So many emotions

I leave for Europe with my sisters tomorrow afternoon. We are going to London to visit the parents then meet up with my niece Marissa and Brother-on-law, Blake to tour Paris and then Switzerland. I am super excited to have this amazing opportunity to travel at a minimal expense and WAY nervous to leave my family. I have never left Brooklyn overnight before so this is huge for me. Let me go back for a bit. Cherlyn and Blake were so generous and used all there frequent flier miles to pay for our tickets to Europe so that the girls could go see mom and dad. This was an opportunity hard to pass up, not the greatest timing since we just bought a house, but since Jeanette is prego's and wanted to come we had to go now before she gets any bigger. My parents are excited to see us as well.

Now for the reason of this post, I know that while I am away Brooklyn will be in great hands she loves her daddy and her Nana is coming to help out as well so she will be set. Thank you Maria for coming up to help it is extremely helpful to us so Danny can keep working and making money while I go play. :) This helps me feel comfortable, but will miss B and Danny A Lot. I think I need to wear waterproof mascara since I will be crying the plane flight over. No really tonight when I put B to bed I was singing our usual songs before bedtime and she was hugging me patting my back humming along and I could barely get the words out. I was crying telling her I love her etc.. See even now getting teary eyed thinking about it. She can be a handful but is so sweet and sincere. Gotta love our Brooklyn Rose.

Some proof that she is a daddy's girl!

She loves to brush her teeth and yours as well - perhaps she will like the dental field like mommy.

Loves to walk in daddy's shoes

And fix things with her daddy, always a little helper.

This past weekend Brooklyn got another ear infection and ran an extremely high fever for 4 days it got up to 105.2 and down to 103.8. It was terrible to see her not feel good and we could do nothing for her. Luckily Monday she woke up with no fever, crossing my fingers that she stays that way while I am gone. I would feel terrible is she gets sick again while I am away. Oh and yes they gave her a totally different antibiotic this time and no reaction and yes it does cost more than the cheap Amoxicillin but totally worth not going to the ER again.
        I love you guys and am gonna miss you tons!!

Cousins

Cousin time for B, this week we have been watching Clara so Ricky can attend a Computer Show and Stephanie can relax and hang out with Ricky in Vegas after he is done at the show. It has been fun. Brooklyn gets super excited to see her then not so sure about sharing, but usually does in the end. I am sure Clara is wondering where all her siblings are running around, but I think she is having fun. They have opposite napping times so there is always one kid awake, normally no big deal, but his week I have been trying to clean and get things ready before I leave so it has been a rough one.I do not think I could be a mom of twins they need special parents. It will be an adventure for Danny he gets them for the next day and 1/2 on his own. 

Crazy weather lately, we were eating dinner and there was a down pour of hail for 10 min or so then it went away, same thing today! Crazy. Can't really tell in the pic but they are the size of marbles.

SLC Fun

 Danny went to Moab with the Casida/Chitwood boys and some other friends so on his way and to help break up the drive Brooklyn and I tagged along.Well for the first 5 hours tell we got to Salt Lake and then we left him and went to spend the weekend with Cherlyn and clan. Blake was out of town that weekend as well so it was just the girls and the kids. We got to go to a few sporting events for the kids. Brooklyn was trying to learn how to ride Eliza's scooter at Marissa's game. It was an exhausting weekend, but always great to spend time with Cherlyn and the kids we have a great time together.

 Eliza giving Scooter 101 class.

 Marissa showing her stuff, she is quite good. Her dream is to play softball for BYU, I think she has a chance.

 Friday the weather was not as good as Thursday, but we decided to brave the zoo. Since we have a pass for Boise we get into Utah's zoo free as well!! Of course we get out of the car at the zoo and it starts to rain, but we braved it anyways.

 This Peacock was so pretty when it opened up.

 Have to say this zoo is quite a bit more exciting than ours they have more animals, like Elephants.

 Go this way Lucas

 and Rhinos

 The Crew

 Ah such sweet girls

 The sistas braving it with the kids all weekend

 All aboard!!

 Lucas I almost did not recognize you

Cherlyn, because she has nothing better to do with her time. Ha Ha (she is the true definition of taxi mom) Is coaching the girls soccer team on Saturday mornings, she's a yeller but has a good time.

