my sweet baby...

Today I am sick, but mostly depressed.... I start a new job on Monday which will be an awesome opportunity for me and very helpful for us to have the money to move.  I am going to become a Customer Service Representative for Sierra Trading Post.  I am primarily stressed about this because I cannot find my SS card and they told me to bring it in... I am missing that along with my birth certificate and our marriage license.  I remember putting all the papers into an envelope and taking them somewhere... and I have no idea where or what I took them too. It would be really great if I could locate them though...  Anyway, my new schedule consists of babysitting starting at 7:30  until about 4, at 4 Britain and Maelie go to Maelies house where Brandon will pick Britain up at 5 on Monday.  I then head to the call center at 4:30 and don't come home until 10. On Wednesdays Aunt Sheralyn will babysit while Brandon is in school and I work, and the other days Brandon will get to have a lot of daddy daughter dates with his baby girl.

We are currently trying to find an apartment to live in in Utah.  Beth is helping me a lot by giving me lots of information on resident manager positions and jobs and all kinds of useful stuff.  I am really hoping we can get a resident manager position because then we could save a lot for school and I wouldn't be stressed about staying home with the baby.  I love to stay home with my girl, I will really miss her when her daddy gets to feed her and put her to bed at night... It  is going to be a tough 8 weeks for me, but it will be good for all of us.

My quilts are coming alone nicely.  I got the fabric for my 5th one today.  I am excited about all of them.  Britain's favorite part is laying in the scraps it is adorable.   Too bad I didn't think of it sooner, I should have made her a "rag doll" by sewing a bunch of the long scraps to her pjs.  It would have been soo cute, and she would have had a blast playing with the fabric.  Instead she was a pumpkin for Halloween and it was stinking adorable.  She was confused about the point of our night,  but she was a good sport about it still.

Project time!

I went a little crazy this weekend.  I just really needed a project.  So Brandon has been lovely with helping me keep the baby entertained so that I can work on them.  I cut out two very intense quilts on Sunday night while Britain drove to Lovell to visit Great-grandparents with her grandparents and her uncles.  It was an awesome time for me, I really enjoy having my baby with me, and I worry when she is off with anyone else but it is so great that I can have time to get my things done uninterrupted. I am so excited to finish these quilts and show them off!

Brandon's brother Steven had surgery to repair his torn ACL today.  The surgery went well and Steve is now at home recovering.  Unfortunately he is having a rough time keeping food down.  If anyone reads this, please pray for him, he is really hungry and it is no fun to throw up a lot.... Sorry if that was too graphic for anyone... Stevie we love you.

I cannot decide what I want to do right now, I really want to sleep, I really need to read for school, I should get on my laptop so I can show off the blessing dress that my wonderful mom made for her.  (I have to get the pictures off that computer.)  And I also want to start on my quilt flowers.  All worthy tasks... I'm opting for reading myself to sleep though, I had a very busy day with little ones and housework.

Last but certainly not least, our sweet little bumble B has officially mastered the skill of rolling.  She instantly rolls completely onto her tummy when I lay her down at night.  I tried to roll her to her side or back, she just arches her back in her sleep making it impossible to make her stay anywhere but her tummy.  I was worried about it, but she seems pretty self sufficient at the rolling game, so hopefully I sleep better tonight knowing she was fine last night.

One more story, today while I was changing Britain's diaper at her Grandma Jones house, I thought it was cute that she was so curious about the leafy plant next to her so I encouraged her playing with it.  In the middle of changing her diaper she pulled the plant off the shelf it was on! I didn't even realize that it was on a shelf! It hit the ground less than an inch from her ear, and made a really loud noise and she got a huge face full of leaves! She started screaming her panic scream reserved for intense emotion... I felt like such a bad mom! I do have to say that I am so glad that the Lord hears my prayers each time I plead with him to keep her safe.  I am so grateful that my prayers are heard, and that we did not spend the night getting stitches or staples in her head tonight.

And now she woke up... silly baby.  Goodnight all!

My lists

Britain and Daddy

Brandon Jones:
1. He never runs out of energy when he is playing with his girl, tickling, tossing her in the air, making noises with her...They are so cute together.
2. He gets up at 4:30 every morning to go to work at a job he is not exactly in love with, just to earn money for us.
3. He works until 11pm three nights a week to earn more money for us so we can get by.
4. When he isn't at work or school, he comes home and helps me babysit so that I don't get too lonely.

