My cute Brooke!

Haven't really posted a whole lot of photos of just Brooke lately, so I thought I would! She has gotten the hand of her sippy cup, but still doesn't really like juice...just water.

TEETH!!

Well, technically its tooth. Brooke finally has a tooth to show for all the crankiness related to teething! Its out of her gums and movin' on up! Gordon realized it yesterday when she was chewing on his finger. Hopefully the other bottom front tooth is close behind!

AND, she's getting pretty close to crawling. I guess she's creeping?! Is that the word? Anyways, I'm guessing we have 2 weeks left of peace before we have to chase her because she's mobile. I can't believe she's getting so big! Its great!

Multnomah Falls

Yesterday, Gordon had the idea to hike Multnomah Falls, so today, after we slept in a little and I went for my run, off we went. This waterfall can be seen from the highway when traveling east towards Portland. We walked around the bottom of the falls and then hiked a little over a mile to the top. We certainly sweat a lot! Let me tell you, that is a steep climb! I was still a little sore after my run still, so it was a little challenging. And for Gordon, he was carrying 17 pounds of extra weight (Brooke)! Good thing we brought water and snacks.

Brooke really liked the front carrier. She had a lot of happy squeals that made people turn and look. And, if you can believe this- there were at least 10 people that stopped us and told us how cute Brooke was. We thought it was pretty funny.

Us at the bottom of the falls

Close to the top of the falls- It was warm, hence the old school sweatshirt around my waist

View from the top of the falls

Gordon and Brooke on the way up

Most of the waterfall.

I'm so excited

Ok, I'm sort of a loser but today I went to a WIC appointment where I was given an electric medela breast pump for free! A brand new one that I can use for ever and ever! Yeah, I'm pretty excited to use it. I always thought it would be good to have one but never had the money to actually purchase one, so when I realized that I could get one for free from WIC because I went back to work, I jumped at the chance. I'm not sure that Idaho would have done this, so I'm glad we're in Oregon! I guess its cheaper for the state to give out breast pumps than coupons for formula. Works for me!

The long weekend at the coast

Over the labour day weekend, Gordon, me, Brooke, Nathan (Gordon's brother), Sarah, Isabella, Keira (Nathan's family), John, Marilyn (Brennan parents), Linda Taylor (family friends) and her family all travelled to Oceanside. It was so gorgeous there! I've never been to the Oregon coast before and I'm so glad I was able to go. We were staying in a beach house that was only about a 3 minute walk to the ocean (see photos below). The weather forecast for our stay predicted rain the entire time so we came prepared with games, however, on Saturday it was around 80 degrees and perfect. So, thats when most of these photos were taken. Anyways, it was a relatively relaxing trip. We stayed up really late laughing, talking, eating and playing games (like wise or otherwise....a really entertaining one!).

Brooke started teething and actually ended up sticking her right fingers into some piping hot cobbler and burnt the first three pretty badly. Luckily they didn't blister, but man oh man, was that a scary moment- hearing your baby scream like crazy, me turning around and seeing what happened and then reacting. Adrenaline was pumping through my body for sure. After 30 minutes of cold water and bags of ice, Brooke was more interested in sucking on the wet plastic bag than her burnt fingers. I think I was more affected than she was.

Besides that, it was a great long weekend. Lots of pictures below!

Gordon and his happy girl--before we dipped her feet in the water.

Us in the ocean- you can see some of the beach houses behind us.

Dipping Brookes feet in the ocean. She didn't scream, so thats progress.

You can see parts of the 'kissing turtle' rocks behind us

Brooke's footprints and sandy feet

Beach houses on the hill.

Our beach house with four levels of balconies.

Tillamook has great cheeses and ice cream!

Gordon got a chocolate milkshake.

I got german chocolate cake ice cream-too sweet I couldn't finish it all!

All the babies on the trip! L-R Drew, Keira, Brooke.

Fabulous Cobblers!

Whether its peaches, pears, apples or nectarines, warm cobblers served with vanilla ice cream is absolutely delicious! I don't know why I never have liked them before....but I certainly like them now! Our neighbor in Hood River has a nectarine tree and said we could pick all the fruit we want. I have never tasted fruit so sweet. They are awesome fresh, but even better in a cobbler. Super easy and super tasty!

Filling:

5 fresh nectarines, peeled and sliced

1 T flour

2 T sugar (or 1 or none if your fruit is sweet)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 T lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

Toss all ingredients gently in a bowl. Place into greased baking dish. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350.

Topping:

1 cup oats

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

In another bowl mix all ingredients with melted butter to create little clumps of goodness. Top fruit with streusel. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Delicious!

Best photo ever!

Gordon snapped this one yesterday morning. Totally priceless!

Total Update

My, oh, my it has been a busy 2 weeks! There are a few things I've been meaning to blog about, but we've been pretty busy moving, working, etc. etc.. So anyways the day before we left Idaho, we visited with Karen, Dan and their kids (Gordon's cousin's family). Kristin was holding Brooke practically the entire time and she loved it! Lately, she's just been so social. She played strange for about a month and now she's loving everyone. Its great! Anyways, after Dan and Karen's, we went to a wedding reception for my friend Brittany. Man, did she make a gorgeous bride!

Kristin and Brooke

Me, Brittany and Andrew, the lucky groom!

Me and Brooke at the reception which was had such a great view of the temple!

Our neighbor, Rob, took all the pictures for Brittany's wedding, so when we got to the reception, it was a nice surprise to see him there! We were definitely sad to leave Rexburg because of all our friends and family there! Oregon is a nice change, but it'll be good to get back.

So after the reception, we got home and packed up to leave for Oregon. We left the next day after church and ended up driving the entire way and got to Hood River Monday morning at 1 am. Brooke did really well and slept the last half of the trip. Since we've been here, Gordon has been working with his Dad building houses and additions and I have been working as a receptionist at a local company here in Hood River. Here are a few photos of us lately.

My two loves!

Brooke playing with new toys!

I love those pigtails!

Brooke and her cousin Keira.

Brooke all fresh and clean after a bath!