Our bit of Good

Many faces of Anela Lene

2011-06-27T17:12:00.000-04:00

What Anela does when I leave my computer unattended.

First Day

2011-06-06T15:23:00.000-04:00

Our baby boy Brixton arrived.

Brixton Jay Ottley

Weight: 6 lbs 7 oz.

Height: 19 inches

I'll be back to give more details later.

A short video with some shots of Brixton's first day followed by some pictures. Enjoy, we sure have.

A tear-filled introduction.

Mom is overwhelmed by joy.

Our Doc. He was coming off 5 straight days at the hospital and was with us from start to finish.

So excited she's a big sister.

Anela's 4th Year Review

2011-05-23T15:13:00.001-04:00

Date: January 5, 2011 - My sweet pea is 4 years old. Angela and I have so loved watching Anela's personality blossom this year. She is typically the source of fun and laughter in the Ottley home. I envy her ability to make any situation light and playful -- an ability which will pay great dividends throughout her life.

Anela is beautiful, she is mischievous, she is meticulous, she is dramatic, she is silly, she is a girly-girl but knows how to push back, she is a singer, she is a dancer, she literally never wants to grow up, she considers her older brother her best friend, she loves to play with others but can play by herself for hours, she loves to cuddle, she loves anything pink, she can get her daddy to do about anything. Anela is simply an angel.

Anela's 4th year highlights:

Song: Time by Hans Zimmer (From the Movie Inception)

Martha's Vineyard

2011-05-17T11:39:00.014-04:00

Date: May 5, 2011 - In an effort to show my parents a good time when they were in town for my graduation I took them and the kids to Martha's Vineyard, an island just off the coast of the arm (aka Cape Code) of Massachusetts. It's a beautiful quant island full of whaler history. Unfortunately for us it was a cold overcast day and it even rained a little. We missed the beginning of the tourist season by three weeks so the majority of the boutique shops, tours, and fun tourist activities weren't running. Despite the weather and the lack of activities we all enjoyed the beauty of the island and spending some quality time together. Take a look at my attempt to capture the beauty of the day.

(song: Please Don't Go by Barcelona)

Here are some pictures of our short trip.

When we got to these well known cliffs it was down pouring rain, but after the sun came out for about 10 minutes so we could enjoy the view.

If anyone finds a glow in the dark CTR ring on this beach it is Bryson's. We think it slipped off when he was throwing rocks in the water. It's the second one he has lost...

The title of Master

2011-05-16T16:12:00.013-04:00

Date: May 7, 2011 - I graduated. I am officially a Master. For now on I will go by the name of Master Bryan, Master Ottley, or even Master Otown. School for me is officially over. I have no plans to ever step back into a classroom. Graduation was equally about Angela and the kids as it was myself. I'm grateful for their sacrifice and endless support. I didn't walk and do the whole graduation celebration thing as an undergraduate so I wanted to do it right this time. We did, and I'm so glad -- It was the perfect ending to this stage of our lives.

The walk that made me a Master.

Did you hear Angela get in trouble at the end?

MBA awards ceremony the night before graduation.

So happy that my parents could come out and be part of my graduation.

My classmates voted me 'most likely to be CEO of a Fortune 500 Company'. It was a very nice surprise.

After the walk that made me a 'Master'. Angela was very disappointed that they didn't read my name. Due to the size of the class only the Doctors got their names read.

Chaos

2011-05-15T15:35:00.001-04:00

Date: October 8, 2009 -- It was a chilly October night, my birthday had come and gone, and my family was no where near. A family tragedy sent Angela and the kids rushing back to Utah leaving me alone in Connecticut. Angela and the kids were where they needed to be, but I missed them... I missed them terribly. Self loathing in my loneliness I began going through some family videos from the summer of 2009. There were several of Angela and Anela that stuck out to me that made me miss them even more so I compiled them and put them to the somber, yet beautiful song The Crisis by Ennio Morricone. I call this family video My Girls.

(Turn up the sound so you can hear the dialogue)

(Background notes to the clips: 1. Angela loves smores, but she eats them like a toddler. She doesn't know how to hold them and bite into them without chocolate and marshmallow getting everywhere. In the first clip you see chocolate on the side of her face. I can't help but smile when I see this, because I have endless memories of Angela with chocolate in the strangest places after consuming her favorite campfire treat. 2. Angela loves flamingos -- I can't explain it and I don't think she can explain it but her eyes light up like a child on Christmas morning when she sees a flamingo... just a minor detail I love about her. 3. You'll see in one clip Angela asking Anela, 'who's girl are you?', in which Anela proudly pronounces 'Mommy's girl'. Angela's dad always poses this same question to each of his grandkids -- He asks 'who's girl/boy are you?' If the child says anything other than 'grandpa's girl/boy' they get tickled silly until they scream bloody murder 'grandpa's girl/boy!' Bryson loved this little game when he was a toddler and would always finish with screaming 'grandpa's boy!' Angela didn't like this much so she would often retaliate with her own tickle attack to coax Bryson into screaming 'mommy's boy', but to no avail -- Grandpa always got the final scream. Anela was different and I believe the only grandkid that has not given into Grandpa's tickle wars. She has always been very clear to everyone that she is 'Mommy's girl', to the much pleasure of Angela.)

