Our Miracle!

Dressing up Kiddos and Cupcakes!

2011-11-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

This past week has been quite the busy week, to put it lightly. First we were invited to a Halloween party which was a lot of fun. And we were really excited to go so we could keep getting to know people. By the way, everyone around here has been so nice and welcoming. We really are enjoying living out here in Gilbert. Although I do miss you Katie!!! So anyway, Ben got sick that morning but was still a trooper and went with us to the party. I went out that day looking for costumes. Ben already had a ghetto outfit from a couple years back when he did a rap for a talent show, so all I had to do was find outfits for Braelyn and me. I ended up scoring big time at the Goodwill and off to the party we went.

I love her stance in this picture. It totally looks like she throwing out some ghetto move.

The rest of the gangsta family!

About a month after moving into our new house, Ben and I were asked to organize a Fall Festival for over 400 people in the community. The million dollar question that people kept asking me was, "How did you get put in charge of that?!" I still don't know, and if anyone ever finds out, please let me know! Actually, it ended up being a lot of fun and we met so many people by asking for volunteers. Sadly, I was so busy the night of the festival that I didn't get a single picture. Oh well! I did manage to get a picture of the pinatas Ben and I made for one of the booths. I'm quite proud of us!

The day after the festival we had a birthday party for a good friend of mine's son. A few months back she had asked me to make cupcakes for the party. Now, she has a big family so we're talking 80 cupcakes. Could the timing have been any crazier?! I baked like a madwoman and froze the cupcakes in advance. I thought, "All I have to do the day of is decorate." Yeah, three hours later and I finally made it just in time with chocolate heath cows, strawberry pigs, and caramel apple hay cupcakes to take to the funnest birthday party ever. There was an entire petting farm that came with goats, ducks, chickens, and baby chicks. Braelyn had so much fun!

Decorating her "baby pumpkin" with stickers.

Decorating sugar cookies. Really Braelyn just liked eating all the toppings. Can you say sugar high?!

Her cute little farmer outfit. We couldn't find cowgirl boots in time, but I'm kinda wanting some for the winter.

Holding the baby chick with daddy. She was so gentle with them and kept saying, "Be soft, be soft!". After I put this picture on the computer she cupped her little hands and pretended to pick up the chick from the computer screen. Then she gave the pretend chick a kiss and put it back in the computer screen. I was dying laughing. Do kids really pretend this young? She's not even two?!

The cupcakes I decorated. Now I know I'm not a professional decorator or anything, but I will say they tasted pretty dang good! And all from scratch.

Chowin' down on all the hard work.

So then we had a day break before Halloween came. This time Braelyn traded in her gangsta ensemble for a more dainty choice. A cute little bumble bee . . . that she hated. Seriously, she ran away from me and screamed when we tried to put the costume on. Did I give up? No! Did I bribe her with candy? Yes! As soon as she realized that wearing the bee costume meant going outside and getting more candy, she forgot all about how much she, "No like bee!"

She was the best trick or treater ever! She would skip down the sidewalk with her bucket in hand, run up to the door, knock, say trick or treat and stand there waiting for candy. Except for she always said the trick or treat part before the door would open. At least she said it! And before they would even shut the door she would already have turned around running to the next house saying, "More candy! Next door!" I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. What a night!

Ready to go! She could not wait to open that door and get on her way.

Our amazing birth mom Jana came over to spend Halloween with us. It was a great night eating pizza, laughing at Braelyn, and trick or treating. It's so fun to see those two together. I can see little resemblances between them. I know for sure that Braelyn gets part of her spunk from Jana. They both make me laugh!

She randomly sat on the front porch of a house and smiled. So I took a picture. Why not?!

Posing again at the same house. There's nothing like a mini photo shoot on a stranger's porch just before you're about to ask them for candy.

Examining her loot! She must have eaten bits and pieces of about 10 candies. She couldn't commit to just eating one. Today I'm working on explaining that we can only have one piece of candy after each meal. She wants to eat it all day long. Plus she woke up asking about her bee costume so we could go out trick or treating again. Funny girl!

This past week has been so entertaining for our family. I'm so glad that we have friends and family to make holidays special. And the best part is it just keeps getting better and better with Thanksgiving and Christmas on the way!

FALLin' In Love!

2011-10-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Yes it may be 102 degrees outside today but it is still FALL and I'm loving it. We went to another pumpkin patch over the weekend and had even more fun than the weekend before. Partly because our best buds were there to share the experience with. Braelyn and Drew compliment one another's high energy and spunk perfectly! Those two are just like those toys that you wind up and let loose, except for they never slow down. I wish I could say the same for me. Just think about how much I could get done if I had endless amounts of energy!

"I take it," her response for anything that she likes lately hoping that I will let her take it home. No Braelyn you cannot have a goat. This was only seconds before a swarm of goats bombarded her and knocked her to the ground hoping that she had some food for them. Her response quickly change to, "Bad goats! No more goats!" and then she walked off.

Just admiring the ass on the ass.

Right after Ben and Braelyn went down this slide, which was quite steep, Braelyn ran back up and went down the slide herself. What a brave little girl!

I love this next sequence of events. As her mother, I know that Braelyn can freak out in out of the ordinary stiuations, but then she calms down. This is how rides are to her. She freaks out for a minute and then loves it. As you can see:

"Yay I'm on an airplane!"

"Looking at the beautiful view."

"What?! You expect me to ride this airplane?!"

"I'm so traumatized. Look at the tears coming down my cheeks."

"Okay, this isn't so bad!"

Again, as her mother I knew for sure she would also enjoy riding the bee ride, so we headed on over. Here is this sequence of events:

Okay, I was wrong. She hated the whole thing. There is no sequence of events. Only one event, screaming!

And this time we did end up with a cute little pumpkin just like Braelyn. I think we might have to make this pumpkin patch trip a tradition . . . including the rides!

I Love Groupons!

2011-10-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

I got this groupon over the weekend to DeWitt Stables where they have a pumpkin patch, hayrides, and a little petting zoo. It only cost $5 for the whole family to go. Score! We had such a blast. Braelyn could hardly be torn away from the petting zoo once it was time to leave. Can I also just say that I am loving the fall weather. Okay, so it hasn't quite stuck around, but I'm sure it will be back . . . soon . . . I hope.

"Can I please have this pumpkin? Please?!" Just look at that face? Can I tell her no? Well, I didn't exactly say "no" to the three dollar pumpkin. I just waited until she became disinterest. Mom - 1, Overpriced Pumpkin Patch - 0!

Loving me some Braelyn Boo!

Braelyn surprised me and was really interested in the horses. Usually large out of the ordinary things freak her out, but she was totally petting the horses right on the nose. Okay, so maybe the horse didn't make it in this picture, but I promise she was petting it!

There's the horse! Behind us. I told you there was one. =)

And she even sat on the miniature horse for a picture. I'm telling you, this is a milestone! Okay, can I tell you what a ripoff this picture was?! I have to confess I bought the upgraded groupon for $9 that included a family picture. I was thinking "professional, sitting on hay bales, cute family picture". Nope, this totally antisocial girl stuck Braelyn on the horse and snapped a photo with her digital camera while she kept saying to Braelyn, "Um, can you look at the camera?" Then she printed it off and handed it to us without saying another word. Ummm . . . thanks. I could have done that.

So originally I put Braelyn on this ride by herself. I though it was just going to circle the corral. She started crying so the driver said since I was small enough (not sure how to take that) I could ride with her. So I hop in and it turns out the ride went all around the stables and pumpkin patch. Haha! If I would have sent Braelyn alone, I don't think she would have made it back. She probably would have jumped out somewhere along the pumpkin patch. I'm such a good mom.

Braelyn's favorite was the petting zoo. She kept trying to put this hat on the chickens. I'm seriously laughing out loud right now remembering this hat. First of all, we have no idea whose it is. With that said, if I were a good mom, I probably should not have let Braelyn put it on . . . not too sanitary. So I guess I'll recant that previous "I'm such a good mom statement". Second of all, when Braelyn was finally over playing with it, Ben set it down next to him on the hay bale he was sitting on. Before you know it, the goat jumped up next to Ben and started eating the hat. Ben had to rip it out of the goat's mouth. He then carefully returned the hat where we found it as good as new . . . with a huge hole . . . from a hungry goat.

And finally we made our way over to the lasso station. Ben was practicing some mad skills on the fake bulls. He actually roped two of them. What a stud. Anyway, the next thing we hear is, "Eww yucky boogers!" We turn around to find Braelyn with both her fingers in the bull's nostrils. Haha! I love it.

Growing Up!

2011-10-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

I can't stop thinking about how much Braelyn is growing up. She is not my little baby anymore. I know everyone says that about their kids as they are getting older, but I never realized how true it was. It's like their little personalities just transform right before your eyes. They turn into these little people with opinions, preferences, and a couple doses of attitude!

I haven't really sat down and recorded a "like" list for Braelyn at this age. I write in her baby book here and there about things she is doing, but here are a few recent favorites . . . for today at least:

1. Her princess book. It is a huge book and she has dropped on her toes a few times trying to carry it around, but she loves the stories and the pretty dresses.
2. Playing with kids. Everyday she asks, "Play with kids?" We go to library story time twice a week and aerobics the other days, so she gets her fair share of playing time. She especially loves the days we go back to Anthem to play with her best friend Drew.
3. Applesauce. Those on-the-go applesauce pouches are a gift from the heavens!
4. Elmo. No comment.
5. Purses and shoes. She'll put my shoes on, swing her purse over her shoulder and yell, "bye Babe! See ya later!"
6. Hippo. This will probably never leave the list. This girl cannot function without her stuffed hippo. It is her cuddly bedtime buddy.
7. Sweets including: ice cream, cookies, cake, banana bread, cupcakes, chocolate, jelly beans, and plain old sugar. We like to bake a lot!
8. Daddy. She squeals as soon as he walks in the door. Ben gives the best rides ever!
9. Phones. The little squirt is always trying to snatch them up.
10. Music and dancing. She can really twist and shout to the music!
11. Diapers and wipes. If you leave her alone for one second she has grabbed all the diapers and scattered wipes everywhere. She pretends to change her baby's diaper and she dusts the furniture with the wipes.
12. Bubble baths. We've come a long way since that first bubble bath she took where she was in a complete panic watching the foam inch it's way closer and closer to her. Now she strips her clothes off and jumps in the tub before I can even get the water started.

Oh boy, there are so many other favorites. The list can go on and on: babies, books, songs, slides, chalk, rocks, etc. She is such a fun loving sweetheart. I have such a great time playing with her and listening to all the funny things she has to say.

Always helping mommy bake. She loves licking the batter!

She loves playing outside in the backyard. Of course, I have to come outside too. She always needs a sidekick.

Cheeseball! She likes it when you take pictures, even if you are faking it with no camera. Haha!

Visiting the aquarium. Braelyn wasn't too sure about the fish that day. She kept requesting, "All done fish! All done! No like fish!"

Having fun on the merry go round trying not to barf.

Dressing up like always.

I know most parents are sad to watch their kids grow up so quickly, but I am loving it! Every minute she gets cuter and funnier. I know someday she'll be out of the house and on her way to bigger and better and then I'll be sad, but for now the growing up is great. She's my little punkin!

Love you stinks!

Summer O' Fun!

