Boot, Scootin' Boogie

I can't believe my little girl is going to be SIX months old next week. She is on the verge of crawling. She has her own little scoot down, to get where she wants to go. Here's a slide show if you will of her in action:

First her little rear end gets raised in the air, as far as she can.

Second she lunges herself forward kicking off with her feet.

She then lands so gracefully, surveys her surroundings to check out her progress.

This entire process continues until reaching her final destination.


I know these photos aren't the best, but I happened to have the camera by me as she took off. Really though does the photo quality matter, it's just a reminder that these moments are so fleeting. . . and I caught it on camera!

I know from experience that all too soon, Ainsley won't be a baby any more. She will soon not need me to feed her, dress her, or rock her to sleep. I love every minute of watching her learning, growing, and exploring the world around her. I love to sit back and wonder what joys and struggles she will encounter in this life. Then think about my role in helping her accomplish her dreams, and overcoming challenges.

Basically I am amazed by my sweet little girl!

Tagged by Heidi

1.) Where did I meet my husband?

I knew of him through institute before his mission, but didn't really know him all too well. After he got home, there were multiple people who asked me if I had seen Michael Mortensen, or if I knew Michael Mortensen was home off his mission. I really had no idea, because I didn't "know" him at all, so quite honestly didn't care. His name became stuck in my mind though, and when I heard he was at a singles dance I was determined to get there and meet him. My sister and I made it to this dance with two songs left, and I was irritated when I was asked to dance. I was on a mission and it was being thwarted!! So basically I am a stalker. . . I sought him out.

Here's how well I knew him though, I had to have someone point him out to me!! This leads us to the first things I said to him. . .

2.) What was the first thing you said to your husband?

"Hi Michael Mortensen!" (His response is what's great!) He looked at me and said "Hi, do I know you?" Talk about embarassing! I said, "I am Brooke Wilkins" Poor Mike then says, "Oh are your cousins Shannon and Michelle?" Ouch! (side note: honestly I wasn't embarrassed, I thought the whole thing was hilarious). Anyway he walked me to my car, I gave him my number and e-mail address, and we have talked everyday since!

3.) Where was your first date?

I was living in Flagstaff at the time, with my parents and he came up to stay with us for a weekend. I don't remember all of the things we did, but I do remember going out to eat, going hiking, and going to a movie.

4.) Where was your first kiss?

At my parents house before he went home. . . yeah I know first date.

5.) Did you have a long or short engagement?

We dated for nine months and were engaged for 2 1/2 months before getting married.

6.) Where did you get engaged?

He proposed to me in my parents backyard. I was in my pajamas ready for bed. (Romantic I know!) I knew he had just talked to my dad, and I guess he was pumped, so asked me right away.

7.) Where were you married?

We got married in the Mesa, Arizona Temple. It was early Feb, and actually very cold when we took pictures first thing in the morning. By the time we came out of the temple it was a beautiful day! Perfect weather.

8.) How did the reception go?

It was beautiful, and the line was incredibly long. The reception lasted an hour longer than planned. It wasn't all that much fun for me though. I had mono. I caught mono just three days before the wedding. Fun huh?! I worked at an elementary school and found out after coming back to work that a few kids and a teacher were out with mono too. Couple weeks later Michael ended up with Mono. His was bad enough though to put him in the hospital. He ended up with what they call Hepatitis Mononucleosis. It affected his liver and turned him jaundice. He was in the hospital for a week.

9.) How was the honeymoon?

We had decided to go on our honeymoon a few months after getting married. Actually turned out for the best seeing as Mike ended up in the hospital. We stayed in Palm Springs. We went to the beach, six flags, and tons of great restaurants! It was my second time in my life to go the beach. We had a lot of fun.

Ok I think these things are silly, but actually enjoy them. I like getting to know things about others I didn't previously know. So I would love everyone who reads this to have a go at these questions. But the three people I know the least about their engagements would have to be Audrey, Lara, and Bucky. So I tag you three!!

What's in a Word

I have now been a witness to "Southern Hospitality". Twice I have had young kids come help me load my trunk up with groceries (encouraged by their parents). We met a family out for a walk, around the neighborhood, who stopped by for a little chat (we were outside washing the car), which turned out to be an hour long visit. I have noticed that people like to start up friendly conversations in stores all the time. I kid you not, one lady talked to me for 15 minutes. After she kept talking for a few minutes, I continued trying on shoes, and she continued to talk. (I really wasn't trying to be rude, so I answered any questions she asked me, but I was in a hurry, Ainsley was not in the best of moods). While we were at the baseball game one of the workers there asked to hold Ainsley.

