Brookie Turns SIX

Six years ago a little whirlwind joined our family. Little did we know what she would have in store for us. It didn't take long for it to be evident that raising this little girl would be an adventure full of love, noise, emotion, tears and excitement. Brooklynn never ceases to surprise us. Steve and I were discussing the other day about how Brookie wakes up in the morning. She is usually happy and she wakes up saying in her own head, "Here I am world, let's have a fantastic day!" We are very blessed to have her in our lives and this mommy can say she has learned a lot about being a mommy from this little Angel!

"A girl is innocence playing in the mud,

beauty standing on its head,

and motherhood dragging a doll by the foot."

- Alan Beck

"Attitude is a Way of life"

"Forget the sugar and spice,
Girls are Made from
Real Heart, Guts, and Soul"

Now for 10 Things that make Brooklynn loved by me.

1. She is very loving!
2. She is a wonderful friend and is always there to take care of and comfort someone who needs it.
3. She is beautiful
4. She is smart and is turning into quite the reader
5. She is determined, this girl has a mind of her own and is ALWAYS right. (Hmm I wonder where she gets that from)
6. As her Auntie Julie has told us often, "She has Disney Princess Eyes!"
7. She is the only person I know who can fall on her face while standing perfectly still.
8. She is always willing and wanting to help me in whatever way she can. (If only I was better at letting her help!)
9. She loves her brothers and her Daddy unconditionally, even when they all drive her nuts!
10. She has an amazing memory and loves to TALK and is enthusiastic about life!!!

I actually could go on. Steve and I have been very blessed with this amazing little person to raise and boy oh boy do I hope and pray we do a good job.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKIE KAY!

LOST AND FOUND

I'm not quite sure how this happens, but often Steve's wedding ring goes missing. He takes it off for this like Golfing and playing Basketball. Of course it would make sense to put it in the same place each time, but that would also make much too much sense. At one point this last week I noticed that it was on the counter in the kitchen. Not realizing that Steve never took it from the counter and placed it back on his finger, this is where I found his ring today while attempting to make my children some lunch.........

Christmas Vacation!

Christmas lived up to its expectations this year - MOST DEFINITELY! We had a fabulous Christmas Break and I enjoyed every minute of family time and fun that we were blessed with. As mentioned in an earlier post, there are no pictures from Christmas, but I do have some from our outings after Christmas. So let's begin.

With the kids out of school on the 19th our break began with finishing up those last minute details, grocery shopping and for Steve buying me some Christmas. He is always the last minute guy and I am always pleasantly surprised by the things he gets me. Since this was our very FIRST ever Christmas at home, (yes that is right people Steve and I in 9 Christmas's married have never been in our own home), I planned on baking some of our favorite Grandma Empey treats by myself. With all the plans and cooking ready were set and just ready for our company to arrive.

On Christmas Eve day I cooked. I woke up early to make Peppermint Bark (Yummy), Potato Cheese soup, and various other goodies and then assisted Nana in making stuffing and jello salad. Nana and Grandad arrived early in the afternoon to some very excited Children. We spent the day just hanging around and cooking and then at 5 we headed over to the Poulsen's for their traditional 'Favorites' dinner. This is a great tradition, at least in my opinion, and it was wonderful for them to invite some of us lonely transplanted families over. The idea is that each person picks a favorite food and that is what you eat, everyone's favorite. We ate Salmon and Sushi and soup and dips and just lots and lots of yummy food. It was fantastic. There were 4 families there, Us, the Poulsen's, the Turley's and the Salway's. The kids had a great time and the evening finished off with the kids doing the Nativity. Once we arrived home I shared a story with my kids and then we all opened our traditional jammies. We were all matching thanks to Nana and Josh loved his 'Berry Berry ME!' jammies. The front of them said, 'A very Merry Me!' Brooklynn could not get to bed fast enough, she was in such a hurry, apparantly sleep makes Santa and Christmas Morning come faster.

Christmas morning involved fun, gifts, more fun, some beautiful songs and Ukelele playing by Grandad and just basically a wonderful time. We also enjoyed a power outage and wondered if we would be able to get our Turkey cooked in time. All turned out well and we had another FIRST - our FIRST ever Turkey dinner at our very own house. It was yummy! The day turned out to be wonderful and relaxing and just fantastic. Josh was adorable and just over the top excited about the presents - he thought it was pretty cool. He is very protective of his presents and I have heard him scolding his brother and sister saying, 'this is mine Christmas'

The rest of our break was filled with fun, the wii, the snow and just enjoying being together. On New Year's Eve Day we joined some friends up at a snow park and the kids had a blast sledding. Josh loved the 'no' (snow) and the sledding. We went up again a few days later and again had a great time.

