Houston Visit

At the end of March we drove to Houston to visit Brigham's family.  The drive seemed like it took forever, not surprising when traveling with two little kids!!  We hadn't been back for years, so it was great to see family that we hadn't seen in while and hangout in Penny's kitchen like we used to when we lived there.

We went to the Houston Rodeo where Whitney saw all sorts of farm animals and ate carnival food and Brooke slept(almost the whole time).  It was warm, but not hot so I was happy about that.  It was a little humid the days we were there, but not as bad as it is in the summer.

We went with some cousins to the Houston Children's Museum.  When we drove up there were tons of buses parked outside.  I thought that it was going to be super crowded but the building was so big that I hardly noticed any other kids.  We didn't even see everything, but we had lots of fun with what we did get to see.  The girls were so tired by the time we left, they both fell asleep in the car.

Whitney had never been to pick fresh strawberries, so when we went it was a fun experience for her. We found one strawberry that was actually 4 berries that had grown together.  We picked a whole bucket.  I was going to make some kind of dessert out of them for everyone, but I guess I didn't get around to it.

We got to spend some time at a couple of our favorite hangouts from when we used to live there.  We went to T-Bone Tom's with most of the family.  This restaurant was featured on the food network and the food is delish!  We also went to the Kemah Boardwalk where we road a few carnival rides and fed a huge group of discusting fish.

The drive home was just a little awful.  The girls cried alot and we were all tired.  We left Wednesday night and drove til 2am and then got a hotel room.  The next day we drove the rest of the way and got home with enough daylight left for the girls to play outside and get some energy out before bedtime.  We had a great time and look forward to the next time we can get away for a little vacay!

Brooke is Walking!!

Brooke started walking a couple weeks ago.  She has been trying for awhile, and she finally got it so now it's official.  Here's a video to prove it!

Brooke has fallen a lot lately.  Saturday night she slipped on some toys she was trying to walk over and fell right into the door to her room.  As soon as it happened I picked her up and watched as the goose-egg on her forehead grew bigger and bigger by the second.  It was so sad :(  You may be able to spot the bruise from her fall on the video(it's the huge purpleish looking thing on her forehead).

Brooke:

-has started to eat with a spoon, some of the time.

-is now sitting in a forward facing carseat (just started last week) and loves it.

-has started saying some words: ball, momma, ban(blanket), baby, baba, bananna, bye-bye, more

-is still sooo cuddly, and has been since she was a tiny baby.

-is happy to go to daycare and play with her baby friends.

-takes one, 3-4 hour nap everyday.

-loves her blankie and loving it makes her turn from sad to happy almost instantly.

-sleeps all the way through the night without waking up!!

Whitney and Brooke play all the time and most of that time is spent laughing and squealing in delight of each other.  We love you Beeb!

Snow Days

For the last few of days it's felt like we are still living in Utah. The weather here has been cold and snowy. Usually when it snows here the snow melts by the afternoon, but it snowed Wednesday and there is still snow in our yard and ice on the driveway. Kind of weird for southern New Mexico, but I don't mind it. There have been lots of power outages too, so all the schools have been closed for the last three days. Luckily we have not lost power. Our cold water wouldn't work in our bathroom for a couple days, but it works now and we are glad there are not broken pipes...yet. The temperature is going to stay cold for the next few days, which is nice because I'll get to wear a coat and so far I haven't really needed one because it's been so warm. Here are a few pics of the snow, to document that it really does snow in NM for those that don't believe.

We also had record lows here in New Mexico.    The record low for February was 10 degrees.  Thursday the new record low was set at 0 degrees!

Whitney's 3rd Birthday!!

Whitney turned THREE on Friday the 28th.  Whitney goes to preschool now, so I brought princess cupcakes for her class. 

She was happy all day until naptime(when she wouldn't sleep) and then she was cranky for the rest of the day.  I had big plans to have a party for her that night, but when the time came and people started showing up I was having second thoughts.  I was exhausted from the work week, Whitney was crying unless I was next to her and Brooke was cranky too.  So since it was only family coming to the party, I thought it would be okay to just reschedule for Saturday evening.  Thanks everyone for understanding!  We sang and had her blow out candles on a cubcake later that night after she had calmed down and was feeling better.



Saturday was a much better day.  We cleaned the house and got ready for the party and also had plenty of time to relax before the crowd got there.  Whitney wanted a princess themed party, so we let her dress up and I made a princess cake.

  We ate baked potatoes and pulled pork for dinner, opened presents and then had cake. 

Just as the party was coming to an end the guys started playing our Xbox Kinect, so the party lasted a couple more hours.  We all took a turn competing against each other playing Kinect Sports. 

The girls colored while the adults played the game.

Whitney now has a whole drawer of dress-ups, princess tiaras, jewlery and enough magic wands to last a very long time.  I may have gone a little overboard on the dress-ups, but I know she (and Brookie) will love playing with them for years!  She also got one of her favorite books(If you give a pig a party) along with the pig stuffed animal, funfusion beads,  a princess puzzle and a set of mugs for her and Brooke.

Brigham's Birthday Party

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband!!  Brigham is also a great dad to our little girls and a great help around the house too.  Yesterday was Brigham's birthday and we had a party at our house with all of my family.  It was the first time many of them had been over since we had moved in and many were surprised that we were all unpacked and moved in so quickly.  We had burgers with the works, chips and soda.  I made a couple of cakes because of all the family that came over.  One was a lemon bundt cake with glazed lemon icing and the other was a layered strawberry cake...mmm, mmm delicious!  We also made homemade gelato.  Everyone left full of good food and good times.  Unfortunately, the SD card in our camera decided to break last night when I was getting the pics for this post, so this one is the only one I have.

I wrapped Brig's gifts in brown paper sacks since I couldn't find my wrapping paper because of our move.  Kind of reminded me of  the song in The Sound of Music,  they turned out super cute, so I think I may do it again sometime.  Thanks to all the family who came to the party.  I love and appreciate you hunny!!  Happy Birthday!!!