Lainie got Her 1st Haircut!

On June 23rd, 2009, we had another memory milestone for Lainie - she got her FIRST HAIRCUT!!! I have trimmed her bangs a little before, but it was time for the rest of her hair to get some attention. She was beginning to look like Carol Brady from the "Brady Bunch" - the female mullet. So, THANKS to my beautiful and talented sister-in-law, Nicole, Lainie now looks like a little girl (not so baby) with feminine hair. It turned out so CUTE!!!!

Here's the back with a little A-line cut.

Nicole blended the front & sides and layered it to help it grow in more evenly now.

She totally posed for this picture too.

So cute!


Here it is with a little pony tail.

Close up!

This is my favorite pic of her! She's totally giving me this attitude look!
What a stinker - gotta love her though!!!

THANKS again Nicole for saving the day and doing such a GREAT job on Lainie's hair!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That. . .

Here are some random photos that were on my camera that I wanted to post.

These first pics show who rules the roost at the Bryce house.

Lainie climbing on top of Jacob
(She watches the boys and Ragan wrestle all the time, apparently she wants to try it out too)

Lainie sitting on Jacob's chest which Nash and Logan think is hilarious.

Logan joining in on the fun - poor Jacob, he's laughing too hard to do anything to get them off.

These next pics are some family pictures that my awesome brother, Mark, took while we were in St. Johns visiting my Dad's grave after our Uncle Al's funeral this past weekend.

Ragan Bryce Family - June 2009

Loving the wind in St. Johns

Nash was helping me pull the weeds from around my Dad's grave.

It was a nice weekend in St. Johns. We will miss Uncle Al so much!!! He has a wonderful family and it was nice to see all of our relatives.

Tribute to the Fathers in my Life!

Ragan is an Incredible Father! Our kids are so lucky to have him as a Dad! They look forward to him coming home every day from work like it is time to celebrate - of course, I feel the same way! Ragan is such a good example to our boys of what a good, honest, hardworking man should be like and Lainie doesn't stand a chance of every finding a man as wonderful as her daddy! Ragan makes everything so much more fun in our family!!! I'm not sure how I got so lucky to be his wife, but I am eternally grateful that I am!!!

Fishing with the Boys - Red River 2007

My Handsome Man - Feb. 2009

Happy Father's Day Ragan!

We LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Happy Birthday TOO!

Father's Day was kinda bittersweet this year! For a split second this afternoon, I thought, "Oh shoot, we haven't called our Dads yet for Father's Day." Then it hit me right in the gut that I can't call my dad. I want to honor him on this day and celebrate that I was one of those lucky people that had a Great Dad!!! He taught me so many valuable lessons that I will carry with me forever and I hope that I can impart some of his wisdom onto my children since he isn't here to do it himself.

Salt River Canyon - Summer 1995

Idaho - Dec. 2004

I always loved it when he wore this hat!!!

I LOVE YOU Dad and

MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY EVERY DAY!!!!

I want to wish my other Dad a very HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I am so in awe that I not only had a great dad but I also have a wonderful father-in-law who I love so much!!! Dad Bryce is such a WONDERFUL man and I am thankful for the good man and example he is to our family! Ragan is like him in so many ways and I am grateful for that!!! THANK YOU for all that you do and teach us in your quiet and fun way Dad! You are a WONDERFUL Father and Grandpa!!!

The Bryce Boys - May 2002

(There are A LOT more now - 7 more grandsons)

Mom & Dad Bryce with the Boys - Oct. 2007

WE LOVE YOU DAD!!!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

I Can See Clearly Now. . .

Actually it's Logan who can see clearly now that he has glasses.

We took him to an eye specialist since he has had issues with a sometimes "lazy" eye. You could only notice it when he was really tired or just kinda zoning, so we got it checked and now he has some really strong glasses to try to correct it. We hope they help and the doc said maybe someday he won't need glasses.

He looks so cute in his glasses - it seems like he should have been wearing them all along! He's been doing really good wearing them and being careful!

