ThE SwEnSoNs

Isabellas Blessing!

2012-01-19T17:54:00.000-08:00

The day was great! All of our families and friends came to support us on this special day! There was only one thing that didn't happen and thats a family picture with Tom in it. The girls were playing downstairs with Grandma Halling and I went down to catch a few pics and we ended up taking some of me and the girls. I yelled up to Tom to come get a picture but he was running behind getting ready. I said its ok will do it later, yeah about that it never happened! Sorry babe! We Love You:))
Tom did an amazing job on her blessing. I just love my little family!

There are going to be one too many Tea Parties with these cousins:)
It happened again 5 years later I got the girl and they got the boys! I love you girls! Your boys better be nice to my Izzie:)

More of Izzies first days!

2012-01-18T20:51:00.000-08:00

Those are 2 very happy big sisters!
This nurse was seriously so sweet and so fun with Brindley and Londyn. She wanted to give Isabella her bath so then they could help. The girls were in bath heaven! They are seriously the biggest help with every bath sometimes a little too much help:) Love my girls!
All of us enjoing our new little one!
I remember thinking and feeling so much joy for 3 beauitful healthy girls. I am so grateful that I can have kids and that they are healthy. Brindley Londyn and Isabella I just want you to know that I love you more than life itself, you have helped me know who I am and I love it! I want you to know that your Heavenly Father loves you too and your his little angels. This world is a crazy world and I want to teach you everything I can to help you understand his wonderful plan for you.

Isabella Nicole Swenson

2012-01-17T20:31:00.000-08:00

What a way to start off blogging again by introducing little Izzie to our family. Isabella was born September 2, 2011. She was a healthy happy baby. I enjoyed 2 days in a very quite hospital bed holding her ALL day long! No matter how many babys you have you forget how sweet and precious newborn babies are. We came home on a Sunday afternoon to 2 VERY excited big sisters that couldn't get enough of her and still can't to this day! Izzie is the BEST baby. She eats and then sleeps! I love her so much its rediculous! I thought that through my pregancie with her I was done for sure but Im not so sure anymore, I still might have to try for that boy but don't hold your breath it's going to be awhile:)
Heading home from the hospital! Love those sweet cheeks!
Isabellas very first bath at home. The only of many things that I am weird about is I buy a new bath tub for each of my babies (I know Im crazy). So when it came time for her first bath I went to get the tub and realized I forgot to buy one! Oops! So Izzies first bath was in Mom and Dads bathroom sink!
SERIOULSY can't get enough!
LOVE HER!! She loves loves loves her little fist! Whenever she isn't eating she is doing this.
There are no words!
Love those CHEEKS!!
Izzie you are a great addition to our family sweetie and can't believe we got so lucky to have you! Love Mom:)

So happy to be back!

2012-01-17T20:10:00.000-08:00

Im so sad that I have let this part of my life go! I love blogging and looking back on the things my family and I do and go through! I can't believe that it has been almost a year since my last post! Its overwleming to try and post everything that happened over the last year so Im not going to. Im starting FRESH!! So as soon as I can get my camera not to be stubborn I am going to upload a few pics and say a few things about the big events that happened in 2011!

Londyn is the BIG 2!!!

2011-03-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

I love the age that Londyn is at, she is so full of life! Every morning she wakees up with a smile on her face laughing and playing in her crib. There are so many things that I love about being a mom. My girls give my life meaning! I love being a mom. I am so blessed to have 2 of the sweetest girls in the world.
A few things that can desribe Londyn best are
~Caring
~Sweet
~Attitude
~Silly
~Free Spirted
~VERY Indepented
~Determend
~Soical
Few things she loves to do
~Color Pictures with "B" (Thats what she calls Brindley)
~Climbing on the counter to wash her hands
~Throw things away (even things she isn't supposed to)
~Watch movies
~Play house with B
~Read books
~Play outside
~Getting her nails and toes painted
~Loves having her hair done
~Putting mommys nice lotion ALL over herself
Few things Londyn says
~"Ohhhh Mannnnnnn"
~Night Night Mommy, Daddy, B
~Apple
~Loves you
~Kissy
~Bum Bob (Sponge Bob)
~Daddy home
~Nana (for Grandma)
~Me Awake
~Dress
~Pretty
Londyn had a fun day! She got a fun new car that her and Brindley have fun with everyday! They call it the baby speed racer! So cute:)
We had the family over for cake and ice cream. This year I decided to make a Lady Bug cake. It wasen't the best cake that I have done but hey its the thought that counts right! I love making cakes for the ones I love for their special day! Here are a few pics from the day!!

What a WEEK!

2011-03-09T18:33:00.000-08:00

It has actually been a long couple of weeks! Tom and the girls have had the worst sinus infections/ear infections. I have been SO lucky (knock on wood) to stay healthy! Someone has to be right? Tom said that he hasen't had an ear infection since he was a kid, I felt so sorry for him. I also have realized how much help he is to me when he is home. EVERY weekend he lets me sleep tell 10 or so, he gets the girls ready for church on sunday besides the hair and SO much more, but since he has been under the weather I have had to do it all and let me tell you Im very TIRED!!!!
Londyn has been extra cranky because of her ear infections in both ears:(, this is her first time having them and also her first time being on meds! I really don't like putting her on them, but it helps so I do it!
I'm more than grateful that once in awhile my kids get sick because it makes me sooooo much grateful when they're they're happy, silly, giggly self!
Just like everyone else we are SO ready for SPRING!!

On a very exciting note my little LOLO turns 2 on sunday! Time flys! I swear she was just snuggling in my arms and eating every 2 hrs! I have loved this last year. She is a very entertaining 2 year old. Ill do a special Londyn post next week after her birthday:)

Nap/Quite Time

2011-03-03T11:50:00.000-08:00

Over the past year and half Brindley has stopped taking naps. At first it was the worst thing ever just because every mom needs a few hrs a day for herself. So I told her that she needed to have quite time for atleast an hr in her room. She can read books play with her dolls or watch a movie just as long as she stays in her room. Londyn has always enjoyed her sleep and I really hope that lasts.
So one day when I was cleaning up lunch I told the girls they had a few mintues to play before quite time.
This is what I saw about 10 mins later

Brindley wanted her to take her nap like this! I told her we would try it! Yea that lasted about 2 mintues but Brindley liked that I let her try!

I love these girls sooooo much! I am going to be so sad and lonely when they aren't with me all day. I just have to LOVE each and everyday that they want me by there side all the time!

Love Day

2011-03-02T12:34:00.001-08:00

Valentines Day was fun, memorable, sweet, and relaxing! We celebrated the Saturday before Valentines Day because thats when we had a babysitter thanks to Paul and Ashlee! We decided to go to the gateway and eat at one of our favs "Happy Sumo" I never ate or even thought about sushi until I met Tom now I can't get enough of it too bad you can't eat too much of it when your pregant. Tom and I usually just get each other colonge and perfume for Valentines day but I decided that Tom was in need of other things this year. Tom is so bad about spending money on himself. Now that we have kids he thinks the money can be spent on them or saved which is a good things but come on you need to spoil yourself every now and then. Good thing he has me to do that for him. HAHA! So we went to a few of his favorite stores he tried stuff on and after he would say "ya this looks good but do I really need it" I would follow by yes! So when it came time to buy I told him how about you go to the resturant and I'll get a few things you tried on and meet you there. He fell for it! I bought EVERYTHING he tried on oops! I loved it all on him and I knew he would be grateful! I also knew he may freak out about the price only because he thought we were still going shopping for me after dinner. I decided that I really didn't need anything so this Valentines Day was all about Tom. That never happens, Tom is a very romantic guy and thoughtful that he is always thinking of me and the girls first.
Anyway when I was walking back to the resturant to meet him I loved the look n his face when he saw me with all the bags. His first words were "Take it back" I said no, You deserve all of it silly! He gave me a kiss and said Thanks Love:) Love that man! After dinner we went to see that new movie with Jennifer Anniston and Adam Sandler, I can't remember the name of it! We had a great time together! Love You babe forever and ever!
On Monday (Valentines Day), Tom made the girls a Pink breakfast before heading off to work. The girls and I soent the day making cookies for neighbors.

ThE BiG DaY!!

2011-03-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

February 18th was Paul and Ashlee's Wedding! They got married in the Salt Lake Temple, it was such a great day not to cold and barly and wind! They are so cute together! We are all so excited and happy that Ashlee is a part of the Swenson Clan! We love you bunches Paul and Ashlee!

Look how cute Laura and Natalie are! They are both due this month with GIRLS!! So excited for them both!

All the Swenson siblings!

The WHOLE Swenson Family

Sledding in Grandmas backyard!

2011-03-01T19:53:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Swenson made a fun sledding hill in his backyard! I went down twice. I went with Brindley the first time then Londyn! I was more nervous with Londyn just cuz she is so little so that being said I didn't think about how I was sitting on the tube and my bum was rubbing on the snow and on the way down the hill I hit a bump pretty hard that sent me back inside on the couch! The kids luckliy have a fun dad that stayed out there with them for about 45 mins!

The Magical Day!

2011-03-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day is so much fun when you have kids to share it with. It just makes the day what its supposed to be! My girls were very excited! Every year we take the picture on the stairs before going to see what Santa brought. It usually just has the girls in it but Lo Lo wanted her mama! So sorry for the morning scariness on my part:)

My mom joined in on the fun this year which we LOVED having her here. I grew up having Christmas at my grandparents from the age 7 until my last Christmas with my family before I got married!

We had to cut opening presents from Tom and I until later because we had to be to Toms parents at 9:30 to open presents from family and then all 50 of Maryanns family was coming over for Breakfast. I actually love the go go go that goes on in this family there is never a dull moment! LOVE IT!!

That night it was off to my Dads for Dinner and more presents! We got to see so many family members that we don't get to see very often. It so much fun having family that loves spending as much time together as we all do.

Christmas Partys....

2011-03-01T18:46:00.001-08:00

Partys get a little crazy around here, only because we have many to attend to. First we went to my moms for a Roast Dinner followed by our all time favorite Christmas movie as kids "Prancer" every Christmas Eve we would beg Grandpa to let us watch it, he thought the little girl was annoying, which she was a little but it still was a good movie! My mom once again Spoiled us all! She had put together these awesome baskets FULL of food and goodies also a some cash for each of us! The grandkids got Disney suitcases that had pjs, blanket and pillow! Thanks again mom for everything you do for us we LOVE YOU BUNCHES!!

We also all went in on my moms gift this year are brought her up to date with a REALLY nice camera that she was pretty excited about as you can tell by her cute face:)

The next party was at my dads! Brindley was looking forward to this one because I told her Santa was planning on coming! She was so excited to tell him her List of things! My Dad and Step mom made a Fabulous Prime Rib dinner and other yummy goodies! This side of the family loves to play games so we each buy a 20 dollar gift for the pass around game. Its alot of fun and we always end up with awesome things. The kids do an exchange as well! I LOVE family and Im so grateful that we live by ALL of them to share the holidays with! LOVE you ALL!!!

The picture that I took of Brindley some how got erased! But I got one of Londyn and her thoughts on Santa were not good, maybe next year!
Christmas Eve was spent with Toms family at his parents home! We had yet ANOTHER amazing meal along with endless treats! We spent the night talking and laughing something that the Swensons do best:) Maryann read "The Night Before Christmas" to the grandkids.

After the story the kids wanted to sing Christmas songs!

Somebody heard us all singing our guts out...............
SANTA CAME!!!!!!! The kids were speechless:)

LOVE the Holidays so much!! Here are a few more pictures.....

Holiday Happenings a little late!!

2011-03-01T18:14:00.000-08:00

I once again have really fallen behind in blogging for what reason I don't know other than just life gets too busy.
If I can remember this far back our December was fun and eventful. We started out the month going to a Live Nativity in Alpine that my father in law was in this year. He was a Roman Solider along with his brother in law John, they played the part awesome!! Brindley thought her Grandpa was famous:)

This Navivity was very cool, they put ALOT of hard work into it. There were buses that were taking people every 15 mins. They planned on it going until 9 each night (Friday, Saturday, Monday) but that didn't happen. They had to turn people away at 11. It was crazy how many people come to this each year.
The girls had so much fun. Brindley thought that everyone we saw was the REAL deal, it was really sweet. She told everyone in her primary class the next week in church that she got to meet the real baby Jesus!

We had so much fun that this is going to be something we do every year for sure!

Another fun thing that happened was Elder David Swenson returned from his Mission in Japan! He really didn't change in looks much just a little older but he is still the same sweet caring loving David, were so glad to have him home!

A week before Christmas we went to see the Lights down town with Toms Family! I love going to do things like this with family! The kids always love the may different colors of lights. Sadly the excitement wears off fast because it's always SO cold, but they did't pretty good for 20 mins. The last of the adventure was spents inside at the church musuems! Then it was off to fill our tummys:) Another perk to going with family (hehe) Reed and Maryann treated us to a great meal at chuck a rama! The kids LOVE this place because they get to make their own rice cream cones and put WHATEVER on them.

