Woodworth Family

2010-12-25T13:34:00.002-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy Birthday!

2010-09-27T21:36:00.003-04:00

I am terrible at keeping this thing updated! That being said I will backtrack a few weeks...

September 11 marks a memorable occasion. It is Tyler's Birthday! This year he turned 29!!

We celebrated by going to Tucano's for dinner and eating some real Brazilian food! The food was fabulous. Later we had cake and ice cream. Candace and Justin's family came to celebrate with us.

I don't often take the time to tell Tyler how great and wonderful I think he is. He is my hero and my best friend! He is a hard worker, he stands up for what he believes is right, he makes us laugh, he is a great Daddy and husband, he is passionate, he is honest, and he makes his family his number one priority (which I am especially grateful for). I love him for all of this and more!

Brooklyn's Birthdays

2010-09-04T22:16:00.007-04:00

Brooklyn's birthday was August 10 and since we were moving during Brooklyn's Birthday she got to celebrate it many times throughout the month.

Birthday with Grandpa & Grandma Woodworth

Birthday with Mom & Dad

The balloon actually sang "Happy Birthday Princess!" Nice touch Dad!

Birthday with Erin, Nick & Megan

(It was Nick's Birthday the next day so we celebrated both birthdays while we were cleaning the apartment for checkouts.)

Birthday with Grandpa & Grandma Gibson

Whenever Brooklyn was asked about her Birthday she talked about having a "Sleeping Beauty Cake." Being the Mother-of-the-Year that I am, I didn't even get her a cake- let alone a Sleeping Beauty one! (In my defense we were moving and cleaning the house to pass ANY inspection.) Thankfully Grandma pulled through! Princess Brooklyn even appeared on the cake!

It has taken quite some time to help her understand that it is not her birthday any more and she doesn't get presents whenever we go to somebody's house.

Thanks to all of you who helped make Brooklyn's Birthday the best one yet!

Road Trip!

2010-08-31T22:31:00.009-04:00

Since Tyler is done with school and now done with the BAR it was time to pack up our house in Sunny Florida and hit the road for a LONG road trip! (A HUGE thank you to everyone for all your help!!)

We have really loved Florida. We are so sad to leave behind our beaches, our condo, and all of the great friendships that we have made.

First stop was Bonifay where we stayed with some of the BEST people ever... The Bells. They always treat us like royalty. While we were there Brooklyn had a full-on night at the spa with Cassie.

From Bonifay we headed north up to Michigan. It was fun going back to Ann Arbor and seeing the place where Law School all started.

One of Tyler's friends from Law School was getting married. Tyler made a handsome Groomsman and Brooklyn loved seeing "Princess Sheila and Prince Dustin" get married! Brooklyn even found a dance partner! Thanks Landon for entertaining Brook!

From Michigan we headed west to get back to good 'ol Utah!! Brooklyn did such a good job on our 7 day journey in the car. I was so impressed! She is such a good little girl and doesn't complain much when we move her from place to place.

We miss Florida and really wish we could be at the beach, especially now that Tyler has time, but we really enjoy being close to family and becoming better friends with all our cousins too!

Visit to Utah

2010-07-28T17:31:00.006-04:00

We've been in Utah the last couple of weeks. Here's some of what we've been up to:

My sister Brittany came home from her mission in Houston, Texas

We met our new cousin, Henry

Brooklyn has lots and lots and lots of attention with everyone at the house. She has had many differnt "Prince Charmings" "Fairy Godmother's" and "Guston's" and loves that she can find somebody to play with her at any given moment. Austin, Grandpa, and Brooklyn are playing Hide'n'Seek in these pictures.

I was quite impressed with Grandpa's ability to get into that tiny hole!

Tyler has spent A LOT of time studying and is taking the Utah BAR right now!! Today is his last day of testing and we all can't wait until it's over!

We still have a few more days left here in Utah and we will be living up the time we have left!

Memorial Day

2010-06-04T12:17:00.005-04:00

This last Memorial Day was a lot of fun. Tyler had a day off of studying for the BAR and we got together with some friends and hit the beach. It was a PERFECT day! We got to the beach before the crowds did and got a good spot to play. The water was so clear you could see the bottom of the ocean! (Granted we stayed in the shallow spots) It was also really calm so even the toddlers could walk around in the water without being held. I normally don't like to be in the water very long because you never know what's in there with you but this time I could see all the fish, shells and hermit crabs so it wasn't scary, it was amazing!

The guys had fun fishing and the women had fun chatting.

The boys had fun trying to net some fish and swimming like fish, and the little girls had fun watching the fish that had been caught swim around in the bucket.

The dolphins even came to make a GREAT beach day a PERFECT beach day!

It wouldn't be Memorial Day without a BBQ so we all went home, got cleaned up and got back together to have a great BBQ and play games. It's a great day when all the kids and all the adults have fun at the same time! Thanks Hamisch's & Fernandez's for the great day!

Happy Graduation!

2010-05-30T21:02:00.011-04:00

Tyler did it! Law School is finally finished. After 3 years of studying, moving, internships, moving and studying some more Tyler graduated a couple of weeks ago from Ave Maria School of Law!! Way to go Tyler! I am so proud of you!

