10 months!

Here we are again at another month-mark. Brooklyn is now 10 months old!
I...



-sleep from about 9 pm to 7-8 am
-love Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, unless a particular bear that plays it is going (then I burst into tears... it's bizarre)
-don't want to waste time with baby food... I want the real stuff
-have one tooth in the front
-still love taking baths
-love it when Daddy does my hair in the bathroom
-love cell phones
-crawl VERY fast
-can stand by myself for a few seconds if tricked into it
-like being around mommy and daddy
-am very smiley
-giggle a lot
-like to eat everything on the floor
-love turning the pages of books
-love seeing myself in the mirror and in pictures
-love looking at animals, except cats
-LOVE RUBBER DUCKIES
-can say "duck" (we think)
-have the prettiest blue eyes
-wear size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes

Gone Fishin'

Finally the weather was a little nicer so Brooklyn and I went fishing with Tim and Grandpa Shurtliff a few days ago. Brooklyn LOVED it, and did so much better than I thought she might. She loved watching the fish and playing with the rocks, and never even tried to crawl into the water! We even got a nice nap in...

No Momma's Allowed, Just Daddies

These are the bath crayons that Brooklyn got for Easter. She couldn't wait until she had a bath to use them. I found her and Tim in the bathroom, busy at work and thought their art was pretty cute.

Easter egg hunts, Easter Bunny, and an Easter Dress

Easter time came around, and we were booked. We were lucky enough to be able to go to Ellie's baptism the day before Easter (such a nice way to start the weekend), and after the baptism we were invited to the Gunlock Easter Egg Hunt. Thank goodness we finally have a child that can participate-- and thus, Tim can also participate. Is this why he is pushing to have lots of kids? Hmm... Just kidding.

Anyways, luckily, the 0-4 year olds got a minute headstart before the other kids were set loose. Though, looking back on it, I'm not sure Brooklyn really needed the headstart. She managed to do very well collecting eggs, though in hindsight we should probably have coached/practiced a little more. Brooklyn is more into emptying things rather than filling them up. Thankfully, Tim was there to keep her on track. Just before the rest of the kids were allowed to go after the eggs, Tim collected a stockpile of eggs around Brooklyn so she could work on picking them up and putting them in her bucket.

Despite her age, she did, as you can see, maybe TOO well. It's a good thing her dad was willing to help her take care of that load.

The next morning we were so excited foir Brooklyn to see what the Easter bunny had brought her, but again, just like on Christmas morning, Brooklyn appeared more annoyed than anything else, that we would dare to wake her up before she was ready to be woken.

We did make it through the morning, and even though Brooklyn may not have been excited about what the Easter Bunny brought, we were! Still, church was next, and we found a beautiful Easter dress for Brooklyn to wear. We decided to wait until after church to take pictures, in the hope that the weather was a little nicer... Anyways, don't let these pictures fool you-- it was freezing.

The rest of the afternoon was all about loading, unloading, loading, unloading, and loading the Easter basket. Yay for simplicity!

When fun is no longer fun

The other night I was sitting on the couch watching Brooklyn play with her toys. One of her favorite things to do is empty her toy container. She began doing this, but before long her toys were farther down in the container than she could reach. So she REALLY reached. Apparently, it was a little farther than her legs could reach. And apparently her upper body weight still dominates her lower body weight. This was the result. She struggled for a few minutes before she realized that she was really stuck, and then she started to cry. But I couldn't save her too fast, because of course, I had to find the camera first. Not to worry, it wasn't too far, and didn't really take me that long to get it ready and document the moment. Then I realized I REALLY needed some video too. I could only video for 10 seconds or so before I felt too bad about not helping her....

Funny huh.

First Tooth!

Brooklyn was getting a little cranky before we left for Philadelphia, and we had a hunch that she might be teething. The night we got home, we saw that she had indeed cut a tooth! And we missed it!!! That does make me a little sad, but it is exciting to have her first tooth. It is RAZOR sharp, and she's putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, but I still love the little crooked tooth poking up. Speaking of eating everything off of the floor, I've decided having a teething toddler is like having a goat/cow in your front yard so you don't have to mow the grass. Same principle with having a toddler. Now I don't have to vacuum! She's is my own little floor-cleaning system!

Anyways, she does have this tooth, and we've been trying our hardest to get her to open her mouth so we can take a picture of it, but she just doesn't understand what we're trying to do. Maybe this will explain what's going on with our teeth-picture-taking-struggles...

OK, mouth open. Now what do you want?

Oh I get it. It's the tooth thing huh. Take a good look, this is the only one you're getting!

You DIDN'T SEE IT? You're kidding right. This is hard work you know...




They want me to smile eh.... Good luck seeing my tooth now!

Wait a minute, I know what you're saying! No way are you going to do that to me for a picture!

Agh! Agh! Let go of me!!! Somebody SAVE ME!!! All this for a picture?!?!? Agh!!

NCAA in Philly!

Larry B and Stacie invited us to go to Philadelphia with them this year to the NCAA tournament. It all began last year after we filled out our brackets... we got to the final game, and it was a close race between myself and Larry B as to who would win. There was about a .0001 chance of me winning, so Larry B said that if Kansas won (therefore I would win), he would take us to Philadelphia for the 2009 NCAA games. Well, miracles do happen. Kansas won, and we found ourselves looking forward to a fun trip!

(Honestly, Larry B and Stacie still didn't have to take us with them, so we really appreciate their doing so...)

After much thought, we decided we should leave Brooklyn so we could really enjoy the trip without having to worry about what she might need, and we're glad we did so. Thanks to Grandma Shurtliff and TraceCe (and family) for helping watch her for us.

We started our trip on the 17th with a cinnabon (what better way to start!), and made our way to Pennsylvania. We had a full day to enjoy downtown Philadelphia, including the constitutional sites, and really enjoyed this. As a welcome to Philadelphia, we also decided to try the "best" cheesesteaks around. Pat's and Geno's got a lot of attention, so we started there. We each ate half of a sandwich from both, and then we headed to Jim's, where the locals suggested the best cheesesteaks could be found. Well, they were right. Jim's was BY FAR, the best place to get a cheesesteak. Geno's took an easy 2nd place, and Pat's followed. We all agreed on this order, there was no question about it. So if you're heading to Philly, Jim's is where you want to go. By the way, the cheese wiz really is good on a cheesesteak. I was definitely grossed out by the idea, but it's different cheese wiz than you think it's going to be. Try it!

Thursday we went to our first basketball games. We watched BYU/Texas A&M (I even took my BYU sweatshirt just for this game... such a disappointment), Villanova/American, UCLA/VCU, and UConn/Chattanooga. Most of the games were blowouts, but it is exciting to say that we saw Villanova and UConn play (both of which are now in the Final Four). After watching UConn play, we realized they were a team that could take it all. But we will see what happens.

On Friday we were able to visit Lancaster County and spend some time in the Mennonite/Amish Community. We had an "in" and were able to meet some wonderful people and see some amazing things. This was one of my favorite days.

Saturday, we headed back to the Wachovia Center for 2 more basketball games, UCLA/Villanova, and UConn/Texas A&M. Still good games, but there were clear winners.

Sunday we found a great ward to attend, and then we went out to Valley Forge. We didn't have time to make it to Gettysburg because it was getting late and the traffic was horrible, but Valley Forge was fun, and very interesting.

Monday was our last day and we spent it in downtown Philly again. We found a great market to look around, and enjoyed our last sights and smells.

Tuesday we came home very early. It was good to get back to Brooklyn and be back home, but it was an AWESOME trip. Thanks Larry B and Stacie!