You'd think without the chaos of family around I'd be productive by getting ahead on my school work and/or getting caught up on other personal interests rather than sulking in my loneliness. That simply wasn't the case. I couldn't focus, I couldn't motivate myself, I couldn't function. I learned something about myself during the two weeks my wife and two kids were gone, which is I need my family. I need the chaos of family to keep me focused and motivated on the things I do outside the home. I need the chaos of family to give me purpose. It's such an oxymoron -- chaos to focus. When I tell my classmates and work colleges that I have two kids (and now a third on the way) I often get the response 'How do you do it all? I couldn't do it'. Well, for me I don't know how I'd do it without my chaos waiting for me at home. I simply couldn't do it.

6th year in Review

2011-05-14T11:13:00.002-04:00

Date: April 18, 2011 - My boy is growing -- growing too fast if you ask me. Nearly all my life I've imagined having a son in which I was best friends with. I pictured us doing everything together and he thought I was the greatest thing since chewing gum. Well, unfortunately for me bubble gum is Bryson's favorite thing in the world, but we are best friends... I'll take it.

Bryson is now 6 years old. For the first time in Bryson's life the sentiment of passing time consumed my thoughts when I realized that birthday morning his age had officially turned from 5 to 6. I've always considered ages 3-5 the prime years of a small child. I think I get that bias from my experience with my little brother, Brandon. During his 3-5 years I connected with my brother more than any time since. At the age of three, wrestling, human rocket launches, and shoulder rides became almost a daily occurrence. It was so fun watching and being part of Brandon's world discovery and personality changes. I was the cool brother that he always wanted to play with. We were like 'peas and carrots'. When he turned 6 the shoulder rides and human launches became more and more infrequent and I quickly became less and less his world. I'm sure a lot of the separation was primarily a function of my own life's circumstance, but I see a lot of comparisons with my role with Brandon and my role with Bryson during 3-5. I know I shouldn't associate my experiences with Brandon to what may or may not happen with Bryson, but I can't help but fear that I'm only going to become less and less relevant in my son's life going forward. Perhaps I will become less relevant as a friend/playmate, but become more relevant as a father... I don't know. I do know that the last three years of Bryson's life have definitely been not only my favorite years of his life but my favorite years of my life. I do look forward to what the future holds for my son and my involvement in it. Man, I love my boy.

Looking back over the past year I'm amazed at the many 'firsts' Bryson has had. To name just some:

graduated preschool
lost his first tooth (actually pulled due to cavity but the tooth fairy still came)
visited D.C., Philly, Hershey, Niagara, Palmyra, Basketball Hall of Fame, and Disney World
learned how to ride a bike without training wheels, blow gum bubbles (he's been trying since the age of two), front flips, dives, water skiing, snow skiing, ice skating, swimming
started Kindergarten
Bryson can now consistently make baskets on a 10 foot hoop (he's pretty excited about that one... ok, maybe his dad is more excited about that one).

Check out Bryson's 6th year highlight reel.

Every year Angela puts on the most amazing birthday parties for the kids. She seems to out do herself every year, and this year was definitely no exception. I'm still working on putting video of Bryson's party together (watch for a future post) but I did manage to put together this short teaser trailer. I was going for the epic movie feel with the music (score from Battle for LA). I didn't achieve epic level, but its still fun to watch... heck, after finishing I felt deprived I never attended a party like this when I was a kid.

Our Disney Commercial

2011-05-13T16:29:00.002-04:00

Everyone that loves Disney loves the new Disney commercial campaign where they use actual home videos. Angela has been known to tear up watching them. We got a huge surprise about a month ago when a Disney marketing executive called us after seeing a YouTube video I posted of Anela dancing at DW. This is what they saw.

Disney loved it and wanted to use it in an upcoming commercial. I offered up some other clips and they surprisingly ended up using them too! In fact, they made a whole commercial of just us. Here's a sneak peak of our very own Disney commercial scheduled to air at the end of the month.

Ok, it's pretty obvious that Disney didn't make this and unfortunately no Disney exec has seen our video. They should use some of our clips though because Anela and Bryson, clothed in Angela's awesome Disney creations, would sell mass tickets. This video was so frustrating to make. The sound was extremely tricky to get synced (especially using iMovie which has limited sound editing functions... I guess its time to upgrade to a real movie making program). I stole sound bites from two real Disney commercials and then integrated them with just the instrumental, which by the way is not the exact music used in the commercials I stole sound bites from. I got so frustrated with the sound that I spent little time on the actual clips so I just threw a bunch together in random order. The end result is very amateurish but Angela cried when she first saw it ;)

Special Mom

2011-05-08T22:15:00.003-04:00

Between finals and the parents in town for graduation I found little time to prepare a proper mother's day pampering that I wanted to. But with some goodies, flowers, balloons, hand made gifts from the kids, and a much needed afternoon nap I think our special mom still enjoyed her day. The kids were so adorable to their mom today. Both had an opportunity to pray today and both veered, uncoached, from their routine to thank Heavenly Father for their Mom. I can't think of anything more rewarding than when you see your children realize the important things in life, and today the most important thing is their beautiful mother. As Bryson and I were picking up flowers and treats he got upset with me for not buying four treats rather than two because quote, "Dad, I want mom to feel like the most specialistest mom, so we need to buy her four treats". I tried to explain to him that what mom wants the most is lots of hugs and kisses, which he replied, "but I do that everyday...she wants treats!" Our mom does love her treats. The day ended with one of the biggest tickle fights we've had to date - instigated by none else than Mom. Our kids love that their mom plays with them... I love it too.

