Just cause she is so cute....

My sweet little baby is not looking like a baby anymore.  She has decided she wants to be a big girl too.  She has to do most things on her own!

PSI Party

Matthew's work had a Christmas party a couple of weeks ago.  It was our first real date without miss Brooklyn.  It was great to spend time with just the two of us and enjoy a nice meal without getting food everywhere.  Plus... he is kind of handsome, don't you think?!

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

My Hubby Turns 29!!!!

Yesterday we had the opportunity to celebrate Matthew's birth!!  He turned 29 and is one amazing man!  He is such a great daddy.  Brooklyn always asks for him throughout the day and is so excited to see him when he walks in the door.  Not to mention, so am I!  Even though he spends all day working to take care of our family, he comes home and plays with Brooklyn and listens to me ramble on about our day.  He is so patient, loving, and sincere.  We love him soooooooooooooooooo much!!!!  

To celebrate we went out to lunch here...

and to dinner here....

Then we came home to some yummy cheesecake and presents!

Here are a couple of pics from Matthew's special day.

 

Brooklyn made this wrapping paper for daddy at the crafternoon at the Springville museum.  So cute!

New sweater and new running toe socks

Santa Claus is Coming To Town

So... we took Brooklyn to see Santa last night.  

 Here we are waiting in line. 

And here is Brooklyn on Santa's lap.  I didn't feel like we were torturing her last night, but looking at these pictures today makes me think otherwise.  You can even see Santa's smile start to waiver as he tries to contain the screaming Brooklyn.  I guess it is a rite of passage as a child to have these pictures taken, but after the pictures were taken, Brooklyn didn't want anything to do with me.  I had betrayed her, so she grabbed for the nice daddy who was taking pictures.  Click on the image below to make it bigger.  

We are doing better today and Brooklyn has forgiven me... or forgotten.  Either way, she still gives me hugs and kisses!

Catch Up

 About a month or so ago, we headed to Utah lake to take some pics of the little babe.  We didn't get exactly what we wanted since Brooklyn wasn't feeling the "look at the camera and smile" vibe.  She is still adorable so I thought I would post them anyway.

Also, it definitely looks like Christmas around here.  We have had our tree for over a week, and decorations are brightening up our whole home.  It is the most wonderful time of the year and we celebrated with homemade pumpkin pie that was six months in the making.  Literally.  We started with a pumpkin seed and used the beautiful little pumpkins that grew in our garden this summer to make a delicious pumpkin pie.  Fresh really is better!  I couldn't wait for Brooklyn to wear her Christmas jammies so she has been wearing them for a couple weeks now.  Who says Christmas is only one day?

Yesterday was Sinterklaas day so we had to put out our shoes to be filled with lots of goodies.  The carrots are for the horses and this morning we had oranges and chocolate in our shoes!  I love this tradition from Matt's dutch family!  The clogs were a new addition this year for only 7 dollars on etsy!

Shared photo book from Corinne

Click here to view this photo book larger

I have been working on this baby book for Brooklyn for the past month.  I have finally finished and am just waiting for it to come in the mail!  It documents all of her "firsts" as a baby and shows how fast she has grown.  I think it has been really therapeutic for me because it has forced me to admit that Brooklyn is no longer a tiny little baby.  She is a little girl and is so much fun!

Our Baby Turned 1!

Brooklyn turned one on November 5 and I can't believe it.  She seems like she is such a little girl and no longer a baby.  She has been growing by leaps and bounds these past couple of weeks and it has been so much fun to watch.  She decided she wanted to start walking two days before her birthday and she is gaining confidence every day.  She learns a new word practically everyday.  Her list now includes; Dad, Mama, duck, dog, amen, thank you, ya, hi, bye, Nana, horse, baby, moo, baaa, uh oh, and I swear she says love you when I say it to her.  She raises her hand in story time at the library and during Sunday school to answer questions because she sees everyone else do it.  My favorite of all is that she gives us lots of kisses (on the lips!)  Randomly she will kiss us and make the cute little mwua sound that goes with it.  Sometimes after I am done feeding her she will give me kisses too!  She loves books, Elmo, babies, music, and especially animals.  She also LOVES to growl! We will have to take her to the zoo soon.  She has her doctor's appointment Tuesday so we will see what her stats are, but I am excited to get her into a forward facing car seat.  

Here are a couple of pictures from her little birthday party we had yesterday.  

She got a set of animal puppets and loves them.  She is growling in the second pic :)

Here is Daddy helping blow out the candles! 

She had her own cake to smash and eat by herself.  She was very ladylike when eating her cake, and made sure to take her time.  