Looking back on 2008 I am overwhelmed by the blessing that we have. I look forward to the New Year and can't wait for the adventures that lie ahead!

This is what Josh looks like after sledding!

New Camera - GOOD! Faulty Operator - BAD!

For Christmas I got a new camera! Yeah, horray! This is great news. I love it - A little Canon that seems to work great. As much as I would love to be a great photographer and would love to know how to use Photoshop and all that, I don't. Someday I will learn, but it all seems a bit overwhelming at the moment! Anyway, for now I am happy with my nice small little Canon!

For Christmas I snapped pictures and was excited to download them and see how things turned out. Well, smart me hit a wrong button and it erased all my Christmas pictures :( I am so sad. Luckily we have some great videos from our new and FANTASTIC Flip Video. To make my camera issues worse my ancient (almost 6 year old) computer won't recognize my new camera, for whatever reason I am not sure, and so now I need to go get a memory card reader. Oh technology, the good, the bad and the frustrating!

Hopefully we will be up and running with picture soon! Just not Christmas ones! :(

A Little Josh!

As usual Josh keeps me laughing. Here are a few of his latest.

'Noonies' this translates into Missionaries. As in, "Please bless the noonies."
'Samily' this translates into Family

And the latest and my personal favorite for this time of year is -

"Mommy, you go to the Norf Pole and see Lanta Claus? I want a GREEN DINOSAUR (emphasis on the the 'r')!"

What? Lanta for Santa. Go figure it isn't like he can't say his 'S' he just prefers Lanta to Santa.

THE GIRLS TRIP

FABULOUS! That is really the only way to describe my week in Hawaii with my beautiful sisters, sis-in-law and my mom! Hawaii for a week with just the girls, really people what more can you ask for?

Nicole and I flew over to Oahu together and we were greeted by Marilee, Julie and Mom. They bought us some beautiful Lei's. Let's just say that being on a plane with no children is quite enjoyable.

I'll give you a run down of the week.

Wake up

Go workout or not

Possibly go to the spa

Eat

Get ready and head to the pool/beach ( mostly pool)

Sit by the pool and read books all day

Go for a swim

Order a lava flow (virgin of course)

Get ready for the evening, go to dinner, go shopping, see a movie

Do it all over the next day!

That is it - a complete week of relaxation and rest. We were even able to go the Temple, see some massive waves on the North Shore and some surfing, go diving for pearls (and I don't mean scuba diving) and act like complete idiots.

We laughed, we cried (when we left that it), and just enjoyed being sisters and mom.

On the home front my spectacular hubby, took care of the kids, the house, the homework, the laundry, some cleaning and even managed to get in a few hours of work everyday. He did a wonderful job as Mom and Dad and quite frankly I was impressed! I also have to say that my friends who were able to help out with some child care duties are the best!

MOM, THANK YOU! Of course none of it was possible without you and it wouldn't have been as fun without you either.

My only question is WHEN DO WE GET TO DO IT AGAIN?

The Thankful Post

Since Christmas is only 8 days away, according to Brooklynn's calculations, I thought it was about time for me to write a little about our Thanksgiving Celebrations. We have been so very blessed this year and I would hate to miss an opportunity to express my Gratitude to my amazing friends and family for your love and support. I am thankful and amazed each and everyday for the very many blessings the Lord gives us!

We spent a great week in the OC for Thanksgiving. It all came together rather late, but lucky for us our wonderful and beautiful and favorite (don't tell the others) 14 year old niece had a soccer tournament down there and so we thought it a perfect opportunity to see them. It was wonderful to see Mike and Steph, Mac, DJ Jamez, Nannie, and Haven. WE are most grateful to Nana Janet for offering up her home for us to crash in.

We frolicked at the beach, ate out, saw movies and just enjoyed being together. We were also able to spend some time with Ryan and Nic and crew. Thanksgiving dinner was at their house with their wonderful friends Dave and Heather. It really was a great night finished off with the traditional trip to Fashion Island to see the 150 ft Christmas Tree. Just in case you are wondering about how cutting down this giant tree affected the environment, it was taken from an approved area and this tree was specifically chosen knowing that it would not impact the forest it was taken from in the least. Phew for that one, I was super worried about it.

Sadly because of the pouring rain the first couple of days we were there and the extreme prissiness of the people in charge of the soccer fields in Irvine, Mac's tournament was postponed and we were not able to see any of her games. However, the word on the street is that she played great (We had no doubts).

We are so happy that we were able to spend the week with those we love. We miss our families so much and spending Thanksgiving with those we love made it perfect!