Grandpa Fitzgerald

2010-12-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

On November 20th 2010 My Sweet Grandpa passed away. For me it was very unexpected. I knew that he had had some problems with his eyes but thats all I thought was wrong. On Halloween he wasen't feeling very well he thought he was just getting a cold, his throat hurt and he was unusually tired. Well things got worse each day. My Grandpa was a walker and one morning he went out to walk and he made it to the end of the driveway and had to turn around because his legs were killing him. They decided to go to the hospital and run some tests come to find out he had had 12 stroks. They kept him there and a week later he passed.
He was married before my Grandma to a lady named Alta, she passed away years ago, but together they had 6 kids. When he met my Grandma her husband had passed away years earlier on Christmas Eve of Cancer. My grandma had 4 kids so together they had 10 kids most of them were older and moved away.
I have so many fun memories of him. One of the ones that I will always remember
is when he would let me put fake nails on him countless times. What grandpa would let you do that:) My siblings and I loved riding in his tractor, help feed the sheep, gnplay in the sheep camp and going on walks to the stop sign and back. Another really funny thing Cody and I did more than once was we would pretend we were cops and pull him over for speeding while he was peacefully watching tv in his chair. We'd pull out our paper and pen and write him a ticket for 5 dollars and he would give it to us. We thought we were pretty tricky.
I Loved him so much and looked forward to our chats about boys,his stories about Jordan High School where we both attended and much more, Grandpa you will be greatly missed.

My Brindley turns FOUR!!

2010-11-30T12:56:00.000-08:00

First of all I can't believe 4 years ago I became a mom! That day changed mine and Toms lives FOREVER and we could love the job more! Being Brindleys mom and dad is pretty easy for the most part! She is so full of personality its crazy! We love you SO very much Brindley!
The night before her Big day she woke up right after Tom finished putting her present together so we just decided that she got have it now. She LOVED it!

Brindley wanted to have eggs, pancakes and bacon for breakfast so her awesome dad got up early so he could do that before he left for work. Then she wanted to make cupcakes, go to Kangeroo Zoo with her cousin Gracie, then have pizza for dinner. So of course the day went just like that!

Saturday we had all her friends over for a party! I had the kiddies dress up again! its So much fun seeing all her buddies dressed up! We had Pizza, played games, Painted pumpkins and had cake! Thanks again everyone for coming and making fun memories with my Brindley!

On Sunday we had the whole family over! Yes I made 2 cakes this year, thats what she wanted so how could I disagree on her special day! We have such amazing families! I feel so blessed to have family that cares so much for us and would do anything for anyone of us!

HaLLoWeeN 2010

2010-11-30T12:32:00.000-08:00

We had an eventful Halloween this year! The last few years I have gone to witches night at Garnder Village (So FUN). I went with a few good friends and my mom. We had pedicures done, did a little shopping, ate and just had a great night out with the girls!

Friday I took the girls on the rounds to see the Grandparents at work. It was a very full day but so worth it!!

Grandma Cindy!!

Grandma Halling!!

Aunt Jessica!!

Grandpa Johnson!!
Halloween night was Chilly to say the least! So we got all bundled up and did 2 houses in our neighborhood because it was raining like crazy. We then headed up to reed and Maryanns to do Carmel Apples and hang out with the family. Around 7:30 the rain had stopped and the kids were very anxious to try trick or treating again so we headed down to Lauras area for about a half hour! The kids got WAY too much candy that lets be honest Tom and I enjoyed for the most part:)!!

Family Pictures 2010!!

2010-11-30T11:21:00.001-08:00

I have SOOOOO much to catch up on with blogging its not even funny, but this looked like more fun to blog about! Im so happy with the way they turned out. Once again Thanks so much Abbey for your hard work!!

HaPPy FaCeS

2010-10-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

Londyns Little Temper!

2010-09-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

I think that LoLo has a temper because she is picked on by Brindley 24/7. Brindley is just like her dad and loves, loves, loves to tease! She has gotten much better but for awhile it was pretty bad. It got so bad that every time Londyn got something taken away that she should't have or was told don't do that sweetie she would do this......

Still going......

About 7 mins later...

Oh how I love her and I love even more that we see less and less of it!

Summer Fun 2010

2010-09-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

For some weird reason I have lost my passion for blogging:( I think its mostly because its one more thing to do for me. But im going to try and blog atleast once a week. The girls do so mant fun things and say the CUTEST things ever that I just dont want to forget it!
The rest of our summer has been blissful with Trip to Bear Lake, trips to the cabin in American Fork Canyon, Splash Parks, Weekend get aways just Tom and I to Park City, Family BBQS, Drives, Bees Baseball games, Red Neck Water Slide, Reunions, and many days playing outside in the backyard enjoying the sun!
My little girls are SO much fun! LoLo is getting to the fun, active age of 18 months! Brindley is turning 4 in 3 weeks! I CANNOT believe that my baby boo is 4 years old!
Brindley enjoying her Snowy at the Bees game!

This was at the Red Neck Water Slide in Logan! This is the COOLEST slide ever made by man! Its a huge tarp on a mountain hill that has a hose running down it. Brindley LOVES it. Last year she was 2 almost 3 and I can't believe how much fun she had. This year she had even more fun. She probably went down 20 or more times. Great exrcise for mom and dad!
This year was a special one because it was the last thing that the Swensons got to share with Grandma Swenson before she passed away from Cancer. David had rented a moter home for her to come up to Logan in. She had been going down hill the 2 weeks pier to this reunion and the doctor gave her days to live, but he gave the go ahead for her to travel. As they were carrying her to the motor home she said "Lets do this". She had the BEST day in weeks being up there hearing everyone laughing, playing and just being in a new place. We love you Grandma and Miss you!!
Lolo on the other hand didn't share the same feeling as her sister, maybe next year.

BEAR LAKE!!! I look forward to this trip every year! Its full of Boating, Beach fun, Food, Chatting, Camp fires, Four Wheeling etc! This picture was taken for the cabin we were staying at Thanks to Aunt Alaine and Uncle Richard! They have the prettiest cabin and they are sweet to let our little family stay there every year! We aren;t much for camping in the DIRT:) The girls had the time of their lives getting dirty. I let all rules go when we go on vacations! Brindley is probably the one who loves this the most! She gets to have late nights with cousins, eat plenty of junk, get dirty, and so on! LoLo loved putting the sand EVERYWHERE! The beach came home with us:) Good thing she is too cute to get mad at!

Another thing that I love about Vacations is that the girls and I get to do ALOT of this and Daddy does ALOT of this..........
We just love him!
SpLaSh PaRkS!!!
I think that these things are the best ever! Why? Because kids can just play and the moms don't have to worry AS much about drownding! Brindley would ask about everyday to go, and most of the time the answer was Heck Yes:)

Good Bye Summer! You will be missed, but we are excited for the Holidays!!

Our Fun FILLED 4th Of July!!

2010-07-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed having the 4th be on a Sunday this year! The festivites never ended, it was great! On Friday my mom came down and watched the girls so Tom and I could go to Eclipse! LOVED IT! I think the best part is all the cat calls from all the ladys!
Saturday we headed up to Sandy Days with my family for some Carnival Fun! We have done this ever since I was 5! I love traditions! Then my family all came over for a BBQ at our home!

I have said this before but Tom is an amazing cook. He can make anything taste and look awesome! Check out these burgers that he made my mom and I....

My mom and I ate the WHOLE thing! They tasted too good to stop! Thanks again babe!
Sunday we had another BBQ with Toms family for Jims bday! We have so much fun with Toms family! His parents have just finished building their dream home in Alpine! I will have to post pictures after they move in. Anyway they have an awesome land that sits on 5 acres, there are waters falls, creeks, tire swings, play set and fire pits! Its every grands kids dream come true! Grandpa LOVE his grand kids so much and loves spending as much time with them as possible! Her are a few pics from the day.

That night we met up with my family for some fireworks! We got a HUGE thing of them from Sams Club! Tom did a great job lighting them:) We had fun watching and eating goodies! Oh and taking a lot of pictures!

I really feel like the pictures explain themselves! We had such a fun weekend together!

Love this GIRL!

2010-06-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

Sunday mornings are a little crazy for us! I didn't have enough time to do my hair so it was a pony tail day. I always get the girsl ready first so I did Brindleys hair curly and oh so cute! As we were getting in the car to leave Brindley starts to cry. I asked her what was wrong, she sadi mom I really wanted my hair to be like yours today! I laughed and said when we get home will do our hair crazy together and have fun. That made her so happy:) Brindley loves to do what mom does in every way! I think its so cute! I can't wait until she is older, were going to have the greatest shopping adventures! I love having these little sweeties:)

PeRsOnALiTy!!!!!

2010-06-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

There were so many pictures that I have taken here and there of the girls so I figured this would be the best way to post them since I am so behind. All I can say is I LOVE MY GIRLS! We have so much fun every single day playing and having fun! Don't get me wrong we have our days where we all wish the day would end but for the most part we laugh the days away!!

Toms River Run FUN!!

2010-06-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

Last week Tom went on the Gates Of Lador River Run with his dad, brothers, sister and alot of old buddys from the Rivers in the past. They had a blast!
The first camp that they were at had a TON of mice. Tom said that they were every where! I really don't understand why Laura loves these but she does. I would have died having mice running by my feet every step I took! Tom also said that they went on a few nature hikes. They saw some Indian Ruins, water falls, and just enjoyed mother nature! Tom is a little affraid of heights so him and Laura stayed behind while everyone else hiked to the top of a mountain.
I have been on one of these and it wasen't the best time. It rained almost the whole time we were there. Reed said that in his 23 years of doing rivers it had never been that bad! Anyway what I did enjoy was the meals! They eat better on the rivers then you would at home. For example, Ribs, Sirloin Steaks, French toast, bacon, eggs, potatos, chicken, and HOT cookies. Reed bought one of those ovens from costco for the trip! Awesome huh?

Brindleys Spring Concert!

2010-06-08T19:45:00.001-07:00

FUNNY right? I told Brindley that she would be able to wear some make up for her dance that night, she was SOOOO excited and said mom how about I put a little on by myself. I said ok you go ahead while I finish getting ready. When she was finished she said "There mom I look just like you"!! I laughed and said wow Brin you look gorgerous, but I think that we need to take just a little bit off! LOVE HER:)

Brindley did a FANTASTIC job doing both of her dances that night! She made Tom and I so very proud! She was a little nervous when we first got there but once she saw everyone that came to watch her she perked right up and was ready to go!

My Late Mothers Day Post!

2010-06-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

So I have once again been a blog slacker! I know that Mothers Day was a month ago but this one was a great one for me so I have to blog about it!
It started on Friday by going, dinner at Red Robin and the movie "The back up plan". Saturday my mom and I got up early to run the Breast Cancer 5k. This was my first one ever and it was a blast, I can't wait to do more! The energy at those things is crazy! I love it:) That afternoon we headed up to Mantua for the annual Ladies Lunchen with the Aunts and Cousins! So fun! I look forward to it every year! Great company and great food!
So then Sunday came and we have 9:00 church so I told Tom that he didn't need to worry about making a big breakfast I was just fine with toast and some fruit or something! Well I must had been really tired because I woke up at 8 freaking out because that meant we had an hour to get ready for church. I went out into the kitchen to find EVERYONE ready for church (besides Brindleys hair not being done, which was fine because I love doing her hair and Toms not the best hair dresser. Also a YUMMY breakfast waiting for me at the table. Eggs overeasy, Fruit, and Wonder Waffles! Next to the meal was a gift card for a massage at Sactuary Day Spa and a pretty necklace! Talk about one Lucky Lady! Tom made that day one to remember for me! Tom has always been great with the words. On our first Valentines day together he took me to the Melting Pot and wrote me a poem! I have the poem in a Fancy frame (brindley calls it) in our room. So for this mothers day he wrote a very speical card that made me cry from the beginning to the end. I know it may sound silly and sappy but that man still takes my breath away when he kisses me, hugs me so tight, even when he walks through the door. I love you so much babe! Thank you so much for giving me 2 of the most beauitful girls in the world! Your my rock:)

True Or False? ANSWERS:)

2010-05-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

There are 4 things listed that are true about me & the rest are LIES...can you guess which is which?

1. I can't go to bed with Dishes in the sink! Drives me nuts:)
Answer: True, I really have a hard time leaving dishes in the sink that will take 5 mins to put in the dishwasher. I love waking up to a clean house! I know I have a disorder but im ok with that:)

2. Tom and his business partners got offered to take over a sales team in San Franscio California. After about 3 weeks or thinking about it everyone feels like it would be a good thing, so in 10 months we will be moving to California! Couldn't be more excited!
Answer: False, I really wish this was true, but we will probably live here for awhile. Tom and I love the OCEAN! We also love the warm weather all year long, so one day we will live somewhere that has those things.

3. When I was younger my dad taught me what he thinks is the real and best way to clean toilets... With your BARE hands and a brush! I told him he is crazy if he thinks im sticking my hands in a toilet with nothing on them!
Answer: True, I was probable 10 and my dad asked me to clean the bathrooms at his new house, so I remember ahen asking him wear the gloves were. He answered saying GLOVES, you don't use glove you use your are hands. I thought I was going to throw up. I also thought he was joking but he was dead serious. I told him knock yourself out dad!

