Merry Christmas 2016!

I never get around to mailing anything out for Christmas so forgive me for the online only format! This year has been so busy. I feel like we are finally in the stage of life where time starts to go so quickly that you blink and it's already been another year. Some highlights from our year-

Our son Ethan was born in January and we sure love him so!

Brynlyn turned 8 and made the choice to follow her Savior and get baptized!

Camryn graduated from kindergarten with all A's!

The summer was spent swimming and hanging out in Utah and then school started again!

Bryn is in 3rd grade and loves to go and learn. Camryn is in 1st grade and is having a blast!

Devyn started dance this year and is loving it!

We went and camped on the beach in October and went to Sea World and Legoland and swam in the freezing ocean.

Camryn turned 6 and had a surprise party!

We are excited to celebrate the birth of Christ. This time of year feels different because it IS different. We love our Savior, we know His gospel is true and blessings do come from being obedient and trying to be like Him. May we ever strive to be more like Him and #LighttheWorld all year round. We love you all and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,
      Justin, Jessica, Brynlyn, Camryn, Devyn, and Ethan

Camryn's 20 Q's age 6

1. What is your favorite color? blue

2. What is your favorite toy? Fire tablet

3. What is your favorite fruit? grapes

4. What is your favorite tv show? Fuller House

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Grilled cheese

6. What is your favorite outfit? coral fox shirt

7. What is your favorite game? wet head

8. What is your favorite snack? goldfish

9. What is your favorite animal? foxes

10. What is your favorite song? Again by Flyleaf

11. What is your favorite book? Princess in Black

12. Who is your best friend? Askai

13. What is your favorite cereal?  peanut butter cups

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? monkey bars

15. What is your favorite drink? chocolate milk

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Dolphina 

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cereal

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A pedicurist.

Camryn 20 Q's age 5

Age 5
Here is what Cam answered for her birthday 20 questions:

1. What is your favorite color? Purple

2. What is your favorite toy? My new camera

3. What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries

4. What is your favorite tv show? Trotro

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Quesadillas

6. What is your favorite outfit? My dresses
7. What is your favorite game? Jenga rules
8. What is your favorite snack? Granola bar
9. What is your favorite animal? Unicorn
10. What is your favorite song? The songs from Descendants

11. What is your favorite book? Pinkalicious

12. Who is your best friend? Logan
13. What is your favorite cereal? Golden grahams 

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play at the park
15. What is your favorite drink? chocolate milk and lemonade
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Nothing
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Cereal

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Cake
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A dentist. 

Brynlyn's 20 Questions for her 7th birthday!

1. What is your favorite color? pink

2. What is your favorite toy? My scooter

3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries

4. What is your favorite tv show? power Rangers

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? gold fish

6. What is your favorite outfit? My boots with jeans and my cheetah shirt
7. What is your favorite game? Candyland
8. What is your favorite snack? strawberries
9. What is your favorite animal? A horse
10. What is your favorite song? Blank Space by Taylor Swift

11. What is your favorite book? Diary of a wimpy kid

12. Who is your best friend? Cassie
13. What is your favorite cereal? crackers and milk

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my scooter and bike without training wheels
15. What is your favorite drink? Naked juice
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? bunny
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? graham crackers and milk

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? fish and shrimp
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher

Camryn 20 Q's Age 4

Age 4
Here is what Cam answered for her birthday 20 questions:

1. What is your favorite color? gold

2. What is your favorite toy? nerf bow and arrows

3. What is your favorite fruit? pineapple

4. What is your favorite tv show? 3 ninjas

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? juice box

6. What is your favorite outfit? any dress
7. What is your favorite game? Elsa surprise slides
8. What is your favorite snack? fruit snacks
9. What is your favorite animal? cheetah
10. What is your favorite song? weezer Back to the Shack

11. What is your favorite book? Frozen book

12. Who is your best friend? Logan and Atlee
13. What is your favorite cereal? crackers and milk

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play
15. What is your favorite drink? chocolate milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Elsa blanket
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? dry cereal

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? strawberry cake
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? a rock star

Today's Camrynism

Today Camryn just said, "Mom, I want to sit on your lap with my butt!" What a goof!

Musings

So this week I have been focusing my thoughts on adversity for a lesson I am teaching and I just happened to have read The Hobbit in the last few days and a few things have become a little clearer. I guess my train of thought all started when something occurred to me that never had before. Why was a time of trial and testing so important? Why not just give everybody a glorified body and eternal life from the beginning? Those who are making bad choices here would go on and do the same things but it wouldn't really matter, right? Not when they couldn't actually kill or truly hurt anyone else. But it DOES matter. It IS important.

