Brooklyn is 1!!

Well she was one in November. The poor thing was so sick on her birthday and we had to move her party to the next day. It was just a fun family party. She is so spoiled she got lots of fun gifts and loved everyone singing to her. One of her birthday presents was getting her ears pierced. It wasn't her most favorite at the time, but she looked so cute. Thank you Ashley for helping me get her little party set up so fast.

And my amazing friend Reyanna with Rey of Light Photography did her 1 year pictures for me. I absolutely loved them. She did such a great job and really got Brooklyn's personality in most of the pictures. I can't believe this little cutie is 1!!

* She loves reading books. She will just grab a book herself and babble and point to it.

 

* She has 5 teeth! In the month of October those babies came, and she looks so cute.

 

* Loves feeding herself. Her favorites are bananas, chicken and mac n cheese.

 

* She is not walking yet. She is getting more brave and standing on her own, but no steps yet.

 

* She gives the best hugs and kisses. Sometimes when she kisses you, she sticks her tongue out.

 

* Talks so much. When Ashley says a name, she repeats it in her own language.

 

* Still has her unique crawl.

 

* Gives us the funniest scowl when she is confused are not happy about something.

 

* Let's us know when she is unhappy by giving us a little scream.

We are so truly blessed to have her. She makes our life so much brighter and I do not know what I would do without her. She is perfect in every way. I cannot wait to see what the next year has for us and this little girl!

Brooklyn's First Halloween!

We had such a fun Halloween this year. Brooklyn loved it. She loves being outside and thought it was so neat to go to neighbor's doors and get candy.

A couple days before Halloween our ward had a neighborhood party. A sweet co-worker had lent me a adorable bumble bee costume for Brooklyn. I loved it but didn't try it on her until the day of the party. (I know that's bad) So when we took her it looked cute but she was way too tall for it. But she wore it anyways. She just used the bumble bee head has a pillow.

 Doing the cake walk with Aunt Paola

 Halloween morning in her cute Halloween pajamas!

Ashley wanted to surprise everyone and dress up. She found the beard "recipe" on pinterest and it was hilarious.

 Brooklyn was so cute when Daddy put on his costume. I think hearing his voice helped, but it didn't seem to bother her one bit.

 Since the bumble bee costume was too little. I was in a scrabble to find something else. My sister in law had said that she had wings and a halo. Then Mandy lent me the pretty white skirt. So it was perfect, she was our little angel.

 Penelope was the cutest monkey/gorilla.

 Allie had it made, she would just roll right up and say trick or treat! With mom's help of course.

 All the kids were pretty much done

 Brooklyn in her Halloween stash!

 "Mom, this is candy!"

 Trying out a Laffy Taffy

 I believe our cute little angel had a fun first Halloween!

Life!

In the last three months our lives have changed a lot. It seemed in just one day my life went from mellow to crazy.

I was blessed to be able to stay home with Brooklyn until she was nine months. But after a little bit it was just needed for me to go back to work. Since I was laid off from my last job, I had no idea what looking for a job would be like. The search began! I thought interviews would come easy, but would soon learn it was not as easy as I had thought. Back in May I had heard of a place called Bio Life, its a plasma center. I heard it was a really good place to work, and they will train you from the beginning, no medical history required.

I noticed that they were hiring so I applied. It seemed that would be the last time I heard about Bio Life, so the search continued. Then one day in July I got a call from them and they had asked for me to come in for an interview. So a phone interview, and two regular interviews later I was offered the job. When I got the call I was excited because I had been looking for awhile and nothing and this was one I finally got. But that joy went away really fast when I thought about leaving Brooklyn to work. I called Mandy to tell her I got the job, but I was crying the whole time.

Before I was pregnant I was already going to school part time, so I was hired just a couple weeks before school started. So in just a few days I went from being a stay at home mom (off from school for the summer), and now a full time employee, part time student, and all the time mom. :)

This will explain why my poor blog has been neglected. I have barely been in to do Brooklyn's monthly posts. 

Working for Bio Life was such an experience, nothing I had ever done before. I met so many amazing people and learned SO much. I enjoyed the personal interaction with the donors and just learning new things. I also made an amazing new friend, Mandy.

Even though I enjoyed working at Bio Life, I missed Brooklyn, Dad was doing a pretty good job at home. Bio Life has some crazy hours, and they alternate every week. The early shift is 5am to 2:30pm, then 9am to 6:30pm, and then closing is 12pm to 8:30pm, and every other Saturday. But we were making it work.

One day last week I got a call from a good friend Gina. She asked what I was up to and also that the company she was working for was hiring. She had asked me to email my resume to her supervisor, so I did. I really didn't think I would hear from them so fast. But I interviewed there a couple times too, and they offered me the job. This job offered to keep me at the same pay rate, and also had a more stable schedule with weekends off.

This was a hard decision for me, but I took on the job at LearnKey and started last week. I miss my Bio Life co-workers, but love this schedule. I feel like I can get more done at home and with my school work. Everyone at LearnKey has been so sweet and have made me feel so welcome. I am excited to see what the future holds.

All in all I am going to do my best to keep my blog updated. I just love going back and seeing posts from the past and want Brooklyn to be able to see these in the future with stories of her growing up, and pictures of course!

Lately it as been SO nice outside, and we try to go for walks as much as possible. She loves it, we have also been going to the park a lot too. Even though she isn't walking yet she climbs on everything that she can.

 All the kids playing in the sand with Uncle Doz.