House Stress

Last week we had some of Ben's family come into town. They were coming to discuss some investment options and of course since they were here we put them to work! I love Ben's family, they have always been so good to help us with whatever we need and they seem not to mind always bailing us out.


We had Jacob, Breawna and Ben's sister Misti, her husband Cannon, and their son Corbyn. They all came into town on Friday night, we had dinner, talked, had our investment meeting, and let Corbyn and Bailey play. We all stayed up WAY to late!! On Saturday we got up had breakfast and than put everyone to work.

I had a pregnancy scare a couple of weeks ago and have been told to try and take it easy! Right...low stress, no heavy lifting, and try to get enough rest! Ok well in reality I have a two year old, a husband, house preparations, and I'm not sleeping well at night.

Anyway we are getting ready to put our house up for sale and we decided to move a lot of stuff to storage just to get it out of the way and hey less to keep clean! So we had Jacob and Ben making storage unit runs, Cannon hanging closet doors in our new 4th bedroom, Misit helping the guys, me helping Ben, directing traffic and keeping track of Bailey and Breawna helping keep track of Bailey and Corbyn.

We had a lot of fun with everyone, a lot of late night Wii playing, and Ben and I are so grateful for all of the help, we couldn't have done it without you.

And a HUGE thanks to Jacob, our wonderful mechanic, who fixed Ben's pickup and brought it back down to us!!

Holiday Recap

Now for the holidays!! We headed home to Idaho and had a family birthday party for Bailey. It just seemed to make sense, to wait a week, and move three people instead of 20! So my parents were awesome and let us all invade their house for the party. We ordered pizza and had a great time.


My niece Lyndsie decorated Bailey's birthday cake last year and for those of you who haven't spent 3 seconds with Bailey this winter - she LOVES Frosty the Snowman so when Lyndsie and Brenda found this cake it was perfect! They bought bowls to make the body and hand made this amazing frosting! Thanks Lou and Brenda for all of your work we love you!


We had my parents, Todd, Brenda, Jake, Kristi, Lou, Ben's Mom and Grandma, his little sister Kat, his sister Misti and her family, and of course Eric Todd Webb. We made another little cake to blow out candles and laughed, talked and played.

Thanks to both of our families for all of their love, support and for being a part of Bailey's life. She wouldn't be the amazing little girl with out all of you.


The day after Bailey's party was Christmas Eve and Ben's parents were both raised that Santa came to their houses first on Christmas Eve. So after a huge wonderful dinner the kids all go for a drive and look for Santa and when they get back he's already been to the house. So we open presents and play all night long. We have a great time being together, but we wore Bailey out!
She lasted till about 8:00pm and then kept saying "night, night!" So thanks to my amazing parents we took her back to their house and put her to bed and they kept an ear on the monitor and Ben and I went back to play. Also a huge thanks to Jacob for entertaining all of us while playing with Bailey, Corbyn, and Addison!


For Christmas Ben's Mom and Grandma got Bailey a little kitchen set and love them both to pieces they didn't make us take it home. We bought it in Layton and hid it from her until the day before we went to Idaho. She loves it, she is an excellent cook and cleaner! We get served lemons and pineapple in ice cream dishes usually with a knife or spoon. She knows that everything in the oven is "hot" and so the little hot pad gets some good use!


On Christmas morning we got Bailey some milk and then she wanted "bubbles!" She is a creature of habit, there were no presents to even be looked at until she had had her bath! So after her bath we got started with Christmas morning. She loved playing Santa and handing Papa, Grammy, and Daddy presents and of course she had to "help" them all open their gifts!


For her very last present at my parents she got her horse. My parents got one for Bailey and Shaydon and they both LOVE their horses. Bailey cried when we made her get off for breakfast. Our little horse had a little malfunction for a few days and didn't work and it was almost heart breaking she knew it wasn't working and there was nothing we didn't try to get it going. Thanks to our AMAZING neighbor Rick, who we knew if any one could or would fix it it would be Rick! I bought a BRAND NEW pack of batters and one of the batteries in the horse had a reverse voltage! Any way it was the first thing Rick checked and now horse is doing amazing!

After we finally got Bailey off of her horse it was off to Ben's Mom's for Christmas stockings and then off to my brother Todd's for our Traditional Christmas Breakfast. I think the only time I haven't had Christmas breakfast at Todd's was when I was on my mission. We have egg mcmuffins, fruit and chocolate milk, but it wouldn't be Christmas with out it. Of course there were more presents to open over there Bailey had to play Santa again and had to help everyone open their gifts!


