{Happy Birthday Melissa!}

Today is my sister Melissa's Birthday....she is far away in Utah but I thought it would be fun to tell some fun facts about her and share some old pictures.

I am the oldest and Melissa is almost 4 years younger than me.

Melissa is one of the sweetest, thoughtful, giving people you will meet. She reminds me of my Mom. She is a great cook, everytime I call her she is baking something.

I am sure I was very bossy to her, as this picture from a Thanksgiving play shows!

Melissa was such a cute child....the biggest smile and pretty blond hair. She and I loved to wear swimsuits all day long and perform dances.

She had a chicken she named Charles Barkley (when the Suns were in the playoffs) and even made him a jersey. Channel 12 came out and did a segment on it and she was on the news.

She was obsessed with American Girl dolls.

Not as obsessed as she was with T-Shirts with sayings though....we still tease her about them. This one says "RELAX. There's a girl in charge". I remember every time she would get mad about something we'd tell her "Melissa, just relax. There's a girl in charge" and she would get SO mad.

She also had a love for big scrunchies, high water pants, and socks with Birkenstocks. She has kicked all those habits except for the SOCKS with SHOES one.

Melissa has always been a fabulous runner, she has won so many races. She ran for 4 years on BYU-Hawaii's cross country team and I got to watch her run once in California. She still runs races just for fun in Utah and she will win them and just go to her car instead of getting her award because she is embarrassed.

While at school in Hawaii she met a fantastic guy, Sam, and she wrote him for two years while he served in Brazil. They married almost 2 years ago and live in Ogden where she works at a school running a physical fitness program and he is almost done with a Business Degree at Weber State. They are so happy, smart, grounded, and have so much fun together. I miss her tons and hope she moves a little closer when Sam's done with school. LOVE you Melissa!!

{Happy Birthday Ethan!!}

On Monday Ethan turned 5! He has been looking forward to his birthday for a long, long time! Here are some cute pictures of Ethan from the past....

Ethan's hair was so blond it looked like he was bald until he was 2 years old!

Ethan has always been great at climbing things, and fitting into small spaces ;o). He always finds the best hide and go seek spots.

He has always loved balls and sports....he is very competitive!

Ethan is very social, he loves playing with friends and would do so every day if I let him!

He always makes us laugh...our little comedian. This is him being a merman sliding down our stairs.

He is very sensitive, and when one of his brothers is sad he tries to cheer them up. A few weeks ago when Rhett was sick with a migraine Ethan came up with an idea to put a diaper on to make Rhett laugh.

Since Ethan is home with Kade while Rhett's at school, they have a special bond. Every morning when Kade wakes up Ethan gets his pillow, blanket, and lion from his crib and arranges it for Kade on the couch....even tucking him in. What a good big brother!

For Ethan's birthday he got a lot of fun things. One of his favorite presents is an old school Game Boy with Pac Man and Mario Brothers. He got to open his presents early in the morning before Dad left for work.

Later in the morning he had a party with 9 fun friends. They whipped through the numerous games and activities I had prepared at record speed. I think everyone had a great time though, and Ethan is SO lucky to have so many sweet friends.

Later that night Grandma and Grandpa Flake, Brittany, and Ally came over for Ethan's favorite dinner (Spagetti, bread, jello with whipped cream, and ice cream sandwiches in place of cake since he had it at his earlier party). Happy Birthday Ethan, we LOVE you!!!

{Looking Back...}

I've been scanning some old pictures onto my computer, and it's been so fun to look back at how much our family has changed these last 8 (9 in July!) years. Here are some old family pictures...I've been laughing at how bad my roots are in most of the pictures! Oops, guess it's no secret that I am not a true blond :o)!!

July 2000

2002 (Rhett is 4 months)

Rhett is 2

Rhett is 3, Ethan is 9 months

Rhett is 3, Ethan is 1

Rhett is 4, Ethan is 20 months


Rhett is 4, Ethan is 2, and I am 7 months pregnant with Kade
Rhett is 5, Ethan is 2, and Kade is 1 month

Rhett is 5, Ethan is almost 3, Kade is 6 months


Rhett is 6, Ethan is 3, and Kade is 1

{WHAT?!?}

You are a fool. That is all.

{The Latest}

I love holidays...and Valentine's Day is no exception! Holidays are so fun to celebrate with young children....I love the traditions and acts of kindness we can incorporate into the week before Valentine's Day!

We made sugar cookies, and although I usually bake and cook without my children's help, I let them help this time! It resulted in abnormally shaped hearts and not the best cookies - but they loved every minute and I had fun watching them cook. They loved running the cookies to neighbors and shouting "Happy Valentine's Day!".


The weather has been a little cooler, but we still play outside riding bikes almost every day. We live across the street from a park, so Rhett and Ethan ride over there while Kade rides his bike by me on the driveway. The big boys are still in eyesight, but feel like they are on their own over at the park :o).

This is a picture I took to document what Kade is doing to me whenever I am taking pictures:

"I wanna do it! I take picture! PLEASE!" he begs....so I relent and this is his Kodak moment:

Funny, huh?

Rhett and Ethan had fun Valentine's Day parties at school. Rhett and I made this Darth Vader box for his Valentines.

Rhett and Ethan both wanted to make some special Valentines for Grandma and Grandpa Flake, and I thought their drawings were cute (especially the girl's hair)

Rhett's:

Ethan's:

I hope everyone had a nice week as well :o)

XOXO

Brooke

{Visitors}

This weekend we were lucky enough to have Cody's parents (Gene and Cassie) and his grandparents (Jean and Ivan) come for a visit! His parents live in Logan, UT and his grandparents are from Lyman, WY.





They arrived Thursday night and we had dinner with Gene and Cassie. Then Dustin, April, & family as well and Gma and Gpa Bluemel came over for Cody's famous Mint Chocolate Chip shakes. The adults talked late into the night while the kids all played upstairs, mainly on the Wii :o). We loved hearing Grandma and Grandpa Bluemel tell us about their childhood and what life what like when they were newlyweds.

Hearing about how hard they worked, and what little they had makes me feel guilty for all that I have. They are such sweet, giving people and we enjoyed every minute spent with them!!

Friday night the adults all went to dinner at a local Chinese Restaurant. We got lots of different dishes to share and had a good time. Dustin was dared to eat 1/2 of a hot pepper....



Saturday they came to Ethan's basketball game and then later we went to a park and had a picnic. After that we toured some beautiful model homes and just about had Grandma and Grandpa B convinced that they should buy a home here for winter visits!! It was a fabulous visit and we are so glad they made the long drive down to AZ!

They headed back this morning before we left for church. I want to add a proud mommy moment..this morning in Sacrament Meeting Ethan went up and bore his testimony all by himself :o). It made us so proud and he had the biggest smile on his face when he walked down the aisle towards us. Moments like that make all the FHE lessons and family scripture stories at night seem worthwhile!!

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend... XOXO - Brooke