The BEST Thanksgiving Weekend!

We had everyone here for Thanksgiving! It was so great! We had dreams of all running in the turkey trot, but only Jess & Jerry ended up doing it! (Go team Brown!) In the meantime Skye was giving me my Christmas present (eyelash extensions) while the turkey was in the oven. Dad and Jenni took Madi to watch mom and dad run. We set up long tables for dinner, and invited Nana & Grandpa. We took some time before we ate and with 3 kernals of corn and a reminder of the early pilgrims, we each went around and told 3 things we were thankful for. It was wonderful and I realize how very blessed we are! While we were digesting we watched a puppet show put on by Uncle Kyle & Aunt Brandee (gotta get those pictures of my other camera too)
The whole weekend was actually all dedicated to being together as a family! We did a service project the next morning, helping Aunt Lee, in Phx clean out her house in prep to moving into a nursing home. Then we had family pictures. That was a comedy of errors. From conflicting clothing colors to babies tired and crying (note to self: have pictures in the morning!) But we did get some good ones. That night we had Jenni's birthday dinner at Native New Yorker and everyone honored her (except the waiter who spilled on her) Can't believe our baby is 17 years old!
The next day Aleja had to come see her boys! We got some good video's of her feeding Madi! She's such a crack up and brings laughter and love to our family!

On Sunday we had a big gift exchange. Since the tradition died this year on the big Brown family side, we thought we'd try it on our littler scale. The sad thing was that CJ & Stephanie and the kids were sick. I think we needed CJ's more competitive spirit there, because hardly anyone took anyone else's gifts. I knew some people wanted other things, but no one tried!

After that we did karaoke, and Jaydon & Gavin rocked out to a song they often hear mom rocking out to; "Living on a prayer"




We also tried to start a tradition that just ended on my side of the family too. Even though it's a little early we wanted to have a nativity, but they are just a little young to fully cooperate. We did stage a few pictures though (Yes, we had 2 baby girls to play baby Jesus!)

That night we had an "end of an era" experience, with our 4th and final Scout getting his Eagle. CJ did make it to that, and all the boys participated in the ceremony. My biggest regret is that Kyle should have given his mentor pin to his oldest brother CJ for the great example he was, 10 years ahead of him to the day. (mom's are supposed to help them think those things through) I'm so proud of them all for working hard, earning badges, learning lots of things, and doing huge service projects to serve our community! They are all fine young men! The scouting program is a truly inspired program and I know it has been a part of them becoming who they are. I love all my Eagle Scouts!

Europe to Colorado

So for catch up time again, I should start with a wonderful trip we made to Germany & Switzerland in Aug/Sept to see baby Madi (Jerry & Jess of course too) It was such a great trip! Sandy (Jess' mom was so wonderful to do some guide touring with us. We went with her and Desmond to some beautiful places. We had lunch at the top of a mountain there in Kandern, where you could see 3 countries (France, Germany & Switzerland) from the top (4 - Austria -on a clear day) They were such wonderful hosts. We had the guest bedroom on the top floor and walked down to a small bakery many mornings. Poor girls who worked there had to figure out what Chuck was ordering. We got to be a part of Madi's baby dedication, and a beautiful luncheon afterwards. We also toured Lake Lucern, where I was 30 years ago with Teresa.(I've got to find my cord to upload the pictures!)

Our next trip was to Evergreen, Colorado last October. We went to the Attachment Experts Therapy Center for some good family counseling. We had hoped to go last summer, but lost our spot and went during October break. We learned so many things about ourselves and how to better get along as a family, as well as see some amazing and beautiful sights in Colorado. I'd never been, so was surprised that Denver was not the rocky mountains I had thought it was. You have to go about 20 miles away to get to the pretty stuff. One day in particular we had elk walking right infront of our cabin! Brandee joined us the 2nd week, when Kyle went home for Student Council committments.


We also went to see my cousin Tami Platt Jeppson who lives on an amazing ranch in Larkspur, CO. We had the best time catching up and getting to know our families.

