Back to school!

Here is our cute little Logan getting ready to leave for her first day of THIRD GRADE!! Can't believe how fast they grow up. Time just keeps going faster and faster, the older I get and the more kids I have. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Ware, and she is in the same classroom as she had for first grade. She has a friend from her second grade class in with her this year, named Rachel. She got her hair cut a few weeks ago, some new clothes, and she's ready to go!!

"backpack and sweater in front of the door"

"backpack and sweater facing our house"

"no sweater or backpack down by the light post"

"getting on the bus"

You didn't know there were so many poses to take for back to school, did you?!

Bye Logan! We love you! Have fun and learn lots!

Happy 35th Birthday James

The day after the baby blessing, (August 2nd) was James 35th birthday!! It was sort of a really hard day with Sierra, so I wasn't able to as much as I would have liked to, but I did the best I could! He opened his movie and a pair of shorts we got him. Then we had pizza for dinner.

Next was singing happy birthday to the old man, and cake and ice cream!!

We love you so much Honey and hope you had a great day!!

Sierra's Baby blessing

The day after our trip to Kanab we had Sierra's baby blessing. It was only a short 13 hours after our trip to Kanab. Late night saturday getting in and up and ready for church. WoW! I was tired. Anyway, it was a really special day. Mom and Dad were there. James's sister Carrie came with her kids and James's brother Lorin came also. So there was Dad, Lorin, Llyodster Parris, Ammon Grant, Chris Rice (all in ym's presidency/scouts with James), and Bishop Mangum in the circle. James' parents and three of his other siblings were at his sisters baby blessing. It just worked out that they were at the same time on the same day, so we missed having them, and I'm sure they missed having us and the other half of the family that came to ours. These two babies (Sierra, and cousin Dorian) were born almost exactly a month apart!

James talked about Sierra growing up to be strong in the gospel and to do well in school. Also to look at her older sisters and mother for examples to follow. He also mentioned living up to her great grandmothers name, Helen. He blessed her to find a worthy companion to be sealed in the temple with and all other blessings that our Heavenly Father sees fit to bless her with.

I don't know if you are supposed to publish baby blessings, but I want to remember some of the things he had said, and this is my new scrapbook/journal these days!

There were six baby blessings in our ward that day (triplets, and three singles. 1 boy and 5 girls total). It took up most of sacrament meeting, but then the testimony meeting was really nice. I was glad I got up before a certain long winded woman in our ward, since I had to make a quick trip to the girls room right after! Ha ha! I said I was grateful for my parents, for prayer, and for the sacrament. I'm glad I can have a chance to renew every sunday and try better. I'm grateful for my parents teaching me the right ways to be, while growing up. I'm grateful for prayer that we can tell everything we are happy about, sad about, wondering about, need advice for, and are over joyed about. I'm glad to be a part of this church and have the gospel in my life.

Brookes Family 8-1-10

Daddy and Sierra

Daddy and the girls

Mommy and the girls

Hope you enjoyed the photo shoot! My arm was about to fall off after holding her for so long and trying to keep her asleep. Plus it was blistering hot out that day. And all Autumn wanted was juice!

Quickie to Kanab

We had a short trip to Kanab for a Heaton family reunion the last weekend in July. It was fun to see our family and to get away for a bit.

Logan, James, my dad, and cousin Chris went on a hike through a slot canyon. Here are some of the shots from their adventure! It was hot and dry, but they said they had the best banana and crackers they had ever had, when they got back to the car.

Logan on the wavy rocks

"the hugest mountain i ever climbed" (Logan)

yes, i do think the shoes are ruined. some parts were deeper than others.

James and Logan

and my dad found a deep part, and almost sunk to the bottom. they just wanted to save the camera, forget dad! they both made it out okay. yes, my car is still covered in red dirt.

Autumn at the family reunion in Moccasin, AZ with all grandpa's extended family.

Logan with beautiful red mountains in the background!

Mom was so nice to get Sierra to sleep all weekend for me! It was a much needed break, and she was loving cuddling grand baby. Win, win for both of us!

Autumn was a little scared to get on the horse alone. So here comes daddy to the rescue! What a hunk! It was so nice of cousins Chris and Rick to get the horses ready for the kids to ride, and to supervise!

Logan loved the horses! Later on, she got to go galloping in the field with Chris. She had a blast.

All in all, it was a great time. We even got to go see our old next door neighbors in St. George for a few hours! Thanks for putting up with us Garrett and Deedra! We miss you. Also thanks to all the Heatons who put on a great reunion. We enjoyed seeing everyone who was able to make it. We look forward to the next reunion!

Swimming Lessons

Logan and Autumn got to take swimming lessons the last two weeks of July. They both loved it so much! It was fun to watch them learn to be more comfortable in the water. I didn't think it was a joy to bring Sierra, while she should have been napping, but oh well.

Autumn learning to float on her back

Guess the swimming instructor was doing some splashing!

Say cheese!!

It's so bright out mom!!

2 Months

Yesterday Sierra turned 2 months! It's been rough. I won't lie. We've tried 5 different kinds of formula, 4 different binkies, 3 different bottles, and had so many hours and hours of bouncing, rocking, and shhhhhing!! The dr.'s said she has acid reflux and colic. I don't really know how I feel about the diagnosis of acid reflux, but we had tried the mylicon and gripe water and it wasn't helping. We think her two different meds for acid reflux have helped, but still don't know how much. Anyway, she's on soy formula now, and is finally sleeping a little better. Last night was her record sleep! 6 whole hours!! Of course, I only got 5 from that. But her previous record was sleeping 5 hours. I'm so sleep deprived that I've had blood shot eyes for way too long. I have driven with Autumn not bucked in her seatbelt twice now. I read the work "binkie" as "bikini" in a text, and couldn't figure out why mom wanted to send her an immodest swimming suit. I used James' toothbrush once (sorry honey- consider that our kiss for the day!) And the ground is constantly shaking and moving underneath me. I hope that easier days are just around the corner. I am glad that she is finally starting to love her swing too! That saves my back from all the bouncing and rocking. Not that I don't love to do that sometimes, but the other two girls need me too!! She's still a joy to have though. We love how she is starting to smile so much now! She's going to the dr's for her 2 month check up next week, so I will post some more stats then.

Cute half way smile!

Some things I've noticed about Sierra:

-still the hiccup queen (she always had them in the womb)

-loudest burps and gas you have ever heard (sometimes they

literally scared me)

-she is finding her fingers to suck on

-eyelashes are growing in longer

-her length seems a lot longer

-chunking out thighs and cheeks (love it!)

-she loves her baths

-hair starting to rub off on the spots where she sleeps

-loves classical music and paul cardall

-is the gruntiest, squirmiest, wiggliest baby i've ever seen

I'd like to blog, but....I'm a little busy losing my mind!