sunday morning... and i’m awake before anyone else in my house.
this never happens. usually randy wakes up earliest on sundays and gets in the shower while playing his podcasts at max volume until the rest of us are awake. i’m halfway kidding. but usually i’m the last out of bed on sundays, while he keeps the kids occupied i get ready for church in peace!

on weekdays, he always brings me a coke zero around 6:30 before he leaves for work. don’t get me wrong, i asked him to do this little favor, but i secretly think he likes it. when i was a little girl, my mom and grandma got in the bad (and by bad, i mean really awesome and made me feel like a spoiled princess!) habit of waking me up with a warm washcloth for my tired little eyes. even into high school, my mom was always gentle to wake me, talking in her sweet soft voice (after i told her i couldn’t handle her scolding me that early in the morning for my never-not-messy room), and asking me what i wanted for breakfast. my dad always just yelled from the bottom of the stairs, “you better wake up right now, don’t make me come up there!”. after randy heard these stories he always gave me a hard time and swore he would never baby me with a warm washcloth... but here he is, bringing me an ice cold coke zero every morning 😉
presley is a lot like me in the mornings or after sleeping... a little grumpy if woken up on someone else’s terms, and it takes a little while to come alive if we’ve woken up on our own. eli wakes up happy and smiling every. single. time. randy thinks he’s like that too 🙄 😂

anyway, so here i sit. had to go get my own coke zero this morning, but that’s ok.

yesterday the weather was AMAZING for being almost june, so we decided to take the kids to a little roadside attraction called murray family farms. it’s about 30 min away, and halfway there i spilled my drink all over myself and we had to turn around and let me change pants. fun! and then it was actually 10 degrees cooler when we got there (almost to the mountains), and everyone else there was wearing sweatshirts and jeans. my kids were in shorts. of course. when the sun came out, it warmed up a tad so we were fine.
this place was SO FUN. to be honest, i wasn’t thrilled about going. it just didn’t sound fun, and i figured it would be crowded since the weather was nice and it was a saturday.... but i was pleasantly surprised! they had so much to do, and we all had the best time.

the kids played, and then we picked TONS of blueberries and strawberries! they have every fruit you can think of, but it was berryfest, so that’s what we picked. eli was in blueberry heaven. he ate more than all of us. at one point i looked over and he was eating blueberries straight from the branch... like mouth to branch instead of picking them off first. 😂 randy and i agreed that was the most fun we’ve had in awhile and also the best strawberries we have EVER had in our lives. walking through the different orchards was so neat, and we can’t wait to come back every season for different fruit! i’m pumped for fall... apples! pumpkins! corn maze! also, if any of our out of town guests want to come there, we won’t say no! 

our harvest!

royal wedding

the royal wedding today has me feeling all sorts of ways...
i seriously thought about waking up early to watch it live, but we are like the farthest time zone away and waking up at 4am to watch just wasn't gonna happen. also, randy would have killed me if i turned the tv on at 4am in our bedroom. also, i took tylenol pm last night and ended up sleeping in til like 10. oops.
so here i am watching the replay of the live coverage on bbc america.

i would give anything to re-live my wedding day. there is only ONE thing i would do different. everything was so perfect and so US, but if i could go back, i would have a videographer. it was the most fun and biggest day in our lives and i would have loved to watch it year after year on our anniversary. oh well. we have lots of pictures!

but randy in a tux...i meannnn. can someone please invite us somewhere black tie so i can get him in a tux and bowtie like prince harry wore at his reception? randy looks good in everything, his work clothes, his sweats, but dressed to the nines?...i might die.

anyway. i love my husband. keepin' those vows foreva and eva.

so, i'm seriously thinking about giving instagram the ax. i dropped facebook like a hot potato back in october, and i never looked back... social media is a bad habit, and a time-suck, and personally, i'm over it. i'm really trying to be more present day-to-day with my kids.
a few days ago presley asked me to do something, and i told her, "just a second!" while i was doing who-knows-what on my phone. she didn't get mad, or sad, or anything. she just said, "ok mom, after you finish looking at your phone?" uhhhhh...talk about knife in my heart. i don't ever want to put whatever is on my phone before my kids or my husband or anyone in my life. getting rid of social media apps will definitely help that.
i'm keeping my solitaire game, though. and probably words with friends (i only ever play with my mom and aunt cathy cause everyone else cheats.). but those are good for my brain.

