Recently

Lately we have been going on a lot of walks, going to the zoo, playing soccer and generally living outside! I am not a huge fan of 80-90 degree weather in April, but I love that we can spend the whole day playing outside! Brynlee is definitely much happier that way. It will be a sad day when it is too hot to prop the door open for her to play inside or outside- whatever she wants.

Brynlee has added a ton of words to her vocabulary lately. Among the new words are, "watch" "walk" "up" and officially saying mommy and daddy again. It is pretty funny because mommy is actually nommy and when she says daddy she always yells it. Usually it is in the same tone that I may yell say "James" from across the house.

Oh and my least favorite new word: "no". I was so excited when we breezed by her first birthday without her every uttering this word. What makes it even worse, she is completely sweet when she says it. She doesn't yell, or scream or even say it with any conviction. I will say "bath time is over" and in the sweetest, most passive voice you can imagine she says "no" and pushes my hands away. I have a feeling this won't last very long. Once she realizes her sweet disposition is not getting her what she wants, it may change. All that to say: she is growing up way to fast. But who am I to complain- everyone warned me this would happen...

We are gearing up for the busiest season of our year. And by us, I really mean James. He is typically gone anywhere from 4-8 weeks throughout the summer with multiple evening events on the weeks he is actually home. I don't know how some wives/mothers do it with husbands who travel all the time. Summers tend to be a little lonely with him traveling so much and spending so much time with students. But it is just a season of the year. Then things will calm down a bit when Fall rolls back around- that is unless I am able to get a job this year!

Easter Weekend 2012

Our Easter weekend was very full and fun! We started out the weekend on Saturday at my parent's house. We colored eggs, did an Easter egg hunt for Brynlee, Grace and Graham and then finished off with dinner and dessert.

 Because there had been torrential downpours all afternoon, the egg hunt was inside in the living room and kitchen of their house. Brynlee actually got into it! She ran around picking up the eggs and putting them in her basket. Of course, once she got about three she was more excited about dumping them out and putting them back in. So Grace helped out by putting some extra eggs in B's basket! The best part of the egg hunt was afterward. We put animal crackers in most eggs, with a select few filled with fruit snacks. Every time I opened an egg for her she would get SO excited to see the crackers!

Dinner was wonderful as usual. We had a special dessert cake Saturday night. My parents had celebrated their 31st Anniversary earlier in the week so we did our own little celebration through cake and ice cream.

Graham was loving that Grace had laid out all of her animal crackers within his reach!

Sunday we went to church, had lunch at my parents house and then went to my sister-in-laws for dinner and an egg hunt. This time Brynlee was not so much into the hunting. I think she was a little distracted by all the running room! Oh and we had an egg toss contest! It was really fun to see my nieces and nephew get into it!

Overall, we had a great weekend celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! 

Brynlee Anne 16 months

Brynlee Anne is now 16 months old! My how time flies! It's crazy... so here is what she is up to these days:

She is constantly repeating words. I don't even think I could write a comprehensive list without missing something! My favorites right now are when she says "back" to Hadlee and kick or walk. Mostly she asks to go on a walk about 25 times a day. Oh and my absolute favorite thing is when she just says one word right after another like she is practicing or looking for a response from anything! 

chatting it up with miss Aurora

She still weighs around 25lbs and is 32 inches. Brynlee is wearing mostly 18-24 month clothes. That is in everything but shorts, in which we are wearing 2T and 3T. That's a diaper booty for ya! 

She is still a pro at sleeping. Although right now her naps are different each day- there is still a nap! So I am thrilled with that. Plus, she sleeps 12 hours every night. 

cleaning the brownie batter off the spoon! Don't tell daddy

We play outside ALL day, every day! Most days I prop the back door open and leave it {unless it gets too hot}. She loves playing with Hadlee, kicking the soccer ball all over the backyard, and playing with bubbles! 

She is growing up so fast and while it is sad, I really love it. I love that she will sit on our laps and watch movies or read books. I love love love the way she puts her hands out when she wants to be held! She is one special little lady! 

Half Marathons...

So a couple of years ago I wanted to run a half marathon. Then I found out I was pregnant. 

So the next year, I thought I could do it- four months after having a baby. Yea right. 

So this year, I was doing it! I started running after Christmas and slowly worked back up to around 4 miles. Then took the 6 weeks before the race to "train" up to 13.1. The most I ran before the race was 12.25 in a little over 2 hours. 

