My rare 2 year old

My two year old is a bit bizarre. Bizarre in a good way! This girl loves to sleep. I've had several comments just this week about how bizarre it really is. I know it's a rarity, but I absolutely LOVE it! All I have to say is sleep or nap and she's all for it. In fact, the other day she saw a baby going to sleep and she tugged on my pant leg and said sleep. She was ready to go to sleep too!
The reason she loves sleep? It's because it's the only time I allow her to have her binky. She loves to get in her crib with her blankie and her binky. Life is perfect for her at that time. And I must confess it's a little perfect for me too.
Brooklyn was never a great sleeper. She would rather be awake so she would take little cat naps. I always prayed my next child would be a sleeper. Eliza is an answer to my prayers! My next child might be a horrible sleeper so I cherish Eliza even more.
Brooklyn was already in a big girl bed and had gotten rid of her binky by this age. She also stopped napping at about this age too. I'm scared to change anything because of how well she sleeps so for now I'm not changing anything!

Our new ride

On Saturday we said goodbye to our 2000 Toyota 4-Runner. It was a little sad. Kind of like saying goodbye to a part of the family.
Then we welcomed a new member of our family, a 2003 GMC Yukon Denali.
We love her already!
Why the new vehicle? Our 4 Runner has been causing us some grief over the past several months. We knew a bigger vehicle was part of our future plans, but didn't know when we might actually need it. We've been trying to have another child for several months now, but things don't always go as planned. I'm not complaining in anyway, just saying that is something that doesn't always happen when you want it to. I know it's all apart of Heavenly Fathers plan and he knows what is best for me more than I do. But this is just one step in that direction. I knew that once we got the bigger vehicle, people would wonder if I was pregnant so I'm just putting that out there.
For now, it's nice to have more room. It's nice to be able to take friends and family with us when we go places. Some of you might have your opinions about bigger SUVs. I've heard them all so no need to share. We are adults that make our own choices. I'll drive my car and you drive yours. :)

I'm just glad it all worked out. We test drove more than I remember and when this one popped up on KSL, it seemed too good to be true. Luckily, Marty was off work that day so we could drive right up to North Salt Lake to take a look at it. We knew it was the right one. We found it on Tuesday, March 15th at Dave Co Auto Sales. Before this, I kept commenting to Marty about how I hoped we would be guided to the right vehicle and that hopefully we would just know. It was frustrating to find great vehicles that had some bad things wrong with them (smoke smell, rust, etc). We had planned to buy a 2004 or 2005. This one is a 2003, but only has 72000 or so miles on it so that is why we considered it. We were amazed at how many vehicles we found with way over 100,000 miles on it.
This dealer offered us a really low trade-in price on our 4-Runner. Because we had been to several dealers, we knew of a dealer that would pay more for it. We contacted Ben at Ben's Auto and he agreed to buy it for a $1000 more than the other place. Sweet! It's still less than we had hoped for, but we felt it was better than trying to sell it ourselves. We had been watching KSL and our particular year of 4 Runner wasn't selling that quickly.
It took a few days of running around to confirm our auto loan. We didn't borrow too much money, but it was quite the ordeal. We applied at America First Credit Union because we bank there and because they were offering 2.99% auto loans. Turns out that is a tricky marketing scheme. They will only give you that rate if you buy a 2008 or above. 2004-2007 was a rate of 3.49%. If your car is 2003 or below, it jumps to 5.75%! Yikes!! And that's with good credit. Fortunately, the lady who preapproved us, told us we were approved for the 2.99% and we didn't find out the other information until we went to close on the loan. I was stubborn and refused to borrow at 5.75% when I knew they could do lower. Plus, I knew my parents would loan me money at a lower percentage then that. So the bank manager did some magic and based on our circumstances, credit scores, and because this percentage rate change is still new, they lowered the rate to 2.99%. Phew! It was a lot more frustrating then that when we were going through it. I found it frustrating that they were trying to encourage us to buy a newer car that we couldn't afford. I even told the bank manager that I could buy a brand new car, but that then they would need to come get the car in a few months when I couldn't make the payments. haha. :)
It all worked out really well in the end. I'm so grateful it did!

