Swimming, Paint and Spaghetti

We've been hitting up the pool in the last few weeks as we try to get the most out of the warm weather and also the rest of the swim diapers! Brooke loves it.

Saturday was paint day. We've been mulling color choices for the past few weeks and for those that were following the choices Tracie finally decided on Koi Pond. We spent Friday and Saturday morning taping, and put our first coat on by noon. Squishy had to be banished and Brooke watched more movies than she cared for, but it looked really good... Except for the fact that Koi Pond was not the right color. After some discussion we decided that Garden Sage was indeed the choice. After painting, it was definitely the right choice. Do you agree?

Two perspectives on the painting, one from Brooke, one from Tracie.

We had spaghetti tonight for dinner. Brooke liked it.

While the Cat's Away...

The mamas will play. I took a spur of the moment trip to Utah last week to keep Heather company while Shane has been away for the past 2 weeks. It worked out really well with Grandpa and Grandma Burt coming out here to visit and Brooke and I driving back with them. Brooke did fabulous in the car especially staying dry from Denver to Cheyenne then Cheyenne to Little America. She was a rockstar and I know that Gpa and Gma loved hearing her sing and babble. Once we arrived in Utah, Brooke and I parted ways. Me with Heather and Brooke with Grandma Ware and all the cousins. Heather and I had so much fun eating, shopping, talking, and watching Inception (again, I know). So much fun that I hardly took any pictures. The only pic I got was of Heather taking a bite from her lobster fettucine and my delicious halibut and crabcake from Market Street Grill.
If you want to see what Brooke was up to you can go here. It was a fabulous trip and I had so much fun. Shane needs to take another trip abroad and maybe Heather can come out here to play.

While I was away, Troy had a pretty busy week. He put together the last of our garden boxes
And made sure our lawn looked well groomed.
Thanks Troy for letting me go on such short notice. Thanks Gma Ware for watching all the kiddies. And thanks Heather for all the fun.

6 years and counting

Tracie and I celebrated anniversary #6 with a local flair. We got a couples massage (highly recommended), went to see Inception (equally highly recommended), and had dinner at a local Italian eatery (also recommended). It was a very nice day and a big thanks to Coco for watching Brooke.

We were also visited by my Grandparents this past weekend. We enjoyed hanging out and Brooke enjoyed the extra attention



"I stuck!!!"

Brooke had a lot of fun playing with Sunny last week. They play really well together and we will miss Sunny and the rest of their family.

Brooke is an excellent singer. I like W the best.

Summer Days

No summer is complete without a visit from Grandma. My mom flew out last Tuesday and it was pretty much go, go, go until she left Saturday. Tuesday, Brooke and I picked up my mom and headed my cousin, Jonathan's, place. She loves going there and playing with all of fun stuff mom doesn't let her play with at home. Also, because Uncle Jonathan takes her swimming. After swimming, Jonathan and his sister, JoJo, made a feast for dinner. It was delicious and Brooke enjoyed every bite.

Wednesday, we headed to storytime in the morning and then hit up Sprouts, my favorite grocery store. Brooke also had a little dress up session with my mom.

Thursday, we met up with Jonathan, JoJo, and Troy and had brunch at a delicious place called Snooze. It was super yummy and we were all stuffed by the end of it. Luckily, my mom, JoJo, Brooke, and I were able to walk it off at the Denver Zoo. I love that Brooke is now at the age where she gets excited by all the different animals and can even name them.

Say "cheese"

Friday, we headed to storytime again then to the paint store to look at paint samples for the kitchen. You'll just have to wait and see what we picked. (don't hold your breath though. Not sure when I'll actually get to painting the kitchen). In the afternoon, my mom helped me finally paint our downstairs bathroom. Thanks to her, we were able to get all the taping and painting done while Brooke was down for her nap. Thanks mom!!!!

Saturday, we met up with Jonathan to have dim sum then went to the airport to drop my mom off. It was a great week and we wish she could have stayed longer. She was playing with an old cell phone this morning and was talking with Popo. I guess this just means my mom and dad need to come out here more often.

Rain

This week was a rainy interim week between my family visiting last weekend and Tracie's mom coming tomorrow. As a result, we only get the following pictures.



I mean, do you need anymore words to describe our week? Two highlights. One, our grass is looking a lot greener thanks to a little TLC from my Dad. Thanks again Pops!
Two, we went with some friends to the temple on Friday night. Afterwards we went to dinner, and next thing you know it was 10:30. Nice to have some adult interaction every once in a while.

