Paying Tribute

During the 4 weeks after Brayden's birth, we had visitors.. family, namely, to come and help out. And let me just say their help, love, support and service was 100% needed and appreciated. Because I had called my Mom when my water broke, she was on alert and made arrangments to fly to San Antonio that night. I'm so lucky to have the supportive parents that I do. I know that they would do absolutely anything for me and my family. When my Mom walked into the hospital room that night, I felt so much relief! There's something about having a baby (maybe it's just me) that just makes you want and need your mommy. She was able to stay until the morning of Christmas Eve. She had to fly home to be with my dad and meg for Christmas, of course, and then we were even more lucky to have her come back 10 days later. She took turns with Brent staying at the hospital and our 2nd night there, Bray was still in the NICU. So she was wheeling me in there every two hours in the middle of the night to feed him along with washing the pumping supplies in between. She took care of Brooke and kept her happy and provided a great deal of emotional support to me during many emotional breakdowns in the hospital and at home. (I don't keep my emotions in tact post baby very well!) It's hard to even describe and adequately thank her for all she did for us during this time but it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it! When we got home from the hospital, there was SO MUCH TO DO. Nothing was ready, remember? There were piles of stuff that she organized, we washed loads and loads of baby clothes, organized them and put them away... things were in chaos at our house and she pulled everything together. Among all of that she left us on Christmas Eve with a clean house (from top to bottom), laundry done, and a stocked fridge full of food and treats fit for the holidays. I felt so so grateful. Thank you, MOM. And thank you DAD for letting her and arranging for her to come out twice. The 2nd time she came out was no different. She took care of Brooke all day long, held Bray when I needed to sleep, made us all of our meals, made a ton of freezer meals and muffins to freeze for breakfast, all while keeping the mood light and airy (I'm emotional remember? More on this later...). I hope to be half of the Mother that my Mom is to Brooke when she has a baby. Because I was always either sleeping or nursing and the visitors were always helping and working, I didn't take a lot of pictures while they were all here but I did take some.

I love this of Brayden and Mom and can't believe how jaundice he looks.

This is out of order... After my Mom left the 2nd time, my sis, Meag came out for 5 days. She was able to do this because of waiting to go on her mission. And because we couldn't make it for her farewell, we were so happy to see her and spend that time. Before my Mom went home, she said, "don't expect Meag to be like me." Meaning to keep my expectations low for how much Meagan would help.. hahaha. But she well exceeded my expectations. The time that she was here happened to be a really difficult time for me physically and Meag stepped up to the plate doing pretty much everything my Momma does so I guess she proved my Mom wrong! Sorry, Mom. Yay, Meag! She's on her mission now... been in the MTC for 2 weeks!


Brooke, Meagan, Brayden - January 2011


Love this of Brooke and my Mom. Such a fun picture to always have and remember that time with. Brooke loved getting pampered and having her hair done just like Grammie Lou's.


A few days after Christmas and before my Mom came back, Brent's parents came into town. The morning after they arrived, Vicki went straight to work taking down and putting away all of our Christmas decor, and Kirt kept Brooke completely occupied from sun up until sun down. This is quite a feat if you know our little Brookie. :) It was so so so nice to not have to worry about Brooke or keeping things clean. They kept us fed, and kept the house clean and stayed with the kids twice so Brent and I could get some time away. And some people may shy away from their mother in law doing their laundry but mine just happens to do it very well and claims she loves doing it. I don't know if I believe her (who loves doing laundry?) but I'll take it!

Kirt, Vicki, Brooke, and Brayden - December 2010

"Papa Soli" playing on the floor with Brooke. I love this picture and will always remember that he spent hours every day keeping her entertained like this.

Thank you, dear family for everything you did to help us out. We love all of you.

Randi and Seth's Wedding

Brent's sister, Randi, married Seth Garvin on April 10, 2010. We flew to Utah for a long weekend and had a really wonderful time doing all the wedding fun. Randi is the youngest and last sibling to get married and it was a really special experience to have the whole family in the temple for the sealing.

My pics are out of order as to how the day went... sorry

Bride and Groom comimg out of the temple

Brent and his little sister at the reception. These two have a special relationship because they are very alike in personality.