4. I have to confess that sometimes if im in a hurry i'll drive in the carpool lane if im alone!
Answer: False, there is nothing that bugs me more than when people do this! So annoying!

5. I vaccum 3 days a day!
Answer: False, I Vaccum probable 3 times a week:)

6. I shop in the Junior section at Super Target!
Answer: True, I have the hardest time finding shirts in the womens section so one day I thought about checking out the junior section.

7. Long Long Long time ago at my grandparents house in Mantua I was playing outside with my cousin Jenny and we saw a Porkepine in the ditch! It scared me so bad at first we didn't know what it was. Our grandpa came out did something to it but I don't know what!
Answer: True, I was probably 14. It was the weirdest thing to see in the ditch.

8. When were in California 3 weeks ago I saw Jennifer Anniston walking down the street in Hollywood! Best ever!!
Answer: False, I can only dream! I love her:)

2010-05-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

LoLo is going on 14 months! She is changing so much all most daily!
~ She loves to put her head oon your shoulder. Love to snuggle:)
~ Loves to get away from me the second that diaper comes off. Love to be naked:)
~ Her smile couldn't get any bigger when I come to get her in the morning.
~ LOVES the binki! I think its cute how much she likes it.
~ Londyn loves to suck on things, but a few things that I think are strange is
1. Lotions bottles
2. Her crib!!! This one just makes me mad! I bought one of those covers that you can put over it and that has helped the chipping.
3. Dirt, this chick really doesn't care what goes in her mouth.
~ She has to sleep with the same pick silky blanket every night.
~ Love food
Londyn is going to be that 2 year old that cries when I leave somewhere.
I actually have a little story about that already. A few months ago Cody and Whitney watched the girls while Tom and I went to dinner. Londyn was good for most of the time but after about an hour she started wanting mommy. She would crawl to the door and just cry. How sad is that? When I went to get them she didn't want me to put her down for a second! When I was pregant with Londyn I thought that she would be just like Brindley in every way. I don't know why I thought that. I guess its just because I didn't know what to expect. I love that they are different! Brindley is self reliant and Londyn is a little depenant. Brindley was a very needy baby, Londyn was so calm and chill.
My girls are the world to me! Tom and I are soaking up all the time we can with them as they are little and so sweet! I was thinking the other day that they will only be in my home for 18 years of their lives and then it's up to them! I love being a mom! Its the best job and hardest job any woman can do!

Poor LoLo

2010-04-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

So on Monday Londyn had her 1 year shots. I didn't think that it would be a big deal because her other shots have gone pretty good other than a little fever! Well this time was TOTALLY different! All day long she got worse ans worse. She ate lunch pretty good, then around 4:30 she started feeling warm so I thought soup ould be good for dinner. She had a little but really just wanted water. 8 round aroung and her temp had gone from 99 to 102! Are you kidding me!! I have never had this big of a problem with shots. It never even phased Brindley! I felt so bad for putting my little one through this awful pain.
The night went pretty good. The next day on the other hand not so much! She had a high fever all day and all the nurses told me is to keep her hydrated! At the end of the day I cried along with her because I felt so sorry that she was still feeling crappy. She spent the day cuddling on my shoulder(which was just fine with me), sleeping, crying, rocking her while singing her favortie song Twinkle Little Star.
Today was a little better, the fever has finally clamed down and she is eating a little better! We have high hopes for tomorrow to be a much better day! Love you LOLO!

On a better note the Girls got their spring pictures done and I think they turned out so Cute!!

5 Years ago!

2010-04-13T21:57:00.000-07:00

Five years ago I had One of the best days of my life! I married the greatest guy in the world! Tom seriously has changed my life in so many ways I can't even put my thoughts into words. I love him so much it hurts sometimes! Tom and I have had a Crazy 5 years. Things have happened in our lives together that I never thought would happen. Good and some Bad! I not only have a great husband but I scored with the in laws! I really have been so blessed. Maryann is amazing, she has so much strength that I only wish one day I can have. She has thought me so many things. I have learned so many wonderful things from her about being a mom and a wife. Reed is so sweet and caring! He has the biggest heart! I also have the 7 of the best brother in laws I could ask for and Laura is considered my sister! I heart her!

Tom and I decided since we were going to be with Family in Disneyland on our actual anniversary so we celebrated early by going to Anniversary Inn a few weeks before. It was AMAZING! We stayed in the Venice Suite! The bed was a boat, it was so cool! It had a HUGE jetted tub! We had a great time just the two of us! We went to dinner at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) at the Gateway. So since we were at the Gateway we decided to SHOP! It was a great weekend. Thanks again Grandma Halling for watching the girls!

Tom I Love you Forever and A Day! Can't wait until we hit 50 years together:)

Disneyland Spring 2010!

2010-04-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

I really don't know what else to say other than we had the BEST time of our lives!

We got started our trip off at one of mine and Toms favorite resturant, The Rain Forest Cafe! We knew that Brindley would have so much fun because all the animals come to life and they have thunder storms, and also a really fun atmosphere. Then we went back to the hotel to get rested for our first fun field day at Disneyland:) Brindly slept awesome, but Londyn on the other hand had a ruff night away from home. She was up most of the night. But that didn't stp us getting up at 7 to head out the door. Reed and Maryann flew in around 8 so we wait for them before going. It was so cute how excited the girls were, but I think that grandpa was a little more excited! He is so sweet to these to girls!

The weather wasen't that great for the first few hours but it got nicer throughout the day!

Monday- We went on so many rides I started to feel a little sick. We had planned on meeting all the princesses the first day but the line to meet them was 4 hours (no thank you) so we decided to do that on Tuesday because that was our EARLY day where we could go in at 8. So Maryann being the sweet lady she is sat with all 6 kids while the big kids went on the rides. Thanks again Maryann! That night we watched the fireworks.
Tuesday- Was AWESOME!! Brindley got to meet Princess Tiana, Belle and Ariel! She was in Heaven and a little in shock. After she meet them and got pictures she says mommy I am So happy! I love Disneyland its magical! That did it! I was so beyond words!

Bugs Life Movie!!! Was so cute! Brindley loved it!

Tuesday the 6th was our 5 year anniversary! What better place to be than Disneyland! We were able to go out for a few hrs after the girls were in bed. So we went on a few rides and went to dinner! We both agreed that it was a great anniversary! (I plan on doing another post about our last 5 wonderful years).
Wednesday we went spent half the day at Disneyland. Brindley met her FAVORITE person in the world........... TINKERBELLE! Gracie and Brindley had so much fun waiting in line to meet her. She was so sweet to them. Brindley ran up to her and put her head on her shoulder. AWWWW Melted my heart how cute she was!

Then headed to San Deigo where the whole family stayed at a beach house! It was beauitful! Im so mad, I forgot to take pictures of the place! It was awesome it overlooked the ocean throughout the entire home! We had so much fun, Eating, laughing at all hours of the night, basking in the sun, body surfing, watching movies, playing games, and just enjoying the time together! There was a total of 16 in the house. It was ao crazy but so fun! I was sad to come home, but it was time. Londyn didn't sleep through the night once! This chick loves her bed and piece and quite! She doesn't do well with noise!

As far as the beach went we had fun for the most part. It was ALOT of work with Londyn because all she wanted to do was eat the sand. Brindley got sunscreen in her eyes on of the beach days and it was awful! She cried for 4 hrs about it! I felt so bad for her I did everything I could do but nothing was working! Her eyes were so blood shot they still hurt the next day! Poor little thing:(
Friday- We went to the Mormon Bittalion, its was pretty cool! All the pictures come to life and they had really neat activites for the kids.

Overall the trip was so much fun and we feel so blessed that we were able to go. We made so many fun memories with the family and are own! Can't wait for the next one!

Gettin Ready to......

2010-04-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

Head out to the most HAPPIEST place on Earth Disneyland! We are so excited for many things.
1. Warm Weather
2. Family time, Im so excited to spend every waking moment with Tom!
3. VACATION
4. We are going to make SO many fun memories with Toms Family!
5. The look on Brindleys face when we see Tinkerbell, other any other Princess.
6. Laying out on the nice warm sand.
7. Shopping at my favorite make up store Sephora!
8. Eating at Yummy Places
It takes so much time and Energy to get things ready to go. I have spent the day making yummy treats for the drive. Tom and Brindleys favortie treat is Carmel Popcorn! So thats what I made along with Orange rolls for Breakfast!
Were headed out at 4 in the morning! I don't know what its going to be like with the kids but im sure they will do great, they have many things to entertain them. Movies, Books, some games that I put together, and some FUN dollar store presents that I have wrapped in case it gets really crazy. (thanks for the idea melanie)
Im taking the Lap top along so I can up date throughout the week! To be Contiuned!!!

Things forgotten part 2.....

2010-03-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

Brindleys First Snowman.....

Too bad some kids came and knocked it over 20 mins later:( Oh well kids will be kids right!!
A few months ago Brindley and Gracie had a fun play date! It was so much fun and great for me because they seriously played so well together and I was able to get alot of packing done!

Fun times outside last august!! Im a horriable blogger!!

There is going to be a part 3! This is so bad! I woudn't do all these but I want to have them in the blog:)

Somethings I forgot about!!

2010-03-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

I was going through my pictures and I forgot to blog about some december happenings so this post is really random:)
First we went to see the lights this last year with the girls. I can't believe that this was Brindley first time going. She LOVED all the colors and also the warm delilious hot cocoa! Growing up we went to the lights all the time, it was such a fun family thing to do! We walked pretty fast because it was like 10 degrees! But we still had fun!

SLEDDING FOR THE FIRST TIME!!
Lauras neighbor has the COOLEST backyard ever! They have a man made hill for sledding in their backyard so one really snowy day we went over to try it out. It was great because it was safe for the kids to just play and I could watch her from Lauras house! It took Brindley a few times to get the hang of it but when she did she didn't wanna stop!

Next was one of the Best ones Brindley VERY first dance concert!
She did AWESOME! I laughed and cried because she was so STINKIN cute and funny! I can't wait for the next one in May! Thanks Brittany for all you do. You patients is amazing to teach 8 3 years olds!! Your awesome!

Londyn Speical Day

2010-03-14T18:00:00.001-07:00

Londyns Birthday was on Saturday! She was a little overwhelmed with everything so all the pictures she looks confused or sad but I promise she is happy and full or life any other day. I think that she had a good time anyway. We had both mine and Toms family over for a party. Tom had put together an amazing fruit dip with yummy fruits and a veggie tray. I was in charge of the cake. Now if you know me well I LOVE poka dots! So thats what her cake was. I make one speical for Londyn because fondant can be a little much for a little one! I think they turned out really cute!

Then the one that she was actually smiling in my big head was in the way!!

The Presents!

She had 3 wonderful helpers with the presents:)

Im trying to get the horse to make music:)

This was the present she got excited about... MONEY!

My girls are so silly when it comes to getting into their cakes! They take the smallest bites its so silly!
Thank Thank Thank everyone for the wonderful gifts! She is having a blast with all of them! We feel so blessed to have such great family members and friends! We love you all! You helped make her day a very Special one for us and her.
Londyn We Love You so much! You have brought so much Joy to me! Im so glad that I can be home with you each day to watch all the small and big things that happen to you each day! Love you more than tongue can tell:) HaPPy BiRtHdAy SweeTiE:)

I haven't done one of these in FOREVER!!

2010-03-09T18:17:00.001-08:00

50 things I LOVE.....
1.Family
2.Friends
3.Being a mom
4.Making Cakes
5.Doing Hair
6.Getting Pampered
7.Diet Coke with Lime
8.My new house
9.Target
10.Hanging out with friends
11.T.V. Seasons
12.I LOVE that Spring is just around the corner
13.Hair Product
14.Bacon Cheese Burgers
15.Running
16.Vacations
17.Long bubble baths
18.Making Jewerly
19.Love going to Bridal or Baby showers
20.Swimming
21.Clean house
22.Steamers
23.Pedicure
24.Londyns face when I go to get her in the mornings
25.How excited Brindley gets to go hang out with her friends.
26.Doing Brindleys hair
27.When Tom gets home from work
28.Date nights
29.Easter
30.Chocolate Chip cookies
31.Gum
32.Walmart candles(they smell so good and there cheap)
33.Boutiqes
34.Making Blankets
35.Cooking
36.Blogging
37.Clean sheets
38.Getting my girls pictures taken by the Famous Abbey
39.Reading books with Brindley
40.Painting
41.While you were sleeping (Favorite movie)
42.Crafts
43.Organizing
44.Vaccumed Carpet
45.The smell of Bread cooking
46.Ice cold water
47.Lotion
48.Perfume
49.Boots
50.Last but not Least Londyn is almost done nursing, I enjoying nusring but I did it for 17 months with Brindley. So Im a little excited that Londyn doesn't seem to care that much!
That was fun Thanks Lauren:)

Londyn Is Turning One!!!

