Introducing... Brynlee Knight!

BRYNLEE KNIGHT

We are so excited to announce the birth of our third daughter, Brynlee Knight.

She was born January 22nd, 2012 at 10:52am in Twin Falls, ID.

She weighed 8lbs 0oz and was 21inches long.

She has dark brown hair, smiles and looks a lot like her sister, Madi, when she was born.

We are so excited to have her here and look forward to what the future holds in our growing family.

Thank you for all of the love, support and prayers, we couldn't have done it without you!

(More to come on the actual story :))

A bunch of Pictures

Since I've been so bad about blogging, here are a bunch of pictures to satisfy :) Updates I forgot in the previous post: the girls both had well-child checks a few weeks ago, and my how they've grown! Madi is overall in the 60th percentile, and only 4 inches shorter than Gabi! Gabi is overall in the 40th percentile, HUGE improvement from last year where she was only in the 5th percentile. Madi is super ahead of her age as far as development, and according to the assessment we took she is doing everything that a 24month old should be doing. She talks phenomenally well, in complete sentences and often people think that the girls are twins. She catches on to things immediately, almost too quick for this mama. Can we say, please don't grow up too fast!! Gabi is also ahead of her age developmentally and is doing awesome. She has an amazing memory, and actually might have a photographic memory. She only has to see things one time, and she already has in. In fact she can recite books to us from memory after reading only a few times. Sure makes story time easy! :) We love our girls and can't believe how fast they are growing up!!
Now some pics like promised!

Our first real snow day was this week, we ended up with a total of 6 inches in one day!

The girls when they first came out

 Helping pack the snow on our snowman

 Madi trying to wade through the snow& the girls in front of our snowmen

 A picture of the girls :) Daddy was at work

The girls love love LOVE to color and do it everyday

 I drew the "diamond" and Gabi drew the circle, she was so proud :)

We've been practicing our shapes lately ;)

The only picture I got of New Years Eve, sad!

Playing outside after a walk

 Lots of Love,
The Knights

A Day in the Life of the Knights

So lately we have been pretty busy; a baby coming, a new job, busy girls, callings, projects (aka nesting in overdrive), and just trying to keep up with everything else. Since this little babe in my belly is about to make her grand entrance, quite literally any time now, I thought I should FINALLY take a moment to update.

Taken today, 1/20/2012 38weeks, 6 days

 Taken 1/15/2012- I think I look bigger here!

We'll start with the babe. We are having another little girl, for those who don't know, and she is due January 29th. That being said, we went to the Dr's today and my membranes were stripped- had not idea what he was doing until he was done- thanks doc! I'm at a 3 and 25% effaced (sorry if that's TMI :)) So he said the conditions were "prime" to induce me "the old fashioned way." Haha! He also scheduled an actual induction for next Tuesday the 24th in case I haven't gone into labor yet. Didn't really have much choice in that...his reasons for wanting to induce; 1)It's my third, and apparently your 3rd can come a lot quicker, 2)I'm already at a 3, which is what I was at in active labor when I went into the hospital with my 1sr (I was at a 2 with my second), 3)The baby is measuring full term, 4) I tend to have bigger babies anyway, and 4) We live 35min from the hospital on a good day and with the weather the way it has been could take 45-60min on a good day. So, there you have it. I will try and keep everyone updated as well as possible on the status of our little one, but until then, wish me luck!!

Isaac just started a new job on Monday! We are so incredibly proud of him and all of his hard work! He is still with Glanbia, and is actually still in Gooding, mostly, although this job requires him to travel a lot between Gooding, Twin, and wherever else they need him to go. I'm not exactly the person who should be describing his job, but he is essentially over environmental and safety working with the trucking department. So if a trucker gets in an accident, he's the man on site checking out what happened and making sure the driver is ok. He also works in preventative to try and keep those things from happening in the first place. He works closely with OSHA and has a lot of certifications and training in the coming months. He is really looking forward to this new direction and what it has to offer. We are really excited for him and for this opportunity for growth.

