This Week

Wow what a week!
Monday- Labor day.  we worked on the playhouse Yeah. The kids wanted the slide inside and Dave is making it happen. We are excited for the playhouse. The kids painted the tramp stairs, thing outside and picnic table a bueatiful blue. It was fun to work hard together as a family. Naomi loved to paint and was proud of herself
Tues- Brianna had a volleyball game and rocked it, she is setting for her team. I think she got all of her serves of, set great and played her hardest. I love that she always gives it 100% seriously I don't care as much how good she does (even though she is so good); I care more that she gives it 100%.   I am proud of her happy attitude. she worked sooooo hard this summer and has really gotten better settings, hitting, serving and passing.  She could have played on the A team but the B team needed a setter, so she said she would set. It was not an easy decision for her, since she is so competitive I am sooooo proud of her for praying and being a team player. She is amazing and sees the big picture. Wow what an example. Go Bri

Naomi's teacher called me and said she is doing great. I love it. Kyle has a real gift to be friends with anyone. This week

Summer 2015

Kam loved camping

*Father & son-  liked doing the horses and finding bones. We got to go in the cows pen in the wagon, he catches wild cows I also got to feed a calf and. It sucked on my finger (Kam)  Loved hiking; and plaing (ky)

*Rigby lake swimmings (Ky); inviting people over and doing the fire (bri); Doing the Kayack (Kam); finding seashells(na) Fun to have friends over to(Dave) Millions of memories (mom)

*Granite It was fun to go swimming, be with family and have scones, crossing the cold creek, and eating a gross bug for $40. (Brianna); Playing with ethan and the hammocks, lake swimming (ky); swimming with no life jacket in 8 ft water for the first time (kam); Swimming no life jacket (Naomi)

*Ririe- I loved playing with Mckinnley and those guys (ky); I liked watching dad tube (mom) I liked boating and fishing (na, Ky, kam)  Tubing and fishing (Bri)

 

*Palisades cabin

I liked going to the family reunion this summer and hanging out with avery and getting to know her better (Cabin @ palisades)Bri

*Playing with Jonah, and seeing Marks family (Ky)

*Fun to see my brothers (Dave)

*Coloring with Parker (Naomi)

*Shaving cream fight

 

Dales Cabin*

Hot  tub & cousin (ky) hot tub and late nights (Bri) Spending time with my cousins playing games (kam) hot tub & grandmas bucket (na)

 

West Piney

Going down slide & playing with my friends (Ky) loved the slide (Na) the slide (Kam)

 

Lagoon (12 times Brianna and Kyle  10 times mom and kam)

Loved Canbial and spending time with my family,  wicked, wild mouse spider, going with my friends train, sky ride, rocket, hydrolouge I liked everything there (KY); I liked when it started raining really hard and got to go on the log ride tons and tons (Dad) my favorite was spending time with my family and the log ride, I liked the train( Kam) Naomi conquered the haunted house and was so proud of herself.  I liked going with my friends (Bri) It was fun to cook on the grill (dad) egg drop & lady bug (Na) Draculas castle with grandma (Bri). When they almost had to use a tractor to get grandma out of a car ride with na. (Kam) I love our smart water pounchos, going in april when it was freezing, and going on water rides. Running from ride to ride and laughing (cackling); watching so much joy in my kids face Naomi snuggling on grandma at lagoona beach. And hiding under the rain poncho.

 

*Brianna dressed up like a cow and won chick-fill-ya

*Library

*boise- for nates mission

*Kris and Josh got married

Dad- This summer was fabulously fun and fast

Brianna- This summer was super crazy, fun, and blistic (crazy and awesome)

Kam- Boating was fun; catching a fish was fun, getting wiped with crazy tube rides was fun; waterpark with grandma was fun. Watching pacific rim.

Naomi-  I love when I went camping with my family; lagoona beach; I love Brielle I love brianna

Kyle- Watching Jurasic world ,and texas rhode house the summer was awesome, fun crazy and the funnest summer ever

