Well, the big day finally came, just a little earlier than planned, and it has definitely been a day to remember.
The original plan was for us to go into Riverton Hospital on Monday, November 16th, to induce labor, and welcome our new little baby into the world. It was going to be great – Cindy and I went out on a date Saturday night, we planned on taking it easy on Sunday, and then first-thing Monday morning, we’d go have a baby. However, it turns out that the little girl had plans of her own… Read the rest of this page »
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bout a week before Halloween, I was feeling a little sad. Normally Halloween is one of the biggest holidays of the year at our house, but due to constant sickness between Josh and Brooke throughout the month of October and me being 8 months pregnant, there just wasn’t much Halloween excitement here.
Luckily the last week of October made up for it, and we actually had a really good Halloween this year. We may not have done as much as we normally would do, but I also don’t feel like we really missed out on anything either.
We started off with a Halloween party with my family. Unfortunately Josh was still sick, so he missed this one, but Brooke and I had a blast. The kids came all dressed in their costumes, my Mom cooked her amazing Chili, and we let the kids decorate pumpkins with stickers, markers and pipe cleaner.
* I love that Tinkerbell is bigger then the Pirates!
Next was Brooke’s Halloween Carnival at her school. Have I said before how much I love her preschool, because I do! They had all sorts of cute little games and activities set up for the kids, where they could win either prizes or candy. They had doughnuts and rootbeer for the whole family. Brooke came home with a huge bag of goodies that she carried around for days.
Then, we had trick-or-treating at Josh’s office. I love that he works for a company that is so family oriented.
Finally, Halloween arrived and she had her first actual door-to-door trick-or-treating adventure. Josh only took her to maybe fifteen houses, but she is addicted. The only way we could get her to come home was by promising to take her trick-or-treating to her grandparents!
The fun is now over, but she is constantly carrying her candy around trying to share it with everyone, not really eating any of it herself (I am sure this will change next year). Every now and then she brings me her pumpkin bucket and says “Trick-or-treat” hoping I just might put some candy in there!
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GIRL!
We are so excited for Brooke to have a little sister that will be close to her in age! My sister and I were so close growing up. I always considered her one of my best friends and now I hope my girls will have that too! I think Josh is overwhelmed by the thought of being even more out numbered then he already is, but he is a sucker when it comes to his girls. I am thrilled to have another girl to dress up and do all the girly stuff with! And one of the best parts, we have three huge tubs full of pink and purple girly clothes! All those outfits that I was so sad about when Brooke grew out of, can be used again!
Before going to our big appointment where we would find out the sex of the baby, we decided to steal an idea that my friend Melissa had told me about. The plan was to find out the sex of the baby while surrounded by our entire family. We took a card with an envelope to our appointment, with the intent of having the ultrasound tech write the sex of the baby in the card and seal it up for us. We told the ultrasound tech what we were doing, but during the ultrasound she accidentally let the news slip. She apologized profusely.
That evening we invited several family members over to find out the news. We made a poster with “It’s A……… Boy / Girl” written at the top and made everyone sign their names under which one they thought. Then we had the two grandmothers open the card. When the news was announced, the ones that guessed right were put into a drawing for movie tickets, my brother in-law Chris was the lucky winner! Then those that guessed wrong were put into another drawing. This was for a toilet tape dispenser (which actually most of the guys thought this was really cool) and Josh’s mom was the lucky winner for that!
We had a great evening , just chatting with family and celebrating the news! We are so grateful to everyone that came to support us and celebrate with us! We have an amazing family! This little girl is definitely going to be loved!
Last week my family got together to celebrate my mom’s birthday.
I love my mom. She has always been one of my best friends. She was always the mom growing up that my friends talked to when they were too scared to talk to their own parents. She has a gift of making you laugh when ever you are down and is well known by family and friends for her creativity with poems and silly songs. She is a great person and I love spending time with her. I was so excited when I found out Brooke was going to be girl, because I have always wanted a daughter that I could share that same mother-daughter relationship with.
We had a lot of fun hanging out, BBQing and then of course all the little ones (and some of the big ones) played in the hot tub! This was the first time Brooklynn really played with her cousins, which was so fun. They played with toys, splashed in the hot tub, and Brooke would crawl behind the twins chasing them. There were lots of little laughing voices and fun moments. It is so fun to see them becoming good friends.
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Those that know me, and know me well, should know of my love for a little town called Lava Hot Springs. It’s a place I have been going to since I was in diapers, and now I get to take my daughter in her diapers.
