Tory Bricco Meets Tyler McLachlan

Everyone knows how much I love these videos, so it was only a matter of time before they made it on the blog. No real reason to post them other than I just watched them with Bradlee the other day, and she LOVED them! Also, I just figured out how to save DVDs to our computer...I guess that might have something to do with it!

This Weekend

This weekend my parents came to visit us, and that always spells F.U.N. Saturday we spent the day down in Denver with Jamie and Amy. We went out to eat a few times and just hung out. It was really good to spend time with them. Below you can see a family picture of the McLachlans, and, oh yeah, Jamie striking a sweet pose. No worries, we also have a stellar pic of me striking a pose in their family photo, but you will have to visit my mom's blog to see that (there's a possibility it may be borderline inappropriate).

Jamie and Amy and their kids. What an attractive family, am I right?


I love these guys!!! In fact, I love them so much, I may just move my whole family into their basement and live with them forever!

Jetrin and Brock. Best buddies, except for the fifty times Jetrin got a death grip on Brock's face. We finally had to split them up.

Sunday morning we all got up, got ready for church, and what do you know...three generations all with curly hair and matching clothes. That calls for a picture. Like mother, like daughter.

Bradlee and Brock both got sick while my parents were here. Here they are both fussing and crying, and both wanting to sit with grandma. Good times!

Well, minus the runny noses and coughing, I had a spectacular weekend. How come weekends are always so short?

School

Whenever I consider my education, I always feel way unfulfilled. I should've/could've finished my undergraduate degree by now, but I could never settle on a major. Now, that I work full-time and have two kids, I have finally decided what I want to do. Good timing, huh! I've always said that I would love to go to law school, but I never seriously considered it because I couldn't think of anything I would ever want to do with a law degree, but now I've got it! I will get my undergraduate degree in political science (which I also love), go to law school and then become a real estate attorney. I know most people would think this was boring, but I really like that boring paper work stuff. Granted, none of this will be realized until I am like 45, but it is the plan.

Tyler Said...

My sister-in law, Diane, has a feature on her blog called "Heard in Passing". She keeps track of all the funny and interesting things she hears. Well, as I was listening to Tyler talk today, it occured to me that I should be keeping track of all the funny, weird things he says. I mean it isn't really fair for me to be the only one to enjoy them, so I have added a feature to my sidebar called Tyler Said... I might even have to add a few things he has said in the past (just because they are too good to just let go). ENJOY!

Christmas and New Years, but Mostly Christmas

This year we spent Christmas with the McLachlans. We drove down to North Salt Lake on Christmas eve.

Here we are in the car on the way down there...
When we got there, there was a package from Santa on the front steps, and the whole family was waiting for us. Inside, we all opened a pair of matching pajama pants

Here is Brock in his pajamas. I think he liked them.

Here is Bradlee in hers. What a princess!

Sorry my pictures are out of order because I am in a hurry, but here is a picture of Brock opening his pajamas.

Tyler and I still get really excited on Christmas morning, and we woke up really early. As I was walking by Collin and Lisa's room, I had flashbacks of waking up Rowdy, Molly and Jamie at like 4:30 every Christmas morning, so I had to go back and talk Tyler into running into his siblings room yelling "It's Christmas, guys! Santa came!" Even though Lisa had some choice words for him, I am pretty sure they appreciated the wake up call! After Megan and Cory got there, the games began. It was so much fun because this is the first year that Bradlee really got into opening presents. She only cared what was in like the first two presents, and then all she cared about was ripping them open and moving on to the next one. Good thing she had all of Brock's presents to open too.

Brock was seriously so overwhelmed by the whole present opening deal. He just sat there stunned the whole time. After we were almost done he just looked at me surrounded by all his presents and just started crying like he needed me to save him from all the chaos. After I picked him up, he took about a four hour nap. Clearly, he was all tuckered out.

Here is Tyler in his new North Face coat. He has wanted this for SOOO long. I am glad he finally got it.

Here is a picture of our little family in our matching pajamas.

A closer look at Brock's pajamas. This picture was taken after his present opening.

Christmas night my strep started to come back, and I had a fever and what not, so we decided to go to the emergency room (that was the only place open) so that maybe we could salvage our holiday weekend without contaminating anyone. Luckily, the doctor said I wasn't contagious and gave me some sweet pain killers. I felt remarkably better the rest of the weekend, crazy huh!

