Turning Two!

This past week Brindi turned two years old. It is crazy to think how much she has changed in such a short time. We were watching some old videos of her from when we first moved to St Louis and were shocked at how much she has grown and developed. It has been a fun ride being her parents.

Celeste's parents and brother Brennon were also able to fly out for the weekend and celebrated Brindi's birthday with us. Talk about your day full of Elmo. Brindi was spoiled with a homemade Elmo cake and Elmo cupcakes that Celeste and her friend Tasha made the night before (3 1/2 Hours), Elmo himself, and of course her own cell phone that has Elmo talking. With all the Elmo's and the many of gifts she received she was quite the happy little girl. We want to thank everyone for all the cards and presents.

At It Again

This past weekend we headed to Quincy, IL as Celeste was running the Bridge the Gap to Health Half-Marathon. Again, she asked me to run it with her and again I was bailed out by another friend in the ward. Thank you Rachel. We headed up Friday night and went swimming at the hotel which Brindi had a blast swimming and made it difficult for us to convince her to get out. Early the next morning Celeste and Rachel took off down the road. It was a freezing, windy day but that did not detour them from their goal. Celeste was able to take off 9 minutes from last year's time and took 3rd in her age group. Good job babe!

Birthday Date

I got the best birthday surprise this year! On saturday I came home from my volleyball game with a letter addressed to me. Joe was so sweet and got us great seata to the Cardinals game and he even got a baby sitter. It was such a nice surprise! We had a blast. He even spoiled me more today with breakfast, flowers, sunglasses, Mexican food, and a clean house! Thanks babe for a great day! And thanks everyone for the cards, presents and phone calls!!! It has been a great Birthday!

New Pets

Do you see it? Look close, right next to the brick. It looks like we got more than we bargain for during Easter. Our neighbor almost mowed up a batch of baby bunnies this week and in the process scared them into our yard and under our deck. Now we have these little guys running all over. Brindi loves having them around. I don't mind them as long as they stay out of our garden.

Coach Celeste

This spring Celeste and her friend Rachel volunteered to be the volleyball coaches for the purple team at the YMCA. I think it has been a pretty fun experience for her. My wife is an amazing person for the things she does and time she puts into things such as coaching. Plus, Brindi loves her mom coaching because she gets to go to all the practices and games. That girl loves to be in the gym with a ball. Hopefully that will stick:)

Sport Princess

I stumbled upon this blog a while back but found it again and notice their new marketing plan. They are giving away a free book for advertising their product. The product is Sport Princesses, bringing out the tomboy in all princesses because can't a girl be both. Since Celeste and I consider ourselves sport individuals and hope Brindi will be involved in Sports also we think we will be buying several of the books. The free book is the Soccer Princess which I think is perfect since Celeste played soccer in college and currently this is Brindi's best sport. She is really getting good at kicking the soccer ball around the back yard. However, she does not like to pass the ball:) Anyways, check out the site at http://www.mysportprincess.com and the blog at http://mysportprincess.blogspot.com/

Backpacking w/ Mark Twain

Lindenwood Course. Spring Break. Mark Twain National Forest. Berryman Trail. 24 Miles. 3 Days. Promoting Healthy Lifestyles. I Love My Job!

Easter 2010

We think Brindi enjoyed her first Easter in STL. She had two different egg hunts on Sunday. Her first egg hunt for the day started in the living room, where there were eggs hid throughout the room. Her second egg hunt was at a friends house and was in the front yard. She loved looking searching for eggs but would always stop and want to open the one she had instead of looking for more. I think finally figured it out by the time she found the last one. She did find a couple more eggs later in the week which brought a smile to her face. As you can see from her mouth fulls, she got way too much candy.

We spent Saturday morning decorating eggs with Brindi. We tried the finger painting which comes with gloves but not kid gloves. So by the end of it we were just using our fingers with gloves. Brindi really enjoyed adding all the colors to her eggs and loved showing them off when she was done.

Easter is such a special time for us as we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord. We really enjoyed having conference the same weekend. There were several talks that really stuck out to us and it was amazing being able to listen to our leaders and to be uplifted on such a special day. We are so thankful for the knowledge and understanding we have of the gospel. We truly are blessed.

Peter Cottontail

Friends, Swings, and Slides

Brindi loves going to her friends house to play. They have so much fun together as you can see. And yes, that is a passi that Brindi stole from her friends baby doll.

Brindi also loves going to the park. The day we went the weather was in the upper sixties. It was so nice and were really lucky we have a park so close. We always start off at the swings for a while and end with the slides.

Big Girl Shoes

This has become one of Brindi's favorite things to do lately. She is always getting into our shoes. She has also been getting really good at walking in them except for the boots since they are a little heavier then the shoes. Funny girl.