Both Tyler's parents and my parents came to celebrate with us. It was so much fun having family with us again.

Since study time was over we had a lot of fun playing with Grandparents!

We went to the Everglades and saw some alligators and turtles:

We went to the beach (What else do you do in Florida, right?)

We played dress-up:

(ok, Brooklyn played dress-up and the rest of us played the part of her adoring loyal subjects)

And we went swimming:

It was so much fun to have both sets of Grandparents here to share this wonderful moment with us. And I can't say enough how proud I am of Tyler for finishing Law School. (Not that I didn't think he would, school has just been our lives for so long and now it's finally over!) LOVE YOU!

Halloween Updates

2009-11-23T14:22:00.004-05:00

As I'm looking back at the last few posts that I have, I realize what a complete slacker I have been in keeping this thing updated. I get more and more discouraged from doing it because I just get further and further behind.

Tyler's school had an "All Saint's Day Parade" for all the little kiddos!

Grandpa & Grandma Woodworth came down to Florida for Halloween weekend. We had a blast! We picked them up in Tampa and got to spend some time with them and Ganoe's! It was a fun filled weekend with trick-or-treating, LOTS of attention and family. Here are some pics of the fun weekend!

Make-Over

2009-10-20T13:41:00.003-04:00

Brooklyn got into my make-up while I was trying to do her hair. I was so focused on getting the pony-tail in I didn't realize what she was doing. Once I finally caught her I was so impressed she knew what to do with everything I let her finish. It's amazing how much kids learn by watching you!

Birthday Bash!

2009-09-17T16:16:00.006-04:00

August 10 was Brooklyn's Birthday! She turned 2 years old! I can't believe how fast time is flying by! Brooklyn is becoming more and more of a little girl every day. She loves to sing into anything and pretend it's a microphone. She loves dogs and purses. She likes her fingernails and toenails painted pink. She likes bracelets and has always loved necklaces. She pretends to put on make-up with mom and doesn't like to be messy. She is our little girly girl and we love her so much!

Since we left Utah to move to Florida on her Birthday we had a little Birthday Party the weekend before we left. Grandpa & Grandma Woodworth, Grandpa & Grandma Gibson, Uncle Aus and of course Shadow were all there!

I didn't think she would quite understand the whole Birthday Cake thing but she was SO excited to have a "Birbay tate"! She liked singing "Happy Birthday" but her favorite was blowing out the candle. She kept saying "adain!" and handing me the candle lighter!

Tyler also had a Birthday on September 11. Tyler is a great husband and father. He always makes time for us and studies at home so he can help me and spend time with his baby. It's always fun when he comes home because Brooklyn runs to the door with her arms out stretched yelling, "Daddy! Daddy!" I love that he gets excited over little things, that he talks to the T.V., and that when he gets excited about something he sounds like he's yelling. (He's not really yelling- just talking loudly.) He always lets me have the last bite of desert. I love him and I am grateful he chose me to be his wife.

He had the day off from school and we just bummed around the house and had a relaxing day. I made a German Chocolate Birthday Cake. Which turned out to be pretty good! (I don't like coconut or nuts- this had both and I had two helpings!)

He got to open a few presents and cards from parents. He got the first season of Psych which we have been enjoying.

July update

2009-09-12T14:53:00.006-04:00

I'm sorry for slacking on my blogging responsibilities. It's been a bit crazy the last month moving to Florida. But we made it and are mostly settled in now. I will update the pictures but for now all I have ready are the swimming events we had in July!

Tyler was a little apprehensive on the first jump!

HELP!!

2009-07-28T18:01:00.006-04:00

Any ideas on how to keep your kid in bed once they can do this?

Bedtime now takes an extra 2 hours!!

JUNE

2009-07-08T16:58:00.008-04:00

I know I haven't been that good at posting, and lets be honest, I probably won't be that great at posting for the rest of the summer. The weeks are just flying by! It has been great being in Utah because we've been able to spend a lot of time with family. But I haven't been very good at keeping my camera with me and taking pictures. So this is some of the fun we've had in June:

We took my parents dog, "Shadow" or "Ousch" as Brooklyn calls him, up to Bridal Veil Falls one weekend. He is a scaredy dog and Tyler is determined to get him to swim this summer. I didn't get any pics of our timid "Oush" but here are some of us.

It was also our anniversary this month. Five years! And what a great five years it has been! Tyler had some beautiful roses sent to the house then we went to the BEST Mexican Restaurant ever, El Parral. It is my very favorite Mexican Food restaurant and it is right here in Tremonton! So if you ever feel the need for Mexican... El Parral is worth the drive. (plus it is right down the street from our house! Come visit!)

We went to Lagoon on the weekend to celebrate our anniversary. We left Brooklyn with Grandma & Grandpa Woodworth. (She's still to scared of sitting on moving objects!) It brought us back to our childhood days... and it gave me a new appreciation for my parents taking us when we were younger! After standing in hour long lines for each ride, feeling dizzy after each roller coaster ride, and being two of the few adults waiting in line without children, half-way through the day we were ready to go home. Then it poured rain! And that's when it became exciting again! Most of the people cleared out so the lines weren't so long. The rain cooled everything off. And you can't help but have fun when you are wet from the rain! We had a blast, but we can wait a few more years to go back! Ugh... it stinks getting old!