It was supposed to be the Christmas Card!

First, I would like to say that no I have not quit blogging. I think this is a record for the length of time in between posts, but I just haven't felt like sitting down to do this and besides it is almost Christmas people and I am just plain busy. I have lots to say about Thanksgiving and my Amazing Girls trip but that too will have to wait. I have to just post this picture.

I was hoping it would be our Christmas Card picture and then when I put it on the computer this is what I found!

Seriously people how often do you get a beautiful candid shot like this. I look hot (haha) my kids are all looking at the camera and looking perfectly adorable, Steve looks great and then of course HIS EYES ARE CLOSED! This is a regular thing for Steve, but seriously did it have to be on this picture? Oh well. Plan B turned out alright, but you won't get to see my bright smiling face or Steve's on our Christmas card this year, but it may include some of the following images.

Sean's Wee Wedding to Katelyn!

Last weekend I got away. Yes that is right, I escaped mommyhood for a few days to enjoy some time with My Sister's, my brother's, my parents, my cousins and whole bunch of other fantastic people. It was amazing, fun, refreshing and just plain wonderful. While of course I missed my little monkey's and my wonderful hubby, it was great to spend time with all my favorite people that I rarely get to see.

Now you may ask what glorious event allowed me to go - Well, Sean FINALLY got married. HaHa. Yeah for Sean! He married Katelyn who is adorable and wonderful and PERFECT for him.

While it may have taken him some extra time to find her, she was worth the wait and I'm sure Sean would agree!

So as for a run down of the weekend. I left on Thursday, met Julie in SLC and flew into Calgary. Marilee was already there and we stayed up until 3 am giggling and being silly sisters. The next morning we were lazy, helped mom a little in the kitchen, visited with Aunty Marilyn and some long lost cousins and then headed down to Cardston for the wedding. Once there we met Katelyn, hung out with the rest of the clan and just had fun. I have to say it was fun to see Sean so in love.

The wedding was so nice on Saturday morning. The luncheon was great and the reception awesome. The food at the reception was awesome too! (of course I had to throw that in) Santa even came to the reception and I have a picture to prove it.

All in all it was a great weekend. As usual I didn't take enough pictures. I am especially sad that I missed taking one of Reecey in her adorable flower girl dress. All the little girls looked so cute. You will notice all the men in Kilts as well. This is because our family hails from Scotland and if I do say so myself, all the men looked quite fantastic. All us girls wore sashes or skirts from our family tartans. It was a fast but incredible weekend!

A Tribute to my Bestest Friends!

Both of my beautiful wonderful sisters celebrate their birthday's in October. Marilee's was a few weeks ago and Julie's is tomorrow. As a tribute to them both I am going to give 11 reason why I love them!

Marilee
1. She always let me hang out with her friends in High School
2. She is always on the go and is great at planning great things to do with her kids
3. She is determined
4. She is beautiful
5. She is always willing to share what she has
6. She goes above and beyond in all her church callings (check out her posts on Youth Conference)
7. She loves to serve others and help out her friends
8. She is my big sister and has always been there to celebrate the good and support me through the bad
9. She is the most amazing Mom and has tons of good advice
10. She is smart, sexy, and sassy, even though I convinced her once that spaghetti grows on trees! HaHa
11. She is one of my best friends

Love you tons Mar, you are the best big sister a girl could ever ask for.
Julie
1. She is always there when I need her
2. She has a smile that could light up a room
3. She is an amazing mom and gives me good advice when I need help with mine own kids
4. She is funny and loves to have fun
5. She is great at listening
6. She is a loyal friend
7. She makes the BEST sugar cookies, like seriously people the best
8. She remembers everything, I admire that because I don't have a very good memory
9. She is tall and beautiful, I mention tall because I always wished I were taller!
10. She is compasionate and empathic and always happy to help out those who need her
11. She is one of my best friends in all the world!

I love you JuJu, HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY tomorrow! I wish I were there to throw you a big huge surprise party. You are the best!

Update

I feel like the weeks are flying by, but I really don't have much to blog about. I have been busy, keeping up with all the usual, like laundry, running the kids back and forth to school, cleaning, I had my first Scentsy Party, and of course this week is Halloween. The kids are all excited about their costumes and if I do say so myself they are pretty adorable in them. We had the ward 'Harvest' party last week and I have some pretty cute pictures to post, but I will wait until tomorrow.

