Everyone needs a little butter

Or a lot of butter, in Brylen's case.  We have basically been told to let this girl eat whatever she wants.  Especially things that are fattening, since she is so underweight.  (She weighed in at 17 pounds at her 18 month check up.)

So, when we found her eating from a stick of butter (gross!), we just let it go.  

There's no questioning that she loves butter!

No hands!

Brylen

This little girl continues to be a joy and a handful all at the same time.  But we sure love her.  She is the.most.in-de-pen-dent.little girl I have ever met!  As long as she can do everything herself, she is happy.  So, Mom is learning to let go and just let her do it herself.

One day she was playing dress up and was pretty darn proud of herself for putting on Alayna's crown all by herself.

She has an obsession with shoes.  She loves to walk around the house in dress up shoes or my shoes.  

This day after church, she wasn't just satisfied with shoes, she had to have Mommy's bracelet too.  She looks so grown up in this picture.  (Excuse me while I morn the loss of my baby. Sniffle.)

Brylen continues to take every chance she has to get up on chairs, stools and the table.  I guess she just couldn't get close enough to the colored pencils.  But how can you get mad at that face.  

While visiting my family at the beginning of October, she rode the same rocking horse I rode when I was little.  To say she loved it, would be an understatement.  Giddy up!

She comes again

The tooth fairy came again and she did not disappoint.  Layna lost her second tooth and was thrilled that the tooth fairy brought her another dollar. 

At this rate, she will loose all her teeth before she goes to school.  

Ok.  That's a bit of an exaggeration, but still, two teeth within a couple weeks.  

That's pretty quick.  

Halloween 2013

 In honor of the Tooth Fairy that visited our house not too long ago, Alayna decided to be the Tooth Fairy for halloween.  And since Brylen pretty much thinks Alayna is the coolest, she got to be the Tooth Fairy in training.

Are they not the cutest Tooth Fairies you have ever seen?!

A close up of the Tooth Fairy herself.  I made their costumes.  Between reusing some things from previous costumes and already have Brylen's dress on hand, I figured I spent less than $6 on both costumes.  Now that is awesome!  My checkbook thanks me.

Alayna requested a sparkly tooth on her check.  So, Brylen then requested one as well, but I could not get her to stand still for a picture.

 The Tooth Fairy's wings.

 This little Tooth Fairy in training wouldn't stand still for anything.  As you can see, it didn't take long for her to start eating her candy.

She wore this little sign around and we got LOTS of compliments.  I guess she was the cutest little Tooth Fairy in training, there ever was.  :)

Evidence

This is evidence that this sweet, little (and I mean little) girl can get into her fair share of mischief.  (In fact, she is quite busy.  Busier than Alayna ever was at this age, but she has a big sister to keep up with.)

Uh-oh.  Markers.

It wasn't my fault, Mom.  This marker was practically begging to be used."  :)

She knew she was in trouble.  

Someone went in the pantry and got a measuring cup full of flour all by herself.

Then she thought she would taste test it.

And dump it out on the carpet.

Even if I hadn't gotten all the above pictures, this picture is proof enough. :)

She's pretty proud of herself.

August Happenings

The weather was so nice this summer.   The girls loved any chance to be outdoors.  This girl is getting better and better at riding her bike.  Maybe next year we will attempt to take the training wheels off.  She just wasn't quite ready this year.  (We tried.  But mentally, she just wasn't ready to tackle it.)

This girl LOVES her baby signing time.  And that stool is just her size.

What an interesting outfit.  Documentation was needed, so the camera came out.

What a cute little mommy.

A rare "snuggle with her baby and blanket" moment.

Grandma L. gave these punch balls to the girls and they LOVED them.

A beautiful princess bride.  :)  

Sour cream so yummy....even when eaten by itself.

1st Day of Pre-School

Practically a month ago, Alayna had her first day of official pre-school.  She was excited and nervous, but I would say she was more excited than nervous.  Once she was inside and saw all the other kids, (especially her friend, Chloe), she was right at ease and ready to go.

I just can't believe this girl is old enough to be in Pre-school. 

You know when you have an idea that seems really awesome in your head, but then it just doesn't happen in real life?  Yeah, that basically sums up this picture.  If you click on the picture, it says "Pre-school".  

It's the thought that counts, right?

Backyard upgrade

Our backyard was less than stellar when we moved in.  Basically, it was dirt and weeds.  (Apparently the tenants before us didn't see a need to water the lawn for several YEARS.  Hence, the dirt and weeds.)   

Meanwhile, we just dealt with the fruits of their (lack of) labor.  I thought the kids would just get used to it and get over the fact that there was no grass, but that didn't seem to happen.  Alayna pretty much didn't step foot in the backyard for several months (due to snow causing mud).  

But this summer our backyard improved when a family in the ward ordered too much sod and were giving away the extra.  We rushed over, completely loaded up the back of our truck, and got to work.

I forgot to take a picture before we started laying the sod, but these pictures should give you the gist.

And after.  (We have recently been blessed with a lot of rain.  So our grass is pretty green.)  The grass has been SO great!  Our girls love to play outside and now we can even invite friends over to play in the backyard.  :)

 Then towards the end of the summer we noticed a townhouse down the road that had a huge pile of sand in their driveway with a sign that said "Free".  It didn't take me long to convince Dan that the girls needed a nice big sand box.  

Several bucket loads of sand later, we had a nice large sandbox as well as our turtle sandbox filled to the brim.  One trip to Home Depot later, we had ourselves a pretty awesome sandbox!  And the girls seem to enjoy it quite a bit.  Don't you think?

I'd say our backyard is pretty nice considering we just paid for the cost of wood.  That's my kind of price.  :)

Family Fun

This year my family had our very first reunion.  Now that we live closer, it is was a bit easier to sort out all the details.  

Our destination? Denver.  Close enough, but far enough away to be considered a vacation.  

Our first stop.  The zoo.  When you have 6 grandkids ages 5 and under, I would say the zoo is a must.  The kids had a blast, and I think the adults had a good time as well.

Here's Brylen hanging out in the stoller.  Don't let this picture fool you, I think she spent more time out of the stroller than in.

Layna and Kendree looking at some animal.  They were intently looking.

Two of my favorite people.  Love them!

Grandpa pretty much being the best grandpa ever.  (Devynee is saying "cheese!" while Brylen is just trying to figure out what is going on.)

We had to stop and take a break for a minute and this picture was a result of that.

This cute little guy is going to one soon.  Seriously so cute!

Theses cousins just love each other.  

Jordan was playing a game with Brylen while she was eating some pretzels for a snack.  She thought it was SO funny!  She loves her Uncle Jordy.

Victory!  She got the pretzel!

Why, what big ears you have, Alayna!

Todd loved these stuffed animals that they were selling.

He just wanted to snuggle right up and take a nap.

Look at that cute family!

And this family!  (It's tricky getting all the kids looking and smiling at the camera!)

Layna loves her Aunt Sarah!  SO cute!

This little girl just. couldn't. stay. awake. any. longer.  (Good thing Daddy was more than happy to snuggle with her.)

And believe it or not (gasp!), we actually got a family picture!  

While I did so fantastic at taking pictures at the beginning of our trip, I failed miserably for the rest of our trip!  

After the zoo, we checked into our hotel, swam in the pool, and went to the Rockies game.  Adam, Alicia and I went to the temple the next morning (the new session is AMAZING!), then we all met for lunch, went to Boondocks and finished our trip off at Cold Stone (of course!).  

We had such a great time with family and can't wait for our next reunion!