Happy Birthday McKay!

McKay celebrated his 26th Birthday on November 21! I staying up til 2 am the night before preparing. Mostly making his pumpkin cheesecake that was sooooo delicious! If your looking for an amazing pumpkin cheesecake recipe talk to my sis Jess! McKay isn't even a big fan of pumpkin pie but loved it! I decorated the house with streamers and balloons, made him a big breakfast and had a present waiting for him when he woke up like my parents used to do for us. We went out to mongolian grill for dinner (free dinner on your bday ; )). Hopefully your able to picture all this in your head cause sadly the Blog wont let me upload any photos right now because I guess I'm out of space for it.? Anyways I didn't want it to get to late without mentioning my wonderful Hubby and his bday! : )
McKay is working very hard right now in School. Brin and I are very proud of him!! He seems to be studying a ton, but is very good at balancing school, family, church and Basketball/sports. He is currently playing on a rec ball team up at OHSU and he is enjoying it very much. And is doing quite well of course.
I am so grateful for the wonderful husband and father McKay is. I feel extremely blessed to have him in my life. I am grateful for his parents for raising him up correctly. His dad is a farmer and drives truck, so you know he works hard. Growing up McKay would help his dad out on the farm. This is where he learned among many things, what hard work and dedication is. I am very thankful for his dad for that. I know that a big part of the reason why he treats me so well is because he grew up watching his dad treat his mom with lots of love and respect.
I am also so grateful to his amazing mother who raised McKay to be among many things a thoughtful, kind, and healthy person. I have never seen someone talk about their mother the way McKay talks about his mom. He is truly a momma's boy and proud of it! Throughout our marriage I have often heard, "oh my mom has a really good recipe for that" and "my mom knows all about that". One thing that I appreciate about McKay is not only that he is not picky eater, but at times will say, "I'm craving vegetables." He really likes to eat healthy and craves healthy things. His mom eats very healthy and I'm grateful that she feed her family healthy meals. (It has made things a lot easier for me), but McKay definitely has a sweet teeth for chocolate, which also comes from his mom. So he is well rounded. :) I hope that one day I can be like both my mom and McKay's mom.
Well we love you so much McKay and are so grateful for the person you are! Happy Birthday : )
Hopefully I can figure the picture thing. If I do I will post them.

Halloween and other stuff

For us halloween happened on the saturday before at our ward Halloween party. Brin was a very cute TinkerBell. 

This is the only pic I got on the actual Halloween. Sad I know! I didn't realize I had not taken any pics until she was already in bed. it was just a really busy day. Halloween was a lot of fun though. We got together with a few other moms and had a halloween party. The kids had a blast!

Hallow's Eve Daddy was giving Brin and ducky (which she can say! But yet she can't say mama! Go Figure) a ride.

Reading Books with daddy before bedtime.

Bath time! Daddy usually does the baths. It's their bonding time. I suggested changing diapers be there bonding time, but for some reason he didn't go for it. I still remember when my dad did this to our hair in the bath! Course you could do this to my hair even when it wasn't wet. passing on the tradition! (Oct 29th)

Mckay requested that I make a homemade Macaroni and cheese. So I did last night. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart so you know it's got to be good! Brin LOVED it! What's with kids and mac and cheese? ....Ok it is pretty good : )

Today was such beautiful weather! We went walking at a park near our place.

Playing in the leaves

 Trees here are so beautiful right now! This pic doesn't do it justice.

 Getting excited after seeing a doggie. Portland is very dog friendly which Brin loves and McKay not so much.

 Portland has tons of trails everywhere! This is pretty close to our apartment

 Found my belly button!

 Found a leaf twice my size!

 Berries grow wild here. Which is weird when you see it in the store parking lot

 Going down the slide!

 As close to driving as I'm going to get for another oh, 18 years.

Brinners now says:

Dada

Ducky

Doggie (though it sounds a lot like ducky)

Mama Only once!

Ya

No

This is good progress! A month ago the doctor asked how many words she was saying, I said 2 kind of. And asked if I should be worried. (I wasn't too much but she was!) Her head size also went from 2% to 68% which she was also worried about. So we have to go back in in a month which is this week so she can measure her head to make sure it's not growing too fast. She said it could be fluid around her brain. Ok ya I can wait for a month and sit and wonder if she has fluid around her brain. But again I'm not real worried about it. I told her she understands a lot of stuff we say and she said well that's a good sign. I think she's fine and that part of the reason she may be lacking on the speaking is due to all the ear issues she has had. But she hasn't had any ear infections or ear drum eruptions in a good 3 months so things are getting better.

I LOVE...

Brinlee! She has become such a fun little person that is full of personality and energy! I can't imagine my life without her. Around the week of September 16th she really started picking up on understanding the things that McKay and I say. She understands When we say:
-Do you want to read some books? She will run to her room and grab a book.
-"Are you hungry" or "do you want to eat some lunch"? She will run to the fridge
- Drink your milk! - And she will drink her milk
- "Do you want to go outside" or "get your shoes". She will go around the house looking for her shoes.
-"Brin say hi" or "Bye" - She will wave and make high pitched noises.
-Dance Brinner! And she brakes out her best moves
-She now will smile at the camera instead hiding her face.
- She says dada and tonight she said Mama for the first time! It was coolest thing! I kept repeating "ma-ma" to her after dinner tonight and she finally repeated it! I wish we had recorded it, darn it!

We went to the zoo on Sept 11 with a couple other Dental wives. It was a lot of fun! This is one of the coolest zoos! The animals are very interactive!

 The Sea Loins are my favorite. They swim right up onto the glass and do flips.

 Monkeys!

 These little girls were fighting over who could hold Brin's hands. It was pretty cute. They are all cousins so Brin was a new friend to play with.

 They pretty much have every animal.

Brin and her new friend Lacey

 This Loin paced back and forth at the glass the whole time.

 Safari ride

More pics of Brin

On Sept 18 Brin got her first scraped knee 

 But She didn't even cry! Just a big smile : )

 Brin loves when daddy comes home!

 She loves the computer and freaks out anytime someone is on it

 Watching Dora the explorer!

 When McKay would roll away Brin would go grab him around the neck and bring him back over.

 I am so lucky!

On September 4th

We celebrated our 3rd year anniversary! We went to the Multnomah Falls and hiked around.

If you squint really hard you can make out Brin and I on the right.

 Ha love Brin's hair

 We hiked the mile hike to the top

 Brin did so good! McKay and I switched off who carried her and she hated it! She was wanting to walk the whole way up, but we didn't have all week : )

 A pic of the city on our way back.

I feel so blessed to be married to McKay! He is such an amazing person. Sometimes I have dreams where I have forgotten who I married and I'm freaking out worried I married the wrong person then at the end I realize I married McKay and it's the best feeling in the world!
McKay has been working so hard at school and is doing really well! He just ended his first mini 6 week semester and had the weekend without worries woohoo! Then started his fall semester on Monday. Brin and I are so proud of our daddy! Love you babe : )