Neeley

Personality

2012-01-18T17:56:00.000-08:00

It is so true that each kid comes with their own personality and we are seeing more and more of this in Brett and Dantzel.
Brett is very particular about some things...he always like his hands CLEAN, he asks for a wet wipe to wash his hands after eating fish crackers. He asks for a towel to cover his clothes before he eats anything because he wants his shirt to stay clean. If there is one tiny drip of pee in his undies he asks for "fresh, clean undies". He is very organized and systematic, and everything needs to be put where it belongs.
Here is a little snapshot of his true colors...I love it, and he was so proud of his work.
Dantzel is not particular about much. She is very easy going and more of a free spirit. She makes us laugh frequently and has a little spring to her step. She frequently puts things on her head: underwear, hats, towels and loves to walk around the house in my shoes. One day I caught her with toothbrushes shoved into her pockets.
Here is a picture of Sissy in a nutshell. Sure love this little sweetie.

Happy Birthday Bretty!

2012-01-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

Brett turned 3 on January 10th, and I am amazed by how much he has changed. He says the cutest things...like last night when the birthday celebrations were over he said, "Thanks for the great day today mommy". For the last while when asked how old he is Brett responds "I'm really 4" and we went along with it but kept reminding him on his birthday he was going to be 3, so far he's good with being 3.
Jeff has been dreaming of him and Brett riding around the neighborhood on Razor scooters together, so Brett (and Jeff) got a scooter for his present, and he was excited!!
I also wanted to post pics, so everyone can see how much our little buddy has changed these 3 years.

3 years

2 years

1 year

5 weeks

Loves the whole birthday idea: cake, birthday song, blowing out the candles.

I was so excited to make this dirt bike mountain cake for Brett and I thought it turned out pretty awesome. Unfortunately Brett didn't really understand it, when he saw it he said (slightly confused), "mommy, there's a cycle on my cake". Oh well, it brought me some joy and Brett did enjoy both the cake and the new toy motorcycle.

Train Ride Birthday Surprise!

2012-01-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

From books about trains from the library, to Thomas train videos, to his new train set from Christmas, this boy is obsessed with trains. To keep with the theme we surprised him with a day on the Austin Steam Train. When we arrived he was asking everybody he saw, "can I go on a train ride?"

This face perfectly describes what this little boy was feeling before boarding the train.

Dantzel was along for the ride.

He we are in our train car, built in 1948 which was coupled directly to the engine! Brett spent most of the ride standing on his seat with his nose glued to the window... and he was one of the first passengers to see something crazy (see video below).

Brett was fascinated with this cool looking diesel engine. After the train ride he was anxious to get home and make a new track for his trains.

Pooped.

Truck vs. Train!

About 15 minutes into Brett's first train ride, with his nose glued to the window, he saw our train hit the front end of a flat bed semi-truck. The driver of the semi was a little too far into the intersection! We were shocked, and Brett couldn't stop talking about it. Talk about adventure!

Our First Christmas in Texas

2012-01-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

It was an amazing and eventful Christmas this year. We got visitors from New Mexico: Hailee, Derek and Carly and from Idaho: Mom, Dad and Trever. Between the two of them they stayed 12 days and it was awesome. The weather was beautiful, mid 60's, and we spent a lot of time outside.
Also during the Christmas break, we closed on our new house (my Christmas present!), and took a day to move -- thanks fam for moving us on your vacation.
We spent Christmas day with Hailee and Derek reading scriptures and stories and singing songs. Mom and Dad arrived Christmas night late, so we decided to save all of the presents for the following morning.

Cabela's camo camp chair t0 Dantzel from Daddy. (I think he's afraid she's going to be a girly girl or something)

Borrowing grandma's stylish reading glasses.

We spent a whole day at SeaWorld in San Antonio...amazing!

I love this guy!!

Yummy Texas barbeque at Rudy's. Brett ate white bread and root beer, while Sissy had as much moist brisket as Jeff. Everybody LOVED this place.

Grandma just knows how to doll a girl up!

We spent an afternoon at a park with a picnic lunch. We forgot the bread, so we tried feeding the ducks chips. Brett came running up to me saying "mommy, ducks don't eat chips", bummer. These are some of my favorite people.

LOVE this picture, and now you all know where Dantzel got her eyes.

House and Family Pictures

2011-12-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

Christmas shopping is finally finished, hooray. And it has been so much fun, I have been going in the evenings when the kids are in bed. Shopping by myself is quite relaxing and therapeutic. We are anxiously waiting for family (Mom, Dad, Trever, Hailee, Derek, and Carly) to come to Texas for the Christmas break. We are hoping to be in our house (fingers crossed), before Christmas! Here is a sneak peak at our new house, we are just waiting for a final underwriting thumbs up. Buying a house is a big deal, and we are so excited! It is a perfect house for us!Here are some of my favorite family pictures. We aren't always posed perfectly because Brett had his own ideas for where each of us should sit. Overall I think they turned out cute!

This year is the first year Jeff and I have had a Christmas tree and we've been married almost 5 years. It has been so fun decorating and doing Christmas crafts with the kids. Christmas is that much more magical with kids.

Ready for the ward Christmas party.

Lighting up the tree. Notice the pine needles, yes Jeff thought it a must to have a real tree.

Kids are funny...

2011-11-16T17:32:00.000-08:00

These kiddos keep me laughing. They do and say some pretty funny stuff. Dantzel has a very funny personality. She is the noisiest eater, she moans and groans and mmmmms the entire meal. We cant even take snacks to church because she is so loud when she eats, its quite distracting, but I love it.

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving playgroup. The kids had so much fun, and I had fun watching the movie because I hadn't seen it in a long time. Love the feast: jelly beans, toast, popcorn and pretzels. I didn't made her a feather headband at first because I didn't think she'd care, she's 1. But she had a minor meltdown when all the kids had them on and she did not. Once the feathers were on her head, all was well.

Falling asleep at lunch, but I love that it looks like she is praying, so cute baby.

Takes her hair out every time she is in the car seat. And this is what happens to her hair, not good.

Brett does and says very interesting and funny things. A couple of my favorite Brettisms are:
After being in the house all day he matter of factly states: "I gotta get out of this dang house"
Walking up the stairs in our apartment: "these stairs are too much for me" and
this is how he asks to get his clothes on in the morning "can you get my dressed on, on."

Brett claims that his pillow and bed "makes mine eyes burn all night long". So, he as been sleeping on the floor for the past week. My hips just hurt thinking about it, silly boy.

Brett and I did a simple Thanksgiving craft this week and he was thrilled with his work. He collected the leaves and I let him help me hot glue them on, which he loved. After we hung up his craft, he kept walking by it saying, "oh my gosh, everybody come look at my turkey, it's so great". I should do more crafts with this boy.

A military museum in Austin. Brett posing as an airplane.

Birthday!

2011-11-16T17:20:00.000-08:00

I celebrated my 26th birthday this year, and I'm feeling old. Haha. When I met Jeff he was 26, and I remember thinking I was marrying an old man. It was a great day just chillin' with my peeps (Brett and Dantzel of course). Jeff came home early from work and we went out to Texas Roadhouse, mmmm honey butter on hot rolls.

26 years and 21 weeks.

I love this picture, Brett was so excited to sing happy birthday to me (it's one of his favorite songs and sometimes we sing it before bedtime even when it's no ones birthday).

Happy Halloween

2011-10-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

First and most importantly we are happy to announce we are having a girl around March 12th. So far she is healthy and perfect and I am feeling good as well, with a tummy that is no longer hide-able.
For halloween this year the kids and I were farm animals and Jeff was the farmer. Unfortunately, we didn't get a family shot but I did get some of the kids.

Helping mommy make pumpkin shaped sugar cookies for our Halloween party.

Mmmm, we are loving these holiday sweets.

Our little lamb we named Lulu.

Brett wanted to be a puppy dog and named himself Coco.

Most of the time he wouldn't wear his puppy dog ears, but he was still so cute.

Camping/Kayaking Fall 2011

2011-10-30T18:45:00.001-07:00

We have a couple of inflatable kayaks that we pulled out to float the San Marcos river, a natural running spring river. We each took a kid and floated down, and paddled back (it's a really slow moving river, perfect for little kids).

Ready to go!!

Yay, we found another fun family activity here.

We made it, now for a little food and a rest in the car.

Camping season in Texas is during the fall. The weather has finally cooled off to mid 80's. We are trying to find fun activities for our family to do here. We went camping and I'm starting to think that tent camping is self inflicted hip pain. It really was fun and the kids were in heaven.

They slept through the night! Maybe we will go camping again.

Brett waving his hand rebuking daddy.

There is a burn ban in Texas right now, so it was pop-tarts and "yucky" charms for breakfast. The kids sure didn't mind.

This little girl loves nature, especially rocks. You can see in this picture she is trying to dig a rock out of the dirt with her right hand. She then has to taste test them.

Around the house...

2011-10-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

We are in Austin, Texas. We moved mid-september and are finally settled into our apartment, the ward, and the general area. So far we like it here are we are trying to find fun things to keep us happy here. Here are pictures from typical days around the house.

These kids share a mini bag of popcorn everyday! They take their bowls to the living room, dump them, and eat it off the floor.

Then lick the butter from the bag...mmmm.

Datnzel was determined to get Brett's vest on after church. We had to help her get her arms in, and she was very satisfied.

"I'm so glad when daddy comes home", and so are they, obviously. As soon as they hear the doorknob turn, they run to gate screaming "daddy, daddy".

Desperate for a "cycle" ride.

Learning about static electricity!

A perfect fit!

Cool trick: Brett piles up his dump truck, bike, and Datnzel's push bike. Then he puts a blanket over them and sings Happy Birthday to whoever is near, and then that person gets to open their surprise! Wow.
This picture makes me think of that scene in the new Pride and Prejudice, when Mr Darcy is walking in the sunrise to tell Elizabeth Bennett that he loves her, but this is even better. It's my handsome husband, and my sweet babies, I love it!

She loves reading books, and I love taking pictures of those big blue beautiful eyes.

Grandma and Grandpa's Cabin

2011-10-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

Before we moved to Texas, we had a little getaway to Island Park for a last minute family vacation. It was beautiful!!

Always eating nature.

Happy to be in the outdoors, it does a body good.

This is the face face she pulls when we say "funny faces", I love it.

Success.

Was frequently pulling down his pants for a little "peein' in the bushes".

Idaho Summer

2011-08-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

Brett, Dantzel and I are all in Idaho for August. Jeff is finishing up sales in southern California, with the last day being August 27th. We miss him like crazy! Thank goodness for Skype, cell phones and email, we use them frequently.

