Easter 2011

Brynne's first Easter was fairly low key. Friday we spent ALL day working on laundry, trying to catch up from our trip. Brynne helped me sort the clothes :)


We had to take a break so I could get her picture in her bunny shirt and her new red bow from granny!

Chris had to work on Sunday, so he was gone before either of us got up. Here is Brynne with her Easter basket when she first woke up... Notice how happy she is again (and always)!

Checking out the goods... She was really probably wondering why that thing was in her bed and why mommy was taking picture so early, haha!

How does a chaplain/former preacher's child not have a Bible?!? I remedied that and put one in her basket!

Brynne and I got ready and went to church. I didn't get to hear much because shortly after the sermon began we made our way to the "cry" room... Brynne wasn't crying, but she doesn't like to be held a lot so she was getting a little too wiggly!

After church we came home and I (re)ironed her dress (haha) so I could take some pictures. We definitely didn't have time before church and after two rides in the car seat her dress was a wrinkled mess! I wanted to make sure and get lots of pictures because the dress she wore was my mom's when she was a baby. My grandmother saved it and a few others and gave them to my sister and I as baby shower gifts. I LOVE the color of this dress! I like Brynne in pink, but I also like her in more non-traditional girl colors too!!

I think this picture is funny... It's like "are we done yet??" Nope, many more to come :)

I love the look on her face here, so sweet!

I know I'm incredibly partial, but I think she is beautiful in this picture :)

I think this face is hilarious! She sticks her tongue out when she laughs, haha!

Please ignore the bumbo, the bumbo tray, and whatever else you may see in the background :)

That night before we gave her a bath we put her bunny ears on... My little buddha bunny!

I wish we could have spent the day as a family, but I'm glad Chris was able to do what he loves and minister to the veterans!

Water Baby

**WARNING~Picture Overload!**

While in South Dakota we took Brynne swimming for the first time! I knew the trip was coming up and that she needed a bathing suit. After not having luck finding any stores that carried one small enough, I got this super cute one (size 3-6 months) from Once Upon a Child. 3-6 months should fit my child that isn't even three months old right?!

WRONG!! As you can tell from the picture, her eyes are red and puffy from crying while I tried to squeeze her into it! I kept thinking that if I just got it all the way on that it would fit... Again, wrong!

It squeezed her pretty tight... baby back fat!

I decided it was best to take it back, thank goodness they had a good return policy! I found two different ones (both 6-9 months) and couldn't decide between the two, so I got both! Total of $8, the beauty of second hand!! Oh, and there is no sales tax on clothes (or food) in MN so what you see is what you pay! I'm definitely a fan (we'll see if I'm still a fan after we have to pay a state income tax!)

This is one of the bathing suits... As you can tell she was much happier because she could actually breathe :)

Brynne loves taking a bath so I hoped she would feel the same way about the pool. She wasn't overly thrilled (she's not usually overly thrilled about much that late in the afternoon), but I think she liked it!! She never cried so that's a success in my book!

I think her hair has a major red tint to it in this picture! My mom might get THREE redheaded grandbabies! Sometimes it looks blond (who knew it didn't have an 'e' on the end?!), sometimes red, and other times as dark as mine!

Not a huge fan of this pic, but I don't have many of us together so I'll take it!

There's a little smile!!

All done and dried off! I can't wait to take her swimming more this summer!!

Next up... Easter!

For those of you who get to my blog from Allison's, there is another post below that you probably haven't seen! For some reason it never showed up on her blog!

Sweet Home... SOUTH DAKOTA?!?

Chris had a conference in Sioux Falls, SD this week, so Brynne and I tagged along (per Chris' request!) It was held at the Sheraton, so that is where we stayed... Let's just say we prefer the Holiday Inn Express anyday!!

We walked in to the room and see a couple of bottles of water sitting around. That was nice of them...

Until we looked closer and saw this! Um, no thank you!! $3.95 for a bottle of water, they must have lost their minds. We went to Walmart and got a 12 pack for $2!

The Holiday Inn Express has a free continental breakfast, yum! Not so much at the Sheraton. $8.95 was the cheapest breakfast they had... I don't think I pay $8.95 for a month's worth of Cheerios and milk!! :)

On top of the $8.95, you also have to pay a delivery charge and a "convenient" 18% service charge! I'm not sure what part of that is convenient for me?!


