Happy birthday Big T

Troy was so excited for his birthday. finally 2! I'm not sure that is a good milestone. But he is sure at a fun stage. He's really starting to talk. and it is so cute! He will grab your finger and say, "mon, mon" (he means come on). or "Meer" (come here) or "Hab it" (let me have it) or "mac a wonee" (we must have macaroni and cheese to often) He has gotten the biggest kick out of the snow! His eyes get all big and gives you a big bear hug and says, "Codie, Codie" (cold) I can't believe he's 2 already! Happy Birthday big Troy!

partners in crime!

So Zack got his glasses 2 nights ago, and it was quite the different occasion than when Kolby got his. He was jumping up and down with excitement. And we had to take a shot of the glasses brothers. I'm still baffled at how neither Gabe, nor I have glasses, but our 6 & 4 year old kids need them. (and not just a little bit!) I guess that's how things go. I must say I do think they are as handsome as can be!

Happy Thanksgiving! OK OK I know it's over.

THE BROWN FAMILYLook at my HUGE family. Ok so were not that big, but we seem to be growing quickly. We had a really fun Thanksgiving with everyone home this year. This is the first time since the beginning of Living Scriptures cruises. What fun. We had to have a little photo shoot. Of course!

Now I could have photoshop this Claire glare out, but I think that it is hilarious. Everyone else is so happy. I just have to coax a little harder with that sweet little girl.

Here is my little family. They are growing up so fast. I think grandpa must have been doing something funny.

Kyle smiles by the mile. Now I don't have to coax a smile out of this curly haired little man. Don't you just want to pinch his cute chubby cheeks?

And don't forget the newest little girl in our family. Making her first appearance at a stunning 1 week, Hailee Morgan Brown. Lance and Nikki were just beaming the whole weekend. I'm so excited for them! I can tell they are loving her to pieces, and they are going to be great parents!

And don't forget UNCLE KELLY! The favorite single uncle! Woo Hoo!

Zack cracks me up!

So every single day, I am in stitches over what this kid says. I wanted to write down a few. So I wanted to try out a new recipe today. (Spinach dip it is wonderful!) and we were having a few crackers. (and by a few I mean all of them.) We (Zack, Troy, & I) were finishing up, and I realized Zack had taken off his shoes and socks in the living room. So I asked him to take them to his bedroom. Then I went into the kitchen to put our bowl away, and I hear Zack ask Troy, "Hey buddy can you take my shoes to my bedroom?" Troy says, "Sure, sure, sure......" So he grabs the shoes and heads into the kitchen. I can hear Zack saying no, no not that way. Of course Troy doesn't care then I hear Zack say to himself.... "Sheesh he never listens to me!" I thought I would die laughing! Oh how many times have I thought that about my little dreamer Zack. And the other day we were driving to Fredonia, Zack says, "hey mom, you know what I say? Mountains look like rocks." I love this kid!!! (Don't worry I love the other ones too :0) Ok here's a couple more. So one day he says, "mom, someday I'll be grown up." I said your right pal. What will be the best part of being a grown up? "Well, I can get a drink by myself without spilling. And I can get a flashlight whenever I want." Very true, grown-ups can do that. And as I'm sitting here writing this, Zack is standing next to me, and sees some pictures on the desk, so he's looking at them and I hear, "ohhhh that cute dad...." and then he see one that he is in and he says, "Look at me, I'm adorable!" OHHH so funny!

Simon, Theadore, Aaaalviiiiin!!!!

These are my chipmunks! Pretty fun Halloween. I was so nervous about them being cold but it was a t-shirt night. I love Halloween!

Happy Birthday boys!!!

Thanks grandma for a super fun birthday dinner!!!

4th Tag

Tagged ! -Post the 4th picture from your 4th picture folder...

So this was an engagement shot with Bill & Elandriel Martin from the first of the year. This was a fun tag!

I tag................ Staci, Amy, Stephanie, & my mom (Who may not ever see this. Comment for heavens sake!)

Arrrrrrrrr Matey!

Avast ye swabs. A treasure hunt be in the works. (Do you love the map's of our backyard? Ha Ha)
These be me matey's. All Cap'n's to be.
Find ye treasure Zacky!
Avast! There it be! The trail leads to Grandma's house!
The TREASURE Hooray!!!!

Today we did a little treasure hunt. Thanks to grandma for our halloween treasure. In the treasure box were some orange and black pipecleaners, with a baggie of buttons. All buried in gold (ok, ok it was popcorn) So we all sat down in the grass to make spiders with our "treasure" And we talked about the treasures we have in our lives. Zack's treasure (things that make him happy) is sharing with friends. (funny he doesn't do that more often.) Grandma's treasures are her kids and grandkids. Kolby's treasure is finding real bugs. (he also likes wrestling with his dad) My treasures are the memories I am making with my boys these days.

