Lake Tahoe

We just came back from our vacation to Lake Tahoe. We had such a great time and it was so  beautiful there. It was a little cold, so we didn't go in the Lake except for our baby toes, but we kept ourselves busy anyways! Our good friends Eric and Lana Felton came with us, and it was so fun to have them there. 

Brooke on the drive up. She got sick the day before we left with a cold and she was running about 102 fever, but she was still smiling anyways. I also woke us up at 2 am so she would sleep on the way. However my plan backfired and she stayed up way too much!

Here we are in Tahoe on the Heavenly Gondola. It freaked me out if you can't tell from my face! I am not afraid of heights but I am afraid of technology and the guy who is paid a low salary to check the equipment that is hanging me in the air!

The ride took quite a while. You can see the trail that it follows up the mountain. It goes all the way up then you keep going past what you can see.

Here we are at the top of the Gondola ride. It was so worth the ride up. Here are the guys together.

Here we are. Lana stayed with Brooke for me. It was nice to have a daytime date! Thanks Lana!!

Once we were up the mountain they had hiking trails so we did one. This sign cracked me up because it says "To California." We could have hiked all the way back to home:).

This was as much snow as we got to play with. We made a few snowballs that were really "ice balls" and threw them at trees.

For Father's Day I surprised Jason and told him we were going to go zip lining in Tahoe. Once we went up the gondola and were way up the mountain we still had to take the chair lift to the Zip Line. This was a freaky experience too!

And that's why!! Not so fun to look down and think you would plummet to your death and hit all that stuff down there.

Here is the top of the Zip Line. It was both of our first times doing it and I have to say I was a little scared once I saw how high up we were. It is the highest and longest zip line in North America. You  are dropped at an elevation of 9,580 feet and you ride about 3,500 feet down going about 55 mph. It was so fun!!!

Here is Jason coming in from his ride.

And here I am. We came from the very top of the peak behind us.

The Felton's found this beautiful little Lake called Fallen Leaf Lake. It was so beautiful and perfect. I think we all liked it better than Lake Tahoe. Here is Brookie having a great old time with the big bugs.

So beautiful!!

This is at Emerald Bay. We didn't want to make the 1.5 mile hike down with Brooke so we just looked from one of the overlook points. Look at the look my baby is giving me. She was having one of those days too!

We found a delicious ice cream shop. Here Brookie is enjoying her sweet treat.

Brooke has a love for shoes already. Here she was appreciating her Daddy's shoes.

Brooke has learned to trow fits. I think she likes to trow them too! Here is a good one that I caught her doing. Oh little girls....drama...drama...

We went for a nice 10 mile bike ride. It was beautiful and so fun (and thankfully flat). Brooke enjoyed it too. She slept a lot a enjoyed being in her buggy.

Oh the life of LUXURY!

On the bike ride there was a little aquarium with fish. Brooke loves fish and was excited to point to them and tell us "fish, fish!

There was a BBQ cook off that we went to. It was pretty good. There ribs still weren't as good as Lucille's. The sandwich and lemonade were delicious!!

I love this pic of the Felton's enjoying there Lemonade. They look famous in it.

We drove around Lake Tahoe and found an awesome little spot to look around at.

Brooke walking with Auntie Lana. What cute girls!

It really is amazingly beautiful there.

The girls.

The guys.

I love this pic of Jason. What a fine looking man I have!!

They had a tree with a seat cut into it. I thought I could come and meditate there everyday.

Uncle Eric did this the whole vacation. Brooke loves her books and Eric likes to make Brooke very happy = reading to her the whole time. It was nice to have a break form having to read them all day. Thanks Eric!

At the end of our trip. Brooke is always such a good helper!!

We had a great time, and it was so nice to rest and relax and be with my family for a whole week!! I am already looking forward to next years vacation!

anyone want some "bean ups?"

Brooke has become a terrible eater over the past couple of months. She won't try any new foods and even one's that she use to like such as beans she wants nothing to do with now. She has been constipated lately because all she eats is milk. So in a desperate attempt to get her to eat something with protein and fiber I came up with this disgusting combination....

We tried to give Brooke beans. Something she use to LOVE.

However they ended up like this.

