Halloween and Daddy Daughter Date

Hello, hello!  I hope everyone had a fabulous week!  Things were great out here, and Brooke loved her first time trick or treating!  Halloween was definitely a blast, though we should have left out more candy when left to go with Brooke... But we learned for next year.

Here is Brooke with all her candy!  She got a TON!  This is combined from the ward trunk or treat on Saturday, going to a Parker main street trick or treat event where businesses handed out candy, and trick or treating in our neighborhood!  Definitely more than she needs, maybe more than we need...

When we got home Brooke noticed her makeup needed a little work!  Then when we were getting ready for bed after trick or treating Brooke wanted to wear my hat.  It's basically her size.

As for pumpkins, I think I found a pretty winning idea!  Monica said one day we had a package delivered, and then right after she saw the delivery guy walking back up to the door and pull out his phone.  She realized he was taking a picture of my pumpkin!

Monica went Harry Potter themed.  I wish I had gotten a picture earlier before the eyes fell down. :(

One day when I was leaving for work I saw a squirrel on our roof above the front door.  We see squirrels a lot running around in the trees in the back yard and such, but I haven't really seen them in the front yard and thought it was weird so I snapped a picture.  I'm glad I did...

Because then a day or two later our pumpkins looked like this...  Guess they were hungry.

Last week I mentioned that my games all came in for my kickstarter.  Well, I got them all assembled and packaged this week and shipped them out on Friday!  So if you backed the project they should hopefully be arriving this next week!  Please enjoy!

Jelly continues to be ever so cute!  Friday we opened a window and she sat in the window watching the squirrels for a long time.  So long, in fact, that she missed her afternoon nap.  She was sooo tired  when it was finally time for bed!  Such a kitty!

Last night Monica had a party, so I took Brooke out for a daddy daughter date.  We went to Noodles and Company, and Brooke got chocolate milk.

We enjoyed the ambiance, it really set the mood for the rest of the night.

We of course got Mac and Cheese all around!  What a meal!

On our way out one of the near by businesses was playing music so we stopped at the bumpy and danced for a little. (Note from Monica: Please notice Brooke's reindeer shirt she is wearing. She HAD to have it and will probably be wearing it in just about every picture you see of her until she grows out of it! She is obsessed with it!)

On the way home we swung by the mail box and grabbed the mail, a favorite of Brookes.

And it must have been a pretty good date cause I got a kiss on the doorstep!  What a date!

Then I changed Brookes diaper and put her to bed... :)

Brooke always want's to go see baby Lyla at church.  When the Ruckers got to church I took her up to see her.  Brooke just stood there silently staring at her for quite some time.  Eventually she wanted to sit down next to Lyla.  She even held her hand for the picture!

Church was good this week.  In gospel principles we had a lesson on the post mortal world, or spirit world.  It was a great lesson with lots of discussion.  I am so grateful to know of life after death.  I am grateful that we can live with our families again forever, and I am grateful that all will have the opportunity to receive the gospel whether in this life or the next.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Halloween Costume Preview

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all doing fabulous!  Halloween is right around the corner, which means it's time to get our costumes in order.  We also had a Halloween party and the ward trunk or treat this week, so we had to be ready for those!  Here we all are together in our costumes.  Brooke was Pikachu, which she loves.  I was Ash Ketchum, and Monica was a pokeball containing our new baby!

Last Sunday we went out to play in the leaves again after Brooke's nap.  We had a lot of fun as usual, but this time she wanted me to set her in the pile!  She hasn't been much for being in the leaves, and mostly likes to stand at the edge and swat them around with her arms.

That night there was a really cool sunset with the clouds in the sky!  It almost looked like the sky was on fire.

Brooke has started talking on Monica's phone.  It's fun to take out my phone and pretend I am talking to her!

Brooke came out to help me clean up the leaves this week.  She loved to pick them up and put them in the bag.  She was a big help, and would even sit on the bag to smash down the leaves for me.

This past week I hit my running goal for this year!  I wanted to run 1096 miles this year as that is the distance from our house to my parents house in Utah and back.

