Soon to be ONE year old pictures

Brooklyn had her one year old pictures taken a little early just so I can make her birthday announcements. So here they are. While I am at it I just thought would catch up on some of the milestones she has accomplished lately:

- She started walking the day she turned 11 months old and has been getting better at it ever since!!

- She dances to any music she hears including commercials.

- She is the best "bye" waver I have ever seen. You don't even need to say "bye" inorder to get her to do it. If you say the word "go," put her in her carseat, or if she sees me holding my purse, she will wave. 

- She loves to play tag and motions her hand for you to come chase her.

- She has turned out to be such a sweetheart. Sometimes she just comes and sits on my lap and lays her head on my shoulder. She just wants to be cuddled.

- When she wants something she waves her hand for it to come to her. If she doesn't want something she will shake her head no. ( She does this a lot)

- She loves to take out all of the laundry in the laundry baskets.

- She now can sign "more" and "all done." Sometime she will say "all da."

- Her new words are "duck," "hi guys," "up," and "uh oh."

This is when she lost her shoe and was saying "uh oh" which comes out "who oh."

Check out her pink cowboy boots!!

Trevor and Amanda's Wedding

On Saturday, August 7th Trevor and Amanda tied the knot. In other words, another blonde was put into the Olsen mix! And I am excited to have Amanda as an official member of the family.

We started off the day at the temple. (More pictures will come later they were on another camera)

Trevor and his BOYS at the temple.

Then they had a luncheon at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Brooklyn fell asleep on my lap for almost the whole thing!! It was so nice to eat without feeding her at the same time and I also got to listen to all of the speaches uninterrupted! On the way out the parking garage Brian got into a fight with the parking attendent, because he wouldn't let us out of the parking lot. We had a validation for all day. BUT we lost our parking ticket that says what time we got there. Brian had it about 15 minutes before we left but we think he lost it while playing with Brooklyn in the lobby. So the paking attendant wanted us to pay $20 for a lost ticket, but we had an all day pass so it didn't matter what time the ticket said we got there. So we sat there while my stubborn husband wouldn't move and the stubborn parking attendant would not open the gate. All the while, a line a cars behind us were all honking randomly. Brian decided to get out of the car and go the car behind us and ask him to back up so we could try to find the ticket inside/find a manager. I think the driver was so scared when he saw Brian walking over, because I think he thought Brian was going to yell at him for honking at us. Needless to say, the cars backed up and Brian found the event coordinator inside who came out to the parking garage, walked along the car with to the gate, and swipped her key card to let us out and there was nothing the parking attendant could do about it!! My stubborn husband won (in his mind)!

Then we were off to Stein Erickson Lodge for the reception. We started the night out with some family pictures. On the left side next to me is Maddy. Debi babysat her when she was little and has remained a close family friend. Plus, she is such a good babysitter for Brooklyn :)

These are Brian's Grandparents. Burke actually performed our wedding ceremony!

Our little family.

The princess with her grandma and grandpa out on the terrace.

The groom with his father.

Trevors friend Brad had these crazy nerdy glasses with no lenses, and I snapped a picture when Russ tried them on.

The miss and her daddy on the dance floor before the reception.

Here she is showing off her princess dress. Baylor is in the background showing off his GQ suit. I think this is the second best thing about weddings....looking at all of the cute kids dressed up.

The food was so amazing, as Stein's food normally is, including 4 kinds of lemonade, pasta bar (cooks present to prepare it to your liking), and salad bar.

One thing that I was not expecting was them to have a cake fight. You think you know people....

It was really cute though.

And the best part of the day was the dancing. We were all dancing fools, shakin it like a polaroid picture, droppin it like it was hot, takin off all our clothes, backin that thing up, and I could go on and on. We had a blast, even Brooklyn!! And we got a slow dance with the three of us. Obviously, the pictures below are some action shots. It got so cold up there that we were carrying around the little B in a blanket.

Brooklyn loves Trevor! No really, I am not just saying that. She lights up when he walks in a room and leans towards him with her arms up when she sees him. She will make noises until he pays attention to her. I have to fight her to get her out of his arms. I know she is going to miss not seeing him at Grandma's house during the day!