We had fun days fishing and playing in the snow. Where, yah, Kyle got me good.

Jenni also met a poor little friend. She titled this one
"Does someone need a hug?"

Oh how I've missed BLOGS!

I'm finally on my blog again! I can't believe how long it's been since I've written! That is sad for someone who has finally found the ultimate scrapbook type journaling dream! Just been too dang busy for fun! (yah, play your little violin for me!)

So catch up time! Here are some highlights from the past 10 months:

* First GRANDAUGHTER born March 8 in Germany to Jerry & Jessica: Madison Ryleigh

* Went to Johnson Elementary's 25 year reunion (Yes, Brooke White, pictured here, made an appearance to her old school)

* Highly involved in Mesa High's #1 Drama Program

Said good bye to Booster presiding

* Stake Roadshow - Kyle plays #1 Villan - Haman

* Weddings galore! Neices Nettie & Tia, Gonzales/Bingham in our back

yard & buddy DeeDee's daughter to an Osmond!

* Grandkids birthday parties: Chance, Charlie & Jaydon

(made a trip to UT & WA for two of them!)

* FPED Defense show in VA - showcasing our business to many potential customers

And now Summer! If I could think of a theme for this summer it would have to be

"Summer of Surgeries"

Jenni had her nose fixed from an accident when she was about 2 years old. They told us we had to

wait till she

was over 16, when her nose stopped growing (I thought your nose and your ears never stopped growing) Anyway it was a hard surgery, but she's recovered now and has this perfect shaped nose. Let's hope in the sports she's involved in and and the accident prone girl she is that it stays that way.

Kyle also had his wisdom teeth out. (why do they call them that? don't we want to keep all the wisdom we can?) He wanted me to video him as he came out of the anesthetic so all his friends could see

him. Yah, he was pretty goofy (see FB for one of the videos) He got pretty swollen and laid on the couch for days. He's doing better now, but still has 2 big holes he's trying to keep food out of.

School dances!

Just had to post some cute pictures of Jenni & Kyle and their dates

(Jenni's was Christmas formal obviously, and Kyle's was Prom)

Catching up on Kids

First off, our first born started Dental School, here at AT Still. We're so glad they could stay in state (and even in city!) They had a neat white coast ceremony before he began. It was almost like the graduation ceremony will be, except that they got their student coats, which look just like Dr's white coats! He's on his way! We're so proud of him! Next big news is that they had little Dylin Dee Brown, born one week ago today! He's so precious, and my sweet Stephanie surprised me and let me come in to witness! Wow! 2 birth witnessing this year! It's such an amazing miracle!


Paul is working hard at 2 jobs in Utah, and having so much fun with little Chance. He plops him up on a pillow as he gets ready to play Modern Warfare, and says "let's get the bad guys, Chance!"
Jerry is soon leaving for international adventures. He and Jessica are going to live in Switzerland, for who knows how long? They said just a year or two? I'm holding them to that! I can't go long without seeing that grandbaby! They'll be getting hitched in about 3 weeks, so yikes! Gotta get ready for that!
Brandee just moved out, but not far away, we're so glad! She's got a cute little apartment on Broadway and working hard to pay all her bills now! We still love her to come cook when ever she can!
Kyle just made the musical at school, and we are so excited to see him in that! We have such a great Drama program at Mesa High, and I'm glad he's involved!

Jenni is playing badminton now, and has a great season going. She's on JV, and can really keep great volleys going, and even smash it at times!

Summary of Summer!

Yah it's been too long since I've written! So here is a quick overview of our summer 2010!

Started with Girls Camp. Chuck & I were asked to be camp cooks. A perfect calling for Chuck, but I hate cooking, so I was his assistant. It was pretty fun now looking back! Our most popular dish was Philly Cheesesteaks Sandwiches! YUM! We also took up our solar oven and the certifying girls made peach cobbler in it. It was great to be next to the Brinton's cabin (we got to sleep in it rather than in tents like everyone else - being cooks had it's priviledges!) The camp director (amazing Bethany Wells Rudd) made us these adorable aprons. She made us past camp directors looks bad, with all the cool, cute camp stuff she did.

