12 Days of Christmas Swap

My swapping partner, Paper Wins, is awesome!  Each day I got to open a cute gift that had an interesting little poem coordinating with the Twelve Days of Christmas song.  I admire people who can do that, I usually try and get frustrated and then give the whole thing up!
As I am not at home right now, I don't have pictures, so I'll have to upload them later.  However, I had so much fun!  My favorites were the fuzzy socks, a Christmas CD, and an adorable bracelet which my daughter loves (yes, she is 16 months old and already admires jewelry - I'm sunk).  Also included was some yummy chocolate in various forms and an awesome magnet tray with our last name.  Phred loves magnets so I'm excited to start working on letters with her this coming year.  My very favorite, however, was the little packets that Paper Wins put together for our 72-hour kits.  She put so much thought into each package, including lotion, deodorant, toothpaste, etc. for each of us - including differentiating between my husband, little girl, and myself. 

Thank you so much Paper Wins, I have loved getting to know you and having this great opportunity for the swap!  I feel like we're "kindred spirits," as Anne would say:)

Hiatus

I know I haven't blogged in awhile.  Just suffice it to say that December is crazy busy for me.  We have three birthdays, one of them mine, and then Christmas.  I decided to make a homemade Christmas this year so all of my spare non-kid time is devoted to that.  Also, I'm really excited about a few different things, so I'm not blogging because I don't want to give it away.  (one is gifts for my nephews and one is my sister's).  That's all I'm going to say.
Sorry.
I will blog as soon as I get home from Boise and can freely upload pictures and info without spoiling any surprises/secrets.

My Niece!

Growing up I had an "Uncle Brian."  He wasn't really a blood relative, but he was my dad's best friend throughout high school and he was around so much that we just called him uncle.  That's how I feel about Mandy, as if she were my second sister.  Therefore, here are some adorable pictures of my future niece, Evie:

12 Days of Christmas

My freshman year of college my mom sent me a 12 Days of Christmas package.  It was so fun to open a gift each day.  They were all little things that could help each day: a pair of gloves, a roll of quarter for the laundry, a new pack of pencils for finals.  Anyway, I found out about this fun 12 Days Swap between readers of the Symmetry in Motion blog.  Check it out!  I'm way excited to get paired up with someone and have 12 days coming where I didn't plan the gifts!
Yay!

Santa Claus is Coming, and I'm going to keep it that way!

Ah, the age old question, "Is Santa real?"  You may be getting this question sooner than you want, especially with all the different parental methods and cultures your children run into today.  For instance, I had a student once who was a Jehovah's Witness.  I think that's fine, they can choose whatever religion they prefer.  However, the boy came to school and told EVERYONE that there was no such thing as Santa.  Of course, he was a cool kid so I had lots of tears and questions from other kids.  I had kids who weren't ready to hear "the truth," and parents who didn't want their kids to hear this from anyone else.  On a similar note, I remember when my little sister, Jennie, came home from 2nd grade in tears.  It seemed that one of Jennie's best friends had informed her all about "the truth."  Jennie asked where the little girl heard it, and the girl promptly told her that "her Daddy said so."  Well, normally Jennie believed our dad above everyone else - but this girl's dad was also our Bishop.  Poor Jennie!  She was only 7!  I figured it out when I was 5 and made sure that Jennie believed long afterwards.  In fact, she didn't know until she was 14 and even that was an accident!  Now, I can't promise that your kids are going to make it to their teens, my sister is a bit on the naive side (sorry, Jen, but you are :).  However, here are a few answers and tactics to help keep your kids believing for a few extra years.

