Birthday Girl

Tomorrow Miss Brinnley Beth turns 6. It's hard to imagine she is getting so big! Brinnley is a ray of sunshine. She is so happy all the time. She is caring and considerate. She is adventurous. As parents we are supposed to be the teachers, but I feel like she is teaching me just as much. She is so confident and brave. She is pure. I feel so blessed that she is mine. Our home would feel empty without her. We love our girl!

Here are some stats about Brinn:

She still loves horses with a passion

She loves to read books, and she really likes chapter books

She loves playing school and drawing pictures

She loves to sing, the favorite right now is Justin Bieber "Baby"

She is a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl. But a few sequins never hurt anybody.

She still can't sleep without Moo Moo and will wake in the middle of the night if he falls out of her arms

Her favorite color is pink

She hates having her hair tucked behind her ears. Don't ever call them pigtails, they are ponytails thank you very much!

She loves stickers and all things little

And Brinnley, we love you!

Goning to the Temple and We're Gonna Get Married

Wednesday, January 12th we drove to Denver. Chant's sister got married on Saturday 15th and we wanted to be there a few days early. It was such a nice trip!

Thursday Kristy (the bride), Jen, and I went shopping for hair accessories. It was so nice to have some sister time. Thanks ladies, I loved it!

Thursday evening we were able to go to the temple as a family. It was so special!

Friday Chant, Margi, the kids and I spent 4 1/2 hours at the church decorating for the reception. The bulk of that time was spent stringing white lights. It looked so beautiful! And the kids enjoyed having the run of the stage and nursery.

In the evening they had a friends and family dinner. It was casual and just so fun to walk around and talk to everyone. And the amazing food was a perk!

Saturday was the big day! It was perfect, I thought. The ceremony was at 3:00 so we had the morning to get ready, and watch the bride-to-be pack for the Honeymoon.
The ceremony was beautiful and both Mike and Kristy were just glowing. Mike even shed a tear or two. So sweet. They are a perfect match and I am so glad to have Mike for a bro-in-law. He is going to be a lot of fun to have around!

I felt so special because Kristy asked me to come back to the bride's room with Margi and Jen. We were able to help her get ready for pictures. She was absolutely radiant! We took pictures outside the temple. (Unfortunately I don't have any of those.) Then there was about 2 hours before the reception started so we got some dinner. Brinn was so excited because we went to Pizza Hut and she was able to use her Book-It coupon.

Then at 7:00 the party started. This picture and the one above are Kristy getting a few curls put in before partying. She looked so beautiful! And the red clips in her hair were perfect!
My kids before heading in




Jen and Margi.
Last minute primping.
The couple coming in. The reception was so pretty! The tables had red tablecloths and the centerpieces were just gorgeous. They were tall glass cylinders and they had red flowers in them. It was so pretty with just the white lights on, no overhead lights. Nice mood lighting.
Mike and his Converse shoes. Loved them!
Cutting the cake. I was hoping he would be nice to her, and he was.

It was quite the party. There was music and dancing and Jen sang so beautiful! They served hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls, cheese and crackers and apple cider, and of course the cake. Such creative food choices. And the cake was divine! It was an great time wandering through the room and talking to everyone.

We are so excited for them! We love you guys!

Reading Buddy

Our move from Missouri happened very quickly and it was earlier than expected. I still had things I was planning and looking forward to. One of those things was book club. The book selection was The Hunger Games Trilogy. I was so excited to discuss them. I love those books! I was beyond disappointed when we moved before book club. Chant isn't a reader and I was feeling lonely, missing my book club girls. I needed someone who I could share my love of books with. Although he isn't a person, O.Henry has been a comfort to me. He guards my reading chair and looks over my shoulder as I pour through the pages of my beloved books. He understands me. Why O. Henry? I just thought he looked like a Henry and it didn't hurt that O. Henry was the pen name of Williams Sydney Porter. It fits. And I love him!

What Matters Most

December 26, 2006 Chant, Brinnley, Ainsley, and I arrived at our new home in Manchester, Missouri. We only lived there for 4 months, but I have been thinking about that short span of my life a lot lately. It was four years ago that I left my family and moved to a new place so far away. I was so unsure of myself and nervous about being so far from family and not knowing anyone. It was a hard time for me. I didn't make friends there and I felt so alone. But nestled among the hard times are some of my most precious memories of my girls. They got me through those long days while Chant was at school. The master bedroom had a wall-to-wall closet and the sliding closet doors were mirrors. I took the laundry to the bedroom and sang primary songs while folding laundry as Brinnley played in the closet and Ainsley rolled around on the floor. Brinnley loved to line our shoes up. They were always perfectly straight. While folding and singing I would look out the window. We had a beautiful tree in our front yard and the icicles hanging from it were so beautiful. As spring came the icicles were replaces with pink blossoms. That tree was magnificent. So beautiful! I loved the view from that room, both inside and out. My girls and that tree brought me immeasurable joy. Sometimes I miss those moments.