It is a little town in Southern Idaho with a population of about 520. It may be small, but but there is so much to do there and when you don’t want to do anything, it’s a great place to just hangout and relax.
Josh and I go about 3 times a year. Once in February for skiing or just winter fun, and to soak in the world famous natural hot springs. Again in April with my family, where we just hangout, visit all the local tourist sites and relax in the hot water. Then again during the summer with all my Webb cousins. We camp by the river, play in the cold pools, float down the river, and of course soak in the hot water. If you have never been there, I highly suggest you check it out.
So last week was our February trip. This year we decided to skip the skiing and just take Brooklynn sledding instead. We had a lot of fun doing that, but we are hoping that sometime in the next few years, Brooke will be ready to try the slopes. We spent a lot of time playing in the hot pools, which Brooklynn loved. Every night when we came back to our condo from the hot pools, we would find a whole herd of deer just right outside our building. I think this is the closest I have ever seen a deer (not counting the zoo). We also spent a lot of down time watching movies and just spending some good, quality, family time together.
This “daughter like father” picture is one of my favorite pictures from our trip. Josh brought his laptop so he could take care of a few thing for work, (or let’s be honest, Josh doesn’t go anywhere without his laptop). One of Brooke’s favorite things about going on vacation, is that we pull out our portable DVD player and let her carry it around and watch all her movies. So one morning while I was cooking breakfast, I looked over and this is what I saw.
I love getting away with my little family and feel so blessed to have the opportunity to do so!
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Yes, I am way behind on my blogging. It’s been a crazy two weeks around here, between Christmas, Josh’s birthday, New Years, and then Rain (the company Josh works for) being the amazing company they are, gave all the employees a week and a half off for the Holidays. So we’ve had a lot of family time, activities, we almost have the basement framed (thank you to everyone that has helped). So as you can see, life has been a little crazy!
Although with all of that craziness, I didn’t want to forget Christmas, since our blog is kind of acting as a family journal. When Brooke looks at this 15 years from now, I want her to see just how spoiled and loved she was.
This picture was taken at the Buhler Christmas party. We were lucky enough to have a visit from Santa. Josh took Brooklynn up to see Santa, but as you can see she was not a huge fan. Since Josh and Santa are very good friends, almost like father and son, Josh sat on Santa’s lap, trying to make it easier for Brooke. It did not help. Although in the middle of cries and pleas to get away from Santa she did say “thank you” after he gave her a gift. I thought it was sweet.
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My family had our traditional “Progressive Dinner”, although this year because of a football game, it was just dinner. All my family came to our house for dinner, which was a lot of fun. My dad and Scott hung out in the family room watching the game, while rest of us played UNO in the kitchen. We setup the playpen for the twins. Brooke was very interested in her two cousins sleeping in the kitchen. I can’t wait for another year or so, when they can finally really play together.
Christmas with Josh’s family was spread out over two nights. Due to schedule conflicts we did our gift exchange Sunday before Christmas and then those who were available got together again on Christmas Eve. This picture is of Josh and all his siblings and their stockings. Josh’s mom made these when the kids were just young and have been an important part of their Christmases ever since. As a final gift, she gave all her children their stockings to keep. This was very shocking and exciting for everyone. Now I need to learn how to make them, so that Brooke and I can have matching stockings with Josh.
This picture is of our family and our Christmas pajamas. This is a tradition Josh and I have done since the first year we were married.
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We attempted to read Brooke the story of the birth of Christ. Unfortunately she was a little wound up and I don’t think she understood any of it, maybe next year!
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Christmas morning, it took us about a half hour to drag Brooke out of bed (she is not a morning person.) When we finally got her up, she just looked around amazed.
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Brooklynn’s favorite gift was her kitchen. It has brought hours of entertainment for her and hours of peace and quiet for us.
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One of her other favorite gifts was a harmonica. She is amazingly pretty good at playing it.
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After opening presents at our house, we joined my family at my parents house for a Christmas brunch. This is a picture of cute little Madi after grandma put a bow on her head.
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Here is Josh with our totally awesome movie mugs. I am so excited about this gift, because now I can get a drink at the movies for only a $1, I can afford that.
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Here is Josh attempting to hold Madi. It’s amazing he ever survived Brooke being a baby.
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Here is Brooke in her new outfit for Christmas. This was the best picture I could get!
Well I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!
