And just like that...

she's off.
No running along side of her while she learns her balance.
No holding onto the seat in the awkward bend over run.
No stopping in the middle of the road watching her ride off into the sunset.

Nope.

Not this girl.
Not the stubborn, independet, free spirit that is Brooklyn.
I wasn't even there for the "first time" without training wheels.
She was at the neighbors and hopped onto the bike and rode it around in circles in the driveway.
Janine asked her...."Brooklyn, do your mom and dad know you can ride a bike without training wheels?"
Brooklyn said...."Nope! I haven't told them yet. I'm just practicing."
Stinker!

The look on her face is enough.

I don't know how to break it to her that...unfortunately,
the deep freeze is coming soon, and she's going to have to
learn all over again in the spring.

So...I'm not going to tell her. I'm just going to get her outside

every second that we can.

Gotta help her learn how to use her brakes!

Brooklyn's Dance Recital

She is getting so BIG!

Is she really old enough to be wearing make-up?

She looked so cute tonight for her dance recital.

She did such a good job too!

Purple is her FAVORITE color, so she was EXTREMLY excited about this outfit!

Her cousin Lauren is in the same class and they were both so excited to go tonight!

She had lots of family there to support her!

Grandma Travis, Allison and Ashley...

Grandpa Travis was there too, but he had to leave.

Uncle Kelly and Aunt Roxanne and Cousin Sheridan came all the way from South Jordan!

(yep, she's SPOILED!)

Daddy and his Princess!

And of course, her BIGGEST fans!

(notice Uncle Kelly is in this one too!)

I am really proud of her and she did such a good job!

I'll get the video up as soon as I can!

Graduation Day

Is she really this old?

I can't believe it.

She is still just a little baby in my eyes.

I can't believe how big she is.

How much she has learned

How much she observes

How much she remembers

and how much she knows!

She can be a handful at times, but she is so funny and cute!

These are her partners in crime.

Kael and cousin Gavin.

They would walk to school together, and

they would play together.

This is Braden...this is the friend that Brooklyn would

talk the most about. It was always, "I got to hold Braden's hand today"

or it was "Gavin got to hold Braden's hand today and I didn't!"

It was fun, and they played so cute together!

This is Bryce. He was always the one that Brooklyn would play with at recess.

They would just take off and play like they had been planning something all day.

Brooklyn and Ms. Margaret.

She was such a good teacher.

She was from England and had an accent and the kids just loved it.

She really did a good job, I know because she taught Brooklyn!

Her diploma! So it's real!

Well, kinda....it does read

Brooklyn Davis.

So, the curse continues.....

it really is hard to spell Davies!

What the Hail???

I love TULIPS.

Absolutely love them!

When we first moved in, I planted over 300 in my yard.

They were AWESOME the first year they came up.

The next year, MOST of them had died?!?

I was so bummed...and then I thought about planting more that fall,

and I didn't, because I had Brooklyn.

Then the next fall, Brian planted a few more.

They were ok, but I knew I wanted more.

We kinda slacked the following year, because I had Brison.

BUT, last fall, Brian planted a bunch more.

(not sure how many)

But I was loving my yard and all the tulips!

I went around on Monday taking pictures of the flowers...

I realize these aren't tulips...sorry.

But they are pretty don't ya think?

The LONE pink tulip in our bag of Red, Yellow and Red/Yellow tulips!

This is my favorite, when they are closed like this!

Brian was so excited about his yard, and the way the flowers were looking

that on sunday, he invited his parents over for Wednesday

for dinner so they could see all his hard work.

I was busily preparing dinner and playing with my nieces

when this happened!

That 3 minute hail storm has single-handedly

DESTROYED

ALL

MY

TULIPS!

His parents still came up for dinner,

and they walked around accessing the damage!

It's a good thing I still have a patch in the back yard

that hasn't begun to bloom yet.

It's so not fair!