Embrace

Last year in addition to making 3 goals for the new year I also chose a word/phrase to focus on. My phrase last year was "be present". This was something that for me personally I really needed to focus on. I had found myself mindlessly scrolling social media instead of enjoying the time with family and friends. I would pack my calendar as full as I could which ultimately lead me to not being able to focus on a task at hand because my mind would be running a million miles a minute just thinking of all that I had committed to. I knew that needed to change so I made "be present" my motto for the year. I am not going to sit here and tell you I was perfect at it but I did get better about putting my phone down so that I could create better memories with my family and friends. I stopped saying "yes" to every little thing so that I could be present physically and mentally for the things and people who matter most to me. 

I saw a difference in my life because of that little phrase and knew that I wanted to pick a word again this year that would help me improve as a person. I bounced around a few different words and I kept coming back to the word EMBRACE. 

2018 is going to be a big year for us, full of lots of change. It will be full of ups and downs because let's be honest, every year is. I'm not always great with change. I can be kind of a control freak so when things don't go according to my plans I tend to freak out and the anxiety kicks in. 

That is the main reason I chose the word embrace. I really want to focus on WELCOMING all the change instead of freaking out about it and getting stressed out.

Embrace also means to take or clasp in the arms, to encircle, to surround. These are all things I want to focus on when it comes to my loved ones. With all the tragedies and illnesses in the world, I want to truly embrace my loved ones. I would hate for something bad to happen to someone I love and always have to question if they knew how much they meant to me. 

I would love to hear what your goals for the year are (I'm still working on coming up with mine) or if you also have a word/motto for the year and feel like sharing, I would love to hear (maybe I'll even use it in the future!)

Southern Snow Day

Wow! I can't believe I haven't blogged since May. That's probably the longest stretch. Shame on me. Anyways, here we are welcoming 2018!  I believe this year is going to be full of all kinds of magic. For starters, we got snow here in Charleston yesterday. Yes, you read that right. SNOW in CHARLESTON. All day long my mind was blown. Never thought I would see palm trees and snowflakes together.

We had a prediction of snow for a little over a week and I kept thinking yeah yeah yeah, that's never going to happen. Well Wednesday morning arrives and we had a little play date with our neighbor in the morning. Once they left, we started getting a little sleet and I thought that would be it. Just a little bit of ice.

Well I put Brynn down for a nap around noon and then I look out the window and I see HUGE flakes falling from sky. I sit there thinking okay it's snowing but there is no way it's going to stick. Well as the next hour went by it really started to stick. The news predicted us getting 2-4 inches but nothing more. You guys we got 6.5 inches of snow.

When Brynn woke up from her nap we took her out to experience snow for the first time. At that point we only had about half an inch on the ground but it was coming down hard. Needless to say she hated it. She would stand so still and just cry.

I snapped a few pictures just to document the day in case that was all we got and it melted fast. Thankfully, we got more snow as the day went on and we decided to take Brynn out again. Brad showed her how to pick up snow and throw it and all of a sudden she was in love with it.

We played for a little bit and then came back inside and spent the rest of the day sipping hot chocolate and reading books.

When Brynn woke up this morning she ran to the window and saw the snow and said "snow, play, let's go" and ran to put her boots on. So we bundled her up and went on a little adventure around our complex. It still blows my mind that we got snow here but I loved the extra time we had with Brad and the memories that we made!

May Recap

May was a really busy month for us. I feel like we spent the majority of it in the car or entertaining visitors! During the month of May we made two different trips to Georgia, both for graduations.

 At the beginning of the month we went for my sisters college graduation from the University of Georgia! We got to be there for a week because Brad actually did an externship that week so Brynn and I got to play while he worked all day. My niece, Zoe, was also in town so it was extra fun. We went to the zoo, had s'mores, and went "camping" in my parents living room.

Exactly a week after going home for my sisters graduation we found our selves sitting in urgent care with Brynn. She had a 104 degree fever. It was terrifying and we didn't get many answers as to what the cause was. She was so pitiful. They gave us lots of tips as to how to keep her temp down. At the same time we were in urgent care, my parents were on their way with my grandpa to visit for the weekend. Brynn was snuggled all weekend long as we tried to get her back to feeling well. I snuck away for a little bit to take my grandpa to Patriots Point. I'm so thankful that Brynn was in good hands while I was gone and that I got to soak up precious time with my Grandpa. My family left that Sunday, and then we "celebrated" mother's day. We still had a sick baby so it was full of sad snuggles. 2 days later Brynn broke out in a crazy rash, so I took her in. Turns out poor baby had Roseola. My heart still breaks when I think of how sad and pitiful she was that whole weekend. Thankfully she got better pretty quick and the whole thing lasted from Friday-Wednesday.

Two weeks later we found ourselves back in Georgia for Brad's youngest brother's high school graduation. Brynn stayed with her Honey & Dude while we attended the graduation ceremony and then the next day we went over to Brad's parents for a graduation party. We went swimming and played games outside and Brynn had a fun time with her cousins.

