The BrehiThomas Family Blog: April 2019

April 2019

Student Loan No More

Huge accomplishment for our family this month! The beast of a Master's student loan is paid off! For 2.5 years, every BYU-I and UTSA teaching paycheck was dumped towards this thing and now it is gone. Best. Feeling. Ever. We are elated!

Death Cab for Cutie Concert:

One of Lehi's all time favorite bands is Death Cab for Cutie. I have always enjoyed their songs, but they earned a special place in my heart during to our dating days. I was walking from my apartment to the library when Lehi, who was driving in his car saw me. At this point, we knew each other from our FHE group, but hadn't gone on any dates or anything of that nature. He decided to offer me a ride, drove up next to me, and in the process hit the curb. When I climbed inside, I commented on the song he was listening to (Marching bands of Manhattan). To this day, I think of that moment when I hear it, and will never let him forget how he hit a curb in an attempt to pick me up.

The opening artists for this concert were straight up bizarre, but we chuckled our way through it. Death Cab was fantastic--playing a good variety of the new and old. Lehi and I were talking about all the songs we were hoping to hear, but there are just too many good ones for one concert! I should also mention I as pregnant at this point and super sick. I think I ate my weight in preggo pops to try to keep the nausea at bay!

Maverick's Birthday was this month, too, but he got a post of his very own.

Easter Egg Hunt/Soccer

Our ward did an Easter Egg hunt/breakfast this year that the Relief Society was in charge of. We tried to simplify and keep the decorations, planning, etc to a minimum. We did yogurt parfaits (ward provided yogurt, members brought toppings), had each family bring 10 eggs/kid to hide, had a small craft for older kiddos, and a borrowed Easter bunny costume for one of the Elders to wear for about 10 minutes (we live in Texas, no one wants to be in a costume for a prolonged period of time). I headed to the church early to help set up while Lehi took the boys to Maverick's soccer game. They showed up right as the egg hunt began--which was pretty lucky timing! We roped off certain areas of the field for different ages (nursery and younger, junior, & senior primary) and staggered their starting times so parents with kids of different ages could be involved for each of them. We had a great turn-out and it was super low-key fun!

Easter Sunday

Our sneaky Easter bunny hid the boys' baskets so they had to search the house for them! The boys also got some super adorable cookies (from Rose River Bakery, aka the amazing Lisa Hansen) and were so excited to paint them. Lincoln did a lot more eating than painting, but I couldn't blame him. ;) We did our best to get a family picture...they were super hyper before church and developed a sudden light sensitivity when trying to get a picture afterwards. At least these will help us remember how things really were/are! :)

We did bribe Maverick into a good one

Dad Save

Maverick got a Worry Doll from his pre-k teacher, Mrs. Yvonne, for his birthday. In Guatemalan culture, you put your doll under your pillow at night and they take all your worries away. Well, Lincoln was worried that he didn't have one under his pillow. I was impressed with Lehi's lego construction worker improviser!

Brooklynn's Baptism

Miss Brooklynn was also baptized this month! We loved having Grandma and Grandpa McDonald in town for the special event. Tasha naturally stressed herself out with everything needed to be perfectly beautiful, but it really was just that. We spent the better half of an afternoon making rainbow cupcakes complete with a rainbow on the top as a refreshment. They turned out stinking cute, although I don't know if I will ever have the patience to do the rainbow cupcake interior ever again. ;) Brooklynn asked me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost and Tasha gave a talk on Baptism. We both had object lessons, because they are Brooklynn's favorite. It was such a special day!

While I totally failed to get pictures, particularly of grandma/grandpa time and the baptism (in my defense, I took a lot with Tasha's phone for her), I did write down a few memorable moments:

More like an ongoing event....Dad's intense need to make us a snack tray. A few weeks before he got there, I sent him a picture of our own make-shift snack tray, a Sunday tradition we used to do growing up. Dad said it would be fun to do when he was up here and I agreed. Unfortunately, Texas doesn't carry everything Washington does (like Costco summer sausage) but it indeed was a feast when everything came together.

This is the picture I sent earlier that month; after Mav's soccer game and right before the morning session of General Conference

Late the night before the baptism, Tasha was trying to find her phone. She decided to "ping" it and listen for where it was. Those of us trying to help quickly became confused when the source of the sound kept changing as we looked. It didn't take too long for Bobo to realize it was in her back pocket, all along.

In the car we were talking about how cute Mac is. Mom said how much she was going to miss her (she lives for newborn snuggles). Dad said, "Don't worry, Brei will give you another baby soon."

Maverick, clearly worried, shouted, "She can't have our baby!!!"(referring to the one in my stomach)

Mamma's Heels:

I got a text from Lehi when I was out running errands saying, "Look what I have to deal with." The boys had busted out my heels and were laughing hysterically while trying to walk in them.

Other Quotes:

I asked Lincoln, come sit with me, informing him that I was cold. Lincoln gesturing to the fan, said in a very sassy tone-- "fa off" and walked away. Clearly, not having the fan on should have been enough.

I decided to switch up the bedtime story with a bunch of gibberish reading. I made random sounds as I pretended to read each page. The boys were cracking up, I'm talking full on belly laughs. This did backfire on me a bit, because for the next week, they asked me to read the "silly way."

One of Lehi's snacks he keeps in his car is sunflower seeds. Maverick saw one in the driveway, and very excitedly told me" Mom! There is a bad seed in the driveway!!" (He got a book called the "Bad Seed" for his birthday that tells the story of a sunflower seed who used to be bad but is trying to be good). Maverick was determined that it was that very seed from the book.

More Pictures:

Playing with locks & keys at church.

Lehi and solo flights

I told my students I was torn between opening day of Avengers Endgame and the NFL draft...I went with the Sproles jersey. Lehi was able to get us tickets for opening day of Avengers.