Now four years later I feel like some things are the same but so much is not. I have swapped my gorgeous tree for a spectacular view of the mountains. I have swapped a bedroom for a loft. I am older and so are my babies. I am no longer the insecure, frightened girl I was then. I still feel lonely at times as I try to carve a niche for myself in this new home, but just like before my children bring me joy and happiness. Now I delight in the happy sounds of the girls pretending in the upstairs loft. They brighten my day with beautiful drawings and pictures all over the house. I smile as Porter makes neighing sounds while helping Woody ride on his trusty steed. No matter what changes or where I live I will always take with me what matters most.

Word of the Year

Last year was my first time choosing a word of the year. It was a good experience for me. Although I feel like I could have done better at it, I feel like it raised my awareness and made me more conscious.

I have thought a lot about the word I would choose for this year. I have finally chosen my word: Time. I feel like that word encompasses a lot. I need to be better at using my time wisely. I think if I focus on time then other things will fall into place: more quality time with my children, more time to accomplish things like my scrapbook and keeping up on my journal, time to exercise. I want my time to count for something. I hope that at the beginning of each day I will be able to plan what I need to do that day and be focused so I will have more time with my children and more time to reach out to others. Wish me luck! And good luck to all of you with your New Years' Resolutions.

Family Christmas

The week after Christmas we spent at my parents' home. It was so good to be back! (Our last visit was in July.) It was so nice to be around the family again! The first couple days were pretty quiet. The kids spent lots of time putting puzzles together. Logan did all of them himself.
While the kids played Grandma sewed. She made the cutest hats out of extra material. She's amazing!
They also spent plenty of time outside in the snow. Porter wasn't a huge fan. He had to work his way into going outside in his snowclothes. He started by helping Grandpa shovel the snow away from the door.

Finally he made it outside and had a good time playing. Brinnley flew through the air a few times.
The last time didn't go so well. She face planted. But she still enjoyed the snow after that.

We always have a program before we open our presents. Kasey's whole family sang together and it was beautiful. Brinn sang "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause" and "I Want a Hot Cup of Cocoa." She did a great job!
Porter even sang "You are my Sunshine." It was so cute!

Dalton and Ainsley had each others' names. Ainsley picked out a shirt and sunglasses for Dalton and he got her a beautiful black horse.
Brinnley loved the magnet dolls that Lily got her. Thanks Lily!

Porter got horses from Ashley and he didn't say another word besides "horse" for the rest of the evening.

We had a great time and we are so thankful we were able to spend the holidays with family. We are excited to be closer to home and see you more. We love you all!

Santa Clause Came To Town

Christmas was wonderful! We spent the holiday at our home with Chant's sister Jen. She came Christmas Eve and stayed till Sunday. We spent Christmas Eve preparing for Santa Clause to come. We baked and frosted sugar cookies. There was enough frosting to cause a heart attach, but they were delicious!


Then we spread the reindeer food outside for Rudolph and his friends. In keeping with tradition the kids got to open one present Christmas Eve, their new PJs.

Christmas morning found me again lying awake in bed waiting for the kids to come in. They were up and ready to go at 6:30. We ran down the stairs and headed for our stockings. Ainsley was thrilled to see Santa had left her a pair of headphones for her video game. (The side is decked out with purple sequin stars.)

All the kids got Pillow Pets. Brinnley got a unicorn, Ainsley a monkey, and Porter a mini horse. This was the one thing that Brinnley constantly asked for. And she was thrilled when she saw it sitting next to her stocking.
After looking through our stockings, Chant and I lead the kids into the kitchen where Santa had left one more surprise. There set up in the corner was a two-sided easel, one side a chalkboard and the other a dry erase board. Brinnley screamed and jumped up and down. They started coloring pictures right then. It continues to be a hit and the kids are always coloring on it.
We headed back to open presents. This was Porter's big gift. He got Woody, complete with a pull string and hat. When Porter got the paper off and saw that Woody was inside, his eyes got all big and in an awed voice said, "Woody!" While we were working to get Woody undone from the cardboard Porter hugged the box to himself and stared at the picture of Woody on the back. He was thrilled that Woody came with a hat. If anyone tried to touch him he gave them a lecture. "MINE!"

This was the one thing that Ainsley wanted. She had been asking for the Calico Critters Dalmatian Twin puppies since the beginning of November. She also asked Santa for tiny wood to make bunk beds for them. Lucky for us and her Santa just brought the bunk beds already made. She played with them all morning.
Jen got the cutest scares and the most darling slippers ever. She was behind the camera most of the time so I didn't get may pictures of her. But as you can imagine, Christmas with her was a lot of fun! Thanks for coming and sharing it with us Jen!
The kids got a Playdough set and several hours were spent at the table. Jen made awesome masks for the kids. And she taught them how to make ice skating rinks. They had so much fun. Christmas was a success and we even talked about why we celebrate Christmas several times, so hopefully it wasn't all about gifts. It truly was the most wonderful time of the year.