Brookes Family

Happy 5th Birthday Autumn!

2012-02-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

Monday, Feb 6th was Autumn's 5th birthday! She is such a joy to us! I can't believe how fast she is growing up (or all of my girls for that matter). I just think she is a beautiful girl, but I'm biased! She had a friend party the saturday before. It was a blast having all these cute fairy girls come over and celebrate with her! I think she had a fantastic day.

Tinkerbell cupcakes

Friends playing Tinkerbell bingo

Watch out! These girls have quite the arms!

Big 5 year old Autumn on her birthday!

Family party

Love you so much little sweet pea, Autumn Coy!

Autumn's first hair cut

2012-01-07T22:11:00.000-08:00

Oh wow! So she had been begging me like crazy to get it cut, and as much as I didn't want to have to brush through all those tangly curls anymore, I didn't want to not have those tangly curls anymore. Well, friday we went over to great clips after her dance class and they got her right in. I was going to have a panic attack watching her up there getting it chopped off. I told the lady where to cut it, even though poor Autumn wanted me to get it cut much shorter, I just couldn't. Before we went to the store Autumn asked me if she had to hold still like a statue, and I told her yes, but she wondered if she was still allowed to breathe! Ha ha! I told her yes to please still keep breathing! She cracks me up.

So here we are outside great clips before:

waiting nervously:

before:

after:

this is out in the parking lot after:

So I wasn't really happy with how many layers the lady put in Autumn's hair, so the next day I decided to chop a little more off. You can't tell too much of a difference, but I just wanted it to be more straight across in the back. SO, I guess the lesson is, don't take your daughter to great clips and spend money when you are just going to do it yourself the next day. Oh well, she had fun and she's happier now cause it's shorter.

The end!

Temple update

2012-01-07T21:50:00.000-08:00

So here are a few pictures of what's been going on lately with the temple. Not a whole lot. Just a fence. But it's the coolest temple fence that has ever been put up just a few blocks from MY house! :) P.S. Yes, I realize I am not a professional photographer, so, sorry but this will have to do!

These were taken on Dec 23, 2011. I knew we were going to get our view blocked out soon so I hurried and snapped a few shots before the put the stuff up in between the chain link fence. Which by the way, looks like a Christmas tree garland. It's crazy, you can't really tell from the pictures below, but I've seen it, so take my word! You can tell they are setting up camp though, and bringing in some machinery. It's all very fun to watch.

These pictures were taken Jan. 6 2012, exactly two weeks later. See, the view is all gone. Bye, bye. I know they won't be able to hide it forever though! Plus I understand they are just trying to keep people out and debris from flying in from all over. After all, it is the temple site! So exciting! I'll post more pictures as the the work progresses!

Happy Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T19:10:00.001-08:00

And before we begin....a little side note, happy 33rd birthday to me! Here I am opening my birthday gifts before we move onto bigger and better things. Thanks to everyone for the cards, texts, phone calls, gifts. It was a great day! Thanks to a wonderful hubby who took care of all the kids all day while I was at work and for making me one of my favorite home cooked meals! He always does a great job of making me feel loved and special. Thanks to Mom for always wrapping my presents in birthday paper even though I know it's a pain. Thanks to Jim and Norma for coming down to our house to celebrate with me! I have the best family!

Here are the girls opening their p.j.'s on Christmas eve! They always love getting new p.j.'s from the sandman!

Everything is ready to go! Me and James got to bed at a reasonable hour and we weren't too tired in the morning. They tried waking up at 3 am again, but we said no way and put them back to bed. They slept until 8.

Christmas morning was great! We let them open 1 present and see what Santa left in their stockings, then we got ready for church. Church was at 10, then we came home and changed our clothes and started the festivities. It was so nice. The girls were so cute about everything. They were full of hugs and kisses and thank you's all morning! What a great day! It was nice to have church on Christmas! We felt so happy to go and listen to the choir and and listen to our stake president talk about a boy who saved up all his money and bought a coat for a little boy in his class who needed one. It was such a great experience to take our girls and have them listen and behave at church! I was tearing up just thinking about the love of our Savior and how grateful I am for this season to celebrate his birth! It's sometimes hard to almost share a birthday with this special day, because I want to be selfish and have a day to myself, but in a way, it makes me feel closer to Him, as well. Anyway, it really was a beautiful day and we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

2011-12-21T13:08:00.000-08:00

Logan had a piano recital a few weeks ago. She played Frosty the Snowman, and Silent Night. She is doing excellent in piano and we hope she continues, although it's tough to compete with Autumn. We went to Autumns dance recital last night, and now she wants to do dance too. I told her we'd see. I love listening to her play the piano and her teacher says she is very talented and motivated. If she sticks with it for another year or so, we will get her a real piano!

Autumn at her dance recital! She danced wonderfully. It was pretty much her bed time though, when they started the recital, she seemed pretty tired to me and James. One day I hope I can figure out how to load a video on here. Every time I try it never works. We have great video of the piano and dance recitals this time. We made sure we had charged batteries in the camera. For now, enjoy these cute photos!

They joy a little pixie stick can bring!

After the recital

Santa was there to introduce each dance class as they came out, and Autumn was pretty nervous around him so we are glad he didn't try to talk to her or hug her or anything. The best part about Santa was, him greeting the audience as Brothers and Sisters at the beginning of the show. He quickly corrected himself, and said ladies and gentleman and boys and girls, but at that point he already had us all chuckling. Ha ha! Only in Utah!

Temple Square

2011-12-08T23:01:00.000-08:00

Monday night we went to Temple Square for family night. It was very cold, but we all bundled up (except James in his shorts) and braved the cold. We had a wonderful time and the girls loved it. Sierra is especially fascinated by the lights. She points and makes a little tiny "O" shape with her little lips and just kind of grunts at the lights. I know she would be saying "pretty" if she could. It's been a fun tradition to take our girls up there and see the beautiful temple grounds for the past few years. I'm sure the tradition will live on for many years to come. We are grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and to celebrate his birth at this time of year. May you all have a very Merry Christmas this year!

Talented Momma (part 2)

2011-11-15T18:12:00.001-08:00

Mom painted us a shower curtain, cause I was to lazy to ever get around to it in the last eight years! I just love it! It makes the bathroom complete and the girls think it's awesome!

Here are some close ups of some of the butterflies

And this is how the rest of the girls' bathroom looks. I've posted it before, but now you can see the full effect! Isn't it cute with everything finished?! She is wonderful and I love all the things she makes us!

