A Few Random Pictures

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated. Here's what we've been up to lately.

Brooklyn is SO CLOSE to walking. She holds onto everything and scoots all over the place. We have a little walker toy that she pushes all over the house.


She doesn't really know how to steer yet, but she walks with this thing all day.

She is fascinated with the dog's food. My mom said I was the same way when I was a baby so she finally let me taste it and I didn't like it so left it alone from then on. Well, I didn't stop Brooklyn when she went to taste it... but she actually liked it and kept chomping. Gross! I obviously took it away.

Who needs toys when you have toilet paper? She seriously played with this for almost an hour.

We got her Halloween costume and the lady at the store gave her a balloon. She thought it was pretty neat.

I was trying to see if she had enough hair for mini pigtails. She doesn't like it when I play with her hair, so I did it in the bath to see if it was long enough.

She looked so cute, but wouldn't let me put the barrettes in. She better get over that phase so I can give her pretty hair and braids when she gets older!

And for those of you who haven't seen yet... I dyed my hair a couple weeks ago. This is the first time EVER that I've not been a blonde. I like it though. And Kurt LOVES it.

That's pretty much what we've been up to. Just enjoying our days and having fun playing :)

CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED

From here...


To here???

And from here...

To here????

Seriously!!!! Because I have no clue. Wow has she grown. She is going to be 10 months old this week and it has just flown by.

She's reached the weight limit on her carseat so we're shopping this week for a big girl seat. She's outgrown the swing a while ago, but we brought it out for a friend to use while visiting and I strapped her in after the baby was done with it. She laid there for like 10 minutes with this serious look on her face before she started fighting to get out. I guess she was reminiscing.

I know everyone tells you to enjoy your babies while they are little, but you don't actually realize how fast they grow up until you have your own and see it first hand.

Labor Day CO Vacation

So, I was just thinking, this was my 5th vacation in the past 5 months... Yeay for not having a job and being able to enjoy life!!!!!

This time we took my Grandma up to CO with us. It was her first trip. Here are 4 generations of women! And we're actually ALL smiling! That never happens. Oh, and I love Kurt's reflection in the window too.


The neighbors were out riding their horses so we took Brooklyn to say hi. She was fascinated and not scared at all. Here she is petting one of them.

My grandpa picked some apples so my grandma turned them into this... My grandma makes THE BEST apple pie! And that's no word of a lie :) YUMMM!

We went to the 22nd Annual Fall Color Festival in Cortez one day and my mom got a tatoo!

Let me be more specific.... an airbrushed tatoo :)

Brooklyn made friends with the little girls that live down the road.

And we even got a nice rain storm. That'll beat the Phoenix 110 degree weather we left.

Brooklyn thought it was cool that daddy and grandpa were playing with the Wii, so they gave her a controller. She thought she was hot stuff!

We even got Grandma on a quad.

Our happy family!

This is how Brooklyn rode. So serious!

Oh, an action shot of mom and grandma driving.

We also spent a day in Telluride, went fishing, and did a lot of other fun stuff, but I've already posted pics of those things before. We had such a good time.

I think now we're all vacationed out, at least until January!

Saying Goodbye to my 20's...

Well, I hit the big 30 last Thursday. And I have to admit, I'm feeling pretty good! :) And since Kurt has Thursdays off, this was the first year that we were able to spend the day together on my actual birthday since I don't have to work anymore. It was great!

I bought a new dress, my mom watched Brooklyn and we went to see Time Travelers Wife and have dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was a FANTASTIC day!


I think my favorite part though was the surprise I got when going to wake Brooklyn up from her nap. Daddy had snuck in while I was showering and put my present in the crib. Brooklyn noticed right away that there was fun stuff in her bed, so she opened it all up. When I went in the room, she had a bottle of perfume next to her leg and she had opened the envelope from the card, pulled the card out and there was a massage gift card inside the card that she was chewing on. It was so funny!!!

I guess she figured that whatever was in her bed belonged to her. I was cracking up.

And what would my post be without some random pictures of Brooklyn. She was having fun riding on daddy's shoulders.

It didn't take Bailee long to find her new favorite spot in the house.... close to the high chair. She's figured out that she gets snacks that way :)

Brooklyn is doing chores and helping out with the dusting, haha.

