Kindness Begins With Me

This week was Brailyn's first Cottage fair in Mrs. Harris' first grade class at Edu-Prize, and what a sweet evening it was. The kids were learning about birds, and they all wrote their own stories which were made into little books. The class authors proudly read their stories aloud as the parents went around the room to listen. Brailyn was beaming, as were the other children. So glad we are at this school! As I get to help in the classroom twice a month, I've gotten to know the children, their personalities etc, and see how Brailyn interacts with them. I must say, I am so proud of my sweet and friendly girl. Like in kindergarten, she is friends with all of the children, and they all genuinely like her. I am sure it is because of her sweet and loving disposition. And she is exuberant with her friends, never embarrassed to show her excitement and silliness with them. Her teacher told me of a sweet incident recently of how a boy in the class, who is chubby and often gets into behavioral trouble from getting frustrated etc, wasn't participating in the group carpet time because he was upset. Brailyn went over to him, patted his back and his leg, told him it was alright, and eventually coaxed him back into the group. My heart melted, and this momma was so proud! I've seen her after school sitting with this boy and giving him a goodbye hug as she gets in the car. These children are all so sweet and it warms my heart to see them make new friends with all kinds of children, because they still have that sweet compassion and unbiased love for each other. I hope that my little girl can keep showing this genuine kindness and compassion as she grows up. What a gift she has.

One of the many notes she gets from kids in her class.

Special Kiddo and more fun

Brailyn LOVED Mrs. Brown's kinder class, especially when it was FINALLY her turn to take home Class Monkey. She brought him home on Friday and kept him until the next Thursday. I think he enjoyed hanging out with Brailyn and seeing lots of new things.

As part of her Special Kiddo week, the kids in her class all made a list of things they like about Brailyn. They compiled it into a special book as well, but we hung up the poster in the hallway:)

We also took a trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens. Thank you Culture Pass! Brailyn was so excited when a Bullseye butterfly landed on her shoe 4 times! She was hoping one would land on her clothes, but they apparently like shoelaces. It was a beautiful day walking around the gardens and spending time together.

Movie nights are always fun. She is a good helper with the popcorn. Isn't she cute??

Spring Fun

Here are some things we've done this Spring to keep busy and have fun-

Write and illustrate lessons for Family Night

Celebrate Valentine's Day-big hug for YOU!

Birthday parties at Bounce-U- serious fun

Another birthday party at Freestone park. This time we launched rockets!

Lunch at the temple. We love to look at the beautiful flowers and watch the brides taking pictures:)

Skateland with Dallin and Broolyn Wakefield. Thank goodness for the PVC training 'walkers'!

We went to a spring training game when Uncle Ben was in town. Go Diamondbacks!

After breakfast bike rides. We're practicing so we can take off our training wheels this year!

Sometimes if we're really bored, we make snow angels in the kitchen.

Birthday Party

After our birthday trip to Disneyland, we had a little get together at our neighborhood park with some friends to officially celebrate. Brailyn loves all of her friends from church and school. Playing at the park and climbing trees was the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Duck, Duck, Goose of course

Kids in Trees

Opening presents

Make a Wish!

Birthday trip to Disneyland!

What a wonderful birthday we had this year! Grammie helped momma surprise Brailyn with a trip to Disneyland. I woke her up early in the am, car all packed up, and wouldn't you know- she took one look at my shirt (my Minnie shirt) and said, 'Are we going to Disneyland?' Too smart for her own good:) So off we went. We got to the Disneyland Paradise Pier hotel about 1pm, and headed to the park. We had a blast, of course. It IS the happiest place on Earth, and we both love it so much. We even had a visit from Larissa and Jeff on Monday, and Grammie came on Tuesday. The best part of all was seeing the smile on her face every time someone saw her birthday pin and told her 'happy birthday, princess!'. Even Goofy and Minnie gave her extra hugs because it was her birthday. Disney just makes it that much more special.

Goofy LOVES Brailyn


No lines at Fantasyland!




We had breakfast with the Princesses at Ariel's Grotto. Yummy!


More Disney magic:)




She was so excited when she saw Jeff (with whom she bonded in San Diego last summer). Her new favorite 'uncle'.


We also ran into some friends from Momma's high school (Chris and Melissa Braegger) and their girls, who took swimming lessons with Brailyn (McKenna). We went on a bunch of Fantasyland rides with them. They were so excited to have a friend!


Riding Space Mountain with Grammie!




My heart was so happy this trip. The magic of Disneyland, the special birthday trip, the joy in her eyes. I love this girl so much, and loved spending this wonderful time with her.

Happy 6th Birthday!

Wow! Six years old already. Brailyn, you are growing into such a beautiful, smart, sweet, kind, discerning, spirited little girl, and I love watching you live your life with joy. Here are some things about you now that you are 6.

You can read VERY well. Your kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Brown, says you are reading at a 4.6 grade level. Wow!

You love your new gymnastics class with coach Mike. You are learning new skills and getting stronger every week.

You play the piano very well. Miss Melanie says you are musically talented, and she loves having you in class.

You are such a good friend to your classmates. You love school, and play with just about everybody in your class. Your BFFs are Casey, Adam, Addi, Naomi, and well, the list can go on because you really do love all of your friends:)


You are a great big sister to Lincoln and love having him over every week. You play all day with Parker using your wonderful imagination.


You love to write and illustrate stories. It is one of your favorite things to do in school and even at home. We go through a LOT of paper!


You love to play with your American Girl dolls at Grammie's

You are very fashionable. You love to pick out 'cute' outfits, mix and match, coordinate, and just get creative with what you wear.

You tell Momma EVERYTHING, and I love it! School, friends, good things, sad things, what you want to do...you are great at expressing yourself and are very good at telling the truth.


Playing with Barbies and monster trucks.


We love to watch Wipeout every week and laugh at the crazy obstacles and the contestants bouncing all around.

Favorite food- Amy's Organic bean burritos (you ask for them every night), broccoli, watermelon, strawberries
Favorite book- Junie B Jones and Cinderella pop-up book
Favorite color- pink and green

Here are some more things your classmates wrote about you when your were special kiddo

New Year Fun

2012 is going to be a great year. Through trials come great blessings, and I know Heavenly Father has a plan for our family that will be for the best, even if we go through some hard times for a while. As we continue in faith and hope, consistently living the Gospel, our testimonys will be strengthened, and we will be carried through and made stronger.

To start off our New Year, we kept tradition alive with illegal fireworks with Paca. This year had a little more excitement as the fireworks were REALLY big, and the neighbors called the Police! Luckily Paca got a warning, but he says it was worth it.




Brailyn and Momma love to go eat lunch at Sprouts sometimes after school. They have yummy veggie sandwiches! And who doesn't love a tea party??





Photo Booth- best entertainment ever!



Brailyn usually wakes up early and gets to playing right away. One morning I found her playing a game with a bunch of friends. Too cute!


To earn money, Brailyn has some extra jobs to do that are a little more difficult then her regular jobs. One is to vacuum her bedroom. This day she was having a hard time, so she locked herself in her room and told me to go check my computer. This is the note I found. Made me smile:)