I came across this sentence on a random blog recently.

I breathe a bit differently when he's here...relief for the little missing piece in my puzzle that has been found.

And though I don't think the author meant it to be profound, I thought, "that's EXACTLY how I feel." I've been missing Brannon lately, 2 weeks do that to a person, but even now that I'm back, I still feel that way every time he walks through the door. There ARE no words to descripe how truly, madly, deeply I love that man. He is my everything.

I miss you babe.

Sending my loving thoughts to Trauma tonight.

See you tomorrow.

Brannon and Belize's snow hike by Brannon

Well, California finally got a snow storm worth following to the mountains. We got a lot of rain where we lived but you had to get to about 6000ft for it to be snow. We did the San Antonio Falls hike at Mt Baldy.
I brought a lot of stuff just in case Belize decided that she could actually make the hike. We were prepared to stay for 4-5 hours. We, of course, only made it a fraction of that time.
We were only gone about 45 minutes, when we got back to the car it had a couple of inches of snow on it. I was in heaven.
Belize was not very interested in the hike but she was adamant about building a snowman.
The snow was up to my knees so Belize had a very difficult time getting around.


This was one of the best days we have had since coming to California. I had an excuse to hike in the snow and see what the Pilot could do up some steep snow hills. I took it into about 14 inches of snow, it did pretty well. One day when I have a real job I will get a dedicated set of snow tires for it.

Wedding snippets

Two weeks before the wedding the kids (sick) and I (sick) headed up to Seattle to prepare for Aunt Richelle and Uncle Darren's wedding. The plane ride was glorious, let me tell you which ended in exhaustion for all parties involved, including the poor lady next to us (luckily she only spoke spanish so even if she'd wanted to, I couldn't listen to her complain).
Feeling a little nostalgic we dug out my mom's wedding dress. MAN oh MAN is it teeny tiny!! To give you an example of how SMALL she was (still is), I tried on an old skirt of hers as well and the waist barely fit around my thigh, and I'm no big lady. My mom made this wedding dress in a few weeks for her wedding. It is beautiful, in fact with a few small alterations, I would consider it for my next marriage- oh wait, well lets just be honest for the sake of family journaling, I like my current husband and technically I could not zip the back up ( and that's an understatement).

I believe my mom uttered the words, "Never again." Several times during set up. It took 7 hours, which was actually less than we thought it would.
2 moms. 4 hands on hips (which have given birth to a total of 6 children). A basket of white and peach pom poms. A ladder. And a staple gun on the table. Love is a battlefield.
Making bridesmaids bouquets.
Grandma Gregg looking so adorable in her new blue dress and wide brimmed hat.
The giddy newly married couple (they have NO idea what they just embarked on).
It wouldn't have been a true Seattle wedding if it had not rained. Personally, I think the umbrella is so cute!

Belize managed to squeeze in almost every picture. Check out that cheese!

Belize said, "Someday I want a sparkly dress just like that!"

and "Mom, someday can I marry you in the temple?" "Honey, I'm already married to Dad." "Can I marry him too?"
After last reception's fiasco, we posted someone to guard the cake at all times. This must have been during his bathroom break. As soon as the music started, there was no stopping Belize. If you needed her, look no further than the dance floor where she planted herself for 2 hours.

Dancing with her new Uncle. Come to think of it, this is my first brother-in-law. I like him. I think we'll keep him.

Things in my head

January: Rio is crying in the other room, so I send Brannon in to assess the damage. He asks Belize about it who confesses that she pinched Rio.

Bro: "Why did you pinch Rio?"

Belize: "I was trying to get Rio to push me."

Bro: "So why did you pinch him?"

Belize: "How else do you get a baby to push you?" (very earnestly)
These two are so cute. I couldn't ask for better siblings. They truly truly love each other. Rio is Belize's shadow, if she is doing anything, well, then he is too. And Belize is so helpful w/him. She will feed him, distract him during diaper changes and makes sure he's not left out of anything. Watching the two of them interact is a delight. I could just do it all day and sometimes I do. They just light up my life!


The day after we got back from Seattle, we decided to go to Disneyland. We knew it would rain and we were hoping this would deter other people so there would be less lines. Well, well not only were there less lines, there were NO LINES!! It was fantastic! We played as long as we could until we were soaked thoroughly to the bone from the TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR! It was crazy, WE are crazy, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Belize is a sunbeam now! And came back from her first sunday singing, "Follow the prophet." I love primary!
His vocabulary consists of:

Don't touch it.

No, no.

Uh oh.

Get down.

All done.

Milk. Bottle. Mama. Dada. B (for Belize). Grandpa. Grandma. Nala. Shell (for Richelle) Fish. Dog. Cracker. Cheese. Garbage Truck, Car, Ball, Buh (when he kisses). Each day he adds more and more. His personality is so sweet, I love getting to know him.
Rio is 27 pounds now. He has been a BEAR lately (due to 2 top molars), I don't know why these things are taking their sweet time coming in but its been terrible. The only thing he wants to eat is milk . . . . I guess that's better than nothing right?
Won't eat applesauce but a cupcake? Well, that's another story. His favorite food is broccoli (no joke).
This is her "Ugh, Moooooom!" face.

7:15pm and both of my BRO's are fast asleep on the couch. Precioso.