Our cute little house has some swings next to it and Brooklyn LOVES them. And she loves to visit "Grandma Waldron." (The swings are actually in her back yard.)

Tyler is loving his internship. He works at a local Law office and is getting exposure to different kinds of law. It has been fun to see him so excited about work and the things he gets to do.

June has come and gone so quickly I can hardly believe it.

Many more activities to come in July. We've started the month off with a fun-filled family reunion (which I didn't get pictures of because I forgot my camera)! We love spending time with our family and Brooklyn especially loves spending time with her cousins.

Did It!!

2009-06-16T16:18:00.004-04:00

Brooklyn's new phrase sums up the last month and half of our lives.

Did it #1: We had to say good-bye to good old Sandy. Tyler had a difficult time parting. On the plus side, we got a new car! (Which I don't have a picture of.) Sandy gave us a good run but was starting to have some problems. We were ready for a bigger car to help us move across the country (3 times in the next year!)

Did it #2: Tyler finished his second year of Law School Finals!! Good job Tyler for all the hard work you've done! Only one year left to go!

Did it #3: The house got packed and Tyler and a friend drove all of our stuff to Florida. Brooklyn had fun climbing on all of the boxes. I wish I had a camera when she walked in the room and saw us taking her bed apart. She wasn't quite sure what was going on!

Thanks to all you strong helpers!

(not pictured: The wonderful missionaries serving in our ward!)

Did it #4: After Tyler drove to Florida and moved all of our boxes into storage, I flew down to Naples so we could check out the area. (I thought I was pretty smart getting there just after all the hard work had been done!)

The area is beautiful but it will take some time to get used to the humidity! The beach was a good incentive to come back! We were going to just walk along the shore and get our feet wet, but ended up wet up to our waists!

Did it #5: Moved to Utah! We flew back to Michigan, loaded up some more stuff into our car and made the drive to Utah. We were sure grateful for the extra car space when we realized how much stuff we were bringing to Utah. We are going to be in Tremonton for the summer. Tyler has an internship at a small law firm in town.

There's a quick update. Hopefully I'll get some more pictures up soon.

Tired Baby

2009-04-29T19:41:00.003-04:00

As many of you know, the late schedule for church is rough on toddlers. (I feel sorry for those nursery leaders! I know they are sent extra blessings!) With no time for a nap by the end of the day Brooklyn is pretty grouchy! (Can't say I blame her.) After church we made dinner and fought Brooklyn to get into her high chair. She was crying and didn't want to get in. Tyler said, "Do you want to eat?" Brooklyn replied back through her tears, "No." Then he said, "Do you want to go to bed?" "Yes," Brooklyn said. Not realizing she was serious and actually understood the questions we forced her into her chair. After eating her mashed potatoes, 10 minutes later she looked liked this:

Easter, Easter, Easter, Easter!!

2009-04-22T19:52:00.008-04:00

As if our little girl isn't spoiled enough, this year she got to have 4 Easters!! Tyler's school had an "Easter Break" so we were able to go out to Utah and spend the Holiday with family. I have to admit, of course- Tyler and I were spoiled too!

Easter 1

The Easter Bunny came early to our house because he knew we were leaving. ;0) He left an Easter Basket full of goodies and activities to do on the airplane. Brooklyn's favorite was a Care-Bear Movie.

Easter 2- Grandma & Grandpa Gibson

The Easter Bunny had filled the basement with eggs for the grand kids to find. (And because Brooklyn is the only grandchild, she had a lot of eggs to find!) She got a cute little back pack FILLED with loot. My favorite part was after finding an egg, Brooklyn would open each one and say, "ANNY!" (Candy!)

Easter 3- Woodworth Family Party

Every year the Woodworth Family gets together for an Easter Egg Hunt and for some good quality family bonding time! LeGrand and his family ditched us for some quality bonding time of their own in Florida. We missed them, but I'm sure they were having a blast! I don't know who had more fun finding eggs, Tyler or Brooklyn!

Easter 4- Grandma & Grandpa Woodworth

Easter Sunday we were at Grandma & Grandpa Woodworth's. The Easter Bunny stopped there too! Brooklyn was mostly interested in the stuffed Bunny- which left a lot of candy for Tyler and me!!

Brooklyn wouldn't hold still long enough to get a shot of her Easter Dress, this is the best we got.

Easter was a blast! Holidays are always better when you have family around. Thanks everybody for all the fun!!

Some Updates.... Finally!

2009-04-06T20:26:00.007-04:00

Yes, yes I know this is long over due. We've been on some exciting adventures and I always get overwhelmed when I don't blog for awhile because then it takes so long to update it. Hopefully I'll do better and keep up with all of our adventures.

At the end of February Tyler had Spring Break and we headed out to Utah! It was Grandpa's Birthday and Brooklyn found the presents before Grandpa did! She loves to help!

Later, Grandpa couldn't resist and let her help him open up the rest.

Tyler's family came to see us and we all had a blast! Brooklyn LOVES her cousins!!

We found Uncle Austin's old rocking horse. Brooklyn wasn't quite sure of it at first, but loved it by the time we left!
And she couldn't get enough of Shadow (the dog)! He gets so jealous of Brooklyn and all the attention she takes away from him. He happily gave her Good-by kisses!

