THE GRONEMANS

HALLOWEEN

2011-11-09T11:52:00.000-08:00

It's a little late to be blogging about Halloween, but I'm behind on blogging anyway so why not keep a tradition going? :)

This year we had a great Halloween! We started off the Halloween season visiting the pumpkin patch. Ashlyn loved seeing all the pumpkins and Bret loved showing her around. A couple weeks later Bret, Ashlyn, and I carved pumpkins, went trunk-or-treating at our ward party, trick-or-treating at Midwestern, and then trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.
Ashlyn made quite a steal with all the candy she got! I should probably mention she shares it quite well too. At first she couldn't figure out why the candy was going into her bucket instead of her hands, but she quickly learned she'd get a lot more if she kept it in the bucket.

Our Cute Little Lady Bug

TRICK-or-TREAT

She's so excited Can't you tell?!

TRUNK-or-TREAT

This is Ashlyn's classic face when taking pictures. She hates pictures!

When we do get an "on purpose" smile it usually looks like this.

Fun Night of Carving Pumpkins

Really, do I have to wear these Mom?

The Pumpkin Patch

They Grow Too Fast!

2011-01-26T13:29:00.000-08:00

It's January 29th, which means in a few more days Ashlyn will be 10 months old. I can't believe it.

Babies are so smart and are so interested in learning new things. I knew babies developed quickly, but now that I have my own child it's amazing to see how much they really do learn in such a short amount of time.

In the past 10 months Ashlyn has gone from doing nothing, to scooting with their head, to crawling, to walking (see video below). She's finally talking a little bit saying "buh bye" and "hi." She'll say "ba" for her bottle sometimes. We're still working on her saying mama and dada in the right context. But it's amazing to me what these little babies can learn to do in such a short amount of time. She loves figuring things out. She gives nice slobbery kisses and loves soft things. If she finds somethings soft, she cuddles and smothers it to death. Right now she's not much into reading. We try to read to her and she throws the book on the floor. It's kind of funny. Maybe we should read to her more so she gets used to it. Isn't it amazing that they already know what they want and don't want this young?

Ashlyn is also in a copying phase now days. She likes to copy the actions and sounds we make. She's also learning that for every action there is a reaction. Let's just say she enjoys her toys that turn on and off a lot more now than she used to.

As far as her personality she's so sweet but so opinionated. She also loves to be around people and isn't afraid of strangers. She cares less if Bret and I are around. She's just fine playing and being on her own. She is so independent and determined. If she has her sight set on something you better believe she's going to figure out how to get it. I hope we can steer her determination in a positive way.

Ashlyn Walking

It's Just Ashlyn

2010-11-10T14:14:00.001-08:00

Ashlyn is 7 months now and is growing up so fast! She is developing quite the personality, and I can't describe it other than "It's Just Ashlyn."

She's learned how to crawl and is now all over the place. But it's not with her hands and feet. It's with her head and feet. We call it her "carpet burn crawl." For some reason she's decided she can get around faster doing it that way. The amazing thing is she knows exactly how far she needs to go before running into the item she's after (like the computer in the first video). She does know how to crawl normally, which is in the second video, but her crawling specialty is with her head and feet.

Carpet Burn:

Crawiling

4 Months

2010-09-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Ashlyn at 4 months.

3 1/2 MONTHS

2010-05-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

(I wrote this last month and just never posted it, so it's a little late but I'm posting it now.)

Ashlyn is 3 1/2 months old and has grown up so much! She's a lot more interactive. I'm loving it!

She's alert, smiles, rolls over, grabs things, sleeps through the night, and she's growing out of all her clothes. She’s mesmerized by lights, especially the computer and television. We make sure to mix in a few books here and there so she doesn’t get too addicted to the TV. It's bittersweet that she's growing up.

Overall she's a great baby and extremely easy to please when she is upset. Bret and I are really lucky!!

Over the span of Ashlyn's 3 months alive we've been to Utah twice. She's been on an airplane more than I had by age 22. Lucky her!! She's been sick twice as well, once with the flu that lasted only a day and now she has a cold. She's been a good sport through it all, but apparently I need to a better job of keeping the germs away.

Ashlyn loves her bath. She will spend as long as she can splashing in the water. She looks like a jelly fish as she splashes around and her long hair wades back and forth in the waterJ She also enjoys swimming. We haven't been much, but when we do go it calms her right down and she likes being in the water.

