Tis Love We Get, When Love We Bring...

More Summer FUN!!!

2011-08-29T21:04:00.000-06:00

Our summer fun has been going and going and going! We never want it to stop but we all know all summer fun comes to an end but hey Fall FUN will start soon! Who doesn't love the Fall especially in Rochester, NY! Enjoy the pictures!

Brooklyn's sunflower that she has been growing since it was a seed. It grew and it grew and it really grew! We had it in our home for while but soon it out grew the windowsill. As soon as we planted it in the garden it seriously grew this tall in a matter of days!

It took a while for the ONE flower to show up! It finally did after a day in Toronto we came home to this! I would have gotten a picture with Brooklyn in it but she was alseep! Darn bugs and birds kept eating/picking the leaves...

Trying so hard to bloom! Bloom where you're planted!

Taylor loves otter pops! Brain freeze maybe?

Taylor's first time eating cereal with a spoon, because I finally gave in a let her... several times since she has spilled the bowl of milk on the tray and onto the floor... thats why I was so hesitant. Silly girl but I sure love her!

Pucker lips! So darn cute when she does this! I swear whenever we ask her to pose she does just this. haha

With all the hot and humid heat this summer we did anything to try and keep cool! Matt was so hot one day and complained about our "working" AC and couldn't stand it any longer he stood on the chair to get a wift of what "cool" air was blowing out of this tiny vent. I laughed SO HARD... his face just did me in!

Keeping herself busy one Sabbath afernoon.. Ready for the winter Brooklyn?

That same afternoon I caught her playing on her computer... So imaginative that girl!

On our way to Toronto, Canada! Two hot gals showing off their shades! They are so good together and keep each her busy and laughing.

CN Tower is the tallest "free standing structure" in North
America. Its actually taller than the Sears Tower in Chicago but since its not a building its not the tallest building... Thought I'd share that bit of information with ya. We decided not to go inside this because it was way too expensive and we, frankly, wanted to spend our money at the mall! LOL we are funny aren't we?

Since I hardly get in pictures (cause I am always the one taking them) I thought I would post us girls near the CN tower too!

Matt and I were sitting a table near by when we notice Brooklyn pretend talking on her phone... She must have just broken up with her boyfriend because she did not look happy! LOL

One of my favorite pictures of these two!

We stumbled upon the Hard Rock Cafe and decided to eat there for lunch! Mmmm! This is where Brooklyn learned the "squid" and "crab walk" move with her knuckles from the fun waiter we had. If you want to know what it is, you'll have to hit knuckles with Brooklyn to find out!

Look who decided to invade earth! SPOCK!!!

Is he for real the real one? He stared right at me when I took this picture it spooked me out and I hurried off so he wouldn't ZAP me with his gun! shuddering... imagine that...

We visited an old train station that was central to Toronto. Sorry we didn't get the whole picture of the caboose.... I wasn't taking this picture, you know who did.

Oh my gosh! It looks a lot like Times Square!

Had to post this picture of Taylor signing "camera"... she sure loves to use her hands! You should see her mimicking me when I sign and talk, she does the same only she moves her hands around and chatters too! It gets to me everytime and I laugh laugh laugh! She then giggles too.... LOL!

The Pharoh?

More Summer fun and such!

2011-08-28T12:59:00.000-06:00

Summer has been fun and exciting for us this year! We were able to spend a lot of time together as a family and really thats all it takes to have SO much fun! If we could be together all day every day we would! So the time we had together we took advantage of making the best of it!

Check out all the random fun times!!

Watching fireworks on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Can you tell she was so excited to watch them!?

I love her smile!

Snacking on pretzels and running off into the dark are two of her favorite things! I basically chased her all night! Sweet girl, but underneath her sweet face is a very mischevious little girl!

Hanging out at one of our favorite places, Canandaigua Lake! Who is that hot stud muffin!?

Miss goggle face!

She looks like she is trying to go potty but really she kept putting her hand-dipped sand on her face and in her mouth and is noticing its not so fun to have sand in your mouth!

Awww cute!

I had to post this picture. I can't remember what Matt said to Brooklyn to make her wrap her leapfrog explorer in this bag but it was something to the effect of he would throw it out or cut if in half (in all teasing of course) but Brooklyn (being so sensitive bless her heart) believed him and ran upstairs into her room, taped her toy up in a bag with her name written on the tape and hid it so daddy couldn't destroy it. She proceeded to tell me not to tell daddy where it was. It was really hilarious and so cute she would do this.

Chillaxin in the sun!

I love this picture! It reminds me of dancing in the 1920-30's. She looks like she is doing the swing with her hair flying.

Poor thing... bumped her head not once, not twice, but thrice! (look below)

She was like robot hitting into the wall and smacking her head in the same place each time! She was running away from the missionaries who were having fun with her and she was having fun too except for the run ins!

I love my family!!!

Brooklyn's Birthday and the beginning of Summer!!!

2011-08-28T12:31:00.000-06:00

I thought it would be about time to post about Brooklyn's 5th birthday... yeah 5th birthday!!! I know... its nuts but she just keeps growing and growing and we aren't sure how to stop her from growing and she tells us she just can't stop growing! We sure love this little sweet pea! Brooklyn was so excited to have a birthday party with ALL of her friends. She wanted to play some traditional and fun games for her birthday and so we did just that! Pin the stem on the flower, duck duck goose, animal charades, popping balloons (although that didn't go too well for some of the kids... they started crying...oops!) and decorating cupcakes!

Brooklyn was so excited to give all of her friends a party bag and couldn't wait! When the party was over and parents were picking up their kids she specifically informed me that she was passing out the party bags and not me hahaha...

Cupcake decorating table! I know I am no Martha Stewart and in no way am I trying to be... it gets all messed up in a few seconds anyways!

The children enjoyed piling on all the candy they could find on their cupcake and munching on it too!

How sweet! They didn't even know each other before the party! Sweet Madi- we miss you by the way cute girl! And sweet Emily from school.

Abby achieving success!

Playing with one of her several Polly Pockets sets she received from her birthday party. We love you Brooklyn and we are so grateful for the sweet spirit you bring into our home.

The beginning of the summer swimming fun!!!

We were lucky this summer to go out on the lake several times with our friends who recently bought a boat, the Gardners! Thank you for such fun times!!!

Gotta look cool with them glasses!

Surfer Girl!!!

Water tubing (Abby, Matt and Brooklyn). At one point the tube starting digging in the water and soaked the girls which resulted in tears but soon all was forgotten!

Holding on for dear life!!!

I'm taking the reigns so ya better watch out! Where ever there is a steering wheel, guaranteed you will find Taylor behind that wheel!!

First time knee boarding! I was so surprised she even tried!

And she did such a great job!

The joy and peace of being out on the lake at dusk!

Amy Gardner showing off her skills!!!

Blake Gardner- thanks again for all the fun times!!!

Brooklyn's Preschool Graduation- May 2011

2011-08-12T22:17:00.000-06:00

Overdue but never too late to share Brooklyn's Preschool Graduation with you!

Brooklyn attended Precious Kids Preschool at the Edgewood Methodist Church for two years and its an experience she will never forget! She loved her teacher Mrs. Hadzima and is terribly sad she won't be with her next year. To console her I told her we can go back and visit her and she is very excited to do just that once school starts up again. She is looking forward to kindergarten though and getting to ride the school bus! I am not so sure how I feel about her riding the bus but she is adamant about riding it! Oh dear.... Please stop growing so fast our sweet pea!

Just before graduation... she is such a princess!

Wating for graduation ceremony to start. Poor Taylor bonked her head several times in the exact same spot the day before! She was like a robot running into the wall, backing up and running into it again! She still is a cute angel don't ya think?

Walking into the chapel with her graduating class... that sounds so old haha... preschool class sounds better I think! Smart way to have hats don't ya think, then the girls hair don't get all messed up. Good thinking teachers!

Peeking at mommy and daddy....

Mrs. Hadzimas cute 4 year olds class...

Our camera was not taking very good pictures (or rather the room was difficult for good lighting to get in a good picture) that we didn't get one of the teacher handing Brooklyn her diploma but here it is in her hand! She was so excited!!! She was also given a scrapbook with all the pictures and arts she had done this year... an amazing book!!!

The ever famous Mrs. Hadzima! Everyone wants her to teach their child. We were blessed to have her in our lives and Matt especially loves her as she hails from the University of Utah!

Eyeing the yummy cake!!! Ruby and Brooklyn ready to get a bite!

Some freinds from class, Ruby, Brooklyn and Sydney. Sydney wanted to be in the middle and didn't look too happy... she really is such a sweet girl!!

Mrs. Dean and Mrs. Chilson both helped in Brooklyn's class. Sweet and fun too!

Amelia and Brooklyn... Don't you love their names! These two had several playdates and love to be together!

We have an awesome maintenace guy, Mike, that Brooklyn loves to chat with and here she is telling him about her graduation. She was so proud!

Birthday party, Airforce show and Hill Cumorah Pageant... all in one day!!!

2011-07-24T14:35:00.001-06:00

(I have done two two other post before this one be sure to check those out)

A couple of weeks ago Brooklyn was so excited when she learned her good friend Abby (from church) would be sleeping over at our home for two nights. We would be watching Abby while her parents went out of town and Brooklyn was just thrilled! She kept asking how many more days before Abby slept over and that day finally came! We had some good fun for the girls but all in all I think just the fact they were together was the most fun part of all! We had a BBQ the night Abby came and then the next day we went to a birthday party at Lake Ontario, watched the air show performed by the Airforce, went swimming and traveled to Palmyra to watch the Hill Cumorah Pageant.... all in one day! The next day was Sunday and the girls were so excited to get to go to church together and they wore their hair the same way! I didn't get pictures of everything but below are some of what we did! It was a fun weekend!

Blowing bubbles in Matt's face at the birthday for Brooklyn's friend, Liam, who turned 4! We are at Lake Ontario Park/Beach.

Cute Abby! She is such a sweet gal!!! My favorite thing she says when she was trying to be polite, "Shari, I don't like this so much".... Her mother had been teaching her to not be so drastic if she didn't like something... it just made me smile each time she used that phrase.

The Birthday Boy's brother, Aiden! I know I am bad.... I didn't get a picture of Liam, whose birthday it was!! They are from our church and we love this family! Well Aiden is one smart kid and has lots of energy! The other night I babysat him and he was climbing up the wall between the doorways like Spiderman! That kid can get in every cranny and nook!

Brooklyn signing to me asking where her bubbles were.... though this is not the sign for bubbles (its the sign for balloon) I thought it was cute!

Amazing airshow!! The girls had fallen asleep in the car from the ride back from the lake so Matt and I were able to enjoy the show without kids running all over! We didn't have tickets to the show but by golly, why would we need to buy them when we could pull over and watch them!

Matt really loved watching the show and was fascinated with the how fast and low they go.

Love you Matt!

Making our way to our seats at the Hill Cumorah Pageant! Beautiful dusk isnt it? The girls were nervous about getting their picture taken with cast members so pardon the straight faces haha.

Amazing pageant! We all enjoyed it!

Just had to post this... Taylor signing, Daddy! She is becoming one good signer!

Mother's Day program, family and the beginning of summer!

2011-07-24T14:34:00.001-06:00

Its been a couple of months since Mother's Day came but I still wanted to share what a fun Mother's Day program Brooklyn did for me. It was a Hawaiian Luau theme and she dressed up in a grass skirt with a colorful flower lei. She sang so proudly and really, as any mother would think of their own child, was the cutest one there! She lights up my world and I am grateful to have such a sweet daughter, not one but two daughters. Shortly after Mother's Day family from Utah came and visited us! Danny, Loni and Jackson Theurer! We had so much fun with them from eating out at some of our favorite places, to visiting the church sites in Palmyra, to attending the Lilac Festival, to staying up late and eating junk, and of course shopping! It was such a fun and memorable time we look forward to having more family come visit! (hint hint)... We also have been enjoying summer nights hanging outside when its not too hot and our neighbors come and we all hang out. Enjoy!

Cute place setting for the Mother's Day Hawaiian Luau at Brooklyn's preschool. We enjoyed all sorts of nuts, fruits and punch!