Our next quick trip was taken directly from girls camp. The bishopric brought Kyle up for the last night with them, then we took off early for Utah to go to Chance's baby blessing. He is the cutest little boy, and he was so good during his blessing. It's amazing to see your son give that blessing and realize that it wasn't long ago, that he was getting his. WOW! (no more tears!)
Skye and her mom put on this amazing luncheon afterwards. Aunt Lynette & Sara came too. My cousin Amy even came later in the day and brought her kids. The rest of the Tolman's couldn't make it. It's been good to see my relatives more often too.

A few weeks later back here in AZ we had a "Skye on Skype" Baby Shower. Modern day tech allowed us to have her and Jana there. She opened a few gifts for us (ones we had taken up to them), then we opened some on this side for her. Her Dewitt cousins came and it was such a blast! We also got to hear her play the harp for us (had some technical difficulties, but still enjoyed it - mostly enjoyed watching Chance enjoy it. He loves his mama's playing)

This summer we also had my 30th Mesa High Class Reunion! Still hard to hear myself say that. I sound so old! We decided to keep it simpler this go around. We had only one big activity on June 12. Some people made other activities that had had smaller turnouts to; Cruising Main the night before (City of Mesa sponsors once a month, and since we did that way back when, why not?) It was hilarious trying to get out of the back of Ralph's truck when we decided to do a Chinese Fire Drill. By the time we got our old bones up, the people from the cab had already gotten all the way around and were ready to take off again! On Sat there was a group of Harley Davidson riders who took a quick trip out of town, and a group of us who went to Peter Piper Pizza for a BYOGB activity (bring your own grandbaby) It was fun to see those cute little ones. Our big event was in the MHS cafeteria, and we only had about 1/3 of the people we've had in the past, but I've realized that only those who really loved high school are going to come now. It was so great to see so many, but sad that when you're in charge you don't get to visit and catch up as much.We found our old Gahtso cup at a city museum and brought that back (our class won it all 3 years!) Our student body pres, John Waldron did a great program, and the decorations were great! Only regrets; we didn't talk about the food fight there in the cafeteria, do our class yell, or even sing Carry On! We are getting senile, you can tell! Seriously someone would point out someone for me and I would think "you mean behind that old guy?" So great to see "old" friends! Class of 80's really great!

Next was a family reunion, on the Brown side. We went up to Cedar City, UT and Paul, Skye and Chance came down to meet us there! It was great fun! We not only saw all the Brown cousins, but we stopped to see my cousins the Bates, new place in St. George. The Kleinman Clan was in charge this year and did a great job on food and activities. Of course we had "Mafia" games late into the night. Brandee came up and got some real drama in that game going! It was so fun to have her up there! The last night we had a talent night show where our Brown gang did a skit to "Once there was a Snowman". You can see from this picture all the cousins showing the snowman tall, tall, tall!

I went straight from there back up the Salt Lake Valley with Paul & Skye because we got word that my sweet Aunt Gayle had passed away. It was fun to travel back sitting in the back seat with little Chance. I stayed with Aunt Lynette and had some sweet times remincing my aunt's life as well as talking about my dad in heaven finally getting a sibling up there with him. The funeral was beautiful and I had another "awakening" watching her children and their love for her and for God, and for the church, even though they are not all active. It was precious time spent with my Aunts Carol, Norma & Lynette, and many cousins. We all went to Gardiner's Village and walked around and had lunch. They are some good people & I love them all. (no pix, left my camera with Jenni)

We had a few other get aways this summer to the cabins of some friends. Missy Gardiner had us up near the beginning and Ralph Deifenderfer in July. It was so nice to get out of the heat here! At Missy's we felt young again, watching dare devil friends cliff dive (Lane in pix), reading our journals from high school, and playing games, but felt old again at Ralph's laying around in hammocks, sitting on the front porch watching the weather & sitting snowbird style all the way home (among other things).

