Long time no post.....

For Christmas my brother and sister-in-law got us this really cool camera!  (Thanks guys!  Its awesome!) In our rush from leaving Colorado and our very full suitcases, we forgot the cord that allows us to hook it into our computer......so I don't really have pictures to post from Christmas to now.  So because I think its boring not to have any pictures, I'll post some oldies!  Our sister-in-law Jamie took these this summer.  She does great!  More recent pics to come. 

We are working hard trying to get our house ready to be put on the market.  The outlook isn't great, but we are looking forward to moving on from our current situation.  We are loving having Rachelle here for a little while and are trying to keep warm.  We had a crazy ice storm this last Wednesday and were glad Rachelle got her the day before.  Our poor tree out front looks very sad under half and inch of ice.  Brynlee is as fun as ever.  She now frequently says "Ummmm" after you ask her any question and can't get enough dancing in during the day. 

Our poor tree....maybe I can work on getting these pictures via bluetooth :)

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful......

Central Iowa had what some are calling "the storm of the century" over the last couple of days.  We think that is a little dramatic, but it was a pretty good storm.  They are saying Des Moines got about 16 inches of snow, but the worst has been the wind.  We have a pretty big drift in front of our garage and front door.  The best part of the whole thing is that Jordan got to come home early from school yesterday, it was cancelled today, and hopefully tomorrow will be as well.  Brynlee had her first real experience in the snow. 

Inside the house she thought her get-up was over-rated.

It wasn't so bad outside though...

We've also been passing the time inside with some of her favorite things.  She loves to play the piano.  She can sit on that bench for a long time.  She also loves to sing and dance.  She keeps us hopping.  She does a pretty cute gorilla imitation and yesterday she started meowing like a cat, barking like a dog, and hissing like a snake.  She also says snow so funny.  The "s" comes out her nose if you know what I mean. 

Thanks Aunt Shawna for the cute new outfit!

We are getting excited for Christmas to see everyone and for Rachelle to get her mission call! :) Can't wait!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love this time of year and the reminder to count your blessings and realize how wonderful life really is.  We have truly been blessed!  I hope you will bare with me as I share a few things we are especially grateful for this year:  Our family: Jordan and I both have wonderful parents and siblings.  You are all wonderful! They have all been so supportive of us in our ambitions.  We only wish we didn't live so far away.  We are also so grateful for our sweet Brynlee.  She makes everyday an adventure.  We love her smile and laugh, and we enjoy watching her learn new things.  I am so grateful that we all can be together as an eternal family.  We are so grateful for the gospel and for the atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We are grateful for our opportunity to learn from the Book of Mormon, from living prophets, and that we can commune with our Heavenly Father in prayer.  We are grateful for wonderful friends, both here in Des Moines and ones we miss from places we have lived before.  We are so excited for Jordan's opportunity to become a podiatrist.  He has enjoyed his experience at DMU and we are also thankful that it is nearing its end!  We are so grateful that somehow I have been able to work two nights and week so that we can be self reliant and have rarely needed a babysitter.  We are grateful that we are able to live comfortably in this free country. It is really amazing what we have been given and these things are only the beginning! 

I wouldn't feel right about my post without a few pictures of our Brynlee!  She is turning from baby into little girl.  Some of her latest new words are "nana" (banana), "teeth," "outside," "cheese," and "story."  She tries really hard to say nose...sometimes she comes close but its funny that it comes out "nana" the rest of the time and you can tell she realizes thats not what she meant to say.  It's cute.  My dad took these pictures while we were in CO for my brothers mission farewell.  Pathetic, Mark's not in a single one!  Sad day!  We miss him already.

Look what she did to Uncle Luke!

With cousin Aliyah

I was recently released from Young Women and we were called and assistant nursery leaders.  We are happy we get to do it together.  It means Brynlee gets to go to nursery 4 months early.  That will be fun as soon as I get over being a germaphobe. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Halloween

We were lucky enough to have Jordan's brother Nathan here for Halloween. He was here for a business trip, but was able to hang out with us in the evenings. It was so fun to get to catch up with him. He and Jordan carved pumpkins Friday night while I was at work. Nathan's turned out great! :) Jordan's wasn't bad either, though it is not pictured.