I'm not the best with words, especially when I try to express my feelings. Angela, I love you with all my heart. You are beautiful, funny, kind, and simply -- wonderful. Thank you for all you do for me and our rambunctious children. I can't wait for you to become a mother for the third time... what lucky kids we have. I love you infinity!

I compiled some of my favorite pictures and videos of Our Mom from the last year. This is my favorite family movie I've made thus far, probably because its all about the woman I love and it captures some of my favorite bits of her personality and shows just how good of a mom she is. The song is also very fitting for our family.

Happy Mother's Day Ang!

I also must say how grateful I am for my own mom. Having her in town the last couple of days watching her play with my kids and interact with my wife reminded me how much she has impacted my life. She raised me to be man of faith, integrity, and confidence. I may sometimes disappoint but she never ceases to extend her love. I love you Mom! And thank you and Dad for being at my graduation -- it meant the world to me.

Under New Management

2011-04-27T14:24:00.004-04:00

Hello Family and Friends! This is Angela's lesser half Bryan. So the family has kept Angela pretty busy the last two years with many fun filled trips, new beginnings, and rewardless jobs. Needless to say with all that our special mom does for us this blog was put on the back burning. Well, I graduate next week -- YEAH!! -- and I have two months before I start a new adventure with GE. Until then, this blog will be under new management. I hope to document all the fun and not so fun things that have happened to the Ottley's the last two years. A new hobby of mine is photography and videography. Make no mistake, I'm a complete novice, but I enjoy trying to put pictures and home videos together in a fun and entertaining way, so you'll see my attempts and hopefully I'll get better as time passes. Anything that I missed with the camera I'll do my best to document in written form. I invite you to follow along.

DISCLAIMER: Bryan Ottley is not a professional writer, photographer, or videographer. Our bit of Good is not responsible for any boredom, irritation, or anger that you may or may not experience as you are on this blog. OBOG strives to provide creative, entertaining, and original content but lets be honest, the Ottley's (as in Bryan, Angela, Bryson, and Anela) may be the only individuals that find this content of any worth. Oh, and past performance is no guarantee of future performance (Grad School taught me that one).

We are here, we are here, we are here!!!

2009-11-30T18:46:00.001-05:00

As said by the Who's down in Whoville, although we are in frogville. We are really liking it here in CT. We feel really lucky to be in such a great house, it's typical New Englandy. With two big porches! It is a professor's that's on sabatical in Japan for the school year. So I know it will be hard to say good bye to it come May. It's got lots of room for the kids to run around in, and a nice big kitchen for me to play in. It also has a great guest room, so come visit!

So what about Frogville? Well our town is famous for the "Battle of the Frogs" during the French and Indian war in 1754. One night the village people heard a loud “shrieking, clattering thunderous roar.” Thinking it was the enemy, they prepared for battle. When the sun came up they discovered hundreds of dead bullfrogs from the dried up pond. Now there is a bridge with four large frogs sitting on giant spools. They've named them Willy, Manny, Windy, and Swifty. Spools- because it is also know as "thread city" because there use to be large thread mills here.

Now isn't that interesting?

And now they get festive and wear a cute red scarf.

I made Bryan take the traditional "first day of school" pose.

A fun carousal in Hartford.

One of the first weekends we were here we went to Cape Cod. It was beautiful. We walked on the beach and collected shells.

We went on a whale watching cruise which was amazing. We saw a lots of mom and baby whales, and they were like 30 feet from the boat.

Provincetown is another little town at the tip of Cape Cod. It's so quaint and charming- it's like a little San Francisco. We felt quite out of place.

There are a ton of Children's Museums around the area. We usually do a playdate with other moms in the ward once a week. The library has free passes to a lot of the museums too.

We did a lot of apple/peach/blueberry pickin'! Yum!

We went to see REAL dinosaur footprints at one of the state parks. In the 70's they were starting to build a government building and a machine driver uncovered a huge slab of dinosaur footprints. Neat-o huh!

We made a plaster of paris mold of one of the footprints. So now we have this 10lb mold we get to haul around. I probably wouldn't have kept it except we put our hand prints in the back so now it's meaningful I guess.

One beautiful day at the beach.

In October the kids and I headed home because of some awful news. It was the kids first flight and I was really nervous being by myself, but they did better than ever! They were really excited to fly, incase you couldn't tell.

The kids had a great time playing with all their cousins and grandparents again. I got to snuggle on these two, aren't they delish!?

"Little Ally" is what the kids still refer to her as. She was in bad shape, but is making a miraculous recovery! It's amazing.

Halloween at UConn. We missed a lot of the festivities because we had the time wrong, but the kids still got to paint pumpkins, get carmel apples, and see the hugest pumpkin ever!

Ward trunk or treat. It was a lot of fun! They had yummy food and fun games! We won "most creative" costume award!

On Halloween day we went to this Pumpkin Town. They make a whole town with pumkin people. Pretty cool.

Of course Anela finds the baby pumpkin.

I hope this isn't what's to come!