Then a couple weeks later we met my sister and her husband in CHICAGO for the weekend! We had a blast! The city was amazing and SO much more than we expected. We went to the Navy Pier, walked down the "Magnificent Mile" Shopping street, hung out, ate Chicago Pizza, and swam. There is simply just too much to do in Chicago for one weekend! Maybe we'll have to go again! Any takers?

With all of these adventures and photo op moments, Brooklyn became well known with the camera. If she gets a hold of the camera she holds it up to her eye and says, "Cheese!" This is a pic that she took (with a little bit of daddy's help).

We've had so much fun the last few weeks and have a lot more fun coming up! Hopefully I won't be such a slacker in the blogging world and can get them posted! Thanks everyone for the fun times!

Brooklyn 18 months!

2009-02-17T19:54:00.005-05:00

I took these pictures for Valentine's Day but didn't get the post up. So Happy Valentine's Day a few days late!

Detroit Auto Show

2009-01-28T14:37:00.005-05:00

Last week we went to the Detroit Auto Show! We had a lot of fun.

These were the only views we saw of Detroit that didn't look like it was falling apart. We quite liked the view from here. If you blow up the sunset picture, the bridge under the sun leads to Canada. Who knew we were so close?

This was the first car we saw when we walked in and Tyler was just ecstatic! (Possibly his favorite car of the whole show.) He started spitting out some words I can only imagine were some sort of car dialect. He looked at me with the blank expression on my face as I said, "It looks cool!" Then he knew I didn't understand the language he was speaking and only talked the car dialect I knew for the rest of our adventure. Poor Tyler.

Here are a few of our favorite cars:

I think these MAYBACH cars even have enough leg space in the back for my long-legged family! Check out the recliner!

In the basement of the Arena, they had built this outdoor track that you could ride some of the cars around on. It was gorgeous! All the flowers, trees, and streams was a breath of fresh air with all the snow, ice and freezing temperatures outside. All the trees and flowers were real. I could've stayed there all night! Can't wait for spring!

CHRISTMAS!

2009-01-18T20:59:00.005-05:00

We were able to make it out to Utah for the Christmas Break. We were out there for almost 3 weeks and we loved being with family again. Here are just a few of the pictures from Christmas.

One of my favorites!

Christmas with the Woodworth's

I love Brooklyn's face in this picture because she was so excited for this...

A baby!

Brooklyn had a lot of fun playing with her cousins and grandparents.

Christmas with the Gibson's

Brooklyn was extremely spoiled by all of our family. Although, I have to admit, she wasn't the only spoiled one! Tyler and I made out pretty well too! We bought another suitcase to bring home all of our loot!

While we were there, it snowed and snowed and snowed. I haven't seen the snow so piled up so high since I was a kid! It was fun to see, but once we got back to Michigan, all it did was snow and snow and snow... I'm kinda tired of it. Oh well, guess I better get used to it because we still have another 3 months of it!! All snow aside, it was a fun and exciting trip.

First Pony-Tails!

2009-01-10T21:07:00.004-05:00

Yay! Brooklyn's hair FINALLY fits into a Pony-Tail! Hopefully, she won't get called a "boy" anymore!

It was really hard to get the pictures while she was moving, so I had to stick her in the high chair to actually see the Pony!

Thanksgiving

2009-01-10T20:31:00.005-05:00

I know it's kinda late for this post, but better late than never, right? I WILL catch up... one post at a time!

This year was the first year I've EVER had to cook anything for Thanksgiving. We decided to have our own little Thanksgiving together as a family. (Which was good, because we both got colds. Luckily, they didn't last forever and we were better by the time the weekend was over. It was nice to have a few days to lounge around and not worry about anything.)

I have a new-found love for cooking. So, I was REALLY excited about cooking this whole big Thanksgiving Dinner. And, I was quite impressed with how my Turkey turned out.

It tasted as good as it looked and smelled! It was really fun to spend the time together. I was quite happy with my finished product of everything!

Unfortunately, we were so excited to eat, that we didn't take any pictures of us, just the food. But we had a GREAT time and I had as much fun preparing the meal as I did eating it!

Happy Brooklyn

2008-11-24T20:38:00.006-05:00

Brooklyn is such a happy baby. We were at the mall the other day and as we are walking through the halls, Brooklyn was sitting in her stroller watching all the people go by. When anybody walked passed her, she would wave her little hand and say, "H-i-i!" And it's not just the mall- the grocery store, church, play groups... She is the most social baby I have ever seen. No stranger anxiety here! She really makes every one who comes in contact with her feel special.

Some of my friends have asked, "Is she always this happy?" And my answer is... YES! And here are some pictures to show how happy she is. (Most of these are just after naps.)

My Little "Helper"

2008-11-09T22:24:00.004-05:00

I love watching Brooklyn grow and learn how to do new things. She is becoming more of a "little girl" and less of a "baby" every day. She is so good to help me around the house.

She cooks,

does the dishes,

picks up her toys,

and cleans! She is such a good "helper."

So, what do Tyler and I do while Brooklyn takes care of things around the house?

We do puzzles! We've been working on this one all week!