THANKS MOM!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sierra's pumpkin (or mostly mine, whatever)

Autumn's pumpkin

Logan's pumpkin

Sierra was an Angel

Here is Autumn the Cheetah

And last,but not least, Logan the Chef

After Logan's school parade

Meeting our ward at the park for a Halloween kickoff party

These girls had a great night, and I had so much fun with them. The weather was really nice and they didn't complain about walking or anything. We had fun while James passed out the candy at home. Sierra even got to go out for a little while, and collected a whole FOUR pieces of candy! Then I was mean and made her come back home to go to bed before we got "too far away" (down the street) so I wouldn't have to bring her back screaming. Best not to push it with her. All in all, the had a blast and are still trying to finish off the candy. They are pretty nice and offer to share just about everything with me and James. Ha ha! Love those girls!

my babies play

2011-10-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

Payson, Utah Temple Groundbreaking Ceremony

2011-10-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

Isn't this BEAUTIFUL?! Today was such an exciting day here in our usually quiet neighborhood! I think we are all bursting with joy at the reality of the temple coming to our area, starting NOW! The groundbreaking ceremony was this morning, and Elder Dallin H. Oaks presided at the site. It was nice to listen to him tell about his history with payson, and to listen to the other speakers as well. The girls even listened pretty well. It was really wonderful to be able to take the older two girls to the stake center up the street from us and they watched it happening as it was just going on a couple of blocks from our house! It was pretty cold but luckily the rain subsided for the most part, but we did not have tickets so weren't in the cold, thankfully. The girls wouldn't have lasted. It was so awesome to be a part of this wonderful day in history! I am thrilled at the announcement of this temple and I already feel so blessed to be able to watch it go up. I hope to be able to volunteer my time to help with whatever I can, and eventually attend it often!

Here is the site. It was hard to try and take pictures after it was over and there were a lot of people walking around, but here are a few. I wish I would have been there to take pictures of them shoveling the dirt!

You can see the top corner of our church meeting house on the left side of these two pictures. It will be right next door to our church, and just around the corner from our house!

People waiting to cross the street after it was over.

As you can see the traffic was probably the most this town has ever seen! It was so awesome to see people all over the place and walking with their little ones, umbrellas and all! There was definite excitement in the air!

This is the street the temple will be on

side street

right off my street

I plan to take and post more pictures as the progress continues with the temple! Have I mentioned, I am so excited?!

Rascal Flatts

2011-09-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

James and I got to go to the Rascal Flatts concert in salt lake about a week and a half ago! We forgot to take or normal camera, so we just took a few with James camera. Sorry they are pretty blurry. It was great once we got there. We just took forever because of traffic, accidents, lane mergers, etc... and then I was grumpy cause I was starving and needed to go to the bathroom on our way. James made it all better once we got there. He found me the nearest restroom and bought us a yummy dinner. I was pretty excited to be on a date with my honey, but I was a little worried that we were going to get home way too late for the babysitter since the concert started late. We didn't get home til almost 1 a.m. and I called to let the parents and the sitter know, but I still felt so bad. I just gave her all the money I had. The traffic was down to one lane for the majority of the drive home too. We learned a few lessons that night, and I sorta felt like I ruined it for James with my grumpy mood, but he doesn't let much get him down! He is wonderful, and I am blessed to have him. It was a fun out of the ordinary date, that's for sure!

Labor Day 2011

2011-09-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

We had a great time taking the kids to the carnival on the friday before Labor day. They have come to expect us to take them on many rides, and I think we pulled through for them. Except Sierra. She's too little! She loved watching and sipping on her chocolate milk! Me and James got to go on at least one ride with the girls. We had a fun time too! James was so nice and let me buy a new pair of jeans. They are nice, and I am really loving them. After it was over I took Sierra home and put her to bed and the older two and James went and parked closer to the high school so they could watch the fireworks. It was a great night! On monday we took the kids to the parade on Main St, and they had a great time watching the floats go by and collecting lots of candy!

Autumn's first day of Preschool

2011-09-01T12:18:00.001-07:00

Here is Autumn having her first fashion show out on the front lawn! It's been a tradition for me to take a bunch of pictures on the first day of school. It seems like just yesterday I was doing this for Logan going to preschool. Now she's in 4th grade, and Autumn is the one going to preschool. Needless to say, I bawled my eyes out like a baby after I got home from dropping her off. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. I mean she still has chubby cheeks for crying out loud! She's still a baby! She has always been so fun to have at home, so now that she is in preschool, I just see her life flashing away before my eyes. I know she will have a lot of fun and she will learn a lot, so I guess it's better to let her go! Here are a few of my favorites:

Here is Autumn at the Preschool with her friend Morgan from church. They are so excited!

Logan starts 4th grade!

2011-08-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Everyone filing onto the bus! She didn't want me taking pictures at first because she was so afraid she was going to miss the bus. She was so anxious for school to start! We had about 10 minutes to spare when we got to the bus stop. I don't know why she doesn't trust my judgement?!

Logan and a few of her friends

Logan posing outside our house

She says she is pretty excited and she was very happy that one of her best friends from 3rd grade is in her class this year too! Good luck Logan! You will do great!

Summer update

2011-08-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

Summer has been flying by! We have been so busy, but having a great time. Here are some of the things we have been up to this summer!

We have gone to the city park and met friends and cousins quite a few times. My girls always love having a picnic lunch and playing for a long time at this nice park! My favorite thing is it has tons of shade!

We have pulled out our pool in the back driveway area a few times and let the girls swim for a while. They love that, but they both loved going to 7 peaks more! No pictures from that, but we've gone twice this summer with friends and cousins! It was great!

James with his Uncle Bob and Aunt Julie from California

They came to visit James' dad and to come see the baby blessing of these two sweet babies. Hazel and Jane, cousins born two weeks apart, last april and may to Ben and Misty (Hazel) and Jim and Carrie (Jane). It was a great day! They blessed them both on July 3rd in the same ward, which they both live in.

Of course there were a lot of firework shows that weekend! All weekend long! It was fun for everyone else, but I had to work the whole weekend. So rough being an adult and having to work.

James went with the scouts later that week down to Moab for about 3 days. They had a fun time and I got to have my sisters come visit later that weekend. I was glad to see them!

We went camping as a family up Payson canyon the next weekend. The scenery was really beautiful, but it was freezing and Sierra kept me up crying all night. She slept in the car on my chest for part of the night, but I didn't sleep a wink. Maybe we'll have to wait til next summer to try and take her camping again. The older two girls had a blast though, and James helped me make some yummy tin foil dinners. We got up there so late that we ended up closer to Nephi. It was crazy how crowded it was. I'd never been back that far in the canyon, but it was fun to see.

The girls had swimming lessons the last two weeks in July. They always love it and had a great time this year too. Bonus was that my mom and sister, Kathryn were here to go and see them a few times too!

Sierra had her 1 year old check up the 10th of July and is growing really well. She was 22 lbs and 30 inches long. She has started standing and is taking a few steps. She started that at about 13 months. She has 4 teeth and 1 working it's way in we just discovered a week ago. She loves to snuggle on pillows, the couch, the floor, her dollies, just about anything. She makes a really cute cheesy face, and loves doing headstands! We love having her around. She is really starting to get into everything now. Time for me to clear out all the bottom cupboards or babyproof or something. I need my sanity!

More fireworks for the 24th of July with my parents! I can't believe how many fireworks we heard throughout the month. It was crazy. The newly legal ariel fireworks were pretty cool to watch though. It was fun to have my mom and dad here and visit with them. They came for a family reunion on the 23rd of July for my dad's family. Then there was a WEDDING (see many pics below) and another little mini reunion for my mom's side! So much fun with all the families!

Logan has been taking piano lessons from a very talented girl in our ward since January. She had a piano recital on July 27th. There were a lot of other students there too. We were so proud of Logan! She is very talented and seems to truly enjoy it so far it. Fingers crossed that she will stick with it. My mom and Kathryn also got to come see her perform!