 Here is her birthday cake I made for the rest of us.  The theme was red and blue with birds.

We are missing Nana in this picture, but at least we got 3 generations!

We had a great day and look forward to all that Brooklyn will learn and experience in the next year!

Fall Festivities!

We

went to the pumpkin patch twice this year because it was so fun!  There were tons of animals to pet, including a baby kangaroo which Brooklyn loved!  There was a corn pit to play in, tractor rides and hay mazes.  All for free!!!  We love when things are free!

 Carving Pumpkins!

Yes, she is in the nude... sorry... I figured it was better than getting pumpkin junk all over her clothes.

And who doesn't love a little naked baby?!

 The mustache

 I loved her expression when she saw what came out of the pumpkin.  haha

I also loved this picture, because it typifies her hair days.  I try to make her hair all cute with bows and headbands, but by the end of the day this is what it looks like.  Normally she can only see from one eye. It might be time to get a haircut :)

 Here is Brooklyn getting caught in action.  She was going through the candy stash and thought it was so funny that I caught her.  

Since Brooklyn is too young to decide what she wanted to be for Halloween, I decided she was going to be a cute little peacock.  I have to say, she was pretty cute!  Of course, she wouldn't look at the camera, and didn't want to keep her peacock feathers on very long, but she did enjoy her very first piece of Halloween candy!

Long Time Coming

So, I have been really bad at blogging lately, but I have a good reason.  I have been working on my last class of my BYU career and can unofficially say that I have finally graduated!!!!!!  (I don't have my diploma yet, but I just have menial paper work to do until it is here.)

You might be confused thinking I already graduated because of this....

But don't let that fool you!  I still had 12 credits I needed to finish before I was done.  Well, we moved around a bunch after that, and we were no longer living in Provo, UT.  So, Independent Study it was.  Maybe this wasn't the fastest method, but three years, five classes and many hours later, I am done!

I just need to take a minute to thank my sweet hubby who was so patient and supportive these past three years in encouraging me to finish, and who is probably more excited for me to be done than I am :)  Of course, I can't forget my parents who not only paid for me to go to 4 years at BYU, but who got me through 12 years of school before that!  I have one great support system.

I can finally start working on fun craft projects that I have been putting off. :) Pictures of Brooklyn's Halloween costume, our trip to Texas, and my sister's visit to Springville are coming shortly!

Happy

I am one lucky wife and mother!  I could not be happier!

Pure Joy!

So... I have been really bad about blogging lately.  This was just too cute not to post!  Brooklyn is so much fun and pretty much always happy!  She is such a blessing in our life and we love her so much!  She just turned 10 months yesterday and I can't believe she is so old already.  I am starting to think about her one year birthday party and that just scares me!  Time flies!

Lake Powell 2011

A vacation frequently means that the family goes away for a rest, accompanied by a mother who sees that the others get it.

I have never come home from vacation so exhausted but I loved every minute of it.  It was so good to spend time with family, see Matthew so relaxed and not thinking about work, and bathing in the sun!  This year the trip was less about wakeboarding and skiing and more about taking care of Brooklyn :)  I think having a baby so close to the water all day long set me on edge but she had so many people to play with that we still had lots of fun. 

The happiest place on earth is also the most beautiful!

 Mother and daughter twinners! Notice the matching toenails!!

 Floating!  Brooklyn wasn't great at staying in her floatie... she would much rather swim by herself.  We tried to keep telling her that she didn't know how, but she wouldn't listen... go figure!

This little pool was perfect for the little babes.  They had some great bonding time throughout the week.  Even daddy got in the pool!

Thanksgiving Point Work Party

4th of July

Better late than never... We had a nice relaxing holiday spent outdoors with a BBQ, friends, fireworks, and popsicles.  God bless the USA!

Happy Sunday!

Being a Minority

That’s right, I’m a minority. Not because of my ethnicity, but due to my failure to adopt popular technology platforms. I don’t own a TV, a “smart” phone, a gaming system (except an old Ninetendo 64 that lives in the closet), or a new iPod (I do have a second generation Nano, and guess what, it still plays music just as well as a new one :O). Let me make one thing clear, my failure to adopt these technologies is by choice and not due to financial or intellectual constraints. So why don’t I adopt these popular technologies?

Technology should serve a need, not a self-esteem issue. Let me explain. Why should I buy a new and larger TV? Does having a larger/nicer TV really make media consumption that much better? I don’t believe that it does. (In fact, we actually just recently went from talking about upgrading from our 32 inch TV to getting rid of our TV altogether.)

