The Olsen Family

Santa Claus

2011-12-18T18:13:00.000-08:00

Santa Claus is so fun to talk about and see at a distance, but sitting on his lap is a whole different story....

Alexis Elaine

2011-12-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

On November 29th at 1:06am baby Alexis was born to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Russ and Kristen Olsen. We are so excited to welcome a new member to the Olsen family!! She is so beautiful and such a sweet spirit. Seeing her reminded me how precious a gift these little ones are. Brian and I are now aunt and uncle to twelve nieces and nephews and one more little niece in the next couple of weeks :)

8 lbs 6 oz
21.25 inches

I think this little girl might have a little look of her daddy :)

HaPpY HaLlOwEeN

2011-11-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

On Halloween Eve we decided to carve pumpkins. This was Brooklyn's first opportunity at such an experience. You can tell how much she liked cleaning out the "punkins."

To quote her specifically I think she used the words, "Hold your nose, kaka poo poos."

However, Brooklyn loved the results!!

The one on the left represents Brian and he carved it. The one in the middle represents Brooklyn, and maybe the little one on the way. The one on the left represents me. Brian suprised me by putting a little baby pumpkin inside the one I carved. If you look close, you might be able to see the face he drew on it just off to the left side of the witch :)

Our porch was ready for Halloween.

* Trunk-or-Treat *

Last minute, Brooklyn's grandma Debi made her a Minnie Dress. I think it turned out so adorable and she did such an amazing job making it!! We started out the night at Brian's parents ward trunk-or-treat. We thought it would be easier for her than going house to house and we also wanted her grandparents to see her.

She had to analyze frankenstein as well...it was a lot bigger than the one we had at our house!!

She got plenty of "Grandma" and "Papa" time.

* Trick-or-Treat*

After the Trunk-or-Treat, we went to my parents for some Trick-or-Treating. My dad took Brooklyn to a few houses as well as some of her cousins. It brought back memories of my dad taking us Trick-or-Treating to as many houses as we could before we got too tired.

While we were there we got a picture with her grandma, because a picture with "Papa" wasn't going to happen. Brooklyn loves her grandmas!!

The little B got to see a few of her cousins (a pirate, iron man, and spiderman) as well.

{ :) We had a spooktacular halloween (: }

Here Fishy Fishy

2011-10-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

With so much happening this summer we didn't get a chance to go camping until conference weekend. It was long overdue!

The leaves were so gorgeous. I love to be in the mountains when the colors change!!

These were some of Brooklyn's cheesy grins.

Some little B entertainment. One of her favorite things to do these days.

Fishing with dada. This doesn't last long, however, because she has to hold it all by herself "I do" or "Brooklyn do."

We also found some time to go fishing over the deer hunt this weekend. This girl loves to fish. When I tell her that daddy is going she always asks to go. This time we got to take her pink pole :)

She calls to the fish saying, "here fishy fishy."

The Big Announcement

2011-10-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

Yes that's right we are expecting baby #2!!

We have kept it a secret until we found out what it is. So without futher adieu......

We decided to let Brooklyn spill the beans to our parents.

Following the announcement they realized that there was more to the story. They were thinking that we were just barely pregnant but we had another surprise. (Little did they know I was about 15 weeks along.) Brian let some balloons go up into the air. Some of them had small holes in them which left only two still floating.

The blue ones:)

We are excited to announce that we will be having a boy on or around March 29, 2012!!!

Oh To Be Two

2011-10-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

Some updates that go along with her being two:

- Height: 34.5 inches (80%)

- Weight: 24 lbs (25%)

- Oh boy does this girl sing!! She sings about everything she is doing and makes up her own songs. She sings the entire alphabet, "twinkle, twinkle little star"(after only hearing it one time), the disney junior commercials, sesame street songs, mickeymouse clubhouse songs, and the list goes on and on.

- She counts to 15 and knows all of her colors and shapes.

- She spells her name (she has actually done this since 18 months).

- She will tell you how old she is.
- She will finally let me do her hair sometimes :)
- They call her the "the counselor" in nursery because she tells the ones who are crying, "It's ok, momma and dadda right back."

- Finally, some Brooklyn-isms:
If you are walking away from her she will say "wait, I'm coming,"
If I do something she wants me to do she will say, "good girl momma,"
If you ask her what she is doing she will tell you that she is "playing with (whoever she is with),"
If she notices you are upset or distressed she will tell you "it's ok,"
Every task is "Brooklyn do,"
If I catch her doing something she is not suppose to, she will tell me to "stay mamma," (if come closer I can see what she is doing:)),
If there are big and small sizes of the same thing, the smaller one will inevitably have a "baby" prefix,
She claps her hands calling you over like a dog saying "here dadda,"
Or she says random things like "where's woody's hat?," "cars are ouchie," "watch out."
Last but certainly not least, she says "I love you." (melts my heart!)

Some two year old pictures

Look Whoo Turned Two

2011-10-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

On September 13th, our little girl turned two!! Brian and I took the day off to spend it with her. We decided to take her to the aquarium by our house. These are some pics from our adventure. She had a lot of fun!

On September 14th we had her party. Your invited.....

The cake

The decorations

Some of the guests...

This was the second attempt at blowing out the candles. The first time we sang happy birthday she wanted nothing to do with the cake. She was just too excited about having her cousins over so all she wanted to do was play :)

The presents....She liked the wrapping paper almost more than her presents!!

She got a new baby, complete with a crib, rocking horse, and bottles. Brooklyn absolutely loves babies (real or plastic). She is so nurturing and loves to wrap her babies and/or stuffed animals up in her blankies.

She also got a kitchen, a car, books, a picnic set, and a doll house. So now the question is what is Santa going to bring for Christmas?!

We love this litte girl more than life itself and feel so blessed to have her!

Happy Birthday to our Brooklyn girl!

4th of July Weekend

2011-08-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

We had quite the full weekend.....We started out with the Stadium of Fire.

We saw the Jets fly over.

Brooklyn wore some ear muffs almost the entire show because it was so loud. Good thing we brought them :)

Oh how she loves her "Tretra" a.k.a. Trevor!!

The performers at this years show were David Archuleta and...

Brad Paisley. He put on an amazing show!! This was the first time I had ever seen him in concert.

The little B fell asleep during the last part of the fireworks. The poor girl was so tired by the end.

We stayed up at Stein Erickson for the weekend, as is our tradition every year with Brian's family, and also spent some time on the rides in Park City. We went on the alpine slide and Brooklyn even got to ride!!

She loved the carousel! This little girl is fearless. She will ride on any ride even if she is all by herself.

Brooklyn and Baylor did a little mini golf while the rest of us went on the coaster and zip line.

We also spent some time by the pool. Look at our little beach babe sporting her tankini.

These two love to play with one another :)

I always look forward to the annual Stein BBQ. It is always so delicious and this year was no exception. My favorite part was the tomato bar!

This silly girl wanted her picture taken and will say "cheese" to the camera. So Papa got this cute picture of her. When she looked at the camera to see herself she said "oh cute Brooklyn," like she says about anyone she sees in the camera.

With Dada and Papa

She loves her Grammy and Papa.

Monday we spent the day at Lagoon, so we got to ride on puff the magic dragon.

The little miss went on the octopus with grandma

and Bulgy the whale a few times.

This was by far her favorite ride....the boats. She was actually a little short to go on the ride but they let her on anyway. She had no problem going on all by herself. She ended up going on it 3 times!!

Silly Girl

2011-07-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

The little miss likes to put on her on shoes these days and will sometimes even wear our shoes around the house. One day she picked out her pink rain boots to wear to go play outside in 100 degree weather. So I snapped a few pics on my phone.

