My Introduction to the World

Kids Cabin Halloween Party

2011-10-30T16:07:00.000-06:00

Brooke's good friend, Ryan, invited Brooke to attend a Halloween party on Saturday at the Kids Cabin. Although we don't love the physical location of Ryan's neighborhood (click on link to see) since it's not close enough to town for us ex-city dwellers, we LOVE all the cool activities/facilities, etc it has to offer (Kids Cabin complete with Adventure Trail, waterslide, pool, restaurants, tennis courts, ice rink, pond stocked with fish for the kids to catch, sailboat, free ski instruction with Olympic skier, horse back riding at their equestrian center, world class golf course, community movie theater with free movies for residents, hiking trails, bike baths, gym with great classes, organized activities, etc. Never seen anything quite like it). Although most of the houses at Promontory are around 6000 sq ft, they do have 'cabins' available at 2,000 sq feet which would make a great vacation home (hint, hint). Mom & Dad, when you come at Thanksgiving, I think you need to tour Promontory so that you consider a condo in Park City (the same applies to Carol and to Ron when you come out next time)! :)

Brooke, Keller and a new friend (aka Snow White)

Kids gathered around to learn rules of a game

Brooke with her friends Keller (robot) and Ryan (bandito)

Bunny getting dressed as a chicken

The kids posing in front of the Kids Cabin. They played games, had pizza and then went trick or treating around Promontory.

Garden After Dark 2011

2011-10-30T15:43:00.000-06:00

On Thursday evening, we went down to Salt Lake City's Red Butte Garden for their annual Halloween event called "Garden After Dark". Every year the theme is slightly different. This year's was all about bioluminescence--plants and creatures that glow in the dark. As always, we arrive around dusk and stay for about 2 hours, by which time the garden is pitch-black. It is truly beautiful to wander through the gardens underneath the moon, particularly when lit by twinkling lights, black lights and fire pits. We have such a fun time that it has become an annual tradition for our family. If you haven't been and are in Utah during October, it is definitely worth the trip.

Busy making her owl mask at The Sprout House

The yellow highlighter glows under the black lights

The snake maze ends at the 'mouth' of the snake....tonight they had it lit up with smoke coming out

Brooke running thr

Running through snake maze (during the summer, it is covered in green plants. Right now it is mostly vines and lights (the lights look cool once it gets dark)

Brooke at the Make A Wish table. You write your wish on a star with glow in the dark ink and then hang it up on the star walk when you are through.

Brooke posing by Star Walk

Learning how to make a 'magic mushroom' (ha! Not THAT kind...this is just the glow in the dark kind)

Attempting to give the correct 'mushroom' shape to the bag

Coloring the mushroom and adding color

Brooke and Daddy posing at the start of the glowing maze (they had 'glow worms' hanging from the ceiling, glow in the dark spiders, stars, etc). As you can see, it started getting dark pretty quickly from this point on.

This was one of our favorite things. They hung up a sheet with special light pens. The kids could draw on the sheet--drawings would glow and then disappear. Adults were pushing their way in to try it out, too.

Unicorn prancing ahead down the path

Entering 'the enchanted forest' (last year it was a spooky walk, so this one was a lot more fun)

Unicorn with her Daddy in enchanted forest.

Magic mushrooms in enchanted forest (also lots of butterflies and fairies....and, unfortunately, spiders on their webs, as well)

Glowing bubbles

Unicorn watching the glowing bubbles

Daddy and Brooke on way to one last romp through snake maze before going home (John and I were both wearing our puffer jackets and were FREEZING)

Running through the maze for the final time....dark, smokey and crowded. It felt good to get in the warm car and go home

World's Biggest Leaf Pile

2011-10-23T12:16:00.000-06:00

John was raking the fall leaves this morning, so Brooke took advantage:

I Left My Heart In San Francisco

2011-10-23T12:12:00.000-06:00

We (me and Brooke) accompanied John on his last business trip to San Francisco. First, he was going to be gone for two weeks in a row with only 15 hours at home. Second, because I was really missing San Francisco and my friends there. And third, Brooke had been asking about it so I thought it she was old enough to start appreciating where she was born, where mommy was from and where mommy & daddy met and lived for many years before she was born.

Of course there was a heat-wave while we were there (apparently one of the first heat waves all year), so we had beautiful weather during our entire trip. This always makes trips there bitter sweet....it is so easy to forget the days of endless fog during 85 degree days in the most beautiful city in America. Made us all very wistful. Including Brooke: she kept asking why we ever left San Francisco in the first place. She couldn't stop exclaiming how beautiful everything was and saying "wow! San Francisco is the most wonderful place I have ever seen!". She thought that driving over the hills was like being on a roller coaster and she loved the beach, the bridges and the 'jail island'. It didn't hurt that she was able to play with her good friend, Kyle (who she knows from Park City) on our first day there along with her babyhood friend Lila (who we see every time we are back in SF). We also got to go to Amy's house and Brooke hung out with her little ones, Everett & Harper. Brooke loved hanging with the 'big kids'!

On our first morning, John went down to his meeting and I took Brooke to Crissy Field to meet Kyle, Lila and their parents (and younger siblings). The kids chased birds, played in the sand, in the water and with each other. It was a perfect morning back in the city. We showed Brooke the first house she lived in for the year after she was born (1/2 a block away from the marina green). On the second day, we went downtown to do some shopping. After getting Brooke the bridal veil and bouquet set she had been asking for at the Disney store (a bribe to behave while I shopped), we went to Neiman Marcus for lunch in the Rotunda Room. We had a wonderful (if not inexpensive--that was probably our priciest meal of the trip) meal and then Brooke wanted to go look at the women's shoes. The Manolo Blahnik rep happened to be there and got a kick out of Brooke looking at women's shoes dressed as a little bride. She asked our permission to take photos of Brooke wearing their 'wedding shoe' (beautiful blue satin pump with rhinestones) to send to their president. She thought it would be cute for their 'First Look' campaign. Would be great if she ended up with a modeling contract in return for our shopping trip! :) We met up with daddy that evening, had a cocktail and then went to our old favorite neighborhood Thai restaurant for dinner. I miss having access to such wonderful food for very little money!

On Saturday I took Brooke to the Academy of Sciences which was one of the highlights of our trip (for her). It opened the fall that we moved out of the city so it was my first time in the new building. While the new building is spectacular, it was a little sad that the old building I remember from my childhood is gone. There was a cool rainforest exhibit where you could walk among the creatures and plants (including butterflies!). Below us was an aquarium that you could go underneath. Brooke loved looking up and seeing the fish swimming above her...she kept asking if she was under water and why should could breathe (it was while we were walking around this exhibit that we received the sad news about Jack. I tried to explain to Brooke that Jack had been sick and was now in Heaven).

In the afternoon, we met MY childhood friend Nicole and her family (her son Victor is two months younger than Brooke and we spent a lot of time together when the babies were infants). We met them at the new Children's Museum at Yerba Buena Gardens. It was opening weekend so everything was free, including the old carousel (dates from the same time as the Palace of Fine Arts). We had a lovely time! Brooke had a bit of a crush on Victor (she says that he smiles a lot and that he was cute).

We had to leave at noon on Sunday, so that morning we took a drive around the city and up to the Headlands so that Brooke could have her drive across the bridge. She kept crying when it was time to go home because she wanted to move to SF. Maybe someday, Brooke! Daddy and Mommy love it just as much as you do.

3726 Webster St (sniff!)

Brooke & Iris at Crissy Field

Brooke, Lila & Iris

Kyle, Brooke & Lila

Kim, Tina & Jeremy

Beautiful view of the city from Crissy Field

Brooke, Jeremy & Kyle

Kyle, Jeremy & Brooke

Brooke with her favorite shoes (she wants Santa to bring her the sparkly blue one for Christmas)

Brooke with Harper & Everett on our walk up Union Street for frozen yogurt after dinner

Brooke & Harper with Olive (Brooke wants a doggy just like her. So does mommy)

Below: one of the photos the Manolo Blahnik rep took along with several photos from the Academy of Sciences and Kids Museum (the clay figures were things we all made for our own claymation video. Brooke made the princess and I made the unicorn).

Jack Quell

2011-10-21T19:23:00.000-06:00

This has been a sad week for us; Jack had another stroke and passed away over the weekend. I think we are all in a bit of shock about it because he seemed to be getting better. In retrospect, it was a blessing that he was able to spend time with his wife and kids while he was aware and could hear what they were saying to him before the second stroke hit. It is so important to tell those we love how much they mean to us because they could be taken away in the blink of an eye. I know I having been hugging John and Brooke extra hard this week.

Jack has left us all with wonderful memories of a kind and gentle soul in the body of a giant. He gave freely of his time as a volunteer in many different capacities and gained the respect of his community for his selflessness and generosity. He loved to laugh and enjoyed having someone tell him a new joke just as much as he loved telling them himself. He left behind friends, family, children and neighbors who were all better for having known him. He was a truly GOOD man. We should all be so lucky to leave such a loving legacy!

