The Best Gift

The Best Gift
By Barbra Streisand


The best gift
That I ever got
Didn't really weigh a lot
It didn't have a ribbon 'round
And it sometimes made a terrible sound


The best of all it seems to me
It wasn't 'neath the Christmas tree
And yet I guess I'd have to say
That it made all the other presents twice as nice


The best gift that I've ever known
I'd always wanted most to own
Yet in my dreams of sugar and spice
I never thought it could be so nice


The best gift that I'll ever get
Was sometimes dry and sometimes wet
Was usually pink but oftentimes red
As it lay so innocently in its bed


The best gift of the year to me
The one I hold most dear to me
The gift that simply drove me wild
Was a tiny new born child...

Thanksgiving '10

It was a Gerratt year for Thanksgiving and we still all got together. It was weird wtihout my parents there but the next time its a Gerratt year they will be back.

A lot of the work and stress went to Todd and Brenda. They offered to have dinner at their house! There was a lot of us, but it was so much fun and great to see my family. We stayed with them and the rest of the family stayed at my parents house.


Brenda went above and beyond, she had craft projects for the kids, turkey hats and snow man tree ornaments. She also had a snow man pinata for the kids. She and Lyndsie filled the pinata with candy and little numbered bouncy balls. Each kid got a ball and after they gave the ball to Brenda she gave them a prize. All the boys got remote control cars and the girls got little Fur Real animals. They all loved them!


Dinner was awesome! We had SO MUCH food it was comical. We had turkey, prime rib, salads, home made rolls, vegetables, and so many pies that we didn't have enough room on the table for them all! It was so much fun to watch the kids play, eat, watch football, eat, be together, and eat!

I also love that the girls were able to spend time with thier Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. Eric's kids are older but so amazing with their younger cousins. Hinkley and Slater are only a month apart and so cute together. Slater has always been longer than Hinkley. She, as you can see, is much chubbier! Thanks Todd and Brenda for hosting Thanksgiving. It was awesome to see everyone, it makes me wish that we could see everyone more often.

Little piggy, little piggy

Hinkley does not have as much hair as Bailed did at her age. My sister in law, Yvonne put Bailey's hair in piggys when she was 5 1/2 months old and my little Hinkley is 7 months old and piggys just aren't there yet. I think her hair is as thick but at the her crown and its not as long as Bailey's was. There is a tiny center piggy in this 1st picture.


But I tried to put her hair in piggys and this is what I got! She is so dang cute and was really photogenic the day I took these. We don't put piggys in except for special occasions but her hair will get there so I'm not worried! Besides I love accessorizing with head bands.

Daddy Time and Turkey Painting

We were all home just hanging out and playing with the girls. I went to change laundry and while I was upstairs sorting clothes Bailey came up stairs and found the laundry basket and told me that she was taking it down stairs. When I came back down this is where I found the girls. Hinkley was in Bailey's jumbo blocks box and was loving it. I guess she thought she was pretty cool.
Bailey put some blocks in on top of her and Hinkley was totally happy to hang out and play with the blocks. When Bailey saw how much fun Hinkley was having I guess she thought she needed to try it too! Hinkley has now learned to scoot so there is no confining her to anything!


My sister sent Bailey this little turkey to paint. Bailey was so excited and couldn't wait to piant it. I didn't know what the paint would do to the table but it came right off of everything that it should have. Bailey had an awesome time and felt so grown up. She even put it in a special box when the the Thanksgiving decorations went down. Thanks Aunt Wendy for the awesome memeory, we wished you could have been here for the painting party! I thought I had a picture of the finished product but apparently not!

Little Bailey goes to school!

We have been concerned with Bailey and her pronunciation of words for awhile. I talked to her Doctor and he kept telling me to give it some time. Well its almost been a year and we still have concerns. I called the Up to 3 Program and they came out to the house to do some general testing. She tests great in all areas and her vocabulary came back that she tests higher than her age. But her dang pronunciation struggles. So after being tested by a speech therapist she qualified for their program. So now in the Up to 3 program she goes to preschool twice a week, a speech group once a week and meets one on one with a speech therapist once every other week. She is loving preschool, but it is really hard for me to leave her. She is only 2! I leave her for 2 hours and she does very well. I met with the teachers, watch her through the viewing window but I can't believe she is going to preschool. When she turns 3 she will be out of their program, but has already qualified for another program that will help with her pronunciation. Where did the time go? How can she be old enough to be in preschool? How did we get here already?