My handsome boy in his cool new glasses. . .

Doing a nose crunch thing - he was trying to still get use to wearing them.

So cute!

Such a sweetie!!!

We go back in another 5 weeks to see how he is doing and if the prescription needs to be changed. Our fingers are crossed that this all works out well!

Jacob is 5!

Jacob turned 5 Years Old on June 4th. We threw together a small, quiet party - he got to pick out a gift and and his cake and we called it good after a week of playing and all sorts of fun things in CA. So onto the pics. . .

Jacob got his choice of new bedding for his gift.

He picked SpongeBob.

Here is Jacob's cake.

He really is happy, but also tired.

Make a Wish!

He was so excited to get all the cake decorations.

Just a few of the things that I LOVE about JACOB:

• Jacob is a GREAT son!!! We love him so much!
• Jacob has so much ENERGY mixed with a little mischief so we never know what to expect.
• Jacob has a great Sense of HUMOR! He's a crackup!
• Jacob has a TENDER HEART!

Some of the things that JACOB is INTERESTED in right now:

• Jacob is really getting into playing Xbox with Nash - they love the Lego games.
• Jacob is still a "Cars" fanatic - he loves his Lightning McQueen cars.
• Jacob loves to tease his brothers and baby sister and watch the reactions he gets.
• Jacob is so excited for Kindergarten and can't wait to learn more things.

I am so grateful that Jacob is a part of our family. He brings happiness into our home along with laughter! He is teaching me that I need to stop and have more fun and laughter in my life!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. 5 YEAR OLD!!!!!

WE LOVE YOU JACOB!!!!

Lainie is WALKING. . . FINALLY!!!

Yes, it has finally happened! Lainie took her first steps last Saturday, June 6th. She has been testing her balance and standing up for awhile and then on Saturday she just did it and took like 4 to 5 steps. We were all so excited! Ragan's mom and brother were even here to witness this milestone.

I can't believe my baby is walking. It was such a bittersweet moment for me! Of course I want her to develop and grow, but I also don't want her to grow up too fast since we plan on her being our last. Part of me is glad that she a "late bloomer/walker" and waited until 15 months old to finally walk so I have been able to enjoy all the baby things longer.

For the past week, all she has been doing is trying out her new found freedom. She stands up and takes off for as long as her balance will last. So far, I've counted 9 steps, turn around, and 9 more steps back without sitting down. Being the little princess she is, we all break into applause anytime she walks really good! She grins and shows off with more walking.

Ragan got me a new camera for our Legoland trip - a smaller one that would be easier to carry around. It is an awesome camera and even has video capabilities. So, after her first steps I got the camera and tried to get her on video and here is what we have gotten so far.

Our Lainie (Lu Lu) walking.

Proud of My MAN!!! (Part Two)

In January, I posted about the Leadership Award Ragan won through his work. So here is the continuation of how things went.

He went to Vancouver in April to receive his award and attend some classes/seminars with fellow PCLers. He gave an acceptance speech - I wish I could have been there to hear him - I know he did a great job though. I am just so proud of him for this accomplishment - he works so HARD at his job!!!

There was also a article about the award in his company magazine that I wanted to post! It was a two page spread for those who won different awards, so the first part of each header question is cut off my scan, so I'll post what each of the questions are below.

I had to make it small so you could click on it to enlarge and read it.

1. Congratulations! How does it feel to be this year's winner?

2. How did you find out you'd won?

3. How did your district celebrate?

4. How did you get here?

5. Where do you see yourself in five years?

6. Surprise us!

CONGRATS again Ragan!!! We are so PROUD of you and LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!

Family Vacation - DAY FOUR (6/4/2009)

Today is Jacob's 5th Birthday! Happy Birthday Bubba! We love ya'!
(We'll celebrate officially when we get home though.)

Our day began with slathering the kiddos up with a TON of sunscreen - 70 SPF no less. We are headed to the BEACH!!! YEAH!!! Our kids have NEVER seen the ocean before this trip and are so excited to go to the beach, play in the ocean, build sandcastles, and search for seashells.

