Happy Birthday!

Its so hard to believe, but Brooke is now 1 years old.  The year went by so quickly, and she is very quickly leaving the baby stage and entering toddler-hood.  Because we knew how much it would mean to her, we threw Brooke a big birthday party.  We invited a bunch of friends to celebrate, and Renee, Marc, and Ann came all the way out.  So much love for one little baby.  Then we got a huge surprise, Emily and Rebecca flew out as well!  We had a great dinner all together on Friday night. Grandpa Whitney had a ticket to come out, but sadly his recent kidney stone surgery kept him in Salt Lake.  He was here in spirit, and the rest of him was sorely missed.

Table set, ready for celebrate

French signs for each platter, Tom drew the art himself!

That's right.  A fur vest for a 1 year old

All that way from Sterling, Liam and Aaron

Kelli

Such a nice gift, and amazing surprise from her two favorite Whitney Aunts!

Grandma Whitney and Brooke, I can see the resemeblance

Pin the hat on Madeline.  A big hit with the big kids

Brooke's boyfriend Fletcher

Getting ready for pinata breaking.  Ignore the belt we had to use to hang it.

Brooke was the first to hit

Aunt Emily!

All the family except Rebecca.  So fun to have family to celebrate this day!

Brooke and Fletcher sitting in a tree!

Check out that toothy gap

Smash cake!

At first she had no idea what to do with the cake...

She slowly tried a few bits of frosting...

She was just chowing down while we took some photos.  All the family, sans Ann who had to catch her flight.

Mommy friends, Brooke oblivious to anything besides the cake

This is what happened when we took the cake away

Steamboat Springs

We had a fun, whirwind trip to Denver/Steamboat Springs last weekend.  It was a really fast trip, and we made sure to pack the cousin fun in as much as possible.

Waiting for our ride in the Denver Airport.  Three hours past her bedtime.  But boy, was she excited to be in Colorado!

We had a lot of time in the car, thanks to a giant accident on Rabbit Ear Pass.  She was about as good as you can expect, being strapped into her car seat for many hours a day.  Does anyone else notice a significant lack of eyebrows?

Dinner at Rio Grande with the entire family.  Brooke is just out of the frame, in her high chair.  We are getting major creepy eyes from Tommy.

Charlie's face says it all.  Having a blast at the alpine slide!

Brooke loved hanging out with all of her cousins, especially Rachel

BFFs

My favorite part of the trip was seeing all of the kids in their matching skeleton pjs.  The bones even glow in the dark.  Thanks so much Emily!

Old MacDonald had a farm

Fall is here!  Nothing brings a smile to my face quite like a crisp fall morning.  We had a first one this week, and its been amazing.  I love boots and jackets, and I love running in the cold.  However, I did realize that I literally have no warm clothes for Brooke.  Oh darn, an excuse to go baby clothes shopping!

To celebrate the nice weather, we took a trip to Butler's Orchard.  Its a great farm, not far from our house that you can pick your own fruit.  It was fun, and really delicious.  And just a perfect fall activity!

Brooke was getting her second tooth, and was up most of the night before.  She was exhausted on our drive out there.  The angle of the pic is awkward, but I wanted to document that she feel asleep holding onto her toy. 

Picking raspberries

Brooke holding her first hand picked apple.  Its a Gala

We snuck onto the pumpkin patch to get a shot with Brooke and a pumpkin.  We took a million trying to get her to smile.  To no avail, so I settled for the one that she's not crying or trying to eat the weeds

Tommy loved digging purple potatoes.  He loved it a little TOO much

OBX all the way!

Over Labor Day weekend we rented a big house with three other couples in the most beautiful part of North Carolina.  Maybe even one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  We had such a fun time.  Four couples, four babies, and lots of fun!  We spent the weekend on the beach, in our private pool, playing sand volleyball on our private court, running on the beach, riding bikes, 4-wheeling on the beach watching wild horses, and playing games at night.  It was so much fun, it was really hard to leave.

One of the hardest parts was keeping Brooke out of the sun.  The weather was perfect, and I wanted her to be able to play!

The four babies of the weekend.  From left to right, Liam- 18 months, Brooke- 10 months, Hamilton- 8 months, Andrew 5- months.  And Brooke is still the smallest

Wild horses on the beach!

A friend of ours was also up in the general area, and her son turned one.  Fun birthday complete with Brooke's first fish tacos.

Destiny and I with our two babies, in the sweet shelter she bought for the beach

Brooke loves the water!

The back of our house, best shot of the pool

Family pictures on the beach

While we were at the Outer Banks this weekend, we had a little impromptu family photo shoot. 

She loves the beach!

I look horrible here, but I love her gummy smile.  And she got her first tooth just days after this picture was taken!

Again, I look bad, but she looks happy!

Random photos

Brooke's favorite thing is to take her cups off the ottoman and throw them on the ground.  She takes this very seriously.

Well, most of the time it's serious.

This one needs no comment

Still no teeth but the drool is making up for the lack of teeth

We had a mini photo shoot yesterday in the back yard before the mosquitoes found us.

Believe it or not, this is Targhee's tail.  Brooke is Targhee's number one fan.  She smiles and laughs whenever Targhee is near.  Jenny does the same for me (Tommy).

So much excitement...all for Targhee!