the brown family

Saying Goodbye

2011-08-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

A week ago a dear friend of mine passed away. She was an amazing person and I am so blessed to have had her as my friend.
Colleen and I became good friends when we were single and in the Student Branch (church) in Lewiston, ID. She was one of a group of us girls who all got married within the same year and then we all had our first babies together. We were a tight knit group and had so much fun! Staying up late chatting while our husbands were playing Halo. Watching our little ones take their first steps and giving each other advice on parenting/marriage. I always valued her wisdom. She always had the right answers. It won't be the same going back to Idaho knowing Colleen won't be there.
She was taken too soon but I know I will see her again... You are loved and missed Colleen!!

Colleen Marie (Hansen) Weigand passed away Jan. 5, 2012.
Colleen was born Jan. 30, 1974, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Mulloy and Jeanne (Thurgood) Hansen.
Colleen lived in Edmonton until the age of 2, when the family moved to Lethbridge, Alberta. At the age of 4, she moved with her parents and siblings to Bellevue, Wash., where she attended Bennett Elementary School, Highland Middle School and graduated from Interlake High School in 1992. From there she moved to Provo, Utah, and attended Brigham Young University for two years. She was called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Knoxville, Tenn., mission in 1997 and returned to BYU in 1999. In 2001 she moved to Lewiston, where she met her best friend and future husband, Mark Weigand.
Colleen and Mark were married on July 13, 2002. She was proud to be the first child in her family to graduate college when she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree as an Acting major from BYU on Aug. 17, 2006. Her proudest achievements, however, came in 2003, 2005 and 2006 when her children, Trinity, Hunter and Logan, were born. They continue to be her greatest joy.
Colleen was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While at BYU, pursuing her Acting degree, she starred in and produced "The Great Divorce" (an adaptation of the book by C.S. Lewis) and starred in "An Ideal Husband."
She is survived by her husband, Mark Weigand; her children, Trinity Marie (8), Hunter Gerald (6) and Logan Mulloy (5); her parents, Mulloy Grigor and Jeanne (Thurgood) Hansen; her siblings, Philip (Cherri) Hansen, Jacobi (Doug) Bird, David (Meriann) Hansen, Amy (Michael) Larson, Julia (Jed) Reynolds, James Hansen, and Kimberly (Rich) Weldon; her grandmother, Evalyne Rose (Grigor) Hansen; 20 nieces and nephews; one great-nephew; and countless cousins and friends.
She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Verdon O. and Ada L. (Scott) Thurgood, and Aaron W. Hansen.
A public viewing will be at 11 a.m. today at the LDS Chapel on 16th and Ripon in Lewiston, followed by funeral services at noon.

Lauren is in 2nd grade!

2011-08-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

I dropped Lauren off this morning at her new school!
We have a fabulous friend Kay who is teaching at this great charter school this year and she pulled some strings and got Lauren in!
We are excited because the school is an "A" school, she will get recess and PE daily, she has 2 awesome teachers Mrs. Piloto and Mrs. Torres. Plus, I know 3 people who are working there so she will be watched out for. What a huge comfort that is.
I'm so excited to see what this new year will bring for our smart little girl!

Another school year done!

2011-06-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post side by side pictures of Lauren from this year of the first and last days of school. She looks so much older to me! I'm amazed at how well she did this year and how much she has learned. She earned straight A's the last 3 quarters of school and was on the honor roll every quarter. Way to go Bubs!!

That’s our girl!

2011-02-15T07:51:00.001-08:00

Today Lauren was awarded for the second time for the Honor Roll! The first quarter she made the “A” Honor Roll which is an A average. This time she impressed us even more and made the Principal’s Honor Roll which is straight A’s!! This is all something new to Cory and I since we were average to below average students in our formative years. We are so proud of our little girl! Yay Lauren!!!

Her teacher Mrs. Sanchez

She said “Thanks for letting me have her in my class. She is an absolute jewel and is going to do big things in her life!”

Christmas 2010

2010-12-20T18:34:00.001-08:00

I’m being a total slacker this year and not sending out cards or newsletters. This will have to do!

We began the year in Lewiston, ID. The girls and I were there staying with my parents while Cory was rotating at various residency sights throughout the country for the school year. Lauren was in Kindergarten so we stayed put while Cory did all of the travelling. Then in June we moved to Florida! We had a good summer going to the beach and enjoying the sun. The humidity took some getting used to but Cory and I both agree that even though Phoenix had a “dry” heat it was still more unbearable in the summer than this summer in Miami was. We could get in the car and actually touch the steering wheel and not have the belt buckles scorch our skin! We have enjoyed visiting the unique areas that this part of the country provides. We have gone to the Florida Everglades several times, We drove down through the Florida Keys while Cory’s mom was in town and took a glass bottom boat tour out of Key Largo and saw the coral reefs up close. And of course we have been to several beaches! What is nice is all of these places are within a half an hour of where we live.

Kristen turned 3 in August and loves having her alone time with Mommy during the day. She plays perfectly by herself and is happy to just be home and have all of the toys to herself! She has had her potty training ups and downs but as of right now she is trained…we’ll see next week though, things change fast with our little Jekyll and Hyde. She so sweet one moment and a total bum the next. Lauren is usually the unlucky recipient of Kristen’s rage!

Lauren started first grade in August and is doing fabulously. She was the only one in her class to receive an award for the Advanced Reading program. Then a couple of weeks later she received an award for being on the Honor Roll! Cory and I laugh because neither of us were on the honor roll in school. She is growing in to quite the tall, beautiful girl.

Cory is working hard being a first year Podiatry resident. In June he graduated and can officially be called Doctor! We are so proud of him!

I am trying to keep things afloat at home. I have a little house cleaning job I do a couple of days a week for a little extra money. It’s nice because I get to bring Kristen along and I do it while Lauren is at school. It works out perfectly. The downside is it leaves very little motivation to clean our own place! I was called as the 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency the second Sunday we went to church here! The other ladies in the Presidency said they had been praying for someone to come along for quite a while and nobody seemed right. But when I came in to the ward they said “That’s her!!”. What a wonderful welcome !

We miss all of our family and friends but we have made some great new friends here and are enjoying our new church family! Here are some pictures from the last year-

On the glass bottom boat ride, everyone striking a pose!

Miami Beach

Catching Florida Blue crabs in a parking lot

The first day of school in uniform!

Fun with Nana at the gator farm

Exploring the Everglades (see the alligator??)

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010!

Kristen really does speak

2010-08-20T10:14:00.001-07:00

This is for the majority of you out there who don't believe that Kristen speaks :)
She's so painfully shy most of the time bu around me just lets it all out. She was just jabbering away talking about a dream she had this morning so I grabbed the camera and made her repeat it. She's a little more shy in this video than she was prior to me taping her.

Chatty Kristen from Jodi Brown on Vimeo.

Big Fat Slacker!

2010-07-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

Obviously I haven't posted for a long time! We are moved and mostly settled in in Miami. I haven't wanted to take the time to blog and it just seems overwhelming to think of with all of the events from the last few months! I have been posting a lot of pictures on my Facebook page and that will just have to suffice till I can make myself sit down and type a few new chapters in our "book" :)

Lauren’s Pictures

2010-04-29T17:35:00.001-07:00

Lauren has had a great first soccer season. She has enjoyed herself but is still pretty timid when it comes to actually kicking the ball. She is such a silly girl and usually does a skip/hop combo when shes out on the field, but she will run really fast when its intense until she gets to the ball, then she gets shy. She did manage to make her first goal this last week. We were very proud! She been able to be on the same team as her best friend Hailey and Hailey’s dad is the coach so It's been great! Lauren is such a shy girl especially when it comes to men (thank goodness!) and Hailey’s dad was no exception, even after spending a ton of time playing over at their house. He would always say hi to her and ask her to give him a high 5 and she would completely ignore him! Now that he has been her coach he’ll walk in the room and she shouts “Hey coach!!”. So cute!

BEST BUDS!

Here is her individual shot

followed by the group shot…Notice that I failed to take the gum out of her mouth!! Lovely…

And here is her first class picture! I just Love how the little boy in the front right is totally looking off to the side and so is the Principal! So funny!

