Hello from the Browns

Hello!

2011-12-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

Heelllloooo world! The Brown's exist! Our blog has fallen off the face of the planet, but luckily we haven't. Hope you're having a...

Merry Christmas!!!

Jason is in the Santa suit, in case you're wondering why we let our children get so friendly with strangers. :)

Hahaha. Ellis is done. Apparently 5 minutes of picture taking is just more than he can handle.

(p.s. a big thanks to my super awesome and adorable friends Rebecca and Jen for taking these! LOVE those girls. http://www.snapshotsisters.com/)

Watch this sweet little Christmas video. It will make you happy.

Between Jason being gone until about 8 every night, trying to find someone to take our lease, looking for a place in East Bay (see below for explanation), on top of all the normal Christmas craziness, things got a bit off balanced in our house for awhile. More stress than gratitude, more busyness than togetherness, more frazzled than fun.

We forgot for a second what Christmas was. Not presents. Not traditions. Not full calendars. There's of course nothing wrong with those things. We love them. They make this time of year special and magical. But as with everything, there is a balance. Those things are icing on the cake--but the foundation of Christmas is the Savior himself. We are grateful to focus on Him, on what He's done for us. On His humble birth, and magnificent life. There have been countless times in my life that I've wondered, how do people do this without the support, the purpose, and the understanding that He brings.

I love what Elder Holland says:

The wise men did come later bearing gifts, adding some splendor and wealth to this occasion, but it is important to note that they came from a distance, probably Persia, a trip of several hundred miles at the very least. Unless they started long before the star appeared, it is highly unlikely that they arrived on the night of the babe’s birth. Indeed, Matthew records that when they came Jesus was “a young child,” and the family was living in “a house.” (Matt. 2:11.)

Perhaps this provides an important distinction we should remember in our own holiday season. Maybe the purchasing and the making and the wrapping and the decorating—those delightfully generous and important expressions of our love at Christmas—should be separated, if only slightly, from the more quiet, personal moments when we consider the meaning of the Baby (and his birth) who prompts the giving of such gifts.

As happens so often if we are not careful, the symbols can cover that which is symbolized. In some of our lives the manger has already been torn down to allow for a discount store running three-for-a-dollar specials on gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

At this focal point of all human history, a point illuminated by a new star in the heavens revealed for just such a purpose, probably no other mortal watched—none but a poor young carpenter, a beautiful virgin mother, and silent stabled animals who had not the power to utter the sacredness they had seen.

Shepherds would soon arrive and later, wise men from the East. Later yet the memory of that night would bring Santa Claus and Frosty and Rudolph—and all would be welcome. But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees or tinsel. With a baby—that’s how Christmas began.

We hope you have a WONDERFUL Christmas!!

XOXO,

The Browns

Us at a Glance

2011-12-20T22:32:00.001-08:00

2011 is almost over!!!

Is that a news flash for anyone else?! Because it definitely is for us. The year has flown by. I know how cliche that sounds, but it's just true. Flown by. Like an eagle.

A friend of mine that moved away about a year ago was just in town to visit (that's you Andrea!). While we were catching up she said, "So, how is having 3 going? I'm guessing pretty crazy since you haven't blogged in a year." Ha! Well, I wouldn't say it's been crazy. It's been great. Busy. Full of fun stuff. And laundry. Always laundry. We love it. Not the laundry, but the rest of it. But obviously blogging hasn't made it on the priority list. So here's the new goal: 1 post a month. Are you laughing? Yeah, so am I. Well, we'll try. And hey, even if we do 2 next year we'll be doubling our production. Progress is all we can ask for, right?

The 2011 highlights:

-Jason graduated with his MBA from UC Davis in June--woohoo! All the hard work paid off!

-Norah started Kindergarten. She loooovvvves it.

-Myles started walking in June, turned 1 in August, now runs everywhere, and got his first set of stitches 2 weeks ago. I say first because it certainly won't be his last.

-Ellis continues to be the comedian and has started eating some vegetables. And hamburgers. And rice. This is big news.

-After a longer than hoped for and a very diligent search, Jason got a great job(!!).....in Pleasanton. Which means......we'll be moving! We were thinking of waiting out our lease until August, but it only took 1 week of 3-4 hours of commuting a DAY to know it wasn't worth it. The kids missed Daddy too much, and so did I of course. We're looking for someone to take over our lease right now, and as soon as that happens we'll make the jump to East Bay. It's a beautiful area, and Jason is loving his job, so it's good stuff. But it's so hard to even think about leaving Davis. We've made amazing, life long friends which will be heartbreaking to leave. We love our house, love our ward, love school, love Davis. Bittersweet, definitely. But, a JOB!! Yahoo!

The cute graduate and his fan club.

He was a happy guy!

We're so lucky to have this guy. After graduating he spent every weekday working normal job hours looking for a job. He'd leave the house at 8ish, come home at 6ish--networking, applying, interviewing. It's not an easy thing to do, but he did it and managed to still be a nice Daddy and husband in the meantime. We're so happy that the searching paid off and that he's loving his job (IT Business Consulting).

And 2nd in line for Biggest News of the Year:

We have a Kindergartner in our house. A school aged kid. She absolutely LOVES it. Loves her teacher, her friends, learning, everything about it. I definitely cried the first day dropping her off and all the way home. It was exciting and hard all at the same time. It's the closing of a chapter--from now on she's a big girl in school. The days of her being a little girl and hanging out with us all day are gone. It's fun watching how excited she is about it, how the first thing she wants to do is show us everything she did at school, and how thrilled the boys are when we get to go pick her up.

3rd in line for Biggest News of the Year:

Ellis got a new do! It was time. I think he misses swinging it around as part of his goofy guy routine, but he loves it. He sure does look like a big boy now. Do I really have to admit that he's 3 and 1/2? (Thanks, Shiloh, for doing it!)

Before:

After:

Get to see more of that cute face now!

Norah Girl:

5 and 1/2. Kindergartner. Still spunky, sweet, and full of energy. Still our artist of the family. Draws, cuts, glues, all day long. She's announced that she "doesn't like really girly things anymore, like princesses and stuff. Just cool things." So funny. She's growing up!

Still a collector. This was a stick collection gathered on the walk home from school. So many "collections" all over the place in our house. Ellis has caught on now. Countless times I've picked up some what-looks-like-trash from off the ground to hear a shriek of "NO! That's for my collection." Hmm, future hoarders?

She's our little hiker. She loves being on an "adventure" and still wishes she could be the leader every time. We went to Point Lobos (right out side of Monterey), it was BEAUTIFUL and the kids loved climbing around, especially Norah. Down by the tide pools she would climb up on top of a big rock and yell at the top of her lungs, "I CAN DO ANYTHING!" Haahaha! It's funny how some things we think of as cliche just come naturally to them. It was totally heartfelt and sincere. And hilarious. She walked her little legs off that day, probably 6 hours straight.

Ellis Man:

3 and 1/2. He's goofy, learning to not be such a picky eater, and so sweet. He'll often come up to me during the day and say, "Hey, Mommy, you know what?" "Yes, Ellis?" "I love you." He knows how to score points. He's very social and LOVES being with friends and playing with Norah & Myles. Telling him it's "quiet time" is like giving him a death sentence.

Oh, Ellis, our comedian. Almost impossible to get a normal picture of him these days. Loves being silly and making people laugh. Hmmm, wonder where he got that from? :) Norah had her first crush this year (a whole different story....) and was saying over and over "Hyuntae is so funny!" Ellis goes, "Yeah, he is really funny.... But not as funny as me."

Ellis loves it when Daddy goes to the store. Sugar still brings him great joy. We'll often hear, "Ummm, this is good. Tastes like sugar."

Mr. Myles:

15 months old. Running. Climbing. Making messes all over the place. Takes breaks from his exploring to come find Mommy and do a 10 second "check-in" on my lap, and then he's off to something else. Full of sass, throws a mighty temper tantrum, and not infrequently. Knows he's cute and uses it. Best belly laugh ever. He's so cute it's hard not to squeeze the daylights out of him. Sometimes we do anyway, and he giggles. He'll have gibberish conversations with you all day, it's the cutest.

We have another comedian on our hands. He and Ellis are going to make quite the team. He's already a performer and "gets it" when there is a joke going on. He's always keeping up with the big kids and doing whatever they're doing. It's so fun to see them all playing together now. One of the favorite games at home is what they call "The Poopy Diaper Game." Myles runs to them, Norah and Ellis scream "POOOPPPYYY DIIAAPPEERR!!" and run away, Myles chases after them, and it starts all over.

Still LOVES his Mommy. He enjoys everyone else too, but there's just nothin' like Mommy sometimes. Also loves: dogs, trucks (makes the sound effects, so cute), playing outside, dancing, wrestling, and nursing. Yep, still nursing. Norah and Ellis were done by now. He's holding strong. I'm just praying it winds down on it's own, but not looking that way. This kid KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS.

Other stuff:

Still having lots of fun on field trips and playing with friends. The is the West Davis pose. It's always hilarious when these guys get together. Can't start thinking about what life without the Armstrong's and Sienna's awesome hair is going to be like....it will be so hard to leave Davis and all our amazing friends....

Making messes. They're really good at that.

But then they look like this so you can't be too mad.

Had a fun summer with lots of trips to the pool again. Ellis learned to swim! And the big deal was jumping off the diving board. Norah would do it over and over again all by herself. She's quite the swimmer now. Ellis couldn't swim all the way to the side so he'd have a life guard in the water to help him over. Little guy even went off the HIGH dive. It was awesome. Maybe more on that another time.

Best event of the summer was something we thought would never happen: the Edmonds moved here!!! Known in our house as "the boy cousins"--Jason sister Michelle, and Doug, and their 6 kids (5 boys and then Ella). My kids LOVE them. Ellis talked about them daily, so it was a dream come true to have them close. Doug is the new UC Davis institute director and Jason and I got to take a couple classes from him which was awesome. On her Thanksgiving turkey she made at school Norah's "grateful" feathers included one that read, "My boy cousins." So cute.

Hope you had a great year! We feel so blessed to have such great friends and family in our lives!

Merry Christmas from the Browns

2010-12-22T14:32:00.000-08:00

It's no surprise to anyone that I'm basically the worst blogger in the world, but Christmas cards and the end of the year are good motivators to do a little catching up with updates on how we're all doing. This will be super long I'm guessing, so if you want the short version here it is: we're all great, healthy, and happy!

So, we'll start backwards.....with our sweet little chunk Myles.

He's adorable, and he's huge. He's almost 18 pounds, and not even 4 months yet. We're all completely addicted to kissing those chubby cheeks (my favorite is the neck). This was him in his blessing outfit, with the blanket my grandma made behind him (she's made one for each of the kids so far). Ellis wore the same outfit, and Myles BARELY fit into it. The buttons on the bottom kept unsnapping and I even had to rig a neck extension (aka a rubber band looped around the button through the button hole, because it literally would not button without cutting off air and disappearing into the chub).

Thanksgiving he was barely 3 months, this is a 9 month outfit. Oh, we love our big boy.

This is the work of Norah. Not much use for her baby dolls since she has her own live one, so she passed this one onto Myles.

He's Mommy's #1 fan. He's getting to the point where he will be happy with other people for awhile, but mostly he just wants to hang with me. But do I mind? Not really--he's my little love.

See that sad little face? Hard to believe from all of these smiling pictures, but our little guy was not a happy guy for the first 2 months. Colic? I don't know, what does that mean, really? I guess so. Did he cry a lot? Yes, a ton. Did he need to be held all the time? Yes. Would he scream from gas pains? Yes. Was it so sad? Yes. Luckily Norah and Ellis were champs and played together SO nicely so I could try to help poor Myles. There were a ton of foods that irritated him, and avoiding those helped a little, but mostly he just wasn't feeling good for the first couple months. Definitely our hardest baby yet, and none of them have been "easy." What happened to the, "oh, the third kid is always the easiest" that people kept telling us? Oh well. On a good day there would be 1 hour that I wasn't holding him. Otherwise, the second he was set down there were instantaneous panicky-terrified-hurting screaming, even if he had been sound asleep. So sad, poor little guy. So how did we survive? The wrap.

Oh, the wrap. Not sure my $40 has even been spent so well. I definitely owe my sanity, the happiness of the other kids, the sleep that Myles got during the day, and my functioning back to this lovely, wonderful piece of fabric. With a baby who will never be put down, this thing is an absolute necessity and a lifesaver. If you live near us or have seen us since Myles was born, you know that he pretty much lived in this thing exclusively up until about a month ago. A girl at church told me that a few weeks ago when I was holding him her husband looked over and said, "Oh, so that's what he looks like, I've never seen him out of that thing." You're not joking buddy. I love it for so so many reasons. When Myles was 4 weeks old (and I had been using a bunch of other carriers that I had and that friends would bring over) I couldn't move my neck from holding him all the time, so my wonderful friend Rebecca brought me her wrap (actually the one in this picture) and life was changed. No back pain! Free hands! Snuggly sleeping baby! Not the most fashionable thing in the world, and people often give me funny looks and then end up saying, "Oh, there's a baby in there, I thought you were just carrying really high." Really? Yeah, it looks like I'm strangely pregnant with a 17 pound baby (well, that's pretty true, except that I could take him out to feed and change), but oh well, he's happy, my back is happy, so we're happy. Do you see his little hand? So cute. That's the best thing about the wrap, you're basically just snuggling with your baby all day. (By the way, this is a Sleepy Wrap, much better than the Moby in my opinion.)

Even wrapped in the corn bath. What's a corn bath? Think a big pool sized sand box filled with corn. Come see us next fall and we'll show you. We're huge fans. Having him in the wrap all the time you learn all kind of tricks--like have the "older" kids stand on a chair while you're getting them dressed so you don't have to lean over and wake up the baby. And when he's out for 10 minutes you do the things that are hardest to do while holding him first--like changing the laundry.

