Lil B's Half Birthday

6 months! Can you believe it?! Today my sweet babe is 6 months old! These past 6 months have flown by, it feels like I blinked and here we are. It sounds silly to be so excited about this little milestone in Brylee's life but I can't help it. Our lives have changed so much in such a short amount of time and I can honestly say I don't know how I ever lived without her sweet spirit and contagious smile. It so crazy how when you become a mom the love you have for your baby is unlike anything you've ever known before. I never understood the love my own mom had for me until I had Brylee. It's impossible to describe but it really is the best. It really makes me feel like I was born to be a mom and I love every minute of it.

Anyone who has met Brylee knows she is not just adorable in pictures, she has the best personality. She loves to laugh and smile, she will laugh at you just because you are laughing. She loves everyone and it's so neat to think of how she see's everyone, to her we are all perfect, no flaws, no mistakes, she loves us just as much no matter what we do or say. Recently she has started to give hugs, I love her hugs, they feel like her own lil way of saying I love you. Since she can't talk yet I guess these lil hugs and smiles will have to do all the talking. She has the sweetest loving spirit and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for her. I feel so blessed to be her mama, it really is the most wonderful perfect gift I could ever ask for. Each week I get to see her change and grow, it's crazy how quickly they learn.  She has started to roll all over the house, she can drink water out of a straw from a cup, she raises her hands towards you when she wants you to pick her up or take her, and she dances when her favorite show plays her favorite song. Brylee is always changing, each week is an adventure, and I love watching her become her own lil person. She really is the best, I could not have dreamt up a more perfect baby.

Stewart is the best daddy ever. We don't see him for half the week because of our work schedules but when he comes home it is the cutest thing to see how excited Brylee gets to see him. They laugh and play together and it melts my heart how much she loves her dad and the love he has for her. I love when he randomly turns to me and says we have the best baby. He would do anything just to see her smile. I love that! 

Oh SO grateful

So this is going to be one of those post that get mushy gushy but I just really wanted to express how grateful I am for the wonderful people I have in my life. Especially those who have made these last few months so special to me.

First my wonderful sweet husband. This past few months has definitely been busy but he has been there by my side all the way. Stewart has started working again and he works 13 hour and 20 minute shifts, so I literally do not see him for three whole days. I'm new at this mom stuff so being alone for three days can be a little scary. I don't know how single mamas do it because sometimes you just need a break. Last week Brylee was not feeling well, literally if she was not eating or sleeping she was screaming for almost three days straight. It broke my heart to see her that way and of course it was on the days Stewart worked so he would get up at 4:15am and then get home around 8pm... After two days of listening to my sweet baby crying non stop Stewart came home and I was in tears, just exhausted, unable to accomplish anything, sick to my stomach, and feeling incapable of being a good mama because I couldn't calm my sad baby. Usually on nights like this Stewart will eat and go right to bed, so that way if he is lucky he can get a few hours of sleep before having to get up for another 13 hour shift, but that night was different. When he got home he saw the tears in my eyes as I held onto our screaming baby, and one of the first things he said was lets give her a blessing. He took her from me and placed his hands on her head and gave her a sweet blessing. He took care of her the rest of the night as she cried for a few more hours before finally going to sleep. Such a simple thing but it meant the world to me. It meant so much to me that my husband was willing to put aside what he needed for what I needed. But that is just the type of man he is, always willing to serve... He is such a good example to me of what unconditional love is. He is such a good daddy and I am so lucky to have him by my side. I love to watch him with Brylee and the way her face lights up after a whole day of not seeing him. I don't know how I would have gotten through this past month and a half without him and I will forever be grateful for the love and happiness he brings to my life. He makes me feel so special.