Jack with Brooke and Grandma, this past August.

The funeral was on Wednesday in Peoria and John was able to attend so he could be with his mother during this difficult time. Carol, we love you and are holding you in our hearts.

God bless you Jack! Heaven has a new angel.......

Prayer Request

2011-10-04T13:42:00.000-06:00

We had some bad news from Grandma over the weekend that Jack has had a stroke. As of this morning, Jack is still in the hospital and everyone is praying that he makes a good recovery (we heard that he has shown some small improvements over the last few days so are very thankful and hopeful). We know that this process is a long road so John and I want to ask you all for your prayers, positive thoughts and love focused in Jack and Carol's direction. We love you both and are praying for a quick and complete recovery!

Leaf Hunt 201

2011-10-04T13:32:00.000-06:00

I took Brooke on a leaf hunt this weekend. She loved the different color 'tree tunnels' (where the tree canopy meets over the trail). It was spectacular...one white, another gold, another red, another pink....different colors around every turn. While trying to choose which leaves she wanted to save, Brooke said "Everything is so beautiful! So many beautiful things everywhere I look, how can I choose? It's too hard to choose which beautiful thing is the most beautiful!". I agree, Brooke! It's hard to tell from the blowing leaves and leaf strewn path--not much color contrast between them--but she was gathering armloads and throwing them in the air (the last several pictures are of her doing that). What a perfect hot, fall day!

Wiggy

2011-10-04T13:12:00.000-06:00

No explanation necessary (and I honestly wouldn't know where to start....)

Fall Colors

2011-10-04T13:11:00.000-06:00

We have had spectacular colors this year--better than any year we've had since moving here. Not sure why this year is so different, but I was lucky enough to take a few hikes on the tail end of the height this year. The colors are quite a bit brighter in person since I only used my phone to take them but it gives you the idea. Enjoy!

Hot Hot Lava

2011-10-04T13:01:00.000-06:00

Brooke singing a song she made up. She sounds a little bit like Marilyn Monroe singing to the president:

And this was the less sexy sounding version. Cute and creepy all at the same time. But the song is pretty catchy and I can't get it out of my head.

Miner's Day & Alpine Coasters

2011-10-04T12:52:00.000-06:00

Brookie and Daddy before the Miner's Day (aka Labor Day) parade

Mommy & Brooke on the Alpine Coaster (like a roller coaster going down the mountain. Our little monkey likes to go FAST).

Monkey after the ride. She likes to pose on this same bench and request a photo of herself every time we are at the resort.

Our Little Pony

2011-10-04T12:48:00.000-06:00

Brooke has an obsession with My Little Ponies. She wants to BE one....so she did the next best thing: she turned herself into one by making 'pony skin' with a 'cutie mark". Sounds very Silence of the Lambs but don't worry--the 'skin' was just made out of paper and tape. Here she is in her pony suit (see below). Don't ask about the mouth--she seems to think that ponies have an overbite.

Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch

2011-10-04T12:43:00.000-06:00

Meanwhile, back home in Park City, Grammie was busy with Brooke:

Brooke had a wonderful few days with Grammie (she kept asking me to hurry up and leave so her play date with Grammie could start).

Unfortunately, Brooke threw up in the middle of the night on our first night back (seems to be a trend, her throwing up when her grandma's come to visit, doesn't it?). Poor John got the brunt of it. She had been moaning in her sleep so we put her in our bed in between us. He gave her a big hug and said "good night sweetheart"--and she threw up all over him. Big yuck. Luckily it was only once and she felt better the next day. My mom was thankful that Brooke waited until we were home before getting sick (wouldn't wish that on anyone).

Grammie and the sick girl

Not All Tetons Are GRAND Tetons

2011-10-04T12:36:00.000-06:00

John at Teton Village

At the end of the tram ride on top of the world

Hard to tell how crazy steep this drop is, but it is an actual ski run for the really brave (or really stupid)

John looking down from above the clouds

View of tram from up top

Tetons!

Tetons behind Jenny Lake

John at Jenny

Leslie at Jenny (trying not to fall in water)

At the falls on our hike (they were more spectacular then they appear in this photo)

At the end of the trail on our hike, high above Jenny Lake

For our anniversary, my mother flew out to stay with Brooke so that John & I could get away for a trip by ourselves (best present ever!). Since I had never been to Jackson Hole and John has been raving about how beautiful it is these since I first met him 12 years ago, we decided to drive to Jackson for our getaway. From Park City, the trip is only about 4 hours so everyone was a bit shocked that it has taken us as long as it has to make the journey. I can definitely say that we will be back....spectacularly gorgeous with real life cowboys and horses everywhere. Very few places have that kind of untouched beauty. And the time with my sweet husband was just as wonderful.

Anniversary Dinner At Jenny Lake Lodge

Moose that was hanging out in same watering hole in Teton Natl Park EVERY Day

Moose Habitat in the Park

Another View of the Tetons

More Unicorns

2011-09-01T18:08:00.001-06:00

Brooke making a unicorn 'candy holder' to go with the unicorn halloween costume Grammy just sent her (thank you, Grammy!). Good unicorn, huh?

Fun With The Aspen Tree

2011-09-01T17:31:00.001-06:00

Straight Hair Again!

2011-09-01T17:26:00.000-06:00

Brooke has been begging for straight hair again so I blew it out last night (and flat ironed--long process!). I gave in because she got stung by a bee so felt sorry for her (she said "it would have been better for me if someone else got stung". True). And because one of the little girls had made fun of Brooke for having 'too much hair' (the next day, we found curls on the floor. Apparently Brooke decided to give herself a haircut to make less hair on her head).

She looks like such a pretty, big girl with the straight locks (instead of a darling little girl with her curly mop)! Makes me kind of sad!

Unicorn Goes Bowling

2011-09-01T17:11:00.000-06:00

Brooke has recently decided that she wants to be a unicorn when she grows up instead of a mermaid. She has been making horns, tails and manes for all of us to wear.

Daddy in his unicorn gear, courtesy of Brooke

Making a unicorn tail and wings

When we went bowling over the weekend, Brooke wore her horn....too bad it didn't have magical properties to help our scores!

Silas and Ava don't have horns. Oh well.

Meet Flower Stop, Our New Pet

2011-09-01T17:04:00.000-06:00

For about a week, Brooke would pretend to be a kitty-cat named 'Flower Stop' every night before bed. She tied one end of a jump rope to a hula hoop and tied the other end of the jump rope around her waist. John's job was to hold the hula hoop, walk around with her on the leash and then hold the hoop in front of her every now and then for the kitty cat to crawl through as a trick.

Anyone think its about time for a REAL pet??

Hot Play Date

2011-09-01T17:00:00.000-06:00

Ted & his brother Cash came over to play while their daddy joined John for fun at Olympic Park for John's birthday (I was able to make a deal with them for several all-access passes for bobsled, zipline rides, etc so John went with a few of his friends). Kids had a great time (as you can see from the photos:

Water balloons!

Slip N Slide!

Hot Tubbing!

Back To School

2011-09-01T16:53:00.000-06:00

Tuesday the 23rd of August was Brooke's first day back to school! She couldn't have been more excited. On Tuesday, she woke up bright and early and was chomping at the bit to get to school well before we needed to leave. She was so wound-up, we couldn't really get any photos where she wasn't moving (so everything turned out blurry or strange). Here are a few attempts to capture the day on film.

Brooke and her new teacher, Ms. Shawna (jury is still out on the new teacher. She is very sweet but doesn't communicate as well with the parents yet as Ms. Lauri did and has been a little too laissez-faire about what the kids are eating at lunchtime...but it has only been a few days so afar, so we'll see how it goes over the rest of the year). Brooke does seem to love her so far, though--so that is good! Note Brooke's shoes: the famous 'twinkle toes'! She finally gets to wear them to school (although it makes me cringe every time she puts them on. The shoes are super obnoxious with the rhinestones, lights and Ed Hardy-looking paint job on the sides. They are, however, 'THE' shoe for kindergarten/preschool girls to have so there you have it).

Peeking in the door at pick-up.

Brooke's class came up with a class name this past week. The kids came up with choices as a group and then voted on them to come up with the winner which was (drum roll please!).....the Blue Skunks! Brooke said "I wanted to be the Golden Unicorns but Blue Skunks won. Everyone who voted for the Blue Skunks voted WRONG."

Grandma!!

2011-08-16T20:52:00.000-06:00

Grandma & Jack came to visit us over the weekend. Brooke was beside herself with anticipation on Friday, asking me every few minutes when Grandma would arrive. She even wanted to wait out in the driveway for them. From the moment they stepped out of the car, a tornado name Brooke swept over them and kept spinning around their feet until bedtime. She loved seeing Grandma and Jack and introduced them to her favorite ponies. They helped her decorate them and fix their hair. Brooke even helped Grandma become a little fancier (see above).