Return to Phoenix

2010-04-29T17:24:00.001-07:00

In the end of February Cory and I had a chance to go on a little vacation down to Phoenix for a couple of days without the kiddos. He had a test to take and I saw this as our chance to have one last Hoorah before we move and don’t have built in babysitters anymore :) We had a wonderful time visiting our old town, favorite dining spots, new dining spots, and wonderful old friends. While Cory was taking his Boards I went to hang out with some of the old gang on the lawn at Midwestern’s housing complex. Ohhh how I’ve missed that place and wished I had my girls with me to run around on the grass in the beautiful sunshine! Unfortunately I forgot my camera and didn’t get any pictures of my old friends and their adorable kids. Luckily I will have the chance again in June when we go back down for GRADUATION!!!

While we were there we had a chance to go to a neat little place called Pizzeria Bianco. We had heard raves about this place for years from various people and even Oprah! It was apparently voted best pizza in America at one point. The only thing stopping us from trying it while we lived in Phoenix before was the 2-3 hour wait to even get in the door! They can only seat 40 people in the little old brick building. We lined up at least an hour before they opened and already there was a line waiting in front. They opened the doors and we were numbers 41 and 42 in line..so we got to wait for another hour. Cory went next door to Bar Bianco and got us some sodas. All they had was regular coke in bottles…and I don’t think they serve them very often since we popped of the tops and they were a little rusty! Luckily it was a gorgeous evening. Just perfect for sitting outside and sipping a nice cold coke from a bottle :) The pizza was great and Cory is so happy we finally went. Good times!

We stayed at an awesome resort called the Hilton Tapatio Cliffs. It was set on the side of a hill and was really cool and old world feeling. Our room was beyond our expectations and we got it for a smokin’ deal! We paid Super 8 prices for a resort. It doesn’t get much better than that!

The time went by way to fast but I was very happy to get home and kiss my girls.

Then Cory went to Denver for his last month away in March. Now he is back with us and working with a local Podiatrist and then it’s graduation in June and then we’re off to Miami! What a crazy rollercoaster of a year we’ve had! In a nutshell, we’ve lived in Phoenix, Denver, and Lewiston. All in the last 12 months! Cory has lived in all of those places and also Tacoma, WA and Grand Blanc, MI. But alas, we have survived and have had a great time!

We matched!!!

2010-03-08T11:51:00.001-08:00

We are moving in June to...

Ok, Ok…I’m posting!

2010-02-20T23:39:00.001-08:00

I’ve been so lame lately and haven’t wanted to blog! There hasn’t been much going on to be “blogworthy” I guess. Either that or I’ve just been plain lazy!

Cory is in Michigan for the month. He will come home next weekend (he’s driving…oh joy!) and then he and I will head to Phoenix for a few days while he takes his Boards. I can’t wait for a few days in the valley of the sun just the two of us! I got a great deal on Priceline. I put in my bid for a 3 star hotel and they accepted my offer and upgraded us to a resort! I can’t wait to lay out by the pool! I know we’ll probably just be in a normal room but at least it won’t be in the ghetto!

Then when we get back Cory will head to Denver for his last month away from us! I’m thankful we have friends there who are willing to put up with him for the month :) Thanks Val and Maria!!

On March 8th it is “Match Day” when we find out where we will be moving in June for the next 2-3 years! Michigan, Florida, California, Washington…or pretty much anywhere if he doesn’t “match” with one of the programs he’s chosen. Cross your fingers for us that we will get one of his top picks!

Lauren is still doing great in school. She really is eager to read these days. I need to get her some beginning reader books so she can actually read a whole book by herself. She gets so frustrated when she can’t get a word right! She is really my little helper these days. She has a sticker chart now for when she does good deeds and does what I say without complaining (which was a big problem for a while!) It has really worked for her. If she’s being a little butt-head I threaten to take away stickers and that usually does the trick!

Kristen is quite a pill these days. She has a lot of attitude and doesn’t want to do anything unless it’s on her terms (including potty training…ugg!!). One quirky thing right now is she LOVES tomatoes. Seriously, we walk through the store and the only thing she requests is “little tomatoes”. She especially loves the little grape tomatoes. The other night Lauren was walking around with a sucker….the LAST sucker..I thought there was going to be a meltdown for sure. Instead she looks at Lauren with the sucker and turns to me and says “I want 2 little tomatoes”. Wow…I wish both girls thought they were candy!

Lauren’s Christmas program

2010-01-04T01:09:00.001-08:00

Lauren had her first Christmas program last month and it was in the same school where I had mine. It was so fun to be there and reminisce. The school was smart and had the 3 Kindergarten classes have their own program. It was short and sweet. Lauren was feeling special and had no signs of stage fright. She was actually bouncing around to the music and singing loud and getting into it more than most of the other kids. We were so proud :)

If Lauren looks a little different, it’s because she wanted her hair straightened for the occasion. I think it makes her look more grown up and she feels extra pretty!

A visit from awesome friends!

2010-01-04T00:58:00.001-08:00

In November my good friend Melissa bravely made the trip up to see us with her two little ones Alex and Emma. She lives about 4 hours away. We were the best of friends when we lived in AZ while our husbands attended school. We had to part way in 2008 when her husband graduated. I love that we’ve kept in contact and it felt so completely comfortable to have her here. Lauren and her son Alex were also super good friends. They were little when we met..Lauren was 3, Alex was 2. Yet they hit it off and were pretty much attached at the hip. If you look back in my blog during 2006-2007 you can find a lot of pictures of them together. Also, when I found out I was pregnant with Kristen, a week later Melissa informed me she was pregnant also! We were due a little over a week apart and had our little girls exactly 2 weeks apart! It was awesome to have an equally pregnant partner in crime during that time.

I was worried Lauren was going to act strange around Alex after not seeing him for a while but they were literally on the floor and wrestling within the first hour. Apparently their love for one another hadn’t been lost with time!

I am so grateful for our friendships and hope to keep them strong for years to come! We miss and love you guys!!

School trip to the Fair

2010-01-04T00:31:00.001-08:00

I had the chance to volunteer in Lauren’s class when they were taking a trip to our country fair in September. It was so fun to be with Lauren and some of her classmates. She and her friend Hailey had their first ride on a school bus and they thought it was great. What’s ironic is Lauren could actually ride the bus since we live far enough away but she doesn’t want to. Hailey on the other hand wants to but lives too close.

Good times with some cute little girls!!

tip…

2010-01-04T00:23:00.001-08:00

If you have a blog, get yourself “Live Writer”. It is saving my sanity and making it much faster to blog. yay!!!

Tubby

2010-01-04T00:18:00.001-08:00

When we arrived here in August, my parents had a little stray kitten that was so cute but so wild. My Mom had been feeding him though so he got the idea we weren’t all that bad. Lauren made it her mission to tame him.

She decided she wanted to name him Tommy. That stuck for a little while but then he just got so dang fat we call him Tubby now.

The girls like to see what he’ll play with and Lauren’s Barbie was very unfortunate one day…

and this is how Lauren felt about it!

He wouldn’t give it back! We have enjoyed having a pet for a little while since we won’t have one of our own for a very long time!

Slack-blogger

2010-01-03T23:59:00.001-08:00

When first started blogging it was completely addicting. I was always excited when I had a reason for a new post. Now I’m filled with guilt and feel like I’m so behind and so much has happened. I have far too many pictures and events to blog about that I’m overwhelmed. So I’m going to try to be better. Wish me luck!!

Now get ready for mass-posting to catch up!!

Halloween

2009-11-04T00:48:00.000-08:00

Halloween was great but tiring! I miss the fun of walking from house to house...now it's dread :) Lauren decided she wanted to be a witch so I made her be a funky colorful witch. I made Kristen a little black kitty outfit to go with the witch.
We started out the day with a Halloween party at our next door neighbors house. Lauren stayed for a whole 20 min. before she wanted to come home because she didn't know most of the kids. Then my friend Aubrey and I and our girls headed to downtown Lewiston to trick-or-treat at all of the little shops. They blocked off four blocks for the little kiddos and holy cow what a turn-out! It was total chaos and every store had a line...we ended up getting candy from about five stores and bagged it! We did get some pictures taken of our girlies at a photo studio for 2 cans of food they would donate to the local food bank. Pretty sweet deal! I'll get the picture back tomorrow and post it. Then we went for some dinner and then on to the Trunk-or-Treat at the church. We made a haul there and then decided we hadn't tortured ourselves enough so we took the girls door to door on Aubreys culdesac. We hit prob. 12 or more homes and I was spent! Then on to Nana's house to top off the night with some spoiling :)

A new post...finally :)

2009-10-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

Life here in Lewiston, Idaho has been treating us well. We've had lots of fun hanging with friends and family, playing on and in the river, fishing, visiting family and friends, and Cory in Seattle, getting settled in to a school routine, etc. Lauren is liking Kindergarten a lot. Her teacher is sweet and there is always a group of cute little girls running up to our van to greet Lauren as she is getting out.
I have way to many pictures to post on here of the last couple of months so I was lazy and posted them on Facebook. Loading pictures on here annoys me anyway so I only ever do a select few.
I also decided it was time for me to get back in the habit of blogging since I was asked to teach a class on it next week! Hah...I'm such a slacker!
Cory has been able to come home and see us almost on a weekly basis lately. It hasn't turned out to be such a bad thing driving 5 hours each way. We always love it when he is here!
Well, not much else is new. I'll be posting again once I have something blogworthy to write about!
Here are Lauren's school pictures...I have the disc with the copyright so I can print as many as I want. I'm so happy I didn't get the package deal so I would have a million pictures laying around! Grandparents and loved ones, let me know what size you want and I'll make a trip to Costco. Her little grin is cheesy but she is still my beautiful little girl!

