, a white dog and a pink belt.

**She can dress and undress herself except for taking her shirts on and off and she wants to wear jackets with every outfit.

**She is obsessed with anything having to do with Dora the Explorer.

**We still don't know if she is left or right handed because she still does everything with both. Whenever we think she might have a dominant hand she will switch it up on us again.

This is the best age and we are enjoying every minute of it. She learns something new everyday and we are so much fun watching her absorb everything like a little sponge. She is such a blessing and we love her so much!!!

More Nawlins

So the game was Friday night and we were only planning on staying that night but we had a fantastic hotel room and really didn't want to get back in the car again Saturday so we decided to stay an extra day. Tim hadn't been there before so I took it upon myself to be his personal tour guide. And Brynn is probably the only 2 yr old I know that can say she's been on Bourbon Street. I'm just glad we went during the day. Haha!
This is downtown New Orleans, obviously I didn't take this picture but the ones we took of downtown were drive bys on the freeway and they didn't turn out very well.
This is the view from our hotel room! I am a spaz for nice hotel rooms and with a little extra planning at just the right time I usually find a pretty screamin deal on them too. We were on the 14th floor and overlooked Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. This road is a Causeway that goes right through the middle of the lake. If you look carefully you can see the reflection of my camera in the picture. Oops!
This is a picture of a cemetery. Parts of New Orleans are actually below sea level so they can't dig graves. If you aren't cremated you are buried in one of these huge cement blocks. It's a little creepy.
This is a little tug-boat pushing a barge up the Mississippi River. Brynn LOVED the boats and watching the seagulls and listening to them talk to her.

Me and my girl.

Decatur Street in downtown New Orleans.

Jackson Square.

Tim & Brynn at Cafe Du Monde. My mom's favorite part of New Orleans. I don't think I've ever been to New Orleans and not come here. So yummy.

I love, love, love the architecture in this city. It's so pretty and they don't have anything like it anywhere else. It's one of those places you either love it or you hate it. My dad doesn't understand what all the hypes about and I don't think Tim did either but he played along.

Brynn at dinner. This girl was a gem the entire trip. We actually left home on Thursday and stayed in Jackson Mississippi because that was the halfway point. Then we drove another 2 1/2 hours to New Orleans on Friday and were up until almost 1am because of the game. Then we were doing the tourist thing Saturday so she didn't get a nap, again. And Sunday we wandered around downtown until almost 2 before hitting the road for 5 hours to get home. That is a lot of driving and stroller time and she was such a good girl the entire time. I absolutely love this age! I wish she could be 2 forever.

GO UTES!!!!

So my dad is pretty much the best dad ever and scored the whole family tickets to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans last weekend. 50 yard line tickets I might add. We had a blast and Brynn cheered and clapped and was absolutely adorable as usual, even though she didn't get to bed until after midnight and had no nap. Such a trooper. The Utes won, as I'm sure you all know by now and the game was definitely worth the trip. Thanks again Dad!

They don't get much cuter than this little girl! A lady that was sitting behind us at the game fell in love with her because she had left her daughter in Utah to come down for the game. She took a bunch of pictures of Brynn and is emailing them to me. She makes friends wherever she goes and was hi-fiving everyone around her.

The gang! Brynn, Grandma Jillyn, McKell, Landen, Madison, Luke and Dwight.

Tim & I. (oh I forgot to mention that New Years Eve I had my hair darkened, it was time for a change)

Happy Holidays!

Here are a few pictures of our holiday! We ended up going home early because Brynn was having some serious issues with her asthma but it was still so nice to see the family and have a little R&R.
These first of these pictures are of the light festival that happens on the river in Natchitoches where my parents live. People come from all over to see this thing! The little town seriously gets over 100,000 visitors during the Christmas season just to see the lights.

This is Miss Kaye playing with her baby dolls Christmas morning, she's such a good little mommy.

Brynn is a VERY spoiled little princess. This is her first set of wheels, a barbi jeep that she got from Santa, (thanks Grandma Carla!!!) She loves this thing and she got the hang of it pretty fast. She just has no idea that you have to take your foot off the pedal to stop and she puts her hands on the steering wheel but doesn't turn so she crashes quite often.

More Brynn and the jeep! I love that she buckles the baby into the front seat. So funny.

Sitting with Grandma Jillyn & Grandpa Dwight on Christmas Eve!

The Christmas Eve toast with my fam. We have done this for as long as I can remember. Everyone goes around the table and says something they are grateful for that happened during the year. My mom is a traditions freak which is so nice. I am so excited to have my own traditions with Brynn.

All of my family, (minus Dani & Cody, we missed you guys!) This is the Christmas Eve PJ picture for 2008. My dad is the Stake President so the guys on the left are the two missionaries assigned to their area. My mom bought them PJ's too. They are such cute guys.

Brynlee & Me

So the day I got hope from Utah, Tim received a call that his grandma on his dad's side had passed away from complications from colon cancer and Alzheimer's disease. The circumstances obviously weren't the best but because it was our turn with my family this year it worked out nicely that he was able to head back to Utah and spend the weekend before Christmas with his family.
On a lighter note, it has been so great to spend some time with my girl all by myself! We have so much fun together and I really couldn't believe how much she had changed in just the 5 days that I was gone! Here are a few of the things we got to do:
Mommy & Me pedicures WITH stickers on her big toes. She loves these things and is becoming completely high maintenance.

She has played this game for probably over a year. She lays her stuffed animals all over the floor then covers each of them with a blanket and sits in her chair and sings and stares at them all. I'm pretty sure she does it because it's what the teachers at her school do at nap time. I'm just glad she got over making us lay on the ground face down so she could cover us up and make us lay there until nap time was over.

I realised I didn't have one picture of Brynn by the tree so I had to get a few. The girl is classic entertainment and I love how much better her teeth are looking since we took those binkies away!!!

Look out world!

Look out world!! Michele Ann and myself will be arriving in Salt Lake tomorrow for a little girl time and some R & R. Hallelujah!! ( This is of course if my flight isn't cancelled due to the freezing rain that is supposed to be in Jackson tomorrow morning. Since when is there freezing rain down south?? Just my luck while traveling!)

Where does the time go??

I have been a complete slacker lately when it comes to blogging. I even took my camera with me to my moms for 5 days for Thanksgiving and didn't take one picture! Sad. So here are a few pictures of what we have been up to.
These are my new slippers from Victorias Secret and I love, love, love them!
My sweet mom bought this big girl bed for Brynn as an early Christmas present, (or a half birthday present if you ask me:) We wrapped her crib pad around the top because the first time she slept in it she got her leg stuck in between the bars. So far so good with this one! I'm trying not to jinx it though like last time.
The tree!!!! Christmas is my most favorite time of year and if I had my way I'd decorate after Halloween. The tree is my favorite part and mine is always beyond dead by the time Christmas actually gets here but I don't mind because then I get to vaccume up all the yummy smelling pine needles.

Brynn and I with Santa! I have no idea why the picture is so grainy but you get the idea. This is much better than last years picture of her screaming. Aunt Dani had the fabulous idea of having her sit on my lap instead of directly on Santa's and it worked like a charm. Love this girl.

While Tim and I were walking around looking for christmas present ideas Brynn decided to occupy herself with the stickers she got in her happy meal and this is what she came up with. She's so creative.