Out of the mouth of Babes

Today Gabi was sitting on the potty, stalling as usual, and she yelled to me in the other room, "mama, you teach me, guide me, walk beside me?" With a smile I replied, "Yes, honey." And then she said, "And help me find the way?" I said, "Yes, honey, of course I will."

As she said this I thought about the sacred responsibility we have as parents to answer the call of our children and to teach them, guide them and walk beside them and help them find the way. We live is such a crazy and difficult world, and our children need us in a very real way to navigate their way home, eternally. The primary song "I am a child of God" is one of my favorites- it helps me to remember the importance of being like a little child in the innocence, humility, and acceptance that little children have.

The next best thing to the zoo

I am a little sad to say that our girls have yet to be to a zoo. The closest zoo is about 100 miles away, so that has been my excuse. That being said, we have an abundance of animals in very close proximity. We live in a small town, about 2,800 people- and no, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine living in a town this small. There are a plethora of farms here. With farms and 4-H, county fairs and such, our girls have not entirely been deprived. A few weeks ago, we went to go visit some good friends of ours in the ward who live down the street from us. Technically out of town, although they can't live more than 1/2 a mile away. They are really into 4-H and had lots of animals for the girls to see. They also had some 4 week old kittens that were adorable!
The animals we saw: Three dogs, 1 cat, 4 kittens, 3 horses, 3 pigs and a rooster, oh and plenty of cows on the car ride over!

Little Princesses

The girls love to dress up and dance around the living room. They especially love if they have music on, some sort of a dress up skirt, and their "princess" shoes. I think they get a lot of their ideas from "Barbie and the 12 dancing princesses." Either way, it's super cute. Rarely a day goes by here when they don't dress up and dance around. They are so cute!

LOVE jello!

I had been wanting for a long time to make jello jigglers for the girls, and a few weeks ago finally did it. They LOVED it! The first time we made orange jello, and I cut them into stars. They thought that was pretty cool. The second time I used a gingerbread man cookie cutter and the girls pretty much just played with them forever, and then finally ate them. They thought it was so much fun, and yummy too. :) The stars won out, so we always have to use the star cookie cutter now when we make jigglers.

4 Month update

Last week Brynlee had her 4 month appointment, already!! Time has gone by fast, too fast. I find myself wishing the days would go faster, but wanting the months to go slower. Alas, one more thing I have no control over.
Brynlee's shots went way better this time than they did last. Last time, when she had her 2 month appt. she screamed for like 2 days straight, barely slept, barely ate, and pretty much hated life. I was really dreading the 4 month shots, but this time they went A LOT better, thank goodness. My mom came from Boise to watch the older girls, and let me borrow her car, since we are still down to one vehicle, which was super nice of her.
Brynlee's stats:
Height: 75% 26.?"
Weight:25% 12lbs ?oz
Head circ.: 25% no idea
She's consistent with her 2 month checkup. Even though she weighs less than what the doctor would like to see her at, she is following her growth pattern, which is what they really look at. As the doctor put it, "She's a lean fighting machine." Whatever that means!
Brynlee is such a happy baby and smiles at pretty much anybody who will give her the time of day. She loves to laugh and is super ticklish. She has bright blue eyes that are always full of excitement and maybe a little mischief- we'll have to wait and see... She loves her sisters and always laughs when they play peek-a-boo with her. She still loves to sit in her bumbo and watch everything that's going on around her. She hates to be alone and loves to be in the kitchen with me when I'm cooking or doing dishes. She tried rice cereal for the first time yesterday and LOVED it. She didn't even make any crazy faces, just ate it. She still blows out of her diaper on a daily basis. And, she loves to be cuddled.

Pretty Bryners at 4 months

 Gabi and Brynlee playing with the puppy

 Brynlee's first bite of baby food

 shhhh..her first lick of jello :)

 Story time with Daddy (part of the night-time routine)

 lol...random pic of Gabi and Madi

 More story-time pics

 Tummy time- total content to just lay there :)

How fast they grow...

When it rains, it pours

This morning I woke to a text from Isaac saying, "honey, I think I lost my car. I am stuck between Wendell and Gooding. Greg was right behind me and is going to help me get the car back to the house. Do you want to get a van." Honestly, I thought it was a joke. We have been looking at vans for awhile, and I thought he was kidding. Well, I was quickly thrown into reality soon after calling him and hearing his panicked voice. He had heard a clanking sound and then saw smoke rising from the engine. He immediately pulled over. When he popped the hood the engine was on fire! The car is toast. However, I would be very ungrateful if I didn't recognize the blessings. For one, Isaac stopped just in time. Come to find out there were several birds nests in the making sitting on the engine (common problem here, not enough trees I guess) that if they had caught fire could have resulted in a much larger problem. Secondly Greg, a member of our ward who also happens to be a mechanic, saw the whole thing and pulled in right behind him. He was able to give Isaac a ride home and tow our car back to our house. We are so grateful that it wasn't worse and that Isaac didn't get injured.
So it kind of would have been a crappy day (for lack of better words) with just that, right? Well, while Isaac was waiting for Greg to get back (he had to go drop something off before he could give him a ride) one of Isaac's coworkers saw him and pulled over too. Isaac reassured him everything was being taken care of and that he would be to work shortly. A short time later that same coworker told him that there had been an accident that requires that Isaac, due to his job, either transports them to the hospital, or meets them there. The person who was injured was taken in an ambulance, making it priority that Isaac get to Twin as soon as he could. All of this happened before 8:30am this morning. Yikes. It made for one crazy stressful day for Isaac. We are so grateful that his coworker saw him and called to let him know what was going on. Isaac may not have known until he arrived in Gooding, turning a 20min. trip into a 45min one.
So all in all a lot of frustrating things happened today, but we were also blessed immensely.