The girls building their "temple" fashioned after the Twin falls Temple, of course

 I must add that the girls LOVE the temple! Every time we go to twin they are both asking to drive by, and of course when we do we must stay and sing "I love to see the Temple." They both sing it :)

Our ward recently combined with another ward and so all except the bishop and ward clerks, we had one huge mass releasing. Isaac was recalled as the Elder's Quorum President and is thoroughly enjoying having more Elders in the Quorum. I was called back into the Young Woman's, but as a Mia Maid Advisor instead of Beehive Advisor. We are both enjoying our callings immensely. Madi started nursery in December and...is still adjusting. Stranger anxiety seems to be at an all time high with her, but we hope she gets over that soon! We have wonderful nursery leaders who really take care of the kids. Gabi started SUNBEAMS this year!! I almost felt like it was the first day of school and I had to drop her off, I almost whipped out a camera and shed a tear. Okay, I almost shed a tear and wished I could whip out my camera, but it's church, so I couldn't do that. :) She's...adjusting as well. She has a really large class with 9+ kids. 7 of which come on a regular basis. That teacher sure has her job cut our for her! Overall, we really really love our ward to pieces, and having the combined wards has only made it better.

Gabi post-dentist showing of her goodies

 Her new super-cool toothbrush

 Showing off her pearly-whites!

Gabi went to the dentist for the first time ever and did AWESOME! I totally expected her to flip out and cry and sent me into premature labor, but alas she was PERFECT! Not only did she let them take pictures of all of her teeth, she also let them CLEAN her teeth!! (Apparently they consider it a success alone if the kid sits in the chair without crying) I know some adults who get squirmy with that, but my adorable little 3 year old did SUPERB! We were so proud of her, and I think the hygienist who cleaned her teeth was super glad she didn't have to deal with a sad kiddo. Yeah Gabi!
Nesting. Something all prego woman do in some form or the other, especially those finally weeks. I seriously have had it bad this time. I've reorganized again and again and again, painted a room, made Isaac paint the bathroom (I'll be honest, I've made Isaac do A LOT!) We switched Gabi into her own room (the newly painted one) and a ton of other little projects all associated with organizing. It has kept me busy, but it has also kept me from counting the days.
We hope you are all enjoying this new year as much as we have so far. Best Wishes to you all in 2012!!

PS all you moms who ever feel a little overwhelmed, check this out. Just remember, all you have to do is stop once in awhile and "enjoy the view"

Inner Peace

Recently we watched Kung-Fu Panda 2- I have to admit I am not a huge Jack Black fan, okay, I'm not a fan at all, so even watching an animated movie where plays the voice of the main character was less than appealing to me. That being said as we watched the movie I found some very profound truths in there. In the beginning Master Shifou is telling Po that the final lesson of Kung Fu is finding inner peace. Each person finds it in a different way, but once it is mastered your potential is increased. Throughout the movie Po is dealing with flashbacks from his childhood and discovers along the way a lot about his past, who he really is, and who he is meant to become. A couple of things that I pondered on were 1) When the world sends the waves of life rocking our boat, how do we react to that, how can we learn to deal with the rocking boat and continue on our journey, and 2) We all have that discovery process of self in this life and we have a lot of people who help us on the way. We all are children of God who have a divine purpose here on earth and we have things that we all need to accomplish on this earth, each very unique and differen,t as we strive to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ in hopes to one day return to him.
When I was on my mission my sweet little sister sent me a letter and a note card that contained this quote by Bishop H. Burke Peterson, "One of the greatest challenges is to overcome the feeling that we are unimportant, that we are not special and unique. Do you think for a moment that Heavenly Father would have sent one of His children to this earth by accident, without the possibility of a significant work to perform?...
My dear friends, you are a royal generation. You were preserved to come to the earth in this time for a special purpose. Not just a few of you, but all of you. There are things for each of you to do that no one else can do as well as you. If you do not prepare to do them, they will not be done. Your mission is unique and distinctive for you. Please don’t make another have to take your place. He or she can’t do it as well as you can. If you will let Him, I testify that our Father in Heaven will walk with you through the journey of life and inspire you to know your special purpose here." (New Era, May 1979, pp. 4-5) I kept that note card and nearly 6 years later I still reflect on it often. I know each of us has a divine purpose here on earth, we truly are a royal generation, I know this is true.
As I've contemplated on "Inner Peace" or being at peace lately I've really tried to understand what it means to acquire peace and to let it flourish in my life. It hasn't been easy and I'm only just beginning. I often imagine myself standing on a boat staring off into the distance enjoying the sunshine, turning around for just a moment only to see a storm looming overhead, wondering what I'm going to do- metaphorically speaking, of course. Life can be hard, the waters rocky and toss us to and fro. Amidst adversity how can we still remain at peace? Marvin J Ashton said,
"Certainly peace is the opposite of fear. Peace is a blessing that comes to those who trust in God. It is established through individual righteousness. True personal peace comes about through eternal vigilance and constant righteous efforts. No man can be at peace who is untrue to his better self. No man can have lasting peace who is living a lie. Peace can never come to the transgressor of the law. Commitment to God’s laws is the basis for peace. Peace is something we earn. It is not a gift. Rather, it is a possession earned by those who love God and work to achieve the blessings of peace. It is not a written document. It is something that must come from within." (Oct 1985 Conference address)
I know I have a long way to go, but I enjoy those peaceful moments when everything in the world seems just right. The worries and stress aren't gone forever, but they seem to melt away, and I am left feeling sunshine on my face and the feeling that through God all things are possible.

