BSU game with the babe

We went to our second BSU game and took Brooklyn to her first.  Well, okay she was a fetus of like 6 weeks or so when we went to our first, so you can decide if it was her first or second.
We drove part of the way there and parked then biked the rest of the way so we didn't have to deal with traffic.  They have a courtesy valet bike parking where they watch your bikes for you during the game which is AWESOME!
Since Thomas is a student his ticket is free and then we just pay for a guest ticket for me.  We were on the very end of the student section which seemed to be a little less crazy.  We had some fun people behind us who entertained Brooklyn most of the game with their cheering.  Brooklyn did awesome the first half and just started to get restless after halftime so we took turns walking with her part of the third quarter but were still able to enjoy the game.  Thomas even scored some free kettle corn for us as he was walking around with Brooklyn since they were closing down.  That entertained her for the rest of the game that we were there. We left partway through the 4th quarter when it was clear BSU had won the game.

Brooklyn is waving to the band as they enter the stadium playing.

Enjoying some roasted pecans.

Trying to figure out why the people behind us are going crazy.

Checking out the crowd.

Bronco Fam

Now whenever there is a football game on t.v. Brooklyn gets really excited and shouts "GOOOO!!!!!" So on that note GO BRONCOS!!!

Barber to Boise 5K

At the start/finish line area.

The Barber to Boise 5K was a new to us race.  We started outside Bronco Stadium and did a loop along the greenbelt that brought us back to the stadium to finish.
We were really excited for the pancake breakfast afterwards and it was awesome because they gave you two HUGE pancakes.  Unfortunately I could only eat a couple bites, after running really hard it takes me a couple hours to get my appetite back.  And I had raced hard and gotten another post baby PR! Thomas and I also got first place in our age divisions and one mugs and backpacks. Another cool perk of this race is that afterwards you get to go play on the blue turf at Bronco Stadium.
We were planning on bringing Brooklyn with us but the night before we were at an outdoor jazz concert for one of Thomas' classes and really suddenly she got super clingy to me and just fell asleep in my arms.  This NEVER happens.  I enjoyed the snuggle time but was worried and when we got home we took her temperature and it was 103 degrees.  Thomas called his mom to see if she would come in the morning to watch her. I was up a couple times that night to give Brooklyn medicine so her temp would go down and by the morning she was completely back to normal.

The famous blue turf.

The Start

Pushing hard to the finish.

I was trying really hard not to do the head tilt.

Bringing it in to finish.

Because of the late night interruptions in sleep I wasn't sure if I was going to go all out but decided to go for it.  I wanted to use this run to break my pre-baby PR (24:16 in September 2010) too but just missed it, I finished in 24:23. 

Scarecrow Stroll

We have had so many fall activities this year it has been hard to keep up on recording all of them! At the beginning of October we met up with my in-laws at the Idaho Botanical Gardens for the annual Scarecrow Stroll.

My little lady and I.

They had this cute little gazebo set up that was a perfect photo op.

Brooklyn LOVES "punkins". It will be sad when we won't see them all over town.

She's in pumpkin heaven.

Checking out the giant goldfish with her dad and grandpa.

Different businesses and groups from the area submit scarecrows that are then placed around the gardens for people to vote for their favorite one upon leaving. It was such a beautiful fall day to walk around and enjoy the creativity of the people who made the scarecrows. The botanical garden also does a Christmas lights event in December that we went to last year with my parents and look forward to doing again this year.

Dog scarecrow

The Three Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf

A Farmer and his wife.

My favorite, a runner crossing the finish line. If you look closely in this picture and others of Brooklyn you will see they are wearing the same exact shoes!

Lion gardener?

Boy scout

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This one was some kind of humane society that rescues pugs.

A barrel of monkeys

Buckin' bronco

Bazaar the Elephant?