I had a parent teacher conference yesterday with Brookies teacher Mrs. Sagouspe, she is wonderful (Ty had her as well). She said Brooklynn is doing very well so far. She is already starting to read, in fact, the other day she came in and said, 'Mom, I wish I could read all the books on the bookshelf.' She is loving learning and everyweek when she brings home her homework, she sits down and finishes it all at once. Mrs. Sagouspe told me that she is so helpful at school and quite the mother. I of course said, "I know, she thinks she is the mother." Even though her mothering is not so cute at home sometimes, apparantly she has been quite helpful with some of the other kids at school. One little boy in particular has had a hard time holding his pencil correctly, she helps him get it right. I am so proud of her and love her cute little face!

I meet wth Tyler's teacher tomorrow....... should be interesting and fun to see how he is doing. He loves reading and has really taken to drawing. On Fridays at school they have a chance to go watch a movie or go to another classroom and do art, he has been choosing art. I think it is great, so I think this week will head to the library and find him some How To Draw books.

As for Josh, let's see. He is the worst sleeper, okay well not the worst, but my worst. He wakes up at 6 am or earlier everyday and I just wish he would so that I could sleep until 7. Really people is that too much to ask? He is no longer napping most days and you would think that would mean bedtime would come earlier or maybe he would just fall asleep early, keep thinking it because it just doesn't happen. Not only is sleep an issue, but he is just naughty or just doing very naughty things. Here is my latest list: 1) Coloring on the walls, table, furniture, whatever . 2) Playing in the toilet and getting into my box of tampons. 3) filling up the lid to the toothpast and throwing it at the mirror. 4) climbing on everything and pushing chairs all around so that he can climb. Even though we are having this terribly naughty time, he is still so adorable. He is imagining and playing and singing. He loves singing in the car and is starting to sing along to some Jonas Brother's and Maroon 5 songs. The other night he and Steve were hanging out and having a conversation and Steve told him, "Daddy has to go on a Paplane (airplane)" Josh looked at him and in a very sad soft voice replied, "Oh, darnet!" It was super cute.

I think that is all. Having a Happy Halloween Everyone!

Finally, A Few Football Pictures

Ty's Flag Football ended a couple of weeks ago and I am finally getting around to downloading them. He had so much fun playing with his good friend Trevor. It was fun for us to watch him. He loved it!

Amy Tagged Me!

I was Tagged ...

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago are:
1. Living at Aunt Lori's and sharing the basement with Kendall (sorry Kendall)
2. I had been dating Steve again for about 5 months
3. I had just graduated from BYU
4. Driving almost every weekend to Idaho to see Steve
5. Working at my first job out of College - NOVATIONS

5 things on my to do list for today are:
1. Workout
2. Hit Target for a few things
3. Pay Bills - I hate that one
4. Do the Laundry - not really my favorite either
5. Try to get Josh to take a nap

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Ice Cream
2. Wheat Thins
3. Cheese
4. Toast, but really only in Canada, it is just better there
5. Fruit, lately Mangos

5 things I would do if I were a Millionaire:
1. Buy a big beautiful house that we all fit in where Steve's desk was not in my bedroom!
2. Have Bob or Jillian from the biggest loser be my personal trainer
3. Travel all over the world, except not to China
4. Live near my family
5. Pay someone else to clean my house

5 places I have lived are:
1. Lehi, UT
2. Orem, UT
3. Provo, UT
4. Rexburg, ID
5. Fresno, CA

5 jobs I have had are:
1. MOMMY
2. Client Coordinator
3. BYU Media Servies guru, You know the person that plays the National Anthem over the loud speakers twice a day on campus - that was me.
4. Custodian at Helaman Halls
5. Worked at my Dad's dental office doing what ever they needed

5 people I tag:
1. Julie
2. Marilee
3. Kacey
.4. Jen B
5. Kendra

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you’ve answered the questions on your blog

Busy!

Since I am up and can't seem to tuck myself into bed tonight, I thought I would take this quiet moment to update my blog. I'm not sure why, but I have had little time to do this. It seems like I have been running around like a crazy person - doing what you ask. I'm not sure. Soccer, Football, Activity Days, Church, Proposition 8 stuff, working in the kids classes, watching my friends kids, working out (at least making an atempt at it), Scentsy, battling fleas (don't ask) and the list goes on. It seems there is always something which I don't mind, but I wouldn't mind a couple of quieter days durning the week. Here's to hoping!

As forthe kids. Things have been great! School is going well and so are sports. Tyler has his last flag football game this week. He has had great fun playing and I'm sure will be sad to be done. It has been hard to take pictures because he plays when it is dark under lights and my flash just isn't that great. Maybe this week I can snap a few.