Then there was this little weddin' of my very wonderful cousin, Annie Gedicks. She married Ben Burgoyne, and I couldn't be happier for her! What a beautiful wedding it was, and I was so glad to be a part of it and to be able to see so many of my family members!

Pics outside the temple

At the reception

Grandma Stimpson wanted to have the fishing pond with prizes for the great grandkids (just like we used to do when we were little). So she brought some fun prizes for the kids and we got them all together and let them fish! They were so funny to watch! Love all these little kids!

James' 36th birthday was on August 2nd! I love this man so much! He is the best father and husband. I love spending all my time with him. He really is my best friend, and I think he deserves the best in everything he does. He is so thoughtful, easy going, funny, and such a wonderful example to me in many ways. He makes me better, and I love him with all my heart for all eternity! Hope it was a great day sweetheart!

Sierra's 1st Birthday!

2011-06-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

Sierra turned the big 1 on saturday, the 18th! I can't believe how fast this last year went. It started out rough, but we love her to bits and she has been so fun to have in our family.

She loves:

binkies

sisters toys

climbing upstairs

tipping backwards in your lap

laughing

bathtime

bottles/mealtime

crawling all over the place

clapping

waving

dancing

being outside or at the park

shopping

She does not like:

face/nose wiped (what kid does?)

laying still for diaper changes

loud noises

being awake for more than 2-3 hours

things being taken out of her mouth (chokers, as we call them-always something around the house no matter how hard you try to keep it cleaned up!)

She hit a lot of milestones just after turning 10 months. She started to crawl on her hands and knees and then just a few weeks after that, she was pulling herself up to stand by the couch. She now stands without hands on the couch for 10 seconds or so, but hasn't tried taking any steps yet. She also mastered climbing the stairs, which I hate. So we have to deal with the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs, which I hate also. She got her two top teeth in (so 4 teeth total now) when she was 10 or 11 months. I can't believe how quickly it all goes by when you know it's your last baby, so we are just enjoying every second of her! Poor thing probably thinks her mother smothers her a bit. Can't help it.

You could tell she loved all the attention, and she definitely knew something was up. You could see the wheels turning in her head, "why is everybody staring at me," "you want me to rip this wrapping paper off this present," "you want me to dig into this cake"?! She wasn't very sure about it all, but we helped. Opening her presents, she would finally get one open and then she just wanted to play with that one toy. We could have just gotten her one thing and she would have been happy. She didn't want to move along and see what the next gift was! She started out slow getting into the cake but she tore it up pretty well by the end. It was in her hair, all over the floor, high chair, her clothes! I loved it though! I just let her have it! I think she had a fun day, for someone who does not really know what's going on!

1st birthday pictures

Sierra and her birthday gifts! Thank you to her Grandma's and Grandpa's who spoiled her with such cute and fun presents!

3rd grade grad!

2011-06-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

Last week Logan finished 3rd grade. We are so proud of her for getting straight "E's" this last semester! She does so well in school, and we are very happy about that. We took her to Brick Oven to celebrate the wonderful grades and all her accomplishments for the year. She also got a few fun presents. Way to go Logan, keep up the good work!

Autumn's spring dance recital

2011-05-25T13:13:00.001-07:00

Last night was Autumn's dance recital at Payson High. It was so fun to see her on the stage with all these people in the auditorium! My batteries died in the middle of her video (not that I know how to post them), but she did great during both dances. They performed to Stupid Cupid, and Life is a fairytale. I was so proud of her!

Pictures outside before we left

Twirling on the front porch (perhaps I should have saved my batteries for the real performance). I always forget to bring spares. One day I will learn!

Here she is on stage 2nd from the end on the right side. This is them during Stupid cupid! Seriously, cutest thing ever to see all the 3-4 year old up on stage dancing! Can't wait to see many more performances by her!

Logan's 3rd grade Hershey track meet

2011-05-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Logan was in the 3rd grade Hershey track meet! It was fun to watch her. I wish I could have stayed for the whole time, but after 2 1/2 hours we waited already to see her do the 100 meter, Sierra was ready for her nap.

Waiting for her events to start

We decided to try watching from the field to let Sierra down from her stroller. She was not as bored, but it didn't last too much longer.

Logan having lunch with her classmates on the bleachers. She's in all pink at the bottom of the bleachers in the middle of the picture.

Getting ready to run the 100 meter

Here she comes!

And there she goes!

Now I am wishing I would have video taped it, but maybe next time!

She also participated in the long jump, but I couldn't see her. There were so many kids and parents around. I think there were about 6-7 schools there competing.

She came in a close 2nd place for the 100 meter race, and later she came in 2nd for the 200 meter race. I had left by then, but I was SO PROUD of her!

She went to the finals for both of those, but she said she was really tired by then. She says she can't remember what place exactly she came in for those but maybe 4th or 5th.

She did awesome, and I've never had that kind of excitement watching her do something! Hope this is the first of many exciting sporting activities for us to watch! SO FUN! Way to go Logan!

Happy 9th Birthday Logan!

2011-05-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

Living Room decorated: CHECK

Table set: CHECK

Party Balloons: CHECK

Big pile of presents: CHECK

Birthday cake: CHECK

Birthday Breakfast #9 pancake: CHECK

Off to school to party with classmates: CHECK

(I took balloons to her in the morning and then Dad picked her up and took her for a surprise lunch! She chose Taco Bell. Then I brought candy bars over for the class at the end of the school day.)

Opening presents: CHECK

Art supplies from Grandma Heaton (she's talking to her and telling her thanks)

Cute clothes/ accessories for her doll from Grandma Brookes

Game for nintendo DS

The nintendo DS

Getting ready to blow out candles and have cake and ice cream: CHECK

Yep, sounds like the checklist is complete! The birthday was a great day and we think she had a fun day! We love you Logan! Can't quite believe you are 9 already, seems like you were just born yesterday!

Mother's Day

2011-05-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

I thought they were so beautiful, I just had to take a picture and blog about it!

Mother's Day was wonderful. I was way too spoiled, but it was nice! Logan made me some bath salts and a spoon rest and some really cute cards! The girls sent me flowers, so James says. I also got some perfume, or "prefume", as Autumn calls it, and a movie and some beautiful earrings from my wonderful hubby! I have the best family! Thank you for making my day so special!

Worlds slowest painters finally finish!

2011-05-10T11:46:00.000-07:00

We are finally done painting! It's taken about two months, but I'm just glad it's over and done. These pictures are sort of blurry or dark in some of them, sorry. I'm not the best photographer. One more hobby to perfect! And we haven't finished putting everything back up on the walls, but we'll get there someday.

Living room

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Easter 2011

2011-04-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

Three little Easter baskets.......

...........and three happy girls

Logan

Autumn

Sierra

It was a wonderful Easter morning, and church was as well. I'm grateful for my Savior and his life and sacrifice for all of us. I love this time of year!

We came home and took pictures of the girls. I can't resist taking pictures in their dresses. I probably took over a 100 pictures. No kidding. Here's a few of my favorites!