All the mother's sure felt special!!

Brooklyn standing proudly in the back row with a huge grin! Makes me tingle!

Her gift to me... flowers made out of her hand prints. She was so excited for me to open this gift! She could harldy wait!

Fishing for a surpise at the Luau!

The Theurer family is here!! Brooklyn and Jackson riding the train at the Lilac Festival in Rochester.

Loni and Taylor playing kissies!

Taking pictures in front of the famous lilacs that Rochester is known for.

Potato sack slide!! I think this was the highlight of the kids night!

Visiting the sites in Palmyra. This was Joseph Smith's home growing up. Sorry Loni this was the only picture I had... We enjoyed the tour though it was chilly. Thank goodness we had umbrellas!

Beautiful and green! Walking to Joseph's Smith's 2nd family home which was down from the road where the first Smith home was.

Danny has a knack of calming children and Taylor was quite cold so he warmed her up and she laid on his shoulder most of the tour. She loves Uncle Danny!

Brother and sister! Heading into the Sacred Grove.

We spend some time at Kango's, a fun play place for kids! Taylor loves these cars and each time we go its the first thing she wants to do and be pushed around in it. Can you tell how excited she is?

Cute couple!

Jackson and his cute red cheeks loving the tricycle!

Can ya tell she's been playing rough?

Feasting at Cheesecake factory. It seems to be one of our traditions when we get together with Danny and Loni. We both love this place! Taylor showing off her spoon skills!

These two played so well together. They sure do miss each other!

Matt bought me these flowers and also the basket of white flowers for Mother's Day. Brooklyn helped me plant the flowers and we also planted her Sunflower that she has been growing since it was a seed. We will post pictures later so you can see how big its gotten!

Brooklyn wanted some sun one day and so she got in her swim suit and brought her blanket outside to layout.... it only lasted for about 5 minutes... it was too HOT!

Our neighbor and friend from chruch, Cory. He loves little kids and babysits for us. The girls just love him!!!

Our friend Greg (and dive coach at the U of R) showing off his skills! All the kids ended up wanting to try it. It was a fun night eating otter pops, playing games, and maybe getting bit by a few mosquitos.

Cory attemping to master a new skill.

Brooklyn's turn!

Caleb masterd it!!! Caleb and Cory are brothers and we sure love having them around. Sad they are moving to a new home but still in our ward! So thats good! We will miss having you guys just down the road!

Summer Summer Summer

2011-07-24T12:30:00.003-06:00

First off I just want to share how much I love my family.... Words just can't express how much I love Matt and our two little girls. Its so fun being a family and though at times there are struggles, in the end we always love each other and its what makes being a family such a special privilege. I love you Matt, Brooklyn and Tay-Tay!

We have had so much fun this summer and we still have more fun to be had! Its been fun watching the girls grow especially Taylor as at her age they seem to grow so fast! Taylor has grown physically by being able to do things for herself, talk, sign, and just run all over like she is in a race! Brooklyn has grown mentally. She seems to have more confidence in herself especially in swimming, she understands what it means to help mom and dad around the house, she ask many questions and also makes observations that blow our minds. Matt and I are lucky to have such two beautiful daughters and feel so blessed to be able to raise them here on earth. Thank you Heavenly Father for sending us such wonderful blessings.

Enjoy the pictures below of us all enjoying the summer days! There will be another post of more summer fun as well! Don't forget to check those out!

Taylor's first attempt using a spoon to feed herself. She is doing pretty good and is still trying to figure out how to keep all the food on her spoon and in her mouth before it falls off.

Tay-Tay loves otter pops!!! Looks like she is getting a brain freeze right here. Kids out here have never heard of the word "otter" pop.... is this a Utah thing?

Her famous pucker lips! Darling girl!

Its been so HOT HOT HOT and HUMID HUMID HUMID here in Rochester. Matt is trying to cool off near our little vent... It just doesn't cool us off enough!

Taylor... oh boy... She is going to drive the boat someday. Anytime we are on a boat she heads straight for the steering wheel. Its going to be one crazy drive once she gets a handle on it!

Floating in Canandaigua Lake with our friends, the Evans, from Utah!

Spencer, Matt and Taylor, Monica, Brooklyn. The Evans invited us on their family party boat and we had so much fun cooling down in the waters against the blazing heat.

Floating on a tube just a little too small for me!

Spencer and his cute boy, Ezra.

Me and my girls!!!

Swimming at a pond in Bloomsfield, NY. This pond was just awesome and we can't explain how cool and beautiful it was. Its a man made pond with a 10 foot high or so dock, a floating island with a slide, a zip line, and a rope to swing off into the water. Picture this pond on a 10 acre land with trees all around... breath taking!

The bigger view of the beautiful pond.

Someday, well maybe someday, when I get a good camera, I will be able to get a picture of Brooklyn mid-air during her jump into the water. She just loved this dock and jumped off it countless times, as opposed to her mother who did it once! Well hey at least I did jump off it right!

Of course Brooklyn was the last one to leave the dock... she didnt want to leave...

Also on the 10 acre lot was a pretty neat above the ground pool! Trees all around with flowers too! We had so much fun swimming at three different locations all day!

The Evans and our family were in the same church ward in SLC. They also have 3 girls that didn't come on the trip, Scout, Brooklyn and Addy. We have kept in touch through all our moves. Monica is actually from Rochester and still has family here. We are lucky we get to see them whenever they come out! Thanks again Evans (and also Mindy and Todd)!

Running and running and running... even when the sun has gone down...

Eating off tables and running it all off!

2011-05-01T21:34:00.000-06:00

This past weekend on Friday we had the missionaries over for dinner and we did "eating off the table" style!! Matt has wanted to do this for a long time and so we thought we would invite the missionaries over to enjoy a fun way of eating. Our friend, Greg, provided the lucious pink table table cloth, plastic if you will, so that after all was eaten and utensils and cups were cleared off, we could simply wrap up the cloth and throw it away without a big mess to clean up. This could become a daily way of life for us as there was not many dishes to wash! Oh Matt would love that! We all had a great time!

The next morning I ran my second 2nd half marathon in Grand Island, NY which is about one hour and 15 minutes from Rochester (clsoe to Buffalo). I was very fortunate to have a training schedule to follow by the track coach at the U of Rochester and with the the constant help and support from Matt I was able to shave off 9 minutes from my best time, 1:48.00. All week I had been nervous because the weather had been pretty nasty and I just DID NOT want to run in the cold and most definitely not not in the wind. Running in the wind is like trying to run up the escalator in the wrong direction, taking strides only to pull you back a few steps. Come Saturday morning, the weather couldn't have been better! Sunny, very small breeze, and I just felt good! The course was along the Niagara River and along the course was the main road which was not busy at all. Because of that Matt was able to follow me the whole race! It was fun to see him every two miles with my two little girls cheering me on and giving me a water bottle to drink from. What a great strength it was to me to see them all. Sweet Brooklyn tried to give me a dandelion each time and I could never quite grab it. Taylor was pretty much a nightmare crying the whole time and sweet Matt was racing back and forth trying to make her happy and also see me run. I can't wait to start my next race which is in June in UTAH!! Yeah for Ragnar Relay and the 188 mile run with my 12 member team, "Runnin Wild"!!

Enjoy the pictures!!!

I sure love this guy!!!

Elder Preisendorf, Elder Frost, Matt, Brooklyn and Greg

Chow down baby!

Brooklyn loving this food on the table stuff!

Making a mess but loving it!

"O...K... This is wierd..."

Chillaxin...Taylor loves Greg!

Just finished running the race!! Taylor was clapping for me!

My friends from the ward who also ran! Way to go team!

Just had to post this... Taylor loves walking around with this purse on her arm and a green lucky charm necklace. She puts it on all by herself and walks all over.

"I'm loving this Hello Kitty movie, its mine!"

Easter!!!

2011-04-29T10:02:00.000-06:00

Its about time I post something... since its been oh several months... Here are a few pictures of our Easter weekend! We were lucky to have Matt's parents with us since they were passing through. In case you haven't heard, Randy and Dena, are official truck drivers! They get to travel the country over and over again and we hope to see them many more times on their routes back east. Brooklyn just loved having them here to "Sleep at our place". We had a good Easter and hope you all did too!!

One of the 3 Easter egg hunts we went to this year. Brooklyn was so excited!!!

It never works... well many times it doesnt work. I try to get a decent picture of just the girls and Taylor is not happy!

Just chillin

Grand ole time coloring Easter eggs!

Gotta have my Cadbury Egg!!!

Brooklyn was loving it having grandparents in our home

Where did all the Easter eggs go? And... where is my shoe?

Easter Sunday

I'm taller dad... sorry but I am!

Our Easter Sunday!

On the road and through the streets to Hansen's house we go!

2010-12-06T00:05:00.000-07:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

We had Thanksgiving at our good friend's home this year, the Hansen's. They live in a really cool old home with wooden floors, a secret staircase that leads to a big room, neat fireplace, and oh I can go on... it was the perfect setting for a Thanksgiving dinner with great friends! Thanks Janette and Donovan for inviting us over!

Janette is the next Marth Stewart! Little squash pumpkins were used as our place cards with our family names attached. Families; Hansen's, Sorensen's, Elders and Bailey's.

The buffet style table. All the good looked so yummy and we still had more to add to the table. I enjoyed cooking and baking all different kinds of foods! Mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce (heaven!), my moms roll up rolls, chocolate pie with wafer crust and last but not least, a pumpkin cheesecake roll. I didn't think to take a picture of each item but I felt like I was on Iron Chef cooking all these wonderful foods!

Yummy rolls! (I did forget to add salt... no one seemed to noticed though) That right there got me knocked out of the race for Iron Chef!

Janette saw this cute idea for place mats for the kids. Since kids don't really care about how cute things look and about food, place mats were drawn on the paper. Darling isn't it? The children were off in toyland in the secret room and of course we let them play so the adults could enjoy the dinner! Don't worry they eventually came down and filled up their bellies.

This picture does not do its justice, but oh... the food was so DELICIOUS! I can honestly say this was the best Thanksgiving dinner I had ever had. Stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, pototaoes and gravy, candied yams with pecans (I am not a fan of this but this was yummy!), green bean casserole, pickles and last but not least, my new favorite not so healthy, pineapple bread pudding... the thought of it just makes my mouth watery... I will have to post the recipe for this pineapple dish a soon as I get it. Thanks Hansen's for introducing this to us!

The awesome Hansen's! Donovan is doing his residency as an oral surgeon and boy did he have some crazy stories to tell? Janette and Donovan have two little cute gals, Avery and Belle with a boy on the way! We are so excited for them!

Rachelle and Mark Sorenson and their cute little gal, Lana. They have two other darling kids, Caleb and Reese. Mark is also in residency as an oral suregon and instead of telling us crazy surgery stories, we got to see some crazy reconstructing images... shuttering....

Elder Halbert hails from Arizona and Elder Peck hails from Utah. We love our elders, especially Brooklyn!

A Happy Thanksgiving... Taylor surprisingly slept most of the time we were there... so no pictures of her. She was busy sleeping.

BYU'd!!!

2010-12-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

When I woke up a Saturday morning to see all this blue I was excited! I had woken up before Matt did and took pictures before he could destroy it. We, (well I should say, Matt...) got BYU'd!!! Matt is a strong Utah fan and for him to wake up to all this blue and blue on his car was... well... in his own words... "I am not gonna have this!" He marched right outside in his pajamas on the phone with who he thought had done it and said, "I won't have this!" We will keep who did it a secret.... You can say Matt cleaned it up right away and didn't want to have this kind of embarrassment. Me on the other hand, I was loving it!!! I grew up a BYU fan and love Utah for their swim team since Matt swam there.

Ballons were tied to plastic spoons and stuck in the ground. I thought that was such a smart idea! Matt was able to get everything cleaned up except for the streamers in the tree. There is still blue in the trees!

Matt is a huge Max Hall fan!! (no really he is)

Elder Halbert and Peck over to watch the big game!! Don't worry, they got permission from their mission president to watch the game and so we invited them over for pizza and football! Elder Peck played one year on the BYU football team and will go back after his mission! We can't wait to see him rip it all up!