Mom- This was a magical summer. I feel so blessed to have made the memories we made. Words can’t even describe how incredible it feels to be a mom of such great kids. When summer began this year we decided that we wanted to get season passes for lagoon. Wow how fun. We ended up going down there 9-12 times. Everytime was so fun. I am like a little kid when it comes to lagoon.Dave would take the two little ones and I would go with the older ones. The boys love all of the rides which is so fun for me  and Brianna conquered her fears at the first of the summer she could only ride bombora but by the end of the summer she rode everything with the exception of rocket. I loved Naomi with her map and she ran all over the park from ride to ride. Especially lady bug bop. I loved going with the millers and having sweaty armpit high fives.  I loved watching Dave with the kids he loves being with his kids. (he was even willing to ride cannibal and was sick all day) I loved going with my kids’s friends they have amazing friends and it was a blast to be with each of them. I loved going with mom yesterday and watching how excited Naomi was to be with her. Talking , missing the turn off for Pocatello, and eating 10 lbs of sugar. I loved our Lagoon routine drive down ; rides for 2-3 hrs. ; lunch; lagoona beach for a couple hours; rides for another 3 hours lots of ice water, grab dinner and head home. I feel more in love with each of my kids as I spent time doing lagoon activities with them. The weather was always perfect and I felt we were truly blessed. Camping was another amazing event, we could pack in less than 30 minutes and would be out the door for an adventure. Our kids were awesome workers.

 

Another Great week

Boy I love my kids. This week was another one full of fun. On Monday I got a call from Dave the red Toyota finally died. So I went down to Burley to help him tow it to the junk yard. It has been a good car we got it for cheap because Dave runs the wheels off of his car. He put at least 80,000 miles on it since we bought it. So it has been a pretty good little car. Brianna said she was glad it died before she got her license but seriously it has been great. Towing it was another story though. Wow it was so scarey. We had a 20 ft tow rope, and had to go 17 miles down the highway. My hazard lights went out so I was terrified the whole time. Dave called me and kept encouraging me. We made it to the junk yard and headed home. So good by little red car. Sure glad we put a new tire on it Saturday. I was proud of our kids, when the car died they had no problem holding down the fort at home while I left for 5 hours. They are so good at pitching in.

Wednesday we camped at Rigby lake with the Maxfields. It was another great day. Melissa, Brianna and her friend and I rode scooters around the lake. I totally felt so young and it was a blast. Brianna has some awesome friends just like her.  Everyone kyacked, watched a movie and just had a great time.

On Thursday I had the opportunity to go to the temple with Brianna and her friends. It was so great. She has such good friends. They spent the day hanging out, eating pancakes and then we went to the temple. After the temple we went to dollar store and had secret sisters. Way fun

On Friday last week we spent the night at grandma and grandpa's since dave was at scout camp. after a couple of fun episodes of America got talent and a good night rest. Naomi, Brianna and I went shopping for school clothes with grandma. I asked Naomi if she wanted to come if Grandma wasn't coming and she said Brianna I need your wisdom  what should I say. So cute she loves grandma. They found some serious cute outfits. Naomi loves leporad print pants and scored on an outfit. Brianna found bright happy yellow pants. and a cute polka dot shirt.

This Friday we went boating with Grandma and Grandpa, we had hot dogs and another great time. I recently lost 40 lbs. and was able to slalom again. So fun. The kids all took a wild tube ride. They love to have grandpa pull him. He has been boating for a lot of years and is really good at keeping the rope tight and giving them a good whip. Kyle tried to ski, I think he will pop up pretty quick next time he tries. He is so daring and fun to watch. Kameron caught a fish on the dock, Hammers shared a dock and where fishing and he caught the first fish. He was so excited we packed it up in a pringles can and brought it home. He was going to save it to fertilize the garden but I think trixter our cat got it. Brielle loves her grandpa and was so happy to be with him on a boat all day.

Dave got a new mower this week and it is a nice one. All of the kids love it, it mows the lawn in half the time. Kyle told us not to use the blue mower because it was making a weird sound, he is so good at fixing things and realizing when things don't work right (our little engineer) anyways, he looked and told Dave the belt was off of it. Sure enough it wasn't on there correctly. It blows my mind how smart he is to be able to figure things out.

Kameron is my math whiz and so today I taught him yatzee, he is constantly thinking up math problems and solving them. For example today my mom said she is saleing her car. The kids asked how many miles are on her car. I said I don't know. The first question Kam asked is how many miles does it take to get to town? I am sure in his deep thinking he wanted to figure out if she goes to town this many times it has this many miles on it. He is constantly trying to figure things out.

Brielle is cracking me up lately. We were playing the game signs with the kids the other day, and we heard the tub running. I went to check on her and she was in the bathtub, Diaper on drain down and water running. She was taking a bath. She also vacuums all of the time with the popper vacuum and gets in the sink to try to do her own hair. If she is hungry and I don't get to her fast enough she gets in the pantry and tries to take care of it. She laughs a lot and still love the song Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.

this Week I am thankful for my families health. For bueatiful days everytime we hang out as a family. I am thankful for the Sabath, we have started turning off t.v and it has really made it a special family day. I am thankful for a husband that does his calling and loves us. I love watching him play dodge ball with the kids, or try to fix things for us. I am thankful for my parents who are involved in our lives and love us. I am thankful for the neighborhood we live in the people here are so great. I am thankful for the friendship I have with each of my kids. They teach me so much. Each of my  kids are unique and teach me. I am grateful for the blessing of tithing.