Halloween Fun

2008-11-01T23:07:00.003-04:00

I've been told that holidays get to be a lot more fun when there are kids involed. This year we have found that to be true. We dressed Brooklyn up as "Our little Pumpkin" and had a blast at all of our Halloween Parties!

First we went to the Halloween Party at our Church. It was the first time Brooklyn had seen other kids dressed up and I think she was facinated by how different everyone looked!

Then we went Trick-or-Treating at Tyler's school. It was so fun to see all the kids lined up as they walked down the administration office getting candy. Brooklyn's favorite was the little box of Nerds. (They make noise when you shake them.)

Next was the Halloween Party at our apartment complex. We went had dinner, roasted marshmallows and went on a haunted hay-ride. The party was so fun!

After all those parties we were to tuckered out to go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween night. We stayed at home with our traditional chili and had a good time with some friends.

Brooklyn loved her costume so much! She kept wanting to put her Pumpkin pants on and wouldn't let me put on her PJ pants! And first thing this morning, she tried to put the whole outfit on again by herself.

We hope everyone else had as fun as we did on HALLOWEEN!

Grandma and Grandpa Gibson Come to Visit

2008-10-29T21:29:00.006-04:00

Grandma and Grandpa Gibson came to visit this last week. I'd say that Brooklyn was SPOILED, but that wouldn't even begin to describe the fun she had! I guess you could say that Tyler and I were a bit spoiled too. :0) We LOVE visits from family!

Our little social butterfly HATES to miss a party! Brooklyn spent the first night in the same room as Grandma and Grandpa. Needless to say, Grandpa didn't get much sleep that first night!

Grandma and Grandpa's air mattress bed was a perfect trampoline!

Brooklyn slept in Mom and Dad's room after that first night! She knows we are party poopers and actually went to sleep.

We took a little road trip to Kirksville, Missouri to see Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Brendon. When Steph had told me that they lived in the middle of nowhere, I didn't realize how middle of nowhere it actually was! We drove through miles and miles of country and through twisty, turvy, up and down, roller coaster highways to get to their house.

Brooklyn was a real trooper. Throughout all the twists and turns and ups and downs she sat in her car seat in the back saying, "Wooo!"

(She also learned to say, "Cheese!" when the camera gets pulled out and she makes this funny face!)

The 10 hour drive was well worth it! We got there just in time for Brendon's birthday! We had a yummy Birthday dinner, fun games of Spades and my new favorite, Ticket to Ride, and lots of catching up and bonding.

Brooklyn loved playing on the stairs

Grandpa was trying to catch up on email, but just wasn't able to take his attention away from Brooklyn... or was it Brooklyn demanding attention from Grandpa? I can't remember.

Then we had a long 10 hour drive back to Michigan.

Fortunately, we got to play with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple more days before they headed back to Utah. Unfortunately, most of that time was messing with car problems that we were having. But it was still SO fun to have some time with them!

Bye everyone! Thanks for the fun trip! We miss you already and can't wait to see you all at Christmas!!

Power Outage

2008-09-21T20:51:00.003-04:00

Last week our power was out for 5 hours. I missed the brunt of it because I was at a church activity. Tyler and Brooklyn had a fun time at home bathing in the dark with flash lights. My boy scout even pulled out his grill to warm up Brooklyn's bottle for her! What a good Dad! After I got home he grilled up some chicken for us. I got marshmallows out to roast, but the gas had run out by then!

It really made me think if we would really be ready if a natural disaster struck. I used to think we'd do pretty good, but after this little outage... I think we'd be in BIG trouble if we didn't have electricity!

Since we've been back

2008-09-13T20:30:00.005-04:00

Ok, so I'm not very good at updating the blog. But here are some things we've done since we've been back in Michigan (almost a month now!)

Tyler has started school again. He seems to be liking it. He says his classes are a little tougher this semester than they were last year. His schedule is quite a bit different now. Two nights a week he has class until 7:15pm. Both Brooklyn and I are anxious for him to be home on those nights. But, he has Fridays off! Wahoo!! Too bad he has to study :0(

We took Brooklyn swimming for the first time! She was a little timid at first because the water was a little cold. But once we showed her she could splash, she didn't want to get out!

Brooklyn and I have been going on walks with some of our friends. It started with two of us and now we have 5! It's fun to talk to our friends in the morning and get a little bit of exercise in while we do it!

I went to the Farmer's Market for the first time. It took forever to get a parking spot, but once I finally did, it was really cool to see all the local vendors and all the stuff they had. I bought some sweet peaches, perfect apples, deep red tomatoes, corn, and green beans. I was really impressed with the quality of produce.

Brooklyn had a "Fisher-Price Play Date" last week. A friend in the ward entered a contest and won all these Fisher Price toys that we got to go play with! She had a blast.

And... Tyler had a Birthday! We weren't able to do much because he was feeling kinda sick. We were able to get the important things in though: presents, cake, and ice cream. He got a BBQ grill set (spatula, tongs, brush, and other BBQ gadgets) and a meat thermometer.

Finally... an update

2008-09-01T21:11:00.018-04:00

We've been super busy this summer and for all of you who have just been dying to see what we've been up to ;0) here you go!