Brookes girls Easter 2011

Sierra

Autumn

Logan

We were so happy to have Grandma and Grandpa Brookes come and visit us that night and have dinner with us too! We love to have them come visit! I'm really glad I didn't have to work so I could enjoy time with my family and relax. Happy Easter!

Our big spring break adventure

2011-04-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well I packed these three girls up and ditched James! For spring break that is. I drove to see my mom and dad in good old California! I left early on tuesday the 12th, about 8 a.m. and got to Roseville to surprise my Dad and sister at work about 6 p.m. California time. LONG DRIVE! But we made it. The girls did start to go a little batty when we were almost to Reno, and then we had dinner and potty breaks and stretched outside the car a little. We were on the homestretch now! Thank goodness for the DVD player! It was a lifesaver!

Just into California

Telling daddy goodnight and that we made it there safely that night.

We had so much fun! We went shopping the next day and Logan bought some earrings for herself. I paid for some of them for her for helping me out in the car with Sierra. She wasn't always too happy about it, but she still got the job done. It was nice to have a helper!

The girls also got in the pool and played on the steps at Grandma and Grandpa's. We went over to Target and found matching swimming suits for them (and matching easter dresses too). It was a little chilly to get all the way in, but they still had hours of fun out there! I'm convinced. We need a backyard!

My friend Sharsten from high school came over with her two cute girls, Eden and Sydney. The girls we a bit shy to each other at first but they had fun playing with the pet shops and in the pool! It was so fun to see them!

Later that day went to Folsom Lake. Andrea invited us to go out with her dogs and let the girls throw the balls in for the dogs! It was a pretty nice day and the girls had fun with Aunt Annie and the dogs!

One afternoon we went and bought some easter eggs to hang from Grandma and Grandpa's tree in the front yard. I saw the idea on someone else's house when we went for a walk around mom and dad's neighborhood. I think it looked pretty cute, plus we had to leave our mark there, so mom and dad wouldn't forget we came! :) This was after church on sunday.

After church we went to go visit one of my other high school friends, Karen, and her family. They had us over for lunch and then we both put our babies down for naps and took Logan and Autumn to the park across the street from her house. It was such a fun relaxing afternoon and they were great hosts! After the girls played at the park for a while we let the girls play back at the house for a few minutes and then it was time to go! Thanks for having us Karen and Glen!

Autumn at the park

Logan at the park

Sierra and Karen's son Quinten! They are about 5 months apart and about the same size! He is such a cute and good little boy. I'm so happy for Karen and Glen!

On our way home from Karen's I wanted to she the girls my old elementary school and house. So here we are having a little trip down memory lane. It was fun to show them, and fun for me to see again. Even though my parents only live a few minutes from the school and old house, I never go by when we are there. It had been a long time. So many memories at these places!

Our old house at Getaway Court

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for putting up with us! It was so nice to not have a schedule to have to remember and just come and go as we please! Vacations are wonderful, I'm pretty sure we need them more often. We come with a lot of work, but we hope you had fun with us! We know we had fun and hope we can come again soon!

Sierra is 10 months

2011-04-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I didn't get to doing an update for her 9 month but this counts for that. She was 20 lbs at her 9 month check up. She's growing well! She was in 50-75th percentile for weight and height. I forgot to ask how many inches she actually was.

We used to swaddle her at nap time and bed time, but that stopped at 9 months. She would just cry and wiggle out of her blanket, so we gave up. But she is still sleeping great. She takes a couple of 2 hours naps and at least 12 hours every night. It's so nice!

She has been army crawling for a while and is still going strong with that. She hasn't quite perfected crawling on hands and knees, but she can go from a laying down position to sitting up all by herself in no time flat!

She loves eating those baby puff snacks and her fruits and veggies too. We've even given her the meat foods, and she loves them too. Gross, but that's baby food for ya!

She has learned how to wave and play pat-a-cake! So cute!

She loves her new stroller we got for her last month and enjoys being outside in it. She is also usually pretty happy to go to the stores and look around. And happy to report she has filled in all her hair that was bald in the back. Now she just needs to work on the top of her head! I'm okay with it growing in slow though, I have enough girl hair to do already!

Home improvements continued

2011-04-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we bought this new chandelier for the dining area! It's another thing we've talked about doing forever, and we finally did it. Baby steps! I think it helps complete the new look we are going for. We also bought the paint to do the living room, but it probably won't be done until this weekend. More pictures to come.

While I was on vacation in California for spring break, James put up the backsplash we picked out for the kitchen. It was a fun surprise to come home and see it all done. He did a great job! I love it!

up close look at the backsplash

Just a few decorations I bought, or made for the girls bathroom. I still have one more project I am working on for their bathroom.

Feels like new

2011-03-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

We've been having a lot of fun with our house! Projects galore have kept us busy this past month. I am so excited for all the progress in our home. We've lived here for 7 1/2 years and never had the downstairs painted. It was BORING! I was done with it being so dull and boring. James was so awesome to fulfill all of my "honey-do's" on the list. So far, that is! We've still got a ways to go, but it's a start for now! Lots of hard work and mess, and here we are with the kitchen painted, new area rug for the living room, and some new decorations for the wall in the kitchen!

Dining area before painting

under the chair rail went the darker blue

and on top was a light blue

Logan and Autumn pretending to help

Wallahhhh!!! Looks much better with the tape off and in the daylight!

New flowers and planter. I love orchids!

New pitcher vase I thought was cute.

Red frames before painting black to match everything else.

After

Before

After

Before

After

The kitchen before

Here I am not having fun in an under ventilated corner in the kitchen behind our fridge at 9 or 10 at night without dinner! Yes, I did feel sick after. I'm so smart to have done that, aren't I?

The kitchen after

And our new kitchen table!! My most exciting purchase of them all! I was so happy to have finally picked out a table that I love! Hope it will last us many years to come and we will have lots of happy memories around this table!

Our new area rug

Now comes painting the living room! We will be painting it light brown and dark brown. I'm going to recover the red pillows and put up a few new decorations in the living room too! I'm also currently decorating the girls bathroom as well. I'll put up more pictures as we get those done!

Crazy hair day

2011-03-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

Logan had a crazy hair day at school a few weeks ago, and here is what we came up with! Autumn says she can't wait to go to school so she can do stuff like this. Plus wear her p.j.'s too!

8 months

2011-02-19T09:44:00.001-08:00

Sierra is 8 months old now! She loves to make gurgling sounds, and blow bubbles with her mouth. She's also started getting her first two teeth a few weeks ago. She loves chewing on everything now, and she gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. Cutest thing ever! She's thinking about crawling, but not quite. She can sit up for several minutes at a time now, until she gets bored cause she can't reach anything, so she'll tip herself over so she can roll around to grab a toy. As reported in last month, she is in fact not almost down to zero spit up. False alarm for that one. She comes and goes with that one. So we keep on waiting it out! She gets a huge smile on her face every time she sees a picture of herself, or looks in the mirror. I'd smile too, if I were that cute!

Ultimate teething picture, poor Rosetta, never saw it coming!

It's like the scene in Toy Story where Andy's little sister is playing

with Mr. Potato Head and he's upset cause he's not supposed to

be babysitting "princess drool"! It's on his box, ages 3 and up!

Okay, we've watched Toy Story too many times, yes, I know.