This was also the summer of meeting foreign friends! We finally got to meet our sweet Jessica's parents who came from Switzerland. They are amazing people, who have their own Christian church there. We had a barbeque and sat and talked about their travels all over the world. One of the most amazing things however is the great daugther they raised, and we just love her. She's a great blessing to Jerry. (We have found since then that they are going to be a mommy & daddy, so stay tuned for further announcements & celebrations!)

We also had Michelle Moka from Germany come and stay for a month. We took her to Botanical Gardens & Hole in the Rock, but it was too hot to get out for long. So we decided to take her to CA and see Hollywood, since we had to get Chuck's truck back from there anyway. Brandee stayed and took her to the beach in San Diego too. She is a very sweet girl, who we met through brother in law John, along with her sister Marie.

Another amazing foreign friend story, is that my old 3rd grade pen pal, Marcus Buisman from Austria found me on Facebook! Is that remarkable or what? We've had some good discussions, and he has an amazing memory of 3rd grade and our friends there. It's been fun getting reaquainted!
One more semi-foreign friend tidbit. Stephanie from work got married to her sweetheart in that foreign land of Oklahoma. She will be leaving us soon to go back, and we are heartbroken about that, but are happy for her & Emily! (pictured here with Josie)

So that was pretty much our summer. Sounds crazy now that I look back at it; a lot of fun stuff crammed into 3 short months!

Happy Birthday to me!

I had such a fun birthday! I love birthdays! Never mind how much older you are getting . . . and how that leads to no more birthdays . . . so anyway, I just wanted to see how cheap I could make this birthday, cuz we are so short on $$$. I just wanted to go get a free breakfast at Denny's, sit at the park and watch Charlie, then go see the movie Avatar, which is now at the $2.00 theater! Yah, it would have been so cheap, but my sweet hubby also went out and got me flowers, candy for the theater, and pretty new earrings. We also went to Cold Stone after the movie (only spent .77) and free dinner at Joe's bbq with Whitmers (it's Joe's bday too). Funny we went there cuz Chuck also brought home a large smoked bbq pork! (yah, for MY birthday, cuz that's me, big meat eater) Isn't he so sweet! (thanks Curt!) He just didn't know when to quit! I got to hear from all 4 grandbabies today! (Jaydon & Gavin sang to me) It ended at almost midnight by seeing baby Chance on Skype. He was wide awake and we swear he whispered "Happy Birthday Grammy"!

April Fools!

Got Chuck & Brandee good for April Fool's Day! We have this pesky woodpecker that just doesn't get that our chimney is made of metal. He pecks on it every day and we can hear it in the family room, especially as we're doing scriptures. Kyle & I had been trying to think of some April Fool's thing we could do to them. Just about then they got back from the gym so I said "Guess what happened!" (even at that moment not knowing what I was going to say) The woodpecker gave me the que so I said "That woodpecker fell right down into the fireplace!" They came running over saying "Are you serious?" "Is it still alive", etc. . . . Yah, I got em good!

Baby Chance has arrived!

and just a few days after Aunt Brandee's 20th birthday! He is so precious! Paul & Skye are the cutest mommy and daddy too! It was quite an adventure awaiting his arrival! Skye invited me to come into the delivery room, so when they called and said they were going to induce her we did all we could to get some buddy passes and go! (thanks again Clint!) Chuck just wanted to take off and drive and I guess we could have made it (I think 15 hours labor and it only takes 11 hours to drive) but it was nice to get there in just 1 hour. Jana & I had so much fun being the nervous waiting grandmas. We could not go to bed that night, so drove back and forth to the hospital, and finally got the call at 3:00 am that she was beginning to push. They were such a great team, and Skye hardly made a peep. Also looking beautiful the whole time. (how does she do that? The pearl necklace and her lucky earrings helped) After he was born the had to whisk him away cuz he was having a hard time breathing. They did some tests and found that he had developed a little tear in his lungs on his first intake of breath. They said it's very common especially in premies. (They said he's 3 to 5 weeks early) He also had a little fever and they are giving him antibiotics for it. He'll have to stay a few days later than Skye does. He's got to get home and into this adorable bassinet his mommy has waiting for him!