2011-08-30T23:19:00.000-07:00

Holy cannoli! This has been the most amazing and yet most stressful summer of my life. Just to recap, I was pretty much a single mom all summer long. Between Ben's traveling for work and my vacationing, we hardly saw each other. Absence does make the heart grow fonder . . . for help around the house! On top of everything else, I single handedly packed up our entire house to move. Not that Ben didn't offer to help. I'm just a self proclaimed control freak that wanted to know exactly where each item was being packed. As a side note, thank you so much to everyone that helped us load up and unload at the new place. You guys are amazing! And kudos to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law for coming out and entertaining Braelyn so I didn't go completely insane over the weekend.

So right now I am operating along the lines of a zombie! This post is just some random pictures of the most exciting summer ever!

We went to Utah where we . . .

. . . went to Wheeler Farm with Grandma Kaye . . .

. . . went to the aquarium with Grandma Melene (Braelyn had been so many times that she said "fish" every time we drove past it) . . .

. . . kissed the "zazoos" at the dinosaur museum . . .

. . . played on the swings at Grandma's house . . .

. . . and helped Grandma Melene with yard work (she picked up all the leaves and put them in the trash can).

Then we went to Ben's family reunion where we . . .

. . . played in the grass by the "creek" (more like a sewer ditch!) . . .

. . . rocked out to some tunes on the karoke machine . . .

. . . and ate lots of yummy food!

We managed to get some family pictures done while we were there by my good friend Cortney Clegg. She is amazing! I can't believe we managed to get a single decent photo with Braelyn running all over the place. I love the candid shots, though!

Braelyn took this one of us! She might be a photographer someday!

We seriously love this little squirt!

After Utah, Braelyn and I headed off to California for my family reunion where we . . .

. . . went boating . . .

. . . saw the beautiful redwoods . . .

. . . and drove home for 10 hours!

Once we got back to Phoenix we celebrated some special birthdays!

We enjoyed eating at good old Red Robin for Jana's birthday and then had a blast raiding TJ Maxx for some good deals.

I turned a whopping 28 this month and somehow the stars aligned and Ben and I were actually able to go out and celebrate in the midst of moving.

I love the looks on our faces like, "hurry up and take the dang picture self timer before Braelyn loses it!" Yes, we did ask our waiter to take the picture but Braelyn was freaked out by him and started screaming. Self timer was the next best option!

And of course we had to stop by Baskin Robbins for my free scoop of birthday ice cream, which Braelyn sniped from me.

And last but not least, we moved and are somewhat settled! We decided to go ahead and set up a big girl's bed for Braelyn. I know I might be crazy because she isn't even two until December, but she's a great sleeper. I'm proud to say that even with all the changes going on this little pooper adapted quite well. What a big girl!

I love that this picture shows her "angel kiss" birthmark. I haven't ever conciously taken a picture of it, and it is so dang cute. She was kissed by and angel for sure!

And that's that! The lowdown on the Gundersen's crazy, hectic, exhausting, chaotic, but wonderful summer!

The Beeeeach!

2011-08-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

So I think we all remember how Braelyn used to say the word beach, let's just say it sounded like a curse word that I wouldn't want her saying in public! Luckily by the time we took our San Diego vacation we were able to shape up the word to sound like the real thing. And good thing because all week long it was, "beach beach beach!" Braelyn and I had such a blast hanging out with the Knueppel's and their family as Ben once again flew to the other side of the country for more job training. Braelyn and Drew sure are two peas from the same pod.

These two got a kick out of feeding the seagulls!

Braelyn was fixated on carrying around her little bucket and filling it with rocks. She probably would have done it all day if you let her.

This is how the majority of nap times went! There was no way to get them to sleep in the tents, so we would strap them in their car seats and drive away. Usually we nominated Bryan for this job so Katie and I could relax and read magazines. Aw the life of a beach bum!

We got to go to Sea World which was pretty amazing. I don't know how you get whales, dolphins, and seals to do the tricks they do. I have a hard enough time getting Sancho to stop barking!

They have a whole Sesame Street Land that Braelyn loved. She is crying in this picture not because she is afraid of the ride, but she is mad that it stopped. This girl loves rides! I had to take her on about 10 rides during the day. I thought I was going to barf by the time we rode the spinning teacups.

Braelyn was sooooo excited to see Elmo and Big Bird. She was even trying to cut in line to get to them faster. But of course the second we got up there, Braelyn freaked out just like the first time she met Santa.

I was impressed that Braelyn actually touched the sea star. She's pretty much a girly girl and doesn't like to get her hands dirty so this was a big accomplishment!

I'll have to say that Drew was quite the ladies man on the trip. Watch the sequence of events while we were riding on the train to Old Town . . .

. . . and I love that he is wearing his little muscle shirt as he's hitting on Braelyn. It's lookin' like she likes it though!

And last but not least, our vacation ended with a 28" pizza! Funny thing is that for some crazy reason we didn't think that it would be enough so we ordered another regular sized pizza (you can see it in the background). Haha! We had plenty of leftovers and it was delicious!

So our San Diego adventure was pretty much a huge success. We had so much fun and I am so glad to have such wonderful friends that let me crash their family vacations. Thank you!

Be-YOU-Tiful Mommy Makeover!

2011-07-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, so let me start this off by saying that I haven't really "let myself go" since becoming a mom. Yes, my morning routine has become a little more condensed than it used to be, but I still try to look put together for the most part. So with that said, I have a little spoiler alert for you reality TV fans . . . it's not all real!!! I got a job through my acting agency to play a young mom that has trouble getting herself ready in the mornings since having a baby. I brought an actual friend of mine to the shoot to pretend nominate me for a mommy makeover. It was a blast! I was loving being pampered. I probably would have taken the job even if they hadn't paid me! So without further ado, here are some pics and the before and after episodes.

The before shots with Katie.

And wa-la, the after!

Of course, I would never wear white pants or high heels as a "mom on the go", but whatever! The clothes were cute and that's all I cared about.

I think Braelyn liked the new look! Although I don't think that I could actually wear that much makeup. I like to eat cake, but not wear it! But hey, you do what you gotta do to look good on camera!!!

If you want to watch the videos they are online. For the before video go to http://www.sheknows.com/sheknowstv/be-you-tiful/simplifying-your-morning-routine---before

For the after video go to http://www.sheknows.com/sheknowstv/be-you-tiful/simplifying-your-morning-routine---after

So much fun!

Utah Adventures!

2011-07-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

So Ben was gone for almost three weeks in New Jersey training for his new job. (Big sigh of relief that he is finally home!) My sweet dad had pity on me and decided that it would be nice to fly me out to Utah for a portion of the three weeks. I didn't actually end up flying out until the day that Ben came home, so the original purpose of the trip was shot, but we had a blast and it was well worth it. Ben just stayed at the airport after his flight from Jersey and we flew out to Utah together. He deserved a vacation too! We couldn't get enough of seeing both families. Since when does a week long vacation feel too short?!

We went to the zoo . . .

. . . where Ben tried to carry her around . . .

. . . but little miss independent would rather be walking herself. In fact I'm surprised she's actually holding grandma's hand.

Ben had a chance to bond with the ape statue. I'm glad he finds the ape nipple sexy.

Braelyn rode the merry go round twice. She wasn't too sure about it when it was moving, but as soon as the ride stopped it was, "more, more!"

We also rode the train around the park.

Of course Kaye threw an exciting Fourth of July party for Ben and his friends . . .

. . . with four rounds of water balloons . . .

. . . lots of candy . . .

. . . pinata busting . . .

. . . swimming . . .

. . . and plenty of Dr. Pepper! Just kidding! That can is not opened. Those of you who really know me know that I would drop down dead if my child was drinking soda. That's grandpa Cal's influence on her. She wanted soda so bad that I finally just gave her an unopened can to gnaw on.

Notice that there are no pictures of fireworks in this entire Fourth of July post. There is a reason for that. Braelyn HATES them!!! She full blown freaked out when the first ones were lit. We spent the rest of the evening inside. She couldn't even be by the window or she would start crying. Eventually I just took her home and put her to bed. Party pooper!

The Beach . . . Phoenix Style!

2011-06-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

Lucky duck Ben got to stay at a really nice resort in Scottsdale for training with his new job. Originally he thought that he could stay at home and commute for the two days, but then his boss informed him that he would "have" to stay in the hotel with the rest of the new hires. Poor Ben! On my behalf he acted like he was sad to leave us for two days. Yeah right! Anyway, my friend Katie suggested that we at least take advantage of the hotel amenities while Ben was away and that I did! We had Ben smuggle five pool wrist bands and we partied for two days at the beach like pool. It had beach sand, a lazy river, and even a water slide. What a blast!

Of course Ben found some time in his "busy" schedule to meet us at the pool.

Braelyn shaking her groove thang!

Aren't these two just cutie patooties?! I could just eat them both up. Thanks Ben's company for letting us poor young family mooch off the ritzy hotel!

The best part of going to "the beach" was Braelyn's new vocabulary addition. I taught her to say the word "beach". However, it didn't go over as well as I planned. With her cute little pronunciation it comes out more like "bitch". Hahaha! She's been saying it the last few days. She even has a beach book and as soon as she came home that first day, she ran up to her book and yelled, "My bitch! My bitch!" So here is my disclaimer on the subject; if you hear my kid swearing in public, it's probably (hopefully) not the word you think it is!

Zoo!

2011-06-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

We had way too much fun for Memorial Day! Thank goodness for my good friend Katie who twisted my, Ben's, and her own husband's arms to get us to go to the zoo. Seriously, we were all content being lazy couch potatoes until we got the message in the morning, "who's in for an exciting day at the Phoenix zoo?!" Needless to say, we were soooooo glad that we ended up going. Braelyn had a blast!

She liked sitting on the tractor with daddy.

She wasn't too sure about milking the fake cow at first. She had to watch her buddy Drew experiment before she would give it a try.

And try it she did! With a little bit of mom's help, of course.

Braelyn and daddy got to play around like little kids! Ben likes those days when he gets to act like a kid. In fact, those days come around quite often.

She even liked the petting zoo this time around! I didn't know that Braelyn knew some animal sounds until we walked by the goats and said, "bah bah!" Since then I've discovered that she knows what goats, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs, and trains say.

And the best part, at my request, was the boat ride. This is what I remember about going to the Houston zoo as a kid. This totally brought me back to my childhood. It just made it all that much better that Braelyn loved it too. My little secret: I lied and said that she was two so she could ride the boats. As long as they were two and stayed in their own seats, they were allowed to ride. I knew I could fake the first part, but I was a little anxious whether or not she would stay seated. Braelyn was a trooper though! She sat the entire time and looked for fish and turtles. What a big girl!

We'll have to try to squeeze in one more visit to the zoo before it gets too dang hot here. Let me tell you, these 99 degree weekends sure have been teasers for what's to come. Thank goodness for swimming pools!

Summer's Here!

2011-05-27T21:43:00.000-07:00

We've been having so much fun lately and I am LOVING the warm sun! I wait for those 100 degree days so I can play in the pool and watch Braelyn run around in her cute little swimsuits.

We've had an eventful few weeks of celebrating Ben's 30th birthday (yep, that's right the big 3-0), flying out to San Antonio for my brother's dental school graduation, and of course loving the pool.

We had to make Ben's favorite chocolate chip cookies for his big day. Braelyn helped me with the ingredients. Apparently she thought Chex cereal and Sancho's leash would go well in the batter.

The best part of making cookies is licking the beaters!

After the cookies were done, we spent some birthday fun at the swimming pool. I think we all need to work on our tans, except Braelyn. That girl is dark!

She sure loves the swimming pool!

This is my favorite swimsuit! She seems so dainty when she prances around in her little tutu. It fits her personality perfectly because she doesn't like to get too wet or wild in the water. She's turning out to be a little prissy. I better gear up for those teenage years!