Unfortunately, about 5 minutes after turning off her light for bed, Brooke threw up. And threw up. And threw up (you get the picture). It was a long, long night full of loads and loads of laundry, cleaning vomit, a few baths and no sleep. It was so frequent that we ran out of covers, pillows, etc--washing machine just couldn't work fast enough. Poor Carol and Jack weren't able to get much sleep in all the commotion either. The next day Brooke was feeling better but we were all walking around like zombies. Around lunch time John took Jack and Carol to Olympic Park to watch the aerial show while I stayed home with Brooke (naps!). In the evening we took a scenic drive out to Midway (little Swiss town nearby) and went out to dinner.

On Sunday, everyone was feeling pretty good so we hit the Park Silly Market. Brooke got her face painted as you can see from the photos above. She even got to do the climbing wall:

She did pretty well and got fairly high up. Then she discovered how fun it was to let go and bounce on the rope. All in all, it was a very nice day and we enjoyed introducing one of Brooke's favorite activities (Park Silly) to Grandma. Grandma brought a sock puppet making kit for Brooke and we all had a blast making silly puppets. And Brooke got to sit down and draw with Grandma a little bit, as well (horses and mermaids, of course)--not many kids are lucky enough to have an artist for a grandma! Brooke even corrected Grandma on her technique at one point (Carol told Brooke that she used to paint wildflowers. Brooke responded that it is "actually better to trace them than to paint them"). We had such fun spending time with you! Brooke really misses you (and so do we!) and we hope that you are able to come back soon (maybe Christmas???).

Where's Brooke?

2011-08-16T20:22:00.001-06:00

Brooke told me that she was sure no one would recognize her with these Minnie Ears on (because she looks JUST like Minnie Mouse).

Fashion Victim

2011-08-16T20:22:00.000-06:00

Straight Up Truth

2011-08-16T20:21:00.001-06:00

Brooke really, really wants straight hair "like Mommy & Sophie". I keep telling her that Mommy really, really wants curly hair like Brooke....that, sadly, most people want what they don't have. I really think she is too young to start noticing and being discontent with her hair (she has the rest of her life to moan about that, after all) but I guess it starts young. I would have killed for her Shirley Temple curls when I was younger (and would still love them now) but, after much pleading, I told her that I'd blow her hair straight if she behaved all day. She did so I held up my end of the bargain. Boy! Blowing out curly hair is not an easy task! We used the flat iron after the blow out but it was still pretty wavy. She loved it so much that she wouldn't go to sleep--she was concerned that it would curl up again and kept calling me to check on her hair. Arrrrrh!! The next morning, I caught her putting water in her hair and trying to brush if flat. When I explained that the water would curl it again, she looked thoughtful and then said "that's okay Mommy. It's better to be happy with ourselves the way we are. How about we let it be curly now and you can make it straight some other day?" Love that little girl!!

The Hills Are Alive!

2011-08-16T20:21:00.000-06:00

We really enjoyed seeing The Sound of Music at the Sundance outdoor theater. It was a warm night (although got pretty chilly once the sun went down). Brooke was mesmerized and sang along when she knew the words. The seats were a little uncomfortable for Daddy long-legs but he ended up enjoying the evening anyway (John is not a fan of musicals so was not looking forward to sitting through the play at the start). Several people stopped us to ask if Brooke was going to be playing Gretyl in the play (she does look the part, doesn't she?).

Goofing around while we waited to for the theater to open

More goofing

Daddy & the Goof

John took this one of us. Brooke's head looks larger than all of ours in it.

A kind person took this one. Normal heads.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

2011-08-02T17:51:00.002-06:00

We are super excited to report that Grandma (aka Carol for you adults out there!) is coming to visit in just one short week!! Brooke hasn't seen Grandma in a long time (Christmas 2009!), so we can't wait for them to see each other again and are very excited to show her (and Jack!) around Park City.

I am finally seeing a doctor at the pain clinic in town (for that tailbone injury)--they are going to do some kind of steroid/pain killer injection directly into the joint (OUCH! Supposed to hurt) this Friday at the hospital in the hopes that it helps a bit. Apparently the MRI showed a lot of swelling in that area. I just want this injury over and done so that I can start doing things I enjoy again.

John has been working like a mad man on the yard: mowing the lawn, ripping out old plants, putting in new, mulching everything, stripping paint off deck, etc. Basically, he's doing a full time job in our yard on top of his 'real' full time job. Poor guy (no time for bike rides)! He's doing a wonderful job, though and everything looks great. We have also had the painters over (they are here now, in fact), so things are starting to look great inside the house, as well. Of course, we still have a list of projects, furniture to buy, etc a mile long but isn't that just called home ownership? I'll try to post some before/after photos soon.

Yesterday we had monsoon like rains so we took a field trip down to the aquarium SLC with my [other] good friend Suzanne and her two kids Ethan & Ryan. Brooke really loves looking at the fish (we bought her a Beta which she adores) and I had a fun time, too. For a stripmall aquarium hundreds of miles away from an ocean, we were pleasantly surprised.

Petting the rainbow boa named Skittles

Jellyfish

Jellyfish--always think these are relaxing and calming to watch

Octopus

These guys are my favorite

I wonder if I could get some of these little guys for our aquarium?

Brooke and Ryan looking at a fish tank that was hidden in this 'cave'

So Long, Farewell

2011-08-02T17:51:00.001-06:00

I went to Sundance for brunch recently. What a spectacular drive and gorgeous destination! No wonder so many people say it is their favorite place in Utah. Only 40 minutes away, too. Going to start taking our out of town visitors from now on. Really feels like you are in the Swiss Alps with the jagged Timpanagos mountains in the background. We are going to see The Sound of Music at their outdoor theater this weekend. These photos don't really do it justice.

Anyway, my good friend just moved to Houston (her daughter is Brooke's best friend, Sophie) so we've had a series of fun events to send her off in style. We will really miss her but know that we will visit them and they will visit us. Below are photos from her Texas-themed (western attire, big hair, lots of make-up) dinner at High West Distillery and night out on the town after (we all look like zombies with the glowing eyes in the last one):

Brooke getting a pedicure before meeting Sophie for dinner on their last night in town

On their last night in town, Brooke and I went to dinner at the Stein Erickson Lodge with Sophie and Suzanne. What a perfect evening!

Fashion Show, Mermaid Swim, Swing Set, Legos & Zumba!

2011-08-02T17:51:00.000-06:00

I am finding it very difficult to keep this blog up to date this summer. Just too much going on and not enough time to sit down with my computer (I'm sure I am not the only person in the world with this problem!). :) So, I am going to try to catch everyone up in with several posts in the next hour. Ready, get set, GO!

Here are some snapshots of the fashion show Brooke was in at Deer Valley a few weeks ago:

Back 'stage' with Ava after getting dressed for show

Showing off her outfit

Brooke and Ava running out to stage (stage is actually to the right outside of picture--they accidentally started running to the beer/wine booth)

Buddies (and models in show) Silas & Ava with their daddy

Brooke walking across the stage when it was her turn

Skipping back!

She did a great job! Walked slowly and confidently to Casey (who had BIG lollypops waiting). Once she got the lolly, she smiled and skipped back.

The weekend before, my friend Tina was in town for her annual visit to Park City. We had a fabulous weekend! This is us at the Eagles concert at Deer Valley. Little blurry (but so were we!).

Brooke has been taking swimming lessons for most of the summer and finally seems to 'get it'. She does a great doggy paddle and also loves to swim like a mermaid (face down in water, crosses her legs and kicks like a dolphin). She also discovered that she loves swim flippers and we recently bought her a mask and snorkel to practice with. And she adores to swim under water (again, like a mermaid). She still needs to work on 'big arms' (aka crawl) but she will get there soon. We are VERY proud of her. The video is from her first week of swimming by herself.

The other exciting news is that her play-set is finally built! She loves it and we are super glad it is finally done (thanks for buying it Grammie & Grampa--sorry it took so long for us to put in...but that is the problem with a sloped yard!). You can't see in any of the pictures above (Brooke playing with Sophie) but John added a few other features recently such as outdoor musical instruments on the platform above the slide.

The picture below is taken at the pool. Someone was teaching poolside Zumba and Brooke (in water below them) joined along from the pool.

Brooke and Daddy playing Legos for the first time. She recently discovered Legos and absolutely adores them. I overheard her tell John that the house they were making was going to be "off the hook!"