anyway, all this to say, i'll probably end up dumping my pictures here, instead.
this little slice of the internet that i invited my whole christmas card list to. i immediately regretted it, but i'd already paid for printing, so here we are. i'm also thinking of turning on comments, which makes me nervous, but it's mostly so my sister doesn't have to text me her thoughts on my latest post. ha.

mother’s day this year had me all like 😭

saturday was really fun, presley and i went to the cookie decorating party at the clubhouse and brought home a plate full of icing and sprinkles, with a couple cookies hiding underneath. my girl was in HEAVEN, and anything that makes her smile like that is heaven in my book, too.

sunday we went to church, and the kids made me fingerprint bookmarks (homemade gifts are like top 5 in my list of favorite things about being a mom.) while they were in the nursery.
and my biggest surprise was when we walked in the garage to leave... rose bushes!! i’ve been obsessing over all the rose bushes in our neighborhood and in bakersfield in general... and now i have FOUR of my own! he also planted them for me after church, i’ve definitely got a little crush on my yard guy 😉

i started feeling really down after church, and wanted to be alone.
look,  my kids are my life. they are my very top priority, and they are my JOB. i find my identity in being their mom. they give me the greatest joy, and they also suck the life out of me. i spend every single day, all day, keeping them alive and happy, and smothering them in love. and y’all, it’s hard.
i pray (usually out loud) for patience at least 12 million times a day. i am incredibly, and i mean INCREDIBLY blessed, beyond measure. but... i need a day off sometimes.
randy is really good about taking over some of the duties on the weekends, and i hope he knows i notice and appreciate it. because i know he’s tired, too.

and then comes guilt. what is wrong with me that i want alone time on mother’s day. MOTHER’S DAY?l! a day i’m supposed to spend every single moment with my sweet babies. so i laid in bed and cried about what a terrible mom i am, and also because i missed my own mom... who, i’m sure, never felt like this a day in her life. 😭

i finally came out of my dark place, and even though it wasn’t bath night for the kids (we go every other night, because eczema), i got the kids in the bath to play for a little bit. (presley also had syrup in her hair 😐) anyway, i just soaked it all in (literally, water everywhere😂), and enjoyed every laugh and splash. it’s funny because bathtime is randy’s thing, not something i usually love... but i loved it that night.

so the past few days have been full of prayers, mostly thanking God for his grace... something i don’t deserve, but he showers it down on me. i’m not a failure, i’m not the worlds worst mom. those are lies from satan himself. here’s the verse that i’m clinging to:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies are new every morning. — Lamentations 3:22-23 

anyway, my baby boy turned 18 months old yesterday.

 not sure how, because i swear he was just my long, skinny, bald, peanut baby, like, yesterday. he is all boy... favorite place to be is outside. favorite toy is any ball of any sport any shape any size. his favorite show is gumby. no matter how many times i wipe his face, somehow it’s perpetually dirty. he eats. and eats. and eats. and then when i think he may be full, he  asks for “nnnaackkk?” he is very consistent on losing one shoe. he loves his daddy more than everyone else combined. so much for momma’s boy 😭 he is the worlds best sleeper— 7pm-8:30am... on a bad day 🙌🏼 and he still rubs his little eyebrow to put himself to sleep. he says “pew-weee” every time i change his diaper, and i die. he loves to stand on stools and couches and give me near heart attacks daily. 😳 even though he’s a bit of a daredevil, he is my calm child who will crawl up on the couch and just chill. every morning when i get him out of bed, he greets me with the sweetest little drawn-out “hiiiiiiiiiiii” 😍 there are a million more sweet (and maybe not so sweet 🙈) things i want to remember about him, and this age... but i think you get the idea. 😉

the great stomach bug of 2018

first of all, presley is 3.5 and let me just say how fortunate i am that we made it this far without a house-wide stomach bug. to be honest i don’t think she has ever even vomited before.

