Getting to Know You... the Brysons!

My dad's family does a monthly newsletter that always includes a "Getting to Know You" section where we can learn a little bit more about some of our extended family members. This month our little family was in the spotlight. :) We were asked to write a letter all about us so we thought we'd share it here on the blog as well. It's just a fun little recap about our lives and what we're all doing at this time...

Dear Family,

Well hello again. It is once more our opportunity to introduce ourselves. We are the Brysons. It’s been just about three years since we’ve last written, so we’ll begin with a quick recap of who we are. Scott was born on the small island of Guam, lived in Maine for a few years, then finally spent most of his life growing up in Texas. He served a church mission to the city of New York, then moved to Spanish Fork, Utah to live with his brother while he attended BYU. Amber is the daughter of Norm and Becky (so that’s where we fit into this family, in case you were wondering). Amber was born and raised in the great state of California before going off to college to BYU-Idaho. After completing her degree in Sociology, she also moved to Spanish Fork, where she would be living with her sister. Scott and Amber met at church, became part of the same circle of friends, slowly became really close friends, then very slowly evolved into something more. They were finally married in the Manti, Utah temple on November 1, 2008. Two years later, they were blessed with a beautiful baby girl they named Claire. Two years after that, they were once again blessed, this time with a strapping baby boy they named Everett. The family of four is currently living in Orem, Utah, in the basement of Amber’s parents’ house, helping care for the place while Amber’s parents are away serving a mission in Nauvoo. I think that catches everyone up on our lives.

Now a little about us in the present. Scott is currently working at Heritage Schools (a treatment center for at-risk youth) as a Nightwatch Residential Counselor. He is also going to Utah Valley University part-time where he is studying Information Technology. His hobbies include playing football (a necessity being from Texas), basketball, reading, and, of course, spending time with his family. His church calling as the Stake Sports Director keeps him pretty busy, as well as pretty stressed, during the basketball season (anyone who has ever played church ball should be able to sympathize).

Amber is busy most days watching the kids and keeping them happy, which is definitely a full-time job. She loves photography, and is in the process of slowly starting her own photography business. She also enjoys her calling as the ward Primary President (when it’s not stressing her out).

Claire, our little three-year-old, loves anything and everything princess related. We went to Disneyland this last summer where she got to meet and hug a number of her favorite princesses, which was heaven for her. She still likes to tell us about it. :) She has a very active imagination. She is always playing pretend and we often find her talking to her toys. She also loves to dance, color, play games, and makes the funniest and cutest faces in the mirror when she thinks no one is looking.  

Everett is one year old now and is very different than Claire. He absolutely loves to play with any kind of ball. He can be extremely loud and likes to blow raspberries on any bare skin he can see. He is quite a handful at church, where he always makes a run for it whenever he sees an open door or free aisle to play in. He has a very fun personality and keeps us on our toes. We love his kisses, smiles, and the laughter he brings into our home.

Well that is us. In parting, we just want all of you to know that, more than anything, we love our family, both immediate and extended.  We definitely look forward to reading more about y’all in future newsletters. Goodbye for now.

Love,

The Brysons

Scott, Amber, Claire, and Everett

A little bit about our one-year old

Time for another stats and facts blog. :)

1. Everett is one year old. I feel like his first year flew by so much quicker than her's did.

2. He weighs 22 pounds and is in the 65th percentile.

3. He's 30 inches tall and is in the 50th percentile. He started out in the higher percentiles, which had Scott super excited thinking he was going to be tall, but he's starting to slow down already.  I think he's the perfect size at the moment. :)

4. Everett loves playing with balls, hence the sports themed photo shoot. I don't feel like we pushed them on him or anything (other than the fact that most of his clothes and bedding have some sort of sport themed picture on them) but he has a few small ball toys and he loves throwing them or just holding them. He'll point to anything and everything round he sees. The other night he had a ping pong ball in his hand that he did not want to let go of, so I ended up letting him sleep with it and in the morning the ball was still tightly in his grasp. He really does love balls. :)

5. Another funny unique thing that Everett likes to do is blow raspberries. He does them all the time, on Daddy's tummy, on Mommy's arms or on Claire's legs (if she lets him). Any bare skin he sees, he likes to blow raspberries on it. It's pretty funny.

 6. Everett has been walking for the past month. He's getting really good at it, unless you put shoes on him and he can't seem to walk anymore. :) He's fearless too. We've taken him to the pool multiple times over the summer and he always wants to crawl or walk right into the deeper water. He gets water in his face, chokes a bit, we pull him back up and after he's done coughing he wants to do it again. He really does love playing in water.

7. He has 3 and a half teeth. He still wants to eat whatever we are eating more than anything we give him. Even if it's the same thing. He can't chew things very well so I cut things up for him, but then it looks different so he doesn't want it. I'm afraid I'm going to have another picky eater. When he finishes eating he starts throwing his food also, so our floor does not stay clean for very long.