Independence Weekend

2011-07-24T09:11:00.000-06:00

4th of July weekend was filled with fun, friends and more fun. Friday night, I went to a margarita party down the street while John and Brooke had a 'daddy date night' (dinner out followed by a movie). Saturday we went to our friend's neighborhood for a BBQ and their neighborhood [crazy-amazing] firework display. Brooke was exhausted by the time the fireworks started (she asked to go home and go to bed--I think she was also a little scared since she had never seen fireworks). But once they started, she thought fireworks were the best thing EVER. Luckily, we had a few more nights of fireworks on the agenda!

On Sunday, we went to dinner at The Canyons and stayed to watch their annual '3rd of July' firework display. This event was a bit of a mess and we will likely never go to the actual resort to see it again (the resort is less than a mile from our house--we could easily have seen it from a few streets over without the crowds). But Brooke had a grand time, particularly because her best friend, Sophie and her family were with us.

Monday, 4th of July, was the annual pancake breakfast at City Park followed by parade. After the parade, our friends from out of town (Nico, his wife Ashley and their darling baby Mia) came to our house for a BBQ along with another friend and his kids. Everyone had a blast and the night was kicked off with fireworks we bought and the larger firework shows around town (our yard is perfectly situated to view them without leaving home).

It's Called Lady Gaga

2011-07-24T08:49:00.000-06:00

Nothing Says Happy Father's Day Like Puffy Paint

2011-06-28T19:16:00.000-06:00

For Father's Day, Brooke made John a tee-shirt using puffy paint. Now we just have to find a photo of him wearing it.

Kids Karnival

2011-06-28T19:13:00.001-06:00

Super silly name, but super fun. On Saturday, the city had a free kids event with bouncy houses, water slides, face painting, snow cones, etc. Poor John had to work most of the weekend, so I took Brooke without him.

Hula Girl

2011-06-28T19:10:00.000-06:00

Brooke's good friend Sophie had her 4th birthday party on Sunday. It was a Hawaiian themed party, complete with hula dancers who gave the kids a little lesson and Mai Tai's for the adults. Thankfully Brooke had a hula outfit that Grammie & Grampa brought her back from their last trip to Hawaii. What a great time! And we got a little preview of how much Brooke will enjoy our trip to Hawaii next February. Unfortunately, I didn't get any shots of the hula dancers and the lesson (hopefully John did)--I had a few too many Mai Tai's by that point! :)

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes!

2011-06-28T19:04:00.000-06:00

My mom's friend just sent a HUGE box of clothes for Brooke (she has two girls who are older than Brooke). Brooke was in 7th heaven going through it with me. She said "THIS is my favorite!" about everything we pulled out. As it turns out her favorite-favorite is this one (see below). I know--shocker, huh?

Thanks, Tracy! We really appreciate your generosity!!

VBS, Adventure Camp and Just Plain Fun

2011-06-28T19:00:00.000-06:00

I signed Brooke up for 3 weeks of Vacation Bible School this year--all different churches. I think it is a good idea for her to have exposure to different churches and like the idea of some religious eduction. It also costs $40 for the week. Can't beat that!! We have also signed her up for the adventure camps at two of the ski resorts in town (she did them last year and LOVED them). A few days into VBS camp, John asked Brooke what she learned and she said "I learned that God is better than you." John's eyes bugged out quite a bit but I was rolling on the floor laughing. I wasn't laughing so hard though when she woke me up at 1:30 in the morning, upset because she forgot to pray at bedtime.

Ready to go to camp on 'Crazy Hat Day'

Brooke's good friend Silas is in camp with her (they like to hold hands and hug--Silas likes to kiss her but she doesn't like the kisses, only the hugs....they have even been been talking about their wedding and where it will be...YIKES!). Anyway, every day after camp last week we'd all have lunch and then play--they had another play date later in the afternoon. This is Brooke with Silas and his sister Ava playing in our back yard after swimming.

And.....Summer's HERE!!

2011-06-28T18:50:00.000-06:00

Finally, summer is here! Funny the way it goes from chilly to HOT in the span of one day.

Park Silly Market is back as you can see by the face painting. This is what we do most Sundays during the summer.

I took Brooke to the Princess Fair in one of the Salt Lake City suburbs (Lehi--it might sound familiar to those of you who watch Sister Wives. Yes, that show took place there....it is something like 99% Mormon). My good friend, Suzanne and her daughter, Ryan went with us. The Fair was a bit hokey and each princess had a 'lesson'...the lessons were all turned out to be very overt Mormon messages/values. Goofy, but the kids didn't seem to notice how silly the entire thing was. I was surprised to hear that the performers were all volunteers so someone was raking in a ton of money (each child's ticket was $30). It was super hot and when we got home, we joined Suzanne and Ryan at their pool. What a fun day!!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-18T15:35:00.007-06:00

This message is for my father, Richard Bailey--I apologize in advance to reading this who is not part of the Bailey family.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! This little video is from me, April & mom......I tried to shrink it enough to send via email but the file is too large and I have been having some technical problems. Sooooo, here is a poor resolution version of it so that you have it in time for Father's Day (will email you the dvd this week). Your girls love you and we think that you are the BEST father we know. Thank you for everything.

Brooke-isms

2011-06-09T16:22:00.000-06:00

Every child has them (-ism's) and parents delight in recounting them to other people. Brooke has her fair share--I usually laugh, tell John or write it on Facebook and then forget until someone spurs my memory. My mom keeps telling me to write these down somewhere other than Facebook (possibly so we can embarrass Brooke one day with them). So are a few of our favorite from the last few months:

"April showers, Bring me some flowers" (instead of the more commonly used "April showers, bring MAY flowers")
Calls our guest room the 'guesting room'
Explaining why Barney's NY is her favorite store next to Hello Kitty. Not only do they have a 'Cinderella staircase on the way down, on the way up it takes me into space with with beautiful sparkly shoes that I want to buy'.
In Las Vegas: Drunk woman to Brooke: "You're TOO cute!" Brooke to drunk woman: "I'm sorry--how do I be not so cute?"
Also in Las Vegas. Possibly cocaine-riddled man jumps out at Brooke and keeps jumping after her like a frog. She stood her ground and just stared at him. He kept trying to get her to give him a hi-five. Finally, she turns to me and says "Can you please put him back where he belongs?" (to which the coked up guy says "WHOA! She's smarter than ME")
Asking Daddy why her head feels so hot. Daddy explained that it was hot because it was a hot day and the sun was shining on it. Brooke replied "Well it feels like a rat vomited on my head."
Listening to Sirius 'Love' (Brooke's request). That song 'you are so beautiful to me' came on. Brooke says 'is he talking to ME?? That is so nice of him!'. Then yelled 'thank you!' to the song everytime he said the word beautiful.
While she was combing her hair after her bath (for about 10 minutes): I asked her to finish, she looked at herself in the mirror, smiled and said "Wow--that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen".

Celebration After The Ceremony

2011-06-04T08:42:00.000-06:00

After the ceremony, I took Brooke out to brunch.....we went with Sophie & Gabi (and their moms and Gabi's brother, James). The kids had brunch, cake and then ran around outside for a little while.

We even got an impromptu performance of Do Re Mi:

Promotion Celebration

2011-06-04T08:33:00.001-06:00

Our baby graduated from preschool today and has been promoted to junior kindergarten! The ceremony was very cute--a few small speeches from the headmaster, teachers, the kids sang 'Do Re Mi' and 'Edelweiss' from The Sound of Music and then the ceremonies for preschool, junior k and kindergarten (the upper school had their ceremonies at a different time.

Brooke, Sophie and her teachers (Ms. Lauri & Ms. Grace)

Sophie, Brooke & Ted waiting for ceremony to start

Kiddos entering the room

On the wall of the multi-purpose room, we were greeted with a list of questions:
1) What are your favorite colors?
2) What is your favorite food?
3). What is your favorite animal?
4). What is your favorite thing to do in school?
5) What would you like to be when you grow up?
Here are Brooke's answers:

In case the print is too small, her answers are:
1) pink, purple, blue & silver
2) noodles
3) unicorn
4) paint with puffy paint
5) fairy princess

Charlie Sachs, the headmaster, gave a little speech to start with:

Do Re Mi video clip won't upload for some reason (unfortunately, that is the best one since she is actually singing in it). But here is a clip of Edelweiss (where she hardly sang at all):

Promotion Time!

Ms. Lauri says a few words (and has the kids say a few words):

Promoted:

Shaking hands and diploma's

Showing off her pretty flowers from mommy & daddy and bucket with sun toys from her teachers

Brooke and Ms. Stephanie (her summer camp teacher and class assistant teacher for first part of year....Stephanie babysits Brooke sometimes)

Brooke & Sophie

More of the girls

Happy to graduate!

Joni Y Carmack

2011-05-24T11:29:00.001-06:00

Thank you to everyone for the sweet notes of sympathy over the passing of my grandmother, Joni Carmack (or MomMom to her grandchildren). I have been struggling with what to write here....how do you sum up a marvelous life on a blog post? The answer is, you don't.

