Fall Time

I love fall time. Who doesn't love pumpkin everything, fall decorations, back to school it all feels so refreshing at times. Life is good, we are adjusting to a family of four. Life stays busy and go go go all the time. I love it.
Babies keep growing and not staying babies which is a pretty amazing experience. Everyone tells you what to expect with parent hood that it is such a range of emotions but suddenly your there and IT is HAPPENING. it is incredible. You watch you child put a sentence together, you watch your tiny infant roll over or reach for what it wants. We were all there once too but suddenly the roles reverse and you are the parent watching your own sweet babies. Life is good.
We had a great trip to Michigan in August over our  year Anniversary. It was a pretty sweet trip we made it to both the northern area of Michigan but also south near Grand Rapids to enjoy some good ole Midwestern Lake life.
This fall seems to hold a lot of work travel for both Bren and myself. I am slowly getting adjusted into my new position and Bren is enjoying his work as well. This next week should be exciting as my Mom and my Godmother Trudi are coming to town to take care of my babies. Bren has been road biking a lot, like literally over 700 some miles. I have been busy, I don't know what with but I have been!

Love
B and A and Q and K

July 2015

I always think when I am on maternity leave I will have all this time to do big projects and catch up on so many things. Having done this once, I should have known better. This week is my last full week of maternity leave with my sweet, snugly Kinsey. As always it has gone way too fast and I have no idea what I have accomplished in that time. I have enjoyed our daily naps together and getting her dressed up like a doll every day. Just like last time its right as I return to work she starts smiling and cooing, only making the transition harder.
I am really looking forward to getting into my new job full time. This will feel very new as my interim director won't be with me ( I will miss him dearly) and our convention is over so I will be fully engaged and involved into the daily grind. I will miss my beautiful babies but value my time every evening and morning with them.
We have been great as a family, lots of visitors over the last few months. We have also been adjusting to two kids. Quinn has been great and a huge help. He just doesn't understand why his baby sister can't play yet. Its crazy because he is growing up so quickly and chatting away. He is starting to connect the dots language wise and continuously cracks us up with his babbling and what he says. Between our puppy Gilles, Q and K we seem to stay very busy every night. I wouldn't trade it for the world because I know this period of time like everything will change too.
We did a fantastic photo shoot with Darren Solomon photography for Kinsale's newborn photos. I actually unpacked my wedding dress and had Kinsey do a bunch of photos on the dress, they turned out pretty cool. I was also pumped because I managed to fit back into my dress post two babies. That has been a huge goal of mine for awhile. Still have a lot of toning and work to do but slowly getting my pre baby body back, after what feels like being pregnant for two years straight. Bren has been busy avoiding "dad bod" by trying to really take up road biking, on an average week he always seems to be averaging somewhere between 40-50 miles which is impressive. I guess with both kids we both need the outlet exercise provides.
Looking forward to August and more trips and visitors!
Love,
Bren, Alyssa, Q and K

Introducing our lovely little girl, Kinsale Mary

Wow, it has been too long since I have posted. Literally the last two months just seem like a wonderful, dizzying blur. As of The end of April I started my new job as a director of an association. It has been a job I have wanted forever and it has been an incredible journey so far.
May was very, very busy getting ready for our convention. My little baby bump joined me on my journey and working some long hours leading up to our convention. Everything was moving along and my doctor said I was fine to head up to Midway for the event since it was still two weeks until my due date. After getting all checked into the hotel and reassuring all was set for our first day the next day, my water broke. Eleven o clock that night two panic calls went out one to Bren to meet me at the hospital and the second to my amazing brother in law Tommy to drive me like a bat out of hell to the hospital. He channeled his inner fast and furious and made an hour and fifteen minute drive in 42 minutes. Less then three hours later Kinsale Mary White was born at 3:02am, 7lbs, 19.5 inches long and pure loveliness.
June has been a blur enjoying our sweet little girl. I am currently typing this blog post on my phone while she is cradled in my arms. Little girls are just a joy between the bows, the cute outfits and just the intoxicating smell of newborn. Big brother quinn has been adjusting really well and seems to just accept that she is here and his baby. He has been more of a daredevil lately but that could also be because Mom has her hands very full at times. It's chaotic, exhausting but absolutely worth it. I will try to post more with some pictures but she is here and we are all doing amazing!
Love
Bren, Alyssa, Q and K

Little Girl's Nursery

We are finally pretty much done with Baby K's nursery. Since we are getting down to the wire I thought I would finally share what we have done. I have always wanted to do a flower fairy room if I ever had a little girl. I have been collecting Mary Cicley Barker's flower fairy calendars for years hoping to be able to do this. I feel like it all came together really nicely. Our colors are a nice soft green for the walls, accent pinks and grey. Enjoy!