The steal of the year! I found this adorable playhouse at a garage sale. There are two parts to the house and it comes with a sink, oven, washing machine, baby changing table, and cradle. She loves playing with it! Her favorite things to do are pretending to wash her hands in the sink, knocking on the door and then saying, "boo!", and rocking her baby in the cradle.

She's baking cookies in her oven. After she put them in and closed the oven door she said, "hot hot!" and wouldn't take them back out. I don't let her touch the real oven, so I think she was a little confused!

Best buds sharing a ride together!

It was so fun to see my grandparents in San Antonio! They flew out from Georgia to attend Taylor's graduation. I haven't seen them for over a year and they hadn't met Braelyn yet. Thank you so much for coming Papa and Grandma!

Braelyn loves her "La La!" which is Landon. Landon loved playing with Braelyn all weekend and I enjoyed getting a little break while he was around. I love this picture where she just has her little hand on his shoulder.

Congratulations Taylor . . . uh I mean Doctor Taylor!!! We are so proud of you! I can't believe your done with FOUR YEARS of dental school. Now another three years and you'll be a prosthodontist. What a smarty pants!

It was a long day at graduation and Braelyn just couldn't take it any longer. Her poor little head starting bobbing up and down during dinner and then landed smack on the table. I could see it coming and slipped a blanket on the edge of the table before she was completely out. She stayed this way for about twenty minutes. Poor little pooper was tapped out!

That is until dessert came! This kid is all over ice cream. She's just like her mama!

Braelyn was such a good little traveler. This is how happy she was at 11 o'clock at night when our plane was delayed an hour and a half in Denver. The people at the airport couldn't get enough of her. She was saying "hi!" to everyone she saw.

I guess our new little hobby is baking cookies together. She gets so darn excited when I ask her if she wants to make cookies. I end up freezing more than half the batch because there is no way we can eat them all, but they're just so fun to make with her. She's my little baking partner.

Our family is loving our life together. I feel so blessed lately to have such a wonderful husband and beautifully healthy little daughter. We couldn't ask for more!

Oh and on a side note, I guess we should officially announce that we are moving. Yep, that's right our time here is up. I'm really sad to go because I love it here and I absolutely love our friends, but Ben has found an amazing opportunity in pharmaceutical sales. We're going to be moving about an hour south of where we are now to Gilbert, AZ. So I guess we won't be too far away, but it is still a big change for us. We'll be heading out there the end of August when our lease is up. With that said, I'll be living it up at the pool everyday until we have to leave this wonderful place!

Thanks to all the people we've met here. You have all been a big part of our lives and our growing family. We'll miss you!

Bestest Friends!

2011-05-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

Everyday all day I hear, "Doo?! Doo?!" which means, "are we going to play with Drew?!" Braelyn loves spending time with her little buddy. She probably sees him at least five times a week going on walks, eating dinner together, or going to the park. Today was another wonderfully typical day going on a walk and heading out to the park.

Playing "peek-a-boo" with a random stranger that was acting like a monkey. I'd be pretty entertained too!

This daredevil loves slides. She calls slides "wees" because that's what you say when you're going down.

She's not sure whether to go play in the water or finish off her peanut butter and jelly goodness.

Drew loves the water! He could show Braelyn a thing or two about getting wet.

This is Braelyn's idea of playing in the water. She not quite as adventurous as Drew when it comes to getting wet.

There's nothing better than crawling through the tunnel. Oh, if life could be so simple! Slides, tunnels, best friends, and water parks . . . where's the grown up version???

Fun in the Sun!

2011-05-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

Today was the perfect day to venture out to Desert Ridge and play at the splash pad. Plus, there's so much great shopping to do out there! What a great excuse for Ben to take me shopping before Mother's Day. Of course I ended up with stuff for Braelyn instead. She's just too tempting to shop for.

We met Jana for the day and it was such a blast. Thanks Jana for making the effort to see us and attempting the bus ride out there! Hahaha! I'm glad we were there to rescue you. =)

Braelyn loved the splash pad and was a bit more adventurous with the water than she usually is. As daring as she is, for some reason she shies away from water, which she calls "blah blah". I have no idea where she gets that word from, but every time she sees water or hears someone mention the word, that's what she says. All of her other words are pretty close to sounding like the real thing. It's cute!

I love the picture where she is just chilling with the french fry and her ball with what looks like giant feet! Just call her big foot. =) Between the In n' Out french fries and the Paradise Bakery chocolate chip cookie, I'd pretty much say she was in toddler heaven.

Oh the days of summer have begun and I am loving it! I am definitely a summer girl and that pool/water park is calling my name.

My Little Hambone

2011-05-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

Braelyn is such a little jokester. She sure has a sense of humor this girl! What is so funny is that she has picked it up on her own. Sure, I tease her every once in a while by playing games, making silly faces, and tickling her. But I tell you, this girl is hilarious and comes up with her own jokes. She has this classic "made you look" joke that she plays all the time. She points up in the air and smiles just waiting for you to look up. If you don't look up right away, she will look up pretending that there is something amazing up there. The second you fall for the joke and look to the sky, she starts laughing. Seriously, where did that come from?! I just missed her pointing her finger in this picture, but you get the idea.

Her new thing is also to kick Sancho out of his own bed and sit there herself. She likes to read her books in his bed. The best part is that Sancho's bed is shaped as a couch, so she totally looks like she is just lounging around in her own little Lazy Boy.

Last of all, she is a cupcake fiend. By the way, "kuh kay" is added to her vocabulary. I think that means I bake them too much if she's already saying that. Oh well, a little sweetness for my little sweetie! I made cupcakes for a friend's daughter's birthday party. Don't worry, the following pictures are not of Braelyn eating her own cupcake, but a random kid's cupcake that she stole off the table after already downing her own. What a little sneaker. She sure loved it though. What's a little sharing of germs when they're so darn cute?!

Oh dear, this kid keeps me on my toes. I sure do love her, though. I feel especially grateful around this time, with Mother's Day coming up. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing daughter that has such life and personality. I hope that she never loses this sparkle. We are so unbelievably grateful for Jana to have given us this wonderful gift. We'll love her forever!

Easter!

2011-04-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

Holidays get better and better with kids! It's so much fun to be able to start traditions with your own family and see the smiles on your child's face with all the exciting festivities. Plus, it's always nice that most holidays include candy that you can smuggle from your child. That's my guilty confession. Easter for us lasted almost an entire week starting with packages from grandparents all the way to spending an awesome Easter weekend getaway at a friend's cabin.

Braelyn was excited about all the loot that Grandma Kaye sent. She especially liked the chocolate Peeps. You can tell how much she liked them by the chocolate ring around her mouth! I'm usually a stickler for no sweets before meals, but that rule goes out the window with holidays. How could I resist this little face asking for "bite bite!" and "more more!" even if it was before dinner?!

We wanted to invite Jana up for Easter but then we got an invite to go to a friend's cabin. So, we had Easter early with Jana and invited her up for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Plus we wanted Braelyn to practice hunting eggs before we went up to the cabin so she could scout out all the good candy for mommy and daddy. She got the concept of finding the eggs, but then she got a little distracted with eating the candy inside. By the way, Starburst jelly beans are soooooo yummy!

And then the festivities really began when we headed up to the cabin. Easter morning was a blast watching Braelyn and her little friend Drew ooh and ahh over all the candy and toys in their baskets. I think Drew really fancied the bright pink Easter hat that Braelyn got.

The boys, I mean men, all went shooting with their coveted guns while the women chatted. Uh, yeah right! I got in there and shot too, I just don't have a picture to prove it!

We had another Easter egg hunt where Braelyn got even more candy to add to her loot.

The boys also had a hard boiled egg eating contest to see who could chew and swallow an egg the fastest. Ben lost! The second it started, he laughed chunks of egg came flying out of his mouth.

It was so nice to just hang out in the great outdoors. Braelyn especially loved going for rides in this wagon. She couldn't get enough of it.

We were really good, and even went to church Sunday morning. Pat on the back for us. Braelyn had the cutest Easter dress that my mom bought for her and the most adorable green shoes that I found for free at a garage sale!

Braelyn has been the best little travel bug lately. She just chills in her car seat and eats her snacks.

And of course, when we got home we had yet another package waiting from Grandma Kaye with more presents. Kaye makes the most beautiful jewelry, which I am so lucky to receive! This jewelry was actually my "early birthday" gift but Braelyn seemed to think they were hers. She put them on herself. Smart little girly girl!

So needless to say, we had a wonderful Easter week. We couldn't have asked for a better vacation. I am so happy to be a parent to be able to teach Braelyn the importance of holidays like this. Besides all the fun and games, Ben and I know that Jesus is the Christ and our Redeemer. He lives and loves us. We are responsible as mother and father to teach this to our children and I know that Braelyn feels the love that Jesus and her Heavenly Father have for her. Her little spirit is closer than you think to the Savior. It's so cute and we never taught her this, but every night when it is time to go to bed she points up to the picture of Jesus on our wall and says, "bye Zeezus" then waves and blows a kiss. She is such a sweet little spirit and I hope that she keeps this innocent testimony forever.

I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T . . . an amazing discovery!

2011-04-18T00:51:00.000-07:00

Well, after 7 1/2 years of being married, Ben and I have finally buckled down and purchased the Internet for our own personal use. What?! Can you believe that?! Yep, we were living in a cave isolated from the whole world until Saturday morning when the Cox angels came and wired our home. Hence, the lack of blogging for the past four months. I always used my work laptop to update photos but since being laid off, I haven't had the same luxury.

Oh, so I guess that should be catch up post #1. Big news! I'm an official stay at home mom and I'm loving every minute of it. I didn't realize just how ghetto fabulous our school was until I no longer have to go there everyday. I love my own little bubble! The lay off truly was a blessing in disguise and I cherish being able to be closer to Braelyn and teach her about the world around her.

She is so smart! That little jabber mouth is talking up a storm and is so aware of her surroundings. Not to mention, she is a social butterfly! She says "hi" to total strangers wherever we go. Someday we'll have a long hard talk about stranger danger. Well, without further ado, here are pics from the past four months including Christmas, Braelyn's first birthday (woot woot!), trip to San Diego, trip to Las Vegas, and visiting our parents in Utah. Enjoy!

We went to As You Wish to paint a piggy bank for Braelyn's first birthday before we headed off to Utah for the holidays. We met up with Jana and had a blast. I'm not too sure if Braelyn enjoyed it. In fact, she screamed when we attempted to get her hand print on the pig. Needless to say, the hand print looks more like a blob.

Once we got to Utah, we made a special trip to see Santa Claus. Well obviously she hated him. And yes, I realize that "hate" is a strong word.

She also hated being in the snow or simply being in snow clothes for that matter. It didn't matter whether she was sledding with Grandma Goggins or with daddy, she wanted nothing to do with it.

But as long as she wasn't forced to play in the snow, she loved it! Especially when the snowflakes fell on her cute little tongue.

Great Grandpa Dale and Braelyn enjoyed cruising around the mall side by side doing a little Christmas shopping. Those two kept holding hands as we pushed them through the stores.

Braelyn was spoiled with all kinds of presents from both sets of grandparents! Mommy and daddy planned accordingly and all we bought her was a $5 pair of pink slippers from Walmart. Way to go!

Then came two days worth of birthday celebrations after which I think she was tapped out! How many birthday cupcakes can one little one year old eat?!

Shortly after returning to the warmth of Phoenix, Grandma and Grandpa Goggins came to visit for the weekend. We couldn't help but go to the park and ride on the train!