I'm grateful for my sweet sweet baby. I thought I knew what love was and then I met her. She is the best thing ever. It's so amazing that my heavenly father trust me with this sweet lil life. I am so grateful. Being a mom is different than anything you can explain to anyone, I think it's one of those things that is impossible to understand until you go through it. You will never understand the type of love and adoration until you are a parent yourself. I have such a new respect for moms and all that they do. Brylee is such a good baby. She is so smart. From the day she was born she was looking around, holding her head up. She can scoot on her tummy if you give her a lil help she can go across a whole blanket. She is amazing. Her smile will melt your heart. I'm so so in love and so so grateful for my little angel. Before she was born we struggled to know when we should have a baby, and after praying about it for awhile we decided that heavenly father would know when the right time would be for us. How true that is. She came at the perfect time for us, and I am so grateful that we were able to put our trust in heavenly father so he could ultimately bless our family with our wonderful baby.

I'm grateful for my parents. I could not even create a list with every single thing they have done for our family, there would just be too many things to list. They do things without us even asking them to and I don't think they will ever understand how grateful we are to them. These past few months have been tough because I haven't been working and they have walked in the door with arms full of groceries. They never boast or say we need to pay them back, they just do it out of love. They are so selfless and loving and it means the world to us. I will forever be grateful to heavenly father for giving me parents who care about me and my family so much. They have taught me a lot about service and caring for those you love. I love them so much.

We definitely appreciate all our friends and families love and support. We have had so many wonderful visitors these past two months. Everyone has been so sweet! I have never felt so overwhelmed with gratitude for the wonderful people we have in our lives. I'm grateful for the tender mercies of the lord, I have learned so much in this short period of time. We are so unbelievable blessed.

Oh Those Summer Days...

So it has been awhile since we updated the blog, so we figured we would give all our friends and family an update! 

First, baby girl is officially 30 weeks! 75% baked! Or as I like to say, negative 10 weeks old :) She is as adorable as ever, kicking and squirming around. There is nothing I love more then feeling her move. We had a 3D ultrasound last week and it was pretty much the coolest thing EVER! She was being a lil stinker so we didn't get any pictures, and have to go back next week but just seeing her lil face made me fall even more in love with her. I'm kind of excited we get to go back because technically that's just another time we get to see our lil babe. So we officially have had 4 ultrasounds now and EVERY single ultrasound she has her hands by her face! We think she must be obsessed with those suckers because she always has them all cuddled up by her mouth or chin. The only thing we really did get to see was her adorable cheeks, they are ready for some squeezing and kissing that's for sure. I'm counting down the days till we get to see her again, these months have seemed to fly, only two months left! Can you believe it?!

Stewart has been doing fabulous in the police academy. It definitely has not been an easy journey but I have enjoyed watching him grow and better himself. He only has two months left in the academy too. (I know baby and graduation a lil too close together for comfort) I'm so proud of him. I will brag about him because if you knew everything he does for me you would be amazed. He has been my strength through this pregnancy and has still managed to deal with everything he is going through as well. The long nights of writing million word essays and waking up at 3:30a will soon be worth it when he graduates. I cannot wait till that moment. 

Also, we are moving! One thing I will miss about our adorable lil apartment is seeing the Gilbert temple grow everyday. We live right down the street from it and so pulling out of the complex everyday if you look to your left you can see it. Talk about starting your day off right..We are moving from Gilbert to Queen Creek. It will be nice to be close to my parents when the baby comes and also nice to finally have a house. We got extremely lucky on the house we found. It's perfect for us. We love the area we live in now but Queen Creek just worked out so well for us that we didn't really have much of a choice. We are very excited though and can't wait to start this new adventure in our new home. :) 

So YES we will be moving, celebrating our year anniversary, graduating the Police Academy, and having a baby girl, all within the next two months! Wish us luck! We will need it! 

This may sound silly but I am proud of this brick. This sucker was hard to make! Basically Stewart's class got punished and had to carry a brick around with them for a couple weeks. Every person's brick needed to have their first intial, last name, and class # and then name again on the side in 1 inch black block lettering perfectly centered to the point where if you measured it on any of the sides they would all be equal.... And yes at the police academy they do bust out rulers for this stuff and measure it... So block lettering means buying stencils. Black lettering means sharpies. Sharpies means you cant mess up or you will be forced to use sand paper to sand your mistake off the brick. I took on this task myself because my husband is not known for having the best hand writing or crafting skills, not only that but I try to help him out as much as possible, and there is few task I can actually help with besides shining his shoes. After a long night working on the brick without any mistakes, I showed my husband, at that time he decided to informed me that his class number was "464" not "434" like I had written on his brick... I'm not gonna lie, I cried, I'm pregnant and had worked SO hard to make this dumb brick perfect... At that time we busted out the sand paper and redid all the numbers.. It all ended well though because my husband was one of two people who didn't get in trouble for how bad their brick looked. His was used as the example. I was pretty proud of myself, let's just say its not easy to make a perfect brick.

