BrInLeY's SpEcIaL bApTiSm DaY!!!

My BEAUTIFUL little girl was baptized last saturday Jan. 2, 2010 and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! It was a wonderful day! Thank you to all of our family and friends who supported Brinley on her special day! She truly felt like a princess! She even wanted to stay in her white dress all day, and honestly didn't take it off until she got in her p.j.'s that night! She was so beautiful all day long, and never stopped smiling! I am so grateful for Morgan and for the priesthood that he holds! He always does such a good job when giving our kids a blessing! He gave Brinley a wonderful blessing after her baptism! The spirit was so strong! I hope she will always remember the way that she felt that day! We are so proud of you Brin, and for the decision you made to be baptized!

Brinley and her Daddy right before the baptism!

In her beautiful white dress!

All of her cousins that were there that day! (Boston was going potty)!

This was the best family pic we got! Boston was a little tired of taking pictures... can you tell? :)

Brinley with her Grandpa and Grandma Bingham.

Brinley with her Grandpa and Grandma Udy.

With Uncle Matt (Morgan's younger brother)

He flew in from Phoenix for a few days!

My kids absolutely adore him, I'm sure he goes home exhausted after visiting!

Brinley wanted to take a picture of all the gifts she received! Thank you everyone for thinking of her, she loved everything she got!

She got this pillow case and colored it that night, she did such a good job on it, and loves sleeping on it every night! :)

*BTW* This is my 200th post! I thought that was pretty cool! It was exactly 2 years ago that I started blogging! So, I figured that made about 8 posts a month which is an average of 2 new posts every week! Not bad huh? :)

The Three sick kids!!!

(Instead of the Three Little Pigs) Ha Ha!

It all started with this little girl! Sat. night after Brinley's baptism (which I still need to post about- just wait!) seriously right after everyone left, Halle started throwing up! She pretty much threw up all night, and it was mostly on Morgan and I cuz we were always holding her! I just HATE having a sick little baby! It is so scary! She was not herself for 2 days, and finally Monday started smiling, laughing, and talking to us again! But all day sunday she would just lay there and moan and was running a high fever! We felt so bad for her and missed our happy baby! I could tell Monday when she woke up that she felt better and she wasn't running a fever anymore, so I cancelled her appt. that I had made that morning! But this is how she was, just like in this picture for 2 days! Just wanted to lay there and would fall asleep even while I was changing her diaper! :( So, now that she is feeling better, she is TEETHING! And is a BEAR! I don't remember any of my other kids having such a hard time getting their teeth in, I would just give them a few teething tablets, and they would stop crying and be fine! Halle will scream for hours! I will give her Motrin, teething tables, frozen otter pops to chew on, and anything else we can think of! She won't sleep, won't eat, and is just uncomfortable ALL of the time! I know this won't last forever, and we just have to make it through it!

So, yesterday Boston said he had a stomachache all day, and basically just laid on the couch and didn't feel like doing anything. He went to sleep without eating, and I was thinking/hoping that he wasn't getting what Halle had and was just hungry! Sad to say, but sometimes I forget to feed that kid! And he will never tell me he's hungry unless we are driving by a McDonald's of course! So, I finally got Halle to sleep at 1 a.m. lastnight and I had fallen asleep in the recliner with her, and hear little footsteps coming down the stairs, thinking it is Boston, but NO it is BRINLEY! She was crying and saying her belly hurt and that she needed a drink! I told her to lay on the couch so I could go lay Halle down and help her. So what does she do- Pukes all over the living room carpet! LOVELY! Luckily there was a bowl right there for Boston, and she grabbed that to finish in! So, after getting her taken care of and scrubbing the carpet for 20 min. I took her upstairs to her room, and she said she had to throw up again, off to the bathroom she runs, but doesn't quite make it to the toilet! So, hey why not scrub your bathroom down at 2 a.m.? Good thing I hadn't already cleaned it after the in-law's left!

So, needless to say I was a little tired this morning, and didn't even hear Morgan or Zach get up! Boston climbed out of bed at 9, and when I came out he said "Mommy, do you know why I got up?" I said NO. He said "Cuz you were sleeping too long, and I was BORED!" What a cute kid! And no I am not writing this for your sympathy, I know you can all relate, and this is just what part of being a mom is all about! I just want to look back and remember this night! :)

HapPy NeW yEaR!!!