2010-03-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

Londyn is turning ONE on Saturday and I REALLY can't believe how fast this past year has gone by. She is such a Joy to us! I loved being a mom when I had just Brindley and me, but something changed when Londyn came into our home. She has such a fun personality that makes me LOVE being a mom that much more. I wanted to take some time to share the wonderful sweet memories that I have of just Londyn and me:)
Before Londyn came into this world Tom and Reed gave me a blessing that gave me peace and comfort that everything with Labor would go perfertly, and other than her holding her breath for a VERY long 2 mins everything went great! My favorite thing to look forward to is that bond with my babies that only a mom can have and thats nursing her for the first time. It was so sweet she looked at me with so much love all I could do was cry! I loved the time that we had in the hospital just cuddling and sleeping together! That didn't change one bit when we got home. After Tom and Brindley would go to bed Londyn and I would snuggle up on the couch doing some eating and sleeping every 3 hrs:)
When she was about 6 weeks she started sleeping in her crib. At 3 months she was sleeping through the night! Wonderful Baby!!
A few more fun ones...
*She got her first tooth at 5 months
*Rolled over at 6 months
*Crawled at 9 months
*Started pulling herself up onto stuff at 10 1/2 months
*Said DaDa at 10 months
*Whenever I say say MaMa she says DaDa and laughs (Smarty)
*Got her nickname LoLo at 11 months from Brindley
*Attitude Day one:)
*Feeding herself finger foods at 11 months
*Holding her sippy 9 months
*Standing up in the crib 10 months
*Freaking out everytime we put her in the carseat. Im hoping at the one year check up we can turn her around
*Rolls around on the floor when she gets something taken away from here
*When she gets into something she knows shes not supposed to I saw Lonnnndyn you stop that silly girl. She gets the cutest smile on her face and crawls away as fast as she can.
I could go on and on, Londyn all you need to know sweetheart is that you are loved more than you will ever understand! I am so blessed to be this little gals mommy! I love both my girls. I wouldn't be too sad if we had another girl but I REALLY wanna boy next. We really need to even things up around here a little bit!

LoLo....&......Boo Boo

2010-03-04T21:38:00.000-08:00

I love the girl nicknames:)
While the moving was going on the girls found some silly things to do to entertain themsleves.

The towel closet became Brindleys House!

The Mess started here and...............................

Ended here with this cute cute cute Face!!!!

Sweet faces!

They make me smile and laugh daily.

Tom thinks Londyn looks weird in this picture, but I think its silly:)

Random......

2010-02-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

I have been super busy getting our new home to look and be our new home. I really don't like moving but it was something that had to be done. Tom has been so great to help me out with hanging things on the wall and even helping put things away after a long day at the office. We are about there, just a few more boxes to go through and a few more things to hang on the wall.

Im not too sure how I feel about living in Saratoga Springs. I have to drive 15 to 20mins to get anywhere sometimes longer. I have ALWAYS lived within 5 to 10 mins from about everything. I am the type of person that could stay in a home for 30 years, I HATE change. I like things the way they are ok:) So needless to say I have been feeling a tad homesick for my old house, old neighborhood and friends, but it will be just fine. It will just take some getting used to, its only been 2 weeks!

Brindley has been super cute and a super hand full lately. I think most of it is the age but I think some of it is the move. For example she takes random things from my bathroom like, shampoo, soap, my make-up and takes it to her kitchen to cook!! It drives me CRAZY! Today, we were at Lauras and she thought that she would go to the bathroom and look for whatever she could start cooking with and she decided that TOOTHPASTE would be fun! REALLY!! She and Gracie put it everywhere on the kitchen. I was SO embarrased! Laura was really sweet about it but she will probably never let us back over:) I love my Brindley she just loves to discover. I just hope that im doing the best I can to teach her from doing right and wrong. When she does things like that I think to myself "She is the only child that does these things".
On a better note she has been doing some pretty freakin cute things like...... when Londyn gets hurt, she pats her on the back and says "its ok LOLO I love you" I think its so cute she calls her LOLO. She made it up one day when she was singing her a song before bed!! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!! Every morning Brindley and Londyn wake up at the same time. Brindley hears her talking in her bed and runs in to jump in bed with her and they talk. Its the BEST thing to wake up to!! I love my girls so very much!

So my friend Lauren got accepted to an awesome Aveda school in Provo doing hair school. Im so excited for her to experiance Hair School! It was probably one of the best times in my life I have made the BESTEST friends from hair school! I graduated almost 5 years ago and I haven't completed my final tests! I took the Practical which is the hands on one, but I have failed to complete the written. Im kicking myself, I spent 3 years going to school doing something I have a big passion for and haven't done anything with it. So Im going to FINISH!! I have decided that I want to have my license by the beginning of the summer. I really want to experiance the Salon! Im going to do it!!!!!

Tom is doing HCG this month. Im so excited for him! He has tried little things over the last few years to lose weight but hasent had the results that he hopes for. Well I think that this is going to work! He has high modivation! In less than a week he has lost 13 pounds! Im so proud of him! His goal is to lose 40 pounds I know he can do it!!!

I want to say thank you to the people that helped us move! Without your help we would still be moving!LOL! Thanks for the dinner Lauren and the help with a load over to the new house. Thanks Maryann for the Salad and Cupcakes the day of the move AND watching the girls! Thanks mom for helping with moving. Thanks Reed, Sam, Paul, Judd, and Ryan for your strong arms:) Thanks Laura for coming to help with your 4 kids, your SUPER mom! And thanks to the 6 wonderful men from our new ward that came to help unload everything, you saved SO much time! I love my family and Friends SO much, I feel so blessed to have such great ones!

p.s. thanks Lauren for taking the time to help me with my blog:)

YAY!!!

2010-02-02T18:26:00.000-08:00

We went to the doctor today for the check up on Brindleys ear and eerything looks normal again! I was so excited to hear that. NO SURGERY!!! The doc said we could try doing the hearing test but most 3 year olds don't like it. I said I really wanted to try! She did awesome!!! She went into a booth and had ear phones on, all she had to do was clap her hands when she heard a beep and touch the part of her face the doctor told her to!! Now that Im typing this I should have taken pictures because it was so cute!! anyway thanks for all your comments, it means alot!!

2010-01-27T22:14:00.000-08:00

I was going through my pictures and I forgot to post about Brindley Dancing! Brindley loves going to dance! We have had a hard time getting back since Christmas because of sickness. But were all better and ready to dance again! She goes every thursday for an hour. She has a certain way she likes her hair and she has 3 dance outfits, she wears a different one each week. She is particular to say the leaset. Right now I think its cute but when she is teenager I think ill have a differant opinion! She did a christmas concert and she was THE CUTEST EVER! I don't know where the sim card is that has the pictures so pray I find it because they are the best!

WORST MOM EVER:(

2010-01-23T00:07:00.000-08:00

So almost two weeks ago I was giving the girls a bath, I got Brindley out and sat her on my lap to clean her ears. (BIG MISTAKE)..... I did one ear,then the next. Well she didn't know I was doing it when I did it and she jumped!!! The q-tip went really far in she passed out, after about 15 seconds of her laying there not doing anything at all and going purple I called 911, She finally came to screaming after 25 seconds. I was so releved until......my hand was covered in blood, yea I made her ear bleed. What kind of mother am I SERIOUSLY!!! So 5 mins go by and I have 8 perimedics russing in my house. They looked her over so calm and relaxed. They made her feel comfortable and even made her laugh. While im trying to answer a MILLION questions and balhing! I haden't had a chance to call Tom and tell him what happened so when he gets home he sees an ambulance in the driveway. That had to be the worst feeling for him. They felt that she was ok, but they wanted me to take her to get looked at of course by the doctor. So we did, he couldn't get the best look at it because of all the dried up blood. What he did see was the ear looked dull, meaning brused. He wanted us to come back in a week. Sunday night she was crying because her ear was hurting so I look at it and all of a sudden stuff starts coming out of it. GROSS! A part in the ear had burst. So monday morning we headed to the ear nose and throat speicalist! Brindley did AWESOME! She let the doctor suck all the crap out, even to the back of the ear drum which was good because thats where the tiny hole was. She has a pretty bad infection in the ear drum and a hole! So after that news I start crying! Brindley sits up and says mom its ok it was an accident! That made me crying even harder! She is so sweet! I love her more that she will ever know!
The doctor gave me ear drops to put in twice a day for a week, we go back on the 29th for a ckeck up on the hole and the infection, also for a hearing test. If the hole hasen't healed by then, he wants to do surgery!
Tom gave her a perious blessing that gave him and I comfort that things will heal great and her hearing will be just fine.
Needless to say Brindley has gotten EVERYTHING her heart desires this last week! I have learned my lesson! I will only be cleaning my girls ears will wash cloths from here on out!!

ThE SwEnSoN 2oo9 ChRiStMaS......

2009-12-29T20:35:00.001-08:00

The holiday started off with The Swenson Christmas party and Reed and Maryanns on tuesday the 22nd. Every year they do a casual dinner with pizza yummy salads and also yummy desserts:) We sit around eating and talking. The highlight is that Santa comes!!! It so fun to see the kids light up with they hear his bells coming in the front door.

Londyn loved santa:) So cute!!

Brindley did too!!

Thursday being Christmas Eve, we took the journey up to Mantua! I was lucky to spend the last 2 years with my family. Toms family usually does their party on christmas eve but they had to change it this year so I was happy to spend another great year with my family. This year was a little different, not having my grandpa there was hard but it still was a good time. I forgot my camera:( I tend to that ALOT sorry!
That night when we got home Brindley was stoked for Santa to come. So we hurried and put out Santa milk and cookies and off to bed the girls went. Tom and I had put everything together for christmas the night before so then we weren't up until 3 like last year with the kitchen set!! So we filled the stocking and got everything ready!! Christmas morning was SO fun! We did the tradional picture of the girls at the top of the stairs...

Then they started to unwrap!! I love Brindleys face when she sees what Santa brought!!!

I think Santa dumped his bag out at our house! (hehe)
Now after I got the girls all dolled up for the Busy Christmas day I asked Brindley where she wanted to take the picture at and she said Londyns crib. I thought it was cute so I said ok!!
Uncle steve said they look like their ready to go to Mexico, but i thought they looked stinkin cute!
Another fun tradition is to go to Aunt Marthas for the BEST Breakfast on earth. We have cinnamion rolls, cassroles, stuffed mushrooms, yummy jucies and more. Fun Fun times!!

Then we went to Reed and Maryanns to exchange gifts. This next year they are taking the family to Disneyland in April so they gave us and the girls our tickets! Thanks so much guys we are counting down the days.
THEN it was off to my dads for dinner and more family fun! Im telling you what its a darn good thing that im doing a Boot Camp in Januray for 4 weeks 5 days a week because i have gained about 6 pounds!!AWWWWWWWWWWW. Anyway, we had a great time this year! Its always busy busy busy but we love it! Thanks everyone for the memories and awesome gifts! We love you all! HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone be safe!!

All About LONDYN!!!

2009-12-08T13:41:00.000-08:00

I was looking through previous blogs and im sad. I haven't talked about Londyn near enough. Londyn is your diffention of the PERFECT baby. Yea she has her moments where she screams so loud I think the neighbors can hear her, but other than that she is PERFECT. The other night Paul and a date were over watching a movie and they kept hearing pounding from upstairs, they finally asked after 20 mins or so what is that? Tom and I laughed and said its Londyn that how we know shes awake!! She doesn't EVER cry when she wakes up she kicks her feet in her bed and makes sweet noises until someone comes to gets her. I LOVE IT!! Londyn will be 9 months old this coming Sunday, I can't believe how fast it has gone. I love that my girls are growing up but at the same time it makes me sad. I just love that I can stay home with them and watch everything they do as their growing. Londyn is a tad on the lazy side LOL. She isn't crawling just yet but one day she will I hope:) If a toy is not in arms length she doens't bother with it. If Brindley takes something from her or picks on her, she screams. It hilarious!! Londyn has brought so much joy and laughter to this home. We love you to pieces sweetheart:)

Silly Girl!!

2009-12-02T21:22:00.000-08:00

So the other night when Tom and I were headed upstairs to bed this is what we saw.. She HATES going to bed, what a little stinker:)

ThAnKsGiViNg 09

2009-11-29T20:30:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my moms family. It was a great day! There was 60people for dinner. I don't get to see all my family to often so it was nice. I had my camera but I was too caught up in talking, laughing and chasing Brindley to take any. After dinner we went to my dads family in Kaysville, there we played pool, had 6 different pies to choose from:) and talked once again with family. I really love the holidays. Tom and I want to move out of utah one day and I agree with him, but its going to be hard to be alone for Hoildays.
After all the visiting it was alomst time for my favorite part of the year......... BLACK FRIDAY!! I don't know why I love this so much but I do, answer Lauren I think I talked about it every week for 3 months!!! Sorry Lauren! For the last 2 years we go up the outlets up in park city. SO MUCH FUN the deals are great and when its 2 in the morning you get a little crazy. My Friends from high school Michelle and Erin came along AND my cute sister in law Whitney came with cute little Owen!! We got awesome deals and had alot of fun! Anyone that wants to ome next year PLEASE do. You will be addicted!!
This is what I mean about CRAZY!

