Sunday Fun day!

We took the day off from work and went to Roseburg. We hung out with our friends Brook, Val and Charlie and went to Wildlife Safari. I can't lie, I was a bit nervous about how Braylin would handle the animals since she was terrified of the fish at the aquarium. But to our surprise and delight, she loved it! (When she noticed them. She was too busy playing with Charlie.) Braylin and Charlie were the best tour guides as they babbled back and forth. It was so sweet! After the safari, we went back to Brook and Val's and let Braylin and Charlie play. These pictures are completely out of order, but it will have to do.

Braylin loved the pretty flowers on the porch. (Due to her Mother's brown thumb, she had not experienced this before.)
Our family photo on the porch swing.
As you can see through the pics, they both loved playing with plastic spoons.
Looking out the window at their dads.


Yes, Braylin is filthy, but it was all good fun! She had just stolen the spoon from Charlie and was quite pleased about it.
Milkshakes at Sonic were buy one get one free! Braylin loves a good milkshake!
This picture was taken in honor of Mavis and Aunt Judy.
I really tried to get a picture of Braylin looking at the animals. This was the best I got. (giraffe)
Bear
It was such an adventure. Braylin loved not being in her car seat, and most of all wanted the camera. I snapped this just in time before she grabbed it. Look at those blue eyes!

It was a WONDERFUL day. Thanks Brook and Val for taking us on a Safari and letting our kids play! We love you guys!

My little Artist

Update

It seems like I can never be satisfied. In some aspects of life, I want things to speed up. But as I look at these pictures, my baby girl is getting too big too fast. Although, we are loving every minute of this "big girl" stage. Wait...I need to back up.

Braylin's 1 year stats (never got these posted)

Height: 32 1/2 " (99th percentile)

Weight: 20 lbs 6 oz (33rd percentile)

Head: 18 1/2 " (91st percentile)

Yes, I feed my child. I feel like she eats all the time, but the doctor still seems concerned that she isn't gaining enough. These first pictures are proof.

For Dad's birthday, we went to Portland for some shopping and eating. Braylin is loving Macaroni Grill (above) and some Pretzel (below)
We had a beautiful day several weeks (okay, over a month) ago that Joel and I decided to drop everything we were doing and take Braylin to the park. We need to remember to do this more often since time does fly and she is growing up so quickly. (I get so stuck in the stuff I just "have" to do, I sometimes forget to just enjoy the day and time with Braylin)



She L O V E S to swing. It took us a while to get her to play on anything else.


Okay, now to the "Big Girl Stage"

This week has been a big week for us. I found a snake in our storage shed (Yes, I flipped out!) but on a much better note, Braylin got to spend some time with her Daddy yesterday and she took 3 steps from the chair to his arms. We are about to have a walker on our hands. (Which I had to admit will be nice so I don't have to bend all the way to the ground to pick her up!) The picture below will help you all understand why.

Camden is a growing boy too (I can't believe I am already in my 3rd trimester...YIKES!) Just when I think life is crazy but I'm getting the hang of it, he'll be here to keep me on my toes...

Monster Blog

Sunday April 11th, our Braylin girl turned 1 year old. It was a great excuse for us to go on a much needed family vacation away from reality. We loaded up after church and headed to the great city of Seattle. This blog is not going to be for the faint of heart. I decided not to narrow down the number of pictures, because I knew our families would want to be a part of everything we did for Braylin's 1 year extravaganza!

It started off with a hearty breakfast off eggs and biscuits.

She ate so much she needed a before church nap. Thank you thank you Granny and Pop Pop for my birthday shirt.
Once we got to Seattle, we went straight to cake.
Yes, we put our child in the bath tub to eat cake, but it was the easiest way to clean up the mess. I highly recommend it!
If you can't tell, she LOVED it!!
Our hotel was across the street from Lake Union and we loved walking around looking at all the yachts.
We went to a crabhouse for lunch, and they gave Braylin an ice cream Sundae for her birthday.
The next day was our day of tourism. We went to the Seattle Aquarium. Braylin is still a bit too young to understand the concept of cut out pictures.
We thought she would just love watching the fish swim around. Turns out, it scared her to death when those fish would swim in her direction. Everyone around thought it was pretty funny. She would flail her arms and cry.
She did however like to be under the fish as they swam above us at a safe distance.
Somehow the seals and sea otters were not so scary.
We then went to Pikes Place Market.
They are known for the fish throwing.
This nasty looking fish was still alive and would flop every now and then...disgusting!
We visited the original Starbucks.
We ate lunch at a restaurant (Athenian) that Sleepless in Seattle was filmed in.
It was documented!

Of course we saw the space needle.
Then we ended the trip with a Seattle Mariners Baseball game.
It was cold, but the food sure was good!

On our way home we stopped and got Braylin a new big kid seat. You can tell that she LOVES it!
We had the greatest trip. Seattle did not disappoint. I'm incredibly thankful for the gift of little Braylin and the chance to celebrate such a wonderful little life. Although we won't be able to keep up Birthday celebrations like this one, I am thankful for the opportunity to take this chance while we had it.