Summer days

This month (July) has been a busy one for the Brothers' family. My mom was here visiting from England all month and had fun playing with all the grandkids. My super cute niece Bailey turned 8 in June and was baptized last month. Bill and I were sad to not get to be there, but luckily for us, they came out here the week after. It was so much fun to get to see Becky and Scott and their cute kids. I can't believe how fast kids grow up! I still remember when Bailey was born and I finally got to be an aunt. Now I have one of my own, and she is going to be 1 in a week! Craziness. Becky and her family stayed in Lindon all week, so I got to spend a lot of time with them. It was a blast, her kids are so cute, and my sister rocks! I love you, sister! I can't wait to see you again, and I'm so grateful that you guys made that long trip to come out here!

We have also had several family BBQs, Mckinley's first swim party (sooo cute, she absolutely LOVES the water, she kept diving out of my arms), and a really fun family reunion. I've never been at a reunion until 1 am before, but it was awesome. It was a Bishop family reunion (that's right, I married into a family with Bishops and Brothers--2 of the greatest last names for the LDS culture), and there were several hundred people there. They rented out the Bountiful Rec Center, so we did some rock climbing, swimming, basketball, and then ice skating until 1 am. We spent the night at my grandparents to save ourselves the long drive home at night. So, I decided that since I had all this family around, I would take lots of pictures and then post them all on our family blog. I even carried my camera around in Mckinley's diaper bag all month long. Here's the problem with that. I still didn't use it! I'm so used to forgetting my camera at home, that I just forgot I even had it with me, so I still have no pictures of any family or fun activities we did in July. Grrrrr. Anyone have any tips on how to remember to use your camera? I could sure use some.

So, there's an update on us. Next one will be shorter and more entertaining, promise.

Long Overdue

Well, I've been catching a lot of flak from Bill and other family members for being such a terrible blogger lately. But, rather than pledge to do better in the future (again), I'm just going to fess up and admit that I am an intermittent blogger, and probably always will be. I need a lot of things to pile up before I can take the time to sit down and write about them. Luckily for all you avid readers out there, things do tend to pile up after 6 weeks, so I guess I finally have a few things to blog about.

First off, we've spent a ton of time on our house the past few weeks, mostly painting and weeding. It is so much fun working alongside my sweetheart, and knowing that we're working for ourselves and each other. Heck, even mowing the lawn is fun, just because its ours! Some day soon I'll post some before/after pics of what we have done around the house. On the outside though, our rose bushes have been super pretty, and I really like having fresh (free!) flowers inside our house.



Bill's sister Julie gave us her crib a few weeks ago, after Jake made the switch to his sweet Lightning McQueen bed. Kinz loves the crib, mostly because its easier for her to stand up in it than in the Pack'N'Play she's been in for the past 9 months. Thanks again, Julie! Her room finally looks and feels like nursery, thanks to the crib and the cute bedding you gave us!



I also did a little craft project to organize Kinley's closet. It was fun, I just cut down some cardboard boxes, painted them, and mod podged scrapbooking paper on the fronts of them. The hardest part was finding pink, blue, and brown paper to use. For some reason that color combo was tough to find, but I found a couple that worked. Easy and cute. Now that is a project I can get behind!



Hmmm, what else... Kinz is almost 11 months old, and I think it is ridiculous. I cannot believe how fast this past year has gone, or how much has changed. I feel like we have always had Mckinley; she is just such a perfect fit in our family. I love watching her giggle and play with her daddy, and seeing how her whole face lights up when she smiles. Kinz has 6 teeth out, four on top, two on bottom. She loves feeding herself and jabbering. And she is finally saying Mom!!! I love it, it is so much fun to listen to her talk. She takes a few steps at a time with no hands, but gets scared when she realizes she's not holding onto anything and sits down. When did she become a toddler? She loves walking around stationary objects, and loves to run around if mommy or daddy holds her hands. Kinz also LOVES outside. She giggles when we put her in her stroller, and she can't get enough of grass. She loves crawling in it, pulling it up, trying to eat it... you name it. At one of our family BBQ's for the 4th of July, she took off across Bill's Grandpa's huge yard. She wanted to explore the whole yard, and every time I brought her back she just took off again. She's hilarious, I love it. I need to get better at taking my camera with me everywhere, because I don't have any pictures of our festivities, or of Kinley's 4th of July outfit. Oh well, these cute pictures will have to suffice.




How I love this girl!



Best smile EVER




Drumming out on food storage



Hiding in the blinds





Sooo tired

School's out for Summer

So, I've noticed a common theme throughout my blog posts... lets just call it an I'm-obsessed-with-my-baby-and-I-don't-care-who-knows-it attitude that completely biases every post. HOWEVER, I believe it is totally justified. This little girl is so freaking cute, I seriously cannot handle it! Besides, every mom feels the same way about their own kids, so I'm hoping that no blog readers will hold it against me. And for those of you who aren't moms yet... well, just you wait and see.