8. Everett loves Claire. He wants whatever she has and wants to play with or do whatever she's doing. Unfortunately that means a lot more pushing, pulling, screaming, and crying that I get to hear every day as I figure out how to teach them to play together and share. Everett, even though he's the "little" brother, has learned to hold his own.

9. Everett says "mama" and "dada". We're not quite sure if he understands what they mean exactly but he says them a lot. He also says "ba" for ball. That's his first official word. He sometimes imitates the "uh oh" and "hi" words, but again I'm not quite certain he knows what they mean yet. He also waves goodnight or goodbye. :)

10. For some reason I always thought the second child was supposed to be more mellow than the first, but I've found that's not the case with Everett. Everett is really loud, especially at church when everyone else is so quiet. He likes to make noises and he has the funniest, cutest laugh ever. It's a very loud, throaty laugh. I love it. :)

We love our little buddy and his funny, playful personality. :)

Happy Birthday Everett

Everett had his first birthday! We celebrated with family the week before at the reunion so we didn't do much that day. I made a big cupcake for him and we expected him to completely go at it and tear it apart... but that didn't happen. :) Maybe it was the surroundings, maybe the cake was too bright or too big, maybe it was because we were all staring at him trying to get him to go for it...either way I'm pretty sure he didn't want anything to do with it. :)

After cleaning him off, we let him open his presents. It was mostly Claire opening them for him, but he helped a little. :)

After dinner we tried the cake thing again, but this time with a small chocolate frosted cupcake in his highchair. He devoured it. :)

Things may not have gone like I planned or wanted for him that day, but I'm sure he didn't mind. And now my little boy is a one year old. He's growing up so fast. I love him so much and his cute, funny personality. Happy Birthday Everett!

bryson reunion 2013

we do so love family get-togethers. this year's bryson reunion was an especially fun one. all of my texas family flew up to utah on tuesday morning. we all got together for a little stroll around the mall up in salt lake before i had to head home because i had to work that night. the colorado crew arrived later that night, but we didn't all meet up until the next day in bountiful. the rest of wednesday was spent just socializing with each other. thursday morning was a special one. my little sister mandie had made the choice to take her endowments out at the bountiful temple. it's always such a wonderful experience to gather together in the temple with family. after the session, we all got together with the dedows for a big lunch and some fun. claire had a blast playing with her cousins and everett had a blast playing with the basketball, as long as no one tried to take it from him. :)

after the lunch, we headed over to midway where we would be staying at the zermatt resort. it was a pretty cool little set up. the majority of us were staying in a town home, with the rest of us in a couple suites. the resort had tennis courts, a volleyball court, a mini golf course, a giant chess board, a carousel, and, of course, a pretty nice pool, which is where we spent most of our time.

we took a break from swimming to head over to heber city for my grandma's 90th birthday party. good food and good company, what more can anyone ask for?

saturday afternoon we headed over to park city for some shopping at the outlets, then back to spanish fork to ken and sherry's new house. we had a big birthday party that night for all the kiddos who had recent birthdays. it was a lot of fun.

obviously from this picture, i wasn't too excited to see my boy playing with dolls. :)

sunday we all went to church together, then had a big family dinner. monday we headed up to orem and spent most of the day at the mall shopping (amber pointed out to me that my family sure does love malls). after the mall, we headed over to our place where we bid everyone goodbye. it was such a fun week. we love our family.

A Princess Birthday

Claire turned three years old this last Sunday. She had been anticipating her birthday for awhile and had told me she wanted a princess cake. I took that to mean a castle cake, so as I looked at pictures on pinterest and she saw them, she got even more excited. We realized after choosing all her presents this year that we definitely had a princess theme going on for her birthday, but I think it was perfect. She loves princesses these days. She loves wearing dresses and crowns and she loves dancing and castles. She's our little three year old princess. :)

The day started by going to church. First thing Claire did was tell the door greeter when we got there that it was her birthday. He rewarded her with a high five. :) I'm not sure whether or not she told her nursery leaders but I wouldn't be surprised if she had.

We came home and started the festivities after lunch and quiet time. We made spaghetti for dinner, one of her favorite meals at the moment, and then went ahead and opened some presents, since she couldn't wait any longer. :) I think the princess dresses were a hit - look at that face.

We had a few visitors over to help eat the cake and celebrate with us and as soon as they made it we sang to Claire and let her blow out her candles.

 I'm pretty sure she had a good day. I can't believe she's three! :)

Of course I had to plan a photo shoot for her birthday, so the next day we went up to Tibblefork Reservoir with the dress my sister Lia made for us and a flower crown I made. Claire had no problem wearing the crown and dress and dancing and posing for me. Like I said, she loves princesses. :)

it has begun...

memory made