Christmas!

*Note* I started this post daaaayyysss ago. I really need to figure out a schedule to keep on track...

This Christmas was really wonderful. It was the first Christmas morning that Bryant, the kids and I have had just as our own little family. The first 3 years, Bryant and I were living in my parents basement apartment, so we would just go upstairs to open presents with my family. Then last year we were in Mt. Shasta for Christmas with Bryant's family. This year, it was just us at our house. I think this year Savannah really "got it". She understood who Santa Claus was, and knew that he was going to come to our house to leave presents. All day long on Christmas Eve, she kept telling me that we needed to go to bed so Santa could sneak into our house.

 Christmas Jammies!

 Santa came through our neighborhood on a firetruck. Savy asked if he was going to save kids.

When bedtime came, and both kids were nestled all snug in their beds, I had everything wrapped and ready to go, so Bryant and I were in bed at a decent hour. 

The next morning, I had to actually wake up everyone. My mom called and asked if she could come borrow something, so she came over before Bryant and the kids were even up. By 9:00, I figured I had better get Christmas going since we were supposed to be at my parents house by 10 for breakfast. 

When Bryant and I went to wake Savannah up, we said "Savannah! Guess who came last night!" And she sleepily asked "Sagey Pagey?" (My sister Sage). When we reminded her is was Christmas, she bolted out of bed and ran into the living room. The first thing she saw was the train that Santa had set up on the coffee table. She was so excited, she just stood there with her hands over her mouth silently while she watched it go around in circles. Then she saw all the other presents and started giggling and asked if she could open them.

Deagan mostly hid under the coffee table, and he'd come out to munch on wrapping paper, then crawl back under. I can't tell you how many times
I fished paper out of that kids mouth!

This year, we went easy on the gifts. Savannah got a train set, a tin tea set, a princess dress, and a doctor kit from Bryant and I, and Deagan got some clothes and a teething toy. I gave Bryant an audio book (which we returned because he had already read it. Oops) some slippers, and a star wars lego kit (which we also returned because I got the wrong one. Oops again!) and my dad, brother and I went in together to by him a gun!

Bryant's gift to me was a double stroller (Hallelujah!) and a date night out! Which we had a few nights later. Dinner, a movie, and shopping for some clothes for me. Perfect!

I felt a little bad not getting more gifts for the kids, but between both sets of grandparents, and aunts and uncles, they both made out like bandits!

After we opened gifts, we went to my parent's house where my brothers, sister and sister-in-law, and my grandparents were all there to exchange gifts and eat our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of biscuits and gravy.

 Bryant got another little lego thing from my parents, which he instantly took into a quiet corner and promptly put together. He's like a 10 year old boy sometimes.

That afternoon, we all went to my grandparents house for dinner. After dinner, we did a "mug exchange" where everyone brought a mug and we had a game and passed them around. However, as all holidays in the Peacock clan need a little drama, my grandma broke her shoulder. I had brought DJ's car seat in and as it got more crowded, my cousin asked me if she could move it into my grandparents room to keep it out of the way. As we were exchanging mugs, my grandma had gone in and tripped over the car seat and broke her shoulder and arm. She came in with a make-shift sling and said she wasn't going to the hospital until everyone was done opening gifts, and asked for a coke. We quickly finished opening gifts, and then Bryant and I lent them my van to take to the hospital because it's easier to get in and out of. She's a really tough cookie! She ended up needing 12 pins in her shoulder! Ouch! So if you're reading this, just think of a nice little thought for my grandma please.

 I'm almost 100% sure my aunts husband was doing the old "pretending to scratch my nose to flip off the camera" thing while I was taking this picture to photobomb it. Stay classy.

 Bryant reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" Also, my cousins wife also did the "scratching my nose but really I'm flipping everyone off" thing too when Bryant read the part that says "and the jolly old elf with a finger to the side of his nose" or something like that. So I did not post that photo. Guys, really...

That night, we headed home, and put our exhausted but very happy kids to bed, and Bryant and I curled up on the couch and watched a Christmas movie under the glow of the Christmas tree.