Halloween '10

Halloween was a party this year. Its so much fun to have Bailey getting old enough to understand, get excited, and enjoy the holidays. I'm a little sad that she is getting older and such a big girl!


We decided to take her to the Halloween ward party. The youth put on a party for the primary. Bailey had fun playing games, seeing her friends, she hung out with her friends Megan and Ellie pretty much the whole time, and loved winning the prizes. She was so excited. We didn't have her costume yet because I hired Ben's sister to make it for her this year. So we kind of had to improvise on her costume for this party because her real one was in Idaho. We borrowed the wings from Megan and Ellie, the skirt from my cousin Katie. We only half dressed up Hinkley she could have cared less!


For real Trick or Treating Bailey was an Indian and Hinkley was a Skunk. Bailey wore the skunk costume at 10 months and it was getting pretty tight on her. Hinkley wore it at 6 months and it was pretty baggy for her, but still way cute! Hinkley was really good she just kind of puts up with us. Bailey was way excited. We stopped at Uncle Todd's and Aunt Brenda's first and than headed to Ben's mom's ward party. Bailey was having to much fun to eat but had a ton of fun Trunk or treating with her cousins. We left Hinkley with Brenda she was all partied out. After the ward party we went back to hang out with Todd and his family. When ever the door bell would ring she would run and open the door the little kids on the other side would say "trick or treat" and Bailey would say it right back to them. Todd and Brenda would have to be close behind to hand out the candy. That fun come to a quick stop when she ran to open the door, the kids yelled trick or treat and Bailey took one at them and screamed and ran! By the time she got to me she was hysterical! One of the little boys had a skeleton mask on. It took me a few minutes to calm her down and she didn't want to play with the trick or treaters any more after that.


She still loves to play trick or treating and loves to dress up now. She kind of always did, I think she gets it from her Uncle Eric! I think Hinkley is just glad we aren't putting her back in the costume and is our sweet baby.

My baby...

Before Halloween Hinkley turned 6 months old! Holy crazy! I can't believe she is already that old.


She is a beautiful little girl. She is really calm and mellow, except when she is hungry or really sleepy. She smiles and giggles and is amazing. She is doing well with her baby food and is good at eating her veggies. At 6 months we moved her out of her cradle in our room at night and into her crib in her room. A very emotional night for me. She has done pretty good in her own room, its still weird because she has been in our room since we have been in this house.


She is sitting up, very observant, and puts up with all of mine and Bailey's crap! She loves Bailey, loves to watch the dog, loves to roll around the floor, and like to sing and talk. At her 6 month appointment she weighed 15lbs and is little lower in weight and height than her peers, but is healthy and doing great.


Her skin is a little bit darker than Bailey's and her hair has stayed black. So we have started calling her Cocoa Bean. Its so cute to hear Bailey say it too and it seems to fit her. She makes some of the best faces in pictures. We love you little Cocoa Bean and we can't imagine our lives with out you

The Pumpkin Patch

So over the past few years it has been tradition for us to go home and go to a pumpkin patch in Idaho with my mom. Well since my parents bailed on us we had to find another one. Ben thought it was a little silly for us to go to Idaho just to get some pumpkins! Silly boy! I love our pumpkin patch in Idaho because its home, so I think its the best and I LOVE it!


After talking to our neighbors we found one here that worked for us pretty well. We took the girls and had a great time. It was the first time Ben had joined us, he is usually doing something really important, like watching football, and doesn't come with us. It was also a first for Hinkley. She of course was amazing! She did her usual thing and slept the entire time! I love her to pieces!


Bailey loved helping me pick and hold all of the pumpkins and gourdes, while Ben kept a running total in his head. Silly accountant! We took Bailey over to the big pumpkins and told her to pick whatever one she wanted. It only took her a few minutes to decide and than she was really bummed because it was to heavy for her to carry on her own! Bailey looks grumpy in her picture, but I promise she had fun.

Rise and Shout the Cougars are out!

Ok so when I married Ben I knew that he was a die hard BYU fan. I was raised as a friendly BYU fan, and when we were married was more of a BSU fan. Well after living with Ben for 8 years I'm now a very big BYU fan. Every year Ben buys us all new BYU shirts, this year Bailey got an entire outfit! We usually try and go to at least 1 BYU home game a year and I love it, the atmosphere in Provo is Awesome.

Anyway this year BYU was playing USU here in Logan. Yes, I know USU won. The FIRST time USU has won against BYU in 17 YEARS, I'm still a huge BYU fan and so not a USU fan. Ben took the whole day off the day of the game. He went golfing that morning and than we all headed to the Jones Simkins tailgate party. There were a ton of people at the stadium for the game. Ben had to go in his pickup with the grill so Lyndsie met me to help get the girls over to the party.


