A long awaited update

Okay so the holiday seasons definitely aren't my forte when it comes to blogging, but here I am amidst the start of a new year to tell you all to have a happy one! I wanted to finally share a few things that have been going on these past few weeks. Well, Kyle finished his first semester of Nursing school with flying colors on the 15th and after that, we headed up to visit Kyle's family. It was so fun to meet little Timmy (Brighton's new cousin) who came into the world on Oct. 31. We went up to go to his baby blessing which was great to see Mike and Sarah and the whole Comin gang (Annie, Joe, Landon, Keri, Dan, Olivia, Will, Van, Wendy, Casey, Tyler, etc...) It was fun to see Kyle's cousins and a ton of family! We stayed at Kyle's parents house and it was nice to just relax after a long semester. We even met up with Kyle's old roomate Mike George and his wife Tiff and their little boy Braiden and caught up on life with them. It was great! Then on the 21st, we caravaned back to Cedar City with the Meegans and spent most of the Christmas weekend and Christmas with the Montoyas (Our Cedar Family). It was seriously the best to see everyone and have a Christmas at home! Brighton got to open presents at home and she finally started getting the hang of it which was fun. She got to open her Christmas pjs the night before so she looked extra Christmassy on the day of. Brighton thought Gracie was the coolest and they played together really well while we all visted for hours on end. We miss them already! Next, a day after the Meegans left, our great friends the Grahams stopped by while they were passing through and we all went out to eat. Kyle lived with Sterling Graham and his family in Alaska for a summer while he was in college so he's really close to his family and Sterling's parents even came to visit which was great. A few days after that, my Nana came to visit for the Holidays (New years and what-not) and is currently here entertaining Brighton. Brighton is in LOVE with her (as you can see from the pic) and we're having a great time! I haven't seen my Nana since I graduated from high school so it has been a desperately needed trip! My parents fly in on Thursday so we'll all be together and it is so exciting! Anyway, this has definitely been the break of many visits which doesn't seem to stop anytime soon, but we love the companyand fun!

A Very Late Thanksgiving

Oh my gosh! Can i just say that I'm the worst blogger of all time?! SO things have been kinda busy but my big excuse is that our computer has o much stuff on it that it is taking 2 years to do anything so it's almost impossible to post. I know I just need to clear everything off so I think that will be my Christmas project. Well, much has happened but I'll start off with a Thanksgiving update. We went to Kyle's mom's house (Grandma Kathy) and met up with his sister Keri and Brother-in-law Dan. They have Olivia who is 3 months younger than Brighton so they had a blast playing together. Dan brought his new gun so we all went shooting for a little while and it was fun (note my awesome stance as I fire it off.) After the Thanksgiving festivities were over, Keri and I went to Park City at midnight to hit all the sales. I know, we're crazy, but it was fun to hang out together and feel the excitement of the hunt! I found Brighton a winter jacket that was 70% off so that made me feel good. Then we went home and took a long nap.

AFter Kyle's Mom's house we stopped by his parents' house in Cedar Hills and spent the day watching the BYU/Utah football game and eating leftover thanksgiving goodies. We stayed the night at Tyler and Casey's (our brother and sister) throughout the trip and it Brighton was loving her life hanging out with her Aunt Casey and Uncle Ty. All-in all it was a super busy, but super fun trip! More on the recent happenings in our life soon!

Mr. Prez and the Pledge

On Monday, Kyle had his nursing pledge ceremony which is basically a white coat ceremony signifying entrance into the medical profession. In this they recite a pledge that the class has come up with to dedicate themselves to nursing. Anyway, it's kind of a big deal and since Kyle is the President of his class (which we are so proud of!), he had to organize the whole thing, including invitations, programs, speakers, a dinner, etc... So he has basically been running around with is head cut off for the past week! The ceremony went really well and we're proud of his hard work, but he is very thankful it is over and we're thankful that we have a daddy and husband back (For the time being).

The Mustachioed

When Kyle wears his bandana, he loves to put one on Brighton too! Here they are twinners which Brighton seems to be tickled by. Also, I have to apologize for the nasty hair growing on the upper lip of my husband. Every year around Halloween, he seems to think that it's cool to grow a mustache. Who does that?! He tries to come up with a costume that will incorporate the said hair, but never ends up dressed as anything. So I told him that if it wasn't gone the day after Halloween, then I can't make any promises that it won't be gone when he wakes up in the morning (I've threatened shaving before but never had to resort to it.). Anyway, to my joy I awoke to a freshly shaven husband on Nov. 1st and things couldn't be better!

Hall of Fame Halloween

It's a little late I know, but I still wanted to show some of the pictures we took of the Halloween festivities we partook of. First off, Brighton was a little ladybug which suited her well and I was a butterfly, so we were a family of insects. I must have forgotten how fun it is to go trick-or-treating and get into the occasion because we had a blast dressing up and walking door to door. Maybe I can blame the past begrudging feelings on the holiday due to the fact that in Alaska we had to think of any costume that would fit over our snow suits. By 6:30, we'd be numb and go home with very little candy. Not so much of a fun holiday.

