Family Visit

My sister decided to spend her Fall break with us. I was so excited for her to get here! Susie and I went to the airport to pick her up and-- what a great surprise!! My mom flew down as well!! It was one of the best surprises I've ever had. I had no idea she was coming and was so shocked and thrilled to see her. It was a sweet moment. 

We had a lot of fun while they were here! We went to a pumpkin patch. 

 hay ride!

Jammie time with the girls!!! 

We also went to the Arizona State Fair. It was pretty warm but we still had a fun time. 

We also carved pumpkins while they were here. Susie had never done one before and I was excited to see how much she would love it. Uh- she didn't. She thought it was gross and scary! She cried most of the time! 

Happy Halloween!! 

Enjoying October

We have been enjoying October so much. We were planning on having a fun weekend with the Largeys for Paul's birthday but Rhett was sick that weekend so they drove up from Tuscon for conference weekend. We had so much fun having them here. Susanna loves her cousins! They are a lot more.. er..... adventurous than Susie is so she loves to watch them and learn their tricks. I am so glad they live close! It is great to be around family.

Susie and Rachel are close to the same age. They gave each other kisses, it was my favorite. 

Having breakfast together

The weather is getting cooler (YAY!!!!!). We have been able to go to the park and enjoy the nice weather. I am so excited to be able to go to the park every day now. We took some pictures of Susie in her cute halloween shirt. I love being festive! 

I miss my family more as the season's fun holidays start to come around. I am so glad we have Nicole and Andrew close, it definitely helps. I guess I'm just a homebody. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving in North Carolina with the West family and I will get to see my family for Christmas! Even sooner... my sister Olivia is flying here this Friday for her Fall Break and I can't WAIT!!! I'm so glad she wants to come because she has all these friends and a boyfriend and I thought for sure she would want to enjoy her break hanging out with them. But no, she wants to fly here and hang out with her big sister instead!! Hurray! 

Happy Birthday Dad!

Paul turned 26 yesterday! We tried to make the day special for him. Homemade pancakes and sausage for breakfast, Susie, Sam, Emma, and I took him an Orange Dream Machine (Jamba) at school, I made his favorite dinner and cheesecake, and he opened a few presents. He got a few calls and texts from family members and I know he loved that. We are going on our birthday date on Friday if I can find a babysitter! We have been celebrating with other people, too. On Sunday we had some friends over for a picnic lunch and birthday cake and Nicole and her family are coming to stay on Saturday for conference weekend. Birthdays are so fun! 

A few fun pictures:

cheese! 

Susie is really good with her spoon. 

Well not that good I guess. 

Jammie time

Helping Mom make birthday cake (Trader Joes cake mixes are the best) 

What's Up

 

I'm glad the move is finally over. We absolutely love our new place so I can finally say it was worth the work. Moving is just no fun. I think I become a different person when I move, so my apologies to anyone who has met "moving Brianna." The cleaning, the packing, the organizing, the getting rid of, the cleaning again, the upacking, the reorganizing, etc. It's all done! And we are settled and loving it. Just cross your fingers we can stay here until pharmacy school is done because I DO NOT want to move again in another year. 

I was going to take a bunch of pictures of our new place and post them on my blog so you could all see our new house but I'm not sure I want to any more. You see, I love visitors. And I'm thinking maybe I could get more people to come out of curiosity. Yes? We have 2 spare bedrooms... with clean sheets and towels and the weather is always sunny... Just sayin'. 

Before we moved we got together with Andrew and the kids and went to Sealife Aquarium. (Nicole went up to the family reunion in Utah so she was absent). It was fun though! Mostly it was fun watching Andrew stress over being alone with the 3 kids :) He did a great job. 

 This picture took forever to take and we still didn't get them to smile or even look! 

Susie loves to smile for the camera! Most of the time it's just a quick "cheese!!!" and then she is back to her activity but sometimes I can catch it on camera. She had an 18 month. check recently. She has shot up to the 40th percentile in weight which is amazing because she's been under 10 most of her life! She is in the 68th for height and 9th for head circumference. 

She loves to have people sit next to her no matter what she is doing. She sits down and pats the floor or chair next to her and says, "sit? sit? sit?" She goes into hysterics whenever she hears a dog. She starts "ruffing" and panting with her tongue out, running around the house like a mad woman. It's hilarious. She is talking more each day and it is so fun! 

A Half Birthday

Happy 18 month birthday to our precious Susie. Being parents has brought us more joy than we could ever have imagined! Being a mom just keeps getting better and better with each day. 

Susie has grown up a lot in the last few months. She is talking all the time and understands tons! I've lost track of all she can say- she learns new things every day. She is a great sleeper, one 2-3 hour nap a day and a good solid 12 at night. She isn't the best eater (although she USED to be) she loves yogurt and applesauce, anything else we get her to swallow is a battle. She loves to play and watch all of the kids we have over. She loves her binky and her stuffed bear. She gives lots of hugs and kisses to Mom and Dad whenever we ask. She knows who Jesus is. 

Watch Susie grown! 

Her first few days:

6 months old:

 

1 year old: 

18 months!: 

ALSO! We have family in Arizona!!!!!! Woo! The Largeys have moved to Tuscon. We drove down on Saturday and spent the day with them. It was a lot of fun. Nicole made some yummy food and we enjoyed each other's company. We got to go to their club house which was pretty amazing. I'd consider moving to Tucson just for the facility. It has pretty much everything. We went swimming and played at the Splash Park which was pretty fun! 

Rhett couldn't be persuaded to join the picture. Next time! I hope we can hang out with them lots. 

Wrapping Up Our Summer

We've had a fun summer indeed. This summer I taught summer school for preschool, Susie started walking, Olivia came for a great visit, Paul completed two rotations (one at a compounding pharmacy and one at a rehab hospital), we visited Rexburg (one of our favorite places ever!), went camping with my family at Fish Lake, visited the Phoenix waterpark, Wet N Wild, lots and lots, had our 4th anniversary, went camping with our ward, 

and I just got back from yet another fun trip to Cedar. This time it was just Susie and I (Paul had school). We filled the week with lots of fun. We wanted to end our amazing summer with a bang! I got to see Phantom of the Opera in Las Vegas with my sister, which was AWESOME! It was in the Venetian on the strip. The theatre was gorgeous, the music was breathtaking, and the special effects were super cool. 

I also hiked the Narrows in Zions National Park with Logan and Olivia. It was so fun. 17 miles wading threw the Virgin River, sometimes up to my neck. The scenery was so beautiful. Especially on the last 5 miles or so (even though that's when I started to feel like my feet were going to fall off). I did have some scrapes and bruises but it was a great adventure. 

 See this waterfall? I jumped off of it! Yep! 

Our new preschool year has started. I'm really excited to have 5 kids this year. So far we've had a great time! I'm so glad I can make a little income for our family. I teach this class 3 days a week, watch Sam 4 days a week, and watch Emma (on the end) 3 half days. We are grateful for the little income while we're going to school. Paul doesn't get many hours in at work because of his school schedule, but 2 more years and then no more worries (right!?!).

Here's a few of the Suser. She loves to say cheese whenever she sees the camera out. She goes into nursery next week! And we are all ready (my Gospel Doctrine class included). Susanna makes Paul and I laugh everyday. She is so funny! Every morning when Paul leaves for school she gives him a hug and stands by the door waving and saying "bye!" until she can't see him anymore. Then she closes the door and toddles on to her next activity.
When she sees us get the peanut butter or yogurt out she gets so excited and runs everywhere pointing to me and saying mmmm mmmm mmmm! And when there's cake. Oh boy. It's hysterics.