Creepy lil baby we found at the baby store. I guess it weighs as much as really baby so you can test the car seats? Looks like this could be Stewart's child if you ask me haha 

Practicing... :)

The one place that keeps us going. We love the temple :)

25 weeks! 

Our lil munchkins! Being a sunbeams teacher is a lot of fun.

Everyone deserves a good love note. When times get hard and the going gets tough my hubs never fails to make me feel like a million bucks. We have a dry erase marker in our bathroom specifically for notes like this. Yes ladies, these guys are out there and I'm so lucky to have mine.

One of two pics we got at last weeks ultrasound. Not 3D but you can still see her lil face. Check out those lil lips... sighhh... I'm in love with this lil human. She is perfect.

Love Always,

{The Ferrins}

{Our Baby Story}

HELLO LIL BABY

In January we found out we were having a baby! Due September 25th! So we are about 17 weeks along and should know the sex of the baby in about a week and a half! Our own bouncing sweet precious baby. We are excited, nervous, ecstatic, nervous, so blessed, and so nervous. Everyone always dreams of the day they will have their own sweet baby but now that the day is fastly approaching, the reality of it all is quickly settling in. As many of you know Stewart's schedule has been very crazy this year. He gets the pleasure of working the 9pm-7am night shifts as a 911 dispatcher and on a Saturday night in January I was home alone while he was at work. I decided to take a pregnancy test. I didn't expect it to come back with those two lil pink lines that say your pregnant and when it did I may have freaked out just a little bit. We hadn't necessary planned to have a baby right away but we also weren't completely oppose to it either. We knew that heavenly father knew when we would be ready to be parents. Seeing those lil pink lines made me question that for a few minutes though. Was I ready to be a mom? I was just barely mastering the skill of being a good wife, there is no way I was capable of being responsible for another human being... But those scary thoughts quickly went away when I told my sweet husband about our lil baby. Since he was at work when I found all this out I had to keep this secret all night long. Talk about no sleep! I didn't want to just blurt it out in a text, and he cant talk on the phone, so I was forced to wait till morning. Longest night of my life. Since I couldn't sleep I spent the night coming up with a clever way to break the news to him. I decided to make a little video. It said first comes love and had pictures of us while we had dated, then comes marriage, and pics of our wedding day, and after that it said and then comes the baby and it had a picture of the positive pregnancy test. So at 7:30 the next morning when my hubby came home (looking like a zombie, cause he had no sleep). I told him I had a surprise for him. I think at first he thought I was semi-crazy, who makes a random video for their spouse for no reason with a bunch of pics he'd seen a million times before?! I do! I told him he wasn't aloud to say anything until the video was over because he needed to watch the WHOLE thing. Being a good sport he sat down and watched the video. When it got to the part that said and then comes marriage, it all clicked. He immediately said "NO WAY! I know what this is, I don't need to see the rest." (side note: You see, I'm not a very good at keeping exciting secrets, and when this video was playing I was crying like a baby the whole time, probably hormones and impatient excitement to see his reaction but I think my face probably gave it away too.) So when he realized exactly what the video was about my tears turned quickly into sobs. When he finally looked at me he had tears in his eyes too and gave me a big hug. Ah finally someone to share my special secret with. :) 