• First of all, Santa has a different wrapping paper than anyone else.  Make sure that your child doesn't see you buy it, wrap with it, or use it for ANY reason.  I know how tempting it is to use that little scrap for something your mailing to your brother, but don't do it if there is any chance your little one will see it: they're more observant than you think they are.
• Santa always had a different handwriting on the tags than my parents did.  One year they forgot and I asked why Santa had the same handwriting as Dad.  The answer: "Because there are so many children in the world that sometimes Santa has the Daddys help."
• If your kids find Santa presents in your house early (I was a little snoop, this happened to me, too).  The answer: "Santa has so many kids to visit in one night that he dropped off the presents with us early."  Of course, emphasize that they're magical presents and if your kids aren't good, or if they find them again, the presents will disappear before Christmas morning.
• We always wanted to get out of bed to see if Santa had come.  Not necessarily to catch him, but we were just too excited for that long night to end!  Santa solved this problem by placing a piece of candy on our nightstands.  That way when we woke up and wanted to know if Santa had come, we didn't have to get out of bed!
• When Jennie asked if Santa was real or if the Bishop was lying, we were stumped.  How do you tell your little one not to believe your religious leader in this one thing only?  The answer: "Santa only comes to houses where kids believe in him.  So, even though the Bishop's house doesn't believe, we do; Santa will be here."  This also works for kids who hear "the truth" at school.
• Finally, a really fun tradition.  There is a German custom of having a blown glass pickle ornament.  Santa hides the pickle and leaves an extra present marked "pickle."  The first one to find the pickle gets the extra present.  It's harder to find than you may think! In our house, the pickle present is always something we can use as a family.  No matter who opens it, it belongs to everyone - that way there is no fighting over who gets the extra present.  In years past it has been video games, movies, cell phones, board games, etc.  It's always one of my favorites because it's a family thing.  And even though Jennie is 24, she still gets a little miffed if she doesn't find the pickle: it's really fun to watch!

Have fun and let me know if you have any other questions about "the truth."  I'm actually pretty good at answering them, if I do say so myself!

This is getting ridiculous!

Okay, I want to be safe when I travel the same as the next person.  I appreciate the people who work hard everyday to make sure that my family is safe in our homes, on the road, at our businesses and schools, etc.  HOWEVER, I do think that the whole TSA pat down of a 4 year old is a bit excessive.  Now, from one point of view, I understand that if you exclude children under twelve from security measures, then terrorists will use their children under twelve for bomb smuggling, or at least that's the argument I've heard.  From another point of view: this past weekend at SLC international airport, a small boy was patted down several times.  The father finally got frustrated with TSA and pulled the kid's shirt off, but TSA was still unsure and needed further handling of the boy to assure themselves that there was nothing under the boy's clothing.  SERIOUSLY!  This is awful!  How many background checks have been done on TSA agents?  Have they undergone rigorous training and sex offender backgrounds?  Would they be willing to show me these credentials if I asked them?  At what point is this too much security and not enough privacy?
I agree that something needs to be done.  However, this scares me.  I've supported the "random" flagging in airports, even when my family members are always "randomly" flagged (we happen to have a middle eastern grandfather and, therefore, last name).  I've supported the taking off of shoes, belts, hairbands, etc.  Even though this makes it miserable to travel - especially when you have little ones.  I've supported needing a driver's license and even bringing a copy of my daughter's birth certificate to prove she's mine.  However, if someone wants to pat down my child, then decide that they weren't sure of what they "felt" and need to try again, they can think again.  I better see credentials, background checks, and a warrant demanding the search.

First Snow Play of the Season!

And she's adorable!

Happy Christmas Cards!

I've been trying to decide what to do for Christmas cards this year.  As many of you know, I LOVE sending and receiving Christmas cards.  I especially love seeing all the pictures and finding out how various family members' years have turned out.  Recently, I went through all of Jared's old scrapbooks and his mom saved their Christmas letters from a few of the years.  It was so fun to read about what happened in those years, and see the cute pictures of my husband and his siblings growing up!  Now that I have the cutest monkey in the world, I'm looking forward to sending out pictures of her to everyone I know!  I've looked at various places (Costco, Target, Walmart, Macey's) and I was pretty much unimpressed by the holiday options.  However, I decided to look online at Shutterfly to see what they had available.  As some of you may remember, that is where I ordered Kaity's awesome birth announcements.  I loved their selection!  They had some religious, some fun, some funky, some bright, some sweet - basically anything you could want, they've got it!  You should go check it out: Christmas cards; Picture cards; or even if you want to get a jump start and send out Thanksgiving cards this year!  Pictured above are our two finalists for this year: which do you like best?  Guess which one we picked and see if you're right next month!

4 years

One monkey, three apartments, three jobs, two graduations, graduate school, some minor frustrations, so much fun, and I'm still the luckiest woman alive.

A Princess and Twins!

