Ian Lee Bryan

Well Megan finally had the baby!! Meet Ian Lee Bryan. 7 lbs 7oz. 20 in. long

The Bug and her new brother.




Little Man.




Rachel says he has my cheeks.




Mommy and Ian.

Puppy Likes It!

This is my brother and sister-in-laws new great dane/st. bernard mix Marley. I'm with Kaydence though, I don't think I would lick the sucker either...

Marley and Kaydence

Another video of my Bug

Here is the Bug again. Cody sent this to me last night. She's saying high to everyone in the family. There is a little butt shot and Vjj shot..sorry about that.


P.S. Starr is cute! Not Ugly!

The Pact

I was talking to Ashley about Jodi Picoult books the other day. They can be a tough read because of their controversy subjects, but at the same time, it's so real and neat to have an author who's not afraid to talk about an Amish girl accused of murder, a tragic school shooting, or teens who cut themselves to get rid of hurt and pain. This book was no exception.
Emily and Chris have known each other since birth. Chris was 3 weeks old when Emily was born. Their mothers were best friends. If Chris feel down, Emily got a bruise. If Emily bumped her head, Chris would cry. They had a connection, something special that not many people experience. Their parents had always hoped they'd form a more serious relationship when they were old enough. That happened when Chris and Emily were on a family vacation together when they were 14 and 15 years old. The families couldn't be happier. Chris and Emily were connected at the hip. Once while eating lunch at McDonald's, chris dared Emily to go into the men's bathroom and stay there for a minute or two. This led to a man doing things to Emily, that she should have told someone about, but never did. chris never knew about what happened in the bathroom. She did not deal with this event till a couple years later. Something happened in Emily. Something changed. Her thought started to wonder...to suicide.
Obviously Chris was against this, but on the night Emily is found dead, Chris is found next to her body, alive. He's convicted of murder, of the one woman he loved, who also happened to be 11 weeks pregnant. Chris knew nothing of her pregnancy. They go to trial, and Chris's attorney is trying to convince the jury that it was a double suicide pact gone bad. Chris sits in prison for almost 9 months waiting for his trial. The most surprising witness helping to defend Chris is... Emily's father. He believes that there is no possible way Chris would murder his daughter.
In the end, we find out the Chris admits to killing Emily...because she asked him to. Would you do the same? If the person you loved so much asked you to end their life, to end their pain, would you do it? If you knew they were hurting, but didn't know why, would you help them move on to another world? Again, I'll say, this was a hard book to read because it talks about such a real event, and something I'm sure is hard for parents of teenagers to deal with, but Jodi Picoult does such a good job getting you connected to the characters and wanting to help save them.

Plain Truth

Another Jodi Picoult book...another great story! This story is about Katie, an Amish girl who'd been convicted of murder. The murder of her child...thing is, she doesn't remember giving birth...and she's not married. This is a major sin in the Amish community. After appearing in court she's given and attorney, named Ellie. Because Katie lives on her parent's farm and she's only 18, the judge decides she's not a flight risk and doens't have to wait in prison for her trial to start. The kicker is, Ellie must stay on the farm till the trial starts to watch Katie since her parents have sort of disowned her. Well her dad won't talk to her, and here mom wants to, but must follow her husband. Ellie follows Katie to hangouts with her friends, to the pond on her parent's farm, anywhere Katie goes. Ellie lives on the farm with Katie's family for quite some time. She has to get permission from the judge and bishop of the community to have elctricity at least in one of the farms so she can do computer work.
Katie's brother, Jacob has already been banished from the Amish community for wanting to continue his education. The Amish stop their education in the 8th grade. Jacob used to hide books in and around the house so he could read without his parent's knowing. Katie's mom used to send her once a month to Jacob's college. Katie was not baptized yet, so she was allowed to speak to members of the banned Amish community like her brother. While at the college, she meets one of Jacob's friends, Adam. When Katie and Adam meet, something happens. Katie's heart starts beating, Adam feels lost in Katie's eyes and beauty. Needless to say, Adam and Katie form a connection with each other that goes farther than it should. This is a great book. Please try it.

Second Glance

This book was very different from her other books. I enjoyed it though. Ashley told me it was about ghosts which I know a lot of people don't believe in, but I've believed in ghosts for as long as I can remember. It comes from my grandpa. He was always telling me stories from his childhood and life about ghosts. My dad has also shared stories with me to validate what my grandpa said. I also enjoy the show Ghost Hunters on Wednesday nights at 9 on SciFi. There are some things on that show that just can't be explained other than paranormal activity. Anyway, the book was pretty interesting. Ross is a paranormal investigator, searching for the lost soul/ghost of his fiance, Aimee. He comes back to visit his sister and nephew. He's had a very hard few years. He was engaged and the fiance died in a car crash they were both involved in. While in his sister's hometown he meets a woman, Lia who he ends up falling for. He feels guilty about this because he hasn't loved anyone or tried to open his heart to anyone else since Aimee. Come to find out Lia is actually the ghost of a young woman who killed herself when she thought her newborn baby had died. She's haunting a piece of land, looking for her lost child where her husband, who is now in his 80s or 90s, has sold it to have a strip mall built on it. There were also some surprising twists in the book that I thought were very creative. If you've got an open mind and you're willing to try a different story, I strongly suggest this book!

