Pinewood Derby 2011

This morning was the annual Pinewood Derby. Seth got help from Bro. Anderson with his car. I was very grateful for his help. We didn't even have to ask, he just came over, picked Seth up and helped him with his car. Awesome! Seth decided to make his car look like a wedge of cheese, although it came out looking more like a cheetah than cheese, it was still an awesome looking car. After the races however, we are going to make some changes for next year. He didn't place this year, but had a great time and won the award for "Most Radical" car. Well done!

Finally got a picture of her smiling! That is one happy baby!! She's now starting to smile a lot! Love it!

Doing the good-byes.....again.....

For all who don't know.....Dan came home (hooray!). His contract changed and so as part of the deal, he worked it out to come home and see us and Bronwyn. It was really nice having him here for 3 weeks. We LOVED it. However, we knew that this day was coming. Back onto a plane and off to VA for a couple of weeks and then back over to the desert. This time, though, he's not going back to Iraq....he's going to Afghanistan. Grrrr....It's great for him job training etc, but not so great for the family. So because of this change, he won't be able to come home again until October and the year starts over. Yeah.....he won't be home for good until March 2012. He'll have been gone for 18 months by the time this is all said and done. I'm seriously done with all this deployment mumbo-jumbo!! No more I say, no more....

So to enjoy our last weekend as a family we headed up to Tucson Saturday. Well that and the fact that his flight out was at o'dark thirty in the morning we ended up getting a hotel room. We ended up playing at Chuck E Cheese's and got some ice cream before coming back to the hotel and crashing. Well the adults and Bronwyn crashed, the others stayed awake watching a movie. The alarm went off way to early at 430 and before we knew it....we were taking Dan to the airport. It wasn't busy at all and he walked right up to the counter. We said our good byes and watched him go through security and on his way. The tears flowed, but thankfully it wasn't as bad as before. I think everyone understood what was happening more, since we'd already been through it. Make no minds though, it's not gonna be any easier this time around, but at least we knew what to expect.

The youngins and I then headed back to the hotel, we ate breakfast, and Bronwyn and I got a short nap before we headed out. We made a couple of stops and got lunch before coming home. I have officially decided that I despise Tucson and the more I can stay away from that rat's nest of a city the better off I'll be. Ug.......
Home never looked so good!

watching the show...

i was surprised she slept through the noise as long as she did!

i don't think Paige blinked the whole time!

because i'm mother of the year.....we forgot coats and everyone was wearing flip flops. apparently at 530 am it's cold in Tucson...even in January!

1 month

once again my camera is dumb and printed tomorrow's date on the picture...ug....

Today our girl is 1 month old. I can't believe it!! She's growing well and eating and sleeping like a champ! She's had her moments where she won't go to sleep, but otherwise she's doing well. She loves spending time with her daddy which is slowly coming to a close. *sigh*
Anyway, she's holding her head up and we are getting some smiles, but they are mostly gassy smiles. For now I can't tell if she'll have any dimples like her siblings, i hope she does. Her hair seems to be growing...straight up....and she's getting chunkier. I love the fat rolls that she's getting on her legs! She does actually love her siblings and recognizes their voices. I think that's awesome! Happy 1 month Birthday!!!!

Bath Time (officially)

She finally got her first bath!!! Belly button is off and it's time for the defunking to begin! Of course she was not happy, but then again, I don't know what baby really is after getting a bath. I have older kids who hate getting baths...so this should be no different.

she's giving me the nasty look....how dare I give her a bath.

fine as long as she wasn't laying down.
and i got my own bath before she did.....yes folks, she pee'd on me...awesome.

all comfy cozy with dad.

3 weeks old!

Our sweet girl is now 3 weeks old today!!! Wow!! She's growing so well and eating like a champ. She's so alert and loves looking around whenever she's not asleep. She gets up about 2 times a night and is sleeping 3-4 hours at a time. Such a pretty girl!! No real smiles yet, but she makes some awesome facial expressions!!

once again, forget the date on the picture. these were taken on the 6th....when she really was 3 weeks old!

1-5-11

Blessing Day

1-4-11
Guess who came home??? Dan surprised us all and was able to come home. And since mema and papa were here and she happened to have the blessing dress with her we decided to go ahead and have Bronwyn blessed. Another reason was that Dan was now not longer coming home in March so it was gonna be now or when she's 6 months old. That's no good, so we went with now. Unfortunately, we had to do it at home, she's still not supposed to be around a lot of people (bummer) so church was not an option. It was also the last day that mema and papa were gonna be here and I wanted them to be a part of it. So at almost 3 weeks old, Bronwyn was blessed in our living room with Dan, papa and Bishop Barkdull. I was grateful that the Bishop was willing to work with us at the last minute.
Mema made the blessing dress. She's made the blessing outfit for all of her grandchildren. Each one a little different. All gorgeous might I add!!!
When Bronwyn is a little older (perhaps next month) I'll take her to get her pictures made in the dress. Another something I do with all our babies. Their first official pictures are those in their blessing outfits. Great memories!
So now Bronwyn is official and we are so thankful that she's finally healthy and a permanent member of our family and she completes our family!






After the blessing every one relaxed a bit and changed out of church clothes. Since Dan had only gotten home that morning and knew he wasn't going to have a whole lot of time with mema and papa-he decided that we should go out to lunch. Yes I know...Bronwyn is not supposed to be out in public. Well...sssshhh...don't tell her doctor. So off to Golden Corral we went. Luckily for us it wasn't busy and we picked a table that wasn't really close to many people. It was a fun time.


last picture taken with mema and papa before they headed up to the airport. Very sad to see them leave, but we know that later in the year we'll be seeing them again. :)

all the pictures were taken on the 4th, my camera is being stupid and pasting the wrong date on all my pictures....ggrrrr!!!

Papa's Birthday!

We are so lucky to have my parents here again this year over Daddy's birthday. I love having them so close, now if we could get a job on the east coast then all will be right with the world!

He chose peach pie for his dessert of choice so we put a few candles on it and then had him blow them out. It was fun!!! Then we watched some tv until everyone passed out. We also made him his favorite dinner of spaghetti and bruscetta! It was really yummy. He got a new Clive Clussler book (thank goodness we picked one that he hadn't read yet!) for the big day.

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!!