What a silly girl :)

Our Beautiful Girl - 21 months

2011-06-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

So I am going to try to catch up on all of the blogging I have not been doing lately so there might be quite a few posts coming. I thought I would start out with Brooklyn's recent pictures. I found this calendar photo contest through a friend and entered a picture of B. Lets be honest, I entered for the free pics and she ended up being chosen for the shoot. The photographer is Melanie Schramm and a few other people were involved in the shoot including another photographer, stylist, makeup artist, and seamstress. The clothes were specifically made for each kid. The calendar will be sold throughout the country by walmart and a couple of other stores. Brooklyn will be in the month of april. The shoot was a little challenging considering there were six babies all under the age of 2.

These are some of the pictures that were not chosen for the calendar so we get the copyrights.

She was being such a ham on this couch. She was dancing for everyone there and got all of the parents to clap for her.

Some recent updates about this precious girl.....

- We got rid of the binki about a month and a half ago (she only struggled for a couple of days) :)

- She is starting to talk in sentences and tells me constantly what is going on around her. These are some recent things that I can think of that she has said lately "see there's a birdie," "look mama, a horse," and "two pink shoes."

- She knows almost all of her colors and the ABCs to G.

- She loves to copycat things we say.

- Sometimes she will call Brian and I, mommy and daddy instead of mama and dada and I love it!!

- She loves to be outside all day long and the only way I can get her to come in, is to bribe her. (Yes I know I am already starting good habits)

- She still loves mickey mouse clubhouse and elmo.

- She really likes to pretend play. (ex. acting like she is drinking or eating and then will say "nummy nummy")

- She loves getting her toe nails painted and will ask for "more paint."

- Everything has become "I do." So it takes a little longer to do the simple things :)

Eggstatic

2011-05-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Easter, Brooklyn got to experience her first easter egg hunt! We went to Brian's parents neighborhood since his mom was partly in charge of it. We had a blast!!

Her Daddy showed her how to put the eggs in her basket and then she went off on her own to grab as many as her little hands could hold on to.

I was suprised at how well her and her cousin Baylor did. Their baskets were full!!

She turned in her eggs for a balloon and candy.

The Easter Bunny showed up and Brooklyn did not want to have him/her hold her for a picture but she felt ok about giving him/her a "five" :)

Love these two

B and I had matching bunny noses and whiskers painted on our faces :)

On Sunday, the Easter Bunny came to our house but of course left more for Brooklyn. In her basket, she had some books, an Elmo movie, a bunny, toys, eggs, and lots of chocolate.

To her surprise, she got a little hoop (like the one she loves so much at grandma's house) and one of her favorite games.

You can see how much she wanted me to take a picture of her in her Easter dress before we went to church.

At both of her grandparents houses there were a few more toys.

To put this holiday in Brooklyn terms, "hop, hop, hop" :)

Pajama Monster

2011-04-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

BEWARE!!!

She feeds on excess energy and bounces off the walls with silliness right before bedtime.

She will chase you and wants to be chased.

Fueled by an endless supply of giggles, she begs for tickles.

She'll gobbles up books and ravages through toys.

She conceals herself

then suddenly without notice, appears again just so you know she's got her eyes on you.

Sometime she utters a scary "Boo!!"

But when the MONSTER tuckers out she always falls fast asleep :)

Miss Independent

2011-04-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

The little miss started Nursery this last Sunday. (She could have gone the week earlier but I did not want any of the other kids to be exposed to croup.) It is pretty pathetic but it made me a little sad. I feel like she is not old enough to be anywhere on her own. I saw a glimpse of what it is going to feel like on her first day of school. I got a picture of her on our way out the door.

Our ward has enough kids to have two nurseries. I think there is roughly 12 in the younger class.

I would say she did pretty well at sharing. She is use to being around other kids a few days a week when she gets watched by my mom with some of her cousins and when she goes to the neighbors house she plays with one or two other kids. These are some of her new friends: Savannah, Beckham, Maddie, Eli, Max, and Harlie. Atleast those are some of the names I remembered.

Such a big girl :)

18 Months

2011-03-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

I can't believe our little girl is already 18 Months old!! We went to the doctor to see how she measures up.

Height = 33 in. (85%)

Weight = 22.5 lbs (25%)

Head Circumference = 19 in. (90%)

Yep, still tall and skinny! We are actually really happy with her weight. Even though she is pretty light she is still gaining weight. Her last appt. she was in the 15 percentile for weight so we are glad to see she is climbing the scale. She is pretty picky but we have been working on it and she is getting a lot better at eating :) However, the poor girl has been sick with croup (her first time) this last week and the doctor gave us some seroids to get rid of the barking cough.

Some 18 month pics...

Who says you need to wait for rain....to wear rain boots

Poo-Poo

2011-03-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

I recently had my first experience with poop in the tub. (Believe me I am very grateful I made it this far!!) Brooklyn loves her baths, as you can tell by the video on a previous post :) So one day she is having a good old time splashing away when she suddenly stops and tells me "poo-poo." (This is becoming the norm these days. She will tell me when she has gone "poo-poo" or "pee-pee.") Right after she told me, suddenly there were tub floaties everywhere. It freaked her out!! She quickly stood up, and while whimpering, reached her arms up saying "up" over and over again. I quickly grapped the slippery little lady and scrubbed her off in mine and Brian's shower. Since then she is freaked out about it happening again. If she feels like she needs to go, she will tell me she need to get out and she asks for a diaper to be put on asap. Who knew she would be so concerned about her bowel movements?!

P.S. I left the pictures out of this one for a reason :)

JIMMER....BABY

2011-03-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

Last minute on Saturday March 5th we decided to go to Jimmer's last game playing in the Marriott Center. We had to pay a small fortune for the tickets but it was worth it!! He scored 32 points in the 102 77 win against wyoming.

Since it was so last minute Brooklyn didn't get to wear her BYU cheerleading outfit but believe me she has one!

She still cheered on her Team!

Brian will make sure this little girl loves BYU sports!! He is teaching her how to say Jimmer, or maybe teaching her "how to Jimmer" :)

On the way home we stopped by the hospital to see Bethanie's new baby. And I had to take some pictures of this precious little girl. She has olive skin and very dark hair. My sister's other child, Willliam, has blonde hair and blue eyes, they couldn't be more opposite. Brooklyn was not such a big fan of me holding her and the whole time in the hospital would say, "shhhh baby na night."

Splish Splash

2011-02-23T21:35:00.000-08:00

Valentine Sweets

2011-02-16T22:12:00.000-08:00

Busy B

2011-01-21T11:44:00.000-08:00

Just one of the many nicknames she has. She is into everything these days. She likes to look "so pretty" wearing her mommy's mascara. One of her favortie things to do is go through my makeup. No matter what it is, it will either go on her face or in her hair.

And loves to help out with the dishes. It is more fun to take things out, than to put them in.

Brooklyn sometimes sneaks her way into the bathroom at grandma's house and finds ways to make messes.

New Year's Bash

2011-01-20T10:30:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve we went to celebrate at Stein Eriksen Lodge and started the night with some dinner. Half way through dinner I felt a strange sensation like nothing I have ever experienced. My throat and and tongue started to swell. I took some benadryl and went on with the night but knew I had some sort of allergy to something I ate. The majority of the meal was seafood (which I love!!). Trevor and Amanda missed it because they were at a cousin's wedding in Texas.

Just the two of us....Brooklyn was in the room with a babysitter while we ate.

Family pic

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing!! I loved just lounging around, eating lots of food, hot tubbing, and playing with Brooklyn and Baylor.

After we got home, I went to an allergist during the week and got tested for food allergies. On a scale of 0 to 5, I have a shellfish allergy of 5. The majority of people with this have an adult onset allergy. On a random day your body will have a reaction to it and thereafter. Now everytime I am exposed, the reaction will get worse. The doctor prescribed me an epi pen that I am suppose to carry around with me just in case. NO MORE SEAFOOD FOR ME :(

Merry Christmas

2011-01-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning we awoke to find that Santa did stop by our house. I am not quite sure how he got in, since we don't have a chimney:)

Santa brought our princess her play castle and she loved it! First thing Brooklyn did when she got downstairs, was run inside. It is actually pretty tall (5'4") with plenty of room for all of her toys.