Sun=Zoo

 The nicest day of Easter Week was when only Josh, Kristian and Dani were here. So we took advantage of the sunshine and went to the Boise Zoo. Thanks to the Ricky and Stephanie we have a zoo pass so we get in for Free. It was a great afternoon we meet up with the Barnett's after Alli's adoption and explored for a few hours. We hadn't spent much time with just them so it was great to just stroll around and talk.

 

Obviously she was more interested in her snacks than taking a picture with me.

 Safari Girls

 B was pointing at the Lion basking in the sun.

Playing on the Giraffe slide, dad was having a hard time capturing the down the slide picture.

 Going home to make Breakfast for dinner!

 Stretching with daddy after his workout class

 Yum, can't get enough of those hash-browns, thanks Uncle Josh!

Special Day

This is Allyson she is a little girl that Brooklyn has become friends with from swimming at the YMCA over the last 6 months. She has been a foster child to Stacie and Rob since she was 5 months old she will be 2 in May.  The foster family has been blessed with the opportunity to Adopt Ally into there family and we were invited to be apart this special day.

We walked into the courtroom 2 min before the judge walked in, lucky us! This is the same Judge that has seen them for every court date up to the final one. Such a great family for Ally to be apart of. Her birth mother is a very messed up teenage girl so she is in a much better place.

The girls love to see each other. When they do they give each other hugs and are full of smiles it was an instant connection.

We are so happy for your family. Thank you for inviting us to be a part of this special day, it has been a long time coming and you will be forever blessed for taking Ally to be apart of your family.

The weather was amazing that day. It was the first sunshine we had had in a while, all the flowers were blooming it could not have been a better day.

Spring Break Fun

The Barnett's and Givenrod's were here for part of there spring break. The weather was not so great until the end of the week of course when they were leaving. We still managed to have a little fun while they were here.

Kalie being the momma to Jenna and Brooklyn. Little relaxing in the morning.

Little fun at Monkey Bizness for a few hours. B was not so sure of the huge slide at first but warmed up once the girls were going with her.

Kris finally made it up the famous Camelback hill that we like to go take hike at. It is quite a trek good job!

We saw a bird's nest along the trail.

A Little Playground fun after hiking for a while.

A nice lunch on Hwy 21 headed to Idaho City at Kodiak Grill that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri ( we seem to have a few places in Idaho featured on this show). Pretty good food and service. Mike and Nicole suggested going it was a good choice, think it will be a repeat place.

Brooklyn was enjoying the ketchup and fries!

Easter Festivites

This Easter was a busy one for us, we had a house full of people. On Saturday night we dyed eggs with the girls and played some games after the kids went to bed. 

 

Easter morning Dani gave us a little program about Jesus and the meaning of Easter. They made a little project at school that she presented to us. It was cute and a good way to go away from all the baskets and candy for a while. Thanks Dani you did a great job.

 

Getting Easter dinner ready was a little stressful for me this year. I am used to having everyone over when the house is clean, table set, and food is about ready. Thankfully Cara was here to help with getting the food, house and help with Brooklyn before it was time to eat or dinner would have been delayed a while. We had the Barnett Family (3), the Givenrod Family (4), the Wheeler Family (4), Mark and Cara and US. I felt like mom when we would all show up.

The new way to dye eggs with little ones, saw it in a magazine. Put the egg in a wire whisk and it does not get you messy and the egg stays uncracked. 

 B was quite proud of her pink egg with her name on it. She had to show it to everyone. 

 All the girls, don't know who had more fun the adults or the kids? 

Brooklyn getting her first Barbie in her Easter Basket.

Thank you for the pretty Easter dress Nana. Doesn't she look so grown up here? Her baby face is going away, well the cheeks aren't but she is starting to look older to me. Sad

What is the face all about?

Playing outside before dinner with Garrett. They are at the phase where if the other kid has it they want it.

Some of us at dinner

Watch out!! I see eggs must get them.. our little egg hunt after dinner.
Before it got really cold.

Garrett would drop his eggs out of his basket and Brooklyn would be right behind picking them up. She was serious about those eggs.

All the egg hunters.
Thank you all for coming and spending the holiday with us it is always great to spend time with close friends and family. We are blessed in so many ways.