Our Birthday Girl

Our Birthday Girl!

Well, we have a one year old! I cannot believe it! Her first year went by so fast it is crazy! This was Tori's one year dress...it is a one year shirt for Brookie. She is going to pass up on Tori's height soon I am sure unless Tori has a sudden growth spurt. Brooke is only 3 inches shorter than Tori!
We decided to celebrate Brooke's birthday at Red Robin. Brooke ate her first Toasted Cheese Sandwich and LOVED it. I haven't really met a real food that Brooke doesn't like. She has also learned how to give 5s! It is so fun...she just giggles. Tori is practicing her "CHEESE" in these pictures...if she would just look at the camera!
(Yes, that is a wrap around my thumb. I got my thumb shut in a van door! At least it isn't broken, for that I am truly grateful. It was ridiculous taking care of the girls with out a thumb, but I did get out of a lot of chores...especially DISHES! Who knew thumbs were so important?! I can now say that I am grateful for opposable thumbs!)
I LOVE the picture of Brooke looking at the singers at the restaurant...what are you crazies doing? She loved the whip cream, but was not too sure about the cold ice-cream. But tori didn't have a problem with finishing it off for her! Ha ha ha. (yes, that is a most ridiculous picture of my thumb!)
We came back home and celebrated with a festive cake. Tori loved singing the "Birthday Song" and even got a chance to blow out the candle. The cake looks super cute, but next time I will buy vanilla or cream cheese frosting and make it pink...the strawberry flavor was NASTY! Brooke didn't really care...as you can see...

Not much cake made it in to her mouth. She is not a fan of frosting, so she just basically mushed the cake all around her highchair and in between her fingers. She was also so tired. We kept her up until 7:45! Hopefully I will remember with the next kid to start the cake earlier...maybe afternoonish. I made the same mistake with Tori's one year celebration. Anyway, we had fun with Birthday Celebration #2. The next (and last) Birthday Celebration will be in a few weeks at Grandma Frann's house. Yipee!

Introducing Brookie In Pigtails

Here are some random pictures for you to enjoy. They are small, but oh so cute!Happy Birthday Grandpa Lee!

This is Tori making Grandpa Lee's birthday present. She hopes you love it...we will call you soon to sing you the birthday song. She has practiced all week! Love you Dad!

Halloween in Utah

...after we spent time with friends on Saturday (10/30) we went back up to Hooper for Halloween celebrations.

Halloween Dinger Style

(Thanks Auntie Joy for catching this picture...she was great at getting the girls to smile!) We dressed up in our costumes and then took the kids trick or treating. Tori was a ballerina (costume inherited from Livy who got it for a dance recital), Brooke was a lady bug (this one was purchased for Livy's first Halloween, but it was too big for her, then it was too big for Tori's first Halloween, and finally it fit Brookie perfectly!), Marie was a cowgirl, Gwen was Dorothy, Dennis was Spock, Jason was Captain Kirk, and I was a cat.

We only went to a few houses, but Tori got a haul (at Pam's Volk's house, a little girl gave Tori half of her candy...it was so cute!). We even got homemade donuts! YUM! Of course, Tori shared her candy with her parents (well, she didn't really know that we were taking it) and Brooke was allowed only a pre-sucked sucker! I love that Dennis always looks surprised in the pictures.I love that picture of Brooke and I! And the one of Tori waiting at the door. She gave Auntie Joy a great big kiss for the great big Kit Kat she got! (And that is the sucker that Brooke was allowed to have! Ha ha ha... Brooke didn't care that it was recycled!)

Our Cute Little Bug

Click on this and make it bigger. This was Brookie's first sucker. She LOVED it! After every lick she said "Mmmmm!" It was hilarious. She only got a few licks and then it was confiscated. I did want her to go to sleep!

Our Ballerina!

As seen here, she is playing with her new friend, Loco. He is a stick pony made by Grandma. Tori loves Loco and, in fact, is playing with him right now. We love Loco, but he is frequently used as a weapon and has been put in time out for a few extended periods of time. (We need to cut the broom stick!)