The first day of Kindergarten

2009-08-26T15:05:00.000-07:00

Well, Lauren is officially a school girl! She had her first day of Kindergarten today. It was only a half an hour long while the parents met with the principal Mr. Reese. Lauren's teacher is Mrs. Jacks. She's nice! She will only be teaching for the first quarter while Lauren's official teacher Mrs. Stevenson is on maternity leave. Lauren seemed to like it. She is in the class with one of her best friends since birth Hailey. I had a momentary breakdown last night with tears and all thinking of the end of an era...not as much freedom anymore, schedules, my little girl growing up, etc. But today I woke up excited! Lauren woke me first thing this morning asking to get dressed for school, and she already had her backpack on and stuffed full of our books from home hah! She's in the afternoon class though so she had to wait a few hours. We're so proud of our little Lauren!!!

Kristen's first trip to the E.R.!

2009-08-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

Had to take Kristen to the Children's Hospital E.R. today. I pulled her up on to Lauren's bed to change her diaper and heard a "pop". She started screaming and then continued to cry every time she moved her arm! The doctor said she had "Nursmaid's elbow" where a ligament slips to the wrong side of the elbow. A simple twist of the arm and she was back to good! Now you wouldn't know anything was ever wrong. Amazing!

My baby is 2!

2009-08-02T21:20:00.001-07:00

I can't believe she's 2! I still feel like she's such a baby, even though she's such a big girl in some ways.
Here is a little list of the things Kristen likes these days:

*books, books, and more books!

*babies

*putting on her own shoes (99% of the time on the wrong foot of course!)

*picking out the lint between her toes (apparently this runs in the fam, Lauren did the same thing)

*dressing up as a princess

*Broccoli (thank goodness!)

*Doggies, except when they get too close!

*Being mean to Lauren...It's a constant battle!

*She used to just sleep with her Blankie and her froggie "Ribbit" but now she seems to add a new friend to the crib weekly. Now it's also 3 babies, her big blue stuffed bunny (it's bigger than her, and most nights she sleeps with it right on top of her) and her pink doggie.

*singing, her latest favorite is also Lauren's favorite, Love Story by Taylor Swift. They sing it all of the time, someday I'll get it on video :)

We sure do love our little pint-sized girl! Happy Birthday Kristen!

She's almost ready!

2009-07-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

Lauren and I went school supply shopping...for the first time! She will be starting Kindergarten in Lewiston in the end of August. She will be going to the same school as I did! She hasn't been excited about the prospect and when I mention it she even says "I'm not excited". haha
Well, then we found out this last week that our good friends the Reese's got the home they wanted and now their daughter Hailey, one of Lauren's best friends ever, is going to be in her class!!! Now Lauren is getting more excited about this whole school thing FINALLY!
Here's a shot of our little school girl showing off her "My Little Pony" backpack.

shirt recycling

2009-07-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

I took a long sleeved shirt of mine that was ill-fitting and turned it in to a dress for Lauren. I also took an old long sleeved shirt of Lauren's and re-fashioned it in to a sleeveless, sassy shirt for Kristen. I saw the idea on this blog here and couldn't wait to start. I forgot to take before pictures, so here are the afters! My ruffles aren't perfect but it was my first try. What cute girlies!

I'm famous...

2009-07-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

Check it out!

Go HERE

Crafty goodness

2009-07-18T10:49:00.001-07:00

I have had fun sewing lately. I've made two bags now and am thinking of making more. Here are the fruits of my labors...
I used this pattern by Sandi Henderson for both bags.

I also scored recently when I went to The Fancy Tiger's 3 year anniversary party. It was great...I had spotted a pattern collection of vintage-style clothing for little ones and was so tempted to get one. But at almost 16 bucks a pop I had to pass! They had these free "grab bags" for everyone who came and I picked one out of the middle of the pile. Guess what it had in it?! One of the patterns I almost bought!!! SCORE! They also have this nifty little clothing store across the street I went to check out and they were giving away stuff too. I scored a funky little crocheted cupcake and pins from beckysbuttons.etsy.com. They also had these fun little memory card games from a paper printing company. I only spent around $8 there and ended up with way more in prizes. So fun!!! The only way it would have been more fun is if I had a girlfriend or two to go with me! Here are the pictures of my loot!
The fun thing about this little cupcake is your supposed to take it to a local landmark and take a picture of it there in a creative way and then upload it to the website. I may have just found our Saturday family activity :)

Oh, and I really do "heart" cupcakes!

Worst...Storm...EVER!

2009-07-10T20:50:00.000-07:00

We thought we had experienced some of the worst storms in Arizona during Monsoon season but tonight we were proven wrong...
Cory decided we needed to take a trip to downtown Denver to go to REI. When we were done at the store there is lightening and it's starting to rain. Halfway home it's down pouring so bad that we can't see out of our windshield. I told Cory we should do our grocery shopping but he didn't want to haul grocery bags in a storm...a little further down the road I tell him we should pull into a parking lot and wait it out. He says "no, I just want to get home". mmm...hmmm
Meanwhile we have our GPS on and it's telling us how to go home. Even though we knew how to get home, Cory liked to have it on so he knew which direction the road was going...it was that bad! The rain was getting worse and worse the closer we got to home like rivers going across the road. Meanwhile we were very close to home and I notice the GPS is telling us to take a left turn where we normally would go straight right before we get to our apt. I thought maybe the storm was messing it up...and then I said "maybe it knows something we don't!" Right when we pass straight through the intersection where it was telling us to turn left we drive into a literal RIVER! There was a van in front of us who had a genius driver who decides to freak out and stop in the middle of the bumper-high water....He ended up getting through just fine, but we sat idle long enough for our van to die...and not start up again....crap....
Meanwhile the girls start crying...cars and BUSES are passing us and we are rocking in the waves. The water is coming up over our hood every time someone goes by.
Finally we wait it out long enough for our van to putter on out of the flood. It's not sounding so hot...maybe this is my way of getting a different van?! haha...anyway, here are some pictures from our adventure...

Moral of the story....Husbands listen to your wives!

This first shot was when it was just a harmless little thunder storm.

Here is where we get stuck!

Below are pictures of our back lawn area behind our apartment. If you click on the pictures you'll see that we have temporary water-front property.

Thanks Babe!

2009-07-10T09:39:00.001-07:00

Cory spoiled me today with these gorgeous roses! I love that he has always given me flowers just for the heck of it!

sewing adventures...

2009-07-03T18:54:00.001-07:00

I was shopping at the cutest little fabric/craft shop the other day called "Fancy Tiger".
They have all of this yummy fabric and fun things lining their shelves. I went there to get some fabric and a pattern for a new purse. I also ended up getting a pattern for a fun layered skirt. I think it turned out pretty cute for my first venture in to clothing for myself! I also grabbed a pattern for a dress for the girls.
Maybe I shouldn't have chosen an Amy Butler pattern for my first though because it was very tedious! You can't tell by the pictues but it has these fun layers that are unfinished so when you wash it a couple of times it has the fun kind of frayed look. I was even able to add a bit more length because as you know I'm a bit taller than your average gal.
Here are the pictures of the skirt and when I make the purse and dresses I'll post those pictures too!

From a different perspective

2009-06-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

Woman Gives Birth to Fully Grown Man-Caught on Video - watch more funny videos

Fun with the Nielsons!