It was a great Christmas, and I'm glad Savannah is finally at that stage where she believes in Santa Clause. It makes being his helper really fun! Savannah told me yesterday that she wanted to go to the north pole and go fishing with Santa. I told her it was too cold, but she told me it was fine because she had a jacket. Well, I can't argue with that logic...

I hope everyone had a really wonderful Christmas, surrounded by friends and family!

Hopefully I'll get around to writing about New Years before Valentines Day, no promises though.

Family reunion!

Part two of my weekend!

Saturday morning, we went to my cousin Coleman's baptism!


He shares the same birthday as my Brother Colter and he turned 8! Which means that he was ready to be baptized a member of the church! Woo! He did a great job and Bryant got to be a witness and be in the circle for the confirmation. I'm so proud of my husband for being a worthy priesthood holder. It's such a comfort to know that my husband can be there to give blessings, and will be able to baptize our own children someday.

I even got called on the spot by the bishop to talk about my baptism. Of course I panicked for a bit, but I think I did alright. (I was baptized in Hawaii in the ocean... yup, you can be jealous... haha!)

After the baptism, we went back to my Aunt's house for brunch (yummy!).

That afternoon, we went up to a family reunion for my mom's family. We met in a city park and had fun taking pictures dressed up in pioneer outfits (my brothers really got into it! It was awesome!) and eating a big lunch and playing some games.


We auctioned off pies to raise money for the next family reunion.


I got an apple pie (Bryant's favorite of course!) which I found out was the one my parents brought haha!

My parents got a blueberry pie, and my grandpa got a Boston cream pie that he gave to us.


Sack racing!

Red light, green light.

Ron was cheating...


So he got sent back to the beginning. hahaha!


We had a lot of fun, but I was bummed because I had to leave early for work, then when I showed up, they didn't need me again. Thankfully they are letting me use 2 days worth of vacation time this week to make up for the 2 days they didn't need me last week. This is going to be really nice because Bryant and I are leaving this afternoon for a family reunion for his mom's family. I'm excited! They are renting out a cabin, but Bryant and I are bringing our tent to sleep outside!

Hippie Girl

Sorry for the lack of blog posts

It has been a crazy couple of weeks! Bryant and I were able to go to his hometown of Mt. Shasta California for independence day weekend and we didn't bring our laptop so I wasn't able to keep everyone updated while we were there. Which means that this could quite possibly be a long one. Possibly... depending on if I can finish it. I might just split it up into a couple different posts if I get too tired (I took a 4 hour nap, woke up to watch Dr. Who and now I'm tired again... And yes, call me a geek but I love Dr. Who!)

Ok so lets start from the beginning...

Last Thursday my sister-in-law Chantel came down from Rexburg Idaho. My Brother-in-law and his wife moved to Sacramento and couldn't take their truck out, so we volunteered to drive the truck out to Mt. Shasta for them, which is about 3 hours North of Sacramento. Friday morning, we packed up and left bright and early, Chantel and I in my car and Bryant in Jacob and Sally's truck. (We had fun with walkie-talkies!) After a 13 hour drive (8 of that through Nevada... Worst. Drive. Ever.) we arrived in beautiful Mt. Shasta!!!

It was great to see Bryant's family! I got super lucky with in-laws. I even got to meet Bryant's youngest brother Tyler for the first time, who just got back from a two year mission in Argentina for the LDS church (well I had met him once before Bryant and I were ever even dating and it was only for a minute) On Saturday, Jacob and Sally and their super adorable baby Jayden came up from Sacramento and Bryant's Grandma Donna came up from Mountain Ranch. So they were able to have to whole family together for the first time in over 2 years!

Saturday we went downtown to enjoy and festivities. They shut down the whole main street every year for vendor booths and they have live music all day long. We shopped around for a while and Bryant enjoyed seeing all of his old friends.
Tyler (left) and Bryant (right) enjoying snow cones.

Bryant was a sweetheart and bought me a bright yellow wrap-around skirt! One thing I find really funny about this town is the amount of hippies that live there! But it makes for nice shopping because I love the clothes!My in-laws, Ed and Robyn enjoying the shopping too.Jayden enjoying her first 4th of July. Yeah I basically have the cutest niece ever!