Brooke and the Bride

Our family outside the St. George Temple

Brent's Brother Chris, and his Wife, AnnElise

Brent's (silly) older brother, Rick and his wife, Amber

The three brothers roasting their baby sister at the dinner the night before

Randi and her three sisters in law

I am so happy for Randi. She waited for Seth on his mission and didn't date a single boy while he was gone because she was that loyal and faithful in wanting to marry him.
We're all super happy that it worked out!

Christmas with the Guerisoli's

The 2nd half of our time in Utah was spent in St. George with our Guerisoli family. Brent arrived on Christmas Eve so I was a loner for a few days without him. Everyone in the family was there and it was really nice to be together. Brookie thoroughly enjoyed her cousins and attention from grandparents and aunts and uncles. We just don't get to see family too often and so it was great that she formed some strong bonds!

Scene of a Christmas morning

We spent one night at my sister in law's family's cabin about 45 minutes outside of St. George. There was an abundance of snow, food, games, hot chocolate and an open fire. It was fun and Christmassy...

Randi and her boyfriend, Seth, the newly returned missionary - at the cabin

Chris and Liesy - at the cabin. I was basically their third wheel all week!

OKAY my pics are WAY out of order... sorry

Back to Christmas...

Brookie and I got matching aprons and she would not take her apron off the rest of Christmas day!

Us in our aprons preparing the salad for Christmas dinner

We had a program on Christmas Eve which is atypical for Brent's family but we're trying to get them to do some new traditions! Brent wrote new words to Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving song about the whole family, and we sang that together... pretty funny.

Very talented sisters in law - Amber sings and AnnElise playing the flute

The two of us (and my double chin) on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning picture on the stairs BEWARE: Don't look tooo close! :)

We had a wonderful time with Brent's family and are sad it came to a close way too fast!!

Grandma and Grandpa (and Aunt Randi) Heaven

We had a visit last week from our lovely Guerisoli Grandparents and Brent's sister, Randi. Brooke was in pure Grandma and Grandpa heaven. It's been a lovely few days adjusting since they left, let me tell you... NOT! Brent was in Houston for the week and so it was nice to have them keep me company and entertain Brooke. They love this little girl so much and I love seeing her form a relationship with them. They were able to help me celebrate Brooke's birthday and help with her party which Brent did make it home for - thank goodness.

Three people for endless entertainment added to the heaven she was in. Tea party with Grandma here.

Grandpa Kirt and Grandma Vicki

Brooke and Randi or "Rah-wee" as she called her, after church.

Kirt was awesome and offered to watch Brooke while we took a trip up to the outlets. He was with her for about 6 hours - what a trooper! Thanks for coming, ya'll.

Can't wait for San Diego in October!!!

Guerisoli Girls Trip - San Francisco and Napa California

I can honestly say that I may have just had one of the best weekends ever. Ever. EVER!

My sister in law, Amber, and I have been trying to orchestrate a Girl's trip in the Guerisoli family for quite awhile now. I guess since Randi graduated from BYU, everyone finally felt it to be justified, so thanks for graduating Randi!

***

I have been nervous about leaving Brooke (for the fist time) for awhile now, but after a few hours and a glorious plane ride by myself... yeah, I was alright with it! We flew in to San Francisco thursday night and after a great dinner at an Italian place, we drove to Napa. We spent friday wandering throughout the Napa Valley. The drive is worth it by itself, but the peace and serenity of that area, not to mention the amazing food, darling boutiques and people-watching just caps it off. Ok, but maybe no kids and being with just "the girls" capped it off, too.

Mother in law Vicki, Newest Sister in law, AnnElise, Randi, Amber, Me

Me and my wonderful Mother in law

Beautiful home boutique in Napa

Amber and AnnElise in Yountville (Napa Valley), which apparently has more 5 star restaurants than anywhere in the nation.


Randi and Amber - beautiful girls!

One of the reasons I have been so excited for this trip is to be able to be back and enjoy all the food that I have missed so terribly since being in Texas. Well... excruciating stomache pain the day before I left landed me in the ER the night before. The doctor thought that I may have ruptured an ovarian cyst but wasn't sure. Anyways, I didn't have much of an appetite until the last day but tried to enjoy it as much as possible.

We ate at this darling Hamburger joint in St. Helena (also in Napa Valley). I always love a good burger!

I'm getting a little out of order... After spending the day in Napa, we drove through San Francisco to our hotel in Burlingame. Amber is able to get great hotel rates so the hotels were fabulous.