that all changed wednesday night. and you’re welcome, because i just wrote all the details and then deleted them because who wants to read about that. 🤮 randy and presley actually recovered pretty quickly, and were able to eat lunch and dinner yesterday. it took me way longer, of course. 😩

but, everyone is fine now, and praise God, eli didn’t ever catch it.

so today, i’ve got a whole house to lysol, bleach, and sanitize. happy mother’s day weekend to me!

feliz ocho de mayo! —what a holiday! we are celebrating by doing mountains of laundry in our jammies, while gumby plays on every tv in the background. i mean, talk about wild and crazy. i might even make the kids quesadillas for lunch! 💃🏼

if you can believe it, we celebrated cinco de mayo a liiiittle better. 😂
our neighborhood had a party at the clubhouse with free tacos, ice cream, and piñatas! the kids loved it, and randy and i loved the taco meat (team low-carb going strong).

then came post-party naps, followed by a visit to the splash pad. randy was thinking about getting in the pool, but his swim trunks are all way to big and falling off him so he couldn’t. 🙄 must be nice. 

the kids are starting swim lessons next week, so i have a feeling our whole summer is going to be spent in and around the pool. i really love our neighborhood, and the amenities! this saturday our neighborhood is putting on a “mommy and me” cookie decorating class, so presley and i are going! team low-carb might not be fairing so well after that 😂

both the kids are really just growing so fast lately. it’s such a bittersweet thing. 

every few months i’ll go through their clothes and toys and pack away things they have outgrown  to keep or donate and i try to explain that the things we donate are going to other kids who don’t have those things. 

presley accepted that explanation and sometimes she’ll even tell me things she wants to give to “other kids”. most recently she told me, “i want eli to go to a new home. i don’t want him anymore.”

well, unfortunately he didn’t fit in the box, so we are keeping him this time.  😂😂

eli has started talking more and more, and doing the silliest things. 

every smelly diaper change, i usually tell him “pyuuu weee!”... well today i started changing his stinky hiney and before i could get the diaper off he says “puuuweeee! puuuweee!”. he’s a mess! 

he is such an angel baby. his only real fault is that his still loves his dad more than me. 😂

one last thing before i go... and this is just a general statement (but someone i live with, who also drives, is very guilty of this as well... not gonna name names.), so here goes. 

when you are in a drive-thru, you should be proactive in your situation. sometimes it’s unavoidable, but try to have your order ready, always have your payment ready, but most importantly, PAY ATTENTION. when cars in front of you pull up, you pull up. quit playing on your phone, you’re causing a back up. ok, done. 

also, don’t forget to return your carts back at the grocery store. 

our favorite guy is 34 today!

he walked in the door after work and said, “well, i’m officially mid-thirties.” 😂😂

i took the kids to the dollar tree at the beginning of the week and let presley pick out some decorations. she chose a birthday banner, some mickey mouse balloons, and a giant party hat. she was sooooo excited to surprise dad with “a celebration!”. she also picked him out a special gift while we were there, a toy dinosaur... “he will really like this!”. 

so we set up all our gifts, went and got texas roadhouse takeout, and i made low-carb cheesecake tarts. poor presley waited all day for those little “birthday cakes” and when i finally gave her one she did NOT like it 😂 i ended up letting her have two pieces of easter candy instead 🤷🏼‍♀️

after dinner the kids had a dance party in the living room. watching them dance is prob my favorite thing ever. also, it gets energy out for bedtime... win win. 

we put the kids down and immediately came to bed, where randy crashed in the clothes he was wearing and has been asleep since 8:00. birthday boy was tired, i guess! i booked him a massage for tomorrow, so he will continue to be spoiled!

he is really not into birthdays, like, at all. and if you know me at all, i’m the total opposite. i want to celebrate the whole month. every year i ask randy what he wants or what he wants to do to celebrate, and he always says the same thing... “nothing.”

