Pioneer Day in Payson

We headed down to Payson this last weekend to spend some time with Scott, Michelle and the kids. We went to a BBQ on Pioneer Day, July 24th, at one of Michelle and Scott's friends. There was great food, fun people and lots of kids. Scott had to be at work most of the day, but when he came home we went swimming. Michelle had to go to work that night so she couldn't join us at the Payson pool. This is one thing I love about Utah- all the fun stuff they have for kids. This pool was amazing- lots of slides, a lazy river, and a little kiddy pool. Bristol and I hung out mostly on the deck in a chair, with her love of water and all, because she wasn't having any of it. We enjoyed our time none-the-less and it was fun to play with Reagan and Kyler at the pool. It was a good weekend in Payson. It's fun to watch Reagan and Kyler interact with Bristol. They are so cute with her. Reagan kept saying she is just so cute that I want to squeeze her. I wonder where she heard that.. and Kyler kept kissing her feet.


Do you see Sam's long legs?

This Might Be the Best Picture... Ever!

Bristol is at such a fun stage. She is now 2 months and 2 weeks and she is cooing and smiling and laughing all the time. Sam and I just love laying her down on her back and making her talk and laugh at us. She is so cute and so interactive with us. She gets a little shy around people and really wont do it as much to them. She is also camera shy, I've been trying to get a good video but have been unsuccessful. She is more interested in looking at the camera then laughing and talking. Nonetheless, she is a doll and we love her so much!

2 Month Vaccinations

It was a sad day having to take Bristol in for her 2 month vaccinations. I felt so bad knowing what was going to happen and that this happy little girl had to go through this. The good news was that 2 minutes later she was happily asleep in my arms (and probably forgot about it all!)

Bear Lake

So this last weekend, July 9-11th, we headed up to Logan to spend time with our good friends Gary and Jess Wilkinson. Chris Medina joined us up at Bear Lake for a fun day on Saturday. We all had a blast hanging out with eachother and enjoying the lake. Gary and Jess rented wave runners and we all got a chance to play on them. Bristol had a little dip in the water with daddy and really didn't enjoy the cold water. It was a nice day, a little cloudy, but still warm. We all had a blast! Thanks Gary and Jess for inviting us!

Bristol is 2 Months Old- 07/08/10

07/08/10
Dear Bristol,

You are 2 months old today. Time passes so fast and you are changing so much. You are such a special little girl and I am so blessed to be your mommy. Motherhood has been something I never expected it to be, it’s better. The love I have for you is indescribable. I love this new experience and I am grateful that you are such a trooper and allow me to learn with you. Your daddy and I have been watching you for these last 2 months and are amazed at how much you are learning and growing. It is such a privilege to be your parents, to take care of you and to give you all that you need. We feel so blessed everyday to be able to have you in our lives. You will always be so special to us.

This month you have done so many new things that have been fun to see you discover. You are learning day by day and we love watching you do so. The new things that you do are:

You have discovered your hands. By week 6 you were putting your hands in your mouth all the time. We thought it was just to suck on something but it turns out you now know you have them. As the weeks passed, you were able to find your ear and your hair with your hands. You use your left hand most of the time to do these things; are you left-handed?

You have learned to rub your eyes when you get tired. This probably went along with the fact that you found your hands, but now you do it all the time.

You love to smile and “talk” to us. We will just sit in front of you for hours making you smile and coo. Your favorite noises are ahh, ooh, and ahh-goo. It is fun to hear you make noises. Daddy thinks that you have now discovered that you have a voice and you love to hear yourself. As for me, I just love seeing you smile and talk to me. I love that interaction we have.

You slobber all the time. We first thought that you were starting to teethe, but it is way too soon for that. We then found out it is because you don’t know how to swallow your saliva, yet.

You love to stick out your tongue. At about 5 weeks daddy said he could stick out his tongue and you would stick yours out at him.

