Sydney Grace is 5 today!!!!!

My baby girl is 5 today! She was up early, of course, and opened all her presents before her brothers were even awake! She's been coloring her new Tinkerbell posters and is already wearing her new Hello Kitty shirt and sunglasses. :)

I'm so glad to have my one girl, and I'm grateful more every day that I only have one...she's a little firecracker! She has enough attitude for several girls! Since she was a baby, though, she has been (at least in my opinion) STUNNING and she keeps getting more beautiful all the time. I'm so not looking forward to the time when boys start noticing her, as I'm sure they will...

She has such a sweet spirit when she wants to. She loves to help with the baby and in the kitchen, and her favorite time of the day is when I crawl in bed with her and we read her bedtime story. She really is a joy, and I'm so glad to have her in our family. She definitely keeps life interesting. I think I'll really miss her when she starts kindergarten next month. Love you, Syd!!!!!

Sydney's Brithday Party

Well, today Sydney had her very first birthday party. We don't let our kids have a lot of parties. Mostly we're just lazy--it's a lot of work. Plus, we don't want them getting too spoiled. But this year Sydney has been to a lot of her friends' parties, so she really wanted one. She wanted to invite a few boys, so we couldn't do anything super-girly. We came up with a water theme. We had a slip-n-slide, water balloons, water games, and we put the sprinkler under the trampoline. Good thing, too, because it was over 100 degrees today!

Her actual birthday isn't until Monday, so she only got one present from us today since it went with the water theme. Here she is with her new flower sprinkler. It sprays in all different directions.

I let Sydney plan all the details--she colored and wrote on the invitations, she picked the lunch menu (chicken nuggets, watermelon, carrots, and chips), and she picked the theme. I'm usually not good at letting go of control like that, so I was proud of myself!

She just keeps on getting darker and darker. It's so not fair! I told Tim it's really pathetic, but I'm so jealous of her tan! Something I never have had and never will have... How cute is that face though?!?

She really wanted cupcakes instead of a cake. Easy enough!Present time! She got so many fun things. Thanks, everyone!
We played a game where the kids were on teams and they had to soak a sponge with water, hold it over their head, then run across the lawn and squeeze it into a bucket. The boys won that game, but the girls won the next one. She had a really fun time and I'm glad it's over. :)

Unbelieveable!!

Last night Tim's dad called and said he needed some help with the horses. He wanted to move ours (Lady) to another pasture with their Shetland pony. So we went over there and they got them moved O.K. We all were sitting in the yard talking when Tim saw Lady run through a hot wire fence in the pasture that was blocking a ditch full of water. She then tripped really badly (at running speed) and pretty much did a somersault and landed on her head/neck. She ended up in the ditch.

Tim had started running to her when she ran through the fence, but by the time he got to her and I caught up with him, I heard him say, "She's gone." I couldn't believe it! One minute she was running through the pasture and the next minute she was dead...it was crazy! The poor kids were all with us and Sydney was so sad. It was a rough visit to Grandma's...

Apparently, Tim is pretty sure Lady must have broken her neck and died instantly when she fell--nothing we could do. It all happened SO fast. The only good thing is that she died so quickly and painlessly. I guess that would be the best way to go, with no suffering.

So now I'm sure we'll be in the market for a new horse for hunting. CRAZY DAY!!! It still seems like a wild dream today, but I know it really happened. Sad.

We'll miss you, Miss Lady.

14 years and counting...

It's a simple story.

Girl meets boy.

Girl stalks boy.

Girl begs boy to marry her.

Boy actually agrees.

Girl is happy...

I so love this boy! I'm smiling right now just thinking about him. I know that sounds cheesy, but I don't even care. He was and still is just what I want. I knew that after only knowing him for a little while. I told my mom, "I'm gonna marry that boy." Of course, I never thought he would actually agree with my plan, but sometimes you get lucky. :) Love you, babe!!

New hair

So we all know that I get bored with my hair a lot...so Friday afternoon I decided to make a change and got a new 'do. I went for an a-line cut and so far I think I like it. At least it's way less to dry and way less to straighten. That's ALWAYS a good thing! I can't quite do a ponytail anymore which is sad, but it's fun to have a change!

By the way, I just love my Brandon...he has been so helpful lately and asked me several times today if I needed any more help with all the housework. He did a ton for me and it went so much faster! I can't believe he's going to be 12 soon. He sure is getting old! But I'm not! :)

Happy B-day Ryan!!!

Ryan Mitchell Bryson is 9 years old today!!! He is my original blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy and is so stinkin' cute! I remember when he was little and looked nothing like his older brother. People sometimes wondered if they were really related or not. I assure you they are. :)

He has always had such a sweet temperament. He is so much easier to please than some of our other children...such a wonderful thing! He is a total gamer and would play board games, card games, and/or video games all day long if I let him.

He is getting his wolf bagde in Cub Scouts tonight, along with 1 gold and 6 silver arrow points (more that either his dad or older brother got!!!). He has been taking piano lessons from his uber-talented mom this summer and is already doing so well! He just finished baseball and was a great hitter this year. He has decided he loves fishing and caught more than Tim last time we went camping. :)

I'm so glad to have him in our family and to have been able to watch him grow and learn up to this point. I can't wait to see what an amazing man he becomes one day! He makes me smile all the time. :)

Girls' Camp

Last night was the white shirt dinner and bishopric night at girls' camp, so Tim and I went with the rest of the bishopric and their wives up to Pine Top. This is the 3rd year Tim has been in the bishopric and we've been up there for the night. It never ceases to amaze me what girls' camp is like for these girls, and how it is NOTHING like the experiences I had as an awkward teen...

First, they get to stay in cabins, and there is a pool there...seriously. When I went to camp, we got tents that we set up ourselves. Then comes the real difference: they have COOKS!!!! There's a big lodge that has a kitchen, and when it's time for a meal, you just line up and get served by the cooks. Last night they had pork ribs, baked potatoes, and fruit--all prepared and ready for you to just eat. This is not camp!! Whatever happened to each girl making her own meals on her little home-made tuna can stove?? They just have it too easy!

It makes sense to me, though, why all these girls seem to love camp more than I did as a girl... Perhaps I would have liked it better if I didn't have to cook anything and I got to go swimming! Plus there are no chiggers in Idaho like there are in Texas...

We had a fun time, though, and I wonder if this was our last trip up there as a group.