All Is Well...a recap!

 Well, I'm back again! Life continues to be busy for us and I must admit that blogging is at the end of my "to do" list. But it is something I want to try and do because it's a good way for me to document our lives. So, since the last time I REALLY blogged was August of last year, I'm going to give a quick re-cap of our last 11 months.

                                          August 2011

Brielle was so fat and chubby at 8 months!! We loved it! I also celebrated my 28th birthday in August.

September 2011

One of my favorite people, Julie, retired in September. She was my social worker when I placed "C". She has been the most amazing counselor and friend for 5 years. I love her like another mother and I was seriously so sad to see her retire, but she deserves it!

I also started a really hard 5 week math course in September. It was intense and took ALL my time! I had no life for 5 weeks. But I passed with an 88%!!

October 2011

I was still in my math class in October but we did get to celebrate Brielle's first Halloween. She was a cute pumpkin and loved trick or treating (all 5 houses). She also took her first steps in October at 10 months old!

                                          November 2011

In November my class ended(YAY) and Sean and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. Sean celebrated his 28th birthday in November. For his birthday I surprised him with Boise State (his favorite college team) football tickets. It is also my dad and brother Bens favorite team. Boise just happened to be playing San Diego State the weekend of his birthday, so it worked out perfect. We also had our pictures taken by the amazing Tracy at www.aprettypeople.blogspot.com/. She is seriously so good and a lot of fun!

December 2011

In December we celebrated Brielle's first birthday! We did a candy cane theme since it was a week before Christmas. She had fun but did not nap the whole day! So, she was pretty tired during her party. What was so special about her party, was Sean's dad and step mom coming, with Sean's other siblings. Since we've been married, we've never had everyone together so it was a real treat to have Sean's dad there.

We also had Christmas Eve with Sean's family at our house. Sean's mom, siblings (except Chanel...she was working), uncle, aunt, cousins, grandpa and my parents came. We had a really good time.

                 And Christmas day was on Sunday and we enjoyed a beautiful time at church.

January 2012

In January, we went to Carlsbad for a week with my parents. We took Brielle to Sea World again. She enjoyed it much more this time around. I also got bronchitis again in January.

Side note: If you wonder why I get sinus infections and bronchitis so much, we found out why!! Its my hypothyroidism! More on that in another post. Anyways, I had bronchitis for a month! So, I was not feeling that great in January.

February 2012

In February, Sean, Brielle and myself got in a pretty bad car accident. I don't want to go into the details of it because it was a pretty horrible experience, but long story short, someone hit us going 50 mph +. I was driving and Sean was in the back with Brielle. We were hit in the wheel well of the front of the car, which I later learned is pretty much what saved our lives because it's one of the best places to get hit, if there is a "best" place.  Sean and Brielle were fine, but Brielle did start throwing up soon after and Sean and my mom rushed her to the ER. But the doctor said the adranaline most likely made her sick to her stomach. I ended up breaking my sternum, from the air bag or seat belt, or both. I don't remember a whole lot. I am just barely now starting to get back to normal. I was out of work for 3 months. So, the bright side, I got to stay home with Brielle for 3 months! But I couldn't pick her up for a month. This is picture is me at a birthday party, sitting on the floor with Brielle. I pretty much had to live like that for awhile. I couldn't clean or pretty much do anything that involved me lifting or bending. So my dear husband pretty much did everything and was so great to me! I've been in physical therapy since February and I am currently still going. I still feel some pain if I bend over for too long or if I do something really strenuous, but my doctor said with time, that should go away.
Since our beloved 2008 Dodge Charger was totaled, we got a 2010 Chrysler 300. We love our new car and were very grateful to get another car so quickly.

                                              March 2012

In March I pretty much did nothing and just enjoyed my time with this sweet face. Her personality grew so much while I was home with her and I loved every second I had with her.

                                            April 2012

In April it was Easter time and Brielle looked SOOOO adorable in her easter dress. She did so great finding easter eggs. And she sure started talking up a storm during this time.

                                             May 2012

In May, I graduated with my bachelors degree!!!! FINALLY!!!! We went up to Logan Utah with my parents. It was so sureal that I had started there 10 years ago!! Those 10 years sure went fast. I am so happy that I stuck with it, even though I sometimes had to sacrifice fun things. I also went back to work....=(. I love my job but I love being with Brielle more.

On a sadder note, Sean's dear grandpa was diagnosed with liver cancer at the end of the month. They gave him 6 months to live, but he did not make it to the 6 month mark. He barely made it 4 more weeks.

Since we knew grandpa wouldn't make it much longer, we decided to have an early fathers day BBQ. It was great having everyone together and loving on grandpa. Him and I had a nice conversation before we left for the night. I knew it was most likely my last conversation with him (which it was). I thanked him for taking me in as his grand daughter, since I lost my grandpa's so long ago. I told him how much I loved him. He told me that he loved me and has always been proud of me. He then told me that my parents were some of the nicest people he had ever met. I am so happy that I had that conversation with him. It is something I will hold dear to me for the rest of my life.

                                               June 2012
June was busy busy, even though it was our month off. Sean and I decided that he wasn't going to look for another job during our month off. That way we could get projects down around the house. We started June off by heading to Newport Beach for a little vacation. We were only there a few days. Gloom June had set it, so we didn't make it to the beach to swim, but we enjoyed being together.

                       My baby is looking so grown up! This seriously happened over night!

Sean graduated University of Phoenix with his Associates. He did not want to make a big deal of this. And he didn't even want to walk at graudation because his main goal is the bachelors. But after talking it over, he decided it would be a nice milestone in his journey. I'm very proud of him!! Only 19 months to go till the bachelors! (But who's counting)

On June 6th, the day we came home from Newport, Grandpa passed away. He was home when he passed. Sean's mom, cousin and sister were with him. I seriously love this man so much and it makes me emotional just typing this. It has been hard to lose such a great man, but we know that we will see him again someday.

 Sean was a pallbearer and gave a beautiful eulogy. I had the honor and privledge of singing 2 songs. "How Great Thou Art" and "I Stand All Amazed."

We got season passes to the water park and Brielle LOVES it!! She is seriously obsessed with this place! She plays so hard and the second we get in the car, she's knocked out!

My birth mom and half brother came to visit for a few days. We had a nice time when they were here and enjoyed each others company. I seriously love adoption. I have so many people that love me and that I get to love back!

                                            July 2012

We just went back to work this last week, for summer school. A few days before we went back, Sean and I went with my parents to Oxnard. We stayed in this beach house. It was seriously amazing! Our own spa and BBQ. And it was 3 floors. We did not want to leave. While we were there, we took Brielle to the Santa Barbara Zoo (which I love way more than LA), and she was in heaven! All she kept saying was "Oooooo". It was very cute.

Our beach house

I took a lot of pictures at the zoo. And since I'm trying to keep this post short (yea right), here is a cute one of Brielle checking our the elephants.

Mr. and Mrs.

Brielle and I doing our best lion roar!

We put Brielle under the stairs for her naps at the beach house. She started taking her bottle under there and would go lay down and say "night night".

So as you can see, life has been a crazy adventure these last 11 months! Some wonderful things have happened (graduations, trips, family time) and some not so wonderful things, (illness, car accidents, death). But despite it all, "All is Well."