So why? And then I thought about history and power. Give a man power and watch what happens. Sadly, a lot of the time truly horrible things happen at the wishes and command of a ruler who truly loses sight of what is truly powerful.

Things like love, innocence, honesty, loyalty and integrity.

As children of God we were born already great. We are, in a small but nonetheless extremely significant way, like our Father, the Almighty God. We are already given great gifts. But much like Bilbo at the start of his own story, we all felt little stirrings deep within ourselves that maybe what we had (a tiny hobbit hole) and what we were (just a lowly hobbit) isn't quite enough. Maybe we were settling for a life of contentment just because it was known and safe and expected.

So we accepted Heavenly Father's plan and we came here to Earth. We all of a sudden have to make thousands of choices on a daily basis and be completely responsible for those choices and the consequences that follow. So we venture out. We choose. We choose right and good, but not all of the time. That's okay, we are merely learning how to consistently choose the good. Bilbo sometimes froze, not knowing how to act. Sometimes not making a choice is, in effect, making a choice! But we repent, we change and grow and persevere.

We are also getting ever closer to our own dragon (or dragons). We are finally so close that we have to walk down the long dark tunnel to face the unknown all on our own. And this is what I learned from J.R.R. Tolkien: "It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterwards were as nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait."

No matter what happened to Bilbo when he continued on that path, the battle was already over for him in a very real and true sense. And so it is for us! We all find a time in our lives that we must fight our internal battle. Who will win, the natural mad aided and abetted by Satan or will our true nature as Gods and Goddesses in embryo carry the day? The battle is waging in our hearts and through our choices. We ARE fighting to gain eternal life. The greatest blessing that we have been given freely is a Savior that not only made it possible but is supporting us and carrying our burdens for us every step of the way.

So why was a test necessary? Why must I face adversity? So that I learn who I am. So that I know that with all my heart I will obey my loving Father. So that I fight that battle against my fallen nature, as I face my dragon and know that as I continue on my path the hardest thing I have ever done is behind me. The hardest battle- will I follow my Savior no matter where that path leads?- is already decided because I decide that I WILL do whatever I can. I do NOT want mediocrity and contentment with it. I want to fight dragons and win.

Camryn 20 questions

Age 3
Here is what Cam answered for her birthday 20 questions:

1. What is your favorite color? purple and red

2. What is your favorite toy? My Leappad

3. What is your favorite fruit? apples

4. What is your favorite tv show? Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse on Netflix

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Grapes

6. What is your favorite outfit? My cowgirl outfit from Christmas
7. What is your favorite game? Playing Doctor
8. What is your favorite snack? Smiley snacks
9. What is your favorite animal? A camel
10. What is your favorite song? What Does The Fox Say

11. What is your favorite book? Princesses and Puppies

12. Who is your best friend? Logan and Coco
13. What is your favorite cereal? crackers and milk

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Make pretend dinner
15. What is your favorite drink? strawberry milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas and Halloween
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Meow Meow (a white kitty)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? eggies

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Cake
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A mommy

20 Questions

 Age 5

 

1. What is your favorite color? pink, silver, violet, gold and indigo and red

2. What is your favorite toy? My Barbie

3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries

4. What is your favorite tv show? She-Ra

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Hot dogs
6. What is your favorite outfit? My Cinderella shirt
7. What is your favorite game? Candyland
8. What is your favorite snack? Smiley snacks
9. What is your favorite animal? Horse
10. What is your favorite song? Candy Cane Jane

11. What is your favorite book? Come Over to My House

12. Who is your best friend? Atlee
13. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Make sand castles, cakes and pies
15. What is your favorite drink? Apple juice
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Bunny
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? crepes
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? In N Out
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A firefighter so I can learn how to put out fires.

20 Questions

Age 4

1. What is your favorite color? blue

2. What is your favorite toy? iXL

3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries

4. What is your favorite tv show? Phineas and Ferb

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mac n cheese and hot dogs
6. What is your favorite outfit? Polka dot dress
7. What is your favorite game? Duck duck goose
8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks
9. What is your favorite animal? Pig and horse
10. What is your favorite song? ABC’s

11. What is your favorite book? Green Eggs and Ham

12. Who is your best friend? Atlee and Kate
13. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on the cars (the kid ones)
15. What is your favorite drink? Apple juice
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Bunny
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? pancakes
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? cake
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A doctor, to fix everybody.