After the grandparents left, Braelyn had her first encounter at the zoo. Hmmm, she was intrigued by the goats until one decided to plop right down next to her. We had a little freak out session after that. All was good again once we found the play area with her cute buddy Josiah.

Our next adventure was the Phoenix Children's Museum. Her favorite attractions were the flying scarfs that shot out of little tubes, the noodle forest that was made up of noodle floaties, playing in the big flower pot with her friend Niyah, and most of all SHOPPING! Let me just say that I never showed her what to do with the shopping carts. The next thing I know, she has gone over and grabbed a shopping cart and is cruising down the aisles filling it with food. Once it was full she would grab another cart and start all over. It was hilarious!

Next up was San Diego where we met my brother Taylor and his wife Diane along with my aunt and uncle Cameron and Courtney. We had a blast going to the aircraft carrier, playing along the pier, and exploring the tide pools. Braelyn LOVED the sea lions, especially because they barked like dogs.

The weekend after San Diego we drove out to Vegas for a short vacation with Ben's parents and sister. Grandma Kaye, Braelyn, and Ben all got their game on and Braelyn wanted to be a human ski ball.

After Vegas Braelyn and I caught a shuttle to St. George and rode the rest of the way to Salt Lake with my grandparents and the party continued. We went to the aquarium with Grandma Kaye, at dinner with Great Grandpa Dale at his rest home, cruised around in Grandma Goggins' totally cool Power Wheels, and played with Grandma Kaye's never ending bag of instruments.

And now we're back in Phoenix enjoying day to day life that consists of being obsessed with ducks (whether in the tub or at the park), getting ready for Easter, and taste testing mommy's delicious homemade cupcakes! Life couldn't be better.

Thanksgiving fun!

2010-12-15T14:57:00.000-08:00

We started off the Thanksgiving season with . . . carving pumpkins! Yes, our poor little pumpkin never got carved in time for Halloween and I couldn't bear to waste it. Pumpkins are fun to carve no matter when you do it! Braelyn was definitely not a fan of the ooey gooeyness of it. It took her a while to warm up, which is kind of a habit nowadays. She is a lot more weary of things at first glance and then she slowly decides to be more friendly, hence the Santa Claus picture and the bounce house picture.

This poor little face just cracks me up. "How could you put me in this bounce house mom?!"

We had our yearly "Feed the Homeless" lunch at my school this year. We fed close to 50 homeless people in our school parking lot. I love seeing our students have a change of attitude for a day by thinking outside of themselves and their own needs. This group right here really pulled together in the kitchen to provide all the food for the occasion. They deserve a round of applause!

Grandma Kaye, aunt Lauren and uncle Josh all came to spend Thanksgiving with us. Grandma took us to the zoo lights and Braelyn was mesmerized. We loved sharing this special time with our family.

If I actually got around to sending out Christmas cards this year, this would have been the shot. So, just close your eyes and imagine that this card came in the mail from the Gundersens. Happy Holidays with all our love. There you go, sending out Christmas cards = check!

Braleyn is just such a happy little stinker. I can't get enough of her. I'm proud to say that my little poopers finally has enough hair to put into pigtails. It's fun to play with the new dos.

What a ham bone! She loves her baths and now cries when you take her out. It used to be the opposite. She has to wear this little bowl on her head in the tub. She also plays peek a boo by putting her little hands on her cheeks. I hope she never learns the right way to play peek a boo because this is just too darn cute!

That smile just cracks me up!

We went to see the Mesa Temple lights with some good friends of ours and their adorable little boy. I think there is an arranged marriage in the works!

Two little cuties!

I woke up to this sight one morning. I thought that someone had broken in and tried to steal presents from under the tree (which we don't have any) but come to find out our ghetto little tree just couldn't hold up to the weight of the ornaments. Who knows, I still bet some money on the fact that the Grinch is real and decided to pay a little visit to us before Christmas. Needless to say, the first time that I decide to put up a Christmas tree in five years it comes crashing down. Back to no tree . . .

We hope that everyone is enjoying the upcoming holidays. I truly love this time of year. It's a time to reflect on the blessings that I have and to acknowledge the people that I love and care about. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful little family. Ben is an amazing husband and father that works so hard to provide for our family. Our parents are so wonderful to have supported us in our choices and decisions these last few years together. Ben and I are coming up on our seven year anniversary, and I can't think of anyone else that I would have rather spent this time with. Most of all we are so thankful for Braelyn. She has enriched our lives so much. She has truly taught us how to love and be loved. I will never be able to show enough gratitude to Jana for bringing this heavenly spirit into our lives. We love you Jana and everything that you are. Braelyn loves you too. She will always know how much you love her!

Merry Christmas!

Fall Festivities!

2010-10-31T00:19:00.000-07:00

Fall has been a blast in the Gundersen household. We've done nothing but play and have fun! Okay, maybe we occasionally work . . . not by choice! It has been so beautiful down here in the desert that we can't help but spend most of our time outside. Here are some highlights from the last month.

Braelyn had a little baby photo shoot thanks to Jen Ryan. Amazing photographer!!!

The girls at work had a night out for Erin's birthday. Dinner and a movie is the best idea ever, especially when you have girlfriends to share it with.

We had open house at the high school. I got to meet all the parents of our wonderful students and convince them that I really do care about their kids. I do! I promise!

Ben, Braelyn, Jana, and I all went to Autumn Fest at our park. They put up this adorable carnival and I just had to ride the ferris wheel. Ben appeased me by going even though he is afraid of heights. In fact right before this photo he was freaking out because we were supposed to be on opposite sides of the cart to make the weight even. He thought we were going to topple over when I switched sides to take the photo. Needless to say, he was not amused.

Ben tried to win a prize for Braelyn and failed . . .

. . . so Jana came to the rescue and . . .

. . . wahoo! She won a cute little stuffed pig for Braelyn. Girls rule! Sorry dad.

After the carnival we had some fun at home and tried on Braelyn's Halloween costume. She makes the cutest darn flower ever, if I may say so myself. Thank you Jana!

Braelyn got to go trick or treating for the first time at her school party. She was so excited. Every time she passed my office in the hallway, I could hear her laughing. She was clapping and pointing and bouncing around the whole time. That girl has such a personality. We love her! She got to eat cupcakes and cheese puffs at her party too! I think she's been on a sugar high for the past week now.

Then we got to go to Jojo's first birthday party. It was a jungle theme, so we dressed Braelyn up as an owl. Yes, I know what you are thinking, "where to owls live in the jungle?" I don't know! It was the only animal outfit we had on hand, so we made do.

Of course we couldn't miss the church trunk or treat party. Plus, Drew and Braelyn were scheduled for another date together. We just can't keep the lovebirds away for too long.

Grandma and grandpa came to visit and to spend Halloween with us. Braelyn just adores her grandpa. She cries when I take her away from him. If she weren't so cute, it would probably hurt my feelings.

And what is Halloween without gnawing on some candy. Look at these two ham bones. They are just two peas in a pod!

Now we just can't wait for the other holidays to come. Bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas! I just love the holiday season and spending time with family. Having a wonderful family of our own just makes the holidays that much better. Happy holidays!

We're Alive!

2010-10-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is a long time coming. In my defense, I couldn't figure out this new blogger for the life of me! I am not one that does well with change. For about a month I couldn't figure out how to upload photos. And since I know that no one cares about blogs without photos, what was the point of blogging! Yeah, all I had to do was upgrade my formatting. Haha! I'm definitely not a techie.

Well here is our life, over the last few months, in a nutshell of photos. Everyone is happy and healthy. We couldn't ask for more.

This was Braelyn's baby blessing. Jana was so amazing to come up for it. We had a blast! Braelyn didn't last very long in her white dress, hence the pictures in her normal church clothes. What can you do?! I wouldn't want to wear a poofy dress that long either! Ben did a beautiful job on the blessing. She's a lucky girl to have such a great daddy that loves her to pieces.

Jana and her roomie Kim. They are probably the two funniest people you will ever meet!

She is such a ham. I can't get enough of this smile. I get this look each time I drop her off in her little daycare in the mornings. Geez, it makes it even harder to leave her when she's this cute!

More haminess!

I can't get enough of kissing those cheeks. How adorable.

After a long day of shopping with mom and DAD. Yes, I wasn't the only one torturing her. Although Ben felt this way afterward too!

Labor Day fun at Erin's! What a blast. I think it needs to be an annual event.

Waving "hi" like she always does.

Finally big enough for a high chair. Is she really growing up that fast?!

This picture makes me laugh so hard! Where did she even come up with that expression. The owl hat is thanks to grandpa Cal. He always brings the cutest gifts. Ben's parents visited last week and we had so much fun. They took us to dinner, bought us a carseat, gave Braelyn tons of books and toys, and BABYSAT!

Reading with daddy.

She loves her grandpa. Braelyn couldn't get enough of Cal. She was always crawling over to him. Yes, she is CRAWLING like a madwoman. Watch out! She is everywhere and in everything!

Mid squeal. She is always yelling. This one loves to hear her own voice. I'm telling you, she's the LOUDEST baby I know . . . and I'm her proud, yet sometimes embarrassed, mamma!

Ben calls this the baby jacuzzi. It is usually the follow up to dinner thanks to our messy eater.

Braelyn and I were chosen to be part of a Littly Gym photo shoot. Braelyn even got paid! Show me the money! She was the best little model. They were supposed to use her for an hour, but the photographer loved her so much that we stayed for FOUR hours! She is going to be in a magazine that is distributed to obgyn offices next month. Hmmm, maybe I need to schedule an appointment to pick up a copy. Haha!

Such a cheeseball!

Some other updates that we don't have photos for:

1. Ben is studying to take the GMAT so he can start an MBA program next fall. He hopes to get into the evening program at ASU.

2. I am starting tutoring sessions after school for junior high and high school students. So, if there is anyone you know that needs some help, pass on the word.

3. We are selling our house, but not moving out of Anthem. Don't worry!

4. My mom is coming to visit over Halloween! This will be fun. Some definite shopping and eating out. =)

5. My school finally opened! Wait, did I already blog about that? I can't even remember. Anyway, it's finally open and we have about 250 crazed teenagers. Help me!

So all in all, life is just a bundle of fun. It's been way busy, but hopefully things will slow down in the next few months. Yeah right! Who am I kidding?! I don't think life ever slows down once you have kids. We are loving every moment, though. It's totally worth it.

What?! School already???

2010-07-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it is actually here again. Yep, I'm talking about the dreaded end of the summer/beginning of the school year. It's so crazy how summer comes and you're totally stoked that you have two entire months off. You think, "what am I going to do for an entire 9 weeks?!" Then the universe shifts, time recreates itself so that weeks equal hours, and before you know it you're asking yourself a totally new question, "what have I done for 9 weeks?!"

So, you can see where I'm going with this post. I have already started staff meetings this week and students enter the doors on Monday . . . that is unless I can come up with some conniving plan as to how I can keep them away. Hmmm. Oh let's face it, they're coming!

Meetings actually weren't that bad. I was excited to see old faces along with some newbies. I really am excited to be transitioning from science teacher to guidance counselor. I have been doing schedules all week, and I actually love it.

