To Benjamin!

Benjamin graduated to Level 2 in swimming this past Friday! Woohoo!!!! After 9 weeks of Level 1 swim classes, Ben is finally moving on to the next stop on his Swimming Journey. I thought this day wasn't going to come for awhile--Ben hated getting his face wet. I'm so proud of him. He doesn't mind putting his head under water. AND! He loves to swim (dog paddle) around the pool by himself with a pool noodle tied around his waist.

It's amazing to me how fast he learns and grows. He's no longer my baby. :( Now he's a great helper, loves to play with Ike, and has an imagination that runs wild. He's a sponge that soaks up every little, trivial and non-trivial thing. Soon he'll be in Kindergarten, then high school, dating, college, getting married. . . *sniff* The cycle of life continues no matter how much--sometimes--I want to freeze time and keep Benjamin and Isaac at this age. :)

A Christmas Poem

I received this in an email and would like to share it with you. I was bawling at the end--that's mainly the hormones fault. However, the sentiment is clear. This poem is a great reminder of the sacrifices the men and women--past and present--serving our country give that allows us to live in relative safety and peace.

Whether or not this current war is right or wrong,
let us always remember them in our prayers.


A Different Christmas Poem


The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.


My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.


The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near ,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.


My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.


A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.


"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"


For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,


I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.
So that your family can sleep without fright.
It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.


No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers"


My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.


Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.


I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..


Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."


"But isn't there something I can do , at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."



Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people
stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed
themselves for us.

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN

30th Naval Construction Regiment

OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq

Bun in the Oven

Could the title mean I have a pastry baking in the oven? (Mmmmm... baklava.)

It COULD... unfortunately for you, I'm not doing an baking at the moment.

If you haven't figured out already with my subtle hints through-out my recent blogs, we're . . .

Well . . . perhaps I shouldn't tell you. Where would the fun be in that?

I'm sure the suspense is killing you.

Unless you've cheated and skipped to the bottom of this post. Cheater!

. . . .






Tom and I want to the hospital today to . . . not have a baby . . . but to get an ultra sound of the baby in my tummy. :D

We are expecting our third addition to the Brown Family come May. Woohoo!! We're very excited. The boys are excited in their own way. Yes, Angela, we seem to keep doing it to ourselves. 3 kids. :) Can you believe that?!?


You're probably wondering: Is it a boy (3 in a row!) or a girl?

(Diddles, I've used the enter key a lot in this post.)

Tom and I looked very hard for that something to show up on the screen. We looked and stared and looked some more. Just to make sure we were seeing what wasn't there. We are somewhat sure we're having a GIRL!!! I am still in shock. Tom and I were so sure this bundle of joy was going to be a boy. So SURE! Well, I guess Heavenly Father had other plans for us.

Let the pink ribbons, blue bows, purple socks, green dresses, and yellow frocks come! We don't have any names picked out. Let alone anything pink. We are wholly unprepared for a girl . . .


But I have till May. . . .

Snow Storm

We had a rain storm on Friday. Little did we suspect Mother Nature had a huge surprise for use Saturday morning. We woke up to this picturesque delight.

The whole valley (and most of Utah) was covered in a blanket of white snow. What a wonderful way to start December!

The boys were delighted. Benjamin LOVES the snow. He enjoys playing in it, but he LOVES to eat it!



We got Ben and Ike sized shovels to help with the driveway shoveling. They had fun! (A good way to instill some work ethic in at a young age as well.)





This is Isaac's second time seeing the snow. He was enjoying every minute of it. He'd mimic Ben around the yard. If Ben shoveled, Ike shoveled. If Ben ate some snow, Ike ate snow as well.

We went to Grammy's home to sled down the hill across the street.

Tom, Ben, and Ike had a lot of fun sledding down the hill. It was a blast watching them trudge up the hill after every run.




Watch them use their saucer-leet skills!

Tom made (with Ben's direction and help) a mini snow family. Ben insisted on putting antennae on each family member.

From left to right: Mama (yours truly), Benjamin, Daddy, & Isaac (he got the one special antenna holder)

Thanksgiving 2007

I hope everyone had a pleasant and yummy Thanksgiving.

I'm glad to report we had a pleasant and yummy Thanksgiving as well.

