Alcatraz!!

While we were in California for Christmas Brian, my dad and I went into San Francisco and took a tour of Alcatraz. I have been there a few times before, but it was a first for my dad and for Brian. I'm not sure why, but I have a huge fascination with Alcatraz. I absolutely love taking the tour and hearing about all the crazy inmate stories and the escape attempts. My favorite story is of three men who escaped and they have yet to find them to this day! These guys escaped by digging a whole in the wall of their cell using a spoon they somehow stole from the dining hall! Crazy right?!?! It really is cool. I recommend taking the tour to anyone who visits San Francisco.

So this little room that my dad is standing in is a whole cell. You can see a tiny little toilet on the ground near my dad's feet.

Here is the cell funished as it was when there were actual inmates here. It is tiny! just barely enough space for the little cot, and tiny toilet and sink and a small table.

Another picture of the cells.

Arriving to Alcatraz.

To get to Alcatraz you have to take a boat from a San Francisco Pier over to the little island. Here's a picture of Alcatraz Island as we are arriving.

And here are a few pictures of the view as we were coming back to the Pier.

And here is a picture of Brian and I next to a ginormous Christmas tree in San Francisco, in this picture you only see about one tenth (or less) of the whole tree!

Christmas in Cali

So, sometime during the Christmas break we lost our camera cord, that is why is has been so long since my last post. Last week we bought a new cord, and so now I can finally post about Christmas haha!

We went to California for Christmas and it was a blast. One of my most favorite things to do in the world is just hang out with my family! They are the best! We always have such a great time when we go to California and this time was no exception.

Another one of my favorite things to do it watch Brooklyn and all of her cute little cousins. Here we have some pics of Brooklyn and Clara in the tub!

For Christmas I made everyone a pair of PJ bottoms. Here are a couple of pictures of the pajamas I made.

Here are just some pictures of Christmas day, and our family present swap tradition.

This was by far one of the coolest presents anyone got!

Ben got this sweet gift for my dad, I especially like how he decorated the box! haha

A Bunch of 'Firsts'

So Brooklyn has recently has a bunch of 'firsts'! Here are some pictures and videos of these firsts!

First BYU Basketball Game!
On Friday we went the the first BYU basketball game of the season, which was also Brooklyn's very first time attending a BYU game (unless you count when she was still inside of me...)

This was the final score. 70 to 60! yeah we won!! and as you can see the BYU fight song is scrolling down the screen below the score as everyone sang out joyfully!! GO COUGS!

First Pony Tail!

It's a little hard to see but there is a tiny little hair tie holding in Brooklyn's first ponytail!

Here's a close up of the little ponytail.

And then I put a little flower on the ponytail and she just looked so adorable!

And last but not least.....

Brooklyn's First Crawl!!!!!!!!!!

We were at a friends' house who have an 11 month old son. We were telling them how Brooklyn was just barely starting to scoot around. And then they put her on the ground and were like "wow! she is doing really good at crawling!" and we were like "well, she doesn't quit offically crawl yet, she just kinda scoots" but then we looked down and sure enough they were right, she was crawling! I grabbed my camera as fast as I could and managed to get a few seconds of her very first crawling experience!

HALLOWEEN!!

Happy Halloween!! Ok, I know what your gonna say... wow thats a lot of pictures of Brooklyn as a ladybug, we only needed to see one picture of her costume to see how cute she looked.... but these few are only about 1/100th of all the pictures I took of her that day! haha Every day i just can't get over how cute she is! So getting to dress her up as a ladybug was so fun for me! We didn't take her trick-or-treating this year, since everyone would know that the candy is just for me and Brian, but next year we will for sure. Instead, we went up to Bountiful and spent the day with family. It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend our Halloween. Enjoy the pictures!


Oh and in case you couldn't tell, Brooklyn sits now!!

Brooklyn with Grandma and Grandpa Nelson

Jeanne dressed up as a witch and the kids loved it, well Brooklyn was scared at first, but then she got used to it and didn't mind

Matt playing Wii, he was a Cowboy Scott the scary skeleton!

Tristan the Giraffe Tyson was a dead skateboarder

Birthday/Football Bash

Every month is a birthday for Brooklyn! haha This month was her 6 month birthday, her very first half birthday! It's crazy how fast these 6 months have gone by, I still feel like Brooklyn should be a new born, but she is growing so fast and constantly impressing us with new things that she does. We are so grateful to have her in our family and feel blessed to have the opportunity to raise her and enjoy her sweet spirit in our home. I personally have felt very, very blessed to be able to be a mother and stay home to care for Brooklyn. For that I must thank Brian for working so hard so that I can stay home. I am so blessed to have Brian and Brooklyn in my life!
So, last Saturday was the actual half birthday, and it was also a game day for BYU. So we had some friends over to watch the game... unfortunately we lost....bad. But we still had a good time! Here are some pictures of the day.



Here is a picture of the group we had over. We had our neighbors Dustin, Rochelle and their two boys Aiden and Matty. We also had over our friends Natalie and Jeremy, and they brought their niece and nephew. And we had our friends Davey and Tracy over also. It was a lot of fun!

I made cupcakes for everyone to eat during the game and in celebration of Brooklyn's half birthday! Brooklyn thought she was gonna get a taste of one too... too bad all she gets to eat these days is rice cereal!

Brooklyn and me during the game.

The rest of these pictures are just cute pictures I've taken during the last week.

Brian and Brooklyn on their way off to church.

Aren't they so cute!?

Brooklyn loves playing on the ground. She rolls all around exploring anything around her, and putting everything in her mouth!

What a cute smile!