D-A-D

 These girls adore their Dad. And for good reason. He is pretty darn spectacular.

Utah!

We had SO MUCH FUN on our trip to Utah! We had been wanting to go out there for awhile, and my cousin's missionary farewell provided the perfect opportunity. We visited with family and friends, returned to our old BYU stomping grounds, visited temple square in Salt Lake, ate at Cafe Rio multiple times, and gawked at the listing price of every home we saw for sale ("Yes, please!" says this Bay Area resident.).

  

Beautiful Utah mountains, and equally beautiful Cougar Stadium in the background

 In front of the new Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni Building (way cool!), Bryn shouts, "Go Cougars!"

 My Nelson Kids! These guys were 3, 4, and 6 when I started nannying for them. Now they are 12, 13, and 15...wha'??!?! They are as adorable as ever! We love them so much!

 With Tara and Kurt too. I would love to re-live this visit. It was awesome!

 The woman of our trip: Sister Rachel Black! Rachel is serving an 18 month mission in Japan. We are so proud of her!

 Bryn thought the Salt Lake Temple was the most beautiful princess castle she has ever seen.

 No smiles in this picture, but I think they look cute sitting side-by-side. Audrey recognizes Jesus and can say his name. Sweet girl.

 Enjoying the visitor's center

 And the reflection pool

For the Record

We have been so busy keeping up with the living part of life, that it's been hard to find time for the documenting part of it. However, I've experienced enough computer crashes (aka losing nearly all our photos of Bryn's first year of life) in my time to know that someday I will regret not taking time to document if I don't do it. So, for the record:   

We Love IKEA!

I'm not sure IKEA feels the same about us though.

Justin's Mom, Dad, Sister, BIL, 2 nieces, and a nephew came down to spend the day with us. We had a great time with them at the zoo. Bryn was most excited to see the elephants.

Bryn with cousin Jena

Bryn and Audrey petting a goat. Audrey pulled pretty hard on the goat's fur? hair? whatever, and nearly got her head taken off by this fella' shortly after this picture was taken. Too bad we can't fast forward the shot a few seconds. It would be so much more action packed!

Our first camping trip since having kids! I was expecting the worst, but things went amazingly well. ("Amazingly well" describes still only clocking about 4 hours of restless sleep...that's how low my expectations were.) We had a great time with friends up our local mountain for this overnighter. We'll see how the much longer, much further from home annual Malden family camping trip goes in a few weeks. I'm a bit nervous about Audrey climbing into the fire pit, Audrey climbing into the lake, and/or Audrey climbing into some kind of animal hole. 

Have I mentioned that Audrey has learned to climb? Or that she's super skilled at it? Yup, she is definitely our seeker of high-adventure.

Pray for us/Audrey. 

Bryn's first trip to the dentist. The hygienist was awesome. She explained everything she was doing, why she was doing it, and demonstrated each tool on Bryn's hand before using it in her mouth. You know Bryn and knowledge...she gobbled it right up (no pun intended) and was the perfect patient.

A couple of posers

 I need to do a whole post dedicated to our swimming adventures. It's all we do these days. Apparently I've spawned fish.

While shopping one day, Bryn found a toy that she really wanted and asked me to buy it for her. Instead of just saying "no" like I usually do, I told her she could do extra chores everyday for a week and then she would be able to buy it. I had a list of chores for her every morning and boy did she work! It was awesome! I'm actually looking forward to her finding another "must have" item so I can start workin' her again. The bottom half of my windows and the floors have never been cleaner. The best part was her eager and happy attitude while she went down her list of chores each day. 

This is a perfect example of something I would regret not documenting. When chore lists start being received with eye rolls and complaining I will look back at this blog post with fondness :).

Mid-May

Justin's THIRTIETH Birthday and Mother's Day landed within days of each other this year (they usually do), so mid-May was full of celebrations. We kicked things off with a surprise weekend get-away to Napa. I'd been planning this for a couple months. Keeping it a secret was SOOO hard, but it was well worth it. Turns out it's super fun to surprise Justin with weekend get-aways; guess we'll have to do it more often...shucks. ;)

We made it home to celebrate Mother's Day with the ones who qualify me to enjoy all sorts of spoiling on that day. Look at that scrumptious breakfast...yum! Being married to a good cook is THE BEST. Notice the crown Bryn generously let me borrow for the day.

Happy Birthday to our FAVORITE guy!! Justin was dreading the big 3-0, but let me tell you, he has been makin' it look goooooooooooooood! We love you, Justin!!

Disneyland!

My mom and Mark wanted to take Bryn to Disneyland for her birthday, but Justin and I didn't want to miss out on the fun and insisted on joining them. Before we knew it the whole fam-damily was coming along. It was so much fun to be there all together!

Bryn LOVED every minute, except for the ones spent on Pirates of the Caribbean, but especially the ones when princesses were involved. She wore an 'It's my Birthday' button, and every employee and even some guests made sure to wish her a happy birthday. Dancers and characters even came up to her from the parade to say happy birthday to her. It was so awesome! 

  

 

 

Audrey was a trooper. She endured long days, naps in the baby carrier and nursing in the midst of tons of distractions. Audrey, you rock!
 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Bryn seeing Mickey was THE moment. Her eyes lit up in complete adoration. She had no attachment to Mickey Mouse prior to our trip to Disneyland, but I guess he just emits something magical. After our turn to greet Mickey was over, she moved to the side, sat down, and watched as he greeted all the other children. It was darling.
 

We left agreeing that Disneyland truly is the most magical place on earth!

And then she was 3

I love birthdays! It was so fun showering Bryn with extra love and attention all day long on her special day.

The birthday girl: see how she's grown!

Weeks prior to her birthday, Bryn laid out the details of her desired birthday cake: yellow cake, yellow frosting, rainbow made out of candy, and of course, sprinkles. What's a birthday cake without sprinkles??

Family and neighbors joined us for cake and ice cream.

All of her gifts were loved and appreciated, but I think the fanciest items may have taken the cake this year. (Fancy things and books, books can not be surpassed when it comes to Bryn.)

Words cannot express how much I love this smart, imaginative, inquisitive, helpful, beautiful girl!!