1 Year Ago Today!

Nov 30th, 2009 Ethan and I walked into our new home in Oceanside, California! Russ had already been staying in it for a few days before we got there... so it wasn't new to him... lol.
To think its been one year since we moved to Cali is crazy. Its been a fast year! I remember how excited we were to leave Utah! (now it seems crazy that I ever wanted to leave Utah!) This would be my first time that I would be living away from my parents... we had always lived in West Jordan, or South Jordan. So I was only ever 5 minutes away from my parents house! So we were pretty excited to do things on our own...
Here are some pictures of our first weeks here in Cali.
I remember my first time going down to the beach with Ethan. He was so excited to be so close to the beach. We went and played in the water (you can do that in November in Cali) for a long time!

The waves were a little strong so I had to hold him to make sure he didn't fall over.

The park is super close to our house, the first time we went there Ethan freaked out! He loved the BIG dinosaur slide. He still loves that slide. We have spent many hours playing at the park.

He is such a ham...

We were also SUPER excited to have In and Out Burger so close to our house! :) They are everywhere in Cali so that was nice. Russ and love that place.
My dad came down a week later in his truck and brought down some essentials that we needed. He wanted to go to the beach so we took him down there.

Ethan was trying to take a picture of me while I was taking a picture of them

When we got back from the beach that day, Gma and Gpa Griffith sent a little surprise in Ethan's drawers... He got a stuffed Rocket.. we didn't know then that this Rocket would be Ethan's FAVORITE thing! He took this rocket every where!

Ethan and his Rocket

I remember taking Ethan to the mall to play in the playground. That was super fun.. he loves playgrounds.

Driving the bus at the mall, he freaked out when I put money in it to make it move. lol. He just liked to pretend I guess.

When we got to Cali, his new obsession was Cheetos. He had to have them!

Ohhhh Cheese...

I got us a season pass to the San Diego Zoo the week we got to Cali. Ethan loves animals, and we still love going.

Ethan loved that Hippo thing...

This would be the First of MANY sky ride pictures at the Zoo.

He looks so young in these pictures! We did all these activities the first month we were here!

So one year gone..... Its amazing how time really does fly. Next year will be pretty exciting. New baby, moving back to Utah for a while, and Russ first deployment!

T.D. Dinner!

So I made our Thanksgiving Day Dinner! Russ said it was delicious, he ate so much he got a tummy ache. lol. Poor Ethan has been sick so he didn't eat anything. He actually threw up early in the morning while eating a banana on Wednesday, then he threw up all over his bed that night, and ended up sleeping with me, Russ went and slept on the couch because, we all are moving sleepers... We all move like crazy when we sleep, so 3 on our bed would not work. lol. So Ethan slept with me, luckily he did not throw up. :) He was okay enough to help me cook a little... I love when he helps me cook! And after T.D. dinner Ethan and I sat and watched Miracle on 34th Street. I love that movie... Ive been trying to get Ethan to like Santa enough to go sit on his lap.. so I can get a picture! So we watched that movie, and I showed him how the kids sat on his lap and were happy... but it was no good. He just does not trust Santa... lol.
So I took pictures of our Thanksgiving... Here they are!!!

So there are my Mommy Dearests Yams, Some Au Gratin potatoes, and stuffing...

Hawaiian Rolls, our Hormel Turkey with gravy, and my Cranberry jelly!

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The Hormel Turkey and Gravy was perfect, just the right amount for Russ and I.

The finished product... I tried to get one of Russ, but he ate it all by the time I got to him... lol

my cooking thumbs up!!! :)

 

Russ and I LOVE sparking cider, we both can drink 3 bottles to ourselves really.. but I got this bottle for us to share... Notice the Cowboys jerseys... they had a hard loss yesterday.. they almost won.. but no luck.

This is where Ethan was while we were eating... he wouldn't eat anything! He didn't feel good, so Russ said that was normal... but I felt so bad, I kept bugging him to come eat, but he wouldn't!

So that's my cheap T.D. Dinner! Here is what everything costs!

Yams 1 can: .96

Marsh mellows: 1.00

Stuffing: free, I already had a box.. :) but that only cost 1.00 too...

