Happy Halloween!

 Happy Halloween from the Draper home! Brynlee was so fun to dress up as a cave girl/baby, and she played the part well! She grunted and spoke caveman language perfectly if you ask me :) 

 We had a lot of fun getting together w/ the Ellingsons and the Taylors for our annual Halloween party. It was especially fun this year b/c we have all added a cute new edition to our families. Adalynn was the cutest little lady bug, and McKae was a very convincing Waldo baby! Aren't those glasses hilarious?!

Our first Halloween as a family was a wonderful one full of parties, candy, family, and friends!

Pumpkin Patch

Brynlee and I got to go out for an afternoon w/ our best friends to a pumpkin patch. Brynlee was a trooper to sit on all the hard pumpkins and hay so we could take pictures :)

 McKae, Adalynn, and Brynlee sure do love to be together, and we are so happy they have each other to "play with!"

 It was lots of fun to go out with Kait and Audge, and it's even more fun to all have baby girls together who we can watch grow up and go through their first year of life together. We will be so sad when everyone is done with school and parts their separate ways. If we had it our way, they would stay right by us no matter where we go! I couldn't ask for better friends :)

Happy Birthday to Me

This year my birthday was soooo different from last year. Brynlee was still a part of it, but in a very different way. Last year I was only about 7 weeks pregnant, and all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and sleep. I couldn't even make myself excited to open presents. Rob had to wake me up and make me sit up to open them. This year was a big improvement.

This is what I woke up to in the morning... do I really need to go on to say it was a great day? I think this little face answers that all by herself :)

 It was such a great day! Rob is the best husband in the world. He always goes out of his way to make sure my birthday is as good as it can possibly be. This was the first year I got to share my birthday with Brynlee too :) She was extra good for me all day which was the best present she could have given me.

That night after Rob got home, we took Brynlee over to a friends house to hang out for the night while we went out on a date! Woo hoo! Kid free. Love her to death, but I sure do celebrate when we get to go on dates these days. They are few and far inbetween.

Rob made a little "scavenger hunt" for me. The clues were very funny and creative. We went to the creamery for ice cream, to the park to play frisbee, and then to Tucano's for dinner. Yuuuummmy! It was so great! We then went to pick up Brynlee from playing with her friend, McKae, and watched a little of the BYU football game. After a little bit we headed home for some "cake" and presents.

I'm not a huge fan of cake, but I LOVE and CRAVE Marie Calendar's chocolate satin pie. Rob was a sweetheart and got it for me. Boy was it good! We even let Brynlee taste some whipped cream. She LOVED it! It was a wonderful birthday, and I have the best family in the world :)

3 Months

Time flies! Brynlee is already 3 months old, and she is acting like it! We love watching her pick up on new things daily. It's amazing to look back on a week and realize all the new things she's learned, and all the new things she's doing. We are so in love with our little bug! 

We decided since we are feeling poor and downtrodden that we would attempt to do our own photo shoot instead of taking her to a studio and having to pay money that we don't have. I think they turned out decent. Here are a few of them!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy first Father's Day to Rob! It started out kind of rough b/c of family leaving town and lots of tears, but it soon got back on track to be a great day! B/c we live by both of our Dads, Brynlee and I gave Rob our presents in the morning before we headed up to SL. Brynlee gave him an open it tool which is excellent at opening all those hard to open kids toys will all the zip ties and ridiculous packaging. She thought it would come in handy someday soon. 

 After church with Rob's family I changed Brynlee into her Father's Day outfit. The first time she had worn it, and it did not disappoint!

She even gave Rob his first Daddy-daughter kiss :)

My present to Rob was a weeks worth of Father's Day. Each day I gave him a "favorite" thing of his with a note. His favorite cereal, favorite dinner, favorite drink, favorite candy, a picture of Brynlee (his favorite little girl), we watched his favorite movie, and on the last day of the week we are going on what Rob calls a "Tiffany original date". That's just code for creative date. 

I am so grateful for my wonderful husband. He is always looking for ways to serve me and those around me. He's always doing the little things to make me happy, and he is the best dad to Brynlee. I'm so grateful for all the sacrifices he makes for us and all his efforts to give us the best he can. He is patient, kind, understanding, and knows how to make me laugh. Most of all, I'm grateful for his worthiness to be a priesthood holder and I think that is the greatest gift he can give our family. 