We bought a Pack n Play for Brynne to sleep in. Both nights I put her in it long ways and when I got her up in the morning she was like this:

How she turns around I'll never know! It could be the fact that the bassinet portion is only supposed to be used up to 15 pounds, Brynne is probably right at (or possible over) that mark!! She is getting HEAVY, good thing she isn't a fan of being held all the time!

As you can tell by the pic below, Brynne is super happy in the mornings... Definitely her dad's trait!

Another thing I noticed while we were there (which is also a problem in MN) was this:

Seriously?!? Who does that?? Louise Avenue, Louise Drive, and I'm pretty sure I also saw a Louise Road! Apparently Louise was pretty special :) Something else that is really weird to me is that Louise Avenue and Louise Avenue North were no where near each other. You have to be really careful when using the GPS up here... Just ask Chris!!


While Chris was in the conference I did some exploring. The night we got there we went out to eat with others from the group. On the way to the restaurant I spotted a Sonic!! So far I have not found a Sonic in MN so I was very excited!

Anyone who knows me knows what I got... a GRILLED CHEESE!! I also got a cherry slush. I was VERY tempted to get a coke because I LOVE Sonic cokes, but I haven't had any cokes since Brynne was born and for once in my life am not craving them, so I decided to leave well enough alone!

It was gone in like two minutes!

I got lost looking for the Sonic (not so good with directions--or lack there of) but I'm glad I did because I found this:

I can literally spend hours walking around Hobby Lobby... I also haven't found one of these in MN! So after Sonic I made my way to Hobby Lobby and just walked around. I told Chris I walked around in there so long that I forgot I wasn't in TN!! I saw lots of cute things, but I made it out only having spent $6 and some change!! I'll try to remember to do a post on what I got when I finish it.

We also spotted this right off the exit! The only one in MN is in Minneapolis, which is 65-70 miles away :( Chris and I decided we would eat there after the conference was over as we were leaving. Mimi and PaPs { :) } gave us some Cracker Barrel gift cards in our stockings at Christmas and we were finally able to use them!!

It was SO good! I MIGHT say it was better than the ones in TN, but it could be because I just miss good southern food :)


On the way to SD we saw tons of windmills! I was mesmerized by them and wanted to take pics, but I was driving and the camera was out of Chris' reach :( I would get some on the way back. Unfortunately the weather was nasty on the way back so we had to take the pics from inside the car. This was only a small portion of them:

It is relatively flat and always pretty windy up here so windmills are definitely a good idea! I however am not a fan of the wind!

We also took Brynne swimming for the first time while at the hotel. As I was going through the pics I decided to do a separate post because there are lots!! :)

We had a great time in South Dakota and it gave us a little taste of home. Brynne did great with all the driving, sleeping at the hotel, and all the new surroundings! Chris said the conference was very good as well!!

We are TITANS!!

Even though we now live in Minnesota, we will still be a Titans family!! Chris' friend John (a Montana Titans family!) sent Brynne this onesie and bib. I took her out in the onesie one day last week!

Now we just hope there will be a team to watch this season!!

Brynne's loves...

Before we moved Brynne loved the bouncy seat my mom had! I was hoping we would be able to find one like it here, but it was an older style they don't make anymore. I checked the Once Upon a Child here, but they didn't have it. So we used a gift card and bought a new one for her. The first time I put her in it she hated it, but since then she has loved it! It plays music (or water/wave sounds) and lights up too! I think she would sit in it all day if I let her... So this is my view many times a day (except she usually has clothes on :) ) She will talk to the fish and sqeal and kick her legs like crazy and make it bounce! Sometimes she sqeals so much that I think she is getting upset, then I look at her and realize they are squeals of excitement!!

As much as she loves the bouncy seat, she equally loves the swing Aunt Stephanie gave us! I think she would also stay in it all day if I let her. She just stares and stares at the animals on the mobile and the fabric piece on the back. It looks like she is smiling at me in this picture... but she was looking at the dolphin, turtle, and fish :)

You can't tell very well in the pictures, but she was laughing at them and talking to them. She did this for about an hour or so. I put her down on one of her play mats (that doesn't make any noise or move) and she longingly stared at the swing that was sitting beside her, haha!

It's so fun to watch her kick and talk and play more and more everyday!