This is Sierra on her hands and knees getting ready to rock and roll!

She loves playing in her turtle ball pit,

and hanging out on mommy's bed while I do laundry!

Rapunzel turns 4...and lets down her long hair

2011-02-15T12:21:00.000-08:00

Autumn turned 4 on February 6th. She is really into princesses right now, so we had a Rapunzel theme for her party. I took the two older girls to go see Tangled before Christmas, and we loved it! She loves playing with her sisters and sharing with everyone. She is very helpful to me with chores I have to do around the house! She is loving her dance class and is excited to be in sunbeams at church now. She is also really looking forward to going to preschool in the fall, even though I will miss her. Here we are starting out with gifts at 8 in the morning! I know it's not Christmas, but oh well! She was so excited!

Nobody is ever so excited for a card

Pancake shaped in a #4 for breakfast for Autumn from her daddy!

Dress from Grandma Heaton's latest trip to Thailand. She gave her very first talk in church that day. Even though she would only say about 5 words, and then mom finished it, we were still proud of her for being brave and trying!

Sierra likes to party too!

She requested cheesecake and I was great with that. It's one of my favorites!

All tuckered out at the end of the day!

She is so fun and happy all the time! We love you Autumn and hope you had a wonderful birthday!

7 months

2011-01-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

Okay, obviously I need to work on my formatting skills. I just can't get the pictures to go where I want them. Oh well. Sierra turned 7 months a few days ago, and is doing really well. The spit up has decreased almost down to NONE! Hooray for that one! She loves all her fruits, and tolerates her veggies pretty well. I do have to water the peas down for her to eat those! Just too think and not a consistency she liked, I guess. She rolls all over the place. I'll leave her on the living room floor and she'll end up in the kitchen sometimes! She can sit up pretty well. She will do it for 10 seconds or so on her own, but can still use a little support. She giggles pretty good when you play peek a boo, or when you bounce her, tickle her or play airplane with her. She's pretty happy and likes to get out of the house. She loves her sisters and mom and dad!

Beauty and the Beast

2011-01-20T13:28:00.000-08:00

The past ten weeks, Logan has been attending a drama camp at one of the local Jr Highs. It was a chance for them to learn a little more about the theater and how it all works. All the elementary school kids were the extras in the play. They were the townspeople, the wolves, and the dishes. She really liked it! I was glad she had a great time, since I am a lover of all things Beauty and the Beast! We got to see her first out of four show on Tuesday. She did a great job! Sorry the pictures aren't great. I think James was concentrating on the video camera more than this one. We had to go on separate nights so someone could stay home with the baby. I'm just glad we remembered the camera at all!

Tiny Dancer

2011-01-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

Autumn started a dance class a few weeks ago, and she loves it.

I think I love to take pictures even more! Can't wait to see her

in the recital.

One of her favorite things was getting a hello kitty sticker and a

care bear sticker at the end from her teacher!

P.S. two other new posts below!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-16T19:29:00.000-08:00

Christmas was such a fun holiday. We got to go

to my parents house for about a week and a half.

Thanks mom and dad for having us!

Christmas morning

Logan and Autumn's classic faces

I don't think Sierra even knew that was there

Logan lovin her new camera

Autumn is excited for pencils

Sierra loves her baby food

Andrea and Bill and Mom

Mom and Kate

Dad's favorite present, from President OBAMA!

Burnin' down the house

2011-01-16T19:16:00.000-08:00

Somebody had a birthday a few weeks ago.

Her candles were so many, the house could

have gone up in a major blaze. It was a great day!

I had so many people at my party, and they

all did a great job at making me feel special!

Thanks family!

WHAAAT??!! No, no....stop it, stop it!!!

2010-12-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

I tell Sierra to stop, but she does not listen! Why is the baby 6 MONTHS old already? Can anybody tell me how that happened? I'll tell you why. It's because she's our last. Man, I didn't think it would be so hard. It seriously makes me want to cry. A lot of my friends aren't done having kids or haven't started, so I seriously don't know how to deal with this. I am in uncharted waters here! Time goes by too fast now that we know we are done having kids. All you mommies who are done, how do you make it less hard to deal with? I guess I never thought I'd see this day, but it's here. Does anyone every really enjoy changing diapers, being spit up on, snot wiped all over the front of their shirt, etc? Well, I don't think so, but I am definitely enjoying every bit of her while I can. She IS my baby, and always will be. Now more than ever, when I rock her to sleep, I feel and understand what a miracle all 3 of my girls are. And I am thankful! My cup runneth over!

Sierra enjoys her binkie sideways a lot

loves grabbing her feet, doing sit-ups

rolling onto her tummy

taking baths

She is a joy and we are so glad she's our little honey bunny! She gets to spend her first Christmas and Grandma at Grandpa Heaton's next week and we are excited to watch her chew on the wrapping paper, instead of the toys we bought her! :)

I'm always going to be late on her stats now that I was late once. Can't have those immunizations too close together or they don't count. So we'll go to the doctors after we get back and have her all up to date.

Update

6month weight 18lbs 12 oz (85th%)

length 27in

Temple Square

2010-12-16T22:31:00.000-08:00

Or, "Square Temple," as Autumn likes to call it!

A few weekends ago I decided it would be fun for us to go to temple square and see the lights as a family. The girls and I picked up something for us to eat for dinner in the car on the way up. Next stop, was picking up James from work, but we had to wait 20 minutes for him to get there from the Provo warehouse and unload the truck full of stuff he had just brought. Then he wanted to stop by Cabela's to possibly use his gift card he had won from his work Christmas party the night before. (Yes, it was burning a hole in his pocket!) Then we got stuck in major traffic for a Jazz game that I had no idea was going on. So after about 3 hours after leaving Payson, we arrived!! Only to find no parking in sight. We ended up parking a few block south by a bank and paying $5 for it. Oh well.

The lights were gorgeous and we caught the very last song of a Christmas Choir singing in that little building on the south west corner. Think it was the first tabernacle? The congregation sung along with the choir to "Silent Night". It was beautiful and the girls loved seeing the temple and the Nativity Scene set up outside the Visitors center. We also listened as the story of Jesus' birth was played over the speakers. Love this time of year! We are so grateful for our Savior and his birth, and we were so happy to go and make a fun memory as a family. We hope to be able to go see the lights every year! It was a late night, but well worth it. They were super easy to put to bed! Merry Christmas to all!!

Sierra update

2010-11-16T21:36:00.000-08:00

So she is going to be 5 months in just a few days, but i just got her in for her 4 month check up last week.

Weight: 16 lbs 3 oz

Length: 25 inches

She also started rolling over and eating rice cereal last week. She's one busy girl. So busy in fact, she has decided she can't nap very well any more. In other news, she has decided that she does like a binkie most of the time now! Yay for me!

Our little angel

bath time

sunday dress

Happy 10th Anniversary James

2010-11-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

To my dear sweet husband, James

Ten years ago i kneeled across the altar from you and cried tears of joy that we were being sealed to each other for time and all eternity. I couldn't have made a better choice. You are my best friend and I love you so much! I love you so much more than I ever thought possible, ten years later. We have been through a lot together, and I'm so glad that I had you there by my side to share it with. You make me a better person and I am so grateful for your wonderful example. I am continually amazed at how hard you work for me and our family. It's amazing the way you know exactly what to say or do just to make me or the girls feel better. I can't imagine life or love without you in it. You are a wonderful husband in every way, and I'm so glad my heart belongs to you!