Brooklynn is turning into quite the soccer girl! She has had two games and we have learned a number of thing about her. #1 - she is quite the competitor #2 - she is pretty fast and is one of the fastest on her team. Who would have guessed this one considering the fact that she has been known to be a little clumsy in the past. #3 - she loves playing #4 - she is starting to get it. #5 - She is adorable - ok we already knew this one, but just wanted to mention it #6 - she enjoys having her own thing. Her first game was so fun and she did great. She scored a goal and was close a couple of other times. When she scored she was so excited she jumped up and down with her arms up and then did a little dance and wiggled her hips. It was so cute! Game two was great as well, although her energy was slightly down because of a cold. She still came out scoring two goals and had fun doing it. We are trying to get her to understand that she is fast and the point is to be faster than everyone.

As for Tater, I'm not really sure what to tell you. He is always saying funny stuff and I wish I could remember it all. Lately I've heard a bunch of 'Pitty Pease' I'm not sure where he got this one, but boy it is cute. He still loves Nacho Libre and begs me to let him watch it daily. He talks up a storm and is really into playing with his friends. Today it was Carter he wanted to play with and I heard many 'pitty pease mommy' The other day in the car he told me, 'Me miss mine Jakey!' The boy is just to cute. I have also been hearing, most often whispered in my ear, "I yuv you ayot" ( I love you alot). What a boy! And I can't forget this one, Steve was getting the boys ready for church on Sunday. Ty was in the shower and Steve was combing Josh's hair.

Steve asked, "Who is your buddy, is daddy your buddy?"

Josh replied, "No TyTy mine Buddy."

Steve, "Well tell your buddy to get out of the shower!"

Josh, "Get out the showah, Big Slim!"

Once in awhile Steve calls Tyler Big Slim, but not often enough that Josh should pick up on it.

Well, I guess that is all. Things just are moving so fast and I am grateful for my cute kids and the joy they bring both Steve and I. I really LOVE THEM AYOT!

Tyler's Baptism

Wow, what a busy weekend we had. It was such a wonderful time and we are so proud of Tyler. I think I'll do a little timeline and then post some of the pictures!

Friday: Mom and Dad Empey, Kari, Jason, Jake, Maggie and Eli arrive. Tyler did not know Eli or Kari and crew were coming. When it was time to go get Tyler, Eli and Kari came with us. As we were sitting there and we were a few minutes early, I notice some kids walking down the hall and realize it is Tyler's class. I did not want him to see Kari and Eli. So we hid. He walked by and then when we thought the coast was clear he left his classroom again. This time Kari and Eli sat with their backs to the door and I stood there waiting. I said hi and he starred at the back of Kari and Eli and then went in and finished up whatever he was doing until the bell rang. When he came out and saw Eli his face absolutely lit up. I mean shear and utter delight people, it was so cute. Eli was bursting with excitement too. Tyler ran over to us and gave him a huge bear hug, it was so cute. He gave Kari and hug and then the two of them walked to the car in complete heaven to be with each other. The surprises only got better and later on Nana and Grandad arrived. Nana told Ty that she had something in the car for him and could he help her out. He went out side and saw Auntie Julie standing there, but I don't think it quite registered what was going on. Then he looked at Jackson, Annie and Marin and then he screamed, 'Jack' and jumped into Jack's arms. It was so cute and I think it made his world complete to have even more cousins there. For whatever reason he and Jack are kindred souls and have been since Ty was born, so this was super exciting to have him here. We had a great evening talking and catching up and hanging out with not only one of my sister's, but my Kari too! Yeah, it was so awesome to have them all here. I am so grateful to Kari and J and Mom and Dad Empey for making that brutal long drive and also to Julie for her trek, and Nana and Grandad for helping everyone from my side get here. It made the weekend perfect.

Saturday: The Baptism was at 10 in the morning and it was wonderful. There were 3 kids from the Stake that were baptized and it was a nice program. Grandma Empey gave the talk on Baptism and it was just perfect, she even had some audience participation. Tyler was so happy and I was so very proud of him. I felt so blessed to not only have so much of my wonderful family there with us, but so many of our friends came as well. I really have been blessed with amazing friends here and I wouldn't trade any of you for the world!

The afternoon was spent watching football, eating (of course) and then taking the kids swimming. It was lovely. That night was more of the same and then all the cousins slept over and were up until midnight being silly!

Sunday: We had to say goodbye to everyone except for Nana and Grandad. It was sad, but happy. The weekend went much too fast and I always wish I had more time to spend with everyone.

I am so grateful to be the mom of such an incredible kid and I am so proud of him. I just hope that I haven't messed him up too much and I can continue to teach him all that he needs to know! Love you a bunch TyTy.