Snow, snow, snow...

The title is a little misleading, it was quite a small patch of snow, but Brooklyn didn't care. We told Brooklyn that we would try to find some snow for her this trip while we were in Utah and we did find one small patch. While we were visiting my dad in Cedar City we headed up the mountain to Cedar Breaks and enjoyed a little bit of sledding. I emphasize the little bit. There was only a few patches of snow to be found, but we found a great little one perfect for us. Brooklyn loved it! Not that it is too surprising as she wants to ride on any roller coaster or ride she sees. She even sled a little ways on her own.

Tagged... 5 Things

5 Things I was doing 10 yrs ago. . .

• I was going to Dixie College, and attending most of my classes
  
• Engaged to Brad
  
• Traveling back and forth between St. George and Rexburg, sometimes meeting in the middle
  
• Planning a wedding
  
• Finding out my grandma had cancer
  

5 Things on my "to do" list today. . . I actually made one today too!

• update my blog
  
• relax
• help with early Thanksgiving prep
  
• Hang out at my brother Mike's house tonight
  
• Make more money on mob wars (i'm on vacation!)
  

5 Snacks I enjoy. . .

• Smart Food white cheddar popcorn
• diet soda (not really a snack but a staple)
  
• sweets of almost any kind
  
• fruit and dip
  
• veggies and dip
  

5 Things I would do If I were a millionaire. . .

• pay off our house
• travel on vacations that are not just to see family (no offense, but when you live away from family your vacation time is spent visiting not at fun places)
• buy new cars
  
• I'd save a lot
  
• give to my family and friends

5 Places I have lived. . .

• Driggs, ID
  
• Beaver, UT
  
• Las Vegas, NV
  
• Avondale, AZ
  
• San Antonio, TX
  

5 jobs I've had. . .there are many more that I can't even remember

• legal secretary
  
• home data entry operator
  
• CPR and first aid teacher
  
• high school math teacher (I've taught everything from algebra through calculus) and dept chair
• math tutor
  

5 People I'm tagging. . .

No one! I am a party pooper. I don't forward or tag. If you want to do this I would love to see your answers.

Twilight Madness

I was lucky enough to be in Las Vegas on Thursday night when the Twilight movie came out. It allowed me to go to the movie with my sister Heather, sister in law Sara, and my mom. We went to the midnight show. We bought our tickets beforehand and showed up to the theater an hour and a half early. The line was through the casino, out the door, down the street and around the building. We were not too far out the door. What madness!?! I have to say I was a little disappointed in the movie, but I didn't expect much. Come on, it is a great book, but the previews weren't the best. The whooing crowd only made for more cheese. It was a great time to spend with my family and we all sported Twilight shirts made by my sister. It was a super fun girls night and I am so glad I was able to be here for it. I also was not a big fan of the actor choice for Edward, but by the end I was sold. I really liked Edward (swoon, j/k). Not a movie I would recommend if you haven't read the books, but if you have you have to see it just because.

And another month passes...

It seems like I am always writing how busy we have been. I sometimes wonder if things will ever slow down. We have taken a little more on as a family this fall because we are hoping that I can quit my typing job sometime in January. In order to do this I have taken on some other small jobs (tutoring and preschool) while I am still typing so I won't be quitting cold turkey. We keep saying January will be better, I truly hope we are not deluding ourselves and that life will slow down a little. For now though, we will be very very busy.

Here is a little about the last month.
Brooklyn, I and some friends headed out to the Pumpkin Patch in Medina to have some fall fun. Brooklyn painted pumpkins, found her way through a hay maze, brushed a horse, took a hayride and took some adorable pics.

In October my sister Heather and her two boys Zachary and Seth came to visit. We went to the zoo, had a picnic at Landa Park, and went to Sea World.

I was also able to go to Time Out for Women here in San Antonio with some great friends. Thanks to Jackie we had a hotel room for the night downtown. We all had a great time and it was a great break in the middle of the chaos that is my life.