Let's play

2010-11-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

Each picture is one of my three girls.

Can you guess which pumpkin is which girl?

Pumpkin #1

Pumpkin #2

Pumpkin #3

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Ghouls and goblins beware!!!! These scary girls are on the loose!!

If you want chocolate, come to our house!

Pumpkin carving time!!

Logan's

Autumn's

Jana's

Here are the girls at our ward party!

Lots of fun!

BOO!! Scary bat princess, Logan,

getting ready to go trick or treating.

Witchy poo, Autumn.

Logan, Sierra, and Autumn

The "loot"

It was sooo funny to watch them separate

everything out. I just can't believe

how big they are getting. Autumn was

a trooper, and wanted to keep going even

though she was cold. There was a huge

hail storm right before we went out, but

it only sprinkled a little rain on us for about

5 minutes.It was nice to have Logan lead the

way and help shy Autumn up to the door and

say, "trick or treat", and "thanks"! All in all, I

think the girls had a great time. I know I

was pooped!

Halloween Parade

2010-10-28T21:33:00.000-07:00

Little seesters waiting for big sis to walk by

Here she comes! Bat Princess......ohhhhh scary!

Bye!!

Logan back at the class posing with Autumn

Her teacher, Mrs. Ware, is the stinky cheese from "Diary of a wimpy kid". She gave Logan "the cheese touch" who in turn gave it to me! AHHH! Watch out you people!

New milestones

2010-10-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

Sierra did her first laughs this week! She was laughing at me helping her "stretch" and saying that to her as I helped her. She also does it when I lift her up in the air with both arms outstretched above my head and say "super baby", while shaking my head! Love those baby laughs from the belly!

She's about to roll from her back to tummy. She sticks her feet up in the air and then sort of plops them over to the side. It's so funny to watch. She just needs a tiny nudge to get there, course she hates her tummy when she's there, but I guess she just wants to know she can do it. She does end up moving all around while laying on the floor, even though she's not rolling yet. Just scooting, I guess. Soon enough. I don't want her to grow up so fast!! She will be walking and talking before we know it.

4 Months

2010-10-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

The days go by faster and faster every day. I can't believe she is 4 months already. We love and adore her, and I'm thoroughly enjoying every second! She sleeps 12 hours most nights (from about 7p.m.-7a.m.). Then she takes about 4, 30-60 minute naps every day. Once in a while she'll throw in a three hour nap during the day. She loves grabbing her toys, blankets and shoving them in her mouth. She's also starting to roll to her side. She's still loving her fingers now and again. She still loves to be swaddled in her blanket to go to sleep. When she wakes up, and we unwrap her from her blanket, she does a big stretch and arches her back! Love it. She's pretty happy for the most part now, other than if she's hungry or tired. Duh. She also does not love her car seat still, but she has taken a few long drives (SLC) and done okay. We are excited to see her grow and progress! We love having her as a part of our family!

Brookes Family Pictures

2010-10-06T13:43:00.001-07:00

James and Jana Brookes Family Picture 9/10

Jana and James

Logan

Sierra

Autumn

Our girls

oh so happy after baths

2010-09-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

Sierra has always loved her baths. Here she is after her bath last night about to get her yummy smelling lotion on and her p.j.'s! We are so happy that she is getting happier!

tiny bum shot :)

her foot just happened to be there. it wasn't strategically placed at all. worked out perfect!

her smiles melt my heart!!

So this is love!

2010-09-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

See, she does smile! We are so happy to report that Sierra is being considerably happier! And so are her parents! She still has a few episodes sometimes, but she is doing really well at laying on the floor or the bed and just smiling and cooing and looking at the toys we rattle in front of her. It's wonderful. I feel like we are emerging out of the dark, and heading into euphoric days! She's a great snuggler! One of my favorite things about her. I can't wait for her to start giggling :)

Her two month check up was about 2 1/2 weeks ago, but here are her stats!

Weight: 12 lbs 5 oz (81st percentile)

Height: 23'' (67th percentile)

Head: 15;; (25th percentile) smallest baby head we've had, other two were off the charts ;)

She is not a fan of napping during the day. But like I mentioned before, she will at least lay happily on the floor while we play with her! She mostly likes to tease me that she is going to sleep. Her naps are usually 4-5, 30-45 minute naps a day. Once in a while I will get one 2-3 hour nap out of her a day, with a few cat naps too, of course. She is sure a sleeper at night though. She started out doing mostly 8-9 hours straight, and has now done 3, 11 hour sleeps, straight through the night. Too bad I can't always get to bed when she does. There's always so much to get done, or I'm at work. Started back on the 30th of August. I must admit, I was a little excited to have a break. This motherin' stuff is HARD! I love it though and wouldn't change a thing. I love my girls and hubby for all they do for me!

Back to school!

2010-08-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-24T12:15:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-22T14:02:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

Look who's 1 month today

2010-07-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

And this is what I do most of the time.

And this is what I think about it.

But my mom and dad still love me!

Mom loves:

my dimple, the way my chin quivers when I cry,

pretty long eyelashes, cute noises i make, that

I calm down when daddy sings to me, tiny little

fingers, and tiny little toes, soft skin, the way I

smell after my bath and lotion, pretty blue eyes,

all my beautiful hair, the way i hold her hand

while I eat, when I do "little lips", how I don't

mind being patient when my big sisters want to

hold me, cuddling in bed with me, being snuggly

on the couch while eating, how my head bobbles

back and forth and up and down when I am being

burped, of course, my cute chubby cheeks, how I

can be content on the floor for a bit, and most of

all just having me in her life in general!!! I know,

I'm sooooo loved!

Sierra's Birth Story

2010-07-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to jot down some of the goings on of that day before the memories fade away.

It was a nerve wracking evening before. We took the girls to James' mom's to stay with her for the next few days. I was a mess cause I couldn't believe Autumn was not going to be my baby girl anymore after the next day. She was just such a fun and easy baby. It was weird to just drop them off and say "okay tomorrow we're going to go have the baby and we'll see you with the new baby sister tomorrow".

I didn't sleep too well that night. I knew the hospital would be calling as early as 5:30 a.m. I woke up a few times in the night, and then again at 5:22 a.m. Of course they didn't call til 6:00. It was so funny how we just sat up in bed and looked at each other when the phone rang. It was TIME!!!!

Finally we got to the hospital at about 6:45 a.m. We got checked in and I got all hooked up to the monitors. It was about 8:30 when they started the pitocin. I was handling the contractions pretty well until about 9:30 when my water broke. At first, I wasn't sure that was what it was, and then I pretty much figured it had to be, so I told James to go get the nurse. She nurse said it was a lot of fluid. I never had it break on it's own. It was weird. Didn't like it so much! It was shortly after that, I told James to put the cell phones both away and get over and start holding my hand, and comforting me! I was done answering peoples calls or texts for a while!

