We hope that he has the most excellent birthday for he is very deserving!!! We love you, Dad!!
Sometimes I feel like I'm totally with it when it comes to housework and motherhood. The house looks good and I would feel semi-comfy if I caught Brylie licking off the kitchen floor, the laundry is done with only a day or so of clothes to be done, or I can feel comfortable when someone drops by unexpectedly because I vacuumed the day before or even that day. It's amazing how closely my self-esteem is tied to these little ridiculous things. For instance, this weekend, Brylie was not feeling well. She had no symptoms but a fever probably due to her recent vaccinations but the whole weekend, all she wanted was to be held in a blanket. And I was very glad to do this because she is almost never cuddly so this was prime opportunity for me to get my fix of baby cuddling with my not-so-cuddly little girl. However, I wasn't able to get my list of chores done that I typically do on a daily basis. I have quite an easy routine that allows me to do everything to keep the house spic and span without doing housework all day long. I rather pride myself on it if you want to know the truth. But I found it very interesting how not vacuuming or dusting or sweeping the kitchen floor made me feel a little depressed. And it's not that Brad didn't do anything to help either. He is very good at picking up the pieces when I'm not able to do it so our house doesn't look like a pigsty at all, but just the fact that I didn't do those things myself made me feel a little down and sluggish. Hopefully Brylie's fever will go away completely and she'll start feeling and acting like herself so that we can get back into the swing of things just in time to let it all go again when the baby brother is born. I've decided that that is what life is like; finally catching up so that you can get behind again. What a roller coaster ride! And I rather enjoy it!!
I can't believe I am the mother of a one year old!!! The time has flown by so quickly! One funny thing Brad said to me this morning is, "Hey, we made it. Our kids are at least one year apart. The future can only be predicted by the past." That is the ongoing joke at our house that fourteen months after this baby is born, we'll have our third and it will be twins!?! You never know what Heavenly Father has in store for us...I've probably jinxed us. I'm glad to already have 2 kids (more or less) though. And if they are all as delightful as the girl, 
I would be happy with 12 (jinxed myself again). So on to the festivities. At our little shindig for Brylie, we had many family members attend! Thanks to all who came. It was quite the party! And I can't believe how many gifts she received. Thanks for those also! She is a spoiled little girl! Here is a little video we took of her eating her cake...I am surprised how uninterested she was in it because she is such a good eater (like her mother!!). Mostly I think she just wasn't used to feeding herself cuz I am paranoid she'll choke and I'll panic, blah, blah, blah (anxiety much?) so I feed her most of the time unless I have broken the food up into minuscule pieces therefore not giving her the chance to practice chewing. What else can I do to mess up her life? I think I taught her that face!! Well, on to the video. This one's for you Mom! Thanks again for all the gifts and excitement!! We missed those who couldn't make it and we love you all!! 
In other good new, Brad received word that he has been accepted to BYU Law School as well so we have yet one more school to add to the list. We aren't quite sure where he will go for law school but it's nice to have many to choose from! We'll keep you posted when we finally make the decision!
Maybe after this she'll remember next year to make her own birth-a-day post so I'm not forced to do so. 
I can just stand her up and let go and she'll stand there until she decides she wants to walk or sit. Then she will sit and crawl. We have seen a few steps but she is still quite unsteady and will need more practice but I think the end (or the beginning) is in sight. Hopefully, for her sake, she'll be walking before the new baby is born. Carrying her and him makes me exhausted now but I have to remember I won't be this fat and worn out...I hope. Anyway, we have some fun things to enjoy right now and fun things to look forward to in the near future.
We have never ever been neglected or left out as this Christmas will prove once again. In fact, I think we were down right spoiled!! Thanks to our wonderful families residing in Oregon, we had a magnificent Christmas and so much more! It started going to the Allen's home in Aloha, OR where we met Cass' brother Griffin returning home from his mission. It was a joyous reunion, one that we have all looked forward to with great anticipation. It was so neat for him to finally meet his niece and nephew.
After that, we had a mini Christmas there and opened gifts to each other. It was such a good visit with them! 
We are so grateful to have been able to spend time with them especially Griff as he returns home from Brazil. Then on Christmas Eve in the afternoon, we packed up and drove the short distance to Wilsonville, to the Gunnells where we would spend Christmas and the remainder of our trip. Except for a minor cold that kept Brylie awake in the night more than we would have liked, we had a wonderful visit with the Gunnells including Christmas!!!
There was plenty of food and we took advantage as the scales will show. Thanks Mom and Dad G! It was so good to see you all, Lisa, Melissa, Amy and David, Grammie and Pops!! What a fun time we all had!
Chichen Itza ruins, Xcaret (Brad with the birds) and the beach. What an adventure!
There is one thing that is just my favorite thing and that is my baby girl. I'm sure this will change once I have my baby boy too...then I'll have to figure out how to say it. But I am so grateful for her and what a blessing and addition she is in my life. I add this picture as I absolutely adore it! Don't you just love this baby...and want to kiss her all over!!! I do!
This is the one we ended up choosing! We all look the least crappy!
We are happy to announce we are having a boy!
ome good food, we decided that Brylie was starting to act a little onery and we left. That night, she went to sleep as usual but woke up only a few hours later with a croupy cough. I decided to sleep in her room as advised by our pediatrician's website for croup so the night began. Brylie would sleep for 20 minutes or so and then cough herself awake and wiggle and cry and so I held her in sitting upright positions to allow for her to breath and be more comfortable. All in all I probably got 4 hours of sleep or so and she probably got 5. The next day, I was beat, and so was Brylie. She didn't play much, all she did was snuggle and rest on me the whole day. I didn't do much but hold her and watch TV. Thank goodness for Tivo! Anyway, Brad took than night and said she seemed to sleep a little better and so today, she slept in her own bed all night long and didn't wake up once and she is acting like she is feeling better except for the yucky crust that has appeared on her nose and refuses to leave. This is one time when it's hard for me because I hate seeing her sick and hurting and miserable. Luckily, she won't remember this and hopefully Brad and I will forget. We love our little girl!!!
Yesterday we decided to get some pumpkins that we could decorate so this is our trip to the pumpkin patch and the pictures we took. Brylie was a little afraid when she wasn't being held so we couldn't do more "smiley" alone pics. Next is the decorating part which we are excited to do for FHE.
2007 BYU Football Schedule
They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on August 22, 2007, bless their little hearts and IT'S ABOUT TIME, dang it!! They've only been dating for 6 years! 
We couldn't be happier to have Matt as part of the family for real now as we have always thought of him that way from the beginning! The ceremony was awesome and the whole day was one of those where you are so happy all day long and so glad for the day to be over with! And I'm just the sister.