Being Goofy

5. He buys me flowers for almost everything.
6. He makes me dinner when I don't feel good, or when I'm crabby, or when I don't want to cook.
7. He calls me "sweetheart" and "love" everyday.
8. He helps me do my homework when I get frustrated.
9. He is willing to move me to Utah just to make me happy-even though it wouldn't be his first choice.
10. He even talks to Britain about her "toesies" like just now!

Basically, Brandon is the best partner for me to have.  We have the coolest family! I am so excited because his sister agreed to take "family pictures" for us.  So very soon, we will have cute shots of all three of us and I am so excited, because I want our entire life together to be documented.

One more reason I love Brandon, he is supportive of me going to the dentist.  That sounds silly, but I am in a lot of pain, and he isn't acting put out about the money, just sweet.  I am really lucky to have such a nice guy.

Teeth and other growing pains

I think the baby is uncomfortable.  My first clue was the wake up call at 5:30 am two morning ago that sounded like this: waaaaaaaa! [breathe] waaaahaaaaawaaaahaaaaa [more breathing]....this cycle repeated itself about a million times before we finally calmed her down.... by we, I mean myself and the tylonal.  It was not a fun morning, and unfortunately, the scene has been repeated about 5 times since... I guess my point is that if she isn't teething, and teething is worse than this, I might not make it to her toddler years.

She is so stinking cute! Right now she is sitting on my lap talking away, I don't know what she is saying or even what she is talking to, but it is awesome.  And when she stops making her baby talking noises, then she makes this weird noise, and when I looked at her to see what she was doing, she is blowing spit bubbles! Weirdly enough, even that seems cute on a baby!

This morning, Britain woke up at 6:30 and decided it was time for me to end my rest as well, so now that we have been awake for three hours, I have already made dinner, breakfast and lunch.  I love homemade noodles, and today I made them for chicken noodle soup! So for the rest of the day its homework time! And maybe some necessary cleaning.... I want to be totally ready to move in January!  Well I guess if I'm going to get anything else done I should get off the computer!

Sorry I don't have pictures today, we have just been really busy and the camera died... So I forgot to charge it...Anyway, that's our last few days in a nut shell! Love ya!

Long time No see...

Sorry! I got busy and somehow forgot to update or post again.  Oh wait, I remember, I got sick.  Now baby Britain is sick... Normally I would be miserable about this, but she actually deals very well with it.  She sounds awful when she breathes through her nose, but its somehow cute.  I tried to take a picture of her first ever dried runny nose, but Brandon wiped it off too fast.

 I am so excited because... wait for it... We decided!!! We are moving to Provo, UT in January! I have never been happier to be going home!  Brandon is such a sweetheart for offering to move us there.  One thing I'm really looking forward too is attending the temple more often! It will be so nice to be closer than 90 miles away!

 We are planning to attend school at Utah Valley University, but we won't start until fall due to our non-residency status... Tuition is really expensive, so we are only doing one semester with out of state and by January 2013, we will have residency and school will be much nicer to our wallets.

our Lion King reenactment 

I just have to say, I have a LOT of fun with my little family.  Brandon is the best dad for my little baby, I suppose he had a pretty good example from his dad... But he has a lot to live up to in my mind since my dad set the bar so high.  Personally, I think we make a great couple, I have never had as many embarrassing moments and cry fests and ultimately as much fun as I have with Brandon, and now Britain (Yes, I do cry with the baby sometimes).  Note our silly move remake time:

beautiful baby outside

Britain is going to be a little outdoorsy kid.  Lately I have found that if I want peace, I take her outside and sit her in her bouncer chair.  She stays content forever.  Also, when she won't calm down enough to go to sleep, I just sit on our steps in the sun- she calms right down and goes to sleep.  It is magical to watch her, but I'm slightly worried about my sanity come winter... How will I cope with no warm sun???

look how pretty her dress is!

We were actually on time to church on Sunday! In fact, we were ten minutes early! We even sat in the Chapel.  That may sound like a normal Sunday to other people, but for us, it was a reason for celebration.  That was actually only the second time Britain has ever been early to church! Go us!

yummy food!

