This week...

We got a kick out of watching Tanner walk with his walker. At first the walker went so fast he could barely keep up, and we were cracking up watching him try to keep up with it. He has become pretty good with it by now and enjoys walking with it. In the last little bit he has started to walk ("cruise") along objects. He is becoming more stable while standing on his own for a few seconds. We can't believe he will be one year old in a few months. He is definitely an animal lover - especially dogs - so for his birthday I'm going to make a puppy cake. Ethan is excited for Tanner's birthday so we can have cake and help open presents.

 Yesterday we tried to go to the Air and Space Museum but it was closed due to rain. We ended up going to the California Science Museum again. It was still just as fun as the first time with new areas to explore. Ethan is really into space ships right now so he enjoyed being an astronaut.

In one of the rooms you could play dress up and make a movie. We had the boys dress up as doctors and Ethan enjoyed examining each of us. He diagnosed each of us with ear aches - he would know since he has had a few in his time :)

Jared's rotation right now is nights/days every other week. It's kind of a pain but one of the many bonuses of working for Kaiser is how they set up their night rotations. Instead of having to sleep at the hospital every 4th night like most residency programs, Kaiser does night float: everyone takes their turn doing several weeks of nights all at once so that they don't have to do overnight shifts during the rest of the year. We prefer it like that for sure!

Stay tuned for more site seeing. 

California Science Center

Since moving to LA we have enjoyed exploring the Los Angeles area as a family, and Friday was no exception. The science center is free and is located right by USC's campus along Museum Row. In the same parking lot you can go to the African American Museum, Air and Space, see the Coliseum and the Natural History Museum.

We were in the science center for a few hours and definitely could have stayed longer but had already prolonged Tanner's nap way too long. Ethan was content in every area but after a while we moved him along to be able to cover parts of the museum we knew he would want to see. When kids are having fun I hate to move them along but with so much to see and do, you just gotta do it.

The ecosystem exhibit was a hit, along with the family center where the kids could garden, play kitchen, build a house, read books, and explore other science-related activities. We definitely want to go back and explore it again because it is way too big for one day. Next stop: Air and Space and the La Brea Tar pits. 

10 months old

Ten words/phases that describe Tanner at 10 months:

Fun-loving, cute, easy going, smiley, people person, always chewing on something - oftentimes can be found carrying toys in his mouth while crawling like a little puppy dog, loves his brother, loves walks, swinging at the park, and an all around amazingly happy baby!

We love you Tanner!

Our Valentine's weekend

Jared surprised us at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday morning by being done and home from work! The boys and I were about to go to the park, so we were thrilled Daddy could come. We headed to the park with Subway in hand to have a picnic and ride a four person bike. The least amount of time you can rent these bikes for is an hour, which we knew would be too long for the boys. Luckily Jared convinced them to rent it to us for half the time and half the amount. What a guy! The boys seemed to really enjoy it, and it wasn't too difficult to maneuver. Ethan, of course, wanted to be the driver and loved pulling the break on us. Jared and I would work so hard to get up the hill just to have Ethan pull the break. 30 minutes was the perfect amount of time. The outing wouldn't be complete without ice cream on the way home.  

Sunday after church and once Jared was done with work, we headed down to Newport Beach to spend the rest of Sunday and Monday (Jared's day off) at the beach house. Sunday night we visited John for a few hours. He was having a difficult night so unfortunately we didn't get to visit that much. We tried to help comfort him as much as we could with wash cloths and getting him some sleep medicine. After the hospital we tried going for a walk along the beach but the sand was SO cold! We both wanted to turn around before we even made it to the water, but we ran to the water and back to safety.

Monday we played at the beach finding shells, digging in the sand, playing on the life guard tower, and going in Betty's amazing jacuzzi tub. Ethan loved the jets and Tanner was afraid of them. It was a nice relaxing day! For Valentine's Jared got me a necklace I've wanted which has two heart charms and a pearl charm, one heart has a "j" and the other has a "c" for us. It's from a neat place called Vintage Pearl. I love it! I got Jared a nice dress shirt and we got the boys valentine buckets that never ended up having anything in them. Good thing they loved it all the same. We ended our day by visiting both families and eating at Cafe Rio. That's my type of Valentine's Day!

The Happs

The Primary gave every child their own copy of the New Testament with their name on it. Ethan was excited to have his own copy and wrote his name on the title page as well. He was "reading" from them tonight and was saying such funny things. He started out by saying, "The scriptures of the Holy Ghost."

At church on Sunday, during sharing time, Tanner saw Ethan sitting with his class and once they made eye contact Tanner started cracking up and kicked for joy for several minutes. It was SO cute to see the joy Tanner gets out of Ethan.

We have been staying busy with a play date every Monday, preschool on Tues/Thurs, and a ward park day on Wednesdays. Ethan loves to stay home, but once we are out he always enjoys it. When we are home Ethan plays with Tanner and will pick him up and place him where they are going to play. If Tanner crawls away Ethan is right there to bring him back and sometimes tries to trap him in with toys. It is always friendly play and so funny to watch.

We have become good friends with our neighbors across the street. They are an older couple who are so nice to us and love having us over. We enjoy the company as well, and we never go home empty handed. She doesn't take no for an answer so we always have plate fulls of cake, cookies, or some type of food. Some of the food she makes is different, but she is so thoughtful. She makes Ethan a cake each week and makes Tanner biscuits. She has orange and tangerine trees in her backyard so we always have oranges. She is so giving, so I always try to do something for her every once and a while. Ethan has made her cards, which she displays in her house and we brought her flowers once. She tells us we are her family and to come often. If we haven't been over in a few days she will call me and see where we are because most often she has baked us a cake and wants us to come pick it up. It's nice having friendly neighbors we know and trust.

Thinking of John

In the last two weeks John was admitted to the ICU and diagnosed with a severe case of Guillaine-barre syndrome. While his mind is 100%, his body is entirely paralyzed with the exception of his eyes. It has been hard seeing the pain he is experiencing, but we have great faith he will recover. Our family has felt the Spirit bring us comfort and peace and know that Heavenly Father is mindful of John. He can get through this!

It has been amazing to see our families, church members, and community come together to become so unified in love and purpose for the Brooks family. As a family we have always been close and we all know we love each other, but to really feel that so strongly and express it with complete sincerity is the greatest gift. We pray and think of John, Laurie, and the boys often when we are away.

We are grateful we have been able to help in a small way with the boys and have been able to be with John a few times. On Saturday night I was able to go to the hospital with Danny and Laurie to be with John for a few hours. From just a week ago, you can see some baby steps towards recovery. We were able to see some of John's sense of humor come out the other night through the rolling of his eyes or the shaking of his head when different comments were made. It was good to feel the John we know come out a little bit. We love you John! Keep up the fight!