I'm not actually going to mail out 50 cards this year (that's $35 that would be better spent on gas money or presents for the kiddos) so here is a blog Christmas card! Maybe next year when Nathan is working we'll actually get one out in the mail! I've got some serious updates coming - Girl's weekend with Mandi, Thanksgiving, Christmas stuff, and Anika's birthday! She is 7 today! She's been "shivering with excitement" (her words!) for the last month!

Weekend Escape, Olsen, and Thanksgiving

I'm going to go way, way, way, back to November! It was only a month and a half ago but it already seems like it's been ages. We had a lot of fun in November and a lot of that fun was had with the Soters! Somehow it worked out for me to be able to go on a girl's weekend escape with Mandi and what a fun escape we had! There are a million reasons why I love Mandi. She is my "Diana" and I know I can be ME and she will love me no matter what. We had a good laugh when we saw our FANCY hotel! (Note to self: do NOT ever go below 3 or 4 stars on Priceline!) Hahaha! There were HAIRS on our pillows!

And brick walls (it gave our room quite the rustic feel).

We quickly set off for a night of fun! We went out to eat at Chili's because when have we ever NOT eaten at Chili's when we've been together?! Then we went to a theater to see if anything good was playing. There wasn't so we headed back to the car with an extra wiggle in our hips because the bus full of teenage boys was TOTALLY checking us out! =) At least we like to think they were. =) With not many other options we headed to the next obvious place - H.E.B. - where we took weird, random pictures with Pillow Pets:

And as many cans of beans as we could carry:
And then we sneakily took a picture on this police segway and then ran away with the sounds of H.E.B. employees laughing at us in the background!
THEN we did a little cruising, singing, and dancing through downtown Austin until our eyes started to droop. The next day was spent shopping at the outlets! We had fun and spent money (just a little!) until our feet hurt. The best part was when my friend, Kelli, caught us taking pictures. I don't mind sharing them on my blog but it's a little awkward to get caught in the act! It was right as we were climbing into this thing:
We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, visited Brooke and baby Olsen at the hospital, and then went and saw Megamind that night. It was a glorious weekend and I was sad when it was over.

The rest of the family needed to see Olsen so we headed over to Austin the next weekend. He is SO cute and sweet! We are so happy for Brooke and Scott!
Nathan and Scott rode off into the sunset in their new go-cart. I think it's funny how Scott has his arm around Nathan! They were so hilarious making plans to get houses next door and have a big go-cart track in the backyard. We'll see if that ever happens!
THANKSGIVING!!

We spent Thanksgiving up in Dallas with Steve and Mandi. It was so fun to hang out in the kitchen with her and make the feast! I don't think I'll ever be able to eat regular turkey again. Their bishop smoked our turkey for us and it was delicious!

We did some serious Black Friday shopping! We went to Toy's R Us around 8:30 pm. I expected the wait to be like last year but we were in by 10:30 (store opened at 10) and out by 11. It was amazing! We scooted on over to Walmart to stake out our stuff and at midnight we went crazy just like everyone else and managed to get most of the things we wanted. We had a couple hours to spare before Target opened so we went to eat at IHOP. That was delicious and woke us up a bit. Target was super fast too! It was the best Black Friday experience I've ever had. =)
Here we are - excited as can be for our LONG night!
AND here we are several hours later while sitting at IHOP! Haha!

Look how pretty the leaves were!

Thanks for the wonderful Thanksgiving Steve and Mandi!!
Next up: DECEMBER!!

Keslie's Ballet Recital

This little girl is a hoot! It's funny how shy and unshy she is at the same time. You should have seen her at our ward's primary program! She was in the very front dancing and doing who knows what with her arms and making her hair super crazy but then she got so scared when it was her turn to do her part. She was still very proud of herself and I got such a kick out of watching her. I admit - my eyes filled with tears when it was Anika and Keslie's turn and they got up to say their parts. I feel so blessed to be the mom of these sweet little girls. Keslie has been taking another dance class from Miss Nanci on Friday mornings. She is SO fun to watch! I love her! Enjoy these cute videos - she has some pretty sweet moves! =)

Brenan is TWO!!

Here he is all bright eyed and bushy tailed on his birthday morning! That's right - His Royal Cuteness is a TWO YEAR OLD!! One of my favorite ages ever. I seriously can't get enough of this little dude. He was thrilled to open his presents from Nana and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa!