Two nights ago we fed Britain baby cereal for the first time.  She was a little confused, but it was cute.  Lately she won't leave our food alone at the table... She didn't know what to do when we actually put the spoon to her mouth!

On another random note, I am so grateful for my blessings, I cannot even count how many times we aren't quite sure how we will make it, and the Lord sends something our way that carries us through the hard spots.  I am so grateful to be married to an amazing man who loves me as much as I love him.  I'm so glad he is willing to work two jobs and go to school so I can stay home with our baby girl. Basically, I'm really lucky to have all the support and love that I have.

Our Summer Project

At the beginning of August the Jones' went on a family road trip... And Brandon, myself and baby Britain got to house-sit.  We kind of went crazy and chose to paint... A. LOT. we did the bathroom, the laundry room and a plaid wall in the addition... yes I actually said PLAID.  It was intense, it took more hours than I could have imagined... and here is how we did it:

Taped diagonal stripes all measured out

We painted inside every other line in a dry brushing technique

We taped and painted the opposite diagonals in the same way

Lots more taping for itty bitty lines in blue and red...
then we dry brushed the entire wall with tan paint

Then we did the same thing, but in bigger form

 So sadly... I don't seem to have a picture of the finished product. But basically the project made me hate plaid for a couple of weeks but it was awesome and so fun to work so hard with my wonderful husband and one of my best friends- my sister in law :)  Anyway here were some of the other fun times throughout our crazy two weeks:

Britain's feet prints!

Taking a break...

Just a snack... lol!

Britain after helping mommy

I just love the beautiful family that I am a part of.  I am so grateful that we have each other.  As much as I miss Utah, it is great to know I am part of a family here in Wyoming as well.   I especially love my little helper.  Come on, she is adorable covered in paint! Who wouldn't love her?!

Rainy days

Today is a very cold wet Wednesday.  It was cold enough this morning that I actually closed all the windows and turned on the heat for the first time in this apartment.  I am freezing.  I'm wearing sweats and I wrapped myself up in a blanket.  I think today is the perfect day to break out the hot apple cider.  

happy birthday dad

Sunday was Brandon's 24th birthday! I even made him a three layer chocolate cake.  It was awesome! Sunday morning was rough, in the best way possible, we (Brandon, his brother Steven and myself) all worked at Walmart for three hours, until 2:30am, trying to take down the souvenir section.  It was amazing how good Britain can be- even when she is utterly exhausted.  Anyway, getting up on Sunday for 9am church, was murder.  But we managed to drag ourselves up, eat a birthday breakfast, and haul ourselves to church.  During sacrament meeting Britain was eating, and I was holding her on a blanket in my lap.  I smelled something gross.... Unfortunately, we both had to change our clothes.  Luckily, all the stains came out of my white shirt. The picture tells the rest of the story...

new favorite toy

I absolutely cannot believe that it is already halfway through September! It is just nuts!  I am amazed by how fast time is going, I knew people always told me that time flies the older you get, but this is just crazy! Anyway, I am trying really hard to stay motivated with school.  I love my classes this semester, biology is the hardest one and that is mostly just because online labs are kind of confusing.  But that is just fine.  I am so so glad that I can stay home with Britain, but it is really great that I don't have to leave the house when it snows! I love being a hermit!  The easiest part of school is that Britain is finally old enough to entertain herself for about fifteen minute increments, usually in her jumper that hangs from the door frame.

homemade fall decorations

I need to start decorating for fall and fall holidays.  I think the older I have gotten, the more I like fall, there are just so many fun things, haunted houses, holidays, family gatherings and traditions.  I am excited to get into the spirit.  I don't want to miss out on one single party/event! I want to have a really great time this fall! One thing I would love to do more of is going to the mountains.  Brandon got a cool back pack that holds Britain, so I'm hoping we can spend some quality time together up with the dirt and bugs....Mostly, I want my life to be a celebration!

Muddling

I'm reading a book right now called For Every Mother, it is awesome.  I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something to read.  Anyway, the author talks about days when dealing with stuff just gets to be too much, so stop trying to handle everything and just Muddle. It's helping me, right now there is just too much to try to be perfect at everything.  So I'm muddling... I did not do my dishes tonight... But guess what! No one is going to die! True story.  So try muddling, it is a life saver some days.