If you're holding Myles get ready for lots of love and company, and invasion into your personal bubble (if you still have one in tact that is). Norah is frequently reminded to give him a little space (you know, to breath...) and be soft when she hugs him, to which she replies, "But I just Love. Him. So. Much!" in the squeaky baby talk voice. We have a strict no touching the baby while he's eating policy, otherwise this would happen all day long.

Norah's devotion to her little guy has not wavered. When we hear him waking up--because he will now let me lay him down once I get him to sleep for awhile (usually about a half hour), miracle!--she wants to be the first to "go get him." She's actually a huge help and can keep him entertained and happy for awhile.

Myles loves his big brother and big sister, and his Bumbo. He'll often chill out in the Bumbo and watch them run around or play together. Norah and Ellis always get huge smiles from him. Overall, I'd say the transition to 3 really hasn't been that bad. Having a high need baby made things a bit crazy for awhile, and if I didn't respond to your email or call you back or post any pictures on the blog :) it's because I was constantly bouncing a baby for awhile. But all in all I feel like going from 3 to 2 was easier in some ways than 1 to 2, because now they have a buddy and can entertain each other while Mommy does baby stuff. Except for sacrament meeting at church. Whew. That's just plain crazy. Especially without Daddy sitting by us to help. Our kids were already the wildest of the ward--they just have tons of energy, and then add on that we don't have Daddy by us and 1 more kid that needs to be bounced in the aisle. Let's just say that it's always a blur, and that Jason vacuums our row every Sunday.

Jason/Daddy:

Jason's a busy guy these days, but doing a good job balancing it all: kids, school, work, and church. School is going great, he'll graduate with his MBA in June (the picture above is from an Easter egg hunt they did for the kids, his building is behind them). He's busy networking and interviewing for what he'll do after graduation. He got a great internship over the summer that's actually with a company here in Davis, and he's working there part time during school. A good option for after graduation too. Only downside is that he's in a cubicle all day with little to no interaction, and if you know Jason, that's close to torture. But, these days we're grateful for such a good option.

A busy guy, but still manages to be a great Daddy. We were going to a pumpkin patch with the kids--he got dressed, and I got Ellis dressed, and they totally matched. Ellis said, "Look Dad, us little buddies!" So cute, he kept calling them "little buddies" all night.

Norah girl:

I love this picture, it is so Norah. This is our girl: happy, enthusiastic, knows what she wants, and a great combo of girly-girl and tomboy.

Norah's 4 and she's been loving preschool again this year, and it's amazing to think that next year will be kindergarten! The year started out not so hot with some girl drama (really!? At 4?!) but we switched things up a bit and now she's back to loving school. This day she came home as a "puppy," and unlike all the other days she comes home as a puppy, this time she looked like one too.

She's our artist. She colors for hours most days. Grandma Brown got her this coloring book when we were in Tahoe this year and for the rest of the time we were there she sat up at the counter doing just this. And when we got home, it was all she did for about a week.

See, even straight out of the shower.

It's been quite the year of bugs thanks to Norah. When it's not too cold or rainy, this is what she's doing--going outside to find bugs and then requesting homes for them. I really don't care to know how many rolly-pollies and lady bugs and worms have died in her box sitting on the counter. Or in zip-lock baggies in my purse. She's gotten better about letting them go before they premanently "go" but we still have a few casualties every once in awhile. Last week she wanted to bring her bug box that was filled with mud and 2 worms she had found to the store with her and Daddy. Jason said when she was getting out she said, "Dad, I think I'm gonna leave these in the car, because if I bring them in they'll say, 'Eww, gross,' ...but not really."

Ellis boy:

Ellis is two and a half, full of energy and ALL Boy. When he isn't throwing things or running through the house he is eating. Constantly eating. When we asked him what he wanted for Christmas, his request perfectly sums up his personality, "Me want some-fing me can hold and me can touch ceiling wiff."

This is his wake-up look. Hilarious--every time. He's quite the sleeping champ, and still takes great naps. This gives me hope for my little Myles, because Ellis as a baby was a horrible napper.

When our neighbors replaced their driveway Ellis spent every day for a week sitting in the driveway and watching them work. He was so in awe. When one of the workers to waved at him it was like a celebrity had just said "Hi". He spent the next week telling us how the worker man had waved to him: "Hey Mommy, member, member dat man waved at me?!" He's very into the "I'm a boy" phase. Awhile ago we had some friends over--guys were watching football in the family room and the girls were in the kitchen. Ellis marched into the family room, jumped up on the couch, and then announced, "I'm a BOY."

Do you see the twinkle in his eye as he bites into this marshmallow? His life in many ways revolves around food, and he is especially obsessed with sweets. Just like his dad. He's super picky--urg. Such a great, fun, easy-going kid....until you get him to the table. Nothing in life makes him happier, or more distraught, then giving or taking food from him.

Case in point: while working on our gingerbread Easter house we told him he couldn't eat anymore jellybeans. He took it pretty hard. You can see I'm pretty immune to his reaction. Just this morning we ran out to give the garbage man some Christmas cookies to thank him for all the waves and honks. Ellis was thrilled, until it came time to hand over the cookies, which resulted in a total breakdown of, "But I want some cookies!"

Chrissie/Mommy:

For my update, see above. Spent the year taking care of all these hilarious, wild, cute, crazy, snuggly, darling people. Here are some of the things we've been up to....

Park days: Davis has great parks throughout town--this one we walk to and it has an old merry-go round type thing that the kids love. It reminds me of the really fun old parks that are apparently way too dangerous for this generation of kids since they stopped making them. But they love it.

Cooking: Always have lots of little helpers in the kitchen. Norah's pretty good and LOVES to help. Ellis....is learning. Yesterday he was "cooking" which was really crushing the chocolate chips into little bits with two spoons.

Getting Messy: Boots/flip-flops are basically the only shoes they want to wear.

Field trips: Every Friday (sometimes we switch days) we go on a field trip with friends. My amazing friend Bethany organizes most of them, which means all we need to do is show up--so fun. This time it was picking strawberries. And yes, Norah is pushing herself ahead, because, yes, she always has to be in front. Here are some other field trip days:

Davis airport--don't you love the look? :)

Iris farm in Loomis. Beautiful, plenty of room for kids to run, free, and old tractors to climb on. Prefect ingredients for a field trip.

We are a BIG dress-up house. They're favorite activity. And although it's super messy and I do more wardrobe changes in a day than Brittany Spears's backstage helpers, it never stops being hilarious to see the outfits they come up with.

This day was the inspiration behind getting Ellis some more boy-ish options. Hilarious.

Trips: Went on a few fun trips this year. This was in Lake Tahoe with Jason's parents. We went to visit my grandparents in St. Louis, took a quick trip to Monterey and Big Sur (AMAZING!) and then down to Southern California to see some family. It's always fun to get away for a little bit. We especially love doing quick little day trips.

Pool: Went to the pool almost everyday of the summer. It's right around the corner from our house and the kids are fish so it was a great thing to hop over to. Norah leaned how to really swim this year. Is there anything funnier than kids wearing goggles? Really.

Oh, and taking the kids to the pool when you're super pregnant in the summer is amazing. Best thing ever. Don't have to chase them, or pick up toys off the ground, or be hot. It was great.

They had fun swimming in the backyard too. We got out this pool for them and asked Norah if she liked it as much as the big pool we always swim at. In a very "duh" tone she said, "No." Pause. "This one is WAY better!" Oh, that's why kids are so funny. Seriously?

Gardening: Kids had tons of fun "helping" in the garden. Helping really just means getting completely muddy and wet and dirty everyday while Daddy tilled and Mommy planted. Let's just say their nails were not clean all summer.

Norah was great at picking and would often just deliver the ripe stuff to me. Such a cutie.

Bikes: Our house has this great concrete path that wraps around the house, so everyday they played on their bikes. I would say they're favorite toy of the year, hands down. It never got old. This is us walking/biking to the market (it was Myles 1st outing!).

Uncle Eric: Eric lived with us up until June and provided tons of fun entertainment. He never got grouchy about them barging into his room, or at least not obviously so. :) One of their favorite activities: coming in and having him show them animal or monster truck you-tube videos. He showed Ellis a monster truck video when he was just barely 2, and Ellis reacted like a true boy: "Wow. Dats awesome!"

Pumpkin patches: We have TONS of great pumpkin patches around us so we went too many times to count this fall. This one is 2 minutes away from our house and has a barn full of animals plus all kinds of different baby animals you can hold and pet. It's amazing. So fun.

Sweet bunny, sweet boy.

Norah developed quite the relationship with Candy the horse.

Well, that's about it folks, if you're still with us. :) Hope you have a very VERY Merry Christmas!!

Ellis's face in this one....so hilarious. And Norah's stroking the baby's head, the little Mommy.

Come back tomorrow...

2010-12-21T13:06:00.000-08:00

You will not be awarded for your swift checking of the blog if you got our Christmas card today and are looking up the blog.

Check back tomorrow for bunches of pictures and a round up of 2010.

Meet Our Newest Little Addition

2010-08-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

Myles Kimball Brown
Born August 25th @ 7:24am
9lbs 8oz
21 inches long

So, what was it going to take to get us to post something on the blog? A sweet new baby!! We kind of forgot we had a blog, and I'm sure all of you did too. But it is a great way to share the bazillion pictures all the far away family are dying to see. So here goes.

We're so happy and thrilled to have another sweet little boy join the Brown family. First, a little background on his name. "Myles" is Jason's middle name and his dad's name--a great name associated with two wonderful, good men. Kimball comes from Spencer W. Kimball, a former prophet and president of our church. Another wonderful, good, inspired man. Plus, with the initials MK we can nickname him "Mack" around the family if needed/wanted, since my only worry was that two Myles's would get a little confusing.

Little Myles has so far been a dream baby. He's snuggly and happy and absolutely adorable. He has a super strong little head and neck and takes after his mommy by getting the hiccups a lot. He loves to be swaddled (our first baby that does) and sleeps much better if we swaddle beforehand. His little hands were up while in the belly, we know because he came out waving (cord was wrapped around), and so out in the world his hand are up too. Even when we swaddle the little hands end up tucked under his little face. He has a very loud cry when he's hungry that turns on in an instant--the pediatrician joked that he'll definitely be heard over his two older siblings. His cheeks are delicious and so incredibly kissable, and he has a perfect, soft, little (ok, maybe not so little) head. I'm feeling amazing--I always feel like a brand new person as soon as the baby gets out. I feel more rested, less achy, and just realize how horrible I was actually feeling being pregnant.

Norah fell in love with baby Myles instantly. We were a little nervous about her reaction to having another brother, because she was so convinced that it was a girl and was very insistent on having a sister. But it was love at first sight and we haven't heard a single peep since. She has often proclaimed, "We have the cutest baby in the whole world." Now she can't get enough of baby Myles. Really. My spunky, high energy little Norah will sit for hours at a time (I'm not exaggerating) holding the baby. She holds him, wraps him in his blanket, holds his hand, kisses him, gazes at his little face, gives him is pacifier, and makes all kind of little announcements. She lets us know when "he opened his eyes!" (so exciting!), when he's done with his pacifier, when he smiles (she thinks they're genuine), and when he "made a sad face but didn't even cry!" She comforts him: "Oh hi Bubbies, you're so cute. Oh, look at that sad little face! It's alright little buddy." Most of all she like to tell us that "He loves me, Mommy." And when she's done holding him, he's ALWAYS sad she's leaving. The only meltdowns we've had in the house so far this week have been because someone else needs a turn holding the baby. Good thing I have the milk, or else I'd never get my baby back. And even then, she's right by my side petting his head. :)

Big Brother Ellis loves baby Myles too--in 30 second intervals. He asks to hold him and by the time he's one his lap, he's about done. So far so good though, and Ellis has seemed his same little happy energetic self--new baby in the house hasn't fazed him yet. He keeps telling everyone that the baby's name is "Boy." I think he's so excited to have a brother that he thinks his name should proclaim it to the world. Someone will ask and we'll say, "Myles" and Ellis will say back, "No, he name is Boy!" Hilarious.

Belly bump at 6 1/2 months pregnant and rug-rat big sis.

Whew, check out that 9 month belly. Gigantic. And the shadow doesn't exactly help things. Knew this little one would be bigger than 6lb 2 oz Norah (2 weeks early) and 8lb 6 oz Ellis (2 days late) because my belly was definitely the biggest with this one. A couple days before he came we were looking back at pictures of me in the hospital with Ellis and comparing the belly size--at first Jason was trying to think of something to say, and then he just came out with, "yeah, it's definitely bigger this time."

Tuesday evening when we were packing up things expecting to head to the hospital, this is what the kids were doing. Can you tell we've been in baby mode? Ellis clearly needs some training on proper baby holding... his is naked and upside down, Norah's is dressed, accessorized, and sitting properly by her side. Typical, love it.

And off to the hospital! We didn't find out what we were having this time, although I would have been shocked if it was a girl. Between feeling like it was a boy, having a pregnancy more similar to Ellis's, my midwife's guess, and the ultrasound technicians comments, I was definitely thinking boy.

While Mommy stayed up all night with some really fun, relaxing (read sarcasm) contractions, this was what Daddy was up to, plus lots of snoring. :)

And out comes...a BOY! As soon as baby came out Jason looked over and happily announced, "It's a boy!"

Beautiful baby boy, and very happy mommy.

While enjoying my new baby boy I noticed the entire room was hovering around, and one nurse gently said, "Don't you want to find out how big he is?" Haha--their curiosity wasn't disappointed. Big boy!

