Caramel Apple Goodness!!

Yesterday I made my first caramel apples! Well, I might have made them when I was younger, but I don't remember if I did. Anyways, I decided that I wanted to go all out and make them extra super delicious. We used white chocolate chips, toffee bits and chocolate drizzle to make these scrumptious delights! The best gourmet apples I have ever tasted! Our friends Dan and Cat Reid joined us for FHE to make them. Mike doesn't even really like caramel apples and said that they were really good too!

My creations :)

Dan and Cat Reid enjoying their apples

Dan, Mike, Brinley, Cat and I after eating our delicious treat :)

I just had to put up some recent pictures of our delightful little girl. She is getting so big! According to our home measurements last Sunday, she was around 14 lbs and 25.5 inches long! I love watching her develop and learn about herself and her surroundings. She is such a blessing and we are just so grateful for her in our lives.

Brinners in her cute little outfit and chillin' on her new play gym!

Hmmm.. interesting red light from the camera

Grabbing hold of the little frog for the first time

Volleyball Intramural Champions!

Well, I just had to post some pictures of my amazing volleyball team after we won the top division of BYU's intramural volleyball championship!! As some of you may know, I had surgery the previous day so I wasn't able to play. I had half of my thyroid removed and a lump on the other side. Thus, the reason for my scarf. :) And hooray it wasn't cancer!!

You can't really tell from the pictures, but on the front shirt is stated, "The most coveted shirt on campus." Then on the back it says, "Thou shall not covet." Truly, I was very excited about my volleyball team. A small part of me wishes that Mike wasn't graduating so I could play with them another year!

Left to right: Patrice, Cathrine, Chanda, Melissa, Jenna, Sarah, Liz and Me

My two biggest fans :)

Just a picture of me playing during the tournament... evidence that I did play! :) (I am the one blocking middle if you didn't know)

Is it worth it...

To buy this adorable, super cute and very precious Halloween costume for $30 that Brinley will only wear once? She won't be eating any candy and really won't remember it unless I take a picture of her in it. And if it is just the picture that I want, maybe it would be better if I just went to a store, dressed her up in it for 3 minutes and take the picture. Of course I would love to play the role of a proud mom showing off her cute little bunny at our ward social or around the town, but we don't plan on dressing up. That interact will last at most 3 hours... so I ask again, is it worth it?

Another 26.2

This last weekend Mike ran his second marathon! This one was in St. George and he improved his time by about 10 minutes! Wooohooo go Mike! His chip time was 3 h 42 m. I'm proud of my little stud. (I definitely would never want to run one!) We were able to stay with Mike's parents and family since they just recently moved to St. George and that was a blast. We spent time recovering by watching general conference. It was a great weekend!

Mike on the final stretch

Scott and his wife, Christie, with us after the race. Scott and Mike trained together for the race.

Mike distracted... Brinley eating the carrier... :)

Mike: Ugh, what a miserable race... I wonder when I will do it again?

Good thing Brinley and I were there to support him! :)

Brinley and I reading together. She just loves books!

Asleep in Alanna's swing

Alanna and Brinley

Smiley bug

We are mentally preparing for the race by watching cartoons the day before the race. Brinley and I were ready! Brinley was wearing her running shoes and outfit too! :)

Leslie's Visit and Trip to Logan

Leslie, my twin, came to visit last weekend from Connecticut! She hadn't met her precious little niece yet, and had a wonderful time with her! Well, Brinley actually had a little spell of fussiness while she was here, but Leslie was excited nonetheless! :) We went shopping and took a trip up to Logan to visit our brother John, his wife Liz, and their kids Sam and Jenny. Brinley wasn't a huge fan of shopping or driving. Leslie also introduced me to the exciting hobby of scrapebooking! I'm not a fanatic, but it is fun to do on occassions.

While in Logan we played Blockus, watched "New in Town," and John made some amazing milkshakes! It was great to relive a Brumbaugh tradition of milkshakes and popcorn for Sunday dinner. :) Thanks for coming Leslie!

Sam carefully holding Brinley

Leslie and Brinley

Liz and John

Cute little Jenny

It was difficult to get Jenny to smile on camera... this was close :)

I loved this outfit on her! Kilee and Soren got us this cute skirt.. and she would be wearing the shirt but it was dirty.

Leslie and Brinley taking a nap

Little Women

Well, I am near to finishing up the novel, and I am primarily sharing this post because I think most of you have watched the movie or read the book... but if you have done neither and plan to in the future, STOP reading my post now.

It has been very detailed and at times too detailed, and I have mainly kept on reading with high hopes for Jo and Laurie to get together. (Honestly, I didn't expect the vocabulary to be so.. um.. advanced. Well, I am sure I sound unintelligent, but really I had never read some of the words in that book before! haha) Anyways, sad to say that last night when I read that Laurie and Amy ended up getting married I cried! MISERABLE! Of course I know everything will end up just fine with Jo and whoever, but it is awful that Louisa Alcott (the author) persuaded me to believe so heartily that they would end up together. (It just might have been mine own doing too :) ) I am going to finish it today with a still bitter taste in my mouth of the whole situation, but I am sure it will probably sweeten up with a happy ending of some sort.

Flying Nemo... Well kind of

Brinley has reached 2 months! She is growing up so fast! It is crazy to think about how small she used to be. Here are her 2 month measurements:

Weight: 11 lbs 8 oz - 69 %tile
Length: 23.5 in - 87 %tile
Head Cir: 38 cm - 29 %tile

I think it is kinda funny that she her head circumference is lower in percentile. I definitely think she looks normal and totally cute! She is sleeping great at night. We no longer need to bounce or walk her around to get her to sleep. Now, we just need to swaddle her, give her the bink, and cuddle her next to us. She didn't used to sleep with us before we went to MT, but now it is more frequent than I would like. As soon as our upcoming family visits come and go, we are going to try to get her to sleep in her own crib again.

Mike has started school and is a busy beaver! I do get to see him at nights... but I can't wait until grad school is over with in April! We both are on a volleyball team. It is most likely our last year playing intramural sports, so we are taking advantage of it. My team pretty much rocks. I am hoping to win a t-shirt this year! :) I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to play on a competitive all-girl team again. Anyways, here are some recent pictures.

Daddy loves his little bug wrapped up in Aunt Leslie's cute quilt! :)

She is starting to eat her fists.

I love this look!

Her adorable smile we just can't get enough of!

Brinley is sporting the cute Nike shoes Papa and Gramma D got her.

Brinley is a fan of her bouncer now. Before we started taping, she was giggling as she kicked the "Nemo" fish. I wasn't able to get her giggling on tape, but she kicked the fish! You can hear Mike cutting vegetables and talking a bit in the background. Sorry for the length, I editted it a bit, but it is still a little long.