The door

Chillin'

Bria loves to open and close doors, I'm pretty sure all toddlers have an obsession with doors. She sees me open and close our back door multiple times a day to let MJ out, so she wants to do it too. Well Aunt Jenny has the coolest door ever and Bria had a blast playing with it. Underneath the stairs is a little door that leads to a tiny room. Jenny decorated it all cute for the kids since she knew they'd love to play in there. Bria played and played with that door, opening and closing it to her hearts content.

She needed help opening it so Jenny climbed in on the other side. Bria thought it was so much fun to open it and say, "Hi!" then say "Bye bye," and close it.

The boys watched tv while Bria played.

Then I climbed in the little room to get cute pictures of Bria's face :)

I have a feeling in the future it won't be so cute for her to shut the door on me. Like when she's a teenager and we are having a disagreement and she stomps off to her room and slams the door. But for now, it's still cute.

*This happened on Memorial Day which is the reason for Bria's patriotic outfit.

The One With a few more Pictures

A beautiful funeral. It sounds weird to say that, but honestly my grandpa's funeral was beautiful and wonderful.

It was emotional to have the Air Force there. My grandpa was a hero and it was just wonderful for them to honor him as such.

This is a special picture, so sentimental.

We've been back for almost a week now and still not in the groove of things, I'm still thinking about our wonderful trip to Arizona and how much I would love to go back.

This isn't even half of my rad family.

My daddy and me.

Our whole family with Grandma

So yeah, I think we're having a hard time getting back into things because Bria and I got a little bit of a cold or something. Thankfully Bria seems to be doing a little better, but I appear to be getting worse. Not so good since we leave for Shasta in just a few days and I have tons of packing to do. Actually, I'm not entirely sure I ever finished unpacking. But I know once we get on the house boat and lay in the sun I'll stop stressing and enjoy myself. I love getting out on the lake and it's gonna feel so nice to just chill...even if I need a box of Kleenex next to me.

I still need to do a few posts to catch up on things, mainly pictures of a cute little toddler. But also because, BRIAN FINISHED HIS MBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I plan to devote a whole post to how freaking awesome he is and what a stud muffin my husband is.

The One Where we Go to Arizona

We are back from Arizona and trying to get back to the daily grind of things. To say that our trip was a success would be an understatement, we didn't want to leave.

It felt so wonderful being with family, especially during such a difficult time. We laughed, we cried, we talked, we played, it was truly just what I needed. I can't tell you how incredibly grateful I am for my family, simply put: they rock. I have the funniest Aunts and Uncles in the entire world, they are HYSTERICAL. Not only that but their hugs have an amazing ability to make you feel so much love and support that you think you might burst, it's the best feeling. And my cousins? Well I could talk to them all night long. Seriously, I despised the end of the night when we had to say goodbye, especially our last night there. Our trip needed to be a few days longer that's for sure.

Bria surprised the heck out of me by doing awesome. The girl acted like flying and traveling were her job, and she now deserves a promotion. I was soooo nervous for the flight and had a panic attack the night before about everything, just stressed about packing, the flight, her sleeping. But dang, that little precious girl shocked me and did awesome and was just so flexible. The day we traveled there she didn't get a nap, besides a few cranky moments you wouldn't even have known it though. The rest of the days she got a nap which was good because we were wearing her out with all the swimming and playing.

At my grandma's clubhouse ready to swim!

Bria is a fish, plain and simple. The girl did not want to leave the water, she LOVES it. Brian even did some stunting with her...pictures to come.

I met up with some friends while we were there, it was nice to give them a hug and talk for a little bit.

Abby turned 10 while we were there, she's getting so old!

So here is a summary of our trip:

Flight to Arizona: A+

• Not only was Bria good, she was laughing hysterically. My Dad sat in front of us and she had a blast playing peek-a-boo with him.

Sleeping: A

• There were a few times when I laid her down that she fussed for a minute, but literally it was a minute at the longest and then she'd zonk out. She slept like a rock which was good since she was in our room with us. Although if I'm being completely honest we put the pack 'n play in the big walk in closet, yes I put my daughter in a closet. Hey, don't judge, it was nice and dark and quiet in there, and don't worry I didn't shut the door.