She loved to tear the wrapping paper and she helped Brian and I open our gifts as well. These are some of the things Brooklyn got for Christmas at our house: a band with a drum, xylophone, and piano. Also, she recieved a Jessie doll, books, clothes, and a play mat.

Bluray surround sound came for Brian,

and a sewing machine for me.

At Brian's parents house Santa brought us lots of Jazz gear including jerseys, tee shirts, short, etc.

And some very cute clothes :)

Last minute, we got a suprise iPad along with Russ and Kristen. Brian has not put it down since!!

The little miss got some more toys and a princess car to match her play tent.

This car track entertained Baylor and Brooklyn for quite sometime. This is a gift for the two of them that stays at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Christmas dinner was held at my sister's house this year. This is the first christmas that she has lived in Utah in 13 years. My brother-in-law knows how to entertain!! They use to own a catering and decorating business in Colorado.

After dinner we played a few games.

My Mom and the little B in matching outfits.

This was my parents first Christmas at their new house. There is plenty of room for decorations. My Mom had me take some pictures for her so she can remember all of the decorations for next year. They had 5 trees!!

This one has all of the ornaments we made my mom in elementary school, it so fun that she kept this stuff.

Can you say nutcrackers?!

A village

and my Dad's train!!

This is just the tip of the iceberg. He has enough train supplies to fill up almost the entire 13000 square foot house but he only put up a small one this year. Maybe next year we will get to see more of it. They actually had an entire room built just to hold his collection!

It was so exciting to see Christmas this year through Brooklyn's eyes. I am sure we will have even more exciting moments in years to come. She will just have to wait until next year to dance to the singing Santa.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!!

Santa Stop Here!!

2010-12-24T09:08:00.000-08:00

Tis The Season

2010-12-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

Our stake does a live nativity every year. Over a four day period, around 40,000 people came to see the baby Jesus. Each night there was a different baby Jesus. Last year, Brooklyn got to be a baby Jesus and Brian and I were Joseph and Mary.

This year we had to wait in line to see the the nativity, an hour and a half to be exact!! It was pretty cold outside, but fire pits were spread around the line to keep us somewhat warm.

We wrapped up in hats, coats, boots and blankets.

We saw the camels,

Wise Men,

lamas, and many other animals walking around like goats, chickens, and lambs.

It is set up like a small market with a potter, women at a well, wood worker, bread maker, lepers, and an inn with an inn keeper. After you weave your way through the market, you see a baby lying in a manger while soft music is playing.

If you haven't seen a live nativity, I would recommend you go. It is a pretty neat experience!!

A few days later we went to our ward Christmas Party at classic skating. Santa ("claus" as Brooklyn calls him) came to see all of the good little girls and boys. Brooklyn was not having anything to do with him. This is as close as she would get.

And there was still some fight involved.

She did, however, love the candy cane he gave her :)

Bring on the Heat

2010-12-09T10:17:00.000-08:00

I figured that I would quickly post this one. I have been quite the slacker when it comes to blogging and figured that I might be motiviated if I get right on it.

Last night we went to the Jazz game!! They played a fierce Miami Heat team, which have a line up stacked with superstars such as "King James," Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. (This is just another one of those teams trying to buy themselves a chamionship) The Heat have been on a winning streak and we had hoped to squash their momentum, but instead fueled it. It looked like we might of had a chance to beat them in the beginning of the fourth quarter but they soon put that to rest. We had a great time anyway!!

All I had with me was my phone camera so our pics turned out a little blurry.

I got the little miss a jersey to match her daddy. Now I am the only one left with the old one:) I guess that is how it goes. As a mom you take care of everyone else first. Brooklyn always has a good time at the game. When I took her out to change her, she motioned for me to take her back in. She dances almost evertime the music plays and she likes to watch the Jazz dancers. Another funny thing she does these days is waves and says "hi" to complete strangers, whether we are at a Jazz game or the grocery store. The people around us were quite entertained with her "hi"s and "hi guys".

I bet you can't guess who our favorite player is....

We sat next to Trevor and Amanda. I caught Trev, in action, as he was air drumming with all his might trying to get on the jumbotron.

We will be watching the next game at home. We never miss one(thanks to DVR)!! Actually for the last couple of months, my brother, Gareth, and sister-in-law, Anna, have been coming over every friday night to watch. We put the little B to bed and we all get to hang out. Good times, go Jazz!!

Free Christmas Cards!!!

2010-11-30T09:15:00.000-08:00

So I heard about this promotion from a few of my friends. Shutterfly is doing a fabulous holiday promotion right now where you can get 50 free Christmas cards just by blogging about how wonderful Shutterfly's products are. Any size blog can participate.They have so many options to choose from and they have a very high quality. Their turn around time is relatively quick but you will have to hurry and get your order in by Dec. 14th in order to have them sent out in time for Christmas. I have used Shutterfly for photobooks and calanders and have loved the results. Here are a few links to some of their cards:

· Christmas photo cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards
· holiday cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
· new year’s cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/new-years-cards

If you want a card this year please leave your address :) Or if you are interested in getting 50 free cards just let me know and I will give you the information.

JAZZED About Brian's Birthday!!!

2010-11-10T20:33:00.000-08:00

On Sunday Brian turned 27!! I still can't believe he is that old! I would swear we are still 21. From the post title you might know how we themed Brian's birthday this year. WE ARE ALL JAZZED ABOUT THIS BASKETBALL SEASON!!

This was one of his birthday cakes. I made this one and Brian's mom made her famous chocolate sheet cake, that she makes every year.

And of course a birthday wouldn't be complete without balloons.

I decided to take it easy on him, rather than having him blow out 27 candles.

Brian danced with Brooklyn as we sang the "Happy Birthday" song.

Ready to blow....

Success....along with a spit free cake. He blew out the the candles but blocked the cake with his hand. He has been sick for about three weeks with a cold and didn't want to give it to anyone else. :)

Trevor and Amanda gave him a BBQ cover. (Something we definitely needed.)

While Brian was opening presents the little miss was picking her nose, something she picked up last week. No pun intended :)

She tried to help her daddy, but I think she was doing a little more playing than helping.

Brian's dad gave him a signed Deron Williams jersey!!!! (I might have known this was coming) Brian is so excited about this!! He has a serious obsession with Deron. I call it a man crush! He has been trying to get his old jersey signed for the last five years. This is the new home jersey that the Jazz debuted this season.

Rusty and Kristen gave him a Jazz hat.

Much to his suprise I gave him the same one! Out of all of the Jazz hats out there, we picked the exact same one. You know what the say!? Great minds think alike!!

I also gave him some new brown work shoes. Eccos are his favorite work shoes because of how comfortable they are. So he tells me. He also got some work clothes from Debi and I.

I would say he got pretty spoiled this year. He even got breakfast in bed. Brooklyn and I made him french toast.

I think this birthday got him even more excited about this Jazz basketball season!!

Trunk-or-Treat

2010-11-04T20:59:00.000-07:00

Our little ladybug....The costume, complete with red sparkly shoes.

Me helping to fix the costume. I was the mama ladybug for Halloween.

We showed up at Brian's parents house to trick-or-treat and I was almost peeing my pants laughing because Brooklyn was so scared of Brian's mask. She was holding on to me as tight as she could and whimpering. He couldn't put it on the rest of the night. She was so confused because she knew it was him, but she couldn't understand how/why he looked the way he did.

We took a family pic before we went off to get the little girl some candy. We went to the trunk-or-treat in Brian's parents neighborhood, because we thought it would be easier for Brooklyn to walk from car to car, rather than house to house. Our neighborhood didn't do one :(

We saw some familiar faces at the trunk-or-treat. This is Joel and the little bee is Nicole, who were visiting from Nevada.

And this is all of the candy that my little bug got!! She had many people at the trunk-or-treat put a few extra pieces in her bag, probably because she was the cutest lady bug there (I might be a little bias)!! :)

And I just had to throw this picture in. Brooklyn and I took turns wearing this cute spider headband the actual day of Halloween.

