Erins mission call

I am not keeping up very well. Life has been a little crazy. However, we are all very excited that my little sister, Erin received her mission call. We had a group of people over for the opening of the mission call...and coordinating phone calls and placing them on speaker phone so every could hear. She opened the envelope and my mom gets all excited before Erin even says where she is going. Mom said she got too excited and jumped right down to where she was going. Erin has been called to the Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Mission. She will be going into the MTC June 17. Two months to prepare!!! Crazy. We are very proud she made it to this point. The family including herself, has felt like her life has been put on hold for this mission. We are excited to get her out in the field so she can come home and start life. We know she is going to make a dynamite missionary and are so excited to watch her grow SO much. Little nervous for her(tornado's and severe storms...not to mention the bugs and VERY greasy food). We will miss her but excited she is doing exactly what the Lord wants her to do. CONGRATS ERIN!

Lovin 5 month old Brielle!

I better post this before she turns 6 month old. I know I say this all the time but I cannot believe how big Brielle is. I love her more and more each day. It doesn't matter how the day is going she can always bring a smile to my face. She is the smiliest baby still and mild temperament. She certainly has a special spirit about her and touches so many peoples lives by her smiley personality. People in the ward love her and cannot get enough of her. I swear she is one of the most passed around babies. I am getting use to not having her in my arms on Sunday...there are plenty of people asking to hold her.
She does something new everyday:
-sucks out of a straw
-drinks out of a sippy cup
-sitting up on her own; more and more each day
-rolling front to back and back to front
-loves looking at pictures
-gets mad if she cannot talk on the phone and hold it-she is a good talker (which is really nice when I work and call to talk to her)
-eating rice cereal; but would love to eat everything her parents are eating
-starting to cuddle (she grabs my shoulders and holds on for dear life)
-loves to put her mouth on my shoulder and makes sounds and talk into it
-gets so excited for reading time and looking at books
-Is the best welcoming home from work committee: smiles, loves, and kisses
-loves to go for a walk in her stroller
-still a terrible napper
-starting to get more hair-started out with red streaks and now they are blond
-loves to bit and chew everything
-loves to make as many noises with her mouth as she can
-she is mobile, when she lays on her back she kicks her legs up in the air and throws them on her side....somehow she manages to go in a complete circle with this motion. So far she doesn't go too far.
-reaches and grabs onto everything.


Matt captured this picture one morning. This doesn't happen very often because she wont nap unless she is being held.


I had her playing on the bed one morning and this is were she put her toy. She left it there for awhile too.

She loves to lay and grab her toes. She has discovered she can eat them too!

She is eating rice cereal now and likes to help if I let her.

She loves to play with her Daddy. Especially when he puts his head on her tummy and shakes it all around. She grabs onto him and starts to laugh.

She enjoys taking baby steps and standing.

Love this expression!

She is getting so strong on her tummy. Sometimes she starts to move her legs underneath her-practicing the motion for crawling. Other times she will kick her legs.

I am trying to teach her not to pull on her hairband. Most the time she does really well.

I love this picture of her resting on Brian's knee

She loves her Grandpa and Grandma Hicks (and Taylor)

Brielle LOVES being around other kids, especially her cousins.

You can't tell very well but her hair is stickin straight up.

Video of Brielle sitting on her own.

This is a video of Brielle talkin on the phone. Sorry about the last 3 seconds of the video..the phone rang and I answered it before I turn the video off.

Cant get enough!

You can take a guess who came into town. Brian took a ton of pictures and we love all of them. Here are a few from the weekend. This trip was one of the best trips up. I was able to vivist with them for a while and they even came to church with Matt and I. I miss my brother dearly and am so glad he lives close enough to come and visit. Crystal iis trying to lose weight and she is looking good.

I love we were able to get some family pictures. I think they turned out really well. Thanks a million Brian.

I love this facial expression.

Brian helped Brielle get ready for bed. It was really fun to watch him interact with her and how she responded. She loved playing with him.

Wrapped up like a little burrito-she sleeps good this way

First time she ate rice cereal (Her true first was with my mom the day before)

So many helping hands.

She is a natural eater-opens right up.

You always know when she is trying to roll over-tilt that head!

She is laughing all the time. It's so fun and makes everyone around her laugh too.

Happy Easter

My camera batteries died Easter morning so I had to wait to get pictures from my sister-in-law Julie. Sorry for the delay.
Easter was fun but busy. We went to Fallon for most the day. All Matt's siblings were there but Shawna. We went to church, had a couple egg hunts, ate some food and headed back to Reno. I started to think that it was a year ago Easter I found out I was pregnant with Brielle. Crazy! It was fun to reflect on that joyous moment and how I couldn't believe I was actually pregnant. I dont think I will ever get as good of a reaction from Matt as I did that day-jaw dropping and eyes popping out if his socket.

We had a extended family dinner that night at my grandpa and grandma Ross's house. I think this was the first time we have ever had Easter dinner together. It was fun having the Aunts, Uncles and cousins together. My Uncle Brent, Aunt Eileen and cousin Anita were up for the weekend. It was good to see them.

