August 31, 2010

ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER



EATING BREAD AND HANGING OUT WITH MOM

Dear Brooklyn,


Last night you took your first steps!!!!

We were at Brittanny and Kacey's house helping them move their hot tub and looking at their new puppies and you walked all on your own!

Brittanny, you and I were looking at the puppies and you were standing up and holding onto my knee. Then you let go of my knee for a second so I scooted away and you were left standing by yourself. Then you took two steps and stopped for second then took two more steps and crashed

I ran outside and got your dad and we got you to walk several more times. You even did five steps in a row once! But then you fell and hit your head on my knee and wouldn't try anymore...
SITTING ON THE COUCH WATCHING THE PRICE IS RIGHT

It was so cute
though. I always said that you can take your time when it comes to walking but now I am excited for it.


So far today you haven't taken more then one step each time but maybe when your dad gets home from work then we can get you to walk some more.


Great job, baby. I am proud of you.

Sincerely, Lori

August 30, 2010

A BRAND, SPANKIN' NEW JOB

BROOKLYN HANGING OUT WHILE YOU WERE AT WORK

Dear Kurt,

Today you started a brand new job! This is a huge change for us.

You are going from owning your own fencing business and working whatever hours you wanted, to working for Brent Gordon Law Office. Big change! But it is a great opportunity.

The job literally came from out of the blue. Their secretary is leaving soon to have a baby and Brent Gordon is leaving soon to open another office in a different city, so they have been having a lot of interviews. Nobody seemed right for the job. Brent's brother, Mike, will be taking over Brent's position and they needed someone to come in to take over Mikes position.... Mike is in our ward and we go paintballing with him so one night we had him and his family over to play some games. He started asking you what you were going to school for and what not. A few days later he called and told you about their situation and offered you the job! We didn't even know they were looking.

The whole thing was really unexpected. We were planning on you fencing till the end of November then go to school in January and then start fencing again around April when the snow melts.... now that won't be the case. But we are totally okay with that. This job will give you a ton a experience, including accounting stuff.


I feel Heavenly Fathers hand in this so strongly. Like He is taking us in a new direction that we didn't even know we needed to go until now. I am extremely grateful and still overwhelmed by the situation. I guess we shouldn't have decided that we had it all figured out before.

So now I give you my little bit of advice: Work hard, work smart, show them what you're made of, and have some fun along the way.

I love you and am so proud of you.

Good luck.


Sincerely, Lori



August 29, 2010

MILES OF MILESTONES



Dear Brooklyn

You are growing so fast. You learn new stuff everyday and I am constantly amazed by you.

I love how happy you are. You laugh all day long (even it is fake laughing half the time).

Your vocabulary has been growing a lot. Now you say diddy diddy (kitty kitty), dup (up), da da, mom (which you think means "more"), dank ooh (thank you), and oh oh (uh oh). You also do sign language for more and food.

You love love love to dance. We love to show your dancing off. We play some music and you start shaking. You bounce up and down, bob your head, rock side to side, and roll your shoulders around (my personal favorite). It is soooo cute.

You also cruise around the furniture at top speed. You're even getting brave enough to stand without holding on to anything now. I am sure you will be taking your first steps in no time.

I love you so much, little one. You add so much substance and meaning to my life. Good night, Brooklyn, sleep tight.

Sincerely, mom

August 28, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER



Dear Christina,

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Christina, happy birthday to you!!

And many more.

I really hope you had a fabulous birthday. I wish I was there to celebrate with you.

I love you so much.

Sincerely, Lori

SPIDERS IN OUR BED


Dear Kurt,

It's pretty late but I am trying to stay up till one so that I can with my sister, Christina, a Happy Birthday as soon as is strikes twelve her time so here I am trying to kill time with a funny story that I am sure you will never want to forget:

It was late last night and I was sound asleep when all of a sudden you jump out of bed and run/jump-like-a-crazy-person to the bathroom where you proceed to slap yourself in the legs while you continue to jump around. After several minutes you come back to bed but leave the light on in the bathroom.

When you lay down I ask "What's wrong?" You say "there were spiders in the bed." Of course... I should have guessed, so I ask "why's the light on?" and you reply kind of grumpily now because you can't figure out how I don't know the answer to that question already "because of the spiders!!" Ok. So needless to say we slept the rest of the night with the bathroom light shining in on us to scare the spiders away.

The next day I questioned you about the events that had occurred. One question I asked was why you went to the bathroom to get the spiders off your legs rather then just turning on the bedroom light that is by your side of the bed. You answered in your biggest "Duh" voice: "because spiders don't like tile!"

I'm beginning to wonder if you're losing it.

