Just Another Day in Paradise

This year Chad's sister got married a few days before Thanksgiving so we got to spend a little extra time up in Caldwell, Idaho during the Thanksgiving break. Thanksgiving was yummy as usual and we enjoyed seeing family that we haven't seen for awhile.
One of the highlights of going to Grandpa Brown's is the ride in the wagon pulled by the tractor. The kids love it and ask for a ride every time we go up there. The week went by way too fast but, it was great to get away for awhile.

This year for Halloween we decided to do the Three Little Pigs theme. Brynlee didn't know if she wanted to be a pig at her school party though, can't say that I blame her. She decided that she would be sleeping beauty for school and then join the boys after school as a pig. I love to dress up the kids and the husband, but I do have to say that I am not a big fan of dressing up myself. It turned out to be a day full of fun tricks and way too many treats.

Brynlee in her school parade.

The annual Trick-or-treating at daddy's work

...and just before we head out to trick-or-treat

Dallin is getting the courage to start walking by himself now. He wants to keep up with his brother and sister so bad!

We took family pictures last weekend up in Logan. It was beautiful up there in the fall. We had a good friend take our pictures for us and I was very thrilled with the results. Here are a couple pictures that we love. Many thanks, Steve.

So after I picked up Brynlee today from school, I asked her what she did today. She said, "We got to go to art today and I made a picture of a pumpkin and some ghosts and we even got to color our pictures with pregnant markers."
What are pregnant markers?
It took me a minute to realize that she meant permanent markers. It definitely was my laugh for the day. I thought I would share it since we have had nothing exciting to post about lately.

I totally thought that I posted this and saved it until I got the pictures in the computer, but apparently I just thought I did. So this is a little out of order. Chad's birthday was on the 18th of September. He turned thirty-three. We celebrated by taking the kids to eat lunch with him at the office and then we went to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse, our favorite steakhouse, and then came home and watched a movie. Exciting, I know. I guess when you are gone away from home a lot, sometimes it feels good to just be home.
Happy Birthday Champ!

My little boy turned three today! He is such a character. Most of the time when we would ask him how old he was when he was two, he would say three. We were constantly assuring him that he was not three but two. Now you ask him how old he is and he says two. Go figure! Anyway some of the things he loves to do are:
-Tag along with big sister and her friends
-Play with trains and horses
-Play outside in the dirt
-Go on 4-wheeler rides
-Tease mom
-Wrestle with dad
We are so glad that he is part of our family and keeps us laughing
Happy Birthay MaCade


He thinks it is so funny when people sing Happy Birthday to him. It cracks me up to listen to him laugh.

I wasn't going to post this but it makes me laugh when I think of it, so I thought I would share it.
We have been telling Brynlee that she will learn how to read once she starts Kindergarten. Well, when she got home today, her dad asked her how she liked her first day of school. She replied,"I liked it but they didn't teach me how to read."
What is our schools coming to these days, not teaching our children to read in one day. What is up with that! ( I am afraid it is going to take a little longer than a day to learn how to read my cute little girl.)

Brynlee had her first day of big kid school today. It still seems a little wierd to me that I have a kid big enough to go to school. How do they get so big so fast! She has been anticipating this day for a long time. Everytime we would pass the school she would say, "There is my school, can I go there yet?" She is a little sad though, that she doesn't get to ride a school bus. We live too close to the school. I hope that she continues to be this excited about school and learning as she gets older.
Brynlee, we are so proud of you and good luck in school this year.

Today is our nine year Anniversary. It is a fun time to reminisce about where life has taken us this far. Looking back, I feel like we certainly have had a lot of fantastic times together and I am anticipating a lot more ahead of us. I can't imagine what my life would be like without my best friend by my side through it all. I definitely feel like I got a better deal than Chad did.
So, to commemorate nine years, here are nine reasons why I love Chad:
1- He is Hot! (of course that is reason #1)
2- He can make me laugh when I start to get too serious about things.
3- He is very optimistic. (which I am not)
4- He is good at surprising me with little things.
5- He picks up after himself. (LOVE THAT, especially with three kids)
6- He is an excellent dad.
7- He has a strong testimony of the gospel.
8- He is pretty handy and is not afraid to work.
9- And of course, I can't help but love that I am the only girl he has ever kissed.
Love ya, Chad and Happy Anniversary.

