Muffin Tin Monday (on Wednesday)

For Muffin Tin Wednesday we read one of my favorite books EVER! (Here is a background on the book)



Ryan and I tried to have a baby for 3 1/2 years with no luck we couldn't wait to be parents and after lots of fasting and prayers we felt very strongly we were suppose to adopt. The adoption process took about 6 months for all the interviews, home study and letters. Just 4 days before Thanksgiving, we got the phone call that we were approved for adoption. Of course they let us know it could take years, so we were planning at least one year. Only one week later we heard that someone heard about us through a friend and was very interested in us. So after playing call tag for 2 weeks I finally talked to the birth mom. With in just minutes on the phone she let me know that she wanted Ryan and I to be the parents. So secretly with the birth mom we planned when we would go down and she would be enduced. The only people that knew was Ryan's parents and my mom. We couldn't wait to tell everyone for Christmas. So.... my sister Terra knew that I love books and also Great Children's books. For one of our gifts she gave me this book called You Are My Miracle. It is everything that our little Brooklynn is. So I read it to her for Muffin Tin Monday... (Most of the pictures are things from this year except probably 3)

YOU ARE MY MIRACLE

I am your parent; you are my child.
I am your quiet place; you are my wild.


I am your hot cocoa; you are my marshmellow.
I am your nutcracker; you are my cookie dough.


I am your gingerbread; you are my fronsting goo.
I am your paper; you are my glitter and glue.


I am your wrapping; you are my surprise.
I am your don't peek; you are my wide eyes.


I am your bundle up; you are my dash outside.
I am your uphill pull; you are my fast sleigh ride


I am your fortress; you are my snowball fight.
I am your decorate; you are my tangled lights.


(Only picture she has let us take of her with Santa in 2 years)I am your helper; you are my do-it-myself.
I am your Santa Claus; you are my Christmas elf.


I am your glass ball; you are my popcorn strings.
I am your pageant; you are my angel's wings.


I am your steady hands; you are my rising star.
I am your stocking; you are my chocolate bar.


I am your caroling; you are my jingle bell.
I am your favorite song; you are my first noel.


I am your old stories; you are my make-believe.
I am your go to sleep; you are my Christmas Eve.


I am your hush now; you are my lyrical.
I am your peace on Earth; you are my miracle.



What a perfect book to read for this season, with my perfect little girl.

Merry Christmas

We didn't get many cards out this year, but we want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

This year has been a great year with a lot of changes.

Ryan: Works as a Registered Nurse and transfered from IMC over to Primary Children's Hospital to work in the Pediatric ICU. He really enjoys it a lot. He works very hard at his job and around the house. Ryan did not run any marathons this year but plans to start up again next year. He did go mountain biking and road biking a lot though. Ryan also loves his XBox, luckily for me, he doesn't play too much. Usually when I go to bed. (he sometimes gets really loud yelling at the game.)

Dani: I worked at Stampin' Up! this year but a couple months before Cameron was born stayed home. It is a busy job taking care of two kiddies, but I love it. (I do miss the discount at SU though) I still am doing the same things I enjoy taking pictures, reading, writing and sign language. I spend most of my day cleaning and organizing. I will never be as organized as I would like but I try so hard. (I am a little OCD about it) I also love blogging and can't wait until the end of the year and I am going to print it in a book. I love the excuse for when Ryan thinks I buy too much scrapbooking stuff... "But Ryan, I am doing family history." I guess it doesn't work anymore until I acctually use what I have first.

Brooklynn: Brooklynn keeps me on my toes. She had a very eventful year. She went from being my little baby girl to a big sister and such a big girl. She is potty trained and got rid of her binky. She loves being a big sister and making Cameron smile and get little giggles out of him. She is a big helper around the house. Brooklynn's favorite activities are singing and dancing, dressing up and drawing and painting. Her favorite characters are Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell. Just recently after seeing a commercial for the dvd's, she LOVES Shirley Temple. She also (just told me) "I don't like the shower, I like baffs(baths)" She is so sweet and we receive (at least) 10 hugs and kisses a day. Also numerous "I luvsh (love) you." It just makes my day.

Cameron: Is very calm and sweet. He gives very cute smiles and even big goofy smiles. He started laughing a little over a week ago and it is darling. He is very curious. Cameron likes to trick mommy and not stick to his night time schedule all the time. Overall he is very happy and sweet. I think he is a handsome little boy.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Kid's update...

I am still playing catch up a little so here is the latest on Brooklynn and Cameron.
Today Brooklynn had her 3 year well check and Cameron had his 2 month well check. They both are doing great! Let's start with Brooklynn.

Brooklynn is 36 inches tall and weighs 30 pounds now. For her height she is in the 25% and weight 50%. She loved her the new Doc. Dr. "Toby". She wouldn't stop talking to him. The first thing she said is "I wear panties and go on the potty!" It was really funny.
Well it is true... A year ago Brooklynn was pretty much potty trained (except at night and at stores, the potties were "too dirty" luckily we worked through that.) Anyways... she was doing so good for only barely being 2, but then I went back to work (that really was hard for babysitters to keep up on). Also she got really sick and it was not fun for me to clean and she felt yucky when she didn't make it. So she stopped going potty. But 2 weeks ago today I didn't want to buy anymore diapers. I put her in panties to bed, and there has been 0 accidents in 14 whole days. Wahoo! I am so proud of her.

