A Name and A Blessing for Lily

While we were in Utah last month we blessed Lily. I have hesitated posting this because I thought I had recorded it and would be able to write more sweet things down, however, it has somehow been deleted. I was devastated. I don't know what happened, but it's gone. I hate that feeling. I tried to ignore the fact that it DID happen and I need to move on with it. I also wanted to take better pictures with Lily in her dress because my camera died after the group shot. But, alas, that hasn't happened. So we get iphone pictures mixed in. :)


I am so grateful for the gospel in our lives, and the chance that Lily was to be born into the gospel. I am constantly reminded here in Nebraska about how lucky I was to be born into the church. I am so grateful I can give that to my children. Raise each of them in a home where they are taught right from wrong. Teach them that they can turn to our Heavenly Father for anything.

Lily was blessed in the same blessing dress as I was. Bryson gave her the most wonderful blessing. She was surrounded by most of her uncles (bradley was on tour with ballroom, and matt is on his mission), her grandfathers and even a great grand-dad and a family friend. It was amazing to have many faithful priesthood holders participate in giving Lily her blessing. Lily was blessed by her father with many wonderful blessings. I appreciate everyone who was able to make it on such short notice. I am so grateful that we also had Bryson's grand dad be a part of it. He doesn't make it out of his room a lot, and he came out so he could be a part of her blessing. 

Miss Lily Ann

Her blessing bracelet that I am in love with

The big circle. R to L. Jeremy, Stuart, Grand-dad, Brandon, Brother Bortola (from Gregory's ward), Val, Bryson, Lil, Keith, Brandon (holding Nolen), Gregg, Brayden, Brad, Brett, Bryan.

Rachael, Hannah and Lily

James and Lily

Hannah and Lily

Grand-dad (barely) holding Lily

Our growing family

Amber

Brandon, Amanda, Addi and Bentley

Cutting the cheese cake

Beckett

Lily, Sophie and Beckett

Lily's Newborn Pictures

A month or so ago one of my sweet friends came and took some newborn pictures for us of Lily. It was funny how I met Megan. I kept running into her at random places like the mall or the grocery store. She has a cute little boy just a month older than Akoy. So we have got together a few times and had the boys play. She normally does wedding's but offered to do Lily's newborn pictures. She did a great job and we are so happy with how they turned out. 

Lily was a pill, and only slept for a minute or two. 

These are her crazy eyes.. all the time.

Lily did great at holding her head up while in the boppy for only being a month old.

A two year old and a permanent marker

Today is my anniversary. It started out feeling good with going to our apartments gym. (trying to get a few pounds off before we head to Disneyland next week, with Akoy everything just fell right off, I miss that) I found Bryson had changed my desktop picture for our anniversary. I got busy making him a candy bar poster. In which I left Akoy in his room so he wouldn't want all the candy. He started out the day with lots of time in his room, which may be the cause of tonights actions. We took the poster and left it in Bryson's car for him to find later. 

After we got home I checked my facebook and had noticed Bryson changed my status and did a blog post. It was so sweet of him. I don't care who you are, it's always nice to hear sweet things about yourself. I didn't think Bryson knew how to write a post. :) It was a nice surprise. This year for our anniversary I surprised Bryson with a picture of Christ for our bedroom. I love it. Every year we try and do something for our house in honor of our anniversary. 


Bryson came home a little earlier today which was also a great surprise. He has a class tonight. It was good to see him for a couple hours before his class and afterwards I am going to help make some decorations for a ward Christmas party. 

I forgot mention Akoy didn't go down for a nap today. He had lots of spankings and me trying to be nice to only fail for a nap time. More time just sitting in his room/playing in his room. 
 
Onto the title of this post. We were on the phone with Bryson's parents when I noticed it was a little quiet in our house. I went to find Akoy and found out that he had gotten into the permanent marker (remember me making the poster earlier? yeah, I left the marker out on the counter) 

Akoy had drawn ALL over my computer. We have been working on circles and clearly he is getting them down. He colored just about everything down to the keys. Thanks bud. He also colored the table, his toy cars, his place-mat and his cousins Christmas present that he had found and got out. 


