Da Da Da, Happy Birthday!

Last Saturday was my nephew's birthday. We met my family for Jackson's swimming party and the kids all had a blast. My mom and I watched the babies - Cameron & Grace - while everyone else took the kids in the water. Emily LOVED the big water slide ... but only if Jeff would hold her up so she wouldn't go under the water.

While there Jeff gave Emily her first "swimming lesson"...

After swimming we all gathered for singing and cupcakes. Then the kids ran around chasing each other and climbed the rock wall.

Thanks for the fun party Nick & Stacy, and happy 3rd birthday Jackson!

Happy Father's Day...

...To All You Dad's!

1 Busy Week = 1 LONG Post

Between our two families, Jeff and I have 8 birthdays the month of June. Plus 2 more the last week of May. It's a crazy (and expensive) time of year. I decided to start off this post with a picture of us celebrating my brother-in-law's birthday on May 29th - mostly because I just love Sara's excitement. Saturday the 6th we had a primary activity to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was beautiful. I couldn't believe all the rock in that building. The entire recommend desk was made of it and it was of course all over the floor and walls too.

Our little primary

Emily was adorable. I again wished that I could have taken pictures inside the temple just to get one of Emily so you could see how enthralled she was with it. She walked through the whole thing with her little pamphlet open and looking back and forth trying to find the pictures that matched. Unfortunately with the two temple open houses in Utah being so close to each other Emily doesn't quite understand why she can't always go inside the temple.

Later that night we went to Jeff's uncle's house for his annual backyard concert. They went all out this year and had Peter Brienholt, Jon Schmidt, Nancy Hanson, and David Tolk. It's usually some combination of those four, but never all at the same time. It was a ton of fun. I love how casual the performers always are at this concert. They joke around and take requests. They also talked about growing up in the 80's and did some fun renditions of some very popular songs. And thank heavens the rain held until the end. You couldn't have asked for better weather.

Emily wrapping Niki up in the blanket & then sitting on her

Peter B called all the kids up front to dance at the end.

(Emily's in the pink jacket)

A little taste of what we heard

Monday we went up to Lisa's house for a picnic. Unfortunately as soon as we finished eating it started pouring and Emily wasn't able to play on the playground at all. However because of the rain we ended up camped out at Lisa's for a good chunk of the afternoon so Emily got to visit with one of her favorite aunts for a while. Thanks for the invite, Lis.

Monday night we had a BBQ with some good friends that used to live in our ward. Fred & Sara were in town from Alaska, so we all got together at Tyler & Marli's. The food was great and so was the company. The kids ran around the house screaming and laughing the whole time. We're sad to see the Pettigrew's leave town again, but look forward to next summer when they come back again.

Eldon, Ella, Hayden, & Emily

The view from Tyler & Marli's back porch

(Oquirrh Mountain Temple)

Then of course the biggest event this past week has been Jeff's birthday. I didn't go as elaborate as I did last year with the big surprise party, but I still hope he had fun. We celebrated with Jeff's family on Sunday (where we both lucked out and got steak for dinner. Yumm!)

Wednesday was his actual birthday. I spent the morning in the kitchen making cookies and chicken salad sandwiches. Then Emily and I joined Jeff at work where we had a picnic - with said sandwiches and cookies. Unfortunately we had to stay inside because of the rain but Emily still loved it. She told me that morning that she wished she could go to work with daddy everyday.

After Emily's dance class that night we had dinner at my parents. Then we had even more cake and ice cream and sang happy birthday to Jeff again. Unfortunately I didn't think to bring candles and my mom didn't have any, so yes, that is a match stuck in his cake.

Friday night Jeff and I went out to celebrate so Emily got to spend the night at Gma Newman's. I wasn't there (obviously) to take pictures but Gma let her stay up till 11:00 watching a movie and playing with her cousin Ally (who also spent the night). Emily got both mine and Jeff's genes and would never wake before noon unless she had to, however at 6:15am Saturday morning she woke my mom up. Once Ally was up they had breakfast and then jumped on the tramp - completely soaking their pj's. She was so excited to go to my parents that night and kept saying that she likes to have sleepovers and that she takes turns with Gma Newman and Gma Holbrook. She's so lucky to have such great grandparents.

Saturday was also my mom's birthday. So after the sleepover all the girls met downtown and had lunch at The Garden. While I was out having fun, Jeff - being the good husband that he is - was home painting. We're putting wood flooring down so we're practically painting the whole downstairs before it's installed (of course the painting is at my request). Thanks for sacrificing your whole day for me, Jeff!

And Happy Birthday, mom! You're beautiful!

Stacy (& Cameron), Lisa, Jessie, Emily, Me, Jenny, Ally

And then last, but surely not least, I want to congratulate all of you that had enough guts to comment on my last post. I know I left you hanging...but I just couldn't help it. As I was putting together that post I just kind of ended up including that last part...

