We're Here!!!

Well.....we made it! We are here in Huntington Beach and so far it has been so great! We love it. Let's back up. We rented a U-haul on Monday and filled it with everything we owned. It was such a weird feeling. Sad but exciting! We slept at Josh's parent's house on Monday, then took off 4:00 am on Tuesday morning. The drive wasn't too bad. Brynlee was an angel. She didn't fuss at all. Just hung out between Josh and I in the front seat of the truck. We rolled into untington Beach around 3:30 pm. About ten guys from the elder's quorum in our new ward helped us unload the truck. It was soo great having their help. I felt so grateful for the instant network of help that the church offers. So nice! Since then, we've just been unpacking our boxes and getting the apartment in order. We're not totally unpacked, but we're getting there. My uncle Mark lives less than a half mile from us and he has been so helpful. We've seen him everyday and he has been so generous. One of the highlights of the week was going on a nice walk with Mark and Brynlee in her first stroller ride. Our apartment is exactly a mile from the main pier on the beach. I can't wait to go on walks to the beach everyday with Brynlee. There's a great beach trail that will be awesome! We are just loving being here in Huntington Beach. Our apartment is great (pictures to come), and in such a perfect location. I won't have a car during the day, so luckily we are within walking distance to the beach, the library, grocery stores, the bank, the post office, the city pool and gym, and several parks. Basically, it couldn't be better. I feel really blessed for how things worked out.


Bryn and Josh hanging out in the U-haul during one of our breaks in the trip.
Lately Brynlee has loved being propped up on this pillow, so she can watch us unpack boxes. And we love snuggling her up with her little doll... keeping her company, of course.
We also love to snuggle her up with her doll and her little animal friends at night. Actually this only happened one night. Bryn seemed to like the company because she fell right asleep. It's so nice having Brynlee in her full-size crib. It was too big for our apartment in Provo, so we hadn't used it until now.
Bryn has been cuter than ever these last few days. She is getting more and more fun. She smiles so much more nad makes the cutest little "coo-ing" noises and squeals. It kills me. I love her so much. My favorite thing is to make her smile and make those little noises. It melts my heart. I am so grateful to be a mom. What a joy!!!

Bryn's Blessing and the Move

Last Sunday was one of the best days of my life....Brynlee's blessing day. Josh gave her such a beautiful blessing. It was such a neat moment. She's not quite old enough to go to church yet, but we wanted to bless her before we leave for California. We ended up blessing her in the evening with many of our Utah relatives.

Four Generations. I hope I can be as awesome of a mother as my mom and grandma are!

Brynlee's Hawkins grandparents and Clarke grandparents

My Clarke grandparents and Tueller grandparents with their newest great-granddaughter.

What a special night!

This is our living room right now. (You can see poor Brynlee in her swing, surrounded by boxes. She's been so good and content as I have been busy packing). As you can see, we've gotten quite a bit of our belongings packed up and ready for the move. It has taken so much longer than I had expected to get things all packed. But I'm nearly done. The apartment is looking pretty empty! It's making me a little sad, but also really excited. We move out on Monday, then take off early early in the morning on Tuesday. I can't believe it's so close!!!

Bryn has been a little angel as I have packed. I just move her around from room to room with me and either make her a little spot on lay on...

...or I prop her up to look around the room. I would be a lot more productive with the packing if I wasn't so distracted by my beautiful daughter! She is at the cutest little stage right now. She makes little noises and smiles as she looks around the room. It will be great to be all moved into our new apartment, so I can just focus 100% on Brynlee.

I Love This Girl

Hawkins Girls Lunch

Yesterday I went to Paradise Cafe with my Mother-in-Law and five of my sister-in-laws. (Of course, I forgot to pull out my camera, so I had to resort to a google image of the restaurant). Anyway, it was so fun! I am so lucky to have married into such a great family! My mother-in-law is amazing and I will really miss her when we move to California. And I will also miss my awesome sister-in-laws! I have loved living so close to most of them, and getting to see them so often. It was so great to get together on Thursday, and hopefully Josh and I can squeeze in more time with family before we leave in a week and a half!

On a side note, the food was great at Paradise Cafe, but the music was so strange! The restaurant was packed with mothers and tables of women, but they were blasting scary, hard core rock music! There was a big speaker right over our table, so I think we were getting the brunt of it. It was so loud that finally we asked a worker to turn it down. It was quieter for a few minutes, but then it was turned up again. We endured it for a few more minutes, but then asked again if they could turn it down. It was turned down, but about thirty seconds later another worker must have cranked it back up. We gave up at that point! Although we were still confused why a cute, little Bakery/Cafe that serves "girl food" would be blasting the heavy rock music!

Even Cuter!

I am such a proud little Mom. I swear Brynlee gets cuter and cuter every day!

Taking a Sunday afternoon nap with my Dad. She always sleeps with her arms raised if they aren't swaddled tight against her body.

She was being so silly this morning when she woke up. She was kicking her feet like crazy and look all over the room. I just sat there laughing and taking pictures of her. I love being a mom!

Happy Girl

Boy do we love our happy little girl!!! This is at 10:00 pm a few nights ago, as we were putting Brynlee down for bed. She tried to charm us with her smile, so we would stay up and play with her. It is hard to say goodnight to this sweet, little bundle...

...But then I remember how I haven't gotten a full night's sleep in over a month (or longer if you count the restless nigts during pregnancy!) and I have no trouble hopping into bed!

One Month

Brynlee hit her one month mark on Friday. I can't believe it's already been a month. Brynlee seems like so much more of a little person compared to when she was born. She's becoming more and more alert, which is so fun. She loves to look around the room and stare at things. She particularly loves staring at my art that is hanging on the walls. I'd like to think it's because she's artistic or she's a fan of my work, but I think it's just because the paintings stand out against the white walls! Brynlee is so expressive with her little arms and hands. She moves them around into the funniest positions, even when she sleeps. It cracks us up. She continues to eat and sleep well, and we are crossing our fingers it will stay like this. We feel soo blessed to be her parents!

She loves hanging out with her Dad. I LOVE watching the two of them together. So cute!

She loves hanging out with me, too. In fact, she loves it so much that she often gets a little too excited. And this is what happens with all the excitement.

And lately, she has also loved hanging out with her swing....which is awesome because I can get things done!

WOOHOO!

Josh and I have two things (among many) to Woohoo about....


(1) We finally got our housing set for California! What a relief. We are moving in a month and we just got a call that there will be an opening for us at the apartment complex we were crossing our fingers for. We've been on the waiting list since July and I didn't know if it would work out for us. We had found a few other places as back up on Craig's List, but they were more expensive and we hadn't actually seen any of them in person. As it got closer and closer to our moving date I was getting a little worried that we still didn't have housing worked out. But now it's all taken care of! We'll be in Huntington Beach, about a 15-20 commute from Josh's work...and about a 10 minute walk from the Pacific coast. It's over three times the rent that we're paying here in Provo, but it's actually a lot cheaper than the other places we were looking at so we feel really lucky. I am so grateful we have this all set!


(2) We have the cutest daughter in the world. We went to a Tueller gathering last night and Brynlee showed off her new outfit. You gotta love the shrug sweater! Ninety nine percent of the time she's in a sleeper, so it's so fun to dress her up in a little outfit! I love this little girl so much. I have never been happier! Josh and I are soo lucky to have such a sweet little daughter!!!