We missed Bryan's birthday when we were in Utah and felt really bad, so he made it up to himself by getting Celtics/Jazz tickets. We went with another couple from the MBA program, Kat and Charlie. It was Kat's birthday that day. I gave her props for willing to go to a basketball game on her birthday, but she was happy about it. Too bad the Jazz seriously suck! It was still fun though.

It was amazing the amount of leaves we had on our lawn, probably a foot deep! And of course we kept putting off raking them until the neighbors offered to help. They were so heavy and wet that we had to rake, we couldn't use the leave blower. The neighbors are a great older couple. A few days before they came over, Bryson told me that we need a grandma and grandpa in Connecticut. When they came over and he discovered they had grandkids he started calling them grandma and grandpa.

We've made some wonderful friends that are also in the MBA program and in our ward, Rachel and Richard. They've shown us the ropes around here and made it a lot easier to transition. They invited us to thier parent's timeshare in the Berkshires a couple weekends ago. It's where Norman Rockwell lived. Another cute, charming, quaint New England town. We had so much fun, swimming, mini golf, arcade games, board games, movies, shopping, and relaxing! They have two little kids, Reed and Victoria, that are just younger than Bryson and Anela.

Being the first year away from family, we decided to host Thanksgiving at our house this year for a couple of friends, Kat and Charlie, and the Seals, a family in our ward. It turned out really great and it was so much fun!

The kids table.

Look at that golden delicious bird!

And Friday we decided to brave it and head into New York for the weekend. Although I'm an idiot and forgot the camera! Just means we'll have to go again soon! I really wanted to go to the parade, but we are now planning that for next year. It was crazy busy though! Having kids makes toy stores fun again! Not that they were ever not fun, it's just gives us an excuse to act like kids with out looking totally wierd. We went to the Times Square Toys R Us and road the ferris wheel. Ate at ESPN Zone. Saw the ice skaters and big tree at Rockefellar Square. Disney Store and FAO Schwarz. Bryson was excited to see the all things that are in Home Alone; the taxis, the Plaza Hotel, Central Park, and the tree. He thought he was going to really see Kevin. As always, I love the city. Just being there has an awesome vibe! It was beautiful with the holiday decorations and the hustle and bustle.

Alert the press! Summer has come and gone!

2009-11-17T14:33:00.003-05:00

It's a miracle! Hallelujah, I blogged! Well, if you haven't seen the kids since the last post I did, be prepared to see them grow right before your eyes! I can't believe my "babies" are so grown up!

Well we had the most amazingly fun summer of our lives! We lived it up! We knew we would be leaving wonderful Zion and all our friends and family soon, so we made the most of it! We need to always be in that frame of mind and take advantage and make the most of all that we can! To give you the short and long of it, . . .

April - we went to California again for Bryson's Birthday. We went to Sea World, the SD Zoo, Disney and California Adventures. We visited with Bryan's sisters family, the Stocks. They were wonderful hosts as always. We had the time of our lives, we would live at Disneyland if we could!

- Bryan and I went to Wicked in SL. He suprised me with tickets for Christmas. So I had to wait awhile to get my present, but it was as completly amazing as everyone says! I loved it and want to see it again!

- I got Lasik surgery. My very own little(big) miracle! It was as smooth and painless as possible and I can't believe some people just naturally have eyesight like this!

-Bryson started T-ball. He was awesome. He pretty much need his very own coach to stand right next to him so he wouldn't run all over the field. It didn't matter where he was standing, he would always run to get the ball, little ball hog!

May - Mother's Day and my b-day.

-Ran my very first race ever! The 5k at Thanksgiving point with lots of friends from the neighborhood. It was very fun and exhilerating.

-Went to Zion National Park. I can't believe we had never been here before!? We did all the nice little hikes that we could do with the kids. We decided that we will have Bryson baptized in the Upper Pond when he is 8, so start training!;) It was so beautiful and so great to be doing something active and fun as a family! Great little trip!

-Came out to Connecticut on our way to GA to visit the school and check out the area. We had a very positive experience and knew that this is where we should be!

June - Our annual trip to St. Simons, GA with Zions. This was our third year going and it was just as amazing and relaxing as ever! The weather was perfect, got a lovely tan that is beginning to fade now with this Fall weather. Ran on the beach in the mornings, browsed at all the quaint main street shops, ate the best food, layed out by the pool/beach, and swam in the ocean. And didn't run out of gas this time! Perfect!

- Hiked Mt. Timpinogos Cave. Nice workout with the kids, although just a little bit scary with the cliffs being so close and so high! It was breathtaking in the caves! That is true art! Again, can't believe we had never been there either?!

- Fun Bee's game in the Zion's box. This is the best way to watch sports! With lots of free food!

-Fun girls/family camping trip at the Forks!

-Fun boating day at Bear Lake.

July - 2nd run ever, the 10K at the Provo Freedom Fest. Felt a little like I was going to die, after being not prepared from camping and Bear Lake the week before. Not to mention it was way too early! Why do they always make races so early!? But I'm glad I did it! It was a great motivator and I need to find another one to get my butt in gear again!

-Fun Family 4th in Logan and the Hyrum Parade! Can't break tradition!

-Fun Ottley family time and Lagoon. We hadn't been to Lagoon in years and it was so much fun! The kids loved it too! Wicked seriously is "wicked"!

