Weekend Mini Trip (for my upcoming birthday)

Howdy all!  Things are going well out here, I hope everyone else is doing great as well!  We just got back from a little weekend trip to Colorado Springs!  It was exhausting!  Brooke had a lot of fun, but she would just flip a switch and go crazy!  We're still recovering, but I think we all had a great time!

Here's a little sneak peak of our zoo trip!

Jelly has been doing a fantastic job getting along with everyone, even with Winry's music playing lamb!  Look at her sharing her seat!

Monica got this picture, so I don't know the story, but look how cute Winry looks!

This past week Monica made hazelnut soup, which is from Tangled.  She found the recipe online, and we made it and didn't really like it too much...  But guess who loved it!  Brooke! And do you know why?  Because it was from Tangled!  Even tonight she talked to me about how she ate Tangled soup this past week.

Also, Winry, er.... turned 3 months this past week.... Ok, she didn't turn 3 months, but we got her 3 month pictures this past week!  Good job Monica!

Also, Brooke was a great helper while Monica was trying to take pictures!  Look at her keeping Winry company!

Here's Winry taking a nap-aroo with her arms up!  Cause all she do is Win Win Win-ry

Ok, so onto our trip.  Monica planned a surprise weekend get-away for my 30th birthday coming up next week.  We headed down Thursday night, and I'm not sure anyone slept well that night...  But on Friday morning we headed to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo!  Our very first stop was the giraffes so we could get there before it got crazy, and it was still pretty crazy when we got there.  It gets crazy because you can feed them, and for our first time, we did!  Brooke was pretty excited at first, but seeing a tongue at least half the length of her body made her a little nervous...

She fed the first few pieces of lettuce, but after that Monica and I had to help feed the rest.

We got a few videos of us feeding giraffes, but I think this one is the best.

After we finished we kept going and ran into some baby meerkats!  They were super cute!

Right around the corner from that we came to the lions!  And Brooke just had to say hello!

At the zoo they also have wallabies out, and if they come over close to the path you can pet them.  We did pet one, but we also saw this one with a baby!  It didn't come close enough to pet it, and after a while there was a little crowd looking at the baby.  The momma wallaby took off and ran to the other side of the area!

At one place they were building a new exhibit, and they had this sign up on the fence!  I thought it was really funny!  On the far end it even had the silhouette picture of a person next to a silhouette of one of the machines.

We also got the obligatory picture of me with the kids under this giraffe!  I've gotten a picture under here every time I've been!  The first time it was because it was raining and I was trying to get out of the rain, and then it just became tradition!

While we were there this tortoise came walking up.  While it was walking around the attendant next to it said to be careful because it likes to walk over things and smash them!  Sadly there wasn't anything there to smash... so no demo video...

Brooke didn't make it too long at the zoo due to the not sleeping the night before, so we didn't stay the whole day but instead headed back to the hotel for naps (she HAD to take her nap in the pack and play, not in her stroller).  After naps we headed to the hotel pool, which was Winry's first time swimming!  I think the swim diapers were a little big...

But I think Winry had a good time!

And Brooke had a blast swimming around and hitting these balls!

And we got a family picture at the end... or a couple...  But the gif of them was definitely the best!

After some swimming we headed out for miniature golf.  Brooke hit the ball around for the first few holes, and then after that, she picked it up and threw it into the holes.  We had a lot of fun.  I think it was a little long for Brooke by the end, but I still think we all had fun.

On Saturday morning after we packed up everything and we went to hike at Garden of the Gods.  It's a pretty cool little park.  The parking is a little rough, but once we got a spot it was nice that the hike wasn't long to see anything.  It was pretty warm, so we had to put on sun screen and tried to keep the sun off of everyone as much as possible, especially Winry. Monica couldn't stop laughing for at least 5 minutes when I put the swaddle blanket on Winry's head!

And here's a picture of us before we left.

This morning I took Brooke over to the park to play, and we had a great time.  I haven't been with her in a long time, but she still enjoyed climbing on the front of the rocking things.  We also went on a lot of slides which were crazy static-y today.  We'd get to the bottom and I'd put my feet down and get a big spark through my foot!  We still had a lot of fun together!

Some other kids came and were on the swings so we headed home to swing in the back yard.  I wanted to get a picture of our tree because it was blooming, and Brooke was swinging right into my picture!  What a cutie!

Phew!  It's been such a last few days!  I hope everyone is doing great, and I'm off to bed!

Winry's baby blessing (and Jelly turns 1)!

Hello everyone!  So, last week was a pretty bad week to miss writing a post, but things were pretty crazy with everyone out for Winry's baby blessing.  Then yesterday was pretty full as well, but there's no way I could miss writing two weeks in a row, and especially not these two weeks!  There's a lot to cover, so I think I might plow through things pretty quickly.  But then again, maybe I'm never actually as detailed as I think I am, so maybe you won't notice a difference... Anyway, here's Monica and I with Winry on her blessing day!

So two weeks ago Monica's phone got run over.  We looked on Google's find my phone to see where it last was, and it was in the middle of an intersection 45 minutes before.  It was still there when I got there...

It probably got run over a few times, and that thing on the top is what's left of the battery, so that either caught fire or exploded...  All in all, the phone was quite dead.  The case was still in pretty good condition, AND the case held the phone onto the trunk of the car for 7.5 miles before the phone finally fell off, with speeds up to 55 MPH!  That's pretty good!

Monica's mom was out with us for the week leading up to the baby blessing, which means that everyone had to go party while I was at work.  They headed to the zoo one day and I selected this picture of Brooke with the hippo.  Brooke really likes to see the hippo, and I don't think we've ever given it love on the blog, so here it is.

Brooke continues to love her sister!  I know it's hard to see,  but Brooke is holding Winry in our bed in this picture.