So, for Halloween Kaitlyn was a princess.  She wasn't entirely sure about the trick-or-treating thing when we first gave her the pumpkin basket.  However, after the first 2 houses of ringing the doorbell and then getting candy, she loved it!  It was raining here so we drove to a few selected houses in my old neighborhood.  Kaitlyn ate far too much candy and had a great time!  Also, while we were in West Jordan, my dad fixed my sewing machine.  (Yes, I just got it back from the shop after a six week stay and, as always, there is always more wrong when you get the machine back than when you took it in).  Anyway, I celebrated by making myself this adorable wrap skirt.  I got the pattern off the blog Chocolate on my Cranium.  Anyway, I had some leftover fabric so I made Kaitlyn a skirt this morning.  We matched at church today and got many compliments.  I love it!  The skirt is warm, flattering, cute, and adjustable for when I either lose weight or get pregnant!  (Opposite effects on the skirt, but both goals that I will be happy with in any order).

72-hour Sanity - Week 6

Currently on sale for $3.33 at Cabela's: this 6-tool utility knife.  It comes in yellow, orange, red, green, black, and pink!  (If you order it online it's $4.99)  They also have a little nylon case that can hook onto a belt or fit perfectly inside the pencil box in our kits!  We got red for Dad, orange for Mom and pink for Kaity.

Finally uploaded pics

I finally uploaded pictures of the Gospel ABC book.  Take a look and vote to the right!

72-hour Sanity - Week 5

So I know it's been a while but hopefully I can once again continue with my once-a-week purchases for our family 72-hour kits.  Eddie Bauer had these cute little crank/solar flashlights on sale for $7.99 each with a purchase.  I bought a shirt on clearance and then 3 flashlights.  They can work either using their solar panel or by the hand crank.  You do have to remember to crank them once a month so the battery doesn't die, but you don't have to worry about storing extra batteries or what to do if one leaks.

JENNIE WE ARE MAKING THESE

http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2010/10/half-circle-wrap-around-skirt-tutorial.html
You, me, mom, no arguments.  (We could make a little one so the monkey can match, too).  Can you say family pics?

Awesome

Taken outside the Clyde building, the engineering building on BYU campus.

Projects

I've added a new page, "projects."  I'm trying to get a feel for the projects that I make and whether or not I could open an etsy shop to sell them.  If you could take a look at the project tab periodically and then vote on the sidebar (or leave a comment), I'd greatly appreciate it!

So remember how we hoped that September was less busy?