This has been going around Pinterest and I liked the idea of doing it. SO here is the first year of many. I will ask her these same 20 questions around her birthday each year until she is 18. Fun stuff!

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas everyone! Here is our 2011 year in review: First we moved 2 times this year, once in January and then again in October. Let's just say I will never again do that as long as I live. We like our new house and location though, it is much closer to Justin's work and shopping (Yay for me!). Here is a little bit about each of our girlies: Camryn is turning 1 on Wednesday and I cannot believe that she is not my little baby anymore! She is my little toddler. Some things she likes: Climbing (anything, especially stairs), dancing and music (she won't watch tv but she loves music), mom's android phone (she is obsessed with it), playing peek-a-boo (she says "ba" for boo and it is so cute), walking everywhere (she loves for you to chase her), and meeting new people (she is so friendly she smiles and waves and will go over to just about anyone). She is such a sweet easygoing baby, although her little personality comes out more and more each day.
Some things about Brynlyn: She started preschool in August and has been in heaven! She is so outgoing and loves to be with all the other kids. It has been wonderful for her. She loves: watching her shows on Netflix, playing make believe (she loves to talk to herself), talking (we can't get her to stop - EVER), reading (she is going to be a bookworm like Mom someday), and playing at the park (I think she would live there if I let her). She is such a smartie and she is learning lots in school and at church. She is extremely excited to be a Sunbeam in a few weeks! Something funny she has been saying lately is that we are going to have Christmas and Santa will come and then it will be Jesus' birthday after that. I tell her everyday that Christmas IS Jesus' birthday but for a 3.5 year old it must be pretty hard to reconcile Santa/presents with Jesus' birth. She'll get it :)

And Justin is still at his estimating job and is usually so busy that we don't get to see him until about 8 at night. I have been loving every minute of the adventure of having 2 small kiddos running around. I saw a quote the other day that I am going to hang somewhere in my house: Sorry about the mess, but the children are making memories. I may not be the best at keeping my house spotless (or even getting us all out of our pj's on some days) but I know that my kids will only be little pigs for a while (and then they will be big pigs, but by then they will have chores and allowance to motivate them) and I love everything about this time in our lives, messy house and all. We have had trials (I would like all 4 of us to be well for at least a few days - it's been solid colds or flu since October) but we are still so blessed and grateful for both the blessings and the trials. The Lord lives and I love this time of year when we remember His birth and life. We hope everyone has an awesome Christmas and that 2012 is fantastic!
P.S. We put off having our professional family pictures until January so Bryn can get her cast off. Forgive our cheesy pictures from this afternoon. Neither of us will ever be professional photographers :)

Holy Cow

Alright, it has been almost 8 months since I have updated here. I am not going to lie, posting things to Facebook is much easier and more convenient. I will try to post a little more often on here though since this is more of a journal for me. Since April we have had a lot happen. We took a trip to CA in June (that's where we took the family picture above) and had a blast visiting with family and going to Disneyland. It was a crowded but very fun day. Then we moved from San Tan Valley to east Mesa near the end of October and that was fun (are you getting the sarcasm here?) (it is more convenient to be closer to shopping though:). Camryn learned to walk at 10 months, has 6 teeth and is learning so much every day! Bryn started preschool and loves it and can almost write her name all by herself! Then on Monday the 21st of November Brynlyn was running, tripped, landed wrong and completely broke her elbow. Poor girlie! She gets her cast on Monday and I feel so bad for her. And it is her right arm which is her more dominant arm too unfortunately :(. Well we had a great Thanksgiving and ate a ton! Then Justin went out and braved the Black Friday crowds and got us a new tv for our bedroom. It is kind of a funny story and completely miraculous that he actually got one so ask me if you want to hear it. And for now I will just finish by posting some pictures from the last 8 months and then I am going to start getting out some Christmas decor!! Easter 2011

Halloween 2011 Cute little Cam in October
I will post again soon because we are going to get professional family pictures taken in December (cast and all) so I will have some more cute pictures to post then.

Some funny stuff

Here are some pictures I took of Camryn today. She is getting so big! Right now she is watching a Baby Einsteins and it is so cute that she will watch them for a few minutes. I posted the top picture because I still think that it is hilarious that she always has her tongue out. All day I see that pointy little tongue. And here is a funny story about Camryn: On Sunday at church I handed her to her dad and then during the Sacrament (when it was really quite of course) we hear some loud grunting and the sound of poop hitting diaper. I thought, Oh man how embarrassing. But then I started smelling baby poop really strong and that wasn't normal so I looked over and Camryn had shot poop out of her diaper, down her dad's pants, the chair (luckily a metal one) and into a pretty good sized puddle on the floor. It was really gross and all I had to clean with was one thin little blanket and some wipes. I was laughing so hard during the second half of the Sacrament and I felt pretty bad, but it was soooo funny.