After the tailgate party I took the girls home to meet my niece Lexie. She came down just to take care of the girls and hang out for the weekend. We had a ton of fun at the game and with Lexie. She kind of came to say goodbye. She is amazing with little kids and is going to nanny in New Jersey for a WHOLE YEAR! We will miss you so much Lexie, thank you so much for coming to watch the girls and to hang out. Love you!!

Outing to the Zoo

So we took Bailey to the zoo last year and decided that she was a little young and we would'nt go again for a couple of years. Not to mention the day we went was the first day in weeks that it hadn't rained, the zoo was packed, and it was HOT!! That may have been a part of our decision to wait.


Well Bailey is growing up way to fast and she is so cute about everything new and gets so excited that how could we deny her a trip to the zoo. My niece Lyndsie is back in Logan and a trip to the zoo couldn't take place without her and one of Ben's brother's friends Eric moved to Logan recently to go to school so he came too. Neither one of them had ever been to the Hogle Zoo before! What!!! I didn't know that was possible. But they probably just wanted to be with Ben and I, we are pretty cool to hang out with, two old people with two little girls, what a party.


On the way to the zoo Ben asked where the directions were...ok not a great start to the trip, but I reminded him that I was trying to get the girls ready and out the door and since he was driving the directions were his responsibility. Luckily for us we have a navigation app on our phones so we did make it with out any issues!


We had so much fun! Bailey loved all the animals, being with everyone, riding the carousel, the train and a surprise visit from Aunt Wendy! And on a random side note Ben and I ran into a childhood friend, yep love the Hogle Zoo. Hinkley was amazing! She was such a good baby, she didn't cry once all day. We were on the road by 10:30am and weren't home till about 10 that night and the only time she cried was around 9:00pm. I love that little monkey.


My sister met us at the zoo and than we headed to her house to relax and let Hinkley stretch, she had been strapped in her car seat or stroller all day. Than we all went out to eat with my sister, her husband, and my niece Lexie. Than we had a little issue, I changed Hinkley's diaper 3 times at my sisters house and with the other 2 changes before that I was totally out of diapers, so dang it, we had to make a quick stop at Target! Oh darn! I got the cutest winter pajamas for Bailey and diapers for Hinkley. What a day!

Well Hogle Zoo can't wait until next year to see you again!

LOTOJA

So my brother-in-law is amazing. He did LOTOJA (Logan To Jackson) last year and wanted to do it again this year. I think we were out of town last year because they didn't stay with us, but this year we were here so they came to hang out.

They showed up around 10:30 pm the night before the race. Dave went off to bed first and they rest of us didn't go to bed until after midnight! I am way to old to stay up late, but I had a great time talking to my sister, Wendy, my nephew, Jason, and my niece, Lexie.


We all went to bed for a few hours. Wendy and Jason were driving to Dave's check points and would be meeting him in Jackson. Lexie would stay to hang out with us for the day. Dave had to be at the starting line at 5:45am and so they were awake around 4:00am that morning. CRAZY! Well my little Bailey decided to join them that early. Apparently she woke up, walked into the guest room, looked at Dave and asked him "Where's Mommy?" He told her I was still in bed. She looked at him again and asked "Who are you?" He told her he was Lexie's daddy, she seemed ok with that and kept them company until about 4:45am when I heard her little voice and FLEW out of bed. I was so embarrassed that I hadn't heard her sooner! They left around 5:00am and Bailey went back to sleep after that, thank heavens.

The next day Lexie and I went shopping! Ben had the girls and I had so much fun with Lexie. I don't get to see her much and it is always great to have a shopping buddy. We went to the Shade Shirt sale, Old Navy, the mall, Hobby Lobby, and had a great time. I love hats and Bailey has always been really good at wearing them and I bought this hat while we were shopping.


We had a great day and another late night. Dave finished the race and beat his time from last year and than they headed back to Utah. They got to Logan at 1:00am Sunday morning and left! They headed back home which is about another 2 hour drive! I'm way to old to stay up late 2 nights in a row, but I had a wonderful time and loved seeing them!

Thanks for staying with us, hopefully we can make it a yearly tradition! Also thanks for the pajamas, teddy bear, and little bunny Aunt Wendy!

A bike for Bailey

All summer long I have been trying to get Ben to buy Bailey a bike. But either we weren't together to look for one or he didn't like the ones we found. When it was finally his idea he started looking on line and found one he liked. He showed me and I ordered it about 10 minutes later before he could change his mind.