Canning

2010-10-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

This was my first attempt at canning. Pears...yummy and one of my favorite fruits!

Before this I had only done freezer jam which is totally different.

I successful canned 12 jars of pears. Anymore than that I would have been completely overwhelmed. In relief society they had a sign up sheet to buy a box of pears....so I thought why not?! I watched my grandma can fruit from her trees every year and I always wanted to learn how. So I did it! Next on my list.....salsa!! If anyone has a good recipe, please share!

Gone Fishing

2010-10-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy at work the past month or so that I have been quite a slacker when it comes to blogging. I never got a chance to post our labor day weekend camping trip. Brian's parents got a huge motor home and parked it on their cabin lot in fairview canyon. This has started to become an annual trip since we have done it the past few years.

Of course we did some fishing.

The whole weekend Brooklyn kept trying to get Trevor to hold her. I can't believe how obsessed she is!!

Shore fishing

Daddy showing his little girl how to hold the fishing pole.

Baylor and Brooklyn

It is so fun to watch these two interact with one another.

The little girl loves to give kisses these days. And here she is giving some love to her grandma. She will even say "mmmmm aaaahhhhh" like the sound of a kiss.

My husband is such a pyro and one of his favorite things to do while camping is to build a garbage fire before we leave.

Brian threw out his back while trying to move a four wheeler trailer. He was immobile for a good portion of the weekend so we had to play without him :( He has been going to physical therapy ever since. I have gone with him a few times and he is always the youngest person in there. I feel so bad that he has to be there but it has helped to relieve his pain.

Bats about Halloween...In Honor of my Favorite Holiday

2010-10-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

We have offically been in our house one year, as of August. Oh the wonderful world of home ownership.... I wish it came with a manual. There are so many things I didn't realized happened with home ownership. The yard is constant maintanance, and I mean constant. You can guarantee that atleast a few nights a week we are out in the yard working on something. Things like fixing/replacing sprinklers, mowing the lawn, trimming hedges, weeding, trimming trees (does anyone else get those little trees growning at the base of your big tree, this is my nemesis?!), seeding, firtilizing, and that is just the outside. Now lets talk bugs....Ants in the house, again!! Not to mention the black widows living in the garage. Also, we have found four hornets nests this summer. And last but not least the mystery poo! There is a pile of poo at the base of our deck right next to the house.

It looked like it may be from a mouse, so we put up some traps. Nothing......Maybe a rat, so we put up a rat trap. Nothing......Brian even tried putting up his infra red trail camera to catch the perpetrater during the night. Nothing....After we heard a strange hissing one afternoon, we looked up and saw this little guy. A BAT!! Hanging on the house just over the mystery poo. It adds a scary realistic touch to the Halloween decor!! These guys are living in our attic vent along with some of the hornets!

Notice the curled upper lip and showing teeth? Pretty scary!!

Did you know that bats are migratory. Yeah, I didn't either until we did a little research. Apparently they will fly south for the winter. Lets hope so!!

Don't worry, if they try to come back next year we'll be ready...

Big Bull

2010-10-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

Success!!

I filled my elk tag this year. You might remember from a post a while about me drawing out for the BIG BULL ELK tag in the wasatch region and I had only been putting in for a few years. Since working full time and taking care of a little one isn't enough work, I decided to add a little more. Brian and his Dad were so jealous since they have been waiting 13 and 14 years for their tags, respectively. They were willing to do anything to help me get one. Brian has been so excited since we found out :) They bought trail cameras to get pictures of the elk in the area. They hiked to certain spots (a hunter never reveals his/her secrets), set them up, went back a week or two later to retrieve the pictures, and then placed them in other spots. They also went spotting every weekend leading up to the hunt. Yes I know, my husband did most of the work for me, but who was going to take care of the little girl if I went?! I have only spent two nights apart from her since she was born. Both times had to do with the hunt, and it ripped my heart out both times.

Our family friends, the Taylor's, also had a tag in their family. Abbie got a tag this year and she had only been trying to get one for two years. So it was us twenty something blonde girls up on the mountain for the big hunt, but we had lots of helpers!!

Here's the story...

We hiked in before the sun came up and found our spot on the mountain. I was on one side of the mountain and Abbie was on the other. There was just three of us walking together Brian, his brother, Russ, and me. We went into a group of trees only to find out that this is not where we wanted to be, so we turned and went back out the way we came. When we got out of the trees, we heard an elk bugle very close to us, just a short distance down the hill. Russ spotted some more elk about 300 yards away. So we sat down and hid near the edge of the trees. The elk that were just down the hill from us headed up toward the rest of the herd because one of the cow elk spotted us 25 yards away. When the rest of the elk reached the herd, we saw three big bulls. At one point all three of them were in my scope at the same time. Brian was right next to me looking through his spotting scope to tell me which one to shot at. I was aiming for the biggest one in the heard. The elk were running and my first two shots missed. Then they stopped and I shot a third time from roughly 300 yards away. This time I hit him!! He took only a few steps before he fell down. This all happened about 7:30 in the morning. Russ filmed the whole thing for us.

When we got up to him, we realized that I had shot him right the through the vital (lung and heart) area. It the most humane way to kill them. They die quickly and do not have to suffer. All of the target shooting paid off!

This was the big group of us from left to right: Joel, Nick Zarbock, Brian Cole, Abbie, Russ, me and Brian.

The quickest way off the mountain was just to quarter it and take it down in pieces to the lake.

Brian took the hardest part. Doesn't he look like a mountain man? I think this picture is so funny, he looks like he is "one" with the elk.

We each took trips across the lake in the Taylor's boat. Brian's dad did the driving.

It took us about 5 hours to get back to the Taylor's cabin after I shot the elk. They are not small animals! I carried about 50 pounds of meat in my backpack alone. We dropped off 275 pounds of meat at the butcher and we figure entire elk weighed roughly 800 pounds!!

Our trophies!! They may not break any records but they are very nice six points!

And we had to get one of the family. It is so funny....after this hunt so many people have asked me if I will let Brooklyn hunt when she gets older, and my response is "of course." We will let her do anything that interests her!!

I am so glad that the hunt is done. We got both bulls within the first few days of the hunt and it was so nice to not have to stress about getting one at the end of the week. It is a good thing I did this at this point in my life since I don't think I will ever have another opportunity. Life gets a little crazier with a kid. I have killed a dear and elk and am satisfied with that!! Plus, our freezer is full for years to come!!

biRthDaY GirL

2010-09-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

YOU'RE INVITED...

The party decorations were up and there were cupcakes galore! We also made some tissue paper flowers to add a girly touch.

There were cupcake ballons,

cupcake plates and napkins,

and even yummy chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. We had so much fun decorating these with different icing tips. If you notice we even made some with the letter "B" on them. Brooklyn's party hat was kind of a funny story. I made it at work with office supplies and cut out the letters by hand. (Don't tell my boss!!) The actual hat is a file folder :) However, I had to go to the craft store for the fluffy pink stuff.

We had a full house.... Both families came and a couple of close friends is all. Which made roughly thirty people!! It adds up quickly when you are the baby of six and most of your siblings have kids!

Brooklyn was wearing her birthday outfit that included a cupcake on the shirt.

William (below), Brooklyn's cousin, is not to far behind her. He will be one in about 7 weeks.

There were plenty of kids rummaging through her toys.

And my sweet grandma came at the ripe old age of 90.

Then Brooklyn had her own cupcake...

I had to help her blow out the candle but she gave it a good try. Who cares about spit when it is your own cake?!

She is such a girl. She is very dainty about things and is so methodical about everything she does. My sister always laughs at her because everything she does she points her toes.

She had to have a little taste of the frosting to get her started. We took her shirt off so it wouldn't get dirty but underneath was her birthday onesie which also had a cupcake on it.

And then frosting went everywhere, in her hair, on her clothes, down her arms, etc.

Messy

Messier

Messiest. The high chair was covered.