He got a haircut, played with his speech helper, Brenda, and chillaxed with his sister in the morning.

He went to the park and helped make a birthday cake in the afternoon.

He blew out the candles (more like huffed them out)!

And then he chowed down!

We are so lucky to have this little boy. He is such an angel and so easygoing and fun! I can't stand how cute he is and pretty much want to eat him up for dinner. I'll say "That's it!! It's time to get eaten" and he'll die laughing and run because he knows I'm about to munch on his cute bones. I love him SO much.

Updates on Brenan - at 2 years old he:

*Weighs 30 lbs 4oz
* is 37 inches long and 100th percentile- the Dr. thinks he'll be between 6'2'' and 6'4''!
*LOVES cars! It's all the kid plays with!
*Is becoming very independent and wants to do things without my help.
* Is starting to talk a little bit more and puts more than one word together. His "yeah" has evolved - he used to say LAHHHH! with tons of energy and now it's neah which is tough cause it sounds like Nah (no) but he's really saying yes. He says "Dada go?" and "I want dada".
*He loves to drink his milk out of the cereal bowl.
*He loves squishing bugs - pretty opposite from his big sisters who go out of their way to save them (even evil ones like wasps!).
*He loves to help with putting away the laundry.
*He is an EXCELLENT sleeper. He never cries when we lay him down and he never cries when he wakes up. He just plays until we come in to get him. He still takes 3 hour naps and sleeps from 7-7 at night! Good boy!
*He loves to watch Thomas the Train - he calls it "choo chooo".
*He's discovered markers and if he ever gets a hold of them he will color on anything in his path - especially his hands and belly!
*He is SO smart.
*When Nathan and I brush our teeth he runs in and wants to brush his. I usually lean against the wall and cross my left foot over my right leg. He always stands exactly like I do. Nathan and I tested it one day and if we would change our stance he would copy it and stand however we did. It is SO cute!
*Every night for the bedtime routine we sing a song right before the prayer. He always starts pounding his fist on his hand because he LOVES the song Book of Mormon stories.
*As soon as the song is over he kneels down just like his daddy and usually will stay that way through the whole prayer. He's 2 so occasionally he'll get distracted and start jumping around!

I've got to be better at writing down the things he says and does. I can't believe my baby is a full blown toddler! I have enjoyed every minute of his life. He's been such a sweet baby.

Your Mama loves you, Mr. Brenaman!

My Good Lookin' Dudes!

Nathan had a few hours off in the middle of the day on Friday. I think Brenan liked having his daddy all to himself. =)

Since Brenan turns 2 tomorrow we decided he needed his own mini daddy church outfit. He and Nathan looked so handsome (his hair looks a little nutso in this picture though! Time for a haircut!).

I love these boys of mine. Even if one of them dumped a full can of mandarin oranges (in light syrup) all over my living room carpet this morning. That was the best.

Happy Haunting!

We have crammed all of our October fun into one weekend! Trunk of Treat, Seaworld's Howl-O-Scream, pumpkin carving, Krispy Kreme Donuts, Halloween breakfast and a Halloween party! We've been busy! Our ward's Trunk or Treat was super fun - there was a bounce house, cotton candy and popcorn! Next time they need to have an adult bounce house and it will be perfect! =) Here is our ghoulish family: pizza delivery zombie, tooth fairy, ghost, vampire, and our pet dragon.

Sometimes the fact that I don't edit my pictures works in my favor! Look how spooky they look with their blood red eyes! Sweet. Thanks camera!

Nathan stuck some vampire teeth in Brenan's mouth. He wasn't too happy about it but we couldn't stop laughing! Bren has become pretty anti-camera. He won't hold still and he won't smile and he won't look at the camera! When we do get a good one we consider it a miracle. =)

Our day at Seaworld:

Pumpkin carving:

Happy Halloween!!

I Love You, November! You're only 4 days away!!

I'm ready to bid farewell to the month of October! It's just been one of those months. Five good things happened though:

1. We got a visit from my mom! Hooray!!
Look! She knows how to make crazy faces too! =)

We mostly just hung out around the house (more on that later). But right before we took her to the airport on Friday we went to the Alamo and Chipotle!

