BYU WON!!!

26-23!!! BYU WON!!! Go Cougars!!!
Man...was it a nail biter. Down to OT! Steven was in on special teams. He had a good tackle and some good blocks! Go Steven! There were a ton of penalties and trash talking. It was crazy. What a game!

Preview of 1 Year Pictures

She loves to spit

Mommy and Bryn

A few days ago I took Bryn for her 1 year pictures. The photographer sent me a few to preview and take to Bryn's party. After the photo shoot she was sitting in the car...she kept smiling huge smiles out of the window. So I rolled down the window and Wendy took some pictures! That is why you see the car in the background in the first pictures! But Bryn did a great job! She was so smiley and sweet!

Bryn's 1 year Birthday

Bryn looking at her cake

Bryn thought it was yummy cake and ice cream

Figuring out this frosting stuff

Singing Happy Birthday

The cake

Kenna and all the other kids wanted to open Bryn's gifts!

Opening presents

Opening gifts

The gifts

Grammy Larsen and Bryn

Cousins - Bryn and Addie

How cute is she?!

Bryn in her party dress

Drinking from her sippy cup. Also in her day birthday outfit!

Bryn's Birthday started off with a trip to the dr. for her 1 year well-child check. She weighs 18 lbs. 7 oz. (11%) and is 28 1/4 inches long (25%). She is little for her age, but not bad. I knew she was getting shots during this appt. What I didn't know is they were different shots than normal. She got her chicken pox and MMR vaccine! She also got another one, but I don't remember which one it was. But instead of getting them all in her leg she got one in one arm, one in her other arm and one in her leg. She hated being checked out by Dr. Simmons. It is the white coats the dr's wear! She hates them. The dr. told us that she could get a fever from these shots. Well we live about 3 minutes from the dr.'s office. Bryn fell asleep  in the car before we could get home! She was kind of cranky, but we expected that. She usually does super good with her shots though. Well...Kenna and I went shopping while she stayed home with Tyler. We came home in time to pick them up and go to Jan's house for Bryn's Party. When we got to the house she wasn't very happy. She was very tired and not really wanting to play. She also started running a major fever.

Her party turned out great. Jan did a great job of decorating. Thanks Jan! We ate pizza and had cake. Bryn was blessed with great gifts! After the party we came home and put her to bed. She woke up screaming, but I went in and gave her pacifier and she went back to bed. Thanksgiving day she didn't really have any problems. She was cranky, but that was about it. But last night around 11pm she woke up screaming and could not breathe. She was gasping for air and gargling. We called the nurse and told her what was going on and she heard Bryn in the background and told us to go straight to the ER! Makenna was sleeping so I stayed home with her and Tyler took Bryn to the ER. She was given a breathing treatment was told she has croup! No fun at all. She was given an oral steroid to take for 5 days. She is so snotty right now and is having trouble breathing. We have a humidifier in her room, have put her in the bathroom with the shower running with hot water for steam! Poor baby girl. I feel so bad for her. That was our first trip to the ER with one of our kids! Just kind of funny that exactly a year ago...she was in the hospital for the same thing (respiratory distress in the NICU). She just loves to give her parents a scare!!

I Am Grateful

I have a lot to give thanks for this year. Although many things have not gone "my" way...I feel very blessed. Last years Thanksgiving felt like it didn't even happen. So this year I am ready for some good food, good company and good times! I am grateful for an amazing husband that tries hard every day to make me happy. He is a hard worker and is doing a great job at finishing his law degree. He is a great daddy to his girls and they love him so much! I am thankful for my daughters. They have taught me so many things. I never thought I could love anyone this much. I love watching them grow everyday! I am thankful for all my family - parents, brothers, sister, in-laws, extended family and all! It has been awesome to have such a great support system. I am also thankful for all my friends. They always have encouraging words for me. Thank you so much!

I hope everyone has an Awesome Thanksgiving with lots of yummy turkey!!!

Bryn is 1

1 year

6 months

1 month

2 days

Minutes old

1 year ago today...I got my biggest trial and one of my favorite blessings. Bryn is so awesome. She is my hero. She is so strong and beautiful. I prayed for patience and God gave me Bryn! :). She medically has been a tough baby. But other than that...she is great. She is so happy. I love her smile. She loves to giggle. She loves to crawl around and pull up on everything. She is a copy-cat. She has been through a ton of dr.'s appts, physical therapy and surgery in her short 1 year on earth! I can't believe how far she has come in 12 months. I have no idea where the time went! I honestly feel like she was just born yesterday. I see her birth very vividly in my head. It was one of the hardest days of my life. But to see her now...I am amazed. I love her so much! Happy Birthday Bryn! You're amazing!

Drum Roll Please.....

Bryn's New Thumb

She is doing so awesome. Her hand still has quite a bit of swelling. The dr. said that is perfectly normal and that the swelling could stick around for a few months. He was very pleased with how her hand looks and with how it is healing. We have been massaging the tissue to help break up the scar tissue and her thumb moving. We have seen it move a little bit more over the past few days, but it is not consistent.  We are very happy with how it looks. Please remember that these pictures were taken last week. It was 4 weeks post surgery. But it still looks amazing and we are so proud of Bryn and her strength!

