5 MONTHS OLD!

Well, Brystal is 5 months old now, I can't even believe it. Luckily no shots this time, but she is learning new tricks every day. She can now blow rasberries. She is so close to rolling over from her back to her stomach, I have a feeling it will be mastered this weekend. She is quite the chatter box, always babbling and singing. She can sit up by herself for almost a minute without tipping over. She eats rice cereal like a champ, and has learned to hold her own bottle. Not to mention now she is finally sleeping up to 10-11 hours a night now. Heaven. She just gets better and better every day.

Here is her new Jumparoo toy. She hasn't learned how to bounce herself in it yet, but enjoys her time just looking at the toys and lights and music playing and uses her little fingers to spin the little wheel around.

Do you see those little stick legs poking out? You can often find Brystal doing this when she is in her swing or even when she is just playing on the floor, and she does it when I am trying to change her diaper. She has done this since the day she was born. She just sticks her legs straight out and leaves them like that. I don't get it, but I think it is pretty funny. This isn't a very good picture of it.

PURSE TAG

I don't usually end up doing all these tags that people send me. I'm not creative enough to think about things that are about myself. I know pathetic, but this one was easy. All I had to do was dump out my purse and see what was inside. Lucky for me this was my purse on a good day.


The Contents of my purse.

Mini Lotion, and Antibacterial gel.
2 packs of gum
lip balm.
Blanket
Onesie with matching hat that is 3 months too small,
3, count that, 3 socks
Texture blanket someone made for Brystal.
A book
A teething blanket
Thank you card from a baby shower
3 finger puppets
Wallet

3 pacifiers, (which we all know she doesn't use because she sucks her thumb)
a congrats card from Brystal's blessing
Lip gloss
2 mini baby lotions and 1 mini baby shampoo, just in case I need to give Brystal a bath on the side of the road
5 diapers,
Wet Wipes for her,
Wet ones for me,
Little air freshener tucked in a pocket to keep my purse "fresh"
Changing pad,
rattle
Toy phone, Toy car keys that always make a clinging noise whenever I set my bag down ( I was glad to get those out of there) A couple of those little ring thingys, and another little teething toy.
A changing pad,
a little handout from Young Women's
Brystal's immunization book.
And a handful of lifesavers and One cough drop.

Phewf! Glad to get that one updated. And now I will tag... Hilary, Bethany, Tracy, Ashley Pace, Andi, Jordan, and anyone else who wants to do it. I tag everyone.

HAPPY EASTER!

Brystal would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter. Not much happened at our house, we just spent the day together going on walks and taking naps. And it was good to go to church and learn about the real meaning of easter. But I think next year the Easter Bunny will come.



I took my little chubby bunny to church today. Here she is just before we were heading home. She is very tired if you can't tell. But she was adorable and everyone loved her bunny ears. This was about as festive as I could get for Easter this year

BRYSTAL'S FIRST CAMPOUT

This weekend we went camping with a group of friends in our ward. We were so excited because we love to camp and it was time to introduce Brystal to the camping experience. Here we are when we first arrived. Dear Missy Wegener, here is the outfit you got for her, it is huge on her, but this was her only chance to wear it since it came with the cute jacket and all. She looked adorable in it. I hope to get her to wear it again before summer comes.


Here is Brystal sitting by the fire with her daddy. She seemed to really like being outdoors.














Here we are enjoying s'mores and yummy banana boats with everyone around the campfire.


And then of course the dreaded sleep of a camping trip. It wasn't so good. Brystal got up a couple times screaming like a banchee for no apparent reason. I was up most of the night worried she was cold and everytime she would move, I'd adjust her blankets. Finally I just brought her into my sleeping bag with me and we both slept the rest of the night in peace (sort of)

And here is Brystal in the morning while we are all fixing up breakfast. She was such a good baby. And dear Andi Hyldahl, here is the cute pajamas you got for her which were also very humongous on her, but they were so warm and cozy for her it didn't matter how big they were. She obviously didn't care. Thanks for the warm jammas. They came in handy.






