Here is cute Brynn with her blanket. She LOVES this thing. If she is playing and spots her blanket across the room she will crawl over to it (while squealing with delight) pick it up and hug it to death. It is hard to take it away from her even when she is eating.




McKenzie is going through a phase these days. She changes her clothes about 40 times a day. This is funny because I can remember doing that as a young kid. She is really concerned about her looks, in a funny way. If I tell her she looks so pretty she gets upset and says "Mom! I just want to look cool. I don't care about being pretty!" Oh my little tomboy. This is Kenzie at our ward breakfast on Memorial Day:


I think both my girls are adorable, cute, cool, AND pretty! (to say the least!)

Is there anything cuter than a clean baby straight out of the bath?

Tahoe

Most families are excited that summer break is about to begin. We are bummed that ours is about to come to an end. When Evan's boss suggested he use up the remaining weeks of his paternity leave we were thrilled. We have done quite a bit and have enjoyed every minute we have shared together as a family lately. We unpacked our new home. We have explored restaurants and parks in our new area. We traveled to the ranch to see Evan's family, which included a night at Bass Lake. We went to Mission Viejo, Coronado, El Cajon, and Disneyland. And finally, we just returned from a fun weekend at Lake Tahoe. As always, I am writing this as a journal entry for our family. (We hope to someday print this blog as a keepsake/scrapbook.) I hope we always remember how much fun these 5 weeks have been. Having a stay at home mom AND dad is more than awesome! Honey, when will we be independently wealthy? Who needs a job?

Here are a few fun photos from Tahoe.

Southern California

We are enjoying every bit of Evan's time off. I am not sure how I am going to handle him going back to work soon. We just returned from a fun trip down south. We stayed with our friends Bryce and Becca (hotel Porter) in Mission Viejo. Thanks a million to them for showing us a great time and allowing us to stay there! We had a fun trip.

The Ranch and Bass Lake

This past week we took a trip to the ranch to see Evan's family. We had a really nice time and the weather was beautiful. After we arrived Evan's parents surprised us with plans for a night away in honor of our 5 year anniversary! So we took off for a night and stayed at the Pines resort at the Bass Lake.

It was a really fun couple of days with everyone. And thanks again to Greg and Debbie for our time away.


Our first night at the ranch:


Us at Bass Lake:
McKenzie with her second cousins once removed (we think) Rachel and Amanda. Cute girls!! This was at the Pioneer Trek that was on the Millar Ranch this weekend. It was a quad stake activity!


Down in the canyon:
Hanging out at Grandma Rae's house in Fresno:

Our Little Princess

Here is our little princess. We sure love her.

Stuck

Every time I walk onto an elevator I begin to panic inside. My fear of small enclosed spaces is real. I hate it, but I have always been that way. I have to take deep breaths and tell myself "it will only be a few moments before you are walking out of this thing." That's what I thought yesterday when I crammed into an elevator with 8 people plus a stroller at the Donatello hotel in SF. We were on the 14th floor heading down to the lobby. "Brooke, do you still get claustrophobic when you are on elevators?" "YES Sam, I do," I replied in a rude tone. Then Greg, Evan's dad, began telling a story about a time when he got stuck in an elevator with a woman who panicked. As he was telling the story our elevator stopped at the 5th floor. He kept talking. The doors never opened and we did not move. We all soon realized that we too were STUCK.

Everyone reacted differently, but I immediately dropped to the floor and ripped off my jacket. I was trying really hard not to burst out into tears. I began saying over and over "Please push the emergency button!" Being trapped in an elevator with engineers such as my husband and his father meant that they were going to try and fix the problem first. "Lets see hmmm...if I push this button and this button maybe it will start up again." We did end up pushing the help/emergency button. Then Greg ended up prying the door open. I was genuinely impressed and thankful I might add. We were between floors but close enough to the 5th floor that we could jump down. We all made it out just fine. We even lifted the stroller down. What a weird thing...it is as if talking about it made it come true.