Your left ear sticks out more than the right. We think this is because you love pulling on your left ear with your left hand. Daddy wants you to wear the headbands all the time so that your ear won’t stick out. When he puts you in your swing, he makes sure you have a headband on so that your ear stays back. Sometimes the headband goes over your eyes; you used to get mad, but now you smile. I think you are just getting used to beauty being painful, or annoying.

You are getting stronger and stronger. You kick us so hard now and you like to move your arms and push at us, especially when we are changing your diaper.

When you make a fist with your hands, which is all the time except when you sleep, you put your thumb inside all your fingers. You never leave your thumb out; it’s so cute.

When you suck on your fist, you go for your palm. You love to suck on things. Thank goodness you have the binky mastered now.

You had your 2-month appointment this month. It was really hard for me to watch you go through getting all your vaccinations. You cried so much and I felt so bad. The doctor said you were such a strong baby. You weighed 12lbs and 11oz(95%) and were 23 inches long.(80%) Your head circumference was 15in(40%)

You are such a great baby. You are so calm and you hardly ever cry. We have taken you to 3 movies already and you love them. You like to sit on our lap and watch the movie with us. I think it’s because you love seeing all the lights. You love to look at lights; it calms you down.

You are still a good sleeper. You like it when I read to you at night; it helps you fall asleep.

This month daddy blessed you. It was such an amazing blessing. He blessed you with strength and courage. He blessed you to be an example to others and being strong in the gospel. He counseled you to lean on the people in your life, especially your family who is there for you, to marry in the temple and to have an eternal family. He blessed you to accomplish the goals you set in your life and to follow what you desire to do. Your daddy did such a great job. You had so many family members and friends attend your blessing. You are so loved by so many.

Bristol, your daddy and I love you so very much. We are here for you for whatever you need in life. You are such a special daughter of God and our Heavenly Father loves you so much. He has an amazing plan laid out for you. At this time in you life we hope you continue to discover yourself, to learn new things that will continue to help you grow. You are progressing so well, right on track with where you should be. You are learning new things every day and doing new things too. We are so grateful for our eternal family, and so happy that you chose to be a part of it.

I love you,
Mommy

(So I have taken a lot of videos but Sam thinks they are lame because she hardly does anything.. So if you aren't into lame videos.. don't watch this.)

A Quarter Century...

My birthday, July 5th, fell on a Monday. This ended up being the federal holiday for the 4th, meaning, Sam had the day off from school. Sam bought me the movie New Moon for my birthday present. We decided to go to the movie Knight and Day with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. It was very entertaining. We also went shopping at Gateway for the day. That night I had to work. That was my first day back on the job at After Hours. If you remember, this is where the story of Sam and Beck began. It's fun to be back there in a comfortable environment. We decided to go out to Tucanos for a nice lunch/dinner on the 6th. We went shopping with my Nordstrom gift card from my mom. It was a great day, thanks babe for giving me a great birthday. I'm feeling a bit old, 25 is a quarter of a century!

Get Your Mind Right

Week 1
Workout- P90X
90 days of intense, 6 days a week, 1 hour sessions of workouts.
My calves are sore and my post pregnancy body is getting it's bottom kicked!
At least one of us is enjoying ourselves...

4th of July Festivities

The Kaysville Parade- Sam, Beck, Bristol and Cara VanBrocklin- Bristol enjoyed the Parade, she slept most of the time.
We had a wonderful 4th here in Utah. Due to it being on a Sunday, all the 4th festivities were held on Saturday the 3rd. We attended the Kaysville Parade at 11am with the VanBrocklin's. Bristol had a 4th of July outfit that my cute sister sent but it was just too tight around the neck so we settled for another cute outfit my sister sent. We enjoyed the parade, although it was a bit too hot for Bristol and me. We were able to cool off inside Todd's studio and get out of the sun for a bit. We then went out to lunch with our good friends Gary and Jessica Wilkinson, who are home for the summer from traveling overseas playing basketball. Then we headed to my friend Michelle's house and hung out till the fireworks that evening. We headed up to Davis HS and enjoyed the fireworks. The 4th of July seems to be a big celebration here in Utah, which is great. We had a wonderful time with our friends and enjoyed the day.