Au Gratin: .98

Cranberry Jelly: .60

Rolls: 2.00

Sparkling cider: 2.00

Cookies: 2.75

Hormel Turkey: 4.98

So that's a $15.27 Thanksgiving Dinner! :) Thanks mommy dearest for teaching me some cheap solutions! :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful T.D. We can wait to come see you all in December!

Not coming home :(

Well Russ, Ethan, and I are not making the trip to Utah this year for Thanksgiving. I'm pretty upset about it. This will be the first Thanksgiving that I have not spent with my family. I have been crying for the past few days actually. Russ told me to cheer up because we can stay longer for Christmas now, which is a great thing, but I have been looking forward to seeing my family.
I know its only a month away until we get to come and stay for a little bit, but its already been SO LONG since we have been to Utah. I miss it. I have been getting super home sick lately. Russ has been gone a lot because he is training for deployment. So its just me and Ethan here. My best friend moved home on Friday, so that kinda triggered a wave of emotions. Thinking of her leaving to go home, made me want to go home even more.
Luckily I have such a great family, who lets me call them and talk to them all day! lol. I'm sure my mom and mother in law are sick of me, but they haven't said anything yet, so I will keep on calling and texting! lol.

So I'm trying to look at the positive thing of not making it home to Utah for Thanksgiving. I'm going to make our Thanksgiving Dinner! Which I have never done before. Now that I think of it.... I have not even made anything for Thanksgiving! I just mooched off of my mom and grandmas cooking! So I called my mom asking for a cheap way of making Thanksgiving dinner (my mom is full of cheap solutions, lol, that sounds funny, but its true) she gave me some tips, and I'm going to Wal Mart tomorrow to pick up a few items.......
My whole deal with Thanksgiving is the food.... I LOVE THANKSGIVING DAY FOOD... it has always been my favorite holiday. So I'm pretty nervous at making our first T.D. dinner... Russ will pretty much eat anything.. so if it doesn't turn out good, he will still smile and eat it. :)

I will miss the tradition part though...
At Russ gma Myrnas house on T.D. dinner, after everyone has eaten, we bunch up our napkins into little balls and throw them in each others water glasses! lol. Its so fun. My first year I went, no one told me so I was out first because Nate cheated and threw his napkin in my glass... I was prepared for the next year though... I almost won... (then gma Myrna said that the winner was going to help do dishes so I tried not to win... lol)
At my moms house we always just talk.... lol. My gma's love to talk, which is great because I love to talk too! (maybe that's where I get it from) Its so nice just being with family and catching up. We sometimes play games, but mostly we just dote over the babies, and talk about how crazy our family is. I love hearing the stories from my grandmas about my parents. That's always the best.

Well hopefully my T.D. dinner will turn out! Ill take pictures (I have to document my first Thanksgiving alone!) and post them on Friday! I'm going for this look...

.... highly unlikely... but I'm going to try! LOL

(oh and Russ said that there will be marsh mellows on the yams..he only likes it that way)

Happy Thanksgiving in 2 Days! I hope everyone has a wonderful time! The Bringhurst family will be having fun cooking and playing games!

Oh and T.D. stands for Thanksgiving Day. Just in case you didn't get that. It was too long to type... I kinda got excited thinking about the food and wanted to type really fast so T.D. seemed reasonable. lol

Here are a few of Ethans Favorite Things!

My sisters Missy and Becca did this once with their kids and I thought it was super cute. So I decided to do it with Ethan. I had him sit next to me and answer some questions about what he liked... So here are some of Ethan's Favorite Things

Whats your favorite color?
Yellow (I asked him why) Because its a hot color.

Whats your favorite movie?
ummmm... RUGRATS, they are babies (then he started talking to fast, and all I got out of it was Dinosaur, and Reptar)

Whats your favorite toy?
Playdoh, and my Flashlights! (Ethan has a vast collection of flashlights.. his papa Griffith brings him a new one every time he comes to visit)

(here's one of his head flashlights!)

Whats your favorite picture?
(he runs over to a picture of Russ and I cutting our cake at our wedding) THIS ONE!!! You look like a princess mommy!

Whats your favorite song?
(he immediately starts singing...) Twinkle Twinkle little star....

Whats your favorite shape?
STAR!!! (like mother like son!)