When I get into my TV Zone (The state of becoming so engrossed in what I’m watching and hearing that I don’t hear or see my wife), I don’t realize what the size of the TV is. So say that on a 1 – 10 scale, 10 being the best, that I am watching a show on my computer that rates as an 8. Watching that show on a 50+ inch TV, with a great sounds system, will increase my satisfaction to maybe 8.25. So because I have a computer that I can watch television shows on, why do I need a TV? Is spending $800+ really worth the .25 increase in satisfaction? I don’t see it. It’s all about the law of diminishing returns. I probably reach the point of diminishing returns earlier then most.

Here is one more explanation for my decision. When you buy something expensive you feel obligated to justify your purchase by getting as much use out of it as possible. That makes sense right? However, do I really want to feel obligated to watch TV? TV was made for man, not man for the TV. In my opinion, TV watching and happiness have an inverse relationship; the more you watch, the more unhappy you become.

So if a larger TV doesn’t really contribute to making me happier, then why should I keep buying them? I can really boil my desire to buy a larger TV’s into two reasons. First, “A luxury once used, becomes a necessity.” Enough said on that one. Second, it’s because we got to keep up with the Jones’ and have begun to see technology as a status symbol and no longer as a tool. (This could be said of the housing market bubble as well) This is great news for consumer technology companies, but not so good for the overall well being of consumers. Kind of reminds me of the clothing industry. I have always found it funny that we are willing to pay a price premium for a t-shirt that has a brand name on it. Think about it, we are paying for the privilege to advertise some company’s brand at our own expense! To make matters worse, paying for the privilege of advertising a brand usually comes at the cost of the quality of the actual product. So you are essentially paying for a status symbol to help boast you self-esteem and aren’t primarily seeking to fulfill a need. Sounds like junior high all over again L

So what’s my point? Think before you buy and before you judge. Perhaps you will find a significant improvement in your happiness by having a new TV or by being an early adopter of new technologies. Perhaps you feel that the benefit really does outweigh the real cost and the opportunity cost associated with your purchase. However, some crazy people out there might not share those feelings and that’s okay too.

California

Matthew had a conference in Vegas last Thurs and Fri and so Brooklyn and I drove down with him and flew to California after that.  Besides the plane being 3 hrs late, we had a great time!  I had to document her first plane ride.  Luckily by the time we actually got in the air she was so tired that she passed out, which also allowed me to rest a little.  

We had so much fun playing with cousins and aunts and uncles and nanas and poppas! 

Jackson was such a sweetheart to Brooklyn and it was so fun to see Wade interact with her too!  I think Brooklyn learned a few tricks watching her cousins. 

 We also got to see GG and Poppa (my grandparents) and they loved her!  It was so much fun to watch Grandpa crawling on the floor playing peek-a-boo with Brooklyn!

 We got to go to this sweet girls baptism and be a part of her special day.  Matthew got to give the Baptism talk.  We also got to surprise Matt's parents who were there to celebrate Sydney's big day.  They didn't know we were going to be there too and it was great to see them, as always!

 Of course, what is a trip to California without the beach?  We were able to go twice and soak up the sun.  I loved seeing Brooklyn sleeping under the umbrella because it reminded me of my childhood!

 To add to our already great trip, we got to go to the pool three times!  At Kerstin's splash pad all the little babies had to wear these plastic underwear on top of their diapers and they were all out of the smaller sizes by the time we got there.  I think Brooklyn's face says it all!  haha

We can't wait until we get to see our family again at Lake Powell!  Only 29 more days!!!!

100!

For our 100th post we decided to have a party!!!  Brooklyn started dancing this week and I thought it was so fun. 

 I think she's got rhythm!  What do you think?

Dinner Time

This might only be funny to me and Matthew, but we thought it was pretty cute... so Enjoy!

He was behind me making funny faces and being a silly daddy.

Newest Member of the Family

B.O.B.

I absolutely love this stroller. It is the MacDaddy of all running strollers and is so light and easy to push. Normally they start around$300-400 dollars, but we found this one on KSL for $150! Score! We go over curbs, through mud, and all over the town with this guy. (Brooklyn is usually dressed when we do :) She loves being able to look out and see where we are going, and sits there just smiling the whole time.

P.S. We went to the Dr. today and found out Brooklyn is still a happy, healthy little girl. She did remember the shots though, because as soon as I put her on the paper, she screamed! She knew what was coming. Poor girl! It is so sad to see your baby cry.

Her stats this time were

39% for weight

93% for height

99% for head size!

(apparently all Bos babies have larger than life heads...it means she is extra smart!)