Another milestone... NO MORE BINKIES! (Thanks Courtney for the great idea) Last week Brooklynn decided she was done with the binky and just threw them all away. We were like "alright that was easy." But a couple hours later she was not having it. So we decided to use Courtney's idea and she could trade them for a prize. First I cut off all the nipples, so she knew they were broken. We then took them to the store. She was very excited and it was quite the decision. But she decided on a Snow White dress. She gave the cashier all her binkies and he threw them in the garbage. And it has been almost a week with out binkies. She still has her bunny but that is ok. What a big girl Brooklynn has become. She is a great daughter and big sister.


Cameron is becoming a little chunk. At the doctors he now weighs 12.4 pounds in the 60%. He is 23.9 inches long 80% and his cute round head is only 5%. He had to get his shots today and he did not like it. I am becoming a lot stronger. Since Brooklynn was a baby this is the first time that I haven't cried when either one of them got a shot. I am so proud of myself. Poor little Cameron was very upset.
We came home and he had his tylenol and the smiley picture was only an hour after the shots. He sure is my cute happy boy with a goofy little smile. What a sweetie he is. Saturday we had our Ward Christmas breakfast and Cameron sat on Santa's lap and wouldn't stop staring at him. We'll see next year though. (Brooklynn admired from afar, she wanted the girl Santa.) I am so lucky to have a handsome boy and beautiful girl. I love my little kids and am so proud. They are growing so fast.

P.S. Cameron is not doing as well from his shots. Poor little guy really hurts. Luckily the tylenol helps for awhile. But at least I can stay home with him all night and tomorrow and just snuggle him.

Birthday Celebration

My mom decided to celebrate Ryan and Brooklynn's birthdays together(even though Berkie's isn't until the 28th). So Sunday we went over there and had a yummy turkey dinner and then had cake and icecream and opened their gifts. Brooklynn was very excited. She got to help Grandma Bean put the candles on the cakes.

They did pretty good blowing out their candles.

Terra gave Ryan a picture of her that says 'Sister Friend'. It is a big joke with them. Very funny. Ryan also got money and Panda Express gift card and Jake gave him a manicure set. It was just a joke, Jake gave him an IOU.

Brooklynn loves opening her gifts. And was very excited for her Tinkerbell dress.

She got a lot of Tinkerbell stuff. She loves her new dress and jewelry box the best. We had a fun night, Thanks, mom, Grandma and Grandpa Budd, Josh, Johana, Caleb, Terra, Jacob and Amber for hanging out with us and for the gifts. They really enjoyed them.

Bunco Bella sleepover... kinda!

Some friends started a Bunco group in September and every month someone else hosts it at their house. This month it was Kelli Whitney and since she works for Marriot she decided to have it at a hotel.OH YA, no boys allowed! I thought it was way fun. I didn't sleep over but I stayed until 3:30am. I don't think a lot of people slept much either. It was so much fun, Thanks Kelli for a great night! So what do girls do at a sleepover???

Hmmm... I'll never tell...

Pillow fights...

we talked all night...

Playing games...

Acting wild and crazy...

Oh ya... one little cutie got to come. It was a fun night. Too bad I didn't sleepover. But Ryan let me sleep in until 10am, so that was nice. Can't wait until next month.

Our Big Helper

My friend Natalie had these milk caps she had saved and her little boy loved playing with them. I started saving them as well as my mom and Jeralyn who all gets different colored caps. I didn't know what to use them for until... We have struggled with discipline and rewards with Brooklynn. We have tried stickers, time out, sending her to her room, earning money... the list goes on. Nothing really worked. So I saw this on Jen's blog who said she got it from Supernanny. (I love that show). So Brooklynn gets to earn tokens.
Brooklynn got to paint her token box all by herself. It turned out really cute!
Brooklynn painting her token box. She is our little artist who loves to paint.
Berkie and Daddy counting her tokens. She loves earning tokens from anything like throwing away diapers, cleaning her room, being nice, taking a nap and sleeping in her bed (which has been a struggle).
Once she earned 50 tokens (which doesn't take long) she gets a prize! She was so excited to get her pez that she worked so hard for.


Brooklynn also helps us by playing with her brother and making him happy.Cameron was watching Brooklynn and smiling and giggling. He thought she was really funny.
What a good big sister Brooklynn is. He likes it when she sings to him.
Cameron REALLY wants to suck his thumb but he hides it under his fingers. What a silly little boy! We sure love him.