On the way out to Denver we stopped at Winter Quarters in Omaha

Shortly after we got to Denver Grandma and Grandpa Gibson came out to see their grandbaby and said, "Mindy and Tyler are just a bonus." (Or something to that effect!)

Tyler took care of Brooklyn at night while I went to work.

Usually, when I got home from work in the morning, I would stay up with Brooklyn until she went down for a nap. People have asked how I stayed awake. Well... let's just say, I loved my Cherry Pepsi and Dr. Pepper!

Our friends babysat once a week for half the summer. Brooklyn loved playing with Lydia.

Tyler got to go to a Rockies game and watch it from a suite!

We got to go out to Utah for the Forth of July and have a big family party with my Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandma

Brooklyn liked the fireworks... as long as she was watching from inside the house!

After our Fourth of July Party we headed out to Bear Lake for a Woodworth family reunion. Unfortunatly we forgot our camera and don't have any pictures of that outing, but we had a blast! Brooklyn and I played out on the beach with the cousins and Grandma & Grandpa. Tyler spent most of his time out on the lake on the wave runners.

Four Generations Pictures

Tyler and I didn't have a lot of time to see what Denver had to offer. My family came out to see us again and we were able to go to the Denver Zoo. Brooklyn was more interested in all the kids that were walking around than the animals, but we still had fun. As you can see, she was spoiled and never sat in the stroller the whole time we were there!

Tyler also went to an amusement park with my brother and sister. They had fun, but didn't get me any pictures!

Brooklyn had her first Birthday right before we left. She wouldn't get all into her cake like most kids do. She was being very dainty and wouldn't eat it until I gave her a spoon!

She got lots of new toys to play with. (We were hoping they would occupy her for the road trip back to Michigan!) Take a look at the middle picture. She got a pair of car keys and was just amazed when she found out they came out of the box! She sat there with that face the whole time I was getting them out.

Grandma and Grandpa Woodworth came out to say good-by and to help us get all packed up and out the door. I am SO glad they did. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you. THANK YOU!!

That is our summer in a nutshell. We were glad to be closer to family and happy to see them as much as we did, but we are happy to be back in Michigan- back to our apartment with all of our stuff.

Update

2008-06-02T23:47:00.002-04:00

Sorry it's been so long for and update. We moved out to Colorado and didn't get Internet until recently. I will have to post pictures later, but I just wanted to give a little update as to what we've been doing!

Mid-May, after Tyler finished his last final we headed out to Colorado. We packed everything we could into our little car and left everything else behind. The drive out actually went a lot better than expected. Brooklyn was such a good little baby! Although after three days in the car, she didn't like to be put in her car seat very much! We got to Colorado on a Sun. and Tyler and I both started work the next day.

We've been pretty busy with both of us working full time. Our wonderful friend, Wendy, has been a HUGE help with babysitting. I work night shift on a Med/Surg unit and Tyler is interning at an engineering firm working with contracts. Brooklyn has been so good and just gone with the flow. Her new favorite word is, "No." I was hoping to avoid that one for a few months. However- I don't know if she understands what it actually means yet.

That's been the last month in a nutshell. I will post pics later.

My Paradise

2008-04-25T17:13:00.010-04:00

For Grandma and Grandpa Gibson, who are in Hawaii right now!

My Paradise is similar to yours. You get to eat coconut shrimp and fresh Hawaiian Pineapple. I get to have picnics in the park eating cheerios and graham crackers.

You have large luau feasts. We have feasts of our own.

You go snorkeling and see fish of all colors of the rainbow. After the feast we just had in the picture above, I get to see all colors of the rainbow when I change the next diaper! (Pictures will be spared!) Here is our rainbow-winged bird instead!

While you are body surfing and walking the beaches- we are here walking in the park swinging on the swings. Spring has sprung in Michigan and now I remember why I agreed to come out here! The weather is perfect- usually in the 70's, all the trees are blooming, and all the birds are singing!

You are watching hula dancers and we are watching nursery rhymes. Finally getting a chance to fold some laundry and do the dishes!

But the best part about MY paradise...

all the kisses and giggles!

I love my paradise! However, my offer still stands to switch places for a few days!

Good News... Bad News

2008-04-17T15:32:00.004-04:00

The Good news is the weather is actually nice out here now! We've been able to go for walks outside for a couple of weeks now. It's been nice to get outside and get some fresh air. Yesterday Brooklyn and I went to the park with some friends. We were outside for a couple of hours. The Bad news is... Brooklyn is cursed with mine and Tyler's skin. ("Who else's was she supposed to get," you ask? I don't know.) Needless to say her little face and bald head turned a cherry red color! Poor thing! Her first sunburn (of I'm sure will be MANY in her lifetime).

The Good News is... Brooklyn is almost crawling! The Bad News is... Brooklyn is almost crawling!! She is so fun to watch as she develops and learns new things. She will get up on her hands and knees, bounce, then look ahead at where she wants to go. Then she starts bouncing again and takes a stab at it. The only problem is she moves backwards and not forwards. She gets so frustrated when ever she moves backwards that she will just flop down on her stomach and cry. It's sad to see her so frustrated, but it also makes me laugh! (I am such a terrible mother!)

Happy Be-lated Easter

2008-04-02T21:20:00.003-04:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this post up. We had a really great Easter and actually ended up having two Easter feasts!