This is the view from the hallway, I love the fan chandelier! Bren and Papa Tom did this huge project for me over Easter, I am spoiled!

This is looking at the window view, I switched the hoop the tulle draping over the crib with a gold pearl branch. We added pink tissue pons and moss balls with butterflies to the corner. 

This is our changing station and eclectic collage of pictures of flower fairies, also the shelf above the close incorporates more moss with a moss bunny!

I love this dollhouse/book shelf, it is made by a local grandpa in Orem, its perfect for storing diapers but also books and toys.

Bren worked so hard on this dresser, this dresser is almost 30 years old and he painted the whole thing and added the crystal handles. It is perfect and really sets the room off.

Closer look at the pearl pillow and night stand

Love the details!

Love,

Bren, Alyssa, Q and K

Photography Class

My hobby for 2015 was learning to take great photos with my new DSLR Nikon 3300 camera. I took a community education class that was awesome. I learned all the bells and whistles on my camera as well as got a few new lenses and really have been putting it all to great use. I also tried to teach Bren everything we learned in the class too and he takes amazing photos as well. The class ended on a high note with everyone meeting at the State Capital in Utah and taking photos. Here are some of the final edited images, enjoy!

Love,

Bren, Lys, Q and K

Durango Trip

Since we have been really enjoying the new camera from Christmas I thought I would share some of the great pictures we got when we went to visit the Hallocks in Durango, Colorado. Durango is absolutely gorgeous and looks like a little town out of a ski movie. Big mountains everywhere and a really cool river running right through the center of town. Enjoy the pics!

Little boy before we headed out in his car seat

Our amazing driver Mr. White

So happy to finally see the Hallocks and Mr. Kaylor

Look at all these handsome boys

Sure loved watching these two play each morning, Quinn is 13 months here and Kaylor is 8 months in this photo.

pretty cute, right?

Hauling our twenty pound plus babies down by the river

Family picture

Both moms backs started to ache a bit so the Dads took over, pretty cute picture with the boys looking over the shoulders.

Can't wait to see our friend again, we had a great trip!

Love,

Bren, Alyssa, Q and K

What we have been up to

Time just goes so crazy fast. I really have been trying to make it a goal to update this blog at least every month. Sometimes between working two jobs, our sweet boy and now a puppy, time just gets away on me. A lot has happened between January and February. Starting in January we celebrated our Quinn's first Birthday with awesome friends and family here in Utah. Tom and Kathy came in for the weekend and we had a really great time. Little boy loved the frosting on his cake and was spoiled with so much love. The weekend after that Uncle Brian came to town with the best birthday gift for Quinn, our new puppy Gilles.

The weekend after that my parents came to town for a visit. We finally made it to the Draper Aquarium, which is so awesome! Quinn was just in awe of all the tanks, fishes and animals there. It was really cool and we hope to get a membership there soon.

The weekend after that Brendan's parents stayed with us after they had the Puff/Whites ski vacation for a week up in Park City. Not to miss out we took Quinn on his first zoo outing that Saturday. Quinn was just fascinated by all the new animals. Last weekend we drove to Durango, Colorado to visit our friends the Hallocks. I will do a separate post from that vacation with photos in a few days. Busy, busy, busy.

Pregnancy is going wonderful and little girl is kicking away like a rockette. We have started to get her nursery put together between the crib, and how we want to lay out everything. Its hard to believe March is next week and in June she will be here. I will make sure I get lots of photos of her new nursery. Q is on the move, he has full on taken up running and keeps us on our toes. He cracks both of us up with his antics and words. So far we say Daaaaa, dada and occasionally Maaaama. He also likes to mimic the word "hot". Very adorable and it is all going so fast. We don't have a lot planned for this spring since I am only getting bigger and more preggo. I just finished up my photography class which was really cool and we are starting Gilles puppy school on Saturday. Life is busy but so blissfully good.

Love
The Whites