Lazy Sunday

Sunday was my niece Brinley's baby blessing! Church wasn't until 1:00pm so we were able to take our lazy old time getting ready for the big day. Aunty Becca even gave Brooklyn her first pigtails ever! Which was a big sacrifice of her time since she had 2 other little girls to get ready for church as well.
Here's Brooklyn with her hair done and her teeth brushed just waiting to go to church and see little Brinley get blessed. Don't you just want to pinch her big juicy cheeks?
After Brooklyn had her hair done she had just enough time to coach Brinley on the finer points of church manners...although when we got there she forgot about them herself!
Here is Grandpa Uda getting some morning snuggles in before we leave the house. He had SO much fun with Brinley...she is a very sweet and special little lady!
And this is all of us after the big event! Taber did an incredible job and gave a really beautiful blessing. Brinley was so quiet and good during the whole thing! Brooklyn and Teya had to be escorted out of the building though. Too bad they haven't learned anything from their younger cousin! Oh well...if we were all quiet the world would be a boring place to live!
For more info about the blessing, you can go to Becca's Blog at http://taberandbecca.blogspot.com

Minnesota or BUST!

On October 11th I flew with Brooklyn for the very first time to go see my sister Becca in Minnesota...WOW! Flying with a baby is NOT fun! On our first plane to Denver, Dad Uda sat next to us to help take care of Brooklyn. It was nice, even though he slept the whole time, because Brooklyn pulled at his eyebrows and poked his nose and eyes which kept her entertained. But on the next plane we ended up sitting across the aisle from dad and it turned out to be a somewhat embarrassing ride.

As many of you know, Brooklyn suffers from a volume control problem. She also strongly opposes being held still and in one place for long periods of time. To make a long story short, I was squeezed between a Chinese man who kept saying "Wow! Your baby is so energetic...she moves so much, she has quite a voice!" and a young single fellow who, despite the size of the plane, managed to shrink himself about 2 feet away from us by the end of the flight in order to escape Brooklyn's strong desire to eat his book. Ugh! Never again.

That being said...it has been so nice to see Becca, Taber and the girls! Brooklyn felt instantly at home and already worships her cousin Teya. Teya actually thinks Brooklyn is pretty great too...you just can't tell in this picture, but she laughs at EVERYTHING Brooklyn does and likes to give her kisses.
Brooklyn loves Brinley as well but she doesn't understand soft touches yet and keeps trying to poke Brinley in the eye or pump her guts out. Oh yeah! and she does NOT like it when I feed Brinley! She believes strongly that the only mouth I should ever put a bottle in is hers!

After the cousins met on day one and got used to each other, we all went to the park where we ate the most yummo BBQ I have ever had! Also, Brooklyn swung on the swings for the first time and LOVED it...and she played in the sand for the first time and did NOT love it!
One other new thing we experienced on our first day here was bath time for Brooklyn. She has been showering since she was 3 months because she's afraid of standing water. But as soon as we put her in the tub with her cousin Teya, she decided it wasn't so bad after all!
Teya liked it as well since she got to show off to her younger cousin! Here is a video of all the fun. Hope you don't mind the "children without clothes" theme!

Stay tuned for more about our trip to Minnesota! Also, look out for Kevin's posts on our hiking trip and his experience at the St. George Marathon!

Living in Pleasant Grove

Well...Since the last post, Kevin, Brooklyn and I have moved into my parents' basement in Pleasant Grove, where we will be until Kevin graduates in December. So far we are loving the change! It is so nice to be around family and, surprisingly enough, to have a little dog for Brooklyn to play with. She thinks my parent's dog, Gizmo, is her little brother and they spend hours playing together. I also enjoy his company since he frequently cleans up Brooklyn's food spills and provides a free babysitting service! (I never leave them alone together...in case you were wondering!) Anyway, I thought I would put up a little video tour of our new home as well as a picture of Brooklyn playing with all her cousins in our playroom after Tau and Sarah blessed their little baby Noa. Enjoy!

Fun in Kaysville

Continuing on...