Seriously?! This is my NEWBORN?! Check out that belly. How in the world did he fit in me-- really? And he won't be losing weight anytime soon. About 5 minutes after being born he was nursing and has been a nursing champ ever since.

Proud, happy Daddy. Just like with Norah, baby Myles recognized Daddy's voice right away. While unhappy with the nurses doing their measurements, Daddy walked over and talked to him and his little eyes got big as he quieted down and listened to that familiar sound.

First look.

Grandma Brown introducing baby to big brother Ellis. I love how his normal deep man voice instantly turns high pitched and squeaky when he talks to or about the baby. "Oh look- baby! He open his eyes, Mom! He loves me!"

Snacks and PBS are a pretty good match-up to the excitement of a new brother. Ellis was completely obsessed with his name tag and announced about 20 times, "Wook, I have a name tag wif my NAME on it!"

We didn't tell the kids what the baby was until they came to visit. Norah jumped up on the bed and said, "Mommy, what is it? Is it a boy or a girl?" I asked her what she thought, and after looking at him she said, "A boy!"

Norah got right to work playing with her new, live baby doll. She wanted him moved all over the bed (his head this way, then that way, then on pillow, then off) and then wanted to put him in the little crib. Ironically I think that was the only time he was ever in that crib besides when they wheeled him away for the hearing test.

Typical Ellis--scrounging for food all over the hospital room. Chips are almost as exciting as a new brother.

Love at first sight.

As Norah was leaving the hospital to go back home she said, "I think he's going to cry for me." Later that night when we talked to her before bedtime she asked me if he was crying for her still. Apparently she'd been saying to Grandma Brown all day, "I bet the baby's crying for me." She's a very good mommy, and she knows it.

And Norah's mothering begins--instructing Ellis on the correct way to touch the baby.

Proud Big Brother and Sis.

Awh. Drooling--the life of a new baby is pretty exhausting.

Meeting Grandpa Myles, a very worthy man to share a name with. He's a wonderful and devoted husband, great dad, completely dedicated to his family, a very hard worker, honest, faithful, humble, full of integrity, and a very loving Grandpa.

Saying hello to Uncle Jim, who will in the future provide hours of fun and entertainment.

Uncle Mike, Daddy, Grandma Mary, Uncle Jim, and Chelsea (Mike's cute girlfriend) came to visit.

Grandma Mary very excited about her third grandbaby. Oh what would I do without my mom?! Always full of energy and ready to help, and her grandkids thus far absolutely adore her. And so far lucky Grandma has made it to all the baby births.

Cute, happy Uncle Jim.

Yummy.
(And can I just say that pacifiers are the best things ever. Norah or Ellis would have absolutely nothing to do with them, or with bottles, so I was determined that #3 out of pure necessity would. He's a natural.)

Can't get enough of that chubby face.

Chubs (Myles) compared to Miniature (Norah). 3lbs and 6oz apart and you can really see the difference. When I pulled up the picture of Norah and compared Jason and I just couldn't stop laughing. Myles, you are such a little chunk in the best, best possible way.

Welcome home, baby Myles!! Oh, kids, you make me laugh. I was trying to get them to both look and Norah was way too engrossed in "wrapping the baby" to look up, but Ellis announced, "Mom, me ready!" Hilarious, check out that pose.

Norah admiring her completed "wrapping" of the baby.

Big Brother welcoming Little Brother home.

Norah even needs a turn holding him right before bed. It's become part of the bedtime routine already.

She just adores him, clearly.

Eyes!

Eyes that are about to be poked by Ellis. I love how his idea of "soft" is making his hand really stiff and pushing it along the baby.

This is Jason's favorite picture, and I can't blame him. What 2 day old has wrist rolls and cheeks so chubby they hang?! Yum.

We got to skype with Uncle Eric (he's in South America for 4 months traveling) and show off his new nephew. It was quite the skyping party--can you tell we miss him?

Baby Myles meets Uncle Eric (aka Wonkie).

Ellis giving Wonkie loves. Ellis really misses his bud--at one point he was standing in front of the screen stroking his face, which of course made my mom start tearing up.

The boys.

This is what it looks like around here recently. Everyone in line to hold the baby, and usually waiting behind Norah.

Mommy loves.

There's really nothing better in the world than snuggling your new, precious little baby. There's such magic in being a mommy, even the third time around. Their sweet little sounds, their snuggly bodies, the way they smell, the love and excitement that comes from siblings, how their eyes get big as they hear a voice they recognize, the way their cry changes and calms when they know mommy is close. A beautiful, healthy baby boy. What an amazing blessing.

If you're interested in the labor story:
Tuesday at about 3pm I started having contractions, and by about 10pm we had Grandma Brown come stay with the kids and headed to the hospital. Because Norah and Ellis came REALLY fast near the end Jason was really nervous about having a baby in the car since we live 40 minutes away. It was pretty hilarious. He asked every 2 minutes how I was doing and made me PROMISE that I would tell him if things got worse. Well we made it, and with lots of time to spare. I was at a 5 1/2 when we got there, and 4 hours later, was STILL at a 5 1/2. Urg. At least this time I didn't have to be induced. They broke my water and after another hour I was still at only a 6 1/2. By this time it was 5:30 in the morning and I'd been up ALL night, but I thought I'd wait another hour to see if things picked up before getting an epidural. By 6:30, after an hour of non-stop, no break in between contractions, still at a 7. With the other kids after hours of Pitocin and no real progress, I would get an epidural at a 4 or 5 and then have the baby in 45 minutes. I always wondered if it was the epidural speeding things up or if I was giving up at the last second. Well, now we know. An epidural is definitely my friend. By 6:30 Jason was saying, you can either struggle through this for 4 more hours, or you can get an epidural and have the baby in a half hour--and that's exactly what happened. Half hour after the epidural, out came our baby boy! Grandma Brown stayed with the kids while we spent a night in the hospital with the sweet little boy. It's so funny how kids change your perspective on things--with the first baby it seems like a lot of work. With this one, we felt like we were on a nice little vacation! No kids to run after, no dishes, no cooking, no laundry, no cleaning--just a sweet little nugget that needs to cuddle and eat. Easy! Plus, this was a brand new hospital--no more sharing rooms! With the other two I always had a shared room--with Ellis there were 3 other people in my room, not pleasant at all. This time, we basically had a whole suite to ourselves. Provided just the right environment to get to know and snuggle our new little guy.

Proof that we've settled into Davis...

2009-11-17T23:00:00.000-08:00

Protests...

Bikes...

Outdoors...

Energy saving...

Shirtless...

And a little bit white trash.

So, two confessions. 1. We love Davis, 2. We're not really hippies (yet). I just can't get over how funny that picture is of Norah as a preachy environmentalist. I saw that shirt on clearance and got it because I knew it would make Jason laugh. Combined with holly jeans and "free spirit" hair, she definitely looks the part. Have you every hung your laundry out to dry? It stinks. Literally. And it's totally crunchy. We had some issues with our dryer when we first moved here, so I tried using the lines outside. Kids shirtless, and shoeless, and Jason riding a bike to school, are all true.

Norah's observation at a stop light a few weeks ago:
"Hey Mom, there are a LOT of bikes in Davis."
So true, Norah, so true.

Norah having a "book picnic" with Grandma Mary. Isn't that a cute idea? Mom has the best ideas, and Norah loves them all. Especially any involving books.

Davis Farmers Market is the best. It's been voted America's Favorite Farmers Market, in the WHOLE country. Norah enjoying a pony ride there.

We had to wait until she got the "pink one."

Packed truck on the way to Davis. This is very, very belated, but THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL THOSE WHO HELPED US MOVE!!! We have the best family and friends ever, especially considering that with how many times we've moved recently, they keep showing up. It was painless. THANKS!!

Proof that we still get them fully dressed, even in Davis. :)

First Day of School

2009-11-17T22:00:00.000-08:00

I'm a horrible blogger, we all know it. Moving on... :) (Oh, and this will be long, because if I'm going to spend the time doing it it might as well be useful as a family journal, right? Sorry if you're bored, just look at the pictures.) So, in September Jason and Norah had their first day of school on the same day. How cute is that, huh? So here is their cute little "first day of school" picture together. They were both very excited, Jason to start his MBA at UC Davis, and Norah to start her first year of preschool. Jason's been really loving his program. It's challenging and busy, but so was work, and we're not paying all that tuition for nothing, so it's been great. Norah has loved loved LOVED school. I really had my doubts for awhile about what was the right choice for her, however, in the end, it has been perfect. It's a darling little nursery school, she goes 2 days a week for 3 hours, which is in my opinion a perfect amount for her right now. So I don't forget her special first day of "school," here's the story. (Note: would have documented Jason's first day in such detail as well, but can you believe he was against it? haha)

She was very excited--can you tell? First story is her outfit. Norah can sometimes be, well, let's say... opinionated, about what she wears. And let's face it, I am too. Even though I know my life would be much easier if I let her wear what she wanted, and even though I know it doesn't REALLY matter, I just can't give into her wearing polka dot pants with a striped shirt and crazy lady hair. So, to avoid a potential damper on her special day we headed over to the outlets where I let her pick out a special first-day-of-school outfit (I would have gone with the teal, but the pink is cute too). She looked adorable and was so excited, especially about the shoes.

Giving Daddy a squeeze before they both headed off to class.

It's so hard to believe that she's getting so big and independent. I often ask them to "stop growing, don't get any bigger." It doesn't seem to work of course.

Send off for Daddy.

This is outside of her preschool. While waiting for them to open the doors, Norah picked a flower. "Here Mom, I picked a flower for you." We didn't tell Teacher Ann though.

Although she was very excited about school she did want me to come in with her for a little bit. So for about 15 minutes or so she had fun showing Brother around. Here they're very excited about the pet turtle, Leroy.

After she was settled in Ellis and I got back in the car and drove home, and I cried all the way. I felt like a big dork, but getting in the car I just did the math. Two years of preschool and then she'll be in kindergarten. Crazy!

She was so happy when we picked her up, and that made me feel much better. She made this hat, and got a sucker. What 3 year old wouldn't be happy?

Happy girl.

Showing off her art (her favorite part of preschool).

My sweet girl. Not the best picture of me, but her face is just so sweet and happy. She was just beaming and kept asking me, "Mom, can we go to school again someday?" Looks like she's taking after her mommy in that regard. I LOVED school as a kid.

She wanted to make a hat for Brother too (aka Ellis, she calls him Brother). He was thrilled.

And then one for Mommy......

Ellis saying "cheese!" with his hat. It was hilarious how excited he was.

Well, Norah, we're so glad you love school, and we're so proud of all the good choices you make. You're our sweet, smart, spunky girl, and we just can't get enough. Every prayer since her first day of school has included, "and thank you for my class..." I guess it was the right choice.

We're BAaaaAACCKK

2009-06-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

I know, you're shocked. There's actually a post.

We're here, alive, and happy. We just hate blogging, and (honestly) kind of forgot that we had a blog. Until, that is, we had a hundred requests for something, ANYTHING, new on the blog from family and friends. Sorry, sorry to keep you waiting. It's not my favorite thing to do, but I want to be better for the sake of journaling and providing pictures for my dear grandma if nothing else.

So.....here's what's been happening.

- We closed on the house in March. Since Jason was in the midst of applying to business schools, we moved in with the Browns until we figured out where we would be going. We really love being there. They are SO sweet and fun and Norah is just in heaven with all the grandparents and pets around. The moving transition was hard for both the kids....they still don't seem themselves to me.....but hopefully once we're somewhere more permanent they'll chill out.

- Ellis turned 1 on April 21st! Separate post about that later.

- We went down to Southern California for Jason's interview for the MBA program at UC Irvine. At the end of the interview the head of admission said, "Well, you're in. I make the decisions, and you're in." Plus a scholarship! We were so proud (but that's not where we're going....). While down there we stayed with our great friends Scott and Karisa and saw their gorgeous baby girl. It was so fun to play with them and go to the beach.

- Then he had his UC Davis interview, which is where he really wanted to go for various reasons, but mostly because they have a phenomenal business program. However, they only admit 60 students a year (the selectivity and intimacy of the program is partly what makes it so great) so we tried not to get our hopes up. The interview went well, and he ended up being accepted, with a scholarship!! We're SO SO SO excited and proud of him.

(People usually ask about whether we considered BYU. The answer is, for a second. But, because we already have been there and done that, and because Jason got his business undergrad there and would be getting his business masters from the same program, we ruled it out. Plus, for networking/career reasons it's best for him to stay close to where we want to be permanently. But it would have been fun to see the Bushs and Stutzs!)

- We went to Tahoe with Jason's parents (they have a condo timeshare there) and had a great time. Went to the lake, Truckee, made smores, and went on walks.

- Looked EVERYWHERE in Davis for housing. It took forever, and a lot of days in the car driving around with the kids in the back while I threw food and toys to the back of our crowded Forester, but we found something that will work great. We'll be moving in September. Time to grow beards (well, for Jason), wear pig-tails (me), and get some Birkenstocks. :)

- Right now we're in St. Louis visiting my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins out here. It is so great to see them all and makes us wish we lived closer. We've been busy doing all sorts of fun things and will head to the Lake of the Ozarks with all the family for the 4th. After that we're going to take a little detour to go see Nauvoo (a church historical city) which should be wonderful.

Here are some pictures of the kids, until I get another post together:

....I know what you're thinking, "yeah right, it's going to be another 3 months before she puts anything else up".......we'll see. :)

Here's Ellis:

Pretty blue eyes, blond hair, and new teeth.

Snazzy in his Easter suit.

I kiss this face AT LEAST 100 times a day.