Overall she's a great baby and extremely easy to please when she is upset. Bret and I are really lucky!!

These pictures are from the last 3 1/2 months. It amazes me how much she's changed.Overall she's a great baby and extremely easy to please when she is upset. Bret and I are really lucky!!

Welcome Home Ashlyn

2010-04-27T14:38:00.001-07:00

It's been over a month since Ashlyn was born, and it's finally time to update the blog before too much more time goes by. These pictures are of Ashlyn coming home. She arrived home Sunday, April 4, 2010.

One of Ashlyn's final days in the hospital

Her first car seat experience

The final steps to Ashlyn's arrival

Ashlyn's first surprise (a welcome home poster) from a cute neighbor boy. Ashyn and Zane sitting in a tree..(:

Since Ashlyn was our Easter gift we couldn't help but put her into our Easter Basket

We're so blessed to have her in our life!

2010-04-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a long post, so if you're interested in the pictures...they will be at the bottom. The text is mostly for me so I remember what happened.

Ashlyn Kaye Groneman finally joined our family April 1, 2010. It's no joke - she was born on her due date. Just about everyone who knows me well knows I love April Fool's day, but this year Ashlyn played the joke on me. It took 4 days for her to arrive. But it was worth it and we're so blessed to have received this miracle in our lives.

Labor:
Monday, March 29th I had my doctors appointment. He had me get an ultrasound and the baby was measuring big at 8 lbs. 7 oz. He told me there was a spot open at the hospital, and I could get induced that night if I wanted.

I was hesitant because I wanted things to happen naturally - even if I did go a week over. But the doctor said everything was developed and the baby would only keep getting bigger. This scared Bret and I so we decided induction would be the best way to go. This was completely unexpected and there was so much to do before I went in. I had to finalize things at work, so I went in until 3 to finish things up. Then I came home and Bret and I got things ready to go. At 7 :00 pm we were called in to the hospital. We were so excited to be on our way to have our little girl. I got to the hospital and they started the induction process around 10 pm. A few hours later I started feeling contractions every 2-3 minutes, but I wasn't progressing at all. The nurse and doctor explained that the baby was contracting, but it was like she was banging into a rock. So, around 1:30 pm on Tuesday I was sent home. I had no idea you could be sent home from an induction. Needless to say Bret and I were pretty dissapointed and exhausted from that night.The doctor made an appointment for us to come back Wednesday night between 7 pm and 5am Thursday morning. But I was called in earlier than I thought at 4:30 pm Wednesday. I headed to the hospital for round 2. They started me around 6 pm, and a few hours later I was contracting every 2-3 minutes again. They were big contractions, and I was finally progressing very slowly. Around 4:30 am they gave me an epidural and started giving me the pitocin. I am so grateful for the epidural invention. I don't know if I would've surived without it. My contractions were so much better!

Around 7 :30 am the doctor came in and broke my water, and By that afternnoon I was feeling pain in my back so the anesthesiologist gave me more medicine, and it helped a little, but not entirely. I was finally dialated to a 7 according to the nurse, and then I started feeling really sick and threw up. This apparently made the baby's heartbeat go crazy so the nurse had to stop the pitocin for a few hours to get the baby's heartbeat back to normal. Luckily it worked and we were both okay. The nurse said that episode I had finally dialated me to an 8. I was very happy to hear that since I had been there 24 hours already. Soon after the nurse told me that, the doctor came in and said I was only dialated to 5, maybe 6. This made no sense, and I was once again dissapointed I hadn't progressed much - in fact I degressed. (I soon learned nurses are more optimistc and try to keep the patient calm, while the doctors are more straight forward.) Around 5 pm I started on the potossin again and the contractions started heavily again, but thanks to the epidural I only felt back pain. When the doctor came back in to check on me around 8:30 pm I was still only dialated to 5, maybe 6 so he suggested doing a c-section, and we could have our baby within the next 45 minutes. He explained because of all the contractions my muscles were getting weaker and weaker, and the baby was getting beat up. He said the main concern is for us to get the baby out healthy and to keep me healthy. I was already running a fever so we decided to do it. We were ready for our little girl to come, and I couldn't handle the pain anymore.

