Another Photo Shoot

I cant help myself...my baby is just too stinkin cute! I love dressing her up in her clothes and these are her first pair of baby jeans. I love jeans and on babies they are just a million times more adorable. Brooklyn had her 2 month yesterday and weighs 11 lbs. 7.5 oz. She had a hard time with the shots and needed lots of extra lovin yesterday and today. She has turned into a much better baby and is sleeping A LOT better. Thank goodness for Josh and Brody. I am sure they were sick of dealing with a cranky wife and mom. Brooklyn's favorite time of day is still her bath time right before bed. Her eyes seem to be staying blue (lucky girl)! Her hair seems to be lightening up a bit. Maybe she will end up being a blond who knows. She's got the cutest chunky cheeks and is getting more and more personality every day. As you can see in the last two photos she is also figuring out what her body does. Her tongue is her new fascination. Enjoy the pics!

Because Josh has been my life for so long and by that I mean that we have been very blessed over the past four years to spend so much time together despite having two kids, graduating college and working. Now that he is in medical school he is sooooo BUSY! We are trying to find our little niche out here in the east. I am trying to keep myself happy which has been hard with all of the drastic changes we have made. So to keep myself happy I have to not only be the mother that I want to be to my children but I also have to remember to take time for myself and do things that make me happy. (And no, shopping is not the only thing that makes me happy despite what others may think!) Something that I love to do but have never really made time to do it is trying new recipes. So about a month ago I decided to try a new recipe a week. Whether it be one that I find or one that I make up. I am going to post my success and the not so good successes. This is something that I have found to make me pass the weeks by while we are here in medical school. So my first recipe...drum roll please....

Southern Pecan Bars

CRUST

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

FILLING

2 eggs

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup chopped pecans

GLAZE

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 to 2 tablespoons warm water

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9-inch square baking pan.* In small bowl, stir together 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Using pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces. Stir in 1/2 cup pecans. Press evenly into bottom of pan. Bake 15 minutes or until light golden brown; cool completely on wire rack.

2. In medium bowl, whisk eggs until combined. Whisk in corn syrup, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour over cooled crust; sprinkle with 1 cup pecans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack.

3. Meanwhile, in another small bowl, stir together 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the water. If glaze is too thick, add additional water. Drizzle over bars.

This recipe is so yummy. I made them about three weeks ago and just typing this up makes me want to make them again. Anyways, I hope you enjoy. Tell me if you try them and what you think.

The passing of Jacom Larson

This last week Josh had a cousin that passed away. He was 30 years old and died of cancer. He left behind his wife and their little boy Hayden. The funeral was this last Saturday close to D.C. So Josh and I loaded up the kids early Saturday morning to make the drive up there. The funeral was beautiful and the spirit was very strong. It was hard to see the family's sorrow in losing a brother, son, and husband. I couldn't even imagine. When I think of it and how his wife must feel it brings tears to my eyes. After the funeral we headed back down to Virginia Beach. Josh's sister Jamie and her husband Chris followed us home and stayed the weekend with us. It was fun having them here. We really have never spent time together just the four of us and it was really fun. I got to know both Jamie and Chris better and Brody had so much fun getting to know his Aunt and Uncle. It was a bitter sweet weekend for the family.

Annoucing Brody Bingham the ARTIST

A few days ago Brody got really bored at home so we decided to get out all the crayons and paints we had. He had a fun time painting, drinking the colored water when he was thirsty (I of course kept telling him no that's yucky don't do that but he didn't listen), and just letting his imagination roam. He likes to display his pictures on the fridge like every little kid does. He is such a little man now and I just love him to pieces.

The Farnsworths came to visit us!!!

I am finally getting a chance to type this up and you may already know but our good friends Josh, Laura, and Joseph Farnsworth came to visit us a week ago. We had sooo much fun together. It was such a relief for me to see them. Probably because I am still anxious about living out here and everything is still so new. So they were a breath of fresh air because it felt like I was home again. While they were here we talked till late into the night, ate amazing food and way too much of it, went to the U.S.S Wisconsin, Virginia Beach, and to some of the best shopping in town. Here are some cute pictures of Brody at dinner and the rest of us at dinner one night. Handling two children it is hard to take a lot of pictures but they have more on their blog if you want to see more. We just had a blast. Their little Joseph is so smart, strong, cute, and super advanced for his age. He is only four months old and stands like he is one years old. He also can hold his own bottle and feed himself. AMAZING!!! Anyways, we did such a funny act with Joseph and Brooklyn dancing together. We were all cracking up. Josh got it on video so I may have to bug him to put it up on his blog so you can see. Thanks guys again for visiting and cant wait to see you again soon!