Our Little Walker

Brookie took her first steps with a fabulous audience. Auntie Marie even caught it in picture form! We are so excited. She doesn't just get up and walk, but she can do it now!

These are pictures from Sunday, Halloween actually. Tori loves to play the organ. The girls sure look cute in their Halloween striped shirts! (I love the one of them both playing the organ and Brooke is on her tip toes.)

We got a chance to visit the next door neighbors' horse. Tori got a kick out of feeding him carrots and apples. Brooke even pet him!

Then for a birthday celebration. I cannot believe that Brooke is one! Isn't that nuts?! Well, we were a week early on take 1 of Brooke's birthday (she will be having 3 parties!). She of course loved the wrapping paper more than the presents. She got a little shopping cart to push around that plays music. She also got two Wiggle CDs for dancing (she loves to dance!) and some cute clothes. She munched a little on the brownie too, but was more interested in playing in it than eating it! Shortly after brownies we were on the road again. It was a short trip, but it was fabulous to see everyone. We miss you all! And to end...

Our One Year Old!

Party in Utah: Meeting Baby Ryah!

Last weekend we made a fast trip to Utah. It was fabulous to see family and friends. We arrived close to 11:30 PM on Friday night and set up camp in Hooper. Then the next morning we were off to Spanish Fork to see all of our best friends! Yippee!!!!
I think that my new favorite is a little girl named Ryah Tate Dunn (the happy parents are in the upper left corner). She met us at the door in this cute little pink hoodie and leopard legging outfit! Oh my goodness I just wanted to pinch her, except there was too little of her to pinch, but don't you worry your little head Ryah, I will be back to pinch you soon! Adam and Tiffany were such cute parents! Hurray! I didn't really get to snuggle her all that much and she probably just wanted to sleep when I snuck these pictures, but it is all about memories here! I think that she is a good mix of Adam and Tiffany...and I am glad to be the new adopted Auntie! Tori and Brooke really didn't care all that much about Ryah this time. I think Tori just wanted to play with Adam and Tiffany...oh and Max. Sorry Ryah, you were trumped by your doggy brother this time, but I am sure that Tori and Brooke will be your besties one day!
After a little bit, we were joined by the gang: Debra, Rachie, Michelle and Cristian (Michelle's little boy) for lunch. We just hung out with everyone and had some good conversation. I miss my good friends and it is hard to stay in touch with them like I want to. Thank heavens for Facebook and Skype!
This was the first time that I met little Cristian, he was a doll (he looks so much like a Grindstaff it is uncanny!) and he took a liking to me (which of course I ate up!). He loved my lap and I loved his cute little personality!
Brooke had a good time too! Brooke loved everyone and everyone loved her right back! There was snuggling with Auntie Marie and playing with Debra, Rachie and Tiffany. My girls LOVE attention!
Tori was all over Adam and Tiffany. She loves them so much just like we do! I think we are training her well! Tori dressed up in her little BYU cheerleader outfit for early Halloween festivities and she also ate a whole piece of Jack-o-Lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's!
Oh, and don't forget the ravishing picture of my husband in Brooke's Halloween bow, with a mouth full of pizza and sauce on his cheek! I LOVE THAT MAN!Meet Tori's best friend Max.
On the way down to Spanish Fork I told Tori that we were going to see Adam, Tiffany and Ryah. She said "Yeah, and MAX!" She loves her furry friend! She was very excited to see Max (I think the feelings were mutual). She chased him around (and vice-versa) and even shared her blanket with him! That is love! She played in the backyard with him too. It was fun to watch her explore her new surroundings and throw sticks to Max. She tromped through trees and bushes, hid in the tree house and played in the mud! She is going to love having a dog one day...I don't think that we will have one quite as big as Max, but a Beagle would be nice!
Oh and that picture of Tori down in the lower right corner kills me! I love to see her laugh that big...and Max is one of the few beings that can make her giggle like that!All good things must come to an end....after a short 6 hours we had to leave. SIGH! This is the main reason that I miss Utah. I miss my friends and being close enough to hang out, have lunch and have adult conversation! I MISS MY GIRLS! I miss the Dunns and how, if we could, we would spend every waking hour together....Anyway, I am not going to have a pity party. It was so much fun visiting with you ladies (Don't you think that I hang out with the prettiest ladies in Utah?! I DO!) and I can't wait until the next time. LOVE YOU!

