Brooklyn's 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW..I have an EIGHT Year Old!  Is that really possible? I guess it is. 

She has been waiting for along time (8 years to be exact) to turn 8!  She has been so excited to turn 8 so she can be baptized.  What a special birthday!

On her birthday, I took a treat to class and after school we did an achievement days ice cream party for her to welcome her into the program. I made her manicotti (one of her favorites) for dinner.  And she opened a few presents from us.  She got "Tangled" (which we can't find since she opened it..it has disappeared), and then some cute clothes.(Picture is above..isn't that the cutest coat ever?  I love it..Eric not so much...but who asked him anyways!)  And a few other small items like a hair brush, bracelets, flipflops. 

Brooklyn talking to Grandmommy on the phone..

I am sure she was singing her "special" birthday song to Brooklyn.

Brooklyn had a simple, fun party with a few friends.  I say a "few" because her original list had 25 girls on it...and I couldn't handle that.  So I made her narrow it down to 10 girls...which was really hard for her and me too. I let her do it even though I felt bad there were a few girls missing that I would have liked to be there.  It was her party so I figured she could pick her guests. 

The girls painted a block and I put vinyl on it that said, "A DREAM is a wish your Heart makes."  Brooklyn wanted a tether ball party so it was outdoors and they played in the backyard.  They had snacks, cupcakes and opened presents.  I sent the girls on a scavenger hunt to find their good bags.  They liked that. 

 It was a fun bunch of girls. 

 A bunch of Silly Girls too!

 Lacey, Brittany, Ashley, Makenna, Nikole, Brooklyn, Ari, Bella and Emily

Happy Birthday, Sweet Brooklyn! 

We love you and can't wait for your baptism!  It will be a very special day!

A fun project

I made this cute banner for my friends baby shower last month.  I thought it turned out so cute.  It was a fun project!  I am thinking of doing one for Brooklyn's room  instead of plain vinyl letters on her wall.  This is a little more girly.

Cooper 4 months old!

My baby is already 4 months...

Cooper is still a great baby...a little fussy after dinner.  I think he is teething. 

A few things about Cooper at 4 months...

*He weighs 13lbs 4oz.  I love his little chunky fat legs.  He has a cute belly too.  He is just the perfect size...not skinny and not fat!

*He now can roll from his tummy to his back (that way he can get off his belly)  Both my other kids were belly kids...not Cooper.

*He is a great sleeper...wakes up at 7am. Can't complain one bit.

*He's a great eater...that is with a bottle.  I now pump and give him a bottle.  It works better for both of us..just adds a little more work for mommy.

*He has great eye-hand coordination.  If there is something in his reach...he grabs it.  And it goes straight to the mouth.  He also loves to crab blankets and put them on his head..kind of scary if you ask me.  He now has started to play with more toys. 

*He is very ticklish...I love his laugh.

*When he "talks" it sounds like he is saying "Hi"  It is cute. 

*He is one strong boy.  He prefers to stand over sitting.

*He has his first cold...which is sad. 

*He loves to suck on his hands...doesn't matter which fingers, a couple of them, all of them, his thumb...he loves any part.

Like mother like son...I use to suck my fingers just like this. I had to take a picture.

 Playing with his favorite toy.

 I got it!

 A new fun toy!

 One happy little boy!

 Enjoying some sunshine...it's about time. 

We had 2 weeks of rain!  We love the sunshine!

Can't you just get along...

The other day, Brooklyn and Easton were fighting (like they always do). 

 I said to Brooklyn, "Can't you guys just get along?" 

 And she replies, "That will never happen!" 

I couldn't help but laugh.  Kids!!!

Mother's Worst Nightmare...

There are moments in life as a mother that you just don't want to experience.  I have had two of these with my sweet Brooklyn.  Yesterday was another one. 

Eric was at Priesthood and I was feeding Cooper and talking to my mom on the phone.  Brooklyn walked in and then out.  I figured she went outside to play like she usually does.  A few minutes later, Easton asked where Brooklyn was.  I said, probably outside playing with the neighbor kids. (Like they do everyday in our yard).  Easton went into the backyard and couldn't find her anyone.  So I sent him downstairs and outside again to make sure.  I figured she had left with the kids and went to one of their houses to play.  (Which made me mad because we have a strict rule that they are not allowed to leave our yard without asking.)  So I got my shoes on and we walked through the neighborhood to all the houses to see where Brooklyn was.  We went to the house I figured she was playing at.  All the kids were there playing but no Brooklyn.  Now I was nervous.  We checked another house and then walked home. Looked again around the yard and house.  Still nothing.  We were yelling her name outside, inside and found nothing.  We got into the car and drove around looking...still nothing.  I tried to call Eric, but couldn't reach him.  At this point I was scared to death.  My heart was pounding. Easton and I said a prayer in the car.   I just imagined some creep grabbing her.  I couldn't think of anywhere else to look. It had been about a half hour at this point. We went back home and I told Easton to go into the back yard and yell again.  I was in the process of calling security and then the police.  Easton started to yell again and we heard a sleepy, "What?"  Oh what a relief!!! Brooklyn pops up from the front porch.  She fell asleep on the porch swing.  And she was so tired that she never heard us yelling for her.   Easton had been up on the front porch a couple of times  but never saw her.  I was SOOOO scared.  I hate having those moments where you don't know what to do or where to go.  And of course, Eric wasn't home...which made it more stressful.  It was a relief to find her save and sound.  Brooklyn walked into the house and crawled into her bed and she slept all night.  She was one tired girl.  