Thanks girls for a great time! Im so gratefu for you all!
Im also so grateful for my amazing girls and husband, they are my world!! A few other things im grateful for our....
Family
Friends
Gospel
Home to be warm and cozy inn
A car to drive
Food
Love
Work
My ability to do hair
Health
Telenology
cameras
I could go on and on and on I just wanted to write a few things. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!! I hope the holidays are filled with fun memories!! Look forward to reading about them, Love you all:)

Brindley says the cutest things....

2009-11-12T14:02:00.001-08:00

For the last few months Brindle has started complementing family on their cute clothes. When I would get dressed she would say "Thats a cute shrit where did you get it at"? So Cute!!! She would do the samething when I would get her dressed! Then she started saying it to my mom. Well last week we were shopping at the mall and I was looking for some pants. This lady came over by us and Brindley says to her... "Thats a cute shirt where did you get it at?" I started laughing, the lady turned to me and said did you tell her to say that? No she used to say it to me and family members but now I guess she says it to anyone. To make this story even funnier I repeated her and said that really is a cute shirt where did you get it at? Like mother like daughter!!! I love that girl!!

This picture was taken at the mall in June, but I thought it would work for this story!!!

FaLL PiCtUrEs 09

2009-11-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

The Last 5 Months.......

2009-11-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

Brindley turned the big 3 on October 13th. I decided to keep it just family this year because our families are so big and just keep getting bigger. I still had Brin and the cousins dress up in their costumes of course. Brin was Tinkerbell, she is really into her right now.

The cake of course had to be a Tinkerbell one. Cindy had this amazing cake book with a TON of great ideas. Brindley chose this one. It looked really hard but it really was pretty easy. It actually was alot of fun. My dad and Cindy came down the day before the party to help me out with the girls and give me a hand with the cake. It was a great day we went to lunch and hung out!! Thanks again Dad and Cin:)
The party was a great success Brindley had a ton of fun with her presents and playing with the family.
Brindley we LOVE you to death!! Your such a joy to us and also a great help with your sister! Love you sweetie:)

Fun times at Kangeroo ZOO:)
Following Brindleys birthday she wanted to go the zoo so we went and had a great time like always. I love this place, its never busy in the morning so brin can just run all over and have a blast!!!

We have been going here for about a year and a half. When we would go Brindley wanted me to climb up every slide with her which was a great workout for me. Now she almost doesnt even want me there at all. She is SO big and she knows it:)

HaLLoWeeN 2009

This is our 3rd year carving pumpkins with my family. We have a blast everytime:)
Jessica works at Great Harvest and they made these way cute pumpkin bread bowls and green lady fingers. My mom made yummy chicken cheese soup to go with them it was the best ever!! We missed Cody and Tom this year they both had to work, but we still had fun. Thanks guys for such a fun tradition:) Love ya all!!!

For Halloween we made the rounds to all the grandparents. We started out at my dads for his awesome spagetti! SERIOUSLY he makes the best! He doesnt use a recipe he just puts a bunch of stuff in it and it turns out almost better everytime. Whenever we would go to our dads for the weekend its what he made almost all the time. I forgot my camera at home so their aren't any pics (I know I know). Then we stopped at my moms where we went to a few houses. We went to the Maxanns (BIG MISTAKE) the guy that lives there has dressed up as something ever since I was little, but I thought that he would have givin it up by now..... NOPE! He flew the door open and screamed about as loud as he could Brindley clings to grandmas leg for dear life. I felt horriable! After that she was done! Its all she talked about the rest of the night and the next day, Poor thing:(
Finally we made it to the last stop at Toms parents. We were all pretty tired so we didn't stay very long just long enough to chat for a mintue and eat some healthy lady fingers that Maryann made with carrots! It was a great night with the Family!!

Early in the summer Tom and I decided to go up to the Cabin for 4 days. It was so much fun. We love going to the cabin for many reasons...
1. FREE
2. 10 mins away
3. RELAXING
4. Cozy
5. A break!!!!
Our first night we were tired from getting everything settled so we watched a movie and went to bed. The next day my mom, jess and dooper came up for dinner. It was really fun my family had never been there before. We talked, laughed and roasted marshmellows.

Another one of the days we went for a long pretty drive to heber. Spent the day at the park, driving around, and eating at Grannys! We love this place, they have the BEST shakes.
Other than that we just hung out playing games and enjoying being together, it doens't happen too much since tom is still working 60 plus hrs a week.

Enjoying her yummy watermelon!!

Brindley looks SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much like Tom in this picture!!

Londyn was about 3 months old! She had just started sitting up! Such a big girl! Ooh I love these girls!
Tom and Brin had gne on a walk while Londyn and I were taking a nap. I had woke up and they were gone so I went outside to swing on the swing and I hear this sweet little voice say mommy I have something for you..... She had picked some flowers for me. She is so thoughtful.

Now im not finished with this but I want to post what I have so far. So there will be part 2 this week sometime:)

Ladies.............

2009-11-04T10:34:00.000-08:00

Im BACK!!!!!! Stay tuned for the BIGGEST blog ever. I have so many fun pictures, great stories about the girls that I can't wait to blog about. Its probably going to take me a few days. I also can't wait to read about all of your summers!!

Look what I made......

2009-06-12T14:45:00.001-07:00

Thanks to my good friend Rebecca I was able to make this cute carseat cover. I have to say I think it turned out freakin cute!!! I have now made something for my little one. This was my first time doing so and I have to say that Im pretty proud of myself:) Heres a cute picture of the baby that goes inside.....

Im still here!!!

2009-06-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

Once again I have to computer! I have no clue what my deal is with these things but oh well. I have to say Thank yOu to Lauren she is at my house watching 4 kids while im at her house blogging! Thanks So Much:)
Well alot has happened in a month for us Swensons! There has been a Blessing for Londyn, Brindley being so silly, Londyn growing up too fast and Tom and I trying to stay on top of things. I think I'll start with a few pics of sweet Brindley being silly.....

She is so full of fun energy!! I love how creative she can be with here outfits, if I let here this is how she would walk out of the house!!!
Just this last Sunday Londyn Elizabeth was blessed! It was a wonderful day. Thank you to everyone that came to support her on her speical day even though she had no clue who was there it meant alot to tom and I, so Thank You. She was an angel, Reed told me that in the circle she was as wide eyed as can be with a smile on her face. I love this little gal so much.

Maryann bought Londyn the cutest shoes for the blessing. Shes wearing them in the picture that she is asleep in. They were little sandals. Thanks so much Maryann for them and for the great food that you brought, it was yummy:)

A Generation picture!!!

After the crowd had gone the girls had a fun time watching a movie with daddy! While I cleaned up the mess. What an awesome day it was:)

Londyn is........

2009-05-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

So I had to add a little bit more to this post. Londyn went to her 2 month check up today and she is doing AWESOME. She weights 12 1/2 pounds and 23 inches long. She is in the 78 percentile for her weight and the 58 percentile for her head and lenght. The doctor was very pleased with how she is doing. It makes me feel so good as a mother that im doing my job well. I love being a mom:)
2 MONTHS OLD!!!!!!! I know that everyone says that they don't stay babies very long, well its SO true. I can't believe that its been 2 months. Londyn is a JOY!! I feel like the luckiest mom ever. Last night I went with my sister in law Laura to Maceys for the midnight madness sale, and when I came home I was sure Londyn would be screaming to eat, but the house was all dark and quiet. Everyone was asleep!!! It was weird. So when I got all ready for bed it was midnight and I was thinking for sure she would wake up any min because it had been almost 5 hours since her last feeding. Nope she slept from 7:30 to 2:30 YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! It was so exciting!! Here are a few pics from the last month......
She is such an alert little thing! She has been this way from about 6 weeks and on.
I know I know this is mean, but I love her cry it makes me laugh, its so sweet and soft. When she is really sad she does the cuteiest thing with her lip. EWWWW I just love her to death:)
I LOVE her checks and chin, I probably kiss them atleast a thousand times a day. Between Brindley and I she is kissed out by the time Tom comes home.
My hands are so Yummy!!

I just can't get enough of this little beauty:)

A fun Weekend!

2009-05-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a great one. We did the annual get together at my Grandparents house for a mothers day lunchin. Its so nice to talk with family that I only get to see a few times a year. This year was WAY different, as you all know my grandpa passed away a few months ago and went home to many family members incuding his sweetheart Faye. So my mom and her sisters have spent many Saturdays cleaning things out, so we got to go through the house and pick what we wanted. It was sad and fun at the same time. I got some things that are very important to me, im so glad that I have them and ALL the memories that I have with my Grandparents. It was also nice because I was able to leave Brindley with dad. I love her to pieces but I wouldn't have been able to talk and have a little me time if she would have come. Besides she had so much more fun with her dad going to lunch, the Dinosaur Museum and a FUN 3D movie. Thanks again Tom:)
Then Mothers Day...... Was pretty layed back. Tom made some good breakfast for me and Brin, then it was off to church. When we got home Brindley and I took a quick little nap before we headed up to the cabin to spend time with toms family. I think that everyone in the family would agree that the highlight was talking to DAVID!!! It was do good to talk to him, he is doing awesome!! He is loving in Japan, he said that hes gotten used to eating almost everything raw, get this he said he eats a raw egg a DAY GROSSSSSSSSSSS! I gagged a little when he told me that. Anyway it was a good mothers day, im so grateful for my girls and that I can be their mommy. I love you my little sweeties:) P.S. sorry no pictures I forgot the camera:(

Photo Shoot

2009-05-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

So we got our pics taken once again.... Mostly because of our sweet new addition, but of course we had to take some of Brindley as well. Thanks again Abbey for the good pictures your awesome!!! Im devoted to your talent:)

Blog Overload!!!!

2009-05-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

I have the worst of luck with computers, it seems like I break them all the time. Hopefully this time I will have better luck. So much has happened in the last month its impossiable for me to think of where to start so Im just posting the pictures randomly and then saying a few things.... (MAn I am a rambler)
This really is a sad little face, but I love the little pout lip:) Londyn does this when shes' tired and hungry!

Brindley loves tucking her babies in bed for naptime and bedtime!!

Brindley got these differant kinda bubbles at her friends birthday party. They stuck to everything!!! She and I had a blast popping them all and then getting into a waterfight cleaning them all of the driveway!! Can I just say how much I LOVE this time of year!!

So Brindley came to me one morning after breakfast and says Mommy can I put Londyn in my stroller? I first said no sweetheart she might fall out and that would hurt her. Brindley says... Mommy I will be so careful pretty please? Now how can I say no to that, she was SO careful! She had so much fun , but as you can see by Londyns eyes im not too sure she felt the same way!! My sweet Love bug after eating!!!

Just a few random pics, I love my cute little sweeties:)

Easter

2009-04-16T13:28:00.002-07:00

This Easter was kinda a bummer for me just because we missed out on a lot. Every year my moms side of the family gets together for lunch and a Easter egg hunt at my Grandparents house in Mantua. We didn't make it because I didn't want to take the 2 girls by myself and also Londyn is only a month. Then on Sunday my step family got together for brunch and we didn't make it because Brindley got a cold. (WHATEVER)!
But I do have to say that we had a fun time at home. Brindley had a lot of fun going on her Easter Egg hunt through the house followed by another one of Toms famous Breakfasts. Seriously he should have been a professional chief, this man can cook!!

My mom came down for a bit and hung out, it was a lot of fun. Brindley just loves her grandma!! When the door bell rings she runs as fast as she can saying Grandma Grandma!! We spent the rest of the afternoon watching a movie and playing games.
Toms family was getting together at 4 for dinner, we REALLY wanted to go, so we decided since it was just up the street and Brindley was feeling a little better, what the heck were going. I'm glad we did, Brindley was able to go on a hunt with all her cousins and I got to get her all dressed up and pretty in her Easter dress I was so excited for her to wear.

So this year was a little different for us, but we still had a good time. I am so grateful for everything that I have been blessed with in my life. I have 2 healthy beautiful girls, a husband that loves and appreciates me and also family members that are always here for us when we need them. Easter is such a special time. It was so great to listen to Tom explain the meaning of Easter to Brindley. She was really into it, she asked a million questions! I hope of you had a great weekend! Loves:)

Update on the girls

2009-04-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

We will start with Brindley..... Some of the things that Brin does lately are....
1. Talks so fast sometimes you can't understand what she is saying.

2. She is really into princesses right now, she love Cinderella, Ariel, and Belle. We are taking a trip in August or September to Disneyland for her 3rd birthday and almost everyday she asks me if were going to Disneyland today.

3. Loves doing things on her own like reading her books, combing her hair, brushing teeth, making the bed, putting shoes on. etc etc etc.

4. She gets SUPER excited when dad comes home.

5. Repeats everything I say.

6. When I tell her to go the corner for not listening she tells me which corner mom?

7. She loves taking a nap with mommy in her bed.

8. Brindleys favorite food is Breakfast some of her favorites are daddy's french toast casserole, pancakes, grandpas wonder waffles.

9. She LOVES going to Costco, (I actually haven't meet anyone that doesn't enjoy Costco) Sorry Dad!!

10. Loves playing games like, Candy land, The memory game, hide and seek, Cootie, and this is a new thing we have started, putting puzzles together. Its actually really fun because Brin gets so into it.