Sunday, which was the fourth, we went to Bryant's old home ward for church. It was so nice being able to go to a class for the first time in over a year! I didn't have to spend 2 hours trying to calm a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds down. I also LOVED how nice everyone was to us! We have been in our ward for over a year and a very very small handful of people have acknowledged that we exist let alone talked to us. Nearly everyone in Bryant's ward was happy to see us and wanted to know how we were doing and were inviting us to go rock climbing and such. Very very nice people if you ask me.Grandma Donna with Jayden after church

That evening we all went to the golf course to watch the fireworks! THE WHOLE TOWN was there it seems like! They had bands playing and food and everyone was there hours before it got dark.
I even played a bit of football with a little kid. Well, it was more like he would toss it as high and he could above his head and I'd catch it so it wouldn't hit him in the face. Adorable nonetheless.Grandma Donna, Jacob, Jayden, Sally and Robyn

After the fireworks, we went home, had fruit pie and played a round of take two and garbage.Jacob and Sally playing take twoEd, Tyler and Bryant counting up tiles.

Monday and Tuesday Bryant took me around Mt. Shasta. I have been here a few times and it's a really small town and yet I still haven't seen it all. We went to the bookstore first which was probably the cutest little bookstore you ever did see. Just a few alcoves and a handful of tables. The fiction section in my store is huge. There it was maybe 5 or 6 shelves. Very small and I loved that it felt so homey. I would be very happy to work there. I wouldn't have a line of angry people wondering why the book Glen Beck recommended is out of print or impatient women standing over me repeatedly asking me where think and grow rich is while I'm trying to clean up a little girl who just puked all over the place (which happened today. Grrr)

After the bookstore trip, we shopped around for a bit. Most of the shops are crystal shops and hippie-type stuff (as Bryant calls it). We eventually made our way to the city park which looks more like a campground than just a city park. It was beautiful with all the trees and a river and we spent an hour or so wandering around in the woods. Bryant told me that people drink straight out of the stream cause it's the best water in the world. I didn't believe him cause I love my water at home which comes out of a spring a block away from my house, but I took his dare to drink the water at the spring at the park. There were, once again, lots of hippies there, filling up water juggs and such and so I wandered over to a different spring (I didn't want to drink where people's feet were, gross) and i'll admit it... It was pretty dang good water and extremely cold.

I have pictures from the park but I have yet to put them on my computer and this blog is too long as it is so I'll save those for another post.

I loved spending the weekend out there and I feel so blessed to have married into Bryant's family. There are all so amazing and loving. I really love Mt. Shasta too. Someday I'd really really like to live there. (Bryant says I would blend right in with the hippies...)

We may not be perfect but we are family

WARNING! Lots-o-pictures!!!

This week had been insane!


I finally took my last 2 finals. I turned in my 4 page essay-style final for South African History (at 7:35 pm, one hour before it was due!) and I took my art history final the next morning. I really hope I did ok. I was feeling really good about my S. African history final until he handed back my research paper. I only got an 85%. He said I didn't go into enough detail about the history of the Kalahari desert, which bummed me out because I wrote it on animal and plant conservation, not the history. But oh well.

After my last final, Bryant and I went to rubios with my mom and some people from her work for lunch to celebrate!(I just realized that nearly every pic I have of Bryant, he's wearing a green shirt...)


Thats my mom at the head of the table! Her co-workers were taking her out for her birthday.


Then yesterday, my mom, dad, grandparents and I went to my aunt Lynae's graduation!


Thats her with her boys, McKay, Coleman and Wyatt. (And can you see her rad red shoes?!)


Afterwords, We went to her house for a BBQ to celebrate. I always love family parties because I get to play with the babies and all my little cousins!