Braelyn is enjoying her time at school as well. I think she's the valedictorian of her baby class of two. Haha! Just kidding. Her and Neiya are both geniuses. She really is adapting to all the fun that is going on around her. In fact, she is probably safer in the day care than she is with her own mommy! I was giving Braelyn what Ben calls a "baby jacuzzi" the other day. That's where I stick her in the sink to play/get a bath after eating. She was chilling on the right side of the sink and I was doing the dishes on the left side. I decided to be even more productive and organize the freezer. What?! I know, I'm on this productive kick right now. Anyway, I was two feet away from her and constantly looking back. I turned for 2 seconds to put the ice cream back in the freezer and I hear a squeal. I spin around to find Braelyn's little bum and legs sticking straight up in the air, and her face smooshed face down in the empty sink. Holy cow! I grabbed her right out and her face was covered with leftover bubbles from me doing the dishes. Her face was bright red and she was definitely screaming at me, but she was okay . . . thankfully. Now I know, never turn your back on a rambunctious 7 month old. I have to say, when I first saw her stuck I debated, "save the baby or save the Blue Bell ice cream?" Yeah right! Just kidding. Baby wins hands down!!! =)

In all seriousness, the last few months have been amazing. I still can't believe how lucky we are to have such a perfect little angel in our home. I am so grateful for her sweet spirit. I joke about not being able to go anywhere because people stop me and talk to me about how adorable she is, but it's true. I have a stinking cute baby! She is always babbling, laughing, screaming (in a happy way, I know . . . weird, but cute), hitting things, reaching for stuff, etc. She is one active child . . . exactly what I hoped for. And to make things better, I have the most amazing husband. Ben does so much to help us. He is such a loving father. He is always happy and excited to help with anything that needs to be done. How can life be so wonderful? All I can say is thank you Jana. You are amazing and we love you!

Wow, this is long. And no pictures. Sorry to those that read through this just to see pictures. They're not here. Ha ha, I fooled you!

Oh yeah, and our awesome friends are starting the process to adopt. Please look or pass along their blog. They are such and amazing family. Here is the link: www.alittlefamilyblessing.blogspot.com

Family Pictures!

2010-07-16T18:25:00.001-07:00

Can I just say that Cortney Clegg (cortneyclegg.blogspot.com) is my favorite photographer?! She is amazing! We had so much fun just enjoying Braelyn while Cortney was shooting away. Utah is beautiful, much better than the 115 degree weather we're having here in Phoenix.

It was nice to have the whole family get together before my little brother Weston left on his mission to Argentina. I'm so proud of him. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family that loves and supports us. I was sad to leave after my practically month and a half stay in Utah.

Never letting her go . . . she's ours forever!

2010-07-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

We are the luckiest parents in the world! We have been blessed with a little angel that is now ours forever. Who could be so lucky! It was the most amazing feeling to bring her into the temple in her little white dress and have her sealed to us for eternity. I am so excited for our future journey with Braelyn. We couldn't have asked for a more special, funny, happy, adorable, etc. child to have joined our family. Here are some pictures from that amazing day. It was WINDY, so don't look at my hair! Haha!

Spring Pics!

2010-04-23T15:11:00.001-07:00

Well it's about time that I add some photos on here! So here's the deal, or my lame excuse for not having pictures. Ben and I . . . correction . . . I am too stingy to buy a computer. Therefore, we are only left with Ben's company laptop which won't allow me to download anything for security purposes. So, I am stuck downloading photos on my 1990s school computer that takes FOREVER! But hey, here they are. And yes, I am giving myself one big pat on the back for finally getting some pictures saved. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites from the last few months.

Almost holding up her own bottle! Her form almost looks like she is smoking a stogie. Haha!

Sometimes our sweet little Braelyn likes to take cat naps in the tub. Don't ask me! This is her routine; turn the water really warm (she'll scream if it is the least bit cold), lay her down, she gasps for a second to get used to the water, she smiles really big, then she pees, and if she's really relaxed she'll fall asleep. It's hilarious.

This our Easter celebration. Our friends were so nice to have invited us to invade their family's get together. This is Ben and I playing the egg toss. My partner was actually the cutie in the green striped shirt, Aiden. He was so funny. Instead of throwing the egg, he would walk up and hand it to me. I wasn't complaining. Who wants a three year old throwing a raw egg at you?! Later Ben and I played together, and luckily the egg broke on him. Although the whole time I was giving him the look like, "if this breaks on me, you're dead!" He took one for the team.

Ben's favorite picture.

Always sticking her tongue out. I mean ALWAYS!

I'm learning as a new parent that you can NEVER get a picture of everyone looking at the camera. It's impossible.

She loves the superman move. She giggles everytime you hold her up in the air. So cute!

Again with the tongue.

Oh I just love her sweet little face, and that dimple, oh that dimple!

All in all, it's been a wonderful spring! We've had so much fun. We go to the park, go on walks, spend time with friends, and just have fun at home. I can't wait to have some more free time with Braelyn in the summer. Only three more weeks of school left. I'm counting down!

Saturday Park Days!

2010-04-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

Ben and I love going to the park on Saturdays . . . well, I love going to the park on Saturdays. I think Ben goes just to make me happy, but he goes! We met some friends last weekend at the park and had a Mexican fiesta afterwards. Yummy! There's nothing better than enchiladas, burritos and guacamole! My friend Erin just got a fancy new camera that takes awesome pictures. That's what she says, but I think it's really just her. She's a great photographer. She was nice enough to practice a few shots on our family. So cute!

Long time!

2010-04-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

I've been putting off posting because we just got a new camera . . . well, okay, like over a month ago. We've taken pictures, but haven't figured out how to download them yet. It's a mixture of laziness, computer incompetence, and just being plain old busy. So, here's an update with NO pictures. Sorry, the next one will have some. I promise it will be soon. I can't start slacking now!

Ben got his passport and is all set to go. As of now, he will be going to Peru without me because my passport hasn't come! I'm sure it will get here this week. I'm so excited. So, here is something really lame. I saw Ben's passport and he has this nice picture of himself smiling. I asked him, "What the heck? They let you smile?!" He looked at me like an idiot and said, "Of course, why not?" Here's why! The guy who took my picture was counting to three, I smiled, he stopped and said I couldn't smile, I laughed thinking that he was joking, he said, "no really I mean it. Don't smile", so I didn't smile, he took the picture, and I looked like an idiot who just took a mug shot!!! Now I have a lame-o passport picture that I have to keep for the next 10 years because some photo guy made up his own passport rules. Oh well!

My littlest brother Weston got his mission call. Wahoo! I'm so excited for him. He is leaving on July 14th for Cordoba, Argentina. He's excited to speak Spanish with my other two brothers and Ben.

Our little family had a wonderful Easter together. I was contemplating playing the Easter bunny for Ben and Braelyn, but that didn't happen. Ben LOVES junk food: sweets, fast food, soda, you name it. I was going to buy a bunch of Easter candy for him, but then I thought, "what are just the two of us going to do with all that candy?!" Plus Ben still had leftover candy from his mom. She sent a bunch of trial candies from the movie convention they went to in Vegas. It's like adult trick or treating. You go to all these vendors and they give you sample movie popcorn, drinks, nachos, etc. So I nixed the Easter bunny.

We hung out with some great friends of ours. They not only let us crash their Easter shin dig, but we also crashed their family Christmas right before Braelyn was born. Braelyn's little Easter outfit was so cute! Pictures to follow. It was a little white and blue summer jumpsuit. Loved it! She has this smile that just melts your heart. She is such a happy little girl now. I just want to squeeze her all the time. She still sticks out her tongue constantly, blows spit bubbles, and babbles cute little nothings.

I am so loving being a mom. It is so fulfilling and I adore every minute of it between 7 am and 10 pm. =) Thank goodness Ben switches off with night duty. We've gotten into a nice routine with Braelyn. She really is a great sleeper.

Anyway, this is a long update, but I don't want to forget what has been going on with our family. I really want Braelyn to be able to read this someday and know how much we love her, and all the exciting things that have been happening in our lives since we found her. What a blessing. Our little angel girl!

We love our little family . . .

2010-03-01T11:19:00.001-08:00

Can I just say how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE our little Braelyn?! She has gotten to be so much fun. I love the little adorable things she does. We have tons of nicknames for her:

1. Lizard because she constantly sticks out her tongue.
2. LB for "Little Braelyn"
3. Stinks . . . well you know why. She just stinks sometimes.
4. Lil Brae because Ben needs to be a little ghetto every once in a while.
5. Brae Brae which I swore I would never call her (Ben made it up), but somehow it's stuck.
6. Little Missy just because she's a little princess and it fits.

I'm sure that there will be many other names that come up throughout the years!

What a look of shock! She's just camera shy I guess.

Miss Braelyn is ALWAYS yawning. It's so dang cute.

It's so fun to be a family. We love it. Both Ben and I tease that we just want to squeeze her so tight until her tiny little head pops off!!! Of course we wouldn't do that, but seriously, we just want to hug her so tight. My favorite is kissing her cheeks. Love it!

She's laughing! I think it's by accident, but hey, we'll take what we can get. So cute!

We just can't get enough of looking at her sweet face.

I love the "vintage" look in this picture. Cortney is so artistic! What an amazing photographer!

All in all, things have been wonderful for our family. We couldn't have asked for more. Braelyn has turned into quite the happy little baby. She sleeps well at night which makes for a happy mom and dad.

I started back at work last week and that was definitely an adjustment. It's hard not to be with her during the day, but I know she is well taken care of and just down the hall from me. The lady that watches our three babies (my principal's and my other co worker's) is amazing. She is so sweet and attentive with Braelyn. The other two babies like to sleep, but not my child! She is wide awake during the day and definitely gives Sylvia a run for her money.

Ben and I are finally going to go on an exotic vacation! We've been talking for years about going outside the country and really treating ourselves to something special. The time has come! We are planning on going to Peru with the rest of my family to pick up my younger brother from his two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm so proud of Landon for his hard work and we can't wait to see him. We'll hopefully book the trip this week. Yay!

Life is good!

Thanks Cortney!!!

2010-02-16T20:53:00.001-08:00

Our good friend Cortney Clegg took some fun pictures with us and Braelyn this week. She is an awesome photographer and she started! You can check them out on her blog at http://www.thetribesofclegg.blogspot.com.

Almost Five Weeks Old . . . Time Flies!

2010-01-31T07:31:00.000-08:00

Life with Braelyn has been so much fun! I am definitely adjusting to life as a mom, and I am quickly realizing that you can only plan one to two tasks that you would like to get done each day. I've learned that it takes at least three hours to get one load of laundry done, at least three sittings to finish eating any meal, and at least three times of repeating the DVR to grasp even half of what any show was about. I love it, though!!! We are having lots of fun hanging out together.

I've always said that I don't want to be a "stay at home mom", but rather a "stay with my child" mom. Meaning, I like to be out and about. I want my children to have as many outside experiences as they can. I don't want to be cooped up in the house all day and afraid to venture out with my children. I'll have to say that it is quite scary making that first break out in public with a baby that you don't quite know their schedule, if they're going to be fussy, or when and where they will want to sleep. However, Braelyn and I were successful in our first outing! I took her to the school to turn in midterm grades and all the students ooed and awwed over her. I then met some friends (all pregnant with future friends of Braelyn's) for lunch. I had my first experience of using a public changing table . . . gross! Since then I've been to Wally World, Target, Petco, and the drive through of Chick-fil-a to get a well needed cookies and cream shake. Adventure after adventure!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Braelyn over the last few days. I can't stop taking pictures of her because I think she is just so stinking adorable! I love the few pictures where I can actually catch her smiling. She's doing a lot more of that lately.

She's such a little fashionista, especially with her little pink sneakers!

As always, Sancho is always in on the action . . . whatever is going on, he is right there!

Her cute little sleeping pose. She fell asleep on the little Boppy pillow on my lap. She stayed this way for over an hour. Thanks Julee for the adorable bows!!!

All ready for bed in her cozy sleeper. Thanks Mom, she loves being bundled at night. She knows it's time for bed when she puts on Grandma's jammies!

