Fall is in the air...

This is our last first with Brylee...ah kinda makes me want to cry a little.  Last year I bought Brylee's costume in January on clearance.  She was so tiny at the time I thought she would never fit in.  Not only did she fit in her costume, but she looked so darn cute! We got so many compliments, people couldn't get enough of her. We even had someone ask if they could take a picture of her because she was so cute.


While I'm not too sure about this fall weather Brylee loves it!  She has to go outside everyday and play, she loves the leaves. Her favorite is when the leaves are raked into piles, she is in heaven when I let her play. 

We celebrated Halloween this Saturday since the thirty first falls on a Thursday. I think we were both way more excited about Halloween than Brylee was.  During this past week I took Brylee to a pumpkin patch so she could pick out a pumpkin to carve.  They had a little farm zoo, so Brylee got to see a bunch of different farm animals.  We then picked out a pumpkin and enjoyed some ice cream straight from the farm...kinda.

There is a fun part of Philly called Manayunk we like to visit.  They had a Halloween festival this saturday that we took Brylee to.  Businesses were passing out candy.  Brylee has fun reaching in and grabbing candy.  We had fun eating the candy she got :).   She has gotten so independent, she didn't want to stay in the stroller or for mom and dad to carry her, she just wanted to walk!

 I just love watching that little tail wag behind her!

I think her favorite part of the day was when we went to the park and she got to swing.

Saturday night our ward had a Halloween party and we did some trunk or treating.  We ran out of candy way too soon so we took Brylee trunk or treating and then passed out her candy.  Looking back that was a terrible decision, I could really go for a Reeses right now!  She loved her pumpkin bucket, especially when there was candy inside she could shake around.  A couple times we had to pick up candy from the ground because Brylee had shaken it all out!

At trunk or treat Brylee just took off, we of course followed her.  She is so independent now, she will go wherever she wants and could care less if  follow her or not.  She just loves to be out and about and surrounded by people. 

Brylee, Brylee, and a little bit about Sam.

Oh my goodness is my baby girl really almost a toddler, tell me its isn't true.  My beautiful baby girl is 11 months old.  I love this age. She is so much fun, and always keeps us laughing.  Nan said she was going through Brylee video withdrawals.  Well I'm going to make up for that in this post.  Warning: there will be lots of insanely cute pictures and videos of Brylee in this post.

Brylee took a step a few times when she was nine months old.  It was just a single step and she usually fell down.  The first time it happen she actually ran two steps but it was kinda a fluke and she didn't realize she was no longer holding someone's hands.  Her momentum was the only reason she kept going.  It was kind of funny though because we always said she would run before she walked, and she did.  Then on her ten month birthday she took her first consecutive steps.  Within the next few days she was taking ten or twelve steps at a time.  It was adorable to watch.  Usually when I see babies learning to walk they are always cautious and it takes them a while to take a step, not our little Miss Independent! Its so funny because there was never a single time when she was cautious or carefel about walking.  She just took off with absolutely no fear.  The week after she started walking she went back to crawling.  I think she decided walking just wasn't fast enough.  the next week however, she started walking and completely stopped crawling.  I'm not going to lie it made just a little sad.  I was excited for this new stage and how much fun she is having, but walking is what toddlers do and I just wanted to hold on to my baby a little longer. Brylee was officially walking and running at ten months, earlier than both Sam and I.



Here is a little video I took when she was just starting to walk all of the time instead of crawling.  

This is one of her favorite things to do.  She gets upset if you put her in her entertainer, but she loves to play in it.  This video is really short, but she never would cooperate when I tried videoing her. 

Sam had his white coat ceremony this week.  They give the medical students their white coat which symbolizes their entry in the medical profession.  It was kind of funny they had a navy officer lined up to speak but he was unable to due to the government shut down.  It was almost two hours long.  Brylee has never really liked sitting still but now that she's walking she really doesn't like sitting still.  Luckily we were sitting in the back and there was a open spot for her to walk around.  When she gets excited she gives this really cute pterodactyl screech (not that we really know what they sound like but I'm sure they sound a lot like Brylee). She definitely did that a few times during the ceremony, and I'm sure everyone heard.  Afterwards Sam, who was sitting in the very front, ask did I hear Brylee give her little excited shriek a few times?  My camera took horrible pictures, or maybe I just had it on the wrong setting, but you get the gist of it.

Sam is so busy with school, so luckily I have some good friends to hang out with.

I'm so proud of Sam.  He is crazy busy in school, but he's doing great.

Sam and some of his friends from the program.

Brylee is so much fun at this age.  She loves clapping her hands, and we taught her to give high fives.  She also dies bing, which is where you stick out your pointer finger and she touches her pointer to yours and you say BING! She also can sign more now.  The other day I made her these kale, carrot, and quinoa bites. She had already eaten lunch and I just gave her one to try to see if she would like it.  She scarfed it down and kept signing more!  I love my healthy little girl!  She definitely didn't get her love of veggies from me!  One last cute picture for you!  Her hiar is finally long enough for me to pull it back.  I will say it is probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  Any good advice on getting your baby to sit still while you do her hair would be appreciated!

