Monday, December 2, 2013

Summer Fun

This summer was super busy and we jam packed it with as much fun as we could get in! My little sister Abby left on her mission so we spent some time with her before she left. We took Brinklee to the zoo. We saw all the animals and got to ride the carousel.

 
Abby left for the Baton Rouge, Louisiana mission in the middle of June. She spoke in church the Sunday before she left and we had a big dinner at my parents afterwards. Brinklee and Abby sure have a special bond and it is hard to have them apart!
Jared and I ran Ragnar Wasatch Back with his family. We were in the suburban with Mont, Darcie and Jared's cousins Scott and Kristin. We had a blast! It is so much more fun when you run it with family!
Angie and Tyler bought a boat so we went out several times. Brinklee liked it for the most part!

 
We made several trips to Lava. We camped on my parents property, rode four wheelers and went to the pool and hot pots. Brinklee loved the kiddie pool, especially the slide.
 

No summer is complete without the Box Elder fair and fair parade. Brinklee loved to sit and watch all the floats go by and was really good!
Finally Jared's parents started building a house close to ours. Brink loved to go help and play in the dirt. Jared helped with a lot of the framing and is currently helping tile. It has been a fun process. We've had a great summer!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

My one year old!

Brinklee had her first birthday in July! She has grown so fast and I cannot believe that it has come and gone. For her birthday we had a party at grandma and grandpa stokes. We had a barbecue and cake and ice cream. We had a piƱata and brinklee opened her presents. She wasn't too sure about digging into her cake which surprised me. We had a great day with our family. At one years old brinklee can:
*walk EVERYWHERE!!
*has 5 teeth, three on top and two on bottom
*drinks vitamin d milk
*eats all kinda of food
*loves her Jo
*wears mostly size 12 or 18 clothes
*wears size 3/4 shoes
*says mom, dad, nana, poppa, hi do (Jo)
*gives kisses when she wants to
*has the sweetest personality but can throw a major fit!
She is the light of our lives and we love her so much!!



Thursday, May 23, 2013

Major update

I have been a major slacker when it comes to my blog so I need to catch up! This is what has been going on lately!

My dad gave us some awesome tickets to the jazz game. We went down with the spendloves. We took brinklee down with us and she did surprisingly well!
For valentines day weekend we were going to go st George but brinklee got rsv so we just stuck around home. We made a romantic dinner and celebrated with the 3 of us.
We threw Cami a baby shower for her baby girl. It was the first party we held at our new house so I was stressed and then it snowed on top of that. We still had a lot of family come out and support her though!
We had some friends come up to Ogden so we got together. Brinklee and hazyn are going to be friends I just know it ;)
We took our first trip up to lava. Brinklee loved it!! She thought it was just a big bath tub!
Cami had her baby Ana in April. We love her! She's such a sweet baby!! Brinklee looks so huge to me now!
Brinklee had her first Easter! We had a great time at the stokes. Brinklee loved gathering her eggs.
Jared's sweet little grandma samson passed away. She was a great last and we will miss her but we know she's in a better place!
Jared graduated from weber with his bachelors degree in advanced radiology! We are so proud of him!
My mom also graduated again! She got her masters degree! Good job momma!!
We went down to the tulip festival with my sisters and mom and aunts. It was so pretty!!
We took brinklee on her first hike. She did pretty well but was a little onery because we were gone forever but she eventually fell asleep.
And finally brinklee is getting so big!! She was 19 lbs 15 oz at her 9 month appt. she eats just about anything. She can say mama, dada, nana, Jo, hi and tu (tuck). She has two upper and two lower teeth with one more on the top coming in. She can stand on her own and can take a couple steps. She sleeps through the night. She is such a sweet girl and I just love her!!














Cruise 2013

Jared and I went on a cruise to the western Caribbean may 12-19! It was a blast! We went with Angie and Tyler and spent a day in Florida before we cruised out on Sunday.

