Memorial Day!

This Memorial Day was spent sleeping in, going to Burgerville with family for lunch--endless hamburgers and delicious fresh strawberry smoothies--and having a BBQ with some awesome friends and, afterward, walking over to the park!

I come from a family of veterans and I am so proud of the sacrifices that the men in my family have made for our country and so grateful for those who have served and who serve today. Thank you for your service! 

Had we been visiting with my family, I'm sure we would've blown up some left over 4th of July paraphinalia in honor of our servicemen. But, in lieu of our dearth of gun powder, we ate about 5 lbs. of meat each and burned marshmallows. And it all felt strangely patriotic.  

p.s. see all the static in that last picture? i thought it was pretty impressive. 

The Rexburg Trip!

Hi Britney.
This is Future Britney.
This time in your life, when you think life is really busy and you gage said business on a how-many-Grey's Anatomy-re-runs-could-I-have-watched-today-but-didn't-have-time-to scale, just remember: you'll have more babies.
More babies.
And these babies won't want to watch Grey's anyway. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Busy is good.
And aside from getting a new custom TV stand (holla, IKEA!) and Captain Crunch making his way back into my life, we've been taking a few deep breaths and approaching unpacking one article of clothing at a time. 
So here's the rest of the Rexburg trip--including the plane ride there (that pic below is Jude saying hello to the little girl behind us), the mom-van the car rental company upgraded me too--which was surprisingly awesome--girl time with NATALIE, my old roommates Courtney and Kara, beautiful Myra!!, my brother coming to surprise his girlfriend, Courtney (yes my roommate and BF from home, crazy!!), spending time with little baby Finn, who is too precious for words, and his little sisters, Sienna and Maggie, and getting free fro yo because I'm still just that awesome to desperate college boys. It was an epic trip. And it made me miss Rexburg terribly. 


Lastly, please try not to imagine the war zone going on on the roof of my mouth right now due to The Captain's sharp spears shredding my mouth to pieces. 
I'd put the spoon down if I could. 

Porter Park

Jude and I returned home from Rexburg on Wednesday, but I'm just getting around to posting about our trip. 
One of my favorite things to do while going to school at BYU-Idaho was to grab a snow cone with my girlies--or just Adam--and go to the local park. Goooood memories at that park. Lots of tanning half-naked as a single lady (and getting yelled at for it, whatever), splash park splashing, food eating, and story telling. Rexburg really is a beautiful place, and I got tears in my eyes when we left, which was either due to being emotionally compromised or the 0% humidity. 
Here's Jude's second time at the park, but first time living it up!

Today we're going to find a new TV stand/bookcases/whatever we can get for a good deal and eat donuts. 

Happy Saturday!

Mother's Day 2012!

Unfortunately, this Mother's Day was spent away from Portland, and consequently--the man that should've been spoiling me shamelessly-Adam. My besty, Natalie, had her sweet little boy, Finn, a couple of days earlier and so Jude and I traveled over to Rexburg this past Thursday to be with them. 
We've had a great time visiting with her and her sweet girls, let alone cuddling that darling little newborn. 
Yesterday, we enjoyed a beautiful church service, eating sickly amounts of candy, stuffing ourselves on Natalie's homemade macaroni and cheese, and oh, JUDE STARTED WALKING. For reals this time. Fer reals. Jude's been trying to keep up with the two girls here and all of sudden just decided it was time. And holy mother of all living, it was time. I mean, I know you've all noticed that my arms are borderline body-builder-competition-worthy, but seriously, I was dying carrying him around all the time. I took it as his gift to me--thanks, bud :).
It was a beautiful day and I am so thankful for my own mother and for the extraordinary woman that she is and for all of the women in my life. I have been very fortunate to have been exposed to fantastic women growing up, who have taught me of my worth, to never compromise my own integrity for the opinions of others, and to treat all others as the Savior would. I'm still working on it, but one day I hope to be just like them.

So proud of my little dude! Best Mother's Day gift ever, love--except for when you get old enough to buy me things. 

Happy Mother's Day to all of you beautiful moms and future moms!

A Wedding In LA

This past weekend, Adam and I left the little cream puff over at Nana and Grandpa's and flew out to LA for the wedding of the century. 

This was the wedding of my dear friend Myra Lindstrom, now Myra Merrill, and it was beyond beautiful--honestly, if you walked from the streets into her beautiful, California suburban backyard that night you would've thought you had just stepped into a party from the Great Gatsby. 

See, Myra's an old-fashioned girl--she's got classic beauty that everyone wishes they could somehow nibble and dresses like my ever-vogue grandmother in the 1940's--which makes her a beyond coveted beauty that just so happened to swat away every gent's hand before falling madly in love with her dear Kenneth. Oh, Kenneth, you're one lucky man--your children will be so vintagely-well dressed. 

I'm getting goose bumps. 

So, there was the wedding. There was also lots of food--LOTS OF FOOD--meeting up with old friends (Hi, Brad and Krystal and little Kai!), hanging out at the beach, and enjoying the sunshine that, I'll admit, was quite overwhelming for a couple of hours upon our arrival. Stupid Oregon. 

p.s. I'm flying into Rexburg today. Jude, my love, please don't poop too much. 

Another Cut!

Once again, we allowed our little man's locks to grow into yet another mangy mess that this time resembled a bad 70's shag.  But don't worry, after about a month, we took care of it. Our sweet friend Liz's husband was kind enough to do the snipping, and did a pretty awesome job at it.
We were without rubber ducky this time (remember how he/she was the life saver last time?), but instead relied on the "Isty, Bitsy Spider" and "Patty Cake" x 200. 
I miss some of his hair (those baby bangs always make me melt!), but the short hair makes his eyes that much bigger and bluer and I'm just in love with it :). 

Pretty cute, right??
After we released him from the highchair he started freaking out because the loose hair around his neck was itchy--so we threw him in the bath and then ventured off to Vancouver to drop him off at Nana and Grandpa's and mommy and daddy left for LA. 
More about LA to come...!

Hey Jude

Hey Jude,

Tonight, before bed, you pulled out your two favorite books and we read them together--over and over and over again. And every time I made you laugh at the best parts, you would turn, look up at me, smile, and kiss my lips. 

I couldn't stop laughing! 

I think I will cherish those sweet moments forever. 

While reading the first three pages of The Cat in the Hat, and reading Ten Friendly Fish over-and-over again, with baby drool on my face, I thanked the Lord for giving me you.

You're hilarious. And I have loved reliving my childhood with you.

Here are the books of your baby-hood with their respective favorite parts. I'm sure we will need to buy these multiple times throughout your life--you love these so much you're under the impression they taste as good as they look--but that's OK. 

Whenever we open this fun pop-up page your eyes get reallyyy big!  

And here is where you laugh. Really hard. Because we both bump and jump! 


I love you.
A thousand times, I love you little dude. 
Thanks for being so darlingly fantastic. 

Mom