Gingerbread Houses

Bryson's Aunt Amy invited us over to make Gingerbread houses one night. We decided to go in for a round 2. :) Akoy had a Thomas the Train gingerbread Train. As a result of the frosting not spreading well, I decided to microwave it. Thomas' face melted. It was a sad moment. Luckily we cut his face off the box and kinda made it work out. Thomas ended up looking like a "Train Wreck" in the end. Poor guy. ;) It was fun to see how much everyone got into their houses. We are used to our kids decorating and looking "special." Everyone did a great job! I love family traditions!  

Everyone decorating 

Lily

Akoy

Bradley and Anna

McKenna and Bronson

All the houses

Jeremy and Kaliee

Tennessee

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to fly down to Tennessee for a wedding. When I was 14 I started babysitting for the Barton family. Friday night dates eventually led to me being there everyday. I spent more of my high school time at the Barton's then I did with my friends. After High School I would babysit the girls while their parents went out of town. Back to when I first started babysitting, Keith Barton(the dad) thought it would be funny to make his nephew Bryson babysit with me. That is when my friendship started with Bryson. We dated a little and stayed good friends. Eventually I married Bryson and now, the Bartons are my cousins!

I kept waiting to find out if Bryson's parents were flying down for the wedding. As soon as they booked their tickets I started asking Bryson if I could go. We used all the Delta skymiles we had and booked the ticket. I took Lily because she was still free and Bryson could get more studying done.

It was so good to be around the Bartons again. It has been a few years since they moved away out of Utah. Keith Barton (there are 3 Keith's in Bryson's family, so we always use their whole names) offered Lily an otter pop as soon as we got home from the airport. Lily was his little buddy after that. Who knows how many otter pops she had over the weekend! Bryson's parents and sister flew in the next morning. It was fun to spend time with all the family again.

Khyrstyne's wedding was beautiful. It was good to get to know her husband Stephen. In the temple sealing I thought I recognized on of his family members. Apparently Stephens sister married someone from Lone Peak(my high school). I even hung out with his brother a lot. Small world!

Nicolette (one of the other girls) recently moved to Tennessee with her husband. They have lots of snakes! Bartons make them stay in a locked room. Lily had fun seeing them. Lily LOVED Nicca's husband, Hector. He was super cute with Lily all the time we were with him. Hector just played with Lily when we went to the Endowment session and the sealing.

Taylor Ann (another girl) has been into singing and the main reason they moved down to Nashville. She has a beautiful voice and lots of talent. Hopefully she makes it big one day. She sang for us almost every day!

Traveling with Lily had its up and downs. When we mess with her sleep, she turns into a demon. She throws lots of fits and is hard to compromise and reason with her. She had a few moments in the airport that made things difficult but overall did pretty good. She was SUPER tired and cranky when we got home. After a full nights sleep in her own bed she is my happy little girl again! She had a rough time falling asleep last night and Bryson ended up having to soothe her to sleep and she feel asleep on the crib railing!

First of many tantrums

How we slept

Rehearsal Dinner

After Khyrstyne's endowment sessioin

Cousins

Keith  and Anna

Just married!

Right before they kicked us out

One of the many otterpops Lily was given

One of the many temper tantrums

Lily LOVED Hector

The girls and I

French fries stopped a major tantrum

Tired girl

Cousin Fun

So my sister Brooke recently had her 3rd child and needs a extra hand. Since I am out in Utah for 2 weeks before Bryson gets here, I offered to help her. Akoy always gets so excited to go to Val Dean and Vivien's house. However, he gets SUPER jealous of Vivien. He wants her sippy cup, or her princess dolls, or her princess book! Holy cow, this kid just wants girl things! So they do fight a lot, but they are getting better. :)
Brooke convinced us to sleep over one night, and we weren't prepared with our stuff. Luckily, she still has maternity things out, and Akoy and Val Dean are similar in size. Val Dean is going through a superhero phase and is obsessed with Superman. So Akoy and Val Dean got to be Superman and Batman one night. Unfortunately Akoy wouldn't keep on the batman cape. 

 

If any of you have been around Akoy, you know he is obsessed with babies. He gets so excited around them and loves to watch them. Hopefully later he can turn this excitement into a little help!  Whenever he see's Vienna's bottles around, he loves to try and feed her! (and most recently, loves to finish them!.... yeah)

This little sweetheart is so fun to be around! I love cuddling her and holding her! She is so little! I know all newborns seem little, but Akoy was just always so much bigger! She is getting me super excited to have a little girl! She rarely cries and is so sweet! Maybe, just maybe my little girl with be tiny and petite... Just because Akoy was 9 1/2 pounds doesn't mean all my babies will be big right? :)