The week of Halloween we had a preschool Halloween party, the trunk or treat, carved pumpkins and of course the actual day of trick or treating. Brooklyn enjoyed it all. Last year when we went trick or treating she never wanted to stop. She could barely walk and she said more houses. This year she had watched the Little Einsteins Halloween episode and once she got enough candy for her pretend Halloween party she said, "Okay, I think I have enough we can go now." What 2 year old says they have enough candy. We had a great time.

The last few weeks have been the same old same old and we leave next week to go to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving for two weeks. I won't have any work of any kind while we are they and I can't wait for the break.

Here are some pics from the last month. Enjoy!

Alive and Kicking

Yes, we are alive. It is hard to believe. It seems that I haven't looked at any blogs or posted on my blog in ages, but we are still here. We have been crazy busy as a family. Brooklyn and I went to visit some family in Vegas at the beginning of the month and since we have been back we haven't stopped. In the past week and a half since we have been home we have:

1) Gone to six flags (more to come)

2) Brad volunteered 14 hours at the Valero Open

3) Hosted a baby shower

4) Gone to Dallas for the BYU v. TCU game (the game was not so hot, but we had a great time)

5) Had a great visit from Brad's sister Becky and her husband Garth who were in town for the dental convention

6) Had to live normal life while everything else was going on...

Things have been crazy, but we have had a blast. We are all so exhausted and Brooklyn hasn't napped for more than 30 minutes a day (and that was in the car) for the last 4 days. We will be doing a lot of sleeping the rest of the weekend.

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The week of the 6th, Brad volunteered at the Valero open. I say volunteered, but I think he got a lot more out of it than he gave. He gets a free round of golf at LaCanterra, he got to meet the players, and we got a fun free night at Six Flags. Six Flags has a family night where they host the players and their families for 3 hours at the Boardwalk. There was free food, all the rides in the area were open and 15 tickets to play all the game booths. Since Brad volunteered in the area where they were helping the players and their families we got to go. He thought it was great because we were there with some famous golfers, we all thought it was fun because it was empty and we had a great time. Here is a picture of Brooklyn with her spoils from the different game booths. We even went home with extra tickets, and she won 2 of the Curious George dolls and Strawberry Shortcakes so she could share with her good friend Belle. Here is a picture of Brooklyn with all of her winnings.

Brooklyn the "Princess"

Brooklyn always thinks she is a princess. It could be that we have called her a princess since she was born, but hey, who knows. Every time she gets dressed she says I look like a princess in this. So for Halloween we decided she would be a princess. Today, I found her the princess costume and she had to try it on. She was so excited and kept looking at her self and twirling in the mirror. Here is a picture of her doing a curtsy. She is definitely our little princess.

Daddy Daughter Date

During the Spring when the weather was nice we were golfing a lot as a family. Brooklyn loved it and we bought her her very own putter. The other day she said, "Mommy, I go golfing with daddy tomorrow." I told her maybe daddy could take her golfing in a few days. Well as soon as Brad heard this, he was thrilled to say the least. Any of you that know Brad, know that one of his passions is golf. His favorite dream for his little girl is that she will like golf and want to golf with him. He immediately started working on a t-time for Saturday.

Brooklyn also loves Dora, and there is a Dora episode where Boots has a Special Day. We decided that this would be Brooklyn's special day with daddy. What a blast they had. They started out the morning golfing. Then daddy took her to Culvers, one of her favorite places to eat. We watched the BYU game, and then we took her out for a Jamba Juice. I don't know if it was Brad's or Brooklyn's special day, but they both loved it! Brad has vowed that he is going to start taking her on more daddy daughter dates. Here are some pics from the golf outing.

When we told her she was going golfing she said with my club and my purple ball. She is showing you her equipment.

Preschool

I have started a little preschool for 2 year olds Brooklyn's age. It has been so much fun and I love the little kids. I have 3 toddlers including Brooklyn every Tuesday from 9 to 12. It is a long time, but you wouldn't believe how well they do with some varied activities. We start the day with a circle and the pledge. They don't repeat the pledge with me yet, but they put their hands on their hearts and love it when it is there turn to hold the flag. Here are some pictures from the last few weeks of their artwork. It is a great time and I consider myself blessed to be home with Brooklyn and have this time with her.




