SYTYCD Performance!!

For all you SYTYCD fans . . . get ready!!
Tawna, myself, Dana, and Amanda decided to go to the SYTYCD performance on the 7th of November. I absolutely loved season 4 with Joshua, Twitch, Chesley, and Will, and lets be honest season 5 wasn't quite as good as season 4. With that said, being the avid dance fans that we are, we went to the performance anyways.
Talk about amazing!! It was so much fun and the shock on our faces at the grace and agility of these dancers says it all. Tawna and I enjoying the dances!! The group dance on the tables with water was my favorite! So hot!
So after the performance was over Amanda and I decided to hang outside and wait for the dancers to come out. We really wanted to meet them. After only 20 minutes of waiting outside in the FREEZING cold. The security guy came and told us we could go inside and meet them!!
Oh Happy Day!! I'm mean cause who wouldn't want to see a body this ripped in person??!!
Kat Deeley: "Here's Brandon!"


Kat Deeley: "And your naughty ballerina . . . Melisser!" She was really nice in person!K So here is the biggest news of all. I totally asked Jason if him and Jeanine were dating, . . . you know because of their make-out session after the locket dance. Well he was sickened that I would even ask that, and said, "No!" Then he started pouring out his soul to me. He told me that he was dating Janett!!

What the?!! That is so cute!! So of course my friend Amanda didn't believe him, and when she called him a liar he gave her the death stare and said, "I'M SERIOUS!" I had to get Janett's side of the story just for clarifications. She was by far my favorite of the season and in person. She just talked to me like we were old friends and said what a cute boyfriend Jason is.

Then of course there is Randi!! Way to represent Utah girl!! Her husband was there supporting her, so sorry Fred, since both of you guys are married there is really no hope for you two. Good thing your wife can do an awesome impersonation of the butt dance.

Evan was seriously one of my favorites of season 5 as well. I thought the judges were so mean to him! Granted he wasn't the best technically, but personality says a lot in this competition. In person his personality was so adorable!!Of course I wanted to challenge Phillip to a dance off, but of course he was petrified of my mad dance skills!! He said he had a torn ligament, but I still think it was just a cop out.
We can't forget gay Kupono!! He was really nice, but really, really gay!! Yes, that is a piece of thread for an earring!! Cool style Kupono . . . well someone must think that!!
Then, there was of course season 5 winner, Jeanine!! She had gorgeous hair and was very friendly.It was such an amazing night!! I know I am a sports junkie, but part of mean yearns to let the dancer out!! I'm pretty sure that I could make the gag reel for SYTYCD at least!! The husbands had a guys night with Brooklyn of course!! Fun for them!! Thanks Brandon for taking care of cubba. You are such a good husband and father!!

This is Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year! Only topped by Christmas and Lamb Days. It's just something about all the freaks that hits home with me. :) This year we spent Halloween with Family. We went to Green River for Brandon's Brothers baby, Kailee's blessing. She is so precious.

Brandon and I of course had to dress up. We went all out with our Hawaiian costumes . . . okay, not really, but at least we made an effort. It was Brooklyn's first Halloween and she was the cutest little fairy I've ever seen.Brooklyn with her Brady cousins. Eva the witch, Jocelyn the princess, Brooklyn the fairy, and Elise as Winnie the Pooh.
Here's our cute little fairy on her first Halloween!!
We went to the Halloween Carnival at Green River Elementary School. It was tons of fun to see all of the kids in their costumes. The had a costume contest and Brooklyn won for the 0 to 1 year old age group! She won a gift certificate, cookies, and a little black bat. All she gets to enjoy is the bat. :) Next year she'll get cookies for sure though .
All the cousins again. Brooklyn had to change out of her full costume because her skirt kept ending up in her mouth. Humm, imagine that with a six month old. Baby Kailee is also featured here. She was a little monkey.
On the 26th of July, Brooklyn and I went to the zoo with my sister Alyson and all the Aagard grandkids. We had such a good time. Josh, Vance, Jared, Alyson, Brooklyn, Jake, Me, and Emily.
This is the new baby elephant, Zuri. She was so playful. And though she may seem little, she weighed 250 lbs. at birth!! No thank you! I thought 5 lbs. was a lot!
Brooklyn loved the monkeys. They were probably her favorite. This trip to the zoo she was actually very aware of the animals and would watch them.
These were the cutest two monkeys. They were all snugglely and wrapped their tails together. So cute! I didn't know that they actually did that.
Me with all the kids on the teeter-tauter. Good times.We then went with Aunt Annie to Gardiner Village to the Witches Festival! We went on a witches treasure hunt and all the kids got cookies at the end. Everyone's favorite seemed to be Witchy Poo.Josh, Annie, Jake, Me, Brooklyn, Emily, and Vance at the Pumpkin House. We finished our day by going to the Haunted Trail in Murray. It is just the right amount of spooky for kids, and plus you get hot chocolate and donuts at the end. All for a $1.50!! Way fun. It was a great Halloween, and so much more fun with a little one!!

6 month pics and update!