One of the best feelings in the world, okay I take that back, TWO of the best feelings in the world are hearing that baby's heart beat for the first time and seeing it wiggle round in an ultrasound for the first time. It never gets old! I could watch it move and listen to that quick thump thump all day long. So baby is completely healthy so far. The first trimester was a whirl wind of sickness.. I don't think I felt good for more then a few hours for at least two months. It was never one thing. It was always a mix of nausea, back/neck pain, and tummy aches.. Not fun at all. Now that we are in the second trimester we have moved on to headaches and body aches. Oh and killer painful charlie horses in the middle of the night! But much better then the first trimester because if I'm lucky sometimes I have really good days where I feel great! The funniest part of this whole pregnancy is the fact that Stewart experiences a lot of pregnancy symptoms too. He has cravings, his body will ache, and on occasion he gets a lil moody, which is completely unlike him at all. I blame the mixture of hormones floating around and the terrible night shift he works that messes him up so much. But I always get a good laugh when he tell me something he is experiencing and he blames it on the fact we're pregnant... as if he is carrying this lil baby too or something. Hahaha! It doesn't bother me too much though because he helps take care of me so much that I think giving him his lil cravings and things helps me feel like I'm not the only crazy one here. It's nice that he can sympathize with a little bit of this pregnancy madness... 

POSITIVE TEST!!! 

First doctor appointment! Excuse the graphic poster in the background. Haha!

12 WEEK BUMP!

15 weeks! :)

 Our lil peanut! You can see it's lil alien face!

Being pregnant is EXHAUSTING... :) 

 He likes to sit on the floor and I like the couch, this is how we compromise, yup thats my leg hahaha!

Paige's (my co-worker) depiction of what happens when a baby comes haha!

I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS MAN :)

A close to 2011

So Saturday, Dec 31, 2011 Bree and I took a 355 mile trip to visit her brother Ashton.

Now before I go into our day, let me warn you that I like sharing details and pictures of things that arent really the most important or exciting parts of storys, or in this case, our trip.... non the least, sit back and enjoy!

We had such a great time on our trip. We left around 10 am and headed towards Payson... the drive was nice and we made some pretty good time... of course we wanted to make it there safe, but it helps when there was light traffic and no highway patrol on the road.  We made a little pit stop at the Mcdonalds, bathroom break and then headed on to Show Low. We stopped at Walmart and bought some flowers, and some gloves to play in the snow.  We then proceded to Pinetop-Lakeside to visit Ashton. 

  While standing at his grave watching my wife place flowers at his headstone, I felt that he was right there. While I have never met him, that wonderful spirit I felt let me know what kind of guy he was and I long for the day that I get to grab him by the hand and pull him in for a big hug! Even though he isn't physically here with us, he still is making an impact on people, especially those that never knew him. I'm so grateful that my wife Bree wanted to make that trip!

So after a nice visit with Ashton, we drove around and saw Bree's great grand parents house, or at least where they used to live when they were alive.  Right across the street was the Pinetop-Lakeside Police Dept. Brees's dad used to work for the Police Dept there and as some of you know I like to make diecast police cars and so I had to take the opportunity to take some pictures.  I went inside, talked to a dispatcher who checked with the Sgt and then I was given the okay, to walk around to the back and snap some shots.... granted, not the coolest looking police cars, but I just had to post a pic....  We then went to Grumpy Jakes BBQ which is apparently the BEST BBQ is Pinetop-Lakeside.... and I have to agree!

The trip then consisted with a imprompute snow fight on the side of the US 60 a couple miles outside of Showlow..... we then enjoyed a nice ride on the way home.  We were really the only ones on the road which was nice to be able to drive at a nice pace and still have some sight seeing.  We happened to pass a Highway Patrol officer.  He drove past us in the opposite dirrection, and as soon as we passed, I saw him pull off to the side, flip a U-turn, activate his lights and start to come behind us.  Up and to this point in my life, I have NEVER had a ticket..... It was a 55 MPH zone, and I had to only of been doing 63 MPH which isnt that big of a deal..... SO...... here he comes, lights and sirens on and stops.... the guy behind us!  I still have my unbroken record! We had a quick stop in Globe.  I say quick becuase the restaurant we wanted to eat at was closed, I guess thats what happens when you try and eat on New Years Eve. We looked around for other places but some of them were so scary looking, we decided to just keep on going.  Of course, We drove right by the Globe Police Dept and I took some advantage of some pics there..... There is this really old Train out in front, so Bree and I took some pics with it.

