Christmas, Family & Fun

Ever since we've been married, Blake and I have spent Christmas morning alone opening presents. I've always had this thing about opening presents Blake bought for me in front of my family & vice versa. What if he bought me some lingerie or something?! (Not that he ever has or would for Christmas...). Anyway this has allowed us to set in place our own Christmas traditions and make Christmas morning really special for us.

Getting ready to open my first present (a willow tree figurine of a mom holding a baby)

Brooke happily accepting any wrapping paper scraps we would give herBrooke opening her Baby Stella dollTrying out her new "Brooke" sippy cup (I am a nerd and thought that was coolest present she got!)But to Brooke, nothing beat the piles of wrapping paperMy family does a big Christmas Eve get together every year, and since we live 3 hours away we decided not to torture Brooke with a 6 hour car ride in one day. I was sad to miss all the fun, but my family joined us at our house Christmas Day.

Steve, my mom, me and Jared

My brother Jared showing off his Snuggie
Christmas came early for Blake. On the 23rd he and his buddy both shot an elk.

My brother, Stephen and his girlfriend Bridgette came in from Tennesee. I hadn't seen Steve since last Thanksgiving, and he had never even met Brooke. I was so happy to get to spend some time with him.

Brooke was very interested in all his piercings

Steve wearing his "Christmas Sweater" t-shirt

Merry Christmas everyone!

Party Time!

***My sister said she expected a detailed report of the festivities. Not to disappoint her, here it is! Warning: You are about to enter a picture overload zone!***
The last party guest has left, I think all the toys have been fished out from under the couch, and Brooke's high chair has been completely washed from top to bottom. Blake has gone to run an errand, Brooke is passed out in her crib from over stimulation and I finally have a minute to catch my breath and record today's events. I've gotten teased by several people that we made too big a deal out of a first birthday because she won't remember it anyway. Even though that's true, I will remember it and I wanted it to be a good one. It by far exceeded my expectations.

For months now I have been feeling glum because we do not have any close family living by us. Plus, it's the middle of December so the weather is unpredictable for our out of town family to really brave the 3 hour trip. Throw in the hectic Christmas season and I was positive no one would be there to celebrate Brooke's milestone with us. But our wonderful friends came to the rescue! Everyone we invited (including Blake's cousin and her family) set aside the last Saturday before Christmas to be with us and celebrate Brooke's birthday.

The celebrations obviously started on Brooke's actual birthday (Dec. 17th) and she got to open her first present from Uncle Ben and Aunt Katie:

When the paper started to tear, Brooke kept looking at us as if asking "Are you sure it's okay that I'm tearing this apart?"

As soon and Brooke heard that whatever was inside the box made noise, she got so excited and started dancing. I'm so glad we got it on video:

Inside was a cute puppy who sings and plays games.

Saturday started out bright and early with me cleaning the house and decorating:Then I went and picked up the cake I ordered. The whole time I was carrying it out to the car I was thinking, "Please don't drop this!"
I was nervous the whole day that Brooke would have one of those days when she wouldn't want to nap on time and then be grumpy for her party. Luckily she cooperated and was bright eyed and ready to go when the guests arrived!

The Birthday Feast
Opening gifts from our great friends!
All the kids loved the "My Pretty Little Learning Purse"
Even when the entire piece of cake was gone, Brooke kept sucking on her fingers to get every last taste!
Then she decided(without us coaxing her) to show everyone she was "so big" and got frosting all in her hair.
She went right from her high chair into the bathtub!
Happy Birthday, Brooke!! And thank you to all of our friends and family who sent their love to her on her special day!

Birthday Girl

I know I hardly ever mention Brooke in my posts, so an over the top 1st birthday post with zillions of pictures was totally unexpected, right? I have never experienced a year that has gone by so fast before. Seriously, it feels like I looked like this just yesterday:
My brother so kindly said to me around this same time last year, "You need to get that thing out of you! You look like there's an alien in there!" Why, thank you. What a nice compliment to a woman who is days away from giving birth and feels like her stomach is ready to explode.

And that Brooke was my small, beautiful new baby:
Now she is my big, beautiful little girl:
She is so curious about everything!
And still so happy!


Having never done this before, I think I expected Brooke as one year old to be more like a toddler: talking, walking and leaving bite marks in everything. She can say "dada" and babbles constantly, but that is the extent of her vocabulary. She seems pretty content with crawling and still doesn't have any teeth! She is still my baby and I will probably always think of her as that. Happy Birthday Brooke!

Santa Baby

This weekend we went to a family Christmas party in Payson. It's a yearly tradition on Blake's side of the family & we always have lots of fun and good food. Before we left, Brooke was feeling the Christmas spirit:

Brooke has graduated into a forward facing carseat. On the way down she entertained herself by taking off both her shoes and socks and then doing this:
Santa always makes an appearance at the party, so Brooke got her turn:

We didn't have our flash on, so the picture is orange (in case you couldn't tell), but Brooke is just checking him out.
Then, she checks out the jingling sound

Brooke sees that Santa is an okay guy
I love Brooke's expression in this picture.. It's like she is trying to understand what she's supposed to do
Santa makes sure everyone sits on his lap. At one point, all 3 of us were sitting there.
Us with Blake's grandparents. I think it is so cool that Brooke has great grandparents. I never even knew my mom's parents let alone great grandparents.

On the way home, we hit a super bad snow storm. Driving though Parley's Canyon I was about to have a heart attack. Blake could see me getting stressed and said, "Does someone need to listen to some Christmas music?" It's funny how playing Christmas music suddenly made the situation "festive" instead of a near death experience. Blake knows just what I need!