I am sure she is thinking, "are you talking to me??"

She loves this dress because it is long enough she can suck on it.

She likes anything that she can suck on-including Easter eggs

Taylor cousins (Top left to right):Tiffany, Brookie, Brielle, Tyler, Lilly, Autumn
(Bottom lef to right): Logan, Carter, Lacey, Brett

Family photo time

The hunt is on

Family gathering at the grandparents

The three girls:Erin, Danielle and Mom

Ray, Grandpa Ross and Brielle

Grandpa playing with Brielle

I did it!

Today Brielle rolled over. I knew it was going to happen soon. She has been so close all weekend long. We were at my parents house showing my mom how strong she is on her tummy. I kept her on her tummy and next thing I know she was turning over onto her back. Unfortunately Matt, my Mom and Dad were there but did not see it. I was the only one. I was so excited to witnessed it. I tried to capture it on video and she didn't want to do it again.

It has taken me a little while to post but the reward for waiting is I capture video of her rolling.

She did so well I tried it again. The next video has her grabbing her feet, rolling over, burping, farting, talking and kissing. What a show!!

We also had our first picnic with friends Mandy and Adam. It was such a beautiful day but by the time we got to the park it got windy, cloudy and cold. We stayed and had lunch, play for a little and left. It sure was fun!

FIRST ROAD TRIP!!

I couldn't wait to get out of town and do something with Brielle. I was a little nervous on how she would react to being in the truck for so long and on the go so much but I couldn't wait to go.


Brielle started to lift her head off the car seat and look out the window this trip.
Matt, my sister Erin and I went into Utah over the weekend. Originally we couldn't leave until Friday night after Erin and I got off of work. However I hurt my shoulder to the point that I couldn't work and had to call into work both days and Erin found someone to cover for her. We left Thursday night late. We hit some really bad weather and at some point a blizzard. The scariest part was we couldn't see the road at all. I have never prayed so hard as I did that night. All I kept saying was "Erin needs to serve her mission and I want to raise my baby."Needless to say we were thrilled when we pulled into Elko save and sound. We stayed with Matt's Aunt and Uncle that night. Brielle did really well. She slept all the way into Elko. However, she woke up a couple of times through the night so Matt and I got like four hours of sleep, but was ok. We had nice visit with the Taylor family in Elko. We didn't get to spend too much time because we were trying to get into Utah.

Look at that giraffe tongue

Matt would watch us in the mirror

We normally stay with Ivan but the house was already taken with company. Luckily Julie Emery helped me find a place to stay. Her parents were kind enough to open their home to us. They live in South Jordan. It worked out really well. Her mom made us breakfast every morning which was REALLY nice of her. We also stayed and watched both the Saturday and Sunday conference with them. I am so grateful for their hospitality. Also grateful it is closer to Provo.

We ended up spending majority of our time in Provo with cousins Douglas, Angie and Mathew Ross.We had a ball. Brielle put on a show for her cousins. Every night she did something new while we were at Douglas and Angie's apartment. She discovered her feet, and started to take steps (while being held), talking and laughing so much. It was incredible. I cannot believe how fast she is growing up and how quickly she is discovering things. 4 months is my favorite month so far. Her personality is appearing and she is so fun to watch. In fact both nights we were going to play games but we never got to them because we were too busy watching and playing with Brielle.

All of us at dinner (Erin, Mathew, Douglas and Angie)

Look she is taking steps

She wants to roll onto her tummy but her darn arm are in the way

She loves to talk!

She was such a happy baby

Can't ask for a better foot rest

We were supposed to play games but instead watched Brielle

Look at her face, she is puckering her lips and making a kissing/sucking noise.

Brielle was laughing while Mathew was playing with her.

Erin, Mathew Ross and Brielle

Erin, Matt, Danielle and Brielle out for dinner.

Saturday for lunch and afternoon conference we went to Phil and Nichole Knights home. It was so much fun. I learned so much about Nichole that day. She is an awesome artist and she teaches art classes. I had no idea. I loved seeing the art work in her home and visiting with the boys. Aunt Nan and Uncle Melvin were there too. It was a lovely afternoon with them. When we left we went a different route and were hoping to see wid animals but we didn't. At one point in time I though I saw deer but Matt and Erin say they were horses, so Matt called them horseolope.

If you look close Brielle's hair bow is in her eyes. It's her new trick=pull the hair bow off the head

Conner reading Brielle a book

Conner and Brielle loved playing with each other.

Chase putting up Mikey ears and Conner providing the side arms

The afternoon sessions are hard to stay awake after eating a yummy lunch and late nights.

After conference the boys flew the helicopters. It was a lot of fun.

Matt and Connor

Sunday evening we were able to go back to Elko. We had a yummy dinner with his Aunt and Uncle, his cousin and family. Then we headed out the next day for home and doctors appointments and work.

Tia and Brielle

At the doctors appointment her measurements were: 26 inches long=97% for height; 14.4oz for weight=75% and her head grew and is in the 90% (it has to keep up with all the brain power she is using).