Jersey Shore and More

I've been quite the slacker at blogging.  I have so much to catch  up on.  Instead of having a mile long post I'm just going to write about our fun weekend, and maybe one day I'll catch up on everything else we've been up to. 

First I have to say that Sam and I are a little lonesome for Oklahoma.  The other day in the car we were talking about how we miss Oklahoma, and immediately we passed Oklahoma ave.  We went to an outlet mall today, but it just made us miss the mall in Oklahoma...it was way better!

We've been having fabulous weather here in PA, like 80 degrees while the west is freezing.  Sam and I decided to go to the beach.  Since its October and usually its not this warm we had to take advantage of the great weather. As soon as new got to New Jersey it started to be overcast and kind of chilly, which we definitely weren't prepared for.  Luckily there happened to be a blanket in the car for Brylee so we weren't completely neglectful parents. We took a little walk on the board walk and luckily the weather warmed up.  We ate lunch on the beach and let Miss Brylee play in the sand.  And oh my was she in heaven she LOVED it.  It made walking a little rough though so she mostly stuck to crawling.  She discovered the seagulls, and would chase after them.  It was the cutest thing she would crawl after one sea gull then noticed another one and chase after that one.  She recently started pointing at things, so she kept pointing out the birds to us. 

Look a Seagull

I will get it!

I'm comin'

I've been taking lots of videos of our sweet bay girl.  It makes me so sad that Brylee has hardly been around her family.  Since I have the cutest baby on earth I thought you might need to get your Brylee fix so here are a few videos to make you smile.  

Brylee is at such a fun age.  I love the little tiny newborn stage, minus the colic and up every two hours part.  But this is the funnest age.  She is too funny.  Wherever we go she always makes someone smile. She is walking now, but still crawls.  She also is signing.  Right now the only sign she knows it milk, but I was so proud of her when she started using it.  She says mama a lot, and sometimes when she's whining she reaches for me and says mama over and over.  Sam isn't too sure she's actually saying mama, but I'm convinced she is.  So her first word might just be mama! Miss Brylee loves dancing, during breakfast we listen to hymns or calm piano music but during the day she has to get her fill of dancing music!  She's got some killer moves.  If we really want to get her laughing we dance with her, pick her up and spin around with her. 


We took her on a hike the other day.  There is a huge park system in Philadelphia.  There's a large forest and hiking trails within this park not too far from us.  I love it because you're in the city but you are secluded enough that you feel like your in the mountains.  I was carrying Brylee and had the camelpack on.  I showed Brylee how to drink out of it.  Then she kept sticking it in my mouth and pulling it out.  She was laughing so hard, apparently it was a pretty funny thing to do to mama.  Sam would try to get a drink and she would pull it out of his mouth and give it to me. 

Miss Brylee Skeie

Brylee is such a hoot....I had lots of cute pictures to post but unfortunately I managed to delete all the pictures on my camera!  She is so much fun, everyone that meets her just loves her.  The other day we went to Sam's basketball game, all the girls in his class just loved her!  Brylee has started shaking her head no ( I don't think she knows what it means yet, but it sure is cute.  She also loves dancing when you turn on some upbeat music she'll give you a show.  I managed to get a super cute one of her today.  The song is awful but she loves the beat!

Enjoy!

Our New Home

In the time span of one year we have lived in five different apartments! In her nine months of life Brylee has lived in four.  This Pennsylvania apartment may not be my favorite apartment but I am excited to be somewhere for more than a few months and for a place to really feel like home.  Every time we moved I knew we weren't going to be in the apartment for long so I never got to unpack all my boxes, but I finally did!  We never got to see the apartment before we moved in so we talked and said that if we didn't love it we could always move when the lease was up.  After all the moving we've done recently I decided we are Never, ever ever moving again until we are leaving Pennsylvania!  Luckily, I actually like the apartment.  Housing is crazy expensive here, and everything is really old.  Our place has done a nice job of renovating.

We love the little town we're in, it feels very safe. There are trees everywhere, its gorgeous! So here are a few pics of the new place:

Living room, it looks a little bare with just our loveseat and recliner.  Definitely regret selling our couch and loveseat in Rexburg!

 One of the worst things about our apartment is the tiny kitchen! they recently renovated so the cabinets and counter are cute, they just forgot to put some on the other side of the kitchen.  There's hardly any counter space or storage.  There is only one tiny little drawer.  My kitchen is extremely cluttered because there is no space, thus i am storing my kitchen knives on top of the refrigerator, I know not the safest place. Brylee loves that we store our food on the carts, she thinks its so fun to play with! 

Dining room,, we still need to get a table.

Our tiny little bathroom!

 Sam's favorite part of the apartment is the intercom.  There is a door to our apartment building that lets you into the different apartments (like Seinfeld)  you have to have a key to get in or have someone buzz you in.  Instead of taking the key with him when he leaves Sam makes me buzz him in, and he won't come in until I actually talk over the intercom!

