Junior High Moments

Oh man, I am not ready for this stuff!!!!  I feel so unprepared for the whirlwind that lies in front of me...somedays I just want to swaddle her up and stick a binky in her mouth again!!  Okay, that's a really funny image...ha ha ha!!  Let me just laugh for a minute...ha ha!!  Ok, back to reality.  She's not a baby anymore! She's not even a little girl anymore!  Gone are the days of picking out a baptism dress, planning play-dates, the Tooth fairy, and Polly Pockets solving all that is wrong and unjust in the world.  Ugh!!!!!!  She's a TWEEN now!!  How did this happen?!? 

Anyway, enough of my boobing.  Maryn had her first "Middle School Dance" this month.  It was for the whole Junior High...6th, 7th, and 8th.  She looked cute, and was excited for a night out with her friends.  Mark and I both dropped her off, and seriously considered hiding in the bushes to spy on them, but alas we did not.  We spared her the humiliation!!  Can you just imagine what that would have looked like?  "Shhh...it's okay, don't mind us, keep dancing!  Click, click...shhhhh!!!"  LOL!! 

There is a boy in her class (actually a few, can you blame them?!?) who "likes" Maryn.  Mark affectionately refers to him as "Orbit Boy".  Meaning that Maryn is the Earth, and he orbits around her...drawn by her gravitational pull.  LOL!!  He is so cute, and it's hilarious to watch.  She knows he's there, and she's polite, but she seems utterly unaffected by it.  It's all quite fascinating.  So we asked if he was going to ask her to dance, and she said, "yes, he asks me pretty much every day."  Doesn't that sound like a line from Napoleon Dynamite?  Ha ha!!  Anyway, it ended up there weren't any slow songs at the Dance.  Which is actually FINE by me!! So they danced some "Fast songs".  Not sure what that means, or how on earth that looked (tee hee), but whatever!! 

So it's official, she is GROWING UP!!

The Politically Correct Version of a Ward Halloween Party

Friday night was our Ward's "Fall Festival", otherwise known as the Halloween party. I don't know why we can't just call it a Halloween party. Is it because it's at the Church? Is it because we are not supposed to acknowledge that we actually celebrate Halloween? Whatever. It was a Halloween party. There were costumes, games, a spook alley, candy, and a chili cook-off. There was supposed to be cornbread, but the members didn't get that memo. There were, however, plenty of desserts too, and fortunately they were abundant, and yummy!!

Maryn and Avery's creativity was in full swing. Avery wanted to be a "Voodoo Doll". This is what we came up with. By the end of the night, she had exactly 3 pins left in her heart pillow. Uh-oh, guess that means that people better remember to wear their shoes in the building for awhile...:) Also, hopefully those ginormous vacuum cleaners actually work!! Maryn was the "Invisible Man/Tween". She wanted to use actual strips of gauze for her face, but we decided that would be better for Halloween itself.

Parker was Supergirl again. What can I say? I bought her a frilly Dora flamenco dancer costume this summer from a garage sale, and when I brought it out to show her, she was like, "no!! I need to be a super-hero!" I guess she's got the world to save, not to entertain flamenco style. Plus I think she's kind of over Dora. She doesn't seem as interested and in love as she once was. Oh well, I'm getting used to her dramatic mood swings. LOL!!

This is Parker's little buddy at Church. They were born 1 month apart, and he is the older of the two. They have been little twins so far, but now the divide (height-wise) is growing. I just think they are so cute together. Maybe my dreams of them marrying aren't so realistic anymore?

Parker wanting to help vacuum. She hates the vacuum at home, but she loved this one!! Nothing like pulling out the industrial vacuum to tell the Ward members that the party's over! Time to go home!!

Until we meet again....next HALLOWEEN!!

Mark, the Mormon

 (click picture to enlarge)

Well, it's official.  The word is out.  Mark is the token "Mormon" on campus.  Let the miracles begin!  LOL!!  It's simultaneously nerve-wracking and exciting.  Nerve-wracking because we are Mormons in a predominantly NON-Mormon area of the country, and sometimes locals are known to not take kindly to strangers.  Exciting because the possibilities are endless.  Even the woman in charge of the lecture series wrote a really heart-felt thank you note to Mark saying that she is enthusiastic about reading the Book of Mormon.  This is good stuff y'all.  I am so proud of Mark! He did a great job!  He's really got such a gift for public speaking, he has a way of making people laugh, feel comfortable, being direct, and real.  It's so neat to see him shine.  It's also neat to see how a section in his p-blessing is coming to pass...that he will be an emissary of the gospel wherever he and his family go...wow!  So true!! 

