Brooker (say it with 'w's instead of 'r's if you're Shayne)

I love this little nugget. She is much more attached to me that Shayne ever was. Even if we are at home without any 'strangers' (anyone besides me in her eyes) around, she still cries if I set her down. Frustrating, yet very flattering at the same time.

She thinks every cell phone is her personal toy. That includes random strangers with their phones out anywhere we go. Here she is with my dad's:

Danny took this photo of her just to document this face:
She is a good eater and really likes mostly everything, except for the vegetable I try to sneak in amongst the rest of her meal. She can pick that thing out of a bite and spit it out every time. Here she is enjoying some chocolate mousse:
She loves to dance, play outside, and is learning a few words lately. She can say ball, hi, dada, momma, woof woof, more (sign & say), and all done (sign and say- sort of on this one). She's got 7 teeth with a molar on the way. She has the skinniest little baby legs without hardly a roll of fat. I wish I could say the same!! Haha!

She is a great little kid.

Grandma Carol's 80th Birthday!

We went out to Price for my grandma's 80th birthday party! It was so fun to see some of my extended family. I love them all so much! I spent time almost every summer growing up with my grandparents and cousins here in Utah. I have so many memories at my grandparents' house. I always love visiting and wished I got out there more than I do.

My 3 year old!

Catching up with bog posts at this point isn't even an option it's been so long, so I'm just going to randomly post a few.

I can't believe I have a 3 year old. Although really, most people my age have a 10 year old. Still, I can't believe how fast Shayne has grown up.

Now that she is 3, she likes to talk about how big she is and how she isn't little anymore. We used this "you're too big" tactic when we told her it was time to get rid of her binkies. I had been prepping her for months and so the day after her birthday, I told her it was time. We got rid of them (there were two) in two consecutive days. The first night she woke up in the night crying and saying she wanted them. Mother guilt kicked in and I probably would have dug one out of the garbage if I hadn't already snipped the plastic off of it (which I did to insure that I would stick to the plan). So instead, I cried too. She has always LOVED, LOVED, LOVED her binkies.

Seriously, getting her binkies taken away was so traumatizing that this kid broke out in hives over the next two days, when we took the other one away too. I have decided that that is the only thing it could have been, since I couldn't figure out any other food or environmental factors that would have caused her hives. And- it was only for those two days that they kept reoccurring. This kid!

Here she is enjoying her pink waffles that daddy made her for birthday breakfast:

I just did a really simple birthday party with her play group friends. The kids' favorite game was called 'cat tails,' which was simply taping a long piece of crepe paper to their backs and letting them run around and stomp on each other's 'cat tails.' So funny and they loved it!
My mother's helper who helped me during the party:

Bad picture, but it was the only time I wrangled a few of them together in the same spot:

My mom sent me one of the ballerina figurines that I always had on my birthday cakes growing up. It was fun to pass on the tradition:
Happy 3rd Birthday Shayne!

Mexico

So, we decided to get together with my family in October instead of at Thanksgiving. And where better to go but Mexico! OK, so there is that whole drug cartel/ border war going on, but who are we to be deterred from a little gun fire! (Actually, I took it really seriously and looked at travel advisories, we traveled during daylight, and were careful.) We went to Rocky Point where my family has been going since I was in high school. We stayed at a resort and it was the best place with kids. We had a kitchen & living room attached to our room, the pool had a kid section Shayne could walk around without help in, and the beach had tide pools and minimal surf.

Everyday we basically, got up, ate breakfast, went to the beach, went to the pool, ate lunch, took a nap, and then either made dinner or went into town for fish tacos. You think that that would get boring over a whole week. But it didn't. It was awesome.



Shayne and Avery were little buddies. They get along. . . .most of the time.


One day we painted pottery by the pool.
My bowl for Shayne's room turned out really good. It looked even better when I finished it.
Face painting by the pool.




Ahhhh, Mexico. For the next couple of weeks after our trip, Danny kept saying, "Mexico was so nice." I'm glad he loves it as much as I do.

Must Be All in the Family

Where does this nut get this cheesy smile?

Oh. Let me just defend myself by saying that this was early in the morning and was taken by a 2 year old.

Fall Fun

This has been a great fall. The leaves are beautiful and the weather has been pretty warm up until now. We realized we used to go up Millcreek Canyon a couple of times a week in our 'married without kids' days and this summer we went up maybe once with all of us. Maybe not even that. So, FHE was spent taking a hike up the canyon a couple of weeks ago.

Being close to the canyons is one of the reasons we chose to live where we do, so we better take advantage of it.

This is how the hike back looked from Danny's point of view. I was on repeat saying "Hurry up Shayne," "OK I'm leaving you Shayne," "Don't get muddy Shayne." And then I realized she's 2 and should live life a little.
So then I resisted the swirling thoughts in my mind that said "I'm going to have to do laundry again tonight if she gets her clothes muddy," "I just got her that coat," "Now I'm going to have to give her a bath and she's not going to get to bed before nine." And I let her do this:
Buddies:We went to Gardner Village for their Witch Fest twice before Halloween. It was so fun. They make it really cute over there and then we get a cookie over at the bakery before we go home. Shayne's favorite witch was witchy-poo, which was a witch reading a newspaper in an outhouse. I thought only little boys would be obsessed with potty humor, but my daughter also is.
Everybody havin' fun!