We have a balcony off of our bedroom, and we love our view. Here's a few more pics of the courtyard.

Now for the slightly scary part of the apartment.  unfortunately we don't have a washer and dryer in our apartment, but there is one in the basement.  The basement is kind of creepy especially if the lights are off.  The good news is, if we ever have a tornado we have a place to go!

Storage Room

We're enjoying this apartment and look forward to living here long term, which for us is more than four months!  I'm still working on Bry's room, it's turning out pretty cute.

The BIG Move

Whew...I can't believe we've already been in Pennsylvania for almost two weeks! We're finally all settled in.  Sam Started school this week, well just orientation so no homework yet!  It has been so fun having him home all the time, Brylee has sure loved it.

We were sad to leave Oklahoma and all of our friends there, but we love Pennsylvania.   Oklahoma will always have a special place in our hearts because its where we became parents for the first time, and where our sweet little girl was born.

The drive across the country was a looooooooooong one.  It was definitely more beautiful than the drive to Oklahoma from Idaho, no grass-less Wyoming or flat Kansas to drive through.  The East is beautiful, in the words of my father-in-law "it kind of makes you wonder why people even moved out west." (Except for Montana, which will always be the most beautiful place in the world to me.

We reserved a 16' Budget truck but when we got there we realized it was a two seater, which posed a problem since there were three of us.  They gave a 24' truck, which had much more room than we needed!  We also towed our car, good thing Sam was the driver or we might not have made it.  As much as he got tired of driving the truck for three days straight he never got tired enough to trust me behind the wheel!

Brylee was in her element for the first day and a half.  Normally she's in the backseat and has to arch her neck way back to catch a glimpse of mom and dad.  She loved sitting in the middle between us.  We supplied her with lots of snacks, toys, and entertainment (Both of us belting Taylor Swift at the top of our lungs, yes Sam is a Taylor fan).  I also taught her a few veggie Tales songs which she thought were hilarious.

Singing along with mama.

In order to save money and time we brought a cooler and bought some groceries instead of eating out. I thought pb&j's sounded good.  I've always thought the idea of peanut butter and jelly in the same kind of gross and for extremely lazy people. However on a road trip across the country it kinda made sense, so I tried it for the first time, not bad.

We stayed in two hotels.  We'd pass places advertising really low places, but it never failed both the towns we stopped  in had something going on making hotel prices really high, even for the not so nice hotels/motels.  I guess that's life though.

By day three Brylee was done riding in a car seat all day.  Every time we'd go to put her in it she'd arch her back and scream.  Once she was out of that thing, boy was she a happy girl!

When we left Oklahoma City Sam told me to grab our change bag for the tolls, well that worked for the first toll...We were shocked when we learned we had to pay a ten dollar toll twice...then we got to Pennsylvania where we paid a fifty dollar toll! our pennies and quarters certainly weren't enough, luckily there was an ATM at a travel plaza along the way!

We were so excited to finally make it.  We found our complex, but the roads were narrow and we couldn't find a place to park.  We couldn't turn the truck around so we decided to loop around the block.  Unfortunately in PA there is no such thing as just around the block because the cities are not laid out on grids.  Streets don't connect and make figure eights.  So after getting slightly lost we referred back to Janice (our GPS) and found the apartment again.  We went to unload the car, and realized it was dead.  which was wonderful since we had lots of Friends and neighbors we could call to help us jump it...not. Lucky for us this really sweet neighbor who lives across the street asked if we needed help and jumped our car.  The people are so nice here (as long as they're not driving).  We met most of our neighbors.  Also our ward came to help us move in!  I put Brylee in the backpack and we got the truck unloaded!

Our little town is so cute we love it, accept the roads!  there is one road we take everywhere, and its the strangest thing, you have to make multiple turns in order to stay on this road.  Multiple times we've gone straight ( because normally that's how you follow a road) only to find that we were on a different road.  I think the people out here got confused, normally if you have to turn that means you are on a new road, I guess they didn't get the memo.  I would not survive without the GPS!  The drivers here are crazy, Utahans would fit right in!  They are not remotely courteous!  I miss the Midwest.  In Oklahoma if you had to merge or change lanes all you had to do was turn your blinker on and people would always let you in, they'd even change their speed for you. Here, you turn your blinker on and the person automatically speeds up to make sure you can't get in!  Within five minutes of being here we had two people honk at us, one person use a middle turn lane to pass us, and another passed us on a double line, mainly because we were going two  miles under the speed limit! Ah, oh well guess We'll just have to get use to it.

View from our bedroom.

Another thing we noticed is there isn't a lot of  chain stores here, especially when it comes to restaurants.  There's tons of mom and pop shops which is fun!  But I do miss Chic-fil-a!

We love our ward here, there are lots of grad students, so tons of little babies for Bry to play with! There is so much history around us, hopefully we'll be able to see everything in the two years we're here!