-Trip to the Cabin in Bear Lake. Serious fun! Lots of Boating, beach, sun, food, fun, family! What could be better? We also went to Minnitonka Cave. I had been there before. Really cool, but Timp beats it I think.

-The Zoo. Always love this place.

-24th of July, Logan parade, willow park, fabric shopping, camping! Oh my!

-Sister's and nieces and nephew sleep over. Swimming, Kangaroo Zoo, food, movies, sewing. Lots of fun!

- Knowles Family Reunion.

August - Oquirrah Mtn. Temple open house. It was fun to be able to take the kids to see the temple. But they were a little crazy and couldn't be reverant for that long.

- Our 7th Anniversary was spent packing! Whoo Hoooo! Oh we did manage to have dinner at the local mexi restaraunt that night with the fam.

- Boating on Huntington Lake(pond) with Bryan's sister's family, the Cowley's. So much fun, Bryson asks almost daily for a jet ski now.

-Finishing Life in Utah - Bryan's last day at work, garage sale, lots of girls nights out, packing, last family time with Mathews' and Ottley's.

-DRIVING, DRIVING, DRIVING - I never EVER want to do this again! Thank goodness for my mom who rode out with me though, or the kids and I might have not come out alive!

- Starting Life in Connecticut. House hunting, UNpacking, figuring out the lay of the land, Bryan's first day of school, Mystic with my mom, sending my mom home:(

Add in lots of swimming, water days, playdates, running, girls workouts, friends, family, and FUN! See we did have the best summer EVER!!!

Ok now that we're all caught up on the summer, from here on out I'll try not to just post one liners about all the fun goings on in our lives, cause you know there's lots! And I've recommited myself to become a "good" blogger. NOT the best, grandest, greatest blogger you've ever seen, just "good". I refuse to become guilt ridden for not blogging! I've felt that way for long enough, but oh well I'm getting over it! Soooo . . . Let the games begin!

I'm like a new blogger again, so please leave me your blog links or invites if you're private. I want to keep up with everyone!

Let's play catch-up!

2008-06-16T15:47:00.005-04:00

We've been having lots of fun already this summer, I guess that's my good excuse for not blogging;) It seems like we have just been going going for like the last month or so. So here's some of our fun happenings . . .

Bryson likes to take showers in the sprinklers now I guess. We came back from camping and of course he was so dirty, so I guess he couldn't wait to go inside to take a bath. I seriously found him like this and thought it was so funny so I had to grab the camera. The neighbors were just cracking up and Bryan was so embarassed. But you really can't keep this kid out of water, our little fishy!

What a good husband, giving the kids a free ride and carrying the flowery diaperbag. I love him!

We had so much fun at our little town days! Check out Bryson's scary "say cheese" face though, it matches Anela's scary hair!

This is on Bryson's new wish list!
WOW, Bryson did very good at the rock climbing wall! Way to go kid!
Our little cowgirl! Isn't she adorable, I mean I know I'm a probably a little biased being her mom, but really how could anyone not think she is the cutest thing EVER!? And to top it off she is just a little angel!

We always have lots of fun at the Thanksgiving Point farm. Bryson is totally in his element, he just can't get enough of all the animals! And Anela just squealed with delight when she saw the bunnies, it was adorable! She wanted to hold them so bad. But she wasn't so fond of riding the horsies.

So Bryson got two turns, he loved it!

We went up to the canyon to have a weinie roast. It was so nice to just get away for a few hours. We are so lucky to have easy access to so many nice places to go to.

When we ask Anela a question she loves to raise her arms and say "Me" so we will tickle her armpits! What a silly girl!

Another swim day for Bryson. Seriously why are we living in Utah? This kid could spend every day outside in the water and he would be a happy camper. We need to be somewhere where it's warm all the time, not just a few days a year!

Bryson got a new summer haircut. It's nice and cool but we miss his long shag.

The new and improved, big boy Bryson! Notice the undies too, Bryson is fully potty trained now! Whooo Hooo! It's amazing how easy it was. I was sooo nervous for potty training, I just kept putting it off. But he was ready and did it all him self!

We made a spare of the moment Memorial Day trip to St. George. It was a fun little get-away. The kids had the most fun riding on the luggage carrier.

And lots more fun to come shortly!

Bryson's Birthday!!!

2008-05-05T17:51:00.005-04:00

Ok, so of course I'm a little late posting this, but better late than never, right? Well, Bryson got quite spoiled for his third birthday. After a week on vacation to Disneyland, we came home to have two more parties. (Yes, I may be crazy) But it was so fun, and I love planning, decorating, buying, creating, ect. to make sure he has a fun birthday.

This is his "big hoop" which he has been asking for, since he's outgrown the littler hoop. Do you think we are brain washing him? He really loves it all on his own.
His beloved "Rocket" He has wanted this for at least 6 months. Every time we go to Target, he wants Rocket. And his big wad of bubble gum- honestly this may be his favorite present! Cheese!
Mickey Cake- all the credit goes to Bryan for decorating it! Good job, honey!

His "dumbputer," which he really loves!

Fun with Friends!

