conference

For conference Sunday we headed over to my sister-in-law's and made breakfast burritos and had delicious sweet rolls that my brother-in-law Kevin made. Mathias played outside with his cousin Holland even though it was FREEZING and snowing outside. Azlyn watched them through the doors and really wanted to go out there with them.

I had to get a picture with Azlyn sleeping on me. She rarely sleeps anywhere besides her crib and car seat. She was just so tired that she finally gave in.

Apparently I was really tired as well and fell asleep for a few minutes. From the few talks I was able to watch and hear conference was great. I always enjoy getting to spend quality time with our family.

Valentine's Day

  Our Valentine's Day was pretty laid back this year. It was a beautiful day out so Mathias talked me into taking the dogs for a walk. Man we were a site for sore eyes. Tilly has never been walked before and just wanted to run so she yelped almost the whole time and drug Mathias around for a while then I took her over and she kept getting in the way of the stroller. It was pure chaos.

 I wanted to get a few pictures of the kiddos in their red and pink before we left but Mathias didn't want anything to do with it so I tried to get a few of Azlyn. She refused to give me a normal smile!

Here Azlyn is giving me her squinch face and also doing her "big girl".

Here is a cute smile mid clap and with a squinch face. She thinks she is so funny when she pulls this face and therefore does it often.

 

 Azlyn loves to play peek a boo and will even play if it means just putting her hands in front of her face to hide.

 

This was the best one I was able to get however the sun was in her face. Oh well, at least I made the attempt I guess.

 Here is Mathias with the dogs just before we started the walk. I ended up walking Tilly (the puppy) after a bit because she kept getting away from Mathias.

This picture actually has a pretty sad story with it. It is just up the street from our house. I had Azlyn in the stroller in front of me and I turned around to take a quick picture or two of Mathias with Puka then all of a sudden the lady whose house I was in front of came out of her door and yelled, "Your baby!" I turned around in time to see the stroller go off the curb and tip over into the street. I quickly went over to her, while muttering a few swears and quickly turned it back over. Azlyn was alright and didn't even have any scratches on her, she was just startled, as was I . I cannot believe this happened. It is not like we were on a big hill or anything. Seriously I was shaking the whole way back home. We have a car seat adapter for our stroller and that is usually how Azlyn rides in her stroller. She has only sat up in it a few times. Hopefully she isn't scared for life.

 She was, however, definitely scared of it for the rest of the day. I tried to take a few pictures of her in her stroller when we got back to the house. She wasn't really having any of it. Look at that poor face.

 So sad!

Mathias took these two pictures. Not too bad for a 5 year old I must say.

 Here are a couple of pictures of my cute family in their festive red and pink for Valentine's Day.

 Seriously LOVE them.

After dinner we had the kiddos come down stairs to get their valentines. Mathias has been wanting a pillow pet for a while and could quote you the whole commercial so we finally got him one. Since we are pretty big into jeeping, I can't pass up a shirt when I see a jeep on it. Also Mathias is a MAJOR chocoholic! When I saw this box of chocolates with a monster truck on it, it just screamed Mathias. Azlyn of course got some cute spring clothes. I have the hardest time not buying this little girl clothes. She definitely has more than Dev and I combined I swear. She also got a Baby Einsteins little music thing because she loves music and I thought it would be something fun for her to take in the car and lastly she got a bib that says "I'm a hoot". I seriously could not pass this up because Devin's mom tells Azlyn all the time that she is a hoot and so it fit her perfectly.

*Update. Dev and I went on a date the following weekend. We figured it would be less crowded. We went and did a little shopping then went and saw the movie True Grit, which we were not huge fans of. After the movie we went out to dinner at Red Robin. It was a perfect day and I was so excited to finally spend some time with the hubby. He has been working a ton lately.

a weekend spent with family

On Saturday I went up to Midway with the kids and my mom. My cousin's husband's family has a house up there. My Aunt Lori and her husband Lamont and their son Trenton, my Aunt Kari, her husband Lance, their son Bruce and his wife Brittany and their daughter Maddy, their Daughter Leann her husband John (it's his family's house) their 4 kiddos Ally, Sara, Ben and Lizzie, their other son Cory and his wife Krysta and their 4 kiddos Tayla, Cayden, Bryson and Maliya were all up there.