Begging to come outside by giving kisses through the glass. This kid wishes he lived outdoors.

Showing off his Michigan State hat that Great Grandpa Ellis got him. Cute!

This pictures old....he's walking solo now, with the help of his Frankenstein-balancing arms. The 98th percentile head (true to the Brown genes) makes balance a challenge, but he's mastering it.

Here's Norah:

Smelling the poppies on a walk. Although we've tried to explain why we don't pick those particular flowers, she usually brings me one along the way.

On one of our many walks to the park down the street.

I love those dimples...

With her cute friend, Evan after a trip to the park.

On a walk a couple months ago at the old house. This picture cracks me up, because it perfectly encapsulates Norah's personality--very girly, and yet tom-boyish all at the same time. She loves taking the baby (and CareBear) for a stroll while I stroll Ellis. But some where along the way she finds the largest stick possible, and while pushing the stroller pokes at things with the sticks. Good safety training for taking car of a baby? Probably not. However, she does know how to multi-task.

Norah showing off her sticks, and Ellis rocking on.

REALLY excited to be riding a bus while we were down in Southern California for Jason's UC Irvine interview. It's so funny to me that for a 2 year old a bus ride, of all things, is this thrilling.

Looking for a rainy day activity?

2009-02-18T21:56:00.000-08:00

Here's what Norah came up with.

Oh, the things they think of....

(Scott: apparently "stiff as a board" is genetic.)

Miracles Happen!

2009-02-13T11:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time, and this is a long story, so beware of a long post.......

Ok, kids are asleep and I have a quite moment not consumed with cleaning, organizing, or playing with the little ones to update you all on what's been happening. Christmas was wonderful (have I seriously not posted in THAT long? Happy New Year to everyone by the way....) and we've been busy making plans. After serious thought and reflection and lots of fasting and prayer, we decided to sell the house. To put it simply, it just felt like the right thing to do. Which seemed odd at first, since it definitely felt like buying it was the right thing to do a little over a year ago. However, as our wise Bishop counseled during tithing settlement, you cannot second guess a decision that you knew at the time was right. Life takes you in twists and turns, sometimes by design. Anyway, once we decided to sell the house we (okay, I) became COMPLETELY obsessed with cleaning, staging, and organizing the house. Just to give you an idea, here are some things we did:

-Painted Norah's room
-Painted downstairs bathroom
-Organized all closets perfectly
-Organized all (I mean every single one) drawers and cabinets because buyers are nosey
-Hung curtain rods
-Installed 2 light fixtures
-Moved a bunch of furniture and storage to the Browns to prepare for staging
-Removed all family pictures and replaced with prints from IKEA
-Weeded entire yard
-Had city drop off a 3 yard dumpster and filled it (twice!) with random junk, including a huge pile of wood/junk that the previous owner so kindly left in the side yard
-Planted flowers
-Put down bark
-Power washed the house and pavement
-Cleaned carpets (thanks to my sweet SWEET mother-in-law, Barbara, who helped in this and many other areas! In another life, she could be a phenomenal carpet cleaner)
-Organized and cleaned out garage
-Touched up and polished all cabinets (kitchen, bathrooms, laundry room, linen closet, even the banister....)
-Cleaned every window track, counter, sink, light fixture, blind, air vent, bathroom..........until the whole house sparkled

It was quite the work load. And it wasn't like we were living in a dirty house to begin with. I just wanted it to be perfect, so that the most nosey and picky buyer wouldn't be able to complain about one untidy cabinet or dusty windowsill. And I must say, I think I've become addicted. It's hard to ever sit down without feeling like I should be cleaning something. But with hardly spending a dime and using things we had, all the work was worth it in the end.

So, after our spring cleaning on steroids, we took pictures and listed the house. My mom's dear boyfriend Chuck is just about the nicest Texas gentleman you'd ever meet and came to our rescue and offered to list the house for us since he has his brokers license. I don't think any of us realized how heavy a workload it would be for him....lots of paperwork and running around.....but he certainly has remained true to his gentleman ways throughout the whole ordeal and been extremely helpful. Since Chuck isn't a realtor and doesn't have a realty company we had to get creative on our marketing tactics. I took the house pictures, we created a flyer, and then had to figure out what to do for a sign. Not wanting to go with a glorified garage sale sign, we designed a generic sign and had it made by a company down the street. Jason tracked down a sign setting company to come install a wood post, and tah-dah (as Norah would say)!!! Pro-jo looking sign for under $100! What we really wanted to do was paste a big cheesy picture of Chuck in a suit, but now that wouldn't be very gentleman/ladylike of us, so we resisted the urge.

So, what do you think......... "JCB Realty".......not a bad ring to it. Yeah right.

OK, this story is going on and on. I'll try to speed it up. So after everything was picture perfect we got it listed the afternoon of Wednesday, January 28th. The next day 2 different families came to see the house. To our great surprise one of the brokers called back with an offer, not far off from our asking price! We were.....amazed. THEN, the next morning Jason runs upstairs and tells me in his most excited I'm-a-little-boy-on-Christmas-morning sort of way that we had received an offer from the other family as well, at our asking price. Now we were......shocked. WE SOLD THE HOUSE IN ONE DAY!!!! ONE DAY! In this market. With this economy. Now that's a miracle. Plain and simple miracle.

In the end, we sold it to a sweet wonderful family for well beyond what we expected to get for the house. And to top it all off they have got to be the most pleasant, accommodating, qualified, and easy to work with buyers ever. Plus, they really want the house and are just in love with it. For me, this is a great relief and means a lot. When we bought it, I thought we would be here for 10 years. Until we had a bunch of bigger kids and were busting at the seams. I would be walking them to school in the morning and making fresh cherry pies every summer. Giving it to someone who was ho-hum about it and had an attitude of "okay, I guess this will work" would have been heartbreaking. Moving out while a family who will cherish it and enjoy it as much as we would have is moving in makes it so much easier.

So, if you're wondering where we are for the next couple weeks, you'd be smart to place your bet on packing, moving, studying for the GMAT, writing application essays, and/or getting all other MBA related application hoopla completed. We'll be moving the end of this month, so maybe March will give a little breather.

It's so funny how life works sometimes. The same day that we sold the house we found out that the job Jason had been waiting on didn't come through. It sounds so weird, but we didn't even care. We felt so blessed already. It was clear to us that there was more than luck involved here, and it makes you feel so wonderful to get that clear confirmation that the (sometimes hard) decisions you're making are the right ones. We're excited for a new adventure, even though it's totally unexpected and unplanned. Amongst all of these changes and adjustments, in a lot of ways we really feel like we've never been happier. Uncertain times allow us this priceless opportunity to recognize the blessings in our lives, and depend on our loving Heavenly Father who one way or another always guides us down the right path.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of those family and friends who have been sending kind thoughts and prayers our way--I guess they were put to good use! Yesterday as I turned the corner to come home I looked up and saw the most amazing rainbow. It was enormous, just a perfect end to end rainbow, with our house right in the middle. I've only seen one other one like that before. It literally took my breath away. It was there just long enough for me to run inside and get Jason and the camera, although the pictures do very little justice. We're definitely not sign seekers, but it was too beautiful not to make us wonder. So beautiful that I couldn't help but burst into, "Somewhhhheeeerrrre, over the rainbow, blue birds.........." (not really, although I wanted to). It sure was beautiful though.

Leaves Anyone?

2008-12-20T23:00:00.000-08:00

A couple Saturdays ago before the rain came we had an insane amount of leaves in our yard. We love the trees, and I actually love the leaves, but maybe that's because it's not my job to clean them up. For some reason I always remember how when we'd visit during the fall my Grandpa would rake up the leaves for us to jump in and I thought it was so much fun. Norah has enjoyed every bit of fall this year and has quite an obsession with leaves. Anywhere we go--the grocery, church, to get the mail, to the car, wherever, she always finds leaves and then carries them like little treasures all around the house. Crumpled leave pieces all over the house aren't so fun, but you've got to choose your battles, right? As we're driving and she sees trees she'll ask, "Mommy, can I get a leaf when we get out? Can I get it myself?"

Anyway, before the cleaning began I thought the kids would enjoy playing in them and I got some fun fall pictures.

Here's the Last 2 Months....

2008-12-20T21:56:00.000-08:00

So, remember how I said we had food poisoning? Turns out it was just a wretched stomach flu and the two little ones got it just as Jason and I had recovered. Sounds like just about everyone has had it this year.

I was right on my prediction of Ellis crawling in a few days.....he's now exploring the whole house and loving it.

One good potential job position for Jason. We'll know more by the new year. It would be great and a true miracle if it works out. If not, I think we'll be selling the house. But, it's just a house....and it's out of our control....so why cry over it, right?

Anyway, here's some pictures from the past couple months....

2 Thanksgivings

2008-12-20T17:26:00.001-08:00

Started out with a noon Thanksgiving at my mom's house. Norah liked corn, and that was about it.

Ellis was all over the yams, and seriously ate more than Norah. He LOVES food.

Daddy and Ellis watching football.

Then we headed over to the other Browns (Ben & Nicole's house) for yet another Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious as well. Ellis saying hi to Great Grandma Verna.

Fun cousins.

If you have to get the stomach flu, what better time than after having multiple Thanksgiving dinners, right?

Halloween stunk

2008-12-20T16:47:00.001-08:00

Not really, we had lots of fun. Our "stinky" pig and skunk were hilarious to watch. Norah was in "hog heaven" (ha!) and Ellis endured his costume, although I'm not sure he actually enjoyed it. Raining and all, we got some trick or treating in.

Grandma Brown made the adorable skunk costume for one of the cousins and many of them have worn it since. Ellis filled it out nicely with his chubby cheeks. And enjoyed eating the black fur.

Little piggy LOVED trick or treating.

Norah looking like a ghetto pig throwing up some gang signs here. Truth is her "head" kept falling into her eyes and so she's peaking out from under it. As far as I know pink isn't typically a gang color so I think we're okay.

Norah having fun at the church Halloween party with her cute twin friends Courtney and Aubrey. This mid-air skip-hop with sucker in mouth is accurate of just how much she loved Halloween. This girl is all about candy, being social, and dressing up, so no surprise she was all over it.

My darling little skunk looked like this all night at the church party but didn't ever really complain. Maybe he was too hot to have enough energy to. He's so cute I just can't handle it.

Fun at Apple Hill

2008-12-20T16:37:00.001-08:00

My family never really did the Apple Hill thing, and Jason's typically only went up to get a tree for Christmas (at least that's all he remembers doing...) so, we're always experimenting to see what's fun when we go up. This year we went to Pluebell's which was a keeper. Little "petting" zoo for the kids (really it is just a bunch of animals that you can feed through the gate, but good enough), tire swing, food, and other stuff we didn't pay attention to. Rainbow Donuts is another keeper-- who wouldn't love an apple cider donut? Yummmmm. Kids Inc for dessert and a little pumpkin. We love you Apple Hill.

My cowgirl who LOVES animals and has absolutely no fear. This goat was huge, intense, and aggressive, but Norah was more than happy to make friends. Seeing her get so thrilled to see animals makes me feel a little guilty we don't have a pet. Not guilty enough to get one though. At least not yet. I figure a little brother is way more fun than a dog.

Ellis being a good sport.

I asked Norah to take a picture with her pumpkin (it's the mini one to the left of her). She told me to "hold on a sec" and as I waited for what seemed like a long time she carefully balanced her pumpkin on the big one and then sat against them. Funny girl. Now we just have to work on her smiling on command...

We're Behind....But for good reason

2008-12-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

I know there are many family members and friends who must be sick of checking the blog only to find no new posts. My sincerest apologies, but would it help to know that we've had quite the past 2 months? Not to mention a sick last couple weeks. I got mastitis right before Thanksgiving (a breast infection....really not fun. I got it twice with Norah, but not at all with Ellis until now. He's 7 months! So weird that I would get it now). Then, just as that recovery was looking up, Jason and I both got some MAJOR food poisoning over the weekend. It was horrid. The food poisoning diet is highly effective but NOT recommended--how else could you lose 5 lbs. over Thanksgiving weekend? We had taken Norah to McDonald's around the corner so she could play on the playground on Saturday night and I had a cheeseburger and gave Jason some and, let's just say, we WEREN'T "lovin' it." Well, I guess that's what we get for reneging on our McDonald's ban after seeing Super Size Me a few years ago. Thank GOODNESS we have family around to help (thank you MOM!!!!!). Today I'm a little better, at least have enough energy to sit upright and do a quick post. The kids are healthy thankfully, although Ellis has been throwing up today while acting completely normal and energetic. Hope it doesn't develop into anything else.

So, until I get some new posts up, here's a quick look at what we've been up to:

Halloween was fun
Thanksgiving was great
Norah's in a big girl bed!
Ellis is days away from figuring out how to crawl!
Jason accepted a call to be a seminary teacher back in October. He teaches the freshmen an early morning bible study before they go to school. They're studying the New Testament this year. He has about 20 kids in his class and is really enjoying it even with the early morning part (the teacher devotional starts at 6:15. Yikes!). The kids love him and he loves them.
With the economy the way it is, the developer market is non-existent. Redfern closed shop and Jason's been trying to figure out what direction to go next. Most likely he'll be going back to school to get his MBA in fall, so he's started studying for the GMAT while continuing to look out for job opportunities.
SO, now we're trying to decide what to do with our house. Rent it out while we go to school, or sell it?

See, I told you there was good reason for the delay in new posts! But, amongst all of the changes in our lives, we still have so much to be thankful for. I'm so thankful for our wonderful family who is so loving and supportive. I'm grateful for my funny, sweet, and darling kids who make everything else less important. And I'm especially blessed to have such a wonderful husband. He's a great father, a hard worker, a worthy priesthood holder, a charitable and trustworthy friend, and a loving, supportive husband who can always make me laugh. What else really matters?!