Taylor was fasincated with the Christmas lights!

She is exactly what she looks like... an angel....

The other day I brought Brooklyn's bike up from the basement for her to play outside on and Taylor had fun exploring this big thing with two round wheels!

Can you teach me how to ride the bike?

I had to post yet another one of Brooklyn's pucker lips.

Let's go fly a kite way up into the sky!

2010-11-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

After church today it was a little windy and Brooklyn noticed her kite in the trunk of the car and you know what happens next!

By the time Matt got the kite put together the wind had died down and so here he is trying to get the kite up into the sky... Not doing so well...

Getting frustrated.... Cute Brooklyn trying to help in any way that she can.

Finally... the wind decided to pick up the kite!

Brooklyn was thrilled to be flying a kite all by herself. I feel bad this is her first time... That I can remember of anyways and she has had that kite for over almost two years! Its about time we flew it!

I am making fun of myself here... I don't know what happened to this jacket but either I grew or the jacket shrunk... I think its the latter and dang it I don't like it when my clothes shrink! This jacket is going in the thrift pile! Do you know how many times I have had to throw clothes in the thrift pile because they have shrunk!!

Out little girl growing.... growing....

way up high into the sky.... well okay she won't get that tall, but we are sure she will be tall! (volleyball, volleyball, volleyball, basketball, basketball, basketball, volleyball, volleyball, volleyball, basketball, basketball, basketball...)

I posted two other entries along with this one! Check them out!

Oven-dried tomatoes and my birthday!

2010-11-21T22:36:00.000-07:00

I love sun dried tomatoes but they are so expensive that I looked at one of my favorite websites, Our Best Bites and found this recipe for oven-dried tomatoes! They are heaven and make your house smell so yummy! Brooklyn wanted to help me in every possible way and she did such a great job!

Taking the stems off the tomatoes

Adding freshly ground pepper

Laying out the tomoates, not sure why she's making this face... Maybe it felt all slimy with the olive oil?

Drizzling olive oil

Topping tomaotes with fresh chopped garlic... smells strong!

And Viola!!! Ready for the oven! Don't they look yummy!

It was my birthday this last week and Elder Peck and Halbert surprised me stopped by to say Happy Birthday! We invited them in for sushi and Matt taught them how to make it. This was Elder Halberts first time eating sushi... he is still working on acquiring a taste for it.

Look what the Elders surprised me with! Cold Stone!!! Cake batter ice cream with almonds and raspberry! It was heaven!!! Thanks Elders, you guys Rock!

Matt and the girls took me out later for a night of shopping! I got some pants and tops from one of my favorite stores, Buckle!!! Its the only place that sells pants long enough for my long legs! Afterwards, we stopped at our favorite grocery store, Wegmans... If you ever come to NY to visit us, you bet your bottom dollar we are taking you there! I picked out a delicious Italian Rum cake and oh my goodness! It was seriously the most moist cake I had ever eaten! We loved it and chowed it down! Thanks Matt, Brooklyn and Taylor for a wonderful night!! I love you!!!

I took Brooklyn to see the musical play, Annie! We both were so excited since we have watched that movie together so many times.

Getting ready to watch the show! Brooklyn is showing a new fashion statement with her cute headband. I pushed it back, she pulled it down, I pushed it back, she pulled it down... I gave up! She looks cute and the way she wears the band looks almost like the roaring 1920's! During the show Brooklyn leaned over and asked me, Mom can I do a play sometime? I told her of course! Later, on the drive home, she said, Mom, I will wait to be in a play until I am like 6, 7, 8 or 9 cause then that way I won't be scared. (I love this gal!)

Our wonderful friend and her dog as Sandy in the play. Karen Lyman (townsperson), her son Gus (Housekeeper) and their dog were in the play. Karen is in our ward and she is also my visiting teacher. I sure love her and her family!!! We can't wait for another musical to go to.

Happenings this week....

2010-11-21T22:04:00.001-07:00

I caught Taylor gnawing... nothing new.

She is already developing an attitude and didn't look too thrilled that I caught her! Notice the marker, she gnaws on that too...

Puckering her lips again... Love the boots she is wearing!

On her way to becoming a hair stylist. Brooklyn came running down the stairs one evening and paraded around the room to show us her stylish hair. She put them into pigtails with bows all by herself! She was so tickled!

Brooklyn and her friend Safari (long i sound). These two have so much fun together! Safari lives two doors down and he and his family moved in over the summer. They love to play on the tires across the parking lot, dig for treasures in our dirt patch and ride their scooters.

Our famous babysitter!! Cory is awesome with kids!! He and his brother Caleb are "The Ones" to babysit. All the kids love them and they love the kids! Can you tell how much Taylor loves him? Now now Taylor, you are a little too young to have some kind of crush!

I received a birthday package in the mail and of course I loved the gifts my parents sent me (Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween decor...Love it Mom and Dad!). My gifts were wrapped in bubble wrap. Guess what Brooklyn loved...the bubble wrap! She was so excited to pop all the bubbles. She ran around the kitchen and would come running down, popping the bubbles! She sat and rolled on it too! Who knew bubble wraps could be so much fun?

Need I say more? LOL! This is going in Taylor's wedding video!

Playing in the dishwasher.... again....

Splash splash I love taking baths! Matt said this looked like an 80's picture, I agree.

Family Pictures!!

2010-11-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

We finally got our famliy pictures that include our newest addition, Taylor. Thanks Lisa for taking our pictures. We love them! lisaruthphotography.com.

ENJOY!!

Halloween!!!

2010-11-14T13:21:00.003-07:00

Halloween and such. (This is my 5th blog post of the day so if you want to see more pictures scroll on down.... if you dare...).

Look at these cute children! All the chlidren's dads (5) are in the MBA program at University of Rochester.

The pink leopard and Strawberry Shortcake.

I think they have had enough pictures taken...

At the ward Halloween party.

Getting ready to take Brooklyn trick or treating to a few of the doors in our neighborhood on Sunday night. I am still in my dress from church so no I did not dress up nice to go trick or treating. We had four sets of missionaires over for a halloween dinner of chili, cornbread, artichoke dip and apple crisp for dessert. We love having the missionaries over and making them feel at home. It brings back wonderful memories of our mission. I always hope my brother Adam is being treated the same way in his mission.

After all the costumes, candy, fun and parties Brooklyn decided to fall asleep... awww precious picture.

There are many fun farms to go to here in NY. We enjoyed this one espcially Brooklyn!

I had to show off my husband's cooking skills! A wonderful lady in our ward taught Matt had to make these breads and they were delicious!!! Can't wait to have more!

Having fun taking pictures in the little woods behind our home.

We miss you Adriana!! We hope you enjoy the mission and bring many closer to Christ!!!

All about Brooklyn

2010-11-14T12:15:00.002-07:00

Fun moments in Brooklyn's life so far.

Her famous pucker lips pose!

First day of her 2nd year in preschool. She loves her teacher Mrs. Hadzima. She had her last year and we are all tickled she gets to be with her again!

We often have play dates and Lena is one of her good friends. I keep forgetting to take pictures of her other friends we have over but she loves play dates.

Making a mini sushi! We are working on her acquiring a good taste for this. Each time she tries it we say Isn't it so good! MMMMmmmm and each time her facial expression looks more Mmmmmmmm instead of eck!

What a doll... Saying I love you mom before going to school.

Coloring a shirt for Taylor. This was her idea and she was so excited to write Taylor's name.

Cute!

Brooklyn's friend from preschool. They had fun in the rain!

Can she get any cuter? Miss Pucker lips

What a cute cowgirl!! Her preschool class had harvest day and each child was to dress up has a cowgirl or cowboy.

She came home with cute paintings of a candy corn and pumpkin. She had a great day and brought home some fun art!

Playing the stick pulling game!

We went to a farm where they had fun stuff do. Here are huge teepees that Indians built back then. This was used as a fun spook alley and inside the larger teepee there was about 100 carved pumpkins line around the wall all the way up with candles in each. It was amazing! The picture does not do its justics, it really was huge!! I ran out of camera battery...sigh... but we went on a spooky hayride into the woods. She was a little nervous it was so cute. We wish Matt could have been with us! He was busy at school.

All about Taylor

2010-11-14T11:29:00.001-07:00

Fun moments in Taylor's life so far.

The queen bee of getting into everything and shoving it into her mouth! She loves this closet!

Overlooking Canandaigua Lake.

I often find her in this position... Babies sure are flexible!!

I love the greyish/blue almond shaped eyes!

Cords, cords, cords... She loves to be entangled, intertwined and holding onto cords... Not a good thing...

Her first time eating pretzels.

Loving this juicy nectarine!!

Look at me! I can stand all by myself!!

Grandma Kelsch sent her this pretty afghan and she loves to sleep with it... Thanks Grandma!!!

Is she a happy gal or what?

Her all time favorite thing to do... Markers in her hand and playing in the dish washer. I swear she has a radar for whenever the dish washer is open. She really enjoys pulling the tray in and out, in and out...

She got into the marker dry eraser. It looked worse than it did in the picture... She looks like she has a little scruffy beard.

Her favorite way to kneel!

Loving the rolls of toilet paper on the bathroom floor. Let's potty, let the good times roll!!!

Another thingamajig she loves to put her in mouth.. my iphone!!!

One thing... have you noticed how she looks so comfy all the time? No jeans, button up shirts. laces and such. When I had Brooklyn I had her dressed up all the time. I am sure she felt so uncomfortable... I told myself I would not dress Taylor like that. I guess you learn after you have your first child haha.

Fun Fun and lots of Fun!!

2010-11-14T11:02:00.002-07:00

Some random pictures of all the fun we have been having!

We love all the new adventures!!!

Lake Champlain about 6 hours from where we live. We were invited to stay at a family cabin on the lake and had so much fun!!! Brooklyn's friends! They trio had so much fun together!

We stayed at the Baldwin Family's cabin. They are a fun bunch of people!!! It just so happens that Teresa, (the wife), is the sister of my friend who lived below Matt and I when we lived in Salt Lake!!! What a small world. The Baldwins live in a town called Sonyea about an hour from we live. They live on acres and acres of land. Its a pretty sight!!!

Matt doing some dusk fishing... Beautiful scenery....

The other side of Lake Champlain is Vermont. Matt swam half way across the lake and its several miles long. I kayaked along side with him and didn't think to bring my camera for this!!

Our private beach. Notice the cabin in the background... This was heaven!

Not sure what to think.... haha

Did I just see the famous monster in Lake Champlain? There is a rumor that there is sea monster in this lake... Of course I was a little nervous when we kayaked out to the middle of the lake.

I ran a half marathon back in September. It was in Syracuse about 1 1/2 hours from where we live. It was a beautiful sunny morning and got a little too warm doing the run. But it was all fun!!!

The Saturday morning running group. We ran together each Saturday morning for the long runs to prepare for the race. Rebe, me, Katie, Lisa, (Lisa's twin sister Linda I believe... she flew in from Arizona to run with us).

Another friend from the ward who also ran the race, Michael Bourne.

Proud of my time for a first time half maraton run

I had to post this funny picture. We had a farewell party at our home for Adriana who is now serving her mission in California. These two smeared cake all over each other.

The Schaefers are such an awesome family! They are from our ward and live about an 45 mins away in Mt. Morris. This Ranger is one heck of a fun ride!!! The only times we have ever ridden in it is at night with no light and just the headlights through the trees and brushes going at a great speed. They live on 100 acre land and so you can imagine how fun it is ride all over and through it!

We had a deaf group activity at the Schaefers where we had a bonfire, BBQ and some of us even slept over night!

Making smores!!!

Bailey Family Updates!

2010-11-14T10:03:00.001-07:00

Ok life has been so busy for me and continues to be busy but I told myself today that I would blog and post pictures and there will be lots of pictures! We have had so much fun in the last five months, I am not even going to try to post all the pictures from those five months as it would take months to do that!

Matt and I have been so blessed to be living here in Rochester, NY. We love our friends from work, school, preschool, church and neighbors. We have been able to meet a lot of people and have enjoyed getting to know Rochester well. Matt's coaching staff is in awe with how much we have done since we have moved here. They have lived here a long time and think its so cool that we go out and visit and explore where we live and beyond. I am amazed more people don't around here as its beautiful and so vast, though NY is a small state.