It came the day we headed to Idaho for Labor day and of course we didn't have time to pick it up. So I went to pick it up the day we got back into town. I took Bailey with me to get it and she was so excited it was the cutest thing! She kept smiling and saying "My bike?"


I tried to put the bike together on Tuesday, but I was struggling so Ben put it together that night and we hid it in the bathroom for the whole day so Ben could be here when we gave it to her.

She loves it and rides it in the house, the garage, and outside. She picked up on the pedals, but unless she has her tennis shoes on has a hard time reaching them! She is so excited and has to tell everyone I talk to on the phone about her new bike.

The Brown Reunion

For Labor Day we were in Burley for Ben's immediate family reunion. It was only with Ben's brothers and sisters, but because there are 10 kids, who most are married, and most have kids there are a lot of us when we get together! Because there are too many of us to stay in one place we stayed with my brother Todd and his wife.

We started the reunion out at the Declo Highschool football game. Ben's baby brother Nic is a senior this year so we went to watch him play. His baby sister Jana is also on the dance team so we were able to watch her dance.


The girls did really well. Bailey loved the dance team and the cheerleaders. Hinkley was really good and just hung out in her car seat for the 1st quarter and with Grandma Brown for the 2nd quarter. It got pretty chilly after the half so the girls and I took off.


On Saturday we all headed to the church for the Traditional Brown flag football game. I hung out on the side lines with the girls and the rest of the little kids. Bailey just loved the open space and ran, and ran, and ran. Hinkley and I didn't stay for the whole game they were there for 3 hours. And of course we had to leave the reunion early for the BYU game.

On Sunday Ben's big brother blessed their new baby and two boys they just adopted. So we headed to Oakley for the blessings. On the way home the girls fell asleep so we had a little rest before heading back for lunch and games. Brenda, my sister-in-law, took Hinkley for the afternoon while we played games it was just a little to windy for her to be outside.


On Monday we were able to hang out a little bit before heading home. It was great to be able to see everyone. There were 34 of us there all together and we were still missing April's husband Cody! We always have a lot of fun and Bailey loves playing with all of her cousins

New Experiences

Well its been a crazy week and a half! I took Hinkley to her 4 month check and she is doing really well. She is healthy and a little taller and heavier than Bailey was at this point. She is also what the doctor calls advanced socially, which means she does not like him! Bailey was the same way, I think its just his nice way of calling her a mamma's girl! Bailey had a really hard time again, Hinkley was crying when the doctor was looking at her and so it made Bailey really nervous and she started to cry too. That was fun trying to console both of them at the same time!


This check up caused a lot of stress because we don't immunize the girls until they are older and the doctor told me that whooping cough is a growing concern and the number of children that have it are higher this year than last year. So after A LOT of stress, counsel, and tears, we got her immunized for whooping cough. I was re-immunized when I had her and Bailey is current but it was so hard to do that to her!

But on a happy note Hinkley is starting to roll over more and more and is still her cute self with lots of smiles! She is so cute when she talks and sometimes gets really loud! I love her cute personality and honestly I can't imagine life without her. I know that I used the word "cute" a lot in that paragraph but she is just that cute!

Ben got me a gift certificate for an hour massage at K salon and spas, where I get my hair cut. Which I was so excited to use and did a few days after Hinkley's appointment. It was awesome, when she got to my shoulders she kept saying how tight they were! It was a great gift and so relaxing. Thanks Ben


I decided that Bailey's hair was getting a little to long. My mom has cut and trimmed Bailey's hair since she was about 6 months old, but since we won't be seeing her for awhile I had to figure out where to take her now. I started growing out her bangs awhile ago, because they are just to curly and get out of control! Anyway I was talking to a friend of mine and she mentioned that a little shop called Cookie cutters had opened that was just for kids. I was so excited because that's exactly what I was looking for. I was still a little nervous and Ben didn't help. While I was sitting there waiting for Bailey's turn I get a text from Ben saying that he loves her hair and doesn't think we should cut it. All things that would have been useful to know 30 minutes earlier! Bailey did really well, she didn't have any issues at all and they did a good job and I will be going back as needed until my mom gets back! Hinkley was a little trooper to hang out in her car seat the whole time!


Also my friend Angie came to see Hinkley and the new house. I see her about once a year and even though the visit was short and sweet it was great to see her! Hope to see you again soon!

Oh the county fairs!

I love this time of year! Ok let me clarify, I hate the hot weather, but I love going to the fair! The Cache county fair is nice and its fun to get out and we did, but its not like the Cassia county fair, because that is home and what I grew up with.