Bath time = not fun!

My favorite part of the day is kissing her little cheeks after her bath. She smells so sweet!

A little smile in this one. Those faces are so priceless. We love you little Braelyn!

Rock-a-bye . . . Sancho?!

2010-01-22T20:53:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I was putting Braelyn down for a nap today, and I heard Sancho come into the room. His collar always jingles and gives away his whereabouts even when he is trying to be sneaky. I was putting some clothes away in her room, and getting other things organized for a while. I went to leave the room and realized that I hadn't heard Sancho ever leave. I looked around to find him, and he wasn't anywhere. Then I looked under the crib where I had stashed the crib bumper and this is what I found! Look very closely and you will see Braelyn on top of the crib and Sancho's black little nose underneath. I was dying laughing! What a sweet big brother!

Welcome Home Baby Braelyn!

2010-01-21T18:17:00.000-08:00

And here she is!!! Yes, baby girl is actually sitting in our living room chilling in her little bouncer seat. Can you believe it?! She is actually home after 3 1/2 weeks of making friends with all the nurses in the nursery. She was the most popular baby there. All the nurses loved her so much and were constantly passing her around. She got such special treatment. How could you not love such a sweet face as little Braelyn's?!

I love this funky little smile she has going on in this picture. She has these adorable little smirks that just make me laugh. She is going to have such a funny personality!

Our sweet little angel just sleeping away. When she's quiet she's really quiet, but when she's loud she's REALLY LOUD!

Our caseworker signing papers for our official discharge. Did we really pass the parenting test?! Are you sure we're ready?! Just kidding, we've been waiting a long time to bring her home. I wouldn't wait another minute.

Does it look like she doesn't want to come home to you?! Look at that sad little face! What a cry!

But in the end, she LOVED her car seat and slept the entire ride home. She even slept long enough for Ben and I to run through the drive thru of Chick-fil-a and get a well deserved cookies n' cream milkshake. The best!

He's a natural! Ben's looking forward to building up those sexy arm muscles of his when he has to lug around this carseat all the time. I know I won't mind the extra definition. =)

And thank you a million times to our wonderful caseworker Hannah! She made everything possible for us to adopt our sweet and precious little miracle. This truly has been an amazing experience for us. We couldn't have asked for anything different. Braelyn is the most special thing that has happened to us in our lives. She was meant to be with us, and we will make sure to always let her know just how special she is.

Thanks to everyone that has offered help and has shown excitement for our family. It's refreshing to know that we have such caring friends. We only hope that we can repay everyone for all of their kindness and support.

God provides miracles for everyone . . . it's just a matter of opening your heart to accepting them. We truly have been given a miracle, a perfect miracle!

Quick Update

2010-01-06T08:23:00.000-08:00

Braelyn is doing really well so far. She has done much better than they anticipated, and the doctors think that she will possibly be able to come home this weekend. I am so excited to finally bring her home. She is just so stinking cute!

I have gone back to work for this week. I figure that it would be pretty pointless just sitting home waiting. It gets my mind off of worrying about Braelyn all day, and then I can use my full maternity leave to just spend time with her when she comes home. My students were really surprised to see me, but in a good way! They don't respond to well to substitutes. =) They were really cute, though, when I came back. I showed off pictures and they just thought that Braelyn was adorable. It's nice to come back to work and know that I have a six week break coming up real soon.

Everyday after work I have been stopping off at the hospital to see Braelyn. All of the nurses are so nice. I show up just in time to feed her, and then I just rock her for an hour or so until Ben comes. He sure has learned the skills of daddyhood really quickly. He's got the football hold down packed.

Thanks to everyone that has fasted and prayed for our family. We appreciate all the care and concern. We know that you all are a huge part as to why Braelyn is doing so well. We'll keep everyone updated on when she comes home. I'm anxious to use all the cute outfits that friends have given me!!!

More Pictures!

2010-01-01T23:08:00.001-08:00

Wow! What a crazy and wonderful last couple of days it has been. It's amazing how you can be a normal married couple one day, and parents the next! It's a lot to soak in all at once. Ben and I are so excited to start this journey of parenthood. Bring it on! If it wasn't already almost one o'clock in the morning I would give you the play by play of how everything happened. But, I'm TIRED! Yes, it has already begun . . . the exhausting days, and we haven't even brung her home yet. Hopefully this weekend I can go through the pictures and add some commentary.

Just an update, Braelyn will probably be in the hospital for at least another week. The doctors want to keep an eye on her as she is getting the medication out of her system that she was reacting to. They're keeping her on small doses of morphine to keep her comfortable. She seems so peaceful whenever we go visit, and we love holding her. She is absolutely adorable! Please still keep her in your prayers so we can bring her home soon.

Our Miracle: Braelyn Noelle Gundersen!

2009-12-30T21:40:00.000-08:00

She's here! Our little bundle of joy has made her grand entrance. She was born 8:00 am sharp on December 28th. She weighed in at 7 pounds 12 ounces and 20 1/2 inces long. She is absolutely adorable! We could use everyone's prayers as she has to stay in the hospital for a few days because of a reaction to a medication. We know that she will be okay, but any extra thoughts and prayers would be helpful. We'll keep you updated.

Busy, busy, busy!

2009-12-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I feel really lame . . . like people are going to think that I just stopped blogging ever since we found out we were going to get a baby. I promise that's not the case. Here's the lowdown of excuses for the blog absence:

1) It's the end of school and there is so much grading!

2) Two of my coworkers/good friends had babies in the last month so school has been even more crazy than normal . . . is that possible?

3) Ben got a new job and has been in Rochester, NY for the past week. Hallelujah! It's nice to be employed.

4) Ben's parents came for Thanksgiving and we had a blast. I've never seen so many crafts finished all at once. Kaye = Queen of Crafts. In three days we made pinatas, burp clothes, and a quilt . . . well, I guess I should say that SHE made. I wasn't too much help, but they all turned out to be so adorable.

5) Back to Ben; he has the computer so I can't download pictures and blogs are always lame without pictures. Oh well, pictures will come later.

6) We have a baby coming in TWO weeks! Count that, TWO WEEKS!!!

The last month has been absolutely amazing. I love our birth mother more and more everyday. She helped me go shopping for some baby essentials at Target over the weekend. Then we took a much needed stop at In n' Out Burger. Yummy!

My friend Katie threw the most amazing baby shower ever with the help from my visiting teachers at church. Thank you Rachel and Misty! So many people came to help me celebrate. I was so proud to show off our birth mother because again, she is so amazing!

Ben and I have been so blessed these last couple of months, and I hope those blessings continue to roll in. =) I can't wait for December 28th. What an amazing Christmas gift!

Oh, and the official name will be Braelyn Noelle Gundersen. Love it!

Baby's Room!

2009-11-20T11:26:00.000-08:00

I'm almost done with the baby's room, and it's been so much fun to decorate! I don't want to brag . . . but how ADORABLE is it?! =) Ben has helped me so much, mainly by being patient while I ask him to hold curtains and pictures up. Haha! I think secretly he loves it because he gets to be a part of it. He feels special. So, here are the pictures of baby girl Gundersen's nursery.

I'm going to put one of those changing pads on top of the dresser for a changing table. That way, she can still use the dresser when she gets older.

Sancho is just hanging out in the baby's room. I think he might be a little jealous, but he'll be a good big brother.

Beginning of Baby's Room!

2009-11-11T19:20:00.001-08:00

I love our baby girl's room so far! I spent all day doing the stencils on the wall. It took about 9 hours with breaks here and there to finish ONE wall! I'm only doing two walls, though, so it shouldn't be too bad. I just have to dedicate one more day. We're going crib and dresser shopping this weekend, and Ben is ecstatic about it. Okay, so that's a lie, but I'm going to have some fun. I'm thinking a dark brown for the crib and dresser. My friend Katie has a glider she is going to give me that I can use with our ottoman. I'm going to spray paint the glider ivory and then use sandpaper to give it the "distressed antique" look.

I love the Cinderella carriage! A friend of mine spotted it at an antique store over the weekend. It has a little opening where I can put burp cloths (isn't there a nicer sounding word for those?)and pacifiers.

Yay! It's coming along, and it will be ready in no time. That's good because literally we have almost no time. =) This is the perfect way to have a baby, though. I've never been the one for much patience!

Our Story . . .

2009-11-11T07:37:00.000-08:00

So I think it's about time to write about our miracle story before it becomes all jumbled in my head. Trust me, there is so much going on that that's bound to happen. I've been meaning to write everything down since we made our decision so that I can recall exactly what happened.

I'll start from the beginning. We got certified about two weeks ago. As soon as we were certified, we decided to enroll on this website called ParentProfiles.com. Even though we were working through LDS Family Services, we wanted to expand our options, and this is a well known website for birth mothers to look at adoptive couples. It took us another 5-6 hours to get our profile set up and going. The website will not publish your profile until they have received your certification and payment. I had our caseworker fax over our certification right away, and I was going to mail payment. I got the envelope all ready with a stamp and everything and then thought, "Why mail it in, I'll just fax a payment form." So, I faxed the form and by 1:00 that afternoon we were up on the website.

You can imagine my surprise when that same day I get a phone call at 4:00 in the afternoon from a birth mother in Philadelphia. She had seen our profile and was very interested in us. We talked for a while and answered her questions. I asked her how she had found our profile, and she explained that our profile was one of the random four couples that had popped up on the home page (they're always rotating couples) and she clicked on us because of my name. She had never heard Brielle before besides her little niece. Anyway, she talked to my caseworker and we were going to go from there, and call each other with anymore questions.

All this happened on Tuesday. On Thursday I got a call from my caseworker asking if she could take our profile down so that no other birth mothers could look at us. We had received an interested email from another birth mother but told her we were already working with someone. I told my caseworker that we hadn't received a definite for sure yes yet, so please keep it up. She asked me to talk to our birth mother and get a definite answer because it wasn't fair for other birth mothers to see us and think that we were available when we're not. So I emailed our birth mother in Philadelphia and asked her what she thought about us taking our profile down. Sunday came along and I hadn't heard from her. I decided to call her. I explained to her the situation with my caseworker and asked if she was confident enough in us that we could remove our profile. She told me that she was 100% confident gut feeling wise, but knew she still had questions on the logical end. We set up a time for the following Wednesday for her to call and make a final decision. Until then she asked us to keep our profile up because it wouldn't be fair to us to take it down quite yet without a final decision on her end.

Tuesday rolls around, and I am anticipating this call the next day. I was about to leave school, and I checked my email. We have another email from a birth mother here in Phoenix! Her email was so upbeat, happy, and positive. There was just something about what she wrote that made me want to get to know her. I called my caseworker crying, not knowing what to do. She read the email as well, and agreed that she sounded amazing. I decided to call her and meet her that night. I told her from the very beginning that we were supposed to receive an answer the next day from our other birth mother, but that we would still like to meet her. She was so excited to meet us also.

Ben and I went to dinner with Jana (our birth mother) and our caseworker. We talked and talked! It was so much fun. I loved her from the beginning. She brought ultrasound pictures of her little girl, and she let us feel her belly. Jana is so hilarious, spunky, outgoing, and just awesome. At the end of the dinner she pretty much told us that the ball is in our court because she knows that we have another decision to make.

Ben and I talked for a long time that night deciding what we were going to do. We both really liked Jana. She was so real to us. With our other birth mother, we hadn't even seen pictures, ultrasounds, nothing. Jana just seemed so excited to use us. Still, we came to the conclusion that we wouldn't make any decisions until we had our phone call the next night. I did decide to email our other birth mother to tell her that we had met with someone else, but that we were still anxious for her phone call so that we could make the best decision. I didn't want to be keeping any secrets from either Jana or our other birth mother.