After she got through the frosting, she finally decided that the cake tasted pretty good.

PreSEnT TiMe
We did a quick wet wipe bath and then it was present time. She got some really fun toys!! Including a ride on toy, a fisher price train, and musical drums.

And a lot of cute clothes.

She also got some fun books. The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, which is her favorite!! The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse use to be Brooklyn's and Grandma's little secret. She would watch it everyday that she was at Grandma's house and dance to the Hotdog song. Then she told us about it and word has spread, now everyone knows how much she loves those characters. She will literally sit through the entire episode.

She recieved a tooth brush that she would not put down.

And look how cute this little build-a-bear is! It had a cute shirt with a cupcake on it and bows on the ears that look like pig tails. It looks just like Brooklyn!! Her cousin Baylor made it, with love, along with a little help from his parents :)

September 13th was her actual birthday so I took the day off so we could spend the whole day together! She started off the day by sleeping in until 9:30am. She has been sleeping at least 12 hours at night, no matter how late she goes to bed!! It makes for a happier baby, we love it!

We spent a lot of the day outside. She loves to be outside more than anything and cries when she has to come in.
Here she is trying out the swing Brian and I got her for her birthday.

We had an open space on our swing set and this fit perfectly in there. She also absolutely loves the slide. She will go down either on your lap or hold your hands down.

She even got to ride in her big girl carseat. When I saw a 3-in-1 carseat I was sold. It will last her through the rest of the time she needs a carseat.

For birthday dinner, the little miss had her first kids meal. It was a kids quesadilla. She was sharing with grandma. "A little for me, a little for you."

My little sweetheart...

All of a sudden I am realizing that my baby is no longer a baby :( She is getting to be such a big girl and so independent.

A year ago our heavenly father gave us a miracle, a perfect little girl!!

In those big beautiful blue eyes..

I see a reason to believe.

And I thank my heavenly father every night for the gift I recieved.

I want to give her the sun, moon, and stars.

And show her the smile she puts in my heart.

I'll be there to wipe her tears.

And take away her fears.

Someday I hope she can see how happy she makes me.

I can't believe I get to be her mommy.

Happy Birthday to our princess, our world, our everything!!

Snow turned Moss

2010-09-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

On Friday September 3rd, a Snow turned Moss!! I only phrase it that way since Trevor Moss asked Sandee Snow to marry him the same way, "Sandee Snow will you turn Moss?" While at the temple, something happened that I have never seen before. While the photographer was taking pictures of Sandee in the cutouts at the top of the stairs by the doors, a humming bird came up to her flowers. It lasted all but a few seconds but you better believe that photographer's finger was going almost as fast as those little wings. Sandee looked very beautiful in her dress.

We could only get a picture with Trev since the bride was already busy giving her greetings. He looked so handsome and very happy this day finally came. We jokingly told him that he is part of "THE CLUB" now and Sandee is such a fun girl so I am excited that she decided to join as well.

We had some down time while the two of them went off to take pictures. So we played with the little girl and took some pictures.

Brooklyn was practicing her walking.

The sun was in the perfect position to take a picture.

At the reception we decorated Trevor's car along with Clayton and Brandee Cullimore. Clayton and Trevor are also good friends. I would say that the decorating turned out pretty conservative. We felt that we had to do it that way since her dad was the temple sealer. We filled the inside with balloons and had a "Just Married" on the back windshield. The antenna was covered with a condom and some granny panties were draped over Trevor's headrest. I did one of the side windows that said "Too fast Too furious."

The front windshield was all Brian. Except that pregnancy test on the dash, that was Brandee. (This was only a joke but seriously....I bet they are pregnant within 6 months). Brandee also put a "Toy" in the glove box for their eyes only!!

Looks much better with him actually inside.

We also helped Trev pop the question, along with his sister Mindy and I never got a chance to post them. So I figured this would be the perfect time to! We setup at Sandee's sister's house, where she would never expect it. This is what she saw when she walked in.

I love that she was truly suprised. This is when he uttered those famous words...

And last but not least......THE BLING!!

Soon to be ONE year old pictures

2010-08-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-23T09:27:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

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!!

2010-08-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

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.

Fish Away

2010-07-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

This is Brian's dream.... Seriously, he has talked about getting one for so long and we finally did it. We got a boat. Granted it is not some extravagant wakeboarding machine, but it is a nice little 12 foot aluminum fishing boat. We knew we had to get it when the number 13 was displayed on the top of the motor. It was just the sign we needed. It is so crazy!! Our lives have revolved around the number 13 without us even thinking about it. Don't worry we aren't some crazy voodoo people who seek out certain numbers, it just so happens that anything important in our lives has involved the number somehow. It was only fitting that Brooklyn happened to be born on the 13th!!

Anyway, here is a picture of the oldie goldie herself. (Yes, I am making it a she who has yet to be named.) It is a 1975 Sears. It will make for some fun weekends at the cabin lot.

This weekend we took it out for a putt putt around the lake by the cabin lot. It started up first try!! The little miss hated her life jacket. We are going to have to take it back and trade it for something that does not choke her, and one that will still allow movement of her extremities. Maybe Disney should stick to their day job and not reach out to the water safety consumers.

Also, this weekend we had a family reunion at wheeler farm and I couldn't help but snag some pictures of Brooklyn's first time feeding the ducks/geese with her daddy.

Anna's Birthday Party

2010-07-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law Anna turned 27 on the 8th of July. For her birthday we went out to dinner with her and my brother and some of their friends. We went to their favorite restaurant, Tepanyaki. Our cook was so hilarious. Brian kept trying to tease him and joke with him (like he does at every restaurant). The food was so yummy!!

Gareth and Anna have been married since October. Anna and I have gotten along so well from the beginning. She is the perfect fit into our family. She is the sweetest person and the one girl who can put my brother in his place!!

Brooklyn has fun with Anna too!! She watches Brooklyn from time to time while I am at work when Debi or my Mom can't. Gareth is so good with her too. He loves kids and loves to play with her. She let him walk her around the restaurant.

The big group of us. These are my brother's best friends Jordan and Travis and their girlfriends, who are best friends.

The little miss was not quite sure about Anna snapping a picture of her.

Brooklyn has become attached to this blanket. She loves to snuggle it right by her face. It is so funny, it is this little recieving blanket that came in a pack but she only wants this one. This little girl loves to snuggle these days. Like this, right on my lap. I can't get enough of it!! She never wanted anything to do with it before so I hope it will last!

Celebrating Independence Day

2010-07-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

Afterall it is called "Independence Day" for a reason. When did everyone stop calling the holiday what it really is and instead call it by the day it is celebrated!! :)

I love that this holiday landed on a Sunday because it ment that we got to celebrate it all weekend!! We had the opportunity to go the the stadium of fire. They had Carrie Underwood performing and fireworks. This was my first time ever going to the stadium of fire. Had it not been for Carrie being there I probably wouldn't have been that excited about going, because you can see fireworks everywhere. My favorite was when she performed "Jesus Take The Wheel" she added on the hymn "How Great thou Art." What a hit for a LDS majority audience. She also sang the national anthem and I later learned that she is ranked in the top 10 for singing it. Who knew? But I can understand why! When she sang the words "rockets red glare" some loud rocket like fireworks went off and Brooklyn started to cry. The scared her to death!

After the performance they started the fireworks. Because it so loud in the stadium we took her out to the parking lot to watch. She actually really liked them when she wasn't right up next to them and it was a little more quiet.

Every year we go the the Stein Erickson Lodge BBQ and every year is just as good, if not better, than the last. My favorite was the tomato bar. They had probably close to 15 different kinds of tomatoes with 7 different kinds of salts. I am such a sucker for a good tomato!

I took these pictures when we were walking to the BBQ. The little miss loves her Daddy especially when he caters to her!! This is all she wants to do 24-7 is have someone hold her arms so she can walk around. We are hoping she walks before Trevor's wedding (August 7th) so that she doesn't have to crawl around wearing her pretty dress. We will hope for the best!!