Brynlee sported the hula outfit Grandma and Grandpa Day brought her back from Fiji before she was born. She would only wear it for about 3 minutes, but it was cute anyway!

Brynlee and Libby are such cute friends! We are going to miss her when we leave (her parents too :))

Feeling "Wicked"

Jordan and I finally got our 5 year anniversary date a couple of weeks ago. My good friend from when I was in high school and his wife, Clay and Natalie, came from KC to see Wicked with us. My camera has been out of juice so forgive me that there aren't many pictures to this post. Bummer. I absolutely loved Wicked! I would see it again any day.(I believe that this is an official Wicked logo (Though it might be surprising, I didn't create it!)....I couldn't find a copyright to it, but just in case see http://www.wickedthemusical.com/)

Jordan was released from his calling in Cub Scouts this last week. He enjoyed this calling and is a little disappointed based on the timing of his release (there was a "small" amount of drama prior), but I think that it will be a great relief to him. He is still staying very busy with school and has found out his basic schedule for his clerkships (4th year clinical rotations) for next year. He will be in Minnesota for two months, Michigan for a month, Washington for a month, and Utah for four months. He will likely have at least one extra month in Utah and hopefully one in Colorado, though they have not been set up yet. We are excited for school to be done, but aren't looking forward to trying to sell our house or being apart while Jordan travels.

My life has been the same. Brynlee, work, and YW. Brynlee, of course, is just getting more fun. Just can't help loving her to pieces.

I do love the babies at work and my YW too. The YW just had their YW in Excellence two weeks ago which was so fun. Their theme was "Project Walk Tall," a fashion show displaying what they have learned over the last few months about modesty/fashion, body language, hair, etc. Here's a cute pic of most of my girls from the night....
We hope all is well with the rest of you. We just bought plane tickets for our December vacations tonight! We look forward to seeing some of you soon!

Fall and Fishes

I have to say, I just love fall. I am not super duper looking forward to another Iowa winter, but fall is so nice here. It has gotten much cooler, but no snow like some of you. We are enjoying the fall colors, football season, warm fall treats, and our snuggle bug...

It is so much fun teaching Bryn new things. I haven't been able to get her to make any animal noises, but she can be a fish and scrunches her nose like a bunny. I need to get some other videos on here still, but it is so much work from my camera. I'm still trying to get all the bugs worked out.

Bryn looks too cute in the outfits Gramy sent. (Thanks Mom!) Thanks Melissa for the one you sent too, I need to take a picture of her in it. It's adorable!One of Brynlee's best phrases is "where is he?" or "where it go?" When she plays with Libby and she walks away or she can't find a toy she was playing with, she pulls this expression, and usually both hands go into the palm up mode. I wish it was a better picture of it.

Brynlee's hair is getting a little longer and trying to decide whether or not to be curly. We decided to go for the fountain look the other day.

Happy Birthday Brynlee!

Our baby is 1! I can't even believe it! She is so stinkin cute and so much fun. We went to her doctor's appointment Monday and she weighed 17 lbs 12 oz and was 29 inches long. She is still little, but at least she's still on the chart. We just had a little party for her with Jordan and I. She got a ball and a doll from mom and dad and some clothes and a book from Gramy and Grandpa. She is so cute with her baby doll. She wasn't too sure about the cake, but I think she was too full from dinner to truly enjoy it. I don't think she liked the feeling of sticky frosting on her hands. Here are a few pictures from her birthday:

She is walking very well now and learning more words. She absolutely loves being outside and most especially dogs. She does the actions to "Monkeys Jumping on the Bed," "Little Bunny Foo Foo," and a few other nursery rhymes. I'll have to post video of it later. It is adorable to watch. She even folds her arms for prayers. She loves playing with other little ones, especially Libby and Jayden. She is so wonderful! I feel so lucky to be her mom!

One of Brynlee's new favorite things is the broom. She loves to sweep! I wish she loved the vacuum. She is scared to death of it! Everything else here is about the same. Jordan is doing well in school and enjoying clinic. I'm loving being home most of the week with Brynlee.