Brooke and I had a blast hanging out with Troy's family this past week. On Thursday (a week and a half ago) Troy went to Chicago for a seminar and I flew to Salt Lake. I'll have to admit that I was kind of scared traveling with Brooke on a plane by myself for the very first time but she was a gem. She didn't make one peep the whole flight. I never realized that traveling with a baby would require so much packing. Brooke, alone, had one full suitcase to herself. Another thing I noticed is that no one wants to sit next to a baby. I boarded the plane after group A and found a seat in row 5. There was already another gentleman sitting in the aisle seat so I sat next the window. As people passed, they would make eye contact with me and show a little excitement of "yes, I found a sweet seat" then they would notice Brooke sitting in my lap and pass on by. It was pretty humorous. 
We tried giving Brooke a bath in the sink. I think she was a little to big for it. 
Friday, Troy's mom and I went down to Lindon to hang out with the ladies on her side of the family. It was a lot of fun catching up with everyone and to see how big all the little kids have gotten. Unfortunately, I never pulled out my camera. Saturday and Sunday were pretty chill since it was conference weekend. Will and Kristin came up Sunday night for dinner. Little Sierra is a cutie and I can't believe she can already walk! We tried doing horse faces again. Here's how they turned out.
Monday I met up with some friends from back home. I hadn't seen them in years and it was fun to catch up. 
That afternoon I started feeling a little achy and I worried that it was the onset of the flu. Well, it turns out that it wasn't the flu but a really nasty stomach bug. Starting Tuesday morning and going through Wednesday I could not keep anything in me. It was pretty horrible and I have never experienced anything like that. It sucked. Luckily I had Grandma Ware to help because I could not give a whole lot of attention to Brooke. 
By Wednesday I was starting to feel better so I drove down to Provo to meet up with Troy. He was doing recruiting at BYU. We hung out with Shane and Heather that night. Thursday, I had lunch with Jenna at L&T on campus. That was the first real meal that I had since Monday night that I was able to keep down. It was delicious. Friday we flew back home. It was such a great mini vacation but it's nice to be back home.
We tried giving Brooke a bath in the sink. I think she was a little to big for it. Friday, Troy's mom and I went down to Lindon to hang out with the ladies on her side of the family. It was a lot of fun catching up with everyone and to see how big all the little kids have gotten. Unfortunately, I never pulled out my camera. Saturday and Sunday were pretty chill since it was conference weekend. Will and Kristin came up Sunday night for dinner. Little Sierra is a cutie and I can't believe she can already walk! We tried doing horse faces again. Here's how they turned out. Monday I met up with some friends from back home. I hadn't seen them in years and it was fun to catch up. That afternoon I started feeling a little achy and I worried that it was the onset of the flu. Well, it turns out that it wasn't the flu but a really nasty stomach bug. Starting Tuesday morning and going through Wednesday I could not keep anything in me. It was pretty horrible and I have never experienced anything like that. It sucked. Luckily I had Grandma Ware to help because I could not give a whole lot of attention to Brooke. By Wednesday I was starting to feel better so I drove down to Provo to meet up with Troy. He was doing recruiting at BYU. We hung out with Shane and Heather that night. Thursday, I had lunch with Jenna at L&T on campus. That was the first real meal that I had since Monday night that I was able to keep down. It was delicious. Friday we flew back home. It was such a great mini vacation but it's nice to be back home. I left Brooke in the crib while I was packing and I found her like this. I thought it was pretty funny.
The weather leading up to Friday had been great but a cold front moved in bringing frigid temps. I think when we got into Denver it was somewhere in the mid to high 50s. Saturday was in the low 50s and today was in the mid to low 40s. Yowza!!! We also had some crazy fog. Too bad it was Halloween because the weather would have been perfect for it.
The weather leading up to Friday had been great but a cold front moved in bringing frigid temps. I think when we got into Denver it was somewhere in the mid to high 50s. Saturday was in the low 50s and today was in the mid to low 40s. Yowza!!! We also had some crazy fog. Too bad it was Halloween because the weather would have been perfect for it.
Last but not least I thought I would add this pic of Brooke. A neighbor made this little beanie for her. I think she looks like a little elf. Troy thinks she looks like the one of the hammer brothers on Super Mario. I think she's just a cutie.
Troy took one for the team and stayed home with Brooke. We then had chicken kabobs, twice baked potatoes, and fruit salad for dinner. It was all very delicious. Afterwards we had cupcakes. I decided this year that I wanted all the candles on one cupcake. Let me tell you, that flame was pretty high but it was funny. 
Troy came close to singing off his eyebrows.
Luckily the smoke alarm didn't go off!!!
The cupcake after all the candles were taken out.
Robyn got me The Five People You Meet In Heaven and a cookbook for making soups. I'm excited to dive into both of these books. Today was a pretty chill day for it being my birthday. I was all celebrated out from Friday and Saturday. After Troy came home from his meetings we opened my other b-day presents from his family and him. His family got me a cool cookbook for making creative cakes. It will definitely come in handy in the future. Troy got me the best present of all...a 85 minute Swedish Massage at some spa. I had told him a little bit ago that what I wanted for my birthday every year I had a kid was a massage. It's amazing what pregnancy has done to my back and I am looking forward to scheduling my massage. I will have to let you know how it goes. It will be my first one ever. So all in all I had a fabulous birthday. Thanks to all for the phone calls and emails. 
So since we harvested our first zucchini back at the beginning of August I would venture to say that we have picked at least 40 zucchini and they're still coming! Troy's mom was right when she said that we only needed to plant one seed. Originally we planted 15 seeds (as directed on the seed packet). Nine of the 15 took and Troy thinned out the mounds. Luckily, the six that he transplanted died. I don't know what I would have done if we have 9 zucchini plants. The funny thing is that one of the zucchini has actually grown to be a vine that has decided to migrate to the other side of the fence. Good thing the other side of the fence is just open space. Troy says that there's a zucchini growing on that side too. 
We also have a one too many rows of green beans. I'd say that we get at least 1/2 - 1 lb of green beans a week. Good thing we have plenty of neighbors to pawn them off to. We decided to harvest our potatoes this last week and what a disappointment. They were just little dodes. I'm thinking we're going to have to wait until fall of next year before we can pick them! Anywho, I think we've had a good season of vegetables. Maybe next year we'll try to venture out and plant something else besides green veggies.
She was completely spoiled by all aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas, grandpas, great aunts, great grandpa, and especially great grandma. 
I don't think Brooke was put down for even a minute during this weekend. Will and Kristin came in Friday and everyone else on Saturday. All in all, we had 24 people over and it was a blast. The weekend was filled with catching up, playing the Wii, enjoying the backyard, and eating a lot of food. 
Troy did a great job blessing Brooke and didn't even drop her afterwards. (that was a fear of mine, that Brooke would all of a sudden squirm and fall out of his hands). 
We are sad that our house is now empty and quiet but I'm am definitely grateful that Troy is on paternity leave this week. Today is Day 1 of trying to get Brooke to be able to put herself to sleep and it hasn't been too bad. (Knock on wood) The first time we put her down, Brooke cried for maybe 5 minutes then fell asleep. Hopefully that means good things are to come. We're keeping our fingers crossed that this week will go smoothly and Brooke will be able to put herself to sleep by the time Troy has to go back to work.
Thanks to all who traveled here this weekend. It was great seeing everyone.