We are loving Idaho, especially the summer. Here are pics of life at grandma and grandpa's house...it's really a luxary.

4th of July

2011-07-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

It's fun teaching Brett about the holidays! We checked out a book from the library about America's birthday, and Brett made us sing the happy birthday song to America. We had a very traditional 4th of July (traditional is good). Parade, swimming, bbq, fireworks. The only bummer was Jeff worked, but he did get off at 5!!

Does this look like "cheese"? I don't think so. This face seems to take a lot more effort than a simple smile, oh well.

A long, hot and kind of boring parade. No candy, what's that all about.

The sweetest chubby nugget in red/white/blue I have ever seen.

Del Mar Fair - San Diego

2011-07-07T20:36:00.001-07:00

4th of July weekend we headed to San Diego with the Neeleys to go to the fair. It was the last weekend the fair was open and it was packed...but still really fun. I have mixed feelings about fairs...I don't enjoy the crowds, overpriced food and rides but I do love the the fair feel, does that make any sense? Animals, prizes, cotton candy, ferris wheel...so good.

Dantzel getting ready with the girl before the fair. The sink: a perfect place to help a mover hold still for a bit!

Checking out the biggest cow ever seen...I was debating about getting a picture of the cow or the cow viewers and decided on this. But believe me, the cow was a monstrosity!

The art exhibits, sure love that farmer.

Brett, Dantzel, Derek and I all rode the Ferris wheel together and it was amazing. Brett hanging on for dear life.
Later I went on the zipper with Shelby and survived... barely. It was a blast, I felt young and silly again.

We camped in the trailer after the fair and these two were GONE, as you can easily see.

Vivint Kids Bike/Run Race

2011-06-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

Brett and Dantzel were part of a kids race today. Heidi was in charge, and it turned out great. Brett loved it so much and keeps talking about it. They did a duathlon bike/run. Two loops around the courtyard on bike and one loop run.

Ready and excited for the big race!!

Dantzel numbered and ready for the toddler walk/crawl.

Ready to go.

Sizing up the competition. Actually he was just looking around at all his friends.

Go buddy, go.

Dantzel walk/crawling...never made it to the finish line. Too many distractions.

Refuel table. Great job Brett, we are so proud of you.

Refueling from all of her hard work. haha, way to go baby.

Our Week in Idaho

2011-06-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

The kids and I left California for a week break in Idaho. It was so nice to see family and friends and get spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa. Hailee had her baby shower while we were there too! Mom, Hailee and I stayed up late every night doing crafts, games and talking.

Brett mowed the entire lawn with grandpa. I offered to take him after a few rows, but they ignored me.

Wagon ride. Dantzel was so tickled with it!!

Pretty girl.

Tired Hails, from staying up late every night. She made a perfect parking lot for Brett's cars.

Brett sneaking in to the baby shower for a cookie!

Dantzel thinking the party was for her!

First pig tails...ahhh so cute.

Staying up late eating popcorn with grandpa.

Brett can only throw the basketballs about halfway up the chute, but he loves it, he doesn't care if it never goes in the basketball hoop. What a sweetie. I love his innocence.

Livin' the life.

Brett and Dantzel

2011-06-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

Brett spends a lot of time at the dishwasher. There is a small bump (so small you can't even see it on the picture) that he rides his trucks and motorcycles over. He is so focused during this activity and I love to see the gears turning in his head. I would love to know what he is learning by watching the wheels go over the bump, over and over and over and over.

Dantzel has learned to crawl and is really exploring. She is finally playing with the things she has had here eye on for a while now, like door stoppers. She has found all of them in our house and "boings" them a lot. She loves to play with the toys Brett is playing with, then he hits her because she is stealing his toy and then he gets a time out. Poor guy, we are learning.

LA Zoo and Hiking at Mormon Rock

2011-05-30T20:32:00.001-07:00

We went hiking for Memorial Day to see Mormon Rock located in southern california. They are really amazing rock formations, although they look insignificant in the pictures. Brett hiked 1.2 miles...he is getting strong.

The LA zoo is a really fun place. It is a clean zoo and they take really good care of their animals (nice big exhibits, very clean). The kids LOVED it. Dantzel mostly liked looking at all the people. Brett would squeal at each exhibit, and say "bye bye (gorilla, lion, giraffe)" before we left each exhibit. It was a great, exhausting day!

They look so amazed...haha, it cracks me up. We were just looking here at the California Sea Lions, and yes they were in a bit of a trance.

2011-05-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

We try to keep busy on the weekends so we don't feel sorry for ourselves not being able to be with Jeff. The Neeley's invited us to go camping with them and it was great. The mountains were so green from all the rain and the temp was in the 70s.

Dantzel eats dirt, but dirt don't hurt, right?

Brett learned how to break up big dirt clods, and spent a lot of time doing it.

Brett doing his favorite thing: riding "cycles". He loves to ride these things, especially with Trevor. Poor Trevor, Brett was asking him ALL day "Trev I go cycle ride?" What a good sport Trevor was, Brett got a lot of time in on the cycle.

We took an off-roading ride to the top of Mt Thomas. The kids both fell asleep on the way up, and I was amazed at how their wobbly, bouncy heads stayed asleep.

No longer toothless. She got her first tooth that night while camping, and did so good. She slept the whole night through and didn't seem bothered a bit. What a good baby.
Look at those eyes, she gets complimented on them frequently, thanks Mom.

2011-05-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

Jennifer and Dusty were married in the San Diego Temple on Saturday April 30th. It was a beautiful day and a fun experience to be a part of the wedding. We are so proud of them!

Jeff and his siblings (minus Derek)

Dantzel lovin' kisses from "dada".

So fun to be a bridesmaid. Jennifer is an amazing girl, it was a great day!

Handsome!!

Cutest flower girls EVER!!

Mt. San Jacinto Hike

2011-05-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

The kids and I had an amazing Saturday. We were able to ride on a rotating tram up the tallest peak in southern California. The tram is a 10 minute ride and you ascend 2.5 miles. It is INCREDIBLE. Both kids were eyes glued. Sorry no tram pictures, we were all too busy looking out the windows, amazed.

Once we got to the mountain station we had our picnic outside, but Brett was so excited to hiking, he didn't have much of an appetite. Notice how distracted he is in this picture, he is watching other people start on the hike. He was ready to go.

Me and Sissy hiking together, what a happy hiker. They had easy 3/4 mile nature hikes which we did twice. I was proud of Brett for walking that far without being held at all!!

Dantzel enjoying nature, as usual. She was so happy the entire time, even though it was right in the middle of one of her naps.

Brett in the woods. It is so good for little boys to explore and get dirty. He spend a lot of time finding rocks, pine cones, and sticks and throwing them in the water. He told me at the end, "mom, I go hikin' in mornin'" I think he was planning on heading back tomorrow morning.

Brett touching a Jeffrey Pine. These trees are awesome becuase they have a vanillay-butterscotch smell and most importantly they have a GREAT name. We missed Jeffrey so much today... he is working so hard for our family, we love him for it.

Moms

2011-05-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

Being a mom is the BEST thing in the world. Tough, yes... but mostly awesome!My two little sweetie bugs!!

I love this picture of my mom, she looks so happy. (and smiling with teeth showing, that is big for mom Allen)

My sweet grandma...love you.

Dantzel -- 9 months

2011-05-06T14:16:00.001-07:00

Wow, my baby is 9 months old. She is such a little lovey. Not crawling yet, but rolling like crazy. She is starting to take nice long naps because she can roll onto her stomach, she sleeps so much better that way.
Dantzel has learned to clap her hands and wave bye bye. She is ALWAYS smiling that big gummy smile (no teeth yet).
Dantzel all dolled up before Jeff's sister Jennifer's wedding. She actually kept her bow in all day!! She was the cutest flower girl!
She can say "dada" "mama" "baba" and "nine nine" which she says when she's angry and I think in means no.

Update on Brett

2011-05-06T13:55:00.001-07:00

Brett is doing so well and loving life in California. He loves to be outside and running. He is potty training this week and doing awesome, only 1 small accident the last couple of days. He is such a big boy, and I love seeing his white tighty Hanes sticking out of his shorts!! Brett loves motorcycles, and currently has an obession to a show about dirt bikes called "Michael Michael Motorcycle" He loves riding his bike and doing wheelies. His favorite color right now is black, but he calls it brown. He has mastered all his colors but he can't seem to get these two straight. I'm thinking he likes black so much because of all the black motorcycles we see on the road as we are driving, and he points out each one!

Brett can't resist these giant red balls outside of Target.

A slight blanket obsession.

Brett riding on the yellow bump. He loves riding on technical things: curbs, speed bumps, and piles of clothes. He rolls up clothes on the floor and uses them for jumps, it's pretty cute.

Easter 2011

2011-05-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

Easter egg hunt at the apartment complex. Brett was so excited, and kept saying "I so esited". He picked up his first egg and sat down on the ground ready to open it and partake. We convinced him to go look for more eggs. He ended up getting only 3 eggs but he was in heaven!! What an angel!
Dantzel had no idea what was going on but was happy to be outside watching all the kids running around.
This chubby nugget isn't crawling yet, but she did for a jelly bean. "will crawl for candy", I should make a shirt!
Besides the Easter egg hunt, we had a small lesson with Brett about the death and resurrection of Christ. He actually was very attentive and concerned about the "owies" on Jesus hands. We are excited to make new Easter traditions in the future with our kids, any good suggestions?

Sunshine

2011-04-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

Dantzel's first time on a swing. She loves it so much and giggles and sequels like crazy.

Waiting so patiently...unfortunately it only lasted for 30 seconds. Before we left the apartment complex office, my purse was torn apart and there were tears all around.

The only good part about being away from family is the goodies you get in the mail from them!! Brett was so excited to open the "prize".

Brett's awesome basketball shirt from Grandma (he has worn it two days in a row and cried when he spilt yogurt on it). This is Brett's "flex your muscles" pose. Whoop, whoop.

My baby looking like a big girl, sniff sniff. No, those aren't newly acquired freckles on the left side of her face. She got attacked by a very excited brother, who sometimes has a hard time controlling the emotions.

Toddler Lab

2011-04-16T20:44:00.001-07:00

We enrolled Brett in the Toddler Lab on BYU-Idaho campus. Winters are long in Rexburg, and I thought this would be a great opportunity for Brett to get out of the house and be around new people. It was a success, he loved it and did a great job! You can see in the pictures a lot of the things they worked on with little Brett.