Anyway, thanks for your patience. I'll try to get some pictures up soon.....I promise!

Happy Fall!

2008-11-02T23:42:00.000-08:00

It's finally starting to feel like fall here. It was warm last week but cooled down just in time for Halloween and gave the kids some time to trick-or-treat before the rain was falling too hard. I'm sure we'll be sick of it soon enough, but the rain is a welcomed change for now. I love fall, and even though it feels like we're going straight from warm to rainy we'll enjoy it while it lasts. We had fun picking out pumpkins and carving them last week.

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween! (By the way, our pumpkins got moldy so fast! Is there a trick I don't know about?)

Costume pictures will be coming soon.....

Proposition 8 & Potty Training

2008-10-22T17:27:00.000-07:00

How, you may be asking yourself, are Prop 8 and potty training related? Well, in 3 ways as far as I can see.

1. They've both been on our minds heavily over the past few weeks.

2. As with potty training, some people need a better understanding of what they are getting into before voting for Prop 8. We'd seen the signs that Norah was ready to be training for months, but I was hesitant because I needed to know what I was doing, plus I wasn't sure I wanted to give up the flexibility that diapers allow (although I was TOTALLY wrong on that one. No diapers is AWESOME!).

3. Due to his Hawaiian raised parents Jason grew up calling pee "sheshe." If Prop 8 does not pass, sheshe can get married. (OK- it's a strech but Jason came up with that one.) Really, they are just two things I've been wanting to post about, so why not do it together?

So, for you out-of-staters, or those Californians who don't get out much (although I can't imagine at this point how you couldn't have been bombarded with it by now), Prop 8 is a proposition to make an amendment to the California constitution that reads "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California." In 2000 California voters passed Prop 22 by an overwhelming 61% (considered a landslide for an election) which defined marriage in California as between a man and a woman. Earlier this year in a 4-3 vote the California Supreme Court (4 judges!) overturned what 61% of the population had voted for and legalized same-sex marriage. As you can imagine, or as you have witnessed, this has been a heated debate all the way through. It probably comes as no surprise that the Browns are a Yes vote on Prop 8 (the scroll to the right of the blog is a dead giveaway), but in case you wanted to know why or there are any unsure votes out there, we'll share.....

First off, watch this video. We've receive MANY links to articles, videos, blogs, etc. all focusing on Prop 8 over the past few months, but this was the best. It it is clear, accurate and straight forward. It is the best representation of why we are voting Yes.

The video sums up our feelings very well. Here are a couple other thoughts if you're interested:

Prop 8 restores the people's decision and does not take away any rights: It seeks to restore how marriage was defined in California by 62% of the voters after being overturned by 4 judges. It does not take away any rights. In California, domestic partnerships and civil unions hold the same rights as married spouses.

Prop 8 encourages having a father and a mother: By calling same-sex unions "marriage" aren't we just saying that a mother and a father aren't really necessary? That it's perfectly okay to substitute one for another of the same sex, that we shouldn't even notice the difference, that it's fine to do without one? Research clearly shows that children develop best and gain different things from a father and a mother. It seems to me that any single mom, despite whatever situation brought her to be a single mommy, would still wish that in the perfect world things could have been different. That ideally, her child would have a mother AND a father who would love each other and their children. Of course we do not live in that perfect world, and things often don't end up how we planned or hoped they would. However, whatever we legalize we encourage and therefore get more of. "One can believe in same sex-marriage. One can believe that every child deserves a father and a mother. One cannot believe both." (David Blankenhorn, Institute for American Values)

Of course there are plenty of heterosexual people who have contributed to the breakdown of the family. However, just because irresponsible parents exist doesn't mean that we should change the definition of what is best for the child. Allowing marriage to only be defined by the traditional family unit places it clearly as the best case scenario for children to grow in. We can of course all teach our children individually what we think is best. However, society as a whole is impacted when you start teaching it in schools as equal (which is already happening), and when religions have to recognize it as the same as well.

Check out this link to a very interesting opinion piece by a liberal Democrat on why he's voting Yes on 8. His idea of the family and marriage is very interesting. Read it!

Prop 8 is not about civil rights: I am for giving same-sex couples the same rights that the word marriage provides to spouses, which they already hold in California through civil unions or domestic partnerships. However, is the word "marriage" really a RIGHT? Then how must the polygamists feel? They must feel discriminated against as well then I would assume. Should we recognize their unions as legal "marriage" then as well then, if it is truly a right? Should it be a right then for any people who love each other to be married?

Prop 8 is not meant to be hateful: I understand that it is a sensitive subject. We are not always going to agree, especially on the issue of same-sex marriage, and it is understandable that some people may find our position on traditional families offensive to their way of life. However, we live in America and I believe that we all have freedom of speech. For those who preach tolerance and claim that we have none, it is ironic that some of the opponents to Prop 8 have been anything but tolerant of our side. Everyone I know has had their yard sign stolen at least once, if not twice or three times or more. I continue to hear claims that the Yes on Prop 8 voters are discriminatory and full of hate. I can 100% honestly say that I do not have any hate in my heart for people who live this way. I do have a problem with continually being called a bigot or hateful. I do not wish for them to lose any rights, and they will not even if Prop 8 passes. I just don't believe that a same-sex union and a traditional marriage are the same thing. I think they are fundamentally different and accomplish different things and therefore should be called different names. I'm not sure how that makes me hateful. I believe we can still have love and respect for each other while standing up for our standards and beliefs.

Mormon Involvement: There has been significant media coverage commenting on the heavy involvement of Mormons in support of Prop 8. First off, it should be clear that all donations and volunteering is by choice, and that the church itself has not given even a penny to the campaign. For any of you who know us well or are familiar with our church, it should not come as a surprise that we are so dedicated in our support of Prop 8. We believe that the family is a sacred, God instituted unit where we learn and grow and become our best. Any action that lessens the importance and respect for the traditional family unit we are against. Many other churches, groups, and individuals are supporting Prop 8 as well because they too recognize it's vital importance.

It is clear and completely understandable that those who chose to live in a same sex marriage have feelings, have rights, and have their agency to chose their own path. But legalizing same sex marriage is teaching our children that it is the same. That there is no difference between a father and a mother. That they are interchangeable and therefore unimportant. And that is fundamentally not true. This issue is not about discrimination, or tolerance, or even homosexuality--it is simply about preserving the family as the fundamental unit of society and recognizing that it is the goal post for all of us to shot for.

I know this post is drastically different from my usual posts that are cluttered with a bunch of pictures of our little family. For any of you who are unsure or unclear on what some of the issues are we wanted to share some of our thoughts. Thanks for listening! If you'd like more information you can visit http://www.protectmarriage.com. If you don't agree, we still love and respect you and hope you will do the same for us. If you agree, make sure to vote Yes on Prop 8 next Tuesday!

(Norah watching a show during her potty day. She's a PRO at the potty now! Thanks to Grandma Mary and her one-day training method she caught on right away with hardly an accident. We all had a fun "potty party" at my moms house which thankfully has hard wood floors, and she hasn't looked back since. It's been a fun couple of weeks with her big girl panties!)

Ellis the 6 month old...

2008-10-21T21:47:00.000-07:00

We can't believe it! Our precious little man turned 6 months old today. He has been such a joy in our lives it's hard to imagine that he ever wasn't part of our family. He's completely entertaining and utterly squeezable. And I'm convinced he has THE most kissable face ever. There's something about his chubby cheeks and pudgy neck that you just can't resist. Anyway, I thought I'd share some things you all might not know about Ellis and give you a glimpse into what he's up to these days. Went through and picked out some of my favorite recent pictures, but you're going to laugh because there's tons.... so, if you're short on time or not in the mood to hear a mom gush over her baby, this isn't the post for you.

He's sitting up and loving it. Now he can reach all of his toys!

A close up of his knee roll. It's true, he has a knee roll. He is a big boy-- in the 97% for his height and head, and 77% for weight last time I took him for a check-up. Although, I can't imagine what he would look like at 97% weight. I kind of feel like I never had a "baby," and my back sure doesn't feel like it either.

His toes are his best friends. He LOVES sucking on his toes. He sucks on his toes as much as some babies such on their thumbs. Sometimes it's really loud too. We occasionally hear it over the monitor. Ha!

The best word to describe his personality is jolly. All you have to do is look in his direction and suddenly he smiles big enough to eat your head while flailing his arms and kicking his feet wildly with excitement. Even when you wake him up from a nap he opens his eyes and is instantly smiling. He has the best belly laugh and is VERY ticklish.

He's a blankie boy. He loves his blankies. When we hand him his blanket in his crib he excitedly grabs it and smiles huge, then he pulls it with him as he turns to sleep on his side.

I just love this picture of his pot belly. Don't you love how baby cheeks look so heavy when they sleep and make their lips become all pursed. (If you don't know what I'm talking about look at the picture above this one.)

He's such a boy in so many ways. The rowdier you play with him, the more he laughs. He's already banging all his toys violently and beating things on his highchair in a way that Norah never did. And his toots are SO loud. So loud that I'm sure the people at the grocery totally think it must be me.

He's eating food! So far yes on the sweet potatoes, no on the green beans.

He makes a really sad frowny face that is hard to ignore. Overall he his a happy baby, but I definitely wouldn't call him mellow. Especially early on he was a bit high maintenance but seems to have grown out of it.

He's a MAMA's boy. And I LOVE it.

He loves his Daddy too though.

This is the watching-Norah-do-something-crazy face that he often has. She loves to "entertain" him by bouncing up and down, running around him while singing "Ring Around the Rosie," or whatever other antics she may be up to.

He loves his sister soooo much. He thinks she is totally hilarious and can't wait to see her when he wakes up. She is a very sweet sister and loves to "read" him books and "play" with him as much as she can. Whenever he's crying she immediately bursts into song to try to calm him down.

He says no to crack....most the time.

We love you, Ellis boy! Happy 6 month birthday, Buddy!

So....who do you think he looks like? Some people say he looks just like Jason, some people say just like me. Some say a boy version of Norah. Who do you think?

Meeting Cinderella

2008-10-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

Short version: Norah got to meet Cinderella while we were at Disneyland, which she had been hoping to do ever since we got there. She was thrilled beyond words, literally. Skip to pictures...

If you want it, here's the rest....so, the second day we were at Disneyland we made a stop at the Princess Faire (I think that's what it's called). It's darling and SO fun for any princess obsessed little girls like Norah. One of the things they have there is a "Princess Row" where you can wait in line and then walk down this garden-like area where all of the princesses are and meet them, take pictures, etc. Well, when we got there I asked one of the princess attendants how long the line would take--45 mins to and hour. Yikes. The cute little attendant asked if there was a certain princess that we were especially hoping to meet today, to which we both replied "Cinderella's all that really matters." "Oh wonderful! I think she's here today!" (Imagine that in the squeaky princess voice.) ANYWAY, I sent Jason to go stand in the line (what a great hubby/daddy huh?!) and I took Norah and Ellis to go listen to Sleeping Beauty give a storytime. About 5 minutes into it the attendant comes back over and asks "Would you like to meet a surprise princess today without having to wait in a line?" Um, YES please! So, after story time I grabbed Jason out of the other line and we went over to the designated spot and waited for them to come get us (during which I had to feed Ellis and was hurrying him along so I wouldn't miss the reveal). After a couple minutes she comes around to get us and brings us in front of a "secret" room with a big velvet drape across the doorway and asks Norah, "Are you ready to meet your surprise princess? She's very excited to meet you!" pulls back the velvet drape, and reveals....Cinderella and Minnie Mouse! Norah was SPEECHLESS. She couldn't even MOVE. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. Our bouncy, outgoing, chatterbox little girl turned into a statue. By the expression on her face I imagine something like this was going through her head: "Is it really her? Could it be? I can't believe Cinderella is talking to me! Am I dreaming?" She was in complete and utter shock and amazement. I think her being on the young side of most princess fans made it even funnier because she REALLY thought it WAS Cinderella. And boy do they do a good job, even their vocabulary is princess-ish.

Anyway, I can't believe I've gone on and on about this and if someone is actually still reading I'm sure I've bored you to death and there's a little pool of drool on your keyboard. Sorry. Here are some more pictures, although they really don't do it justice.

That's me trying to usher her up near them. When they opened the door she just stood there in total disbelief so I had to sheppard her up there.

Ohhhh.....so excited.

Couldn't stop staring.

After meeting Cinderella we went to the "Coronation Ceremony" and Sleeping Beauty came and danced with Norah. She was one lucky girl!!

Our Trip

2008-09-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

It's taken long enough, but here's a glimpse of what we did on our trip last month. Uncle Eric joined us for a trip down south and we all had a great time. The kids (MIRACULOUSLY) were wonderful in the car, Norah LOVED the beach and Disneyland, and we all had a wonderful visit with family and friends.

Norah glued to Grandma Mary's portable DVD player. The ride was actually a treat for her with the help of this little device. She turns into a zombie when she watches TV, and zombie behavior is very convenient for long car rides. Seriously, check out that zombie stare.

Our first stop was visiting some of my Dad's family that we hadn't seen in years and years. It was such a wonderful reunion! They are the sweetest, most loving people and made us feel so welcomed. It was such a treat to all get caught up and share some funny stories about Dad. Norah fell in love with Chips (the dog).

Us with some of the gang. Ellis is such a chunk!

We had dinner with Bob, an old friend of my Dad's that was roommates with him back in his college years. Back in December Bob had been wanting to get back in touch with Dad and googled him for his information, but the first thing that came up was his obituary from three weeks prior. To make a long story short, we got in contact with him and were able to meet him for dinner while we were down in the area. He is an amazing, kind, sincere person who gave us some great advice and some hilarious memories of Dad. We're excited to keep in touch with him and are really glad we caught up with him while we were down there.