2009-06-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

This past weekend some of our best friends the Nielsons came to stay with us. They live about 5 hours away in Wyoming. This is the closest we've lived to each other since were all living in Lewiston, ID in 2006. We were so close...They were there the day Cory and I were married in the temple for eternity. They were there while we all had to endure lamaze class. I miss hanging with Laura, being preggers together (ok, maybe I don't miss that part!) and having our first babies just 2 weeks apart. I feel like we helped keep each other stay mostly sane in those first couple of years. Lauren and Makayla were of course the best of friends whether they knew it or not! I have sooo many pictures of their first 2 years together but of course they are on our computer that is packed away. Kasey and Cory were always having fun going shooting or playing wiffle ball. They are 2 of the funniest guys I know and it's even better when they're together!
Now Kasey and Laura have 3 beautiful little girls. It was fun having 5 girls in the apartment for the weekend. There was lots of dress-up and barbie playing going on. We had good times going out to eat, going to the Zoo, shopping, and of course Cory and Kasey got in some wiffle ball, putting at our putting green, football tossing and anything else they could think of!
Many times over the weekend we heard Lauren and Makayla stating that they are best friends. It melted my heart since it was so sad for Lauren to be parted from her first best friend 3 years ago. They held hands practically all weekend and even attempted a "sleep-over" their first night here. It lasted till midnight when we had to split them up!
Thanks so much for this highlight of our time in Denver guys! We love you!
- somehow I ended up with NO pictures of Laura and I! SAD!

Fun at the zoo!

Some good ol' wiffle ball!

I LOVE Makayla's enthusiasm in this picture!

Kasey and sweet little Kimberly

Big Dorks!

The girls!

Nice shiner!

2009-06-24T22:07:00.001-07:00

This...

Plus this...

Equals this....
Lauren was goofing around the other day and hit her eye right on our pointy window sill. Lovely huh?? Poor girl! This picture was taken yesterday. It looks even worse today but my SD card for my camera is broken!

A nice day

2009-06-18T22:21:00.000-07:00

It's been fun here but a little tough not having girlfriends and their children to be with to be able to have some adult conversation and kids to play with my girls. Luckily there are lots of sights and places to go here to keep us entertained. We love all of the malls and the open air market's here. It's especially nice since it's been so mild here. Today was our hottest day at 81 degrees. I could get used to that!
We got to go hang out with my friend Alla and her cute little girls today. Alla is a friend that I met in Arizona. In fact she was one of the first people I met when we first moved to Arizona and she totally helped me feel welcomed and her oldest daughter Lexi was Lauren's first friend in AZ. Now we move here and we don't have any other friends and low and behold we have Alla who lives here now and is here to help us feel at home again! I am so thankful!
Alla invited us to this great mall near her place today called Southlands. It is beautiful and they have a little farmers market every Thursday and Saturday. I got some gorgeous veggies at amazing prices. Cheaper than in the stores and more beautiful! In the center of the court is a little splash pad. We took the girls swimming suits and they had fun but were shaking because they were so cold! It was still fun though. Then we went to lunch at one of my favs. Paradise Bakery and Cafe and then did a little shopping. It was a great day!
Check out these pretty vegetables! Oh and I just love my little Kristen's pot belly! Obviously Lauren does too...she's poking it in one of the pictures :)

Picture Update

2009-06-11T15:20:00.001-07:00

only a month late...oops!

2009-06-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

Happy 5th Birthday Lauren!

Denver!

2009-06-04T19:12:00.001-07:00

We've officially moved in..changed addresses, hooked up power, etc. My wonderful parents showed up about an hour after us in Denver to help us get settled and have stayed for over a week. So sweet! I'm going to be so bored once they leave and not know what to do with myself. Cory is working full time at the Denver V.A. As soon as he gets home he has to study up on different things and then goes to bed early for all of the early mornings he has now. Fun fun! I will have to make some friends fast or I may go insane :) Denver is gorgeous and has pretty much everything Phoenix does, minus the 115 degree weather thank goodness! I've already found a beautiful fancy mall with a great play area for my girls...Oh and I've found a new favorite store Anthropologie where I can't afford anything, but it's still fun to look! I know it's not a new store but I had never been before. The housewares are amazing and so unique!
I've had a great time exploring and finding out where everything is. We like our apartment. It's on the second floor above our garage which is kind of frustrating since we've never had to deal with stairs before. Kristen wants to walk up and down them all by herself and If I try to help she screams! It's going to be interesting to see how I will get groceries and both kids up the stairs in one piece! And our stair options are not ideal...the "secret passageway" stairs are inside the apartment leading to the garage and our side door. They are super steep with cement at the bottom...the other are outside hard cement ones. The problem is, you can see through the space between the steps and Lauren is SOOOO afraid of heights and sometimes begs to be carried! Good times! haha Oh and we have a ton of windows that are nice and big and let in the nice cool breeze but the windows are closer to the ground and I'm seriously afraid the girls with fall through the screens, so now I can only have them part way open. So many new things to get used to! Wish me luck! I will post pictures soon when my parents leave and I have ample time on my hands...stay tuned!

Our 4th year in a nutshell

2009-05-25T23:39:00.000-07:00

Everyone keeps asking me when and where we're moving over the next year so I thought I would just list it all on here!
Cory will be traveling around the country doing "externships" for his 4th year of school. Basically he is going around to places he might want to do a residency at and putting in some time there. The girls and I will be joining him all of the months he is in Denver and of course when he is home in Idaho for 2 months. Otherwise Lauren and Kristen and I head home in mid-August for Lauren to start Kindergarten!! I can't believe my baby girl is that old. CRAZY! We sure will miss Cory but luckily we will be living with my parents so I will have lots of help :) We are excited to move to Denver in 2 days and really excited to move back to Idaho to spend time with friends and family. Then we head back to Denver in March. Hopefully I will stay sane through all of this...wish me luck!!

This is our year in a nutshell:

Cory:
June- Denver CO
July- Denver CO
August- Denver CO
Sept- Tacoma WA
Oct- Federal Way WA
Nov- Tacoma WA
Dec- Vacation in Idaho for Christmas!
Jan- Lewiston ID
Feb- Grand Blanc MI
March- Denver CO
April- Denver CO
May- Denver CO
June- GRADUATION!!!

Then off to wherever "Dr. Brown" gets Residency after that for 3 years!

A good day!

2009-05-10T22:59:00.001-07:00

Mother's day has been great. I had a wonderful time at church this morning and my girls went to their classes without too much fuss . This is a first for Kristen! She usually screams when I leave her in nursery. She's getting used to it just in time to move and be with a bunch of strangers again!
Lauren made me a really cute necklace in her Primary class. I've proudly worn it all day and she keeps asking if I love my new necklace :) Then we came home and I got to have lots of quiet time and a nap while Cory played with the girls. Then Cory made dinner ,a very rare occurrence in our house, I think I can count on one hand how many times he has made dinner! It was yummy grilled chicken (he made his own marinade and it was good!) baked potatoes, and corn on the cob. Then he cleaned up dinner and the kitchen while I vegged on the couch. Kristen decided to go pee in the potty 3 different times today too. I guess she's potty training herself! It was a great day!!!
I hope all of you Mommies out there had Happy Mother's day!

Mother's Day!

2009-05-09T19:47:00.001-07:00

This is for all of you Mother's out there, especially you MOM and Mom DEB!!!
Enjoy...

Thanks for sending this to Cory, Keith N. We enjoyed it thoroughly!

TMI warning....#2 did a #2 in the potty!

2009-05-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

Kristen went #2 in the potty for the first time today!!! I was hoping this was a start of constantly doing that only in the potty from now on and no more in the diapers like Lauren did at this age, but then Kristen got a glimpse of what was sitting in her potty and freaked! She found it VERY disturbing. Pointing at it and backing away quickly while going no no no no like she thought it was something horrible. We all celebrated the fact though and did the ceremonial flushing of the poo down the big potty and then she thought it was fine. My baby is growing up! :(

Here's a sweet picture of her to get your mind off of the poo...

Girls Weekend

2009-05-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

I got to have a fabulous time with my girlfriends this weekend! All of us that have been together here in AZ waiting patiently for our husbands to get done with school, meanwhile we have all become such great friends. It really has been what has kept me (almost) sane in the last few years. We had a great time at a local resort soaking up sun, floating on the lazy river, screaming down the water slide, eating great food, sharing our favorite things with each other, and sharing other "interesting" things with each other, and having people wonder what kind of mischief this fabulous group of ladies were up to! I am so sad we all are about to embark on the next phase of life without one another. Everyone is about to be scattered to all different corners of the country but hopefully we will all be able to keep tabs on each other and maybe get together for another weekend next year?! I hope so! What a freakin' blast!!! I love you all!