He would inform me EVERY morning, "I go preschoo in mornin". He loved it so much, even though he looks ticked in this last picture. haha.

The Move...

2011-04-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, a lot has happened since I last blogged. We had the opportunity to move to California for Jeff to do summer sales and we took the job last minute. We had only 5 days to pack up and move and it was a whirlwind. We are happy to be basking in the sunshine and looking at palm trees!! We did some last minute visits to family here before the brutal summer sales started.

Santa Barbara visiting Grandma and Granddad NeeleyTrain ride at the zoo, Brett was in heaven! I think he was a little scared though, because he held onto Granddad's hand the entire ride.

Brett would try to get anyone to take him down the stairs and jump on the tramp, or the "jumpoline" as Brett calls it.

Another favorite thing to do...rc cars. They don't look at all happy, do they? Brett spent the majority of the time in Santa Barbara outside, it was a great break from cold country.

Temecula visiting Jeff's family:Me and the kids in the back seat of Dad Neeley's plane. They both did really well. Jeff asked, "Hey Brett, do you want Daddy to fly the plane?" Brett, with a very concerned look on his face, "NO, granddad fly hairplane".

Brett helping push the plane in the hangar.

I asked Jeff's little brother Derek to give Dantzel a bottle and this is what I found. I wouldn't consider him a baby lover, but come on, you can hold her, she won't bite.
II forgot to pack the kids pj's, so Jeff's mom went through some boxes and produced these, Brett was so excited. He kept walking over the door and checking himself out in the window. It was soooo cute, Brett loves "tiggapooh"

My baby girl with here still toothless smile. She is 8 months now, happy and sweet as ever!!

Oh no, she won't keep headbands on...and she really needs them. Her hair still grows straight up, it is pretty stinkin' cute.

Whenever Brett loses a toy he gets his flashlight (even in mid-day) and goes on a search for the missing toy.

Dantzel looking so stylish!! She is the funnest girl ever! We were at a Ross Dress for Less and the cashier (a very young, imature teenager) said, "you guys, I'm not gonna lie, she is so freakin' cute". haha, okay thanks, I think.

More posts to come of our new life in Rancho Cucamonga!! You think that's a crazy name, try the neighboring town: Fontana. Haha.

Bretty's new bike

2011-03-22T19:47:00.001-07:00

Today was a BIG day for Brett. We got him a Strider balance bike. They are the coolest bikes that don't have any pedals and teach two year olds how to balance. Brett was getting frustrated on a tricycle because he couldn't figure out the pedals. Our neighbor had one of these balance bikes and Brett loved riding it, we looked into it and they really are the best way to teach kids how to ride a bike.

Jeff hid the bike in Brett's crib and we told Brett it was time to take a nap. He headed to his room and was heading towards the crib when he saw the bike. He said "I found bike in da crib". He was all smiles and elated for many hours. He rode his bike all around the house all day. He kept saying "I found bike in crib" and then snicker like it was a funny joke.

First time on the new bike.

Up Close and Cheesy

2011-03-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

The kiddos were being super silly and cute, obviously...

Dantzel wearing sneakers, check out those thighs!!

My Babies!!!

2011-03-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Sweet Brett. He loves this shirt and wants to wear it everyday. He cries a little when I tell him it's dirty. This shirt is called "boise state". All athletic looking shirts are labeled as "boise state".

I love this chubby girl, you can see the rolls in the stretch pants and they are so sweet and squishy. Such a happy baby. Dantzel's first word "mamama" I LOVE it.

New pajamas!! Dantzel looks afraid for her life and I don't blame her, Brett gives lots of tough love.

Snowing in March should be illegal.

Fancy Dansi!! This girl is the BEST, she is so happy. I love going into her room to get her from sleeping, she starts kicking and inahle yelling (not exactly sure what to call this amazing sound she makes). She is so happy to see you.

Going in for the kill...

mmm...daddy's chin, it doesn't get much better.

Snowshoeing at R mountain

2011-02-15T14:52:00.001-08:00

Saturday was beautiful weather. We went with family on a hike up R mountain in snowshoes. It was a blast. The best was running down and jumping of cornices. Thanks for taking the pictures James.Brett had a great time in the backpack. They even crashed a few times and he never whined once. Near the end of the hike Jeff and Brett were in the rear and Brett started to whisper in Jeff's ear "go daddy, go go." They started off and we all raced to the parking lot. It was Jeff and Brett vs James, until James face planted in the snow. When we made it home and got out of the car Brett yelled, "yay, did it." He was so proud.

Nate, Elisa, Jeff, Lindsay, Brett, Meieli, and James

Kids Pictures

2011-02-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

Brett's 2 year pictures and Dantzel's 6 month. Thanks Elisa.

I love this face!!

Our February thus far...

2011-02-12T14:38:00.001-08:00

We took a trip to Utah to see Hailee and Derek. It was so awesome to see them and hang out. We played scrabble every night and watched movies. Of course, me and Hails were out cold during the movies, but that's typical Allen girls when a movie is on and it's past 8:30pm. Brett just loves Derek so much, he even has named the color brown Derek.

Derek and Brett playing guitars.

One of Brett's favorite places in the house: the pantry. He likes to have his snacks placed on the lowest shelf in the pantry. Brett's personal snack bar. Hat: check. Shirt: check. Socks and shoes: check. Pants: ?? okay, weird.

Brett, don't talk and drive.

I can't think of a better way to get rid of morning breath.

Sissy sitting up in her crib after a good nap. She is such a happy baby and opens her mouth wide to let you know just how happy she is.

Cabin at Island Park

2011-02-12T13:38:00.000-08:00

We spent a weekend at the cabin in Island Park, just our little family. The driveway hadn't been plowed but Yota (Jeff's truck) trudged through 3 feet of snow and we made it...barely, we were nearing the red zone on the RPMs. It was so relaxing and nice! Our weekend in pictures:Dantzel woke up early one morning and Jeff kindly got her and took her downstairs. When Brett and I finally woke up this is how we found them. So cozy.

One of Brett's new hobbies: play-doh. A perfect stuck in the cabin activity.

We were sitting on the couch watching some old show with Chuck Norris in it...lame.

Brett love to play in the "snowing". When we were there he kept saying "Wow, big snowing" I translated that as "wow, there is a lot of snow".
Snow bunny.

Jeff did a back flip off the deck and it looks like he kind of did a face plant. Nice glasses.

The kids did great, and slept good even in a new place.

2011-01-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

This little guy will be 2 years old tomorrow (Jan 10). What a cute little munchkin. He has been such a wonderful boy. He truly has a sweet, sensitive heart. The other day he spilled something, on accident, and I sighed and was frustrated and he could sense it. He just looked at me and said "be nice mommy", what 2 year old says that. I sure love him.

I love this picture minus the shadow behind the adorable boy. You photoshop experts please feel free to remove it and e-mail a picture with only 1 Brett. (lneeley22@gmail.com)

Brett is hilarious and makes me laugh every day, here are some Bretty funnies:

1. Jeff and I were talking about the difference in taste between chicken and pheasant meat. Brett heard the word pheasant and immediately make a pheasant cackle sound followed by a gunshot sound. hmmmm, wonder where he learned that.
2. Brett loves to play with "maggots" or I typically call them magnets.
3. Airplanes are always "hairplanes" and gloves "glubbs".

It is so dang cold in Rexburg!! We had to move our bed away from the window, so now my bed is in the middle of the room...bug. We sleep with 3 comforters and Jeff sleeps in this adorable outfit (at least it matches)

My sweet girl eating food for the first time... I think she likes it. PS Her eyes are not wide open because she is tasting food for the first time, they are always like that, it's great!

Community jungle gym. If Dantzel is there, so is Brett.

Brett playing with a tractor he got for Christmas. Notice the plow lines in my couch.

This girl is so stinkin' cute. Look at that fuzzy head. It grows straight out like her daddy's hair. I'm not exactly sure what to do with it.

Winter with Brett and Dantzel

2010-12-12T19:29:00.000-08:00

Dantzel's New Jumper and Big Blue Eyes
In our attempt to raise athletic children we got Dantzel a jumper and she's loving it. She is starting to laugh which combined with her big blue eyes makes her Daddy melt.

Brett has an Arm(s)
When Brett gets something in his hands (right or left) watch out because he will nail ya. He's also getting pretty good at drop-kicking a soccer ball (not even 2 yet!)

Brett and Daddy
We got Brett and Dad dressed up and decided to do their favorite thing - take pictures. The picture of Jeff and Brett is the closest Brett would let Jeff get. After every picture Brett jumps off the couch to see how the most recent picture looks - funny boy!

Best Buddies - Brett and "Sissy"
These two are becoming more and more inseparable. Dantzel (or "Sissy" as Brett calls her) is growing fast and getting toughened up by her big brother's tough love.

Funny Face by Brett
We brush Brett's teeth everyday (well almost everyday) in front of a mirror. One day while pasting up his toothbrush he started laughing at himself while making this face. Now whenever asked to make "Funny Faces" this is the pose.

"Big" Shoes
Winter time in Rexburg means more time in the house which means time for Brett to get creative. The other day we found him trompin' around in Daddy's "Big" shoes. This afternoon he was walking around in Mommy's high heels while saying "Goin church." Brett sure makes time in the house fun.

Love this little girl...

2010-11-16T11:10:00.000-08:00

She is getting so big, I call her "chubs" as her nickname, cuz I mean look at those cheeks. She is in the 90th percentile for height and weight. Dantzel is starting to laugh and grab onto toys. She is starting to track moving objects, which is mostly Brett. What a little doll. Cutest baby in the world, in my book anyway.

Boise State

2010-11-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

We dressed up for Halloween as insane Boise State fans. We have to continually remind ourselves that our happiness does not depend on how well Boise State does in football. It was super fun to dress up and Brett now knows the colors blue and orange = Boise state. He was yelling at the neighbors the other day, "jsdklafj asdhflkj asdnf boise state alskdfjl aldksjaf." He has learned how to vent about Boise State, a behavior learned from his father I'm sure.

Brett is doing so well, he is such a joy to be around all day. Funny story: Brett was eating a hot dog for lunch in his high chair and a fly landed on his dog. He was in absolute shock and awe that a fly would land on his food. Well, the fly flew away and Brett slowly picked up his hot dog raised it in the air and said "here ya go buzz", intending to feed the "buzz". Such a crack up, I sure love this kid.

My little angel! Dantzel is growing so fast and is crying less and less (thank goodness)! She smiles with her mouth open and loves to "goo goo" to me. In the sun her hair has a hint of red, we will see if it will stay that way, that would be fun!