Lots of fun at the beach...

and in the sand.

Ellis didn't love the beach so much, but it was hot and he was tired, so who can blame him.

We also got to see our good friends Scott and Karisa while we were down there. They are SO cute with the kids and hilarious as always. We wish we lived closer!

Ellis finally asleep.

How could we resist a trip to Disneyland when we were already all the way down there?? It was really fun, although much more crowded than we were hoping, and way hotter than we would have liked. Funny tid-bit about Goofy. I'll often say to Norah, "You're so goofy," to which she replies with a tell-it-how-it-is look on her face, "No, I'm not Goofy, I'm Norah!" I guess you can't blame her for the confusion.

Uncle Eric was a good sport and joined us at Disneyland for one of the days. Although he did only last until about 4:00. But for a single, kid-less, 21 year old guy, Disneyland is far from the "happiest place on earth."

Ellis' first trip to Disneyland!

Cute Scott and Karisa. They joined us one night at Disneyland.

She LOVED meeting all the characters, but the best of all was Cinderella (separate post to come). Overall, we had a wonderful trip and a great time visiting with everyone. Great end to the summer!!!

Jamison's Going Away Party

2008-09-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

Kyle, Dayna, and little Kylie are off on their new adventure of dental school in Vegas. Even though it's a good excuse for leaving, it's been a hard pill to swallow. The night before they left we had a send off party for them and wished them well. It was a bittersweet night, but we'll see them at Christmas! (Right, Kyle??!!)

The future dentist and soon to be mommy of 2.

Jason reading the quiz results (we made a quiz to test everyone on how well they know the Jamisons). Excluding the parents....Becky Fellows won!

"Grammy," Dayna, and Kylie. Cute girls!

The guys mapping out the trip to Vegas in the morning. Too funny.

Norah misses her friend....

And I miss mine!

It was a fun night and I'm glad we could send them off with smiles instead of tears. We all miss you! Hope you're settling in and getting ready for baby Treagan. We hope you like Vegas enough to enjoy the years of dental school, but not enough to stay forever. :) Who's going to plan all of our fun activities now??

Summer Stuff

2008-09-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

We've had an eventful and fun summer and it's bitter sweet to see that it will be coming to a close soon. We've had lots of fun but part of me is ready to get into a more normal schedule....and to have the weather cool off. Playing in the backyard isn't fun when it's 97 outside, or even higher. Here's a quick catch up on some of our other summer activities.

Celebrating Norah's birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Brown's house (She's a lucky girl- 3 parties for 1 birthday). What's a birthday cake without a little bit of birthday-girl spit on it?

Stealing a lick of frosting.

We had a party with her and some of her friends at the house. She had a blast! This is the most accurate depiction of her. She was either running, bouncing, swimming, sliding, or eating and wasn't willing to pause for a photo.

Babies and bubbles are a winning combination.

On her actual birthday we had my family over to celebrate. Grandma Mary scored some major points by getting her the gift she wanted most....the classic Little Tykes car. Uncle Eric scored even more points by painstakingly putting it together. Wasn't as easy as you would think, especially with an anxious 2 year old who couldn't wait to take a spin. She was SO excited.

Such a big girl. And a very happy one. She had a GREAT birthday. (Pay no mind to the ladybug cake. I wanted to do something cute, but ended up having to do it in 10 minutes to feed the hungry uncles. She seemed to like it though. More for the sugar than the decoration no doubt...)

Norah's had TONS of fun swimming this year. Once we converted her to a human floatation device she could "swim like a big girl" all by herself. We discovered later that all she needed were the floaties (minus the inflatable swimsuit) to be able to get around on her own but the marshmallow look provided a lot of laughs.

The Edmond's (Jason's sister and her family) came out for their annual summer visit. We love them! Their 5 boys are so sweet with Norah-- she's constantly asking to play with Colby and doesn't quite grasp that they live 13 hours away. They got to meet Ellis and we all went to Six Flags/Marine World (am I the only one who still calls it Marine World?) one day. Can't wait to see them again at Christmas.

Norah got her face painted for the first time at our stake Pioneer Day Celebration. It was momentous occasion for her. She's STILL talking about it.

Spent lots of the summer oodling over our not-so-little baby Ellis whose already 4 months old. Here he's working his charm on Grandma Mary. It's hard to get anything done with his cute little face staring at you like that.

A business associate of Jason's owns a horse ranch and invited us to bring Norah out for a pony ride. We gladly accepted of course.

No cowgirl is complete without pink boots. (Thank you Target- $5!)

She was a pro. Jason didn't even really have to hold her. She especially appreciated the horses name: "Princess Princess."

More to come from our trip to Southern California...

Norah's Vote for '08

2008-08-27T22:26:00.001-07:00

So, last night after dinner I was cleaning up and Jason had turned on the live broadcast of the Democratic National Convention. As he turned it on they announced that a "special guest" had arrived, and without saying who it was Barack came out on the stage. Norah looked up to see what all the fuss was about and said very excitedly, clear as a bell:

"It's Barack Obama!"

WHAT?! We paused the TV and asked her what she had said and sure enough, she said, "Look, it's Barack Obama!" I have no idea how in the world she knows who he is. Well, it's clear that at least she's not undecided for the November election. Too bad Mommy and Daddy still aren't thrilled with either choice......

Haircuts

2008-08-27T22:05:00.001-07:00

It's been haircut season at the Brown's. Ellis got his first haircut at a young 2 1/2 months back in July, and Norah got her first haircut at just over 2 years old a couple weeks ago. Here's the story:

So, our sweet Ellis had crazy hair. Basically it was the classic male-pattern-baldness. LOTS on the side, lots in the back, and nothing but peach-fuzz up front. To be honest I thought it was cute, he was like my little old man. But eventually, it was getting out of control. Case 1:

Case 2: This is totally the standard I'm-so-unhappy, I'm-so-chubby, I-hate-my-life "before" picture that people always use for make-over shows and advertisements.

And so, the haircut began.....

And ended....

And Mom was a little sad....at first. I quickly grew to like it, but he just looked so different at first. And plus it made him look so much older. I mean, he's only 2 1/2 months in these pictures, but he looks like he should be crawling!

And Daddy loved it. He's not shy about showing his emotions. Sorry about the goofy picture, honey. It's partially my fault--I told him to look excited. Mission accomplished. :)

So then it was Norah's turn. She really just needed a trim. When her hair was down it had started looking a little straggly and unkempt. It's so hard to cut off those baby curls though! Here's the before:

During:

After:

She did very well and sat relatively still during her haircut (thanks to crackers and a sucker). She refused to put on the smock, which even had cute penguins on it, but oh well. I made a pretty big deal about the whole thing and kept telling her she got to go to a "fancy salon" to get her haircut. Two weeks later she is still talking about it. "I got a haircut, Mommy." "Yes, Norah, you're hair looks SO pretty." "Thanks, Mommy." Here's the best picture I could find of the back of her hair now. Still has curls!

Well, that's all for the baby makeovers for now.

Norah's 2!

2008-07-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

Our sweet, lovable, funny girl turned 2 last week. It's hard to believe that 2 years ago on July 15th at 8:03pm she joined us. Funny how it seems like yesterday and so long ago all at the same time. So, here are some of our favorite things about our favorite girl:

How affectionate she is. She is truly the most affectionate and loving little thing. Everyday I get tons of unsolicited hugs and kisses from her. "A hug, Mommy! A kiss, Mommy!"
Her squeezes. For a long time we've played the squeezing game with her (who can love squeeze the hardest). I keep thinking that someday she's really going to figure out how to squeeze, but no luck so far. She makes this face like she's squeezing really hard and even shakes a little but you feel absolutely nothing on your arms.
Her dimples.
Her dancing. She would dance with me all day if I would agree. By the way, how come all those years of dance classes don't make ANY difference when I'm dancing at home with my 2 year old. I couldn't feel more ungraceful. She doesn't care one bit though so I guess what does it matter....
Instead of saying "music" she calls it "muse-e-mock." Don't ask me why. I love it though. Jason tries to correct her and I won't let him. It's just too funny. She's a ridiculously good talker, no need to correct her on that one. I also love "Cindabrella." She says it with such authority, like, "Yeah, that's her name mom. Why do you keep asking?" I also love that she says "No way." All the time now. She uses it when she thinks something is silly or can't believe it, "No waaaayyyyy." "Mommy, I want some chap-chip" is also fun (her request for chapstick).
How much she loves her Daddy. Today she asked me where Daddy was and I asked her where she thought he was. "Church?" No. "Grandma and Grandpas?" No, he's at work. "Daddy's at work. Daddy a doctor?" Don't know where she got that, but it was pretty cute. She's THRILLED when she hears the garage door opening. Definitely a Daddy's girl.
How much she loves her brother.
Her singing. I think Sunbeam is my favorite. Twinkle, Twinkle, Wheels on the bus, the Frowny Face song, and Jingle Bells are some of my other favorites. (see post below)
Her prayers. They are so tender and honest. They always include lots of family members and things that happened in the day, including things that are important to a toddler like presents, playdough, carebears, park, etc. She never let's us forget to say them before going to bed and even frequently requests a prayer before nap time.
Her love of books. She's my bookworm. I can't tell you how many times I hear "Mommy, read books? Mommy, let's read books!" in a day.
Her enthusiasm. She gets excited about just about everything. If I say, "Norah, would you like to go to the store with Mommy?" her typical response is to bend down, jump up really high while yelping "Yes! Yes!" and pumping her fists in the air followed by a "That sounds like a good idea!"
Her belly laugh. When we tickle her she says "No tickle MMMeeeeEEEE!" The inflection is so funny.

Happy Birthday, Norah! We love you to pieces. Today I was reading her books and as she was getting off the bed to get another one I was smiling at her and thinking of how much fun she is. She got off the bed and turned back to me and said "I make Mommy happy." So true, Norah. You do make us happy. We're lucky to have such a darling girl (tantrums and all). We love you!!!

Norah Singing

2008-07-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Kiddos

2008-07-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

Geez, I love my kids. There are no words. I just LOVE them. Take a look at these pictures and you'll see what I mean. How could I resist those dimples?! Being a mom is the best. It's work, but it is the best....

The 4th

2008-07-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

We had a blast (excuse the pun....I couldn't resist myself) at the Brown's on the 4th. Jason has some serious pyro brothers. If you don't believe me....take a look at the picture below. Ben's favorite holiday literally is the 4th of July, that's just how much he likes fire. It sure does make it fun for the rest of us! Jason got a couple boxes of free fireworks from the people that have a stand in their shopping center, plus Ben and Myles went and bought a bunch too. So....we definitely had our fair share of fireworks. And the ladder trick made it spectacular....don't know the ladder trick? Oh, just look below, and your 4th of July's will forever be improved.

Ben planning out the show. We told him we would like it choreographed to music next year.

Love the sparkler in the mouth.

She liked the show. No pictures of Ellis....he was sleeping or eating. :)

So, here is the ladder trick. Two ladders and a board...you get the idea. I'm telling you it makes a world of difference. You feel like you're watching a legitimate firework show. You get the shot up and the twinkle down. Now I'm sounding like the obsessed one....but seriously, it's really cool. Try it.

Ellis and Ellis Meet

2008-07-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

Last month my grandparents came out to visit which was such a treat. They got to meet little Ellis and see our house and had some time to visit which we always look forward to. It was especially fun to get the big Ellis and the little Ellis together. My grandparents are so cute. We all wish we lived closer, but I guess that makes us appreciate the visits even more.

So sweet, the two Ellis' getting to know each other. (It's Ellis' in that sentence, right? Not Ellis's? Hmm...probably no one would have noticed had I not pointed it out. )

I love this: not only do they share the same name, but the same hairdo! Ha! I said that to Grandpa and he laughed and said, "Yeah, but the difference is his is coming in!"

Oh, what a cute picture. Weird to think that someday Jason, Norah, and I will have a picture like this....

Grandpa brought a ball-cap for Ellis from his alma mater Michigan State where he played football during his college years. It was for the boy, but our girl seemed to like it. Looks cute on her, don't you think?

My grandma was talking about looking at the blog and how she loves to read the comments and my mom goes, "What comments? There are comments?" Haha. Go, Grandma! One step ahead of mom on the technology department. She also, while describing someone who was sitting next to them on the plane, referred to them as having lots of "bling." She's so hip and so much fun to talk to. Not to mention a whirl wind in the kitchen. She does dishes faster than my dishwasher I kid you not.

We took a trip to the zoo.

Mom and Ellis. Check out that male-pattern-baldness. On Ellis of course, not Mom.

Norah really loved playing with her Great Grandpa. Read her a book and you're sure to capture her heart.

We love Tahoe!

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

Isn't it so beautiful there?! We love it. If you haven't ever been, you need to come visit us and we will take you there. Lucky for us Jason's wonderful parents have a time-share condo up there every year around Memorial Day and they are so sweet to invite us up with them....which we happily accept! The weather was great and we had a lot of fun. Truth be told the kids were pretty crazy at times.....could it be the altitude? Maybe teeth? Who knows. Overall though we had a great time and a nice change of scenery.

Don't be fooled. See the paved road? We drove 90% of the way and then took a little walk around to see the view. Short and sweet, which is just what we needed.

Yes, he is sleeping in a drawer. With two "babies" and only one porta-crib, we decided to hold up the family tradition of babies in a drawer. When I was a wee one my mom had me sleep in the drawer up at my grandparents lake house and we have laughed about it over the years. It really is the perfect traveling crib though: don't need to pack it, it's portable, nice and cozy for the little one, doesn't take up a lot of room, it's free......see, I've convinced you, huh?!