The Whaley House & other spooky places... ooooOOOoooo

2009-04-30T15:45:00.000-07:00

When we were in San Diego we went to "Old Town" a few times to eat and look around and such. I really loved seeing all of the old buildings and hearing the creepy stories. One place I noticed was the Whaley House. I recognized it from various shows I've seen about America's most haunted houses. IT is rumored to be THE most haunted. Heather and I decided it would be fun and spooky to go on the ghost tour. We got to go to each room and hear of all of the stories and the history. It has a very interesting history, go HERE to read it if you're interested. Heather nor I experienced anything out of the ordinary until we were at the very end of the tour and Heather was snapping pictures. She was taking pictures of a particular desk in the music room ad couldn't get the pictures to focus. She'd shoot anywhere else, even in the same room and the pictures turned out crystal clear, but never when she would take a picture of the desk area. Very weird! She had to have taken at least 10 pictures, even from different angles and all of them were out of focus. I even like to think I caught a little something in a couple of the pictures
I took when I was walking around the outside of the building. I know it's more than likely just light and shadows playing tricks on my eyes but it's still fun! I know that if I ever saw anything in real life I would crap my pants! See what you see in my pictures below, click to zoom in on them.
....also, if you want to you can read Heather's post on it HERE

Heather and I with the Docent who gave the tour

We also got to visit the Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island that is also reportedly haunted by the ghost of a young woman named Kate Morgan who stayed there and died there in the late 1800's. It was also the backdrop for the Marylin Monroe movie "Some Like It Hot" which I saw when I was younger and vividly remember this hotel in it. It was cool to play on the beach where Marylin Monroe probably spent some time!

Our San Diego Vacation

2009-04-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

So I was feeling pretty sad knowing that our little family is going to be spending a lot of time apart for the next year, so I told Cory we should do a spur of the moment trip to California and just spend a weekend on the beach. We haven't taken the time (or money) to go to California yet and we're so close how could we resist. After all, who knows where we'll end up for the next 4 years! I told my friend Heather and they wanted to go too, and then the Jones's ended up joining us too! We left on Friday and came home Monday. We all got a smokin' deal on a hotel thanks to Priceline and were able to have a great, much-needed trip!

I was busy packing while Cory was playing a little Guitar Hero (what a shocker...me working/Cory playing...:) and I asked him to get the girls dressed and Kristen comes walking over looking kind of strange. Cory thought he was "done" dressing her... I showed him what she looked like and he said "What?!) That's so "in" these days!

Here is a slideshow of all of our pictures from the trip since there are so many! We had a blast!!!

Heather also took some great family pictures of us while we were there that I'll put in a different post. Stay tuned!
We enjoyed San Diego so much we were kind of wishing we could do a Residency there! Here are a ton of pictures of our fun getaway!

Weenie Roast!

2009-04-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago a lot of our friends went camping in Sedona, but we weren't able to go and neither were our friends the Phillips. So Liora had a genius idea to have our own little weenie roast in our back yard. It was so much fun, complete with ghost stories by the fire! Best of all we got to sleep in our warm, toasty beds while all of our friends FROZE up north (don't you dare pretend you didn't people!) Thanks for the great times and memories Heber, Liora, and kiddos!

This is the "Dark Area" of the yard. You can't tell because of my flash obviously, but the girls were having the best time stepping in to the shadows and making each other scream. It was great!

A first

2009-04-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

Kristen has been wanting to sit on her little potty the last couple of mornings, so I humor her and let her sit till she (or I) get too bored. This morning she sat for about 15 min. then she went PEE! I know this isn't the start of potty training and it's just a fluke, but at least she knows what happens now! It was about this age that Lauren "poo" trained in the potty but didn't get the staying dry part down till she was 2 1/2 so we'll see! I definitely don't want to be potty training while moving 2 times this summer :/ Here she is saying "I di-it!"

Easter Sunday

2009-04-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely Easter this year! We got to go to church to feel the spirit and listen to stories of our savior, we had a relaxing afternoon at home and then we had a yummy dinner at our friend's, the Phillip's house in the evening! It was good times and great food! Thanks guys! Ready for church!

The girls got little puppies from the Easter Bunny. They loved them so much they just HAD to be in the picture :)

Easter Egg Hunt: Part 2

2009-04-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

Well, today's Easter egg hunt turned out a little differently than planned. We had to have it inside because it rained all night and this morning!!! I would expect that in Idaho, but not here in Arizona! I'm shocked they even had a back-up plan. Someone must have checked the forecast. :) It was fun but VERY crowded. The girls got treats and trinkets, iced some cookies, and Lauren sat on the Easter Bunny's lap. Kristen wouldn't get close to him. She was about 10 feet away crying and screaming at the sight of him!

Easter Egg Hunt: Part 1

2009-04-11T00:02:00.001-07:00

Today was our first Easter Egg hunt of the year. My friends Liora and Aubree planned it and had it on the big lawn at the on-campus apartments where we used to live. The girls loved it. Note the chocolate smears on Kristen's face.
Tomorrow we go to the hunt put on by Cory's school. We have other opportunities for more egg hunts but we thought these 2 might be enough! Easter Egg Hunt Part 2 coming tomorrow!

More relatives...

2009-04-10T23:47:00.001-07:00

Cory's Uncle Wade and Aunt Susan and a couple of his cousins were in Phoenix for a little vacation from the Seattle area. They stayed at the Arizona Grand Resort. They invited us down for a day of swimming, sunbathing, and catching up. It was great to see them again! Cory especially enjoyed the water slides!

Just for the heck of it

2009-03-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

This is what Kristen looked like when she came up to me yesterday. I had the camera handy and just had to take a picture. This is the outcome when I asked her to say cheese...We're workin' on it...

Spring

2009-03-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

I thought it was about time I updated this blog!! We have had a VERY busy month. Three different sets of company made for very exciting times.

First we had Cory's Mom Debbie and her husband Rick visit for about a week in the first part of March. They did a spur of the moment trip and drove down. We were so glad they did! Lauren got an early birthday present from Grandpa, a new bike! We did a lot of driving around and just spent time with each other and the girls ate up every moment of spoiling they could! Pay attention to the top 2 pictures...hilarious!

Next we had my Mom and Dad (LuJean & George) come down for their yearly spring visit and they stayed for about 10 days! It was so nice to have them here too. Unfortunately we all got sick...My dad with Pneumonia, my mom with Bronchitis, and me with Pneumonia AND a sinus infection! We still managed to enjoy each others company in spite of all of the sickies!! For some reason they took all of the pictures of that week on their camera so I'll post some when I get some *hint hint Dad!*

Then 3 days later my awesome sister Paula graced us with her presence for a whole week! We had a blast just doing whatever we felt like.

We also were able to catch up with some old friends/neighbors the Wormell's who we lived next to us when we were teenagers. They happen to live about 45 min. away from us down here in AZ now. It was great reliving old memories...ohhh the bad hair Paula and I were sporting in those days. Karen you have total blackmail on us on those old home videos!

Last I wanted to post some pictures of the girls in some new dresses Nana sent down for Easter. I LOVE the colors and the style. Thanks Deb!

All in all it was a fantastic month. The weather was absolutely perfect the whole time and everyone got a taste of just how beautiful it is this time of the year here. We are so thankful for all of the wonderful family we have and we love you all!!!

I was tagged...

2009-03-21T23:35:00.000-07:00

So I have to go to my 6th folder and get my 6th picture....
Since we have a new computer I don't even have 6 folders yet, so I'll do the 6th picture!
My #1 girl and I!!

Preparing

2009-03-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

So here we are in our last few months in Arizona. We will be leaving in the end of May and moving to Denver for the summer. The problem is (besides the fact we have to uproot our family and move around for the next year) we have never even spent any time in Denver so we have no idea what parts of town are good for us to live. Cory will be at the VA in downtown Denver, so we'd like somewhere that's not too much of a commute but also be a decent place for us to live. So I'm calling all of you out there who would have ANY insight as to where we should be looking. We're going to be in a "short-term" apartment which makes things even more complicated. I've done searches online and found some places that look decent...but you could also do a search for places in Phoenix and they look "decent" but then you drive by and realize it's in the ghetto! I'm just nervous and need some advice.

Goody Two Shoes

2009-02-28T20:58:00.000-08:00

I've been in the market for some new shoes for Kristen that she will actually keep on, and so far all that works are the good ol' Robeez leather shoes that she's been wearing for months. She has almost grown out of the few pairs she has so I decided to try to take my shoe making ability to the next level. I checked out this awesome place called "Sas Fabric by the Pound" with my
Mother-in-law today...thanks to the suggestion of a good friend (thanks Amanda Glenn!) They had these awesome Leather scraps in some really good colors. So here is the end result. I think they turned out pretty good! I couldn't get Kristen to model them because she was having a tantrum!