The next day we spent the day doing a few "touristy" things in the city. We hopped on the trolley in Union Square and headed to the wharf to do a boat tour out on the bay. I have to say that it was really fun being back and getting to be a tourist after living there! And very nostalgic for me, too. I was really missing the Bay area the entire weekend.

AnnElise and I before church (sorry... out of order again!)

Beautiful Randi at Dinner receiving her graduation present from Aunt Shelley. Which just happened to be Grandma Edna's wedding ring. Randi is their only Granddaughter so it was very special.

Friday night we went to Wicked!!!!! This was for sure the highlight of the trip. I was on the edge of my seat the entire show and just soaking it up.

Giselle (AnnElise's Mom who spent two days with us because she lives in Vacaville), me, Randi, AnnElise, Aunt Shelley (who lives in Walnut Creek and came to Wicked with us), Amber, Vicki

Guerisoli girls after the show

Riding the trolley (fun to do this since we never did when we lived there!)

Before the boat ride on Fisherman's Wharf

Like I said before, it was fun being a tourist, taking pictures of the Golden Gate!

The City skyline

Okay, isn't this a cool picture?!

Saturday night we ate at the Cliffhouse restaurant.

I loved eating there because we also never did while we lived there. We exchanged gifts on Saturday night and really enjoyed each other.

On Sunday, we went to church in Berkeley! It was wonderful to be back and see so many people that I love, even if for just a few minutes!

Brent picked me up at the airport late last night and I walked in to see flowers on the table and the garage all cleaned out and organized with a new shelving unit put up! This was such a surprise since we've been needing to get it organzied for awhile. Yay for wonderful husbands.

Thanks Brent for letting me go, thank you Griffeths for watching Brooke, and thank you Guerisoli girls for going (and putting up with my crazy driving all weekend)!

Second Guests: Rick and Amber

The very next week, Brent's brother, Rick and his wife, Amber came to visit. Well, it was to visit us but they also took the trip for their 10th anniversary! We didn't have as long with them and so we had to really pack it in. And unfortunately, the whole three days they were here, the weather was absolutely horrible--cold and rainy! It was the first time we'd brought out our winter coats!! It totally ruined our plan for Six Flags, but we along with two babies' schedules, made the most of our time with them.

Some Highlights:

* Shopping at two of the malls, and the outlet malls in San Marcos, and getting amazing deals with the Gap, Banana, and Old Navy 30% off coupon.

*Out to lunch twice and dinner at Cheesecake Factory.

*Walking around the Alamo and Riverwalk in the rain!

* We got to watch Adria while Rick and Amber went to a spurs game.

*An intense game of Ticket to Ride.

*Mostly fun conversation, one-on-one time with Rick and Amber, and meeting our niece, Adria made for an awesome weekend.

Thanks for coming, you guys!

Our First Guests: Guerisoli Grandparents

At the end of February, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Brent's parents, Kirt and Vicki. This was an extra special trip because Brooke really knows who they are now and cares enough to want to play with them. Here is a sum of the fun things we did with them:

Grandma got Brooke some new outfits just because. We were at Target shopping one night and Brooke was being SO cranky. I said I wanted to go look at the little girl's clothes and when we got there, Brooke was squealing with delight and so excited. Looks like she's got the shopping gene (thank heavens!) I mean.... sorry Brent..!!

Brooke had this look on her face pretty much the whole time they were here. She was in "grandparent-get-away-with-anything-and-everything" mode.

We went to the zoo! And Brooke had a great view! (on Grandpa's shoulders that is..)

Grandma and Brooke on the turtle

Brooke and Mom with the Hippo!

The first thing we saw were the Flamingos. These are my favorite. :) What a beautiful color!

We went out to eat WWAAAAYYYYYY too many times and stuffed ourselves silly! Kirt loved Rudy's, of course.

We dropped Brooke off one night at a friend's and enjoyed dinner at the riverwalk, just the four of us.

Uh... yeah.. what to say about this picture?

Vicki and I had a sewing day. We borrowed my friend's sewing machine and set out to find fabric to recover some of our bedroom pillows that were looking very raggity. I love how they turned out.

We also enjoyed lots of game nights together, making treats, watching a movie, Kirt taking Brooke to the park for hours and me getting a break (thank you!), going to the temple, taking Vicki shopping for new clothes, a picnic at the park with Brent, and lots of good conversation and laughs.

This literally shows how sad Brooke was when they left... :( Guess they better come back in a few months!!