Brother and Sister

2010-09-26T20:03:00.001-07:00

So there are times when these two look alike, and some times they look nothing alike. Here is a pic of both of them at 2 months.

Brett at 2months.Dantzel at 2 months

Having a baby in the summer kind of throws off vacation opportunities. We decided to go on a mini vacation to grandma and grandpa's cabin in Island Park. It was our first get away since graduate school and we had a blast.

Dantzel loves 4-wheeling, she fell asleep within minutes on each ride.

Brett and Jeff playing in the woods. Hooray, the leaves are turning colors.

Family pic using self-timer, never quite sure when to smile.

Dantzel isn't very religious, she did not want to go to church this morning, but she did look to die for!

Dantzel is 6 weeks!

2010-09-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how fast she is changing...

1 day

3 days

2 weeks

3 weeks

4 weeks

6 weeks

Dantzel is chubby and cute, she is gaining all her weight in the cheeks! It think it is adorable. We sure love having her around. She is starting to smile, especially for her Daddy. She is an AMAZING sleeper. She only wakes up once a night for a feeding and sleeps in until 8. I am so dang lucky!!

Jeff is so proud to be mowing his own lawn with his own mower, I can imagine this a big day for any man!

Jeff ran the Mesa Falls Marathon!!! He ran the whole 26.2 miles, and didn't walk at all. Way to go baby!!

Born on the wedding day...

2010-08-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

Dantzel Neeley was born on Friday, July 30th at 9:10am. She weighed 7lbs 6oz and 18in long. My original due date was July 27th, and Hailee's wedding was July 30th. I thought because I went on my due date with Brett that I would do the same with her. Well Friday morning at 3:30am I had my first contraction, and my first thought was "oh no, my mom is going to kill me". So it's true, I missed my only sister's wedding, but I had the most wonderful excuse. The best surprise was when Hailee and Derek came to the hospital from the temple to see me and Dantzel. It was so sweet, I get a big lump in my throat every time I think about it. What a cool memory, I love my sister and my new little baby girl. It was an AMAZING day.
I labored at home until 7:30am and I told Jeff I needed to go to the hospital NOW, becuase the pain was getting bad fast. I checked in at the hospital at 8am and I had her 1hr and 10 min later. She came is just three pushes and was healthy as can be. I am recovering well, and she is a sweet little peanut. It's amazing how tiny they are, it also makes Brett look like a giant. He loves his little sister, but isn't exactly sure how to interact with her. We are so happy to have our sweet girl here.

Daddy's little girl.

The bride and groom came to see us at the hospital.

Hailee and Dantzel share a very special day.

I love my baby girl

She has the tiniest, perfect little head and face

Brett and Dantzel

She thinks she is so big holding up her head! What a little toot!

Goin' Private

2010-07-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,
We have decided to change our blog to a private blog for safety reasons. I want all of you to be able to continue following. Please give me your e-mail addresses so you can view the blog. You don't want to miss pics of the little baby coming soon...
Take care,
Jeff and Lindsay

2010-07-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

Hooray for summer and nice weather. We are still in Rexburg and it has been beautiful!! We are planning on staying in Rexburg, and have a home set up to rent come August. Jeff is starting a business here and he is getting excited to actually be an entrepreneur (I spell that word wrong EVERYTIME, I should really comit to learning how to spell it since that is what my husband does).
Our baby girl is less than 2 weeks away, and we are getting so excited to meet her. I had an appt. today and the midwife said she is quite small, she was worried enough that I had to get an ultrasound. After all the measurments were taken the estimated weight was only 5lb 12oz. She told me to stop exercising, rest more and get more calories. I think I can handle that.
Brett is doing great and growing so fast, he is such a boy. He loves anything with wheels and engines, one of his first words was "cycle". I love hearing his little feet pitter-patter on the tile and I love seeing him play with trains and cars. He has learned how to say "sister" and "Dantzel", he is going to be such a great big brother. He might be in shock the first couple of weeks and try to poke her eyes out, but he will get used to her being around. He loves helping around the house, he found a paint brush the other day and thought is was a perfect sized Bretty broom. He was walking around the house saying "seep" which I interpreted as sweep.

Trying to keep Brett awake after church with a sucker, not happening.

Brett tells me at least once a day "cycle, neigh". Interpretation "Daddy, I want to ride the cycle down to see the horsey".

Bowling...I can't believe they make bowling shoes that tiny!

Me and sister-in-law Elisa. We are only 3 days apart, we are both having girls...hooray!

Family reunion in Ashton.

We made trip to Utah to go boating at Yuba Lake with family. Brett loved driving the boat.

An overdue update...

2010-05-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, a lot has happened this last month. Jeff graduated with an MBA from school in Austin and we were outta there a week later. We sold a ton of stuff on craigslist (a fun little hobby) and jammed all of our stuff into Jeff's truck and utility trailer and the car. It was a very white trash move across the country. It took five days to get to Idaho, but we did it without any accidents or tickets, oh yeah. We are temporarily in Rexburg living with family until we find our next step! The future is so exciting.
I am now 7 and 1/2 months pregnant and my belly button is starting to stick out. It has been a great pregnancy with no complications. I am starting to slow down a little, I get out of breath after walking up the stairs and I have to make a funny noise when I bend over. I am getting excited to meet this little girl.
We have enjoyed spending time with the fam, and we are anxious for the weather to improve. It's been quite a shock coming from 90 degree humidity to 40 degree dry cold weather. Lotion and chapstick have become a necessity.

Favorite swimming hole in Austin.

Weekend at Gma and Gpa's cabin.

Gibson and Brett

The dudes.

He's Finished!!

2010-04-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

Jeff finished his last day of class April 21st and we have been having a ball! We have been able to spend a lot of family time together and get to know each other again! Graduation is May 1st, and Jeff's family is flying to Texas for the event, we are so excited to see family! Here are some pics of the stuff we have been doing:

Jeff's graduation present. Unfortunately it's only a one day rental and not a Harley Davidson to keep. Maybe someday honey! But for now he was so excited to get the bike and ride off for the day.

My boys look so good on a Harley!

Brett taking some time to read the Ensign.

We went camping and had a blast. Brett loved pushing his dump truck around in the dirt and he just loved never having to go inside. We had tinfoil dinners and s'mores, we went hiking and Brett slept the whole night in a tent (9:30pm - 6:30am) He is such a good camper we might just do it again! (Notice the belly...it's getting bigger!)

Enjoying s'mores in a mini camp chair..so cute.

"Helping" Jeff put up the tent.

My little stud muffin!

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter weekend with nice warm weather. Sorry to all Utah and Idaho friends, I heard it snowed. Anyway, Brett caught on really quick that plastic eggs can be opened and are filled with delicious treats. We had an egg hunt and he did great finding them and putting them in his basket. This morning for Easter he got a baby doll and Charlotte's Web movie. He is really sweet to his baby doll and hugs her and gives her kisses, but he also sticks his fingers in her eyes and throws her on the floor when he finds something else to play with. Practice and patience. He has learned the word soft, which he will hear a lot more of when the baby comes.

Jeff only has 17 more days until his last day of class...hooray! Me and Brett made a paper countdown chain for him. It has been a stinkin' hard year, but we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and hoping its not a train. Just kidding, life can only go up from here. But where to go...now that is a very good question.

Brett is loving being mommy's big boy helper and is at my legs ALL day. It does make everything take longer, but I know he is learning and eager to help, I'd hate to stifle that desire.

I am doing well and growing. The baby is moving lots and I can still run and do everything I need to without feeling slowed down, so that is good. I have nasty acne probably related to the baby and all the sugar I am eating. My goal is no sweets until graduation (May 1), it may not help the acne, but it can't hurt to try.

Easter 2010
Mommy's big boy helper

Look who's walking...

2010-03-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

Wahoo!! 14 months and finally walking, we are so proud. It is so funny to see little kids walking. They just look so small, they don't seem like they should be walking. He is always so proud of himself after a long walk, as you can see in the video. Enjoy!

It's A...

2010-03-12T17:17:00.000-08:00

GIRL!! We found out today we are getting a sweet baby girl! We are so excited to have one of each. She is absolutely perfect: all her fingers and toes; brain, heart, spine and kidneys all look great. We feel so blessed and we are so excited to bring this little girl into the world! During the ultrasound she kicked up her feet and started grabbing her toes with her fingers, it was the sweetest thing.Also going on in our lives...Jeff is on spring break for 1 week, hallelujah! He has to do a little bit of work and research each day, but we get to see a lot more of him and it is wonderful. The weather here is beautiful and we are spending a lot of time outside. Here are some pics of Brett enjoying the sunshine.Trying to catch bubbles, I LOVE this picture.

Brett loves to play in the grass with sticks and rocks. Every object gets put into the mouth before it gets played with.

Brett riding his bike like a little pro. Look at the awesome knee fat! I love that.

New Do and Baby Bump

2010-02-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe it is almost march...hooray! That means: sunshine, baby, graduation and vacations are only months away. So I'm only 18 weeks but I am starting to have quite a little bump and I can feel the baby a lot. I also had a wild hair and got my hair cut short. It was a bit of a shock at first because I haven't had short hair and bangs for about 5 years. I am really starting to like it and I can still fit it into a pony tail, thank goodness.

New do and baby bump!!

Me and my bestest buddy!

We are CRAZY about this little boy...

2010-02-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

There is nothing new or crazy exciting going on at the moment, but the future is looking quite adventurous. Jeff will complete school in 3 months... yahoo, way to go baby and then there's the million dollar question...what next?!?! We really don't know where we are going or what we are doing, but we are excited for whatever comes. We are excited for a baby in July and hopefully lots of vacationing.
That is what fills our minds these days, the future and of course our little stud.

This is a picture of Brett purposely trying to hid his face while I am trying to take pictures.

And this is how most of our photo shoots end up...Brett wanting mommy's camera.

Brett got a dump truck for Christmas and loves to go for rides in it...obviously.

Jeff introducing Brett to fort building.

Uh, oh. Somebody's in trouble. Haha, I thought I watched this kid every second...guess not.

Brett refuses to be fed anymore, and this is his self-feed attempt with spaghetti.

The tubes in our stroller tires were flat, so Jeff and Brett replaced them for me. What good handymen I have. Well, at least one of them is working.

Brett is growing and developing so quickly, he gets more fun everyday. He know tons of words: cacka (cracker), book, sock, baba(bottle), gog(dog), mama, dada, bye bye, go, uh oh and bike. He is signing like crazy and we just love it.