The "Texas Drawl" is something I am still trying to get used to. There have been quite a few people who lay it on so thick and talk so fast, that I really have to concentrate on trying to understand what they are saying. There was one man in particular, that for the life of me, I just couldn't figure out what he was saying. I just nodded and smiled, and hoped he wasn't asking any questions!

Some people naturally pick up speech patterns and pronunciation without trying or even noticing. I am one of those people. I am originally from Kansas, and I wasn't even aware that I had an accent until moving to Arizona. Michael still likes to make fun of some of the things I say, or rather the way I say them.

It is not the accent that I am picking up on so quickly, but rather one word in particular. I bet you can guess the word. . . it's "y'all".

I have caught myself about ready to say "come on y'all let's go", or "come on y'all it's time to eat", you get the idea. It really has been a conscious effort for me to say "come on GUYS let's go", etc. Where as before hearing this Texas phrase on a regular basis, I would simply say "let's go".

In the end I don't think my vowel and consonant sounds will change much while living here. I am sure though, that some of my word choice, and phrasing will most likely change, without me even realizing it.

The Messier the Better

I mentioned in an earlier post about an article I read about laughter. It got me thinking about my childhood. My younger sister and I had quite the imaginations. We played with our neighborhood friends all the time. I vividly remember playing pretend. We would run, laugh, dream, and pretend for hours.

That led me to thinking about my own children. Sometime during my pregnancy with Ainsley I brought in the tv to help occupy Isaac, while I would lie on the couch in misery. Nine months later it was still just easier to let him watch tv while I cleaned, cooked, or even just took a shower.

I feel horrible about how much tv I have allowed him to watch. Now don't get me wrong, we enjoy watching movies together as a family, but there is nothing wrong with leaving the tv off and letting my children just be children.

After reading the previously mentioned article I decided to help Isaac expand his imagination. We recently purchased a new washing machine and decided for FHE we would build him a house together out of the box it came in. We spent an hour decorating Isaac's very own patchwork house.

We used lots paper and lots of glue to decorate the outside. So incredibly messy, but so much fun. Usually at our house any activity we do together creates tornado like destruction of our home. A theme that is quite frequent in our home is the messier the better. I am all about playing in the mud, and jumping in the puddles.

Isaac loves his "new house" and I discovered today that it has become his own little treasure chest. I found my camera, some toys, newspaper, a cookbook, toothbrush, a shirt of Ainsley's, a diaper, and a coaster all hiding in his "new house"! His imagination, it seems, is not what was lacking, it just wasn't allowed to be expressed as often as should have been.

Little Sneak Peek

Ainsley's wings came today and I couldn't help taking some pictures. She is going to be "Tinker Tinker Bell" (as Isaac says). I am excited they came today. After ordering, my on-line receipt said they could take up to three weeks to ship. I am going to be making her a tutu, and now I know what colors to get!! I have to admit having a little girl has it's fun moments!!

If They Don't Win It's a Shame

Isaac went to his first baseball game last night. A minor league team called the Rough Riders. It was one of the most boring games I have ever been to (we lost 14-3), but we all had so much fun.
Isaac has a favorite movie right now called Everyone's Hero (he watches it daily), about a young boy and Babe Ruth's bat. Needless to say he was so excited to go to a "real baseball park". We bought lots of food, and souvenirs for the kids. Isaac lovingly named his bat "Darlin" and ball "screwy" (names off the movie).

We also discovered last night that Isaac likes cute, preteen girls! He found a group of girls and spent quite a bit of time running back and forth between us (Michael and I) and this small group of girls. He danced for them, told them his age, name, and even his address!!

400 Times a Day

A little glimpse into why Isaac is so fun to have around. . .

He was helping me clean the house today and I told him he was doing an awesome job.

His response "Awesome like a opossum. I am awesome like ALL the opossums!"

Seriously he is such a crack up. I read the Ensign (September issue) article yesterday about Laughter, and how it can help us live healthier lives. Isaac brings so much joy and laughter into our home (and a lot of two year old chaoticness). I am lucky to have such a funny guy around to help me keep things in perspective, and who helps me remember to laugh a little more often!

Cute Kids

I know I am a little biased, but I have some VERY cute kids.

Ainsley is growing up so quickly. She is sitting up pretty good on her own these days. She really only falls over now if she gets a little too excited and starts bouncing.

She has tried cereal a couple times, but I don't think her stomach can handle it quite yet. She did really good at eating though. She has eaten cereal now three times. The last time I noticed she got a rash on her stomach and was up crying in the night, which is not normal for her. The next day thinking about why she had been up, I remembered that she was fussy the first time after eating cereal. So she's not quite ready or her stomach is sensitive to more than just dairy!