My Birthday Girls

September is a special month for birthdays in our family!  We have Parker Faye on the 5th, who turned 3 this year.  And we have Avery Jane on the 15th, who turned 10 this year!!

For Parker's birthday, we went to Chuck E. Cheese.  She absolutely loved it!  She loved the rides, the pizza, the life-size Chuck E. Cheese who wanders around like the Pied Piper...she loved all of it!!  It was pretty fun for the rest of us too!!

 We also had cake and presents at home for her too.

For Avery's birthday, she had her BFF for a sleepover, and we took them to a football game at LaSalle-Peru High school.  (That's the school they would go to if we're still here at that point...please pray for us that we won't be here at that point.)  We also had cake and presents for her at home too.  Aunt Erin and Uncle Ben had given Avery all the accessories for a cake pop set. She couldn't wait to churn some of those puppies out...they turned out great and were sooo yummy!! 

For both of them, we had a fun visit from Grandma and Grandpa Day, and the Griswold's.  It was such a treat to hang out with them!  We got to swim at Grandma and Grandpa's hotel pool, and on Saturday we took them to a local orchard that has fallish fun activities, and had a bbq in the backyard.  It was great!

 

  

 

Needless to say, September has been an exciting month for our girls!!  It really reminds me of how blessed I am.  Love my birthday girls!!

First Day of School 2012-2013

Ding, ding, ding!!  School is in session!! Girls started back to school on Friday, the 17th. I can't believe it! Where did the summer go?!?

Don't they look fancy?!? And all growed up!?! LOL!!

Maryn is in MIDDLE SCHOOL!! A big (little) 6th grader!!

Avery is starting 5th grade!!

I think Charlie is thinking he's going with Avery to TGS!!

Believe it or not, but Maryn has grown a lot this year...she is wearing a ladies 7/12 shoe now!

Action shot with the backpack!!

Look, Avery's shoes match her backpack!!

Here's to another great year at Tonica Grade School!!

Westward Migration Summer 2012--Part 2

After our time in Utah, we headed north to Idaho. We stopped in Preston, outside of Logan, to take a little "Napoleon Dynamite" greatest hits tour. We found everything except Rex Kwon Dojo, and their house. The cashier at the King's was actually in the movie, she was one of the kids screaming on the bus when the cow gets shot. She seemed pretty unimpressed though...although we thought it was hilarious!!

Girls on the steps of Preston High School where Pedro, Deb, and Napoleon talk.

The Cuttin' Curral is a REAL thing!! I love how they spell it Curral!!

Avery poses as Summer Wheatley, cashier at King's

Uncle Rico buying supplies at King's. "I said the 12 pack, not the 24 pack, you're just gonna have to mix and match!!"

The DI where Napoleon finds his sword, and his sweet suit for the dance.

After Preston, we headed over to Malad to visit Grandma Brown. We were really lucky to have stopped by when Aunt Janiel was there because she was able to take us to the house/farm so we could look around and visit. I just love that place!!

The wheat is ready to harvest!!

Parker on the porch of the farm.

Grandma and the girls

So glad we got to spend some time with her!!

After Malad, we headed up to Rigby to spend the rest of our trip with our family up there. We stayed with Dan and Shalee, which was great! We felt like we had our own little apartment setup in their basement. It was so comfortable, and we loved getting to know Hadley, Blake, and our new little niece Amaya better. Thanks so much you guys!!

Sunday night we were able to have a big family dinner with everyone at Dave and Melanie's place in Rigby. They inherited the BIG dining room table from Dennis and Laurie and it was just like old times eating around the dinner table as a family. Sniff, sniff...it really was probably the greatest moment of the whole trip!! Thanks Dave and Mel for the yummy ribs!!! The following pics were taken that night.

Kate, Dylan, and Mindy Brown

Shalee and baby Amaya (and another baby sister on the way!! Due December, woo hoo!!)

Brianna, Avery, and Maryn

Dan, Hadley (left), and Blake (right) at the little kids table!! :)  Melanie in the background.