And Family! All zonked out from a hard day (or weeks) play!
Bryson had an excellent birthday. I really hope he remembers some of this as he grows. Thanks so much for all the friends and family that love him so much! He is such a sweet boy who loves bubbles, bubble gum, b-ball, teasing his little sister and mom, Little Einsteins, pizza, Dr. Pepper, riding his bike, swimming, being wild and crazy, and hugs and kisses. I love him so much, and at times get so frustrated with him (only because we are so alike), but I know that he was meant to be in our family and I don't know what we would do with out him! Love you my little sweetheart!

Disneyland Pics!

2008-05-03T21:29:00.001-04:00

The Happiest Place On Earth!!!

2008-05-01T19:09:00.008-04:00

I know, I know, I suck at blogging. But anyways, we have just (2 weeks ago) returned home from the happiest place on earth! DISNEYLAND!!! Yes, we packed up the car until we couldn't see out the windows, squished our two little ones and ourselves in and headed off to sunny California! Well, first we made a pit stop in St. George for the night and stayed with some friends. The kids were so great in the car, we didn't even need to pull out the movies on the way down. We arrived at Bryan's sister, Jennifer's house Saturday afternoon. They made us a yummy dinner, and we had a marshmellow roast. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins who they don't get to see enough, and we got to catch up with Jennifer and Jon and see their newest babe, little Jayson. It was so nice!

When we got there we decided to go an extra day to Disney because we didn't have much planned for Sunday. I'm so glad we did, because in the off season they only have Fantasmic and the firworks (which were so cool), on the weekends. That day was the extra hot day, like 90, plus the extra weekend crowd, so we were pretty slow moving. We just were taking it all in that day. We let the kids go back to the hotel and nap, then came back for Toontown, met Mickey, Fantasmic, and the Fireworks. Now I love fireworks, but these ones are just so cool, they are themed after all the different rides, just magical.

The next day we also took it pretty slow, we let Anela have an early nap before we set off for California Adventures. We weren't planning on doing this park orginally, but with the extra day and hearing all they do have for little ones, we decided to make a half day of it, and soo glad we did. They have a Playhouse Disney Live On Stage performance with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Tiger and Pooh, and Little Einsteins (Bryson's FAVORITE). It was so cute, and I don't think Bryson's jaw left the floor the whole time. Then we went to the Bug's Land, were Bryson played in the little water fountains for half the day. I had heard about the fountains earlier and knew this would be a hit with our little fishy, Bryson, but I forgot to pack his swimsuit, so he just played in his shorts. Oh well, good thing it's such nice weather there. Then that evening they had a Pixar Parade, which was also just so magical, with a real live Lightening McQueen (another one of B's favorites), Mater, all the Toy Story characters, Nemo, ect. California Adventures turned out quite fun, I'd like to go back with just Bryan and do all the big fun rides there, but it definately isn't the same magical feel as Disneyland.

The next day we did Disneyland all day long, and the kids were soo great! Anela took two naps in the stroller and Bryson even managed one as well. We did pretty much everything that day, because the first day wasn't too productive. Even Bryan and I did pretty much all the big rides. We would get a fastpass for the big rides then come back and one of us would go while the other stood in another line. Then we would get the riderswap and other one would come back and do it. It worked out pretty well, other than we just had to ride the rides by ourselves, but that's ok. And most the lines weren't bad at all, 15-20 min average. That night we saw the Parade of Dreams, which was so enchanting, aaawwwwhhhh. Bryson and Anela were just enthralled, I was taking more pictures of them than the parade because they were so funny. Again, just magical. Bryson got so excited seeing all the characters, he would just run up and hug them, not realizing that other kids had been standing in line for several minutes to do the same thing. Anela on the other hand wanted nothing to do with any of the characters. She just screamed whenever we would walk her near one. So needless to say we didn't get the perfect picture shot with her and the characters. Although she LOVES her stuffed Minnie. Whenever she would see any one else's stuffed Minnie she would walk up and try to take it. Not very nice, but so cute. We had an amazing time, the kids were just in heaven there, and I was so sad to leave. The kids did amazing without regular naps, being off schedule, and all the hussel and bussel. We just loved it, I may have even loved it the most.

The next day happened to be the coolest (as in burrrr, it's cold) day we were there, and it also happened to be the day we went to the beach. It was like 67, and of course the water was freezing. But Bryan and Bryson braved it and got their swimsuits on. Bryson was not fond of the sand at first, he thought it was "dirty" and wanted to wash it off right away. But that only lasted about 30 seconds, then he was covered in it from head to toe. Anela pretty much didn't like it the whole time we were there. She was fine if were were in the wet sand, but the dry stuff was not her thing. She loved to "chase" the waves up and down the beach, it was too cute. Bryan and Bryson built a sand castle (the magic kingdom;), and Bryson fell in the water over his head. We had a great time, only wishing it were warm enough for me to swim in, I love swimming in the ocean. Maybe next time.

That night we headed back to Jennifer and Jon's for another yummy meal, a birthday cake for Bryson, some more playing and talking. We got a somewhat early start in the morning for the all day drive back to Utah. Now I had worried so much about how the kids would do with long car ride that I lost sleep over it. It was needless though, as the kids did wonderful. Watched a few movies, ate snacks, took naps, stopped for a break in St. George, and we were home. So easy, I want to do it again! We had an awesome trip and now we are just counting down the days (or years) till we go back!

Anela's 1st Birthday!

