2012 A year in review

If you got our Christmas card this year, and saw this blog address on the back, first let me apologize if you got on and I had nothing, also for some of those pictures. Paul wanted to use that picture, but you can hardly see him, and me, you can't miss those knees/thighs. Sorry! So, this has been quite the year. In some ways the hardest year ever and in other ways the most amazing.  God surely has manifested Himself to us, and for His never ending love and comfort we are eternally grateful!
It was a big year for birthdays & anniversaries! 2 new "birth" days; Demi (Paul's) & Logan (Jerry's), and a 50 year old birthday, a 30 year wedding anniversary, and 30 year mission reunion.
I'll just start with the youngest and work our way through the family & the year.

First Jenni, my baby is now 18! I can't believe it! She's been with us 10 years now, and wow that went fast! She has had an eventful year playing tennis & badminton (earned the jackrabbit spirit award), 2 trips to Seattle, had a friend, Jakelle pass away,went on a pioneer trek (where she pushed a handcart, and dressed and lived like a woman in the 1800s - tough stuff), had her first migrane headache (induced by laser tag lights). She is now finishing her first 1/2 of her senior year, and then wants to get her Care Givers Certificate and get a job in a nursing home or care facility.

Kyle worked at Nielson's frozen custard to earn some money for his Student Council NY trip, (he is quite the comedian - check out this youtube video "Kyle Brown 4 contagious things"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwFJpD9Xsoc) He was very busy as the Service Commissioner in stuco, in charge of  Breakfast w/Santa (a community service event) and teacher appreciation luncheon.He and some friends also took a General Conference trip w/dad and stayed at his brother Paul's house in Utah. The biggest thing of his year was Graduation in May!
He is now preparing to go on a mission for our church, and expects the call to come next month. We'll keep you posted.

Brandee had the opportunity to go live in Germany with Jerry & Jessica this past summer. She got to tour many places in Europe, as well as help nanny Madi. Before that she tried her hand at field labor with the family business. She was awesome as a goofer and meeting attender, but it just wasn't her thing. She's home now and working at Flancers. Her employers love her, because she is very personable and a very hard worker (something many people lack these days) It is such yummy food, go see her and try it out!

I've been involved this year in too many activities, as usual. I'm on SAIC counsel at Mesa High as well as Grad Night Chair. Recently both Chuck & I have become precinct committee members. I finally got more involved in Right to Life which I love by doing 40 days for life, where we stand in peace in front of abortion planned parenthood offices. I've missed judging for Speech & Debate this semester. I have been working in nursery, and am now compassionate service leader. Have had fun visiting podiatrist cousin Brian for my plantar faciatis. Another pain I dealt with for 5 months was LA fitness taking money out of our account (if you have a membership, watch it carefully!) We had visitors from Austria, my old 5th grade pen pal, who found me on facebook, came with his family. I also wanted to feel like a kid on my 50th birthday, so I spent it in Disneyland. It was so fun, and was nice of some other "young" friends to come with me!

The next great adventure was for our 30th wedding anniversary. We, Doreen & Lester Stradling, and Jill and Scott Adair went on an Alaskan Cruise! Amazing beauty we saw in God's great earth! As well as seeing the Yukon by train, Glaciers and wild life that took our breath away. My sweet husband of 30 years was so romantic too, as you can tell from this picture. His sweetest line on the trip "I'm gonna find you a bear". I just love my big Brown bear hugger!

Wow, I just realized how many trips we went on this year. I also went to Utah for the 4th of July to see what celebration with Teresa Starr in small town Centerville, UT was like. It was so fun & patriotic! In Sept I went to Switzerland and Germany to see grandbaby Logan come into the world. Right after that I went to meet Chuck in Alaska where he was working. Other fun things we've done is having an Olympics in London party, with lots of good British food, and getting involved in the presidential election. (that was a lot of detail, but this is my journal too)

I've also had fun reading the "Great and the Terrible" series (really prepares you for what's coming!) and Steph Nielson's book, "Heaven is Here". When I finished that book I remember thinking "wow, will our family ever have to go through something hard like that?" It was just a few weeks later that we did.