Pretend Pictures

So Kolby asked if we could go to the Heritage House for our adventure yesterday. I said sure, wondering how I was going to make it educational. (It was closed or we would have gone inside and learned some of the history of Kanab.) But I didn't have anything planned so I said sure. We went and saw the chickens, and tried to figure out what fruit came from what trees. And it was so fun to watch them play. The same way that whatever children actually lived in the Heritage House probably played. Chasing the cat, and the chickens. Climbing the trees, and jumping out of them. Laying in the sun for the few short moments they were tired of running. It was surreal. I was laying on the lawn, Kolby was up in a tree as high as he could get, and he yelled, "Mom take a picture of me!" I said sorry bud, I didn't bring my camera today. (Shocker, I know) He said use a pretend camera. So I did. And I thought about all the vivid pictures captured in my "pretend" camera. What great memories I will have of such a simple day.

This was soooo cool!

Today we went to the Kanab airport! Kolby wanted to learn about airplanes. I was only too happy to see what I could do about that!
I was nervous that Kolby would be afraid to ask the questions that he had, but not only did he ask the questions, look at how intently he listened to the answers! He asked, "What do you have to do to become a pilot?", "What are the numbers on the side of the plane for?" (like a licence plate) "What are the important parts of the airplane?" (all of them!) The pilot that was answering his questions was so wonderful. He let Kolby sit in the cockpit of this plane. What a great adventure!
Troy thought it was pretty neat too, even though he didn't get to get in the plane.

Now I'm sure that I DO NOT want to be an entomologist!

Kolby had a blast, but I'm not so sure anyone else did.

today we are going to be entomologist's.

Bug scientists that is! So this was a two part adventure. Yesterday we made our bug nets. (We bent metal coat hangers, and sewed a little net out of some material I had laying around) We wanted to wait for dad to come on our bug hunt with us. (Since he looooooves bugs so much.) But silly me I forgot about the blood drive, so we ran out of daylight. But the hunt is on for this morning, & it's going to be a doozy! Kolby told me a list of all the bugs he wants to investigate. Scorpions, stink bugs, butterflies, dragon flies, & ladybugs. I'm not so sure I still want to be an entomologist.

Ladies & gentlemen, boys & girls......

It's the Circus!!! Clowns, cotton candy, and elephants! Our adventure of the day was something fun and silly. I hope my kids always dream big! I hope they never decide to be acrobats, but if they do I hope they have the confidence to follow their hearts. We had such a fun time. I kind of thought that Troy would fall asleep (It didn't actually start till 8:00) but he certainly did not! He was clapping and cheering louder than the big kids, and every time they would bring out an animal act, he would turn my head to make sure that I saw the amazingness of it all. What fun. In bed at midnight, on a school night. I should be ashamed of myself. But who can turn down the Circus????

Tea Party!!!

"Would you care for a cookie?" "yes please!" "May I get you some more milk?" "No, thank you." Our adventure today was learning manners at a tea party for Knights & Princesses. Milk & Cookies works wonders for getting magic words every time. Cousins Kati and Alli were our beautiful princesses. Kolby and Troy were our stalwert knights. Cheers to all.
Kolby and Kati are such great pals!
We missed Zack (he was at school) But he gets a special date with mom & dad today. What fun!

Get out and play, and hour a day!

I know that you've seen that commercial right? Well I was reading a great book, I am a Mother, by Jane Clayson Johnson, and I got inspired. I decided to start planning something fun, (educational) with my kids every day. So yesterday we were hikers. We hiked squaw trail, (at a 1,3,5 year old pace) Needless to say we explored every rock (Fossil) every plant. Mom, what's that plant, and that one, and that one, ect.... We stayed on the trail (like good hikers should.) Even when the squirels did NOT stay on the trail.
Mom, look I can see the truck! The best part of hiking is looking down from the top.
We didn't even spend the targeted hour. But we sure had a great time!

The dirtier the kids, the more fun we had right?

This is Pine Lake. Beautiful huh? We went camping with all of Gabe's family last weekend. We had such a fun time! Us mom's and kids came up a little early to set up camp before the dad's got off work. Of course we were speedy, so we had time to come play at the lake before Gabe & Dusty came up.
George brought the horses, and the kids had fun riding, as usual
A dirty kid is a happy kid right? Mine must have been having the time of their life!
Even us parents got to get away on the horses for a while. What a treat!