Britain very upset

Maelie and the block bucket

It's already been a long week, and it's only Wednesday.  We started with Maelie stepping on Britain's head, just because it was there... Then Maelie choose to throw the block container, which caught Britain's forehead... And today Britain got three vaccinations.  Poor baby is practically feeling attacked... And Miss Maelie is a little sick, we are trying to keep the missie moo hydrated.  And my school books still have not arrived... Hence, the Muddling.

Britain was super cute today though, after her shots she slept for about four hours and refused to fuss, I think she was afraid of making noise and getting poked again.  The doctor told me that she weighs 13.5 lbs and is 25 inches long.  She is in the 90% for her height and 50% for weight... I think that means that relatively speaking, I have a cute bean pole on my hands... Well it's past my bedtime.  Good night!

Starting school

Maelie and Britain playing

This past week has been really busy for all of us.  Britain now has a playmate all day, her name is Maelie and she is two.  Britain and Maelie like to watch each other, Maelie tries to play with the baby, feed the baby, sometimes she attempts to feed her more  than just a boring bottle!  It's been really fun watching them play together.  Maelie really likes Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go! So I frequently have both songs stuck in my head.

Britain hanging out with my homework

As for Brandon and myself, we have a lot of school stuff going on, Brandon is taking somewhere around 16 credits to finish his associates.  The school has cancelled two of his required classes already, so he spent the week kind of scrambling to fill his requirements.  I am taking twelve credits all online.  So far I really like it, but it is a lot of work and takes more focus than going to the class.  I do all of my homework and study time during the girls nap time and after bedtime.  Brandon has been really helpful about watching Britain when he is home and I need to get caught up.  It's working out for me so far.

Vera, Emily, and Britain

Vera randomly decided to drive to Wyoming to visit us this past week.  She was only here for a couple of days but we still had a lot of fun.  Lucky for me she even killed a spider in Britain's room one morning.  (That was a traumatic moment, I still haven't moved the bucket from where she put it down.)
Now for the fun stuff:

Grandpa Jones and baby after playing hard

  Yesterday Britain turned 4 months old! I can't believe she is so big!  Britain went to church with her grandparents yesterday just for fun.  Yesterday was also really fun for me because she rolled from her tummy to her back about 5 times all on her own (she can't get back to her tummy though, so she had some help there from Grandma Jones, some uncles and her mommy).  It was really fun to watch her start to get good at it.  Another really cute thing she did yesterday was respond to her name for the first time!  Grandpa Jones said her name and she whipped her little head around and tried to focus on him.  And he was at least ten feet away from her.  So it was fun to watch her as everyone else started calling her name out, the poor kid was practically a bobble head!

watching football

Since the day they got married
He'd been praying for a little baby boy
Someone he could take fishing
Throw the football and be his pride and joy
He could already see him holding that trophy
Taking his team to state
But when the nurse came in with a little pink blanket
All those big dreams changed

And, now, he's wrapped around her finger
She's the center of his whole world
And his heart belongs to that sweet, little, beautiful,
wonderful, perfect
All American girl

For anyone who doesn't know what that is, its a song by Carrie Underwood called All-American Girl.  Basically, Brandon really wanted a boy, he was really happy with Britain being a girl, but I think he just had it in his head that it would be a girl.  So anyway, I was laughing a couple days ago because Brandon loves to have Britain sit on his lap and watch fishing clips, or football stuff, so he was loving it when she watched the football stuff for a solid ten minutes or more.  It was really cute.

My awesome fire skills

Well today we are going up to the Big Horn Mountains.  I'm going to try to fish with Brandon, since I have a fishing license and I haven't even used it this year.  Last year I was a disastrous fisher.  Anyway, I am a tiny bit nervous about our trip today, since the last time we tried to go up this mountain our car broke down and we had to coast down to a construction site where we waited for Brandon's kind father to come tow us home... We still had our picnic like we planned, and I made an awesome fire pit in the middle of the construction area.  So it was still a lot of fun, but it cost a lot of money :( so if today goes better, I'll be really really happy! 

Choices

University of Wyoming

We went on our trip this week and just got home tonight.  We went to Laramie, walked around campus and walked into a building, kind of trying to just see what campus is like.  It was big, the buildings are pretty in their own dusty sandstone kind of way.  Much prettier than I originally thought from my one day in Laramie almost two years ago.  That day I was a BYU fan with a BYU t-shirt at a UW game, and everyone made me put a jacket on over my shirt to avoid getting yelled at by disgruntled UW fans.