Once we got up there the kiddos went out to play in the snow. They had a blast and played out there for a while until the wind picked up.

Then they came inside and we had soup and salad for dinner. Then we sang happy birthday to Krysta and had cake. After cake the kids and Kari played the name game. I think that most of the kids were too young for this and didn't have the attention span for it either so it didn't last long.

Azlyn had fun sharing her toys and playing with her second cousin Maddy. Maddy is exactly 2 months older than Azlyn. It was so cute to watch them play together.

On Sunday we all got together at my Aunt Lori's house. It was the same group as the night before plus my Aunt Trista, her Husband Dave and their 5 boys Kyrus, Steele, Titan, Diesel, and Sylus. My Uncle Jeff and his wife Jennifer and their 3 kids, Tristan, Hope and Chance and my grandma. Jeff and his family are moving to Australia this week so we all got together before they left. They lived in Tennessee before this and tonight was the first time I got to meet their sweet kiddos. We of course had to get a picture of the kiddos. These are a only some of my cousins and second cousins. Then a picture of my grandma with 5 of her 8 kids. Of course we had to get silly pictures of each group as well.

Here are some pics of Azlyn playing with Lizzie. Lizzie is 1 week older than Azlyn. I also had to get a picture of the girls getting a diaper change and jammies on. It was just funny to me to see all the girls laying there. It was also the first time that I actually saw that Azlyn may actually be kinda small for her age. People ask me all the time if she is and her trip to the doctor confirmed it but she didn't seem that small to me until I saw her by these girls.
It was such a fun weekend getting to spend so much time with my family. I feel so lucky to have so much family live pretty close by.

birthday party

Devin and my grandma share the same birthday. Devin turned 31 and my Grandma turned 70 even though the cake says 69. My Aunt Trista's birthday was earlier in the week as well. My Aunt Lori decided to throw one big family birthday party to celebrate all of them. It was so much fun to get together with everyone and see some cousins that we don't get to see that often.

Brower 4 Generations

Today went over to Devin's Grandma's house to help her move some things. I figured while we were there that I would get a four-generation picture of the Brower side since I wasn't able to get one at Azlyn's baby blessing where I got a four-generation picture from my side. I love that all of our family lives so close and are around so that we are able to do it.

Blessing Day

We had Azlyn blessed this past Sunday, May 2nd. It turned out to be such a nice day. The sun was out but it was still a little chilly but at least it didn't rain like it was supposed to. We got to church just as the sacrament meeting started. I tried so hard to get there early but just couldn't seem to get it all together fast enough. Luckily Dev's family saved us some seats up front. There were four baby blessing that day including us! It was crazy. We were the third ones. Luckily that gave me some time to feed her and make sure she was happy for the blessing. Dev gave her such a nice blessing. He was so emotional that you could hardly hear him, but I love that. It seems so much stronger to me when you can not only feel the emotion but hear it as well. She was awake for the blessing and just laid there staring at everyone. After the meeting we had some family and friends over to Kelly's (Devin's sister) house for a little get together with some refreshments. I can't thank Kelly enough for letting us use her place and for all of her help. Also a huge thanks to my mom and Devin's parents for getting the food for the get together. It is seriously appreciated. Also thanks to everyone that came and supported us. We love you all!

I wanted to get so many pictures. I wanted my family and Dev's family as well as four generations on both sides. I wanted to get one of all the guys that were in the circle and ones of just the kids together and yet the only ones I got were of some of my family. Even then they aren't the best because we are right in the sun so you can't see the detail on Azlyn's dress . Azlyn was also getting hungry during then so she was getting kinda fussy. Lastly Mathias really wanted NOTHING to do with pictures, it seriously took us ten minutes to get him to even look at the camera. So these are pretty much the only ones I have. I do plan on getting some more this week of Azlyn in her dress and hopefully get a few with Mathias in them.

The best we could get of our little Family.