We came back into town and ended up at her parents house to bring in the New Year. We had steak, corn, potatoes, candy, chips and dip, and apple cider.  We watched Paul Blart, Mall Cop and played a game called "Mexican Train"..... not sure if you know what it is, but is a matching game with dominos pieces.....

Now Bree and I have some great times and being married for the last 3 1/2 months have been so much fun!  This year has been great....!  Ive been sealed to the love of my life and I wouldnt want to be married to anyone else!  We both were blessed with job improvements, Bree got a promotion, and Im finally working for a Police Dept with has been so much fun and totally awesome.  Mitchell came home from his Mission, Bree and I finally got callings in the church, Bree is teaching the 3 year old sunbeams, and Im a ward missionary.... 

 2012 should be an awesome year.  So far it has been great!  Bree and I are at the close of a 4 day weekend together, we have been able to grow together, get to know eachother more, and love eachother more. We have had so much fun, trips, shopping, family, friends, heck we even moved our bed out in the family room and had a movie night! I can only assume that it will continue on this year....!  :)

What will 2012 bring?  I dont know, but whatever it is im really excited, especially since it will be right along side with my beautiful wife Bree! I love you sweetie!

Oh The Holidays :)

Stewart has been having bunches of fun at his new job! It is right up his alley and he is finally doing something he enjoys! It's so nice to see him so happy and excited to go to work. He has been answering 911 call and doing a little bit of dispatching. Working for a university is a lot different than a city because he has a lot of responsibilities and does things that cities don't normally do. He even took a 911 call about a guy who got robbed at the dorms and they ended up talking about it on the news. It was fun to see him get all excited about it. He's too cute. His schedule has been weird but we have adjusted and I know it has made us appreciate the time we actually do get to have with each other. It's been such a wonderful blessing.

So our adventure into our new ward at church has been interesting. It seems no one has talked to us because we live in "the apartments"... Apparently the apartments are all the newly weds who come and go and are pretty much invisible. We are used to having a lot of responsibility in our ward and knowing everyone and everything. So it was a weird transition from the best ward ever to a family ward where everyone has kids and seems much older than you. Finally, after three months of being in the ward we got a visit from some guys in our bishopric. They gave us callings. YAY! We were ready to serve and finally get to know people. I  was called to be a primary teacher and teach our 3 year old sunbeams! They are so darling and innocent and I am so excited to get started. I think they gave me this calling in an attempt to make me baby hungry or something because kids seem so appealing when your able to give them back to their parents at the end of the day. :) Stewart got called to be a ward missionary. We think its because the ward mission leaders name is Stewart too and he seemed to be the only one who would say "hi" to us on Sundays. Stewart is excited. He served a mission in Chile and has been home since May 2010. He is a wonderful missionary.  He is a great teacher and has so much knowledge about the gospel. For those of you who don't know Stewart, he is great with words and has a way of making it easy to understand. :)

We are super duper excited for Christmas! I am really NOT good at keeping surprises a secret. I love buying gifts for people. It's so fun to get them something they really want or need. I already bought all my husband's gifts. Let's just say he is a little bit spoiled. This is our first Christmas as a married couple and I went a little over board. All his presents are already wrapped and under the tree. He only knows what one present is and it's SO hard to wait till Christmas to let him see what the rest are. He is much more patient then me. We balance each other out.