And here is Brystal, she is drinking a little bottle of apple juice as a breakfast appetizer. That's right, she is holding that bottle and feeding herself! One day last week, I just handed her a bottle, and she just took it and knew what to do with it. And now when I feed her with a bottle, she does it herself. (with a little help of course when she drops it or misses her target, but she is getting better)




Stay tuned for camping trip number 2 which will be this next weekend, since it is our ward camping trip. I forgot I might add that Nate has been called to be the Ward Clerk in our ward so he is practically in the bishopric and we have to go camping again to help with the breakfast. Nate is pretty excited for this calling. He gets to be the guy who gets up and counts people during church, and has everyone counting out random numbers at him as he walks by to mess him up. But we all know Nate is good with numbers so it doesn't even affect him. Oh and while I'm announcing new callings here, I might add that I am the Beehives advisor in our ward as well. I'm very excited. I love Young Womens! We are very busy busy people in our ward.

HELPING IN THE YARD

Last Saturday we spent all day working in the yard and the garden, and Brystal was being such a good baby. We brought her pack and play outside and she just sat in there and played all afternoon. And everytime I would peek in there to see how she was doing, this is what I saw.

DO I HAVE A CUTE BABY OR WHAT?

These are a little late, but this is Brystal's 3 month old pictures. So these were about a month ago. She is getting so big. Just thought I share a little cuteness with the world.

HOUSTON RODEO

The Houston Rodeo is the largest rodeo in the country and they spend the whole month doing it. There is lots of fun things for everyone to do. So I went down during the day and did all the kid stuff with my sister in law Karen and her kids. We looked at animals, watched pig races, rode carnival rides, and even learned how to milk a cow. Brystal did pretty good and we had a really fun day.

WOULD YOU LET YOUR KID DO THIS?

So what is the toughest sport on wool?.......

The new thing at the Rodeo this year is to voluntarily sign your kid up to ride on the back of a sheep until they fall off. It's called MUTTON BUSTIN'. It is supposed to be like Bull Riding and whoever stays on the longest wins. It is actually pretty funny. Those are some brave little kids. Look at this poor little girl when she gets up. She didn't know what hit her. Maybe someday we'll sign up Brystal.

BULL RIDING.

Later that night Nathan and I got to go back while Karen helped watch Brystal, so that we could go to the main rodeo and watch the Rascal Flatts concert. It was so fun. Nathan's work provided us with these tickets with GREAT seats, we were in the second row right behind where the bull riders come out. This picture is a bad one cause that camera man is in the way, but this was the best one I could get.

RASCAL FLATTS!

Here are our friends the Ellers who came with us to the concert. It was a blast with them! We will have to do this again!

GOD BLESSED THE BROKEN ROAD

This is one of our favorite songs, Nathan especially likes it. This video doesn't really do it all justice. And I know it looks like we really don't have that great of seats but remember that they are out in the middle of a stadium, and we are sitting second row on the end zone. So considering how many people were there... These were GREAT seats. I dedicate this song to Jordan Clarkson, because I always think of you when I think of Rascal Flatts for some reason.

Here we are together at the concert. We were having so much fun.

THE ROCKETS GAME!

Saturday night we got to go on a date together! Woo hoo! For Christmas, I got Nathan some Rockets tickets, so it was finally time to use them. Nathan was really excited because he has grown up a Rockets fan, and they are doing really well this season. I of course was just excited to see Nathan excited. Our good old friends Spring and Ryan, who were in our Logan ward moved down here recently and just live a few minutes from downtown, so they were willing to babysit Brystal. I was a little nervous, since I haven't really left her very often, but I trusted the Blacks, and they kept me posted with text messages throughout the game. Anyways, we of course had to drop by and pick up matching shirts before the game, and we had a great time. The Rockets won of course. It was alot of fun to get out alone together finally, and have so much fun.

EVER WONDER WHAT IT'S LIKE TO STAND NEXT TO YAO MING?