Brooklyn Photo Shoot

So about a week ago after church Brooklyn was just in a great mood so I decided to do a quick photo shoot of her and try and capture some smiles. Here are some cute pictures of her posing. I just love her chunky cheeks. I cant tell you how much fun they are to kiss. She is a doll.

Brooklyn's Blessing

Well as you can see from this picture she was not very happy to have a dress on. Actually all of the pictures I got of her in her blessing gown she was crying (just my luck!) Her blessing was beautiful despite more crying while Josh gave it to her. I am planning on putting her dress on her again and getting better pictures later. We were lucky to have so many come to support us. We had Josh's grandma, aunt and cousin, Josh's parents, my parents, and all of Josh's first year fellow LDS medical students and their wives attend the blessing. Afterwards we had a nice lunch planned back at the house. It was so fun for me to get to talk to all the med students and their wives since I don't get to see them as much as I would like. They are such a fun group of guys and girls. Josh loves studying with them and their friendship. I am sure we will all be friends for a long time. Maybe plan a nice vacation for all of us together after school is over. That would be fun. Anyways, the day was wonderful and it meant a lot to me to have all of our loved ones there. Brooklyn has a nice set of lungs on her and lets me know when she doesn't like something.

Brooklyn in her blessing gown.
My baby girlie and me.
Brody was throwing a fit because he didn't want to be in the family photo, so we had to take it without him.
My parents and us.
The med school guys that came to support us and stood in the circle to bless Brookie.

My baby girl

Here are some more pictures of Brooklyn when my parents were here. She was smiling a lot at my mom. I tried to capture a few of them.

Williamsburg

While our parents were here we took a trip up to Williamsburg and York town. We had such a fun day on Saturday that we went back again on Monday. Here are some pictures of our adventure there.

Trying to Update

With kids it is hard to update so I am trying to get updated slowly. Here are some more pictures of when our parents were here for the blessing. Brooklyn smiling at Grandma Bingham
More Smiles
Lots of love from Grandma Bingham
Grandpa Bingham brought Brody a new toy that they played with for hours.
My shaggy haired boy did get a hair cut while my mom was here. He is still cute no matter what though.

Nauticus, USS Wisconsin and Downtown Norfolk

While our family was in town we toured downtown Norfolk. We went to Nauticus and the USS Wisconsin. It seems that whenever there is a ship to tour---we do! To me they all look the same but it was still fun to explore it. Here are some pictures of our adventure. After Nauticus and the USS Wisconsin we went to the MacArthur Center. My favorite shopping center here in Virginia and our closest Nordstroms. We ate at the Nordstroms Cafe which I love and grabbed a snack at the Cheesecake Factory and you know what that means, CHEESECAKE! Needless to say it was a fun day of exploring and spending time with my family.

Our Thursday Picnics

Every Thursday I load up the kids and we head to Josh's school to have lunch with daddy. I think this is Brody's favorite day of the week. He loves to go to daddy's school and knows when we are headed that direction in the car. It has become a family tradition of ours and something that I really look forward to as well. A couple of weeks ago we were driving around looking at apartments for next year and we came across this quaint little park. It was such a beautiful day and it is so peaceful in this area of the city that we decided to have lunch there. Now we go back every week. A picture of the park and the English garden.
Josh and Brody on the chain.
Brody loves to walk the chain like a tight rope and he always wants Josh to help him do it as soon as we get there.
My cute little boy and my amazing husband.
Say "cheese"

"Goodmorning Beautiful..."

...How was your night? Mine was wonderful with you by my side" Okay well she really wasn't by my side, she was in her port-a-crib in our room. But still she is beautiful. Brooklyn is such a happy baby in the morning after she wakes up.
She gives her mama lots of smiles and slobbery kisses. She coos and giggles. I have to say I hate mornings but when you wake up to a smiling baby it sure is wonderful. Brody on the other hand still hates mornings and always has.

She is my little miss Brooklyn and I love her to pieces.