I am so sad this is the only one I have of us together on her blessing day. I think I will try for another one this week. Sadly I didn't even get one with just her and Dev so that will be on the agenda as well.

Four generations on my side. My Grandma, me and Azlyn and my mom. I had to hold Azlyns hand down because she was trying to shove her whole fist in her mouth, she was starving by this point.

Me and my mom and Azlyn. I love how Azlyn is totally rooting in this picture.

I just thought that this was such a cute picture. This is Mathias and his little girl friend Liz playing the piano at Kelly's house during the get together.
Check back later for more pictures .

new tires

For the first time in 8 years Dev finally got NEW tires on his jeep. He has always gotten used ones so these are the first brand new ones since he first modified his stock jeep. The ones that were on there before were so bald that they were worn down to the cords. One of them even popped while he was on the freeway, luckily he was in traffic and wasn't going very fast. He got a loner tire from a friend but it was pretty bald and also had a slow leak. So these were very needed. He got a screaming deal on them as well. They are brand new 37" tall BFG KM2's with new bead-lock rims. The guy was selling the whole package for cheaper than just the tires at the store! He saved about 40% versus buying the whole package at the tire store. Anyways, Dev is in heaven as well is Mathias.
Mathias was pretty sick with a cold but still insisted on helping Dev with the tires. Dev loosened all the lug nuts on all 4 tires and Mathias went around and unscrewed everyone of them (I think there were only two that he couldn't get) and put them in his tool box. Dev loved that Mathias did that because that apparently is his least favorite part and it made things go tons faster. After Dev got two of the four tires on we tried to talk Mathias into going inside because it was getting dark and cold and he was coughing more. He refused because he still wanted to help Dev, so we all ended up going inside for a bit until Mathias fell asleep. It is so much fun for me to watch these guys work together on the jeep and both just be so into it.

While we were out there sis was just hanging out in her swing. I had the patio door open so I could listen to her but she was just so content in there she never made a peep.

Finally!

It's official - after months and months of trying, we're having a baby!

Idaho

While in Idaho for the funeral, we all spent some time at Grandma's house in Pocatello climbing her tree for the last time.

We'd go to Pocatello quite often when I was a kid, seeing as both sets of grandparents lived there and a lot of other family. My brother and I would always climb the trees around her house, so it was very fitting to spend some time doing it one last time.

We also stuck Mathias up there for his first experience climbing a tree, with the help of his cousins. It was a pretty neat thing to see him climb his first tree where I spent many a summer afternoon climbing as a kid. I have a lot of good memories there, so it was a little sad as well, realizing that I would probably never see that house again.

Great Mema

My Grandma passed away a couple weeks ago. Before anyone gets all teary-eyed, it was a blessing. She'd lived a long, full life and it was her time to go. Her body was shutting down and it was a great relief to not see her struggling anymore. She's off to a much better place to be with my Grandpa and other family members. For the past couple of years she had been staying with my parents so they could watch over her and take care of her, instead of paying outrageous assisted living expenses. While Ness still had to work, my mom would watch Mathias three times a week, which meant Grandma watched him too. Those two were so funny together. No one could get Mathias to laugh the way Grandma could, and no one could get Grandma to light up and respond the way Mathias could. Below are some pictures of them together. We were grateful that we could get some of these before Grandma passed. Even though Mathias won't remember these days when he's older, he'll have picture of them together. And please disregard Grandma's hair in the later pictures, she couldn't get out to a stylist much!

(spring 06')

(Mothers day 08')

(Christmas 08')

Circus

A few weekends ago, my mom took us to the circus. We were on the very first row (minus the vip row) and had center arena seats. They were awesome! There was so much going on at once, Mathais was not sure what to watch at times. His favorite parts where the motorcycles in the big ball and on the high wire, the tigers, elephants, and the goats that were standing on the mini-horses backs. I do not have any pictures because we learned that the only type of camera you can bring is the kind that does not have detachable lenses, and mine does. So this is the only picture I got. Mathias loved his elephant that Mema got him and fell asleep holding him on the way home. He still asks to go back and see the animals (circus).