Whats your favorite food?
(counting on his fingers) Pop tarts, Cheetos, chocolate milk, eggs, and Mommy's cookies....
(I know right, Ethan eats nothing but junk food... and eggs!)

Who is your favorite book?
(runs to his room) This one! It has mickey mouse and little Einsteins! (its a book with over 50 playhouse Disney stories)

Whats your favorite show on the big TV? (that's just our  regular TV, I asked him his favorite show, but he said rugrats again... he calls our TV the BIG TV, so that's how I had to ask him!)
Team Umizomi! MIGHTY MATH POWER and CRAZY SHAKE! (lol, that's what they say on the show)

So there are some of his favorite things... here is a list of Ethan "sayings" that he says all the time or he said once, but stuck with me because it was funny.
.. I cant go in there its SPOOKY!
That's just not right... not right.
Peee yuuu, I farted, ha ha ha its stinky too. (as he is showing his butt to me)
(i asked him if he would go potty on the big potty this was his response) I don't want to make my poop splash!
Oh mommy, give me a kiss, a squeeze and a headbutt... (he says this to me all the time, randomly)
(if he ever hurts him self, he comes up to me and has me kiss it better, but if I don't kiss the right spot he will say this over and over) Nope, you missed it, nope you missed it, nope that's not right...
(if anyone ever calls him some thing except Ethan, like cutie patutie he always replies) I'm not cutie patutie, I'm Ethan. (this happened a lot at Halloween) I'm not buzz lightyear, I'm Ethan.
(a homeless man asked Ethan for some money this was his response) No, you need to go home.
(gma wood bought Ethan some buzz lightyear pajamas, and he will not wear them) I cant wear my costume to bed! (he was buzz for Halloween...lol)
(if he likes what hes eating he always says) ohhh this is licious. (that's delicious Ethan) Yeah LICIOUS.
(getting into the car this is what he says) I can do it, I can do it, Ill buckle it. (he gets really REALLY mad if you do it for him)
(I asked Ethan if he knew what daddy does at work) Yep, he fights bad guys.
Things I love about Ethan
When ever he watches a movie or show, he gets so into it! He is super emotional, so if its sad he will get really concerned, and say "oh no mommy look".. then if it goes happy he will start giggling and say "oh its all right"
His amazing ability to remember songs! He can sing about every song on my ipone.
Also his amazing ability to learn! He is quite smart for 3yrs old.

(he loves doing is workbook that gma wood got him)

He always gives me hugs and kisses.
He likes all the same things I like!
He loves to have conversations with me!
He loves to be outside and active all the time!
He loves to play the piano with me!
He has given me a kiss, headbutt and squeeze every night before bed since he was little. (i hope that never stops)
And everything else about my man! He brings a smile to my face (most of the time lol) and I couldn't be a more proud mommy.

PS Mommy Dearest..... Ethan says he looks "pretty awesome" with his hair in a mow hawk. So we are going to have to do it again, sorry!!!!

Marine Corps Ball 2010

Last Monday I was able to go with Russ to his Marine Corps Ball for his Battalion. It was at a Casino called Pala in Temecula. (about 30mins from our house). This is the first Ball that we both had been to, so we were super excited! I already posted a video on facebook of Russ dancing at the Ball. lol. So here are some pictures from it!

Here is the Birthday cake! I got there a little late... but you can still see 7th ESB!!!

I tried to get the whole room in, but it didn't work. 7th ESB is the biggest battalion, so it was super crowded. Our seats are under that big screen you see on the right! lol. We got our tickets late, so we had bad seats....

Here is the place mat. I love how fancy things were... see those flags? I stole them!!!!! I guess it tradition to take everything at the table! After dinner, all the marines were grabbing all the stuff, so I grabbed the flags for Ethan. lol. We got the glass cups, with the black shot glass, that's all we are "suppose" to get but everyone took everything else. lol. So why not? Its Tradition!!!!

Nice Picture of me and Russ! Thanks mommy dearest for picking out the BEST dress! It looked so nice next to Russ dress blues.

We had a 3 coarse meal. There was a salad, but I was way to hungry to take a picture of it, lol, but here was the main dish, Stake and Chicken with potato's and vegies. (it was delicious). Then they had all sorts of deserts, but Russ wanted to dance so I didn't get a picture of them...