Happenings:
Matt: Is in his 2nd of 2 and 1/2 years in the MBA program as well as in his 2nd year of coaching the swim team at the college and loves it very much! He feels he can relate to the swimmers very well and is such a great coach to them. The head coach gave Matt such a great compliment the other day. He told Matt that he is so good at looking at both sides of the situation and trying make the best of any situation. It’s true, Matt does not like to hurt anyone and wants to help everyone. I am grateful to have such a great husband. Along with school and coaching Matt finds time to play his electric bass which gives him the relaxation he needs from all the stress of school and work. He better be writing a song for me! :) Matt is also busy with his church callings as a ward missionary and also a Sunday school teacher. He loves teaching and learns a lot from the lesson he teaches. One thing Matt always wishes for is more time with his family and we enjoy any time we get with him. During the swim season he is a busy man, a very busy man! We also recently discovered nasal strips for him! He can finally sleep well! Matt has always had a hard time sleeping with his mouth closed as he doesn't get a lot of air. I suggested we try the nasal strips and they are HEAVEN for him. I am so glad we decided to try them and see if they worked. We are grateful for the funny looking strips across his nose each night!

Shari: I am busy busy busy with my two little girls! I also work from home and do it in the mornings before the girls wake or during lunch or nap time. I am grateful I can work from home and be able to contribute to paying off our endless bills. I have been enjoying my time working out as well and was able to run a half marathon recently. I didn't train for it much at all and enjoyed it. Another half marathon run is coming up in the spring. Since its getting cold I have been hitting the gym and enjoy the time to work up a real sweat. I am not where I want to be but it’s getting there! I enjoy my calling at church as the Compassionate Service Leader because I get to serve in so many ways! I was born to do this calling because I love to help others. I am grateful for the things I am learning and how humbling the experiences are. Our ward has had a wave and is still having a wave of new babies being born so I get to help organize meals/babysitting for them in any way and it amazes me how generous people are in giving and helping. If only we could all be like that... I have also been enjoying crafts and getting together with friends while our kids play. Being a member of the LDS church has made such a big difference in moving here. We were able to quickly make friends and feel at home with them. I am enjoying it here and sometimes its hard for me to admit that because I do miss my family very much back in Utah... if only we could just move them all out here then they would understand why we like here so much! (hint hint family)

Our girls are such dolls... We love them... we cherish them... we adore them... we can't live without them... They bring us happiness... They bring us joy... They bring us laughter... They bring us the spirit we have in our home...

Brooklyn: She is such a sweetheart and growing into such a beautiful young girl. She is also full of energy with a very feminine side. She loves clothes, toys, and games. She loves to be a big sister to her little sister Taylor. Brooklyn loves it when Matt or I play with her and chase her around the house. Some of her favorite games are hide and go seek, Go Fish, and also putting puzzles together. She loves loves her preschool class and is in her second year. Next year she will be in kindergarten. She is so ready for that and ready to take on the world. We often invite friends over to play and they dress up and play in the kitchen or go outside and play in the backyard or on the tires. She has this trademark going on where she puckers her lips and turns her head to her shoulder, its so darling! She is so smart and often I wonder how she knows so much and I think I never knew that when I was her age. It amazes me how much she knows. Recently she shared the First Article of Faith in the church primary program and she did so well without any help. She spoke so well I could easily read her lips. She received many compliments on her speech. We have been working on memorizing more Articles of Faith and she has now memorized 1-3.

Taylor: Boy this girl is a scooter! She scoots everywhere, not crawls, scoots. She is also known as the "vacuum" in our home. Anything she can get her hands on she will stuff it in her mouth. I caught her with a dead fly her mouth and you can only imagine how frantic I was in getting it out and to make it worse, it had broken in her mouth as it was an old fly... (shutter....). Of course she smiled and giggled after the whole episode. She has blue eyes like Daddy and her two front bottom teeth are the cutest little sharp cutters! They hurt! Taylor makes such a cute "mad" face and forms her lips like Arnold (Gary Coleman when he was a kid) and her eye brows squint downward. We can't help but laugh each time. She is able to stand on her two feet all by herself without any support and I suspect she will be taking steps in no time. She adores her big sister. Her face lights up whenever she sees Brooklyn. She gets carried everywhere by Brooklyn and I am constantly reminding Brooklyn to put her down though Taylor looks happy but after a stumble and a fall, I decided I didn't want to have a heart attack. Taylor has brought an added spirit to our home along with Brooklyn's.

Enjoy the pictures!!!

At Canandaigua Lake. Brooklyn loves playing in the water.

Shoving her face with a nectarine... This girl loves fruit!!!

Her famous pucker lips!

What did I tell ya? Pucker up gal!

Taylor loves the swings!!! She loves them so much that she.....

Fell asleep!!!!

Beginning stages of standing up on her own! Look at those chunky legs! Love em!

At Stoneybrook Park

This awesome toy sits at an angle and the you can spin around and around. I tried this as well and loved it!

Hiking up the river at Stonybrook. She is such a happy baby!

We had fun at Stonybrook and playing in the water. We are definitley going back in the summer!

Random pictures and then some....

2010-06-13T21:03:00.001-06:00

I ran out of time to post pictures from two weeks ago so here they are along with some randoms!

Brooklyn and I have been enjoying a lot of time at the pool, pretty much everyday when the sun is out. We bought some small water balls and play basketball in the water... I am training her well (wink wink).

Taylor taking a pleasant nap. Notice she has her face covered... she always sleeps with her face concealed!

Loving this!

Dad was able to come swim with us one of the days last week. Brooklyn had so much fun learning how to swim!

I love her eyes!

I took Brooklyn to Jump on it with some friends and she had so much fun! Taylor is always having a blast when she gets to sit in this carrier.

Preparing to dive!

Bouncing Taylor on the blow ups!

Some friends of ours, the Schaefers, invited Brooklyn, Taylor and I to Nunday (about an hour from Rochester) to a carnival! Matt was studying for finals. So I packed the girls up and we spent the night at the Schaefers home. Nunday is a cute small town way out there! The drive was just beautiful with green green green trees everywhere! Brooklyn checking out the balls on water!

The view from one of the swing rides

Can you see Brooklyn and her two friends?

I just loved the way this booth looked that I had to get a picture of Brooklyn in it. It reminds me of something that looks magical in movies!

Ashlyn, Caylee and Brooklyn

They rode on this ride for about 5 mins! I asked the worker if they could ride for a long time since there was no one waiting in line and he said sure! :)

Justin Schaefer, Adrianna, Me! We were on this laaaame ride that was supposed to spin around fast and it didn't... oh well we had fun anyways!

My first time making sushi! We make some almost every week! I am holding up some ginger and I can just eat a whole jar full of them! MMMM!

A while back we had girls night! It was so much fun! All of our husbands are in the business program and all moved here at the same time! L to R: Kira, Dani, Jenelle, Rachel, Me. Jenelle and Rachel and I all live in the same complex area and didn't know each other then. I just love these gals so much! We all moved in with one child each which were all girls. Now two of us have a second child, Kira, broke the streak by having a boy and he is darling!

For girls night we went out to eat and then headed back to Rachel's home and made some purses! They turned out so cute! We hung out until midnight and snacked on Pavlova with strawberries and drizzled raspberry vinaigrette! It was sooo yummy!

I have been taking Brooklyn to Barnes and Noble in Pittsford on Wednesday mornings. They do story time and then always have a craft item to make that goes along with the stories that were read. Brooklyn just loves making the crafts. When we are done we play with a train set they have there and then take a couple rides up and down the escalator. Brooklyn is here with her friend Madi, Jenelle's spunky daughter! They made elephant masks!

Ribbit..Ribbit!

Duck... duck... duck... GOOSE!!

Flower!

A trip to Niagra Falls! Either Brooklyn and Matt are GIANTS or Niagara Falls shrunk!

One night I went upstairs to check on Brooklyn after she had gone to bed and found her sitting up in her bed like this! She seriously was like that for about 5 minutes before I laid her down. Who knows how long she had been sleep-sitting before I came up! HILARIOUS! Matt came up and we had a good laugh!

"Brooklyn why is your Daddy so good looking?"

Brooklyn at Madi's house chilling! They were being silly, YO! Whats up!!?? (not sure what they were doing here... I made that up.)

Madi and her family moved to Hartford, CT for the summer for an internship and so they dropped off an early birthday gift for Brooklyn. We can't wait to have them back in August!

Dancing on Soul Train! Just kidding... She loves to climb on things and do some funky dancing!

Another funny and cute way she has been sleeping!

The sweetest little girls around....

2010-05-31T20:31:00.001-06:00

I am finally getting these pictures up of the girls we took over a month ago... I spaced it actually.... Anyhoo aren't these darling girls?!! I just love them so much and was glad I found outfits I wanted them to wear without going out to buy a new outfits for the pictures. We aren't exactly rich and have been on "college student" status earnings. I was also able to get baby pictures with Taylor for FREE! My friend's friend is starting a website for babies and I was asked to be a model for the site! How exciting! Its nothing big really but I had fun! They will go on The Mommy Brand site (not yet running but soon). My mom will be selling car seat canopies, ties for boys and cute dresses for girls. I will post the link once the site is up and running.

This last week we took an afternoon trip to Canandaigua and did window shopping without actually buying anything. We had fun walking around enjoying the nice sunny weather. It was also Brooklyn's last week of preschool for her 3's class. The parents got to go for the last day and be presented with memory books. The memory books are amazing! I was not expecting that at all and now I have pictures of Brooklyn during her whole school year in preschool! She has learned a lot and has had lots of fun. Earlier in the week the class had a swimming day and Brooklyn had so much fun with the big bubbles they had there. I can't believe she will be in the 4's class in the fall!

Sixteen years ago I totally biffed while rollerblading down the Alpine Cemetery near my home (on the sabbath and never again rollerbladed on the sabbath, hahaha). It was actually pretty hilarious and my friends couldn't stop laughing. Well.... I had never fallen again until Saturday morning! Matt and I were both pushing a stroller (each) while rollerblading. Because the stroller kept veering to the right I went with it and rolled the stroller into the bushes on the Erie Canal! I rolled with the stroller and got stuck underneath it...laughing! Brooklyn wasn't hurt thankfully but she cried because it scared her. I got some scratches but nothing like the cemetery hill incident! Hahahaha It was actually so funny and Matt couldn't stop laughing! I wish we had brought the camera but you'll have to envision for yourself how we must have looked after the fall. Of course I was embarrassed as people stopped to help and I pretty much send them on their way... nicely of course! It was a good time nevertheless!

Matt is now in California with a couple of his friends (coaches at the U of R). He got a free trip (thanks to Greg!) to California and so they decided to go see the Angels and Airwaves band. They have been visiting all the different beaches and just hanging out having fun! I miss him lots but I am glad he was able to go!

Enjoy the pictures!

As I was posting this blog, Brooklyn who was supposed to be in bed came downstairs and said, "Mom, I have a gift for you...." I replied, "What gift?" She sweetly said, "Its LOVE". My heart just melted and she came to me and gave me a great big hug... I sure love this sweet angel. She has been telling me the past few days, "Mom, you're the best mommy in the whole wide world!" aaahhhssss... need I say more...

I love this.... I have several pictures of Brooklyn giving baby Taylor a kiss on the top of her head...

My little ballerinas!

Priceless...

Sweet Angel

She is so full of life and energy!

What a model!

Sisters make the best friends!

We are headed to Utah on June 16th! Brooklyn wanted to create another count down chain. She decided she wanted to do a caterpillar!

Last day of 3's preschool. I love the memory book! She did so well and I just love her!

Brooklyn has been playing in her swimsuit, longing for the day for the pool to open! It finally opened over the weekend! We went today and she had a blast! I will post pictures soon.

Brooklyn loves it when we babysit her friends! This is Bella and she comes from such a cute family! She has an older sister Avery who was on a date with her cool mom, rock climbing! I need to be more like Janette! The girls were having so much fun chilling with Matt as he was making them laugh!