MomMom was my last surviving grandparent. My other grandmother passed away when John & I were still dating and both of my grandfathers passed away the year Brooke was born. I am grateful that 3 of my 4 grandparents knew my child.

MomMom was very special. Not only was she physically extraordinarily beautiful (as you can see from the above photos--she was often mistaken for a movie star from her time, Hedy Lamarr), she was also extraordinarily beautiful on the inside. Everyone who knew her--for decades or for minutes--remarked on her positive, happy personality, graciousness, kindness and love.

Click on the above photo to see the slideshow from her beautiful memorial service (it is fairly long so may take a while to upload)

Mom Mom, I miss you!

More Random Photos

2011-05-23T11:09:00.000-06:00

Brooke and her best friend, Sophie

Cinco De Mayo

Brooke and her friend, Gabi on Cinco de Mayo

Brooke and her 'beautiful' earthworm

Brooke with good buddy Ted and their earthworms

Happy Girl

2011-05-23T11:04:00.000-06:00

Our babysitter took this cute photo and filmed this little clip for us while we were out of town (picture first, video clip second...click on second one in order to see film):

A Little Las Vegas Sun

2011-05-23T11:01:00.000-06:00

I went to Las Vegas with 3 of my closest girlfriends in Park City over the weekend for a very quick getaway. It has been such a long, miserable, ugly, gray winter that we were all chomping at the bit for some sun. This has been a depressing winter with only a handful of blue skies so it felt amazing to sit in the sun without having to do anything. Victoria's mother-in-law kindly offered us her time-share for a few days so we had a free place to stay. We left on a Thursday afternoon and were supposed to return on Sunday morning. However, John had a business trip scheduled for Las Vegas starting Sunday. So he thought it would be a good idea for me to stay in Vegas while he flew down with Brooke--that way we could take advantage of the free hotel room and let her have a few nice days at the pool.
The weather was spectacular the first 3 days: blue skies, upper 80's/low 90's. By Sunday, the wind had picked up and the the weather stayed around 70 (still wonderful considering it was snowing in Park City--yuck). Even though it was a bit on the cool side, Brooke was able to spend time at the pool. It was a nice getaway (although I hit my Vegas max on Sunday. Two days is really all I can handle....the stinky cigarette smoke starts getting to me after that) but if the weather doesn't turn around soon--and if it does this again next year--I don't think Park City will not be a long-term home for us. Right about now CA or AZ look good....basically anywhere with no snow and plenty of sunny, warm days.

Ballet Recital 2011

2011-05-23T10:54:00.000-06:00

Brooke's dance recital was on May 7th. I came down with the flu after dropping her off (she got it the next night and John a day later--ugh) so I missed the actual performance. But I did get a few cute photos (below....Brooke posing with some of her friends) and John recorded the performance on his phone. It is a little big so we will try to see if we can shrink it a bit for the blog.

Old Photos

2011-04-24T17:03:00.000-06:00

These were from our family photo shoot last fall. Don't think I ever uploaded.

Practice Makes Perfect

2011-04-24T16:47:00.000-06:00

Brooke's ballet class practices their recital dance....sort of. :)

Misc Pictures From Last Few Months

2011-04-24T15:15:00.000-06:00

Brooke in her 'new' (as of two months ago) ice skates before her lessons

Brooke and Sophie during Apres Ski fun

Bathing Beauty

St. Paddy's Day

2011-04-24T15:13:00.001-06:00

The class had a St. Patrick's Day party. They went on a Leprechaun hunt (for Liam the Leprechaun...he is naughty and throws rain drops, gold and shamrocks. Apparently he also wrecks havoc on the classroom and turns chairs upside down when the kids are at recess). After lunch, the kids donned green hats, decorated shamrock cookies and ate them up.

On a side note, Brooke is doing very well with her ice skating lessons. We'll post a video as soon as we take one. :) She also got her ballet costume for her recital on May 7--I let her try it on one time but it won't come out again until the recital...after that she is free to use it for a dress up.

American Idol

2011-04-24T15:12:00.000-06:00

Brooke's school put on an American Idol performance in March. The kiddos got to dress up as rock stars and take turns signing a song they had been practicing for months ("I Got No Strings" from Pinocchio). The kids got up on stage, one at a time, and gave their solo performances. It was absolutely precious! Brooke sang a bit softly but ended with a bang (and she put together a pretty awesome outfit--she even had clip-on hair extensions in pink and purple...bit hard to see in the photos though).

Group Encore

Video of Brooke Singing:

PC Museum

2011-04-24T15:06:00.000-06:00

Brooke in old mining elevator

Riding the old mining 'chair lift'...more like a train.

Practicing blasting away (the loud booming noise terrified her!)

In the old jail

Standing by fire engine from mining days

Brooke's pony express picture was of a unicorn. Unicorn Express, anyone?

Over Spring Break, I took Brooke to the Park City Museum. It recently underwent a huge restoration and I was really impressed by the quality of the exhibits. Brooke enjoyed it, too. The next time you come visit, we'll take you!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T15:01:00.000-06:00

The last month has been a whirlwind of activity: some good, some sad. In the midst of everything here I have not had any time to sit down and 'blog'.

Working backwards then....Happy Easter! And Happy Birthday to Grandma!! What a wonderful, joyous day to celebrate a birthday! We really wish we could be there to celebrate your special day in person, Grandma. We all hope that you had a wonderful day and that the Easter Bunny treated you well. :)

We hosted a small brunch on Saturday which was a lot of fun. But Brooke was pretty quiet and didn't seem like her normal self. That afternoon, we noticed that she had a bit of a fever. It luckily broke before bed but she stayed up pretty late into the night because she wasn't tired after all of the napping. Brooke was slept in this morning, popping out of bed at 8:00. She was so excited to find that the Easter Bunny had hopped all over her house, leaving Easter eggs in crazy places (will post a video clip later today). We had a quick breakfast followed by church. Alas, no singing of 'The Messiah' this year (every Easter, our old church in San Francisco used to sing this favorite of Handel's--although my voice is more akin to a frog croaking, I loved this tradition. Even John got into it.) so I am playing it quite a bit today in honor of the reason we are celebrating this holiday.

I have attached a few photos of Brooke with the Easter Bunny.

Easter Egg Hunt At The Mountain

2011-04-24T14:59:00.000-06:00

Brooke, Sophie & Gabi (Brooke's friends from school...also neighbors of ours)

The girls and their mommies (the daddies were on the big mountain trying to find the easter eggs with the good stuff...i.e. season passes, alpine coaster rides, free lift tickets, etc).

These photos are from a few week's ago. Park City Mountain Resort did an Easter Egg hunt a bit early this year (since they are closed on the actual day)--as you can see, it was a COLD day. Definitely not your typical spring skiing weather. Brooke didn't like the bunny ('he isn't the REAL Easter Bunny because he's too skinny!'). He kind of freaked me out, too.

Sidewalk Artist

2011-04-24T14:53:00.000-06:00

You might want to click on the photo to enlarge. Really cool chalk drawings Brooke did of Fairy Princesses (the cone hats are princess hats) with butterflies and a sun in the sky. We thought they were pretty good.

Efan!

2011-03-21T19:06:00.000-06:00

John's friends took over the house the first week in March for a guys ski weekend. So he sent me and Brooke to Portland so that the guys could have the house to themselves (Brooke wanted John to know that the 'boys' could play with all of her dress ups except for her purple dress because that one was too special. She even had me make a call from the airport to remind John about the dress).

Portland was rainy and cold the entire time we were there, but it was fun to see everyone. Brooke enjoyed Grammie and Grampa (and their new house with the special guest room just for her) and she adored the time she spent with Ethan (and baby Amelia). She had a sleep-over with Ethan on the last night complete with pancakes the next morning by Grampa (Brooke wanted him to make her a 'unicorn' pancake and Ethan wanted a 'kingdom'. I don't blame Grampa for making them both circles--how on earth would you do either of those things?). Ethan took Brooke on a tour of his classroom before we left and proudly introduced her to all of his classmates. When it was time to go home, Brooke sobbed and sobbed. She did not want to leave 'Efan' and her grandparents--she kept saying that she only wanted to stay in Portland 'forever'. The ride to the airport and plane ride home were fraught with tears as Brooke cried about leaving and kept saying 'this is NOT a good day'. I felt horrible that she was so sad and always wish we lived closer when it is time to leave. We're hoping that Ethan can come visit us this summer when Grammie and Grampa come! It would be so much fun!!

Hello Kitty at Washington Square

Wearing her new Hula Girl outfit (brought back from Hawaii by Grammie & Grampa)

Brooke and Ethan finally sleeping (they look so sweet--when they are asleep). :)

Brooke & Ethan hanging out, watching cartoons at Grammie & Grampa's

Brooke doing the Hula 'Squiggle'

Grammie & Brooke doing the 'Hokie Pokie'

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-21T07:03:00.000-07:00

Brooke's NEW favorite holiday of the moment (candy, treats, free dress day at school, valentine cards and LOVE). We hope you had a wonderful day!