While we were staying in Kaysville, after our return from Illinois, we were able to do many fun and relaxing things. Kevin and Dad got to go on a long bike ride to Salt Lake to drop dad off at work (I believe it was somewhere around 20 miles). After that, Kevin rode around for hours before deciding to come home. He probably did 60ish miles all together...but if I am wrong I'm sure he'll correct me! :) Brooklyn had more attention than any one child should ever receive... and she enjoyed every second of it! She especially liked playing with Uncle Craig and her Grandpa (who she preferred over me after we left).
The new pool table also provided hours of entertainment. Kevin and Craig were constantly competing and Brooklyn loved army crawling under the table and trying to catch people's legs before they moved to the next ball.
Mom and Janna took me out on a special trip to help me get some clothes that fit me. I lost 25 pounds over the summer, which brought me below my pre-pregnancy weight; however, my body magically changed shape throughout the process of pregnancy and even though I weigh less, I still can't fit into the clothes I wore before. THANKS MOM AND JANNA! You both have way better taste in clothing than I do.
Although we all had a BLAST! in Kaysville, I think Brooklyn got the most out of the visit. While we were there, she had unlimited attention, learned that mommy is not the only person in the world, got her first piano lesson from Grandma, learned how to stand up and sit down from Grandpa, and how to crawl on her hands and knees from Grandma and Janna! What a lucky baby she is!

Now that we are home, one thing is for sure...It is soooo nice to be around family again! We loved every second we spent with Brian, Natalie and Wes before we left Chicago, and every second we spent with the rest of the gang when we got back! Thanks Everyone! We sure love you guys!

The Long Trek West...

Wow! So I guess its been a while since we blogged...But no worries, we're settled in now and ready to go! So here goes!

On August 16th, we helped pack up the rest of Brian and Natalie's stuff and then we drove them to Ann Arbor, Michigan where we helped them unload and got a quick tour of the campus where Brian will be spending every second of every day for the next 2 years!


Then we drove back to Schaumburg, picked up our stuff, and headed toward Utah! We drove out of Illinois, through boring corn-infested Iowa, boring flat Nebraska, boring cow-infested Wyoming, and into Utah where we immediately went to the airport and met up with my brother Jake who just got back from his mission!

The trip wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Dad Hanks flew out and helped us drive back, which enabled me to sit in the back with Brooklyn and keep her from crying. She even helped navigate. Jennie's Atlas was her favorite toy and provided hours of peace and quiet for the rest of us!

On our way back, Brooklyn exploded just when we ran out of wipes. Dad was nice enough to use up all of the wet wipes at McDonald's to get her clean before we got back in the car. Ewww! It was quite the process.

We eventually got home to Kaysville, where we would spend the next two weeks, right on time to say happy birthday to Grandpa Smith and eat all of his cake and M&M's. Woohoo! What timing.

Grandma Smith even got a little play time in before we went to bed and surprisingly enough, Brooklyn handled all the new faces quite well for having spent the whole summer with just her mommy.
Well...we spent the next two weeks, as previously mentioned, in Kaysville where we made a hideous mess while living out of suitcases and driving back and forth between Kaysville and Provo in order to clean all of our stuff out of our old evil apartment. Lucky for us, mom and dad Hanks were very patient and never once mentioned or complained about our slovenly state of being. Thanks mom and dad! For letting us stay and helping us get home!

More to come later...we got really behind!

People?! ... in our house?!

Naomi, Brooklyn and I have been in Chicago now for 2 1/2 months, enjoying the adventure and new scenery that my Internship with Burns & McDonnell has provided us. As you may know, sometimes when you move to a new location, away from family and friends, and all things familiar, some creativity and ingenuity are required to stave off boredom! Naomi and I have done some pretty fun stuff: Every puzzle in the house, exercising every day, oil painting, plenty of TV, every book we could get our hands on ... oh, and taking care of and playing with that adorable little worm we call Brooklyn.

However, starting last Thursday, Naomi and I have very much enjoyed a little bit of company! Brian and Natalie are in Chicago for a whole week just to visit us! Man are we cool! Rumors about their being here en route to Brian MBA program at the University of Michigan are grossly exaggerated.

Actually, other than Brian and Natalie, the only other guests that we've had over at our house were Karina Morales and her sister Jeannette (la viejita)! Again, we are the coolest!

I just had to join the "cool club" on the couch

Brooklyn and Wes enjoyed meeting each other for the first time. Brooklyn spit up her meal and Wes got sick (he's had a 101 deg fever since coming here yesterday)

Sizing each other up... Brooklyn's definitely has more baby fat.

I like Wes' "blue steel" look.

Wes even taught Brooklyn about credit cards, and the minutes of enjoyment that come of it.

Ahh, fun stuff. We love having company!

When She Moves, She MOVES...Just Like That!

SIDE VIEW

FRONT VIEW

From Day one, Brooklyn has been both independent, and determined. Now that she is becoming more mobile, she is proving just how determined she can be. She turned 6 months on the 26th of July and hasn't learned to crawl yet...but that hasn't stopped her from getting to the things she wants. She started by rolling and then began to scuttle in circles. NOW she has mastered the 2 arm pull! Watch her get my cell phone. She is grunting the whole way, I LOVE it!