Pictures are worth...

...so many more than a thousand words. As I said in a previous post: this 18 month stage with Brooke is so fun yet so challenging. I find myself taking more naps now than I did when she was a newborn. When Brooke is awake I am always on the go with her: playing, chasing, jumping on the tramp, swinging, playing in the sand, running around the yard, getting into mischief inside the house, trying to wrestle her in and out of the car-seat or stroller.... so by the time 2 pm comes around I am exhausted and looking forward to when daddy will be coming home!

I recently got Brooke's 18 month picture taken from Kristina Curtis Photography. I won a free photo session from her back in December but hadn't been able to meet up with her until now. I first met Kristina when she took my friend Sarah's wedding pictures (and if you have time and like to look at amazing wedding photos, take a peek). I already knew she was talented, but this session with Brooke convinced me even more of it. First, Brooke and I drove 3 hours for the photo session. Brooke was so grumpy and tired of being in the car and would not cooperate at all. She kept running away and at one point tripped and fell and cried and cried. I came home from the session feeling a bit disappointed, feeling like there was no way Kristina was able to get even 1 good picture. Then I got the images back and was amazed! These pictures capture Brooke's personality perfectly. When I look back at these pics years from now, I will always remember this crazy age.

she loved the mailbox (they were real ones btw, with real mail inside) and the only way she'd stay sitting on that green chair was by playing with/eating rocks

Couldn't Resist

....buying popsicles from the girls across the street (triplets) and their little brother for $1 each. I remember having lemonade stands growing up and I just couldn't say no. They are traveling salesmen, too. I saw them hauling their cooler up to the front door and I said to Blake "Get some money, I think we're about to buy something"
....showing my cute little nephew H. water-skiing at 2 years old!!They are die hards. You definitely won't be seeing Brooke doing that anytime soon. Well, she is Blake's daughter so I won't say "never" :) but I might have to stay home for that.
....posting a pic of Blake on a mountain bike trail. He has been doing 1-2 trails every day & is loving it!
...Brooke and her bike helmet. She brought me this helmet while we were waiting to go out on the lake & insisted that I put it on her. She wore it around the house for like 10 minutes.

ahhhh... so fun and so many good memories of summer & it's not over yet!

Brooke is 19 months old. Crazy how time seems to go faster & faster. Here a few things she's been doing:

*Says "Do you see it?" all the time. We always ask Brooke if she sees things so she's copied our saying. When we went to Utah County this past weekend, we had to drive through a canyon where there are huge windmills. Brooke loved them. She kept saying pointing and saying "Do you see it?" over and over and then she'd say "whoa" and "wow"

*Is fearless when to comes to the park. Will climb up the stairs to the slide and go down the slide all by herself. She even learned how to climb up the slide the way the older kids do (climbing up the actual slide instead of using the stairs). It about gave me a heart attack when I thought she was happily playing at the bottom of the slide, looked up and all of a sudden she was climbing up to the top! Crazy girl.

*Is into everything now more than ever. Her new nickname is "Brooke the Destroyer"

*Has 8 teeth now with more on the way. And they never come in side by side either. They are always so random with huge spaces between them where her other teeth should be.

*Is starting to warm up to Gunner more and more. When Gunner is in the kennel Brooke likes to keep him company by throwing him rocks and feeding him her sippy cup through the chain link. Luckily, Gunner wasn't interested in sharing Brooke's drink.
*I swear she is getting taller everyday & is quickly growing out of her size 4/5 sandals.

*Helped me yesterday by unloading some of the silverware, piece by piece, from the dishwasher. It took forever, but she was so proud of herself for helping me.

*Blows kisses as part of our "goodbye" or "goodnight" routine

*This is such a fun, challenging age. I love watching Brooke grow and explore & try new things.

Some Days...

....are destined to go badly from the start. Don't get me wrong, I've definitely had worse days. And compared to some, this day was a walk in the park. Yesterday Brooke woke up at 6:30 and I woke up with a cold and my head feeling like it was 2 sizes too big. Not a good combination. Since I was sick I decided not to go for a walk like I usually do each morning. Instead, I loaded up Brooke and went down to my school to do some work in my classroom. I brought snacks, toys, Baby Einstein DVDs, everything I thought I would need to keep Brooke happy. Apparently Brooke wasn't feeling it. Less than 10 minutes in, I hear Brooke making her "yummy" noises. I turn around and find her drinking from my can of diet coke. As I rush over to grab it from her, she starts running away--can in hand, sloshing it all over herself and the carpet (sorry janitors). I finally get the can away from her and a huge meltdown commences. There is nothing that can make her happy--except emptying out her entire pack of goldfish crackers and stepping on them (again, sorry school). By that time I figure it's time to go. Blake was still sleeping so I knew I couldn't go home quite yet (Brooke hasn't mastered the meaning of the word "quiet"). So I went for a drive up the canyon. It was beautiful and seemed to calm both Brooke and I down. Maybe a little too much. I look back and see that Brooke has that too relaxed look on her face. I hurry and flip a u-turn all the while chanting "don't fall asleep" all the way home. Who knew a 5 minute nap could do so much damage?! Because of that little cat nap, when it was really Brooke's nap time a few hours later she didn't want to sleep. That led to a later nap, which lead to waking up after 6pm and going to bed super late that night. That all made for a very long day!