Within the next half hour the Anesthesiologist came in and numbed me from my chest down. I don't remember much after that. All I know is soon I was wheeled into the operating room where they were going to deliver ou baby. Like I said I don't remember much, I just remember that about 5 minutes after they started my surgery a miracle occured and we had a little girl. So amazing!

After all was said and done, we found out it was a good thing we had the c-section because the baby wasn't decending. She was stuck on my sacrum (the butt bone) and not decending. I most likely would've had to have a c-section anyway. (No wonder my back was hurting so bad (: )

Like I said the joke was on me since it took 4 days - until April 1st - for this baby to come. But, it was all worth it!! We're lucky to have such a healthy, cute little girl.

Choosing a Name
Throughout my pregnancy we were always asked, "what are you going to name her" and we honestly didn't know. We had some ideas, but we knew once we saw her we'd know what to name her. This didn't really happen, but we were able to narrow it down to a couple names. The final 2 in the running were "Camryn" and "Ashlyn." We were totally set on Camryn but to make a long story short the pediatrician basically changed our minds and we went with the name we had all along - Ashlyn. I didn't think so at first, but that name definitely fits her now. :)

Ashlyn Kaye Groneman
What a blessing in our lives! She is the cutest little thing and we love being with her. She's super girly and cuddly. She's always crossing her little legs and holding her hands up to her face. I think that's how she sat in my stomach. Also, I rarely felt her move in stomach, and now I know why...she is perfectly content sitting without moving. I know all of this will change soon, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts. We love dressing her up and playing around with her hair. It's so long we could make a very little pony tail. She's absolutely perfect! Below are some pictures of her at the hospital and when we're coming home.

At the Hospital

Bret Scrubbed Up

Our Little Angel

1 More Week

2010-03-26T09:57:00.001-07:00

This is more of a post for my records. Read if you'd like, but there's nothing interesting or of great importance in this post. It's just a rant of my feelings.

I can't take it anymore. Although I have a week left until my due date, I want our little girl (I'm still going to refer to her as Brue.) to get here and I want her here now! Time seems to be dragging on forever. Can't time go any faster?! She really seems to be content in my stomach, and unfortunately it doesn't look like things will change any time soon. I just really hope she doesn't come late. I don't know how much longer I can take it. Alright, enough with my complaining. I guess she'll come when she's ready. And my sister-in-law put it in perspective for me when she said she won't feel bad for me until I'm still pregnant a week after my due date. So, I shouldn't be complaining yet since most people go late with their first pregnancy. :)

On the upside - Brue isn't here yet, which means more time to prepare and get ready for her (ex: picking a name for her). I'm definitely taking my time with this aspect. I haven't really had a nesting moment that lasted more than a night yet, so things are coming along slowly but surely. Luckily, Bret is going through a little nesting period so things are getting taken care of. And fortunately, we have all the physical things she will need thanks to our great friends and family members who came to my shower and/or gave us gifts for Brue. Everything helped tremendously! She is one spoiled girl already. Bret and I can't say thanks enough for this support and the gifts we received from you all. I finally feel prepared to have a baby thanks to everyone. We've been blessed with some amazing people in our lives!!

The only problem is now...how are we going to raise this child? I'm a little nervous. Hopefully we can figure it out. One of our friends loaned us the book Baby Wise, so maybe I should start with reading that and go from there. I here it helps tremendously.

Alright, I'm done writing about my feelings. I just hope this little girl gets here soon. We can't wait!! :)

Life

2010-02-23T17:00:00.000-08:00

This is for my own journal keeping. So don't feel like you have to keep reading. I'm a little behind in the updating area so I decided it's time to catch up on and record the major things that have been going on in our lives since Thanksgiving. Wow, I have a lot of back tracking to do.

1. Bret's parents came down Nov. 15th and stayed until the 21st. We played a lot of cards, ate, and just relaxed. We had a great time so I'm hoping they did too. I also got one of the best pedicures of my life and Bret had fun golfing with his dad and brother. It's always nice having them down here. They're so fun to be with, and we love visitors!