but every year i try and make things special for him, and i truly hope it makes him feel loved. he is our provider and our strength, and we are his biggest fans. he does so much for us, and works so hard every single day. he rarely takes time off, doesn’t believe in sick days, constantly pushes himself to do better and be better... but mostly, he puts God first, he loves us hard, and he never lets us down. 

we are so proud and blessed to have him, so of course, we can’t help but celebrate him! 

happy birthday randall duane, we love you most!

i didn’t mean to abandon this space for almost a month! i can’t believe none of my followers (is it weird that i call my mom and sister followers?... is it weird that i’m asking my mom and sister if it’s weird that i call them followers? 🤔) have mentioned it to me.

last week at this time we were waking up in anaheim on our quick trip to Disneyland!
Gigi (randy’s mom) came in town on the 21st, and we were so excited to have her. she immediately went into grandma mode and chased the kids around the splash pad (or as presley calls it, “ice pad”) in our neighborhood. it was the first time we went to the splash pad, and presley was in heaven. it’s getting HOT in bakersfield... i’m talking low 90’s. alllllready. eli wasn’t so sure about the water at first, but after about 30 minutes he finally got the courage to let the water touch him. i’m pretty sure by june i’ll be running around in there like a kid because, bakersfield desert heat and all.
they also have a little kiddy pool that only gets 1.5ft deep, and a huge pool that is just waiting for me to lay by (riiiight brynn, with two kids, you’re going to be doing nothing of the sort.).

anyway, the next day we left for disneyland! it was only about a 3 hour trip and that included stopping for food/potty and also LA traffic. we rented a minivan and still barely fit all our stuff. traveling with kids is intense. i can’t believe we are so close to a disney resort. we have become MAJOR disney people since our first trip together in 2013.
we spent monday and tuesday in disneyland and california adventure. the kids loved every second, and honestly, so did we! i’m pretty sure gigi loved it too, at least i hope she did! we loved having her with us.

so here’s an update on the fam.

eli is still all. boy.
he is the sweetest baby, the cutest thing i’ve ever seen. but he is into everything, including the trash can, daily. he can’t eat without getting food on every single inch of his body, including his hair, ears, legs, etc etc etc. he is a climber, and is constantly looking for a stool or box to climb and stand on. he has mastered the fake cry whenever i tell him “no! no!” and is really good at giving kisses. he started this silly new thing where he pretends to eat something and then fake chews it. i die laughing every time. he still loves dada above everyone. and i don’t want to talk about it.

presley is getting too grown up, always telling me she can’t wait to be a teenager. 🙄
you’re  3.5... slow your roll, girlfriend. she has the tangliest hair ever, but is determined to grow it out. i love that she has her own opinions, even if they drive me nuts. she is fiercely momma’s girl. she is still the girliest girl  and only ever wants to play with her fake makeup, hair styling tools, barbies, or baby dolls. she takes her big sister roll very seriously, mostly during bath time where she insists on washing brothers hair, and other times asserting her dominance by stealing whatever toy he’s playing with. she still calls her ipad her “o-plaid” and i’m not sure that’ll ever change because that’s what we call it too, out of habit. she loves watching “neckflips”, and her favorite shows are mutt n stuff, and wishenpoof.

randy is still working hard.
he still shaves his head every single night, i mean, it exhausts me just watching him. he listens to one million podcasts, and during any given conversation with him you will probably hear him say, “i heard a podcast about...”. he walks at least 7,000 steps a day, and is, by far i’m sure, going to outlive me. his favorite tv shows are izombie, the walking dead, and nothing on hallmark channel. we love him more than he even realizes.

now... what have i been up to?
i have officially become one of those weird harry potter people. i read all 7 books in less than 2 weeks. proud hufflepuff. always. i am still living on coke zero, almost solely, because randy and i have started eating low-carb and so. many. restrictions. but i’ll never quit you coke zero, even though you’re probably killing me. i’ve started watching friday night lights on prime. i still mostly only use lowercase letters (does this drive you crazy? sorry, not sorry.). i type the way i talk, and i like to think i talk  in lowercase. unless i need to get a point across, then come all caps or maybe a bold/italic.