So to answer all the inquiries. Yes, I am pregnant. Everything's going well and I haven't really been sick. I fortunately don't get morning sickness or anything. There are times when I might feel like I want to throw up, but I'm lucky enough to have my mother's genes and don't. I of course do visit the bathroom quite often as this kid seems to already be using my bladder as a trampoline. We are all very excited and can't wait for this little one to join us this Christmas. I had another appointment this past week and got to see the heartbeat again. I also saw the spine, head, and little arms waving around. It was so much fun.

Thanks again for the cute shirt, Heather!

A Year Ago Today...

I was here:

Doing this:Today I'm home, staring at this:

And feeling like I need to visit this:

And yet I'd rather be craving steak and strawberries than swimming with dolphins.

Backyard Fun

Emily and I have spent the last week outdoors and with family. There have been several get togethers with the cousins and as usual a big chunk of the time was spent on a trampoline. We're all glad Aunt Lisa is done with school for the semester and has more time to play with us.

On Memorial Day we had a yummy BBQ with my family. We spent the majority of the night outside - jumping on the trampoline, and playing bocce and badminton. (Of course Sara & Emily spent a small portion of the night in the living room making houses with the cushions - one of their favorite things to do at Gma's).

Emily was having just as much fun as the others till she noticed her bow was missing ... so please ignore my daughter's whining.

Parenting 101

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law made a post on her blog about her kids getting into the fridge and eating a whole pie while she was in the other room nursing the baby. Stacy's first inclination, as it would be for any mother, was to get mad. But every once in a while your kid (or kids) does something where in a blink of an eye you suddenly find yourself laughing and reaching for the camera instead of yelling.

Exhibit A:
We have had our fair share of time outs at our house. Emily repeatedly makes messes or gets into things she's not supposed to the second I turn my back or step into another room. She is after all two. Like when she ate a whole tube of her toothpaste and had me completely befuddled as to why she had such stinky gas one day. Or our personal favorite, when she found a 1/2 a Hershey's bar in the kitchen drawer and I discovered her and our fridge covered in chocolate. In some instances like these I have found myself pointing to the infamous corner by the stairs while at the same time having the thought scamper across my mind, "where's the camera?"

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:

And Exhibit E:

My father-in-law recently sent me a link to a story in the Deseret News. In it mom Erin Stewart wrote: "I found my daughter today standing on the tip of her toes on the handlebars of a bike so she could wash her hands in the sink. I did what any loving mom would do at this moment. I said, "Honey, stay right there while mommy gets a camera."

So whether it's a mess or a safety issue, why do we as parents sometimes turn to the camera first or burst out laughing? Maybe it's a defense mechanism. An attempt to make the best out of the situation. Maybe the scene before you reminds you a little too much of your own childhood. Maybe we just aren't fit to be parents. Maybe. But I'd like to think that at least something's sinking in when after such an incident I have found my daughter doing this:

So the next time I find Emily standing on a pile of pillows on our piano bench trying to reach the remote so she can watch Tigger and Pooh, I'm just going to go with Erin Stewart's reasoning: "Judge if you will, but it's a pretty hilarious picture."

Fun In The Sun

Picnic at the park on Monday:

Swimming on Tuesday:
Thanks for hanging out with us both times, mom!

Tis The Season...

Here are a couple of reasons why I've been ignoring my blog. 

And there will be plenty more "excuses" in the coming months.

Cousins, Cousins ... and more Cousins

Wow, I hadn't realized it'd been so long since I last posted. I don't know if the time lapse was from being too busy or from feeling like I don't have much blog-worthy material. But when I noticed the date of my last post I thought that it was time for a new one. No matter how boring our lives may have been the past two weeks.

We have been spending a lot of time outdoors (and apparently from all my pictures a better way to phrase that would be on the trampoline) and playing with cousins.

(Can you tell who the ring leader is in this group?)

I spent two days last week at my sister's house watching her two little girls while she was working/organizing. Again, a lot of time was spent outside. (Thank heavens for the warm weather).

And finally, in the past two weeks we have welcomed two new arrivals into the Holbrook Clan.

On Sunday April 26th Jeff's brother, Brad and his wife, Heather, had their 2nd baby girl. Then on Wednesday April 29th Jeff's other brother, Stan and his wife, Melanie, had their little girl. (Yes, that now makes 4 granddaughters on the Holbrook side). Congratulations you guys! We wish we lived closer and could have come and visited you and welcomed your cute girls or at least brought you some dinner!

Maggie Ruth Holbrook

(and big sister Ella) 7 lbs 2 oz, 19.5 inches

Heidi Holbrook

8 lbs, 20.5 inches