Birthday wishes from Brooks

Roses are red
Violets are blue
If I could have any mommy in the whole wide world
It would be you

Happy Birthday!

Love,
Brooks

Cute Pics!

This weekend was relaxed. We (mom and dad) both got a chance to workout and ski. We spent Saturday at Oma and Opa's House just hanging out. Sunday was spent relaxing and being a family. Brooks got his hair cut on Friday. I will post pictures of the event once Auntie Bean sends them to me. He looks like a little man (as you can see below)!

BEFORE...


AFTER...


LET ME OUT! (of my pack and play!)

We love you, Brooks!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

These are a few of his favorite things!

Balls--which Brooks can now officially say. It really sounds like ball! He is so cute and so smart. Anything that looks like a ball is "ball" to him. He recently looked at Greg's apple and said "ball". Cute.

His daddy. Brooks loves playing in his Playzone with his daddy. The giggles warm my heart.



His sippy cup. He is drinking water from his sippy cup now and does a great job with it.



I almost forgot his most favorite thing is smiling and posing for the camera! I am sure you all figured that out.

A Little R & R

It's not too often that we have a whole weekend without any obligations. With the hustle and bustle of the Holiday season behind us, followed up by a great anniversary weekend, we found ourselves with a weekend with no real plans. Friday night was spent hanging out at the house and watching Friday Night Lights, our favorite show. The whole family was pretty tired and we went to bed early. It might sound boring, but it was a perfect night.
Heather and Steph hit the gym fist thing Saturday morning for another workout with trainer Matt. They love working out and Matt's doing a great job with them. He always seems to come up with new exercises to mix things up and to push them to the next level. I better watch out because Heather's starting to get some pretty nice pipes!
After Heather got back from workout we got together with the rest of her family to discuss the upcoming family vacation over lunch. More details soon to follow, but it will be FUN! Everyone will have a great time, especially the kids. With the trip details finalized, we spent the afternoon shopping in Canal Park and just bumming around. Again, I'm sure that it sounds boring but it was just what we needed.

The fun day continued into Saturday evening with the family over for pizza and ice cream and a little bit of Wii action. Saturday is the one day of the week where we don't worry about eating junk food. We like to refer to it as "cheats." We love cheat day and the pizza and dessert didn't disappoint.
I found my video game skills to be lacking as Keven easily outscored me in just about every game we played. I'm definitely not good at it, but it was fun playing Wii.

On to Sunday. Race Day. I talked Heather into doing her first cross-country ski race and she was pretty nervous about it. Mostly she just didn't want to finish last. Heather is a natural athlete and I knew that she would do great, but she didn't know what expect. We loaded up the car and headed over to Boulder Lake for the race. There were lots of people and it was fun to run into a few friends we hadn't seen in a while. As for scoping out Heather's competition, it can be quite intimidating to see so many racers all decked out with fancy race suits and expensive skis. Almost all of the participants fit that description. I told Heather just to ski at her own pace and that she would do just fine. After the gun went off, it quickly became apparant that Heather no longer had to worry about finishing last. She was far from it as she skied out of sight in mid-pack. It wasn't a particularly good course for spectators, so we (Kev, Steph, Kennedy, and Maggie were also present to show their support) had to wait until she crossed the finish line to see how she did and get the post race report. Heather would tell you that it was a small field and that there weren't a lot of participants, but she did great. Third overall woman and solidly in the mid to upper half of the pack. Great job Honey! Not bad for your first xc ski race! I'm proud of you.

It just wouldn't be a true blog update without talking about Brooks. He continues to amaze us daily and we thank God constantly for him. It's so much fun to watch him learn new things every day. He's started to make sounds starting with G, he LOVES balls, and is really good at putting things in and out of containers. It's so much fun to show him how to do something and see him mimic it. I'm thankful to have such a great wife to raise this little buddy with. Family life is good.

Awesome Anniversary!

We celebrated our two year anniversary this past weekend with a trip to Maplelag Resort. We left on Friday and came back on Sunday. We celebrated with Stephanie and Keven who have now been married for 10 years (December 27th)! WOW! We had a blast. For anyone who has not been to Maplelag, YOU NEED TO GO! This place is Heaven on Earth! Our descriptions just couldn't do this place justice, so you better make a reservation, pack your bags and GO!

Maplelag is a cross county ski resort with over 60 kilometers of trail. The trails are taken care of beautifully and the skiing was phenomenal. The Richards family, who own the resort, go above and beyond. They know your name, treat you like family and really know how to cook. We enjoyed family style meals that were much needed after hours and hours of skiing.

We were even sang to and given an Anniversary cake courtesy of the Richards family. They are unbelievable. We had a blast and can't say enough good things about this place. We reserved our spot for next year and can't stand the wait.



Me and my sissy Steph!

Oh yeah, Happy Anniversary honey. You are the best thing that ever happened to me! I love you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being so unlike so many men and loving me, taking care of me and always putting me first. I am blessed.

Heather

First Blood and a Happy New Year!

We had a great New Year's celebration with friends from church and our family. We were so happy that lots of the people we love were able to come to our house for lots of food, Wii, and fun! At the end of the night we went around the room and told everyone the best thing that happened in 2007! It wasn't hard for us. Brooks is a true blessing to our family and the best thing that happened in 2007. We thank God every day for Brooks and can't think of anything better than having a healthy little buddy in our family.

Speaking of the little buddy, he had his first blood on New Year's Eve. Our sister, Laura, was able to capture the moment perfectly! It turns out it was just a little cut in his mouth and was not a big deal. You wouldn't know it by his face though! Take a look...


We rang the New Year in early (around 10:00) with streamers, noise makers and hats! None of us were able to make it to midnight.


This morning we went in the back yard and "groomed" a snowshoe route with our snowshoes. A bunch of us did relays and races in the back yard for about an hour. It was a blast (if you like the feeling of almost throwing up after your leg of the relay!) We were excited that our Pastor joined us. Afterwards we all came inside for coffee, oatmeal and eggs. Yum, Yum!


Happy New Year to everyone. May this year be better than last, or just as great if you had a year that would be hard to top (like we did)!

Love to all!