In Case You Were Wondering...

1. Why I've been such a food hoarder. I was especially bad during my trip to Vegas. At the continential breakfast I would put extra muffins in my purse to hold me over until I could stuff my face at lunch.

2. Why it looks like I haven't exercised all summer. No Zumba and all my attempts to get out an be active have been replaced with lots of reading/napping and lounging around. Oh, and eating. Lots and lots of eating.

3. And finally, you might be wondering why it's almost August and you haven't seen a single picture/video of me attempting to wakeboard.

I can blame it all on this little jellybean:

Baby M. #2 at 7 weeks

Due February 9, 2012 (my Bday)

I'm 11 and a half weeks now and we have had two successful doctor's appointments and have finally told all the people we felt needed to be told in person so, now we're ready to share the news with everyone else! Blake and I are super excited and Brooke is oblivious that in about 6 months, her world is about to be rocked!

And since you absolutely will not see one of those creepy floating babies on the sidebar of my blog, I came up with a little diddy to help you remember when I'm due:

"A May rendevous with Blake will a February baby make!"

All About B.

We have been having lots of fun this summer just taking it easy and hanging out. I have loved being able to take time off from work to spend some one on one time with Brooke. Her personality has really exploded and she makes makes me laugh/cry/pinch myself because I can't believe this sweet girl is mine/pull my hair out because she's driving me crazy pretty much on a daily basis

Here is a little about B. at 2 and a half years old:

Favorite question: "What you doing?" Blake and I get bombarded with this question all.day.long. Although, her next most frequent question, "What's that?" might just take the lead soon.

Favorite Color: Orange. Everything must be orange

Favorite Activity: hmmmm... right now she is going through a phase where she is interested in something for 10 minutes and then wants to do something else. That has been my biggest frustration this summer. Especially when we get the pool out and get her in her swimsuit and then she just wants to go inside! grr....But if I had to choose it would be playing with playdough. I finally bought a playdough set with all the cutting tools and cookie cutters to make shapes and it was the best $10 I ever spent.

Favorite Food: who knows. I can never get this girl to eat! Recently she's been eating turkey and cheese so I'll say that.

Favorite Movie: She's finally done watching Nemo, Monster's Inc and Tangled all the time and now likes to watch either Mulan (BooWan is how B. says it) or Peter Pan. It's cute because Brooke says "Peetah", making it sound British like they do in the movie.

Other Favorites: singing, reading (we are doing the summer reading program at the library this year. For every 10 books we read, Brooke gets a prize. I've also started taking her to the library once a week to pick out books.), playing outside, and getting wet.

Other things to know about Brooke: she is so friendly! She says hi to everyone she sees and wants to play. I love that about her. She is also cute to say "see you later, alligator!" to everyone. And of course, she loves she loves her daddy! They are best buds!
This is the bike I got for Brooke that was $3!! Her feet are still a tad too short to reach the peddles, but she can grow into it this fall and use it next spring/summer before we upgrade to a small bike with training wheeels.
She has to be wherever dad is:Helping pick peas in the gardenI told Brooke to show me her peas (meaning the ones she's holding in her hands) but she opened her mouth to show me the ones in her mouth instead.

And finally, I love this video! Brooke is usually to shy to sing on camera but this time we caught it! Blake and I each have different songs we sing to Brooke when we put her to bed. Blake sings "I am a Child of God" and Brooke has learned all the words just from listening each night. You might have to turn up your volume to hear, it was kinda windy outside.

PS-I am hoping that the next post will be something a bit more exciting!

Some more of Summer

We have roses! I can't help that I am a flower nerd. I cut these rose bushes down in October because I thought "Oh roses are supposed to be hard and I don't want to deal with them" Apparently cutting them down is exactly what you are supposed to do because they grew and they are gorgeous!I learned on my trip from visiting with my mom and sis that Brooke does not like baths as near as much as she loves showers! So she calls her little pool in the backyard her tub.Blake gave her a piece of hose and she uses it to blow bubbles. Also, this swimsuit has since been retired. It's a 2T but since B. is so tall, it barely covers her tummy and Blake was not for that. She now wears a one piece and Blake is asking if we shorts to go over it because he still thinks it's immodest. Oh boy. Brooke, you have some major clothing battles ahead of you. But until then, enjoy your tub outside!

Can I also mention how much I am loving our yard? Brooke plays all afternoon and I can sit on the deck with my book in the shade and read the afternoons away! I love summer and it is going by way too fast!

The Only Way to Camp

I haven't always had a liking for camping. It wasn't until I met Blake that I started to enjoy it. And even then, it was something I had to learn to love. Our first camping experience went like this: Married only a short time & Blake convincing me to go camping with him beause it will so "fun". I agree and off we went. We brought Blake's dog Captain with us and during the night (for some reason I can't remember) Captain ended up sleeping in our tent with us. Then the next morning Blake gets up and leaves me at camp while he goes fishing. "I won't be very long" he says. Well, hours later I am worrying that he's been mauled by a bear and go looking for him. I fall in the river about 10 times trying to cross it and walk forever before finally heading back to camp. Finally I meet up with Blake and demand where he's been and find out I spent all that

time walking in the wrong direction. Needless to say, that was our last camping trip for a while.

But, I was willing to try again and since Blake had learned from our last experience the next few times were actually fun. I even went camping when I was 7 months pregnant with Brooke. Blake is doing his best to squeeze the city slicker out of me.