Perfect Match

I have to admit, this book was a little hard to read. It's about a little boy who has been molested by a priest and the struggles the parents go through. Nina, the mother of Nathan, obviously has a very hard time with the sexual assault that has happened to her son. Nina is a full time district attorney who prosecutes child molesters every day. On the day of court for the man being prosecuted for molesting Nathan, Nina walks into the courtroom late. As they are reading the rights to the priest, Nina walks up to him and shoots him in the face killing him in front the judge, a jury, and her husband. Of course there is proof that she did it. There are all kinds of witnesses in the court room that day along with news station cameras. So now, Nina needs to find someone to defend her. And when it comes to DNA tests and results, the man Nina shot, did not inflict any harm to her child. Should she go to jail for shooting a man who she thought did something so wrong to her child? How far would you go in the name of love-and justice?

I love my Bug

Here are some videos of Kaydence from Gatlinburg. I already miss her so much and can't wait to see her again hopefully in July when I travel out to Colorado to meet the new baby, Carson and help Megan out.

Congrats Brooke and Clay!!

Just wanted to throw a shout out to Brooke and Clay and say congrats on getting married!! The wedding was a blast!

Me, Brooke and Nicole before the wedding.

All the girls: Maria, Shana, Angie, Me and Nicole.

Me and Mike.

Gatlinburg Trip

This past weekend we went to Gatlinburg with my family. Since my brother's homecoming from Iraq he wanted everyone to take a weekend and go there together. We had a blast. It was loud since there were 5 kids under the age of six there and the 4 oldest don't know the meaning of the word quiet or whisper, but it was also interesting. I let my uncle have the extra bedroom, which worked out since he could have all his grandkids sleep with him, which Mike and I were on the pullout couch in the living room. So that means when the kids got up for breakfast, we got up too. I'm not much of a morning person, but got up at 8 both mornings. Saturday morning we got up, my uncle made everyone breakfast which included biscuits, gravy, bacon, hasbrowns, omelets, and sausage. Needless to say we were pretty stuffed.

Then we all go ready and were out the door by about 11:45, which is pretty good for 17 people. Half of the people went to the Ripley's Aquarium, all the kids did, and Me, Rachel, Chad (Cody's friend), and cousin walked around downtown Gatlinburg. About 1:30 we drove back to Pigeon Forge and headed to Go-carts. I'm not much of a go-cart rider and it was $8 for one ride on one track, so I passed and told Mike to do it. I also sat with Megan since she's 7 months pregnant and can't ride them either. At 2:30 we headed over to Dixie Stampede and got ready for the show. It didn't start till 4:00 but there was a pre-show and everthing. The kids absolutely loved it. My cousin's little girl didn't touch a thing on her plate because she was so enthralled with everything that was going on. I had to keep reminding Amerika to eat.

Then we headed back to the cabin and relaxed for a bit. I had a big headache so I laid around for a bit until Megan said she needed to go to Walmart. So we got in the car and ended up taking a long scenic route with a few wrong turns, but we eventually made it there. Came back and played some games like Clue, then we played to rounds of Charades. Found out after we left on Sunday night one of the Charades Rachel had to do was Pussycat Dolls. I can only imagine how that went.

Sunday we all went out and got an old time photo. Which took forever. I have never been to a place slower than the one we went to. It was horrible!!! I wanted to pull my hair out. After the photo, Mike and I headed to the outlet mall. I became a little happier. The only store I really wanted to hit was GAP. I got some cute clothes. Two cardigans, two tank tops, a skirt, and a dress. And I wanted Mike to look for a suit. We ended up with a suit, 2 dress shirts, and 2 ties for $180!!! He picked out one shirt and tie and I picked out the other. I'm excited to see him in it this weekend for the wedding.

In the end, it was so nice to see everyone and spend time with them. I love spending time with my cousin. We get along so well and just understand each other. We've gotten pretty close over the years so it's nice to have someone I can connect to like that. We're talking about going to Vegas this summer with our husbands for a little trip. Should be fun. And because her husband works for an airline we can get cheap cheap plane tickets!! :) And I LOVED LOVED LOVED seeing my bug. She is my absolutel world. I wonder sometimes that if I love her that much, how much am I going to love my own kid. I also am glad I got to see my brother since I hadn't seen him since like August. I am so proud of him for serving our country. Here are some pictures from the trip.





Kaydence in her tutu I made her and the leotard I bought for her too.











All the kids: Aliseah, Kaydence, Trapper, Amerika, Amelia.









Kaydence swimming with Cody.












The Bug sitting outside Ripley's Aquarium.











Me and the Bug. Love that smile!!












Probably one of my favs...two extremes...we've got a pouter, and a smiley face.