Happy Birthday Ryan

I have to catch up on a few posts. I will start with Ryan's birthday. I love him so much, he is the best husband, daddy and friend. He is always there for me and helps out so much. It is amazing to me that someone can love me as much as he does. I sometimes wonder why, especially when I am grouchy:) What a wonderful guy I have. Ryan is sweet, funny, goofy and lovable. I am so proud of Ryan and all his accomplishments and dedication. He loves to bike and run and of course play his XBox. I am proud of Ryan and his career, everytime I meet someone that has or does work with him they tell me what a great nurse he is. I know he cares about his patients very much and I know he does a great job. Ryan and I have been through so much the last 8 years and through the good and bad. Ryan has a strong testimony and even though sometimes things seem impossible he never gives up. He is my rock. I know how much he loves his family and always wants to do what he can for his brothers, sister and parents. He also looks up to all of them so much. I am proud that he also is very kind and loving to my family (even though he teases Terra all the time, It's just because he loves you Ter) I love that he is so sweet to my mom and always wants what is best for her too. Brooklynn loves her daddy so much. She is so sad when he has to go to work. When he goes to go out the door she runs and says, "Kisses and hug, kisses and hugs!" Then she runs to the window and always has to wave to him. I also can't wait to see Cameron get older and watch their relationship grow. I am so lucky to have such a great guy!

For his birthday he really wanted to go on a nice bike ride and then we were going to get dinner and see lights at temple square.

I asked Brooklynn what she wanted to get her daddy for his birthday and she remembered that she got me a goofy and told me she wanted Donald Duck. So that is what she picked out. He of course loved it and gave it to her to play with.

I printed this book from Snapfish for Ryan and just had pictures from our wedding, marriage, Brooklynn and Cameron. He said he really liked it.

I thought the book turned out pretty nice.

We then went to temple square last night to see the lights. Ryan liked it AFTER we found parking. Eric and DAnielle and their family came also (with Bailey) and I think Jeff and Nanci did come but we were already gone.

We saw the nativity it was really cool looking.

Every year I love seeing the different nativities that they do around temple square.

This picture turned out ok. But every year I say "I have to bring a tripod" and every year I forget. Maybe next year.

This was very pretty on the reflecting pool. You can't see it but there was little balls floating that were lit up.

Ryan and Berkie looking at the reflecting pool.

Me and Berkie. We left Cameron with Grandma Oldroyd, so he wasn't out this long in the cold. Thanks Susan.
After wards we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. YUM! Well I really hope that Ryan had a good birthday! I love you Ryan!

Much better day

We had a much better day yesterday. We planned to go out and do stuff while Ryan was sleeping but I looked out and saw it was snowing really bad. I didn't want to take them out in that, so we stayed home. I was nervous, cause Brooklynn doesn't always take naps, so what were we going to do all day? Well to my surprise we found quiet things to do and Brooklynn even took a nap. We decided to take some pictures and had fun. I love this picture but for some reason the auto focus didn't work so it is blurry. But still pretty cute of us.

Brooklynn wanted to pretend to take some pictures too. This time the real camera was far from her.

Here's my cute little man. He was very curious of what we were doing.

I love Brooklynn's beautiful eyes. I am still so amazed that her eyes are two different colors.

Another one of Cameron. He was such a good boy yesterday too.


Then after dinner we decided to make brownies. (Well I decided to, Brooklynn's Halloween candy is gone and I was craving some chocolate.)

Brooklynn had a lot of fun helping. She is a good helper.

So when we were done I told her she could lick the bowl. I forgot that she would take it literally and she acctually licked the bowl. She got frosting in her hair. OOPS!

I showed her the right way. So the night went with out incident until.... Ryan was getting the pan out of the oven and put it on the stove. I was in the other room and this is what I heard... Ryan: "Don't touch it, it's very hot." Brooklynn: "OWEEEEEEEEEEE........" Yep she got a yucky burn. It is pretty big too but at least it doesn't hurt this morning any more.

After all that Brooklynn didn't even want a brownie she wanted Graham Crackers with frosting. (Brings back memories going to my Graham Craker's house (G-ma Budd) and she always made this for us. (hence where she got the nick name.

We had a wonderful day and night together!

John and Kate Plus 8

In regards to my last post... I watched John and Kate plus 8 last night. OH MY GOSH! And I was complaining. Wow, how do they do it. I guess it just takes a lot of patience and a little love.

Live in the Moment

So Brooklynn is getting over her cough from Thanksgiving and I have now noticed that when she is sick she misbehave's a lot more. I think it is because we try to keep her away from Cameron as much as we can. So she feels like she gets less attention and can't be our helper. Monday was a rough day. Ryan was home all day with me and we both were about ready to pull our hair out. I know that everyone has a bad day and kids go through these moments.Like the day Brooklynn kept getting the camera and taking pictures.
Or when a baby keeps crying.

I heard this quote awhile ago and really liked it, it reminds me to not stress over things and just live. Be happy with what is happening. Even if that means take time out and give Brooklynn a little more attention, playing games and singing to my baby, even though I have to clean or do other things.

Elder Ballard's last conference address. He quoted Anna Quindlen who said, "The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”(Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11).


I have to remember how cute it is when my baby smiles.

And how sweet Brooklynn is when she has our attention.

I love having a clean house and being organized and having a little me time but I love my kids more and I am going to try better to live in the moment and just let things be. I know my kids will have their bad days but I just have to learn to handle it better.