Searching for bugs!

Both giving me the evil eye...

A small music shop in Canandaigua (Canandaigua is one of the five finger lakes and is such a beautiful town) of course we had to stop in a look around! Matt is doing well with practicing his bass. He just loves it and practices when he can. He feels lucky that I am deaf and don't tell him to turn it down all the time! haha I love that he is learning something new.

Balancing on the railroad tracks. Brooklyn is pretty good at it!

On our way home we stopped for a vanilla cone at McDonalds. Brooklyn has been having so much fun and in return she gets so tired! She fell asleep with the cone in her hand!

Sweet girl, she has been having so much fun!

LOTS OF OUTDOOR TIME!!!

2010-05-23T18:06:00.001-06:00

This week has been all about being outside since the weather has been so nice and warm, so warm that Brooklyn has been going to bed in just her underwear and Taylor in her onesie! We have enjoyed being outside doing different activities and being together as a family. Matt and I have been doing a lot of our exercises outside running, biking and even doing suicides on the football field! He pretty much kicked my butt on the sprints but I can outlast him on distant running! :) We have also been enjoying some good food as well! We made fish tacos last night and they were yummy! We invited our friends over, the Howells, and had a good time! Matt just loves to cook but he has to cook when he is under stress haha. He likes to have a few things going on at the same time work fast! I told him he should enter the Iron Chef show since they are working under a limited time. He makes great food and its been fun to try knew things. On Thursday we also had a yummy italian dinner at our friends house, the Bourne's. The are out here for medical school and have a 3 month old daughter, Haven. They made a dish very similar to the "Penne Rosa" dish at Noodles and Company. We all miss that place! They also made this YUMMY Oreo crust banana creme pie! If Matt and I don't stop having these fun dinners we are going to balloon up! But its sooo fun and sooo good!

I have wanted to mention that my brother Adam has been called to serve a mission in the Charleston, West VA mission and enters the MTC on July 7th. We are so happy and excited for him. Rochester is only 6 hours away! So we may have to make a trip down there and take him and his companion to lunch! We are very fortunate to be able to fly out to Utah before he goes on his mission and we are thrilled about that as well. We sure can't wait and Brooklyn has been asking me to make a countdown chain so she knows how close we are to leaving. I will stay for three weeks with the girls, but Matt can only stay one week since he has swim camps he has to help run. I WILL MISS HAVING HIM WITH US THE WHOLE TIME!

Enjoy the pictures below of things we have done this week!

A girl in our ward plays soccer and she offered to teach a bunch of kids in the ward how to play. We go weekly and Monday was her first time. Brooklyn seemed to really like it but I am not so sure I like it hahaha.... This sport is on the opposite end of basketball playing where you dribble the ball with your feet instead of your hands!

Avery, Wyatt, Lena and Brooklyn. Its fun to have kids Brooklyn's age to hang out with.

Enjoying otter pops and a break from the warm heat!

We have several families of Geese that are in our backyard often and we decided to go out and feed them bread. In this picture, Matt is imitating what the Geese are doing, HISSING at him! hahaha He was freaked out about it and being deaf as I am I was so oblivious to it and not scared at all haha. They wanted bread and would run up and hiss at Matt. Brooklyn got spooked!

Brooklyn hiding behind daddy!

Our friend Greg! He has been on a dessert frenzy and we are the guinea pigs! Last week he made carrot cake from scratch.... can I say MMMMM! This week he made cheese cake from scratch as well. YUMMY again! We sure are lucky to get all these sweets! Thanks Greg!

For Family Home Evening we bought pizza from Papa John's and ate it at Genesse Park. This park is huge with lots of trails (that we like to run on). The weather was perfect, almost dusk. Brooklyn wanted to swing and we thought Taylor would love it too. Of course we didn't push her high at all, in fact if we gently pushed it she had this fear on her face. She was content just sitting there watching the rest of us!

All smiles!

I think this was Brooklyn's first time swinging on the swing like this. Normally she wants to swing in the one Taylor was in. She really enjoyed it! Later that evening Daddy taught her how to ride a long board(standing up) and dang it I didn't get any pictures of her doing that. But she had fun! We have a slight hill in the parking lot in front of our house and both Matt and Brooklyn took turns going down it.

I love this picture...

We have a thumb sucker in our home! Taylor has diligently been working hard on mastering thumb sucking and she finally achieved her goal! I think its so cute! She won't take a pacifier, her thumb tastes better!

I love this girl! The picture behind her is of her when she was a baby... I can't believe how big she has gotten since then... please slow down princess!

This green hill, full of pretty white flowers, is at Niagra Falls. We were on our way to meet up with our friends who were in town from TX, Steve and Amy Norton and their one year old darling daughter, Claire. Brooklyn was all over the place and just loving the outside weather.

Close up of the pretty flowers

Matt, being a dangerous father and after I protested.... took Brooklyn out in the river before the falls. I was nervous and had some comfort knowing Matt is an excellent swimmer. Brooklyn was all smiles and loving it!

You can't really see but she is holding a small purple flower and told me, "Mom this purple flower is for you because I LOVE YOU!" I have such a sweet daughter!

Our cool friends, the Norton's. We ate at Olive Garden and got stuffed!

Along with the nice warm weather came SNOW! Well not real snow per se. Literally though cotton has been falling down making blankets of snow. I am surprised there is not more sneezing going on! I shouldn't have said that because watch tomorrow I will be sneezing all day.... :)

Brooklyn with our next door neighbor's guide dog. The dog belongs to this man's daughter who is blind, Yasmina. The family is from Europe and very nice people.

Lilac Festival, Mother's Day and beautiful walks!

2010-05-16T20:46:00.005-06:00

This weekend Matt and I went to the Lilac Festival which is really big here in Rochester. We went with some of our friends and had a good time! There was all kinds of food to eat, some rides for the little children, a walk through all the lilacs (smells so good!), and music to listen to. Brooklyn keeps asking Daddy to take her to a concert and Matt has gone to several since we have moved here (mostly to stand at the front of the stage and gawk at the bass player, he has been taking bass lessons and is in love with it). Anyways, since Brooklyn is too young to go to concerts Matt took the advantage of taking her right up to the stage and together they both gawked at the bass player hahaha. I didn't get a picture but I am sure they both had fun together! I had Taylor with me and had lots of fun people watching and "eyes dropping" (reading lips) while I waited for them to come back. I could do that for a job!

A couple weeks ago for Mother's Day, Brooklyn's preschool class had a party for all the mothers. The children were all so sweet and Brooklyn guided me to my table holding my hand. My hand had slipped out and Brooklyn said Mom! I am supposed to take your hand and guide you to our table! It was so cute! The children sang songs for us and of course I don't what songs they sang but Brooklyn did such a good job! Mothers Day was so fun for me. Matt, Brooklyn and Taylor made me a delicious breakfast of omelets and toast. Matt makes the most delicious omelets ever and they are to die for! For dinner he made swiss chicken and rice which melted in my mouth... mmmmm! They also showered me with gifts of jewelry and clothes. Matt does so well picking stuff out for me I am so lucky to have a husband who knows how to shop for me! I truly have such a wonderful family and I am so grateful for their love and patience with me. I am always striving to be a better wife and mother and know I have room for improvement but I want them to know how much I love them and how much they mean to me. I am so lucky.... very lucky....

Here are pictures of the past two weeks along with other pictures. I had some bad luck with the camera a few times so some of the pictures are not in focus but its all I had. Better to have something than nothing!

A Sunday walk earlier this month. All the lilacs and blossoms had just bloomed.

Daddy and Me....

Brooklyn had so much fun smelling all the blossoms we couldn't keep up with her!

Towards the end of the Sunday walk...

Mommy and Me...

I love these pretty white flowers!

At the Lilac Festival (had to get a picture in front of the lilacs!)

Several of my friends were so excited to eat at this place....I ordered "The Freda" which was battered dipped artichokes fried in oil placed on some sort of pita bread topped with cheese... the verdict....

It was okay..... I love artichokes and I thought this looked so good but looks can be deceiving! It was still good but not as good as I had imagined. But either way I was excited to try something new.

Rachel, Jenelle and Dani are some of my coolest friends here!

I thought my husband looked hot in this picture so I had to post it! He was watching/listening to the concert (mainly gawking at the bass player)

Taylor was enjoying every minute being outside and did so well! She is such a smiler, she gets it from her big sister! Can you tell? (below)

Brooklyn was so excited to ride on the train! She just had to!

She also got to ride this horse!

Enjoying a creamsicle chocolate on cone!

Ya think they would give me a bigger scoop!

Brooklyn's gift to me for Mother's Day! I love it and have it on my curio shelf in the living room.

Brooklyn's preschool class getting ready to sing some songs for all the mothers.

Isn't she such a sweetie!

Brooklyn lead me to this table with lots of fun spring stuff on it. The little pots were filled with rocks which were chocolate rocks. We had a great feast of grapes, muffins, sunflower seeds, edible grass and flowers as well! Brooklyn also made a cute green caterpillar!

I love my girls! Thank you Brooklyn for such a wonderful Mother's Day!

About a month ago Matt and I were craving some good sushi but we didn't want to spend a fortune at a restaurant that we decided to make some, well HE made them but I helped eat them! They were so delicious and we probably had about 40 pieces of sushi! They were even double in size so we stuffed ourselves pretty good! Matt loves to dip them in soy sauce and wasabi (yelch... spitting and gasping for air), and I love to dip them in soy sauce topped with ginger slices. Oh how I love ginger! I can just eat the whole jar alone! We love sushi and we have had a few sushi nights since then!

Mouth watering sushi!

More pictures I say!

2010-05-09T20:21:00.001-06:00

I have all these pictures I want to post and frankly I am too busy to post all the time and finally have the time to do more. I hope you all enjoy the pictures and I know Brooklyn will enjoy them too. She loves to look on our blog and go through all the pictures. Its like a photo album for her only its online. We are loving it here in Rochester and enjoy the ward and all our friends. Spring is here and green is all around us. We are enjoying the parks, walks and all the playing time there is outside!

Grandma Kelsch came to visit us when Taylor was born. Brooklyn wanted to post this picture and I love it too!

For Valentines Daddy made us yummy baby back ribs and gave Brooklyn a rose. She was excited can you tell? She gave Daddy a bunch of her toys for Valentines hahaha.

Brooklyn at a tea cup birthday party and she got her picture taken on this cute chair! It was a fun party where the girls wore their best dress and got cute small purses. Brooklyn has been having so much fun going to many birthday parties! She loves it!

We finally got some snow, lots of snow back in February. We had been waiting for the big storms Rochester is known for but this winter was pretty mild. I guess we got lucky! It was still cold though!

The snow kept coming and coming Daddy and Brooklyn were out in the snow all afternoon til dark shoveling snow. They had such a great time. Matt's crazy shoveling in his shorts!

We found this snowman right in front of our door! Our friend, Greg, who is the University of Rochester diving coach and lives a few doors from us, secretly made this snowman and ran off! Brooklyn ran out in her bare feet and had fun playing with her new friend!

Brooklyn has been such big help around the house. In fact she loves to help me clean and in this picture we loaded her up with stuff to take upstairs and see how much she could carry. She sure did pretty good!

Before we flew to Utah back in March Brooklyn kept asking me if today was the day we were going to Utah so I thought it would be fun to make a countdown chain for her. She loved it and would run down the stairs each morning to cut one off!

We didn't tell Brooklyn that the Grandparents were going to be at the airport to pick us up. She was so surprised and ran right to them! This was Grandma Bailey's first time she had seen baby Taylor!

We love you guys!

This was the first time they had seen baby Taylor.... such a sweet moment.

Brooklyn and cousin Jaxson being silly! They had so much fun together and really play well together too!

This is such a cute picture of Taylor! She smiles a lot and we love it! A friend of ours gave Taylor this blanket with her name monogramed on it. We love it!

While in Utah we celebrated Matt's birthday. He had two birthday dinners and they were yummy! This one was at my parents house and it was fun to have the family there!

We had Matt's other birthday dinner at his parents house the day before the blessing of baby Taylor and planned on using half the cake to serve at the blessing. Hence the candles on half the cake! Grandma and Grandpa Bailey made one of Matt's favorite food, tacos!

