Brayden is here!

Well, here is a quick post with a couple of quick pictures of our new baby boy. He was born at 7:59 am on Jan 25, 2009. Brayden Matthew Winston weighed in at 7 lbs 3 oz and was 19 inches tall. We are so pleased at the new addition to our family. Thanks everyone for your support! Thats all for now, hopefully we will get a more in depth post added soon.

Christmas-come and gone

Well Christmas was fun this year. We weren't able to go home this time due to me being pregnant (although Bryan would say it was because of the roads-either way...) but we still had a nice day. Bryan came home and we sat on the couch and didn't really do much. It was nice because we had been apart for so long that that's all we wanted to do. The week after Christmas we had to be out of our apartment and things were crazy as Bryan got sick and we still had some packing and cleaning and moving stuff to storage to do. Our neighbors came and helped us out which was life saving. Because of this I was not able to update our blog with pictures and Bryan took the camera and laptop with him so these updates won't have many-if any pictures, but when he comes back, we'll have to add all our pictures.

We spent New Years/my birthday at Jared's, Amanda's and Ella's house. It was so nice to be there and we are very grateful that they opened their home to us. It was fun spending time with them. We went out to dinner at Red Robins and we also went to the Cheesecake Factory. We (well Jared) made a few trips to the airport for us-thanks Jared! It was sad to say goodbye.

I am now living with my grandparents (my dad's parents) until we move to Maryland which will be sometime in February. I am very grateful that they are willing to have me live with them. I've only been here for a day and it is so so much better than living alone.

I have about 4 weeks left of being pregnant, and we are praying that Bryan will be back before our baby boy comes. The pregnancy has gone well so far and Amanda has helped me out quite a bit with preparing for that big day. Thanks Amanda!

It is still white outside and even though it is very beautiful, I am already ready for spring.

This is an exciting time in our lives as there are about to be many changes and adventures coming our way. We both graduated college, are about to have an addition to our family, and I'll be experiencing military life, and we'll be in a whole new area of the country (which I am really excited about-I love the east coast). Thanks everyone who has helped us out in so many different ways. We greatly appreciate it!

It's About Time

It's about time to add another entry to our blog. With Bryan being gone, and me having to do literally everything, it's hard to find time to do the little things like updating the blog. And now that school is out and I'm officially a BYU-I graduate, I have a little bit of time to update this thing. 

Back in November, Bryan graduated from BMT which was a great accomplishment for the both of us. His parents and I were able to go down to San Antonio, Texas to see him graduate. We had a wonderful time and it was so good to see my husband. Our communication was limited to snail mail which I got about once a week sometimes going two without hearing from him. It was very hard for the both of us. So graduation was pretty exciting!

When Bryan was permitted to leave base, he had to wear his uniform which they call their "blues." Although he looked nice in them, I absolutely hated him wearing it because we were not allowed to show any kind of affection-we couldn't even hold hands. All we could do was look at each other.

While we were there, we did the river walk and it was absolutely beautiful. Here is a picture of us on a bridge over the river (which isn't shown). There were trees everywhere-we were under a tunnel of them.  

Here we are standing close to each other because

that's all we could do. 

Here's a view of where we walked from the 

boat ride that we took. 

The little platform behind us (that's in the sun)

is where a scene from Miss Congeniality was filmed.  

Here is a picture of us together.

Bryan's New Look!

Bryan has been out for about a week now and I have not heard from him personally since he called me to give me his address. Although, on Sunday Elder and Sister Reynolds (military relations missionaries) emailed me and my in-laws pictures of him when he and others were at church. They also sent a little note that said that their graduation day is November 7 and that they may not be able to write or call home for the first couple of weeks until their flight earns the privilege, and that they/he will write as soon as permission is granted by their Military Training Instructors (MTI's). I think it's kinda crazy that they have to have permission to write home! 

Here is a picture of Bryan. A little side note story: I always thought that Bryan would get his head shaved but he insisted that it would just be a buzz cut-he told me that more than once. I get a picture of him and his head is shaved! I think he looks pretty dang good for not having any hair :) He looks just like himself and what a smile! I'm glad to see that he looks happy and well. Hopefully his other pictures (if there are any) will look just as good!

Bryan's "title" is Airman Basic (AB)

I'm assuming these are other members of the 

church within his flight. (There's a girl!)

An Unexpected and Happy Phone Call

Bryan called me today to tell me that he made it safely and to give me his address. I wasn't expecting to hear from him until Sunday so I was pretty happy to hear from him-it made my day. It sounded like he is doing well-I didn't hear any half deadness in his voice so he is still alive! His phone call was limited because I couldn't really talk to him-it was just to give me information so what I write here is all I know. Here is Bryan's address for any of you who would like to write him. He would love to hear from you but remember he won't have much time to write everybody back so I will keep posts up on how he is doing. 

AB Winston, Bryan M.

331 TRS Flt 687 Dorm A-4 PSC 3

1320 Truemter St. Unit 369521

Lackland AFB, TX 78236-5570

He can receive only letters and cards. He cannot receive gum, candy, or packages. (Don't ask me why because I have no idea). 

It's a boy!

Well we appreciate all of your comments and now we can say that we are having a little baby boy! We are very excited. We hope (especially Rachel) that he will be like his dad in that he will be a little momma's boy! He kicks a lot and I guess you could say he is active (although I don't have anything to compare it to)-which means that he is like Bryan already! 

On a different note, Bryan is now on his way to Butte Montana where he will swear in and where our insurance and everything will start. It was sad to say goodbye and it was really helpful to have my grandma there with me to talk to on the way home. Although after his bus left he called me (from someone else's phone) to tell me that they were going to be stopping in Rexburg for an hour (we were in Idaho Falls) and that I could see him again! There's nothing like saying goodbye when there's a hello a half an hour later! The second goodbye was more "permanent" and he is going to try and call me tonight when he gets to the hotel to tell me that he made it safely. I'm trying to think of it more as a "c-ya later" than a goodbye but we'll see how long that will last. Bryan did want to say his "c-ya laters" and thanks to all of you who care about us and keep us in your prayers-he and I both appreciate it a lot!    

BOY OR GIRL?

So we went in for the 20 week appointment today. First off, yesterday when Bryan was shaving (getting ready for boot camp) he said, "Rachel if you want to find out what we're having, we can find out. Just don't ask me about it again or I might change my mind." So we found out what we're having and we want all of you to guess so leave a comment to say what you think we are having and once we get a few comments we will let you know!