Summer 2015

Wow summer at the Brown's is a magical time to say the least, and this summer has been nothing short of that.  School got out late june 5th and is scheduled to start Aug. 26th. So we only had about 11 weeks, but we have been cramming it all in. We always plan our summer out in about March so we don't get to the end of the summer and say oh man I wish we would have!

We started off the summer in April. Our big thing this year was lagoon season passes. So for $100 a piece we bought passes. We go once a year anyways but decided that we would forgo the playmill, swimlessons and any extras so we could get lagoon passes. It has been a blast. Kyle and Kameron love to ride everything wicked, colasses, spider, roller coaster etc. So the Boys and I just run from ride to ride. Brianna was a little more cautious at the first of the season (She is scared of heights) but by about trip 3 she has conquered those fears and rides everything with us to. It is such a blast. Naomi is all smiles as she ride bombora and the dragon. She loves it to. Brielle is a kind baby, and is patient in all of our summer adventures. We try to take her on a train ride at the end of the evening. On top of the excitement of the rides we all love lagoona beach. Who doesn't love water slides and a lazy river. Again Kyle rides the speeds slides and everything. Kameron can go down the innertube ride about a million times. Brianna has enjoyed it all including watching her friends flirt with the lifeguard. She has her own crush. Brielle and Naomi love to ride around the lazy river Brielle rides on my feet. Naomi also loves the slide for kids. It is so much fun and so magical. We have spent 4 days of magic there already this summer and plan on at least 4 more. Our neighbors and friends the millers have bought season passes there to so we have enjoyed it with them there to.

**Next was a camp trip with Maxfields by rire lake. They taught us a new game with balls, have a camp fire, boated (Dave tubed) and just had a great time.

**We got to spend a couple of days with Farrah and mom at dales cabin. Where we hot tubbed and had a blast making memories with cousins.

**We've had a few rigby lake trips. With our new kyacks.

**This year was a Brown reunion at a cabin in Island park. Mark and his family came out and it was a great time. There was tons of food, a shaving cream fight, slip n slide, kyacking, talking, getting to know you games never have I ever, two truths and a lie,  games,  laughing, and back to our house for a sunday  homemade fries and burgers. It was great to be with them all again and fun to watch parker and Naomi and Brianna and avery and parker. What a great experience with everybody.  Jason's friends was very generous to let us use the cabin.

**We camped at Rigby lake and invited about 4 families to come with us for smores in the evening. It was so much fun that Dave reserved it for 5 more times this summer. Our ward has so many people moving in that we can't keep up, so we will invite the families and start getting to know them!!

SHE IS FINALLY HERE!!!