After dancing a little I had to go change my shoes. lol. My silver shoes were very nice and looked great with the dress, but my feet hurt so bad, so I put on my flip flops! I told Russ and his friends that I was pregnant so I was allowed to do that. (plus it was dark in the ball room, no one was looking at my feet)

The guest speaker was Thomas H Begay! He was a Navajo Code Talker, or a "wind talker" if you have seen the movie. He was so sweet! He served for the Marines in WW2. That's Russ, Thomas, and LCPL Castel.

left to right: LCPL Turner, Sgt. Major Cherron, LCPL Castel, and Russ

Sgt Major was the highest enlisted man at the ball.

This is Staff Sgt. Phillips, CPL Smith, and Russ.

CPL Smith rode with us. He is pretty hilarious.

LCPL RuizCruz, Russ, CPL Smith, Lt Stanly, LCPL Strahs

Lt Stanly is there XO. (executive officer)

Lt Stanly bought them all drinks. That happened a lot. The higher ranked Marines would buy drinks for everyone (they have the most money)

PFC Turnner, CPL Smith, LCPL Strahs, Captin Willoughby, and Russ

Captin Willoughby is their commanding officer. That black strap around him is his sword holder, It looked so awesome!

Russ dancing. :)

Happy 235 Birthday Marines!

We had lots of fun. :)

(oh there is a picture of a salad in the back ground... lol. It was good) ha ha ha ha.

Our Little Peanut!

Okay so I got back from my doctors appointment and everything is okay! :)

The doc said that the heart beat is 150 so its a lot higher then it was a week ago, and that the baby looks alright! My new due date is June 12th! Thanks to everyone who commented on my past post! I love you all and am so thankful for your prayers and support! Here is our little peanut!

Notice the big Bringhurst head... lol. :) 

Peanut was moving a whole lot during the ultrasound. It was so awesome. My mom showed Ethan while the baby was moving and Ethan said "whats that", mom was like "its your baby brother or sister".... Ethan was like "a baby!!!" He sounded pretty excited. So that's a good sign!

Faith

Last Tuesday at 9:30am I had a little scare with my little peanut. I was getting ready to run some errands, and out of no where I felt like I had to use the bathroom... quite normal when your pregnant right... well I went, and it turned out that I was actually bleeding. Now, my first instinct was to start crying.. so I did. Usually blood is never a good sign, I started to freak out even more because Russ was not here. He was still working 4 hours away at 29 Palms. So I called my friend, Amanda, and she raced up here, and asked my other friend, Leslie, to come as well. They looked at me, sobbing and freaking out, told me to calm down and drink water. Amanda called the ER for me and they told me to come in. So Leslie stayed at my house with Ethan and Amanda drove me to the Naval Hospital. The doctor told me that my cervix was closed so that was a good thing... he couldn't explain why I was bleeding. He said something about a hormone cyst rupturing..or that my body was thinking the baby was an infection and was trying to fend it off.... or something. I just wanted to know if my peanut was okay. So they did a ultrasound, and peanut was okay, heart beat was a little low, but okay. So they send me home on a miscarriage watch (.... I was terrified when they called it that). Well I was able to get a hold of Russ, he told his command, and he was able to come home that night. He got home around 6:30.
The reason why I called this post FAITH, is because... Lately I have been going back to church. Honestly I have been doing it more for Ethan then myself, but I have been loving being in the atmosphere again, so its been a good thing. Well, I haven't prayed in.... mmmmmm..... like 2 years, like an actual prayer for myself.... I was so lost and scared when I got back from the hospital. I didn't know what to do. Russ wasn't here yet, and I really needed to talk to someone. I didn't want to worry my parents, so I couldn't call them yet. So I just knelt down and tried to pray. I sat there for about 5 mins, thinking of what to say. Because who am I really to just kneel down and ask for a blessing when I haven't made any effort in the last 2 years. So I stood up. Called my dad. He felt sorry for me and wished he could give me a blessing. (I really really wanted that more then anything). So he suggested that I call my bishop. I was taken back a little because he of all people knew that I haven't been faithful to the church in some time, and for him to say that the bishop of my new ward would come give me a blessing, made me cry. I told him I would call the bishop tomorrow if I was getting worse. After I talked to my dad, Russ came home, we talked a little, he reassured me everything would be alright, I told him I really needed to sleep so I went into my bedroom. I thought, if my dad felt like the bishop would come give me a blessing even though I had only been going to church for 2 weeks, that I could pray. I could ask the lord to help me, even though I might not deserve it. So I did. (I wont share what I said, but it was mostly sobs and sorrys) So I got up, went to bed.
I woke up the next morning to really bad cramps. I had stopped bleeding, so that was a good sign, but the cramps were pretty bad. I pretty much stayed in bed all day on Wednesday. But even during that, I had an overcoming feeling that everything was going to be okay. I haven't felt like that in a very long time.
Today I had to go back to get my blood drawn and to listen to the heart beat. It was higher beat then Tuesday, and I have not had very much cramps and no bleeding.
I guess the reason why I wanted to share this is because, no matter what the situation you are in, in your life, you can receive blessing from our lord as long as you have faith. People talk about this over and over all the time, having faith. I was taught this growing up, it wasn't until now that I realized how strong that sentence is. You can receive blessings from our lord as long as you have FAITH. I had faith that the lord would do what he saw fit with our little peanut. I cant believe it took me this long to realize that he can help us no matter what situation we are in, it might not always be how we want or expect, but he will always be there to listen and help.  I cant wait til Sunday to go to church. To feel more of that comfort that I feel now.