Friday we ate at Cafe Rio (it was heavenly) and went sledding. Well, my kids hated the cold, so Wendy took them home, but the rest of us had a blast....most of the time. There was that one incident where Tyler kicked me in the face and made my nose bleed, my lip bleed, and my teeth bleed.

Tyler and Bradlee on the tube.

Megan in her HOT sledding outfit. She tried to make me promise to not post this picture, but for the sake of everyone out there, I held out because no one should have to miss out on this gem! Don't worry, I am sure I'll pay for it later.

Sledding gone wrong. This was after we cleaned the blood off, and I performed minor surgery and cut off all the extra skin. P.S. I still have scabs and bruises, it is super attractive. Oh yeah, and my gums still hurt.

Friday night, extended family from the Greene side all came over to have dinner. It was a lot of fun to see Brandon, Jennifer, Ryan, Jessica and all their beautiful children. Saturday we pretty much just laid around most of the day. We played some Rumikub and watched some movies. It was sad to leave, but we had a lot of fun while we were there!

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For New Years Eve we went over to the Bangerter's house and hung out with them and the Cuppy's, but I was naughty and didn't take any pictures. New Years day was a ton of fun though. We got to sleep in and just hang out as a family.

Here is a picture of Bradlee and Tyler on New Years Day at Red Lobster.

Sorry no pictures...

Well, this will probably be one of the most random blog posts ever. Let's see...the first week of work I cried every day, but don't worry I never let the kids see. Sunday I sang a duet in Relief Society. I guess it went ok for never having practiced it. Second week of work...I never cried at all, so things are getting better even quicker than I had hoped. My mom came to town for like a day and a half this weekend, and it was SO good to see her. Nothing like having your mommy around to make you feel better! Tomorrow I am teaching Sunday School and singing in a quartet in Sacrament meeting. We are singing Candlelight Carol, and I am singing second soprano which will be interesting because I haven't sang anything but alto in a VERY long time. I'll keep you posted on that.

Brock is getting up on his hands and knees now. He is such a boy already, and it just cracks me up. He is so happy and wild. Bradlee is talking more all the time. She says some weird things that catch me off guard like, "Who's at the door?" or "I'll do it!". She also says her own name now whenever she sees a picture of herself. It sounds more like, "raree", but it is still cute. Oh yeah, she has also been in the habit lately of calling me Tory.

Today our doorknob broke and we couldn't get in our house. Tyler had to use a credit card and break in through the garage door. Good to know that it would be so easy for an amature to break in to our house. Well, sorry, I wish I had more exciting stuff to say. I should have some good pictures to post after Christmas.

WHAT A DAY!

First of all, today was my first day going back to work. After some painful and prayerful consideration...Tyler and I decided I needed to go back to work for a little while. After days of crying (and throwing up), we had a really neat experience that let us know that everything was going to be ok, and for the most part I have been at peace about our decision ever since. I work with the Wyoming Department of Health, which coincidentally is in the same building Tyler works in. It works out pretty nicely. A lady from our stake is watching the kids, and they did really well today. Funny how things don't always work out how we want, but they always work out.

On a lighter note, we made a gingerbread house tonight for FHE. Bradlee was suprisingly involved with the building process. I was actually pretty surprised!

Thanksgiving in St. George

Where do I even begin? First of all, I need to apologize in advance for having like zero pictures of the whole trip due to our camera being "lost" the majority of the time. You will have to check out my mom's or Molly's blog to see more pictures and videos. We left Wednesday night for Salt Lake where we stayed the night with my parents. Jamie and Amy stayed with them that night as well. Thursday morning we all headed off to St. George to meet Molly and Craig who were already there. We stayed in some brand new condos that my dad manages. He was working on this project back when I was still working at VRI, and clearly he finished strong! Anyway, Thursday we cooked dinner and played a dice game (with presents) that my mom brought. Every game is better with presents. Bradlee won some My Little Pony fruit snacks; she was pretty pumped. Mom also provided the entire Thanksgiving dinner.
Friday we went shopping at the outlet mall, while Jamie, Amy and Craig stayed to swim with all the kids at the resort. We all met up later at Cafe Rio and then we went to walk around the St. George Temple and watched a short film at the visitors center. We came back and had a great dinner (thanks again to my wonderful mother). The kids spent the night playing Wii, and the guys played some basketball.