Matt invited a few of his good friends (they all swam at the U of U).

Larsen, Matt, AJ, Cody and Andrew.

We had baby Taylor's blessing on March 14th and we were so grateful we were able to do it in Utah with all the family there. It was a special day and appreciate everyone who came.

Brooklyn and Taylor look so much alike... This one is Taylor and the one below is Brooklyn... I wish I had a close up picture of Taylor in her blessing dress to easily compare how identical the sisters look but they are!

Brooklyn when she blessed.

I asked my Aunt Andrea to make some booties for Taylor for her blessing and she did such a wonderful job. I love them! It makes me want to learn how to crochet! Thank you so much Andrea! I sure love you!

Grandpa Kelsch and baby Taylor... priceless...

Thanks to my brother in law Danny he caught a picture of this cake before we cut out Taylor's name! Thanks Danny! The cake was yummy! Costco cake is the best I tell ya!

Mom... I love this picture of you with baby Taylor.... I think you'll like this picture too!

What can I say... ADORABLE!

The crazy Bailey family! Thanks Danny, Loni, Jaxson and Grandma and Grandpa Bailey for coming to celebrate this special day with us! We sure love you all and love how silly we all are!

My brothers and sister! I love you all! I can't believe how much we have grown and how far we have all come! I thank my parents for raising us and for the things they have taught us... We are blessed with such wonderful parents who love the Lord!

The Kelsch girls!

Brooklyn was able to hang out with her best friend Hailey! They had such a good time together. I felt so bad when they had to part again.... Brooklyn often calls Hailey from her play phone and its so cute... Hailey's mom recently had twin boys! Congrats Stacey!

I love sister, she loves me....

We love Jesus Yesiree!

He loves us and so you see...

We are a happy family!

Catching some zzzzzz.....

Taylor is starting to get the hang of taking baths... for the longest time she did not like getting wet!

Just beautiful!

Happy as can be!

I just love all these pictures of baby Taylor....

Pretty funny.... this happens quite often...

Finally updating... Its about time I get into the groove of things!

2010-04-25T22:15:00.001-06:00

Life has been so busy since our sweet daughter, Taylor, joined our family 3 months ago. It boggles my mind that 3 months has gone by and Taylor is growing so quickly. We are having so much fun with her and love her smiling face! She may smile a lot but she also cries a lot... Well mostly when mommy is not around her is when she cries. She is a mommy's girl and to tell you the truth I LOVE IT! I love feeling that she needs me and I just want to do all I can for her. She truly has a wonderful family who loves her so much. Brooklyn is so sweet to Taylor and is always trying to help her not cry and make her laugh. She is a already a mother at heart... There is something so special about little girls. They have an innate motherly instinct from birth and have the desire to love and to make sure others are okay. It's so neat to watch how Brooklyn develops and grows using that motherly instinct. As my friends' daughters have been around Taylor they all just love her so much and always want to hug her and say baby, baby... they are still quite the babies themselves and how would they know to be so gentle and soft when they are the firstborns in their family? Amazing really...

I am posting pictures from 2 months ago and really in no particular order. You know how sometimes you just need to get all your butterflies out of your tummy when you are nervous or get all your energy out when feel cooped up, well I feel I need to get all my pictures out because I haven't had the chance to share! So here you go! I will be doing several post to get all the pictures up!

Oh so precious... She attended her first birthday tea party and pictures were taken upon arrival on this cute piece of furniture.

Just love this picture!

Can you tell its Valentines?

Definitely not happy!

Brooklyn loves to get her nails painted, we had fun doing Valentine nails!

Her Valentine Rose from Daddy... Doesn't she look like an angel?

Brooklyn wanted Daddy to hold all this stuff he is holding and wearing... can't remember why exactly.

Finally had a good snow storm in February! Brooklyn was loving it!

Brooklyn and Daddy shoveling all the snow... they were out there for several hours having so much fun!

I had to get something out of the car and open the door to this snowman! Our neighbor and good friend, Greg, made a snowman right in front of our door!

Brooklyn loooves to help me clean around the house. We were trying to see how much stuff she could put away in one trip up the stairs.

We love Brooklyn!

2010-02-20T23:50:00.002-07:00

I have such a sweet and caring daughter! Brooklyn continues to surprise me with all of her love and desire to be a good person and sister. I have so much to improve on because of her sweet example.

The other day Matt was telling me about a situation where a group of people were having a hard time with someone and no one really wanted to be around this person. Brooklyn was playing near us and I didn't know she was even listening but she turned to Matt and said, "Daddy, if no one wants to be her friend, then I will be her friend"... Matt and I were so tickled she said that and it made our week knowing our daughter has this sweet spirit inside of her. It makes us, as parents, feel like we are teaching her something good and want to take all the credit but we can't take the credit (we'll take a little bit of it...) its something she was born with and we truly love it!

Just today Brooklyn did something that made my heart melt... We were in the car and I looked back in the rear view mirror to see Brooklyn waving her arm at me. She had pulled her beanie over her face and was trying to get my attention. She then signed, "I love you more!" How sweet is that? She knows I can't understand her unless I can read her lips and since her mouth was covered she signed it for me. I am still oohing and aahing over it...

Brooklyn has been so amazing ever since her little sister arrived. I have been amazed at her love for Taylor and always willing to help and ALWAYS wanting to hold her and oh holding her by herself... I can't have any part of my hand on Taylor to help! haha She does have her moments at times but for the most part she is just adorable. She has become the feeding monitor and tells me when Taylor is hungry, "Mommy you need to come and feed her because she is crying... she wants some milk". She helps me by throwing away all the dirty diapers, bringing me things I may need while I am nursing, giving Taylor and I kisses while I am nursing and rocking Taylor in her car seat when she is crying. Brooklyn is going to be a wonderful mother (50 years down the road... don't want to think about that because time is going by too fast!)

Enjoy the pictures!

I just love this picture! It has some character!

Brooklyn loves to dress up! She looks like a real princess!

Dressed up again and in Grandma's shoes!

This is a plus! I found her cleaning the bathroom the other day! She loves to help clean and I guess I am a great model for her as I always clean the bathroom when she takes a bath. I can get two things done at once and Brooklyn can play in the tub while I scrub!

Hard at work!

Brooklyn made her own Valentines and wrote her name in each card all by herself! She is becoming crafty like me!

I love her "k's" right now haha they look an upside down F.

Copying what Daddy does often! Look at those muscles!

Helping me put up the Valentine Decorations.

Ready for her date with Daddy... Ice skating!

Waiting to get their skates sitting by the warm fire....

All decked out and ready to go!

The future Couples Figure Skaters!

I had to post this... what a cute outfit! She comes up with all funky styles!

I love this!

The best Big sister!

Handling Taylor like a pro!

Taylor's first bottle... and possibly last bottle... haha She is a sucker for nursing!

I love this outfit and had to take a picture! Narrtjie is such a darling store!

Post baby picture! Hiding my belly!

WE LOVE YOU TAYLOR!

More pictures of Taylor and Brooklyn

2010-01-22T16:24:00.000-07:00

We love having two little angels as part of our family.... Matt loves being the only guy in the house with all of his girls! Enjoy the pictures!

I love this picture... It looks like Brooklyn is saying a prayer for her...maybe she was? So sweet and oh Brooklyn's cute eye lashes!

Our first family picture, the day after Taylor was born. Our good friends, the Jones, were so kind and took Brooklyn to church with them that day. Grandma Kelsch brought Brooklyn over after and we hung out for a while eating the yummy chocolate chip cookies Grandma made for us.

I was randomly taking pictures and during this one she smiled as I pushed the snap button... She knew! haha

I love getting pictures of Matt with our girls...

Getting ready to go home!

Our friends (Coaches from the U of R) came by to visit. I wish I got a picture of all who came... We have some really great friends out here. This is Matt, the head coach of the tennis team and he is really awesome! Adrian not pictured came also he is the assistant tennis coach.

We love Libby! She coaches swimming with Matt. Greg not pictured also came and he is the diving coach. We pretty much had a coaches party! haha

Giving Taylor her first sponge bath... She definitely does not like to get wet! I was trying to take a picture of her but she kept rolling from side to side I couldn't get her full face in the picture. It was actually pretty funny!

Brooklyn loves to help whenever she can!

Not a happy camper!

Still crying from the whole sponge bath ordeal :)

I sure love this cute gal!

Can she look any more of an angel than she does now?

Just had to post this picture, I love her cute face shape especially her jaw and chin.

It's a GIRL! Welcome...Taylor Enone Bailey

2010-01-16T22:17:00.006-07:00

She is finally here! After such long months of waiting, experiencing a different pregnancy from the first, chasing around my sweet 3 year old (which can wear you out!), Taylor Enone Bailey is finally here! She arrived at 8:10 am being 8.8 lbs and 22.5 inches long! Hows that for a tall baby?! Matt and I decided to be induced since we were so anxious and my mom is here and I wanted her to be here as long as she could with the baby here. We were scheduled to go in at 2 pm on Friday the 15th if it wasn't too busy. Our doctor called us at 2 and said it was too busy and that he would call at 7. We were bummed but we kept right on being busy until 7 and during that time I had been having contractions all day. Our Doctor called again and said, "Are you ready?" Yep we were ready! My mom stayed home with Brooklyn while we went to the hospital (we live like 2 mins away... so nice!). I was admitted as soon as we arrived which was close to 7:30 pm. I had to have two doses of penicillin while they induced and wanted to be done with the penicillin before giving me the epidural. So that took about 5 or 6 hours of waiting time. Let me just tell you penicillin hurts! Boy does it hurt! I actually cried.... The nurses took care of it and then the pain went away but by golly that was not expected! :) Around 3 or 4 am I was contracting pretty regularly and close and it was so painful... I kept think what are those woman thinking who have babies naturally? Why on earth would you pass up epidural... well I dunno but if there is pain free medicine... Oh I am taking it! :) I got the epidural close to 5 am and slept for about 2 hours before the doc came and broke my water (I was dilated to a 6 then). Soon after they checked again and I was close to a ten so quickly that by 8:00 am I was pushing! I only pushed for about 4 contractions which took about 10 minutes and at 8:09 am, Taylor was born! I couldn't help but cried during the pushing and it made it hard to push with the air mask they had me wear because the baby's heart rate was dropping. Towards the end, they used the vacuum as the doctor was nervous about the low heart rate but all turned out well! They whisked her away and I didn't get to see her for about 10 to 15 mins... pretty long wait! haha Matt was taking care of that part while I was still recuperating. All in all, I am just so happy its all over... During the time we were waiting and I was in pain, I told Matt I didn't want to have anymore children because I didn't want to go through all the pain again... My repsonse changed after I had Taylor... I told Matt, I could have another one.... hahaha. Well below are pictures of our fun and eventful day! ENJOY!

Taylor Enone Bailey, middle name is my Great Grandmother's name on my mothers side.

Unfortunately Matt's brother DJ just missed the birth of Taylor. He was here for one night but had to leave back for Utah. He drove out to Ohio for work and decided to drive another 6 hours to NY to visit us! Thanks for the short time we had with you DJ!

Waiting for the special moment to arrive!

Right after she was born...

So cute!

Not too happy and trying to adjust to the new world!

We love our sweet Taylor! (oh goodness... my bloated face!)

Mother-daughter moment.... I love giving her kisses...

Matt writing a letter to Taylor... He did the same for Brooklyn on the day she was born. We are excited to share the letters with them at some future date!

Brooklyn and Grandma Kelsch came around 10:30 to visit Taylor... She was so excited! Matt was telling me when he saw her first walk in the room he realized how big and how much older Brooklyn was... It was a special moment for him...

Giving thumbs up for the new addition!

Oh so sweet..... "I love you"

My mother's first time with Taylor.... Thank you so much Mom for coming out here for 3 whole weeks! We sure love you!

Daddy and his girls...

We had an awesome nurse that included Brooklyn in almost everything she was doing. She let Brooklyn listen to Taylor's heartbeat through the stethoscope.

Another cute picture!

Taylor's first sponge bath and she was NOT happy!

