Happy Day!!!!

Last week went by in a blur but luckily we were able to celebrate Troy's b-day (or as Brooke likes to call it, his "happy day"). I surprised Troy with a date Friday night. The date was supposed to be a surprise but he ruined it by trying to schedule our home teachers to come that night. We left Brooke with a babysitter and headed out for dinner. We arrived to Cheesecake Factory to find out that there would be a little bit of wait. Well, with my finagling I managed to get us a table right away and we even were able share it with some friends. At least I was able to pull off a little bit of a surprise. We enjoyed dinner and cheesecake then headed back home to play some games. Originally I thought about doing a surprise b-day party but decided that was way too much work and that there would be no way that I could hold a secret for that long.

Saturday was a busy day. Our neighborhood had the annual Pumpkin Fest. I totally forgot to bring a camera but Brooke enjoyed petting all the animals at the petting zoo and picking out our pumpkin. Later in the evening was our ward's Trunk-or-Treat party that included a chili cook-off. Brooke definitely got the hang of saying "trick or treat" in order to get candy pretty early on.

Can you tell what Brooke and Troy are?

Sunday, we finally got around to carving our pumpkin and later in the evening we trick-or-treated to a few houses in our neighborhood. All in all the weekend festivities were a lot of fun and now it's just getting Brooke back to being normal and off her sugar high.

Oh, and P.S

The Other Half

So I ran a half marathon last weekend. That's all good and well, but we all know what you really want is to see pictures of Brooke. So here she is painting. It started on the paper and ended on the cheek.

In addition to the arts, she's been dabbling in fashion. Very avant garde.

Tracie's dad came out last weekend. Brooke enjoyed all of the special attention from 'Gong Gong'.

She likes to play at the park.

She climbs pretty much anything and has really started becoming adventurous.

Just hanging out.

Swings are more entertaining when Gong Gong tries to get you.

I ran the Other Half in Moab. The course was beautiful... for the first 6 miles. Nice and flat, right next to the river. Then the hills started...

The best part of the race was crossing the finish line. I was grateful for all of the support from my parents, brothers, wife, daughter, nieces and nephews. I'm not sure I will run that course again, but am willing to train and run one with someone else for anyone interested.

Ice Cream!!!

Because I'm Lazy and It's Cold Outside

Fall has finally decided to show its face this past week. Tempuratures have dropped making the days cooler and the nights even colder. We decided to make a quick trip to the mountains to check out what was left of the fall foliage. We were greeted with this:There was about a 30 degree difference from home to the mountains so we saw some of this.
Good thing I left the Christmas music at home or I may have busted it out.

Because of the colder tempuratures at night, we thought (meaning Troy), it would be best to pick our last harvest from the garden.

All in all our garden this year was eh. We got a lot of zucchini and yellow squash, some odd looking tomatoes, a couple cantelope and watermelon, and 4-5 snow peas. Hopefully next year when we rotate our boxes, we'll be able to produce much more. And lastly, because it's been cooler outside, we (meaning Troy), have been keeping Brooke entertained. Her new thing it to "help" build a tall tower...

then knock it over.

Happy Birthday/Race for the Cure

Has it really been two weeks? This sums up how our last couple of weeks have been. Lots of running around, and lots of relaxation together as a family.

Last week Tracie celebrated her golden birthday. It was generally a relaxed day, but I did surprise her with a dinner out. Brooke helped her open the gifts...

... and to blow out the candles.

This morning Tracie joined the ladies from THE cul-de-sac and 50,000 of their closest friends at the Denver Race for the Cure. They did the 5K at 7 am. It was a good experience and we may have to do it as a family sometime in the future.


Afterwards it was up to Loveland to watch conference with Aaron, Robyn, and Taylor. Long, relaxing, rewarding day.

A Taste Of Fall

It seems like for the past few weeks there will be one day out of the week that gives us a hint of fall. Yesterday was a perfect fall day with the sun shining but the temperature being a perfect 73ish. We followed it up with a nice whopping 90 degree day today.

Brooke and I had a busy, fun week that ended with a great trip to the zoo. (meaning-I don't have any pictures from the week except for the zoo trip). She loved seeing all the animals and her freedom of walking the whole park. She didn't sit in her stroller until we had to leave to meet Troy for lunch. If you ask her what she saw she would say "bears, roars, giraffes, mongoose, tigers, monkeys, elephants, seals" and many, many more.I'm so glad that we got a membership there and that she loves seeing the different kinds of animals.

Yesterday was a pretty nice and relaxing day. We didn't do much at all. Troy has been training for his half marathon and ran his 11 miler. He is doing awesome training and I am so impressed with him. He's doing his training all on his own and he has kept up with it.

Uncle Jonathan came down to visit today. Brooke got to show him some of her new tricks.

Squishy has also been showing off some of her disappearing tricks as well.

Oh rise and shout?

We had a full house on Saturday as friends and family descended on us for the BYU - Air Force game. Here are the highlights:

Brooke enjoyed having a couple of other kids around, and she and Declan ran laps around the backyard. That boy is fearless!

Taylor and Riley drove out from Orem and we enjoyed their company all weekend. It was great to get to know Riley, and Brooke had a lot of fun with the both of them.

We couldn't get them to hug for the camera, just a couple of big smiles!

As for the game, the biggest highlight was the $5 food voucher and the halftime show with the big American flag. Seriously. That was possibly the last BYU game we get to watch at that Stadium?!?! We need at least one more game to redeem our poor performance, the high winds that meant no skydivers and missing man formation, and the horrendous traffic.

Sunday we got to hang out with just Taylor and Riley. We had fun playing games and Tracie enjoyed her new fur shawl.

A Butcher, A Baker, and A Candlestick Maker...oh, and a Photographer

Okay, so maybe not a butcher or a candlestick maker but I think we have a budding baker and photographer in our home. Just within the last week, Brooke has shown a real interest in the goings on in the kitchen. She is not satisfied anymore with sitting on the opposite side of the island watching. No, she has to push the stool over to be by my side and even insist on helping. Her favorite thing to do is "turn" which in the culinary world is stirring.And in this case, mash.Just thought I'd throw this one in here to show how much Squishy wishes she could help out. Luckily, Brooke knows how to take control of her kitchen.Along with being a budding baker, Brooke is also an aspiring photographer. There have been many of times, where I have left her to take a shower and have come back to find at least 30 new pictures on the camera. Amazingly enough she somehow manages to focus and produce some great pictures like these:

I may have assisted in keeping her hands still of this shot.

We managed to have a fun filled Labor Day complete with seeing some family and friends. Jonathan came down Saturday for some Brooke time and Monday, we had a Labor Day BBQ. My mom would be so proud of me. We had 7 families come which included 14 kids under the ages of 6 running amuck. We had a full spread of food and everything went off without a hitch. I didn't think I could do it but I did. Now bring on Thanksgiving!!!!

Lastly, I just wanted to show proof that Lexie and Squishy are now starting to get along.