2. Thanksgiving - My family made the trek to Arizona for Thanksgiving. It was so fun having them here. They were here Nov. 25th - 29th. Thanksgivng would have been so boring and pointless if they weren't here. We would have been eating Ramen Noodles for our Thanksgiving dinner. :) Luckily my mom helped me prepare my first Thanksgiving meal and I think it turned out pretty well. We hung out the rest of Thanksgiving day and looked through the ads. We began making plans for BLACK FRIDAY, which is tradition in my family. We had a long, but fun night ahead of us.

Black Friday - Bret and my brother Tyler went to the mall at Midnight to shop and to pass time while the rest of us slept until 2:30 am. Wal-Mart was our first stop since it opened at 3 am. We scoped it out, and then we left Bret and my dad to wait in the GPS & DS lines. The rest of us departed to Kohl's, which opened at 4, and then returned to Wal-Mart to check out the DS and GPS (which started at 5). It's good we had 6 of us, or we would've been stuck at every store for hours. I got in the check out line at Wal-Mart and was one of the first people so we were in and out in about 10 minutes. Not bad timing at all. After Wal-Mart, Bret, dad, and my brothers went to Sports Authority while my mom and I made the trek to Home Depot (both opened at 6 am). Once again we pulled off the line trick, one person grabs the item while the other waits in the check out line. After Sports Authority and Home Depot we made 1 final stop at Staples. After Staples we decided it was time to eat and then go to bed. We ate at the Black Bear Diner. Then, we all came home and crashed. It was a long, but exciting night. I can't wait until next year. :)

After we woke up, we went to the movie Blind Side. What an excellent movie! Later that night we traveled to the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights, and they were beautiful. On the way we stopped at "Organ Stop Pizza" and ate. I would reccomend trying Organ Stop Pizza at least once if you come to Arizona. It's a pretty cool place to eat.

Saturday we watched the BYU v. Utah game, played tennis, and swam later that night. I beat my 17 year old brother - and don't worry...I was 4 1/2 months pregnant. He'll never live that down! :) Sunday morning my family left. Our fun time was over. We weren't going to have visitors for awhile.

It's a good thing we will be the visitors in UT next Month!

Calling all Mothers (or Fathers)

2010-01-31T20:25:00.000-08:00

Our little girl will be here in less than 2 months and as we prepare for her arrival we are looking for things that our baby will need. As first time parents it's hard to know, with all the baby stuff available, what she really needs.

So, this is where your help comes in. Thanks to a friend's advice, I've decided to conduct a small survey to see what is 1 thing you can't live without when you have a baby. I know we need a car seat, crib, and stroller, but what else is a necessity? What brands would you recommend, etc. I seriously have no idea what to get and it just overwhelms me. Your help would be greatly appreciated! :)

The Holidays

2010-01-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

I know the holiday season has already come and gone...awhile ago....but since I'm a slacker at blogging and journaling my life, I'm going to catch up now. :)

I love the month of December because it's one big party all month long. I get to celebrate my birthday, Christams, and New Years. And this year was especially good.

Before My Birthday
It all started the week before my birthday with Bunko. Val hosted Bunko and being as thoughtful as she is she surprised me with my favorite cake...ice cream cake...and gave me a card that everyone had signed. I wasn't expecting anyone to know about my birthday, but I got 12 birthday wishes and a couple presents a week before my birthday. It definitely made my week! Then a few days later Julie and Lisa took me out for a birthday lunch. It was delicious and I had a great time with them. So, thank you everybody for everything. You have no idea how grateful I am.

On My Birthday
Well, my birthday was on a Wednesday and it was a pretty uneventful day because I worked and then Bret had to study all night for his test the next day. All the calls and cards and wishes I got definitely made my day a lot better! I'm terrible at remembering people's birthday, so I really appreciate everyone who called me.

After My Birthday: B-day Gift
Bret surprised me for my birthday and said he was taking me to Vegas that weekend. So, Friday afternoon we hopped in the car and made our way to Vegas. It was a fun, short trip and a good get away. We got to our hotel, Circus Circus, pretty late (for us) and walked around the hotel for a bit and then we went to bed. Saturday we slept in, shopped, ate, and then walked the strip that night. Vegas is an amazing place. It's so dirty, yet everything is so elaborate inside the hotels and so nice. But what made the trip even more fun is that we found out Mckell and Joseph, my brother and sister-in-law, were in Vegas that weekend too. Unfortuneately We didn't get to see them until later Saturday night, about 9:30, and that's when Bret and I were ready to call it quits. Can you believe it...10:00 we call it quits in Vegas. My feet were killing me and Bret's hip was hurting. Man we must be getting old! But it was fun seeing Mckell and Joseph even if it was for a short time.

