Colorado

Rachelle is home!  Luke took the Provo way to Brazil, and we miss him already. We had an awesome trip to Colorado a few weeks ago.   All of my siblings except Mark who is still on his mission were at my parents house for the weekend.  I'm so glad we were able to be there.

We were lucky to have a great babysitter (thanks Nat!) so that we could go to the temple with all the family that had arrived so far.  Our trips have been scarce since we had Ellie so we were so grateful for the opportunity and had a wonderful time.

 Gramie was so nice and had a little birthday party for Brynlee and Aliyah.  They were spoiled rotten with some cute wood dolls and a book.  Brynlee loves them both.

Jordan was able to bless Ellie during sacrament meeting before Rachelle and Luke spoke for there pre and post mission talks.  The blessing was beautiful and the talks were awesome.  I have an awesome family and I love them all!  It was awesome to have Jordan's sisters Melissa and ShaRee there!  We miss his siblings and their families so much!  It makes me so glad for the time we spent in Utah.  It was also nice of Jordan's dad and his wife to be there for the blessing as well. 

We loved seeing Amy and Gunnar too :)

It was also great for Brynlee to get to know her Great-Grandma and Grandpa Winkel and we were glad to have Grandpa, cousin Manuel, and cousin Dan in the circle with Jordan, my brothers, and mine and Jordan's dads.

 Brynlee, Ellie, and I got to spend an extra week.  Jordan had to get back to work.  We enjoyed being there to finish getting Luke ready to go.  It was so sad, but we are so proud of him. 

It was so fun to get to hang out with my sisters and parents. Brynlee has added a new aunt to her favorite list.  I LOVE having Chelle home.  We are getting so excited for Mark to come home in just a few weeks.  I got to do my first solo + 2 kids plane trip.  It was interesting, especially since I got paired with the guy sitting next to me and the attendants kept treating us like a family...awkward.  The girls did really well and I have to brag that I got two checked bags, an umbrella stroller, a carseat, two carry-on bags and two little girls (not in the stroller or carseat) from baggage claim to passenger pick-up in one trip.  I'm sure I looked completely ridiculous.

Missouri continues to be an adventure!  I sometimes still wonder why this is where we ended up, but I'm confident we are where we are supposed to be.  I recently got called to Young Womens and I'm thrilled about it!  I'm still toying with the idea of picking up some part-time work.  I love just being able to focus on my girls.  The longer I go without working the scarier it is to go back. It is weird to think that we will be packing up once again in 8 months to move to St. Louis.  We have been so blessed that I have no room to complain...unfortunately I still do!  I'm so grateful for the great friends we've made here.

During our trip our camera decided to die so we only have our phones for cameras until I can come up with a good deal for a new camera.  That's my excuse for a lack of new pictures.  Brynlee has gotten dressed up for Halloween a few times.  She is Cinderella (mostly because I'm cheap...or poor is more like it ;)) so we made good use of her dress-up dress she got for her birthday.  She does make a lovely Cinderella and has gotten pretty good and the whole trick-or-treat thing.  Jordan really wanted to dress up this year and I do really think it would be fun.  We toyed around with a lot of ideas, but it was taking way to much time and our ideas were out of our budget (dang budget)....so alas we are halloween hum-bugs.  Oh well. 

Oh, and it looks like we will have new tenants for our silly house in Iowa!  The mysterious odor appears to be gone.  This deserves a smiley :)

Brynlee had been saying some pretty funny things lately.  I need to be better at writing them down.  Here's a few I remember.
 "For the record Mom, I didn't get into Gramie's makeup." 
 "When Daddy saw you he was really impressed and he made you get married in the temple." 
"Last night, when I was a mom, I went for a run and my tears went lipity, lipity" (don't ask me what this means...I just thought it was funny). 
When my mom was trying to get her to go to the bathroom before bed she was refusing.  My mom asked why she wouldn't go and she said, "It's complicated." 
She has also been singing primary songs constantly.  She is too much fun.  Ellie is continuing to grow and be so sweet.  She even slept through the night for me last night which I was clearly thrilled about.  She has such a sweet smile and giggle and I love to hear her coo.

I'm already getting so excited for the holidays!  This is the warmest fall we have ever experienced.  I really love it.  It has made for some awesome afternoon/evenings at the park.  I'm rambling now...have a happy Halloween!

Growin Girls

I have to start by saying how much I love General Conference!  I have been looking forward to this one perhaps more than I usually do and it has exceeded my expectations in being a spiritual uplift and a great reminder of what is really important.  It baffles me how wonderful and perfect the gospel is and how much peace and happiness come from abiding by the teachings of Jesus Christ. 

Brynlee

It is so weird to me that Brynlee is three.  I can't believe how quick the time has gone!  It's interesting to me though how often I have to remind myself that she's only three.  That is because she can be a real stinker... :)she amazes me with her vocabulary and how quickly she learns things.  She will often play with kids at the playground near our house and they will think she is older because of the conversation she has with them.  Then she'll do something really three year oldish and they look at us funny.  We have to tell them that, yep, she's three! 