Today I think I handled things much better & it literally was a walk in the park:
Instead of dragging Brooke to my school again (I don't know what I was thinking yesterday) we loaded up and went to one of our favorite parks in town.

I love how Brooke likes to carry my bag

We relaxed on a blanket and Brooke played to her heart's content

Then came home for some play-time in the backyard. Brooke found this piece of floss while I was getting her changed into her swim-suit and it kept her entertain all afternoon:

Guess how big this swim shirt is? It's a 4T!! Isn't that insane? You would think that shirt would be drowning her. I think Old Navy's sizes must be off because there is no way Brooke wears that size in her normal clothes.

If you had any doubts about whether we live in the country or not, this picture should clear that up! Every year the alfalfa field behind the house gets mowed and baled. Brooke was terrified of the tractor. Every time it would pass by the house she would run from the pool and sit on my lap.And I'm happy to report that Brooke went to bed at her normal bedtime tonight. Three cheers for that! Although I'm sure she'll still wake up abnormally early.

Leftovers

Here is a leftover story from our 4th weekend. The night we launched fireworks, we thought we added a new addition to our family:
She had been living in the wood pile and came out to investigate the noises. My niece, E. (known as the "cat whisperer") got her to sit on her lap and was loved and petted by all the cousins. Somehow this kitty was dubbed "Sham-Wow" or "shammy" for short. As cute as she is, I was pretty hesitant about getting another pet. How do all these strays keep finding us? I tried to convince several family members to take the cat home with them, but all left cat-less. I am a sucker for cute little animals and was starting to think it wouldn't be so bad if we kept her. Brooke absolutely loved her.
Later, Gunner got his sights on her and chased her up a tree. I then had to rescue her.
And I immediately put out an internet ad for a free cat. Thankfully our neighbors eased my guilt about this poor cat by asking if we had noticed one hanging around. Theirs had run away while they'd been gone all weekend. PRESTO! Problem solved! (Oh, and the cats name is actually Lucy.) I know that is a pretty uninteresting story, but it's been a slow week at our house.

In other random news Brooke has a sty in her eye. It's so sad. Her eyelid is all swollen and red. We're supposed to put a warm compress on in 3-4 times a day for 15 minutes. Brooke will only allow us to do it while she is sleeping so it's been a slow process getting rid of it.

Blake and his brother are mountain biking crazies! They went to Sundance for an afternoon to do all the downhill trails there. Blake had a mean wreck (thankfully landing on his un-injured shoulder) and has some pretty gnarly cuts and bruises to show for it.
This is not a video of Blake's wreck. Just them going off a jump at wicked speeds. Like I said, crazy...

And that's all folks! Brooke starts a kindermusic class tomorrow that I am really excited for. I think she'll love it.

Fourth Festivities

I love the Fourth of July. It's probably one of my favorite holidays. Blake's siblings have made it a tradition to come out to our side of the state for the holiday. And this year was no exception. They arrived Friday night and stayed until Monday morning. During those 4 days we packed in lots of eating, a day at the lake, fireworks (including a sketchy episode involving some questionable fireworks shooting towards the crowd and then almost lighting the field on fire), and lots of playtime with the cousins.
We hit the lake bright and early Saturday morning. It was my first time wakeboarding this year, and I was happy that I was still able to get up! Brooke loved playing in the water.
Brooke sharing some twizzlers with her cousin on the boat; Sharing her sippy cup with cousin K; and the cousins mesmerized by our family fireworks show.

This was Brooke's first year staying up late to watch fireworks. She loved them! She sat with her cousins the entire time and squealed in delight and clapped her hands.

Sunday afternoon we went on a hike. It was a little rainy, but still a good time.

Monday morning was the 4th of July parade. Brooke did pretty good watching it. She would get antsy but then anytime there was a loud noise or siren she would stop and try to see where it was coming from. I did a pretty easy 4th outfit for Brooke this year. Just a red tanktop over a white shirt. My favorite part were her patriotic hair-bows.

Other favorite cousin moments:

J. was such a good friend to Brooke always looking out for her, playing with her & pulling her in the wagon.Cousin A. was also a great helper! She is the closest girl cousin to Brooke and they get along great. It was definitely the girl cousins who were little mommies to Brooke. 3 yr. old boy cousin J. kept saying "I hate that baby" meaning Brooke. I think he was tired of us saying "J. she's too little..."

We had a fantastic weekend! I hope there are many more fun weekends like those this summer.