We enjoyed the day with the Merritts (Aunt Naomi, Uncle Gary, Jane, & Ian), Lora Beth, Anna, and her friend Justin. We had a yummy spread of comfort Thanksgiving dishes: turkey, ham, yummy mash potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts (great with soy sauce and a tad of vinegar!), corn, hot rolls, salad, stuffing, and the MOST important dish to any Thanksgiving dinner--the gravy! The meal was so delicious. I wish I would've eaten more than I did. Just remembering the meal makes me want to go back in time and eat it again. Oh! I can't forget dessert: Pumpkin pie, chocolate swirl cheese cake, an "interesting" apple pie (made by yours truly), and pumpkin cheese cake.

Thanksgiving together as a family.
I am grateful to have such a wonderful family extended and immediate.

Isaac enjoyed his Thanksgiving! His tummy was bulging when he was finally done.

Eat up Benjamin!
I am very grateful for two wonderful boys who remind me each day how very blessed I am.

Justin brought his Wii and Guitar Hero 3 over. Everyone had fun taking turns pretending to be famous guitar artists.

Go Tom! Strum that guitar!
How thankful I am for Tom and his love of music and most importantly for the immense love he has for his family.

Isaac even took a turn 'playing' the game.
Mmmmm... mash potatoes and gravy sounds good right now.

Uncle Gary and Aunt Naomi were kind enough to watch Benjamin and Isaac while Tom, Anna, Justin, Jane, Ian, Lora Beth, and I went to catch a Thanksgiving flick. We wanted to see Enchanted, but of course it was sold out. So instead we saw Bee Movie. It was cute and funny most of the time. Nothing much to say about that movie. :)

Here are some more pictures that made the day even more enjoyable.

Benjamin had fun playing with his aunties Anna and Jane.
He also had a blast playing with Ian.

Row Row Row your boat gently down the stream!
What long legs you have Benjamin!

Here's Anna turning an one eyebrow man into a two eyebrow man!
(Sorry Ian, I had to put this in.)

Even though there are no pictures of the older generation for their proof of enjoying the holiday, I am sure they had as much fun as we had.

The Car Wash Incident

Before I get into the gory details, let me just say how satisfying it is to vacuum out a car. What a major stress relief it is to do detail work for a car. I love it! With that said, on with the story...

Yesterday, I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and get our Trail Blazer washed. On a side note: I was very productive yesterday. I did some yard work, cleaned up the kitchen, did some laundry--end side note. I loaded up the kids into the car and drove to our local Sonic to 'give our SUV a bath.' I decided before hand to take advantage of the free vacuums at the car wash. After the wash, I drove into the vacuum lot and started the ever delightful task of detailing and cleaning out our SUV. Remember, the boys are still with me. I let them loose in the car. Ike had a great time pretending to drive, and Ben had fun helping me. Right as I finished...

Ben yells, "I need to go Pee Pee!" He was holding himself, so I knew he couldn't hold it in much longer. I frantically closed the gate and his door, and ran to open the driver side door to get Isaac. BIG MISTAKE! Do not shut all your doors--with the keys in your purse in the front seat--when a 1 year-old has been playing near the lock button. *sigh* I locked my boys in the car!

I wasn't too worried. I have a smart-almost 4 year-old son who is capable of following directions. I calmly asked Ben to unlock the door. He tried, but somehow Isaac turned on the security alarm. Thus, the unlock button didn't work. Ben at this moment was frantic.

I told Benjamin to manually unlock a door (not in those exact words), he hadn't the patience or the concentration (he was concentrating on keeping his pants dry, bless his heart) to understand what I was trying to ask. So here I was trying to get into the car (running around the car like a chicken without its head) before my 4 year-old would pee all over my newly cleaned upholstery, and my 1 year-old son enjoying every moment of this situation. I felt idiotic, and I'm sure the other people there thought the same thing. 5 minutes went by with me trying to calmly (not succeeding) explain to Benjamin how to flip open the lock, but Ben was beyond the point of reasoning or understanding. Well, a boy can only hold in his pee for so long.

Benjamin was so dismayed when he finally couldn't hold it in any longer. I reassured him that it wasn't his fault, and he did the best he could (from outside the car of course). After his relief, I explained yet again how to manually unlock the door. In no more than 15 seconds, I was able to get into my Trail Blazer and find my keys. Ironic, isn't it? I sat down and had a good laugh. :)

So what's the lesson of this story? Is it don't ever leave your car without your keys in your pocket no matter how close your are to the car (even when you're in it at times)? or Is it always have a potty ready in the car? or Is it life just throws you some really ironic curve balls? or finally Is it there's always an upside to a downside? Whatever it is, I am truly grateful to have such wonderful boys. They bring laughter and joy into my life, and they remind me each day that there is hope left in this world.