11. One thing that Brindley just adores is Fancy Nancy! Maryann gave her one for Christmas 2 years ago and she just loved it. We now have the whole collection and we read them about 5 times or more a day. She actually went through a time when she had to go to sleep with them.

12. Enjoys going to the Kangaroo Zoo, whenever we go she asks if were going with Maddi. (One of her friends in the ward)

13. Brindley likes animals a lot some of her faves are... Dinosaurs, Monkeys, Dogs, Birds and Tigers.

14. We have to listen to Mama Mia soundtrack everything time we get in the car. I try to listen to my music sometimes and she says Mom I don't want to listen to your music!! I have a demanding little soul for a daughter I know!!

15. Loves jumping on the neighbors tramp. (Thanks Rachel)

16. Whenever I leave Tom alone with the girls, I come home to Brindley saying Mommy daddy let me have candy is that OK? She says that because im a mean mom that doesn't let her eat much candy at all.

Now for Londyn...

1. She can hold her head up at a 45 degrees.

2. Goes to sleep between 11 and midnight and wakes up around 4ish and then up again at 8. (What an ANGLE)

3. Eats like a champ, almost every feeding now takes between 10 and 15 min tops.

4. Loves sleeping on her tummy. I know that your not supposed to let them do that but she is so content I can't help it. With Brindley I never put her on her tummy to sleep because I was so scared, but it seems like the second time around I'm a little more layed back.

5. When you kiss her neck she smiles every time. I like to think that they are real smiles and not just gas.

6. She can put her hands together.

7. When I sing to Brindley at bedtime, Londyn calms right down if shes upset. I really thinks it because she remembers the songs from when she was in my tummy.:)

8. Londyn is a Binky baby:)

9. Londyn doesn't mind who holds her as long as she is fed and has a clean diaper.

10. She is no longer in our room, she sleeps so much better in her crib. I think its because of her daddy's snoring. (he he)

11.

4 Years:)

2009-04-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

On April 6th Tom and I celebrated our 4th anniversary together, I can't believe that it has been that long. We have done so much in those 4 years that I never thought we would do, built a house, have had 2 beauitful girls, Tom starting a business, oh and I finished school. I forget about that because yep I STILL haven't taken that last test.... ONE DAY.
Anyway I think that Tom will agree with me that this last year was the toughest by far for the both of us. There was a TON of stress, but we have grown closer together because of it. Tom is an awesome husband, I can't really put into words what he means to me. I just want to say how much I appriecate all that he does for this family. All of his hard work is going to pay off really soon. When we first got married we set goals for ourselfs that we wanted to accomplish in 10 years and one of Toms was to start his own sales floor and have the ability to be home. I think if after 4 years he's half way done with one of the biggest goals he set, he can do anything. haha!! I know I think highly of my husband but isn't that what every wife is supposed to think? Tom I love you more than tongue can tell!!! Your my best friend! I look forward to the years to come. Thank you for making our anniversary a special and fun day for me!!
Tom took me to PF Changs for a yummy dinner followed by a little shopping. Tom is so cute. I went into a fitting room with some clothes and none of what I picked worked at all. So when I opened the door, there Tom was with more clothes that he had picked out for me. EVERYTHING worked that he choose! Oh my husband is a little too in touch with his femine side.. Anyways I love yOu BABE!

Miss Independant!!!

2009-04-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

So Brindley does alot of funny things but this one is at the top of the list for sure. When I wake up with Londyn in the night I go into the spare bedroom so I don't disturb Toms sleep. So this morning Brindley woke up and didn't wake me. So when I woke up around 9 I jumped out of bed thinking it was like 11. I went downstairs and to my surprise Brindley was sitting in front of the Tv with her cereal. So this is how the conversation went.
Me-- Brindley what are you doing sweetheart?
Brindley-- Im eating my cereal mom..
Me-- Did daddy help you get it before he left for work?
Brindley-- No I did it myself, im a big girl mom.
Me-- You did?? How did you do that?
Brindley-- I used my chair.
Me-- Oh wow you really are a big girl, good job!! But why didn't you wake mommy up?
Brindley-- Because I didn't know where you were.
Me-- Oh sweetie im sorry
Brindley-- Its ok Im a big girl..
Me-- Oh I love you Brin...
I think its so funny that in almost all of her sentances she says that shes' a big girl. I only wish that I had my camera on hand to take the picture of her sitting in the middle of the room eating her cereal. She is so dang cute!!

Girls will be Girls!!

2009-03-31T19:17:00.000-07:00

I have to confess, having 2 little girls is pretty fun. As I was feeding Londyn I was thinking about all the fun things that we are going to do when they get older. I love doing girly things with them both already. Today Brindley and I were talking and decided that Londyn needed to have her toes painted like ours so........

Londyn did great for her very first pedi.:)
After that Brindley wanted me to take pictures of her and Londyn.

I have to say that I really love being a mom.

The sweetest visitor......

2009-03-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

Brindley of course was the sweetest visitor that we had at the hospital. On Saturday her and grandma came to see us, Tom decided to take Brindley down to the gift shop and let her pick something out for her new sister. Well she did just that, she picked out the sweetest presents. For me she picked out a willow tree that had a mom holding a toddler and a new baby in her arms. I cried when and saw it and how excited she was to give it to me. Tom told me that she REALLY picked them out all by herself. When I was opening it she would say mommy don't you love it? Oh she is so sweet I can't stand it. For Londyn she got her a pink flamingo (whatever I don't know how to spell)

Brindley has the kindest little heart that I know, she is so sweet and loving. It makes me so happy and grateful the she is in our family. I just love you sweetheart:)

The best week and Londyns first bath.....

2009-03-26T18:46:00.000-07:00

Londyn is the golden child!!!!! She NEVER cries!! I seriously don't know what to think because my experience with Brindley was a little different. It wasen't her fault of course but she had the WORST case of colic ever. She would fuse around 5 everyday and then the screaming would start around 10 and end around 3 or so. It was a very hard time for me, but when it went away at 4 months she was an ANGEL.
Anyway, Londyn wakes up twice in the night and goes right back to sleep. She also sleeps all day long. She is also a fantasic nuser. I have to say that im a little bumbed I don't think she is going to be a red head.:( She might have a little strawberry blond but not red like Brins.
Tom was able to be home for a week, it was really nice. He took such good care of us by getting brindley ready everyday, cleaning the house, making meals and just being a really Big help with anything I needed or wanted. Thanks so much LOVE!!!
Brindley has adjusted pretty good, she has had to go to time out a few more times then normal, but thats ok her life has totally changed. She has been a big help, by giving a hand with the baths, diaper changing and burping. Thanks Brin for all your help. here are a few pics of the bath.........

Brindley's Big Girl Room......

2009-03-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

We have finally completed Brindley's new room! When Tom was home last week him and Brindley went shopping almost everyday. They had so much fun together, Brindley and Tom haven't spent that much time together in a long time. Their first outting was to get her bed and dresser. She picked out a really cute bed and it was also one of the least expensive ones there. (GOod job Brin).

I can't believe how fast she has grown up, I never thought the day would come that she would be big enough to sleep anywhere else but her crib, but it has come and thats ok. Brindley just adores her room, she has to show it to everyone that comes over.

This is mostly for me because I don't want to forget. Brindley has a bedtime routine that we HAVE to do every night. I brush her teeth and then she wants to do it her self after im done, then we read her fancy nancy books, then a few songs AND then family prayers. Every night after we say prayers she says mom and dad im love Jesus SO much. I think its so sweet that everyday she says how much she loves Heavenly father and Jesus. I just wanted to say those few things so then I don't forget them. Brindley I love you so much!! She has been the biggest help to me with Londyn!! I couldn't ask for better kids! I love you both:)

I have the Internet again....

2009-03-19T15:58:00.000-07:00

Its finally back!!!!!! Im so excited you don't even know. I don't have the time right now to blog, but watch out there is going to be a blog over load very very soon. Thanks everyone for your comments on Londyn. We are all doing very well.

Londyn Elizabeth Swenson is here!

2009-03-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

(This is Nicole's friend, Lauren blogging for Nicole since she isn't able to get on the internet.)

Londyn was born Friday, March 13th at 4:32 pm weighing in at 6 lbs. 11 oz. She is absolutely beautiful and looks just like her big sister Brindley. Londyn is very healthy and all is well with Nicole. Brindley is loving having a little sister and always wants to be with her. She likes to hold her, have her sit by her while she eats, and help her mom with everything. I will let Nicole tell you all the stories and details of everything. Here are some pictures from the hospital.

And here are some pictures that I took today when I went over and met the beautiful little girl. :)

Londyn's baby shower!!

2009-03-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

This is REALLY late but hey thats what happens....
My good friend Lauren gave me a Surprise baby shower. It was so much fun and I really appreicated it. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I got everything I needed and much more. I just felt bad that I didn't get a chance to talk to everyone as much as I wanted to.
We had a fun time eating at my favortie pizza place "The Pizza Facorty". That place has the BEST bread twists ever. Anyway, Thanks again everyone!!

My Little Brindley......

2009-02-11T15:49:00.001-08:00

For the last few months I have been stressin big time about having two kids for many reasons but mostly because of Brindley. She is my WHOLE world (and Tom). Everything I do is with her and most of the time for her. I love her so much and I just get scared that she won't think I love her as much when the baby comes. I know that this is a normal feeling for every mom having another baby, but I just don't want her to me upset about the baby coming into our family. Brindley is going to be a great help to me. Im looking forward to seeing them becoming best friends!
Anyway the last few days I have been taking pictures of her in secret....

Her she is in her new room (which i have to post about another time) reading her books. She spends a good hour a day in her room reading all her books. Usually when I am getting ready for the day or just doing mommy things.

And her she is being a artist! She loves her little table, we got it for her for Christmas. Let me tell ya she has to do EVERYTHING at this table, eat, color, paint etc etc... I just love this girl!! Things are going to be an adjustment with baby London coming into our family, but we are so excited to see her and have her in our home.

Valentines Fun!!

2009-02-11T15:21:00.000-08:00

My mother in law loves Valentines Day! So this year she thought it would be fun to have everyone over for dinner and let the little ones decorate their owns cookies. She had the house decorated SO cute, I'm upset that I didn't take more pictures. She did such a great job the kids had a ton of fun. Each one of the grand kids got a cute new outfit, teddy bear and of course a lot of sugar!! Thanks Maryann for a really fun Sunday together!! We have to make this a tradition for sure!

This was the cutest part, Brin and Gracie reading books with Grandpa. Brindley just loves her granpda.

Saturday Night Family Fun!!

2009-02-04T21:10:00.000-08:00

Saturday night Tom and I wanted to go out, but we couldn't find a babysitter. It turned out to be a good thing because we had SO much more fun with Brindley. Lately Brin has been into musicals1 She loves Mama Mia!! So we decided to watch that and make Tom and Brins favorite dessert....Carmel Popcorn!! Like most girls, Brin loves to help out in the kitchen. Here is a picture of her helping her mama make the carmel. After I took the picture she said "Mommy take a video of me dancing" so I course listened to her....

We have such a great time as a family!! I just love that we can spend time together making fun memories and traditions together. On thing that Brin love doing with her dad and dad only for some reason is Building with her blocks. They build a big tower and then when its all done she knocks it over. Its so fun to watch her get so
excited!!

MoMMy SuRvEy

2009-01-17T14:58:00.000-08:00

1~ How long have you been a mom? Two years
2~ How many children call you mommy? One right now:)
3~ Boy or Girl? Pretty soon 2 girls
4~ Did you know what you were having? Yes
5~ How old were you when you became a mom? 23
6~ How long were you in Labor? 22 hours, this next time better not be that long:(
7~ What is your favorite thing about being a mom? I can't think of just one thing, I LOVE everything about it:)
8~ Whats your least favorite thing? When their sick
9~ Do you want more kids? Yes
10~ Do you plan on having more soon? No
11~ How many times have you been peed on? Just once
12~ Spit up on? too many times to count
13~ Is your child named after anyone?
Brindley Faye Swenson (after my grandma)
London Elizabeth Swenson (after Toms grandma)
14~ How did you come up with their names? They are ones that Tom and I agreed on
15~ When your child gets in trouble whos the bad guy mom or dad? Usually me because tom is gone working.
16~ What is the longest time you have been away from your child? 9 days when we went to Hawaii:)
17~ Bedtime routine? Read Fancy Nancy books sing a few songs and then to bed around 9
18~ Are your toes painted? Yes
19~ Last movie you saw in theaters with your child? Night at the museum:)
20~ One thing you will not give up even though your a mom? Taking time for myself doing whatever I want atleast once a week.
21~ One thing you did give up being a mom? My sleep:)
22~ Best mom perk? Having a healthy happy child that nows shes loved more than anything:)
23~ Your child is napping? You are... Sleeping or organizing something
24~ Where is your child now? Sleeping away...
25~ Favorite place to buy maternity clothes? Don't hate me..... I haven't really had to buy them, although I have a few pair of pants that I love and there from target.
26~ Would you do it over? Yes!!!

A little bit of everything.......

