Surprise!!!

For Bryson's 30th birthday, I threw him a surprise party, with tons of help from his family. It was a 70's themed party, in honor of his birth year (1978). We asked everyone to come dressed in 70's clothes, I made tons of decorations (and bought a few, including a disco ball), had 70's themed food (fondue, pigs in a blanket, meatballs, even a green jello mold), and I tried to set the mood with playing Star Wars upstairs and 70's music downstairs. One of the highlights was the roast- Summer found an old video of Bry singing in a school concert around age 11, then a few people got up to tell embarrassing or funny stories about Bry (his grandpa's was the biggest hit), and we ended it with watching one of his Divine Comedy skits where he was dancing in spandex tights. Good times. It actually turned out to be really fun, and the best part was that Bryson was actually surprised! As usual, I am posting way too many pictures, but this time I put them in a slideshow so that you can choose to look or not look at your leisure. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!!

Today is Bryson's 30th birthday, so in honor of his 30 amazing years of life, I'm going to make a list of 30 things I love about him. (in random order)
1.His dashing good looks
2. More specifically, his amazing jaw...with his bone structure, he should have been a movie star!
3. He is such a romantic, and always makes an effort to make me feel special and loved
4. He is incredibly generous, almost to a fault... he would do anything for friends or family
5. He is an amazing father. Davis practically jumps across the room every time Bryson walks in the door so that he can get to him faster.
6. He is a very hard worker, and is happy to do it so that I can be home with Davis
7. He always makes me laugh. (and everyone else too).
8. He makes a mean pancake.
9. He still gets me water every night before bed.
10. He was one of, if not THE cutest baby/kid I have ever seen.
11. He is a good priesthood holder and honors his role as such.
12. He makes any party or gathering fun (even if it gets a bit loud).
13. He is very passionate about life and shares his passions with others.
14. He spoils me... probably a little too much. He still likes to surprise me with things like flowers, jewelry, or massages.
15. He's very athletic
16. Bryson is awesome at skiing and always happy to teach people.
17. He is very close to and nice to his family, always remembering to spend time with them, including his little brother and grandparents.
18. He has a strong testimony and is not afraid to share it.
19. He is loyal- to family, friends, work, sports teams,etc- anything he loves or believes in.
20. He still likes to cuddle.
21. He is a surprisingly good dancer.
22. He is very helpful with Davis and around the house
23. He comes home for lunch almost every day to hang out with us instead of go out with the guys
24. He's not afraid to make fun of or embarrass himself for a laugh
25. He looks amazing in anything from a t-shirt and jeans to a suit.
26. He likes/is nice to my family and NEVER complains about his in-laws
27. Whether pretending or not, he always seems to be attracted to me, even when I'm pregnant and 40 pounds heavier than usual!
28. the adorable half smile he does when he's trying to act like he's not as pleased with himself as he is (for instance, if I tell him how hot he looks and he's trying to deny it).
29. He is so good with kids , and much more creative about making up games for them than I am
30. He is the BEST, sweetest, most caring, cutest, most generous, loving, adoring, handsome, spiritual, funny, and all around AWESOMEST husband EVER! I don't know how I snagged him, but I am the luckiest girl alive to have him.
Bry, I love you so much and hope you have a great 30th birthday!

Happy Halloween!

So, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. With all of the political turmoil and economic stress going on right now, I decided that something must be done, and I think I have figured it out. I thought to myself, "what is missing?" I will tell you what I came up with. There is a serious shortage of one piece vinyl unitards out there, and I for one, will not stand for it. So, I did my part and put one more vinyl one-piece out into the universe for everyone to enjoy. I feel much better now, how about you? (scroll down to the end of the post if you are curious). Seriously, though, we had a great halloween this year! Davis was old enough to enjoy things like carving pumpkins and collecting candy from strangers, and we got to dress up twice!

Davis really wanted to help carve the pumpkins, so we let him dig right in



We were very ambitious this year and carved two pumpkins for each of us... next year I think we'll stick with one per person








For our ward halloween party/trunk or treat, we went as a mummy family. We borrowed the costumes from Bryson's mom and created a make-shift mummy outfit for Davis out of an old ghost costume. Turned out pretty cute.




Finally, our crazy halloween night costumes... Bryson got this idea earlier in the week, and for some reason, I actually agreed to it. Here we are as the Bat family:





And for my solo debut as the catwoman:



My own Bruce Wayne incognito- Bryson as BATMAN


And Finally for the star of the show (sometimes the sidekicks do save the day)... Davis as the most adorable Robin I've ever seen:

Miller Time in D.C.

Bryson and I just got back from our very fun visit with the Millers in D.C. We had a blast! The first few days were mostly occupied with resting and preparing for the marathon, but after that, we packed in all sorts of fun activities from sightseeing to kid friendly play days. Bryson was actually there for a business trip, so I had a lot of time to hang out with Crystal and the kids. Davis pretty much tortured Elle all week, so she spent most of the time wandering around saying, "oh no, babies" anytime he came near. Max seemed a little happier to have him around, and even tried to show him a few wrestling moves. In addition to all of the fun activities, I got to meet some of Crystal's cute friends and get a feel for her life out in Virginia. We were sad to leave, but hopefully we'll be out there again. Here are some picture highlights from the trip. Sorry this is a crazy long post!

This is the only group shot from the whole trip, the day before we left, after Max's baseball game


My good friend Jyl and her mom Janice came up for a quick visit the first week I was there. It was so good to see them!


We walked around the National Cathedral one night after dinner... it is beautiful.


We spent a day at Mt. Vernon, which was really fun. I learned so much about George Washington... I never knew he had so many talents. He seemed to do everything, and basically ran his own city at Mt. Vernon... in addition to running the country!


After Mt. Vernon, we spent the evening walking around all of the monuments. They are beautiful at night.




Crystal and I took Davis and Elle to this huge pumpkin patch with tons of great activities for the kids. Davis went crazy for the animals and had a great time all day.







Later that night, Max showed his culinary skills with his awesome sugar cookies


The next day we went to an apple orchard surrounded by gorgeous hills, where you can pick your own apples. So we went apple picking, then came home to make homemade apple pie and apple crisp. Yummy!








Once Bryson was done with his business conference, we were able to do a bit more sightseeing, so we went to the smithsonian to check out a few museums and walked around the national mall and monuments.


This one is in front of the Bendix trophy, which was neat to see because Bryson's grandpa placed 2nd in the Bendix race and has a slightly smaller, silver version of this at home.





We made a stop at the WWII memorial






And a quick stop by the White House


Museum of Natural History






Max and I are showing off our coolest Transformer moves in our matching t-shirts (he and Crystal share t-shirts when they have cool things like Transformers on them).


Crystal and I got to play dress up one evening because a photographer friend of hers wants to start doing weddings and needed a few "brides" to advertise on her website. So we got beautified and went around town taking fabulous pictures. When those pictures are done, maybe we'll have to post a few. This one is just from my camera when we were getting ready.


Watching Max play baseball was the cutest thing ever! He did great and was very excited to have his aunt and uncle there to watch.



Before we left, Crystal made us these great aprons!


Crystal got Davis to warm up to her by bribing him with oreos. What a nice aunt!