Christmas Break in UT
A few days after we got back from Vegas it was time to head to Utah. We didn't get there until the night of the 23rd. Which, was luckily just in time for Bret to watch the Utah Bowl game with his brothers and dad. Luckily Utah won so it was a good night for all.

We were quite busy in Utah, but it was a good busy and we had a great time. We went to some amazing family parties, had 2, 3D ultrasounds, shopped, and got to see some friends. We weren't there long so we didn't get to do everything we wanted, but it was fun being back in the snow despite the cold.

The 3-D Ulutrasound
One of the most amazing things we did while in Utah was get an attempted 3D ultrasound of our little Bruschetta. And yes, I mean attempted.

One of my good friends has access to an ultrasound machine and was nice enough to let us come in and see our baby. My poor friend wasted a lot of her time because Brue was turned to where you couldn't get a good shot, and she wouldn't move no matter what I did. I tried jumping up and down, walking around, and just about everything you can think of. After a little more than a half hour Brue still wasn't moving so she told me I could come in the next day.

So I go in the next day and little Brue is still in the same position she was the day before. She didn't want to turn. She must be camera shy and apparently likes snuggling into my rib cage face down. After another 20 minutes of trying to get her to move, she almost turned around, but then turned right back around to how she was. After a half hour had passed I was about to leave when Lindsay decided to try 1 more time. Luckily it worked!

Brue had flipped and stay put. We were just about to get a good profile shot when Brue pulled her hands across her face so once again we couldn't get a good shot. After awhile she finally moved her hand down a little bit, but then she kicked her legs up. She did not want to be photographed! We waited a little longer and Brue finally moved her foot for a minute. Thanks to my friend's patience we were able to get a few good shots. They're not great, but we'll take what we get. I really owe my friend a lot for the time she spent helping us!! Thanks!

Some updates

2009-11-22T21:21:00.000-08:00

We finally moved and we love it at our new place! Our apartment stays cool, it has new carpet, and best of all it doesn't smell like smoke. :) Also, we finally have internet again, so I guess I can't use that as an excuse for not blogging anymore. It's fun to be in a new place and live so close to some great friends and family. Speaking of great friends and family we want to say thanks to Brady, (Bret's brother) the Iron Man, who helped Bret move most of our stuff. I got a phone call at work saying that Bret and Brady had rented a truck and moved most everything. I was definitely amazed. Also, thanks to Matt Harmon and Zach VanDyke for helping us on a mintues notice with the truck and your moving skills.

On another note, since we live so far away from friends and family in Utah, I don't get to show off my attractive baby belly to them.

Okay, so maybe it's not so attractive, but here it is. In the first picture I'm 18 weeks and in the second picture I'm 22 weeks.

IT'S A GIRL

2009-11-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

I know I've been a slacker at this whole blogging thing, but this time I actually have an excuse - our internet isn't working. We should finally have internet again when we move next week , but I couldn't wait that long to share the following good news so I'm using the school's computer.

We're going to have a little girl join our family April 1, 2010 and we're really excited!

For the majority of my 18 week pregnancy I was convinced we were having a boy since boys seem to be the dominant gene in both Bret's and mine families. But as my ultrasound appointment got closer I decided it was a girl. I've been telling myself that I thought it was a girl because of the "mother's intuition" that you hear about, but the truth is I just wanted to contradict Bret and since he thought it was a boy, I guessed girl. And look who ended up winnning the guessing contest....me! It was a sweet, sweet day of victory. Okay, so it was nice winning but for reals it was a sweet day because we actually knew a little girl would be joining our family and we couldn't be happier! The ultrasound technician said that she was "really fast" and she was having a hard time getting a picture of her. That made Bret happy because now he thinks he has an athletic girl. Little does he know that she was just moving because of all the orange juice I drank before the appointment. Also, during the ultrasound the baby was punching and kicking me. At least that's what it looked like. Is it a bad thing my baby and I are already fighting? Hopefully it isn't a sign of things to come. Anyway, we're so happy to have a baby girl come into our family. She's healthy and everything seems to be going great. Let the shopping and floods of pink colors begin!

