John, Cristy, Brooklyn and Paxton

John, Cristy, Brooklyn and Paxton

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Toy Story Halloween

We had alot of fun this year with our Halloween costumes.  We decided to go as Woody, Bo Peep and our sheep.  I made John's vest (which I am extremely proud of). He even had a pull cord out his back that he insisted the little kids pull so he could say cool things like, "Who poisoned the water hole?" and. "There's a snake in my boot."  He is so silly!  We had a lot of fun!
 


Saturday, October 20, 2012

She is ALL Girl

We are constantly amazed at how girly she is!  How does she know that girls are supposed to like bows and shoes and necklaces?  She is such a little ham!



Sunday, August 19, 2012

Brooklyn's First Birthday


 Cindy came into town the week of Brooklyn's birthday.  It was so fun to have her here!  It was a really good opportunity for me to build a relationship with her. We had a lot of fun sightseeing and also preparing for Brooklyn's party.  We had her bday at Gymboree Play and Music.  Since I work there, I was able to rent it for really cheap.

We messed up a little on the cake batter but good thing B didn't know any different.Cindy helped me with the icing, which I was so grateful!  It would've have turned out that cute if I had attempted on my own.





She had so much fun opening presents!



 Grandma and Grandpa Coley gave Brooklyn a rocking chair which was from when I was a kid.  It was the chair we played on at grandma's house.  Brooklyn loves her new chair!





Saturday, August 4, 2012

Summer Fun

Brooklyn and I spent lots of time at the pool this summer.  She loves the water!!

Give me more plum and no one gets hurt!

 We had a few fun family outings this summer.  One Saturday afternoon we went for a hike in Bella Vista.  Fortunately, it wasn't too hot under the shade of the trees. In the sun was another story!  This summer was another miserably hot one!!  We had record breaking heat with most of the summer being in the high 90's and 100's.
 



Looking good!!

 We also went to a drive through safari zoo.  Brooklyn wasn't too sure of some animals.

Brooklyn liked the goat!

Baby pigs, so cute!

A kangaroo!!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

4th of July


This year for the 4th we had an extra special treat, Daliena was here to celebrate with us!  We made John a special birthday shirt.  We made our handprints into fireworks! 
 Of course we had to go bowling for John's special day!!

 One of our sweet friends made John a nice festive cake!


 




Sunday, June 3, 2012

Trek 2012

We had the wonderful opportunity to attend the 2012 Youth Conference Pioneer Trek.  We were Ma and Pa Hurren which happened to be John's ancestors.  We had 10 exceptional youth in our family and man did we have fun despite sleeping on the ground, rain, walking 6 miles a day, and having to pee in the woods half a dozen times (lets just say I became really good at spotting the kind of leaf that makes great toilet paper).

John did a wonderful job getting our youth excited by creating a family cheer which we yelled out lots while trekking.  We also won a contest and received a watermelon (which was a huge blessing because the next morning we had it to accompany our gruel breakfast or flour and water).

Our family was victorious in the stick pull (one of our sons won over all the boys and then John wanted to go up against him and of course pa won) we also won the handcart races both in the kids division and the ma and pa.  That is a funny story, one in which I almost died.  We took off and immediately fell because John's old boots had no traction and the grass was still wet with morning dew.  So we get up and I'm thinking we are done because we are so far behind, but John just starts running and I am on the outside of the handcart just running alongside.  Well John motions for me to get inside with him and he lifts up the handle to allow me to get under, but he is still running full speed.  So when I stand up, I am at the back next to wheel about to get ran over.  I yell at him to slow down.  I was running as fast as I could and trying to not trip over my skirt but he is of course way faster than me so I can't get up to the front easily.  I eventually get up there and I am just hanging on for dear life while John pushes the cart.  We pass the other couples and move into first place and win the race.  Man was it a sight.  I think half the camp was rolling with laughter and the other half were shocked into silence.  It was a fun memory!   

Each night we had dances which was a blast for both of us.  We had fun just cutting a rug along side our kids.  We had fun learning how to cook in our dutch oven.  We didn't really think too much of it, but apparently there is a science to how many coals to use and how often to rotate the oven.  Well we figured this out the 2nd day, but our chocolate cake was kinda burnt the first night.

By far, the best part of the trip was the stories of those who we were reenacting.  They sacrificed so much for the gospel.  It really hit home with all of us and the youth!  The day after the trek, most of the youth in our ward bore their testimony of the experience and how it strengthened their testimony. We were very grateful to participate in such a great adventure!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

9 Months

 On May 17th Brooklyn was 9 months old! She is getting such a fun personality!!  Wow she makes us laugh all the time!  She has been crawling backwards for the past few weeks and is able to get up into a sitting position from the floor but is still not very good at moving forward.  She also has been pulling herself up on this and last night we had to lower her crib because she pulled herself up and was standing... it has begun!!!

Well she loves food!!  

 I have been making most of her baby food and had just froze some peas in an ice cube tray.  I decided to just give her the ice cub and she went crazy over it!  Peas were everywhere, so cute!!