I have been writing a lot about Ainsley, just because she changes so much daily, and she is just so cute! But I do have one good looking boy too. He is such a funny kid.

Isaac is one of the pickiest eaters I have ever seen, and gets on these kicks. Right now he loves dough. Daily he is asking to make cookies, tortillas, muffins. . . anything that requires dough. I have been lucky that he eats the finished product as well. Here's a picture of him from two days ago when we tried a new recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Isaac is such a good helper around the house. Chores take a lot longer, and I actually do a lot more cleaning after Isaac's cleaning, but he's learning, and loves to help. Right now his favorite is washing dishes by hand. My poor dishwasher is probably feeling neglected these days :)

Isaac and I went out together, just the two of us, this weekend. There is a flea market here in town every third weekend. I have never been to a flea market and was going to go by myself, but decided I needed to spend some time with Isaac. We had a lot of fun. Isaac tasted his first snow cone (I wish I would have thought to take my camera). Isaac was allowed to pick out one thing to buy, anything he wanted. He was pretty tempted when we passed some toy swords, but decided on a cowboy hat! It's a little big for him, but it was the smallest one we could find.



Isaac has such quite the imagination. I hear him talking to himself quite a bit these days. The other day he was in his room playing by himself, and I heard him say "what are you looking at?" I really need to start a book on all the funny things he says!

He likes to play Super Isaac and has me tie a blanket around his neck. I am thinking Santa is bringing him a real cape for Christmas. He has also decided to be a pirate for "Halloweena".

I could go on forever about how cute I think my children are. I sure do love them!

The end

Okay big Harry Potter fan here. I started the whole series two weeks ago and finished this past weekend. I had read the previous books as they came out, but wanted to start right at the very beginning before reading the last and final book.


It amazes me that J.K. Rowling was able to create these characters and keep you interested for SEVEN books. I felt like I was living in their world. By the time I got 3/4 through Deathly Hallows I couldn't put it down. I had to finish it.

I have yet to hear of someone that has read the series that didn't like it. So for those of you who haven't read it, go for it!

The next series I am going to start is the Twilight series. I have heard from many people that they are excellent books. I was a little leery at first because it's about a vampire (thanks for the correction!). . . but then I realized I LOVE Harry Potter and it's about witches and wizards! Funny.

Now if this post wasn't enough to let you know what a nerd I am there's more!!!

Friday night High School Musical 2 is coming out on the disney channel. Once again I thought it was silly how much people raved about this movie, but once I saw it I was hooked. I own the movie and the soundtrack. Isaac loves the movie, and we will watch it together and sing along with all of the songs.

While on the topic of movies I can't wait to go and see Hairspray. My sister told me it's her new favorite movie. I obviously enjoy movies with young, cute singing boys. . . Zac Efron is in both, so what's not to love?!

Anyway if there was any confusion before about what a nerd I am, it should all be cleared up now!!

Home Sweet Home

Well we have been here for a month in our new home, and I have finally gotten around to taken some pictures. Not of the whole house, but it's a start! I have big plans for painting and decorating too, but that will come with time.


We will start down the hall to the kids' bedrooms


Here is Isaac's jungle bathroom (sorry the lighting is so weird)



Next comes Ainsley's room


Then is Isaac's bedroom



Last room down this hallway is the guest bedroom (come and visit!!!)

As the Days Fly By

I don't have much to post right now. I have been busy, busy, busy. Last week I had mastitis, then a wisdom tooth infection. This week Isaac has been sick (croup and ear infections) and it looks as though Ainlsey has started in on this little party!! So needless to say there has been much sleeping, coloring, reading and watching movies around here. Hopefully this will soon pass and we can start enjoying what Texas has to offer.

All Smiles

Ainlsey is five months old today. Just to prove that she is getting older she rolled over today. Isaac, Ainlsey and I all had the same look of shock on our faces. Then we all laughed, well Ainsley didn't laugh she just smiled, looking quite pleased with herself. Then to show me it wasn't a fluke, she did it again.

She is such a pleasure to have around, always smiling (especially when Isaac is around).


This is what she is up to these days:

Talking nonstop (she's a girl!!)
Grabbing for everything within her reach
Smiling, Smiling, and Smiling some more
Yelling at mommy or daddy when she is mad (not crying, yelling)
Rolling over (as of today)
Doing sit ups, she can almost go from lying to sitting up
Siting up pretty good on her own before toppling over
Jumping and bouncing
Playing with her feet CONSTANTLY
Being the sweetest baby on the block