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!