Baking Cookies

"Monga", which is what Brooklyn calls Grandma (Julie), had this apron made for Brooklyn. Brooklyn always wants to help cook- even if it's just pouring water- so this was a very practical gift for her.
She also likes to taste as much as she likes to cook...that's my girl!

Tasting the final product

Brooklyn frosted all of these sugar cookies...but if you look closely, you can see they all have a bite taken out of them too.

Her very own rolling pin too!

Monga was very brave letting Brooklyn scoop in the flour. Every time she dipped the spoon in, she would flip it out and flour would fly everywhere. It was cute. Now Brooklyn gets her apron out three times a day: once at breakfast, once at lunch, and again at dinner.

Christmas in California

We put on our A-game and did a little bowling. I don't really take bowling too seriously and end up goofing around most the time because I stink at it. I usually get one or two lucky strikes in and the rest I need bumpers for. I've decided it's got to be my weak wrists!! (or something).

Brooklyn kept putting her head in front of the conveyor fan for all the bowling balls. She kept herself amused and occupied. That's probably the same thing I would have spent my time doing at her age. hmmmmm.

I just had to catch Jason at the peak of his game. I would fall over if I bowled like that...how does he do it?!

Brooklyn, Steele, Shalice, and Amanda

Sydney (friend) and Brooklyn drawing pictures together, reuiniting at last. They haven't seen each other for a while and when they do finally see each other, they have each grown and changed so much. Brooklyn kept trying to show everyone her pictures, but the toy she had was broken and automatically erased right after she drew something, so we could never see it.

Instead of riding bikes on the beach, we decided to go on a duffy boat ride this time. The scenery is so beautiful. There are tons of amazing homes and decked out yachts that dot the sides of the bay. We just cruised around for a while, it was relaxing. It was colder here by the beaches than on the inland area, but coming from Utah, we could handle it.

Brooklyn's sleeves were soaking wet by the time Papa was done with her. She had so much fun with the water.

Daddy and Brooklyn driving the boat.

Beckam sitting with Aunt Amanda on the duffy boat. He was so uncomfortable in that life jacket, it was making him really upset that he had to wear it. His face just says,"get this thing off of me!"

Monga compares the kids to the jingle bears every year to see how big they get each year. These bears are so old, like twenty years old, but continue coming out at Christmas time looking brand new. They are the fluffiest, softest bears- they just won't flatten out. Your parents might have some old jingle bears somewhere. Quality just isn't what it used to be.

This is Julie's (my mother-in-law) village she puts up every year at Christmas time. Most of the little houses light up, so Brooklyn would lay down in front of it and just stare at the whole scene. When Papa came over to look at it with her she told him "Don't touch, Papa!" She didn't break anything our entire visit...whew!

Good thing Beckam is not a girl, huh! As Julie has been recovering from cancer, she took her wig off because she now has a good amount of hair that has grown back. She looks beautiful...but, the wig looks better on her than on Beckam.

This is Julie's dining room table for the Holidays. I don't give it credit through this picture, but she could honestly decorate for Holiday magazine covers. It was so beautiful.

A Little Princess

GG and Papa Roy came down for a visit through the snowstorm! They brought more gifts for the kids with them including a princess dress chest from Aunt Shauna and Uncle Marty. I don't even have to say what a hit it was because clearly Brooklyn is in utter bliss being a little princess. Thank you Shauna and Marty, now Brooklyn never keeps her own clothes on :)

Christmas

The little kiddie's on Christmas Day

Beckam in baby heaven surrounded by wrapping paper, toys....wrapping paper, and more toys.

Santa brought Brooklyn a new bed for Christmas. She made the transition to her "big girl bed" in December. Some days are better than others as far as staying in her bed goes.


Beckam was obviously more interested in the wrapping paper than any of the actual gifts.

Jaeli (neice) and Brooklyn on Christmas Eve

Brooklyn's Haircut

Updates are coming slowly but surely...every extra chance I get I am working on my digital scrapbook for 2008 instead of blogging. It's addicting.

This was Beckam just really enjoying his lunch one sunday afternoon. He was so content- I love those moments. It wasn't actually Halloween, it's just that was the first bib my hand could reach.

Brooklyn wouldn't ever get a nap on Sundays becaues church was right during nap time (1:30-4:30) so, almost immediately after getting home, we'd have just enough time to change her clothes and she was out! Jason loved it though, because she would just snuggle into him and stay asleep. He always looked forward to getting home just for this!

These two pictures were of B-Kate's first real haircut. We had done little tiny trims before this, but this was the first time I actually cut it all over. Overall, the haircut turned out better than I expected it to to be totally honest. This is the first time I have ever cut someone's hair...no, that's a lie, I actually cut Jason's hair once before and let's just say he won't let me near his hair to even try to redeem myself. It was that bad. I got to laugh while he had to suffer. Oops.

Christmas Recap

Okay, okay...so, this is late and a much-needed update. Our computer crashed, so we had to send it to California to our IT guy. We finally have it back, so enjoy the updates!

Beckam enjoying his gifts at our family christmas party

Aliah and Brooklyn. Aliah is a very good babysitter to Brooklyn- spoiling her and giving her everything she wants.

Jaeli, Shane, and Veronica at the family christmas party

Our almost-final product of our Christmas tree. I ended up adding some frosted pine-cones later that made it look like there was snow on the tree. The bows were fun to make...and easier than I thought, but that's about as crafty as I get :)

Brooklyn was our big helper...while bringing the Christmas tree home, she held the rope real tight for us so it wouldn't fall off...or at least that's what she thought she was doing.

Beckam was the fearless and brave one when it came to sitting on Santa's lap. Brooklyn, however, was terrified. She clung to me so hard that I could feel her little fingernails digging into me. Needless to say, this is as close as she got to Santa. Don't worry...she got a candy-cane anyway.