Our favorite photographer and lovely daughter-in-law, Erin, offered to take some better-than-school-pictures of Bryn for us while she was in town. They turned out so cute! There were so many favorites that this had to be its own post!
Junior Year
I can't get enough of these pictures or of this cute girl! How is our little Brynnie already a junior?!
I am so grateful that my friend Amy takes these photos for our kids every year! These pictures are a treasure!! They were taken the same day as our family pictures...on a day that it was pouring rain...and I am just delighted with how cute they turned out!
Ailey: 10th Grade
Bryn: 5th Grade
It is hard to believe that we are down to just two kids needing school pictures this year!!
This little cutie turned nine and we had several days of celebrating! Bryn had her birthday planned out in great detail and we followed it to a tee. Bryn at nine years old is still an absolute joy. She has the sunniest disposition. She is always in a good mood. She is cheerful and helpful. She is kind and friendly to everyone. She is an absolute sweetheart. I know those teen years are coming so I am going to enjoy every minute of her sweetness!!
Bryn's birthday was on a school day this year. She woke up to her room decorated by Ailey who did such a cute job! She had balloons, donuts, and chocolate milk from daddy too. As per our tradition she got to have a fast food lunch delivered to her at school. This year she requested Taco Bell. She wanted two bean burritos and a slushy. Done! Her classmates knew that I was coming and as they all filed past me headed to the lunch room it was so cute to see how excited they were for her!!
She was pretty excited and happy too!!
At school she got birthday surprises from her teacher Mr. O. The class sang Happy Birthday to her and she got a birthday sticker and new pair of sunglasses from the office. She loved it!
After school she had a busy day with Bloomsday Training at her school and then she came home really briefly before she headed over to the high school for track.
This is her first year running track and she is LOVING it!! Her XC coach for the past two years is also her track coach this year so that makes it really nice. He pushes her hard especially now that she is older. Bryn doesn't seem to mind it a bit and she is listening to him and doing so great!! It took her a couple of practices to change things from how you run XC to how you run track...like sprinting. Her coach is always yelling...NOW IS THE TIME YOU SPRINT!! Ha ha!
We had a super crazy day on her birthday. Everyone was gone until late that night with after school activities but Bryn came home that night to lots of texts, phone calls, and birthday packages. She was so excited and she got to make a late night wish too.
Earlier in the week Reilly took Bryn out for her birthday. They went and got pedicures and out to eat. Reilly asked Bryn to pick a restaurant and she picked Taco Bell!! Ha ha! She's a cheap date. Bryn had a fantastic time with her big sister all to herself!!
Brynnie-Johnson's-Day-O-Fun was the Saturday after her actual birthday. We had to be up bright and early because Ailey had dance team tryouts and Bryn had her very first track meet. It was super exciting!!
Before the meet trying to stay warm!!
Bryn's cheering section!!
And...cheering we did!! She absolutely KILLED IT at her very first track meet!! She ran the 4 x 400 relay, the 100 meter dash, and did javelin. She did SO AWESOME!!
Her team won the 4 x 400 relay. She had a big lead her entire lap. It was so exciting to watch her shine. She was so worried about the meet because she is used to pacing herself for distance running and so to basically sprint the entire time is a new concept for her but she did absolutely fantastic. See the video below:
Then she WON the 100 meter dash!! We didn't even film it because we were screaming so loud and jumping up and down!! It was super exciting. Not a bad first track meet!!
After the meet we said goodbye to Kameron who had to go to work and hello to Reilly who met up with us. We continued on with Bryn's day of fun. The next stop was the mall...and her very favorite store Build-a-Bear. One of the gifts that she wanted was a new bear from there. Wish granted. We have spent a lot of money over the years with three girls who have all loved stuffed animals and loved this store!!
So many to choose from! :)
Success!! A fluffy pink bear dressed in a pink cheerleading outfit that Bryn named Rose. She also got a scent for her bear...sugar n' sparkles...Rose smells really good!
Then we were off to Coeur d' Alene. Bryn wanted to go to our favorite sushi restaurant for lunch. Done and done! This girl has good taste!
I think she gets it from her parents!! No Chuck E. Cheese this year.
After that we had some shopping to do.... the candy store and the toy store.
Bryn got the winning gumball and got a free sack of candy!! How lucky was that? Then we were off to the CDA resort to walk the board walk.
Just a little chilly!!
Then to Dockside for Bryn's favorite Gooeys...enormous sundaes!! They were fantastic!! Bryn picked out the Strawberry Shortcake (our family favorite), the Strawberry Lemonade (also good), and the Chocolate obsession. Whoa... it was a good thing that the next item on her list was hiking. We needed it!!
By that point the sun was coming out and it started to warm up. It turned into a beautiful afternoon.
This girl was super nervous all day waiting to hear if she made the high school dance team. It was a good thing that we kept her busy and distracted all day. :) More on that later. That night Bryn got Mommy and Daddy all to herself!! It was a very fun day with our girl.
The next day we had our family birthday dinner for Bryn after church. (Bryn's favorite color is purple.) She picked her special birthday meal: salad bar, tempura shrimp, Dr.Pepper, and she requested Texas sheet cake for her birthday cake.
Ailey decorated her cake. Cute!
After dinner Bryn got to pick out what we were going to do that evening. She picked a marathon game of My Little Ponies Monopoly!! The whole family played for hours and with great gusto with The Greatest Showman soundtrack playing on repeat and a lot of Maroon Five. Bryn was the DJ. There was some crazy dancing and lip syncing going on too!!
I am a stay-at-home mom and small business owner. I have four FANTASTIC kids: Reilly (29), Kameron (25), Ailey (21), and Bryn (17). I have been married to my amazing husband Tyler for 31 years. We are also grandparents to four cute grandkids and another on the way!