It has been over three weeks since Brielle Laurel brown entered our life, but I have felt like I needed to journal it from day one. For quite a while I have felt there is another little spirit that is suppose to be in our home. Essentially I felt like our family wasn't complete. I remember Laurie telling me a few time she thought there was another little boy up there for us.  My mother had also mentioned it a couple of times. I  have felt for sure that there was another little one. So on Easter I told Dave that we were pregnant. I can't believe how quickly the time came. I was sick at first I remember one day throwing up and Naomi was laying on the bathroom counter making some funny comment. I always tried to tell my kids that it was a good sick. Because my kids are such a blessing. But I for sure didn't feel very good. I slept a lot but made it through. My kids and Dave were very sensitive to my needs and took good care of me the whole time. I am blessed to have such a supportive family. Everyone was so excited they would have me look up what fruit would compare to the size of the baby, Brianna would measure my stomach and we were all just supper excited. I loved it the baby was all of ours she was going to be part of our family. I made sure to say our baby in my stomach not my baby. After our ultra sound we had a scare. They thought the baby was measuring to small so we had to go to a high risk doctor. It ended up that the machine was off, but not knowing what would happen to this little one terrified us and made us that more anxious to have her in our home. At the second ultra sound we had them print a picture of the baby and put it in the envelope. We brought the envelope home and to our surprise found out we were having a girl. I was in total shock. I have felt like there was another one out there but always assumed it was a boy, so a girl made me so emotional and excited. I would have been excited for a boy to.  The kids made us a special lunch the day of the second ultra sound because they knew we were worried about the baby. It was really neat of them. Ok on to November the 8th. I had been nesting a few week prior as every mom does but that day I was finishing up my nesting by putting up Christmas decorations.  Dave pulled everything out and the kids and I spent the evening putting it up. It was fun to do it with them. I was exhausted. We tucked the kids in bed and I looked around the living room and thought holy cow it looks like a bomb blew up. There was decorations everywhere. Dave and I decided to relax and watch a movie. I set for a few minutes and then Dave mentioned that it was Dan's birthday was the next day. I panicked and realized I had to kind of clean up because all of our kids are born on relatives birthdays. I knew she wasn't due until the 21st but I still cleaned up a little.  Exhausted I retired to bed early. Dave came in around midnight and I woke up when he got in bed. I was a little wet and thought huh that's weird did I pee the bed. I got cleaned up and thought I am leaking that is really weird. I called the hospital and they told me that is possible you can leak. So I continued cleaning up Christmas decorations and putting them up until about 2.30 in the morning. I didn't want to push it to much because once I hit a 4 I have a tendancy to go really fast.  I woke Dave up who must have still been asleep because he said what are we going to do with the kids. Why don't you drive yourself and if your are leaking call me. I laughed and assured him I was in labor and he needed to drive me to the hospital. He quickly woke up and was ready to go in minutes but seemed like seconds. We heaeded to the hospital and Doug came over to be with the kids. Sure enough it was the morning of the 9th Dan's birthday and the baby was coming today! Uncle Dan was a great person to share her birthday with. We checked in and they told me I could have an epidural right away. I decided to wait a while. I feel guilty if I feel no pain. We called mom and dad around 4. and around 7 I got an epidural . My blood pressure drops with the epidural so I passed out this time I remember thinking holy cow I feel horrible and then waking up with oxygen and feeling a little better. Dave's friend John was the anethsiologist and did an amazing job staying right with me and giving me medicine to keep my blood pressure up.  They kept checking me and I was not diolating past a 3. My placenta had torn and they were starting to get concerned. They decided to turn me on my stomach around 1 and about an hour later we were ready to push. The doctor had went back to his house to work on his lawn so I had to wait a few minutes. From the time he came in until she was out, was about 5 to 15 minutes. He said the cord is wrapped twice around her neck. Mother insticts kicked in and I was going to do anything to get her out fast. It was a miriacle that we didn't have to C-section and that she was ok. I have had 3 doctors ask if she was C-sectioned baby because her head is so round. I said no we just got her out fast. Truly though I had a blessing during these hours and I felt like heavenly father was watching over us and we brought this little girl into the world. Ok I am getting emotional. I thought a lot about Laurie and Dennis at this time, Laurie always wanted to come to a birth and I wondered if she finally got her wish. I hoped with all my heart that she was there watching the birth of her grand baby. My heart was tender as I knew that Brielle was with grandma and grandpa before she came to live with us. I imagined her bouncing on Dennis's leg or better on his stomach as he laid on his side in heaven. I know each of us had a guardian angels with us on earth. I felt automatic love for Brielle the second she was born and I couldn't wait to hold her. When you have a child you want to share them with all of your loved ones, but you also selfishly want to hold them all to yourself. I was grateful to have Dave in the room by my side as we shared in this sacred experience together. I didn't hear Dave say this but my mom had just arrived at the hospital and she said she heard Dave say SWEET when she was born. I love the feeling you get the second you deliver a baby and you look at your husband. The feeling is unreal and so wonderful . I loved looking in his eyes for those few seconds no words have to be said. But so much is felt. I have gratitude to have another child with him. He is an incredible father and with serve Brielle well in this life. He loves his kids 100%, he is a worthy priesthood holder and takes good care of them and me. So to look him in the eyes knowing what life can be based on who he is. Is always so exciting.  On to the moment I saw the baby I may be biased but she was bueatiful I layed her right on me and shed a few tears. It was a picture perfect moment. Except that the doctor kept talking about his yard. She stayed awake for about 5 hours. It was so fun to hold her. I held her then Dave, then back to me then mom and dad came, then our kids with aunt Farrah.  Naomi was scared I was hurt and didn't know how to help me. Kyle rubbed my feet, then Naomi and Kameron took turns. It was so fun to share her together. She was finally here all 6 lbs 9 ounces of her. With perfect petite little features. This journal entry will need to be continued because I need to go take care of baby now!

Memory Hoard Monday July 4-11

My sister-in-laws blog every Monday and they call it memory hoard Monday. I think that for a non blogger it is such a fantastic idea. It is a great way to keep a journal and not be to overwhelmed by it. It was another great summer week. I love summer we play hard and work hard. We finished helping my dad side his house so there was a lot of extra time last week.