Birthday and New Craft Project!

2010-01-23T12:13:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my baby is 1. We had a super fun birthday party with all his little friends. I think the party was mostly for me, cuz I love to do stuff like this. Brett enjoyed the company and the cupcake. He is eating all "big people" food now and I love it, it's so easy. He has 1 molar already and is growing like crazy: 90% height and 55% for weight.

Bretty unsure of sitting on a ledge by himself, but I had to take a picture of my awesome decorating.

Cupcake...he could not keep his eyes or paws off of it.

Birthday are awesome, so is big people food.

A happy sugar-overloaded 1 year old.

I have wanting to make little boy church ties for a long time, but I was kind of intimidated, it looked really hard. But my good friend got a sewing machine and was willing to help me put it together. So here is my finished product...Love it.

I got this pattern from makeitandloveit.blogspot.com It was well worth the $6 pattern and so much fun. And if I can make ties, anybody can. I am a beginner-beginner sewer.

Surprise!

2010-01-09T18:14:00.000-08:00

We are so excited to announce that Baby Neeley #2 is on the way. Due July 27th, which means I am only 11 weeks along which means I have 29 weeks to go! Ahhhhh. I am feeling great (please don't beat me) and I have been to the doctor to hear the heartbeat, so far so good. This means that Brett and the new little one will be only 18 months apart...sounds like an adventure.

Holiday Vacation

2010-01-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged and so much has happened. Jeff got a 3 week vacation from school and we spent it in Idaho and California visiting family! It was a fun and much needed break.
FUNNIES: Brett is changing and growing into such a little boy. One of this newest things is to pull his blankets over his head while he sleeps. Ahhhhh...it drives me crazy. I feel hot and short of breath just looking at this picture.
Jeff got these coke bottle glasses from school (because you have to be a nerd to go to Acton, duh) and Brett loves them. He is getting a sense of humor because when anyone puts these glasses on he starts laughing. The cutest nerd of all time... Bretty!
IDAHO: We had so much fun in Idaho for 2 weeks! Jeff and Brett spent some time outside building tubing jumps, chasing bunnies, and quad rides. Brett loved tubing and Jeff definitely got his exercise pulling him in the snow.Christmas morning. We were all spoiled rotten Christmas morning...this was one of my favorite gifts, matching pj's and warm fuzzy socks to go with. Aren't we quite the trio, these here are my favorite gals. We had so much fun playing games and eating yummy food.
CALIFORNIA: We spent our last week in Cali with Jeff's fam. We were spoiled again with gifts and had a fun housefull. Jeff and Brett went for a few dirt bike rides on the lawn, and Brett was in heaven. He would let go of the handlebars in the middle of the ride to start clapping because he was so happy.Our favorite outing was to La Jolla beach in San Diego. We got there in perfect time to watch the sun go down, it was stunning. Brett saw this frisby and was crazy about it. When we would take it away to try and take a picture he would start throwing a tantrum and screaming and crying until we gave it back to him. Oh dear...Family picture on La Jolla at sunset. (I know this picture looks fake, but it's not, this is really what it looked like. It was incredible)Jeff and Brett would go up close to the water and when the waves would come in they would run away from them. It was cute, and they were both laughing and having a great time.

Happy Holidays 2009

2009-12-10T10:49:00.000-08:00

Howdy from Austin. Wishin' ya'll a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Much Love, Jeff, Lindsay and Brett

Turkey Trot and Laundry Basket Races

2009-11-27T19:17:00.001-08:00

I started Thanksgiving morning off with a bang. Me and two close friends ran a 5 mile race in downtown Austin, it was beautiful weather and the jog felt refreshing!!! I also felt justified in eating more later that day :). It was an AWESOME Thanksgiving with great food and friends.

My two biggest fans to meet me at the finish line! Jeff was sweet and took care of Brett the morning of the race. Brett had dried food on his cheeks, snotty nose, and dirt around his mouth (Jeff set him down on the ground and Brett started eating dirt). We are THANKFUL for mommy.

Gearing up for the race: the goals were to run the entire 5 miles and complete it in under an hour. We all accomplished both goals.

Awesome running partners!! We all stayed together during the race and chatted and laughed and had a great time!

We try to think of fun things to do with Brett in the evenings with our 1 hour together and we came up with........laundry basket races!!! We toss him in a basket with a bunch of padding and then we zooooom around the house.

Brett getting psyched up for his trip in the laundry basket.

So fun, Brett loves it...so does Jeff.

Brett rolls over and sleeps on his stomach now. We have a teddy bear in his crib and he likes to wrestle it. It looks like he pinned Teddy and then fell asleep.

Texas in November

2009-11-19T12:45:00.000-08:00

The weather here is absolutely wonderful!!!! It's in the 70's and sunny everyday and we are lovin' it! November has been an atypical month for me, I'm used to having my coat, boots and scarf on by now. We still bum around in jeans and t-shirts. (sorry if it seems I'm bragging a little, I am, I feel like I get to after the awful hot summer). Here are some of our outdoor activities...

You know how your neighbors stuff and toys are always way cooler than your own, well Bretty feels the same way. His friend next door has a little tikes bike and cozy coupe. He is really starting to LOVE these kind of things, and it is so much fun.

Crazy Bretty driver!

Jeff doesn't like this picture becuase the bike has pink on it, but I thought it was so adorable, I just had to post it. Brett loves hangin' out on the neighbors bike.

Jeff got a suprise e-mail from Acton saying "no class tomorrow", he was so happy. We were able to spend a few hours of good family time.

Love this pic, check out those eyes. WOW!
Jeff and Brett chasing the ducks/goose back into the water.

He's finally crawling!!

2009-11-05T18:53:00.000-08:00

On November 3rd Brett started crawling. Well I guess it's more of a scoot, but either way he can get from one place to the other. Guess I have to baby-proof the house now and keep it vacuumed and crumb free. Fun fun.

Stopping for a snack.

We have a crawler.

good lil' vampire

2009-11-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

I was debating this year for halloween... should he be a cute fluffy bunny or tiger or something sweet and squishy?? or a vampire because of his awesome widow's peak?? It was quite the dilemma. And the winner is...

Good lil', cute, sweet, squishy vampire (if there is such a thing).

punk witch + vampire = fun Halloween. Bretty got his first taste of pixie stick and dum dum thanks to Jeff of course. I'm of the no refined sugars in the first year policy, oh well.

My Boys!

2009-10-31T09:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some cute fall pics I took of the boys on a Sunday walk. I sure love my boys!

They really are best buds, always laughing and wrestling. While we were in Idaho I showed Brett one of these pics and he whispered "dada" and then was reaching for Jeff's picture on the screen. It was adorable.

Dream Vacation to....

2009-10-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Idaho!!!!
So Rexburg Idaho doesn't have warm weather, beaches or great places to eat. But Rexburg Idaho does have my awesome family, so to me it is my dream vacation. Jeff was so sweet and let me and Brett leave for a whole week to go visit the family. Jeff survived a week by himself, but barely, we had to come home and save him. :)
One of the nice things about going home is I can slip back into my 17 year old high school habits: laying on the couch eating fruit snacks and granola bars, messy room, telling the fam to play with Brett because we will be leaving soon while I lay with my feet propped up. It sounds really lazy, but it was much needed.

Brett wasn't so sure abot grandpa at first. So they went outside to have some bonding time. They found a Texas longhorn in the pasture (no fence) and practiced their "mooooing".

The whole cow and bonding thing really worked, after that they were best buds.

For mom's 50th birthday/halloween party she dressed up as a clown, it was awesome, what a cool grandma (and mom).

Alissa the pirate and Bretty the vampire

The Three Amigas

Brooklyn just loved little Bretty and held him any chance she could!

Also while in Idaho I was able to get with my nursing friends from BYU-Idaho. We all have had children in the past few months. It was such a blast to see our babies together.

I had so much fun visiting the whole family. I got to go out to lunch with my grandma Jones and my aunt Lisa, I also got my hair done...it was suffering badly. I went back to my natural color (dark blonde) and got layers. I'll have to post pics of the new do. Thanks everybody for a great week.

October...thus far

2009-10-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

Time is flying here in Texas. We are finally starting to enjoy the weather, cool crisp air, 75 degrees. Jeff is insanely busy and studying constantly, so unfortunately this post is about all the things me and Brett do while Jeff is at school.

Our first outing in October was the Zoo. Brett loved looking at all the animals and was fascinated with the Lions. As we were looking at the lion exibit, I said to Brett, "what does a lion say... ROOAARR" Yea, well the lions didn't like that too much, they jumped up and started ROARing like crazy at us. Then I saw the sign "Please don't yell at these animals" ooops. Hehe, just trying to teach my little munchkin animals sounds.

Me and Brett with the lions. The male lion is glaring at us, I think he feels threatened by my ROARing skills.

Our second outing was to the Pumpkin Festival. There was so much to do. Brett went on a swing for the first time in his long life and loved it. He was hanging on for dear life and just yelling... AAAHHH. We went on a tractor hay ride, face painting, ducky pool, petting zoo, and tractors, it was awesome.

You can almost hear the "AAAHHH"

Dazed and confused after the face painting experience

Brett wasn't afraid one bit. Don't worry everybody, his hands were sanitized immediately after the pet.

Pumpkin Festival!!!

Brett has been reaching so many milestones and we are so proud. He gives five, pinches my nose so I will give a ridiculous squack, pulls up to his knees, claps hands, bounces up and down when he hears music, talks about "dada" all day, and loves the "baba"(bottle). He went to his 9 month check up and here are the numbers. Brett Louis Neeley weighing in at 20lbs 6oz, and 30 in tall, champion of the Neeley home! He is in the 50% for weight and 95% for height.

Brett hanging out at his toy drawer.

Welcome to Texas!

2009-09-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

My mom made a special visit all the way from Idaho. It was so much fun and she stayed for an entire week. We spent our time exercising, talking, shopping, dancing, site seeing and playing with Brett. Brett just loved Grandma, he would wake up from every nap looking around for her (grandma). Mom was so sweet and wanted to help all the bums and people trying to ask for money, what a softy! We made sure before she left, that she left with bags full of Texas souvenirs as you can see below.

Look at all this Texas stuff, good thing the Longhorns are doing so well in football this year!! My little Texas Longhorn football star!

Mom and Bretty were best pals by the end of the trip. This if Jeff playing peek-a-boo from behind me, Brett loves peek-a-boo, it looks like grandma does too.