I was clacking my tongue and she was trying to copy me.

What a big girl. She makes me laugh every day. I just love being her mommy!

We are headed back to CO for yet another vacation tomorrow. I can't wait to get out of the heat again. Relaxation, here we come!

Handyman Husband

Our den downstairs never had a door on it, it was just an opening. I had hung some curtains to separate it from the rest of the house, but curtains are not soundproof and Brooklyn likes to jabber which interupts Kurt when he's working. I forgot to take a "before" picture so this will have to do... you can sort of see the curtain on the right.

And here is the opening (pardon the mess, it's a construction zone).

Kurt decided rather than pay someone an arm and a leg, he would take on the project himself. So he ordered this custom door frame.

And went to work installing.

Had a few little hiccups along the way (like dropping the door and taking a couple chunks out of the door and the drywall at the bottom of the stairs)

But he's a good fixer upper and patched the drywall... You can hardly tell he messed it up in the first place.

Even I helped out a bit by painting when it was hung.

Voila! Finished product:

It actually looks like it belongs in the house! He did a FANTASTIC job!!! And boy does it help keep out the noise.

Kurt amazes me with all his handy work around the house. Who would have known a computer geek could have so many other tricks up his sleeve? :) I think I'll keep him around! You never know what may need fixed next :)

Another thing she figured out...

Yep, the cabinets are no longer a safe zone...

Our project this week will be putting the latches on to keep little hands out. Baby-proofing the house seems to be a constant thing lately. She keeps showing us what we need to do next :)

One More Thing...

I almost forgot... One of the best parts of coming home from being away from my husband for a week was that he missed me and surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

And there were a few gerber daisies too, which I LOVE!

He's too good to me. But no complaints here :) Thanks honey!

"Girls Only" Trip To Colorado

We just got back from our girls trip. It was totally different than any other CO trip we've taken. There wasn't much on the agenda and we mostly just relaxed and enjoyed the weather! (80's during the day, high 50's - low 60's at night).

My mom wanted to go to the Escalante Days fair that was in town. It was not like any fair we've had in AZ. Small towns are so neat. This was seriously the most people I've seen in this town at once. It was great!

And I realized that my baby is growing like a weed when I put her in the Bjorn. I don't think we'll be able to use that much longer. She's getting too big!!!!


This was the only "ride" at the fair. A tractor pulled the little car train around the street. It was cute. Brooklyn will probably get to ride this some year.

She was worn out with all the festivities! You can tell by that look on her face.

This was one of her favorite things to do during the week and it made me so nervous. She loved climbing on the fireplace ledge, but it's solid stone and one slip can really hurt her. She only bumped her head once on it so that was good.

My dad has a lot of "elk chew" custom furniture throughout the house. It's exactly as it sounds... made from wood that elk have chewed in the wild. It makes a neat design in the wood. Well, Brooklyn added some "Brooklyn chew" to the furniture while we were there :) She had to taste everything!

I love this pic. It truly shows her sweet personality shining through. She has such a happy spirit! I just can't get enough of her.

Her other favorite thing to do was climb up on the oven, dishwasher and fridge and lick the stainless steel. It was cold and I guess felt good on her tongue. Once she'd lick it, she'd finger paint in the drool. We had a lot of prints to clean off when we left. She was leaving her mark!

This is my little "baby bird". Every time I'd feed her, she'd just sit there with her mouth open waiting for more bites. Too funny!

The hummingbirds kept swarming the feeder. My mom had to fill it daily because they'd empty the whole thing. We had to make another trip to the store just to get more nectar. At times there would be 8 or 10 at once.

My mom has a big soaking tub in the master bath. Brooklyn loves to take a swim in it while we're there. (and so do I, we just don't pull the camera out for that... )

Of all the bath toys, the plastic dixie cups are her favorite.

I caught her splashing herself in the face in this one.

Bath time is fun time.

On the drive home, she looked like the closet scene in ET with all the animals surrounding her and just a head peeking out.

We stopped at my Grandpa's house in Payson on the way home. He has a stuffed Chihuahua toy that says "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" and she loved playing with it!

It was a nice spur of the moment trip and we truly enjoyed ourselves and the little break we got. We are headed back up with the whole gang again in a couple weeks.