When it Rains, it Pours!

Yes, I know, my fourth blog today. I don't know why but there are times when I get into blogger mode and want to document everything; and then there are those weeks where I don't want to do any blogging. So enjoy while I'm in my blogger-zone. :)

Last Saturday, November 17, after a hard day of yard work and watching the BYU/Wyoming Game (BYU won 35-10), we went to an indoor play area called Kangaroo Zoo with some friends. The boys (Tom included) loved it. Kangaroo Zoo has the big inflatable slides and bounce areas. It's a great place for kids of all ages to play when the weather outside is frightful. Isaac felt he was BIG enough to try out the big slides. Fortunately, Tom being the great dad that he his, was able to help Isaac climb (ahem...carry Ike) the bigger toys.

This is towards the end of our evening of fun. As you can see, Benjamin's had enough fun for that evening.

Piano is here!

I'm a week too late, but our piano did come. Let's celebrate for a moment!
Woohoo!!! Yipee!!! Excellent!!!

It's been a joy playing it. It's been more of a joy hearing Tom, Benjamin, or Isaac playing it. Tom even brought his violin from his mother's house to play. I'm hopeful he'll want to play it more. My piano fingers are slowly coming back. I get frustrated at times because my fingers aren't as agile or as fast or as strong as they once were. But nothing a TON of practice can't fix. :)

Again a moment of celebration please:
"Celebrate good times, come on! It's a celebration!"

Alyssa Look-alike?

The question is this: Does Alyssa look like me or do I look like Alyssa?

Standing on our Heads

The title says it all. :) It was only Tom and Anna who attempted to do head stands.
However, the boys loved watching Tom and Anna make their faces turn bright red. (I got a kick out of it as well.)

Music in our home soon...

I'm so very excited for Tuesday!! ...hehe... Why you ask?

My piano is coming....... dum da dum dum DUM!!!!

Woohoo! We got it yesterday. Alisa (who was so kind to help me look... thanks again!!) and I looked at pianos Saturday morning. It was so much fun. I'm glad Alisa was there to help. Without her expertise and ear, I'm sure I would've picked out a dud. It's a 48" Brodmann. Black. Sleek. The sound---to my liking very much. Loud. Deep. Soft when needed. Oooh, just thinking about it makes me want to play.

Isn't it purty?!?

I can't wait for Benjamin and Isaac to play it. They'll have so much fun. Tinkling of the ivories in our home.... I can't wait for that sound!

Twilight Series

Okay, I know I'm four years too late, but here I go anyways. I cannot get enough of the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. The books are one of a kind. Seriously. The series is geared toward young adults, but frankly, I feel anyone any age would enjoy the books. Her writing is refreshing, simple, yet very intense and descriptive. The intrigue is drawing and persuasive, the action scenes are intense, and well Edward is well Edward. *sigh*


Don't laugh, but it reminded me how I felt while dating Tom. I'm hoping while I'm writing this that I'll get over this silly obsession and move on to another book. It's been about 3 weeks since I've bought the series at Costco, and I still can't put it down. :( Help me. When first told about Twilight in the summer, I thought to myself: "Why would I want to read about vegetarian vampires?? It's certainly not my kind of book." As I realized that more and more of my friends read it AND enjoyed it, I finally gave in. I needed something to distract me from my nausea anyways. A good book sounded like the right remedy. It did it's job, and now look where I am.

Here I am, posting a blog about a trilogy--no, soon to be quadropology (is that even a word???)--that really shouldn't have this affect on me. After all, it is about vampires. So if you haven't read them--what till you have the time to start, cause you won't be able to put them down--and go read them! After your done, check out her website: www.stepheniemeyer.com. She has more yummy tidbits on the characters. It gives you a deeper understanding of the interactions of each character.

There. . . my rant is done. Perhaps I can find the strength to go read Les Mis or some Anne of Green Gables. Did I tell you I'm thinking about naming our next son Edward. :)

Halloween!!! Boo!