Here are some pictures of Brooklyn in her Easter dress and all of her Easter "stuff" (Thank you Grandmas & Grandpas!)

Look closely at this picture and you can see her two bottom teeth!

Mom & Dad didn't go without either. Here are the treats that we got for ourselves! We were just showing Brooklyn all the wonderful things she can eat when she's older! However, I think she was more interested in the bright colorful bags than what is inside them!

We also got a new kitchen table. Our first table that we can actually fit more than two plates on! We were thrilled to get our new table. We've been eating off of TV dinner trays for the last four years. After our first dinning experience on it, with an actual conversation instead watching TV, we looked at each other and said, "Wow, so this is what it's like to have a table. We actually talk!" We LOVE our table!

Brooklyn is getting bigger and smarter everyday. She can't crawl yet, but she's close. On Easter while I was cooking, I put her in the bouncer chair and didn't buckle her in. When I turned around she had crawled out of it!

Spring Break Fun

2008-03-09T14:20:00.019-04:00

Spring Break was this last week. Grandma and Grandpa Gibson came out for Grandpa's Birthday! One week just wasn't long enough! Time really does fly by when you are having fun!

We played SPADES just about every night and ate a LOT of junk food!

We went to the Ford Rouge Factory and saw the history of Ford and watched the Ford F-150 assembly line. It was pretty cool!

We also had a lot of fun staying in the apartment on the cold days and playing inside!

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming out! Hope you had as much fun as we did!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T14:32:00.008-05:00

Here are some new pictures. I had a video of Brooklyn rolling for all of you who haven't seen her roll yet, but I can't get it to download correctly onto my computer. Sorry!

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Update

2008-02-10T17:07:00.000-05:00

Sorry, no pictures this time. I wanted to get down a couple of milestones we've hit but I don't have pictures for them yet.

First- It is official. We are going to Colorado this summer for Tyler's internship. We are really excited. While we were hoping to be back in Utah to be closer to family, the internship in Colorado will be a great opportunity.

Brooklyn has started rolling! She started a week or two after we came back for Utah (so it's been about a month.) She can only roll one direction though, so when she comes to the wall or other obsticles, she starts crying!

Last week Brooklyn was sick with a cold. Tyler had it earlier and I got it to a small degree. A few days after she was sick, we found a little white tooth emerging from the bottom of her gums! No wonder she was so ornery! And yesterday, the second one started popping up! Our little baby is just growing up so fast!

And me, well- I'm still just doing the same things: laundry, dishes, more laundry and an occassional mom's group so I can socialize a little bit! I am learning to enjoy every stage in life we are approaching.

So, other than FREEZING everyday- we are doing well out in Michigan.

Detroit Auto Show

2008-01-30T16:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to post (for all you regular checkers out there!) This last weekend we ventured out to Detroit to go to the Auto show. It was quite an adventure getting there. We took the "scenic route." Detroit is an interesting place. Remind me to tell you about it sometime! ;0)

We went to the auto show with some friends. Tyler had a blast! Brooklyn seemed to like it too. I did ok the first couple hours. After that... it was just another car to me! Here are some of our favorites!

Proof I was there!

A Utah Christmas

2008-01-14T22:06:00.000-05:00

We've been in Utah for the last month. Brooklyn and I left at the begining of December and left Tyler in Michigan while he finished his finals. As soon as finals were over, Tyler came out to join us. We came back to Michigan just in time for Tyler to start school back up again. Here's what we did in Utah:

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Brrr Freezin' Cold!

2007-12-06T20:06:00.000-05:00

Who ever said that winters in Michigan are the same as Utah LIED!! The cold has finally set in, and it is COLD! Today's high was 26 degrees. It's not the temperature that is bad, it's the dang wind! Right now, the weather says it is 22 degrees, but feels like 11. Last time I took the garbage out I wore two coats and gloves. Now I just make Tyler brave the cold to take it out.

We went to a Christmas Parade on Friday. It started snowing while we were there. Then it rained! (I'm used to rain, then snow- not vis versa) Brooklyn stayed covered up under the blankets inside my coat in my wrap. She stayed nice and toasty warm! Tyler took the picture. After the parade we stopped for hot dogs and hot chocolate!

Celebration

2007-12-01T11:05:00.000-05:00

Our friends, John & Malory got engaged last night! We went to John's house later that night for a little celebration party.

Everybody adored Brooklyn. Karen and Juan taught her how to dance "Latino Syle"! We all know her mom and dad don't have the skills to teach her!

Tyler and I brought our own Sparkling Cider so we could join in the celebration.

CONGRATS JOHN & MALORY! We are so excited for the two of you!

Cereal!

2007-11-28T12:50:00.001-05:00

We have started feeding Brooklyn cereal in hopes of curing our sleeping problem. It hasn't helped, but she sure seems to like the cereal! She used to eat and eat and eat until she fell asleep, she seems more satisfied now. The first day was funny to watch her. She didn't know what to do with it! But everyday she gets better and better. She just jabbers away the whole time she eats!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T21:51:00.000-05:00

For Thanksgiving, Tyler's school got some people together and we had a little shin-dig at our church. It was a lot of fun. There was about 25 people there with a lot of food! (It isn't Thanksgiving without a lot of food, is it?) The turkeys were provided by the school and everybody else brought something to share. We missed being with our families, but we had a good time with our friends here in Michigan. We were able to talk to all the Woodworth's and Gipsons (Yes, I spelled the name right- it's Tyler's sister's family, not my family "Gibsons" ) on the web cam. It was fun to see everybody. It makes us feel like we aren't so far away.

