Cousins :)

Jeffrey and Madison brought Ellie to Texas, and we were thrilled. Even though we had seen them at the end of April, Ellie had changed so much already!  My favorite thing was the adorable smiles I could get from her.  I would just say her name from across the room, and she would flash her gummy smile.  It seriously melted my heart :)  It was so fun to have them here and to watch the cousins together.  I had to constantly be on guard though because Brooke was very interested in being close to her cousin :)

Cutie girls in bucket hats :)  It was impossible to get them to both look at the camera, but at least they were both turning their heads in the same direction, haha.

See, adorable!!   The first of many cousin baths I am sure...

Melanie's Baby Shower

I was excited to be involved in hosting Melanie's baby shower for Little Miss Aubrey!  We had the shower on May 24th, and Melanie looked beautiful!  We had about 20 people in attendance, which made for a fun afternoon.   We played a few games, but had lots of time to just chat and eat, which in my opinion is the best part!

Mel had picked out the pink, navy, and white fabrics for the nursery, so we went with those colors for the decor and "theme" of the shower.

Baby Aubrey was spoiled with lots of cute clothes, and Bev made her this beautiful quilt. Mel also really liked some of the shower decorations and was able to incorporate those into Aubrey's nursery.  We are excited to meet Aubrey in a few short weeks!!

Memorial Day

Boating season is officially underway here in Texas, and it all began with a Memorial Day outing.  Once we got Brooke all suited up in her life jacket, we headed out.  She looked adorable, and was obviously safe, but I felt terrible for making her wear it!  Brooke handled it like a champ, and was a happy camper despite her severely restricted range of motion!

Jerry lovingly refers to his granddaughter as "Boater Brooke", which means she passed the boater test :)

She found a comfy spot on Grandma and took an hour long nap!

We finished the day back at G + G Meador's house with Auntie Melanie, Uncle Jeff, and Kinley. These girls had so much fun at the water table.  It has been so sweet to watch their little friendship blossom over the last few months.

I couldn't resist a bum shot with those ruffle swimsuits and chubby legs :)  And it's not summer time without a melty popsicle, right??

12 Month Snapshot

Things to note this month:  Said /wawa/ when she wanted water or when you asked her if she was thirsty, started pointing for desired objects, started what we refer to as her "smunch" face (was imitating Daddy who was being silly), tried frozen yogurt and was a HUGE fan, had a few playdates with cousin Kinley, attempted to wink at us, said /bo/ for book and /baw/ for ball and even looked for those items when asked where they were, rolled the ball intentionally to me for first time, tried saying moo and baa in imitation when we were playing with her animal puppets, did really well with a bottle on several occasions (which was comforting since Trek was only a few weeks away), tried apple slices and peanut butter, suffered with some constipation issues again, found a love for prunes (which was great for the constipation issues), pushed her stroller ALL over the house and even figured out how to turn it to go in the direction she wanted, loved her visit from family for her birthday week, started saying /that/ when she pointed at things, started saying /yum/ and /num/ when she was eating, became quite the fast crawler but still prefers to hold our hands when she walks, and had her first birthday party!!  It was a busy month, but I have been enjoying this age SO MUCH :)

I made a fool of myself on the front porch one day while trying to get a cute picture for her birthday party invitation.  But in the end, I think it was a success :)

This girl loves her peppered turkey lunch meat.  One day, she somehow flung the turkey on her nose.  I started cracking up, but she just stared at me and left the meat there, haha.  She really is a great eater, and for that, I am thankful.

Mother's Day

I feel incredibly thankful that my Brooke made me a mother :)  I have always wanted to be a mother, and after the journey we went through to get Brooke, I feel that I appreciate her that much more.  She has exceeded all my expectations of what motherhood is about, and although it can be difficult at times, her smiles, kisses, and laugh seem to overshadow it all.  I love my little girl, and am grateful for the wonderful mothers in my life who have helped shape me into the mother I am and who I am trying to become!