Yeah, no.  Kaitlyn is growing well and has learned how to help us with many household tasks.  She likes to sweep, so we have to dodge the broom a lot.  She likes to put clothes in the dryer, so as long as they're clean, I'm fine with re-drying things that just got finished.  She likes to help with the dishwasher, anything goes in.  Unfortunately, this means that sometimes I have to pull a book out of the bottom of the dishwasher and dry it off before running the machine.  Most recently, she's begun helping with the organization of kitchen drawers, desk items, etc.  Basically, we are rethinking wherever we have been putting anything for the last 4 years.  The other day I bought a new drawer for the kitchen and I've been reorganizing everything in the front room/kitchen/hallway.  This means, of course, that there is stuff EVERYWHERE.  Of course, at this time we decided to go look for a new couch, and Wednesday night we found one.  It's dark tan and microfiber and really nice.  We were going to go pick it up yesterday morning with the help of a friend and his truck.  Well, Thursday morning at 1 am I woke up with severe stomach pains.  I tried everything that had worked before: laying on my right side, pepto, ibuprofen, warm bath, nothing worked.  Jared kept waking up every half hour to check on me, and at 2:45 I asked him for a blessing.  Afterwords, I felt that we needed to go to the ER.  So, Sean & Jennie came over and slept in our bed so that someone was here for Kaitlyn, who was a good girl and slept through it all.  Jared and I went to the hospital, but of course we ran into shift change so we had to stay for quite some time.  At least they brought me some pain med - I was able to relax and doze some.  Sean & Jennie had to leave by 6:30 so they could get ready for work/school so Jared called his cousins.  Chelsea answered and came over to switch off, so she slept on the couch until we got home at 7ish.  At the hospital, they did an ultrasound and found a 2 cm gallstone.  I was way excited because this meant that we could do something about it (I've had gallbladder attacks for the last 6 months).  We were referred to a surgeon who couldn't fit us in until the 18th of Oct, so we called the health center and they gave us another surgeon to contact.  I dropped Kaitlyn off at a friend's house and she happily played with her two little girls and a neighbor boy from about 10 until 1:45.  Jared and I drove up to American Fork to see the dr, who said that he had a cancellation today for surgery and could remove my gallbladder, if we wanted.  Yay for not waiting!  This morning Chelsea came back over to sit with Kaity, then at some point they went up to campus where Chelsea met Scott and switched off the bug.  Scott came back to the apartment until around 10:00 when my parents got here to watch Kaity for the rest of the day.  I went into surgery and lost a gallbladder.  I woke up around noon, argued with the nurse in post op because I wanted to roll onto my side and she thought I was trying to get up.  Then I was I was in a private room and faded in and out while talking to Jared and listening to Mickey Mouse clubhouse, which I insisted he watch.  Shortly after 2pm, I woke up, went to the bathroom, told the nurse I felt WAY better than after the c-section, went on a walk around the halls, got dressed, and was home by 3pm.  So, I'm sorry to everyone who didn't know I was having surgery today, I didn't know I was having surgery today.  I feel really good: a lot better than I thought.  I have four holes in my tummy and feel like I've had an extremely intense ab workout.  However, I'm extremely grateful for the comforting presence of the Spirit and the blessings of the Priesthood.  I'm so thankful for Ryan, who picked up my couch today even though we couldn't help with it.  Thank you to Sean, Jennie, and Chelsea who got up way too early to come sleep at our house.  Thank you to Robin for letting me add one more little girl to your day at very short notice.  Thank you to Mom and Dad for coming over, playing with the neverending source of energy that is your granddaughter, and doing our dishes and laundry, it is so appreciated to have a clean home, especially since neither Jared nor I have had the energy to do it lately.  Thank you especially to Jared who has now stayed up 4 consecutive days till 1 am to take care of me, and would still go do anything for me if I asked, even though he can barely keep his eyes open.  And a very big thank you to my beautiful, well behaved princess monkey.  She never fussed or screamed or whined at any of her impromptu babysitters these past two days.

August is a very busy month for us!

Jared and Kaity at the reception

Dad and his siblings

Great Aunt Cyndi

The entire Heber Brown crew (minus missionary Chris)

The Kevin Brown crew (minus missionary Chris)

The newlyweds and Grandparents Brown

August is normally pretty busy in our family.   We have 4 birthdays, 2 anniversaries, and then there's back to school preparations.  Well, this year was double-time.  At the beginning of August we drove to Boise for Chris' farewell.  It was so much fun to see our family and Chris did a great job!  On the 18th Chris flew into Salt Lake, we picked him up, had lunch, and dropped him off at the MTC.  Can I just say I LOVE the new drive through drop off?  Before there was so much crying and people herding.  This is so much quicker, like a band-aid.  Anyway, that night we drove up to my parent's house for Kaitlyn's real birthday.  She even had a princess cake (which I made).  She loved it!  The next morning, my parents dropped us off at the airport and we flew to Sacramento, California.  I hate flying.  It makes me motion sick.  Having a 1 year old bouncing around does not help, either.  Anyway, we arrived in Sacramento and Grandpa picked us up.  We became part of the wedding-decorating party and ensuing festivities. When the Browns do a wedding, it's big.  When Cyndi does anything, it's big.  When both are combined: monumental.  When we got back it was time for Jared's birthday.  We went out to dinner and had a fun time with family.  Jared especially likes his new board game, Small World.  Finally, Jared started his last (hopefully) first day of Fall Semester; and Kaitlyn cut 4 new teeth (bringing the total to 9).  Here's to a wonderful, but less hectic, September.

Kaitlyn LOVES to dance!

Kaitlyn's 1-year pics

Since we are in Boise this weekend for Chris' farewell, we decided to take family pictures while we're here.  This will be the last time for 2 1/2 years that the twins will be in any family group photos, so we thought we'd make the most of it.  While here, we asked Lynn to take some photos of Kaity, too, since we're so close to her first birthday.

