Follow the Prophet!

Ethan has always been such a good little singer. He can pick up melodies super fast, and has an amazing memory! So he can remember words to songs usually after only hearing the song once. Well my mom, Meg and I were at The Quilted Bear, and I was singing "don't go breaking my heart" to Ethan... and after I stopped singing the song... it was silent for like 5 seconds, then Ethan just starts singing "Follow the Prophet".  I was totally amazed because he must have learned it from Primary, I had never sung it with him, but he knew the whole thing. And he just kept singing it over and over.

A couple weeks ago, Becky Williams, the Primary president let me know that he is such a good singer. He may not know all the words, but he tries so hard and sings SO LOUD and has a smile the whole time during singing time.

Today at Church, my mom played the piano in sacrament, and after she was done, he walked over to her and said "Great job MaMa" and gave her a thumbs up.
What an amazing boy... and later Meg and I went to the bathroom before Relief Society, and Ethan's class was taking a bathroom break, and he says to me "go back to class mommy, I'm in class." Really Ethan? lol

He just absolutely LOVES church. It makes me so happy that he can be so excited about church. I have to admit, he inspires me to be better because he is so happy and filled with love! I love it when the sacrament gets passed because he sits there, and waits so reverently, and if you have a 3 year old you know how hard that is, and gets so excited to take the bread and water. And if you talk.... well..... he will look at you and put his finger to his lips and say "sssshhhhhhhh". (he did that to Meg today)

I just wanted to share this. So hopefully one day when he is not so excited to get dressed and go to church (which I hope is never) I can pull this out and remind him how wonderful his spirit is, and how it effects everyone around him!
I'm so lucky to be blessed with such an amazing son. He strengthens me in a way only a son can. I love you Ethan, and I cant wait for your sweet spirit to bless more people.

Ethan had such a great day at church, he needed a nap! The red blanket he has is his new favorite blanket. He got it from his Great Gma Riley for Valentines. She told me that since he doesn't eat candy, she thought he would like this. Well he LOVES this blanket. Hasn't departed from it since he got it on Saturday!

Its about time....

... So a month later...
lol. I know, I have been extremely lazy on posting. Well let me sum up the last month....
CRAZY!!!!
As most of you know, we found out we are having a GIRL! (woot woot) So Isabelle Clara Bringhurst will grace our family on June 12th, so the doctors say... I believe it will be 2 weeks sooner.... we will see who is right in 4 months I guess.

I have moved out here to Utah while Russ is doing some deployment training. And it has been a hard few weeks for me here. Not only because Russ is gone, but my allergies are so bad with this pregnancy, that I can not stay with my parents! Bug (the wood family cat) makes it pretty much impossible for me to breathe. So my WONDERFUL in laws have agreed to let me crash their house once again while Russ is gone. :) I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful in-law family (that sounds weird, but I don't know how to say it). I also have been very sick, a really bad cold, that just wont seem to go away. So it just seemed like everything has not been working out the way I planned it to, but that's life I guess.

I decided to post today because I think today has been one of the BEST days since I have been out here. Everything is working out great today! Ethan has been helpful, nice, and has just been in the greatest mood, which has kept me in the greatest mood! I have had a very positive outlook on everything! Even the negative... I have found a way to fix it or keep my head up! Its an amazing feeling. I don't know why it has taken me this long to get positive.... But I hope I can keep it going.

Update on Russ.....
He is learning a lot and is working hard. Today he called me and let me know he is doing the hardest part of the training today. He sounded like he was already out of breath. He was super excited to talk to Ethan, who like I said, was in an amazing mood. Ethan told him all about gma being sick, and going to get some chocolate milk at the store, and how he played hide and seek with kunkle this morning. That made Russ really happy. We both really miss each other, and cant wait until the 18th when we get to see each other again!

ANTICIPATION!!!!

OOOOOOOO Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow!!!!

I am super excited for my appointment! I was smart this time and scheduled the first appointment of the day! 8:45 am! Woot Woot! When I was pregnant with Ethan, I didn't find out until like 1 or 2 pm. So I had to wait ALL DAY! So I was smart this time. Early Appointment! Now the only thing I have to worry about is not spilling the beans until I get home on Saturday! lol.


What do you think its going to be??????



Do you think Isabelle Clara Bringhurst?????? or Ryder Gary Bringhurst?????

Let you all know on Saturday!!!!

Healthier Happier (only a little bit heavier) Mal!

LOL... love my title! lol. Its true though. I have only gained 5 pounds so far during this pregnancy. So its only a little bit heavier then I normally am. Granted I was quite large already when I got pregnant, but still! I think that's pretty good! And I think its all because this pregnancy has me eating a lot better then I normally do! I have been craving Salads, Fruits and Veggies during this pregnancy! I have never eaten this healthy in a long time. Its crazy how much energy I have! (except for yesterday and today... I'm a little sick, but any other day, ENERGY!)

I have always been a fan of fast food. Whats that saying.. You are what you eat... well I was Fast, Easy and Cheap. lol. I would never actually make dinner. We would stock up on freezer food, or just go out to eat. But that has not been what I want now. I have been making dinner every night, having a good breakfast, and eating a really good salad or two during the day! Its amazing how much fun you can have figuring out what new things to make. I love to cook, I really always have, just never found the motivation to do it I guess... I have so many cook books, and family recipes and its so great now to finally cook them!

Salads have been my main focus lately! I cant stop eating salad. My favorite is without a doubt, Chinese Salad. (Its actually Chinese Chicken Salad, I just don't add the chicken!) lol. I love cabbage, and so I put green and red cabbage in this with carrots, ramen noodles, dried cranberries (to add some sweetness) and some homemade dressing!