I have the greatest Dad and am so grateful for him. He has always made me feel like my best was enough. I cherish all the great talks and advice he has given me over the years, and he is the greatest example of how a parent should love their children. 

Thanks to all the amazing men in my life! Including my Heavenly Father who watches over me constantly and always has his loving arms wrapped around me. I can feel his love for me every single day, and I see his love in the people in my life he has blessed me with!

Our First Road Trip

We took our first road trip with Brynlee this weekend to Boise, ID. On Thursday we were in the car from 5 am- 10pm. LONG day!!! She did so well and slept most of the time. Until about 8:00 pm that is. Then she was not happy! I don't blame her. We have come to realize that she is very aware of whether we are driving on the freeway, and when we're not. As long as we're on the freeway she is content and happy. As soon as we get off she starts to fuss. Not very fun!

 We did lots of fun things including visiting Sandy Beach where Rob and his little bro, Chris, earned $5 by swimming out in the freezing water to touch the huge fountain in the middle of the water. Rob told me afterwards he did it just for me so we could go get snow cones that I had been begging for the whole trip. I love my hubby!

 Taking pictures of us as a family never gets old. We love our new little edition.

Brynlee put her feet in the water for the very first time :) No swimming quite yet.

Rob and his family use to visit his great grandma in Boise often, and this was the first time he'd been back in years. We did everything they use to do on their regular visits, and it was fun! I have a whole new view of Idaho- I guess it can be fun if you know where to look to find fun things! Our first road trip was a success :)

Baby Model

We may have a little baby model on our hands here... Brynlee had her first photo shoot when she was 3 weeks old, taken by Randy Collier. We got nothing but the best when we asked Randy to do her pictures! It was so strange being the Mom taking her baby to get her pictures done. I'm still getting use to this whole Mom business, but loving it all the while! Brynlee was so well behaved and patient as we disturbed her sleep to change her multiple times, position her when she didn't want to be, and flashing lights in her eyes. They turned out so great! Thanks Randy!

Brynlee's Blessing

We had the chance to do Brynlee's baby blessing on June 10 while the whole family was here! It turned out great and she was very well behaved in the circle, during sacrament meeting, and as she was passed around like crazy all day long. She's our little trooper, and we were so excited for our whole family to be able to share her special day with her. 

 4 Generations

 Our family of 3

All of the wonderful men who were able to stand in the circle and bless her

Brynlee Andria Draper

Meet the newest edition to our household and most importantly, family. Brynlee Andria Draper came to us FINALLY on May 24, 2012. One week overdue. She weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 1/4" long.

The short story of it all: We checked in to the hospital on Wednesday night to start the drug Sytotech (sp?) which is to help ripen the cervix. I had contractions all night long, and needless to say, didn't get much sleep. In the morning the Dr. broke my water, and then we started Petosin (sp?). Brynlee did NOT like Petosin. Whenever they gave me a dose of it she started to have irregularities in her heart rhythm, and my dilation stopped. When they would stop giving me the drug, Brynlee was as happy as could be and I kept dilating at an extremely quick pace. I dilated from a 3 to a 9 1/2 in just a couple of hours. The nurses and I decided Petosin was not helping.

Once I was ready to push, it took just over 2 hours til she decided to come out. She didn't make it easy by tilting her head at an angle that was very difficult to move out, but Mommy did it with the help of Daddy and his now sore hand. She came out with a cute little mohawk thanks to the Dr. who apparently was playing with her hair and styling it in between pushes. Glad someone was enjoying themselves!