These were made with farm animal stamps. Huge mess, but also huge fun.


This is my sweet little tikes with their elephant puppets. Aren't they cute!

I love Sundays

I love Sundays for many reasons. Definitely because they are one peaceful day in a week of chaos. I love the spirit our home takes on and I really love dressing Brooklyn up like a doll. Lately her Sunday outfits have been lacking. She is low on the dress supply and we need to go shopping as she keeps growing like a weed. On Sunday we put a dress on her we haven't put on in a while and she was absolutely adorable. Here are the pics. She insisted on having a necklace on like mommy. What a girly girl. I love it!


This is her picture smile, we can't get any pictures without it.


Notice the trendy side ponytail. Brooklyn said she wanted one ponytail and pointed right there. That is what she got.

"What's that?"

I love the things that this kid says right now. She repeats everything and most things are much cuter said by a 2 year old. This morning I had just taken off Brooklyn's pull up and I was looking for panties. She reached back and was scratching her bum and found her bum crack. She was very distraught, and kept saying, "What is that??" over and over. I said honey that is your bum and she said, "No, that!" and grabbed at her bum crack. I was having a hard time not laughing now and I told her it was her bum crack. We all had bum cracks. I finally calmed her down (I had to show her we all had bum cracks) and she said my pee pee comes out there.

Touchdown BYU!!!

As most of you know Brad is a huge BYU fan and has sucked me into his love for the game. We purchased a slingbox and my wonderful mom and her husband hooked it up in there home for us. It took many hours and multiple phone calls to get it working right, but we can watch all the BYU games in internet streaming glory. Not the best, but definitely workable.

Tonight we were watching the first BYU game of the season. This morning Brooklyn asked of her own free will to wear her BYU shirt (Brad tells me this is true, I am not 100% positive), and so she was decked out all day. After BYU scored their first touchdown this evening. We were excited and told Brooklyn to say, "Go Cougars, Go." She not only chanted our little chant, but took it to the next level on the fireplace. I believe she might make a great BYU cheerleader one day. Here is a video of her cheering on the Cougs.

Dance Party!!

So, Brooklyn loves to dance. Last night, Brooklyn and I had a dance party. She likes to dress up, sing and dance. Here is a video of our dance party. Where she sang and danced for the camera. It is kind of long so watch at your own risk. She looks like my little gangsta. You should have seen her before she lost the clip on Dora earrings (aka bling) and her bunny ear belt. It was super nice. And right now, I will post just about anything to stop looking at those shorts. (Which if anyone is wondering the stain came out nicely.)

You know you need to clean your car when...

So we went swimming this afternoon. While at the pool Brooklyn overcame some serious fears. She doesn't even like being in the big pool and she not only got in, but let us let go of her. She also swam (floated with some leg kicking) between Brad and I. To get her to do it we said we would take her to Chuck E Cheese.

So after the pool we were headed to Chuck E Cheese. We headed home (our car seats got wet from our wet clothes) changed back into our clothes and headed out. The seat was still damp when I got in and my bum was all wet when we finally got there. White shorts, a bad idea? Maybe, you say. Not because I spilled, but because all the grossness in our car seat came out on my shorts in the water that soaked in. After we had been there 20 minutes Brad noticed my entire bum was brown. I spent the entire time in these shorts. Super embarassing, right, but don't worry I played it off like it didn't matter. It so did! Here's a picture of the shorts. I will be cleaning my car seats very soon. So gross, looks like I had a different kind of accident for sure.

Shop Til You Drop

There is no doubt that Brooklyn likes to shop. Most girls do, right? Well last Saturday we went shopping for Brooklyn new church shoes. Her feet have been growing a lot lately. It seems she is going to be cursed with my narrow very long feet. She has super narrow feet and finding shoes is next to impossible. Most babies have wide feet, but not mine. We spent 4 hours at the mall going in any store that sold even one pair of kids shoes to try and find her new church shoes, and we still left empty handed. It was almost 9:00 at night when we left and she said, "go to another store, keep shopping." We decided to try one more on the way home and we finally found her some shoes. Hallelujah!!!!! She was very excited to have new shoes, but disappointed because the shopping was over. She asked if we could still keep shopping. Brad and I were ready to drop. It is good to know that she can out shop us.