Anyway, this is going to be a shameless post about the cuteness of my baby girl. Mckinley has always been one of the happiest babies I've ever seen, but the past few months she has kicked it up a notch. She loves to giggle, smile, squeal, jabber, sing, and dance all the time. That's right folks, we've got a little dancer on our hands. Check it out.




She's been doing this for about 2 weeks now, and today she started adding some "Spirit Hands" as well. Bill and I just laugh every time, it is sooo cute! We've tried a couple different songs, but she likes this one the best (sorry Emily, we didn't mean to steal Ellie's song!).

Now that school's out, Bill's job has slowed down and I am working mornings again. Bill is loving the extra time with Mckinley, and I'll like the extra money to use on our yard. It is getting better each week, but it still needs a lot of work. Who knew that we would actually enjoy yard work? It is fun to watch our house transform, even though it will be a long, slow process.

Well, I think that's about all I've got for today. I love my family, and I am so grateful for all the incredible blessings in my life!

Helping with laundry



She crawls and walks around like this all the time. Remind anyone of Pirates of the Caribbean?

Happy Anniversary!

Hey Sweetheart,
I just wanted to say that I love you and am so grateful for you and for the past 3 years we've spent together. You... complete... me... *tear* :)

Domestic Diva

So, one of the dubious blessings of home ownership is the greatly increased door traffic. We get 2 or 3 salesmen a week passing through our neighborhood, offering all kinds of services. This past week saw the biggest personality yet. I don't think I've ever heard the word "ma'am" used so many times in less than 5 minutes. Anyways, as part of this guys sales pitch, he asked me what I do. I told him that I'm a stay-at-home mom, and he said, "Yeah, you're a Domestic Diva!" Long story short, we didn't buy anything from him, but we definitely got some entertainment from it, and I've got myself a new job title.

One of my friends came by this week and brought us a couple of hats for Kinz. Can you say adorable? Cute little thug baby :)




Life is great. Summertime is coming, and we all love being out in the sun together (for short periods of time, anyway. Have you seen how white this family is? The sun would fry us!) We are progressing on all of our painting projects inside, and have added in a bunch of outdoor projects, namely the yard. It was a total weed-fest, but we are starting to get it under control. Hopefully by the end of the summer we might actually have grass in our yard. Farewell cold and snow! Bring on the sun!!

Changes

So, there have been a lot of new changes that need a quick mention. The biggest one is, that we've moved! Everything went through on our house, and we've been in for about 2 months now. It is awesome to have our own place, we all love it. Our ward is great, I am the 2nd Counselor in the YW, Bill is teaching Priesthood again, and Mckinley is charming everyone with her big smile and happy personality. I have also stopped working full-time, which has been such a great blessing. Now I only work Saturdays, which gives Bill one "Daddy-Daughter Day" each week. I love being home everyday with my sweet family, and feel so lucky to get to be a mom all the time.

Mckinley is growing up way too fast. She is crawling around (SOOOOO CUTE!), and pulling herself up already. I can't believe it! She is a little too fearless though. She likes to pull herself up and then let go of whatever she's holding onto. Balance is not her forte yet, so she wavers for like a second on her feet and then plops down on her bum. She is such a happy little girl, always smiling and sweet.

We've been working really hard on our house, and finally have some progress to show! Mckinley's room was the first one we painted, since it needed the most love. After a week of pulling off the peeling wallpaper the old owners had painted over, puttying, priming, and painting, it looks like a whole new room! Love it. Bill says it looks delicious and had to go buy some Neapolitan ice cream when we finished. I made those curtains when we still lived in the apartment, and they fit well enough that I'm not making new ones for a while. We are in process with the rest of the top floor, but those pics will have to wait until we're done. Just thought I'd give a quick update on all the changes the Brother's clan has gone through in the past 2 months.

Kinley's room Before...


...and After


Sup?
Her signature big smile


Have I mentioned that I love her little tongue? Adorable



Me & Kinz

Daddy's Little Girl

I don't have enough time right now to update on all that's changed from my last post (seriously? Has it really been 2 months? I'm so lame...), but I couldn't let today go unremarked. This has been a tough week for me, as today marks 11 years since my dad passed away. I'm also teaching my first lesson in YW tomorrow, and, wouldn't you know? The topic is Fathers' Blessings. So, needless to say, this has been a tough week.

Anyway, I also had to work today, which means that my cute husband got Mckinley all to himself. As I walked in the door after work, I heard explosive giggles and saw my baby girl literally bouncing up and down as she stared at her daddy. That little girl loves her dad sooo much, it makes my heart absolutely melt. I pray constantly that she will have more time with her daddy than I had with mine, that she will understand how beautiful and sweet the Plan of Salvation is, and that she will know that families truly are eternal. I love you, Dad, and I miss you everyday.

Love, Arycca