Through the whole delivery and last few weeks of pregnancy, we can already tell that she is going to be one who does things when she is ready, not when everyone else is. We love her to pieces and can't believe she's finally here. Being a parent is SO MUCH HARDER than we thought it would be, but in the end we are loving it. Welcome to our home Brynlee!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Well, I am officially 35 weeks along- even though most people tell me I look too small to be due in a month. But it's true- 5 more weeks, if I'm on time with my due date. If you ask me, I am pretty blatantly pregnant- no need to wonder. However, if you ask people at church, they are just getting the clue! One lady pointed at my stomach last week and said, "That's a baby, right?" A few weeks ago, someone from the RS presidency said, "Tiffany! Is it true? Are you having a baby?!" Ha ha, I wanted to say, "Did you really have to ask?" But I just smiled and said yes.Rob loves our little Brynlee. He is always putting his hand on my stomach, pushing my stomach to make her move, singing her songs, talking to her, and giving her kisses. His favorite song to sing her at night is the primary song, "I have two little hands..."
Pregnant pics are NOT flattering if you ask me, but this one is probably the best one we've gotten with my actual face in it.

So there have been good, bad, and ugly things thus far about third trimester pregnancy. I will share a few of mine.

The Good:

1. Having an excuse to eat whatever sounds good, WHEN it sounds good.

2. Not feeling sick about certain foods and liking most everything.

3. Having a husband who feels it is his obligation to do everything for me when he's home.

4. Being pregnant with my two best friends at the same time.

The Bad:

1. Not getting a full nights sleep.

2. Having pinched nerves which in short, is VERY painful

3. Getting light headed when I have to bend over

4. Forgetting the most simple things!

The Ugly:

1. A belly button which is losing its regular shape. I've always thought outty belly buttons were so gross! Luckily I don't have one of those yet, but I'm getting a little nervous.

2. Having to cross my legs anytime I sneeze... just in case...

3. Feeling chubby, and looking chubby in all pictures

I am very blessed to have had such a great pregnancy. I've heard so many horrible stories, and I'm happy to say, I'm glad it's not me! Can't wait to meet our little Brynlee :) And excited to let Rob hold and carry her for a while! I get to share the love soon!

The Month of Love

Well, February has come and gone. I have been horrible at keeping up with the blog, for the 3 of you who read it... but better late than never! February is the month of love for the world, but it is our official month of love b/c we get more celebration than most people. We get to celebrate Valentines, AND our anniversary.

I can't believe it's been a year since we got married. What a year it has been too! We've done lots of fun things, gone through lots of not so fun things, and learned to live with each other and love each other through it all :) This year for our anniversary the 3 of us (us and the little baby inside me), spent the weekend in downtown SL. We went out to dinner at Rumbi Grill, stayed at the Anniversary Inn in the Country Garden room, went to the SL temple and did sealings, and then went to eat at the Cheesecake Factory! All of these things were things we did on our honeymoon, or wedding day. So it was great!

Us at the SL Temple. We wanted to do sealings in the Draper Temple since that's where we got married, but it was closed for cleaning. SL was the next best since that's where I received my endowment.

Valentine's Day was pretty low key and relaxing for us this year. We decided that as poor, expecting, college students, we would save our money for our Anniversary weekend and do something cheaper for Valentines Day. I was in charge of dinner. And here's what the finished product looked like. A picnic in the living room (idea adopted from sister, Erin). We ate Subway, red potato salad, chips, and of course, sparkling cider.

And this was my gift to Rob. A candy bouquet. Once again, trying to go on the cheaper side. He loved it, so it was a success! And easy.
It was a great February for us! Lots of love going around, and lots of celebration :) Next year will be a little different seeing as how we'll have a little one with us, but it'll be fun to start some of our own family traditions, and we can't wait!

25 weeks

Well, I'm 26 weeks pregnant now, but these pictures were taken at 25 weeks :)

Which one of us has the bigger belly? Rob tends to get these "food baby's" after he eats too much, but I am glad to say that at 25 weeks my belly is bigger than his. Things are going great, and the pregnancy is still going smoothly! Only three more months to go til we meet the little one and we are so excited!

Minnesota Makings

I am one of the luckiest girls in the world. You're expecting me to say it's b/c of my husband, right? Well, even though that's true, that's not it. I'm one of the luckiest girls in the world b/c I have the best sisters in the world!

This past week I was, by a miracle, able to go visit my sister, Erin, and her family in Minnesota. They've lived there for way too long, and we aren't able to get together near enough! It was so much fun to be able to escape life and join someone else's. She has the cutest kids that keep her busy, but they are so fun! Even amidst the busyness of her kids we were able to do some fun things! Erin is very crafty, and has made some extremely cute things for her little girl, and that's what I wanted to do while I was there. I was completely happy with staying home and making fun things for Brynlee who will be a part of our family in May!