I know it may not look too appetizing by my picture, but its AMAZING!!!!

So I just wanted to share that I'm so happy that I have started eating better! I feel more healthy then I ever have before, and I'm so glad that this new eating has not only helped me, but my little baby as well!

SUNBEAM!

At church today Ethan went to Primary for the first time! But he wasn't excited at all. In fact, he started to cry when I left him in the Primary room with his new teacher! :(  I felt so bad! All the new sunbeams were too! They all knew the days of getting to play with toys and eat snacks were over at church now!
It was actually kinda a funny site at first... There was a row that had really small chairs that only the sunbeams sit on, and every single child was sitting there crying. Ethan didn't cry at first when I was there with him, once they started I left to go to my class, and as he is watching me leave he screams "mommy don't leave me here". lol. Oh it melted my heart! I turned around and he had tears running down his face! His teacher was really sweet though, she picked him up and held him, and motioned for me to leave.

So RS was over, and I walk out to the sunbeams class (all the doors on the classrooms with the younger kids had windows on them so we could sneak a peak) I look at him, SMILING! Oh thank goodness! They said their prayer, and he comes out with some art work he did, and says "I love my class" "Its a big boy class".  So he ended up loving his new class and teacher! He also got to wear his new church clothes Gma Wood gave him for Christmas...

This was taken after church. He had a very large temper tantrum before church, so I couldn't get a picture then! But at least he came home happy! :)  Hes holding his art work he did!

And on an embarrassing note. Russ has to have a fresh hair cut every Monday, so he usually gets it cut on Sunday. Before Christmas break, he had just been shaving it off, because then he wouldn't have to pay 10$ every week to get it cut. But he let it grow out over Christmas, and he really liked having hair again. So he went back to the barber. Well just now like 30 mins ago, he asked if I could do it, so that he could keep his hair and not have to pay 10$. LOL. That didn't work so well. I totally butchered it. lol. Russ was embarrassed, he wore a hat as soon as I cut it. So I had to drive him over to get his hair fixed, he said the barber laughed at my work. lol.

Zoo Fun!

Well I promised some pics from our visit to the zoo with Jenny and Taylor... so here they are. They had so much fun together! Ethan has never been so good at taking photos, but Taylor is a little ham, so I think he let me take pictures because Taylor loved to have her picture taken!

They loved yelling at the monkeys! Jenny and I decided that Taylor and Ethan should be the ones in the cage, because they were acting more like a monkey!

Like I said... he was so good for pictures, but I think it was because he saw Taylor being so good!

Guess who he's looking at? lol. Not me, that's for sure! His uncle Nate taught him well.....

(Sorry it wont rotate)... but you see... not looking at the camera... checking out a girl! lol

Now hes looking...

They always had to be holding hands! Ethan was a little embarrassed that I was taking this picture.. that's why he looks mad

If you have ever been to the San Diego Zoo, you know that its pretty much the work out of your life to walk every where because of all the hills. Luckily the escalators were on that day. :)  Jenny and I were both happy to take a break from walking!

Ethan was happy too!

They liked the Dog a lot more then the Cheetah! lol.

At the petting zoo, Taylor had lots of fun chasing the animals and petting them...

.... Ethan, not so much. lol. He didn't like to pet them so he sat for a little bit.....

Then he got bored, so he started to climb on the trunks...

We had so much fun at the zoo yesterday!

But I think he had the best time because of Taylor was there! lol

PS... I posted a video of Taylor getting Ethan to dance on facebook.... lol. Its awesome! And there are a few more picture of yesterday on facebook as well!

2011

FAIL... lol that is the word for my gratitude list. I tried, and I was going to finish it but going home for Christmas was a lot busier then I thought it would be! I will try again this year. :)

So its finally 2011! I have a lot of goals I set for my self this year and I really hope to achieve them all. Here are a few that I have...
1- Get out of debt. While Russ is deployed, I'm pretty sure this is possible. So I hope to be out of debt by November! Russ really wants to buy a house out side the base when he gets home, so we need to work on our credit to do that!

2-After the baby is born, get healthy. This includes changing my fatty diet! I eat a lot of fast food, and I hope, after the baby is born to stop that and really focus one summer on losing weight and getting healthy. I would rather spend one entire summer working really hard on that and getting a routine to stick, then trying to do that for the rest of my life and having to struggle with it.

3-POTTY TRAIN ETHAN! I know... Sad right? lol. I cant do it. He is really a smart kid, but he just wont do it. I really have a lot of patience, but that's obviously not what this takes because I have tried everything to get him to do it. This WILL be done by the end of this month! (that's this goals timeline...)

4-Finish my painting. lol. I have been working on a painting for 7 months now. lol. I don't know why but I cant find my inspiration to finish it. I have put it aside and painted other stuff... but I want to finish this one. I cant wait to show everyone once its finished!

5-Go to School! I have always wanted to go to school and be a teacher. That's all I have ever wanted to be. Hopefully I can work on this when I move back home this summer.

Well that's just a few of my goals! I do have a whole list! lol.
So far 2011 has been a great 4 days! I went to a new store today called Fresh and Easy. They have them in California and Arizona only I think... but they are awesome! Wonderful deals on fruit and veggies and stuff like that. I bought a bunch of stuff to make salads with. I have been craving salads a lot lately! And tomorrow Ethan and I are going to the Zoo with our neighbor, Jenny and her daughter (Ethan's love) Taylor! That should be a lot of fun! I will definitely post pictures of that!