One day Monica realized we hadn't been great at doing tummy time with Winry, so we decided we needed to do better, and this was the result!  She rolled over like 3 or 4 times in a row, so I guess we're done with tummy time until she's ready to crawl...

This past week everyone also headed to the children's museum (without me...).  Brooke had a blast!  There were lots of great things to do there, like make appointments for stuffed animals to come to the doctor or dentist.

Or clean said animals teeth.

Or check a little doggy's ear heart beat.

Or play in the water!  Monica said Brooke would have played with that all day if it was possible, but eventually they got her to move on to new things!  It seems like a great place, and hopefully Brooke was able to learn as well as have fun.

So this picture, when I see it all I can think is that Winry looks like she's studying for the SAT or something.  #intensefrombirth

Brooke really loves thunder by Imagine Dragons.  She calls it the Mr. Brown song because in Mr. Brown can moo Mr Brown makes the sound of thunder and lighting.  So since she loves the book, she MUST love the song, and she can sing a pretty good amount of it!

Also, Brooke and I went to a couple stores on the Saturday before Winry's blessing, and while we were walking through King Soopers we saw this tiger camping chair that was just her size, so we just HAD to get it!  But really, this will be perfect to have in the back yard this summer when we roast hot dogs over our camp fire.  We'll probably even sleep in our tent in the back yard a time or two as well!

As mentioned, last Sunday (15th) was Winry's baby blessing!  And we had lots of family come to visit!

Meagan has just loved to play with Brooke the last few times we got together, and Brooke loves to play with Meagan too!  They had a blast together, and I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to Meagan for watching and helping Brooke all day!

There was some discussion as to whether Andrew (Tyson and Tina's oldest) was taller than me, so we had to check.  Turns out we're basically the same height, which makes us currently tied for tallest in the family.  Andrew has a slight advantage though since he's still in the age range of being able to grow... so my title of tallest in the family may be short lived...

But my title of best guesser won't be!

While Monica was busy I tried to share a few veggie straws with Winry, but she didn't seem interested...

Tyson was nice enough to bring his camera equipment and take pictures while he was here (that's where these are all from, and why they look so much nicer than the photos typically do).  We took advantage and got a few family pictures as well.  Look out Christmas card, here we come!

Also, the kids all seemed to like putting their heads through our railing.

I mean ALL the kids really seemed to like it...

Winry has become best buds with her wubbanub!  I think she's started to grab, hold, and play with things a lot younger than Brooke, and I think it's because her pacifier has a stuffed animal on it that's always there.  I may be wrong, but it at least feels like it to me.

Last Monday our FHE lesson was about the temple, so we went over to the temple grounds and had a picnic dinner and a lesson over there.

Part way through dinner Brooke took off with the veggie straws!  I tracked her down and got them back though.

After our lesson we went for a walk around the temple.

And got a picture of our eternal family!

Brooke and I had a few races across the lawn, and grabbed a picture after I narrowly lost in getting to and sniffing a flower first.  We had a great time at the temple, and hopefully Brooke is starting to learn that it is a special and holy place.

This past week I found a pair of eyes on the floor...  Poor big bad wolf puppet.... he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I assume Jelly did this, though Brooke did pick at one of the bear's noses until she ripped that off...

Winry has been doing a great job of holding her head up, so I figured she was ready for the carrier.  She likes to be held sitting up when we walk around, so this is a nice compromise so that I still have both hands to use!  So far so good!

Brooke really wanted us to get out her swing one day this past week, so after we got it out I got the rope and we hung it on the tree in the back yard.  I think we've been out there every day to swing since.  It's really nice for both of us.  She has a great time, and it's an easy way for me to keep her entertained and hopefully wear her out before bed!

One day at dinner I was holding Winry while eating, so Brooke had to go wrap up Elmo and hold him while she at too!

Also, Winry is quite strong!  She was like this for at least 30 seconds!  Unfortunately you cannot hold her facing you or else she'll arc her back and if you don't catch her, fall over backward!  We've always caught her so far, but I typically don't try to hold her facing my shoulder any more.

Also, Jelly and Winry got a little cuddle time this past week!  I think this is the first time Jelly's laid by Winry, and she was super nice to her the whole time!  Technically Jelly didn't lay next to Winry, I set Winry right next to Jelly.

Also, just look at that smile.  There's no other story here.

On Saturday we were asked to help clean the church, and I think we had a great time doing it.  I enjoyed it at least, and Brooke was an amazing helper the whole time!  Our family's typical reward for cleaning the church is to go get donuts!  We let Brooke pick her own and she just wanted pink and was SOOO happy!

That day when we got home Brooke wanted to put Elmo in the carrier, and why not, I put Winry in there...  She did this for large amounts of the day Saturday, but it was a good way for her to stay entertained while Monica went to the temple and to a movie with friends.

On Sunday Brooke wanted to get a picture next to Winry in their church clothes.

And finally, this is how I found Winry this morning when I woke up!  I had a pretty good laugh when I saw her and accidentally woke Monica up... :)

Sunday was our ward conference, so we had the stake presidency there.  We had a lesson about when Moses put up the serpent on the staff, and if people would look they would be healed from their snake bites.  We talked about what the simple things we are supposed to do in order to look and live.  That night Monica and I were talking about the lesson a little, and we talked about the "easy" things we're supposed to do in order to look and live, such as saying our personal prayers and studying the scriptures daily.  Even though these are simple things that we know we should do every day, how often do we forget them, or only do them half heartedly?  Are we truly studying the scriptures every day, looking for guidance in our lives?  Are we praying for our families, for their well-being and for guidance in how we can serve them?  We too have been given simple commandments in our day, but we must "look" if we want to live!  I share this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.