We had so much fun with mom and we already miss her. Brett and I will be going to Idaho for a visit at the end of October...so excited. Brett is growing up so fast and doing so well. He eats Ritz crackers and string cheese. Oh dear, my baby is eating real people food. I think I need another baby.

Junior Pilot

2009-09-07T20:14:00.001-07:00

Lately Brett has loved spending time in laundry baskets and boxes. I'm thinking it helps him feel secure?!?! So I had this crazy idea to make him an airplane out of a box. I was seriously losing sleep at night thinking how I could make this plane awesome! Anyway it was such a fun project, it turned out pretty cute and most importantly Bretty loves it!
Here is our little junior pilot in the "Brett-sky"

Our New Schedule!

2009-08-29T18:52:00.001-07:00

Jeff's program started full force this week and he has been so busy. He is loving the stuff he is learning! This is kind of what our schedule looks like:
5 am: Jeff wakes up, exercises and studies.
6 am: Brett and I wake up to join him, fix him breakfast and have him out the door by 6:30ish.
Then me and Brett exercise and get ready for the day and have a morning nap.
12 noon: We take Jeff his lunch at school and spend about 15 min with him. Then he studies while me and Brett try and find fun things to do in Austin (splash park, museums, farmers market, ect)
6 pm: Jeff gets home and we have dinner together, bathe Bretty and get him to bed. Then me and Jeff have a few minutes to hang out.
8 pm: Back to studying for Jeff, while I try to keep myself busy (practice piano, sudoku, read, blog, scrapbook, ect)
12 midnight: Jeff finishes studying, drags me off the couch where I fell asleep a few hours ago.
Then we start all over at 5am the next morning, Monday-Saturday!

16 hours of study per day
2 hours with me and Brett
5 hours of sleep
1 hour exercise/get ready
He is such a hard worker! I love that guy!

Here are some cute pics of last weekend, before the program started. We went to the splash park with friends from the school. Brett is starting to like the water splashes. When we first got here, he would cry every time someone splashed him. But you can see in the picture, he is learning to love it!Saturday we drove about 30 miles outside of Austin to a place called Hamilton Pools. It is a natural spring that is perfect water temp, we had such a blast. We also went on a 3 mile hike! It felt so good to get out and be active!
Me and Bretty got the best package in the mail from our sister-in-law/aunt, with all sorts of loot! She spoiled us... and we liked it. Thanks Alissa! Getting good mail is the best! Click on the picture to enlarge to read the card. The inside says "Trying to stay sane here. And you?" Haha, I love it!

Rain dance and much more...

2009-08-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

Rainstorms in Texas are amazing. The rain drops seems so full and heavy and they come down in the sheets! It is pretty awesome and the best part is it's still 70+ degrees while it is raining, which makes for some fun in the rain. Even Brett was loving getting all wet....so fun. We splashed in puddles and tried to catch the rain in our mouths. I felt like I was 8 years old again.

Brett discovered his toes a while back and he is a bit obsessed with them. Here I am catching him in the very act. Side note: check out the awesome widow's peak! I think he is going to be a vampire for Halloween.

Brett's ears are starting to stick out a little bit more each month, so we decided we would try some things to help them stay back. My brother Dave suggested a sweat band. I thought it was a great idea...but Brett didn't like the idea so much. He had that dang thing off his head in 10 seconds. I did manage to capture this hilarious shot before he ripped it off! Haha.

Hailee bought Brett these awesome foam letters and numbers for tubby time. They are awesome because they stick on the tub so easily. Jeff would put them up on the side and Brett would rip them off and put them right in his mouth. They are the best bath toys, thanks sis.

Saturday we were wanting to get out of the house. We decided to go kayaking in the lake outside our apartment. We bought Brett a little life jacket and headed for the lake with our inflatable kayaks. We tied the kayaks together and Jeff paddled in the front kayak while me and Brett lounged in the back kayak. After a while Brett started crying and so Jeff took him up front to paddle with him. Brett was magically better and lovin' time with his daddy. I'm sure it was a site to see. Jeff up front with a little baby, paddling 2 kayaks, with me in the back lounging and sunbathing, I kind of felt like a loser. Everybody we passed in the lake was like "now that's the way to ride".

A Few Favorite Things

2009-08-08T05:31:00.000-07:00

We've been in Texas now 3 months and everything is going really well. We are on our 60th consecutive day of >100 degree weather! Ahhh... it's crazy, the low at night is in the mid 70's. Jeff is loving school and is preparing to start the full program August 24th, yikes here it comes. Here are some pics of a few summer happenings.

Brett has a little addiction...it's his giraffe "G". This is his favorite toy in the whole wide world. When I give him a variety of brightly colored, noise making toys, he goes for his giraffe every time. He loves to shove it in his mouth and chew on the head and feet. He even fell asleep in the car the a giraffe leg in his mouth. It's the new pacifier.

I love this picture. I'm no great photographer, but I think this is a pretty good shot. What a little tooter.

Brett loves to shred paper. When we go to get the mail, read scriptures or look at books, he is constantly trying to grab the paper and crinkle. It is hilarious. So we give him an old magazine and let him attack. It's quite a site to see, he gets his feet involved in the shredding process as well. Way to go Shredder, you shred those papers.

We give Brett a bath before bed every night and he LOVES it. After he is finished eating his squash or green beans we say "Brett do you want to take a tubby?" He starts smiling, and grunting and waving his arms up and down. Bretty loves tubby time.

We found a free splash park with waiting pools last week and we are lovin' it. It's perfect for Brett now that he can sit up. He likes to sit in the waiting pools and splish splash. He does get a bit concerned by the water that shoots up out of the ground, as we can see from this picture. We spent 2 hours there on Friday and I lubed Brett up with the good SPF 50, but didn't put any sunscreen on me. I wanted to tan becuase I am pasty, you would never have guessed that I have been in Austin, TX all summer. Yeah well, I am now a cherry tomato and I am going to peel and have to start from ground zero. Dang it.

This is Bretty's good friend Saira. They have a typical Boy-Girl love relationship. She is obsessed with him... she wakes of from naps crying "wetty wetty" and she bangs on her front door crying Brett's name. When they are together she is patting his head and giving him hugs. He doesn't do anything to encourage her and yet she just loves him. It is the sweetest thing.

Jeff and I went on a date last night to see the musical "The Music Man". They have an outdoor theatre at the base of a hillside, then people come and bring blankets to cover the hillside to sit and enjoy the show. It is free and amazing! We played Phase 10 and ate Mike-n-Ikes while waiting for the the show to start. It was so much fun to have an evening out together, thanks Phil and Emily for babysitting. Also, notice the redneck. Oh man, my skin is achin' and it seems to be getting worse every hour. Oh dear!

A Big Surprise!!

2009-07-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

I got the biggest surprise last Tuesday. It was 2 in the afternoon and I was taking a nap with Brett. All of the sudden I hear this pounding on the door. I wake up frantic and my heart is racing. I rush to the door and....... Hailee is there at my door. WOW! She flew all the way from Provo to Austin to spend a week with me and she totally surprised me. We had sooooo much fun, thanks sis.
Brett is sitting up like such a big boy, so I decided to have a little photo shoot with him. It was so fun! Here are some cute shots!

We Love Weekends!

2009-07-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend we decided to get out of the house. The problem is you can't be outside because it's 105 degrees plus the humidity. We try to find cheap indoor activities, this is what we came up with...

Saturday we took our vehicles and washed them, Bretty is such a good helper. The best part about the car wash is the Sonic next door. We thought we deserved some Sonic Happy Hour slushies. Those drinks are a little piece of heaven in this Texas heat.

After the car wash we headed to Cabelas to see the stuffed animals and the aquarium. I love this picture because Brett isn't even interested in the lions, he is more interested in Jeff's finger. What a goober.

Brett is 6 months old now and has a few new tricks, they include: almost sitting up, playing the piano, eating fruits and veggies, 2 teeth, and no more Binky. What a little stud.

The cutest Texas cowboy I have ever seen.

Brett has 2 teeth now, so he gets to brush his teeth. He mostly like to chew on the ruber toothbrush. Side note: look at those amazing eyes, I can't believe we made this kid.

One of our new favorite things to do is have dance parties. We pull up Pandora radio station on the computer, close the blinds, and rock out. This is us dancing to "Hotel California".

Funny Stories

2009-07-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post, but there has been nothing super duper exciting to post. So this is a post with a few funny happenings lately.

Jeff broke his glasses a while back, he was so ticked because we are trying to save every penny. We didn't want to spend our money on new glasses. So my little engineer thought he would fix them. Duct tape and zip tie, a boy's best friend. That night as we were eating dinner, someone knocked on our door and told us our truck was in a "no parking" zone and was being towed. Jeff raced out the door (with his mad scientist glasses) and jumped on the towing truck to stop the tow. Then he got in the passenger door and said "Lower the the truck down NOW"! I think Jeff scared the livin' daylights out of this guy...the truck was not towed and we have the zip tied, duct taped glasses to thank for it. P.S. Jeff has new glasses.

Brett got the most amazing package in the mail yesterday from Grandma Allen. It was full of clothes, books, toys and tissue paper. Of course he starts grabbing the tissue paper and shoving it into his mouth. (My child loves to eat paper of any kind. It reminds me of my nephew Mason who ate toilet paper as a baby). So I'm ooing and awing over the clothes and toys while Brett is eating tissue paper. I snapped back into reality and took away the tissue paper deciding he shouldn't swallow it. I put my finger in his mouth to get out the little pieces of paper and I felt something sharp! Brett has his first tooth! I felt bad I didn't even know he was teething...he is such a good baby.

This is my little buddy and the squash attack. He didn't like it that much and kept taking the sqush out of his mouth with his fingers. He was super tired so then he would rub his eyes and well there you go, that explains the clown picture!
Last night me and Jeff had a wild idea of wearing our retainers. We haven't put them in our mouths for a year and let's just say is was quite painful. We are having a contest to see who can wear it the longest. Oh baby, our teeths are achin'. But I'm not taking mine out, I gotta win the contest!

Learning to Eat

2009-06-17T18:47:00.001-07:00

At 5 and 1/2 months, we thought it was time for little Bretty to try "real" food. Well let's just say he's not gobbling it up. Here are a couple cute pics of his attempt to eat rice cereal. Mostly he just spits it out and I don't blame him, that rice cereal stuff could use a little sugar.

Our New Friends From Tanzania

2009-06-15T18:28:00.000-07:00

Elder Burton and Elder Murphy asked Jeff and I to help them teach an investigator family from Tanzania. One of the boys, Sokoza, asked Jeff to baptize him. The baptism was yesterday and it was wonderful. Afterwords we were invited to a celebration at the family's place.