Then for a few Bryn tales. She is so silly. She likes to go downstairs with me but she is slower than I am and so she is always telling me to stop and hold her hand. Well the other day she said, look mom I can go fast. So I waited at the top as she proceeded to go down the stairs just as slow as usual but pumping her arms really fast like she was jogging or something. It was hilarious!! Then the other day I went through the BK drive-through and as the lady was running my credit card Bryn yells really loud from the backseat: "Hey little girl! I want some french fries!" I just about died laughing but that lady didn't act like she heard it. Oh the joy of having a 3-year-old.

Here is Bryn on her birthday at the park with some friends. It was a fun day!

And here she is with her Minnie cake at her party. She got so many fun things! And, seriously I do not know how I have a 3 year old already! She starts preschool in the fall and she is ready!

Camryn's blessing

On Sunday we were able to bless Camryn and it was so beautiful. I am so grateful that I am married to a man who can bless our children. It was a cold and rainy day, but we had fun hanging out with all the family who came! Here are some new pictures:

I took some more pictures of Camryn on Sunday and I thought some turned out really cute. So far I haven't gotten any of her sleeping, she is wide awake whenever I want to take pictures so here are a few of my faves. I will eventually get around to posting pictures of Bryn from Christmas on here but it might take a little while. We are moving to a different house this Saturday and so I may be busy for a little while with the move. Enjoy the pics!

Camryn pictures

Ok, here are some pictures finally!! First let me tell the birth story real quick. I went in to be induced at 3am on December 14th. They started the pitocin at 4 and I got my epidural at 5:30. The doctor came in and broke my water at 6:15. At 7:20 I woke up from a light doze and I was shaking pretty badly even though I wasn't cold and so the nurse checked me and Camryn was ready to be born. We then had to wait half an hour for the dr. to finish up with a surgery and then she came and I pushed twice and Camryn Brooke was born! It was so fast!! Nothing like Bryn and for that I am grateful. Camryn has been such a sweetheart so far. She only really cries when she is hungry, she sleeps well in her carseat and she loves to snuggle. She is a great baby and we are so happy she is here. I am trying to adjust to having 2 kiddos and I am not going to lie and say it is easy because it sure isn't. But I love them both and I know that once we get a routine down I will feel better. Expect more pictures after Christmas! We love you all and we will try to get some sort of birth announcement out soon.

Silly Bryn

So last Saturday we went to go pick out a pumpkin at Walmart and Bryn was so excited. I picked up a few pumpkins and then I found a pretty big one so I picked it up and held it up so that she could look at it. She was standing in the back of the cart and she looked at it and backed up as far as she could go in the cart. I asked her what was wrong and she said: "Mom, it's making me nervous!" I said What!?! And she told me it was because it would hurt her toes. So I put it back and got a different smaller one and she was perfectly fine with that one. Silly kids, sometimes they are so weird, but I sure love 'em!!

Projects

So I have been nesting lately and I decided to make some matching Christmas dresses. What a pain and I don't think I will attempt this again. Also if this baby turns out to be a boy he will be posing in this dress anyways because it was a lot of work. But I like how they turned out. Fun, we are ready to have this baby, but I still have 9 weeks if I go full term (I am praying that I go early!). The rag quilt I am making should be done soon and I will post that when I finish it. And tomorrow is Justin's birthday and so we are getting ready for that because Bryn loves birthdays, even when they aren't hers. And Halloween is coming up, one of my favorite holidays! Yay for candy.

Quick funny story

So yesterday Bryn came over to me, poked me and started saying something that sounded like a really bad swear word. I asked her to repeat it which she happily did about 20 times but I still couldn't tell if she was actually saying the naughty word or what. I finally just distracted her since the fastest way to make sure that she remembers and repeats that word is to tell her that it is a naughty word. So then today we were watching Night at the Museum 2 which is her current fave movie and I was half way listening when lo and behold I hear Ben Stiller saying, "I will fork you". In the movie he has a pitchfork and is threatening various bad guys with it and a light bulb went off in my brain. Bryn was trying to say "fork you" but her 'r's are not very good yet. So in the end I learned that 'fork' is not a word that she should say very often and sometimes imitation goes very awry.