I hope everyone had a grrreat Halloween. Halloween snuck up on us fast this year. Where did the summer go? Let alone September???? AND can I say how much we love our neighborhood. Our neighbors are so friendly and nice. We got 'spooked' with some nice chocolate truffles. YUMMY! The chocolate was great, but the best part was the warm fuzzy feeling we had--how welcome we felt in our neighborhood. But back to Halloween.

Each week for 4 weeks prior to Halloween I asked Benjamin what he wanted to be. Consistently he would reply, "I want to be ghost. Daddy will be monster. Isaac will be a baby ghost. And you, Mama, will be a princess monster." I wasn't able to make him a new ghost costume. (He was a ghost last year as well.) I resurrected the ghost costume from last year that could have doubled as a KKK ceremonially robe. (The hood was too pointy.) Luckily, it didn't need altering, and Ben's head grew enough to fill in the hood--which in turn didn't make a point. I was unable to get a picture of Ben, but I am awaiting some pics from Jimdy with some of Ben as a ghost.

Isaac was a tiger. A very cute adorable tiger. When asked, he would go, "RAWR!" He loves the candy. I can't wait till they finish the candy.

I was a pregnant lady. Benjamin got a huge kick out that. I couldn't fool him though. He knew it was a pillow and not my real belly.

Tom was a Jedi Knight--so fitting for Tom. Can I also say what a sexy and handsome Jedi he was!

Tom took both boys out trick-or-treating around our street. Isaac didn't do much, just lounged in the stroller while Ben did all the work. Ben did a good job knocking on doors and reciting, "trick-o-treat". He also asked for some candy for Isaac. He's such a great big brother.

We went to Jim and Cindy's (aka Jimdy) home for Halloween Dinner. Cindy made the yummiest sloppy joes. It was great just spending time with family. Lora Beth was a baby. Cindy was CindyLou the Dr. Suess character. Jim surprised us all with this:


Again, sorry for the lack of pictures of Ben and us. I'll post them as soon as I can get them.

A Trip to the BYU Widtsoe Building

For FHE a few weeks ago, we decided to go feed the ducks at the BYU botany pond and look at the fish in the mini aquariums on campus. You'd think the ducks would have flown south by now, but to my surprise the ducks and geese were still there being all nice and fat. Benjamin and Isaac had a fun time throwing chunks of bread. These birdies were very aggressive. If I didn't toss the bread fast enough, some would snap at my shoes. Thank goodness I wasn't wearing my sandals. (Side Note: I LOVE my sandals. I look forward to the snow, but am disappointed I only have a few more weeks--if that--to enjoy my comfy, soft as butter sandals.)






After we finished tossing the stale--not quite moldy, but close--bread to the ungrateful fowl, we went to the basement of the Widtsoe Building. Ben loved the fish. There wasn't anything exotic. They mainly had species found locally here in the Utah (ie carp, trout). There were some lobster and snails and a few sea anemones. It was a definite pleasure to see the smiles on Ben's and Ike's faces.

The First Snow of the Season!

The title says it all. A huge snow storm came through the valley Saturday afternoon. The BYU game against Eastern Washington had to play in this blizzard. The boys had fun playing in the snow the following morning.

Swim Lessons

After waiting a month and half for the Health Department to remove the restriction that kids under 6 years old aren't allowed in the Orem pool due to a Cryptosporidium outbreak, Benjamin finally, FINALLY, started his swimming lessons. (Wooo, that's a long sentence.) The teacher is great, and Benjamin is having a blast! Isaac and I were enrolled in a Mommy-and-me swim class at the same time, but those wearing diapers are not allowed in the pool at the moment. Every time we drop Benjamin off, Isaac wants to go in the pool as well. Isaac has fun playing in the observation room/deck which helps ease his disappointment.

I know it's a bad picture, but there's Ben working on floating with his teacher.

I thought I'd throw these pictures in for fun.

Don't I have a handsome family!!!

Ben took this picture. Not bad for a three year old.

To be Three again!

I think this happened two Saturdays ago. Tom walks through the kitchen and sees some post-its on the wall.

This was definitely a Benjamin work of art. Tom's tack board at work is covered in post-it drawings. Tom asked Ben, "Did you put these here?"

Ben's reply was roughly this, "I did. I colored the wall with a marker. I put up the pictures to hide the line."

Lo and behold, after removing the 'many layers' of post-its and tape, we found the line on the wall. It was very hard to be angry with Benjamin. He is so resourceful. It was such a cute thing too!

