Sleeping Baby

Brinley did not want to take a nap today no matter how hard I tried so I finally just gave up. After a little while she ended up falling asleep next to me on the couch. I guess sometimes it is just better to give up and when you do, things finally start going your way. Okay so I don't know if that's actually a lesson to be learned but it did work out that way this time.

First Tooth!

Brinley is finally (although in reality, all too soon) getting her first tooth! It has been a little bit of a bother to her and made her a bit fussy. But at least I now know WHY she never wants me to put her down. The tooth is on the bottom and is just barely poking out of her gums. She is such a cutie and getting through it great. The last few days have been a bit rough going for us, but today she seemed much happier and even would let me put her down for a few minutes at a time! I love you Brinley!

The Journey

Well, I am sitting in Cleveland, Mississippi and happy to be here. The only problem is that my family isn't here with me. I thought I'd tell you a little about my trip.

A little background information for you - I was born in Colorado and I have only traveled east of Colorado one time. That time was to a lake just on the border of Nebraska and Colorado. I have never been east or south, never left the country, and only lived in Colorado, Utah (for school), and California (for my mission). Also, those three states are the only states I ever went on vacations to, so this trip was going to be something new for me.

Christa, Brinley and I went to Colorado and stayed there for a few days until Christa and Brinley flew home to Utah. I left the next afternoon (after fixing the air conditioning in my car) and drove to Wichita Kansas where I slept in my car in a grocery store parking lot.
(The sun was bright and I was really tired, but that's where I slept)
I got up the next morning and drove farther east, touching 5 states - Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and ending in Mississippi.

That night, after some searching, I slept in a Wal-Mart parking lot that wasn't too scary.
I liked this other Wal-Mart that had 3 entrances, one for the food, one for the other stuff, and one for the liquor.
Thankfully, Sunday was the next day and I was able to find the church and ward we will be attending. We will be living in Arkansas, attending the Greenville Mississippi Ward, and be a part of the Monroe, Louisiana Stake. I think that's pretty cool.

Today after church I drove back to Arkansas and checked out where we will be living. Its a really cool town on the edge of a giant lake.
You can see from this lookout the docks on the left. We are hoping to rent a house that is right on the lake to the left by those docks. It is a huge lake and really beautiful. I saw people swimming and playing in it and petting alligators. They are so tame here. There were boats and canoes and all sorts of stuff. Unfortunately I didn't actually see any alligators, but the fact that people were swimming in it means that they probably aren't in the lake. YouTube did prove to me that there are alligators somewhere here.

I liked this stretch of the lake where the trees are growing out of the water. It looks cool. Oh, and sorry the pictures aren't great, I took them with my phone because my camera doesn't have a memory card. I left it in our video camera in Utah. So I can only take like 5 pictures on the camera and I can't put them on my computer. My phone doesn't zoom or anything either, so sorry.

One way cool thing is the new bridge that is being built over the Mississippi river. Here are some bad pictures of it that I took while driving over the current bridge.
I think its pretty cool looking. It will be better than the other one and have more lanes. Here is another picture of the start of the bridge. This picture is what most of the roads look like, minus the bridge on the right and minus the curves in the road.
Anyway, now I am showered and sitting in the air-conditioned house of my new Bishop. He heard that I slept in the parking lot of the Greenville Wal-Mart and offered me a place to stay at his home. He and his wife are very kind and I am so thankful for their hospitality. The members of the ward are so nice and welcoming. Many drive an hour to get to church every week.

Well, I figure I have had a good day and I need some rest. I am really excited to sleep in a bed tonight. It feels good to write this, knowing that this is my way of connecting back home with people I know and love. Have a great night!

Goodbye Brent!

The day has finally come for me and Brent to say goodbye, for at least a little while. For the next month and a half or so Brent will be in Mississippi for training for Teach for America while I stay in Utah. We found out that we are most likely going to be living in a place called Lake Village, Arkansas. So, instead of moving all of our stuff down to Arkansas and me being all alone there, we decided it is best for me to stay in Utah. Of course this means that I don't get to be with Brent, and he may be missing some fun things as Brinley continues to grow and develop. Because we will be apart for so long (yeah, this is VERY long for us), I promised Brent that I would at least put up a picture of Brinley or something every day so that he doesn't miss out on anything. I am going to miss you so much Brent! Love you!

