catch up.

gosh i have a lot to catch up on over here! between lots of play dates, Easter, and a crazy killer assignment james has for school... this poor little blog has been neglected. but i am determined to catch up this week! 

starting with not last weekend but the one before...

and this was actually that thursday, so not technically the weekend, but james didn't have class so it sure felt like the weekend. anyway, the weather was warm so we decided to take dinner out to the backyard and have a little picnic.

brooklyn loves picnics. any kind. 

it was so nice outside! we were surrounded by our "popcorn trees" and it just felt like spring!

the next night we celebrated kenzee's birthday with dinner at my parents' house.

sunday morning we stuck to our new tradition of sourdough pancakes for breakfast. brooklyn ate almost three of them. that's a lot for her!

sunday best. in blue.

after church, we made our way to morgan for kenzee's surprise "congrats on getting into medical school" party. so fun and dev actually kept it a secret. fun for another chance to see family again.

it was a great weekend. busy, but good. luckily, kendall is learning to be better in the car or all the traveling would have been a nightmare. 

h a p p y  t u e s d a y 

grad + rain + conference center

our weekend kicked off with a trip up to weber state to watch my SIL graduate (in microbiology for crying out loud!). i was worried about taking brooklyn to an event like that, but she totally surprised me and did quite well. we only had to make one bathroom trip, and that was mostly for this pregnant mama.

haley, my mom, and my dad all took turns entertaining her or holding her in their laps. she loved the attention.

and we loved being able to be there to support kenz!

^^^i love this picture and wish so badly it wasn't blurry^^^

after the ceremony, that seriously only lasted an hour, we headed outside for a few photos. 

james met up with all of us for lunch where we enjoyed some delicious food and being together. dev and kenz will be moving from ogden next week and we'll be sad not to have them right close.

saturday it rained. and rained. i love when it rains and i have no plans except to get things done around my house and read a good book. we mostly did just that, but with a quick trip to the library and grocery store squeezed in there.

that evening, we had jc&e over to relax with us. seriously. we watched some shows together, ordered chinese, and then topped it all off with ramekins full of hot gooey chocolate chip cookie and ice cream. heaven. we love that we can just hang out together and seriously do nothing. it really is the best. and i really should take more pictures of it. ya know, of chinese food and sweat pants. oh and ellie's chubby cheeks.

sunday started out bright and early. our regional conference was held in salt lake at the conference center and we'd been told to be there an hour early to make sure we got a good seat. so we did just that. we pulled up exactly one hour early and got jackpot seats. the back row of the plaza, on the end. it worked out well because we knew brooklyn would need a bathroom break in those two hours and half hours of sitting. the conference was really good. i enjoyed the talks and loved being at the conference center. it just makes it a totally different experience.

it was brooklyn's first time at the conference center and she was more than excited to be there. on the way in, every single escort complimented her on her shoes or how pretty she looked. she was beaming. and when we first walked into the plaza she said, "wooow!" i wish i would have had it on camera. she was impressed and so excited to be there.

the fountains around the outside of the conference center were her favorite though. she couldn't get enough and she didn't care that it was freezing outside. 

it's the simple things right?

we were home by one and brooklyn had fallen asleep in the car. it gave us a nice long sunday at home. before we headed to conference, james had put a roast, potatoes, and carrots in the crock pot for us to enjoy when we got home. we were starving when we got home and the yummy smells that welcomed us home were heaven sent. 

i enjoyed a short nap and a little reading. i spent a lot of time playing with brooklyn and reading her stories. james played with her and we also did a little skyping across the ocean to hawaii. it was definitely a nice relaxing sunday.

 whenever i go upstairs to change or do anything else, she's right there. my little shadow. so when i changed out of my church clothes, she was right there to tell me what to wear and what not to wear. she danced in the mirror as i was getting ready to close the closet door and i had to snap this photo.

^^^i hope she's always this confident in front of a mirror^^^

and now the baby bump update:

31 weeks. 31 weeks you guys! oh my gosh, i'm elated! i can't even handle it! and i know i say that every week, but it's the dead honest truth. i am getting overly anxious to meet this little babe. seriously. and this upcoming week has been deemed as 'project nursery week'. it's basically all ready and set up, but i'm still working on moving all of brooklyn's stuff out of the closet and drawers, the toddler bed needs to be changed back into a crib, and i have a few other little things i need to do. i've been putting it off because i feel like i've still had so much time before, but now it seems close enough that i feel the pressure to get it done. i'm also worried that finishing 'project nursery' will make me even more anxious. but i guess that's all part of it right? 57 days to go and i imagine that will go by a lot faster than i think it will. 

57 days.

h a p p y  m o n d a y 

rain + a birthday

brooklyn's mood matched the weather the second she woke up. i didn't think either of us would make it through the day. luckily, after a tummy full of breakfast and a bath, she was back to her regular happy little camper self. we ran a few errands in the rain and she thought it was a riot. the whole time she sang songs like, "oh mister sun, sun, mister golden sun...", and "rain rain go away..." it definitely made the rain a little more tolerable.

and honestly...

i am super happy about the rain. we need it! last summer was a nightmare as far as water goes. i hand watered our lawn for a month, and then by the end of the summer, we couldn't even turn our sprinklers on more than twice a week. our poor lawn burnt right up. it made me so sad. my in-laws always had this yard looking so nice and to see it like that was a nightmare. so hopefully this summer the water situation will be better.

luckily, brooklyn was content to keep herself busy inside and she didn't really complain about not being able to play outside. she took a good nap and upon waking up, announced that she was ready to go to "aunt tenny's"(kenzee's) to take her her birthday present. she was so excited. we picked up a few balloons in colors that remind us of kenzee and brooklyn could hardly take all the excitement. she couldn't wait to give them to kenz and even said she wanted to sing happy birthday to her all by herself. 

(gosh i wish this picture wasn't blurry)

kenz let her help her open her presents, and then brooklyn had uncle dev turn off the lights so that she could sing happy birthday to her. she knows how to make a birthday complete. she adores those guys (see picture below) and they are so patient with her. she loves when they are around and she even thought about just staying with them for the night. she's lucky to have an aunt and uncle that are so sweet to her. 

i ended my night at new beginnings for young women's and came home to james and brooklyn cuddled up on the couch watching a movie together. james definitely got his wish in a daughter that loves movies. she does. for the most part, she will sit and watch almost a whole one. she won't hold still for anything else. james likes to get her hooked on one and then try and keep her intrigued the whole time. brooklyn secretly loves it. at the end of the night, she was smothering him with kisses and james was in heaven. he's excited to add another little girl to the mix. lots more tiny kisses for him. 

and we're stoked it's thursday. YESSSS!!!