Anniversary

On Monday, March 14th, Marty and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary! We would have loved to have gone on a cruise, but the funds weren't available. I saw a Groupon deal a month or so for a good deal to try IFly, Flowrider and Rock climbing in Ogden. We both thought it would be a fun thing to do to celebrate.
Marty's parents came down to watch the girls for the day and we headed off to Ogden.
After a short video instruction, we were all dressed up and ready to fly! Our instructor was Kia and he was awesome!
Marty during his first flight.
Me during my first flight. This was probably the best picture we have. It's not very flattering when your checks are shaking, but that's what happens when you have 300+ mph winds blowing you off the ground.
We asked a random girl to take pictures for us and she did a great job, it's just that our camera isn't that fancy and we were inside a plastic container so the pictures are what they are. It was a pretty intense feeling. The first thing I remember feeling was it felt like water up my nose. Marty didn't feel the same at all. I'm sure it's different for everyone. It was definitely an adrenaline rush!
Marty's second flight. We each got two 1 minute flights, but that's about all you need with that much wind.
And the end of the second flight, our instructor grabbed a hold of us and spun us up into the air with him. It was incredible!
Me going in for my 2nd flight. The instructor stays in with you the whole time. It's good because it's really hard to control and he helps guide and direct you the whole time. You communicate by hand signals while inside. He tells you things like bend your legs, straighten your legs, chin up, or relax.
It's pretty fun to fly! I felt just like Tinkerbell!
My turn to go up with the instructor. It helped that I knew he was going to do it after watching him take Marty up, but wow! He took me up about as high as you can go and kept spinning me. I was starting to feel a little dizzy. It was awesome though! Our instructor competes in real sky diving. He is amazing. He was doing flips and all sorts of tricks in that wind.
Here are our certificates for completing the first training course. The groupon itself was worth this experience. I loved it! It doesn't seem like much time, but I felt it was worth the experience. I've always thought it would be cool to try skydiving, but never did. Now our life insurance would be ruined if we tried it. Marty still has interest in skydiving, but I don't know if he will ever get a chance to go.
We even scored a DVD of our experience. We were getting ready to leave and they handed us the DVD and said that they recorded us and were just going to throw it away so we might as well keep it. They didn't even know it was our anniversary so we considered it a gift!
Next we had an appointment at Flowrider, which was just downstairs. I really wasn't looking forward to this experience, but I knew Marty had always wanted to try surfing. It's not exactly like surfing because of how the water flows up, but I'm sure it's a similar feeling.
You first work with an instructor and he helps you get used to the board and how to get your balance by yourself. The instructor would eventually let go and off you would go by yourself.
Here is Marty falling. When you fall the water pressure is pretty intense and pushes you up to the top so you can walk back down. I should have asked how much pressure there was, but it was very intense. Every time I would go up, my board shorts would be unbuttoned and unzipped and almost falling off. So yeah, very intense!
Marty tried boogie boarding a few times, but preferred the surfing experience.
After about 30 minutes, he had it down and could surf all by himself! He was really good! There were a bunch of guys there that must go there all the time because they were really good and Marty was trying to be as good as them.
I didn't really love this experience. I attempted to surf and didn't even get all the way out in the water. It's harder than it looks. I changed my mind and asked the instructor to pull me back in. Well, he let go of the rope and down I went and flew up to the top. That was my surfing experience. I boogie boarded a few times, but got really tired of all the guys there telling me everything I was doing wrong. I wasn't very good at it either, but I was seriously getting bruised and broken. We had a hour here and I spent most of the time just watching and I was completely fine with that. I was exhausted from what little I did. I'm completely bruised up too and the bruises were showing almost immediately. It was really hard on our bodies. We are still really sore.
We were supposed to then go rock climbing for as long as we wanted. Well, we decided we were so worn out that it would be ok to stop there. We wouldn't of had enough strength to get to the top. We have both tried rock climbing before so we weren't sad about not doing it. We felt we got our money's worth. We had a great time!
Then we spent a few hours looking at cars. Yes, we are looking at buying a new car. Our SUV is starting to have a few problems and we are planning for our future (no, I am not pregnant), so we are looking at purchasing a bigger SUV. It will be new to us, but not new. We are not made of money. We found a few nice possibilities, but didn't buy anything.
We ended the evening eating at my favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory. Yum! We eat here a lot for our anniversary. We would always search out this restaurant when we went somewhere for our anniversary. I absolutely love that we now have one in Utah! We both tired something new this time. I had the Herb crusted Filet of Salmon and Marty had the Crispy Chicken Costoletta. Both were yummy! We also spoiled ourselves with an appetizer and cheesecake. I had the Brownie Sundae Cheesecake (they were all out of the one I really wanted) and Marty got the Caramel Pecan Turtle Cheesecake. We took them home for later because we were already so full. We had a perfect day together! I love that Marty and I always have so much fun together!
Here is my delicious cheesecake. It was incredibly yummy, but very rich.
I was happy to share it with this cutie!

