A girl and her cereal

We are still in transition so my computer access is limited. We have also misplaced our camera cord so I don't have any new pictures to post, boo. I'm hoping soon we'll get back to normal but for right now I'll just have to do a mini update.

Last weekend was my first time leaving Bria overnight. I had an amazing girls weekend in Sunriver with my cousins, sisters and mom. I'll go into details later, but it was amazing and felt so good. I stayed 2 nights and had an amazing stress-free time while talking with my girls. LOVED IT.

Bria and Brian had a fun daddy daughter weekend together and survived without me ;)

Bria and I leave tomorrow for Arizona. Brian is there now for training and we thought we'd join him and spend time with my grandma. We are really looking forward to it, minus the hotness. But at least they have a/c everywhere down there.

Alright, so I'll leave you with some random photos of Bria I took a few weeks ago. She loves her some cereal (so like me!) and we're working on feeding herself. She's getting better but man is it messy!

First Beach Trip

We live about an hour and a half from the beach (or coast as we call it in Oregon since it's frickin' freezing) but as of 2 days ago Bria had never been. Last summer we thought Bria was too young to really enjoy it so we thought we would wait until this summer.

I realized last week that this summer is rapidly coming to a close and we needed to make a beach trip ASAP. So we did.

Heather and Amy came with us and showed us their favorite place to stop and eat on the way there, then led us to their favorite beach.

To say that we all had a good time is an understatement. We had an absolute blast. Bria LOVED the ocean (despite it's -30 degree temperature...alright not that cold but it was cold) and couldn't get enough. We played in the sand, watched kites fly, jumped over ocean waves, ate delicious food, and had a grand old time. Bria was seriously an angel. She was happy the whole day despite missing her nap, I was so thankful.

Bria always takes a little while to warm up and the beach was no different...

Not so sure about walking on the sand, she kept saying, "Owie!"

Asking me what the heck we were walking on

Clinging to my leg for dear life

Realizing the sand wasn't that bad

"Oh, this is kind of nice."

Building sand castles with Dad

Once she warmed up to her new surroundings she quickly dug in:

(By the way, it was awesome having our own "paparazzi" there, Heather and Amy captured so many pictures for us, thank you!!!!!)

Playing in the little stream that runs down the beach

This is the part where I'm thinking, Should've brought a swim diaper.

After we played for awhile we decided Bria was ready for her first trip into the ocean. As we were walking toward it she got so excited and kept saying, "water! water!" over and over.

Walking into the ocean

"Oh paparazzi, we just want a nice family day at the beach without swarms of cameras!"

;)

Flyin' high

Pretending to be fed up with cameras but really so excited they are capturing these fun moments

Daddy's little girl

Who needs a swing when your Daddy is even more fun!

"Karate kick!"

She got so comfortable with the water that she didn't want me holding onto her at all...which made me nervous.

Once she was good and soaked we decided to head back and play with more sand so she could warm up, ya know, in the 63 degree weather ;)

Bria loves kites. Some of the books she has have pictures of kites and she just became very fond of them. So many people were flying kites at the beach and she was thrilled to pieces and kept watching them.

Brian of course bought her her first kite.

A girl on a mission

Finally we decided it was time to clean up and head out for shopping and food. We enjoyed a delicious bowl of clam chowder at Mo's and Bria even got a pink dolphin, 'cuz she had to have a souvenir of her first trip to the beach.

Bria listening intently to Amy

It was a wonderful day and we packed in lots of activity so we were all pretty tired.

This picture says it all!

Bria fell asleep (as did Heather and Amy :) on the way home which was perfect, it was a late nap but much needed.

Can't wait to go again :)

Best conversation ever...

...happened between Bria and I last night:

Bria comes walking into the living room with her purse

Bria: Hello

Me: Oh hello! What is your name?

Bria: I Bria (while patting her chest)

Me: What a pretty name, how old are you?

Bria: One! (While holding up 1 finger)

Me: That's great, I'm 27.

~pause~

Bria: I sorry

Aside from having adorable conversations with our toddler, we've been busy getting ready to head up to Portland.

And also playing in the sand

and coughing up some sand after eating it.

My cousin and his wife and kids stopped by to visit on their way to the coast and we were so glad they did. We got everyone together for a bbq at my mom's and had a great time.

Kayla (or as Bria would say: Kayta) and Jenny

The boys and Bria playing in the sand.

Summer is so much fun.

Apartment shopping

We went up to Portland this weekend for Bristol's 1st birthday party and to do some apartment shopping. The birthday party was really fun and the weather cooled down very nicely so we weren't sweating in the sun but still able to play outside. Bria had fun playing with all the kids and eating a cupcake, she seriously devoured the cupcake. Oh and we found out she likes hot dogs, another food I can give her! I'm thinking mac 'n cheese with cut up hot dogs :)

Bristol and Bria playing

Bria trying to look happy but freaking out that Bristol is touching her own toy...we are working on sharing.

Bristol enjoying her birthday cupcake

During Bria's nap both Saturday and Sunday we left her sleeping at Heather's while we went to look at apartments. I had fun, although it did get a little old after awhile because they all started looking the same. Brian, however, was Mr. Impatient crankster, which was quite humorous to me considering that is usually my role. I mean, we got cherry limeades at Sonic, how can you be cranky after that?! We did find a few apartments we liked, one of which was in our price range, but we're not done looking yet...lucky Brian ;)

On Sunday morning we went to The Bite on the riverfront in Portland and had a lot of fun walking around, eating, and observing. Bria particularly enjoyed a large raft that we let her play in, or boat as she called it. Just one of the many activities we are looking forward to living in a big city!

Bad Mommy forgot Bria's shades, hence the glare on Bria's face ;)

Me and my girl

Playing in the boat

Enjoying lunch on Daddy's lap

Now we are already 2 days into the week and Brian's last day at UPS is tomorrow!

Holy cow, we're moving to Portland. This small town girl needs to learn how to drive in real traffic.

Crazy times

We went to Gabe's first birthday party on Wednesday night and Bria had so much fun running around with all the kids and playing with all Gabe's toys. It was a perfect evening for a party and delicious food everywhere.

Stopping to cheese for mommy

Gabe watching the kids play while eating his dinner

Erin and Gabe

Bubbles everywhere!

I think she likes bubbles :)

Bria not eating but enjoying sitting at the kids table

"Why did you put a cherry tomato on my plate? And a strawberry? You know I don't eat anything that grows in the ground."

"Seriously, I'm not going to eat this."

The birthday boy making a wish

It's about to get crazy for the Holcomb's. Brian's first day at Intel is fast approaching and thus will begin a crazy month for us. Heather and Amy have generously offered to let us stay with them for a little while so we have time to find a place (and fingers crossed sell our house!). So we'll pack up our essentials and head up to Portland where we'll stay for a week. Then Brian is flying to Arizona for 2 weeks for training and since I love Arizona and have family there, Bria and I are going to join him :) We get to hang out with my grandma for a week and soak in the hotness that is Arizona. I can't wait!

Then once we get back we'll move a few more things up to Portland and apartment hunt. So I feel like we'll be kind of homeless for awhile just because we won't be settled quite yet. But we'll make it work and it's all worth it in the end.

We did have someone come look at the house which is exciting. I cleaned and cleaned while Kayla watched Bria and then Bria and I made cookies so the house would smell good. I'm hoping they like it and want to make us a great offer...and yes I realize I'm being incredibly optimistic. I can't help it.