San Antonio

We were supposed to go on this San Antonio trip as a family last September, but Kevin's assistant manager quit in August, which meant that Kevin wasn't going anywhere!  The timing didn't work out for the Peacocks to join us, but we enjoyed a great weekend with G + G Meador. 

This was Brooke's first pool outing this year, and we thought she would go crazy because she loves the water during bath time.  Maybe due to the fact that the water was freezing, but she was not super excited about the pool, haha.  She just kind of sat in the water, but didn't try to splash much or kick her legs.  The resort had a cool lazy river though, so we spend lots of time floating in that.  Kevin and I even tried out the waterslides once while G + G watched Brooke.

She was, however, really into the S'mores.  Around 7 o'clock each night, they had fire pits ready for roasting marshmallows.  We took advantage of that every night.  If you didn't feed Brooke fast enough, she would just go for a bite herself, haha.  This girl was covered in marshmallow goodness :)

She did great in the hotel, and it was so nice that due to Jerry's travel status, we were upgraded to the suite, which meant that our room was connected to a huge living area, a private patio, another huge bathroom, and a dining area.  Each night, after we put Brooke to bed, we were all still able to visit and spend time together without the fear of waking her up.  Several nights, after spending hours at the pool, we would come back, get Brooke bathed and down for the night, then order room service for dinner.

I love this picture of Brooke!  She looks like a little diva :)  Just ignore my double chin!

How great is this view from our private patio?  You can see the golf course in the distance.  Kevin and Jerry golfed one day while us girls enjoyed sleeping in and eating out.  Then, Bev and I enjoyed facials at the spa while Brooke hung out with the boys.  We definitely felt spoiled while we were there.

It was so great to have time to spend together as a family, and Brooke was seriously such a sweetheart and able to go with the flow despite being in a new environment.

a trip down memory lane :)

Being back in Utah made we realize just how beautiful it is!  I really think I forgot how majestic the mountains are.  They almost seemed fake!  Texas and Florida are really flat, so it has been a while since I have lived near mountains.  I also hate to admit this, but I never hiked the Y during my Provo days.  I was talking to my brother about it, and HE had never hiked the Y either.  I was sure that we should have a family hike with our babies, so I pitched the idea to Kevin.  He had never hiked the Y either, but was not sold on the idea since it was still pretty cold and we would have 2 babies in tow.  This was probably a good decision, because Monday morning it snowed, haha.  If you look closely, you can see little snow flurries in the picture.  This qualifies as Brooke's first snow :)

There is something adorable about Dads and their little girls.

We drove past our first house in Provo, which used to be a salmon pink color.  Besides the color, it still looked the same, and brought back a lot of memories.

The real trip down memory lane started as we walked on the BYU campus. It really is a gorgeous campus, and I felt so grateful for my time spent there.  We had to take a few pictures with the "Y" in the background.  Someday, we WILL hike to that "Y"!!

It may seem odd that we took pictures outside the Joseph Smith Building (JSB), but there is a story behind it.  During the Fall semester that Kevin and I started "hanging out", I happen to be outside the JSB when he came walking out.  I was waiting for my next class to start, and he had just finished a class inside.  We talked for a few minutes, then made plans to play tennis that week.  Well, once I knew that we had classes back to back in the JSB, I made it a point to be early enough to class that I could "study" outside.  It might sound pathetic, or desperate, but I call it strategic placement :)  Really, that started out casual friendship, which led to dates, and ultimately dating.

When Kevin graduated (back in 2007), we took a reenactment picture outside the JSB to humor our parents who really got a kick out of our story.

Who knows, maybe Brooke will end up going to BYU someday!  We loved our experiences there, and figured it would be fun to have pictures of Brooke as a baby on campus.

The return flight was so much more enjoyable that the outbound flight!  It definitely helped to have Kevin there, but the early evening flight and extra seat didn't hurt either.