Sincerely, Lori

August 27, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEBBIE

DEBBIE AND BROOKLYN, EASTER 2010


Dear Debbie,

A belated Happy Birthday to you!!!

I hope it was amazing. You are a great mother-in-law to me and grandmother to Brooklyn. I am very grateful for having you in my life.

Sincerely, Lori



August 24, 2010

MY BIRTHDAY ROCKED MY SOCKS







Dear Kurt,

Ok, it is time to write you a letter about my birthday!!!

I don't know why I have been putting it off,
maybe I am subconsciecely hating turning 24... no way, I love birthdays. Really, any reason to celebrate and party are good reasons to me. Especially when the reason IS me!!

A BIRTHDAY KISS FROM BROOKLYN

It was mostly a nice relaxing day. We hung out in the morning and then went to church. We had your family over for dinner where we had Connecticut stew (yum!) and then a bunch of our family and friends came over to celebrate with me and have birthday treats. It was awesome to have so many people come over and hang out and wish me a happy birthday, I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many good friends.

A FEW OF THE PEOPLE WHO CAME TO THE PARTY

The biggest surprise of the day: A new camera!!! My old camera has been on it's death bed for a long while now, so when I opened that huge, oversized box and found the exact camera I wanted, I was shocked. I am so happy about this. I spent most of the morning just taking pictures. Thank you to you and my parents. I love it.

Sincerely, Lori

PICTURES WITH MY NEW CAMERA

August 20, 2010

CHANGES IN OUR FUTURE


Dear Kurt,

Something big is about to happen for us. I'm excited and a little nervous...

Sincerely, Lori


August 19, 2010

SURPRISE BIRTHDAY TRIP



Dear Kurt,

After weeks of secrets and hiding and planning with Kacey I finally found out what the birthday surprise was: A trip to Utah for me and Brittanny (it was her birthday a few days ago) filled with fun!

We left Wednesday morning and went straight to one of our favorite places in Utah: Flowrider, the indoor surfing place. It was Brittanny's and Kacey's first time going. We all had a ton of fun and are planning surfing trips for the future.

The next surprise was a hotel and then a little trip to The Gateway for some shopping.


The next day we made our way over to Lagoon!!! Yeah! I love Lagoon. But it wasn't all cupcakes and butterflies... when we got there it was pouring rain. I mean, we were soaked before we got through the gates. We went straight to a shop and bought some ponchos. When we found a ride that was still running we rode it several times until our faces hurt from being pelted with rain. At that time we decided to leave the park for some lunch while the rain cleared out.

When we got back things were perfect! The rain scared a lot of people away so we were from ride to ride within minutes. Which actually turned out as a bad thing for Kacey at one point because his stomach didn't have time to settle and he threw up after a ride. Then the weather turned clear and hot so we suited up and went over to Lagoon-A Beach. It was so fun and probably my favorite part of the day.

You also won a couple stuffed animals for Brooklyn at a 3-point shootout game.

I haven't been pampered like this in a long time. I loved every second of it. Thank you so, so, so much. It was exactly what I needed. You know how much I love surprises and you really made this birthday special.

Sincerely, Lori


August 16, 2010

ANOTHER DAY ON THE LAKE




KURT JUMPING THE WAKE.

Dear Kurt,

Even though Brooklyn and I are coming down with colds, we spent a day on the lake.

KACEY JUMPING THE WAVES FROM ANOTHER BOAT

It was fabulous as always.

BRITTANNY GETTING ACROSS AFTER A JUMP.

And I am getting a ton better at wake boarding. I am not too proud to admit that I have been scared of wake boarding for a while. I am scared to crash hard and I can never seem to control the board like everyone else can. Today I overcame those fears and did awesome.

I EVEN GOT A LITTLE AIR ON MY JUMPS

And you, my friend, are also doing amazing! You attempted a back flip at least 5 times. I know "attempted" sounds lame but hey, it's a back flip!!! A person will either land it or they will crash hard, so you definitely get kudos for attempting! And I honestly think that you will get it one of these days.

ONE OF YOUR ATTEMPTED BACK FLIPS

Oh, and I can't forget about our adorable little baby. She did great on the boat, like always. She loves the loud music and danced almost the entire time. Except when she fell asleep on my chest for half an hour. So cute, she is.

BROOKLYN EXPLORING AND DANCING

Good times.

Sincerely, Lori


BRITTANNY, BROOKLYN AND I CHILLIN' IN THE BOAT

August 15, 2010

COMING DOWN WITH A COLD



Dear Brooklyn,

You are getting sick.

So am I.

It is not good timing because my birthday is next weekend and I was hoping to do a lot of fun stuff this week.