And then it was off to Boise to see my other two brothers. Scott and his family met us at Eric's house and yep more food and presents! All the little kids drew names and exchanged gifts they were so cute about it. They were excited to see how their cousins would like their gifts and play with each others gifts and help everyone open their gifts! Eric's kids are so cute to play with their two younger cousins, Bailey and Shaydon. Bailey and Shaydon get along really well Shaydon is such a cutie, there are a few punches thrown and screaming but that's what makes it funny! We had a great time, we ate, played, went to bed late and the next morning Ben and I got up and went to buy a few things we need for Hinkley and then headed back to my parents house that night.

For New Years all five of us came to my parents. Actually Ben left me there and went home to work for a few days. Todd lives about 10 minutes away from my parents and so Eric, Scott, and Wendy came home to play with us. We all had a great time, thanks Todd and Brenda for letting us crash at your house and to Ann for letting me borrow my old car so I wouldn't be stranded!

From the Brown famiy to all of you - We hope that you all had a wonderful safe holiday and wish you a wonderful, amazing new year! Also sorry for the minute by minute recap we just had such a wonderful time I couldn't leave anything out!!

Starting to Recap

So the week we found out that the baby was a girl we flew out to Las Vegas. Ben had an exciting tax training down there! Anything to do with accounting is exciting! We were there a little less than a week. My parents who came down for the "big baby appointment" took Bailey back home with them so I didn't see my munchkin for a week.


We flew into to Vegas and stayed at the Flamingo, that's where Ben's classes were. Then we moved to the Excalibur and hit that end of the strip. His brother Jacob and wife Breawna flew in for a few days also. We went to shows, walked the strip, ate A LOT and had a really good time. Breawna and I get along really well and the boys can hardly go a day without talking on the phone to each other so we had a great time. I almost had Ben talked into taking me to Cher too which I would have loved just for the experience. Sorry that I look like a pregnant fat girl in my pictures, but I can't hide it or fight it!

The day after we flew in Bailey had a Dr.s appointment and got some more shots! Luckily they didn't bother her and she is healthy and doing well. A little shorter than average, but hey that's basically a given.


Also that week our little monkey had her 2nd birthday!!! We kept it pretty quite this year. It was just the three of us and we got pizza, I made a cake, Ben tried and failed to come home early, and she loved all of her presents. When I was about 3 my parents got me a wooden doll furniture set. It includes a high chair, bunk beds and a changing table. Well an amazing neighbor of my parents re-furnished them for free and Ben's sister Bethany, who is so dang crafty, made baby blankets, pillows, and pads for the seat and back of the high chair!! That was Bailey's big present.


She was way cute about her cake too, as soon as I lit her candle she started saying "hot, hot" and trying to blow it out! We love her to pieces and can't imagine how we ever lived without her! I can't believe she is already two, time has gone by so fast and I can't believe I am actually in the process of the doing it again! what was I thinking?

Announcing...

Last week we had our big doctors appointment! My parents came up, Dad watched Bailey and Mom, Ben, Lyndsie and I all went to the big ultra sound. So we are having a baby girl and WE are way excited. We are so happy for Bailey to be having a little sister! She is healthy and very shy! She covered her face and hid the entire time! We are way excited and I am WAY big.

Catching Up!

Ok- all I know is that it has been a long time since I have blogged so I am just going to do a catch up on the things that I can remember!

I went to the JJ Coles sale and spent a ton of money! Luckily most of it was for other people! Had fun and I got a lot of cute stuff.

My brother Todd came up with his wife, my nephew and his wife, and with Lyndsie we all went to the BSU/USU game. We had a lot of fun, didn't freeze and stayed up way too late.

The day after the game we all headed to Idaho. My dad has been in the Stake Presidency for 18 years, not kidding. He was called as the first counselor and when his 9 years were over they called him to be the Stake President. Any way his 9 years as Stake President were up and all five of my brothers and sisters and their families went home to be there. Well we were all there except for one of my nephews, we missed you Brandon! Elder Dallin H. Oaks came to Idaho to release my dad and call the new Stake President. He and his wife stayed at my parents house for the weekend. We all stayed at my brother Todds. Thanks for putting up with all of us Todd and Brenda. Dad did a great job on his talk on Sunday and it has been a real change for him. After 18 years of meetings it would be a change for anyone! We were all able to meet Elder Oaks and his wife on Sunday after lunch. They were very nice to take the time to meet all of us. Elder Oaks is a very powerful speaker but very warm and loving.

Thanksgiving was great. After Dad's release Bailey and I stayed in Idaho instead of coming home for two days and heading right back. We spent time with the Browns and Gerratts ate a ton of food and enjoyed spending time with one another!