So basically this visit was much nicer to my memory of UW.  My pro's include the fact that Bri lives there and I miss her very much.  :) They have snap dragons on campus and all the financial benefits.  It is also flat which is nice for walking. I guess if we decide to move there, I guess I'll have some things to look forward too.

Brigham Young University-Idaho

BYU-Idaho is as great as I remembered! I was afraid that I had talked it up so much that it would never meet my expectations, but when we got to Idaho Falls Thursday night, I just couldn't stop smiling.  Going onto campus was just as great as ever and I wanted to cry because I was just overwhelmed by how much I missed it and how at home I felt.  I'm definitely a comfort zone person, so Rexburg has that advantage over Laramie, but like Brandon said, it does feel a bit like going backwards, which is what I like and what he doesn't like. 

Britain and Em-Rexburg

 

I found out that all of my credits will transfer from Northwest College to Idaho- meaning I haven't totally wasted my time! I would love love love to go back to Rexburg.  I guess only time will tell where we will end up. Britain didn't seem to show a preference for either school, so this is about what she looked like in Laramie as well, but unfortunately, my phone doesn't connect to my computer so I only have the pictures from Brandon's phone. So imagine this face with Wyoming background and that's about what she looked like.

Now that the business portion has been taken care of, it's time for some cute Britain stories/pictures!

First the giggling! My baby is possibly the cutest, sweetest little sugar plum on earth.  Watch her giggle in action, and you will be convinced.

Britain and Friend

In Idaho Falls, Britain accidentally ended up with her very own queen size bed... I hope she didn't get used to it, because she certainly isn't taking my bed at home! It's back to the playpen cutie!
In other news of the cutie, one of my friends made her a cute little monster- reason being, even girls don't have to be pink and girly all the time.  So here is her first ever picture in the queen bed with the monster.  Question is- is Britain afraid of the monster? or afraid with the monster?... We may never know...

To Be Continued! Loves!

Catching Up

with daddy

with mommy

Britain was born at 3:27 pm on May 4, 2011.  She weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 19 inches long.  It was the best day ever.  She made six people grandparents; (all of whom are still young enough to have kids at home), created six aunts, five uncles and two people the happiest parents alive.  Leading up to her birth I was scared and confused and feeling a little bit crazy for having a baby so young... but holding her, was like everything stopped. She became my world and I wouldn't change any part of my life for anything.

more sleeping...

Summary of my Britain's life leading up to today: Sleep, sleep, sleep, wiggle and try to eat, but ultimately more sleep.... then there was the week of torture when I accidentally trained the princess to wake up every 2 hours...to eat, then more sleeping.  Then we went back to sleeping and -so exciting- sleeping through the whole night! I never thought I could love 5 am... but I do.  Every night that she makes it all the way to 5 am, I am a very happy camper.

happy bath time

Bathtimes: bath time was a very miserable experience for several weeks.  Then when she was about a month old, something clicked and she realized that she is a water baby like her mommy.  Now she loves her baths and only yells at me when I pull her out and cover her little bum back up. Aunt Tessa and I were able to take her swimming last week (for probably less than ten minutes...) when we were in Bozeman, MT, which was so fun! Although the water was cold even for us, so it was understandable when she acted paralyzed and stared at me like I was a nut case.  But still, my daughter will love to swim, I just know it. :) Plus, she was totally styling in her GAP tankini... unfortunately, the pictures were not on my camera- so I don't have those to post just yet.

So tomorrow we are off on our very first family road trip.  It's a mini one, but our family is mini still so I think it works out perfectly.  Tomorrow we will drive to Laramie, WY; I'm told it's a six hour drive.  We will look at the school and drive around to apartments-get a feel for the town.  Later at night we are going to dinner with our friends Ryan and Bri.  Then Thursday morning we are heading to Rexburg, ID to re-tour the campus and check out some housing options there.  Basically the plan has been to go to the University of Wyoming since we got married, but now my heart is missing the Burg, and to be quite honest, I'm dead set on Idaho.  So we will see how we are feeling after our trip.

Well, tootles, the baby calls (cries-whatever baby noises are called!)