These are homemade baby leggings! We did three different finishings on the bottom- ruffle, cuff, and whip stitch. They are super easy too! And made out of women's knee high socks. My favorite is the ruffle finish.

I'm so excited to put flowers, headbands, and bows in Brynlee's hair! These are the flowers we made.
This was the most time consuming project, but my favorite! A baby tutu, and a flower for her headband. I'm going to borrow Erin's idea, and Brynlee is going to take a few of her newborn pictures in her cute new tutu :) Britta's, Erin's little girl, pictures turned out sooo cute, that I wanted to make one too!
So as you can see, we were busy. Not only did she send me home with these fun things, she sent me home with a whole duffle bag of baby clothes and other baby necessities! I sure got spoiled while I was there.

We also whipped up some yummy food! Pizza puffs, strawberry and chocolate nachos on cinnamon and sugar tortilla chips, and homemade salsa. Mmm Mmm :)

I wish I had pictures of MN, but I forgot my camera. Even more than that, I wish I took pictures of her kids! They grow up a lot in between visits. Thanks so much Erin for such a WONDERFUL visit!

Catching up and Wrapping up 2011

A new year comes to a close once again, and what a year it has been! We have reached 2 great milestones in our lives this past year.

We got married in the Draper Temple on February 17, 2011 :) What a great day it was!

How does that song go? "First comes love, then comes marriage..." Oh yes! "...Then comes a baby in the baby carriage!" Yes, we also got pregnant in 2011. We are expecting a girl on May 17, 2012. And according to her ultrasound pictures, we are expecting her to arrive with a cute button nose :)

We were a little worried at first that she was going to be a fiesty one, and perhaps a rebel due to the fact that we can only see "the finger" in this picture. But as we looked closer, she is holding up two of her fingers, but the angle darkens out the other. Phew!

We are so excited to meet her! And also excited to be parents even though we have moments of panic. I think that's normal...

Well, our holiday season has been a busy one! I finished my internship at a retirement and assisted living home the beginning of December, and now I am officially a BYU graduate! Woo Woo! It feels so good to be done and look back on all the hard work it took to get here. I LOVED BYU, and I'm glad to be moving on to be a Mom. Rob just finished his first year at the Y and is loving it. He's currently studying exercise science, but is getting ready to change to the athletic training program to prepare him for med school, PA school, or possibly teaching seminary. He works so hard for us through school, work, and helping around the house that words can't say how grateful I am for him! Our first year of marriage has been one full of love, genuine happiness, learning new things, stressful moments, communication, and new adventures!

Here are some holiday pictures from our first Christmas as a family :)

I am proud to say I made these stockings for our first Christmas this year! I was going to make a third for our baby for next year, but wasn't 100% sure what name to put on it. We have found a few names we really like, but I keep coming back to the name I have loved since we got married... I'm feeling more and more sure she's going to be Brynlee because I try to like other names just as much but can't, but I don't want to commit to one name quite yet! Anyway, she'll have a matching stocking to go with ours next year.

Christmas morning in our quiet, little apartment. I'm glad we slept at home and had our own morning. Afterwards we got ready and headed up to be with family for the rest of the weekend.

We've decided to try the pj tradition. So these are our Christmas Eve pj's. We'll see if this becomes a tradition over the years or not. We enjoyed it this year!

The St. George Temple Christmas lights. They don't compare to SL, but they were very very impressive, and colorful! We had fun visiting "warmer" St. George in December.

A close up view of our tree. Lent to us by my Aunt Mary (who's basement we live in).

This year has been a great year full of new experiences and lessons learned! We've gained a lot of new family and started one of our own. We're looking forward to this next year's events including:

1. Baby Girl Draper due May 17

2. Our one year anniversary on Feb. 17

3. A trip out to MN to visit Erin and Jared (sister)

4. Sister Lindsey Draper coming home from the Oklahoma City mission in September

5. Turning one year older and wiser too

6. Experiencing our firsts of everything with a new baby, and learning how to be parents!

Hope you had a great holiday, and have a great New Year!