 

Visit to SLC

My Grandma invited Brooklyn and I down to Salt Lake City to visit her one last time before she finished her mission at Temple Square Family History Center.
I was really nervous to make the five hour trip by myself with a baby but knew that at some point I just needed to get over my fear.  We left Sunday after church and I hoped Brooklyn would take her nap and that would take care of half of the trip.  She only slept for about an hour but did really well the rest of the trip, just got a bit fussy the last 45 minutes or so before we got to Ogden.
We stopped in Ogden to visit one of my favorite families from my mission, the Najera Family.  Oh my goodness I LOVE them! They were both ward missionaries in the branch that I served 9 months in.  They had the missionaries over to eat every other week or so and Hermana Najera is an AMAZING cook.  Of course when we got there she got food out for us to eat. We all sat around and talked and Brooklyn played with a little boy they babysit. I was worried I wouldn't be able to communicate in Spanish anymore but I actually found myself more at ease speaking because there wasn't any expectation for me to be good cause I haven't spoken in so long.  Love that family so much and I was so glad to get to see them again.

The Najera's

Merari

I was really surprised how at ease Brooklyn felt around her Great Grandma.  She would tickle her and they would laugh and laugh.

Reading to Great Grandma Larkin

One day we went to Brigham City where my Grandma took us out to eat and to walk around the temple grounds.  Afterwards we stopped at a fruit stand to get some local peaches and other fresh and local produce.  My Aunt Margaret had driven up from Texas to take my Grandma home after her mission so we got to spend time with her as well.  I loved being able to spend time chatting with these wonderful women in my life.

Grandma Larkin, Brooklyn, and Aunt Margaret outside the Brigham City Temple

Enjoying the temple grounds

Before I left I asked another mom from one of the Mom's groups I am a part of for any suggestions on good places to take kids in SLC, since they just moved from there.  She recommended the Children's Discovery Center.  I looked it up and found it was only a few blocks from my Grandma's apartment.  Brooklyn and I were walking there and I was thinking about my sister's SIL and wondering if she still lived in SLC only to look about a few minutes later and see her walking down the street on her way to school! We stopped to chat and took a quick picture.

Eunice and I

The Discovery Center was AMAZING!! We could have stayed all day.  

 On the roof of the building they have a helicopter pad with an old helicopter that the kids can get in. There is also a helicopter control area and different hospital rooms. Brooklyn loved acting as secretary at the emergency room.

Acting as copilot of the helicpoter

Hello?

Can I help you?

  As you first enter the Discovery Center there is an area with very tall ceilings with a bunch of tubes winding around. Kids can put balls through different holes and watch them be forced up and through the tubs by air pressure. We spent a lot of time in that area.

You can see the tubes in this picture that the balls go through.

There was a house area with kid size appliances and furniture to play with that Brooklyn was thrilled with.

Very excited about being able to pound away at a piano.

Just her size.

At the grocery store our latest struggle has been that Brooklyn doesn't want to be pushed in the cart she wants to push the cart.  At the Discovery Center they had kid sized carts and a grocery store that was super exciting for Brooklyn.

Loading up the cart.

She spent about five minutes with her hand under this feeling the water.

The water table was a hit too. Basically this place was a kids dream come true. 

The Farmstead 2013

This was our second year going to The Farmstead and it was even more fun this year! We went with our friends the Martins who we met through Baby Signing Time class (seriously the best people go to that class). Brooklyn was able to participate in pretty much all the activities they have this year and really seemed to enjoy it and have two little buddies to hug and tickle too.
They have a cow train that we took Brooklyn on last year and one of the cows is named Brooklyn so we have always put her in that one.  So fun to see the difference between last year and this year.  

At the little petting zoo area Brooklyn was fascinated by the ducks and repeatedly did the sign for duck while watching them splash and shake their feathers in the little bucket of water.

Signing "duck"

The bounce pillow that got lots of laughs out of our lady.

The hayride took us out to the pumpkin patch where we found some unique style of pumpkins to bring home to decorate outside our door.  Now every time we leave the house she points to the pumpkins and says "a punkin!".  We also have some small ones on the dining room table and she likes to have those on her highchair while she eats. 

Next we headed over to go head to head with the Martins for a game of cornhole with Brooklyn as our little beanbag retriever.

Corn hole also makes a great toddler slide.

They have these two HUGE sandbox like structures that they fill with dried corn kernels for the kids to dig in.  So much less messy than sand!

The last part of our adventure at the homestead before heading home for nap time was watching the pig races. Brooklyn and I are excited that will be headed back to the Farmstead again for a play date sometime this week.