Wednesday rolled around, and we sat on the couch for about two hours waiting for our phone call. It never came. I called her twice and left her a message. At that point we thought that she was upset we had met with Jana. So again Ben and I talked and we both decided that Jana was perfect and she was the one that wanted. We didn't even want to wait to see what the reason for the missed phone call was. We just felt so good about having Jana be in our lives. We called her right away and asked if she would let us raise her child. She said yes!

The next morning I wrote our other birth mother and told her that I wished we could have talked so that we could explain our decision. There wasn't anything "wrong" with her, but there was something "right" with Jana. I suggested some friends of ours for her to look at, that would make excellent parents as well. That evening at 5:00 my phone rings and it is our birth mother from Philadelphia. She started off by apologizing for not calling the night before, she had simply forgotten. She was watching the World Series game with some friends. We began talking, and I suddenly realized that she hadn't read my two emails telling her that we met with someone else and had actually chosen them. I had to break it to her over the phone. She was very upset, and I felt so awkward. I didn't know what else to do for her but suggest our friends again. I asked if there was anything we could do for her, but she replied no. I felt awful, but I knew that we had still made the right decision.

I came home and told Ben everything that had just happened. He couldn't believe it. He also thought that we still made the right decision. It was so weird. Even though we felt so bad for her, we felt so good for us. We knew that what we had chosen was right. Later that night when I was checking my emails, there was an email from the girl in Philadelphia. It was a really hurtful email that questioned our character and integrity because we hadn't waited for her call. She said that she was thankful she found out what kind of people we were before it was too late. She also responded that there was no way she would consider our friends if they were anything like us. I was devastated that someone could be so hurtful, especially when they had broken their promise and not us. Our agreement was to keep our profile up until we talked to her on Wednesday, and she missed that appointment.

I wanted to write back some fighting words, but I though about it and knew that she was going through a really hard time. She was emotional, scared, lonely, etc. I waited until the next morning when I could really think about it, and wrote her a heartfelt email about how much we cared about her and how much we hope for her. I hope she reads it, but you never know. I wanted her to know that we were committed to her, but there was just something that was right about Jana. I told her that we had even bought two one way tickets to Philly, I had bought bedding for the nursery, I had bought baby clothes, we had told our friends and family that we were adopting her baby, and we had turned away two other birth mothers. In the end, we just had to make the decision that was right for us.

And this is where I say how grateful I am for our Heavenly Father and the guidance that he gives us. I couldn't even imagine being placed in this same situation and having to make that decision alone. Life really does work out for the best when you have the guidance of the Spirit on your side. I love that we can receive revelation for ourselves concerning our own lives. I love that Ben is a worthy priesthood holder that strives to do his best everyday and lives honestly. I can't wait to see him be a father to a beautiful baby girl. I'm also grateful that Jana can be so brave. I admire her for making what will be the most difficult decision of her life, but the right one. We will always love her for that.

Tonight we are taking Jana out to dinner with her roommate. I'm excited to know a little more about her life. I want to know all the things that make her her, so that when our little baby girl grows up I can share with her how amazing her birth mom was. Well, we'll continue to keep everyone updated. This was a long story, but a story worth telling over and over and over again!

CHRISTMAS BABY!

2009-11-06T17:57:00.000-08:00

It's official. We will be the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl this December. Her due date is December 22-31. It's going to be a scheduled c-section, so we pick the date. She will be born here in Phoenix. Yay! We are so excited. It is a long story, but we will post this weekend.

We just want to say that we feel so blessed. Thanks to every one's thoughts and prayers. We know they helped.

Best Halloween Yet!

2009-10-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

So after much fretting about what to wear for a Halloween costume this year, I finally came to the consensus that I should be a pageant mom. I just think that they are so funny. That show Toddlers and Tiaras does such a good job at showing how crazy those women can be. As I was telling Ben about my plans for a costume, I realized, "what better pageant daughter to have than Ben?!" He totally embraced the idea, and let me dress him up just like a little pageant girl. We had a blast at our party in our hilarious costumes. Thanks Shawn and Ashley for putting together such a fun night!

The back of my shirt says, "My daughter is prettier than yours!" and "Shake that thang!"

The tough guys and the sissy pants.

All the beautiful women in our costumes. Everyone did such a good job dressing up!

The boys and their costumes. Ben finally took off the dress and wig after a couple hours. Now he just looks like a creepy transvestite with makeup on!

WE'RE CERTIFIED!!!

2009-10-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

Yay!!! I don't know if I'm about to cry, laugh, smile, scream, whatever! We just got a call from our caseworker that we are now certified by the state. That means that a birth mother can actually choose us now. This has been such a wonderful journey, but now I feel like it is for real.

I know that everything happens on a larger timeline than we can see or understand, but I sure hope that we find our baby soon. I can't wait to experience the joy and happiness that so many of our friends and family have. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as this roller coaster ride begins. Arms up!

Halloween Costumes . . .

2009-10-22T13:38:00.001-07:00

Help me!Why is it so hard to come up with a creative Halloween costume? Seriously, I feel all this pressure! Haha, I'm a 26 year old working woman who is worried what I'm going to dress up as for a Halloween party! Ben and I love dressing up, though, so we look forward to Halloween every year.

I thought of a couple funny ideas for costumes. The first one is a pageant mom. I could stuff pillows in my clothes, wear old fashioned glasses, mess up my hair, and wear no make up. You know how pageant moms look. They're all living vicariously through their daughters, trying to make them look all pretty so they can feel pretty themselves. Then I could pin a picture of my 25 year old looking four year old on my shirt. By the way, I am obsessed with the show Toddlers and Tiaras. Ben will sometimes watch it with me, and it makes him so mad. He will literally talk back to the women on the television for exploiting their daughters. I think it's hilarious to see how worked up he gets. I do agree that those women are somewhat crazy. I find it more creepy than cute when little girls are shaking their booties in what looks like miniature stripper outfits. Why do I still watch the show then? It's still very entertaining!

So, another one I thought of is to wear a big cardboard cut out of a house. I could hang it upside down. Get it? I'm dressing up as OUR house. Haha! Okay, maybe I'm the only one that thinks that's funny. Hey, if you don't laugh at it, you just get depressed.

A friend of mine suggested a trophy wife. That could be good. I could get some gold body paint and hang a plaque around my neck. Ben already knows that I'm the perfect wife, though!

Well, who knows! I still have two days to think about it. We'll definitely take some pictures to let you know what we decided. Ben's on his own for figuring out his costume. My brain is too tired trying to think of my own. Any suggestions?

So Long, Farewell . . .

2009-10-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

It was finally time to say goodbye to our old washer and dryer. Yes, it was a sad day . . . okay, now I'm over it! Seriously, that dryer squeaked like a banshee every time we used it. We can't really complain, though. We bought the set three years ago when we first moved to the house for $50. How can you pass that up when you're a poor couple just graduating from college buying a totally overpriced first home? (We couldn't have predicted that last part, oh well) So we've happily done our laundry in the squeakily cheap dryer ever since. We thank our friends greatly who just moved and sold us their nearly new set for such a steal. The joy of quiet laundering!

Let's Go Coyotes, Let's Go!

2009-10-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

Ben loves, loves, loves hockey! He coaches a little league roller hockey team where we live. One of the fathers of the kid's gave him some free tickets to go to the opening home game of the Phoenix Coyotes. We went with some friends of ours and had a great time. The game was a "white out game" because that is one of the colors of the team. They handed out free t-shirts to everyone that came to the game. I got an x-large. Wahoo! It'll make a great nightgown at least.

We'll definitely take any other free tickets that come our way!

Attack of the Killer Fridge!

2009-10-18T15:02:00.000-07:00

Some good friends of ours quickly moved out of state for a new job opportunity. The leave was pretty unexpected and they didn't have much time to pack up and go. I got a phone call about a week later to see if I could do some extra cleaning around the house, and to empty out the fridge. Wow! I came face to face with a monster! I'm telling you, that fridge was crazy. The power had been off for three weeks, and there was definitely a smell and a few abnormal growths inside to prove it. All in all, it was a pretty funny experience. It separates the men from the boys. Apparently I am a man and Ben is a boy because he couldn't take it. He almost barfed. Eww!

I had to be fully armed before I went on the defense with this fridge! Full on mask, gloves, and BLEACH cleaner!

Something growing on the top shelf!

Leftover Bajio's salad. Anyone hungry?

The fateful end for Mr. Chunky Monkey ice cream.

Yay! The job is done, and the fridge is back to its beautiful self. We're glad we could help out our friends in their move. Plus, I always love making funny memories, and this is definitely one of them!

Vegas Baby!

2009-10-08T20:30:00.001-07:00

Finally, a well deserved vacation! After seeing my family for two days, we headed off to Vegas to splurge. We really enjoyed ourselves. We stayed at the Belagio, which was so relaxing and beautiful. They have this awesome conservatory garden in the middle of the hotel. They decorate it with all kinds of flowers depending on the season. They had just put up their autumn decor, and they had these real 1,000 pound pumpkins. I would love to carve one of those babies!!!

We also got to relax by the pools in the morning. Yes, I said pools, not pool. They had about six pools and two hot tubs to choose from. It was kind of chilly for swimming, but it's never the wrong time for a dip in a hot tub.

We had a blast going around to all the different shops and hotels. If you can avoid all the crazy men handing out naked pictures of women on the streets, Vegas can be quite fun!

Our hotel. Wahoo! This is where the fountain show was every hour. They have these amazing fountain shows every hour. You could hear the water blasting from almost a mile away.

Once again Ben loves food, so what do you expect his favorite part of Vegas to be? The buffet, of course! This is our lovely breakfast buffet the last morning there. Oh, and this is plate #2 for the wonderful hubby.

They have the most gorgeous floral arrangements in the lobby of the hotel. Autumn colors are my favorite!

Modeling at the Quicksilver store!

Wow! Ben totally picked out this outfit and boy what a stud! I have to say that Ben is soooo hot!

There is a reason that I'm not a model, besides the whole being 5' 1''!

Ow ow! Love the kissy face on Ben. Isn't that how the girls usually pose nowadays?

The night life!

The view from our hotel was great. The Paris hotel was right across the street, and it was fun to look at the Eifel Tower each night.

The Conservatory (the garden in the middle of the hotel).

Okay, so this was trippy. The eyes of the tree would move back and forth like they were following you. And if that wasn't creepy enough, the tree would start talking out of nowhere. Weird.

A model size Belagio with little fountains. The whole conservatory smelled so good, like pumpkin spice. It totally smelled like the holidays.

Another creepy, but cool, monster tree.

Do I resemble the scarecrow? Hmmm...is that good or bad?!

Ben lounging at the pool. I wish I were back there right now!

The fun mirror room at the toy store in Ceaser's Palace. It reminds me of the 360 mirror on the show What Not To Wear. I think my outfit would have passed Stacey and Clinton's test!

Yay! The Lion King! AMAZING!!!
This was by far the coolest show I've ever seen. We loved it! All the actors moved like they were actually animals. It was really artistic. The music was wonderful. Everything was magical!

Well, Vegas had to come to an end, but we loved it there. We stayed the perfect amount of time, the weather was great, and the company was lovely!