Monday- Dave wrote about the 4th and it rocked. We love camping on the fourth. Kyle and Brianna took swimming lessons earlier this summer and they did awesome at the pool. Kameron likes to just set on the edge. Grandma and Brianna made awesome rice krispie stars with M&M's on them, the food was delicious and the company even better. Dad and Dave played horse shoes and the kids played on the playground. I am with Dave it was impossible to not think about Laurie and Dennis the whole time we were down there. The fireworks were so beautiful and every purple one. Brianna and I thought of Grandma. Kyle and Kameron are Dave's main little man when it comes to hooking up the trailer. They are better at it than I am. I love it.

Tuesday- Came home forgot about gymnastics and just relaxed.

Wednesday- Farrah and I wen out to Rigby lake. I love that place, there is a slide in the middle of the lake now. Kyle, Brianna and Ethan swam out to it a few times and loved it. All of the kids had such a great time. This is usually a weekly tradition. Kyle is begging to go camping there since he was sick last year.

Thursday- This day was a special day to us. It was Lauries Birthday and we wanted to do something to remember her. Brianna prayed the night before that we she would feel Laurie with us on her birthday. When we woke up in the morning. Brianna and Kyle went outside and there were two purple flowers in our garden, by night they bloomed. It was a little crazy because we did not plant flowers in our garden. Last year we did, I thought they were annuals. But we received a couple of special purple flowers for that day. Brianna felt she received an answer to her prayers. That night we got purple balloons and wrote notes on them and sent them up to heaven. Then we went out for a snow cone, Dave and I got Red Raspberry, since this was Lauries favorite and he got Dave a snow cone machine for his birthday and tons of red raspberry flavoring. We also ate salmon patties. Brianna has been begging for them and thought it was fitting to eat them on Lauries Birthday since she was one of the only people who would make them for Brianna. I was going to make Ghiridilla Brownies and take some to Dan and Shalee, but I can't find the mix for them. I guess I will have to go to Costco next time I go to Boise. Sorry you didn't get any Shalee but we were sure thinking about it.

Friday- Was Grandma Carlson's birthday. Another great day. We went to breakfast, then down to Shelley for a great party. The kids played outside in the backyard with all the cousins. Mom is such an amazing person. I am really blessed to have had the influence of two great moms. My mom and Dave have a great relationship. I love it but mom always says your sweet husband. So that night Dave did a couple of dishes and mom gave him the credit for doing all the dishes. It kills me. She seriously adores and appreciates him so much. I corrected her and told her Dave did not do all of the dishes. Seriously though I love that they have a great understanding and love for each other. I guess Dan brought over some slim jims from Rex's and Dave wanted to know were they were the second we got home. Thanks Dan and Shalee. He wanted me to hide them but Na had a game where she would bring them to him on the bed and he would throw them on the floor and then she would fetch them and bring them back to him. It was a great game it gave me some time to get things done.

Saturday- Was another Carlson get together. Mom and Michelle found tadpoles while they were out on the motor scooters in the morning. So we all got nets and went out to catch them. The kids loved it. Kameron would wait so patiently and then scoop one up. He would catch it without getting any dirt in the net. Then he would run around laughing and saying ha ha I got one. I think he had the most fun. Kyle wanted to bring some home and put it the fish tank. But Dave said it would pollute the tank. Dave and my nephews play basketball almost every time they come down. In the past they have had a potato head trophy that they passed to the winner. Dave always comes home sore but it is an awesome tradition. We then just played in the backyard until evening. Dave took the kids home and I got my nephews to play aquire with me. I even stayed home from the shopping trip to play aquire. It was so fun. The boys loved it and we laughed for about an hour and a half. It took me back to many games with Dennis. We would put the kids in bed and then he would come over and play a game with Dave and us. There was usually popcorn, crunching of ice and a lot of sarcasm. We had so much fun with this game. Dennis won the very last game we played.

Sunday- This was an extra special day. I had the privilege of going back to a BYU-Idaho ward and watching my dad get put in as a bishop of the 88th ward. I know my dad will be amazing. I love that every time I go down there he gets excited to see us and greets us with a hi Mel how are you doing and a great big hug. Then when we leave it is the same big hug and a wave goodbye. I know that the kids at College will feel his love and fun personality. He is such a wonderful dad and with a mom that it so much fun and full of life. Those two will be a great asset to BYU- Idaho. I know they will love the kids and the kids will love them back.

fire alarm

fire alarm went off in our house at like 5 in the morning the other day and I couldn't get it to stop...it totally freaked out the kid's except for Kameron who just slept through it...anyway it was a lot of fun!