October 2015-not done need phone pics

 Brynn at 5 months

Halloween 2015

 It rained pretty much the whole time but we still had a great time. Colin went off with his friends for the first time and it was hard for me. We missed him!

2016 Primary Debates

Evrett @ 6 years old during democrat primary debate:

The people are just all fighting over who is best and they all thinkng they are the best. The girl thinks she is best and all of the boys want to do something else. The girl is like talking about banks and the boys think her bank idea is wrong. (Hilary Clinton and other end running for president 2015. Talking about Wallstreet and banks)

Baby Brynn is Born!

It has now been a month since Brynn was born, time has flown! Here is a little info on how she got here.

ARRIVAL: On Wednesday April 29th I got sick with the stomach bug. Yuck. Actually all of us did within a few hours of each other. That night my normal braxton hicks because a little more intense, enough to wake me up from sleep, but they were far apart and inconsistent. I assumed it was because of the stomach bug and dehydration. The following day they went away but picked right back up that night and continued throughout the day on friday, sometimes clustering together close then nothing for ano hour, and still not very painful. I spent the day running errands so figured it was from all the walking around. Then around midnight I suddenly had a pretty dang strong one and they started coming every 7-8 minutes or some. They didn't let up and by 3 am they were 5 minutes apart so I called my mom. But the time she got here (which was only 20 minutes) they were coming every 2-3 minutes. It was kind of exciting!! and terrifying at the same time since it was my first time going into labor on my own (without water breaking or induction). As we headed down the hill to the hospital I started worrying we had waited too long and wouldn't make it in time for the epidural, yikes! and we were suddenly stopped my a construction worker! I rolled the window down and yelled I was in labor and he quickly signaled the other workers to let us through. We made it to the hospital quickly and safely but I was a little panicked at the nurses slow pace to get me checked in and checked. When they finally did check me (which really was probably only 10 minutes, i was just nervous) I was already dilated to an 8! This little girl was coming soon. Luckily I got the epidural in time and everything was beautifully smooth after that. She was born at 6:18am Saturday May 2nd, 2015. 7 lbs 13 ounces, 20 inches long. One week early. A perfect little beauty.

NAME DRAMA: This was so hard for me! We pretty much decided back in december that we both liked the name Brynn, and unless something else popped up that we liked better, that would be her name. BUT I didn't tell anyone! People would ask and I'd brush it off with a we aren't set yet. I did this for a couple reasons. 1. I don't like being swayed by peoples' reactions/opinions, 2. I hesitate to fully commit to a name until we've had the baby. I feel there is always a chance for a change of mind last minute and didn't want anything carved in stone just yet and 3. with ultrasounds there isn't much exciting surprise left when the baby is born. I have liked keeping the names to ourselves to announce with the arrival of the baby. So despite many chances to stake our claim on the name Brynn I didn't do it. I even had a dream at about 35 weeks preggo that I got on FB and a friend here had just named her baby Brynn too. But I said nothing. And then the dream came true about one week later! I got on fb and there was the family in our ward with their new little girl named Brynlee! WHAT THE HECK HAD I DONE!!!???! I was so emotionally upset and sobbed (preggo hormones) and sobbed some more, feeling like we coulnd't use the name. I then spent the next couple weeks scouring for other ideas we could all agree on. See the boys were all totally set on Brynn, Ben was set on Brynn, my mom was set on Brynn, and I was set on it except for my pride not wanting to use a same name. But after lots of though on what her name should be and talking to another mom in the ward I figured oh well, use the name. They are in different schools and who knows if we will even be in the same ward forever. So we did. A little awkwardness followed but I've just had to suck it up and deal because we absolutely love the name and feel it fits our family perfectly. 

PS. Since I haven't written much about it, this pregnancy was somewhat miserable and I am so so glad to have my body back. I was having such a hard time keeping up with everything that needed done in my fat, really swollen, tired, and stretched thin body. So this last month has gone pretty well. It gets quite chaotic, especially with now demanding Cody is, so we are all looking for ward to the summer and a slower pace. But we all are doing pretty good.

May 2015-not done

Other then Brynn's arrival we have a few other fun May things:

Cody's birthday,

Cameron moved to Seattle!

Brannon had his school concert

Family bike ride, even Evrett!

Evrett's baseball games

Father Son Campout-Cody went!

Aunt Haylee came to visit

Lots of snuggling baby :)

April 2015

This has been a month of beautiful weather and getting things done. Super baby "nesting" is in full force. The boys had spring break and we spent most of the time hanging out at home, playing video games, toys, riding bikes, kickball, etc. They did help me plant some flowers on the back deck...they each picked out a flower for it and we did go to an indoor water part at a local rec center but otherwise it was really low key and nice. I spent a lot of time working on painting our dining table/chairs, up until my carpel tunnel became too painful to do it and finished up a bunch of baby projects: recovered a swing, made knit blankets, a nursing cover, bows and headbands (with colin and ben's help) and organized her closet. We had a fun Easter weekend where we got to see Tyler and MaryKate, Jessica and her boyfriend Ryler, and then Braden and his girlfriend Heidi. We didn't see them a whole lot since they went off and kids sightseeing but it was a lot of fun. Easter and General Conference were the same weekend and it was kind of tricky to balance the two. The boys got a little candy and a Mariners shirt from the easter bunny and I got super super swollen that previous week and weekend and felt kind of terrible! We got to spend a few hours with our Chicago friends, the Ocampos, when they were in town visiting family in Auburn and Renton. The boys' had their Science Fair where Colin and Brannon's projects were displayed and Evrett's habitat was up too. We also got to go to Evrett's school Spring Music and Movement concert which was super cute! Cody was invited to his first birthday party and LOVED the party favor bag he was given. He napped with it and carried it around the whole next day.