Fun with the webcam

2009-02-16T21:57:00.000-08:00

We got a new laptop this week and discovered tonight that the webcam is pretty entertaining! Good Times!

Tiny Dancers

2009-02-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

Lauren decided to break out the tutu's and leotards tonight...then the dancing commenced!!
As you can see in one of the pictures and the video, Kristen would rather pick at the lint between her toes than dance.

Lemons coming out our ears!

2009-02-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

If anyone wants a bag full, come and get 'em!

Pajamas!

2009-02-09T20:38:00.000-08:00

So I was over at the talented Taya's the other day and she was explaining how to make some pajama pants a really easy way. So I took what I remembered and went to work. It was super simple and even appliqued some of the scrap fabric on to a couple of the girls shirts to match the pants. I also realized as I was almost done with the pants that I didn't have enough elastic for even one pair let alone two and it was Sunday night. So being the impatient girl I am I improvised and just sewed a small strip of elastic on either side of the bottoms and it worked! I was so proud of myself!
Here is the end result. They are by no means professional but I was proud to have whipped them out in about an hour!
Thanks for the wonderful ideas Taya, soon my girls will have more pajamas than they can use!

The Color Code

2009-02-09T19:53:00.001-08:00

I took a personality test tonight to see what "color" I am. I think the results turned out pretty right on. I'd like to see if other people think it fits me!

Congratulations, you are a white.

white:	46.09%
yellow:	??? %
blue:	??? %
red:	??? %

Whites (Motive: Peace)

whites are motivated by Peace. They seek independence and require kindness. They resist confrontation at all costs. To them, feeling good is more important than being good. They are typically quiet by nature, process things very deeply and objectively with great clarity. Of all the colors, whites are the best listeners. They respect people who are direct but recoil from perceived hostility or verbal battle. Whites need their "alone time" and refuse to be controlled by others. whites want to do things their own way and in their own time. They ask little of others and resent others demanding much of them. whites are much stronger than people think, but are not often seen for their strength because they don't easily reveal their feelings. whites are even-tempered, diplomatic, and the voice of reason; but can also be indecisive, unexpressive, and silently stubborn. When you deal with a WHITE, be kind, accept and support their individuality, and look for non-verbal clues to understand their feelings.

Now go and see what color you are here!

Glendale glitter and glow

2009-01-18T15:50:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to a local event called the "Glendale Glitter and Glow Block Party". It was fun. We parked a few blocks up and took a shuttle bus to downtown. It think the girls had more fun on the bus than anything else! They have hot air balloons set up amongst food vendors, stilt walkers, jugglers, live music, rides and lights. It was fun to get out and it was the perfect temperature right around 70 degrees. Beautiful!

Olives!

2009-01-18T15:46:00.000-08:00

We have a couple of olive trees in the front yard of where we live and they were thick! So the Maloufs came and cleaned them out. We had fun! They have a recipe to make really good olives apparently..I still need to try some Teralee!

picture catch up!

2009-01-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures from our Holidays.

Catching up

2009-01-06T22:19:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are back in Arizona after a nice trip home to Northern Idaho. We intended to stay through the whole month of January, but some meanies from Cory's school got our hopes up and then decided to rain on our parade! So here we are....Cory has to travel to east Mesa Monday through Friday which is easily at least an hour commute in good traffic. We only get to see time about 3 hours each evening. He's exhausted and so am I, but life is good and I am so thankful for the wonderful times we had with friends and family in Idaho. The Holidays were so fun, especially since one of my best-ever friends Rochelle got married and we got to spend a lot of time doing shower and reception stuff and I got to meet her awesome new husband Paul. We miss you guys!!
Christmas was wonderful as usual and of course we all got way too spoiled, especially Lauren. I will post pictures as soon as I feel like taking the time! We got our fill of snow too, which is weird for our little valley, but we had a white Christmas and it was so fun to go sledding on Christmas day!
So now it's time to get back to some normalcy in our lives and stop celebrating with food! Wish us luck getting back on "the wagon" after falling off of it for 6 weeks!

crafts and hobbies

2008-11-19T21:43:00.000-08:00

So, a group of us girls got together last year and all brought supplies to create a "Thanksgiving Banner" that we were copying from the Pottery barn. Many of them finished theirs in a timely manner...me on the other hand just got it done. Here's the finished product!

Also, Kristen has a new Hobby...

Sooo proud...

Little Rock Hounds!

2008-11-03T01:03:00.000-08:00

Remember a few months ago when I did a post on Lauren being a huge rock collector??? Well now she's showing Kristen the ropes! This is how I found them the other day playing in the back yard. You can see in the pictures how proud Kristen is of her rocks! I love how they're in skirts and getting right down in the dirt. I love my little rock fanatics!

Halloween

2008-11-03T00:12:00.000-08:00

I am worn out after all of the Halloween festivities this year! The girls had many opportunities to wear their costumes. Kristen was a candy corn for a couple of events and then a little mermaid to match Lauren's mermaid costume. It was my first attempt at homemade costumes! It was so fun coming up with an idea in my head and then putting it all together. No patterns...No instructions...and I feel pretty good about the outcome!
Here are the little beauties!We went Trick or Treating with our good friends the Phillips.
We had a good time hitting all of the houses in the "richer" part of the neighborhood called Arrowhead Lakes and envying all of the houses that we will never be able to afford! It was a perfect night with the temperature around 80 degrees...No jackets covering up the kids costumes here!

The night ended with this nasty "whip scorpion" on a wall. Pretty cool huh Patti?! It was pretty creepy, but not as creepy as...

...these big dorks who think it's sooo cool to shave big ole' mutton chops and a handlebar moustache..and then top it off with a fabulous Hawaiian shirt...

How well do you spell??

2008-10-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

Take the Blog spelling test! I was nervous but did pretty well!

I Scored a 93%!

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

My sweet husband

2008-10-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

Look what Cory brought home for me yesterday!

And no, we didn't have a fight and it wasn't a special occasion or anything! In fact I just got flowers a couple of weeks ago for our Anniversary...twice in one month. Just because.
Thanks Babe!

Fall Happenings!

2008-10-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

We went to the fair last week, it was Dollar day so admission was only $1 which was good since we didn't have any money to burn! Everything in the fair of course was so expensive so we stuck with the free stuff like the petting zoo. They had all sorts of animals including a giraffe, ostrich and camel. Kristen freaked over the tiny baby goats and chicks. It was so cute to see her shrieking and pointing excitedly.

Then the next day we met up with my friend Jen and her kids Carter and Bri. We went to Michaels for the great pumpkin event. We went last year and loved "glittering" our $5 pumkins. This year no glitter =( But the kids still had fun with pipe cleaners and googly eyes. Carter absolutely adores Lauren. He calls her "Warren" and it's so cute! Jen was a trooper even though little Bri was fussy!

You know you're in AZ when...

2008-10-11T22:51:00.000-07:00

your daughter goes outside to a "chilly" 70 degrees, does a little shiver and says
"It's soooo cold! Is it going to snow today??"
I have to admit ...I was a wussy and was cold today too!

For everyone with little girls

2008-10-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

Check out this link to enter to win this really cool doll house and they are also giving one away to the Primary Children's Hospital. Very cool. I like her blog The Little Window Shop.

Update on all of us.

2008-10-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

I decided it's time for me to document what my girls are up to these days so I can look back and remember..after all this is my only form of a journal lately!

Kristen is quite the little walker these days. She's become a real pro! She's very cautious and makes sure to take her time around any sort of obstacle. She's is fascinated by dogs, birds, and balloons...especially balloons! Anytime we're in a store with balloons she shrieks with excitement and points and says her best version of balloon. Oh and I can't forget shoes! This girl LOVES shoes. She even wants to sleep with them on sometimes.
She still only says a few words at this point but everyday I hear different sounds and attempts at words. She has said pretty, ball, balloon, nana (for banana and her Nana!) Mom, Dad, and some weird sounds for Lauren. Oh and of course Hi and nuh-uh & shakes her head no. She says Baby like "bay-bay" with an accent...so cute!

Lauren is quite the little learning sponge lately. She's taken an interest in sounding words out and we have gotten her a little pre-school curriculum book and she LOVES to do her homework! She's pretty much mastered most things in the book, we still have to work on her writing some of her letters better.
She's getting so tall and it seems like all of her clothes are too short for her all of the sudden.
She also has taken an interest in what she looks like. She wants me to straighten her hair and today when I was waxing Cory's uni-brow I did Lauren's too at her request!
She asks us daily if we will play Barbies with her. Barbies and stuffed animals are her absolute favorite toys.