I started getting more contractions coming a lot faster and harder after that. I did okay for the next hour, and then I pretty much broke down. All you women out there who give birth without an epidural, HOW DO YOU DO IT??!! I just couldn't take it anymore. I was balling, so James told the nurse to get the epidural for me. Thank goodness for that epidural. That dr was my new best friend! It's not very fun getting those done. Having to lay still on your side and curl up in a ball while he's shoving this needle in your spine, while having horribly painful contractions, but still, worth it!

So they started getting me ready to push shortly after that. It was a little after 11 am by then. I'm usually ready really quickly after the epidural. I guess I just relax and then I was to a 10 and ready to push. I pushed for about a half hour. I had to stop for a bit in the middle so they could unwrap the cord that was around her neck twice and shoulders also. I delivered Sierra Helen Brookes at 11:40 a.m.!! We were so happy she was finally here! She was 9 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 1/2 inches. The dr said she might have been 10 lbs if she hadn't pooped everywhere when the were cleaning her off before they set her on the scale! Ha ha! Ooops! Everyone had to watch their step after that. She was perfect, and we are overjoyed to have her here. I always cry when they hand them to me for the first time. It really is the BEST feeling in the world. I can't believe what a little miracle she is. All my girls, for that matter!! It's was such a joyful experience. The whole thing. We feel so blessed to have all three of our girls, and we love them so much!

I should also mention that I had a really great nurse in the delivery room this time, which was nice. My dr is always great too, but my number one support is my loving and wonderful James! I could not make it through without him. He was there for me 100 % and makes me feel like I am Superwoman! He's the best and I am so blessed to have him as my husband! Thank you Honey for all your love and support during this time and throughout everything else, as well!

I would say that this was one of my more emotional times giving birth, feeling like we know this is our last one. I just wanted to savor every moment. I was probably one of the harder labors, but definitely the shortest one, by far! I was so happy to have the girls come and visit theirs sister the next morning. They love her and are going to be great big sisters to her.

Here's my little story about bringing Sierra into this world. Some day, I really need to get this blog printed up into a book!

BIG SISTERS!

2010-07-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

Logan is such a big helper to calm Sierra down during a diaper change, or while we are in the car. She's also great to hold her for me while I make a bottle. She loves Sierra!

Autumn is our "smith's bag getter". She gets a plastic grocery bag for me to throw the diapers away in. She also loves getting the new diapers for me. She was pretty nervous to touch her or hold her at first, but now she loves her new little baby sister. She definitely seems so grown up to me now. It's weird to not have her as the baby anymore, but she's going to show Sierra, along with Logan, how to grow up, and get things done in this world!

She wanted me to help her hold Sierra the first time. She was pretty nervous to hold such a tiny squirmy little thing, but she did great!

Our 3 sweet girls!! Our family feels complete now, and this picture just brings tears to my eyes. Of course I am overly emotional at this point in my life. We feel so blessed to have these 3 beautiful girls to love and to raise!

Logan Autumn Sierra

Sierra under the lights

2010-07-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

Sierra had jaundice so she had to be under these lights in the suitcase for a day and a half. She was 4 days old. It was very hard for me not to hold her. She cried pretty good for the first afternoon, but I guess she finally got used to it. It was hard for me not to cry every time I had to put those creepy glasses over her eyes and stick her in there. James was at scout came for most of the time I had to deal with that, so that was another fun added bonus. We are glad she's all done with the suitcase and blood tests. Now if they would just come pick up the suitcase so I don't have to store it and be responsible for it anymore!

Sierra is here!!

2010-06-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

Proud new parents

of this sweet new baby girl!

Sierra Helen Brookes joined our family on June 18th, 2010 at 11:40 am. Weighing in at 9lbs 14 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. We couldn't be happier!!

been working on the best father's day present for the last 9 months..

2010-06-17T21:15:00.001-07:00

she's going to be delivered tomorrow! i'm being induced and i can't wait to hold my baby in my arms and not in my belly anymore. do you think james will like his father's day gift?

more for my own remembrance (since this sort of serves as my journal) here are some things i wanted to remember about my 3 pregnancies.

Logan's:

-took only 2 months to get pregnant

-most morning sickness of all 3 (by far). i was probably sick for 4-5 months several times every day

-read the most pregnancy books

-only one that we didn't find out the gender

-painted my toenails alternating pink and blue at the end cause we didn't know what she was

-i guess she was a girl, and james guessed she was a boy

-would have been named Jackson, if she would have been a boy

-labor began about 3am and we went to the hospital about 4am. she was born at 3:36 pm.

may 13, 2002

-she was 2 days early

-10 lbs 1 oz

-no one would hire me after i started to show, so i had no job the few months before, and was really bored

Autumn's:

-took 20 months to get pregnant

-most headache's

-most heartburn

-best weather outside to deal with having her born in feb.

-don't think i had a pedicure when i went into labor (it was a surprise induction)

-probably the easiest pregnancy (we'll see about the labor and delivery)

-was induced about 37 weeks because the amniotic fluid was low

-started at 2:30pm and she was born at 10:30 pm. she was born feb 6, 2007

-9 lbs

-worked up to 3 days before i had her

New baby:

-took 13 months to get pregnant

-most active

-most hiccups

-most nesting

-some headaches, but not like autumn

-most hungry all the time

-hips hurt with all, but mostly this one (must be my old age!)

-worked up to 2 weeks before having her(torturous, for so many reasons)

-had a pedicure about a month ago, but changed it up today.

-being induced 1 week early because they are sure she will be another 9-10 lb baby

-most excited to get her out of me !!

This is the post the night before going in to have baby #3! We'll update about the newest addition soon! Wish me luck!

Logan's Baptism

2010-06-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

Logan was baptized on June 5, 2010. It was such a wonderful day. We had so many family members and friends come to support her. She looked beautiful and she did a wonderful job giving her testimony. It felt like Heaven was smiling down on us that day!

Logan in front of the baptismal font

Logan in the dressing room

Grandma Brookes did such a pretty job on her hair!

Daddy and Logan in white

Logan at our house after. Her great Aunt Nadine gave her the flower.

Logan on the sunday after. So excited to be baptized and be welcomed as the newest member of our ward at church. She was so anxious to go receive her certificate.

Logan and Autumn at the church on sunday.

Logan and daddy at the church on sunday.

Baptism

2010-05-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

This lovely lady is getting baptized on Saturday! We'll take more the day of, but here's a sneak peek.

Logan's 8th birthday party

2010-05-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

the party was supposed to be the day after her birthday. unfortunately both her and autumn

came down with strep throat. we held the party on the following friday, the 21st! what a fun, but crazy day!

the cake!
decorating cupcakes

pin the candle on the cupcake

time for presents

with 14 girls there, she had way too many presents to deal with!

cake and ice cream

cupcake pinata! watch out everyone!

and can i please go have my baby now?

oh wait, there is a baptism in less than

two weeks to take care of first!

Logan turns 8!!

2010-05-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

Logan is having a cupcake theme party!

Tomorrow is the friend party. (more pics

to come) Wish me luck, I'll need it!

She couldn't wait to open presents, but I was

mean and made her wait til dad got home. He

had the camera at work, so we had to wait for

him to bring it home.