We didn't get to see much of him, but had a great time hanging out with Kent and Jana and Paul and Skye (when we weren't all catching up on the missed sleep) Finally a few hours before we took our flight back home they let Grammy and Papa hold him. It was so sweet! He is beautiful! Paul & Chuck also gave him a blessing. Thank you Lord for another sweet grandson!

On the road again!

Yes, we were there! Well 2 days after closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, but we were there. Brandee's northern adventure has come to an end. She spent 4 months in Seattle & 2 months in Vancouver, BC. She was ready to come home. She wanted to drive down the coast and we didn't want her to drive by herself, so I flew up (cheap flight on Allegiant) and drove down with her. It was a fun trip, and was good to be with my girl again. This picture is in downtown Vancouver at the outdoor torch they always showed. It was awesome to see some of the places we had just been watching the week before. They had big signs and poster everywhere with those athletes we'd just seen on TV. It was cool to be so close so soon after.
It was kind of hard watching Brandee say goodbye to Brooke, Hue, Stephen & Steph. I'm so glad they've gotten so close. Our last afternoon there we went to a little cafe and had "Fu". It was so good!
After that we stopped at John & Chawna's store and said hello. I had no idea Chawna got braces on, and when I saw her I tried to tell her she had something in her teeth - no idea it was a space! It was pretty funny!

They have all been so good to Brandee giving her that job. She had to do some volunteer for it, but they'll be paying her too. I think she gained a lot working there, and credit's that to Hue and some good business advice he gave her.

After that we went to Nikki & Shaun's and saw the boys and their new house. It's beautiful! I especially loved how she decorated their play room and bedrooms, and the playhouse in the back is amazing built within a cherry blossom tree. We had a fun night with them, which included yummy pizza, skipbo and lots of laughing. I tucked Jaydon in bed and read him a story, then he put 2 pillows on the ground and a blanket and told me that I was to sleep there with him. He then got his little stuffed animals all down off his bed and said his friends had to sleep there too. After a few minutes he started putting them back and I asked why. He said "they don't like the sound you're making". It was so funny! Now if it was Papa sleeping there I could have understood, but I wasn't even snoring! Those boys are so cute.

Then we took of driving down the Oregon coast. It was beautiful!
We thought we'd find a real nice seafood restaraunt and have dinner (nice one, a break from the fast food we ate) but we couldn't find one. We should have stopped sooner, but finally stopped and had the worst dinner ever! Brandee knew it would be when she saw the 24 hour sign. It was nasty chicken friend steak and some stuffed linguini thing. Uugghhh! We had to throw it away and just get a subway sandwich and split it. I told the waitress how awful it was and she just kind of agreed that it was not a popular dish, but no offer to bring anything else, or discount or anything! Still burns me!

So days of driving were fun & frustrating with this girl. Boy can we DEBATE! We ended the trip so fun though. Brandee's friend, Frank got us in to Disneyland and we had the best time! We were only there from 4:00pm to midnight, but that was plenty. I even got Brandee to attend a show, but she still couldn't get me to do Tower of Terror (free fall! no way) We watched Alladin in the big theater in CA adventure side. It was an amazing production. I just love the magic of that place! Afterwards Brandee wanted to drive straight home (she's so much like her dad that way. Talk about back seat driver!) We stayed at a cheap hotel real close and left the next morning. It was a fun trip, and now we're glad to get Brandee closer. She'll be finding a new job and a new place closer to home. She is such a great girl and I love her so much. We really had some good talks and know how much we mean to each other. We are different, but are really trying to understand each other. Together we learn so much more. I'm glad God gave us each other.