I wish I could add video to the sound of this picture!!! I put a party "helmet" on Halle and all the kids started blowing their noisemakers at once! It kinda freaked her out a little! I still thought she looked cute though!

All the cute kiddos at midnight!

Halle was so funny when I opened this Coke up she dove right for it and kept smacking her lips! It was too funny! Yeah, I just go for the hard stuff now! J/K! Brinley opened this up and I wasn't going to let her drink it, so I had to try it out for myself!

Thanks Madsen's for a fun New Year's party! We all had a blast!

I am actually looking forward to the New Year! I feel like things have been so busy since we had Halle! I'm hoping to relax and ENJOY!

Brinley gets baptized tomorrow! I am so excited for her! It will be a special day for sure! I'm sure I will have lots of pictures to share!

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas! The kids always look forward to acting out the "Nativity" scene on Christmas Eve! Boston was really into his part as the Shepherd this year! He was so cute! The picture above is just precious to me! The kids were so excited to have Halle be "Baby Jesus"! She was so sweet! Brinley even wrapped her in swaddling clothes! I wish I would have gotten it on video. But only half of my brain cells are working right now!

(Morgan as the donkey!) :)

Happy Birthday Brinley!!!

Brinley turned 8 on December 14th! We had her party the Saturday before and she got to invite 10 girls to come get their hair and nails done with her at the Paul Mitchell Hair School in Provo! These girls were all so cute and so excited! They had a great time! Each girl had their own stylist and got a full manicure, nails painted and all and then got to choose how they got their hair styled! :) Most of them just told the girls to do whatever, and they all ended up so cute! They came and got the girls one by one and called their name out, and made each girl feel like a superstar! I thought it was kinda funny, but the way cute stylists didn't do near as good of job as the girls that you would look at and think they wouldn't know what they were doing! (Does that even make sense) So, basically the not very cute girls did a way good job on the girls! Ha ha! I just thought that was kinda backwards!

Brinley and her friends just seemed so grown up! It is fun having my "little" girl caring about styles, hair, nail, clothes, etc. Anyway, enough about that! We came back to the house after (there was a huge snowstorm this day) and we decorated gingerbread girls and boys! I made 2 batches of gingerbread the night before, and cut them all out! They were so yummy! We had all kinds of things to put on them! Morgan went and got us pizza and we put Brinley through the spanking machine (for some reason my kids luv this!) and we opened presents! We ended up running out of time to do anything else! She got some of the cutest presents from her friends! She loved them all! Thanks so much everyone for the nice gifts!

My little girl is going to be baptized on Jan. 2nd! She is so excited! I took her to her bishop's interview on Sunday and on the way I was saying to her in the car that I couldn't believe she was old enough to be baptized, she was just so excited and was skipping into her interview! It made me realize that I need to enjoy where my kids are at right now, and enjoy the things they are doing NOW instead of wishing they were still little, cuz guess what? They are going to grow up whether I like it or not! So, thanks Brin for teaching me a lesson of "Enjoying the ride"! I love you little girl!

8 things I love about my 8 Yr. Old!!!

1. Her smile

2. Her love for her brothers and sister

3. Her love for reading

4. Always wanting to Choose the Right

5. How kind she is to everyone around her

6. Her silliness (especially when it's bedtime!)

7. How she would never say a mean thing about anyone

8. Her willingness to always help out when I need her

Happy Birthday sissy! We love you!

Below is a little blub from her "spotlight" that was in our ward newsletter:

Brinley turned 8 on December 14th and is so excited to be baptized!

She loves having her birthday in December because she knows when it's her birthday that Christmas is only 11 days away!

Brinley has been the little princess in our family for the last 7 years, and

has brought so much joy and love to our home! She prayed and prayed for a little sister

and in July her little sister Halle was born! Don't get me wrong, she LOVES her brothers,

but there is just something about having a sister! She is the caretaker in our home!

She loves to make sure everyone has what they need and that everyone is happy!

She is a great little mommy to Boston and Halle, and looks up to her big brother Zach, he is a great example

to her, and teaches her between right and wrong.