Elder Murphy, Evelyn, Raziki, Valeria, Sokoza, Elder Burton, Jeff

Sokoza and Brett

Little did we know the incredible experience we were in for. Hermann cranked up the African music, telling us "Jesus like this music". Then we all started dancing and laughing and having a great time. As an appetizer we had soda, corn chips, fudge patties and butterfingers!!! YUM. I like dessert first! They are the happiest, kindest, most humble of people.

Maria, Brett and I dancing.

Mois sharing his cup of orange soda, what a little cutie!

Charlotte is such a doll.

Hightlights of our week with Hails!

2009-06-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

My sister Hails was able to come to Texas and stay an entire week with us...it was so much fun. We were constantly going and going. Here are the top 5 highlights of our week!

1. The bats at Congress Bridge - It is so crazy...every night at sundown 1.5 million Mexican bats take flight for their night-time feast. I'm no bat fan, but this is really incredible and quite breathtaking site. Warning: the bat poopy is very stinky!

2. Mount Bonnell - This is the highest point in Austin city limits. The best part is there are only 102 stairs to get to the top! This is about as high as mountains get here in Texas!

Our little king of Texas

Driving home from Mount Bonnell I spotted this beauty sitting on this rock wall. I was able to get quite close before it got spooked and hopped down.

3. Lake Travis - We were able to spend Saturday cooking burgers on a grill at the park in Lake Travis. Then we went for a dip in the water which stays at a perfect 80 degree temp.

Nothing cuter than a baby's naked, cottage cheese bum!

Can you tell we are sisters?

4. San Antonio Temple - Hails was kind enough to watch little Bretty and our friend's daughter while we went to the temple! It is a beautiful temple with lots of stained glass!

5. The Alamo and Riverwalk in San Antonio - Hailee's last day in Texas we spent sightseeing. The Alamo is quite a site to see. Pee-Wee Herman's bike is supposedly in the basment, but I don't think there is a basement to the Alamo.
This is me and Bretty on the Riverwalk. This river winds in downtown San Antonio with beautiful folage, bridges, and waterfalls.

Barton Springs and Botanical Gardens

2009-05-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

We headed out on a beautiful and hot Saturday afternoon to cool down at Barton Springs. The water was a little chilly, but felt good in the hot sun. Brett loved it for about 20 minutes and he was done. He liked laying on the grass eating his towel a lot more. After the water we went for a walk in the Botanical Gardens. They were beautiful and green with lots of blooming flowers and waterfalls. Brett got kind of bored and fell asleep. We ended the evening with yummy burgers on the grill.

New Tricks and New Ward

2009-05-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

New Tricks
So little Brett finally learned how to roll over. I put him on his tummy for some tummy time. The next thing I know he is on his back playing. It's crazy how fast they learn and develop. He also loves to sit in his Bumbo and look at himself in the mirror. I was brushing my teeth and watching him and he was being so silly. He kept doing this motion of throwing his hands up in the air and then pounding them down on the bumbo seat! He probably did this 30 times in one setting. It was hilarious!

New Ward
We love our new ward in Texas. It is different from any ward we've ever attended. Last Sunday, Ty Detmer spoke in sacrament meeting (he was a quarterback in the NFL) and apparently he is in our Stake Young Men's Presidency. On our way home today the Elders asked us if we could give a family a ride home. Jeff and I and our friends the Whites gave a ride home to 7 kids from Tanzania and 1 man from Congo. The 7 kids from Tanzania woke up, got ready and walked to church for 9am sacrament meeting. They stayed for all 3 hours and come to find out they're investigators! We were very impressed by the faith of these children.

Texas

2009-05-18T20:09:00.001-07:00

I think he really likes his crab, right when we put him in it he started to kick and his floatie kept spinning in circles. He is such a fun little boy. He is laughing all the time and always smiling. His newest tricks include: lots of drool, laughing, grabbing toys and putting them right in his mouth, pounding his chest and grabbing Daddy's bowl of raisin bran and throwing it on himself and Daddy! Yeah for Bretty.

This is the pool of our apartment complex. We are so close to downtown Austin, we live on a lake, and everything is green!!! So far I haven't seen any cockroaches, so life is good.

Road Trip

2009-05-18T19:36:00.001-07:00

After 1350 miles, 4 days and over 25 hours in the car, we finally made it to our destination: Austin, Texas. We moved with our good friends Phil, Emily and Saira who is one year old. It was a long trip for the babies, but overall they did pretty good. We took four days to break up the time in the car and we were able to make a few fun stops.

750 feet into the Carlsbad Caverns.

Our favorite Carlsbad Cavern tour guide.

Most of New Mexico looks like this. We drove through Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and finally Texas. No offense to any New Mexico lovers, but that state is not so pretty. In fact it's very hot, dry, flat and brown from north to east to south to west. Colorado is a very colorful and beautiful state. Austin is not exactly what we expected. It is very lush and green, almost tropical.

National Geographic worthy

2009-05-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

I know I am kind of bias, but my dad is a pretty sweet photographer. I think National Geographic should hire him. This is Dad, Jeff and Hailee's trip to Yellowstone from Dad's perspective.

I guess this bear was digging in the dirt for some grub and this crow kept bugging him. Silly crow...I wouldn't be messing with a hungry grizzly.

Yellowstone hot pots....nice and sulfery.

The water running off the log looks a lot like a teethbrush! I call it a teethbrush, because I have more than one tooth.

And finally my favorite pic. This is an amazing pic, this buffalo still has morning frost on his coat! Great shot Dad!

Sand Hollow

2009-05-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

We met Jeff's family halfway in southern Utah for a fun quading trip to Sand Hollow. We had 2 RV's and 14 people, which made for a cozy night! It was beautiful weather and beautiful scenery. We spent a lot of time outside the RV's in camping chairs just talking. The lake was awesome and we were able to go kayaking and play in the sand. Some people even took baths in the lake. The rest of the time was spent going quading on sand trails and to the dunes, we even took a few night rides which were pretty awesome.

I am a great passenger rider. The truth is I don't really know how to ride one myself and I'm not that interested in learning how.

Jeffrey

Jeffrey cooking breakfast (french toast) for everybody!

Bretty feeling the sand beneath his toes for the first time.

Desert flower. Sand Hollow is full of these pretty little flowers, cactus, sagebrush and of course SAND. Red sand everywhere, I am still finding it everywhere. Jeff's little sister caught a lizzard, and we saw jack rabbits and bugs. It really is beautiful...a different kind of beauty, a rugged beauty.

Final Trip to Idaho

2009-05-05T07:16:00.001-07:00

We decided to visit both families before we take off to Texas for a year. Our first weekend trip was to Idaho. It was so good (and sad) to see everybody one last time. We were able to spend a lot of time playing games (catch phrase, mindtrap, sudoku, jumprope, sockscotch). We had a birthday party for Mason who turned 9.
We managed to get family pictures taken. Picture day is always madness with everybody running around changing clothes or fixing make-up or hair. Everybody is making funny noises to try and get babies to smile, it's actually kind of miserable, but somehow you get the picture back and everybody looks so happy and perfect!
Jeff, Dad and Hails went to Yellowstone park and saw a bunch of wildlife, they also managed to get Dad's new car head butted by a buffalo. Overall it was a great weekend and we were sad to leave.

Bretty and Bruddy (two very close and confusing nicknames)

Wolf print on the side of the road.

An awesome shot by Jeff.

Brett's first quad ride...I can't believe I let Jeff take him on a quad ride.

Bretty and Uncle Dave (they share the same birthday)

Family Night Fishing Trip

2009-04-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

We decided to take little Bretty fishing for the first time. It was a beautiful day in the 70's so we packed up and headed to the Provo trail.

I am so excited for Spring so things don't look like this.

This is more like it.... hooray for spring. This is a perfect popcorn tree.

Me and Brett hiked down from the Provo trail with Jeff to the river, we wanted our turn for a little fishing.

Gorgeous colors.

This is Brett eating the wind. It is so cute, it totally takes his breath away.

Unfortunately after a beautiful day of fishing, we got skunked, poor Bretty still has not seen a live fish.

Tired of fishing. Brett started to get fussy on our walk back to the truck, so I popped in his Binky and he fell asleep in 2 seconds. He was totally gone.

25 Random Things about Lindsay

2009-04-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by two people (Mallory and Alissa) at the same time, so I decided to combine this tag. 25 random things about me with the first 10 being my favorite things starting with the letter D.

1. Dudes... especially of the Jeff and Bretty variety.
2. Dads... love you Daddy.
3. Daisies... they are a bright and friendly flower.
4. Dilly Bars... butterscotch flavor from Dairy Queen, my favorite treat in the whole world.
5. Dunanda Falls... a nine mile hike in to this beautiful waterfall. It's only a stream that runs off, so you can climb the rocks and play in the waterfall. The best part is the natural hot springs that are perfect hot tub temperatures. You heat up in these hot pots and the mist from the waterfall cools you down...it's dreamy.
6. Dill Pickles... you know how they say pregnant women love pickles, well it's true, I was totally addicted to pickles while I was prego.
7. December... I don't particularly love the weather, but I love the Christmas season and Jeff and I were married in December, so it's a special month for me.
8. Disposable Diapers... I know I was born at this time, so I could take part in the disposable diaper miracle. I am so happy cloth diapers are a thing of the past.
9. Dove... I love dove hair products, body wash, and the chocolate.
10. Diesel jeans... especially my $5 pair from DownEast Outfitters Outlet.

11. I got my first journal for Christmas in 1994, I am still writing in the same journal.
12. I am 100% left handed, I can't do anything with my right hand. When I try to write with my right hand it looks like a 5 year old's handwriting.
13. I used to run track in high school. Our high school was so small we didn't even have a track, and we trained most of spring cross country skiing in farmers fields.
14. I learned how to drive stick shift on a 10 wheeler potato truck. I participated in potato harvest all through high school. We got out of school for 2 weeks for the harvest.
15. I don't have a pinky toe nail.
16. I am kind of a clean freak. I do spring cleaning 5 times throughout the year. My rule is: If I haven't seen it, touched it, used it, or worn it within the last year, it's gone.
17. When I was 14 years old, my family went on a vacation to the Oregon Coast. We drove through a tiny town named Brogan, Oregon. I fell in love with the name and decided I would name one of my future sons Brogan.
18. I want 6 kids in 10 years. I have it all figured out... I just have to get pregnant when each baby is 9 months old. They would all be 18 months apart. Haha, we'll see.
19. Jeff and I are one of those nerdy couples who don't have a TV. I don't know why but for some reason I feel like I am wasting valuable time... I'd rather be sleeping.
20. I used to be a janitor at a movie theater. Hey, it got me and a friend in to movies for $1.
21. When I met Jeff for the first time, I though he was obnoxious (mostly his laugh)...haha. Now I absolutely love him and I love his laugh, it's contagious.
22. I have participated in a few triathlons (swim, bike, run). The last one Jeff and I did together, he beat me by only two minutes.
23. I am a registered nurse, and I love working with adults. My favorite is working in the orthopedic unit.
24. I haven't had a soda for 1 year and 4 months. My dentist told me that my teeth are so fragile, and the soda was eating my teeth away. Ahh, scary. So I stopped.
25. Every time I go to the dentist I have 5-10 cavities. I brush and floss everyday, what's up with that?