But I guess I can't complain too much because we haven't been sick in a while.

But it is still sad to see snot running down your lip or hear you sneeze.

Hopefully this passes quickly.

On a happy note: today you learned to say "hi." It is adorable.

Sincerely, Lori

August 14, 2010

DREAMING ABOUT INCEPTION

Dear Kurt,

Yesterday was our friend, Brittanny's Birthday so we went and saw Inception with her. The movie was amazing. I really enjoyed it. Leonardo Decaprio did a fabulous job, which coming from me is a lot because I have never been his biggest fan.

I kinda want to see it again soon...

Today has been a slow day. Hopefully it will get better when we have a bunch of friends over for games. Actually, I know it will get better.

Anyways....... prepare to lose at a bunch of board and card games. I love you.

Sincerely, Lori

August 12, 2010

A BINKY THIEF



Dear Brooklyn,

There is a binky thief loose in the neighborhood.

For some reason we went from having seven binkies to having two.... in a matter of weeks.

Grrrr.....

Last night your dad bought four more binkies. Let's see how longthose stick around for.

Maybe I'll have to wean you from them sooner then I thought.

Sincerely, Lori

August 10, 2010

LOST LETTERS



Dear Everyone,

My letters have been lost in the blogosphere for a while but now most of them have made it home. It kinda worked out because I was able to add some pictures I didn't have yet to the letters.

So read on because a lot has been going on. And hopefully our new internet will keep going strong.

Thanks to all for reading.

Sincerely, Lori


August 9, 2010

FRISBEE GOLF FIASCO



Dear Kurt,

Our little frisbee golf trip was less then ideal.

We went a little late so after only 5 or 6 holes it was almost completely dark. It didn't help that we spent 15 minutes throwing rocks into a tree because your frisbee got stuck.

We decided to create our own little "hole 7" on our way back to the car. Your first throw landed your frisbee into a dense pine tree. It was way to dark to tell where it was in the tree. Eventually you were voted to climb the tree to retrieve the frisbee.

You found the frisbee but ended up really high in the tree.


We told you to jump.... Kacey was going to catch you.


You decided to slide down the branches instead. It was kind of funny.


He he.

Sincerely, Lori


THANKS FOR THE LITTLE THINGS


Dear Kurt,

Thank you for taking care of me. You are amazing.

I woke up feeling awful but you had to go help your grandma so you couldn't stay home to make me feel better.

I was a little stressed about getting our grumpy little girl down for a nap. This is always a job that takes at least one healthy person. But when I went to get her ready for her nap, you had everything prepared. The bottle ready, the blanket laid you, the binkies found and put in the crib.... I really appreciate it.

I wasn't a lot but it meant the world to me at that moment. Thank you.

I love you.

Sincerely, Lori


August 8, 2010

A PARTY FOR BROOKLYN


Dear Brooklyn,

Today we had a little party for you, cake and ice cream with friends and family.

BIRTHDAY CAKE THAT GRANDMA KILLIAN MADE

The cutest thing was when we put the cake in front of you and sang happy birthday and you sat there and laughed for about five whole minutes. You would put your hand out like you wanted to touch the cake and then you would pull back and laugh, over and over again you did this until I took the cake away.


You also loved ripping into your presents.

OPENING PRESENTS WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM COBY AND ARIAL

You got a little shopping cart that you learned how push up and down the hall. At first you would push faster then you would walk and end up on your face but you learned quickly and now it is your favorite toy. You also got a lot of clothes because that is what you needed most.

It was a fun, crazy party. Hopefully we wore you out enough for you to sleep through the night.

So one last Happy Birthday from your mom and dad.

We love you.

Sincerely, Lori


August 4, 2010

MY BABY TURNS ONE




Dear Brooklyn,

Happy Birthday baby!


I can't believe
you turned one today. I am happy and sad all at the same time.


This year has been the best year of my life. It all went way too fast though. If I could go back and do this whole year over again then I would in a second.

You have
always been such a good little girl. I love to brag about how amazing you are.

Today was a good day.
We went to a little water park with a few friends and family.
I was a little worried that you wouldn't like the cold water but you ended up loving it.



We brought cupcakes and you got your first cupcake, which actually ended up more all over the grass then in your mouth.

After that we went to the Idaho Falls City Picnic with Grandma, Mia, Shania, and Cody. You were able to play with your friend Wyatt who turns one tomorrow.

Then
we went to the zoo
where you called every animal "kitty, kitty" and got scared to death when a lemur jumped to a ledge right in front of you.

It was a good day
but right now I am officially begging you to stop growing so fast.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn.

I love you so much.

Sincerely, Lori