 In Florida we went out to eat at this yummy sushi restaurant and then we drove around town. We  drove past this place that was renting scooters and decided to rent two. They were a blast!! We only had a few minor mishaps! The next morning we went to the beach before our ship left and just hung out.

Sunday we boarded royal caribbean's freedom of the seas. That day we rode on the flow rider and ate dinner. It was that night that we met our awesome waiters rodson and hemsley! They were both hilarious! Rodson was ADHD and would walk away from the table mid sentence if there was something going on. Hemsley was more timid but always had a smile on his face! We loved them! That night we went to a broadway show and that night went to a comedian.

The next day was spent all day at sea. We relaxed by the pool most of the day And had our first formal night that night.

The next morning we arrived on a private island labadee Haiti. It was gorgeous!! We spent the day playing in the ocean and rented mats to relax in the water. The cruise ship provided a yummy lunch and me and Angie experienced our first shopping experience on the island. It was quite the experience of "come into my shop and I show you one thing." Pretty fun though! That night we went to a magic show on the ship with an illusionist from America's got talent, drew Thomas. 

The next morning we arrived in Jamaica. Jared was looking forward to this the most. We had an excursion planned for Dunn river falls. We rode a bus to ochos rios where Jared cuddled with our tour guide Zoe. Ha ha!! We hiked the falls and then stopped for some Jamaican jerk chicken. When we got back in town we found this boy that wanted to show us around town. His name was twain. He took us around town, to his school and to the beach. There were locals there fishing and even a couple smoking a joint. Ha! After the beach we went into town to find some souvenirs.

The next day we went to grand cayman. We got an a boat and headed to sting ray city. It was a blast! Angie and I were scared out of our minds every time they came close to us but eventually we warmed up to them and actually held them! On the way back we got dropped off at seven mile beach. Grand cayman was by far the prettiest place we had ever been! The sand was white and so soft and the water was turquoise!! We loved it! Me and Angie swam while Jared and Tyler snorkeled.

The next day was our last at Cozumel. We didn't have anything planned that day and were immediately bombarded with people offering different excursions. We decided to go snorkeling and were taken out to swim with all the fish. It was fun! Angie drove the boat out which was a little scary. We got dropped off at San Francisco beach. We spent a lot of our time at a restaurant with wi-fi so we could talk to our brinklee. We did a little swimming and then more shopping.

Our last day was spent at sea. We laid around by the pool for most of the day. Jared and Tyler played in the guest versus staff volleyball game. We went to the casino and played a little roulette but we were just ready to get home! We got back Sunday night and were so glad to see our brinklee!! She was with Jared's parents and my parents while we were gone. She was a little hesitant when she first saw us but quickly warmed up. She showed us her new trick- standing up on her own and taking a couple steps and someone taught her the cheesiest grin that she kept flashing us! We had such a great time! It was out first cruise and our first big vacation since our honeymoon! We can't say enough good about royal Caribbean! The room was super nice, the staff great and the food was awesome! It was a great escape!!




Thursday, January 24, 2013

6 months!!

My sweet brinklee is 6 months old! I can't believe how fast it has gone! At 6 months she is:
*Eating baby food twice per day
*Sleeping mostly through the night- if she gets up its early around 5 and then gets up for the day around 7:30 to 8.
*Full on crawling!! At her appointment she was trying to crawl off the table! The pediatrician said he hadn't seen a 6 month crawler for a long time
*Has two teeth- she got them at 5 months but no more for now!
*16 lbs 11.5 oz- 63%ile
*26 1/4 inches- 68%ile
*Makes the cutest noise when she is excited with her lips, almost sounds like she is trying to blow raspberries!
*Is into everything!
*Is wearing size 2 diapers
*Wears mostly 6-9 month clothes
*Is a total mommas girl! When I get home from work she cries until I pick her up
*Hair is growing back dark
*Is my best bud! She loves to hang out and go shopping with me on my days off!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

2012! What a Great Year!!