We recently went and had Brooklyn's 6 month pictures taken. I think that they turned out just beautifully!!
I guess that the portrait studio thought so too cause they made us sign a waiver so that they could hang them up in their studio!! Just more bragging rights for overly obsessive parents! :)Brooklyn loves to eat her tutu!! Just thought this shows her fun personality!!Isn't she a cutie?! I can't believe that our little girl is already 6 months old!! I know everyone says this, but it goes by so fast. Brooklyn is sitting up, but mom can't leave the room if she is for fear she'll lose her balance and fall over. She is about to crawl, but not quite there yet. She sort of just scoots on her belly in circles cause she hasn't got the timing down of moving her arms and legs at the same time. Or she just rolls over when she get frustrated. Brooklyn is definitely aware of where her parents are at all times. I'm happy to say that she is both a mommy's and daddy's girl!! As long as one of us are with her she is happy. She is making all sorts of new sounds and her adorable giggle fills our house with joy! We can't imagine life without our little cubba cubba. I am playing on a basketball league with some USU players and talk about kicking my butt into shape. I haven't played since before I was pregnant. It is so much fun to have my little fan club come and watch. (aka Brandon and Brooklyn) Brandon also played on an intramural football team. His team did really good, other than they were recruiting new guys every other game. People kept getting hurt, sick, or just couldn't come. I love watching him play and having the after game, family ice cream parties. Win or lose he takes his girls out or we buy some and eat it at home. He knows how to spoil his girls!! Brandon is such an amazing dad! It's so fun to watch him and Brooklyn play, read, laugh, and talk to each other. She is already talking back to him. :) Well, making noises at him. She is obsessed with his facial hair and is constantly grabbing his goatee. She is also obsessed with my hair, which is making me really want to cut it. Brooklyn loves her dog, Maggie. And again is obsessed with Maggie's hair too! Luckily Maggie is really patient with her. When Brooklyn was trying to crawl yesterday and getting really frustrated, Maggie thought she'd share her bone with her. She would push it toward her. You know, like on the movie Lady and the Tramp, with the meat ball. It was pretty cute. Trying to soothe the baby I guess.I can't help but think of the rough start we had six months ago and realize just how blessed we are. Things could have gone a lot differently but we couldn't be happier now. We love our little miracle baby. We will be forever grateful for the love and support we received from everyone. For now, we are just living the dream!

Pumpkin carving!!

We have an annual tradition in our family of having a pumpkin carving contest to get ready and super pumped for Halloween!! This year our friends Chana and Fred participated in on our festivities. Here are some of the results!Making our pumpkin faces!!It was also Brooklyn's first time participating, and though she couldn't carve the pumpkins, she still had a grand ole time. She wasn't really sure what to think when we first placed her in the pumpkin.
Laughing or crying?? Ya she didn't love it at first.But as soon as she tasted it!! Man was it yummy!! And she changed her mind about the crying part.Brooklyn just turned six months on the ninth of October. Which is also my Aunt Ellen's birthday! Brooklyn now weighs a whopping 17 lbs. 4 oz.!! She is our little sweetheart and we couldn't imagine life without her.

BYU, BYU, where the girls are girls and the boys are too!!

On friday, October 2nd, we were able to go to a tailgate party and the BYU football game in honor of my Grandma Verla Smiths Birthday. And while we are not fans of the school BYU, we are, however, fans of their sports teams. They tend to always have really great athletic programs. I think their great athletic ability comes from all the discipline and school rules, and then getting to release built up frustration. Frustration of not being able to wear flip-flops, not being able to grow a beard or facial hair, etc. But hey if that's your thing, more power to ya. We are just a little bit more wild here at USU!!
Oh and yes that is Brandon . . . in his glory days riding the Utah State Bull!! How's that for school rules! :) Utah State lost to BYU, no real surprise, but we still had to represent our school.

BBQ . . . well more like a Fiesta!!

On the 26th of September Brandon and I went down to SLC for a BBQ with our friends. Considering we had really yummy Costa Vida style sweet pork burritos, I would say it was more of a fiesta than a barbecue. :) We had so much fun playing games outside like little kids. Gotta love friends!!Me, Chana, Amanda, Tawna, and Dana!Can you say hot?!!We played a game called Loaded Questions. It was so fun. It's a great way to learn things you never knew before about your friends. Example: Biggest pet-peeve = cheaters in buncos!! All I have to say is amen sista, amen!!
I don't know why but Brandon seems to always put Brooklyn's bows on like princess Leia style. I love how much he loves his little girl. She's got him wrapped around her little finger! He's such a good dad.
We sold all of Maggie's puppies!! I was so sad to see them go, but happy at the same time. The first four weeks were simple, Maggie did everything. But after that they started getting out of their box, peeing, pooping, etc. it's hard to keep track and clean up after five pups and a baby.They all went to really cute families so that made letting them go a little easier. Worth it though. I would definitely do it again. I mean we made a ton of extra money that we didn't have before and that is always nice. Plus puppies are just so darn cute! So here they are my little Shih Tzu puppies!!

First Feeding!

Okay, so any tips on how to introduce food into a babies diet?? We started Brooklyn on a rice cereal last night and lets just say more ended up on her than in her mouth. She loved trying to grab the spoon and smacking her lips against it. She just didn't quite get the swallowing motion. Does it eventually come? She was a mess in the end and so were her parents. Parenting Rule #75 Do not bath a baby before a first feeding!!