American Idol

2011-02-19T13:16:00.001-07:00

Brooke practicing her song for her "American Idol" performance at school.

Earlier in the day, she treated John to a dance and song about going to the ball.

Brooke "The Bomber" Blevins!!

2011-02-15T18:09:00.001-07:00

The entire family went skiing on Sunday (blues skies, sunny, nearly 50 degrees!)--which explains why I went along. I went along with Brookie and John for the first time and it was a blast. Brooke is FAST...and good! Click on the arrow (or middle of picture if you don't see arrow) to see Brooke in action. The videos are the very first one (above) and very last one (below). There is also a video that did not work (second to last) but that I can't delete. Enjoy!

Ski Graduation

2011-02-15T17:58:00.001-07:00

Brooke 'graduated' from her ski school last Friday! After her lessons, the kids performed in a parade down the mountain (each child skied down with their instructor). Andres put Brooke in back of him but in front of the other little girl he teaches since Brooke is faster--he thought it would slow her down if she was annoyed by having someone on her tail (the lessons are private, so Brooke has never skied with another child before). Well, it worked but it back-fired. She got annoyed alright. 1/3 way down the hill, she had enough of the girl on her heels, pointed her skis down hill and skied straight PAST her instructor (you can see her blowing past Andres below).

Proud mommies: Suzanne Brogger (Ryan's mom), me and Suzanne Dildy (Sophie's mom)

Uh-oh, here she goes (notice her big smile in the next photo)

Brooke and her new boyfriend (she has her 'cookie' medal around her neck)

She threw herself at him and wouldn't let go!

Ice Skating Party!

2011-01-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

Brooke had SUCH a fun time at her ice skating party today! We got to the ice rink pretty early to set up, blow up balloons, put food out, etc. Once everyone started arriving, we all hit the ice.

About 30 minutes in (late!), the skate instructor showed up to help the kids learn how to move around on the ice, played ice skating games with them and let them watch her do a fancy spin (she even picked Brooke up and spun around with her once).

After skating, we had cake and opened presents (the present opening turned into a bit of a mob-scene frenzy). When we left the ice arena at 11:30 it was sunny and 50 degrees out! Perfect day to hit the slopes (Brooke is there right now). The only thing that would have made this day better would be if John could have joined us. Although birthday parties this large (over 20 kids!) are pretty exhausting. I'm ready for a drink!

Happy Birthday, Wonderful 4!!

2011-01-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday, wonderful 4! You are a beautiful, bright, sensitive little girl....you love dress ups, dolls, long hair, running like the wind, sledding in the snow, dancing, ballerinas, ice skaters,
mermaids, princesses, fairies, magic and everything beautiful. Daddy & I are so proud of you and are constantly amazed at the cute, funny and insightful things you say. We thank God for you in our lives, teaching us, putting up with us, loving us. We love you more than you'll ever know, precious, precious 4! This poem reminds me of the day you were born:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginably You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

--e.e. cummings

Then & Now

2011-01-25T19:22:00.001-07:00

Wow--what a difference 4 years makes!!

Presents & Cake!

2011-01-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

Brooke opened her presents up after quiet time--she had a grand time ripping through everything quickly. She hardly stopped to look at the presents in between opening since she couldn't wait to get to the next one. Once they were all opened, she went through them slowly and played for the remainder of the afternoon. Thank you, everyone for the fun gifts!

After dinner (Panda Express), it was CAKE TIME!

We tried to get a few pictures of Brooke with the duck but, after all that cake, she wasn't able to sit still for very long. These duck photos were a lot easier when she was one month old!

Brooke's School Party

2011-01-25T19:08:00.002-07:00

Brooke brought cupcakes to share with her class today. They were confetti cake with pink frosting and sprinkles--and, as a special surprise, filled with frosting in the middle of the cake. They all sang 'Happy Birthday" and Brooke had a great day! The last picture that looks a bit blurry is a video clip--just click.

When we put Brooke to bed last night, we told her that it would be her last night going to bed as a 3 year old--that when she awoke she would be a 4 year old! She got pretty concerned about this and told us she wanted to stay 3 so that she could be in Ms. Lauri's class still. I explained that she would STILL be in Lauri's class. In the morning, the first thing she said was "Am I 4 today?" When I explained that she was, she said "But I am still in Ms. Lauri's class, right?". When I told her she was, she looked relieved then hopped out of bed and looked down at herself. When I asked if she looked different, she said "Yes! I am BIGGER today!"

Busy Week Ahead!

2011-01-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

We are gearing up for a BUSY week. Sundance is in full-swing (we saw our first movies yesterday) and I have several more this week (while Brooke is in school) and coming weekend (so good luck getting a hold of me). Tuesday is Brooke's 4th birthday. She'll have school until 12:30 (with cupcakes as a treat) and in the evening Panda Express for dinner (her favorite), birthday gift and presents (I told her I'd serve the dinner on our china and she could have her friend, Kaitlynn, over to eat with her). Friday morning is her birthday party at the ice-skating rink (no school that day for some reason). I am kind of stressed out about Friday because I have a lot of stuff to bring over and set up (in addition to bringing the guest of honor) and John can't help out. Directly after the party, I will grab a quick lunch for Brooke (and her friend, Ted) and then drop them off at Deer Valley for ski lessons. At 4:00, I pick her up to go home, feed her dinner and then go downtown with my friend Victoria for another movie and drinks after.

Baby Nee Nee Tea Party

2011-01-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

Brooke went with her friend Sophie to the Baby Nee Nee Tea Party this past week (tea and cakes at a local children's store). Here they are (Brooke picked out her own outfit):

Rapunzel

2011-01-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

Brooke drew this in school the other day:

Good, huh?

Beauty Must Suffer

2011-01-23T12:58:00.000-07:00

That was one of my grandmother's favorite expressions (and one my mom used quite a bit, as a consequence). I find myself saying it to Brooke whenever she complains about bathing, combing her hair, cutting her nails, etc. I guess Beauty sometimes enjoys the primping process as Brooke proved the other night. Before bed, she combed her wet hair for about 10 minutes (she thinks that combing her curly hair will make it straight. First lesson in life earned early: women are never happy with the hair they are born with) before I finally put a halt to it. Before putting down the comb, she looked at herself in the mirror, smiled and said "Wow! That's the most BEAUTIFUL thing I've EVER seen!". No self-esteem problems here.

First Crush

2011-01-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

Brooke has a BIT of a crush on her ski instructor, Andres. She says that he is "so, so, so, so SOOOOO cute" (he is cute, but then all of the ski instructors at DV are pretty cute this year). She also says "Mr. Andres is too cute to ski with" and, as he was helping her with her ski boots on Friday, she leaned forward, grabbed his head and gave him a BIG KISS on the cheek. Andres is about 23 and blushed bright red through his tan. Of course this blush was nothing compared to the one when Brooke walked out of the bathroom with her pants around her ankles, just wearing her underwear. He said "Brooke! Put your pants on!" To which she replied "But I want you to see my flower panties. Do you think they're pretty, Mr. Andres?" He looked horrified and lit up the room with another gigantic blush.

By the way, today was her last day with the edgie-wedgie!!

Disney Follies

2011-01-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

PCDS's lower school's early childhood classes performed 'The Disney Follies' tonight. The kids got to dress up in their favorite Disney attire, so Brooke was pretty excited about it. We went to Panda Express before the performance (one of Brooke's favorite places to eat) where Brooke expressed concern about the evening: "but we don't go to school at night--only raccoons and bunnies do that!" The preschoolers all did a good job (some sang, most just stood and sang every now and then). By the time the evening ended, Brooke was saying: "I don't want to go home--school at night is FUN!"

What One Abracadabra Do I Know?

2011-01-10T10:44:00.001-07:00

Brooke wants to grow up so fast that it scares us. She asked for pierced ears (her friend, Dani, just got them), wants to know when she can drive the car without mommy & daddy and asked John if she can go to the ski mountain all by herself. Sigh.

Then in the same breath she wants us to call her Clara and asks Daddy to be her Nutcracker. She wanders around in her nightgown asking for 'her Nutcracker' and wants to know if she is still Clara even when she is at school and her Nutcracker is at home.

I remember wanting to be older.....it seems like there is always a next age kids are yearning to be. They are never content with where they are. I guess this never ends. Somewhere close to 30, adults start wanting to be younger (or, minimally, stay where they are).

There are so many things about Brooke right that I would like to freeze in time, keep from growing out of. I don't know why it is so important to get to that next step, but it is.