So, off to the beach we go.

Oceanside Beach

Ragan and the boys

Lainie just chillin'!

She HATED the sand. The second we set her on this towel she started to crawl off - that is until her hand touched the sand and then she started screaming and crying. It was pretty funny, once I got her calmed down which only happened when I got the sand brushed off her. She did really good except when the towels would shift and she would see sand next to her and then she would start crying again. Glad she's not spoiled huh?!!!

Jacob getting buried and loving it!

Logan "building his sandcastle."
It was more like digging around in the sand.
Still cute though!

Nash building his sand castle.
This is as far as he got before he got too busy looking for seashells.

My Guys! I just Love 'em!!!

After we spent 3 hours at the beach, which we thought would only be 1 hour, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and rest. Lainie fell asleep in one of the towels, I was getting burned (stupid me didn't put any sunscreen on), and Jacob and Logan were starting to turn a little pink. It was a fun day at the beach - we found a lot of seashells - built part of a sandcastle - I think we got everything done on the boys "beach wishlist".

This is the end of our Family Vacation posts. We got packed up and drove home the next morning. We had a blast and made a lot of memories!!! You know it is a GREAT vacation when the kids are all asleep within an hour of leaving the hotel - we wore 'em out!

Thanks Ragan for spoiling us with such a great trip and a great place to stay! It was awesome. Thanks Honey!!!!

Family Vacation - DAY THREE (6/3/2009)

On our third day, we got a late start due to our sore muscles, aching feet and the fact that we are all moving a little slower this morning. Poor Logan can hardly walk today - we'll get him a rental stroller for today.

Today we are headed to San Diego to go to Sea World - a first for all of us.

Here are the boys with their Legoland souvenirs - Pirate toys and Lego Indiana Jones shirts.

Boys outside Sea World



Shamu's Show: "Believe"

The Shamu Show was incredible!!! We sat in the soak zone, but thankfully didn't get a drop on us. The kids really enjoyed watching the show. Lainie was clapping, laughing, and squealing - she was so excited!! It was almost as much fun just to watch her.


These eels were so UGLY!

We also watched the "Clyde & Seamore Show"

Boys waiting for it to start

It was a funny show!


Penguins were just hanging out posing for me.

I Love Polar Bears

Don't know why, just think they are so cool.

We enjoyed Sea World! We ate lunch at the Shipwreck Reef Cafe and ended our Sea World visit riding the rides at the "Sesame Street Bay of Play."

San Diego LDS Temple

We stopped by the San Diego Temple on our way back from Sea World. The temple is so beautiful and it was nice to walk around the grounds with the family.

Today was another fun filled day for the Bryce fam.

Tomorrow is going to be a lot more relaxing and less walking - till then. . .

Family Vacation - Day TWO (6/2/2009)

We woke up to another nice day in California, a little cloudy with the high around 69. Since we didn't see all of Legoland we are going back today to finish up.

Here we go again. . .

Ragan, Nash & Jacob on "Bionicle Blaster"

Lainie chillin'! She wouldn't leave her sunglasses on but I think she looks so cute wearing them!

Ragan & the boys on "Lost Kingdom Adventure"

It started to get nice and sunny so we decided to get our fair skinned redheads out of the sun for a little while and check out the Sea Life Aquarium.

Nash and Jacob "in" the fish tank.

Touch pool

Seahorse

Nash "in" another tank

After lunch at the room, we came back for more Legoland and decided to get some pics outside the entrance.

Took a ride on the "Coast Cruise" and enjoyed more of "Miniland USA"

Our Boys posing with various Lego figures throughout the park.

Last ride of the day was the "Safari Trek"

We finished everything by the end of Day Two except we hadn't got anything from the gift shop to remember our trip. We had made quite a few Legoland penny smashers though. So to end our day, we went to the Big Shop and got the boys some things.

Bye till day three. . .