All About Me

3 Year Old picture in our Chinese Dress

Brailyn is so fun right now. Here are a few of her current likes:

Disney's Robin Hood- She wants to watch it EVERY movie night, and when she plays with her dollhouse, the characters are Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marian, Prince John, and Skippy (the little Rabbit).


Painting at Preschool- probably because we haven't done it at home, although she's always loved to color. She brings home at least 2 art pieces everyday!


Jumping on the bed- but what kid doesn't! And lucky for her, her bed is SUPER bouncy!

Tea Time with Friends

Today we had a special Tea Party with Brailyn's friends from across the street (of Grandma's house) Caleb(5) and Shaylee(3 1/2). They are moving up to Utah next week, and we're really going to miss them! But we had so much fun playing with them while we were at Grandma's and taking swimming lessons together!

So to send them off we had them over for a Tea Party. We of course played and danced too, but for lunch the girls got dressed up (Caleb opted not to) and we drank 'tea' and had a yummy lunch, followed by heart-shaped Rice Krispy Treats for dessert!


The beautiful princesses


Fancy Nancy Brailyn loves carrots


The Sophisticated Shaylee


Caleb didn't want his picture taken!


Tea was followed by fine art of course!

We hope that Caleb and Shaylee make lots of new friends, but come and visit us again soon!

Preschool!

First Day of Preschool


Holy cow my baby is in preschool!! She's starting a semester early, technically I guess, but she is so ready for it (and I am too!) She is doing the Child Development Program at MCC, which all of my siblings did growing up, so I'm really excited. Her teacher Miss Rochelle is wonderful and I'm so excited to watch her make new friends and try new things. So far this week she's painted 4 pictures, something that is new to her and that she loves. But she still loves to work the puzzles and read the books in the classroom of course! And she's making new friends and learning how to do things all by herself, like pour her drink and snack time. And there is an observation room where parents can watch and listen. I usually just hang out on campus for the time she's there, reading, internet, and of course watching the little ones in class. She is a star and I love watching her shine!


First Painting

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday Brailyn! I can't believe you're already 3 years old! You are growing SO fast. We had a wonderful birthday party yesterday-= Mickey's Clubhouse theme. Daddy helped Minnie show us some games: Minnie Says, Dance to Cha Cha Slide, and a treasure hunt with Toodles. Then we played with the dollhouse that you got. You absolutely love it. And now you have a big house for your playmobile people!

Brailyn and her buddies: Shaylee and Caleb Clouse, Jaxon Rogers, Emery Gomez


Playing Minnie Says


Opening Presents


Blowing out the Birthday Candle (yummy carrot cake, but I just ate the cream cheese frosting!)


Dressed like 'Fancy Nancy' (from Margo Treece) and playing with my new dollhouse!

This morning you wanted to have chocolate pancakes. Yum. And tomorrow you have your first day of preschool! You can't wait. We went to the open house last week and you've already made a friend with a little girl named Julienne. Here are some of your favorite things:
Wha do with Minnie (yes, you still love this!)
Playmobile (and now the dollhouse)
Leggos
The State puzzle (you can put it all together by yourself and even know a lot of the states by name ie: where does wyoming go? that's where Bronco lives!)
Reading books
Leapfrog (you got this from Holly Gomez for Christmas. it entertains you until Momma wakes up!)
Dressing up for Tea Parties
Reading the Scripture Stories at Breakfast and then watching the videos as we complete each one. You always know that Nephi and Sam are obeying, and Laman and Lemuel aren't
The Brite Music tapes w/ books (ie; the Land of Obey)
"Say her, Daddy" when you want him to do a voice for the people
"Momma, I had a good sleep" when you come in my room bright and early!

You are such a happy girl and love to play. Even with the many moves we've made (7 in two years), you adjust very well and just keep on doing your thing. I hope you continue to enjoy life and grow and be your true self all the time! I love you so much Brailyn!

Speak to us of Children

'Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and dauhters of Life's
longing for itself.
They come through you but not from
you,
And though they are with you yet they
belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not
your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not
their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of to-
morrow, which you cannot visit, not even
in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek
not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries
with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your chil-
dren as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path
of the infinite, and He bends you with His
might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand
be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.'

The Prophet- Kahlil Gibran

Christmas 2008

As if we hadn't already had a great Christmas present from Grandma and Paca (the vacation), we still got some great stuff from Santa!


Santa brought a Curious George book, 2 big girl puzzles (which you've already mastered), some chocolate, a drum, 2 new Playmobile people, and some Brain Quest cards!


Having fun with the packing popcorn


Momma and Daddy got Brailyn a tea set (and yes, it's 'green'- no BPA)


Brailyn also got a new Chef set from Momma and Daddy


Momma opening a present from 1985. Grandpa Lindsay, Joe and Allyson came down for a visit and brought more gifts- books, puzzle, Dr. Barbie, Leggos, cute clothes...


Leggos from Allyson


Riding around with the Manning cousins at Family Christmas

The week after Christmas, we packed up and moved to our new house!

Disney Vacation Part Deux

As I said, we also did a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas. We wish we had more time! There was so much fun stuff to do on the boat, and the ports were cool too. We actually stayed on the boat most of the day in Nassau, and enjoyed the beach the 2nd day at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. We had great weather and Momma did NOT get sea sick! Wahoo! Daddy was actually the one who didn't do too well. A little dizzy and sleepy from the drugs! Brailyn had fun in the Oceaneer's club, swimming and just seeing the characters everyday, of course. The food was good and the shows were great. I'd recommend it to anyone!


This was just too funny


Ready to set sail!


Dancing at the Bon Voyage deck party


Daddy and Brailyn had so much fun they brought Clint up for YMCA




At the Nassau Port


Swimming in the Mickey Pool- is she cute or is it just me?


Yes, there are pictures of us too!



Momma and Daddy after our Sea Lion Encounter. It was better than we'd expected and got a big hug and kiss from the guy. Of course you couldn't take your own pictures:(


Doing the Limbo on Pirate Night (yes, I plan ahead)


Pirate Mickey- CHECK! We actually saw Mickey and Minnie everyday on the cruise. Plus Goofy, Pluto, Daisy, Chip and Dale...even Jack Sparrow!

Yes, that's the pirate ship from the movie!


Swimming with Lala. Daddy was fishing with Paca. Momma and Brailyn only made a 1/2 day at the beach. We REALLY needed a nap after so much fun all week.


Dance party with Pluto, Goofy and Daisy


She danced with Daisy the whole time!


One more photo op!


The last night was the formal night. I of course had to bring her Minnie Dress! Dinner was a fancy French restaurant and we had escargot!


We had some time to kill before the flight home, so we stopped by Kennedy Space Center (just the entrance) and went through the Astronaut Hall of Fame Museum



This WAS supposed to have the whole entrance to the museum, but that's what you get for having a stranger take the picture!

We got home about 7:30pm Christmas Eve, got the cookies that we made for Santa out of the freezer and went to bed. What a trip!