I'm 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The practice cake. It's the big top cupcake cake

mold. Lot smaller than I thought it would

be. I really wish I could decorate cakes with

even the slightest talent. Maybe I should

just buy them from now on.

Blowing out the candle!

We had a great day and hope you enjoyed

your special day sweetie! We love you

Logan!

That's not a balloon under my shirt

2010-05-13T19:32:00.001-07:00

34 weeks. Wow! Yes, I know....I look

ready to pop! Am I having twins? NO!

I just have one baby the size of two.

An ultrasound is going to be done in a

week and a half to determine her size,

and the dr says she could change the

due date. She will induce me only 1

week early, if the baby looks big.

Do you think the baby looks BIG??!!

carrying low much?

I know it's silly

2010-05-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

but why is it sooooo hard to get rid of

the binkie?

many reasons:

autumn is such a good girl, it felt like

a major punishment for no good reason

at all. she was definitely heartbroken :(

the day after we took them away, she

was sick for 3 days with fever up to 104

with no binkie to comfort her.

she's still my baby for a little while longer,

and this was the last thing she was hanging

on to that still made her seem like a baby

to me. i'm sad to see her grow up cause she

was such a fun, easy baby. (let's keep our

fingers crossed the next baby will be easy

too!)

she 100% disagreed with me about sending

them to her:

but i told her the binkie fairy would give them

to other little babies that needed them.

we stuck them in the envelope and put it on

the front porch and told her that the binkie

fairy was going to bring her something very

special in the morning!

she was so excited for this make up set!

this is also the morning she woke up not

feeling well. we still had make overs all

day long though! she did mine and hers!

so fun. she smeared lip gloss on me all day,

no wonder why i'm sick now! what was

i thinking??!!

she asked for the binkie back for a few days

but not today! it still breaks my heart that

we made her sooooo sad on sunday. she had

a good cry about it, probably at least a half

hour. i know she's way too old though, and it's

for the best! wish us luck with the adjustment!

Change in the weather

2010-04-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

Monday, when I got a sunburn on my arms....

Today, April 30th.....out our front door.

That's all I have to say about that.

Daddy, you have your hands full!

2010-04-19T22:20:00.000-07:00

It's a tug of war........

fly across the room......

wwf wrestling ring! An all out war going on around here!!

And daddy was loving every minute of it! You should

have heard him laughing!

Now he'll have 4 girls fighting for his $$. Or in other words this is the girls saying

"GET THE WALLET!",and "WE WANT YOUR DOLLARS DAD!" Even though he

won't have any boys, he can still "wrastle" his GIRLS!

If you show a little girl a picture of the Temple.....

2010-04-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

She's going to want to try on your wedding dress!!

Sunday we were watching some church videos and the girls were so excited

when the saw the Oakland Temple (where James and I were married)

so I asked them if they wanted to see my wedding dress........and well you can

guess what THEY WANTED TO DO NEXT!

I know, it's a little weird, they're too young, you say! It was really funny though.

I think they both thought they were princesses (which, of course they are!). They

kept hugging me and telling me how pretty it was. I think they are both excited

to get married in the temple some day now!

Logan in my dress! Ha ha, no front tooth in a wedding dress! She's so cute though!

Little Autumn, another cute blushing bride!

Don't worry girls, about another 30 years, I'm sure your dad won't mind then!!

Grandma and Grandpa come to town

2010-04-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

to show off their cheesers!

mostly they were helping Kate "the grad" move

home from rexburg after her graduation from

BYU idaho!!

and grandpa pulls out Logan's front tooth and

gives her $5!! she's really excited for the $ from

him, and the toothfairy. thank goodness it didn't

hurt. i wouldn't want him to traumatize her by

pulling it out, but i'm glad he got it out for her.

she tried to ask for $20 for the tooth. great!

we are in for it!

we had a great visit with you mom and dad,

and hope you'll come back soon!

Easter

2010-04-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

Such a lovely Easter morning..........with 6 inches

of snow!

Logan and Autumn with their bunny faces

Easter morning with their baskets

Neighborhood Easter Hunt the day before.

We also colored eggs that day, but didn't get

any pictures. The coloring/painting was quite

the mess. The girls had fun though!

Logan and Autumn in their Easter dresses

out front.

Disney on Ice

2010-03-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we got to take the girls to Disney on Ice!

They had so much fun and were both really good. What a fun

family outing!

Mickey and Minnie came out to greet everyone first.

Followed by the cars from the movie "Cars"! That was

pretty cool to see all the cars on the ice at the same time.

They were followed by The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King,

which I guess James must have not thought were as cool as

the others since there are not many, if any pictures of those.

Last but not least, the girls favorite, Tinkerbell! It was fun to see

a few of the fairies flying around the arena, and all the beautiful

colors and flowers floating around! It was a great time, and we

definitely recommend it to anyone!

I promise, he had fun! He probably would have rather

seen a basketball game, but he loves his girls! He's such

a great sport to put up with all of us girls!

In with the NEW!!

2010-03-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

Here is our new car!! It is an 05 mercury mountaineer. I really wasn't expecting to get this particular vehicle. I thought James was kind of set on a nissan pathfinder, but we test drove both and also a toyota sequoia and liked this the best (sorry shawn, no toyota). We picked it up on thursday night, and are really happy with it. It's got plenty of room for our growing family, and we hope it will last us a long time. Favorite thing: heated seats! Too bad we didn't have that all through the last winter. Girls are happy the dvd player is being installed on monday! PHEWWW....can't live without that right? Spoiled girls. I guess there is only one person to blame for that.

Out with the old

2010-03-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

Today we are saying goodbye to our fun little Volkswagen Jetta. Since our family is soon to be expanding we need a bit more room in the car. Funny how you can get so attached to a car. I have really liked this car, but won't miss having a dirty BLACK color! I also won't miss expensive repair costs for a foreign car. Sure, it looks clean now, I had to get it ready to be evaluated for a trade in. We'll be better about keeping the new car clean. Promise. Have you heard that one before?! When we went to test drive some other vehicles, all the girls cared about was if there was a dvd player. Even Autumn started asking us between different vehicles, "does this have a dvd player?" I'm looking forward to having more room for some friends to ride with us and to also not be kicked in the back every time one, or both girls, are throwing a fit. Also, leather interior will be so much easier to clean up after spills! In with the NEW pics to come soon!

I feel safe saying, she's done it!

2010-02-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

This is the latest addition to Autumn's wardrobe. She's officially potty trained! About a week before her 3rd birthday, she started wanting to do it. She's had a few rough days, with a few accidents here and there, but she's now gone over a week with no problems what-so-ever!! We are thrilled to have a break from diapers for a few months. We gave away the almost brand new box of diapers, and she isn't going back! She says diapers are yucky! Her favorite motivators were reese's peanut butter cups, and she loved the new gold handle flusher James installed on our toilet recently because the white handle had broken. She's even keeping dry at night with no pull ups! We called them waterfalls, and she loved it! What a funny girl. We're sure proud! Aren't these undies so CUTE?!!

It's a GIRL!!

2010-02-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

We're happy to announce we are having another girl!! Everything looks fine from the ultrasound! Our due date is still June 25, 2010! We are excited to welcome another cute Brookes Princess!