I was very excited to talk both of my sisters into running the 10k that was taking place at the same time as the half! This way I would have someone to run the first 3ish miles with. Although that was great and all... it made the next, oh 10 a little lonely!

before

after

All in all, my goal was to finish, without walking a significant amount. I did not walk until mile 11 {for .25 mile- after feeling like I was going to puke for the previous 2 miles}. So I did finish. It took a whopping 2 hours and 37 minutes. A little longer than I had planned, but does that really matter? 

I am pretty proud of myself and my sisters for doing this race! I thought after doing it I would be done and not want to do one again... but I really want to do another one!

Oh and thanks to my friend Morgan who saved me at mile 11! I am pretty sure had she not been there, I would have been walking the last 2 miles! 

 So we'll see. I think next on the agenda will be the Tulsa Run in October which will feel like nothing at 9.3 miles!

Tom Summers

On the way home from Florida we got the news that James' dad was being taken to the ER. He was dehydrated and had super high BP. Over the next 24 hours his health diminished greatly. The cancer had spread from his throat to now one of his lungs. Since there was nothing else they could do for him, they made the decision to move him to a Hospice facility. We flew to Phoenix, AZ Sunday afternoon {as soon as we could} to see him. He then passed away late Monday night.

Tom was a godly man, loving husband, father and grandfather. His ministry was his children. He poured into their lives and instilled in them godly principles so they could impact the world around them for Christ. He had a huge heart and capacity to love. He took everyone in as if they were his family. He raised an amazing son whom I am proud to have as a husband and father to my children. Tom left a legacy in the way of his kids and grandkids. He will be greatly missed.

Please pray for our entire family. James was extremely close to his father. It is hard to think that he is gone. It is hard to know that Brynlee will not remember him. I also just get so sad in knowing that in four years James has lost both of his parents to cancer.

I do have to say that the best gift you can give your family is to believe in God and Jesus and to live your life for him. Knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that both Tom and Vicki are in Heaven really is the best comfort in this time.

February Fun in Florida

 A recap of our month....

The month started with the long awaited trip to Destin, FL!! James had a conference in Destin {last year the same conference was in Palm Springs- rough life right?} so we decided to tag along! The other youth minister went as well and he took his wife {one of my best friends} and their 6 month old daughter! After enduring an all night drive, Jared, Laura and Aurora found out their son back at home had pneumonia. So their trip ended the very next day when they flew home to be with him. It was sad without them but we still managed to have some fun!

James was mostly at the conference. So I knew aside from mealtimes and late nights, it would just be me and B! So we did a lot of playing in the hotel room. Actually, we mostly played on the balcony since it was 70-75 degrees and sunny! We did some playing on the beach, swimming in the pool at the hotel and some shopping around town. I also did A LOT of reading. Brynlee still went down around 8 each night so that left me to either watching tv or reading. I read the first 2 books of the Hunger Games {which I loved!}.

 We left Thursday morning and drove back to OK. I was super nervous about the drive back. On the way, the girls mostly slept so it wasn't bad at all. But once we hit daylight they went a little crazy. Let's just say we survived because of 2 laptops and an iPad. We watched Hairspray {multiple times}, High School Musical 2 & 3 and Backyardigans. But we made it!

Brynlee 13 months... a little late

It is kind of weird now that Brynlee is one. I want to keep doing updates and everything but without the regular monthly update, I am not sure where to go on this! So here a basic update on our chick-pea. 

These days, Brynlee is learning new words everyday! It is so crazy and somewhat of a challenge to discover what she is actually saying! Oh and she has two small sentences she says! Pretty exciting stuff. So here are the words and "sounds" she is saying now...

"What's that?"
"What's this?"
"Hi"
"Go"
"Look"
"Dog" {I think... she says this when pointing at our puppy so yea.}
"moo"
"hey"

She also does this hissing sound with her tongue and teeth. Although this isn't a word, it is still kind of fun. I guess that covers most of it. She still doesn't say "mama" or "daddy" even though we know she can!



Miss chicky is having some serious teeth issues too! We have 3-5 coming in right now... that is to add to her six. Almost a mouth full!

The other thing I have to mention is her dancing. This child LOVES music and loves to dance! She shakes her head, stomps her feet and claps her hands. I am positive that we dance every single day to any kind of music. Whether it's something we put on intentionally or music that comes on with a commercial. She will stop dead in her tracks and dance! We love it!