Birthdays & Precious "hand-me-downs"

Happy Birthday Steve!

He's 20. Look out world...

Steve, I hope this is an awesome year for you and you accomplish all the goals you set your mind to. Happy Birthday Bud!

"Hand-me downs"

I had to do a little photo shoot with Brooklynn in this outfit-for two reasons:

1) Is that she looks so sweet in it 2) This was actually my little dress when I was her age! My parents said they kept getting flashbacks of me running around in it throughout the day. I wore that little dress a lot and it still looks pretty good considering it's age, and I like it's cute/vintage look.

Experimental Farm

Leading Grandpa along the way while she looks for flowers to pick, sticks, rocks and other intersting things.
Always picking flowers, she especially loves the fluffy dandelions.

She is so chummy with Uncle "Atu" (Matthew), she will plunk down beside him or on his lap at any given opportunity. She just loves to spend time with him.

Watching the ducks fight over the bread.

This photo gives you an idea of just how beautiful it is. I love the trees and leaves in the picture in the sun light, it looks so magical and radiant.

In a weed patch.

Tasting the weeds...

A gorgeous Oak tree.

And finally a picture of me and my belly. It has grown immensely in the past few days, but this picture really makes me look quite a bit bigger than if I were standing... but we're almost half way there (roughly 20 weeks)

This is such a beautiful area in central Ottawa. This park is just off the Ottawa canal and is scattered with lush protected trees, ponds, streams and the whole area is covered with precious little spots that I can imagine a photographer having a field day with. I really wished while I was that I had a cool camera to play with and some serious photography skills. We tried to capture the beauty there-well I did while we explored and took it all in. Brooklynn was a free spirit running around in circles and had to touch and explore everything. She even tasted some leaves she plucked from a little weed patch.

If you ever visit Ottawa be sure to check this nifty little area out, there is a lot to do and see and if you are one who loves scenery, it truly is a little piece of heaven.

Swimming Time

A nice day for a nice swim in the pool. My parent's just got this 18 foot above ground pool for the family to cool off in on those oh-so-humid days, that are OH-so-frequent. Ottawa has temperatures that can consistently stay in the high 30's, low 40's with the humidity. My body is not used to it anymore at all! However it's hasn't been too killer here, but the humidity has made me feel like I can't breathe. Being pregnant emphasizes that of course. Anyways, we had a ton of fun taking a cool dip this afternoon and little Brooklynn would have been happy in there for hours!
I love the rays of sun in this picture. I can't decide if it looks rather celestial of if Brooklynn's about to be beamed up!

That is the stake centre behind my parent's house. Just when we thought it was quick for us at the Hamlet-cut that distance in half!

Trip to Ottawa Part 1

These pictures are in completely random order...
We've gotten a lot better with forks and spoons out here. Maybe it's because we purchased a decent set that makes scooping and what not a lot easier.

Loves to snuggle with Grandma and everyone for the matter. She is just soo cuddly, and is always giving TONS of kisses. I never knew my baby would be soo affectionate!

We're half way through our visit to Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house. It's been wonderful so far, and I know it'll be hard to leave once our time is up. I have never had such a break from changing poopy diapers, cleaning up high chair messes, and fed great food round the clock and last but not least- awesome company! As we have been enjoying ourselves so wonderfully, we've missed daddy and Max terribly! Well I sure miss Jason, and Brooklynn does too. When I ask her about daddy she lights up with excitement and then quickly draws a confused look across her face which seems to say "where the heck is he anyway?"

As most people get now-a-days, we've taken the opportunity to go completely camera crazy. There are so many photos of Brooklynn on every camera floating around this place, so I'm taking this chance to dump a couple on my blog before I leave as I'm drowning in photos from this summer that I STILL haven't posted. I also thought daddy, and Brooklynn's auntie's and other Calgary family might like a visual update.

One more thing to add is that our little girl has cut a bunch of molars (she's been a happy tropper with it) and recently turned into a little parrot. She is trying to and doing very well at lots of new words coming her way. To name a few in the last few days are: athu (matthew), stee (steve), flower, gock (rock), and she says grandpa a lot better, so Grandpa Murray will be happy about that too, sorry Nana - we'll work on that!

Brooklynn also enjoys Dakota, and woofs at him and laughs when she sees him around. When he gets a little vocal and Grandpa has "shush" him, she quickly follows with the same order and "shushes" Dakota too. So cute!

Dad's Remote

Jason was looking for one of the T.V. remotes for most of the day. He spent a good chunk of time flipping over cushions, looking under the couch, rummaging through Brooklynn's toys, and basically scanning the house high and low while voicing his frustrations of ALWAYS having to look for his remote. I had a hunch that Brooklynn was definitely the culprit, but was just as troubled to figure out what she had done with it as Jason was- well sort of. Anyways it's now 10:30pm and Jason JUST found it. Little Miss Brooklynn had placed the remote in her baby stroller and gave it a stroll around the house and actually parked it in our bedroom. My thought is that she was bringing it to him early this morning so he'd get up to watch cartoons with her. Yesterday she gave her sippy cup a ride- I should've figured!

26?

Oh boy, just round me up to 30 already! I sure feel like I'm getting that much older all too quickly but hey- I have so much to be thankful that have filled my last 26 years of life with some of the most amazing moments, memories and experiences. I think it's just how tired, and uncomfortable I've been lately that made the approach of 26 not so exuberant, and not to mention I'll be called a "cougar" for the next four months or so until he is also 26-ridiculous! As silly as he is I love Jason so much and he has tried once again to give me a special day to remember. We ended up heading out to BC on my birthday with a last minute invite out to the Allred's cabin. The night before we left I opened my birthday gift from him at midnight, and then the following evening we were able to sneak off to the "Shark Shack" for a little dinner together. It was nothing fancy except for the fact it's a houseboat restaurant, anchored in the middle of the Shuswap, so that was neat. Any chance we have to spend time together is great, and we were thankful to have babysitters for the occasion.

We head back to Calgary this afternoon and the plan is to have a small family/friends gathering for birthday celebrations, which I am looking forward to, I haven't seen much of my sister's lately and it'll be good to do that.

Our summer picked up a very fast pace recently and I'm looking forward to getting home and unwinding for a second before it picks up again. Since Jenna's wedding we've had multiple family activities, fun times with friends, and the dealing with a family crisis. Many of you have heard of Uncle Brant's accident, and we're faithfully praying for an optimistic recovery from him. If you would like to know details be sure to search the "Brant Bennion Recovery" page on facebook.

I have soo many photos to upload that I'm overwhelmed with it so it still may take some time. The wedding, reception, Butterfield Acres, Spray Parks, Sundance lake, the cabin and more in between. Photos will be coming soon in a massive picture post, I promise :)