july iphone gems

I can hardly believe that July has already come and gone! I hosted book club on July 1st, which was a ton of fun.  These girls are so great, and regardless of what we read, we always have a fun night together.  We read "The Invention of Wings", by Sue Monk Kidd.  I am officially the worst hostess because I wasn't quite finished with the book, but thanks to the internet, I still managed to compile some questions to discuss.  I finished the book a few days later, and really enjoyed the read. 

I like to call this picture, "family nap", haha.  This is Kevin's ideal Sunday nap, but I prefer to have Brooke in her own bed.  She WAS in her bed for about 45 minutes, but then she woke up crying, which is unusual for her.  Kevin and I had already fallen asleep, so of course I wanted to continue napping even after she woke up.  So, I brought her into our bed, and after requesting a few shows on Netflix, she finally gave in and went to sleep.  I maybe slept 30 minutes with her in bed, and she slept another hour or so, which was so cuddly and cute :)

Brooke absolutely loves the oven mitt that her Aunt Madi made special for her birthday.  It cracks me up when she goes to get something from her kitchen oven, then stops and puts on her oven mitt before proceeding.  You can never be too careful!  She also has an adorable matching apron :)

We are super thankful that the Miralax is working, but boy, she has some stinky diapers.  Kevin hasn't had to change many of the nasty ones, but this particular evening was a real winner.  Sometimes Kevin cracks me up with his antics.  And Brooke has to be just like Daddy, haha.  After changing her diaper, and me reminding him that I do this on the daily, he goes, "You are tough", haha.

We went on a family date to Mellow Mushroom (a delicious pizza restaurant), followed by furniture shopping.  We are still deciding whether to buy new furniture for the baby, or transition Brooke's current furniture to the new nursery and purchase a new bedroom set for Brooke. She loved all the princess beds, and was excited to climb on everything!  I think she would probably do okay on a bigger bed, but I am also hesitant to make the change quite yet.  It was a fun evening regardless. 

Apparently this is a comfortable way to read books???

Lucky for Brooke, the pet store is right by Target, which we frequent regularly!  When I told Brooke that we could go see the pets, she was thrilled and immediately started talking about "see Doggy hair cuts", because they are normally grooming dogs when we stop in.  No such luck today, but she was so stinkin adorable.  I let her get out of the shopping cart to see the fish and turtles up close, and she started introducing herself by saying "Hi little guys, I Brooke", or "I'm me, Brooke", hahahaha.  I really love this little girl.  On the way out, we noticed some kittens that we missed upon arrival because they had placed a pallet of shipment in front of the cages (why??).  This was a definite highlight for Brooke because the kittens were super playful and were chasing each other around and playing peek-a-boo with each other.

It is imperative that you kiss the turtles before you leave...

We had several fun pool dates with different groups of friends.  I didn't take many pictures because I am always busy with Brooke, but I did take one of her wearing my sandals.  She actually does a pretty good job walking in them, despite the fact that they are way too big for her.

The Friday night tradition of pizza and a movie is going strong.  Kevin was in Utah this particular weekend, but we still enjoyed us some pizza and some Winnie The Pooh.

The next morning was our ward's pioneer day celebration.  Brooke mostly wanted to play on the playground, but we did have a few bites of breakfast and played a little with her friend Brooks. They are pretty darn cute together.  Brooke was leading Brooks all over the field with that rope thing.

Sunday night, when Daddy was finally home, Brooke would not leave his side.  She definitely missed him while he was gone, and he was happy to get snuggles from his little bug.  We had another picnic dinner upstairs since Kevin missed our Friday night tradition.

This is what an hour and a half of yard work looks like in Texas!  I was having a surge of energy and decided that it would be a good idea to trim all the shrubs in front of our house during Brooke's nap (like 2 in the afternoon).  I am still happy I did it, but boy was I a sweaty mess.  I also spread like 8 bags of mulch in the planter boxes and pulled a zillion weeds.

I have been wanting donuts ever since I was talking to my mom about the desserts she was planning for a bridal shower she was hosting.  I am not one to go to a donut shop, but after dreaming about donuts, we made the stop :)  Brooke was super pumped about her flavored water since it had a picture of Ariel on the front, but she didn't even take a bite of her donut.  Silly girl!  I had two :(

And we finished July with Friday night at the water park.  Brooke was a maniac on the water slides, which was fun to see.  I kind of forced her to go down the first time (she doesn't like the water that sprays down at the top), but then she realized how fun it was (which is what I was hoping). On the bigger slide, she would completely go under the water at the bottom, but she tried to get right back up every time.  It made me kind of nervous, so I would wait at the bottom to give her a hand, and she would be right back at it again.  Once Kevin met up with us, I was able to get a few fun videos to show the family.

Some Fridays are called "Friday Night Slides", and the park is open until 10.  We stayed until about 9:30, which was perfect.  She loved running through the little water sprays along the walkways (which she called "frinkles"), floating in the lazy river, standing in the wave pool, and watching the giant bucket "dump water EVERYWHERE" (said with a sweeping hand motion)".

July was good to us, now on to August and the heat wave we are having!!

two year photo shoot

I was pleasantly surprised with how these pictures turned out!  I think my expectations were somewhat low due to Brooke's lack of interest in taking pictures these days!  But, thankfully, due to her interest in the ocean, and her pink balloons, I was able to snap a few pictures that I am in love with.  I only spent about 3 minutes taking pictures so that I didn't spoil this new experience for her!

I love my sweet sweet girl and am excited to get some prints ordered so I can hang these images around our house :)

Perfect Ending (CA Trip-Monday and Tuesday)

Despite feeling a little guilty that Brooke was going to experience the ocean for the first time without her Daddy, I was SUPER excited to head to the beach.  I was confident that Brooke would love it, but I was anxious to see her reaction.  (I was also excited to take her two year old pictures at the beach, but that's for another post!)