Chuck has started traveling again for work; California, New Mexico, Alaska, and Japan (he leaves again next month)  He also went to Canada to our x-brother in laws wedding (Shu). He loved that! His fun stuff this year was spending his birthday in Utah for Demi's baby blessing and at zoo with Chance & Demi (that is the best zoo!) He also got to attend his 30 year mission reunion, and loved reminiscing with many old mission buddies. He has been Elder Quorum president at church for 3 years and recently got released. Some of his pains this year have been much dental work done by soon to be Dr. C.J. (who loves inflicting this on his dad) Also too many funerals; Uncle Phil, Uncle Karl, and our sweet little Dylman.
The business growing, and finally getting out of the "red". We have been able to offer ins. benefits now, and have added a new secretary (after a nightmare one) & marketing dir. We are so blessed to work with some of the best people ever.

Now for the birds that have left the nest:
Jerry & Jess - have a new addition; Logan Desmond Brown. Born in Sept. He is the spitting image of his daddy when he was a baby. I seriously have had flashbacks when I hold him. They gave me the greatest birthday present (a few months later) by letting me come and see his birth. I have the sweetest daugther in laws ever! They have all let me witness a birth now. Jerry & Jessica plan on moving back here in the spring of 2013. We are excited for that.
Paul & Skye - also got  a new addition in February; Demi Brown. They continue to work on their awesome house. Another addition is a room in the basement so we'd have a place to sleep when we come over! For the 4th of July they had a great barbeque (on Paul's new grill)and their beautiful back patio. The Halloween picture on our card has to be explained. The kids costumes were just too cute; Incase you couldn't tell, Demi was a fluffy bunny, and Chance was Carl Fredrickson from the movie UP.

CJ & Steph - I know many of you are wondering how they are doing. They are just incredible, and are amazing examples to us of faith. They are doing awesome things for our community, donating to various charities, all having something to do with Dylan. They took some of the money that you sweet friends and family and others have given to them and are giving back. They have helped an animal shelter, because Dylan loved animals so much. It was funny that the people asked if they'd like to adopt an animal since they gave, and they both resounded "NO, thank you" (it was ONLY Dylan who liked them so much) On his birthday they gave lots of food to Care Partnership, that helps the needy. For Christmas they have chosen a Christmas angel, a 2 year old boy, and plan to start this tradition every Christmas. They have a special Dylan tree near their front door. I will cut and paste just a little of what Stephanie wrote on her blog titled "We can do hard things";  "Our world came crashing down when our precious 22 month old son was killed. We spent the next week doing things we never thought we would. With much help from family, friends, amazing ward members and tons of community outpouring we managed to plan a funeral service and bury Dylan's body in his finally resting spot.

My heart is full with love for my Savior and Father in Heaven. I do not know why Dylan's life was not spared, but I do know that he was needed and if it hadn't been that night in that way it would have been another night in another way. Dylan was not meant to be on this earth for long. His spirit was simply "too pure." In the coming years I hope to do all things pleasing unto my God to return to my son and be united as an eternal family."

Nikki & Shaun - our other adopted daughter and family. They have been able to come down from Washington many times this year, which has meant so much to us. Jaydon & Gavin are getting so big, and are playing many sports and recently were in a wonderful Christmas play that we got to watch through live feed.

As we have the year draw to a close, I must say that we treasure each other in a deeper way. We know how fragile life can be and are kinder to each other. It was wonderful that we could celebrate an early Thanksgiving together, when Papa got back from Japan. It filled my heart with JOY to be around these great people that God has put in my family! With all the service we've witnessed this year, We've decided to try something new this Christmas. We're going to go with some friends to feed the homeless downtown Phoenix. The kids at home are excited. They have such good hearts!

We love you all and wish you the Merriest Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love and treasure one another!

 

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?"