2008-02-01T12:58:00.001-05:00

I like to make birthdays a big deal around here, because of course they are! We are celebrating the life of my little Anela Lene. Her birthday was right after Christmas, which made me very unprepared and scrambling at the last minute. I've learned from my mistake and will have everything done for her birthday before Christmas this year, I hope! Well I can't believe a year has gone by so quickly! Bryan made this darling video of her whole 1st year, and just watching it, seeing her at the hospital, her first days, weeks, months, it has all just gone by too fast! I wish I could stop time! I love my babies, and want them to stay babies forever! It seems like overnight she's gone from a baby to a toddler. She's been "cruisin" along things forever now, and just a week ago she started to let go and take 2 or 3 steps between things. Well Saturday she let go and walked across the whole room! It's crazy I have another toddler now. Her and Bryson have actuallly been playing together really well now too, instead of her just wanting to destroy anything he is playing with. It's so fun to see them grow!

"Ohh yummy! My very own cake!"

Ohh it's a happy day! She can wear barretts now! I can't believe it!

Best Buds!
"I love my new rocking chair!" I painted it and painted her name in pink on it, you can't tell really in the pic.
Daddy's girl!
The masterpieces! HAHAHA don't look too close! I don't claim to be a cake decorator, but they did really taste good, and I don't usually like cake!

Pretty girl!

More Christmas

2008-01-28T23:23:00.001-05:00

Santa came! I hope Santa didn't have as hard of time traveling on Christmas Eve, it took us over 3 hours to drive home, normally under 2. It had snowed like three feet, and since it was Christmas Eve, no one wanted to plow the freeway of course.

I should make a slide show, if I knew how. I'm still new to this blogging thing. Someone let me know how to make it cute like all the rest of yours too!

This was Bryson's favorite present! He has to have all his trains in his bed to go to sleep now.
Anela's fun bouncin zebra! Oh, and her name is pronounced A-nay-la, some were wondering.
Crawly Caterpillar thing.
Aren't are PJ's cute if I do say so myself!

I'm baaaccckk!!!

2008-01-28T14:39:00.001-05:00

OK, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, just a slacker at blogging. But we had a great holiday and then Anela's birthday, so we've just been recouperating for awhile. Anyways, onto the pics . . .

All the girls went the Nutcracker(my favorite!), then on to Hamiltons! So sad my little Anela Lene couldn't come(too little),she was the only one missing:( Next year! Our cute Santa! The kids were sick most of Christmas, but such troopers, and had a great time!
US! Look at Anela's darling dress, too bad I ruined it in the wash!? I washed it on delicate cold/cold, but the red still turned the white parts pink! Now they couldn't get Christmas pictures done!
By far her favorite gift! Her reaction when she opened it was priceless! Who knew a little baby could get so excited over her own little baby?!

Bryan had to climb about 15 ft up the tree to cut it down! What a man! Isn't it the most perfect tree ever!? And look at my cool overalls! They sure kept me warm though! What a fun tradition!

What I'm thinking about . . .

2008-01-28T14:34:00.000-05:00

Words can't describe what an amazing man he was! What an example!

Pumpkin Carvin' and Halloween Night

2007-11-02T11:23:00.000-04:00

We carved pumpkins for FHE and Bryson was way into it, for about 5 minutes. Then he was done. He did not like the guts at all! Who knew that my boy doesn't like to get messy!?! He was seriously crying until I cleaned his hands. But he loves his spider, and daddy's "U", and mommy's witch, and baby's happy face. He has to go out and look at them atleast 5 times a day. On halloween we went to a few of our neighbors and then over to the in-laws to do trick or treating. They have a very "established" neighborhood, and he got several regular size candy bars, one house gave him like 4 regular candy bars!? He was very into this year, which was fun to see. He would wait a minute at the door and then say "no one home, next house, more candy" He knew what he was doing! I don't know why we went, I guess just for the experience and tradition, it's not like he needed, or will actually get to eat all that candy, which means more for us:( I better hide it from myself!

Halloween weekend

2007-11-01T23:08:00.000-04:00

Last weekend Bryan had his annual Halloween parade at work that we took the kids to. These men don't hold back with the candy. Bryson's bucket was so full he couldn't even carry it. After that we headed up to Logan for the weekend. My aunt throws this HUGE Halloween party every year. This year's theme was "Ghoul and Grim Bros. Carnevil." It was amazing, they had this huge carnival tent covering their entire front lawn and front door, I wish I would have got a picture of it. They had all sorts of carnival games for the kids, complete with stuffed animals and other prizes, cotton candy, popcorn, churros, carmel apples, hot dogs, nachos, everything you could think of. Every inch and nook of their entire house is covered with some sort of creepy crawly thing. It's so fun. Well of course costumes are required, but Bryan and I hadn't even thought about what we would wear oh until the night before. So I thought I could just wear my witch costume and then whip him up a wizard costume. It always seems to happen like that, that I'm just starting and finishing the costume like the day of. It was the same with the kids costumes, I started them the night before our trunk or treat. Anela's didn't get done, but only because I had to get new fabric. The fabric I originally had was like sewing on butter, it was so impossible. But Bryan's was pretty easy and looked so cool! The wig and beard, which we had to cut hair from the wig and glue to his face, totally made the costume! Although he only had the beard on for about a total of ten minutes it was so annoying and he couldn't eat.

