Scrub-A-Dub-Dub

Brynlee LOVES bath time! This video is pretty long, but it's mostly for my Mamasita back home who hasn't seen Bryn take a bath in the real tub. It's also for all of you who have been wanting a close up view of my head. There are some really nice back-of-the-head shots. Enjoy!

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Brynlee learned how to roll a week ago and it's been so funny. When she first learned how to roll, she was doing it nonstop. As soon as I'd unwrap her from her swaddle, she would roll over. And the rolls would continue all day long. I think she was just so excited at her new trick, that she wanted to do it over and over and over. It's cute, but there are a few problems with this new rolling thing. One, she only knows how to roll from her back to her tummy. She tries and tries to roll back onto her back but so far she hasn't figured it out. This means once she gets tired of being on her tummy I have to come flip her back over. I used to be able to lay her on her back and she would play with toys while I got chores done, but now my chores are pretty interupted because every few minutes I have to flip her over. The second problem is that Brynlee is a spitter and rolling all day just contributes to her spitting up. I think she makes herself motion sick with all the constant rolling. So she'll roll, spit up, then grunt until I flip her back over, roll, spit up, then grunt, and so on and so on. This is our pattern for much of the day! Luckily, the thrill of rolling is wearing off a little and she doesn't do it constantly. Only 15-20 times a day, which is far less than a few days ago!

Here we go again

When I first got married I would take a picture of every meal that I made! I wouldn't let Josh take a bite until I had taken pictures of his pretty plate. Sometimes I even included him in the pictures prompting him to "smile big and act like you're really happy about this new recipe!" I guess I was just so excited to be a wife and to be learning how to cook. Now I laugh when I go through my pictures and find all those pictures of meals! It was a little out of control.

Now I'm doing the same thing with Brynlee's Sunday pictures. We'll be rushing off to church and I'll say "Wait! We haven't taken a picture of Brynlee's church outfit!" We'll have to drop everything, find the camera, and take a handful of pictures. I know. It's a little overboard. How long will this last? It could be a while. Even though I recognize that it's silly, I'm sure I'll be pulling the camera out again next week! This a dead give away that I'm a first time mom. Something tells me I won't be doing this by the time I get to my fourth or fifth child!

Hope you enjoy the picture of Brynlee from this past Sunday!

Why?

So about two and a half years ago around Christmas time of 2006 my family decided to do family pictures (in a family of eight kids I was the only one who was still single). Well, after my whole family had taken family pictures, each of my siblings then had some time with the photographer and their individual families to take their own family pictures. For some reason after one of my siblings and their family had taken their pictures the photographer called my name. Why I consented to a single photo shoot of myself, where all the pictures were of me in various poses I'll never know, but the following is just one of the photos taken that day, titled, "Alone":Word to the wise, if you're ever in a photo shoot and the photographer thinks that it will be really cool to take a picture of you at the bottom of a pit with your hands in your pockets and a cheesy grin on your face, ask yourself, "How have I gotten myself to this point in my life?" I didn't, and now I have this photo for the rest of my life.

-Josh

Any Tips?

Lately I've really felt the need to create! I've got some new paintings planned, but I want to develop other creative outlets as well. I think I'm in mother mode. I bought my first glue gun (a mother necessity), but I've been wanting an even bigger toy...a sewing machine. There are so many little sewing projects I've been dying to try! The glue gun was $8.00, easily fitting within the small "Crafts/Hobbies" section of our budget, but I couldn't really justify going out and just buying a sewing machine out of the blue. They usually run a little higher than $8.00. I thought I'd have to wait for Christmas, or my birthday, or til we became wealthy enough to add a much more generous "crafting" column to our monthly budget.

But......then I sold two paintings this week, which brought in enough moolah to buy a sewing machine, or two or three sewing machines. Woot woot! Josh is currently gone on a Scout Camporee, and I haven't told him my big plan, but I'm sure he wouldn't object to me buying one. Especially if I promised to sew him a new outfit, or a cape, or at least a colorful neckerchief for his scout attire. He's always a sucker for neckerchiefs.

Now, to the point of this post:

Any recommendations for good sewing machines? Or nice features to have? Or brands? Anything?

One final note directed only to family members, who are no doubt worried about this purchase:

No, I will not be sewing any more pairs of neon green pajama pants with bright purple swirls. And if, for some reason, I did sew another pair of those pants, I certainly would not wear them outside of the house to play sports, thinking it was cool to ditch the regular black shorts and make a bolder statement with the neon green. There's no dout that they made a statement, but that's a whole other story.

Best FHE ever! and a few other things

Last night we had Family Home Evening with three elderly couples from our new ward. They were so nice to include us. It was such a great evening getting to know them better. They had such wonderful stories. Some were serious and touching. Others were so, so funny! Josh and I were dying. It came out that one of the men used to be a professional wrestler! He told us stories about throwing men into the four row of the audience. He was known as the "Masked Marvel". Here is a picture of the "Masked Marvel" demonstrating some of his signature moves on Josh. I can't tell you how much I was loving this!!!

Jim wasn't a professional wrestler, but he wanted in on the fun! This was seriously the most fun Josh and I have had in a long time! We've got to get together with them again soon!

And now, for a few other random pictures:

Summer weather is here! Bring out the sundresses!!! Before church on Sunday. Bryn was being a cheeseball. Sometimes she gets in these silly moods where she blows little bubbles and drools down her chin. Her dress was soaked by the time we got to church! Oh well. At least it wasn't spit up!

Yesteray it was a record high of 98 degrees in Huntington Beach. Way too hot for my liking! Luckily Bryn could change into a nice airy little outfit. I wanted to do the same, but I kept myself a little more modest.

I am LOVING...

...this biography! I'm only a third of the way through it, but it is great! What an incredible man and prophet of the Lord. It's been a treat to get to know more about his sweet wife, too. I want to be as supportive and loving of a wife as she is!

One Hundred Dollars Later...

...we have the official scout pants, shirt, and belt. The only pants Josh could find were the kind that zipped off into shorts. He isn't a huge fan of the zip-off look, so he asked the worker where the regular scout pants were. The worker smiled and said "Sir, zip-off pants are in style. It's the only pant style we carry now." I had to laugh. This whole zip-off pant business makes me think of a dating experience a few years ago:

I was on a date, hot summer day, the room was full of people and getting a little warm, little beads of sweat begin to accumulate on my date's forehead. Luckily he was wearing zip off pants, so he zips them off to the capri level. Back up. He was wearing zip off pants on a date, and what makes it worse is that they not only zipped off into shorts, but they zipped off into capris. I sneakily pulled out my camera and took a picture of the pants because it was too much for me.

Here's the evidence:

That was our last date.

No offense if you wear zip off pants. In fact, according to the Scout worker, zip-off pants are supposedly the latest come-back trend.