memory made

so i love to golf. i'm not any good at it, but i just love getting out into some beautiful scenery and hitting some balls around (plus driving around in a golf cart is a blast - it's like a go-kart with no track). it's just too expensive of a game for me to ever get any real practice in, plus i've never been good at anything that requires consistency and muscle-memory. so a good day of golf for me is a day where i end the day with the same golf ball i started with (that's why you'll notice the orange ball in picture -  helps me not lose it). occasionally (very rarely) i hit a shot worth bragging about. so the other day i'm golfing with my brother and sister at the eastbay golf course. i tee up on a par 3 and hit one of those very rare shots for me that went straight down the middle. it was a thing of beauty. landed less than two feet away. a short tap in and i walk away with my first birdie ever. i know... i'm awesome. :)

Cornbelly's

We decided to go check out Cornbelly's this year and it was pretty cool...

we played on the toy trains and walked through the mini corn maze,

rode in the cow barrels,

played in the corn seeds,

bounced on the giant trampoline... (Everett got sooo mad at me when I wouldn't let go of him, but he had no fear and the trampoline really scared me),

played pumpkin tetherball,

and had an enjoyable time with all the fun toys and things to see. Claire was especially happy to meet the pumpkin princess. :)

We had such a fun time! :)

memory made (and our 200th post!)

our kids have never been ones to fall asleep in random places. i always see other parents posting funny pictures or videos of their kids asleep at the high chair or curled up in a ball in a random spot or something like that. it's not been our kids' style though. the bed or the car seat. that was it. nowhere else. once, and i repeat, once claire fell asleep by the door after crying herself out because mommy had left for work. it was so funny that i had to get a picture.

well everett has always been the same, with the exception of the other day. we were just wrapping up lunch. amber and i were putting some stuff away when we hear claire say, "uh oh! everett!" we turn to look to see everett doing the head bob as he was falling asleep. so adorable. :)

zoo day

normally i can be a little wordy, but today i'll leave it at this: we went to the zoo. :)

Family Pictures 2013

My family will have to get used to family pictures every year because I love to see how we all have changed and how much our kids have grown each year. Having family pictures on our walls is a must for me. :) This year we have so many favorites, it was hard to decide which ones to print, but I posted most of them here on the blog. :) These were taken by Sherry again and edited by myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you Sherry! :)

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. :)