Eight

In honor of Marty and I being married for 8 years today, here are a few of the things we've accomplished together.
1. We've owned 1 house.
2. We've brought 2 beautiful girls into this world.
3. We've bought 3 computers.
4. We've owned 4 vehicles.
5. We've been to 5 professional baseball games.
6. We've owned 6 bikes.
7. We've been on 7 vacations.
8. We've each celebrated 8 birthdays.
And here's to many more!

Oh Sun, Glorious Sun!

I'm proud to report I survived another winter. I'm sure there will be spring snow here and there, but it melts fast and I can handle that. But for now, the sun is shining which makes for happy kids and a happy mom and dad!

Party!

This year was a year for Brooklyn to have a friend Birthday party. She would have been completely happy having a Backyardigan's Party just like she did two years ago. It's the only party she had ever had and since she's a creature of habit she thought it should be that way again. I was fine with that too, until I saw a great deal online on wristbands to Hollywood Connection. I bought a few on a whim and went with it. Looking back I wish I would have bought a few more. I really wasn't thinking clearly when it came to how many to buy.
We had the party this past Saturday, March 5th. They didn't open until 11:30, but I decided to wait until after lunch so we held the party from 1-4 pm. I think we picked the prime time for this place. It was pretty busy!
Here are most of the kids anxiously awaiting to start riding some rides. We are missing 3 of the party group. Some hadn't arrived yet and some of the younger ones just didn't want to be in the picture. Sadly it's the only group picture we have. I had meant to take another one after we were done, but completely forgot.
The wristband included golf and skating, but we decided to just ride the rides over and over again. This age group would have been a nightmare trying to do much else.
These four girls were inseparable even though they didn't know each other before. They just wanted to be where Brooklyn was and of course, Brooklyn loved it! They all got along really well.
The girls wanted me to ride with them on the balloon ride. It was a pretty tight squeeze. Marty was riding with the boys. This rides spins as well as the actual balloon. I rode it twice, but after the second time I was pretty much done riding rides. I was feeling pretty sick. Getting older isn't very fun sometimes.
The kids loved these bummer cars, but only rode them once. We had the whole party (at least the ones that were tall enough to ride) all out there at once.
They loved being able to run into someone they knew! They all had the best smiles on their faces!
Seeing the kids faces light up was worth every penny!
The rides were all pretty fast and the kids didn't slow down too much so it became harder and harder to get a good picture.
The Carousel was actually the hardest with all the kids. Marty and I were trying to help them all get on an animal and seat belted, but they were all running in different directions. I hadn't thought of that beforehand.
After 3 hours of running around and having a blast, it was time for the party to end and to open presents.
What do you get an already spoiled girl? Her friends knew of course. She loved everything!
The present theme seemed to be little animal-type creatures that don't make a lot of sense to me, but Brooklyn LOVES them or art/crafty-type things, which Brooklyn LOVES as well. Thanks again to those who came and for the gifts. We hope everyone had as much fun as Brooklyn!
The happy Birthday girl!
After everyone left, we decided to stick around for a bit. Eliza was at my dad's house taking a nap during the party, but they brought her over after she woke up. We thought she would like to stay and ride a few of the rides. We were wrong. We learned pretty quick that Eliza doesn't like to ride rides. We hope that changes soon.
Marty took this trying to get a picture of Brooklyn and I on the dragon roller coaster. Brooklyn loved this ride and would have ridden it all. day. long. She had a hard time leaving.
Marty and Brooklyn going for yet another ride.
Then we decided to introduce our girls to the mini golf world since they had never been before and we had already paid for it. It wasn't too much fun. The place was packed and I really don't like to golf when people are waiting behind you for you to finish. It's puts too much pressure on me. :)
Eliza didn't understand it at all. We tried a few times and then just let her run around. The only problem was she kept grabbing our balls and moving them or grabbing a random ball on a different hole. She basically just ran around and got into trouble the whole time. She had a blast!
Brooklyn loved it! She even got a hole-in-one. This is her celebrating! Only she was very disappointed when she didn't do it the next time.
It was a pretty fun, exhausting day. The next friend birthday party will probably be a bit more low key. Unless of course we score another great deal online. :)