She went without a nap Sunday morning and all through church and she finally dropped after church. Here is a picture of Brooklyn in her new purchases.

No more diapers for us!

Brooklyn is definitely no more my baby. She is growing up soooo fast! These are two recent pictures of her and she looks so old to me. It is definitely bittersweet and we are trying to enjoy all the moments of her becoming a little girl and no longer our baby. Over the past month Brooklyn has told me when she was going pee in her diaper. I decided when we got back from New York it was time to potty train. We made potty charts, bought stickers (which she LOVES), pull ups and all the necessities. We tried all week last week and #1 seemed to allude us. We finally put her in panties on Friday night and on Saturday she finally figured out how to pee in the potty. Once she figured it out, she was pretty much potty trained. She loves going on the potty like a big girl. We have to go everywhere we are out and many many times a day at home. We have only had 2 accidents the whole time and she is in panties unless she is sleeping and she usually wakes up with her pullups dry from those too. Woohoo, Brooklyn!!! I guess what they say is true, when they are ready, they are ready. I am just so glad she was ready. No more diapers for us!

Imaginary Friend???

So, I think Dora is Brooklyn's new imaginary friend. Can Dora be an imaginary friend, I don't know. The other day when we were on our way home from our trip Brooklyn was talking her usual gibberish. We were trying to figure out where to eat in Cleveland and she was saying, "mommy, Dora is reeeeally super hungry." I said, "well Dora, is back at the hotel and I am sure she is getting something to eat there." She said yes and we continued on with our evening. At dinner she said she wanted mac and cheese and so did Dora. When we were all done she said that Dora didn't finish all her dinner. I said "really, how do you know. I thought Dora was back at the hotel." She pointed next to Brad and said, "Dora, right there." Imaginary friend, I don't know, but it sure does give us a chuckle.

Our Crazy Summer

So I know that we have been missing for awhile and it is because we have been crazy busy. At the end of June my sister Heather her family and my mom came to visit for a week. We had a great time and I will blog about it in the future when I get some pictures. We took all the pictures on my sisters camera and I forgot to download them before she left.

On July 11th we headed out to Palmyra, NY via Cleveland, Ohio. We had free tickets and couldn't get into any of the airports in New York, so we chose Cleveland which allowed us to see Niagara Falls on the way and Kirtland on the way home. We headed out Friday night on a late flight, got into Cleveland and drove the Erie, PA the first night. When we got there we had a little mix-up with the hotel and didn't end up getting to bed until 2:30am, but we had started our trip and couldn't wait.

I have posted our trip day by day, mostly for our benefit so that we can publish it in a book later and it can be a form of a scrapbook. If you are interested in looking at it all, it may even continue onto the next page, but have at it. We took so many pictures we lost count and had an awesome time. We are thankful to be home, but are not super excited about getting back to normal life. We had such a great time, we just wanted it to keep going. Below is a recap of our trip.

Saturday & Sunday

On Saturday we woke up in Erie, PA and headed for Niagara Falls. Brooklyn watched her movie and slept. She didn't make a peep. She really was such an angel the whole trip. On the way to and from Niagara Falls we probably paid close to $10 in tolls just to get to the falls and back. They were amazing and awesome. We crossed Rainbow Bridge and went to the Canadian side of the falls. Driving on the street along the falls our car was getting wet from the mist. It was almost like it was raining. It was truly a different experience. We walked up and down the falls and took lots of pictures. Brooklyn was so excited to see Niagara Falls thanks to the Little Einsteins, they head their on their butterfly mission. She watched it in the car on the way there. Here are just a few pics from the falls.

After the falls, we headed down to Palmyra, NY to visit and spend the week with Brad's parents.

