Dress-Up

I often find Bria, hmmmm, how should I describe it? In character throughout the day. The other day she insisted on going out to the car wearing the cowboy hat, my sunglasses, and carrying a purse. I didn't fight it. And the Darth Vader helmet? Well that special gem makes an appearance every. single. night.

using her words

The other day I was reading the weekly email I get telling me about Bria's development, and I learned that 18-month-old babies pick up ten or more words per day. Those who are especially focused on speaking skills will pick up a new word every 90 seconds. Zounds! I am constantly amazed at the miracle of being a human. Bria is learning and growing at an astounding rate, and it really is fascinating, thrilling, and amazing to be a part of it.

One word that Bria has down pat is "shesha." What-- you don't know what that means? That's ok. I don't either. But Bria is constantly asking for shesha, pointing to shesha, and telling me all about shesha. (that's a short e sound, by the way.) I am dying to figure out what it means, because it causes great distress to Bria when she keeps asking for shesha and I can't figure out what she means. She even says please, or rather, "peas shesha!" With this very cute, very sincere, very puppy-dog look on her face. I think shesha actually means several things-- which is part of the problem. I do know it can often mean Hunter, one of her cousins. And one time it meant pretzel. So you can see where some of the confusion lies. If I only knew what it meant! I would never mean to deprive my daughter of her beloved shesha-- unless, of course, shesha turns out to mean permanent marker, or scissors, or super glue, or electrical outlet.

Spooky, Scary

For Halloween this year, we wanted to avoid Bria having to wear a costume made for a dog, so we thought about our costumes several weeks in advance. We decided to go as a rock band. However, making our decision lulled us into a false sense of security, because we got to Halloween and realized we knew what we were going to be, but not what we were going to wear. So even though the execution wasn't exactly spectacular, at least we were all wearing human clothes.

We went to our ward's trunk-or-treat the night before Halloween and had a great time. Bria didn't really understand the concept and just wanted to play on the church steps, but it was still fun to meet more people in our ward.
Ok, so this picture is kind of weird, but I think Bria's face is too hilarious to not post.

The next night we decided to trick-or-treat with Sam's brother Marc's family. So the older kids did their own things while Sam, Bria, and I went around with Marc, Jenn, and Colin. Bria quickly picked up on what was happening, and then she was off! She loved it. She would run up to houses with Colin (Jango Fett-- am I spelling that right?), climb the steps to the door (she would not let us help her), knock on the door, quickly grab as much candy as possible, and then yell thank you (or "da do" in Brianese) and bye-bye as she quickly ran off to the next house. She lugged her bucket behind her the whole time, even though towards the end of the night it may have weighed more than she does.
It was a really fun Halloween-- perhaps the most fun Sam and I have ever had on a Halloween. I'm excited to start thinking of our costumes next year, although I'm sure by then Bria will have her own ideas of what she wants to be and I won't be able to subject her to my crazy ideas.

Museum #1: The Natural History Museum

On Saturday, we started in on the great list of museums in D.C. by going to the Natural History Museum. It was raining for the second weekend in a row, and we didn't want to just sit around at home on our only full day together, so we decided to brave the rain. We took the metro to the Smithsonian stop, and when we got out, the light misting had turned to a full on torrential downpour. Luckily the museum is just across the street from the metro. By the time we got across the street, the stroller had several inches of water in it (Bria was under the umbrella with Sam), and we all felt about 15 pounds heavier from our drenched clothes. But it was well worth the wet adventure-- Bria loved it! We were a little nervous about how Bria would do at a museum-- she rarely does well with looking and not touching, but we just went through a couple exhibits, and she had a blast.

The mammals were her favorite. She was making every animal sound she could think of and I think she was close to hyperventilating she was so excited. She just kept laughing and screaming out of joy. It was awesome.


We could barely get her to look at the camera for a picture.

Bria's favorite: the elephant. This is the world's largest elephant on the display, and it is absolutely huge! Bria's favorite animal really is an elephant, and she just kept running around and pointing at it, making an elephant sound over and over and over again.


Bria took a little break, eating some snacks and drinking water while watching a video from the '70s about the world's first organisms. She led us here, and I don't know why it was so appealing to her.
By the time we left the museum, it had stopped raining. I'm excited to take Bria in sometime to try out some of the other museums. This city is amazing!

The Big 1-8

Yesterday Bria reached the 18-month marker. Our little girl is one and a half! This is quite the momentous occasion because it means that Bria gets to go to nursery at church. Now, if you had asked me about this event several months ago, I would have replied with hesitation, anxiety, and fear. Someone taking care of my little Bria for two hours? In a germ-infested room full of children who could potentially hit, kick, or push my little Bria? I don't think so. But, since Bria became more mobile and more aware of the world around her, church has become less exciting-- really more of a frustration than a spiritual rejuvenation. So, as this mile marker loomed, I realized, instead of walking around the church halls for three hours every Sunday, we would only have to walk the halls for one hour! And I wouldn't have to bring enough food to feed an army and activities to occupy a school! And maybe, just maybe, I could actually pay attention to the lessons at church! What a novel idea!
So, really, I was thrilled-- still a touch nervous (because I've never left Bria with anyone except family), but, on the whole, rather excited. It was all very anti-climactic. Bria walked in and immediately started playing with toys while we just kind of stood around, not knowing the protocol. So after a couple minutes, we said "ummm . . . I guess we'll go now." And we slipped out without Bria even noticing. Two hours later, Sam went to pick her up and she was chasing bubbles with another boy her age. Apparently, she enjoyed nursery more than any of the other kids and had a blast! What a champ! So three cheers for my laid back little girl who loves toys and other kids-- church just might be worth it again!

Apple Picking

(A catch-up post)

Just before we went back to Utah to pack up our stuff, we went apple picking with Matt and Jen. I think it was the perfect way to welcome us to Virginia. It was rainy and wet and muddy, but it was so fun. It was on this big beautiful farm where you could fill up a bucket with all the apples you wanted, and then they were only $1/pound. Bria was in heaven, as an "appy" is one of her favorite foods. We can't wait to go again!

I'm a big fan of this family picture.

Bria would not look at the camera for any pictures because she just wanted to be looking at, picking up, and eating the apples. This is the best we could get, which I thought was pretty funny.

Everything is so green! And I have never seen so many trees. (welcome to the east coast!)

Bria picking apples ended up being Bria pulling on the apples really hard until Sam actually pulled them off the tree.


Late afternoon + no nap + running around outside = one tired (but happy) girl (who still won't stop eating her apple long enough to smile for a picture).

Happy