A Head Above the Rest

Well, July 24th came and went without a hitch. We started the weekend off by welcoming Troy's family with dinner and mini golf Friday night. I would like to say that I won because of my awesome hole-in-one but Dad Ware beat us by 2 strokes. To even think that I was in the competition was good enough for me though. Afterwards, we headed to Cold Stone for Brooke's free b-day ice cream. By the time we got home, it was a late night for our soon-to-be birthday girl. Saturday morning, she decided to sleep in so she could have enough energy to make it through the rest of the day. We went and saw Toy Story 3. Brooke was all prepped and ready to go having seen Toy Story 1 & 2 several times. She would say Buzz every time he popped up on the screen and say uh oh if the screen went dark. It was her first time to the movies and she did really well. Afterwards, we stuffed ourselves at Sweet Tomatoes then put Brooke down for a well deserved nap. The evening was pretty chill and relaxing. We had a great dinner, sang Happy birthday to Brooke, and opened her presents. She was one spoiled gal but she loved all the gifts she got. I finally broke down and bought her a doll. Surprisingly, Brooke was ready to go and feed the baby, push her in her stroller, and was also pretty adamant that the doll suck her fingers like she does. Silly girl.

Tuesday was Brooke's 2 year appointment. Her stats are:

Head: 19 1/2" (90-95%)

Height: 34 1/2" (50-75%)

Weight: 24.8 lbs. (10-25%)

Some of the things that she's been up to and learning are:

How to ride her new tricycle

-Is mostly potty trained. We've had a few accidents here and there but I think she's quickly catching on.

-Loves having Squishy around and wants to cuddle with her maybe a little too much
-Loves to sing. Her favorites are ABCs, Wheels on the Bus, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

-Likes to make a mess anywhere she is.

-Loves to read

-Since coming back from CA, she loves climbing on everything and anything

-Sleeps in a big girl bed

-Finally is fearless of the park and the slide.

She is a great gal and we love the fun and laughter she brings to our family. Thanks a great 2 years Brooke!!!!!!!

Camping

We've been saying every summer for the last 5 years that we should go camping, and we actually got around to going this past weekend. Though a late departure by me from work nearly ruined it before we started.

We went with our friends the Cowans. It was a lot of fun, and hopefully we've established a yearly tradition. Here are some of the highlights.


Brooke and Lizzie had lots of fun, and they were well rested and relatively clean at the beginning of the trip.

We made peach cobbler and homemade ice cream (thanks Jer and Kenz!). Lizzie was the only kid to make it up long enough to partake.

What happens when your two year old wakes up at 4:20 am because it is starting to get light outside? She looks like this at 7:15. Luckily she took an hour long nap later in the morning.

This is why we love Colorado. Bright blue skies, beautiful mountains, and Pikes Peak pink granite whose high erosive quotient leaves rounded rocks like these all around Devil's Head.

We hiked up to the top of Devil's Head on Saturday morning, and Brooke started off with a bang. She busted out the first third of a mile or so all by herself. All told she walked a good half to three quarters of a mile. Guess that morning nap really worked.

The fire lookout tower at the top provides some stunning views...

... and randomly lots of ladybugs. Not sure why.

The kids were worn out from the hike up, so the hike down was quick and quiet!

It was a fun weekend, and Squishy was glad that we were back (I think).

Changes

In less than 2 weeks, are little girl won't be so little any more. I can't believe how quick these past 2 years have gone. In celebration of her upcoming birthday, we decided to put her in a big girl bed. We set it up Saturday and so far, she's done very well. I was also planning on potty training her this week but decided that since we're going camping this weekend, this week was probably not the best to do it. So it's been pushed back to next week. Wish me good luck on this because I have absolutely no clue in what I'm doing. I'm pretty sure Brooke is ready to go though.

I've already found pen marks in her bed. A nice reminder to make sure there are no writing utensils of any kind in her room.I caved and bought bedding that had pink in it.

The other change this week is we decided to get Lexie a pal. Her name is Squishy (named by the shelter we got her from). She's 2 months old and loves being around people. We thought that Lexie would like to have a friend around when we're not home. We'll see in the next couple of weeks if our decision was a good one. Brooke loves having Squishy around and loves giving her hugs and kisses all the time. Saturday was a busy day for us. A neighbor was putting on a carnival to raise money for the school's P.E. teacher so we headed down there in the morning. Brooke had a lot of fun playing the games and winning tons of candy. I believe in the 2 hours we were there, she had 3 dum dums, a snow cone, capri sun, and a hot dog.Later in the evening we headed downtown to catch a Rockies game with the Powells. We had fabulous seats in left field and a couple of home runs were close to where we were. We were even able to stay the whole game and Brooke loved the attention she got from the people around us.