72 - hour Sanity - Week 4

Whenever I go to Target, I always check out their Dollar section; they always have great stuff!  This week I bought some coloring books and flash cards to keep the little one entertained in case of emergency.  Also going in are some crossword puzzles for me and Jared, and a deck of cards in each bag (we're really big gamers at our house, so a deck of cards can keep us occupied for hours).  Usually you don't think of entertainment when you think of emergency preparedness, but think of how bored you get while waiting for a table at a restaurant and then throw in some panic/boredom/fear/etc from an emergency and you'll see why this is a good idea.

Graco party, part 2

You can read the interview conducted a few months ago and see a few more pics from the party here.

Graco party, part 1

My dad likes to enter sweepstakes.  So far we have made fun of him for winning:

• a set of knives
• a Hannah Montana PSP game (he doesn't own a platform)
• a phone call from various Disney characters
• a night's stay in a hotel from the Jonas Bros Rockin Sweepstakes.

Anyway, he called us at the end of April to let us know that he had won yet another online sweepstakes, and this time he was the Grand Prize winner!  I couldn't believe it when he told me that it was the Graco From the Heart sweepstakes.  I had told him about this back in March of '09 and he's been entering it pretty much every day since then.  To qualify, you had to be the parent or grandparent of a baby born during the sweepstakes time frame.  Since he was the grandparent of Kaitlyn, he entered over 200 times!
Due to these entries, he and Kaitlyn were chosen as the grand prize winners and were therefore entitled to:

• a catered party for Kaitlyn's family
• a professional photographer & videographer to record the party, as well as a book and pictures for us from the party
• 10 round trip plane tickets to fly out of town family to Kaitlyn's party (Mom, Dad, Matt, Chris, Tyler, Carisa & baby Weston from Idaho; Grandma & Grandpa from California, and Mandy & Ryan from Texas)
• 5 hotel rooms for 3 nights to accommodate the above family members
• 2 rental vans to drive everyone around in
• $1000 worth of Graco products of our choice (we chose a double stroller, a single stroller, and a convertable carseat for ourselves, a travel system and a pack and play for my sister, a large infant/toddler carseat for Jared's sister, and a stroller to keep at my parents' house for visits.
• $5000 savings bond for Kaitlyn's college (this is one of our favorites)!

So, the whole crew came into town for an early celebration of Kaitlyn's first birthday.  Also in attendance at the party were Jennie & Sean, Grandma & Grandpa Z, Steve & Linda, Andy, Tammy, Coulton, Taylor, Mara, and Lexia.
We had so much fun playing with the family.  We went to the temple, IKEA, swimming, Kennecott, and just hung out at the hotel.  It was so great to spend a relaxing vacation in the Salt Lake area, and we loved every minute.  We were especially excited that Grandpa Brown came in and got to meet Kaitlyn for the very first time!  He made her a beautiful music box that has a rocking chair and some teddy bears on it.  Kaitlyn was thoroughly spoiled and loved having so many people to play with!  We are so grateful to everyone for their gifts and well-wishes.  Enjoy the pics!
P.S. I haven't heard yet when we'll be getting the professional pics back, but when I do I'll let you know.

72-hour Sanity - Week 3

This week I bought a 5-pack of BIC lighters.  One went in each bag.  I also bought some pencil boxes from target to store all the little things that will need to be organized (such as lighters).  Total spent: $10.50.

72-Hour Sanity: Week 2

This week we bought bottles of hand sanitizer for $0.99 each!

72-hour Sanity - Week 1

This week for our 72 hour kits we bought backpacks.  Because it's getting close to that back-to-school time of year, some places are trying to get a jump on backpacks.  I got three backpacks for $15.00 at Ross.  I also saw some at Macey's grocery for $8.00 each.  Now we have something to put our 72 hour kits in!

How to keep your little ones Reverent in Sacrament meeting.

My cousin Tammy has these awesome church bags that keep her kids reverent and focused on the Savior during Sacrament meeting.  She can rotate the items in the bag, but most (if not all) are focused on the Lord.  The bags grow with her kids from toddler age to teenage.  I have had so many other moms ask me about mine and wanting to make their own, that I thought I'd create a blog to share with other mom's out there.  I'll be updating and adding new ideas often, so check it out!  http://churchbag.blogspot.com/

Called to Serve...

In the Honolulu, Hawaii mission, reporting August 18, 2010: Chris Brown!