Anyway, here in Cedar it was a gorgeous day out and we could sport the costumes to our hearts content. We started the day off by going to our weekly storytime where everyone wore their costumes and Halloween stories were read. It was so fun to see all of our friends in their costumes! Brighton was loving seeing all the different outfits! Fun fun! Later on that evening we went out on the streets to hit up the neighborhood for the sweet stuff! It was so fun watching Brighton walk up with her little bucket (that was about as big as her!), knock on the door, and get excited when they put a treat in her pail! We loved it! She's at the age where she's just starting to understand things like this so it was a blast. Maybe it's the whole having a kid thing and doing the whole shebang for her, but Halloween has never been this fun before!

Brighton and me walking to the door. She just started getting the hang of trick-or-treating here.
She definitely caught on quick! She grabbed a huge handful of candy and went back for more before I could catch her!
Brighton the ladybug and her friend Kayson the pirate showing off their costumes together!

Brighton stealing a bite of pumpkin. P.S. Pumpkin is her new favorite word to say.

Also, the Monday before Halloween we decided to carve our pumpkins which I'm honestly not a fan of due to all the nasty insides that it seems like gets everywhere in your house no matter how many newspapers you put down. Well, we carved and Brighton really wanted to be a part of the action so Kyle put a piece of pumpkin on her highchair so she could play with it and the next thing we know, half of it was gone! She ate it! Luckily there were no sick tummies or nasty diapers, so she's alright! It ended up being pretty fun though and we were glad to see daddy because he's been SUPER busy with school. It was actually a great family night. Anyway, Halloween is starting to grow on me and this has been the most fun one we've had since...ever.

Happy Halloween!!

What more can we say?!

Monumental Weekend

Okay so a few big events happened in our lives this weekend. First off the Red Sox won the Series so Wahoo!!!!! I'm sure my dad is walking on cloud 9 (We are pretty pleased ourselves.).

Secondly, we went to our very first sheep parade! There was a parade on Main Street in Cedar and it was basically all cowboys, farmers, and their animals. They even had 'Ms. Rodeo Queen 2007' and the Rodeo princesses on horseback there (which is basically a horse riding beauty pageant!)! It was the epitamy of Southern Utah! Brighton was loving it! The grand finale was about 1000 sheep barrelling down the road! It was really funny to watch. We love the fact that Cedar is Festival City USA! One reason being there is always a crazy parade like this one going on about every other weekend! There's never a dull moment here!

Lastly but definitely not leastely (not a word I'm sure), Brighton went to her first day of Nursery at church all by herself! It was hard to see her go, but it was definitely time. Before we were out the door, she was playing with someone and didn't even turn around to say goodbye! Am I the only one having serious issues with my child growing up?! It makes me so sad to see her grow so fast, but at the same time it gets me excited for the stages she's going through. Life is crazy. Crazy but good.

Fever Pitch

We just wanted to say that we couldn't be happier the Sox are in the World Series! It's still a little too big for her, but we couldn't resist putting Brighton in her Red Sox dress that Auntie Cyn got for her (Thanks Auntie Cyndi!) and showing it off for all to see! We go to our clubhouse that has a gym (and Cable TV) and watch the games. Kyle and I have been sporting as much Red Sox paraphernalia this week with many eye glares coming our way, but we don't mind because we have that Boston pride! Hopefully they'll take it all! GO Sox!

Mommy's Little Chef

I had to make some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for my ward enrichment the other day and Brighton is at the age where it is impossible to do anything in the kitchen by myself, so I plopped her on the counter and she absolutely loved helping mommy mix the batter. She thought she was so cool being up so high and being able to be in on the action. She was quite the helper and would say "mi, mi, mi" when she got excited about mixing. It's crazy how much she's picking up on a daily basis! She's getting to be such a fun age! I just wish she'd stop growing so fast!

Sleepy Sunday and Harvest Monday

Well, as a little recap, we a great family weekend. On Sunday we went to church just like any other Sunday and Brighton normally takes her nap right after church ends, but she was super hungry so we thought we'd feed her a little bit before we put her down. Well not even 2 minutes after she was in her high chair while we were getting our lunch ready, we found a sleepy child. She zonked in the chair! She couldn't even keep her eyes open. We thought it was hilarious! Maybe you had to be there, but it was quite funny to us and I knew I had to document it.

Anyway, then on Monday since Kyle had it off because of a thing called Harvest Break (Which is actually just an excuse to get an extra day off for the first hunting weekend of the season here. Everyone in Southern Utah is obsessed with hunting! I daresay it's worse than Alaska!), we packed up and headed out to the pumpkin patch in Paragonah for Brighton's first Jack-o-lantern picking excursion! She loved walking in the pumpkin field and pointing at all the pumpkins, but I'm sad to say that the red dirt was a little more enticing to her. She was filthy by the time we got back in the car. It was still a fun a experience though and I love this time of season when orange pumpkins and yellow leaves are all around! It's a great time to make some great mems!