Then there are the dangerous things that I cannot WAIT for her to grow out of. She ran into the parking lot/street two times last week. Believe me, she got in BIG trouble. I told her she could be hurt. I told her that she was too small for cars to see her. She said 'but I DIDN'T get hurt". She said "but I am a BIG girl". She doesn't understand my panic, that although she didn't get hurt, she COULD get hurt. It just takes a second. I explained that if she got hit by her car, she might get hurt so badly that Mommy & Daddy wouldn't get to be with her anymore. And that would make us so sad that we wouldn't be able to go on. She thought about what I said for a minute or so. Then said:
Brooke: "You wouldn't see me?"
Me: "No, if you got hurt badly enough, we wouldn't be able to see each other any more."
Brooke: "If I got hurt by a car, would I be squished?"
Me: "yes"
Brooke: "Would I look a little different then I look now? Would my head be in my bottom?"

Sigh. So much I want her to grow out of and so much I want to keep the same. That's parenthood, huh? I understand her wanting to be bigger, but I want her to enjoy where she is and stop wanting the next thing.

I remember reading this poem in AP English (high school) and thinking it was kind of weird. As a parent, it pops into my mind whenever I hear Brooke asking to be older, asking for big girl shoes, to drive a car, to get her ears pierced, to GET MARRIED (luckily she still only wants to marry Daddy):

The Magician Suspends The Children
With this charm I keep the boy at six
and the girl fast at five
almost safe behind the four
walls of family. We three
are a feathery totem I tattoo
against time: I'll be one

again. Joy here is hard-won
but possible. Protector of six
found toads, son, you feel too
much, my Halloween mouse. Your five
finger exercises predict no three
quarter time gliding for

you. Symphonic storms are the fore-
cast, nothing unruffled for my wun-
derkind. Have two children: make three
journeys upstream. Son, at six
you run into angles where five
lets you curve, let me hold onto

your fingers in drugstores. Too
intent on them, you're before
or behind me five
paces at least. Let no one
tie the sturdy boat of your six
years to me the grotesque, the three

headed mother. More than three
times you'll deny me. And my cockatoo,
my crested girl, how you cry to be six.
Age gathers on your fore-
head with that striving. Everyone
draws your lines and five

breaks out like a rash, five
crouches, pariah of the three
o'clock male rendezvous. Oh won-
derful girl, my impromptu
rainbow, believe it: you'll be four-
teen before you're six.

This is the one abracadabra I know to
keep us three. keep you five and six.
Grow now. Sing. Fly. Do what you're here for.

Lest We Forget.....

2011-01-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

Enjoy:

New Year's Day!

2011-01-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

Christmas decorations are down (much to the dismay of the nearly 4 year old). Some friends were visiting from LA this week so we had them (and their newborn baby) over last night for dinner. It was a nice mellow evening. Today we are going to go to our friend's Apres-Ski Sushi & Party (she is japanese, her husband Irish so it should be a pretty fun mix of food and drink).

Soooooo......Happy New Year's, everyone! We wish you all a safe, happy and healthy 2011. We also want to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to Poppa today! We hope your day is relaxing, wonderful and filled with good food and wine.

Christmas Day 2010

2011-01-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

Christmas Day, I went in to get Brooke when she started stirring. She asked if Santa had come and said that he and his reindeer were a little noisy on the roof last night. She insisted on putting on her new Jasmine costume before coming downstairs (that's our little fashionista all right). When she looked over the edge of the loft downstairs, her mouth dropped WIDE open into an O and she said "Oh WOW!".

Brooke didn't understand why there were some unwrapped toys under the tree (she thought we had already opened them), so John explained that Santa had left them. The first thing she went to was the plate for Santa (the one we left a cookie and carrot on)--she wanted to make sure he took them. Picture below is the 'before' photo from the night before. Didn't think an 'after' shot was very interesting:

Then present opening mayhem began in earnest:

Grampa took a break to make our annual Christmas 'hash', while we sipped coffee and a few brave souls ate Stollen (a German holiday bread we get every year but that no one seems to care for--not sure why we still do this other than tradition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stollen).

After breakfast, John and Grampa headed out to go skiing again while the rest of us stayed home to rest (Leslie & Grammie) and play with our presents (Brooke).

Our annual Buche de Noel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bûche_de_Noël)--sometimes we make it and sometimes we order it. This year's was ordered--the lady who baked it was featured twice on TLC's Cake Challenge.

Yorkshire Pudding! It rose really well this year (probably because we made it properly with Prime Rib drippings). Growing up, Prime Rib was always our main meal on Christmas Day, but over the last 20 years, we have stopped doing meat in favor of seafood bouillbaisse. This year, we did Prime Rib again but won't do so again: John doesn't care for beef, it's messy and a pain to cook and it made everyone's tummy a little upset. I think we all prefer seafood (although I sure will miss the Yorkshire Pudding).

Brooke putting Daddy's crown on from the Christmas crackers. For those of you who don't do them, they are an integral part of Christmas in the UK (and in our house): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_cracker

Brooke in her crown

December Party Time

2011-01-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

December was a fun month! I hosted a small Christmas party with some of my close girlfriends (the three ladies I do a monthly dinner with: Victoria, Deb & Melissa). For the holidays, we decided to include our husbands and then we decided that all of the husbands could invite one couple of their choosing. All of the hosts made a few appetizers and we hired a bartender for the evening (best thing EVER for a party). It was a great time but, unfortunately, we have only two photos from the entire evening (thankfully John took these):

The next night we had a Christmas party for Brooke's playgroup (at Melissa's house), complete with Santa Marc and a gift exchange for the kiddies:

Christmas Eve!

2011-01-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

Grammie & Grampa came to visit us in Park City for Christmas this year. As anyone who has spent Christmas with my parents can attest, no one does Christmas quite like they do. Although we missed Christmas Eve mass this year (the time just doesn't work with Brooke), we had our annual champagne, caviar, seafood and friends over, followed by Brooke opening some of her gifts. If you haven't already heard about the horrible oyster incident, I won't post the video here (will put in separate post to spare those who have)--that was the only downside to the evening.

During the day, John took my dad skiing after which they spent some time in the hot tub relaxing

Grampa with Brooke

Grammie & Brooke

Brooke with Grammie & Grampa

Yes, the kid with wet hair (she insisted) was being goofy in all of the pictures.

Gingerbread men for Brooke and her friends

Nutcracker 2010

2011-01-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

Since we first started dating, John & I have gone to see The Nutcracker every Christmas (we went on our 3rd date for the first time). Now Brooke is included in the tradition. Last year she went with just her daddy and this year we all went together. Granted, it is no longer the San Francisco ballet and only the ballet school in town, but they put on a shorter performance just for children and, at least right now, it works well. Hopefully next year she will be old enough for the 'real' ballet in Salt Lake (not SF Ballet, but still pretty good). Brooke only asked to go home during the last 10 minutes so it might not be too far-fetched to hope for. She did get up once to dance in front of the stage with her friend--pretty funny but not really appropriate behavior for the theater.

Few Photos

2010-12-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

Basin Recreation put on a children's Christmas event last weekend. The Santa is a little freaky looking but Brooke didn't seem to notice. I guess Glee is right--as long as there is a red suit and white beard, the kids fill in the other details with their imaginations (yes, I am quoting a TV show).

Below is Brooke's school photo. Unfortunately, something happened to her hair between the time she got out of the car and the time the photos were taken: ringlets turned to frizz. I still think she is pretty cute.

Merry Christmas, From Our Family To Yours!

2010-12-12T11:40:00.000-07:00

In Hopes That St. Nicolas Soon Would Be There

2010-12-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

The count-down is on! The tree has been trimmed (quite a while ago), the advent calendar is half through and a week of parties is ahead of us! Almost time for the big guy to arrive. Brooke is very concerned about Santa getting stuck in the chimney and wants to make sure he doesn't forget Rudolph (because he is not mentioned in The Night Before Christmas). Santa has found the microphone that Brooke has been asking for for weeks (so hopefully she'll still want it on Christmas morning! So random). We are very excited to see her face on Christmas morning. This year has been especially magical for her--in addition to the decorations and presents, Brooke is enjoying our old favorite shows (Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, The Year Without Santa Claus, Rudolph, etc) and she knows the story of Baby Jesus and why we give gifts on his birthday. Grammie & Grampa sent Brooke a recordable book of The Night Before Christmas (so that their voices are reading the story)--she asks for it every night and now knows most of the story by heart. At the end when they say 'we love you, Brooke!" she smiles and says either "I love you, too!", "Thank you", "Sure!" or "That's so nice of you!" Pretty funny.

Some of you have asked if there are any items left on Brooke's Christmas list that she would like:

-Doll Holiday Dress from Pottery Barn Kids: http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/doll-holiday-dress/?pkey=gthmtoydoll

-Doll Sailor Outfit from Pottery Barn Kids: http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/doll-sailor-outfit/?pkey=gthmtoydoll

-Leapfrog Clickstart Software: Disney Princess Love of Letters

-Barbie In The 12 Dancing Princesses DVD

-Leapfrog Leapster 2 (Pink)

-Calico Critters Brittany Bunny Ballet Recital

Here are some older pictures (sorry) of the tree decorating. We did this on the day after Thanksgiving--Brooke has a beautiful bandaid on her forehead (not sure why):

Ski Lessons!

