This is my all-time favorite picture of her. I break into uncontrolable, out-loud laughter every time I see it. This is why babies and children bring us so much joy!

Spring Break Recap

Oh how I love spring break! By that time in a school year, it's always such a welcome time away from the paperwork, attitudes, and demands. This year was especially fun for me because it gave me the opportunity to spend time with my baby girl! Although, that also made it much harder to go back to work at the end of the week. We had a busy schedule, and were lucky to do some fun things. Here's a short recap.
We went to a tennis match and a baseball game as a family. People at the baseball game kept Tylie very busy because everyone wanted to talk to her and play with her. One guy sitting in front of us said she was his “absolute favorite fan here”. Funny.

I love this bow that our good friend Alyssa made for her, and I love that her shirt is 4 sizes too big. She had a lot of fun, even though she watched a lot more of the crowd that of the baseball.

A friend of mine invited us to go to the botanical gardens with her one morning. One of her neighbors is the head botanist and he got us in for free and gave us a personal tour of the place. It was very beautiful, and a nice little outdoor adventure.

Tylie loved the flowers, and wanted to eat them all up…a little gardener in the making.


We went to another baseball game the next weekend, and this time our friends the Fackrell’s went with us. They have a little boy about a year and a half old, and he is so sweet to Tylie. Every time she started to fuss, he would try to make it better: he played with her, brought her toys, and gave her a goldfish cracker.
She was our sweet little baseball fan, and again a favorite of the crowd. This time we had seats a little closer to the game, and that kept her attention for a little while, but mostly she talked and played with people around us.


I absolutely love this picture of us! It’s fun to have the memory of doing things like this as a family.


This was a pretty late game, and Tylie didn’t do super great. She got pretty fussy about half-way through and Brent and I had to switch off holding her at the top of the stadium. I finally got her to go to sleep, and then she woke up when I handed her off to Brent.

Conference weekend and Easter were great. I love having that weekend to spend together as a family, and love having such a strong spirit in our home. We didn’t really think about doing anything special for Tylie, but had picked up a few things for her that she needed, so we threw them in a basket so she could enjoy the day. Her aunt Bonnie had also sent some things, so Tylie had a great little Easter celebration. Holidays are always so fun with kids in the picture!


A whole basket of toys, books, and clothes and Tylie just wants the plastic egg…kids are so funny that way!


I also spent a couple days scrapbooking, a day or two cleaning my house from top to bottom, and a day with my friend Alyssa running errands and crafting. Overall Spring Break was a blast. I can’t wait for the summer!

Brent's Birthday

This post is a little late (his birthday was almost two weeks ago), but I like the pictures and wanted to share. Brent turned 27 this year. For his birthday, a bunch of us pitched in to buy him a plane ticket out to see his grandma and family. He's really excited about it. In addition, his family sent a bunch of movies and a really neat Oregon Ducks jersey. Brent loved all of it! I made him a double layer chocolate cake, just like his mom used to make. We did candles and sang to him, and Tylie got to enjoy all of it. Happy Birthday Babe!

Much Needed Inspiration

So I just got done watching the Saturday sessions of General Conference and, as always, I feel so uplifted and motivated. And, as always, the talks were wonderful and directed right at me. I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like I have to have that constant reminder to stay on track, and conference does it for me every time. Having just started my family recently (at least the "children" part of it), I absolutely loved the talk about teaching our children in the home and preparing them for the trials of this crazy world. Sometimes when I think about it too much, it really terrifies me to think that I have to send my sweet little girl out into it someday. I was thankful for the reminder that, if I do everything I can in my home to teach her righteous principles and help her build a strong relationship with our Savior, that she will always know where to turn when obstacles come her way and when she's tempted to do something that will not bring her true happiness. Without that thought, I would probably shelter her and never let her go anywhere...the peace of this gospel allows us to really live...and I love it!

7 Months

Actually, it's closer to 7-1/2 by now...

Tylie has started army crawling/scooting this week. It's a lot of fun to watch her concentrate so hard and show so much determination when she sees something she wants. I hope we can encourage her to have that attitude in everything she does. She is eating many different solid foods, and I enjoy seeing which ones she likes and doesn't like. She loves standing up, and will grab on to anything to pull herself up...although she's not quite able to yet. She is constantly playing with her tongue, and can practically fold it in half...so funny! She still smiles all the time, and is the light of my life!

New Things in our Lives

New Hang-Out Spot...

(the zoo)

New Funny Face...New Flavor of Cereal...

Six months

Tylie turned 6 months old last week. I can't believe how fast time goes by, and how much babies can learn in such a short amount of time. She is not crawling or scooting yet, has no teeth, and has yet to say "mamamama." However, she stands very well by herself, says "dadada" among many other words, and makes some of the funniest sounds as she discovers how to. She's also recently started playing with her tongue a lot more in funny ways.
She loves to play peek-a-boo, and is getting pretty good at it. She'll lay on her back, grab a burp cloth, and put it over her face. Then, when I say "Where's Tylie?" she'll reach up, grab the burp cloth, and pull it off her face and grin from ear to ear. It is so cute! She makes friends everywhere she goes, and is always the life of the party. We love you Tylie!