Any way we went to the Cache County fair and it was SO hot! The girls did really well though. We walked around and bought a few things here and there. Than we took Bailey over to the pony rides. I was on a horse when I was about 3, not alone, but I have grown up with horses and I love riding. Anyway my dad has a couple horses and one of their names is Poco, Bailey calls him Gato, which is cat in Spanish! Anyway as soon as she saw the pony's she wanted to ride them and kept calling them Papa's Gato. So for $3.00 she got to sit on a horse and go in a circle three times. It was kind of a rip off, but she LOVED it! I can't wait until my dad gets back and can take her for all the rides she wants and do it for free! After the ride we went and got dinner and than headed home.


The next weekend we went home for the Cassia County Fair. I haven't missed a fair since my mission and even though it wasn't the same because hardly any of my family was there we didn't miss it. Usually all of my brothers and sisters come home for the fair, I go to the Fat Stock Sale with my dad, and we all go to the rodeo together on Saturday night. Not this year. Anyway we got into town on Friday night and, my sister-in-law, Brenda kept Hinkley while we took Bailey into the fair to see all the animals. When we got there a couple of Turkey's were getting washed, she was totally fascinated! She wouldn't touch the lambs, loved the goats, liked the bunnies, and had a great time! Ben and I also saw some friends, its always good to go home.


On Saturday Todd and Brenda took Bailey to the fat stock sale while Ben, Hinkley, and I finished getting ready. We met up with them and Brenda kept Hinkley again while Ben and I took Bailey and Shaydon (Scott and Sommers son) over to the carnival to ride on the rides. Talk about a rip off! It cost us $6.00 for the two of them to ride one single ride. They only got to ride a few rides because unfortunately neither one of them was tall enough to ride any of the others. But we bought them hats, they were together and they had a great time. We had lunch with Todd and Brenda and then traded Bailey for Hinkley and went to Twin to pick up Scott.

We had a great time the doughnuts and scones were amazing as usual and it is so fun to have Bailey old enough to have and enjoy new experiences. We missed the rest of the family that couldn't be there it wasn't the same with out you!

Tick Tock

Well, I'm another year older! My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I can't believe how fast this last year went. I have been so blessed to have had another wonderful year with so many blessings. My biggest blessing is of course that I was able to carry Hinkley for a full 9 months, that she was born healthy, and that she is a beautiful baby! I'm so grateful to have spent another year of my life with Benjamin, he is everything to me. I'm so blessed to be Bailey's mother. She doesn't say "I love you" she says "you to" and I love it when she randomly says "you to" to me! And I'm so grateful to my family and for their support, love, and the example of my parents. My parents mission hasn't been easy for me, but my life from the very beginning was touched my missionary work and I have such a testimony of the gospel that even though I hate them being away I know that they are doing what the Lord wants and needs them to do.


Ok enough being emotional! So the day before my birthday Lyndsie and Brenda came to Logan. Lou had to take care of some arrangements for school and attend some classes so they were able to be here with me. Ben usually tries to take a half a day off for my birthday, but wasn't able to this year so it was really nice to have the company. Brenda helped me start to hang all of my decorations, I really struggle at decorating, so it was nice to have her help.


I got two cakes, like I really needed 2, because Brenda bought one and Ben bought one. Brenda's was a cute water melon cake with 2 plastic ants on it and Bailey about had a melt down. She kept saying "EWWW Bug" and they had her almost in tears! Of course Bailey had to help me blow out the candles and was a little excited we had a hard time lighting them because she kept blowing on our matches. We had pizza and both cakes and it was nice to be with family since the parental units are M.I.A.

Ben got me a gift certificate for a massage! I can hardly wait to use it! He tried to be here as much as he could, he also got me a mirror that I wanted, a movie, and chocolate, some itunes songs, and his cake was a Cold Stone cake, I get one once a year and love them.


Also Hinkley will be four months old this week! I'm really having stress that my baby is growing up so fast!!! She is sitting in her bumbo and enjoys it, she is taking and yelling more and more, she is starting to roll, and has grown out of her new born clothes! I still rock her to sleep and I just try not to cry about how fast she is changing! She is such a happy baby and such a blessing to me. Bailey tries to get Hinkley to play with her, hold toys, wear hats, etc. Bailey has been such a sweet heart with her and is still very possessive of her. In fact she and I argue about whose baby Hinkley is!


Thank you to everyone who has been apart of my life this past year! It has been a crazy year, but a good one.