After dinner we took some family pictures but Trevor and Amanda were not in them because they left early to take some engagement pictures and wanted to get them while there was still some daylight.

Monday we spent some time laying out and playing by the pool.

We had so much fun playing in the pool. It was fun to have Brian's best friend Trevor come up with his fiance Sandee. I think at some point every one of the hotels' noodles was in the pool.

Brooklyn and Baylor loved the water and loved to be floated around the pool.

Brian let her lay on his tummy while he floated on some noodles.

Brooklyn shares a special bond with her Grandma. She loves every second of the time they get to spent together!!

Gandma also loves to spoil her little princess! Look at how cute this little robe is that Grandma got her. Grandma gave this to her because Baylor had his little cute robe on and she wanted Brooklyn to have one so she found this in the spa. Grandma caters to the diva that she is!! Yep, her way or the highway, just like her daddy!

Hmmm...

2010-06-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

I don't know if Brian was trying to tell me that he loves me or if he was telling me that my dashboard needs cleaning. Either way I'll take it!!

A little trip to Lagoon...

2010-06-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn took a ride on a roller coaster for the first time on the infamous "Puff the Magic Dragon" at Lagoon.

We also went on the baby "Tidal Wave."

And the train which takes you around the pond where they have a few animals.

Among the animals where tigers, deer, geese, kangaroo, ostrich, lions, emu, elk, zebra, and minature donkeys.

We also went around and around on the carousel.

The stamp on her little hand was so cute! She kept looking at it because she has never seen anything like it.

When we went on some big rides, Grandma and Grandpa watched the little girl.

Brian played a few games. He shot the basketball and won this Jazz bear on his second try.

He won this basketball by throwing a baseball over 70 mph on his first try.

Trevor and Amanda (soon to be hitched) went on the sky coaster and we snapped a couple pics for their wedding video. Brian and I had pics just like it on our wedding video.

I look forward to our annual trip to Lagoon but this year was extra special, because I got to see it through Brooklyn's eyes. I didn't care if I ever went on a ride for us. I just wanted her to have a fun.

Birthday, Graduation, Memorial Day and Anniversary

2010-06-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks we have been crazy busy it has just been one thing after another. This will be a long post but I just wanted to get our blog caught up. First, it was my Grandma Gardiner's 90th birthday!! My family met at a restaurant to eat and then it was back to our house for cake and ice cream.

The little ones hovered around the cake.

My sister, Bethanie, gave Brooklyn some birthday cake for the first time. She made quite a mess with it but she loved it!!

I also tested out my photography skills on my neice Caitlin. One of my goals is to learn digital photography. Right now I am just learning how to play with editting software.

Just a couple of hours later we were off to Brian's brother's gaduation. Russ graduated from Westminster with his MBA. Russ and Debi had a BBQ at their house afterward.

Memorial day was the Welling (my grandma's maiden name) family reunion. I have not seen the majority of them since I was last in Fielding when I was six years old. Every family got their picture taken and this was ours.

We spent our anniversary weekend at Stein Erickson Lodge and had some fun in the sun! Remember this sweet ride? Little miss B had a blast with it. She realized that if she kicked her legs she could swim around all by herself and no one had to push her.

We also went fishing with little B for the first time. It was a whole new world to her and we even let her touch it!! Grandpa Olsen bought her a pink fishing pole!! She is still too young to use it but she will have plenty of other opportunities in the future!

9 Months!!

2010-06-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn had her 9 month doctor appointment yesterday and these are her stats:

19.4 lbs ( 55 percentile)

29 inches (95 percentile)

Head circumference (90 percentile)

So she has gotten longer and skinnier. She has eight teeth and the doctor told us that she has her first molar coming in.

4 years ago...

2010-06-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Well...if you know us, you know that we are not ones for PDA but I just couldn't let this slip by. 4 years ago yesterday I married my best friend. And this year we will have been together 8 years. That sounds like such a long time but it has seemed like no time has passed at all. I knew after two weeks of dating that we were ment to spend eternity together and we lived our lives in such a way that we could. We never fight, and even if we have an argument we talk it out. We talk about everything and anything. We have never gone to bed angry. (I tried one time to sleep on the couch and he came and got me!!) I can't imagine life without him and I don't want to. I love him more and more everyday!

With him I have....been to prom, seen the ocean, traveled to a foreign country, played catch, graduated college, bought a house, experienced the miracle of life, grown a love for hunting, fishing, camping,

byu football, and
the jazz!!!

And some honeymoon pics for your viewing pleasure. It was so fun to bring out all of these oldie goldies, some of these pictures I haven't seen in such a long time.

And look what we have to show for it.....a beautiful baby girl who has turned our lives upside down. She makes us think of things bigger than ourselves. I look forward to growing our little family even more!! (Don't ask Brian though, because he will say that we are done!)

Blair Trane's Wedding

2010-05-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, my friend Blair got hitched to her boyfriend of two years, Logan Ewell. It was beautiful!! Her colors where Black and Tiffany Blue. Blair loves her Tiffany jewelry and she has "Traned" Logan well, because his gift to her were some Tiffany Earrings.

Blair looked gorgeous!! Her dress looked like it was made just for her. The silhouette fit her perfectly and even made her look a little taller!! Which is good, due to the fact that Logan is six feet tall. I learned over the weekend, that he is called the midget in his family. All of his brothers are around 6'4".

These were her bridesmaids Kirsty (right), Lauren (middle), McCall (middle left), Kate (left), and I. Blair, Lauren, Kirsty and I all went to the same junior high and high school. However, the three of us were good friends but it wasn't until college that we started hanging out with Blair. McCall and Blair have been friends since they we just small, because their moms are good friends and went to high school together. Kate and Blair are really close. Blair started Nannying her when she was only three and she is now thirteen.

Blair and I became really good friends after I got married. I love Blair and I am so grateful for her friendship. Blair always use to joke around with me and tell me that I couldn't have a baby until she was in a serious relationship with someone that she wanted to marry. Lucky for her, I waited! About eight months after they started dating, I got pregnant :)

Kirsty and I have been friends since we were two and grew up next door to each other.

They had a photo booth at the wedding and this was the result. I thought it was a pretty cute idea!!

Blair and Logan are a couple that we hang out with quite a bit. They are so cute together but are complete opposites. He is so shy and she isn't at all. She is constantly breaking him out of his shell!!

This is the four of us when we went California a couple of summers ago.

My Discovery Channel Nerd...

2010-05-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

Flipping throught channels on a tuesday night and some sort of shark pops up:

Brian: Did you know that the whale shark is the biggest fish in the ocean?

Me: No

Brian: Did you know that sharks don't have bones, they have cartilage?

Me: You are such a nerd!!

We weren't even watching Discovery Channel when he was saying this. He just rattles this stuff off from time to time. Don't get me wrong I find the DC to be pretty interesting/entertaining, I just don't retain the information like he does. I always tell him that I think he should be on a game show, because he knows so many crazy facts about all kinds of things. I guess that is what you get when you spend the majority of your TV watching time on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and ESPN. It is ok though because I would rather have this, then the finance jargon slip out.

8 Months!!

2010-05-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

About a week ago I walked into Brooklyn's room in the morning and found her like this, standing up all on her own. When she wakes up she has some pretty cute bed hair, and this is how she got the nickname, "Crazy Hair." (There is that little pointing finger again)

She is learning so many new things like using furniture to stand and crawling pretty efficiently, but she has yet to cruise furniture. I am continually finding things in her mouth that shouldn't be there and vacuuming a lot more often.

However, this is no longer sufficient for her, she is now trying to stand up all on her own.

She loves to read and eat books (with her four teeth). This is her favorite, "Little Chick"

She also loves her tongue. I think those teeth feel a little funny to her.

And when she has used up all of her energy she takes longer naps than she use to, which is so helpful to getting things done around the house.

She is also understanding a lot more and will now give snuggles, lay on our sholders, and sometimes even fall asleep that way. It feels so rewarding!! She now says lots of gibberish and is learning how to make different sounds, the latest being "ba ba ba."