Just because so much has happened I wanted to highlight our biggest events of this year!!

January- We found out our little bundle of joy was a baby girl! She immediately was called Brinklee! We were so excited! I started my first semester of the bachelors program and Jared started his last semester of his associates program.

February- We bought a new truck for Jared. We celebrated Valentine's Day at home. We spent President's Day weekend in St. George at the home show and hiked Zions. I started to show or as someone at work called it, I exploded!



March- Was pretty uneventful. I planted my hanging baskets at Willard Bay Gardens. Jared went out of state to shoot a ton of geese. I made it up to Lava to see all the snow and soak my legs in the hot pots.



April- Celebrated my 25th birthday with cake and ice cream and grandma and grandpa Stokes' house. I passed my NCLEX and Jared passsed his Rad tech boards. Jared graduated with this associate's degree in radiology technology. My grandma Thornley passed away. I felt like I really started showing and we prepared for Brink.



May- I met up with my BFF from childhood for lunch (hadn't seen her for a year! Jared painted and put up board and batten for Brink's room. He surprised me for mothers day with a glider and setting up our crib. Jared ran the Ogden half marathon. Darcie and I waddled the 5k. Wigeon had an accident with a peg in the tree that required surgery and stitches. Jared and I made a quick trip to Lava and camped in the tent. My sisters threw me a baby shower and I had a ton of friends and family that showered Brink with gifts.



June- We went up to Lava again and camped with Jared's family. Jared's family threw us a baby shower and we prepared for Brink's arrival. Jo found out my belly was the perfect shelf to stand on.



July- I worked my last shift before my maternity leave on the fourth of July. We welcomed baby Rylan on July 7th and anxiously waited for Brink to make her appearance. July 10th we decided we wanted to get things started and were admitted to the hospital to have our sweet girl. She was born via c-section July 11th at 6:03 pm. We celebrated 3 years of marriage at Prairie Schooner. We laid pretty low and enjoyed our baby girl.


 

August- Jared killed his first animal with a bow (his elk). Brink and I spent a girl's weekend in Salt Lake with my family. I went and saw Wicked with my sisters. We had a surprise party at Maddox for my mom's 50th. Cami announced to my family that she was pregnant. Brink went to her first parade and Box Elder County fair. We went to some soccer games. Jared started his bachelor's program and I started my last semester of my bachelor's program.



September- Jared went to Wyoming to try to kill some cranes. Brink and I went to Park City with my family for swiss days. My maternity leave was up and I went back to work full time. We attended the Brigham City Temple open house. Jared shot a deer. We went to the circus with my family.



October- Brinklee was blessed by her dad on Grandpa Thornley's birthday. We found a house that we (we thought for sure it would be sold by the time that we sold our house) loved and decided to put our house up for sale. Brinklee was a duck for Halloween. We went to Gardner's village to see the witches.



November- I worked and Jared and Brinklee went to Grandma Stokes' for Thanksgiving. We got an offer on our house 2 weeks after listing it and accepted it. We put an offer on our current house and got it accepted on contigency that we sold our house. Brinklee went swimming for the first time at Layton surf and swim. We had a little scare with her heart and got it checked out at Primary Children's. It ended up being a small hole in her heart that will heal on its own (such a relief!!). Jared celebrated his 25th birthday. We had a romantic getaway (with Brink, ha ha) at Prairie Schooner and the Alaskan Inn to celebrate. Jared went full time with lithotripsy and quit the hospital. Brinklee started on solids.



December- We went to the Christmas village in Ogden. We got word at 3pm the day before that we were closing on our old house (we never thought we would!) the next day so we hurried and started packing. We closed and moved out in a day. We then closed and moved into our current house 5 days later. I graduated with my bachelor's of science in nursing. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with our amazing families. We went to aunt Pam's annual Christmas party. Brinklee got her first teeth and started getting up on all fours to try to crawl.



Wow!! Life has been so great and so busy! Can't wait for another fun year!