Simple Pleasures

At that garage sale I also bought this little doll cradle for $1. I didn't even notice until I got home that it is the exact material that Brooklyn's bedroom has in it. The kids love playing with it. It's pretty sturdy, so it can handle both of them in it without breaking.They love pushing each other around in it:

Sneak Peek

I went to a few garage sales for fun last Saturday. I scored some awesome deals. I bought this race track for Brayden's birthday but was too excited to just put it away. So we set it up and showed him how to use the remote. We had a lot of fun with it, but then took it down and put it away. Hopefully he'll forget about it by the time his birthday rolls around. It will be fun to play with during the winter.

Caught in the Act

What happens when you leave the fridge open too long without paying attention? One sneaky little girl chowing down. It's amazing what they're able to do once they get 5 teeth coming in at the same time!

Brooklyn's Actual Birthday

Because everyone was busy, we celebrated Brooklyn's b-day the night before. On her actual birthday we tried to just have fun. After playing all morning, the kids took their naps. Then we started playing again waiting for dad to get home. We ended up outside and within seconds the kids were covered in dirt from head to toe. Since it was her birthday, I let Brooklyn enjoy.
Naturally a bath came next:Once Josh got home we headed off to Chick-fil-a for dinner. The kids ate and played in the playland. They even gave Brooklyn a balloon!Rachael gave Brooklyn a new swing for the swingset, so we spent the evening playing in the backyard. Brooklyn was in the swing the whole time.

One tired little girl:

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

I can't believe my little girl is now 1! This year has gone by incredibly fast and we are having so much fun with her and her cute personality. Here are her current stats:

Height - 30 inches (75th percentile)
Weight - 17.5 lbs (5th percentile)

Long, skinny, and still growing! Most everyone was busy on her actual birthday, so we had her party on Monday night at Nevoles where Josh's brothers work. These pictures don't do justice to how cute she looked in her little party dress. (I have to admit I really enjoy dressing her up.) Here's Brooklyn w/ Dad:

Brooklyn w/ Mom: Brooklyn w/ my parents:

On Brayden's 1st birthday we gave him his first taste of chocolate by making him a chocolate cake. We quickly found out he doesn't like chocolate so he wouldn't eat it. We didn't want to take the chance with Brooklyn so I stayed safe and got her a strawberry cake to share with Brayden. I did, however, get everyone else a yummy chocolate caramel ice cream cake.

Brooklyn devoured her cake.

Thanks Jake for cleaning up! This is why we didn't go to our house!

It was so funny to see all the cameras out while Brooklyn was eating her cake. I couldn't resist taking a picture of them taking pictures. Brooklyn wasn't a fan of getting cleaned up, obviously.

Presents! Here's grandpa helping Brooklyn open her new shape sorter:I don't know who was more excited for the doll and stroller, me or Brooklyn. I'm so excited to start playing with girly stuff, rather than balls all day long. Thanks mom for the fun gift! Brooklyn absolutely loves it!

Of course Brayden had to get in on the action:

Brooklyn was worn out by the end of her party.
We love you so much Brooklyn! We are blessed to have you in our family and we love your sweet personality and joy you bring us all. We hope you had a wonderful birthday!

Salt Lake County Fair

This marks the tenth year that I have been to the SL County Fair besides the mission. Unfortunately, this was the first timein the past ten years that Josh wasn't able to come with me. So my mom came instead and we had a lot of fun. The weather was cool and gorgeous and the crowds weren't too bad. The kids loved seeing the animals and walking around the booths. We had navajo tacos for dinner and honey butter scones for dessert. It was such a fun evening. Here's Brayden at the petting zoo:

Gathering eggs:

Digging for potatoes:

Throwing the bean bags. He hit 3 cows with 4 tries. Good job little baseball player!
I love this picture b/c the cow mooed and scared Brooklyn just as I took it. She wasn't a fan of the loud noises.

Congrats Adam!!!

We have our friend back! For the past 3 months Adam has been studying endlessly for the bar. He took it on July 28-29, so we decided to have a party for him on Saturday. We got the Philidelphian for dinner and took it to the park. We were all enjoying dinner on the grass when we heard the sprinklers start up. Everyone scrambled to get everything out of the water, however we forgot one important thing...Brayden. I wish I could have captured his face as he was screaming. He couldn't figure out how to get to us since the long spray of the sprinkler was right in front of him and coming toward him. Amidst my dying laughter I managed to grab him and put him with everyone else. Here we all are after the commotion:
We played a quick game of Kube while the kids tried to stay entertained. Here they are playing on the tables:

We went back to our house and had root beer floats and hung out. Jazz was exhausted from the park and quickly passed out when we got back. Congrats Adam and thanks for spending the evening with us!