Brinley loves to do what is right and doesn't like to get in trouble! She loves school, especially

MATH and READING! She loves to DANCE and do GYMNASTICS! You can expect to find her doing

cartwheels, and tumbling around the house! Brinley is a great friend and is nice to everyone!

We are proud of her for choosing to be baptized, and are truly blessed to have her in our family!

We love you Brin!

FuNnY pIcTuReS!

A couple of Sundays ago we were just hangin out and Brinley was being silly and put her glasses on Halle! We all got a good laugh out of it, but Halle didn't find it too amusing!

I thought this was a cute picture of the boys after the Utah v.s. BYU game! Poor little Boston and my cute little nephew Nate had to take it from these 2 BYU fans the whole game! They stood their ground though! They were so cute and stood behind Utah the whole game! They weren't very happy at the end though, there were even a few tears shed! Sorry boys!

I love Boston's face in this picture!

Turkey Trot Winners- Thanksgiving 2009

Brinley- 1st place winner for the 2nd grade

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving was a BUSY day! It was the kids last day at school and their annual Turkey Trot that they look forward to every year! My kids have always done good (they get their speed from their dad believe it or not!) But this year, my little Brinley came in !st place in the whole 2nd grade! She was so excited! She won a t-shirt this year instead of a turkey when she won in kindergarten! She wore her shirt proud though! Zach did awesome and came in 3rd for the 5th grade! Way to go kids! It was fun to come and watch you! So, after spending a couple of hours at the school we went back home to packing our bags to leave for St. George as soon as Morgan got home from work. This was our first trip away from home for that many days since we had Halle, it's amazing what one little body can do! We were packed to the brim! Leaving as late as we did the kids slept most of the way which was nice, we were so happy to be going to St. George! We love visiting every chance we can! We grew up as kids going to St. George visiting my grandparents (that's where my mom grew up) so ever since my parents bought their condo we have been having Thanksgiving there which brings back alot of memories! We had a great time with my family, we were all there except my brother Ryan and his family who live in Tennessee and my other brother Matt and his family who live in Idaho. We missed you guys! The weather was beautiful while we were there! The kids were able to play outside alot, and Boston learned what "street ball" was! :) The kids played alot of football, and played at the park that is right up the street! The dads took the kids to Dixie College to play football Thanksgiving morning so we could help my mom in the kitchen.

I realized once I got home how much sleep I DIDN'T get while I was there! I was worn out cold when we got home! Thursday night I didn't even go to bed and left the house at 3:45 a.m. with my sister, my nephew, and my cousin to go shopping! I met my sister in law and my cousin at Target at 6:00 and they were already done and had a place in line! So I grabbed what I needed and hopped in line with them, it was great! Then we headed home for a couple hours of sleep before the kiddos woke up!

These are just a few pics of the weekend, but couldn't stand not posting about Thanksgiving!

Zach, Brinley, and Boston after the Turkey Trot

Zach- 3rd place winner for the 5th grade

SISTERS!!!

We took the kids to Tuachan to see the live Nativity! It was really short- only lasted about 20 mins. they LOVED it and didn't want it to end!

I can't remember if I ever posted about my cute little nephew that was born exactly a week before Halle. We waited a LONG time for these 2 little precious babies to be born! They are both so healthy, we are truly blessed! This picture above is the first time they met at Lance's baby blessing when they were just a month old! How sweet are they! We had a major photo shoot with them and got so many cute pictures when they were just so tiny!

This is them now at 4 months old in their bumbo chairs together! They are so much fun to have together! They bring so much JOY!!!

This is all the nieces and nephews at my sweet aunt's house who had all 33 of us over for pie Thanksgiving night! Thank you Darla for having us in your home! We love you!

My sister always takes the kids to hike the Dixie rock and the Narrows while we are there, but this year she took the kids to the Sand Dunes! They had a blast! She is always so good to take them kids and do something fun while we get our Christmas shopping done! I don't have any pictures, cuz they are on her camera, but the kids had so much fun burying each other in the sand and playing football too! Thanks Sonn for taking them, they always look forward to doing something special with you!

Boston was really looking forward to going to the Dixie rock, cuz he has never been old enough to go with all the cousins. The kids begged us to take them on our way out of town, and it was so much fun! Morgan and I hadn't been there since we dated in College and needless to say we have grown a little since then and couldn't fit through the Narrows this time! :( Our kids zipped up there in about 2 mins. and we just figured... why squeeze?

