What A Week!

Last week was amazing, crazy but amazing! Last Monday we took off to Salt Lake to see the lights, go shopping, rest, and spend time with family.

We spent 2 nights and 3 days at the Kimball with my parents and had so much fun.  On Tuesday we went shopping at the South Town Mall.  Well my Mom went shopping and we played.  The girls so Santa, rode on a train that goes across the mall, and rode on the carousel. Then my sister Wendy came to see us and we all went to see the lights.  Bailey kept saying "This is the best Christmas ever!"  She also loved holding Aunt Wendy's hand and dragging her all over temple square.

On Wednesday we loaded up and came home. Ben went to work and I attacked the laundry.  On Thursday we took off for my parents house in Idaho.  We had to drop some stuff off at my brother Todd's house and he invited us to dinner so we had a good dinner with him and Brenda.

On Friday I got my nails done and we got ready to take off to Boise to see my brothers.  We stopped at my brother Scott's house for awhile and then went and had dinner with my brother Eric.  It was awesome to see all of my brothers and sisters in a 4 day period.

Saturday was Bailey's birthday and we had a party at Scott's house and then most of the boys in the family went to the Idaho Famous Potato Bowl.  They had lots of fun.  Sommers and I went shopping with our kids who are basically the same age so it was like having 2 sets of twins.

Sunday  we left Boise around 10am and with a stop at my parents made it home around 7pm. It was a good week with 4 different destinations. Bailey slept in 5 different houses.  We had an amazing, crazy week, but it was so good to see everyone.

A few highlights

So I haven't blogged in a LONG time and I've decided I'm not going to catch up, but just do the highlights.

We made our yearly trip to the Hogle Zoo in September. 

My parents and my sister Wendy joined us for the day.

We had so much fun.

We carved our first pumpkins this year.

Bailey kept playing in the pumpkin gutts and saying

"This is disgusting!"

Bailey was a ladybug for Halloween this year and Hinkley was a bee!

I don't have any picture from Thanksgiving, I guess I'm not really sure where November went! Hoping to do better at keeping up on my blog!

New York Part 2

I wasn't in the States when 9/11 happened.  I was on my mission in Guatemala. My companion and I were walking past an electronic store and I saw a TV in the window that was showing the first tower had been hit.

I remember thinking it could not be real, it had to be for a movie, but as I kept watching I realized I was watching a news show and knew it must be happening, but I couldn't believe it. I told my companion I needed to go back to the apartment.  They pulled all the missionaries in and had zone meetings. But I just couldn't believe how the towers could really have been hit.

Since I wasn't in the States when 9/11 happened, I have tried to learn about the events of that day.  When we were in New York, our hotel was literally right next to Ground Zero. We were able to see and hear the construction from our hotel room and see the corner of the fountains.

This is the new Trade Center Building. In New York, we were able to see the 9/11 Museum. It was very emotional.

This is "The Survivor" he sits right off of Ground Zero.  He was there before 9/11 but was blown off of his seat.  They found him and put him back where he belongs. He now has marks and scratches from that day, but he survived.

All the fire trucks in New York now have all the names of the fireman on their trucks that were lost from their stations.

The City view of where the Twin Towers used to be and were the new Trade Tower is. Our last day in New York we went to the Miracle Church that is right across the street from Ground Zero, where the rescue teams rested and got their meals.  It was the only building around Ground Zero that did not have any structural damage.

 I still remember hearing from a news show someone said, "We were running out as the rescuers were running in."

NEW YORK! Part 1

Ben had his yearly training early this year and in NEW YORK! How cool is that? We took a red eye out on Saturday night, OUCH, and landed in New York about 6am the next day. The girls had been shipped home with my niece Lyndsie to stay with her, Todd, & Brenda.  Brace yourself for a lot of pictures, I'm going to break the trip up into three parts.

