Love Is All You Need

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

March 2016

"Walking a balance beam, 4 inches wide and 4 feet high, teaches a young girl to concentrate on where she is going in life. She quickly learns when to put her foot down and when to leap for her dreams."

Brooklynn has now been doing gymnastics since she was 18 months old and watching her grow, improve and love the sport has made me so proud. This is her second year competing at gymnastics meets and it is amazing how much she has improved from last year. This year we traveled to Clarkston, Washington and Spokane, Washington in January. We headed to a big meet in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho in February and last weekend finished up the season with a meet in Missoula. Brooklynn repeatedly won first on uneven bars and placed in the top 3 in the all around. She also worked very hard on her cartwheel on balance beam and stuck the cartwheel 3 out of the 4 meets. Below are some of my favorite pictures from this competitive season.

Clarkston, Washington

Spokane, Washington

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Brooklynn was so surprised/happy to place 3rd at such a big meet.

The cool trophy that Brooklynn's team won at the Great West Gym Fest.

Missoula, Montana

The Roots Acro Sports team!!
Katelyn, Adahlia, Elsa, Fiona, Olivia, Clare, Lovis, Kaitlyn, Chloe, Sadie, Deva, Brooklynn and Ella

Keep up the great work Sunshine!

Friday, January 1, 2016

January 2016

New Year's Resolutions....I'm a pro at making them and have succeeded twice at keeping them :) 11 years ago I made the resolution to become a better chef. I would say I have broadened my repetoire and my family is still alive. Check! 4 years ago I set the resolution to finish a full marathon. Check! This year I have made the resolution to finally lose my baby weight (yes I realize Irelyn is 6 years old and I already finished a full marathon). I will do this by drinking a lot more water, eating more fruit and veggies and a lot less sweets. I will also be training for another 2 half marathons, one in Missoula and another in Las Vegas. Yippee! I'm determined but please keep in mind it is day 1 of keeping at it. I ran 4 miles today, skipped the ice cream that my family enjoyed and finished my water so that is a good place to start.

Irelyn had her first Achievement Day since moving to the big kids class. She did very well performing in front of a crowd and remembering her routines. I want it noted that I had her hair fixed so beautifully before the event started and she decided to take it out!

And the picture below is an example of why she got the nickname Rosana Rosana Danna!

Brooklynn had an adorable music program at school that included lots of dancing with the songs. We are so very proud of our girls but raising proper little ladies is not my strong suit :) Brooklynn played with her dress and even at one point pulled the back part of her dress through her legs and pulled it up to look like a sumo wrestler. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that.

She also had a beautiful solo on one of the songs and she did very well. Once again, we are proud!

Brooklynn and I headed out for a fun night of Christmas caroling with a large group from our neighborhood. We had so much fun until Brooklynn's feet got so cold she couldn't feel her toes.

Jesse, Irelyn and Diego created the Bah Humbug Club and stayed home where it was warm.

We took a relaxing drive around town to look at Christmas lights and enjoyed some yummy hot cocoa. We love the house below that always goes over the top with lights!

Another one of our Christmas traditions is to attend Christmas Eve service at our church. It is one of the highlights of the holiday season to have my entire family at church with me.

And now a few pictures of us opening our loot from Santa Claus!

LEGOS!!!

And a new ring for Mom!

Happy New Year and I hope 2016 is a wonderful year for you and your family!!

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

December 2015

Another year will be coming to a close soon and I will be sad to see it go. I am so very sentimental, I love my moments and the moments of having small children in the house have come to a close. It is true that each new phase with children is very fun but I still miss the first steps, first words, rocking to sleep and first "I love you's".

Jesse and I have had the good fortune to travel together and spend quality time reminding ourselves why we fell in love 12 years ago! For our 10 year wedding anniversary we decided to head to Las Vegas for a little adventure. We were able to find a 5 lb Hershey bar (pretty close to heaven for me) at Hershey World, eat lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, visit the Hoover Dam (he made me walk ALL THE WAY TO THE MIDDLE ON A 95* DAY), take in O! a Circue de Soleil show and The Blue Man Group (we weren't impressed).

I volunteered to accompany Irelyn's kindergarten class on a field trip to the corn maze. Little did I know that Mr. Schaefer was going to put me in charge of getting 5 of those crazy 5 year olds through the maze. Well I went in with 5 kids and came out with 4. Thankfully Mr. Schaefer reassured me that "80% ain't too bad!".

We then made it back to the maze with Aunt Julie and Noah about a week later. The girls get so excited to spend time with their cousins and wish it could happen more often.

Brooklynn has been interested in Star Wars for a few months now so it was no surprise that she decided to be Darth Vader for Halloween. It also wasn't a surprise that our Queen Manipulator was able to convince her little sister to be a Storm Trooper. Nope, we weren't shocked :)

I decided to leave Princess Erin at home and head out as The Wicked Witch. Jesse said I didn't have to stretch too far to play the part. Brooklynn and Irelyn love it when I dress up. We'll see if they still think I'm as cool in about 7 or 8 years!

Brooklynn's 8th birthday was held at the indoor water pool and had a theme of.... Star Wars!
She had a lot of fun swimming with a few of her closest friends and even invited A BOY!
I wanted to add another picture of me after that crazy witch picture above :)

This girl is something special. She is so very loving, thoughtful and intelligent. She is definitely her own person with her own opinions and insightful ideas. I am so proud of the 8 year old young lady she has grown into!

Irelyn lost her first tooth and has since lost her second tooth. She looks so cute and once again, this short little phase will soon be gone but I'm loving it while it lasts.

Every few years I like to splurge and get our family pictures taken. These pictures are priceless to me as I look back and see how we have all changed over a few short years.

Fall 2008