She was sad that a few of her friends are going to preschool and she wanted to go "so bad!"  We got her a little workbook and have been doing some little lessons at home.  She loves it.  She would do it all day if she could.  It's funny looking back how surprised I've been when she has hit milestones throughout her life, like the first time she smiled, or when she started playing peek-a-boo with me, and now I'm still surprised when she picks up a pencil how well she can trace letters and how she tells me scripture stories we taught her weeks ago in family home evening. 

She is also teaching me how much my example really does matter and how much I have to watch what I say.  The hardest challenge with this is teaching her that she is not a mother or in charge of anyone but herself.  She likes to say things (in a very matter of fact bossy voice) like, "You can't do that because I told you already you can't do that and if you do you're going to get hurt...and I told you not to."  Today she told Jordan, "You can't hit Dr. _____ at work because if you do that you'll get it big trouble."  (Isn't that the truth!)  Jordan and I will have conversations about work when he comes home and now she's gotten to where she asks, before the conversation starts, "So what did you and Dr. ____ do today?"  She loves to ask, "how was your day?" or "how was your run?" or your shower or whatever you're doing.  She is also quite the helper with Ellie and even empties the silverware from the dishwasher for me.  Love that!

She is awfully cute though and frequently talks about her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins by name and says how much she misses them.  We do wish we lived closer, but are grateful for good friends here.  For Bryn's birthday we had cake and ice cream with our friends the Allreds and the Bassetts.  We played at the park afterward and the girls had a great time. 

So, I was pretty darn excited about this cake! I really haven't attempted any kind of fancy cake before.  I consider myself lucky if I have a plain cake without crumbs in the frosting. My awesome sister-in-law talked me into trying marshmallow fondant and it was so fun.  My friend Katie helped me put it together (and take care of my neglected children) and steady-handed foot and ankle surgeon, Dr. Allred, was the one to write her name on the cake.  I'm excited to do it again!

I have this amazing cousin, Kellie, that lives about an hour north of us.  We love her family!  Their son Ethan had a birthday the day after Brynlee and they were so nice to have us up for dinner and to celebrate birthdays.  They were way too good to us and particularly Brynlee.  It was fun to hang out with them and her husband, Casey's, family. 

We also were able to go to an apple orchard in IL with Katie, Lainey, and the cute twiners.  It was actually Lainey's preschool fieldtrip, but we were happy to tag a long and escape town for a day.

We also went to the Homecoming parade which Brynlee thought was the best thing ever.  I think this is the first parade she's been to that she could be a real active candy snatcher.  She could be heard screaming, "Wahoo" over and over. 



Ellie

Ellie is busy growing like a weed.  I can't believe that she is almost two months old.  That time has really flown.  She is a sweet baby and occasionally gives me long stretches of sleep in the night which I so appreciate.  It is fun to watch her become more and more aware of herself and her surroundings.  She reminds me a lot of how Brynlee was in temperment. 

She gave me a sweet birthday present by giving me the first great big ear to ear smile.  She has been smiling more and more since then and figuring out how to hold up that heavy head for short periods of time.  I'm looking forward to finding out how much she weighs...I not sure how she compares to Bryn that way, but I'm pretty sure those cheeks are unique to her.

I think Brynlee and Ellie still look pretty similar at this point.  The one in the brown is Brynlee.

    

               

We are blessing her next weekend during the sacrament meeting Rachelle reports her mission and Luke speaks prior to his leaving on his mission. It will be a fun family gathering.  We so appreciate those of Jordan's family that are sacrificing to be there for the blessing.  Can't wait to see everyone!

Elephant Rocks and Update

So today is my sweet Brynlee's 3rd birthday! I can't believe how fast the time goes!  She is such a cute, smart, sweet girl and we are so grateful for her. She is a great big sister too. I had to hurry and post pictures this morning so I don't get too far behind.

 

Ellie is getting so big so fast too!  She is such a sweet baby.  We are still working on the nightitme thing.  Her most awake time tends to be from 8pm to 1 am..  We are getting occasional smiles but I have to work hard for em. 

Jordan had an afternoon off over Labor Day weekend so we decided to explore Elephant Rocks State Park.  It is a beautiful park with tons of massive granite boulders.  There is about a mile long trail.  It took us all afternoon because Brynlee had to stop and pick up every stick and acorn she saw.  She loved it and we had a really good time.

 Ellie slept the day away...

 Brynlee also made a great photographer!

Otherwise, it is life as usual around here.  Jordan is in St. Louis this morning taking a test. We wish we had more weekends together, but I guess that's residency for you!  Jordan is on a radiology rotation and is enjoying it.  We are getting really excited for our trip to Colorado!