"You'll shoot your eye out!”

If you know what movie this was pulled from than you have been lucky enough to have been introduced to a Christmas Classic. Practically all Christmases I can remember include sitting around with my family watching the drama of Old Man Parker's family unfold and those darn bumpus' dogs.

Christmas is a special time for me (unless you are Scrooge then it probably is a similar experience for you) I am so thankful for the traditions that we have with our family and the time we get to spend with them. I am thankful for the gentle reminders helping me to focus on my Savior.

This year has been pretty fantastic for our family. As we reflect on our many adventures there are some that stand out.

We kicked off the year with a bang by celebrating with the WHOLE Royce clan in Costa Rica, just thinking about the sun and the beaches makes me ache for the warmth again. I also quit my job before the big vacation and am now able to just be home with my little buddy, and I love it!

Between the fun we have had with birthday's, road trips, boating, and enjoy the beauty and recreation our great state has to offer we have kept pretty busy. We look forward to our next set of adventures in the coming year, including welcoming our next baby into our family.

We will be having a firecracker of our own next 4^th of July and are so excited!

We hope you have a Merry Christmas

Love the Brinkerhoff family

Sugar+molasses=JOY

Baking, baking and more baking! I am so grateful for the aromas that fill my kitchen and the wonderful memories that follow! Great discovery for tonight… I just learned how to create a blog post from Microsoft Word! Who knew?!

Little Gus

*Just to warn you... This post is all about this guy


My little Gus. I realized today as I was scrubbing the pasta out of my hair and listening to this babe talk himself to sleep that it has been far too long since I have posted about the joys and adventures that ensue by being Oli's mother.

Oli is a very kind child always saying "pwees" and "duuduuu"/"duuuduuu moouch" and reminding you when you haven't.
He loves to play with other tykes but also likes to venture off and find his own mischief.
Lately Gus has started having a fascination with trains. While waiting in line for Santa Little O's jaw would drop to the floor every time the train came by and desperately wanted to jump ship and join the oh so jovial conductor as she lapped the mall.
He would call after it, "choochoo!!"

Oli also loves cars

As a new 'trick' O will climb up onto anything and whether you are prepared or not he will jump/dive into your arms. It's actually quite frightening

Oli adores his father and will call after him until he walks in the door from work

Anything to do with water you can bet Oli will be kicking and screaming to join in

Fact: I believe Oli is up to about 5 haircuts

Lately he has been such a chatterbox, repeating practically EVERYTHING we say.

About an hour ago I said "don't touch" when he went for the computer and for about 10 minutes he ran about the house trying his best to repeat the phrase.

His most recent word that we love "Awshumm!" (Thanks Grandma Brink!)


Oli is 18 months at the end of this month=NURSERY!

This last Sunday I received the best news! Oli can start next week! I love every minute I have with my Oliman but needless to say church has been difficult since Oli started crawling.

It is such bliss to be home with my Little Gus, I just can't believe how grown up he is. I don't ever want to forget these little moments.

Here's to 50 years!

My momma is 50 (please don't be mad momma for me posting about your age)! She is the greatest, most loving woman I know and we wanted to celebrate her life in a BIG way so what did we do? We threw a SURPRISE PARTY!! We plotted and schemed and then deceived but ultimately pulled it off! She had a few tip offs and thankfully didn't have a chance to think too much about it because her mind was in a Harry Potter whirlwind (thank goodness)
My mother LOVES The Amazing Race and so we wanted to center her party around the travels of her life.
JR staged a family Amazing Race where we all had pit stops and activities to complete. While dad and mom ventured off on their Amazing Race we were in the final hour of setting up.
Her final pit stop, her party.
Not only did we surprise her with an amazing crowd of family and friends, but with Rachael and Charlotte (clear from Italy!)
We are so thankful for those who were able to party with us!

The Captain of the Party.....

Meet the DJ Extraordinaire Neil! Our party would NOT have been complete without his genius


Yes you saw right... Curtis is dancing

Long John Sumo wrestling!
I tried posting a video of this but the file is just too big but it was HILARIOUS

You remember David Omen? if not please refer to the dancing video bellow.
He danced his souls away

for your viewing pleasure...

Just to give you a taste of what fun we had celebrating my mom's big 5-0! Meet David Omen... A dancing party machine! More to come... much more!

Trick or Treating is exhausting

but isnt my baby Einstein adorable?

I have better pictures off of my camera, these are just from my phone

Curtis as "windy guy" we wish we could take credit for this idea but we saw it on tv. I just cant believe I got him to dress up!

Friday night we partied it up at the J.C. (Jordan Commons) we didnt have the little one so we took advantage of the time together to PAARRRTAYYY!

nice tights JR, oops sorry leg warmers! Just teasing you guys looked great!

Its DONE!!!

Hurray!! I LOVE how it turned out and am so happy have had it done by my Nonna's birthday which is this Friday, so here is a birthday shout to her!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to an amazing, inspiring, loving woman who brings so much light to our world. Love you Grandma!

Here is the finished product. With the exception of a few photos that through MANY attempts I am having a pretty tough time tracking down. This was a fantastic lesson in family history, I pretty much can name EVERY family member and can put children with parents there are probably about 170 currently so that is a big deal to me!
I love it and hope my Granny loves it too.



(we did not intend to coordinate but doesn't she look great?!)



One of the best ladies I know (you know I love you Doll!) gave Curtis and I some tix to go to the Haunted Canyon (Heber Creeper) I thought it would be a little more kid friendly, since it seems targeted to children. It was, for the most part. We had a great time riding the train and spotting the spooky characters along the track. But then things headed South when those 'creepy' characters joined us for the ride back and started 'haunting' up and down the train cars. Oli and Emerson did NOT appreciate this. JR even advised Emers to 'growl' back at the scary dead lady to show he wasn't scared... you want to know what she did? She growled right back and wouldn't leave Emers alone until she proved it to him that she was scary! Poor Oli was CLINGING on to me and kept his face shoved into my neck I admit I loved the nuzzling but hated that they kept trying to scare him.

Are we bad parents to do this to our kids?

Like I said, Oli doesnt like men in hats. Uncle JR wanted to test him. Not cool, Uncle JR!

Oli checking out the window to make sure we were still safe

Dont I have an adorable nephew!?