The subway! I was way nervous about the whole subway thing at first, but Ben and I actually got pretty good at finding our way, yes we got lost but it was all good.  It was really hot and humid in NYC while we were there and the subway was always at least 10 degrees hotter and it smelled really bad.

Turtle Pond at Central Park

The Clock Tower at the Central Park Zoo.  I was kind of bummed because they didn't have a giraffe, lion, hippo, zebra, like in Madagascar! I'm a dork, but that's what I expected!

Belvedere Castle in the Shakespeare Garden part of Central Park.  It's huge and awesome!

Times Square where they film Good Morning America, I almost cried! I watch GMA almost every morning.

Times Square, it was so awesome, unreal and amazing to be there, with about a million and one other people!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art! I went one day while Ben was in trainings.  I got lost on the way cutting through Central Park and in the Subway on the way back.  I spent over 3 hours just on the main floor. It was amazing and getting lost wasn't bad, just made a memory!

A New York Tax and just like Buddy the Elf says in the movie Elf "The Yellow ones don't stop!"

25 again!

I had a great birthday we didn't get any pictures except for the cake!

My niece Lyndsie made the cake it was a 2 layer cake

The bottom layer was chocolate chunk surprise, it had rollos in it!

Lyndsie had planned to do lunch with the girls and I, but when we got to the restaurant my sister in law, Brenda and driven 2 hours just to have lunch with us and do some shopping and then she drove 2 hours back home! We all got Cafe Sabor take out for dinner and had a great day with my family!

Bear Lake

Ben's sister called one Saturday morning and said she was at a cabin in Bear lake and asked it we wanted to come and hang out, so we did.

My super cool baby, on the trip there.

She didn't know her treat opened!

Bailey and Corbie ordering ice cream and fries, so cute!

Bailey, Aunt Misti, and Jack. A fun trip!

Oh what do you do in the summer time?

WE SWIM...

By ourselves

Yes, they both have a pool, one had a ton of holes in it, so we bought a new one, but I was able to do some amazing work with some duck tape and now we have 2!

They swim together,

And with friends!

We do a lot of swimming!

Special Delivery

We had to go to Idaho, awhile ago, so Ben could help his brother.  We stayed at my parents house and had a wonderful time.  While we were there they opened one of the boxes that they had shipped from Germany and the girls had so much fun!

This was what the box looked like after my mom had unpacked everything but the package peanuts.  Hinkley hasn't found a food she doesn't like, so of course she tried eating the packaging and wasn't happy when we didn't let her!

I love my girls but there are some moments when I think I would like to put them back in that box and ship it back to Germany!

My Tiny Dancer

Bailey started dance class in January, she had to be 3 to start so I got her in as soon as I could.  She loves going to class and being with other kids.  She is one of the youngest in the class, which totally stresses me out.  The other little girls try to pick her up and they have dropped her a couple of times and of course they try to mother her too, but she still loves it.

She loved getting dressed up and getting her hair done. I don't have any make up so we got to skip that, but thank heavens for cousin Katie, she let us borrow some lip gloss!

She did really well the night of her performance! I was so proud of her, the dance was super cute and I was so happy that she only had 1 dance and it was at the beginning of the program.

A huge thank you to my amazing family, my parents, my sister Wendy, my brother Todd and his wife Brenda for driving 2 hours to watch Bailey dance for 3 minutes and gave her 2 groups of flowers, had dinner and than drove 2 hours back home.  Thanks to Lyndsie for being there for all the special moments.  As you can see from the picture Bailey does not lack attention from any one!

Hinkley's Birthday

Hinkley's Birthday was about 2 months ago, but since life got really crazy after Easter I'm just posting it, oh well, better late than never.

First of all I can't believe she is a year old! She is the cutest little monkey, anyway back to the point. A HUGE thanks to my neice Lyndsie for making the cake, she usually makes the cakes for the girls and she did an amazing job for Hinkley.

Lyndsie will kill me for putting this picture on but the cake took a couple of days and stages to make and of course as you can see, Bailey was a huge help. The cake was 3 layers of cupcakes, 1 layer of real cake, with flowers and pearls. 