This is Brian with his best friend Trevor and fiance Sandee who are getting married on September 3rd. If you look close you can see Brad in the background with his glasses on.

Summer Camping

There is nothing like camping in the summer! However, you would think that going up to the mountains in late July you would have warm weather. This was not the case!! Jackets, sweaters, and pants were all the rage. One of my best friends Blair and her husband (that is so wierd to say) Logan came along. If you remember back to a May post, these two were married.

We all got in the boat and Brian rowed us across the lake. Blair caught her first fish since she was little. Yes, that is Brian's hand in the background holding up the fish. Blair did not touch it but she was sure a trooper!!

We went target shooting because I need to practice before the hunt in September. I drew out for the big bull elk tag. It was only my second year putting in. I put in thinking that in 15 years I would be ready to shoot an elk. Well I was wrong. This is the year for me. Brian and his dad have been putting in for 13 and 14 years, respectively, and have yet to draw out. I never, in a million years, thought I would be the one.
Brooklyn fell asleep in the car and we left her in there (with the windows down of course), so it would insulate her from some of the noise. Worked like a charm!! She slept though the whole thing and was wearing quite the fashion statement.

Later on Blair, Brooklyn, and I sat and watched the boys fish from the shore. Brian and Logan both caught some fish. Everyone caught a fish but me:( I was on Brooklyn duty and didn't have an extra hand for a fishing pole.

The girls watching...

The little princess was totally inticed by the fish.

It was so cold so we had to snuggle. (No complaints here!!)

Luckily we caught the sunset. Notice the BYU apparel, we are gearing up for the football season to start!!

It's a Boy!!

My friend Heather is having a baby boy due August 20th. So I threw her a small baby shower. I made my first diaper cake for baby Caden. It was way simpler than I thought it was going to be.

I was just about at the same stage of pregnancy a year ago, so I feel her pain. She is ready to be done and on the home stretch! I thought pregnancy was a dream until the last month, then you really pay for it. I remember just being so uncomfortable. But Heather truly has the pregnant glow and she still has ankles (something I lacked at this point). I know she really didn't want to, but I had to get a picture of that cute belly! My bet is 7 lbs 11 oz. Don't worry I will let you know if I was close when he comes.

Heather and I have been friends since 2nd grade. We were reminiscing about it in the parking lot. I am so excited for her and I know she will be such a great mom!!

Zoofari

We took Brooklyn to the Zoo for the first time last Thursday. I only had to work a half day so I figured it was the perfect time to go. Plus, I thought she may be able to understand what is actually going on now.  I think the elephants were her favorite. Who doesn't like little baby Zuri? She was so adorable! We got there right as they were letting her out so she stayed pretty close to her mama and she was playing with the barrels.

My sister-in-law Anna came with us until Brian got there. I was so glad that she came because I don't think it would have been quite as fun with just me and little B.

This is little baby Zuri!!

I tried to get a picture of Brooklyn and Anna together and these were the best I could do. She is driving me crazy these days with her attachment issues. As long as she can see me you can bet that she is going to cry while anyone else holds her. (With the exception of Brian and both of her Grandmas) If I am not around she is fine, so I hear.

She loves to be pushed around in the stroller and people watch.

I think that she really liked the big animals the best because they are easy to see and don't move very quickly, as opposed to the quick little monkeys they have at several exhibits that she couldn't follow very well.

Brian came in the later afternoon just as Anna left. Her daddy sure makes her smile!! He spoiled her by carrying her around most of the time. He wanted her to get up close and personal with them. He was so enthusiastic about it, such an animal lover!! And of course we had to take Brooklyn's picture next to one of the three lion drinking fountains. I can't believe I let her touch that thing. Think of all the bacteria swimming in there. (Don't Brian's new glasses make him look studly, maybe like a Clark Kent thing? I think they are really cute on him. These are his first pair ever in his life.)

We got to see the elephant drink from the steam and splash a little bit. That was the first time I have ever seen that in person.

Oh and how did we measure up you might wonder?! It looks like the Olsen Family is quite taller and skinnier than the Ape family. However, notice the arm lengths. Yes, we are a little lurpy. Brian and I often joke about how long and skinny our family is going to be with these long arms and legs.