The Davis High School Fireworks- Sam, Beck, Bristol and my good friend Michelle Garrett. Bristol enjoyed the fireworks too, sleeping!

Eclipse

Eclipse, the 3rd movie of the Twilight series, came out on June 30th. Sam's good friend Brody and his wife Cara wanted to go, and so did I, so we all decided to go that night. Sam wasn't really up for it, but we asked him to come along, he was a good sport. We had a great time and it was a great movie. Eclipse is my favorite book out of all 4 and the movie lived up to that expectation. It was fun spending time with Brody and Cara and I'm glad Sam came with us! Notice Bristol's cute onesie? I bought that when Sam and I ventured out to Forks, Washington last August. When I bought that Sam said I was jinxing us with a little girl.. Sure enough it worked!

Anniversary Date

Since Sam and I were apart for our anniversary we decided to celebrate it on June 19th, 3 years and 1 month since our wedding day. We went on a hike, Bristol's first hike, to Muller Park in Bountiful. We have to break her in early with the whole outdoorsy/hiking thing. She enjoys her baby bjorn and loves walking around with us in it. She did get hungry on the hike, it was a bit longer than expected, so we had to make a pit stop. But, other than that she did great. The hike was beautiful, up in the canyons above Bountiful. The view was incredible. We will definitely take advantage of this area due to the fact that accessing the hiking/backpacking areas is so easy and close.

That evening we went out to PF Changs, thanks to my mother who gave us a gift card there for our anniversary. We had a fun day and a great date!

Bristol's Baby Blessing

We decided to have Bristol's baby blessing back in Oregon since all of our family would be able to attend. Sam's cousin Craig was married in the Portland temple on June 25th and all of his extended family was in attendance. We decided to have Bristol's blessing on June 27th so they could all come. It was a fun filled weekend.


Bristol on the plane.. asleep

We flew out on Thursday night, June 24th, and had a 3 hour delay of our flight. It was originally delayed for 2 hours but that all changed once we arrived at the airport. They requested that we arrive at the airport at the normal time just in case they find another plane to put us on. So we arrived at 6:45 for our 10:00 flight. Once we got there we found out is was going to take longer than expected. We ended up not boarding the flight until 10:30pm, which it was supposed to take off at 10:00pm and we didn't take off till about 11:15pm. It was frustrating. But, I can't complain because Bristol did great. She slept the whole entire flight, didn't even budge. I think it's because she loved the noise that the plane made. She was such a trooper. So we got into Oregon around 12:50pm and didn't get to Salem until 1:45am. Steve was still awake when we arrived and it was fun for him to see Bristol for the first time. I love how Sam's brothers are so loving to her and can't get enough. It is so cute!


Uncle Steve holding Bristol

On Friday, we woke up early for a brunch at the Jensen's at 10am. We were all going off about 5 hours of sleep. The wedding was at 1 pm and we had to be at the temple by 12:30. Sam's sweet cousin Stephanie babysat Bristol so we could attend the wedding. Thank you so much Stephanie! The reception was at 7 pm at a Stake Building. It was a fun filled day. Congratulations Craig and Jami Jensen!


Bristol was blessed on Sunday June 27th at the Monmouth Oregon Stake Center, the ward Tom and Tracy attend. Sam did such an amazing job giving her the blessing. He was a bit nervous but it turned our great. Sam has a huge family and a lot of them showed up, about 35 to be exact. My mom and her boyfriend and my grandpa and his wife also came out for the event. It was great having them there. The Stake President was in attendance and asked the Bishop to invite me up to share my testimony. It was a bit of a shock but it turned out to be such a great thing. Bristol looked beautiful in the dress Aunt Vicki made for her. Thank you all for attending, we had such a great time and it was so nice to see all of you.