Another Baby for the Bunch

I know there is still MUCH to be blogged about, but I can't let my blog go without a shout-out to our newest nephew!My Sister Krista and her husband Tim just had their first baby and he is oh-so-adorable. Here is their little RockStar...Jackson Scott Parry born 5/14/09 weighing in at 6lbs. 9oz.

We call him Jack :)

Still Here

So much to blog about...so little time. I know I am really putting myself out there when I write a post that has nothing to do with the fact that Brandon graduated from BYU, or that we're leaving on a Cruise tomorrow, or the fact that Brandon sold our piano (finally)....but, this is something that has a real deadline...and well, we need you. Brandon and I, along with Kimberly, TJ, and Tiffany have submitted our creative crafts to the Holy Cow Boutique. Kimberly and TJ make these adorable "Time Out" chairs, and Tiffany makes these adorable wooden chore blocks. And, what do Brandon and I make, you ask? Growth Charts. And, believe you me, we have about 20 different patterns...but, since I haven't gotten around to uploading all of the pictures of each growth chart onto the blog...I submit to you the picture I took with my phone. Seriously, does not do it justice...but at least you can get a taste for what they look like.


If you want to see all of our different patterns, come and visit our booth this weekend! See you there! (click! click!)

It's in the Cards

I have found myself in a card-bind more than once in my life. What is a card-bind, you ask? Well, I am somewhat of a procrastinator. So, when it comes to birthday parties, graduation, get-well wishes, good lucks, etc....I never have a card to give out. I have a stack of blank cards on reserve that I am just HOPING, I will one day create into some pretty cute "Congratulations" cards. But, I haven't gotten around to it. What would be the best situation for me is to just have someone else make these cute cards, so that when it came time for a birthday gift/good luck/get well card, I could pull out my reserve cards...and VOILA! look extra thoughtful and crafty.

Somebody has finally figured it out...and she has decided to come to my rescue.

Have you been in a card bind before? Worry no more. Go HERE to un card-bind yourself.

March Recap

Thought it would be a good idea to keep up on the blog, since I have every intention to use this as my "journal". (Because, if I don't use this as a journal...then I don't write in any sort of journal....and well, that's just unfair to the posterity). Speaking of posterity, the highlight of the month was welcoming in the newest addition to my sister Rachelle's family..I know, I already highlighted the birth of the babe. But seriously, can you ever get enough pictures of baby faces? I think not.
Speaking of babies, we went up to Sandy for my bfff (from seriously, 1998) Chelsey's baby blessing. It was so much fun to see her and all of the other friends we haven't seen since we fell off the face of the earth when I got married :-). Here we are trying to cram into a picture in the cultural hall.

And here is some of the family that tried to stay up late to meet the new baby at the hospital. We went to Chili's at 10:30PM, hoping that once we were done with dinner, we'd have a new baby to see. She didn't come until 6Am the next morning. And to think I had indigestion....

We went to a poolhall (doesn't that sound cool? okay, actually...it was FatCats) with Mike and Tiff one weekend. Crazy to think I actually have some skill left in that arm of mine.

It's the day of Saint Patrick

Wearing green today reminded me of the trip my family took to Ireland just a wee bit o' go. You're silly if ye think me time in Ireland helped me to speak the accent of the Irish.


Ahhh...the luck of the Irish. I think I'll go have me some cabbage. Gross....make that some green chocolate.

Presley Taylor

She finally came Saturday morning at 6:16am! Weighing in at a whopping 7lbs 9oz., Presley is here!

Thank goodness....we've been waiting for you for a long long time, sweet baby.

A good day

Today is the day that my older sister Rachelle gets induced! Yippee! I am so excited, it's hard to work on the day you know you will be welcoming a new niece into the mix!


Here are the two cutest pregnant girls in our family right now. Rachelle is having a girl TODAY and Krista is due in May with her first baby, a little boy! With all these babies in the family, it almost makes me want one. Wait, nope.

Called to Serve

Brandon's youngest brother, Mark left last week to go into the MTC. To commemorate our last weekend together with the entire family, we went up to Chay's family cabin in Scoffield. It was beyond wonderful. We laughed, we cried, we held babies, we tweezed our eyebrows together (well the girls), we snowmobiled, we ate, we slept, we skiied. On Saturday it was a beautiful sunny day. There was a ton of snow powder, so the boys built a huge ski jump and snowmobiled/got shuttled up to the top of the mountain and skiied down. I was too chicken to go off the jump, but I loved floating down in the powder. Here is Brandon in all of his ski-jumping glory:

The boys especially loved it because regardless of how hard you landed off the jump, there was always enough powder to ease the landing. Here they are prepping to drive back up the mountain.

Here is our cheering section, it was so much fun to just hang out and have nowhere to go and nothing else to do!

Here we are in all of our sideways glory...seriously, one of these days I will make sure to upload my pictures upright. P.S. please notice my pink skiis and my pink coat. As if I have to point them out to you...they're fairly proud. but, I love me some pink skiwear.




Brandon and Mark have a favorite part in the Black Eyed Peas song, "Where is the Love". So for ol' times sake, they decided to perform it one. last.time.

The days following our fun weekend in Scoffield were filled with more tears and more laughter. Coming from a family of all sisters, I never had to firsthand experience sending a missionary off. It is something extraordinary to watch the man you love, with the rest of his brothers, granddad, and dad, lay their hands on a their youngest brother's head and offer a blessing of comfort, safety, strength in the Lord, and peace.