Socializing: B+

• Bria is such a mommies girl that sometimes it can be hard to pry her death grip from my leg, but she warmed up really fast and was playing with all the kids. She would let her Aunts and Uncles hold her without crying first which is a big step. I can't tell you how much of a difference this made, it helped tremendously and I'm grateful to my family who helped me soooo much. She did cling to my leg a little bit at times, I think when she was overwhelmed, so that is to be expected. But after she warmed up and realized it was fun to go explore she would take off. One of my favorite moments was at my Aunts house, Bria was playing on this cool lounge thing that sat right on the ground. She'd get in with my cousins little boy and my other cousin would rock them back and forth. Well she thought this was so much fun that she ran over to me and said, "Rock a bye rock a bye," and then ran back over. For me it was like she had to come tell me how much fun she was having and it was just adorable, I loved it.

Flight Home: A

• Once again, Bria did wonderful on the flight home and didn't cry at all. She had a great time going back and forth between our laps, talking to the people in front of her, behind her, and we even put her blanket on the ground at my feet and let her sit there and read for awhile-that was nice for all of us.

Bria enjoying her stickers on the flight home.

Me: A+

• Why do I deserve an A+? Because of my flexibility. Bria's routine is very important to me, I feel that the reason she's a good sleeper is because she is on a predictable routine and she knows what comes next. I can lay her down awake and she'll put herself to sleep-that in itself is so nice. Anyway, I had to mentally prepare myself to just let her schedule go. And I did. Like I said, the first day she didn't get a nap and I didn't freak out. Then the next 2 nights she went to bed at like 9:30 pm which is really late, but I didn't stress out. We were with family, Bria was having fun, and everything was fine so I told myself not to stress. And I didn't. It was nice when my sisters told me I was doing good and they gave my kudos. And ya know what? Bria survived. She was so accommodating and just rolled with it. Her nap was early one day and late the next, she was okay with it. Her bedtime was late, but she rolled with it. I have to say part of me expected her to crash when we got home and go to bed early, sleep late, but that hasn't happened. I can dream ;)

Honestly, for Bria this was the best age to travel.

The funeral was hard. Really hard. Harder than I had anticipated. Not just the funeral, but saying goodbye to my grandpa was hard. We sat around and told stories about him and I loved that, it made me weep though because I miss him so much. At the funeral it was so wonderful to hear my grandmother speak and tell his life story, they had such an adventure together. Listening to my Aunts and Uncles and Dad speak was wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time. It was a beautiful and amazing service.

I have a bazillion more photos that Jenny took for me so I'll put some of those in another post, but I wanted to at least show you a glimpse of our trip. So stay tuned :)

Taking flight

We are getting ready to head down to Arizona later this week for my Grandpa's funeral. I am so excited to see my family and give my Grandma a hug, although I wish it was under better circumstances of course. This will be Bria's first plane ride and fortunately we got a direct flight there and back so it's only 2 1/2 hours each way. We'll see how she does, we fly in the morning so I don't think she'll fall asleep in flight which would've been nice. Hopefully we can keep her occupied enough and if not we'll just give her some wine while no one is looking.

I kid.

My cousin, Lanie, and her little girl, Bristol, came down the other week to spend the whole day with us and I was so excited. I didn't want them to leave, we were just having so much fun and the girls played pretty darn well together. Although Bria loved pointing to Bristol's pretty brown eyes and she is not as soft as she thinks she is.

Anyway, we had so much fun with them and wish we were next door neighbors, we would live at each other's house if that was the case. We even got to skype with Lanie's Mom, my Aunt LoAnn (hi Aunt LoAnn!) and that was so fun, you can tell they skype a lot because Bristol was grinning from ear to ear at her Mia :) She made me take off Bria's pants so she could see her chunky thighs and compare them to mine when I was a baby. She thinks I was even chunkier than Bria :) I was a fatty!

Cutie pie, Bristol.

They loved the refrigerator magnets.