Cory just started his first week of Rotations...YAY! This means he is done with classes...forever! Now he just basically rotates around every month or so to work with doctors in all different specialties for the next couple of years. Right now he's working with a Neurologist. We get to see him every evening now with no studying! It's been nice except for the fact he got the stomach flu first thing and had to call in sick on his second day! He's better now and hopefully good to go.
We get to go home for the month of December so he can do a rotation with a doctor in our hometown. We're quite excited!

Well and as for me, not much new to report other than losing 60 lbs total now! Woo hoo! I was holding steady at 57 lost but then a little bout of a stomach bug this week gave me a little extra help! =)
We're gearing up for Halloween and of course Lauren changes her mind daily what she wants to be. I love Halloween. The decorations are always so cool and in the best colors. I love wandering through the ailes and of course my favorite is when everything goes 75% off after it's over!

Happy Haunting Everyone!

Ants part 2!

2008-09-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone else down here in AZ has been having ant infestations, but we definitely have..the most recent outbreak took over our couch, cushions and all! These are the biting kind too. It's been fabulous to say the least!
Anyway...My landlord's wanted me to find out if anyone else has used an exterminator that you'd recommend?? We need this taken care of ASAP!
Here's a picture of the little buggers.

My 30th birthday!

2008-09-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

This year was a wonderful year, with celebrations spread out over the course of a week.
First was my fun birthday party over at the fabulous Taya's house. Susan got the most wonderful chocolate cake from Costco and we had good food and great fun with friends. All of us girls and our kids went swimming and just ate and chilled. Thanks so much girls!
Next we went out for a quick dinner at Rubio's mexican Grill for some awesome fish tacos. Kristen had fun eating on the limes. Then Taya watched our girls for us while we went to the movie Tropic Thunder...it was pretty funny. The next night we went out for an official birthday dinner to my favorite spot in town...Oregano's! We ate way too much and of course had to top it off with their awesome Pizzookie! Slighty baked chocolate chip cookie dough (crisp around edges, soft in the middle) with a ton of vanilla bean ice cream melting on top...it's pure heaven.
Then Jen, Liora, and I went to get pedicures! It was a first for Liora and I and it was fantastic...We even were treated to hot stone massages!

Then a couple of weeks later my Mother-in-law Debbie came to stay for a few days. We had so much fun shopping and sewing and just hanging out. I think she played Barbies with Lauren more than she ever has in her whole life! Thanks for spoiling all of us Deb! We miss you.
I've also been doing other miscellaneous projects around the house...check out the slideshow for pictures!

The Big 3-0

2008-08-27T22:25:00.000-07:00

Sooo...I'm turning 30, holy cow! I want to get something good for this birthday but of course it can't be too spendy. I have no idea what to get! I thought I would take a poll. I want everyone to put in their 2 cents and tell me what you think I should get! I'm thinking less than $100. What would you spend the money on???

Heather you are missed!

2008-08-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

I just HAD to share this e-mail that I got from Heather today...I sure do miss her!

Jodi when I went to the fair and saw this.... I laughed and thought of you.... Miss you Mrs. Perky.

Kristen's walking

2008-08-15T22:56:00.001-07:00

Kristen says hi!

2008-08-15T22:55:00.001-07:00

Kristen's latest achievements

2008-08-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

Our little Kristen is quite the little stinker these days, it might have something to do with non-stop teething! She is starting to walk, the most steps she's taken is probably4. She absolutely loves walking around with her "walker" as we call it. She totally looks like a little old lady and she's so happy now that she knows how to turn in different directions. Her newest word is "ug" when she came to give me a hug yesterday. She had her 1 year check-up and nothing much is different...her head still measures off the charts (thanks a lot Cory!) And she weighs 24 pounds...little chunker!

She also has been interested in drawing lately. I can't believe she's old enough to be doing this already...this is how I found her this afternoon.

They're invading!

2008-08-12T20:56:00.000-07:00

This little guy was found behind the toilet when I was getting the girlies out of the bath. This one freaked when I went to pick it up and shed its tail...I'd much rather have these little guys running around my house than scorpions, roaches or spiders any day!

Picture Post

2008-08-08T23:55:00.000-07:00

I saw this on my friend Liora's blog and thought it was really cool...
I would love to see what everyone comes up with for this, so please copy it!

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your nickname.

Answers:
1: Jodi...of course. I thought this was the most unique picture in the bunch
2: Italian, pasta, etc.
3: Centennial
4: Green and purple combo has been one of my lifelong favs. They compliment each other so well.
5: I like a lot of them, so this collage summed it up.
6: Crystal light
7: Bora Bora...who knows if I'll ever go, too long of a plane ride!
8: Chocolate ice cream! Well that is my favorite lately.
9: Artistically inspired. I can't wait till I have a craft room and time to let the creative juices flow!
10: Family ( I don't know why this picture wouldn't show up, it was a cute little monkey family!)
11: Loved
12: Cory calls me Babe.

One reason why I love the desert!

2008-08-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

So I was sitting on the couch this morning, I go to get up and out of the corner of my eye something crawls really fast from behind the pillow I was sitting against over the back of the couch, I freak out thinking it looked like a big, nasty spider of some sort, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this little guy...

Seriously SOOO cute!

Lauren is funny

2008-08-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

So I'm posting this a little late, but it's so worth sharing!
So for about a week or two before Kristen turned one, Lauren kept talking and asking about how Kristen was going to be so different when she turns one. We went shopping for her birthday presents and Lauren would pick up toys only suitable for a 3 year old or older. When I explained that she would choke on those chosen toys she would say "but it's for when she's one". I explained to her over and over that she will still be a baby even after her birthday and that she won 't be any different. I thought I had finally explained well enough and she had a grasp on the idea. Well she woke up early on the morning of Kristen's birthday and comes and climbs into bed with me, but first she looked at Kristen sleeping peacefully in her crib next to me. She quietly whispers in my ear "Mom, I can't tell if she's one yet, she still looks like a baby!" and then says "I wonder if she'll be able to run around when she wakes up?" I laughed and explained she couldn't run around yesterday and today is no different. So then Kristen wakes up and I pick her up, excitedly Lauren says "put her down and see if she can walk!" I explained again. Her philosophy was "but Becca can walk and she's one!" Becca is a few months older, I didn't even try to explain that one....

Kristen is...

2008-08-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

I think I'm in love...

2008-07-30T22:55:00.000-07:00

With this sewing machine my sister has so generously let me use for a year. She's going to have a tough time trying to wrestle this puppy away from me! Both of my sisters were lucky and bought these Bernina sewing machines from my uncle at very low prices and I wasn't included in this deal because I'm down here in AZ. So not fair!
Anywho...I have accomplished much because of the ease of using this wonderful machine. I've taken in a pair of jeans that were 3 sizes to big, I've fixed a shirt that's been bugging me forever, I made curtains out of a sheet for Lauren's room, repurposed an ugly dress into a cover for a throw pillow,
and also with the scraps from the shirt I fixed I fashioned barbie this savvy new attire!
And that's just in the last 4 days...Oh just wait!!!

Memory Game

2008-07-29T00:02:00.001-07:00

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

pictures

2008-07-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, here is the website for all of our recent pictures. The house ones are still a little cluttered keep in mind but I had a few requests for pictures!
http://photobucket.com/corybrown

insects and injuries

2008-07-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so life has been pretty good lately except for the occasional drama!
The other night was one of the worst.
Kristen, Lauren, and I had spent the day shopping and driving around in our van that had recently had the air conditioning quit working for the 2nd time in a month (ugg). It's pretty bad when you step out of the van into 105 degree temp and it feels refreshing... Anyway, I thought that was enough running around for one day, but then Cory was studying late and I needed to get some groceries, so after we had gone home to recoup from the heat we ventured out again in the evening. I sat Kristen on the lawn for about 30 seconds while I turned on some water for our tree. I go to get Kristen and she starts quickly crawling off of the lawn with little dark specks of something all over her leg that I thought was dirt...WRONG..I had sat her in an ant pile! Now Arizona ants aren't just little pesky red ants, nooooo These hurt BAD!!! When I get bit it's practically like a bee sting. Poor little Kristen wasn't crying but her leg was all red and some of the ants were hanging on for dear life.
So since she wasn't crying I thought we'd still just do our quick run to the produce store. All was well till we got to the checkout stand. I pushed the cart to the end of the counter so the lady could put my bags in the cart. While I was scanning my debit card, out of the corner of my eye I see Lauren step up on the side of the cart with Kristen in the baby seat...It starts to tip and ends up going all the way down. Kristen hits her head and Lauren is trapped under the cart! I scream and both girls are shreaking in terror! (I'm sure me freaking out didn't help!) Anyway, we filled out an incident report and both girls were fine in a matter of minutes. Needless to say I went home, called Cory and said I'm calling it a night!
Here is a picture of Kristen's bites-

Also, We were driving to sonic last night and I hit a freakin' Coyote with our van! It bounced off the front bumper, rolled onto the curb, then got up and ran away...
I think it's time for a new week without so much drama!