Zoo Time

We were lucky to get a little bit of nice weather on Saturday so when Brindi woke up from her nap we decided to make a quick dash to the Zoo. Sad to say nothing was very active (Are they ever?) which did not help to keep Brindi's attention. However she was quite attentive when we were near the penguins (The only active animals). I think they made her a little nervous. The tigers were playing around also but she wasn't really interested.

We arrived for the last hour or so of the day so The majority of the animals were already inside when we showed up but we still enjoyed the opportunity to walk around the zoo even if most of the displays/habitats were empty. It was just nice to get out of the house and to see a glimpse of Spring. Were ready!

Eye Heart U

You can't go wrong with a day that starts out with a kiss, followed by a heart shaped balloon, cards with notes of love, biscuits with red swirls and pink gravy, new ear rings, a new shirt, chocolates, a new wedding ring, and finished with coconut shrimp and mango dip with chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. What a great day:)

Superbowl....Wassup....True

Joe was looking at old Superbowl commercials with Brindi preparing for the big game. He came across a kids version of the Wassup commercials and decided to see if Brindi would do it. Sorry for the poor quality but its all about what you hear anyways. Do you think she is ready for the big game?

We also put up the kids version for your comparison.

New Bed.....Is this a Good Idea?

My wonderful wife did a little bartering last week and traded her skills in canning chicken for a toddler bed for Brindi. Brindi was so happy when it was all put together. She laid on it and placed all her babies and stuff animals on it. It was really cute. We thought it would be an easy transition from the crib to the bed. So that night came and about 2 AM I awake to a little cute girl trying to climb into our bed. We tried to put her back in her bed but if we left she would follow. We would have to lay with her in her bed until she fell asleep and then come back to our bad only to have her come in about a hour later. Were not sure if the bed is such a great idea. We liked the idea of the crib and her inability to get out of it. Now she seems to find her way into our room every night, in the middle of the night. Any ideas anyone?

Crafty Resurrection

My Grandma Lovell originally made this tractor blanket for my eighth birthday over twenty years ago. The blanket went through a lot over the years and was about to be retired. It was actually lost and my mom found it outside in the yard this past summer. My wonderful wife then took it and gave it a much needed face lift. The tractor is still original but the tractor was given a whole new field to work in and a new border. For those who remember the original will surely understand the work Celeste put into it. She said it took her the whole two weeks she stayed in AZ after I left. One of my favorite gifts and memories of my Grandma Lovell has been resurrected. Thank you so much Celeste. I love you.

GrandDan's Barn

As a little kid I spent hours of fun at my GrandDan's barn playing a ton of different games with my cousins. Well Tansey took Cade to get pictures at the barn and they turned out so cute, so we decided to take Brindi up there and do it too. The saddest part about the whole thing is, when we were growing up we would have thought it was so stupid if our parents made us take pictures by the barn, but now that we live so far away from all the ranch stuff, I find my self taking pictures of the littlest things when we go home, so Brindi will remember where she came from.
She loved playing with the hay.

Brindi and Grammy feeding the horses. She is still a little afraid of the horses...hopefully we'll brake her of this soon.
This picture just confirms my fears...She already gets annoyed with me...I was hoping I would get to smother her a little bit longer.

El Paso or Mexico

Brindi and I headed over to the great state of Texas to see my sister Amber and her family. Well Joe's boss called and asked were I was, knowning he is from Texas, I said happily "Well I'm in Texas", he then asked,"Really, well what part?", and I told him El Paso, he then got all serious and said " oh, well that's not Texas, that's Mexico". So I guess accourding to Texans, El Paso isn't considered to be part of Texas, but either way we had a great time...shopping and playing. Brindi had so much fun! The sad thing is I only took one picture and it is Bryant trying to kiss Brindi.

1st haircut

We broke down and took Brindi to get her first haircut. Grammy got sick of her having hair in her eyes all the time, but in my defense if Brindi would just leave in her cute bows and flowers that Amber, Liz, and Tansey have made her, then we wouldn't have had to cut it. Oh, well. Brindi really liked it and it must have been relaxing because I think she almost feel asleep. It was so cute!

New Year's Eve

On New Year's eve we headed to round valley for a great dinner of steak and shrimp with all Heaps. Later on we headed to the Town dance which started at 8:30. Since we had Brindi we thought be better go early since she wouldn't last long. When we showed up we were the only ones there. But that didn't stop Brindi from getting out there and shaking a leg. Eventually people did show up and Brindi danced with GrandDan and Virginia, GrandDad, Celeste, me and by herself a lot before we headed home. As you can tell from the video she had a ball. Listen for her scream. We got home we played rook until the ball had officialy dropped and rang in the New Year.