Pool was pretty cold, but Daddy was a good sport. She, of course, didn't seem to notice.

Grandma loves the babies, and it is DEFINITELY mutual. She has the magic touch!

Sunglasses are a must with Norah in the car. Ever since she was just over a year she's had a real serious problem with the sun in her eyes. If it was sunny out, and I don't mean sun in her eyes but just sunny in general, she would yell "OWIES, Mommy, OWIES!" over and over while shielding her eyes with her hands. One day Grandma Barbara was watching her and she wouldn't go down for her nap so they jumped in the car hoping that would help. At each cry of "owies, Grandma!" she would turn the car the opposite direction like the sweet, tender grandma she is. The "owie" request eventually lead them all the way to Cameron Park! Ha! She's grown out of it a bit, but we still keep them on hand just in case.

Visit from the Roundy's

2008-07-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Our friends the Roundy's who are currently living in Switzerland made a trip to California to visit family and stayed with us for a night. It was fun to catch up and see their ADORABLE kids. Norah especially had fun playing with them--it made me even more excited for her to have siblings she can play with. It was a fun and busy day: visit to the temple, park, and train museum.

Ellis Pics

2008-06-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

New pictures of Ellis. He's so adorable and getting SO big. It's so different from how Norah was. She was in her 0-3 month clothes for the first 6 months, and he's already busting out of his!

Good baby dreams.

Hmmm....what should I have for lunch today? Milk, or, milk?

Norah & Ellis

2008-06-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of fun pictures of the two of them together. So far, Norah is OBSESSED with him, and he is a little aprehensive for fear he will get trampled under her well intending feet. She's very concerned when he's crying ("Hurry, Mommy, hurry!") which is very sweet. He has started smiling at her lately which she loves of course. She just can't wait until they can play with eachother (and neither can I!). :)

I laugh out loud everytime I see this picture. Talk about obsessed. And his face is so funny..."Do you seriously have to be this close?"

Tyring to get him to take his bottle (which isn't an easy task). She also lines up his pacifiers, which he also doesn't like, and trys to get him to take them one at a time. "I helping, Mommy!" she says.

I love how proud she looks in this one. She really is a great big sister.

"Help him, Mommy!"

Our Girl

2008-06-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun recent pictures of Norah:

I came into the living room to find Norah like this the other day. She loves to sit in there and flip through the big set of scriptures, page by page. Don't ask me why, since there aren't any pictures....she truly is a bookworm!

Whenever I ask her to "Smile like a princess!" she raises her hands up above her head like this. Why you may ask? Who knows. I think it might be because her Barbie's arms are usually straight up above her head. Pretty funny either way.

"Helping" me in the garden.

Dress-up girl.

It's pretty rude of me to want to take pictures of her when she's so upset, but it needed to be documented. Plus I think it's pretty cute. A couple weeks after having Ellis everything came to a head for her--she was sick, cutting more teeth, and adjusting to not being the only child anymore. Poor thing. She bounced back quickly, but it was a sad coupld days for us all.

A ridiculous amount of stuffed animals, right? You would think we could just sneak some out and she wouldn't even notice, but you would think wrong. Every night she lists EACH one and makes sure we show her where they are. The list includes: Kitty, Doggy, Bear, Nemo, Pooh Bear, Yellow Carebear, Blue Carebear, Ducky, and Penguin. It amazes me that she can remember all of them, but she always knows whose missing. Ha!

Night at the Fair

2008-06-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

A little fair came to Folsom a couple weeks ago so we took Norah and Ellis and met our friends the Dances there. It was SO hot but really cute to see her get so excited. I thought she'd be scared on the car ride and was ready to have to go in and get her, but boy was I wrong. She was laughing out loud the whole time. No pics of Ellis that night because he was a perfect angel sleeping in his stroller!

Ellis can smile!

2008-06-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

A funny little video of Ellis smiling at only 5 days old. When he is in that between-sleep-and-awake stage he would smile on command for us, which we all found very amusing. Supposedly they don't really "know" how to smile until about 6 weeks old or so, but as you can see, he somehow figured it out in his dazed stage. And of course the second I stopped recording he gave us the biggest smile of them all. Happy boy!

Norah & Ellis Meet

2008-06-01T21:52:00.000-07:00

Note: I tried to post this weeks ago, but it wasn't working for some reason. Hope you still enjoy...

We couldn't wait to get home to introduce Norah and little Ellis. We decided not to have Norah visit us at the hospital since we were there for such a short time. Plus I didn't want it to be a tramatic experience in case she got sad that Mommy couldn't come home with her right then. When we got home on Tuesday afternoon, her reaction to him couldn't have been sweeter. After giving him lots of hugs and kisses and telling us how "cute!" the baby was she went into the toy closet and picked out her favorite toys to show him (a bunny and 2 dinasours....yes, my girly girly has a fasination with dinasours which is quite hilarious) and then gave him a demonstration of her amazing jumping skills. After about 15 minutes of us being home she turned to me and said, "He came out!" At first I didn't understand what she said, but when I understood I told her yes and asked her where he was. "The tummy!" was her answer. So cute! We've talked to her a lot over the past months about her brother and how he was going to come out to see her, but I wasn't quite sure if she would put it all together once he got here since she won't even be 2 until July. She's always surprising us! We brought her home a "present" from baby Ellis which was a baby doll that is amazingly real with true baby-like movements and noises. So far she's been MUCH more interested in the REAL baby, but that's okay. Especially since she has been very gentle and soft with him...no incidents to report yet! I just love to watch how excited she is about her brother and how concerned she is when he's crying. She's good at reporting what he's doing: "He wake up!" "Mommy, he's coughing," "Mommy, he hungry," and "He open eyes!!" My favorite is how she says that he's "tickling" her when he's moving his hands around. She gets really close to him to give him hugs and kisses and when he flails in her direction she laughs and says, "He tickles!" I can't imagine how thrilled she'll be when he can actually react to her.

I look like a big dork in the freeze frame of this video, but I will sacrifice and publish for your benefit. :)

We've been slacking/ Call for help

2008-06-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know we have been horrible bloggers. Here come a couple new posts for you all to enjoy. The first two I had up a long time ago but for some reason wouldn't post and the rest are just some new pictures of our little guy and things we've been up to. Part of the reason I procrastinate posting is because it takes so long for some reason. So here is my question to all of you...

WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG FOR ME TO POST PICTURES AND VIDEOS?

Is there a trick that I don't know about? When I go to post a set of pictures, or a video, it takes a half hour or more to upload. And a lot of the time it will have problems and I'll need to start over. We have a good internet connection, so I'm not sure what the problem is..... Any help?

Welcome, Baby Ellis!

2008-04-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

He's here!!! We've been blessed with another darling baby! Our sweet baby boy arrived on Monday, April 21st at 12:26 in the afternoon. He weighs in at a healthy 8lbs. 6 oz. and measures 20 inches long. Ellis Frederic Brown is as handsome and sweet as can be, with plenty of dark brown hair. Jason and I are both fans of using family names, since they hold so much significance and are a fun tradition, which is why we chose Ellis Frederic for our baby boy. Frederic is in honor of my sweet dad who passed away unexpectedly last November, and Ellis is my Grandpa's name.

So far he has been a pure joy to the family. I love babies!!! Yes, they are a lot of work, but so, so worth it! He has proven so far (time will tell...) to be a very good baby. Much easier than Norah was at this stage, which is a pleasant surprise. Norah is so sweet with him and it is so great to see her so happy and excited about her brother. Jason was able to stay home with us last week which was wonderful. Unlike some guys, he really enjoys all stages that babies go through, including the little newborn stage. He especially likes snuggling and taking naps with the babe, but who can blame him!? He went back to work today so I'm here with both kiddos....it's now dinner time and I'm happy to report that the day has been quite pleasant. I'm sure it will have it's moments, but so far so good.

OK- many of you will probably stop reading here because this will be boring/too much info for some of you. But for those who want the full story of how little Ellis joined us on Monday, here you go:

I'd been having contractions on and off for about two weeks, so when my due date came and went on Saturday the 19th it was a little sad. I never got to the really really miserable stage that some pregnant ladies do, which I'm grateful for, however people at church on Sunday did mention in that I looked "ready," whatever that means. I'm guessing it meant that I looked tired and huge with child, which were both very true. One of the ladies at church actually told me I should go home and rest because I didn't have much time left. According to her intuition I only had a "couple hours" to go (and she wasn't that far off...). I took her advice to heart and went home and rested. I felt like the baby might be coming very soon, so I wanted to have a special last-day-of-being-the-only-kid night for Norah. We went for a long walk, then she "helped" me make cookies, and finished it off with her first ever viewing of Cinderella. The picture in the slide show is of her watching Cinderella with me and eating her cookie--boy, was she in heaven. I'm glad we had that special night with her since the baby did come the next day....it will be a fun memory.

We went to bed early and then at 2:20am my water broke. The same thing happened with Norah, so we were a little better prepared this time. Jason's reaction was notably different. With Norah he paced back and forth around the apartment frantically talking about what we needed to get together but not actually doing anything while I giggled at him. This time I said, "Jason, guess whose water broke?" He sat up in bed and with a huge smile said, "Really?! Awesome!" Very much improved since last time. Since Ellis came later, and Norah was 2 weeks early, he gave us enough time to get ready and enough anticipation was built up in wanting to meet him that we were ready and excited to get him here.

We got to the hospital at around 4 am and almost immediately they wanted to induce me since my contractions weren't consistent or too strong yet. I opted to hold off for awhile to see if things would progress on their own, but eventually they ended up inducing me at about 10am. Although I never really seem to have consistent contractions, I do go really fast near the end which is nice (I went from a 6 to a 10 in less than an hour). The delivery was really smooth as well. He was born at 12:26pm after 3 contractions of pushing. Apparently my babies more so fall out than they are pushed out. After he was born I asked the nurses, "how long did I push for, 10 minutes?" They looked at me and laughed and said, "You didn't push. That can't be considered pushing." They kept laughing about how I should make one of those labor videos where the women make it look so simple and easy. Fine by me! (Not the video part, just the easiness part.)

Once he was born the nurses said he looked like a pretty big baby. Earlier that morning the doctor had said he'd be a "pretty small" baby--she guessed around 7 lbs. He surprised us all by weighing in at 8lbs. 6oz.! Much bigger than I had expected! Especially compared to Norah's petite 6lbs. 2 oz. he seems nice and beefy. Just the way boys should be! My favorite part, which I'm sure is every mothers' favorite part, is when they lay the baby on your chest. With Norah I remember her just staring up at me with her big pretty eyes. Ellis was adorable because he just kept blinking over and over and over again trying to keep his eyes open to look at me but he just couldn't manage it. Jason and I were laughing at him and couldn't believe how darling he was. I so wish I had a video of the blinking...hopefully it is one of those mothering memories that won't fade.

I ended up in a room with 2 other girls which wasn't too fun, but since we were only there for one night it wasn't too bad. We were just excited to get out of there and go meet the big sister! She has loved having him home as we all have. We couldn't ask for a sweeter more handsome little guy to join the Brown family! We were watching TV the other day and there was a commercial for a Disneyland package for a "family of four." Jason looked over at me and said, "Hey, that's us!" So weird! So fun!

Evolution of the Belly

2008-04-09T20:59:00.000-07:00

Alright, so after numerous requests I am finally posting some belly pictures. Everyone keeps asking to see some, which I think really just means "we want to see how huge you've gotten," but either way, here they are for your viewing pleasure. So, I definitely feel like I'm carrying this baby different than Norah. I think it must be a boy/girl thing. With Norah my belly didn't stick out nearly as far, but I was rounder. This one seems to be straight out which has made daily tasks like picking up toys difficult to say the least. For example, a couple weeks ago I was washing the dishes and noticed an ant crawling across the counter. I reached over to grab a paper towel and when I looked back the ant was dead. Staring at it for a few seconds, I couldn't figure out what in the world had happened....and then I realized.....I killed the poor thing WITH MY BELLY while reaching for the paper towels. Ha!

Just the other day @ 9 months and about to pop:

Here are some @ 8 months:

Yes, we have matching coats. I didn't buy them together--my mom actually got the coat for Norah, and I got mine seperately without thinking about it. But when I realized it, I couldn't resist it. Don't judge us--you know you would do it too. :)

At about 6.5 months:

Easter Fun

2008-04-08T23:32:00.000-07:00

Easter at the Brown's house was really fun this year, especially because this was the first year that Norah was old enough to have a true Easter egg hunt. We started the day off by going to church, then had my mom, my brothers, and Chuck and his daughter Savannah and her finance John over for an Easter lunch. After that we headed to the Brown's for Easter dinner with the family. It was busy as usual, but so much fun. Having little ones around for the holidays really brings the magic back. It was so sweet to watch her get so excited at every point of the day and really reminded me how wonderful it is to be a mom. I love being a mommy and watching her excitement and enthusiasm. Celebrating the Savior and spending time with family and friends made it a perfect day.

My mom brought over her traditional bunny cake which she has made every year for the past 25 years or so. Norah loved it! I remember helping her make it as a little one. On one occasion when I was about 3 we were delivering bunny cakes to the neighbors and I insisted on carrying it myself. Let's just say that the cake was delivered with a little more than the fake coconut grass....

Look, Mommy, CAKE!

Yummmm.... Norah has become obsessed with these bunny ears. She wants to wear them all the time when we go out. This will probably last well beyond the Easter season as she really has no concept of things associated with holidays ending at any particular time. Prime example: every night she requests me to sing "Jingle Bells" to her. Yes, even in April, I am singing Jingle Bells on a nightly basis. Who am I to burst her bubble?