Our Halloween Fun

Once again Russ had to miss Ethan's Halloween... so that sucked really bad. He was in North Carolina last year, and this year he was up at the base at 29 Palms. (sad). Russ was sad too, I kept sending him pictures of Ethan trick-or-treating so he could see Ethan in action. lol. Hopefully next year Russ will be home from deployment before Halloween!

So this year was a little bit of a struggle to get Ethan into his Buzz costume. He didn't want to put it on and go trick-or-treating. I ended up having to bribe him with Cheetos to put his costume on. So he finally did. We went to our Church's Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday night. Ethan loved that. Except for the scary trunks... an old couple had their trailer open with like a horse shoe of hay in there, and when you would walk over to the bowl, you would step on a mat, and that would make the hand in the candy bowl move and grab you! Ethan screamed and cried! lol. So I had to grab that candy for him. (there is a picture of that trailer down there). He had fun with all the trunks where you could just grab your own candy. He took FOREVER deciding what to take. lol.

Ethan right when we got to the church. Once he saw all the other kids in costume he felt better about wearing his. lol

Pick your own candy..... he took forever.

This young women was super nice. She thought Ethan was so cute because he said "candy please" instead of trick or treat... so she gave him extra candy!

One of the family's had this game. You had to throw the bean bag into the hole to get a candy.. Of coarse they gave it to you if you didn't make it, but Ethan made his!!!

This is the "spooky" trailer (Ethan called it spooky).

A nice lady in the ward!

All done with Trunk-or-Treating!

So on Sunday we went Trick-or-Treating! We went to the houses up where one of our friends live.They are actual houses, not duplexes, so it was nice. They are the houses for the Staff NCO's so they get paid more... so we figured they would have better candy... lol. She doesn't have any kids and her hubby is deployed, so she absolutely loves Ethan, Zoey and Katelynn. (that's who we went trick or treating with) So here are some pictures from Sunday!

This is Al! We call her Uncle Al. lol. We went to her house first. She was so excited to see all of us!

The one thing I love about California is that it was so warm that people just sat outside and passed out candy. In Utah its usually snowing or freezing cold.

Ethan had 2 designated daddy's last night.. this is Johnny

And this is Chuck. They were so nice to help Ethan out!

Katelynn walking up to get some candy.. Ethan is hiding his bag because he doesn't want her to get any of his candy.

Just a fun picture in front of someones house!

Katelynn PASSED OUT! We got near the end, and she was just a limp doll. She would not wake up! Chuck is holding Zoey in the back ground.

Ethan once again said "candy please". I guess its the polite thing to say. He also said "thank you" after he got candy!

The spiderwebs kinda made him nervous... lol

2010 Halloween!

We had so much fun. I hope everyone in Utah had fun too!