2010-12-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

Park City Day School offers their students free ski and snowboarding lessons (a perk that comes from the Chairman of the Board who also happens to be the owner of Park City Mountain Resort). The lessons are at Park City Resort and are two kids per instructor. Nice way for Brooke to get a feel for skis again before her private lessons start in January at Deer Valley. She is a little more unsteady this year and a little more fearful (last year all she wanted to do was go fast) but she is learning, slowly, how to make a wedge and keep her feet like that. Kind of hard for the little ones but the edgie-wedgie helps.

Pies and Turkeys, Oh My!

2010-12-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving Day was soooooo cold but sooooo much fun. We kicked off the day with Pie Breakfast, an annual Park City tradition by friends of ours. Apparently it started when a group of friends decided that they were too full from Thanksgiving dinner to enjoy dessert. So they decided to start Thanksgiving day off with a breakfast of pie. The event grew over the years and now they have around 50 different pies and about 200 people who stop by to enjoy Pie Breakfast every year. Brooke is a big fan. John & I love the mimosas and bloody mary's--something for everyone!

After breakfast, we came home for a bit of a rest and then headed over to Tina's house for Thanksgiving dinner with Melissa, Marc, Tina, Daniel and kids. Such a great time!! The kids were actually very well behaved and the adults had a blast. The only bummer is that I didn't take a single picture the entire day.

Let It Snow!!

2010-11-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

We had quite a snow storm! It snowed about a foot over night and shows no sign of stopping. Oddly, it is very wet snow which is very un-Utah like. Brooke is having a blast in it! This morning after church and breakfast with the O'Brien's, Brooke promptly put on her snow clothes and played outside for the better part of two hours. I shoveled snow while she made snow angels, ate snow and pretended to skate so we both got a bit of a work out. No school this week and more snow in the forecast--I might have to buck tradition and dig out our Christmas decorations earlier than normal (the day after Thanksgiving is normal for us). John is out skiing for a few hours (Park City Mountain opened yesterday), Brooke is upstairs in quiet time and I am sitting by the fire watching the snow fall. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Old

2010-11-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

I know this picture is about a month too late, but keep forgetting to post. While at Halloween After Dark at Red Butte Gardens, Brooke drew this cool picture (with no help from anyone) of a mermaid! We wanted to save it but she made it for her floating lantern so a picture of her picture was all we could take home.

Feast Day

2010-11-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

Brooke's school had a fairly early Thanksgiving Feast this year. Instead of Friday (last day before Thanksgiving break), it was yesterday (Wednesday). It was a free dress day (no uniform!) so Brooke loved getting 'fancy'.

Brooke is very excited to Thanksgiving--lost of turkey and pie--and because Tangled (new Disney movie) comes out that day. I have promised to take her that weekend when Daddy is out of town in Illinois for work. We will be doing the Turkey Trot in the morning followed by pie breakfast (annual tradition of friends here) and then over to our friend's house to cook and have dinner.

She can't wait to decorate for Christmas and wants to help out this year. She keeps refining her Christmas list for Santa and, luckily, the miniature pink windshield wipers are no longer on it. It is fun to see her excitement this year and fun to watch her get excited about toys she has been dreaming of (some of them surprised us). We are going to have her write a letter to Santa this year (Santa already sent Brooke a book called Elf On The Shelf along with a magical elf. Apparently the elf helps Santa keep track of naughty and nice behavior).

Halloween Day!

2010-11-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

Brooke has been counting down the days to Halloween for a long, long time. Luckily, it was the year of never-ending Halloween parties, so she had a lot of time to get in the 'spirit' (ha--I am so pun-ny!) of the holiday. This is the first year where the dollar-per-use of her costume made sense.

The week before Halloween, we kicked off the festivities with Ava's birthday party. Since her birthday is in October, Victoria decided to throw a Halloween-themed bash where all of the kids could come in costume. Brooke wore her 'barb' and mermaid suit with pride and thought the 'trick or treating' (parents each hid in one of the rooms for the kids to got trick or treating in the house) was fantastic. Park City Moms Group held their annual party the following day but we decided to skip that this year since the weather turned cold and the party was outdoors.

Thursday we drove to SLC's beautiful Red Butte Gardens for their annual Halloween After Dark festival. This is one of our favorite traditions.....the grounds are lit up beautifully, the kids can run around in the acres of beautiful space and they set up activities for the kids through out the gardens. The activities are a little more old fashioned (broom making followed by a race through a maze on the brooms, lantern-making where you float the lanterns on the Koi Pond after completing them, potion-making out of dried flowers, etc. This year we met our good friends Deb (with her sons Karsten & Rhys), Melissa & Marc (with their kids Ted & Cash) and Victoria (with Silas & Ava). We ran into Casey with her boys Calvin & Jeremiah at the gardens, as well. It was a late but super fun night.

Friday morning was Brookie's preschool party. Melissa & I went to the school at 10 to help out. The party consisted of a parade through the school, Halloween 'centers' (games, face-painting, etc), pizza party and then a short Halloween Wonder Pets cartoon. Parents and teachers dressed up (I was Princess Leia....as I mentioned before, Brooke requested that I dress as a princess but Leia was the only one I could find. Kind of a princess, right?). Brooke's mouth dropped open in awe when she saw me. She said that I looked a little like Grammie with the brown hair. Lots of little kids seemed to get a kick out of the costume and would shyly come by the classroom to look at Princess Leia. Unfortunately, some of their dads did, too--ick. It was a crazy day but a lot of fun.

Saturday afternoon was again rainy and cold, but we braved the weather to trick or treat at Redstone, a local outdoor shopping area. One of the restaurants gave giant lollipops with gift cards for a free dinner for 4 under the wrapper. Worth the rain just for that surprise! :)

Sunday: Halloween! The big day! We dressed up at 2:00 (Brooke: mermaid, me: Princess Leia, John: Rock Star) and drove up to Main Street for the big trick or treating extravaganza. It was super crowded but Brooke ended up with tons of candy, fresh cotton candy, another giant lollipop (with a $25 gift certificate for the parents), popcorn, etc. Again, adult men are pretty creepy where my costume was concerned....never realized that some men had a 'thing' for my costume. Never again. Luckily, the kids were cute and many of them came up to say hi to 'me' (must be similar feeling to being a character at Disneyland). We ran into just about everyone we knew downtown so it was a lot of fun although exhausting. We followed Main Street with wine (for us) and pizza (for the kids) at Victoria's house (along with the O'Brien's). Went trick or treating to a few houses and then headed back home. John took Brooke down our street while I manned the front door. Our street yielded lots of fun treats: full sized candy bars and cupcakes. Think we are staying in our own hood next year.

Look carefully next to the swing set--we ran into two moose in the neighbor's yard. Luckily, they were too sleepy to notice us.

First Snow

2010-10-25T14:31:00.000-06:00

Well, it's official: we've had the first snow of the season. The rain we've had (non-stop) for the past two days has finally turned to snow. We woke up with about 3 inches of it in our yard. Brooke was super excited to see it covering the yard. Her first two questions were
1. Can we go skiing now?
2. Is it time to put up the Christmas tree?
Unfortunately, the answer to both of these questions is "no". However, she'll have PLENTY of time to do #1 in the next coming months (her school gives the kids ski lessons at Park City Mountain Resort in December and she is signed up for private ski lessons at Deer Valley in January). And #2 will be happening right around the corner (we do it right after Thanksgiving Day).
Needless to say, it was hard to get in gear this morning. Brooke wanted to eat the new snow and stomp around in the pristine white driveway (before Daddy shoveled it, that is). I just hope that the snow goes away before this weekend....no one wants snow (or rain!) on Halloween. We'll see....the forecast has been a little schizophrenic with regards to this weekend. Hopefully the storm will do its worse and get out of dodge before Sunday. Luckily we do have a few fun events lined up in the meantime: Halloween After Dark at Red Butte Gardens on Thursday night and school party on Friday and Halloween events on Saturday (given that this crazy state is heavily Mormon--although thankfully Park City mostly is not--they are holding many Halloween events on Saturday). And of course, the big day, itself: trick or treating down Main Street followed by pizza and trick or treating at the Miller's. Then back home to answer the door for any trick or treaters who brave our steep driveway.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-21T19:19:00.000-06:00

Well, kind of. We didn't go to a real patch this year, just the local nursery. They have an itty-bitty maze set up with the pumpkins around it. Brooke wasn't super impressed. She was more thrilled with the leaves on the ground and trying to find some pretty ones for Daddy.