Life in the Brinkerhoff Mansion

Crystal made this adorable patriotic dress for Liana and passed it on to us 

 When I woke up one of the mornings we camped, this is what I saw: no face, just little toes sticking out of the blankets!

Cute cousins!
 Lydia on the left and Rebekah on the right

 Enjoying a mid-day snack

She won't sleep without a blanket but in this hot weather I have to trick her sometimes with a burp cloth

Garrett got a model ship for fathers day and has been having a wonderful time spending hours working on it. It's pretty intense and I'm surprised at the amount of patience he's got for all the tiny pieces.

Beauty Shot

I made her laugh!

We went for a family drive on Sunday and I thought this looked like it's straight from  The Sound of Music. It was so beautiful on the mountain and all the flowers smelled so so good!

This picture is for Sherrie, she loves moose and I know she would have been so excited to be there and see it with us. It was just a little ways from the road and stopped to pose for this picture. You can see the little nubs on his head proclaiming that it's a bull.

We went to see Old Ephriam's grave. He was a huge bear (about 10feet tall when standing and 1100 pounds) that roamed the mountains by Cache Valley eating sheep and cattle. Some guy from Idaho finally killed him in 1926, I think, and they erected this monument that is roughly the size the bear would have been. I told Garrett to pretend to be afraid of it, I think he looks pretty scared. :)

Rebekah is already sitting in her bumbo from Aunt Kristy and she loves it. She likes to sit up and feel like a big girl. Also, I broke out the rattle but you can see how fascinating she found that.

We bought our first furniture since getting married, we finally own a nice set of couches! They have changed the whole feel of the house, making it seem more like a grown-up house! We love them so much. This one helps to close off the living room and make it feel more cozy.

Here is the lovely couch that we put under the window. We are so glad to be rid of the old, broken, dirty, floral couch . I guess I should have taken a picture of it for comparison but I was just so glad to be rid of it!

This picture is for my mom. She used this towel on me when I was young and I called myself a naked duck while wearing it (there's a duck sewn onto the hood of it)

This is her serious face. I almost feel like she's accusing me of something when she looks at me like this, it's intimidating!

I caught part of a grin!

We decided it was time for me to have a new look so I got new glasses,  got my hair cut at a salon for the first time in my life and Garrett died my hair.

So, as you can see, things have been busy at our house. We had a great 4th out in Vernal camping with the Coopers, Watkins, and Lon and Sherrie and visiting the Coons and the Sullivans. Fireworks were amazing and being with so much family all weekend was so fun. It felt good to relax, and of course I loved dressing up my little Rebekah and showing her off to the family. She was an amazing camper and we hope she keeps it up since we love camping so much.

Rebekah is growing and changing more quickly than I can keep track of. Yesterday was the three month mark since her birthday and already it's hard to remember life before her. She's come in and taken over Garrett's and my hearts completely. She has moved on from random smiles to smiling very easily and she's started laughing within the last couple of weeks. Sometimes I have to work at it, doing things I'd never do in front of another adult, but I can get her to giggle pretty hard. She just melts my heart and I'm so grateful for her and her strong personality that is already making its appearance!

Also, I'd like to make a note to her Grandpa B that she loves to watch people click their tongues and can't wait to hear his famous louder-than-anything clicking tongue!