Christa

6 and a half months

So I have been meaning to give an update about Brinley since she turned 6 months old. But lo and behold the month is already half way over and I am just getting to it now. Crazy how I don't really have a whole lot to do right now but it still takes me this long to get caught up. Anyways, back to Brinley.

Brinley is awesome! She is getting so big. At her six month appointment she weighed 16 lb 7 oz and was 26.5 inches tall. So much bigger than the little 6 lb baby we had just 6 months ago. It goes by faster than anything.

We determined today that Brinley is so cute because she looks just like a cabbage patch kid. Just compare the pictures.
Okay so she doesn't look exactly like one but close enough.

Brinley has so much personality now. She loves to laugh when being tickled or hanged upside down. She is such a happy baby. Her favorite toys include my hair and her own feet. She will suck her big toe just like it is her thumb. She loves sucking on her hands and anything else she can get her hands onto.

Right now Brinley is fascinated by anything outdoors and by her own reflection. She is also a constant little noisemaker too. She doesn't cry too much, but she does like to her herself talk, especially right before she falls asleep.

My favorite thing right now is that Brinley loves to have her face rubbed. The best way to get her to fall asleep is by lightly tickling her cheeks and eyelids. So cute. If only everyone could be pacified so easily.

Brinley refuses to eat any food except for cantaloupe. She is also doing great at sitting up on her own, except when she gets distracted by her feet and ends up falling on her face trying to get them.

Here are some pictures of our little cutie. Hope you enjoy!












A couple of weeks ago my sister had a baby girl named Jacelyn. She is a cutie and has about a million times more hair than Brinley. Yup, after 6 months Brinley would still be classified as being bald.





We love you Brinley Bear!

What we've been doing

This past week has been very eventful for us. First, Brent started a new job! He is temporarily working for the US Census until we move for Teach for America. This has been great for us to finally have a source of income!

As for me, I had my last day of class on Tuesday! Best day of my life. Haha. I still have two finals to take that I have diligently put off studying for. I am so close to the end it is hard to get myself to do the last couple of things. Plus this week I have finally been a stay at home mom. With Brent gone, I have had Brinley all to myself! She is amazing. We both had colds this week which put us down a bit but we are feeling great now.

Here are some fun things that we have been doing lately:

Making Strawberry Freezer Jam! Delicious. We made it last week and have already gone through a couple things of it. And yes, I did say WE made it. Brent was an active part of the jam making process. Especially since we did it on a Saturday night. You know you are an old married couple when that is what you do for fun.

I also finally made this book wreath I have been wanting to make forever. Brent's sister Jen always makes the cutest things, so I totally stole this from her. My wreath turned out alright for my first time. It's a little full but I still like it. And it does a wonderful job of covering up some of the holes on our wall. I just want to get some pictures of Brinley framed and our wall will be complete (well, as complete as it will get).


A few weeks ago Brent and I bought this chest from DI. We have enjoyed buying old pieces of furniture and painting them bright colors. I liked this chest because of the detailing on the doors. This chest: green. Green is my favorite but a little crazy to put onto furniture. I like it though. It does a good job at brightening things up in our apartment and holding all of our blankets.


Of course here is our lovely Brinley. She is a great baby. I have loved spending so much time with her this week!

Well I guess that is all for now. Thanks for reading such a long post!

Christa

New Friend

Recently Brinley has enjoyed the company of a new friend. Its a pink monkey. I thought it was a teddy bear or something until yesterday when one of our friends was over and he started calling it a monkey. After closer inspection, sure enough its a monkey. Either way, Brinley's favorite thing right now is to take a BIG bite out of its head.



She prefers eating her monkey over her rice cereal.

We thought we had to take a picture of the moose behind us when we were at Cabellas. Too bad you can hardly see the moose.