Here we are headed down the path to Sunset Beach. Dad took the day off work so that he could come with us. (He is way at the top of the hill with the cooler and all the blankets and towels)  I have the most adorable video of Brooke saying that she could see the ocean.  I asked her what else she could see, and she responded with "fountains", haha.  I told her that those were the waves in the ocean.  Once we hit the sandy beach and the sand started getting in her shoes, she was a bit unsure.  I assured her that it was okay if her shoes were sandy, but we could also take them off if she wanted.  Then Grandma offered to carry her, which she thought was a great idea. 

The beach was nearly empty, which was so perfect!  Brooke was a great sport, and after maybe 3 minutes of pictures, we took off her shoes and headed into the water. She kept telling me "Come on, come one" as we got closer to the water.  She was so happy to be in the water, but it was FREEZING as usual. She backed up a little, then eased back into the water while squeezing my hand tightly.  She absolutely loved when the water went back out and kind of pulled the sand from under her feet. I loved her little giggles and her excitement with the whole experience.

We changed her into her swimsuit, then headed down near the water for some sand castle building. My little independent girl wanted to build the castle "by self", and Nay Nay was patient enough to let her try to dump over the buckets, then lift them up by herself.  Once the castle/fortress was complete, Brooke stood in the middle of it all, then smashed all the towers with her foot.  Haha, silly girl.

After lunch, we fed some bread to all the seagulls who were hovering nearby. This was probably a highlight for Brooke.  When the birds were afraid to come closer, Brooke kept telling them "come here" and motioning with her hand for them to come closer.

When we ran out of bread, we rested a bit on our beach blanket, then played some more in the waves and in the sand. Overall, it was a successful first trip to the beach :)

Brooke passed out on the drive home, woke us as soon as we pulled into the driveway, but then went back to sleep when I laid her down in the house. This NEVER happens, but I was glad that she knew a 20 minute car nap wasn't going to cut it!  

After a long nap and a bath, we were ready for dinner. The balloons from our photo shoot had to accompany her to the dinner table :)

Monday evening was a bit sad since we knew it was our last one together.  Brooke absolutely loved being at Nay Nay and Papa's house, as did I. Tuesday, we basically spent the morning trying to pack up all the stuff we brought, and all the new treasures we were heading home with :)  When we were finally ready to go, we were loading the car and Brooke decided that she was ready to sit NEXT to her car seat.  Love that cute smile though :)

On the way to the airport, we stopped by the See's candy store to pick up some chocolates for Rachel (to say thanks for the airport drop-off) and Daddy. Once at the airport, we bought a chocolate "froobie" and headed to our gate.

Our flight wasn't full, so we had the whole row to ourselves. We were flying during Brooke's nap, so I was hoping she might take a little rest, but no such luck.  She wasn't grumpy at all, but she was acting a little wild at times.  Like, throwing herself back into her seat a million times and laughing, or trying to stand up and touch all the buttons above us.

Towards the end of the flight, she finally relaxed and watched some Care Bears with my Drowsy Beans doll from when I was a little girl.

We were both excited to see Kevin at the airport.  I had to wait in line to complain about my car seat bag being torn, so Kevin had the privilege of chasing Brooke all over the place :)  Once we finally started the drive home, Miss Traveler was OUT!

Kevin loved his chocolates (a whole box of Butterscotch Squares), and I had fun unpacking all our new books, toys, and dress-up clothes. You know you've been to visit Nay Nay when you come home with 18 new books :)  I am so grateful that Brooke loves books so much, and that my Mom supplies us with lots of them!

It really was such a great trip, and I am thankful for the opportunity we had to spend that week together. Until next time...

church and an afternoon walk (CA Trip-Sunday)

It is always nice to attend the ward I grew up in, but it is crazy how much it has changed!  So many new people and faces, but it makes it all worth it to see the familiar faces of the families that I have loved forever.  

Mom had made a comment that maybe we should sit in the front so everyone could see her cute granddaughter.  I asked her if she was kidding, haha.  I always sit in the back, in case I need to exit quickly.  Well, we were running late, and when we walked in, the only seats left were front and center.  Thankfully, all went well and Brooke was a reverent child.  I had no intention of taking her to nursery because I didn't know the leaders and I didn't want to dump her with a bunch of people she wouldn't know.  But, after sacrament meeting, she kept saying "nursery time".  I told her that Sister Hawkins and Sister Parr wouldn't be there, but she seemed ready to go.  So, I walked her into the room, which was CRAZY.  Tons of kids and adults (parents or leaders, i'm not exactly sure), but also lots of nice toys.  Brooke immediately started playing, turned to me, and said "Bye Mom".  Seriously??  I was totally surprised and kinda concerned that she didn't seem phased.  I talked to one of the leaders, told her Brooke's name, etc. One of the girls I used to babysit (and who is now married) was working in there as well, so I asked her to please text my Mom if Brooke started crying or seemed worried.  But she did JUST FINE.  I still don't know what to think of that.  Maybe I am just being an overprotective mother.

After church, we took a few pictures, which Brooke was not excited about.  Papa was also not into taking lots of pictures, but I did get a few.

After another 3 hour nap (apparently vacation is exhausting), dinner, and a movie (Madagascar), we headed out for a neighborhood walk.  Did I mention that we had the most glorious weather ever?? Well, we did.  Highs were in the low 80's, with a perfect breeze.

Brooke loved running away from Papa, having Nay Nay save her, then telling Papa to chase her again. They were both happy to play this little game over and over again.

Isn't this the funnest thing when you are a kid?

Especially when you end up upside down :)