In the Mexico City East mission, reporting November 17, 2010: Matt Brown!

Manic Mondays: My bed...zzzzzzzzz

teething baby
really cute top front teeth
only 4 hours sleep (for me, she slept fine while I was holding her)
I like tylenol
I like popsicles
fever of 102
fever of 101
fever of 99
solid nights sleep
fever of 101
fever of 98
more popsicles
work
go to emergency room with sister
tired
baby is asleep
no sign of fever
I like my bed

Manic Mondays: Just a Spoonful of Sugar!

Mary Poppins was right, when the medicine tastes better, it goes down easier.  This is also true for vegetables.  I have found that mixing a touch of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp sugar into peas, carrots, squash, and green beans gets Kaitlyn to eat them.  Now, I know you are all going to freak about not giving your infants refined sugar, etc.  But hey, I'd rather her have a bit of sugar and all the nutrients from the veggies than neither at all!  I mean, the girl has spit green beans at me and will remove any veggie from her mouth with her fingers or pretend that they make her gag.  The sugar is worth it - and when was the last time you ate veggies without some sort of accommodation?

Manic Mondays: Bumpy Labels

Sometimes you find things that are cool and you buy them just because they are so awesome!  In this case, not only are they awesome, they are useful.  Here are a few tricks and tools that I've found to make days as a Mom easier, more fun, or just plain cooler.  First up:

Bumpy Labels.  I saw these in Parenting Magazine and thought they were so cool, but rather needless since I don't take Kaity to daycare.  However, after spending a week in Boise with two babies who had sippy cups, I found myself wishing for something that we could use to mark them.  I can imagine that in a few years I'll have the same problem at home.  It's not a big deal for two kids to share a drink, as long as both of them are healthy, and no bugs are flying around, and they can both deal with sharing, and they like the same drink, and their moms approve of the same drink...those are a lot of qualifiers.  So, I ordered some of these thinking that when we go to Fawn Hill for the wedding this fall they will be very useful.  They're cute and you can pick out any color you want.  If you order the ones that are pre-printed, they put the name in braille on the back, too.  (This appeals to me as a Special Ed teacher as well as a Mom).  Anyway, I ordered Kaitlyn's in purple and I love them!  They are dishwasher and microwave safe, and they fit on every style of sippy cup I own.  I highly recommend these, you could even get them for your older kids so they can label their water bottles at camps, youth activities, or sports events.

Picture Dump

Here are a bunch of cute pictures of Kaitlyn over the last few months.  She is now 9 months old and crawls around and climbs on everything!  She weighs 15 lbs and is 25 in long, so she's a bit small but we're not worried because she'll eat anything (except baby food vegetables).  Her favorites are bananas, mashed potatoes, and graham crackers.  She'll do anything for a graham cracker.

Jared's mom and dad at the HP park in Boise.  They have Michael, Kaitlyn, and Thomas, their three grandkids.  (Weston hadn't yet arrived).

Jared, Dad, Matt and Tyler (Chris was hauling dirt) planting trees in Tyler's back yard.

This one is from February.  Kaitlyn surely loves her food!

I got Dad's toy!  (Actually, she killed a Goomba the other day - saving her dad's butt during a daredevil run).

Kaitlyn loves to play with anything that rattles when she shakes it.  This makes Nerds boxes wonderful toys...until she gets them open and we have to take them away.

Playing cards with Uncle Matt, Uncle Chris, and Daddy.

Every day that Mom was here to visit, I'd inadvertently dress Kaitlyn in the same color.  She loved playing with Grandma and missed her very much when she went back home to Boise.

Kaitlyn absolutely loves bathtime!  Also, I love her swimsuit!  Two birds with one photo, hey?

This is Grandma Brown, Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn's cheetos, and Great-Grandma Watson, once again we all coordinated outfits.

Kaitlyn loved having a playmate!  Here's another photo of Kaity and Michael.  Once again, he's 4 months old, 1 lb bigger than Kaity and they're the same height.

Probably my favorite picture from Mother's Day weekend.  Kaitlyn loves the piano, she plays with me, with Uncle Sean, and with Grandma Brown!  She is the only grandkid so far who has been allowed to touch Mom's piano.  Mom was playing A Child's Prayer, which is one of Kaitlyn's favorites, it's definitely her favorite primary song.