This was as close to Yao Ming as I could get. We were both pretty disappointed that Yao broke his foot and is out for the season, so we didn't get to see him play.
I spent the whole game wondering where Yao was, I wanted to see him so bad. I thought that even though he was hurt, SURELY he would at least come and root the team on. But he was no where to be seen. I wasted half the game looking for him. I was really hoping I would get to see him. He is a pretty popular guy around here.


This is a life size Yao Ming and his arm span. So you are supposed to go and move the red bars to where YOUR arm span is and compare it to Yao's. Can you believe how tall this guy is? For an asian guy he's like a giant! It is my goal to see him in real life while I'm living here in Houston. Look at how small I am next to him.

BABY EINSTEINS

Who loves Baby Einstein movies more........



Brystal?












Or Sophie?

Here is why I love Nathan. I love that smile. Though I don't think a little boy smiles like that unless he's got something to hide. I'm sure he did something to his teacher or his poor mother that day. He looks ful of mischief and trouble. Now this picture looks like he is laughing an evil laugh with it. Bwah ha ha.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN!

It was Nathan's birthday yesterday and to celebrate him, I put together a few pictures of the best of Nathan throughout the years. We are so glad that Nate was born, and that we have him in our lives.

Here is Nathan's first birthday. For those of you who know him well, this is a very familiar look for him. A big piece of food in his hand with a look of sweet happiness on his face. This must have been the day he decided that he loved food. Forget baby food, this cake is delicious!

Some things just don't change.

This is another of Nathan's birthdays. I'm guessing 6 years old by the candles on the cake. Oh Nathan is the one with the big scowl on his face. Maybe he doesn't like his cake? Maybe he is making his birthday wish. Maybe he is mad at the comment the kid across the table just made. We don't know.

These boys look like they are up to no good. Especially Nathan. Look at the way he tries to pull of his misheif with the "I didn't do anything" pose. Yes we know your guilty. And by the looks of the props in this picture you know that SOMETHING is going on. What exactly are they doing? And what's more, what are they WEARING? Gotta love the 80's.

Here is just a typical picture of what Nathan was like as a little boy. He looks just the same now, just bigger.

Now THIS is why I married Nathan. Look at those sexy legs. He just might kill me for putting up this picture, but I know he loves me so... oh well. This was actually taken while we were dating, he was headed off to the HOWL at Utah State, it's their big Halloween party. Guess he couldn't come up with anything cooler to wear than this. I think he wanted to go as himself as a Texas cowboy. I don't know if this is his best look.

Here is Nate's 23rd Birthday I believe. His first birthday with me. And I got him a basketball goal. He was pretty excited. The kid at the store who helped me take it out to the car told me that I was the coolest wife in the world to give this to my husband.....Yes... I know.
But he had alot of good times with this goal while we lived in Logan, we weren't able to bring it with us here, so we gave it to my little brother. But don't worry, we have one here too!

NATE'S BIG 27

What did Nate do for his Birthday this year? Well, we went to church, and I had secretly put a sticky sign on his back that announced it was his birthday so people would tell him Happy Birthday. I thought it was a nice thought, and I wanted to get a cute picture of the sign, but for some reason it got thrown in the trash before I had a chance. I guess it wasn't appreciated. Hmph!



He talked with family on the phone



Had himself his usual very large bowl of popcorn.



Gave a baby a bath. What a day. It was nice to just have him home finally, and he was able to relax with his family. Happy Birthday Nate! We Love You!

I'M 4 MONTHS OLD NOW!

Brystal went in for her 4 month check up the other day. She now weighs a wopping 12 pounds 7 ounces now, which is a little more than double her birth weight. She did great! Except for the part where they stabbed her again! I had to close my eyes this time when they did it because it really hurt my feelings last time. I just didn't want to see the look on her face when she got poked. But she took it like a big girl and she is ok. The Dr. told her how adorable she was of course, and was happy that she could do all the tricks she is supposed to do at 4 months like rolling over and such. But the most exciting thing of all, is now we get to try cereal! I was so excited. But after giving Brystal the cereal, I don't really think she was as excited as I was. We will just have to keep practicing until she gets good at it. She didn't seem to know what to do. She even gagged a few times. Poor thing. I can't believe how big she is getting.