Brooke has started to take care of her stuffed animals recently.  She loves to put them in the bouncy chair and give them blankies when they are cold and give them "milk" from their own cup!  She is literally giving her panda stuffed animal milk in the bouncy chair as I write this.  She even loves to change their poopy diapers. She's gonna be such a great big sister!!

Subsequently, she did put those pajamas (from the video) on her bear.

Brooke loves to help us out.  This past week we went grocery shopping, and when we got home she went to help unload the groceries... well, that is until she saw the grapes.  Then she dropped the mushrooms and started pulling grapes out of the bag and eating them... sigh...

As mentioned earlier Brooke will be Pikachu for Halloween.  Here is a picture of her where you can see her full costume better.  Monica made the whole thing!!  And here she is modeling her costume!

And here she is with her trainer!

On Friday, the last of my card game stuff came in, so now I'm ready to put the games together and ship them out.  I've put together about 150 of them and just have a few more to do.  I'll hopefully start shipping them out in the upcoming week or so, and then I'll start working on getting them listed on Amazon.

Jelly got so tired from doing quality inspections that she had to go take a nap under a towel on the stairs.

Which she followed up with passing out on her own feet on the couch.

These games are hard work! ;)  Here's a picture of a bunch of the games packed up all together.  It's pretty exciting to see everything coming together!

Today I spoke in church about the Book of Mormon.  It was based upon Elder Nelson's talk from General conference titled "The Book of Mormon: What would your life be like without it?"  It was great spending the last two weeks focused on the Book of Mormon and how it's changed my life.

I know the Book of Mormon is a true book of Scripture.  I know that it has the power to change our lives.  I know that through daily study, it can give us the strength we need daily to surmount the challenges of life.  I have seen the power of reading from the Book of Mormon in my own life.  I personally have been helped through life’s challenges.  I personally have felt the spirit confirm the truth of the Book of Mormon to my soul, as well as had many truths of the gospel confirmed to me as I studied them.  I know the power of the Book of Mormon is available to all if they will but read with a sincere heart and a desire to learn.  I leave this testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Working in the Basement

Hello all!  Things are going great.  I am a little sore/tired today from working in the basement yesterday, but more on that later.  Last Sunday Brooke and I played in our leaf pile in the back yard!  Brooke had a lot of fun and enjoyed throwing the ball into the leaf pile, as well as having me throw it and her chase it around the back yard.  I also spent a little while chasing her around the pile, and jumping on her whenever she'd trip!  It was a lot of fun.

While we were out there she also had to help build the leaf pile as big as possible!

Brooke is a natural born helper, and this past week she helped Monica make pancakes for breakfast!  They were delicious too!  She really likes to add ingredients to the bowl, so Monica would measure things out and then hand the spoon/cup to Brooke to pour in!

Jelly continues to love to crawl under things.  She does sometimes go into her paper bag, but this past week she also figured out how to get underneath... as long as she's having fun.

The King Soopers by our house has a horse that costs a penny to ride.  They also have a big tub of pennies to use to ride the horse.  We let Brooke ride it for the first time on Saturday when we went to get pumpkins.  She liked it some, but didn't stay on for very long.

Once we got back from getting pumpkins it was time to work on the basement.  In case you don't remember, here's how things were progressing.

Ok, Ok, in reality I did do a few more sections than that the week that Monica and Brooke were in Utah.  But I was down in the basement working for almost 8 hours yesterday!  Here is a picture of the basement now!  If you click it it should enlarge, but I'm almost done with the framing all the way around the exterior!!!  That means I'm almost to the point where I can start adding interior walls!  I'm hoping to be a little more diligent this week and do work here and there on various nights and not rely so heavily on Saturday, but we'll see how it goes.

In church today we had a lesson about a talk from this past general conference.  The talk was about making repentance be a positive experience.  It was a really great lesson.  It is important when repenting to make sure that we see our progress and understand that we're becoming more like our Heavenly Father, which are definitely good things!

I think that's a wrap for this week.  I hope everyone is doing fabulous!

