Brooklyn's Mini Christmas Photo Session

Brooklyn was asked to model an adorable outfit and hair accessory from Ruby Blue Inc. over at Etsy.com and in return got some edited Christmas photos..good trade I would say!

Here are my favorites:

Photos were taken by Amanda Laing Photography

HAPPY DAD'S DAY

We had a great Father's Day weekend last weekend! Friday night we took Brooklyn over to Brett's parents to have a sleep over while Brett and I had a classic summer night at the drive in. We hadn't been since long before Brooklyn was born and it was always a must to get food from Burger Bar before the movie and eat it in the bed of the truck while waiting for the movie to start. There wasn't much playing, but we decided to see Madagascar 3 and we actually really liked it Madagascar 2 is still my favorite.

Brooklyn had a lot of fun at Grandma and Grandpas! They took her to the park to go down to the slide, pushed her in the swing in their back yard, painted her nails, went for walks, played with the vintage Fisher Price castle, and had yummy crepes and fresh fruit for breakfast.

For the last couple years Brett has taken his dad golfing the day before Father's Day so on Saturday they went golfing at the Barn.

Sunday morning I had Breakfast ready for Brett when he woke up. Brooklyn was supposed to help, but she slept in too :) I'm ok with that though since she goes down for a nap later than usual on Sundays because of church. And he opened his presents: hand guards for his dirt bike & a Black Live Lucky golf hat.

 After church and Brooklyn's nap we headed up to my parents for dinner. We bbq'd steaks and ate out on the patio. We had fun, jumping on the tramp, teeter tottering, and playing catch with the softball.

This is the cake I made for dessert..chocolate covered oreo cake...delicious!

I love celebrating Father's Day because sometimes I feel like dads don't always get the recognition they deserve. I am so grateful for the great man and example my dad is. He truly is my hero. I'm also grateful for the best father-in-law a girl could ever ask for. Mark is truly the nicest guy you will ever meet. From the very beginning he has made me feel welcome to be a part of his family and I'm so glad that I am. 

And most of all I am so thankful for the great dad that Brooklyn has. There is very little that I love more than to watch the two of them laugh and play together.

Last Week's Recap

Last week was fun, crazy, and a little scary!
Brett's birthday was on Monday so when he got back from a golf trip in Mesquite with some friends I had the house decorated for him. Since he is so busy with work during the week we had my family and his family over for cake, ice cream, and presents on Sunday night.

Jeanie, sorry I had to post this picture with your eyes closed. It was the best picture out of the two :)

Wednesday through Saturday we spent alot of time up at the hospital due to a vehicle accident my dad was in. We are so glad it wasn't worse than it was and are so greatful that he is doing as good as he is.

I had a picture of Brooklyn dipping a sponge on a stick in water and sucking on it while we were waiting in the ER but I can't find it so I think she erased it when she was playing with my phone. :(

On Friday, for my birthday, Brett took half the day off to stay home and be with Brooklyn and I. All three of us took a nap then we dropped Brooklyn off at Brett's parents and went to dinner at Tucano's in Salt Lake and went shopping. Brett bought me some Lucky capris that we paid up the butt for pardon my language, but they fit perfectly, so I'm hoping they'll be a pair of pants you love so much you would pay anything for them...I guess time will tell. Maybe one day I'll post a picture of those bad boys :)

I forgot to take a picture all night so this is one when we got home right before going to bed.

Sunday we celebrated Mothers Day by going to my parents house after church. We were excited to see my dad out of the hospital! We spent the afternoon relaxing on the patio and playing outside.

 

Then we went to Brett's parents for dinner with his grandma. We were so glad it was such a nice day so we could spend lots of time outside!

Hawaii

On Christmas last year Brett gave me a "Tropical Paradises" calendar, I love those kinds of calendars full of beaches, palm trees, etc, so I thought "what a great gift", as I was flipping through it I saw HAWAII written in big letters on March 17th - 24th. I asked him if we were really going and sure enough my sweet husband had met with a travel agent and booked everything. I was so excited I cried!