Sunday was grandpa's birthday. We went to church, which was probably more crowded than a stake conference. We came home had a birthday lunch for Grandpa and then took naps. Later that day we went and spent some time in the Sacred Grove. It was a very peaceful day and the woods around that area are so beautiful.








American Falls






Horseshoe Falls

Monday

On this day we went to the Strong Childrens Museum of Play. It was the most amazing children's museum. We were there for hours and Brooklyn still probably didn't see everything. It was the most fun place to play. There were so many cute pictures I finally had to create a slide show.

While there Brooklyn went shopping in a pint-sized grocery store. It was quite amazing they were able to not only shop, but scan their own groceries and print receipts. It even came equipped with a belt for the groceries to move on. This was her favorite place in the museum, but we also visited Sesame Street, Clifford's home and neighborhood, the Bernstein Bears exhibit, and so many more. She was so tired when we left she didn't even put up a fight. She fell asleep almost instantly.

That night we went to a park on Ontario lake and had a picnic. Our first of many. We played frisbee and catch and we all played on the slides and swings even grandma and grandpa.

Tuesday

On Tuesday we went to Watkins Glen State Park which is at the very bottom of Seneca Lake, one of the New York fingerlakes. It was gorgeous. It was a 1.5 mile hike in and 1.5 mile hike out. For the majority of it Brad and Grandpa Beckstead carried Brooklyn. It was all stone walkways and it had over 800 stone stairs you had to climb to reach the top of the gorge. The brochure said it had 21 waterfalls, I am sure that was only the major ones because everywhere you looked there was waterfalls. It was one of the most amazing hikes I have ever been on. At the very end there is a part of the trail called Jacob's Ladder. It is 180 almost continuous stone steps up to the top. We were all very exhausted when we got to the top, but it was so worth it.

After we finished at Watkins Glen we found a park in the town and had a picnic and played in the park. On the way home we circled Keuka Lake, another of the fingerlakes. It was such a beautiful drive.

When we got home we all rested for a while and headed to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It was a great time and we all enjoyed it. It was a little cold, but it seemed to keep the bugs away.

These are just some of the many pictures we took on our hike in Watkins Glen. We had taken over 150 pictures by this point in our trip.

Although you can't really see them, this picture is of Grandpa, Grandma, Brooklyn and Brad.

She looks well rested doesn't she, thanks to Brad and Grandpa.

We took a different trail down without so many steps. Here is Grandpa carrying Brooklyn on the way out.

They made it!

Wednesday

Wednesday was a recovery day from the first few. We went to Wegman's grocery store, which is an even more glorified grocery store than HEB's central market, and had lunch. We went home and took a rest and then headed out to pick raspberries at Chase Farms. There are farms all over in upstate New York that will let you pick your own fruit when it is in season. It was so much fun. Brooklyn loved it and was quite good at it. We picked purple raspberries and she made sure that she only picked the purple ones. We ended up getting a pint more than we planned because it was such a good time and Brooklyn was too good at it. We left when a thunderstorm started to roll in. We missed it by minutes and were sure thankful when the rain started pounded down with no mercy.

Thursday

Thursday we went to a beach in Sodus, New York on lake Ontario. They had an old lighthouse that we toured that was no longer in use. It was a beautiful area. We had a picnic lunch at the lighthouse and then headed over to the beach. This spot actually had a sandy beach and a fun park to play at. They only had a few swimming areas and all but one were closed due to high levels of ecoli. We also walked out on a pier. Brooklyn played in the park and then we waded in the water for a few minutes and she was ready to head back to Grandma's house.


That evening we went back to the pageant for a second time. It was an amazing production and Brooklyn asked to go again, so we did. It was warmer this time, but that also meant more mosquito bites.


We were almost out of room on the camera, so we didn't get a picture of the Old Sodus Lighthouse, but we have one of the functioning lighthouse on the pier. Here is a link to the picture of the Old Sodus Lighthouse. http://www.photography-plus.com/images/SodusBay/With%20copyright/SodusBayLt2_100205_36.jpg