Grandma's Cabin and Zion National Park

2009-10-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

Ben and I got to go see my parents last weekend at my grandparents' cabin in Duck Creek, UT. We had so much fun. My grandma is a game fanatic and so am I! We stayed up late playing Wizard (a card game) and Farkle (a dice game). Apparently my sister-in-law Diane renamed the dice game "Sparkle" because it sounds nicer. Farkle sounds too much like, well, fart. Haha! Too funny! We also got to play a few games of horseshoes out in the back. I don't plan on giving up my day job to compete in horseshoes any time soon, but Ben on the other hand...

Besides hanging out at the cabin, we took a day trip out to Zion National Park. That is one of the most gorgeous scenic drives. We hiked up to Emerald Pool, which was mostly just a mud hole, and Weeping Rock. The Weeping Rock constantly has water dripping from it, and supposedly the water is 1,200 years old before it drips out. My mom refuses to believe that the water is that old because scientists don't know anything, right? Instead she believes that someone is standing at the top of the rock with a hose spraying 24/7. Hmmm...makes sense! Okay, she doesn't really think that, but she kept joking about it.

Looking out over the deck of the cabin. It is really beautiful up there. It's so nice to get away in nature and not have to worry about anything!

Horseshoes!

Ben is a horseshoe master! I don't know where he learns these useless and random skills, but they provide for good entertainment. I could not throw the horseshoe anywhere close to where it was supposed to land until I discovered that I have better aim granny style. After that discovery I made FIVE ringers!

So pretty! Almost as awesome as the Grand Canyon (my favorite national park).

I felt like we were getting professional pictures taken here. We asked a random lady to do us a favor by taking our picture. She made us pose and took the picture from five different angles. She was so serious!

Weeping Rock
You can kind of see the water drops behind Ben...but not really. Just pretend because it was really pretty in real life.

We had so much fun! Thanks mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa. We loved spending the weekend with you!

Fun Memories . . .

2009-09-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

We wanted to share with everyone what we've been up to the past year or so. It has been such an exciting roller coaster ride with Ben. Even though not everything has gone as planned, especially with starting a family, we have been so blessed to spend time together. Ben is my best friend! I love sharing memories with him. In fact, when he proposed to me he said, "I can't wait to share a lifetime of making memories with you!" I feel the same way, I love creating memories with him, and there is no other person I would rather be with. Look at me getting all mushy gushy. Anyway, these are a few pictures of some things we've been doing recently. We hope you enjoy!

This was a dinner party at a friend's house. It was a murder mystery. We played the part of famous rock stars and won the best dressed award. Rock out!

We love seeing the Christmas lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. We try to go every year when we visit our families in Utah.

This was a salsa party we went to with my older brother. He came to Phoenix for a dental conference for some hispanic dental association he is a part of. Even though we had no rythm, we tried to shake it up a little!

. . . and more . . .

2009-09-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Ben LOVES food! This was at a hockey game for the Phoenix Coyotes. He was just dying to get a hotdog. Boy, that kid just can't get enough happiness from eating.

We went to the Grand Canyon with my family over Thanksgiving. It was beautiful! You can't even imagine how awesome this place is. Of course, I had to take the infamous falling off the Grand Canyon photo.

Ben coaches roller hockey at our community center. The kids love him! They call him coach Ben and they always say hi to him when we're out and about, especially the grocery store!

We went on a church retreat over the summer. It was a trek, which was a 20 mile walk over three days. We dressed up as pioneers. I wore a skirt and didn't shower for three days! Yucky, but fun!

. . . and more . . .

2009-09-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

Grandpa's retirement party! And boy was it a party. He requested to play basketball (his favorite sport) and he still has game! This is all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Notice that Ben is the TALLEST out of everyone...yes, my family is pretty short, but we love it!

Christmas with Kaye and Cal. I love my in-laws! They always do so much for us, and they are so fun to be around. Kaye is the most creative person you will meet, and Cal has such a kind heart.

Oh boy, was this fun! We went to Coke World in Atlanta. We must have drank 20 different kinds of Coke. My brother drank every flavor for a dollar (as a challenge) and threw up afterward in the parking lot. Gross!

Kissing at Christmas! And there wasn't even a mistletoe around...

Sancho! We love you. Ain't he just the cutest?! He loved playing in the snow when we visited Ben's parents during Christmas.

. . . and more . . .

2009-09-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hahaha! My family trying to reenact the Christmas story. And the Oscar goes to...Ben! He was a wisewan, and boy did he put on a performance. I also love that my dad dressed up. I was laughing so hard!

This was a Mother's Day brunch we went to with Ben's family. They are always having fun celebrations, and they love treating us to good food. Yes...THEY treated US on Mother's Day. It should have been the other way around, but we're not complaining. We love them!

Ben and I went to San Diego for my friend's wedding. I love the beach! My favorite thing is to just listen to the waves. So peaceful. This was at the tide pools. Ben almost slipped and fell in the water, oops!

Just having fun with the free bikes we checked out from the hotel. This totally brought us back to our childhood. Seriously, when is the last time you had fun on a bike?!

. . . and more!

2009-09-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

This costume party was total 70's style and we rocked the look. We were told that we looked straight out of the t.v. show That 70's Show. It was so groovy man!

My littlest brother just graduated high school and now my parents are empty nesters. I had fun going to Atlanta and seeing him achieve something so cool.

A mountain biking trip that turned a muddy nightmare! Ben works with the young men and loves it, but sometimes they wear him out! He goes on camp outs and biking trips all the time. Fun memories!

I may have won Ben as a jackpot of a husband, but we can never seem to win Megabucks when we try. Who can go to Vegas and pass up the one opportunity to become instantaneously filthy rich? That's all the gambling we do. We promise!

Because I am a high school teacher, we have the advantage of reliving prom every year. Ben looks forward to prom at the end of every school year so he can dance to the ghettolicious music that our students love. He is the life of the party!

Music to My Ears!

2009-09-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

Let's just take a moment of silence to appreciate the music that is now playing! Seriously, it took me working on this off and on all day to figure out how to get music to play on our blog. Haha! I am so not tech savy. Do they offer free classes anywhere to teach you how to use a computer?! The problem is, I'm too impatient and I just want to figure it out on my own...which I did. Boo yeah! So, enjoy the tunes.

It's Official!

2009-09-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, don't get too excited...it's just that we're booked for Vegas! Ben and I decided to splurge a little and we got a two night stay at the Belagio. Wow, fancy shmancy. We're also going to see the Lion King production. I'll be the first to say that we definitely deserve this vacation. We've been working hard!

We'll let you know how the adventure goes, and keep your fingers crossed that the penny slots will pay out!

Another Milestone!

2009-09-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

Yay! Our caseworker got all of our information turned into the state for approval, so we really are in that waiting process now. Wow! It was so weird when I told Ben because it all hit me that we could be parents as soon as November. It all comes down to timing now.

So aside from all the adoption stuff, here's what Ben and I have been up to. Ben had a crazy busy week last week! He coaches little league hockey on Monday and Tuesday nights. On Wednesday night he spent time with our church youth group all night. On Thursday we helped our good friends move, and then on Friday Ben headed out to a weekend campout with the boys at church. Haha! Ben is so not your outdoors kind of guy. They were supposed to go up to some peak and be able to reflect light off these mirrors that they made to other youth groups on different mountain peaks. It's some unity building activity. Ben couldn't find the right spot to be, even with a GPS! Oh, my bad, he couldn't use the GPS because he couldn't figure out how to turn it on. My poor husband. They gave up after two hours and headed back. Ben always gets sick after campouts, probably because he eats crap and doesn't sleep. Needless to say he was throwing up with a migraine Saturday night. He was a trooper though!

I had an exciting event last week. I got to record a training video for Petsmart. It's my third acting job this year. I was a dog groomer, and all they had for me was an extra large smock. It looked like I was wearing a dress. It was great, though. Who wouldn't take $500 for a couple hours of work?! Other than that, I've just been plugging through the rest of school. Only a week and a half left until fall break! Holla!!! We're planning on taking a trip to Las Vegas for fall break and seeing Cirque Du Soleil or another fun show. Of course we'll take our try at Megabucks!

So that's the scoop! Hopefully we'll continue to have good news along the way. We'll also keep you updated on our lives as we wait and hope. =)

The Journey Has Begun!

2009-09-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we have succombed to the infamous art of blogging! What?! Ben always calls people's blogs, "blahs". But, it really helps to have a blog that people can look at when you are trying to adopt, so here it goes. We've swallowed our pride, and we're gung ho about posting. Woo hee! We'll see how good we get at this. Should we put bets on how long it takes for Ben to make his first post. I'll put five bucks down, anyone else? Just kidding, I might need that five bucks if we get a baby soon. We'll have to do some last minute tornado shopping around Babies R Us. Apparently babies need things like a crib, carseat, diapers, ect. Who would have thought? Actually, I think Ben will fall quicker than expected this blogging business. So far he has been so totally into the process of adoption, and his attitude is so extremely positive.

Here's where we're at for now. We have all of our paperwork completed and our caseworker just came on Friday to interview us and tour our home. We failed. Just kidding! Haha, sorry we have to have some sense of humor through this or I think we would go crazy. The visit in reality went really well, and our caseworker was very encouraging about the time it would take for a birthmother to choose us for her baby. I really hope that this process can work out smoothly and quickly. We are more than ready to expand our family and begin the experience of having children. Anyway, our caseworker is going to send our paperwork to the state to get certified, and hopefully by the end of October we will be ready to go. Once we're certified, a birthmother can choose us and it's all up to the meeting of perfect timing and the perfect child that is meant to be with us.

We want to thank everyone that has been a part of this process so far. Our friends and family have been so supportive. Sorry if we have talked anyone's ears off about adopting, but it has been such a huge part of our lives for the last couple of months. It really is like a part time job getting certified and ready to adopt. We're grateful for the hard work, though, because it really does get you mentally ready. All the questions that you fill out really force you to think about how you would raise a child, what things you want for your child, where your relationship with your spouse stands, and so much more.

For those who are just finding out that we are adopting, we'll give you the lowdown on why, where, when, and how! Ben and I have been married for almost six years now...can I hear a little whoop whoop...and we started trying to have children about two years ago. I was able to get pregnant twice, but miscarried both times (in February 2008 and June 2008). We haven't been able to get pregnant again since and found ourselves feeling like we were in limbo and kind of what Ben calls a "rut". I prefer the word "routine". Haha, it sounds so much better. Routines are good right? Not that we don't love spending time together with just the two of us, but there is just a point in your marriage where you are ready for something more, and somebody more to share with. We reached the decision to adopt this June, and we have never looked back. It feels completely right, and we have no reservations about sharing a child's life. We truly believe that parenting is much more than a biological connection; it's an emotional connection filled with love, protection, and support.

Once we made the decision to adopt, we turned to LDS services. They work mainly with newborn babies, and that is our preference for our first child. We attended a seminar and were totally completely absolutely overwhelmed with all the steps you have to take in order to adopt. We kind of thought you would just sign up and choose a baby. Not so much. You first spend close to 30 hours filling out paperwork and certification documents and then you set up an online profile, get certified by the state, and wait for a courageous birth mother who loves her baby so much to choose you as parents to their beautiful child. We are excited to say that we are finally in that waiting phase, and it feels so good after working so hard.

We decided to start this blog so that our friends and family can share this journey with us, and so that prospective birthmothers can see exactly what Ben and I are all about. Please feel free to share this blog with anyone that you feel inspired to. Maybe you have other friends that are adopting that would like some support by reading about another's journey. Maybe you know someone that was adopted and they could gain comfort by reading how much effort their parents must have put into finding them and how much joy their parents must have recieved once they found them. Whoever you feel can benefit through following our journey, we encourage you to share our story with them.

And now with the best of attitudes and much enthusiasm we say, "let the adventure begin!"