Brynlee's 1!

I can't believe Brynlee has already been in our a family for a whole year! She has been such a blessing in all of our lives! Her sweet smile warms our hearts. I love how Whitney and Makenna celebrate just as much as Mike and I do in every little thing she does! We love our Bryn!

Her legs used to be skinny?! They certainly aren't now!

Grandma and Grandpa Jones plant a tree at their house each time a grandchild is born and Grandpa makes a plaque with the child's name and birthday. It is fun to watch the kids and the trees grow. Each time we are up there we try to take a tree picture. (I think Grandma has a picture of her with her tree last year, but I don't.) This is Bryn with her tree on her 1st birthday.

I meant to post about Brynlee's namesake last year with her birth announcement, but never did. It's better late than never, right? There are a few wonderful women that Brynlee's name comes from. My Mom, Peggy's middle name is Lee, so that is why we chose to spell Brynlee the way we did. Her middle name, Lorene, is my Mom, Ellen and also my maternal Grandmother's middle name. We figured it was the perfect fit. Brynlee Lorene Johanson.

Brynlee and Grandma Jones when she came to help while Mike went to start working in Hawaii.

Brynlee and Grandma Bowman

Grandma Jones made this cute page of Brynlee LOVING her cake. She was definitely a fan! And really enjoyed the ice cream, too. She doesn't know how to use a spoon yet, but the ice cream was too cold to eat with her hands. But she's a problem solver-she just leaned over and ate it right off the plate. Then she figured out that she could lift the plate to her mouth. It was so funny!

A month or so before her birthday Brynlee became fascinated with the girls' dolls. For her birthday we decided to get her a baby of her own. It was ADORABLE! She was really upset that it was attached to the box. After fixing that problem, she hugged and kissed it. And then wanted to let everyone else see, mostly Grandma and Grandpa. She would walk back and forth between them, handing her baby for admiration. When she deemed their turn over (2-3 seconds) she would "uhuh" for the baby back, kiss it, bounce it and head to show the other one. This game lasted for at least 20 minutes. SO CUTE! Then, with some prompting, she let the rest of us love on her baby. But she was mostly interested in showing Grandpa and Grandma.

My mom said watching her, she had visions of Brynlee someday bringing her real baby for them to admire. I'm not ready to think about that! I'll just stick with the doll. :)

It was sweet to watch the girls let Brynlee get all the attention and be so excited for her. They are GREAT big sisters!

Grandma makes personalized picture ABC books for the grandkids on their first birthdays. Brynlee LOVES her book. She calls it her "Nama" book and requests it at least once a day. Thank you, Grandma!! Especially now that we don't get to see everyone very often, it will be good for her to still be able to know faces.