The Beginning of Year 2

2009-08-31T12:19:00.000-07:00

So 2 posts in 2 days from me, wow! I'm impressing myself. Let's see how long I keep this up. =)

As most of you know Bret started his second year of school today, which is so crazy! The new school year also means that we've lived in AZ for a year. I guess the saying is true...time does fly by when you're having fun. Anyways, it was fun seeing Bret in his scrubs and getting back into the grind of things again. Since I don't have kids or kids old enough to take pictures of the first day of school, I made Bret take his picture. I'm sure he's embarrassed I'm posting this, but too bad, so sad, I'm doing it anyway!

Summer of 2009

2009-08-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

I spent the first part of the summer in Arizona working and hanging out with some friends while Bret studied for his boards. The weather was surprisingly nice here in AZ during June, but then we went to Utah for a week during July 4th, came back and it was 118 degrees. YIKES!! So, while in Utah we really partied up the 4th! Here was our exciting day: We slept out the night before the Freedom Festival parade so we could have a spot. It made for a fun, long night. Luckily we had Colby, Blaike, and Madison there to entertain us! And my mom and dad gave us some food. At 6 that morning Bret went golfing with his dad, brothers, and cousins. After that we hit the annual Ross picnic for lunch, which was fun like usual, and then made our way to the annual Rayburn 4th of July party, which was a "blast" with lots of fireworks and delicious food. Needless to say it was a good trip and we definitely gained a few pounds with all the good food :) Oh yeah, while in Utah we also hiked Timpanogos Cave. Neither of us hiked it before, so we really enjoyed it.

We made our way back to AZ and Bret was busy studying. Then July 30th rolled around and Bret's boards were finally over! I wasn't working anymore so we made our way to Utah for 3 weeks. It was a fun, relaxing break. It was so great to see family and friends again!

We did too many fun things to list them all, but here are some of the major highlights of our trip (of course the main highlight was seeing everyone again!)

Highlights

1. Seeing Brandon open his mission call to Washington DC...congrats Brandon!!
2. Brent and Amy's wedding
3. Crystal and John's wedding
4. The Demolition Derby in Nephi - it was so fun seeing these old clunkers run into each other

5. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

6. Fishing with the Gronemans. I caught my very first fish! The best part was that I didn't have to touch it thanks to Bret and his Dad.

7. Going to a cabin near Park City for a few days with my family - The only pictures we took were at a nearby resevoir where we went rafting.

8. Bret really enjoyed golfing in Utah and went a lot.

9. Last , but not least, Timpanogos Cave

Life

2009-05-01T22:02:00.001-07:00

Bret is studying and I'm really bored so I thought I'd blog about the random stuff going on in our life right now.

As most of you know we were planning on going to Canada for the summer to sell security systems but at the last minute our plans drastically changed. We decided not to go and Bret decided to join the National Guard instead. The National Guard offered a pretty sweet deal (hopefully it doesn't change)we just couldn't resist.
Now that we're staying in Arizona things seem to be working out better and it seems like we're supposed to be here.

Out of the blue the temp agency I work for called. With this temp agency I'm with you're supposed to call a couple times per week to keep your name on top of the "list." I hadn't called the agency for about a month and a half, but then out of the blue I got a call and they offered me a temporary job for 1 week. Unfortuneatley I couldn't do it because I had other obligations during that week.
I thought my chances were ruined because I passed up a job opportunity, but the next morning I got a call from the Temp Agency and they gave me an assignment that paid better and could possibly go through June. I just sort through paperwork, but hey it's a job and someone's got to do it :)

April

2009-04-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

April has been a crazy but fun month. We've had some life changing plans, family in town, and we took a little trip to St. George/Zions.

Bret's family
The first week of April Bret's parents came into town. While they were here we carried on the same great traditions as usual. Some of our favorites include golfing and shopping. While the boys golf, the girls shop. It's quite fun. Another tradition is pedicures. This is Bri's favorite thing since it's so relaxing. Also, we know we're always going to eat well when they're here. Since Bret and I love our food, this was one of the best parts as well.
Although we loved doing these things, our favorite part during their visit was when they spent a night with us. We loved having company! We played a few intense games of Rummikub and talked for a bit. They were so fun to have around. Thanks mom and dad for coming to Arizona and making our week great!