Saturday we went to Zion's National Park and took a kid/stroller friendly hike. We packed some leftover ham...that is relevant because it is what sparked my favorite conversation of the trip. This is what Jaiden told Chase about the ham..."You know, this comes from a pig's butt!" It was super funny because no one in our family is even allowed to say the word butt. That afternoon Molly and I went back to the outlet mall. We went out to dinner that night after driving around for about an hour we just decided to eat at the mall food court. Turns out the mall doesn't really have a food court, but we all had good attitudes about our two choices anyhow! After dinner we went back to the condos to celebrate Christa's first birthday! Everybody loved the yummy cupcakes. Happy birthday Christa, Christa!!! Also Friday night we played Bunko and Molly provided some AWESOME prizes! I won some slim jims for having the most zeros. What can I say? I am amazing. Tyler must be pretty amazing too because he won a prize for having the lowest score! Dad rocked it, and won the most bunkos and highest score. Apparently still amped from our wild and crazy game of bunko, we had a family dance competition. The kids were the judges, and well, they were less than impressed by our choice of dance moves, but in the end Molly was the winner (because she practiced her dance moves beforehand in the mirror)! Jamie's dance was by far the most original and unexpected, and mine was just plain awesome. Dad performed a family favorite with some sweet jumps, Tyler rocked the grave digger, Craig belly danced for us, and watching Mom dance is ALWAYS a good time!

Jamie and Amy left early Sunday morning. The rest of us went to Sacrament meeting at a local chapel. After that we went to play on some rocks that Tyler knew about from when he went to Dixie. They were pretty neat rocks. I was too big of a weenie to crawl through the slot canyon. I knew I would regret it, and I do.

All in all it was a fantastic trip. I already miss my family. The last day with them is always hard because I am already starting to get sad about leaving them. Bradlee LOVED spending time with her cousins. She also loves her grandparents. Apparently, she would wait for Tyler and I to fall asleep at night and then sneak out of our room to enjoy some midnight treats and TV with her Papa. From what I understand she did it a couple nights in a row. We had a lot of fun, and we are trying not to be too sad about being alone here in Cheyenne because Christmas is just a few weeks away!

Our Crazy Weekend

Friday night was the elders quorum party. I was super stressed out about the whole thing because Tyler told me that the entire dinner and everything to make gingerbread houses was being provided. Well, since Tyler works all day, who do you think had to make the dinner and get everything ready for the gingerbread houses? I did! Well, it didn't end up being that big of a deal. For dinner we just had ham, green beans, salad and rolls (that was the easiest thing I could think of), and then I ended up just buying a bunch of gingerbread house kits (because it was much easier and almost the same price). Then all I had to do was mix the frosting while everyone was eating. I think everything turned out pretty good. A few people told Tyler that they had a really good time. SUCCESS!!

Saturday was the BYU vs. Utah game. We went to watch it at the Wacaser's house. Tyler had on all his Utah stuff, and Bradlee and I had on our BYU gear. Bradlee and I were the only BYU fans there, but we can hold our own. No matter who wins, I come out on top. If BYU wins, I win. If Utah wins, then Tyler is in a good mood for the next month and a half. Some "people" say they are going to send Bradlee a Utah shirt, well, at the end of the day I am still the mom, and I am the one who dresses her!

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Sunday, Tyler and I both had to teach lessons, but most importantly....the nursery kids sang in sacrament meeting! Oh my goodness, it was so cute! They sang "A Song of Thanks" out of the Children's Songbook. Bradlee didn't sing (she was too busy looking at us), but she was very well behaved, and she looked adorable up there.

Yes, this is the best picture I could get of her!

One of Those Moments

Today as I was laying on my bed watching a movie with Bradlee, I had one of those moments of realization. One of those moments when something you have always known in the back of your mind actually becomes an integral part of your conscious understanding. I really don't know how else to explain it, but everyone has these, so I know you know what I am talking about. Anyways, we were just laying there and as I looked at her, it just hit me in an instant that she is mine, that we are SO much alike, and that we will ALWAYS have that special relationship that only a parent and child can have. The type of bond where everything that hurts her will hurt me twice as bad, and her safety and happiness is essential to my own. Just as these thoughts were materializing all at once, Bradlee looked over at me, crinkled up her nose and laughed. Then just as quickly she was back to watching her movie. It was a testimony builder for me that Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need, exactly when we need it.