The view of the St. George Temple... so pretty!

The famous "Dixie rock"

Morgan with the kids on TOP!

I'm feeling Christmas in the air... Bring it on!!!

Go Jazz!

The other day Boston wanted to wear his Jazz

jersey, so when I was getting him dressed he

found his old jersey that doesn't really fit him

anymore. He thought it was so little it should

fit Halle, so we put it on her! She wore it the

whole day and the kids loved it! They thought

she looked so cute! So of course I had to take

pictures! The Jazz were even playing that night!

Too tired, after too many pictures! :)

HaLlOwEeN 2009

Halloween morning Zach played in his Championship game against A.F. for football. It was a crappy game and we didn't come out winning! My mom came down for the game and to spend the weekend with us! It was alot of fun! It was so fun to have her here, she is always so much help to me! She offered to stay home with Halle and give out candy while Morgan and I took the kids trick-or-treating. It turned out to be such a beautiful day with the sun shining and all! We started early and the kids didn't last long. We were home by 7:30 and they loaded up on the candy which they really don't even care about! Morgan and I always end up eating it, and I always end up dumping it right before Thanksgiving! All the good stuff is gone by then anyway! :) I had made sugar cookie dough and my mom rolled out the cookies that night with the kids, I always hate rolling the dough and cutting them out. For as long as I can remember, my mom has made sugar cookies for EVERY holiday! I somehow haven't carried that tradition on with my kids, I seem to make the dough and eat it just fine! :) So, they love it when grandma makes cookies with them! Brinley and her even frosted them all, Brin got carried away with the sprinkles, and was having so much fun!

Boston got to give a talk in Primary that next day, and was so excited! We had to practice, and practice at home, so of course my mom had to stay and see him! It was funny cuz the other 2 sunbeams in his class didn't dare get up to say the scripture and prayer, so when it was Boston's turn, I was a little worried at what he might do. But he hopped right up there and said every word! He had even memorized some of it from saying it so many times! I was so proud of him! It was a fun weekend! I don't feel like I was really prepared for Halloween this year, as far as the costumes go... usually I have their costumes ready in Sept. but this year we were scrounging the week of... that's just how it goes right now with a new little one to keep us busy! But we love her to pieces!!!

Halle was a fairy, Boston was Peter Pan (Zach

wore this when he was Boston's age!) Brinley

was a witch (every little girl has to be a witch

sometime right?) and Zach was a dead football

player... (go figure)

Our little family!

Halle asleep on the beanbag... too cute!

This is my sister and her friend dressed

up as a grandpa and grandma!

They were hilarious! We couldn't

stop laughing when they came to the

door!

My mom with the kids!

Halle in her cute little costume!

CaRvInG PUmPkInS!!!

Every year the kids are so excited to carve pumpkins!!! We got our pumpkins at Cornbelly's this year, the kids had alot of fun picking them out! Why is it that as parents we put off things that are so messy and require alot of clean-up as long as we possibly can? :) We didn't carve our pumpkins until Fri. night before Halloween! The kids loved it! This year Brinley didn't have one bit of help! I was so impressed that she did EVERYTHING by herself, she wouldn't even let her dad help her at the end when she was the last one in the kitchen carving away! She even did her name on the back and did every letter by herself!

Brinley working hard on her pumpkin!!!

The finished products!

Halle's first pumpkin!!!

cOrNbElLy'S

I took the kids to Cornbelly's the Monday before Halloween, I was so glad I did because it snowed the next day! It was so nice, and the kids had a ball running around! Halle slept in her stroller the entire time we were there! Morgan wasn't able to come with us cuz he was working a ton that week, so we went early when the kids were out of school. The kids love doing the Corn Maze, I wasn't real thrilled to do it, because I couldn't take the stroller in, but ended up having alot of fun with the kids! We went on a hayride, and we were laughing our heads off! It was so bumpy and we were bouncing all over the place! Halle was just a bouncin in her little seat, and stayed asleep the whole time! Boston jumped right in the hay and was rolling around like a little pig! I'm so glad I was able to spend the afternoon with my kiddos! They are the best in the world!