So, even though I do like camping, I was apprehensive about taking Brooke on her first camping trip. I wasn't sure what she would think or if she would like it. I was especially nervous about all of sleeping together (or not sleeping, I should say). Thankfully, Blake's parents stepped in and offered to let us use their camp trailer. Suddenly, all my fears were put to rest and camping seemded like a fun prospect again.

We went on a walk...

The highlight for Brooke was finding a stick to play with (and eating s'mores)
When it started to rain, we just went inside where it was snug and dry. At bedtime I set up Brooke's packnplay in the kitchen area and we slept in the bedroom in the back.

We got up the next morning and locked the trailer (no taking down a tent or rolling up sleeping bags!) and went and had breakfast at the lodge a few miles down the road. Then we went to see the Green River. Flaming Gorge is so full of water with all the rain runoff that they are releasing an insane amount of water through the dam. Usually it takes about 3 hours to float down this first section of the river, and right now you can do it in an hour or less because the water is moving so fast.

Celebrating the Fourth

The fourth of July is always a weekend event with Blake's family. It's become a tradition that we look forward to every year. We went boating on Friday July 1st with Danielle and her family. Had a yummy BBQ on Saturday the 2nd with Blake's parents, Danielle & Fam, and Zac and his kids plus girlfriend Crystal and her two girls. We ended the night with fireworks that Brooke absolutely hated! Last year she loved them, but this year she said they were too loud and scary and was begging to go inside.

On the morning of the 4th was the parade. This year Brooke was really into it. She loved getting candy and waving.
Waving to the dinosaur was Brooke's favorite.Monday afternoon we headed to Blake's cousin's house. She set up some water activities for the kids and Brooke had a blast splashing & playing. Then just about the time we getting ready to fire up the grill, it decided to rain. We waited it out and did end up eating outside on wet campchairs with towels over them. The rain and breezy weather definitely didn't dampen our fourth of July spirits or keep us from doing another fireworks show (again, Brooke hated it. Poor girl!)Tayler is a few months younger than Brooke and she was also looking for some love during the fireworks show.

We ended a very late night with watching the city fireworks, which Brooke did kind of like. We were further away and the noise wasn't as loud so that helped. I'm crossing my fingers she will enjoy herself more next year!

Catch-Up: A Week in Pictures

I have a lot to blog about, but some posts are just going to have to wait until I can play catch-up a little bit ;)

My sister and her kids came to visit from Alaska so Brooke and I spent an entire week on the Wasatch Front staying with my mom and playing with them. It was also a good time to hang out with my other siblings who, although we live in the same state, I still do not see very often. My brother, Ben and his wife are moving to Maine at the end of July so it was fun to see them and do things with them before they go.

Before we left, on Thursday (June 23) was our first time out on the lake this year! I thought it was still pretty chilly and didn't even get in, but Brooke and Blake loved the water!
Friday (June 24) we drove to my mom's house and then met my sister and her family for dinner.

Saturday (June 25) we went to the Farmer's Market in SLC and ate breakfast at this super yummy waffle place that I can't remember the name of but it was OH SO DELISH! We decided to spend the hot summer afternoon inside at Discovery Gateway.

Carter and Brooke walking to Discovery Gateway. Brooke was very smitten with Carter.

I took Brooke here last winter when she was 14 months old. We had a good time but nothing like this time. Brooke was heaven! She wanted to do everything and had so much fun!
The kid sized grocery store was by far her favorite. She just ran around putting things in her shopping cart.

Playing in the tree house & sitting in the helicopter (Brooke is obsessed with airplanes and helicopters so she thought this was awesome!)

Saturday night we left the kids at home with my mom and Ben, Katie, Nicole and I headed to the SLC Art's Festival. There were some fun booths and "interesting" musical groups, but the food was the main attraction (at least for me). I really wanted to get one of these fruit kabobs dipped in white & milk chocolate.
Sunday (June 26) was church and Monday (June 27) I met my friend Sandy and her little girl for a day at the pool. (I didn't take any pics of that)

Tuesday (June 28) we went to BYU and went bowling. This is the only picture I took, I need to get the rest from Nicole. I came in second and got two strikes during the game. My final score was 102. Nicole snuck up and beat me with a score of 103. We were pretty proud of ourselves that we beat a bunch of kids and did so well with the bumpers! Wednesday (June 29) we met my brother Ben for breakfast at Ruth's Diner then headed to the zoo.

Brooke and Olivia sitting on the tigers

The girl's were spoiled and got to ride the merry go round twice. Brooke has been watching Little Einstein's lately and when the ride would start she shouted "Go Rocket!"

After the zoo Nicole and I snuck in some shopping at the gateway and on our way home were able to stop and see some other Utah cousins.

Thursday (June 30) was a trip to Coldstone and playing at the park with the girls while the uncles took the nephews to see a movie.

Nicole, Katie, and Olivia

Brooke loved her ice cream!

Friday (July 1) we headed home and and as soon as we pulled into town we met Blake and his family at the lake for another afternoon of boating. Brooke was even brave enough to ride the tube with daddy! Then we jumped right into the 4th of July adventures with Blake's side of the family.

*While on this trip Brooke learned how to climb out of her pack and play. This made for very interesting napping experiences. Once I put her down for a nap and 5 minutes later Brooke comes walking down the stairs saying "Mommy! I sleep good!" Yeah, right. Finally I put Brooke down and said "You are not to climb out of this!" And low and behold, for the rest of the trip she was so good and didn't climb out again!