This weekend we went camping up American Fork Canyon with all of Chads co-workers for thier annual company party. Chad's parents have come down the last three years to cook for all of us with thier big cook trailer so, thanks to them and a great menu we ate very well.
We decided to take the kids on a hike up to a lake and well, it ended up being four miles round trip. Brynlee did excellent only a few complaints near the end, MaCade on the other hand, didn't make it fifty yards before he wanted to be carried. Thank goodness for backpacks and a very strong dad! Other than getting rained on off and on it was a pretty fun weekend.

Dallin had his first birthday today. I can't believe it has been a year already. It makes me realize how much I should be cherishing these years that my children are little. Time goes by way to quickly. He has been such a good baby and we are so glad to have him in our family. He is just happy to be here and content with whatever we are doing.
When our kids turn 1 we make them their very own cake and they get to dive into it all by themselves. Out of the three, Dallin has been the only one that has just dug in with both hands from the get go. The other two were just a little hesitant at first.

We went on a road trip to see Crater Lake,some of the Oregon coast, the Redwood forest, Donner's Pass, and Lake Tahoe. It was super fun but I think I will wait until my kids can understand what "A really long time in the car" really means to do a road trip like that again. They actually did pretty good considering their ages, it was me that got annoyed with entertaining all the time. It was worth it though to spend time with one another and to see their expressions and their excitement when we got to the ocean and the redwoods.

The Brown Family Reunion was held in Garden Valley, Idaho this year. It is a beautiful area up there, but it was sooo HOT! It was a good thing there was a river to play in next to the campground because that is where we spent most of our time, that or spraying oursleves with squirt bottles in the shade. We did enjoy spending time with family though.
Brynlee and her cousin Mira made a flower cake for us.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Dallin was much happier when we stripped him down and kept his hair wet.

Brynlee and MaCade relaxing in the shade.

All the kids enjoyed the fun games that were prepared for them. Thanks, Karen, Elaine, and Degen

We have had a couple firsts this week.
Brynlee learned how to ride her bike without training wheels all by herself. We were at Grandma's house and she picked up a small bike and just kept trying to ride around. After awhile she came busting through the door with a beaming smile and said,"Mommy, Mommy come and watch something!" So we all went outside and she proudly showed us that she could ride her bike. I am so proud of her because secertly I was thinking she wasn't going to even try to ride without training wheels for another year. It is amazing what kids can do once they are determined to do it.



Dallin finally started to crawl! Okay, okay maybe that is not so exciting because now I have to keep my eye on him a little more closely, but I was kind of getting worried about him coming up on a year and not crawling so now I can rest at ease.

We went up into the Uintah Mountains to go fishing and hiking. The scenery was breath taking, everywhere you looked there were green pine trees, apsens, lush green meadows, and lakes.


It was the first time we have taken MaCade fishing and he was so excited to go, but it definitely was short lived. Chad set up the fishing pole for him and helped him cast it, then MaCade watched it for about two seconds, put the pole on the ground, and started throwing sticks and rocks into the water.

Then there was Brynlee, Grandpa helped her cast her fishing pole and she sat on a rock patiently waiting. She even whispered when she talked so she wouldn't scare the fish away.

Dallin of course was just happy to be there and be outside.

It started sprinkling rain on us so we decided to take a hike to see some more lakes. It wouldn't have been a bad hike but the misquitos ate us alive. They seriously were swarming us by the millions NO JOKE! We did make it back to the truck alive and the rest of the weekend was super fun!

I love to observe these kind of moments.

There is something about watching Chad and the kids interact with each other that I love. He is so fun with them. It's no wonder that they think dad is so much cooler than mom.

and here is a "just because" picture that I thought was cute.

This last weekend we got together with the girls I have been friends with since high school. We went up on Diamond Mountain and stayed in a cabin. We usually get together every once in awhile for lunch, but this time we decided that we would invite the husbands and kids to come along and make it a family event. The weather was perfect and there was lots of roaming ground for the kids to play and explore. Thank you, Erin for arranging it and letting us stay at your family's cabin. We had a great time and can't wait until next time.



One of the stops we made along the way was a place called Jarvie's Ranch. It is a historical site and they had lots of festivities going on for Jarvie Days. Chad decided to race the kids in a wooden horse race. My favorite was when Chad would take the corners and MaCade would go flying.