More pictures will follow!

Only 10 more days!

2010-01-07T13:53:00.001-07:00

Wow! I can't believe the time is almost here for Baby Taylor to join our family! I can already tell she is going to be one full energetic child! She is constantly kicking as if to say I want out of here! :) Brooklyn is so anxious to meet her and always takes hold of my belly to give her a big kiss! The other day while we were all laying bed she told Daddy that she was going to share all of her toys with Baby Taylor.... we already know they will be such sweethearts together.

This pregancy has been quite different from my first one and I can definitely say the first pregnancy was a lot easier! The first four to five months were NOT so fun! I had this constant nauseated feeling though I didn't throw up as much I thought I would but the 24/7 feeling of being nauseated is not something I ever want to experience again.... but then again.... We probably want another child, wanting a child wins over not being sick for another 5 months... oh boy... we will deal with that when it comes. Because I was so sick Matt and I thought we were going to have a boy. Brooklyn, being so close to heaven, just knew we were going to have a girl. We were so surprised when the doctor said, "You are having a GIRL"... Matt and I were sooo excited and Brooklyn of course was thrilled! She has always said I want a sister! Among other things that were different this pregnancy is that I am way more tired than my first one, now this one is a good one, I haven't gotten Shrek's feet! With Brooklyn my feet and ankles swelled up and seriously, I mean seriously, looked like Shrek's feet, all bloated you could barely see my painted pink toenails! I still have 10 days left so hopefully it doesn't happen! My hair got thicker during this pregnancy and I love it... I am afraid it will go back to being thinner and lose more curls! I lost alot of curls after I had Brooklyn, maybe the curls will come back! Crossing fingers.... Now the good part about this pregnancy is that I have been able to stay home and not work 60 to 70 hours a week up til I have the baby! I really didn't mind it when I was working all those hours being preggy with Brooklyn because I wasn't as tired and it was all I knew really. This time it would have been more work having Brooklyn with me and being much sicker.

All in all, I am grateful I can be pregnant and be able to bring a baby into this world to be a part of our family. We are all anxiously awaiting Baby Taylor's arrival... It's amazing to have a life inside of me and I wouldn't trade it for anything else in this world. Thank you Heavenly Father for giving me such a beautiful experience despite the difficulties that come with it. Its all worth it at the end, we get a precious gift from you... Thank you....

Here are some more pictures I have wanted to post but haven't, they don't really have anything to do with what I have typed but its FAMILY (well okay mostly of Brooklyn) and that counts just as much as much as anything else and definitely more! I guess this can be a tribute Brooklyn for the sweet angel she is and for getting us all excited for the new one to come! Twice the fun!

Just had to take a picture of this girl!

Brooklyn dressed up for school as a farmer! The class was learning about farm animals.

Isn't this the cutest farmer face ever?!

Her preschool teacher, Mrs. Hadzima. She went to U of U for college! Small world! Brooklyn adores her!

One morning before preschool!

Playing at the park!

She is such a good helper! She loves to help with dishes!

Making cookies! She loves to cook!

Another day at the park!

Brooklyn is very creative and wanted to make a house and yard out of puzzle pieces! We had so much fun!

Brooklyn's hair got all static going down the slides at the park!

Modeling this cute coat! We never got it I am not sure why but it sure does look cute on her!

Loves taking bubble baths!

Quite the climber! She did this all by herself! Can you tell that we spent every moment we could at the park before winter came?

Being artistic!

Completely worn out after a day of shopping... so cute!

Wearing the school mascot outfit! The Rochester Yellowjackets!

Hanging out at daddy's swim practice! She ended up staying the whole time while I went an run some errands... it was so fun for her!

Matt got sap all over his hands bringing in the Christmas tree. His dad told him to rub peanut butter all over his hands and it will come right off! It worked! He was talking to his dad in this picture.

Baking, gaming, tripping, chatting...

2010-01-03T18:45:00.001-07:00

After Christmas we continued to have some fun! I never got to make some english toffee like I wanted and so the day after Christmas Brooklyn and I made our first ever english toffee with Andes mint chocolate coating and it was yummy! Brooklyn is such a great cook! She loves to help Mommy make stuff and always drags a chair into the kitchen to help! Did I mention she is also good at loading and unloading the silverware from the dishwasher, folding towels...no seriously she does it perfectly..., making her bed and cleaning her room? Wow I got lucky and got a daughter who likes to clean!

We were lucky and had a free hotel stay at a Marriott hotel (from my work when I was traveling so much) and we had to use it before years end. So we decided to go to Ithaca, NY. Since it wasn't too far and not too close to home haha. We would love to have gone to NYC but we wanted to be safe and stay closer to home since I am due soon. Really we just thought it would be fun to just go stay in a hotel somewhere and swim in the swimming pool which is what Brooklyn wanted to so bad! :) We had a great time and I enjoyed the hot tub! Don't worry I didn't stay in it too long for fear I would boil the baby up! We brought a card game to play in the hotel room and also ate at Applebee's using the gift card my parents gave to us for Christmas, THANKS Mom and Dad! We enjoyed yummy steaks, potatoes, veggies, buffalo wings for an appetizer and yummy dessert! It was such a fun little get away and we would do it anytime!

Enjoy the pictures I took along the way!

Step one, make the toffee...

Step two, sprinkle the Andes mint chocolate

Step three, spread it with a spatula

Step four, give mom a hug!

Step five, lick the spatula

Step six, Play Candyland! We have played this game many times! She just loves this game and it was only $5.00! Who knew a kid could love a present so much that costed that much?!

Waiting for our food at Applebees.... Aren't they adorable?

I love this gal!

Ready to take a swim in the pool... She was putting "Emma" to bed.

I am so sly!

I love Matt's face! haha

Learning how to float on her back!

Howdy Grandma and Grandpa Kelsch! She was jumping on the tramp and wearing this hat chatting with her G and G. I thought it was a cute picture to post!

Christmas Fun in Rochester! (WARNING... blog entry is long!)

2009-12-26T13:43:00.001-07:00

Matt and I were not able to go home for Christmas this year since I am due in 22 days! We didn't want to risk having the baby on the road or on the plane! :) Although it would have be great to be with our families we enjoyed being at home with just our family and watching Brooklyn enjoy all the gifts she received. I am doing a lot better than I thought I would not being with my family but then again I have surprised myself the last few months adjusting well here! Normally I don't adjust to change well and when I have adjusted, I am doing just fine and don't want to change again haha.

We have been able to enjoy many Christmas parties, Brooklyn's preschool Christmas pageant, dinner outings with friends, visiting Christmas displays around the town, making gingerbread houses and Christmas treats, and shopping! We are so blessed this year to have Matt home with us for the holidays for 3 whole weeks! Since he is a student and a swim coach the school was closed for the holidays which meant we got Matt all to ourselves and still have him to ourselves until New Year's Day, he will be gone for a whole week. He will be flying out to SUNNY Florida for swim training with the team he coaches... lucky you Matt... all warm and getting some tan while I am all cold and big with child! haha I am glad he gets to go becuase he is just loving the coaching job and misses all his swimmers! Let's just hope the baby doesn't decide to come early!

During our break we have also been transferring all our "junk" that I thought I had de-junked before we moved here into storage bins we got on sale! We are tired of cardboard boxes breaking and not finding where our stuff is at if we need it. Going through this process we are de-junking again! Its amazing how some things are hard to part with.. hint hint Matt..... I could say that a good number of the boxes are my sweet husband's and he has a hard time parting with them... Silly guy!

Brooklyn is such a sweetie! She is growing so fast and maturing into a cute young kid! She is so excited for baby Taylor to arrive and always wants to buy stuff for her. The other morning out of the blue while we were all laying in our bed Brooklyn told daddy, "Dad when Taylor is born, I am going to share with her all of my toys!" She really has such a sweet spirit and Taylor is going to be so lucky to have such a great big sister! Brooklyn often times comes and gives my belly a big kiss and often ask me if Taylor has been talking to me. I tell her that Taylor is so excited to be with her big sister and Brooklyns smile grins from ear to ear and she radiates... We love you Brooklyn!

Enjoy the pictures! There are so many!

Our sweet angel!

Getting ready to go sledding on Christmas day! Brooklyn got a new sled along with all the snow gear!

Getting ready to go sledding! Surprisingly there is not a lot of snow here in Rochester so we had to search for a big hill that had enough snow to down a few times. U of Rochester's big hills came through for us! You can't really tell but its raining....

The trek up the big hill!

This isn't a good picture but its the best I got! Dang it I need to brush up on my camera skills... Matt got me a new camera for Christmas along with Photoshop... I got some learning to do!

We visited a Christmas display that had 7 large trains running in a big village. I would love to have lived in that village... If only I could be like Mary Poppins and jump into it!

Isn't this so neat!

I love the drive in set up! The movie is the The Polar Express!

More displays!

During one of our Christmas shopping rounds we realized the kitchen we bought her was too big for the trunk! Hence the blindfolding!

All excited on Christmas morning! She didn't even notice all her presents to the left hahaha... We had to point it out to her. She came running down the stairs and ran right to the Christmas tree and knelt down! It was so cute and funny!

Brooklyn's gifts she totally didn't see... how could she not I am not sure!

Our Christmas! Notice the bass amp on the far right. Matt LOVES this thing and is teaching himself to play the electric bass! He is doing so well and loves learning!

Brooklyn got a Baby Alive doll which actually goes #1 and #2... We won't actually be feeding her all the baby food the doll came with... don't want any accidents now do we! She is wearing her cute flower clip her cousin Kade sent her along with her silver bracelet (can't see). Matt and I also got her a pretty silver necklace with her name on it. She wore it all day!

Opening gifts!

Grandma and Grandpa Kelsch and Bailey both bought a Disney digital camera for Brooklyn. The above picture is a product of it! I love this picture!

Thought you might like to see my basketball belly! (Don't mind the not so matching clothes... We had just gotten back from a Christmas Eve party and I need to get out of my jeans and get comfy!)

Brooklyn just loved Santa Claus! She asked for a Dora doll which Santa brought her! She was so excited!

Making gingerbread houses at our friends house!

Brooklyn loves her preschool! She was one of the 3 wise men in the Christmas Pageant. She did so well on her part singing, "We three Kings". I am so grateful for a fun preschool that allows the teachings of Jesus and God. Not many schools can make reference to even Christ... What a blessing it is to have her in this preschool.

After the pageant the preschool kids and their families celebrated Jesus' birthday with yummy cake and a gift exchange between the children.

What's wrong with this picture? Ummm... yeah Brooklyn's face says it all! We locked ourselves out by roping off the doors!

Jumping in like Dukes of Hazard!

At 7 months pregnant and able to fit myself through.... I did have help though... Matt had to pick me up so I could at least get my feet through! We laughed and laughed it was soooo funny!

During this holiday break Matt was able to take some tennis lessons from the head coach at U of R. He is just loving it!

Being Silly and things Brooklyn enjoys doing!

2009-12-14T20:49:00.001-07:00

When I downloaded some pictures from my camera I came across these three pictures of Brooklyn! This was back in October. She is such a camera nut! She loves to take pictures of anything, including herself!

Here are three pictures she took of herself! I love you Brooklyn!

When its too cold to go outside Brooklyn loves to paint! Among other things, she loves to play with puzzles and wants to do a 500 piece one I keep putting off doing cause it would take FOREVER! She also loves to read books, play chutes and ladders, dominoes, rummikub and scrabble (she is still working on figuring out how the games work (dominoes, rummikub, scrabble) often we just line them up and make train tracks or even number them out. She is very creative!

Loves to eat ice cream... especially when its a late night snack!

She enjoys putting on her scarf and gloves that Aunt Amie sent to her! She also loves her lady bug boots! I know these things don't match but sometimes I don't want to put up a fight about it. We are at the library which is another thing Brooklyn loves to do when we are stuck inside.

More things we have done, I know I have so many pictures to post... we have done alot!

2009-12-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

More pictures that need to be posted! We really did a lot for the first couple of months that we were here since Matt had alot time off before school and swimming got busy.

The Genese River. We took a stroll at one of the biggest parks I have ever seen and its so beautiful and such a fun place for the whole family!