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In this last week, I have had two friends suffer the loss of a child. One lost a baby girl to SIDS and the other lost his son in a fatal car wreck. I can’t imagine what either family is going through at this moment. Both deaths were completely unexpected. A week ago both families, I am sure were getting ready for a fun and exciting Christmas Holiday. Now one family is grieving the loss of a child they buried last week and another family is planning a funeral for Christmas Eve. My heart goes out to both families. I pray that especially at this time of year that they will be able to feel the love of their Savior and Heavenly Father. I can’t imagine getting through something so tragic without that comfort.
Their losses have definitely made me more grateful for my family and my sweet child. I can’t imagine my life without any of my family, and being Brooklynn’s mother is truly the greatest joy that I have ever known.
Today I am missing Disneyland. A year ago we were there and it was such a great trip. Brooklynn took her very first steps on that trip and it was so special to be able to go as parents for the first time and see the excitement in her eyes.
For any of you that have never been at Christmas, I highly suggest it. Josh and I have been a few times for Christmas now (that’s how much we like it). It’s something that we know we can’t do every year, but we hope to continue every few years. It’s such a fun vacation anytime, but when you add the excitement of Christmas, it’s ten times better. Everything from all the Christmas decorations, caroling around every corner, “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” drinking hot chocolate on main street, and then snow at the end of the day!
Disneyland, don’t worry, someday we’ll be back!
I am definitely a little bipolar when it comes to snow. I probably spend too much time during the winter watching the weather report, praying that snow will only fall on convenient days for me. I hate driving in the snow. I hate when Josh has to drive in the snow. I hate when any one I love has to drive in the snow. If it was up to me, everything (except for the essentials, which does not include Television Stations) would shut down anytime it snowed. However, when everyone is safely home, I love the snow.
I was going through my Iphoto’s, and came across some pictures that
were taken one year ago today. If I remember right it was one of the first big snowfalls of the year. After we had put Brooklynn down all snug in her bed, Josh and I pulled out the snowboards and went snowboarding in our backyard at 11pm. Yes, I realize we really don’t have a big back yard, but we do have a hill. If we didn’t have Brooke, we probably would have been across the street at the neighborhood park, because they have a great hill! After awhile, we figured we had probably done enough damage to our young little sod and if we wanted any chance of having grass in the Spring, we probably should quit.
Then we got the idea to build our first Frosty Buhlerman. He was the first snowman I think we have ever built together. We had so much fun that night, although I remember we both ended up with severe colds that stayed with us for a few weeks (including our Disneyland vacation). So all you kids out there, it might be fun to play in the snow during the middle of the night, but I must warn you, you will get sick!
I decided to post these pictures for a few reasons, first because that is one night I never want to forget. I love being married to Josh, because you never know how your night is going to end up. Second, because it made me think about how each year is so different then the rest. I can’t believe how much my life has changed since then, even though there are so many similarities. We never get to relive our most cherished moments, but when things are hard, you also have to realize that things will change, they always do. That is one of the great adventures of life. Nothing is ever the same. So last year we had snow, and this year we don’t (at least not yet). I am excited to see what treasured memories are awaiting my family and me.
The Christmas season has officially arrived at the Buhler house. We kicked off the season at Temple Square to celebrate my Dad’s 60th Birthday (Wow).
Here is a collage of pictures. We took several pictures trying to get one of Brooke looking at the camera. This is the best we could come up with (I am not sure why we really try sometimes.)
We also were able to get our Christmas tree put up. Brooklynn is in love with the tree. We decorated the bottom half with homemade, wooden ornaments that she can play with (they have already been rearranged several times). We put all the good ornaments on the top half of the tree, where hopefully they will be safe. Brooke has already figured out how to turn the lights on and off, and has spent the whole day doing so (can’t wait to see what this electric bill will be). Zoey is also very excited about the tree. Every year, she spends the month of December sleeping under it (probably dreaming of being an outdoors cat). If you look at the second picture, you can see her tucked away beneath the tree.
Monday night we continued with the Christmas festivities. We went to City Hall and watched Santa arrive on a Fire Engine. We stood outside with a crowd of people singing Christmas carols as they turned on the city Christmas lights. Then watched as Santa came around the corner riding on a fire engine. After his arrival, we enjoyed some yummy scones and hot chocolate. We then went on a hay ride (singing more carols.) Brooke loved the hay ride. She smiled the whole time, and pretended to lead the music while everyone was singing (she learned how to do that from watching Little Einsteins). Brooklynn also had the opportunity to decorate a sugar cookie. She got a little carried away with the sprinkles, but it sure tasted good!
I love the Christmas season, and I hope you are all enjoying it as well!
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