Christmas!

Even though we knew we'd be visiting Grandma and Grandpa Brenner in Fresno, we put our tree up anyway. Phebe loved everything about it--the lights, the way the ornaments wiggled when she shook the tree, pulling said ornaments off the tree... Here she is helping Ben put up the star.

Our trip to California went well. We split it over two days. The first day we picked up Jared in Provo and then Emma in Cedar City, then stopped for the night in Las Vegas. Phebe did great until about an hour outside of Las Vegas. By then she had had enough of her carseat. Luckily she had plenty of room to roam at our cousins' home where we stayed that night.

The next day we hit the road early and lunched at the train station McDonald's in Barstow--a Brenner family landmark. She liked putting the Happy Meal box on her head and taking it off over and over.

We had a great time hanging out with our grandparents and parents. Mom and Dad had already been there a few days when we arrived. We Brenners tend to be homebodies, but we sure had a lot of fun. Awhile ago Grandpa bought a ginormous HDTV, and Jared brought his Wii, so we all had a fun time playing and watching each other play. In fact Grandma liked bowling so much that Grandpa bought her one for Christmas.

Christmas Day was great. Here are some pictures of Phebe enjoying herself Christmas morning.

Later that day we had a fun meal with my uncle Doug and his wife Jennifer, their two little girls Paige and Kyra, my uncle Larry, my cousin Jason and his wife Claire. Phebe had so much fun playing with her cousins.

While we were there we also celebrated Emma's birthday (22!), saw Sherlock Holmes (good, not great), and did lots of shopping (Dear Trader Joe's: Why do you have 2 locations in Fresno but 0 in Utah? Please fix this. Soon.).

Our time there was too short! Here's Phebe saying goodbye to her grandparents and great-grandparents.

We made the trip back to Utah all in one day to beat a storm. It was really tough leaving family and warm weather. We love you, Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa!

MMM Boy!

We're still playing the catch up game, but I had to take a break to post these pictures from tonight.

Our friends and neighbors the Willeitner's came over for Family Home Evening. After we were done, we had brownies. We got around to talking, and when we finally glanced at Phebe this is what we saw:

...and before we could get the bath ready, she looked like this:

It's good to be a baby!

31 Years and Counting

I got this picture of Mom and Dad while we were at my Grandma and Grandpa Brenner's house for Christmas. Aren't they cute? They just celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary. We love you!

Wedding Par-tay!

Once upon a time there were three girls who became best friends while attending high school together on an Air Force base in the middle of nowhere, California: Brenna, Dianna and Megan. When we talked about growing up and getting married, we all agreed that I would be first because I'm the Mormon one, Dianna would be next, and then Brenna would be last, if ever, because she's the most feminist of our bunch. Here's what really happened: Brenna got married first, to Bill, when we were 20. Seven years later, I married Ben. Brenna's wedding was at the Hotel Paris in Las Vegas and mine was in the Salt Lake Temple, which kept them both in the small, low-key neighborhood. This left Dianna with the responsibility of having the big fat (something) wedding.

So, in September, the aforementioned big fat Catholic wedding took place. Way back when she and her now husband, Chaz, got serious, she told me to plan on being a bridesmaid. So, I got the cute fancy dress and shoes and we all drove up to Boise for the big day.

The wedding was at Holy Apostles Catholic Church. The building, the grounds, the ceremony were absolutely beautiful, but not more than the blushing bride! Here she is getting ready for the ceremony to start.

Here's the bridal party. I don't know everyone's names, but to the right of Dianna are her friend and maid of honor Lara, then Brenna, and then me.

After the ceremony was over and all the pictures were taken, the whole wedding party piled into the limo to head to the reception. We car danced the whole way there, although Brenna and I were really tempted to change the station to NPR since we somehow ended up sitting right by the radio.

The reception was outdoors at Wood River Cellars. The scenery there was gorgeous. Since all three of us were so dressed up, we attempted to take a family picture. Here's the best of the bunch.

The next day Dianna's parents hosted a barbecue for everyone. Whenever Mrs. Duskett held Phebe she would tell Dianna that she wanted a Phebe. Married less than 24 hours and already getting the baby pressure! Dianna had a great response though: "You'll have to talk to Megan and Ben about that. They're the only ones who can make a Phebe."

The playground near the park had a random dinosaur, so we really needed a picture of us by him.

The 3 girls from Nowhere, CA, all grown up and married:

And they all lived happily ever after. The end!

Cutest Cow on the Block

Halloween

Give the People What They Want

There are lots of other events to catch up on here, but since I know our (few) faithful readers really just want to see pictures of our Phebe girl, here's the cream of the crop: Christmas portrait proofs. I'll let the absolute adorableness speak for itself. Enjoy--we sure do.

No Excuses

Has life been a little crazy for us in the past 6 months? Yes. Do I have good reasons for not blogging the past 6 months? Yes. But, are there any acceptable reasons for slacking off in the blogging department? Erm, well, umm, you see... maybe?

Cue intense Mommy guilt. Sigh.

Friends and family, ladies and gentlemen, don't write us off. Stay tuned for massive updates, including more cute pictures like this:

And this:

And finally, this:

To be continued!