We took Brooklyn to the "Lollypop Farm". Its an animal adoption facility but they allow families to come and see all the animals. Brooklyn had a great time and just loved to see all the dogs! She got so excited and wanted to visit every room where the dogs were!

Taking a few poses outside in the nice weather. We saw all the outside animals, horses, cows, sheep, goat, ducks, etc.

Showing my little bump.... that was then...

Love Brooklyns face! I think she was tired of us getting pictures of her!

What can I say? Such a sweet angelic face....

Checking out the goats!

Matt and the cow having a staring contest.... Matt DOES NOT like cows! He has had bad experiences with them while dirt biking and even to the point where he drove over one on the freeway and took a dive in the car! Luckily he was alright and luckily the cow was already dead when he ran over the cow (this happened at 1:30 am in morning after Matt had dropped me off from a date before we got married).

Horses!

A painted statue of a horse. Pretty artistic! They seem to have lots of different horses created in different ways, hence the mitt horse in the below post.

More random things we have done since we have moved to NY

2009-12-12T04:29:00.007-07:00

I have not been doing a good job posting the pictures of things we have done since we have moved here like I said I would.... Time just gets away from me! I guess thats a good thing to say because it shows I am busy here and not wallowing in depression or anything that I am not in Utah with my family, although I do miss them. But I am enjoying it here with new friends and a new adventure. I also love the dependency Matt and I have for each other since we don't have other family around. Its been really good for us and I love spending time with my little girl! So here are some random pictures from a couple months ago!

One of my absolute all time favorite picture of Matt and Brooklyn. We were at the Red Wings baseball game. It was deaf night and we got to meet some great people, eat free food and just mess around (see below).... I love Brooklyn's smile.... so darling...

Not sure what I was doing, but I think I remember Brooklyn asked me to make a funny face since she was playing with the camera and wanted to take pictures. Its not so much a funny face as it looks like a scary face! For those who know the Kelsch family, we can make some pretty wierd faces! I guess we are just so animated!

At the game!

We have a neighborhood pool and Brooklyn was just dying to get a swim in! It was the first of Sept when the weather was still warm! We pass by the pool everyday and she just can't wait to back in! Unfortunately we only got to go one time since the pool closed for the season on Sept. 7th.

Strutting her stuff!

Back in Sept Matt wanted to swim on this 2 mile course he heard about at Candandaigua Lake. When we arrived we were amazed at how they blocked off sections for a "swimming pool" it was really neat and we definitely know we are going to go back in the summer several times!

Into the freezing water he goes on his two mile swim out!

Brooklyn and I waited on the grass for dad and she had the camera again. She is pretty good at taking pictures don't you think? If I had known we could swim I would have brought her swim suit so she could swim too! Darn it!

After the swim! He felt good about it and just loves to swim! You are so Hot cutie!

On the way back home from the Lake, Matt spotted this "smooth long boarding hill" and he just had to get out and take a stroll down it. He loooves to long board and will stop any chance he gets to take a fun ride! We keep the long board in the trunk for that reason!

Christmas with the cute gals!

2009-12-11T14:45:00.004-07:00

My group of friends and I had our little girls dress up in their Christmas dresses and take pictures together in front of our Christmas tree, our first real tree! Aren't they so cute! Its so hard to get them to cooperate, as many mothers know, but it was still fun and we will always have the memories together as friends!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

The gals!

(L to R: Madi, Brooklyn, Hazel, Ella, Abigail not in picture)

I had to post this! This cute little baby is Hazel and she just kept staring at Brooklyn the whole time! I can imagine how Brooklyn will be with her soon to be baby sister... So precious!

Time with Grandma and Grandpa Kelsch and other stuff...

2009-11-21T20:19:00.004-07:00

Here are so more stuff we have done, all of this back in August and first of September when we first moved here. Enjoy! (I apologize for the blurriness of the pictures.... its the dern stinkin tootin camera! Hint Hint Matt....)

Brother Olin invited us out to watch the Red Wings baseball game based in Rochester! We had a great time and Brooklyn loved her hotdog, notice her chin with ketchup!

Adam you will appreciate this one, a horse made of mitts!

One night Matt went checked on Brooklyn and found this on her belly! You can't really tell from the picture but there is yellow rubber band around her waist which is holding the balloon upright so well on her stomach. Matt and I had such a good laugh out of this.

When we were in St. George just before we moved out here, the girls all made flower accessories and Brooklyn wanted her hair done just like Brielle's (in our recent Kelsch Family picture). She was so proud of her hair and wanted a picture of it!

So cute!

Hangin at a somewhat Mexican restaurant... Rochester is not known for Mexican food and my parents were in a great mood for some Mexican after traveling across the country eating fast foods... yeck! the thought of fast food still makes me sick, not becuase I am pregnant but because thats all we pretty much ate at on the way, cheap and quick....Ewww!

Brooklyn posing with Grandma and Grandpa... I love her smile!

Dad and I hangin out taking a rest from getting the house all set up... I sure miss and love you DAD!

Brooklyn loves to play with all the magnets on the fridge arranging them in different cute ways.

She loves to play with the dominoes and make train tracks out of them!

Continuation of things we have done since we have moved here...

2009-11-18T14:18:00.008-07:00

During my parents stay at the beginning of our move here we were able to go and visit some church history sites. It was such a beautiful day and we were able to go on a Sunday after church. This was my parents first time as well as Brooklyn's first time visiting such a beautiful place! I am so glad Matt and I were able to be with them on their first trip to such wonderful places!

So sweet, innoncent and so full of spirit... Sitting in front of the Joseph Memorial Monument.

Grandpa Kelsch and Brooklyn making their way to the monument. Brooklyn loved being with Grandpa! She sure misses him!

I just loved this picture of Matt holding Brooklyn's hand on our walk up the Hill Cummorah trail to see the monument and over look the huge hill where the Gold Plates were buried. We tried to envision exactly what it would have been like for Joseph Smith as the hill was probably full of trees and shrubs as all the whole area around it is.

I love this picture! Its at the Palympra Visitor Center which is a neat place to visit! It just so happens that the mission president and wife that I served under during my mission in Portland, Oregon, now serve as the center directors of the visitor center! They are almost done with their calling and I was so glad to learn they would still be here when we moved here! I am bummed I did not get a picture with them.... Hopefull soon before they are finished.

Walking through the Scared Grove... I LOVE the Sacred Grove... I remember coming here just after I graduated from high school and it is still the same as I remember!

The Palmyra Temple in the background. The Sacred Grove is directly in front of us. If you ever have the chance to go visit the temple and do wonderful work, be sure to look for the specatular view of the Sacred Grove from one of the windows inside the temple. Matt and I recently had the opportunity to go to the temple and it was such an amazing feeling! We love it there!

I love the Scared Grove!

We were able to visit Niagra Falls on the US side since my parents werent able to cross into Canada (no passports) hopefully next time Mom and Dad!

It was quite wet! We came on a not so good day where it was raining but nevertheless we still enjoyed it, didn't we Grandma and Grandpa? haha (mom you will not be happy I posted this but I wanted a picture with you two near the falls!)

Matt wishin he could take a dive in the Niagara Falls river! BRRRRR!

2009-11-02T21:39:00.005-07:00

Last night during our family time together Matt, Brooklyn and I sat down and put a list together of things we are THANKFUL for. Although November is the month known as THANKSGIVING we should always be thankful for things throughout the year. We want to share with you things we are thankful for, I am sure you will know which ones are Brooklyn's... She made us laugh... Such a sweet and kindred spirit she is...

Jesus

Our Family

All the pretty colors on the tree

Pink

Daddy is going to school

Mommy doesn't have to go to work

Blue

Friends that we have made here

Matt doesn't lose his keys anymore

Brooklyn is thankful that she misses grandma

Family support back home

Sleep

God

Brooklyn because she is a good helper

How pretty Brooklyn and Shari are

For the things that we have

That we are having another baby

Utah is undefeated in the MWC

That we can go to church

Music

Time we get to spend together as a family

That we have a lamp

The beautiful nature around here

Food, in all of it's varieties

That our house is all set up

Text messaging (because I can't talk on the phone)

Brooklyn has brown yes just like Mommy

That we were putting our couch in the moving truck (so cute!)

Scriptures

We have the best Mommy in world!

Grandpa can talk to us on VP

The Holidays

Pictures

That Jesus loves us

Sherrie is coming out for 3 weeks! (yes!)

When Shari and Brooklyn come eat with Daddy at work

That we can follow Jesus and the Prophet

That our family will be together forever

and so much more!

Happy October!

2009-11-01T16:31:00.017-07:00

Here are some pictures of things that happened this past

month of October!

Enjoy!

Brooklyn's pumpkin she made in preschool!

Her pumpkin on display in our home! I am so proud of her!

We went to Browns Berry Patch and picked some pumpkins for Brooklyn! Its such a fun place with yummy food, play stuff, "pick your own" raspberries, pumpkins, apples, etc. It's such a great family place! Brooklyn and I went with our Gals!

Steering the wheel!

She blends right in with the pumpkin patch!

We took pictures at the neat cemetery near our home! Its one huge cemetery and is nothing like I have ever seen before... Looks like a cemetery you would see in scary movie but it's such a neat place! Most of the time when we pass the cemetery Brooklyn says, "Mommy! People are just dying to get in there!" hahaha Daddy taught her that joke.

Making her scary witch face! (shutter...)

These are the kids of the cool mothers I hang out with! Aren't they adorable?

(L to R) Abigail, Madi, Brooklyn and Hazel

She loved being a "good" witch!

Yum Yum Yummy! All my candy!

Matt and I were invited to our friends 1920's murder mystery party! Luckily neither one of us was the murderer! We enjoyed a wonderful 4 course meal and enjoyed solving the mystery! It was so fun getting dressed up! Its been a few years since I have done that and I think I will continue to do it! SO FUN! Thanks Rachel and Jordan! (they are the 3rd couple from the left). Missing are Janelle and Jordan who were visiting back home in Utah. We missed you guys!

I am proud of my curls!

Day four of pictures...

2009-10-30T19:45:00.005-06:00

(Pardon the poor quality of the pictures.... we need a new camera.... bad...)

Swimming in Canandaigua Lake! Canandaigua is one of the five finger lakes here in NY. Its soooo beautiful! We would love to have a second home here and the houses here are oh so so... I can't even explain... they are just so unique and old and I would love to live in them! We had some friends that were visiting in Rochester that were in our ward in SLC and they invited us out on the boat to play! Of course I didn't swim with my pregnant belly... I know a party pooper but I don't care! Brooklyn and daddy had fun in the warm water while my parents and I watched and ate food! Thanks so much Monica and Spencer for inviting us and helping us get settled in nicely with a night on the lake!

I love my family! We miss Grandma and Grandpa Kelsch! My parents traveled across the country with us to help with the move and it was soooo great to have them with us for a few days after we got here. It helped make the transition easier but I still miss them so dearly!

Monica and her cute babe! Thanks for such a fun time! Monica used to live in Rochester and was here for a wedding the week we moved here. Her parents are actually now in the Provo Utah Mission as the mission president. I think its the Provo Utah one....

Spencer about to crash! Spencer thought he could beat Matt in a freestyle swim... haha he thought wrong but it was so fun to watch them race!

Daddy and Brooklyn taking a swim in the lake! It was getting dark and Brooklyn wanted out. haha

Not such a good picture but I love these two people!

Day three of pictures...

2009-10-29T16:04:00.005-06:00

These pictures are of us traveling on the road to NY! Brooklyn loved sitting in the cab of the moving van because she could see EVERYTHING as opposed to being in the back seat of the car. One rule of advice when you buy your toddler a carseat make sure its high enough so he/she can actually see out the window and not always see the SKY!

Look at those smiles!

Brooklyn insisted I be in the picture too!

My mom and Brooklyn helping unload the moving the van. It was a lot of hard and hot work! We sweated buckets of water!

Our new home! Its a three story home, still smaller than our old home. We have boxes in the basment that pretty much fill it all up! I need to organize it more but when?.....

Brooklyn hard at work! She wanted to help, help and help! She is a great worker!