A HUGE thanks to my brother Todd and his wife Brenda for driving 2 hours one ways to have pizza and cake and watch Hinkley open presents and Bailey blow out the candle and than drive another 2 hours home.  Thanks for all of your love and support.

At her 1 year appointment, she didn't quite weight 20lbs and was a little under average on her height, the Dr. says that's totally understandable considering her mom's practically a hobit! She is crawling like crazy, starting to pull herself up and starting to imitate words.  She is super snuggly especially right after the tub, loves story time and laughs constantly.  If it is a little too quiet for her she just starts to giggle. She adores Bailey, her Daddy, and her Papa.  We are so grateful for her chunky little self.

Together Again...

On Thursday the 12th, my grandmother passed away.  She was an amazing woman, when she was born she weighed about 3lbs and 92 years ago it is a miracle that she lived.  She had 8 children and 54 grandchildren, and some great grandchildren and 1 great great grandchild.  One of the things I always knew about my grandma was how much she loved my Grandpa and of course her children and grandchildren.   

My grandparents influenced my life so much and not just like most grandparents.  For those of you who don't know, I was adopted.  I was born in Guatemala and my biological mother died less than 24 hours after I was born.  My grandparents were serving an LDS service mission in Guatemala and knew my biological father, he asked them to help get my biological mother's body back to the village they were from to bury her the next day.  After arriving my grandparents asked one of the Elders who spoke the Indian dialect to go and tell the family that they would help in any way they could.  The Elder did and came back with me.  I hadn't been cleaned from being born, was wrapped in rags, and probably not a pleasant baby.  But they took me for the night and cared for me the best they could and making diapers for me from a t-shirt.  The next day my biological father came to them and asked them to keep me as their own.  Telling them I would die with out a mother to take care of me.  After a lot of discussion they decided they would take me for 2 weeks for the family to adjust and decide what to do with me. 

After 2 weeks they took me back and it was decided that I would be adopted.  After that this amazing couple called their daughter and her husband in Idaho to tell them they had a daughter for them waiting to be adopted.  It took 2 months for the adoption to be completed.  My grandparents could have told my biological father that they couldn't do it, to find another family, or to put me in an orphanage. But instead after raising their 8 children, being in a 3rd world country, not having disposable diapers, any baby supplies, and not having clean water they decided to take care of me. They had no idea if I would have health issues and they had many other responsibilities to continue to take care of.  I didn't even have a name.  But they lovingly and happily took care of a new born and they hand picked who my parents would be.  And as all of you who known me, know that I have been raised by amazing parents and I have always felt I had a special relationship with my grandparents.

My grandpa died over 20 years ago, my grandmother has missed him so much.  A few years after my grandpa died, my grandma moved across the street from my parents so she has been very close to our family for many years.  I have been very blessed to have my life turn out the way it did all because of the decisions and sacrifices of some amazing people. 

My Grandma's funeral was yesterday and so many people came to the viewing and funeral to honor such an amazing woman.  It was hard to say goodbye for now and it is such a huge loss to our family.  The only thing that makes it easier for me is to know that she is once again with my Grandpa.  I love and miss them both terribly but I am and will forever be grateful for all they did for me. 

Swimming!

All the Browns came to Logan when Ben's little brother got married and they all stayed at Hotels with swimming pools.  So with the weather being bad we all went to the Holiday Inn Express and went swimming.  Bailey was in heaven, ever since going swimming last year at my brother Eric's house she has loved swimming.  Thanks Yvonne for the floaties!

Hinkley wasn't sure she liked the whole swimming idea.  She clung to Ben and cried and when I got in she clung to me and cried and just when I was about ready to give up she decided that it wasn't so bad and enjoyed it for the rest of the time.

Uncle Matt forgot his swim suite so he took all the pictures for us that night, Thanks Matt Man.