2009-01-14T20:35:00.000-08:00

I have been a slacker!!! Things have been busy and I also haven't felt like blogging. So I have a few things to catch up on.
December 31st Toms little brother David went into the MTC. It was a bitter sweet day, the family met at Carabas Itailan Resturant for a fabulous lunch and then headed to the MTC. I tell you what I really don't like that place. It is SO hard to say goodbye the way you have to. David is serving in the Tokyo Japan Mission and he is going to do awesome!! He leaves March 17th to Japan (my due date).

A little update on the pregancy.... Im 31 weeks now, I truly can't believe how fast this has gone by. Im ready for this girl to come out. She LOVES my ribs, thats where she spends most of her time. I went to the doctor a few weeks ago and everything is looking great.

I have been keeping really busy on getting things ready. Saturday Tom spent most of his day moving the spear bedroom into the office and the office furniture out into the media room. I didn't think that I would like it out there but it looks pretty good. Im so grateful that he spent his time helping me out so I can start painting and decorating Brindleys new room. She is so excited to have a big girl bed and move rooms, well see though when it comes down to it if she's really excited. I have been going through Brins clothes when she was itty bitty, it brought back so many memories that I started crying hapy tears. Brin came in and put her arms around me and said it's ok mommy don't cry. I just love how caring she is!!!

I keep asking myself will going through my purse EVER get old???!!!!! This girl LOVES
doing this! She takes everything out of my wallet and then puts it back in. Sometimes she puts my cards in her purse, which is a bad thing when I don't know she does it and then I go shopping and don't realize I don't have any money. It's happened one too many times. Good thing she's freakin cute!!!

ThE HoLiDaYs!!!!!!!

2008-12-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

Im kinda coping you Amy, It was a good idea so Thanks.... This month has been a very busy one for our family, we have spent so much time with family and friends. We have had nothing but FUN!!! We started out by going to The Christmas Carol at the Haile Center Theater with my family. It was so much fun, Tom and I both decided we want to do it every year.... Sorry Whitney the guy that took the picture was a little special!! I dont't remember the date, but Tom and I took Brindley to dinner at Happy Sumo and to look at the lights. It was really snowing and cold, but we decided what the heck... Dinner took a little longer than we thought so we didnt have time to look at the lights, but I think the hot chocolate and ice cream made up for it. On December 20th, we had my step family Christmas Party at Grandma Arvas. We enjoyed yummy food, great company, Santa and games. Brindley loved the Santa thing this year. When he came she didn't take her eyes off him.... here are a few pis... On December 23rd Brindley and I spent our day making sugar cookies for the neighbors, wrapping presents and getting last mintue things done before Christmas Eve.... I decided to let Brin have some fun with the flour and dough (don't worry the dough she played with went in the garbage)..... Christmas Eve we went to Mantua for the party with my extented family. It was so great to see everyone that I don't get to see very much. Every year we listen and sing with uncle steve and his giutar (spelling?). Brindley had fun dancing with Chloe. They were so stinkin cute.

Brindley made a new friend!!!
When we made it home Tom didn't know what I had planned for him to do that night....... Put Brindleys kitchen set together.
It had 1000 pieces, it took him about 4 hours. So we enjoyed a few Christmas movies and each others company. We got about 3 hours of sleep, because Brin decided to wake up at 5. It was so fun with Brin this year, when she saw her kitchen she yelled "Mommy Santa brought me a Kitchen" I laughed and cried (pregant hormones) it was so much FUN!!! We had a great Christmas together, I got a new pretty necklace and earrings,some clothes AND a Shark Vaccum! I was pretty excited about that one. Tom got some clothes and money, Im lame and didn't really know what to get him. I had toooo much fun shopping for Brindley. Here are a million pics of our little princess having the time of her life.....

After a great morning we headed up to toms aunt and uncles home in Alpine. When we were about half way there I realized I had forgotten something important at home, so him and Paul headed back for it. Well about 5 mins after they left he calls and informs me that my car doesn't look to good anymore, I said Tom if your joking around its not funny. He says Im serious I just ran into my dads bobcat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I said ARE YOU KIDDING TOM!!! AHHHHHHHH!!! I guess what happened was, Reed was shoveling the very long steep drive way with the bobcat and had taken a break to talk to Maryann really quick, and here comes Tom in 4 wheel drive and foot on the break right into the bobcat on the left side of my car. I think the whole front end is going to be replaced, I guess this is why I pay for insurance. Lucky us we have esome really good insurance and hopefully will only pay 500 bucks. Here are some pictures.....

We still had a great day, accidents happen thats just how things go sometimes. So we weren't going to let it ruin the day. We had a very good Christmas breakfast and spending MORE time with family. Brindley spent all of her time in the little play house with her cousins. I got some cute pics of the cutest girls ever.

I think thats it safe to say that we had a GREAT hoilday!! Im so grateful to have spent this time with family. Im also grateful for my WONDERFUL husband, he is such a sweetheart. Tom has a very creative talent. He loves to write!! One day he wants to be a writter and I think that he'll be a great one. Anyway he gave me the BEST present. I would have never thought he would do something like this. He is writting me a childrens story with me as the main character. I cried when he told me Christmas morning. He only has about half of it done so I read what he had finshed. Thank you so much Tom for being the guy that you are. I look forward to reading this book to all our children. Your the best!! When its all done I will post it so you can all read it.
I hope that everyones Holiday was fun and full of many memories!! We love you all!!!

I can't sleep so 2 posts in less an hour!

2008-12-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

Number 7 tag.....
7 Things that I can do....
1.Really good Hair (hehe)
2.Im a good mom and wife
3.Keep up on my house work
4.Good listener
5.Make good bread
6.Read pretty good
7.

7 Things I cannot do...
1.Handle stressful things
2.Spell
3.Take tests
4.Go just 1 year without getting pulled over
5.Fall asleep as easily as Tom (GRRR)
6.Handle pain
7.Being Hot

7 Things I always say...
1.Please leave that alone
2.Don't pull my hair
3.I love you bunches
4.What the crap
5.Say your sorry
6.Your the best
7.Have a Great Day!!

7 Things I can always eat...
1.Pasta
2.Homemade Bread
3.Candy Canes
4.Lucky Charms
5.Tacos
6.Salad
7.Pizza

7 Things that I love to do...
1.Play candy land with Brindley
2.Lay in bed and watch a movie or friends with Tom
3.Sunday afternoon naps
4.Shop
5.Taking a bath
6.Going on walks
7.Traveling

7 People I tag...
1.Sarah
2.Whitney
3.Amy J
4.Krystal
5.Amee D
6.Jessica J
7.Michelle

Visited a New Baby and Fun in the Kitchen!!

2008-12-12T21:44:00.000-08:00

On Monday Erin, Michelle and I went to see Sarah and their new addition Tucker. He is a cutie! Brindley was just like any other 2 year old and would not sit still, so I only got to hold the baby for a min, but in 3 months I get to have my little one to hold ALL the time. Brindley was so cute, she kept saying "Mommy that babys is real". I think she was a little surprised to see a baby that wasen't one of her dolls. She didn't really want me to hold him, so it will be interresting to see how she does with her little sister. I really think that she will be good it will just take a little bit of time and thats just fine.

Then on Thursday Lauren, Jaden and Kaylie came over and made some sugar cookies! It was a fun activity for us and the kids.
Whenever I make things Brindley likes to be my little helper and she is pretty good at it. When I use flour she says the cutest thing. She says mommy you make a mess! Its just how she says it, is what makes it so stinkin cute. Anyway, the cookies turned out yummy, here are a few pictures of the kids decorating their cookies.

And after all their hard work most of it ended up on the floor, and thats ok Im glad that they had fun.

The Big 25!!!!

2008-12-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

On Thursday I turned 25 years old! I don't feel that old at all! I think it's my parents that feel old, their oldest is 25! Anyway, I have had a really good birthday! I woke up to Brindley and Tom bringing me breakfast in bed, it was very yummy! Then I had a few freinds come over, my friend sarah is having her baby tomorrow so she needed a trim and her toes painted. Also my friend Leslie and Gabe came over and they took me to lunch for my birthday. (Thanks again Leslie). Then my dad and cindy came down and took us to the BEST mexican resturant in Springville sorry I can't remember the name of it. They also gave me a pretty cool gift, I have been into making cakes lately and so they gave me a bunch of cool stuff to makes some awesome cakes. Thanks again dad and cindy!! I love it all!!! Tom and Brin gave me some really good smelling perfume and a gift card to the best place ever TARGET! I tell ya what I love that store!!
On Friday Tom had arranged to go up to his parents cabin and spend the night enjoying an amazing dinner that he made and a movie with hot chocolate by the fire. It was better than spending a bunch of money at a resturant. Brindley spent the night with Grandpa and Grandma Johnson. She had a blast reading books, watching moives and falling asleep in Grandma and Grandpas bed reading stories. When I went to pick her up she didn't want to leave. I guess thats ok! Thanks Tom for a GREAT night with just you and me! I love YOu BUNCHES!!!
Saturday, Brittany took me and Brin to Cobblestone! Its a very good pizza place in American Fork. Thanks Brit!!!...... and if that wasen't enough celebrating Sunday the WHOLE family came over for cake and ice cream. I am so blessed to have such a loving family. I appeicate all the love and gifts, Thank you so much!!! I am grateful for everyone of you! We missed you Laura and Jim, but I know that your having SO much fun in paradise!! I just realized that I didnt take any pictures...bummer! Sorry! I know pics are the best part!!

Thanksgiving Fun, Christmas Fun and Pregancy Fun!!

2008-12-02T19:14:00.000-08:00

I think that this is the longest time I have gone without blogging! I have missed it!! We have been kinda busy the last few weeks. Thursday we enjoyed Thanksgiving with Toms moms family. The food was very yummy, I have been craving Thanksgiving food for months and it was well worth the wait. After dinner Tom and I actually got to go home and take a very nice nap. We never get to relax on holidays because we usually are running from family to family, but this year we decided to do things different. After about a 3 hour nap we went up to Toms parents for some more turkey and a movie with the family. Brindley wasen't really into the movie so I decided to go and map out my plan for shopping that night by looking through the ads.
At about 10 that night the fun night began by going to the outlets in park city with Laura, Casey and my little sister. It was pretty fun!! We then headed down to walmart to join in the maddness. I tell you what it is crazy what some ladys will do for 4 dollars jammies. Grown women were crawling on the floor to get them. It was CRAZY!!! I was too chicken to join in crowd, but a really nice lady grabbed a few for me. After a long night of shopping we went to Ihop for some yummy food. Over all the shopping was a success, but I think next year Tom is going to come with me so we can get some more done.
A few days before Thanksgiving Tom came home from work and said "Hey lets put Christmas up" I was so excited that he said that because it was some much needed fun. Christmas is Toms ALL time favortie Holiday. Our home is always so pretty for christmas. I love the feeling that a simple christmas tree brings to the home.

Now for the update on the pregancy.... Im 25 weeks today actually. Everything has been going really good. At the last doctors appointment I gained another 3 pounds totally 7. The last fews months I know im going to pack on the pounds. I did the samething with Brindley. I think the last 2 months I gained 8 pounds each month.

As you can tell the belly has really popped out in the last few weeks. I can feel her move around like crazy when im going to bed. (of course) Time is flying by way to fast, but we are so excited to have another little one in our home. Brindley doesn't go a day without telling her little sister she loves her along with givng her a kiss. I have no doubt that Brin will be the best big sister.
Her are just a few fun random pics of Brindley that I thought were cute.....
This was so cute we just got home from church and had dinner. Brindley fell asleep on daddys shoulder for like an hour.
Brindley has this book called pinkalious, she has me read her this book atleast 10 times a day and she has to sleep with it every night. Well a few weeks ago after reading it all day she wanted to make her own cupcakes, so we did. They turned out pretty good if I must say so. I love making things with Brin, it puts the cutest smile on her face!!

My Family.................

2008-11-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

This is a good tag, Good thinking Lauren....

My Pops~ is a pretty great guy, he has always done what he can for my brother and sister and ME. He is an extremly hard worker that always wants things done right the first time. He is also a loving husband, dad and grandpa! When we were growing up my dad gave all of us kids nicknames I don't remember what Cody and Jessicas were, but mine was "Spike" from Land before Time. I don't really know why he called me that but it was fun. He still calls me it today from time to time. Dad I love you bunches!!!

My Mom~ is a GREAT mom!! We all say that our moms are the best moms and my mom falls into that catagory very well. There isn't one thing that my mom wounld't do for me or any of her kids. Growing up I was always able to talk to my mom about anything and everything. She was always understanding even if I had done something that I shouldn't have. I hope that my kids will be able to confide in me for anything that they need big or small. Mom I hope you know how special you are to me and everyone that knows you, your a great person and you will one day find someone that thinks that same way about you.. I love you MOM!!!

Cindy~ You are the best step mom anyone could ask for. She is very out going and helpful. Thanks to her help I was able to make Brindley a pretty cute Birthday cake. When I graduated from high school she put on a really fun pool party for all my friends and I, also if it wasent for her I wouldn't have gotten a car for graduation! Thanks cindy for all that you for me. Love ya!!