This experience brought back the horrible feelings and memories that I had with Brooklyn when she was 3 years old in Lake Powell.  And since I didn't blog back then, I thought I would share that story as well so I have it documented.  I was in Lake Powell with the kids alone.  Eric was working.  It was after dinner on the houseboat and the kids were playing hide and seek.  (Not a good idea on a houseboat)  Easton was sleeping in the far back bedroom.  Two of the kids come in the kitchen and said they couldn't find Brooklyn.  I had just seen Brooklyn run down the hall towards the back of the boat a minute earlier.  The kids know not to go through the back door without an adult but you never know if they actually listen.  We all started to yell her name and look for her. After a minute, we all started to panic.  We turned on all the lights, got flash lights searching the beach, water, upstairs, all the rooms, everywhere we could think.  Easton's door was locked so we thought maybe she went in there and locked the door.  We got the window opened and crawled through and no Brooklyn.  We even looked in the storage area under the boat.  We looked everywhere. At this point, I was crying and freaking out. I thought she fell into the water and drowned.  My brother, stopped me and told me to pray.  I did.  I think everyone was at this point.  It was so scary.  We were screaming her name.  We were searching every place again and again.  After 10 minutes of horror, I went into one of the bottom bedrooms and saw a pillow move.  I grabbed the pillows off the bed and there Brooklyn was hiding at the top of the bed behind the pillows.  I grabbed her and took her upstairs and just cried.  She got really scared because she thought she was playing hide and seek and didn't know why we were all so upset.  She was one great hider!  3 people had checked that room and even felt the pillows, she was just so quite and rolled into a ball.  It was probably the scariest moment of my life. 

All I can say is I better not have another one of these experiences...I can't handle them. 
I am glad Brooklyn was safe both times. 

Jog-A-Thon/Crazy Hair Days

The school had their annual Jog-A-Thon and the kids loved it.  They loved running.  Big smiles every time they came around again to me.  Both kids did around 15-20 laps I would say.  I had cute video..but it won't upload for some reason.  It was a fun, sunny, warm event!

Crazy hair day...Easton and Avery.  Brooklyn looked really cool too but I didn't get a picture..bad mommy.  

10 Years Ago Today....

Eric and I were engaged! 

I can't believe it has been that long...which also means we will celebrate our 10th anniversary this year!

Some might know our crazy engagement story but some might not. I thought it would be great day to share it. Eric and I became friends in the summer of 2000 and started to date in September.  In March, Eric had an idea for "April Fools."  He said we should "Pretend" to get engaged and prank our families.  We were young and thought it would be a fun April Fools joke.  So we came up with our plan to act out the engagement at the Provo Temple.  We even when to Fred Meyers and bought a $10 rock.  April Fools Day was on a Sunday, Eric picked me up and went to the Provo Temple where he "proposed" to me in front of the fountain.  It wasn't all romantic.. just fun...lots of laughs. I remember feeling happy though.

Now that we were "engaged"  it was time to tell the family.   We went to my parents house and sat them down in the living room and told them.  They were very surprised and my mom didn't believe us, she kept saying, "This is an April Fools Joke, Right?" We didn't want to blow our cover so we just kept pretending it wasn't a joke.  They finally believed us...and then it blew up in our face...we forgot one important thing about a proposal...I am the only girl in my family and this means Eric didn't "ask" my dad for my hand in marriage. Something my dad was looking forward to for a long time.  We never thought about that because it was a joke and he wasn't going to ask him with it being a joke.  Big Oops...my dad was hurt.  My dad pulled Eric out to the trampoline in the front yard and had a "talk." At this point I was thinking, "Oh boy what did we get ourselves into?"  This little fun prank was turning into a big mess.  At this point we kept going with it.  Eric called his parents and told them and they were surprised and happy.  They were happy to get him married off!  Eric even called and told his Grandma. 

We spent the day relaxing and being "engaged."  Later that day, Eric wanted to go for a walk. So we were walking outside and he told me that he felt like it was right and we should make it a real engagement.  It felt right to me too, so I agreed.  So...no one knew it was an prank.  We both worked at Costco and everyone was shocked.  No one really wanted to believe us...since we got engaged on April Fools.  Everyone thought it was a joke. Eric and I were the only ones who knew the truth.

We were happy!  We decided to get married on July 12th in the Manti Temple.  The planning began.

We did have to explain to people that the ring wasn't real...I wanted a REAL diamond.  We just said that I wanted to pick it out after we were engaged.  Which was fun and I liked picking out my ring. I still love it. 

The ring was custom made so it wasn't finished until the middle of June.  Eric picked it up secretly and surprised me one night with a "Real" Proposal.  He picked me up in a limo (thanks to his Brother who owned one), drove me to the Provo temple where he proposed to me again with the real ring.   I don't remember what he said but we were very happy and it was romantic. Eric also gave me red roses.  It was perfect.

I later told my mom about the joke and she wasn't very happy with me.  I never told my dad, but I believe Eric did apologize to him for not asking for my hand.  Eric would have asked for my hand before he really proposed if it wasn't an April fools prank for sure! 

I laugh just thinking about the whole story.  We were young, in love and foolish.  It will always be a story I will remember!  And to Eric's credit...he called me this morning and wished me a happy engagement anniversary.  And for him to remember a special date like our engagement date...that's pretty cool. 

To this day...we don't really do April Fools Jokes...they just might come true with our luck!

So there you have it...our Engagement Story!!!!

Happy 10th Anniversary of our Engagement Babe!