Night Time Rituals

Brighton has been loving her night time habits lately which makes life a lot nicer for us! Here is a run down of her evening....First Kyle gives her a bath which takes at least an hour as she loves to play. Then he lotions her up and puts her PJs on. But after that comes the exciting part. We get out the brushes and she squeals with delight saying "Buh! Buh" (which translated means brush). She gets one and Kyle gets one and she thinks it's so cool to brush her own hair, although she rarely touches a strand with the actuals bristles. She sometimes even tries to brush mommy and daddy's hair, always making sure to be gentle (She's a very sensitive girl). After our brushing fun is done, we say "Where are the scriptures?" and she runs for her special Book of Mormon board book and we read a story. Next we say " Say good night to Jesus." and she runs to this picture we have of him, squats down and lays a wet one on the portrait. It's probably the cutest thing I've ever seen. Lastly, we say our prayers and she can actually say Amen. Then it's to bed she goes. No tears. No screaming. And it's pure relaxation for mommy and daddy until morning time. What a great little girl we have!

Super Cute Claire

This post is a little late, but we just wanted to congratulate our good friends Kirsten and Aaron Henscheid on their new arrival! Kirsten was my roommate in college and we've been the best of friends ever since! Now we're both married and our husbands get along great so we're still close. They lived in AK for a summer while we were there so we had a blast together. Now they live in Montana and we miss seeing them! Anyway, Claire Jane Henscheid came into the world on Sept. 28th and we couldn't be happier for them! Isn't she one of the cutest babies you've ever seen?! We can't wait to see the little bundle of joy in person and hope that that time comes soon!

Lil' B in da' house

This morning Kyle thought it would be funny to put a bandana on Brighton so now we have a thug baby on our hands! My dad always talks like a gangster to Brighton and his favorite thing to say to her is "Lil' B in da' house!" Well this pic is for her G'pops. Doesn't she fit the part of a rapper thug now?!

The Domestic Hermit

Okay so to tell the truth, the reason I've been such a hermit and haven't even turned my computer on in days is because I have been working on a few projects and once I start something, I don't sleep or eat or basically do anything until I'm done. I realize this is probably a bad habit, but I just can't help it! So anyway, due to our lack of funds because we're still students, I've been trying my hand at sewing versus buying things such as curtains and couch covers. Last week I pumped out these curtains for Brighton's room after I found the material for a steal at Wal-Mart. They weren't too difficult so I thought I could figure out how to cover our polyester orange-made-in-the-70's chairs that we got for free. Well, to be honest it was a little tougher than I'd imagined but they turned out alright and now we can have guest over without being embarrassed that we live in a hippie house. So there you have it. By the end of the week I felt truly domestic. But I think I'll take a break from my domestic lifestyle for a little while. I've got way too many puncture wounds on my hands from all the pins I used! Oh and there's a little eye-candy of Brighton and her daddy up top to satisfy your lil B needs.!

Provo Showers

I again apologize for the posts that are so few and far between but it feels like my days go by in rapid speed and by the time I even turn the computer on, I'm too pooped to do anything but check my email and plop into bed! Okay, so updates. We went to Provo this last weekend to visit all of Kyle's family and watch Will's (Kyle's little brother) football game (which they won an Will did great!). His sister Sarah was in town and she is very pregnant and no one threw her a baby shower, so all the sisters decided to throw one! We had a great time and since a lot of Kyle's cousins are at BYU, we decided to have a coed cousin party/ baby shower. The guys were a little apprehensive at first, but it ended up being a big get together and everyone enjoyed it. I met some of Kyle's cousins for the first time too and they were great! It was a blast! Oh and I made a diaper cake as a decoration which was fun but a little harder than it needed to be! Oh well, I guess I'll learn for next time!

We ended up staying at Kyle's sister Annie's house with her husband Joe and their boy Landon who is almost a year and it was so fun because Brighton loved playing with Landon all the time. She felt so cool trying to feed him his bink and show him how to walk (He's almost there!)! It was so fun to see them interact! I can't wait until they can actually talk to each other! That'll be interesting!

Also, one last thing that was awesome was that all the sisters (Casey, Keri, Annie, Annie's friend, and I) all got to go to General Relief Society Broadcast at the Conference Center. Annie miracuously got 5 tickets to go to it and it was AMAZING! Oddly enough it started raining and snowing on the way to Salt Lake, but we were determined to get there. Just to be there in the center and to see the prophet and to feel the spirit there was out of this world! I think we decided to make it a tradition to go together because it was quite the experience! Well, there you have it. You're updated! I'll try and be better, but who knows when busy life will die down?!