Brooklyn -- Fabulous Five!

The cake was made,
the presents were wrapped,
the decorations were hung...
And Brooklyn, the birthday girl, awoke from her slumber so excited to celebrate her birthday! I have to admit here that I was a bit excited too. I didn't sleep too well the night before. :)
Brooklyn wanted to open all of her presents before Marty left for work. She opened a few of them to allow her a few things to play with. Then we spent the morning at the store letting her pick out her ice cream and preschool treat for the next day. We also went on a little hunt for a certain movie at Redbox. I normally wouldn't have visited so many Redbox's in one trip, but I did it all for the birthday girl!
Next we met Dad for lunch. Brooklyn's choice and she picked Wendy's! All because you get a frosty and a toy!
Then we let her open one more present before Marty went back to work.
When we came home, Eliza took a nap while Brooklyn and I watched MegaMind. It's actually a pretty cute movie.
Brooklyn worked on coloring Austin from The Backyardigans that Marty drew for her. It's her favorite character.
Austin is all done and ready to become our cake topper!
When Eliza woke up and our first Grandma stopped by, we went outside to enjoy the beautiful day! It was perfect! Brooklyn loved playing Frisbee with Grandma Pam, Eliza and myself.
Then she had to ride her bike.
Then it was time to open a few more presents.
And a few more...and it seemed she was opening presents every few hours. What a spoiled girl!
She enjoyed visiting with her grandparents. Grandma Pam pictured above.
Grandma Connie and Grandpa Doyle.
Grandma Pat and Grandpa Ted.
She really wanted a Backyardigans cake and since we aren't cake decorators this is as good as it gets!
She actually got to blow out her candles two different times that night. Which means two birthday wishes! And she told me she wished on a star that night as well. I wonder what a 5 year old wishes for?
She loved her cake with purple frosting! And the chocolate ice cream she picked out.
We didn't get time to eat dinner before our company started to arrive so we ate cake and ice cream for dinner and German Pancakes (also a Brooklyn pick) for dessert. Luckily, the girls still ate after having all that junk food.
Then it was a bubble bath time with sister. Bubbles were gone by the time this picture was taken.
Off to bed! Here's Brooklyn with all of her spoils! She had a fabulous birthday for a big five year old! I don't believe we had any disappointments, frustrations or tears from this girl. She was grateful for everything she received. When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she told us she couldn't tell us because she wanted it to be a surprise. Luckily, we know what she likes! :) Happy Birthday sweet girl Brooklyn!

And to end this post, Five Reasons why I love my Brooklyn B!
1) We have so much fun together. She's my little friend that I get to do everything with and chat with all. day. long! She's super smart too!
2) She's a big helper around the house. She loves to feel big and do everything I do. Sometimes I feel like I could just leave and Brooklyn would take care of everything. And maybe even do a better job. :)
3) She's a great example to her little sister. Sure, she teaches her a few bad things here and there, but overall she spends time with her and helps her learn new things. She's a great big sister!
4) She has a little budding testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it's fun to watch it grow. She loves Family Night and loves when dad lets her "conduct"FHE.
5) She's a good friend to all. She loves to have lots of friends and if she had her way, she would play with a friend every day. Each day after preschool, she asks if she can play with "so and so". She doesn't realize this involves planning.

P.S. Eliza is finally getting the concepts of birthdays. She kept singing "happy birthday" in her own little way all day. She was a little envious of all the gifts. At the end of the day I said "Eliza, who's birthday is it?" and her answered "Yaya", which is how she says her name. Too cute!