March finally came after much anticipation. It was one of those things where you want it to come fast cause you're so excited, but at the same time you want it to come slow cause when its over you can't look forward to it anymore. We had to be at the airport at 4:30am on Saturday so we dropped Brooklyn off at Brett's parents on Friday night, what a weird feeling to go home and not have her in the next room sleeping. Even though I was more than ready for a break it was so hard to leave someone that I love sooo much behind for a week! I may have cried like a baby that whole night and off and on during the plane ride, but then it got better...until we went to pick her up, more on that later. :)

We had a short layover in LA and got to Hawaii around 10:30am Hawaii Time

We got to our hotel a few ours before check in time so we changed into our swimming suites and layed on the beach.

After we were able to go to our room we got cleaned up and headed out for dinner. We ate at a delicious restaurant with an awesome view of ocean, it was a little pricey, but worth it!

On Sunday we drove a little 1-1/2 lane road called Kahekili Hwy. We hiked on the cliffs above the shorline and found a blowhole, saw the Nakalele blowhole, stopped at Julie's banana bread stand and got some banana bread, and went to Iao Valley to see the Iao Needle. The clouds were hanging low so we decided not to hike to it sice we probably would be able to see it very good.

When we got back we chilled by the pool and walked along the beach side path that was by our hotel.

The next day we went and saw the Banyon Tree in Lahaina and wend and checked out the beaches on the south side of the island Kihei/Wailea/Makena. We went to Big Beach, peaked at Little Beach....eek, and Makena Beach then went to a Luau in Wailea. The food was awesome, the show was awesome, and the sunset was awesome!!

Tuesday we had a relaxing day by the pool. That night we went to Bubba Gumps for dinner. We got some of the best seats. I love that every night we got to eat by the ocean and feel the warm air, watch the boats and the sunset. I think I could live there forever! After we ate we walked around the shops on Front St in Lahaina and got Brooklyn the cutest Hawaiian dress. If I remember I'll post a picture of her in it sometime.

On Wednesday we drove the Hana Hwy. We had breakfast in pa'ia at Charleys, where Willie Nelson has been known to eat :) We saw beautiful waterfalls and pools and even had one to ourselves that we got in. It was one of the prettiest drives I've been on!

This was an awesome beach that we found in Hana. The waves were huge wish we had our boogie boards with us We talked to a really nice local guy that has been surfing on this beach for about 30 years.

This was the sunset at dinner that night!!

On Thursday we went on a snorkel tour. We were supposed to go to the Molakini, but it was too windy to sail over there so we went to a place called "The Coral Gardens". We were bummed that we didn't get to go to the Molakini island, but the coral was really beautiful where we went. We saw lots of colorful fish, a few pencil fish and a turtle which we were really syked about!

When we got back we went to a mall in Lahaina called Whalers Village..

...and ate at a place called Leilani's. Brett's fish and chips were amaizing!

I know that we have lots of pictures of us eating, I promise that's not all we did haha But it's hard to take pictures of yourself when your swimming and snorkeling and playing in the waves and all that fun stuff, but we did eat some really good food and ate where there were beautiful views so why not get pictures of it right!

On that note this is a picture from the Plantation Restaurant on the Plantation Golf Corse. They had a million different kinds of Eggs Benedict to choose from, ok not that many, but you get the point.

Brett got the Crab Cake Benedict and this is my Mediterranean Vegetable Benedict

Friday after we had breakfast we drove to Kihei and went to Kam beach. We bought floatie mattresses and had fun floating on the waves and snorkeling. After we went to some of the shops and bought souvenirs then went back to Lahaina and had lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise.

When we got back to the hotel we layed by the pool until I heard a lady, as she was walking by, say that the waves were huge. So we hurried to the beach to see and sure enough they were monsters, there were even people surfing on them. Brett and I thought it would be fun to try body surfing, so fun! We got a little beat up and sand everywhere you could imagine, but I seriously think playing in those huge waves was one of the highlights of the trip!

On Saturday we slept in, took our time getting ready, and got everything packed. We had to be out of our room by 11am, but didn't need to be to the airport until 7pm so we layed by the pool and went swimming then thought it would be fun to go to the spa, not only for the messages but so that we would have a place to shower before the plane ride. Not only were the messages awesome, but the relaxation room had glass walls that overlooked the ocean and while we were waiting to be taken back we saw a whale breaching. Perfect way to end the trip!!!

I was so excited to get home and see Brooklyn, but I was sad that we had to leave the sun, ocean, humidity, and everything about beautiful Maui!

As soon as I get some more time I will post about all the fun that Brooklyn had while we were gone...if your still reading this and I haven't bored you to death :)