The Latest...

2008-07-19T22:41:00.000-07:00

The move was a success, thanks to my wonderful parents and strong willing men! We are loving the new house! So much more room. I will post pictures as soon as we get our own official internet services and stop feeding off of the unsuspecting neighbors wireless which makes for a really bad connection.
Anywho, Kristen FINALLY has teeth, 3 in the last 3 days. Needless to say it has not been fun, calm, peaceful, or restful whatsoever. I don't remember it being this bad with Lauren. And I have tried everything I know of to give her relief, Tylenol and Ibuprofen, teething tablets, even orajel (I know it's a no-no but I was desperate!)
Lauren is adjusting well and misses all of her friends that are out of town, she's so bored she watches the same movie every single day. We don't have cable right now either so maybe that has something to do with it.
Kristen has a new love of crawling through little spaces,. so my Mom got her a cool little tube thing at Ikea that she is playing with as we speak. She also says "uh-oh" now. It's her first official word!
Well, that's about it, I will post pictures and possibly video soon!

Busy

2008-06-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

Life has been a little more hectic as of late! We're moving in to a house next week in the 110 degree weather...we moved last year at this time too...aren't we smart?!
The girls are doing great. Kristen is in to everything these days and her knees and feet are pretty much stained dirty from crawling everywhere. We've been enjoying the pool lately and even went to our local Aquatic center the other day and Lauren had a blast until she was running on the pavement (big no no!) and slipped and skinned up her nose. A lifeguard was only a couple of feet away and saw it happen, swooped her up and practically sprinted to the first aid station. Lauren of course was more freaked out about some stranger running away with her in her arms away from her mom! She was ok once we got out of there! Also we've been helping Heather move out of our soon to be new home. It's bitter-sweet having a friend move away but also getting the nice little house she's been living in! We will miss them so much! She has also taken new family photos of us recently. You can see them here.
My parents are coming in to town in a couple of hours to help us move (they're the BEST!) and Lauren can hardly wait. Gommy is her best friend. She woke me up at 5:30 this morning to ask if they are in AZ yet. Keep in mind Lauren doesn't usually get up till 9:00!
Well that is life in a nutshell here. I'm posting a couple of pictures of Kristen. One funny thing she does lately is she likes to carry things in her mouth while she crawls around. She looks so proud when she does it. Silly girl. Also I painted her toenails for the first time yesterday, here is a picture of her dirty, pudgy feet but with pretty pink nails!

Latest Pictures

2008-05-27T11:40:00.001-07:00

For you Nana

2008-05-24T23:52:00.000-07:00

Well, Nana told me she's going through withdrawals since I haven't posted in a while. We've been having camera issues but now that's been fixed, and our stupid computer is having issues with the camera connecting to download pictures. So until I get things figured out we will be picture-less.
Lauren's birthday came and went. She got so spoiled and had way too much cake. I was seeing the effects of spoiling/cake for a good week afterward. I can't believe we have a 4 year old. She is getting less shy and more independent everyday. I really see a lot of my personality in her these days, that may be why we butt heads..both stubborn!
Kristen is wanting to get into everything these days and just started crawling a couple of days ago FINALLY, but really I was fine with her not crawling, it was easier. She's not really going far, still just content to play with what is within a few feet of her. Also she has a unique crawl...knee, foot, knee, foot. It's a walk/crawl I guess. It's quite cute. I have a little video of it that I'll post ASAP.
She's also trying desperately to pull up on anything and everything around her.
As for Cory and I, Cory survived finals, hallelujah! We have really enjoyed having him around. He's officially a 3rd year student.
I'm just truckin' along trying to keep up with things around the apartment here. Crafting here and there and a little bit of cleaning house when I have to! I need a cleaning lady I've decided. We also enjoy playing with friends on a daily basis. And of course going to the pool!
We will be moving in to a house (rental) in the first part of July and we're excited, but also VERY sad to see our wonderful friends, the Pecks, who live in the house, leave for almost a year.
Well, that's it for now..I'll update pictures soon I hope!

Mother's day gift No-no's

2008-05-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

I thought this little article on Yahoo was pretty funny...although I would Love to receive some of the items listed! I especially loved the little video clip.
Check it out here.

New favorite thing

2008-05-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

I Love this thing, it's "squirt" from Boon.
I got it as Babies r' Us today...I just wish I would have had it 5 months ago!! So for those of you whose babies are going to be eating solids in the next few months, get one of these! It even had a little cover for the spoon so you can stick it in your bag with food in it and go!
I love all of the "Boon" products...so very Mod. Check them out! I think I will get the animal bag to stuff all of Lauren's stuffed animals in next!

9 months old

2008-05-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

Kristen is getting old =(
She is the sweetest baby ever and I am so blessed! She had her 9-month well check-up today and hated it...the doctor sucked...she had to be poked in the arm for a TB test and had to have blood drawn for lead and anemia screening...boy oh boy was it fun. Not to mention the hour and 1/2 we had to wait for the stinkin' doctor! Kristen came home and crashed for a 2 1/2 hour nap and just woke up happy as ever. She is just on cloud 9 if I'm holding her or in the room. It's pretty great being 2 little girls favorite person in the whole world!
Anyway...
Kristen's stats are:
head- 18 1/2 (off the charts)
height- 28 1/2 (80th percentile)
weight- 21 1/2 (95th percentile)
Yup...still chubby...as if anyone had any doubt!
She's really attempting to crawl these days. Still no teeth ( I love that gummy smile!)
She's trying to pull up on things and can stand really sturdy while holding on to things. says Mamamamama and Dadadadada and Yayayayaya. She likes to see how loud she can get, and let me tell ya, pretty dang loud!
Anyway...We sure to love and enjoy our little Kristen!

Bad day for a swim!

2008-04-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

So we have started this routine among our friends to go to our friend Taya's house to swim on Wednesdays. She couldn't have us all over today so a few of us just decided to swim at our much less fancy pool for the afternoon.
It starts out with all of the children splashing each other, fighting over floaties, screaming, etc. Then to top it off the wind was blowing which makes for less than perfect swimming conditions. Then a dead baby bunny was discovered in the pools filter. yuck! Just when we were saying that this day is a weird day at the pool, we find 2 year old Taiya under water...Heather heroically jumps in, fully clothed with sneakers and all, and saves poor little Taiya! Yay HEATHER!!

Just when we were recovering from that little scare Lauren walks over to me walking a little weird...with something brown in her swimming suit bottoms...I don't think I need to say more...
We promptly went home and are happy the drama is done!

Susan mentioned that next time a pool day is canceled and we decide to go it on our own we should probably just realize it's not meant to happen!
Good times huh girls???!!

My daughter..The great hunter

2008-04-21T11:32:00.001-07:00

This is what I find laying around on a daily basis...

If you can't tell, these are rocks. Lauren is a rock collector. I love it and loathe it at the same time. I find these lying around the house in the oddest areas. The above pictures are exactly where she left them. She does come from a long line of rockhounds so I guess I can't blame her. I can see many great rock collecting hunts in our future. But for now she thinks that the chunks of cement she finds are the best treasures!
I love my little Rock Hunter!

Updates for the Fam!

2008-04-17T23:41:00.001-07:00

Easter and Grandparents

2008-03-26T12:51:00.001-07:00

2008-03-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

I'm putting in an order for Mary Kay this next week and I need to know who wants to order something. I know a couple of you have mentioned ordering things but let me know before next week what exactly you want. I have the most recent catalog and you can look online too at marykay.com
I'm offering 30% off right now so take advantage if you'd like! I'm ordering the new bronzing and highlighting mineral powders and I'm excited! I also highly recommend my personal favorite of all time Microdermabrasion set.
I seriously could not live without this and my timewise skincare!
So let me know...give me a call or e-mail me!