Thankfully I remembered a trick with hair spray. Along with Bryson's hard work and the hairspray, we got everything off my computer. The table cleaned up nicely. Akoy's cheap place-mat from Ikea didn't come clean. Oh well! Unfortunately the present didn't exactly come clean. If I would have scrubbed, it took off the color. So instead, Akoy just added a little character to it. 

Oddly enough, my first reaction was, really? with a chuckle. Then the realization that it was permanent marker and Akoy went to time out.

Akoy normally colors on pages really well and very rarely colors off the paper. I think he just had to much time in his room today and not enough attention. It's easy to just let him play while I take care of Lily. I need to be better about actually playing WITH Akoy instead of letting him play by himself. 


Where does that leave us tonight? Popcorn for dinner and watching Toy Story 3. I can possibly for see an early bedtime in the future after a phone call to my parents where my little brother is opening his mission call! :) More on that later!

Happy 4th Anniversary to the Most Amazing Woman in the World!

In honor of our 4th anniversary today I would like to let all of you know a couple of reasons I am so madly in love with this woman:
1) She is the most loving and nurturing individuals I know.
2) She loves me no matter how ugly I get or how annoying I may be.
3) She is the most beautiful person I know.
4) She never stopped writing me on my mission.
5) She has some pretty awesome brothers, sisters and parents
6) She sees me for who I can become and not necessarily for who I am.
7) She taught me everything I know about kissing.
8) She love my family no matter how many black sheep she comes across.
9) She likes all things Disney, just like me.
10) We both like Hawaiian pizza.
11) She adores our children.
12) She's really good at finding deals on clothes before we ever need them (very good forethought).
13) She will cuddle with me during movies that she doesn't even like.
14) She's organized.
15) She's responsible.
16) She's not the best singer but she tries.
17) She's punctual.
18) She's educated.
19) She makes sure I go to church every Sunday and helps me magnify my callings.
20) She likes parties.
21) She loves children.
22) She doesn't mind spur of the moment vacations or outings.
23) She enjoys reading the same, dorky teen books like I do: Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Fablehaven, etc.
24) Did I mention that she's absolutely gorgeous even when she's just barely waking up in the morning.
25) She's good to reminds us to say our night prayers.
26) She doesn't make me change all of the diapers and throw up.
27) She was willing to put her life on hold so I could go to law school here in Nebraska.
28) She doesn't mind living in the Cornhusker state.
29) She remembers where my stuff is.
30) She's ok with ending our arguments with, "We'll see who's right by watching our celestial videos in the next life."
31) She makes me happy.


Obviously this is a non-exhaustive list. I hope it gives everyone an idea of why I love Breanna Mickelle Gregory so much. I'm excited for what the next 1,234,235 years have in store for us and the eternities afterward.

Akoy and the fridge

Akoy loves the fridge. He is constantly getting into it. At one point we bought a fridge lock. It would great until he broke it. We have never fixed it. Akoy loves getting grapes, strawberries, blueberries, rasberries, cheese and lots of other snacks out of the fridge. He also loves putting things back in the fridge like his empty (or sometimes full) drinks, half eaten string cheese, his toothbrush, my chapstick, empty bowls of snacks he has previously eaten. You get the idea.


This morning while feeding Lily I came out to find Akoy had taken all the produce out and moved the cheese to a drawer. He was upset when I had to put back everything where it originally went.



Tonight I was yet again feeding Lily. I like to feed her in my room, it is more comfortable for both of us. I heard a few uh oh's but ignored them. After putting Lily down, I come out and Akoy says "Uh, Oh Egg" Akoy got into the eggs and apparently dropped an egg on the ground and it broke. He cleaned up the egg as best as he could with his wet wipes. As frustrated as I was to find my floor all dirty, I have to admit that he did do a decent job cleaning up for a 2 year old. He got almost all of the egg shells in the sink. Silly guy.

Utah Trip: 10/14-10/25

Sunday we toyed with the idea of going to Utah for the following weekend. Wednesday we decided to go, and left on Friday. Last minute trip! Bryson had fall break, and by fall break, he had Monday off. I originally thought he had more off but was wrong. Bryson missed a day but we thought it would be worth it.