This year we decided to start a new tradition! We went to the mall and picked out "Christmas Angels". That's were you basically pick a kid and go buy them what they want for Christmas. These are usually children who's parents cannot afford presents and since the economy is not the greatest there is a lot of children who need gifts.  We picked three children, two boys and one girl all under the age of 9. We were so humbled to see the Christmas Angel tree with all the tags hanging from it. We picked very carefully and it was hard to pick just a few children to buy things for. Some children need things as simple as clothing, shoes, and jackets. It was so sad to think that children go without these basic essentials when we are spending so much money on ourselves. We bought all the presents the children asked for and returned them to the Christmas Angel place. We left feeling so good and happy because we knew we did something special for someone in need. It really brought to perspective what Christmas is all about. Its about Christ and how he sacrificed everything for us, but yet it's so hard for us to do the same in return. It's a season of giving and serving. Truly the most wonderful season of all. :)

Lots of News :)

 It's been a busy past few weeks and there is SO much to tell you guys! Stewart got a new job! Woohoo! He officially works for the ASU Police Department, doing dispatching with his step-mom, Anglea. So he will be taking all of ASU campus's 911 calls. Angela has been doing a great job of being his trainer this past week. He started on Monday. Hopefully, this will be a great way to start his Police career and maybe in a year or two or three he will become an officer. :) We have truly been blessed and our prays have been answered. We are really excited for this new adventure!

 So today marks Stewart and I's two month anniversary of being married. I know what everyone is thinking…. Two months?  That’s not even enough time to know if you like the married version of each other. hahaha! But we do :) We have had the most fun growing in love and learning about each other. Who would've thought about all the little things that come out into the open after you get married. There are so many things we want to do, so many goals we want to accoplish together. We are far from perfect but it's a wonderful ride together. I am grateful for a husband who loves me unconditionally. Who will pick me up when I am down and will be there for me through thick and thin. He's a perfect example to me.  It suprises me everyday. I think when boys go out on missions they come back as men. Although I didn't know my husband before his mission I know he is as wonderful as he is because his mission. I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for HIM!

Requested?! (Hawaii Naked Man In OUR Bed Story)

 So many of you have asked us about our experience in Hawaii with the infamous naked man… So I thought I would share with you..

First, you should know that this happened the first day of our honeymoon. We had gotten so excited about Hawaii we did not sleep that night! So after arriving at the airport at 5:30am, for our 8am flight we were informed that our flight woud be 8 hours delayed… So this meant we got to wait in the airport for not 8 hours but 10 and a half hours for our flight to leave. We were given some food vouchors and send on our way. After playing on our ipods till they died, eating up our food vouchors, and me learning a little bit of Spanish from Stewart, we were finally able to board our flight. Six hours of flying over the ocean passed by and we FINALLY landed in our destination. HAWAII!!!! It can only get better from here right?!

Can you tell we were tired?

We arrived at our hotel. It looked fancy online. We didn’t purchase just the cheapest thing we could find… We slurged to get something half decent. We pulled up to the hotel and into the parking garage. :/….. $90 in parking for the week, paid to a guy who I'm pretty sure if I were to walk to the car by myself, he would attack me. Already this place gives me the creeps. We go up to the front desk and are given our room. Stewart asks the lady how big the bed is because the only thing our little paper print out says is moderate. the lady tells us it’s a double bed. So for those of you who have never seen my husband, he is tall… Like REALLY tall… Like 6.5 tall. A double bed was just not going to do. After the lady gave us a hard time and offered us two twin beds instead, she finally budged and upgraded us to a queen. YAY! We make our way up the elevator and find our room. Before we open the door Stewart says "No matter what, this is going to be a good trip. So lets put our crazy day behind us and have a good time." He opens up the door and all I can hear is "WOOOAHH! OH MY GOSH! WRONG ROOM! IM SORRY! " and he shuts the door. I immediately burst out laughing. Thinking my funny husband is just joking around. He tells me "NO! RUN! there is a naked guy in our hotel room! " We head back down stairs. While I think the whole situation was hilarious my sweet husband was not so amused. He says to the lady who we had just spoken with five minutes prior at the front desk, "First day of my honeymoon, and I find a NAKED guy in my room?!?!?!.." Apparently the guy had already called down stairs about the incident and they were all  freaking out too. Needless to say they upgraded our room.. We got to be on the "M" floor. Which is somewhere between ground level and level 1? Suposablely these are our their suites. Fancy right? Except for the KiNG bed, the room wasn't all that great… But oh well. We were in HAWAII and married for time and all eternity.. it doesn't get much better then that. :)

Our Hotel.... 

Our favorite part of our trip... Laie Hawaii Temple