The closest I got to both of them looking at the camera.

Bria plotting to take the cell phone away.

So glad they came down and spent the day with us.

We had a nice Memorial Day weekend and were able to get out of the house a few times, but weren't overly busy. Brian worked on his final project all.day.long yesterday. Seriously, the poor guy sat in our uncomfortable desk chair from about 9 am to 4:30 pm. We both kept reminding ourselves that he is ALMOST DONE.

As for me, I'm starting to pack for Arizona so we don't forget anything that we could possibly need, but also trying to squish it all in 1 suit case because we can't afford to check another bag (I loathe that airlines are charging for bags now). It's a big challenge but I'm going to do it.

All because two people fell in love

That has become quite a popular little saying and I see it all over. But years ago, before it was popular, the first time I heard it was in reference to two amazing people in my life. Two people that have shown me unending love, happiness, laughter, and support. My grandpa and grandma Armstrong.

We have a very large family and at family reunions it is crazy to look around and know that because of these 2 people, we are all here.

About 8 years ago we received news that my grandpa had Alzheimer's. It's been a rough road since then and all my prayers have been with my grandma, my dad, and his siblings.

Things took a turn for the worst in these last few weeks and on Monday my grandpa left this Earth.

As sad as I am, I know he's in a better place and he finally has his memory back. He's happy again and remembers how much he was loved here; how much he loved dancing with my Grandma; how much he loved sitting in his chair and reading. Now he can sit and read his smart books again and make witty comments to get everyone laughing. He can tell his wonderfully entertaining stories from his Air Force days and teach people to play chess.

I sure wish we could have one more day to enjoy Grandpa.

I miss you so much Grandpa, and love you to the moon and back.

We don't need more rain, thanks anyway.

We had a few days this month that were gorgeous (I might have mentioned them in the blog, or rather devoted a whole post to how much I love the sun) and Bria even got to wear short sleeve pj's to bed, wahoo!

Adorable daisy pj's that also come with yellow shorts.

But apparently mother nature was being incredibly cruel and just giving us a tiny taste as to what it could be like. It has been absolutely disgusting, depressing, gray, and wet the past week and a half. And the 10 day forecast is RAIN. I am sick to my stomach, I NEED the sun to come out, we deserve some spring! I'm not asking for a repeat of last summer (hello disgusting 108 temperatures), I just want some sun and temperatures above the 60's. It's May, I don't think that's a lot to ask. Sigh.

Okay, I'm done, thanks for letting me complain.

Bria is still having a blast in the pool, she loves the water and loves playing on the stairs after lessons are over.

Her and Gabe splash around and crawl/walk all over the steps. Even when Bria stumbles and her head goes under water unexpectedly she remembers to blow out which is great. No worries, I'm right there with my hand on her but I like to let her learn not to get toooo comfortable in the water, she needs to be safe.

Ready to jump into the water.

2 weeks until Shasta so we'll test her water skills by throwing her in a big lake. Not really, but we have some fun water stuff that I think she'll enjoy.

Bria is back to being really clingy and not wanting to be further than an inch from me all day long. It can be really frustrating and yesterday I ended up putting her in her crib so I could pack up the diaper bag for swim class. She seriously cries so hard she gags. I'm hoping this passes quickly!

Bria did get her 6th tooth last week :) Her runny nose has finally stopped, her and I are both thrilled about that. No more booger sucker, yessss.

And one last update: BRIAN HAS LESS THAN 2 WEEKS UNTIL HE IS DONE WITH HIS MBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excited does not begin to describe my emotions, over the top happy!

The evolution of walking

Bria and I went for a walk the other day and I started thinking about how my "walks" have changed over the last few years.

2007: Going for jogs with MJ to try and lose some post wedding weight

• Distance= A couple miles

2008: Going for walks with MJ to keep my pregnant arse from getting too big

• Distance= A couple miles

2009: Going for walks while pushing a stroller with an adorable baby in it

• Distance= A mile or so

2010: Going for walks with an adorable little toddler hand wrapped around my finger

• Distance= A block or 2

I love going for walks now, they just seem more special.