St. George
After Bret's parents left we made our way to St. George where we met up with some of our "Utah friends" for some hiking, relaxation and good times.
On our way to St. George we got stuck in traffic for two hours at Hoover dam. Instead of driving the 6 hours it was supposed to take, we drove 8 hours. We arrived in St. George at 9:45 pm, which was just in the knick of time to hit Cafe Rio before it closed. It tasted so good and we were so happy we made it in time.
After Cafe rio we checked into our "classy" hotel the Cornoda Inn and Suites where we finally met up with our friends. It was so fun to see everyone again. Saturday morning we woke up to freezing cold rain and after some discussion decided to go to Zions despite the freezing weather. Saturday night we went swimming and hot tubbing. It was so fun! Sunday morning we packed up and left. Even though it was a short trip it definitely was worth going to see everyone again. We loved it. Thanks Steph and Trent for planning it.

Bri's Family
Before heading out of St. George we went to the St. George Temple for a few minutes. It is a beautiful temple! After we left the temple we drove to Hurricane to meet up with my mom and brothers (Tyler and Colby) who were on their way to visit us in Arizona. We then caravaned home. It was fun to have my family here. We played a lot of tennis, went swimming, relaxed, shopped, and went out to eat a few times. I had the chance to go to th Mesa Temple and perfom baptisms for the dead with my family. It was so neat to get to do that again.

Throughout the week our apartment got smaller and smaller as Trisha and Nate and dad showed up, but somehow there was enough room for 8 of us to sleep. Thanks everyone for coming down!! We loved having you guys here and hope you come back soon!!

Mesa Temple

Texas Roadhouse Birthday Celebration

Bret's Sim Lab
Claim Jumper - is that Harry Potter in background?!

An Update

2009-03-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

So I've been a slacker at this blogging thing lately so I decided it was time for an update. Not much has happened since I last blogged, but the higlights are definitely my trip to San Diego and the disgusting pursuit of the best mustache in Bret's dental class.

California
The first of March Bret was nice enough to let me go to San Diego with my mom, sister, and grandmother. My aunt lives there and invited us to come down and stay with her and her 4 kids while my uncle was out of town. The weather was nice while we were there, but it definitely wasn't beach weather. In fact, most of the time we walked around the house with rice bags on our hands and feet. My grandmother even took her rice bag out of the house. It was pretty funny, especially since they're from Utah where it was in the 30s and San Diego was in the 60s.

Despite the weather we had a good time. We didn't really do much, but it was fun just hanging out with family. We got the opportunity to spend a lot of one-on-one time with my 4 cute cousins because my Aunt had appendicitis and was in the hospital and couldn't really move. Her kids are super cute. We went minature golfing one day and took a walk to the park. Alexis and Jackson, the two oldest, had a run-a-thon the day we left so we got to see them run. I even got to run with Jackson, which was pretty neat. That's basically my trip in a nutshell. It was a nice little vacation. Thanks Angie! (I will get more pictures soon)

Mustache March

Much to my dismay Bret's dental class declared the month of March as "Mustache March" The name is pretty self explanatory. Bret's always trying to find excuses to grow his facial hair and so he became really excited when he "had" to grow a mustache for school. Luckily I was gone for some of the growing out stage, but unfortuneately I didn't miss the Harley Davidson stache he shaved the other week. To his credit it turned out pretty good, but you can be the judge.

February

2009-02-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

After we moved here and Bret wasn't required to shave for work, he started growing a beard. He definitely looks good with facial hair, but I like a clean shaven face better. So, after 6 months of facial hair, he surprised me and cut it. It's so good to finally see the face of the man I married again!! I love it. I doubt it will last long, but it's nice and smooth for awhile. Whoohoo!! (Bret does not want to be caught on camera so this is the closest I could get to a picture of what he looks like.)

This picture was taken at the amazing Valentine's Dinner Party we attended. Let me explain this party. Our friend Megan Armstrong put it on, and it was the perfect party. Every last detail was taken care of. The decorations were so cute. She made cute little nametags to put by our seats. The food was awesome. And she had the bar set-up with margarita and Pina Coloda mixes. During dinner we had background music, and the music had each couples' song on it. There were about 18 couples. Then we each got a CD of the background music to take home at the end of the night. To make the night even better, each girl got a rose with her initial to take home. It was a fun night and I'm thankful we were able to share it with friends. Thanks Megan!!