Catching up, and a trip to Utah

Hello everyone!  Sorry I have missed the last few weeks.  General conference interrupted my usual blogging time, and then last week I was traveling on Sunday and it just slipped my mind when I got back.  But, to make up for it I have a great picture of Brooke and Foxy!  Things will be a little abbreviated this week as there are a lot of pictures to get through!

Jelly is growing up wonderfully!  She's a great kitty, and she sure loves our family.  A few weeks ago she got her very own shoe box, and has turned it into her new room!  Brooke enjoyed closing her in too!

And here's another one of her sitting on the couch with the family!

On Saturday morning (Sept 30) Monica made cinnamon rolls as it's our conference tradition.  Brooke was very excited and watched them a whole bunch while they were in the oven.

Brooke also passed the long wait for cinnamon rolls by sweeping up the floor!  What a helper.

Conference was great, and Brooke was mostly good during it, so we were able to listen pretty well!  It's great to get to hear from the leaders of the church every few months!

Brooke loves to get wrapped up in blankets.  This time the blanket had "tasty" tassels on it.

On Tuesday (Oct 3) Monica and Brooke headed out to Utah and left me at home to work.  Jelly would miss having people at home and when I got home from work she'd follow me around.  She got very lonely being home all day by herself!  Poor thing.

On Wednesday I had a dentist appointment, and the office was decorated for Halloween.  I thought this decoration in particular was interesting for a dentist office.  Those are not the best looking teeth or gums I have ever seen...

On Friday afternoon I flew out to join Monica and Brooke for the weekend.  I got lucky and got the exit row seat that didn't have another seat in front of it!  Needless to say it was one of the most comfortable plane flights I have had.

Friday night we went to the BYU football game with Monica's parents!  It was so much fun to be back at a football game and on campus!  I even got a Brat-tail, which is a foot long Bratwurst on a maple bar.  It was very good, and I'm definitely glad we made it out.

On Saturday we took Brooke over to see campus.  She really liked seeing the cougars in the entrance to the WILK!  We had a lot of fun exploring campus, but sadly they didn't have the BYU shirt with the baby cougar on it that Brooke really wanted... :(

On Sunday morning we went over to see the Provo City Center Temple!  Appropriately, we found a praying mantis right by the gate!  He appeared to be having a great sabbath!

And here we are with the temple.  It was very windy, I don't normally do my hair like that...

After church we went up to see my family for a few hours before I headed back to the airport.  It was great to see my family too!

On Monday  morning I woke up to this!!!

So I got home just in time.  It snowed for most of Monday, but never too hard, and the roads never got bad, so that was good.

Jelly continues to try to take over Brookes toys one by one.  If Brooke leaves something out there's a pretty good chance that Jelly will play with it.  Recently Jelly has started to have to fight for territory against her fiercest foes, such as Foxy!

This past Thursday was Brooke's final swim lesson!! :( So sad.  We had a lot of fun taking Brooke to the pool, and it was great for her to get to play with Eden too.  We also got surprised with the DeFriezes having a swim lesson at the same time in the same pool, so it was a lot of fun to go and see everyone!  We're thinking we may try to start going swimming more often because Brooke really likes it and we've had so much fun together.

The snow may have melted, but the cold has stayed.  It's been nice, and fall is definitely here.  This of course means we must dress warm!

Yesterday I raked up all the leaves into a big pile to play in.  I tossed Brooke into the middle and she was NOT happy!  It was much better when I jumped in and she could just sit on me!

Monica of course had to hop in and let the new baby play as well.  Brooke was willing to join in then too.

Last night we had Pizza for dinner, and we also got cheese bread with sauce.  Brooke enjoyed it so much she had to lick her sauce off her plate!  It was a pretty clean process as you may have noticed. She also has been wearing those tiger ears for the past 2 days....

Today in church we talked a lot about temple attendance.  It is so great to have a temple close by so that we can attend.  There are so many great blessings that come from the temple.  It brings a peace to life that cannot be found anywhere else.  I encourage everyone to go, or to prepare themselves to be able to go to the temple!

I think that's all I've got for this week(s)!  Thanks for stopping by!