Bouncin' Off the Walls

2007-11-01T21:59:00.000-04:00

Last week we went to Bouncin' Off the Walls with some of our friends in the ward. We hadn't been there for a while, but Bryson loves this place, and so do moms. It's just this big enclosed room with all these inflatable toys to let the kids run loose and the moms chat. It has this big slide, which Bryson was scared of this time for some reason. But I took him up it, kick and screaming (literally) the whole way, because I knew he would love it, and I really wanted to go down it too and it would look kinda funny doing it without a kid. But mainly he was interested in the basketball hoops the whole time, this boy LOVES hoops! He's such a baller! And funny story- for some reason that day I wore my favorite pineapple necklace that I've had since I was 16 and got in Colonial Williamsburg, VA, and I hardly ever wear necklaces or dangly earrings because I have a really good grabber, but I did. And of course, Anela grabbed it and broke it and I couldn't find the pineapple pendant anywhere. I took off Anela's jacket and pants and looked down her shirt, I looked everywhere and I thought I saw it just drop, not fling somewhere, and I was seriously about ready to cry. Well later that day when we got home and I changed her diaper I got a very nice suprise! There was my pineapple pendant in her diaper!!?! Don't know how that happened, but I was happy!

Bryson and Anela Photoshoot

2007-11-01T21:39:00.000-04:00

My darling friend Liz did Bryson and Anela's pictures today, and I could not be more happy! I can't say enough good things about her, she's just amazing, and makes my kids look just amazing! Check out her site and see all the other amazing things she's done, dillydallyart.blogspot.com It was seriously the least stressful photoshoot we've ever done. Thanks Liz!

New and Improved picture

2007-10-24T16:25:00.000-04:00

My wonderful sister-in-law made my picture nice! Now there are beautiful fall colors!

Witches Night Out

2007-10-23T15:13:00.000-04:00

For the last couple of years I've gone to the Witches Night Out at Gardner Village. It's a girls night only where everyone dresses up like witches and there are lots of fun activities, dancing and great sales in the cute little shops at Gardner Village. It's a ton of fun, and this year I think was the best yet! It was a little crazy getting us there and some couldn't make it. But we started the night off with a yummy meal at Macaroni Grill (thanks Beth!) and then hit the Village. It was great weather, shopping, food, with tons of laughing! Looking forward to next year already! Plan on it! Thanks girls! Love ya!

2007-10-23T14:50:00.000-04:00

And then last week both the kids had check-ups, Anela for her 9 month and Bryson for his 2 1/2 years. I figured it would be quicker and easier to do both together, especially since now I have to drive 45 minutes to get to their dr., cause I like him so much and haven't wanted to change since moving. Well we are almost through getting ready for our flu shots, have already been there 1 1/2 hours, and for some strange reason there was a step ladder in the room and Bryson was climbing on it trying to get on the dr table and slipped and fell and cut his lip and just under his lip open. Yeah, well let me just say that I've never had any stitches, never broken a bone, never been to the hospital, except to have my babies, nothing. So to say the least, I freaked out. It was so scary, I was hysterical. Seriously crying probably as much as Bryson, I think I freaked him out a little even, he stills says "Mommy cry at the Dr." But good thing the nurse was in there and knew what to do. And the Dr. came right in and decided to do the glue instead of stitches. So all in all if it had to happen anywhere I guess it couldn't have been a better place. But it's just so scary to see your baby go through that, but he's healing so nicely and everything is OK now. He liked that he got lots of popsicles out of it;)!

Events

2007-10-23T14:13:00.000-04:00

So we've had a few eventful things going on lately. To begin, Bryan's birthday- such a fun day for the family. We went up to Sundance to ride the tram and see the pretty fall colors (and snow!). We also ate at the deli. It was really fun and really pretty, but again (we did this last year too), we were about a week late, so all the colors were a bit muted. Especially at times like these I wish I were a better photographer and had a better camera. It was a great picture spot. I just need to bring my photographer friends along everywhere I go so I can have great pics of my family. That evening we went to a pumpkin farm in Pleasant Grove. It was such a fun farm, they had a corn maze, and a huge slide in the middle of the maze, and a hayride, and train ride, a hay tramp, pony rides, pig races, I definitely recommend it for anyone in this area. Bryson still talks about this day several times a day. I love it when they have that much fun!

Sick and Tired.

2007-10-11T01:09:00.001-04:00

Ok, so last week wasn't a very good week to start a blog. First off, Bryson was sick all week with a fever, I ended up taking him to the Dr. and he said he had a virus in his throat, nothing to do for that except tylenol,ibuprofen and rest. AND our internet was down all week, just got up again last night. I HATE digis, don't ever EVER go with them if you can help it. I seriously know them all by name, I just have to say "Hi it's me" and they know who it is, that's how often I have to call about my stupid internet. And then Anela got sick, which is so sad to see her miserable, she's always so happy, but I think she's getting over it now. And we also had conference, which was very good and uplifting and Bryan's BIG 28th BIRTHDAY! YAY! We did some fun family stuff for that, I'll post some pics tomorrow. Anyways, I'm going to try to keep more up to date from here on out.

2007-10-02T10:34:00.000-04:00

The first time

2007-10-01T23:45:00.000-04:00

Ta-Da! We finally made the leap and are now official bloggers! Can you believe it? Well I hope it's not too boring from here on out.