{Phoenix Children's Museum}

Last week I went to the Phoenix Children's Museum with Ethan, Kade, my Mom, and sister Ally. We had such a fabulous time...I really recommend going if you have children 7 and under. There was so much to do.....we spent 5 hours there and would have stayed longer if I didn't have to be home in time to pick up Rhett from school.

Ethan loved the art room - you could make projects, put on a puppet show, and help paint a house.

Downstairs they had a big play area, and lots of cars and funky things for the kids to ride on.

Another fun area was one with thousands of foam sticks hanging from the ceiling. The kids loved running through them and finding a secret room inside with fun games and activities.

The biggest hit of all was the bike car wash. The boys got to ride through and wash their bikes.

There was so much to do, we had a great time and will go back soon!

PS don't forget to e-mail me your recipes! brooke_and_cody@hotmail.com

{Baseball Season!}

(picture taken by Ethan)

We love baseball season around here! And that's a good thing, since with Rhett and Ethan both playing this year we have 2 games a week and 3 nights of practice :o) They were excited to both be on "The Sidewinders" and be the same #, 1.

This is Rhett's first year playing coach-pitch with 7/8 year olds. I was nervous at the first practice when I could see that we were not on the typical "losing team" that we have seemed to always be on! His coach is intense and there are some really exceptional players. At his first practice within 5 minutes Rhett had a bloody nose from the ball hitting him in the face. He was tough though, just cleaned it up and ran back out there.

He has already improved a lot and had fun winning his first game last Friday. Go Rhett!

Ethan was beyond excited to be on his first t-ball team! We lucked out when we came to the first practice and realized that several kids from our ward (and his coach!) are on his team. (I think they place kids by the school they will attend) They are a cute bunch of kids and are learning the game fast.

Ethan got to play first base for one inning and got two kids out. He was disappointed when he found out that in t-ball if you get someone out they don't go back to their dugout. He got over it though and lives for days when he has practice or games!

Kade does a great job cheering his big brothers on! He wishes he could play....just 3 more years! I love this time of year when we spend our afternoons together in perfect AZ spring weather chatting with friends at practice and letting kids play in the grass. I'm sure it will be hot before we know it....at least they'll start selling snow cones at the games again :o)

{100}

I've had my blog a year and 1/2 now...and this is my 100th post. I saw this done on another blog (can't remember which one?) - and thought it was a great idea!

I'd like to compile a list of 100 fabulous recipes, and need your help! If you send me your favorite recipes (anything, salads, main dishes, sides, drinks, etc!) then I will organize them in a Word document and e-mail all of them back to you as a thank you for participating! I think it will be fun, and we can all get some new things to try in our kitchens! Send me as many or few as you want, and just send your favorite tried and true ones, so we know they are delish. I'm excited.... Here's my e-mail in case you don't have it - the more the merrier, everyone is welcome to join!!

brooke_and_cody@hotmail.com

{Out of Africa}

A week and 1/2 ago we were lucky enough to get some visitors from Utah :o). Cody's oldest brother Kael and his wife Monica, and their 3 cute kids drove down to visit for a few days. On Saturday we drove a little north to Out of Africa Wildlife Park, and wow we were impressed! It was a fabulous day, the kids are still talking about all the amazing animals and shows we were able to watch and participate in. I highly recommend it if you haven't gone! I had only been once before (when it was at a different location), we went with Cody's family a day or two before Cody and I were married.

The first thing we did was hop on a safari bus and we were able to get very close (too close?) to the giraffes, zebras, and ostriches. Everyone fed the giraffe a carrot stick and you could pet him too.

Next was the snake show....very cool! After they talked about Burmese pythons the kids were able to go into the cage and "pet" the huge snakes for a long time. They were all so brave!

They were told not to touch the heads over and over...so when one of the pythons decided to rest his head on Ethan's lap, Ethan was as still as a statue! He thought it was pretty cool and would have let it rest on him longer if Mom hadn't made him scoot back away from the head!!

Next the kids and Dad's got to carry the 100+ pound snakes back to their cage in a van.

Even though the animals each have several acres to live in, most of them were up close to the fence! There were so many animals (bears, lions, tigers, zebras, etc) that we got up so close to. One of the lions was roaring over and over, it was so loud and the boys loved hearing it.

Rhett, Ethan, Logan

Logan, Crew, Kade

The weather was windy and times, and kind of chilly!!

Here are all the cute kids in the front row, ready to watch Tiger Splash! Mason (6), Crew (2), Titan (1), Rhett (7), Kade (2), Ethan (5), Logan (4), Chloe (4), Kendyll (8), Ryya (2).

Tiger Splash was amazing, 3 workers running around with 2 tigers....at times it seemed out of control, but that made for a great show! They got the tigers to jump into the pool and do other tricks. There was one moment where one of the tigers pinned a man, and he just laid there still while they tried to bribe the tiger off with meat (unplanned). Another time one of the tigers raced across the arena straight towards the announcer and at the last moment veered towards the other tiger, jumping on him and playing with him. The announcer was speechless for a minute or two....very scary!!

Okay guess here....is this a man or woman??

Man. I was confused too :o)!! After the show the kids got to feed the tigers meat.

It was a great day, and a very fun weekend! We love visitors!! Come back soon :o)

{1st Grade Field Trip}

Rhett's 1st grade class planned a field trip to the Wildlife World Zoo, and thanks to my sweet sister Brittany watching my younger two I was able to go. It meant a lot to Rhett that I was there, he kept suggesting friends of mine to watch Ethan and Kade. I am trying to cherish these times when *Mom* is still cool and he wants me by his side for special trips!

There is a new aquarium in the zoo, and the highlight was touching the stingrays. These ones were quite aggressive (more so than the ones at Sea World) and they would swim up to you and stick their heads out of the water. We spent a lot of time by their tank.

The petting zoo is always a hit :o). There were some cute baby goats and deer.

Rhett's favorite part was when he got to feed the giraffe.


I was only in charge of Rhett and a cute girl from his class. When I introduced myself she told me "I'm Rhett's favorite girl in all of first grade". Rhett just smiled and then looked away bashfully. I didn't have the heart to tell her he had never mentioned her?!? I think the girls like Rhett because he is so soft spoken and shy. It was a great day......

{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!!!