Cody~ Is a pretty cool brother to have. We didn't always get along growing up, but we have a good relationship now. I do remember a few things that we enjoyed doing together. We loved to play in the leaves after dad had spent hours racking them up. We also love building forts on the weekends and then play games in them. Cody your an awesome brother I love ya!

Jessica~ Is at that fun age where she thinks that she has everything figured out! I love it! Its the way I was at her age and everyone told me one day you'll understand one day! Jess is a great sister and im glad that we have gotten closer over the years. We haven't always seen eye to eye but what sister does. Jessica and I shared a room, so that meant that she was always into my stuff and always wanted to play house and barbies with my friends and I. I didn't like it so much, but all my friends thought she was the cutest thing ever and so most of the time she tagged along. Which was ok I guess! Anyway Jessica your a great sister and I love you tons!

Tom~ Is a GREAT guy! I am so dang lucky! When Tom and I were dating I have to say I was pretty proud to say that he was my boyfriend! He was such a gentlemen to me all the time. He would open and close my door, tell me how cute I look (even if it wasen't true). He did so many things that made it easy for me to fall in love with him. I love Tom more today than the day I married him. He is always going to be there for me to the end. It really doesn't get any better than that. I love you bunches Tom!!

Brindley~ My little boo boo!! You are full of many different personalitys that I love. You put a smile on my face everyday!! When I was getting ready to have Brindley my mother in law told me that when you get up in the middle of the night to take care of that little one it will feel like Christmas morning everytime. Well she was right for about the first 2 weeks it was great and then I was ready for sleep. Brindley is so sweet and caring to those around her. I Love her more everyday!!!! She is going to be the best big sister!!

This is going to be a big one!!

2008-11-03T17:41:00.001-08:00

So some of you may not know, but Tom and I have had to cut back on some luxury things like the internet, cable, home phone and pretty mouch any thing that we want! Things have been tight with him doing his own thing with business. But thats ok with me, it makes me really grateful for the things that I have. Anyway....... here are a few things that we have been up too... Brindley and I went up to our friends Ryan and Brittanys and picked some of their apples. They have like 15 trees and they don't use the apples so I thought I could figure something out. So I decided this last saturday to make apple sauce and an apple pie. I know Im a nerd!!
Heres Brin picking some apples!!
Mommy and Brin!! (dad really missed out on some good fun)
The Canning of the apples and the apple pies took me ohhh about 7 hours! My feet hurt so freakin bad I haven't been on my feet that long in a LONG time!! But Tom was a sweetie and gave me a good foot and back rub!!
Our next fun family event was HALLOWEEN!!! Our friends Ryan and Brit decided to do a a Murder Mystery Party! So after we took brindley to see family and a few friends she went to Grandma Johnsons for the night! The party was a BLAST! Brit and Alicia did such an AWESOME job!! It was a way fun night! Tom dressed up as Lee Marvin an old western guy and I was Patsy Cline also an old country singer!! Here are a few pictures from the night.....
Grandma Cindy and Brindley
Grandpa Johnson and Brindley
This is where we had dinner!!
Lee Marvin and Pasty Cline!!
Jimmy Henricks was the murder!!
A whole bunch of people that I don't know, but it was good to get to know a few of them.
Again Brit you did such a great job I hope that you do it again next year!!
Okay last but not least, I few weeks ago Tom and I were supposed to find out what we were having but the baby had its legs closed!! I was so disappointed! Brindley did the same thing to us, so go figure this one had to do the same!! So they told me to come back in 2 weeks!! Then last Monday my doctors office called and told me that I actually couldnt come in until the 20th! WHAT a whole month! This baby really didn't want me to know!! Anyway..... On wednesday I got a call and the doc said if you can be here in the next hour you can find out what your having. So I was there in 10 mins flat.. I know im really silly!!! This time it wasen't shy at all.............................................. ITS A GIRL!!!!! Im so excited!! I wanted Brindley to have a little sister so bad!! Tom was a little bummed, but has wamed up to the thought of another girl!!

Birthday Fun and Carving Pumpkins!!

2008-10-27T14:37:00.002-07:00

On Saturday we went to Christans Pirate Party!! He turned the big 4! I can't believe he's 4! Laura put so much work into his little party, she made a pretty awesome cake and did a treasure hunt for the kids, she even dressed up as a pirate! What a mom! She is just a great mom to her 3 kids and she'll be even better when she has all 12 of them here.. HAHA.. Just kidding Laura (maybe). I didn't get any pictures of the cake, but if you check out her blog in the next few days im sure she will post a picture.

Later on that night my family came down to carve some pumpkins. We have done this for the last few years and I hope we can keep it going because its so much fun. Cody and Whitney work alot not to mention at night, so we don't get to see them a whole lot. They were so sweet to come and do this with us on there only night they get together. Thanks guys it was so good to see you. Brindley was a big help, she handed out the spoons to everyone to dig out the pumpkin. I told her that she could help mommy, but she said it was messy! Oh she's such a girl I love it!!
Cody and Whitney

Mom and Jessica

Brindley and I

Carving away.....

Brindley

I think they all turned out pretty good!! The pirate face (Cody) The Monster (Tom) The winking eye (Brindley) The smiling face (ME) The dots (Whitney) The Cat(Mom)
The Wolves (Jessica)

Fun Tag (Thanks Leslie)

2008-10-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

8th Folder--8th Picture
(I think Im going to do a few more than just one folder because I have a ton)

This picture pretty much explains itself, Brindley had just been brought into this world and was being weighted. I can't remember them being that small.

This was when David graduated from High School! Everyone is in the picture except for jim and laura, they had just had a baby and wanted to get home!

Brindley having fun running around before the big Sandy Parade started!

This is Brindley and Grandma on Brins first Easter! Sorry mom I have to play by the rules and this was the 8th picture!!:)

This was taken the day Paul was going to the MTC!! I can't believe that he's back already and now David is leaving. David is the short one in the picture!!

Proud Moment!!!

2008-10-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

Yesturday I went over to my sister in laws and she was making bread! It smelled sooo good and tasted even better! I said to myself "Why do I spend money on bread that doesn't taste good or thats good for you. So she inspired me, after Brindleys dance class today I decided that I was going to make white and wheat bread. It took me about an hour total to put together both breads. I couldn't believe how easy it was! I have to say that after they cooked they turned out pretty good. I have made the wheat bread once before but never the white. I feel like I accomplished something for myself today and also for my family! From now on I will not be buying bread! This bread is SO good for you! Brindley has already eaten 3 pieces today!
When the bread was cooking I came upstairs to finish some laundry and when I went back downstairs I started to cry because the smell of the bread cooking brought back so many memories all at once of my AMAZING grandma!! (Im crying again just saying, Im so pregant) But its true, my grnadmas house ALWAYS smelled like Homemade Bread! My Grandma Faye was the one who tought me how to make bread, rolls, pie crusts and much more. I wanted to grow up and be just like her when I was little, she was my favortie person in the whole world. She had so many amazing talents...sewing, quilting, cooking, gardening, and being a very loving person to all. I really could go on and on about her.
For the last year my mother in law Maryann has been doing a Cooking Class every month to teach Laura and I how to cook more things, prepare our food storage and cook better! She reminds me so much of my grandma because of her passion she has for cooking and serving her family and friends. I just want her to know if it wasen't for her I wouldn't know what I know about cooking and food stroage. I am really excited to say that I am about 4 months away from having a full year of food for my soon to be family of 4. It has taught me so much and its also a huge comfort to know that I will always have enough for to feed my family and more. Thanks again Maryann for all you do for my family and I. We love you!!:)
(This is a very old picture, I was about 2 months prego with Brindley)
Heres the wheat bread recipe:
7 cups hot water in mixer
10 and 1/2 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour (You can use wheat flour from the store if you dont have a wheat grinder)
Mix on low speed

In another bowl put 3 cups six grain flakes and
3 cups water. Put in microwave for a couple of mintues
until water is absorded. Add to mixture in mixer.

Next add 1 cup oil and 1 cup honey to mixer along with
3 Tablespoons salt. Mix for a mintue or so. Then add 4 Tablespoons
of good yeast.

Continue mixing for four or five mintues to establish the gluten in the
bread.(That's what holds it together to give it a nice texture.)

Add more fresh ground flour a cup at a time until the mixture barley starts
to pull away from the sides of the bowl. (Too muh flour will make your
bread more dry.)

Mix on medium speed another ten mintues or so. Shape into loaves and
place in greased pans. Let it rise until double.

Bake on 350 for 30-35 mintues until golden brown and hollow to the touch.
Immediately remove from pans and let cool. (If you are using a convection oven bake on 310 instead.)

Makes 7-8 loaves. Freeze loaves that you are not going to use within a day or so.
Because it has no preservatives it will only last about 3 days,
Refrigerate the portion you are not using.

Now for my family 7-8 loaves is a ton, so I would suggest halfing the recipe. I hope that this works and if you have any questions ashely feel free to call me!

Brindleys 2 year check up

2008-10-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

Brindley went to the doctor today for her check up! I still can't believe that she is 2! Its Crazy! Whats even crazier is that she goes back when she's 3 and I will have a another one thats 6 months old! WOW!! Anyway Dr. Glade was very pleased with miss Brindley (thats what he calls her). She weighs 25 and half pounds, length is 35 inches (I don't know where the height comes from). She is doing good. I have always been concerned that she isn't a milk drinker AT ALL. I nursed her until she was 18 months old! Crazy I know! But I didn't know what else to do since she wouldn't go near milk. Well the doc assuered me that she's fine as long as she eat plenty of things that have milk in them which she does. Also that she takes her vitamins which she does very well. Im so glad that she won't be ruined for life because she doens't drink milk. Im dramtic I know but you know how a mom worries about everything possible. Anyways, I love my little gal to death!! Some of the new things that she likes is.... Playing catch, loves apples, naming all the colors that she knows, counting to 10, the ABC's, singing all the songs we sing in nursery, Saying all the families names, (I can't believe how many she knows), and last but not least watch Ariel! She is so excited to wear her custume, she puts it on almost everyday!! Silly Brin!!

A very relaxing Sunday!!

2008-10-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

Today I really liked the fact that I church starts at one! My back has been KILLING me the last few days! It really feels like something is being jammed into it! So I was glad I got to rest for a while before getting ready for church. When we came home we had the EASIEST dinner ever chicken and cheese torillas. One of mine and Toms gulity pleasures is watching the Food Network Challenges. Today contests had to make CITYS out of cake. Its so fun to see them do things like this with cake. Another one we watched was CERERL CAKES! Everything had to be done with cereal! Its so interesting! After a few hrs of that we decided we needed to stop being couch potatos and doing something. Tom and Brindley wanted to do art stuff so they sat up at the table and had fun while I read the book that I have had my face into all weekend. "The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind" Its one of those self help books! (Tom has rubbed off on me) I really like it, its my second time reading it, but it really makes you think about stuff and how you look at life.
Anyway heres a cute picture of Tom and Brindley at the table doing their thing.....

And a few more of Cute Brindley.....

Toms OLD!!!

2008-10-16T14:11:00.001-07:00

Ok I am a slacker!! Toms birthday was on the 2nd of this month! Anyway, Im doing it now so thats what counts! Tom turned the big 27! I can't believe that he is 27 that seems wierd! When we meet he just turned 23! Tom has changed a TON! Tom is a very out going person, he's the person that trys and trys until he gets it right. This past year Tom has been doing he own thing with business. It has been really hard and we have had to rely on the lord alot, but its good. Im so glad that Tom is doing what makes him happy, thats what important right? I truly believe that the lord doenst give you what you can't handle and so after this I think Tom and I will be ready for anything that comes our way. I love Tom so much! He works about 14 to 16 hour days right now to make what he is doing work! I know that his hard work will pay off and he will be rewarded! He is a VERY great dad, I think that he learned from the best! Oh and hes a pretty great husband as well! Bottom line Tom we love you and think the world of you! Thanks for EVERYTHING!!:)

Brindley is 2!!!

2008-10-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

My litte girl turned two today, but we decided to have her party saturday! It was a blast she was excited all day about her party! When she woke up from her nap, she said is it time for the party mommy! She is so stinkin cute I can't stand it! So for her party I had all her friends dress up in their halloween customes! It was adorable!
I decided this year that I would make her birthday cake instead of spending a ton of money on one. My step mom Cindy helped me out and I think that it tured out pretty dang good!
Rebecca and Sadie got this for Brindley, she loves playing with play dough in nursery, So I know that this will become one of her favorite things to do! Thanks again Rebecca and Sadie!!:)
Gabriel picked this doll out for Brindley all by himself! Gabe you did an awesome job! Thanks so much Lesile and Gabe!
Grandma and Grandpa Johnson gave this to Brindley! I think she like it what do you think?
Brindley making her Birthday wish!!
Brindley enjoying her birthday cake and Grandpa Johnson trying to play with her!!
AFter everything was cleaned up and everyone was gone Brindley was ready to rest! but it was only 6:30! I got her ready for bed around 8 and she was out by 8:30! She looks so sweet holding on tight to her ariel doll! She is SO sweet and I hope that she knows how much we love her! You are an angel Brindley and your dad and I are so glad that you are in our family! We LOVE YOU!!!!!