Grape Juice Season

I apologize for the lack of updates. Our family was hit with the flu among other things. So time was scarce for me. But don't fear, I am back. :) The October General Conference, a world wide conference held by our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is a marker for many things.
Let me list them one by one:

1. It WAS a marker for the Day-Light Savings change, but don't get me started on that
2. It marks the change in season--drives through the canyon are beautiful at this time of year due to the changing colors of trees
3. A temperature drop, usually.
4. Beginning of the Holiday Trifecta.
   
5. And most importantly, for Tom, grape juice season.

We'd like to thank our backyard neighbors for cultivating such fine concord grapes. And yes, I'm as surprised as you are, we can make grape juice. With lots of guidance from Tom's mom, we were able to can 18-20 quarts of homegrown yumminess.

Tada!!! See us in our Grape Filled Splendor!

The only fear I have is that they aren't sealed properly. I only heard 1 pop out of the 4 jars there. But when testing, they seemed to be sealed.

The boys helped with the harvesting of the grapes. Benjamin and Isaac are great helpers!

Family Home Evening

On most Monday evenings our little family and Grammy get together for Family Home Evening (aka FHE). We have an opening song, prayer, a lesson, and a treat. It's entertaining for us adults to watch the boys participate. Even at three Ben is absorbing sooo much information. Grammy taught us during this specific FHE that we must obey the laws and rules. Her example of laws that we should obey were the STOP sign and the GO sign. Benjamin had a great time playing Red light Green light. As a matter fact, we all had a grrrrreat time playing that game.

Here's Ben and Ike conducting the song, Give said the Little Stream. Benjamin made sure Isaac and he had their 'ductors' (shortened from conductor) ready for leading the music.

To close this post with a bit of a laugh, I thought I would show you Isaac's new 'skill' he learned over this past week. Enjoy!

He graduated from walking in circles to spinning so quickly. Ah, to be a kid again and experience the pure joy in such 'skills'.

Our Soux Chefs

Daddy and son making a breakfast dinner.
Benjamin loves to help Tom or me with any sort cooking.

Benjamin and Isaac had a blast helping make Pigs-in-a-Blanket for lunch one day. We all had a blast. I was at first fearful of the mess this activity might bring about, but I need not have feared. Our little chefs handled the making quite well.

It always amazes me the 'big boy' things Isaac can do.

Trip to Kaysville

I had to post this! We were on our way to Don and Lhyn's home to help lay sod yesterday. We hit normal Friday traffic. So instead of taking about an hour to get to their home, it took us almost 2 hours. Side note: During gridlock in Utah is when I wish we have more than 1 interstate.


Benjamin fell asleep 5 minutes into the ride, and Isaac stayed awake the whole time. It should have been the opposite!

Towards the end our trip Ike started getting bored and began poking Benjamin with the light saber. It was hilarious. This video doesn't do the hilarity justice, but it gives you an idea of what happened for about 5 minutes of the car ride.

The younger one teasing the older one. You don't see that very often!

I also want to add that on Tuesday evening we had this huge, I mean HUGE, thunderstorm! It came from the west and rolled in over the Wasatch Front. Reports from Tooele, Lehi, Salt Lake City, Davis County reported huge trees blown uprooted by over 60mph winds, trampolines ending up in the next door neighbors' back yards, etc... We even had a severe weather warning! That should tell you how cool (and I guess bad) the storm was.
Jim said:

He felt he was on a boat during a storm. (He was in his home in Lehi.) Sheets of water poured from the sky. He thought buckets of water were being thrown at their house.

This picture doesn't capture the looming majesty of the storm, but here it is rolling into our part of Orem. We didn't get much wind, but we did get some loud thundering and rain!

First Day of Preschool!!!

You read it! It was Benjamin's first day of preschool. He loved it. He didn't even wave goodbye as I dropped him off. *sniff* My little boy is growing up. He was so excited to show me what he did, and I was excited to see what he did.

That's a big FISH, baby!

Tom went fishing with his mom, his brother, and 3 of our nephews on Labor Day. They went to Shepard Lake. He caught 3 fish. You can see 2 of the 3 in the picture. That's his biggest lake trout yet!

At the Farm with Uncle Jim and Aunt Cindy

Isaac's binkie goes everywhere with him!

Benjamin loved the ATV ride with dad!

Hang on boys!