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.

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.

Details of Kaitlyn's Birthday

So, when we went in to the doctor at 38 weeks, they told us that I wasn't dilated or effaced. The same report came the next week, along with the opinion that I would most likely need a c-section. On Monday the 17th, we went in for one final check with a different doctor so we could get a second opinion. He told us that my pelvis isn't open and my cervix was still rock hard - I probably had a 5% chance of delivering vaginally. He also told us that we were looking at eight pounds of kid - I was amazed at that info: where had I put eight pounds? Here's the answer, taken Tuesday morning before we we left for the hospital:So we woke up bright and early and went to the hospital at 5:45 am. When we got there, the nurses quickly checked us in and prepped me for surgery. My parents met us at there and were excited to learn that they got to watch the delivery from a window outside the OR. I went down to the operating room and Jared left to get into scrubs (it took a while to find some to fit, but they succeeded). I got a spinal and immediately began to go numb; it was kind of a cool sensation. The doctors arrived, Jared came in, and we got to work. It felt just like Kaitlyn was moving a lot!
Pretty soon I heard a little squawk and the doctor commented that her head was "beautifully shaped" and that it was a good thing we'd done a c-section, because there was no way I was delivering her vaginally. Kaitlyn began holding her breath, maybe trying to get back in, but they quickly persuaded her that she wanted to breath. She was blue at first, but quickly pinked up. Her Apgar scores were 8 and 9. Jared and Kaitlyn went to the nursery while they finished sewing me up.I went back to the room and waited to see my beautiful baby girl again. They came in and handed her to me, she was so wonderful. I couldn't believe how perfect she was. Later, when Jared and Dad went to giver her a bath, Mom and I talked about how we felt that Grandma Webb had been there with us and had been a very strong influence with Kaitlyn since Grandma left us.Kaitlyn has my nose and Jared's chin. She also has big eyes shaped like mine, whether they're blue, green, or brown remains to be seen. She has Jared's long fingers and toes and long eyelashes that get darker each day. We are all home now, and Kaitlyn is a wonderful baby. She sleeps in 5 hour stretches, which is really nice. I am feeling pretty good and recovering well. Jared has been wonderful, taking care of me, as well as my mom and sister. Jared's family arrives this week to drop the twins off at college and Mom is staying to play with her grandbaby and help me while Jared goes to his first week of classes. We are, of course, absolutely in love and are so excited to take care of this sweet, beautiful angel that the Lord has trusted to us.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Last Friday my dad turned 50! He got some good natured razzing from his coworkers and had a pretty nice day all around. He didn't want a big party, so instead he came down to Provo so that he could go to dinner at Tucano's with his kids. Before dinner, we decided to take dad bowling as part of his present. My dad loves bowling. He used to be in a league when I was little and I have many fond memories wandering around the bowling alley talking to the other league players (half of whom were my grandparents' friends and my dad's cousins). My mom's water even broke in a bowling alley when she was pregnant with one of us!
We had a great time and played two games, Dad's high score was 163, mom's was 140. Jared's high was 85 and mine was 82. I was surprised to learn that I am a better bowler now that I am pregnant. I used a kids ball, but it still almost knocked me over every time I threw it, because my balance is starting to go. Anyway, it was fun and my dad commented on the fact that I had such nice bowling form. (This was really a pat on his own back because he practically drilled it into me as a kid that form is so important and you can't be a really good bowler without proper form). It was still nice to get the compliment that I had good form, even though I had no balance. :)
Also, here is a picture of the belly. Phred popped out really fast and I've been in maternity clothes since 8 weeks. Now he's pretty much just spreading out in the space that he's made, so I haven't grown a whole lot since then. You can really tell when I sit down, though that I'm pregnant. Phred tends to stick out like a little root beer belly over the top of my pants, it's kind of funny.

My Birthday

I took my birthday off work and loved sleeping in and spending the day with Jared. I got many well wishes from family and friends, and after taking a long bath got to go to the mall with my husband. Jared gave me a beautiful green sweater, the Red Killer Bunnies expansion, and tickets to go see A Christmas Carol at the West Valley Hale Theatre. We also went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill. I had a wonderful day. It was so fun to stay home and relax and not worry about work or students. I also loved lunch/dinner with my parents and grandparents at Tucanos. I love the Christmas season! Everyone seems to be kinder and more hopeful. I love that we all still celebrate the birth of Christ (even though some people don't think that's what this holiday is about). I love the snow and watching Christmas and family movies, I love delivering neighbor gifts and wrapping presents. I'm so excited to give Jared his gift, I can't believe I've kept it a secret all this time!