She wouldn't touch them to her mouth and if we try to feed her then she really won't eat whatever we are trying to give her.

So I took one of her favorites, fruit rollups, and did this...

And made this...mmmmm.

She looked skeptical.

Checked it over twice.

And she ate it!! EwWW! I felt really bad that I was giving her such a gross combo but I figure she will appreciate it later when she poops. :). Why will she eat such a gross thing but she won't even eat something delicious like watermelon??

To all the mother's who are reading this post please tell me what I can do to help her eat and try new things. She is super stubborn and she will not eat anything we try to feed to her. She will sit and scream in her chair all day long it thats what it takes to not have to try a new food. It is extremely frustrating and I don't know what to do. She won't take tastes of things and she absolutely won't eat what we give her. What do I do?? 

Recital!

After doing the dance classes for the girls since march we finally did there recital. It turned out so great and the dancers all had a really great time. At the last minute I decided to let Brooke dance with the 2.5 year old class even though she is much younger she just cracks me up! Here are a few pics from the night. Thanks again to everyone who helped me and who did such a great job!!

Brooke pushing me away and giving me one of her famous "dirty looks."

All the moms getting down in there mom dance.

The singing in the rain part of the mom dance. All the moms did such a great job. I am actually the one who messed up! I think my brain was fried from everything going on that night but it turned out so cute anyways!!

A few pics of the other dance groups....


Here is the two year old class. Brooke is at the far right of the picture. Sooo Cute!!
She does this funny concentrated face when she dances.
If you look close Brooke is all the way on the right of the picture doing a very deep knee bend to the music! I love it!!
Before the performance.

Pool Days!!

It has been warm enough to go to the pool lately. Although Brooke's favorite thing to do once we get there is not swim. She like to sunbathe, eat, and mostly play on any stairs that are around.

She is a very picky eater lately and and I can never her her to eat watermelon. However on this special pool day she was willing to eat it, but she has refused ever since. She is so weird with food! 

Looking totally awesome in her sunglasses parading around the pool.

The Stash....

So I am constantly buying pacifiers because is seems Brooke always loses them. Well the other day I went on a paci search so I could sanitize all of them. I always find a few under her crib, a few in my diaper bag, a few in her toy box, etc... Well for the first time I looked under her changing table and found a bunch of her toys, but behind all her toys I found her secret paci stash! I couldn't believe that my baby was taking paci's and hiding them. I always wondered where she found a new one when I would take all of them away during her playtime. 

It was amazing to me because there were like eleven paci's under the changing station. Such a funny little girl!! 

First Dodger Game

We took my dad and Brooke to there first Dodger game on Saturday night. It was a freeway series and they were playing the Angles. They won it 5 to 4. It was a great game and even better company!

I wanted to get a picture with my Dad and Brooke in front of the Think Blue sign but he wanted to get it in front of this motorcycle. So funny!

Brooke wanting Grandpa back after we took her so we could take a picture together. She liked him much better than us the whole time!

What a little babe!!

Me and my thug:)

Brooke's favorite part of the game was clapping with everyone else and doing the wave. It was funny because she would put up her hands to do the wave on her own. 

My little sleep fighter didn't crash until around 9:45! But once she was out she was gone.

She is so fun!!

Brooke turned 14 months a few days ago. She's walking around now like she owns the place. Everywhere she goes is a new adventure for her. She notices when surfaces change under her feet and likes to stop and touch them. She has mastered climbing up and down the stairs in our house and loves to do it. There have been a few falls, but nothing bad. Jason gets nervous and wants to put her in full body armor to keep her safe.

She still refuses to eat sometimes and thinks its funny to throw her food off of her high chair. Once we take her down she spends the next hour or so picking up the thrown food and eating it at her convenience. She'd eat candy and yogurt all day if we let her, but I don't think that is part of a well balanced diet.

She loves to have us read books to her, over and over and over... She does a really cute lip puckering thing now when she tries to talk. She thinks she is much older than she really is. She's becoming much more demanding, but still as sweet as ever when she wants to be. Most of her cranky moments come from her teething pains. She has had several teeth cut in over the last few weeks and more on their way. Poor thing.

We love her so much and still think she is the greatest!