I love being Brooklyn's mom and feel so blessed to have her! Sometimes I look at her and think there is no way she can be mine because she is so beautiful. Granted....I am a little bias.

Caitlin Millie Breagger

2010-05-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

7 lbs 6oz

18.5 inches long
Born at 12:44 am

05/10/2010

Just a few pictures I took using my new camera :)

My sister had been dilated to a five and 100% effaced for two weeks now, so needless to say we thought Caitlin was going to come a lot sooner, but she ending up having her only a week away from her due date. Alicia has been really sick this pregnancy, even to the point of having to receive IVs in order to achieve adequate nutrition. She only gained 6 pounds her entire pregnancy, so we were pleasantly surprised at how big she came out.

I thought I would share a little bit of Alicia's delivery experience since it is quite a unique story. As I have said before, in my family after your first baby the next ones come quite quickly. The doctor called her late on 05/09/10 and said that there were very few women at the hospital and if she wanted to come in and have the baby this would be a perfect time. So she went in around 10:00 pm and they started a slow pitocin drip around 11:30 pm. She started to feel a few contractions around 12:00 am. She went to the bathroom around 12:20 am and while in there her water broke. Then she laid back on the bed and told the nurse that she was ready for the epidural. She also told the nurse that she was having the urge to push. When the nurse sat her up to check her, she saw the babies head crowning. The nurse yelled down the hall to the doctor and he litterally ran in and caught the baby!! No Gown, No Gloves, No Epidural, No Time!!! She didn't have to push once and had maybe ten contractions. The doctor said that it was a good thing that she didn't start her labor on her own because she would have never made it to the hospital!!

The boys happy to see their mom :)

Caitlin and her favorite aunt!!

Proud Grandpa of 10 (4 girls, 6 boys) sharing his birthday with this new little princess!

Proud Great Grandma of 10 (my dad is an only child)!

My Brother and his wife, Anna, with the baby

Gareth holding his B Bear

Brooklyn with her new baby cousin and new best friend! However, she has lots of cousins to play with her same age. On my side there is Samuel, William, and Caitlin and on Brian's side there is Baylor. It is crazy to think that little B was once this small, plus an extra pound and a half when she came out. You forget how small they are. She is growing up way too fast!!

These two already share a bond, if you take Caitlin's and Brooklyn's middle names you get "Millie Marie," which was my Great Grandmother's name.

Brooklyn pointing at Caitlin (She points at everything these days!)

Some Other Fun Birthday Pics

2010-05-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

These are some more birthday pics that Debi, Brian's mom, gave me from Monday.

Grandpa and Grandma Olsen with Brooklyn and Baylor.

Debi took this when I picked up little B after work.

The Big 2-5!!

2010-04-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

On Monday I turned the big 2-5 (a quarter century)!! I wasn't expecting such a huge ordeal but I guess Brian was trying to make it special because this birthday is kind of a land mark. Because it was on Monday we got to celebrate it all weekend. On Friday we went the Jazz game, which they won!! It was so much fun! Playoff games are always so fun because the arena is so loud and the crowd really gets into it.

And this was Brian's dad jumping into the picture.

Brian surprised me on Saturday by calling all of our friends to go out to eat (not everyone could make it) but it nice to get us all together.

Sunday we invited my family over for dinner. My sisters came over with their kids as well as my parents and grandma, but my two brothers couldn't make it. My brother Gareth was studying for finals and my other brother Steven wasn't feeling well. My other sister Christie was also not there because she lives in Colorado.

This is my dad holding Brooklyn.

This is my sister, Alicia, 8.5 months pregnant watching B Bear (this is what my family calls her because that is what they called me growing up) crawl.

This is my sister, Bethanie, with William and her husband Steve.

When it came time for cake, all of the kids were fascinated with the candles.

On Monday when I got home from work I walked in from the garage just as Brian was snapping a picture of me. He sat out my presents on the table because he was so excited to give them to me. He always knows just what to get me.

Then we went out to eat with Brian's family at Tepanyaki. It was especially delicious! Brian's dad split sushi with me since we are the only ones that like it and Kristen tried it for the first time.

Brooklyn snuggling Grandma.

I now know why Brian was so excited to give me my birthday presents. He got me my first SLR camera. I was so surprised he got it! He knew that I wanted a nice camera, I just didn't think he was actually going to buy one. In addition, he also got me a zoom lense.

My other birthday gifts consisted of jewelry, a blow dryer, a cd, an apron, clothes, and a manicure & pedicure gift certificate. I truly got spoiled this year!

A Tribute to the Moon Landing...

2010-04-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

The past few days at work I have had the privilege of wearing a respirator suit. Because I am under a confidentiallity agreement I can't tell the reason behind my wearing of the suit. However, I can tell you that these suits serve several functions: to protect against the inhalation of a controlled substances/organic vapors, make for a nice reenactment of the first steps on the moon, and to provide a trendy fashion statement (including the hair style after the suit has been removed).

WARNING: This suit does not protect against nerdism!!

Wednesday At The Olsen Household

2010-04-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

My Mom watches Brooklyn on Wednesdays so she was over at our house yesterday. My sister brought over her two boys while she went and got her hair done. Whenever my Mom watches multiple kids she always has some funny stories to tell me when I get home.

My nephew Noah, who is three almost four, got into our pantry and grabbed a box of mac and cheese. He went through the drawers and found some oven mits, which he proceeded to put on, and put the box of mac and cheese in the oven. I guess he was cavin' some mac and cheese, what kid doesn't? Noah was already eating food so my Mom put everything away. A little later she found the box and the oven mits in the oven again! I thought that was so funny! How does a three year old know to put on oven mits on if he is going to open the oven and does it without even being told to? The oven wasn't even on.

When little B tries to communicate, especially with other kids, she does a delighted squeal with intermittent "hi"s and "da da da"s. Noah and Connor, who is one almost two, tried talking back to her with their own version of these sqeals. My Mom said it was hilarious to watch these little boys try to reach the pitch that she was talking at. Also, Connor would find her binkis around the house and come up and put them in her mouth. When she was trying to play with her toys, he kept telling her "no no no!" He thought all of the toys were there for his brother and him. Too funny!

Later when I got home from work, I noticed that Brooklyn was chewing on her binki pretty good and I saw that her other bottom tooth popped out!! This really surpised me because her top left tooth is almost out (there is a thin layer of skin over the tooth but you can almost see the whole thing). I hadn't even noticed the bottom one because I was so focused on the top tooth. So we are expecting that top one to come anytime. For having all of her teeth coming in at once, she is a surprisingly pleasant girl!!

This same sister, Alicia, is pregnant with a girl due in three and a half weeks! She went to the doctor yesterday and found out that she is 75% effaced and dilated to a four! Needless to say she could come at anytime! She has to watch out because in my family after your first baby the others come within two hours of labor so her doctor told her to get to the hospital asap when she goes into labor. I am so excited because they are going to be in the same grade and this is Brooklyn's first girl cousin her age. The only other girl cousins she has are four and fourteen.

Family Photo Shoot

2010-04-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

We had some family pics taken this last Saturday and these are the preview photos that she sent me today, so there should be more to come. She is just getting started with her business but I think these turned out pretty cute. She has a unique and creative style!

Gone Fishing

2010-04-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

With this warm weather we have been having, it is getting me excited about the summer and all of our summer traditions. One of which is fishing.... Brian and I will go to one of the ponds around our house or we take a short drive up the canyon and fish in the river. We have been doing this ever since we dated. Before him I had only been a few times and now it is something that I really enjoy doing with him. It is something he loves to do especially while camping with his dad. (There will also be plenty of camping to come.) He is my true OUTDOORS MAN!!

He always catches the most fish no matter who we go with and I never even have to bait my own hook. He always does it for me!! I know ,spoiled right?!

We are excited to take Brooklyn fishing too. Although she has already been a few time while in my belly.