Go Suns!

2009-02-07T20:57:00.000-08:00

Our conversion to the local sports teams continues. We had the opportunity to go to the Phoenix Suns game last Monday and had a blast even though our tickets were on the very last row. Luckily right after half-time we were able to sit on the sixth row by Todd and Ashley. It made a huge difference! Thanks guys!! The Suns ended up killing the Kings, but it was still fun to be in the atmosphere and see Shaq and Steve Nash up close!!

Do you see the wall behind us? Yeah, that's called the very top row

We received the opportunity to take pictures of the whole arena

Our seats were so high we got nose bleeds

6 Rows above the Kings Bench - that's what I would call good seats!

Thanks to our slow camera we got a pic of both Shaq and Nash

The Bret and Bri Show

2009-02-03T22:41:00.000-08:00

A Football Season To Remember

2009-01-23T20:03:00.001-08:00

It was a great year to be a University of Utah fan (Bret) and a great year to become a University of Utah fan (Bri). Bri finally saw the light and switched from blue to red. Well, mostly red with a little bit of blue. We enjoyed the historic undefeated 13-0 season and even though we were in Arizona, we watched every game! We were able to see one game in person though, and it just happened to be the one that mattered most :) And being in Arizona, we got to see a game that Utah just couldn't offer. The Fiesta Bowl!! Needless to say, it was a great football year and hopefully our Cardinals can cap it off with a Super Bowl win! That's right, OUR Cardinals. We've officially joined the bandwagon.

Bri sure does look good in Utah RED!

Utes getting ready to clinch another BCS game

Scoreboard says it all

One happy guy enjoying the celebration

At the Fiesta Bowl. O-H-I-O. Go Buckeyes.

Pretty good seats if you ask me

Action shot of Texas

Action shot of Ohio State

What Should Have Been Your Christmas Gift

2009-01-19T11:37:00.000-08:00

I know it's way past Christmas, but I wanted to remember how ridiculous our first Christmas gift attempt was. We were supposed to make carmel apples like the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory carmel apples to give to our friends, but none of them got one because I totally messed up the caramel and the chocolate. The pictures pretty much tell the story.

Yeah, the carmel was supposed to be ON the apples The flimsy sucker sticks bent when we put them in the apples How in the world does chocolate split in half and crack? The rest of the apples that didn't even get a chance for chocolate Needless to say, all the apples, chocolate or no chocolate, were tossed into the trash can.

The Mesa Temple Christmas Lights

2008-12-19T09:59:00.000-08:00

On December 18, Bret and I went to the Mesa Temple to see its Christmas lights with Brady and Sarah, our brother and sister-in-law. It was cold, but it was fun!

Before arriving, we weren't expecting much, just a few lights. But it turned out to be pretty cool. It was like a miniature Temple Square, except with fruit and palm trees. The temple did an awesome job decorating!

The Entrance
By the Lake

Bret, Brady, and Kade

Kade did not want to take a picture. Luckily Brady did

Very good Bret...it's a Christmas tree

The Mesa Temple

Bret's White Coat Ceremony

2008-12-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

Bret's White Coat Ceremony turned out to be nice and short. It only lasted an hour and half which is a lot shorter than we thought. He officially has a white coat now!

Bret receiving the coveted white coat

Dean Simonsen Congratulating Bret

Bret with the Dean and Assistant Dean - and of course his good friend Todd Bret with his Dental School Friends

Bri Congratulating Bret

Our First Christmas

2008-12-07T23:44:00.000-08:00

When I told Bret I wanted a Christmas tree for our first Christmas together he half-jokingly rolled his eyes and said, "Oh boy, are you serious Bri?!" I told him of course and convinced him the tree would be an investment for years to come. It didn't need to be big and didn't need many decorations. It would just be something Christmasy to have in our home.

He finally agreed with me and we made our way to Target to buy our first Christmas decoration, a tree. After Target we came home and took it out of the box. We started spreading the branches out and eventually we both had a good time trying to set-it up.

Here are some pictures to describe how the set-up went:

At first Bret wasn't too happy.

I was maybe a little too excited. In the end we both ended up enjoying our first Christmas tree.