Best Buds

Mathias warmed up and remembered Dustin really fast. I was a bit worried of this since it had been almost a year since they had seen each other. Mathias actually really loved having Dustin around, as did the rest of us. Dustin would play with him, rough house with him and could actually keep up with him, which let me tell you is getting pretty difficult. One day when Dustin tried to leave, Mathias ran to the door and locked the dead bolt and the handle then put his back against the door, arms spread out, and told Dustin that the door was stuck. He really did not want him to go anywhere! Every day he would ask to "see Mema and Unc Dustin." Mathias was sad when we told him that Dustin was going back on the plane and told us, "Mathias go on plane." Too cute.
Love you bud. Hope you had a good time while you were out here. We miss you.

Picking up "unc Dustin"

My brother Dustin is here for the week. We are all excited to see him and spend some time with him. We have not seen him for almost a year.

We told Mathias that Uncle Dustin was coming here on an air plane and that is all he talked about for a couple of days.When the day came to finally pick him up at the airport, Mathias was excited to see him come off a plane. Well, since they don't really let you go in and wait for them anymore, we waited at the place where you can park your cars and read the flights to see when they came in. This was pretty good though cuz Mathias could get out and move around a bit and watch the airplanes as they came and went. Then Dustin called us when his plane was here and he had gotten in luggage.

It was about dinner time when he got here so we went up to the gate way and had lunch at Tai Foons (Tai Foons is a pretty nice Chinese food place, kinda like P.F. Changs, that I got gift cards to through work). We really did not plan on this but figured what the heck since we were up here anyways. Mom was still in Orem so we walked around for 45 minutes until she got here and then went to eat.

Dustin has this pretty cool phone that you can watch tv on . You can watch live tv or they have a bunch of stuff recorded that you can watch. I tell you, this is the best invention ever if you have a very active child that does not like to sit still and wait for your food to arrive at restaurants. We were able to pull up his favorite show, Little Einsteins, on the phone and he sat there quietly watching it till the food came. It was the best thing ever . I am not sure if they have anything similar through T-Mobile but I think it is something worth looking into just for that.


Anyways, we were not really expecting to be gone long. After all, we were just gonna pick up Dustin then go straight home. So because that was the plan I only brought one diaper. Well, while we were walking around waiting for mom to come, Mathias had a stinky and required a bum change. I had obviously forgotten about the entire Powerade he drank while we were waiting to pick up Uncle Dustin and thought that we would be fine. While we were waiting for our dinner to arrive, mom looked over at me and said, "I think he is wet." I did not think much of it because A. we had just changed him like 45 minutes ago and B. she will change him if he is the slightest bit wet. So our dinner came and Mathias was sitting next to me and said, "Wet," and I looked own and it looked like he spilled something on his chair except he was not holding a drink or anything. Yup, you guessed it, he was soaked. And I am not talking about his shorts being a little wet, I am talking they were soaked and it looked like he spilled something on the seat. I felt so bad. We had no more diapers and I had no idea what we were going to do! I did not even know if there was a grocery store near by and all the cloths stores were closed. Mom asked the front desk lady if they had any diapers that were left behind or anything, they didn't. Again I felt like the worst mom. So we hurried up, paid, and left. Luckily we had a blanket and towel in the car so we put the blanket on his car seat then wrapped the towel around him and buckled him in and hoped for the best. It worked and I learned a lesson, big time, but hey at least it took me 2 1/2 years to learn that one. I will always bring extra diapers!

soccer party

Last Saturday, Dev's soccer team got together for a little party after their soccer game. We all met at a little park in Lehi and had some dinner and let the kids run and play on the playgrounds. They also rented out the pool but we did not go to that because it was way past Mathias' bed time.

Mathias is so lucky to have cousins that live nearby, and ones that completely adore him at that.

Little Miss Brinley was very content just pushing Mathias and twisting him around in the swing, which she did till it was time to leave. She is an awesome cousin and will be a great babysitter and mom one day.

The guys and boys played capture the flag till it was time to go. It looked like they where having a lot of fun.

Go Dev!

Dev's note: Don't worry, I got him