We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet!

I was shocked to hear the news of President Hinckley's death as I had not heard anything about him being ill. I am so grateful to have grown up with him as our Prophet. He was such a great example of what it means to be genuinely caring, kind, and happy. He always brought a smile to my face. I will miss his talks in conference and his positive attitude at all times, but I am so happy for him that he is now with his sweet wife as well as the Savior whom he served so diligently.

I'd like to get a collection of favorite quotes by President Hinckley, so if you have one please post it in the comments.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKIE!!

Our Little Miss Brooke is now officially ONE YEAR old! She had her birthday on the 10th and it is so hard to believe that a year has already passed since that day she was born. It is amazing how much she has learned and grown in such a short amount of time.

Brooke seemed to really enjoy her birthday and all the attention she got. She loved opening presents and was absolutely spoiled! She got a lot of toys that play music, and she dances whenever the music comes on. What can I say, the girl's got rhythm! I had a hard time getting her away from her toys for the long awaited event of eating birthday cake. At first she didn't know what was going on. It was the first time she's had sweets (with the exception of the times that her daddy sneaks her bites of ice cream and such) and she kinda looked at me like "Are you really letting me eat this?!" After I gave her a taste of the frosting she was in heaven and from then on was trying to take the biggest bite that she could. Her birthday cake wasn't the cute one I was wanting to make, but I guess when Fry's gives you a free cake you take it! Here she is eating her cake.

She was still so excited that night that she stayed up until 1 am playing with all her toys. Here she is posing next to some of her birthday loot.Here's a little about Brooke these days......


- I took her for her 1 year apt on her birthday and she was 29 1/4" long (55th %) and weighed 19#9 oz (24th %). The doctor said she looks great!


- She has 12 teeth. She had 7 for the longest time then got 5 all at once. So now she has 4 on top, 4 on bottom and one in the back on the top and bottom of each side.

- She has decided that walking around is her newest favorite thing. Three days after her birthday she took about 5 steps. Now she is up to around 12. When she isn't walking from thing to thing she is holding onto the wall, couch, or whatever else she needs to get around the house. She has had quite a few bonks to her head, but all in all is doing well.


- She leaves a trail of destruction from the cupboards in the kitchen where she pulls out boxes of food, my purse that she pulls everything out of, her bedroom where she pulls all her books off the shelves and toys out of the bin, our bathroom where she loves Tyler's cupboard and pulls his shaving bag out, and the living room where she loves to pull the DVDs off the shelves. Sounds like we need to kid-proof, eh?



- Every now and then she'll take a break and sit down to read a book. She absolutely loves books. - She loves her blanket, still.

- She also loves other babies, and is a great help in taking care of her cousins. Here she is playing with her friend Ethan. They are becoming great friends!

- She is so sweet and gives kisses all the time, even to herself.

- She loves her bath and is her loudest while in the tub. She has gone through a stage where she poops everytime she gets in the tub. I guess she just likes the freedom of being without her diaper!

- Her most ticklish spot is on the inside of her thighs.

- Her favorite games are "Peek-a-boo" and when we say "I'm gonna get you!" She will run to the nearest thing she can bury her face in (usually the couch or LoveSac) and try to hide from us.

- Her favorite song is "If you're happy and you know it". She starts clapping as soon as she hears it.

- Her favorite foods these days are: ice, yogurt, spaghetti, peas (if they're frozen and then only sometimes), oatmeal, peanut butter, crackers, chicken nuggets, cantaloupe, oranges, and of course any sweets that her daddy can sneak to her.

-She has done really well lately with her sign language. I'm trying to teach her not to whine, but rather to sign what she wants. She has since figured that if she signs for "more", she'll get whatever she's wanting. The problem is, we don't know what she wants more of! The other signs she does are: please (she signs "more please" without being asked), cracker, ice (this is a sign I made up because she loves it so much), hungry, and drink.

Catching Up

I'm sure it's not hard to believe that the holidays have been crazy and that I have gotten a little behind in my blogging. Brooke had her first Christmas this year, and to tell you the truth, I don't think she had any idea what was going on. She enjoyed it though, of course, because she loves to be around everyone and she got totally spoiled! Here she is playing with some of her new toys.She loves this new doll that she got. It has hair that she can pull and play with. She sat quietly and played with it for a long time after she got it. She also loves the horse that Workmans got for the grand kids at their house. You push its ear and it makes horse sounds.

We had to take the traditional Steadman pic of the dad holding the baby by the tree in a huge stocking on their first Christmas. We opened presents at our house then went to Grandma and Grandpa Workman's to open more presents over there. We all got totally spoiled! Tyler got a photo book from Brooke titled "I Love My Daddy". I think he liked it! :)We got to talk with Cindy on Christmas day and that was great. She only has until the first part of March until she comes home from her mission in Kentucky. We are so excited to see her!

Tyler and I both got to take time off from work during the holidays so that was nice to spend time together. We spent a lot of time with family, including his aunt and cousin who came down from Canada, and did a lot of running around for after Christmas deals (gotta love Target and CVS 75% off Christmas items, but we won't get into that!)

We went to Stradling's for New Years Eve and had a fun time over there eating too much and playing the white elephant game. Being the old people that we are, we came home long before midnight. Brooke had other ideas though and wanted to ring in the New Year. Tyler fell asleep on the LoveSac while I watched Brooke play with her toys as the ball dropped and the clock turned 12.

My Mom, Dad, Emily, Terah and Kyden all made the drive down to see us just after the first of the year. They spent 4 days with us and we had a lot of fun going to Bass Pro, the Mexican Store (or the FP store as my mom calls it because she refuses to call it by it's real name) and visiting with family. Terah had an interview at the dental school that is here in Mesa. They have since received good news.....he was accepted the same day he applied! They will be moving here in July and starting school there. It will be so fun for Brooke and Kyden to grow up together since they are only 4 days apart. It will also be good for teaching Brooke to share and not be a crib hog. She was pretty distraught that she had to give up her crib for a couple nights! This is sure to be a blackmail pic some day!

Next on the catching up agenda.....Brooke's 1 year Birthday!