fun in the sun

Yesterday we had a playdate at Uncle Jack and Aunt Susie's pool. It was sunny and hot, and we had great company! Uncle Nick, Nayeli, Aunt Molly, Uncle Bob, Austin, 'Aunt' Mary Lou, 'Uncle' Todd, Collin, Grandma, Granny, Aunt Allison and Karyna all showed up at some point. Collin and Baby R got to know each other better, and enjoyed splashing each other in the kiddie pool. Nayeli swam a lot, while Austin got up the courage to actually get in the chilly water. Aunt Sue and Uncle Jack helped out with the babies, which was super helpful. If only we could have gotten Baby R and Collin to nap just a little earlier-maybe next time...

Baby R thought her sippy cup made a good pool toy.

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Collin sporting his super cool pool hat!

A few highlights from the day...

officer bob

Austin is so proud of his Daddy the policeman! We went to the park to visit him, and Austin had to do his superhero pose with his superhero dad!

Officer Bob gave all of the kids cool temporary tattoos. Baby R loved sporting hers!

three years

Yesterday Rick and I celebrated our anniversary! We didn't have any plans because he had work in the morning and class in the afternoon (of which he only has two more days). He surprised me by calling in "anniversary" to work so he could be home with me until his class at two. I called my mom and asked her if she could come babysit Baby R for a few hours, and Rick and I went to see a matinee of Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End. All in all I enjoyed the movie, and I think Rick did too. It did surprise me, however, that they left it open for another sequel. When I got home from the movie, Rick had sent me beautiful flowers! Then we had the Sister Missionaries over for dinner. It was a great day with my wonderful husband!

memorial day

For Memorial Day we went to the Cross' house for an afternoon of food, fun and family

Reagan and Karyna had lots of fun playing outside

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I came up with a few fun relay races, which made everyone look funny!

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Austin and Nayeli had fun playing with the pool and slide

allison

Happy almost-extremely Belated 30th Birthday Allison!


Top ten faves:

1. Makes killer enchiladas
2. Lives only a few minutes away
3. She's a great mom
4. First introduced us to Settlers of Catan
5. She is always up for a walk to the park
6. Teaches Nayeli to match her clothes (despite Katie's best efforts to teach her otherwise)
7. Loves to hang out with the fam
8. She is very supportive of Nick's career as a student
9. She competes with Rick as Bud's greatest suck-up
10. She makes tasty deserts

jeni

Happy Extremely Belated 30th Birthday Jeni!


Our favorite things about Jeni:

1. Her sense of humor
2. Never afraid to call 911
3. She's a great Mom
4. Embelishes news events to make them more interesting
5. Likes to play games with the family
6. Her bangs have been under control since approximately the 10th grade
7. Always gives thoughtful gifts
8. Her piano playing
9. She always looks great, and so do her kids
10. She doesn't live Argentina

great strides

On Sunday our family took part in the Great Strides walk for Cystic Fibrosis. It was a great event to participate in, and our little fundraiser in DeWitt, MI raised over $30,000. We had great support from family and friends, not only in helping us raise over $2,100 as a team, but many came and walked with us. It was not a beautiful day, it was quite chilly. And the walk which we figured would probably be about a mile or two, turned out to be five miles! But it was fun anyways!

Me, Baby R and Rick

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Mitch, Steph and Skyler came to support us!

Grandma and Grandpa (not pictured) came too! In fact, Grandpa walked the entire 5 miles by himself! Well he did lean on Grandma for part of it, but that was just to keep from tipping over - he moved his legs by himself! Aunt Pat, Uncle Chuck, and Steve kept driving by him to try to pick him up, but he insisted that he would make it the whole 5 miles by himself! He said that may be all that he can actually do for Baby R, so he didn't want to give up. Now he won't be able to move all week, what a sacrifice!

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Uncle Nick was there too! He is such a strong supporter for Baby R. He single-handedly raised about half of our team's donations. He also made great CDs for everyone who participated with us. I'll have to post a playlist, because the songs are very uplifting and motivating!

Karyna was a great sport too! She rode in the Baby Bjorn for the whole walk, which probably helped Nick burn mucho calories!

Austin and Nayeli joined the festivities.

The back of the t-shirts that Mike made for us...

The Babbling Brooks take Great Strides for Cystic Fibrosis

Other walkers that I didn't get pictures of:

• Beth and Rob Cebelak
• Aunt Pat, Uncle Chuck and Steve Cross
• Dave, Victoria, Wyck and Embeth Hall
• Allison Miller
• Grandpa Miller
• Amol and Kanchan Pavangadkar
• Molly Stump

This is such an important event for Cystic Fibrosis, because the Great Strides walks are the biggest fundraisers for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We learned that there are 26 different cures that are being researched at the moment, but there isn't enough money for all of them. That is why it is so important to raise money, so that we can find a cure soon! Apparently one of the retired pulmonologists from Lansing said that he thinks they will find a cure within a decade! That would be such a wonderful miracle, to find a cure in Baby R's lifetime!