Bath Time

Since Bryn got her bandaging off...she is able to take real baths again. So I put her and Kenna in together for the first time. Bryn was not happy to be in the tub. She was really scared and tried to climb out. So I grabbed a few pictures for the experience and took her out!

Bryn's First Time in a Swing

A few weeks ago we went to the park. We had had such nice weather. It was like park day everyday. We loved it. So I took the girls out and let Bryn try swinging for the first time. She loved it!

2nd to Last Soccer Game

Holding daddy's hand

break time

Bryn hanging out

Brenden, Ryder, Noah and Kenna

Kenna's Team

Kenna did really well in this game. I threatened to throw away her Snow White movie if she threw a tantrum. It worked like a charm. She did so well. She played so well. She ran fast after the ball, got up each time she fell and hustled to score a few goals! Go Kenna. We are bummed soccer season is now over, but she will be playing again in the spring!

My Cute Girls

I could hear the girls, but I couldn't see them. I looked behind the couch and Kenna was reading to Bryn. She can't really read yet, but she was trying. It was so cute. I tried to get the camera and take a photo of them, but Miss Bryn turned around too fast and started smiling!

This Past Week

Bryn had her 5 week post op appt. on Thursday. The dr. said her hand looked great. He told us that she would not need a splint and that we were to treat her hand like any other hand. He wants us to encourage her to move it. We have been working with her on that. She extends her thumb, but isn't quite bending it yet. It is still swollen (can be for months) and the flexor muscles need to tighten a little more. She will hold things in the web space, but she is mostly holding the object with her other fingers with light pressure from her thumb. Therapy was interesting. Not because of the actual therapy, but because of the miscommunication between the therapist and the hand dr. It was very annoying, but I hope it has been worked out. The therapist showed me the exercises to do so I can work with Bryn at home!

Makenna has been wanting to read and color all the time. I love reading with her. She has also wanted to be very cuddly and watch movies together. She has been a pretty good girl lately! I hope that the "4s" are going to be a good year!

Since my PC broke...I have not been able to upload pictures the way I want. I have to be able to hook the PC to the tv to see what I am doing. (long story). So I haven't uploaded pictures in awhile. This week will also be really busy. Hopefully tomorrow night I can post some recent pictures.

Makenna has her first primary program tomorrow. Bryn has her 1 year pictures on Tuesday and therapy. Wednesday is Bryn's birthday and she has her 1 year well child appt. Then Thursday is Thanksgiving, Friday- family pictures, Saturday-friend's birthday! Wow...I am getting tired just thinking of it.

4 Week Post-Op

On Friday we took Bryn to the hand dr. for another check. He took the wrappings off and left them off. She now has a hand to use. The stitches are all gone. Her hand is still pretty swollen, which he said it could take a few months for the swelling to go down. He wants us to encourage her to use her hand by placing toys in her space and try and get her to use her right hand and not her left. Her hand looks really good. I will post some pictures maybe in the next week or so. It is so crazy how much it looks like a thumb. She is moving the top part of her thumb, but we are trying to get her to move the whole thing. She is supposed to start physical therapy this coming week and go once a week for about a month and then just have an at-home program. She will the Dr. next Friday and then see him once a month after that!

Lately

The weather has been so nice. We have many playdates at the park. We have enjoyed being outside and drawing with chalk and going on walks! I love this weather. Too bad its supposed to get cool again next week.

Makenna is a goof ball. This kid loves to get her jammies on for bed. She isn't fully ready to go to bed without headwear (headband, beanie or santa hat) and slippers. She usually puts on socks and then slippers over. She also loves to put on gloves. She looks like she is ready to go to the north pole! haha

Bryn drank from a straw yesterday. It was only after I told her she didn't know how to that she grabbed the cup and did it. She isn't going to let anyone tell her she can't do something! She is moving and climbing like crazy. If we can just work on the balance issue she will be walking. She is climbing up on boxes and tables. She pulls herself up on everything and walks around it. She is growing up so fast!

3 Weeks Post-Op

Bryn saw the dr. again today. He unwrapped her and looked at her hand. It looked a lot better than it did last week. The dr. said things looked great. He cleaned it up a little. He was going to leave it unwrapped until he saw how Bryn reacted to her thumb. haha. Right after the assistant unwrapped her hand she started trying to suck on her thumb and eat the stitches. He didn't want her to get it wet or bite it so he re-wrapped it until week. We still have to keep a sock on it so she doesn't eat the gauze. She is a crazy girl. She is getting better and better with how she reacts to the people in the "white coats." As long as she had her bunny and her binky, she did okay! Good job Bryn.

Trick-Or-Treat on the Street

Being silly
Cash just chilling

Ryder and Kenna

Ryder (snake eyes), Kenna (garden fairy), Bryn (monkey), Landry (cheerleader) and Kale (football player)

Pretty Garden Fairy

The monkey was trying to eat the leaves

Our Family

Makenna and Bryn

For Halloween we took the girls to our cities Trick-Or-Treat on the street. They shut down the main street in town and all the buisnesses hand out candy. It was a lot of fun. They also had blow up slides and bounce houses. Kenna got quite a bit of candy. Bryn was a good girl...just riding around in her stroller. I even gave her a sucker. Makenna enjoyed running around. We went with our friends Greg, Jen, Ryder and Cash. My cousin Shae and her family met us there for a bit. Happy Halloween!!