Last Wednesday, we dropped Mark off at the MTC, along with 1000 of other 19 year old missionaries and wished him good luck on his two year mission to the people of Rosario Argentina. After we said our goodbyes/cried/hugged Mark goodbye, I went up to Brandon's mom with tears in my eyes (and hers), "How did you do this three times?" (Brandon and Brady both served missions) what she said to me was so poignant and so true, "We do it because we know that it's true. If the Church wasn't true, there would be no reason for me to send my boys off to foreign lands for two years". How true that is. What an amazing institution to send off 19 year old boys off for two years, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ...and coming back two years later as men. Crazy. Awesome.

Good luck Elder!

The Fires of Love

Despite Brandon's view of Valentine's Day being the most overrated holiday (even more than St. Patrick's Day...I think not), he still knows how to make a girl swoon. I decided that, to be fair, I would treat Brandon to a date night on February 13th, and then he could pamper me on February 14th. Luckily, my plan included slipping on ice in our driveway and hitting my head. My blurry vision, pale face, and blue lips gave me a one-way ticket to bed...so, my poor Brandon didn't really get to enjoy his special day. (luckily, I had done the 12 Days of Valentine's...so he had 11 other days of goodness in exchange)....

On Saturday, we enjoyed a free night out. We started out at the Temple and then headed over to Outback Steakhouse to use our gift card I got from work. Ahhh...the joys of a free date night. And, not to be outdone with the free night, we decided to splurge and spend a dollar on a RedBox. I mean, come on..did you think we were THAT cheap?!?

Here is the only picture I took. I know, I look like I had just hit my head in the picture. I'd like to say the flash startled me. Or that Brandon was pinching my rump. But really...You can't blame a girl for not being photogenic.

Here we are waiting for only 20 minutes at Outback....I mean, come on: time is not free, folks. And well, (ahem) let's just say, the night didn't end there.

Last Night

I was sitting at our computer, helping my hubs write his Letter of Intent. My torso was wrapped in our softest and warmest, fleece blanket. I tried every which way I could to keep my arms and fingers warm from the bitter apartment air. I wrapped the fleece around my back, draping the ends of the blanket over my forearms. Every time I pressed the spacebar, the blanket would fall off. Much to my surprise and dismay, I exclaimed,

"I need a Snuggie!"

Cool Kid on the Block

I have a BFF who is really cool. She can pull off black nailpolish, and she travels for her job. Three years ago, I thought she had already outdone herself by just starting a personal blog. Well, she's at it again! She has this incredible talent for making all things cute. I have received many-a-Christmas card from her, created by her very own hands.

She has started an Etsy shop where you can actually purchase your very own cards, handmade by her. I know I am getting my hands on some of those...because seriously, who doesn't need a good stack of "Thank You" cards on reserve?

And, just in case you needed more of her, you can go to her new blog that introduces you to the new term, "Stationeria". Yeah, I didn't know what that was either...until I read her blog.

Almost ready for 2009....

In keeping with the tradition of chronological order, I thought it appropriate to post our Christmas blog in February. Please stay tuned in April when I recap our Valentine's Day.


We spent Christmas Eve and morning with the Wilkinsons' this year, and got spoiled by all of the great gifts we got from his and my family. I love Christmas. Even when it's February. No, especially when it's February.

Last year I was still trying to figure out how to be a married woman in her own neighborhood, so I didn't really get around to making any neighborhood gifts. After twelve months of living in my own skin, I finally got around to fitting in around the neighborhood. Well, I should use the term "fitting in" loosely. I digress....

I got this great idea from my favorite NieNie, and made these cute tins out of Baby Formula/Hot Chocolate tins. Luckily, I have coworkers that save their cans, so all I had to do was ask around at work for empty cans. I washed and sanitized (since I'm clean like that), and covered them with Christmas wrapping paper.

The Oreo balls were the hit though. Man, I love those things...And, I have to say I may or may not have sampled a few for myself.









Speaking of February, me and some good ol' buds of mine always do a "No Sugar" month in February. This month...I'm only four days into it and I'm already worried that I might give in. It's all this talk about Oreo balls..

October 08

I have a rash forming on my left hand from some unknown mystery skin abcess (to much information? sorry...keep reading, it gets cleaner), so I decided I better start updating my blog before the rash overtakes my entire hand and I can no longer type anymore. And yes, it takes a rash for me to finally start posting again.

Back in oh, let's say, October....Brandon had his best-friend-mission-companion-for-ten-months-on-the-mission come and visit. Normally friend-visits would be blog-worthy, but this visit was particularly worthy because well...they came ALL the way from Australia! For disclosure reasons, I won't give you their full names...but I will tell you that B, C and L are the COOLEST people I have ever met! I was already excited for the BCL family to come and visit because I had heard so much about them from Brandon. Is it weird if I say I was also excited to listen to their awesome accents? Because, I was. And they were awesome. We spent the time with Brandon's Mission President and Wife (coolest couple combination you will ever meet as well), and BCL. It was soo much fun! We went to the MTC Sacrament meeting for the Japan District, we ate at Brick Oven and Costa Vida. We played games. We went four-wheeling. We played RockBand. We laughed. We loved. Pretty lame recap of such a fun week, but....since it was 4 months ago...my mind can't really remember all of the details.

Here are C and L. The cute little L is holding her pet Ladybug, affectionately called "Squeezie".

With the Wilkinson Fam

B,C,L with the Mission President and Wife...any former missionaries will recognize the statue in the back.

And, if you've ever heard a cuter Australian girl laugh then let me know...because I don't think it's possible to be cuter than this. Note, she is referring to Squeezie again.