We love our families!

We have had such a fun summer so far! I have been really bad at updating our blog so sorry to the two people that read it. I am just going to list the things that I haven't updated lately as well as post a zillion pictures to document it. To start off, we moved 2 months ago to a new house and we absolutley love it! It is twice the size of our last apartment and cheaper rent. Kayla turned two years old! She is getting so big and so smart and we love her so much. She makes us laugh every single day. I had a birthday as well. Brandon planned a surprise party for me which I had always told him that if he ever did that he would die! It ended up being really fun though and I was glad he did it. Both my family as well as Brandon's family drove out here for a week each and we were able to spend some time with them. We spent some time in Nauvoo when each family was visiting. We feel so lucky to have Nauvoo so close to us. We also got family pictures taken two months ago which I have just been too lazy (or busy) to post.



Kayla on her 2nd birthday. It is also the day we moved to our new house so there are boxes everywhere.

Me on my birthday!

All the friends that showed up for the party. The reason I told Brandon he better never throw me a party was because I always figured no one would show up. We had a great turnout though and I'm so grateful for all the friends that helped Brandon make the day so special.

Kayla and her Aunt Abby when she came to visit. Abby is 3 months older than Kayla and they are best friends.

Carthage Jail with the Egbert family next to the window where the prophet Joseph Smith fell.

Brandon's cute family

My cute little girls were pooped out from all the sight seeing.

Kayla at the lake. She loved the water!

Brandon's siblings Ali, Ashley, and Kaleb.

Mississippi River

Walking the Trail of Hope

My family in Nauvoo

Carthage Jail, outside the window where the prophet fell.

We were able to go to the Nauvoo Pageant with my family which was wonderful! We were rained on the entire time! They had fun pioneer activities before the pageant started. Jared and Brandon are pulling me and Kayla.

My family copying Brandon's family.

Tessa being a little cutie pie

Kayla at the lake with my family

This is the only picture I have with Kayla's real smile. It is so hard to get her to smile for pictures. She always does a fake smile that is pretty, but doesn't really look like her. I'm so happy I finally have one that shows just how beautiful she is!

Congratulations Garret and Andrea!

My little bro is getting married! I am so happy for him! For 31/2 years now Brandon and I have been the only ones married out of our siblings and FINALLY someone is joining us. He is marrying Andrea Forsyth from Spokane, Washington. The cute couple met at BYU and are getting married August 14th. My family just loves Andrea to death! I haven't gotten to know her as well as everyone else because we live so far away, but I really like what I do know and that is that Garrett is so in LOVE. Andrea, you are a lucky girl! Garrett is going to be the best husband! Garrett is a lucky guy too! We didn't think he would ever get such a pretty girl! Just kidding Garrett.

1/4 of the way done!

Congratulations Brandon for finishing your first year of medical school! I know this is a little late, but I just want you to know how proud I am of you and I'm so thankful for how hard you work. This year was not easy for you, in fact it was probably the hardest of your life so far, but I know it will be worth it in the end and you are the best!

Life With Two Children

Life with two kids has been great! I worried how I would handle it and if it would be too stressful. There are stressful moments, but overall it is very easy! Kayla loves Tessa so much and is always trying to help me. She is quick to give her a binky when she is sad and showers her with kisses. Sometimes I worry for Tessa's safety because Kayla loves her so much. I am just crossing my fingers that one of the times that Kayla gives her an affectionate hug she doesn't crack one of Tessa's ribs or something. Tessa has been such an easy baby to take care of. She has been sleeping somewhere between 5-7 hour stretches at night and she is so happy and pleasant every day. I don't mean for this post to be a brag post, I am just vocalizing my thankfullness and my blessings. There are definately some difficult moments and sometimes some difficult entire days, but overall my life is so much better with this new addition and I am so thankful to have two beautiful little girls.


Kayla loves her cute friend Kallie. They have so much fun together.
We went to the park and Kayla had fun throwing rocks into the pond. Brandon and I would find the rocks and then she would throw them in.

Brandon with his two little girls. He photographs very tired looking. He is very tired actually because he stays up until 2 or 3:00 a.m. every day. Poor guy!

17 Again!

I have a new favorite movie! Some friends and I had a girls night out and saw the movie 17 Again. It is so funny and entertaining. Zac Efron did a great job. Somehow the movie demoted our maturity level about 10 levels. We felt like we were 17 again and then next thing we knew we were cruising around in my friend's mini van singing and dancing to music and acting like teenagers. We went to Walmart and discovered that they don't like it when you climb into the shopping carts. Jessica found that out the hard way :) It was such a fun evening and the funniest part about it was that no one observing us would have guessed that we all were mothers.

Welcome Tessa Rose

We finally welcomed the 4th member of our family on Saturday March 14th. Tessa Rose was born at 2:59 p.m. weighed 7 lbs 5 oz, 20 1/2 inches long. She has been so much fun! The labor went well. From start to finish it was 4 1/2 hours long and I only had to push for 4 minutes. Kayla loves her little sister. It is a bit of an adjustment for her to get used to the attention shift, but she is doing well. Brandon is out of school for a week for Spring Break so that has been nice because he has been able to help out a lot. As far as we can tell she has my mouth and Brandon's eyes. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives and we love her so much.



Me at the beginning of labor. I'm holding up to fingers to signify baby number two. I'm not saying Peace.
Tessa right after birth before her bath.
Kayla's first visit to the hospital.