Last year for a couple months, he even taught a group of ten year olds to fish. He also taught my niece and nephews. Here we are with my sister, Christie, and her kids and this is the big fish we ended up with!!

April Showers

2010-04-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Brian and I went skiing. When we came home that night I did my usual watering of our two plants, which have sucessfully been alive for 8 months (a new record!!!). On the way to our corner plant I spilled a little water, maybe a few drops. When Brian walked by, he noticed some water and asked me how much I had spilled. He noticed a lot more water than that!! There was a swampy area in one quadrant of the room. You could hear the water squishing with each step!

A plumber came by yesterday, luckily we've got a home warranty, and found that we had a leak from the pipe that was going to the toilet (not sewage!!). Water had been running underneath the wall for quite some time. It did not affect any of the walls because there is roughly an inch or so between the cement under the carpet and floor boards.

So currently the carpet is ripped up and fans are going 24-7 to get the carpet aired out, and the carpet pad has been thrown away to prevent molding. Now the question is, do we replace the carpet that we wanted to a little later down the road or keep the old and replace it later?

Easter And More....

2010-04-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

For our Easter weekend we went to Mesquite, Nevada for a few days. This has become an annual trip with the Olsen family. It is always over conference weekend so "The Bishop" (Brian's dad) can go. First, we started out with a 9 hole round of golf. Brooklyn and her cousin Baylor were babysat by some friends of a friend who lived just outside of Mesquite. It actually turned out pretty well especially for the girls, since we don't golf very often.

We also spent some time by the pool. It was miss B's first experience swimming and she had so much fun. She loves her baths and the swimming pool was like a giant bath tub to her! She is always so calm and relaxed in the water from the time she was born.

Here she is floating on in the tube grandpa got for her. We took turns pushing her around the pool.

This spoiled girl took turns playing with mom and dad.

Some of the gang in the sun.

We also did some bowling while taking turns holding Brooklyn and Baylor. It helped to have them together because they entertain one another. Kristen showed off her talent of holding Baylor in one hand and bowling with the other. I think she even got a couple of pins down in the process!! (Sorry no picture)

Brooklyn Cotton Tail

came to visit on Easter morning!! And she did have a cotton tail on her bum with some ears to finish the ensemble!

She was spoiled once again with plenty of toys. It was fun to watch Brooklyn and Baylor go back and forth taking toys away from each other because they wanted what the other had.

And for the biggest news of all.......

Brooklyn got her first tooth!!!

It is really hard to see, but this is the only picture I can get of it. She has had it with people trying to get a peek! It is the bottom left one. If you look close you can see a little white right by her lip.

Post-It Note Wednesday

2010-03-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

Want to make a Post-It? Go to http://wigflip.com/superstickies/.

A new addition to our family....or should I say family room

2010-03-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

Brian has been so excited for this since October. It just got completed last week (a few months earlier than expected) and it is his pride and joy!!

This is litterally the only place in our house that is fits! So this is the compromise.....we will have it up for a while and then it will have to find a new home. It is not that I don't like it. I would even say that I like hunting more than your average girl, but above our family room couch? The thing is that it doesn't look bad, I actually kind of like it. I just wish we had a little bit more room and a better spot for it.

Plus we have more challenges to come, with Brian's sights set on an elk that he has been waiting twelve years to draw out for, we will have to find a spot for that one too. Hey, at least I know we won't go hungry!!

The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune....

2010-03-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Brian's grandpa Burke had his 80th birthday party this last weekend, but his actual birthday is today! Happy Birthday Grandpa!! It came as a suprise to most of us that he was letting Brian's grandma throw a party for him, because if you know this sweet man, he doesn't like to make a big deal about things. It was so cute because Burke turned out to be really excited about the whole thing and was a really good sport. It was neat that both sides of the family could be there, Burke and his kids, grandchildren, and great grandchildren and Verla and her kids, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. This was him opening his gifts with a boyish grin on his face.

We even took this opportunity to take a few pictures of the family since we only get together a few times a year and everyones kids are growing so fast. This is Brian's cousin Jenny and her husband Ben and their little girl Rebekah (whose twin brother is not shown because he slept almost the entire time!!!). Brooklyn was fasinated by her, as you can tell. We couldn't even get her to look at the camera.

Us with Russ and Debi.

Our little princess had her picture taken with her great grandma, her grandpa, and her great uncle Jim (who traveled all the way from Iowa for this party).

Alyson, Brian's cousin, posed for him when he took her picture.

And finally the big family photo with several people missing, who couldn't make it to the party.
We had a lot of fun!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

2010-03-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Wishing all a happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Picture Tag

2010-03-04T13:25:00.000-08:00

Brian's cousin Amanda tagged me to do a photo tag.

Here are the rules:

1. Open your 1st Photo folder.

2. Scroll to the 10th photo.

3. Post the photo and the story behind it.

4. Tag 5 or more people.

This is my picture (of course this is of Brooklyn, because like all moms their picture folders are stacked with their kids):

I took this photo to give to my best friend's mom. She gave Brooklyn these PJs when she was just born and we were still in the hospital. Notice the new wings that she is sporting these days! Yep, we almost have enough for pig tails!!

I tag:
1. Heather Cole
2. Maranda Taylor
3. Megann Plank
4. Ali Holt
5. Chantel Nate
6. Mindy Sorsenson

Toe Eater

2010-02-24T21:39:00.000-08:00

So some of you know that when Brooklyn was a newborn we had our troubles. Between her milk allergy, gas, and my nursing nightmare, things were a little rough.

These days are getting so fun.... Brooklyn is learning so many new things and getting more and more mobile. I think that being a mom just keeps getting better and better. I love the interaction we have without even saying a word. For example, when I put her down in her crib the other night to go to bed, her eyes were rolling and I started to back out of her room very slowly so she wouldn't hear me. Then a floor board squeeked and she popped her head up and with a big grin looking at me with those eyes thinking....

caught you!!!

But I have to say that one of my favorite things is her toe eating.

Look mom I found my toes....

Don't tempt me all do it....

Then the licking starts....

Next, she devours them trying to see how many toes she can fit in.

Then with her innocent look she thinks to herself "what did I do?"

Sunday Travels

2010-02-23T10:44:00.000-08:00

     I know this is horrible to do(and we are bad people for doing it) but it was our stake conference on Sunday and we ditched out to go visit my parents and my grandma. First, we went to my parents house. For those of you who have not seen or heard about it, here is the little bungalow (13,000 sq feet). This is the google street view when it was being built. We went to see the new carpet that was just put in. It is actually a house now, funiture and all! I thought it would never been done. It has been three years in the making.

     Then we went to my Grandma Gardiner's ( B's Great Grandma) house. Where B was talking up a storm but not at first. She has started this new thing where she does an anxiety cry when she sees people that she doesn't see very often. You know the kind, with the quick huff and puff right before she starts the cry. I can easily calm her down, but I am not sure why she is doing it. After about twenty minutes she was fine and my grandma could hold her no problem. I am not to sure about this new anxiety, but her new blowing rasberries talent is pretty cute. My Grandma was talking away with Brooklyn and when I asked for a picture she was all worried about her hair not being combed.
     My Grandma will be 90 this year in May and she isn't very happy about telling people. She doesn't seem that old to me because she still fully takes care of herself and her mind is still very on top of things. She will ask about specific details in your life. She also reads multiple books a week and when she has read them all, she will read them again! I'm talking thousands of pages in a month!!

By the way, this is the essence of my Grandma. She is the best cook!!

"Pan Cookies"

YUM!!!

Goodnights Sleep

2010-02-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

Dear Goodnights Sleep,

How long I have waited for you and finally you are here. So long we have been apart with middle of the night feedings and Brooklyn's tossing and turning. With little B on solid foods and sleeping 10 hours, we can be together again. I thought our recent meetings for the last couple of weeks could have been a fluke but it is pretty evident you are here to stay. Thank you for coming back, how I missed you so!

Love,

A No Longer SLeEp DePriVeD MoM