October Occurences

A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. For starters, I began potty training Tori! It has gone well, all except for the number 2 thing, naps and night time...I need advice from mothers out there who have done this before. We use pull-ups for naps and night time, but the number 2 thing is really gross! I have thrown away quite a few pairs of underwear! But she is doing GREAT otherwise...I thought I was going to have to do the whole every 30 minute thing with her, but she immediately said "Mommy, peepee" every time she had to go! So that was fabulous! My favorite thing is the little saying that she does at the end of going to the bathroom. I think that I must have said it once and now she says it every time: "Tap, tap, tap. Good. And now you put it in." That is the trip the toilet paper takes. Sometimes she get stylish and adds "1-2-3 go! and then you put it in...bye bye toilet paper!" HILARIOUS!
This is Princess Potty Panties! This beautiful tiara is one of the prizes from her stash that we got from Goodwill. We also had prizes that Lora sent (little toys that Livy grew out of and Tori inherited) and of course M&Ms from Grandma Frann! Please note the water marks on her shirt...she is a good girl and washes her hands, and then she wipes them on her shirt! HA!
This one is for Oscar! He sent his special friend Nemo to Brooke a few weeks ago. Read about Nemo's voyage here.
Dear Oscar,
Thanks so much for sending me your special friend Nemo. I really love his orange fins and I hope you don't mind that I like to suck on them. Sometimes I let Tori play with him too, but I am really glad that you sent him especially to me. It makes me feel so special and I know that you must love me so much. I will take good care of him and I will give him lots of love!
I love you!
Love,
Brookie

I was crafty! I made these lovely temple wall hangings for each of the ladies that I visit teach (there are 5!) and one for me and one for my companion. The message this month was about temples from the Temples Ensign. All of the ladies I visit teach, my companion and I had a lunch together and enjoyed an afternoon of bliss (2 hours without children) together. I sure do love these ladies! I told Jason that he is lucky that we are on the poorer side and that he should never let me into a craft store when we do have $! I am craft crazy! But I did get some good ideas for Christmas presents!
We made cookies! Tori was still in the accident phase of the potty training, so that is why she is not wearing any pants! :) While Brooke was taking a nap, Tori and I made sugar cookies that we could frost during Family Home evening a week ago. It was her first time, and she loved it! Please note that as she cut the dough her cute little paw prints could be seen in the dough...she couldn't quite grasp that you just push down the cookie cutter. She loved rolling out the dough and playing in the flour. She also liked to put the cookies on the pan. We had quite a few deranged looking bats and kittens. She decided on which cookie cutter to use, so we ended up with 12 pumpkins! She liked them the best.
We frosted cookies! That night equipped with her own plastic IKEA knife she frosted her first cookie. Most of the frosting went in her mouth! She LOVED the sprinkles too! My favorite picture is of the one of all of the cookies all finished and you can just see Tori's hands on the edge of the table...she was waiting to do some quality control. Surprisingly enough, Brooke hated the frosting but gobbled up little pieces of the cookie! (Sorry, no pictures of Brookie...she was quite sick!)
Brooke and Tori got some random sickness. They both got their flu shots on the previous Saturday. Monday Brooke woke up with a fever of 102.7* and she was so tired and lethargic. She wasn't showing signs of anything else, but she just slept all day long. We went to the doctor and nothing was wrong, just a high fever. Well, the next day the fever was lowering and by that night, she was her same ol' self. I figured that it was just her body trying to fight off the flu shot, then Tori got the strange sickness. Tori sick means a lot of whining and cuddling. So to appease the pain, we made a fort where she could watch her shows and play. I am really glad that this sickness only lasted a few days and that we didn't get it, because otherwise we would not have been able to visit Utah. We know that this was a blessing for sure! I promise that the next blog will be filled with Halloween and a visit with our bestest friends!