Showing off her Easter basket to Mommy. Great Gram- notice the cute stuffed bunny in the basket? :)

Mouth full of jelly beans.

She had a blast looking for eggs all over the yard. Although, she did get a little distracted when she figured out how to open the eggs herself.

Stealing jelly beans from Uncle Jim.

Good job, Eric! You found one too!

She possibly set the world record for number of jelly beans eaten by a 20 month old girl in one day. And she's not lady-like about it either. She grabs as many as she can in her little paws and shoves them all in at once.

Happy Easter!

Snow Day

2008-04-08T23:25:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Sue was here for a visit in the beginning of March and we though it would be fun to take Norah up for her first snow day. After all of the planning and packing and driving, it didn't go over so well. It was hard to find a good spot for her to play, and after we did it was hard for her to run around because the snow was pretty hard, not to mention all of her snow gear getting in the way. It's one of those laugh about it later memories I guess. It was gorgeous as usual up there though, and she did enjoy seeing all of the snowmen people had built and pointing them out to us.

Norah, Mom, Aunt Sue, and Jason

Sad and cold.

Good thing Grandma brought cookies!

Her favorite part was when we stripped her down and let her bounce around in the car while we got packed. Go figure.

Mom and Aunt Sue. Cute sisters!

Bike Shop Premier

2008-04-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

As some of you know Jason's joined a number of other guys in opening a new bike store in Elk Grove called Kinetic Cycles. Back in February they had a premier party prior to the opening of the store for all of the partners, workers, and bike enthusiasts in the area. We headed down for the night and it was great fun and very exciting. I actually hadn't even seen the store before and was amazed. It's gorgeous and over 500 people showed up that night to preview it! It's a Specialized concept store, which means very little to me seeing as though we are not in the biking crowd....at least not for now. :) I'm sure that will be changing quickly. I think it basically means that they carry mostly Specialized products along with a number of other brands. Anyway, it was a fun night and if you're ever in the Elk Grove area go check it out. You'll see some cool bikes and I'm sure they'll be able to meet any spandex requirements you may have.

All the owners with the Specialized Angel. I guess she's a big biking celebrity. She attends all the bike races and "blesses" the competitors. She was a very sweet girl, but I must say her dress was mighty tight for an "angel."

Norah and the Specialized Angel.

Our little fam. Sorry you can't see the belly. :)

Dan, Jason, and Brian- partners and buddies. A happy little family.

Norah testing out the merchandise.

Here are a couple other pictures of the store. It was a great and exciting night!

She's a Maniac

2008-03-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

I was going through some old pictures, and Jason and I came across this video. "She's a maniac, maniac on the floor...." From the insane dancing, to the falling down pants, to her totally trashed room, she is quite a character. We were just lucky to capture a moment of this craziness on tape. The more you watch it, the funnier it gets. Jason and I were in tears. We especially like the part in the middle when she gets all loosy-goosy, a move my dad lovingly referred to as "The Frug."

Disneyland- Take 2

2008-02-22T22:03:00.000-08:00

While we were in LA back in September we got to spend some time with Scott and Karisa and went to Disneyland with them for a day which was great fun. It was so fun to see Kale too--who is going to JAMAICA on his mission! Congrats!! I'm sure it will be a wonderful experience and we are so happy for him. Anyway, it was SO hot but Norah had a BLAST on the rides which made it such a fun day for us all.

Kale, Scott, Karisa, and us in California Adventure. We have such cute friends!

Norah loved the Moster's Inc. ride. It might look like she's petrified, but actually she had a blast. Jason and the rest of the gang rode the Tower of Terror a couple times, and since I was prego Norah and I rode this aboout 4 times in a row. It's so cute! "It's a small world" was actually her favorite ride, but this took a close 2nd.

Really attractive, I know. We had been warned that she would probably be frightened by the Bugs Life show/movie, but she actually did really well. I was another story....

This picture is priceless. Out of our entire Disneyland experience, guess what her favorite part was? The parade! She loved it so much that we kept running ahead so she could watch it over and over.

Our pretty girl.

Documentation of how hot it was. Notice the sweaty head.

So, Norah loved the electric parade...up until Pete's dragon rounded the corner. She got pretty freaked out. We should have been more concerned, but it was pretty commical. Especially considering I believe the girl in that movie is named Norah.

The Joys of Pregnancy

2008-02-22T05:42:00.001-08:00

Out of the many fun and exciting things about being prego, my sleeping schedule is not one of them. Early on, I wake up 3 to 4 times a night to pee. And I mean really early on--like before I even know I'm pregnant. Why, you might ask, do I need to pee so frequently when there is barely a baby in there? Who in the world knows....

Now that I am nearing the end (due April 19th....less than 8 weeks away) things aren't any prettier. Tonight for example I woke up at 3:40, laid in bed wide awake until 5:15, and finally got up and decided to catch-up on my blog reading. There are only 2 benefits to this torture that I can see. First, at least it prepares you for when you are waking up every 2 hours to feed your precious little newborn. For the first few weeks after I had Norah I ironically felt MUCH more rested than I had in months. And second, maybe all of this middle of the night insomnia will give me some time to update our blog!

Well, sweet dreams for now...

We love the beach

2008-01-01T15:52:00.000-08:00

When we were down in LA we made a trip to the beach with our lovely friends Scott and Karisa. Although as I mentioned it got up to 110 degrees while we were there, the water was freezing because of some wierd costal storm or something. Didn't do a lot (or any) swimming, but it was beautiful and gave Norah plenty of room to roam.

Scott- have you cut your hair yet? :)

Disneyland- Take 1

2008-01-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

Back in September we drove down to LA to visit some friends and go to Disneyland and had an absolute blast. Spencer and Harmony, friends from college, live down there and were getting ready to transfer to Switzerland for 2 years (I know...so lucky). It was great to get to see them and go to Disneyland together. Norah had a blast playing with Cado and Paisley and it was so fun to get caught up. Unfortunately it wasn't the most thrilling Disneyland experience for me as I was already prego and therefore didn't feel quite up-to-par, plus I couldn't go on any of the bigger kid/adult rides. Oh, and did I mention that it was literally 110 degrees when we were there. People kept saying, "it's NEVER this hot here!" Ha! The one week we go down of course we bring the heat wave. Nonetheless, seeing the kids have so much fun brought all the magic back.

We spent 2 days at Disneyland, and as you can see on the 1st day Norah wasn't feeling the rides. Poor thing. She loved being there and seeing all the action and characters, but it took a day for her to warm up to them. I love this picutre because it shows how she was clinging on to me like her life depended on it. And it was just a train!

The cute Roundy family. We miss them!

5 Fun Filled Years!

2008-01-01T14:47:00.000-08:00

Wow, have we really been married 5 years? And since I'm posting this so late, its more like 5 1/2. It has really flown by. When I sit and think about it though, we have done quite a lot in the past 5 years together. Got married, went to BYU together, lived in Hawaii for a summer, graduated together, moved home, got jobs, had darling Norah, bought a house, and now quickly on the way to becoming a family of 4. How weird!?! Barbara and Myles were sweet and watched Norah for us for a night so we could go celebrate. We ended up going to San Francisco and doing all the fun touristy things we've never done. We had toyed with the idea of taking an actual vacation somewhere, but I was too stressed about leaving Norah. Turns out we could have left her for weeks and she would have been fine. She loves all the grandparents and would have been happy to be spoiled by them for a week, but oh well. Maybe in a few years we'll get the guts to ditch the kids.

If you are 35 or younger, and don't recognize the house behind us, I'm not sure that we can be friends. "You got it dude!" or "Cut--it--out!" or "Have merrrrccccyyy" ring any bells? Gosh that was a great show.

We braved the San Francisco bus system, but near Chinatown it got a little too crowded for our taste. And when we say crowded, we mean the living-in-China type of crowded. When we got off we happened upon this gorgeous church, which ended up being our favorite part of the whole trip. Love those spontaneous moments that turn out right.

Jason had never been to Alcatraz. That's right, never. It was freezing (even in August), but fun.

So we were trying to think of all the touristy things we'd never done, and my mom suggested we hike Angel Island. She raved about how gorgeous it is and how spectacular the view is. After spending an hour each way on the ferry, and hiking for another 2....this was our view. COMPLETELY covered in fog. You literally couldn't even see a leg of the Golden Gate bridge. The other side was decent, but only somewhat softened the blow. Won't be doing that one again anytime soon!

Folsom Lake

2008-01-01T06:30:00.000-08:00

This summer we headed to Folsom Lake for a day and rented jet skis. It was SO fun! The lake was really, really low, but we had a blast anyway. Got some cute pictures, plus these document Norah's complete OBSESSION with watermelon. She would live off of it if I let her.

Nice glasses, Chuck!

"Are you seriously taking more pictures of me eating watermelon?!"

Cute brothers.

Norah teasing her beloved Uncle Eric.

Yummmm. She stayed on the chair laid back like this for about 20 minutes. And for those of you who know Norah, you know that her staying anywhere for 20 minutes is basically unheard of. I'm sad she's grown out of those jellies. I slept in mine as a little girl. Are crocks the new jelly replacement? Not with my kids! :) Jellies all the way! Plenty of room for them both!

Coming Soon: The Browns

2007-12-19T12:43:00.000-08:00

Family and Friends,

Welcome to the pregrand opening of the Brown family blog. We had hoped to have it up to date before we told our friends to join us on the world wide web, but have decided the peer pressure of friends and relatives visiting our site might be just enough motivation for us to catch up.

According to the blog - we are halfway through summer. It's a start. As a New Year's resolution, we are going to get caught up. There are a few events from summer and fall that we want to include in the blog - and we are working our way up to real time.

This will be the place for family shenanigans, posting pictures of Norah and leaving occasional stories. Check back with us over the next few weeks and going foward, we will keep everyone updated on our ever changing life.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Jason, Chrissie, and Norah

Family Reunion in Tahoe

2007-09-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

Our family from St. Louis arrived the day before Norah's birthday on July 14th and we all headed up to Lake Tahoe for a few days. The trip was perfect and magical. The cabin was amazing...so charming, so many things to do, and not to mention a perfect location right on the lake. What a great way to celebrate Norah's first birthday! Everyone had such a great time and it was so fun to spend time together. We'll have to go visit them soon.

The birthday girls. Norah and Emily share the same birthday, so we got to celebrate Emily's 14th birthday and Norah's 1st birthday while we were in Tahoe. It was so fun to have Emily and the rest of the St. Louis gang there. Special day! I think she liked her cake. What do you think?Birthday girl. I cannot believe she turned 1. It's 2 months later and I still can't believe it. Oh, such a big girl. What they say is true....it really does go by fast.I bought Norah this life jacket before we left so we could take her out on the lake. As you can see, it didn't go over so well. Neither did the ride in the dingy. She clung onto me the whole time. So sad. Sarah and Aunt Sue are professional rowers. There was some gossip about who was working hard and who wasn't at paddling on the float trip. I wasn't there, but experienced first hand on the dingy their skills. Mad skills.

This trip was the first time "Great" Grandpa met Norah. It was really sweet because she really bonded with him right away. She'd come up to him to say hello and "talk" to him. It was great to have him there.The traditional 4 generations picture.
Aunt Sue lounging in the hammock. She tied a extension cord to the tree so you could swing yourself. Funny enough, Chuck was searching around the house looking for an extension cord later that day.....oops!

I'd like to say that someone yelled "Vougue" before taking this picture, which might explain Jason's arm-over-the-head pose. I guess we'll never know what his inspiration was for that one. Still a cutie though.

I told Eric to do something funny, and as he mocked me I took a picture. Pretty funny actually. We took the best hike up for a view of Lake Tahoe. The hike was really steep but short. Well worth it and absolutely gorgeous.

Norah's 1st Birthday Party!

2007-09-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

We had a pool party for Norah's 1st birthday and invited all of her little friends. It was so fun! The highlight of the evening (for us as well as for her I'm sure) was seeing her take her first bite of a dessert EVER! We held her off for the first year from sweets, but to be honest I'm not sure how much good it did her. The second she tasted it she couldn't get enough, and ever since anytime she sees, smells, or even senses some kind of treat she comes to your feet with this sweet little face and repeats "num-num, num-num, num-num, num-num..." over and over until we give in. It's hard to resist her.

Notice Tisha in the background helping get everything set up. She is my party-planner life saver!! Countless times she has come the rescue and helped me get ready for events. She's the best party assistant EVER- she always knows what to do and how to help. She deserves a big THANK YOU!

No more cake?! "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to..."
Norah got some really fun gifts at the party. Everyone was so sweet to bring things. I think I was more excited than she was for some of them. This was her getting her first Barbie from the Snarr's....is this for Norah or for me? Gosh I love Barbies.
Funny story about these cupcakes that we can now tell since they've all been eaten and digested long ago. We kept them under the table and when Mom and Tisha went to set them out they were crawling with ants. So gross! Well, the ingenious party planners didn't let that ruin the fun. Instead they just started flicking. Ha! I saw them giggling like school girls over there and asked what was going on..."Oh, nothing..." Oh well, they still tasted good!Colby and Jayden (Norah's cousins from Washington) were visiting California and got to come to her party which was lots of fun. Norah loved playing with them.

My First Blog Ever...

2007-09-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is finally official...we have now joined the blogging world. We've seen many of our friends become "bloggers" and have finally been persuaded to get one together ourselves. Hopefully this will make it easier to stay in touch with family and friends who don't live nearby. Hopefully I'll get into the habit of posting some funny stories from Norah or other adventures, but at the very least at least we'll be able to share some pictures with you all. Not sure where to start, so I guess I'll just catch up on what we did over the summer. Hope you enjoy!