Such a cutie!

As I mentioned earlier I missed a lot of key events due lack of blogging this summer. One important event that I want to make sure I write about is my cute new niece Lilly! Ryan and Jennie had their second girl in August, and boy is she a cutie!! We were super lucky and happened to be in Utah when she was born, so we got to see her when she was barely over a day old. Such a sweetie, I LOVE her cheeks!

Emma is an adorable older sister, always making sure that her little sis is okay.

Emma just turned 2, Happy Birthday Emma!!

(all pics stolen from Ryan and Jennie's blog :))

We are so grateful for wonderful family, Gabi and Madi just love their cousins!

Santa Clause is coming to Town!

Last night was our ward Christmas party. We recently combined wards- I'll update on that later- so there were a lot of new faces there. I wish I had taken more pictures, it was set up beautifully. The program was wonderful too. They retold the Christmas story and had live Nativity along with singing. The youth played the parts and did a fantastic job! The baby Jesus was an actual baby, our friends little guy who is SO CUTE and was so good. The spirit was so strong. I love moments like those where we are able to take some time and think about the real meaning of the season.
Of course afterwards Santa came, and I'll be honest folks, I think he's the real deal. Check out the pictures and decide for yourself. I have to say that I was a little apprehensive about Gabi meeting Santa for the first time, we've never done the Santa thing before for whatever reason. So I tried to prepare her all day yesterday by telling her that she was going to get to see Santa that night. All she was interested in meeting, however, were Santa's reindeer. So as we were waiting in line to meet him I was getting really stressed out. I turned to talk to Isaac and then someone told me that Gabi was sitting on Santa's lap. Apparently she totally cut in front of like 5 kids (she didn't know :)) walked right up to Santa and sat on his lap!! What happened to my shy little girl?! She sat and chatted with him for a bit and loved every minute of it. As you can see from the pictures, Madi wasn't quite as taken with the jolly old man. He was super nice and all of the kids loved him!!

Sometimes it's Okay to Cry Over Spilt Milk

You know those days when you've gotten a great nights sleep, you wake up to sunshine and happy kids and you think to yourself, "Life is great." Life is great, but today was not one of those days. The sun was shining and I was optimistic about the day until my one-year old woke up early, my three year old thought potty training is sitting on the potty after you pee your pants, and right after getting dressed spilling a glass full of milk all over myself and then realizing that I have no other clean clothes because today I was going to do laundry. I have to admit, I did cry over spilt milk today. My sweet little 3 year old was very concerned for her seriously hysterical mama. I decided today that sometimes it's okay to cry over spilt milk. Because you have a good cry, clean up the milk and  life goes on. After that spat life got a lot better, and yes the sun was still shining.

"I have little doubt that many of us are troubled with fears concerning ourselves. We are in a period of stress across the world. There are occasionally hard days for each of us. Do not despair. Do not give up. Look for the sunlight through the clouds. Opportunities will eventually open to you. Do not let the prophets of gloom endanger your possibilities (President Gordon B. Hinckley from Ensign, Apr. 1986, 4–5)."