When we got back to Charleston we went to the Children's Museum for the first time with our friends Jillian and Benjamin. Brynn had such a fun time splashing at the water station and taking everything off the shelves in the mini grocery store.

May sure was fun and busy month for our little family. We also said goodbye to friends whose Dental School journey was over! It's so crazy to think that we will be the one's leaving at the end of the school year.

Smash Cake Photo Session

While my family was in town for Brynn's birthday back in April we did a cute little smash cake photo session. Brynn ate way too much cake that week between her actual birthday, her party, and this little photo session so I think she was a little burned out by the end of the week. But we still got some cute pictures of her. 

Brynn's birthday party was BBQ themed but I wanted something different for her cake smash session. My friend has a little girl who is a few weeks older than Brynn and she had the cutest backdrop from her smash cake session so I asked where she got it and it was actually just bulletin board paper form JoAnns. So my mom bought the paper and then we went from there. I found this really cute mint green cake plate in the Target dollar section and just had to get it. Mint green just speaks to me. So we went with mint and then because my sister, Colby, had mint green as one of her wedding colors we were able to borrow her bunting. So the whole thing was really affordable and turned out super cute!

I can't believe Brynn is already 15 months. I've been the worst about blogging so I'm going to be playing catch up for a little bit.

A BBQ Birthday

We decided to have a combined Barbeque Birthday party for Brynn along with her little friends, all born within the same week. The "triplets" initials are B-B-Q so we thought it was rather fitting. To be honest the whole thing stressed me out probably more than it should've. I feel like because of pinterest and social media there is this bar that is set for any and all parties/celebrations.

We decided to have the party at Hampton Park at noon. We get to the day of the party and the park is closed to traffic. I start stressing because I wanted to make sure we had a nice shady spot since it is the south and it gets hot in April and I wanted to set up and make it all cute before the guests arrived.

I wish I had gotten better pictures of the decorations. All the credit goes to my mom. She really came through to make sure the party was adorable. On the menu was pulled pork sliders, veggies, potato salad, fruit, and chips. We had a cake for everyone to eat along with smash cakes for all the babies.

It was a really fun time to have everyone together but I'm looking forward to a much simpler party next year!

Brynn's 1st Birthday

I am feeling rather emotional today. Everything has me thinking back to the day our sweet girl was born. It blows my mind that a year has already come and gone. It has been such a joy to watch our tiny babe grow into a darling toddler.

Brynn's birthday fell on a Monday which kind of bummed me out because I wanted Brad to be able to be home and celebrate our girl with us but hey, life happens. I tried to make the day as special as I could for our little girl.

I started the day off by throwing a ton of balloons into her crib as soon as she woke up. At first she wasn't so sure about that but once she woke up a little more she enjoyed wading through them and throwing them up into the air.

Because Brad had to see patients in clinic that day I wanted to wait until he got home to open presents. It's the first thing we did as soon as he walked in the door. From us she got a play kitchen and a baby doll, from Honey and Dude she got ALL the kitchen accessories that are so stinkin cute I always want to play with them, and from Grammi and Grandpa she got a 4 in 1 tricycle that she absolutely loves!

After opening presents we did a cupcake smash. I knew she was going to have cake at least 2 more times that week and I didn't want to have so much sugar and cake go to waste. At first she was really cautious with her cupcake but eventually she destroyed it.

We loved celebrating our girl and can't believe how fast the first year flew by. She has filled our hearts with so much joy and our home with so much laughter. Thank you for choosing us baby girl. You are everything we ever dreamed of and more.

Brynn's First Easter

I know, I know. Just now blogging about Easter?! I'm trying to play catch up and I'm way behind. But I want to make sure I get things documented. Who even knows if any of my kids will look back and read these posts but I love knowing they are there if they want to.

We had a weekend full of Easter activities. On Saturday a few families from our ward got together for a little Easter potluck lunch followed by an egg hunt. We divided the kids into age groups that way the little ones wouldn't get trampled. Brynn was so cute picking up the eggs we pointed out to her. She didn't care how many she collected but instead focused on each one and opening them up to see what candy was inside. It was really cute.

When we were gathering our things so we could go home I placed Brynn down on the gym floor. Well she totally fell forward and ended up tearing her frenulum. I was freaking out because blood was gushing out of her mouth. It was so so sad. Thankfully her dad is a dentist to be and knew just what to do and could check it out to make sure it was okay.

On Easter Sunday we started our morning off with checking out what the Easter Bunny left for Brynn. The bubbles were her favorite thing along with all the plastic eggs. At church we enjoyed a beautiful sacrament program put on by our choir. We are so blessed to know that because Christ died and was resurrected that we can all return to be with our Heavenly Father one day.

After church we went over to our good friends, the Holmes', house for dinner. Melissa made an incredible spread and it was extra yummy because I didn't have to cook it. Anyways, after dinner we were just talking and Brynn just took off walking all over the place. So, she became an official walker on Easter and just one day before her first birthday. She also discovered the stairs and loved to climb up them.

We had a beautiful Easter weekend! Brynn has made each holiday more fun and it will be fun to see what traditions we will have as our family grows.