Brea

Darby recently commented on how few pictures I post of Brea. I hadn't thought of it really, but she was right. A lot of times I happen to pull out the camera while she's napping. So this post is dedicated to cute, amazing, funny Brea. She's been such a light in my life!

Things started out a little rough with Brea. I was put on bed-rest at 32 weeks because she was so anxious to get here. Thank goodness my will was stronger than hers (may be the last time I win out though...I can hardly say no to her cute little face) and I kept her in until 37 weeks. She was a beautiful baby and sweet as could be. However, she had a severe gastric reflux problem, and spit up tons of food which made for a sad messy baby and a sad smelly mom. After trying different medicines, special formulas, and even getting a few tests run (none of which helped) she eventually (around a year old) grew out of it.


Brea is her own little unique person. I LOVE that about her. She is my only child that's had to get tubes put in both her ears. I think she had ear infections for 3 months straight and was on like 6 or 7 different antibiotics before the doctor finally suggested getting tubes put in. CRAZY!! Thank goodness that we haven't had a single ear infections since. WOO-HOO!

Brea is my little quiet spitfire. She is starting to talk more and more each day which is exciting. However, she isn't afraid to quietly sneak out of sight, start exploring, and frequently makes a nice little mess of things.



One of her favorite things to do right now is ride on her 'wiggle car.' She knows exactly which car she likes best its one of our oldest wiggle cars that's a faded red color, and she'll always choose that particular car over the nice new shiny red one I got her for Christmas. The funniest is when one of her siblings tries to switch her cars or sneak in a turn. Brea's one strong willed girl and makes sure they get off ASAP! She can scoot pretty fast on her wiggle car, but I can tell she can't wait until she can keep up with the older kids on a bike. What out world here comes the unstoppable Brea!!

I feel so blessed to have this precious angel in my family!! I love you Brea!!!

Brea's new Hair Do!

Last week Scott challenged me to try and do something/anything with Brea's hair. Brea turned one in June. She can walk, has 11 teeth, can climb up and down stairs, sings and dances like a pro, but she unfortunately does NOT have much hair yet. (The sad hair situation wasn't helped by the fact that last week Jarom decided to trim her cut little side ponytail...oops!)

So when Scott challenged me I wanted to impress him and demonstrate just how talented I was at doing hair. (I'm actually pretty lame at doing hair.) However, last Saturday I started feeling the creative juices flow at 7am when I was dressing Brea and decided to put Brea's hair in two cute ponytails.

I have to admit I was surprised my little experiment worked. Brea sat still as I combed her hair and at first the ponies were really cute, but by 1:00 when she woke up from her nap the ponytails were pointing straight up and looked more like horns than anything else. I didn't take any photos of that...but I should have because they were pretty funny looking. :) Oh well, some day Brea will have enough hair to actually do something with.

Here is a cute one from the back. See there are actually TWO ponytails!! Pretty cool!!

Brea all dressed, hair done, and eating her breakfast by 7am! Now that's a rare sight.

Cooper and Hyrum were trying to help me get one of Brea smiling during this breakfast photoshoot. Thanks to my two little assistants it actually worked! Thanks boys.

Family Photos at Last!!

So its REALLY HOT in Arizona right now (I think it was 104 the day we took these photos...of course it cools off in the evening to 99 or so), but I decided it was time to do a family photo with kiddo number 6 anyway!!! Scott was a great sport, and went along with it even though he pretty much hates having his picture taken and REALLY hates being out in the heat. He is such a great husband.

My sister Darby who owns her own photography company, and is totally awesome at taking photos took them for us. I am so lucky to have such a talented sister.

The kids did really really great. And to my surprise all of there were happy and cooperative throughout the entire photo shoot.

{Megan}
I LOVE this one of Megan. She looks so cute...I love the dramatic effect of black and white.
This one really shows off her contagious grin. Megan just sparkles when she smiles. She has such a fun personality and is always willing to help me with anything I need around the house.

{Cooper}
This picture of Cooper is one of my favorites. He was asking a classic Cooper question while Darby was taking this picture, and I LOVE how she was able to capture his adorable curious inquisitive look. Everyone loves Cooper's curious personality...its charming!
I love has candid this picture is and how REAL Cooper's expression is...just checking things out.

{Hyrum}
Hyrum's little smile always brightens my day. I love his cute little eyes, and how they almost disappear when he smiles.
This is such a 'classic' Hyrum face. I am SO glad Darby got this one on film so I can have it forever.
Hyrum's serious side. I love his cute little expression. So typical of Hyrum.

{Brea}
Brea was so busy moving all around that we finally got lucky and found this little wall and hedge. She was stuck and Darby was finally able to get her to hold still and get some awesome photos.

Here Brea is on the move with a mission!
I just LOVE her cute little smile!!! What a sweet little or should I say big sister.

{Jarom}
I really really like this one of Jarom. It captures his serious happy side. Jarom has always been such a deep thinker for his age, and I think this picture was able to get that side of him.
Jarom is always full of it (in a good way). He knows so much info about lots of topics he is always teaching me something. Here he is in a teaching moment. Gotta love it!

{Rebecca}


This little gal has been such a surprise and HUGE blessing to our family. She is two months old now and the cutest little thing you ever saw. I love the sweet innocence captured in these photos. I was worried that it would be hard to get a good photo of Becca, but Darby really came through!! YEA!!!!

{the Family}
Okay its not perfect. Megan was hot, sweating, and VERY itching while we were taking this photo. So she doesn't look that happy. In another photo Megan looks a little happier and I think we are going to take her smile and eyes from that photo and put them on this photo. That will make this about the best photo you can expect with 6 kids in the middle of a HOT August evening. I am just so excited to get a photo with our ENTIRE family of EIGHT! WOW!!!

{the happy Parents}
At the very end of the photo shoot we were running out of light, but we were able to get a few of Scott and I. Aren't we cute? I think we look pretty darn good for having 6 kids 8 and under!!

{the Celebration}

Finally at the end of the photoshoot the kids got to play in this awesome fountain by where we were taking photos. They were excited (and so was I) that we were done taking photos! I am just so happy to have some updated photos to hang on my wall!!!!!!! WOO-HOO! All I have to do now is decide on which ones I want and what size I want them so I can get them printed up for my very bare walls!!! Thanks again Darby!!