This is Jaylea. She wouldn't let me take a picture so thats why it's so fuzzy. She's adorable and she did my hair while we were at the party (keep reading to see the outcome)


This is Jackson, Jaylea's baby brother and her mom. He's the happiest baby you have ever seen! And he's built like a linebacker. Bryant is all sorts of excited about this, He thinks he could be the next BYU superstar. But don't tell my uncle that (he cheers for the U of U...meh haha)



And here is my other cousin's baby River with my mom and dad. You think they are ready for a grandkid? You bet your buttons they are! (just hand me a bachelors degree, some money and a dash of maturity and we will get working on that)


And here I am being the multitasker. I'm holding river, showing Macey how to use my itouch, and getting my hair done by Jaylea (she ran away once Bryant pulled out the camera)

And the end result of my hair-makeover...


Beautiful right? haha!

Well, I have a busy day ahead of me. My little sister and I are heading to the craft store to get some stuff to make mother's day gifts, then it's off to work!

An anniversary of sorts....

Any reason to celebrate right? Well, I know it's super weird that I even remember this, and even weirder that Bryant remembered this and the weirdest thing of all is that Bryant brought it up. So what is this weird event?

The anniversary of the day Bryant proposed to me. Yup, we actually remember the day....

We say it was February 1st, but it was actually Feb 2nd at 1:00 in the morning. So here is a quick little story of how we took our first step to being together forever.

So it's February 1st, 2009. It was a sunny, very pretty Saturday morning and Bryant and I had the day off. First thing in the morning we drove to Lehi to finish buying his brand new car. I was really excited because I love new cars, even if it's not mine. So we decided to spend the day testing it out. First place we go is Tucanos. I was actually a little confused as to why we were there because we had just been there 2 days before, and it's a little too pricey to eat there more than once in a while, but he knew I loved it there and insisted that we go. He even teased me when I asked what the special occasion was by saying "what? you think i'm going to propose to you or something?"

I had no idea...

After lunch, we went for a long drive to test out his new car. We even stopped at my grandparents for a visit. We then went back to my apartment when I got a phone call from my friend Hettie who works for a local movie theater and who asked if I would like to come and watch a movie after the theater closed. We do it all the time because one of the theaters has a DVD player so we can watch our own movies and it's always fun to have a few friends around and get a whole theater to yourself. So I said yes, and invited all of my roommates and friends, all of whom said no except for my friend Katie.

So we go to the theater, and the four of us get settled in our seats and then Hettie says "ok well I'm going up to the booth to put the movie in" and Katie jumped up and said she wanted to help. Then Bryant said he couldn't remember if he turned his lights off in his car or not so he left too.

So here I am, all by my lonesom in a theater waiting for everyone to come back, when all of a sudden, the lights go dim and my favorite song starts playing. Up on the screen was a slideshow of my life, which progressed into a slideshow of Bryant and I. As the movie ended, Bryant came around the bottom stairs and I walked down to meet him. Then, as you can predict this next part, he got down on one knee, pulled out the most unique and beautiful ring I have ever seen and asked me to marry him. I think I was crying so much from happiness that I'm not sure if he heard me say yes.

Next thing I know, ALL of my friends and roommates and my parents are behind us clapping and cheering, complete with cupcakes. I was so surprised! I was so happy that everyone was able to be there and I can't belive they all had kept it a secret. They had all known for a week and Bryant had had the ring in his car all that day and I never found it. On my list of happiest days of my life, it was number 2, right behind my wedding day.

Cute story huh? I think it's adorable.

We didn't do anything special on the "anniversary". We were on our way to the theater to watch a movie to kind of celebrate it, but I got super sick on the way there and I made Bryant turn around and I had some toast and sprite for dinner and then went straight to bed (i'm fine now by the way...) but today we took advantage of the sunshine and (ever so slightly) warmer weather to take Ace out for a super long walk.
Bryant taking a break in some random persons yard...
So I had this Micky Mouse that I let Ace play with when he was little and would only nibble on it while he was in his chewing stage. And I let him keep playing with it because it was so cute when he would carry it around and then cuddle up to it when he took a nap.

But he's not puppy-sized any more and his chewing stage turned into a tug-of-war stage. Poor Micky... He wasn't even salvageable at this point because Acer Spacer would have just torn him apart again. But the walk was great, there is no better way to celebrate the beginning of our life together than being out in the sun with my little family...