All Shook Up

2009-04-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

All Shook Up tells the story of a square little town in the middle of a square state in the middle of a square decade where a lonely young girl dreams of hitting the open road. Into her life rides a gorgeous guitar-playin' roustabout who changes everything. This musical uses songs from Elvis Presley and is a rockin' good time! I went and saw the play with my sister Hails and sister-in-law Shelby. It was so much fun and the actors were amazing. It was playing at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. If any of you have the chance to go, do because it is a great time!

Brett's Blessing Weekend

2009-04-06T12:30:00.001-07:00

Brett was blessed on March 29, 2009. We are so grateful to everyone that was able to come and support us! It was a really fun weekend with about 40 people here. On Saturday we went to Jump On It in Lindon. It is so much fun, the little kids had a blast. From there we went to the Lehi aquatic center. That place is amazing for little kids, big kids and adults. It was a fun filled adventurous day. We were all pooped out by the end of the day. We had a barbecue that night at Jason and Rachel's house (Jeff's aunt and uncle), they were so kind to host the big crew. Here is a slide show of the fun day!

2 Month Stats

2009-03-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

Little Bretty is now 2months old and received an A+ from the Dr's office.
Height: 24 inches (90th %)
Weight: 12 lbs 12.5 oz (75th %)
Head: 40.2 cm (60%)
For only being 19.5 inches at birth, he has really gotten long fast! Way to go Brett!
He got his immunizations and did pretty good. As a nurse I thought I'd be able to handle seeing him get his shots, I mean for heaven sake, I have given tiny babies shots, but it's a totally different ball game when it's your own baby...I didn't cry, but I wanted to.

Brett is as sweet as ever, some of his new tricks include: blowing bubbles and lots of slobber, licking everything, smiling and cooing especially for Grandma and Dad (some of his two favorite people) and sleeping 7-8 hours at a time at night!

We drove to Idaho for my Dad's 50th birthday party and we had a great time with the fam. It has been a long time since all of my siblings Dave, Nate, James, Trever, Hails and I were all together with all our kids. Families are the best of friends!

Grandma and Trever spoiling little Bretty with love and kisses.

Jeff, Trever and Brett in Boise State gear! Thanks Grandma for the awesome outfit!

Brett is so much fun and he is smiling so much, but the mojority of the time he pulls some pretty funny faces.

Little Brett helping Mommy with laundry. He is such a good helper, I'm so happy to have him.

5 Weeks

2009-02-28T11:15:00.001-08:00

My brother James took these awesome shots! Thanks James, you are the best. This is Brett at 5 weeks...he is such a little stud muffin. Brett is now 7 weeks old. We took him to the Draper Temple open house and he loved it. He was wide eyed and very alert, I think he felt right at home. One lady at the temple asked how old he was and we told her 7 weeks. She said he was the youngest and best behaved visitor, we were so proud. The temple is gorgeous, I loved the paintings inside, there are a lot of new modern paintings. It was a fun little family outing.

I am attempting sleep training with little Brett. All the books say you should put them in their crib when they are drowsy, but awake so they learn how to fall asleep on their own. Well I try this with every nap and he wakes right up once I lay him down. He doesn't cry he just grunts and wiggles out of his swaddle and can't fall back to sleep. HELP! So to all you fabulous experienced moms, I need some tips! Thanks so much!

Learning How To Smile

2009-02-24T19:40:00.000-08:00

This is little Bretty looking at Jeff and trying to copy his smile. I love the concentration on the first pic, it really looks like he's looking and Jeff's face and saying ok, I can do this.

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T12:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day to my two favorite boys in the whole wide world. I love watching them together, it is so sweet.
Brett's plaid shirt is size 9 months, but I walked into the room and that is what Jeffrey had dressed him in, this little boy will be hunting and fishing before we know it.
Jeff loves having tummy time with Bretty on his chest, and often times the baby falls asleep. I think he like the vibrations when Jeff talks and sings.
Jeff tries to have scripture study with Bretty, but he's not very interested!
Little Bretty is growing so much, he is 5 weeks old today! Hooray, he is still alive, I must be doing something right! He is starting to get little fat pads on his fingers and rolls on his thighs! He is sleeping well, about 4-5 hours at a time at night, and that makes for a very happy mommy. He is starting to smile and coo and tell us stories, when he gets excited he starts breathing like crazy, it is hilarious. Jeff and I could just sit on the bed and watch him for hours. I haven't been able to catch a smile on the camera yet, but I will post more pics as soon as I get them, his smile melts my heart.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

2009-02-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

I am so proud of Jeffrey. He has been accepted to the most challenging and best MBA in entrepreneurship in the nation. It is called the Acton school of business and is located in Austin, TX (www.actonmba.org). The program starts in May and is lasts 1 year with 90-100 hour weeks. That pretty much means I don't have a husband for a year, but we are so excited for this school, it has everything we are looking for. They have a different approach to learning, their 3 pillars are 1. learn how to learn 2. learn how to make money 3. learn how to live a life of meaning. How cool is that!!!

"...so let the sun shine in..."

2009-02-03T13:49:00.001-08:00

Bretty and I are kind of stuck in doors for a while. The weather is beautiful... blue skies, 40 degrees, but the air quality is so bad I can't take him out yet. So we open all the blinds in our basement apartment and soak up as much Vit D as possible, and sing "So let the sun shine in". It seems to help!!!
In some of my spare time I am trying to learn how to use my new camera. I'm not a professional, but Bretty has such a cute face, he makes the pics good. He is such a good baby, he will just hang out while I dance around him with the camera taking shots!

New Experiences

2009-02-03T13:09:00.000-08:00

Poor little Brett, his Mommy and Daddy are very inexperienced in the baby department. Everyone warned us, "...just wait until he poops all the way up his back." After two weeks, we thought he hasn't done it yet, maybe he won't. And then it came...haha. Thank goodness Daddy was home because it took both of us and the shower to get cleaned up. So to all of you experienced parents, how you get the clothes off without getting all the poopy on his back and hair??

Bretty Boy

2009-01-20T17:41:00.000-08:00

Little Brett is changing so much. His eyes get bigger everyday!

10 days old and sweet as ever. This is the 4th outfit of the day. I can't seem to stop him from peeing on all his clothes, a true boy.

Jeff's family flew from Temecula, California to see sweet baby Brett. They just loved the new grandbaby.

2009-01-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

Stretch!!

Jeffrey was so tired so I told him to go take a nap. He wanted to nap with his baby boy, so I took Brett in on his Boppy pillow. Then I heard a little squeak and Jeff was moving him to be right next to him. They napped for about 1hr and I got this priceless shot.

He is such a sweet tempered little boy, and very patient with his first time parents.

2009-01-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

This is my midwife and nurse. They were amazing, it was the most calm and quiet delivery.

Jeffrey finally gets his baby boy he's been waiting patiently for.

A very tired but happy mommy!

A perfect boy!

2009-01-15T11:56:00.000-08:00

Baby Brett

Brett Louis Neeley was born January 10th, 2009 at 8:43 pm. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and was 19.5 inches long. That's just how I like my boys a little short and stocky! It's so crazy that he came on his due date...that never happens!

So here is the story: Friday night Jeff and I went to a movie (Seven Pounds) and then we came home and we were bored, so we stayed up until 11 pm playing Yahtzee and I got the highest score I have ever gotten...499. We went to bed and I woke up at 3am with my first ever contraction, I never got the braxton hicks or false labor. I had contractions 5 min apart for 6hrs and I worked through them at home with Jeff at my side encouraging me, he was so sweet! Jeff and I went on a walk around the block, and checked in to the hospital at 9am and they admitted me. I tried to be tough and do as much as I could without the epidural. By 1:30 I was ready for it and boy are they magic! I was able to rest and prepare for the final part. At 7:30 I was completely dialated and ready to push. My midwife asked Jeff to catch the baby!! He kind of got pale and sick to his stomach, but with a little encouragement and a prayer he agreed. At 8:43 Jeff brought our little baby into the world and handed him to me. It was the most amazing experience I have ever had. I have to thank my coaches Jeff, Mom and Hails.

Here is the picture they took in the hospital, more pics to come!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-23T09:52:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone. This is our Christmas card picture that never got sent out. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Love Jeff, Lindsay and baby Brett.

Two Year Anniversary! December 22, 2006

2008-12-22T14:56:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I have been married for two years, and I still really like him! These are some photos from our wedding. We had our dinner at an awesome airplane museum. The day before our wedding it was warm with no snow on the ground, Jeff went hunting for his bachelor party. That night in snowed tons!! It made for a perfect white wedding with fresh snow everywhere! Thank goodness I had that awesome cape!

The reception was beautiful, I had tons of Christmas trees with white twinkle lights. It really was a perfect day. My mom was such a good sport doing my whole wedding only 3 days before Christmas.
Jeff and I are happily married and we are excited to add to member to our little family in a couple weeks!

2008-12-16T19:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!
It officially feels like Christmas with all the beautiful snow! We wish we could be home for the holidays, but we have to stay close. The baby is only weeks away, and there are a lot of wide open spaces, with no hospitals, from Orem to Idaho. I work Christmas morning, then we plan to spend Christmas afternoon with Jeff's aunt and uncle in Draper.
I had a Dr appt today and everything is perfect... except that I'm dialated to a zero, how depressing! haha. I guess our little boy will come when he's good and ready.

Christmas Dance

2008-12-16T18:56:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The Baby!

2008-09-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

So I have been wondering what is out baby boy going to look like. This is the little babe when I was 10 weeks along. Well I found this sweet picture of Jeffrey when he was 1 week old. If our little Brett looks anything like his Daddy, I'd say we have a handsome stud on board.