Cousin Kathy showed up to cuddle baby Amaya and take our big family pictures!!

These two are something else...simultaneously adorable and mischevious...Naomi and Parker.

After taking pictures, we let the kids play on the infamous rock climbing wall park in Rigby.

It was kind of surreal as the sun set with all the grandkids playing and the rest of us watching...we all could feel Dennis and Laurie's presence that night. We sure miss them still!


Of course, no trip would be complete without lunch at Big Jud's. It never disappoints!!


The girls decided to give each other makeovers the night before we left. We all figured the next time we get together they will probably look like this for reals. Yikes, scary thought! LOL!!


We had to say goodbye to this little beauty the morning we left. She is so darling, we loved getting to hold her!!  She will probably be so big the next time we see her. 

And these two funny boys...it was so much fun getting to spend so much time with them during this trip...we will miss them!!

We said goodbye to our Rigby family and headed south again to Idaho Falls, where we got to spend some time with cousin Kathy, Karen, and Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob.  That's always a treat.  After that, we went further south to Pocatello and dropped in on Jason and Mindy's family for awhile.  Wish we had had more time to visit there as well.

From Pocatello, we drove to Little America and stayed there for a night.  Staying at Little America is like walking back in time...everything is circa 1960's, I love it!!

After Little America, we stayed in Kearney again, and then we got home late Friday night.  Everything since then has been a blur.  We are still recovering from our vacation.  LOL!!

We are so glad we went, we had a great time, great weather, great visits with great family, and can't wait to see them all again!!

Westward Migration Summer 2012--Part 1

The Brown's went west for summer vacation 2012. It was a long journey, but we had lots of fun!! We left on Monday, July 30 after getting the girls registered for school. We got as far as Kearney, NE. the first night. The second day we drove towards Denver. We made a few stops along the way.

Maryn and Avery at the Lincoln statue Visitor Center in NE.

Mark and Parker...she was a little apprehensive of the grizzly bear. She said it reminded her of Brave...lol!!

We stopped in Denver our 2nd night and stayed with the Pierson's!! I am kicking myself because we didn't take any pictures while we were there!! It was fun to catch up with Shauna and Daren and the (grown up) kids. We did so much in a short amount of time too! We went to the park with Daren, Maddi, and Buddy (whom Avery took quite a liking to!), and of course the infamous long board! (It's like another member of their family!) LOL!! After that, Shauna made us a delicious dinner! After dinner, Shauna and Maddi and the girls and I hit up their local rec center pool for a quick dip in the pool. After that Daren, Shauna, Collin, Kristen, Paige, and Mark and I got to see a late night movie! After that we pretty much crashed until we could smell a yummy breakfast cookin' upstairs. We ate breakfast and got to talk to Andrew for a little while before we hit the road again!!

We drove over to Evanston, WY for our 3rd night. We wanted to stay in SLC but all the hotels were booked up. Evanston was close enough. Although our hotel pretty much sucked. Oh well.

The next day we drove into SLC and hit up Temple Square. We hadn't been in quite a few years. It was nice to see all the new construction and have some open time available to walk through the visitor centers and take some of the tours. We got to see the Joseph Smith movie and that was a real treat for the girls and I!! Mark and Parker napped in the car at that point.

The Christus

This is a ballroom in the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg. Parker exclaimed, "It's Belle's Ballroom!!" when we entered. She and Avery did some dancing while the rest of us sand "tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme...Beauty and the Beast!!" It was pretty cute!!

The pretty floral display in the lobby at the JSMB

Atop the Conference Center After finishing up at Temple Square, we headed north to Logan.

I haven't been back to Logan in ages...probably since I graduated! It was so fun to go back with some time to just wander around and reminisce. We stayed there for two nights, it was so great!!

We walked around campus and this is in front of the Old A in the background. I just love USU campus!

We took a drive through the Logan canyon. Mark freaked me out taking this pic. Maryn actually took this because I refused to even get out and look down the steep drop off.

And of course no trip through Logan is complete without some Aggie Ice Cream at the USU Creamery. It was soooooo good!! Just like I remembered it!

We also had a chance to visit Mark's cousin, Kristen. Sad that we missed her hubby, it would've been fun to get to know him better!! Thanks Kristen!!

After our time in Logan, we headed north again towards Idaho. I'll save that part for another post.