A Vote!

I really don't know which of all these pictures I like the best. None of them are super. We couldn't get her to look at the camera. But I want a recent one to frame. So, which one should I frame?? You can leave your opinion in a comment or just vote in the poll I put on the sidebar. Thanks a bunch!

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Carter's Blessing

Brooklyn and I just got back from our second trip to Bakersfield in 6 weeks. We went to see my new nephew, Carter, be blessed. We flew JetBlue and Brooklyn was surprisingly good on both flights. She has now been on 18 flights and turned 17 months old today. We flew in to Long Beach on Thursday the 5th and went and visited my grandparents in Palos Verdes. It had been way too long since we'd seen them. I'm kicking myself for not getting a four generation picture. Actually, I didn't even bring my camera! But that's nothing new, I guess. We had a fun trip. I got to see my long-time friend, Amanda. We looked at model homes, went to Costco, shopped at Kohl's, looked for jobs for Jason, babysat Carter, babysat Lucy, toured Dad's new office, went to Ranch Market, ate out at Flame & Skewer (so good!), went shopping and to lunch with Katy, had FHE, played with the dog, made Zuppa Toscana, made a donut run, talked, watched TV, etc. Nice, low-key, and relaxing. Brooklyn even learned some new words! (peekaboo, cheese, fish, and meow) We did get the kid's pictures taken. We wanted one of the two girls together. We have learned that when Brooklyn gets nervous, she puts her hands in her mouth. Usually it's to chew on her fingernails. She did NOT learn that from me. Anyway, it makes picture taking difficult. We did manage to get at least one good one, which is all that we were really going for. So get ready for the barrage of photos!

Here's Carter, the man of the hour, in his blessing outfit

And here are the girls! There is nothing I don't like about this picture, I think it is PERFECT!! Time to print it out and get it framed!

Oh, and let's just forget about that whole "barrage of photos" thing for now. David took the pictures for us with his professional camera, so each file is really big. I either have to put up each picture one by one or reformat them. Don't really have time right now. So enjoy these two and I'll put up more when I get a chance. Feel free to save the two girls as your desktop background. =) Aren't they adorable?!

Journaling

So I've been really bad about keeping up the blog lately. I never even posted pictures from Brooklyn's birthday in October. So I thought I'd just do kind of an eclectic blog with a few catch-up items.

October - Brooklyn's First Birthday & Halloween

Her birthday was on a Sunday so we just went to church and had a quiet little party for her at home with just us three.

Birthday Decorations

Pile o' Presents - featuring a new car seat!

opening presents

playing with her toy from Grandma & Grandpa Maner - sitting in her new car seat

the cake


the eating of the cake

For Halloween, we dressed Brooklyn up as a monkey and took her to the mall to trick-or-treat. She had fun, but the mall candy is definitely not the best quality. Too many dum-dums and smarties. =) I've got a couple pictures of her, but I can't find them right now so I'll add them in here later.

November - Thanksgiving

We were invited to my cousin Alicia's house for Thanksgiving and it was wonderful! The food was awesome and the company even awesomer. We got to see my cousin Evan for the first time since he got home from his mission to Seattle. We also got to go see the Twilight movie in the theater after the meal. Scott stayed home with his girls and ours and they had a great time playing. Thanks guys! (belated, I know) We forgot to take out our camera, but here's a few pics pilfered from Alicia's blog.

the whole crew

playing downstairs

the spread with the wonderful hosts!

December - Christmas

We drove down to Jason's parent's house in Snowflake, AZ for Christmas. Luann and Justin's family were there too. It was super fun and we all got some nice gifts. Brooklyn got a new princess chair and fridge toy, Jason got a remote-control helicopter and external hard drive, I got a massaging ottoman and some new shoes. Brooklyn had fun with her cousins and it was great spending some long overdue family time with everyone. We even got to see Jimmie's family quite a bit. We did take a lot of video, but not many still photos. These include a few we got from others:

We made gingerbread cookies before Christmas

Brooklyn enjoyed them

When Brooklyn first saw her cousin Katelyn (5 mos older), they grabbed onto each other and stayed that way for several minutes. So cute!!

The cast of the nativity - Jason and his brothers were the three wise men

Opening stockings

Our gift to Mom & Dad


Helping Brooklyn open presents


Family pic taken before church

January - Carter & Bako

Our nephew, Carter Nichols, was born on the 6th. We went to Bakersfield a couple weeks later to meet him and have "Christmas" with my family. We had a great time. Lucy and Brooklyn are getting to the age where they really play well together. We are so horrible at getting pictures. I still need to get some from my mom. Brooklyn and I are going back for Carter's blessing in March. I need to MAKE SURE to get pictures then.

February - Valentine's day

Jason told me a few weeks ago that we had reservations for V-day and he had a babysitter!!! We have only had a sitter a couple times since Brooklyn was born so some alone time was really exciting. We actually switched babysitting with our next-door neighbors. I watched their two little boys for a couple hours while they went to the temple and they watched Brooklyn while we went to Tucano's on V-day. It worked out great and I really hope we get to do it more often. I got a cute little Radio Flyer tricycle for Brooklyn on clearance for only $20. She really likes it. She doesn't know how to use the pedals yet, but she sits on it often while we push her or she just plays with the buttons/music on the dashboard. She has even figured out how to store things in the seat! Here are a few pics of our biker girl:

Nursery Girl

Brooklyn is 15 months old, which means she is not old enough to go to nursery yet. HOWEVER, both Jason and I got called to serve in the nursery, so she gets to come with us! Yesterday was our first time and she LOVED it!!! We blew bubbles, played with toys, ate snacks, sang songs, made necklaces, etc. She loved being with the other kids, and we loved not having to chase her around Sunday School! So this is a great situation for us. Hooray!

Dressing Up

After giving Brooklyn her bath, I often let her run around the house in her diaper for a little bit. She loves it. But, she also loves finding something to dress up in and then runs to look at herself in the mirror in the hall. Today she found my black slip and I thought she looked so cute. She did too. Check out that cheesy grin - I got several more just like it. What a girly girl!

p.s. Excuse the packing stuff in the hallway. We're heading off to California to see my family... TOMORROW!!!

Lil Gangsta

The Pelaez family gave me this hat on my mission.

We thought it was quite appropriate for our little girl.

P.S. Check out those TEETH!! 13 so far.

True Colors

Brooklyn and I had our first coloring session today.

She was fascinated by the crayons.

I knew her masterpiece was finished when she started eating wax.

We celebrated and put our pictures on the fridge for Daddy to see.

She makes me feel (act) like a kid again.