We drove out to Utah on Friday. The drive out was pretty good. We listened to The Hunger Games and it kept us entertained the entire way. Akoy went back and forth from movies, books, toys and treats. Lily slept and eat. Friday morning we kept telling Akoy we were going to see Grandma and he wanted to get in the car all morning. We should have waited to tell him until we were ready. When we got to my mom's house it was 2 in the morning. I thought they would be asleep and Akoy was so upset that he didn't get to see them. My mom heard him screaming and came down to rescue him. He was SO excited to see all the family. He played Angry Birds on my dad's ipad for a little until we went to bed. Angry Birds has become a favorite game.

We hung out for the weekend and went to a few favorite food places as always. Gregory's were gone for the first part of the weekend because they were at the BYU game in Oregon.


We blessed Lily on Sunday night and had quite the turn out. More on that in another post.

This picture was actually the following Sunday, but these kids look so cute! I love it!

Monday we spent the day with Gregory's and went to dinner for Keith's birthday at Texas Roadhouse. Akoy was so excited to see his cousin Addi.This is the first time he has said her name. It was so cute.


Bryson had to leave us Tuesday morning and it was so sad to see him go. I always hate to be away. Both boys were able to get haircuts while we were there. Even though the girl that cut Akoy's hair did a poor job, I was just glad it was two less haircuts for me to do!



I spent most of this trip making our Halloween costumes. I had bought everything before going to Utah and needed to have things done before getting back. I had no choice but to do them in Utah. Luckily I was forced into this because I really needed my mom's help. I have no idea how to use a pattern and my mom helped me complete my dress and Lily's costume. 

Akoy always asks to hold her and then says "cheese" because he wants a picture.

My little brother Brayden got to take his dream car out for a spin. This car is a family friends and my brothers just drooled over it. Brayden also has a big week coming up! He receives his mission call Wednesday!

My brothers cuddling on the couch with Brayden's gf....

We also celebrated my father in law Keith and his twin brother Stuart's 51st birthday. It was fun to see all the Gregory family again. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with them at the blessing. We had icecream cake and sang Happy Birthday. Akoy got to tie balloons on Stuarts toes while Addi tied them on Keith's. Akoy was going crazy over the cake, which really doesn't surprise me.

Cousins in party hats.

I love going to see/and having our family come and see us, however, Akoy always gets super irrational. Fits and lots of crying usually come out. Grandparents just don't know how to say no :) We had a complete temper tantrums, and on one occasion, I documented pictures of each phase and sent them to Bryson.



I was sad I didn't get to spend a lot of time with my sister Brooke. She took her family to Disneyland about the same time I was there. This trip wouldn't have happened without Brooke. She was going to fly out to see us and instead offered to pay for my flight to come and see her. Then I could see the rest of my family. So we spent the last couple of days before leaving at Brooke's house once she got home. It is so fun to see Vienna. She has grown up so much! I hate living so far away for this reason! 




This trip I didn't have a lot of time to go and see my friends, but we did squeeze in some time to see my friend Amber. She had twins in July. I don't know how she does it, but she is amazing! Akoy and Ryker are a month apart, and Lily and Beckett and Sophie are two months apart. These guys will be forced friends :)

Akoy, Lily, Beckett, Sophie, Ryker

I took the kids over to see the Peterson kids. Sarah and Ray were out of town but it was fun to see all the kids. They have grown up so much! I can't believe Mia was about Lily's age when I started babysitting them! 

Akoy and Mia

I was worried about traveling home by myself with two kids. I knew I would be fine, I just still stressed about it. As I was checking in for my flight, I was notified that my flight was running late and it would make me miss my connecting flight. As a result I had to fly through Arizona and then to Omaha, putting me in a couple hours later. As the lady relayed this message, I completely lost it. Started crying. I felt extremely stupid and kept saying I was fine, and just a little emotional. I blame it on all my emotions. come on, I just had a baby. The kids did okay on the plane. Akoy required a lot of attention and made lots of new friends on the plane. Lily slept some of the time, but as long as she had a boob she was good. I was so grateful for all the help. I realized I looked like a mess with Lily in the Bjorn and Akoy in the stroller and my bags and got a lot of funny looks on our layover. We were so excited to see Bryson when we landed. We got home around 2 in the morning and I was so excited to sleep in my own bed.

He loved having his own tray

The lines are what my flight was supposed to be like, and the dots were what it was

**Sorry for the long posts... One day I will be caught up! :)