As a first Ben and I hit the Day after Thanksgiving sales! He had me awake way to early! We got to Wal-Mart before 5:00am, but they had opened their doors before 5 so no crazy maddness getting it, but getting out was hard. We were in the check out line for over 30 minutes! We got a new computer, my Christmas, and picked up toys for Bailey. Ben wanted to go for the computer and for the experience, I'll probably never do it again.

After Thanksgiving Todd and Brenda wanted to keep Bailey for two nights and three days! Yes, I let them and it was hard, but I was able to get Christmas up, the laundry done, and most of the house clean while she was gone.

I also went to the Nutcracker with Lyndsie, she had to go for a class. It was fun to spend time with her, but very different from the Nutcracker we danced in when we were younger.

And NO pictures. I took my camera, but it just didn't ever make it out of its case! So sorry for the very boring blog. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

An Awesome Weekend

Ok, Ok so I know that today is Friday but once again I'm behind so we are talking about last weekend.

On Friday, of last week, I went to a craft fair with my friend Krista. We haven't hung out for a while so it was great to see her, talk, hang out and of course shop! Hopefully we can get together again sometime soon.

On Saturday Ben and Bailey took me to Brigham City to meet my sister-in-law Brenda, my niece Lyndsie, my nephews wife Kristi, and Brenda's mom Kenna. I said goodbye to Ben and Bailey and we headed to Salt Lake for the weekend. We had great food and went to Tai Pan, IKEA, Target, and the mall. Our main purpose was not for shopping but for a show. Lyndsie and I danced most of our lives and we love to watch "So You Think You Can Dance" so we all got tickets and went Saturday night to see the tour they do of the top 12 dancers of their last show. We had an awesome time together, it was so much fun. Our original seats were on the floor of the E Center but that put us level with everyone else who had seats on the floor. So Brenda was amazing and after the show started talked to an usher and got Lyndsie, myself and Kristi moved to a box on the side of the stage that put us so close to the dancers and the stage that our chairs shook! After the intermission Brenda and Kenna were able to move seats and be next to us too. The dancing was awesome and it was so much fun. I spent way to much money and needed the whole day on Monday to recuperate! I missed Bailey and Ben, but it was good just to get out and play.

Fall!

Ok, so I know that I'm back to two weeks again. Sorry. I love this time of year! I love the weather, the colors and the activities that come with fall.

So two weeks ago my brother Todd and his wife Brenda came to Logan. They are Lyndsie's parents and they came down to go to a play with her. They went to Sweeny Todd and brought some neighbors with them whose son was in the play. So we all met for dinner. Whenever dinner, Logan, and my brother Todd are involved we can plan on eating at Iggy's. He loves that place. So we all went to Iggy's, there were about 12 of us. We had a great dinner and talked for awhile after dinner. After that we left and headed to Chili's for dessert. Yep we hit two different restaurants in one night right after the other. After that Ben and I took Bailey home and the rest all went to the play. Lyndsie said it was a good play, but it started at 7:30 and didn't end until 11:30!

On Friday of that week we went to the Pumpkin Walk. I love going and seeing how creative other people can be. Lyndsie was doing laundry here so she and Eric (photo guy) came with us. We all had a great time and the weather wasn't too cold.

On Saturday our neighbor had a Halloween carnival for the kids in the neighborhood. She had games, food, and coloring. It was really cute and of course Bailey just kind of did her own thing! But it was fun, I dressed up like an oven and had a bun in the oven window and we bought Ben a chiefs hat and he wore his cooking apron. A lot of people whispered and were wondering if I was really pregnant.

This last week our friend Eric Webb broke his leg and had to have surgery. We all went up to the ER to see him. Bailey couldn't go in the ER so Ben and I took turns staying with her. We got her a little mask to play with and she loved the hand sanitizer. Eric can't put any pressure on his leg for 6 months and has had to go to the hospital everyday and Lyndsie has been giving him blood thinner shots every night. She is such a trooper and really loves medical stuff.

For Halloween we went home to Idaho. My parents were watching Shaydon while Scott and Sommers had an amazing week in Hawaii! So we went down as soon as we could so the two of them could spend some time together. They are really cute and got along really well. Every time Bailey got out of Shaydon's eyesight he would run around yelling her name until he found her. He is so cute!

On Saturday Ben and I went to Pocatello to help Jacob with his computer. Ok Ben helped while Breawna and I went shopping and hung out. We had a great time. We left and went to be with Bailey who spent the day with my sister-in-law Brenda. We got Bailey dressed up and headed back to Brenda's for Trick or Treating. Bailey decided she needed one of every kind of candy she had! We went to see both of Bailey's great Grandmas and some of my parents neighbors. She knew what to do, but has only had a little candy! I just can't bring my self to let her eat a lot of candy yet.