What will Brooklyn like to do?

Lately I have been thinking about what Brooklyn's interest will be as she grows older. Of course I can see her playing basketball or volleyball but lately I am not so sure. I know things change over time but I just always wonder... She seems to like to dance (hence the video of her shaking her hips to the music, I got it from my Momma). Anytime music is heard she's doing some sort of cute movement. She loves to wear daddy's swim cap and goggles and often times Grandma Bailey takes her swimming, teaching her how to float on her back and put her face under the water. Brooklyn loves bath-time! She goes right on her back and likes to lay that way as the tub is being filled with water. Rarely does she ever want to get out of the tub, she just wants to SWIM. I also wonder if she will be an interpreter as she is signing close to 50 words and is one Little Miss Chatterbox (wonder where she got that from... her Daddy!) Will she be a flute player? She loves to blow that flute away! Will want to model? She loves to walk around in my shoes! :) There are so many things she can do and I just wonder what her interests will be! Whatever she decides Matt and I will give her full support! :)

Blind Date Out On the Streets of SLC

This past week I had a good friend, Jessica Salisbury, visit for a photo shoot I was in charge of at work. Jessica and I played together in China for the World Deaf games this past summer. We instantly became friends and knew we would always keep in touch. Matt and I wanted to set her up with someone and we thought of Matt's friend and swim-mate Cody Rempfer. Matt and Cody both swam at the U of U together and have been great friends since. Matt used to worship Cody before they even met. For those of you who know Matt well enough, he is so into swimming and knowing who all the swimmers are and their best or worst times. He's just like the Rain Man! Now Cody is from California so we asked if he wanted to take a trip back out here to Utah.  It all worked out and we went on a fun date to Red Rock in SLC (GREAT FOOD) and had some dessert at the Dodo (ya gotta try it, they make the best desserts there.... so Matt says... when we lived in SLC we went there every Tuesday night since it was two desserts for the price of one... he sure misses that deal!) We also walked around Gateway and shopped for some pants for Cody. It was a great evening.  We love having friends stay at our home and stay up all night chatting. Matt and I couldn't get Brooklyn to look at the camera but we thought this was a cute picture of Jessica and Cody.  There is also a picture of Brooklyn look pretty chick in the glasses. She just loves to model glasses and hats!

On The Slopes

Shari got me a lift ticket to Solitude as a Christmas present, and just as luck would have it Loni also got one for Danny! We went on December 27th and had a blast. Aside from a few minor crashes it was a great day. Being the good brother-in-law that I am, I gave Danny a nice snow shower right after he crashed. I thought it was all fun and games till I realized that he was a little more banged up than I had thought. I felt like a jerk! Thanks for the fun day Danny (and Shari and Loni for providing it)!

Merry Christmas!!

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was all spent with family, just as it should be. We slept over at the Kelsch's house on Christmas Eve and had a great time hanging out with the family. Surprisingly the kids didn't wake us up till 8:00 the next morning. When I was younger we used to wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning from the excitement. Whayt are kids thinking these days? Brooklyn was so cute opening her presents, especially when she opened up the stuffed animal dog she got.

After we were all finished opening presents we went to Grandma and Grandpa Groen's house to hang out. They were going to come to the Kelsch's for Christmas Eve but the weather was too bad. They are such a wonderful couple! I pray that Shari and I can grow old together like they have.

We finished up the day over at the Bailey's house where we had the nerf gun war of the century! My parents got everyone a gun and we all opened them up at the same time, and then the war was on! We ran around the house shooting each other for about 20 minutes before we were all worn out. It was such a fun idea! That pretty much sums up our Christmas and we are hoping the next one comes quickly!

Matt Graduated...Finally!

I finally did it! Walking out of class after taking my last final on December 11th felt so good. It was nice knowing that I didn't have to go back! I will probably pursue a masters degree at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, but for now though it feels great to be done. After I finished my last final my family met up with me at The Pie for dinner and had a lot of fun hanging out. My happy evening abruptly ended when I backed into a car on the way out of the parking lot. Stupid me...oh well though. Live and learn right? It's a good thing that we can always continue to learn, even when we are college graduates :)

Brooklyn's First Time in the Snow

Brooklyn had her first experience with the snow, at the first she can remember! We had a big snow storm this weekend and she really wanted to go outside and play in it. She was so cute...especially when she stepped in the snow barefoot only to find out that snow is cold! Her face was priceless. Shari put some shoes on her and after that she enjoyed it much more. Now we just need to teach her how to make a snowball!

USA Swimming Nationals

I recently returned home from Nationals and I thought you all might like to hear how it went. As most of you know, I haven't really swam since February. I decided that I needed to start doing something again or I was going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe to fit my growing waistline. Swimming seemed like the best option since it's all I have really ever done. I started looking for some meets that I could enter and saw that back in February I had qualified for Nationals. I have always wanted to go and so I decided to go for it. The only problem is that I made this decision about a month before the meet, so time was short to get into shape. I did my best to eat right and exercise as much as I could, and it was fun trying to get myself ready for the meet. I was really blessed to receive a sponsorship check from Audio Enhancement (where I work) that covered all the expenses. I also got a free suit from Speedo that was worth $340! I felt like a pro swimmer getting everything paid for.

Nationals was held in Atlanta at the Georgia Tech pool, which is the same pool that the 1996 Olympics were in. It was so fun to be there! This was by far the biggest meet I have ever been to. Most of the Olympians were there and it was quite an experience to get to swim along side of them. There were two American records that were broken while I was there! I competed in the 50 yard freestyle, my favorite event. My best time is 20.95, which I swam at during my last college meet. I really wanted to beat that time! I swam the 50 three times and my best split was 21.32. I was really excited about that time even though it wasn't my best. It was the best I could do right now and was pretty happy that I could swim that fast after taking 8 months completely off. There are so many things I can still improve on and I hope to be able to continue swimming. Being at this meet helped me realize that swimming is something I really enjoy, and that I still have a lot of potential to get faster. It was motivating to see a 32 year old take 2nd place. I am only 26 so I have plenty more left in me! If I can find a way to fit swimming into my schedule for the next few years then I will definitely do it. Here is a clip of my getting my butt kicked! I am the one wearing the white and red cap. I was just happy to be there :)