Kyle's Eagle Project

Kyle has been working on his Eagle Project for weeks now. It has been an amazing experience. He went to the City of Mesa and they gave him a few options of what he could do. He wanted to paint a house for someone, so they gave us this address. When Chuck he drove to get a look at it, it ended up being Brenda Stewart's house (who used to work for Curt at our office) We wanted to keep it a surprise, but I blew it and said something. She is such a sweet person, who we have really missed. He really wanted to do it then. What a blessing to help out someone you know.

So this young man has been working hard getting friends to come help, making calls for donations, picking up paint from the City, etc. We've still got a few more days of work to do, but we are proud of Kyle for this great project. Brenda is so happy too. Thanks to everyone who has come to help!

Utah Trip for Teesie's Birthday!

I found an amazing rate on Southwest last October to SLC, and without everyone's permission bought tickets for us all to go up for Teresa's birthday. (What did I have to loose? If they couldn't go, I'd go see Paul & Skye and my other Utah relatives 5 times!) But by a small miracle, 5 busy moms were able to get our schedules cleared and we went. It was supposed to be a surprise, but Teresa found out. I knew she would, she could never stand to be surprised (seriously, I remember her finding presents when we were teenagers and unwrapping them, peeking, and putting them back!) It was good she knew ahead though. We were able to really plan some fun things. Here is our itinerary! (we crammed a lot of fun in 54 hours!)
We ate at Les Madeliene's Cafe in downtown Salt Lake (this was a cafe Jill saw on the cooking channel, that had these yummy crescent Eurpoean type pastries).
We went to the SLT Temple (and didn't even get shushed for talking in there) Highlight was sitting across from a mirror in that amazing Celestial room and seeing ourselves squished on the couch there; my eternal sisters!) Then the chocolate began! Teresa took us to this cute little candy shop, near the Capitol. It was expensive, but fun to try all these handmade chocolates.
Getting back to Teresa's place so she could see her hubby who had gotten back from Switzerland on a church trip for 2 weeks (his flight came in about 4 hours after ours) What timing! We kept telling her to go spend time with him. He was jet lagged, so she let him sleep, gabbed with us till the wee hours, then snuck up to be with him. Yah, there was not much sleeping on this trip. (except for Doreen who would lay down and close her eyes and ossmosisly take in our conversations. She really needed this trip; new RS pres and planning her Aubrey's wedding next month)
Then dinner at Bajio's (which I have missed since they closed the one in Mesa)
Then Sunday church with Teresa, where she has told her missionary story about all of us, so it was fun to have her Utah friends come up and already know who we were.

Yummy dinner of meatball kabobs, and opening presents for her birthday. (she had like a million!) They wrap every little thing in different birthday bags, so it looks like they make out a ton on birthdays. Then OD'd on all the chocolate she got, including a big chocolate cake (which Doreen almost ruined by reading the incredients on the label) Yah, there was more chocolate! That night Paul & Skye also came up to see me, and we gabbed for a while. Or at least I gabbed with Skye (poor girl had a bad cold, which seems to last so much longer when you're pregnant) But she looked so cute with her little belly. And Paul talked lots to Rick about web stuff. Missy's daughter, Marin, also came by that night to see her mama. We all have such cute kids!
As we were digesting our chocolate, Rick got his
guitar and played for us, we even talked them into singing together, and Tyler into playing the piano for us, Tiff into playing a song she wrote for the guitar. They are all so amazingly talented!

Next day, we got up and helped with preschool
Valentine stuff. That was fun! (she's such a
great preschool teacher!) Then we
went to Granny Annie's restaraunt, that served these huge breakfasts, along with a huge scone, huge hot chocolates, and huge cinnamon rolls (we each took one home to the fam) We gotta go up there when we go back to Utah. My munchkins would love it! So yah, it was like one big party! I had so much fun (except when I'd think about Kyle back home doing his Eagle project while I partied)