2. Keslie's birthday (see post!)
3. Nathan's birthday(see post!)
4. We discovered our love of PSYCH (the TV show). It makes us laugh so much! Doesn't he look like a mix between Ben Stiller and JD from Scrubs? It's hilarious - we highly recommend it!

5. Tessa got married to Addison! Look at them - they are beautiful. And Tessa is wearing pink shoes. Be still my heart! Why didn't I think to wear pink shoes! I'm so happy for them! I just wish I could have been there!

And this picture is so darn cute! However, it's just missing two very important sisters - me and Hannah!!
Why am I ready to say good-bye to October? When I last posted about my ectopic pregnancy I had just gotten my first dose of Methotrexate. Well, that first dose didn't do the trick so they gave me a second dose - it HURT like the dickens. Four shots in all. Ouch! When I went in a week later they said that my hormone levels were finally going down so it was working! I was feeling fabulous that day - energetic, happy, and back to normal. Then that night I stood up from the couch and was hit with severe nausea and bad pains in my abdomen. I thought maybe it was just gas??? But I could hardly walk so we decided to go back to the hospital just in case. Nathan gave me a blessing and we left the kids in good hands (thanks Heather!). The Dr. didn't seem too concerned - she thought it was probably a side effect of the Methotrexate. That seemed weird to me because it had been 2 weeks since my first dose and a week since my second. Wouldn't I have had the pains before that? Anyway, as soon as she did the ultrasound I could tell something was wrong. There were big, black spots all over the place. SO, after 4 painful shots of Methotrexate my dang fallopian tube STILL ruptured (they said it was shredded!) and I was bleeding into my belly and behind my ovaries. I was pretty sure I was going to die at this point. I just wanted some reassurance and I looked for it twice. Right after she told me they would need to do emergency surgery I asked if I could die - she said "I don't think so". Then, when another Dr. asked me if I had any questions I tried to laugh and ask if I would die and he said "Well, I can never guarantee 100% that you won't". I understand that, but come on! Would it have hurt to say that it's rare and that they had caught it in time and that I would be just fine? I'm a psycho. I know! Anyway, I got to undergo my second surgery in less than a month! They told me they took my left ovary and fallopian tube but I found out at my appt. a couple days ago that they only took the tube. Sweet! =) And that is why my mom came. And why Nathan's birthday was pretty crappy. Monday night when Nathan was picking up my mom Anika puked all over her room. Seriously. I think she leaned over her bed rail and did the sprinkler with her head. Then she came downstairs and threw up. It was a HORRIBLE stomach flu. Nathan left for Dallas the next morning and Kes and Brenan both got it on Wednesday. If my mom hadn't been here I think I would have just sat down on the floor and bawled! Since she was there we were able to find the humor in the situation. We just looked at each other and laughed a couple times! It was insane! I am so glad she came! I'm not supposed to lift anything over 20 lbs for 6 weeks. That didn't last long - as soon as Brenan was covered in throw up I was pulling him out of bed and throwing him in the tub. Hopefully I don't get a hernia - I've been lifting like normal ever since. How do you not lift when you have kids?!! Anyway, I have high hopes for November!

Here we are - 3 VERY sick kids and me right after surgery. =)

The recovery wasn't so bad. I was pretty sore and my shoulders hurt really bad (from the gas they used) but it only lasted a few days. I was feeling SO much better by Thursday. I've been to the hospital and had more blood draws, ultrasounds, surgeries, and shots in one month than I would want in my whole life. I'm so grateful for the love and concern that we've felt from family and friends! I'm very thankful to be alive. =) I'm thankful that they used superglue on my incisions because it was SUPER fun to peel off. My whole belly button was full of the glue and it was amazing to pick it out of there! =) And because I am not not having a baby in May, I will be able to go to CT as planned. I'm super excited about that! I have a second chance to work off this baby weight from Brenan. I will NOT be sick for the holidays. I can ride roller coasters. Just looking at the bright side! Of course, none of those things are as great as having a sweet, chubby baby of my own in my arms! It's okay though. I'm doing great - emotionally and physically. Except for my a little toe on my right foot. I stubbed it tonight and it's hurting A LOT. I'm pretty sure I broke it. Me and door jams. We just don't get along! =)