Brynly's 5th Birthday at Lake Powell

My little Brynly turned 5!!! I can't believe it! It really seems like yesterday that she came so quickly into our home and it has been a joyful ride ever since!! We love her so much!!!!
She was worried that the balloon fairy wouldn't find her at Lake Powell, but she was so excited to find balloons around her bed when she woke up!! Her first comment was "Mom, I am bigger now because I am five. I think we are going to have to get me some new clothes because look at my arms and legs they are bigger!!"
Her birthday tiara that she so faithfully wore all day except in the water.
Her birthday party with all the kids
Bubbles and sand castles, what else could a kid want on her birthday??
Blowing out her candles in the birthday cobbler.
Birthday tiara thief!!! :) Brynly had a very fun birthday!!! We are so thankful for her and LOVE HER A TON!!!

Lake Powell 2009

We just returned from another fantastic trip to Lake Powell. We alternate years and this year it was with my family. It was smokin' hot, but we found a place that was shaded all day which is almost essential when you are on a houseboat with 35 people!! We didn't take Emry and missed her like crazy but we had so much fun!! Brynly had so much fun with her cousins, in the past Bryn has been the only small child on the boat so Macy and her hardly left each other's side...it was pretty much heaven for Bryn.
Brynly, Macy and Grandpa Smith

Brynly knee boarding...she was SO proud of herself!!!

Bryn trying to ski and getting SO close!

Going down the slide, a little reluctantly.

Making a sand castle

Playing on the rock...they would run down and jump in the water

Trying to ski again

Tubing...she spends most of her ride with her thumb up to go faster!!

Kayaking with Macy
Andrew put on as many life jackets as he possibly could and was unsinkable...

It was hilarious watching him try to go down the slide looking like this, it reminded me of the big red Powerball commercials!

Bryn and Trevan

What a pose!!! This is a picture that Bryn had Macy take of her. A week of good food, good company, hot weather, warm 80 degree water, and all the fun you can stand...what could be better???

4th of July

Our family went to the parade this year. which is a first for us. Trent and I hadn't been since probably high school. The Murdock's helped us out and showed us the "ropes" of going to the Idaho Falls parade. I didn't realize how many people went to the parade....a LOT!! The girls loved it!!!
The girls in their festive dresses.

Bryn and Talen watching the parade.

Not really sure what Em is doing here...
We then went to the Liberty on the Falls festivities and the fireworks. We had a great day!!

Our Weekend...

Thursday night we drove to Logan pulling our 5th wheel to stay at our friends the Flippence's house. When we arrived our truck started spewing out transmission fluid when Trent was backing our trailer next to their house. The next day we took it to a mechanic and they said nothing was wrong with it. WHAT?? Meanwhile Trent went to Ogden to take his third and final teacher certification exam and passed with flying colors! Yay!! We are so proud of him and all the hard work and time he put into taking those exams! So Saturday Trent and our friend Dustin who is a mechanic for a trucking company took the truck and did a bunch of stuff to the transmission to figure out the problem and prevent anything else. Saturday afternoon we drove to Bear Lake for our annual camping trip without any mishaps. We had SO much fun hanging out with the Murdock family and the Dennett family. We spent all day Monday at the beach and had a blast.
Trent taking a striped down Emry to get cleaned up.

Emry in heaven with all the sand and water fun...

Emry would get so cold we had to take off her suit and wrap her in a blanket to get her to stop shivering!

The guys thought it might be fun to catch some seagulls

Brynly and Emry loved digging in the sand. They made some little pools and dumped water in them.

The girls had so much fun! Good company, good food, and some sunshine...what more could we ask for??? We came home today and had two blow out tires on our 5th wheel on the way home. One before Soda Springs and another before Blackfoot...thanks to our friends we were able to make it home in one piece and with some sanity!! Thanks guys!!

Catch of the Day...

Trent took Brynly fishing at the Free Fishing Day program at Freeman Park on Saturday. Brynly got the first catch of the day, had her name in the paper, and won a fishing pole!
You can click on the article to read it...

LAGOON!!!

Brynly's singing group sang at Lagoon yesterday and we had so much fun! Trent, Brynly and I along with Brynly's Grandma Dabell and Annette Winchester spent the day watching Brynly enjoying every minute of riding all the rides she could!!! The bigger the faster the better in her opinion. She LOVED it!!!

The "Bump"

I am not a huge fan of posting pictures of myself, but after many requests here it is...
So far pregnancy has been a welcomed breeze (knock on wood!!). I haven't had any nausea or vomiting and the fatigue isn't nearly what it was at the beginning. I am now almost 21 weeks already...time is really flying! I love feeling her move, it is an incredible feeling. We are having some trouble in the name area...any cute girls name suggestions??? I feel so blessed to be able to experience both pregnancy and adoption they both such miracles in different but amazing ways. I know that all my children are literally gifts from God and two very special birthmothers, and I am so THANKFUL!!

Swingin' Sisters

We are loving summer!!!

I forgot to add these pictures of the fort that Brynly and Skyler made when we went camping. She LOVED her very own fort...what a good uncle!!

Memorial Day Weekend

This past weekend we went on our annual camping trip to Island Park. We were ready to try out the 5th Wheel Trailer that we just bought and it was very nice! All the fisherman had good success, Trent caught the first two fish on Saturday morning and Brynly caught two fish last night...she was SO excited!! She said it was a good thing she has such big muscles so she could reel the big fish in. Brynly and Kyler wanted their picture taken with the half naked fish, as you can see Emry wanted nothing to do with it...

Brynly was so thrilled to finally learn to ride her bike without training wheels! After she figured it out, I heard her down the road singing," I did it, I did it, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, go me, go me..." she was SO proud of herself!!! After she showed everyone possible she wanted to call her friend Talen Murdock right then to tell him the news. We could hardly get her off her bike for the rest of the weekend.

Thanks Mom & Dad, Ang & Brady, Missy & Andy, and Skyler & Liza for such a nice weekend!

Brynly's Singing Program

Brynly has been in Upbeat Children's Choir this past year and they just had their spring program-- it was very cute! They sang California Girls, New York New York, Oh Susanna, Haukilau, and See Ya Real Soon. She did so well and LOVES to sing. A couple weeks ago she sang A Child's Prayer in Sacrament Meeting with her Grandma Dabell and did a fantastic job! She is excited to go with the children's choir to sing at Lagoon in June. Here is a cute video of them singing their last song...

It's a.....

GIRL!!! We are a little shocked...we all totally thought it was going to be a boy! Trent had said all along that he didn't want to find out but he changed his mind when the pressure was on at the doctor's office--just like I had predicted! :) The good news is we already have LOTS and LOTS of pink!!

Cookin' Mama's

I am part of a REALLY fun recipe group called Cookin' Mama's if you are in need of some new recipes go HERE.. we had some delish food last night. You can also go to another recipe blog that I contribute to HERE, I love new recipes!!! Thanks girls for another YUMMY night!!!

It's Raining It's Pouring...

These are the very cute rain coats that their Grandma Dabell gave them for Easter. We are now ready for the April showers to disappear...