I know I'm kind of a sap, but here is our little CRV that got toasted today. I have to admit I'm totally sentimental and I shed a tear or two recollecting all of the memories that we have with this vehicle. I don't think I was quite ready to part with it. It was actually because of this car Isaac and I met. I still remember the first date Isaac and I went on. He was driving this car...

To finish up this post, When it rains, it pours- but without the rain, the flowers wouldn't grow.
Now, we just wait for the flowers :)

Mother's Day...continued

For dinner we barbecued, and it was super yummy! We just had burgers, but Isaac found gluten-free buns for those burgers!! It has been seven years since I have eaten a burger on a bun. It was wonderful! I have to admit, I like burgers A LOT better on a bun. We loaded our burgers up with onions, avocado, cheese, and bacon. I was in heaven! It was the perfect meal for a beautiful and wonderful day.

The Mothers in My Life

Last night after my girls went to bed and I was picking up toys I started to think about mothers. I was thinking about my own mother, my sweet mother-in-law, and others who have played a motherly role in my life. Examples of mothers have in some way shape or form helped to mold me into the mother I am today. As my sister-in-law recently said to me, "Kids don't come with instruction books!" I have thought about how we are supposed to learn how to be mothers. It isn't easy, and being a mother is definitely a work in progress kind of a thing, but having great examples have always helped.


My own mother has always loved being around small children. She thrives off of their energy, creativity and love for life, which has really made her into a wonderful teacher. She has touched the lives of many children and continues to do so. She has taught me that all things in life are learning experiences. That I should let my kids be kids and get messy, play in the dirt, and with worms. She has taught me through example that you need to jump in and play with your kids sometimes, not just send them off to play. Thank you for the life lessons!

My mother-in-law, Teren, is such a sweet and wonderful lady. I remember the first time I met her- I was so nervous to meet Isaac's parents. She put me right at ease and treated me like a daughter. I am so grateful for her kindness and her example. Whenever I think about how crazy my life feels like right now, I often think of Teren, remembering that she had seven kids, seven wonderful kids. Among many things I have learned patience from Teren. She thinks before she acts, and lets her children do the same.

Last, but not least is Sharon. Sharon, for those of you who don't know her, is not only my mom's best friend, but my second mom. She has always been there for all of  us kids whether it be sports, concerts, beauty pageants, weddings, the list could go on forever. I remember in High School we lived across the street from Al and Sharon. I think I went over to their house every single day after she got home from work. While she cooked dinner we would chat about life, school, boys, whatever. I should say, I probably did most of the talking. :) One of the things that I love most about Sharon is that you can talk to her about anything, and no matter your opinion, you never ever feel judged or wrong, and you walk away feeling more confident about yourself. For a teenager, that's huge and rare. She has taught me the importance of listening. I hope that I am able to be like that with my children, I hope that they can come and talk to me and not feel wrong or judged.

Thank you to all of the Mothers out there, what you do does make a difference. Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day

Today has been the absolute best mothers day yet! And it's not even over! It actually started yesterday when my wonderful husband said, "Mother's Day is going to start today!" He made brunch for us all and then took Gabi and Madi to Twin with him (not an easy task!) and did the grocery shopping! What a man! I got to stay home with Brynlee and do whatever I wanted. Wonderful. I ended up cleaning, but I didn't mind. I actually enjoy the monotony of cleaning, it gives me a chance to think which doesn't seem to happen a lot lately. :) When the got home, the girls handed me a dozen red roses and told me, "Happy Mothers Day!" It was super cute.I had homemade pizza for dinner (gluten free of course!) and we had a relaxing evening.
Church was wonderful as usual. Gabi sang with the primary for the first time since being a sunbeam. Even though she stood up there wide eyed staring at all of the people, she managed to smile every time she saw us in the crowd. She didn't sing one song, and neither did the other kids her age up there, but she sure looked cute! I went up with the Young Women to sing a compilation of songs, and it ended up turning out really nice. We had one youth speaker who did a fantastic job, as well as two Young Single Adults from the local YSA branch.
Madi even went to nursery and only cried for about 5min- a new record, and Gabi went to Sunbeams without crying at all! I taught in Young Women's today. I really love having a calling with the Young Women. They never cease to amaze me. They are so much more prepared spiritually than I was at that age. I love their unique personalities and perspectives.
When we arrived home Isaac had the girls bring a card with their hands traced on them and a bag of Dove chocolates...mmmm my favorite! Isaac also gave me a card from him with... a gift card for a manicure and pedicure!! I am so lucky!! It has been such a relaxing weekend, I can't think of a better way to celebrate Mother's Day.