Sweet Janie Rose

Our sweet baby Janie is one month old today! She has grown quite a bit, and has started having more awake time and watching the world around her with wide eyes. And she has slept in her crib for two nights now! She still wakes up to eat, but she doesn't wake up every time we lay her down, which is an improvement. Her hair is still light brown, but the roots are coming in blond, like her brothers'. And so far her eyes are blue. She has a beautiful smile and she's just learning to use it on purpose, though she hasn't done it very much yet. We are looking forward to getting to know her better and all the fun times ahead. And we love her very much already.

These are some of my favorite pictures of her so far. You can see how much her brothers adore her. They are such sweet big brothers, and she is blessed to have them. I know they'll be a blessing to her throughout her life, as she will be to them. Isn't family the greatest? I love it.

This was her brothers' doing. Aren't they sweet? They love to take care of her...

...and look at her...

...and look at her some more, and hold her hand.

We love you baby Janie!

It's a Girl!

We knew that, but we're still so excited to welcome precious little Janie Rose Brooksby to our home and to our hearts. She was born on Saturday, 25 July 2009, at 5:42 pm. She was 6 lbs 6 oz. and 20 inches long. She's beautiful! We even have pictures to prove it.

Anna and Janie are both doing fine. Anna's happy to be home, and as far as we can tell, Janie is too. She hasn't complained about it yet.

Joshua's Birthday

Our little Joshua is now officially two years old! He's been acting like a two-year-old (in a good way) for so long, it's nice to have his age finally catch up with him. We went to Organ Stop Pizza (at Southern and Stapley in Mesa) for a fun birthday dinner on Saturday, then had Grandma and Grandpa Strickland over for cake and ice cream on Sunday. Joshua missed his nap on Sunday and was so tired he fell asleep before my parents got here, and slept through most of their visit! But he still had a good birthday.

At Organ Stop:

This was so fun for the boys. They thought the organ was so cool, and clapped with everyone else after all the songs. You'll notice we don't have any good pictures of Joshua looking at us...that's because he wouldn't look away from the organ long enough to get his picture taken. He loved it. And the pizza was good, too, of course.

On Sunday:

Adam blew out the candles for Joshua first. (Joshua was asleep, he couldn't exactly do it.) We all had our cake and then visited for a while, and then when Joshua woke up we sang to him (again) and put candles in his little piece of cake for him to blow out. It took him a few tries, because well-meaning family members kept trying to show him how to do it and accidently blowing out the candles, but eventually he got it.

We are so glad to have this sweet boy in our family! We love him more than we can say, and he brings such happiness into our home. Happy Birthday, Joshua! We love you!

Irrigation!

We got irrigation on Saturday, and the boys (all three of them) had a good ol' time playing in it. I was camerawoman. In this video, John was throwing baby oranges (that had fallen off the tree) up in the air and the boys thought it was so cool! We especially love Adam's laugh there. What a fun boy. Here are some more pictures:

That picture of Joshua is my favorite. What a cutie!

FYI- Adam's not chasing Joshua with that stick, he's running next to him. I think they're probably chasing John.

Good times, good times!

Finally!

Anna wanted to wait until I had a job so she could report all the good news at the same time. So, I'll start back on Monday where I was working before we went to Idaho. The difference now is that it'll feel more temporary, even if I stay longer than I did before. I have my degree and I'll eventually be able to leave. For now though, it's an income, with benefits, which is better than waiting until I find something better.

We need to appologize to all our Idaho friends that may have wondered if we even made it safely to AZ. We're here and we're happy and healthy. Anna and I are currently serving as Sunbeam Teachers in our ward. We loving being Adam's teachers. We got to be Joshua's teachers in Rexburg and we loved that too.

Anna also has good news for those who didn't already know. We will be welcoming our third child to our lives and hearts this coming July/August! We're so excited for our family to grow more. We don't know yet whether the child is a boy or girl, but perhaps we'll find out soon.

I wish I could think of more news, but it's late and I can't think strait right now. Maybe Anna will post something if she thinks of anything else.