I am thankful for all of our supportive family. I am thankful for the new friends we have made out here in Michigan that help us get through being so far away from home. I am grateful for our old friends. We miss everybody! I am grateful for my beautiful daughter who makes me smile everyday and I am grateful for my wonderful husband who works so hard to do well in school!

Tyler says, "I am grateful for my beautiful wife and daughter!"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

What are you grateful for?

Sleepless

2007-11-17T23:58:00.001-05:00

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get a 3 month old to go to sleep?! It's only midnight- so not too bad yet, but she is as wide eyed and talkative as ever!

Sometimes she does really well. Like last night she went to bed at 10:00, but the night before was 1:00. She is so random! Once she falls asleep she'll sleep for 7-8 hours, it's just getting her to sleep that's the problem.

Well, early this morning I was able to go to the temple in Detroit with my friend Sarah. It is one of the smaller temples. I've never been to a small temple before so it was fun. Tyler stayed home with Brooklyn. (Although she slept for him! When I got home they were both asleep in bed!) After sleeping in with the baby Tyler spent the whole day studying.

Bundle Up!

2007-11-07T09:27:00.000-05:00

Brooklyn and I have started going on walks in the morning with our friend Mandy. (Fine time to start, I know- now that it is getting cold. But better late than never, right?) Brooklyn gets all bundled up in her Bundle Me and actually stays really warm. The cold isn't too bad yet. The temp. has been 50ish for the last week. We've had some rain, but no snow yet! I know winter is just around the corner and from what I hear, they are REALLY cold. So we'll take advantage of being able to be outside still- even if we do have to bundle up!

Raisin Bread

2007-11-03T21:58:00.000-04:00

Who knew I wouldn't become a master bread maker after I got my bread maker machine? I thought all you had to do was pour in all ingredients and voila! Apparently you still have to tweak things a little sometimes!

My first attempt at white bread came out with a sunken top and hard as a rock! The second loaf came out great! (I didn't have enough salt in the first loaf.)

Tonight we made cinnamon raisin bread! Yum! My first loaf was dry and when I tried to add the raisins they just stuck to the outside and didn't get mixed in.

The next one I added more water and it turned out great! The only problem is we ate half the loaf right after it was done!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-30T23:10:00.000-04:00

Breadmaker

2007-10-29T23:24:00.000-04:00

I have been on a Homemade Bread kick lately. I don't know what got me started because I have never been a breadmaker before. So I tried, and tried, and failed. Then I decided to get a breadmaker. I spent WAY too much time researching different kinds and after a couple weeks I just got frustrated with trying to find the perfect one.

On Friday, Tyler had the day off of school so he spent the day with Brooklyn and me. First, we went to Olive Garden for lunch. (Thank you Steph and Brendon!!) I know it is hard to believe for a lot of you, but we don't go out to eat at all anymore! Yes, I actually cook! So it was a real treat to be able to go out. Then we hit the mall. We went mostly to get out and see something new, but we were also looking for a breadmaker. After a couple hours at the mall and being unsucessful, we went to Kohl's. Love that store! We found a breadmaker that I had actually read good reviews about and... it was on SALE!

I've made a couple of loaves now and they are actually good! Tyler is excited to have some homemade bread that actually looks and tastes good! That is my new excitement for the weekend. Anyone have any good recipes?

The Weekend

2007-10-23T23:24:00.000-04:00

This weekend was a beautiful fall day. A cool breeze and lots of sunshine- perfect football weather! Tyler's school had a flag football tournament so he got to re-live the glory days! There were 5 different teams from the school that played each other. Tyler's team lost their first game, but won the next two. There were still two games left to play but I don't know what happened.

After four hours of football and wind, Brooklyn had enough. (Plus Tyler was too sore to play another game!) He went limping off the field back to the car. He's been pretty sore the last couple of days.

Once we were home again Brooklyn was happy. But she did have just "a little bit" of fun!

"Spouse Night"

2007-10-19T15:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Tyler's school had a "Spouse Night." There was a little get together social event that had a couple speakers and a class for the spouses. We had a big homework assignment to read and everything! There was a teacher that taught as if we were actual law students. (Although he might have been a little more generous to us! :0) It was interesting to see what it is like for Tyler in class. Needless to say- it's a good thing Tyler is in Law School and not me! It seemed like they just talked in circles and circles!

Now what you are all here to see.... Here are some pictures of Brooklyn from Birth until present.

The day Brooklyn was Born.

2 days old

3 weeks old

5 weeks old

Tyler's Birthday

Playing Peek-a-boo with dad

2 month's old, right after a bath!

Our new home

2007-10-12T13:50:00.000-04:00

Here we are, now in Michigan!! Tyler has started school and is doing very well. He likes it a lot. Mindy is enjoying staying at home with sweet Brooklyn. We are making a lot of friends out here and we are having a lot of fun.